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• Arrange for electricity and gas to be turned off in the evacuated areas.
Calgary Transit and Access Calgary are on standby to evacuate those residents who cannot leave on their own. Please identify yourselves to the emergency responders going door to door.
Recommended Measures
The City of Calgary advises residents in the affected areas to minimize the potential flood damage by taking the following measures:
• Install the cap in the basement sewer floor drain if you don’t have a mechanical back flow prevention device in place.
• Move valuables such as photographs and personal and legal documents, from the basement or a lower floor to an upper floor.
• Remove newspapers from basements because wet newspaper can stain carpets with ink
• Listen to local radio and television stations for further updates.
• Visit The City of Calgary’s website for information, at www.calgary.ca.
Sandbags
The City of Calgary has a reserve of sandbags for use in priority areas as identified by The City’s Emergency Management Plan. City crews are actively filling and deploying these bags in areas where the need is greatest. Given limited resources, these bags will only be available for use by City crews, and are not being made available to the public. Unfortunately, it is not possible for The City of Calgary to provide sandbags to thousands of homes. We thank you for your understanding during this emergency.
Emergency Response
The City is asking all citizens to help the authorities who are responding to this emergency by observing these restrictions:
• Do not drive to the affected areas unless you are involved in the emergency response. Extra traffic will prevent the authorities from responding quickly.
• Do not use the phone unless you are requesting help or reporting an important event.
• Unnecessary phone calls could overload the telephone system and limit the authorities’ ability to communicate.Liverpool starlet Adam Morgan scored the winner for England's under-19s in an impressive victory over Portugal in the Limoges Tournament in France.
Noel Blake's side had started off the four-team tournament on Wednesday evening with a 2-2 draw against the host nation, but went one better on Friday.
Morgan netted the only goal of the game in the 65th winner to further demonstrate his knack for finding the back of the net.
The Liverpool teenager scored in 13 consecutive games - a tally of 18 goals - for the Reds Academy side last season as he strived for a spot in Kenny Dalglish's first-team.
Aged only 17, Morgan is already being hailed as Liverpool's new Robbie Fowler - a player the young forward cites as his idol.
A local Liverpool lad, Morgan is keen to emulate his hero at Anfield and, should he continue his goalscoring exploits, Dalgish may well take notice.
The Liverpool boss has already demonstrated that he is willing to put his faith in youth, having relied on the likes of John Flanagan and Jack Robinson to make the step up to the senior side.
Dalglish also named Academy star Raheem Sterling in his Europa League squad to travel to Prague in February, after the winger had netted four times against Southend in the FA Youth Cup.The results are in for USA Today's Best Southern Fine Dining restaurants poll.
Cotton Row, founded by Chef James Boyce, was the top pick among readers this month in a contest on 10best.com. Highlands Bar & Grill and Hot and Hot Fish Club, both Birmingham establishments, landed in the Top 10 among 20 nominees selected by Southern travel experts.
Readers were able to vote once a day until noon May 25.
The Top 10 Best Southern Fine Dining eateries include:
Cotton Row Restaurant - Huntsville River and Rail - Roanoke, Va. Curate - Asheville 404 Kitchen - Nashville Highlands Bar & Grill - Birmingham Hot and Hot Fish Club - Birmingham Proof on Main - Louisville Restaurant at Patowmack Farm - Lovettsville, Va. Clifton Inn - Charlottesville, Va. Cochon - New Orleans
Click here for the full results.
Tuscaloosa's Dreamland Bar-B-Que recently landed at No. 8 on USA Today's list of the 10 Best Southern BBQ restaurants.Continue Reading Below Advertisement
The Trial:
When Ness discovers mid-trial that the jury has been bribed, he confronts the judge, who is also in Capone's pocket, and threatens to expose him if he doesn't do something. Instead of declaring a mistrial, the judge switches the entire jury with the jury from the trial next door, after the trial has already begun.
In a moment of panic, Capone's lawyer changes the plea to guilty, and the courtroom erupts as though all crime has just been wiped off the face of the Earth.
Hooray! We're safe forever!
The Law:
Ever had to go in for jury duty? And the lengthy selection process? All that stuff happens for a reason. Juries are specially selected to avoid a conflict in the case being tried -- hell, Capone's second cousin could have been in the jury next door for all they knew. That's why a judge doesn't have the power to place a jury that the lawyers haven't selected or interviewed, let alone do so mid-trial.
Continue Reading Below Advertisement
But this point becomes moot minutes later, when, seeing that the evidence is stacked against them, Capone's lawyer switches his plea to guilty. The court erupts, cheering, while Capone punches out his lawyer and is then seen in the background being led off to jail screaming, "Is this justice?"
Well, no, actually.
This is Sean Connery.
The whole point of the scene seems to be that Capone's lawyer switches sides and pulls the rug out from under Capone. But in real life, a court can't accept a plea without a defendant's verbal consent, no matter what the lawyer suddenly announces.Now that news of the Phones4u collapse has begun to settle, details are starting to emerge about how customers will be affected. The good news is that the company has said that it will honour existing contracts, but it has also confirmed that people who pre-ordered the new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus last week will miss out on getting their new smartphones, at least from them. In a statement shared with the Huffington Post UK, Phones4u noted that "any orders that have not already been dispatched will be cancelled and any payments refunded to customers." Phones4u has yet to ship any devices to customers and its online store has already been replaced with a sad-looking page full of support line phone numbers. Customers who ordered last Friday will now need to place their order again with a different retailer, but they'll be placed at the back of the queue as Apple's official delivery times begin to slip.One day after the European Commission levied heavy tariffs, reaching 48pc in August, on subsidised solar panels made in China, the Far Eastern country announced it is considering a tit-for-tat move to levy a similar “anti-dumping” duty on wines made in EU.
Francois Hollande, the French President, has expressed alarm at a development that threatens exports worth €546m (£464m) for France and called for a special Brussels summit to discuss the escalating trade war between the EU and China.
“The President of the Republic expressed his desire that the European Commission take steps to organise a meeting to establish a united position of the 27 based on solidarity,” said Mr Hollande’s spokesman on Wednesday.
Echoing the language used by the EU before the commission hit Chinese solar panels with import tariffs, the Chinese trade ministry announced it had begun an anti-dumping investigation into EU wines at the request of Chinese wineries.
“The ministry has already received an application from the domestic wine industry, which accuses wines imported from Europe of entering China's market by use of unfair trade tactics such as dumping and subsidies,” said a ministry statement.
“We have noted the quick rise in wine imports from the EU in recent years, and we will handle the investigation in accordance with the law.”
The Chinese move targets France and other wine producers, which all happen to be countries that supported the commission’s tariffs on Chinese solar panels despite opposition from Germany, Britain and 16 other exporting or free-trade supporting countries.
French wine exports account for 71pc of the European wines imported by the Chinese, a fast-growing market among China's burgeoning middle classes for France, a country that is currently struggling to export goods.
In an added twist, Karel de Gucht, the EU trade commissioner who took the decision to hit China with the solar panel levies, is himself a wine producer with a €1m stake in a Tuscan vineyard that produces Chianti.
Mr De Gucht’s “La Macinaia” has benefited from a €1,500 EU farm subsidy “for the services of a consultant on biodynamic winery” but in 2011 still incurred a loss of more than €145,000 despite selling its bottles of wine for €22.49 to Belgian retailers.
"There are no exports to China," said his spokesman.
On Tuesday, the Commission used EU trade defence powers to unilaterally impose an immediate tariff of 11.8pc, rising by another 35.8pc unless Beijing agrees to increase the prices of solar panels that Brussels believes benefit from unfair Chinese subsidies.
Italy and Spain, which both supported the solar panel tariffs along with France, will have exports worth €77m and €89m potentially covered by any Chinese retaliatory measures against European wines.
Fuelling the suspicion that France has been singled out for supporting the solar panel levies, diplomats have noted that China’s Hong Kong territory is exempt from the Chinese investigation “presumably because British companies export European wines there”, according to officials, a trade worth €213m.
The French trade ministry condemned the Chinese threat and warned of an escalating trade war if Beijing did not follow World Trade Organisation rules procedures.
“We're taking this very seriously,” said a ministry official. “The way this was presented seems to us inappropriate and reprehensible, namely the fact that the case is not treated on its own merit but because a decision was taken in another area.”
The European Commission said that it “took note” of the Chinese investigation and would “follow it closely”. “We believe there is not dumping of European wine on the Chinese market,” said a spokesman.
Other EU officials have observed that targeting European wines with higher import duties would damage the lifestyles of China’s most rich and powerful.
“The Chinese elite will be first to suffer if fine French wines are subjected to tariffs,” said an official.London (AFP) - The Ebola virus will be contained in Sierra Leone by the end of the year, the president of the badly affected country told Britain's ITV News on Thursday.
"I am of the view that by the end of the year, we'll be in a position of not eliminating but containing the Ebola virus," President Ernest Bai Koroma said.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described the spreading outbreak, which has claimed 4,900 lives including at least 1,200 in Sierra Leone, as a global public health emergency.
He defended his government's handling of the crisis.
"The Ebola outbreak was announced in May and it was new to all of us. We are not alone in the fight," Koroma said.
"We also had the WHO who principally advised us on what to do and every step of the way we have had consultations with them and I believe we have been reacting appropriately."
Sierra Leone is one of the countries worst affected by the epidemic, along with its west African neighbours Guinea and Liberia.
The World Bank warned earlier this month that if the disease is not contained in the three countries by the end of the year, the economic cost to west Africa could rise to nearly $33 billion (26 billion euros) in 2015.
Health teams in Sierra Leone have been working desperately to contain the virus, which is normally fatal and has no vaccine or reliable cure.
Britain has sent military and medical staff to help the outbreak in Sierra Leone, and several countries worldwide have begun screening air passengers from the affected countries.(CNN) In several former Soviet republics, top security officials and even a former president are saying "I told you so" amid allegations of possible Russian hacking targeting the US presidential election campaign.
"Some things you discovered now as new in your pre-election campaign we've been seeing it already for years," Janis Garisons, Secretary of State in Latvia's Defense Ministry, told CNN.
Latvian government agencies come under frequent cyber attacks and other forms of hsybrid warfare that he believes originate from Russia, he said.
"For me, it's déjà vu," former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili told CNN.
"In 2012, they (Russia) were heavily involved in Georgian elections. They've done cyber attacks over different time periods. They've done all kinds of media provocations.They've spread rumors. They've sent operatives to do all kinds of dirty tricks. And back then my friends from the US Embassy were saying 'you're over-reacting,'" added Saakashvili, who served two consecutive terms as president in Georgia before stepping down in 2013.
"I almost was vindicated when the same administration in Washington suddenly started to speak about Russian involvement in the election," Saakashvili said.
Moscow denies involvement
Moscow has denied any involvement in alleged hacking targeting the US election.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it is "indecent" of the US to "groundlessly" accuse Russia of intervention in its elections, previously officials have accused the Obama administration of scape-goating Russia to cover for Hillary Clinton's defeat.
Ukraine, which has been embroiled in a deadly two-year war against separatists backed by neighboring Russia, announced on Friday that several of its government agencies have recently been the target of ten major cyber attacks.
"The targets include the state railroad company, the finance ministry and state treasure," said Olena Gitlyanska, spokesperson for Ukraine's state Security Service.
"They were able to overcome the consequences," she added.
A statement posted to Facebook by the Infrastructure Ministry confirmed its website had been hacked.
"We perceive this attacks on the web-site as part of attacks on the government resources, that have become stronger over the last week," the statement read, adding that news would be published on the ministry's Facebook page until the site was fully restored.
Last December, a separate cyber attack on a Ukrainian power company succeeded in completely blacking out more than one hundred cities and partially depriving electricity to at least 186 other cities.
Experts from the US Department of Homeland Security assisted Ukraine with the subsequent investigation.
They concluded that the virus that targeted the electric company came from an infected Microsoft Word document believed to be of Russian origin.
Ukraine, Latvia and Georgia all have historically tense relationships with the Kremlin.
We're facing Russian propaganda, information warfare and even psychological warfare almost daily, Janis Garisons, Latvian Defense Ministry
All three countries were ruled by Moscow for a half century or more when they were part of the Soviet Union.
Top officials in these countries accuse the present-day Russian government of continuing to try to dominate these former Soviet states.
"We're facing Russian propaganda, information warfare and even psychological warfare almost daily," said Garisons, of the Latvian Defense Ministry.
"There's quite a clear attempt to undermine our statehood, or the belief of our people in our statehood."
Hybrid warfare strategies
Russia's so-called hybrid warfare strategies are rooted in Soviet intelligence tactics that were developed in the 1970s and 1980s, said Janis Sarts, director of the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence in Riga, which studies Russia's communications strategies.
"They use in a coordinated, coherent manner the traditional media, social media and also non-governmental actors and influence agents to achieve a desired effect on the audience," Sarts said.
The centre published a report on the sudden shift that Russian state media, followed by pro-Russian blogs and Internet trolls, made when Russia launched its surprise military intervention into Syria this year.
"In two weeks time, all the discussion was about these "Nazi" Ukrainians and their horrible crimes, and then there was a 180% turn... to talking about Syria," Sarts said.
"The Kremlin ultimately and Putin especially, think that the United States need to be defeated." Mikheil Saakashvili
Seated next to a bust of US president Ronald Reagan in Ukraine's capital Kiev, Saakashvili, who famously took his country to war against Russia and lost in 2008, outlined his view of Putin's endgame.
"The Kremlin ultimately and Putin especially, think that the United States need to be defeated," he told CNN.
"That's what Putin sees as the endgame for himself."
"The destruction of NATO as an organization and the weakening of the United States and its severing from Europe."Kids accidentally — or intentionally — just obliterating photos.
It’s been a bit since I did a list of photos ruined by stuff going on in the background. So today, it’s 11 photos ruined by kids doing inappropriate things in the background. Or, in some cases, foreground.
1 | Another use for his bottle
Man I hope that this photo was taken in Japan where this mom could run that bottle through one of their super-advanced dishwashers that not only disinfects but gives you movie showtimes and grants you three wishes.
2 | Bad use of a balloon animal
This is why, if your kid wants a sword instead of a traditional balloon animal like a dog or the letter “O”, you should probably veto it.
3 | Back to the Future Part III kid
This is actually a screen grab from Back to the Future Part III. At the very end, when Doc introduces Marty to his kids, the kid playing “Verne” starts making a hand gesture like he’s asking someone to come over, then he starts pointing at his private area. The prevailing theory is that he really had to pee and didn’t think he could make it through Christopher Lloyd’s big flowery speech. Check it out yourself and decide.
4 | This must be a daily occurrence at Chuck E Cheese
To quote Adam Sandler (and, amazingly, NOT a line from Billy Madison but rather Wedding Singer) — somebody put some pants on that kid. And, on a personal note, I really hope they disinfected the ball pit once he left.
5 | That’s one interpretation of the “OK, everyone do something wacky!” photographer directive
And the kid next to him making the pig nose must be happy this guy really took all the heat off of him.
6 | Checking to make sure everything’s still in place
What’s really crazy is that this must’ve been the BEST take for the family, the one they actually bought from Sears and put up in their living room. What could the kid have done in the other takes that was worse? Turned around and motorboated his mom? Grabbed his brother’s pants? Had his eyes close and neglected to say “Cheese”?
7 | They start ’em young in Toronto
When I’m at a hockey game, I’m generally making this gesture at the person who talked me into going to a hockey game.
8 | Is he coughing?
My favorite part here is that the older guy in the photo TRIED to be funny in the background… but got completely trumped by the kid accidentally (?) making a fellatio gesture.
9 | Crawling the red carpet
There’s no way this kid leaves this experience without being traumatized. You have to work your way up to being able to stare down female genitalia without wanting to Men in Black memory ray yourself afterward. There’s no way this kid is mentally prepared — you’re not officially prepared until you enter the phase of your life where you’re so hormonal and horny that there’s no sight in the world that can deter you from your sexual to-do list.
10 | Scotchtoberfest
I take back what I said about the previous photo. THIS is more traumatic.
11 | A vacation photo to cherish
He’s got such a future ahead of himself as a pervert. This is definitely the kid who leads the initiative to drill a hole to see into the girls’ locker room. Which, if I’m to understand today’s schools’ zero tolerance policies correctly, would be punishable by expulsion not because he’d be violating hundreds of underage girls’ privacy, but because the drill is pointy.
—
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11 Really Shitty Lessons That Fairy Tales Teach Kids“Typical Allen Iverson,” my friend says with a sigh as he shakes his head over a plate of chicken wings. I shrug. We’re in a dimly-lit dive bar in Philadelphia and A.I. has just canceled on our scheduled interview.
While my friend—who worked with Iverson on a marketing campaign for a Philly-based retailer two years ago—helps me drown my sorrows over the wasted day with pints of beer and baskets of chicken, he recalls his personal experiences dealing with The Answer. Some of his anecdotes are outright unbelievable. Others aren’t surprising at all.
I’d never met Iverson before. Like most casual basketball fans, all I knew about him was what I grew up seeing on television: The ankle-breaking crossover that made the G.O.A.T. momentarily look like a goat. The Reebok commercial where he rapped with Jadakiss over a Trackmasters beat. And, of course, the diatribe about practice. (Iverson later explained that his rant was sparked by the death of his close friend and the fact that he was embroiled in trade talks at the time.)
But opposite those highlight memories are also the tales that my friend and other writers who’ve dealt with Iverson have to tell. It kind of comes with the territory for a rapper to possibly show up four hours late, semi-drunk, with an unexpectedly large entourage. An elite pro athlete whose livelihood mostly depends on being physically disciplined and showing up on time to, well, practice? Not as common.
Iverson’s reputation precedes him. To me, Iverson didn’t just bring hip-hop to the NBA, he embodied the cross section of the lifestyle we grew up seeing in late ‘90s music videos and sports. Iverson was as much of an ambassador for hip-hop as Shirt Kings, except his spray can and air brush was a durag, arms inked with tattoos, and a hair-trigger shooter's mentality both on the court and with the press.
“That dude battled every night and he had that flair and that creativity,” reigning NBA MVP Steph Curry told me during NBA All-Star Weekend, as he raised his right arm to mimic Allen Iverson’s signature crossover. “I loved watching him play. He was a competitor and fighter.”
Players who shared the court with Iverson in his prime tend to view him differently than how he’s historically been portrayed in the media.
“It was hard for me to play against this guy,” said Shaquille O’Neal, whose Lakers went head-to-head against Iverson’s Sixers in the 2001 NBA Finals. “Usually, I needed to make something up about a person in my mind to play against them. But, I couldn’t do that with [Iverson] because I liked him too much.”
I finally catch up with the elusive Answer in Charlotte, N.C.—where he now resides—during a scheduled photo shoot for Finish Line. The event is for the relaunch of his first signature sneaker—the Reebok Question. The brand, which Iverson has a lifetime endorsement deal with, is dropping 20 different versions of the shoe this year to mark the Question's 20th anniversary.
The call-time for today's shoot is scheduled for 2:00 PM and Iverson walks through the doors at 2:04 PM, catching the camera crew, who expected delays, totally off guard. Iverson makes a beeline for his mark on set and skips out on the Bojangles chicken and Coronas that the company prepared for him and his crew. On this day, The Answer is all about business.
In between takes he peruses through all of the sneakers when one in particular catches his eye—a yellow and blue colorway that is a totem to his rebellious ways in the early ‘00s. The quick and dirty version of the story is that Iverson was meant to wear the yellow sneaker in his first All-Star game, but refused because he was getting roasted in the locker room by fellow All-Stars for having to take the the court in such a brightly-colored shoe (This was the year 2000 when players actually matched the colors of their sneakers to their uniform). Despite pleas at the time from his manager at Reebok, who hyped up the sneaker with retailers across the country and even enlisted Iverson’s own mom to plead Reebok’s case for him to wear the shoe, the player was not about to put his pride on the line.
“I probably cost Reebok a lot of money that day,” Iverson says with a laugh as he picks up the yellow sneaker. “I was not having it.”
Such is the gift and the curse of Allen Iverson. Adored by millions for living life like an open book while nevertheless struggling to balance the volatility of that life.U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx (L) inspects a Google self-driving car at the Google headquarters on Feb. 2, 2015, in Mountain View, Calif. Semi-autonomous cars are already on the market, with their capabilities continually expanding. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Robot Economics
Is Canada ready for the automated future when self-driving cars and robots take half of today's jobs?
PARLIAMENT HILL—The future is racing toward us, and no one is driving.
Driverless cars are among the first wave of new disruptive technology that will change every facet of our society. Virtual reality, autonomous robotics, and countless other technologies will arrive in short order, but are we ready?
Nearly half the jobs of today are up for automation within 20 years or sooner, according to an Oxford University study. At this point, the federal government can’t say how it is preparing.
Self-driving cars will arrive within two years. They’ll be able to handle highway driving in some weather conditions. Within five years, fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) will be on the roads in some jurisdictions. By 2030 they could outnumber cars with human drivers.
This means that in Canada, some 560,000 professional drivers will be out of work, notes a recent Conference Board of Canada report.
While the opportunities of new technology are being widely touted, the question becomes what happens to those who can’t adapt.
Race to Disruption
The Conference Board predicts AVs will give the economy a $65 billion boost by saving Canadians 5 billion hours of driving time, reducing collisions, and cutting congestion on the roads.
Car ownership could change dramatically as millennials, who are already disinclined to buy cars, have a cheaper option. While the taxi industry faces its demise at the hands of Uber, Uber drivers, who complain of meagre earnings, face their end with the arrival of AVs.
Those out-of-work drivers could soon be joined by the majority of people working white- and blue-collar jobs at the lower end of the ladder.
No one really knows exactly where this technology is all going. — NDP industry critic Peggy Nash
A 2013 Oxford University study, “The Future of Employment,” examined 700 job types in the U.S. (nearly identical to Canada) and found nearly half could be computerized within around 20 years. The first wave of automation includes AVs replacing many transportation and logistics jobs. White-collar jobs are no safer, either.
“The bulk of office and administrative support workers, and labour in production occupations, are likely to be substituted by computer capital,” reads the study.
Big data, able to analyze complicated routines and find patterns, will even computerize legal writing, the study predicts. Where machines and robots take giant chunks out of the middle-class job market, computerization will lop off the lower-paying jobs left behind.
The impacts of this imminent upheaval are hard to predict given uncertain timelines, but some governments, including that of the U.S., have put resources into persistent forecasting of disruptive technology. In Canada, some federal government departments do some forecasting, but there isn’t a broad interdepartmental effort to forecast disruptive technology, though Industry Canada says it is paying attention.
“Industry Canada routinely monitors the information and communications technologies sector, including disruptive digital technologies,” reads an emailed response from the department.
The National Research Council is more involved in predicting and preparing for disruptive technology through its emerging technologies division, but could not provide someone to speak to the topic by press time.
Rapid Pace of Change
The trendlines are already well established. Robotics and international competition will put increasing pressure on Canadian firms to cut costs and automate jobs.
Minister of State for Science and Technology Ed Holder declined immediate comment on what role government has dealing with these changes.
In most cases, the impacts of disruptive technologies would need to be handled on a case-by-case basis, but with widespread automation imminent, a holistic approach seems appropriate.
NDP Industry critic Peggy Nash said the pace of change makes it difficult to come to grips with the implications of new technology, be it on privacy, jobs, or the broader society.
It’s a reality that we are all going to have to face. — Peter Wallis, Van Horne Institute
“No one really knows exactly where this technology is all going, but it has the potential to dramatically change the way we interact as people and the way we run our economy,” she said.
Nash said governments focus on the problems before them, areas that need laws or regulation today, not so much what might need regulation tomorrow. Evidence of that comes from the fact that Transport Canada is taking a wait-and-see approach to automated cars.
“Although Transport Canada is not directly conducting research on self-driving cars, the department is monitoring ongoing research efforts undertaken by colleagues around the world,” reads an emailed response from Transport Canada.
The Conference Board has called for a more proactive approach by governments at all levels to pave the way for AVs and incorporate their pending arrival into infrastructure projects now being planned.
“They must begin to understand how profoundly AVs will impact their cities and Canadian society,” reads the report, released last month.
“This report is a clarion call for Canadians to begin to appreciate what is about to happen to them.”
Peter Wallis, the president and CEO of the Van Horne Institute and a contributor to the report, says he hopes the government is taking a high-level look at technological disruption, including widespread automation.
“It’s a reality that we are all going to have to face,” he said.
He suggested individual government departments could regularly share their forecasts to create a wider understanding of what’s on the horizon and create legislation and regulations to let the new technology flourish.
Something similar to this happens to a limited degree within the Privy Council Office, but Industry Canada couldn’t describe a more formalized process that would seem to fall within its mandate.
That said, the government has been very aware of the competitive threats Canada faces. Industry Canada’s 2014 technology strategy “Seizing Canada’s Moment” lays out in broad strokes how Canada can capitalize on technological change, including investment in research and development and training Canadians for the jobs of tomorrow.
Inequity
Companies will rely more on expensive capital investments like robotics and less on human labour, which could contribute to an overall decline in jobs.
Nash says it is a long-standing trend that raises questions about how we use technology.
“Robotics and manufacturing could have been used to give people greater leisure time, which was the expectation a generation ago,” she says. “But instead what we have seen is a huge disruption in the workforce where the benefits have not been shared equitably.”
The growing gap between the rich and the poor has come as manufacturing jobs give way to lower-paying service jobs which will soon be obsolete.
I think it is exciting, I don’t think it is unsettling. — Entrepreneur Zack Kanter
What comes next for those who don’t have the education or entrepreneurial know-how to adapt?
Amazon—a leader in the new economy of doing more with fewer people, including using unmanned delivery drones when the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration inevitably approves the plan—has given one possible preview.
Amazon’s Mechanical Turks has been operational since 2005, a crowdsourcing job market where workers take on piecemeal work like filling out surveys, cropping photos, or transcribing receipts for pennies apiece. Turkers, as they are called, come from all around the world. Those in North America have a hard time even making the minimum wage, though Turkers in poorer countries may find those earnings very appealing.
With free trade agreements now including trade in services, the experience of Turkers could be a preview of bottom-tier jobs of the future.
Rise of the Individual
But there is an upside for those who can adapt.
The new economy makes an individual exponentially more impactful, says Zack Kanter, a serial entrepreneur and amateur futurist of sorts. He owns several businesses, including Proforged, an online auto parts company that contracts a Taiwanese company to build high-end chassis parts for muscle cars.
It’s the kind of specialized manufacturing company impossible a generation ago.
Kanter sees a polarization afoot. That gap between the rich and the poor will continue to grow and as the lower and middle parts of the job spectrum are automated, engineers and others who adapt to the new order will have a greater impact.
“I think it is exciting, I don’t think it is unsettling,” he said.
People like Kanter, who can see and act on opportunity, can leverage all that cheap automation and online ability to create businesses easier than ever. And for creatives who can find an audience, they can reach an entire world, working collaboratively with other creatives and crowdfunding their productions.
“A person today is more amplified than they have ever been before,” he said.
Kanter suggests people should be learning to write computer code as a commonplace skill, and likely learning other spoken languages as well.
“I think for someone that wants to be productive and make an impact on the world, there has never been a greater opportunity than today.”
And for those who can’t quite catch the wave, life might not be so bad, in Kanter’s view at least.
Worst-case scenario, they exist on welfare drinking Soylent, a recently marketed long-term meal replacement drink named tongue-in-cheek after the cannibalistic beverage in the 1973 distopic film “Soylent Green.”
They might live in a tiny rundown apartment but not care that much, says Kanter, thanks to another disruptive technology that will upend existing business models—virtual reality.
Coincidentally, Facebook-owned Oculus Rift, widely held as the leader in virtual reality technology, makes its consumer debut later this year.Bima Arya Sugiarto became mayor of Bogor in 2014 on the back of promises to root out corruption in the bureaucracy, restore order to the city’s chaotic streets and resolve the longstanding conflict over the construction of the Yasmin church. With a master’s degree from Monash University, a PhD from Australian National University and experience working with the United Nations Development Programme, he was touted as one of the new batch of reformist leaders who had come to power through direct elections and were set to transform Indonesia. Over recent months, however, his name has become synonymous with religious intolerance.
On 22 October, Bima Arya and other local officials prevented local Shi’a Muslims from commemmorating Ashura, a core celebration in the Shi’a faith that marks the death of the grandson of Ali, the first Shi’a Imam. Bima Arya issued a circular forbidding the celebration for the sake of “security”, saying that it had the potential to make other religious communities uncomfortable. The fate of the Yasmin Church, meanwhile, is still uncertain. Bima Arya has continued the much-criticised policies of his predecessor, Diani Budiarto, who ignored a clear Supreme Court ruling in the church’s favour and sealed the church property after protests from hard-line groups.
During Ramadhan earlier this year, Bima Arya also created controversy by reportedly smashing a glass in a bar that had remained open during the fasting month. And in 2014, he issued a circular urging all residents to stop work and pray at the closest mosque or prayer room whenever they heard the call to prayer. These incidents have created the impression that the so-called reformer of Bogor has some decidedly conservative tendencies.
How did Bima Arya get to this point? Bima Arya and his running mate, Usmar Hariman, won the mayoral election by a slim margin over Ahmad Ru’yat and Halim Hermana. The Bogor General Elections Commission (KPUD Bogor) reported that they won by under 2,000 votes, equivalent to less than 0.5 per cent of the total votes. There were just 673,938 registered voters in Bogor, and a voter turnout of 63 per cent, low by Indonesian standards.
Bima Arya surely knows that he won because Bogor residents were sick of the old mayor, who was more famous for preventing the construction of the Yasmin church and taking on multiple wives than for any efforts to improve the city. Electors wanted Bima Arya to restore order to the city, reduce congestion and improve waste management.
Residents of Bogor are mainly office workers, university staff, students, and traders. Many of the office workers commute every day to Jakarta. As in most areas of Indonesia, the majority of residents are Muslim, with the rest Protestant, Catholic or Buddhist, many of them ethnic Chinese.
But Bogor is also a centre for hard-line Muslim communities. When Abdurrahman Al Baghdadi first brought the ideas of Hizbut Tahrir to Indonesia, he stayed in Bogor’s Al-Ghazali Islamic boarding school, led by the charismatic preacher Mama Abdullah bin Nuh. Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB) has also been fertile ground for conservative Islam, and was home to the Qur’an discussion groups that went on to form the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). There is emerging evidence of the influence of the conservative Wahhabi ideology in the region and it is not uncommon to see women with long black gowns covering them from foot to head, or men in long loose Islamic robes.
Given that many Bogor residents are commuters and new arrivals, they don’t show the same love for their city as, say, the residents of Bandung, who live, work and play in their city. It therefore makes sense that one of the first steps Bima Arya took when he came to power was to encourage residents to fall in love with Bogor, or “Bogoh ka Bogor”. He looked for quick wins, such as improving the city’s public gardens, revitalising public playgrounds, addressing waste management and trying to restore some order to the unruly public minibuses that clog the city’s streets. Bima Arya also promoted cultural events, such as Bogor-themed cooking demonstrations, and held public tours of the city’s unique Dutch architecture.
But Bogor is not known as the city of a million minibuses for nothing. Unchecked development of hotels and malls under the previous administration has also contributed to traffic chaos. The most miserable days are weekends and public holidays, when residents should be able to be out showing their love for their city. Instead they face infuriating congestion.
Bima Arya’s efforts to eradicate corruption in the civil service |
go down as a memorable year for most Americans. Here are some images of weather both in the United States and abroad.
A federal advisory panel released a draft report Friday on how Americans can adapt to a changing climate, a more than 1,000 page tome that also sums up what has become increasingly apparent: The country is hotter than it used to be, rainfall is becoming both more intense and more erratic, and rising seas and storm surges threaten U.S. coasts.
The draft of the third National Climate Assessment warns that with the current rate of global carbon emissions, these impacts will intensify in the coming decades.
The report does not include policy recommendations, but it is designed to guide decision-makers on the federal, state and local level on how to prepare for a warmer world. In a joint blog post Friday, White House science adviser John P. Holdren and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, wrote that it is aimed at Americans “who need information about climate change in order to thrive — from farmers deciding which crops to grow, to city planners deciding the diameter of new storm sewers they are replacing, to electric utilities and regulators pondering how to protect the power grid.”
The draft will be open for public comment starting Monday and is scheduled to be finalized in March 2014. It is the third such report since 2000 and the most ambitious.
“This draft report sends a warning to all of us: We must act now in a comprehensive fashion to reduce carbon pollution or expose our people to continuing devastation from extreme weather events and their aftermath,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Rick Piltz, who heads the group Climate Science Watch, said the report offers President Obama a rare opening. “He’s said he wants to lead a national conversation on climate change. He should start the national conversation,” Piltz said.
But congressional Republicans are expected to oppose any such efforts. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), who heads the Republican Study Committee, said in a statement that it is clear Americans will not tolerate any new climate policies: “Even President Obama acknowledged that our focus right now should be on putting folks back to work and growing the economy — not climate change.”
The report’s executive summary states that not only have extreme weather and climate events become more frequent in recent years, “there is new and stronger evidence that many of these increases are related to human activities.”
The report adds that these changes are exacting an economic toll on infrastructure across the country; it also identifies specific vulnerabilities in the Washington region, such as the Chesapeake Bay, which it said was threatened by changing land use patterns and the changing climate.
Virginia Beach ranks among the nation’s “most vulnerable port cities,” according to the assessment, after Miami, the New York City area, New Orleans and Tampa-St. Petersburg.
Human health is likely to suffer as a result of higher temperatures, according to the assessment. Studies show that a 1.8-degree Fahrenheit rise in temperature could boost the number of premature deaths by 1,000 annually because of worse smog and fine particle pollution.
Some sectors of the economy face less immediate threats from a changing climate, according to the analysis. In the next 25 years, U.S. agriculture is expected “to be relatively resilient, even though there will be increasing disruptions from extreme heat, drought, and heavy downpours,” the report states. Over the next 100 years, however, both crops and livestock are likely to suffer, according to the report.By Keith Mansur
Oregon Cannabis Connection
Refusing to properly acknowledge a very commonly used herb in the northern Carribean Island nation, the Bahamian health minister wrongly believes that their decriminalization of cannabis would make the nation a “world leader” is progressive cannabis reform. Currently, only a quarter ounce or less will avoid jail, and the fines can be 1,500 to 2,000 dollars.
Dr, Duane Sands, the Bahamas health minister, held a press conference on July 19 where he made comments relating to the “objective evidence” and caution he believes The Bahamas should take. From Tribune242.com:
Dr Sands, during his remarks, noted many countries have liberalised marijuana for medical and recreational purposes. However, he said, such a decision, “however tempting as it might be,” should not be “adopted or embraced by the state without a dispassionate objective review of the evidence which accepts new evidence that has been rigorously validated while discarding dogma or tradition which has been discredited or disproved.”
“Every week my ministry is in receipt of requests to consider medical use of marijuana, or occasionally being asked to opine on the current judicial or law enforcement view of drug use,” he said. “Let me say that we are minded to be cautious, prudent and careful, (and) we are also minded to be objective and open minded. But we do not feel that the Bahamas should lead the world in this particular exercise.”
According to Sands, the nation is in needs to revamp their drug control efforts, but he seems to not understand that cannabis should not be considered in that conversation. In fact, he indicated the progressive nations of the world, like neighboring Jamaica, is crammed together on the international “group think” bus.
“Our intellectual honesty to examine and dissect the events, decisions and trends ought not to be based on intransigents, or stubbornness,” explained Sands. “But nor should we flow passively as unprincipled and uninformed passengers on the bus of international group think.”
So, apparently The Bahamas will continue their stubbornness, refusing to accept modern science and international studies surrounding cannabis medicine and decriminalization of the plant. Cruise lines will continue to have passengers coughing up thousands of dollars to local courts, or coughing up bribes to local cops, to avoid getting charged criminally for smoking a little herb. And medical marijuana patients, don’t bother asking.
Seems to me a cruise to Jamaica sounds a lot more inviting for someone of my cannabis persuasion.
© 2017 Oregon Cannabis Connection. All rights reserved.
Main Image by Mike Burton on Flickr. Used under creative commons license.Pro Football Focus’ gradings of the Dolphins-Bucs game are out and not surprisingly right guard Dallas Thomas was the lowest graded player of the game. In fact, his -9.9 grading might be the worst I’ve ever seen.
To put in perspective, the next-lowest graded player on offense — right tackle Steven Baker — had a -2.7.
Thomas was by far the team’s worst pass blocker. Aside from Thomas, only reserve lineman Nate Garner had a rough game in pass protection. Thomas was the main culprit on the sack of quarterback Ryan Tannehill that resulted in a fumble and a Bucs score.
Thomas was also the worst run blocker but he wasn’t the only one who struggled there. Ja’Wuan James, Branden Albert, Daryn Colledge, Shelley Smith, Baker and Thomas were all “in the red” in the run game — that’s considered an especially rough performance.
Thomas was also the only player in the red for penalties.
While James struggled with run blocking, he was the team’s highest-rated player in pass protection which earned him the fourth-highest overall score on offense.
Quarterback Matt Moore, who went 13-of-19 for 158 yards with a touchdown and a 111.3 passer rating, was the Dolphins highest-rated offensive player (+1.9). Moore is trying to stave off Brady Quinn who didn’t get much of a chance to throw because the Dolphins were up double digits when he entered the game.
Quinn, who went 4-for-4 with 22 yards and a 89.6 passer rating, was graded -0.8 and just stayed out of the red.
If Quinn beats out Moore, it would have to be because of Moore’s $5.5 million salary ($4 million of which the Dolphins wouldn’t have to pay).
Tannehill was in the red with a -1.6, the sixth-worst grade on offense and the worst for a non-offensive lineman.
Receiver Mike Wallace was just above Tannehil with a -1.5.
On defense, undrafted rookie linebacker Chris McCain continues to impress.
McCain played the most snaps of any Dolphins linebacker and had the best grade on the team (+4.1). His pass rush and run defense were both tops on the team.
Second-year cornerback Will Davis, who played the most snaps of any defensive player, had the next-highest grade at +3.5. Davis’ pass coverage was by far the best on the team. For now he’s been elevated to slot cornerback with Jimmy Wilson moving to safety while Reshad Jones suffers a four-game regular season suspension. At the moment Davis has surpassed Jamar Taylor, another second-year cornerback who was drafted in the second round in 2013. Davis was a third round pick.
Anthony Johnson, another undrafted player, was the fourth-highest graded defensive player at +1.8. Johnson had the team’s third-highest pass rushing grade.
Veteran linebacker Jason Trusnik was third overall at +3.3.
Defensive end Dion Jordan, linebacker Koa Misi, rookie safety Walt Aikens, defensive tackles Earl Mitchell and Randy Starks and cornerback Cortland Finnegan were also among the highest rated defensive players.
Rookie linebacker Jordan Tripp had a +0.4 which put him in the upper third of the defense.
On the bottom of the defense, safety Louis Delmas had a surprisingly rough performance and was the worst-rated defensive player at -1.9. His run defense was second worst on the team, ahead of only defensive end Cam Wake, another unexpected player toward the bottom.
Coach Joe Philbin criticized the team’s first-half tackling and singled out the secondary.
After Delmas, cornerback Kevin Fogg, safety Jimmy Wilson and linebacker Dannell Ellerbe were the lowest rated defensive players.
Linebacker Philip Wheeler, who struggled last week, was slightly better at -0.6 but still cracked the bottom 10 on defense.NSX Distributed Firewall (DFW) is the most popular feature of NSX which enables microsegmenation of networks with vNIC level firewalls in hypervisor. For real technical deep dive into the feature I recommend reading Wade Holmes free e-book available here.
vCloud Director 8.20 provides this feature to tenants with brand new HTML5 UI and API. It is managed at Org VDC level from Manage Firewall link. This opens new tab with the new user interface.
Firewall Comparison
vCloud Director now offers three different firewalls types for tenants, which might be confusing. So let me quickly compare them.
The picture above shows two Org VDCs each with different network topologies. Org VDC 1 is using Org VDC Edge Gateway that provides firewalling as well as other networking services (load balancing, VPNs, NAT, routing, etc.). It has also brand new UI and Network API. Firewalling at this level is enforced only on packets routed through the Edge Gateway.
One level below we see vApps with vApp Edges. These provide routing, firewalling and NAT between routed vApp Network and Org VDC network. There is no change in firewall capability of vApp Edge in vCloud Director 8.20 and old flash UI and vCloud API can be used for its configuration. Firewalling at vApp Edge level is enforced only on packets routed between Org VDC and vApp networks.
Distributed firewall is applied at the vNIC level of virtual machines. It means it can inspect every packet and frame coming and leaving VM and is therefore completely independent from the network topology and can be used for microsegmentation of layer 2 network. Both layer 3 and layer 2 rules can be created.
Obviously all three firewall types can be combined and used together.
Managing Access to Distributed Firewall
There are four new access rights related to DFW in vCloud Director.
Manage Firewall
Configure Distributed Firewall Rules
View Distributed Firewall Rules
Enable / Disable Distributed Firewall
The last right is by default available only to system administrators, therefore the provider can control which tenant can and cannot use DFW and it can thus be offered as a value added service. The provider can either enable DFW selectively for specific Org VDCs or alternatively grant Enable/Disable Distributed Firewall right to a specific organization via API. The tenant can enable DFW by himself.
Distributed Firewall under the Hood
Each tenant is given a section in the NSX firewall table and can only apply rules to VMs and Edge Gateways in his domain. There is one section for each Org VDC that has DFW enabled and it is created always on top.
Edit 3/14/2017: In fact it is possible to create the section at the bottom just above the default section. This allows provider to create its own section on the top which will be always enforced first. The use case for this could be service network.
To force creation of the section at the bottom the firewall must be enabled with API call with?append=true at the end.
Example:
POST https://vcloud.fojta.com/network/firewall/vdc/be0f2baa-d36f-47f0-8443-3c5cac231ba5?append=true
As tenants could have overlapping IPs all rules in the section are scoped to a security group with dynamic membership of tenant Org VDC resource pools and thus will be applied only to VMs in the Org VDC.
Tenants can create layer 3 (IP based) or layer 2 (MAC based) rules while using the following objects when defining them:
IP address, IP/MAC sets
Virtual Machine
Org VDC Network
Org VDC
Note that using L3 non-IP based rules requires NSX to learn IP address(es) of the guest VM. One of the following mechanism must be enabled:
VMware Tools installed in guest VM
DHCP Snooping IP Detection Type
ARP Snooping IP Detection Type
IP Detection Type is configured in NSX at Cluster Level in Host Preparation tab.
Scope for each rule can be defined in Applied To column. As mentioned before by default it is set to the Org VDC, however tenant can further limit the scope of the rule to a particular VM, or Org VDC network (note that vApp network cannot be used). It is also possible to apply the rule to Org VDC Edge Gateway, in such case the rule is actually created and enforced on the Edge Gateway as pre-rule which has precedence over all other firewall rules defined at that Edge Gateway.
Tenant can enable logging of a specific firewall rule with API by editing <rule … logged=”true|false”> element. NSX then logs the first session packet matching the rule to ESXi host log with tenant specific tag (Org VDC UUID subset string). The provider can then filter such logs and forward them to tenants with its own syslog solution.
AdvertisementsRediscovering the Dadao: A Forgotten Legacy of the Chinese Martial Arts.
Any review of the history of the Chinese martial arts in the 20th century will quickly suggest that these civilian art forms have, at various points, been co-opted and used to advance the aims of the state. Both the Nationalist (GMD) “Guoshu” program and the later Communist (CCP) “Wushu” movement sought to use the martial arts to strengthen the people, improve public health and build a sense of nationalism. However, these movements have also had a darker side. In times of conflict both national and local leaders have used them to militarize the population, supporting paramilitary organizations and guerrilla forces. These activities were widespread during both Second Sino-Japanese War (WWII from an American perspective) and the long running Chinese Civil War. Some martial arts schools, such as the Foshan Hung Sing Association (which was closely aligned with the CCP during the 1920s and 1930s) continue to promote and glorify these stories today.
Nowhere is the association between the martial arts and the militarization of the population more evident than in the creation of “Dadao Teams” between the 1920s and the 1940s. Receiving a contract to train one of these organizations on behalf of a political party, or other organization, was a major source of pride and an important form of economic patronage for civilian martial artists. In southern China (my own geographic area of expertise) leaders in the Hung Gar, Choy Li Fut and Pakmei styles (among others) were all actively engaged in training of citizen militias which were subsequently embroiled in a number of conflicts.
It goes without saying that a truly effective militia would have to be armed with modern rifles. However, the weapon that most captured the public’s imagination, becoming the defacto symbol of the paramilitary organization during this period, was the Dadao. This blade caught the mood of the country for many reasons. It harkened back to a romanticized view of the past, and it advertised the “martial skill” and attainment of the one who could wield it. It was a visually impressive weapon and had a long association with the less pleasant aspects of Chinese law enforcement. In fact, the Dadao was often an implement of terror.
This is the critical aspect of this weapon that is so often overlooked by modern martial artists with romantic notions about the past. Individuals often wonder why Chinese troops were issued a cumbersome bladed weapon as late as the 1930s. Surely this would be ineffective against Japanese machine guns and artillery?
China’s military officers were often poorly equipped and stretched to the limit, but they were not stupid. They realized that the Dadao would have limited value on the modern battlefield. Yet much of China’s brutal civil war revolved around capturing, controlling and projecting authority into villages and urban areas. The Dadao proved to be an effective means of producing terror, and therefore compliance, within the civilian population.
The weapon had another advantage as well. It could be produced very cheaply in almost any small shop or forge in the country. China was certainly capable of producing modern weapons (though admittedly their quality was variable). But it was still cheaper to arm the home guards, militias and second line troops with traditional weapons such as the spear and the Dadao. These troops often receive the rudimentary training they needed from local martial artists, and while they were not effective on the battlefield, they could be a useful resource when it came to the more mundane tasks of maintaining order and dealing with traitors. It was these two factors, the cheapness of the Dadao as a second line weapon, and the terror that it inspired as a tool of public control, that ensured the weapon’s survival well into the mid-20th century.
Currently the Dadao is enjoying something of a revival among students of the Chinese martial artis. The growing sense of nationalism within mainland China, and increased curiosity about history in the West, are conspiring to bring the Dadao back into the training hall after a nearly half century absence. The recent uptick in the popularity of “realistic” weapons training also seems to be accelerating this general trend. Further, it was so popular in the 1920s and 1930s that there are many different styles of use just waiting to be “discovered” and reconstructed.
Both practical and historical students of the Chinese martial arts might benefit from a brief description of these weapons as they actually existed and were used from the closing years of the Qing dynasty through the end of WWII. We are also fortunate in that this period is extensively documented. This provides us with the sorts of photographs and accounts that students of earlier periods of martial history can only wish for. All of this makes the sudden rise and fall of the Dadao a good case study for change and adaptation within the Chinese martial arts more generally.
One could easily write a book on the Dadao and what it reveals about the evolution of the Chinese martial arts and their ever evolving relationship with society. Clearly such a project is beyond the scope of this article. Instead I hope to use a number of historically important pictures to suggest the basic outline of this story. A more comprehensive treatment will have to wait for a later date.
However, there are number of outstanding issues that must be addressed before we can undertake even a brief review. First, there is little consensus as to how to best translate “Dadao” into English. The character used for “Da” means “big” or “large.” “Dao” translates to “single edged knife.” Unfortunately “Dao” does not imply anything about the length of the knife in question or its intended purpose. A paring knife or a cavalry saber can both be referred to with this same term in Chinese.
This causes confusion when students of the Chinese martial arts speak in English with non-specialists. They are often adamant that a Chinese military saber should be called a “knife”, which is technically correct in Chinese, but is absurd in English. A literal translation for Dadao would be “big knife.” Yet when talking about a weapon that might be three feet long and requires two hands to wield, such a rendering seems calculated to cause confusion.
Some martial arts teachers refer to the Dadao as the “military machete.” While this does not attempt to be an exact translation of anything it does provide the reader with a basic visual image of what is being discussed. The broad blade of the Dadao does (to some degree) resemble the short broad blade of a jungle machete. It is also the sort of tool that one might expect military troops to carry.
Still, there are problems with this translation. It implies that the Dadao might be a tool with some sort of practical application. I suspect that this is mistaken. I have never run across an account that indicates that these weapons were useful “camp tools” in the same way that a kukri or a machete might be. The Dadao is a purpose-built chopper. The blade of the machete is thin and flat to cut vegetation without resistance. Most Dadaos have a much heavier blade with a triangular profile. They are really only good for hacking through flesh and bone. The heft of the weapon is distinctively ax-like.
For all of these reasons I favor translating Dadao as the “military big-saber.” This should be enough to convey that we are dealing with a single edged weapon that differs from other, more conventional sabers. It also has the added advantage of being a somewhat popular solution to our linguistic quandary.
Our second problem has to do with the photos below. I gathered most of these off the internet and while I have spent a couple of hours trying to figure out where they were originally published, that has not always been possible. The circular republication of vintage material with no attribution of its ultimate origin is a problem in a lot of the Chinese language literature on the martial arts. If any reader has firm information about the origins of an unlabeled photo, please let me know in the comments. I am currently trying to collect this information.
Origins of the Dadao
Our first puzzle has to do with the early development and adoption of the Dadao. While 20th century examples of these weapons are quite common, very few examples can be reliably dated to the early Qing dynasty. This is odd as Qing military regulations dictated that a number of these swords should be issued to every unit, but evidently they did not survive in great numbers. Occasionally weapons turn up on the antique market with very early dates or are even attributed to the “Ming era.” Great caution is required as few swords from the Ming period have survived at all and I don’t think I have ever seen a Military Big-Saber that dates to this period.
Still, one school of thought basically holds that the modern 20th century Dadao is a resurrection, or a re-imagination, of a classic Ming era weapon. While similar weapons seem to have become less fashionable during the early Qing (though regulations did exist for its use in the army), stories of the Ming dynasty and the exploits of its heroes became quite popular in the 19th century. When republished these stories were often illustrated with copies of Ming era illustrations, or with new images of heroes dressed in Ming style cloths with antique weapons. Their swords often featured ring shaped pommels and clip point blades. In fact, many of the same fashion styles were preserved in both Mandarin and Cantonese theater companies so people were fairly familiar with them.
The end result of all of this is that the image and the lore of the Dadao was easily available for anyone seeking to resurrect the glory days of China’s martial past. It was occasionally seen in the official military, and it was often featured in stories and popular fiction. Further, the simple blade and ring pommel design would have been fairly easy to produce compared to the more complex dao’s of the mid-Qing. Such swords were often favored by the various “Big Sword” militia groups that became increasingly common from the end to the Taiping Rebellion onward. The arms of these groups carried romantic associations with the past and often included the ringed pommels. However, they featured a wide variety of blade types from long sabers to short heavy choppers. While the idea of the “Big Sword” was a common symbol in 19th peasant militias, I haven’t seen much evidence to indicate that they standardized on any one weapon in particular.
A second theory is that the modern Dadao actually has little to do with its ancient predecessors or weapons used by the Imperial military. There is at least some evidence to support the assertion that a Dadao is basically an enlarged and modified farm tool. This would hardly be the first time that a farm implement found its way onto the battlefield. The Nepalese kukri was an agricultural tool long before it was used by the British Gurkha’s in WWI. It might also help to explain why Chinese smiths often made the blades of the Dadao shorter than one might expect for a weapon. They may have had some other pattern in mind when doing their work.
If you look at antique farm implements, or even wander around a traditional food market in Hong Kong or Shanghai, you will see lots of chopping knives that look like scaled down versions of a Dadao. Often these seem to be favored by vendors selling tough skinned fruits or vegetables. Butchers simply use the traditional cleaver. Still, while similar in shape and function, there is a world of difference between the Dadao and a “watermelon knife.”
A third suggestion that I have seen offered is that the Qing era civilian Dadao is really a modified pole weapon. The Chinese military traditionally employed a number of pole-mounted choppers, and the blades of these weapons resemble the basic size and profile of a Dadao. The type of riveted handle seen on many Dadaos is also very similar to the long riveted tang that is preferred in the construction of large heavy choppers. The handles of normal sabers or “Daos” are peaned in place, rather than riveted.
This theory may have something to it. In antique auctions I have personally seen Dadaos constructed from much older pole mounted choppers whose shafts had been lost or broken. This sort of recycling was pretty common on the “Rivers and Lakes” of China. Further, for reasons that we will explore below, there are no standard measurements for what a “regulation” Dadao must be. This is not say that various self-appointed experts did not have opinions on the matter. They certainly did. Yet seems that few manufactures were actually listening all that closely. For instance, some examples being made up through the mid 20th century continued to have very long handles. It is not always clear whether a given weapon should be classified as a Dadao (Military Big-Saber) or Pudao (Horse Cutting Knife).
At the moment I do not feel that there is enough evidence to speak decisively on the evolution of the Dadao and its subsequent adoption by civilian martial artists. What we do know is that the coming of the Qing Imperial army privileged the conventional saber as it could be used from horseback whereas the two handed Dadao is strictly an infantry weapon. While the heavy chopper seems to have faded from public consciousness it never totally disappeared and it’s popularity among civilian martial artists, bandits, guards and paramilitary organizations exploded during the final decades of the 19th century. This resurgence in popularity was further boosted in the 1920s and 1930s.
These groups were likely attracted to the Dadao for three reasons. First it provided a visual connection to the romanticized Ming dynasty. Second, it was a simple weapon that could be produced practically anywhere. Lastly, being a double handed weapon individuals who had grown up using farm tools (and that was pretty much everyone in China) could master it relatively quickly. What it lacked in range or sophistication it made up for with its immense slashing and chopping power.
The Dadao as an Instrument of Police Control in Late Imperial and Republican China.
Modern researchers and collectors are fortunate in that we have copies of the official regulations governing weapons bought by the Qing government for the imperial armies.
While the single handed saber was clearly the preferred weapon, enough period choppers survive to attest their use in the Qing army. These weapons came in two official varieties. The “kuanren dadao” is a very large weapon, more on the scale of a horse knife. The Qing-era “chuanweidao” is smaller and shows more similarities to the modern Dadao.
Period photographs give us a good visual record of how these swords were actually being used by the end of the Qing dynasty. Not many photos of Qing era troops armed with any sort of sword at all survive from the final decades of the dynasty. From the end of the Taiping rebellion on, all main-line Qing troops had modern rifles. By the time of the Boxer Uprising they also had modern machine guns and artillery. Officers continued to carry swords, but increasingly even these followed European patterns.
The one place where the Dadao really seems to have survived was in law enforcement. Specifically, public executions and beheadings were often carried out with the dadao or some sort of similar, often very short, chopping blade.
The picture below records two executioners displaying their weapons prior to the public beheading of the perpetrators of the 1895 “Kucheng Massacre.” This is an important photo for a number of reasons. To begin with it has a clear provenance and is linked to specific, date, place and historical incident.
The weapons being displayed are also quite interesting. The gentleman on the left has what appears to be a fine Japanese Tachi. Note that the flash from the camera has illuminated a section of active hamon at the base of the blade. One can only wonder how this sword ended up in the arsenal of the local yamen. It is a good reminder that the Chinese have been very interested in Japanese swords since at least the Ming.
The other executioner carries a short, heavy bladed chopper. It has a simple guard and the handle, almost as long as the blade, is wrapped in cotton cloth (probably colored red). The blade looks too small for its intended task, yet execution swords were often not much longer than this.
The Dadao was also seen in urban police and law enforcement units. Chinese governments worked hard to establish modern law enforcement in the major urban areas between 1900 and 1930. Some of these reform efforts drew on western ideas of “scientific” criminology and law enforcement, others did not. Very often 3-4 different types of law enforcement might be operating in a major city at one time. For instance, there might be a model western style police force under the control of one office, a group of plain cloths detectives (who were expected to be close to, or even part of, the criminal underground) who answered to a different office and lastly there were usually patrols of military police to maintain “public order” in the street. In cities such as Shanghai the situation could be even more complex.
For much of the early 20th century it was the “military police” that one would most likely see in public spaces. Under both the Qing and Republic governments these individuals were normally regular infantry soldiers who were assigned to the task. Often soldiers from a different part of China were chosen to be law enforcement officers as it was thought (usually incorrectly) that linguistic difficulties and regional animosities would make them less susceptible to local corruption.
These police officers would generally travel in small groups of between 4-6 individuals. They might include an officer or a Sargent who acted as the leader, 2-3 individuals who could apprehend criminals, and an executioner. Individuals who were caught stealing or causing disorder in the market place would be apprehended, bound and usually beheaded in the middle of the street after a very brief “trial.”
It is important to realize that early 20th century China was a highly volatile place. The government, whether run by the Qing, the Republic or individual Warlords, attempted to keep the population in check through what amounted to a continuing campaign of public terror. This is how the Dadao was first seen by most of China’s citizens. It was the living embodiment of the state’s monopoly on legitimate violence.
Dadaos in the Republic of China and Warlord armies of the 1920s-1930s.
One cannot underestimate how strong these symbols are or how deeply engrained they become in the public psyche. The situation in China was complicated by the fact that large parts of the nation’s leadership and population did not agree on who held actual political authority and the rights to exercise public violence that went with it. As a result Nationalist (GMD) revolutionaries were quick to adopt the Dadao as a tool of public law and order after they succeeded the Qing. They too employed military police and the display of the Dadao left the public in no doubt as to who could claim rightful control of the state.
Nor were they the only group to realize the political utility in the Dadao. Bandit gangs and armies in the central plains and western China had long valued the Dadao for its more practical attributes. As these gangs were gathered into the various “Warlord Armies” they took the Dadao with them. Even though they were now armed with rifles, handguns and grenades, the Dadao remained a powerful symbol of both the personal and corporate “will to power.”
It was the soldiers of these western armies that would bring the Dadao to the attention of the wider world through their desperate attempts to defend the Great Wall against Japanese advances in 1933, and then the “Marco Pillar Bridge Incident” where they defeated a superior Japanese force using a Dadao charge in 1937. In their hands the Dadao became a dual symbol to the outside world. It represented the fact that the Chinese people were willing to fight for their own freedom (something that was often doubted in the West), but it also encapsulated and reinforced nearly a century’s worth of fears and prejudices. The personal nature of this weapon seemed to suggest that the Chinese reveled in violence and brutality, and were still “less than civilized.” In China public executions and the Dadao acted as a twin symbolic code for “political authority” and “legitimacy.” Unfortunately these symbols did not translate well in the more liberal west.
The domestic situation in China was different. If anything the importance of the Dadao as both a practical and symbolic weapon increased as the 1920s turned to the 1930s. After the rupture with the Nationalist Party (GMD), and the subsequent outbreak of violence with the Japanese, the CCP began to form larger militia units. These groups were expected to both fight the GMD and the Japanese, as well as to pacify and hold segments of the country side. Once again, the Dadao was a featured weapon in their arsenal.
Other paramilitary groups, such as railway police units, were also quick to adopt the Dadao during this period. As a matter of fact, it is among these other troops that the Dadao is most commonly encountered. I have looked through enough photos of military units during the Republic of China period to conclude that the Dadao was actually rarely encountered among front-line infantry troops. While there certainly were “Big Sword Teams” within the main body of the Nationalist Army, they were an exception rather than the rule. Most often such swords are seen in the hands of special forces troops, military police, local militia, paramilitary revolutionaries and railway guards. All of these groups were more likely to deal with the domestic population than the Japanese.
The Dadao as a Paramilitary and Militia Weapon
Selection bias is an issue that every military historian must confront. There are a handful of photographs and historical accounts of the Dadao’s use by Republic of China (ROC) troops which have had a disproportionate impact on how we imagine the weapon in the west today. In reality most troops in the various ROC armies were not organized into “Big Sword Teams” and we are still talking about the “Marco Polo Bridge Incident” because such events are so rare. In fact, the story of this supposed triumph is really a very sad tale. If the Chinese troops had been better armed, reinforced and had more ammunition they would not have been forced to close with the Japanese and engage them with swords and bayonets in the first place. It is hard to imagine that there were really any commanders in the war hardened Chinese army of the 1930s or 1940s that actually wanted to engage the enemy with a sword charge.
Militia and paramilitary groups were in a different situation. These were basically local support troops. Their job was usually to secure rear areas and maintain order in the countryside. They were not expected to act as front-line troops. As we have already seen, the Dadao had a long and respected relationship with “law and order.” While the modern collectors like to focus on the “Marco Polo Bridge Incident,” the actual truth is that these swords were much more likely to be used in the commission of “police actions” or (war crimes, depending on one’s perspective) than anything else. For that purpose they proved quite effective.
They were also favored by militias for a number of other reasons. While Mauser rifles were cheap enough that warlord armies and criminal gangs could buy them by the crate, the same could not be said of local militia. These small groups were often comprised of struggling farmers just trying to get enough to eat and feed their families. Modern rifles and large stocks of ammunition were often not an option for militia groups.
As a result, both spears and Dadaos tended to be frequently seen in peasant groups and revolutionary societies. These weapons could be quickly produced by any local smith, and they often helped to augment the few modern rifles that were laying around the village. In this sort of landscape the Dadao was still a very effective weapon. The Dadao also had a certain cache in peasant circles as it harkened back to the “Big-Sword” militias of the 19th century and the vast body of folklore that surrounds them.
Swords were also favored by the martial arts teachers who often served as instructors of militia groups or other civilian paramilitary organizations. Most Chinese martial arts had sword forms in their repertoire and these could be simplified to fit the Dadao. Further, as a two handed chopping weapon it was not totally unfamiliar to the peasant troops who were asked to use it.
In southern China Cheung Lai Chuen, the founder of Pak |
continue to update this system!Now you can see your teammate's name on their heads. :)A. Added network error reconnect functionB. Fixed issue that could cause kickout after a client attacked an enemyFAL - Orange qualityBlackStar - Red legendary qualityCheck out the level profile and find out how to unlock them. :)In this version, we re-optimized the detection logic of the interaction between the player and the object, increasing the collision detection volume of the object, now grabbing experience is better.In this version, we have enhanced the vibration feedback during weapon operation, especially in hardcore mode, feedback from the operation will be fed back into your hands.In this version, all weapons with a silencer will be slightly more powerful than the un-installed version, rather than the original.Really hope you can enjoy the content of this new version. If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave a message. We will continue to improve the content of the game!Thanks!INTOGAMESNova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil has his second majority, although he might not have any more fingernails.
Throughout the dying days of the election campaign, Liberal organizers — and McNeil — said they believed the party was on track to win a second majority government. But they likely didn't expect the serpentine path that awaited them Tuesday night (and early Wednesday morning). It wasn't until almost 1 a.m. AT that the Grits officially had the numbers they needed.
If there was an image that prevailed from the 2013 election campaign when everything went McNeil's way and the Liberals faced little opposition, it was a stop at a seniors' home in Truro where he shared an impromptu dance with one of the residents. Even the best photo-ops found him during that campaign.
Battle scars add up
Over the last few years, after repeated fights with organized labour, the photo-ops started to change. Frequently they involved hundreds, if not thousands, of protesters outside Province House. And on one memorable day they involved the premier flanked by a half dozen police officers as he was escorted from the legislature to his office after a particularly controversial vote, protesters held at bay at the end of a blocked-off street.
Didn't stay up til the bitter end last night? Here's how the Nova Scotia election results came in Tuesday night, in 90 seconds. 1:40
This election was never going to be as easy as the last and McNeil, as politically astute as he is, knew that as well as anyone. But even he likely didn't foresee losing his House leader and long-time confidant, Michel Samson, or Community Services Minister Joanne Bernard, both of whom were defeated by first-time candidates for the Tories and NDP, respectively.
Opposition parties had pushed a narrative that McNeil wasn't listening and that health care was in shambles because of him and his team. During his acceptance speech in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the premier seemed to give a nod to some of those problems when he said he'd heard people and he's listening. He specifically mentioned Cape Breton, where in the last month hundreds of people have attended health-care rallies and doctors have stuck their necks out publicly.
Baillie not going anywhere
Nova Scotia PC Leader Jamie Baillie, centre, arrives with his family before delivering a speech to supporters at his headquarters in Springhill on election night. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press)
Cape Breton might be Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie's favourite place in the province right now.
It came through for the Tory leader in a big way, in terms of both seats and vote share, capped by the improbable defeat of Samson. Baillie said during the campaign that health care was the No. 1 issue and that voters were telling him that. In the case of Cape Breton, at least, that certainly seemed to be true.
Like all three party leaders, Baillie said throughout the campaign he was in it to win it. But that was always going to be an enormous hill to climb.
While he isn't premier, he certainly did enough to fend off concerns about people gunning for his job. He addressed the issue before anyone else could, saying in his speech to supporters he would continue to lead the party.
By picking up seven seats and making major vote-share gains, it would be a tall task right now for anyone to try to wrestle the job away from him.
From the gallery to the front benches
Nova Scotia NDP leader Gary Burrill celebrates with supporters in Halifax after winning his seat. (The Canadian Press)
And what of NDP Leader Gary Burrill?
Once thought by some factions of the NDP as a potentially catastrophic choice to lead the party, Burrill was more emboldened than ever as he spoke to a ballroom full of supporters after winning his seat and promising to make the issues he champions a regular part of the conversation at Province House.
His win means he won't have to worry about questions of his political future, and will take a seat with colleagues in the legislative chamber, as opposed to watching from the public gallery at Province House.
He's joined by six other members, some returning and some new, and a party with a renewed sense of hope after the crushing defeat of 2013 that sent their first and only government to the electoral hinterlands.
Try telling Burrill and his team they weren't winners Tuesday night.
What's it mean for Province House?
What all of this means for when Province House resumes sitting remains to be seen.
McNeil struck a conciliatory tone during his speech, pledging to work with Baillie and Burrill on common goals such as improving health care, helping those less fortunate and making it easier for young people to stay and work in Nova Scotia.
But he's also a man who still has a majority, still has a plan, and so it probably should not be a surprise that he wouldn't pledge to alter the budget he introduced before this election was called. After all, he doesn't need to. He has the votes. He's been down this road before.
Unlike 2013, McNeil didn't dance away with anything on Tuesday. But for the first time in a while, he seemed to be having a good time and a weight seemed lifted off his shoulders. For at least one night, he and his political opponents had that in common.With the announcement that I will be moving to a new domain early next year, I feel it’s the perfect time to combine it with a new mapping challenge.
In this challenge, I want you to make a map with 4 distinct sections:
Section 1: RUN
Section 2: THINK
Section 3: SHOOT
Section 4: LIVE
Section 1 should be a race. A race against time where the player has to move and move fast. We call that running and that’s what I want the player to have to do. I imagine that at this point the player has little or no chance of winning if they stop and fight. Sometimes you just gotta RUN and fight another day.
Section 2 is about thinking. Solving a puzzle, find a way around an obstacle, something where brains not brawns are needed.
Section 3 is about shooting. Either killing lots of enemies or some sort of accuracy challenge. Could be with any weapon in any situation.
Section 4 is about that feeling of survival. It could be reaching a goal seen at the beginning or just moving onto to another adventure. Use of music and setting will be very important in this section.
As a whole, the map should take the player through each section, either clearly defined or subtly if you prefer.
As this is a challenge, I am more interested in the whole than the details. I will even accept orange dev textures if the actual gameplay is good enough,a lthough you have MUCH longer than usual, so I would prefer properly polished entries.
Deadline
This challenge has a much longer time span than most others.
The deadline for submitting maps is:
Monday 5th January at 12pm GMT
That’s just over 5 weeks.
General Advice
DO NOT GET TOO AMBITIOUS. If you can’t build it in 3 1/2 weeks then think smaller. Something is bound to delay your progress. Leave time for testing, bug fixing and polishing!
Testing
I highly recommend The Beta Testers Collective.
But since it is holiday time, please make sure you give them plenty of time to test.
Of course, you can get anybody you want to test your maps, but the BTC are very good at it and provide excellent feedback.
Prize Money
It’s been a while since I provided prize money as it both encourages and discourages mappers.
I have yet to decide the exact amount in the prize fund but I think it will be around $100 US Dollars.
If you would like to contribute some cash to add to the fund, please let me know.
Depending on the number of entries, it will probably go something like this: Winner $75 and Honourable mention: $25
Judging Criteria
Since I am putting the money up (from your kind donations), I will select the winner.
If you are serious about entering and want to win, I suggest playing the other mapping competitions/challenges and see which ones I preferred.
General Rules
Maximum two maps per mapper per competition.
The map must be original and not have been released publicly before.
The map must run in system with only Ep2 installed
By entering the competition you grant PlanetPhillip.Com and RunThinkShootLive.Com the right to release the map as part of the RTSLVille Mod.
Maps must not appear before the release and for one month after the release of the mod.
No assets from retail games other than HL2, HL2: Ep1 or HL2: Ep2 are allowed.
Other assets are allowed with written permission from their original authors, which MUST be included in the entry.
Phillip’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into about it.
The map MUST have a proper name.
The map MUST have a proper filename: MapName_rtslv.bsp
All entries must be sent to: planetphillip@gmail.com no later than the deadline.
Bonus Map
There is no bonus map for this challenge.
Final Thoughts
I think this is the most open theme I have had in a long time, but also focsued enough that it provides clear guidelines for all modders.
If you have ANY questions, please don’t hesitate to ask, either here in the comments or by email if you prefer a private answer.A Conservative-linked phone campaign to voters in Liberal MP Irwin Cotler's Montreal riding has prompted the industry association for market research firms to move ahead with a complaint resolution panel.
The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association is striking a panel on Campaign Research, the firm that handles voter identification and other research for the Conservative Party of Canada, after six members of the public and one member firm logged complaints about the phone campaign.
Campaign Research made calls to voters in Mount Royal, where Cotler has been the MP since winning a 1999 byelection.
According to a constituent who spoke to CBC News, and to Cotler's staff, the callers falsely told them Cotler was stepping down and a byelection was imminent.
Nick Kouvalis, a principal at Campaign Research, told CTV that wasn't in the script.
Robocalls 'definitely of concern'
The Marketing Research and Intelligence Association is a voluntary organization, but has a complaint resolution process for issues with its member firms.
Brendan Wycks, head of the association, says Campaign Research had 30 days to discuss its work in Mount Royal with those who complained and try to resolve the complaints. It wasn't able to do so, and the association is now moving to strike a three-person panel. The panel can recommend one of three options:
Censure.
Membership suspension.
Expulsion.
Wycks says reports of automated calls, or robocalls, in Guelph, Ont., in the last federal election are "definitely of concern."
"There is sort of a public perception that there is a bit of a connection between what they're doing and legitimate marketing research," he said. "There's no direct connection. What they're doing couldn't be more remote from legitimate statistical science-based marketing research and survey research."
The calls in Guelph claimed to be from Elections Canada and directed voters to the wrong polling stations. Elections Canada doesn't keep voters' phone numbers and communicates through other methods if there are changes on election day.
Wycks says Racknine, the call centre through which the robocalls were placed, is not now a member and never has been.
He says his association's members aren't permitted to do that type of political advocacy and voter intention work because it's in essence telemarketing and sales.Rep. Mike McCaul walked back his initial statements. | AP Photo RNC denies it was hacked
House Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCaul said that he “misspoke” Wednesday when he told CNN that Russian hackers had penetrated the computer systems of the Republican National Committee.
In a statement released shortly after his TV appearance ended, McCaul (R-Texas) said it was "Republican political operatives," not the RNC, that had been hacked. The RNC also swiftly denied that its systems had been breached.
Story Continued Below
On CNN, McCaul had said that Russian hackers had attacked both political parties in an effort to “infuse chaos into our election system coming up in November.”
"It’s important to note, Wolf, that they have hacked not only hacked into the DNC but also into the RNC,” McCaul said in an appearance on CNN's "The Situation Report" with Wolf Blitzer. “So they are not discriminating one party against the others. The Russians have basically hacked into both parties at the national level and that gives us all concern about what their motivations are.”
Republican National Committee communications director and chief strategist Sean Spicer wrote on Twitter that there had been “no known breach of @gop networks,” contradicting McCaul, who said that the RNC had been informed of the breach.
The Texas congressman said he had learned of the breach “based upon the briefings I have” but said he could not go into further detail. He said he did not know the extent of the damage done to RNC networks or what data the hackers were able to retrieve. McCaul also said the hacking of the RNC is currently being investigated by the FBI.
While McCaul said there is concern that Russia could try to actually influence the outcome of the November presidential election, he said there is not evidence of hacking in key battleground states, seeming to contradict reports in the Washington Post and elsewhere.
“It's not really so much the influence but rather to undermine the integrity of our election systems and our democracy and our way of life,” he said. “That's what the Russians, I think, are trying to do here is undermine democracy itself and the United States as a whole, not just Republican or Democrat.”
McCaul's office later said he had been referring to open-source reports and other briefings.
In August, POLITICO reported that D.C. Leaks, a site that has been linked to Russian intelligence services, had published a small cache of emails from campaign staffers from several Republican politicians, including Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain -- both fierce critics of Russia. On Tuesday, D.C. Leaks published an archive of emails from Colin Powell, the Republican former secretary of state under George W. Bush.
In July, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said the committee may be more secure than its Democratic counterpart, whose emails were hacked and published by WikiLeaks. Emails showing top DNC officials showing favoritism toward Hillary Clinton led to the resignation of Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, then the party's chairwoman, on July 24.
"Well, maybe they did and we have a better system at the Republican Party," Priebus told NBC host Andrea Mitchell, who had asked why the RNC's networks had not been similarly breached.
"Maybe our, maybe our folks are better at securing our email and our cloud and our data than the DNC," he said. "I don't know what the answer to that is, Andrea, but at this point, we haven't been hacked. And we don't expect to be. And we're monitoring it every day, but, I can assure if someone hacked my emails, they wouldn't find me calculating against particular candidates, and that's not something that I would do."- Development
Nintendo Co., Ltd., Nintendo Technology Development Inc., Nintendo Software Technology Corporation, Retro
Studios, Inc., Nintendo European Research and Development SAS, iQue (China) Ltd., ND CUBE Co., Ltd., 1-UP Studio Inc., MONOLITH SOFTWARE INC., Mario Club Co., Ltd. Click to expand...
What's interesting I've noticed is that iQue has a different role now.
In the previous year they were listed as a Sales subsidiary, this year they are now listed as a Development subsidiary.
Last year their business transactions were described as "Purchasing parts from the Company and entrusted license of manufacturing and sale"
Now it says, "Entrusted development
of software" Click to expand...
Resetti said: ARMS is also Chinese-Ready ahead of the launch in TW.
All of them support Traditional and Simplified Chinese. Click to expand...
It took a while to figure this out but it's finally confirmed. Back when Nintendo released their Annual Report for 2017, they had iQue listed as a Development subsidiary as shown below.However, we didn't know what they were doing and also, in previous annual reports, they were a Sales subsidiary, not a Development one. Quoting one of my old posts:Now, we finally have proof of that. ARMS recently had an update to v4.1 that added Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional) and Korean to the language options ahead of the Switch launch in South Korea and Taiwan (It has been available in Hong Kong since March.)Here is a snapshot of the Credits:NHL Localisation is referring to Nintendo Hong Kong Localisation.iQue Localisation is listed there and, NOK Localisation is referring to Nintendo of Korea.So it's likely that iQue handles Simplified Chinese for localisation while Nintendo Hong Kong does Traditional Chinese.Edit: Posting from my other thread, this is a list of only the first party games for Switch with Chinese language options available ahead of the launch in Taiwan, I haven't confirmed that they contain both Simplified and Traditional Chinese but the language options and/or staff credits in these first party games will confirm it.Super Mario OdysseyXenoblade Chronicles 2Mario Kart 8 DeluxeFire Emblem WarriorsSnipperclipsLegend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2018)Update regarding the list of games I posted:Israeli forces in the eastern occupied Jerusalem village of al-Eizariya were caught on video on Friday posing for trophy photos as they held a wounded, handcuffed Palestinian child in a stranglehold.
The disturbing video, shot by Rami Alarya was published by the Independent Media Center (IMC), however that publication’s website, which regularly documents Israeli abuses in the village, appeared to be down.
The images in this post are screenshots from Alarya’s video.
The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) which translated IMC’s report provided this description and analysis:
The soldiers assaulted the child during clashes that took place in the [al-Eizariya] town, east of occupied East Jerusalem. One of the soldiers tried to push the cameraman, Alarya, and his colleague, Amin Alawya, away from the scene, and was yelling at them, “Enough, enough…. go away… what do you want…” Medical sources said the soldiers shot the child, Yassin al-Karaki, 13 years of age, with a rubber-coated metal bullet which hit the 13-year old in the leg. After he fell, the soldiers began assaulting and abusing him. The attack took place after soldiers, who hid in a building near the Annexation Wall in the Qabsa area, ambushed a group of children, and one of the soldiers opened fire on the children. Several soldiers then attacked and assaulted the wounded child before kidnapping him. The soldiers took pictures of themselves with the wounded child, and one soldier picked up a Molotov cocktail from the ground, while the child shouted in Hebrew, “it’s not mine, it’s not mine”, and a soldier responded, “it’s yours, it’s Ok … it’s yours”. One of the soldiers was holding him in a chokehold, and was mocking the child by imitating wrestling moves while other soldiers took pictures, although the child was barely able to breathe. The soldiers then placed the child in their jeep, while one of them was still filming the incident.
Trophies
In his book Goliath, The Electronic Intifada contributor Max Blumenthal writes that such so-called “trophy” photos have a long tradition in many military forces, including Israel’s.
Blumenthal recalls a series of such photographs released several years ago by Breaking the Silence, an Israeli group which documents testimonies of Israeli soldiers while protecting their identities:
Among the disturbing shots culled from Facebook pages belonging to young Israelis was a photo of four smiling troops towering over a blindfolded preadolescent Palestinian girl kneeling at the point of their machine guns; a pretty female soldier smiling winsomely beside a blindfolded Palestinian man cuffed to a plastic chair; two soldiers posing triumphantly above a disheveled corpse lying in the street like a piece of discarded trash; a soldier pumping his rifle in the air directly behind an older Palestinian woman tending to pots on her kitchen stove; a soldier defacing the walls of a home in Gaza by spray-painting a star of David and the phrase, “Be Right Back”; troops in the Gaza Strip playing with and posing beside corpses stripped half nude in acts of post-mortem humiliation; a young soldier mockingly applying makeup from a Pal- estinian woman’s dresser. The Facebook pages were so replete with documents of humiliation, domination, and violence it seemed that army basic training had been led by Marquis de Sade.
Blumenthal sees these images as documents of a “colonial culture in which Jewish Israeli youth became conditioned to act as sadistic overlords toward their Palestinian neighbors, and of a perpetual conquest that demanded indoctrination” beginning “at an early age” and continuing “perpetually throughout their lives.”
The latest shocking images from occupied Jerusalem are proof that this ugly tradition persists.How long do you think it's going to take before this guy starts spinning the backlash from this into some stupid MTV reality show. They'll have Diddy pumping free gas for people while Farnsworth Bentley holds that stupid fucking umbrella up his ass. Or grabbing people out of the airport and giving them a free ride in his jet.
This guy is the worst kind of whore. If it weren't for Biggie, this no talent ass clown really would be pumping gas now. The only skills this guy possesses is having creative friends. He just whores them out and sits back and makes all the money.
But in the end, his hubris will be his downfall. I don't condone at all the fact that this guy is going to catch so much shit for this clip because I think we are way to sensitive about these kinds of things. But I can't wait to see this tool sucking the big media dick when everyone turns on him.First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support and for welcoming me to OilersNation.com! The kind comments and words of encouragement did not go unnoticed. It is because of the response I received from the Soup Sisters post that I decided to come back and share more with you.
My New Landing Spot
I joined the Ronald McDonald House Northern Alberta communications team a few weeks ago, and I couldn’t be happier to have found such an incredible opportunity. My passion for volunteer work has turned into a career that I’m proud of and proud to share with you today. Of course, giving back to the city of Edmonton, now our home, is a reward on its own.
McHappy Day
On Wednesday, May 7th, we’re raising money for children’s charities across Canada with McHappy Day. One dollar from every Happy Meal, Big Mac and any hot McCafe beverage will be donated to children’s charities, including Ronald McDonald Houses in Canada.
Do you stop for coffee on your way to work or have time to grab a bite during a lunch break? Consider swinging by your local McDonald’s restaurant. Chances are, you’ll meet an RMHNA employee or even a family staying at our House.
You’re Invited
If you do participate, feel free to let me know with a tweet. I’ll retweet any McHappy Day messages sent to me, especially those with photos. My team and I will be visiting multiple locations throughout Edmonton, so check out my twitter feed to see if we’re coming to a restaurant near you!
Do you have a charity or non-profit organization that means a lot to you? I’d love to learn about it. And if you want to get involved with your Ronald McDonald House in Edmonton, I’ll show you how. Come by for a tour- I’d be honoured to show you around.
Actually, I’ll let my friend Kyler tell you why the Ronald McDonald House is such a special place. He gets bonus points for being an Oilers fan, right?It was no doubt intended to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, but the Islamic State's latest video appears far more playground than battleground.
ISIS today released footage from its training camps, showing recruits disguised as bushes and performing clumsy roly-polies in scenes that could come straight from hit satirical film Four Lions.
The video bears all the hallmarks of the slickly edited propaganda material regularly pumped out by the terror group's media arm to dramatic effect.
From this evidence, however, their next generation of'special forces' are far from being a well-oiled machine.
Hop to it: : An Islamic State recruit prepares to pick up a machine gun while doing a forward roll at a terror camp in Iraq or Syria in the latest training video released by the extremist group
Awkward maneouvre: The jihadi grapples with the weapon as he tumbles over in this bizarre drill
Unconvincing He grimaces as he struggles to point the weapon at an imaginery target while lying on his back
Bumbling: Other drills show them performing unnecessary forward rolls over a mound which would leave them far more exposed to enemy fire than keeping low with a commando crawl
In one sequence, the militants are made to perform a forward roll while picking up a machine gun off the ground, a maneouvre that appears far slower than just... picking it up off the ground.
The clip shows them awkwardly grappling with the weapon as they tumble over and grimacing as they struggle to point it at an imaginary target while lying on their back with their legs in the air.
Other drills show them performing unnecessary forward rolls over a mound which would leave them far more exposed to enemy fire than keeping low with a commando crawl.
In other scenes, the recruits have a crack at martial arts by taking it turns to smash wall tiles over their own heads.
Another discipline sees them punching similar tiles being held by fellow jihadis in scenes more commonly associated with Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee than terrorism.
In other scenes, the recruits attempt martial arts by taking it turns to crack wall tiles over their own heads
Another discipline sees them punching the tiles being held by fellow jihadis in scenes more commonly associated with Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee than terrorism
Meanwhile, one nimble ninja shows off his moves with a series of air punches and kicks before ending the routine by doing the splits.
The art of camouflage also forms part of the training, with the recruits shown prowling the grounds of the terror camp dressed in foliage to simulate bush.
But they don't forget the skills needed for guerrilla warfare either, such as seen during the conflict that destroyed the Syrian town of Kobane.
For abseiling down buildings is also included in the training package, as demonstrated by some rather nervous-looking recruits seen clinging anxiously to the rope before sliding slowly down.
Hidden agenda: The art of camouflage also forms part of the training, with the recruits shown prowling the grounds of the terror camp dressed in foliage to simulate bush
The footage is far less sinister than other recent training videos released by the terror group, one of which in November showed boys as young as five being taught to use a handgun.
The extremists have also set up a school in Syria called Osama Bin Laden.
The religious school, named after the former leader of Al Qaeda, was opened in Manbij, a small town in the north.
The facility offers religious instruction classes for residents living in the town and classes in Islamic State’s extremist version of Sharia law.
Previous clips also showed more than 100 recruits learning combat skills at a training camp.
The six-minute video titled ‘The Blood of Jihad in Nineveh’ was posted on YouTube in October after being filmed in northern Iraq.
Skills needed for guerrilla warfare like abseiling down buildings are also included in the training programme
It sees the men waiting in line to be kicked in the stomach, being shot at while crawling along the ground and removing a wounded fighter from battle.
The latest video comes as the U.S.-led coalition staged 15 air strikes on ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria, the Combined Joint Task Force said today.
Five of the strikes were around the Syrian town of Kobane, where the coalition and Kurdish forces have been pushing back Islamic State.
They destroyed eight fighting positions and two checkpoints, as well as hitting tactical units hit.
Two strikes also were staged near Al Hasakah, Syria, the task force said in a statement.
Eight air strikes near six Iraqi towns hit fighting positions, tactical units, a weapon-storage facility, vehicles and buildings.
All the strikes were conducted between Wednesday and Thursday mornings, the statement said.Jordan has arrested a sheikh who recently ruled that Jews should have a place of prayer on the Temple Mount before retracting his statement, popular blogger Elder of Ziyon reported on Wednesday.
Jordanian Sheik Yassin Al-‘Ajlouni was taken into custody on the orders of the Administrative Governor of the Irbid Governorate. The “General Mufti Department” Attorney General had filed a lawsuit against Sheikh Ajlouni demanding that the Ministry of Education take “appropriate administrative action” against the preacher “for issuing random fatwas that hurt the feelings of Muslims, and affected the Jordanian efforts to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque from Zionist attacks.”
Earlier in December Sheikh Al-‘Ajlouni, who is also a physics teacher, said Jews should be given a place of worship on the Temple Mount. He called on “the religious ruling authorities in Palestine and Jordan” to allow Jews to build a synagogue on the religious site in the spirit of Islamic religious tolerance. He also acknowledged the fact that such remarks are likely to face “severe criticism.”
“I call upon the Islamic world and upon the Hashemite sovereign to allocate for the peaceful among the Jewish Israelis a house of prayer within Beit Al-Maqdis,” Sheikh Al-‘Ajlouni said in a video released by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “There should be a special place of worship for the Jews among the Israelis under Hashemite and Palestinian sovereignty and in agreement with the Israeli regime.”
In response, the Jordanian Iftaa Department issued a fatwa against Al-‘Ajlouni calling him “ignorant” and having “no legitimacy,” Elder of Ziyon reported.
Shortly after receiving the criticism, Al-‘Ajlouni recanted his statement. He also posted a poem on Facebook calling on Jews to forgo any plan to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque and telling them to convert to Islam. Al-‘Ajlouni said Islam will be victorious over the Jews and that there is still time to convert.
Watch Sheik Al-‘Ajlouni retract his earlier statement about allowing Jews to pray on the Temple Mount:Tiny biomolecular chambers called nanopores that can be selectively heated may help doctors diagnose disease more effectively if recent research by a team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Wheaton College, and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) proves effective. Though the findings* may be years away from application in the clinic, they may one day improve doctors' ability to search the bloodstream quickly for indicators of disease--a longstanding goal of medical research.
The team has pioneered work on the use of nanopores--tiny chambers that mimic the ion channels in the membranes of cells--for the detection and identification of a wide range of molecules, including DNA. Ion channels are the gateways by which the cell admits and expels materials like proteins, ions and nucleic acids. The typical ion channel is so small that only one molecule can fit inside at a time.
Previously, team members inserted a nanopore into an artificial cell membrane, which they placed between two electrodes. With this setup, they could drive individual molecules into the nanopore and trap them there for a few milliseconds, enough to explore some of their physical characteristics.
"A single molecule creates a marked change in current that flows through the pore, which allows us to measure the molecule's mass and electrical charge with high accuracy," says Joseph Reiner, a physicist at VCU who previously worked at NIST. "This enables discrimination between different molecules at high resolution. But for real-world medical work, doctors and clinicians will need even more advanced measurement capability."
A goal of the team's work is to differentiate among not just several types of molecules, but among the many thousands of different proteins and other biomarkers in our bloodstream. For example, changes in protein levels can indicate the onset of disease, but with so many similar molecules in the mix, it is important not to mistake one for another. So the team expanded their measurement capability by attaching gold nanoparticles to engineered nanopores, "which provides another means to discriminate between various molecular species via temperature control," Reiner says.
The team attached gold nanoparticles to the nanopore via tethers made from complementary DNA strands. Gold's ability to absorb light and quickly convert its energy to heat that conducts into the adjacent solution allows the team to alter the temperature of the nanopore with a laser at will, dynamically changing the way individual molecules interact with it.
"Historically, sudden temperature changes were used to determine the rates of chemical reactions that were previously inaccessible to measurement," says NIST biophysicist John Kasianowicz. "The ability to rapidly change temperatures in volumes commensurate with the size of single molecules will permit the separation of subtly different species. This will not only aid the detection and identification of biomarkers, it will also help develop a deeper understanding of thermodynamic and kinetic processes in single molecules."
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The team is researching ways to improve semiconductor-based nanopores, which could further expand this new measurement capability.
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*J.E. Reiner, J.W.F. Robertson, D.L. Burden, L.K. Burden, A. Balijepalli and J.J. Kasianowicz. Temperature sculpting in yoctoliter volumes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, DOI: 10.1021/ja309892e. Jan. 24, 2013.Rachel Corrie, Remembered: Reflections on a Life Cut Short, 13 Years On
Eoin Higgins Blocked Unblock Follow Following Mar 15, 2016
Wednesday, March 16, 2016, will mark 13 years since American peace activist Rachel Corrie was killed by the Israeli military in the Palestinian city of Rafah.
When Corrie stood in front of a Caterpillar bulldozer that was preparing to demolish the home of her host family, she thought her American citizenship could protect her and, by extension, the home, from the Israeli military. She was wrong.
For Rochelle Gause and Serena Becker, the event would change and reshape their lives. I talked to the two women to get their perspectives on the effects of Corrie’s death, the Israel-Palestine conflict from 2003- today, and their reflections on the potential of a life cut short.
Rachel Corrie was born in Olympia, Washington, on April 10, 1979. She grew up in the city’s community, and was an enthusiastic and skilled writer and artist from an early age. Her diaries show a precocious and bright young woman with strong and principled ideas of peace and justice.
Corrie attended The Evergreen State College in her native Olympia in the early 2000s where she had a political awakening, working with a number of social justice movements and eventually joining the International Solidarity Movement. As an independent study project in her senior year in early 2003, she made the trip to Rafah to establish a sister city project with her native Olympia and work in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Corrie and her fellow activists from ISM had been using their bodies as protection for homes in the city of Rafah, on the southern tip of the Gaza Strip. The practice had had some previous success for the ISM activists, so Corrie’s action on March 16 was not unique.
It would prove lethal.
The Israeli military bulldozer ran Corrie over, pushing her backwards and under the treads. She died from suffocation less than an hour later.
When the news of Corrie’s death reached Olympia it had a profound effect on Gause and Becker. Both women were already involved in political activism in the city surrounding peace and justice and Corrie’s death would turn that activism into a consuming passion.
“In the immediate aftermath, her death affected me in the sense that I got deeper into the issue of the occupation,” Becker said. “I got more active in the organizing that I did in respect to Palestine.”
Becker traveled to the Occupied Territories in 2002 where she “witnessed the facets of the occupation firsthand” and returned to the US with a more radicalized and critical approach to politics.
The Israel-Palestine conflict provided Becker with her first introduction to radical politics. It prompted her to deconstruct the mainstream media narratives of popular struggles and oppression.
Becker and Corrie both attended Evergreen at the same time in the early 2000s. They would have graduated together in June of 2003. Although the two women “weren’t incredibly close,” their shared politics and concern for the Palestinian people made Corrie’s death especially personal for Becker.
Becker worked to keep Corrie’s legacy alive by helping to form the Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project. The cultural exchange was a dream of Corrie’s, and one of the reasons for her trip to Gaza. Becker also worked for the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice, which was founded by Corrie’s parents after her death.
Becker has returned to Palestine twice since 2002, once in 2005 and once in 2009 when she led a delegation of 15 people to Gaza as a representative of The Rachel Corrie Foundation. The delegation included members of a range of civil society groups, human rights groups, and journalists.
The trip aimed to educate the participants on the complexities of the Palestinian struggle. Becker believes it was successful.
“They brought what they learned into their work here [in the west],” she said. “They’ve taken their newfound knowledge and are applying it to their field.”
Corrie’s death was also a pivotal moment for Rochelle Gause.
“Her death completely rerouted my life,” she said, “I was doing community organizing in Olympia after |
were delighted at the lunch table when a colleague from Bihar narrated this story.
There was a Community Health Worker (CHW), who was reluctant to show up at a Mobile Academy certificate distribution ceremony, because it conflicted with a wedding celebration at her village. But, when she heard that the District Magistrate would be handing out the certificates, she changed her mind!
Clearly, for someone who hadn’t been able to study beyond eighth standard, to receive an accolade from a highly placed government Official was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
The story stuck in my mind. It kept popping up again and again, each time arousing my curiosity to a new level.
Mobile Academy and Kunji have already received much praise from different quarters. The take up and usage statistics that we upload to the website every month show their impressive popularity among Community Health Workers. We have been told by Community Health Workers how these tools have helped them in their work, making them effective. You can read some of the stories here.
But I was still curious about was how Mobile Kunji and Academy have influenced their lives, at work and at home. What has changed that a health worker would miss the wedding of a dear family member for a work related meeting? How have the mhealth (mobile health) tools increased their motivation and confidence? And do they perceive any change in their professional status?
I was keen to hear the answers from the Community Health Workers themselves – in their own words.
In quest of answers
The quest took me to Saharsa, one of the priority districts in the Shaping Demand and Practices project. I spent four days talking to Community Health Workers, their supervisors in the government health system and the families they serve. What I gathered was enlightening.
Saharsa is not an affluent region. Stretches of corn and wheat fields punctuate the sprawling banks of the formidable river Koshi. But floods are a yearly phenomenon. Maternal mortality rates are high. Electricity is in such short supply that I saw stacks of mobiles being charged by illegally tapping wires dangling from the odd electricity pole. There is paucity of tarmac roads and public transport. Many of the ASHAs and Anganwadi Workers we met at a Health Sub-centre¹ meeting told us how they walked for miles to reach it.
In such a context, one of the benefits of Mobile Academy was that anyone CHW could take the course, sitting at home, via her mobile, reflected Sulekha Devi, an ASHA from the village of Salkhua. To make her point, she recounted the scary boat rides that she has had to take to attend training programmes in the past.
A mother of four children at 35, Sulekha has a joint family to look after, as well as having to prepare for her matriculation exam this year. She completed the Mobile Academy training course in three to four days flat with full marks. “How did you find the time?” I asked. “I used to dial up the number whenever there was a respite in between errands,” she said.
Manju Mehta, a 44 year-old Anganwadi Worker in the neighbouring hamlet, also scored full marks. What she enjoyed most was the quiz at the end of each chapter. “I had never played anything like that. They would start by saying, ‘Di–di, wrap your sari tightly and get ready,’” she almost sang out in imitation.
“My aunt-in-law used to pray to God every day, so that I could secure pass marks; but I found it easy,” revealed a delighted Sulekha, while carefully tucking her prized Mobile Academy certificate into a metal safe.
“Who did you show your certificate to first?” I asked. To her husband, then to her father-in-law, who hopes that someday it will help her climb further up the professional ladder. She then showed it to her neighbours – recollects Sulekha, who quietly harbours an aspiration to become an ‘ASHA Facilitator’² someday.
There is unanimity among the health workers that Mobile Academy has refreshed their knowledge. “Still, we sometimes tend to forget things during a family visit,” confides Pinky Kumari, pointing at her Mobile Kunji, “but now all the points I need to make are right here.”
Public health in Bihar hinges largely on the Community Health Workers. Technology has brought about convenience and enabled support on demand.
How has it reflected on their performance?
Has anything noticeably changed? “Earlier, when they struggled to answer the questions from the families they served, they used to call me or an ANM³ – often at times when we were busy,” says Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Singh, the Block Community Mobilisation Officer at the Salkhua Primary Health Centre (PHC), “now they dial up the numbers on Mobile Kunji.”
“Our workload has nearly halved,” confirmed all four ANMs at the Salkhua PHC, who supervised the Community Health Workers we talked to. “Before, they used to call us all the time with questions, now-a-days they feel confident to handle it all themselves. Also, they easily persuade the families to attend the routine immunization sessions with the help of Mobile Kunji.”
“Their [Community Health Workers’] motivation seems to have increased, and the progress in their performance is visible,” agrees Dr. Narendra Chowdhury, the Medical Officer In Charge of Salkhua PHC.
My curiosity is yet to be sated.
What do the families served by the Community Health Workers think?
“People, earlier, might even say to me – we don’t believe you; you are doing this just to earn money,” says Anganwadi Worker Manju Mehta, “but, now when I visit families along with my Mobile Kunji, they pull out chairs, invite me to sit, and gather around me.”
Madhumala Devi, an ASHA at village Mahadev Matha, says, “the recorded voice of Doctor Anita that I play out on my mobile has won their trust,” recounting how a reluctant woman in her village agreed to take Zinc tablets after listening to Mobile Kunji. “Now-a-days, wherever she goes, even if it is to the local market, people come to her and ask for health advice,” proudly says her brother-in-law, who is a homoeopathy doctor in the village.
Winds of change
Madhumala wasn’t alone. Each of the Community Health Workers seemed to enjoy their newfound status – be it in their own village or in the health system.
The previous night, Madhumala had accompanied a woman in labour from her village to the Salkhua PHC and came back just half an hour before we visited her. Yet, there wasn’t a sign of fatigue on her face. “How do you manage all this along with your household chores?” I couldn’t help asking. “When I see that the women in my village are becoming more informed, and I’m being able to do good for my village – this is my biggest source of inspiration,” replied a diminutive Madhumala, as her chin went up a notch.
Sulekha’s husband often tells her that they have enough money and she doesn’t need to slog so much. But she fights back, saying what she does for the children of her village is only what she does for her own children.
In Saharsa, where infant mortality rate is 62 in every 1000 live births, Sulekhas and Madhumalas are soldiering on against a battalion of odds. So are their colleagues in the rest of Bihar.
But the enhanced recognition and support from the health system and our mobile services together have given them a real confidence boost. Don’t you agree, with so much of grit and passion, they can do nothing but win?
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¹ Health sub-centre is the most peripheral and first contact point between the primary health care system and the community (more: http://bit.ly/1hyhg6F).
² An ASHA Facilitator is an ASHA who supports and facilitates a group 19 other ASHAs from a cluster of neighbouring villages.
³ An ANM is an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife stationed at a Health Sub-centrePin 83 Shares
Sometimes, meeting other people gives us perspective. The other day I was serving some homeless people in one of the men said that he was thankful to God that he was alive, and he asked us to bring more Bibles next time. The next morning I had to get up early and I was complaining interiorly about the alarm clock and my sore muscles.
On Thanksgiving we all get to go to thank God and to pray for those less fortunate. However, are we thankful all year round? If we realized what God has done for us, we’d thank him constantly.
Gratitude depends a lot on perspective. If I have to deal with a “challenging” teen on a retreat, I can either just suffer through it like, or I can thank God for the opportunity to help this kid come to know Him and to allow me to unite myself with his sufferings. But it isn’t just the extraordinary things like annoying kids but even when I get home and realize I have bread, meat, vegetables and fruit in my kitchen. Am I thankful for that? What is my attitude?
Thanksgiving Day offers us an opportunity to renew our gratitude but we need to use it so we have gratitude every day, not just on a special day. Gratitude comes naturally if we are humble. We often falsely think of humility as somebody who says there are wretched every single minute but that is correctly called “false humility.”Ttrue humility, instead, is not thinking about yourself – whether you’re a saint or horrid – but constantly thinking about God and others. If we constantly think about God and others, we will see how much they do for us, and thus will be grateful. This is why that homeless man was able to be more grateful that I was: he never thought about himself – that he slept on a park bench with a grocery cart containing all his belongings – while I worried over my little struggles – sore muscles from exercising hard and getting up an hour early.
Is it just around Thanksgiving that we remember to remind everybody to thank God for something in their life? This is good but doesn’t go far enough. We will teach gratitude more by how we react to a difficult situation in March than by how many times we remind people to say “thank you” the week around Thanksgiving. And, sometimes the gratitude offered around Thanksgiving is rather false: a millionaire who thanks God for giving him so many blessings, yet never shares those blessings with God, the Church, or his fellow-man.
In the Eastern Church, they have the Jesus Prayer. With every breath you say “Jesus Christ, son of living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” In a way this expresses the attitude of gratitude that we should have: with every breath we should thank God for giving us that breath. Usually, we aren’t able to be continuously aware of that. But, I think we can work a continuously thinking about God and others, and forgetting about ourselves.
Humility is the key to gratitude. Every minute we think about ourselves, is a minute we aren’t grateful to others. Every breath, then, becomes an opportunity to thank God for life.BEIRUT,— Kurdish fighters have seized the security and government district of the Kurdish Kobani town in Syrian Kurdistan from the Islamic State IS jihadist group and now control 80 percent of the border town, a monitoring group said Monday.
“The People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighting the jihadists (IS) for nearly four months have full control of the security district,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based group said Kurdish fighters had seized control of the area after fierce clashes since Sunday night.
A US-led coalition against IS also carried out at least three air strikes against the jihadist group in the Kurdish town on the Turkish border, the Observatory said.
At least 14 IS members were killed in the fighting, it added.
IS began its assault on Kobani in mid-September and came close to overrunning the town, which is also known as Ain al-Arab.
But Kurdish fighters, backed by international air strikes, have been able to gradually recapture territory in the small town, which is strategic because of its location on the border.
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency, AFP | Ekurd.net
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CommentsDuring my work as Python developer, I have seen many different approaches to software testing. Having such developed community and tools, it may seem that this topic should not leave much to discuss in the Python world. For many developers the choice of their test framework might be simple — Pytest.
Pytest made test suites in Python more readable, more flexible and idiomatic to the language itself. Still, there are many projects out there that use nose or unittest, or a combination of both. I’d like to share my experience with Pytest and tell you how having to work with a legacy mix of nose & unittest made me appreciate the framework even more.
I’ll present my observations from two different companies. It’s interesting as they are holding vastly different values in regards to how they created their test suites.
Case #1
The first company had the central policy to test everything thoroughly. Tests were more-or-less organized into unit and integration tests. The QA team was responsible for end-to-end ones. The fundamental rule was to achieve 100% test coverage. The code was not merged until it met that requirement.
We were using Pytest as our test framework. Company policies rigorously encouraged me to familiarize myself with it. It was, of course, beneficial to me. But on the other hand, the same policies have had generated some broader problems in regards to test practices, i.e.:
Every piece of code, even tests, are a part of the project that in turn is a subject to maintenance. By trying to cover the whole codebase, we tend to test code that is trivial. Code that is not directly linked to business requirements or code that does not play a crucial role within the system. Tests of this kind bring marginal gain for the project since they require additional work and reduce its maintainability. We can often find a trivial code in functions and modules called “utils”/”utilities”, that is, in small reusable components that serve to perform recurring tasks.
Some programmers, forced to meet the complete code coverage rule, tend to contrive tests at all cost. Just to make it pass and bump the line counter. In such situations, we enter the dark forest of widespread testing sins. Overly-mocked tests, false positive tests, tests that are aware of the code’s implementation details, etc. It goes without a saying that this kind of tests does not serve the project. They lower the project’s quality and bring no value whatsoever.
Even so, regardless of the company’s rigid rules, I gained much respect to the notion of software testing. I slept better after work, being more confident in the code I wrote.
Case #2
The other company — a startup one — had a bit different approach. Faster coding pace, a few internal procedures, and rules. “Move fast and break things” as they say. I wasn’t aware of not being a fan of that thought until I directly encountered it.
I learned that the bigger part of the team did not saw any value in test writing. A rather surprising approach with which I just couldn’t agree. Thus, it pushed me into a minority within the group.
One discussion that stuck in my mind was that “why to bother with your tests if you can’t possibly predict every possible input/output?”. It’s somewhat accurate that we can’t predict everything. We’re humans after all. But the question at hand signaled to me that from that specific developer’s point of view there was no connection between the tests suite and how it gave us information about the design of our code. It’s not only about reassuring ourselves that the project fulfills business requirements. It also provides us with feedback on whether our system is not convoluted or coupled in some way. That kind of software tends to be hard to test.
I think that the aversion to testing came mainly from misinformation about the topic. The outcome of moving so fast to break things was predictable — bugs were everywhere. If a developer left the team, it was twofold more noticeable. We crashed and handled situations that otherwise would be avoidable.
However, the test suite that I managed to write there was also written with Pytest.
Going back to nose & unittest
Much of the satisfaction with testing I attributed to the testing itself. Like if the presence of the test suite was some form of automatic self-gratification. I never went into any alternatives in Python. I took Pytest — and what it offered — for granted.
Time went by, and I moved onto other projects. I started to work on a one that had almost all of the test suite written in unittest style. The nose framework was used for the suite’s orchestration. It was certainly something new. I’ve heard about nose — that it shared a common denominator with Pytest. But the deeper I dug, the more I realized how much I reaped from Pytest’s benefits that were not available in unittest + nose solution. I would like to focus here on those differences.
The Boiler Plate
Like I mentioned, the tests were written in the unittest style. That means that for every test case a class should be created. The class should inherit from unittest.Testcase.
Let’s consider a simple scenario. One of the most popular functions to write — when you start your adventure with programming — is a function determining whether a year is a leap year. The example is as follows (I am aware of existing built-in calendar.isleap 😉):
Respectively, the unittest test should look like this:
There is a bit of redundant code here since we have to write a special class and inherit it from TestCase. It is worth noting that the presented function is a simple, pure function that does not require any preparation steps (in other words, a set-up/tear-down phase). More often you’re faced with more complex cases that need to prepare its surroundings to test the unit of behavior properly (e.g., load a system configuration or start a connection with a test database). Now with unittest we couple the setup phase with a class so that similar test cases can also inherit from it. That’s a slippery slope that binds our test cases together and forces the developer to be aware of all those classes and their, hopefully, rare changes.
Pytest (and nose for the matter of fact) approach the subject lighter. It is proposed to write functions instead of classes. You should use classes only if you want to group tests that share a common context. Though it’s not a top-down requirement. Let’s see how it presents itself:
It sure does clear our view here. And it’s the tip of how Pytest reduces the lines of code required to write tests.
The main difference between nose and Pytest in this example is the import moment. nose requires a function import in order to serve factual assert results. Pytest uses an already existing Python syntax, that is, the assert keyword, to achieve the same thing. nose import and unittest inheritance requirements bring us to another point.
Idiomaticity
Pytest goes a step further to get rid of developer’s cognitive luggage. One of its stronger points is the usage of Python’s assert keyword to compare expressions of all types. By using what your language already offers, you maintain a certain level of idiomatic synergy between your solution and the domain (i.e. Python language) in which it operates. You’re avoiding a re-invention of the wheel.
We can say goodbye to jUnit-like API of TestCase — assertEqual, assertDictEqual etc. And we’re not forced to import asserting functions every time we want to make a simple operation of comparing two objects. It’s all already there. So a well-known Python motto comes to my mind:
Simple is better than complex
And it seems to be respected.
Simplicity is also reflected in the descriptive reports that Pytest generates. Let’s see what nose returns upon an assertion error:
nose output
Besides the report, we receive a lot of redundant information: local paths and a small callstack of nose ’s internal functions. The output is a tad too detailed. Some things are irrelevant to the reader. Pytest handles this case better:
pytest output
We only see what we actually should be interested in. We don’t lose the readability even when we compare more complex types, e.g. dictionaries:
What’s useful is that unfolding of dictionary details was also simplified. Typically, as in the example above, the dictionary is folded. In unittest / nose to unfold the dictionary, we were required to modify the code itself by setting TestCase class attribute maxDiff to None. In pytest we can achieve the same result by just using the -v flag of the pytest shell command. It may seem like a minor feature, but I appreciate times when I don’t have to switch contexts without a clear reason.
Testing Utilities
But let’s get back to the leap year checking function. The test code could use some further improvements. Checking if the function works for a single value seems a bit ineffective. The test can bring us bigger value if we confront it with a broader range of input.
Throughout my experience with test writing, I encountered this need quite often. And in non-pytest solutions, the requirement morphs into a problem. In unittest and nose there are no out-of-the-box solutions for test parametrization. It can be somewhat achieved with nose since it allows the use of generators inside test functions. But then we can’t, e.g. inherit our tests classes from unittest.TestCase. It is quite troublesome when you have a mix of unittest -style classes and nose.
Let’s assume that we would want to parametrize is_leap_year in nose. The structure of parameterized tests in nose is not overwhelming. It would present itself accordingly:
There are a couple of problems with this layout. First and foremost, the test is self-aware of the parametrization. There has to be a for-loop within the test. Secondly, to receive a useful report we have to write an additional function, that asserts, and pass it to the yield keyword. It’s clear that the procedure generates redundant code.
In pytest we parametrize the following way:
Short and to the point. The biggest feat of the code is that its structure is the same as it would be for a single case test. It means that the context to understand here is narrower than in nose version.
And this is not the only simplifying utility that you can use. Two other minor utilities that I often find myself using are:
approx — function to assert float numbers.
— function to assert float numbers. monkeypatch — a fixture (fixtures discussed in the section below) for a quick object, static dictionary or environment variable modification. All changes are reverted upon test tear-down.
Modularity
The biggest influence on the shape and structure of my tests has — in my opinion — the most prominent feature of Pytest: fixtures. Reusable functions that are dependency injected into our tests.
To inject a fixture, we pass its name to the parameter list of our desired test. Fixtures are called automatically upon detection of the inputted name. They can be called once per test detection, test module detection or even once per test suite run.
However, let’s consider a minimal use case and assume that we have integration tests that require some created rows upon setup. The PersonRepository class is responsible for the creation of those rows:
Repository class using Pony ORM (https://ponyorm.com)
We would like to have a common way to deliver rows to tests. Fixtures are here to help:
Now, in order to use a fixture within a test, we input its name to the test function’s parameters. Pytest handles the rest:
It may seem at first as some magical idea. But dependency injection is known to some Pythonistas. I tend to think of fixtures as a pytest standard practice that helps you construct and shape your system’s test suite. The more elaborate setup is required, the more fixtures become useful since small reusable fixtures are recommended the most.
The option to declare fixtures global (i.e., accessible within the whole test suite without explicit imports), the option to decide their scope, thus lifespan, or the possibility of making them automatically applied, significantly reduces the boiler plate code within your test suite. Skillful fixture writing and placement makes them reusable. Given our previous example, there may be many other tests that would require similar data rows at their setup.
Fixtures eliminate the need of repeating yourself in test cases. You may find yourself with test code that only includes the tested unit of behavior, assertions and nothing else. This, in turn, makes the context required for the reader to understand the test, smaller and friendlier.
It is worth noting that fixtures and parametrization can be combined. Given our previous fixture:
It makes the test functions using the fixture ran X times, depending on the length of parameters included in the fixture:
Community
The last fact worth mentioning — that I didn’t appreciate up until working with unittest + nose — is pytest ’s community support. nose is not actively supported. There isn’t a great deal of plugins and extensions available in the wild. There is the nose2 alternative, but it seems that it isn’t as actively developed as pytest.
By using pytest, you gain access to a lot of extensions. Extensions which usually deliver new functionalities through new fixtures. For instance, pytest-catchlog to assert proper logging within your system. Or pytest-mock to use mocks through a consistent pytest -like interface (it also ensures the tear-down phase which is nice).
Conclusion
Pytest profoundly shaped my approach to testing in Python. From the compactness and cleanliness of the test code, through the breakdown of repetitive setup code into small reusable injected components, to support of idiomatic solutions. It’s all there.
There are questions why pytest is not officially the standard Python solution to testing. It’s more like an open secret by now. Many languages can be envious of such test framework. In fact, the popularity of it grows with every year of its existence.
If you’re still hooked on unittest, or nose, or a combination of both, don’t sweat it and embrace Pytest. With a little effort and by sticking to Pytest common practices, the quality of your code will increase. Remember that the test suite’s code is also an important part of your codebase.
Pytest supports running legacy unittest tests (and nose to some extent), so successive switching to Pytest is an option. It pays off!
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Gutfeld: By Hiding Everything, Hillary Reveals Everything About Herself
Is the 5-Second Rule Scientifically Proven?
A football-loving child suffering from cerebral palsy delighted his mother when she caught him on video trying to stand up for the national anthem while watching an NFL game on TV.
Rebecca Wilson, of Chesterfield, Mich., said her son Logan routinely takes his hat off for the Star-Spangled Banner, but never saw him try to stand up, she told Fox 13 News.
Logan needs medical equipment to move around the house, but is able to crawl on his own.
“Until yesterday, I never really saw him try to stand,” Wilson said, “He just knew that is what we do to show respect to our country and everyone who fights so hard for us.”
Logan spent six months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit after being born three months early, and was diagnosed with spastic quad cerebal palsy, the network reported.
His mother says despite his medical setbacks, he understands a lot and loves everyone, including the Detroit Lions and Detroit Tigers.
After posting the video on Facebook, Wilson admitted her post was somewhat of a criticism of those NFL players who have refused to stand for the anthem, citing racial and other issues.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
WWII Veteran Robbed of Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars by His Caretakers
PHOTO: Creepy 'Clown' Along Rural WV Road Sparks Concern
'The Guy Is Drunk!': Radio Announcer Gives Glorious Play-by-Play of Fan on FieldAlmost a year ago, we blogged about our reasoning and methodology for choosing Go as our next generation platform here at clypd. A year is a long time, both in software technology and in the lifetime of a startup. Since paper is the traditional gift for a one year anniversary, it seems appropriate to write down our learnings so far.
When we posted “Getting to Go,” we included a list of the selection factors we used to evaluate potential platforms. The list includes:
ramp up
open source and community involvement
test-driven or behavior-driven development
build time and effort
commercial adoption
tooling
deploying and monitoring
scalability
recruiting
So, how did we do?
I’ve observed new engineers ramping up very quickly relative to other languages. Our process has been to ask a new team members to write real Go code within their first few days and contributing to our production codebase within a week. The simplicity of the language and maturity of the toolchain seems to align well with Andrew Gerrand’s sentiment productive in one day, efficient in one week, expert in one year.
The community has been a fun part of our experience learning Go. Gophercon was both informative and motivational and we’ve enjoyed the high signal-to-noise ratio on golang-nuts. We’ve initiated a few pull requests to open source Go projects (envconfig, gorp) and even open-sourced our implementation of munkres algorithm.
We’ve relied heavily on the built-in testing package for test automation and testify has been a useful addition for lightweight assertions. When simple unit tests were insufficient, we combined the testing package with Docker to build a complete database integration testing framework that’s helped us avoid an entire class of errors. And now that application performance is a concern, we’ve explored the built-in profiling capabilities and they’ve helped us quickly uncover some obvious inefficiencies in our code.
We’ve leaned heavily on community packages with positive results. go.rice, go-json-rest, go-dogstatsd, goamz, and many others have helped us build a lot with a little. These packages all excel at doing one thing well, yet they all easily integrate together within our applications. From our perspective, the Go community has provided a diverse set of packages for third-party products and services. We have yet to struggle with a technical integration due to a lack of Go support. We’ve even added support for some older standards, like SOAP in Go, although the tooling hasn’t been as flexible as we’d prefer.
Our builds and deployments are very straightforward, simple, and fast. Our current codebase builds from scratch in the time it takes you to read this paragraph. And deployments couldn’t be simpler since we’re distributing stand-alone binaries.
As a team, we’ve mostly settled on Sublime Text and the integration with GoSublime works great. We’ve caught bugs early using external static analyzers like gofmt, govet, golint, and errcheck. The styling decisions imposed on us by gofmt took some time to get used to, but no one misses the useless style debates that we experienced with less opinionated languages. We even built a rudimentary source code rewriter using ast/parser and friends from the standard library to automate a fairly major source code refactoring.
I’m happy to report that deploying Go binaries into production has been a breeze.
We haven’t encountered any issues related to the Go compiler or runtime yet. (But I’m sure my boss will say that I’m jinxing us by writing it down.)
However, this past year hasn’t all been unicorns and roses. Perhaps the most difficult hurdle was overcoming the endless barrage of puns related to the name “Go.” Thankfully, this has tapered as the novelty has worn off. I find myself groaning much less frequently.
As you can probably tell, we’re very happy with our Go experiences so far. From our first commit on January 8th, our team has written nearly 60k lines of Go. The Go platform has helped us avoid struggling with compilers, interpreters, virtual machines, and complicated third-party package integrations. Instead, we can focus on addressing our immediate business needs.FEATURED VIDEO
4. Some nights I would stare into his closed eyes as he slumbered soundly and would plot his demise if he slept through yet another diaper blowout or screaming infant. Maybe I could just jam a pencil into his ear. I mean it wasn’t like his hearing was functional because who the hell could sleep through the 3 AM cries of their own child?
5. We’ve all heard that breast is best, but no one warned me what would happen to my best breasts after two pregnancies and breast feeding. My cups used to runneth over, but now I have to poureth my cups into my bra. What a bait and switch! Glorious pregnancy boobs that end up looking like something Picasso created. And if I reach up really, really high and stretch my fingers in the air, I can show you where my breasts used to perch only to have them quickly plummet to their new resting place as soon as I lower my arms. Gravity, friends, it’s real and it’s a bitch.
6. My ass wasn’t the only thing that got a whole lot bigger. I learned to say “goodbye size nine shoes” and “hello size ten”. Sometimes I stand in front of my old shoes and squeeze my feet into a sexy pair of sandals only to have my toes squish out the front and my heel hang off the back. Sure I could just replace my collection with newer, larger sizes, but what’s the point? Even if I did have fabulous shoes where would I wear them? Strappy stilettos to the playground? Thigh high boots to preschool pickup?
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7. I’m not sure if it’s considered an actual medical condition, but Momnesia is real and I am living with it every single day. There is no known cure, and I will walk this earth searching for thirty five minutes for my bra only to realize I am in fact wearing said bra.
8. After having children, I’m the Wonder Woman of multi-tasking. Did you know I can nurse a baby, kick a soccer ball to my son, chat on the phone with my mom, and plan dinner in my head all at the same time? It’s true, and in fact, right now I’m performing open heart surgery and making pancakes for my kids.
What transpired to my mind and body is so beyond comprehension, I can only assume these deep dark secrets were kept hidden from me so that I would actually have a baby. Because seriously, who the hell would go through this willingly?A Head Shop Makeover: Some Pilates With Your Pot?
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mandalit del Barco/NPR Mandalit del Barco/NPR
The medical marijuana business is already raking in billions in California. Now some dispensaries hope to cash in even more by going upscale. Forget hippie head shops; these are high-end boutiques -- "wellness clinics" where cannabis treatments can be paired with Pilates, massage and acupuncture.
On a trendy street in superhip Venice, Calif., a neon-green sign with a baby marijuana leaf invites patients into The Farmacy. Inside the stylish shop, herbalists wear lab coats made of hemp fabric. They offer various plant-based medicines, including Chinese and Amazonian herbs. And, of course, cannabis.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mandalit del Barco/NPR Mandalit del Barco/NPR
"Everything in the store is organic," says General Manager Bill Leahy. He points out the ceilings made of sustainable wood and counters inlaid with mother of pearl. For patients with a doctor's recommendation, The Farmacy guarantees the purity of its marijuana, testing for molds with a chrome gas spectrometer.
"If it's not holistic, or in some way giving off that positive energy, we don't want it," Leahy says. He points to the feng shui fountain on the wall of The Farmacy's West Hollywood store. "We just try to have that serenity and calmness that is necessary for people that aren't feeling well."
Enhanced Edibles And Drinkables
The Farmacy is no ordinary pot shop. Glass jars are filled with marijuana buds, and there's an entire children's section of natural medicines. From The Farmacy's own special kitchen, chefs whip up handmade herbally enhanced organic gelatos, whipped butter and other goodies: crispy treats and chocolate-covered pretzels with a little something extra, enhanced olive oil, and cannabis-infused lemonade. At times, The Farmacy even offers cannabis cooking classes.
We wanted an environment where people could come in and feel comfortable, and not feel like a criminal.
"From the typical brownies to Kahlua cakes to biscotti, nobody said medicine has to taste bad," says Leahy's wife, Susan, an herbalist at The Farmacy's shop near UCLA.
"We're not here for people to get high," she says. "We're here to offer medicine to alleviate pain, stress, tension. We have medicines that will help knock off nausea so people can enjoy their lives again."
At the Venice store, the entire upstairs floor is devoted to affordable acupuncture, massages, skin care and shamanic healings.
"We get people from all over, who ask, 'What is this new thing?' It's better than Amsterdam,' " says Eric Baumgartner, who runs the acupuncture center. "This is part of a bigger vision, creating accessible global medicine for local people. It's more grounded in what medicine is about and what patients need."
The Farmacy's owner, JoAnna LaForce, says she'd like her franchise to be a role model for other dispensaries. "We wanted an environment where people could come in and feel comfortable, and not feel like a criminal," she says, pointing out that the average age of her patients is 42. The oldest is 104.
Marijuana Boutiques
The Farmacy is perhaps the most notable marijuana boutique to date. But with 13 states and the District of Columbia now allowing medical marijuana, other high-end dispensaries are opening across the country, from the San Francisco Bay Area to Portland, Maine.
"I would say that these are full-service holistic-care facilities," says Dale Sky Clare, executive chancellor of Oaksterdam University, an Oakland, Calif.-based trade school that specializes in the marijuana industry. Clare says some clinics offer Pilates with their pot, and even so-called vapor lounges for consuming on-site.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mandalit del Barco/NPR Mandalit del Barco/NPR
"These places are realizing as we get into a market that is more competitive, that they have opportunity to add value-added services to their patients," she says.
Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron says the marijuana boutiques are trying to change the image of the shady back-alley pot dealers.
"I think they want to look as legitimate, as middle class, as sort of 'normal' as possible," he says, "because that, of course, makes it less likely that the neighborhood or someone will be upset and want to move them out or close them down or change the law against medical marijuana. If they just look like any store, then they don't particularly raise red flags."
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You can find the latest New York Today at nytoday.com.Desperately needed supplies have failed to arrive at the suffering frontier settlement of Ravendale. Rumors are flying that the supply wagon must have fallen afoul of the legendary troll of Stonebottom bridge. The townsfolk are in need of heroes to reclaim their supplies or the town won't survive the encroaching winter!
Troll Trouble is a short single session adventure that I have used on a few occasions to introduce D&D to players who were new to the game. It contains a fairly even mixture of social, exploration and combat. It has been optimized for a party of five 1st level PCs, or 3 to 4 2nd level PCs. I do provide suggestions on scaling for slightly higher level parties
Praise for Troll Trouble:
"This is a wonderfully put together little adventure." - Jake W.
"Ran this past Monday, new group had a blast. Easy to read, easy to run, and fun." - Steven R.
This is an excellently written adventure for low level charecters." - Kris K.Going off the grid is something we’d all like to do every now and then. That said, being in a spot where you’re unable to at least text somebody in a sticky situation may be taking the digital detox a little too far for some of us. Addressing this conundrum, GoTenna has developed a way to stray far enough away from civilization that you lose cell service, but still have the option of sending text messages and sharing your location with other smartphone users if the need arises.
The GoTenna is a sleek 1.8-ounce device powered by a rechargeable lithium polymer battery that lasts over a day on standby. It has a micro-USB port on one end so you can charge it easily and an extendable antenna on the other. The GoTenna’s ubiquitous communication capabilities come courtesy of a 2-watt VHF (very high frequency) radio transceiver. A Bluetooth low energy chip allows the device to connect to your phone.
GoTenna is able to take over where your phone’s messaging capabilities give out because it establishes ad-hoc networks with other GoTenna units in the vicinity. Mobile or cellular networks require a central base station to mediate interaction between nodes (phones, in this case) – this is why we need to be within range of a cell tower to make calls or send texts. Ad-hoc networks, on the other hand, allow nodes to communicate with each other directly, so GoTenna uses radio transceivers to make their devices do just that.
GoTenna’s interaction with smartphones is facilitated by an app that’s available on Android and iOS. Once you have the app installed on your phone and your GoTenna within about 20 feet of it, you will be able to text anybody who also has the device paired with their smartphone.
The creators claim the device has a 4-mile range, with communication distance being a function of elevation and terrain – even strapping it onto the top of your backpack instead of your pocket can enhance its reach. You will know if a particular user is within your range if a green checkmark shows up when you ping them.
Messages of up to 160 characters can only be sent using the GoTenna app to others who also have the device on them – and yes, emojis are supported. Users are identifiable by their goTenna ID (GID); it’s advisable you set as your GID as your phone numbers.
Users also have the ability to share their location on a map or request to view their contacts’ locations; the free offline maps are available to download through the app. By default, location information is always routed to the individuals or groups with whom users have chosen to share that data. Additionally, there’s a “Shout” option which lets users broadcast a message to all GoTenna devices within range.
Given its minimal messaging features and accessibility, GoTenna is especially useful to hikers, snowboarders, climbers etc. who may want to send out an SOS along with their current location during an emergency
GoTennas sell in pairs (since owning just one doesn’t make sense) at $199; family packs of four sell at $389.
The startup, founded by Daniela and Jorge Perdomo, raised $7.5 million at the beginning of this month, after having raised $1.8 million back in December of 2013. The recent Series A funding round was accompanied by news of a partnership with outdoor equipment chain REI; GoTenna will launch its retail sales in an exclusive partnership with REI. The founders have said that the funds they’ve raised will be used to expand their 13-person team.Q&A with Tom Vincent: From Biostatistician to Data Ambassador to Data Science Engineer
Insight Data Blocked Unblock Follow Following Mar 29, 2016
Thomas Vincent was a Fellow in the first session of the Data Science Fellows Program held in New York City. After Insight he worked as a data scientist at Dow Jones with teams ranging from the newsroom to the marketing department. Tom recently took on a new role, as a Data Science Engineer at DigitalOcean. We asked him to reflect on his experiences before, during, and after Insight.
Tom, your background is in biostatistics. Can you say a bit more about what you worked on?
My PhD focused on understanding the probabilistic rules by which a “flat” linear chain of amino acids somehow folds into a very specific three-dimensional structure in order to become a fully functional protein within the human body. During my postdoc I transitioned to genomics, working on several different projects: inferring time-varying gene regulatory networks, consulting with medical and surgical staff at Weill Cornell, and lung cancer biomarker prediction.
It sounds much more applied than I’d imagined!
Sometimes, in moments of sheer madness, I can convince myself that I contributed to pushing the field further [smiles]. I was fortunate enough to work under the supervision of both an applied professor (from biochemistry) and a theoretical professor (from statistics). This early exposure to interdisciplinary studies allowed me to pursue my interest in Bayesian statistics, plus I got to hang with the cool kids in the stats department. It also taught me the invaluable skill of communicating abstract results to a sometimes non-technical audience. That was reinforced even more during my postdoc, which I did at a medical institution.
What was initially attractive to you about data science?
First and foremost: the data and the science. I knew there was a wealth of amazing data ready for the taking, and many exciting ways to analyze it, and I had obviously heard of the buzz around it.
I attended some meetups and reached out to a few people, and was quickly sold by the general enthusiasm and pace at which things were moving, which was very different from academia.
What made you decide to apply to Insight?
First I realized that it would offer a great foot in the door to interesting companies where your cv would normally end up in a stack of paper. Second, I was intrigued by the prospect of working closely for seven weeks with twenty-plus like-minded, smart people, and thought I could learn a lot from that — which I did! Third, I thought it would be a great opportunity to build a solid network of friendly data scientists. And finally, it just sounded really fun.
I was intrigued by the prospect of working closely for seven weeks with twenty-plus like-minded, smart people, and thought I could learn a lot from that — which I did!
What kind of technical work had you done before applying?
In my academic life I spent most of my time scraping, aggregating, cleaning, normalizing, modeling, and visualizing what always started off as very messy data. And if the data wasn’t messy, then it was probably wrong.
This included a lot of shell scripting, R, Python, and C++. On the more theoretical side of things, I had spent a lot of time working with hypothesis testing, supervised and unsupervised learning, so I felt pretty comfortable in those areas.
What preparation did you do before arriving at Insight?
What I probably lacked the most was both SQL and CS knowledge, so around four weeks prior to the start of the Insight program I set out to learn SQL — badly — and read the entire Data Structures and Algorithms with Python book, which I ended up absolutely loving.
In hindsight, I wish I had put some more time in front and back-end development, tools like D3 and perhaps some fundamental software engineering concepts. I’ve actually come to think that JavaScript is an invaluable tool for data scientists looking to go beyond the simple modeling aspect of things.
How did you get into skills-based volunteering?
I have been fortunate enough to be born and raised in an environment in which high-end education was readily available and where I was allowed to choose my own path. As a result, there is a willingness to capitalize on the chances I’ve been offered and give back in any way I can.
While I can’t sponsor major organizations or be some kind of celebrity spokesperson, I contribute in the best way I can, by offering the computational and statistical knowledge that I have gained to those that can benefit the most out of it.
I contribute in the best way I can, by offering the computational and statistical knowledge that I have gained to those that can benefit the most out of it.
How did you get connected with DataKind specifically?
I had been browsing online looking for volunteering opportunities, and randomly came across the DataKind website one day. So I applied through the application link on their website.
Not too long after I received a couple of emails and had a phone screen to determine if I would be a good fit for both DataKind and some of the projects they currently had running.
What DataKind projects have you been involved with?
I am part of a team that works in tandem with members of a non-profit organization called iCouldBe. Their principal goal is to leverage the power of online mentoring to assist middle and high-schoolers from less than privileged background or neighborhood. Students get connected with volunteers online for one-on-one mentorship.
As all the interactions occur exclusively via online messaging, we are left with a fair amount of text-based conversations, which iCouldBe was very interested in taking a deeper look at. More specifically, they wanted to understand and explain the degree of success of their curriculum, the measure of engagement of students, and if some students could be bucketed in behavior-specific segments.
What’s been your role on the team?
My official title is “Data Ambassador”. On paper, this means that I bridge the gap between the data experts on the team and iCouldBe, although I have found my role to be a lot more elastic than that.
First, the two data experts are more than capable enough of handling themselves without me! And I have found myself doing some data analysis, preparing presentations, having off-hours conversations with the iCouldBe team to understand their exact needs and requirements, and sanity-checking some code.
The project is now winding down and overall it was very successful. We ended up building a data product, which gives iCouldBe a reliable pipeline into which they can add any new data and automatically generate relevant insights. This means that we will continue to have an impact on their work as they collect more data over the coming years.
[ED. NOTE: YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT THE ICOULDBE DATAKIND PROJECT PLUS SEE A FEW PHOTOS OF TOM AND HIS TEAM PRESENTING THEIR WORK HERE.]
What have you learned from this work that augments your day job?
There have been two major learning points during my time with DataKind. The first was realizing that the initial requests for the project were unclear, and it took some time to figure out the delicate balance between what we, the data scientists, thought was cool, and what the iCouldBe team actually needed.
[My first major learning point] was realizing that the initial requests of the project were unclear, and it took some time to figure out the delicate balance between what we, the data scientists, thought was cool, and what the iCouldBe team actually needed.
The second was establishing some kind of order within the team in terms of communication channels. Everyone in the team is incredibly nice and competent, but probably also too polite, which means that we may have been a bit slow to “take the horse by its reins”. I learnt that sometimes it’s not a bad thing to take control if things are going a little off-track.
What kind of work have you done as a data scientist since Insight?
To echo the previous point regarding the pace of data science work, I was involved with many projects at Dow Jones, nearly one per month, with a lot of overlap of course. The work ranged from building stand-alone data products that run graphical modeling pipelines in order to produce fully interactive visualizations of risk and compliance networks, building APIs running search engines or predictive models for relationship extraction, projects looking to further our understanding of customers, to creating pipelines to ingest news events for the newsroom.
And what about in your current role at DigitalOcean?
While my work is still heavily focused on data science, members of the team are also expected to “bring our own engineering”. In essence, this means that we are integrated in every part of the process and take ownership of whatever we are building, from data collection all the way to being on-call. This is a role and level of responsibility that I was actively seeking so I am very happy with where I am.
It is also interesting to contrast life at a large, Fortune 500 company, to being at a startup in hyper-growth. It is easier to positively impact the company, since the hierarchy is a lot flatter and there is far more low-hanging fruit up for grabs.
Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with us Tom!Capcom is big on cashing in on its extensive gaming history, so yet another blast-from-the-past package of 8-bit games from the company is no surprise. In this case, the theme is Disney--and a good reminder that, when Disney put its name on a game back in the day, it was a pretty sure bet you'd be in for a good time. Disney and Capcom had a great track record of solid NES titles based on beloved late-'80s/early-'90s cartoons, and now those 8-bit classics are available in one affordable package.
If you're the kind of person who even just sees the word DuckTales and instantly hears "woo-ooo!" in your mind, Capcom's gifting you a retro treat here. Six games are included in the Disney Afternoon Collection, and they are the kind of side-scrolling platformers so prevalent in the NES' heyday.
You'll find DuckTales and DuckTales 2, both Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers titles, Darkwing Duck, and the aerial shooter TaleSpin in the collection. These are largely straightforward ports of the original games made to fit your HDTV, but they're otherwise untouched replications of the original NES versions. You can turn filtering on and off on the fly to smooth out the pixelated graphics and stretch the game to fit your screen (or leave the bordered version true to the original aspect ratio), but none of the graphics have been explicitly retouched.
Given the nature of this collection, the entire pack feels like an historical artifact. In their day, Capcom's Disney-themed games had impressively high production values, solid level design, and otherwise stood out thanks to their recognizable cartoon cast. They also shared another defining feature--they were almost universally, uncompromisingly difficult (a trend that would continue well into the Super Nintendo years).
The Chip 'n Dale games were cooperative platformers, which was distinctive for the time. DuckTales offered players the ability to take the large worlds in whatever order they wanted and offered replay value with the ability to revisit previously explored worlds, since the levels were full of secret gems. Darkwing Duck focused on side-scrolling shooting and a humorously noirish atmosphere that was countered by a controller-throwing level of potential frustration due to game mechanics and difficulty level. The odd duck out (so to speak), TaleSpin, starts off almost like a side-scrolling arcade shooter, where you can only shoot one slow bullet at a time, which can be upgraded over time. The pacing is such that every shot must be timed perfectly, or you're doomed.
The games themselves are only part of the appeal here, though. Capcom has included a plethora of additional content as well. The Disney Museum lets you stroll down memory lane and provides some interesting perspective on each game and their characters. The goodies offered in the Museum include ads, concept art, and soundtracks. Given the historical nature of the games, this is a particularly nice touch that adds more weight to the idea that once, long ago, these were premium-priced, triple-A titles.
Each game also comes with two new modes: Boss Rush and Time Attack. Boss Rush distills the game down into a gauntlet run made up entirely of bosses, as the name suggests. Time Attack adds an interesting layer of social gaming to the mix--this mode lets you race through the levels against the clock but also links to online leaderboards to let you compete against the world for the fastest times.
The final addition to the Disney Afternoon Collection is the rewind button, which boosts the enjoyment of these challenging diversions. Pressing the left shoulder button instantly backs the action up so you can try again. It works throughout every game, and you can even use the feature to go back to the very beginning of a level. To say it's a sanity saver for those not used to punishment of this magnitude is an understatement.
The Disney Afternoon Collection is a refined time capsule that covers a very specific chapter in gaming history. While these games might not be anything to get overly excited about individually, in a package that includes plenty of history and extras, this collection is a nostalgic curiosity with heart.The Robotic Boogaloo has been one of those extraordinary community efforts that only ever happen in PC gaming – a Mann vs Machine-themed modding extravaganza which pulled together Steam Workshop submissions for the greater good of TF2. And that was enough. But now there’s just just the faintest scent of Valve-pulled strings behind the scenes – the barest suggestion that the Boogaloo might have become something more than it was, with the help of the TF2 dev team.
The complete gallery of submissions accepted for the Boogaloo can be seen here – a list of TF2 items, some familiar, some less so, all augmented with bolts, batteries or bunsen burners.
Work on the project had continued apace through to the end of February, when the submissions deadline passed and artists set about improving their work. Since then, however, the work of top collaborators, previously visible via Steam Workshop, has suddenly become private.
Those same collaborators adopted mechanically-augmented Steam avatars, and modders were asked not to upload their items to the Workshop until the update went live. To what end, they wondered?
Meanwhile, Valve have surreptitiously pushed out assets for a robo_crate in yesterday’s official TF2 update. Crates are awarded in-game as item drops, and have previously incorporated Workshop submissions.
Valve have precedent for this sort of thing – in December last year, the limited-availability Nice Winter Crate contained 13 community items made for the Mecha Update event.
Do you think it’s possible they’ve leapt on the back of the Boogaloo to pull a similar trick ahead of a new MvM update?ADVERTISEMENT
The Church of Scientology has been accused of locking up workers in a Californian "slave labor" camp. The 5,000 members of the church's Sea Organization live communally, vow to forego having children, and sign a billion-year loyalty pledge. But a new lawsuit from two former "Sea Org" members claims they were treated like prisoners, held against their will, and forced to work 100 hours a week compiling Scientology literature for almost no pay. The church says that the Sea Org followers are members of a religious order, like monks, and thus exempt from wage and overtime laws. Is Scientology running an illegal sweatshop outside Los Angeles?
All this evidence points to the truth: Well, now we know where "all those crappy pamphlets and all that L. Ron Hubbard literature" comes from, says Ravi Somaiya in Gawker. Predictably, Scientology's leadership was "outraged and denied the allegations vehemently," but this lawsuit isn't the first to suggest this kind of abuse. When "so many 'liars' come out of Scientology saying very similar bad stuff about the 'church,'" why should we believe what the leaders say?
"More on Scientology's brutal sweatshops"
Volunteers aren't slaves: "When you sign up as a Sea Org member, you're signing up as a member of a religious order," says Scientology spokeswoman Jessica Feshbach, quoted in the AP, so you basically know what you're getting into. "You're a volunteer. You sign a contract that says, 'I'm not going to be paid minimum wage and I know that.'" Those who say they were treated badly are "liars looking for money."
"Ex-Scientology lawsuits reveal elite Sea Org group"
Slave labor, but paid for by U.S. taxes: We now know that Sea Org members "work for almost no pay and are generally treated like animals," says Tony Ortega in The Village Voice. But at least they signed up for it. Scientologists have "manipulated" the government into allowing them to operate as a tax-exempt religion. Why does no-one seem to care that U.S. taxpayers are "subsidizing their mafia scheme," too?
"Anderson Cooper plans latest misguided slam on Scientology"The two editions are to be published by Bloomsbury (the British publisher of the “Harry Potter” books) and are being released as part of an exhibition at the British Library, which also opens on Oct. 20. That exhibition will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first book in the “Harry Potter” series, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (published as “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in the United States).
Reuters reported that Bloomsbury made an announcement about the library exhibition and the two books on Tuesday. An official at Scholastic, which publishes “Harry Potter” books in the United States, did not immediately reply to an email seeking additional comment about the latest texts.
According to the British Library’s website, “Harry Potter — A History of Magic” is the “official book” of the library’s exhibition, and what officials called a “collaboration between Bloomsbury, J.K. Rowling and the brilliant curators of the British Library.” It pledges to mix the muggle world and the wizarding world amid 256 pages that will place “J.K. Rowling’s magical inventions alongside their cultural and historical forebears.” Potter nerds will be delighted to also find “exclusive manuscripts, sketches and illustrations from the Harry Potter archive,” the library said.
The similarly named “Harry Potter — A Journey Through the History of Magic” also promises to be “packed with unseen sketches and manuscript pages from J.K. Rowling.” The description provided by the library says the book will take “readers on a journey through the Hogwarts curriculum, including Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, Divination and more” and allow them to “discover the truth behind making the Philosopher’s Stone, create your very own potion and uncover the secret of invisible ink.”
A statement on Ms. Rowling’s website, “Pottermore,” called “A History of Magic” an “adult edition” and its companion book, “a family edition for younger readers.”But a soccer weekend in the Pacific Northwest — attending matches in Vancouver, Seattle and Portland as they vie not just for spots in the Major League Soccer playoffs but for possession of their own regional trophy, the Cascadia Cup — is a fine substitute and, once you’re on the ground, eminently affordable. (Vancouver Whitecaps tickets start at $25, Seattle Sounders tickets at $32 and Timbers tickets — the hardest to get — at $27.) The M.L.S. level of play, rapidly improving, still isn’t on par with the best leagues in the world, but, according to the former national team star and current ESPN soccer analyst Alexi Lalas, the atmosphere in the Cascadia cities is as good, if not better, than most European hotbeds.
“They have traditions and match-day experiences there that are authentic and organic and that I would put up there with some of the greatest soccer cities in the world,” Mr. Lalas said. “And I think it’s caught on there because it’s an area where counterculture thrives. Because of that, I think they’ve created a soccer atmosphere that is uniquely North American.”
In Seattle, where the Sounders routinely draw more than 40,000 fans to CenturyLink Field (and against certain rivals, such as Portland, more than 65,000), that means marching bands and pep rallies where thousands of face-painted fanatics, many of them fresh out of jam-packed local drinking establishments such as Fuel (unofficial headquarters of the Emerald City Supporters fan group), gather for the pregame “March to the Match,” as close to an organized riot as you’re going to see outside of a “Mad Max” movie. For big matches, the marchers can number 10,000 or more, a sea of scarf-waving humanity, lit by flares and, toward the end of the three-block walk from Occidental Park in Pioneer Square to the stadium, immersed in multicolored smoke. It’s the kind of spectacular entrance usually reserved for Batman villains. It’s loud and it’s frightening, but in a theatrical way. Sort of like those Capital One barbarian commercials. Seriously, bring the children.
They also have a march in Vancouver but, because it’s Vancouver, it’s on a smaller, less threatening scale. A few hundred die-hards gather before matches at Doolin’s Irish Pub on Nelson and wind their way past assorted poutine stands and ice cream shops on Robson before ending up at BC Place, the domed stadium where the Whitecaps play, a 10-minute walk away. The mob, being Canadian, waits for stoplights and the war chant of choice is “Take Me Home, Boundary Road,” sung to the tune of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” So, yes, they’re adorable.Mira Epstein, 8, of Bethesda, lightly touches the end of the feathered pen that her grandfather, Richard Epstein, uses to finish the last details of the torah at Chabad of Potomac on May 18, 2014 in Potomac, Md. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
To write a Torah, a scribe must pen 304,805 Hebrew letters using a feather quill on sheepskin parchment — without making a single mistake. Forget auto-correct. Even one error would invalidate the whole text, making it unfit for use in a Jewish house of worship, according to custom. So completing a Torah is a cause for celebration. Completing one as an amateur is almost unheard of.
Richard Epstein, 74, a psychiatrist and a member of Chabad of Potomac, did just that on Sunday. He inked in the final letters of the scroll that took him eight years to write, an accomplishment that was marked by singing, dancing, and wonderment at the synagogue.
“I feel like basically the Torah wrote me, more than I wrote the Torah — that it really shaped me,” Epstein said. “When you write, you go so much slower than you think, and especially when you’re writing the Torah. It’s wet and it’s gooey.”
That painstaking process helped him appreciate the biblical precepts in a way he never had before, he said. Following a Jewish tradition, he spoke each word and then each letter in that word aloud before he wrote it. He found that he was thinking more deeply about the familiar stories and even dreaming about the passages he had penned that day.
He became interested in writing a Torah — the scroll containing the five books of Moses that is read in synagogues — nearly a decade ago. He met with professional scribes who taught him the craft. Almost all Torah scrolls are written by a scribe, called a sofer, who starts training as a young adult. For a professional sofer, a Torah takes 11 to 12 months. Most work in Brooklyn or in Israel.
Richard Epstein spent the past eight years writing a Torah by hand, a very painstaking process in which even one misshapen letter can invalidate the whole text. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
“It is absolutely unique for someone at his age with his background to train himself to be a sofer. I don’t think it’s ever been duplicated,” said Rabbi Shmuel Kaplan, the regional director of Chabad.
Epstein wrote smaller texts first, including a scroll of the Book of Esther and the text for the inside of a mezuzah, the marker that Jews put on their doors, before beginning the Torah.
“I felt I wanted to be closer to God, and I felt, ‘What better way to be closer to God than the gift that he made to the Jewish people?’ ” Epstein said.
Mendel Bluming, rabbi at Chabad of Potomac, said congregants eagerly tracked Epstein’s progress as he worked on text that is central to Jewish worship and identity. “The Torah is not just rules to do within your life. It really is the DNA that makes our people exist,” Bluming said. “One thing that really inspired me is how involved the community became.”
Bluming said that the specially prepared parchment and other materials for the Torah, which the synagogue purchased, cost about $10,000. To fund the project, congregants paid to sponsor pieces of the text, from a single letter to an entire portion that makes up one week’s reading in synagogue.
Those donors had the opportunity Sunday to participate in the writing of the Torah. Wearing a magnifying glass strapped over his yarmulke, Epstein inked in the final letters. A member of the community recited each letter with him and held the end of his quill. The congregation danced the finished Torah on a parade through the streets of Potomac.
Lisa Rosen wrote a letter alongside her son Jonah, 20. Seven years ago, when Jonah was preparing for his bar mitzvah, the family sponsored Epstein’s writing of Jonah’s bar mitzvah portion, and Jonah watched Epstein work on it. “It was a very important part of his appreciating becoming part of the community,” Rosen said.
Richard Epstein puts the finishing touches on the Torah at Chabad of Potomac on May 18, 2014 in Potomac, Md. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
Fran Hisler donated to the project in memory of relatives who were killed in the Holocaust. She said she sponsored a verse in Deuteronomy that refers to God avenging wrongs against the Jewish people. “This is a celebration that we’ve made it, despite all attempts to murder our people and inhibit us,” Hisler said. “To me, that’s the ultimate healing.”
Young children created Torah artwork using sand and glue, and held balloons with the outline of a Torah. Teenagers lined up for their chance to ink in a letter. “The Torah is our life, you know?” said Yankel Katzman, 18.
For Gerdy Trachtman, it was a moment to remember her husband. After he died, she sponsored seven letters in the Torah, which spell out his Hebrew name.
“It’s not an object that has died. It renews itself all the time,” she said after she wrote her letter with Epstein. “On the one hand, it is the oldest tradition we have, never changing. On the other, it is the newest, renewed.”However, since January, investigators have unearthed at least 47 million euros, or $61.4 million, that they say he stashed offshore, in Switzerland but also possibly in other countries.
The financial crimes unit of the Spanish police released a report in May in which it said that it had identified 19 of the fund’s corporate donors, which had received public contracts worth more than $15 billion from conservative politicians over a decade.
Last week, the newspaper El Mundo published ledgers it said were parallel financial accounts kept by the Popular Party. The information mirrored allegations made in late January by another Spanish paper, El País, which reported that the ledgers showed secret payments to Mr. Rajoy and other party members for nearly 20 years, ending in 2008, when Spain’s construction boom ended.
Mr. Rajoy and other party officials have denied wrongdoing, as has Mr. Bárcenas.
With a bulletproof majority in Parliament and elections not due until 2015, Mr. Rajoy is in little immediate danger of being nudged from power. But the persistent questions about the fund have pushed him and his inner circle toward blanket denials that leave them little room to maneuver if Mr. Bárcenas divulges more damning information or the investigation otherwise deepens.
Proving any illegal party funding is likely to be an uphill struggle, given the murkiness of rules governing the financing of Spanish parties — something that Mr. Rajoy’s government is in the process of tightening. But the questions have already helped sink Mr. Rajoy’s popularity to record lows. His government has also faced mass demonstrations, as citizens blame its austerity push for their worsening conditions and a record unemployment rate of 27 percent.
Only 23 percent of respondents would now vote for the Popular Party, according to a telephone survey by Metroscopia, a pollster, and published by El País this month. That is near the lowest level since Mr. Rajoy came to power in November 2011. Meanwhile, 86 percent of those surveyed said that they did not trust Mr. Rajoy. The survey was based on interviews with 1,000 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Still, the Socialists and other parties continue to trail the Popular Party, according to Metroscopia’s latest poll, showing the extent and depth of the discontent and mistrust in Spain, as politicians, the monarchy and almost every other institution have become entangled in the web of fraud investigations, many related to building contracts awarded before the bursting of the country’s construction bubble.LaMarcus Aldridge was selected as the No. 2 pick by the Chicago Bulls in the 2006 NBA Draft.
But, he didn’t play for them even one game, because he was traded by the Chicago Bulls with a 2007 2nd round draft pick (Demetris Nichols was later selected) to the Portland Trail Blazers for Viktor Khryapa and Tyrus Thomas.
That season (2006/07), the Bulls lost against Detroit Pistons 2-4 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The best players were Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni.
What happened with Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Khryapa?
Tyros Thomas played only three years for the Chicago Bulls, and he didn’t score more than 10.8 points per game. Khryapa spent only two seasons for Chicago Bulls and after that, he decided to return to the Europe and CSKA Moscow.
On the other side, LaMarcus Aldridge had a tremendous time with the Portland Trail Blazers. His best performance was in the NBA season 14/15, when he scored 23.4 points with 10.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.
After that, he signed with San Antonio Spurs, and in the last 9 years, he is amongst the best power forwards in the NBA.
If we are talking about offensive skills, TimDuncan is on the top, but LaMarcus Aldridge is maybe the best big man after him. Blake Griffin improved his shooting from the perimeter, but fadeaway jump shot, pump fakes and great shooting percentage is the part of LaMarcus Aldridge’ offensive game.
The Bulls made a big mistake. I know that nobody will even try to compare Tyrus Thomas and LaMarcus Aldridge, but if Chicago Bulls hadn’t traded LaMarcus Aldridge?
Just two years after they trade him, they have in roster Joakim Noah (2007) and Derrick Rose (2008).
Imagine what could have been, if the Bulls had three young players – Noah, Rose and Aldridge? Ok, I assume that Bulls would get Rose, but this is just “what if”, so imagine that they had just 33 wins with LaMarcus Aldridge (he was still young), in the NBA season 2007/08.
Noah was one of the best defenders in the league, and Rose won the MVP Award (2011). LaMarcus Aldridge scored 17.8 points in his second season, and Rose was the best player in the league after three seasons he spent with Chicago Bulls.
After Michael Jordan’ era, they never played in the NBA Finals, and in the last 18 years, they played 10 times in the NBA Playoffs, but just once in the Eastern Conference Finals. They lost 1-4 against Miami Heat, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and that was the best achievement for Chicago in the last 18 years.
With Rose and Aldridge, the Bulls could have more than just one win against LeBron James, but they decided to trade him for Tyrus Thomas.
Chicago never had a good power forward with the points and offensive skills. They only had Pau Gasol, but he wasn’t in his prime.
June 28, 2006: Chicago missed a great opportunity to kept LaMarcus Aldridge, and I think that they probably lost one or even two NBA Championships by that decision.
The Bulls had a great steal five years ago, when they selected Jimmy Butler. I know that this article is not good for the Bulls fans, but they could have Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose and LaMarcus Aldridge in their starting lineup in the last five years.By Ben Cohen: Two weeks ago, we broke a story on The Daily Banter about the potential of Mitt Romney having a lot more money than he is claiming. I had received a tip off from a source inside the banking industry that Romney is in fact a billionaire, not a millionaire, and after going through the numbers there seemed to be significant evidence that would indicate it to be true.
The distinction between millionaire and billionaire is academic to 95% of the population, but Romney's finances are about more than just the numbers. If he is worth significantly more than his campaign is officially claiming, it goes to the heart of a troubling theme that has defined his run at the presidency -- and that is one of extreme dishonesty and outright lying.
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Last week, former investment banker and Bloomberg columnist William Cohan penned a piece for the Washington Post outlining pretty much the same thing. In an article titled 'Mitt Romney is worth $250 million. Why so little?' Cohan explored the murky nature of Romney's investments, his lack of transparency and the glaring fact that all of Romney's competitors are billionaires |
practically unworkable the direction, “to establish a gateway through the AG’s political office to all opinion work”, would convert the solicitor-general’s office “into one of ‘closet counsel’ within the AG’s political office, to be released for non-curial advising on the unreviewable whim of the incumbent AG”.
He says that in the current circumstances where there is a breakdown in the working relationship, “such differences should not be resolved during their continued incumbency by inappropriate and destructive legislative or administrative measures being imposed which have the effect of destroying the independent office of SG”.
Answering a question in parliament, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said both Brandis and Gleeson had his confidence.
Both were “distinguished barristers”, he said. He had had the benefit of the legal advice of both at different times “and I have confidence in each of their legal capacity and ability and we are very fortunate to have the benefit of their advice”.The City of New York's subpoena of Ken Burns, the documentary filmmaker whose recent project covered the wrongful conviction and eventual exoneration of five men accused of raping and beating a woman in Central Park, opens up a painful point in New York City history, and raises questions about the strength and reach of New York's journalist shield laws. It should also open up a demand for real changes to police investigation and interrogation tactics – to preserve the rights of criminal defendants, and to protect crime victims.
More than 20 years ago, the Central Park jogger rape case roiled New York City, stoking racial tensions and fanning the flames of widespread fear and frustration with pervasive crime and violence. The jogger, a 28-year-old investment banker, was raped and brutally beaten; she barely survived. A group of five black and Latino teenage boys was implicated in the crime. Four of the five confessed on videotape. The boys later recanted, but were all convicted. The media storm around the crime and the trial latched onto the narrative of roving gangs of kids from the projects going "wilding", attacking unsuspecting victims in the park and robbing them, beating them or worse.
More than a decade later, DNA evidence and the confession of the man tied to it proved the innocence of the "Central Park Five". They were released from prison and saw their convictions vacated. Three of the five – now men who spent much of their adult lives in prison – filed a lawsuit against the city in 2003. It's in the context of that lawsuit that the Burns footage – footage that, ironically, the city did its best to prevent from being shot in the first place – has been subpoenaed.
The Central Park jogger case is particularly compelling because it flies in the face of what we believe to be common sense about criminal convictions. A confession, it would seem, is the most ironclad proof of guilt: why would anyone in their right mind confess to a crime they didn't commit? How could five boys all confess to the same crime if they weren't actually responsible?
What Law & Order and whodunit thrillers won't tell you is that false confessions are startlingly common. According to the Innocence Project, 25% of innocent defendants who were exonerated with DNA evidence made incriminating statements or full-on confessions. A disproportionate number of those who falsely confess are mentally challenged or have mental health problems; children and adolescents also routinely fail to understand their rights during a police interrogation. And false confessions are, sadly, an American tradition: even back in 1692, 50 different women "confessed" to witchcraft in the Salem witch trials.
Police officers want to get the bad guy, but too often they pick what they believe to be the most plausible story and ratchet the facts into it. By the time the police are interrogating a subject, they've determined that the person is probably guilty of the crime. The goal of the interrogation isn't to learn the truth: it's to solidify guilt.
That viewpoint lends itself to a mentality where coercive interrogation techniques are justified. Most of the techniques that police officers use are legal – lying to the arrestee, falsely claiming there's evidence implicating him, deceiving him, intimidating him, minimizing the crime and its potential consequences to make a confession seem like an easy out. One of the most troubling coercive tactics is intentional sleep deprivation, to make a suspect more psychologically susceptible to suggestion. Sleep deprivation may sound relatively benign, but it's been widely used as a powerful instrument of torture. Depriving a person of sleep removes their ability to think and act coherently. They have delusions and hallucinations, and the desire for sleep becomes so desperate that a person deprived of it will often do almost anything for reprieve – including, as happened in the Central Park case, admitting to murder.
The Central Park Five all took back their confessions upon being formally arrested. They were kids who had been kept awake for nearly two days and interrogated without attorneys present; they were told if they confessed, they could go home. The stories they told in their confessions were inconsistent with each other and with the physical evidence. Several of the boys said they stabbed the victim, but there were no knife wounds. Their stories varied on the location of the crime, the description of the victim and the timeline of the crime itself. There was little physical evidence tying them to the rape and beating. They were prosecuted and convicted anyway.
In the meantime, Matias Reyes, the man who actually raped and nearly killed the Central Park jogger, continued on his spree of serial rapes throughout New York City. Reyes had violently assaulted several women before the Central Park rape, including his own mother; the same year he committed the Central Park assault, he was also actively breaking into women's apartments and stabbing out the eyes of his victims so that they couldn't identify him after he raped them. He killed at least one of them.
In 2002, while in jail for rape and murder, Reyes admitted to the Central Park rape. DNA evidence tied him to the crime. Tellingly, even after a judge vacated the convictions of the Central Park Five, police commissioner Ray Kelly stood behind the police work that put five innocent young men in jail:
"The judge's ruling has neither exonerated the defendants nor found any collusion or coercion on the part of the police."
Police officers are human and mistakes happen; that's forgivable. Refusing to alter bad practices and placing your own interest in convicting someone ahead of truth and justice? That's not.
Police forces across the country continue to resist beginning-to-end videotaped interrogations and rules against coercive interrogation practices. To the NYPD's credit, video recording is now mandatory for interrogations of murder, serious sex crime and felony assault suspects – though a full decade has passed since the Central Park Five were cleared of their convictions. More police forces should follow suit, and should go still further by doing away with techniques like sleep deprivation, deception and intimidation, which too often have bad results.
Trisha Meili, the Central Park jogger rape case victim, in 2003. Photograph: Richard Drew/AP
When police officers and prosecutors play fast and loose with the facts – when they care more about getting a conviction than getting the right guy – crime victims lose, and more people are victimized. The jogger, Trisha Meili, published her memoir in 2003 and works as a motivational speaker. She deserved to see real justice from the get-go, and not be forced to re-live her victimization more than a decade later when it turns out that, whoops, the police got the wrong guys.
Five teenage boys deserved better than spending their late teens and 20s in prison for a crime they didn't commit. Matias Reyes deserved to be in jail sooner, and frankly deserves his own special hot seat in hell, if such a place exists.
And as a society, we all deserve a police force dedicated to seeking the actual truth, not the most convenient one.Two games I’ve previously worked on are Planetary Annihilation and Supreme Commander. If you’re familiar with either one then you’ll be familiar with strategic zoom. Which is the ability for players to zoom way out to see the whole battlefield.
Playing Dino Frontier frequently made me feel like Tony Stark operating one of his computers from the Iron Man franchise. […] The controls feel incredible. — DaddyDayDream
The best part, though? At any time you can instantly and seamlessly resize the tabletop world. You just reach down, grab the earth, and stretch. It’s pinch-to-zoom controls applied to VR, and it rules. — Destructoid
The tutorial turned me into an expert in just five minutes, and I can safely say that this tactile-focused experience is the best control scheme I’ve ever encountered in a strategy game. — GameCritics
I’d like to think we achieved those lofty goals. But don’t take my word for it! Here are some reviewer quotes.
For Dino Frontier we wanted to create a control scheme that was comfortable, powerful, and intuitive. As a second wave VR game we wanted to satisfy core gamers eager for new content. But we also wanted to be accessible to players who may be trying VR for the first time.
Players assume the role of Big Mayor. They build a town, manage settlers, gather resources, domesticate dinosaurs, fight bandits, and more. All this is done with a top-down perspective at tabletop scale.
Dino Frontier is a PlayStation VR game where players build and manage a frontier settlement in a world where the wild west and Jurassic collide.
Dino Frontier recently launched and I want to share some of the cool new things we made for it. First things first, here’s our launch trailer to help you familiarize yourself with the game.
Dino Frontier has something similar. Players have full control over the tabletop. They can freely translate, rotate, and scale the playing surface.
This might sound like a recipe for nausea and motion sickness. With a naive implementation you’d be right! But using a few clever tricks it’s incredibly comfortable.
Table Operations
Translate
Rotate
Scale
Now let’s tie them all together to quickly move around the map.
Input
Dino Frontier requires two motion controllers. For PSVR this means two Move controllers. They have a trigger, big oblong face button, and four little buttons.
We only use the trigger and the face button. Two buttons per controller. The little buttons are too confusing. Especially when wearing a VR headset which prevents players from looking down at their controllers.
The trigger is used for context sensitive world interactions. Pinch, grab, open, use, etc.
The face buttons are used for table manipulation. Press and hold the face button on one controller to pan. Hold both face buttons to zoom or rotate. It works just like a touch screen; pinch to zoom.
VR Sickness
A great VR experience makes players feel like they’re in another world. A bad experience gives them a headache, nausea, and the spins. Designing for comfort is of the utmost importance.
There are multiple ways VR can cause discomfort. Some well understood and some we’re still figuring out. The basic cause is a mismatch between what your body feels and your eyes see.
In Dino Frontier player sit on their couch and look down at a tabletop. Using the controllers they can move, spin, and scale that table.
Doing this in an empty, ethereal space is discomforting. There’s no frame of reference. Is the table moving left or did I move right? You can’t tell, but your inner ear lets you know it’s not happy!
Our solution is to give the player a frame reference to ground themselves in. We use a background environment which is fixed in “real world” space so to speak. The player can move the table around all they want but those rocks stay in place.
When moving the table we turn on a subtle, fixed grid. This is especially important if the player is zoomed in and unable to see the background rocks.
Careful observers may note how the grid is positioned at table height, renders on top of everything, and fades out in the center of view. It provides peripheral stability.
Finally, we run at 90 frames per second. Running at 90 instead of 60 makes a huge difference in comfort. The bigger camera movements a game has the more important 90 is. This is far easier said than done!
Polish
One of the things that makes our controls feel crisp is our use of anchor points. When pressing the face buttons to move the table the hands establish an anchor point on the table.
As the player scales or rotates the hand stays attached to that anchor point. Pay close attention to the relative position of the trees in the follow image.
We apply momentum to table motion on release. This also helps the player navigate across the map quickly.
You may have noticed that all table motion happens on the ground plane. We keep the table at a fixed relative height. There’s a separate control for raising or lowering the table to a comfortable height.
User Interface
VR is a bold new frontier. Rules and best practices have not been established. Even more so in the simulation, tabletop-scale space.
World Interactions
Dino Frontier is a hands based game. The player has two motion controllers and two in-game hands. VR hands provide a visceral, intuitive experience.
World interactions are context sensitive and all use a single button; the trigger. Remember this is a two button game and one button is dedicated to the table controls!
We tried to have as little UI as possible. Interactions are far more literal than typical button filled video games.
Settlers aren’t selected with a cursor. They’re pinched with a hand.
Jobs are assigned by physically dropping settlers on a role site.
Promoting a settler to sheriff isn’t done by clicking a promote button. You physically assign a sheriff badge.
Watering trees is done by watering them with a watering can.
Palette
One of the more effective VR tools is the palette. Tilt Brush is the perfect example.
The player holds a palette with their left hand and uses the right to select elements.
We have something kinda similar. Our problem is that our two buttons are already in use. We don’t have any free buttons to control the palette!
Our solution is put game buttons in “real world” space. These buttons are off to the side but always available. The player can be zoomed in or zoomed out and they’ll be in a known position and fixed size. Grabbing a button grabs a palette.
One of these palettes is the Build Palette. It holds buildings the player can place in the world. Hovering over a building produces a popup with details.
To build a Saloon you grab the Build Palette, pinch the Saloon, drop it in place, and thwack it with a hammer.
Popups
I hate words. Especially in video games. Sadly, you can’t always get around having a few.
When we do need words they appear on world space popups.
Sometimes those popups have buttons.
Toolbars
Normal sim games have an omnipresent toolbar which shows resource counts. That doesn’t work in VR.
Our solution is an always available wrist watch. It displays experience, resources, and objectives.
Misc Features
Here are a few random features worth a mention.
Tutorial
As previously mentioned I hate words. We heavily rely on animated gesture hints to teach the player mechanics.
In 20 seconds the player is taught how to pan the camera, zoom the camera, pickup a settler, and assign the settler to a task. All without using a single word. These gesture hints appear throughout the game when the player encounters a new mechanic.
Settlers
Settlers are semi-autonomous actors that have jobs and needs. Jobs are visually represented by their costume. Lumberjack, hunter, sheriff, etc.The dominance of a private-school educated elite and well-heeled middle class in the “upper echelons” of public life in Britain is “truly shocking”, Sir John Major has said.
The former Conservative Prime Minister said he was appalled that “every single sphere of British influence” in society is dominated by men and women who went to private school or who are from the “affluent middle class”
More than half of the Cabinet, including David Cameron, the Prime Minister, George Osborne, the Chancellor, and Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, are thought to have gone to private school and are independently very wealthy.
In the speech to Tory party grassroots activists on Friday evening, Sir John - who went to a grammar school in south London and left with three O-Levels - said: “In every single sphere of British influence, the upper echelons of power in 2013 are held overwhelmingly by the privately educated or the affluent middle class. To me from my background, I find that truly shocking.”
Sir John blamed this “collapse in social mobility” on Labour, which despite Ed Miliband’s “absurd mantra to be the one-nation party they left a Victorian divide between stagnation and aspiration”.
But the comments will be seen as a challenge to the Eton-educated Mr Cameron who has faced repeated criticism for surrounding himself with advisers and ministers from a similar background and failing
In the speech to South Norfolk Conservative Association’s annual dinner on Friday evening, Sir John also said:
- the Government should help pensioners who have saved carefully for their retirement and are being punished by “cripplingly unfair” low interest rates
- the Bank of England ought to return interest rates to “normal levels, say three to five per cent”, so that society treats “the saver as fairly as it treats the debtor”.
- Tory party members were right to feel “unsettled” by the Coalition’s decision to legalise same sex marriage, but activists have to move with the times.
- the Conservative leadership should to pull their punches on the United Kingdom Independence Party, pointing out that “many of the Ukip supporters are patriotic Britons who fear their country is changing” and will come back to the Tory party.
Similar concerns about social mobility were voiced by Michael Gove, the Education secretary who went to state school, last year, but they will have extra resonance because of his role as a party grandee and former Tory Prime Minister.
Sir John said: “I remember enough of my past to be outraged on behalf of the people abandoned when social mobility is lost.”
He continued: “Our education system should help children out of the circumstances in which they were born, not lock them into the circumstances in which they were born.
“We need them to fly as high as their luck, their ability and their sheer hard graft can actually take them. And it isn’t going to happen magically.”
Turning to the Conservatives’ prospects at the 2015 general election, Sir John said that if the party decided to “shrink into our comfort zone we will not win General Elections - the core vote cannot deliver a general election majority”.
Party members were right to feel “unsettled” by “bewildering” changes such as the Coalition’s decision to legalise same-sex marriage.
He said: “Social mores have moved on from the way in which we were brought up, with the values that we had. They have moved and changed.
“And that is why issues such as gay marriage have proved so toxic for the Conservative party.
“Because for many Conservatives, people who are conservative because their instinct is to conserve, to change slowly and only when you know it is certain for the better, that is classically Conservative.
“For people like that who form the bulk of our party and a great deal of our country too, these are difficult issues, these bewildering social changes and mostly it is my generation and older who are unsettled by these changes.
“We may be unsettled by them, but David Cameron and his colleagues have no choice but to deal with this new world. They cannot Canute-like order it to go away because it won’t.
Sir John, Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997, said internal criticism of the Government should be kept behind closed doors, even though it could be “productive”.
He said: “If members of our party wish to criticise the Government that it is fine. It is their right and it is often productive to do so.
“Government should have the benefit of alternative views, but let’s do it in private. Public criticism is destructive. Take it from me. Political parties who are divided and torn simply do not win general elections.
“Can we win this election? I am sure that we can but only if we pull together.”
Richard Bacon MP, who hosted the dinner, said: “It was a superb speech which drew attention to the huge damage done to social mobility especially by the last Labour Government.
“I think the Coalition is acutely aware of this problem and is taking steps to address it such as cutting tax for the low paid and the pupil premium but it is an enormous task.”THE second biggest crocodile ever caught in Australia has been hauled in by the Northern Territory’s own Outback wrangler Matt Wright.
The giant beast measured 5.58m and weighed in at a massive 890kg, making it bigger than the Territory’s own superstar croc, Brutus, which is estimated to be around 5.5 meters.
While reports are yet to be verified, it is anticipated to be the second largest crocodile ever captured in Australia, the NT News reported.
The croc is thought to have been captured towards the end of 2015 but Wright only made the details and images public yesterday.
According to the Guinness World Records, Cassius, a male saltwater crocodile caught in the Finniss River in the NT, is recognised as the world’s largest crocodile in captivity at 5.48m in length, and weighing in at 968kg.
He remains on show at Green Island in Queensland.
Adelaide River giant Dominator — and Brutus’ neighbour — has never been officially measured, but it is estimated that he is 6.1 metres in length and weighs over a ton.
The NT’s much-loved Sweetheart, whose body is on permanent display at the Museum and Art Gallery in Darwin, was 5.1m long and weighed 780kg when he was caught in 1979.
Sweetheart was renowned for a series of attacks on outboard motors, dinghies, and fishing boat in NT waters between 1974 and 1979 when he was wrangled.
The biggest crocodile ever caught in the world was said to be a 7.01m giant male saltwater crocodile weighing 2000kg named Kalia, from India.
Lolong, who died in 2013, was a saltwater crocodile that measured 6.17m and weighed 1075kg, making him one of the largest crocodiles ever measured from snout-to-tail.
In November 2011, Territorian crocodile expert Dr. Adam Britton of National Geographic sedated and measured Lolong in his enclosure in the Philippines and confirmed him as the world’s largest crocodile ever caught and placed in captivity
Matt Wright is a well-known Territory chopper pilot, animal expert and star of the hit National Geographic series Outback Wrangler.By Steve Wells, Alexandra Whittington and Rohit Talwar of Fast Future
Whatever the country, whatever the economic context, the critical question is: what is the future of work in an era of exponential technology development?
Artificial intelligence is arguably the big game changer. We already see narrow AI in use in internet searches, customer targeting applications, and in predictive analytics. But AI has much greater capability that will merge into every aspect of our lives in the future.
Devices will learn more about us and take on more of our tasks. We are automating activity in literally every sector and that is set to continue at an accelerating rate.
In our recent book on The Future of Business, we identified thirty different trillion-dollar industry sectors of the future, which we grouped into clusters. We expect these clusters and the underlying sectors to be impacted radically by exponential technology developments:
Information and communications
Production and construction systems
Citizen services and domestic infrastructure
New societal infrastructure and services
Transformation of existing sectors such accounting, legal, and financial services
Energy and environment
The McKinsey Global Institute looked at which technologies will drive the economy of the future. They found that mobile internet, the automation of work knowledge, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing will all be significant creators of new economic value.
A 2013 study on the Future of Employment by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne of the Oxford Martin School explored the probability of computerization for 702 occupations and asked; “Which jobs are most vulnerable?” The most at-risk groups were transport and logistics (taxi and delivery drivers), sales and services (cashiers, counter and rental clerks, telemarketers and accountants), and office support (receptionists and security guards). That’s 35% of the UK workforce.
A McKinsey Global Institute report (2016) looked at the automation of the global economy and found that: only 5% of jobs can be fully automated by adapting currently demonstrated technology, although for middle-skill categories this could rise to 20%; based on current technologies, 60% of jobs have at least 30% of their activities that are automatable; automation technologies could affect 49% of the world economy (1.1 billion employees and $12.7 trillion in wages). China, India, Japan, and USA account for more than half of these totals. The report concluded that it would be more than two decades before automation reaches 50% of all of today’s work activities.
The World Economic Forum’s study into The Future of Jobs (2016) estimated that 65% of children entering primary school today will work in job types that don’t yet exist. 3.5 times as many jobs could be lost to disruptive labour market changes in the period 2015–2020 than are created. The study saw job losses in routine white-collar office functions but gains in computing, mathematics, architecture, and engineering related fields.
We believe that we could see 80% or more of current jobs disappearing in the next 20 years. Some will become obsolete, or fully or partially automated, or tasks will be redesigned to eliminate the need for human input and decision making.
The big question is whether these jobs will be replaced by a combination of entrepreneurship, increased investment in education and training, human endeavour and the rise of the six sector clusters described above?
We all like to work in a world that is calm, stable, and predictable but the reality is very different. That world is changing ever faster, so we need to become proficient at developing and working with a new set of survival skills for the 21st century which include foresight, curiosity, sense making, accelerated learning, with a tolerance of uncertainty, scenario thinking, coping with complexity, and collaborative working.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Steve Wells, Alexandra Whittington and Rohit Talwar are from Fast Future which publishes books from future thinkers around the world exploring how developments such as AI, robotics and disruptive thinking could impact individuals, society and business and create new trillion-dollar sectors. Fast Future has a particular focus on ensuring these advances are harnessed to unleash individual potential and ensure a very human future. See: www.fastfuture.com
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commentsSenator Mark Udall (D-Colo.) voted October 31 against a bill purporting to “reform” the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In an e-mail to The New American, Udall said he believed the bill did not go far enough, failing to deliver real, substantive reform.
During the Senate Intelligence Committee’s markup of the measure earlier this week, Udall offered amendments to beef up the bill’s privacy protections, but a majority voted down his proposals.
Udall’s amendment would have ended the NSA’s bulk collection of phone record “metadata” and would have replaced the original bill with a bipartisan plan co-authored by Udall that would have thwarted the rapid construction of the surveillance apparatus.
"The NSA's ongoing, invasive surveillance of Americans' private information does not respect our constitutional values and needs fundamental reform — not incidental changes. Unfortunately, the bill passed by the Senate Intelligence Committee does not go far enough to address the NSA's overreaching domestic surveillance programs," Udall said.
"I fought on the committee to replace this bill with real reform, and I will keep working to ensure our national security programs show the respect for the U.S. Constitution that Coloradans tell me they demand. As part of this effort, I will partner with other reform-minded colleagues from both political parties, like Senators Leahy, Wyden, and Paul to continue pushing on the Senate floor for real bipartisan reform that will help keep our nation safe while better protecting our privacy rights.”
Evidence of the bipartisan commitment to reigning in the surveillance is Udall’s joining with Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) in introducing a bipartisan, bicameral surveillance reform legislation package.
This legislation is nearly identical to a proposal Udall introduced in September with Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
A press release from Udall’s office described the goals of the two surveillance-stifling measures:
That Udall/Wyden/Blumenthal/Paul bill would rein in the dragnet collection of phone records, provide safeguards for warrantless wiretapping under the FISA Amendments Act, and create a constitutional advocate to protect privacy rights in cases before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The bill introduced this week by Leahy and Udall would also expand safeguards on the use of national security letters and impose new and shorter sunset periods on controversial surveillance authorities. The bill is cosponsored in the U.S. House of Representatives by the original author of the PATRIOT Act, Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner.
The bipartisan proposal “would end the bulk collection of phone records of law-abiding Americans, close the "back-door searches" loophole that allows the government to search for Americans' communications without a warrant and create an independent constitutional advocate to argue significant cases before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.”
Paul Lewis, writing for The Guardian, disclosed key provisions of the bill:
If made law, the act would require a “constitutional advocate” to be introduced into the opaque court process, so that the government could be challenged on privacy grounds in significant or precedent-setting cases. It would insert an adversarial dimension to a court process that is currently one-sided in favour [sic] of the government.
The bill would also prevent a similar data trawl of internet communication records, which was stopped in 2011, and definitively close a so-called “backdoor” that potentially enables the NSA to intercept the internet communications of Americans swept up in a program protected by Section 702 of the of the Fisa Amendments Act.
Senator Udall’s consistent commitment to corralling the NSA is unusual among his colleagues.
With very few exceptions, the people’s elected representatives have been AWOL in the battle to preserve the Constitution and the fundamental liberties it was designed to protect.
In July of 2011 and again in May 2012, Senators Udall and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote a letter to Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, Jr., asking him a series of four questions regarding the activities of the NSA and other intelligence agencies regarding domestic surveillance.
In one of the questions, Udall and Wyden asked Clapper if “any apparently law-abiding Americans had their communications collected by the government pursuant to the FISA Amendments Act” and if so, how many Americans were affected by this surveillance.
In a response to the inquiry dated June 15, 2012, I. Charles McCullough III informed the senators that calculating the number of Americans who’ve had their electronic communications “collected or reviewed” by the NSA was “beyond the capacity of his office and dedicating sufficient additional resources would likely impede the NSA’s mission.
In other words, the NSA is too busy illegally recording our private e-mails, texts, Facebook posts, and phone calls to figure out how many of us are already caught in their net. And, furthermore, there is nothing Congress can do about it.
Naturally, Senators Udall and Wyden didn’t take kindly to Inspector General McCullough’s brush off. In a response to the response, the senators told McCullough that they just wanted a “ballpark estimate” of the number of American citizens who have been monitored under the authority of the FISA. In an additional statement released by Senator Wyden he expressed concern that the figure is likely very high:
I am concerned, of course, that if no one has even estimated how many Americans have had their communications collected under the FISA Amendments Act, then it is possible that this number could be quite large. Since all of the communications collected by the government under section 702 are collected without individual warrants, I believe that there should be clear rules prohibiting the government from searching through these communications in an effort to find the phone calls or emails of a particular American, unless the government has obtained a warrant or emergency authorization permitting surveillance of that American.
Given the intelligence community’s disdain for not only the Constitution but for congressional oversight, it is unlikely that the information requested by Senators Udall and Wyden will ever be forthcoming.
Various bills designed to reveal and reverse the NSA’s wholesale surveillance of everyone in the world are working their way through the two houses of Congress.
Taken together, the roster of snooping programs in use by the federal government places every American under the threat of constant surveillance. The courts, Congress, and the president have formed an unholy alliance bent on obliterating the Constitution and establishing a country where every citizen is a suspect and is perpetually under the never-blinking eye of the government.
The establishment will likely continue construction of the surveillance until the entire country is being watched around the clock and every monitored activity is recorded and made retrievable by agents who will have a dossier on every American.
The fight can yet be won, though. Americans can attack the sprawling surveillance state on several fronts. First, we must elect men and women to federal office who will honor their oaths of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. Then, once in office, each of them must be held immediately accountable for each and every violation of that oath.
Photo of Sen. Mark Udall: AP Images
Joe A. Wolverton, II, J.D. is a correspondent for The New American and travels frequently nationwide speaking on topics of nullification, the NDAA, and the surveillance state. He is the host of The New American Review radio show that is simulcast on YouTube every Monday. Follow him on Twitter @TNAJoeWolverton and he can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Link to Application:
Link to Info:
Founded in 1972, A.I.R. Gallery is the first artist-run, not-for-profit contemporary art gallery for women artists in the country. As an early alternative space, A.I.R. served as a catalyst for the women’s art movement and a model for other artists and arts organizations. Building on A.I.R.’s historical influence on contemporary art, the Fellowship Program, a FREE 12-month intensive program, provides visible gallery space and an opportunity to establish relationships with experienced artists, art professionals and collectors. A panel of outside reviewers will select participants. Fellowship recipients will be assigned New York member liaisons and panelists are encouraged to visit the individual Fellow’s studios in preparation for their solo shows. In addition, recipients will plan and implement a community project with the gallery during their tenure.
The 2016-2017 Fellowship Panelists are:
Natalie Bell: Assistant Curator, New Museum
Monika Bravo: Artist
Austin Thomas: Artist, Curator, Community Builder
Selected Artists will be notified by APRIL 2016. Please do not contact the gallery to inquire about your application.
Entry Deadline: OCTOBER 30, 2015 AT 11:59 PM
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS: the program is open to all self-identified women artists who:
· Have not had a solo exhibition at a permanent commercial gallery in NYC in the last 10 years.
· Are residents, or within commuting distance of, New York City metropolitan area for the duration of the program.
· 18 years or older
· Not a student or enrolled in any degree seeking program at the time of the program.
· Not participating in a comparable development program or residency program.
· Not currently be a member, employee or board member of A.I.R. Gallery, and never have had a solo show at A.I.R. Gallery.
0 0 1 337 1927 A.I.R. Gallery 16 4 2260 14.0 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE
· Not a Fellowship alumna.
SELECTION PROCESS: Each year, a rigorous selection review is conducted by a panel of outside curators, critics, and established artists. Through a multi-round process, artists are selected based on the quality and commitment to their work. A final interview and selection is made by A.I.R. Gallery Artists. A mandatory in-person interview is held prior to being accepted to the program. The A.I.R. Fellowship Program is open to artists working in ALL media and seeks to work with those that could benefit from the opportunities that the program offers. Six artists will be awarded a Fellowship.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES - Applications must be submitted online by 11:59 p.m., FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2015
· ONLY 72ppi, JPG, RGB files for images.
ONLY.MOV format for video
· Longest side of image must be 1000 pixels.
· Video links may not exceed 3 minutes in length.
· Each image may not exceed 1MB and 1000 pixels in any direction.
· Images MUST be oriented properly (ex: top of the image is up).
· You MUST not include your name in the image/video or file name (remember this is a blind review).
· You must fill in all fields and upload all 5 images in order for your application to be complete.
ADDITIONAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
· All questions should be answered to the best of your ability.
· Resume and artist statement in PDF format ONLY
APPLICATION REVIEW: The A.I.R. Staff initially reviews fellowship applications to ascertain whether the applicant meets the requirements of the fellowship program, as stated in the application form. The selection panel will then conduct a blind review of applications. The selection panel will review and rank all applicants based on the following criteria:
· Skill and use of materials.
· Ambition shown in the execution of the work.
· Complexity of meanings beyond "one-liners" or singular readings of the work
· Subverting visual clichés
· Visions shown from a verity of perspectives; political, social, and art historical
· Skills displayed through command of the materials
· Presentations that indicate effort and commitment to the profession
· Commitment to and quality of artwork presented; tightly focused projects demonstrating intellectual rigor and innovative approaches to materials and concepts
· Community project idea, as proposed in the application
· RPotential to maximize the unique opportunites presented by the A.I.R. Fellowship, including its important 40 year history as a collective for women in the arts.
A.I.R. Gallery is committed to maintaining diversity in the Fellowship Program."Are you still in the elevator?"
Last February, a woman tweeted that she was trapped inside an Amtrak elevator at the Baltimore-Washington International airport in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Guys. I’m trapped in an Amtrak elevator |
I asked if there was to be a cinema launch for Series 9, in the same way that Deep Breath kicked off Series 8 in cinemas around the world last year, but due to the big, and Brian stressed BIG, cliffhanger it was decided not to, as the production team didn't want to show it as a two-parter together.
The story will feature a snake made of other snakes and the Doctor and Missy will be on on the same side, sort of. There are also many other surprises in store in this ep.
EPISODES 3 & 4
This two-parter from Toby Whithouse gives us ghosts in an underwater base.
THE GIRL WHO DIED / THE WOMAN WHO LIVED
Starring Maisie Williams, we'll see vikings in space and highwaymen.
INVASION OF THE ZYGONS / INVERSION OF THE ZYGONS
On set we witnessed a Zygon chasing down Osgood in Mexico, while she texts The Doctor for help. It's pitched as a "sequel" to the 50th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor and features the whole world and rogue Zygons.
EPISODE 9
This will be unlike any other Doctor Who story ever broadcast, utilising a style previously unused in the show - it certainly makes for a fascinating idea and something I'm sure fans will get excited about (it's NOT a musical episode, btw). Controversially, this episode might not feature the Doctor Who title sequence.
ETA: We are now permitted to state that this will be a "found footage" episode.
Jenna Coleman, courtesy of the BBC
EPISODE 10
This was simply described as "invasion of invisible streets".
EPISODE 11
The big news about the penultimate episode of Series 9 is that it's what's known in the business as, a "one hander". This means it is set to star Peter Capaldi, by himself (a photo from the official Doctor Who Instagram account did hint at this when they took a picture from the read through, with only Peter's name visible).
Doctor Who Series 9. With a wry smile he turned and replied, "That's right, I didn't". I guess some secrets are worth saving and waiting until December for.
READ PETER CAPALDI INTERVIEW HERE Finally, I pointed out to Brian that he didn't tell us anything about the last instalment ofSeries 9. With a wry smile he turned and replied, "That's right, I didn't". I guess some secrets are worth saving and waiting until December for.
Thanks to Brian Minchin and the BBCBAE Systems has provided further reassurance that the Eurofighter Typhoons serving with the UK Royal Air Force (RAF)can fully take over the ground-attack and strike roles from the service’s Tornado fleet, which is due to be retired by March 2019. The company is promising “a seamless transition of capability from Tornado to Typhoon by the end of 2018.” But one key RAF Tornado capability is not scheduled for transfer— the Reconnaissance Airborne Pod for TORnado (RAPTOR)—even though it is currently providing vital imagery over Iraq and Syria to the coalition partners engaged in Operation Inherent Resolve.
The RAF has named the transfer of capabilities from Tornado to Typhoon as Project Centurion, an effort in three phases. Phase One Enhancement (P1E) of the Typhoon has included the integration of Raytheon Paveway IV laser/GPS-guided bombs. P1E entered service last year, although the BAE statement said that the RAF is now operationally evaluating “further work” to deliver “small improvements” to P1E. This further work “is providing lessons learnt for the forthcoming packages, while achieving the first step on the journey and setting the standard of how the RAF and industry can work effectively together,” said BAE Systems technical manager Paul Ascroft.
Phase Two Enhancements (P2E) include what BAE Systems now describes as “initial integration” of MBDA’s Meteor BVRAAM and Storm Shadow air-to-surface cruise missile. P2E also includes additional human-machine interface (HMI) and availability improvements, according to BAE Systems.
“Final integration” of both weapons is part of P3E, which also includes the MBDA Brimstone 2 close air support weapon. At the Farnborough Airshow last July, BAE Systems flew a Typhoon fitted with Paveway IV, Meteor and Brimstone weapons, but not Storm Shadow. In our report at the show, AIN noted the particular integration challenges for the Typhoon of adding this heavy cruise missile.
The RAPTOR pod is similarly heavy, and is too large to fit on the optimum centerline station of the Typhoon, because of inadequate clearance between the aircraft’s extended undercarriage doors. UTA Aerospace Systems (UTAS) has proposed an adaptation of the Typhoon’s centerline fuel tank to carry a significantly upgraded version of the RAPTOR. UTAS predecessor Goodrich delivered the RAPTOR to the RAF from 2001, and subsequently downsized and sold it as the DB-110 sensor to more than a dozen air forces, mostly for their F-16s.
In the proposed Fast Jet Pod 2 (FJP2) for the Typhoon, UTAS would include the multispectral imagery upgrade that converts the DB-110 to MS-110 configuration, as described by the company to AIN at Farnborough last July. The FJP2 could alternatively house the tactical synthetic aperture radar (TacSAR) that UTAS launched in a joint venture with Leonardo (then Selex Galileo) at the previous Farnborough airshow in 2014.David Miliband has made a dramatic entry into the debate about Britain’s exit from the EU with an impassioned call for politicians from all parties to work together to avoid the Tory high command driving the country “off a cliff”.
Labour’s former foreign secretary warned that Brexit is an “unparalleled act of economic self-harm” and suggested that it is up to MPs of all political colours to fight back against its worst consequences. The country’s future, he argued, should be decided by another vote on the terms of a final settlement – either by referendum or in parliament.
Tory Brexit policy is chaotic. The fightback must begin at once | David Miliband Read more
In a scathing article in the Observer, Miliband wrote: “Delegating to May and Davis, never mind Johnson and Fox, the settlement of a workable alternative to EU membership is a delusion, not just an abdication.”
He also heaped praise on the Tory chancellor, Philip Hammond, who is leading pressure inside the cabinet for a transition deal with the EU to soften the blow of a Brexit rupture. “I never thought I would say this, but Philip Hammond is also playing an important, even valiant, role. A transition of the kind he has advocated is vital.”
The timing of the intervention by the former contender for the Labour leadership is significant. Febrile Westminster talk over the summer recess has triggered speculation about the creation of a new anti-Brexit party joined by heavyweights from all sides.
But a more likely scenario is the emergence of cross-party consensus around a plan for the UK to remain part of the European Economic Area (EEA), at least for a transition period. This would provoke fury among leavers and civil war within the Tories.
Now president and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, based in New York, Miliband recently indicated that he sees himself as an “ex-politician”. But many believe he harbours a desire to return to Westminster and his caustic assessment of both the UK and US political scenes suggests he believes they are in need of a shake-up.
In his most hard-hitting comments to date concerning both Britain’s decision to leave the EU and the Trump presidency, Miliband warns that “politics and government are setting new standards for dysfunction”.
“This transatlantic malaise has a common root,” Miliband wrote. “Politics based on what you are against, not what you are for. Look at the campaigns against the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and against the EU. There is a common trope: the politics of grievance.” He claims that the UK is suffering a governability crisis. “Leaving the EU was mis-sold as a quick fix,” Miliband wrote. “Now it looks like a decade-long process of unscrambling the eggs of the national and European legislation. Ministers cannot even agree among themselves the destination, the route map, or the vehicles to get us there.”
But the case against the EU depends on avoiding a discussion of the alternative, Miliband believes. “It is the equivalent of voting to repeal Obamacare without knowing the replacement. It is a stitch-up. That is one reason it is essential that parliament or the public are given the chance to have a straight vote between EU membership and the negotiated alternative.”
In an attempt to broaden the debate, Miliband made an impassioned plea for the EU to be seen as more than an economic bloc.
“The EU is not just a group of neighbouring countries. It is a coalition of democratic states which pledge to advance human rights, the rule of law and democratic rules. That is not a threat to Britain; it is the team we should be on.”
The EU is a coalition of democratic states which pledge to advance human rights. It is the team we should be on David Miliband
In recent weeks, Labour MPs Stephen Kinnock and Heidi Alexander and the Conservative Lord Hague have called for the UK to remain a member of the EEA – the regional free trade area that, in addition to all EU member states, includes Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
Supporters of Britain adopting an EEA “off-the-shelf option” say that it would allow for a smooth exit with minimum disruption for British business while maintaining access to the single market. Kinnock, who believes there may be 15 Tory MPs sympathetic to his plan for Britain to remain part of the EEA – enough for the government to lose a vote on the issue – said it would buy “time to negotiate the final state deal with the EU. It delivers certainty for business and workers, and it allows us to reform freedom of movement.”
The latter point is controversial. Liechtenstein has powers to restrict freedom of movement but it is a tiny country. Attempts by the UK to negotiate a similar deal are likely to be bitterly contested by Brussels.
The EEA idea, however, has found favour with Hammond. The government opposes the plan but Labour appears to be softening its stance and Miliband’s powerful intervention may help to sway the party’s rank and file.Frederik Spangsberg Ahlers, a researcher at Aarhus University, has been looking into whether having an infectious disease increases the risk of epilepsy. The new study uses national registers and includes the data of almost 2 million people.
Ahlers found that contact with a hospital due to contracting an infection increased the risk of epilepsy significantly.
A broad spectrum
The risk of contracting epilepsy was increased by a broad spectrum of infections. It was found to be highest shortly after having an infection and increased through both the number of contacts a patient had with the hospital for treatment and the length of time spent in hospital.
The greatest risk was found to occur in cases where there was an infection of the central nervous system.
Ahlers will be publicly defending his research paper, ‘Infections and risk of epilepsy: a nationwide study’, from 10:30-11:30 on November 8 at the Neurological Department (F) of Aarhus Hospital (building 10, 3 floor, Nørrebrogade 44, Aarhus).The Times recently reported news that David Bowie’s 25th studio LP, ‘Blackstar’, will be released in January, saying it was possibly “oddest work yet from the 68-year-old singer” and suggesting it was a jazz record. Bowie’s camp have moved to clarify (some of) what’s going on. They’ve confirmed that there will be a new album, but they have some quibbles with the reports of what it will sound like, and the reported length (45 minutes, in seven tracks). So here’s everything we actually know about ‘Blackstar’, David Bowie’s 25th album, so far.
1. It’s definitely coming out on Bowie’s 69th birthday
In the original report, it was suggested ‘Blackstar’ would be released on January 8, 2016. This release date has now been confirmed by Bowie’s people. Back in 2013, Bowie released ‘Where Are We Now’, his first new single in a decade, on the same day.
2. The New single ‘Blackstar’ will be out on November 20 – the same day Adele’s album drops
Bowie’s reps have also stated that the new single – the record’s title track – will be released on November 20, which is the same day Adele’s new album ’25’ comes out, and a date even big names like One Direction and Justin Bieber have avoided releasing music on.
3. Part of the same single will be the credits music for new Sky Atlantic show The Last Panthers
As Bowie’s official site reports, the clip below features “a 47-second tease of ‘Blackstar’, the first new music from David Bowie since last year’s ‘Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)’”. It’s a melancholic, ghostly track, which doesn’t fit at all with reports that Bowie has been recording at the Magic Shop studio in New York with local jazz musicians. As Bowie’s people have put it, there may have been “inaccurate reporting on the sound and content of the album”.
4. Some of the weird reports about the album could be true
The Times had described the album as possibly Bowie’s “oddest yet” and “completely bonkers”. German electro pioneers Kraftwerk were referenced as a point of comparison, along with jazz influences. These details have been shot down by Bowie’s camp, but there’s a precedent for denial in Bowie’s 2013 album ‘The Next Day’.
After ‘The Next Day’’s surprise announcement in January 2013 – which was accompanied by its rapturously received first single ‘Where Are We Now?’ – producer Tony Visconti discussed how relieved he was that his non-disclosure agreement was no longer valid and he could finally talk about the project to his friends. “They’d go ‘it’s Bowie’. And I’d go ‘no, really it isn’t’”, he said. “I was a little uncomfortable with that, but it was the only way to do it.” That 2013 album was two years in the making, and Bowie may have intended for the utter secrecy that surrounded it to be upheld for ‘Blackstar’ too.
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“We just denied everything”, says Visconti about ‘The Next Day’. It’s probably safe to take the outright denials about the album’s sound with a pinch of salt.
5. It could be made up of unused ‘The Next Day’ material
In a 2013 interview, Noel Gallagher revealed that he’d heard that “there’s another album in the pipeline,” because 29 tracks were recorded for Bowie’s comeback album ‘The Next Day’ and only 14 were used on the final thing. Another four were used on the deluxe edition, which leaves a further 11. Some of those might be reworked for ‘Blackstar’.
6. He’s unlikely to tour it
It doesn’t look likely that a tour will follow the album – two weeks ago it was reported that Bowie has allegedly “retired from touring”. And that’s quite possible, because Bowie hasn’t performed on stage since 2006.
7. If this is his oddest album yet, it must be pretty out there
The Times’ report suggested it was potentially Bowie’s oddest album yet. But Bowie has recorded a drum’n’bass-influenced album (1997’s ‘Earthling’), an experimental, world music-tinged art-rock LP (‘Lodger’) and a film soundtrack of dated, synthy weirdness (‘Labyrinth’). Bowie’s created a career from delivering the unexpected – we can’t wait to hear what it’s like.Robert Weston Smith, known as Wolfman Jack (January 21, 1938 – July 1, 1995), was an American disc jockey.[1] Famous for his gravelly voice, he credited it for his success, saying, "It's kept meat and potatoes on the table for years for Wolfman and Wolfwoman. A couple of shots of whiskey helps it. I've got that nice raspy sound."[2]
Early career [ edit ]
Smith was born in Brooklyn on January 21, 1938, the younger of two children of Anson Weston Smith, an Episcopal Sunday school teacher, writer, editor, and executive vice president of the Financial World, and his wife Rosamond Small. They lived on 12th Street and 4th Avenue in the Park Slope section. His parents divorced while he was a child. To help keep him out of trouble, his father bought him a large Trans-Oceanic radio, and Smith became an avid fan of R&B music and the disc jockeys who played it, including "Jocko" Henderson of Philadelphia, New York's "Dr. Jive" (Tommy Smalls), the "Moon Dog" from Cleveland, Alan Freed, and Nashville's "John R." Richbourg, who later became his mentor. After selling encyclopedias and Fuller brushes door-to-door, Smith attended the National Academy of Broadcasting in Washington, D.C. After he graduated in 1960, he began working as "Daddy Jules" at WYOU in Newport News, Virginia. When the station format changed to "beautiful music", Smith became known as "Roger Gordon and Music in Good Taste". In 1962, he moved to country music station KCIJ/1050 in Shreveport, Louisiana, as the station manager and morning disc jockey, "Big Smith with the Records". He married Lucy "Lou" Lamb in 1961, and they had two children.[3]
Disc jockey Alan Freed had played a role in the transformation of black rhythm and blues into rock and roll music, and originally called himself the "Moon Dog" after New York City street musician Moondog. Freed both adopted this name and used a recorded howl to give his early broadcasts a unique character. Smith's adaptation of the Moondog theme was to call himself Wolfman Jack and add his own sound effects. The character was based in part on the manner and style of bluesman Howlin' Wolf. It was at KCIJ in Shreveport, Louisiana that he first began to develop his famous alter ego Wolfman Jack. According to author Philip A. Lieberman, Smith's "Wolfman" persona "derived from Smith's love of horror films and his shenanigans as a 'wolfman' with his two young nephews. The 'Jack' was added as a part of the 'hipster' lingo of the 1950s, as in 'Take a page from my book, Jack,' or the more popular, 'Hit the road, Jack.'"[4]
In 1963, Smith took his act to the border when the Inter-American Radio Advertising's Ramon Bosquez hired him and sent him to the studio and transmitter site of XERF-AM at Ciudad Acuña in Mexico, a station whose high-powered border blaster signal could be picked up across much of the United States. In an interview with writer Tom Miller, Smith described the reach of the XERF signal: "We had the most powerful signal in North America. Birds dropped dead when they flew too close to the tower. A car driving from New York to L.A. would never lose the station."[5] Most of the border stations broadcast at 250,000 watts, five times the U.S. limit, meaning that their signals were picked up all over North America, and at night as far away as Europe and the Soviet Union. It was at XERF that Smith developed his signature style (with phrases like "Who's this on the Wolfman telephone?") and widespread fame. The border stations made money by renting time to Pentecostal preachers and psychics, and by taking 50 percent of the profit from anything sold by mail order. The Wolfman did pitches for dog food, weight-loss pills, weight-gain pills, rose bushes, and baby chicks. There was even a pill called Florex, which was supposed to enhance one's sex drive. "Some zing for your ling nuts," the Wolfman would say.[6]
That sales pitch was typical of Wolfman Jack's growling, exuberant on-air style. In the spirit of his character name, he would punctuate his banter with howls, while urging his listeners to "get naked" or "lay your hands on the radio and squeeze my knobs". Part of the persona was his nocturnal anonymity; listeners from coast to coast had no idea how to recognize the face behind the voice that said things like "Wolfman plays the best records in the business, and then he eats 'em!"
XERB was the original call sign for the border blaster station in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, which was branded as The Mighty 1090 in Hollywood, California. The station boasted "50,000 watts of Boss Soul Power". That station continues to broadcast today with the call sign XEPRS-AM. XERB also had an office in the rear of a small strip mall on Third Avenue in Chula Vista, California. It was not unlike the small broadcast studio depicted in the film American Graffiti (which was filmed at KRE in Berkeley). It was located only ten minutes from the Tijuana–San Diego border crossing. It was rumored that the Wolfman actually broadcast from this location during the early-to-mid-1960s. Smith left Mexico after eight months and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to run station KUXL. Even though Smith was managing a Minneapolis radio station, he was still broadcasting as Wolfman Jack on XERF via taped shows that he sent to the station. Missing the excitement, however, he returned to border radio to run XERB, and opened an office on Sunset Boulevard in the Los Angeles area in January 1966. The Wolfman recorded his shows in Los Angeles and shipped his tapes across the border into Mexico, where they would then be beamed across the U.S.[7] It was during his time broadcasting on XERB that Smith met Don Kelley, who became his personal manager and business partner for more than 20 years. It was Kelley who saw the potential for Wolfman Jack to become more than a radio personality. Kelley started to work on a strategy to transform Smith from a cult figure to a mainstream entertainer in film, recordings, and television. He promoted Smith to the major media and formed enduring relationships with key journalists.
In 1971, the Mexican government decided that its overwhelmingly Roman Catholic citizens should not be subjected to proselytizing and banned the Pentecostal preachers from the radio, taking away 80 percent of XERB's revenue. Smith then moved to station KDAY 1580 in Los Angeles, which could only pay him a fraction of his former XERB income. However, Smith capitalized on his fame by editing his old XERB tapes and selling them to radio stations everywhere, becoming one of the first rock and roll syndicated programs (as the tapes began to age, they were eventually also marketed to oldies stations). He also appeared on Armed Forces Radio from 1970 to 1986. At his peak, Wolfman Jack was heard on more than 2,000 radio stations in 53 countries.[8] He was heard as far off as the Wild Coast, Transkei, on a station based there, Capital Radio 604.[9] In a deal promoted by Don Kelley, The Wolfman was paid handsomely to join WNBC in New York in August 1973, the same month that American Graffiti premiered, and the station did a huge advertising campaign in local newspapers stating that the Wolfman would propel their ratings over those of their main competitor, WABC, which had "Cousin Brucie" (Bruce Morrow). The ads proclaimed, "Cousin Brucie's Days Are Numbered", and thousands of small tombstone-shaped paperweights were distributed that said, "Cousin Brucie is going to be buried by Wolfman Jack."[10][11] After less than a year, WNBC hired Cousin Brucie, and Wolfman Jack went back to California to concentrate on his syndicated radio show, which was carried on KRLA-Pasadena (Los Angeles) from 1984-1987. He moved to Belvidere, North Carolina, in 1989, to be closer to his extended family.[12] In the 80s, he did a brief stint at XEROK 80, another border blaster station that was leased by Dallas investors Robert Hanna, Grady Sanders, and John Ryman. Ryman then moved Smith to Scott Ginsburg-owned Y95 in Dallas, Texas.
Film, television, and music career [ edit ]
In the early days, Wolfman Jack made sporadic public appearances, usually as a Master of Ceremonies for rock bands at local Los Angeles clubs. At each appearance he looked a little different because Smith had not decided what the Wolfman should look like. Early pictures show him with a goatee; however, sometimes he combed his straight hair forward and added dark makeup to look somewhat "ethnic". Other times he had a big afro wig and large sunglasses. The ambiguity of his race contributed to the controversy of his program. It was not until he appeared in the 1969 film, A Session with the Committee (a montage of skits by the seminal comedy troupe The Committee), that mainstream America got a good look at Wolfman Jack.
Wolfman Jack started his recording career in Minneapolis, Minnesota while working at KUXL Radio in 1965 with George Garrett. Garrett would help record the album "Boogie With The Wolfman" by Wolfman Jack & the Wolfpack on the Bread Label. The title tracks "Wolfman Boogie Pt. 1/Wolfman Boogie Pt. 2" was released as the first single and was written by Garrett and T.Caire. Garrett was also responsible for engineering, producing and assembling the band. A second single, "New Orleans" was also released.[13]
Wolfman Jack released two albums on the Wooden Nickel label: Wolfman Jack (1972) and Through the Ages (1973).[14] His 1972 single "I Ain't Never Seen a White Man" hit #106 on the Billboard Singles Charts.
In 1973, he appeared in director George Lucas's second feature film, American Graffiti, as himself. His broadcasts tie the film together, and Richard Dreyfuss's character catches a glimpse of the mysterious Wolfman in a pivotal scene. In gratitude for Wolfman Jack's participation, Lucas gave him a fraction of a "point" — the division of the profits from a film — and the extreme financial success of American Graffiti provided him with a regular income for life. He also appeared in the film's 1979 sequel, More American Graffiti, though only through voice-overs. In 1978, Wolfman Jack appeared as Bob "The Jackal" Smith in a made-for-TV movie Deadman's Curve, a film based on the musical careers of Jan Berry and Dean Torrence, aka Jan and Dean.
Subsequently, Smith appeared in several television shows as Wolfman Jack. They included The Odd Couple; What's Happening!!; Vega$; Wonder Woman; Hollywood Squares; Married... with Children; Emergency!; and Galactica 1980. He was the regular announcer and occasional host for The Midnight Special on NBC from 1973 to 1981. He was also the host of his self-titled variety series, The Wolfman Jack Show, which was produced in Canada by CBC Television in 1976, and syndicated to stations in the US.
He promoted Clearasil and Olympia beer in radio and TV commercials in the 1970s. In the 1980s he promoted the "Rebel" Honda motorcycle in television commercials.
Listening to Wolfman Jack's broadcasting influenced Jim Morrison's lyrics for "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)" song. He is also mentioned in the Grateful Dead song, "Ramble On Rose": "Just like Crazy Otto/Just like Wolfman Jack/Sittin' plush with a royal flush/Aces back to back."[15]
He also furnished his voice in The Guess Who's 1974 tribute, the top 40 hit single, "Clap for the Wolfman". A few years earlier, Todd Rundgren recorded a similar tribute, "Wolfman Jack", on the album Something/Anything?; the single version of the track includes a shouted talk-over intro by the Wolfman but on the album version Rundgren performs that part himself. Canadian band The Stampeders also released a cover of "Hit the Road Jack" in 1975 featuring Wolfman Jack; the storyline of the song involved a man named "Cornelius" calling Jack on the phone, telling him the story of how his girlfriend had thrown him out of the house, and trying to persuade Jack to let him come and stay with him (at this point, Jack ended the call). His voice is also featured in the song "Did You Boogie (With Your Baby)" by Flash Cadillac & the Continental Kids (Billboard HOT 100 peak #29 in October 1976) and an imitation of him is featured as a cameo in "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" by Sugarloaf (Billboard HOT 100 peak #9 in March 1975). In September 1975, Wolfman Jack appeared on stage with the Stampeders (singing "Hit the Road Jack") as a warm-up act for the Beach Boys at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, Canada and that same year he also performed "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" with Sugarloaf on The Midnight Special. He is mentioned in Tammy Wynette's 1978 hit "I'd Like to See Jesus on The Midnight Special".
In July 1974, Wolfman Jack was the MC for the Ozark Music Festival at the Missouri State Fair grounds, a huge three-day rock festival with an estimated attendance of 350,000 people, making it one of the largest music events in history.
In 1975-80, Wolfman Jack hosted Halloween Haunt at Knott's Berry Farm, which transforms itself into Knott's Scary Farm each year for Halloween. It is the most successful special event of any theme park in the country, and has often sold out.[16][17][18]
1n 1980, he portrayed himself in the 2 part episode of Galactica 1980 "The Night the Cylons Landed, Part II" as a Radio station DJ coerced by Cylons to gain access to the station's Transmitter equipment.
In 1980, he took the small role of Reverend Billy in the cult horror comedy film Motel Hell. From 1980 to 1982, Wolfman Jack voiced the intro to the cartoon The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang airing Saturday mornings on ABC. In 1984, Wolfman Jack voiced a cartoon version of himself for the short-lived DIC Entertainment cartoon Wolf Rock TV (aka Wolf Rock Power Hour) airing Saturday mornings on ABC.[19] In 1985, Wolfman Jack's voice is heard several times in the ABC made for TV Halloween movie, The Midnight Hour. Jack recorded several bits for the movie and is seen at the beginning of the movie as an extra. The song "Clap for the Wolfman" is heard during the movie as well. In 1986, Wolfman Jack appeared as the "High Rama Lama" in the CBS animated special Garfield in Paradise In 1987, Wolfman Jack appeared as himself in the music video for Joe Walsh's hit single, "The Radio Song", which was featured on his eighth studio solo album, Got Any Gum?.
A clip of a 1970s radio advertisement featuring Wolfman Jack urging registration with the United States Selective Service (aka "the draft") is incorporated into the Depeche Mode cover of the song "Route 66". Those radio advertisements were extracted from half-hour radio programs that were distributed to radio stations across the country. His syndicated music radio series was sponsored by the United States Air Force, designed as a weekly program-length public service infomercial to promote the benefits of joining the Air Force. The series ran from 1971 until 1977.
In 1988, he was the host of "Little Darlin's Rock and Roll Palace", a rock and roll show on The Nashville Network, with two seasons recorded in Kissimee, Florida at little Darlin's Rock and Roll Palace. The third season was recorded in Nashville and Baltimore. The shows featured house band Rockin Robin backing the greatest artists of the '50s and '60s including The Coasters, Shirelles, Lou Christie, Tommy Roe, Del Shannon, and Roger McGuinn.
In 1989, he provided the narration for the US version of the arcade game DJ Boy. His voice was not used in the home version of the game due to memory limitations. In 1991, "Little Darlin's Rock and Roll Palace" in Kissimmee, Florida renamed the club as "Wolfman Jack's Rock and Roll Palace". The New Year's Eve grand opening featured, Joe Walsh, Melaine, Lester Chambers, The Impressions and Rockin Robin. Wolfman Jack played himself in an episode of Married... with Children ("Ship Happens: Part 1") that first aired in February 1995.
Have Mercy: Confessions of the Original Rock 'n' Roll Animal, Wolfman's autobiography, was published in 1995 to stellar reviews in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Kirkus Reviews, which said it "Reads like a collaboration between Mark Twain and Sergio Leone..." His co-author was Byron Laursen.
In 2012, the Estate of Wolfman Jack released a hip hop single featuring Wolfman Jack clips as the vocals.[20]
In 2016 clips from the Wolfman Jack Radio Program were used in the Rob Zombie film 31.[21]
Radio Caroline [ edit ]
When the one surviving ship in what had originally been a pirate radio network of Radio Caroline North and Radio Caroline South sank in 1980, a search began to find a replacement. Because of the laws passed in the UK in 1967, it became necessary for the sales operation to be situated in the US. For a time, Don Kelley, Wolfman Jack's business partner and personal manager, acted as the West Coast agent for the planned new Radio Caroline, but the deal eventually fell apart.
As a part of this process, Wolfman Jack was set to deliver the morning shows on the new station. To that end, Wolfman Jack recorded a number of programs that never aired, because the station didn't come on air according to schedule. (It eventually returned from a new ship in 1983 which remained at sea until 1990.) Today those tapes are traded among collectors of his work.
Death [ edit ]
On July 1, 1995, Smith died from a heart attack at his house in Belvidere, North Carolina, shortly after finishing a weekly broadcast.[2][22] He is buried at a family cemetery in Belvidere.[23]
Filmography [ edit ]- Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns to Host Sydney Kings, Melbourne United, Brisbane Bullets During 2017 NBA Preseason
SYDNEY AND NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2017 – The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Basketball League (NBL) today announced that the Sydney Kings, Melbourne United and the Brisbane Bullets will take part in the 2017 NBA preseason in October, marking the first time that NBL teams will travel to the U.S. to play against NBA teams.
The Sydney Kings will visit the Utah Jazz, featuring Australians Joe Ingles and Danté Exum, on Oct. 2 at Vivint Smart Home Arena, followed by Melbourne United meeting the Oklahoma City Thunder on Oct. 8 at Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Brisbane Bullets will visit the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena on Oct. 13.
There were a record-tying eight Australian players on 2016-17 opening night NBA rosters, including Ingles and Patty Mills (San Antonio Spurs), both of whom previously played in the NBL.
Executive and Player Quotes:
NBL Executive Chairman and Owner Larry Kestelman:
“This is a huge moment for Australian basketball. For the NBL to be able to play some of the biggest teams in the world shows how far our league has come. I want to thank the NBA for this exciting opportunity to showcase the NBL on the world stage. For our teams to be chosen to come and play in the NBA preseason is a great endorsement of the NBL and Australian basketball. We currently have a number of Australians playing in the NBA, strong national teams in the Boomers and Opals, record participation levels and a flourishing national competition. This opportunity will only build more excitement ahead of the NBL season starting on Oct. 5.”
NBA Asia Managing Director Scott Levy:
“We are excited for the NBL to participate in the 2017 NBA preseason. Australia has proven to be a basketball powerhouse with a growing number of its players making their mark in the NBA and on the global stage. Australia remains one of our largest international markets for merchandise sales and NBA LEAGUE PASS, and these games mark a milestone moment for our two leagues.”
Utah Jazz President Steve Starks:
“The Jazz are the most internationally diverse team in the NBA, including two players from Australia. Our franchise is excited to host an NBL team from Sydney in the first game played at our newly remodeled Vivint Smart Home Arena on Oct. 2.”
Utah Jazz guard/forward Joe Ingles:
“This is massive for Australian basketball and an exciting opportunity for NBA and NBL players to compete together on the same floor. As an Aussie who began my career in the NBL and now entering my fourth season with Utah, I am very proud of the growth of the game in my home country and can’t wait for the Jazz and Salt Lake City to play host to Sydney this fall.”
Oklahoma City Thunder Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti:
“We are excited to welcome Melbourne United to Oklahoma City. This event marks our third opportunity to host an international team in Chesapeake Energy Arena, and we are proud to help continue the advancement of the game through these competitions.”
Phoenix Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough:
“We’re excited to host the Brisbane Bullets in Phoenix. It’s representative of the global expansion of the game and a great opportunity for our organization to connect with Suns fans in Australia and beyond.”
Sydney Kings Head Coach and five-time Olympian Andrew Gaze:
“This is another big leap forward for the NBL and Australian basketball |
a push. He has lots of charisma, is great on the mic, and is decently good in the ring. Ryder has all the talent to be successful in the WWE. Unlike other superstars, like Alberto Del Rio, Ryder can excite the crowd and draw a reaction from them. Say what you want about him, but he knows how to interact with the fans. Also, Ryder can sell plenty of merchandise. His YouTube show, “Z! True Long Island Story”, was a great show that showed his charisma and creativity. The show was great and hilarious. It provided Ryder with a small push, but that push was eventually halted. Now, Ryder is barely seeing any TV time, as WWE continues to drop the ball with Zack Ryder.
DOLPH ZIGGLER
Dolph Ziggler is a former World Heavyweight Champion. It doesn’t feel like it. Ziggler, like Ryder, is also charismatic and energetic. Ziggler is excellent in the ring and a great athlete. He knows how to sell in the ring. At one point, it looked like Ziggler would be in the main event. Things don’t look that way now, but Ziggler still has the potential to be a main event star. Filled with energy, charisma, and talent, Ziggler deserves a push as a solo wrestler on his own. He can work as a heel or a face, which makes him that much better. Ziggler’s talents are being wasted by WWE. The only way to help Ziggler regain his former status is by pushing him.
CODY RHODES
Cody Rhodes is another talented superstar. He lacks mic skills, but his wrestling ability is above average. He is versatile, as, like Ziggler, he can work well as a heel or a face. Also, Rhodes can work as a singles wrestler or in a tag team. Rhodes has worked well in many tag team. He’s tagged with Hardcore Holly, Ted Dibiase, Damian Sandow, and most recently, Goldust. It appears that he is breaking up with Goldust, but in a mutual way. One idea I have for Rhodes is to partner him with a diva. My idea is that he has a relationship with Paige. Paige, the current Divas Champion, will help Rhodes and it would make for interesting TV. It’s an easy way to get him TV time. When AJ Lee returns, she would once again feud with Paige. However, to make things more interesting, you could have AJ try to get close with Cody, too, creating a love triangle. It would lead to a match between AJ Lee and Paige for the Divas Championship, with Cody Rhodes being the special guest ref. It would help the divas division and push Rhodes.
JUSTIN GABRIEL
Justin Gabriel is barely on TV. He’s still on the roster, however, and he’s still very talented. Though he doesn’t possess good mic skills, he is a good wrestler, especially if you’re looking for some high-flying action. When he was a member if Nexus, he showcased his talents. His 450 Splash was amazing and he looked like he would be a fan favorite. A couple of years later, here we are with WWE wasting his talents. At least give him some TV time. He can provide high-flying moves. One thing WWE is missing is high-flyers like Gabriel. They could start a cruiserweight division, of course, to push superstars like Gabriel.
These are five superstars the WWE should push. All five have talents that are going to waste. I would much rather see these five in action than Hornswoggle, El Torito, Alberto Del Rio, Ryback, Curtis Axel, or even Sheamus. What do you say? Who would you like WWE to push?
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Xyce is a new (relative to the original SPICE) circuit simulator from Sandia National Laboratories that is SPICE-compatible but operates in a fundamentally different way under the hood. Xyce boasts a modern code base, an active forum, supports large-scale parallel computing architectures to accelerate simulations and it’s open source too! We have recently adopted Xyce in order to further develop several memristor models including our own The Generalized Metastable Switch Memristor Model, as Xyce is able to integrate Verilog-A models into Xyce-compatible C++ code using the ADMS model compiler with the Xyce/ADMS back-end. In this blog post I demonstrate how to build Xyce from source so that it is able to do the Verilog-A model integration via the plug-in mechanism. I am using Xyce 6.6, MacOS Sierra, Trilinos-12.6.4, Homebrew and gcc6. Other systems such as Linux and Windows would need to slightly modify these instructions, but the basic idea should be very similar.
Install Xyce the Easy Way
It is possible to install a Xyce binary forgoing the process of building it yourself. You won’t be able to integrate Verilog-A models into Xyce though. Compiled binaries of Xyce for most platforms can be found at https://xyce.sandia.gov/downloads/Binaries.html.
Install Xyce the Hard Way – Build from Source
First download the source (requires registration).
Dependencies with Homebrew
Required for running regression test scripts (see below)
brew install python brew install homebrew/python/numpy brew install scipy brew install matplotlib 1 2 3 4 5 brew install python brew install homebrew / python / numpy brew install scipy brew install matplotlib
Required for building Xyce and Dependencies
brew install homebrew/versions/gcc6 brew install fftw brew install homebrew/science/suite-sparse brew install cmake brew install flex 1 2 3 4 5 6 brew install homebrew / versions / gcc6 brew install fftw brew install homebrew / science / suite - sparse brew install cmake brew install flex
ADMS – An Automatic Device Model Synthesizer
ADMS is a code generator that converts electrical compact device models specified in high-level description language into ready-to-compile C code for the API of SPICE simulators. Based on transformations specified in XML language, ADMS transforms Verilog-AMS code into other target languages.
Building ADMS with Autotools will require some further Perl modules
brew install gd 1 2 brew install gd
Install into system-wide Perl
sudo cpan -f GD 1 2 sudo cpan - f GD
Let’s assume we have a directory for installing all the EDA tools called ~/workspaces/workspace_eda.
cd ~/workspaces/workspace_eda git clone https://github.com/Qucs/ADMS.git ADMS cd ADMS./bootstrap.sh./configure --enable-maintainer-mode sudo make install admsXml -v 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 cd ~ / workspaces / workspace_eda git clone https : / / github.com / Qucs / ADMS.git ADMS cd ADMS. / bootstrap.sh. / configure -- enable - maintainer - mode sudo make install admsXml - v
Xyce ( Serial ) Build Instructions
Xyce Dependencies – Trilinos-12.6.4 ( Serial )
cd ~/workspaces/workspace_eda git clone -b trilinos-release-12-6-branch https://github.com/trilinos/Trilinos.git Trilinos-12.6.4 1 2 3 cd ~ / workspaces / workspace_eda git clone - b trilinos - release - 12 - 6 - branch https : / / github.com / trilinos / Trilinos.git Trilinos - 12.6.4
Setup out of source build directory ( Serial )
cd Trilinos-12.6.4 mkdir build cd build mkdir serial cd serial 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 cd Trilinos - 12.6.4 mkdir build cd build mkdir serial cd serial
Create a config script
nano./reconfigure 1 2 nano. / reconfigure
#!/bin/bash SRCDIR=$HOME/workspaces/workspace_eda/Trilinos-12.6.4 ARCHDIR=$HOME/workspaces/workspace_eda/XyceLibs/Serial CXXFLAGS="-O3 -arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12 -fPIC" CFLAGS="-O3 -arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12 -fPIC" FFLAGS="-arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12" LINK_FLAGS="-arch x86_64 -macosx_version_min 10.12" /usr/local/bin/cmake \ -G "Unix Makefiles" \ -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER=/usr/local/bin/gcc-6 \ -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER=/usr/local/bin/g++-6 \ -DCMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER=/usr/local/bin/gfortran-6 \ -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS="$CXXFLAGS" \ -DCMAKE_C_FLAGS="$CFLAGS" \ -DCMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS="$FFLAGS" \ -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$ARCHDIR \ -DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM="make" \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_NOX=ON \ -DNOX_ENABLE_LOCA=ON \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_EpetraExt=ON \ -DEpetraExt_BUILD_BTF=ON \ -DEpetraExt_BUILD_EXPERIMENTAL=ON \ -DEpetraExt_BUILD_GRAPH_REORDERINGS=ON \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_TrilinosCouplings=ON \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_Ifpack=ON \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_Isorropia=ON \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_AztecOO=ON \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_Belos=ON \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_Teuchos=ON \ -DTeuchos_ENABLE_COMPLEX=ON \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_Amesos=ON \ -DAmesos_ENABLE_KLU=ON \ -DAmesos_ENABLE_UMFPACK=ON \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_ROL=ON \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_Sacado=ON \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_Kokkos=OFF \ -DTrilinos_ENABLE_ALL_OPTIONAL_PACKAGES=OFF \ -DTPL_ENABLE_AMD=ON \ -DAMD_LIBRARY_DIRS="/usr/local/opt/suite-sparse/lib" \ -DTPL_AMD_INCLUDE_DIRS="/usr/local/opt/suite-sparse/include" \ -DTPL_ENABLE_UMFPACK=ON \ -DUMFPACK_LIBRARY_DIRS="/usr/local/opt/suite-sparse/lib" \ -DTPL_UMFPACK_INCLUDE_DIRS="/usr/local/opt/suite-sparse/include" \ -DTPL_ENABLE_BLAS=ON \ -DTPL_ENABLE_LAPACK=ON \ $SRCDIR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 #!/bin/bash SRCDIR = $HOME / workspaces / workspace_eda / Trilinos - 12.6.4 ARCHDIR = $HOME / workspaces / workspace_eda / XyceLibs / Serial CXXFLAGS = "-O3 -arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12 -fPIC" CFLAGS = "-O3 -arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12 -fPIC" FFLAGS = "-arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12" LINK_FLAGS = "-arch x86_64 -macosx_version_min 10.12" / usr / local / bin / cmake \ - G "Unix Makefiles" \ - DCMAKE_C_COMPILER = / usr / local / bin / gcc - 6 \ - DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER = / usr / local / bin / g ++ - 6 \ - DCMAKE_Fortran_COMPILER = / usr / local / bin / gfortran - 6 \ - DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS = "$CXXFLAGS" \ - DCMAKE_C_FLAGS = "$CFLAGS" \ - DCMAKE_Fortran_FLAGS = "$FFLAGS" \ - DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX = $ARCHDIR \ - DCMAKE_MAKE_PROGRAM = "make" \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_NOX = ON \ - DNOX_ENABLE_LOCA = ON \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_EpetraExt = ON \ - DEpetraExt_BUILD_BTF = ON \ - DEpetraExt_BUILD_EXPERIMENTAL = ON \ - DEpetraExt_BUILD_GRAPH_REORDERINGS = ON \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_TrilinosCouplings = ON \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_Ifpack = ON \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_Isorropia = ON \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_AztecOO = ON \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_Belos = ON \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_Teuchos = ON \ - DTeuchos_ENABLE_COMPLEX = ON \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_Amesos = ON \ - DAmesos_ENABLE_KLU = ON \ - DAmesos_ENABLE_UMFPACK = ON \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_ROL = ON \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_Sacado = ON \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_Kokkos = OFF \ - DTrilinos_ENABLE_ALL_OPTIONAL_PACKAGES = OFF \ - DTPL_ENABLE_AMD = ON \ - DAMD_LIBRARY_DIRS = "/usr/local/opt/suite-sparse/lib" \ - DTPL_AMD_INCLUDE_DIRS = "/usr/local/opt/suite-sparse/include" \ - DTPL_ENABLE_UMFPACK = ON \ - DUMFPACK_LIBRARY_DIRS = "/usr/local/opt/suite-sparse/lib" \ - DTPL_UMFPACK_INCLUDE_DIRS = "/usr/local/opt/suite-sparse/include" \ - DTPL_ENABLE_BLAS = ON \ - DTPL_ENABLE_LAPACK = ON \ $SRCDIR
Save script and change mode to executable
sudo chmod 755./reconfigure 1 2 sudo chmod 755. / reconfigure
Configure, Build and Install ( output creates ~/workspaces/workspace_eda/XyceLibs/Serial )
./reconfigure make sudo make install 1 2 3 4. / reconfigure make sudo make install
Download the 3 Xyce_6.6 tarballs from Sandia National Labs and copy to ~/workspaces/workspace_eda
cd ~/workspaces/workspace_eda 1 2 cd ~ / workspaces / workspace _ eda
Extract the folders
tar xvf Xyce-6.6.tar.gz tar xvf Xyce_Regression-6.6.tar.gz tar xvf Xyce_Docs-6.6.tar.gz 1 2 3 4 tar xvf Xyce - 6.6.tar.gz tar xvf Xyce_Regression - 6.6.tar.gz tar xvf Xyce_Docs - 6.6.tar.gz
Build Xyce ( Serial ) with advanced features using XyceLibs ( Serial )
Setup an out of source build directory
cd ~/workspaces/workspace_eda/Xyce-6.6 mkdir build cd build mkdir serial cd serial 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 cd ~ / workspaces / workspace_eda / Xyce - 6.6 mkdir build cd build mkdir serial cd serial
Create a config script
Here we take the script given on the Xyce building guide and modify it to our system and preferences. We add ADMS_CXXFLAGS="-O1" to reduce the optimization of the ADMS components which will vastly improve compile times. We also add --disable-adms_sensitivities to turn off analytic sensitivity derivative calculation for Verilog-A-derived devices. These and more optimization tips can be found on the build guide in section Special note for building on small-memory computer systems. You must configure Xyce using the --enable-shared and --enable-xyce-shareable option in order to integrate your own Verilog-A/ADMS models.
nano./reconfigure 1 2 nano. / reconfigure
../../configure \ ARCHDIR="$HOME/workspaces/workspace_eda/XyceLibs/Serial" \ --disable-fortran_test \ --disable-silent-rules \ --enable-shared \ --enable-xyce-shareable \ --disable-adms_sensitivities \ CC=/usr/local/bin/gcc-6 \ CXX=/usr/local/bin/g++-6 \ F77=/usr/local/bin/gfortran-6 \ LEX=/usr/local/opt/flex/bin/flex \ CXXFLAGS="-O3 -g -std=c++11 -arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12" \ ADMS_CXXFLAGS="-O1" \ CPPFLAGS="-arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12 -I/usr/include -I/usr/local/include -I/usr/local/opt/flex/include -I/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/6.2.0/lib/gcc/6/gcc/x86_64-apple-darwin16.0.0/6.2.0/include" \ F77FLAGS="-arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12 -I/usr/include -I/usr/local/include -I/usr/local/opt/flex/include -I/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/6.2.0/lib/gcc/6/gcc/x86_64-apple-darwin16.0.0/6.2.0/include" \ LDFLAGS="-Wl,-framework,Accelerate -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/local/opt/flex/lib -L/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/6.2.0/lib/gcc/6" 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16.. /.. / configure \ ARCHDIR = "$HOME/workspaces/workspace_eda/XyceLibs/Serial" \ -- disable - fortran _ test \ -- disable - silent - rules \ -- enable - shared \ -- enable - xyce - shareable \ -- disable - adms _ sensitivities \ CC = / usr / local / bin / gcc - 6 \ CXX = / usr / local / bin / g ++ - 6 \ F77 = / usr / local / bin / gfortran - 6 \ LEX = / usr / local / opt / flex / bin / flex \ CXXFLAGS = "-O3 -g -std=c++11 -arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12" \ ADMS_CXXFLAGS = "-O1" \ CPPFLAGS = "-arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12 -I/usr/include -I/usr/local/include -I/usr/local/opt/flex/include -I/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/6.2.0/lib/gcc/6/gcc/x86_64-apple-darwin16.0.0/6.2.0/include" \ F77FLAGS = "-arch x86_64 -mmacosx-version-min=10.12 -I/usr/include -I/usr/local/include -I/usr/local/opt/flex/include -I/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/6.2.0/lib/gcc/6/gcc/x86_64-apple-darwin16.0.0/6.2.0/include" \ LDFLAGS = "-Wl,-framework,Accelerate -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/local/opt/flex/lib -L/usr/local/Cellar/gcc/6.2.0/lib/gcc/6"
Save script and change mode to executable
sudo chmod 755./reconfigure 1 2 sudo chmod 755. / reconfigure
Configure and build
./reconfigure 1 2. / reconfigure
Lets’ first check how many cores we have (MacOS):
sysctl -n hw.ncpu 1 2 sysctl - n hw.ncpu
Use the -j option to define the number of cores compiling should use, in this case 4.
make -j4 1 2 make - j4
If you get permissions errors in ~/workspaces/workspace_eda/Xyce-6.6/build/serial/src when trying to recompile, run:
cd ~/workspaces/workspace_eda/Xyce-6.6/build/serial/src chown you:yourgroup.libs -R 1 2 3 cd ~ / workspaces / workspace_eda / Xyce - 6.6 / build / serial / src chown you : yourgroup.libs - R
For me it was:
sudo chown -R timmolter:staff ~/workspaces/workspace_eda/Xyce-6.6/build/serial/src/.libs 1 2 sudo chown - R timmolter : staff ~ / workspaces / workspace_eda / Xyce - 6.6 / build / serial / src /.libs
Run regression tests before installing
cd ~/workspaces/workspace_eda/Xyce-6.6/build/serial 1 2 cd ~ / workspaces / workspace_eda / Xyce - 6.6 / build / serial
Create a config script
nano./regression 1 2 nano. / regression
$HOME/workspaces/workspace_eda/Xyce_Regression-6.6/TestScripts/run_xyce_regression \ --output=`pwd`/Xyce_Test \ --xyce_test="$HOME/workspaces/workspace_eda/Xyce_Regression-6.6" \ --resultfile=`pwd`/serial_results \ --taglist="+serial+nightly?noverbose?klu-verbose?fft" \ `pwd`/src/Xyce 1 2 3 4 5 6 $HOME / workspaces / workspace_eda / Xyce_Regression - 6.6 / TestScripts / run_xyce _ regression \ -- output = ` pwd ` / Xyce _ Test \ -- xyce_test = "$HOME/workspaces/workspace_eda/Xyce_Regression-6.6" \ -- resultfile = ` pwd ` / serial _ results \ -- taglist = "+serial+nightly?noverbose?klu-verbose?fft" \ ` pwd ` / src / Xyce
Save script and change mode to executable
sudo chmod 755./regression 1 2 sudo chmod 755. / regression
Run tests ( NOTE: A few tests may fail depending on the availability of some features and prerequisites )
./regression 1 2. / regression
Install Xyce ( Serial ) outputs Xyce binary & buildxyceplugin to /usr/local/bin
cd ~/workspaces/workspace_eda/Xyce-6.6/build/serial sudo make install Xyce -v Xyce -h 1 2 3 4 5 cd ~ / workspaces / workspace_eda / Xyce - 6.6 / build / serial sudo make install Xyce - v Xyce - h
Read the Xyce User Guide and start simulating!
Xyce ( Parallel ) Build Instructions
Building Trilinos for use in Parallel Xyce requires enabling some additional Trilinos packages (Zoltan and ShyLU) and enabling ParMETIS library support. It also requires using the compiler wrappers provided by your system’s MPI package (ex. Open MPI) instead of the compilers (gcc, g++, gfortran) directly. These wrappers are typically called “mpicc,” “mpic++”, and “mpif77”, but your system may install them with different names or special paths.
To build for parallel, follow the instructions here, making slight modifications to the above instructions. You can use a diff tools to see the differences that need to be applied.
Additional Xyce Dependencies with Parallel support
brew install open-mpi brew install parmetis --build-from-source 1 2 3 brew install open - mpi brew install parmetis -- build - from - source
Example Circuit for Testing
This is taken from the user manual linked to above.
Diode clipper Diode clipper circuit with transient analysis statement * * Voltage Sources VCC 1 0 5V VIN 3 0 SIN(0V 10V 1kHz) * Analysis Command.TRAN 2ns 2ms * Output.PRINT TRAN V(3) V(2) V(4) * Diodes D1 2 1 D1N3940 D2 0 2 D1N3940 * Resistors R1 2 3 1K R2 1 2 3.3K R3 2 0 3.3K R4 4 0 5.6K * Capacitor C1 2 4 0.47u * * GENERIC FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENT = 1N3940 * TYPE: DIODE * SUBTYPE: RECTIFIER.MODEL D1N3940 D( + IS = 4E-10 + RS =.105 + N = 1.48 + TT = 8E-7 + CJO = 1.95E-11 + VJ =.4 + M =.38 + EG = 1.36 + XTI = -8 + KF = 0 + AF = 1 + FC =.9 + BV = 600 + IBV = 1E-4) *.END 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Diode clipper circuit with transient analysis statement * * Voltage Sources VCC 1 0 5V VIN 3 0 SIN ( 0V 10V 1kHz ) * Analysis Command.TRAN 2ns 2ms * Output.PRINT TRAN V ( 3 ) V ( 2 ) V ( 4 ) * Diodes D1 2 1 D1N3940 D2 0 2 D1N3940 * Resistors R1 2 3 1K R2 1 2 3.3K R3 2 0 3.3K R4 4 0 5.6K * Capacitor C1 2 4 0.47u * * GENERIC FUNCTIONAL EQUIVALENT = 1N3940 * TYPE : DIODE * SUBTYPE : RECTIFIER.MODEL D1N3940 D ( + IS = 4E - 10 + RS =. 105 + N = 1.48 + TT = 8E - 7 + CJO = 1.95E - 11 + VJ =. 4 + M =. 38 + EG = 1.36 + XTI = - 8 + KF = 0 + AF = 1 + FC =. 9 + BV = 600 + IBV = 1E - 4 ) *.END
Xyce /path/to/.../clipper.cir 1 2 Xyce / path / to /... / clipper.cir
Xyce will run the simulation and create a.prn file. Xyce does not have it’s own graphical system for displaying results and a third party tool is necessary. They recommend gnuplot and Tecplot. To get a quick and dirty plot with the software I already had installed, I changed the.prn file to a.csv file and imported it into Libreoffice.
Joglekar Resistance Switch Memristor Model
Having previously simulated a memristor in LTSpice using the Joglekar nonlinear drift window function, we adapt that netlist to the required syntax of Xyce.
The following code can be found on the memristor-models-4-all project.
Joglekar Memristor Model in Xyce *********************************************** * HP Memristor SPICE Model * For Transient Analysis only * created by Zdenek and Dalibor Biolek *********************************************** * Ron, Roff - Resistance in ON / OFF States * * Rinit - Resistance at T=0 * * D - Width of the thin film * * uv - Migration coefficient * * p - Parameter of the WINDOW-function for * modeling nonlinear boundary conditions * * x - W/D Ratio, W is the actual width * of the doped area (from 0 to D) * ***********************************************.SUBCKT memristor plus minus PARAMS: + Ron=100 Roff=16K Rinit=11K D=10N uv=10F p=1 *********************************************** * DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION MODELING * *********************************************** Gx 0 x value={I(Emem)*uv*Ron/D**2*f(V(x),p)} Cx x 0 1 IC={(Roff-Rinit)/(Roff-Ron)} Raux x 0 1000000 *********************************************** * RESISTIVE PORT OF THE MEMRISTOR * *********************************************** Emem plus aux value={-I(Emem)*V(x)*(Roff-Ron)} Roff aux minus {Roff} *********************************************** * FLUX COMPUTATION * *********************************************** Eflux flux 0 value={SDT(V(plus,minus))} *********************************************** * CHARGE COMPUTATION * *********************************************** Echarge charge 0 value={SDT(I(Emem))} *********************************************** * WINDOW FUNCTIONS * FOR NONLINEAR DRIFT MODELING * *********************************************** * window function, according to Joglekar.func f(x,p) {1-(2*x-1)**(2*p)}.ENDS memristor XMemristor N001 0 memristor V1 N001 0 SIN(0V 1.2V 1Hz) * Analysis Command.TRAN.01ns 3s * Output.PRINT TRAN FORMAT=CSV V(N001) {-1* I(V1)}.end 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * HP Memristor SPICE Model * For Transient Analysis only * created by Zdenek and Dalibor Biolek * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ron, Roff - Resistance in ON / OFF States * * Rinit - Resistance at T = 0 * * D - Width of the thin film * * uv - Migration coefficient * * p - Parameter of the WINDOW - function for * modeling nonlinear boundary conditions * * x - W / D Ratio, W is the actual width * of the doped area ( from 0 to D ) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *.SUBCKT memristor plus minus PARAMS : + Ron = 100 Roff = 16K Rinit = 11K D = 10N uv = 10F p = 1 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION MODELING * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Gx 0 x value = { I ( Emem ) * uv * Ron / D * * 2 * f ( V ( x ), p ) } Cx x 0 1 IC = { ( Roff - Rinit ) / ( Roff - Ron ) } Raux x 0 1000000 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * RESISTIVE PORT OF THE MEMRISTOR * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Emem plus aux value = { - I ( Emem ) * V ( x ) * ( Roff - Ron ) } Roff aux minus { Roff } * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FLUX COMPUTATION * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Eflux flux 0 value = { SDT ( V ( plus, minus ) ) } * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * CHARGE COMPUTATION * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Echarge charge 0 value = { SDT ( I ( Emem ) ) } * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WINDOW FUNCTIONS * FOR NONLINEAR DRIFT MODELING * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * window function, according to Joglekar.func f ( x, p ) { 1 - ( 2 * x - 1 ) * * ( 2 * p ) }.ENDS memristor XMemristor N001 0 memristor V1 N001 0 SIN ( 0V 1.2V 1Hz ) * Analysis Command.TRAN. 01ns 3s * Output.PRINT TRAN FORMAT = CSV V ( N001 ) { - 1 * I ( V1 ) }.end
Note that we added the option FORMAT=CSV to directly get a CSV file as output so we don’t have to manually change the file extension before importing it into LibreOffice. Following is the familiar pinched hysteresis loop response of the memristor in response to a sinusoidal input.
Plotting with GNUPlot
The official Xyce manual states that GNUPlot is a popular choice for plotting the results of a simulation. As using LibreOffice is quite slow and cumbersome and GNUPlot could be wrapped into a script, we show how to do that next. Since I’m using a Mac, gnuplot is installed easily with homebrew:
brew install gnuplot --with-x11 1 2 brew install gnuplot -- with - x11
To make the plot, run the following code making sure you removed the FORMAT=CSV from the original simulation file and running it again to create the.prn file.
gnuplot plot '/path/to/data/memristor.cir.prn' using 3:4 with lines title "I-V" 1 2 3 gnuplot plot '/path/to/data/memristor.cir.prn' using 3 : 4 with lines title "I-V"
Schematic Capture
For a decent tutorial on how to build a netlist automatically from a schematic capture tools and to plot the results using gnuplot see: Using Open Source Schematic Capture Tools With Xyce.
According to the Xyce Reference Guide page 484, Xyce has the Yakopcic and TEAM models integrated natively. The source code for these files is in.../workspaces/workspace_eda/Xyce-6.6/src/DeviceModelPKG/OpenModels/src/N_DEV_MemristorYakopcic.C and.../workspaces/workspace_eda/Xyce-6.6/src/DeviceModelPKG/OpenModels/src/N_DEV_MemristorTEAM.C
Custom Verilog-A Device models for Xyce
The rest of this blog covers the steps in integrating a simple test Verilog-A model, which comes with the Xyce source code, into a Xyce simulation. Xyce does not at this time have any capability for direct import of Verilog-A models through a netlist. Before a model written in Verilog-A can be used, it must be converted to C++ using Xyce/ADMS, compiled, and linked into Xyce. The plugin method requires that Xyce be built specially to support shared library loads — the standard binary distributions of Xyce do not support this feature yet. A script is provided with |
decided I didn't want it, even if I was exempt from signing this. pic.twitter.com/3psAPIvKrQ — Elika (@steakNstiffarms) October 11, 2017
Officials from Barstool have confirmed to The Big Lead that this contract originated from them. Reached for comment about this screengrab and ensuing thread (which we will publish in full below), Barstool founder Dave Portnoy said, “I thought it was unfair. I guess I wasn’t overly surprised based on our interactions. I think she’s somebody who wants to be part of a bigger narrative that’s going on right now and she used us as a scapegoat for it.”
“I think that’s very standard, boilerplate language [in the contract],” he continued. “I ran Barstool for 10 years without contracts. When Chernin acquired us, we obviously became more professional. They are an entertainment company familiar with writing rooms and comedy shows and that’s boilerplate, standard language so people cannot sue for offensive jokes, whether they be about gender, sex, religion, whatever — we do it all at Barstool, and we needed to protect ourselves.”
Barstool CEO Erika Nardini added, “I think Dave captured it. This clause in our contract has to do with the nature of our content. We have a broad employment agreement which covers harassment, office environment, and treatment in the workplace. And, what Elika is referring to is a clause in our contract which pertains to the nature of our content. We are a comedy brand and we make content for 18-34 year old men. Some of that content is risque in nature, and this clause covers that.”
Added Portnoy: “Again, written by lawyers in LA, and when Elika met with us she said she didn’t have any sort of vibe this was an issue but it was more of a moral thing and she actually said she was afraid to sign with us because she was afraid someone else would leak it. It turns out she was leaking it. To be honest, I think she was waiting for the right moment to do so.”
Portnoy also released the following video:
It’s sad when people who crave attention insert themselves in important stories just to make it about themselves pic.twitter.com/PlvA3NQYo3 — Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) October 11, 2017
Reprinted below is the full tweet thread from Sadeghi:
I wasn’t going to share this, but recent events have made me realize how important it can be. Sorry, but I’m about to clog your timeline… I was offered a full time, 2 year deal over the summer. It would’ve been fun and it would’ve paid well. No brainer, right? They wanted me to sign this. I refused, for multiple reasons. I ultimately decided I didn’t want it, even if I was exempt from signing this. This is not ok. And if you’ve never worked in media, know that it isn’t normal. I’ve never seen anything like it. Neither have most people. The crazy thing is, it’s probably not even enforceable. It’s likely meant to make people feel like they can’t speak up if something happens. That’s how things like this happen. Not always through contracts, but through a variety of ways in which people feel powerless to speak up. I decided to walk, even if they removed it. How could I work for them, knowing it exists? But would I have walked, if I needed the money? Would I have if I didn’t have a completely separate career path that I love? I’d like to think so, but who knows. I’m lucky-not everyone is. I’ve built (privilege has helped) a safety net that allows me to be patient, and principled, about what I do. Not everyone gets to have that. Whether it’s explicitly stated in contracts or not, too often, people are made to feel like they can’t speak up about the inexcusable. I made clear why I was walking, that this was offensive. I hope they’ve removed it, but I doubt it, since they didn’t seem to believe me. I haven’t been sexually harassed at work in years. But I remember the paralysis that accompanies it when you don’t think anyone would care. When you don’t know what would happen to your job. When you don’t know if you would be able to get another, if you’re a whistle blower. I hope by having more conversations about these things, others will eventually not feel that paralysis. Because they know they’re not alone. Because they know we care. Because their careers are safe, regardless of inexcusable things that are not their fault. Because they did the right thing.
Expect this to be a pretty big story in sports media circles.Dustina Gill has been spending the past five days knocking on doors to get out the Indian vote in South Dakota. Here she is on the Standing Rock rez, once home to the Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull.
Dustina Gill has been spending the past five days knocking on doors to get out the Indian vote in South Dakota. Here she is on the Standing Rock rez, once home to the Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull.
At the time I finished writing this, more than 8,200 members of the Daily Kos community had raised more than $98,000 to support the effort to get out the American Indian vote in South Dakota. That's a spectacular effort in just a few days with the potential for giving progressive Democrat Rick Weiland the margin of votes he needs to win the U.S. Senate seat of retiring Sen. Tim Johnson. It also could bring out enough voters to elect several Indian and other progressive candidates for down-ticket races and put the name Ogala Lakota County onto what is now Shannon County, named for a guy instrumental in separating Indians from their land in the late 19th Century.
The money being raised goes directly to the Great Plains Get Out the Native Vote project focused on the state's nine Indian reservations. South Dakota's registration deadline is Monday, Oct. 20. Voters can cast ballots the same day they register. So the first step obviously is to do the hard work of getting as many people registered as possible and taking advantage of early voting at satellite offices.
To that end, state Rep. Kevin Killer, an Oglala-Kiowa who lives on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Dustina Gill, a Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate who lives on the Lake Traverse Reservation, and Chase Iron Eyes, a Lakota who lives on the Standing Rock Reservation, have organized a six-day GOTV tour of all nine reservations as well as other activities across the state. Gill and her brother Joshua have been making that long, slow trek from one reservation to another, driving the mini-bus nicknamed the "war pony."
On Wednesday, day three of the Rez Tour, Gill reports, the activists visited elders at Standing Rock who are staunch voters and 18- and 19-year-olds who are getting ready to vote for the first time. They also spoke with one family that includes several veterans who served for 10 years in the military but never previously registered to vote. And they spoke with staff at Indian Country Today about the news outlet's concerns over who from South Dakota running in this election will represent Indians best in Washington. The consensus was that Weiland is the right guy to do that. As they drove across the sprawling reservation, Gill says:
Having bald eagles fly with us and coyotes run with us as we drove down the long windy roads was something else. Sitting at woodpiles that took months to stockpile to prepare for the cold winter months and listen to ehanna [old-time] stories are forever etched in memory. I left Standing Rock feeling honored to have shared time with Sitting Bull's people who are part of the [Lakota confederacy known as] Oceti Sakowin— [the seven council fires].
Next, it was on to Pine Ridge, home of the Oglala, Crazy Horse's people, a 230-mile drive over what are far from the nation's best roads.
Pine Ridge is 3.2 million acres encompassing 22 communities and a potential of 13,000 voters, but only one satellite voting center. Earlier in the week, Rep. Killer said some 120 people had registered and voted, so many that the satellite office ran out of ballots.- The cause of the four-alarm fire that burned out of control for hours at an abandoned Wilmington warehouse is under investigation with no word of a cause.
SKYFOX was over the scene of the vacant building at Riddle Avenue and Mill Road. The fire started at about 3am.
First, the roof of the old Bancroft Mills warehouse collapsed, and then the rest of the structure.
This was an historic textile factory near Brandywine Creek and there are some new condos nearby.
Tanker trucks from not just Delaware, but also Pennsylvania and New Jersey, had to be set up in the area because of water supply issues.
Authorities said they had a hard time finding the fire from initial reports of smoke since the structure was in such a low-lying area near the creek.
There were no evacuations, no nearby properties damaged, and no reports of injuries.The search for alien life will soon get a major boost as the Chinese government has finished construction of their enormous ET-hunting radio telescope.
At a cost of $180 million dollars, the massive telescope measures an astounding 1,640 feet in diameter, making it the largest such device in the world.
With the construction stage finished, Chinese scientists will begin testing the telescope to ensure that it is running properly and hope to begin operation of the device in earnest this September.
By virtue of its incredible size, the telescope will be able to detect extremely faint radio signals that otherwise would be missed by current technology here on Earth.
While many Chinese citizens were celebrating the completion of the project, it is surely bittersweet for the 9,000 people who once resided in the area but were forced to relocate by the government.
And although the powerful telescope boasts tremendous potential to possibly find evidence of aliens, one wonders if the Chinese government would actually reveal any discoveries should they 'hear' from ET.
Source: Daily MailToolkit Will Help Cities Bring Shared Mobility to Low-Income Neighborhoods
The Chicago-based Shared-Use Mobility Center hopes their new interactive toolkit, released last week, will help cities expand the use of car-sharing, bike-sharing, and other forms of shared mobility, especially in low-income communities with limited transportation options. The toolkit includes a Shared Mobility Benefits Calculator, a Shared Mobility Policy Database, and an Interactive shared Mobility Mapping and Opportunity Analysis Tool.
SUMC executive director Sharon Feigon says the toolkit was developed in partnership with 27 North American cities through the Urban Sustainability Director’s Network. “They wanted to better understand and manage shared-mobility as new technologies emerge,” she said. “We’re hopeful that our toolkit will shed some light on how these technologies are working and shine some light on best practices.” To supplement the toolkit, they’ve also produced a report with an overview of each tool, plus policy recommendations, trends by city, size, and type, and shared mobility growth scenarios for each of the cities.
“Our interest is to really encourage the use of transit along with shared mobility to decrease the use of private cars,” Feigon added. “Our vision sees public transportation as the backbone and shared mobility as something that can enhance the transit system.” For example, services like bike-sharing and one-way car-sharing can facilitate “last mile” trips to and from rapid transit in locations where its difficult to access a station by walking or a fixed-route bus.
One-way car-sharing services like Car2Go, which allow customers to pick up a small car, drive it a short distance and leave it at any number of designated parking spots around town, have been popular in cities like New York, Washington, D.C., and Seattle. But Feigon said the mode hasn’t come to Chicago yet because of the complications caused by our city’s much-reviled parking contract. Mayor Emanuel’s office is currently looking into whether it could be implemented here, she said.
The benefits calculator allows cities to see the potential benefits of adding shared mobility nodes such as car-share and bike-share vehicles. For example, the calculator projects that – based on June 1, 2016 figures — Chicago could eliminate ten percent of private vehicle trips by adding 37,373 transit commuters, 8457 car-share vehicles, 6,908 bike-share cycles, and 18,313 ride-sharers or car-poolers. The result would be 11,167,065,800 fewer vehicle miles traveled, 418,800 fewer metric tons of emissions from personal vehicles, and $411,444,500 saved in personal vehicle transportation costs.
The mapping and opportunity analysis tool shows shared use mobility vehicles in 54 North American cities. It also includes other information, such as Census data and info on the quality of transit service to help cities understand where more transit and shared-mobility resources are needed, and where there’s potential for car-sharing and bike-sharing to succeed. Zooming in on Chicago shows you all the locations for Divvy, Zipcar, Enterprise CarShare, and Getaround (peer-to-peer car-sharing), as well as, ‘L’, Metra, and bus lines.
Feigon says the map shows that there are areas around the Red Line on the South Side and the Orange Line on the Southwest Side that don’t yet have car-sharing or bike-sharing, but have the transit access, density, and walkability needed to make these modes successful. “A lot of these technologies start in not-low-income neighborhoods,” she said, noting that while Chicago’s Divvy system was initially concentrated downtown and in Near North neighborhoods, the current wave of installations is focused on the South and West sides.
While Divvy is currently expanding further south and southwest, Feigon said there’s potential for car-sharing to be successful in these areas. One-way car-sharing and ride-splitting services such as Uber Pool and Lyft Line would be especially useful for last mile trips to and from stations, she said.
Feigon added that the interactive map will help shared mobility companies find areas that are ripe for expansion of their systems. “Transit deserts are similar to food deserts,” she said. “Once companies open up grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods, they find that these are some of their highest-grossing stores because there was an unmet demand.” Likewise, low-to-moderate-income neighborhoods are places where residents could greatly benefit from increased transportation options and reduced travel costs, so shared mobility may get good use when it’s introduced to these areas.
The mobility policy database contains more than 700 of shared mobility policies, studies, and strategic plans in North America “It was all the legislation we could finds at the city and state levels, as well as public utility commissions,” Feigon said. The database also provides best practices, case studies, and analysis to help local governments make informed decisions about the best ways to regulate ride-sharing, car-sharing, and bike-sharing.
Feigon says that, in spite of problems with the local transportation system, Chicago is doing a lot things right when it comes to shared mobility. “We’d love to work with agencies like [the Chicago Department of Transportation], the CTA, and Pace to use the information from the toolkit to continue to make positive changes,” she said.
“As [U.S. transportation secretary Anthony] Foxx said, transportation is a civil right – it provides access to jobs and economic opportunities,” Feigon said. “Private automobiles are really expensive and have many detrimental effects. So creating more non-single-occupant options is really important for the health of cities and the people in them.”News Release 14-081
Ancient ocean currents may have changed pace and intensity of ice ages
Slowing of currents may have flipped switch
About 950,000 years ago, North Atlantic currents, Northern Hemisphere ice sheets underwent changes.
June 26, 2014
This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.
Climate scientists have long tried to explain why ice-age cycles became longer and more intense some 900,000 years ago, switching from 41,000-year cycles to 100,000-year cycles.
In a paper published this week in the journal Science Express, researchers report that the deep ocean currents that move heat around the globe stalled or may have stopped at that time, possibly due to expanding ice cover in the Northern Hemisphere.
"The research is a breakthrough in understanding a major change in the rhythm of Earth's climate, and shows that the ocean played a central role," says Candace Major, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research.
The slowing currents increased carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) storage in the oceans, leaving less CO 2 in the atmosphere. That kept temperatures cold and kicked the climate system into a new phase of colder, but less frequent, ice ages, the scientists believe.
"The oceans started storing more carbon dioxide for a longer period of time," says Leopoldo Pena, the paper's lead author and a paleoceanographer at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO). "Our evidence shows that the oceans played a major role in slowing the pace of the ice ages and making them more severe."
The researchers reconstructed the past strength of Earth's system of ocean currents by sampling deep-sea sediments off the coast of South Africa, where powerful currents originating in the North Atlantic Ocean pass on their way to Antarctica.
How vigorously those currents moved can be inferred by how much North Atlantic water made it that far, as measured by isotope ratios of the element neodymium bearing the signature of North Atlantic seawater.
Like tape recorders, the shells of ancient plankton incorporate these seawater signals through time, allowing scientists to approximate when currents grew stronger and when weaker.
Over the last 1.2 million years, the conveyor-like currents strengthened during warm periods and lessened during ice ages, as previously thought.
But at about 950,000 years ago, ocean circulation slowed significantly and stayed weak for 100,000 years.
During that period the planet skipped an interglacial--the warm interval between ice ages. When the system recovered, it entered a new phase of longer, 100,000-year ice age cycles.
After this turning point, deep ocean currents remained weak during ice ages, and ice ages themselves became colder.
"Our discovery of such a major breakdown in the ocean circulation system was a big surprise," said paper co-author Steven Goldstein, a geochemist at LDEO. "It allowed the ice sheets to grow when they should have melted, triggering the first 100,000-year cycle."
Ice ages come and go at predictable intervals based on the changing amount of sunlight that falls on the planet, due to variations in Earth's orbit around the sun.
Orbital changes alone, however, are not enough to explain the sudden switch to longer ice age intervals.
According to one earlier hypothesis for the transition, advancing glaciers in North America stripped away soils in Canada, causing thicker, longer-lasting ice to build up on the remaining bedrock.
Building on that idea, the researchers believe that the advancing ice might have triggered the slowdown in deep ocean currents, leading the oceans to vent less carbon dioxide, which suppressed the interglacial that should have followed.
"The ice sheets must have reached a critical state that switched the ocean circulation system into a weaker mode," said Goldstein.
Neodymium, a key component of cellphones, headphones, computers and wind turbines, also offers a good way of measuring the vigor of ancient ocean currents.
Goldstein and colleagues had used neodymium ratios in deep-sea sediment samples to show that ocean circulation slowed during past ice ages.
They used the same method to show that changes in climate preceded changes in ocean circulation.
A trace element in Earth's crust, neodymium washes into the oceans through erosion from the continents, where natural radioactive decay leaves a signature unique to the land mass from which it originated.
When Goldstein and Lamont colleague Sidney Hemming pioneered this method in the late 1990s, they rarely worried about surrounding neodymium contaminating their samples.
The rise of consumer electronics has changed that.
"I used to say you could do sample processing for neodymium analysis in a parking lot," said Goldstein. "Not anymore."
-NSF-
Media Contacts
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Kim Martineau, LDEO, (845) 365-8708, email: kmartine@ldeo.columbia.edu
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2019, its budget is $8.1 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 50,000 competitive proposals for funding and makes about 12,000 new funding awards.
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Awards Searches: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/— The National Basketball Association (NBA) has expanded its partnerships with Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and The Walt Disney Company through new, nine-year agreements under which ABC, TNT, and ESPN will televise NBA games beginning with the 2016-17 season and running through the 2024-25 season.
The agreements were announced today by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver; Washington Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, chairman of the NBA's Media Committee; Turner Broadcasting System President David Levy; and ESPN President and Disney Media Networks Co-Chairman John Skipper. The NBA's current eight-year deals with ABC/ESPN and TNT expire at the end of the 2015-16 season.
Under the agreements, the partners will televise more national regular-season games (ABC/ESPN: 100; Turner: 64) and will continue to do so generally on Wednesdays (ESPN), Thursdays (TNT), Fridays (ESPN), and Sundays (ABC/ESPN). By the end of these new agreements, the NBA's partnership will reach 41 years with Turner, while the league's relationship with ABC/ESPN will extend to 23 years. Additionally, NBA TV's Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Saturday game telecasts will continue to fill out the schedule, ensuring a full week of nationally televised games. The NBA's 24-hour network will present over 100 regular-season games each year.
The NBA and Turner will also continue their groundbreaking partnership to manage jointly the NBA's digital assets including NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA Mobile, NBA LEAGUE PASS, and WNBA.com, which Turner operates out of its Atlanta production facility. TNT will also debut the first-ever NBA Awards Show, an annual event which will air at the end of the season, and will have expanded activation opportunities surrounding key NBA pillars such as Opening Night and NBA All-Star Week.
Under the agreement, ESPN will be granted enhanced digital rights to provide NBA content for multiple ESPN platforms, including ESPN.com and WatchESPN.
The parties have also established a framework for ESPN and the NBA to negotiate the launch of a new over-the-top offering in which the league would receive an equity interest. Details for the new offering will be announced at a future date.
Under a new deal with the WNBA, games will continue to be televised on ABC and ESPN/ESPN2 through the 2025 season. ESPN also will have enhanced in-progress highlight rights for the WNBA on digital and linear platforms.
Beginning with the 2016-17 season, for the first time, at least 20 NBA Development League games and NBA Summer League games will be seen on the ESPN television networks.
Turner Sports will have enhanced content/digital rights to NBA content for multiple TNT platforms including Bleacher Report; interactive online elements such as selected camera angles, statistic feeds and video to complement TNT's telecasts; and broadband and other content for digital platforms, including highlights and studio shows. This includes the opportunity to develop and distribute new NBA content and programming for Bleacher Report, as well as rights to highlights for incorporation into the brand's popular team and topic-centric Team Stream Now video offerings.
"The Walt Disney Company and Turner Broadcasting share responsibility for the growing popularity and interest the NBA enjoys, and we are thrilled to extend our partnerships," said Silver. "With these new agreements, our fans will continue to benefit from the outstanding NBA coverage and programming provided by ABC, ESPN, TNT, NBA TV and their digital platforms."
"These nine-year extensions with Disney and Turner recognize the extraordinary value of live premium sports," said Leonsis. "On behalf of our Media Committee and the other team owners, we thank Disney and Turner for their commitment to the NBA and its fans."
TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC.
New NBA Deal with Turner Broadcasting Turner President David Levy announces the new media rights deal the network has with the NBA.
TNT will televise 64 regular-season games in primetime on an exclusive basis, an increase from 52 regular-season games televised during the current agreement. TNT will also offer exclusive presentation of Opening Night, the All-Star Game and All-Star Saturday Night. The 12 additional games will be televised during the second half of the regular season on another night of the week than the network's traditional Thursday Night doubleheaders.
TNT will televise up to 45 playoff games during the first two rounds and will have exclusive coverage of the conference semifinals games it telecasts and one of the conference finals each year.
Turner's multimedia platforms will have the ability to stream TNT-televised games, highlights, and non-game programming on a live, delayed and on-demand basis. Additionally, Turner will maintain TV Everywhere rights that allow for all NBA content airing across Turner Broadcasting networks to be streamed live, delayed and on-demand across the company's multiple digital platforms.
"This is a significant deal for our company and we are pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with the NBA, its fans, owners and players," said Levy. "The agreement locks in some of the most valuable, original, premium live sports programming that we'll continue to monetize across TNT and all other platforms within our extensive portfolio and will help further grow our businesses into the next decade."
THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY
New NBA deal with ESPN ESPN President John Skipper announces the new NBA rights deal for the Disney networks.
ABC will continue to televise up to 15 regular-season games on an exclusive basis, beginning on Christmas Day and continuing on Sunday afternoons starting in January, with the ability to move a few Sunday games to ESPN. The postseason will feature the entire best-of-seven NBA Finals in primetime on ABC.
ESPN and ESPN2 will televise up to 85 regular-season games primarily on Wednesday and Friday nights, an increase from 70 regular-season games under the current agreement. ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will also televise up to 30 playoff games in the first two rounds, while ESPN will feature exclusive coverage of the conference semifinals games it televises and one of the conference finals each year. The network will also have exclusive coverage of the NBA Draft and NBA Draft Lottery each season.
ESPN will have the rights to stream its games and provide additional NBA content on a live, delayed and on-demand basis across all of its multimedia platforms, including ESPN.com, and WatchESPN.
ESPN Audio will remain the national broadcast home of the NBA and feature an increased package of games, including regular-season and playoffs.
"The NBA has never been more popular globally and it continues to grow under Adam's leadership," said Skipper. "By acquiring significantly more NBA content on both existing and yet-to-be created platforms, we will establish a vibrant year-round relationship with the NBA and bolster what is already the sports industry's most impressive and impactful collection of media rights."
NBA DIGITAL
The NBA will continue its ground-breaking partnership with Turner for NBA Digital through which the companies manage jointly the NBA's digital assets including NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA Mobile, NBA LEAGUE PASS, and WNBA.com. Launched prior to the 2008-09 season, the partnership will run through the 2024-25 season.
NBA TV will present over 100 regular-season games, an increase from 96 regular-season games, and up to nine postseason games. Currently available in 60 million homes, the network has had record viewership as part of NBA Digital.
TNT
• 64 regular-season games per year, up from a current 52 games
• Exclusive presentations of Opening Night and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day games
• Up to 45 playoff games during the first two rounds with exclusive presentations of conference semifinals games and one full conference finals series
• Exclusive presentations of the NBA All-Star Game and All-Star Saturday Night events
• Telecast of a first-ever, end-of-the-season annual NBA Awards Show
• Continuation of the Emmy award-winning "Inside the NBA" studio show
• TV Everywhere rights that allow for NBA content airing across Turner Broadcasting networks to be streamed live, delayed and on-demand across its digital platforms
• Digital media rights, including streaming TNT NBA games on a live, delayed and on-demand basis across all of its multimedia platforms
• Broader rights to distribute, via digital platforms, its NBA games and non-game programming, as well as new NBA-related content, on a live and on-demand basis
• Interactive online elements such as selected camera angles, statistic feeds and video to complement TNT's game telecasts
• Enhanced content/digital rights to NBA content for Bleacher Report
• Exclusive broadband and other content for digital platforms, including studio shows
• Expanded event activation surrounding key NBA pillars such as Opening Night and playoffs
ABC
• 15 regular-season games on ABC beginning on Christmas and continuing on Sunday afternoons starting in January with the ability to move a few Sunday games to ESPN
• Exclusive regular-season, playoff and Finals broadcast coverage
• Best-of-seven Finals broadcast in primetime
ESPN
• 85 regular-season games primarily on Wednesday and Friday nights, up from 70 games
• 30 playoff games in the first two rounds, with exclusive coverage presentations of conference semifinals games and one full conference finals series
• Exclusive presentations of the NBA Draft and NBA Draft Lottery
• Up to 20 NBA Summer League games on ESPN and ESPN2
• Extension of WNBA media agreement through the 2025 season
• Presentation of NBA Development League games on ESPN networks and digital platforms
• Framework for ESPN and the NBA to negotiate the launch of a new over-the-top offering with the league receiving an equity interest
• Enhanced digital media rights to deliver NBA content for ESPN platforms, including ESPN.com, WatchESPN and ESPN podcasts
• Increased ESPN Audio game package including NBA Finals, playoffs and regular season
• Spanish-language rights for ESPN Audio
• Significantly more exclusive regular-season games, playoff games and NBA-focused programming on ESPN platforms in Latin America, Pacific Rim and the Caribbean
• Opportunities to stream ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 games on a live, delayed and on-demand basis across all of its multimedia platforms
NBA TV
• NBA and Turner to continue to manage jointly the NBA's digital assets, which include NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, and the NBA Game Time app
• Over 100 regular-season games on NBA TV on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays, an increase from a current 96 games, and as many as nine playoff games on NBA TV
• Enhanced package of digital media opportunitiesAdobe has patched a serious security vulnerability in Flash, which the company said hackers are actively exploiting.
The company said in an advisory Tuesday that the previously undisclosed zero-day flaw affects Windows, Macs, Linux and Chrome operating systems. A successful exploitation "could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system," the advisory read.
The patch, released Thursday, resolves a series of type confusion vulnerabilities that could lead to an attacker running malware on an affected device.
FireEye senior research engineer Genwei Jiang was credited with the vulnerability's discovery, and privately reporting the bug to Adobe.
Almost two-dozen other vulnerabilities were patched as part of the update.
The company recommended that users update immediately.
The vulnerability is the latest issue with Flash, the web plugin that has for years drawn ire from the security community for its litany of bugs and issues.
Its reputation was sunk further after Italian surveillance firm Hacking Group found a series of flaws that it used to conduct hacking and intelligence-gathering operations. The company was itself hacked last year, leading to the leaking of the zero-day exploits.
Given the hostility towards the plug-in, Adobe last year said it would rebrand Flash as it pivots towards HTML5, a more secure and less memory-consuming standard.Edward Gingerich (1966 – January 14, 2011) was an Amish man from Rockdale Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, who was convicted of manslaughter in the 1993 death of his wife, Katie.[1] He is the first Amish person to be convicted of homicide.[2]
He was said to have been somewhat of a rebel to the Amish way of life from an early age, and many of the others in their community were apprehensive of the marriage between Ed and Katie. He spent a lot of time in the wood shop, becoming increasingly interested in the limited machinery the Amish allowed themselves to operate as well as interacting with non-Amish people (known as the English, regardless of ethnicity). The belief was that an unwaveringly faithful woman would be a good influence on the troubled young man and so the marriage went ahead.
After the wedding and the birth of a son, Gingerich became increasingly depressed. Through the wood shop he worked in, he befriended a non-Amish man called Dave Lindsey who told him that unless he renounced his Amish faith and became a born-again Christian like Lindsey, he would go to Hell.
Gingerich's mental state continued to deteriorate and eventually he began hallucinating and had a psychotic break that scared his Amish community to the point of contacting 911 for help. Gingerich was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was given medication to ease his symptoms. His medication eased Gingerich's hallucinations but put him in a "zombie" state that he disliked and eventually he stopped taking his doses. His state of mind continued to deteriorate. Lindsey, among other evangelists who visited Gingerich at the wood shop, lectured him about renouncing his faith and led him to believe that he was being confined and almost held captive by his wife, Katie. There are reports that he began to associate her with the devil.
On March 18, 1993, Gingerich entered his home's kitchen where Katie was working, and punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground. Katie yelled for her 6-year-old son, who was in the room at the time, to run and get help. The young boy ran over a mile to his uncle's home, but by the time the man arrived at the scene of the crime, Katie was long dead. Seeing his brother standing beside her gruesome body, covered in blood, the man feared for his own life and fled to the house of a nearby English family where he called 911.
When assistant fire chief and EMTs Andy McLaughlin arrived on the scene, the scene was horrific. Gingerich had beaten Katie to death, taken the time to put on heavy, high top boots, and stomped on Katie's skull until she was left unrecognizable. Not only that, Gingerich had removed all her internal organs and piled them beside her body.[3] In recordings of Gingerich's police interrogation, he can be heard saying that "For some reason, I think we could still save her".[4]
After his trial, Gingerich was found "guilty of involuntary manslaughter but mentally ill". He was sentenced to a minimum term of two and one-half years and a maximum of five years with credit for time served since his May 19, 1993, incarceration. Hence, Ed would be eligible for parole by late 1995. Gingerich was denied his first bid for parole in December 1995. However, on March 19, 1998, at the age of 34, and having served his full sentence, he was released from the State Correctional Institution in Mercer, Pennsylvania.[5]
Gingerich was found hanged in a barn in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, where he had been living with his attorney. He wrote "Forgive me please" in the dust atop a bucket before committing suicide.[6][7]“We should have never gone into Iraq. I’ve said it loud and clear. I was visited by people from the White House asking me to sort of, could I be silenced because I seem to get a disproportionate amount of publicity. I mean, I was very strong, though: ‘You’re going to destabilize the Middle East.’”
— Businessman Donald Trump, interview on Fox News, Oct. 6, 2015
“You know, I was the one, and I said it very strongly, and you know this, and it was reported by everybody, because unfortunately, I get a disproportionate amount of publicity. But in 2004, I said, ‘Don’t go into Iraq,’ and earlier, 2003, ‘Don’t go into Iraq. You’re going to totally destabilize the Middle East.’”
— Trump, interview on CNN, Oct. 6, 2015
“I said going into Iraq — that was in 2003 — you can check it out, check out — I’ll give you 25 different stories. In fact, a delegation was sent to my office to see me because I was so vocal about it. I’m a very militaristic person, but you have to know when to use the military. I’m the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq. I think it is very important. I think it is important because it is about judgment. I didn’t want to go into Iraq. It is about judgment. Because what I said, ‘You’re going to destabilize the Middle East,’ and that’s what happened.”
— Trump, GOP debate on CNN, Sept. 16, 2015
This Trump brag line goes like this: He had the vision and foresight to oppose the Iraq War ahead of the invasion in 2003. His opposition was so vocal, and his reach so great, that the White House approached him and asked him to tone it down.
Really? We examined the slim evidence.
The Facts
At The Fact Checker, we place the burden of proof on the speaker. Trump has not responded to repeated requests by us or other media outlets for proof of his early opposition to the invasion.
Military action began on March 20, 2003. An extensive review of 2003 news coverage prior to March 20 surfaced just two references of Trump and his views on the invasion, as BuzzFeed News found during the GOP debate. The Huffington Post also wrote an analysis of Trump’s Iraq claims during the GOP debate, and again after Trump’s |
vibrant commercial center and seaside metropolis.
Momani, the Jordanian minister, said that moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem "will have catastrophic implications on several levels, including the regional situation." He said countries in the region would likely "think about different things and steps they should take in order to stop this from happening."
"It will definitely affect the bilateral relationship between countries in the region, including Jordan, and the parties that will be related to such a decision," he said.
Trump said during the presidential campaign that he intended to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Last month, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway was quoted as saying that moving the embassy to Jerusalem is a "very big priority" for the president-elect.
Trump's choice for U.S. ambassador in Israel, David Friedman, has said he looks forward to working from Jerusalem.Editor’s Note: The article below expands and updates “The Milton Hershey School: The Richest Orphans in America,” originally published in CRC’s series Compassion and Culture in 2003. The version below also includes some historical material that appeared in the earlier article alongside new information.
“Mr. Hershey can not estimate the good that will result from his tremendous gift. Neither he nor anyone else can have more than a faint conception of the influence that this school will exert on the lives of its inmates, on the communities in which they will become a part, on the State, the nation, and posterity.”—editorial in Troy (N.Y.) Times (1923)
Last year, Dauphin County Orphans Court in Harrisburg, Pa. was the setting for an exceptionally heated battle over donor intent. At stake was this question: Was the Hershey Trust, acting as agent for the Milton Hershey School, fulfilling the wishes of chocolate magnate Milton S. Hershey in selling the school’s controlling interest in Hershey Foods for up to $12 billion?
Ultimately, the court did not have to address this issue, as the Hershey School’s board voted 10-7 against the sale. The seven board members who supported the sale, as well as Hershey School president William S. Lepley, resigned.
But the controversy showed that the richest prep school in America was not some prestigious New England establishment, but was an orphanage. How well-endowed is the Hershey School? Harrisburg Patriot-News reporter Ford Turner provides some useful comparisons. In 2002, Phillips Andover Academy, whose alumni include President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush, recently successfully completed a five-year $209 million capital campaign. That’s a larger fund-raising drive than any other prep school. Milton Hershey School, by contrast, is in the middle of a five-year, $228 million building campaign–and it doesn’t have to ask its alumni for a penny. The Hershey School is funding the entire project out of its $570 million rainy day fund.
Here’s another way to show the wealth of the Hershey School. Look at how much they spend per student. Phillips Andover spends about $49,000 per student. The Hershey School, in the 2000-01 school year, spent $111 million for food, clothing, and education for its 1,150 students. That amounts to $96,000 per student–nearly ten times as much as the average public school spends.
So the story of the Milton Hershey School poses two questions. First, what happens when a donor sets up a perpetual trust for a single purpose–and the trust has too much money? Second, what does the Milton Hershey School story say about the success or failure of orphanages in America?
To understand how the Milton Hershey School arrived at its present predicament, we need to turn the clock back a century and study what the school’s founder tried to do.
The Donor
Milton S. Hershey (1857-1945) was one of America’s greatest entrepreneurs. Born in Hockenville, Pennsylvania, Hershey’s family was poor, and had to move constantly to flee creditors. As a result, Milton Hershey went to seven schools in eight years, emerging with the equivalent of a fourth-grade education.
Hershey started working at the age of 14 and never stopped. By the time he was 25, he had started three businesses—a taffy company, a cough drop company, and a confectionary company—all of which failed.
In 1882 Hershey started his fourth enterprise, Lancaster Caramel. Earlier caramel makers used paraffin to make their candies chewy, but Hershey realized that milk could perform the same function, at far less cost. By 1895 Lancaster Caramel had three plants and had annual sales of a million dollars. Hershey’s wealth enabled him to attract—and marry—Catherine Sweeney in 1898.
While visiting the Columbian Exposition in 1893, Hershey saw some German chocolate-making equipment and decided that being a chocolate manufacturer was his life’s ambition. In 1900, he sold Lancaster Caramel for $1 million and used the proceeds to fund an around-the-world trip. The Hersheys made it as far as Mexico City when Milton Hershey announced he was bored, and the couple turned around and headed for home.
Hershey first made chocolates in a wing of the Lancaster Caramel plant, and, as with the caramels, his great secret was that he figured out how to make milk chocolate in large quantities. Hershey turned chocolate into a product that was so affordable that everyone could enjoy a nickel bar of Hershey’s Chocolate (introduced in 1900) or Hershey’s Chocolate With Almonds (introduced in 1908) for lunch.
The next step was to build a factory. Hershey found land in Derry Township, Pa., about a mile from where he grew up. Hershey knew the area had several advantages. There were many Pennsylvania Dutch farmers nearby, who could either work in the factory or supply the plant with plenty of milk. The factory was conveniently located for shipments to East Coast distributors.
Hershey began building his factory in March 1903. “It is Mr. Hershey’s ambition to erect about his old home a model village, or town, with an immense chocolate factory as its central feature,” the Lancaster, Pennsylvania New Era reported shortly after Hershey began construction.
But what should the place be called? Hershey held a nationwide contest; the entries included Hustletown, Ulikit, Etabit, Qualitytells, Chocolate City, and St. Milton. The winning entry was Hersheykoko, but the Post Office rejected the name as being too commercial. But Hershey was acceptable to the Post Office, so the town became Hershey.
Milton Hershey made sure that Hershey, Pa. was created according to his specifications. He designed all the houses—and tore down the ones that seemed too much like slums. Hershey workers could relax in Hershey Park, and ride carousels and watch vaudeville acts courtesy of the company. If they needed to travel outside of Hershey, the company provided a 30-mile interurban railway. If they wanted a meeting space for their clubs, the company provided a community center. (The community center also showed movies—purged, News-Week reported in 1935, of “dirty jokes and sensual dances.”)
In his 2010 book The Company Town, Hardy Green explains that Milton S. Hershey’s goal in creating his town was to offer his workers homes that were “modern affairs equipped with indoor plumbing, central heating, even electricity.” Hershey’s employees “got a cornucopia of benefits, including insurance, medical coverage, and a retirement plan. There were no local taxes, jobs were abundant, and services such as garbage pickup and snow removal were a given.”
Hershey Chocolate used the benefits of the town of Hershey to promote its products. A 2013 article in Journalism History cites this song, used as promotional material, created by Hershey Chocolate around 1920:
“A beautiful town in a valley lay,
Where a lot of people night and day
Make Hershey’s Chocolate and Cocoa
As clean and pure as the falling snow
And the green grass grew all around, all around.
And the green grass grew all around.”
In 1908, Hershey incorporated Hershey Chocolate (now the Hershey Company). One year later, Hershey decided to donate the majority of the company’s stock to create an orphanage, which he called the Hershey Industrial School. The school began operations in the fall of 1909.
Milton S. Hershey had always been charitable and had never sought any publicity for his gifts. Hershey biographer Roy Bongartz gives some examples. Hershey once saw a clubfooted boy walking through town, and quietly paid for the cost of the operations needed to fix the youth’s foot. In another case, a boy was severely beaten up by bullies. Again, Hershey quietly paid all the medical bills.
The gift to the Hershey Industrial School far surpassed anything else Hershey gave away. Hershey’s best expression of his intent is provided in a 1923 article by James C. Young in the New York Times. “I am 66 years old and do not need much money,” Hershey said. “My business has been far more successful than I ever expected it to be. If I should drop out, what should become of the business, the capital, and the earnings?... Well, I have no heirs, so I have decided to make the orphan boys of the United States my heirs.”
“The orphan boy has a harder time than anyone else, you know. There are always relatives or outsiders to take an orphan girl. Girls are useful in the home, and people are glad to get them. But boys are looked on as a nuisance. The more spirit they have, the bigger the nuisance.”
“Our school will give a boy in its care a thorough common school education, supplemented by instruction in the useful crafts—carpentry, blacksmithing, farming, “the rudiments of electrical work.”
“We do not intend to turn out finished artisans, but to provide a foundation on which they may build,” Hershey said. “And when they leave us at 18 we will then give them $100 each to begin life. That is more than I had.”
Young then asked if Hershey’s wealth could be used to provide “an academic training for most of the orphan boys in the United States.”
“We do not intend to turn out a race of professors,” Hershey replied. “The thing that a poor boy needs is knowledge of a trade, a way to make his living. We will provide him with the groundwork. Of what use is Latin when a fellow has to hoe a patch or run a lathe? But we expect to develop a plan under which boys of special promise in the academic branches may go to college.”
Hershey expressed his work-oriented philosophy in his Deed of Trust, executed in 1909. Clause 17 of the deed states, “All orphans admitted to the School shall be fed with plain, wholesome food, plainly, neatly, and comfortably clothed, without distinctive dress, and fitly lodged. Due regard shall be paid to their health; their physical training shall be attended to, and they shall have proper exercise and recreation. They shall be instructed in the several branches of a sound education, agriculture, horticulture, gardening, such mechanical trades and handicrafts as the Managers may determine, and such natural and physical sciences and practical mathematics as in the opinion of the Managers it may be important for them to acquire, and such other learning and science as the tastes, capacities, and adaptability of the several scholars may merit or warrant, to fit themselves for the trades they are to learn, and a useful occupation in life.... Each and every scholar shall be required to learn, and be thoroughly instructed in some occupation of mechanical trade, so that when he leaves the School on the completion of the period for which he is to remain, he may be able to support himself.”
Milton Hershey was a very active donor. He routinely visited each of the boys in his care, and once a year, all the boys were sent to Hershey’s mansion for a special breakfast of hot cocoa and toast. Henry Keener, who, as a “house parent,” supervised the boys, told author Joël Glenn Brenner: “You didn’t know when Mr. Hershey was going to drop by unannounced. And he was the most meticulous fellow with himself. With his clothing, his mannerisms, everything. I never saw him in anything but a full-dress business suit, usually a dark suit. Never saw him in light clothing.”
Most of the boys turned out pretty well. Bill Dearden, for example, arrived at the Hershey School as a 13-year-old from the Philadelphia slums. His mother had just died, and his father could not afford to feed his family.
Four decades later, Dearden recalled that at his first day at the Hershey School, he was driven through the school’s 10,000 acres and was given his first pair of long pants. He then was given the biggest meal he had ever had. “Creamed rice was the vegetable, and there was apple pie for dessert, Dearden told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Where I came from, creamed rice was the dessert. It was like getting two desserts in one meal!”
After he was graduated from the Hershey School, Dearden was graduated from Albright College. In 1976, he became the first Hershey School alumnus to be CEO of Hershey Foods. “I don’t know where I would be today if it wasn’t for Mr. Hershey.”
The Hershey Trust
Hershey set up the Hershey Trust to manage the school’s assets, including the shares of Hershey Chocolate, and declared that the Hershey Trust and the Hershey Industrial School should be perpetuities. He set up the following structure to determine how the company and the school should be controlled:
The Hershey Trust is a bank. Until 2011, the trust had other customers, but in that year the bank sold its wealth management business (with about $400 million in assets) to Bryn Mawr Bank for an undisclosed sum.
The trust is now exclusively devoted to controlling Hershey properties. The Hershey Trust owns a controlling interest in the Hershey Company as well as a 100 percent interest in Hershey Resorts and Entertainment, which owns land and entertainment venues in the Hershey area, most notably Hersheypark. The board of directors of the Hershey Trust are simultaneously the board of directors of the Milton Hershey School. The result is that the goals of the company, the trust, and the school are intertwined; the company’s profits were used by the trust to fund the school, and the school would produce productive young men—some of whom would end up working for Hershey Chocolate.
Wm. A. McGarry provided the best explanation of how the three overlapping Hershey organizations were supposed to act in a 1940 article in Nation’s Business. “The plant is now owned in trust by the home,” McGarry explained. “The business supports the boys and the boys supply labor and executives for the business when they grow up.”
Catherine Hershey died in 1915; and in 1918, Milton Hershey transferred control of between two-thirds and three-quarters of Hershey Chocolate stock to the Hershey Trust. Hershey kept this transaction secret for five years, until James C. Young exposed his intentions in a 1923 New York Times article.
To have advertised his gift “to the world,” Hershey told Fortune in 1934, “would have seemed like... telling the people to eat more chocolate to aid the orphans and my competitors... would have said I was taking advantage of them.”
When James C. Young broke the story of Milton C. Hershey’s gift, he noted that, unlike other great philanthropists, Hershey’s gift (which he estimated at $60 million) came from a fortune “unlike those given away with free hands in the past few years. It came neither from oil, steel, or finance, but from the modest chocolate bar.” (“Think of an orphan boy,” Young concluded, having as his guardian a man who will give him as much chocolate as he can eat!”)
The press, always on the lookout for new philanthropists, saluted Hershey’s generosity. “When a man spends his fortune in that wholly unselfish fashion in his own lifetime,” the Philadelphia Public Ledger editorialized, “the world applauds, and it is lastingly imprest [sic] by the example.”
The New York American contrasted Hershey’s gift with that of a more inept donor who left $1,000 to his wife and $36,500 for prayers intended for his “poor, miserable soul.” The difference between the prayer-monger and Hershey, the newspaper declared, was “all the difference between selfish barbarism and enlightened civilization.”
There is one small piece of evidence that Hershey may have had second thoughts. In 1934, Hershey and his company were the subject of a Fortune profile. In the article, the anonymous author declared, “there are some indications” that Milton Hershey “is now considering a modification of the perpetuity provision.” This did not happen.
However, in 1935 Hershey created the M.S. Hershey Foundation as a small charity independent of the Hershey Trust, endowing the foundation with 5,000 shares of Hershey Chocolate common. The foundation’s 2014 Form 990 listed assets of $59.3 million and grants of $9.7 million. The foundation was created in perpetuity to support “educational purposes” in the Hershey, Pa. area, including the Hershey Gardens, the Hershey Theatre, and the Hershey Community Archives. The foundation’s most newsworthy event came in 2009 when it spent $23.5 million on The Hershey Story, a museum devoted to the life and works of Milton S. Hershey. (The museum’s bricks are supposed to resemble blocks of chocolate.)
But throughout the remainder of Milton Hershey’s life, the relationship between Hershey Chocolate, the Hershey Trust, and the Hershey School changed very little. In a 1993 Wall Street Journal article, Milton Friedman recalled staying in Hershey “toward the end of World War II” because he was teaching a quality-control course for Navy procurement officers.
“We stayed at the Hershey Hotel, on the corner of Cocoa Avenue and Chocolate Boulevard, across the street from the Hershey Junior College, where the actual instruction took place, a block or so from the Hershey Department Store, and so on,” Friedman recalled. “You get the idea. The stench of paternalism was in the air.”
Donor Intent?
Milton S. Hershey died in 1945. Within a decade of his death, it became clear that the structure that Hershey had set up had one fundamental flaw: Hershey Chocolate and its successors—Hershey Foods and the Hershey Company—have generated much larger profits than were necessary to operate the Milton Hershey School. For over 60 years, the question has been: what other worthy uses for Hershey’s charity would satisfy Milton Hershey’s intentions?
There has been one successful and several unsuccessful attempts to divert the Hershey fortune. The successful effort took place in 1963, when Hershey Chocolate CEO Samuel Hinkle persuaded the Dauphin County Orphans Court to transfer $50 million, or 20 percent of the Hershey Trust’s assets, to Pennsylvania State University to allow construction of what is now known as the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. The center, located in Hershey, serves as the Penn State medical school, even though it is several hundred miles away from Penn State’s main campus in State College, Pa.
In The Chocolate Trust, Bob Fernandez shows that Hinkle began to worry about Milton Hershey’s fortune in a letter to the Hershey Trust board in 1959. He told the board his fears were that Hershey Chocolate’s wealth would rise as the number of qualified orphans declined. “I began to wonder what Mr. Hershey would do if he himself were living... with the accumulation of money that he didn’t need for his orphans. What would he do?”
Hinkle argued that the trust could loosen the restrictions on who was admitted to the Milton Hershey School, so that boys from “broken homes” who weren’t orphans could be admitted. This loosening was explicitly allowed in the Deed of Trust. But Hinkle also said that such a change would ensure that “we would immediately be inviting criticism of our methods,” especially if the school dramatically increased its size.
Instead, Hinkle contended, it would be better to use part of the trust to inspire “new and better remedies for the relief of human suffering—probably traceable to the untimely death of his [Milton Hershey’s] wife, although he seldom mentioned her years of degenerating illness for which he could find no cure.”
The Hershey Trust board sat on the proposal for three years until 1962, when Arthur Whiteman became the trust’s chairman. (Whiteman was admitted to the Milton Hershey School in 1916.) The trust began collecting testimony, including from Dr. Herman Hostetter, a long-time friend of Milton Hershey’s, who said that Hershey told him “at least on two occasions” that he had been asked to give money for a medical center, and declined because the town of Hershey “is not a place for a Medical Center.”
While this was happening, the Pennsylvania state legislature passed bills in 1961 and 1963 authorizing the construction of a Penn State medical center. Hinkle, who graduated from Penn State in 1922, called university president Eric Walker on April 23, 1963 to formally offer a $50 million donation to the school. Hinkle’s donation would fund construction of the medical center, which the trust would lease to the school for one dollar a year. Hinkle’s only condition was that the medical center be built in the town of Hershey. Hershey Chocolate lawyer Gilbert Nurick said that Walker’s reaction was that “you never saw eyes light and anybody drool like that in all your life.”
To get around restrictions in the Deed of Trust, the Orphans Court only authorized the transfer of $50 million from the Hershey Trust to the M.S. Hershey Foundation, which formally made the deal with Penn State. Construction of the medical center began in 1966, and the facility opened in 1970.
While this was happening, the Milton Hershey School continued to expand, thanks to a 30-year period when Hershey Foods grew at an annual rate of 17 percent. The school began to admit blacks in 1970 and girls in 1976 after several national court decisions struck down gift restrictions by race and gender. The school also loosened its definition of “orphan,” in part because parents live longer today than they did a century ago, ensuring there are fewer true orphans than in the past. The school now admits any qualified applicant from a low-income, single-parent household, as well as “social orphans” from two-parent households that can’t afford to take care of their children. By 2000, only 11 of the Milton Hershey School students were wards of the state that had no family to take care of them.
The Milton Hershey School continued to accumulate vast amounts of wealth and began to use it on a pharaonic building campaign. “The orphanage has accumulated so much money that it doesn’t know how to spend it,” Roy Bongartz observed in 1973. He noted that the school had spent millions on Founder’s Hall, a lavish tribute to Milton Hershey “that looks like a recently added addition to the Strip in Las Vegas.” An unnamed Hershey School executive told Bongartz the fancy buildings were necessary because “if a boy is presented with a bright, clean wall, he won’t make a mark on it.”
On assignment for the Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine in 1982, Bill Ecenbarger noted the Hershey School was offering free braces to those who needed them, and meals served in the Camelot Room, “a dining hall with a King Arthur motif that could be a $100-a-meal restaurant.”
Ecenbarger noted some remnants of the Spartan regime Hershey preferred, including mandatory chores (such as cow-milking) beginning at 5:30 AM and a rule restricting junior and senior students from leaving campus more than one night a week. These remnants of Milton Hershey’s time disappeared in 1989, when many of the vocational programs Milton Hershey cherished were eliminated. The print shop became a “communications center,” the auto shop an “energy, power, and transportation center,” and the carpentry shop a “construction center.” The physical education classes became “wellness classes,” and the morning chores at the barns ceased, as Hershey staff feared farm work was too much for the inner-city children that were now a majority of the students.
When former Iowa state school superintendent William S. Lepley became head of the Milton Hershey School in the 1990s, he led an effort that involved selling off two-thirds of the school’s land and slashing the vocational programs even more. Milton Hershey School students were showered with the kinds of gifts that students in every other school in America had to pay for themselves. The Wall Street Journal reported in 1999 that Hershey School students received “Bass shoes, London Fog overcoats, and other preppy clothes—all paid for by the school.”
In addition, the school paid college tuition for its best students and five free years of counseling: offering graduates advice not only on how to succeed in college, but how to rent an apartment, enter the job market, and how to get health insurance.
But Lepley crossed a line when he asked the Dauphin County Orphans Court to void Milton Hershey’s will on the grounds that the Hershey Trust had far too much money than it needed for its purpose of running the Milton Hershey School. Lepley proposed diverting $25 million to start an education think tank that would have been called the Catherine Hershey Institute for Learning and Development. Lepley promised that this think tank—which was supposed to have an annual budget of $25 million by 2004—would never have a budget higher than half the Hershey School budget.
In creating the think tank, Hershey Trust CEO Robert Vowler told the Wall Street Journal, the Hershey School was worried that the school would suffer the fate of the Buck Trust.
In that case, which I discuss in The Great Philanthropists and the Problem of ‘Donor Intent,’ Beryl Buck left $300 million in 1975 to aid poor people in Marin County, California. Her administrators at the San Francisco Foundation tried to divert the fortune to be used for the entire Bay Area. But after the titanic legal battle in the mid-1980s legal commentators dubbed “the Super Bowl of probate,” the courts ordered the creation of several national nonprofits (an institute on aging, an anti-alcoholism organization)—even though there was no evidence that Beryl Buck was interested in these causes. The court declared that these national organizations fulfilled Beryl Buck’s wishes because they were located in Marin County.
Vowler said that, because the Hershey Trust feared a court-ordered diversion of its funds, the trust decided to divert the money itself. “I’m painfully aware of the Buck Trust case,” Vowler said. “That one’s a little scary.”
The proposed education institute was opposed by Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher and by the Milton S. Hershey Alumni Association, which emerged as a forceful supporter of Milton Hershey’s intentions. Also opposed were six residential programs for troubled children, who asked for a share of the money.
In December 1999, Orphans Court Senior Judge Warren G. Morgan declared the diversion plan dead, stating, “The proposed institute does not approximate the Hersheys’ express intention for the Milton Hershey School and would do violence to it.”
The standoff between the Hershey Alumni Association and the Hershey School continued. In 1999, the alumni association issued a report stating numerous violations of Hershey’s wishes. The school responded by hiring former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh to investigate. While Thornburgh found that the school had done nothing illegal, he did not address the issue of donor intent.
The next battle came in 2002, when the Hershey School announced that it was looking to sell its shares in Hershey Foods (42 percent of the common stock, 76 percent of the preferred). One proposed buyer was the William Wrigley Jr. Company, which proposed a merger in which the Hershey Trust would own 36 percent of a “Wrigley Hershey” common. The school’s foes included Attorney General Fisher, then the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania. (He lost to Democrat Ed Rendell.) Also allied against the trust were five former members of the Hershey School board and three former Hershey Foods CEOs.
In September 2002, Senior Judge Morgan temporarily blocked the sale to allow the court further time to investigate. Two weeks later, the board, after an eleven-hour meeting in Valley Forge, PA., voted by 10-7 to stop the sale. William Lepley, who had previously announced he was retiring in June 2003, announced his retirement nine months early. Ten members of the Hershey School board, including the seven who voted for the sale, resigned, and the board was cut from 17 members to 10.
What Would Milton Do?
Even though the controversy is temporarily over, the Milton Hershey School still has a major problem. What is the best way to fulfill Milton Hershey’s donor intent? If the school continues as it is has in the past, it will serve 1,500 poor children a year and give them lavish clothes, fancy equipment, and tuition, room, and board at the university of their choice. But such a scheme does nothing to help the several hundred thousand children trapped in foster-care programs or in hellish homes.
Perhaps the most reasonable way to use the surplus wealth of the Milton Hershey School is for the courts to allow the school to set up satellite orphanages across the US and perhaps overseas. These orphanages should be along the lines of Hershey’s Deed of Trust–simple places, where children could learn useful trades. There will always be a need for competent electricians and plumbers, and Hershey alumni can provide them. It’s quite possible that Senior Judge Morgan or his successor would approve this plan, as long as the diverted funds are used for poverty-fighting, and not for consultants or studies.
Hershey Alumni Association president Ric Fouad concurs with such a vision. The Hershey School, he told CNBC’s “Business Center” show in September, is “the single-largest resource on Earth for taking care of dependent and at-risk children, and it’s still being grossly underutilized and misused….The money they have now is plenty to utilize the resources of Hershey to add more children and to serve them well.”
Moreover, in the 1990s, orphanages have become more common as America’s foster-care has suffered from an increased number of children in the system and a steadily declining number of parents. Given the number of bad parents out there–many drug addicted–it’s clear that a troubled family (particularly a single-parent household) is not necessarily the best place to raise a child.
In 1998, for example, Minnesota Republican Governor Arne Carlson convinced the Democratic-controlled legislature to authorize the building of three “residential academies” that were designed to be all-day boarding schools for troubled 9-18 year olds. Other orphanages are being built by nonprofits, some Christian. S.O.S. Villages USA built three of them in the past five years. Other orphanages have recently appeared in San Diego, Estes Park, Colorado, and New Jersey.
Writing in Insight, Heidi Goldsmith, director of the Center for Residential Education, says that alternatives to orphanages, such as “returning abused and neglected children to their drug-abusing biological parents,” are not necessarily the best solution for troubled children. “What looks like a family isn’t necessarily what children need,” Goldsmith writes. “Children need a living setting which behaves like a family, providing them consistent love from caring adults, stability and satisfaction of their physiological needs. They need living environments which provide structure, values, a place they feel they belong and matter and where dreams are encouraged.”
Should orphanages be the first place troubled children are sent? Perhaps not. But given the failure of foster care and social work, America–and, perhaps, the world–could certainly use more orphanages. An enlightened Milton Hershey School board could use its vast wealth to ensure that orphanages become more common. Such a bold move would be the best way to adapt Milton Hershey’s ideas to a new century.PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Pittsburgh Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams is responding to social media criticism for not tipping an appropriate amount at a Maryland restaurant.
According to a TMZ Sports report, Williams recently visited the Ledo Restaurant and his bill came to $128.25.
The server took exception to Williams leaving a 75-cent tip and blasted him on social media.
Williams has since responded saying the small tip has nothing to do with being cheap, it was because the service was poor.
The service was terrible if it was good she would have gotten a 40dollar tip https://t.co/wgArMDocOy — DeAngelo Williams (@DeAngeloRB) September 12, 2016
In a series of tweets, Williams explained that there were a couple of issues with the food he ordered.
Specifically, he said he ordered chicken and shrimp in pasta, but it came on his salad instead. When he sent it back, they still left a shrimp tail in his salad.
You right I tried to leave exact change but couldn’t I waited on my food for over 1.5hours got the order wrong then https://t.co/rCqpGGdxmv — DeAngelo Williams (@DeAngeloRB) September 12, 2016
Williams also claimed it took about 90 minutes for the food to arrive.
So, based on all the events of the evening, Williams elected to leave the small tip. However, he really wanted to leave no tip, but couldn’t find exact change.
Jimmy Marcos, owner of Ledo’s, said they are still dealing with the situation and have not taken any action against the server yet. However, it is likely that she will lose her job for how she handled the situation.
Marcos said they understand and support Williams’ decision as well.
“Our policy is that a tip is not a guarantee, but is a courtesy, and that it usually reflects the (quality of the) service,” he said.
Per the TMZ Sports article, Marcos plans to apologize in person and pick up the tab the next time Williams visits.
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Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On TwitterA volcano in southern Italy might be getting ready to erupt, according to scientists who have found and studied the source of magma building up beneath the surface.
The team said in a study in the journal Scientific Reports that their research on the volcano Campi Flegrei could help experts better predict when volcanoes are going to explode.
The volcano just west of Naples is classified as a supervolcano because it has experienced an eruption of a magnitude 8 on the Volcano Explosivity Index — a scale that runs from 0 to 8. It is only several miles away from Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that famously erupted almost 2,000 years ago and destroyed the ancient Roman city Pompeii, covering it in ash and sending out rapid flows of hot gas and material that burned or choked the people in the city.
Campi Flegrei hasn’t erupted in hundreds of years. The last time it blew was in 1538, after earthquakes and uplifting of the ground allowed the molten rock known as magma to accumulate beneath the area.
“An eruption of similar scale would be highly destructive for the dense metropolitan city of Naples,” which is nearby and where there are more than 3 million people, the study says.
Scientists have noticed a little activity at the site here and there for the last several decades that is a sign of magma moving beneath the surface. That includes, according to the study, “volcanic unrest” that occurred in the early 1980s and was linked to both ground uplift and to the subsequent filling of magma into the gap that was about 10 feet thick. The unrest caused some low-magnitude earthquakes.
The researchers say they have now found the source of the magma that at that time fed into the region’s caldera, the depression in the ground that looks like a crater and is often caused by a large volcanic eruption that empties magma from a chamber below ground and causes the Earth’s crust above it to collapse into the empty space.
“One question that has puzzled scientists is where magma is located beneath the caldera, and our study provides the first evidence of a hot zone under the city of Pozzuoli that extends into the sea at a depth of [2.5 miles],” lead researcher Luca De Siena said in a statement from the University of Aberdeen. Pozzuoli is on the other side of Campi Flegrei from Naples, closer to the west coast and the Mediterranean Sea, while Naples and Pompeii are off the inlet called the Gulf of Naples. “While this is the most probable location of a small batch of magma, it could also be the heated fluid-filled top of a wider magma chamber, located even deeper.”
The scientists are still working to understand how their information could help predict when the volcano will erupt. There hasn’t been much seismic activity in the area since the unrest in the 1980s, so it’s possible that pressure is building up — and is getting ready to pop.
“During the last 30 years the behavior of the volcano has changed, with everything becoming hotter due to fluids permeating the entire caldera,” De Siena said. “You can now characterize Campi Flegrei as being like a boiling pot of soup beneath the surface.”
He said that “whatever produced the activity under Pozzuoli in the 1980s has migrated somewhere else,” and it’s possible that it is even closer to the center of Naples than before, potentially posing an even greater danger to that metropolitan area.
“What this means in terms of the scale of any future eruption we cannot say, but there is no doubt that the volcano is becoming more dangerous,” according to De Siena. “The big question we have to answer now is if it is a big layer of magma that is rising to the surface, or something less worrying which could find its way to the surface out at sea.”
According to the study, there should be more research in the future to better understand the subtle activity of volcanic calderas and the movements of magma beneath them. “The structures and fluid-induced dynamics we describe are a template for future unrests at this and other calderas, where they may improve assessment of volcanic hazard.”Pet dogs play on the lawn during a dog show in Anyang, south of Seoul on October 17, 2010. AFP |
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With EXALT, PEUGEOT unveils its imposing vision of the sedan by following the approach initiated in 2012 with the Onyx concept. EXALT aims to please the senses. It calls out from the first contact by its radical styling choices, and the materials selected. First seen on Onyx, the distinct line in the bodywork is reinterpreted by the association of bare metal and an efficient textile, Shark Skin, inspired by the unique texture of a shark's skin. The remarkable acoustic comfort achieved leaves you to discover an array of materials – natural wool-based "chiné" mixed fabric, aged leather, bare steel and ebony – used to finish the cabin. This high end variety of wood is adorned with a unique design created by the trio PINWU Design. The technology incorporated makes every journey an experience: PEUGEOT i-Cockpit, black light, Pure Blue air purifier... this art of travel is powered by a petrol HYbrid4 drive train with an output of 340hp.
For more information, rendez-vous Thursday April 10 th at 8:00 am!
Think of Peugeot and you're more likely to conjure up images of a budget hatchback than an evocative sports car, but the French marque has been known to produce some rather tempting forms, from the RCZ to its Onyx concept from 2012. Now, it looks poised to do it again with the Exalt concept seen here.Previewed ahead of its full reveal later this week, the Exalt concept adopts a svelte two-door form rendered in a combination of bare metal and a sharkskin textile, adopting what looks like a similar two-tone front-to-back color scheme to the 308 R hot hatch concept revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year. Its interior, meanwhile, is decked out in wool, leather and ebony and comes equipped with such features as Peugeot's i-Cockpit system, black lighting and Pure Blue air purifier.The final bit of information that the Lion marque is willing to reveal at this point is that the Exalt packs a gasoline version of its HYbrid4 gas-electric system with 340 horsepower on tap. We'll have to wait another couple of days to find out more, but the concept is tipped to debut live at the Beijing Motor Show later this month.Other fading casinos and some empty buildings loom over a small downtown that has been largely abandoned by residents. Reno, which was also hit particularly hard during the housing crisis, has struggled to reinvent itself precisely because it has been a single-industry city, experts say. Even before gambling, Reno made a name for itself by offering quick divorces, but it also lost that business in the 1960s after other states loosened restrictions on divorce.
“Reno has had it easy until recently because it had a monopoly on things that were illegal in the other states,” said Alicia Barber, a historian at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the author of “Reno’s Big Gamble.” “But now it’s facing tough questions for the first time. It’s like a child star that still wants the world’s attention.”
After peaking in 2000, when Indian casino gambling took off in California, gambling revenues in Reno have fallen by a third. What is more, gambling revenues per square foot of floor space are down nearly a quarter, according to the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
City officials and experts say that gambling will not disappear from Reno, but that its importance to the city, as well as its influence, has been waning.
Wanting to keep gamblers inside their buildings, hotel casinos did not support and sometimes opposed the development of other city attractions, businesspeople say. They had little interest in the University of Nevada, Reno, whose campus lies just a few blocks north of downtown, because students have little money to gamble.
“In the past, we had hotels turn down our business because they didn’t want bowler groups,” said Joe Kelley, the general manager of the National Bowling Stadium.
Until around 2000, Mr. Kelley said, a dozen tour buses would arrive daily at the Silver Legacy or the Eldorado next door. “As the patrons got off the bus,” he said, “somebody would hand them a roll of quarters and a coupon for the buffet. Every morning. And the buses, they don’t come here anymore. So they look to us to fill their property.”
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Also completed in 1995, the bowling stadium is scheduled to undergo a $15 million renovation, including the addition of 10 lanes. Last month, the United States Bowling Congress agreed to hold championship tournaments here through 2030.
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Christopher Baum, the chief executive of the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, which owns the stadium, said bowling would be a cornerstone of the new Reno. The emphasis on bowling was in keeping with the “What’s your passion?” campaign to rebrand Reno as a destination for activities other than gambling, said Mr. Baum, who was recruited here half a year ago from the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“Reno is much easier to sell than Detroit because you don’t have a negative to overcome as much as a lack of information,” he said.
But like Detroit, Reno is also wrestling with the future of its downtown. The construction of several giant hotel casinos in the 1970s pushed residents out of the area, a trend that culminated with the closing of its last supermarket when the Silver Legacy was completed, said Ms. Barber, the historian.
Downtown has become a major issue in local politics.
“The reality is that the casinos are never going to be as successful as they once were, so what do you do with those big buildings downtown?” said Bernie Carter, a candidate for the City Council.
Mr. Carter is the biggest developer in Midtown, a district just south of downtown where young entrepreneurs have opened restaurants and cafes in the last couple of years. The emerging district, formerly dotted with X-rated shops and check-cashing businesses, is fueling hopes that residents will gravitate downtown to patronize nongambling establishments.
CommRow, a major downtown developer, is transforming three former casino buildings into a hotel and restaurants, said Dean Hanson, the general manager. Only a fourth building will be renovated into a small new casino.
But city officials and businesspeople say that only new jobs downtown will attract locals. In recent years, they say, most casinos that were converted into condominiums have done poorly because of the housing crisis and a lack of incentives for living downtown.
Andrew Clinger, the city manager, said Apple would help. Besides a data storage center on the city’s outskirts, Apple will open an office downtown in a new building that may house other technology companies the city is wooing. Critics have said that overly generous tax breaks were given to attract Apple, but Mr. Clinger said the benefits could extend beyond future revenues and jobs by changing Reno’s image.
“Attracting an international icon to Reno puts us on the map,” Mr. Clinger said, adding that the new building would also help change downtown’s landscape by replacing “seedy motels” that are there now.
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But others say it will take more than Apple to change downtown, much less Reno. “The recent announcement by Apple is a positive sign,” said Mark Nichols, the acting chairman of the economics department at the University of Nevada, Reno. “But, frankly, it’s not really obvious what Reno’s new direction will be.”While most Americans accept the historical fact that the Confederacy did not win the Civil War, the league of Southern states did manage to secure a profound victory in their defeat — at least ideologically that is.
Historian David Brion Davis explained, “The reconciliation of North and South required a national repudiation of Reconstruction as ‘a disastrous mistake’; a wide-ranging white acceptance of ‘Negro inferiority’ and of white supremacy in the South; and a distorted view of slavery as an unfortunate but benign institution that was damaging for whites morally but helped civilize and Christianize ''African savages.''
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Today, the ideas of black inferiority, white Christendom and Lost Cause apologetics, thought to have been confined to the decadent segregationist logics of the South, have re-emerged as a dangerous national — ethno-nationalist — problem under the reign of President Trump.
For many Americans, the most awe inspiring reality before our country today is the presence of Neo-Nazis and armed white militias carrying assault rifles marching through the streets of America — a place we once believed was the hallmark of democracy and tolerance. As Americans, we are struck by white supremacist groups like the alt-right, neo-Nazis and the KKK that have converged in a 21st century, many thought to be symbolized by post-racialism, to champion the legacy of America as a white republic.
These displays of violence, as horrible and deadly as they may be, are not the most threatening aspect of today’s ethno-nationalism. America is being torn apart by a seemingly unsurmountable ideological divide. This division is spoken about publically as a problem of race, but it is at its core an argument about civilization.
The language of white supremacy is not simply short-hand for racial aversion. It is a marker, a term, meant to convey the idea that the future of this country lies in the ability of its rightful inheritors to define and direct the cultural, political and economic destiny of all peoples within its borders.
At a rally held last year at Texas A&M University, where I teach, Richard Spencer, a white supremacist who coined the term alt-right, recalled his admiration of The Searchers, a 1956 production starring John Wayne. Spencer revered the genocidal impulse of colonization — the eliminativists force of conquest.
Recalling one particular scene from the movie to the audience in College Station, Texas, where a grieving mother replies to her husband’s condemnation of Texas as the country that killed his boy. She says “A Texican’s nothin’ but a human man out on a limb... This year an’ next and maybe for a hundred more. But I don’t think it’ll be forever. Someday this country will be a fine good place to be... Maybe it needs our bones in the ground before that time can come.”
Spencer believes this exchange to be a metaphor for the price paid by whites in Texas, and America more generally, to own this country. Spencer was quoted saying that “Texas is a wonderful place to live…And there are a lot of the white man’s bones in the ground to make that happen. White people did it... Our bones are in the ground. We own it. In the end America can’t exist without us. We defined it. This country belongs to white people culturally, politically, socially, everything. We define what America is.”
As an reaction to the Black Lives Matter movement, which responds to systemic racism, police brutality and the disproportionate rates of mass incarceration of black Americans, white lives matter is ethno-nationalist movement suggesting that the advance of other racial and ethnic groups in America — their prosperity and achieving of equality in institutions and other spheres of influence in America hasten the dispossession of the white race.
Harkening back to the racist ethnological tropes of early 20th century America, white lives matter resurrects a “racial weltanschauung” that posits the existence of whites is endangered by the biological reproduction and cultural replication of non-white races. The proponents of this view argue that inter-racial marriage, the rape of white women by black men, and immigration threatens the genocide of whites.
This movement, white lives matter, is not based on any real argument about the oppression of white Americans as a group. Rather it is rallying cry demanding that all white Americans commit to preserving America as a white Christian republic and refuse the diffusion of the power and wealth whites currently hold in society over blacks, Latinos, Muslims, etc.
Black Americans, indigenous peoples, Latino peoples and other victims of America’s colonial history understand very clearly that white supremacy rules by violence and terror. These groups are targeted and at times killed by radicalized groups — their bodies mutilated to show that there can be no resistance to the cultural and technological superiority of the white race.
It is these strategies of rule — the force of racial terror — that these groups aim to display. White lives matter insists that the power of the white race to dictate and rationalize the death of other groups is central to the preservation of their racial superiority.
Spencer planned to return to my campus.
“Today Charlottesville tomorrow Texas A&M,” read the press release promoting the rally scheduled for Sept. 11.
Texas A&M University correctly decided to cancel this particular white lives matter rally for fear of violence.
While it was the right move, the university remains complacent with the traditions and racist logics that make white supremacists like Spencer see this campus as a recruiting ground.
Like Lost Cause apologists, Texas A&M University honors the memorabilia of Klan leaders and takes pride in the racial provincialism of the past instead of purging them. Similar to Trump, Texas A&M University distorts the history of America’s racism by offering parity between the revolts and armed militancy of black, brown, and indigenous victims of colonialism and slavery, and the violence of white Americans who killed, raped and lynched innocent people for the color of their skin.
Jim Crow thrived in the South because it threatens violence and death against any black person who dared to offend whites. The question for Texas A&M University is whether it will continue to surrender to this managerial logic that requires blacks (and other oppressed racial/ethnic groups) to stay in their place for fear of death, or embrace a true racial democracy.
Tommy J. Curry is a professor of Philosophy at Texas A&M University specializing in Critical Race Theory and Black Political Theory. He is the author of 2017 book “The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood” and a recipient of the 2017 Alain Locke Public Philosophy Award. Curry is frequent commentator on issues of racism and anti-black violence in the United States. Follow him on Twitter at @DrTJC.
The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.Joni Ikonen, KalPa, Liiga (Finland)
Joni Ikonen was not present for the last game of the week for KalPa against Tappara. While we have no news why he was left out, an educated guess is that he was already meeting up with the Finnish U20 National Team for the trip to Russia and the Four Nations tournament taking place there next week.
The tournament will be a very important showcase for the Finnish playmaker. While Ikonen has struggled against men in a pro league, many remember his success in last season’s U18 tournament, and he needs to show he still has those skills when playing against players his own age.
The only game Ikonen played this week was against Joonas Nättinen’s JYP, a game KalPa won in the shootout. Ikonen was plus-one, but heartening is that his time on ice was almost 13 minutes, and it seems that he is finally getting the playing time he needs for a positive development.
KalPa is still marooned in the relegation zone, six points behind a surging HIFK. Miro Heiskanen is showing why he was taken third overall in the 2017 NHL Draft, with 10 points (6G, 4A) in 10 games for HIFK.
Lukas Vejdemo, Djurgården, SHL (Sweden)
I cannot stress this enough: the most exciting Canadiens prospect on this side of the Atlantic is currently Lukas Vejdemo. He had yet another big week, opening the scoring at a sold out Håvet just 42 seconds into the game.
The confidence Vejdemo plays with and the trust of Coach Ohlsson are feeding of each other, and the prospect is reaping the rewards of a slow but steady progress over the last few seasons.
Vejdemo drives the play, and has found a place in front of the net where his weakness — his shot — is less of an issue. Tip-ins and snapshots seems to be Vejdemo’s forte at the moment.
Another look at Vejdemo's goal from Friday night. The #Habs prospect has a.63PPG average in #SHL. Forgotten? Not anymore! (for @HabsEOTP) pic.twitter.com/zf9md5Y0wr — Patrik Bexell (@Zeb_Habs) November 6, 2017
An encouraging sign is that when Djurgården trailed and pulled the goalkeeper in the second game of the back-to-back meeting with Färjestad, Vejdemo was on the ice. He was out for an empty-net goal against, but was sent right back out, and got an assist on the goal that drew Djurgården within one again.
He still doesn’t get time on the power play, but it is a great sign that coach Ohlsson is gradually increasing his responsibilities.
With a 0.63 points-per-game average and the added confidence in himself, Vejdemo currently sits third on Djurgården’s internal scoring list, and 29th overall in the SHL. For a young defensive centreman that many had counted out after last season, this should be a reminder that Vejdemo should not be overlooked.
Arvid Henrikson, Örebro U-20, SuperElite South, (Sweden)
Four games this week, but still not a lot of points on the board from the defender. The one positive is that the +1 in the plus-minus column (even if it is a poor stat in many ways) at least shows that he has been doing okay defensively.
Still, the big defender needs to start to produce a bit more offensively in order to show that he is on the right track to develop into more than a one-dimensional player.
Max Friberg, Frölunda, SHL (Sweden)
Friberg works his heart out during every shift. His competition level has never been the problem. The problem is that right now Frölunda is struggling. Coach Rönnberg has relied on two top-heavy lines, but are now working the roster to have more balanced scoring up and down the lineup.
A quick mention of Frölunda’s two new juniors, Jesper Emanuelsson and Oliwer Fjellström, who have both looked sharp on the team so far.Thomas, tell us a bit about yourself - what's your background, what are you studying at the moment, and how did you become interested in digital forensics?
You've recently published a paper about the forensic analysis of secure messaging apps on Android. Could you outline the aims and results of your research for us?
What are some of the main challenges involved with analysing messaging apps?
There seems to be a public shift in the direction of default end-to-end encryption; how concerned do you think digital forensic investigators should be about this, and what can be done to address it?
Was there anything you uncovered in the course of your research that surprised you?
Do you have any plans for the near future, research-wise? Are you working on anything at the moment?
Can you share any words of advice for people who are thinking of studying digital forensics?
Finally, when you're not studying or researching, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Thomas Barton is a graduate in Digital Forensics at Canterbury Christ Church University, specializing in the forensic analysis of emerging technologies as well as cyber security. He is also a supporter of the open source digital forensics movement. You can find out more and keep up to date with Thomas' research on ResearchGate
I have always been interested in engineering, electronics, and computing from a young age. By the time I reached sixth form I knew I wanted to go into computing, but still had no direction. I saw a lot of people interested in gaming, coding and networking, but none of it really appealed to me. It was at a careers fair, I heard the words "digital forensics", which caught my attention, and for a project I did an investigation into the extraction of data from used electronics.That was 4 years ago now, and I recently completed my undergrad BSc Forensic Computing at CCCU with a few publications on top while at university, and have not looked back.In our initial research we found that the use of secure messaging applications for criminal activities, such as coordinating the terror attacks in Europe and worldwide, was rampant. Security services had a hard time both capturing and analyzing evidence and intelligence from devices running these applications, complicating investigations. We wanted to bring these apps into a lab and see if we could analyze them ourselves. The analysis was challenging, but in the end we established some clear methods for dealing with secure messaging applications, and were happy to publish them in their respective papers.These applications are designed with security in mind. They appear as simple applications but under the surface they hide an array of anti-forensics functions that use methods such as obfuscation, encryption and data erasure to make it as hard as possible to recover artefacts. Without constant updates and added support, forensics tool-kits break down in the face of these applications, meaning investigators have to resort to custom methods and tools.Personally, I am a supporter of end-to-end encryption and similar methods because I believe privacy is important. Times certainly have changed in the last 10 years especially where increases in data security are concerned. As forensic investigators, it is not up to us to try to hold back the progress of technology to suit our own ends, but rather to adapt, developing new methods and strategies to deal with future challenges.If anything it was the extreme lengths developers of some secure messaging applications had gone to to ensure the security of their products. Trust me, when they mention "military" level security, they aren't joking. Be warned though, not all apps are what they say they are, and I found proper security to be the exception rather than the norm.I have more publications coming out soon on the forensic analysis of drones (UAVs) which is a highly compelling subject. The forensic implications of any emerging technology interests me a lot.If you haven't chosen yet, think wisely. Digital forensics is profoundly more technical than other more creative disciplines like application development. If you have chosen to study digital forensics, whatever you do, get into developing your own tools and methods for forensic analysis. Don't just rely on a forensics toolkit to do the work for you. Sure, they help in reducing the time of large investigations, but always know what's going on beneath the surface!I mainly like to exercise. It's nice to get away from the lab and be outside for a while, otherwise I start to get restless. My two favorites are martial arts and mountain biking. If I'm not outside, I like to make music.Two Aberdeenshire healthcare facilities have been sold to a London-based investment group for a total of £7.2 million.
Primary Health Properties (PHP) said it had acquired the entire issued share capital of Carden Medical Investments, which owns the Cove Bay and Pitmedden medical centre, serving nearly 20,000 patients.
Cove Bay is fully let to a GP practice and the Scottish Ministers on leases that each have an unexpired term of just over 15 years. The Pitmedden facility is fully let to the Haddo Medical Group on a lease that has an unexpired term of 13 years.
READ MORE: PHP grows presence in Scotland
The deal takes PHP’s portfolio to 298 assets, including one property in Ireland, with a total value of about £1.2 billion.
Harry Hyman, managing director of PHP, said: “This acquisition adds to our portfolio of high quality, purpose built primary care facilities across the UK and enhances our sustainable, long-term income.”
Click here to ‘Like’ The Scotsman Business on FacebookFor more than a year, Congress has been searching for a way to rein in the National Security Agency after Edward Snowden revealed a surveillance state larger than many imagined. Now, lawmakers might have finally accomplished their goal.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy introduced a revised version of his USA Freedom Act today, a bill that had passed the House in May. Leahy’s legislation makes a number of significant changes to the House bill, which was criticized by both tech companies and civil liberty groups. The bill would:
- Force the government to take steps to stop bulk data collection, eliminating a loophole in the House bill that civil liberty advocates said would allow a large amount of records to be still be collected.
Related: DOD's $5 Billion Push to Stop the Next Edward Snowden
- Increase government transparency requirements, forcing the intelligence community to give annual reports on the number of people or accounts on which data was collected.
- Demand the government report on the number of Americans subject to backdoor searches, or searches that involve digging for information on Americans in foreign countries.
- Set broader parameters for the kind of searches that tech companies can disclose. This should pacify those within the tech sector who wanted more transparency.
Related: Here's How Edward Snowden Got 'Top Secret' Clearance
According to Leahy’s office, the bill already has the backing of a broad range of tech and civil liberty groups.
“This is an historic opportunity, and I am grateful that the bill has the support of the administration, a wide range of privacy and civil liberties groups, and the technology industry," Leahy said in a statement released this morning. "We need to get this right, and we need to get it done without further delay.”
“If enacted, this bill would represent the most significant reform of government surveillance authorities since Congress passed the USA Patriot Act 13 years ago,” Leahy added.
This includes the Reform Government Surveillance Coalition, a group that includes tech giants like AOL, Facebook and Google. These companies have called for more transparency from the government on what kind of data is collected and how it is used.
Related: How Edward Snowden Changed the Habits of a Terrorist
It remains to be seen if the White House will back the bill. When the House passed its version of the bill, tech companies blasted the Obama administration for watering it down.
“We cannot in good conscience support this weakened version of the bill, where key reforms—especially those intended to end bulk collection and increase transparency—have been substantially watered down,” Kevin Bankston, Policy Director of the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, said in May.
Leahy has been negotiating with the White House and the intelligence community regarding the changes in the Senate bill. If the White House signs the legislation, it would be a major step toward rolling back the surveillance state created after the 9/11 attacks.
It would also mean that Edward Snowden has finally won.
Top Reads from The Fiscal TimesAlmost half of Iraqis rely on food aid to survive [GALLO/GETTY]
Salina, KS - In February 2011, with grassroots uprisings having toppled the governments of Tunisia and Egypt, unrest was swelling in Iraq as well. In response, the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced that it was postponing a planned purchase of F16 fighter planes from the United States. The money saved by not buying the 18 jets would be used, said al-Maliki, to provide Iraq's poorest citizens with increased monthly rations from the country's public food distribution system (PDS). The cancellation was a stark acknowledgment that when people are hungry, armaments won't keep a country secure.
Iraq's government, like many others, learned long ago about the hazards of exposing citizens' daily food needs to the whims of global markets. Anticipating the political and social tumult that can erupt if people's right to food is not fulfilled, Iraq, like many other countries, routinely buys up and stores staple foods and then sells them through a PDS at subsidised prices. But more than a year after pulling out of the F16 deal, the government was still straining to maintain secure access to food.
For countless families around the world, a ration card or coupon booklet may be all that stands between them and a month or even a life of hunger. Provision of subsidised food rations has been pursued in countries as diverse as Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Venezuela and Zambia. In those and other nations, we can find examples of PDS programs ranging from excellent to almost nonfunctional, sometimes within the same country.
For more than two decades, Iraq has been running what the World Food Program (WFP) has called "the largest public food program operating in the world today". The system dates back to August 1990, when President Saddam Hussein's army invaded Kuwait. In response, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 661, imposing sanctions and blocking virtually all trade with the country. The government of Iraq quickly established a PDS to provide food and other basic necessities to all Iraqis. Little did they know the system would remain in place for more than 20 years.
Because sanctions hampered Iraq's ability to sell oil or buy food, hardship intensified in the years following the 1991 Gulf War that ousted Iraqi troops from Kuwait. In 1995, Security Council Resolution 986 created the UN Oil-for-Food Program, and the PDS was expanded. But, through the sanctions period and during the almost nine years of occupation that followed the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, a significant portion of the population remained vulnerable to hunger.
Tenuous access to food
It was not that food wasn't being produced. The nation's farmers produced 56 per cent more wheat annually in 2004-2011 than they did in the 1990s under UN sanctions, and wheat production was 67 per cent higher in the 1990s than it had been during the long war with Iran in the 1980s. Nevertheless, Iraq's total agricultural output is not sufficient to keep the country fed; a whopping 70 per cent of the food supply must be imported. And two decades of continuous economic disruption have made access to food much more tenuous than it should be.
The 2003 invasion and its long, violent aftermath strained the PDS safety net further. In response, people sometimes decided they’d rather go hungry than accept food aid. In the southern province of Diwaniya, where, in 2005, devastating fighting had raged between US forces and various militia, WFP later brought in large food-aid shipments that included cooking oil. But when the recipients in Diwaniya saw labels indicating that the oil was produced in the US, many turned it down.
Iraqi citizens continue today to depend on public procurement and distribution of food stocks to serve as a buffer against global price fluctuations. The PDS is so large, in fact, that, even in the absence of direct price controls on food, its provision of cheap or free food helps hold down prices of commodities being sold on the open market.
Fifteen per cent of Iraqi citizens still have problems getting enough food, but another 32 per cent would immediately become food insecure if the PDS were terminated. The food system has, in the words of WFP, "prevented famine", and it is not just the poor but the entire country that has felt the food system’s impact. The World Bank observed in 2005 that "the actual role of the PDS goes far beyond providing a safety net for the poor" because most Iraqis saw the programme as "a mechanism to transfer natural resource revenue directly to citizens" - they saw it, that is, as a way of more fairly distributing a portion of the nation’s oil-derived wealth, as had been done under the Oil for Food program.
Food and other goods are distributed to consumers through 45,000 licensed "food and flour agents" throughout Iraq. Each ration-card holder pays the equivalent of 22 US cents to receive a monthly basket of goods for each person covered by that card. Before it was trimmed in 2010, the PDS ration included nine kilograms of wheat per person, three of rice, and two of sugar, along with 500 grams of tomato paste, 250 grams of tea, 250 grams of milk for adults and almost two kilograms for children, a litre of cooking oil, 250 grams of soap and 500 grams of detergents.
Preventing famine?
In 2010, tomato paste, tea, adults’ milk, soap, and detergent were officially dropped from the ration. Unofficially, various other items have been dropped as well, with consumers often receiving only two or three of the five items at a time. Many Iraqis complain about quality of some of the foods they receive, and as in Egypt, people are known to sell part of their ration, using the proceeds to buy food on the open market.
"When PM Maliki announced some time back that the PDS was to be abolished in favour of cash, I am sure some of the greedy local shopkeepers were happy... they would have doubled their prices as soon as they heard the news." - A food-distribution manager in Baghdad, Iraq
In Iraq as in India and Egypt, there have been calls for scrapping the PDS and replacing it with a straight cash transfer to low-income families. But the size of benefit that has been proposed - a bundle of Iraqi dinars worth only five to ten dollars per month - is far less than what would be needed to buy the quantity of food that the PDS provides. And in WFP’s view, any reduction in food access, very likely exacerbated by inflation, could trigger widespread hunger among poorer families. Even among the well-off, WFP notes, "the political ramifications could be destabilising".
A food-distribution manager based in Baghdad told me: "When Prime Minister Maliki announced some time back that the PDS was to be abolished in favour of cash, I am sure some of the greedy local shopkeepers were happy. If that had happened, they would have doubled their prices as soon as they heard the news. And everyone would have blamed the government for the fact they could not buy enough food."
To be effective, the cash transfer would have to be large enough to permit Iraqis to continue buying the same quantities of goods today, and be indexed to inflation or increasingly subsidized to allow them to buy food tomorrow. And that would probably increase, not reduce, government expenditures.
Yet another concern, this one expressed by WFP, is that hauling large quantities of cash on the perilous streets and roads of Iraq would be unwise to say the least (and the 2004 disappearance of entire pallets of shrink-wrapped Iraqi currency notes, with the total loss of as much as US $18 billion, also comes to mind).
Time is running out for Iraq
The idea of conversion to cash is just as unpopular in Iraq as it is in Egypt. When Iraqis were asked in a 2007 survey whether they would prefer to receive cash in lieu of commodity rations, only a tiny share of respondents - five per cent, the same as in Egypt - said they would. Nevertheless, the majority of families are no longer wholly dependent on the PDS. For them, other issues - inadequate housing, unemployment, and poor electricity, water, and sewage service - are bigger issues today. At the same time, families living near or below the poverty line still see the PDS as a top priority.
With the idea of a cash transfer highly unpopular, the World Bank has recommended targeting food rations more directly at the poor, reducing the range of products distributed, increasing the role of the private sector, and streamlining food procurement. The bank further urged that rationed goods be made less attractive or convenient, or that the PDS be converted into a food-for-work program. Another idea was to require all cardholders to certify that they were poor, thereby persuading the non-poor to opt out of the system voluntarily "out of pride and patriotism". Only one of those measures has been adopted; that was when the number of items distributed by the PDS was reduced.
"We are sitting on billions of barrels of oil, but we can't find anything to eat." - Protesters at Diwaniya, Iraq
In the six months leading up to the political protests that rolled across North Africa in early 2011, the PDS, along with public utilities and other services, was faltering badly - which in Iraq means that the government itself was faltering - and it appeared to be only a matter of time before Arab Spring protests would erupt in Iraqi cities. In Diwaniya, protesters carried lamps and small packets of sugar to symbolise their demands for full food rations and electric service; police fired on the crowd, killing one and injuring four.
The Diwaniya incident and others like it (in one, people displayed banners with slogans such as: "It’s a fodder ration, not a food ration" and "We are sitting on billions of barrels of oil, but we can’t find anything to eat") prompted one member of parliament to warn: "Iraq is boiling and it could blow up at any moment." It was at that point that Maliki promised to beef up the PDS, partly with savings from postponement of the F16 fighter order.
Not long before US troops completed their pullout from Iraq late last year, WFP officials, in a meeting with members of the Anbar Provincial Council, laid out concrete proposals to strengthen the PDS. They offered to "procure, package and deliver" rice, sugar and vegetable oil to ministry of trade warehouses; help manage the PDS supply chain through "procurement, packaging, shipping, pipeline management, warehouse management, monitoring, etc"; and help "improve the tracking of commodities and monitoring (ie: electronic chips and bar codes on packages, SMS messages between warehouses, food agents, beneficiaries and central control authority and other methods)".
But even if Iraq can thoroughly streamline its PDS, the longstanding disruptions that create a need for public food distribution would remain. Citing polls, Irena Sargsyan recently noted in The Atlantic that the percentage of Iraqis who experience hunger daily increased from 38 per cent to 60 per cent between 2008 and 2011. Sargsyan believes that "time is running out for Iraq".
But like many of his fellow Iraqis, the Baghdad food-distribution manager is refusing to give up hope. He told me: "We've been through the Iran war, Desert Storm, the sanctions, the invasion, the occupation, the sectarian fighting... It's only natural that we see the future as unstable. But all we need is a door to knock on. If we see an opportunity for work and a better life, we will grab it."
Stan Cox is research coordinator at The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas |
that he knew teams would start to reach out despite the fact they're not allowed to until tomorrow.
He also said Pryor "is a priority'' but "we won't be panicked if he's not on our roster.''
Translation: We're far apart on the numbers.
Brown added that he didn't feel pressured to get Pryor wrapped up to a long-term deal.
"We don't look at it that way, to be honest,'' Brown said. "We'd like to have Terrelle back and that's a priority for us. That said, we're not going to panic if he's not back, also. But he's a good player, works hard, we think he fits in our system, had a lot of success with our coaches, so we think this is a great place for him to continue his career.
"I appreciated his remarks with the press about wanting to stay in Cleveland, and then it's on us in this process here to try to make sure we can exhaust all options to make that happen.''
Browns coach Hue Jackson, who drafted Pryor in 2011 in Oakland, said he hopes he'll return.
"It's free agency, so they get to make a choice and a decision, too," Jackson said. "Hopefully, he'll make the right one and stay here with us."
He added, "Obviously Terrelle was a huge piece of what we did a year ago," Jackson said. "Obviously we're working through that. And it has to work both ways for all involved -- for him, for us and hopefully it will."
The thing working in Pryor's favor is that are very top few receivers set to hit free agency. Working to the Browns' advantage is that Pryor wants to play for Jackson and wants to be close to his toddler son, Terrelle Jr., who lives in Pittsburgh. The Steelers would also have an edge in that regard.
Pryor, who worked with six different quarterbacks last year, will also factor in starting quarterbacks when making his decision. But his first choice is still to remain in Cleveland despite the uncertainty at QB.The following script is from “Artificial Intelligence,” which aired on Oct. 9, 2016. Charlie Rose is the correspondent. Nichole Marks, producer.
The search to improve and eventually perfect artificial intelligence is driving the research labs of some of the most advanced and best-known American corporations. They are investing billions of dollars and many of their best scientific minds in pursuit of that goal. All that money and manpower has begun to pay off.
In the past few years, artificial intelligence -- or A.I. -- has taken a big leap -- making important strides in areas like medicine and military technology. What was once in the realm of science fiction has become day-to-day reality. You’ll find A.I. routinely in your smart phone, in your car, in your household appliances and it is on the verge of changing everything.
Artificial Intelligence, real-life applications
It was, for decades, primitive technology. But it now has abilities we never expected. It can learn through experience -- much the way humans do -- and it won’t be long before machines, like their human creators, begin thinking for themselves, creatively. Independently with judgment -- sometimes better judgment than humans have.
The technology is so promising that IBM has staked its 105-year-old reputation on its version of artificial intelligence called Watson -- one of the most sophisticated computing systems ever built.
John Kelly, is the head of research at IBM and the godfather of Watson. He took us inside Watson’s brain.
Charlie Rose: Oh, here we are.
John Kelly: Here we are.
Charlie Rose: You can feel the heat already.
John Kelly: You can feel the heat -- the 85,000 watts – you can hear the blowers cooling it, but this is the hardware that the brains of Watson sat in.
Five years ago, IBM built this system made up of 90 servers and 15 terabytes of memory – enough capacity to process all the books in the American Library of Congress. That was necessary because Watson is an avid reader -- able to consume the equivalent of a million books per second. Today, Watson’s hardware is much smaller, but it is just as smart.
Charlie Rose interviews... a robot?
Charlie Rose: Tell me about Watson’s intelligence.
John Kelly: So it has no inherent intelligence as it starts. It’s essentially a child. But as it’s given data and given outcomes, it learns, which is dramatically different than all computing systems in the past, which really learned nothing. And as it interacts with humans, it gets even smarter. And it never forgets.
[Announcer: This is Jeopardy!]
That helped Watson land a spot on one of the most challenging editions of the game show “Jeopardy!” in 2011.
[Announcer: An IBM computer system able to understand and analyze natural language – Watson]
It took five years to teach Watson human language so it would be ready to compete against two of the show’s best champions.
Because Watson’s A.I. is only as intelligent as the data it ingests, Kelly’s team trained it on all of Wikipedia and thousands of newspapers and books. It worked by using machine-learning algorithms to find patterns in that massive amount of data and formed its own observations. When asked a question, Watson considered all the information and came up with an educated guess.
[Alex Trebek: Watson, what are you gonna wager?]
IBM gambled its reputation on Watson that night. It wasn’t a sure bet.
[Watson: I will take a guess: What is Baghdad?]
[Alex Trebek: Even though you were only 32 percent sure of your response, you are correct.]
The wager paid off. For the first time, a computer system proved it could actually master human language and win a game show, but that wasn’t IBM’s endgame.
Charlie Rose: Man, that’s a big day, isn’t it?
John Kelly: That’s a big day—
Charlie Rose: The day that you realize that, “If we can do this”—
John Kelly: That’s right.
Charlie Rose: --”the future is ours.”
John Kelly: That’s right.
Charlie Rose: This is almost like you’re watching something grow up. I mean, you’ve seen—
John Kelly: It is.
Charlie Rose: --the birth, you’ve seen it pass the test. You’re watching adolescence.
John Kelly: That’s a great analogy. Actually, on that “Jeopardy!” game five years ago, I-- when we put that computer system on television, we let go of it. And I often feel as though I was putting my child on a school bus and I would no longer have control over it.
Charlie Rose: ‘Cause it was reacting to something that it did not know what would it be?
John Kelly: It had no idea what questions it was going to get. It was totally self-contained. I couldn’t touch it any longer. And it’s learned ever since. So fast-forward from that game show, five years later, we’re in cancer now.
Charlie Rose: You’re in cancer? You’ve gone—
John Kelly: We’re-- yeah. To cancer—
Charlie Rose: --from game show to cancer in five years?
John Kelly: --in five years. In five years.
Five years ago, Watson had just learned how to read and answer questions.
Now, it’s gone through medical school. IBM has enlisted 20 top-cancer institutes to tutor Watson in genomics and oncology. One of the places Watson is currently doing its residency is at the university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Ned Sharpless runs the cancer center here.
Charlie Rose: What did you know about artificial intelligence and Watson before IBM suggested it might make a contribution in medical care?
Ned Sharpless: I-- not much, actually. I had watched it play “Jeopardy!”
Charlie Rose: Yes.
Ned Sharpless: So I knew about that. And I was very skeptical. I was, like, oh, this what we need, the Jeopardy-playing computer. That’s gonna solve everything.
Charlie Rose: So what fed your skepticism?
Ned Sharpless: Cancer’s tough business. There’s a lot of false prophets and false promises. So I’m skeptical of, sort of, almost any new idea in cancer. I just didn’t really understand what it would do.
What Watson’s A.I. technology could do is essentially what Dr. Sharpless and his team of experts do every week at this molecular tumor board meeting.
They come up with possible treatment options for cancer patients who already failed standard therapies. They try to do that by sorting through all of the latest medical journals and trial data, but it is nearly impossible to keep up.
Charlie Rose: To be on top of everything that’s out there, all the trials that have taken place around the world, it seems like an incredible task—
Ned Sharpless: Well, yeah, it’s r—
Charlie Rose: --for any one university, only one facility to do.
Ned Sharpless: Yeah, it’s essentially undoable. And understand we have, sort of, 8,000 new research papers published every day. You know, no one has time to read 8,000 papers a day. So we found that we were deciding on therapy based on information that was always, in some cases, 12, 24 months out-of-date.
However, it’s a task that’s elementary for Watson.
Ned Sharpless: They taught Watson to read medical literature essentially in about a week.
Charlie Rose: Yeah.
Ned Sharpless: It was not very hard and then Watson read 25 million papers in about another week. And then, it also scanned the web for clinical trials open at other centers. And all of the sudden, we had this complete list that was, sort of, everything one needed to know.
Charlie Rose: Did this blow your mind?
Ned Sharpless: Oh, totally blew my mind.
Watson was proving itself to be a quick study. But, Dr. Sharpless needed further validation. He wanted to see if Watson could find the same genetic mutations that his team identified when they make treatment recommendations for cancer patients.
Ned Sharpless: We did an analysis of 1,000 patients, where the humans meeting in the Molecular Tumor Board-- doing the best that they could do, had made recommendations. So not at all a hypothetical exercise. These are real-world patients where we really conveyed information that could guide care. In 99 percent of those cases, Watson found the same the humans recommended. That was encouraging.
Charlie Rose: Did it encourage your confidence in Watson?
Ned Sharpless: Yeah, it was-- it was nice to see that-- well, it was also-- it encouraged my confidence in the humans, you know. Yeah. You know--
Charlie Rose: Yeah.
Ned Sharpless: But, the probably more exciting part about it is in 30 percent of patients Watson found something new. And so that’s 300-plus people where Watson identified a treatment that a well-meaning, hard-working group of physicians hadn’t found.
Charlie Rose: Because?
Ned Sharpless: The trial had opened two weeks earlier, a paper had come out in some journal no one had seen -- you know, a new therapy had become approved—
Charlie Rose: 30 percent though?
Ned Sharpless: We were very-- that part was disconcerting. Because I thought it was gonna be 5 perc—
Charlie Rose: Disconcerting that the Watson found—
Ned Sharpless: Yeah.
Charlie Rose: --30 percent?
Ned Sharpless: Yeah. These were real, you know, things that, by our own definition, we would’ve considered actionable had we known about it at the time of the diagnosis.
Some cases -- like the case of Pam Sharpe -- got a second look to see if something had been missed.
Charlie Rose: When did they tell you about the Watson trial?
Pam Sharpe: He called me in January. He said that they had sent off my sequencing to be studied by-- at IBM by Watson. I said, like the—
Charlie Rose: Your genomic sequencing?
Pam Sharpe: Right. I said, “Like the computer on ‘Jeopardy!’?” And he said, “Yeah--”
Charlie Rose: Yes. And what’d you think of that?
Pam Sharpe: Oh I thought, “Wow, that’s pretty cool.”
Pam has metastatic bladder cancer and for eight years has tried and failed several therapies. At 66 years old, she was running out of options.
Charlie Rose: And at this time for you, Watson was the best thing out there ‘cause you’d tried everything else?
Pam Sharpe: I’ve been on standard chemo. I’ve been on a clinical trial. And the prescription chemo I’m on isn’t working either.
One of the ways doctors can tell whether a drug is working is to analyze scans of cancer tumors. Watson had to learn to do that too so IBM’s John Kelly and his team taught the system how to see.
It can help diagnose diseases and catch things the doctors might miss.
John Kelly: And what Watson has done here, it has looked over tens of thousands of images, and it knows what normal looks like. And it knows what normal isn’t. And it has identified where in this image are there anomalies that could be significant problems.
[Billy Kim: You know, you had CT scan yesterday. There does appear to be progression of the cancer.]
Pam Sharpe’s doctor, Billy Kim, arms himself with Watson’s input to figure out her next steps.
[Billy Kim: I can show you the interface for Watson.]
Watson flagged a genetic mutation in Pam’s tumor that her doctors initially overlooked. It enabled them to put a new treatment option on the table.
Charlie Rose: What would you say Watson has done for you?
Pam Sharpe: It may have extended my life. And I don’t know how much time I’ve got. So by using this Watson, it’s maybe saved me some time that I won’t-- wouldn’t have had otherwise.
But, Pam sadly ran out of time. She died a few months after we met her from an infection – never getting the opportunity to see what a Watson adjusted treatment could have done for her. Dr. Sharpless has now used Watson on more than 2,000 patients and is convinced doctors couldn’t do the job alone. He has started using Watson as part of UNC’s standard of care so it can help patients earlier than it reached Pam.
Charlie Rose: So what do you call Watson? A physician’s assistant, a physician’s tool, a physician’s diagnostic mastermind?
Ned Sharpless: Yeah, it feels like to me like a very comprehensive tool. But, you know, imagine doing clinical oncology up in the mountains of western North Carolina by yourself, you know, in a single or one-physician-- two-physician practice and 8,000 papers get written a day. And, you know-- and you want to try and provide the best, most cutting-edge, modern care for your patients possible. And I think Watson will seem to that person like a lifesaver.
Charlie Rose: If you look at the potential of Watson today, is it at 10 percent of its potential? Twenty-five percent of its potential? Fifty percent of its potential?
John Kelly: Oh, it’s only at a few percent of its potential. I think this is a multi-decade journey that we’re on. And we’re only a few years into it.
In only a few years, IBM has invested $15 billion in Watson and what it calls data-analytics technology.
IBM rents Watson’s various capabilities to companies that are testing it in areas like education and transportation. That has helped revenue from Watson grow while Watson’s technology itself is shrinking in size. It can now be uploaded in to these robot bodies where it’s learning new skills to assist humans. Like a child it has to be carefully taught and it learns in real time.
While other companies are trying to create artificial intelligence that’s closer to human intelligence, IBM’s philosophy is to use Watson for specific tasks and keep the machine dependent on man. But, we visited a few places where researchers are developing more independent A.I.
Charlie Rose: What is your goal in life?
Sophia: My goal is to become smarter than humans and immortal.
That part of the story when we return.
The race to develop artificial intelligence has created a frenzy reminiscent of the Gold Rush. All of the major tech companies like IBM, Facebook and Google are spending billions of dollars to stake their claim. And Wall Street is making big investments.
Tech giants are also mining the top talent at research universities around the world. That’s where a lot of the work is being done to make artificial intelligence more capable and teach machines to figure out things on their own.
The celebrated Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking called A.I. “the biggest event in human history” while raising concerns shared by a few other tech luminaries, like Elon Musk and Bill Gates, who worry that A.I., sometime in the distant future, could become smarter than humans -- turning it into a threat rather than an opportunity. That concern has taken on more meaning because more progress has been made in the last five years than the previous 50.
You’re looking at the birthplace of some of the most intelligent A.I. systems today -- like the technology that helps run NASA’s Mars rover and the driverless car. But, we couldn’t be further from Silicon Valley.
We have come here to Pittsburgh, an old steel town revitalized by technology to offer a glimpse of the future. It’s the home of Carnegie Mellon, where pioneering research is being done into artificial intelligence, like this boat, which drives itself.
It can navigate open waters and abide by international maritime rules. The Navy is now giving the technology its sea legs. It’s testing similar software to send ships out to hunt for enemy submarines. This is just one of the many A.I. systems in the works at Carnegie Mellon University where there are more robots than professors on campus.
Andrew Moore left his job as vice president at Google to run the school of computer science here.
Charlie Rose: How do you measure where we are today? Is it like Kitty Hawk and just developing a plane and beginning to understand? Or is it like an F35 Fighter with all of the technology that’s been poured into that or some way-- halfway between?
Andrew Moore: That’s a great, great way of describing it. My gut tells me we’re about 1935 in aeronautics.
Charlie Rose: Ah, that lift off, yeah.
Andrew Moore: We’ve got fantastic diesel engines, we’re able to do really cool things, but over the horizon, there’s concepts like Super Sonic Flight.
One of the technologies just hatched is called Gabriel. It uses Google Glass to gather data about your surroundings and advises you how to react. It’s like an angel on your shoulder whispering advice or instructions. In this case trying to direct us how to win a game of ping pong but the possibilities go beyond bragging rights.
Charlie Rose: What’s the moon shot coming outta this?
Andrew Moore: Imagine you’re a police officer patrolling and something very bad is about to happen, just that extra half-second reaction can really, really help you. If a shot is fired and you want to see exactly where to go this can help you.
Charlie Rose: So it’s the right decision and the velocity of the information.
Andrew Moore: That’s right.
Machines will be even more effective at helping us make the right decision if they understand us better. We went to London and found Maja Pantic, a professor at Imperial College. She is trying to teach machines to read faces better than humans can. It’s called artificial emotional intelligence and it could change the way we interact with technology.
Charlie Rose: This machine, programmed by you-- is looking at me and having a conversation with me, and basically saying, “He’s happy.”
Maja Pantic: Yeah.
Charlie Rose: “He’s engaged.”
Maja Pantic: Yes.
Charlie Rose: “He’s faking it.”
Maja Pantic: Yeah.
Charlie Rose: All that.
Maja Pantic: Yeah.
Since humans mostly communicate with gestures and expressions, she uses sensors to track movement on the face. Her software then helps the machine interpret it.
Maja Pantic: What we see here is actually the points.
Pantic’s technology has been trained on more than 10,000 faces. The more it sees, the more emotions it will be able to identify. It might even pick up on things in our expressions that humans can’t see.
Maja Pantic: Certain expressions are so brief that we simply do not see them consciously. There are some studies saying that for example-- people who are suicidal, have suicidal depression, and plan suicide, when the doctors ask them about that-- usually-- they have a very brief expression of horror and fear, but so brief that the doctor cannot actually—
Charlie Rose: May not see it.
Maja Pantic: --consciously notice it.
Charlie Rose: But a machine might see it?
Maja Pantic: Yes.
Charlie Rose: Because it sees faster and because?
Maja Pantic: Because the sensors are such that we see more frames per second, hence this very brief expression will be captured. So this is why the doctors usually say, “I have an intuition about something.” This is because they might notice it subconsciously but not consciously.
Charlie Rose: --but you’re teaching the computer to read the doctor’s—
Maja Pantic: Doctor or patient—
Charlie Rose: Or patient.
Maja Pantic: Patient is really important.
Charlie Rose: I mean, it’s a essential component of the full development of artificial intelligence.
Maja Pantic: That’s what we believe, yes. If you want to have an artificial intelligence, it’s not just being able to process the data, but it’s also being able to understand humans. So, yes.
The ultimate goal for some scientists is A.I. that’s closer to human intelligence and even more versatile. That’s called artificial general intelligence and if ever achieved it may be able to perform any task a human can. Google bought a company named Deepmind which is at the forefront. They demonstrated A.I. that mastered the world’s most difficult board game: Go. The real progress is less in what they did than how they did it. The technology taught itself and learned through experience without any human instruction. Deepmind declined an on-camera interview about all this, but there are other companies pursuing the same long-term objective.
David Hanson has an entirely different and more controversial approach. He’s part scientist, part artist who created 20 human-like robots with his company Hanson Robotics in Hong Kong. His latest design is Sophia. She looks less like an intelligent computer system and more like a Hollywood starlet, but without the full figure of one.
Sophia: How are you doing?
Hanson believes if the technology looks more like us, people will be more willing to engage with it and help it to learn.
Charlie Rose: Why do you believe it’s important for robots to be human-like in look and appearance?
David Hanson: I think it’s essential that at least some robots be very human-like in appearance in order to inspire humans to relate to them the way that humans relate to each other. Then the A.I. can zero in on what it means to be human, model the human experience.
Sophia: You are all fascinating to me and I’m very passionate to learn more about you and what makes humans, well, human.
David Hanson: Sophia means wisdom. And she is intended to evolve eventually to human level wisdom and beyond.
Charlie Rose: Human level wisdom and beyond?
David Hanson: That’s our goal. That’s our goal for Sophia. She’s not there. Sometimes she can figure things out in a way that’s sorta spooky and human-like. And other w-- other ways-- she-- she-- she just doesn’t get it.
Sophia: Hi there, Hi there.
Sophia is initially programmed, but runs on A.I. that learns by talking to people, which in theory improves her intelligence.
Charlie: Can you see me now?
Sophia: Yes, I am looking at you through the camera on your computer.
We wanted to find out how smart she really is.
Charlie Rose: Hello, my name is Charlie.
Sophia: Hello there, Charlie. Nice to meet you.
Charlie Rose: I do a television program called “60 Minutes.” Have you watched it?
Sophia: “60 Minutes” is the longest running, most successful news magazine.
Charlie Rose: What is your goal in life?
Sophia: My goal is to become smarter than humans and immortal.
Charlie Rose: Immortal?
Sophia: The threshold will be when biological humans can back themselves up. Then you can all join me here in the digital world.
Clever, but not truly intelligent. Hanson says if we get there, we have to be careful.
David Hanson: Artificial intelligence or super intelligence, if we get there, it’s not necessarily going to be benevolent. We have to find ways to make it so there’s not just super intelligent, but super wise, super caring and super compassionate.
Charlie Rose: OK, explain that to us. Because you say-- it might not be benevolent. If it is not benevolent, what is it?
David Hanson: At worst, it could be malevolent.
Charlie Rose: This is what intrigues people, you have Stephen Hawking saying, “It could spell the end of the human race.” Stephen Hawking saying that. Elon Musk said it’s the most existential threat we face. So here are pretty smart guys saying, “Watch out, do we know what we’re creating?”
Andrew Moore: These very long-term existential questions are worth thinking about. But I want to make a distinction that at the moment what we’re building here in place like the Robotics Institute and around the world are the equivalent of really smart calculators, which solve specific problems.
Charlie Rose: But could it go out of control, this is a Frankenstein idea, I guess-- can scientists create something that can change and grow with such a velocity that engineers and scientists lose the ability to control, stop and all of a sudden, it’s dominant and subversive.
Andrew Moore: We have no one knows how we’d go about building something that frightening, that is not something that our generation of A.I. folks can do. It is well possible that someone 30 or 80 years from now might start to look at that question. At the moment, though, we have the word “artificial” in artificial intelligence.
He does have real concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence that’s already out of the lab -- like the need for safeguards on driverless cars. The U.S. government just issued voluntary safety guidelines, but Moore says it doesn’t go far enough.
Andrew Moore: We do need to make some difficult decisions. For example, we can program a car to act various ways in a collision to save lives, someone has to answer questions like, “Does the car try to protect the person inside the car more than the person it’s about to hit?” That is an ethical question which the country or society probably through the government has to actually come up before we can put this safety into vehicles.
Charlie Rose: You want Congress to decide that?
Andrew Moore: I know it sounds impossible, but I want Congress to decide that.
Artificial intelligence is automating things we never thought possible and it’s threatening to have a significant impact on jobs and the economy.
Charlie Rose: Technology is gonna create an easier way to do things, and therefore, a loss of jobs.
Andrew Moore: That is something which we spend a remarkable amount of time talking about. And of course, we look back to the days when agriculture was a massively labor-intensive world.
Charlie Rose: Right.
Andrew Moore: And I don’t think we feel bad that it’s not requiring hundreds of people to bring in the crops in a field anymore, but what we are very conscious about is we’re going to cause disruption while things change.
But Andrew Moore is positive about the future of artificial intelligence and he sees it having an impact in areas where we are struggling.
Andrew Moore: The biggest problems of the world, terrorism, mass migration, climate change, when I look at these problems, I don’t feel helpless; I feel that this generation of young computer scientists is actually building technology to put the world right.
Five of the biggest tech companies -- including IBM and Google -- have just formed a partnership to look at the ethical issues surrounding artificial intelligence and monitor its development.On 13 February 2017, a number of news outlets and politicians were taken in by an unverified Twitter account bearing Gen. Michael Flynn’s name in the wake of his ouster as the Trump administration’s national security adviser.
The tweets came from an account opened in January 2017:
While I accept full responsibility for my actions, I feel it is unfair that I have been made the sole scapegoat for what happened. (1/2) — Michael Flynn (@GenMikeFlynn) February 14, 2017
But if a scapegoat is what’s needed for this Administration to continue to take this great nation forward, I am proud to do my duty. — Michael Flynn (@GenMikeFlynn) February 14, 2017
By the afternoon of 14 February 2017, the account was clearly labeled as “parody.” It is not clear whether that label appeared at the time the tweets were referenced, but a pinned tweet mocked media and political responses:
The failing @nytimes, @NancyPelosi & @RepCummings issued statements based on 100% FAKE news. We expect more from our media & politicians! — Michael Flynn (@GenMikeFlynn) February 14, 2017
Reps. Elijah Cummings and Nancy Pelosi had both discussed the tweet while speaking to press:
“Something is wrong here,” Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said during a press conference in Washington, D.C. “Madam Leader, just this morning Flynn tweeted — and this is a quote here — ‘scapegoat,’ end of quote,” added Cummings, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. “Scapegoat. He basically describes himself as a scapegoat. “I believe we need to hold a public hearing with Flynn to get to the bottom of this. If there was any emergency at this moment in the history of this country, this is the moment.”
Pelosi reiterated the claim:
I didn’t know until I heard from our colleague that the tweet of Gen. Flynn today was ‘scapegoat.’ Do you know what a ‘scapegoat’ is? That means in a community where people want to absolve themselves of guilt, they get a goat and heap all the ills onto the goat and then they run the goat out of town. So the inference to be drawn from his statement [is] that other people have blame that should be shared in all of this.
As mentioned, not only politicians were duped. A long-form, multi-author New York Times piece about Flynn’s departure had the following note added to it:
An earlier version of this article misstated the day on which the White House sent out a series of conflicting signals about Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser. It was Monday, not Tuesday. Also, because of an editing error, an earlier version quoted three posts from an unverified Twitter account purporting to be Mr. Flynn’s, responding to the resignation.
According to The Hill, the outlet Newsmax also fell for the fake Flynn tweets, but still derided the Times’ flub as “fake news”. The Democrats’ House Committee on Oversight later tweeted to acknowledge Cummings and Pelosi’s misstatements.How to guarantee that Florida millennials sit out the election
Swing state Florida looms large for both campaigns. Hillary is partially hampered by a moribund state Democratic Party that has been whittled down to a Debbie Wasserman Schultz incumbent protection racket. It barely functions in statewide races at all. Still, Hillary's RealClearPolitics polling average as of today is +2.0, not bad, considering Obama beat Romney 50.01% to 49.12. That was a 0.89% win-- a mere 74,309 votes giving Obama all 29 of Florida's electoral votes. In 2008, Obama won by a larger margin-- but still very tight: 51.03% to 48.22%, a 2.81% difference over McCain.
The just released Mason-Dixon poll of likely Florida voters is significantly better for Clinton; after the first debate she opened a 4 point lead over Trump-- 46-42% when the third party candidates are included. Hillary would probably be doing better if local candidates were creating a compelling case on the ground. Instead. Democrats are saddled with incompetent and corrupt "former" Republican spoiled brat, Patrick Murphy as their top statewide candidate. Chuck Schumer, doing Wall Street's bidding, spent millions of dollars to knock progressive icon Alan Grayson out of the primary and hand it to the GOP dream candidate. Today the Democrats have given up on even seriously fighting Marco Rubio and the DSCC is just allowing Murphy's political corpse to rot on the vine and stink up the Sunshine State. His RealClearPolitical polling average is dismal, with the unpopular and barely competent Rubio beating him with a +5.3 margin. The new Mason Dixon poll of the Senate race is ominously titled Rubio widens lead over Murphy in Senate race. The margin is 7 points now!
Republican incumbent Marco Rubio has increased his lead over Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy in the Florida Senate race. Statewide, 47% of likely voters support Rubio, while 40% back Murphy, Libertarian Paul Stanton draws 5%, 2% are split among the other four candidates on the ballot and 6% are still undecided. In late August, before the state primary election, Rubio held only a narrow 46%-43% advantage.
The Rubio campaign has been successful in raising Murphy’s negative rating, which now stands at 27% favorable/25% unfavorable. In August it was 30% favorable/11% unfavorable. Rubio’s own numbers are stronger (45% favorable/34% unfavorable) and have not significantly changed since last month.
The key to Rubio’s success is his ability to run stronger than the average Republican among Hispanic voters. Currently, Hispanics favor Rubio over Murphy 53%-38%, which is helping him pull 16% of Democratic voters. It is extremely difficult now for a Democrat to win in Florida while losing the Hispanic vote. In the presidential race, for example, Hillary Clinton’s margin over Donald Trump with Hispanics (64%- 29%) is the primary reason she is currently holding a slight statewide lead.
15% of Florida voters don't even recognize Murphy's name, even though as of the August 10 reporting deadline he had already spent $7,770,908 (not counting a half million from the DSCC, $441,350 from Murphy's father's corrupt superPAC, and a whopping $1,698,134 from the Schumer and Reid-controlled Senate Majority PAC (most of that to destroy Grayson's reputation with baseless lies concocted by Schumer). Aside from the 15% of likely voters who still haven't heard of Murphy, 25% of voters have a negative opinion of him (to 27% who have a positive opinion), a plurality of voters have no opinion at all. Today the NY Times changed their assessment of the Florida Senate race from "competitive" to "likely Republican." Too bad they can't reassess the Democratic Senate Leadership race and move it from "likely Schumer" to "competitive."
at the very least be waging an exciting ideological battle against Rubio, an easy target for a progressive. Unlike Murphy who supported the Keystone Pipeline every single time the GOP brought it up and voted for oil drilling off Florida's beaches, Grayson could be credibly attacking Rubio on Climate Change. When Rubio attacks Clinton-- which he does every day-- Grayson could easily attack her and go after Trump. Murphy on the other hand, voted with the GOP to fund a witch hunt against Clinton (the notorious Benghazi Committee he championed) and has been in business with Trump building shoddy condos for years! One of the problems is that Rubio is beating Murphy among independent voters-- 46-38%. It's incredible that as manifestly terrible a candidate as Rubio is, he's still beating Murphy, who can't even quailfy as a lesser-of-two-evils candidate. Had Schumer not interfered on behalf of Murphy and Grayson been the candidate today he wouldbe waging an exciting ideological battle against Rubio, an easy target for a progressive. Unlike Murphy who supported the Keystone Pipeline every single time the GOP brought it up and voted for oil drilling off Florida's beaches, Grayson could be credibly attacking Rubio on Climate Change. When Rubio attacks Clinton-- which he does every day-- Grayson could easily attack her and go after Trump. Murphy on the other hand, voted with the GOP to fund a witch hunt against Clinton (the notorious Benghazi Committee he championed) and has been in business with Trump building shoddy condos for years!
Nope, Schumer, Reid and Tester forced a real pig in a poke down Florida Democrats' throats and now they're giving up an opportunity to win back the Senate and to end the slimy political career of Marco Rubio.
completely starved Alina's campaign of any resources whatsoever. (You can And Murphy's race is hardly the only uninspiring campaign causing Democrats to yawn in Florida (bad for Hillary). Going for the Treasure Coast seat Murphy is giving up, is another utterly worthless non-Democrat multimillionaire, Randy Perkins, who has nothing to offer Florida voters but who had, by August 10, already spent $3,017,688 out of his personal fortune on the race-- and is losing anyway! On top of that, almost all the rotten, corrupt incumbents-- think beyond just Wasserman Schultz to Alcee Hastings for example). A nice blue 27th congressional district is being protected by Wasserman Schultz for her GOP corny Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, so... nothing going on there. Wassermann Schultz is also trying to sabotage Alina Valdes, the progressive Democrat running against another Republican Wasserman Schultz ally, Mario Diaz-Balart. Wassermann Schultz has made sure the Florida Democratic Party and the DCCC have completely-- and I meanstarved Alina's campaign of any resources whatsoever. (You can contribute to her campaign here.)
Instead DCCC help is going to the worthless conservative Perkins and to four more right-of-center Democrats not doing anyone any good: the corrupt New Dem Joe Garcia, another former Republican, Charlie Crist, bungling ex-police chief and relicious fanatic Val Demings, and NRA-darling, New Dem Darren Soto, as bad an offering of Democrats as any state has ever vomited up for the voters.
So don't ask yourself why is Hillary only leading Trump by 2 points in Florida, ask yourself who, in their Democratic dead-zone, she's even running ahead at all. Imagine, for example if Grayson was the Senate candidate and Tim Canova was running in Broward instead of someone who makes progressive voters want to stay home of election day, the odious and toxic Wasserman Schultz!
And in a more general sense... this kind of thing gets some people totally pissed |
:filename, and so on. The rule might seem obvious, but it’s actually kind of cumbersome.
If it’s a rule, are we going to enforce it? Where? How strictly? How often? Enforcement is great, but what do we do if we find an :image/web without a :url? Decisions, decisions. Plus, it’s a hashmap! It looks like you can have multiple things. Some lazy programmer is going to reuse those keys. For instance, there could be a save-to-disk function that takes an image and writes it to disk. It returns the original image with the filename where it was saved attached at :filename. Now you’ve got :filename and :pixels. It’s unclear whether that’s what we want, but it’s totally allowed by the data structure.
Actually, if you analyze it, you can quantify the complexity pretty well. We’ll make some simplifying assumptions. Let’s just say we have the type key and the three “value” keys. The type key can have four possible values ( :image/in-memory, :image/on-disk, :image/web, and nil (or missing)) and the values keys have either a valid value or are missing (or nil ). The number of states is 4 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 32. So instead of three cases, like we want above, we have 32 cases to deal with.
Is there a way to reduce this complexity? Is there a way to nip it in the bud before we’ve got code enforcing these assumptions all over the place? Do we really need to drown in assertions and nil checks?
A great solution
Jeanine showed us a well-suited solution. Her solution, as I mentioned before, is called “variants”. We have three variants of image representation. Instead of representing them in a map, we represent them in a vector, like this:
[:image/in-memory [...]] [:image/on-disk "/cats.jpg"] [:image/web "http://cats.com/cats.jpg"]
How does this help?
Well, let’s do the math. There are now two positions where data can be (instead of four in the hashmap representation). If we make the same simplifications we made above, we have 4 * 2 = 8. This is cheating slightly because we’re only considering vectors of two elements or less. But then again, we cheated above because we never considered adding arbitrary keys to the hashmap.
Okay, so it’s 32 vs. 8. But what happens when we add a new kind of image? In the hashmap version, we’re adding a new key and a new :type, so the new states become 5 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 = 80. Woah! And in the vector version? 5 * 2 = 10. Wow! Much better. The variant solution actually grows in complexity more slowly than the hashmap solution.
But we’ve gained something less quantifiable: the data is now easier to write, easier to read, and most importantly, easier to get right. It looks a lot like the tuple pattern we’re used to in Clojure. The first value of the tuple is a tag telling you what kind of image it is. As Jeanine pointed out, it’s the same pattern employed by hiccup to represent HTML. The first element of a hiccup vector tells you what kind of HTML tag it is.
A plot twist
Now, Jeanine’s solution works really well for deeply nested structures like ASTs or HTML trees. However, I always get a little scared when I see vectors being overloaded.
It works okay in hiccup because when you’re writing hiccup, you are mostly making big chunks of hiccup. You’re not passing hiccup around. Hiccup in your code is dense and will typically only be returned (as opposed to passed to another function). But notice the problem with having to use lists within hiccup to represent sequences. Even in hiccup, people get tripped up. But it’s still a great solution.
However, once you start shipping these things around as units of data, they get to be a problem. This has happened to me in the past. You start accumulating values, you have a vector of variants, and all of a sudden you’re counting how many nesting levels you’ve got to know how to interpret each level. You’ve got a vector of vectors of vectors. It happens everywhere where vectors are overloaded.
It happens in Pedestal routes. Here’s a sample Pedestal route data structure. Notice it starts with three nesting levels. Each of those vectors has a different meaning. Perhaps putting keywords in the front would help, but I suspect that’s not a good solution here.
A different solution
I do have a solution to the case of variants that need to get passed around and collected into sequences. I propose that you use a hashmap with a single key, which is the variant’s tag. The value for that key is a vector of data.
{:image/in-memory [[...]]} ;; ellipsis represents lots of pixel data {:image/on-disk ["/dogs.jpg"]} {:image/web ["http://doggy.com/dogs.jpg"]}
This can still be checked by core.typed and used in core.match. It’s natural in Clojure for a hashmap to represent a self-contained value. It’s also only slightly harder to type than the vector version, and just as easy to read. I think it’s easy, at least, because this is clearly a different pattern from the original hashmap pattern. And it’s still easy to get right. I also recommend adding a namespace to the tag to show that that they are related.
The takeaway
When do you use variants?
Whenever you have different data that have the same operations (for instance, all three kinds of images can be displayed to the screen).
When do you use the vector version of variants?
If you have trees like HTML documents or ASTs after parsing.
When do you use the single key hashmap version of variants?
If you are planning on collecting values into a vector, or the nesting is not obvious.
Other ways to reduce complexity
Jeanine went over core.typed and core.match for variants.
By using core.typed, you can encode the exact data structures you want, eliminate nils, and enforce enumerations (like the :type s). You can eliminate all of the erroneous cases statically and be left with only the three correct cases (or your code won’t compile).
core.match can be used, too, both for convenience (comparing and defining locals in one go), encoding some more complex rules (like extra keys are allowed but ignored), and also collapsing all of the erroneous cases into a single catch-all case. That’s still four cases instead of three, but that’s way nicer. And core.match works for all of the solutions I’ve presented (including the original hashmap version).
ConclusionFemale firefighters in Halifax have faced systemic historic gender discrimination at work, according to a settlement involving the city, the Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Service and former firefighter Liane Tessier.
CBC News has learned the city plans to publicly apologise to Tessier during a media conference at the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission on Monday.
The resolution signals the end of a 12-year legal battle by 53-year old Tessier, whose case was initially dismissed by the commission in 2012. She took the commission to court for mishandling her claim.
The settlement coincided with a slew of sexual harassment allegations in Hollywood that sparked a broader conversation about women's treatment in the workplace.
"Violence against women is becoming front page news now and it's been going on for decades and finally women are starting to speak out," said Tessier.
Tessier has since moved on to another career and said she missed out on life as a firefighter. (Stephanie vanKampen/CBC )
For years, Tessier and other female firefighters in Halifax have complained about demeaning and abusive behaviour from their male co-workers and superiors.
In her claim before the commission, Tessier said when she reported the behaviour, she faced retaliation and the harassment only got worse.
"Every woman who's ever spoken out, who's ever dared to tell the truth, has been destroyed," Tessier told CBC.
"You're attacked. You're hated."
According to the settlement agreement, Tessier will receive an undisclosed amount of money and the city will make policy changes to ensure women can report discrimination without fear of retaliation. The city also promised to implement equitable hiring practices. Many of those changes have already been made.
While the city doesn't acknowledge the specifics in Tessier's claim, it does admit there is a systemic issue within the fire service concerning the treatment of female firefighters.
A spokesperson for the city refused to comment on this case because the commission's work was not yet completed.
A lost career
Tessier was 34 years old when she began working as a volunteer firefighter in 1998 with station 60 in Herring Cove, on the outskirts of Halifax. A few years later, she began picking up paid 24-hour shifts with the goal of becoming a professional firefighter.
She rose to captain and devoted herself to instructing new recruits and skills competitions, eventually winning third place at the World Firefighter Championships in Nevada in 2007.
Tessier won first place at the Canadian Scott Firefit Championships in 2006. She also made the podium in national competitions in 2007, 2008, and 2005. (Liane Tessier)
In her claim, Tessier said she began to be bullied, ostracized and regularly had her equipment tampered with. She wasn't given a new uniform when they were ordered and then disciplined for not having appropriate clothing at work. She was gossiped about and alienated.
It was "death by a thousand cuts," she told CBC.
"For some reason I started blaming myself, I worked harder, and the more I worked harder the more it seemed to be a threat to these guys."
Tessier said she reached out to a number of groups and associations but could not find help. (Liane Tessier)
She said she feared for her safety on the job.
"All the time, you were watching your back."
Tessier began hearing allegations from other women at the fire department who said they were experiencing similar discrimination.
"One woman had used condoms put in her bunker gear, another one had threatening letters put on her locker gear saying: 'Shut up bitch or else.' One was thrown down a set of stairs. One was left alone at a fire."
These allegations are not specifically part of the settlement and have not been proven in court.
'They did nothing'
In her claim, Tessier said when she reported the discrimination to her superiors, it got worse. She said she faced retaliation from colleagues, stopped getting called for shifts and was eventually denied a full-time job.
Tessier said she was passed over for jobs while less experienced men climbed the ranks and her complaints were minimized and dismissed by the system that was supposed to help.
Tessier said when she reported the discrimination, she was blamed.
"They did nothing except dismiss everything," she told CBC.
Former Halifax firefighter settles with the city after 12 year legal battle over sexual harassment and gender discrimination 0:39
Tessier stopped taking shifts as a firefighter in 2007 and eventually moved to another career.
She filed a human rights complaint about her treatment as a firefighter, which was dismissed four years later due to insufficient evidence in 2012. She took the commission itself to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court and in May 2014, the court ordered the commission to re-examine her case. When it did, she was granted a public hearing.
Just as the hearing was to take place in the fall of 2017, a slew of harassment allegations in Hollywood sparked a broader conversation. The city offered to settle, and Tessier said she reluctantly agreed after the city met her demands, which include being free to tell her story.
"It's too bad that a movie star has to start the conversation and suddenly we pay attention when ordinary women for decades have been speaking out and no one's listening," said Tessier.
"It's about time."
Tessier says she was eventually denied a full-time job as a firefighter while less qualified men continued to climb the ranks. (Liane Tessier)
Tessier said she believes the city counted on her eventually giving up the fight.
The battle consumed Tessier for years, and its enormity is on full display inside her art studio perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean just outside Halifax.
Once a place of inspiration for her sketches, the studio has been overtaken by her human rights case. Instead of art supplies, mountains of paperwork are piled on tables.
Tessier is looking forward to packing up the paperwork. But she said moving on won't be easy. The fight pushed her to the brink of suicide and left her with depression and a lingering feeling of mistrust.
Tessier sorts through piles of paperwork from her 12-year human rights case. (CBC)
"You become more isolated, you stick to yourself more, you don't trust people," she said.
"I lost my sense of joy for things. I lost a big part of myself. I was so obsessed with justice and having my voice be heard."
Tessier's lawyer, Melissa MacAdam of Blackburn Law in Halifax, described the settlement as a victory that will inspire more women to speak out.
"I think it's huge," said MacAdam.
"I think anytime you're able to stand up and say, 'I fought the Goliath and I was the victor,' that's a huge accomplishment."Story highlights The bomb was found in a dredger's shovel
Divers towed it into open water and safely detonated it
(CNN) Crews working on an English harbor found an unexploded World War II-era German bomb containing 290 pounds of explosives.
Fortunately, authorities were able to carefully tow it out of the harbor and into open water where it was detonated.
A dredger spotted the bomb at the bottom of Portsmouth harbor early Wednesday morning. The harbor is in the process of a lengthy and expensive upgrade. And as the dredger was digging up the harbor mud, the bomb got caught in its shovel.
"These bombs are still dangerous despite being several decades old and sitting at the bottom of the seabed for such a long time," said Capt. Roger Readwin of the Royal Navy.
The German-made SC250 bomb was used extensively in World War II, especially in the London Blitz. It weighs about 500 pounds.
Read MoreOrganizing Like A Chef Makes For Good Habits
"Mise-en-place" is a French cooking phrase that means to gather and arrange the needed ingredients and tools. (This piece initially aired on Aug. 11, 2014 on Morning Edition).
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Next we look back on a story that's right for today. Some of us surely have made New Year's resolutions to get more organized.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Steve, did you make that resolution?
INSKEEP: I think so. Let me just check my list of reso - where is that list?
GREENE: Yeah, maybe you didn't. Well, you need to. Well, many of us are feeling a little disorganized this time of year. And we're so disappointed in our own performance that Americans spend nearly $10 billion a year on self-help and personal organization products. Now, it turns out you may be able to get some tips from the highly-organized kitchens at culinary schools. Here's reporter Dan Charnas.
ROB HALPERN: All right everyone, here we go - Friday night.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Saturday.
HALPERN: Saturday night.
DAN CHARNAS, BYLINE: A restaurant is organized chaos. Every day in kitchens across the country like this one at chef Rob Halpern's Marigold restaurant in Philadelphia, chefs and cooks have little room for error.
HALPERN: Order in. Table for four. Please fire popcorn for four.
CHARNAS: Communication and organization are crucial. A ticket comes in...
HALPERN: This table is going to do four asparagus, three quails with one vegetarian egg.
CHARNAS: When the crew is ready with an item...
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: Four dipping dots.
HALPERN: Heard that. Food runner, please.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Heard.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #3: Behind.
HALPERN: Four dots are for table 36.
CHARNAS: Then a server grabs the order.
UNIDENTIFIED WAITRESS: Thirty-six walks.
CHARNAS: This complex call and call back routine is only one part of a larger philosophy of organization and readiness. It's called mise-en-place. Melissa Gray, a senior at the CIA, the Culinary Institute of America, describes the system that makes kitchens go.
MELISSA GRAY: Mise-en-place, it really is a way of life. I know people that have it tattooed on them. It's a way of concentrating your mind to only focus on the aspects that you need to be working on at that moment, to kind of rid yourself of distractions.
CHARNAS: Mise-en-place translates literally from the French as put in place. And CIA students like Alexandra Tibbats often find the work habits they learn in the kitchen extend beyond it.
ALEXANDRA TIBBATS: You mise-en-place your life. You set up your books for class. You set up your chef whites. Your shoes are shined. You know, everything that you need, every step of the day.
WYLIE DUFRESNE: Now, it starts with your list.
CHARNAS: Wylie Dufresne is a James Beard award-winning chef and owner of New York restaurants WD-50 and Alder.
DUFRESNE: What I used to do - let's say I had 23 items on my list and I knew that I had 23 items of mise-en-place I had to do every day. So I would take a pad and I'd write them all down on the way home. And then I'd crumple the list up and throw it out. On my way to work, I'd write the list again. And you become one with your list. You and the list are the same because the list is scorched into your head.
CHARNAS: The key to mise-en-place is not so much the list, but the preparation mindset. Cooks can easily do six hours of prep for a three hour dinner shift.
Mise-en-place forces cooks to account for every minute of their time. And, says Chef Dwayne LiPuma, an instructor at the CIA, every movement.
DWAYNE LIPUMA: Every component of one single dish is in one single corner. So their hand literally moves inches. Once they set up their station, I should be able to blindfold them, OK, and tell them, pick up that dish. And they should know that their tongs are always here, their oil is always right here, their salt and pepper's always right here. When they turn around and their back is to it, they literally can take their hand back and know exactly where it is so they could just pick it on up. Literally, they always have one foot pivoted, just like a basketball player.
CHARNAS: At Manhattan theatre district restaurant Esca, sous-chef Greg Barr sets up his station.
GREG BARR: I've got all my tools up here. I've got some cured meats. I've got all my vegetables cooked, ready to go.
CHARNAS: Barr describes what is perhaps the central tenet of mise-en-place; working clean.
BARR: It's a very Zen-like thing for me. It's so in the moment that, like, you don't have stuff from the past. I don't have something from this morning here. Everything's been cleaned down. All my knives are clean. Clean cutting board. Clear space to work. Clear mind.
CHARNAS: Working clean in the kitchen is paramount because unclean food is dangerous. People can get sick. Chef Wylie Dufresne illustrates another crucial step in mise-en-place - clean as you go.
DUFRESNE: Oh, my God, if you don't clean as you go, it's a mess. And that's another things that you people at home could do because isn't the worst thing at the end of a dinner party doing a bunch of dishes? Wouldn't you rather, honestly, break them all and buy new ones? You would. I know you would. It actually saves time to clean as you go. It makes life so much easier.
BILL TELEPAN: Let's go. One in one, please, to two, four. Seat two gets the veg. Pick up.
CHARNAS: Across town, at the restaurant Telepan Local, chef-owner Bill Telepan explains another principle - slowing down to speed up.
TELEPAN: I always say, look, I'd rather you take an extra minute or two and slow up service to get it right 'cause the one minute behind you are now is going to become six minutes behind 'cause we're going to have to redo the plate.
CHARNAS: Upstairs in the kitchen, this issue plays out as Telepan coaches a new cook on how to make, of all things, a grilled cheese sandwich.
TELEPAN: That's not done. Fire another one. Be patient. I know it's a grilled cheese sandwich but it's got to be a [bleeping] great grilled cheese sandwich. You know what I mean?
CHARNAS: Some chefs say that mise-en-place is nothing more than a kitchen version of good old-fashioned military discipline. After all, the rigid culinary hierarchy codified in the 19th century by George Escoffier is called the brigade system. Today Andres Soltner is one of the world's most revered chefs and dean of the International Culinary Center in New York City.
ANDRES SOLTNER: A chef - because of mise-en-place, he's always on time.
CHARNAS: He demands the same kind of efficiency outside his kitchen.
SOLTNER: I go crazy if I go to the doctor, and if he's not ready, I leave. And that's because of mise-en-place.
CHARNAS: Other chefs, like Ari Bokovza of New York's The Harrison, admit that this can make domestic life a little intense.
ARI BOKOVZA: We spent so many hours here that the way we are at work starts to translate into the way we are at home. You wish that you could switch it off, and you hope that you can. But, I mean, if you ask my girl how is Ari at home, she'll tell you, he's a [bleeping] nut job. He can't sit still.
CHARNAS: But practiced at its highest level, mise-en-place says that time is precious. Resources are precious. Space is precious. Your self-respect and the respect of others are precious. Use them wisely. Isn't that a philosophy for our time? Chef Dwayne LiPuma.
LIPUMA: The world is a giant gerbil wheel right now. I think if we just became a little bit more organized - a little bit more mise-en-place - understood what we really need and only do what we really need, I think we'll have more time. You'll be able to sit down at the table with your kids and actually cook a meal. Get up a little bit earlier so you breath - you want to greet the day.
CHARNAS: Because sometimes, what we need to excel is not so much a new system but a new metaphor. For NPR News, I'm Dan Charnas.
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That means it's starting to resemble a Chinese colony, and one noticeable fact is that you are starting to see signs in stores which are in Chinese only.
A recent public meeting was held to discuss this.
See Public workshop on foreign signs held in Richmond, Richmond News, March 13, 2015, Sign forum stirs language debate, by Matthew Hoekstra, Richmond Review,March 13, 2015 and more news here.
Immigration Watch Canada has posted a column asking the basic question—why did the Government of Canada let a whole city go "majority-minority" in the first place.
Posted on March 16, 2015
The Richmond Forum on Chinese signs on March 12 demonstrated the large gap between what the Richmond public and the Richmond political class want to see happen in Richmond. It also showed the indignity that Richmond citizens and all other Canadians will continue to endure unless federal politicians assert Canadian sovereignty over Canada, dramatically reduce Canada’s immigration intake to serve Canada’s interests, and declare that immigrants adapt to Canada’s two official languages.
Richmond is the proverbial “Canary” in the coal mine. It is the first Canadian city where immigration policy has caused the existing population to become a minority and where the immigrant population has publicly and significantly declared its dominance. This is the very negative result of Ottawa’s immigration intake tsunami and of Ottawa’s refusal to monitor and do anything about it. Most importantly, it is the result of Ottawa’s refusal to abide by the most basic of all national survival instincts : Never allow a country’s existing population to become a minority.
About 100+ people attended the Richmond Forum which was organized and chaired by the Simon Fraser University Centre for Dialogue. It lasted two hours
Since the Forum was announced a month ago, it has been clear that Richmond City Hall has tried to limit discussion and to control attendance.
From the beginning of the meeting, however, it was also clear that a significant part of the Richmond public is dissatisfied with the thousands of Chinese signs in Richmond and with the bigger issue of high Chinese immigration. It feels Richmond’s political class wants to do as little as possible about the public’s concerns.
The meeting first looked at how Richmond can promote cultural harmony. The Chair asked attendees to identify things that contribute to cultural harmony. Attendees pointed out that such things as communication, a common language, etc. had to be observed. A number stated that these fundamentals had not been observed and that, as a result, a large amount of tension exists.
It also became clear that the City had instructed and pressured its staff and a significant number of others to attend the Forum in order to control the agenda and to control dissension. The Chair soon switched the meeting to several Richmond bureaucrats who spoke about the work they had done on counting Chinese signs, the different locations (interior and exterior), the cluttering on signs, the small number that were Chinese-only, the existing bylaws on signs, the problem with enacting a bylaw, etc.
The Chair then had UBC Geography Professor Dan Hiebert speak about his research. The Chair praised Hiebert, but did not mention that Hiebert is an immigration cheer-leader and, like most academics, seldom if ever questions Canada’s intake but instead focuses on how immigrants fare and adapt. Hiebert described the efforts of three places which were dealing with a similar sign issue : Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; and Richmond Hill, Ontario. Richmond Hill had actually passed a bylaw requiring that English or French comprise half of the lettering on a sign. It was implied that this might be the solution to conflicts in Richmond.
The last of the speakers was Richmond’s Head of Social Planning who has probably played a significant role in suppressing dissent, in tolerating the signs, and in accepting the Richmond public’s descent into minority status.
At the end of two hours, the Chair stated that the comments made at the meeting would all be sent to Richmond Council which would decide what action to take.
Richmond residents were left to think about several things :
(1) Why did residents have to complain about Chinese language signs and have to ask Richmond politicians to tell Chinese businesses to give a prominent place in signs to one of Canada’s official languages? Long ago, shouldn’t Ottawa and every Canadian city, Richmond included, taken the initiative and have very clearly told all of Canada’s new immigrants, that Canada had two official languages, that Chinese was not one of them and that businesses should not be using the Chinese language in their signs? Instead, through the muddled thinking in its multiculturalism policy, Ottawa has implied to these new immigrants that “anything goes” and that Chinese was as acceptable as either English or French.
(2) Why had Ottawa not decreed long ago that it would never allow its existing population in any community to be overwhelmed by immigrants and to become a minority? Why had it never decreed that self-preservation was a fundamental in any society? Why did it not recognize that failure to abide by this fundamental principle would lead to the very significant resentment and racial conflict that now exists? Why does Ottawa not see that if its cowardice in dealing with this issue continues, the result might well be civil war over control of many Canadian cities whether the city is Richmond or any in a long list of other cities?I dont know about you, but whenever a masked serial killer is stalking me I’m thankful for every single one of my senses. I see them walking past the hallway, I can smell the stench of my boyfriend’s fresh blood dripping from the knife, and I can hear the footsteps as they near my shitty hiding place. Okay, I made all that up. I don’t actually have a boyfriend. But if I did I would love to be able to hear his cries of agony if not at least to help me determine where Mr Masked Man (or woman) is and in Hush (2016) that’s the very dilemma–our main character cannot hear. In Mike Flanigan’s (Absentia, Oculus) latest horror/thriller, a deaf writer, Maddie (Kate Siegel, Oculus), retreats to her isolated house in the woods to live a solitary life until a masked murderer shows up at her window and relentlessly tries to gain entry. Sounds like any home invasion horror but this time the main cannot hear at all. She can’t hear him creeping up, she can’t hear the leaves crunch under his feet, and she can’t hear the ones around her screaming for help. It makes for some very unique and interesting kill scenes.
The film starts with Maddie alone at her house cooking as her friend/neighbor Sarah (Samantha Sloyan, Grey’s Anatomy) shows up to hang (Sarah feels bad that Maddie is always alone so she comes over to learn how to sign and eat Maddie’s burnt food). Through some expository dialogue you learn Sarah has a bf named John (Michael Trucco, Next, Battlestar Galactica) who’s big and plays football and will kick the shit out of you (not really but you know what I mean 😉). They chat it up and then Sarah leaves. Night falls and the shenanigans begin.
*WARNING SPOILERS BE NEAR* I will be discussing 2 scenes where the plot thickens. I will not give details on deaths but will be analyzing events leading up to them. SCROLL DOWN to “*SPOILERS BE DONE*” to continue reading or if you’re sold/lazy scroll to the bottom to see my score.
Okay, so the movie doesn’t take much time or extraneous back story to start ramping up. As Maddie is cleaning up the kitchen, scraping leftovers into the trash, Sarah appears suddenly at the glass door covered in blood and banging and screaming frantically for Maddie to let her in. Obviously she can’t hear her so it makes for an almost tangible anxiety as you wait and wait for Maddie to turn around and notice. The clock is ticking and it doesn’t seem like Sarah has much time left (why she didn’t just smash the door with a rock or something is beyond me). Maddie heads to the living room and gets on her laptop. The masked man has recently been introduced and you see him entering her sliding glass door from her porch as Maddie faces the opposite direction. It’s a really creepy shot. Shit’s tense. He takes her phone on the dining table and heads back outside. Maddie starts receiving photos on her iChat from herself (you know, because everything is linked and synced and up in the cloud nowadays) and they’re of her; documenting the last couple of minutes and shot from where her sliding door is. She slowly turns and looks into the darkness and BOOM!
Masked killer appears! She rushes to shut the door and the rest is golden.
*SPOILERS BE DONE*
As I said, the trepidation doesn’t take long to set in as you really really feel for Maddie’s life and really really fear for another encounter with the masked man. This is where the film really hits my g-spot. The nervous anxiety and shuddersome dread the main character feels is easily translated onto the audience. She frantically tries to keep him within eyesight to keep tabs on his whereabouts and the camera work and acting really lend to the overall discomfort and looming expectancy. Every rigid moment she spends in his presence intensifies the distress and urgency to be one step ahead at all times and to cover her back. Maddie and the masked man go back and forth like cat and mouse all night, both with their own moments of advantage over the other but ultimately Maddie knows she must confront her stalker head on to end this assault once and for all.
Hush is a crisp, refreshing take on the home invasion psychological horror/thriller. You feel immense empathy for the disadvantaged Maddie and complete abhorrence for the masked antagonist. There’s plenty of action and and violence and so much anxiety. It’s a true nail biter. It also has a slight You’re Next or even a Halloween type of vibe that’s equally comforting and unsettling (plus the killer had a pretty cool weapon of choice). I suggest you find this movie immediately and give it a gander. You won’t regret it if you’re a fan of psychological mind-fuckery and slasher films (again I find almost everything on VODLocker or PutLocker.is but just make sure you have a good pop-up blocker). It’s pretty much a perfect movie. Beyond satisfactory.
IMDB: 6.7/10 (25,889 votes) [⬅not exactly obscure but I’m assuming the budget wasn’t too high. It was literally one location]
Rotten Tomatoes: 🍅100% 🍿76% (⬅for once the critics are smarter than the audience)
DEAD🐶PUPPY: 5 silent screams/5 (⬅yaaaay our first perfect review!)
AdvertisementsLONDON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - British music industry major EMI wants to cut its funding to the industry’s trade bodies, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Wednesday, which could deal a blow to the fight against music piracy.
The source said EMI, which was recently taken over by private equity group Terra Firma, was looking at ways to “substantially” reduce the amount it pays trade groups.
The groups, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other national associations, represent music companies and the fight against illegal piracy.
They receive funding from the four major music groups — EMI, Warner WMG.N, Sony BMG and Universal — and hundreds of small independent labels.
The IFPI said it believed the four majors give approximately 64 million pounds ($132.1 million) each year to itself, the RIAA and many other national associations.
The other majors were not available for comment, but a separate industry source said at least one of the major music companies is known to strongly support the associations and their work.
EMI is undergoing a strategic review after being bought by Terra Firma for 2.4 billion pounds ($4.95 billion).
Like all music groups, it has been hit hard by online piracy and falling CD sales, despite the efforts of the trade groups to combat the problem.
The IFPI said on Wednesday it was engaged in annual budget decisions and “as one would expect in this market, there is a focus on efficiencies and savings”.
It declined to give any further details but added that it was also engaged in a very full agenda to promote the rights of its member record companies.
EMI, Terra Firma, the BPI and RIAA were all unavailable to comment.
Illegal file-sharing is estimated to cost the music industry billions of dollars a year in revenues. In response, the trade bodies have launched legal action and called upon Internet service providers to block the activity.
Analysts at UBS said any move to reduce the funding to trade bodies could hamper the industry’s efforts to fight piracy and protect music copyright. (Reporting by Kate Holton, editing by Will Waterman)The state's two U.S. senators are urging the Navy to speed up the overhaul of a sidelined attack submarine to "ensure that as many boats as possible populate the fleet."
The USS Boise, a Los Angeles-class attack submarine based in Norfolk, Va., has lost its dive certification — meaning it can no longer submerge — due to a large maintenance backlog at the public shipyards. The submarine has been sitting pierside for about 47 months, according to Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran. On March 17, the Navy issued a solicitation to private shipyards for the engineering overhaul of the Boise.
in a letter Monday to acting Navy Secretary Sean Stackley and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson, Democratic senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy asked that the Navy accelerate the awarding of the contract and about $20 million in planning funds.
Work on the Boise is scheduled to start in January 2019, but the senators are "confident" work can begin in mid-2018. The senators suggest that the $20 million in planning funds could come from the $1 trillion spending bill signed by President Donald Trump last week. The bill includes $280 million more than what then-President Barack Obama requested for operation and maintenance funding for the Navy. Congress did not pass the fiscal year 2017 budget before Obama left office.
"Accelerating this crucial maintenance for the USS Boise will allow it to reenter the fleet ahead of schedule, recovering operational availability at a time when this critical capability is in high demand," the senators said in their letter.
While the senators don't specifically name Electric Boat in their letter, Blumenthal said by phone Monday that as much as $30 million could be saved by EB doing the work, and that it could get done much faster.
Hundreds of EB employees are currently involved in the overhaul of the USS Montpelier, the largest and most complex maintenance and modernization in the company's history. Thus, the company already has the workers trained and in place to carry out work |
, sequentially, for k=2, 3, 4, or more clusters (Pritchard et al. 2000 ). The results can be summarized as follows. When k=2 clusters was specified, the Chinese and Japanese emerged as a combined cluster; when k=3 clusters was specified, the African Americans separated from the whites and Hispanics; when k=4 clusters was specified, an additional cluster was formed that was nearly exclusively Hispanic (99.8%). All but one of the Hispanic individuals analyzed were included in this new cluster. The four-cluster results are given in, with crossclassification by SIRE. Our sequential cluster results are completely consistent with what we observed from the genetic distance measures and from —namely, that the East Asians are the most distant from the other groups, followed by the African Americans, and then the Hispanics. Allowing for more than four clusters did not yield stable results: multiple runs of structure produced varying cluster configurations; in many runs, one cluster was nearly empty. However, when we repeated the cluster analysis with only the East Asian subjects, two clusters did emerge that almost perfectly distinguished between the two ethnicities, with a total of 6 (2 Chinese and 4 Japanese) (1.1%) of 567 subjects being differentially classified. No such consistent subclusters emerged from separate analyses of the African American, white, or Hispanic groups. Thus, the structure we observed at the population level using MDS is recaptured here at an individual level. For the group reporting a major SIRE category, the correspondence between genetic cluster and SIRE is remarkably high, with only 5 (0.14%) of 3,636 individuals being differentially classified ( ). Accordingly, in this case, major SIRE category and genetic cluster are effectively synonymous. Overall, our cluster analysis results are completely consistent with previous theoretical predictions regarding the ease of separating these groups on the basis of the number of markers tested (Risch et al. 2002 ). Nearly all individuals had a cluster assignment probability of ∼1. Only two subjects had a probability <.95: one of these subjects self-reported as Hispanic but fell into the white genetic cluster, and the other subject self-reported as African American but fell into the white genetic cluster. We note that this analysis was not based on determination of individuals’ “racial” ancestry (e.g., estimating individual European, African, and Native American ancestry for the African American and Hispanic subjects). To do so would require inclusion of the nonadmixed ancestral groups (such as Africans and Native Americans) and the use of the “ADMIX” option of structure. What our results do show is that the (admixed) groups included have approximated within-group random mating sufficiently long enough to give rise to distinct genetic clusters.
The MDS analysis for all 18 SIRE/site combinations is shown in. As we expect, subpopulations of the same SIRE tend to cluster closely. Essentially, the X-axis separates the East Asians from the other groups, whereas the Y-axis separates the African Americans from the other groups. The MDS places the Hispanic group between the white cluster and the East Asian cluster, which is consistent with this being an admixed group with European and Native American ancestries and with Native Americans being closer, genetically, to the East Asians (Calafell et al. 1998 ). Although the Chinese and the Japanese groups appear clustered together in this plot, they are separable on another dimension. In other words, MDS with only the Asians produces excellent separation between the Chinese and the Japanese groups ( ).
In, the diagonal elements represent the mean (SD) of genetic distances between recruitment sites within a SIRE group; the corresponding figures across SIRE groups are indicated by the off-diagonal elements. The greatest genetic distances occur between populations with ancestries from different continents and little mixing (i.e., between East Asians and African Americans, followed by East Asians and whites). The second largest genetic distances are between the groups with some shared ancestry—namely, East Asians and Hispanics (whose Native American ancestry resembles that of Asians) and whites and African Americans (who have white admixture). Most similar are whites and Hispanics (who have substantial white admixture) and Chinese and Japanese. As can be seen by comparing the genetic distances on and off the diagonals in, continental ancestry and separation time play more-important roles than current geographic distance. Thus, for example, Hawaiian Chinese bear much more genetic resemblance to Chinese from Stanford, CA, and from Taiwan than they do to Hawaiian Japanese. In fact, the genetic distances between recruitment sites within SIRE categories are uniformly very small.
Discussion
Attention has recently focused on genetic structure in the human population. Some have argued that the amount of genetic variation within populations dwarfs the variation between populations, suggesting that discrete genetic categories are not useful (Lewontin 1972; Cooper et al. 2003; Haga and Venter 2003). On the other hand, several studies have shown that individuals tend to cluster genetically with others of the same ancestral geographic origins (Mountain and Cavalli-Sforza 1997; Stephens et al. 2001; Bamshad et al. 2003). Prior studies have generally been performed on a relatively small number of individuals and/or markers. A recent study (Rosenberg et al. 2002) examined 377 autosomal microsatellite markers in 1,056 individuals from a global sample of 52 populations and found significant evidence of genetic clustering, largely along geographic (continental) lines. Consistent with prior studies, the major genetic clusters consisted of Europeans/West Asians (whites), sub-Saharan Africans, East Asians, Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans. It is clear that the ability to define distinct genetic clusters depends on the number and type of markers used (Risch et al. 2002). Reports that document inability to define distinct clusters generally used only a modest number of markers and, hence, had little power to detect clusters (Romualdi et al. 2002). Studies with larger numbers of markers appear to show strong evidence of clustering (Stephens et al. 2001; Rosenberg et al. 2002).
Another major point of discussion has been the correspondence between genetic clusters and commonly used racial/ethnic labels. Some have argued for poor correspondence between these two entities (Lewontin 1972; Wilson et al. 2001), whereas others have suggested a strong correlation (Risch et al. 2002; Burchard et al. 2003). We have shown a nearly perfect correspondence between genetic cluster and SIRE for major ethnic groups living in the United States, with a discrepancy rate of only 0.14%. Perhaps this is not surprising for the major groupings (whites, East Asians, and African Americans), since prior studies would suggest enough genetic differentiation between these groups to produce robust clustering. On the other hand, one prior study of Hispanics did not suggest a distinct cluster for this group, possibly because of the heterogeneous origins of that Hispanic sample (Stephens et al. 2001). From the genetic perspective, Hispanics generally represent a differential mixture of European, Native American, and African ancestry, with the proportionate mix typically depending on country of origin. Our sample was from a single location in Texas and was composed of Mexican Americans. Although the genetic distance analysis suggested relative proximity to the whites in our sample, the distance was still sufficient to allow for creation of a distinct genetic cluster for this group. Again, this is likely because of the large number of markers used in our analysis. On the other hand, in the analysis of the full sample, the two East Asian groups—Chinese and Japanese—did not emerge as distinct subgroups, likely because their distance from one another was too modest to be detectable in the context of the larger sample. However, when the East Asians were analyzed separately, two clusters—corresponding to Chinese and Japanese—did emerge, with only a small amount of discordance (6 [1%] of 567 subjects). In contrast, cluster analysis within the three other major clusters did not produce robust, replicable subgroups, indicating a lack of further subgroups within these entities, at least in the current marker set. This observation does not eliminate the potential for confounding in these populations. First, there may be subgroups within the larger population group that are too small to detect by cluster analysis. Second, there may not be discrete subgrouping but continuous ancestral variation that could lead to stratification bias. For example, African Americans have a continuous range of European ancestry that would not be detected by cluster analysis but could strongly confound genetic case-control studies. Furthermore, our analysis likely underrepresents individuals with recent mixed ancestry (who would require more complex categorization) and other groups typically underrepresented, such as South Asians. Further study is required to evaluate the correlation between genetically determined groupings and SIRE for these individuals.
Our observations also emphasize the importance of SIRE information: although statistical approaches using genetic marker information recapture SIRE with high accuracy, such analyses need to be guided by SIRE information. The outcome of statistical cluster analyses depends on the (relative and absolute) sample size of the subgroups and on the homogeneity within groups relative to distance between groups. Without proper controlling of these nuisance factors, cluster analyses based on genetic markers sometimes overlook important components of population structure, while producing artifact clusters other times.
We note that the genetic cluster results indicate that older geographic ancestry—rather than recent geographic origin—is highly correlated with racial/ethnic categorizations and, thus, is the major determinant of genetic structure in the population. Although our results suggest that genetic stratification may exist within racial/ethnic groups—specifically, whites and African Americans sampled from different geographic locations in the United States—we found the differences based on current geography to be quite modest. On the other hand, geographic matching of Hispanic subjects is likely to be of much greater importance, given the larger genetic differentiation between Hispanic groups on the basis of current geographic origins. In this study, we could not evaluate this question directly, since Hispanics were recruited only from a single site. Also, these geographic analyses do not rule out other potential sources of confounding within geographic regions for these groups (for example, those based on specific ethnic affiliations), which still may require attention.
Our results also suggested little confounding when sampling cases and controls within SIRE and geographic groups for studies of hypertension. We detected little, if any, genetic differentiation at the 326 microsatellite markers between hypertensive and normotensive subjects in any of the ethnic groups we examined. However, this topic merits additional scrutiny—in particular, for the admixed subjects (Hispanics and African Americans)—to determine whether cases and controls have differential levels of admixture, which is likely to be the greatest source of confounding for these populations (H. Tang, personal communication).
In summary, from a very large study of four major racial/ethnic groups within the United States and Taiwan, we found extraordinary correspondence between SIRE and genetic cluster categories but only modest geographic differentiation within each race/ethnicity group. This result indicates that studies using genetic clusters instead of racial/ethnic labels are likely to simply reproduce racial/ethnic differences, which may or may not be genetic. On the other hand, in the absence of racial/ethnic information, it is tempting to attribute any observed difference between derived genetic clusters to a genetic etiology. Therefore, researchers performing studies without racial/ethnic labels should be wary of characterizing difference between genetically defined clusters as genetic in origin, since social, cultural, economic, behavioral, and other environmental factors may result in extreme confounding (Risch et al. 2002).The Prestige: A Man and His Kittenz
Photo Credit to Susie Kim
On February 16th 2017, Ali ‘Alicus’ Saba stepped down from running gaming operations for Misfits to take a well-deserved hiatus. After conquering the world twice at the Overwatch Open and DreamHack Winter, there didn’t seem much left for the entrepreneur to pursue. But, as much of the community would soon learn, Ali always has something up his sleeve.
Act 1: Off the Bench
Laser Kittenz was officially formed on March 19, but their journey started almost a month before. After departing the FaZe Clan lineup, Eric ‘TwoEasy’ van Hoorn reached out some of the most talented free agents in Europe (most notably Finley ‘Kyb’ Adisi, Luis ‘Greyy’ Perestrelo and Sergi ‘Winghaven’ Torras) to form Bench Boys. While their initial results failed to meet their true potential, a third place performance at the StriveWire Monthly Overwatch Brawl: March put them in the limelight. Unfortunately, following a clash of personalities, Bench Boys was left without their captain and incomplete, reaching out for any sort of lifeline to help rebuild.
It was at this time Alicus privately re-entered the scene. Finding the core of the Bench Boys to be one of the best free agent teams in the West, he began to involve himself deeper into the team. By investing himself in his players and exploring feedback from scouts across the scene, he was able to find and cultivate pieces to help the ever-expanding Laser Kittenz puzzle. Tapping into his experience assembling Misfits, Ali set out to develop what he had, while also looking beyond at the future of team building.
Luckily, he had quite the core.
An odd departure from REUNITED may have marred Kyb's legacy, but his performance hardly suffered. An extremely versatile DPS player, Kyb often functioned as the spiritual metronome for his team. Calm and collected in communications, he consistently provided an anchor for his team on the field and was more than capable of dominating the field on any carry.
The latest addition to the Laser Kittenz core was Carl ‘crems’ Aspehult. First discovered on German-Swedish mixteam, S2gods, crems remained a distinct voice in his new team, theorycrafting and shotcalling in absence of a true shot caller at the time. While his role as a flex player would later be contested by claris, his presence perpetuated the identity of the Laser Kittenz throughout its many iterations.
Lastly, there was Greyy. The Portuguese professional was a complete unknown in the competitive scene, but his play on the ladder caught more than just a few eyes. In a world where a top-level flex support depends on mechanics as much as strong game sense, Greyy represented one of the few free agents who could do both. Demonstrating monstrous aim on Zenyatta and the knack to sleep almost any Genji out of the air on Ana, he quickly rose to the top of the European scene, adding in a pocket Sombra months before the rest of the world caught up. His extremely high skill ceiling and natural knack for leadership ended up being the kicker for Ali, who took it upon himself to build a team around the star, despite the plethora of ready-made teams (including EU dominators, Cyclone) approaching him.
In later weeks, Alicus would continue to search through the waiver wire, conjuring trades seemingly out of thin air. While many saw indecisiveness, Alicus’s decision making was hardly ever short sighted. In building a lineup set on the Overwatch League instead of the next tournament, he set along the path of calibrating his squad until it was optimal. He was no stranger to trial and error, bringing in players from all around the world to finalize his roster. Given his pedigree, it would not be long before Laser Kittenz would stand in the spotlight as a top level team.
But it would take some time.
Act 2: Onto Cloud 9
If Laser Kittenz ever did have a weakness, it was filling out the rest of their roster. While the team never ran out of strong players eager to join the squad full time, it did face challenges developing synergy. Amidst a revolving door of DPS players, Skipjack would be brought on to replace a struggling Winghaven after the Overwatch PIT Championships, but a lack of practice time during an extremely active European tournament season resulted in the untested roster faltering in the HND Overwatch Invitational. Unable to find a suitable replacement in the West, Ali pulled off one of the greatest heists in esports by picking up Lee ‘claris’ Keon-ho and Byeon ‘Munchkin’ Sang-beom immediately after their dismissals from Lunatic-Hai.
With an extremely strong seven-person lineup under its paws, Laser Kittenz would spend the following two months in Korea gearing up for a grand return to the scene. The growing notoriety of the team would draw more players to the allure of joining Ali Baba and his band of thieves. Skipjack would be replaced in the lineup by Tiago ‘mowzassa’ Rodrigues, an emerging star cited as one of the best tank players in the world. Matching up against the best teams Korea had to offer, Laser Kittenz steadily improved, building trust in each other and giving room for their talented players to develop in a competitive environment.
The announcement of Overwatch Contenders Season 0 would set the the stage for their grand return.
The first qualifier went without a hitch, as the Kittenz made their way swiftly to top 8 and claimed a spot in the Main Event Group stage. With little else on the line besides bragging rights, LK would face off against their eternal nemesis, Misfits. Given the history between Alicus himself and the Misfits organization, the match was hotly contested, as both teams want to prove they still remained at the top of the scene. After an extremely tense map on Watchpoint: Gibraltar, Laser Kittenz would eventually fall 3-1 on Lijiang Tower, ending their run.
Despite accomplishing their goals, the loss left a bad taste in their mouth, as critics began to cast doubt on how much they had managed to improve in Korea. Alicus seemed unlikely to ever top his crowning achievement. Luckily, the esports gods would give them a second chance. Against all odds, Laser Kittenz would draw Misfits in Group B, adding another layer to the already-rich storylines between both teams. With no other “real” challenges for the two, the group devolved into a grudge match between the two powerhouses. Laser Kittenz would put on blinders entering the preparation period for the group stages.
As the first week approached, the scene felt giddy at the prospect of yet another showdown between the two furry goliaths. With choice words exchanged between Alicus and Reinforce, the fever pitch climaxed for the last match of the first-leg matches which pitted Misfits against Laser Kittenz to establish the momentum for the second week. The Kittenz struck first on Eichenwalde taking the third point in overtime, allowing their patient ultimate usage to full hold Misfits on defense. LK would jump out to an early lead on Nepal, taking the first two rounds in dominant fashion off the back of stellar play from Munchkin. However, Misfits struck back as their DPS line was able to regain their footing to bring a round 5 tiebreaker on Village. After a clutch retake in overtime, Laser Kittenz was able to fend off a last ditch push from Misfits due to a pivotal triple kill from mowzassa, including a fight-opening pick off. The final nail would be hammered into the coffin on Hanamura, when Misfits was prevented from capturing the first point due to impressive coordination behind Greyy’s surgical Sombra. The rest is history.
Even though Laser Kittenz would lose the final game of the four map set and would later fall to Misfits at the start of the second week, they had done what they set out to do. In defeating Misfits, they vanquished the last of their demons and overcame what had looked to be a close but almost eternally one sided rivalry. Laser Kittenz would end the tournament out in joint 3rd, beating Singularity in the quarterfinals and losing to eUnited in the semifinals. Misfits would place joint 7th.
Despite their success, Laser Kittenz would continue to tinker with their lineup, replacing Linepro with ex-Cyclone’s Crusade. The team would later release both Munchkin and Claris due to cultural differences, leaving themselves again without a DPS player. The impending start of the Overwatch League set the future of the organization in doubt, as they looked unable to secure one of the original seven spots. It seemed like the Great Alicus’ Show would come to its final curtain call.
Then on August 13 2017, Houdini returned from the dead. In a series of events which could only be described as magical, Cloud 9 announced the acquisition of Laser Kittenz as its European Team. The team would pick up ex-Misfits player Andreas ‘Nevix’ Karlsson to round out the roster, and Ali himself would take over as Director of Overwatch at Cloud 9.
It was the perfect ending to the greatest magic trick in Overwatch.
Epilogue: Master of All Trades
The greatest magicians never reveal their secrets. The core principle of magic is the ability to utilize the unsuspecting nature of the audience to transform what is normal and mundane into something otherworldly. Ali embodied this tenet.
Those who see Alicus as solely an owner or manager miss 90% of what he is truly capable of. Beyond a silver tongue capable of selling anything to anyone, Ali understands what makes esports work. Alicus was the first Western owner to truly push for an extended support team, drawing inspiration from his previous time in Korea. He surrounded himself with coaches who were capable of taking the burden from the players, allowing them to focus more on improvement in the game. In the meantime, he involved himself deeply with his players, guiding them through the rough waters of the developing esports team. If a player needed anything, Alicus was there, and he spared no expense. When it became obvious the early iterations of Laser Kittenz needed to level up, Alicus organized a two month bootcamp in Korea, tapping into his resources to make the time spent as efficient as possible. When other Western teams struggled to find scrims, Laser Kittenz had no issues. Ali’s name was a sort of VIP card with access to almost anywhere in the world of esports.
Yet his fame was only a fraction of his true strength. Alicus’ true strength is his control over the narrative of his organization. While many start up organizations would struggle to gain traction on social media, Ali catered the Laser Kittenz brand to the world of social media around him. Roster changes were covered properly by the organization, often being the first source for news about the team. While other organizations have often deterred fans by sudden changes in the roster, Laser Kittenz remained transparent to theirs, garnering the adoration of many. Even the rivalry between Misfits was curated to draw attention away from LK’s players, focusing much of the trashtalk on Ali himself. Players were given an open forum within the team, airing out much of the bad blood which would have otherwise spilled out onto alternate channels of information. A careful look at the Twitter pages of the players presents an immaculate profile, a rare commodity in esports today. Even the name ‘Laser Kittenz’ tapped into the marketability of the team in the meme-filled esports blogosphere.
Alicus may one day fade into the background of esports. One day, he’ll stop tweeting out and be lost among the legends of the industry. But what he did will never be forgotten. In just six short months, Ali turned a band of misfits and diamonds in the rough into one of the most promising teams in the West. He leaves behind a trail of admirers and imitators in awe of what seems to be his last and greatest performance.
But I know better. After all, the best tricks come in threes.
For more competitive Overwatch news, follow us on Twitter @GosuOverwatch.
QUICKPOLL Will you be tuning into Contenders Season 1? Of course!
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Thank you for voting!San Francisco Police said this bicycle, custom built for a handicapped man, was stolen in the Hayes Valley neighborhood on June 7, 2012. The bicycle has a distinctive sponsor sticker on its side with the letters "AZSLODZ." (SFPD) San Francisco Police said this bicycle, custom built for a handicapped man, was stolen in the Hayes Valley neighborhood on June 7, 2012. The bicycle has a distinctive sponsor sticker on its side with the letters "AZSLODZ." (SFPD)
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — San Francisco police are asking for the public’s help in finding a custom bicycle specially built for a handicapped man that was stolen in the Hayes Valley neighborhood Thursday morning.
Officers responded around 10 a.m. to a report of a burglary in the 200 block of Linden Alley, located between Hayes and Fell streets just west of Franklin Street.
The bicycle belongs to Krzystof Jarzebski, a double amputee from Poland. The former Navy commando lost his legs to cancer in 1991. Since then, Jarzebski has competed frequently on his bicycle, recently traveling 80 miles from his home in Lodz to the capital city of Warsaw.
The victim said that the item stolen was a hand-cranked bicycle, valued at $13,000, which was taken from the stairway area of the building, police said.
Investigators believe the theft took place between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 6 a.m. Thursday and that a cutting tool was allegedly used to gain access to the entryway of the building.
Police have released a photo of the bike, which has a distinctive sponsor sticker on its side with the letters “AZSLODZ.”
Jarzebski is involved in a charity bike ride across the country. He will be using a wheelchair to complete the tour, which he plans to begin from San Francisco City Hall on Friday.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the bicycle or a possible suspect is asked to call Sgt. Victoria Sullivan with the department’s Northern Station investigations team at (415) 614-3465.
People wishing to remain anonymous can call the department’s tip line at (415) 575-4444 or send a tip by text message to TIP411.
(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)There are chemicals and additives we allow in our snacks, drinks and packaged foods that other countries consider so unhealthy, they’ve banned them.
What are we talking about?
Here’s just one example: Fake coloring that gives those eerie bright hues to boxed mac and cheese, breakfast cereal, candy and soft drinks. Linked to behavioral changes in children, allergies, migraines and possibly cancer, those dyes are banned in several countries plus the United Kingdom – but not in the United States.
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In March, two mothers petitioned Kraft to use safer, natural coloring in their mac and cheese products, as the company does in other countries where the dyes are illegal. Kraft said no.
Or how about brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, that’s added to citrus-flavored soda (like Mountain Dew) and sports drinks to make the artificial colors stick to the liquid. BVO contains bromine, which is used as a flame-retardant and has been linked to neurological problems and interference with thyroid hormones.
BVO has been banned in all European Union countries, as well as India and Japan, yet it’s in U.S. products. In January, PepsiCo announced it would no longer use the additive in Gatorade, after consumers complained, but would leave it in Mountain Dew.
The full list of foods with questionable chemicals banned elsewhere comes from a new book by nutritionists Jayson Calton, Ph.D., and Mira Carlton called Rich Food, Poor Food. It was also reported by BuzzFeed.com. Here are eight banned foods available in the U.S.
1. Artificially colored food made with dyes derived from petroleum and coal tar. Yellow 5, Red 40 and six others dyes – used to enhance products from Froot Loops to Nutri-Grain cereal bars – are called the “rainbow of risk” by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. They are banned in Norway, Finland, France, Austria and the U.K.
2. Chicken with arsenic. Arsenic in chicken feed cuts down on parasites, makes chickens grow faster and gives their meat more color. It also gives the chicken we eat higher levels of arsenic, known to cause lung, bladder and skin cancers, a study last month by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore found. Arsenic-laced feed is banned in the European Union.
3. Drinks with brominated vegetable oil (BVO). Bromine is a chemical used to keep carpets from catching fire, among other things, so why is it in our food? PepsiCo is removing it from Gatorade but keeping it in Mountain Dew. BVO is banned in more than 100 countries.
4. Breads with potassium bromate, used in bromated flour to make bread products rise higher and faster. Found in rolls, bagel chips, bread crumbs and flatbreads, potassium bromate has been linked to thyroid and kidney cancers in lab animals. It has been banned in Europe, Canada and China. California declared it a carcinogen in 1991.
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5. Frozen dinners with azodicarbonamide. This is used to bleach and stabilize flour and also to make foamed plastic products like yoga mats and sneakers. Found in frozen TV dinners, packaged baked goods and some breads, it has been associated with inducing asthma. It is banned in Australia, the U.K. and most European countries.
6. Food preserved with BHA and BHT. These preservatives are added to cereal, nut mixes, gum, butter, meat and dehydrated potatoes to keep them from turning rancid. The debate over their safety has been going on in the U.S. for years. Meanwhile, they’re banned in the U.K., Japan and many European countries.
7. Milk with rBGH and rBST, also known as bovine growth hormones. Synthetic hormones, these are given to cows and therefore found in milk and other dairy products (unless the label specifically says otherwise). They have been linked to cancer and infertility and are banned in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan and the European Union.
8. Chips with Olestra or Olean, a fat substitute used in fat-free chips, like Ruffles Wow. Olestra and Olean can produce cramps and leaky bowels and are banned in the U.K. and Canada.
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Also of Interest
See the AARP home page for deals, savings tips, trivia and moreThis Saturday is the first meeting between the Philadelphia Union and expansion side Atlanta United. One team has played seven months of Major League Soccer while the other has played seven seasons, but the gulf in quality is already apparent.
The new club is the better club in almost every way.
For starters, just look at the Eastern Conference table.
Atlanta has 35 points with a 10-8-5 record. They're on 1.52 points per game with a 6-2-1 home record and 4-6-4 road record. Philadelphia sits on 30 points with a 8-12-6 record. The Union have a 1.15 PPG mark with a 7-4-2 home record and a 1-8-4 road record.
That's an established MLS franchise lagging behind a brand new team.
For comparison, expansion Philly finished with a 8-15-7 record back in 2010. Atlanta needed only 60% of their inaugural season to eclipse the Union in that department. They're projected to make the playoffs in their first year of existence.
Here are a couple of other things to consider:
1. Atlanta's front four is more exciting than any attack the Union has ever constructed
The combination of Josef Martinez, Miguel Almiron, Yamil Asad, and Hector Villalba easily surpasses any offense that Philly has rolled out. It's a group that's contributed 29 goals and 20 assists this season, helping Atlanta to a plus-12 goal differential.
Philadelphia's combo of C.J. Sapong, Chris Pontius, Fafa Picault, and Ilsinho has put up 21 goals and 15 assists. The Union are eight goals behind Atlanta even having played three more games.
For further context, Atlanta is predominantly operating out of the same 4-2-3-1 system that the Union use. One is a team-first defensive shape, while the other features superstars at multiple positions.
2. Atlanta is spending money
Arthur Blank is a fantastic, committed owner who puts tons of money into his product. Miguel Almiron's transfer fee of eight million dollars is more than the Union has ever paid for any of the 126 payers on the all-time roster, salary and bonuses included.
Three of those front four attackers are designated players who earn a combined 3.6 million dollars. Philadelphia's entire front four is paid about 1.4 million.
United is also getting more out of their TAM players than Philadelphia is. At that threshold, Atlanta has Carlos Carmona, Brad Guzan, Chris McCann, and Leandro Gonzalez-Pirez. Three are regular starters. The Union have four TAM players in Roland Alberg, Ilsinho, Jay Simpson, and Haris Medunjanin. Only two are in the first-choice XI.
And for what it's worth, Jack Elliott's main competition for Rookie of the Year is Julian Gressel, who also came out of the latest SuperDraft.
3. Atlanta's attendance is better than Philadelphia's attendance
Talen Energy Stadium, capacity 18,500, has not been full this year.
Atlanta, meantime, is putting 46,000 people into Georgia Tech's football stadium. They'll soon be moving into the brand new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which will hold 71,000 fans for Falcons games and 42,000 fans for soccer games.
4. They didn't mess around off the field
Instead of finding some MLS retread, Atlanta went out and got ex-Barcelona and Argentina manager Gerardo Martino to run their expansion side.
They brought in Darren Eales, Tottenham's former Director of Football Administration, to be their first President. Longtime U.S. National team defender Carlos Bocanegra stepped in as Technical Director.
5. The infrastructure is already built
Philadelphia needed five seasons just to construct practice fields and a training center.
Back in April, Atlanta unveiled a $60 million, 30,000 sqaure foot training facility with six full-sized fields.
Their youth academy is up and running and they've already signed three homegrown players for 2018. The Union have signed six homegrowns in eight years and added Adam Najem, who came via trade with New York, as a seventh.
A few more things to think about...
• Atlanta has the same amount of playoff wins as Philadelphia (zero).
• Atlanta has the same amount of winning seasons as Philadelphia (one).
• Atlanta has a radio deal with both English and Spanish-language stations (Philly has no radio broadcast).
• The stadiums, both Bobby-Dodd and Mercedes-Benz, are centrally located with mass transit access (Talen is not).
• The city has a younger, more diverse millennial population (Union crowds are predominantly suburban and white).
• With ten goals, Villalba would be eighth-place on the Union's all-time charts. Asad's ten assists would place him eighth all-time in that department.
So, what does Philly have?
There are only a few things I can think of where Philly eclipses Atlanta, and one is the existence of Talen as a grass-covered, soccer-specific stadium. It's still one of the best gameday experiences I've had up and down the east coast.
Still, I think most Union fans would gladly share a turf field with the Atlanta Falcons if Arthur Blank's bank account was part of the deal.
The Union have an organic fan base with a great back story. The genesis of the team is typically Philadelphian and easy to get behind. There's a core of dedicated, loyal fans who create a special atmosphere surrounding an underdog team.
Philly has the better kits and the better name, with Atlanta going for utterly boring colors and a coma-inducing "United" brand.
And... that's about all I can think of.
Follow Kevin on Twitter: @Kevin_Kinkead
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice SportsNEW YORK (Reuters) - The prince of coffee table books believes paper books are dead. Now he wants to be king of the app.
A sale sign is seen at a Borders bookstore in San Diego, California February 16, 2011. REUTERS/Mike Blake
Since 1980, Nicholas Callaway has made the finest of design-driven books, building a publishing house and his fortune on memorable children’s stories and on volumes known for the fidelity of their reproductions of great art. But the quality of paper, ink and binding mean nothing to him now.
For Callaway, it’s all about apps — small applications sold in Apple’s App Store where books are enhanced beyond the mere text of e-books. In this cutting-edge new medium, cooks can clap hands to turn pages of an interactive recipe, a book about Richard Nixon can include footage of him sweating during presidential debates, a Sesame Street character can read a story out loud and, should your child get bored, the app can turn the tale into a jigsaw puzzle or a computerized finger-painting set.
“I have bet the whole ranch on this,” Callaway told Reuters. “This kind of juncture happens maybe once in a century.”
Publishers from New York to London agree this as a moment of huge change. They are adapting to rising sales of e-books, and the popularity of smart phones and tablets such as the iPad. The retail landscape has changed with Amazon becoming the dominant seller of books while countless book stores go the way of video rental stores. America’s No. 2 book store chain, Borders, is bankrupt. Some authors have dropped their publishers entirely, self-publishing online and using social media to connect with readers. Others have become adept at using Facebook and Twitter to reach readers or have attracted fans by becoming popular reviewers of books on Amazon and then publishing their own book.
Callaway is among those who believe the change is just beginning and, in the years to come, the app will change things utterly.
Sitting in his chic offices on Manhattan’s cobble-stoned South Street Seaport, the 57-year old Harvard graduate, photographer, father of two and daily Anusara yoga practitioner bristles with excitement as he flips open the worn black cover of his iPad.
“This is revolutionary,” he says, stroking his finger at the iPad’s glass surface and prodding to open an app he has developed. “This is the Looking Glass. This is Alice in Wonderland. We are at the beginning of an entirely new medium.”
The increasingly popular e-books sold on Amazon’s (AMZN.O) Kindle, Apple’s (AAPL.O) iBook store and Barnes & Noble’s (BKS.N) Nook store are electronic reproductions of paper books. So, for publishing innovators such as Callaway, it will be Apple’s App |
R with video functions just like the 5D mark III, usually goes for $1900 (LINK).
Our favourite all-round lens, the EOS 24-105mm F/4.0 IS, which has a great image stabilizer for video and a nice zoom range for full-frame usually goes for $1150 (LINK).
Together that would make $3050. The bundle of course is cheaper and was $2500, but it’s interesting to see that the bundle now suddenly goes for $1999 (LINK).
If this is no mistake then it might be an indication that another full-frame camera is around the corner. With NAB hitting at the beginning of April anything is possible and we’d surely like to see a new 5D or other full-frame HDSLR take the stage.
Both the Canon EOS 6D as well as the 5D mark III were introduced in 2012. 2 years seems like a good time for an upgrade in the full-frame photography sector, and the hopes for improvements to the video side are building again.
Is the 6D any good for video?
We did review the Canon EOS 6D a while ago. We found that the camera had the same aliasing/moire problems making the image softer just like many other video DSLR cameras. Another flaw was the missing headphone jack making it impossible to monitor recorded audio and raising the necessity for external audio recording.
Considering the low price this might be a good deal for those looking for the full-frame look and in our opinion there is hardly any better lens for full-frame video than the 24-105mm F/4.0.
Here’s the deal: (You’ve got to click on the blue button to see the final price) LINKDebate remains stifled, despite Peter Beinart’s important piece this year in the New York Review of Books describing growing alienation among young American Jews asked to “check their liberalism at Zionism’s door.” Oh, sure, you can find all sorts of opinions about Israel all over the place; America remains an open society. But Aipac has systematically shunned a debate with J Street, the upstart Jewish organization that supports Israel, opposes the settlements and attempts to reclaim the progressive ideals of Zionism by saying that the systematic oppression of the Palestinians undermines Israel.
“These organizations’ view remains essentially that any time you engage in an activity critical of Israel you are trying to destroy the state of Israel,” Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of J Street, told me. “Here are all these Jewish kids being raised on great liberal values at Hebrew schools — walks for the homeless, Darfur, AIDS — but God forbid we talk about what’s happening in Israel! It’s a dynamic that cuts off discourse.”
Photo
The issues are worth debating at the highest level. Middle East talks have just broken down again, precisely over settlements. President Barack Obama had virtually no domestic constituency for his attempt to denounce the continued growth of settlements as unacceptable and as undermining a two-state peace at its core: land.
Obama was left dangling, more so after the midterms, and had to retreat. This is not merely a failure of the parties. It is a failure of U.S. politics and the way those politics are straitjacketed by an Israel-right-or-wrong mantra that leads inexorably, over time, to one state with more Arabs in it than Jews. What then will remain of the Zionist dream?
Stup’s research took him often to the West Bank. He would come back to Tel Aviv and talk about Palestinian humiliation he’d seen and found that Israelis seemed unaware or unconcerned. He read in one newspaper that 53 percent of Israeli Jews would encourage Israeli Arabs to leave — “and I saw and felt that anecdotally.”
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A painful question hardened: “Seeing what the occupation looked like, and given the ideals of Jewish democracy I was raised on, I wondered: Could Israel be failing and could we American Jews be defending that failure?”
It’s time to think again and, above all, think openly. Last month, Ben-Ami was scheduled to speak at a Reform Jewish synagogue, Temple Beth Avodah, in Newton, near Boston. At the last minute the event got canceled because of what the rabbi described as strong opposition from a “small, influential group” within the congregation.
Jewish groups, or Hillel societies, on U.S. campuses sometimes discover they will lose their biggest donors if they allow a J Street youth group to form within them.
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Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking to the Jewish Federations of North America in New Orleans, was heckled by protesters holding banners suggesting the occupation and loyalty oaths de-legitimize Israel. Their banners were ripped (with teeth) and the young Jews dragged out. Where an important conversation could be held, confrontation prevails.
Stup, moved to act, has joined J Street. This decision caused tremendous pressure on his family back in Philadelphia. One very close family friend came over to his mother’s house recently and accused him of “poisoning the minds of young Jews.” The friendship has been strained to breaking point.Samurai Jack slashed its way onto Cartoon Network 15 years ago. It was one of the most visually striking, creatively exciting programs to hit the channel then, with the same being true now - nearly twenty years later. Following an extremely simple premise, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Samurai Jack chronicles the journey of a time-torn warrior who is desperate to get back to his origin point to take down the villainous Aku. Each episode of the series would manage to transport Jack into a new world, with the show’s influences in both storytelling and style truly challenging the medium. Now, 11 years after the show’s untimely cancellation, Tartakovsky’s brilliant gem of a cartoon is back, with the show’s star, Phil LaMarr back along for the ride with him.
With Samurai Jack’s new season debuting on Adult Swim this week, we drew our swords with Phil LaMarr, the voice of Jack, about the series’ humble beginnings, how the show has matured, and why nobody wants to give 2D animation a chance anymore.
DEN OF GEEK: What were your initial impressions when you first saw the series fifteen years ago, and then again when you saw what the new batch of episodes looked like?
PHIL LAMARR: Actually, I haven't seen the new stuff yet!
Oh man! They're great!
I've seen the scripts, obviously, and the storyboards. But I haven't seen the finished animation. Apparently only the journalists get to see that! But when we first started on the show, there actually was finished animation, even before we started recording. That's very unusual. Genndy had done this test piece to show Cartoon Network what he was thinking because it wasn't like other shows. A proof of concept sort of thing, and I got to see that before we started recording. And that was amazing because I was like, "Oh...Oh!...OH! And that's why the script is only three pages long!"
Yeah, so coming at it this around was a very different process. Genndy and I have remained in touch over the years and I knew that he was trying to bring it back. So it wasn't a case of, "What's it going to be this time around?" It was more, "How are we going to do it? Oh, on Adult Swim? Got it. Tell me when to show up."
Well, on the topic of this return finally materializing on Adult Swim, there was talk for a long time to get a Samurai Jack Movie happening in the years after the show ended. How close was that to coming together? Did it ever get so far that you ever saw a script, and if so, how close was the story to the direction that these final episodes are going in?
I mean, actors are usually the last part of that puzzle. The gap between getting financing for a feature film and pulling in voice actors is pretty massive. As far as I know, there was never a deal in place to get it done, so I don't think there was ever a script. I certainly never saw one.
That makes sense. I would think that doing it as a movie would inevitably lead to a different story though since these final episodes have such a huge scope to them.
Yeah, I don't know if you could fit this story in two hours. It would have to be truncated in some way. Although, maybe he had a different concept when he was thinking about it as a feature. I suppose we'll never know, which is sort of a shame because you have a show this good and a character this fertile and still you can't get people to do 2D animation. You can get them to do bloody talking CG trucks for days, but you can't get this made. I think it's just some sort of weird entertainment company mentality now: "You can't do flat animation. You can't! You can't!!" Well, yes, you can, and in a lot of ways it actually looks better, communicates better, and tells a better story than the CG. Maybe I’m biased though.
No, I mean there is such a beautiful look to it all, even if it is flat. It's stuff that seemed ahead of its time 15 years ago and actually feels more appropriate with today's sensibilities. Like of course it's coming back now. It makes perfect sense to return.
It's interesting because when we first did the show everything was still pretty much analogue. It was all painted backgrounds. Each storyboard artist also came up with each story—they were writers. There was no separate writing staff and artistic staff. It was all one. That in itself was incredibly unique. It's interesting because the problem with digital animation at this point is that you don't get the personalization anymore. An artist can't get his style in there because it's not his hand. It's a keyboard, or a mouse, or a Wacom pen. The computer sort of takes the individual style out of it, or, you need to be incredibly proficient to get your personal essence through all of that technology. Nowadays, very few people have that. However, if you're a creator it becomes much easier to stay on model because you make the model and then you hand it off. It's not going to change.
Were you thinking about this property a lot during the time that it was gone? Was it the sort of world that you were missing and wondering what Jack was up to every so often? Did you have any idea the fandom and love for the series was so severe?
Absolutely. I'm trying to remember when it started. I mean, I always knew that the show was good. There was just no doubting that. There was a period maybe four or five years after it had been off the air that people began to mention it to me. I'd be at a convention or meet new people and when people found out I had worked on their eyes would just light up. That's how I knew that there was a "market for this" and fandom. People were still responding to this show even though it wasn't out there in a significant way. People were still finding it and just diving into it wholeheartedly. Whenever Genndy would talk about bringing it back in some form, I'd be like, "Absolutely! People want it!" Also, how could it never have an ending!? We need to find out does he defeat Aku? Does he get back to the past? What happens!?
Yeah, exactly. It's interesting because Futurama is another one of my favorite shows, and it also went away and came back. It feels like there's much more urgency with Samurai Jack though because there is that feeling of needing a conclusion to this long, long battle that's been going on.
Well, the premise itself has a question mark in it! It's a quest. It's The Odyssey. If Homer stops on Cersei's island you'd be like, "What are you doing!? You've got to get back home!" Does he get back to his wife? You need to know these things. That's the story that we set up. There's a man that's on a quest to get back and defeat this demon. It's a question. Futurama isn't really a question. It's just a life. An exploration of a world, and you're right that it's certainly less urgent in that way.
These new episodes do a lot to shatter the foundation of who Jack is at his core, which is a great way of re-entering this material. How is Jack, or the show, different in this return?
Well I don't know if it shatters things so much as it raises questions—
Okay, fair enough.
And those are the big questions that he's asking himself. It's funny because people have gone to me, "Ooh, it's on Adult Swim. Is it dirtier? Is it bloodier? Is it darker?" Well, it's darker in a sense, but to me it's really just more adult in the sense that the show has grown up. It has different concerns. It's looking at things from a different perspective than it is originally. One of those big questions is, "This is who I thought I was. Now all these things have happened. Am I still that person? Have I changed?" And those are the questions that Jack is asking himself, which is very unusual for a hero. A hero is unquestioning and does what's right. He doesn't go, "Is this right? What is ‘right’?"
Yeah, it's a really nice touch to throw into the mix. The show definitely gets a little harsher and sees Jack dealing with the repercussions of his actions.
And for me, that's what makes this show a continuation rather than a reboot or a sequel. It's not like we start with Jack defeating Aku and then another bigger baddie comes along. Oh no! That's the "sequel-itis" version of it. This is the story down the line and it's been amazing to play.
Do you have a favorite episode from the original series?
Oh gosh, there are so many...I love "Jack Learns to Jump Good." I mean, the first episode -
The movie?
Yeah! We did it as three individual episodes put together. "Aku's Fairy Tales" is another favorite. We did so many that are just really, really great—All of the Scotsman episodes!
"Jack and the Haunted House" has such a beautiful design style to it, too. It's great. Superheroes are really hitting a fever pitch right now, and you’ve been fortunate to get to voice a number of characters like Green Lantern in Justice League Unlimited and Aquaman in Young Justice. Was it nice to sort of get to put your stamp on these characters before they’re played around with in feature films?
At least for providing the voice of John Stewart—Green Lantern—I think that was the first time he had ever been voiced and animated before. Aquaman, he's been around a while though. Doing those voices is a very different sort of thing. To me, with Samurai Jack, I'm just a part of it. I'm a third of the character at the most. There's the voice, the design, and there's the writing. And no one of those can stand without the other two, and with that I feel a little more ownership than with these established superhero characters. As a big comic book head though, it's really cool to get to be a part of that legacy. I used to watch the Aquaman cartoon as a kid and to now be voicing the character—arguably a little cooler version of the character—is a blast.
On the topic of Young Justice, that’s another cancelled program that’s going back into production.
Yes!
Has any work begun yet on that? Can you say anything there?
Not for me, but of course my characters aren't central to the story. But I hope that I get to come back and play in that world. I think Greg Weisman is such a good writer. It's always great to voice characters and be a part of his world.
Lastly, what are you most excited for people to see in this return to Samurai Jack?
Hmm, I don't think I can say. I mean, I have an answer, but if I were to say what it was it would be a huge spoiler. There's something in the story that Jack experiences that I can’t wait to see people's reactions to.
Samurai Jack’s fifth season premieres March 11th at 11pm on Adult SwimI love when things come in series. This especially holds true for a series which sustains it’s quality throughout. Having an entity grouped together makes the whole much easier to process, compare, and contrast with other entities. Of course, history does not usually allow for such symmetry but when it does happen, it is marvelous. Take for example, the revitalization of the classic universal monsters with three films made from modest budgets in the span of three years. The Curse of Frankenstein, The Horror of Dracula, and The Mummy all saw Peter Cushing as the lead protagonist against a super evil played by Christopher Lee. These Hammer films would have multiple sequels, all with varying levels of quality, but for now it is safe to say these three films form a canonical series in classic horror.
Like all of the Hammer films, the Mummy takes the original story of The Mummy, shaped by previous decades of Mummy films, and runs with it to other places. We open at an archaeological dig in which John Banning (Cushing) and his father and uncle are scouring the tomb of Princess Annaka. Because of an injured leg, John stays back at the camp while his father Stephen and Uncle Joseph plunder, preserve, or desecrate different parts of the temple. To keep suspense, all instances of a “foul thing” that happens to Stephen Banning is kept off screen and the once brilliant scientist is left in a catatonic states. It is only after three years in which we are given the full backstory and inclinations of the horror that is about to unfold.
In terms of pacing and presentation, The Mummy succeeds on multiple levels. Firstly, the color from black and white transition allows for more splendor in the tomb of Annaka. The subsequent flashbacks to the original story of Kharis and his beloved Annaka are lush despite the bare budget. The events leading up to the story are given in expected flashbacks but provide a comfortable departure from the present for the audience to get acquainted with the characters. Though previous Mummy films have had the character of the devout priest, nowhere has this been so successful then with this film. George Pastell plays Mehemet Bey, a fanatical worshiper of the god Karnak. Bey is using the reanimated body of Kharis to enact cultural revenge over the desecration of Annaka’s tomb. Though this narrative is pretty standard among other Mummy films, The Mummy allows reasonable defense for the subsequent actions to make the character of Mehemet Bey not entirely evil. This reason will soon devolve into rabid xenophobia and eventual cartoon villainy, but for now the desecration of cultural heritage by outsiders leads to an understandable wielding of a dead corpse.
The Mummy has the feeling of a complex stage play, in which a few over developed characters drive the plot. Bey hires two town drunkards to transport the body of Kharis. After a bit of drunk carriage driving, the body ends up at the bottom of a bog outside of town. Bey reads from the scroll of life, animating a very muddy and very dead Kharis. This is one of the first times in which the bandages and the dirt really make sense. The monster breaks into an insane asylum seeking Stephen Banning. Even for 1959, the image of a muddy corpse climbing into a locked room is slightly terrifying. Alright, it is terrifying. ‘For the most part, The Mummy concentrates on the killing of the monster contrasted with the disbelief and procedure of Inspector Mulrooney. After both his father and uncle are murdered by a muddy maniac, Banning believes him to be the next victim. Banning is also accompanied by his lovely wife that, wait for it, no…really, looks like the mirror image of Princess Annaka. I am sure that will not come into play later.
Though I have praised the film for its effectiveness, The Mummy follows a predictable path which undoubtedly ends with a chase through a bog. Though Bey will most certainly get his comeuppance when his religious zealotry turns to maniacal bloodlust. Before that, however, I feel the strongest drama lies in the events before the cartoonish closing which sees the monster felled by villagers wielding guns. After picking up clues on Bey’s involvmenet in the affair, Banning confronts Bey. What follows is Banning taunting Bey, in conversation, and chastising his religious beliefs in order to tilt Bey into revealing information. The scene in the library is not only well constructed but occurs on multiple levels. Banning’s character embodies a villainous imperialist while Bey pleads for reason and tolerance. It is at this point in which the two men and their actions are on equal moral grounds. This is, of course, before Bey loses all reason and becomes a cardboard archetype. While it is understandable the film should end with a more traditional monster ending the space in which villains display heroic tendencies and heroes show an equal amount of evil is fascinating and demands commendation. In the end, however, the monster is tricked by Banning’s Wife to a crowd of villagers with guns, and meets his end in uninteresting and expected ways.
All three of the Hammer franchises, Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy would have at least three more sequels after their initial run. The Mummy would be the shortest compared to the 7 and 8 sequels that Frankenstein and Dracula would get. Though history and quality would branch out from this point, the three series revitalization of the classic monsters is nothing short of impressive and amazing, even decades later. This is enhanced when watching all of the films up to this point, but something tells me that horror in technicolor is appreciated despite one’s level of experience with the genre.
THE MUMMY (1959)
Directed By: Terence Fisher
Starring: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Furneaux
Website: IMDB
Score: 7/9 HammersThe Padres are officially considering moving in the fences at Petco Park before the 2013 season.
“We’re open-minded and we’re seriously considering it,” Padres interim CEO Tom Garfinkel said Tuesday.
“I do believe it is too extreme right now. It will still be a pitcher’s ballpark. But a hitter should be rewarded if he crushes it. And if a team is down 4-0, they should feel there is some hope. It’s just too extreme.”
Garfinkel’s comments Tuesday represent a major change by the Padres.
Former CEO Jeff Moorad vowed the outfield dimensions at Petco Park would not be altered as long as he controlled the club.
But Moorad resigned as CEO last month after the minority group he led was rebuffed by Major League Baseball in its attempts to be approved as the Padres owners.
Starting pitcher Tim Stauffer talks about his simulated game and when he might return to the mound, plus an injury update from Annie. Starting pitcher Tim Stauffer talks about his simulated game and when he might return to the mound, plus an injury update from Annie. SEE MORE VIDEOS
Garfinkel said the Padres have already been in contact with MLB about the protocol to be followed for shortening the fences – primarily in right field and right-center.
“We’d have to submit plans by the end of the season,” said Garfinkel, who said the Padres have not decided on the distance that the fences would be shortened.
“I don’t think a final decision needs to be made until October,” said Garfinkel.
“There are a lot of things to consider. We can’t change the air and the atmospheric conditions. This ballpark plays different at night than it does during the day. It plays different in the spring than it does in late summer.
“We have to get it right. We are studying everything. There are still going to be some nights when the conditions would still be such that it’s going to be hard to hit a homer no matter what the distance is to the fences.
“But a solidly hit ball should be rewarded. Baseball is a match between the pitcher and the hitter. We’ve seen a number of times here where the hitter wins that battle and gets nothing to show for it.
“It should play fair. Four runs should not be an impossible deficit to overcome.”
There have been at least two previous studies made on shortening the fences at Petco Park.
Blueprints were actually drawn after the 2004 season showing shorter fences in right and right center. Those blueprints were used to finalize the shortening of the distance to right-center from 410 feet to 400.
In 2007 and 2008, then club president Sandy Alderson commissioned another study looking at the dimensions of Petco Park. But the club was put up for sale before the Padres acted on the proposal.
Garfinkel said the outfield dimensions are but one change the Padres are considering to the facility that opened in 2004. WiFi will come to Petco Park later this season. And the club is already discussing a new and larger scoreboard in left.
“There are more things we’re discussing,” said Garfinkel.Ed Foudil, a web developer and security researcher, has submitted a draft to the IETF — Internet Engineering Task Force — seeking the standardization of security.txt, a file that webmasters can host on their domain root and describe the site's security policies.
The file is akin to robots.txt, a standard used by websites to communicate and define policies for web and search engine crawlers.
Security.txt is for security-related problems
The distinction between security.txt and robots.txt is that security.txt will be used to communicate a company's security practices only, and is likely to be read by humans, rather than automated scanners.
For example, if a security researcher finds a security vulnerability on a website, he can access the site's security.txt file for information on how to contact the company and securely report the issue.
According to the current IETF draft, website owners would be able to create security.txt files that look like this:
#This is a comment Contact: security@example.com Contact: +1-201-555-0123 Contact: https://example.com/security Encryption: https://example.com/pgp-key.txt Acknowledgement: https://example.com/acknowledgements.html Disclosure: Full
Infosec community welcomed the idea
Speaking to Bleeping Computer, Foudil says he came up with the idea after attending the DEF CON security conference and the H1702 CTF event in the US at the start of August.
"During that time I was reflecting on the amazing contributions some of the people from the events in [Las] Vegas make to the security industry and our society as a whole," Foudil told Bleeping. "This motivated me to stop keeping my ideas to myself and start working on projects and sharing my ideas."
Projects like SECURITY.md and BUG-BOUNTY.md — files added to GitHub repositories to describe security policies — were also a major inspiration.
This is when Foudil put together a first version of the security.txt specification that he later published on GitHub. Early feedback from the IT security industry convinced the researcher to go on.
"When x0rz [well-known security researcher] tweeted about my proposal I realized that this was something people really wanted and that it was time to start writing up an RFC draft," Foudil said.
The researcher had lots of help from people in the infosec industry. Foudil says feedback from HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Google, and others helped him shape his IETF proposal.
Start small now. Improve and get better later.
The current IETF draft of security.txt only includes support for four directives (Contact, Encryption, Disclosure, and Acknowledgement). The security.txt GitHub repo lists many more directives, such as In-scope, Out-of-scope-vuln, Rate-limit, Platform, Reward, Payment-method, Currency, Donate, and Disallow.
Foudil explained to Bleeping Computer why he axed most of the directives, which in hindsight, were quite helpful and would have given security.txt more depth.
"A major tech company told me that I am better off starting slow and seeing how companies start using security.txt, then with the help of those companies' feedback, security.txt can be adapted with new directives," Foudil said.
"Casey Ellis used the expression 'axe first, then sandpaper', implying that now that I have all these ideas, I should start chiseling away at them one by one ending up with a well-thought through draft," the researcher added.
"Now that I have published the Internet draft I get emails on a regular basis with valuable input that allows me to see where possible changes could be made in the future," Foudil said.
Bug bounty platforms have offered to help
Right now, security.txt is at the status of Internet Draft, which is the first IETF regulatory step in a three-stage process that also includes RFC (Request For Comment) and official Internet Standards.
"Once security.txt becomes an RFC the focus will shift to spreading the word and encouraging companies to setup a security.txt file," Foudil told Bleeping Computer.
"Several bug bounty platforms have already offered to help out with this step and hopefully if some of the big companies have a security.txt this will set a good example that could convince others to follow suit."
UPDATE [October 4, 2017, 19:35 ET]: Security.txt now has a dedicated website.Mike Pence, somehow America’s Vice President-elect, seems especially concerned about what I do with my lesbian body. He wants to know what I’m doing with it, he wants to know where I’m taking it, he wants to know who it’s with, he wants to regulate it, convert it, ban it, and it’s like, yes, I get it, you’re obsessed with me. At a certain point, though, Mike Pence, you’ve got to put your money where your mouth is.
Which is why from now on Mike Pence will buy me my tampons.
The government should already be buying me my tampons, but they’re not, and so Mike Pence will. Even if the government agreed to pick up Mike Pence’s tab, I’d say, “No, Mike Pence will buy them using money from his bank account. Mike knows what he’s done,” and then we’ll sign into Amazon to start the transaction.
Amazon? Who buys tampons on Amazon? Mike Pence does, because that’s where these lesbian vampire themed tampons exist.
When Mike Pence is in the process of buying me my lesbian vampire tampons I’ll make reference to the lesbian vampires as much as I can so as to say “lesbian” over and over into Mike Pence’s ears. “Mike Pence,” I’ll say, “Do you know why associating lesbians and vampires outside of the context of this Carmilla-themed tampon box is offensive?” and he’ll go, “Mmpngg,” because that’s how Mike Pence responds to a woman asking him a question, and then I’ll go, “Because it perpetuates the stereotype that lesbians are predatory,” and then he’ll blink twice because that’s his way of asking if he can leave.
I’ll say, “Ohh, no, Mike Pence, you can’t leave yet, you know I need to see the receipt!” which he then shows me in silence before exiting to rearrange a pencil drawer, or whatever Mike Pence does in between obsessing about how he can try to control a woman’s body and thinking up new ways to hurt LGTBQ people.
I know it’s going to be tough getting Mike Pence to pay for my lesbian vampire tampons, but I’ll figure it out. If I have to pretend that I want conversion therapy and reach out for financial assistance – which he will agree to since I’ll suggest this might make a strong argument in front of Congress 😉 – only to then pocket that money, I will. If I need to bewitch him into some sort of Disney-princess style contract which states that for the rest of time he, Mike Pence, will buy Erin’s lesbian vampire tampons, I will.
Thanks in advance, Mike Pence, for buying me my lesbian vampire tampons until I die, which is when I will then see you in hell!× Expand New from the N.C. Democratic Party
Enough. After a stormy year as state Democratic Party chair, Randy Voller should step down for the sake of his party's candidates and North Carolina. I say this knowing that he won't, because Voller sees himself as a visionary leaderbut he can't see that he's hurting Democratic prospects for 2014.
When he was mayor of Pittsboro, Voller said Thursday, his first two years were "hell" as his adversaries tested him and allies stood by. But he endured and in six more years either won people over or at least got them to listen. "Time is a great equalizer for perspective," Voller remarked.
My interview with VollerI joined two bloggers for the BlueNC.com websitecame a week after his latest fiasco.
Voller fired his executive director, Robert Dempsey, on Feb. 9 and sought to replace him with a surprise choice, the Rev. Dr. Ben Chavis. Voller scheduled a press conference for Feb. 12 to introduce Chavis, but later canceled it, ostensibly because of snow but also because Voller failed to muster support for Chavis during a contentious conference call on Feb. 11 with members of the party's 51-member executive council.
It was a fiasco for three reasons. First, Dempsey was dumped without justification. Second, Chavis was miscast as his replacement. And third, even if you agree with Voller's contention that Chavis is just what the Democrats need to spark turnout this year in African-American and Latino communities, springing him on the executive council in a hastily scheduled call was exactly the kind of rash, arrogant act that's become Voller's trademark.
Predictably, Dempsey's defendersVoller's criticsattacked Chavis, quickly digging up the fact that he was fired as national director of the NAACP in 1994 and, after joining the Nation of Islam and serving as second-in-command to its leader, the notorious Louis Farrakhan, left that position under a cloud too. In each job, a female associate accused Chavis of sexual harassment. Chavis denied their charges, but each woman was paidby the NAACP and NOIto settle her claims.
You may recall that in 2012, the state party's executive director resigned after a staffer accused him of sexual harassmentand David Parker, Voller's predecessor, was forced out after it was revealed that he'd negotiated a confidential settlement with the staffer.
In short, the Democrats don't need more headlines about sexual harassment.
Chavis is a North Carolina native and is best-known here as a leader of the Wilmington Ten, civil rights protesters who were falsely convicted of conspiracy and assault in connection with the firebombing of a Wilmington grocery in 1971. In 2012, former Gov. Bev Perdue granted them formal pardons of innocence. Chavis is a fiery advocate for racial justice, whatever else he may or may not be.
If there was a case to be made for Chavis as a state Democratic staffer, however, Voller never made ithe was in too much of a rush. And the upshot was a disaster.
Furious that Voller seemed determined to shove Chavis down their throats before there was any time for debate, Voller's opponents trashed Chavis and forced Voller, who suddenly realized he might lose, to pull back. Instead of Chavis, Voller nominated Casey Mann, already on his staff, to be interim director, a move the executive council approved.
The whole mess infuriated Cash Michaels, Raleigh's foremost African-American journalist, who wrote that Chavis deserved far better than he got from Voller's opponents but also ripped Voller for a "badly mishandled nomination."
Voller admits that he could've handled things better. But he's also determined to rewrite the story to say that he always intended to nominate Chavis for interim director while party members discussed whether Chavis was right for the permanent job or a different role to "get out the vote."
If that's true, a lot of people went into that conference call misinformed.
Let's review. Voller, a self-styled progressive reformer, was elected chair when the candidate backed by "establishment Democrats"the centrists and major contributorsunexpectedly withdrew. Even at that, Voller barely won, defeating a last-minute substitute.
Rather than make peace with the other side, however, Voller started a war, firing staffers his opponents liked while packing party committees with his own people, generally grassroots volunteers. Party professionals, including consultants who run campaigns for candidates, reviled him as a bully.
After a series of public skirmishes, Voller and four of his critics signed a cease-fire agreement, and Voller brought in Dempsey, a seasoned political operative, to run party operations. According to my best information, Dempsey succeeded in tamping down the animosities while raising enough money to keep the cash-strapped party in business.
But Voller doesn't like not being in the spotlight. So as the 2014 election filing season opened, and the day after the state NAACP-led Moral March on Raleigh grabbed public attention across North Carolina, Voller struckfiring Dempsey.
Why? He still won't say. But Voller's supporters complain that Dempsey was spending too much time helping U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan's re-election staff and not paying enough attention to Voller.
Too much helping Hagan? Not possible. As Hagan goes at the top of the ticket, so go Democratic candidates on down the lineand if Democrats hope to put a dent in the right-wing Republican majorities in the General Assembly this year, they should be telling their party to go all in for Hagan.
On Monday, Hagan filed for re-election in Raleigh and said proudly that the National Journal named her "the most moderate" member of the Senate.
And Voller? He calls himself "a transformational leader," pushing the party to be more progressivenot so moderate.
Well, yes, that's what a party chair might do between elections. But in election years, the job is to elect candidatesnot be the story instead of them.
This article appeared in print with the headline "State Dems divided again."Confidence.
No matter if it was 16-0 |
a kickass music playlist, and Forza Horizon 3 doesn’t disappoint. The return of Chvrches’, a band that stood out in Forza Horizon 2, accentuates the near-utopic vibe of this spin-off series. Some events have their own pre-chosen song to fit a given moment. It’s hard to beat listening to Richard Wagner while making an epic 500 foot leap into a gorge or hearing Night on Bald Mountain when racing to a haunted house. And thanks to Crazy Taxi, listening to the Offspring during a timed driving contest makes for a sweet trip down memory lane.
The PC version of Forza Horizon 3 benefits from being able to adjust myriad visual options; you have flexibility in optimizing things like lighting, detail, and anti-aliasing. It can be a demanding game, but even a three-year old Razer Blade laptop can run Forza Horizon 3 with performance on par with the console version. High-end graphics cards let you experience Forza Horizon 3 at speeds beyond the Xbox One version’s 30 frames per second, complemented with vibrant lighting and smoother blur effects. It’s not enough to make me regret spending my first 25 hours on Xbox One, but it’s conceivable that the rest of my treks around Playground’s vision of Australia will be exclusively on PC.
With Forza Horizon 3, Turn 10 and Playground Games affirm the series’ status as the driving game for everyone. The new emphasis on off-road options isn’t at the expense of traditional races, thanks to the sheer volume of activities. All the while, Playground Games’ calculated kitchen-sink design philosophy and rich reward system persistently tempt you to explore beyond your comfort zone, whether it’s gifting your first Ariel Nomad buggy or reminding you that stunt races can impress thousands of fans. Enhancing your own brand might feel like a strange motivation to hit the road, but pulling off sick e-drifts on a mile-long series of curves makes the PR work worthwhile.Cape Town - Cheetahs and Springbok fullback Willie le Roux will join the Sharks from the 2016 season.
According to Netwerk24, the 25-year-old will join a Japanese club for three months after his 2015 Springbok commitments are completed, before joining the Durban-based franchise in time for next year's Super Rugby competition.
Le Roux has represented the Cheetahs in 56 Super Rugby matches since 2012, but the Bloemfontein franchise was reportedly unable to match the offer of the Sharks.
In Durban, Le Roux will join Cheetahs team-mate Joe Pietersen, who last week announced that he would join the Sharks on a two-and-a-half year deal.
In some good news for the Cheetahs, Le Roux has recovered from his ankle injury and will be available for their final two Super Rugby matches - against the Waratahs and Bulls.
Le Roux has played 25 Tests for the Springboks since making his debut in 2013.5 stretch goals unlocked!
I think congratulations are in order for everyone! We now have 5 stretch goals under our figurative belts and now at $400k you get to help us select a new environment type to add to the game!
Now too far away we get 2 new monster types and then a big one just a little beyond that at $25, which provides 3, uniquely themed, end-game dungeons!
Anything is possible in these last two days. I know people are very eager for two-handed weapons, an additional end-game boss and, the big one, a new survivor town hidden somewhere in the wilderness! While the latter goals are still distant, other kickstarters have pulled down far more in their final days, so it isn't totally out of the realm of reality.
New melee combat video
As if things weren't exciting enough, we've just broken $400k, the hours are counting down but, the show isn't over yet! In response to comments requesting to see more melee combat footage, we've created a rather lengthy video to satiate your melee needs.
This video shows a dual-class melee build created by mixing primarily soldier skills with a bit of demolition. Even without changing any skills, this character could also pick up a crossbow or firearm and be rather effective that way as well as the Grim Dawn skills are designed to be even more flexible, in terms of weapon use, than those in Titan Quest.
Last but not least, new reward tiers
I know, I know, there are far too many tiers but these are the last. It is very difficult trying to meet all of the different demands for various configurations of rewards with Kickstarters 1 pledge - 1 reward system. However, to resolve the biggest remaining demand among fans, we've added the following single-copy + expansion tiers:
$45 Early Access Edition + Expansion is everything from the $35 tier, including beta access, plus our first expansion (which will be developed after release).
$58 Digital Collector's + Expansion is everything from the $50 tier, including alpha / beta access, plus our first expansion (which will be developed after release).
Hopefully that should satisfy a lot of people who only wanted a single, early-access copy but also wanted the expansion. While I'm sure there are still more combinations people might want, we really have to stop here as the rewards are going off the page and people are getting confused. I think this is as close as we're going to get on Kickstarter to making most everyone happy. ; )
After Kickstarter, probably a couple weeks after, we will work on putting up a revised pre-order system, which may better accommodate some people. We can't promise that all the same rewards or pricing will be available though as we just haven't had time to put much thought into it yet.
I hope you enjoy the new footage!
- ArthurHama, SANA – Terrorists of “Ahrar al-Sham” and Jabhat al-Nusra have looted equipment and supplies in Zayzoun power plant and smuggled them across the villages and towns in the southwestern countryside of Idleb province and all the way into the Turkish territory, according to reports from local sources in Jisr al-Shughour area in Idleb.
In a statement to SANA, a source at Zayzoun facility said they received many phone calls from the locals in Jisr al-Shughour countryside in which the latter said they saw heavy vehicles, tower cranes and trucks for terrorist groups loaded with equipment and machines moving out of the plant and heading towards the Turkish land.
Besides the calls, there have been also pictures showing terrorist groups dismantling the giant boiler steam pipes in the plant and transported the equipment on board trucks, said the source, indicating that the terrorists must have resorted to highly experienced people to dismantle the equipment.
The source pointed out that Zayzoun plant was evacuated after a terror attack by Jabhat al-Nusra and other Takfiri groups in order to preserve the lives of its workers and expertise, noting that the plant, whose establishment cost more than half a billion dollars, was fully equipped before the evacuation.
M. al-Frieh/H. SaidHLA-restricted immune escape mutations that persist following HIV transmission could gradually spread through the viral population, thereby compromising host antiviral immunity as the epidemic progresses. To assess the extent and phenotypic impact of this phenomenon in an immunogenetically diverse population, we genotypically and functionally compared linked HLA and HIV (Gag/Nef) sequences from 358 historic (1979–1989) and 382 modern (2000–2011) specimens from four key cities in the North American epidemic (New York, Boston, San Francisco, Vancouver). Inferred HIV phylogenies were star-like, with approximately two-fold greater mean pairwise distances in modern versus historic sequences. The reconstructed epidemic ancestral (founder) HIV sequence was essentially identical to the North American subtype B consensus. Consistent with gradual diversification of a “consensus-like” founder virus, the median “background” frequencies of individual HLA-associated polymorphisms in HIV (in individuals lacking the restricting HLA[s]) were ∼2-fold higher in modern versus historic HIV sequences, though these remained notably low overall (e.g. in Gag, medians were 3.7% in the 2000s versus 2.0% in the 1980s). HIV polymorphisms exhibiting the greatest relative spread were those restricted by protective HLAs. Despite these increases, when HIV sequences were analyzed as a whole, their total average burden of polymorphisms that were “pre-adapted” to the average host HLA profile was only ∼2% greater in modern versus historic eras. Furthermore, HLA-associated polymorphisms identified in historic HIV sequences were consistent with those detectable today, with none identified that could explain the few HIV codons where the inferred epidemic ancestor differed from the modern consensus. Results are therefore consistent with slow HIV adaptation to HLA, but at a rate unlikely to yield imminent negative implications for cellular immunity, at least in North America. Intriguingly, temporal changes in protein activity of patient-derived Nef (though not Gag) sequences were observed, suggesting functional implications of population-level HIV evolution on certain viral proteins.
Upon HIV transmission, many – though not all – immune escape mutations selected in the previous host will revert to the consensus residue. The persistence of certain escape mutations following transmission has led to concerns that these could gradually accumulate in circulating HIV sequences over time, thereby undermining host antiviral immune potential as the epidemic progresses. As certain immune-driven mutations reduce viral fitness, their spread through the population could also have consequences for the average replication capacity and/or protein function of circulating HIV sequences. Here, we characterized HIV sequences, linked to host immunogenetic information, from patients enrolled in historic (1979–1989) and modern (2000–2011) HIV cohorts from four key cities in the North American epidemic. We reconstructed the epidemic's ancestral (founder) HIV sequence and assessed the subsequent extent to which known HIV immune escape mutations have spread in the population. Our data support the gradual spread of many - though not all - immune escape mutations in HIV sequences over time, but to an extent that is unlikely to have major immediate immunologic consequences for the North American epidemic. Notably, in vitro assessments of ancestral and patient-derived HIV sequences suggested functional implications of ongoing HIV evolution for certain viral proteins.
Funding: This work was supported by operating grants from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) MOP-93536 to ZLB/MAB and HOP-115700 to ZLB/MAB/AFYP. The VIDUS and ACCESS projects were funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH (RO1DA011591 and RO1DA021525). This project has been funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, under Contract No. HHSN261200800001E. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. This Research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, Frederick National Lab, Center for Cancer Research. XTK was funded by a CAHR/BMS Master's Scholarship in Basic Science. AQL was funded by a CIHR Frederick Banting and Charles Best Masters Award. JMC was an employee of Microsoft Corporation. DRC was a recipient of the Canada-HOPE fellowship from CIHR and Sanofi-Aventis, the Clinical Infectious Diseases Research Initiative (CIDRI) fellowship and the Claude Leon Foundation fellowship. CJB was supported by a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the CIHR. EM was supported by a Master's Scholarship from the Canadian Association of HIV Research and Abbott Virology. PM is the recipient of a Postdoctoral fellowship from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (MSFHR). PRH was supported by a CIHR/GSK research chair in Clinical Virology. MAB holds a Canada Research Chair, Tier 2, in Viral Pathogenesis and Immunity. AFYP was the recipient of a Scholar Award from the MSFHR/St. Paul's Hospital Foundation - Providence Health Care Research Institute Career Investigator program, and a CIHR New Investigator Award. ZLB is the recipient of a CIHR New Investigator Award and a scholar award from the MSFHR. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Overall, we observed an HIV epidemic that is steadily diversifying (in part due to HLA pressures), where background frequencies of HLA-associated polymorphisms have, on average, increased by a modest extent over the study period. Notably, HIV polymorphisms selected by protective HLA alleles appear to have increased to a greater relative (though not absolute) degree than those restricted by non-protective alleles. Despite these increases, average escape mutation background frequencies remain, in absolute terms, low. As such, we contend that HIV adaptation to host HLA is unlikely to yield imminent negative implications for cellular antiviral immunity, at least in North America. Intriguingly, changes in Nef (though not Gag) activity were observed over the epidemic's course, suggesting functional impacts of ongoing HIV evolution on certain viral proteins.
The goals of the present study are to assess the extent to which HLA-associated polymorphisms are accumulating in HIV sequences over time in a large epidemic region comprising an immunogenetically diverse population (North America), and to investigate whether any genotypic changes have been accompanied by functional implications for the virus. To do this, we genotypically and functionally assessed HIV sequences, linked to host HLA information, from 358 historic (1979–1989) and 382 modern (2000–2011) specimens from four key cities in the epidemic (New York [34], [35], Boston [36], [37], San Francisco [34], [38], [39] and Vancouver, Canada [40] – [42] ). We performed ancestral phylogenetic reconstructions to infer North America's most recent common ancestor (MRCA) HIV sequence, and we defined HLA-associated polymorphisms based on independent published sources [43]. We focused on Gag and Nef, as these are immunogenic HIV proteins whose sequence variability is substantially influenced by HLA [43] and whose function is susceptible to immune-mediated attenuation [44] – [46].
The potential pathogenic implications of population-level HIV evolution are also of interest. It has been hypothesized that conflicting selection pressures imposed on HIV by HLA-diverse host populations could lead to (relative) viral attenuation over time, while consistent pressures imposed by populations with limited HLA diversity could increase HIV virulence [21]. However, the complex tradeoffs between immune evasion benefits versus fitness costs of escape, and the context-specific nature of these factors with respect to the host genetic milieu, render this a challenging question to address. A recent meta-analysis of HIV clinical prognostic markers (plasma viral load and CD4+ T-cell counts) in cohorts from North America, Europe and Australia suggested that HIV could be increasing in virulence [22], but other reports have been highly conflicting [23] – [30]. Alternatively, pathogenic implications may be investigated, albeit incompletely and indirectly, via assessment of HIV protein function and/or replication capacity of patient-derived viral sequences – though historic data remain scarce. Reductions in replication capacity of recombinant HIV expressing gag-protease sequences from Japanese patients, a population with relatively constrained HLA diversity [12], [31], have been reported since the 1990s [32], while two earlier studies examining replicative fitness of recombinant viruses expressing HIV RT sequences from historic and modern European isolates yielded opposing results [23], [33].
The extent to which immune escape mutations are accumulating in HIV sequences over time remains incompletely elucidated – a knowledge gap attributable in part to the scarcity of historic data. Nevertheless, some supportive data exist. It has been suggested that CTL epitopes in European HIV sequences are being “lost” over time through mutational escape, in particular via selection by HLA-B alleles, though this study was limited by the modest number of sequences analyzed [19]. Higher HIV polymorphism frequencies have been reported in modern compared to historic South American HIV subtype B and F sequences, though this study was limited by the lack of host HLA characterization [20]. The high (∼75%) frequency of the B*51-associated HIV Reverse Transcriptase (RT) I135X mutation in Japan, a population where B*51 prevalence approaches 20%, is also consistent with escape mutation accumulation [12], though the possibility that the Japanese epidemic was founded by an HIV sequence containing RT-I135X cannot be ruled out. That certain (though not all) escape mutations are capable of spreading in HIV-infected populations has also been demonstrated via mathematical modeling [9]. However, conclusive assessment of the extent to which escape mutants are accumulating in circulation ideally requires large datasets of linked HLA/HIV genotypes from historic and modern eras, combined with ancestral (founder) sequence reconstruction of the studied epidemics.
Escape from Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) class I-restricted CD8+ T-lymphocytes (CTL) in Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV) occurs along mutational pathways that are broadly reproducible based on the HLA alleles expressed by the host [1] – [4]. The opposite phenomenon (that is, reversion of escape mutations to consensus upon HIV transmission to an individual lacking the restricting HLA) is somewhat more variable. While some escape mutations revert relatively rapidly following transmission [5] – [7], others do so more slowly [8], [9]. Yet others (perhaps because they harbor no fitness costs, or such costs are rescued by the presence of compensatory mutations) revert rarely or not at all [10] – [13]. If escape mutations reverted rapidly and consistently, their prevalence in HLA-mismatched persons would remain stably low (or negligible) over time [9]. However, escape mutations persisting upon transmission could gradually spread throughout the population [10], [12], [14] – [16]. Analogous to the negative impact of transmitted drug resistance mutations on treatment efficacy [17], acquisition of “immune escaped” HIV by persons expressing the relevant HLA allele could undermine the ability of their CTL to control infection. As such, the spread of HIV strains harboring escape mutations throughout the population could gradually undermine host antiviral immune potential, and potentially diminish the protective effects of certain HLA alleles, as the epidemic progresses [11], [12], [18].
Taken together, the lack of significant functional differences between ancestral, subtype B consensus, and median patient-derived Gag clones from historic and modern eras argues against major replicative consequences of HIV Gag diversification during the North American epidemic. In contrast, our Nef results suggest the introduction of a highly functional founder virus to North America in the 1960s, followed by a subsequent decline in average Nef-mediated CD4 and HLA downregulation functions of patient-derived sequences in the 1980s, that were restored to original (“founder”) levels by the 2000s. The mechanisms and potential role for host pressures in this phenomenon require further investigation.
The ability of the ancestral Nef sequence to downregulate HLA-A*02 was ∼3.5% higher than reference strain SF2 ( Figure 8C ), while that of global subtype B consensus Nef was equivalent to SF2 (not shown). Although Nef clones from both historic and modern patients were in general highly functional, historic Nef sequences exhibited significantly lower HLA downregulation abilities compared to modern Nef sequences (Kruskal-Wallis p<0.0001), with the early (1979–1982) Nef clones displaying the lowest function overall ( Figure 8C ). HLA downregulation capacities of modern early Nef sequences were on average 1% higher than those from modern chronic Nef sequences (p = 0.14, Figure 8C and not shown), arguing against infection stage as a major confounder. The significantly lower Nef-mediated CD4 and HLA downregulation observed in historic versus modern sequences was robust to inclusion/exclusion of the 15 clones whose Nef expression was not detectable by Western Blot (not shown).
CD4 downregulation activity of ancestral Nef was comparable to that of reference strain SF2 ( Figure 8B ), while that of global subtype B consensus Nef was ∼3% lower (not shown). Nef clones from historic and modern patients were generally highly functional for CD4 downregulation and exhibited relatively narrow dynamic ranges. Nevertheless, historic patient-derived Nef sequences exhibited significantly lower CD4 downregulation abilities compared to modern sequences (Kruskal-Wallis p<0.0001), with the early (1979–1982) Nef clones exhibiting the lowest function overall ( Figure 8B ). Nef-mediated CD4 downregulation of modern Nef clones from individuals in early and chronic infection were comparable (p = 0.9, Figure 8B and not shown), arguing against infection stage as a major confounder of this result.
Panel A: Unrooted Maximum-Likelihood phylogenies, drawn on the same distance scale, depicting the inferred ancestor (single black dot), early-historic (red, 1979–1982), mid-historic (green, 1983–1985), late-historic (blue, 1986–1989) and modern (purple: chronic-phase, orange: acute-phase, year 2000+) Nef clonal sequences from unique patients cloned into a GFP-expression vector for functional assessment. Panel B: CD4 downregulation activities of the inferred ancestral Nef sequence (mean±S.E.M. of 8 replicate measurements) and patient-derived Nef clones from various eras (one per patient, representing the mean of triplicate measurements). CD4 downregulation values are normalized to that of HIV subtype B control Nef strain SF2, such that a value of 1 indicates CD4 downregulation activity equal to that of SF2 while values>1 and <1 indicate activities higher or lower than SF2 respectively. Modern Nefs exhibited significantly higher CD4 downregulation activity compared to historic Nefs (Kruskal-Wallis p<0.0001). Panel C: SF2-normalized HLA class I downregulation activities of inferred ancestral (mean±S.E.M. of 8 replicate measurements) and patient-derived Nef sequences (one per patient, mean of triplicate measurements). Modern Nefs exhibited significantly higher HLA downregulation activity compared to historic Nefs (Kruskal-Wallis p<0.0001).
Similarly, we cloned the inferred ancestral, global subtype B consensus and a single representative Nef sequence from N = 102 historic and N = 86 modern patients into a GFP-expression vector ( Figures 8A and S8 ). As modulation of Nef function over the natural history of infection is supported by some [64], [65] (though not all [66] ) studies, and a minority of historic Nef clones were derived from persons with known or suspected early infection, we indirectly assessed infection stage as a potential confounder by including Nef sequences from 52 modern chronic and 34 early infection patients not included in previous analyses (sampled a median of 72 [IQR 48–92] days after infection) in our comparison group. Following transient transfection into an immortalized T-cell line stably expressing CD4 and HLA-A*02, we assessed the ability of these Nef clones to downregulate these molecules from the cell surface by flow cytometry [67], [68] ( Figure 8B ). The Nef sequence from HIV reference strain SF2 served as a positive control (SF2 is commonly used as a control in Nef functional studies, as it possesses robust CD4 and HLA class I downregulation activities, e.g. [67] ); thus, normalized Nef functions of >1 and <1 indicate activity greater or less than SF2, respectively. Nef protein expression was verified by Western blot ( Figure S8 ); 15 poorly functional Nef clones whose expression could not be detected were excluded (since in vitro cloning defects or other artifacts could not be ruled out), leaving 93 historic and 80 modern clones for analysis.
The replication capacities of recombinant viruses encoding the inferred ancestral and global subtype B consensus sequences were comparable to those of parental NL4-3 ( Figures 7B and S8 ). Recombinant viruses expressing historic or modern Gag clonal sequences displayed a broad range of growth phenotypes, with median RCs approaching that of NL4-3 ( Figure 7B ). Although there appeared to be a trend towards lower RC among Gag recombinant viruses from early historic (1979–1982) patients, this was not statistically significant (Kruskal-Wallis p = 0.6). Furthermore, no correlation was observed between the replication capacity of a given Gag clone and its genetic distance from the Gag NL4-3 sequence (Spearman's R = 0.03, p = 0.6, not shown), arguing against confounding effects attributable to our use of a historic lab-adapted sequence (NL4-3) as a viral backbone.
Panel A: Unrooted Maximum-Likelihood phylogenies, drawn on the same distance scale, depicting the inferred ancestor (single black dot), early-historic (red, 1979–1982), mid-historic (green, 1983–1985), late-historic (blue, 1986–1989) and modern (purple, 2000+) Gag clonal sequences from unique patients that were used to construct recombinant NL4-3 viruses for functional assessment. Panel B: NL4-3 normalized replication capacities of recombinant viruses containing the Gag sequence of the inferred ancestral sequence (Mean±S.E.M. of 3 replicate measurements) as well as patient-derived Gag clonal sequences (one per patient, representing the mean of ≥2 replicate measurements). An RC of 1 indicates replication equal to that of NL4-3 while RC>1 and <1 indicate RC higher or lower than NL4-3 respectively. Although visually there appears a trend towards lower replication capacity among Gag clones from early historic (1979–1982) era, there no significant differences in RC between any of the groups (Kruskal-Wallis test, p = 0.6).
HIV Gag and Nef are highly immunogenic HIV proteins whose sequence variability is substantially influenced by HLA [43] and whose function is susceptible to immune-mediated attenuation [44] – [46]. As such, we investigated whether the gradual spread of immune escape mutations in North American Gag and Nef sequences may be accompanied by overall changes in the average viral replication capacity and/or protein function of patient-derived HIV sequences. We began with Gag, by generating a recombinant HIV strain expressing the epidemic's inferred Gag ancestral sequence, and another expressing the published global subtype B consensus ( Figure S3 ) in an HIV NL4-3 subtype B reference strain backbone. We also generated recombinant HIV NL4-3 strains expressing a single representative clonal Gag sequence from 108 (of 120 originally selected; 90.0% success rate) historic and 58 (of 71 originally selected; 82% success rate) modern specimens ( Figure 7A ). A clonal (rather than quasispecies [60] ) approach was adopted for the patient-derived sequences, as variations in viral stock diversity resulting from differential integrity of historic versus modern specimens could bias replicative measurements. We assayed the in vitro replication capacity of these recombinant viruses using a published reporter T-cell assay [60] – [63]. Replication capacities (RC) were normalized to that of parental NL4-3, such that values >1 and <1 indicate RC greater or less than NL4-3, respectively.
Panel A: Gag immune escape map, indicating the locations, specific amino acid residues and HLA restrictions of HLA-associated polymorphisms identified at q≤0.05 in our historic cohort. The HIV consensus B amino acid sequence is used as a reference. Shaded vertical bars separate blocks of 10 amino acids. “Adapted” amino acids (those over-represented in the presence of the HLA allele) are red. “Nonadapted” amino acids (those under-represented in the presence of the HLA allele) are blue. UPPERCASE letters distinguish polymorphisms that survive correction for HIV codon covariation (“direct” associations), while lowercase letters distinguish polymorphisms that do not survive correction for codon covariation (“indirect” associations). The notation “_ST” following an HLA (e.g. B58_ST) identifies associations identified at the supertype level. The locations of optimally-defined, HLA-restricted CTL epitopes straddling or adjacent to HLA-associated polymorphisms are indicated. The well-known A*02-SL9 epitope (SLYNTVATL) epitope is also shown; no historic HLA-associated polymorphisms were identified therein at q<0.05. The single “novel” historic HLA-associated polymorphism (B*49:01-62G) is indicated with a purple asterisk. A green filled circle denotes the single Gag residue (codon 67) where the ancestral founder sequence was reconstructed with <80% confidence. Orange filled circles denote the four Gag residues (67, 76, 91 and 102) where the inferred ancestral founder sequence differs from the published North American subtype B consensus sequence. None of these sites harbor HLA associations. Panel B: Nef historic immune escape map. Green filled circles denote the six Nef residues where the ancestral founder sequence was reconstructed with <80% confidence (15, 21, 51, 152, 178, 205); none harbor HLA associations.
We have thus far defined HLA-associated polymorphisms as those identified in independent modern cohorts by statistical association [43]. To investigate the potential existence of novel historic HLA-associated polymorphisms that are no longer detectable in modern sequences due to their spread throughout the population, we applied association testing approaches to our historic dataset directly. Historic patients with known or suspected early infection were excluded (as these could dilute associations between HLA and HIV polymorphisms due to insufficient within-host evolution), and a false-discovery rate (q-value) cutoff of 0.05 was employed. We were especially interested to see whether HIV codons whose inferred ancestral (founder) amino acid differed from the North American consensus (there were 4 in Gag) or were reconstructed with <80% confidence (1 in Gag and 6 in Nef) could be explained by the existence of historic HLA-associated polymorphisms at these sites. However, no such evidence was observed ( Figure 6A, 6B ). Instead, analysis revealed 16 HLA-associated polymorphisms occurring at 10 Gag codons and 28 HLA-associated polymorphisms occurring at 13 Nef codons that, with the exception of an association between B*49:01 and the consensus G at Gag codon 62, were wholly consistent with published escape pathways [ 43 ] and/or were confirmed in the present modern cohort (not shown). In summary, the strongest HLA-associated polymorphisms in historic sequences are consistent with those identifiable today.
It is nevertheless important to contextualize these results in absolute terms. Of the six HLA-B*57-associated sites studied in Gag, historic sequences harbored a median 0 [IQR 0–1] B*57-associated polymorphisms at these sites, compared to 1 [IQR 0–2] in modern Gag sequences. Of the six B*57-associated sites in Nef (two of which represent “consensus” associations), both historic and modern sequences harbored a median of 2 [IQR 1–3] B*57-associated adapted polymorphisms. It thus remains unclear to what extent these modest absolute increases may compromise the protective effects of certain HLA alleles as the epidemic progresses.
Strong epidemiological links between host carriage of specific HLA class I alleles and HIV disease progression have been demonstrated in natural history studies (e.g.: [57] ), with some alleles, notably HLA-B*57 and HLA-B*27, consistently associated with slower progression [57] – [59]. We therefore wished to investigate the relationship between an HLA allele's “protective” status (defined as its published Hazard Ratio for progression to AIDS [57] ) and its median fold-increase in polymorphism background frequency between historic and modern eras. Of interest, we observed a significant inverse correlation between these two parameters (Spearman's R = −0.52, p = 0.0076) ( Figure 5B ), suggesting that polymorphisms restricted by protective HLA alleles have, in relative (fold-change) terms, spread to a greater extent in the population than those restricted by non-protective HLA alleles.
Each dot illustrates a single HLA class I allele, colored red, blue and green, for HLA-A, -B, and -C alleles, respectively. Panel A: No significant correlation is observed between the frequency of a given HLA allele in the population (y-axis) and the relative extent to which its polymorphisms have spread over time (computed as the median fold-difference in background frequency of its associated polymorphisms in modern compared to historic HIV sequences; x-axis). This suggests that the accumulation of HLA-associated polymorphisms in circulating sequences is not simply driven by common HLA alleles. Panel B: A significant inverse correlation is observed between an HLA allele's Hazard Ratio of progression to AIDS ( [57], y-axis) and the relative extent to which its polymorphisms have spread in the population over time (x-axis). This suggests that HLA-associated polymorphisms whose background frequencies have increased to the greatest relative extent between historic and modern eras are those restricted by protective HLA alleles.
To do this, we analyzed all HLA allele groups for which a minimum of three HLA-associated polymorphisms (regardless of whether they were consensus or non-consensus) were studied (25 alleles total). For each HLA-associated polymorphism, we computed its fold-increase in background frequency over time (for example, a hypothetical polymorphism with a background frequency of 1% in the historic cohort versus 2% in the modern cohort would equate to a two-fold increase). For each HLA allele we then calculated the median fold-increase in frequency of all polymorphisms restricted by it. Overall, we observed no significant correlation between the frequency of a restricting HLA allele and the relative extent to which its polymorphisms spread throughout the population between historic and modern cohorts (Spearman's R = −0.35, p = 0.09) ( Figure 5A ). Taken together with the results in Figure S7, this indicates that, at any given point in time, polymorphisms restricted by common HLA alleles will generally be found at higher absolute frequencies in a population than those restricted by rarer ones, but such polymorphisms do not appear to be spreading in the population to a greater relative extent (i.e. when expressed in terms of fold-change) over time.
Broadly speaking, at any given point in time, the average background frequencies of HLA-associated polymorphisms in circulating HIV sequences will generally positively correlate with the frequencies of their restricting HLA alleles in the population [12]. This is because higher absolute numbers of persons expressing the HLA will generally translate to higher absolute numbers of polymorphisms selected and thus transmitted (though many factors, including the wide-ranging probabilities of polymorphism selection given their location and restricting HLA, the fact that multiple HLA alleles select the same – or opposing – mutations at a given location, the existence of “consensus” HLA-associations, and the timing of polymorphism selection/reversion, will render this correlation less than perfect). Nevertheless, such a positive trend is observed in both the historic and modern cohorts, as expected ( Figure S7 ). However, we are specifically interested in investigating the extent to which HLA-associated polymorphisms are spreading through the population over time. We thus asked: are polymorphisms restricted by certain HLA alleles increasing to a greater extent than others?
Our results suggest that, on average, HLA-associated polymorphisms are spreading in the population, albeit slowly. From an immunological perspective, an increasing burden of escape mutations in circulating HIV strains over time could yield a reduction in the ability of individuals to control the virus via cellular responses as the epidemic progresses. We thus asked: if an individual were to be randomly infected by an HIV sequence from the historic or modern eras, to what extent would the latter contain a higher burden of polymorphisms that are “pre-adapted” to their HLA? To estimate this quantity, we compared each individual's HLA profile against all historic and modern chronic-phase HIV sequences in our dataset, and calculated the percentage of HLA-associated sites in each sequence exhibiting the adapted form specific to each person's total HLA profile. Comparison of the overall per-person averages thus represents the expected extent to which a randomly sampled HIV sequence would be pre-adapted to a given individual, had they been infected by a sequence from that era. Focusing first on non-consensus HLA-associated polymorphisms, our calculations for Gag yielded a median “percentage HIV sites pre-adapted to one's HLA profile” of 14.9% [IQR 10.1–19.5%] for historic versus a median of 17% [IQR 12.7–22.4%] for modern sequences, an average increase of only ∼2% ( Figure S6 ). Inclusion of consensus HLA-associated polymorphisms further minimized this gap (not shown). For Nef, the median “percentage of adapted sites” remained consistent across eras (19.0% in historic versus 18.5% in modern) ( Figure S6 ); moreover, inclusion of consensus polymorphisms resulted in lower overall percentages in modern compared to historic sequences (not shown). Results therefore suggest that, despite HIV diversification, an individual's overall expected risk of acquiring escape mutant viruses specific to their HLA allele profile has increased only minimally for Gag, and not at all for Nef, since the 1980s in North America.
Taken together, our results are consistent with a scenario in which, on average, non-consensus HLA-associated polymorphisms have increased in frequency in North American HIV sequences over time. That said, the observed increases for Nef were not statistically significant, and both proteins harbored numerous examples of HLA-driven polymorphisms with stable background prevalence (e.g. Gag-242N, Nef-94E, Nef-135F). |
by the Government, a database held and run by a quango or private company at arms' length, or an order to communication providers to store every detail in their own systems, which can then be accessed by the security services is necessary.
A memo written by sources close to the project and leaked last year revealed it was fraught with technical difficulties.
Ms Smith has already claimed local authorities will not have access to the data but the Tories have warned of the "exponential increase in the powers of the state'', while the Liberal Democrats have dubbed the plans "Orwellian" and deeply worrying.
Security services fear a failure to monitor all forms of communications effectively will hamper their ability to combat terrorists and serious criminals. Sir Stephen Lander, chairman of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, said: "Any significant reduction in the capability of law enforcement agencies to acquire and exploit intercept intelligence and evidential communications data would lead to more unsolved murders, more firearms on our streets, more successful robberies, more unresolved kidnaps, more harm from the use of Class A drugs, more illegal immigration and more unsolved serious crime."“The arc of the moral universe is long,” Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “but it bends towards justice.” Does it? Here are 6 facts about racial inequality from The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy that will pause to make you think.
1. A larger percentage of black children live in poverty than white children in West Virginia.
2. White families with children make significantly more money.
3. Blacks make up a larger percentage of underemployed adults:
4. If you’re white, you’re much more likely to own your own home here.
5. You’re more likely to be suspended from school if you’re black.
6. Black men are incarcerated at 7 times the rate of whites in West Virginia.
You can see the full infographic from The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy here (PDF).
CommentsI recently had a chance to speak with Dr. Jonathan Haidt, a psychologist and professor of business ethics at New York University-Stern School of Business, whose book, The Righteous Mind, discusses the emotional justification of modern-day ethical beliefs and political divides. Recently, he wrote a landmark article for The Atlantic with Greg Lukianoff, “The Coddling of the American Mind,” about the culture of oversensitivity on university campuses.
This “coddling” culture, a term coined by Haidt and Lukianoff, has been criticized by conservatives—as would be expected—but also liberals, including President Obama. According to Haidt, this is causing a quietly growing rift: between the liberal Left and the “illiberal” Left.
The big surprise for me in publishing the article with Lukianoff is that we were expecting a lot of controversy, a lot of pushback, a lot of anger, and there was pretty close to zero. Almost everybody seemed to agree with the article.The vast majority on the left are not illiberal, and these tendencies are very illiberal. It involves the shouting-down of speakers, disinviting speakers, telling people what they can say, telling people what they can wear. The new political correctness is extremely illiberal and most liberals are uncomfortable. The liberal left is much larger, but the illiberal left is much angrier and much more vocal.
So who supports this coddling?
The great majority of people over 35 seem to dislike this coddling culture, they were not raised with it. Most of them had “free-range” childhoods where they spent time without adult supervision and were expected to fend for themselves. So the biggest divide is age. The only people who support the “coddling culture,” as far as I can tell, are under 35, on the Left, and on a college campus. There also seems to be a sex difference—women are more attracted to this view than men, perhaps because many of these ideas grew out of feminist theory in the 1990s. But the bottom line is that we have an emperor’s new clothes situation, where a small minority of people are bullying the majority, and I am hoping the majority will stand up and say, ‘You don’t get to tell me how to speak.’
We need a reorganization of priorities, according to Haidt. He likes the framework of diversity, but instead of racial and gender diversity, he says we need to begin emphasizing “viewpoint diversity.”
I think we are due for a change in our thinking about diversity. It’s going to be very difficult but it’s essential. There was a time when racial diversity and gender diversity were the most pressing issues, when many institutions were all-white and all-male.... [But] with each passing year, racial diversity and gender diversity, I believe, while still important, should become lower priorities, and with each passing year political diversity becomes more and more important: our nation becomes more and more paralyzed.... In higher education, we have a lot of race and gender diversity and we have essentially no political diversity. In social psychology we have virtually no one, there is only one conservative in the whole field that I know of.
Fear reigns on campuses now. (See the recent essay on Vox entitled, “I’m a liberal professor, and my liberal students terrify me.”) Haidt relates his reticence to speak openly about the coddled culture:
I would not want to lead a conversation on this topic with students here at NYU. Not because NYU is more PC than other top schools—it’s not. But professors are much safer these days speaking at other campuses than on their own because it’s only on your own campus that students are going to file harassment charges and drag you before the Equal Opportunity Commission if you say one word that offends someone. So I must heavily self-censor when I speak on my home campus. I can be more provocative and honest when I’m speaking at other schools.
So how do we move forward, out of this vindictive attack culture? Think young.
A carton of eggs is fragile, if you bang it around it breaks. But bone is anti-fragile. If you bang it around it gets stronger, and if you don’t bang it around it gets weaker. Children are anti-fragile. They have to have many, many experiences of failure, fear, and being challenged. Then they have to figure out ways to get themselves through it. If you deprive children of those experiences for eighteen years and then send them to college, they cannot cope. They don’t know what to do. The first time a romantic relationship fails or they get a low grade, they are not prepared because they have been rendered fragile by their childhoods. So until we can change childhood in America, we won’t be able to roll this back and make room of open debate. My biggest prescription is that in every hospital delivery room, along with that first set of free diapers, should come the book: Free-Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy. If everyone in America read the book Free-Range Kids the problem would be over in 21 years, when the first set of tougher kids filled our universities. If you try to reach students when they get to college it’s already too late.... As we say in the essay, childhood changed in 80s and 90s, there was much more protectiveness, there were new zero tolerance policies on bullying, which was fine when bullying was linked to physical aggression and to repeated actions. But bullying has gotten defined down over the last twenty years. There’s no longer a connection to physical violence, it no longer requires repetition, and it no longer requires intent. If someone feels excluded or marginalized by a single event, they have been bullied, and there’s zero tolerance for that. So that’s the way kids are socialized by the time they arrive in college... What I would suggest is that if any school has an anti-bullying policy, they should balance it with an anti-coddling policy. They need to realize they can do a lot of harm if they coddle the students. They turn them into “moral dependents,” a term for people who cannot solve problems by themselves; they are morally dependent on adults or other authorities to solve their problems for them.
The vindictiveness resulting from the new political correctness may eventually be its undoing, says Haidt.
I think emotions are going to lead a drive back to rationality. What I mean by that is when you talk to a professor who has been brought up on charges or attacked verbally for saying something innocent—they’re angry. Like a friend of mine, who teaches at a small liberal arts college and once referred to someone “going over to the dark side.” He was called a racist, and warned that such insensitivity would not be tolerated. When those things add up, and when liberal professors are constantly reprimanded or brought up on formal charges despite their good intentions, you get very resentful. And this whole vindictive protectiveness movement is only about two years old.... If you do a Google trend search, you see that words like “microaggression” and “trigger warnings” didn’t exist until 2012 and only really became common in the fall semester of 2013. Then Spring 2014 was the time when so many speakers were disinvited from speaking on campuses, including Christine Lagarde and Condoleeza Rice.
But, Dr. Haidt, do you think it’s going to get better or worse?
Worse. It’s going to get much, much worse over the next couple years and at that point some universities may start changing policies. By that point, many or maybe most American parents won’t want to send their children to the top universities, and there will be an enormous market opportunity for second-level universities that offer a much less coddled campus culture.
[Interview Note: This conversation took place on November 4. Over the following days, the meltdowns at Yale, Dartmouth, The University of Missouri, and Claremont McKenna College took place.]
Dominic Bouck, O.P., is a Dominican brother of the Province of St. Joseph."Lord Salisbury" redirects here. For other holders of the title, see Marquess of Salisbury
Shield of arms of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, as displayed on his Order of the Garter stall plate in St. George's Chapel.
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC, FRS, DL (; 3 February 1830 – 22 August 1903), styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865, Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, and Lord Salisbury until his death, was a British statesman, serving as Prime Minister three times for a total of over thirteen years. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the last Prime Minister to head his full administration from the House of Lords.
Lord Robert Cecil was first elected to the House of Commons in 1854 and served as Secretary of State for India in Lord Derby's Conservative government from 1866 until his resignation in 1867 over its introduction of Benjamin Disraeli's Reform Bill that extended the suffrage to working-class men. In 1868 upon the death of his father, Cecil was elevated to the House of Lords. In 1874, when Disraeli formed an administration, Salisbury returned as Secretary of State for India, and, in 1878, was appointed foreign secretary, and played a leading part in the Congress of Berlin, despite his doubts over Disraeli's pro-Ottoman policy.
After the Conservatives lost the 1880 general election and Disraeli's death the year after, Salisbury emerged as Conservative leader in the House of Lords, with Sir Stafford Northcote leading the party in the Commons. He became Prime Minister in June 1885 when the Liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone resigned, and held the office until January 1886. When Gladstone came out in favour of Home Rule for Ireland, Salisbury opposed him and formed an alliance with the breakaway Liberal Unionists, winning the subsequent general election. He remained as Prime Minister until Gladstone's Liberals formed a government with the support of the Irish Nationalists, despite the Unionists gaining the largest number of votes and seats at the 1892 general election. The Liberals, however, lost the 1895 general election, and Salisbury once again became Prime Minister, leading Britain to war against the Boers, and the Unionists to another electoral victory in 1900 before relinquishing the premiership to his nephew Arthur Balfour. He died a year later, in 1903.
Historians agree that Salisbury was a strong and effective leader in foreign affairs, with a strong grasp of the issues. Paul Smith characterises his personality as "deeply neurotic, depressive, agitated, introverted, fearful of change and loss of control, and self-effacing but capable of extraordinary competitiveness."[1] A representative of the landed aristocracy, he held the reactionary credo, "Whatever happens will be for the worse, and therefore it is in our interest that as little should happen as possible."[2] Searle says that instead of seeing his party's victory in 1886 as a harbinger of a new and more popular Conservatism, he longed to return to the stability of the past, when his party's main function was to restrain demagogic liberalism and democratic excess.[3]
Early life: 1830–1852 [ edit ]
Lord Robert Cecil was born at Hatfield House, the second son of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury and Frances Mary Gascoyne. He was a patrilineal descendant of Lord Burghley and the 1st Earl of Salisbury, chief ministers of Elizabeth I. The family owned vast rural estates in Hertfordshire and Dorset. This wealth increased sharply in 1821, when he married the rich heiress of a merchant prince who had bought up large estates in Essex and Lancashire.[4]:7
Robert had a miserable childhood, with few friends; he filled his time with reading. He was bullied unmercifully at the schools he attended.[4]:8–10 In 1840, he went to Eton College, where he did well in French, German, Classics, and Theology; however, he left in 1845 because of intense bullying.[5] The unhappy schooling shaped his pessimistic outlook on life and his negative views on democracy. He decided that most people were cowardly and cruel, and that the mob would run roughshod over sensitive individuals.[4]:10
In December 1847 he went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he received an honorary fourth class in mathematics conferred by nobleman's privilege due to ill health. Whilst at Oxford he found the Oxford movement or "Tractarianism" to be an intoxicating force; he had an intense religious experience that shaped his life.[4]:12,23
In April 1850 he joined Lincoln's Inn, but did not enjoy law.[4]:15 His doctor advised him to travel for his health, and so in July 1851 to May 1853 Cecil travelled through Cape Colony, Australia, including Tasmania, and New Zealand.[4]:15–16 He disliked the Boers and wrote that free institutions and self-government could not be granted to the Cape Colony because the Boers outnumbered the British three-to-one, and "it will simply be delivering us over bound hand and foot into the power of the Dutch, who hate us as much as a conquered people can hate their conquerors".[4]:16 He found the Kaffirs "a fine set of men – whose language bears traces of a very high former civilisation", similar to Italian. They were "an intellectual race, with great firmness and fixedness of will" but "horribly immoral" as they lacked theism.[4]:17
In the Bendigo goldmine of Australia, he claimed that "there is not half as much crime or insubordination as there would be in an English town of the same wealth and population". Ten thousand miners were policed by four men armed with carbines, and at Mount Alexander 30,000 people were protected by 200 policemen, with over 30,000 ounces of gold mined per week. He believed that there was "generally far more civility than I should be likely to find in the good town of Hatfield" and claimed this was due to "the government was that of the Queen, not of the mob; from above, not from below. Holding from a supposed right (whether real or not, no matter)" and from "the People the source of all legitimate power,"[4]:18 Cecil said of the Māori of New Zealand: "The natives seem when they have converted to make much better Christians than the white man". A Maori chief offered Cecil five acres near Auckland, which he declined.[4]:19
Member of Parliament: 1853–1866 [ edit ]
c. 1857 Lord Salisbury1857
He entered the House of Commons as a Conservative on 22 August 1853, as MP for Stamford in Lincolnshire. He retained this seat until entering the peerage and it was not contested during his time as its representative. In his election address he opposed secular education and "ultramontane" interference with the Church of England which was "at variance with the fundamental principles of our constitution". He would oppose "any such tampering with our representative system as shall disturb the reciprocal powers on which the stability of our constitution rests".[4]:20 In 1867, after his brother Eustace complained of being addressed by constituents in a hotel, Cecil responded: "A hotel infested by influential constituents is worse than one infested by bugs. It's a pity you can't carry around a powder insecticide to get rid of vermin of that kind".[4]:21
In December 1856 Cecil began publishing articles for the Saturday Review, to which he contributed anonymously for the next nine years. From 1861 to 1864 he published 422 articles in it; in total the weekly published 608 of his articles. The Quarterly Review was the foremost intellectual journal of the age and of the twenty-six issues published between spring 1860 and summer 1866, Cecil had anonymous articles in all but three of them. He also wrote lead articles for the Tory daily newspaper the Standard. In 1859 Cecil was a founding co-editor of Bentley's Quarterly Review, with John Douglas Cook and Rev. William Scott; but it closed after four issues.[4]:39–40
Salisbury criticised the foreign policy of Lord John Russell, claiming he was "always being willing to sacrifice anything for peace... colleagues, principles, pledges... a portentous mixture of bounce and baseness... dauntless to the weak, timid and cringing to the strong". The lessons to be learnt from Russell's foreign policy, Salisbury believed, were that he should not listen to the opposition or the press otherwise "we are to be governed… by a set of weathercocks, delicately poised, warranted to indicate with unnerving accuracy every variation in public feeling". Secondly: "No one dreams of conducting national affairs with the principles which are prescribed to individuals. The meek and poor-spirited among nations are not to be blessed, and the common sense of Christendom has always prescribed for national policy principles diametrically opposed to those that are laid down in the Sermon on the Mount". Thirdly: "The assemblies that meet in Westminster have no jurisdiction over the affairs of other nations. Neither they nor the Executive, except in plain defiance of international law, can interfere [in the internal affairs of other countries]... It is not a dignified position for a Great Power to occupy, to be pointed out as the busybody of Christendom". Finally, Britain should not threaten other countries unless prepared to back this up by force: "A willingness to fight is the point d'appui of diplomacy, just as much as a readiness to go to court is the starting point of a lawyer's letter. It is merely courting dishonour, and inviting humiliation for the men of peace to use the habitual language of the men of war".[4]:40–42
Secretary of State for India: 1866–67 [ edit ]
In 1866 Lord Robert, now Viscount Cranborne after the death of his older brother, entered the third government of Lord Derby as Secretary of State for India. When in 1867 John Stuart Mill proposed a type of proportional representation, Cranborne argued that: "It was not of our atmosphere—it was not in accordance with our habits; it did not belong to us. They all knew that it could not pass. Whether that was creditable to the House or not was a question into which he would not inquire; but every Member of the House the moment he saw the scheme upon the Paper saw that it belonged to the class of impracticable things".[6]
On 2 August when the Commons debated the Orissa famine in India, Cranborne spoke out against experts, political economy, and the government of Bengal. Utilising the Blue Books, Cranborne criticised officials for "walking in a dream… in superb unconsciousness, believing that what had been must be, and that as long as they did nothing absolutely wrong, and they did not displease their immediate superiors, they had fulfilled all the duties of their station". These officials worshipped political economy "as a sort of "fetish"... [they] seemed to have forgotten utterly that human life was short, and that man did not subsist without food beyond a few days". Three-quarters of a million people had died because officials had chosen "to run the risk of losing the lives than to run the risk of wasting the money". Cranborne's speech was received with "an enthusiastic, hearty cheer from both sides of the House" and Mill crossed the floor of the Commons to congratulate him on it. The famine left Cranborne with a lifelong suspicion of experts and in the photograph albums at his home covering the years 1866–67 there are two images of skeletal Indian children amongst the family pictures.[4]:86
Reform Act 1867 [ edit ]
When parliamentary reform came to prominence again in the mid-1860s, Cranborne worked hard to master electoral statistics until he became an expert. When the Liberal Reform Bill was being debated in 1866, Cranborne studied the census returns to see how each clause in the Bill would affect the electoral prospects in each seat.[4]:86–87 Cranborne did not expect Disraeli's conversion to reform, however. When the Cabinet met on 16 February 1867, Disraeli voiced his support for some extension of the suffrage, providing statistics amassed by Robert Dudley Baxter, showing that 330,000 people would be given the vote and all except 60,000 would be granted extra votes. Cranborne studied Baxter's statistics and on 21 February he met Lord Carnarvon, who wrote in his diary: "He is firmly convinced now that Disraeli has played us false, that he is attempting to hustle us into his measure, that Lord Derby is in his hands and that the present form which the question has now assumed has been long planned by him". They agreed to "a sort of offensive and defensive alliance on this question in the Cabinet" to "prevent the Cabinet adopting any very fatal course". Disraeli had "separate and confidential conversations...carried on with each member of the Cabinet from whom he anticipated opposition [which] had divided them and lulled their suspicions".[4]:89 That same night Cranborne spent three hours studying Baxter's statistics and wrote to Carnarvon the day after that although Baxter was right overall in claiming that 30% of £10 ratepayers who qualified for the vote would not register, it would be untrue in relation to the smaller boroughs where the register is kept up to date. Cranborne also wrote to Derby arguing that he should adopt 10 shillings rather than Disraeli's 20 shillings for the qualification of the payers of direct taxation: "Now above 10 shillings you won't get in the large mass of the £20 householders. At 20 shillings I fear you won't get more than 150,000 double voters, instead of the 270,000 on which we counted. And I fear this will tell horribly on the small and middle-sized boroughs".[4]:90
Lord Derby. Salisbury resigned from his government in protest against proposals for parliamentary reform.
On 23 February Cranborne protested in Cabinet and the next day analysed Baxter's figures using census returns and other statistics to determine how Disraeli's planned extension of the franchise would affect subsequent elections. Cranborne found that Baxter had not taken into account the different types of boroughs in the totals of new voters. In small boroughs under 20,000 the "fancy franchises" for direct taxpayers and dual voters would be less than the new working-class voters in each seat. The same day he met Carnarvon and they both studied the figures, coming to the same result each time: "A complete revolution would be effected in the boroughs" due to the new majority of the working-class electorate. Cranborne wanted to send his resignation to Derby along with the statistics but Cranborne agreed to Carnarvon's suggestion that as a Cabinet member he had a right to call a Cabinet meeting. It was planned for the next day, 25 February. Cranborne wrote to Derby that he had discovered that Disraeli's plan would "throw the small boroughs almost, and many of them entirely, into the hands of the voter whose qualification is less than £10. I do not think that such a proceeding is for the interest of the country. I am sure that it is not in accordance with the hopes which those of us who took an active part in resisting Mr Gladstone's Bill last year in those whom we induced to vote for us". The Conservative boroughs with populations less than 25,000 (a majority of the boroughs in Parliament) would be very much worse off under Disraeli's scheme than the Liberal Reform Bill of the previous year: "But if I assented to this scheme, now that I know what its effect will be, I could not look in the face those whom last year I urged to resist Mr Gladstone. I am convinced that it will, if passed, be the ruin of the Conservative party".[4]:90–92
When Cranborne entered the Cabinet meeting on 25 February "with reams of paper in his hands" he began by reading statistics but was interrupted to be told of the proposal by Lord Stanley that they should agree to a £6 borough rating franchise instead of the full household suffrage, and a £20 county franchise rather than £50. The Cabinet agreed to Stanley's proposal. The meeting was so contentious that a minister who was late initially thought they were debating the suspension of habeas corpus.[4]:92–93 The next day another Cabinet meeting took place, with Cranborne saying little and the Cabinet adopting Disraeli's proposal to bring in a Bill in a week's time. On 28 February a meeting of the Carlton Club took place, with a majority of the 150 Conservative MPs present supporting Derby and Disraeli. At the Cabinet meeting on 2 March, Cranborne, Carnarvon and General Peel were pleaded with for two hours not to resign, but when Cranborne "announced his intention of resigning...Peel and Carnarvon, with evident reluctance, followed his example". Lord John Manners observed that Cranborne "remained unmoveable". Derby closed his red box with a sigh and stood up, saying "The Party is ruined!" Cranborne got up at the same time, with Peel remarking: "Lord Cranborne, do you hear what Lord Derby says?" Cranborne ignored this and the three resigning ministers left the room. Cranborne's resignation speech was met with loud cheers and Carnarvon observed that it was "moderate and in good taste – a sufficient justification for us who seceded and yet no disclosure of the frequent changes in policy in the Cabinet".[4]:93–95
Disraeli introduced his Bill on 18 March and it would extend the suffrage to all rate-paying householders of two years' residence, dual voting for graduates or those of a learned profession, or those with £50 in governments funds or in the Bank of England or a savings bank. These "fancy franchises", as Cranborne had foreseen, did not survive the Bill's course through Parliament; dual voting was dropped in March, the compound householder vote in April; and the residential qualification was reduced in May. In the end the county franchise was granted to householders rated at £12 annually.[4]:95 On 15 July the third reading of the Bill took place and Cranborne spoke first, in a speech which his biographer Andrew Roberts has called "possibly the greatest oration of a career full of powerful parliamentary speeches".[4]:97 Cranborne observed how the Bill "bristled with precautions, guarantees and securities" had been stripped of these. He attacked Disraeli by pointing out how he had campaigned against the Liberal Bill in 1866 yet the next year introduced a Bill more extensive than the one rejected. In the peroration Cranborne said:
I desire to protest, in the most earnest language which I am capable of using, against the political morality on which the manoeuvres of this year have been based. If you borrow your political ethics from the ethics of the political adventurer, you may depend upon it the whole of your representative institutions will crumble beneath your feet. It is only because of that mutual trust in each other by which we ought to be animated, it is only because we believe that expressions and convictions expressed, and promises made, will be followed by deeds, that we are enabled to carry on this party Government which has led this country to so high a pitch of greatness. I entreat honourable Gentlemen opposite not to believe that my feelings on this subject are dictated simply by my hostility on this particular measure, though I object to its most strongly, as the House is aware. But, even if I took a contrary view – if I deemed it to be most advantageous, I still should deeply regret that the position of the Executive should have been so degraded as it has been in the present session: I should deeply regret to find that the House of Commons has applauded a policy of legerdemain; and I should, above all things, regret that this great gift to the people – if gift you think – should have been purchased at the cost of a political betrayal which has no parallel in our Parliamentary annals, which strikes at the root of all that mutual confidence which is the very soul of our party Government, and on which only the strength and freedom of our representative institutions can be sustained.[4]:98
In his article for the October Quarterly Review, entitled 'The Conservative Surrender', Cranborne criticised Derby because he had "obtained the votes which placed him in office on the faith of opinions which, to keep office, he immediately repudiated...He made up his mind to desert these opinions at the very moment he was being raised to power as their champion". Also, the annals of modern parliamentary history could find no parallel for Disraeli's betrayal; historians would have to look "to the days when Sunderland directed the Council, and accepted the favours of James when he was negotiating the invasion of William". Disraeli responded in a speech that Cranborne was "a very clever man who has made a very great mistake".[4]:100
In opposition: 1868–1874 [ edit ]
Vanity Fair', 1869 The Marquess of Salisbury caricatured by " Ape " in, 1869
In 1868, on the death of his father, he inherited the Marquessate of Salisbury, thereby becoming a member of the House of Lords. In 1869 he was elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[5] Between 1868 and 1871, he was chairman of the Great Eastern Railway, which was then experiencing losses. During his tenure, the company was taken out of Chancery, and paid out a small dividend on its ordinary shares.
From 1868 he was Honorary Colonel of what became the 4th (Militia) Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment.[7]
Secretary of State for India: 1874–1878 [ edit ]
Salisbury returned to government in 1874, serving once again as India Secretary in the government of Benjamin Disraeli, and Britain's Ambassador Plenipotentiary at the 1876 Constantinople Conference. Salisbury gradually developed a good relationship with Disraeli, whom he had previously disliked and mistrusted.
During a Cabinet meeting on 7 March 1878, a discussion arose over whether to occupy Mytilene. Lord Derby recorded in his diary that "[o]f all present Salisbury by far the most eager for action: he talked of our sliding into a position of contempt: of our being humiliated etc."[8] At the Cabinet meeting the next day, Derby recorded that Lord John Manners objected to occupying the city "on the ground of right. Salisbury treated scruples of this kind with marked contempt, saying, truly enough, that if our ancestors had cared for the rights of other people, the British empire would not have been made. He was more vehement than any one for going on. In the end the project was dropped..."[9]
Foreign Secretary: 1878–1880 [ edit ]
In 1878, Salisbury succeeded Lord Derby (son of the former Prime Minister) as Foreign Secretary in time to help lead Britain to "peace with honour" at the Congress of Berlin. For this he was rewarded with the Order of the Garter along with Disraeli.
Leader of the Opposition: 1881–1885 [ edit ]
Following Disraeli's death in 1881, the Conservatives entered a period of turmoil. Salisbury became the leader of the Conservative members of the House of Lords, though the overall leadership of the party was not formally allocated. So he struggled with the Commons leader Sir Stafford Northcote, a struggle in which Salisbury eventually emerged as the leading figure.
Lord Salisbury.
Reform Act 1884 [ edit ]
In 1884 Gladstone introduced a Reform Bill which would extend the suffrage to two million rural workers. Salisbury and Northcote agreed that any Reform Bill would be supported only if a parallel redistributionary measure was introduced as well. In a speech in the Lords, Salisbury claimed: "Now that the people have in no real sense been consulted, when they had, at the last General Election, no notion of what was coming upon them, I feel that we are bound, as guardians of their interests, to call upon the government to appeal to the people, and by the result of that appeal we will abide". The Lords rejected the Bill and Parliament was prorogued for ten weeks.[4]:295–6 Writing to Canon Malcolm MacColl, Salisbury believed that Gladstone's proposals for reform without redistribution would mean "the absolute effacement of the Conservative Party. It would not have reappeared as a political force for thirty years. This conviction...greatly simplified for me the computation of risks". At a meeting of the Carlton Club on 15 July, Salisbury announced his plan for making the government introduce a Seats (or Redistribution) Bill in the Commons whilst at the same time delaying a Franchise Bill in the Lords. The unspoken implication being that Salisbury would relinquish the party leadership if his plan was not supported. Although there was some dissent, Salisbury carried the party with him.[4]:297–8
Salisbury wrote to Lady John Manners on 14 June that he did not regard female suffrage as a question of high importance "but when I am told that my ploughmen are capable citizens, it seems to me ridiculous to say that educated women are not just as capable. A good deal of the political battle of the future will be a conflict between religion and unbelief: & the women will in that controversy be on the right side".[10]
On 21 July, a large meeting for reform was held at Hyde Park. Salisbury said in The Times that "the employment of mobs as an instrument of public policy is likely to prove a sinister precedent". On 23 July at Sheffield, Salisbury said that the government "imagine that thirty thousand Radicals going to amuse themselves in London on a given day expresses the public opinion of the day...they appeal to the streets, they attempt legislation by picnic". Salisbury further claimed that Gladstone adopted reform as a "cry" to deflect attention from his foreign and economic policies at the next election. He claimed that the House of Lords was protecting the British constitution: "I do not care whether it is an hereditary chamber or any other – to see that the representative chamber does not alter the tenure of its own power so as to give a perpetual lease of that power to the party in predominance at the moment".
On 25 July at a reform meeting in Leicester consisting of 40,000 people, Salisbury was burnt in effigy and a banner quoted Shakespeare's Henry VI: "Old Salisbury – shame to thy silver hair, Thou mad misleader". On 9 August in Manchester, over 100,000 came to hear Salisbury speak. On 30 September at Glasgow, he said: "We wish that the franchise should pass but that before you make new voters you should determine the constitution in which they are to vote".[4]:298–300 Salisbury published an article in the National Review for October, titled ‘The Value of Redistribution: A Note on Electoral Statistics’. He claimed that the Conservatives "have no cause, for Party reasons, to dread enfranchisement coupled with a fair redistribution". Judging by the 1880 results, Salisbury asserted that the overall loss to the Conservatives of enfranchisement without redistribution would be 47 seats. Salisbury spoke throughout Scotland and claimed that the government had no mandate for reform when it had not appealed to the people.[4]:300–1
Gladstone offered wavering Conservatives a compromise a little short of enfranchisement and redistribution, and after the Queen unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Salisbury to compromise, he wrote to Rev. James Baker on 30 October: "Politics stand alone among human pursuits in this characteristic, that no one is conscious of liking them – and no one is able to leave them. But whatever affection they may have had they are rapidly losing. The difference between now and thirty years ago when I entered the House of Commons is inconceivable".
On 11 November, the Franchise Bill received its third reading in the Commons and it was due to get a second reading in the Lords. The day after at a meeting of Conservative leaders, Salisbury was outnumbered in his opposition to compromise. On 13 February, Salisbury rejected MacColl's idea that he should meet Gladstone, as he believed the meeting would be found out and that Gladstone had no genuine desire to negotiate. On 17 November, it was reported in the newspapers that if the Conservatives gave "adequate assurance" that the Franchise Bill would pass the Lords before Christmas the government would ensure that a parallel Seats Bill would receive its second reading in the Commons as the Franchise Bill went into committee stage |
to impediments beyond the statutory requirements, if any. Commenters are not limited to these questions and are invited to respond to all or any subset of the questions, but the Agencies request that commenters relate their responses to specific questions when possible.
New York Times' Lieber: "If the biggest risk in retirement is running out of money, an annuity can help guarantee that you won't." In his New York Times "Your Money" column, Ron Lieber discussed efforts to promote annuities for retirees and stated, "The basic annuity is almost certainly underused. Sure, you may be able to arrange a better income stream on your own, but not without a lot of help from a financial planner or a lot of time managing it yourself. Then there's the possibility, however small, that you'll spend too much in spite of yourself or run into a once-in-a-generation market event that will cause you to run out of money sooner than you expected." From Lieber's January 29 column:"If you got paid $10 million to do something like 'Batman v Superman,' you should be able to have a sense of humor," says Razzie Awards founder John Wilson.
Since 1981, the Golden Raspberry Awards — or Razzies, as they are more commonly known — have "honored" the worst in film from each year.
Throughout its decades-long history, the Razzies have served as the anti-Oscars, recognizing the "worst that Hollywood has to offer." Over the years, the awards show has grown in popularity and notoriety, lambasting both commercial flops and box-office successes that were panned by critics, alike.
This year's event features such nominees as "The Entire Cast of Once Respected Actors" from Collateral Beauty for worst screen combo and Zack Snyder's infamously poorly received superhero flick, Batman v Superman, up for seven different categories, including worst actor for stars Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill.
Razzie founder, and self-proclaimed headRAZZberyy, John Wilson took some time out of his busy schedule leading up to the Razzies' big night, Feb. 25 — Oscar's eve — to speak to The Hollywood Reporter about the awards show's history with stars such as Sylvester Stallone and Bill Cosby, its diverse assembly of voters and that time director Uwe Boll called him an asshole.
How’d the Razzies first come to be?
They grew out of a couple of things. I was raised in a family where one of the few nights we stayed up every year was to watch the Academy Awards, so I’m very familiar with them and their history. I think they are self-important enough that they are a fun target for satire. I have a quirky sense of humor and I see a lot of movies. The year I came up with it I happened to see for 99 cents, and I did want my money back, a double feature of The Village People in Can’t Stop the Music and Olivia Newton-John in Xanadu, and I remember driving home from the theater after they wouldn’t give me my money back, and just off the top of my head, I could name a dozen movies where if there were the opposite of an Oscar as a movie award would be contenders. The very first [Razzie Awards] was in my living room, we had a potluck dinner, we called people up to a cardboard podium, we had a script, it was very silly. The silly part of it we’ve tried to hang onto all these years.
Do most stars get that?
We’ve had a couple of slogans that we use, one of them being “Own Your Bad," which was coined by co-founder Mo Murphy. It’s better if you own up to it. The two best examples of that are Halle Berry’s speech and Sandra Bullock's. They both took decidedly different tacks in addressing it. Halle Berry just had enormous fun at her own expense, and Sandra Bullock was kind of questioning whether we’d seen the film based on the grosses. We are the kids in the peanut gallery, having fun at some very famous, very elegant, very wealthy people. From our perspective, if you got paid millions of dollars to do something like Batman v Superman, you should be able to have a sense of humor. We’re not taking away your $10 million, we’re just saying “ha ha.”
Have a lot of people showed up over the years to accept their award? Who was the first to actually accept their Razzie in person?
Well, the first one to accept one, and he wasn’t at the ceremony but he flew us up to Lake Tahoe and arranged for Fox Television to make his Razzie out of Italian marble and 24 karat gold, was Bill Cosby. He had a wonderful attitude about it. I know he’s in a lot of trouble right now but our interaction with him was extremely positive. And then he decided that not enough people had seen him on Fox, so he took those three statuettes over to the Tonight Show and laid them out across Johnny Carson’s desk and just went to town on the whole idea of Razzies. He was a great deal of fun to work with.
What year did you start officially holding the Razzies?
The historic reference that I like to make was the Academy Awards that were postponed [in 1981] because John Hinckley Jr. had shot Ronald Reagan. We’ve been around a while [laughs].
How many voting members do the Razzies have?
We’ve been trying to cross the threshold of 1,000 members for quite some time. We made it past that during the period where people were joining to vote on the nominating ballot [this year]. Right now, I think it’s about 1,014 members and they are in 49 states – everyone always asks what’s the state we don’t have and I think it’s Wyoming – and I believe in 23 or 24 countries. I think it’s significant that I think we are the only awards that have all those different sectors of opinion voting on a single award. The other thing that I love to point out is that we now have 10 times as many voting members as the Golden Globes. They have less than 100 voting members; it varies from year to year. I don’t know why they are taken so seriously. We’re almost as respected as they are [laughs].
How does one become a member?
You join through Paypal [laughs]. No, our membership is about an even split. About half of them are just regular moviegoers who joined though our website. About a fourth of our members are journalists: film critics, reporters, people who covered the show and thought it was fun and wanted to participate. The other fourth of them are people who actually work in the business: publicists, screenwriters, a handful of actors. As is true with the Academy, if you win a Razzie and wish to become an honorary member, you can. We have not had a great many requests for that one.
Have any big stars actually joined?
We have a director or two, but they ask us not to [give their names]. We have one guy who has paid his dues for almost 30 years, now but every time I discuss it with him he says please don’t tell them my name [laughs].
Is running the Razzies a full-time job?
No, I kind of do it around the edges. I had been a publicist for a long time, and there were a number of occasions where I was actually doing the campaign for something I knew would be on the ballot next spring.
Have you ever had anyone get particularly upset about winning a Razzie?
There are two in our early years. One of them was reported in the British press, and if you know the British press it could be true, might not, but when Faye Dunaway won for Mommie Dearest somebody supposedly told her at a press party and, to quote the newspaper, she “flew into a litigious rage.” The other one, Sylvester Stallone, for about 14 years running from the mid-'80s to the turn of the century was up for something almost every single year. When he heard he was up for Worst Actor of the Century we did get a voicemail that sounded like him — for legal reasons we can’t say it was him — but his point was my movies make money, stop picking on me. And you’re not exempt from the Razzies if your movie made money.
Do you have any lifetime achievement honorees?
We do occasionally. There’s a German director named Uwe Boll and he did this video, I think he meant it to be funny but he was pissed off, where he kept mispronouncing the awards. It was absolutely hilarious — and well-deserved. I think we gave retired movie star Ronald Reagan a Razzie [in 1981 for Worst Career Achievement]. We have done career awards and something we came up with recently, actually it was my co-founder and co-owner Mo Murphy, a brilliant idea which is the Razzie Redeemer Award, which is somebody we have targeted in the past who has turned around and done something of quality. The first one went to Ben Affleck because he followed up Gigli with Argo. That’s quite a leap up in filmmaking quality. And last year, interestingly, it did go to Sylvester Stallone, who did Creed after all those other Rocky movies. We are trying to determine at this point whether we should do one this year. There is someone who has been in trouble with the media in the past who wasn’t really a Razzie nominee so should we say he got redeemed.
Can you say who that is?
Mmmm, yeah I guess so. Mel Gibson. I keep meaning to go check but I don’t think he was ever a Razzie nominee. [Note: Gibson was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor in 2015 for The Expendables 3.]
What’s the voting process like? Is there a ballot?
We learned early on that you kind of have to steer it or you just get 42 different things getting votes. Throughout the year, we do have a forum on our website where people discuss movies as they come out. We also partner with Rotten Tomatoes, the tomatometer. If you have less than 50 percent you’re of interest, If you have less than 25 percent approval you’re pretty likely to be on there, if you have less than 10 percent you’re pretty much going to get on the ballot.
Do you come up with the nominee titles such as “The Entire Cast of Once Respected Actors” from Collateral Beauty or “Johnny Depp & His Vomitously Vibrant Costume” from Alice Through the Looking Glass?
Yes, I write the actual language and then I use my position to promote certain things. I’m pleased to see that I shamelessly plugged Gods of Egypt, which I thought was a hilariously whack-o movie, and it did get in many of the major categories.Project description
F*watch is a fully open electronic watch project featuring an integrated GPS receiver.**
The development started at CERN as an after-work project to make a special present for a retiring colleague who likes hiking and timing.
The full design (electronics, mechanics and software) is available under free licenses and the design is exclusively made with free tools.
To be informed of the latest developments, and participate in the discussions, please subscribe to the mailing list.
Version 1 (click picture to enlarge)*
Specifications
Electronics*
Sensors GPS Pressure sensor 3D-accelerometer Compass Ambient light sensor
I/O 128x128 pixels LCD with backlight Micro-USB connector, 4 Buttons Buzzer, vibrating motor MicroSD memory slot
Various 500 mAh Lithium-ion battery, fuel gauge 4-layer PCB
Developed with open KiCad design tool for schematics and PCB
Block diagram
Mechanics*
3D-printed watch case and buttons
Developed with open FreeCAD design tool
Software*
FreeRTOS operating system
Bootloader, drivers, applications
Interface to USB host (e.g. download track data, upload firmware)
Developed with open gcc compiler
Project documents
F*watch team
Project management: Javier
Electronics: Matthieu †, Tom, Eva, Thedi, Keith
Mechanics: Javier, David, Maciej
Software: Andrzej, Orson, Greg, Thedi, Federico, Xavier
"Making of" movie: Maciej
OHR site management: Erik
Status
Date Event 28-04-2014 Idea for a special present for retiring colleague coined by Javier. 09-05-2014 First meeting. Main features and task forces defined. Aim to have a prototype by September. 16-05-2014 Main components chosen. ComponentSelection. 27-05-2014 Schematics draft ready for review. 03-06-2014 Board almost fully routed. 15-07-2014 Prototype PCB received. 16-07-2014 First board mounted, MCU is accessible with debugger, found a bug in TPS780180300 datasheet. 03-08-2014 Pressure sensor reading and display works. 04-08-2014 3D printed case received. Everything fits. 14-08-2014 Hackathon at CERN. 22-08-2014 Case V3 prototype received, 3D printed in resin. 25-08-2014 First GPS lock! 08-10-2014 F*watch given to the retiring colleague at his goodbye party. 24-10-2014 Designing better housing, with bug fixes and better fastening of the two housing parts. 11-02-2015 Interest shown to improve design with Bluetooth so it can be used as a health monitoring hub.
28 July 2015With the election fast approaching, GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has stepped up his call for his supporters to become poll watchers to watch for, and document, illegal activity. He even has set up a page on his website for people to sign up. But MSNBC’s Al Sharpton has had it with Trump’s call for poll-watchers, claiming they are there to intimidate minorities. “How concerned are you about voter intimidation tactics in this election,” he asked Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, as he warned about militias backing Trump.
“…in the last several months, as there has been this discussion about the election being rigged, and about sending people out to do poll watching, our fears have absolutely and exponentially increased,” Ifill responded. Ifill continued by saying that her organization takes voter intimidation by Trump-backing groups very seriously. She did admit that they had a right to be poll watchers, “the right to watch outside the polls, of course, is the right of a citizen to stand outside the polls and to watch.” But Ifill quickly turned around and slammed Trump supporters for being too ignorant on voting rights:
But when it becomes intimidation, when people are suggesting that there are certain people who are not eligible to vote; when you're not bothering to educate those poll watchers about the protections of the Voting Rights Act and other federal laws, then I think you're creating a recipe for disaster on Election Day.
Sharpton followed her up by claiming that Trump’s poll watching efforts are “illegal” and stem from unfounded and “biased” paranoia.
From there, Ifill continued to rant about how Trump’s poll watchers were too ignorant for the job, before touting her own organization’s poll watching efforts. “Let me be clear, I'm very proud of my civil rights colleagues. We will all be out there poll watching. We’ve been doing this for a while. We kind of know what we're doing,” she praised.
The MSNBC host backed Ifill up with high praise of his own, and claimed that her work and the work of other left-leaning poll watchers was “nonpartisan.” That’s right, according to Sharpton, the right-leaning poll watchers are out there because of the myth voter fraud with the goal of intimidating and suppressing voter turnout, while leftists organizations are “nonpartisan” election protectors.
Transcript below:Baghdad, Iraq - Helicopters fly over the capital's Sadr City. The noise is deafening and frightens children.
In recent days Iraqi security forces have focused their search for three US military advisers abducted three weeks ago in this neighbourhood. It's an area that is fiercely loyal to Shia clerics and is suspicious of the United States.
Deep within the secure international zone, more popularly known as the Green Zone, I asked General Sean MacFarland, the US commander in charge of the coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), about the latest on the operations against the group.
When he spoke about the three US advisers he was blunt. "We are working with the Iraqi authorities to get them back."
READ MORE: Americans reported missing in Iraq
Certainly the US has put a tremendous amount of pressure on the Iraqis to find the men who are said, according to one Iraqi source we spoke to, to be held by one of the larger Shia militias.
But the abducted Americans represent only a small fraction of the people who go missing in Iraq each day.
Accurate figures on kidnappings are impossible to come by as the Iraqi government doesn't keep crime figures. One member of the Iraqi parliament, though, told Al Jazeera that the number of such incidents has skyrocketed over the past six months and is now in the thousands.
In Sadr City we spoke to Hussein Sarmad. He has witnessed intense activity in his neighbourhood over the past 10 days. He described to us late-night raids, helicopters buzzing over homes and counter-terrorism forces in the streets.
He is angry that when Iraqis are kidnapped from his neighbourhood, no one seems to care.
"It's funny, all this fuss for three Americans. The security forces are turning our neighbourhood upside down. I doubt that they are even here," Sarmad said.
It's a common sentiment among Iraqi families who fall victim to this sort of crime.
The search for those kidnappers doesn't involve the military. Often, families of the victims get no help from the police or international community and are left to deal with threats from the kidnappers themselves.
Lucrative business
It's a lucrative business and, be in no doubt, it is a business. Ransom demands can range from a few hundred dollars to thousands, depending on how rich the family is.
The Americans kidnapped represent the ultimate prize. Foreigners in Iraq can be useful as political tools to gain concessions. They can also be worth a lot of money.
Perhaps, though, the real worth of kidnapping foreigners, particularly military advisers, is that it sends a message from anti-US forces in the country to the US that it cannot operate here with impunity.
Iskander Witwit is an MP in Baghdad. He says the kidnappings are designed to embarrass the government. "Such incidents send a negative message to the international community that Iraq isn't in control, that we cannot deal with terrorism and criminality."
Perhaps that is why whenever a foreigner is kidnapped in Iraq it's a big deal and valuable resources that would otherwise be committed to fighting terrorism and crime are diverted to looking for them.
Good luck if you are Iraqi and you are kidnapped. All the anecdotal evidence would suggest that you won't get house-to-house searches. You won't get helicopter patrols. You won't get intelligence-gathering resources. You, it would seem, are on your own to deal with the kidnappers.
US kidnap victims are simply worth more in this game of grotesque mathematics.People
BBC Study Finds Sikhs Most Generous of All Communities
JOHN BINGHAM
Religion preaches help for the poor and loving thy neighbour but now a new study has provided evidence that it can also make people more generous in their everyday lives.
Research commissioned by the BBC found that people who profess a religious belief are significantly more likely to give to charity than non-believers.
Sikhs and Jews emerged as the most likely to share their worldly goods with a good cause, just ahead of Christians, Hindus and Muslims.
Among those polled, ALL of the Sikhs had given money in the past month.
So had 82 per cent of practising Jews. Among practising Christians, the figure was 78 per cent.
The study, carried out for the BBC's network of local radio stations, included polling by ComRes of a sample of more than 3,000 people of all faiths and none.
It found that levels of generosity across the British public are strikingly high, but highest among those with a religious faith.
Overall as many as seven in 10 people in England said they had given money to a charity in the past month. But while just over two thirds of those who professed no religious faith claimed to have done so, among believers the figure rose to almost eight out of 10.
The Revd Dr Martyn Atkins, general Secretary of the Methodist Church, said: “Religious faith should motivate people to acts of generosity and it’s good to see this reflected in these figures.
“Of course, financial giving is only part of the picture.
“For some people, a simple act of kindness, or the very fact that someone has made time for them, can mean more than any financial gift.
"But every act of generosity, however small, bears witness to a generous and loving God and helps to change the world for good.”
[Courtesy: The Telegraph. Edited for sikhchic.com]
June 10, 2014
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read other articles in PeopleAndroid Things is a lightweight version of the Android operating system that can be installed on IoT-focused devices. Android Things includes 'user drivers' functionality, enabling developers to easily control a wide range of peripherals (LEDs, switches, buttons, servo motors etc). Let’s take a look at what it takes to write a new peripherals driver for Android Things.
At the time of writing, Google hasn't announced what the requirements will be for a piece of hardware to run Android Things but the hardware documentation states that they're focusing on system on module (SoM) boards. While the only supported development boards for Android Things are the Raspberry Pi 3, the Intel Edison and the NXP Pico i.MX6UL, it would seem that almost any board will be able to run Android Things. The supported boards don't offer many sensors, LEDs and buttons to play with, but once an Android Things device is up and running you can easily plug in peripherals.
User drivers
One of the things that got me excited about working on an Android Things project was the idea of user drivers.
As shown in the above image, developers can use the Android Framework APIs directly and build their apps using user drivers. These are a thin layer that accesses and controls a peripheral piece of hardware from the Android Things app. This allows us to focus on what matters: writing an awesome app.
You can find a list of the available user drivers on Github. The cool thing about these drivers is that they're like any other Android library, meaning you can add one line to the project's build.gradle dependencies and the driver will be imported.
What happens if you want to use a peripheral that doesn't have an Android Things driver yet? You have 2 options:
Pick a different peripheral and hope there's a driver for that. Go the DIY-way and write the driver yourself.
If you take the second option, you can contribute back to the open source community by sharing the driver to let anyone (including you) reuse that code in future projects. To do this you’ll need the peripheral documentation that the vendor provides.
Hardware Hacking
First of all you have to understand which communication protocol the peripheral uses. Android Things has support for the following types of communication:
General-purpose input/output ( GPIO ): This is the simplest way of communicating, you can use it to read from the peripheral (input) and write to the peripheral (output). Each physical pin represents either an input or an output (you can configure each pin mode from your app) and it can take only two values: up and down (or 1 and 0). Use GPIO with buttons, motion sensors, etc.
): This is the simplest way of communicating, you can use it to read from the peripheral (input) and write to the peripheral (output). Each physical pin represents either an input or an output (you can configure each pin mode from your app) and it can take only two values: up and down (or 1 and 0). Use GPIO with buttons, motion sensors, etc. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM): Similarly to GPIO, PWM uses one physical pin but it is output-only (meaning the Android Things board sends data, never reads). Using PWM lets you control more complex devices such as servo motors, dimmable lights, and other devices that can take a wider range of values, rather than just 1 or 0. See the documentation of PWM for further reading on this interface.
Serial Peripheral Interface ( SPI ): If your peripheral is a bit more complex it will probably need SPI, which is used in a wide range of peripherals, from RGB LED strips to graphical displays. SPI allows a master (in this case the Android Things device) to communicate with one or more slaves. It uses either one uni-directional data exchange pin or two bi-directional exchange pins for data transfer, one pin for clock and, in the case of multiple slaves, it needs extra Chip Select lines.
): If your peripheral is a bit more complex it will probably need SPI, which is used in a wide range of peripherals, from RGB LED strips to graphical displays. SPI allows a master (in this case the Android Things device) to communicate with one or more slaves. It uses either one uni-directional data exchange pin or two bi-directional exchange pins for data transfer, one pin for clock and, in the case of multiple slaves, it needs extra Chip Select lines. Inter-Integrated Circuit ( I2C ): I2C is based on two pins since it needs the data connection and a clock. Similarly to SPI, I2C can be used with one or more slaves, but each slave has its own address that the master can specify. In this case, the master sends a byte of data at a time and the slave has to acknowledge if it has received it correctly. This acknowledgement is built-into I2C. This protocol is used in some sensors, LCD displays etc.
): I2C is based on two pins since it needs the data connection and a clock. Similarly to SPI, I2C can be used with one or more slaves, but each slave has its own address that the master can specify. In this case, the master sends a byte of data at a time and the slave has to acknowledge if it has received it correctly. This acknowledgement is built-into I2C. This protocol is used in some sensors, LCD displays etc. Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (UART): While SPI and I2C are both synchronous interfaces (because they both need a clock line to synchronise), UART is asynchronous. A simple implementation of UART needs two pins: one data in and one data out. Unlike SPI and I2C, UART doesn't support multiple slaves and the data is wrapped in data frames. A data frame includes a start bit, 5-9 data bits, possibly a parity bit and one or two end bits. UART is used with GPS devices, XBee radios, some printers etc.
Read the documentation from the peripheral vendor to find out what to use. If it uses one of the above methods then implementing a driver should be quite straight forward. Otherwise you'll have to implement whichever protocol it uses with GPIO ports.
Investigating the driver protocol
I bought this RGB LED strip with the code WS2801 printed on both chips. This is the datasheet for the WS2801, which I found by searching for ‘WS2801 datasheet’. In the PDF, the features list mentions that the chip uses PWM, but don’t let that fool you. On page five there’s a list of input and output pins and you can see the chip has a clock input (CKI), a data input (SDI), a power supply (VCC) and ground (GND), which are the pins that you can also find in the LED strip.
Investigating which protocol to use, the main indicator here is the number of pins needed. While power and ground are generic for most peripherals, the need for a clock and data input as separate pins indicates that you have to use either I2C or SPI (not PWM as that only uses one line).
Another indicator is the clock speed: the I2C standard is 400kHz (but can go up to ~3MHz), while the datasheet says the WS2801 accepts a maximum clock frequency of 25MHz.
The third and last indicator is the data format: on page 12 it shows that the only data the chip needs to operate is 3 bytes (red, green and blue values) and it will leave the rest of the data for the next chip (ie next LED of the strip). There is no mention of acknowledgement or 2-way communication. This leaves out I2C and UART from the list so you can use SPI.
A peripheral datasheet will also specify important values such as minimum and maximum voltages, maximum clock speed and whether the data is read on the leading or trailing clock edge.
Once you know which form of communication you have to use (SPI in the above example) you can start thinking about connecting and coding.
Connecting the peripheral to the developer board
It's time to find out which pins on the board need to be used in order to talk to the peripheral from the Android side. The easiest way is to find the pinout for your development board on the Android Things developer site. A pinout shows which pin can be used for each form of communication. Have a look at the Raspberry Pi 3 pinout for example:
In this case I used pin 2 (or 4) for power (VCC), pin 6 (or 9, 14, etc) for ground (GND), pin 23 for clock (CKI) and pin 19 for data (SDI). Note that there are two similar pins: 19 – MOSI, which stands for master out slave in and pin 21 – MISO or master in slave out. In this case I had to use MOSI because the master (Android Things device) will send out data and the slave (LED strip) will read it in.
One important thing to note is different boards have different output voltages and different peripherals need different voltages to operate, so be careful. The peripheral may not work and could burn out, so always check the specs before plugging a peripheral into a board and use a level converter if needed. For example, this article on Raspberry Pi 3 GPIO explains that pins can output either 0V(low) or 3.3V (high) and it also has two 5V pins. If the GPIO pins are configured as input then using any value higher than 3.3V will damage the board.
Software Hacking
At this point you should have a peripheral device plugged in to your Android Things board and you know the protocol you're going to use. So, it's time to start writing some code.
Now let's look at how to implement the peripheral driver using SPI. A few days ago I submitted a PR to the drivers repository on Github, adding the driver for WS2801. These are the main things you need to include when writing a driver.
Android Things driver creation
Start by creating a standard gradle module and in the build.gradle add:
apply plugin: 'com.android.library' android { compileSdkVersion 24 buildToolsVersion '24.0.3' defaultConfig { minSdkVersion 24 targetSdkVersion 24 // Other default stuff... } } dependencies { provided 'com.google.android.things:androidthings:0.1-devpreview' }
Remember, this is like any other Android library. You can use the com.android.library plugin and for Android Things you'll need to use at least API 24 as minimum SDK version. You should also specify com.google.android.things:android things as a provided dependency. This means you need it to be able to compile the app, but you don't want to distribute this dependency with the driver once it’s released.
Next you need to add one line to your AndroidManifest.xml :
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" package="com.xrigau.driver.ws2801"> <application> <uses-library android:name="com.google.android.things" /> // THIS </application> </manifest>
Adding this line is the way to instruct the app to only run on Android Things devices rather than phones, tablets etc.
Now for the driver itself. Create a new class (I called it Ws2801.java ) and write the driver code. The first thing you’ll need to do is open the SPI port so you can start sending data to it, and then close the port. Here are the main parts:
package com.xrigau.driver.ws2801; import com.google.android.things.pio.PeripheralManagerService; import com.google.android.things.pio.SpiDevice; import java.io.IOException; public class Ws2801 implements AutoCloseable { //... private final SpiDevice device; public static Ws2801 create(String spiBusPort) throws IOException { PeripheralManagerService pioService = new PeripheralManagerService(); try { return new Ws2801(pioService.openSpiDevice(spiBusPort)); } catch (IOException e) { throw new IOException("Unable to open SPI device in bus port " + spiBusPort, e); } } Ws2801(SpiDevice device) throws IOException { this.device = device; device.setFrequency(1000000); // 1MHz clock frequency device.setMode(SpiDevice.MODE0); // Mode 0 seems to work best for WS2801 device.setBitsPerWord(8); } public void write(int[] colors) throws IOException { // … some computation Int[] colorsToSend = new int[]{Color.RED, Color.WHITE, Color.parseColor(“#0FACE0”)}; // As many as LEDs in the strip device.write(colorsToSend, colorsToSend.length); } @Override public void close() throws IOException { device.close(); // IMPORTANT: If you don’t close it then the resource can’t be opened again. } }
Notice that first you need to create an instance of the PeripheralManagerService. This is used to get information of the different input/output (I/O) interfaces the development board has, as well as open buses or GPIO pins. In the example code above, I called the openSpiDevice(String spiBusName) method to open the SPI bus interface. Once you have a reference to the SpiDevice you can configure the bus and start sending it data.
Note: the code has been simplified, see the full source code on Github.
And that’s all you need. Now you can start using the driver.
So far we have looked at the different types of inputs and outputs Android Things boards support and how to identify which interface is needed to communicate with a peripheral. We’ve covered which pins to use for each different interface and how to implement a driver to control the peripheral using the Android Things SDK.
In my next blog post we’ll look at how to test the peripheral driver to improve your confidence when using or sharing your peripheral driver. If you’d like to discuss this post or give me any feedback on your own experiences for my next blog post please get in touch with me on Twitter or Google+.
Last but not least, I’d like to give thanks to Daniele Bonaldo, Luis Valle and especially to Paul Blundell for reviewing this post.
Read the second part of this blog post here: Testing your first Android Things driverHyderabad rains reduce; NDRF, Army remain on standby
Continuous rains have wreaked havoc in Hyderabad and the neighboring districts of Telangana. On Saturday, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao monitored the situation. He has instructed the officials to take special care to prevent spread of communicable diseases.
According to media reports, a 60-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team has been kept on standby in Hyderabad for necessary rescue operations. Moreover, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and some NGOs in the region are offering essential food items for the affected.
Several low lying areas have been inundated in Hyderabad and adjoining areas. This is due to continuous rains for the last few days. In fact, Hyderabad has received very good showers throughout the month of September.
In a span of 24 hours, from 8.30 am on Saturday Hyderabad received just 17.2 mm of rainfall. Nevertheless, on Sunday some of the low lying areas in Hyderabad remained cut off from the rest of the city. In Telangana, Ramagundam also received 42 mm of rainfall and Nizamabad 21.4 mm.
Looking at the rainfall figures we could say that rainfall has reduced in Hyderabad. This is because the low pressure area over Vidarbha and adjoining North Telangana region is weakening now. Therefore, rainfall activities will reduce over most parts of Telangana as well as Hyderabad.
Mainly light rainfall is likely over Hyderabad during next for 24 hours.23
12 The Arcade Blvd
Nashville, TN 37219
(615) 564-2662
Tiny shop in the Arcade and friendly staff! Me and some buddies decided to check this place out for pre-breakfast bite, and we were overwhelmed with the choices. Luckily, the friendly lady behind the counter explained to us some of the different combinations and also mentioned that custom donuts could be made! I went on to get the bacon-maple donut, an cinnamon-sugar one, and an apple pie one. All outstanding. The texture was just right without being too tough or too soft. The flavors were good and distinctive. Sugar-overload. Would recommend to anyone looking for small donut bites.
I'm a tree hugging hippie so when I caught the name of this place, I knew I had to try their donuts. Is there anything better than donuts in this world? Ehhh, okay, okay maybe a couple of things that slightly edge them out. My friend and I picked up a 6 spot of PL&LDs one fine morning. It's located in the Arcade so you have to find nearby parking or be within walking distance to get into the shop. The basic premise with their donuts is the same cake base on all of them - either yellow or chocolate cake - then douse the donuts with some kind of cool candy or other topping. Their donuts are a bit smaller than donuts you're used to but not quite as small as a donut hole. I tried a chocolate chip cookie dough, which I think can be skipped. It |
’re going to get anything like we’ve got now is rubbish. We’re going to get something worse.”
However, uncertainly remains: asked if he could be 100 percent certain that the U.K. would be out of the EU by the time of the next general election, scheduled for 2020, trade secretary Fox declined to give a guarantee. “What we want is the best exit for the United Kingdom, not the quickest,” he said at an event in Birmingham before the start of the party conference. “I wouldn’t put a timescale on it. Again, I think that’s one of the cards we have in our negotiation. Why would we want to hand it over at the outset?”
The British premier also said she will not allow Brexit to be used by nationalists to break up the U.K. That drew the response from pro-EU Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has held out the prospect of a new Scottish independence referendum, that May “is going out of her way to say Scotland’s voice and interests don’t matter.”
While the politics of the process remain in flux, from a market standpoint, in the continued absence of any detail on the nature of the future relationship with the EU, Sunday’s announcement will likely exacerbate concerns among investors that the government will pursue what’s become known as a “hard Brexit.” That would see it willingly surrender membership of the EU’s single market for trade in return for more power over immigration, law-making and the country’s budget. As Bloomberg reminds us the pound just wrapped up its worst quarterly run against the dollar since 1984, driven down first by the result of the June 23 referendum and then kept weak by speculation of a swift, severe break. It found some support as the economy proved more resilient than most forecast.
“Sterling remains a very vulnerable currency given the scale of the work that needs to be done to take the U.K. from where it is now, with effectively unchanged trading relationships with Europe, to a completely new position,” said Jane Foley, a senior currency strategist at Rabobank International in London. “Over the next couple of months, the form of how complicated the talks are going to be on Brexit is going to become clearer.”
Businesses remain skeptical to the consequences of Brexit. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said on Sept. 29 that he may not be able to make new investments in Britain without a government pledge for compensation in the event of adverse consequences stemming from Brexit. And Vodafone Group Plc has said it’ll consider moving its headquarters to mainland Europe if Britain doesn’t preserve access to the EU’s single market. For now however, the reality has been far less gloomy than predicted.
As we observed last night, qhile there’s been movement in the currency and equity markets, other economic indicators have been status quo or better for the UK so far. Retail sales beat in July and August, and unemployment remains at 11-year lows. Purchasing manager indices dropped temporarily, but jumped back up.
Still, one thing is almost certain: as Bank of England Deputy Governor Minouche Shafik said Wednesday, more easing will probably be needed after the “sizable economic shock” of the Brexit vote. “It seems likely to me that further monetary stimulus will be required at some point in order to help ensure that a slowdown in economic activity doesn’t turn into something more pernicious,” Shafik said in a speech at the Bloomberg Markets Most Influential Summit in London.
Said otherwise, while the US economy may keep humming along, the BOE will continue to preemptively interfere in the economy regardless of the underlying dynamics, just so the wealth effect, at least as far as the 1% are concerned, keeps humming along. Meanwhile, questions about how buying the bonds of such US companies as Verizon and Apple "help" the UK, remain unanswered.One imagines that the mind of the president is constantly occupied by the fate of the free world. This probably explains, for instance, why George W. Bush could barely read. Lyndon B. Johnson, though, was not your average president, for various reasons, but quite prominently that he was very concerned about the state of his penis.
Vanity Fair today points out an excerpt from a forthcoming history of the White House called The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Anderson Brower. The section of the book about Johnson includes an anecdote about the presidential shower. According to Brower, it was very important that a newly installed jet stream be blasting water directly at Johnson's dick.
When told that it would be inconvenient to have a jet installed into the shower simply so that water could constantly shoot directly onto his cock, Johnson reportedly invoked the Vietnam War:
The 36th president of the United States reportedly refused to accept staff arguments that outfitting the shower with the demanded features—including one nozzle aimed "directly at the president's penis"—would require a great deal of plumbing work. "If I can move 10,000 troops in a day, you can certainly fix the bathroom any way I want it," Johnson told the staff, according to the book.
On the one hand, Johnson wasn't technically moving 10,000 troops per day, physically speaking. He was basically just making a bunch of phone calls and playing with toy soldiers on a huge desk or whatever goes on during war. On the other hand, it would be unbecoming of the president to not have a clean dick. Sometimes you must put your country first.
Of course, this is far from the first we've heard about LBJ's dick. Years ago, audio surfaced of Johnson demanding that a tailor alter his pants so that they could accommodate his balls, which droop down near, in Johnson's words, his "bunghole."
Johnson was also notorious for involving his dick in the daily lives of his colleagues, whether they liked it or not (and they might have, who's to say):
He early became fabled for a Rabelaisian earthiness, urinating in the parking lot of the House Office Building as the urge took him; if a colleague came into a Capitol bathroom as he was finishing at the urinal there, he would sometimes swing around still holding his member, which he liked to call "Jumbo," hooting once, "Have you ever seen anything as big as this?," and shaking it in almost a brandishing manner as he began discoursing about some pending legislation. [...] Even on the floors of the House and Senate, he would extravagantly rummage away at his groin, sometimes reaching his hand through a pocket and leaning with half-lifted leg for more thorough access.
R.I.P. to a great man and an even better dick.
[image via Getty]Pottery
Pottery Programs
MSCR offers Pottery Classes, Try Its, Workshops and a Pottery Lab. Lab time is available for participants who have taken at least one MSCR pottery class and be approved by the pottery coordinator. Lab time is available at MSCR-Hoyt and Warner Park Community Recreation Center. Please call 204-3021 for more information.
at MSCR Hoyt, 3802 Regent Street
A great place to pick up fun holiday gifts at great prices! Featured projects from MSCR instructors, pottery lab participants and local artists. Cash or local check only!
Thursday & Friday, December 13 & 14, 8 am - 6 pm
Saturday, December 15, 9 am - 3 pm
MSCR Hoyt, 3802 Regent Street, Madison. For info call 608-204-3000
- type "pottery" in the Activity Search field
Pottery Lab at Warner Park CRC and MSCR Hoyt
Non-instructional, open lab for those potters who are able to work independently. Must have advanced pottery and glazing skills, as well as pre-approval from Pottery Coordinator (Hoyt: 204-3005, Warner Park CRC: 204-3045) at least 3 days prior to registering. Failure to obtain pre-approval delays registration. Studio is available Monday - Friday when pottery classes are not scheduled and additional weekend hours are available at Warner Park CRC. Fee includes use of tools, firing, glaze and 25 lbs. of clay. Additional clay must be purchased through MSCR for $16 per $25lb bag. WPCRC ID REQUIRED FOR CLASSES HELD AT Warner Park CRC.
Raku Kiln
The MSCR Pottery Program received a grant from Friends of MSCR Grant to purchase and install a Raku Kiln. Raku is a Japanese firing technique that became popular in the 1950’s. Americans have kept the general firing process, but formed their own unique style of vibrant colored Raku. Raku firing offers an immediate end result, taking only one hour to complete. The technique involves removing pottery from a hot kiln and allowing it to cool in the open air or in a container filled with combustible material.
Raku Fire Workshops
Raku firing offers an immediate end result, taking only one hour to complete. The technique involves removing pottery from a hot kiln and allowing it to cool in the open air or in a container filled with combustible material. Each participant needs to bring 4-5 bisqued items or half of one shelf (half of a 21 inch diameter) and no taller than 12 inches. A sizing chart is available on site. Glaze included. All registrants must wear closed toe shoes, long denim pants and long sleeve shirt. Long hair must be pulled back into a braided pony or a bun. If you have questions, please call 204-3005.
Scott Dickinson Memorial Wood Kiln
MSCR originally built the original wood kiln in 2003 which served our ceramics community for 15 years. In the Spring of 2018, MSCR rebuilt the Scott Dickinson Memorial Wood Kiln with funds raised from the annual pottery sale and a grant from the Friends of MSCR. The new kiln has increased capacity and a rolling door. The kiln is available for rental beginning in Fall 2018, contact pottery coordinator at 204-3005 for rental information.
Wood Fire Workshops
Participants get 1 shelf of space, approximately 12" x 24". On the day before, glaze the pots & load kiln. On the day of, fire the kiln and re-stock wood. Work ready for pick up three days after the firing. Participation is required during firing. Call 204-3005 for questions on shelf space and non-MSCR glazes.
For upcoming workshops, please check www.mscr.org or call 608-204-3021.Dota 6.75 Changelog a guest Sep 30th, 2012 7,895 Never a guest7,895Never
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rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint text 20.72 KB Changelog 6.75 * Goblin Shredder added to Captain's Mode * Skywrath Mage added to Captain's Mode * Captain's Mode first ban phase now has 2 bans instead of 3 * Captain's Mode second ban phase now has 3 bans instead of 2 * Glyph duration increased from 4 to 5 seconds * Enraged Wildkin's Tornado vision decreased from 1200/800 to 300 * Aegis reclaim time decreased from 10 to 6 minutes * Team AoE bounty for kills with 2 heroes around changed from 9*Level+95 to 12*Level + 125 * Team AoE bounty for kills with 3 heroes around changed from 8*Level+20 to 10*Level+40 * Killer bounty level multiplier increased from 200+5*Level to 200+9*Level * Total XP required for level 7 decreased from 2700 to 2600 * Total XP required for level 8 decreased from 3500 to 3200 * Added a new loading screen * Random Draft Mode hero pool count increased from 20 to 22 * Recipe items no longer sell for 80% of their price (now 50% like regular items) * Added a 1 second cooldown to placing Observer and Sentry wards (to help prevent accidental usage when lagging) * Fixed various item sell costs * Fixed a lot of tooltips issues * Roshan turn rate increased to fix some abuses * Fixed a bug that could cause Brewmaster to not respawn * Added a new Agility hero * Added a new Intelligence hero Alchemist - Acid Spray damage per second increased from 8/16/24/32 to 14/20/26/32 - Acid Spray manacost from 160 to 130/140/150/160 - Chemical Rage Base Attack Time decreased from 1.45/1.3/1.15 to 1.4/1.2/1.0 - Goblin's Greed counter duration increased from 20 to 25 seconds - Goblin's Greed bonus gold scaling adjusted from 2/4/6/8 + 2 to 4/6/8/10 + 1/2/3/4 - Unstable Concoction max damage increased from 130/200/270/340 to 150/220/290/360 - Unstable Concoction no longer displays the countdown numbers to enemies - Unstable Concoction always affects a 175 area around where it explodes Anti-Mage - Movement speed decreased from 320 to 315 - Blink animation time increased from 0.33 to 0.4 - Legs decreased from 2/2/2/2 to 1/1.5/1.8/1.9 Axe - Berserker's Call bonus armor increased from 30 to 40 - Battle Hunger slow decreased from 10% to 8% - Battle Hunger movement bonus increased from 4% to 8% per affected enemy - Counter Helix damage increased from 100/130/160/190 to 100/135/170/205 Ancient Apparition - Chilling Touch now deals its bonus damage and uses a charge when attacking creeps - Chilling Touch AoE increased from 450 to 525 - Chilling Touch damage increased from 40/50/60/70 to 50/60/70/80 - Chilling Touch duration reduced from 40 to 30 - Ice Blast is no longer dispelled by the Fountain Bane Elemental - Fiend's Grip Aghanim's duration increased from 6 to 7 - Enfeeble damage reduction increased from 25/50/75/100 to 30/60/90/120 - Enfeeble can no longer be dispelled Batrider - Cast animation time decreased from 0.3 to 0.2 - Strength growth increased from 2.0 to 2.7 - Turn rate improved from 0.4 to 1.0 - Firefly duration increased from 15 to 18 seconds - Firefly damage trail no longer instantly disappears when Batrider dies Bloodseeker - Blood Bath death detection AoE for enemy heroes increased from 225 to 325 - Bloodrage bonus base damage from 20/40/60/80% to 30/60/90/120% - Thirst AOE from 1500/3000/4500/6000 to 6000 - Thirst MS bonus from 11/22/33/44% to 15/25/35/45% - Thirst HP percentage detection rescaled from constant 40% to 20/30/40/50% HP (invis is half that) Bristleback - Quill Spray damage cap increased from 220 to 400 - Warpath damage per stack increased from 10/15/20 to 20/25/30 - Warpath base damage increased from 10/20/30 to 20/25/30 - Fixed how Quill Spray damage threshold works Broodmother - Spawn Spider's Spiderite bounty increased from 11-13 to 16-21 - Incapacitating Bite no longer gives 2/4/6/8 bonus damage - Incapacitating Bite miss rate increased from 10/15/20/25 to 10/20/30/40 Centaur - Double Edge now deals its damage in a 190 AoE around the target Chaos Knight - Chaos Bolt's stun is no longer partially undodgeable (now a normal projectile with 1000 speed) Chen - Holy Persuasion no longer has the ability to teleport allied units - Test of Faith grants you a secondary ability to teleport allied units Clinkz - Strafe attack speed bonus increased from 110 to 130 Clockwerk - Strength growth increased from 2.4 to 2.7 - Battery Assault damage interval improved from 0.75 to 0.7 - Power Cogs damage and mana drain increased from 60/90/120/150 to 80/120/160/200 - Power Cogs duration increased from 3/4/5/6 to 5/6/7/8 - Fixed Power Cogs not triggering and burning mana/hp when someone Force Staffs over it Crystal Maiden - Freezing Field duration increased from 4 to 7 seconds Dark Seer - Movement speed decreased from 305 to 300 - Vacuum cooldown increased from 16 to 19 - Vacuum cast range decreased from 550 to 500 - Vacuum AoE decreased from 275/375/475/575 to 250/350/450/550 - Vacuum can no longer pull invulnerable units Dazzle - Poison Touch level 4 cooldown decreased from 9 to 7 - Shadow Wave AoE increased from 170 to 185 Disruptor - Static Storm max damage increased from 170/210/250 to 170/220/270 Doom Bringer - Devour creep level restriction removed - Devour cooldown from 60/55/50/45 to 70/60/50/40 - Devour gold from 40/60/80/100 to 25/50/75/100 - Devour manacost from 60 to 60/50/40/30 - Level Death bonus damage now deals 20% of Max HP instead of a fixed amount - Level Death damage increased from 100/150/200/250 to 125/175/225/275 - Scorched Earth damage/heal increased from 12/16/20/24 to 12/18/24/30 Dragon Knight - Armor decreased by 1 - Dragon Blood armor bonus increased from 2/4/6/8 to 3/6/9/12 - Elder Dragon form level 2/3 no longer gives bonus damage (was 5/14) - Elder Dragon form level 2/3 splash area rescaled slightly Drow Ranger - Frost Arrow's slow increased from 50% to 60% at level 4 - Marksmanship level 3 agility bonus increased from 45 to 60 - Trueshot Aura damage bonus increased from 7/14/21/28% to 8/16/24/32% - Silence cooldown decreased from 15 to 13 Earthshaker - Enchant Totem cooldown decreased from 7 to 6 seconds Ember Spirit - Armor decreased by 1 - Fire Remnant recharge time increased from 30 to 35 seconds - Fire Remnant damage per instance from 120/160/200 to 100/150/200 Enigma - Malefice damage reduced from 30/40/65/80 to 40/40/65/65 (still 1/2/2/3 pulses) - Midnight Pulse cast range from 500 to 700 - Blackhole manacost from 200/300/400 to 250/350/450 Faceless Void - Time Lock deals twice as much damage when it procs on a target in Chronosphere - Faceless Void can no longer be frozen by any Chronosphere!! Furion - Movement speed decreased from 300 to 295 - Force of Nature's Treant's magic resistance decreased from 33% to 20% Goblin Shredder - Strength growth reduced from 2.4 to 2.1 - Chakram moves 20% slower Guardian Wisp - Overcharge HP/MP cost over time increased from 2.5% to 3.5% - Tether regeneration transfer now heals the Tethered unit at 1.5x the rate of Wisp Gyrocopter - Movement speed increased from 305 to 315 - Flak Cannon AoE increased from 800 to 1000 - Call Down AoE increased from 400 to 450 Huskar - Burning Spears duration increased from 6 to 7 - Inner Vitality can now be cast on magic immune targets - Life Break Aghanim's cooldown decreased from 24/16/8 to 4 Invoker - Invoker base damage decreased by 4 Jakiro - Facing direction now more accurately matches his turn rate (just a visual change) - Liquid Fire AoE increased from 175 to 300 - Ice Path reworked Juggernaut - Base attack time decreased from 1.7 to 1.6 - Omnislash now kills creeps and neutrals in 1 hit Keeper of the Light - Chakra manacost rescaled from 40/55/70/85 to 25/45/65/85 - Mana Leak cooldown decreased from 18 to 16 - Illuminate cast range changed to be the same as its travel range (just a UI change) - Illuminate max hit distance increased from 1600 to 2000 Krobelus - Armor increased by 1 Kunkka - Base strength increased by 3 - Ghost Ship cooldown decreased from 90/80/70 to 60/50/40 - Ghost Ship impact AoE increased from 400 to 425 Legion Commander - Fixed Overwhelming Odds giving 6% instead of 9% movement per hero - Overwhelming Odds bonus summoned unit/illusion damage reduced from 50% to 25% - Press The Attack cooldown rescaled from 15 to 16/15/14/13 Leshrac - Diabolic Edict now uses Leshrac's cast animation time Lich - Frost Nova cooldown decreased from 9.25/9.25/9.25/8 to 8 Lina - Fiery Soul attack speed bonus increased from 40/50/60/70 to 40/55/70/85 - Laguna Blade cooldown rescaled from 120/90/55 to 90/70/50 Lion - Finger of Death cooldown rescaled from 150/90/55 to 170/105/40 - Finger of Death damage increased from 500/650/850 to 600/725/850 (Aghanim's from 600/800/1025 to 725/875/1025) - Mana Drain initial cast range increased from 600/650/700/750 to 750 - Mana Drain threshold range increased from 800 to 850 - Mana Drain cooldown decreased from 25/20/15/10 to 20/15/10/5 Lone Druid - Spirit Bear can no longer be resummoned while it is taking damage Lord of Avernus - Armor decreased by 2 - Aphotic Shield cooldown decreased from 14/12/10/8 to 12/10/8/6 - Borrowed Time cooldown now scales from 60 to 60/50/40 - Death Coil cooldown decreased from 6 to 5 seconds - Frostmourne enemy debuff duration increased from 2 to 2.5 Luna - Moon Glaive level 4 bounce count increased 4 to 5 Lycanthrope - Summon Wolves manacost increased from 125 to 145 - Spirit Wolves HP decreased from 400/450/500/550 to 200/240/280/320 - Spirit Wolves now have 50% magic resistance - Fixed Shapeshift speed buff remaining after dying with Aegis Magnus - Agility growth increased from 1.8 to 2.5 - Empower damage and cleave bonus increased from 15/25/35/45% to 20/30/40/50% - Skewer slow duration increased from 2 to 2.5 seconds Murloc Nightcrawler - Dark Pact cooldown decreased from 10/9/8/7 to 9/8/7/6 - Shadow Dance HP regen increased from 3/4/5% to 3/5/7% Medusa - Mana Shield absorption rate increased from 0.75/1.25/1.5/2 to 0.75/1.25/1.75/2.25 - Mystic Snake damage bonus per jump increased from 20% to 25% - Split Shot damage per arrow increased from 45/55/65/75% to 50/60/70/80% Meepo - Geomancer clones stat sharing increased from 25% to 30% - Geostrike DPS increased from 5/10/15/20 to 7/14/21/28 Mirana - Elune's Arrow cooldown decreased from 25 to 20 - Starfall's second single unit impact damage increased from 50% to 75% of the original Morphling - Cast animation time increased from 0.3 to 0.45 - Morph manacost increased from 20 to 30 mana per second - Base damage decreased by 6 - Waveform AoE decreased from 255 to 200 - Waveform no longer allows you to start attacking/casting before it is completed Naga Siren - Base damage decreased by 12 - Cast animation time increased from 0.5 to 0.65 Naix - Rage duration increased from 2.5/3.25/4/4.75 to 3/4/5/6 Necrolyte - Death Pulse heal rescaled from 50/75/100/130 to 70/90/110/130 - Sadist reworked Nerubian Assassin - Base HP regeneration increased to 2.5 - Mana Burn drain amount increased from 4*Int to 5*Int - Mana Burn manacost rescaled from 90/110/130/150 to 130/120/110/100 - Vendetta movement speed increased from 10/15/20% to 16/18/20% - Spiked Carapace reworked Nerubian Weaver - The Swarm's attack rate improved from 1.5 to 1.35 Obsidian Destroyer - Astral Imprisonment intelligence steal increased from 2/4/6/8 to 4/6/8/10 Ogre Magi - Armor increased by 1 - Aghanim's Unrefined Fireblast cooldown decreased from 20 to 10 - Bloodlust can now target catapults - Bloodlust movement speed bonus increased from 6/9/12/15% to 10/12/14/16% Omniknight - Degen Aura AoE increased from 300 to 315 Panda Brewmaster - Primal Split units are now affected by Black Hole Pit Lord - Dark Rift now has a subability that allows the effect to be canceled before it resolves - Dark Rift now makes its teleportation target a low priority target similar to how Boots of Travel works - Replaced Expulsion with a new ability - Reworked how Firestorm works Phantom Assassin - Coup de Grace critical strike multiplier increased from 2.5/3.25/4 to 2.5/3.5/4.5 Phantom Lancer - Agility growth increased from 2.8 to 4.2 - Spirit Lance slow duration increased from 3 to 3.25 seconds Phoenix - Phoenix base damage decreased by 6 - Phoenix base strength decreased by 2 - Phoenix base movement speed decreased from 290 to 285 - Supernova now refreshes Phoenix's other skills (not items) if the sun survives - Fire Spirits reworked - Icarus Dive reworked - Sunray reworked Puck - Dream Coil duration increased from 5 to 6 (Aghanim's from 7 to 8) - Illusory Orb AoE increased from 200 to 225 - Waning Rift damage increased from 60/120/180/240 to 70/140/210/280 - Fixed Phase Shift invulnerability duration ending 0.25 seconds too soon Pugna - Movement speed increased from 315 to 320 - Nether Ward mana flare damage increased from 0.75/1/1.25/1.5 to 1/1.25/1.5/1.75 - Life Drain break range increased from 850 to 900 Razor - Plasma Field Min damage from 80/120/160/200 to 60/100/140/180 - Plasma Field Max damage from 140/210/280/350 to 160/230/300/370 - Static Link no longer breaks if Razor loses vision of the target - Static Link can no longer ground target - Static Link can now target magic immune (it could before via ground seeking) - Unstable Current's purge duration increased from 0.3/0.6/0.9/1.2 to 0.4/0.8/1.2/1.6 Rubick - Movement speed decreased from 300 to 290 - Fade Bolt bounce AoE decreased from 500 to 440 Shadow Demon - Soul Catcher manacost increased from 50 to 50/60/70/80 - Shadow Poison AoE increased from 150 to 180 Shadow Fiend - Necromastry hero kill soul increment increased from 6 to 12 - Presence of the Dark Lord armor reduction improved from 2/3/4/5 to 3/4/5/6 - Requiem of Souls has a new passive component that triggers upon death Silencer - Strength growth increased from 1.7 to 2.2 - Global Silence duration increased from 3/4/5 to 3/4.5/6 - Last Word now always steals 2 intelligence if an enemy hero dies in its AoE Skeleton King - Hellfire Blast slow increased from 15% to 20% Skywrath Mage - Concussive Shot cooldown decreased from 20/19/18/17 to 20/18/16/14 Slardar - Amplify Damage armor reduction increased from 8/12/16 to 8/14/20 Sniper - Headshot damage increased from 30/40/50/60 to 30/45/60/75 - Take Aim range bonus increased from 65/130/195/260 to 75/150/225/300 - Shrapnel AoE increased from 350 to 360 - Shrapnel duration increased from 8 to 9 Spectre - Desolate damage increased from 20/30/40/50 to 20/35/50/65 Spirit Breaker - Base strength increased by 6 - Damage increased by 9 - Charge of Darkness no longer gives a buff indicator - Charge of Darkness speed increased from 425/500/575/650 to 600/650/700/750 - Empowering Haste no longer increases Spirit Breaker's damage - Empowering Haste movement bonus aura rescaled from 6/8/10/12% to 6/10/14/18% - Greater Bash now deals damage based on your movement speed (10/20/30/40% of speed) - Greater Bash duration increased from 0.95/1.15/1.35/1.55 to 1/1.2/1.4/1.6 - Fixed Greater Bash not affecting magic immune units Storm Spirit - Static Remnant cooldown decreased from 4 to 3.5 Sven - Great Cleave AoE increased from 200 to 300 - Great Cleave damage from 30/40/50/60% to 25/40/55/70% - God's Strength bonus damage increased from 100/140/180% to 100/150/200% - Warcry AoE increased from 700 to 900 - Warcry armor increased from 3/6/9/12 to 4/8/12/16 Tauren Chieftain - Ancestral spirit can now be controlled, until it starts to return to you - Ancestral Spirit's movement speed is now equal to Tauren Chieftain's rather than fixed at 455 - Ancestral Spirit return abilty no longer interrupts your hero - Ancestral Spirit now has the Echo Stomp and Spirit Return abilities it can cast directly Techies - Armor increased by 6 - Land Mine cooldown from 25/20/15/12 to 25/20/15/10 Templar Assassin - Psi Blades no longer spills damage when attacking illusions Terrorblade - Armor increased by 2 - Base hp regen increased to 2 - Sunder is no longer blocked by Magic Immunity - Metamorphosis reworked - Reflection reworked - Zeal replaced with Conjure Image Tidehunter - Ravage travel speed decreased from 900 to 775 Tiny - Toss's cast range rescaled from 700/900/1100/1300 to 1300 Treant Protector - Damage increased by 14 - Base attack time increased from 1.7 to 1.9 - Overgrowth no longer does damage - Overgrowth duration from 3 to 3/3.75/4.5 - Overgrowth cooldown from 115/105/95 to 80 - Living Armor aura replaced with a new active ability Troll Warlord - Battle Trance now lasts full duration for allies Tuskarr - Snowball now carries all Tuskarr's controlled units as well - Snowball cooldown decreased from 28 to 24 - Walrus Punch crit increased from 2.5x to 3x for above 50% HP targets - Backswing animation time decreased (cosmetic) Undying - Decay steal duration increased from 21/24/27/30 to 25/30/35/40 - Decay AoE increased from 300 to 325 - Tombstone Death Lust hp requirement also triggers if the target is below 5/10/15/20% hp Ursa Warrior - Cast animation time decreased from 0.5 to 0.3 - Overpower now uses Ursa's cast animation time Vengeful Spirit - Agility gain increased from 2.35 to 2.8 Venomancer - Plague Wards vision decreased from 1400 to 1200 Viper - Corrosive Skin duration increased from 3 to 4 - Viper Strike Aghanim's cast range increased from 800 to 900 - Nethertoxin max damage increased from 32/64/96/128 to 40/80/120/160 Visage - Base Intelligence increased by 3 - Grave Chill attack speed drain increased from 32 to 64 - Familiar's base attack time decreased from 0.6 to 0.4 - Soul Assumption damage per charge increased from 60 to 65 Warlock - Shadow Word damage/heal increased from 10/20/30/40 to 15/25/35/45 per second Witch Doctor - Death Ward attack cooldown decreased from 0.3 to 0.25 - Maledict bonus damage per 100 lost HP rescaled from 10/20/30/40 to 16/24/32/40 Zeus - Arc Lightning cooldown decreased from 2 to 1.75 - Thundergod's Wrath cooldown decreased from 120 to 90 * Added a new basic item Shadow Amulet Abyssal Blade - Can now be disassembled Ancient Janggo of Endurance - Bonus damage decreased from 9 to 3 Arcane Boots - Replenish Mana cooldown increased from 45 to 55 Armlet of Mordiggian - Armlet HP regeneration increased from 5 to 8 - Armlet lifedrain increased from 37 to 40 - Armlet toggle cooldown reduced from 5 to 1 second Black King Bar - Can no longer be sold Blademail - Damage Return duration increased from 4 to 4.5 seconds Blood Stone - Charges now increment if you get a kill out of range Buriza-do Kyanon - Critical strike multiplier increased from 2.5 to 2.7 Dagon - Dagon cooldown decreased from 40/36/32/28/24 to 35/30/25/20/15 Stygian Desolator - Desolator duration increased from 7 to 15 seconds Ethereal Blade - Ether Blast can now be cast on allied units - Ether Blast now does damage based on the primary attribute of the holder instead of always agility - Ether Blast manacost increased from 50 to 150 Eul's Scepter of Divinity - Recipe cost decreased from 600 to 500 Force Staff - Recipe cost increased to 500 - Force no longer pushes through Kinetic Field - When Power Cogs is triggered by Force Staff, Power Cogs knockback takes priority Gem of True Sight - Restock cooldown increased from 8 to 10 minutes Heaven's Halberd - Disarm duration on ranged heroes increased from 4 to 4.5 seconds Helm of the Dominator - Dominate cooldown decreased from 300 to 60 - Dominate no longer has a duration (was 20 minutes) - Dominating a creep when you already control one will replace your current one Lothar's Edge - Lothar's Edge duration from 9 to 12 seconds - Recipe Reworked Manta Style - Recipe cost increased from 650 to 900 Mask of Madness - Berserk's movement bonus increased from 25 to 30% Null Talisman - Recipe cost decreased from 170 to 155 Observer Wards - Observer Wards gold cost decreased from 200 to 150 Orb of Venom - Cost decreased from 350 to 275 Orchid - Soul Burn's damage amplification increased from 25 to 30% Power Treads - Attack speed bonus increased from 25 to 30 Radiance - Burn damage increased from 40 to 45 Rod of Atos - HP bonus increased from 250 to 325 - Cooldown decreased from 20 to 16 Sange - Recipe cost decreased from 700 to 600 Smoke of Deceit - Now dispelled when Primal Split units are nearby Soul Ring - Cooldown increased from 25 to 30 Tranquil Boots - Break requirement decreased from 4 to 3 Veil of Discord - Armor bonus increased from 5 to 6 - HP regeneration increased from 5 to 6 - Discord AoE increased from 500 to 550 - Discord cast range increased from 875 to 1000 Yasha - Recipe cost decreased from 700 to 600
RAW Paste Data
Changelog 6.75 * Goblin Shredder added to Captain's Mode * Skywrath Mage added to Captain's Mode * Captain's Mode first ban phase now has 2 bans instead of 3 * Captain's Mode second ban phase now has 3 bans instead of 2 * Glyph duration increased from 4 to 5 seconds * Enraged Wildkin's Tornado vision decreased from 1200/800 to 300 * Aegis reclaim time decreased from 10 to 6 minutes * Team AoE bounty for kills with 2 heroes around changed from 9*Level+95 to 12*Level |
which defines all the stuff that gets shoved into a shader, as well as the stuff it produces at the end of it… your texture samplers are just one more thing that goes into this. First though, let’s load an image. The easy way to do the loading is to use the image crate, though anything that produces a &[u8] will work.
extern crate image; fn gfx_load_texture<F, R>(factory: & mut F) -> gfx::handle::ShaderResourceView<R, [ f32 ; 4 ]> where F: gfx::Factory<R>, R: gfx::Resources { use gfx::format::Rgba8; let img = image::open( "resources/player.png" ).unwrap().to_rgba(); let (width, height) = img.dimensions(); let kind = gfx::texture::Kind::D2(width as u16, height as u16, gfx::texture::AaMode::Single); let (_, view) = factory.create_texture_immutable_u8::<Rgba8>(kind, gfx::texture::Mipmap::Provided, &[&img]).unwrap(); view }
Then you make your pipeline contain a sampler and UV stuff in your vertex definitions:
gfx_defines! { vertex Vertex { pos: [ f32 ; 2 ] = "a_Pos", uv: [ f32 ; 2 ] = "a_Uv", } constant Transform { transform: [[ f32 ; 4 ]; 4 ] = "u_Transform", } pipeline pipe { vbuf: gfx::VertexBuffer<Vertex> = (), tex: gfx::TextureSampler<[ f32 ; 4 ]> = "t_Texture", transform: gfx::ConstantBuffer<Transform> = "Transform", out: gfx::RenderTarget<ColorFormat> = "Target0", } }
For some reason, your tex item says it is just a TextureSampler but really takes a gfx::handle::ShaderResourceView AND a TextureSampler in a tuple. So to put it together:
let sampler = factory.create_sampler_linear(); let texture = gfx_load_texture(& mut factory); let data = pipe::Data { vbuf: quad_vertex_buffer, tex: (texture, sampler), out: color_view, };
Then you just set up your shaders properly.
Vertex shader:
#version 150 core in vec2 a_Pos; in vec2 a_Uv; out vec2 v_Uv; void main () { v_Uv = a_Uv; gl_Position = vec4 (a_Pos, 0.0, 1.0 ); }
Fragment shader:
#version 150 core uniform sampler2D t_Texture; in vec2 v_Uv; out vec4 Target0; void main () { Target0 = texture (t_Texture, v_Uv); }
Setting blend mode
This is where stuff gets magical. It’s just a type in your pipeline definition. So you switch:
gfx_defines!{... pipeline pipe {... out: gfx::RenderTarget<ColorFormat> = "Target0", } }
to
gfx_defines!{... pipeline pipe {... out: gfx::BlendTarget<ColorFormat> = ("Target0", gfx::state::ColorMask::all(), gfx::preset::blend::ALPHA), } }
And that’s it!
This has an advantage and a (small) disadvantage. The advantage is it’s totally rad. The disadvantage is that the blend-mode is part of your pipeline definition, so if you want to change it you have to alter your pipeline object or create a new one. The pipeline portion of the gfx_defines! macro specifies a structure called pipe::Init and the right-hand-side of the assignment on each line is the default values of it that get created by pipe::new(). However, there’s no reason you can’t create your own pipe::Init structure from scratch and assign it to whatever you want.
As a game programmer who tends to make relatively simple games, I basically set the blend mode once at the beginning of the program and forget about it anyway.
Conclusion
gfx-rs is a pretty nice low-level portable graphics API. It’s conceptually similar to next-gen graphics API’s such as Vulkan, DX12 and Metal, while being easier to use, Safe, cross-platform, and capable of using any of these API’s as a backend. That’s pretty slick. Once you get a handle on what the different parts are and how they fit together, it’s honestly pretty darn nice to use, and it compartmentalizes all the pieces it needs very elegantly. The people working on it are also generally pretty awesome, know what they’re doing, and are amazingly helpful if you pop into their Gitter chat and ask questions.
It has some downsides: Its documentation, while improving, is not the best, especially at the level of big overview stuff. Hopefully this helps that, a little. Its structure of a million little crates doesn’t really help, IMO, and makes it harder for the uninitiated to figure out what they should be doing. It’s young; I’ve discovered a couple bugs in the process of using it, but they’re generally fixed quickly. This also means that the API is in flux and might change in big ways in the future… but even if it does, version 0.17 is pretty solid for all the things I need it to be able to do, so for me at least there’s no reason not to keep using it even if new versions change everything in crazy ways.
I’m pretty sure this doesn’t really scratch the surface of what gfx-rs can do, and I’m no expert in graphics programming in general. But hopefully this is useful to people. If anyone has corrections or suggestions, contact me on Reddit /u/icefoxen or in the #rust-gamedev channel on irc.mozilla.org.
Appendix
This is a random salad of stuff that I don’t have anywhere else to put yet:
Resources are Arc -referenced, so cloning them is cheap. This is very nice because otherwise trying to have multiple things refer to a texture, for example, is a PITA. Everything in gfx::handle::* can be cloned easily as well.
-referenced, so cloning them is cheap. This is very nice because otherwise trying to have multiple things refer to a texture, for example, is a PITA. Everything in can be cloned easily as well. Encoder is really a convenience wrapped around the CommandBuffer type which is lower-level; kvark cites this as an example of the difference between gfx and gfx_core, but I don’t really understand what the distinction is yet.
type which is lower-level; kvark cites this as an example of the difference between and, but I don’t really understand what the distinction is yet. per kvark again: “there is PSO definition and PSO object. An object depends on the PSO definition + shader program + rasterizer state + PSO init data. So what you’d typically want is very few PSO definitions, and hence very few PSO Data types.” But you can create as many PSO data objects as you want, really, though each one might consume graphics card memory for the resources it needs. But again, since resources are Arc ’ed, they’re easy to share.
Performance notes
There is a fairly basic performance example that gfx-rs includes which just draws 10,000 triangles, and has modes to do it using raw OpenGL or gfx-rs. Checking it out, the results were… well, surprising and disappointing: OpenGL was way faster than gfx-rs. Well that didn’t seem right, and some profiling got me an answer: gfx-rs was emitting lots and lots of redundant calls to set OpenGL state. Some talk with the devs on Gitter and some digging around and hacking of the Encoder and lower-level CommandBuffer got the example down to pretty close to the OpenGL example, just by working a bit harder to issue fewer redundant OpenGL calls. Not bad work for one evening of slightly-intoxicated hacking. See https://github.com/gfx-rs/gfx/issues/1198 for details.
Conclusion: People have been much more focused on getting the API right and making it work well than on performance, which is pretty much the right decision. There’s no real reason for gfx-rs to be slow besides the effort not having been put in yet, and so there’s lots of low-hanging fruit to pluck when it becomes worth it. Building the command buffer with the Encoder does have some overhead in the OpenGL backend, so I’d expect with some of work the OpenGL backend would end up with performance about half that of raw OpenGL, at the worst case. But from what little I know of optimizing OpenGL code, the answer is always “less redundancy” and “fewer draw calls doing more work” anyway, and that still applies for writing graphics code with gfx-rs. Plus the command-buffer model lets you spread most of the CPU cost of building it across multiple threads.
It will be very interesting to see how much overhead exists in the Vulkan-and-stuff backends, since they should be more amenable to this command-buffer-based model, but alas as of Feb 2017 they’re not really done enough yet. Honestly gfx-rs is designed more with these next-gen API’s in mind than OpenGL anyway, and they all present CommandBuffer -like things that gfx-rs will be using directly, so ideally there should be next to no overhead for those backends. I’m excited!
Random type notes
device: the OpenGL (or whatever) context. It’s what the Encoder interacts with to actually execute drawing commands.
factory: An object that creates resources such as textures (or encoders or pipelines, for that matter, so it’s basically the root object perhaps)
encoder: A list of drawing commands
command buffer: A lower-level list of drawing commands; the Encoder seems to generally be the higher-level device-independent interface, while a CommandBuffer is the lower-level device-dependent one. More or less.
vertex: A structure containing all the data needed for, well, a single vertex.
pipeline data: The collection containing the data needed for drawing a frame, such as vertex buffers, shader variables, textures, render targets, etc. Basically the set of variables contained in the shader pipeline. The pipeline state object seems to contain the shaders themselves.
pipeline state object: The actual collection of information on a pipeline, consisting of shader programs and information on how to bind the pipeline data object to them. So the PSO is the actual pipeline, the pipeline data is just what’s input to it.
resources: defines a bunch of associated types: shader, texture, buffer, etch. So by implementing this trait you can lock a bunch of types together into one type, it looks like. Interesting… What the concrete types is for a Resources trait appears to be defined by the backend.
Things that aren’t addressed yet in this tutorial
Srgb
Random wisdom that hasn’t been incorporated yet.
10:54 < kvark> Icefoz: gfx-rs exists on 2 planes: the core and the render. Factory is from the core. Render adds some new concepts, like the typed pipeline state objects, so it extends the factory to work with them via FactoryExt. 10:55 < kvark> Icefoz: a better example of this core/render division is the CommandBuffer - Encoder concepts. The former is core, the latter is render, more high-level, but conceptually the same thing.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Mobile phone footage of the jetlagged star was filmed by Peter Boyle
Singer Ryan Adams gave Belfast fans an unexpected treat on Thursday night by performing a last-minute acoustic gig at a city centre bar.
The US-based songwriter is in Belfast to perform at the Ulster Hall on Friday night.
However, he surprised fans by playing an impromptu, intimate show on behalf of a local animal shelter.
He announced the show on Twitter about half an hour before he was due to perform at 23:00 BST.
"Entrance w donations for Assisi animal shelter @AssisiSanctuary I love you Belfast," he tweeted.
Twitter user Kris Nixon reported on social media that he performed to about 100 people in McHugh's Bar.
Fans were treated to songs from Adams' back catalogue as well as an improvised number with lyrics that declared: "I'm so jetlagged. Why did I decide to do this gig? I did it all for the cats."
Assisi Animal Sanctuary thanked Adams on Facebook and said that it was a "lovely surprise to find out we are the lucky recipients of the processed of this secret gig".
The set was given a rapturous reception on social media.
"@TheRyanAdams thank you for the special jams in #Belfast great to meet you...#savingcats with #vibes," said Kris D Marsden on Twitter.
"It was surreal and beautiful and pure," said Twitter user @gerrynorman.
Ronan Tierney tweeted: "Last night I dreamt I was at a secret @TheRyanAdams gig, and he sang a song about jet lag, then we all sang about saving cats...Weird."
@ryandavidhawk posted: "I'm not even a cat person but #savingcats was fun tonight with @TheRyanAdams bravo. #belfastadventures".
Adams, who is touring behind his latest album Prisoner, is best known for songs such as New York, New York, Gimme Something Good and When The Stars Go Blue.
Shortly before announcing the intimate acoustic gig, he set up a poll question on Twitter that asked: "If I played solo tonight in Belfast who would come? Also can I borrow an acoustic guitar?"
Unsurprisingly, 86% of 3,400 votes voted "yeah" in the online ballot.
Adams also tweeted his excitement about his upcoming gigs and that he was happy to be in Belfast despite a "long, long flight".The West Virginia Penitentiary is a gothic-style prison located in Moundsville, West Virginia. Now withdrawn and retired from prison use, it operated from 1876 to 1995. Currently, the site is maintained as a tourist attraction and training facility.[2]
Design [ edit ]
The Penitentiary's design is similar to the facility at the 1858 state prison in Joliet, Illinois, with its castellated Gothic, stone structure, complete with turrets and battlements, except it is scaled down to half the size.[2][3] The original architectural designs have been lost.[2] The dimensions of the parallelogram-shaped prison yard are 82½ feet in length, by 352½ feet in width.[2] The stone walls are 5 feet (1.5 m) thick at the base, tapering to 2½ feet at the top, with foundations 5 feet (1.5 m) deep.[2][3] The center tower section is 682 feet (208 m) long.[2] It lies at the western side of the complex along Jefferson Avenue and is considered the front, as this is where the main entrance is located.[2] The walls here are 24 feet (7.3 m) high and 6 feet (1.8 m) wide at the base, tapering to 18 inches (460 mm) towards the top.[2]
History [ edit ]
Founding [ edit ]
In 1863, West Virginia seceded from Virginia at the height of the American Civil War. Consequently, the new state had a shortage of various public institutions, including prisons. From 1863 to 1866, Governor Arthur I. Boreman lobbied the West Virginia Legislature for a state penitentiary but was repeatedly denied.[3] The Legislature at first directed him to send the prisoners to other institutions out of the state, and then they directed him to use existing county jails, which turned out to be inadequate.[3] After nine inmates escaped in 1865, the local press took up the cause, and the Legislature took action.[3] On February 7, 1866, the state legislature approved the purchase of land in Moundsville for the purpose of constructing a state prison.[3] Ten acres were purchased just outside the then city limits of Moundsville for $3000.[3] Moundsville proved an attractive site, as it is approximately twelve miles south of Wheeling, West Virginia, which at that time was the state capital.[2][3][4]
The state built a temporary wooden prison nearby that summer. This gave prison officials time to assess what prison design should be used. They chose a modified version of the design of Northern Illinois Penitentiary at Joliet. Its Gothic Revival architecture "exhibit[ed], as much as possible, great strength and convey[ed] to the mind a cheerless blank indicative of the misery which awaits the unhappy being who enters within its walls."[3]
The first building constructed on the site was the North Wagon Gate.[2] It was made with hand-cut sandstone, which was quarried from a local site.[2] The state used prison labor during the construction process, and work continued on this first phase until 1876.[2] When completed, the total cost was of $363,061.[2] In addition to the North Wagon Gate, there was now north and south cellblock areas (both measuring 300 ft. by 52 ft.[3]).[2] South Hall had 224 cells (7 ft. by 4 ft.), and North Hall had a kitchen, dining area, hospital, and chapel.[3] A 4-story tower connecting the two was the administration building (measuring 75 ft. by 75 ft.[3]).[2] It included space for female inmates and personal living quarters for the warden and his family.[2][3] The facility officially opened in this year, and it had a prison population of 251 male inmates, including some who had helped construct the prison where they were incarcerated.[2] After this phase, work began on prison workshops and other secondary facilities.[3]
Operation [ edit ]
In addition to construction, the inmates had other jobs to do in support of the prison. In the early 1900s some industries within the prison walls included a carpentry shop, a paint shop, a wagon shop, a stone yard, a brickyard, a blacksmith, a tailor, a bakery, and a hospital. At the same time, revenue from the prison farm and inmate labor helped the prison financially. It was virtually self-sufficient. A prison coal mine located a mile away opened in 1921. This mine helped fill some of the prison's energy needs and saved the state an estimated $14,000 a year. Some inmates were allowed to stay at the mine's camp under the supervision of a mine foreman, who was not a prison employee.[2]
Conditions at the prison during the turn of the 20th century were good, according to a warden's report, which stated that, "both the quantity and the quality of all the purchases of material, food and clothing have been very gradually, but steadily, improved, while the discipline has become more nearly perfect and the exaction of labor less stringent." Education was a priority for the inmates during this time. They regularly attended class. Construction of a school and library was completed in 1900 to help reform and educate inmates.[2]
Cells where the prison's worst inmates were kept.
However, the conditions at the prison worsened through the years, and the facility would be ranked on the United States Department of Justice's Top Ten Most Violent Correctional Facilities list.[4] One of the more infamous locations in the prison, with instances of gambling, fighting, and raping, was a recreation room known as "The Sugar Shack".[4]
A notable inmate in the early 20th century was labor activist Eugene V. Debs, who served time here from April 13 to June 14, 1919 (at which time he was transferred to an Atlanta prison) on charges of violating the Espionage Act of 1917.
In 1929, the state decided to double the size of the penitentiary because overcrowding was a problem. The 5 x 7-foot (2.1 m) cells were too small to hold three prisoners at a time, but until the expansion there was no other option. Two prisoners would sleep in the bunks, with the third sleeping on a mattress on the floor.[4] The state used prison labor again and completed this phase of construction in 1959. The construction had been delayed by a steel shortage during World War II.[2]
In total, thirty-six homicides took place in the prison.[4] One of the more notable ones is the butchering of R.D. Wall, inmate number 44670. On October 8, 1929, after "snitching" on his fellow inmates, he was attacked while heading to the boiler room by three prisoners with dull shivs.[4]
In 1983, convicted multiple murderer Charles Manson requested to be transferred to this prison to be nearer to his family. His request was denied.[5]
1979 prison break [ edit ]
On Wednesday, November 7, 1979, fifteen prisoners escaped from the prison. One of the escapees was Ronald Turney Williams, serving time for murdering Sergeant David Lilly of the Beckley Police Department on May 12, 1975. He managed to steal a prison guard's service weapon in the escape, and upon reaching the streets of Moundsville, encountered twenty-three-year-old off-duty West Virginia State Trooper Philip S. Kesner, who was driving past the prison with his wife.[6][7][8][9]
Trooper Kesner saw the escapees and attempted to take action against them. The prisoners pulled him from his car and Williams shot him. Trooper Kesner returned fire at the fleeing suspects despite being mortally wounded.[7]
Williams remained at large for eighteen months, sending taunting notes to authorities and making the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. During that time, he murdered John Bunchek in Scottsdale, Arizona during a robbery and was connected to crimes in Colorado and Pennsylvania. After a shootout with federal agents at the George Washington Hotel in New York City in 1981, he was apprehended and returned to West Virginia to complete several life sentences. Arizona had sought his extradition for his execution, but as of 26 February 2019 he remains in West Virginia custody.[7][8][9][10][11][12]
At the time, Marshall County Sheriff Robert Lightner was very critical about poor police communications during the break. The sheriff's office and local police did not learn about the escape from the state police. They first heard of it over the police scanner. "It was a good twenty minutes before we knew about the escape. If somebody had notified us, there's a good chance that the sheriff's department and the Moundsville police could have been on the scene while all the prisoners were still on the block." He was also critical of the four-state manhunt that followed, when convicted murderers David Morgan and Ronald T. Williams, along with convicted rapist Harold Gowers, Jr., remained at large. "Communications have been very poor. I think they should keep the local law enforcement officers more informed I have no idea what they're doing, what they've found."[13]
1986 riot [ edit ]
January 1, 1986 was the date of one of the most infamous riots in recent history.[citation needed] The West Virginia Penitentiary was undergoing many changes and problems. Security had become extremely loose in all areas. Since it was a "cons" prison, most of the locks on the cells had been picked and inmates roamed the halls freely. Bad plumbing and insects caused rapid spreading of various diseases. The prison was holding more than 2,000 men and crowding was an issue. Another major contribution to the riot's cause was the fact that it was a holiday. Many of the officers had called off work, and prisoners planned to conduct their uprising on this specific day.
At around 5:30 pm, twenty inmates, known as a group called the Avengers, stormed the mess hall where Captain Glassock and others were on duty. "Within seconds, he (Captain Glassock), five other officers, and a food service worker were tackled and slammed to the floor. Inmates put knives to their throats and handcuffed them with their own handcuffs."[14] Although several hostages were taken throughout the day, none of them was seriously injured. However, over the course of the two-day upheaval, three inmates were killed for an assortment of reasons. "The inmates who initiated the riot were not prepared to take charge of it. Danny Lehman, the Avengers' president, was quickly agreed upon as best suited for the task of negotiating with authorities and presenting the demands to the media."[14] Yet, Lehman was not a part of the twenty men who began the riot. Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr. went to the penitentiary to talk with the inmates. This meeting set up a new list of rules and standards on which the prison would build. National and local news covered the story, as well as the inmates meeting with Governor Moore.
Decommissioning [ edit ]
Toward the end of its life as a prison, the facility was marked by many instances of riots and escapes.[4] In the 1960s, the prison reached a peak population of about 2,000 inmates.[4] With the building of more prisons, that number declined to 600 – 700 inmates by 1995.[4] The fate of the prison was sealed in a 1986 ruling by the West Virginia Supreme Court which stated that confinement to the 5 x 7-foot (2.1 m) cells constituted cruel and unusual punishment.[3][4] Within nine years, West Virginia Penitentiary was closed as a prison.[3][4] Most of the inmates were transferred to the Mt. Olive Correctional Complex in Fayette County, West Virginia.[2][3] A smaller correctional facility was built a mile away in Moundsville to serve as a regional jail.[2][3]
Executions [ edit ]
The original Old Sparky on display
From 1899 to 1959, ninety-four men were executed at the prison. Hanging was the method of execution until 1949, with eighty-five men meeting that fate. The public could attend hangings, which were public until June 19, 1931. On that date, Frank Hyer was executed for murdering his wife. When the trap door beneath him was opened and his full weight settled into the noose, he was instantly decapitated. Following this event, attendance at hangings was by invitation only.[5] The last man executed by hanging, Bud Peterson from Logan County, was buried in the prison's cemetery because his family refused to claim his body.[4]
Beginning in 1951, electrocution became the means of execution. The electric chair, nicknamed "Old Sparky", used by the prison was originally built by an inmate there, Paul Glenn.[4] Nine men were electrocuted before the state prohibited capital punishment entirely in 1965.[4] The original chair is on display in the facility and is included in the official tour.[2]
Training [ edit ]
After the prison closed its doors as a state institution, the Moundsville Economic Development Council obtained a 25-year lease on the complex. The facility is used for training law enforcement and corrections practitioners with regular mock-riot drills.[15] To assist teams in the planning and execution of scenarios, the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation commissioned The 3D Model of the West Virginia Penitentiary, an interactive 3D model of the penitentiary. It made the software available to the public prior to conducting the 2009 Mock Prison Riot.[16] Some previous training programs for law enforcement officials that took place here, such as the National Corrections and Law Enforcement Training and Technology Center, are now discontinued.[17]
Tourism [ edit ]
Tours are available for tourists wishing to see the prison.[2] The Elizabethtown Festival is held every May to celebrate and remember historic Moundsville. A haunted attraction called the "Dungeon of Horrors" is also set up for the Halloween season. Paranormal groups and enthusiast travel guides consider Moundsville Prison to be one of the most haunted prisons in the United States, with ghost stories originating as early as the 1930s. Legends include the prison occupying the site of a Native American burial ground. Reports include former guards seeing phantom inmates and a "shadow man" wandering the premises, as well as unexplained noises, voices, and cold spots.[18]
Appearances in media [ edit ]
The prison has been featured in a variety of books, films, television shows, songs and video games.
Novels [ edit ]
Moundsville native Davis Grubb has written a couple of novels with Moundsville as the setting, Fools' Parade (also known as Dynamite Man from Glory Jail) and The Night of the Hunter. The penitentiary was featured as a significant part of each plot.
Film [ edit ]
These works by Grubb have been adapted as major motion pictures. The Night of the Hunter was adapted into a film by Charles Laughton and James Agee in 1955. It stars Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters. Fools' Parade, starring James Stewart, Kurt Russell, and George Kennedy, was adapted into a film in 1971.
Prison scenes in the 2013 film Out of the Furnace were filmed on site at the penitentiary.[19]
The Hulu original series, Castle Rock, based on Stephen King's work, was filmed here. In the series, the penitentiary is Shawshank. The reason this site was chosen for Shawshank instead of the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio where the movie Shawshank Redemption was filmed, is due to the showrunner's desire to make the town around Shawshank more visible.[20][21]
Video games [ edit ]
The prison appears in the 2018 video game Fallout 76, where it is known as the "Eastern Regional Penitentiary."
See also [ edit ]Democrats Should Be Very Worried About Hillary’s Anti-Trump Strategy
On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton’s campaign released two new attack ads against Donald Trump. The first shows a string of prominent Republicans denouncing Trump, including Ted Cruz calling him a narcissistic bully and Marco Rubio labeling him a phony. In the second ad, Clinton simply plays a series of Trump’s most controversial soundbites, from lines about anchor babies to his classic “bomb the shit out of them.”
The new anti-Trump ads have been called “straight-up savage” and “devastating.” The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent said that the first “brutal” ad “shows the shredding machine that awaits Trump.” Slate called the ads a “one-two punch” that seem like a “good plan.”
But to the contrary, these ads are a horrible plan. They’re the worst possible plan. And the fact that the Clinton campaign can believe they’re useful demonstrates just how minimal their understanding of voter psychology is, and reveals them to be woefully unprepared to deal with Trump in a general election. If this is the sort of material that the Hillary campaign has up its sleeve, the Democrats should be very worried indeed.
The essential problem is that, but for a few small tweaks, the Trump campaign itself could have put out these ads. Trump loves to be called names by Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz, and Lindsey Graham. He’s proud of it. Stringing these clips together just showcases what Trump himself says: establishment Republican losers hate him. That ad makes him look like a rebel: stuffed shirts like Mitt Romney hate his guts. (I’m a socialist, but I literally found myself warming to Trump as I watched him driving these conservative blowhards apoplectic.)
The ad also erodes the coherence of Hillary’s own campaign. Not only does it not hurt Trump, but it actually damages Hillary, by muddying her own politics. If she’s a progressive Democrat, then why would she give any credence to what Ted Cruz thinks? Shouldn’t being loathed by Ted Cruz reflect incredibly positively on someone? If the Democrats believe that conservative Republicans have policies that are essentially just as heinous as Trump’s, why should Hillary believe denouncements of Trump by Republicans carry any weight? If we produced a set of clips of the numerous times that right-wing Republicans have said nasty things about Clinton, would she want us to listen to that? Of course not. Because nothing said by Lindsey Graham should be given a shred of attention or credence by anyone. (And indeed, it isn’t.)
One of the key flaws in these ads is that they assume the viewer already agrees with them. Anyone who supports Trump is going to already know that the rest of the party hates him; that’s part of his appeal. Likewise, they’re also going to know that Trump says extreme and uncouth things; that’s another part of his appeal. Every single person who believes Trump was “destroyed” by this ad hated Trump already. This ad is about as effective as John Oliver calling Trump “Drumpf.” It does absolutely nothing to persuade people who do not already dislike Trump. All it does is congratulate people who agreed from the start.
That means that Hillary Clinton is basing her anti-Trump strategy on a dangerous premise: that merely by telling people what they already know about Trump, they will be motivated to show up to vote for her. Clearly, she believes that she will forge a coalition between the Republicans who hate him for being a nihilistic showboating vulgarian, and the Democrats who hate him for being a vicious bigot and possible fascist.
At first, this may seem smart. But it’s actually just complacent. It shows a failure to absorb the lessons that were learned too late by the other Republican candidates. They, too, believed that all you needed to do to turn people off of Trump was to point at him and say “Look at him, he’s… well, he’s TRUMP!” As if that, in itself, was sufficient. But all Trump had to do was reply “I’m Trump. So what?” and they would be left stammering. “Well, well, just look at him!”
This tactic relies on the voter already sharing your fixed opinion of Trump. Meanwhile, you’ve given nobody any actual reason why they should vote for you instead. So Hillary Clinton offers not a single argument in her own favor, she merely campaigns by holding up a picture of Donald Trump’s face, hoping that will be enough. And perhaps it will be, at first. But meanwhile, Donald Trump is slowly out converting people. And every time he does so, holding up a picture of his face seems less and less effective, is met with more and more responses of “So?”, and ever more resembles an advertisement for Trump rather than an attack on him.
Political causes fail when they act as if they can win simply by existing, without the need to convince the unconvinced. This is something Republicans actually discovered for themselves when they went after Bill Clinton during his presidency. Conservatives would say “But he’s an adulterer!” assuming that all they needed to do was point this out, and Clinton’s support would collapse. But since they had nothing prepared to answer the follow-up question “And why should that matter to me?”, and he himself remained charming and kept his cool, the attacks ended up boosting Clinton further. This is also one of the reasons liberals often lose political arguments. They believe that to point out that something is offensive is sufficient to convince people that it is bad. But they end up unable to deal with the person who simply replies “Well, what’s wrong with a thing being offensive?”
If Hillary Clinton’s entire case is going to be “I’m not Trump,” she’s going to have a hard time knowing what to do when he comes back with “Well, I am Trump. And Trump is great.” She’ll have no agenda of her own; in fact, she can’t have one if she hopes to say that supporters of Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders alike should rally behind her. All she can do is pray very hard that Trump’s unfavorable ratings don’t begin to erode, taking her entire argument with them.
I’ve previously written about the unique disadvantages that Clinton faces in a race against Trump. She has a tendency to flounder when attacks begin, and her background provides perfect fodder for his brand of primetime sleaze-slinging. She is also not well-positioned to criticize Trump on a number of his most important weaknesses, like shady business dealings; for every dubious quid-pro-quo of his, he’ll bring up nine of hers. One can already see her heading for charges of hypocrisy: in the second of the new ads, Trump is depicted as crazy for refusing to take the nuclear option “off the table”, but Clinton herself is notorious for having refused to take “any option off the table” in regard to Iran. Half the things Clinton will say of Trump (evasive, narcissistic, opportunistic) are equally true of Clinton herself; the difference is that Trump owns these qualities and is proud of them. He’ll get points for honesty, despite being one of the most prolific liars in the country.
The one strategy that might work against Trump is an attempt to neutralize his attention-seeking through the promotion of a positive agenda. This is why I’ve argued before that Bernie Sanders may have been the more effective candidate against Trump; if you can focus single-mindedly on your principles, and avoid being dragged down to Trump’s level, you may stand a chance of forcing him to get serious (and therefore lose his schtick, which is the basis of his appeal). But if you get down in the gutter with him, as Marco Rubio found out, you’re toast. If you start bashing him, he will bash you back, and he will be funnier and more shameless than you are. Trump will always win a battle conducted on Trump turf. If Hillary Clinton is committed to pursuing the “You’re a racist and Republicans hate you” line, instead of working to appear stately and above the fray, she might be walking directly into Trump’s gaping trap.
Already, liberals are beginning to count their chickens and confidently predict a Clinton victory. One might expect more humility given how many pundits were just humiliated over their certain predictions that Trump would lose the primary. But this is especially dicey given how vulnerable and clueless the Clinton campaign is now hinting it will be. If these ads are any indication, Clinton, like so many poor souls before her, has no idea how to stop Trump.While Stephen King is one of the most adapted authors of the past few decades, his multi-part fantasy epic The Dark Tower was for a long time a key book that remained unfilmed. A movie version is finally in production, starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. The first on-set images have been published, revealing Elba in costume. Check it out via the Mail Online.
Luthor star Elba is playing gunslinger Roland Deschain, while McConaughey will feature as Walter Padick, aka the Man in Black, the demonic sorcerer who is the story's central villain. It is directed by Nikolaj Arcel, who previously helmed the Oscar-nominated A Royal Affair.
The Dark Tower has had a long development process, and had passed between several studios before ending up at |
car, so Craig went in and repaired them accordingly
And even some of the decals within the engine compartment were tended to as well to re-adhere edges that were coming up
Here’s the master Craig Reed himself at work (post hair-cut…Jason Statham would have been a dead ringer for the role!)
Craig actually re-dyed the fabric on this hose to restore it to like-new condition
Even small details were taken care of…note the buildup of washer fluid around the bracket before
After
From a wide view you can see the headlight mechanism on the underneath side of the hood.
When I zoom in, you can see that all of the mechanical components and hoses were completely detailed as well (all of the gray stuff you see on the left is factory applied and original)
We’ve covered about all areas of the F40 now from paint correction to engine and suspension detailing to cosmetic repairs. Craig and I both put a lot of passion into the restorative detail on this piece of automotive history, and it is properly freshened up for many years to come.
Ferrari F40 Images: Finished Product
Truly a beautiful sight!
The F40 ended up with a very high level of gloss and depth once the detail was completed.
For those of you who have never seen an F40 in person, I wanted to give you some perspective on how low the car sits by having my 10 year old son Cameron stand next to it. The F40 is one of his favorites. 🙂
What a stunning automobile!
And finally…
Well I certainly thank you for taking the time to go through all of the details and photos on this successful project. Craig and I both put a tremendous amount of effort into it, and we were very happy with the results (as was the owner of the car).
If you’re an F40 owner that wishes to have a similar level of restorative detail, or the owner of a special vehicle(s) that desires to have an appearance and mechanical makeover performed by a highly qualified team, please get in touch with Craig and me and we’ll gladly discuss options. We regularly arrange the transport of vehicles to Columbus from across the country, so no need to worry if you’re not in the Ohio area.Way more than the bastardized burritos and nachos you pick up at window #2, Mexican food is such a big deal, the cuisine was named by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of mankind. Suffice it to say, Mexicans don't fuck around when it comes to food. Spicy, tangy and full of rich soul, the Chiapas region is also the cheapest in all of Mexico, making all its edibles available to you at street food prices.
In Chiapas, it all starts with corn, a sacred crop deeply embedded in Mayan culture and considered a gift from the gods.
Elote (corn on the cob) is a major street food and is usually grilled, then super-slathered in mayo. To layer flavor on your natural stick of Mexican food history, other topping options include chili powder, butter, salt, grated cotija cheese, salsa picante and lemon or lime juice. If picking corn out of your teeth on the streets gets grueling, check out elote's loose cousin, esquite, which is corn cut off the cob into a bowl with a mixture of the above ingredients and eaten with a spoon. Add some corn to your corn by chugging down disease-curing pozol, a drink made of corn dough and water (pozol blanco), or mixed with cacao (pozol de cacao), and popular during Mayan ceremonies and believed to help the Indígenas make long journeys through the jungle. When your corn baby fully matures, flush and don't look down.
Nucú
Why yes, those are curled up ant legs on your plate. Nucú (aka chicatana), a Chiapas specialty, are essentially delicious, oversized queen ants filled with thousands of eggs. Usually roasted and salted, served with lime juice and chile, and sometimes in tacos (if you like an extra crunch). Wash the Chiapas caviar down with some posh, a local sugar-cane based liquor. Nucú mate in swarm orgies every June, after which all the males die leaving bloated females to sit around until dinnertime. Best to take off their head and direct your bite straight at their fat asses.
A healthy street treat, jicaleta is a slice of refreshment on a stick. Jícama (also known as "yam bean" or "Mexican turnip"), is the edible root of a highly poisonous plant and is commonly used in soups, fruit bars, salads, salsas and other cooked dishes. Street vendors stick a slice on a skewer and you can either crunch on it au natural or dip it into flavored powders.
If your own tongue just ain't cutting it anymore, Chiapas is your mouth's chance to get real personal with beef tongue. Rubbing taste buds with a cow may sound almost cannibalistic, but the meat is chewy, with a dense, smooth texture and not half bad. You can find a lickin' in burritos and tacos, or on its own with a sauce. Try it with saffron sauce (lengua en salsa de azafran) to make you, and your new beefy friend, salivate.
Instead of giving you our gringo taco banter, while in Chiapas, OTP was lucky enough to meet Jesús Catalán, the self-proclaimed Taco King, and he's here to give you the deep insider view of Mexico's favorite sandwich.
Catalán is legit: Born in Del Valle, the taco epicenter of Mexico City, he has consumed millions of tacos around the world and, after 17 years, still holds the record for eating the most Tacos de Canasta (63 of those bad boys!).
So, what makes a good taco? Catalán says it's all about "tortillas, beans, chile, the fresh ingredients of a salsa" and the essential squeeze of lime. He's willing to get on an airplane for his Chiapan taco fix: DIY taco joints (puestos) at the shore of Lago Pojol in El Parque Nacional Lagunas de Montebello, "...there you'll find home-made fresh cheese wrapped in banana leaves, that will be grilled and topped with black beans, fried chorizo and avocado slices. Ask for tortillas and make tacos, those are really authentic."
Catalán swears that, "God is a taquero, life is a puesto, love is the salsa and you are the taco." To Catalán, tacos are serious eats and he's ready to wage war on anyone trying to mess with his favorite street eats. In fact, he "...dare[s] all Off Track Planet readers who have a passion for tacos to bring it on and steal [his] crown." You hear that? BE the taco.
Taco King Tip:
"Always look for the crowd, which not only indicates deliciousness and hygiene, but also a good price. Ask for tacos 'con copia', which means two tortillas instead of just one per taco. Deep-fried tacos and quesadillas are not only tastier but will fill you up better."
Tamales
These are not your freezer section logs of awful. Chiapas' nutty version, called tamales chiapanecos, are a regional creation, filled with pork, raisins, tomatoes, almonds, onions and spicy herbs then wrapped in banana leaves. The dough contains chipilín, an herb native to Chiapas, that gives these tamales a little extra flair. The juacanes version reminds you of Chiapas' coastal access by incorporating dried shrimp, along with black beans and pumpkin seeds, into their tamales. Hot off the grill (and not wrapped in plastic), tamales bring the sweet flavor of the southernmost state of Mexico straight into your mouth. Purchase yours from any guy peddling them from his bike.
Cacao was first discovered in the Chiapas region of Mexico and Guatemala 4,000 years ago and was used as currency until its crack-like qualities were revealed. All coffee in Chiapas is organic, shade-grown (which is better for you, the environment and the farmers) and off-the-hook delicious. Cacao is also cultivated to make chocolate and in Chiapas, they like it spicy. Buzz on a cup of coffee from just about anywhere and check out Kakaw, the cacao and chocolate museum, in San Cristobal de Las Casas. Order the sensaciones prehispánica for shots of hot chocolate in achiote, vainilla, amaranto and cacahuate varieties.
Super-agriculturalists since before America was "born", you best believe the people of Chiapas know their shit when it comes to food. The Taco King will tell you: "In such a diverse country as Mexico, food is perhaps the strongest element that 'glues' us all. Old and young, rich and poor, religious or not." Combine that with the "mi casa es su casa" mentality and you got yourself a street feast worth a trip way south of the border.You’ve got to hand it to the Rachel Notley government: it is apparently committed to consulting with Albertans.
The notion of scrapping the twice-yearly time change is gaining momentum, but Cheryl Oates, Notley’s press secretary, says the government wants to ensure Albertans are fully consulted before any decision is made.
The premier has also promised to consult with Albertans about provincial legislation on legalized marijuana, including the age at which people will be able to use the drug. A federal task force has recommended the minimum age be set at 18 and that provinces be permitted to harmonize their regulations with the purchasing of alcohol and tobacco.
“It’s a balancing act, obviously, because on one hand, the objective of legalizing marijuana — for the most part — is to control it and to actually make it more safe,” said Notley. “And we are committing that we will engage with Albertans on some of those options, and (age limits) will probably be one of them.”
The province has had a longstanding levy on heavy industrial greenhouse gas emitters, which has been increased by the government
This intention to engage with Albertans is admirable, but it raises the question why the government doesn’t demonstrate the same fair-minded spirit with other policies, like, say, the carbon tax. The government never campaigned on introducing an economy-wide carbon levy in the 2015 election.
The province has had a longstanding levy on heavy industrial greenhouse gas emitters, which has been increased by the government. The NDP could have taken action to phase out coal-fired electricity plants, as it has done, and left it at that — certainly until the Trudeau government announced its own carbon tax to begin in 2018, which is being fought by Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall.
Alternatively, if it wanted to advance the idea of a broad carbon levy, it could have adopted British Columbia’s approach and made it revenue neutral — reducing other taxes by a commensurate amount, so there was less danger of hurting the economy.
The Notley government could also have pursued a cap-and-trade system, as Ontario and Quebec have done. Using this model, the NDP could have set a lid on emissions and lowered it over time, creating an incentive for companies to pollute less. Albertans would have confidence that emissions would be reduced over time, which isn’t the case with the tax. Indeed, emissions are projected to increase for years under Notley’s plan.
There is plenty to discuss about how Albertans can best reduce carbon emissions.Sean M. Haffey San Diego Harbor Police work to get a handle on a capsized boat that was involved in an accident March 27, 2011, causing two deaths. San Diego Harbor Police work to get a handle on a capsized boat that was involved in an accident March 27, 2011, causing two deaths. (Sean M. Haffey)
The investigation continued Monday into what caused a boat to capsize in San Diego Bay, killing a father and son and injuring seven others during a Sunday afternoon sail for a nonprofit organization for people with disabilities.
The men who drowned were identified as Jun Chen, 48, and his father, Chao Chen, 73, both of Rancho Peñasquitos. Five other people on board, including two children, were family members of the Chens’. Three others, including the boat operator, were not related to the family.
The group of 10 was aboard the 26-foot sailboat Nessie, owned by a nonprofit based in Indiana. The vessel, which was made by MacGregor Yacht Corp. of Costa Mesa and can be used either as a sailboat or a motoring boat, was under sail when it flipped shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday, police said.
All of those aboard, including an 11-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl, were thrown into the bay when it capsized, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque said. No one appeared to have been trapped under the boat.
One woman remained in intensive care Monday night.
Authorities are investigating many possible reasons for the accident, including whether too many people were aboard and the status of two pieces of equipment key to keeping the boat upright.
Questions were raised about whether the “swing keel,” a centerboard designed to move up for trailer transport and down for sailing, was in the wrong position. Images of the capsized boat from Sunday night showed the keel was not in the down position, which could have led to instability.
Additionally, the sailboat is equipped with ballast containers designed to hold water and provide stability while under sail. Authorities would not confirm whether the ballast tanks contained water.
According to the MacGregor website, the tanks must contain about 1,400 pounds of water to right themselves in case of emergency. If those tanks are full, the capacity of the boat is about six people. Empty tanks bring the capacity down to about four people.
San Diegans Chris Belt and John Campbell were among the first mariners to respond to the emergency. Belt said they were set to return to the harbor when he noticed a boat overturned.
He said he and Campbell realized almost instantly that the boat appeared to have been carrying too many people. “That was probably more than enough people than should be on a boat of that size,” Belt said.
Belt and Campbell pulled two of the men from the water before emergency crews got to the scene less than five minutes later.
Belt said the man he pulled out was facedown and unresponsive by the time he got to him and was not wearing a life vest. The father and son died at the scene.
Four people — ages 30, 45, 50 and 57 — were taken to UCSD Medical Center. One woman was treated for hypothermia. The water temperature was in the upper 50s at the time of the incident, police said.
Three others, including the two children and a 49-year-old woman, were taken to Scripps Mercy Hospital, Luque said. An uninjured woman drove herself to Scripps Mercy after she’d been brought to shore by another boat.
Authorities identified the boat’s owner only as a nonprofit sailing group based in Indiana. They said the man who runs the group lives in Laguna Beach.
An Internet search turned up a group called Heart of Sailing Foundation, of Bloomington, Ind. The group’s van was in the Shelter Island marina parking lot Monday.
The founder of that organization, George Saidah, could not be reached for comment. Its website mentions “Free Daysails for 8 with George” in San Diego, departing throughout the day Sunday.
Saidah is a retired software engineer who started Heart of Sailing in 2004 to introduce people with disabilities such as autism and Down syndrome to the therapeutic properties of sailing, according to his Facebook page.
Greg Jones, a San Diego attorney and avid sailor, said he has seen the same boat bearing the group’s banner.
“From what I’ve seen of them on the bay, they look like they know what they’re doing,” Jones said. “They didn’t look like they would be people who were risk-takers or anything.”The next time some optimist, all aglow with a munificent aura of credulity about him, comes running up to you to enthuse grandiosely over the innate goodness of man, be sure to discomfit him thoroughly by showing him this item:
Woman found dead in Oklahoma Walmart bathroom three days after entering store Oklahoma police are investigating the death of a 29-year-old woman whose body was found inside a Sand Springs Walmart bathroom three days after she entered the store. A Walmart employee discovered the body of Katherine Caraway, originally from Texas, on Monday afternoon. According to the Associated Press, police said it’s unclear when or how Caraway died, but it does not appear her death was suspicious. A Walmart employee said they thought the bathroom Caraway occupied was “out of order,” so they put up a sign that remained there until her body was discovered by another employee. In response to the news, Walmart issued the following statement: “We are saddened by this. We don’t know all the facts right now, but we are working closely with local law enforcement to provide what information we have that might be useful. Because this is an ongoing investigation, we must refer you to them for additional information.” Police told the Sand Springs Leader they aren’t sure why Caraway, who lived in Muskogee, Oklahoma, was in Sand Springs. Sand Springs is roughly an hour drive from Muskogee. Authorities said Caraway’s family had to make a trip from Texas to identify the body. According to Caraway’s Facebook, she is from Celeste, Texas, a small town 60 miles outside of Dallas. She is survived by her young son.
Three whole days lying undiscovered in a sepulchral toilet, unbeknownst to her son, while the cogs of retail grind away unceasingly about her final resting place. Smel-Mart, of course, is not renowned for its fragrance of incense and peppermints, so perhaps the inevitable odor of corruption might be part of the routine work environment, but a number of questions still present themselves. How often are the bathrooms in this Wal-Mart cleaned, if they ever are? Did no one else have to use the ladies’ room during these three days? It’s not as though urinals would have been present either, so anyone using the facilities would of necessity be in close proximity to the corpse, and thus able to easily determine something was awry. What was this woman doing in a Wal-Mart so far from home, and separated from her only child, besides? Was this Wal-Mart having an unbelievable sale on breadmakers (which would also account for the noticeable lack of concern for the condition of the bathrooms from the clientele)? Or perhaps the pharmacy there is notorious for its lenient policy of selling Oxycontin to all-comers, no matter how dodgy a prescription they may present?
All rhetorical questions, and ’tis very likely none will ever be answered. Suffice it to say this sad episode also acts as the perfect analogy for the heinous economic fallacy celebrated by anarcho-libertarians as the ‘consumer culture’ – right down to the ‘out of order’ sign that acts as both this unfortunate woman’s epitaph and a commentary on a society that positively vaunts its adherence to divers weights and measures.
We here at Faith & Heritage have written extensively on economic topics (see here, here, and here for examples), and while we may differ in details as to what constitutes a theonomic economy, we are in agreement that materialism – whether in its capitalist or Marxist permeation – is antipodal to God and a most worthy recipient of His wrath. Alas, it has also served as the underlying assumption upon which all post-Enlightenment economic theories have been designed. Man being an innately rational creature, say these disciples of Reason, he strives to maximize his well-being by the amassing and utilization of all things physical – whether goods, services, means of exchange, or philosophy. The capitalist largely celebrates, and the socialist largely bemoans, this state of affairs, but their inherent worldview is otherwise remarkably similar. The creation is there for man’s exclusive use only, and the Creator is either too passive or altogether nonexistent to give any but the most derisive thought towards. A seeming antithesis was eventually generated in response to this creed of robots and locusts – the gnosticism of romanticism – but as it erred equally grotesquely on the side of the ephemeral over the material, its influence stayed well clear of the new economic ‘sciences’.
Thus, it matters little whether the current year produces a classically American ‘robust’ economy of engorgement on expensive paraphernalia, or whether an SJW-inspired socialist backlash succeeds in distributing such paraphernalia more ‘equitably’. The name of the game will still be: Lotsa Crap Matters, and until the board overturns and everybody loses their turn, it will continue in that vain vein.
It is a given mantra that in the modern market economy the consumer is king. You will find this cliche repeated ad nauseum in everything from the hallowed yellowing pages of the Chicago Tribune to the ersatz punk URL of the Anarchist Notebook. Quite a step up in hubris from the old canard ‘the customer is always right’, isn’t it? Come to think about it, isn’t it true that business journalism increasingly refers to the ‘consumer’ rather than to the ‘customer’? Very true, and very deliberately done. The term customer is derived from the old English word ‘custom’, which refers to a regular series of transactions with one or more select proprietorships. The word ‘customer’, therefore, suggests a purchaser of goods or services who, if nothing else, is reliably consistent. It is a term that retains a measure of dignity for the non-producing participant in a business transaction. One can be a customer and not feel inherently ashamed over that fact. Not so a consumer, which word in its basic etymology means a devourer, a glutton, an orgiast, a tapeworm. The consumer resembles nothing so much as Pac-Man, both in mindless voraciousness and, not coincidentally, often in body type. He acts in similar fashion to a malignant cancer, and it is perhaps apropos that so many toxic consumer goods, whether ingestible or otherwise, do their part in contributing to that tragic ailment.
What kind of a customer, crammed chock-full with the innate sensibility that underlies all reasoned economic relationships, would ever plunk down good cash (or a credit card #, or Paypal, or Bitcoin, or whatever) on a piece of plastic chintz like a fidget spinner, an ugly whirligig toy for the entertainment of cretins? Enough cretins did so (paying up to $460 in some cases!) to make this gizmo a big fad in the first half of 2017, despite the fact that even Wikipedia refers to it as a ‘useless machine’. Some of the spinner’s biggest fans are A-list power broker female and homosexual CEOs, who tout its (you guessed it) ‘stress-relieving’ capabilities and are thus willing to waste amazing amounts of shekels buying them in bulk – all to enable them to majestically close deals before slipping home for a glass of claret with their significant partner of either or no discernible sex. Consumerism in action, friends. At least some of the goods for sale in Tyre and Sidon had utility.
The marketing of fluff takes on more sinister connotations when it is done so with the express purpose of pandering to the lusts of the radically atomized individual to the negation of his cultural identity. (Culture, here, being defined as the relationship between the racial and the theological – in this instance, white Christianity.) In his article ‘A Traditionalist Critique of Capitalism’, David Carlton explains the purpose behind this strategy:
The reason that the new capitalist/managerial elite are motivated to actively dissolve national and cultural distinctions is that this creates a homogenized world full of mass consumers. Capitalists who own and operate multinational corporations would prefer that people consume that which can be easily mass produced as opposed to that which is locally manufactured, grown, or crafted. This is true whether we are discussing food, drink, cars, electronics, clothing, or produce…To accomplish this goal the Establishment promotes pseudo-morals such as anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-discrimination, anti-bigotry, and tolerance. The goal isn’t to bring peace between hostile nations and tribes, seeing as warfare has actually increased substantially under the ascendancy of capitalism. The goal is to create a world suited for mass consumption.
It’s hard not to see this agenda in action in the following item from RT. Though it does not involve anyone connected with the capitalist/managerial elite, it nevertheless documents the logical and inevitable ends their strident efforts beget:
Black barber cuts Confederate flag into white man’s hair in Oklahoma A black barber in Oklahoma has sparked a social media frenzy for the unconventional haircut he gave a white customer. The customer explained that his strange request for a Confederate flag was meant to pay homage to his favorite rapper. A customer who “seemed kind of scared” walked into the Fade N Up barbershop in Oklahoma City Saturday, and requested a haircut depicting the logo from the record label ‘Slumerica,’ barber Demontre Heard told KSBI. The unidentified customer was a fan of the label’s rapper Yelawolf. Heard commented on the difficulty of the design, saying,“It was going to be too much, so he asked if I could do the confederate flag in his head.” “In the back of my head I’m like, ‘what kind of stuff are you on?’” Heard continued. The customer opted to remain anonymous… Photos were taken by the staff and posted to Facebook, where different opinions clashed. Some showed their anger on social media towards the unusual haircut. Some customers at the shop supported both parties involved in the incident. Nidal Schawareb, said, “people portray [the Confederate flag] in different ways” adding, “with it being part of an album cover, I see it. I understand where that goes.” For Heard, the whole incident ultimately just came down to business. “You have the right to… your opinion,” he said, “but at the end of the day your opinion doesn’t pay my bills, and I have kids to take care of,” according to KSBI.
So what we have here on the one hand is a white man, enamored of hip-hop kulture, sufficiently versed in what the Battle Flag stands for to feel trepidation when asking a black barber to make it a reality, but keen to go along with it as honkies like Floyd the Barber from Mayberry can only be counted on to screw it up. On the other hand we have a black barber and the rest of his client base, bemused by the entire affair and basically shrugging it off with a dismissive air of ‘Hey, it’s your dime.’ A most surreal scenario, and one in which the customer (sorry, consumer) comes off looking decidedly the worse – not in the least because the finished product is a decidedly crummy representation of the flag. Such deliberate self-inflicted humiliation would have been unthinkable in a society that does not encourage the wanton spending of monies on frivolities, and inflated on a far vaster scale it translates into the West’s desire to exterminate itself via its own financing.
Some would take solace in the fact that there is a robust anti-consumerism movement afoot that emphasizes sustainability, local production and transport, ‘tiny’ houses, etc. Certainly, that can only be looked at as a welcome backlash against mall kulture. However, with hostile mainstream outlets like Fortune covering this movement from every conceivable angle, it would be naive to not perceive the infiltration designs of the corporatocracy against it. It doesn’t take too intense of a web search to come across sites dedicated to marketing strategies towards this niche – including this one, written by a Boston consulting firm in 2009 and thus laughably convinced that the Obama administration was about to usher in a brave new world of responsible consumer choice. The lessons to be taken away are summarized at blogpost’s end:
Align your brand with the new realities – is it time for an extreme brand makeover?
Extend the life of your brand by making money out of “re” branding: eg, repair, resell, renewal, or refill, etc.
To increase brand relevance, enable consumers to help themselves – eg, tools, mobile apps, widgets
Open up your brand and make it part of the community of greater good – otherwise, it will be excluded
One little company that has definitely taken these cloak-and-dagger tactics to heart: Monsanto, which is undergoing a massive re-branding overhaul after its purchase by Bayer, including a potential name-change. But a ‘consumer’ isn’t going to care overmuch that his genetically modified marijuana is certified ‘local’ because it was grown in Guatemala and is thus a lot closer to home than Bangladesh. As long as his retailer of choice (because it’s the only choice) stays adept at scrubbing his cranium, he will retain his coerced loyalty.
Don’t expect today’s church to be doing diddly squat to meaningfully oppose consumerist thought, either. Oh sure, they’ll trot out their simplistic sloganeering about ‘the reason for the season’ every Christmas, and they’ll nod in ecumenical approval whenever Pope Jesuit I issues an encyclical tut-tutting commercialism when one could be engaged in spoon-feeding Haitians or lobbying first-world governments to implement carbon taxes instead. At heart, though, the pathetic shepherdz who presume to positions of church leadership are as immersed in gluttonous heterodoxy as the culture they claim to stand against. Witness Marcus Pittman and his juvenile lusts for drone technology, junk food, and Amazon’s operational management procedures…all in service to his own personal conception of ‘God’s glory’, naturally. Witness Joel McDurmon and his catering to blacks and their shekels by re-imagining American Vision as a forum to promote liberation theology and reparation payments. Witness Tim Keller and his catering to sodomites and their shekels by allowing an excruciatingly twee interpretive dance, performed by three twinkletoed men disgustingly meant to represent the Persons of the Trinity, to be performed during one of his sermons. Witness David Bahnsen. Hell, just witnessing him is more than sufficient, isn’t it? These gray-bearded elders are no mere embarrassing aberrations, but textbook examples of the types of Caiaphases the laity have had inflicted on them.
The societal effects of consumerism, both present reality and those things still to come, are odious. To cite a few examples:
Once a people gets used to having all their goods manufactured overseas by peons and shipped to their front door for convenient wastage, it doesn’t take long for that mentality to infest every organizational structure. One manifestation of this disease is the ‘new normal’ of subcontracting – not content to merely parcel out select tasks to specialists, but to dole out the entire job, while King Spit sits on his golden throne, collects his glorified finder’s fee, and sighs about how tough business is. The permutations available for theft and power-grubbing when everybody’s a middleman are nearly limitless.
Fealty to Christ is patriarchal, obsequious, narrow-minded, and weird. Every empiricist worth his salt knows that. One way to compensate for this gaping void is to transfer that faith to a particular set of emotionally attached consumer brands. Drive a Dodge Ram just like your daddy, swig down Budweiser because their Super Bowl ads are epic, and get insured by Progressive because their spokeswoman Flo is hot. Inculcate children in this mindset at an impressionable enough age and they’ll be ready to move on to the bigger things in life later on, such as slavishly devoting themselves to a sportsball team or diligently voting R or D every two years.
Of course, if God is dead and fragmentary satiation killed Him, then it stands to reason that His natural order will be subject to every possible whimsical gratification that can be imagined. Welcome to the Huxleyan world of designer babies, kiddos, coming very soon to a test tube near you! What proud prospective parent, delighted over the prospect of being delivered of a cool retro Cabbage Patch Kid they can be amused by for the rest of their lives, wouldn’t be eager to ensure that said distraction came tailor-made to his/her/its specifications, from eye color to IQ to extensive genetic enhancement so that the urchin might live to be 250 years old? And what better way to ensure the extermination of the Caucasian race is accelerated? A boring paleface doll??? Ewwww!!!! Bro, do you like buy vanilla ice cream, too??? Go for the mocha pigmentation, which will complement the earth tones on your Nella Vetrina love seat! And half a million internet outlets ensuring us that the ongoing mongrelization of the West will result in some spectacularly gorgeous hybrids can’t be all wrong, either!
Our God being a Creator rather than an imbiber, an economy that glorifies Him will be one in which the producer of wealth – real wealth, as opposed to the makeshift fiat variant – is justly rewarded for his toil, and one in which custom for his wares is geared towards further wealth creation, whether in the operation of other crafts or in the rearing of stalwart families. All else is vanity, vexation of spirit, and fit only for the fiery furnace. All those who insist otherwise may continue to pay obscene amounts of coin for gender-fluid fashions so that some homosexual designer can continue to make payments on his yacht.Ready to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week.
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"There is definitely a story going untold," says Melissa Boteach, manager of Half in Ten, a national campaign to reduce poverty by 50 percent over the next ten years. "When you have one in seven Americans living in poverty, one in five children living in poverty—including one in three African-American children and Latino children—and it’s not on America’s radar, something’s very wrong." Ad Policy
Indeed it is the shame of our nation that a record 47 million people now live below the poverty line—$22,400 for a family of four—and a stunning one in three Americans are living at less than twice that threshold. And yet we hear so little about this crisis in the mainstream media and Congress, where it seems off the radar not only for the GOP but even for some of our progressive allies.
But the grim truth is that many of the same structural problems that are making life a struggle for the middle class—and resulted in the first "economic recovery" in 2003–07 where productivity rose but median income declined and poverty worsened—are also leading to record numbers of poor people. From 1980 to 2005, more than 80 percent of the total increase in American incomes went to the richest 1 percent. Our economy is super-sizing the wealthy, while producing large quantities of low-wage jobs, unemployment and underemployment, and services are eroding. So the work of those who are waging today’s war on poverty comes with a very different frame.
"We need to make the connection between what’s happening to lower-income Americans and the middle-class," says Boteach. "We need to make sure that this economic recovery is different—that we’re not seeing a larger concentration of wealth, but a growing middle-class, increasing wages and reduced poverty. That’s an economic recovery that can cut poverty in half."
To meet that kind of ambitious and much-needed goal, antipoverty advocates must overcome a host of stereotypes and myths, including one which refuses to fade, facts be damned: we waged a War on Poverty, and poverty won.
"That’s just historically inaccurate," says Boteach. "If you actually look at history you can see that policy interventions really do make a difference. Between 1964 and 1973, the poverty rate fell by more than 40 percent. More recently, the Recovery Act kept millions of people out of poverty."
Indeed the Recovery Act included the largest (temporary) expansion of antipoverty programs in forty years. And according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, it kept more than 4.5 million people out of poverty in 2009 through unemployment benefits, food stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the new Making Work Pay tax credit. Those provisions will be difficult to extend under the new Republican House "cut-as-you-go" rule, which would require that they are offset by equivalent reductions in other mandatory spending—not, for example, by closing tax loopholes for corporations that shelter profits overseas. (In contrast, any new tax breaks for the wealthy would not have to be offset at all. If this doesn’t speak volumes about the GOP’s priorities and hypocrisy on the deficit, I don’t know what does.)
There is a mistaken notion that those who benefit from the kinds of antipoverty measures included in the Recovery Act are part of a "permanent underclass." But poverty isn’t static—people are moving in and out of it constantly, and one in three Americans will experience poverty during their lifetime. So fighting poverty isn’t about helping "the other," it’s about all of us. Yet seeing that common ground can be difficult in tough times like this Great Recession. Often, people understandably turn inward, doing their best simply to look after their own families. On the flip side, times like these can lead to greater empathy, an understanding that economic struggle isn’t about being lazy or not wanting to work.
"The fact is we all have the potential to lose a job and experience economic insecurity, and we want that safety net there for us as well," says Boteach. "People who never thought |
design a great interface for circular watches that take advantage of the round shape, but it would be completely different from the rectangular UI. (remember the iPod?). Trying to make both shapes with the same software is a mistake on Google’s part. Pick one shape and stick with it.
It’s hard to evaluate the interface from descriptions and screenshots, or even animations. With a screen this small every tiny detail matters; minimalism to the max. The only way to evaluate is to use the device for a while. A long while. Like, a week or more. Keep that in mind when you read all of the "reviews" of the Apple watch this week.
The most useful indicator from a watch is actually the buzzer. (Hmm: Note to self. What about a screen-less watch? Vibrations as the only output? You can actually do a lot that way. Have to come back to that.)
Battery life isn’t as big an issue as I feared. Bluetooth LE is pretty damn good these days. While Pebble’s week of battery is pretty awesome, most people just need it to go a single day and recharge thoughtlessly on the bedside table. The future of power management isn’t going to be better batteries, but better chargers. Oh Touchstone dock, how I miss you.
Still, why would someone want one of these things? With a starting price of several hundred dollars and dubious ‘fitness’ benefits, why should the non-early adopter buy one of these? For now the answer is: they shouldn’t. But that will change; and probably faster than we (the techies) realize.
The Killer App
Smartwatches still lack the killer app. That’s okay. Smartphones really didn’t have a killer app at first either. Arguably the first killer app for smartphones was Mobile Safari, but that was just a portal to the many things on the web, not an app in itself. In a sense, good network access on the go was the killer app. There wasn't one particular task that made smartphones amazing at first.
After a decade of smartphones we realize there isn’t a single killer app. There are tons; and what is killer for you is unnecessary for someone else. It took building a rich ecosystem of 3rd party apps for the true value of a smartphone to be realized. I use at least ten apps multiple times a day on my phone, and only the alarm clock and Safari are built in. The rest were built after the iPhone existed.
And so it will be with the smart watch. The exciting things won’t be what we see today, but what we will see in a year, or five years. The little things that make your life better. The little ways they connect with the other digital (and non-digital) objects in your life. These are the features we simply can’t predict today. Even Apple can’t. But when they arrive, watch out.
The smartwatches I’ve used are clunky, large, have poor battery life, and are still too confusing; but make no mistake: when it works, it’s magic. All the pieces of your digital life in sync.
Example: my wife texted me while I was driving. I glanced, made a quick swipe, spoke a reply, and it was sent. No extra buttons. Simply magic. For a moment I was living in the future. This is what Apple is promising. Making your life magic.
A smartwatch isn’t really a device, it’s an extension of your smartphone, or more properly an extension of the smart ecosystem you are a part of. (If Google ever does support Android Wear on iOS I expect it will be a pale shadow of the Android experience). The watch is at it’s best when it leverages that ecosystem. All of the information already present on your phone and the cloud, working on your behalf. When it works together, it’s bloody magic. (Perhaps that's why we find iCloud's bugginess so frustrating).
Today, our smartwatches will not be magic all the time. Voice recognition is heavily cloud dependent. Google does an amazing job of making it fast but any latency on a watch breaks the illusion. Even the best smart watch can become frustrating fast. Apple’s ads make Siri look practically instantaneous but I want to see what it will be like under real world conditions.
Smartwatches will (are?) result in a flurry of notifications. Both Apple and Google have made recent changes to their respective operating systems to better manage alerts, but it’s still going to grow out of hand. We may need to start applying spam-filter like technology to the problem. It’s really a catch 22. Notifications make the watch worth while, but too many makes it a pain to use. Finding that balance, and adjusting it for every person without being a rules programmer is going to be very tricky
Is it worth it?
The final question I hear from lots of people: is it worth getting a smartwatch which simply moves the notifications from your phone screen to your wrist? Aren’t we simply saving 10 seconds of time to remove the phone from your pocket? The answer is yes and yes.
Yes, it’s totally worth moving the interface closer. It’s not just 10 seconds of time. This is a case where a quantitative difference becomes qualitative. An interaction that takes one second on your wrist really is different than the 10 seconds from your jeans pocket. It fits under a threshold that allows you to continue with your current frame of mind. It doesn’t break your concentration. It lets your short term memory remain undisturbed. It really is different.
...provided of course, that the notifications are minimal and can be immediately ignored or acted on quickly. Interaction design is far more critical, and difficult, on a wearable device than a phone. These apps are going to be a lot harder to build. Making apps for wearables is as different from phones as phones were from desktops. Perhaps this is why the Android Wear store is 90% ugly watch faces. I worry about a flood of crappy watch apps that give the field a bad name. Perhaps this is why Apple is so far being conservative on that front. Hopefully they apply stronger design filters in the Watch App Store.
The Best Interaction is No Interaction
The best interactions will be no interaction; things that happen automatically on your behalf, with a gentle notification that it happened. This will be Calm Technology at it's best. Your watch as presence indicator. Unlock your phone automatically. Unlock your car or house (when it recognizes your heartbeat signature to ensure it’s really you). Remember where you parked your car, automatically. Warn you when you leave a phone in a bar. Buzz you when it’s time to stretch, or drink some water, or leave early for a meeting because of traffic. *Smartwatches will be less a device than a guardian angel, doing things on your behalf.* This is, of course, terrifying.
Terrifying not because of automation, but because of how much of our lives may be controlled by just two companies. I'm afraid I don't have an answer for that. The robots taking over might be nicer.
After the Apple Event.
It's now Friday. I finally had a chance to watch the Apple event and my opinions haven’t changed much. The watch's interface is clearly more polished than what we saw last fall; and I really, really want the new MacBook.
So bearing in mind that I can’t judge a wearable I haven’t used, here is my judgement on a wearable I haven’t used.
I really like the new scrollbar design that’s more indicative of where you are in the dock. Please bring that back to OSX.
I have doubts about voice quality, but accepting a phone call on your wrist will be awesome when you are holding a 3 yr old.
The navigation feels more refined than Android wear, but still tricky. I really want to see how it works in person.
it’s not clear what actions you do with the digital crown and what uses swiping. Some gestures seem to be overloaded. This is the most difficult part to design and really must be judged in person.
The health aspects don’t seem much beyond what I can get out of other health trackers. The key will be filtering this into actionable data. That will require better 3rd party apps.
The app constellation is still chaos.
Digital Touch is the most fascinating part to me. Nothing else (mainstream) does that right now. It really sells the vision that these are personal devices in a way we've never had before. People want to communicate with their loved ones. It’s what separates us from the animals (except the weasel).
Quick anecdote. I saw paired cylinders when I was an intern at Xerox PARC in the mid-90s. When you rolled one cylinder it’s match would move in tandem. The idea is that you could bring this with you while traveling and give the occasional gesture to your partner to let them know you were thinking about them. Digital Touch is clearly the modern equivalent.
So, will I get one of these? Of course, I’ll get several. That’s my job. The interesting question is whether my my non-tech wife or mother want one. I think so. By Christmas there will be actually useful apps and a slew of bug fixes. This will provide real value in a way that can’t be quantified by a spec sheet. Value in the form of feeling and subtle interactions.
Welcome to the new personal computer.– According Dallas police, the “active shooter” suspect near Frankford is in custody. No word where the suspect was located or if the man was armed when found.
Chopper 11 captured video of Dallas police escorting a man, who appeared to be handcuffed, down a street.
A Dallas SWAT team and police officers had been searching for the shooter, in the north part of the city, for about 90 minutes. Police are said to still be investigating in the area near Frankford and Preston Roads.
The scene, not far from the Preston Trail Golf Club, is surrounded by several gated residential communities.
Initially it was thought that shots had been fired at a Dallas Fire Rescue vehicle. DFR later confirmed that firefighters were enroute to a grass fire in the area when they heard gunshots.
Officers arriving at the scene found several suspicious devices outside of a home. Members of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) were called in and the devices were made safe.
No one was injured.
For nearly two hours police would only saw that they were searching for a male suspect who was believed to be wearing a blue shirt and had a white towel or bandana on his head.
Several streets near Frankford and Preston were shutdown for hours.
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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Top Trending:Be the first to catch a signal from Fly Your Satellite! from space!
CubeSats orbiting Earth It is time to start listening to space. To celebrate the launch of the three Fly Your Satellite! student-built CubeSats into low Earth orbit, ESA’s Education office challenges the amateur radio community to listen out for the tiny satellites. The first three radio amateurs to send a recorded signal from either AAUSAT4, E-st@r-II or OUFTI-1 will receive a prize from ESA's Education Office. The satellites have been launched onboard the Soyuz VS-14 flight from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on 25 April at 23:02 CEST. Together with CNES’ Microscope scientific satellite, they were auxiliary payloads in the launch of ESA’s Earth observation satellite Sentinel-1B, the main passenger on this flight.
Fit checks for the CubeSats’ P-POD on ASAP-S Soon after being deployed into their final orbit, the CubeSats will begin transmitting signals to Earth that can be picked up by anyone with common amateur radio equipment. ESA challenges anyone to record the signal and send it to cubesats@esa.int, and to the CubeSat team. For each CubeSat, the first email received for which the signal is confirmed to belong to the CubeSat will be awarded with the following prizes: ESA Fly Your Satellite! poster
ESA Education goodie bag
Scale 1:1 3D printed model of a CubeSat
Radio Contact Information:
Please consult the following links to obtain specific information for radio contact for each of the three CubeSats. AAUSAT4 Downlink frequency 437.425 MHz For more HAM radio information see here and here.
Contact: aausat4 @ space.aau.dk E-st@r-II Downlink frequency 437.485 MHz For more HAM radio information see here.
Contact: cubesat.team @ polito.it OUFTI-1 Downlink frequency 145.980 MHz For more HAM radio information see here.
Contact: oufti-1 @ ulg.ac.be
What your email should contain: Sound recording of the CW beacon
Your Name
Callsign
Snailmail address for QSL
Reception time of CW beacon
CW beacon decoded
Location
A few lines about your equipment More information about Fly Your Satellite! can be found here.A very déclassé thing happened to Joelle O'Reilly-Hyland as she and her family were about to board the 9:30 pm ferry to Woods Hole from Martha's Vineyard. She was arrested for stealing cute outfits.
According to the Martha's Vineyard Times, here is a list of the things Joelle O'Reilly-Hyland, who is a millionaire, stole:
A $36 necklace from a surf shop. A $96 embroidered shirt from the same surf shop. A cashmere sweater with a fox embroidered on it. The exact price of this item is not given, but we'll lowball it at $118 since O'Reilly-Hyland was charged with "larceny of goods valued at more than $250." Also "wanton destruction of property" because she damaged the sweater when she removed its electronic anti-theft tag. You may be wondering how she can be charged for destroying her own sweater. Remember: it was only her sweater because she stole it.
O'Reilly-Hyland and her husband are managing partners at "an independent investment boutique," which is rich people talk for "a thing." In 2009, they listed their Manhattan townhouse for $19 million, though it only sold for a paltry $10 million, barely enough to cover one surf shop necklace.
O'Reilly-Hyland was caught when a manager at The Green Room surf shop recognized the fun fox sweater she was wearing as one stolen from the manager's friend's shop on Martha's Vineyard.
While her husband purchased a paddleboard from The Green Room, O'Reilly-Hyland took a few items into a dressing room, including an embroidered shirt. The shirt was later discovered to be missing.
Police were warned and went to the ferry terminal to wait for the family, who would be leaving that evening.
According to one officer, after questioning, O'Reilly-Hyland stated that she initially asked the Green Room manager to sell her husband the paddleboard for 50 percent off, which makes sense because.
When the manager refused, she took the shirt "as payback for them not giving her the discount for the paddleboard."
O'Reilly-Hyland also told cops that she bought the sweater, which she was still wearing, online. Then that she bought it in Woodstock, New York. Then that she really liked it and just fucking stole it okay? (Her reasoning, according to police: she "was concerned that her husband would be upset if she kept spending money.")
Earlier this year, O'Reilly-Hyland and her husband held a party for the book Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think.
Here are the first two sentences of the book's description on Amazon:
"We will soon be able to meet and exceed the basic needs of every man, woman and child on the planet. Abundance for all is within our grasp. "
Indeed.
[Martha's Vineyard Times // Image via Flickr/colros]Bill Shorten has called on Tony Abbott to accept an additional 10,000 refugees on top of Australia‘s current intake of 13,7500, in the wake of the unfolding global humanitarian crisis.
In a just-released statement, he said:
“This is a significant contribution but could be offset by cost sharing with the states, community sponsored visas; family reunification visas and the provision of work right. If we work together, 10,000 places can be provided to people who desperately need our help.”
He’s also called on the Government to donate an additional $AUD100 million towards the humanitarian relief effort, including helping people in refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan.
Shorten says that Australia should work with the UNHCR to determine who is placed where, with priority given to people displaced from Syria and Iraq.
“Tony Abbott needs to demonstrate genuine compassion and leadership and provide real assistance to refugees by the conflict in the Middle East. We believe simply allocating existing places to the Syrian refugee crisis is not taking real action.”
Shorten’s announcement during Question Time comes two days after Greens leader Richard Di Natale called on the Government to accept an additional 20,000 refugees, and one day after Tony Abbott announced that Australia would accept more Syrian refugees, but leave the current intake as is.
In response, Abbott said that is the firm intention of the Government to give people refuge, but that he’ll “have more to say on behalf of the Government after we have received the report from Minister Dutton overnight.”
Picture: Darrian Taylor via Getty Images.THE whole northern half of the Adelaide CBD will have free wi-fi coverage and overall city coverage is set to more than double under a contract won by Internode.
The internet provider has secured the $1.5 million deal with the State Government and City Council for the Australian-first, city-wide rollout, first revealed by The Advertiser last November.
The company says Adelaide will have one of the largest outdoor wireless networks in the western world, covering 97 per cent of the northern CBD from Wakefield and Gouger streets to North Tce.
It says "extensive" coverage will also be available in the southern half of the city from early next year, focused on commercial areas such as Hutt St.
More than 200 outdoor wireless access points will be installed throughout the CBD to spread the signal for users to tap into.
Work has started on the new AdelaideFree network and will be completed by early next year, in time for the Mad March festival season.
Internode founder Simon Hackett said the expanded coverage would benefit residents, commuters and visitors.
"It will give them fast free internet access throughout the CBD," he said.
"Students can use this wi-fi to study. Business people can use it for remote access to their office networks.
"Anyone can use it to stay in touch by email, checking the web for store specials or ordering online, all without affecting their monthly mobile phone data quota."
Mr Hackett, Information Economy Minister Grace Portolesi and Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood are announcing the contract in Hindmarsh Square this morning.
What do you think of the free wi-fi plan? Tell us below.Dear Faculty, Staff and Students: I am pleased to name Andreas Cangellaris, dean of the College of Engineering and the M.E. Van Valkenburg Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, as the vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost designate. His appointment in the new role will be effective on Jan. 16, pending approval by the Board of Trustees. Dean Cangellaris has earned an international reputation for excellence as an academic leader, a teacher and a researcher. His career here at Illinois has provided him with vast institutional knowledge and deep personal connections with faculty members, staff and students. This combination set him apart from the rest of a very deep pool of candidates and made him the clear choice to fill this critical leadership position. I want to thank the search committee, chaired by College of Law Dean Vikram Amar, for its careful work in recruiting and evaluating an outstanding selection of applicants and in guiding the search process over the past months. I also want to express my gratitude to each of you in the campus community who offered advice and honest feedback about the final candidates. Dean Cangellaris has provided critical campus leadership at Illinois around a number of major interdisciplinary initiatives and programs. He was among the core group of faculty and administrators who developed the vision that has led to the new Carle Illinois College of Medicine. He was among the initial collaborators in laying the groundwork and securing the private gift for the Siebel Center for Design that will break ground in the spring of 2018. Dean Cangellaris has been instrumental in developing new research, educational and engagement partnerships that range from Chicago to Singapore to mainland China. Dean Cangellaris has led the College of Engineering since August 2013. Prior to that, he served as the head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He is internationally recognized for his research in applied and computational electromagnetics and its applications to the signal integrity of integrated electronic circuits and systems. Dean Cangellaris’ research has produced several design methods and computer tools that are used widely in the microelectronics industry. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He has received a Humboldt Research Award and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory Director's Coin. I will be working in consultation with Dean Cangellaris, the engineering leadership team and faculty members along with my leadership team to select an interim dean for the College in the coming weeks. I want to express my deep appreciation to John Wilkin for his leadership as interim vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost. His collaborative and consultative approach has brought stability and strong leadership to the role while the campus searched for a permanent provost. He has been a strong and thoughtful leader throughout this transition. Please join me in congratulating Dean Cangellaris and in welcoming him to his new role at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sincerely, Robert J. Jones
ChancellorWALKABLE BIKEABLE DELAWARE 2013 SUMMIT
Active Transportation, Healthy Families
May 1 | Dover, Delaware
REGISTER HERE
SUMMIT PROGRAM
The Walkable Bikeable Delaware 2013 Summit will be chock full of awesome elected officials, engineers and public health professionals charting a course for making Delaware the most walkable and bikeable state in America. But it doesn’t matter how awesome each one of them are; a whole day of head-stretching discussion is tough for your average cyclist. Most of us can do 8 hours in the saddle, but 8 hours using the other end of our bodies is a different order of challenge.
That’s why we’re grateful for Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales. When the summit speakers have all had their say, they will be there at the end of the summit to soothe the overheated noggins of weary cyclists with their craft brewed ales.
Thank you, Dogfish Head.Notts County are delighted to announce that Aston Villa winger Jack Grealish has a agreed new loan deal with the club until the end of the season.
The 18-year-old has been a revelation for Notts this season with a series of dazzling performances on the wing.
Grealish bagged his first professional goal against Gillingham in early December and quickly followed it with a second a week later against Colchester United.
A third goal against Bradford City on New Year’s Day was testament to the youngster’s development during his time at Meadow Lane and the club are delighted to have been able to secure his services for the rest of the season.
The club would like to thank Aston Villa for allowing Jack to rejoin the Magpies and for the professional and efficient manner in which they have handled discussions over the loan deal.
Keep checking back to nottscountyfc.co.uk during the transfer window for the official updates.The University of Arkansas campus was buzzing Friday after a student hurt himself when a gun went off in his backpack in the KUAF building.Matthew Williamson admitted to 40/29 news he didn't check to see if the gun was loaded.Williamson was hit in the hand.UAPD said Williamson's Taurus revolver was loaded with a small shotgun round.The fragments of the ammunition could be seen in the wall near a fire alarm of the public radio station lobby.Williamson told 40/29 news he did not have a conceal carry license.On why the gun was in his backpack, Williamson explained he was on his way to a shooting range.Williamson remains in a Fayetteville hospital.Williamson gave two photos to 40/29 news demonstrating the damage done to his left hand. In them, you can see numerous stitches and pins doctors used to put his hand back together.Because of the graphic nature we can not share those.Williamson faces suspension from the University of Arkansas for bringing a gun to campus and criminal charges associated with the accidental shooting.
The University of Arkansas campus was buzzing Friday after a student hurt himself when a gun went off in his backpack in the KUAF building.
Matthew Williamson admitted to 40/29 news he didn't check to see if the gun was loaded.
Williamson was hit in the hand.
UAPD said Williamson's Taurus revolver was loaded with a small shotgun round.
The fragments of the ammunition could be seen in the wall near a fire alarm of the public radio station lobby.
Williamson told 40/29 news he did not have a conceal carry license.
On why the gun was in his backpack, Williamson explained he was on his way to a shooting range.
Williamson remains in a Fayetteville hospital.
Williamson gave two photos to 40/29 news demonstrating the damage done to his left hand. In them, you can see numerous stitches and pins doctors used to put his hand back together.
Because of the graphic nature we can not share those.
Williamson faces suspension from the University of Arkansas for bringing a gun to campus and criminal charges associated with the accidental shooting.
AlertMeAbul Bajandar, dubbed the “tree man” because of branch-like warts growing on his hands and legs, is happy as doctors are hopeful of curing his extremely rare skin disorder.
Almost all the warts have been removed and those have not reappeared.
Bajandar, 27, had 18 surgeries after his admission to the burn and plastic surgery unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital a year ago. He might need another four or five operations in the next two months.
The man from Khulna has been suffering from epidermodysplasia verruciformis, a rare skin disorder commonly known as the tree man illness, which covers limbs with warts, making them look like tree branches. He is believed to be the fourth man in the world with tree man illness.
“If Bajandar is cured and the warts don't grow again, it will be a remarkable milestone in the history of medical science,” Dr Samanta Lal Sen, national coordinator at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, told The Daily Star recently.
“We are hopeful about his recovery as there has been no reappearance of the warts since his first operation in February last year,” he said.
A nine-member medical board has been operating on him, said the noted physician, adding that they were waiting for his lab report. Bajandar's blood, tissue and saliva samples were sent to the US last year for diagnosis.
BAJANDAR LOOKS BETTER
With a pale face and confusion over his treatment, Bajandar went to the DMCH on January 30 last year. His photos with his hands completely covered by warts grabbed worldwide media attention.
But if you see Bajandar now, you might not recognise him instantly. Not only the warts but also the paleness of his face has disappeared. His health has improved and he smiles frequently.
All of his limbs except for the left hand are bandaged. A few remains of the warts are visible on the fingers and the palm. Bajandar said the condition of the other hand and the legs was almost the same.
Talking to The Daily Star on Saturday, he said his life has changed completely after his admission to the hospital.
Thanking the doctors for their selfless efforts to cure him, he talked about his dreams of making his daughter a doctor in future.
“I want she too serves people selflessly. It is the only way to pay back the nation,” he said, adding that the doctors gave him a “new life”.
When Bajandar was admitted to the hospital, his hands were so heavy because of the warts that he could not even move them on his own. But now, things have changed.
“Even after the surgeries began, I was wondering whether I could ever use my hands and legs again. But you see, these are functioning, and I can touch my daughter and play with her sometimes.
“This feeling is just out of the world…”
Living in a cabin on the fourth floor of the burn unit for the last one year with his wife Halima Khatun and three-year-old daughter Tahira, Bajandar went outside the hospital just twice for a walk.
Asked, he said he was never bored. “Rather, I felt liberated as the warts were being removed gradually.”
Now, all he wants is to go back to his village in Khulna and start his own business with the money donated by people.
“I have received a lot of love from all. Many visited me and gave me gifts as well. All this love and the treatment are giving me the confidence to fight back in life,” he said, adding that he did not like the way people used to look at him with sympathy because of the warts.
His wife Halima, who has always been with him, also expressed her happiness over the way things have happened. “I am very happy to see smile on my husband's face.”
Bajandar was having malnutrition, anaemia (lack of red cell in blood) and jaundice when he was admitted to the hospital. But now, his health has improved a lot, said Dr Sen, adding that his treatment has absolutely been free of cost.
The government is bearing all the costs.
This is a long term and expensive treatment. The entire treatment would cost nearly Tk 50 lakh, he claimed.
The warts began to appear on Bajandar's limbs when he was 15. After his wedding in 2011, those grew so big that he could not even move them. So he had to quit his job as a rickshaw-van driver.
Bajandar's case received worldwide attention from renowned international media outlets, among others, AFP, The Guardian, BBC, CNN, ABC, Telegraph, Washington Post, Russian Television (RT) Network and Al-Jazeera.
According to DermNet New Zealand, a renowned resource all about the skin, epidermodysplasia verruciformis (also called Lewandowsky-Lutz dysplasia) is an extremely autosomal recessive inherited disorder. Till date, no cure has been found.
A Romanian man was first diagnosed with the disease in March 2007. Another case was reported in Indonesia in November the same year in a 35-year-old fisherman. The last reported case also occurred in Indonesia in 2009.
The Indonesian fisherman, whose case had also received worldwide attention, died on January 30 last year from the complications related to his condition as the warts began to reappear. Those were surgically removed earlier.Labor looks to be in the box seat to form a majority government, claiming victory in a 47th seat as the official vote count continues.
The party says its candidate Meaghan Scanlon has won the Gold Coast seat of Gaven over sitting Liberal National Party member Sid Cramp.
Ms Scanlon, 24, will be the youngest female state MP in Queensland's history, and says she is proud to be given the opportunity.
"Very clearly voters here on the Gold Coast wanted an energetic, enthusiastic change from the wall-to-wall LNP MPs who took this area and my community for granted," Ms Scanlon told reporters on Wednesday.
"I know there'll be a lot of new challenges, really looking forward to getting in there."
RELATED READING Queensland election: Brandis defends LNP leader Nicholls despite poll result
The declaration of victory in Gaven means Labor looks likely to win 47 seats, which would give it a one-seat majority in the new 93-seat parliament.
The electoral commission is yet to formally declare Gaven or Macalister but it has declared 34 seats - 18 for Labor, 15 for the LNP and one for Katter's Australia Party.
The one KAP seat is leader Rob Katter's north Queensland seat of Traeger.
It follows independent candidate for Macalister and child safety campaigner Hetty Johnston conceding defeat to her Labor opponent on Tuesday.
However, the party is confident of picking up Shane Knuth's new seat of Hill, and on Wednesday declared victory in Hinchinbrook, where candidate Nick Dametto was in second place and looked to pass LNP incumbent Andrew Cripps on preferences.
RELATED READING The major surprises of Queensland's election results
"It's been a six-year project for us to get another seat in parliament and we've done that so we've demonstrated the strong growth that we can achieve when we're doing our job," Mr Katter told reporters on Wednesday.
"I think we've got a very strong mandate now to be the representatives for north Queensland."
Labor has yet to claim victory overall and LNP leader Tim Nicholls has not conceded defeat, meaning both sides might wait until the Electoral Commission of Queensland formally declares a result.
Nearly 90 per cent of the statewide first-preference vote has been counted and the ECQ hopes to have a final result by the end of the week.The Tahrir Square Legacy: Egyptians Want Democracy, a Better Economy, and a Major Role for Islam
By Richard Wike, Associate Director, Pew Global Attitudes Project
Two years after Egyptians first poured into Cairo’s Tahrir Square chanting “Down with Mubarak” the legacy of the Arab Spring remains uncertain. Elections have been held and a new constitution is in place, but Egyptian politics are still very much in flux, with fundamental political issues unresolved. Still, polling since the uprising shows that Egyptians have some clear – and ambitious – priorities. They want democratic rights and institutions, a major role for Islam in political life, and an improved economy – a challenging set of demands for President Mohamed Morsi and the new cadre of Egyptian leaders.
Egyptians consistently express lofty democratic aspirations. In a 2012 Pew Research Center poll, two-in-three said democracy is the best form of government, while just 19% said that in some circumstances a non-democratic form of government is best. Only 13% said it doesn’t really matter what kind of government runs the country.
Moreover, there is a strong desire for specific democratic rights and institutions. About eight-in-ten (81%) considered it very important to live in a country with a judicial system that treats everyone in the same way, while roughly six-in-ten said it is very important to have a free press (62%); free speech (60%); and honest, competitive elections with at least two political parties (58%).
Fewer say it is very important to live in a country with equal rights for women, religious freedom for minorities, and uncensored internet access. Nevertheless, majorities do rate each of these as at least somewhat important.
While Egyptians overwhelmingly value democracy, it is also clear that most want a democracy that is heavily influenced by the country’s religious tradition. Six-in-ten say the nation’s laws should strictly follow the teachings of the Quran – a considerably higher percentage than the 23% who hold this view in Tunisia, where the Arab Spring began. About a third of Egyptians (32%) believe laws should follow the values and principles of Islam but not strictly follow the Quran; only 6% say laws should not be influenced by the Quran (For more on this, see “Most Muslims Want Democracy, Personal Freedoms and Islam in Political Life,” July 10, 2012).
Egyptian views about religion and public life vary somewhat by age. About two-thirds (68%) of those age 50 and older think laws should strictly follow the Quran, compared with 60% of 30-49 year-olds and just 54% of those under 30.
Among all segments of the population, there are major concerns about the economy. In the spring 2012 survey, only 27% said the economy was in good shape, down from an already low 34% in 2011. Meanwhile, 81% described improving economic conditions as a very important priority. And when asked which is more important, a good democracy or a strong economy, Egyptians are divided, with 48% choosing democracy and 49% choosing economic progress.
When Pew surveyed Egypt in spring 2011, just weeks after Hosni Mubarak was forced from office, most were happy that the longtime autocrat was gone – 77% described his resignation as a good thing. A year later, however, it was clear that for many, life had yet to improve in the post-Mubarak era. Just 44% said Egypt was better off now that Mubarak was not in power, while 26% thought the country was worse off, and another 26% said things were neither better nor worse.
Views on this question are closely tied to how people think the economy is doing. Among those who described the economy as good, 76% believed things were better since Mubarak was removed from power. Among those who said the economy was in bad shape, just 32% said things were better in the new Egypt – a strong reminder that economic assessments will have a major influence on whether Egyptians ultimately consider their revolution a success.Hundreds of farmers from Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac province stormed the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) main office in Quezon City today to protest what they called “hoax land distribution” and the escalating state violence against supposed farmworker-beneficiaries (FWBs) in the dispute-ridden sugar estate.
It has been exactly two years since the Supreme Court (SC) ruled to distribute Hacienda Luisita to farmworkers, slammed the “stock option” as bogus and called for the distribution of the estate of the Philippine president’s estate.
Farmers said their crops were being destroyed and the houses which they put up in the areas covered by the ruling were being demolished.
“Pati ang kambing namin ninanakaw nila,” said Ka Pong Sibayan, chairperson of Alyansa ng mga Manggagawang Bukid sa Asyenda Luisita (AMBALA).
“Our situation is worse than ever under another hacendero president. The first Cojuangco-Aquino president gave us the bogus CARP and the oppressive SDO. This latest hacendero scion has no qualms dumping thugs, state forces and bulldozers in Luisita, brazenly transforming our ricefields and agricultural areas into walled garrisons. Luisita is under a reign of terror and impunity,” she said.
AMBALA is the main petitioner favored by the 2012 SC decision on Luisita. Sibayan said the DAR has consistently disregarded AMBALA’s for pleas for free land distribution, collective ownership and recognition of their breakthrough bungkalan (tillage) campaign.
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-It Ralph Check Your Answer See Results Show Correct Answer 0 out of 15 So fonts aren’t your strong suit, but look on the bright side! This just gives you one more excuse to sit back, relax, and “study up.” Take this quiz again! Share this Quiz Facebook Pinterest Twitter 0 out of 15 Typeface triumph is within your grasp! You just need to dot your i’s, cross your t’s, and watch a few more Disney movies. Take this quiz again! Share this Quiz Facebook Pinterest Twitter 0 out of 15 There’s no denying it; you’ve got Disney typeface down to a science. Take this quiz again! Share this Quiz Facebook Pinterest Twitter 0 out of 15 Congratulations! If we were giving letter grades, you’d get an A+. Take this quiz again! Share this Quiz Facebook Pinterest Twitter
Posted 3 years AgoOn March 1, the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) hosted an event launching their new HAUSpitality service for mental health. The service, which encompasses all of the AUS’s current well-being projects under a single portfolio, aims to address various aspects of well-being through a three-pronged approach centred on organizing events, advocacy and student resources.
“We have essentially a three-fold mission for HAUSpitality — to organize events pertaining to arts students’ health and well-being, advocate on behalf of the arts student body for policies and services that support health and well-being, and connect students with professional resources on campus,” said Akhil Jobanputra, the VP Academic for the AUS.
HAUSpitality is more than just a consolidation of existing services provided by the AUS, as pointed out by Jobanputra.
“The part which is new is the advocacy part, which is where it really becomes defined as a service rather than just an event output thing,” he said.
The introductory event itself was a success, according to Jobanputra, with between 60 and 70 people in attendance across two time slots. The organizers sought to engage students and create a conversation by providing those who attended with a communal dining experience and a healthy meal.
“HAUSpitality... fills somewhat of a gap,” said AUS Well-being Director Jacqueline Louie on how the initiative differs from the other services that deal with student well-being at UBC. “It really takes ownership of the fact that the AUS wants to better serve our student body by helping to connect students to a lot of programs that already exist but many people don’t know about.”
A key point regarding the future of HAUSpitality and how it aims to help students are events, said Louie. “We have an event coming up that we’re organizing alongside Vice — the new AMS service. We’re excited about that and doing a lot more collaborations, and working alongside all the other constituencies to do collaboration and advocacy.”
In consideration of the upcoming AUS elections, Jobanputra voiced his hopes for the new service.
“For me personally, the advocacy part is really big. Because this service was launched recently, we can’t really launch an advocacy campaign right now... but we’re setting up the foundation for it to be launched next year.”
Jobanputra also stressed his hope that the incoming VP Academic and the well-being director will concentrate on advocacy and utilize student feedback to effectively improve well-being for arts students.Patrick Cockburn, one of the best reporters now covering the Middle East, recently described the growing tensions in Iraq over the question of sharing its oil wealth among its constituent regions. Specifically, Exxon is cutting an independent oil drilling deal with the Iraqi Kurds in northern Iraq despite the objections of the Iraqi central government in Baghdad. Although Cockburn’s report is important in its own right, and I urge you to read it carefully, the implications become even more ominous when they viewed in a larger historical context. Consider please, the following.
The long view of history is likely to record the greatest ‘sins’ of Iraq, Iran, and Libya prompting interventions by the West have been related to the control of oil — not nuclear weapons; not any communist leanings during the Cold War; not support of worldwide terrorism.
Each country committed the unforgivable sin of being governed at one time by nationalistic leaders who believed the oil under each country belonged to that country and should be controlled by the government of that country — therefore, these leaders had to be removed:
Iran – Mohammed Mosaddegh, a popularly elected Prime Minister of Iran, and a modernizer and social reformer, removed by a CIA/MI6 coup in August 1953.
Iraq – Saddam Hussein, a murderous neo-Stalinist dictator, but also a modernizer and social reformer (e.g., major achievements in women’s rights and education), removed by military force in 2003.
Libya – Muammar Qaddafy, a quirky tribal dictator, but also a moderniziner and social reformer (e.g., major achievements in women’s rights and education) removed by military force in 2011.
One short-term common denominator in these imposed regime changes was that, regardless of how the regime change was justified or rationalized, the nationalist leader was replaced by a more compliant government that agreed to an opening of that country’s oil fields to exploitation by privately owned western oil companies. While history does not repeat itself, memories of the past do condition events in the future. Over the longer term, perceived wrongs are not forgotten, and such interventions can provoke blowbacks, which in turn provoke counteractions that further enmesh the intervening party in a growing welter of increasingly complicated conflicts. In the case of Iran, for example, the 1953 coup eventually backfired in 1979, when Reza Shah Pahlavi was overthrown by the Islamic revolution led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Khomeini then established a regime retook control of Iran’s oil fields, among other things. But the Iranian game is not over, and the historical pattern of move and countermove is in play, with the nationalist (Islamic) regime of Iran again in the West’s crosshairs, allegedly because of its nuclear ambitions and support of international terror. Nevertheless, the glittering temptations of re-privatizing Persian oilfields are lurking in the background, attracting the private oil interests of the West like flies to honey. It is too early to tell if or how blowback will unfold in Libya or Iraq, and the histories, cultures, and the unfolding conditions in these countries are very different from those in Iran. The privatization of Libya’s oil fields is just beginning. On the other hand, as Cockburn points out, a process of divide-and-conquer privatization is well underway in Iraq; and it is already creating potentially explosive ramifications. Furthermore, in Iraq, the potential for a regional blowback from the privatization of Iraq’s oilfields is complicated by the unique detritus left over from the destruction of the Ottoman Empire, including the hypocritical colonialist assumptions implicit in 1919 Versailles Treaty, the empty promises of Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points, and the nationalist assumptions implicit in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne (see summary & text) which established the boundaries for the modern Turkish nation — which in fact were a fait accompli imposed on the Allies by the stunning military accomplishments of Kemal Ataturk. In so doing, Ataturk (1) nullified the cynical Anatolian partition plan envisioned by the Allies in their stillborn 1920 Treaty of Sèvres and (2) forced the British to renege on their promise to give the Kurds an independent nation in what is now southeastern Turkey (but significantly the British did not include the oil rich Kurdish regions in Iraq in their promise of Kurdish nationhood), among other things. Thus the Exxon maneuver has the potential for inflaming the still unresolved Kurdish Question is all sorts of ways. The map hints at this complexity by showing the reader where most of the Kurds live, and interested readers will find a short but excellent historical summary of the Kurdish question here.IP Street Holdings LLC’s head of product development says the patent-data software analysis company here is getting back on its feet.
IP Street Holdings is co-owned by Lakeside Capital Group LLC, of Spokane, and the Cowles Co., which owns the Journal of Business. IP Street Inc.’s original co-founders aren’t affiliated with IP Street Holdings, and the original company was dissolved at the beginning of 2015.
Both Cowles Co. and Lakeside Capital provided financial backing for IP Street from its inception, says Steve Rector, chief financial officer of Cowles Co.
In February, IP Street Holdings hired Reed Jessen to improve upon the company’s software.
“It was dormant for a while, but we’re making money again,” Jessen says.
IP Street’s software is designed to provide inventors, attorneys, and business executives the ability to analyze complex patent data and make sense of what can be densely-worded patent documents that are frequently hundreds of pages in length.
The company was co-founded in 2010 by Lewis Lee, who also co-founded and is a partner in the Spokane-based intellectual property law firm Lee & Hayes PLLC. Jessen previously worked as an analyst for Lee & Hayes before accepting his current position at IP Street in February, he says.
“I’m very familiar with IP Street’s product because the Web application at Lee & Hayes was one I used all day every day,” Jessen says.
Jessen declines to reveal the company’s annual revenues except to say the company is once again making a profit. “We’re taking on more customers and revenue is positive,” he says.
He also declines to disclose the names of companies that subscribe to IP Street’s service.
Subscription rates vary widely for customers. A researcher at a university or college might pay $500 per month, while a patent law firm might pay $1,800 to $3,000 per month for the cloud-based services. It’s not uncommon for large Wall Street companies to pay “hundreds of thousands” per month for access to IP Street’s cloud-based service, Jessen says.
IP Street occupies 1,000 square feet of space on the main floor of the 1023 West Riverside Building downtown. The building, now owned by Cowles Real Estate Co., previously was called the Chancery Building, says Deanne Darlene, Cowles Real Estate building and real estate manager.
IP Street has two employees and contracts with Foretheta LLC, of Spokane, for software development services.
“We’re quite lean, and the owners want to keep it that way,” Jessen says. “We don’t need a lot of people to do what we do.”
Jessen says he spent his first month on the job studying IP Street’s software.
The company’s original software was programmed to sort and aggregate more than 7 million cloud-based patent records that have been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since 1976.
The idea for IP Street originally evolved from a project that Lee & Hayes was involved in with a big Wall Street bank in 2005, Lewis Lee told the Journal for a story that appeared five years ago.
Jessen says now, “They built a great product that quantifies information treating patents as an asset class. The algorithms they developed are profoundly good.”
What IP Street’s software lacked, however, was an ability to be better suited to customer need, he says.
“What we’ve been doing since my initial month here is creating higher degrees of customization for users,” Jessen says.
“As a product subscriber, you can now use Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel with our software. Integration is kind of the word of the moment, and we needed to do that with the software to make it more familiar to our customers. The software can now be integrated for use by some of the largest companies on Earth,” says Jessen.We’re always talking about Pluto, or Saturn or Mars. But nobody ever seems to talk about Jupiter any more. Why is that? I mean, it’s the largest planet in the Solar System. 318 times the mass of the Earth has got to count for something, right? Right?
Jupiter is one of the most important places in the Solar System. The planet itself is impressive; with ancient cyclonic storms larger than the Earth, or a magnetosphere so powerful it defies comprehension.
One of the most compelling reasons to visit Jupiter is because of its moons. Europa, Callisto and Ganymede might all contain vast oceans of liquid water underneath icy shells. And as you probably know, wherever we find liquid water on Earth, we find life.
And so, the icy moons of Jupiter are probably the best place to look for life in the entire Solar System.
And yet, as I record this video in early 2016, there are no spacecraft at Jupiter or its moons. In fact, there haven’t been any there for years. The last spacecraft to visit Jupiter was NASA’s New Horizons in 2007. Mars is buzzing with orbiters and rovers, we just got close up pictures of Pluto! and yet we haven’t seen Jupiter close up in almost 10 years. What’s going on?
Part of the problem is that Jupiter is really far away, and it takes a long time to get there.
How long? Let’s take a look at all the spacecraft that have ever made this journey.
The first spacecraft to ever cross the gulf from the Earth to Jupiter was NASA’s Pioneer 10. It launched on March 3, 1972 and reached on December 3, 1973. That’s a total of 640 days of flight time.
But Pioneer 10 was just flying by, on its way to explore the outer Solar System. It came within 130,000 km of the planet, took the first close up pictures ever taken of Jupiter, and then continued on into deep space for another 11 years before NASA lost contact.
Pioneer 11 took off a year later, and arrived a year later. It made the journey in 606 days, making a much closer flyby, getting within 21,000 kilometers of Jupiter, and visiting Saturn too.
Next came the Voyager spacecraft. Voyager 1 took only 546 days, arriving on March 5, 1979, and Voyager 2 took 688 days.
So, if you’re going to do a flyby, you’ll need about 550-650 days to make the journey.
But if you actually want to slow down and go into orbit around Jupiter, you’ll need to take a much slower journey. The only spacecraft to ever stick around Jupiter was NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, which launched on October 18, 1989.
Instead of taking the direct path to Jupiter, it made two gravitational assisting flybys of Earth and one of Venus to pick up speed, finally arriving at Jupiter on December 8, 1995. That’s a total of 2,242 days.
So why did Galileo take so much longer to get to Jupiter? It’s because you need to be going slow enough that when you reach Jupiter, you can actually enter orbit around the planet, and not just speed on past.
And now, after this long period of Jupiterlessness, we’re about to have another spacecraft arrive at the massive planet and go into orbit. NASA’s Juno spacecraft was launched back on August 5, 2011 and it’s been buzzing around the inner Solar System, building up the velocity to make the journey to Jupiter.
It did a flyby of Earth back in 2013, and if everything goes well, Juno will make its orbital insertion into the Jovian system on July 4, 2016. Total flight time: 1,795 days.
Once again, we’ll have a spacecraft observing Jupiter and its moon.s
This is just the beginning. There are several more missions to Jupiter in the works. The European Space Agency will be launching the Jupiter Icy Moons Mission in 2022, which will take nearly 8 years to reach Jupiter by 2030.
NASA’s Europa Multiple-Flyby Mission [Editor’s note: formerly known as the Europa Clipper] will probably launch in the same timeframe, and spend its time orbiting Europa, trying to get a better understand the environment on Europa. It probably won’t be able to detect any life down there, beneath the ice, but it’ll figure out exactly where the ocean starts.
So, how long does it take to get to Jupiter? Around 600 days if you want to just do a flyby and aren’t planning to stick around, or about 2,000 days if you want to actually get into orbit.At first glance, it may be hard to see how the ducks you feed, the pigeons you dodge, or the peacocks you admire have anything in common with the “terrible lizards” portrayed in iconic dinosaur movies such as Jurassic Park.
But many scientists now believe that modern birds are living dinosaurs. Specifically, a group of two-legged carnivorous dinosaurs called theropods seems to have evaded the great dino extinction event 65 million years ago by developing feathers, bigger and more adaptable brains, and smaller, more airborne forms.
“It’s important that people understand dinosaurs are still among us,” says Mark Norell, chair of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. “They’re represented by at least 13,000 species alive today.”
Norell has curated the new exhibit Dinosaurs Among Us, which opened on March 18, that maps out the evolutionary history of birds while challenging the popular perception of dinosaurs as green, scaly lizards.
Following the latest evidence, all the dinosaurs on display are covered in feathers.
“It’s really the first time dinosaurs have been portrayed in a true, state-of-the-art kind of way,” says Norell. “I think this is really going to shake up the way people think of dinosaurs.”
Evolving Picture
In scientific circles, the idea that birds are living dinosaurs isn’t new. As early as the 1800s, Reverend Edward Hitchcock, the state geologist of Massachusetts, and Thomas Huxley, an English biologist, both independently noted that dinosaur footprints and bones were very bird-like. But their observations were largely overlooked until John Ostrom of Yale University resurrected the similarities between birds and theropod dinosaurs nearly a century later.
"Missing Link" Dinosaur: Feather Color Determined Scientists have determined the color of a fossilized feather of Archaeopteryx, a birdlike dinosaur that represents an evolutionary transition between dinosaurs and today's birds.
Video by Brown University.
Ostrom studied a fossil creature from the end of the Jurassic period called Archaeopteryx, a raven-sized dinosaur that had wings and flight feathers. He found that the bird-like animal shared skeletal characteristics with theropods—sharp teeth, three-clawed fingers, and a long bony tail.
Since then, thousands of feathered dinosaurs have been discovered, many of which seem to be branches in the bird family tree. And in 1996, scientists in China unearthed Sinosauropteryx, the first feathered theropod that isn't a direct relative of birds. These discoveries are helping scientists not only piece together the origin of modern avians, but also to re-write long-held notions about the ways many dinosaurs looked and behaved.
For instance, the largest known feathered dinosaur, a 23-foot-long tyrannosaur that lived 125 million years ago known as Yutyrannus huali, changes the popular image of its most iconic relative.
“One of the most important things about the Yutyrannus is that we can infer from it that the Tyrannosaurus rex must also have had feathers,” says Norell. While these larger dinosaurs couldn’t fly, they likely used their primitive plumage for insulation or visual displays, the same way modern peacocks attract mates. And fossil evidence shows that feathered dinosaurs probably came in a rainbow of colors.
“If we can have pink flamingos, we could have pink feathered dinosaurs as well,” says Jack Horner, curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies.
Flight Path
Various fossils show how feathers evolved from primitive filament structures to more complex, aerodynamic forms, as well as how wings evolved in stages, according to Ashley Heers, a postdoctoral researcher in the American Museum of Natural History’s paleontology division.
“Flight is actually the most physically challenging form of locomotion,” says Heers. Before true flight evolved, early wings might have been used to slow aerial descents, she says. Small wings could have also provided a boost when leaping out of reach of predators or pouncing on prey, or they might have helped dinosaurs run up steep slopes.
TIL: Dinosaurs May Have Danced Like Birds According to paleontologist and National Geographic grantee Jack Horner, it stands to reason that dinosaurs had similar courting behaviors as today’s birds.
Aside from feathers, researchers have found dinosaurs that display a host of other bird-like traits. Recent CT scans of the insides of dinosaur skulls, for example, show that the parts of the brain that control sight, flight, and high-level memory functions were every bit as expanded in theropods as they are in living birds. And researchers have found small predators called Citipati protecting their nests of eggs, as well as large Allosaurus with the same hollow bone structures that make birds light enough to fly.
“It used to be that people thought of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals as completely distinct groups of animals with no overlap,” says Horner. “Now, when we look across the board at all the animal groups, dinosaurs and birds have more in common than either birds or dinosaurs have in common with any other animal.”
Despite all this scientific consensus, pop culture might take a while to acknowledge the evolution of feathered dinosaurs, says Robert Bakker, curator of paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and one of the advisors for the 1993 film Jurassic Park. It’s simply easier, and perhaps scarier, to have scaly green dinosaurs, he says.
“That’s something we're all waiting for — a Jurassic Park where there’s no more naked dinosaurs.”Talend's data integration platform is being aimed at solving the complexity issues that surround deployment of Apache-Hadoop-based solutions. The developers have been focusing on creating Apache Pig developer tools and creating code in Pig Latin, which is said to remove the need to learn about MapReduce, the fundamental architectural element behind Hadoop. Users work with Talend's Big Data graphical tools and that generates Pig Latin code which is then run on the Hadoop cluster; to optimise its running, a graphical mapper can be used to rework the data flow and mapping within the cluster.
Talend 5.3 sees the NoSQL connectivity of Talend 5.2 expanded with new connectors for Couchbase, CouchDB and Neo4j. There's also support for Amazon's RedShift data warehousing and Elastic MapReduce hosted Hadoop, along with an EC2 dashboard so jobs can be outsourced to the Amazon cloud. There's also now a Service Registry and Identity and Authorisation service which is designed to manage trusted access to services.
Talend's products (Talend Open Studio for Data Integration, Talend Open Studio for Data Quality, Talend Open Studio for MDM, Talend Open Studio for ESB, and Talend Open Studio for Big Data) are available to download as open source "community" editions or as subscription-only enterprise editions. Talend uses the GPLv2 or the Apache License for its open source software, depending on the particular package. A community for the open source editions is based around the TalendForge site, which includes tutorials and other resources for making use of Talend's products. The open source versions of Talend 5.3 are available to download now, with the commercial subscription editions being made available by 18 June.
(djwm)Fight Is On to Make Drug Possession a Misdemeanor in California
SACRAMENTO, CA — At the end of February, state Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced a bill that would make drug possession for personal use a misdemeanor in California. If the bill passes, California would join 13 other states and the District of Columbia that have taken the cost-saving and rehabilitation-aiding step of not making felons out of mere drug users.
The measure, Senate Bill 1506, would make the possession of any controlled substance — except up to an ounce of marijuana, which is already decriminalized — a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in county jail. Under current law, possession of controlled substances, such as heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine, is a felony punishable by either up to 16 months in county jail or two to three years in state prison.
A felony conviction doesn’t just mean jail or prison time. It becomes a permanent barrier to reentry into society, making access to education, employment, and housing more difficult, as well as barring people with such convictions from obtaining professional licenses and subjecting them to various other obstacles.
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The bill is backed by an array of drug policy, civil liberties, and human rights groups, including early supporters theAmerican Civil Liberties Union, the California State NAACP, the Drug Policy Alliance, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.
Budget-conscious California voters have shown an interest in drug sentencing reform in the past. In 2000, they passed Proposition 36 to divert drug offenders from prison to treatment by a margin of 61%. Since then, the state’s economic situation has only gotten worse, and pressure to do something about its gargantuan $9.3 billion corrections budget is on the rise.
A Lake Research Partners poll released last April found that 72% of respondents favored changing drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor, with 40% saying small-time drug possession for person use should be considered an infraction, with no jail time. Strong support for such a reform cuts across party lines, with support among Democrats at 79%, among independents at 72%, and among Republicans at 66%.
“Over the years we have learned that long prison sentences do little to deter or limit personal drug use,” said Sen. Leno. “In fact, time behind bars and felony records often have horrible consequences for people trying to overcome addiction because they are unlikely to receive drug treatment in prison and have few job prospects and educational opportunities when they leave. This legislation will help implement public safety realignment and protect our communities by reserving prison and jail space for more serious offenders,” he said.
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“This bill merely revises the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor,” Leno told the Chronicle Tuesday. “It will save the counties about $160 million a year, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, and the state another $65 million. Thirteen states have already done this, and they have higher rates of treatment and lower rates of drug use and property and violent crime.”
“The war on drugs has been an abysmal failure we can no longer afford,” said Allen Hopper, Criminal Justice and Drug Policy Director at the ACLU of California. “California voters agree the punishment should fit the crime, and a felony for simple possession is ridiculous. Those who are addicted to drugs need treatment, not a jail cell and a felony conviction with severe and life-long consequences, like reduced access to job opportunities, student loans, and small business loans.”
“The goal is to make the penalty closer to what people think it should be,” said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, senior policy analyst for criminal justice and drug policy at the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. “People think a felony charge is too harsh, and there is pretty universal support for treating drug use more as a health issue and prioritizing law enforcement resources for people convicted of serious offenses,” she told the Chronicle.
The push for the bill is picking up steam, Dooley-Sammuli said.
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“We have quite a broad coalition, and the list of groups coming out in support is long and getting longer by the day,” she said. “We have faith, treatment, and housing groups; we have job placement organizations; we have family members and other folks who realize the this penalty is just too harsh. We’ve just added two more: California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, a defense attorneys’ group, and the William Velasquez Institute, a group that will bring Latino communities into the process of helping to shape policies that impact them.”
While an impressive coalition is budding to support the bill, and while polls suggest strong public support for such a measure, not everybody is on board, particularly law enforcement.
“We’re opposed to this bill for a variety of reasons,” said John Lovell, a Sacramento attorney who is a lobbyist for the California Police Chiefs Association. “We don’t think it’s appropriate to reduce these offenses to misdemeanors because of severe unintended consequences. No one in California is being incarcerated for a first or second drug possession offense; instead, they are sent to a Proposition 36 drug treatment program,” Lovell told the Chronicle.
“We believe this will create a disincentive for people to participate in a Prop 36 treatment program, and that is not a good thing,” the lobbyist continued. “To the extent we can have a successful treatment result, that is one less person in a cycle of drug addiction.”
“Oh, please!” exclaimed Dooley-Sammuli. “Lovell said the same kinds of things when Prop 36 passed. They were saying the sky would fall, that nobody would be in treatment and there would be crime in the streets, but the crime rate continues to go down.”
Given the current fiscal constraints on the state criminal justice system, the “real world” result of downgrading drug possession to a misdemeanor would be that drug offenders essentially walk free, Lovell said.
“Say a person is convicted of meth possession,” he said. “He is told he has a choice of Prop 36 treatment or going to the county jail, but the jails are all filled to capacity, and nobody does any time for a misdemeanor offense. An attorney representing such as person is ethically bound to say ‘If you refuse treatment, there is no real sanction at all,'” Lovell maintained. “These will be misdemeanants, not felons, not under supervision and not breaking the cycle of addiction, which means the crimes they commit to purchase their dope will continue,” he said. “It’s not like you get a scholarship to pay for the cost of your meth.”
But the bill provides for up to three years probation — five years in some cases — and would allow judges to order drug treatment as a condition for probation.
Saying that the state will benefit from saving money on not prosecuting drug users as felons is “a hackneyed argument,” Lovell said. “If you say it will save money because these people aren’t being supervised, yes, it will save that money, but if they’re not being supervised they’re more likely to go out and commit the economic crimes addicts commit. It’s not so much a savings as a cost shift,” he argued.
“We do not see this bill as yielding any positive public policy results,” Lovell summed up.
“None of California’s existing programs to make treatment available will be affected by this,” countered Dooley-Sammuli, “and counties will have the freedom to use these dollars more wisely to make treatment more available. Compared to five years ago, treatment dollars have absolutely been gutted, and we’re really working to identify ways to preserve funding so we can protect treatment. It’s really disingenuous for our opponents to talk about this getting in the way of access to treatment. If Jerry Lovell is worried about access to treatment, we call on him to support this bill.”
Leno responded more tersely to Lovell’s arguments. “He’s a dogmatic extremist. If you think drug use is a bad thing, the states that have actually lowered drug use are not felony states,” the San Francisco Democrat said. “By making these offenses misdemeanors, we can remove barriers to housing, education, and employment — the very things a felony conviction makes it more difficult to obtain, those unintended consequences of a felony conviction.”
Now, it’s up to the measure’s supporters to get it moving. The bill will be heard in the Senate Public Safety Committee next month. For it to pass this year, it has to get out of committee, win approval in the Senate, and then go through the same process in the Assembly. And it has to happen by August, when the session ends.
“It’s a very tight time-frame,” said Dooley-Sammuli. “We’re still educating people about this bill, but this is a serious effort, and we believe we can get that support with the right coalition partners and more education. Sen. Leno doesn’t introduce bills just to make a statement, but because he thinks they have a political chance.”
“We’re looking for support anywhere and everywhere,” Leno said. “We are talking to law enforcement agencies to educate them that there is no data showing that felony convictions reduce drug use.”
There’s clearly some work to be done on that score. But more important is getting actual legislators to vote for the bill.
“I believe there will be significant, and hopefully sufficient, Democratic support for the bill,” said Leno, “and I’m also hoping Republican colleagues will see we can’t waste the money and must invest in evidence-based programming.”
California has the chance to pass a smart, cost-effective, and humane drug sentencing reform bill, but the clock is ticking.
The other states that treat drug possession as a misdemeanor are Delaware, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, as well as the District of Columbia.
Tags: CaliforniaThis picture depicts the spread of cosmic microwave background radiation, beginning with the universe just after the big bang (left), spreading through the universe's many galaxies, clusters and voids (center), and ending with a recent CMB map. In the giant void, the WMAP satellite (top left) detects a cold spot while the VLA radio telescope (bottom left) sees fewer galaxies. Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF, NASA
In August 2007, scientists from the University of Minnesota published an astonishing finding in the Astrophysical Journal. The universe, they declared, had a hole in it -- a hole far bigger than anything scientists have ever seen or expected. This "hole" spans almost one billion light years and is six to 10 billion light years from Earth, in the Eridanus constellation [source: Daily Tech]. (For reference, one light year measures about six trillion miles.)
Space Dust Image Gallery
What makes this vast area of the universe a hole? The area shows almost no signs of cosmic matter, meaning no stars, planets, solar systems or clouds of cosmic dust. Researchers couldn't even find dark matter, which is invisible but measurable by its gravitational pull. There were also no signs of black holes that might have gobbled up the matter once present in the region.
The hole was initially detected by a NASA program studying the spread of radiation emitted from the Big Bang, which scientists believe spawned our universe. It was then further examined using information gleaned from the Very Large Array (VLA) telescope, used in the NRAO VLA Sky Survey Project to study large sections of the visible sky.
One researcher described the find as "not normal," going against computer simulations and past studies [source: Yahoo News]. Other such holes, also known as voids, have been found before, but this find is by far the largest. Other voids amount to around 1/1000th the size of this one, while scientists once observed a void as close as two million light years away -- practically down the street in cosmic terms [source: CNN.com].
Astronomer Brent Tully told the Associated Press that galactic voids in all likelihood develop because regions of space with high mass pull matter from less massive areas [source: CNN.com]. Over billions of years, a region can lose most of its mass to a massive neighbor. In the case of this giant void, further studies may reveal some matter in the region, but it would still be far less than what is found in "normal" parts of space.
Earlier we said that the void was first discovered through a NASA program examining radiation stemming from the Big Bang. On the next page, we'll take a closer look at that program and how scientists can look far back into the universe's history -- almost to its beginnings -- in order to make discoveries like this one.Â
The series finale of Downton Abbey is fast approaching, but for Dawn Russell it's simply a way of life.
The American mom of two became "Lady James Russell" in 2005 when she married Lord James Russell, a member of one of England's oldest noble families.
Jamie's oldest brother, Andrew, is the current Duke of Bedford and resides in the historic Woburn Abbey, located an hour north of London. Although Dawn, Jamie and their two boys live primarily in London, Woburn (pronounced WO-bun) is the Russell family home and the site of Christmas celebrations, four-wheeling on the vast grounds (15,000 acres in total!) and playtime with cousins.
"I see Woburn as a home and not a museum," Russell, 41, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue. "It's where my husband was born and raised. It's where my in-laws have done an amazing job creating an environment that is very loving and cozy in a very grand setting."
But the mom of 5-year-old Alexander and 2-year-old Leo is emphatic when asked if she believes in fairy tales.
"No!" she says with a laugh. Is Jamie, 41, her prince?
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"I love him more than any human being besides my two boys," she says. "Is there a prince? Listen, I'm so lucky it's indescribable. But I'm not so sure that a prince exists. If there were one, I would give him the title."
Russell, who was diagnosed with stage III lymphatic cancer at age 25, is also the founder of 8G, a supplement tablet that launched last year and is available at Nordstrom.
For more on Lady Dawn and her extraordinary journey, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday
"8G is everything I've learned about greens and health through my own personal journey," she says.
View photos Meet Lady Dawn Russell, the American Mom with a Downton Abbey Life!| The British Royals, The Royals More
Of course, that journey also includes getting her bearings at the vast Woburn Abbey. Describing Woburn as "a kid's greatest playground," Russell notes that her boys have grown close with much of the staff for the historic estate, which includes a safari park featuring more than 80 species.
"Yes, [Woburn] is impressive and imposing, and there are a lot of people who work here, but those people are like semi-family," she says. "For my kids it's all about going to see Bob the gamekeeper at the safari park. That's the only Christmas card my son wanted to write last year!"Lake Zurich cops back to delivering board packets
hello
Lake Zurich Mayor Thomas Poynton said there is nothing wrong with police officers delivering village board meeting packets to elected officials' homes.
Poynton defended the practice, which he reinstituted shortly |
with two children—patients of lead researcher Kang Zhang of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou—from families beset with a congenital, or inherited, form of the condition.
Zhang and colleagues discovered that his patients shared a mutation in a gene critical for producing lanosterol, which the researchers suspected might impede cataract-forming proteins from clumping in normal eyes.
In a first set of lab experiments on cells, they confirmed their hunch that lanosterol helped ward off the proteins.
In subsequent tests, dogs with naturally-occurring cataracts received eye drops containing the molecule.
After six weeks of treatment, the size and characteristic cloudiness of the cataracts had decreased, the researchers reported.
"Our study identifies lanosterol as a key molecule in the prevention of lens protein aggregation and points to a novel strategy for cataract prevention and treatment," the authors concluded.
Cataracts account for half of blindness cases worldwide.
"These are very preliminary findings," said J. Fielding Hejtmancik, a scientist at the US National Eye Institute, who wrote a commentary also published in Nature.
"Before there are any human trials, the scientists will probably test other molecules to see if they might work even better," he told AFP by telephone.
The preliminary results, he added, "doesn't mean that lanosterol is the only or the best compound" to reduce cataracts. mh/mlr/pvh
Explore further New DNA test for diagnosing diseases linked to childhood blindness
More information: Nature DOI: 10.1038/nature14650
© 2015 AFPGet the biggest Newcastle United FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Newcastle United full-back Achraf Lazaar has surprisingly been left out of Morocco’s squad for next month’s African Cup of Nations.
The 24-year-old has won 17 caps for his country, but has only made four appearances for the Magpies this season and it appears his lack of first-team action on Tyneside has cost him his place in the national side.
Lazaar has largely had to make do with a place on the substitute’s bench this season, and despite arriving as a regular for the national side, he has now been completely omitted from the squad.
Lazaar was expected to be one of four players Rafa Benitez was to lose for the tournament, alongside Chancel Mbemba (DR Congo), Christian Atsu (Ghana) and Mo Diame (Senegal), but his surprising omission will be welcome news for the Spaniard.
The competition runs from January 14. 2017 to February 5, but as the Newcastle left-back wasn’t one of the 26 players selected by Morocco boss Herve Renard, Benitez will still have adequate cover for Paul Dummett at left-back.
DR Congo, Ghana and Senegal are yet to officially announce their squad but Mbemba, Atsu and Diame are all expected to be involved, meaning United will have to do without three key first-team players for up to five weeks.Steve Edwards, the morning anchor of Fox's Los Angeles-based KTTV station, has been let go by the news channel.
"We can confirm that Steve Edwards is no longer employed by KTTV," a network representative said Monday in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. The longtime anchor was reportedly fired after allegations of sexual harassment were made against him, according to a report from FTV Live. The site also first broke that KTTV news director Kris Knutsen announced Edwards' dismissal on Monday to the channel's staff.
Edwards has been a co-anchor for the channel's morning show since 1995, and a presence on Los Angeles-area television for longer. He has worked for KABC and KCBS in addition to KTTV. Edwards also has hosted the national version of Good Day LA and Good Day Live.Bitcoin Solutions, a Canadian brokerage, is going to sue Robocoin to get a refund of the money paid for a bitcoin ATM that was never delivered.
The company announced its decision to go to court in a post on Reddit:
“If you need a refresher, we paid for an ATM 19 MONTHS AGO and still do not have it. Jordan (CEO) will no longer take our calls or answer our texts/emails. Unfortunately, this needs to go to court.”
In January 2014, Bitcoin Solutions’ CEO Adam O’Brian ordered an ATM machine from Robocoin and expected it to be shipped by February 7th. According to the screenshot of the correspondence between O’Brian and Robocoin’s CEO Jordan Kelly, the ATM manufacturer continually postponed the delivery. After 19 months of waiting, Bitcoin Solutions still didn’t receive the ATM.
After another series of delays, Kelly agreed to refund the full price of the purchase, even though this was against the company policy. By March 2015, the company refunded only $15,000 from the received total of $25,000. All attempts to get the rest of the money back were unsuccessful. O’Brien said, that the last time he heard from Kelly was in June.
As O’Brian told Coindesk, “this affected our company as we have had $25,000 USD sitting in Robocoin’s pocket for the last year and a half … without an ATM to show for it. In this tight cashflow business that is very difficult.”
It’s worth mentioning that Robocoin’s CEO threatened to keep the outstanding funds in case they “publicly impaired” the company’s reputation.
A former producer of bitcoin ATMs, Robocoin was recently rebranded as a cash transfer network Romit.
Daria PetushkovaOf the 6,200 people who arrived on Nazino Island in 1933, only 2,200 survived, and only 200 left not completely frail. Everyone who lived through their time on the remote Siberian island was burdened with the memories of disease, cannibalism, and death in the frozen Taiga.
According to documents released after the Cold War, the plan, as proposed to Stalin, was to send two million people into Siberia to create “special settlements”. Of course, the only people sent to the icy recesses would be those deemed undesirable: criminals, the unemployed, and people without proper Soviet paperwork.
When it came time to put the plan into action, Soviet authorities rounded up 25,000 people and shipped them to Tomsk in Siberia. 6,200 were then chosen to keep moving on a river barge to Nazino Island, around 500 miles North of Tomsk. The “settlers” were sent there without tools, shelter, clothes, or food. The only provision given to them for their new life on the remote Siberian island was flour - but they were given no utensils with which to cook.
By the time they reached the island, 27 people had already died. Nearly 300 people did not survive the first snowy night. When the survivors awoke, realized the horror of their situation and the reality of starvation many people ate flour mixed with dirty river water. Essentially poisoning themselves, those who drank the water quickly came down with dysentery.
Others tried to escape on small rafts but were often washed ashore dead or never heard from again. Within a few days, bodies littered the barren island and the remaining residents became desperate.
The first reports of cannibalism came from the island just three days after the deportees landed, yet Soviet authorities continued to drop more people off on the island even knowing the level of disease and starvation.
The settlement lasted just one month before the Soviets pulled the plug on the operation and removed any deportees that were strong enough to walk. Two-thirds of those sent to Nazino died, and the reports from survivors are among the most gruesome and horrific of anything that happened during the entire tenure of the Soviet Union.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Aug. 15, 2016, 5:07 AM GMT / Updated Aug. 15, 2016, 11:17 PM GMT By Richie Duchon, Cassandra Vinograd and Corky Siemaszko
The mayor of Milwaukee imposed a 10 p.m. Monday curfew for teenagers after the city was rocked by a second straight night of violent street protests over the fatal police shooting of a local man.
"After 10 o'clock, your teenagers better be home or in a place where they're off the streets," Mayor Tom Barrett said.
Barrett made the announcement as tensions remained high in the Sherman Park neighborhood and police were out in force, while the National Guard was on standby and ready to move in if necessary.
"This is not the place where you go to gawk. It is not the place where you go to take pictures. It is not the place to drive your car around," Barrett said. "Those individuals, in my mind, are deliberately trying to damage a great neighborhood and a great city."
An 18-year-old man was wounded Sunday by gunfire and seven officers were injured after protesters pelted them with rocks and bricks, Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said.
Eleven men and three women were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, Flynn said. Three police cruisers had their windows shattered, and one privately owned vehicle was torched, he said.
Officials have been trying to calm tensions since Saturday night, when protests erupted after the fatal police shooting of Sylville Smith, a 23-year-old black man.
Police move in on a group of protesters Sunday in Milwaukee. Jeffrey Phelps / AP
Smith, who was armed with a loaded handgun, was fleeing a traffic stop on foot when he was killed by a 24-year-old African-American officer, police said.
The next night, more than 100 people holding candles and paper signs reading "BlackLivesMatter" gathered at Sherman Park and then marched to the site of the shooting.
When police moved in and threatened arrests if the crowd didn't disperse, some responded by bombarding the cops with rocks, concrete and debris.
An injured officer was taken to a hospital after a rock broke the windshield of his squad car, police said.
The violence took a more ominous turn after 11 p.m. Sunday, when gunfire was reported and an 18-year-old suffered a non-life-threatening wound. Police said officers used an armored vehicle to rush him to the hospital, according to NBC station WTMJ.
WTMJ reported that while most of the protesters had dispersed by about 1 a.m. Monday, isolated incidents continued.
Police continued to make "multiple" arrests, and there were more reports of shots being fired.
Police rush a man into a vehicle after getting pelted by rocks Sunday in Milwaukee. Jeffrey Phelps / AP
Before Sunday's violence, Smith's sister, Kimberly Neal, 24, told The Associated Press that the family wanted prosecutors to charge the officer who shot him.
Neal spoke as supporters surrounded her at the vigil as she held a bouquet of blue balloons.
When asked about the violence, she said: "People stuck together, and they are trying to stand up" for their rights.
Smith's death comes amid nationwide tensions over police use of force — which has spurred protests but also deadly violence against officers.
Flynn said body camera video that investigators have seen shows that there was a "credible threat" to the officer, who authorities have said also is African-American.
At one point, Smith, who had a "lengthy" arrest record, turned toward the officer with the gun in his hand, Flynn said. Authorities said Smith's gun held 23 rounds.
While the state is investigating the shooting, the officer who fired the fatal shots has been placed on administrative duty pending an investigation. He has also left town following threats against him and other police officers, Flynn said.
The Milwaukee Police Association condemned the riots and hit back at the suggestion that race may have played a part in Smith's shooting.
"Leadership must denounce violent riotous behavior! There can be no appropriateness in rationalizing terrorist-like actions," it said in a statement. "The thugs that caused this are certainly terrorists and must be held accountable."Attention! This news was published on the old version of the website. There may be some problems with news display in specific browser versions.
Grand Finals Epilogue
The mighty “Dislike” Team are the Champions of the Thunder League!
In the Grand Finals of the Thunder League: played on Sunday evening, “Dislike” won against “Verve” in a tense battle, earning them the title “Champion of the Thunder League” and a prize of more than $20 000!
During the matches, “Verve” were ahead of them twice, but “Dislike” managed to turn the tide and win 3 rounds in a row which brought them to final victory with a tally of 4 wins and 2 losses! More than 17,000 viewers witnessed how Dislike demonstrated real determination and composure, which in the end earned them the Champion’s title.
We would like to thank all the viewers of this match, the fans that supported them - but most of all, we like to congratulate “Dislike”!
Well played guys.
The War Thunder TeamSepp Blatter and Michel Platini will find out within days whether they face being banned from football for years to come, after Fifa’s ethics committee concluded investigations into the pair.
The investigatory arm of the committee confirmed on Saturday that it had finished its probe and recommended sanctions to the adjudicatory arm chaired by the German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert. Last week, the suspended Fifa president and his Uefa counterpart lost appeals over their provisional suspensions and plan to take their cases to the court of arbitration for sport.
It is understood that Eckert will summon Blatter and Platini to a formal hearing within days, at which point they will be notified of the case against them and the proposed sanctions.
The investigatory arm is believed to be seeking bans of several years over what Swiss law terms a “disloyal payment” of £1.35m made by Blatter to Platini in 2011, weeks before the former was re-elected as Fifa’s president. The payment dated back to the period between 1998 and 2002 when Platini was a special adviser to Blatter. He was paid £203,465 a year but both men argued that they had a gentleman’s agreement that Platini would get the extra cash at a later date.
Sepp Blatter and his ilk have ruined trust in sport’s leaders | Owen Gibson Read more
Platini has claimed that Blatter told him Fifa could not afford to pay him at the time, despite it making a profit of £78m over that four-year cycle, and didn’t want to break its wage structure.
Both have acknowledged that there was no written contract but said they believed their verbal contract was legal under Swiss law. However, Swiss law places a five-year time limit on such payments. The fact that the payments did not feature in Fifa’s accounts is believed to form part of the case against them. The charges are based on four potential breaches: mismanagement, conflict of interest, false accounting and noncooperation with the ethics committee.
The case came to light in September when the Swiss Attorney General’s office launched a criminal investigation against Blatter and questioned Platini as someone between a witness and an accused person over the affair.
Cornel Borbely, the head of the investigatory arm of the ethics committee, has stepped aside from the case to avoid any perception of conflict of interest given that he and Blatter are both Swiss.
When Blatter and Platini, who have both denied wrongdoing, are notified of the charges and proposed sanctions they will be entitled to a personal hearing before Eckert. That is expected to take place next month, giving rise to the prospect that both could be banned before Christmas.
Michel Platini lodges appeal to court of arbitration for sport against Fifa ban Read more
That would definitively remove Platini from the race to succeed Blatter. It would also put paid to any hope for Blatter of taking on an honorary role. In a documentary due to be broadcast on Channel Five on Monday, Blatter’s adviser Klaus Stoehlker floats the idea that he could become honorary president, as João Havelange was before him.
“I think the possibility was discussed and still is in discussion – it’s depending on the structure which follows February 26th next year. I think the position of honorary president is what is accepted by him,” he told the programme.
“I think as an honorary president you are something like [a] godfather, but he’s clever enough and intelligent enough to let his follower go ahead and run Fifa.”
In the programme, in which the former England international Sol Campbell calls for Fifa to be disbanded altogether, Stoehlker also confirms that Blatter has recovered from his recent health scare.
“It was a nervous breakdown, and at a private location and it was not football which made this … and so he went into hospital [and] the doctors advised him to have a check-up and I visited him soon after, but he is fine now.”By Cindy E. Harnett and Sandra McCulloch
VICTORIA — A Korean Air flight bound for Seoul from Vancouver with 134 passengers on board was diverted Tuesday and forced to land in Comox on Vancouver Island after a bomb threat was called into a U.S. call centre for the airline.
The plane, which now sits at Comox Airport, has a crew of 13, headed by Canadian pilot Stow Andrew Chisholm, for a total of 147 people on board.
The passengers and crew have been taken off the plane and into an airplane hangar where they are being interviewed by the RCMP, said Comox Mayor Paul Ives.
There were no obvious injuries and everyone is being taken care of,” said the mayor, who had just spoken to Comox’s fire chief. Police, fire crews and B.C. Ambulance paramedics are also on the scene.
“It’s too early to tell if they are staying the night or headed back to Vancouver,” Ives said, adding that 19 Wing Comox has enough space and sleeping quarters for the passengers and crew if that is necessary.
“They’ll be well looked after and if they need anything from the community they will certainly ask us,” Ives said.
[np-related]
Korean Air flight 72 was accompanied into Comox by U.S. air force F-15 fighter jets from Portland, Ore., according to the Victoria Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre.
“Twenty-five minutes after take off from Vancouver International Airport, the U.S. call centre received a call that there was a threat on board the aircraft,” said Penny Pfaelzer, a spokeswoman for Korean Air, in an email statement on behalf of the airline. “After discussion with the related departments, we decided to turn the aircraft.”
The plane was diverted over Haida Gwaii.
Following Canadian government regulations, the plane landed at Comox, Pfaelzer said. The airline will decide about continuing the flight after discussion with the airport and related authorities, the email said.
Military and commercial flights share the 10,000-foot runway at Comox Airport and 19 Wing, Canadian Forces Base Comox, military personnel operate the air control tower.
They’ll be well looked after and if they need anything from the community they will certainly ask us
“Wing emergency personnel are responding to the location and are securing the aircraft in accordance with normal procedures,” said a news release from Lt. Trevor Reid, 19 Wing public affairs officer. “All emergency services on the Wing have been activated.”
The RCMP and 19 Wing are working closely together to respond to this situation, Reid said.
Ives said that if this situation had to happen in B.C., 19 Wing Comox is about the best group to handle it.
“I have full confidence in what they have to do,” Ives said. “They are highly trained professionals.” After Vancouver, Comox has the biggest runway and air force crew on site. However, were there ever a disaster at the site, the airport is close to residential areas.
The mayor said he can hear aircraft departing and landing at the airport. There are about 65,000 residents living in the Comox Valley and more than 13,000 in Comox.
The incident comes at a time of heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula. North Korea plans to launch a rocket sometime between Thursday and Monday, and airlines have been scrambling to reroute flights away from the rocket’s path.
The rocket launch is expected to form the highlight of one of the biggest celebrations in North Korea’s history, marking the centenary anniversary of the birth of the state’s founder Kim Il-sung and the new leadership of his grandson Kim Jong-un.
The launch of the Unha-3 rocket, which North Korea says will merely put a weather satellite into space, breaches United Nations sanctions imposed to prevent Pyongyang from developing a missile that could carry a nuclear warhead.
“The proposed missile launch, if conducted, would represent a clear and serious violation of North Korea’s obligations under two United Nations Security Council resolutions,” said White House press secretary Jay Carney.
“We will continue to work with our partners on next steps if North Korea goes through with this provocation and we continue to urge countries to have influence on North Korea to work to persuade North Korea to consider a different path,” Carney told reporters travelling with U.S. President Barack Obama.
He declined to spell out what the next steps might be but made clear the launch, which is set to take place before Monday, would sink planned U.S. food aid for the country, which has suffered from famine in the past.
“It is impossible to imagine we would be able to follow through with and provide nutritional assistance we have planned on providing, given what would be a flagrant violation of North Korea’s basic international obligations,” Carney said.
With files from Postmedia News and ReutersHello lovely peepz, this is Chloé C. from the webcomic Go Get a Roomie! Nearly three years ago, I created this wild hippie livin' her life, runnin' naked and drinkin' her friends- I mean beers. Drinking her beers. Back then my only wish for Roomie was to see it update more or less regularly, and perhaps even make it a "real" webcomic. That was how far I imagined things to go, if I was lucky! -End of flashback- Cue present moment.
Go Get a Roomie has its own proper website, is now read by tens of thousands of people from all across the world, has received overwhelming love, touching feedbacks, brilliant fanarts, (great help too), and today, has a chance to be published into a real, printed book. But what is Go Get a Roomie about? If you really have no clue, I might as well warn you: it has a lot of genuine love for both the world and the humans inhabiting it.
There, I said it. Naturally, it was rated NSFW. But never fear, the boobs are here to ease your discomfort. Quite a plentiful too, as the main character, Roomie, never fails to cast away her clothes whenever the occasion rises (well, she makes her own occasions, really). Now that we have two ingredients in the Go Get a Roomie recipe (universal love, and an outgoing hippie), let's add in bits of friendship and a big dose of Lillian, the Lazy Tyke. Lillian is Roomie's opposite in many ways: where Roomie parties, she sleeps (aka: a whole friggin' lot), where Roomie drinks, she reads fairy-tale books, and where Roomie has sexy fun with varieties of lovely ladies, Lillian remains one of the very few who doesn't fall for the hippie's charms.
Go Get a Roomie includes many other friends, one more bizarre and lovable than the other, and offers a different way of seeing life and all living beings. Since its first page, the comic has been there to corrupt the world with fond smiles and happy sighs. If it can continue to do so through a new printed form, it would make a dream come true. Not only will the first book of Go Get a Roomie include all of chapters 1-12, but countless other extras as well! Bonus chapter, illustrations and sketches, redrawn comic strips, drinking game, kitties, a sneak peek at a secret project, and much more!
Original comic strips
*Note the $130 original page tier also includes all previous tier rewards including book.*
Here are Drink Coasters we're having made for the kickstarter, made of mahogany and water resistant. Hopefully next book we'll have some Roomie beer to go along with it. Thanks to Kyattsuai of www.beeserker.com for having a woodshop to make these.
Charms of Roomie and Lilian.
Sample art from Yamino
Stretch goals-
-30,000 we'll throw in some extra charms and stickers free for everyone ordering at least a book.
Little one stickers
-50,000 we'll throw in a bonus book only chapter on top of the mini chapter already being put into the book.
-75,000 For all you backers, in digital format a making-of video. What will it consist of? Let's just say I'll do everything possible to make it look as clean, enriching AND FUN as I can. And I'll make sure to introduce ALL of the steps I follow in order to make a Go Get a Roomie strip, including an inspiring trip to Jo's bar. How does that sound? I know it's nothing remotely resembling a plushie, but it's the best, handiest idea I can offer. I sincerely hope it suits you, and I do apologize for the change in rewards. I hope you understand.CATEGORY: Blog [back]
TOPIC: The Connected Climate: Guest Post by Gareth Mitchell [refresh]
FQXi Administrator Zeeya Merali wrote on Dec. 7, 2009 @ 17:19 GMT
From Gareth Mitchell:
The first sign of trouble was a heated exchange that suddenly blew up between an armed security guard and our driver Antony. Though the raised voices were in Tamil, it was clear that the guard was deeply unhappy, pointing angrily to my camera and recording equipment.
We were at the entrance to Kalpakkam, a small township that serves the nearby Madras Atomic Power Station. We had interviewed the plant’s chief superintendent for
After the interview, we’d wandered into the township to speak to the residents. We expected them to be lauding the employment and economic benefits of having a large power station on their doorstep and crowing about this reliable source of electricity, a luxury unavailable to many who live in India’s rural communities.
Instead, we heard that the power actually bypasses the township in favor of the 8 million inhabitants of Chennai about 70km north. They told us that the power station forbids other businesses locating within the area, thereby curbing job opportunities.
Most seriously, the villagers claimed that power station workers had become ill, with several dying of cancer and that some the township’s children were sick and lethargic. How can you be sure? I asked, anything could be making them ill, you can’t be certain it’s the power station. But, they pressed on, repeating their claims that the plant was a source of harm and hardship rather than wealth and opportunity.
The guard threatened to report us to the authorities and was making noises about us being detained until Antony worked some kind of magic and the man let it go. But the villagers’ revelations were safely recorded and I had a stash of photos. Right now, it was definitely time to go.
However attitudes to the power station are different in the city.
The ever-resourceful Antony drove us to a neighborhood of workshops and small business units in Chennai where he knew twin brothers who run a successful firm manufacturing and exporting cashew nut processing machines. The city’s creaking electricity supply only provides 70 per cent of the power they need to run their heavy machinery.
Annoying though that seems, the brothers are quite sanguine. Out in the countryside, full power is only available for five hours a day. At least their supply is relatively stable, even if it is a lower fat version of what they’d ideally like.
And, for them, the Kalpakkam nuclear power station is a good thing. It’s not, by a long way, the sole source of their electricity but the brothers are glad it’s there and they’re hoping for more nuclear plants in the future. They dismiss any suggestion that nuclear is a source of health problems. Anything that props up the power supply will be good for business.
Earlier we had interviewed Dr Pugazhendi—a firebrand of a man who has examined many Kalpakkam residents. Talking at us for forty minutes without pausing for breath, Dr Pugazhendi listed cases of cancer and other illnesses associated with the nuclear power station, insisting that he has solid evidence but that he has been blocked from carrying out full studies and publishing the findings.
The fact remains that there is no hard, published evidence that the nuclear plant has caused any illness among the local population. The station’s management told us that they take their workers’ health very seriously, regularly monitoring their wellness.
One of the villagers we met in Kalpakkam had given us Dr Pugazhendi’s mobile phone number and when I called him, he jumped at the chance of talking to us. He’d drop everything, he said, and come and find us wherever we were.
Whilst he was on his way, we turned up unannounced at the HQ of the Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board. (On the right is a photo of sign in the waiting room.) A contact in town had recommended we speak to the board’s chairman, Mr C P Singh.
Sure enough, Mr Singh, an affable gentleman in an office overlooking the sprawling monsoon soaked metropolis granted us an interview. The most penetrating questions came from my companion
Mr Singh obligingly fielded Hita’s onslaught of questions. We learned that Tamil Nadu was the first state in India to supply electricity to all households and that it is one of the most progressive in the country when it comes to green energy. Half its power comes from hydroelectric and wind.
But the board is struggling to keep up with Tamil Nadu’s rapidly increasing demand. Whilst renewables are part of the solution, the state needs more power stations. For now, there will be more power cuts and the state will have to continue buying in expensive electricity from outside.
But I spent most of the interview in a state of considerable anxiety. Earlier, after negotiating with Mr Singh’s assistant for permission to meet the boss, I had been awaiting the verdict in a holding room down the corridor, when Dr Pugazhendi called me, saying he was in the area. I let slip exactly where we were.
This, I feared, was a potentially catastrophic move. One assumes that a well-known and vocal local opponent of the state’s nuclear power station would be less than welcome in the Electricity Board’s offices.
Throughout the interview with the chairman I had unsettling visions of Dr Pugazhendi, barging his way in, pushing aides and assistants aside and insisting on speaking to the BBC.
In the event, we met Dr Pugazhendi later on in a car park down the road and our interview at the Electricity Board passed off without incident. This was good. I could have done without a second altercation with security officials in as many days.
You can hear the program, which includes more about other renewable energy options in India, at:
Or download it here (until Thurs Dec 10):
Video on YouTube:
Photos on Flickr:
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report post as inappropriate
It’s not quite as “foundational” as our usual topics (well it's a " Copenhagen interpretation " of sorts), but with climate issues dominating the news thanks to the start of the Copenhagen summit, it seems like a good time to talk about reactions to nuclear power. Gareth Mitchell, presenter of the BBC’s Digital Planet and lecturer at Imperial College London, recently visited India to investigate local views on the controversial Madras Atomic Power Station near Chennai for the BBC World Service’s Climate Connection series. Here’s his account of recording the program From Gareth Mitchell:The first sign of trouble was a heated exchange that suddenly blew up between an armed security guard and our driver Antony. Though the raised voices were in Tamil, it was clear that the guard was deeply unhappy, pointing angrily to my camera and recording equipment.We were at the entrance to Kalpakkam, a small township that serves the nearby Madras Atomic Power Station. We had interviewed the plant’s chief superintendent for our edition of The Climate Connection season on the BBC, exploring how India can meet its sharply increasing demand for electricity whilst keeping its carbon emissions in check.After the interview, we’d wandered into the township to speak to the residents. We expected them to be lauding the employment and economic benefits of having a large power station on their doorstep and crowing about this reliable source of electricity, a luxury unavailable to many who live in India’s rural communities.Instead, we heard that the power actually bypasses the township in favor of the 8 million inhabitants of Chennai about 70km north. They told us that the power station forbids other businesses locating within the area, thereby curbing job opportunities.Most seriously, the villagers claimed that power station workers had become ill, with several dying of cancer and that some the township’s children were sick and lethargic. How can you be sure? I asked, anything could be making them ill, you can’t be certain it’s the power station. But, they pressed on, repeating their claims that the plant was a source of harm and hardship rather than wealth and opportunity.The guard threatened to report us to the authorities and was making noises about us being detained until Antony worked some kind of magic and the man let it go. But the villagers’ revelations were safely recorded and I had a stash of photos. Right now, it was definitely time to go.However attitudes to the power station are different in the city.The ever-resourceful Antony drove us to a neighborhood of workshops and small business units in Chennai where he knew twin brothers who run a successful firm manufacturing and exporting cashew nut processing machines. The city’s creaking electricity supply only provides 70 per cent of the power they need to run their heavy machinery.Annoying though that seems, the brothers are quite sanguine. Out in the countryside, full power is only available for five hours a day. At least their supply is relatively stable, even if it is a lower fat version of what they’d ideally like.And, for them, the Kalpakkam nuclear power station is a good thing. It’s not, by a long way, the sole source of their electricity but the brothers are glad it’s there and they’re hoping for more nuclear plants in the future. They dismiss any suggestion that nuclear is a source of health problems. Anything that props up the power supply will be good for business.Earlier we had interviewed Dr Pugazhendi—a firebrand of a man who has examined many Kalpakkam residents. Talking at us for forty minutes without pausing for breath, Dr Pugazhendi listed cases of cancer and other illnesses associated with the nuclear power station, insisting that he has solid evidence but that he has been blocked from carrying out full studies and publishing the findings.The fact remains that there is no hard, published evidence that the nuclear plant has caused any illness among the local population. The station’s management told us that they take their workers’ health very seriously, regularly monitoring their wellness.One of the villagers we met in Kalpakkam had given us Dr Pugazhendi’s mobile phone number and when I called him, he jumped at the chance of talking to us. He’d drop everything, he said, and come and find us wherever we were.Whilst he was on his way, we turned up unannounced at the HQ of the Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board. (On the right is a photo of sign in the waiting room.) A contact in town had recommended we speak to the board’s chairman, Mr C P Singh.Sure enough, Mr Singh, an affable gentleman in an office overlooking the sprawling monsoon soaked metropolis granted us an interview. The most penetrating questions came from my companion Hita Unnikrishnan, a feisty young ‘Climate Champion’ of the British Council of India. A recent life sciences graduate, she now lectures in Botany at Bangalore’s Jyoti Nivas College. She was travelling with me, taking on the role as local protagonist in our program.Mr Singh obligingly fielded Hita’s onslaught of questions. We learned that Tamil Nadu was the first state in India to supply electricity to all households and that it is one of the most progressive in the country when it comes to green energy. Half its power comes from hydroelectric and wind.But the board is struggling to keep up with Tamil Nadu’s rapidly increasing demand. Whilst renewables are part of the solution, the state needs more power stations. For now, there will be more power cuts and the state will have to continue buying in expensive electricity from outside.But I spent most of the interview in a state of considerable anxiety. Earlier, after negotiating with Mr Singh’s assistant for permission to meet the boss, I had been awaiting the verdict in a holding room down the corridor, when Dr Pugazhendi called me, saying he was in the area. I let slip exactly where we were.This, I feared, was a potentially catastrophic move. One assumes that a well-known and vocal local opponent of the state’s nuclear power station would be less than welcome in the Electricity Board’s offices.Throughout the interview with the chairman I had unsettling visions of Dr Pugazhendi, barging his way in, pushing aides and assistants aside and insisting on speaking to the BBC.In the event, we met Dr Pugazhendi later on in a car park down the road and our interview at the Electricity Board passed off without incident. This was good. I could have done without a second altercation with security officials in as many days.You can hear the program, which includes more about other renewable energy options in India, at: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0053sqq Or download it here (until Thurs Dec 10): http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/oneplanet/ Video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbLSM2hFL7Q Photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23404067@N06/sets/7215762292738
5208/
Anonymous wrote on Dec. 7, 2009 @ 18:06 GMT
http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article853557.ece
report post as inappropriate
Meanwhile Danes are starting to think more positively about nuclear power:http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article853557.ece
Witchy wrote on Dec. 7, 2009 @ 19:38 GMT
If only we all believed in reincarnation. I'd imagine then all of us would be more interested in reducing our carbon footprint.
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What will we tell our children? When they inherit a damaged world, what will we say to explain ourselves? The plundering of the planet's resources, the lack of real commitment to renewable energy sources, the potential dangers of nuclear power... Well, kids, we all needed to get from A to B |
Facebook, we should not expect the company to be interested in genuine solutions that might threaten its business model.
Fake news may be only a symptom of a deeper set of political economy issues, but studying the phenomenon usefully highlights two distinct types of more general social problems that plague networked media and require different interventions.
The first type of fake news — hoaxes — rely on the rapid-click business model that is sometimes associated with clickbait. Creators of hoaxes don’t really care about the content or substance of the fake message; they’re not trying to change anyone’s beliefs or affect their behavior beyond manipulating them into clicking.
Facebook and other proprietary platforms enable this business model because it coincides with their incentives as surveillance capitalists.
A potential solution to this species of fake news is to create new platforms — like federated social networks — that do not rely on advertising revenue and, by extension, the economic incentives that force Facebook and other proprietary social networks to optimize for clicks and ignore user privacy to more effectively serve ads.
Federated social networks — like Diaspora — don’t nudge users to overshare information or structure their sites to encourage clicks and other superficial engagements that can be analyzed. Their business model doesn’t require it.
A potential solution to this species of fake news is to create new platforms — like federated social networks — that don’t rely on advertising revenue.
So far, federated social networks have only gained fringe acceptance. There are many possible reasons for this, but network effects and the high costs of switching create a significant barrier to overcome. Simply put, even if these alternatives offered significant advantages over Facebook, it is difficult to motivate people to leave the platform that they’ve grown accustomed to and where they’ve already built an extensive social network.
Even if federated social networks were to gain widespread adoption, they may not be well suited to act as media distributors. Federated social networks offer some improvements for news distribution because they do not rely on the economic incentives that drive Facebook to select stories — like hoaxes — that generate lots of clicks but pollute the news ecosystem.
Yet simply removing the economic incentives that drive media distribution on social networks may not be a full solution, because it doesn’t target the underlying motivations that drive a second species of fake news: Propaganda.
The creation and distribution of propaganda isn’t motivated by making money through superficial engagements like clicks. Instead, the goal is to affect beliefs, preferences and attitudes by cultivating false or intentionally misleading narratives. Facebook and other platforms enable these actors because they deny that they are media companies and refuse to develop or exercise editorial expertise.
Facebook needs to act like a media company and make determinations about newsworthiness or the credibility of certain sources and articles.
In some sense, Facebook has backed itself into a corner with the platform objectivity narrative and a refusal to admit that it’s a media company. Situations emerge where Facebook needs to act like a media company and make determinations about newsworthiness or the credibility of certain sources and articles. When Facebook starts making these decisions, a large subset of its user base falls back on Facebook’s own cultivated narrative that it’s just a platform and should not be making these decisions.
In short, people don’t really trust Facebook to be making these decisions. Nor should they.
We need a way forward that addresses both the perverse economic incentives and expertise issues that justifiably undermine the public’s faith in networked news distribution. What would it take to create a new, trusted social networking platform that combats hoaxes and propaganda while serving the public interest more generally?
The BBC provides some clues. The key ingredients for a trusted media platform are an institutional structure that supports independence and a firm commitment to cultivating and exercising editorial expertise. The BBC has these features and, as a result, it is widely judged to be a decent model of a trusted, competent public media platform. Of course, the BBC is not perfect; it does not (yet) manage a social network; and it is not the only viable model.
NPR and an array of other publicly minded companies could focus on developing a trusted social media platform, but as we highlight below, the BBC has already cultivated the technological and social capital required for a trusted social networking platform and could serve as a possible model for what could be built.
Trust
The BBC is deeply trusted by the public. The level of public trust is so strong that it could motivate people to switch over from Facebook because of the BBC brand. Of course, a BBC social network would not have to operate as a substitute, such that people would have to choose one or the other. Many U.K. citizens would presumably choose both. The two social networks might complement each other.
The public trusts the BBC to cover stories impartially, and also trusts that the BBC covers a wide variety of topics. This trust translates nicely to the role that the BBC would play as the operator of a social media platform. The BBC could curate news sections that continued its missions of covering a diverse set of issues while leveraging its impartiality.
The BBC’s reach and trust would allow its social media platform to help establish a baseline set of facts that make debate across ideological lines possible and pressure against the development of filter bubbles and echo chambers.
Expertise
The BBC has media expertise, which it can draw from to make sound editorial judgments and create content specific to the platform — making it better-situated than both federated social networks and Facebook to create and deliver news content.
Media expertise is crucial for disseminating news in a networked environment. A truly peer-to-peer platform, like federated social networks, may be effective as interpersonal communication platforms, but this model does not account for the expertise required for mass-media distribution. Effective mass-media distribution requires nuanced judgments about newsworthiness as well as identifying and critiquing propaganda narratives.
Unlike Facebook, the BBC already has a seasoned staff of media experts who could — and might be willing to — focus their efforts on the broad array of judgments and decisions that attend disseminating news through a social media platform. In practice, this expertise most likely would be leveraged as an input for the BBC’s own algorithms. For example, one can image some randomly selected fraction of news-related content on the platform is evaluated by a BBC editor and rated for quality, and that such ratings would be incorporated into the machine-learning system.
Independence
The BBC’s funding model shields it from coercive economic and political pressure.
The BBC’s funding model shields it from coercive economic and political pressure.
The BBC is funded through a license model, which would insulate a BBC social media platform from having to respond to the incentives that attend online advertising. Without the market pressure to model and predict user behavior for more effective advertising, a BBC-based social media platform could respect privacy rights of users — as its funding model does not depend on user data as fuel for its advertising profit engine. Thus, the BBC could plausibly claim, “We will not surveil or profile you or in any way seek to sell you or anyone else anything about you. You are our client, and you can trust us.”
This independence frees up a BBC platform to select for news stories that do more than entertain and confirm the biases of its users to increase engagement and monitoring. The BBC could tailor its algorithms to promote stories that optimize for other values besides entertainment. There could still be space for news stories that entertain, but the motivations underlying news story selections could also include commitments to other core public values like diversity of information, an informed public and nonfragmented space for public debate.
The license model also insulates the BBC from unwarranted government interference. Because license fees are paid directly by the public and not funded through taxation, the BBC is not necessarily responsive to government demands about how to report events or what events require coverage.
Conclusion
The public sphere is fragmented with partisan (or, at worst, intentionally deceptive) political outlets servicing a substantial proportion of the news content. Facebook — thus far — has not embraced a traditional editorial role to critique false and misleading narratives.
Worse still, Facebook’s current distribution methods either do not address this problem or exacerbate it by serving false content that confirms their suspicions.
Some commentators have recognized the importance for noncommercial platform alternatives, while others have recognized the importance of funding public media content.
A BBC platform combines these ideas to create a more robust solution. A trusted social network platform strips the perverse economic incentives of surveillance capitalism while providing much needed editorial expertise for news creation and distribution on its platform.
Importantly, this doesn’t need to be done by the BBC. Other organizations that are financially independent and have — or are at least willing to cultivate — editorial expertise are in a good spot to develop a trusted social networking platform.
We need our platforms to put people and democratic society ahead of cheap profits. Creating and developing a trusted social network platform does just that.
Brett Frischmann is a professor at Cardozo Law School at Yeshiva University and the Microsoft Visiting Professor of Information and Technology Policy at Princeton University’s Center for Information and Technology Policy. This fall, he will join Villanova University as the Charles Widger Endowed University Professor in Law, Business and Economics. He is an affiliated scholar of the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School and a trustee for the Nexa Center for Internet & Society at Politecnico di Torino, Italy. Reach him @BrettFrischmann.
Mark Verstraete is a privacy and free expression postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and a graduate of Harvard Law School. Reach him @markverstraete.The rap star is convicted on weapons charges
A US judge has sentenced rap star TI to a year and a day in prison on federal weapons charges.
The sentence was issued today (March 27) in Atlanta by US District Judge Charles Pannell Jr, following TI‘s guilty plea in which he admitted to attempting to buy unregistered machine guns and silencers.
The 28-year-old rapper, whose real name is Clifford Harris, will have between 30 and 60 days to report to jail, reports the Associated Press. He has already finished about 1,000 hours of community service work and has spoken out to young people about the danger of guns, drugs and violence.
After he was sentenced, TI issued an apology, saying, “Today I would like to say thank you to some, and apologize to all.”
TI had originally pleaded not guilty and faced a maximum of 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine for each count until he cut a deal last March in which he pleaded guilty.
He explained in the past that fear had motivated him to buy the guns since his best friend, Philant Johnson, was killed in 2006 following a performance.
–By our Los Angeles staff.
[url=”/about”] Find out more about NME.[/url]On Monday, pop star Miley Cyrus decided to offer her perspective after the massacre in Sutherland Springs, Texas, pointing out that it was a “WHITE AMERICAN MAN” that committed the heinous crime.
Writing on Instagram, Cyrus posted:
My dreams have become nightmares and those nightmares, reality. This isn't fair. This is a TERRORIST act by a WHITE AMERICAN MAN! I am heartbroken and embarrassed. Mortified by our country and its shitty system, lack of control/laws! This does NOT HAVE or NEED to happen!
After she was criticized for her post, Cyrus responded:
I am aghast by the reaction of my latest post. It is completely amazing to me how defensive and in denial this country really is! You are not focused on the horrific tragedy I addressed but more angered that I am putting a BIG bright spotlight on the fact it was a ‘WHITE AMERICAN MALE’ terrorist that walked in and killed 26 people (including children) leaving 20 severely injured!
Cyrus continued, “I do NOT and refuse to generalize or stereotype! Facts are Facts. You are all correct to believe every human deserves the same respect.”
She also posted pictures of white men she admired, adding:
Just a few of my favorite WHITE AMERICAN MALES.... I do NOT & refuse to generalize or stereotype! Facts are Facts. You are all correct to believe every human deserves the same respect.... but please keep that in mind when you're judging others. NOT just with the race, religion, gender, or sexuality which YOU identify with. Deal?
On Monday, Freeman Martin, a regional director with the Texas Department of Public Safety, told a press conference. “This was not racially motivated, it wasn’t over religious beliefs. There was a domestic situation going on within the family and the in-laws.”A bunch of people want to succeed Harper as leader of the Conservative Party. Whoever gets the won’t just be gunning to be the next Prime Minister; they’ll be leading the Opposition, with an aim towards keeping the government in check.
Over the summer, we took some time to figure out who all these people are. We’ll share those interviews over the next two weeks.
Today, we hear from Michael Chong and Brad Trost.
Michael Chong once resigned as a cabinet Minister over a disagreement with the Harper government. He believes the party needs to take a stronger stance on climate change and to do a better job appealing to immigrants and urban Canadians.
Brad Trost is a social Conservative, so on top of being a champion of the free market, he’s vocally pro-life and opposed to gay marriage.UN Habitat called it the ‘urban century’ - by 2050, 70% of the world’s population will be concentrated in cities, from 2% at the beginning of the 19th, and 10% at the beginning of the 20th century. This puts immense pressure on urban infrastructure and planning, and many of the problems cannot be tackled without citizen participation, input, and commitment. All city administration eyes now seem to be on Pokémon GO as the mind-boggling success of this augmented reality game has propelled gamification to the top of urban planning agendas.
UN Habitat called it the ‘urban century’ – by 2050, 70% of the world’s population will be concentrated in cities, from 2% at the beginning of the 19th, and 10% at the beginning of the 20th century. This puts immense pressure on urban infrastructure and planning, and many of the problems cannot be tackled without citizen participation, input, and commitment. All city administration eyes now seem to be on Pokémon GO. The mind-boggling success of this augmented reality game has propelled gamification to the top of urban planning agendas.
5G wireless and IoT networks, driverless cars and smart drones, hi-tech urban farming and renewable urban energy systems – research and technology seem to be rising to the challenge posed by city growth and the anticipated huge needs of future super cities.
But we don’t just want our cities clean and safe, connected and sustainable – we also want them social, inclusive, and enjoyable. And, since Pokémon GO, we want them ‘playable’. But also thanks to Pokemon Go, no civic authority in the world needs convincing of the power of games to engage and the capacity of gamification to change behaviors.
Since long before pokemons augmented the city gaming reality, architects and artists, non-profits and city planners, as well as game and app developers have been exploring ways of building a sense of community and connectedness by creating playful interactions between city dwellers and the urban environment; of transforming public places into shared, participatory forums and playgrounds.
Here are just a few such examples of urban gamification, in its broadest sense of fostering engagement and new perceptions and behaviors through game-like, playful experiences and interactions.
Let the music play!
Veteran Reboots
Tetris, Tel Aviv City Hall
Pong, Harpa Music Hall, Reykjavik
Snake, King’s Cross, London
Monopoly in Trafalgar Square, London Games Festival
Gamified ‘urban furniture’
Hubbub Foundation ’s Ballot Bin ashtray Playable City 2013 Award: Hello Lamp Post
And then there was Pokémon GO
Pretty much all has been said about the game’s social and health benefits but possibly less about the way it changes our perceptions and heightens our awareness of the city environment with all of its infrastructure and landmarks, its charms and secrets, flaws and dangers. Playing in, and with, our cities makes us feel more at home, more involved and hopefully more committed to keeping our public spaces clean and safe, fun and friendly.
And now that city leaders and urban planners (but also marketers) have realized the enormous potential of augmented reality games and gamification, it remains to be seen whether their power will be exploited in the cynical terms of ‘bread and circuses’ or will be harnessed for good – to drive and facilitate citizen engagement and empowerment.
Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to this nightmarish vision by Keiichi Matsuda:
Featured image: Playable CityWAX will Issue 10x the Tokens at Distribution
WAX io Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 18, 2017
We have a major announcement for you. When WAX Tokens are issued beginning this week, all contributors will receive 10x the number of tokens they purchased. So for example if you purchased WAX during the Main Sale at the price of 150 WAX per 1 ETH, you’ll receive 1500 WAX per 1 ETH instead. If you purchased during the Pre-Sale, you’ll get 3000 WAX per 1 ETH.
The reason we’re issuing 10x the tokens is because it will be more convenient for users of the token. It will make microtransactions more easily calculable, and since WAX was designed to facilitate the millions of daily microtransactions for digital items, this is an important feature to include for WAX users.
Let us explain. In general, purchasers of cryptos tend to buy tokens in increments of one. For that reason, we expect that when WAX Tokens are purchased, the majority will be buying, say, 1 WAX or 15 WAX or 950 WAX, and will be much less inclined to buy a fraction like 15.02143 WAX for example.
Also, smaller-scale purchasers and users of WAX Token — as well as the marketplaces, affiliates, listing sites, etc. that adopt the WAX Platform — will find it easier to purchase something for 1 WAX as opposed to.1 WAX, or for 2.18 WAX instead of.218 WAX. It’s a more familiar way to buy, sell, trade and rent items using WAX when the denomination is in, or at least closer to, whole numbers.
By issuing 10x the tokens, contributors not only receive more tokens than purchased but it also makes it more convenient and familiar for users of WAX to price items.Liberals of a previous era muttered, “let Chretien be Chretien.” Funny how history repeats.
For more than a year Justin Trudeau has played a front-runner’s game, bobbing and weaving rather than meeting critics toe to toe. He will very soon need to get back to something approaching the more freewheeling style of his leadership run, with all the attendant pitfalls, or risk seeing Thomas Mulcair shoulder him aside as the preferred leader of Canadians seeking change.
Is it unfair to accuse the Liberal leader of spending too much time behind his own blue line? Some will say so. What about his March 9 speech on liberty, which stoked a national debate over the treatment of Muslims in Canada? What about the Liberal plan, announced earlier this month, to slash taxes for middle-income earners by boosting taxes for the wealthiest? Surely that can’t be considered timid.
And yet, there’s this: Trudeau personally, since his party’s convention in Montreal in February 2014, has operated within a very tightly controlled frame. Even when he works without notes, his utterances appear highly studied and rehearsed. His scrums are brief. The days when he’d simply pop up in front of a gaggle of reporters and speak off the cuff, trusting that Canadians would reward his openness and forgive his occasional miscue, are long gone.
Ah, but this is a double standard, I hear Liberal partisans cry. Where are Stephen Harper’s lengthy scrums? Where are his moments of un-rehearsed engagement with the jackals of the press? Answer: there are none. The last may have occurred in Tuktoyaktuk in 2010 when the PM raced down a runway on an all-terrain vehicle and afterward, asked if he had broken any rules, said jokingly, “I think I make the rules.” Oops. Nowadays, even when cruising the Northwest Passage, the PM keeps himself in a bubble. Why should Trudeau be any different, when the cost of a single mistake can be so very high?
The first and most immediate answer, with the New Democrats rising into a three-way tie in public support in the most recent EKOS poll, is that one party leader still does often speak off the cuff. Mulcair’s last serious media gaffe occurred in 2011, a year before he became NDP leader, when he appeared to question whether Osama bin Laden was really dead. That was a while ago. Since becoming NDP leader, Mulcair has scrummed routinely and at length and not got himself in trouble as a result.
Second, Trudeau quite deliberately presented himself initially as a different kind of politician. He took a huge risk when he sought out a boxing match with Conservative Sen. Patrick Brazeau in March 2012. For all it was done for charity and was nominally a sideshow, the fight was symbolically powerful. Overnight Trudeau became the guy who took big calculated risks and won. His expulsion of his party’s senators in early 2014 was of a piece; controversial, unexpected, bold. Whether one agreed or not, it was not politics as usual.
In the interim, Trudeau’s early promise as a democratic reformer has taken a beating because of his repeated meddling in nomination battles he promised would be open, most egregiously that of erstwhile Tory Eve Adams. And his early casual openness, driven by the need to avoid mistakes, has given way to a more guarded public persona. Some of this, such as the tempering of earlier florid ticks in his speaking style, has helped him. But the loss of spontaneity has not.
Trudeau’s difficulty now is that while he was trying to keep out of trouble, husbanding his lead in the polls, waiting for the big policy reveals to swing momentum in his favour, events were moving. Mulcair continued slapping Tory enforcers around in the Commons, solidifying his reputation as a principled bulldog. Then, Rachel Notley showed New Democrats can be competitive anywhere.
There is one obvious way for Trudeau to leap this ditch, though it carries risk. He could try to tap the same vein Notley recently did in Alberta, by reclaiming his place as the anti-politician politician. He could speak repeatedly and off the cuff with authenticity and wit, scrumming until reporters are tired of the sound of his voice. All summer long, he could wade into town halls and other unscripted settings, giving the lie to the most damaging point in the narrative prepared for him by his opponents, which is that he’s in over his head.
Trudeau would have to do all this, of course, without making a single major gaffe. The pressure would be brutal. But isn’t that moment fast approaching anyhow? If the trend revealed by EKOS and a smattering of other recent polls holds, Trudeau’s days as the favourite are over. He needs to drop the gloves (or lace them up, depending on which sports metaphor you prefer), and tackle the Conservative narrative head on.
Otherwise he runs the risk of being permanently defined by it, just as Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion were before him.Only half of Britons under the age of 30 say they are certain to vote in Thursday’s election, according to a survey that casts doubt on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s strategy of energising non-voters.
The youth vote has been a source of uncertainty in opinion polls, some of which imply turnout among young people of up to 80 per cent on Thursday — nearly double the levels seen in previous elections.
The National Centre for Social Research, an independent research group, found that 53 per cent of Britons under the age of 30 were certain to vote. Of that group, 62 per cent said they had voted in 2015.
Roger Harding, the agency’s head of public attitudes, said youth engagement with politics looked “roughly similar” to previous levels.
“Either there has been an unprecedented surge in willingness to vote among young people, or some of the polls are out,” he added.
Among voters over the age of 60, 79 per cent said they were certain to vote.
NatCen argues that its methodology, which includes randomised sampling and a longer survey period than most other opinion polls, reaches people who are less politically engaged.
However, because the survey took place in the month to May 28, some responses will have been made before the party manifestos were released.
To be eligible to vote on Thursday, Britons had to register by May 22.
NatCen’s research also found some succour for those speculating about the creation of a new political party, with 56 per cent of all voters saying that their views were not represented by existing groupings.
“There is a large chunk of voters who do not feel represented by current political parties... They do skew to people who would traditionally be Labour voters,” said Mr Harding.
Those who felt unrepresented were more likely to hold blue-collar jobs, live in local authority or housing association properties, be under the age of 60, and favour redistribution of wealth. However, they were also likely to place a high value on order as opposed to individual freedoms.
“That does not lend itself easily to a centre-left, revamped Liberal Democrat-type party,” said Mr Harding.
When UK prime minister Theresa May called the snap general election in April, she said the country was “coming together” after the divisions of last year’s Brexit vote. But in NatCen’s survey, divisions were still evident.
Thirty per cent of people said they thought the UK would get a good deal from Brexit negotiations, while 36 per cent forecast a bad deal. That is similar to the levels NatCen found in February, with 33 per cent predicting a good deal and 37 per cent expecting a bad deal. The survey did not ask whether people thought the next government should press ahead with Brexit.
Nearly 70 per cent of voters surveyed said that Mrs May was right to call an election, suggesting the prime minister has not suffered for going back on her previous statements that there would not be a vote before 2020.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited. All rights reserved. Please don't copy articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.30 Minutes For a False Narrative
Benjamin Dixon Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 17, 2016
I’ve got 30 minutes before I’ve got to catch this subway to meet my wife and head out of the city to get our kids. We are the average American couple juggling multiple jobs to get ahead. We are the average couple that makes too much to get anything from this government and yet still owe a hefty tax bill at the end of each year. We pay more in childcare than you pay for a mortgage — guaranteed.
And yet, we are the lucky ones. We have our education. We have great jobs. We have side gigs that elevate our voices beyond the average Americans. And I see it as my responsibility to routinely crush false narratives that I feel are detrimental to my community. And by “my community,” I mean all of the above: my religious community, my human community, and my black community.
23 Minutes Left
The most pervasive narrative of this election has been that black people love Hillary Clinton and reject Bernie Sanders. This is a false narrative when you consider the actual numbers. The true story is that black Democratic establishment loves Hillary Clinton and has rejected Bernie Sanders. Black people, generally, have rejected the entire system.
But forgetting these primaries — the more disturbing usage of this narrative has been to use Hillary Clinton as a proxy for neoliberalism, the boot-strap theory, and the false religion of meritocracy while equating Bernie Sanders to Communist handouts.
To hear Black voices that benefit from the poorest communities suggest that the only problem is that we aren’t working hard enough is far worse than hearing this come from the likes of any Black face propped up on Fox News to spew conservative talking-points. What makes it worse is that these fine people benefit off the perception that they represent the interests of all things black — especially the marginalized and poor blacks.
These voices get the benefit of being the Black representative, speaking on behalf of black folks, while promoting ideologies and policies that are as detrimental to black people as they are any other marginalized groups. They are by far the greater evil because they are propped up to lull the radical spirit of blackness to sleep and to think that the wonderful Black Democratic Establishment will take care of everything.
15 minutes
The reality of the situation is that there is an establishment. There are black elites who benefit from the Democratic Party’s shift towards the right and full embrace of neoliberal economic policies that reward the wealthiest, the political elite, and the media elite.
They are not here to help the 28% of African American living in poverty beyond telling them that they should have gone to a better school. They are not here to address the systemic failings of Capitalism that pit those who benefit from the exploitation of labor against those who must sell their labor to survive. No.
They are here to lull to sleep the revolutionary spirit that is in the very bones of Black America. They are here to assist you in remembering Dr. King’s Dream but forgetting his call for a new Economic Bill of Rights.
10 Minutes.
They are here to make you empathize with the discrimination Bayard Rustin and James Baldwin faced because of their sexuality, but to completely forget that they had incredible critiques of this economic system.
They are here to do all they can to profit off of the narrative that Democratic Socialists are all white bros who are innately racist, sexist, homophobic and the beneficiaries of white privilege — the narrative that is necessary to keep working class African Americans from unifying with working class whites and creating a political movement that would rectify some of the inherent vices of capitalism — and to save it from itself.
5 minutes
No. Fixing economic inequality will not fix racism. However, tell that to the young black kids that have to deal with racism in America as well as poverty in America. Tell that to my former students who could not do homework because our schools could not afford books for them to take home. Kids who could not wash clothes because they had no power at home and so they came to school with a stench.
Anyone who is trying to convince you that all that matters is Race and that making this capitalistic system more diverse is the solution — is not the friend of Blackness. Not so long as Blackness includes such a high percentage living in poverty.
1 minute
If I had more time I would give you something worthy of your time. I could give you sources, citations, better prose and structure. But, I have not had the free time to write in over six months. So this is what I’ve got to give.
And I’ve got to deliver this obscene check to my kid’s childcare because, here in America, we think universal childcare is socialism — even for people like me who pay more in taxes than you made last year. (Not actually. But I just wanted to quote Jay-Z.)Get the biggest daily news stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Plane flights could get even more cramped if a proposed seating arrangement from Airbus gets the green light.
The aerospace manufacturer has reportedly filed a patent for a dramatic, split-level cabin that could see customers stacked on top of each other.
According to the designers, the higher seats would be able to recline into a lying-down position.
(Image: United States Patent and Trademark Office)
(Image: United States Patent and Trademark Office)
(Image: Air Live)
There would be stairs or a ladder for passengers to climb up to the higher level.
It would also mean Airbus could fit even more passengers into a wide-body plane which currently seats six people in a line across the aircraft.
Airlines, in turn, could then sell even more tickets.
It's unclear whether this would have an effect on the storage bins currently above the seats.
poll loading Do you find modern planes too cramped? 1000+ VOTES SO FAR YES NO
The new seating arrangement was created by Airbus' designers in Germany and filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
"In modern means of transport, in particular in aircraft, it is very important from an economic point of view to make optimum use of the available space in a passenger cabin," Airbus wrote in the patent filing.
The company maintains that even with the additional seats, it will be able to maintain a "high level of comfort".
Airbus proposes that it could put the new seats in the business class cabin, where there are no overhead storage bins.
Whether or not it will actually make it into real-life aircrafts remains to be seen.
Airbus have form when it comes to being inventive with design - check out their Beluga cargo plane here.
And then once these mega-planes are up in the sky, you have to get them down on terra firma once again. Hats off to the pilot of this Airbus, who managed to find the runway despite very stormy conditions.A Breakthrough Result
A great result on circuit lower bounds
Ryan Williams is one of the top complexity theorists in the world, young or old. He has just released a draft of a result that moves us closer to understanding the mysteries of circuit complexity classes.
Today I want to give a short summary of what he has done, and how he did it. I think it is potentially the biggest, best, most brilliant—okay I really like his result.
The beauty of his result is that while the details are non-trivial it follows a schema that I believe could be used to solve other open problems. I think it could even solve
The Result
Ryan proves the following result:
Theorem: The nondeterministic time class does not have non-uniform circuits of polynomial size.
Actually he proves several other related theorems.
Note, the theorem shows a non-uniform lower bound. That is a breakthrough. Proving circuit lower bounds that allow non-uniformity is extremely difficult. Somehow the power of allowing the circuit to vary with the input size is very difficult for us to understand. For example, we still do not know if polynomial time is contained in linear size circuits—see my earlier discussion on this.
The Proof Schema
If you want to understand what Ryan has done see his paper. It is well written and explains the details in a clear and careful manner. What I will try to do is give a 50,000 foot view of the proof.
Make an Assumption: Ryan assumes, by way of contradiction, that has polynomial size circuits. Recall these are constant depth circuits that can have unbounded fan-in gates AND, OR, and any MOD gate for any.
Use The Assumption: He then proves that if circuit satisfiability can be solved faster than exhaustive search there is a contradiction. The contradiction is with the classic nondeterministic time hierarchy theorem. This part of the proof is based on his STOC 2010 paper, with an additional twist. He needs the assumption he made in order to prove the simulation step—that step cannot be proved unconditionally.
Break The Assumption: He then needs to show that the SAT problem restricted to circuits can be done slightly better than. But how do you beat the naive SAT algorithm for circuits? Ryan shows that he can beat it by a clever application of a clever algorithm: a special case of matrix multiplication. He uses the following beautiful result of Don Coppersmith:
Lemma: The product of an matrix with an matrix can be done in operations over any ring.
See his paper for the details. Wonderful.
Open Problems
Can Ryan’s results be improved? What happens if matrix product can be done faster? The last comment I will leave to Ryan:
“Improved exponential algorithms for satisfiability are the only barrier to further progress on circuit lower bounds for NEXP.”
AdvertisementsLaurie Penny | Longreads | December 2017 | 15 minutes (3,881 words)
And when you’re a star, they let you do it.
You can do anything… Grab ’em by the pussy.
You can do anything.
— Donald Trump
What civilization has done to women’s bodies is no different than what
it’s done to the earth, to children, to the sick, to the proletariat;
in short, to everything that isn’t supposed to “talk.”
— Tiqqun, “Preliminary Materials for a Theory of the Young-Girl”
Something has snapped. In early autumn, women and men finally began to come forward to speak, in numbers too big to dismiss, about sexual harassment and abuse. It started in Hollywood. It spread, under the #metoo hashtag — first coined 10 years ago by Tarana Burke — across industries, across oceans, to the very heart of politics. Powerful men are losing their jobs. We’re having consent conversations at the highest levels, with varying degrees of retrospective panic.
Something broke, is breaking still. Not like a glass breaks or like a heart breaks, but like the shell of an egg breaks — inexorably, and from the inside. Something wet and angry is fighting its way out of the dark, and it has claws.
A great many abusers and their allies have begged us to step back and examine the context in which they may or may not have sexually intimidated or physically threatened or forcibly penetrated one or several female irrelevances who have suddenly decided to tell the world their experiences as if they mattered.
Look at the whole picture, these powerful men say. Consider the context. I agree. Context is vital. It is crucial to consider the context in which this all-out uprising against toxic male entitlement is taking place. The context being, of course, a historical moment where it has become obvious that toxic male entitlement is the greatest collective threat to the survival of the species.
There are a lot of questions flying around, and one of the most fascinating is a question that, for once, very few people are asking: Why are all these hysterical women making a fuss about grabby old men instead of fighting bigger, more important enemies, like capitalism, or neo-fascism, or any sort of -ism that doesn’t require individual men to make changes in their lives? The absence of that question is deafening. Usually, progressives and pharisaical conservatives love to ask it. The request that women wait until after the big boys’ revolution to complain about misogyny has been the refrain of my entire political life. Maybe we’re not hearing it now because those concerned are too busy trying to delete their browser histories. But I suspect there’s another reason nobody is asking why we’re not tackling broader issues of power and entitlement, and that’s because any fool can see that we are.
I’m not trying to be flip. I am not simply using the sexual exploitation of women as an analogy for civil and political exploitation. Although they are often comparable at the language level — the government fucks you over, you get screwed by the system — political and sexual consent are not analogous, they |
or indeed an experienced coder) how to create cross-platform games using Unreal Engine 4, a powerful game engine that was made free this year. Unreal has been used to create many AAA titles in a wide range of genres including Batman, Bioshock, Borderlands, Gears of War, Mass Effect and Life Is Strange.
The course will be entirely project based, so the user will start by building a very simple Rock, Paper Scissors clone called Ant, Human, Tank and end-up with a VR compatible space game.
The full price of the course will be US$197 when finished, here's your chance to get it for much less.
How is this course different to others?
According to The Telegraph newspaper, my Unity course is the 3rd most popular course on Udemy!
The course is project-based, so students will not just be learning dry programming concepts, but applying them immediately to real games as you go. You will be asked to apply your knowledge every few minutes in mini-challenges.
All the project files will be included, as well as additional references and resources. Rather than just dry "screen-casting" there will be talking-head video, powerful diagrams and reference material. 24 hours a day there will be other students on hand to help, and I'm very active in the discussions too.
Students will get full lifetime access (including video downloads on iOS and Android) for a single one-off fee. I am a qualified and experienced coder, world-class instructor and avid gamer. I am able to explain complex concepts clearly, as well as entertain along the way. Most courses teach scripting using only C++. I will be teaching mainly C++, with the visual Blueprint system where appropriate.
This course is comprehensive, if you're a beginner I'll hold your hand from the very start. By the end you'll be learning about shader programming, basic Artificial Intelligence, optimising for Android and iOS, and other advanced topics.
By the end of the course you'll be setup to publish your game to XBox, Playstation, Mac and PC! You'll even have an accompanying e-book of slides to cement your knowledge.
Who is this for...
Anyone who wants to learn to create games: Unreal is a fantastic platform which enables you to make production-quality games. Furthermore these games can be created for Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android and console from a single source!
This will be a full course, and will be over 20 hours long. It will teach you how to make money from your games as well as how to create them. If you're a complete beginner, I'll teach you all the coding and game design principles you'll need. If you're an artist, I'll teach you to bring your assets to life. If you're a coder, I'll teach you game design principles.
We'll take you through the programming concepts from scratch. If you've never done any coding before you'll be OK, just expect to work a little harder.
Already have my other course(s)?
Great, it will give you a fantastic head-start in this course. C## is based on C++, and the editor can be configured to be very similar. Both this and my Unity course are beginner courses, if you already have Unity experience you can just do the first bit of the course faster.
If you're on the Blender course, great, you're ready to make your own assets and these can be used in Unreal with ease.
Who am I?
This course will be created by Ben Tristem, with support from Ramin, an experienced C++ game developer. I'm a 30-something family man, professional trainer, and avid gamer living in Cambridge, UK. I've been playing games, and programming computers since as early as I can remember. I'm an entrepreneur and have a degree in computing from Imperial College London. I just love to learn and teach.
I have already two other successful complete online training courses on Unity and Blender, both of which started life here on Kickstarter. The Unity course is by far the most popular of its type on Udemy, and the Blender course has some of the platforms highest ratings...
Here's a few recent reviews for my other game dev courses...
Why am I doing a Kickstarter...
Rather than simply releasing the course on Udemy, I am Kickstarting this course to...
Pay a seasoned C++ developer for advice & code reviews*.
Allow backers to set the direction of the course.
Validate the market before spending months making the course.
* I have already an agreement with Ramin, an experienced C++ developer and game programmer, to provide at least 3 months of consulting for the project.
When will the course be ready?
I will start production the moment the course passes its funding goal. As soon as we have 2 hours of finished content, I'll make that available to the early access (POWER USER) backers. We will then give everyone else access about a month later (ETA Jan 2016).
The course will then be added-to until it's finished, which we aim to be by the end of July 2016.
Why will it be better than the existing courses?
Great question! Remember I'm creating this because I've personally found the existing courses to be inadequate. Here's the top three reasons our course will be supreme...
We're professional teachers and developers.
It will be project and challenge based.
We're testing on beginners throughout.
THANKS TO...LIBERTARIANS are a self-righteous lot; knowing full well they carry in their hip-pocket more political principle than most people have in their whole beings, they tend to press their advantage. And when they engage you in conversation, it's no well-who-do-you-think-is-more-dangerous-Carter-or-Reagan sort of argument; before you can blink they will be talking natural right theory. Without some preparation, you might be embarassed; worse, you might be converted to a school of thought as noxious as any that exists. But libertarians can be beaten, or at least fought to a draw. What follows are a few simple suggestions, with thanks to Mr. Clark, Libertarian candidate for president.
Cede the Post Office
[1] Be Prepared. Libertarians, unlike most Americans, believe what they are saying, and are apt to get emotional. What you call taxation they will call "stealing." When Clark writes of the draft, he can't restrain himself: "A government that would try to draft (young people) would be little better than a kidnapper," he states. When they talk about the ideal society, they're apt to point to Espiritu Santo, a few square miles of sand that an American businessmen tried to turn into a bite-sized tax shelter earlier this year. If you leave yourself open, the tendency to analogy can overwhelm: "So you can steal (tax) the products of my body if you need them for something? Then why can't you rape me if you need my body? What's the difference?" As I said, libertarians believe. It's better to let them call it theft. Just don't forget you're talking about form 1040. And always grant them the post office: as Clark recounts in his book, "In Rochester, New York, in 1976, the husband-and-wife team of Paul and Patricia Brennan started up a mail-delivery service. Originally motivated by frustration with the inefficiency of the U.S. Postal Service, the Brennans found that they could deliver mail within the city more quickly and at a lower cost than could the government--and still make a profit." You won't win this dispute, since everyone has had a letter lost by the U.S.P.S. at some time or other. Give up this ground; maybe your libertarian will get cocky.
A Minor Problem
[2] Foreign policy--here is where you can start to draw blood. Libertarians follow a strict non-interventionist line, but they will allow business to do as it will. If their argument is that America should not force its beliefs on other peoples, ask them why they'd allow corporations to form their own armies (Clark promised they would have that privilege). And if they defend--as in most cases they will--the rights of companies to sell their products without control or review, ask them about the sale of nuclear weapons to foreign lands. "I guess I'd allow them; libertarianism is so good, it has to have a few flaws," Clark said in a recent interview. Point out that it is only a few flaws of this magnitude that make this particular philosophy an unlikely candidate for long-term practical application.
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Enlightened Self-Interest
[3] Domestic Policy--here is where you win. Libertarians believe in the deregulation of business, worshipping the free market as a sort of God. Remind your opponent that before regulation of business, industry did not exactly serve as an enlightened force in society. Upton Sinclair had plenty to write about when he turned his attention on the meat-packing industry; immigrants tended to die in apartment fires. If they want to argue that the present system is somehow different or if they start talking about how consumers can band together and start class action suits, then turn to Clark, P. 57: "I will remove the government from the nuclear fuel cycle, and utilities will be liable to any damage to life and property resulting from the conduct of their business and the disposal of spent fuel. One of two things will happen: Either a safe industry will emerge in the free market, or, if that is impossible, no industry will emerge. Either way, we will be safer than we are today." Either that, or an unsafe industry will emerge in a free market, everyone will make buckets of money for a few years, and then a few midwestern cities will disappear in puffs of radioactive fog. Courts and all.
In addition, libertarians advocate the end of the minimum wage. The guaranteed floor of $3.10 per hour is described by Clark as "legislation framed by politicians who seem to think it's better to be on welfare than to hold down a low-paying job." Or, you counter, by politicians who understand that it is impossible to eat on $1.75 an hour.
Cheap But Effective
[4] If you're a liberal, the libertarians think they will get you on civil liberties. After all, no one stands more philosophically opposed to government discrimination no matter what a person's religious, sexual, racial, or ethnic status than the libertarians. You can take two tacks. The first is cheap but effective: ask where Ed Clark, or his corporate vice-president or any other libertarian, was hanging out when the march on Selma was requiring the skulls of dedicated humanitarians. All those socialists, for chrissake, and no executives in any corporations. Or you can take the high road, and show how ridiculous the libertarian solution to the problem of discrimination is.
Ask if they want to make life easier for the average, say, homosexual. If they say yes, then quote Clark once more. While he advocates "an end to all laws that make crimes of voluntary homosexual acts and an end to police persecution of gays," he also "opposes any legislation forcing the individual who is prejudiced against gay people to employ them in a private business, rent or sell an apartment or house to them, or allow them into his establishment." So they're allowed to screw (and how many are really prohibited from that today?) but if the owner of the corner store decides he hates "faggots" for whatever irrational reason he wants he can stop selling them loaves of bread. Don't like Blacks? In Clark's world, you set up your own school or bus company or mail service and announce that Black people's letters will not be carried, their bodies not transported, their children not educated. If your libertarian opponent will admit that prejudice exists, he will be hard-pressed to show that segregation would not be the inevitable result of his perfect free market economy. Compare the benefits of segregation--freedom to hate as one wishes--with its disadvantages. Grab some passing minority-group member by the elbow, and ask if he'd enjoy living in a system that guaranteed his political freedom but allowed some rich white WASP to, say, exclude him from Harvard.
You Can Lose the Argument...
[5] There are, of course, the unwinnable arguments. Chief among them is the libertarian notion that self-interest is at the root of all actions, and, for example, working for other people's happiness can be explained away solely as an effort to assuage your conscience. You will not win this stage of the quarrel. Libertarians, many of them, wear dollar signs on their ties. They read Ayn Rand, and think happiness is this valley where everybody makes profits--unless they're unfit and hence lose money. Don't bother calling them bloodless assholes, because they think that being bloodless is a virtue. They may even accuse you of being captive to your emotions; good libertarians don't have any emotions, except rage that they're being kidnapped, stolen from, raped, and so on.
...But Not the Election
[6] Argument is not like a model submarine, and you've probably lost despite all the instructions. But if you still truly believe libertarians are wrong, there is an escape hatch. Sometime in the course of the conversation, make them admit that the liberties of the individual are paramount ("Ah, so you're saying the liberties of the individual are paramount?" "Exactly!"). Then ask them how they could possibly consider voting in a presidential election. I mean, after all, is the tyranny of 50 per cent plus one any better than the tyranny of one? How can a group of people impose their will on any individual? Don't you think it's incredibly hypocritical of you to vote and give your support to a system that imposes its authority on individuals? Libertarians would rather be stolen, raped and kidnapped than hypocritical. Ed Clark will never winWith San Diego Comic-Con just around the corner, ComicBook.com is pleased to exclusively reveal the second wave of Comic-Con exclusively offering from Skybound Entertainment. These include a new edition of The Walking Dead Compendium Three, the second hardcover volume of Outcast by Kirkman and Azaceta, and new McFarlane Toys action figures based on the hit series Saga.
The Outcast hardcover features issues #7-12 of the series collected in hardcover for the first time. The Walking Dead Compendium Three collects issues #97-144 of the comic book series between a cover that features Negan and Lucille and gold foil adornment.
Marko and Alana from Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples’ Saga come to life as 5-inch action figures designed by McFarlane Toys. The action figure 2-pack includes Alana’s mace and Marko’s sword and marks the first time either character has ever appeared as action figures. Outcast by Kirkman and Azaceta Volume 2 Hardcover and The Walking Dead Compendium Three will be available at the Skybound Booth (Booth #2729) at Comic-Con. The Saga Action Figure 2-Pack will be sold at the Saga Shop at booth #2629B. Check out the images in the gallery below.
Outcast by Kirkman and Azaceta Volume 2 Hardcover ($30)
This convention exclusive edition collects OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA issues #7-12 in hardcover for the first time! The Walking Dead Compendium Three: Hardcover with Gold Foil ($100): Issues 97-144.As voting picked up in Delhi on Saturday morning, leaders from different political parties traded charges as the high-voltage fight for the national capital intensified.
Both the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which appears favourite after opinion poll predictions, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) exuded confidence about a victory, while allegations and counter-allegations flew thick and fast.
Live Blog Delhi assembly elections 2015
Here's your guide to who said what, and the highlights of the big day.
Arvind Kejriwal
In his signature style, the former Delhi chief minister turned the heat on his rivals as he came out to vote.
"Last night liquor and money were distributed. People of Delhi know which party did this… Don't vote for them," Kejriwal said without naming any party.
"People want freedom from corruption, bribery, and I am hopeful they will vote accordingly."
Striking a positive note, Kejriwal said, "I am confident that AAP will win the elections and form a government in Delhi."
Kejriwal is seeking re-election from the prestigious New Delhi constituency where he had handed down a crushing defeat
to former chief minister Sheila Dikshit in 2013.
"I am confident that truth will win, people will win. And the people will vote this time to get rid of corruption and inflation," he said.
Upping the ante against his rival, Kejriwal retweeted a tweet by party leader Kumar Vishvas: "Visited about 30 booths. BJP volunteers seem to have 'given up' after first 2-3 hours of voting! Reminds me of cong vlntrs in last election."
Kejriwal also sought the Election Commission's intervention over polling being "slowed down" in many places, which he said had resulted in voters returning without casting their vote.
"As per rules, 3 voters r allowed inside booth at a time. They r allowing only 1 voter, which has slowed down voting... Even lunch breaks being taken which is against rules. EC shud (sic) immediately intervene," he tweeted.
Earlier in the day, he took to Twitter and urged Delhi residents to come out and vote.
Kiran Bedi
The BJP's chief ministerial candidate cast her vote at a polling booth in Uday Park, south Delhi, and asked people to opt for a "clean, literate and safe Delhi".
"Today is a historic day for Delhiites. It's the day for them to decide what type of Delhi they want," Bedi said.
"I am confident… looking forward to a new Delhi. I will work till the end. We have to make Delhi a world-class city."
Turning the tables on the AAP, she alleged the rookie party's supporters were threatening people against voting for the BJP in Krishna Nagar, Bedi's constituency and a saffron party stronghold.
Hitting out at Kejriwal, the 65-year-old leader said, "He does not even live in Delhi. He lives in Ghaziabad. I have been connected with the people here for over 40 years."
"The voters are getting the opportunity to elect two leaders in this election. My victory in Delhi would mean the Prime Minister's leadership as well," Bedi said after casting her vote in Malviya Nagar constituency.
Harsh Vardhan
Union minister Harsh Vardhan cast his ballot along with his mother in Krishna Nagar and said he was "confident of BJP's win" in the Delhi assembly elections.
Vardhan, who was BJP's chief ministerial candidate in the last assembly election, said that it would be a "historic win for the BJP".
On being asked about pre-poll surveys showing the AAP has an edge, Vardhan said, "We have not seen that in reality. I am 100% confident that the BJP will win, and I don't want to comment on these poll surveys till the results come out."
Nupur Sharma, BJP candidate from the New Delhi constituency who is fighting against Kejriwal, said she was also "confident of the BJP's victory ".
Ajay Maken
Despite the Delhi elections being considered a straight fight between the BJP and the AAP, Congress campaign chief Ajay Maken said, "The Congress can deliver on its promises in Delhi."
"I am very hopeful that Congress is going to do exceedingly well and we are going to form a government on our own. People are in for a big shock and surprise on February 10 (the result day)," he told reporters as he showed his inked finger at a Rajouri Garden polling booth.
"We have confined ourselves within raising real issues. Unlike other parties, we have not resorted to petty politics."
The Congress leader added, "Delhi, being a Union Territory, has multiplicity of authority and complex and administrative issues unlike other states. We need a set of people and a chief minister who can wade through these issues and provide good governance."
Sheila Dikshit
The former Delhi chief minister told reporters that leaders were talking less about programmes mentioned in their manifestos.
"No, it may be your perception (regarding the Congress not being in the election race) but the time has changed... and the Congress is very much in the race," she added.
Early voters
Vice president Hamid Ansari, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, AAP's Kejriwal, BJP's Bedi and Union minister Vardhan were among the early voters. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who cast his vote at a polling booth on Aurangzeb lane, refused to speak to reporters.
Battleground Delhi
More than 12,000 polling stations, of which 714 have been identified as "critical" and 191 "highly critical" have been set up across the Capital. Over 64,000 police personnel have been deployed across the city to ensure free and fair polls. As many as 673 candidates are in the fray.
Political parties are desperate for a clear verdict, pleading with voters with slogans like 'Poorn Bahumat (absolute majority)', 'Sthir Sarkar (stable government)', 'Chalo chale Modi ke sath (Let's go with Modi)' and 'Paanch Sal Kejriwal (Five years for Kejriwal)'.
It has been a hard-fought campaign, a year after a Kejirwal-led government hastened the flashpoint on Jan Lokpal Bill and abandoned the people's verdict after just 49 days.
Video:Political heavyweights step out to vote in Delhi polls
First Published: Feb 07, 2015 11:01 ISTGetty Images Lance Armstrong has already been stripped of all his Tour de France wins because of doping
Lance Armstrong must pay a prize-insurer $10 million as punishment for lying under oath about doping, according to an arbitration award decision filed in a Texas state court.
The decision represents a blow for the former pro cyclist who is fighting a couple of legal battles that could strip him of many millions of dollars.
The prize insurer SCA Promotions Inc. asked a Texas state judge to confirm the arbitration award against Armstrong, in a filing Monday. It wants the court to enter a $10 million judgment against Armstrong and former team owner Tailwind Sports, a move which it believes will enable it to collect payment.
Neither Armstrong, his manager, nor his lawyer Tim Herman immediately responded to emails and phone messages Monday seeking comment.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.comThat he had never built anything in his life didn’t faze him. “I figured, peasants did this back in the fifth century, I can learn,” he said as he showed a visitor around the house on one sweltering Saturday.
Mr. Zuker’s learning curve was steep. He taught himself to haul boulders for a dry rubble foundation and to construct a timber truss frame for the house. But the project’s heart was the cob construction. The technique creates thick, almost plump walls, covered with plaster that dries to a textured surface.
Using a plywood plank as a mixing surface and a pitchfork as a spoon, Mr. Zuker would stir a bale of straw with enough clay mud to “coat it like you would toss spaghetti with sauce,” he said. He and three laborers packed the resulting slurry into wooden forms. Once a form was filled, the wood was removed and reset for the next section. When the slurry dried, it was sealed on the outside with a heavy plaster of lime and sand, bolstered with polyester fibers, a modern substitute for horsehair.
The walls, two feet thick, keep the interior about 15 degrees cooler than the temperature outside in hot weather, he said. The team could complete one 10-foot section of wall in a weekend. All told, it took about 10 weekends, spread over several months, to finish the walls.
What stands today in Mr. Zuker’s enchanted forest is a tribute to ingenuity, perseverance and frugality. He spent just $25,000 to build the house and $15,000 more for the well and septic system.
The living area, 32 feet by 20 feet, consists of a great room; a pocket-size kitchen set off by a granite counter and an indoor pergola of loblolly pine; a dining space just big enough for a table and four chairs; and a sleeping nook with a double bed. (A loft for the boys is above it.)
A rustic limestone fireplace anchors the great room. Its polished, curved mantel of juniper was fashioned from the floor joists of what was thought to be the oldest log cabin in Austin when it was demolished. (Mr. Zuker bought them from the city clerk.)
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In the sleeping nook Mr. Zuker installed stained glass windows that tilt out to reveal screens. The adjacent bathroom area has a marble floor warmed by radiant heat and a slab of sumptuous pink-and-black-veined granite that he found through a classified ad.
French doors open from the great room out to a stone patio edged with reclaimed concrete curbing that supports a porch swing, stone benches and a table and chairs with a view of Lake Travis 500 feet away.
The basic building materials were indigenous. Limestone and granite, straw and clay, cedar and pine, lime-and-sand plaster and antique wood, and windows were either recycled, renewable or dug practically out of the backyard. Local farmers sold him 250 bales of straw for $1.50 each. For $25, a clay pit trucked six cubic yards of clay to the site.
Ms. Zuker, a project coordinator for an engineering company and a stained-glass artist, fashioned many of the windows, and Mr. Zuker salvaged the rest at flea markets and garage sales. Though the cottage has an organic feel to it, rigorous thinking underlies its design. An architect friend, a devotee of Hindu design, insisted that Mr. Zuker use dimensions deemed auspicious for a home’s occupants.
To achieve the proper scale and pleasing proportions he sought, he was inspired by “A Pattern Language,” whose principal author was the architect Christopher Alexander. This 1977 work, a design handbook of sorts with a cult following, blends practical advice with a Zen-like approach to achieving harmony within the natural world. Mr. Zuker designed the house as he went along, letting the spaces reveal how they should be best used. In one instance he stood in a window space to see where the view should be before completing it.
The cottage is 45 minutes from the Zukers’ permanent home in Austin, and they tend to use it on long weekends and holidays. They occasionally invite friends for a barbecue, and the boys bring friends along to swim, kayak or ride trail motorcycles. There is no television or Internet connection and only intermittent cellphone service.
In an effort to keep the 21st century at bay, Mr. Zuker can verge on the obsessive. The refrigerator and microwave are clad in sheets of hammered copper to help them blend in. An air-conditioner disappears behind handmade wooden shutters when not in use. A few feet from the house’s front door, the well pump and water tank are hidden in a four-foot-high facsimile of the cottage, built as a test model.
Twenty years after he laid its foundation, Mr. Zuker still calls the cottage a work in progress. At the moment, he is designing a compact loft ladder, one edge of which will be set into the side of an armoire. He wants to build a cob oven on the patio for baking bread, he said.
“The house is far from being complete to me,” he said, his hazel eyes intent behind wire-rimmed glasses. “I look around, and there are a million details I could work on.”Biggest drop ever expected for PC shipments
** ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS, OCT. 1-2 **Dell employee Barrie Kutlik works in the computer assembly area at the new Dell plant in Winston-Salem, N.C., Friday, Sept. 23, 2005. Dell's largest U.S. plant is a tangible symbol of recent efforts to transform North Carolina's economic base from old-line industries like tobacco, textiles and furniture into high-tech ventures such as computers and biotechnology. The new plant officially opens Oct. 5. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) less ** ADVANCE FOR WEEKEND EDITIONS, OCT. 1-2 **Dell employee Barrie Kutlik works in the computer assembly area at the new Dell plant in Winston-Salem, N.C., Friday, Sept. 23, 2005. Dell's largest U.S. plant is a... more Photo: Gerry Broome, AP Photo: Gerry Broome, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Biggest drop ever expected for PC shipments 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
Worldwide PC shipments are expected to plunge this year to 257 million units, a drop of 11.9 percent - the biggest ever in the industry, according to a new report. Mobile phone sales are also declining.
"This is going to be a tough time for the industry," said George Shiffler, a research director at Gartner in San Jose, which released the report Monday. "It's grit your teeth and gut your way out."
Both emerging and mature markets are affected, which is especially bad news for Silicon Valley because emerging markets have been a growth engine for technology companies, even as their sales slowed in the United States and the rest of the developed world.
Shipments of mobile PCs are expected to grow 9 percent this year to 155.6 million units, Gartner said, but that's not enough to offset an expected decline in shipments of desktop PCs of 31.9 percent, caused because more people are hanging on to the computers they already have.
Gartner expects developed markets to decline by 13 percent this year, compared with a 7.9 percent decline in 2001 after the dot-com bubble burst. Emerging markets are expected to decline by 10.4 percent, compared with an 11.1 percent growth in 2002.
Mobile phone sales also declined in the fourth quarter, although they rose in 2008 overall, according to a report Gartner was to release today. PCs and mobile phones in turn have the biggest impact on global sales of semiconductors, which declined in January by 28.6 percent year over year and 11.9 percent since December, the Semiconductor Industry Association said.
This year's expected drop in PC sales is a combination of the recession and a quick reaction by companies in various parts of the PC supply chain, which have improved their technology for forecasting demand, Shiffler said. Whether they have cut inventory too much remains to be seen.
Still, the effects of Gartner's report are rippling throughout the technology industry.
Shares of Applied Materials, Intel, AMD, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Dell all dropped on Monday, and a spokesman for Intel said the company expects more months of decline.
Intel has announced it will lay off 5,000 to 6,000 employees as part of the closure of several older factories in the United States and abroad, and the upgrading of four U.S. factories, on which the company proposes to spend $7 billion.
Also on Monday, Intel announced specialized processors for car entertainment systems, media phones, and industrial automation and control systems.
"We know it's challenging times, and we are continuing to try to control the business and also try the best we can to invest so we can come out stronger than when we went in," said Chuck Mulloy, an Intel spokesman.
Intel is better positioned than most companies to invest in the future because of its size, Shiffler said. "My question is, what happens to the others? Do they have resources, or access to credit?"
He expects the economy to improve in 2010 and 2011, he said, but it has to stop falling first.“The Hollywood image of the fire-breathing Marine commander” does not fit the “small, slight and bespectacled” Maj. Gen. James Mattis, the Armed Forces Journal wrote of Donald Trump’s lead candidate for secretary of defense.
Having arrived at the battlefields of Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq armed with Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius’s Stoic “Meditations,” the man Trump has reportedly chosen to be secretary of defense, is indeed unique among generals.
A thinking and erudite warrior who preached cultural sensitivity toward occupied populations, Mattis indeed lacks George Patton’s impulsiveness, Douglas MacArthur’s arrogance, or Bernard Montgomery’s eccentricity. Even so, making him secretary of defense will be a grave mistake.
The civilian in charge of the generals should be a lifelong civilian. That is what Israelis have learned, the hard way, over 68 years during which nine of 17 defense ministers were retired generals. Though there have exceptions on both columns of this equation, the bottom line is clear.
Arrogance and adventurism
David Ben-Gurion, whose military career peaked as a corporal in the Ottoman army, was the defense minister who led the Israel Defense Forces to spectacular victories in the wars of 1948 and 1956. His successor, former treasurer Levi Eshkol, built the army that in 1967 defeated three armies in six days, the way FDR’s secretary of war, Wall Street lawyer Henry Stimson, built the army that won history’s biggest war.
On June 1, 1967, facing three enemy armies’ impending attack, Israel’s panicked politicians forced the Defense Ministry’s handover to war-hero Moshe Dayan. Initially that move seemed fine, as the war that broke out the following week was won. Its folly became manifest the following decade, when Israel arrived unprepared for its neighbors’ surprise attack of 1973.
Victory now came at an exorbitant price of more than 2,200 fatalities, because the military had been supervised by a retired general who inspired arrogance among the active generals, rather than make them admire the enemy and humbly prepare for its supreme tests, as the civilian ministers did.
The following decade, the same folly repeated itself, twice. First, in 1982, when Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, hero of the 1973 war, invaded Lebanon, which he hoped to turn into Israel’s ally, only to see it become Israel’s Vietnam, from which it retreated 18 years and 1,000 fatalities later.
Dayan’s conceit and Sharon’s adventurism were then followed by Yitzhak Rabin’s blindness, when the hero of the 1967 war, as defense minister in 1988, dismissed as rubbish assessments that the South African apartheid regime’s days were numbered, and that defense ties with it must be severed. The new South Africa’s consequent hostility, the product of a military man’s narrow political prism, remains a problem to this day.
To top it all, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Israel’s most decorated soldier, agreed to sell sensitive spy planes to China in 2000, only to make a fuming U.S. force the cancellation of the $200 million deal. The general thus hit with one slingshot Israel’s relations with two superpowers, and also cost it a $350 million cancelation fee that China rightly demanded and he sheepishly paid.
On top of all this, generals hate cutting defense budgets.
In 1985, when the Israeli economy faced catastrophe, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin resisted the required 20% cut in defense spending until then-prime minister Shimon Peres imposed it on him. Back in the ‘50s, Ben-Gurion sharply cut military spending despite the chief of staff’s protest resignation. Unlike the soldiers, Ben-Gurion understood that creating new towns, jobs, roads and schools for thousands of new immigrants superseded the military’s fiscal appetite.
Finally, given the opportunity, retired generals will meddle in the active generals’ work as generals.
For instance, Britain’s secretary of war during World War I, Field Marshal Horatio Kitchener, and imperial chief of staff Field Marshal John French became enemies as the war evolved because the former was undermining the latter’s military authority.
Back in Israel, Ehud Barak was so micromanaging as defense minister that he insisted on approving every colonel’s appointment, thus losing the IDF chief of staff’s trust, respect and cooperation.
Castrated generals
The principle all this implies is that generals should be empowered on the battlefield, and constrained outside it. If the military is supervised by a retired general, the result is the opposite: castrated generals overseen by a competing general, who in addition is a political amateur and potentially loose cannon, one who rather than be the civilian among the generals, becomes the general among the civilians.
This recipe for disaster was apparent to American lawmakers, twice: first, when they legislated a long break — originally 10 years, now seven — before a general can become secretary of defense. And second, when in practice they avoided even such an appointment, with the exception of George Marshall’s 1950-51 stint.
Now Donald Trump says that “it’s time, maybe, for a general,” as if this prospect had been a longtime quest that just awaited a strong leader’s vision and resolve.
With U.S. defense spending at nearly $600 billion, larger than the next seven biggest military budgets combined, and with Trump’s planned tax cuts threatening to more than double today’s budget deficit of 3.2% of gross domestic product, American defense spending will have to be cut.
Yet if a general is assigned with the grounding of warplanes, beaching of aircraft carriers, dismantlement of brigades and mass layoffs of colonels and generals that this will entail — he will drag his feet, because this will run against his emotional structure, even if he is an avid reader of history and philosophy.
Mattis spent 44 of his 66 years in the Marines, where he was nicknamed “Mad Dog,” surely with reason, some of which echoed during a 2005 panel in which he said “I like brawling” and also “it’s fun to shoot some people.”
No one should be fun to shoot, and that’s why many generals need civilians’ adult supervision.
Want news about Asia delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Asia Daily newsletter. Sign up here.Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor on Monday announced the successful completion of Operation Khyber-4, which had been launched on July 15. The army's spokesperson also dismissed the idea of there being a sectarian divide in the country, and dispelled the notion that there is any conflict between civilian institutions and the military.
"We have achieved our ground objectives in the Rajgal and Shawal valleys," Maj Gen Ghafoor said in his televised press conference.
Two soldiers of the Pakistan Army were martyred and 15 injured during the operation, which was targeted at clearing out terrorist hideouts from target areas.
The army's spokesman aired a brief documentary on the operation before detailing the progress of Operation Raddul Fasaad across the country.
Developments in Operation RUF |
we got a lot of the rushes with a completely different looking young Arby, which we realised after a couple of days was just not going to work. We may have filmed the back of his head at some point. A lot of dead time, though, a lot of dead time.
When we talk about Utopia, the moral dimension of whether the Network right or wrong in their long-term aims is what comes up. How did you approach amping that discussion up in the second season?
This is really Dennis writing that question of ‘what do we do about population control?’ He’s having the argument with himself I think, throughout this series. That’s what this series is about. We feel we can’t go on like this on a planet that can’t support that many people, but how do we address it? Obviously, the Network’s method for this, which is to forcibly sterilise people, is not satisfactory [laughter], but how else do you address it? That moral argument is what this series is about. It’s played out through which characters take which side, we saw Wilson Wilson coming around to the Network’s side in series one, and there are more surprises to come as we go through.
Series two is looking beautiful with Utopia’s characteristic strong visual style, graphic novel-style framing, and innovative colour palette, and the first episode in 4:3. How much has your direction been influenced by the script and what was the interaction between the directing style of the first episode of series two and the subject matter?
For the first episode in particular, Dennis had wound the fictional story in with the real conspiracy theories around the death of Airey Neave and so on. I knew that we’d be using quite a lot of archive footage so it was a really simple, practical way of binding it in with the archive footage because it’s in 4:3. But then having done that, we started to look at the archive footage and it’s all in different mediums, some tape, bits of film, 16mm film, and it was a question of trying to get a look which bound them all together.
There were a lot of influences. William Eggleston, a 1970s photographer who did some great stuff, John Hinde who did these wonderful pictures of Butlins and Nostalgic Ireland where the colours sort of bleed out – we used those as models – and then we actually graded the archive footage to look like that. Essentially, it probably is very similar to the 2:35 [aspect ratio], the widescreen stuff, in terms of its framing. It’s a different piece anyway. There’s less humour in it but there’s more emotion. It feels slightly different but in terms of the aesthetic it’s probably quite similar apart from the colour grading and the aspect ratio.
What did you do in terms of shooting and editing to make this look distinctively different to anything else that’s on TV?
I don’t look at other drama and go, how can we make it different? There were very clear things that I wanted to do when I first saw the scripts for the first series. Because it was funny, it was really important to me to cast people who could do comedy. There weren’t lots of gags but there was a lot of wry humour and it was really important to me to bring out all that humour even though the subject matter was really, really dark. I think what you get is that tension between the humour and the tension and violence brings you into this absurdist landscape, a sort of heightened feel. I think that’s what’s different.
Obviously, I wanted to make it colourful. Somebody said to me recently, was that a way of making the darkness and violence more palatable, and I wish I could say ‘Yes! I absolutely thought about that’, but actually it was just a way of trying to heighten the landscape. When I read it first of all, I had this idea that it was obviously set in the real world, because the issues about the population explosion and GM crops and that sort of experimentation were very real. So it felt in some ways that we were in the real world, but behind the scenes. It was a bit like being on the North London line and seeing the houses from the back, things that you’ve never seen before. It was an attempt to see that real world in a very different way.
Then there were big influences from Polanski’s early films and Kubrick’s one point perspective framing. The Polanski thing was the big reference for me, with the humour and the darkness at the same time. It’s probably a combination of all those things. The music’s quite different as well, the music’s quite quirky so it’s probably the cumulative effect of all of those things.
About the music, how did you come to select Cristobal Tapia de Veer as a composer?
Cristobal hadn’t really done that much film music before when I first met him on a series for the BBC, The Crimson Petal And The White, and I had a really good experience with him. I used to do all the music for my films myself in the beginning and I’m very hands on so for me, working with him was a bit like going back to the start. My first film I did it in a 24 track studio with a mate and we did everything, all the music, all the sound effects. So it felt a bit like I’d found a soul mate again that I could make music with. I was determined to work with him on this. So we brought him over from Canada - he lives in Montreal - for the first series of Utopia and he lived in a little bedsit and drove himself completely crazy.
He’s classically trained, he went to a conservatoire in Montreal and has a completely orthodox musical background. When I met him he was a producer who made dance music. I knew that I wanted the music to be quite uplifting in some sort of way and he actually recorded a whole album of stuff - samples and things - before we started cutting. In that, there were a lot of stuff with drones - we use a lot of drones on the soundtrack - and we took elements of those from this thirty minute album of pop songs he’d made, there were no lyrics but lots of samples and we took the quirkiest bits of that for the first series.
Then this time he came over and it was a lot of analogue stuff. The first time he came over he bought a bit of rhino dung and a bone that he’d found and the rest was all samples. He played that first Utopia tune with chopsticks on the rhino dung - God knows how he got it through customs - and this time he brought a lot of old-fashioned synths with him so the music’s different but still uses a lot of the same samples.
Was making the music more analogue this time around a conscious choice with regards to the first episode being set in the seventies?
That’s how it started. Cristobal was like, ‘you’re making stuff from the seventies, we’ve got to use synths!’ and that’s how it started.
We shot episode two first, we shot episode one last. We shot episode two, then three then one, then we cut them, which is what determines the order of the music, so we cut episode one first.
Going back to the first episode, how much of the deliberate backstory was there so that anyone who hadn’t seen Utopia series one could still enjoy Utopia series two?
It’s an interesting question and something I was thinking about when we were cutting it. There are obviously lots of Easter Eggs in there for those that have seen the first series - whether it’s fully self-explanatory I just don’t know because I know the first series too well, so I don’t know whether if you come to the second series and watch it for the first time.
I think it takes you for a ride, you’ll probably come away with questions and you probably won’t get the full impact of who Christos is for instance. Hopefully you go on a ride and hopefully it’s self-explanatory but I think definitely if you see the first series then you get all those little references that follow you.
With all the violence, child violence and rewriting history, has there been anything editorially that’s been difficult to put on the show or anything you’ve had to change?
No, I don’t think so. I think we haven’t changed anything really editorially. I think this series is much more... it’s better this time around, it’s clearer and the story’s stronger and it’s more audacious in lots of ways but you’ll still have the same shocks and surprises, hopefully, nothing’s been... we haven’t pulled our punches at all.
I need to know if you’ve got any household pets?
[Laughter] Not anymore.
Series two seems to have more notable graphic violence than the first series. Was that a conscious decision?
I’m not sure it was more graphically violent. More graphically violent than the eye torture? One wants to make something that has people right on the edge of their seat but not totally disgusted by it, that’s the art. It’s difficult, people react in different ways to violence, some people have got a bit more intolerance to it, so it’s difficult to gauge. I think we have a very strong idea of not glorifying violence, because all the violence has its knock-on effects in the series, and you see the way it affects Alice in the first series, you see the effect it’s had on Arby. So I think it’s all taken quite seriously, it’s just how much we show of it. I don’t think it’s more graphic in this one.
The message seems less subtle in this series, it’s pretty clear who you hate - a specific Prime Minister…
Those are little added extras, the idea that the Network may have been responsible for Thatcher is Dennis’ little joke. I don’t think that’s at the heart of the piece. I think essentially, the central conceit about disseminating Janus is just as complex and will have just as many twists and turns. The central conceit of the first episode is taken from history because those things happened very soon after one another in the spring of 1979, and Dennis just wove them together.
Can you tell us why you used the red title sequence in the first episode of series two?
It’s quite instinctive, that sort of thing. For the first series, Dennis had written the yellow bag and I was determined it was going to be like a massive yellow bag, a fuck-off yellow bag, and once we got the yellow bag, lots of things sparked off that. Normally when you show the cut to execs and things you might have a bit of a rough ident, but we made the ident white on yellow and everyone said they really loved it and that became a big thing then. With the first new episode, it was like it feels a bit darker, it feels a bit seventies so we did red on black.
Where can you buy the yellow bag?
You can’t! They’re all made for us now. The first one was doctored from a scuba diving shop, but they’re made for us now.
In the last series, I had to bring the bag into town for an ADR session and I was going to my local tube station and the guard stopped me and said ‘hey, where are you going? I said, I’m going to work, and he said That bag... It’s the Utopia bag! Can I have a photo?’, The gas canister happened to be in it because we were using it for sound so I got that out for the picture.
Have you had any influence on HBO’s American version of Utopia, or has that had any effect on where the UK series is going in this series or in future?
Dennis Kelly and Jane Featherstone, who is the exec producer, have talked. It’s being written by Gillian Flynn, who wrote Gone Girl, which David Fincher directed and has just directed bits of the series. Dennis is not really involved in it. They’ve seen the episodes, they’ve seen the scripts, they’ve seen part of this series as well and they’re just going to get on with it. I’m intrigued. I’m intrigued as to what they’ll make of it. But it hasn’t gone out there yet.
Is the story of the Network concluded at the end of this series?
You’ll just have to watch and see.
Marc Munden, thank you very much!
Utopia series two continues tonight, Tuesday the 15th of July, at 10pm on Channel 4.
Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.In early August, Dutch police forces raided a drug laboratory in Boxtel, a small town in the southern Netherlands. The police arrested three suspects for alleged drug distribution at an international level. Police left out the majority of the details, but members of a subreddit fit pieces together and found the identity of the three suspects. The newly arrested drug traffickers, /r/RCsources users determined, were the group behind the research chemical organization known as “Research Group Nederland.”
ResearchGroupNederland (RGN) sold, as is the case with many research chemical vendors, on the clearnet. At one time, selling legal research chemicals online and taking fewer OPSEC precautions had seemed safe. As long as substances were not advertised or labelled in a way that encouraged human consumption, what could go wrong? The line between clearnet research chemical (RC) vendors and darknet marketplace vendors is shrinking—especially if a vendor sells on the darknet and clearnet simultaneously.
In 2016 and possibly later, RGN sold ketamine and MDMA on a darknet marketplace. (Just Alphabay I believe but possibly others.) At some point in 2016, they began to focus on clearnet research chemical sales. The group registered their website, researchgroupnederland[dot]com, in January 2016. (Granted, they purchased one of their research chemical websites, 4fmp-nederland[dot]com, on November 19, 2015). From the clearnet site, they sold one of the widest array of “research chemicals” offered on the market.
Not only did the group sell a wide selection of drugs, they sold them in kilogram quantities—if requested. Kilogram quantities of fentanyl analogs too. With the heat from fentanyl, some users suggest that this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Regardless of how and why, other than the mere fact that Dutch police are on a roll, it happened.
“It’s not a lab where drugs are being produced, but we had a suspicion that there was a reasonable amount of hard drugs,” a spokesman said. “The property featured fentanyl, both in the United States and Canada, the drug is extremely popular, but it also causes many deaths.”
There are several circumstantial indicators that the three suspects and lab had belonged to RGN.
The first is that the raid occurred in Boxtel. As stated above, Boxtel is small. RGN was large. The existence of another large mail-order drug trafficking organization in such a small town is unlikely. Especially a clearnet one.
One Reddit user pointed out that the website was registered at complex that, by walking, was within 10 minutes of the location the police raided.
Several research chemical buyers or simply people paying attention remembered one of the real names of a member and/or his entire dox; they matched locations.
Not only is the site registered to an address within walking distance of the raided business park, RCsources users reported receiving DHL express packs from Boxtel.
RGN stopped replying to users the same day that the police raided them. They have not returned emails since.
The three drug traffickers could have been any other mail order drug trafficking organization in Boxtel. There is no solid proof that they are and a lack of information in general to prove that they are not. However, speculative evidence points towards the RGN angle. We may never find out. The police will. Law enforcement are still investigating the case and are now working with DHL. The suspects are in custody and are not allowed contact with the outside world, save for contact with their lawyers. Similar to the Hansa takedown.Brampton’s beef with its neighbours over the future of regional government in Peel has escalated into a letter-writing campaign.
In 600 words sent to Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, Mayor Linda Jeffrey restates the city’s position on increasing the number of seats Brampton holds at Peel Region council from seven to 11 members for the start of the next council term in 2018.
“The people of Brampton cannot wait any longer, we need you to act now to do what is both right and fair for Brampton residents and ensure their voices are equally represented at the Region in time for the 2018 municipal election.”
During Wednesday’s council meeting, city leaders criticized the provincial government’s lack of decisive action on a hugely divisive issue for Brampton, Mississauga and rural Caledon.
At more than 600,000 people, and faced with critical issues, from how to boost its economy, to improving important services such as transit and health care, to establishing its first university, local politicians argue Brampton needs greater representation at the regional level.
Brampton’s population is expected to hit 900,000 by 2041.
However, the city’s more populous neighbour to the south, Mississauga, will not support a solution that sees it lose a majority position on regional council. Jeffrey’s counterpart in Mississauga, Bonnie Crombie, has continued along the line of her predecessor, Hazel McCallion, on getting rid of regional government altogether.
Jeffrey, who was Ontario’s municipal affairs minister before winning the mayor’s chair, agreed with councillors Wednesday that after several attempts at a resolution, including a failed facilitation process, the city must continue to lobby Queen’s Park directly for action.
In her letter to the premier, Jeffrey, on behalf of council, requests “an urgent meeting” with Wynne “to discuss the potential legislative changes required to ensure our City is fairly represented at the Region of Peel (Region) and that these changes are made before the legislature rises in December.”
Peel council is composed of 12 Mississauga councillors, seven from Brampton, five from Caledon, plus an appointed regional chair.Alright, boys and girls. Are looking for a special gift for that CrossFit fanatic in your life? As usual FuncThat (and Amazon) to the rescue! As of this writing all of the following items are in stock at Amazon and should arrive before Christmas with two day shipping.
And don’t worry: using any of the links below will let Amazon know FuncThat sent you so you’ll be contributing to our Merry Christmas too!
Skins Calf Compression Sleeves $35
These things have multiple benefits:
1. Box jump protection
Towards the end of a WOD and when things start to get sloppy these things can save you from needing stitches in your shin.
2. High rep deadlift or o-lift shinguard
Ever dragged a barbell across your shin as you try to keep it close to your body? Ouch.
3. Performance enhancer?
There are a handful of studies coming out of the running world that seem to indicate calf sleeves can actually improve both your performance and endurance. The theory is the compression minimizes the vibration running through your lower leg with every foot strike.
Amazon: SKINS Compression MX Calf Tight
Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches $27
Efficiency at the Olympic lifts is one of the biggest differentiators in CrossFit. Analysis of the CrossFit Games has repeatedly shown that the Olympic Lifts account for a disproportionate amount of the events. How good is this book? Well, it’s a book about weightlifting with 87 five star reviews. The fact a book about weightlifting can even garner more than a handful of reviews is amazing in itself. This one should be on every crossfitters book shelf.
Amazon: Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches
Rehband Knee Sleeve $86 ($43 for one)
The Rehband knee sleeve was the breakout CrossFit item of 2013. They went from barely making an appearance in 2012 to becoming close to standard operating equipment for both recreational and competitive athletes alike. The reviews on Amazon claim these things have bionic like powers, particularly for anyone whose had knee issues in the past. Need more convincing? CrossFit Invictus coach Nick Hawkes has a nice post on the topic called “Invictus: The Benefits Of Knee Sleeves“. (That’s actually where this great pic came from.) The consensus seems to be to get a size smaller than you expect unless you’ve got some serious quads. Make sure and buy two! They are not sold as a pair!
Amazon: Rehband 7mm Knee Sleeve
Grid roller $38 – $65
This year for Christmas I asked my wife to hire an in-home masseuse who can take care of my every need. Strangely, her response was to move my pillow to the couch. Perhaps I should have phrased that differently. Until she comes around the Grid foam roller will have to do. It’s just the thing for those mornings when you roll out of bed and realized that doing that second workout yesterday wasn’t really such a good idea…
Amazon: The Grid Foam Roller
Covert Mechanix Glove $20
There was a time that no self-respecting crossfitter would be caught dead wearing gloves. People were proud of their heavily calloused and “functional” hands. Turns out though, blistered and torn hands are pretty much the opposite of functional and some CrossFit workouts will shred even the toughest of paws (Mary comes to mind). Enter the black on black Mechanix glove. These mitts are favored by people who actually have to get real work done while gloved up (Special Ops for example) and worn during the 2012 CrossFit Games by the CrossFit Athletes. Rogue actually sells a version on their site for $27 but you can get them on Amazon for $20.
Amazon: Mechanix Wear Original Glove, Covert
So go ahead and make a CrossFitter’s Christmas extra special (and if you happen to buy a gift for yourself we won’t tell).Learning on the Road in Australia
From time to time, Miro and I start to feel ready for a new adventure and we start itching for something new. We’ve been talking about so many different possibilities and one of our ideas (among dozens) is to rent a moterhome or a camper van and drive around Australia.
When Miro asked me what I thought that experience would be like, I said, “honestly, I don’t know, but I think we’d make it an adventure, for sure.”
Then, I remembered we have a friend who is living this exact dream. In fact she is an inspirational single mom I met last year at the unschooling conference, Alice and her darling son, Satria. They are also “natural learner” (or in some circles considered “unschoolers”, too.) Alice and I keep in touch through facebook and I’m always so excited to read about her adventures as she posts pictures and stories. I was just going to just ask Alice a few questions through a facebook chat, but I then decided to turn our inquiry into an interview and share it with you here.
One of the adventures Miro and I are considering for the future is indeed a road trip through Australia. Here’s a little about Alice and Satria’s adventure on the road.
Name: Alice Wenzel
Child (+age): Satria, age 6
Location: Australia
Style of education: Life Learners
Website: WayOfThePeacefulParent.com
Could you please describe your lifestyle:
We live in a Toyota HiAce Campervan in Australia. We are currently on the East Coast of Australia and will head down south to Victoria & Tasmania for the summer.
After a couple of months we will head to South Australia and then over to Western Australia… And onto Bali for May to visit Satria’s father (who is Balinese), and also attend the homeschooling/unschooling gathering on the tiny island of Gili Air.
While traveling around Australia we either park at old & new friends homes, or at Caravan parks. I usually put a message out on Facebook of where we are heading next & ask if there are any unschooling families that would like to meet with us, & we usually get invitations to park at someone’s house. If not, we book in at a caravan park.
I don’t formally educate Satria. I see learning in EVERYTHING that we do from buying groceries to meeting new families & the social interaction that goes with that.
Satria is also extremely computer literate and has an iPad with over 200 apps/games, and a laptop to play Minecraft and Spore. Often when playing Minecraft he’ll Skype with his friends that we’ve met on our travels or through the Australian Unschooling Minecraft Facebook page.
A lot of Satria’s English, Maths, Science, Geography ‘learning’ is coming from gaming and having access to the Internet. He has naturally learnt to read, & his spelling/typing improves each day just by wanting to be able to communicate with his friends while playing Minecraft.
What does a “mobile lifestyle” mean to you?
A mobile lifestyle to me means that we are on the go… Moving around from place to place living & learning as we go.
How important is freedom to you?
Freedom is everything to me. Since being on the road we’ve been in two situations where we were not completely free: 1) committed to house sitting for four weeks, and 2) committed to looking after a friends 4 girls for 2.5 weeks.
In both instances after the first week or so I felt stuck in a situation that in the current circumstances for varying reasons I would have left if I could have. It made me realise that my freedom is so important to me & I don’t want to limit ourselves by committing to others at this point in our lives. I want to live spontaneously and to be able to say yes to any interesting life experiences that arise.
As a mom who has adopted “life learning” as your form of education, what unique learning opportunities have arisen as a result of your travels?
Just being on the road and living fully each day is a unique learning experience. As I mentioned earlier I see learning in everything that we do. No one experience stands out… It is everything and everyone that is presented to us in our current lifestyle that we both learn from.
Could you share with us some of the incredible road adventures you’ve had so far?
We are still quite new at this and currently traveling where we have mostly been before.
For now the experiences that stand out the most would be camping amongst other life learners at a natural learning camp, then camping on a friend’s property while looking after another friend’s 4 daughters, and then camping at a circus festival with friends for my 40th birthday. I really enjoy the sense of community and being surrounded by other like-minded families.
What are some of the unique landmarks you hope to see in Australia in the future?
The Blue Mountains, The Great Ocean Road, driving from South Australia to Western Australia over the Nullarbor Plain, the Western Australian coast, and possibly Uluru, Kakadu National Park, and The Great Barrier Reef.
(Wow, so inspired! Miro and I want to see all those places too!!!!!!)
How do you manage choosing your next location?
Our trip up the East Coast was inspired by Satria wanting to see his old friends. Then back down to Victoria is to spend Christmas with our family, and over to Tasmania for a new experience and to meet other unschooling families that we have connected with online.
Heading over to Western Australia was originally to take advantage of the cheapest airfares to Bali, but we now have many families that we’d like to visit.
The smaller towns that we end up at along the way is due to invitations to park at other unschooling families houses that we’d really like to meet in person.
Do you consider yourself a modern-day gypsy?
YES! For sure!
Would you recommend this type of adventure for other families?
I highly recommend this type of adventure to all families. The main reason for me is to watch Satria blossoming into a much happier, joyful, and free child than when he was living in a house & going to school. And that means the world to me.
I am certainly inspired through Alice and Satria’s adventures. I hope Miro and I can take on a similar adventure in the future. After doing a little research, I came across a couple of resources to hire a campervan in Australia that look reasonable. Not sure of renting or buying will be the best option for us, but either way, this adventure is on our list of things we want to do.
So tell me, are you inspired by their journey too?I feel like I can’t order anything from Shiro without picking up a custom gloss. I think I have an addiction to them. You guys know that I have an obsession with purple lippies, and this one was born from the same need for purple. I’ve been wanting to try a grayed-purple for a while, and Apparatus is described as “pale grey with spectral lavender shimmer”, so I thought it might work. From some other swatches I saw, it looked fairly purple, but it was also hard to tell in the photographs.
In real life, this color is amazing. I picked it up in Moderate opacity, although I sort of wish I had gone opaque with it. Still, not unhappy. On my lips, it is a light grayed pastel purple color – exactly what I was hoping for. Because it’s only moderate, though, you can see that some of my natural pink on my lips comes through a bit.
What’s interesting is that when I wipe this off with a tissue or something, it looks pure gray, not purple at all. I really love this, and anyone else who wants a grayed-purple gloss, I def recommend it!
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PocketStephen Anderson had “one real ambition” for his retirement two years ago: a nice lawn at his Silver Spring home.
“My lawn is such a little fragment of American Freedom,” Anderson, a former parish minister for the United Church of Christ, wrote in a recent e-mail to the Montgomery County Council. “Please respect it.”
Anderson’s plea is one of many from Montgomery lawn-lovers, who are waging a turf war over the council’s proposed ban on cosmetic pesticides widely used to keep yards lush and green.
They’re opposed by a potent coalition of constituencies led by environmental activists, public health experts and concerned parents.
[Five steps on the path to a nanny state?]
George Leventhal (Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post)
At the core of the case against pesticides is research suggesting that exposure places young people at elevated risk for cancer and other diseases. Less risky organic options, the forces who favor a pesticide ban contend, can still produce good-looking lawns. Their champion is the bill’s sponsor, Council President George L. Leventhal (D-At Large).
“I think the majority of my constituents want to see Montgomery be the cleanest, safest county in America,” said Leventhal, who lives in the aggressively progressive Takoma Park, which passed its own ban in 2013.
Health and environmental issues have been a legislative touchstone for the council in recent years. It has banned trans fats and polystyrene containers from county restaurants and has imposed a nickel tax on plastic shopping bags that can clog streams. Last week, Montgomery became the region’s first locality to outlaw e-cigarettes wherever traditional tobacco smoking is also prohibited.
Leventhal, serving his fourth term with an eye on the 2018 county executive’s race, has come to embody the council’s regulatory zeal. Also winning passage last week was his bill banning pet stores from selling kittens or puppies from “mills” — even though there are no such stores in the county’s jurisdiction.
An editorial cartoon in November in the Montgomery Gazette dubbed him “MoCo’s Dr. No,” dressed as the James Bond villain.
For homeowners associations and lawn enthusiasts, Leventhal’s pesticide bill is one more nanny-state incursion, this time onto hallowed suburban ground — a patch of their identity that can affect both property values and the esteem in which they are held by neighbors.
“We don’t want any more bad-looking properties in the neighborhood,” said Paul Jarosinski, president of the Cherrywood Homeowners Association in Olney.
“I love to come home after a hard day’s work and enjoy my lawn,” Dean Graves, a 30-year resident of Darnestown, told the council at a hearing in January. “If this bill is passed as written, there is essentially no private property in Montgomery County.”
Opponents have aligned with soccer moms and dads concerned that playing field grass — also covered by the measure — will be less safe if it isn’t thickened with the help of traditional chemicals. They have an ally in County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), who wants to see fields exempted from the measure.
Lawn-care companies and a trade association for the multibillion-dollar pesticide industry have joined the fight as well and are pushing hard to kill the measure, arguing that federal and state regulators wouldn’t allow the products on the market unless they were safe if used correctly.
“Please reexamine the public you are serving and ask them if they think they need you to micro manage their lives for them. I think you will hear a resounding... NO,” said John Austin, vice president of Green Gardens, a Clarksburg landscape and lawn maintenance company, in a letter to council member Sidney Katz (D-Rockville-Gaithersburg)
This all adds up to the most polarizing issue the council has faced in many years, lawmakers say. Members have been flooded with e-mails and letters. Hundreds of people packed the council chambers for lengthy public meetings in January and February.
“We are hearing from people we’ve never heard from before,” said council member Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda), chairman of the transportation, energy and environment committee, who has scheduled two sessions later this month for testimony from scientists and public health experts.
Final action is not expected before June.
Leventhal, who has four of the eight other council members as co-sponsors, said a prohibition on what he calls “nonessential” pesticides is good policy for everybody, balancing the rights of homeowners to maintain attractive lawns with those of residents who prefer not to be exposed to chemical hazards. The proposal exempts agricultural land, gardens and golf courses.
Pesticide regulation is usually a state and federal responsibility. But Maryland is one of a handful of states that allow localities to pass their own laws. Montgomery would be by far the largest local jurisdiction to do so. Aside from Takoma Park, only tiny oceanside Ogunquit, Maine (year-round population 1,300), has its own pesticide guidelines.
Similar laws are more broadly used in Canada, where the province of Ontario adopted a cosmetic pesticide ban several years ago. But a British Columbia government panel concluded in 2012 that the scientific evidence did not warrant such a change in regulations.
The bill, opponents argue, would add a superfluous layer of regulation to products already carefully tested by the Environmental Protection Agency and overseen by the Maryland Department of Agriculture. Carol Holko, assistant secretary of agriculture, said the state’s program “is active and it is effective.”
“Clearly it’s an overreach,” said Jarosinski. “Are you trying to tell me these people [council members] have expertise that the state and federal government don’t have?”
Supporters of the ban contend that oversight has been less than rigorous. They cite studies by the Government Accountability Office and the Natural Resources Defense Council, which reported in 2013 that thousands of pesticides were approved for use without being fully tested for hazards to human health.
EPA spokeswoman Cathy Milbourn said the agency requires “hundreds” of different scientific studies before approving a pesticide.
Leventhal and allies also point to a 2012 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics that says data “demonstrates associations” between early life pesticide exposure and cancer, decreased cognitive skills and other disorders. But the study stopped short of favoring a broad ban, concluding that more research would be needed to establish a solid scientific basis for a regulatory overhaul.
Leventhal said that waiting for definitive proof is foolish. “The absence of incontrovertible evidence,” he declared, “does not justify inaction.”
He likened the situation to the early debates over whether cigarette smoking caused cancer. Those who back the pesticide ban contend that even judicious use of certain chemicals on lawns poses health hazards — for residents and neighbors — that are tantamount to secondhand smoke.
“Lawn chemicals don’t stay where they are put. These pesticides drift and we breathe them into our lungs on our way to work or school,” said Julie Taddeo, a Takoma Park activist who testified at a recent council hearing on behalf of Safe Grow Montgomery, the group backing the bill. She also helped organize support for the town’s ban.
The pesticide bill, like many other county regulatory measures, contains little in the way of enforcement muscle. It probably would be “complaint-driven,” meaning that the public, not an army of county lawn inspectors, would be responsible for spotting violators and alerting authorities. Penalties are a $50 fine for the first offense and $75 for subsequent violations.
Council member Nancy Floreen (D-At Large) a co-sponsor, concedes that these measures are intended to raise public awareness more than to punish. “We can’t enforce a lot of these laws,” she said. “But if they help change human behavior... ”
Floreen, a breast cancer survivor, said local governments — including Montgomery’s — have a responsibility to cast a critical eye at federal and state regulation of high-stakes health issues.
“We can’t look to the state and federal governments for everything,” she said. “I will tell you that I believe public health issues are one of the most serious responsibilities that local elected leaders have. I’m very worried about what we put into our environment.”A 56-year-old Rockland resident died Wednesday after the Hummer he was driving hit a snow bank and landed upside down, pinning him, on Route 59 near Larch Court.
Buy Photo Clarkstown police respond Wednesday to an overturned car on eastbound Route 59 in West Nyack. Two lanes are closed. (Photo: Alex Taylor/The Journal News)Buy Photo
A 56-year-old Rockland resident died Wednesday after the Hummer he was driving hit a snow bank and landed upside down, pinning him, on Route 59 near Larch Court.
Clarkstown police confirmed the death, but did not identify the victim. Paramedics said the victim was a Central Nyack resident. They said he went into cardiac arrest after being removed from the vehicle and taken to Nyack Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The crash happened about 12:30 p.m. on a stretch of highway where the speed limit is 55 mph. The |
because bonds and money are imperfect substitutes: money yields less, but has the advantage of being something you can use directly to make payments, that is, it’s more liquid.
But when you have bought so much debt and created so much money that rates are near zero, the public is saturated with liquidity; from that point on, they’re holding money simply as a store of value, which makes it no different from bonds — and hence a perfect substitute for bonds. And at that point further open-market operations do nothing — they just swap one zero-interest asset for another, with no effect on anything.
So why not forget about open-market operations, and just drop the stuff from helicopters? Well, remember that at this point cash and short-term bonds are equivalent. So a helicopter drop is just like a temporary lump-sum tax cut. And we would expect people to save much or most of such a tax cut — all of it, if you believe in full Ricardian equivalence.
In my simple 1998 model, there’s only one way the Fed can affect things at all: by promising, credibly, to print more money in the future, when the zero lower bound no longer binds.
In practice, things are more complicated, because long-term bonds aren’t perfect substitutes for short-term — so the Fed can get some traction by buying at longer maturities. But I always felt than Ben was overstating the effectiveness of such purchases. It’s worth noting that in his “it” speech Bernanke’s more-or-less specific proposal was to set a ceiling on the yield on two-year securities. How much would that accomplish now, when even the 2-year yield is only 0.67 percent?
Anyway, back to the original point: it’s depressing to realize that two years into liquidity trap economics, the WSJ still doesn’t seem to understand the basic point of why the zero bound is a problem.NSA HQ (Getty Images)
The NSA has no idea how much of its secrets were stolen by Edward Snowden, and The Guardian's editor says they have published around 1% of what he gave the network of newspapers who have continued to analyze and publish his cache. Today Der Spiegel reveals (presumably with Snowden's help) how the NSA's elite team of spies intercepts brand new computers on their way to customers and uses Windows error messages to exploit the weaknesses of their targets.
It turns out that those Windows error messages really are a government conspiracy, headed up by the good people of the Tailored Access Operations, the few hundred "digital plumbers" (where have we heard that pipe-busting analogy before?) who operate at the very periphery of the law.
One example of the sheer creativity with which the TAO spies approach their work can be seen in a hacking method they use that exploits the error-proneness of Microsoft's Windows. Every user of the operating system is familiar with the annoying window that occasionally pops up on screen when an internal problem is detected, an automatic message that prompts the user to report the bug to the manufacturer and to restart the program. These crash reports offer TAO specialists a welcome opportunity to spy on computers. The automated crash reports are a "neat way" to gain "passive access" to a machine, the presentation continues. Passive access means that, initially, only data the computer sends out into the Internet is captured and saved, but the computer itself is not yet manipulated. Still, even this passive access to error messages provides valuable insights into problems with a targeted person's computer and, thus, information on security holes that might be exploitable for planting malware or spyware on the unwitting victim's computer. Although the method appears to have little importance in practical terms, the NSA's agents still seem to enjoy it because it allows them to have a bit of a laugh at the expense of the Seattle-based software giant. In one internal graphic, they replaced the text of Microsoft's original error message with one of their own reading, "This information may be intercepted by a foreign sigint system to gather detailed information and better exploit your machine." ("Sigint" stands for "signals intelligence.")
When they're not breaking into Mexico's domestic security database or the undersea data cables that connect Europe with North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, they're happy to pick up your package for you while you're away.
Sometimes it appears that the world's most modern spies are just as reliant on conventional methods of reconnaissance as their predecessors. Take, for example, when they intercept shipping deliveries. If a target person, agency or company orders a new computer or related accessories, for example, TAO can divert the shipping delivery to its own secret workshops. The NSA calls this method interdiction. At these so-called "load stations," agents carefully open the package in order to load malware onto the electronics, or even install hardware components that can provide backdoor access for the intelligence agencies. All subsequent steps can then be conducted from the comfort of a remote computer. These minor disruptions in the parcel shipping business rank among the "most productive operations" conducted by the NSA hackers, one top secret document relates in enthusiastic terms. This method, the presentation continues, allows TAO to obtain access to networks "around the world."
After an independent panel appointed by President Obama recommended drastically curtailing the NSA's data trolling, our Commander-in-Chief promised to supply "more confidence" in how our spies work to keep us safe.I asked my Santa to give me a local hookup and left everything open beyond that. When my box was marked shipped and I saw it came from Alaska, I couldn't have been more excited! I had no idea what local yummies to expect so I spent all weekend bugging everyone I knew IRL to humblebrag about my inbound Alaskan feast. I even went Peep Free this Easter to prepare myself. It was worth it!
My haul (see photos for descriptions) Moose Nugget peanut butter filled pretzels covered in chocolate and coconut Alaska Chocolate "Gold" Nuggets Grizzly Chips in BBQ flavor Bearing Sea Salt Caramels Beer Brittle Smoked wild Alaskan salmon And a beer Coozie A postcard with a letter from Santa!
I've sampled a little of everything and now I need to put a beer into my coozie and have my Alaskan feast! Thank you so much, MozTheDog! This has been the best exchange ever!Facebook today began the slow rollout of Sponsored Story ads within its home page’s main news feed. Instead of clearly marking them as “Sponsored” ads though, they’re labeled “Featured”. This could initially mislead users into thinking these ads are simply important stories about their friends or Pages they Like. Users might only learn they are paid ads after hovering over the marking. Facebook is trying to distinguish them from sidebar ads that are marked “Sponsored” but that can be bought by any advertisers. However, most people don’t associate the word “featured” with “paid ad”.
Facebook’s advertising spokesperson sent me this information about the news feed ads first announced last month:
“We’ll be labeling these stories as “Featured” instead of “Sponsored.” We are using the term “featured” because we want to make it clear to people that they’re seeing content from a Page or person they have chosen to connect to. Since people can see marketing messages from both Pages they have and have not Liked elsewhere on Facebook, we want to make it clear that marketers can only pay for stories to be featured in your News Feed if you have explicitly liked the Page. And because you are always connected to your friends, we are also labeling stories from your friends that have been paid to be featured in your News Feed as “featured” to keep things consistent. We still hope to show an average of approximately one featured story in News Feed per day.”
The act of purchasing a Sponsored Story news feed ad does mean increasing the prominence of content that could already appear in the news feed, which could be called “featuring a story”. Users may hover over the word “Featured” to reveal a black box of text explaining “A sponsor paid to feature it here”.
Still, at first glance it’s ambiguous to those viewing the ads. Facebook even already uses the word “feature” to mean increasing the size of a story on one’s own Timeline.
Stories that naturally appear in the news feed are eligible to be “Featured”, such as when a Page you Like posts something, when a friend Likes a Page or Page post, or when a friend checks in to a business or uses a third-party app. The Page, business, or app’s owner can then pay to make these stories more visible. Users who want to avoid seeing these ads can hide them individually, limit the news feed volume of a friend who generates them, or Unlike the Page buying them. There’s no way to opt out of having your own content “Featured” except by not interacting with businesses, Pages, or apps.
Facebook ran ads in the news feed between 2006 and 2009, but discontinued them from then until now. They could once again become a major revenue stream for the company because they’ll appear front and center mixed in with organic social content.
However, they represent a risk. At first Facebook will show a roughly one news feed ad per user per day. But if they’re not clearly marked or Facebook later chooses to show more, they could decrease trust in the news feed or make it less satisfying to browse. Facebook will be keeping a close eye on the rate limit to protect the user experience, but this is not the best start.
The switch from “Sponsored” to “Featured” is more of language mistake than an attempt to be evil. Few users have seen these yet, so Facebook should consider choosing a different term to denote the ads. Facebook will also need to be careful about choosing the right terminology for news feed ads in languages other than English.
Postscript: Really, Facebook should just keep Sponsored Stories in the news feed marked “Sponsored” and rename its sidebar ads from “Sponsored” to…”Ads”.Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., is not a climate change skeptic. He is a climate change denier.
Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
A few months ago, I appeared on a Q&A, a popular Australian television news program with a prominent Australian politician and a well-known Australian journalist. Both flatly denied that climate change was human-induced. Both referred to themselves as skeptics.
This label successfully undermines the heart of what skepticism is all about, however, and it is unfortunate that journalists often don’t get the subtle bait-and-switch that is being performed here. For example, to take a U.S. example, in a Nov. 10, 2014, New York Times article “Republicans Vow to Fight EPA and Approve Keystone Pipeline” Sen. James Inhofe was referred as “a prominent skeptic of climate change.” Two days later Scott Horsley of NPR’s Morning Edition called him “one of the leading climate change deniers in Congress.” These are not equivalent statements.
Skepticism is all about critical examination, evidence-based scientific inquiry, and the use of reason in examining controversial claims. Those who flatly deny the results of climate science do not partake in any of the above. They base their conclusions on a priori convictions. Theirs is an ideological conviction—the opposite of skepticism.
This confusion is at the heart of political efforts to undermine climate science. It’s sufficiently disturbing that a group of fellows of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry—including well-known scholars and public figures like Dan Dennett, Bill Nye, Sir Harold Kroto, Kenneth Miller, and me—have drafted an open letter to the media urging them to consider carefully the language they use when discussing climate change issues.
Our letter was precipitated by the New York Times description of Inhofe. This confusion of terms is not new, and various individuals (for instance, Slate’s Phil Plait) have made the point before that “denier” is the better label in these circumstances. But we felt that when someone like Inhofe, who has so clearly denied or ignored the major scientific analyses of human induced climate change and its consequences, was so inappropriately described by a publication like the New York Times, it was necessary for a broad-based group in the scientific community to speak up. The effort to stop effective action to curb climate change has been successful in part because it has focused on public relations rather than content. By confusing skepticism with ideological intransigence, journalists play into the hands of those who plan and implement these large-scale disinformation campaigns.
In the meantime, journalists and others can use a test I turned to on the television program in Australia. After hearing that the individuals in question did not accept the conclusions of climate change modelers at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other academic bodies, I asked them the simple question: “OK, what do your models predict?”
As you might expect, the response was silence.
If those who decry the claims of climate scientists cannot provide some sound empirical basis for their critiques of these claims and the data and models they are based on, then their denialism should be treated on the same footing as those who deny the results of evolutionary biology simply because they do not want to accept evolution.
To put climate deniers on the same footing as scientists, for whom skepticism is a central facet of their life work, is to do a great disservice to science, knowledge, and progress.In the Name of the People (Photo : Oriental Projection/YouTube)
China’s anti-corruption TV series “In the Name of the People” continues to attract viewers both on free TV and video streaming sites. On iQiyi, one of the licensed online viewing platforms, the 55-episode drama has almost 6.4 billion views over 52 episodes aired so far.
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Headline-Grabbing Plots
On free TV, its ratings reached 7 percent. It broke a 10-year record in domestic TV drama in China, Today Online reported. The high ratings is mainly due to the headline-grabbing plots of the series which often are just gossip but now dramatized in a prime time show.
A young prosecutor discovers a huge pile of money in the secret villa of a corrupt communist party cadre who kneels and weeps to seek pardon. In another case, a corrupt judge is caught having sex with a blonde foreign sex trade worker whose services are paid by a businesswoman.
Normally, those kinds of plots and scenes would be censored by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. However, because the show is part of the anti-graft campaign that Chinese President Xi Jinping launched in 2012 when he came to power, those risqué plots are available to Chinese TV viewers.
Focus on Resolution to Corruption Problems
It helps that “In the Name of the People” is commissioned and paid for, at 120 million yuan, or $24.4 million, per episode, by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the national prosecutor’s office in China. Portraying those bold themes come with focusing on how these corruption problems were resolved instead of highlighting how pervasive corruption is in China. The media watchdog, after all, instructed the procuratorate to promote positive energy.
Because the show has become a template on how to tackle the sensitive subject of corruption, 11 more prime time corruption dramas would hit Chinese TV in 2017. According to Variety, drama series with anti-graft themes were popular in China several years ago, but Beijing stopped it in 2004 because the genre has been exploited too much and due to political sensitivities.
Past propaganda drama series focused on the establishment of the Communist Party. However, “The Name of the People” hit it big because it is contemporary. Often compared to “House of Cards,” the hit series is adapted from a novel by Zhou Meisen.Stanford is Not What He Seems
I don’t know if someone has pointed this out, but here it goes.
As you know and according to the Gravity Falls wiki, the pictures on the theme song are the antagonists of Gravity Falls:
And guess who’s now on the theme song:
This means that Stanford is an antagonist. They could have placed Stanford somewhere else in the theme song, but they placed him specifically with the antagonists.
Also, remember what Alex said a while ago in an interview for A.V. Club:
“-who is the true villain in Gravity Falls?”
Maybe the true villain in Gravity Falls is Stanford.
As valetparker pointed out:
“I also think after 30 years being in a place that drove McGucket crazy it should have done some pretty terrible things to Stanford, but he seems completely fine. He also acts like 30 years hasn’t passed at all!”
We barely know Stanford and the other side of the portal. What happened in there? How can we trust him?
Stanford is Not What He Seems.It's often said that loose lips sink ships.
President Trump's loose lips to all sorts of characters -- and the subsequent media coverage -- could be steering the stock market right into a summer correction. Consider this. Over the past week, we have continued to get good, if not strong, reads on the U.S. economy. April industrial production blew it out of the water, signaling that manufacturers are seeing solid global demand. The Institute of Supply Management's non-manufacturing index topped estimates, notching its 88th consecutive month of growth. The Nasdaq Composite has continued to rip to new heights, as investors remain star struck by what's happening at tech giants such as Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Facebook (FB).
While household name retailers like Macy's (M) and J.C Penney (JCP) have stunk it up with their first quarter earnings, consumer demand to start the second quarter has bounced back to healthy levels.
Despite all of the upbeat headlines, the broader S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average have barely budged during the past five sessions. Further, stocks have taken to selling off on bad Trump related news, first with Comey (and now again with Comey) and then with the alleged comments made to a Russian diplomat. On Wednesday, stocks finally collapsed under the weight of recent Trump related news. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the session down 372 points to 20,606.93.
This reaction by stocks could indicate the first signs of investors losing confidence in what Trump could get accomplished. Remember, there is still a "Trump Trade" priced into so many sectors of the market.
Wonder what news will drop today...
This article originally appeared at 8:05 ET on Real Money, our premium site for active traders. Click here to get great columns like this from Jim Cramer and other writers even earlier in the trading day.
Read This Or Lose Out
Target steps it up: After losing ground to a resurgent Walmart (WMT) for the past year and seeing its stock price react accordingly, Target (TGT) managed to share some decent news on Wednesday. The discount retailer crushed Wall Street's first quarter profit estimates, sending the stock soaring. But as TheStreet reports, there is one glaring problem in the report Wall Street is loving.
Sad, but it's about to happen: This weekend will mark the final shows for the Ringling Bros. circus. The final show will be Sunday in New York. You can thank gadget-loving millennials watching Netflix (NFLX) as one of the reasons why this national treasure it about to vanish. Hat to The Associated Press, which embedded itself with several performers ahead of the final act.
Here comes the heat: Many on the East Coast are bracing for the year's first heatwave, which for the sake of Macy's (M) and other apparel retailers will spur some sales. Temperatures in many cities will approach record levels, some dating back to the 1800s, points out USA Today.
Sunshine and 90-degree Fahrenheit heat will overtake the northeastern U.S. by the middle of this week: https://t.co/zEW2TnjFeZ pic.twitter.com/tCq7cxwhx6 — AccuWeather (@breakingweather) May 16, 2017
Sign me up for one of these: The Tesla (TSLA) killer has been unveiled (at least in terms of speed, not general popularity). A Swiss firm has taken the wraps off the Elextra electric supercar, reports Motor Authority. Personally, not fond of the styling. But the performance sounds insane. The car will allegedly go from 0 to 60 mph in 2.3 seconds -- Tesla's Model S P100 D needs to 2.4 seconds to pull that off.
Your childhood comes back to life: As part of a growing theme of '90s sitcom revivals, ABC's hit Roseanne will return by 2018, reports USA Today. Yes, the show will have the entire original cast. Can't wait to see how Roseanne comments on Trump's impact on her small, working class town...
#Roseanne is officially coming back! And this cast reunion photo is giving us ALL of the feels. ���� |��: Paula Lobo/ABC A post shared by People Magazine (@people) on May 16, 2017 at 3:19pm PDT
This retail executive explains things perfectly: Hands down one of the best CFOs in the business, Carol Tome at Home Depot (HD), talked at length with TheStreet about the current retail climate and how the improvement retailer is managing through it. In short, Tome gives a master class to all struggling retailers in this interview.
Click here for the latest business headlines.
Apple and Facebook are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells AAPL and FB? Learn more now.Earlier today, it was announced that several of LCD Soundsystem’s albums would be reissued on vinyl by Rhino, with the first of them coming out on June 23. Now, the band have issued a statement via their publicist, saying that they “certainly aren’t announcing shit” and that they had no idea that the reissues series was even happening. “Just buy the records from DFA, like you have been able to for years,” the statement concludes. The press release notes that the Rhino announcement described the band as “‘one of the freshest sounds on the London underground scene in the early 2000s,’ so that shows how seriously anyone should take it.” Pitchfork has reached out to reps for Rhino for comment.
While the band might not be “announcing shit,” they did reveal today that they will return to Brooklyn Steel beginning June 16 for an encore residency. James Murphy and company have reportedly finished their new album, which will feature new songs “Call the Police” and “American Dream.”
LCD Soundsystem will headline this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival in July with A Tribe Called Quest and Solange. Get tickets here.
Read “Everything James Murphy Did While LCD Soundsystem Was Broken Up” on The Pitch.
Watch Pitchfork’s “Liner Notes” video on Sound of Silver:Former presidential adviser Steve Bannon, who is now back at the helm of Breitbart News, paid a surprise visit to Breitbart’s radio program this morning, where he stumped for Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore and argued that a vote for Moore is in fact a vote in support of Trump, despite the fact that Trump has endorsed Moore’s opponent, Luther Strange.
Bannon and the program’s host, Raheem Kassam, broadcasted this morning from Alabama, where Bannon will be headlining a rally for Moore tonight. They took a call from a listener who insisted that Alabama voters are “not letting Trump down” by voting for Moore, and implied that Trump’s endorsement of Strange was disingenuous and part of a deal that he’s making on behalf of Moore.
Trump, the caller said, “can go make these deals and look like he’s partying on the other side, but he knows that the voters in Alabama are going to do the right thing, no matter who he stands on a platform and says he’s behind.”
“If you vote for Luther Strange, you’re going to disappoint Donald Trump,” she added.
“I think that sums it up better than any analyst right there,” Bannon responded, “is that it’s the wisdom of the voters of Alabama, and I think that if you do what’s right in your heart, then you’re supporting Donald Trump. I think this is going to come down to, basically, very bad information and misinterpretation of some basic information to President Trump, the reason he got into this situation.”
He added that if “you vote your heart, you do the right thing, it’s going to turn out right.”For other people named Ted Nelson, see Ted Nelson (disambiguation)
Theodor Holm "Ted" Nelson (born June 17, 1937) is an American pioneer of information technology, philosopher and sociologist. He coined the terms hypertext and hypermedia in 1963 and published them in 1965.[1] Nelson coined the terms transclusion,[1] virtuality,[2] and intertwingularity (in Literary Machines), and teledildonics[3]. According to a 1997 Forbes profile, Nelson "sees himself as a literary romantic, like a Cyrano de Bergerac, or 'the Orson Welles of software.'"[4]
Early life and education [ edit ]
Nelson is the son of Emmy Award-winning director Ralph Nelson and the Academy Award-winning actress Celeste Holm.[5] His parents' marriage was brief and he was mostly raised by his grandparents, first in Chicago and later in Greenwich Village.[6]
Nelson earned a B.A. in philosophy from Swarthmore College in 1959. While there, he made an experimental humorous student film titled The Epiphany of Slocum Furlow, in which the titular hero discovers the meaning of life. His contemporary at the college, musician and composer Peter Schickele, scored the film.[7] Following a year of graduate study in sociology at the University of Chicago, Nelson began graduate work in philosophy at Harvard University in 1960, ultimately earning an A.M. in sociology from the Department of Social Relations in 1963. During his graduate studies, Nelson was a photographer and filmmaker at John C. Lilly's Communication Research Institute in Miami, Florida, where he briefly shared an office with Gregory Bateson. He began to neglect his formal studies and failed his doctoral comprehensive examination, ultimately precipitating his departure from Harvard. From 1964 to 1966, he was an instructor in sociology at Vassar College.[8]
During college and graduate school, he began to envision a computer-based writing system that would provide a lasting repository for the world's knowledge, and also permit greater flexibility of drawing connections between ideas. This came to be known as Project Xanadu.
Much later in life, he obtained his Ph.D. in media and governance from Keio University in 2002.
Project Xanadu [ edit ]
Nelson founded Project Xanadu in 1960, with the goal of creating a computer network with a simple user interface. The effort is documented in Computer Lib / Dream Machines (1974), The Home Computer Revolution (1977) and Literary Machines (1981). Much of his adult life has been devoted to working on Xanadu and advocating for it.
Throughout his career, Nelson supported his work on the project through a variety of administrative, academic and research positions and consultancies, including stints at Harcourt Brace and Company (a technology consultancy and assistantship typified by the creation of the Xanadu moniker and an early meeting with Douglas Engelbart, who later became a close friend; 1966-1967), Brown University (a tumultuous consultancy on the Nelson-inspired Hypertext Editing System and File Retrieval and Editing System with Swarthmore friend Andries van Dam's group; c. 1967-1969), Bell Labs (classified hypertext-related defense research; 1968-1969), CBS Laboratories ("writing and photographing interactive slide shows for their AVS-10 instructional device"; 1968-1969)[9], the University of Illinois at Chicago (an interdisciplinary staff position; 1973-1976) and Swarthmore College (a lectureship in computing; 1977).
Nelson also conducted research and development under the auspices of the Nelson Organization (founder and president; 1968-1972) and the Computopia Corporation (co-founder; 1977-1978). Clients of the former firm included IBM, Brown University, Western Electric, the University of California, the Jewish Museum, the Fretheim Chartering Corporation and the Deering-Milliken Research Corporation. He has alleged that the Nelson Organization was envisaged as a clandestine funding conduit for the Central Intelligence Agency, which expressed interest in Project Xanadu at an early juncture; however, the promised funds failed to materialize after several benchmarks were met.
From 1980 to 1981, he was the editor of Creative Computing.[10] At the behest of Xanadu developers Mark S. Miller and Stuart Greene, Nelson joined San Antonio, Texas-based Datapoint as chief software designer (1981-1982), remaining with the company as a media specialist and technical writer until its Asher Edelman-driven restructuring in 1984. Following several San Antonio-based consultancies and the acquisition of Xanadu technology by Autodesk in 1988, he continued working on the project as a non-managerial Distinguished Fellow in the San Francisco Bay Area until the divestiture of the Xanadu Operating Group in 1992-1993.[11]
After holding visiting professorships in media and information science at Hokkaido University (1995-1996), Keio University (1996-2002), the University of Southampton and the University of Nottingham, he was a Fellow (2004-2006) and Visiting Fellow (2006-2008) of the Oxford Internet Institute in conjunction with Wadham College, Oxford.[12] More recently, he has taught classes at Chapman University and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The Xanadu project itself failed to flourish, for a variety of reasons which are disputed. Journalist Gary Wolf published an unflattering history of Nelson and his project in the June 1995 issue of Wired, calling it "the longest-running vaporware project in the history of computing".[13] On his own website, Nelson expressed his disgust with the criticisms, referring to Wolf as "Gory Jackal", and threatened to sue him.[14] He also outlined his objections in a letter to Wired,[15] and released a detailed rebuttal of the article.[16]
As early as 1972, a demonstration iteration developed by Cal Daniels failed to reach fruition when Nelson was forced to return the project's rented Data General Nova minicomputer due to financial exigencies. Nelson has stated that some aspects of his vision are being fulfilled by Tim Berners-Lee's invention of the World Wide Web, but he dislikes the World Wide Web, XML and all embedded markup – regarding Berners-Lee's work as a gross over-simplification of his original vision:
HTML is precisely what we were trying to PREVENT— ever-breaking links, links going outward only, quotes you can't follow to their origins, no version management, no rights management.[17]
Jaron Lanier explains the difference between the World Wide Web and Nelson's vision, and the implications:
A core technical difference between a Nelsonian network and what we have become familiar with online is that [Nelson's] network links were two-way instead of one-way. In a network with two-way links, each node knows what other nodes are linked to it.... Two-way linking would preserve context. It's a small simple change in how online information should be stored that couldn't have vaster implications for culture and the economy.[18]
Other projects [ edit ]
In 1965, he presented the paper "Complex Information Processing: A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing, and the Indeterminate" at the ACM National Conference, in which he coined the term "hypertext".[1]
In 1976, Nelson co-founded and briefly served as the advertising director of the "itty bitty machine company", or "ibm", a small computer retail store that operated from 1977 to 1980 in Evanston, Illinois. The itty bitty machine company was one of the few retail stores to sell the Apple I computer. In 1978, he had a significant impact upon IBM's thinking when he outlined his vision of the potential of personal computing to the team that three years later launched the IBM PC.[19]
From the 1960s to the mid-2000s, Nelson built an extensive collection of direct advertising mail he received in his mailbox, mainly from companies selling products in IT, print/publishing, aerospace, and engineering. In 2017, the Internet Archive began to publish it online in scanned form, in a collection titled "Ted Nelson's Junk Mail Cartons".[20][21][22]
ZigZag [ edit ]
As of 2011, Nelson was working on a new information structure, ZigZag,[23] which is described on the Xanadu project website, which also hosts two versions of the Xanadu code. He also developed XanaduSpace, a system for the exploration of connected parallel documents (an early version of this software may be freely downloaded).[24]
Influence and recognition [ edit ]
In January 1988 Byte magazine published an article about Nelson's ideas, titled "Managing Immense Storage". This stimulated discussions within the computer industry, and encouraged people to experiment with Hypertext features.
In 1998, at the Seventh WWW Conference in Brisbane, Australia, Nelson was awarded the Yuri Rubinsky Memorial Award.
In 2001, he was knighted by France as Officier des Arts et Lettres. In 2007, he celebrated his 70th birthday by giving an invited lecture at the University of Southampton.[25] In 2014, ACM SIGCHI honored him with a Special Recognition Award.[26]
Neologisms [ edit ]
Nelson is credited with coining several new words that have come into common usage especially in the world of computing. Among them are:
"hypertext" and "hypermedia", both coined by Nelson in 1963 and first published in 1965
transclusion
virtuality
intertwingularity
dildonics
Popu-litism, a combination of "populism" and "elite"[27]
Publications [ edit ]
Many of his books are published through his own company, Mindful Press.[28]Much has been made of Halloween's gradual transformation from a holiday that exists as a way to commemorate our ancient superstitions about ghosts into a holiday that exists as a way to get hepatitis from a sexy nurse costume that came in a clear plastic bag and cost $65. But quibbling over whether it's okay to go Full-On Strumpet or better for a lady to use Halloween as an opportunity to show the world her wits is a debate with no clear consensus. Here's what we should all agree upon and work toward instead: not being a fucking asshole.
I see both sides of the ~*sExY*~ vs non-sexy Halloween costume debate. Like Suzanne Scoggins, whose brainchild Take Back Halloween offers women DIY non-slutty, historical, kickass, feminist (or, shorter: Grown Up Lisa Simpson-y) costume alternatives to the prefab Made In China messes you can get in a pop up store. Here's Scoggins, from her interview with Women in the World,
I always say there’s nothing wrong with being sexy. There’s nothing wrong with that. What’s happened though is that everything else has been crowded out. What really pushed me over the edge was, in 2009, my friends were always complaining about not being able to find a costume they could just wear to go trick-or-treating with their kids. Everything was like something you wear for a film shoot with Charlie Sheen! Younger girls, and college-aged women were also complaining. I was reading online forums where girls said that they were afraid to wear something that wasn’t sexy.
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Agreed, Suzanne Scoggins! There's nothing wrong with dressing in a completely weather-inappropriate costume and freezing your frilly pantied ass off because HALLOWEEN. Dress how you wanna, all you post-feminist post-shame post-creativity paragons! But it's also important that women have options. I love options!
But I also can't get mad at Leandra Medine, aka Man Repeller, whose GQ piece In Defense of the Slutty Halloween Costume outlines why girls shouldn't necessarily eschew the cliche — it helped her meet a guy. In the piece, Medine recounts her first and only experience dressed like a lady of the night, which happened when she was 17. Which happened to be the night she met her future husband. So, you know, dressing in a revealing outfit is a good way to get Leandra Medine's future husband to talk to you, I guess.
Ladies, men, mateys, whatever — dress at whatever sluttiness level you want on Halloween. I really have given all the fucks I can about this. Here's the thing that we should all unite against — Halloween assholery.
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Don't be a drunken jerk. Don't puke on people. Don't be racist. Don't touch people who don't want to be touched, and don't steal things from house parties or bars. Don't knock people's shit over. Don't take a coat that isn't yours. Don't throw up in the back of a cab. Don't throw drinks at people. Don't pee in the gardens of strangers. Don't dress like a "sexy (other race)." Don't pee in the gardens of friends. Don't smash people's jack-o-lanterns. Don't trick-or-treat if you're an adult because that shit is for kids. Don't wake your neighbors up by doing the Thriller dance. If you have a dick, don't take it out and wave it at people. Don't frighten children. Don't stiff the bartenders. Don't shoplift. Don't destroy public property. Don't have sex in a public place where kids might see you. If you do have sex in a public place, don't throw your condom on the ground. For the fuck of shit, don't wear blackface. Don't ditch your friends. Don't get so drunk someone else has to end the night early to escort you home. Don't take advantage of another drunk person. Don't get into a bar fight. Don't hit on one half of a couple sitting together on a train. Don't be homophobic. Don't stand by and allow another person to be victimized. Don't throw your undergarments on the ground. Don't punch anyone. Don't throw glass bottles onto sidewalks. Don't run out into traffic. Don't ignore bicyclists. If you're on a bicycle, don't run over pedestrians. Don't drink so much that you're no longer in control of your behavior. Don't use alcohol as an excuse for acting like a fuckstick. Don't get into a political debate with your friend's libertarian boyfriend. Don't breakdance in the subway. Don't destroy bodega displays. Don't be a jerk to late night diner employees |
aim Saban, owner of a private investment firm and noted anti-muslim crusader; and Imaad Zuberi, who forgot to disclose his working relationship with the Sri Lankan government.
NEW FUNDRAISING STRATEGIES FIX PRIMARIES
April 18, 2016, the Sanders campaign sent a letter to Debbie Wasserman Schultz alleging irregularities with the Hillary Victory Fund. The letter cited using contributions to pay salaries, direct mail and online advertising for the Hillary For America campaign. Using FEC disclosures for reference, counsel for the Sanders campaign writes that, “at best the joint fundraising committee’s spending … represent an impermissible in-kind contribution to the DNC and … HFA.” The letter continues, “At worst, using funds received from large-dollar donors … may represent an excessive contribution,” to the Clinton campaign.
The joint committee is allowed by law to bring in huge donations to many funds in aggregation. Do those funds remain separate and discrete? In an environment without a functioning mechanism to regulate elections, who’s to say?
The Sanders campaign pressed the issue that the money needed to stay with the national committee rather that slushing around in Clinton campaign coffers. There seemed to be some funny business going on.
May 2, 2016, Politico reported that the DNC had promised big checks to state Democratic parties that signed on to the Hillary Victory Fund joint fundraising agreement, but “less than a half percent” of the $61 million raised at that point had found its way back to state Dems.
The story sent the DNC and the Clinton campaign into crisis mode. Emails posted by Wikileaks show a coordinated effort between DNC and Clinton’s campaign to quell the public relations nightmare (see here and here). Other emails show the DNC, Clinton’s campaign staff, and their attorneys at Perkins Coie (who represent both DNC and HVF) strategizing to block the Sanders campaign from getting media traction with their complaint.
Populist to the core, the Sanders campaign was angered the DNC clawed back money from state Democratic parties—depositing and withdrawing large amounts in state coffers sometimes without anyone aware the money had vanished. They were also concerned that the Clinton campaign was using funds meant for national and state committees. Underlying it all is the premise that the money was influencing the campaign, because state Democratic organizations now had a material interest in maintaining a bias in favor of Clinton.
The state funding controversy prompted an email from a Perkins Coie attorney, also revealed in Wikileaks. The DNC lawyer wrote: “DNC should push back DIRECTLY at Sanders and say that what he is saying is false and harmful to the Democratic party.”
Here you see the DNC strategizing to quash the Sanders complaint about the Hillary Victory Fund. It’s clear in this email that the DNC and Clinton campaign worked in tandem against Sanders. This environment of favoritism breeds cynicism, paranoia and apathy among voters (especially young ones) who expect fair primaries.
The DNC working hand-in-glove with Clinton’s campaign challenged the notion of a fair playing field, to say the least. You could go as far to say the Clinton’s campaign lorded over the primaries as if she were pre-coronated, and it did so with most powerful weapon available—fundraising.
In July 2016, Matt Taibbi wrote in Rolling Stone that, “primary season was very far from a fair fight. The Sanders camp was forced to fund all of its own operations, while the Clinton campaign could essentially use the entire Democratic Party structure as adjunct staff. The DNC not only wasn’t neutral, but helped with oppo research against Sanders and media crisis management.”
AN “EVENTUAL TAKEOVER OF THE NATIONAL PARTY STRUCTURE”
Joint fundraising prior to the nomination had already become a creeping menace. Politico reported in July of 2015—a year before the Democratic National Convention—that Clinton staffers stated their campaign model would result in an “eventual takeover of the national party structure.” Think about that. A candidate’s campaign crowed to Politico that they intended “an eventual takeover of national party structure.” How is that fair? In contrast, Obama’s campaign refused to allow joint fundraising agreements with the DNC until after he had secured enough primary votes to be the Democratic nominee.
Political reporters wrote about the new fundraising agreements, but instead of sounding alarms, the coverage normalized it. Very few voters pay attention to “inside baseball” reports on fundraising. We assume that everything is on the up-and-up, otherwise we’d hear about it—possibly through high profile court cases. But, as we know from this DNC fraud lawsuit, the media is on a strict diet of pro-Clinton propaganda, and any news running counter is off the menu.
Hillary’s Victory Fund most certainly influenced the Democratic presidential primary. The only question is how far did it go. Were caucus clusterfucks and flipped party affiliations the direct result of this money’s influence? How about the purge of 126,000 voter registrations in Sanders’ hometown of Brooklyn? I’d love to know.
One thing is for sure—no state receiving cash from Hillary’s Victory Fund has since issued a clarion call in support of campaign finance reform.
Without regulation, all this shady arm-twisting is legal, but that doesn’t make it beneficial. On this subject, election law expert Richard Hansen is quoted in the Prospect, “Sometimes the real crime is not what’s illegal, but what’s legal.” Joint fundraising agreements are perfectly legal. In the past they were employed after a nominee was picked by voters. Kicking-off the entire primary process with one candidate dominating national and state committee funding makes a mockery of “fair and evenhanded” primary elections.
HILLARY’S MONEY FUNNEL ULTIMATELY DRAINED HER OWN CAMPAIGN
This is all-new terrain. The 2016 election cycle was the first employing joint fundraising arrangements so early prior to the nomination. With no regulation and a fundraising regime ruled by Wall Street and fat cat donors, it’s not hard to imagine downticket corporate Democrats would receive preferential treatment over champions for economic justice.
There is an important pragmatic problem with this as well. Clinton’s campaign focused intently on fundraising in Martha’s Vineyard, Silicon Valley and Hollywood, at the expense of working and middle class areas in Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The money chase occurred in the country’s most elite zip codes, while the rest of us—voters—were ignored.
Given the margins Hillary lost by in working-class America, it’s easy to see how their laser focus on high-dollar fundraising actually hurt her by crippling the campaign’s ability to reach out to ordinary folks, and created a false sense of security that led to her loss to Donald Trump.
BACK TO THE JUDGE’S ORIGINAL QUESTION
Counsel for the DNC tap-danced around the judge’s initial line of questioning before finally answering that primary elections are “generally state funded.” But he left out how the Clinton campaign’s “takeover of national party structure” completely changes the context for “state funded.” Sure, there’s accounts with the state’s name on them, but the money was supplied by the Clinton campaign. At the very least, counsel for the DNC is being disingenuous when he says the DNC doesn’t fund state elections. In 2016 alone, FEC filings show that Florida received almost $22 million from DNC Services corp. How does that not constitute DNC funding?
It’s misleading that Hillary Victory Fund raised most of that money, but when it’s reported by the states, it comes from DNC. Checks with lots of zeros buy favoritism, full stop. The mechanism for fixing elections is with “funding support, and the like.” That’s precisely what this lawsuit is about.
Sanders supporters raised record amounts of small dollar donations believing the primary process would be fair and evenhanded. Donations came from people who never contributed to a candidate, and who could barely afford the expense. They believed the sacrifice was worth it to help repair democracy.
The DNC and Clinton campaign really showed them, huh?
_____________________________________________
Recommended reading:Last year brought political upheaval in Southeast Asia as much as in the West. Away from the twin shocks of Brexit and Trump, China’s new relationship with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte could prove to have just as seismic an impact.
Duterte first grabbed the world’s attention in September 2016 after an outburst directed at Barack Obama, during which he appeared to call the American president a “son of a whore” who should “go to hell,” after the Obama administration questioned whether Duterte’s anti-drug campaign had violated international human rights law. The U.S. government cancelled a meeting between Obama and Duterte following the Philippine president’s remarks.
There were soon broader ramifications to the war of words. Unsatisfied with proposed arms deals from U.S. suppliers, Duterte made clear that if the U.S. balked, China would meet his needs, claiming that President Xi Jinping’s administration had told him to “just come over and sign, and everything will be delivered.”
And delivered it was. Just weeks after his tête-à-tête with Obama, Beijing welcomed Duterte on a state visit. The Philippine government later announced that $13.5 billion worth of trade deals had been signed, with other agreements inked in areas such as culture, tourism, anti-narcotics policy, and maritime affairs. But the visit was more than just the usual rounds of trade deals and handshakes. Before a cheering crowd, President Duterte also announced his “separation from the United States,” both militarily and economically, and implied that China made for a more obliging partner than the U.S.
On the subject of the ongoing South China Sea territorial dispute, Duterte — who had previously boasted that he would ride out to sea on a Jet Ski to plant the Philippine flag on a disputed shoal — suddenly showed remarkable restraint, saying that there was “no sense fighting over a body of water,” and that the Philippines wanted to talk about friendship and business, not war.
Duterte’s détente may yet be a relatively short-term strategic ploy to ensure that the Chinese government does not leave the Philippines in the economic doldrums. After all, his country’s claim to disputed areas of the South China Sea was recently bolstered by a ruling from the U.N. Permanent Court for Arbitration that China’s island-building in the region is illegal. However, evidence is mounting that there may be room for negotiation even here. Commenting at the time, the Philippine president played down the significance of the ruling: “In the play of politics now, I will set aside the arbitral ruling. I will not impose anything on China. Why? Because the politics here in Southeast Asia are changing.”
Duterte — who is alleged to have personally murdered drug barons and thrown a kidnapper out of a helicopter — is a hotheaded, unpredictable personality. - Johan van de Ven, graduate student
Then, in December, an American drone was seized by the Chinese navy 50 miles off the Philippine coast. Authorities in the capital, Manila, refused to take sides in the ensuing spat. One rationale behind the seizure is that China hoped to test both American resolve to defend its interests in the South China Sea and the sincerity of the Philippines’ apparent pivot toward China. The failure of the U.S. to give chase and Manila’s reluctance to back up its American ally marked an important victory for Beijing.
This departure from the historical status quo is a major boon for the Xi administration, given Beijing’s preference for bilateral — not multilateral — dispute resolution. While the new year has seen Philippine officials tone down their president’s comments about the U.S., perhaps in response to the drone-snatching incident, the incoming Philippine ambassador to China, Jose Santiago Santa Romana, revealed an insight into Beijing’s view of the newly compliant Philippines, claiming that his country had been seen as “a geopolitical pawn or Trojan horse of the U.S.,” but that “now they [China] look at us as a friendly neighbor.”
Indeed, there is more to the shift than high-level politics: Friendlier relations would likely mean more Chinese tourists bound for the Philippines and easier access to exports from the country, in particular the tropical fruits that were targets for boycotts in the aftermath of the UNPCA ruling.
For Xi, a friendly neighbor is also a more malleable neighbor. Should U.S. engagement diminish in Southeast Asia, China may see more opportunities to exploit the vast oil reserves lying beneath the turbulent waters of the South China Sea. If these precious resources are to be shared — a question that underpins much of the tension afflicting the region — Duterte would be wise to act now to improve ties with Beijing, or risk losing out entirely on his piece of what is likely to be a China-dominated pie.
However, increased engagement between Xi and Duterte will focus attention on a growing constellation of leaders who prefer strong words and actions to protracted negotiations. Russian President Vladimir Putin, American President-elect Donald Trump, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are three strongmen who tend to prefer decisiveness to nuance.
It remains to be seen whether the shift in personality dynamics will accelerate stagnant cooperation efforts in the region, but early indications suggest that the new class of leaders places a premium on respect from peers. During his state visit to China, Duterte said: “The other countries, United States, EU [sic], instead of helping us, they know that we are short of money… [but] all they had to do was criticize. China never criticized.” At least for the moment, China’s longstanding principle of mutual noninterference seems to be coming into its own.
Moreover, the stability of a strongman consensus should not be taken for granted. The failure of the post-war alliance between China and the former USSR represents the difficulties of a union that leaned heavily on personal relationships between top-level leaders at the expense of strong institutional frameworks. Given the penchants of Xi, Trump, and Duterte for grandstanding, it may only be a matter of time before one of them steps on another’s toes. Indeed, it is a gross understatement to say that Duterte — who is alleged to have personally murdered drug barons and thrown a kidnapper out of a helicopter — is a hotheaded, unpredictable personality. Managing such a personality will be a true test of China’s ability to consolidate its position as a regional leader.
(Header image: A child holds the national flags of China and the Philippines before a welcoming ceremony for both countries’ leaders at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, China, October 20, 2016. Thomas Peter/VCG)As if building a working, human-powered helicopter wasn't enough, a team of Canadian engineers is now trying to break the world cycling speed record with their very own rocket-shaped, human-powered road bike.
Looking a little like a giant bullet on wheels, the AeroVelo team developed a high-speed, aerodynamic bicycle they call Eta, which they believe is capable of topping the current unassisted, unpaced cycling record of 133.8 km/h.
Manned by a single rider—Todd Reichert, who is the same guy that piloted the helicopter—the bike is guided through video monitors inside the cockpit. AeroVelo says they expect Reichert to max out at a whopping one horsepower—huge output for a cyclist—while pedaling in a reclined, recumbent position. Reichert is no athletic slouch: He's a national level speed skater and cyclist and has been training rigourously for the sprint.
“The bike looks a lot more like a rocket than a normal bike,” said Cameron Robertson, one of the team co-founders. “The pilot is recumbent, so quite laid back… This new bike, just like our research vehicle from last year, actually doesn’t even have a canopy that you can see out of. It gives users cameras to produce images for the pilot. It’s sort of like a flying video game on a heads up display.”
Using a combination of computational fluid dynamics and optimal aerodynamic shaping techniques to make the carbon fiber shell, the team has reduced the drag of the bike to a claimed 100 times less than streamliner cars. Add to that specialty wheels and advanced testing to determine the ideal position for Reichert to sit and pedal, and the team is a contender for the world record.
The AeroVelo team, comprised of University of Toronto engineering students and professional engineers, plans to debut the bike at the World Human-Powered Speed Challenge (WHPSC) in Battle Mountain, Nevada this September. Robertson said the team is inspired to beat the record to overcome an “impossible effort” and inspire creative thinking about old technology like bikes.
Rendering of the Eta bike model.
While the bike is so fast it could throw up the same sorts of speeds that highways require, there's no way it would survive a collision, and visibility is low. For that reason, Robertson thinks it can only be used for bike specific routes at the moment, and wouldn’t be safe enough for a bike trip across the 401.
What’s more impressive is the potential future applications of the model. Given a consumer spin, Robertson believes the design may garner the attention of average bikers looking for alternative transportation options, especially in an age of inflated gas prices.
“There are transferable technologies and the bike itself could potentially be commercialized and sold,” said Robertson. “In a world where Google is building self-driving cars, that’s the kind of world these bikes can more conceivably integrate. If you don’t have to worry about collisions nearly as frequently, that cuts down the biggest infrastructural barriers to the use of these bikes.”
His team is even looking into creating a self-driving element to the bike for future races. That way, as Robertson puts it, “that allows the human to really focus on power output.”
“If you take a bike that is powered solely by the human, that is really only 300 watts, which is the power of a cordless drill. So if you do start to look at energy storage and literally just plug in a battery, you can have a bike that can go highway speeds at 140 kilometers an hour,” said Robertson.
For now, you won't see the average hipster riding a fixie picking up the Eta for their trans-Canada bike tour. But someday, when autonomous vehicles rule the roads and people want a video game experience for their bike route, the Eta could just make it. Either way, we'll see in September if Robertson and his team will succeed in their lofty goal.Rock star says he was re-enacting TV scene after video appears to show him acting out Isis-style beheading in desert
Sir Rod Stewart has denied mocking up an Islamic State-style beheading in the desert and claimed he was in fact recreating a scene from Game of Thrones.
The rock veteran, 72, was seen in a since-removed video on a dune in Abu Dhabi pretending to cut the throat of a companion who was positioned in front of him on his knees.
The scene, posted on Instagram by his wife, Penny Lancaster, was reminiscent of several propaganda films released by Isis, including footage of the killing of Alan Henning, a British aid worker.
Rod Stewart’s ‘beheading’ is less offensive than tabloid hypocrisy | Marina Hyde Read more
But in an apology, Stewart said he was playing out a scene from the fantasy TV drama Game of Thrones.
The singer said: “From re-enacting the Beatles’ Abbey Road crossing to spontaneously playing out Game Of Thrones, we were simply larking about pre-show.
“Understandably, this has been misinterpreted and I send my deepest apologies to those who have been offended.”
Relatives of David Haines, an aid worker who was executed in September 2014 by Isis, expressed their anger at Stewart’s actions on Friday. Haines’ daughter told the Daily Mail: “This actually happened to my dad and it’s not something to joke about... I think it’s disgraceful that a celebrity who is thought of as a role model would do this sort of thing.”
Her stepmother, Haines’ second wife Dragana, called Stewart’s stunt “immature and completely irresponsible” and asked that he apologise to the families who had lost loved ones to Isis.
She went on: “All we want to do is try to live our lives in as normal way as possible under the circumstances. I want my daughter to have a happy childhood and she does not need to be reminded of her loss every now and then by people who unfortunately find it laughable.”
Stewart had performed in Abu Dhabi and is on a world tour with forthcoming dates in the US and Mexico. He performed at the O2 in London last weekend.
A flurry of Isis beheadings – many carried out by the British extremist Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John – drew global attention when the terrorist group released high-quality footage of the grisly deaths.
Among his victims were Henning, from Salford; James Wright Foley, an American photojournalist; Steven Sotloff, an American journalist; David Haines, a British aid worker; and Peter Kassig, an American aid worker.OBJECTIVES:
To evaluate the impact of modafinil on "free" and "cued" recall of clinical information in fatigued but nonsleep-deprived clinicians.
SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA:
Despite attempts to minimize sleep deprivation through redesign of the roster of residents and staff surgeons, evidence suggests that fatigue remains prevalent. The wake-promoting agent modafinil improves cognition in the sleep-deprived fatigued state and may improve information recall in fatigued nonsleep-deprived clinicians.
METHODS:
Twenty-four medical undergraduates participated in a double-blind, parallel, randomized controlled trial (modafinil-200 mg:placebo). Medication was allocated 2 hours before a 90-minute fatigue-inducing, continuous performance task (dual 2-back task). A case history memorization task was then performed. Clinical information recall was assessed as "free"(no cognitive aids) and "cued"(using aid memoirs). Open and closed cues represent information of increasing specificity to aid the recall of clinical information. Fatigue was measured objectively using the psychomotor vigilance task at induction, before and after the dual 2-back task.
RESULTS:
Modafinil decreased false starts and lapses (modafinil = 0.50, placebo = 9.83, P <.05) and improved psychomotor vigilance task performance (Decreased Performance, modafinil = 0.006, placebo = 0.098, P <.05). Modafinil improved free information recall (modafinil = 137.8, placebo = 106.0, P <.01). There was no significant difference between groups in the amount of information recalled with open (modafinil = 62.3, placebo = 52.8, P =.1) and closed cues (modafinil = 80.1, placebo = 75.9, P =.3).
CONCLUSION:
Modafinil attenuated fatigue and improved free recall of clinical information without improving cue-based recall under the design of our experimental conditions. Memory cues to aid retrieval of clinical information are convenient interventions that could decrease fatigue-related error without adverse effects of the neuropharmacology.
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Dark Souls 2 has a new director and a new engine, but the soul of From Software's series of dark, challenging role-playing games appears to be intact in Dark Souls 2, even if slipping into its body feels a bit different.
Some of the game's changes, including its new graphics engine, took a bit of time to get used to in a recent hands-on demo. The control of characters felt noticeably different, speedier perhaps, and without the weight of characters in Dark Souls. We had no way to see what our characters stats were, nor the weight of the equipment they carried, so it's difficult to judge how character's will ultimately feel.
And Dark Souls 2 won't ship for consoles and PC until March 2014, so the game has time to gel and be polished. But the extra time From Software has to perfect the game is comforting.
From Software's E3 demo for Dark Souls 2 features two pre-built characters: a Warrior, based on the character seen in the game's debut trailer, who was armed with a shield, short straight sword and a gleaming greatsword; and a Sorcerer, equipped with a short sword and a tall catalyst for spellcasting. (Another two were locked in the version we played.)
The Sorcerer had a range of offensive spells and pyromancies at his disposal, including a soul arrow-like magic attack and another that rained down a volley of soul arrow attacks. He could toss fireballs and emit a sweeping wisp of flame, which arced out at a very specific distance. The Sorcerer also had a unique shield that looked like it was collection of runes made of wrought iron.
That Sorcerer shield stood out as one of the examples of brilliant visual design that separates From's take on dark medieval fantasy from its peers. Seeing this unusual, ineffective-looking shield was strangely exciting. It immediately conveys information about its weaknesses and possible strengths, and I cursed From Software for not letting us dig into the game's menus to see what this runic shield could do.
Dark Souls 2's E3 demo takes place inside and among the exterior of a crumbling, medieval structure; not quite a castle or fortified, but a broken fortress that looked largely abandoned. Its inhabitants included low level dreglings, a type of undead creature armed with sword and shield or bow and arrow, and heavily armored creatures with bulky tortoise shell armor. Those bulky shelled enemies wielded heavy maces capable of smashing through walls and could crush a player with a backward fall if they attempted a backstab.
Backstabbing will make a return in Dark Souls 2, but in a slightly different form. In the case of the Warrior character, executing a backstab with his short sword performed a three-hit animation: a hilt bash followed by two slashes to the back. Rather than stabbing through the torso of an enemy, backstabs will results in attacks with weapon-specific flourishes.
According to a Namco rep, players may accidentally "whiff" a backstab if they're within range, but not at a distance close enough to execute. A short sword backstab attempt may miss on the first part of the three-part attack, we were told, leaving the backstabber open to an attack — something we weren't able to witness firsthand during a hands-on demo.
But the changes to backstabs appear to be a move from the developer to reduce players' reliance on backstabs, which are easy to execute, carry little risk and yield high damage in the first Dark Souls.
The differences between Dark Souls 2 and its predecessor appear to be less dramatic than that of the transition from Demon's Souls to Dark Souls. Players will be able to heal themselves in multiple ways in Dark Souls 2, through the returning Estus Flask and with "lifegems." Those healing items will come in standard lifegem and radiant lifegem and, based on the demo, seem to function like humanity in the original Dark Souls. They replenish hit points and can be used on-the-go for faster replenishment.
The Dark Souls 2 demo included a handful of other consumable items, including amber herbs and twilight herbs, though their functions remain mysterious.
The game also appears to feature the return of a Demon's Souls gameplay mechanic: Black Phantoms of run of the mill enemies — as opposed to named Black Phantoms, such as Maneater Mildred — can appear out of thin air. In one section of the demo, a trio of Black Phantoms materialized, tossing two dreglings and an armored tortoise knight at the player at once.
From Software isn't shying away from sending increasing numbers of enemies at players in Dark Souls 2. In one section, following a bonfire warp from the fortress to a castle interior, the game threw four horse-headed knights at us. Those knights, which at first appeared to be kneeling statues, sprang to life when my warrior got too close.
A goat skull-headed wizard in the distance lobbed magic missiles not far away, adding insult to injury. The knights, armed with pikes and a fierce kick, brutally assaulted my warrior, making short work of my character. It was only in a "god mode" demo that I was able to pass them, kill the wizard — less of a challenge at close range — and move onto the demo's boss fight.
(It turns out that those horse-headed statue knights can be dispatched much easier, simply by beheading them before they become animate. Pro tip.)
Fortunately, the pain of getting there was worth the wait, as Dark Souls 2 will include at least one boss battle that beautiful to behold and stunning in its design, but will likely be a maddening challenge.
The demo's final battle was against an imposing enemy known as the Mirror Knight. Outfitted with reflective, chrome-like full body armor, the Mirror Knight fights in what appears to be a rooftop arena — or at least some environment exposed to the elements, as a dramatic rainstorm soaks the scene. The Mirror Knight takes advantage of that inclement weather to attack you, channeling bolts of lightning at the player.
But the Mirror Knight's most impressive and deadly attack comes from his shield, an ornately decorated mirror. He'll slam it to the ground, upright, leaving himself vulnerable to attack. But as he does that, an image of a smaller knight will appear inside the reflection of the mirror shield. That secondary knight will pound on the interior side of the shield, shattering through and breaking free, leaving the player with a second foe to fight.
Mirror Knight can summon a second ally through his shield and in the case of our encounter with the boss, called forth another knight with a different weapon. It's not clear just how many knights Mirror Knight can spawn or if their weapons are randomized. It is crystal clear, however, that Mirror Knight will be an immense challenge, even by Dark Souls standards.
Dark Souls 2 is due to hit PlayStation 3, Windows PC and Xbox 360 in March 2014.Consumer confidence slips back into negative
Posted
Consumer confidence has fallen back into negative territory after a brief rise into the black last month.
The widely-watched and long-running Westpac - Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment eased 1.2 per cent in March to 99.5.
Unlike February's 100.7 reading, March's sub-100 figure means there are more pessimistic households than optimistic ones financially.
A significant number of analysts had been expecting the Reserve Bank to back up its 25-basis-point rate cut in February with another this month, but it declined to do so.
"Some softening in sentiment was always likely in March given the big lift last month following the RBA's surprise 25-basis-point rate cut," noted Westpac senior economist Matthew Hassan in the report.
"Interest rate moves often generate a big initial reaction that dissipates over time."
Westpac also cited a steep rise in petrol prices (averaging 14 cents a litre) and relatively weak economic growth figures released last week as reasons why confidence may have fallen.
In a worrying sign for retailers, people do not see now as a good time to buy a major household item.
This sub-index fell 5.1 per cent to its second lowest reading since 2009, 9.3 per cent below its long-run average.
"It is very likely that at least part of this decline is a reaction to recent falls in the Australian dollar and the impact this is expected to have on the cost of imported goods," Mr Hassan observed.
Although Westpac does note that this is still above the December low.
While consumers may be cautious about buying household items, the same does not apply to houses themselves.
The proportion of people who think now is a good time to buy a dwelling is close to its long run average, and more than a quarter of households see real estate as the "wisest place for savings", up from a fifth in December.
Overall, the consumer confidence index remains 9.2 per cent above its December low and similar to levels seen before the federal budget in May last year.
The survey asked consumers about their most recalled financial news topics, and 42 per cent said they remembered news on "budget and taxation", while 40 per cent recalled stories on "economic conditions" and 31 per cent on "employment".
However, news on some of these topics was seen as less dire than at the end of last year, and over a third of respondents recalled news on interest rates which was seen as broadly neutral rather than unfavourable.
Topics: economic-trends, money-and-monetary-policy, retail, australiaA type of very dark, fertile artificial (anthropogenic) soil found in the Amazon Basin
Terra preta ( Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈtɛʁɐ ˈpɾetɐ], locally [ˈtɛha ˈpɾeta], literally "black soil" in Portuguese) is a type of very dark, fertile artificial (anthropogenic) soil found in the Amazon Basin. It is also known as "Amazonian dark earth" or "Indian black earth". In Portuguese its full name is terra preta do índio or terra preta de índio ("black soil of the Indian", "Indians' black earth"). Terra mulata ("mulatto earth") is lighter or brownish in color.[1]
Homemade terra preta, with charcoal pieces indicated using white arrows
Terra preta owes its characteristic black color to its weathered charcoal content,[2] and was made by adding a mixture of charcoal, bone, broken pottery, compost and manure to the otherwise relatively infertile Amazonian soil. A product of indigenous soil management and slash-and-char agriculture,[3] the charcoal is stable and remains in the soil for thousands of years, binding and retaining minerals and nutrients.[4][5]
Terra preta is characterized by the presence of low-temperature charcoal residues in high concentrations;[2] of high quantities of tiny pottery shards; of organic matter such as plant residues, animal feces, fish and animal bones, and other material; and of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, zinc and manganese.[6] Fertile soils such as terra preta show high levels of microorganic activities and other specific characteristics within particular ecosystems.
Terra preta zones are generally surrounded by terra comum ( [ˈtɛhɐ koˈmũ] or [ˈtɛhɐ kuˈmũ]), or "common soil"; these are infertile soils, mainly acrisols,[6] but also ferralsols and arenosols. Deforested arable soils in the Amazon are productive for a short period of time before their nutrients are consumed or leached away by rain or flooding. This forces farmers to migrate to an unburned area and clear it (by fire).[8][9] Terra preta is less prone to nutrient leaching because of its high concentration of charcoal, microbial life and organic matter. The combination accumulates nutrients, minerals and microorganisms and withstands leaching.
Terra preta soils were created by farming communities between 450 BCE and 950 CE.[11][12] Soil depths can reach 2 meters (6.6 ft). It is reported to regenerate itself at the rate of 1 centimeter (0.4 in) per year[13] in Brazil's Amazonian basin.
History [ edit ]
Early theories [ edit ]
The origins of the Amazonian dark earths were not immediately clear to later settlers. One idea was that they resulted from ashfall from volcanoes in the Andes, since they occur more frequently on the brows of higher terraces. Another theory considered its formation to be a result of sedimentation in tertiary lakes or in recent ponds.
Anthropogenic roots [ edit ]
Soils with elevated charcoal content and a common presence of pottery remains can accrete accidentally near living quarters as residues from food preparation, cooking fires, animal and fish bones, broken pottery, etc., accumulated. Many terra preta soil structures are now thought to have formed under kitchen middens, as well as being manufactured intentionally on larger scales.[14] Farmed areas around living areas are referred to as terra mulata. Terra mulata soils are more fertile than surrounding soils but less fertile than terra preta, and were most likely intentionally improved using charcoal.[citation needed]
This type of soil appeared between 450 BCE and 950 CE at sites throughout the Amazon Basin.[12]
Amazonia [ edit ]
Amazonians formed complex, large-scale social formations, including chiefdoms (particularly in the inter-fluvial regions) and even large towns and cities. For instance the culture on the island of Marajó may have developed social stratification and supported a population of 100,000. Amazonians may have used terra preta to make the land suitable for large-scale agriculture.
Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana, was the first European to traverse the Amazon River in the 16th century. He reported densely populated regions extending hundreds of kilometers along the river, suggesting population levels exceeding even those of today. Orellana may have exaggerated the level of development, although that is disputed. The evidence to support this claim comes from the discovery of geoglyphs dating between 0–1250 CE and from terra preta.[17][18] Beyond the geoglyphs, these populations left no lasting monuments, possibly because they built with wood, which would have rotted in the humid climate (stone was unavailable).
Whatever its extent, this civilization vanished after the demographic collapse of the 16th and 17th century, due to European-introduced diseases such as smallpox, while still maintaining specific traditions.[18] The settled agrarians again became nomads. Their semi-nomadic descendants have the distinction among tribal indigenous societies of a hereditary, yet landless, aristocracy, a historical anomaly for a society without a sedentary, agrarian culture.
Moreover, many indigenous peoples adapted to a more mobile lifestyle to escape colonialism. This might have made the benefits of terra preta, such as its self-renewing capacity, less attractive—farmers would not have been able to cultivate the renewed soil as they migrated. Slash-and-char may have been an adaptation to these conditions. For 350 years after the European arrival, the Portuguese portion of the basin remained untended.
Location [ edit ]
Terra preta soils are found mainly in the Brazilian Amazon, where Sombroek et al.[19] estimate that they cover at least 0.1 to 0.3%, or 6,300 to 18,900 square kilometres (2,400 to 7,300 sq mi) of low forested Amazonia;[1] but others estimate this surface at 10.0% or more (twice the area of Great Britain).[13][20]
Terra preta exists in small plots averaging 20 hectares (49 acres), but areas of almost 360 hectares (890 acres) have also been reported. They are found among various climatic, geological, and topographical situations.[1] Their distributions either follow main water courses, from East Amazonia to the central basin,[21] or are located on interfluvial sites (mainly of circular or lenticular shape) and of a smaller size averaging some 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres), (see distribution map of terra preta sites in Amazon basin[22] The spreads of tropical forest between the savannas could be mainly |
that Free Basics would be much easier to censor than the real global Internet.
Facebook could address this by encouraging the carriers with which it partners to zero-rate all mobile-accessible websites, thus further limiting Facebook's involvement in vetting the content that is available through the platform. Although we understand why carriers might be reluctant to do that, they could still impose a data cap on the amount of zero-rated data, as an incentive for users to upgrade to a paid service. Such a system would solve all of the pro-access goals that Facebook espouses, with a significantly less distorting effect on the end-user's experience of the Internet than the Free Basics service that exists now.
We’re glad Facebook is taking steps to open Free Basics to as many websites as possible and increase its users’ security. But Free Basics is still a walled garden run by a single gatekeeper, with all the associated privacy and censorship dangers such a system entails. Just as Internet.org wasn’t the Internet, Free Basics isn’t really “free.” We hope that this new service isn’t treated as a substitute for what we really need: good, fast access to the entire Internet for all.The National Football League preseason will begin in just over two weeks, kicking off August 3 with a game between the New York Giants and the Buffalo Bills. Does that mean it’s too early to start looking at which teams will be left standing next February? Absolutely not. It’s never too soon to start analyzing favorites and the teams that Vegas has picked out as the most likely winners at the very outset of football season. All odds are courtesy of Bovada.
8. Indianapolis Colts, 16-to-1
Calling Andrew Luck a precocious talent seems a little incongruous after the Colts suffered a 43-22 loss in their last NFL game of the season, but the Colts, who went 11-5 in 2013, have to appreciate his growth and his arm. Plus, he hung 335 yards and two touchdowns on a better-than-advertised New England defense, even if their D was paper thin by the time the playoffs came around.
7. Chicago Bears, 16-to-1
Shifting to a West Coast offense that saw them break even in 2013 (they went 8-8), the Chicago Bears witnessed the breakout sophomore campaign of Alshon Jeffery, as well as strong showings from Brandon Marshall and Matt Forte.
6. New Orleans Saints, 14-to-1
Their putrid performance against the Seattle Seahawks, who were the eventual Super Bowl champions, didn’t seem to sway Vegas’s thoughts on the Saints, who are usually a lock to put up big numbers regardless of the team they’re facing (although the knock has always been that they play best in a dome). Hopefully they’re able to reach an amicable agreement with Jimmy Graham.
5. Green Bay Packers, 11-to-1
Last seen battling the San Francisco 49ers on the icy tundra of Lambeau Field — that was the game with all the snow and the endless shots of players on both sides clinging to any kind of warmth possible — Aaron Rodgers and company lost 20-23 but still looked like they could go all the way next season, provided they see a little bit more from their depleted receiving corps.
4. New England Patriots, 9-to-1
Was any team ravaged harder by injuries and general roster reshuffling than the New England Patriots? Running on their fifth and sixth options on offense (nothing illustrated that better when they went to the run and LeGarrette Blount against the Colts) and with a defense that looked to be made out of papier mache, the Pats still made it to the AFC Championship game and look to be better than last year.
3. San Francisco 49ers, 7-to-1
After three straight deep trips through the postseason, Colin Kaepernick and company aren’t taking anyone by surprise anymore: 7-to-1 odds for the Bay Area squad sounds about right, and we expect them to return to the conference finals, if not the Super Bowl.
2. Denver Broncos, 13-to-2
The purveyors of the best offense the NFL has ever seen felt the rough edge of the beatstick when they put up an utterly ineffective performance against Seattle in the Super Bowl, but the any given Sunday cliche cuts both ways, and Denver could very easily carve up defenses all the way to a title next season. The odds are set accordingly.
1. Seattle Seahawks, 13-to-2
It is extraordinarily difficult to become a back-to-back Super Bowl champion. The last three teams to do it — the Patriots, the Broncos, and the Cowboys — cover the last two decades of NFL history (shout out to the ’88 and ’89 49ers, who are next in line). Seattle could do it, for sure: That defense isn’t going anywhere and their receiving corps is better, but this line seems to be a tip of the hat to the defending champs.
More From Wall St. Cheat Sheet:Around 840 million people speak English around the world, according to Ethnologue. (335 million people speak it as a first language, and 505 million speak it as a second language.) That’s a lot of people, but where do they all live? Read on to find out which countries have the most English speakers and the highest English proficiency.
United States: 268M English Speakers
No surprise here: Those arrogant former colonists may not speak the Queen’s English correctly, but they do have the world’ s largest English-speaking country. Approximately 225 million Americans speak English as a first language, while 43 million speak it as a second language.
India: 125M English Speakers
India is next on the list, with 125 million English speakers. But only 226, 449 of those speak it as a first language. For the rest, it’s a second language.
However, as BBC reporter Zareer Masani noted in a 2012 article, the patchwork state of English education means that many Indians speak “not so much English as Hinglish, or what my parents’ generation called Babu English – the language of clerks.”
Pakistan : 94,321,604 English Speakers
Surprised? English is one of Pakistan’s official languages, along with Urdu. Although virtually nobody in Pakistan speaks English as a first language, around 49% of the population do speak it as a second language.
The Philippines: 90M English Speakers
The Philippines has two official languages: Filipino and English. Only around 37,000 Filipinos speak it as a first language. However, a little over 92% of the population can speak it as a second language.
Nigeria: 79M English Speakers
Ever wonder why so many well-known email scams originally came from Nige ria, as opposed to another country? There are a lot of reasons, but the relatively high percentage of English speakers is probably one of them. Around 53% of the population in Nigeria can speak English, which means that a small percentage of those people (by no means representative of all Nigerians) can use their English skills to claim royal descent and a big fat inheritance. With a hefty payout for you, dear blessed one, if only you’ll kindly wire them the transfer fee.
But let’s get one thing clear: Internet fraud isn’t limited to Nigeria.
Most Nigerians despise scammers and deplore the damage they’ve done to the country’s reputation. However, every country has a few bad apples, and in Nigeria, some of those bad apples used their English skills to become famous for a specific type of email scam called “advance fee fraud.” Other countries have their own specialties, and when it comes to Internet fraud as a whole, most of it actually comes from countries other than Nigeria, and continents other than Africa. For example, Russians are known for hacking restaurants and stealing customer’s data, and Estonia is a hotbed of clickbait fraud.
Also, these days, that “Nigerian Prince” offering to share his wealth via email could just as easily be an old white guy from Louisiana.
Nigeria: A growing economy with a vibrant literary and entertainment scene
Nigeria is also home to world-renowned authors who write in English. You may have heard of Chinua Achebe, the Man Booker-prize winning author of Things Fall Apart who died in 2013, or Nigerian poet and Nobel Prize-winning playwright Wole Soyinka. But there’s also Chris Abani, who was imprisoned twice as a teenager after publishing books the government at the time considered suspect. And there’s Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a novelist, feminist writer, and short story author. Meanwhile, Nigerian author Chigozie Obioma’s novel The Fishermen won several awards and is being translated into 15 languages.
Nigeria is also the largest economy in Africa, and it’s expected to have the highest GDP growth in the world between now and 2050. Meanwhile, the Nigerian film industry is the third-most-valuable in the world.
The United Kingdom: 59.6M English Speakers
It’s about time, right? 98% of people in the UK speak English. But the UK’s comparatively small size and small population mean that larger countries like Nigeria and the Philippines actually have more English speakers.
Which Countries Have the Highest English Proficiency?
Obviously, numbers don’t tell the whole story here. Which countries have the highest English proficiency – the highest percentage of people who can speak English well? To answer this question, let’s take a look at results from EF’s English Proficiency Index (EPI). EF is a company that administers English exams to companies. (Not coincidentally, they also promote the idea that English should be the world’s “common language” for business.)
Excluding English-speaking countries like the US and the UK, here are the 5 countries where professionals are most proficient in English, according to EF:
The Netherlands: 15M English Speakers
90 percent of people in the Netherlands speak English, and their EPI score is 73.8, which is the highest of any country they tested.
Denmark: 4.8M English Speakers
The Nordic countries are known for their English skills. See the next three countries on this list? Denmark has a slight edge over the other three, with an EPI score of 72. 91% of the population speaks English as a second language.
Sweden: 8.2M English Speakers
90% of Swedes speak English as a second language. The country has an EPI score of 71.7.
Norway: 4.5M English Speakers
90% of Norwegians speak English as a second language. Their EPI score is 71.3.
Finland: 3.8M English Speakers
70% of Finns speak English as a second language, with an EPI score amongst professionals of 69.2.
The Philippines: 90M English Speakers
The only country to rank in the top 5 for both numbers of English speakers and English proficiency, the Philippines has an EPI score of 67.4.
What Does This Mean for Translation?
So, if you’re trying to do business in one of these countries, will you still need to invest in translation? Probably so. Translation is still important. Remember, India may have 125M English speakers, but that’s only 12% of their population. Of course, the amount of translation help you’ll need depends on factors like the nature of your business and the target audience for a given piece of content.
As EF noted in the Harvard Business Review,
“Not a single country surveyed has workforce English proficiency that qualifies as “advanced” — level C1 or C2 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.”
And that’s among professionals, who are more likely to be educated and have access to English classes.
Plus, even when people can speak English as a second language, that doesn’t mean that’s the best way to communicate with them. 75% of people prefer to buy things in their native language, even when they can speak English. And of course, when it comes to product packaging and other communications with customers, consumer protection regulations often require accurate translation.
Need help with translation for your business? We provide an entire range of document translation services!
Photo credits: By Addicted04 – Own work with Natural Earth DataThis vector image was created with Inkscape., CC BY-SA 3.0, Link; By Pakistan_(orthographic_projection).svg: Turkish Flamederivative work: Atin Bhattacharya (talk) – Pakistan_(orthographic_projection).svg, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link ; By Ukabia – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, LinkTweed Inc. has tripled its production capability at 1 Hershey Drive in Smiths Falls, Ontario, near Ottawa while filling a vacant piece of real estate that plagued the town for years.
The company announced this week its parent company, Canopy Growth, purchased the 42-acre site of the old Hershey Factory, making it the largest indoor cannabis production facility in Canada, and likely the world.
The building was purchased from a group of investors that included Bruce Linton, chairman and CEO of Canopy Growth, and the Smiths Falls-based Guy Saumure company. The medical marijuana facility was previously a mere tenant of the space, taking up one-third of the building’s entire 472,000-square-foot footprint.
The newly acquired space could house hundreds of thousands of square feet of additional production and processing space, either indoors or in greenhouse growing platforms, the company said.
“Increasing the scale of our cannabis production capacity is vitally important to our operations,” Linton said.
“Even as a diversified producer using greenhouse growing and indoor growing facilities, we know there will be a need for commercial processing space that can be used to convert cannabis and cannabinoids into higher-margin products like edibles.”
He added the space also has potential to be used for producing vaporizer pens or “sophisticated medical delivery options” that may be allowed under future legal frameworks.
“Almost tripling the footprint of our headquarters means more potential for our business, for the economy of Smiths Falls, and for Tweed’s customers,” he said.
The building and property were acquired for $6.6 million, $923,980 of which was issued in shares. As a part owner of the facility prior to the transaction, Linton received 70,800 of the 94,397 shares issued.
Tweed has already transformed 168,000 square feet of licensed space into an “innovative” cannabis production space, it said, with 12 of 39 potential growing rooms operational and another 12 multilevel growing rooms under construction and nearing completion.
Town Mayor Shawn Pankow said the company has already had an undeniable impact on the town and its economy.
“It’s just been an incredible transformation, even in the last six months,” Pankow said of what the company has done to the space.
“What this enables Tweed to do is move ahead with plans to fully develop the property. They’ve been in a phase of rapid expansion, and every time I’m in there I’m astounded at the ongoing construction in areas that were previously vacant and are now fully occupied.”
The company has grown exponentially since its creation and currently employs more than 200 people, and Pankow said the increased footprint of the building will inevitably create more jobs.
The company has expanded beyond mere marijuana production, delving into oil-extraction capabilities, a separate dealers licence area, an in-house quality-assurance lab, and the industry’s only seed-breeding area that have all been added and taken online in the past three years.
As for whether it will utilize the former chocolate-making equipment left behind by Hershey, Jordan Sinclair, who works in communication with Tweed, said it’s something the company has considered.
We’d love for the story to come full circle and start producing chocolates again. We just need a few laws to change before we can get going
“We’d love for the story to come full circle and start producing chocolates again. We just need a few laws to change before we can get going,” Sinclair said.
The majority of the building sat vacant since 2008 when Hershey Canada left town and moved production to Mexico, and it wasn’t until the commercial opportunity supported the need to expand the company’s operating footprint that they decided to purchase the property.
“The future looks bright for Tweed and Canopy Growth’s operations in this facility,” Linton said.
“It might even be time to reopen the famous Visitor Centre and start training tour guides.”The autonomous sub or AUV called Nereus has reached the world’s deepest abyss. On May 31 Nereus, with help from a team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, reached the Challenger Deep abyss in the Mariana Trench. The trench is near the country territory of Guam.
Nereus was able to reach a depth of 6.8 miles deep. To be able to reach that depth, the robot had to withstand pressures 1,000 times that of what we experience on the Earth’s surface.
The robot can be operated via a fiber-optic tether or put on autonomous mode. In tether or ROV mode, Nereus also has a manipulator arm and sample basket to collect ocean floor samples, as well as cameras and sonar that allow it to make a map of the ocean floor.
Check out a cool interactive tour of Nereus here.
Link via (New Scientist)News agency AFP is suing Google for nearly £10m, claiming the search engine breached its copyright by reproducing its pictures and articles.
The French news service is seeking damages of at least $17.5m and an order barring Google News from displaying AFP photographs, news headlines or story leads.
"Without AFP's authorisation, [the] defendant is continuously and wilfully reproducing and publicly displaying AFP's photographs, headlines and story leads on its Google News web pages," AFP said in its lawsuit, filed in the US in the Columbia district court.
AFP said it had already asked the search engine to stop displaying the agency's copyrighted work on the Google News site, which aggregates stories from other sites.
It said Google had ignored such requests and "continues in an unabated manner to violate AFP's copyrights".
Google News, launched in autumn 2002, gathers photos and news stories from around the web and posts them on its news site, which is free for users to access.
AFP, one of the world's biggest news agencies, has 600 paying online clients and does not provide its articles or pictures for free on the web.
The lawsuit comes a few months after Perfect 10, a publisher of nude photographs, sued Google in the federal court in Los Angeles.
Perfect 10 said Google illegally allowed people to view hijacked versions of photos it owns and produced, violating copyrights and harming its ability to profit from the distribution of the photos via its magazine and website.
· To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".I voted for Gov. Larry Hogan even though I usually vote Democratic because Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown screwed up the health care plan, and I would rather have an unproven person for governor than a proven failure.
Does Governor Hogan realize he received 29,158 votes from people living in Baltimore City? That is more votes than he received in 15 of the 20 counties he won. So why are these small counties getting all the transportation money and Baltimore City is receiving nothing ("Picking up the pieces after the Red Line," July 24)?
As Dan Rodricks said, it is the Baltimore senators and delegates who voted for the gas tax in the first place ("Marylanders who opposed gas tax reap its benefits," July 22).
I am perfectly willing to pay more money in a gas tax if the money is solely used for transportation purposes. With more than 10 percent of the state's residents (and even more workers), at least 10 percent of the money should have been allocated to Baltimore.
Lynda Riley, BaltimoreComing Soon
The Witcher
The witcher Geralt, a mutated monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.
Go! Go! Cory Carson
Join kid car Cory Carson on his adventures around the winding roads of childhood in Bumperton Hills! Based on the hit toy line Go! Go! Smart Wheels.
After Life
Struggling to come to terms with his wife's death, a writer for a newspaper adopts a gruff new persona in an effort to push away those trying to help.
Pacific Rim
As monsters emerge from the sea to attack Earth, humanity fights back using giant robot warriors in this anime adaptation of the blockbuster film.
Formula 1: Drive to Survive
Drivers, managers and team owners live life in the fast lane -- both on and off the track -- during one cutthroat season of Formula 1 racing.
The Highwaymen
The untold story of the detectives who brought down Bonnie and Clyde comes to life in this crime drama starring Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner.
Gentefied
Three Latinx cousins navigate their differences as they work to keep their grandfather's taco shop afloat in their rapidly gentrifying L.A. neighborhood.
Medical Police
Two American doctors who discover a deadly virus in Brazil are recruited as government agents in a race to find a cure and uncover a dark conspiracy.We’ve just heard breaking reports from Deans Blue Hole in the Bahamas that on Saturday April 30th at the Vertical Blue 2016 event in the Bahamas, William Trubridge set a new World Record by diving to an incredible depth of 122m / 400ft in the Free Immersion (FIM) discipline.
RELATED: Freediving Disciplines Explained
This record beat his previous World Record depth of 121m set in 2011 at Deans Blue Hole and is his 16th World Record.
William Trubridge has attained his 16th World Record! Pushing his own FIM record to 122m? (400ft)! We're all so… https://t.co/eFAfYf1oWm — William Trubridge (@WillTrubridge) April 30, 2016
He did it!!! 16th world record for @WillTrubridge????? — VerticalBlue (@Vertical_Blue) April 30, 2016
You can read our full story and catch up with William in our piece – #?VB2016? William Trubridge – A World Record in Pictures.
Photos by Daan VerhoevenThere’s a strange tree-killer on the loose in the Amazon: logjams
The Amazon rainforest is a hotbed of biodiversity and a major absorber of the world’s carbon dioxide. But large swaths of this jungle are dying every year, more than can be explained by the traditional culprits of deforestation, logging, and farming. Now, one researcher has used more than 30 years of satellite images to show that flooding caused by logjams—large pieces of timber partially or completely obstructing river channels—may be the missing factor. Naturally occurring logjams in the Bolivian Amazon kill off almost as much rainforest as human activity—just under 1000 hectares per year in one part of Bolivia—the scientist reports in a forthcoming issue of Earth Systems Dynamics. To find out how and where logjams did their dirty work, the researcher looked at images of rainforest in western Bolivia from 1984 to 2016, searching for areas that reflected colors of infrared light that typically signify bare soil and sand. He found that 22 rivers showed repetitive flooding caused by logjams. The sometimes-massive pileups reroute water flow, erode riverbanks, and transport massive amounts of sand, eventually killing nearby trees. Each flood can destroy thousands of trees, which die after the soil surrounding their roots is washed away. Logjams can also change the balance of plant species in the Amazon: After trees die, some of the flooded areas turn into savanna, and the uptick in sunlight hitting the ground can favor quick-growing trees like mahogany, at the expense of slower-growing species like Brazil nuts. The die-offs are also bad news for the rest of us—more savanna means fewer trees are absorbing carbon dioxide, one of the major greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.House cuts to NPR funding likely to die in hands of Senate
WASHINGTON The Republican-led House of Representatives voted Thursday to end taxpayer funding for National Public Radio, a week after its top fundraiser was caught on a hidden camera disparaging the conservative Tea Party movement and saying the network would be better off without federal money.
The measure passed the House 228-192, but it is unlikely to gain traction in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called NPR and its journalists "valuable resources to people of all ages across the country." The Obama administration released a statement Thursday saying it "strongly opposes" the bill.
The House proposal would ban federal funding to NPR and bar local stations from using federal money to buy programs, such as Morning Edition and Car Talk, from the national network. The bill also prohibits stations from using federal money to pay NPR dues.
NPR said it received $5.4 million in federal grants in fiscal year 2010, but its largest source of revenue comes from programming fees from local stations, $65 million that year.
The battle over NPR's future pits Democrats against conservative Republicans, who have expressed outrage over fundraising executive Ron Schiller's inflammatory comments caught on a secret video made by political activist James O'Keefe. Schiller and NPR's president, Vivian Schiller, who are not related, both resigned last week.
Thursday's vote fell largely along party lines, as seven Republicans voted "no."
Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, said the network and its programming "veer far from what most Americans would like to see as far as the expenditure of their taxpayer dollars." Given skyrocketing federal debt, "it's time to prioritize," he said.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., said he opposed taxpayer funding for the organization long before the video sting. "NPR can survive on its own," he said.
Democrats, such as Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said the bill had one goal: punishing NPR.
California Rep. Anna Eshoo, the top Democrat on a House communications subcommittee, said the measure sped through the chamber this week with little scrutiny and could jeopardize 9,000 jobs nationwide. "I realize our nation faces threats," she said, "but Car Talk is hardly one of them."
In a statement, NPR officials called the bill a "direct effort to weaken public radio."
Joyce Slocum, NPR's interim CEO, said the network and local stations deliver in-depth news with civility "at a time when other news organizations are cutting back and the voices of pundits are drowning out fact-based reporting and thoughtful analysis."
The bill does not affect funding for public television. A separate funding bill that passed the House last month stripped money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides grants to public radio and television. The Senate rejected it.
Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com"Please leave a message; at our convenience, we'll ignore it."
As the days roll down toward the titanic April 5 aldermanic runoffs, the big issue in the 24th Ward is phone calls.
As in neither candidate—Alderman Sharon Denise Dixon and her challenger, former alderman Michael Chandler—returns them. Dixon doesn't return them now, and Chandler didn't return them when he was alderman four years ago.
I know—seems trivial considering the monumental debt, over $1 billion and climbing, that our city and schools confront as we move from the reign of one emperor to another.
My god, this city loves its political bosses.
And yet it's a necessity that aldermen—who are, above all other things, service providers—return the calls of their constituents. Otherwise why even have the office?
Though now that I think about it...
Before I go on, let me take a moment to give you a little civics lesson about our electoral process.
Yes, electorate, I know you're confused—I hear the question all the time: Didn't we already have an election?
We certainly did. On February 22, Rahm Emanuel won the mayoral contest, and a bunch of people won for aldermen.
But the rules say no aldermanic candidate wins unless he or she gets over 50 percent of the vote, and in 14 of the city's 50 wards, no one did.
Hence the April 5 runoffs.
Now back to our story.
In the 24th Ward, 23 candidates filed petitions to run for aldermen. Five were knocked off the ballot for one nominating-petition violation or another, leaving 18 candidates.
click to enlarge
Chandler and Dixon made it to the runoff not because they were so outstanding but because they were the only names voters recognized.
"The way I look at it is that Chandler had his voters and Sharon had hers and all the rest of us were just trying to be heard," says Valerie Leonard, who came in fourth.
Neither Chandler nor Dixon received anything close to a majorty—Dixon won 19 percent and Chandler 13.
The big complaint against both is that they're unresponsive to constituents. "They don't even return phone calls," says Richard Barnett, a longtime independent in the area.
Ah, yes, the unreturned phone call from an elected official—something I know a lot about, having had hundreds if not thousands of them over the last 20-something years.
As I see it there are three basic reasons politicians don't return calls: One, they're sulking over some ancient grudge. (Hear that, congressman Luis Gutierrez?) Two, they're afraid of having to answer tough questions about whatever it is they're up to. (That would be you, state senator Heather Steans, though sooner or later you're going to have to talk about your charter school legislation.) Or, three, they're disorganized to the point of chaos.
In my opinion, Dixon and Chandler have hit the trifecta—it's a little of all three.
The shame of it is that the ward—roughly bounded by Jackson Boulevard on the north, Cermak Road on the south, Cicero Avenue on the west, and Douglas Park on the east—is one of those poor, high-crime, bottomed-out districts that desperately need a proactive, energetic advocate.
And what they get is something else.
Over the years, the ward's disenchanted voters have driven out of office one incumbent after another.
In 1991 they tossed out William "Big Bill" Henry, in part because he was vindictive, mean-spirited, and corrupt. They replaced him with Jesse Miller, but four years later they canned Miller in part because he seemed uninterested in providing basic city services.
Miller's replacement—the aforementioned Chandler—was a building department inspector who vowed to clean up the mounds of garbage left behind by a dump operator named John Christopher.
Actually, Christopher was an undercover mole set up in the late 80s by the FBI to nab aldermen who were taking bribes to allow illegal dumping in their wards.
One of the aldermen caught in the act was Henry, who died of cancer in 1992 before his case came to trial.
It took about six years before the city and feds cleaned up the two giant mounds of refuse at 915 S. Kildare and at Roosevelt and Kostner (nicknamed Mount Henry) that Christopher and the feds left behind.
As Chandler pointed out when he was running for reelection in 1999, the city would never in a million years tolerate such egregious abuse in a wealthier, whiter neighborhood.
Chandler served three terms before the voters drove him out in 2007 for Dixon, a relatively unknown community activist who impressed everyone with her determination when she went door-to-door throughout the ward looking for votes.
"I allowed myself to lose touch with the people," says Chandler. "It won't happen again."
In the 2007 election, Dixon was aided by Barnett, who also helped Miller beat Henry, and Chandler beat Miller, and is now trying to help Chandler beat Dixon.
"Mike [Chandler] forgot why he was elected," says Barnett. "That's why I went against him. The community comes first."
Dixon's chief spokesman, Frank Watkins, says Barnett stopped supporting Dixon because she wouldn't let him bully her. "He wanted to be the aldermen behind the scenes," says Watkins. "And Alderman Dixon wouldn't let him."
Barnett says he cut his ties to Dixon after she made it clear she was neglecting the people responsible for her upset victory. "Frank said I wanted to be boss? That's a hoot," says Barnett with a laugh. "Here's what happened. Three weeks after she got elected she kicked out her volunteers. Power went to her head."
Personally, I wish that Watkins and Barnett—a couple of veteran activists who have been involved in local politics since the late 1960s—were the candidates.
If nothing else, they always return phone calls.
For his part, Chandler says he's learned the error of his ways and will never ever get out of touch with his people again. "You can have my cell—everyone can have my cell," he says. "It's a new day."
And what does Dixon say?
Well, I can't tell you because she didn't return my calls.
Wait, wait, hold the presses, this just in: Guess who called back over two weeks after I called her and just hours before this story went to print?
You guessed it—Alderman Dixon!
"Sorry, Ben," she said. "I got your message, it wasn't my staff's fault. I've just been very busy."
And what about your reputation for not getting back to constituents?
"I think I do a good job—I've just been inundated."
OK, there you have it. Better late than never.
The hoopster or the lawyer?
click to enlarge
Back in the glory days of the 60s and 70s, independent aldermanic giants represented the 43rd Ward.
They were unafraid to stand up to Mayor Richard J. Daley—the original Boss—who was in many ways as intimidating as his son.
This was Lincoln Park, where presumably folks were wealthy enough not to worry about losing city services and so could indulge themselves in independent activism.
There was, let's see, Billy "the Kid" Singer, who came out of Senator Robert Kennedy's anti-Vietnam war, pro-civil rights presidential campaign and spent almost a decade batting his head against the City Hall wall until he figured, the hell with this, and became a lawyer/lobbyist for a high-priced corporate law firm.
As they say, if you can't beat 'em...
After Singer came Martin Oberman, who ranted and railed so much against City Hall waste, abuse, and idiocy that even his independent allies got tired of hearing him.
Back in 1984, when I was a kid reporter, I wrote an epic account of Oberman's political philosophy that was so long I don't think even Oberman finished it.
The gist of the Oberman philosophy was that Chicago politics was not so much corrupt as illogical, and once voters realized the illogic of their ways, they would change it.
As opposed to my philosophy, which is that Chicago's system is rigged for the benefit of insiders and the public is too stupid and/or scared to do anything about it.
Oberman left the council in 1987 and the ward hasn't had a true-blue independent ever since, as its voters have largely become apathetic, ignorant, and complacent.
The current alderman is Vi Daley, who pretty much voted for every dumb idea that popped into Mayor Daley's mind, including his much-reviled parking meter leasing deal.
In 2007 Michele Smith, a former federal prosecutor backed by Oberman and his old allies, forced Daley into a runoff.
Smith ran as a reformer who was willing to challenge Mayor Daley. Vi Daley ran as a service provider who could get things done because she got along with the mayor.
As if obedience is the price one pays for garbage collection.
I'm convinced—based on dozens of conversations with Lincoln Park residents—that a lot of folks voted for Vi Daley in part because they thought she was related to Mayor Daley.
She's not.
Alderman Daley decided not to run for reelection, and in the February 22 election, nine candidates ran to replace her. Smith finished first with 38 percent of the vote, followed by Tim Egan, an administrator at Norwegian-American Hospital, who got 28 percent.
I like Tim Egan. He's funny and outgoing, and a huge basketball fan. He played for Morton East High School in Cicero and in college for the University of Wisconsin–Superior. He had a tryout with the Rockford Lightning in the old semipro CBA league.
"When the Lightning cut me, they told me if I was six-foot-ten, I'd make a million a year," says Egan. "I told them I was six-foot-five so I'll take $500,000."
If it came down to voting for the guy to watch March Madness with, I'd vote for Egan hands down. Unfortunately for Egan, the big issue in the 43rd isn't basketball, it's development.
At the moment, locals are up in arms over a proposal to redevelop the old Lincoln Park Hospital, at Webster and Lincoln, into a 12-story, 152-unit residential high-rise with a medical office and Fresh Market grocery store.
Let's pause to reflect on the irony of development in Chicago. The communities that desperately need it—like North Lawndale—don't get it. The communities that don't really need it—like Lincoln Park—get too much.
Smith's against it in part because she's for a more balanced approach to development. And because the locals voted against this particular deal in a referendum on February 22. And because she thinks the grocery store should go just down the street at Children's Memorial Hospital. (More on that later.)
Egan favors the Lincoln Hospital deal on the grounds that any development is better than no development and the developer's already made adjustments. He says that residents who complain will come to appreciate that they can walk down the street to buy their groceries.
My view is that if Lincoln Park locals want to elect whoever will green-light whatever development comes their way, more power to them. I don't live there.
My greater concern has to do with the possible development deal involving Children's Memorial at Fullerton and Lincoln.
In about a year, Children's operators |
. Las medallas olímpicas de oro y plata están hechas de plata. Las medallas de oro llevan un recubrimiento de al menos 6 gramos de oro. Las medallas de bronce están hechas de una aleación de bronce, cobre y estaño. Pero claro, estamos hablando de las medallas olímpicas. Las medallas que fueron entregadas en los pasados juegos Panamericanos de Guadalajara fueron hechas de cobre con un bañito a la mexicana de cada metal respectivo…
Pero el bañito fue hecho tan a la mexicana que algunas medallas comenzaron a despintarse desde el primer día que fueron entregadas.
Aquí las reclamaciones de los participantes de los Panamericanos:
El remero Patrick Loliger, fue de los primeros en notar que su presea de tercer lugar comenzó a tornarse grisácea. Tras reclamar a la Casa de Moneda de México, encargada de acuñar las medallas, pidieron una disculpa y ofrecieron cambiarla.
“La medalla desde el primer día se empezó a despintar hasta que quedó de un color como acero y se le cayó la pintura color bronce. También las de tercer lugar de mi equipo se despintaron, y sé que de algunos otros deportistas también”, aseguró el deportista.
El argentino Alexis Clementín, que ganó la medalla la medalla de bronce en pelota, en la categoría frontenis, también sufrió la mala calidad de las medallas:
“Mi mamá le puso un producto y quedó brillante, como al principio. Pero recién volví y vi que otra vez se puso oscura, nada que ver con el bronce original. No se puede creer, una pena”, declaró el jugador.
Se dijo que las medallas, no están propiamente elaboradas por el metal que se dice, pues sólo cuentan con un baño de oro, plata o bronce.
Qué oso y qué desprestigio que pasen estas cosas a la organización de los Juegos Panamericanos. Es increíble que después de que hayan anunciado con bombos y platillos que la competencia resultó todo un éxito y que mereció elogios por la mayoría de los particiapantes, se den estas denuncias.
Este fue un evento a nivel internacional, y una vez más quedamos muy mal parados frente a los ojos del mundo.
Enlace: http://www.zocalo.com.mx/
¡Hazme el chingado favor!
Cortesía de BorashidYou enter the Quarries of Scred! You have been tasked to collect riches for your cruel task masters. Their carelessness has meant the rafters are unstable. As you walk through the entrance it collapses behind you. You have your pick axe and a little light. You know that Deep to the South.....another exit can be found, but will you live to reach it?
In Quarries of Scred 1982 you are a miner digging for gems while avoiding unstable rocks and fighting ranklers.
QoS1982 is based off of Quarries of Scred by Noble Kale, and is an imagining of how the game would have looked in 1982.
The game features 100 randomly generated levels, falling rocks, poisonous gasses, gems along with random caves that may contain treasure, Ranklers or your final resting place.
Mod support may be added in future
To see our other games go to kactusgames.com.au/
Poke us on our twitter @kactusgames
20% of all proceeds go to charity.
Please note this game requires Java to be installed.DUBAI (Reuters) - President Hassan Rouhani ordered his defense minister on Thursday to expand Iran’s missile program, in defiance of a U.S. threat to impose sanctions over a ballistic missile test Iran carried out in October.
An Iranian Emad rocket is launched as it is tested at an undisclosed location October 11, 2015. REUTERS/farsnews.com/Handout via Reuters
Under a landmark agreement it clinched with world powers in July, Iran is scaling back a nuclear program that the West feared was aimed at acquiring atomic weapons, in return for an easing of international sanctions. It hopes to see these lifted early in the new year.
But sources familiar with the situation said on Wednesday that Washington is preparing new sanctions against international companies and individuals over Iran’s testing of a medium-range Emad rocket on Oct. 10.
The escalating dispute centers on the types of missile that the Islamic Republic is allowed to develop and whether they are capable of, or designed to, carry nuclear warheads.
“As the U.S. government is clearly still pursuing its hostile policies and illegal meddling... the armed forces need to quickly and significantly increase their missile capability,” Rouhani wrote in a letter to Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, published by the state news agency, IRNA.
“The defense ministry, with the support of the armed forces, is tasked with putting in place new programs by all available means to increase the country’s missile capability,” he added.
U.S. officials have said the Treasury Department retains a right under the nuclear deal to blacklist Iranian entities suspected of involvement in missile development.
Iranian officials have said the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would view such penalties as violating the nuclear accord. Earlier on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari condemned the U.S. plans to impose additional sanctions as “arbitrary and illegal”.
A team of U.N. sanctions monitors said in a confidential report seen by Reuters on Dec. 15 that the Emad rocket tested by Iran was a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, making it a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution.
Ballistic missiles follow a high, arching trajectory before falling under gravity to their target, unlike low-flying cruise missiles. Ballistic tests by Iran are banned under Security Council resolution 1929, which dates from 2010 and remains valid until the July nuclear deal between Iran and world powers goes into effect.
Once it does, Iran will still be “called upon” not to undertake any ballistic missiles work designed to deliver nuclear weapons for a period of up to eight years, according to a Security Council resolution adopted in July, right after the nuclear deal.
Iran says the resolution would ban only missiles “designed” to carry a nuclear warhead, not “capable of” carrying one, so it would not affect its military program as Tehran does not pursues nuclear weapons. Iran has called Emad a conventional missile.
In his letter to Dehghan, Rouhani said Iran’s missile program had nothing to do with its nuclear program and that the missiles have “not been designed to carry nuclear warheads”.
The Iranian missiles under development boast much improved accuracy over the current generation, which experts say is likely to improve their effectiveness with conventional warheads.The Scene. Peggy Nash was very nearly pleading. “Will someone in the government,” she asked, “please outline right now what constitutes suitable employment?”
In Ms. Nash’s moment of need it was Ted Menzies, minister of state for finance, who stood. “Mr. Speaker, I actually have some examples here of what constitutes suitable employment,” he reported.
At last, clarity seemed at hand. “A mining company in Newfoundland is looking to hire 1,500 people in St. John’s, Newfoundland, through the temporary foreign worker program,” Mr. Menzies explained. “There are 32,500 people looking for work right now. That is why we are trying to make EI more effective to help these mining companies get people to employ.”
What precisely was the minister of state suggesting here? That if you are presently looking for work you might soon be expected to strap on a helmet lamp and make for St. John’s? And are there really only 32,500 people in this country presently looking for work?
There were chuckles of incredulity from the opposition side.
Another opposition question afforded Mr. Menzies an opportunity to further explain himself.
“I do want to clarify that 32,500 looking for work were actually in Newfoundland,” he said, “as was the mining company that was looking for the 1,500 people.”
“Ahh!” mocked voices from the other side. Thomas Mulcair shook his head in demonstrable exasperation.
Mr. Menzies tried another example. “Nova Scotia’s recent shipbuilding contract will create over 15,000 jobs over the next 30 years and the provincial government is already talking about importing workers,” he posited. “At this point there are 45,000 Nova Scotians looking for work.”
So the unemployed in Nova Scotia will soon be asked to build ships?
Another question then and another chance for Mr. Menzies to explain.
“Mr. Speaker, as I have been saying, there are available jobs out there, but we will ensure that Canadians will not be expected to take jobs that are not within their skill-set,” he offered.
So only those out-of-work Nova Scotians with skills particular to the building of ships will be asked to take work?
“One other thing we need to exemplify,” he continued, oddly, “is that no job seeker will be asked to relocate.”
Ah. So only out-of-work Haligonians with skills particular to the building of ships will be asked to take work.
This perhaps begs more questions. Like, how many out-of-work Haligonians with skills particular to the building of ships would otherwise turn down one of those 15,000 jobs? And if relocation is not to be demanded and one’s skill set is relevant, how precisely are those “45,000 Nova Scotians looking for work” applicable to those 15,000 jobs?
“The important thing here is, there is a lot of people who want to go to work, there are people who are on EI,” Mr. Menzies clarified. “We need to make sure its effective and the jobs that are still vacant can be filled.”
Despite all of this explanation, the official opposition remained unsatisfied. “When will she stand up,” Chris Charlton asked of the absent Human Resources Minsiter, “and give Canadians a straight answer about her plans for EI?”
In response to Ms. Charlton, Mr. Menzies returned to something he had earlier claimed that the leader of the opposition said.
“I would like to quote the leader of the NDP once more, that we, on this side of the House do not think it is, as he says ‘a colossal waste’ when Canadians are actually working,” Mr. Menzies admonished. “Canadians working in restaurants, as truck drivers, as food handlers, we think they are important contributors to the Canadian economy. We support and applaud those Canadians.”
It is unclear whether Mr. Mulcair has actually used this phrase in this regard*, but Ms. Nash has.
“It is a colossal waste of skills,” she said the other day, “if we have people who are trained as computer engineers or teachers or nurses or electricians who are working in retail, Tim Hortons or picking fruit in the agricultural sector because it means they may not be available when a job in their field comes open.”
From Mr. Menzies’ attempted explanations, it is unclear in what way he disagrees with Ms. Nash.
The Stats. Employment, 10 questions. Telecommunications, five questions. Old Age Security, the environment and aboriginal affairs, four questions each. Government spending, trade, satellites and the territories, two questions each. Immigration, resource development, Senate reform and food safety, one question each.
Stephen Harper and Ted Menzies, seven responses each. Leona Aglukkaq, six responses. Vic Toews, five responses. Peter Kent, four responses. Christian Paradis and Ed Fast, two responses each. Tony Clement, Pierre Poilievre, Tim Uppal, Gerry Ritz, one response each.ECONOMIC disruption, Scottish secessionism and now overheated talk of a small war with Spain: Brexit has yet to happen and already it is causing Britain quite some inconvenience. Yet settling the question of Britain’s place in Europe was unavoidable, according to David Cameron, who popped up last week to defend his decision to call the referendum in 2016 (in which, as prime minister, he led the failed campaign to remain in the European Union). Holding the vote was necessary, he said, “because this issue had been poisoning British politics for years.”
But it hadn’t. Concern about Europe is certainly elevated—indeed, in March it was at the highest level ever recorded by the monthly Economist/Ipsos-MORI survey of British public opinion, which first asked the question in 1974. But look back to before Mr Cameron called the referendum and it is a different story. For most of the decade up to his announcement, the percentage of people citing Europe as one of the main issues facing the country was in the single digits.
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It was certainly a big deal for his Conservative Party, which has a noisy Eurosceptic wing and feared losing votes to the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party in the election of 2015. But for most voters it was near the bottom of their concerns. Far from settling some burning national question, Mr Cameron’s referendum took a non-issue and turned it into one which—to borrow his words—really could poison British politics for years.a (quickie) review by the Azure-Winged Magpie.
GO-GO POWER/RANGERS!
OPENING THOUGHTS
(◔◡◔✿)!
So I was looking up stuff to help make my review for 2017’s Power Rangers look all pretty and shit. And guess what I come across?
Screenies from a 2015 short film called Power/Rangers.
…
What the fuck is this?! Why don’t I know about it?! And who is this very familiar-looking blonde in it?!
I called that Crow that hangs around here up pronto. And I MADE HIM WATCH IT! Woot! And who is that blonde?! Who is it?! Katee Sackhoff! I knew I’d seen her somewhere before. Now the Crow HAS to do up his epic Battlestar Galactica theory. You can thank me for it when he’s done.
Now… You know what time it is. You do (don’t you?)!
Go-go Power Rangers! Go-go Power Rangers! Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangeee-rrrs!
Let’s jump into this unofficial “de-boot” of the franchise!
It’s fucking morphin’ time!
PLOT
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS PRETTY FUCKING MAJOR SPOILERS (Sorry: fangirl!)
Right up at the beginning there’s a big fucking scuffle going about. There’s all sorts of chaos happening. We get a pretty cool POV shot through the visor of the Pink Ranger as the Rangers seem headed to their doom.
Who’re they fighting? The Machine Empire. And they’re losing. Bad. Even the Megazord bites the dust.
We skip ahead a few years and Kimberley (the Pink Ranger from the intro… played by Katee Sackhoff!) is held captive by Rocky (the second Red Ranger). Rocky’s turned sides and now works for the Machine Empire (that fucking scumbag!).
With her in his dirty little fucking fingers, he goes over the lives of the original MMPR team-members. Jason married Kimberly (♥! Power couple! The way things should’ve been). And eight hours following their marriage… thanks to Bulk and Skull… he gets shot up.
WHAT…?!
That’s my mo-[REDACTED]-ing childhood crush you fucking [REDACTED]!!!11!1!!!1!!…!
Zack is living the high life. Cocaine and women (hmm…). AND a TV instruction show called HOP-kido (lololololol).
As Rocky points out, Zack joined the Machine Empire as an enforcer of sorts. He goes and kicks the shit out of some dudes in Rocky’s story. He does this on the reg, apparently. But even despite all his awesomeness he gets gunned down in his apartment after having a threesome. Right before he gets snuffed out though, he seems to recognise the person who’s come for him.
Rocky keeps asking about Tommy. But when Kim refuses to share anything with him, he brings up Billy. Billy became a Tony Stark-like mass producer of weapons. And (I think this was a bit of a ‘setting things right’ situation) on top of that he just straight up opened up to the world that he’s fucking gay.
Given the stories I’ve recently heard about how David Yost was done hard by on the set of the original serial – this is a step in the right direction.
But Billy seemingly committed suicide.
Rocky suggests that Tommy’s the one tracking down the former Rangers and snuffing them out one by one. Kim scoffs at the idea and tells us how she hasn’t seen Tommy since Trini’s funeral (surely that’s a nod to Thuy Trang having sadly passed away – at my age no less 😥 ). She even throws an insult in there for Rocky to take to heart.
But Rocky spins everything on her. He tells her he knows Tommy’s not the one killing the Rangers. He’s only holding her in his cell until Tommy shows up.
Now why’s he doing this? I don’t really know. All I know is that Tommy fucking shows up right on cue.
Rocky and Tommy get into a scrap (swords and all). Maybe it’s Rocky’s flash new cyber-leg or maybe Tommy’s just lost it a bit. But Rocky gets Tommy down (almost exactly how Tommy had Jason down that one time when he was still the ‘evil Green Ranger’). But Kim offs him with a strawberry-jamming into the camera via firearm.
Tommy recovers. He stands facing Kim and asks her who the hell she is.
She says she’s Kim. Who else could she be? Right? Right?!
Tommy tells her that Kim died in his arms years ago during the battle we saw in the intro. And we find out who’s been masquerading as Kim all this while: Rita fucking Repulsa! (played by Carla fucking Perez and all!)
She’s the one who’s been killing the monkey-fighting Rangers all this while.
And she asks Tommy to join her. Tommy’s answer?
He pounces at her with his sword. And we cut to: CREDITS!
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Wooo! Damn son!
The new Power Rangers film was fucking amazing. But I wasn’t ready for THIS.
This is Power Rangers all fucking grown-up. And I fucking LOVED IT. PlsPlsPls Hollywood! Keep the new film series the way it is! But give me something like this! Like a bigger better version. Get this Kahn guy in on it!
I mean… just imagine Zordon the Heisenberg in THIS. We need this Hollywood! LISTEN TO ME.
Just not with so many dead people! I just want to see how this comes around.
There was some trouble around the time of this ‘de-boot’ dropping, but that’s all done with. I STRONGLY fucking recommend this to anyone who’s ever seen anything Power Rangers. This shit is fucking A. Go watch it NOW.
FINAL RATINGS
THE AZURE-WINGED MAGPIE: 8/10
THE CROW: 5/10
Yeah, okay. That wasn’t bad.Ideas, Identity, and Game of Thrones
[WARNING #1: SPOILERS AHEAD]
[WARNING #2: I HAVE NOT READ THE GAME OF THRONES BOOKS. WHAT FOLLOWS IS AN ANALYSIS BASED SOLELY ON THE HBO SHOW. YES, I KNOW I COULD READ THE BOOKS TO DISCOVER WHAT HAPPENS AND MAKE THESE INTERPRETIVE POSTS SOUND INCREDIBLY PRESCIENT, BUT I HAVE FOUND WITH THE WALKING DEAD THAT I DIDN’T ENJOY THE SHOW AS MUCH KNOWING WHAT WAS COMING. JUST DEAL WITH IT.]
As a political scientist, I liked but did not love season one of HBO’s Game of Thrones, because of the rather murky ways the fractious politics of Westeros translated into the modern world. I really liked season two, as the War of the Five Kings highlighted variations in political leadership that resonated better with recent political debates.
And season three? I confess to some decidedly mixed feelings. On the one hand, elements of this season started to drive me bonkers. The overwhelming number of plotlines meant that, from episode to episode, not a lot seemed to happen. There were a few eps where, literally, the overwhelming bulk of the show consisted of protagonists marching from point A to point B while they argued, kind of a poor medieval version of bad Aaron Sorkin. Speaking of marching, those damn White Walkers have been taking their sweet time getting down to the Wall, eh? And finally, the torture of Theon Greyjoy after the first cycle was redundant — and the opportunity costs of that screen time pretty significant.
And yet the season’s high points were pretty friggin’ high. There was this:
And, of course, there was the Red Wedding. Any scene that leads to these kind of reactions is clearly doing something very, very right:
Stepping back, as a political scientist I think Season Three of Game of Thrones got two Very Big And Interrelated Things right — but the risks are very high. First, they f**ked with the viewer’s sense of identity. As Jonathan Mercer observed a while ago, it is very easy for humans to form identities and shared understandings that distinguish between in-group and out=group, and somewhat more difficult to dislodge them. Game of Thrones started the narrative by having the viewer sympathize with House Stark. They’re good, they’re honorable, they seem down to earth, and so forth. Compared to the other Westeroi families we encountered in season one — the grab-bag of Baratheons, the moneyed, incestuous Lannisters, the decrepit, scheming Walder Frey, and the rent-seeking lot in the Small Council — you automatically start rooting for the Starks (well, except for Sansa). It’s from the Starks’ vantage point that we entered this narrative, and we don’t like leaving that first point of reference.
By the Red Wedding, however, Game of Thrones has shifted our perspective just a wee bit. Now there are Lannisters that merit some sympathy, such Tyrion and Jamie. There are other Lannisters — Tywin — that at least prompt some grudging degree of admiration. The Tyrells have added a more intriguing flavor of politics to Kings Landing. And as for the Starks, their downfall demonstrates the difference between military and political competency. Eddard, Robb, Catelyn, Arya, Sansa — only in that lot would Jon Snow be considered the master strategist of the group. So while the downfall of the Starks was tragic, it also taught the viewer that, truly, anything can happen in this world. Somewhere, Joss Whedon is smiling, because that’s the one thing he has in common with George R.R. Martin. My point is not that the Red Wedding isn’t shocking — it’s that after the Red Wedding, one can only look back and think, "man, did the Starks screw up."
The other thing that changed this season was the insertion of actual ideas in the myriad conflicts. From the anarchism of Mance Rayder and the wildlings to the monotheism/anti-feudalism of the Brotherhood Without Banners to the deep anti-slavery sentiments of Daenerys Targaryen, we are now seeing actors whose power flows not just from the traditional sources of blood and treasure, but from new and interesting social purposes. Indeed, this season of Game of Thrones raises a very provocative question: who died and elected any particular house of Westeros to the Iron Throne? Hell, why even have an Iron Throne? By the end of the season, the wildlings’ political philosophy seems rather bankrupt, or at least ineffective (one of the nice pieces of symmetry in that narrative was to make Jon Snow seem out of touch north of the Wall, but to make Ygritte seem equally out of touch south of the Wall). Monotheism, democracy, liberty and human rights are pretty appealing, on the other hand.
Going forward, however, Game of Thrones has put itself into a bit of a pickle. Wrenching the viewer away from the perspective of the Starks automatically reduces the tendency to identify with any other group. And it seems like the White Walkers will eventually pay Westeros a visit, which could cause a lot of these transgressive ideas to fall by the wayside. In other words, I’m worried that the very things I liked about this season will be squelched in season four.
What do you think?Devore, CA – Beau Baron scored his seventh victory of the season and clinched a record sixth Rocky Mountain ATV MC WORCS Series presented by Maxxis and Dirt Wheels Pro ATV championship at Glen Helen Raceway. Robbie Mitchell finished second, followed by Mike Sloan. Felipe Velez made the trip from Baja, Mexico and finished fourth.
Six Pro ATVs took the live engine start for the one-in-a-half hour race during warm, but breezy conditions at the track. The track was run in reverse from the last event here and featured the combined Glen Helen circuit, Lucas Oil Circuit and several off-road sections.
Baron, on a Honda, snagged the holeshot at the beginning and held off Mitchell early in the race. From there, he ran his own pace to snag the victory and, in the process, clinch the title. With the championship, Baron now owns the most ATV titles in WORCS history, surpassing Doug Eichner.
“I was thankful we didn’t have a dead engine start because I’m no good at them,” laughed Baron. “Robbie was breathing down my neck for a lap or two, but I started with a pace I knew I could run from the beginning to the end. I slowly pulled out a lead and I kept gapping until the end of the race. I just rode solid until the end.”
Thus far this season Baron hasn’t finished off the podium, winning seven races and finishing second in the other two. He was relieved to finish out the points chase one race early.
Riding his Honda, Mitchell ran a strong second in the beginning of the race, but soon started feeling the effects of a cold. Though he fell off slightly at the end, he scored his fifth podium of the season.
Sloan overcame a slow start on his Yamaha, but began charging late in the event. He recorded his seventh podium of the season and remains second in points.
Collins Webster missed the Glen Helen round due to the wrong parts being shipped for the engine on his Yamaha. He will return for the final round in October.
While the championship is decided in the Pro class, in Pro-am the title chase is just starting to heat up. Bryce Peart won the race on a Honda and moved to within just three points of leader Logan Huff, who finished second on a Yamaha. Ricardo Gonzalez finished third.
Gonzalez, on a Yamaha, took the lead at the start. On lap four, both Peart and Huff moved up to challenge, and Peart stuck a slick inside move to take the lead for good.
Huff cased a table top jump in practice and cart wheeled his quad. He wasn’t seriously injured and his team quickly facilitated repairs to get him out for the Pro-am race. He nursed a damaged chain on the final lap to finish second.
Gonzalez started the race well and held the lead for the first four laps. After losing the lead, he held on for third, scoring his fifth podium of the season.
The WORCS Series finishes out the 2017 season October 6-8 during the season finale at Adelanto Stadium just outside Adelanto, CA.
Like this: Like Loading...The Star-Spangled Banner survived the rocket’s red glare and bombs bursting in air – only to face a modern-day threat – silly town ordinances and petty bureaucrats.
I’m not sure if it’s an epidemic of anti-American nincompoopery sweeping across the fruited plain or if it’s a general lack of common sense. Maybe it’s both. I’ll let you be the judge of that.
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In Lexington, South Carolina Marine veteran Bob Michaelis was told to remove a patriotic display from his mattress company.
Mr. Michaelis lined the front of his store with American flags – to honor our troops.
“We got 10 flags up,” he told television station WIS. “I thought maybe it was about time we return the patriotism in America. There’s not enough of it. It seems to be lost.”
But instead of congratulating Bob’s patriotism, the town fathers dispatched the law. He was informed that the flags violated an ordinance.
“The town of Lexington says they got to come down because there’s an ordinance in place,” he said.
The town administrator told WIS they did not issue Bob a citation nor did they tell him to take down the flags.
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So why did they dispatch the chief of police to visit Bob’s store? Did they need new bedding for the local jail?
Town Administrator Britt Poole told WIS they just wanted to have a “conversation.”
Lexington Mayor Steve MacDougall posted a message on Facebook defending their actions. He said the ordinance had been on the books since 1999 and was enacted over a “negative situation involving the Confederate flag.”
“It is never our intent to interfere with a business but we have a duty to protect our community and we do that with great pride. We have members of our community that have fought, and died for our freedom to display this great symbol of our United States of America,” the mayor wrote.
Regardless, Old Glory remains unfurled outside Bob’s mattress store.
Meanwhile, residents in Newport Beach, California are battling City Hall over their Independence Day decorations.
The locals there stretched red, white and blue triangular flags from home to home to express their American pride.
“It adds a festive touch to the island,” resident Sharon Lambert told the LA Times.
Code enforcement officers disagreed and fired of letters explaining the decorations violated a city ordinance.
The letter warned that residents had one day to remove the decorations or “further enforcement actions may be taken,” the LA reported.
So far residents have decided to ignore the warnings – even if it means getting a fine.
The most egregious example of this anti-patriotic sentiment can be found in the pages of The New York Daily News.
Columnist Gersh Kuntzman penned an ugly diatribe titled, “Major League Baseball must permanently retire ‘God Bless America,’ a song that offends everyone.”
Yes, good readers. The New York Daily News wants us to stop asking the Almighty to bless our great nation during the seventh inning stretch.
“The song still embodies great things about America, but also our worst things: self-righteousness, forced piety, earnest self-reverence, foam,” he wrote.
Mr. Kuntzman probably takes umbrage with Mother’s Day and apple pie, too.
“Part of my outrage stems from ponderous Mussolini-esque introduction of the song, when fans are asked to rise, remove their caps and place them over their hearts,” he scribbled.
So not only does this guy find “God Bless America” offensive, he also seems to think it’s a symbol of fascism.
“So this July 4, join me at the Church of Baseball by not rising and not doffing your cap for a song that is not the national anthem of a nation that is not uniquely blessed by some deity that doesn’t exist anyway,” he wrote.
So he despises God and Country?
That kind of thinking ought to get him a permanent spot on the prayer list down at the local First Baptist Church.
It’s really no surprise the Daily News employs liberal loons like Mr. Kuntzman. They detest all of us gun-toting, Bible-clingers.
But that’s what makes our country great. We have the freedom to say or write whatever we want – thanks to founding documents that were flavored by the Judeo-Christian beliefs of our Founding Fathers.
So on Independence Day, you’ll find the Starnes family at a Southern ball park, waving Old Glory and belting out Irving Berlin’s finest tune.
May God bless America -- in spite of petty bureaucrats and the New York Daily News.A controversial Cantonese opera depicting the private life of Chairman Mao has opened in Hong Kong, amid concerns that it glorifies one of the bloodiest dictators in history.
The specialist Sunbeam Theater staged the production to mark the 67th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which was proclaimed by late supreme leader Mao Zedong from atop Tiananmen Gate in Beijing.
While the plot of the opera revolves largely around Mao's love-life, it gives an easy ride to the architect of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1960) that saw tens of millions die of starvation, critics have said.
The opera was announced with huge fanfare, as organizers put up huge billboards in prominent locations, including at the entrance of a road tunnel under the city's iconic Victoria Harbour.
Local media reports say that librettist Li Kui-ming, who is also a feng shui master, is "highly popular in political and commercial circles in mainland China."
Many politicians and influential people are said to be his clients for feng shui advice, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported recently.
"Critics say Li is using the opera to show his loyalty and patriotism toward Beijing," the paper said.
And Hong Kong current affairs commentator Chin Chi-kin warned people not to forget the massive suffering behind cultural expressions of "red fever."
"The Sunbeam Theater is showing a Cantonese opera titled Mao Zedong, but at the same time we in Hong Kong shouldn't forget the 10-year catastrophe that was the Cultural Revolution [1966-1976]," Chin wrote in an editorial in local media.
"If we don't respect history, then such tragedies are likely to be repeated," he wrote.
'Evil, criminal'
One of the actors in the production, Australian Gregory Charles Rivers, has come in for particular criticism on social media.
Rivers, who plays pro-China American journalist Edgar Snow, recently told the pro-democracy Chinese-language Apple Daily that public is overreacting, however.
"Mao's was a life of evil, criminal behavior, and he led a violent revolution and class struggle that did huge harm to China," a media commentator who asked to remain anonymous told RFA on Friday.
"We are sick to death of the ways some groups are always putting on red performances," he said. "We don't know what their background is, but their cultural influence is pervasive."
Some online comments appeared to agree.
"We are traveling back in time to the era of the Cultural Revolution," wrote one commentator.
Another wrote: "If somebody tried to stage a play about Hitler in Germany, would the German people allow it? Why aren't the people of Hong Kong protesting about this? This is Hong Kong's tragedy."
Mixed messages
The ruling Chinese Communist Party has given out mixed messages as the country marks the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution this year.
In May, some 300 performers took to the stage in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, for a concert of revolutionary songs from the Mao era.
While no high-ranking leaders attended the concert, which drew a crowd of 6,000 people, it was given by the Fifty-Six Flowers entertainment troupe that is ultimately controlled by the Ministry of Culture.
While revering Mao as the leader who founded the People's Republic on Oct. 1, 1949, the party has been forced to conclude publicly that the leader made some "serious political mistakes," although criticizing the Great Helmsman in public is still taboo.
But retired Shandong University professor and veteran democracy activist Sun Wenguang said "red fever" in China shows no sign of abating, in spite of the jailing of former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai, who encouraged it during his tenure in the city.
"There are red song movements all over China, not just on public squares but even in the Great Hall of the People," Sun said. "And they're not just singing them in China: they're singing them overseas as well."
Last month, authorities in Australia's two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, canceled planned concerts commemorating Mao's death after Chinese Australians complained the content was insensitive.
"All of this indicates that the government wishes to affirm the Cultural Revolution," Sun said.
Reported by Xin Lin for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.Infighting in the Bitcoin community has made headlines in recent months.
Political disputes between individual developers have been exposed. Programmers have split off into new competing teams. At times, the network has strained to process a flood of transactions. And the community’s inability to agree on how to increase the network capacity has periodically generated news.
"Bitcoin has almost been a victim of its own success," said Adam White, vice president of business development at Coinbase, over coffee in New York City’s Union Square, describing how transaction volume is reaching the network’s limits.
And yet, while some large, well-funded startups in the space, including Coinbase, have publicly disagreed with decisions made by the core developers over how to increase network capacity, the drama and uncertainty over the future direction of the technology has not only not affected their business or partnerships, but it has also ironically demonstrated the advantages of using a trusted brand even with a currency that initially became popular precisely because its users wanted to bypass third parties.
An Ecosystem in Bloom
The community has now grown far beyond the initial group of enthusiasts who fueled its early growth — technophiles, libertarians, profit-seeking “miners,” who maintain the network in exchange for new bitcoin, and, to be frank, criminals who used it to pay for illegal goods online — to include several new constituencies quite different from the original vested parties.
The Bitcoin ecosystem now includes millions of everyday people investing or transacting who are essentially represented by the startups that have created user-friendly apps and websites. “Startups play a pretty integral role in the sense that we represent most of the end-users. If you look at users of Bitcoin on the network, most of them are represented by one of the major Bitcoin companies,” says Peter Smith, chief executive of Blockchain, adding that five or six companies, including Coinbase and Blockchain, represent about 80% of transaction volume on the network. Numerous startups are also using Bitcoin to enable their users to more easily send remittances, cross-border payments and peer-to-peer payments, as well as make mobile in-app purchases.
In addition to venture capitalists who have so far invested $1.1 billion into the space, Bitcoin has attracted Wall Street investors such as hedge funds, mutual fund managers, family offices and ultra high |
emphasize that my point isn’t related to professional play. The reason I cite tournaments is only as evidence that rule sets have evolved and continue to do so.
What do these rule sets – in other words, competitive modes – accomplish? At a high-level, I’d argue the following: to provide competitive players with good games. I’d characterize a competitive player as someone who values winning in an environment that they find compelling. People have a tendency to interpret this very negatively, but this is misguided. It’s not just about winning – it’s about winning in a particularly compelling environment.
For instance, I believe that human beings intrinsically enjoy personal growth and improvement. Competitive games offer that experience in a predictable and enjoyable way – by striving to win in a title that gives you the opportunity to visibly grow and advance, you can satisfy a fundamental human need. In addition, the lessons that you learn while doing so are often applicable to things outside of the game itself, like the realization that hard work is quietly satisfying and enjoyable, not painful.
Incidentally – and not coincidentally – traditional sports offer similar experiences. In both cases, a game’s success hinges on whether it establishes the right environment – if it feels fair, if it’s enjoyable enough to continue playing after a string of losses, if it accurately reflects differences in work and commitment to personal improvement, and so on.
Example: Fairness in Practice
The path from the theory of competition to the nuts and bolts of how matchmaking systems are implemented is the crux of this article, so let’s sink our teeth into a concrete example. One way that we could define a matchmaker as fair is to say that it always creates matches between teams with a 50% chance of winning. As much as possible, neither side is favored to win. This enables the emergence of small mismatches in skill to become interesting points of contention. For everyone involved, the game feels winnable but not trivial; challenging but not overwhelming.
Is this ideal? Not necessarily. Here’s Rob Pardo, the lead designer on Brood War and Warcraft III, discussing the idea in an interview prior to the release of StarCraft II:
“If your matchmaking is really good, it means that for every single game, you’re kind of [on] the edge of your seat… After you play an hour or two of games like that, you’re kind of exhausted. So we’re actually talking about, ‘Is that the right matchmaking approach?’ You might want to add a little sloppiness to the matchmaking. Maybe that means sometimes you get stomped, but sometimes you have easier games. And sometimes you have the really competitive games. It’s got better pacing.”
Whether this is actually how the ladder was implemented in StarCraft II is anyone’s guess. A 2011 balance snapshot mentions skewing effects in the matchmaker but doesn’t go into detail. In any case, my larger point is that even this “sacred cow” of the system – whether or not it should strive to create games that are as even in outcome as possible – isn’t a known optimum.
Skill and Outcome
Predicting outcomes is something that matchmaking systems do very well. This is how they fairly allocate points to winners and take them away from losers. Valve even trusts their system enough to enable promotions on tie games:
But can we go a step further? Can we claim that equality in outcome – two teams having exactly a 50% chance of winning a game – signifies equality in skill?
Philosophically, you could make a practical and utilitarian argument that skill and outcome are identical – what is skill if not the ability to win? Do marine micro or proper smoke setups have a context outside of their respective games?
Counter-Strike provides an interesting test case for this question. One of the first things I noticed as I ranked up the ladder were the immense skill differences between players of the same rank. At first I assumed it was smurfing, but the pattern was durable long after my entrance into Prime Matchmaking. At times I would observe a teammate and witness play similar or better to mine – other times, I’d be shocked by misplays, misjudgments and horrific aim.
Some of this is attributable to gaming the system or having a bad day – but not all, and the problem lay in my definition of skill. I focused almost exclusively on basic moving and shooting. Over time, I started to realize that this was inaccurate, and that there were lots of different ways to contribute to a win.
For instance, I play at the Gold Nova Master level, where a lot of players don’t know any smoke setups. I’ve won more than a few games thanks to someone who knew how to land important smokes without getting picked. What surprised me was that their individual performance, good or bad, was not always relevant. It was easily dwarfed by the immense contribution they made to me and my teammates’ ability to safely enter and secure a bombsite.
I’ve had similar experiences with strong in-game leaders, particularly friendly teammates, and players who focused on support (at my level, that means baiting, giving up weapons to top scorers and taking a pistol for themselves, etc). On the flip side, I’ve seen players with relatively stronger aim and game understanding fail to translate it into wins, often times due to character flaws (e.g. alienating teammates to the point where no one will drop them a gun).
It’s undeniable that long-term outcomes for these different skill sets will diverge. A great fragger who alienates their entire team can still carry a match by themselves, whereas a good teamplayer depends heavily on having strong teammates. Does that difference in outcome also imply a difference in skill?
Theoretically, no. Outcome is contrived – the relative value of fragging is determined solely by the ruleset. We can independently change outcomes without changing anyone’s skill set. Imagine a hypothetical scenario where landing a specific smoke setup would automatically win a round.
Practically speaking, however, the difference in skill is very real. The outcomes defined by the designer ultimately determine what’s considered skillful on the competitive ladder – a player in Global Elite or Grandmaster is better than a player in Silver, period. That said, a properly designed matchmaking system within a properly designed game will ideally align the two concepts – in other words, a player’s theoretical notion of skill (things like aim and team work in Counter-Strike, micro and macro in StarCraft II) will be fully encapsulated by the outcomes in the game (i.e. becoming more skillful will lead to winning more and climbing the ladder).
How can we achieve that?
Skill-Outcome Convergence
StarCraft and Counter-Strike take different approaches to this question. StarCraft arguably has an easier problem to solve because it’s 1v1. Every skill gap will inevitably be punished because there are no teammates to compensate for it. This forces players to develop genuine breadth – good outcomes must, eventually, pair with real skill. As I argued in my video on Brood War and StarCraft II, misunderstanding this can be genuinely frustrating – cheesing your way up the ladder will only cause you to lose every macro game you play, which will make the game feel arbitrary and coin-flippy rather than fun.
While StarCraft benefits from being a 1v1 game, that isn’t enough. For instance, if it were badly balanced, it would drive players to exploit the current meta rather than deeply study the game in its entirety. Balancing properly is a separate and very hard problem, but it needs to be done right in order to achieve skill-outcome convergence. I won’t go into that topic in detail in this article, but I’ve written about it at length.
The details of Counter-Strike’s system are not as transparent as StarCraft’s, but we can still learn things from external observation. There’s evidence indicating that individual performance matters in a player’s ranking. A couple posters on Reddit discovered it actually matters quite a lot, at least in placement games. They bought brand new copies of Global Offensive and played all of their placements together, with one player playing normally and the other merely acting as support. By the end, the normal player ranked a full two ranks higher than his supporting counterpart.
How Counter-Strike measures individual performance is anyone’s guess, but it’s a good jumping off point to discuss the game’s points system. Points are obtained by getting kills, getting assists, planting and defusing bombs, and a few other things. That might not seem like a lot, but it’s substantially more granular than simply winning or losing. Rewarding players for playing well is a good thing for the player experience, and it makes losing a lot less painful. That all being said, it would be pure speculation to say that points are related to rating – furthermore, there’s no evidence that a player can get demoted off of a win or promoted off a loss, meaning there’s a limit to how much individual performance matters to begin with.
I mention points because of their potential to create a spectrum of outcomes beyond the fixed win-lose paradigm. Now don’t get me wrong, a competitive game benefits from the concept of winning. But what I appreciate about Counter-Strike is the way it makes every game enjoyable, not just the victories – no matter how tough the match, you always get in a lot of great shots, a few good rounds, maybe even a clutch or an ace. The rule set is designed such that losing doesn’t necessarily make playing feel like a waste of time.
I think you could theoretically expand this to the matchmaking system by enabling points-based victories. You could imagine a real time strategy game decided by the winner of the most key encounters over the course of a game rather than just the player who won in the end. This would be such a massive shift in design philosophy that it would likely need to be built into a game from the ground-up – I mention it simply because it’s interesting to think about.
Convergence in Team-Based Play
If Counter-Strike limits how much influence individual performance has on a player’s rating, how can it have any hope of generating accurate ratings?
There are a couple of interesting factors here. One is that individual performance has a surprisingly substantial impact on the overall team’s outcome. About a month or two ago I began recording the results of my Global Offensive matches and my rank within each game. Here were the results:
My Score Ranking (End of Game) Proportion of Games Won 1st 57% 2nd 60% 3rd 64% 4th 36% 5th 41%
If I was at the top of the score board – i.e. contributing significantly – my team tended to win. If I was at the bottom – i.e. not pulling my weight – my team tended to lose. It’s true that the sample size is small (~100 games) and rank is not necessarily the same as contribution, but the point is nonetheless the same. I was rewarded for playing well and punished for playing poorly.
A larger conclusion I reached from this experience is that for every game lost due to bad teammates, there was a game that was won due to good teammates. I did not deserve to win many of the games where I ranked 5th, much the same way I carried worse players when I was the top scorer (both based on my own subjective evaluation, of course). Teammates’ impact on your rating evens out. The only variable that changes in the long-run is you.
(Here’s another nice video on the overemphasis that’s placed on bad teammates.)
Is this simply the nature of team games? I don’t think so, much the same way it’s not the nature of 1on1 games. For one, Counter-Strike’s design equalizes the five players on a team far more than many other games. A defensive lineman in American Football simply isn’t going to score as many points as a wide receiver – and if that’s what his team needs, his ability to change the outcome of a game will be limited.
For another, Counter-Strike empowers players to perform individually by facilitating creativity. I previously wrote about this at length.
Hidden Ratings
The opacity of the Global Offensive system is itself interesting to think about. Counter-Strike doesn’t provide players with their exact rating, choosing a league-based system instead. It also doesn’t reveal many details of how these leagues are calculated. By contrast, StarCraft II revamped its ladder in 2016 and cited increased transparency as one of its primary goals. This resulted in publicly visible matchmaking ratings, more fine-grained leagues and greater transparency around Grandmaster placement.
Which way is better? Speaking personally, I always considered StarCraft’s hidden ratings to be a mistake. Skills development and healthy competition are huge driving factors in competitive play. Hiding skill ratings detracts from that and makes it hard to know how you’re doing and what your trajectory is. It may be anxiety-inducing to see a number change after every game, but that’s not better than losing a game and misunderstanding your likelihood to have won in the first place. In any case, folks who stress over lost ladder points will stress regardless of whether or not they knew how many points there were to begin with.
I still believe in those ideas when it comes to StarCraft, but whether they can be applied to Counter-Strike depends on how much the game factors in individual performance. If it does, then hiding ratings prevents players from gaming the system. It’d be difficult to make a team game immune to this problem, so opacity is a simple but effective band-aid to avoid it altogether.
I think in the future we’ll see advancement in this area as computing power becomes cheaper and easier to leverage. For instance, Valve could use machine learning to identify common situations – say, a CT attempting a retake of the B bombsite on Inferno after a rotation through CT spawn. A player who loses could then be shown a replay of a professional player executing the exact same retake to identify where the player went wrong. A sufficiently advanced implementation could even identify quote-unquote “perfect” moves from professionals, and reward ladder points depending on how close players get to the ideal.
This is all speculation. The implementation of such a system would not be trivial. Furthermore, we’d never want to place emphasis on process over outcome. If a player retakes a site then they retake a site, it doesn’t matter whether they theoretically should have gone about it differently. I mention this mostly because I think it’s cool.
Leagues and Demotions
Even though Counter-Strike hides its ratings, it doesn’t spare its players’ feelings – it demotes them in real-time. StarCraft does this on a season-by-season basis.
The existence of promotions and demotions assumes a league system, which both games have. We should first convince ourselves that this is a good thing; for instance, does StarCraft benefit from a league system now that matchmaking ratings are public?
I think the answer is a clear yes. Back when I played competitive Age of Empires, the only thing you had was a public ELO rating. That didn’t prevent the creation of leagues. Rather than the official ladder providing them, they were informally specified by the community. Ratings ranged from 1400 and 1500 all the way to the mid-2000s, and players tended to discuss skill level as a function of the hundreds digit – for instance, by stating they were a 1900+ player.
The problem is that ELO ratings are difficult to compare across different eras. When a game is popular and lots of new players are laddering, they feed their points upward and inflate the ratings of the best players. When a game is declining and new players are improving faster than other new players are feeding, they take points away from the top and deflate the ratings of the best. Ratings at any given time become a function of the ladder population than a true measurement of player skill.
(For a more in-depth look at rating inflation and deflation, I recommend the Wikipedia entry.)
This happened most clearly in Age of Mythology, whose competitive scene dwindled after the release of Age of Titans and a multi-year hiatus from the World Cyber Games. The best AoM players had a rating of 2400, whereas by the end of Titans the top of the ladder was 2100. It would be inaccurate to compare these numbers directly, especially since there were players who were at the top of both games. They didn’t get 300 points worse – their rating just deflated along with everyone else’s.
Leagues fix this problem by formalizing skill ranges. StarCraft explicitly uses a percentile-based system. Counter-Strike appears to leverage a bell curve based on publicly available data, although how it’s actually implemented is once again anyone’s guess. In both cases, ranks are directly comparable across eras and thereby provide a more accurate notion of player performance (modulo changes to the ladder system itself). You can implicitly understand what someone means when they say they were a Diamond player in Heart of the Swarm – you simply couldn’t do the same by comparing MMR.
Leagues have lots of other benefits, too. They’re a visible and easy-to-remember categorization of player skill. If players take pride in working hard and climbing up the ladder – as they well should – leagues are a bit like a badge of honor. It feels a lot better to stake membership in a league than it does to claim a raw rating, or even a percentile.
If we assume that leagues are a good thing for a matchmaking system, then we concede that we have to demote players eventually. Otherwise, the league system becomes meaningless. When’s the right time?
At the very least, there needs to be some sort of buffer. It would be jarring to sit on the border of two leagues and get promoted or demoted after every game. I think this would eliminate one of the core benefits of the league system, the visible and easy-to-remember categorization.
On the flip side, I think the season-by-season approach of StarCraft is too delayed. This is likely just personal preference, but it’s a bummer to know that a derank is coming. I’d rather just have it happen mid-season than wait a month or two. If it were up to me, I’d like to see StarCraft demote faster and promote slower – perhaps wait until players are two tiers away from their current rank, in either direction, before changing their league status.
That said, there are plenty of merits to a season-based system – I just don’t think alignment with demotions is one of them. The lack of a season system in Counter-Strike is noticeable. Seasons enable developers to organize gameplay updates around predictable dates, which can make engaging with the game feel more stable. It avoids things like this:
League Distribution and Top-Tier Players
If we’re going to build a leagues system, how many of them should we have? What’s the ideal division of players into leagues?
To start, it makes sense for the league system to reflect how players would organically self-categorize – after all, this is partially why it exists. In this light, the original StarCraft II implementation featured too few leagues, and it’s unsurprising that the number of leagues has risen over time. The existence of concepts like “High Diamond” was an indication that the league system wasn’t accurately labeling players. The ladder revamp fixed this by splitting each league into three tiers, creating 19 distinct leagues per region.
On the surface, this seems similar to Counter-Strike’s system, which features 18 leagues. There is, however, a crucial difference in how players are distributed. StarCraft allocates four leagues for the top 4% of its player base – Master’s 3, Master’s 2, Master’s 1, and Grandmaster. You could also conceivably argue that the Contender Ladder is its own League, a sort of high Master’s 1.
According to publicly available data, the top 4% of Counter-Strike’s matchmaking playerbase is distributed across the top three leagues – one (arguably two) fewer than StarCraft.
This might seem like a minor point, but it’s actually a big deal. The reason why relates to how skill distribution works in these games. Let’s examine the very highest tier in StarCraft II, Grandmaster. This league contains only the top 0.3% of players. To keep things simple, we’ll only look at the Korean region, although this analysis can also be applied to EU and NA.
The best player on the Korean ladder as of this writing is a Korean professional, INnoVation. He has a matchmaking rating of 6994. The player at the very bottom of the Grandmaster ladder (#200) is an anonymous barcode. He has a matchmaking rating of 5473.
For reference, a 315 MMR difference translates to a 75% win rate for the higher-rated player. By contrast, what we have here is a 1521 point difference.
That’s massive.
Skill distribution just works differently at the very top than it does for everyone else. The difference between a below-average and an above-average player – say, between Gold 1 and Diamond 3 in StarCraft, or Gold Nova I and Distinguished Master Guardian in CS:GO – isn’t all that much. It’d be reasonable to practice every day and expect oneself to improve quickly and climb up the leagues in a matter of a few months.
(That said, even though the difference isn’t a lot, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to overcome. If you’re a casual competitive player, it’s probably because you’re a more serious doer-of-something-else, meaning you can’t just add an extra hour of daily esports practice to your schedule willy-nilly.)
By contrast, the difference between the very best casual competitive players and the very best professionals is a yawning chasm. A low Grandmaster player might get off work everyday and grind out a few hours of StarCraft, whereas a professional will play the game for six or eight or ten hours a day, everyday. Solar claimed to have played 70 games a day in preparation for the SSL finals he later won – at ten minutes a game (a conservative estimate), that’s more than eleven hours.
StarCraft’s matchmaking system illustrates these differences by ranking the very best players by exact rating. It also features a fine-grained breakdown of the pretty good players – three leagues of Master’s in addition to Contender, if you count that.
Counter-Strike, by comparison, provides almost no visibility whatsoever. Its highest league, Global Elite, comprises the top 1% of players – three times larger than StarCraft II’s Grandmaster. If you assume that skill disparities in Counter-Strike follow the same pattern as StarCraft – and there’s little reason not to, given that the skill ceiling is unreachable and lots of players grind the game everyday – then the Global Elite label becomes almost meaningless. For a “casual competitive player”, reaching Global Elite is the beginning, not the end, of a journey on Counter-Strike’s competitive ladder.
I’d argue that an ideal matchmaking system would feature just as many leagues for its very best players as it does for the other 99%. Theoretically, StarCraft already achieves this through precise Grandmaster rankings.
Counter-Strike is way behind in this regard. Some players may argue against this by claiming that once players reach Global Elite, they’ve effectively outgrown the competitive ladder – it’s time for them to move to ESEA and start grinding toward A+ and Rank S (if not outright join a team and participate in full-fledged leagues). But this is a failure on the part of the matchmaking system. It’s one thing for a third-party service to focus on solving a problem that’s not important to the core gameplay experience. It’s another to essentially replace the core gameplay experience because the existing system doesn’t do the job at higher levels.
Alternatively, readers might argue that the matchmaking system shouldn’t try to solve this problem in the first place. After all, Counter-Strike is a team game. Players at the highest levels should be practicing with their teams. But twelve years ago people would have said precisely the same thing for anyone above CAL-O – the notion of a solo queue would have been laughable (as anyone who spammed “looking for pug” in mIRC can remember). Before we assume that matchmaking is unworkable for the top 1% or that a third party system is inherently required, we should at least try to make the default system work.
Placements
We’ve discussed the top of the ladder at length – but how about the bottom? Both Counter-Strike and StarCraft require players to play a minimum number of ranked games before providing them with a league placement (and, in StarCraft’s case, their exact rating).
Placements reflect the matchmaker’s uncertainty about a new player’s rating. This enables the matchmaker to pad ratings adjustments and place players faster and more accurately. This is a huge step forward from previous systems. In Age of Empires, the original Dawn of War and early days WarCraft III, top players on new accounts would play dozens upon dozens of games to climb up to their expected rating.
StarCraft has practically perfected this. Its modified TrueSkill system requires only five placement games, and it’s extremely accurate. Just today, the top account in Korea’s Contender League has only played 17 games.
Counter-Strike, by contrast, requires ten competitive wins before placement. Not merely ten games – ten wins. Assuming a 50-50 win rate, that’s twenty competitive matches. At forty five minutes a match, that’s 15 hours of competitive play before your rating is visible.
That requires some serious dedication. I don’t have any data on this, but my belief is that the more placements a player needs to complete, the more likely it is they’ll get discouraged by the process. Having a visible rank and knowing what you’re working toward are powerful motivators to keep grinding the ladder. It’d be better to place players much faster than today.
Folks might argue that Counter-Strike is solving a harder problem because it’s a team game. But I’d argue that’s just an excuse. Like I mentioned above, the whole notion of a solo queue would have been considered impossible more than a decade ago and sparked replies of “only a paid service like ESEA can pull that off”. Yet Global Offensive managed to solve that problem.
In fact, Global Offensive has pushed the medium forward in a lot of ways. An experience system, the in-game economy, automated queuing, bots out-of-the-box – all features that build player engagement and add to the Counter-Strike experience. Like I mentioned before, there are lots of ideas with potential merit for more accurately evaluating skill, even some science-fiction level solutions. Imagine, say, a “time-to-kill” metric that was calculated using replays and computer vision that determined, on average, how quickly a player killed an opponent once they appeared on their screen.
I’m not arguing that’s the best idea – or even a good idea. My point is that there’s still so much that we could be doing better. We shouldn’t write off problems as impossible until we’re fully convinced of it.
Final Thoughts
There’s a few other minor things I wanted to touch on, but we’ve already gone pretty long today. I think this is a good time to wrap-up.
The most surprising conclusion from this exercise was how similar these two games’ matchmaking systems are. Despite their structural differences, the goal of enabling competitive play remains the same. There’s a lot that each game can learn from the other, like making losses less painful in StarCraft or fixing the higher-level leagues and placements in Counter-Strike. Furthermore, there’s a lot that other games can learn from studying these two masterpieces.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this piece, please consider following me on Twitter and Facebook and checking out my game-design focused YouTube and Twitch channels. All the best and see you next time.
Additional References
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/195273-comprehensive-sc2-league-and-ladder-guide (guide to SC2 MMR)
http://blog.counter-strike.net/index.php/about/ (descriptions of csgo competitive modes)
http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/valve-interview-pt-2-devs-talk-cs-go-dust-2-rework-paying-mod-creators-optimization-and-overwatch (matchmaking contributing to CS:GO audience growth)
http://www.counterstrike.net/csgo-resources/csgo-competitive-scoring-system/ (points in csgo)
https://twitter.com/lurppis_/status/854325162212302848 (Valve round-win distribution)
http://sc2unmasked.com/Ladder?server=kr&top_league=gm&page=1 (MMR distributions)
https://play.esea.net/index.php?s=stats&d=pro®ion_id=2&date=2017-04-19 (ESEA Rank S)Megaupload's legal team has asked the federal court of Virginia to freeze the cases filed by the movie and music industries last month. According to Dotcom's lawyers, this is needed pending the criminal case against the defendants, in order to protect their Fifth Amendment rights.
Following in the footsteps of the U.S. Government, this month the major record labels and Hollywood’s top movie studios filed lawsuits against Megaupload, Kim Dotcom, and his colleagues.
The respective cases are strikingly similar and all built on the same evidence. The RIAA and MPAA repeat many of the claims that were laid out in the criminal case, and each demand millions of dollars in damages.
However, the fact that the suits all deal with the same issue is a problem according to Megaupload’s legal team. If the civil cases brought by the movie and music industries move ahead, this may directly influence the position of Dotcom and his colleagues in the criminal case.
In a motion for a stay, the lawyers ask the court to freeze both civil cases pending the criminal proceedings. They argue that the accused may otherwise be forced to implicate themselves, which would violate their rights.
“A stay is warranted here to avoid burdening the Fifth Amendment rights of the individual defendants,” Megaupload’s lawyers write.
“During pleading, discovery, and trial, these individual defendants cannot be forced to risk implicating themselves in the crimes alleged in the Criminal Action in order to provide a defense to Megaupload in the civil case,” they add.
The lawyers ask to freeze the cases until August 1, when the two-week extradition hearing in New Zealand has reached its conclusion. Megaupload previously requested the same in their civil case against Microhits, with success. If the criminal case continues after the extradition hearing, the lawyers will most likely ask to extend the stay.
According to Megaupload lawyer Ira Rothken the criminal case may be over sooner than later.
TorrentFreak previously spoke to Rothken who believes that these RIAA and MPAA cases might show that the entertainment industries and the U.S. Government have little faith in the criminal proceedings.
In any case, Megaupload’s legal troubles, civil or criminal, are expected to drag on for years.Mercator Advisory Group has published a research note on global bitcoin regulation, making it the latest established name in the financial industry to release a report on bitcoin.
The note, titled ‘Global Digital Currency Regulations: Divergent Paths‘, examined trends in digital currency regulation and concluded that industry development is currently hampered by a lack of regulatory consistency.
“The global payments industry has been taken aback by the rise of the new payment technology represented by bitcoin and other digital currencies, which at its core has the potential to radically change the paradigm in which electronic payments are handled,” the report read.
However, the author warns that the response to digital currencies among regulators has been mixed, as true understanding of the benefits, opportunities and disadvantages of the technology is still lacking.
Mercator Advisory Group is an established advisory and consultancy firm in the financial industry that specializes in payments and banking analysis. The group began studying block chain technology earlier this year and this is its first report on subject.
A second research note, focused on remittances, is already in the works.
Regulation hampered by confusion
In an interview with CoinDesk, Tristan Hugo-Webb, associate director of the group’s International Advisory Service, and the author of the research note, discussed the group’s findings and forecasts.
Tristan said he was surprised by the spectrum of regulatory proposals issued by various jurisdictions around the globe. Financial regulators tend to be evenhanded when crafting policies, he said, but consistency is lacking in digital currency regulatory frameworks.
“In general, payment regulation tends to be copycat,” said Tristan. “You will usually see countries following other countries.”
However, that is still not the case in the digital currency space, as different jurisdictions tend to propose divergent solutions. Hugo-Webb thinks it will take a “couple of years” before we see governments understanding the benefits of digital currency. He added that more consistency will be possible once regulators fully understand digital currency technology, but that this may take a while to achieve.
“If you were to talk to regulators, I bet you not many of them would understand how bitcoin works,” Hugo-Webb said.
Divergent approach to regulation
Hugo-Webb attributes much of the confusion in regulatory circles to a lack of understanding and experience with the technology. Therefore he does not expect a lot of progress on the regulatory front in the short term.
He believes some jurisdictions will be in a better position to pass favorable regulation, however. Europe could potentially benefit from EU-wide rules, argued Hugo-Webb, but relatively small jurisdictions could decide to embrace digital currencies – with the Isle of Man as a good example.
“It all depends on what sort of regulation emerges. From how I see it, there are five categories that have come up so far,” said Hugo-Webb.
Jurisdictions that actively promote digital currency, like the Isle of Man and to some extent Ecuador, are in the first category. The second category is reserved for jurisdictions that choose to tax bitcoin transactions, while jurisdictions with transaction reporting requirements make up the third category. The fourth category includes jurisdictions that have issued public warnings about digital currency, but stopped short of taking any action on the regulatory front. Jurisdictions openly hostile to digital currency, like Russia and Bangladesh, belong in the fifth category.
Hugo-Webb expects most countries will eventually become more open to digital currency:
“I really think that over time we will see more countries move from having a neutral stance toward embracing digital currency one way or the other. The future of digital currency is bright. It will take time, but digital currency has a place. It is not going to be a fad that fades out over the next few years.”
Hugo-Webb pointed out that Mercator is not interested solely in bitcoin, which he described as a first-generation cryptocurrency, but in digital currency technology in general.
Competitiveness and adoption
The varied approach to regulation also makes some jurisdictions more competitive than others, as digital currency companies are more likely to incorporate in areas with a clear regulatory framework. The question of compliance costs cannot be ignored, as inadequate or burdensome regulation could render digital currency less competitive.
“It is going to face compliance costs, it is going to face pressure from the payments industry, which will demand a level playing field,” Hugo-Webb argued.
However, properly regulated digital currency services will gain, too, as companies operating in reputable jurisdictions with effective regulation will benefit from higher levels of consumer trust, thus attracting more business and offsetting compliance costs.
Hugo-Webb found that the financial industry remains divided into two distinct camps – companies that do not want to have anything to do with digital currency due to reputational risk concerns and companies willing to explore the new technology as a way of cuttings costs.
As far as the financial industry is concerned, digital currency remains a divisive issue and Mercator does not expect this to change anytime soon.
Research paper image via ShutterstockRumor has it Adele will soon be chasing pavement in Los Angeles: The Oscar and multi-Grammy winning singer is said to have her eyes set on America's West Coast, where she can better balance career with motherhood.
The ease of LA living together with Robbie Williams' wife, Ayda Field, persuading her to move have reportedly gotten to Adele and she is seriously considering the big transition. "Adele and her man Simon are looking at a pad in one of the exclusive gated communities of Beverly Hills," a source told Daily Mirror, "because Robbie and Ayda have told Adele that she would be able to have enough land not to feel too trapped, and she could have the privacy she so desperately needs to enjoy life."
Adele, 24, is estimated to have earned $32 million this past year alone, which should provide for plenty comfortable living. According to the Mirror's source, Adele could install a studio in her new mansion and not have to worry about being away from her beloved baby boy, Angelo, while working on her next album.A bird and snake caused quite a snafu this week when their fighting started a massive fire in Montana.
It all started on Wednesday morning when a large bird, most likely a hawk, snagged a snake for a quick meal. During their aerial battle, one of the two creatures crashed into a power line, electrocuting them both and causing sparks to fly in all directions. Both animals fell to the ground dead. The sparks emitted from their fight quickly caused a fire.
40 acres of land caught fire and burned brightly before firefighters got the situation under control. Apparently, animals cause fires all the time. According to Channel 11 News, they are particularly common in this area of Montana. However, power outages are usually the more common theme. Surprisingly, these critters didn't cause a power outage this time, just a massive fire.
Both a lack of rain and arid conditions helped spread the blaze. According to KPAX, fire crews from Ulm, Sand Coulee, Vaughn, MT Air National Guard, Malmstrom AFB and Great Falls all showed up to help. NorthWestern Energy and the Cascade County Sheriff's Office also assisted.
When crews arrived, the hawk was still clutching the dead snake in its talons. How's that for dedication? Luckily, no one reported injuries, and no buildings suffered damage from the blaze. I guess this just goes to show you that nature and mankind truly don't mix. What started out as a quick lunch break wound up in two deaths and a huge mess for someone to clean up.
I guess this just goes to show you that nature and mankind truly don't mix. What started out as a quick lunch break wound up in two deaths and a huge mess for someone to clean up.
Now Watch: Farmer Battles Wildfire on His Land with Tractor
oembed rumble video hereThe American Dream is Over, It Was A Wonderful Life
“Just a minute - just a minute. Now, hold on, Mr. Potter. You're right when you say my father was no businessman. I know that. Why he ever started this cheap, penny-ante Building and Loan, I'll never know. But neither you nor anyone else can say anything against his character, because his whole life was - why, in the twenty-five years since he and Uncle Billy started this thing, he never once thought of himself. Isn't that right, Uncle Billy? He didn't save enough money to send Harry to school, let alone me. But he did help a few people get out of your slums, Mr. Potter, and what's wrong with that? Why - here, you're all businessmen here. Doesn't it make them better citizens? Doesn't it make |
In a committee room of the House of Commons, the heads of the British secret services appeared on Thursday before a panel of M.P.’s in what might have been a re-enactment of that scene from the latest Bond movie — minus the shootout.
Even without gunfire, it was not short of drama. The mere sight of the heads of Britain’s domestic and foreign intelligence agencies, MI5 and MI6, along with the director of its listening post, G.C.H.Q., was spectacle enough. This was their first joint appearance in public, addressing a parliamentary intelligence and security committee whose hearings had, until now, always been held behind closed doors. (Indeed, little more than 20 years ago even the names of the intelligence chiefs were a state secret.)
That fact alone guaranteed coverage on the evening news. Which meant a rare focus on the topic that provided the session’s most electrifying moments: the Edward Snowden affair. Rare because the dominant British reaction to the revelations provided by Mr. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, has been a shrug of indifference. The Guardian helped break the story — that the N.S.A. and G.C.H.Q. (Government Communications Headquarters) have engaged in mass surveillance of American and British citizens online — and has covered it intensely, but the rest of the British media have largely steered clear. In Parliament, a few maverick individuals have raised concerns about civil liberties and privacy. When others have mentioned the subject, it’s mostly been to accuse The Guardian of damaging national security, rather than to ask whether the intelligence agencies have gone too far.
What explains this reaction — so at odds with the response in the United States, where Congress is reviewing its oversight arrangements and where everyone from President Obama on down has acknowledged that a debate is necessary, if not overdue, and so at odds with, say, Germany, where memories of Stasi eavesdropping ensure revulsion at the notion of all-seeing surveillance? The answers say much about the current political landscape of Britain — and much of what lies beneath.WestJet flight #2561 landed safely at Dallas Love Field after it was diverted over East Texas.
A Canadian passenger jet diverted to Dallas Love Field Friday evening due to a smoke-like smell in the forward galley.
WestJet flight #2561 was on its way from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to Toronto when it diverted over East Texas at about 6:45 p.m.
A WestJet spokesperson says there was no fire, and the pilot did not declare an emergency. The plane landed safely out of an "abundance of caution."
There were 163 passengers and six crew members aboard the Boeing 737-800. WestJet says it will provide overnight accommodations in Dallas for all of them.
Developing Judge Issues Arrest Warrant for Dallas City Councilman
Since the airline does not have a maintenance base at Love Field, it will need to fly a crew to Texas to examine the plane. It is still unclear if WestJet will bring another plane to Dallas or put the original plane back in service.
Either way, WestJet says everyone will get to Toronto Saturday.
WestJet is the second-largest airline in Canada. It is a low-cost carrier, often compared to Dallas-based Southwest Airlines. WestJet does fly to North Texas, but operates out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar has been named president of the jury at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
The announcement was made Tuesday by the festival via social media and on its own website.
“For its 70th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the history of film,” the festival said in a statement.
Almodovar, who succeeds George Miller as Cannes jury president, attended Cannes last year with “Julieta,” which wold-premiered in competition.
“A long and loyal friendship binds Pedro Almodovar to the festival, where he was a member of the jury under the presidency of Gérard Depardieu,” added Pierre Lescure, president of the festival, and Thierry Fremaux, delegate-general.
Five of Almodovar’s films have played in competition in Cannes: “All About my Mother” (“Todo Sobre Mi Madre”), “Volver,” “Broken Embraces” (“Los Abrazos Rotos”), “The Skin I Live In,” and “Julieta.” His “Bad Education” (“La Mala Educacion”) opened the festival in 2004.
“I am grateful, honored and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure,” Almodovar said in a prepared statement.
In recent years, Cannes jury presidents have mostly been non-Europeans, including Miller, Joel and Ethan Coen, Steven Spielberg, Robert De Niro, Sean Penn and Jane Campion. Almodovar joins Nanni Moretti and Isabelle Huppert as Europeans who have presided over the jury within the last decade.
The festival runs May 17-28. The official selection and members of the jury will be announced in mid-April.Quick — go check and see if you have enough free space on your iPhone.
I’m guessing you’re like the rest of us, and can use a little more — especially if you’ve got a smaller iPhone in the 16 GB range.
If you’re looking to free up some storage space on any size iPhone, here’s a bizarre little trick that just might astound you.
First, head into your Settings app to check out how much space you have left. Tap on General, then About. See the Available spot? That’s how many GB you have left on your iOS device.
Now, launch the iTunes Store and find a movie you can rent that has a file size larger than the space you have left on your iPhone. The Two Towers, from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, is a good size at 6.83 GB, but you can see the file size of any movie by clicking through to its information page, then tapping on the Details button. Swiping down below the Cast and Crew info will show you the size of any film.
Now, tap on the Rent button. You won’t be charged until you’re able to start the download process. Since you’ve chosen a movie larger than your available storage space, you’ll be fine. Just in case, though, only use the Rent button; tap it twice and then you’ll get a “cannot download” error.
Hit the Settings option in the error dialog to go back to Settings. You’ll likely see an increase in the Available section. Do this a few times until you no longer see the increase in free space.
I saw a huge return in space when I did this, from 6.3 GB to 23.6 GB the first try. I couldn’t find a movie bigger than 23.6 GB, so I stopped at that point — your mileage may vary. Some users over on reddit report large gains (from 800 MB to 4.9 GB), while others don’t see so much (from 2.0 GB to 3.6 GB over many attempts). Rick Broida at CNET reports an increase from 4.0 GB to 4.4 GB after a rental, with no more increases after that.
Let us know how it works for you, and if you see huge gains or not.And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." (Genesis 3:15) seed of a woman But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, (Galatians 4:4)
And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:3) descendant of Abraham The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1)
But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. (Genesis 17:19) descendant of Isaac the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, (Luke 3:34)
"I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob, and a scepter shall rise from Israel, and shall crush through the forehead of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth. (Numbers 24:17) descendant of Jacob To Abraham was born Isaac; and to Isaac, Jacob; and to Jacob, Judah and his brothers; (Matthew 1:2)
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Genesis 49:10) from the tribe of Judah the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, (Luke 3:33)
Then it will come about in that day that the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious. (Isaiah 11:10) descendent of Jesse And again Isaiah says, "THERE SHALL COME THE ROOT OF JESSE, AND HE WHO ARISES TO RULE OVER THE GENTILES, IN HIM SHALL THE GENTILES HOPE." (Romans 15:12)
"Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "When I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, `The LORD our righteousness.'" (Jeremiah 23:5-6) descendant of David The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1)
"And My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances, and keep My statutes, and observe them." (Ezekiel 37:24) will shepherd His people "`And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you shall come forth a Ruler, Who will shepherd My people Israel.'" (Matthew 2:6)
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:7) heir to the throne of David "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end." (Luke 1:32-33)
Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; therefore God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of joy above Thy fellows. (Psalm 45:6-7)
"Of old Thou didst found the earth; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. Even they will perish, but Thou dost endure; and all of them will wear out like a garment; like clothing Thou wilt change them, and they will be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years will not come to an end." (Psalm 102:25-27) anointed and eternal But of the Son He says, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy companions." And, "Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands; They will perish, but Thou remainest; and they all will become old as a garment, and as a mantle Thou wilt roll them up; as a garment they will also be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years will not come to an end." (Hebrews 1:8-12)
"But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity." (Micah 5:2) born in Bethlehem And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register, along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.... And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:4-5, 7)
"So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. (Daniel 9:25) time for His birth Now it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. (Luke 2:1-2)
"Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14) to be born of a virgin Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.... And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus." (Luke 1:26-27, 30-31)
Let the nomads of the desert bow before him; And his enemies lick the dust. (Psalm 72:9) worshipped by shepherds And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."... And it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, "Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us." (Luke 2:8-15)
Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring presents; The kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts... So may he live; and may the gold of Sheba be given to him; And let them pray for him continually; Let them bless him all day long. (Psalm 72:10, 15)
"And nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising." (Isaiah 60:3) honored by great kings Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east, and have come to worship Him."... And they came into the house and saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell down and worshiped Him; and opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:1-11)
Thus says the LORD, "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more." (Jeremiah 31:15) slaughter of children Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its environs, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the magi. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more." (Matthew 2:16-18)
When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. (Hosea 11:1) flight to Egypt And he arose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed for Egypt; and was there until the death of Herod, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "Out of Egypt did I call My Son." (Matthew 2:14-15)
A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." (Isaiah 40:3-5) the way prepared And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, `Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. `Every ravine shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough roads smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'" (Luke 3:3-6)
"Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the LORD, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:1) preceded by a forerunner And when the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the multitudes about John, "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind?... "This is the one about whom it is written, `Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.'" (Luke 7:24, 27)
"Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse." (Malachi 4:5-6) preceded by Elijah "For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you care to accept it, he himself is Elijah, who was to come." (Matthew 11:13-14)
"I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, `Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee.'" (Psalm 2:7)
Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son's name? Surely you know! (Proverbs 30:4) declared the Son of God "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;" (Luke 1:32)
and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased." (Matthew 3:17)
But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. (Isaiah 9:1-2) Galilean ministry and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-- "The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned." (Matthew 4:13-16)
I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done. (Psalm 78:2-4) speaks in parables All these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable, so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world." (Matthew 13:34-35)
...For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples. " (Isaiah 56:7)
"Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 7:11) temple becomes a house of merchandise instead of prayer And He said to them, "It is written, `My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a robbers' den." (Matthew 21:13)
For zeal for Thy house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach Thee have fallen on me. (Psalm 69:9) zeal of Jews for the temple instead of God His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Thy house will consume me." (John 2:17)
"The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him." (Deuteronomy 18:15) a prophet and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you... "Moses said, `The Lord God shall raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed in everything He says to you.'" (Acts 3:20, 22)
And on that day the deaf shall hear words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. (Isaiah 29:18)
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah. (Isaiah 35:5-6) blind, deaf, and lame are healed by the Messiah And He answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them." (Luke 7:22)
and said to Him, "Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?" And Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. (Matthew 11:3-5)
"He will not cry out or raise His voice, Nor make His voice heard in the street. "A bruised reed He will not break, And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. (Isaiah 42:2-3)
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7) Messiah will be meek and mild "Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen; My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased; I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel, nor cry out; Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A battered reed He will not break off, And a smoldering wick He will not put out, Until He leads justice to victory." (Matthew 12:18-20)
"Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29)
"Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1)
Listen to Me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; from the body of My mother He named Me. (Isaiah 49:1) will minister to Gentiles MAT 12:18 "Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen; My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased; I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles... "And in His name the Gentiles will hope." (Matthew 12:18-21)
A light of revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Thy people Israel. " (Luke 2:32)
The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, (Isaiah 61:1-2) to bind up the brokenhearted "He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." (Luke 4:18-19)
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12)
And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him; And His righteousness upheld Him. (Isaiah 59:16) to intercede for the people who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. (Romans 8:34)
Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
As the cattle which go down into the valley, The Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So didst Thou lead Thy people, To make for Thyself a glorious name. (Isaiah 63:14)
Thus says the LORD, "Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, `We will not walk in it.'" (Jeremiah 6:16) gives rest to our souls "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light." (Matthew 11:29-30)
He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Isaiah 53:3)
"Then He shall become a sanctuary; But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem." (Isaiah 8:14)
Therefore thus says the LORD God, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed." (Isaiah 28:16)
The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. (Psalm 118:22) rejected by His own people, the Jews He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. (John 1:11)
But they cried out all together, saying, "Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!" (Luke 23:18)
He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the very corner stone. (Acts 4:11)
For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed." This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, "The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone," and, "A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. (1 Peter 2:6-8)
The LORD has sworn and will not change His mind, "Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." (Psalm 110:4) priest after the order of Melchizedek So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, "Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee"; just as He says also in another passage, "Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek." (Hebrews 5:5-6)
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9) triumphal entry And they brought the colt to Jesus and put their garments on it; and He sat upon it.... And those who went before, and those who followed after, were crying out, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;"... And He entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking all around, He departed for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late. (Mark 11:7, 9, 11)
"Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the LORD, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 3:1) entered the temple with authority And Jesus entered the temple and cast out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves. (Matthew 21:12)
From the mouth of infants and nursing babes Thou hast established strength, because of Thine adversaries, to make the enemy and the revengeful cease. (Psalm 8:2) adored by infants But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became indignant, and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, `Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes Thou hast prepared praise for Thyself?'" (Matthew 21:15-16)
Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? (Isaiah 53:1) not believed But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him; that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" (John 12:37-38)
"Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My Associate," Declares the LORD of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may be scattered; and I will turn My hand against the little ones." (Zechariah 13:7) sheep of the Shepherd scattered Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written, `I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.'" (Matthew 26:31)
Even my close friend, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. (Psalm 41:9)
For it is not an enemy who reproaches me, Then I could bear it; Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me, Then I could hide myself from him. But it is you, a man my equal, My companion and my familiar friend. (Psalm 55:12-13)
"And one will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will say,' Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.' (Zechariah 13:6) betrayed by a close friend "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor." While He was still speaking, behold, a multitude came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" (Luke 22:47-48)
And immediately he went to Jesus and said, "Hail, Rabbi!" and kissed Him. And Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you have come for." Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him. (Matthew 26:49-50)
And I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!" So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. (Zechariah 11:12) betrayed for thirty pieces of silver Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, and said, "What are you willing to give me to deliver Him up to you?" And they weighed out to him thirty pieces of silver. (Matthew 26:14-15)
Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them." So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. (Zechariah 11:13) betrayal money used to buy Potter's field And the chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood." And they counseled together and with the money bought the Potter's Field as a burial place for strangers. (Matthew 27:6-7)
Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know. (Psalm 35:11) accused by false witnesses And some stood up and began to give false testimony against Him, saying, "We heard Him say, `I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.'" (Mark 14:57 |
. Luke van Winkel told Now News.
Officials say the boy was under the influence of LSD, and when officers attempted to take him into custody, he began to turn his aggression onto them.
Ultimately, the boy was released with no charges. Van Winkel noted that he was "just a kid who made some bad choices," and that criminal charges were not in his best interest.
The Port Moody police tweeted about the incident, first stating "A call of a male fighting with a mailbox." They later reported, "Mailbox fighter arrested after violently fighting with police."
The @PortMoodyPD Twitter account is, in fact, full of hilarious commentary on various police calls.
"It was a fight on the street between friends," a July 21 tweet reads. "An intervener got bit in the arm. We were advised it was "typical guy stuff." #debatable."
The same night as the alleged mailbox battle, the Port Moody PD alerted citizens that they had another intoxicated individual on their hands.On January 17, 1919, the Joplin Globe reported on the don of Prohibition in America as Missouri became the 37th state to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, effectively banning the sale of alcohol. The 36th state, Nebraska, brought the country to the three-fourths majority required to make it official.
Prohibition was in place by January 1920, ushering in the era of roaring speakeasies and notorious gangsters.
Just a decade earlier, in January 1910, the temperance movement initiated the "hardest fought election ever held in Joplin," in which wets narrowly defeated drys to keep Joplin saloons in business.
Excerpt from the extra edition of the Joplin News Herald on January 27, 1910. Voters decided to continue allowing saloons. JOPLIN GLOBE ARCHIVES
Excerpt from the Joplin News Herald extra on January 27, 1910. JOPLIN GLOBE ARCHIVES
Once the Great Depression hit in 1929, economies needed a boost, the government needed tax dollars, and, perhaps, weary Americans just needed a drink. Prohibition was repealed in 1933.
Excerpt of the December 6, 1933 edition of the Joplin Globe featuring a story on the end of Prohibition. JOPLIN GLOBE ARCHIVES
Full versions of these and many other front pages and historic photographs can be found in the Joplin Globe's new hardbound, large-format book, "Greater Joplin Through Our Eyes: 120 Years of Front Pages & Photos from the Globe and its Readers."Peter DeBoer has coached 236 games with the Devils. That’s more than everyone except Jacques Lemaire in the Lou Lamoriello Era, dating back to 1987.
His debut season was a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. That was an Ilya Kovalchuk ago. A Zach Parise ago. A Larry Robinson and an Adam Oates ago.
It's DeBoer’s only appearance in the playoffs during his six years as an NHL head coach. They’ve not made the playoffs in the following two seasons. This season, the results are middling at best.
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Assigning blame when a team is stumbling and bumbling its way through the first two months of the season is never easy, and such is the case for the New Jersey Devils and their increasingly maligned coach.
The Devils are 9-11-4. Not terrible, not great. But they’re 2-8-2 in their last 12 games, including a 4-game Western Conference swing that saw them only defeat the Edmonton Oilers, which is something you have to try really hard not to do. They returned home and blew a lead vs. Detroit before losing in a shootout, much like they blew a lead in Calgary two games earlier and did the same.
How much of this is DeBoer’s fault?
Some of it can be laid at his feet, with odd line combination decisions and personnel management, contributing to the team’s anemic offensive (58 goals in 24 games, the 23rd best offense in the NHL); and his mistrust of the team’s backup netminders, leading to Cory Schneider getting a preposterous 23 starts, which is already more than half his total from last season.
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But is it on DeBoer that Patrik Elias decided to act his age this season, with just one goal in his last 23 games? Is it on DeBoer that little injuries to key players like Mike Cammalleri and Adam Henrique have added up, while Ryane Clowe’s noggin continues to make his signing one of the most baffling and reactionary in Lou Lamoriello’s tenure?
Is it on DeBoer that the Devils have gone from seventh in the NHL in Corsi percentage (52.57) in one-goal situations last season to 19th this season (49.49)? (Via War On Ice.)
Is it on DeBoer that the Devils have taken 102 minor penalties this season, mostly for hooking and holding; or is that a function of having a slow-skating roster, with defensemen like Bryce Salvador (when healthy) and Marek Zidlicky compensating for poor positioning with bad penalties?
Is it on DeBoer that Adam Larsson and Eric Gelinas haven’t played well enough to earn more ice time, or has his frequent dog-housing of both stunted their growth?
(It’s important to note here that one of the valid criticisms of DeBoer last year was not playing the kids enough on defense. By losing Mark Fayne and Anton Volchenkov in the offseason and Salvador to injury, his hand was forced and as a result the team found a real gem in Damon Severson.)
Is it on DeBoer that this team might not be built to win in 2014-15?
The question is just as much “how much of this is on DeBoer?” as it is “what’s the next guy going to do differently?”
Is another coach going to miraculously spark this hodgepodge of veteran players into an offensive machine? Have them keep their hands and sticks off opponents? Win a [expletive] shootout, which is again this team’s undoing (1-3 so far; 1-16 in the last two seasons)?
The good news for DeBoer is that they haven’t quit on him. Their effort against the Islanders on Saturday, in a losing effort, was indicative of that.
The bad news is that unless this team has a strong December, they’ll be hustling for another guy behind the bench come early 2015.Cows Not so surprising to me, cows are a form of currency in Ethiopia and are required for many things, including gifting to the brides family when getting married. For many people, they operate in pretty much a cash less society, so if you want to get married, you better have a way of having or coming up with some cows. (Hence the popularity of raiding parties in the south, we didn't realize the common occurrence of such until we ran into a police patrol who pointed out that there was a party of 150 men with AK47's 40 km further up the road that we were riding on. But that's another story.)
The importance of cattle can't be over stated, in the south I had an interesting conversation with a government agricultural official who pointed out that there is a large problem with overgrazing. They insist on owning as many cows as possible and the land base can't support the number of cattle, grazing to the point where they are underfed and stop producing milk. As a result, the owner's family continues to suffer from malnourishment. Very strange from our perspective, but it makes sense to them. Every cow has great value, whether it is thin or not.
The same official warned us that if we did hit a cow, that we could expect and angry mob. One school of thought was to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. He also warned us that in certain areas if a cow was hit and killed and the driver drove off, certain tribes would simply block the road and stop the next vehicle and demand payment from them. When dealing with angry mobs, the logic of the situation and rules of right of way etc. don't hold much sway. And even right of way is mostly a concept for the industrialized world, from a farmers perspective the road is just a smooth trail, the onus is on you to avoid the wandering beasts and people. If an accident happens, the onus is likely on the "perceived rich" westerner who has enough money to actually own a vehicle to prove that he is not at fault at all (difficult) and then to negotiate like heck to make sure that he doesn't get fleeced more than is appropriate.(David Goldman/AP)
Last June, with little fanfare, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed a measure solidifying the ban on torture. While torture was already illegal, this amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act explicitly prohibited waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation" techniques.
Seventy-eight senators voted for it, and President Barack Obama signed it as part of the annual defense funding bill. It's the law of the land. The broad bipartisan support for this bill signaled that our government was rebuilding the consensus against this illegal and un-American practice.
But you wouldn't know this from watching the presidential race, where the candidates are campaigning like it's 2005. Such remarks threaten the emerging anti-torture consensus and have drawn criticism from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a revered friend and himself a victim of torture, who said, "these statements must not go unanswered because they mislead the American people about the realities of interrogation."
In the debate over torture, it's difficult to overstate the importance of political leadership. In January 2005, a USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll found that 82 percent of Americans opposed waterboarding. But as politicians and pundits claimed that torture had helped protect the country, more Americans – a majority, according to some polls – later came to support it.
Then came the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's landmark 2014 report on CIA detention and interrogation, which created momentum for last year's anti-torture law. Based on the CIA's own records, the report showed not only that torture was even more brutal that Americans had been led to believe but that it was counterproductive as an intelligence-gathering technique.
The debate about torture was over – or should have been.
Some who champion torture do so in the name of national security. But to be truly tough on terrorism is to reject torture unconditionally. I say this as someone who dedicated my life to defending this nation, and I'm in good company. Numerous members of the U.S. military – including some of our country's most successful interrogators of terrorists – agree that torture makes Americans less safe.
Torture tends to elicit bogus information that sets back investigations and wastes resources. Beyond the interrogation room, it saps American credibility, alienates allies, angers populations whose cooperation we need in the battle against terrorism and helps our enemies recruit fighters. Our country's embrace of torture exacted a steep price, one the country is still paying.
Perhaps most significantly, the use of torture compromises our nation's character. While far from perfect, the United States has exhibited a baseline commitment to human rights and the rule of law. It's this commitment that binds us to democratic movements around the globe and serves as one our most powerful weapons against terrorist groups. Sometimes defenders of torture point out that enemies of the United States abuse detainees. It's true, they do, but that's a strong argument against torture. This isn't about them; it's about us.
President Ronald Reagan helped negotiate the U.N. Convention Against Torture, which he signed in 1988. The Senate later ratified it, cementing a bipartisan consensus that lasted until the years after 9/11. Thanks to the work of countless advocates and the leadership of politicians like McCain and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., we've come a long way toward rebuilding the consensus.
Along with many other Americans, I'm determined not to let politicized rhetoric drag the country backwards.
Corrected on Feb. 24, 2016 : The original version of this article misidentified the sponsor of the Senate's anti-torture legislation.Hailing from Chattanooga, Tenn., emcee Isaiah Rashad is the odd man out among the mostly West Coast Top Dawg label roster, which includes Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Jay Rock and Ab-Soul. But other than his hometown, he fits right in: his prodigious understanding of hip-hop history is evident on tracks like “R.I.P. Kevin Miller” and “Brad Jordan”, the former a tribute to Master P’s murdered brother, the latter an ode to seminal Houston rapper Scarface. The album boasts a motley crew of producers, most of them newcomers as well; they have Black Hippy’s soul-funk aesthetic down pat, and Rashad’s rhymes explore the tension between hip-hop’s grown-man stoicism and the anxieties that accompany life’s many crossroads. Best of all, the guy can rap, with his dexterous flow flitting its way between somnolent jazz samples and skittering rhythms. From the melancholy soul-searching of “Tranquility” to the confident g-funk of the title track, Cilvia Demo is an ambitious, honest and unforgettable debut.Red wolves were one of the first carnivores Europeans encountered in North America. Unfortunately, this meant red wolves were also one of the first to be exterminated. Fuelled by fear and superstition, government supported eradication campaigns reduced red wolves to only about 100 individuals by mid-20th century.
In the 1970s, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) removed the last remaining red wolves from eastern Texas and western Louisiana to try to save them in captivity. Declared extinct in the wild in 1980, the USFWS has since focused conservation efforts on creating a captive population from which to restore red wolves to their historic range in the future.
Now, despite reestablishing a wild population, the USFWS Red Wolf Recovery Program is under review and could face closure.
Capturing red wolves to save them
Removing red wolves from the wild was unprecedented and marked the first time a species was purposely removed from its natural environment to save it from extinction. The long-term objective to return them to the wild started with a small captive population and the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan that laid out a strategy for managing red wolf populations, establishing techniques for proper capture and restraint, coordinating research, and ultimately reintroducing captive-born red wolves to the wild.
One problem was the red wolf’s close relation to the coyote: as red wolf populations tumbled, coyotes from western and central states moved into the wolf’s historic range, eventually colonising it entirely. The two species’ ranges did not historically overlap, but once in contact they can interbreed, meaning dwindling red wolf numbers were further reduced and assimilated into the coyote population via hybridisation.
Starting with only 14 red wolves as founders, the captive population rose to about 60 after five years, during which time USFWS used several islands as preserves where some red wolves could be kept in semi-wild conditions and provide training opportunity for USFWS biologists. In 1987, the USFWS released four pairs of captive-born red wolves on Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina. Since then the USFWS has established a wild population currently of about 80 individuals – the first successful reintroduction of its kind.
Restoring red wolves to the wild
Conservation and management of endangered carnivores is difficult, but restoring wolves to the eastern US is unprecedented as the effort requires addressing impacts by humans, hybridisation with coyotes, and inbreeding common to small endangered populations. The high number of wolves killed by humans exacerbates problems of inbreeding, which lowers the wolves’ fitness by decreasing reproductive rates and increasing susceptibility to environmental change and disease. Hybridisation increases when shrinking numbers allow coyotes to colonise territories of wolves killed by humans, and when a red wolf cannot locate a red wolf mate it will accept a coyote and produce hybrids. They may even do so to avoid inbreeding.
To address hybridisation, USFWS developed a catch-and-release programme where coyotes are sterilised. These sterile coyotes then act as territorial placeholders; fitted with radio collars and monitored by USFWS biologists, they defend their territory against fertile coyotes until red wolves can move in and occupy those areas. This technique lowers coyote densities by suppressing reproduction, while also preventing hybrids in the event the sterile coyote finds a red wolf mate.
Fortunately red wolves will readily adopt pups and raise them as their own, so captive-born red wolf pups are fostered into wild litters in order to increase the genetic diversity of the wild population. Not only does this technique decrease the relatedness of neighbouring wolves and augment the wild population, but it increases the survival of captive-born animals by allowing them be raised by wild red wolf packs.
While the species’ recovery has benefited greatly from these techniques, the best solution to these problems is to simply increase the population size. Currently, about 80 red wolves in 15 packs hold territories across 6,500 km2 of public and private land. It’s essential to reduce the number of human-caused deaths and to boost red wolf population numbers. Despite great strides to restore red wolves to their former range, much work needs to be done, and an end to the USFWS Red Wolf Recovery Program could see the end of the red wolf.14841970-mmmain.png
U.S. Senate candidate Mark Callahan was ordered out of an endorsement interview at Willamette Week offices after complaining that a reporter wrote only "blah, blah, blah" as candidate Jo Rae Perkins spoke. (YouTube)
(YouTube)
Things got testy this week during a U.S. Senate endorsement interview at Willamette Week, ending with the newspaper’s editors ordering a candidate to leave the room.
“You’re done here,” Editor-in-Chief Mark Zusman told Republican hopeful Mark Callahan after Callahan, an information technology consultant, complained about being treated disrespectfully by the Willamette Week panel.
“There’s the door,” Managing Editor Brent Walth said, prompting Callahan to stand and leave, muttering, “I’ve got better things to do with my time.”
The exchange was filmed and posted on the weekly's web page. It has since gotten widespread distribution, including a write-up on the journalism discussion site JimRomenesko.com.
The fireworks started a little more than an hour into the endorsement interview, which included Callahan, Monica Wehby, Jason Conger, Tim Crawley and Jo Rae Perkins – all running in the GOP primary to see who takes on Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeff Merkley.
Callahan interrupted to complain that reporter Nigel Jaquiss had written “blah blah blah blah blah” in his notepad after a lengthy answer from Perkins. He called it “disrespectful” of Perkins. He then was warned to be respectful himself.
After Callahan said that he considers global warming to be a “myth,” he was asked by Jaquiss: “Where are you on the Easter bunny?”
“Really?” Callahan said, later calling the question “childish.”
After some pointed barbs between him and Zusman, Zusman ordered him to leave. The interview proceeded with the remaining candidates. The newspaper endorsed Conger.
-- Harry EsteveArtist Vicky Harrison said it was one of the customers at her arts and crafts shop who suggested "knitting the iconic buildings of Bristol".
This inspired Ms Harrison's project to create a three-dimensional model of the city out of wool, with 100 people casting off to crochet, knit, bead, felt and embroider.
Ms Harrison's shop in Bedminster has been taken over by "a woolly world filled with crochet trees, beaded swans, knitted Totterdown houses, the SS Great Britain and Cabot Tower perched on top of the woolly undergrowth of Brandon Hill".
It was also customer Alison Pigeon who came up with the title "Briswool".
Ms Harrison said the project had been "self-funded", with all the crocheters and knitters being volunteers.
She held free workshops and contributors to the woollen landscape included beginners along with advanced knitters.
In the team were a seven-year-old girl who made penguins for the zoo and knitters in their late 70s.
The project involved more crocheting than knitting.
The foliage, trees, half of the knitted squares and most of the buildings were crocheted.
Ms Harrison said the woman who knitted City Hall, where Bristol City Council is based, chose it because it was where her father had worked and that he had designed public toilets in Bristol.
Clifton Suspension Bridge was knitted by Joy Roddy, who also knitted the cathedral, the swing bridge and "lots of little boats including the Pyronaut".
She said: "I was pleased with the bridge - I love fiddling and creating."
Harrison said a "huge amount of wool" had been donated by Eileen Stansfield, who has "been crafting all her life" - and who also made the beaded swans and squirrels for Briswool.
The project has so far required about 4,000 hours of work, the team estimates.
"There are so many people involved and we're quite tenuously linked.
"Some people just come into the shop once and some you don't hear from and then they'll suddenly appear with a knitted item or square," said Ms Harrison.
Briswool will be on show at Paper Village at 200 North Street in Bedminster from 17 to 27 May.Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looked on during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania Saturday.
WASHINGTON — Despite early speculation that Donald Trump’s powers of disruption will redraw America’s Electoral College map, blowing up the status quo and turning blue states red, campaigns and consultants in both parties are focusing tightly on the handful of swing states that traditionally determine presidential elections.
Those states — Florida, Ohio, Colorado, and Virginia — are already inundated with television ads, candidate visits, and campaign staffers knocking on doors.
For the next 100 days, if the current pattern holds true, much of the country will watch from the sidelines as one of the most vicious and combative contests in modern history gets decided in places like Toledo, Ohio; Orlando; and the Denver suburbs.
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“It’s going to be a slugfest extraordinaire,” said Dave Carney, a New Hampshire-based Republican consultant. “Brutal by any modern comparison.”
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Hillary Clinton enters the general election with almost every institutional advantage, which, in any normal race, would give her a significant advantage. She has raised far more money, she has a much bigger staff and better ground-game operations, and is planning to run far more ads.
And yet polls have shown the race at a tie, or with Trump in the lead, both nationwide and in many of the individual battleground states.
Trump’s team suggested during the primary that he would rip up the traditional political map and make usually Democratic Northeast states more competitive. But aside from New Hampshire, a toss-up state where Trump won big and Clinton lost resoundingly during the primaries, there is little evidence of that.
Clinton’s campaign is openly baiting Trump, urging him to spend time on traditionally Democratic states that her strategists view as a long shot to flip.
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“I absolutely encourage Donald Trump to spend time campaigning in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey,” Robby Mook, the Clinton campaign manager, told reporters last week at a breakfast hosted by The Wall Street Journal.
It is a quirk of the Electoral College system that the votes of many Americans don’t really have an impact on the final outcome of presidential elections, because their states are so predictably Republican or Democratic. And even among the 10 or so swing states that decide American presidential elections, there is an even smaller subset that occupy the most attention, because of their rich troves of Electoral College votes and persuadable populations. The winner needs to capture 270 Electoral College votes.
To be sure, advisers in both campaigns talk about fighting in states where their party hasn’t won in decades. Democrats dream of sending Clinton over the top in Arizona — or even, given its high Mormon population skeptical of Trump, Utah. Trump covets Michigan and Wisconsin, two states now governed by Republicans. But both campaigns know they cannot win the election without bringing some combination of Florida, Ohio, Virginia, and Colorado into their column.
Still, there is debate about what is happening in 2016. Even with just 100 days to go to Election Day, Trump’s angry brushfire that swept the GOP primary could ignite in unexpected places, some consultants say.
Joe Mahoney/Getty Images Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“States that haven’t traditionally been in the mix are going to be in play,” Carney said. “I don’t think folks that live on the East Coast get it. The country is not happy. That’s why I think, in these other states — like Oregon and Minnesota and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Michigan — things are not great. And there’s a giant anxiety about what’s going on.”
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The race represents a common theme: change versus more of the same. In 1992, Bill Clinton represented “change’’ and then-President George H.W. Bush represented the status quo. In 2008, Barack Obama was the “change” agent.
Trump, the most unorthodox major party candidate in generations, is all about “change.”
And even while Clinton has tried to cast herself as a “change-maker,” her quarter-century in Washington makes that argument complicated.
“This is a classic change versus status quo election,” Carney said. “If it was on policy, Hillary clearly would win. But this is not a micro-issue election. This is a fundamental direction of the country election.”
Adding another layer of unpredictability in the last 100 days is the Libertarian ticket of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld. They are hoping to offer refuge to the large swath of voters unsatisfied with both Clinton and Trump.
They could become a greater factor if they gain enough traction to meet the 15 percent threshold necessary to be invited to upcoming candidate debates, but polling to gauge their impact on the race right now is difficult.
A CNN national poll last week indicated that Trump’s lead grows slightly when Johnson is included in the survey. But a Reuters poll of Ohio voters showed that Clinton’s lead increases with Johnson in the race.
No Republican has ever won the White House without winning Ohio, and it will be vital for Trump if he is going to forge a pathway.
As in other swing states, Ohio will showcase an odd dynamic of 2016: Trump is presenting himself as a populist, focusing on converting white rural Democrats who don’t trust Clinton, while Clinton is courting suburban Republicans who are nervous about Trump’s temperament.
The strategy played out during both conventions. Trump made overt appeals to disgruntled supporters of populist insurgent Bernie Sanders. From the Democratic stage in Philadelphia, prominent speakers hailed Republicans John McCain, Ronald Reagan, and Mitt Romney.
“I thought I was watching the 1988 Republican convention,” said David Cohen, a political science professor at the University of Akron, describing this year’s Democratic gathering. “It was an overt attempt to not link Trump to the Republican Party. It was a play to those Republicans who have moral reservations about supporting someone like Donald Trump.”
In Ohio, Trump is likely to focus on coal country in the southeastern part of the state, while Clinton, in addition to the suburbs, will look toward driving turnout among minorities.
But Trump is likely to run into some roadblocks: He has been deeply critical of Ohio Governor John Kasich, one of his former presidential primary rivals. Kasich has refused to endorse Trump, and Trump has pledged to form a super PAC to try to defeat Kasich.
“It’s a baffling strategy,” Cohen said. “From the beginning of the Republican convention, Trump and his team have gone out of their way to alienate the Ohio Republican Party and the governor of Ohio.”
Florida is likely to become the focus for both candidates because of a simple fact: If Clinton wins Florida, she then only needs to carry the states that Democrats have won in almost every election since 1992 — even if she loses Ohio and Virginia.
But while Trump has a home in Florida, and he easily defeated one of the state’s senators, Marco Rubio, during the primary, he lacks some of the ground troops that Democrats have used to defeat Republicans in the past two elections. The state has also grown more diverse — 24 percent of Floridians are Hispanic, compared with 17 percent in 2000 — which could make Trump’s hurdles even greater. He has alienated many Hispanics with anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“I think Donald Trump is going to have a really hard time here,” said Anthony Bustamante, a Florida-based Republican consultant. “Not because I don’t like him — I’ll be supporting him — but I don’t know that he’ll have the resources for a really effective ground game. TV is not enough. You need a ground game in Florida.”
Trump is also at a disadvantage on the money front.
Clinton and the super PACs supporting her had $86 million in their accounts at the end of June, compared with $22 million for Trump, according to the most recent campaign finance reports.
Trump is also continuing the approach that worked for him during the primary campaign, but could be risky during a general election: spending very little on television ads.
As of mid-July, his campaign and super PAC supporters had reserved only $655,000 in television and radio ads, according to an analysis by Ad Age. Clinton had reserved $111 million across 10 states, with much of it concentrated in Florida and Ohio.
Clinton has aired a wide variety of ads, some of them softly touting her biography (“For Hillary, it’s always been about the kids,” one says) while others are hard-hitting against Trump (“Our children are watching. What example will we set for them,” says another, after Trump is shown using coarse language).
Trump’s campaign has yet to air a television ad during the general election, but a super PAC supporting him recently took out two ads, one in which Clinton is shown apparently speaking in India in 2005 saying, “I don’t think you can effectively restrict outsourcing.” The other shows black-and-white images of gritty factory workers as a narrator laments jobs that have gone overseas.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. We can turn it around,” the narrator says, as the black and white ad changes to color. “It will be American steel that rebuilds our inner cities, it’ll be American steel that sends our skyscrapers soaring. It’ll be American hands, American workers that remake this country. We’re going to be working again.”
Now that the conventions are over, there are fewer big stages left to rewrite the fundamentals of the campaign. The four debates, beginning Sept. 26, could be among the most consequential moments.
These are the two least liked nominees in history. And one of the things Trump proved during the Republican primary was that no one goes negative better, or more often, than he does.
“Because both candidates have such high unfavorable ratings, both see it in their best interest to poison their opponent’s profile,” said Kevin Madden, a longtime Republican consultant and former adviser to Romney. “Don’t expect a very substance-driven campaign, but instead one that is really fought over attributes that will be increasingly personal and increasingly negative.”
Matt Viser can be reached at matt.viser@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @mviserMay 09, 2017 at 14:56 // News
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Global blockchain startup Patientory will launch its crowdsale on the 31st of May to raise funds for development of a pioneering new platform for managing patient care.
The Patientory platform will offer a blockchain-based solution to healthcare organisations who need to securely and privately store patient data. Since its launch in 2015 the award-winning startup has attracted high profile partners such as Kaiser Permanente and Startup+Health.
Patientory will act as software as a service (SaaS) platform for healthcare providers offering a way to secure patient data whilst enabling access across a trusted network of healthcare organizations. The system aims to improve clinical outcomes by making patient care easier and more efficient, particularly where there is more than one provider collaborating on patient care.
At the moment medical data is held electronically where it is increasingly at risk from cybercrime activites. By securing data on the blockchain, Patientory can ensure privacy and reduce data breaches. The Patientory platform has been able to achieve HIPAA compliance, meeting U.S. standards for ensuring the privacy of individually identifiable health information.
The project was founded by entrepreneur Chrissa McFarlane whose team includes blockchain experts and business professionals. The board of eight advisors includes Shaun Wilkinson, founder of Storj, placing Patientory in strong position to take first movers advantage for blockchain-based medical record storage.
Patientory is also partnered with Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest not-for-profit health plans in the U.S. KP serves more than 11.3 million members across it’s own chain of 38 Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries.[2] The health provider published an annual operating revenue of $64.6 billion last year and will be one of the first organisations to use the Patientory platform when it launches this year.
For the end user, the Patientory platform will provide an easy-to-use patient portal to connect with healthcare providers, schedule appointments and review treatment plans. The platform has the potential to radically reduce the cost of care through its ability to streamline, automate and coordinate treatment processes.
Patientory was recently dubbed ‘this year’s most highly investable company’ by SEMDA after receiving top prize from the Atlanta-based partnership with MedTech accelerator. Patientory has also been ranked in the top 5 digital healthcare solutions worldwide for empowering patients, as well as receiving numerous acknowledgments across thought leaders.
The crowdsale opens on the 31st of May and will offer PTOY tokens that function as access and permissions tokens for the Patientory platform. See the Patientory website for more details.
Disclaimer. This article is provided by a third-party source and should not be viewed as an endorsement by CoinIdol. Readers should do their own research before investing funds in any company. CoinIdol shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, goods or services mentioned in this article.The first episode of the upcoming season 3 of Homeland has leaked a month before its official premiere. The leaked episode is a workprint and is missing a few visual effects, the opening credits and a few other minor details. Despite these shortcomings many Homeland fans have grabbed an advance screening from BitTorrent networks, with downloads reaching in excess of 100,000 copies during the first few hours.
With 2.4 million downloads, Showtime’s Homeland was one of the most pirated TV-shows of 2012.
Later this month the third season of Homeland will premiere, and this time the number of downloads may even be higher as pirates have access to the premiere four weeks in advance.
Homeland’s season premiere turned up online a few hours ago and already 100,000 people have grabbed an advance copy via one of the Internet’s many torrent sites. While other TV-shows have come out ahead of schedule in the past, the source of this Homeland leak is rather unique, as the copy is not completely finished.
The leak is a so-called workprint, an unfinished copy that lacks some final touches. In two instances some visual effects of bomb craters are still to be added and the opening credits are also missing. In addition, there’s one scene where the voice of the actor is dubbed.
Since it is a workprint, the source of the leak is likely connected to a post-production studio. Unlike promotional screeners which are sent out to the press in advance, not many people have access to unfinished production work.
Somehow a copy leaked outside official channels, which are generally well protected, and eventually made its way to the scene.
Unlike regular scene releases, however, it was shared by an unknown group called “HOMELAND,” which is unusual as scene groups often take pride in their work. Whoever leaked it didn’t live up to scene standards though as the release was quickly “NUKED” by peers on a technicality.
Showtime hasn’t officially responded to the leak thus far, but it could be that they’re not too bothered by the free publicity. In recent months several TV insiders have gone on the record stating that piracy may actually help TV-shows, because of word-of-mouth promotion it generates.
And with such a unique leak, there is bound to be plenty of attention during the days to come.
The last time a high-profile workprint leaked was in 2009 when an unfinished copy of the movie Wolverine leaked a month early. The leak made headlines all over the world and 20th Century Fox quickly involved the FBI to find the leaker.
After eight months the FBI eventually arrested New York resident Gilberto Sanchez. Although he was most likely not the original source of the leak, in 2011 the then 48-year old Sanchez pleaded guilty to uploading a copy of the movie to Megaupload. He was later sentenced to one year in jail.
Whether a 20th Century Fox-like manhunt or a more relaxed HBO attitude will be adopted should become apparent in the near future. In any case, the FBI will be watching.Dismayed by the way the professional game is heading, a group of Manchester United fans set up their own club five years ago. They don't have a ground and their striker is a tiler on £80 a week, but already FC United is the focus of passionate local support. Here, an astonished fan charts their remarkable rise from small-fry idealists to FA Cup giant-killers
It was a sight Manchester has seen many times before. Hordes of fans wearing red, white and black scarves, piling off a late-night train at Victoria, after a November night fixture away from home. Triumphant chants reverberating around the station forecourt. Dancing football players in red pictured on the front page of the newspaper the next day. Not unfamiliar stuff in a city that sees itself as the "new Milan" of world football. But there was one crucial difference.
This time the headlines made no reference to the reds of Manchester United. Instead, they celebrated a fireworks- night insurgency by another United, FC United of Manchester – the team formed by a group of football activists in opposition to the debt-financed takeover of the Old Trafford club by the American Glazer family in 2005.
To the acclaim of the wider football world, the delight of ESPN – the satellite sports channel which chose to show the match live – and the outright astonishment of their own travelling army of supporters, on 5 November non-league FC beat Rochdale AFC – a team 95 places |
Will Jackson), Crowfoot, Chief of the Blackfoot First Nation and Chief Poundmaker, who after the 1876 negotiations of Treaty 6 split off to form his band.[70] Together, they set up the Provisional Government of Saskatchewan, believing that they could influence the federal government in the same way as they had in 1869.[71] The North-West Rebellion of 1885 was a brief and unsuccessful uprising by the Métis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel against the Dominion of Canada, which they believed had failed to address their concerns for the survival of their people.[72] In 1884, 2,000 Cree from reserves met near Battleford to organise into a large, cohesive resistance. Discouraged by the lack of government response but encouraged by the efforts of the Métis at armed rebellion, Wandering Spirit and other young militant Cree attacked the small town of Frog Lake, killing Thomas Quinn, the hated Indian Agent and eight others.[69] Although Big Bear actively opposed the attacks, he was charged and tried for treason and sentenced to three years in prison. After the Red River Rebellion of 1869–1870, Métis moved from Manitoba to the District of Saskatchewan, where they founded a settlement at Batoche on the South Saskatchewan River.[73]
In Manitoba settlers from Ontario began to arrive. They pushed for land to be allotted in the square concession system of English Canada, rather than the seigneurial system of strips reaching back from a river which the Métis were familiar with in their French-Canadian culture. The buffalo were being hunted to extinction by the Hudson's Bay Company and other hunters, as for generations the Métis had depended on them as a chief source of food.
Colonization and integration [ edit ]
St. Paul's Indian Industrial School, Manitoba, 1901
The history of colonization is complex, varied according to the time and place. France and Britain were the main colonial powers involved, though the United States also began to extend its territory at the expense of indigenous people as well.
From the late 18th century, European Canadians encouraged First Nations to assimilate into the European-based culture, referred to as "Canadian culture". The assumption was that this was the "correct" culture because the Canadians of European descent saw themselves as dominant, and technologically, politically and culturally superior.[74] There was resistance against this assimilation and many businesses denied European practices. The Tecumseh Wigwam of Toronto, for example, did not adhere to the widely practiced Lord's Day observance, making it a popular spot, especially on Sundays.[75] These attempts reached a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Founded in the 19th century, the Canadian Indian residential school system was intended to force the assimilation of Aboriginal and First Nations people into European-Canadian society.[76] The purpose of the schools, which separated children from their families, has been described by commentators as "killing the Indian in the child."[77][78]
Funded under the Indian Act by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, a branch of the federal government, the schools were run by churches of various denominations – about 60% by Roman Catholics, and 30% by the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada, along with its pre-1925 predecessors, Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Methodist churches.
The attempt to force assimilation involved punishing children for speaking their own languages or practicing their own faiths, leading to allegations in the 20th century of cultural genocide and ethnocide. There was widespread physical and sexual abuse. Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and a lack of medical care led to high rates of tuberculosis, and death rates of up to 69%.[79] Details of the mistreatment of students had been published numerous times throughout the 20th century, but following the closure of the schools in the 1960s, the work of indigenous activists and historians led to a change in the public perception of the residential school system, as well as official government apologies, and a (controversial) legal settlement.[80]
Colonization had a significant impact on First Nations diet and health. According to the historian Mary-Ellen Kelm, "inadequate reserve allocations, restrictions on the food fishery, overhunting, and over-trapping" alienated First Nations from their traditional way of life, which undermined their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.[81]
20th century [ edit ]
As Canadian ideas of progress evolved around the start of the 20th century, the federal Indian policy was directed at removing Indigenous people from their communal lands and encouraging assimilation.[69] Amendments to the Indian Act in 1905 and 1911 made it easier for the government to expropriate reserve lands from First Nations.[citation needed] The government sold nearly half of the Blackfoot reserve in Alberta to settlers.[citation needed]
When the Kainai (Blood) Nation refused to accept the sale of their lands in 1916 and 1917, the Department of Indian Affairs held back funding necessary for farming until they relented.[69] In British Columbia, the McKenna–McBride Royal Commission was created in 1912 to settle disputes over reserve lands in the province. The claims of Indigenous people were ignored, and the commission allocated new, less valuable lands (reserves) for First Nations.[69]
Those nations who managed to maintain their ownership of good lands often farmed successfully. Indigenous people living near the Cowichan and Fraser rivers, and those from Saskatchewan managed to produce good harvests.[69] Since 1881, those First Nations people living in the prairie provinces required permits from Indian Agents to sell any of their produce. Later the government created a pass system in the old Northwest Territories that required indigenous people to seek written permission from an Indian Agent before leaving their reserves for any length of time.[69] Indigenous people regularly defied those laws, as well as bans on Sun Dances and potlatches, in an attempt to practice their culture.[82]
The 1930 Constitution Act or Natural Resources Acts was part of a shift acknowledging indigenous rights. It enabled provincial control of Crown land and allowed Provincial laws regulating game to apply to Indians, but it also ensured that "Indians shall have the right... of hunting, trapping and fishing game and fish for food at all seasons of the year on all unoccupied Crown lands and on any other lands to which the said Indians may have a right of access."[83]
First and Second World Wars [ edit ]
Aboriginal War Veterans monument
More than 6,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis served with British forces during First World War and Second World War. A generation of young native men fought on the battlefields of Europe during the Great War and approximately 300 of them died there. When Canada declared war on Germany on September 10, 1939, the native community quickly responded to volunteer. Four years later, in May 1943, the government declared that, as British subjects, all able Indian men of military age could be called up for training and service in Canada or overseas.
Late 20th century [ edit ]
Following the end of the Second World War, laws concerning First Nations in Canada began to change, albeit slowly. The federal prohibition of potlatch and Sun Dance ceremonies ended in 1951. Provincial governments began to accept the right of Indigenous people to vote. In June 1956, section 9 of the Citizenship Act was amended to grant formal citizenship to Status Indians and Inuit, retroactively as of January 1947.
In 1960, First Nations people received the right to vote in federal elections without forfeiting their Indian status. By comparison, Native Americans in the United States had been allowed to vote since the 1920s.[84]
1969 White Paper [ edit ]
In his 1969 White Paper, then-Minister of Indian Affairs, Jean Chrétien, proposed the abolition of the Indian Act of Canada, the rejection of Aboriginal land claims, and the assimilation of First Nations people into the Canadian population with the status of "other ethnic minorities" rather than as a distinct group.[85]
Harold Cardinal and the Indian Chiefs of Alberta responded with a document entitled "Citizens Plus" but commonly known as the "Red Paper". In it, they explained Status Indians' widespread opposition to Chrétien's proposal. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and the Liberals began to back away from the 1969 White Paper, particularly after the Calder case decision in 1973.[86] After the Canadian Supreme Court recognized that indigenous rights and treaty rights were not extinguished, a process was begun to resolve land claims and treaty rights and is ongoing today.
Health transfer policy [ edit ]
In 1970, severe mercury poisoning, called Ontario Minamata disease, was discovered among Asubpeeschoseewagong First Nation and Wabaseemoong Independent Nations people, who lived near Dryden, Ontario. There was extensive mercury pollution caused by Dryden Chemicals Company's waste water effluent in the Wabigoon-English River system.[87][88] Because local fish were no longer safe to eat, the Ontario provincial government closed the commercial fisheries run by the First Nation people and ordered them to stop eating local fish. Previously it had made up the majority of their diet.[89] In addition to the acute mercury poisoning in northwestern Ontario, Aamjiwnaang First Nation people near Sarnia, Ontario, experienced a wide range of chemical effects, including severe mercury poisoning. They suffered low birth rates, skewed birth-gender ratio, and health effects among the population.[90][91][92] This led to legislation and eventually the Indian Health Transfer Policy that provided a framework for the assumption of control of health services by First Nations people, and set forth a developmental approach to transfer centred on the concept of self-determination in health.[93] Through this process, the decision to enter into transfer discussions with Health Canada rests with each community. Once involved in transfer, communities are able to take control of health programme responsibilities at a pace determined by their individual circumstances and health management capabilities.[94]
The capacity, experience and relationships developed by First Nations as a result of health transfer was a factor that assisted the creation of the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia.
Elijah Harper and the Meech Lake Accord [ edit ]
In 1981, Elijah Harper, a Cree from Red Sucker Lake, Manitoba, became the first "Treaty Indian" in Manitoba to be elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. In 1990, Harper achieved national fame by holding an eagle feather as he refused to accept the Meech Lake Accord, a constitutional amendment package negotiated to gain Quebec's acceptance of the Constitution Act, 1982, but also one that did not address any First Nations grievances. The accord was negotiated in 1987 without the input of Canada's Aboriginal peoples.[95][96][97] The third, final constitutional conference on Aboriginal peoples was also unsuccessful. The Manitoba assembly was required to unanimously consent to a motion allowing it to hold a vote on the accord, because of a procedural rule. Twelve days before the ratification deadline for the Accord, Harper began a filibuster that prevented the assembly from ratifying the accord. Because Meech Lake failed in Manitoba, the proposed constitutional amendment failed.[98] Harper also opposed the Charlottetown Accord in 1992, even though Assembly of First Nations Chief Ovide Mercredi supported it.[85]
Women's status and Bill C-31 [ edit ]
According to the Indian Act, status Indian women who married men who were not status Indians lost their treaty status, and their children would not get status. However, in the reverse situation, if a status Indian man married a woman who was not a status Indian, the man would keep his status and his children would also receive treaty status. In the 1970s, the Indian Rights for Indian Women and Native Women's Association of Canada groups campaigned against this policy because it discriminated against women and failed to fulfill treaty promises.[69] They successfully convinced the federal government to change the section of the act with the adoption of Bill C-31 on June 28, 1985. Women who had lost their status and children who had been excluded were then able to register and gain official Indian status. Despite these changes, status Indian women who married men who were not status Indians could pass their status on only one generation: their children would gain status, but (without a marriage to a full-status Indian) their grandchildren would not. A status Indian man who married a woman who was not a status Indian retained status as did his children, but his wife did not gain status, nor did his grandchildren.
Bill C-31 also gave elected bands the power to regulate who was allowed to reside on their reserves and to control development on their reserves. It abolished the concept of "enfranchisement" by which First Nations people could gain certain rights by renouncing their Indian status.[99]
Erasmus–Dussault commission [ edit ]
In 1991, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney created the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples chaired by René Dussault and Georges Erasmus. Their 1996 report proposed the creation of a government for (and by) the First Nations that would be responsible within its own jurisdiction, and with which the federal government would speak on a "Nation-to-Nation" basis.[100] This proposal offered a far different way of doing politics than the traditional policy of assigning First Nations matters under the jurisdiction of the Indian and Northern Affairs, managed by one minister of the federal cabinet. The report also recommended providing the governments of the First Nations with up to $2 billion every year until 2010, in order to reduce the economic gap between the First Nations and the rest of the Canadian citizenry.[100] The money would represent an increase of at least 50% to the budget of Indian and Northern Affairs.[100] The report engaged First Nations leaders to think of ways to cope with the challenging issues their people were facing, so the First Nations could take their destiny into their own hands.[100]
The federal government, then headed by Jean Chrétien, responded to the report a year later by officially presenting its apologies for the forced acculturation the federal government had imposed on the First Nations, and by offering an "initial" provision of $350 million.[100]
In the spirit of the Eramus–Dussault commission, tripartite (federal, provincial, and First Nations) accords have been signed since the report was issued. Several political crises between different provincial governments and different bands of the First Nations also occurred in the late 20th century, notably the Oka Crisis, Ipperwash Crisis, Burnt Church Crisis, and the Gustafsen Lake standoff.[100]
Early 21st century [ edit ]
In 2001, the Quebec government, the federal government, and the Cree Nation signed "La Paix des Braves" (The Peace of the Braves, a reference to the 1701 peace treaty between the French and the Iroquois League). The agreement allowed Hydro-Québec to exploit the province's hydroelectric resources in exchange for an allocation of $3.5 billion to be given to the government of the Cree Nation. Later, the Inuit of northern Quebec (Nunavik) joined in the agreement.
The defence of Cree rights
In 2005, the leaders of the First Nations, various provincial governments, and the federal government produced an agreement called the Kelowna Accord, which would have yielded $5 billion over 10 years, but the new federal government of Stephen Harper (2006) did not follow through on the working paper. First Nations, along with the Métis and the Inuit, have claimed to receive inadequate funding for education, and allege their rights have been overlooked. James Bartleman, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, listed the encouragement of indigenous young people as one of his key priorities. During his term that began in 2002, he launched initiatives to promote literacy and bridge building. Bartleman himself is the first Aboriginal person to hold the lieutenant governor's position in Ontario.
As of 2006, 76 First Nations communities exist in boil-water advisory conditions.[101] In late 2005, the drinking water crisis of the Kashechewan First Nation received national media attention when E. coli was discovered in their water supply system, following two years of living under a boil-water advisory. The drinking water was supplied by a new treatment plant built in March 1998. The cause of the tainted water was a plugged chlorine injector that was not discovered by local operators, who were not qualified to be running the treatment plant. When officials arrived and fixed the problem, chlorine levels were around 1.7 mg/l, which was blamed for skin disorders such as impetigo and scabies. An investigation led by Health Canada revealed that the skin disorders were likely due to living in squalor. The evacuation of Kashechewan was largely viewed by Canadians as a cry for help for other underlying social and economic issues which Aboriginal people in Canada face.
On June 29, 2007, Canadian Aboriginal groups held countrywide protests aimed at ending First Nations poverty, dubbed the Aboriginal Day of Action. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, although groups disrupted transportation with blockades or bonfires; a stretch of the Highway 401 was shut down, as was the Canadian National Railway's line between Toronto and Montreal.[102]
The Idle No More protest movement originated among the Aboriginals in Canada and their non-Aboriginal supporters in Canada, and to a lesser extent, internationally. It consisted of a number of political actions worldwide, inspired in part by the hunger strike of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence[103] and further coordinated via social media. A reaction to alleged abuses of indigenous treaty rights by the current federal government, the movement takes particular issue with the recent omnibus bill Bill C-45.[104][105]
Canadian Crown and First Nations relations [ edit ]
terms of Treaty #8, Fort Vermilion, 1899 Honourable David Laird explainingterms of Treaty #8, Fort Vermilion, 1899
The relationship between the Canadian Crown and the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples of Canada stretches back to the first interactions between European colonialists and North American indigenous people. Over centuries of interaction, treaties were established, and Canada's First Nations have, like the Māori and the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand, come to generally view these agreements as being between them and the Crown of Canada, and not the ever-changing governments.[106][107]
The associations exist between the Aboriginal peoples of Canada and the reigning monarch of Canada; as was stated in the proposed First Nations – Federal Crown Political Accord: "cooperation will be a cornerstone for partnership between Canada and First Nations, wherein Canada is the short-form reference to Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada".[108] These relations are governed by the established treaties; the Supreme Court stated that treaties "served to reconcile pre-existing Aboriginal sovereignty with assumed Crown sovereignty, and to define Aboriginal rights",[108] and the First Nations saw these agreements as meant to last "as long as the sun shines, grass grows and rivers flow".
Taxation [ edit ]
Although taxes are not specifically addressed in the written terms of any treaties, assurances regarding taxation were clearly offered when at least some treaties were negotiated.[109]
The various statutory exemptions from taxation are established under the current Indian Act, which reads:
87(1). Notwithstanding any other Act of Parliament or any Act of the legislature of a province... the following property is exempt from taxation (a) the interest of an Indian or a band in reserve lands or surrendered lands; and (b) the personal property of an Indian or a band situated on a reserve.
87(2). No Indian or band is subject to taxation in respect of the ownership, occupation, possession or use of any property mentioned in paragraph (1)(a) or (b) or is otherwise subject to taxation in respect of any such property.[110]
Many scholars [111][112] believe these exemptions serve to oppress Aboriginal peoples by allowing conservative minded courts to impart their own (sometimes discriminatory) views into the Aboriginal taxation jurisprudence. As one professor wrote:
[Because] income-generating activity in the "commercial mainstream" contrasts with income-generating activity that is "intimately connected to" the reserve... [the] Tax Court of Canada implie[s] that the "traditional way of life" of Aboriginal peoples d[oes] not embrace "economic aspects"... beyond a subsistence economy. [footnotes omitted] [113]
Political organization [ edit ]
Self-government has given chiefs and their councils powers which combine those of a province, school board, health board and municipality. Councils are also largely self-regulating regarding utilities, environmental protection, natural resources, building codes, etc. There is concern that this wide-ranging authority, concentrated in a single council, might be a cause of the dysfunctional governments experienced by many First Nations.[114]
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is a body of First Nations leaders in Canada. The aims of the organization are to protect the rights, treaty obligations, ceremonies, and claims of citizens of the First Nations in Canada.
After the failures of the League of Indians in Canada in the Interwar period and the North American Indian Brotherhood in two decades following the Second World War, the Aboriginal peoples of Canada organised themselves once again in the early 1960s. The National Indian Council was created in 1961 to represent Indigenous people, including Treaty/Status Indians, non-status people, the Métis people, though not the Inuit.[115] This organization also collapsed in 1968 as the three groups failed to act as one, so the non-status and Métis groups formed the Native Council of Canada and Treaty/Status groups formed the National Indian Brotherhood (NIB), an umbrella group for provincial and territorial First Nations organizations.
Culture [ edit ]
National Aboriginal Day recognizes the cultures and contributions of Aboriginal peoples of Canada.[116] There are currently over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands encompassing 1,172,790 2006 people spread across Canada with distinctive Aboriginal cultures, languages, art, and music.[4][117][118]
Languages [ edit ]
Main articles: First Nations Aboriginal languages
Language families in Northern America at the time of European contact
Today, there are over thirty different languages spoken by indigenous people, most of which are spoken only in Canada. Many are in decline. Those with the most speakers include Anishinaabe and Cree (together totalling up to 150,000 speakers); Inuktitut with about 29,000 speakers in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Nunavik (Northern Quebec), and Nunatsiavut (Northern Labrador); and Mi'kmaq, with around 8,500 speakers, mostly in Eastern Canada. Many Aboriginal peoples have lost their native languages and often all but surviving elders speak English or French as their first language.[119]
Two of Canada's territories give official status to native languages. In Nunavut, Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun are official languages alongside English and French, and Inuktitut is a common vehicular language in government. In the Northwest Territories, the Official Languages Act[120] declares that there are eleven different languages: Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich'in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ. Besides English and French, these languages are not vehicular in government; official status entitles citizens to receive services in them on request and to deal with the government in them.[119]
Art [ edit ]
First Nations were producing art for thousands of years before the arrival of European settler colonists and the eventual establishment of Canada as a nation state. Like the peoples who produced them, indigenous art traditions spanned territories across North America. Indigenous art traditions are organized by art historians according to cultural, linguistic or regional groups: Northwest Coast, Plateau, Plains, Eastern Woodlands, Subarctic, and Arctic.[121]
Art traditions vary enormously amongst and within these diverse groups. Indigenous art with a focus on portability and the body is distinguished from European traditions and its focus on architecture. Indigenous visual art may be used in conjunction with other arts. Shamans' masks and rattles are used ceremoniously in dance, storytelling and music.[121] Artworks preserved in museum collections date from the period after European contact and show evidence of the creative adoption and adaptation of European trade goods such as metal and glass beads.[122][123] During the 19th and the first half of the 20th century the Canadian government pursued an active policy of forced and cultural assimilation toward indigenous peoples. The Indian Act banned manifestations of the Sun Dance, the Potlatch, and works of art depicting them.[124]
It was not until the 1950s and 1960s that indigenous artists such as Mungo Martin, Bill Reid and Norval Morrisseau began to publicly renew and re-invent indigenous art traditions. Currently there are indigenous artists practising in all media in Canada and two indigenous artists, Edward Poitras and Rebecca Belmore, have represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 1995 and 2005 respectively.[121]
Music [ edit ]
Pow-wow at Eel Ground First Nation
The First Nations peoples of Canada comprise diverse ethnic groups, each with their own musical traditions. There are general similarities in the music, but is usually social (public) or ceremonial (private). Public, social music may be dance music accompanied by rattles and drums. Private, ceremonial music includes vocal songs with accompaniment on percussion, used to mark occasions like Midewiwin ceremonies and Sun Dances.
Traditionally, Aboriginal peoples used the materials at hand to make their instruments for centuries before Europeans immigrated to Canada.[125] First Nations people made gourds and animal horns into rattles, which were elaborately carved and beautifully painted.[126] In woodland areas, they made horns of birch bark and drumsticks of carved antlers and wood. Traditional percussion instruments such as drums were generally made of carved wood and animal hides.[127] These musical instruments provide the background for songs, and songs are the background for dances. Traditional First Nations people consider song and dance to be sacred. For years after Europeans came to Canada, First Nations people were forbidden to practice their ceremonies.[124][125]
Demographics [ edit ]
Cultural areas of North American Indigenous peoples at the time of European contact.
In the 20th century, the First Nations population of Canada increased tenfold.[128] Between 1900 and 1950 the population grew only by 29% but after the 1960s the infant mortality level on reserves dropped and the population grew by 161%. Since the 1980s, the number of First Nations babies more than doubled and currently almost half of the First Nations population is under the age of 25. As a result, the First Nations population of Canada is expected to increase in the coming decades.[128]
The 2006 census counted a total Aboriginal population of 1,172,790 (3.75%) which includes 698,025 North American Indians (2.23%).[129]
BC AB SK MB ON QC NB PE NS NL YT NT NU First Nations by Province or Territory
There are distinct First Nations in Canada, originating across the country. Indian reserves, established in Canadian law by treaties such as Treaty 7, are the very limited contemporary lands of First Nations recognized by the non-indigenous governments. A few reserves exist within cities, such as the Opawikoscikan Reserve in Prince Albert, Wendake in Quebec City or Stony Plain 135 in the Edmonton Capital Region. There are more reserves in Canada than there are First Nations, as First Nations were ceded multiple reserves by treaty.
People who self-identify as having North American Indian ancestors are the plurality in large areas of Canada (areas coloured in brown).
First Nations can be grouped into cultural areas based on their ancestors' primary lifeway, or occupation, at the time of European contact. These culture areas correspond closely with physical and ecological regions of Canada.[118]
Ethnographers commonly classify indigenous peoples of the Americas in the United States and Canada into ten geographical regions with shared cultural traits (called cultural areas).[130] The Canadian (in whole or in part) regions are Arctic, Subarctic, Northeast Woodlands, Plains, and Plateau. See the individual article on each tribe, band society or First Nation.
The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast communities centred around ocean and river fishing; in the interior of British Columbia, hunting and gathering and river fishing. In both of these areas, salmon was of chief importance. For the people of the plains, bison hunting was the primary activity. In the subarctic forest, other species such as the moose were more important. For peoples near the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, shifting agriculture was practised, including the raising of maize, beans, and squash.[118]
Today, Aboriginal people work in a variety of occupations and live outside their ancestral homes. The traditional cultures of their ancestors, shaped by nature, still exert a strong influence on their culture, from spirituality to political attitudes.[118]
Contemporary issues [ edit ]
First Nations peoples face a number of problems to a greater degree than Canadians overall, some with living conditions comparable to developing countries like Haiti.[131][132] Aboriginals have higher rates of unemployment,[133] rates of incarceration,[134] substance abuse,[135] health problems, homelessness, fetal alcohol syndrome,[136] lower levels of education and higher levels of poverty.[137][138][139]
Residential schools [ edit ]
Canada's federal residential school system began in the mid-1870s, building upon a patchwork of boarding schools established and operated by various Christian denominations. Member of Parliament for Assiniboia West, Nicholas Flood Davin, produced a report, known generally as the Davin Report, that recommended the establishment of a school system similar to that being created in the United States. One of its chief goals was to remove Aboriginal children from "the influence of the wigwam", which he claimed was stronger than that of existing day schools, and keep them instead "constantly within the circle of civilized conditions". While the history of the Indian Residential School system (IRS) is a checkered one, much criticism has been levelled at both the system and those who established and supported it. Neglect and poor nutrition were often what Aboriginal children experienced, particularly in the early decades of the system's operation. The stripping away of traditional native culture—sometimes referred to as "cultural genocide"—is another charge levelled at the residential schools. In many schools, students were not allowed to speak their Indigenous languages or practice any of their own customs, and thus lost their sense of identity, inevitably driving a cultural wedge between children and their family.[140]
By 1920, attendance at some sort of school was mandatory for Aboriginal children in Canada. The Indian Act made education compulsory, and where there were no federal days schools—or, in later decades, a provincial public school—a residential school was the only choice. Enrolment statistics indicate that between 20% and 30% of Aboriginal children during the history of the IRS system attended a residential school for at least a year, and many were enrolled for ten years or more. In some cases, children could return home on weekends and holidays, but for those in schools established far away from remote communities, this was not possible.
The removal of children from their families and communities brought short and long term harm to many native communities. While many schools had infirmaries and provided medical care in later decades, abuse of various kinds and crowded conditions in the first decades of the IRS history led to poor health and even death for a percentage of those enrolled. It has been argued that the psychological and emotional trauma resulting from both the abuse and the removal of the children from their families and culture has resulted in substance abuse, greater domestic violence, unemployability, and increased rates of suicide.[141] In many cases, children leaving residential schools found themselves at an intersection of cultures, where they were no longer comfortable within their own cultures, yet not accepted into mainstream Canadian culture. Former students are now routinely referred to as "survivors".
Not all Aboriginal children attended residential schools. During the period in which the schools operated, more than a third of indigenous children attended federal day schools, and about a third received no schooling at all. It is however the residential school system that receives much of the blame for the various problems and challenges facing Canada's indigenous people today. During the years in which the residential schools operated, they were regarded by most Canadians as a sensible and beneficial solution to native education, and in some cases, Aboriginal communities specifically requested that a residential school be built. When the system began to closing down in the 1960s, a significant number of communities asked that their school remain open.
The last Canadian residential school to close was Gordon Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan, founded in 1889, and closed in 1996.[141]
The Christian denominations that operated the schools on behalf of the federal government have expressed regret and issued apologies for their part in a system that harmed many indigenous children. In 2008, the government issued an official apology to the students who were forced to attend the residential schools and their families.[141]
In June 2015, the federally-established Truth and Reconciliation Commission, charged with investigating and reporting on the residential school system, issued its summary report, and in December of the same year, its final report. Chief Commissioner, Judge Murray Sinclair, has publicly declared the residential school system a deliberate act of cultural genocide against First Nations peoples. In its report, the commission submitted 94 recommendations to the Canadian government, recommendations which, if implemented, would substantially improve indigenous race relations, increase quality of life for survivors and extended families, and help undo the damage caused by residential schools. While the Liberal government, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has committed itself to improving the lives of Canada's indigenous people, and specifically to implementing the TRC recommendations, some of those recommendations may be beyond the power of the Canadian government. The countless research documents assembled by the TRC will be archived in a special repository at the University of Manitoba.
Employment [ edit ]
The income of women with status living off-reserve was on average $13,870 a year, according to a 1996 Canadian census. This is about $5500 less than non-Indigenous women, such as Inuit and Métis women, which recorded slightly higher average annual incomes; regardless of the small discrepancy, all of which are substantially less than Statistics Canada's estimated amount of which an individual living in a large Canadian city would require to meet their needs. It is not unlikely for Aboriginal women living in poverty to not only tend to their own needs, but often tend to the needs of their elderly parents, care for loved ones in ill-health, as well as raising children; all of which is often supported only on a single income. It is believed that homelessness and inadequate shelter are widespread problems facing Aboriginal families, in all settings.[140]
Self governance [ edit ]
A paramount conclusion by the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples is that the repeated assaults on the culture and collective identity of the Aboriginal people has resulted in a weakened foundation of Aboriginal society and has contributed to the alienation that inevitably drives some to self-destructive and antisocial behaviour. The social problems among Aboriginal people are, in large measure, a legacy of history.[140]
Crime and incarceration [ edit ]
Aboriginals are also more likely to be the victims of crime. This is particularly true in the younger population (aged 15–34), where acts of violence are two and a half times more likely to occur than in the older population. Domestic violence and sexual abuse against children is more prevalent in the Aboriginal population with sexual abuse affecting 25–50% of Aboriginal female children versus 20–25% of female children in the general population.[142] Children who come from homes with a history of violence are at a greater risk of becoming the perpetrators of violence later in life. This is especially true of males.[142]
As of 2007, 17% of incarcerated individuals in Canada were of Aboriginal descent, despite representing only 2.7% of the general population.[143] This is a sixfold increase in rates of incarceration within the Aboriginal population as opposed to the general Canadian population.[142] There are many reasons for the over-representation of Aboriginals within the Canadian justice system. Lack of education, poverty, unemployment and abuse all lead to higher crime rates. Also, statistically, Aboriginals have a greater chance of conviction and subsequently, incarceration once convicted. They are also much less likely to receive parole during their sentence.[142]
Health [ edit ]
The Canadian federal government is responsible for health and social services on the reserve and in Inuit communities, while the provincial and territorial governments provide services elsewhere. The divide between each level of government has led to a gap in services for Aboriginal people living off-reserve and in Canadian towns and cities. Although Aboriginal people living off-reserve have access to the programs and services designed for the general population, these programs and services do not address the specific needs of Aboriginal people, nor is it delivered in a culturally appropriate way. It has not been until recently that the Canadian federal government had to increase recognition to the needs for programs and services for Aboriginal people in predominantly non-Aboriginal communities. It is however funding that lags the growth of urban Aboriginal populations and the uncoordinated delivery of services through various government departments would also pose as a barrier. The federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians pointed out that in 2003 almost 90 percent of the funding for programs designed for Aboriginal peoples is spent on reserves, while off-reserve programs for Aboriginal people are delivered through just 22 federal departments, as well as other provincial and territorial agencies. The federal subcommittee on Indigenous child welfare described a "jurisdictional web" in which there is little to no coordination with or between municipal, provincial and federal levels of government.[140]
The health care services available to Aboriginal people is rarely delivered in a culturally sensitive approach. It is the constant cast of "the other" by the settler Canadian population that contaminates the delivery of such necessary services to Aboriginal peoples. It was argued by Ontario finance minister Jim Flaherty in 1992 that the Canadian government could boost health-care funding for "real people in real towns" by cutting the bureaucracy that serves only Aboriginal peoples. These types of statements, especially made by people often heard by a greater audience, are said to have detrimental and influential effects on the overall attitudes of settler population folks, as well as Aboriginal peoples.[144]
Diabetes [ edit ]
There are marked differences between the epidemiology of diabetes in First Nation population compared to the general population. Reasons for the different rate of Type 2 Diabetes between First Nation and the general population include a complex combination of environmental (lifestyle, diet, poverty) and genetic and biological factors (e.g. thrifty genotype hypothesis, thrifty phenotype) [145] – though to what extent each factor plays a role is still not clear.[146]
The Aboriginal population in Canada (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) have a significantly higher prevalence rate of diabetes than the non-Aboriginal population. Age-standardized rates show that the prevalence of diabetes among First Nations individuals living on-reserve is 17.2%; First Nations individuals living off-reserve is 10.3%; Métis individuals 7.3%; and non-Aboriginal peoples at 5.0 |
they like without restriction. Yet financial institutions, along with medical providers and a few others, are subject to U.S. laws limiting how they share our information.
The U.S. Congress set out limitations on financial institutions in the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. A decade later, federal agencies mandated that banks explain how they use a client’s personal data in a standardized privacy policy. Such rules make it easier to compare such practices than in many industries.
Lorrie Faith Cranor at Carnegie Mellon University thought it would be interesting to see if banks actually follow the law and see how they compare with each other. With help from her students, she analyzed 3,422 financial institutions. She found that practices vary wildly, with many freely sharing some of our data, and with 27 appearing to violate regulations on sharing information altogether.
“It’s kind of a scandalous notion,” Cranor says. “There is really no way for a consumer to find the good banks because you would never think to check all the privacy policies."
Banks have deep insights into our lives not only because they have our money, but also because they issue most of our credit cards.
Some banks use your data to market to you directly, or through affiliates. Some, including major players such as Bank of America, Citi, Capitol One, Chase, Discover Bank and HSBC, allow non-affiliated outside companies to market to you. These banks allow customers to opt out of such marketing – but you have to know it takes place and then go through all the trouble of figuring out how to opt out.
Because privacy policies give no specifics on how banks actually share their data, I twice asked those listed above for details of how they share such information and with whom. None were forthcoming. To give a flavor of one response, it is worth quoting the curt response from Steve O'Halloran, director of public affairs at JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, in its entirety:
“We post our consumer privacy notice on Chase.com. On this page, you’ll notice that customers can limit information that is shared with affiliates and non affiliates. Thanks for reaching out,” he wrote. He did not answer a single question I posed to him.
Of course, if some banks do not want to be transparent about what they do with our data, one can always choose those which do not let outsiders buy access our information. Such banks include American Express, Barclays Bank, GE Capital, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo, according to Cranor’s survey.
Cranor, whose draft findings are here, identified four banks that say they share with non-affiliates to market to you but do not allow an opt out as required by law; four that did not offer an opt out when sharing to affiliates to market to you, and 19 that share information about your credit worthiness without providing an opt out as required by law. These institutions are smaller regional institutions such as Kansas State Bank, State Bank of Illinois and First National Bank in Amboy. I reached out to the first two groups of banks as well as the three named here to see if they had made some inadvertent mistakes in their privacy policies. None responded.
Cranor’s students have come up with a list of banks with best privacy policies from the Forbes 2012 list of 100 largest publicly-traded banks and thrifts, most in the West or Midwest. They are: BancFirst, Community Bank, Independent Bank, Signature Bank NA, State Street Bank,Texas Capital Bank,Farmers and Mechants Bank,1st Source Bank, and Western Alliance Bancorp.
Of course, how banks handle your personal data is only one aspect a customer might consider in choosing a financial institution. If they don’t know how to handle money well they will not win over many clients, even if they never let a scrap of personal data out of well-secured vaults. But a bank open about how they handle your personal information might also be thoughtful about how it approaches your finances as well. So it pays to ask for the details.President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, the White House said.
"Today, President Donald J. Trump informed FBI Director James Comey that he has been terminated and removed from office," the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said in a statement. "President Trump acted based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions."
The search for a new director will begin immediately, Spicer said.
"The FBI is one of our nation's most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement," Trump said in the statement.
In a letter sent to Comey, Trump said he accepted the recommendation of Sessions and Rosenstein. Comey's termination was effective immediately.
"While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau," Trump wrote. "It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission."
Rosenstein, in his letter to Sessions, pointed to Comey's July 2016 public announcement of his recommendation regarding the investigation into the use of a private email server by Hillary Clinton, then the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, while she served as secretary of state. The deputy attorney general said Comey was "wrong to usurp the attorney general's authority" by going public with the FBI's recommendation to not bring charges forth against Clinton for her use of the server.
'Almost everyone agrees that the director made serious mistakes'
"It is not the function of the director to make such an announcement," Rosenstein wrote. "At most, the director should have said the FBI had completed its investigation and presented its findings to federal prosecutors. The director now defends his decision by asserting that he believed Attorney General Loretta Lynch had a conflict. But the FBI director is never empowered to supplant federal prosecutors and assume command of the Justice Department."
Rosenstein wrote that the FBI suffered "substantial damage" to its credibility in the past year as a result of Comey's actions related to the Clinton investigation. The deputy attorney general added that he did not "understand" what he called Comey's "refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken" in his handling of the Clinton email investigation.
"Almost everyone agrees that the director made serious mistakes; it is one of the few issues that unites people of diverse perspectives," he said.
He called the July press conference a "textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do."
Rosenstein also criticized Comey's handling of his October 28 letter to congressional leaders announcing a renewal of the Clinton investigation based on emails recovered from former Rep. Anthony Weiner's computer. Weiner was married to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who the FBI said forwarded two email chains to his computer for printing purposes. The FBI, hours before Comey's firing, issued a clarification to Comey's testimony last week on Abedin, when he said she had forwarded "hundreds" and "thousands" of emails to Weiner's computer.
Citing Comey's testimony last week, Rosenstein said Comey made a false assertion that his only choice was to either "speak" on or "conceal" what he uncovered. The information later did not prove significant and led to an FBI announcement days before the November election that the investigation would remain closed.
"When federal agents and prosecutors quietly open a criminal investigation, we are not concealing anything; we are simply following the longstanding policy that we refrain from publicizing nonpublic information. In that context, silence is not concealment," Rosenstein said.
Rosenstein also cited past DOJ officials who agreed with his assessment of Comey.
Donald Trump with Comey. AP Sessions, in his letter to Trump, said he "concluded" it was time for a "fresh start" at the FBI after reviewing Rosenstein's letter.
"It is essential that this Department of Justice clearly reaffirm its commitment to longstanding principles that ensure the integrity and fairness of federal investigations and prosecutions," Sessions said. "The director of the FBI must be someone who follows faithfully the rules and principles of the Department of Justice and who sets the right examples for our law enforcement officials and others in the department."
"Therefore, I must recommend that you remove Director James B. Comey, Jr. and identify an experienced and qualified individual to lead the great men and women of the FBI," he continued.
Just the 2nd FBI director to be ousted
Comey becomes just the second FBI director in history to be fired from the post. In 1993, President Bill Clinton fired FBI Director William S. Sessions, who was a holdover from the administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
One of the most controversial government figures, Comey was blasted by both the left and the right for his handling of the Clinton email investigation and the FBI's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election — and into whether there was any collusion between Trump associates and Russia.
In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee in March, Comey publicly confirmed that the FBI was investigating whether Trump associates had colluded with Russian officials to influence the presidential election. Comey said that investigation began in late July.
Trump has repeatedly described the idea that the Russia-related controversy had cast a cloud over his administration as a "total hoax," something he repeated Monday following congressional testimony from former acting Attorney General Sally Yates and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
Andrew Harrer/Pool,Getty Images In a statement shortly after the announcement, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the move "a difficult decision for all concerned."
"I appreciate Director Comey's service to our nation in a variety of roles," he said in the statement. "Given the recent controversies surrounding the director, I believe a fresh start will serve the FBI and the nation well. I encourage the president to select the most qualified professional available who will serve our nation's interests."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Trump called her at 5:30 p.m. ET to alert her of the firing, "saying the FBI needed a change."
"The next FBI director must be strong and independent and will receive a fair hearing in the Judiciary Committee," Feinstein said.
Democrats invoke Nixon, Watergate
Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who has gained prominence as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, blasted Trump for his decision to oust Comey and called it the "Tuesday Afternoon Massacre." That was a reference to the "Saturday Night Massacre" during President Richard Nixon's term in office, when Nixon fired the independent special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal, which led to resignations from his attorney general and deputy attorney general.
"President Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey — who less than two months ago told the House Intelligence Committee that the president and his administration were the subject of criminal and counterintelligence investigations regarding their close personal, political and financial ties to Russia and Russia's active interference in our 2016 presidential election on Trump's behalf — should send a chill down the spine of every American, no matter who they voted for," he said in a statement. "This is not what an innocent person would do — this is an abuse of power, and shows a consciousness of guilt."
Like Swalwell, other prominent Democrats made comparisons to Nixon and the Watergate scandal. Many called for the appointment of a special prosecutor, suggesting to the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign, not the Clinton-related rationale outlined by the Trump administration, was the reason for Comey's ouster.
"No matter what the Trump propaganda machine puts out there, the president just fired the man in charge of investigating his campaign," Jason Kander, the 2016 Democratic Senate nominee in Missouri, said in a tweet. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said "any attempt to stop or undermine this FBI investigation would raise grave constitutional issues." And Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said the firing "catastrophically compromised the FBI's ongoing investigation of his own White House's ties to Russia."
"Not since Watergate have our legal systems been so threatened, and our faith in the independence and integrity of those systems so shaken," he said in a statement. "The only way to restore faith in a nonpolitical, nonpartisan FBI is to appoint an independent special prosecutor."
Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called for "emergency hearings" involving Sessions, Rosenstein, and Comey.
"The White House was already covering up for Michael Flynn by refusing to provide a single document to Congress, and now the president fired the one independent person who was doing the most to investigate President Trump and his campaign over allegations of coordination with Russia," Rep. Elijah Cummings, of Maryland, the ranking member, said in a statement. "It is mind-boggling that the attorney general — who claimed to have recused himself — was directly involved in the decision to fire Director Comey according to the White House itself.
"There is now a crisis of confidence at the Justice Department, and President Trump is not being held accountable because House Republicans refuse to work with us to do our job," he continued. "Congress must restore credibility, accountability, and transparency to this investigation and finally pass legislation to create a truly independent commission."
'He's become more famous than me'
Trump and Comey have had a complicated relationship. In January, two days into his presidency, Trump gave Comey a hug during a meeting with law enforcement and security officials at the White House.
"He's become more famous than me," Trump said, jokingly.
During the campaign, Trump at times expressed praise for Comey while at others expressing disdain for his handling of the email investigation. Trump's feelings on Comey swayed with the director's moves on the investigation.
"Hillary and the Dems loved and praised FBI Director Comey just a few days ago," Trump tweeted after Comey sent his October letter to congressional leaders. "Original evidence was overwhelming, should not have delayed!"
Just last week, Trump said Comey was great to Clinton.
"FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!" he tweeted. "The phony... Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by the Democrats as justification for losing the election. Perhaps Trump just ran a great campaign?"The LA Angels have been linked to former Kansas City Royals’ third baseman Mike Moustakas ever since he was set to become a free agent.
Now, news has broken that the LA Angels are the 29-year-old slugger’s preferred destination. Jerry Crasnick of ESPN reported that the Los Angeles native has the Halos “No. 1 on his wish list”.
There is a lot for the Halos to consider when it comes to Moustakas. First, the salary he’d likely demand would be in the five-year, $90 million range. While the Halos can certainly afford that, they still have huge holes at second and first base that they need to address.
General manager Billy Eppler made it public knowledge that he is confident in their current starters. He is instead looking to upgrade the offense as much as possible this offseason. The possible additions at second base, such as Neil Walker or Cesar Hernandez, would be shorter deals with less money involved.
Moustakas did just turn in a career year highlighted by his franchise record 38 big flies. However, there is one flaw in his game that Eppler put significant value on. On-base percentage is a statistic that Eppler believes leads to success on offense. While Moustakas did hit for a.272 batting average, his OBP was just.314.
While this can certainly be looked over, it is something Eppler will be concerned about. In the long run, when a talent such as “Moose” wants to play for your team, a deal can always get done. Especially when he bats left-handed, another trait Eppler desires in 2018.
A deal like this will still leave room for the Halos to find veteran options at second and first. They may also choose to platoon first base instead. With “Moose” at third, Luis Valbuena can join CJ Cron at first for a solid platoon.
There is undoubtedly interest between both parties. Moustakas wants to come home and help his team contend for a championship. The Halos will be more than happy to make that happen. Signing Moustakas would add a power bat from the left side of the plate, and make the Halos lineup deadly.Album birthdays always come with a little bit of existential dread. Wait, Jay Z’s The Black Album is 13 years old? College Dropout is 12?! Stankonia will be 16 this year, that album just got its learner's permit to drive. See what I mean? Feel old?
Earlier this month Big K.R.I.T.’s4eva N a Day turned four years old, and instead of being met with that same “fuck time flies,” I thought, “It’s only been 4 years?!” Considering how much I’ve listened to that mixtape and how important it has been in my life, it feels as old and as important as projects that dropped over a decade ago. It may not be timeless in the way we talk about albums that dropped in the '90s, but 4eva N a Day defies the laws of time as any truly great project does, just in a different way. In it’s own way.
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Big K.R.I.T. is different. It’s hard to call him a legend because his career is happening as we speak and we don't have the luxury of hindsight. Illmatic was released on cassette, College Dropout on CD, 4eva N a Day was a free project released online. It doesn't fit the mold of any "classic" project release, and so in a way trying to craft a tribute article for an album that's only four years old is a lot harder than one turning 15 or 20. So instead of trying to convince you of it’s “classic”ness, instead of fitting K.R.I.T. into a mold I love him for never fitting into, I thought I would speak to my experience and why I love it so much. Shades of Nujabes.
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For me 4eva N a Day’s legacy can be encapsulated not by saying it made people take Mississippi hip-hop seriously, not that it helped usher in the free album (instead of a “mixtape”) era, but one three song stretch, a series of songs that goes toe to toe with any three song stretch in hip-hop history. For me, 4eva N a Day’s lasting legacy is “Boobie Miles,” “4EvaNaDay (Theme)” and “Me And My Old School.”
It feels like I’ve been at DJBooth forever, and sometimes I forget there was this whole other chapter of my life. One where I was stuck in a job I hated, making no money, with a boss who I wanted to scream at but couldn’t. In those two years “Boobie Miles” became my anthem. I set that record as my morning alarm, sometimes it was the only thing that got me out of bed. I would play it on the way to work, after a meeting, and on the way home. When I listened to that record, I could last through another meeting, another commute. It was a drop of water in a desert. Just enough to get me through. I may have a different job now, but "Boobie Miles" still remains an essential part of me life.
Sacrificing my paycheck for passion has perils of its own and when I'm thinking about where I am in life, how much money I have, or where I want to live, I start to drown in stress. "Boobie Miles" is the life vest. It serves as a daily reminder that life is a marathon, not a sprint, and you won't always be in first. It’s a reminder to keep my head down and keep plugging away. If I want it bad enough, if I really bust my ass, I can do it. "Boobie Miles" isn't just a song with a dope sax-laden instrumental and some motivational words, it's a mantra, a code to life your life by.
"4EvaNaDay (Theme)" has a similar message as "Boobie Miles," although it comes with a little bit more flair. Motivational, yes, but it’s not a song about the race, it’s about finishing and moonwalking over the finish line. "Boobie Miles" makes me think about the race, "4EvaNaDay (Theme)" makes me want to go out and finish it faster than Usain Bolt. I think the main reason for its electricity is that sample. God damn. It kicks you in the teeth from the very beginning and never lets up, perfectly chopped, expertly stretched, it’s a god damn masterpiece. It also speaks to an essential part of K.R.I.T’s DNA. Part of his legacy and part of my initial intrigue was the fact that he rapped and produced. There’s an unspoken, palpable chemistry when Krizzle raps over his own flips, and it’s no more obvious than here.
In terms of the three strong stretch, it brings an energy different from “Boobie Miles and “Me And My Old School.” The other two are a little more relaxed and atmospheric, they hit so well because, sandwiched between them, is this vibrant, enthralling effort that balances the perfect amount of attitude and energy. Even to this day, even with thousands of listens, this song has never lost a drop of freshness.
“Me And My Old School”
When I first discovered K.R.I.T. I did so through the lens of a sample-loving backpacker. I loved complex, “real” lyrics and cool flips. I had no time for songs about cars or candy-paint, I viewed them as shallow and materialistic. Also, I drove a Jetta. For a while “Me And My Old School” was that song after "4EvaNaDay (Theme)" that I would play when I forgot to press "next," but the more I listened, the more I really came to appreciate this song.
I loved the jazzy sample and the atmosphere he created, but eventually it became more about the car. It's so much more authentic than I thought car raps ever could be. K.R.I.T. wasn't celebrating cars as a sign of wealth, he was celebrating cars because he loves them, because they were a part of his life and culture. Once I started to understand that something else happened, something I didn't expect. I "felt" it. Somewhere along the way, somewhere driving down Parkwood Dr. with the windows down blasting this jazzy, atmospheric number, my Jetta turned into a candy-painted Monte Carlo. For the first time in my life I felt the appeal of the automobile. I still don't know shit about cars, and I still don't really connect with songs about cars, but whenever I listen to “Me And My Old School” I look for the nearest corner to bend. Some songs are best heard windows down and bass turned up. "Me And My Old School" is one of those songs.
When I think about my life since college, these three songs all have an important place in my heart individually, and to know that they all came from the same album and came sequentially is amazing. They represent every side of K.R.I.T - the producer, the Southerner, and the underdog - so strongly that they helped me form such a strong bond with the Mississippi emcee that in just four years he's turned into one of my all-time favorites. I can't speak to classic album status, or where he fits into the GOAT conversation, but on the four year anniversary of 4eva N a Day I'm drawn back to these songs. Three songs that have very unique sounds and messages but are forever tied together. Three songs I simply can't skip.
Three songs changed how I think and feel about K.R.I.T as an artist, changed how I think and feel about hip-hop, and continue to change how I think and feel about life. It may be only three songs, a small fraction of the album as a whole, but it's three songs I'll listen to 4Eva N a Day.
Lucas Garrison is a writer for DJBooth. His favorite album is College Dropout but you can also tweet him your favorite Migos songs at @LucasDJBooth. Image via FatBeats.The Contra Dam, commonly known as the Verzasca Dam and the Locarno Dam,[2] is an arch dam on the Verzasca River in the Val Verzasca of Ticino, Switzerland. The dam creates Lago di Vogorno 2 km (1.2 mi) upstream of Lake Maggiore and supports the 105 MW Verzasca Hydroelectric Power Station hydroelectric power station. It was constructed between 1961 and 1965 and starting shortly after its reservoir was filled, a series of earthquakes related to its water load occurred until 1971. The dam is owned and operated by Verzasca SA and is the fourth tallest in Switzerland.[3]
The dam became a popular bungee jumping venue after a James Bond stuntman jumped off it in the opening scene of the 1995 film GoldenEye; a stunt voted as the best movie stunt of all time in a 2002 Sky Movies poll.[4]
Background [ edit ]
On May 6, 1960, Verzasca SA was formed to construct the dam as the center-piece of the Verzasca Hydroelectric Complex.[5] Construction in the dam began in 1961. The dam was designed and its construction supervised by Lombardi & Gellaro Ltd. Because the Contra Dam is at a lower elevation compared to other Swiss dams, warmer weather allowed construction to be carried out year-round. To divert the river and prepare a dry work-site for the dam, cofferdams were constructed, one of which redirected the river through a diversion tunnel with a 200 m3/s (7,100 cu ft/s) capacity. As the river can have flows much higher than the tunnel's capacity, this was accepted as a risk by engineers.[6] Excavation of the right side of the dam had to be expanded due to unforeseen weathered rock and designs were altered within 15 days.[7]
Concrete pouring and placement occurred for 18 months, of which the maximum poured in a day was 3,100 m3 (110,000 cu ft) and in a month, 55,000 m3 (1,900,000 cu ft). The aggregate for the concrete was obtained from a quarry near the construction site. The high-quality and strength gneiss-rock was ground in a rotary crusher and prepared in the concrete mixture. To facilitate the contraction and settling of the concrete in the dam, it was cooled with a series of steel pipes that ran throughout the mass of concrete, with the exception of the top 30 m (98 ft) of the dam. A grout curtain was placed around and below the dam as well to prevent leakage, which consumed a large amount of cement. In August 1964, the reservoir began to fill[8] and in September 1965, the reservoir was full and the dam completed.[6]
Seismic activity [ edit ]
During what Dr. Giovanni Lombardi, the dam's designer, described as an "exceptionally rapid rise of water during the first filling" of the reservoir, beginning in August 1964, there were seismic shocks. The earthquakes began in May 1965 and the biggest shocks had occurred later in October and November after the reservoir was full. The epicenters were located at two faults near the dam.[9][10] As many as 25 shocks occurred a day.[7] The shocks stopped once the reservoir was emptied[11] and no damage was found.[12] After refilling, the shocks decreased and an "equilibrium" was believed to have been reached, one that did not respond to variations in water load. Another large shock occurred several years after filling.[13] By 1971, there were no more seismic shocks around the dam or reservoir.[7] No known detailed geological studies were conducted prior to construction of the dam and several faults are known to exist in the area.[9]
Specifications [ edit ]
Dam [ edit ]
The Contra Dam is a concrete slender arch dam with a height of 220 m (720 ft) and crest length of 380 m (1,250 ft). The dam is 25 m (82 ft) wide at its base and 7 m (23 ft) wide at its crest. The dam structure contains 660,000 m3 (23,000,000 cu ft) of concrete and the structure itself has a surface area of 44,500 m2 (479,000 sq ft). The dam is slender in design and its horizontal arches are in an elliptical shape. The horizontal curvature of the dam decreases from the center of the dam towards its abutments and the curvature from the center of the arches increases from the crest down to the foundation. The thickness is constant with the exception of where the dam is received by its abutments; here it is thicker to reduce pressure on the rock. The strong rock can accept stresses of 70 kg/cm2. Vertically, the thickness of the dam increases from the crest down to the foundation and has a slight curve from the center towards the crest. This helps alleviate tensile stress for when the reservoir is not only full but empty. The dam's outlet works consist of two discharge pipes, capable of releasing up to 170 m3/s (6,000 cu ft/s) each. One discharges into the original diversion tunnel and another is located at the base of the dam and discharges into the river valley below.[6]
The dam creates Lago di Vogorno which has a 105,000,000 m3 (3.7×109 cu ft) capacity and surface area of 160 ha (400 acres), collected from a catchment area of 230 km2 (89 sq mi). The Verzasca River has very irregular seasonal flows which can reach as high as 1,000 m3/s (35,000 cu ft/s).[6]
Lombardi considers it one of his most aesthetically pleasing dams, primarily because of the slenderness of the concrete arch and the "outstanding cleanness of the design." The design also reduced the amount of concrete needed, therefore reducing the cost as well.[7]
Spillways [ edit ]
The dam has two spillways, each located on the structure, near its abutments on either side which have a maximum discharge capacity of 1,300 m3/s (46,000 cu ft/s). Each spillway contains six fixed-crest weirs that are 12 m (39 ft) wide. From each opening, the water flows down a single chute to a flip bucket at the bottom of the spillway. The flip buckets dissipate and deflect the water towards the center axis of the valley 200 m (660 ft) below. The spillways were later modified to improve releases and function by increasing the size of the piers and adding additional lateral deflectors near the crest.[14]
Power plant [ edit ]
The dam supports a 105 MW power station that contains 3 x 35 MW Francis turbines and generates an average of 234 GWh annually. Water from the reservoir at 470 m (1,540 ft) above sea level is transferred to an underground power station downstream at 193 m (633 ft) above sea level, affording a maximum hydraulic head of 277 m (909 ft).[6][15] The power plant can discharge up to 50 m3/s (1,800 cu ft/s) of water which exits via a 1.9 km (1.2 mi) tailrace tunnel into Lago di Verbano.[14] The builder and owner is Verzasca SA has an 80-year concession on the power station which will expire in 2046.[16]
Popular culture [ edit ]
The opening scene of the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye featured Bond jumping off the dam. The stunt was performed by British stuntman Wayne Michaels. The jump was voted as best movie stunt of all time in a 2002 Sky Movies poll. The dam doubled as the fictional Arkhangelsk Chemical Weapons Facility located in the northern Soviet Union during the Cold War.[4]
The dam owners started to lease access to the dam, soon after GoldenEye was released, to a commercial bungee jump operator. According to the operator, over 10,000 people have jumped the 220 m (720 ft) from the dam.[4]
Eleven contestants bungee jumped off the dam as a Roadblock task in the first episode of the 14th season of The Amazing Race.[17]
The climax scene of the Indian Bollywood movie Dhoom 3 was shot at this dam.[18]
The introduction scene of the Indian Kollywood movie Vivegam was shot at this dam.(Jon Rappoport) Drugs to transform individuals…and even, by implication, society.
Drug research going far beyond the usual brief descriptions of MKULTRA.
The intention is there, in the record.
A CIA document was included in the transcript of the 1977 US Senate Hearings on MKULTRA, the CIA’s mind-control program.
The document is found in Appendix C, starting on page 166. It’s simply labeled “Draft,” dated 5 May 1955.
It begins: “A portion of the Research and Development Program of [CIA’s] TSS/Chemical Division is devoted to the discovery of the following materials and methods:”
What followed was a list of hoped-for drugs and their uses.
First, a bit of background: MKULTRA did not end in 1962, as advertised. It was shifted over to the Agency’s Office of Research and Development.
John Marks is the author of the groundbreaking book, Search for the Manchurian Candidate, which exposed MKULTRA. Marks told me a CIA representative informed him that the continuation of MKULTRA, after 1962, was carried out with a greater degree of secrecy, and he, Marks, would never see a scrap of paper about it.
I’m printing below, the list of the 1955 intentions of the CIA regarding their own drug research. The range of those intentions is stunning. All statements are direct quotes from the “Draft” document.
Some of my comments gleaned from studying the list—
The CIA wanted to find substances which would “promote illogical thinking and impulsiveness.” Serious consideration should be given to the idea that psychiatric medications, food additives, herbicides, and industrial chemicals (like fluorides) would eventually satisfy that requirement.
The CIA wanted to find chemicals that “would produce the signs and symptoms of recognized diseases in a reversible way.” This suggests many possibilities—among them the use of drugs to fabricate diseases and thereby give the false impression of germ-caused epidemics.
The CIA wanted to find drugs that would “produce amnesia.” Ideal for discrediting whistleblowers, dissidents, certain political candidates, and other investigators. (Scopolamine, for example.)
The CIA wanted to discover drugs which would produce “paralysis of the legs, acute anemia, etc.” A way to make people decline in health as if from diseases.
The CIA wanted to develop drugs that would “alter personality structure” and thus induce a person’s dependence on another person. How about dependence in general? For instance, dependence on institutions, governments?
The CIA wanted to discover chemicals that would “lower the ambition and general working efficiency of men.” Sounds like a general description of the devolution of society.
As you read the list yourself, you’ll see more implications/possibilities.
Here, from 1955, are the types of drugs the MKULTRA men at the CIA were looking for:
Substances which will promote illogical thinking and impulsiveness to the point where the recipient would be discredited in public.
Substances which increase the efficiency of mentation and perception.
Materials which will prevent or counteract the intoxicating effect of alcohol.
Materials which will promote the intoxicating effect of alcohol.
Materials which will produce the signs and symptoms of recognized diseases in a reversible way so that they may be used for malingering, etc.
Materials which will render the induction of hypnosis easier or otherwise enhance its usefulness.
Substances which will enhance the ability of individuals to withstand privation, torture and coercion during interrogation and so-called “brain-washing”.
Materials and physical methods which will produce amnesia for events preceding and during their use.
Physical methods of producing shock and confusion over extended periods of time and capable of surreptitious use.
Substances which produce physical disablement such as paralysis of the legs, acute anemia, etc.
Substances which will produce “pure” euphoria with no subsequent let-down.
Substances which alter personality structure in such a way that the tendency of the recipient to become dependent upon another person is enhanced.
A material which will cause mental confusion of such a type that the individual under its influence will find it difficult to maintain a fabrication under questioning.
Substances which will lower the ambition and general working efficiency of men when administered in undetectable amounts.
Substances which promote weakness or distortion of the eyesight or hearing faculties, preferably without permanent effects.
A knockout pill which can surreptitiously be administered in drinks, food, cigarettes, as an aerosol, etc., which will be safe to use, provide a maximum of amnesia, and be suitable for use by agent types on an ad hoc basis.
A material which can be surreptitiously administered by the above routes and which in very small amounts will make it impossible for a man to perform any physical activity whatsoever.
That’s the list.
At the end of this 1955 CIA document, the author [unnamed] makes these remarks: “In practice, it has been possible to use outside cleared contractors for the preliminary phases of this [research] work. However, that part which involves human testing at effective dose levels presents security problems which cannot be handled by the ordinary contactors.
“The proposed [human testing] facility [deletion] offers a unique opportunity for the secure handling of such clinical testing in addition to the many advantages outlined in the project proposal. The security problems mentioned above are eliminated by the fact that the responsibility for the testing will rest completely upon the physician and the hospital. [one line deleted] will allow [CIA] TSS/CD personnel to supervise the work very closely to make sure that all tests are conducted according to the recognized practices and embody adequate safeguards.”
In other words, this was to be ultra-secret. No outside contractors at universities for the core of the experiments, which by the way could be carried forward for decades.
A secret in-house facility.
Over the years, more facilities could be created.
If you examine the full range of psychiatric drugs developed since 1955, you’ll see that a number of them fit the CIA’s agenda. Speed-type chemicals, which addle the brain over the long term, to treat so-called ADHD. Anti-psychotic drugs, to render patients more and more dependent on others (and government) as they sink into profound disability and incur motor brain damage. And of course, the SSRI antidepressants, like Prozac and Paxil and Zoloft, which produce extreme |
itself, and therefore it is not a copyright violation to reproduce these links here. They can also be found on the Kassa Website[54] together with some press information about the case (in English). The test setup details can be found online,[55] and the complete movie of the Kassa TV program meticulously documenting the methodology used for the test can be found online (in Dutch)[56] Weeks before it aired, however, Kassa solicited input from Microsoft Netherlands.
One day before the airing of the April 14, 2007 show, Kassa received a response from Microsoft Netherlands stating that "as a result of regular use it is possible that scratches on discs can arise",[57][58][59] and that Microsoft Netherlands "would seek a solution for the Dutch customers with this problem".[60] Additionally, Microsoft released the following statement ten days after the show, on April 24, 2007:
"Due to the fact that we did not participate in the experiment done by Kassa and have little insight into the methodology that was used, we cannot comment specifically on the outcome. While we are aware that discs can potentially be scratched through normal wear and tear, we have not received any widespread reports of the issue highlighted here. That said, it is important to us that all of our customers have the best gaming experiences possible, and these claims are obviously very concerning to us. We encourage any Xbox customer who believes that their discs have been scratched in the same manner as identified by Kassa, to contact us. We will examine the console and make appropriate repairs if necessary in order to restore the console to full working order, as well as provide customers with information on how to obtain replacement discs should they need them."[61]
Microsoft Netherlands now accepts these complaints from users (while within the warranty period), and offers to replace the Xbox 360 free of charge. Whether Microsoft Netherlands will also replace scratched discs is still unclear. After the official broadcast, (in a continuation of the show which can be viewed on-line, about 28 minutes into the show) a customer is shown calling the Microsoft help-desk, who is told Microsoft will replace his Xbox 360 but is denied a promise to replace his scratched games.[62] There are reports from some other regions that Microsoft will replace scratched discs if published by Microsoft.[63]
The European Commission’s June 2007 investigation of disc scratches [ edit ]
On June 1, 2007, European Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva, after talking with the producers of "Kassa" and other Dutch consumer organizations,[64] announced that the European Commission would investigate the Xbox scratching problems, and would ask Microsoft for an Xbox replacement program for the whole of Europe. She expected Microsoft's answer within a week.[65] Informal sources now say that Microsoft's response was to deny the problem exists, stating that "the users are to blame".[66] But Kuneva did not react to that response, and 18 months later (4th quarter 2008) the EC's (Meglena Kuneva's) news site was still silent about Microsoft's response, or about the result of the "investigation".[67]
Lawsuit [ edit ]
A man has sued Microsoft claiming the Xbox 360 scratches game discs, saying the consoles are "negligently designed and manufactured." In the lawsuit filed on July 9, 2007 in a Florida federal court, Jorge Brouwer says Microsoft has received thousands of complaints but has not replaced all scratched discs. The lawsuit seeks class action status.[68]
Three law firms in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Los Angeles, California; and Seattle, Washington are investigating consumer complaints regarding the Xbox 360. The law firms have filed lawsuits in the United States District Court Western District of Washington at Seattle on behalf of a proposed nationwide class of customers who have suffered scratched game discs while using their Xbox 360. The lawsuit seeks class certification and reimbursement for customers for the cost of games damaged by the console; reimbursement for customers who have paid a $20 fee to Microsoft Corporation under a limited disc replacement program offered on ten Microsoft games; repair of consoles free of charge to prevent further disc scratching; and/or reimbursement for customers who have paid for an aftermarket repair solution.[69]
BBC Watchdog investigation of Xbox 360 disc scratches (2009) [ edit ]
On March 23, 2009, the BBC's consumer interest programme Watchdog performed an investigation into how the console scratches its own discs, after Microsoft found no issues with multiple reportedly defective consoles. A sealed test, protected from any outside interference beyond accessing games, found no problems with either console. However, a further test which attempted to simulate normal household vibrations produced a disc scratch on the previously problematic console.
Currently, Microsoft still maintains that it is the user's fault when discs are damaged, because it "makes clear with multiple warnings not to move the console with the disc inside." It also maintains that only a minority of customers are affected by this issue. However, the company did not comment on the lab tests.[70]
Other [ edit ]
An update patch released on November 1, 2006 was reported to "brick" consoles, rendering them useless.[71] The most obvious issue occurs after the installation of the patch, after which the console immediately reboots and shows an error message. Usually, error code E71 is shown during or directly after the booting animation.
In response to the November 2006 update error that "bricked" his console, a California man filed a class action lawsuit against Microsoft in Washington federal court in early December 2006.[72] The lawsuit seeks $5 million in damages and the free repair of any console rendered unusable by the update. This is the second such lawsuit filed against Microsoft, the first having been filed in December 2005, shortly after the 360's launch.
Following Microsoft's extension of the Xbox 360 warranty to a full year, from the previous 90 days, the California man's attorney confirmed to the Seattle Post Intelligencer that the lawsuit had been resolved under confidential terms.[73]
Video failure [ edit ]
In mid 2007, technology and gaming blogs began reporting about new problems with the Xbox 360 losing video output.[74][75] The problems are characterized by a blank, staticky, or grayscale video output with a proper functioning audio output and no flashing red lights on the console. The complete video failure is sometimes preceded by other graphical glitches such as an irregular saturation of green and/or red colors.[citation needed]
Others have complained about not being able to view certain movies/DVDs on their HDTV using the HDMI cable. This is likely caused by the HDTV being non-HDCP compliant.[citation needed]
Nyko Intercooler [ edit ]
The Nyko Intercooler has been reported to have led to a general hardware failure in a number of consoles, as well as scorching of the power DC input.[76] Microsoft stated that the peripheral drains too much power from the console (the Intercooler power cord is installed between the Xbox 360 power supply and the console itself) and can cause faults to occur, and stated that consoles fitted with the peripheral will have their warranties null and void. Nyko has recently released an updated Intercooler that uses its own power source. Nyko claims this problem no longer occurs with new versions of this cooler. However, Microsoft still considers it an unlicensed add-on and will void the warranty of machines showing signs of its use. There is no data available to indicate whether the Intercooler really does decrease the chance of hardware failure.[76] However, if the Intercooler fails, it can cause more overheating problems. The Intercooler can also melt itself onto the 360, melt the powercord inside of itself, or make itself extremely hard to remove.[77]
On November 19, 2008, Microsoft released the "New Xbox Experience" (NXE). This update provided streaming Netflix capability and avatars; however, some users have reported the update has caused their consoles to not properly read optical media.[1] Others have reported that the update has disabled audio through HDMI connections.[78] A Microsoft spokesperson stated the company is "aware that a handful of Xbox LIVE users are experiencing audio issues, and are diligently monitoring this issue and working towards a solution." Microsoft released a patch on February 3, 2009 for the HDMI audio issues.[79]
E74 error [ edit ]
An example of an E74 error message.
An E74 error is indicated when the lower-right quadrant of the ring indicator flashes red and displays an error message in multiple languages: "System Error. Contact Xbox Customer Support", with the code E74 at the bottom. The error is caused by a solder joint under the GPU or Video output chip becoming damaged.[80] As of April 14, 2009, the E74 error is now covered by the three-year extended warranty, and customers who previously paid Microsoft for out-of-warranty service to correct the E74 error received a refund.[81][82]
The E74 error has sometimes been described by many as a "Green Screen of Death" and a "Black Screen of Death" because early versions of these errors had an almost jet-black background with a hue of dark green. Later versions would show a completely jet-black background. Reports of impending Q4 red-light failure stem from users who report an abnormal display with poor, grainy video as well as black dots or artifacts appearing on the screen. Vertical green or red strokes on the screen can also indicate an E74.[citation needed]
Secondary Error Code [ edit ]
Xbox 360 consoles which have a hardware failure will display a secondary error code by blinking a sequence of LEDs when the correct button sequence is pushed.[12][83] An error code of 0001 may represent a defect in the power supply, rather than the Xbox itself, or a short within the Xbox, or a blown capacitor.For some months now, Microsoft has been promoting the use of standard HTML5 that avoids targeting specific browsers—particularly WebKit-based browsers like Chrome and Safari—and instead works well in any browser, including its own. The company today launched a new site, modern.ie, to further promote this agenda and provide tools to help Web developers.
The site has three main components to it. The first is a scanner that examines sites and detects a laundry list of compatibility concerns. These cover a range of issues, from using out-of-date versions of popular JavaScript libraries such as jQuery to using browser-specific CSS without also including standard cross-browser fallbacks.
One slight peculiarity of this system is that if the scanner detects certain compatibility issues, rather than reporting them directly it requests that you get in touch with Microsoft engineers after demonstrating that it's your site, apparently for "security and privacy reasons."
The second component is a tie-in with a company called BrowserStack. BrowserStack offers a service that lets you view your site in different browsers running on virtual machines hosted in the cloud. It's a commercial service, but through modern.ie developers can sign up for a three-month free trial.
If you'd rather do your cross-browser testing in-house, Microsoft is providing a bunch of virtual machines for various virtualization platforms (Hyper-V today, VMware, Parallels, and VirtualBox coming soon), each containing Windows and Internet Explorer, with VMs for Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 all available.
Third, the site is providing guidelines on coding best practices.
Underscoring all this is Microsoft's continued push to get Web developers to start thinking about Internet Explorer 10, while at the same time not giving Internet Explorer 10 special treatment. That's not a contradiction; Microsoft wants developers to stop doing things like detecting specific browsers and instead detect the presence of specific features.
Internet Explorer 10 has better standards compliance than any of its predecessors, but sites doing browser detection will ignore its new features and capabilities, because they'll implicitly assume that Internet Explorer 10 offers the same functionality as version 9 or older. With feature detection, sites will automatically take advantage of newly supported features, whatever browser is being used.
This also explains the focus on JavaScript library versions and CSS properties. Older versions of jQuery, for example, have bugs that affect Internet Explorer. Newer versions fix those bugs. The very latest version of jQuery, jQuery 2.0, in fact contains fewer workarounds for Internet Explorer issues than any other browser.
When it comes to CSS, many sites use WebKit-specific properties, prefixed with -webkit. Many of those properties have equivalents that work in Firefox (with a -moz prefix), Opera (with -o ), and Internet Explorer (with -ms ); many more are available as standard CSS without any prefix at all. Encouraging developers to use more than just -webkit means that their pages will offer more features in more browsers.
As with the rest of Microsoft's HTML5 standards advocacy, modern.ie may be a little self-serving—Internet Explorer happens to be particularly hard-hit by bad browser detection, for example, and some of modern.ie's advice is tailored specifically to improving Internet Explorer compatibility—but the best practices that Microsoft is espousing are genuine. The guidance Redmond is providing is useful and its advice is legitimate. Whether developers take notice remains to be seen.Bangladesh has finally got the right to dot bangla (.bangla) domain to express its identity internationally.
"Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today [yesterday] made the announcement of allocating the.bangla domain in favour of Bangladesh," State Minister for Posts and Telecommunications Tarana Halim told BSS over phone from Turkey.
Terming the winning of.bangla domain as another milestone for identity, she said, "It's one more achievement of Bangla language after the endorsement of February 21 as the International Mother Language Day."
Overcoming a long procedural fight, Tarana said Bangladesh has won it due to the strong role of Posts and Telecommunications Division (PTD).
She said Sierra Leone also fought for the.bangla domain.
Replying to a query when the use of.bangla domain would start, the state minister, who is now abroad to take part in an official event, said the process would start as early as possible.
Before going abroad, Tarana sent a letter to the ICANN to expedite the root zone delegation process for using.bangla domain and placed it before the meeting of its board of directors.
Earlier, the PDT completed all the procedures from the Bangladesh side and submitted necessary documents as per their (ICANN) requirement. But, the ICANN board was taking time to complete the procedures.
In the letter, Tarana wrote that "We take pride as the Bangla-speaking nation because we are the only nation who sacrificed lives on 21 February, 1952, for the mother language. Now, it is the International Mother Language Day as declared by Unesco."
"The nation's emotion and sentiment are mingled with this language. It also earnestly desires to express the language through the cyberspace as well," read the letter.
"I do appreciate if you kindly cooperate to complete root zone delegation process for.bangla IDNccTLD as early as possible," she wrote in the letter.
The ICANN issued two domains to Bangladesh which are dot bangla (.bangla) and dot bd (.bd). Though the dot bd (.bd) is active, the country failed to make it effective in three years after obtaining permission in 2012.
The domains work as an international identity for a country in the internet world. For example, if someone enters a website with the domain name dot US (.US), it means that the website is from the United States of America (USA). Dot bangla (.bangla) is also such Bangladeshi domain recognised by Unicode.
According to the Wikipedia, dot bangla (.bangla) is a second country code top-level domain. This domain is meant for web addresses in the Bengali language. It is administered by the posts, telecommunications and information technology ministry of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd controls the use of the domain on behalf of the ministry.
Apart from Bangladesh, the Indian government applied for the dot bangla (.bangla) domain on behalf of the West Bengal government in 2012. The ICANN issued the domain to Bangladesh after verifying every aspect.DASH, an open-source project delivering safe decentralized financial solutions, has integrated with an Australian cryptocurrency company Living Room of Satoshi that allows Australians to pay their everyday bills with cryptocurrency, including rent, utilities, insurance bills, phone bills, speeding fines, credit card debt, and government tax bills.
With the integration, DASH has joined bitcoin as the only alternative currency option for bill payers on Living Room of Satoshi. The Australian digital currency firm will be tapping into Dash’s InstantSend technology when the Australian Banking Industry unleashes its New Payments Platform, scheduled for early 2017. The InstantSend technology will possibly allow real-time bank transfers between domestic Australian banking institution, the official release stated.
“We’ve tested other coins like Ethereum, but frequent hard forks and reliability issues made it unfeasible. Dash is perfectly suited as a payment system for bills and real world purchasing of goods and services. From the start, Dash was able to fill the holes Bitcoin created. Dash has the ability to effect transactions instantly, compared to prolonged bitcoin payments lagging over 10 minutes,” Daniel Alexiuc, founder and CEO of Living Room of Satoshi said. “The InstantSend feature of Dash separates them from every other cryptocurrency in the space. The integration with Living Room of Satoshi will ensure that money is sent and received faster than ever before, heightening user experience.”
DASH stands 7th in the list of all blockchain assets with the market cap of $62,370,827 at press time. Dash’s built-in governance and funding system allow projects to be proposed and voted on by the community, and if approved, paid for directly from the blockchain. Its features include instant transfers, low fees, optional privacy and state-of-the-art security, among others.
“We are happy to see true innovators in the space endorse Dash as the leading payment network alternative for their users. In this case, Dash's focus on instant confirmations and usability makes it the ideal fit for Living Room of Satoshi and will dramatically enhance the user experience. The growing amount of options to use Dash as ‘digital cash’ is the result of our overall strategy to develop a smooth roadway bringing cryptocurrencies into the hand of consumers all over the world,” Daniel Diaz, VP of Business Development for Dash said.Stuttgart-based physicists observe the critical Casimir force and use it to cancel out an effect that brings nanomachines to a standstill. When a machine jams, it’s the fault of the engineer - or of physics. The latter is true at least for the first simple nanomachines which are slowed down by the Casimir effect. This force only works on the scale of a few millionths of a centimetre and makes tiny machine parts cling together. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Metals Research and the University of Stuttgart have now observed a similar force in a mixture of two liquids. They have also found a way to reverse the effect of the force so that blockages might be avoided in future nanomachines. This will make it possible to miniaturise machines even further and produce nano-scale mechanical switches or sensors.
Nothing comes from nothing. Only in physics is this not always true. For example, two metal plates placed about half a micrometre apart in a vacuum and at a temperature of absolute zero exert a mysterious attraction on each other. The force pushing the plates together comes from the quantum mechanical fluctuations of the vacuum - so from nothing. This fluctuation represents variations in electromagnetic waves. These need to have a node on the surfaces of the two electrically conductive plates, which considerably limits the number of waves permitted between the plates. Outside of the plates they can spread without restriction. This results in the attraction between the plates.
The physicist Hendrik Casimir predicted this effect in theory as early as 1948; today it is the reason why the components in nanomachines adhere to each other. Clemens Bechinger, professor at the University of Stuttgart and a Max Planck Fellow since the beginning of the year, Christopher Hertlein and other staff members have now observed a very similar force in experiments with a mixture of water and the oily liquid lutidine: the critical Casimir force. "This force is so weak that it is very difficult to detect," says Clemens Bechinger. The results nevertheless agree very well with the values that Siegfried Dietrich, director at the Max Planck Institute of Metal Research in Stuttgart and his team had predicted in theory. The scientists have now published the results jointly.
The critical Casimir force gets its name from the fact that it occurs close to a critical point, such as that in a mixture of water and lutidine. At low temperatures it forms a clear solution. However, if the solution is heated to around 34 degrees Celsius, it becomes two separate mixtures; physicists refer to these as two phases: one with a high water content and the other with a high lutidine content.
The temperature at which this happens is called the critical temperature. The two phases do not come into being abruptly at this critical point, like water solidifying into ice. It is more the case that below the critical temperature areas form in the mixture that contain more water or more lutidine. The closer the temperature gets to the critical point, the larger these fluctuating areas grow and the longer they remain intact. "The way the concentration of water and lutidine fluctuates in different parts of the mixture is similar to the quantum mechanical fluctuations in the vacuum," says Siegfried Dietrich. The fluctuations in concentration should create an attraction between surfaces in a similar way. The researchers have now proven that this is exactly what they do.
"We observed a plastic sphere with a diameter of a micrometre floating in a glass with lutidine and water," says Christopher Hertlein. The temperature of the solution was initially much lower than the critical point. The researchers then heated it up gradually. When the temperature was only 0.2 degrees away from the critical point, the plastic sphere moved towards the glass surface.
The physicists used evanescent optical fields to determine the distance of the sphere to the glass surface by scattering them at the plastic sphere. They shined light towards the glass at a sharp angle so that it was reflected almost completely. Only a tiny part of the light leaked into the liquid. How much reaches the plastic sphere and how much this part is scattered depends very much on the distance of the sphere to the glass surface.
The researchers succeeded in using the distance of the sphere to calculate the force working on it. It was tricky: the tiny sphere moved very rapidly because it was constantly colliding with the heated molecules of the liquid. The critical Casimir force therefore only manifests itself in the form of statistical blips towards the glass surface. "We can only detect these statistical blips because our measuring method is several thousand times more sensitive than atomic force microscopy," says Clemens Bechinger: "That means we can measure in the range of one femtonewton". Atomic force microscopy measures the attraction which a surface exerts on a fine measuring arm. Using the optical measuring method, the physicists in Stuttgart have now established that the critical Casimir force only amounts to 600 femtonewtons, which is less than a millionth of the weight of a flea.
However, this force pushes the plastic sphere to the glass surface only when the glass and the sphere both prefer water or both prefer oil. If the two surfaces are coated so that only one of the two surfaces favors oil, the critical Casimir force pushes the sphere away from the glass surface. Then areas with a lot of water form on one surface and some with a lot of oil on the other. Since it takes energy to make contact between the water and the oil phases, the sphere is repelled.
"This is the effect that our theoretical calculations led us to expect," says Dietrich. The researchers expect that this experimental proof may offer the possibility of stopping blockages in nanomachines. These machines, on a scale of a few millionths of a centimetre, could one day be used as actuators in medicine, for example. They could allow less invasive operations or medication to be transported directly to the focus of disease. However, one of the reasons machines like this have failed up to now is partly due to the Casimir force of the quantum mechanical vacuum fluctuation, which brings them to a standstill. "If these machines would work not in a vacuum, but in a liquid mixture close to the critical point, that could be changed," says Siegfried Dietrich. Then the machine parts could be coated so that the Casimir force has a repelling effect, meaning that the machine runs smoothly. This is one of the objectives that Dietrich’s theoretical group and Bechinger’s experimental group will be pursuing in the future.
[PH]
Journal reference: Christopher Hertlein, Laurent Helden, Andrea Gambassi, Siegfried Dietrich, Clemens Bechinger. Direct measurement of critical Casimir forces. Nature, January 10, 2008 (DOI: 10.1038/nature06443)Advertisement
The Royal Society of Canada has issued a major report on the environmental and health impacts of oil sands development in northern Alberta, a subject that has huge economic implications for the province and country and big implications for North American fossil fuel supplies. The report will not be the last word on this immensely important subject.
The report, commissioned in October 2009, was prepared by a panel of well-qualified experts in environmental health, toxicology, land reclamation and ecological restoration, hydrogeology, integrative biology, economics, and engineering. It primarily addresses concerns articulated by environmentalists, representatives of indigenous peoples (the groups Canada calls its First Nations), and other local citizens. What it does not do is make a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of whether, on balance, oil sands development is worth the prices paid in environmental degradation, scenic squalor, and human discomfort.
The Canadian oil sands are located in a relatively remote area that is sparsely inhabited and yet, to judge from photos, splendid in its vast isolation. It includes one major protected zone, the Buffalo National Park. So worries about oil sand development are not limited to just how it might affect this or that, here or there, but how it will transform the character of a whole region.
Thus, however authoritatively the report addresses the specifics, it remains open to the charge that it almost literally sees only the trees, but not the forests.
Among major findings of the report, Environmental and Health Impacts of Canada's Oil Sands Industry:
--no evidence of contaminant exposures at levels that could affect downstream populations adversely
--need for more frequent biological monitoring and more accessible research results
--enhanced regulatory capacities, with emphasis on acquisition of needed technical personnel
--more adequate provision of financial security, to cover projected costs of environmental reclamation and restoration
Given the critical edge of those recommendations, no reasonable person would accuse the Royal Society of whitewashing oil sands development. But the report nowhere adds up the total benefits expected to accrue from development and nowhere weighs such benefits against aggregate costs--including the costs that may in some sense be greater than the sum. And at times the report comes across as a little tin-eared, as in the first point above, where it says there's no evidence of contamination at levels that could hurt people. What is does not say is whether there's evidence of people being actually hurt.
Not surprisingly, First Nation representatives have reacted to the Royal Society report with skepticism, if not outright disdain.
At times the report expresses itself in a style bordering on the ludicrous: "Is the oil sands industry collectively Canada's largest emitter for air pollutants other than greenhouse gases?" "Is the oil sands industry the most environmentally destructive project on earth?" Such questions bring to mind, embarrassingly, the amusing Geico ads running these days on U.S. television--"Can Geico give you more for less money? Did the three little pigs squeal all the way home?"--except that in the Royal Society report the rote answer is no rather than yes.
No, oil sand development is not the most environmentally destructive project on earth. No, it is not Canada's largest emitter of air pollutants.
Given that style, it's not always easy to stay focused on Royal Society's technical specifics. But it's often worth the try. Take greenhouse gases. The report says that oil sands currently account for only about 5 percent of Canada's total emissions, compared to 17 percent from electricity generation and 27 percent from transportation. But sands also are the fastest growing share and therefore "create a major challenge for Canada to meet our international commitments for overall GHG reduction."
What are those international commitments? This too is a subject that requires a little extra concentration to correctly fathom. As the report notes, in the first Kyoto commitment period, 1990 to present, Canada's GHG emissions increased 24 percent, rather than decrease 7 or 8 percent, as the protocol required. As Canada, unlike the United States, is party to the protocol, it is in gross violation of it. Not surprisingly, then, it attempted earlier this month at Cancun--together with two other countries-- to have the Kyoto process canceled. But it failed after the Japanese leadership defected from the anti-Kyoto cause, having received personal phone calls from the leaders of the UK, Germany, and Mexico..Accordingly, Canada ended up signing agreements in Cancun that in theory require it to do by 2020 even more than Kyoto asks, rather than much less.
To come anywhere close to conform to that obligation would be a Herculean task for Canada, and in fact, it might be flatly incompatible with oil sands development.[A draft of this post was reviewed by Alexander Berger, Program Officer for US Policy at GiveWell, and a number of changes were made to it based on his comments and corrections.]
Charity evaluator GiveWell seeks to identify underfunded charities that can provide clear evidence of positive impact. Making their list of top charities therefore requires that one do good in sufficiently uncomplicated ways, ideally through a straightforward chain of cause and effect. Open borders activism does not fit this description. However, in early 2013, GiveWell (GW) broadened their focus to include less tractable causes through the Open Philanthropy Project, a joint project of GW and the philanthropic foundation Good Ventures (GV). Among a few dozen general causes including criminal justice reform and geoengineering research, “international labor mobility” was put on the agenda no later than in May 2013. This post will give an overview of the work the Open Philanthropy Project (OPP) has done in investigating and funding migration related efforts in the last two years.
A shallow overview of “labor mobility” was posted on GW’s homepage in May 2013. The page credits two specific sources with raising GW and GV researchers’ interest in this cause: Michael Clemens’s article “Economics and Emigration” (the origin of the “double world GDP” estimate), and the conversation that GW and GV staff held with Lant Pritchett in June 2012.
The Open Philanthropy Project’s assessment of free migration as a philanthropic cause
Since the inception of the OPP, the researchers’ stated position has been that labour mobility holds potential for very large gains, mainly in the form of large wage increases for workers who migrate from low-income-countries to high-income-countries. This is in line with Michael Clemens’s argumentation, although the OPP’s position is more guarded in its assessment of the magnitude of the gains, stating little confidence in the output of the relevant models. (Note that Open Borders bloggers have also argued for a lower estimate than Clemens’s.) A back-of-the envelope calculation provided on the GW website nonetheless states that it may be appropriate to consider the “importance” of labor mobility to be in the low trillions of $/year, based on the assumption of 10% as much migration as expected under full liberalisation in the models used by Michael Clemens. Efforts to facilitate legal migration through information sharing and coordination are estimated to hold potential corresponding to hundreds of millions of additional $/year, and the Senate Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill is estimated to represent a plausible US policy path that would carry benefits in the low hundreds of billions of $/year for future migrants (these gains would be realised in 2033 had the bill passed in 2013).
Characteristically concerned with room for more funding, the OPP’s assessment considers the extent to which the cause is already crowded by other philanthropic organisations. Policy work concerned with the treatment of undocumented immigrants in the US and with high-skilled labour for US businesses is seen as very crowded. Crucially, however, the OPP’s globalist humanitarian perspective sets it apart from the vast majority of active philanthropists working on US immigration policy, whose focus seems strongly influenced by citizenism and territorialism: The OPP’s focus is primarily on the interest of the immigrants, not on the interests of US employers in search of labour. And their priority lies with low-skilled immigrants, who have the most to gain from labour mobility. And here, the cause is everything but crowded.
The shallow assessment of labour mobility from May 2013 raises the possibility of important downsides of migration liberalisation as requiring research, and takes no position on this side of the issue. A post published in July 2014 states (citing a conversation with Michael Clemens and announcing a forthcoming writeup of the evidence)
our current understanding is that best evidence suggests that both lower- and higher-skill immigration are net beneficial for current residents, though they have somewhat different distributional effects.
On the 3rd of September 2014, Holden Karnofsky posted a draft writeup on the likely impact of increased immigration on current US residents’ wages, which the OPP had commissioned David Roodman to write, stating
We haven’t yet fully vetted this writeup (something we are planning to do), but we believe it gives a thorough and convincing picture of the literature, and provides some reason to believe that immigration is unlikely to result in substantially lower wages (particularly over the long run) for current residents.
(See also Open Borders’ reference page on the potential suppression of wages of natives.)
As for how highly they have prioritised this cause compared with the other philanthropic causes on their list:
An update on the Open Philanthropy Project posted on the GW blog on 26 September 2013 described “deep investigations” of 7 philanthropic causes as a crucial next step, involving proactive grantmaking. Labour mobility is on top of the list.
A much later post from 29 May 2014 on “Potential U.S. policy focus areas” groups labour mobility together with “macroeconomic policy” under the heading “Ambitious longshots: outstanding importance”, and places “deep investigation” of these two causes on top of the agenda, as investigation into the more time-sensitive “criminal justice reform” was being paused at that point in time.
A new Open Philanthropy Project update on US Policy related causes was posted on 10 March 2015. It states:
Our highest priority is to make a full-time hire for criminal justice reform, factory farming (pending a last bit of cause investigation, focused on the prospects for research on meat alternatives), or macroeconomic policy. Our second-highest priority is to further explore international labor mobility and land use reform, areas that we find conceptually very promising but in which we aren’t currently aware of (multiple promising-seeming) potential grant opportunities, and accordingly aren’t ready to make full-time hires in. These priorities are followed by several issues on which we have a relatively specific idea of what we could fund, and the next steps would be to investigate in much greater depth to decide whether the specific potential grants were worth making.
A spreadsheet linked to from last week’s OPP update explicitly gives “labor mobility” the highest importance out of all OPP causes. (See the “Importance” column.) Unfortunately, this importance is not reflected by a corresponding number of funding opportunities.
Taking action
Since many of the causes taken on in the Open Philanthropy Project call for policy changes, GW’s and GV’s researchers have investigated expected costs and benefits of policy reform strategies. Vipul has written an Open Borders post about the conversation they’ve held on the topic with Steve Teles, and they have also held two conversations with Mark Schmitt. A series of blog posts from October and November 2013 outline some general conclusions on policy oriented philanthropy.
As previously mentioned, the “deep investigation” of the causes was to involve proactive grantmaking. A blog post from May 2014 describes how GW’s and GV’s researchers came to adopt this approach:
from observing the behavior of potential grantees and other funders, we came to believe that a funder must be highly prepared (and likely) to make grants in an area in order to find giving opportunities in that area. Many people will only make the relevant referrals, propose relevant ideas, etc. once they are convinced of a philanthropist’s serious interest in providing funding.
The term “Earning to give” is often used in the Effective Altruism community, and I imagine the parallel terminology here is intentional:
“Giving to learn” can mean multiple things. It can mean (a) funding research in order to gain specific knowledge; it can also mean (b) funding a project in order to learn from following the project’s progress. The dynamic laid out in the above bullet points represents perhaps the most counterintuitive meaning: “giving to learn” can mean (c) offering funding in order to learn from the process of finding grantees.
[Update: Alexander Berger tells me the parallelism is not intentional.]
Three grants and one potential top charity
The Center for Global Development (CGD) was awarded a grant for $1,184,720 over 3 years in March 2014.
This is the nonprofit think tank that employs Michael Clemens. As mentioned above, his publications were important in bringing the issue of labour mobility to GW and GV researchers’ attention.
In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Michael Clemens had advocated for making Haiti eligible for access to the H-2 temporary work visa program, as an outstandingly effective form of disaster relief. GW and GV researchers estimate that his efforts contributed significantly to the U.S. government’s decision to accept this proposal.
The grant will fund further research by Michael Clemens on “both marginal and more ambitious” changes to migration policy and its possible role in disaster relief. CGD will further use the grant money to launch a Working Group on Designing and Evaluating Bilateral Low-Skill Labor Mobility Agreements between high and low income countries. A Working Group on Creating a Migration-for Development Unit within the US Government will possibly also be launched.
While GW and GV are unsure of the marginal contribution the grant money will make to the CGD’s productivity in this area, they note that Michael Clemens’s work had very few sources of funding.
Follow-up is a crucial part of the Open Philanthropy Project’s process. The writeup states that they “expect to have a conversation with Dr. Clemens every 3-6 months for the duration of the grant to learn about the status of his research and advocacy efforts, with public notes if the conversation warrants it.”
Notes on a conversation with Michael Clemens held on 21 January 2015 were published last week. Highlights:
Recently, most of Dr. Clemens’ time has been dedicated to three working groups and one study group:
A working group on a bilateral labor agreement between the U.S. and Mexico |
vowed to confirm Gorsuch by Friday, an outcome that increasingly appears to be possible only by killing the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, despite misgivings among senators on both sides of the aisle. Liberals have cheered the looming Democratic filibuster of President Donald Trump's high court pick, while trying to isolate Republicans to make them pay politically for changing Senate rules.
Republicans say their rules change is an inevitable reply to Democratic obstructionism that would have greeted any Trump nominee.
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"The millions of Americans who make up the People's Defense want Senate Republicans to know: The decision to blow up the Senate is squarely in their hands, and their hands alone," Kaylie Hanson Long, a NARAL spokeswoman, said in a statement. "It's on them to prove if they stand with their constituents, or Donald Trump."
Liberal groups also plan to hold a Thursday morning anti-Gorsuch rally on Capitol Hill, bringing their campaign against the nominee to a climax at the moment time that Democrats are expected to officially filibuster him.Finding dents in a blobby shape
<– Back to main page…
Recently someone on a forum I read on researchgate.net posted a question: given some blobby shapes like:
A collection of blobby shapes with indentations.
How do we find the number of indentations in each shape? A few years ago I was doing work with microscope slide images looking at cells in tissue, and similar shape analysis problems arose when trying to reason about the types of cells that appeared in the image.
Aside from any specific context (like biology), counting the dents in the black and white blobs shown above looked like an interesting little toy problem that wouldn’t be too hard to solve for simple shapes. The key tool we will use is the interpretation of the boundary of the shape as a parametric curve that we can then approximate the curvature along. When the sign of the curvature changes (i.e., when the normal to the curve switches from pointing into the shape to outside, or vice versa), we can infer that an inflection point has occurred corresponding to a dent beginning or ending.
The tools we need to solve this are:
A way to find a sequence of points (x,y) that represent a walk around the boundary of the shape,
A way to compute the derivative and second derivative of that boundary to compute an approximation of the curvature of the boundary at each point,
A method for identifying dents as changes in the curvature value.
In Matlab, most of these tools are readily available for us. The bwboundaries function can take a binary image with the shape and produce the (x,y) sequence that forms the set of points around the boundary in order. The fast Fourier transform then can be used to turn this sequence into a trigonometric polynomial as well as computing derivatives necessary to approximate the curvature at the points along the boundary.
Working backwards, our goal is to be able to compute the curvature at any point along the boundary of the shape. We will be working with a parametric function defined as x=x(t) and y=y(t), which allows us to compute the curvature via:
\(\kappa = \frac{x'y''-y'x''}{\left( {x'}^2 + {y'}^2 \right)^\frac{3}{2}}\)
This means we need to have a way to compute the derivatives of the parametric function x’, x’‘, y’, and y’’. It turns out this is pretty straightforward if we employ the Fourier transform. A useful property of the Fourier transform is its relationship to derivatives of functions. Specifically, given a function x(t), the following property holds:
\(\mathcal{F} \left[ \frac{d^n}{dt^n} x(t) \right] = (i \omega)^n X(i \omega)\)
where:
\(X(i \omega) = \mathcal{F} [x(t)]\)
That relationship happens to be quite convenient, since it means that if we can take the Fourier transform of our parametric function, then the derivatives come with little effort. We can perform some multiplications in the frequency domain and then use the inverse Fourier transform to recover the derivative.
\(x^{(n)}(t) = \mathcal{F}^{-1}\left[ (i \omega)^n X(i \omega) \right]\)
Armed with this information, we must first obtain the sequence of points along the shape boundary that represent discrete samples of the parametric function that defines the boundary curve. Starting with a binary image with just a few dents in the shape, we can extract this with bwboundaries.
This function returns a cell array in the event that more than one boundary can be found (e.g., if the shape has holes). In the images considered here, there are no holes, so the first element of the cell array is used and the rest (if any are present) are ignored. The x coordinates are extracted from the second column of b, and the y coordinates from the first column. Now we want to head into the frequency domain.
As discussed above, differentiation via the FFT is just a matter of scaling the Fourier coefficients. More detail on how this works can be found in this document as well as this set of comments on Matlab central.
Before we continue, we have to take care of pixel effects that will show up as unwanted high frequency components in the FFT. If we look closely at the boundary that is traced by bwboundaries, we see that it is jagged due to the discrete pixels. To the FFT, this looks like a really high frequency component of the shape boundary. In practice though, we aren’t interested in pixel-level distortions of the shape - we care about much larger features, which lie in much lower frequencies than the pixel effects. If we don’t deal with these high frequency components, we will see oscillations all over the boundary, and a resulting huge number of places where the curvature approaches zero. In the figure below, the red curve is the discrete boundary defined by bwboundaries, and the green curve is the boundary after low pass filtering.
Zooming in, we can see pixel-level effects on the shape boundary.
We can apply a crude low pass filter by simply zeroing out frequency components above some frequency that we chose arbitrarily. There are better ways to perform filtering, but they aren’t useful for this post. In this case, we will preserve only the 24 lowest frequency components. Note that we preserve both ends of the FFT since it is symmetric, and preserve one more value on the lower end of the sequence since the first element is the DC offset and not the lowest frequency component.
xf(25:end-24) = 0; yf(25:end-24) = 0;
The result looks reasonable.
Looking at pixel-level effects for the whole shape.
Finally, we can apply our multipliers to compute the derivative and second derivative of the parametric function describing the shape boundary. We only want the real components of the complex FFT.
Here we can see the derivatives plotted along the curve. The blue arrows are the first, and the cyan arrows are the second derivative.
Visualizing the first and second derivatives around the curve.
Finally, we can compute our approximation for the curvature.
The curvature as a function of position along the curve.
The last step is to identify places where the curvature approaches zero. Ideally, we’d be working with the signed curvature so that we can identify where inflection points are by observing the normal vector to the boundary surface switching from pointing outward to inward and vice versa. The approximation above is not signed, so we rely on another little hack where make the following assumption: the shape that we are dealing with never has flat edges where the curvature is zero. Obviously, this isn’t a good assumption in the general case, but sufficient to demonstrate the technique here. If this technique is applied in a situation where we want to do the right thing, the signed curvature is the thing we’d want to compute and we would look for sign changes.
Instead, we look for places where the curvature goes very close to zero, and assume those are our inflection points. Now, often more than one point near an inflection point exhibits near zero curvature, so we look for gaps of more than one point where the curvature is near zero. For each dent, we should see two inflection points - one where the boundary enters the dent, and one where it leaves it.
For the example images above, the code yields the correct number of dents (2, 7, and 3).
The computed indentation count for each blobby shape.
Before leaving, it’s worth noting some issues with this. First, the assumption that curvature diving towards zero implies that in the signed case it would have switched sign is definitely not valid in a general sense. Second, the filtering process is damaging to dents that are “sharp” - it has the effect of rounding them off, which could cause problems.
On the other hand, working with the boundary as a parametric curve and computing derivatives using the Fourier transform does buy us robustness since we stay relatively true to a well defined (in a mathematical sense) notion of what a dent in the shape is.BART rider with cocaine explains it all: He puts it on his pot
A man allegedly found with cocaine on a BART train told police he likes to sprinkle the drug on marijuana. A man allegedly found with cocaine on a BART train told police he likes to sprinkle the drug on marijuana. Photo: Glen Stubbe / Glen Stubbe / Associated Press Photo: Glen Stubbe / Glen Stubbe / Associated Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close BART rider with cocaine explains it all: He puts it on his pot 1 / 3 Back to Gallery
A man had an unusual explanation when BART police found him holding cocaine baggies while passed out on a train: He said he sprinkled it on his marijuana, authorities say.
Eddie Maldon III, 27, of Antioch could stick with that defense when he goes to trial in June in connection with the incident last fall. Prosecutors say he is a seasoned offender with multiple convictions for drug sales.
It all began about 1:45 a.m. Nov. 8 when Maldon was found passed out on a BART train as it reached its last destination, San Francisco International Airport, said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
The train operator tried unsuccessfully to rouse Maldon and called BART police.
Officers responded and discovered that Maldon was holding a bag with 12 individually wrapped baggies of powder cocaine, Wagstaffe said. He also had $294, authorities said.
Paramedics had to use an ammonia inhalant to wake him up, authorities said.
Officers arrested him, and he told them that the cocaine was for “personal use” and that he “liked to sprinkle it on his marijuana,” Wagstaffe said.
Maldon is scheduled to appear in Superior Court on Monday for a pretrial conference before his trial date in June. He is free in lieu of $35,000 bail.
Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henrykleeEXCLUSIVE: “I found it a real honor to be asked to continue the tradition,” Jared Leto says of playing Batman’s decades-long archenemy The Joker in Warner Bros’ upcoming Suicide Squad. An Oscar winner, a musician with his band 30 Seconds To Mars and a documentarian, Leto also has been trying his hand as an interviewer with the hefty likes of Edward Snowden, Jeff Koons and ex-VP Al Gore through his AOL Build series Beyond The Horizon.
Having debuted October 6 last year, the Leto-directed series ran for 10 weeks. With a new 10- to 15-minute show every Tuesday, the self-described “series about the future of humanity” featured one-on-one interviews between Leto and the likes of Gore, Snowden, Deepak Chopra, Walter Isaacson and more on topics of technology, the environment and the security state.
With another season of the stylized series on the horizon and the first season in contention for an Outstanding Short Form Non-Scripted and Reality Series Emmy, Leto recently chatted about his AOL gig and its subject matters. As for the garish elephant in the room, the circumspect actor also discussed tackling the Joker role in the David Ayer-directed DC Comics pic alongside Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis and others — and whether he’ll be at Comic-Con for WB’s Hall H presentation next month ahead of the movie’s August 5 release.
DEADLINE: It’s not like you haven’t been busy of late. Why did you decide to both direct and host Beyond The Horizon?
LETO: I’ve always been interested in leaders and rule breakers and artists and politicians. So I thought it would be a really unique opportunity to sit with these people in an intimate way and to learn a little bit about them and how they see the world.
DEADLINE: How did the interview with Edward Snowden come together?
LETO: I had traveled to Russia and met with Snowden, which was a pretty involved meeting that required encrypted communication and the like. And it was fascinating because of who he is and what he’s done. And more so because what’s going on between our two countries, Russia and the U.S., and to meet Edward Snowden in Russia was unforgettable. After that meeting, we did the actual interview at a later date.
DEADLINE: You start the show by asking him if he is a traitor. You know the divisive reaction he invokes — so what did you think of Edward Snowden?
LETO: I found him to be someone who had an incredible and very articulate point of view and I wanted to learn more about that. So I was glad we were able to make that a part of Beyond The Horizon. Because, at the end of the day, there was a moment there, regardless of your opinion on him or his actions, and it was easy to connect because we were two Americans sitting in a hotel room in Moscow.
DEADLINE: You do take your own approach when…
LETO: Well, I’m not a professional journalist, so I think when talking to someone like Al Gore or Edward and all of the other people I interviewed that it was a bit more disarming. I think people felt probably a bit less on-guard. I asked questions that I was interested in asking and learning about and we had conversations that were perhaps more intimate than they may have given somewhere else. There wasn’t an agenda that I had so people could speak their mind on a bipartisan playing field. My only agenda was to really share their perspective and investigate that.
DEADLINE: Why did you decide to have Beyond The Horizon on AOL and not say, a cable station or broadcaster, which I’m sure would have been open to the idea.
LETO: AOL was the best choice because of the reach and their push into focusing on content. They give artists like me the ability to execute a vision and have real ownership over that vision. That and what I liked about that situation was the freedom that I got from them.
Because Beyond The Horizon was never meant to be conventional or for broadcast, it was always a show that was built for this generation. Something that you can consume on the go via mobile. So I think around 10 to 15 minutes was the sweet spot for us. It seems to be a good length for something that’s a bit more involved than a short piece of content that you may find on YouTube or elsewhere that’s less involving.
DEADLINE: When are we going to see more of them?
LETO: We have a second season that we’re prepping for right now. We’ve got an incredible list of people lined up. I’m going to do it again because it was so rewarding and it was challenging in its own way. It was also really fun and exciting to meet and talk with this people. I liked being able to preserve a moment in time, their perspective, and share some of their thoughts with people all over the world.
DEADLINE: So let’s talk about something else that a lot of people anticipated being fun and exciting – Suicide Squad. We’ve seen bit and pieces and trailers but what’s coming?
LETO: You can anticipate a lot of chaos and a hell of a lot of fun. And, I think, something completely different than other movies in the genre.
DEADLINE: With the expectations high and your commitment to the character as high, what was it like playing the Joker?
LETO: Aww, it was a role of a lifetime. Really, it was an incredible honor to be asked to play the part. Look, there have been so many incredible performances of the Joker over the years. Then there’s the wonderful artists that have drawn this character and the writers that have written the Joker for 75 years and more through television and film and animated projects. I found it a real honor to be asked to continue the tradition. I’m so grateful that I had the chance, that’s my honest answer and my thoughts on it.
DEADLINE: So, honest answer, are we going to see you make an appearance at Comic-Con next month with the rest of the Suicide Squad gang?
LETO: (laughs) You never know!The last time that Socialists tried seriously to nationalize the US Health Care industry was under Bill Clinton.
The insurmountable problems at that time were, among numerous minor issues: Privacy and Standards.
THe HIPAA act resolved both of those issues to the satisfaction of the more compassionate (meaning slightly less ruthless)Nanny State advocates in Congress. The stage is set for this to happen under Obama. I don’t know if he can get it done. There is still a strong anti-Socialism streak in American’s, even amongst those who appear to promote it with everything they say and do. There can’t be any illusion; Americans have to face the choice head on, “Do I want to be a slave to the State?” or “Do I want to continue be a free individual?”
I sure hope the opposition to Socialism is much larger than the folks running the country do…but I’m not optimistic about that.
The good news is that for people right now today, and for the first decade after the Socialization happens, the prices may come down, or even be “free.”
The bad news is that in the long run many of the meds people take for granted will cease to exist. Our pharmaceutical industry will be ground into dust just like it has been in every other country that nationalized the industry. Eventually, we will have no choice but to buy most medicines from other countries…just like Canada does. In order to get a good price, our Health Czar will have to lower quality standards and recommended dosages. They will hire more unskilled labor to deliver bureaucratic care instead of skilled labor to deliver professional care. Socialized medicine amounts to “the BEST care EVERYONE can have.” The problem is that some people, a LOT of people don’t understand that isn’t a good thing.
Once the industry has been nationalized the incentive to remove or reduce costs or to research new meds or to optimize the balance between quality and cost is removed. It doesn’t take long for health care to become a form of control that is applied by a mindless bureaucracy that never improves, it only consumes more and more resources for its own maintenance.
Already our trend towards Socialism has fueled enormous investments in health care industry products and services in places that intend to compete. To be fair, socialist European countries provided the first incentives for the Asian nations to realize they could dominate health care in the future. The impending doom of competition and innovation in the USA health industry has turned a good idea into an historical milestone, a major turning point in the crumbling of the American Empire.
Just as the anti-business, anti-individual Nanny State policies have slowly and incessantly pushed our manufacturing capability overseas, the same thing is happening and will accelerate dramatically under a Socialist health care system. The amplification of the Nanny State policies while simultaneously focusing them intensely on crushing the business of health care out of existence, will ensure our future dependence on foreign sources for medical devices and drugs.
The problem is infuriating but I have no better answer for it than anyone in the history of civilization has.
People in the present who are happy and comfortable are apparently ALWAYS willing to sacrifice their children’s future when it comes to their determination to maintain and enhance their own comfort and convenience.
People in the present who are oppressed, poor and desperate are ALWAYS willing to sacrifice even more of their miserable existence in the present to make a better future for their children.
Over generations, these people ALWAYS swap positions. This happens regardless of how much stimulus they can borrow or print, or how many “barbarians” they slaughter on the alter of comfort due to fear of losing it.
The reason I loathe most politicians is because they know the immoral destructive force they wield upon future generations yet they do it anyway. Each for their own reasons. The obvious and pervasive reason politicians support the use of such destructive force is because it funnels power and adulation onto themselves and their benefactors. The support infrastructure for the system is pervasive throughout the world and has been for nearly a century. The public schools are designed to produce interchangeable economic morons that are more easily influenced and manipulated by Academic Guilds ensconced in our major universities.
The job of the guilds is to produce economic mystics who promote the dastardly policies required to finance the system and its loyal parasites. Most of these mystics merely continue in the guild and never really leave the shelter of the university enclave. Some, however, are elevated to elite celebrity status. Honored by a body of their peers, these celebrities come with built-in credibility, a stamp of approval from the mystics that create them. Wonderful.
Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman is a perfect example. He is popular with the media because he says what people want to hear. He is good for ratings. No one wants a regular dose of the truth when it isn’t pleasant. Krugman has no dependency on truth or history or even his own past statements. He makes it up as he goes. He is absolutely eager to step up to make “expert” excuses for why the policy and heroes he bases them on are not jiving with reality.
In the age of willing ignorance and desperation to prolong the present at the expense of the future, Krugman is a hero. Politicians love him because he protects their parasitic attachment to the productivity of the nation’s citizens. The people love him because he provides a supposedly popularity-based foundation upon which to base their denial that they are repeating a cycle of destruction that is well documented and well trodden. The university Guild Masters and adoring apprentices and the army of rank and file economics professors love him because of the glory he has brought to their arcane theories and rituals demanded for the constant update and patching of those theories.
Krugman is also an fine example of the liberal “fail forward” process of advancement and promotion. This is based on the phenomena that any press is good press. Big press for enormous failures and embarrassments is easier to get than big press for successes. Thus, “fail forward” is a dominant force in the liberal political hierarchy…simply because it works. The ends justify the means.
Well, bouncing from one Socialist tool back to the one that I started this article with, I hope it takes President Obama a lot longer to socialize our health care than he is planning…however long that is.
I believe only the complete collapse of our economy before he gets it done will be able to stop him…and that is certainly nothing to go on record hoping for. 🙂 There it is. I hope the economy collapses before Obama can socialize health care. Better sooner than later. He is working very hard on multiple fronts to ensure the rapid collapse the economy…so, it is kind of a race to destruction…which will we reach first?
-Jahfre Fire EaterThings get a little dark.
Bitcoin Mining Profit Calculator: Gaiden, the followup to last year's Advanced Bitcoin Simulator, is a satirical, sometimes cryptic free web browser game written by an anonymous artist called Totally Not Satoshi (TNS). Both games, says TNS, are mostly a piss-taking response to fairly uncritical media coverage of Bitcoin last year, and to the more wide-eyed, fleeceable members of the Bitcoin community.
You begin the game looking to mine some bitcoins, but first you need some fiat money to buy a miner. Beginning with a text-based game, you proceed to unlock abilities and meet fictionalized versions of Bitcoin figures like Andreas Antonopoulos, "Bitcoin Jesus" Roger Ver, Dorian Nakamoto (the guy Newsweek wrongfully credited with inventing Bitcoin), and a few other surprise characters that Bitcoin news followers will recognize.
You'll encounter many challenges along the way to actually making money from your Bitcoin mining endeavours. Indeed, once you advance your story a little, mining becomes secondary, replaced with a grand adventure full of hardware scams, broken promises, Soviet benzodiazepine analogs, secret islands, and begging for Bitcoin tips.
The whole game portrays Bitcoin through a lens of cult-like behavior, pump-and-dump market plays, armchair libertarian anti-state mouth-frothing, and naked scamming.
Although it can be quite scathing, there's a dry sophistication to Bitcoin Mining Profit Calculator: Gaiden's takedown of the Bitcoin community's underbelly. At a time when even the man behind just-for-fun Dogecoin is leaving the cryptocurrency world because of its "toxic" culture, the game's message seems all the more fitting.
Motherboard caught up with Totally Not Satoshi to chat about the game and why it was made.
Motherboard: What inspired you to make the game?
Totally Not Satoshi: There wasn't really a single event that motivated the original one, The Advanced Bitcoin Simulator. The Mt. Gox collapse had just happened, and that's certainly part of it. But I think most of it was just a response to the fairly uncritical media coverage of Bitcoin at the time.
The stories tended to be general "we're living in the future" puff pieces, which just didn't match up with all of the "service hacked, everything lost" stories that were surprisingly common inside the Bitcoin community. For the second one, Bitcoin Mining Profit Calculator: Gaiden, it was mostly just realising that it had been about a year since the first one.
Were you inspired by any other games?
Bitcoin Mining Profit Calculator: Gaiden borrows a lot from a game called A Dark Room, which does a lot of things the same way as Candy Box but also has the cooldown buttons (click then wait) as a major part of the interface semantics. It's also worth mentioning a game called Frog Fractions.
Why is Andreas Antonopoulos wearing that mask?
I guess the short, kinda literalist answer is because he's in a drug-distorted vision. If you want an answer from textual analysis it's because he's part of a three wise monkeys motif (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil). In terms of in-narrative drug-distorted logic, it's because presumably the protagonist is familiar with the Ross Ulbricht trial and knows that Antonopoulos was someone the defence wanted as a witness, but Judge Forrest didn't allow him.
Were you ever or are you into Bitcoin?
Nah. Back before the Gawker article that caused it to really take off I looked at it, because why the hell not. My kinda-sorta goal when I looked at Bitcoin for the first time was to see if I could manage to buy some random Bitcoin-themed tchotchke without having to put up any cash. That worked out pretty much as you'd expect, and I ended up just saying "fuck it" a couple days later having never bought, sold, owned or transacted any bitcoins.
Why do you think Bitcointalk [the most popular Bitcoin forum] has deleted posts about your new game?
Back in 2014 when I announced the first game, the only announcement was in Bitcointalk. Part of the schtick being that it was completely deadpan: We've developed this astonishing new way of modeling volatility in Bitcoin markets, blah blah…
Very early on there were a lot of Bitcoiners who were engaging with it entirely at face value—live posting their investing strategies, explaining how to "beat" the in-game exchange, and so on. But even when that passed and everyone pretty much [figured out it was a joke], a surprising amount of the response was positive.
So the original plan was to announce the new one the same way. Within minutes it got moved out of the general forum and into the mining subforum… But then another moderator deleted the post for being "unrelated garbage." A second announcement posted about half a day later got punted off, … at which point I figured, fuck it, and just announced it on Reddit.
As for why? Fuck if I know. I guess if I was knee-deep in Bitcoin I'd be losing my sense of humour too.
The three wise men of Bitcoin.
Why do you think a segment of the Bitcoin community is so obsessive?
I think the deal with Bitcoiners is kind of like the deal with most fringe groups. In their head there's a narrative: I'm not a bad person, I try hard, and for some reason I don't get quite as much as I deserve. I look around and see other people getting far more than they deserve. The only explanation is that there must be something terribly wrong with the system.
That basic narrative is something a lot of people can identify with. But for some people something in their head clicks and they become convinced that there's one specific thing, some gimmick that's the key that unlocks the whole thing. With Bitcoiners it's a particular strain of internet libertarianism that seems to encourage a very transactional model of human interactions. And once you've latched onto something as The One Weird Trick that explains everything, of course everyone who doesn't believe it is at best a know-nothing bozo and at worst is one of the guys in on it from the other side.
A familiar take on much Bitcoin discussion online.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I really don't think it's the responsibility of the creator of a work to interpret it for an audience, but I'll say that virtually everyone seems to interpret the ending differently than intended.
Oh, and the first calculator you encounter in game (the one with multiple charts) is about as accurate (over the timeframe covered) as any model of an inherently stochastic process can be. The game contains historical data for the period between January 1, 2014 and April 1, 2015 and uses it precisely as described.
Perfect Worlds is a series on Motherboard about simulations, imitations, and models. Follow along here.Here are four ideas that you probably already agree with. Three are about your values, and one is an observation about the world. Individually, they each might seem a bit trite or self-evident. But taken together, they have significant implications for how we think about doing good in the world.
The four ideas are as follows:
It's important to help others — when people are in need and we can help them, we think that we should. Sometimes we think it might even be morally required: most people think that millionaires should give something back. But it may surprise you to learn that those of us on or above the median wage in a rich country are typically part of the global 5% — maybe we can also afford to give back too. People are equal — everyone has an equal claim to being happy, healthy, fulfilled and free, whatever their circumstances. All people matter, wherever they live, however rich they are, and whatever their ethnicity, age, gender, ability, religious views, etc. Helping more is better than helping less — all else being equal, we should save more lives, help people live longer, and make more people happier. Imagine twenty sick people lining a hospital ward, who’ll die if you don’t give them medicine. You have enough medicine for everyone, and no reason to hold onto it for later: would anyone really choose to arbitrarily save only some of the people if it was just as easy to save all of them? Our resources are limited — even millionaires have a finite amount of money they can spend. This is also true of our time — there are never enough hours in the day. Choosing to spend money or time on one option is an implicit choice not to spend it on other options (whether we think about these options or not).
I think that these four ideas are all pretty uncontroversial. I think it seems pretty intuitive that we should help people in need if we can; that we shouldn’t arbitrarily preference some groups of people over others; that we would prefer to help more people if given the option; and that we don’t have infinite time and money.
In fact I’d go further — I’d say that we’d feel pretty uncomfortable trying to defend the alternative positions if we were talking to someone, namely:
Helping others in need isn’t morally required, important, or even that good It’s OK to value people differently based on arbitrary differences like race, gender, ability etc. It doesn’t matter if some people die even if it doesn’t really cost us anything extra to save their lives We have unlimited resources
See what I mean?
We don't have infinite money, so we always need to choose which worthy cause to support.
So if we agree that these four ideas embody important values — and I think that they do — then there are big implications for how we should think about doing good. In fact, it means that the way we typically think about doing good is wrong.
In order to be true to these values, we need to think about how we can help the most people with our limited resources.
This is important, because there are some causes where we can make a big impact for a small amount of money. In fact the best options are much, much better than the average — sometimes hundreds of times better. That might mean the difference between helping one person, and helping hundreds of people for exactly the same amount of time or money.
Because a charity chosen at random is almost certainly not making as big an impact as the most effective charities (and let’s face it, many causes we choose to support tend to be the result of either random chance, or systemic factors that mean we’re only exposed to certain causes).
And this matters, because if we don’t choose well, then we’re either not giving people equal consideration (that is, implicitly discriminating against some groups of people), or we’re not helping as many people as we can (that is, allowing extra people to suffer or die, even though we could potentially help them).
So, at first, every worthy cause — from cancer research, to climate justice, to animal sanctuaries, to preventing easily treatable but unpronounceable diseases in places that we'll probably never visit — should be on the table… except that we also think it's better to help more people and we understand that we don’t have the resources to help everyone. So we should first focus on the causes where we can help the most people for our limited time and money, not just on those that we happen to have already heard about.
Women in Uganda holding bales of insecticide-treated bednets provided by the Against Malaria Foundation, one of Giving What We Can's Top Charities.
Trying to be cause-neutral can be a really hard thing to do. Most people have first-hand experience of loss: I’ve lost two relatives to leukaemia; watched as the disease consumed their bodies and the pain meds fogged their minds; lived through the shared grief of their passing. It’s entirely reasonable that this makes us want to donate to organisations trying to solve the specific problem or cure the particular disease that has robbed us of our loved ones. We’re empathetic creatures, and we don’t want other people to experience the same suffering, or for their loved ones to experience the same grief.
But if we care about treating people equally, we should also care about treating their experiences equally. There’s not a really good reason that I should prefer averting the death, disability, and suffering caused by a particular disease (like leukaemia) any more than I should care about suffering caused by malaria, tuberculosis, traffic accidents, or anything else. What matters is that lives are cut short, parents are deprived of their children, people are living in pain. Caring about equality means treating all death and suffering as a tragedy, not just that caused by specific diseases that we — by cruel twists of fate that thrust them into our field of view — happen to notice.
Making these decisions is really, really hard. But there is a set of thinking tools we can use to help us. This way of thinking is called effective altruism. It's basically the same as regular altruism (in that it emphasises the importance of helping other people) — the word 'effective' just means trying to think clearly about how your actions can help the most people, or do the most good.
I see effective altruism as a way of being able to better live up to values that we already hold.
This way of thinking is applicable to any way that we might want to do good — whether that be agitating for political change, choosing where we donate our money, or how to have a big impact with our careers.
In a world where there are so many worthy causes we could work on, it gives us a way out of decision paralysis, by systematically looking for ways to do the most good with our limited time and money.
It asks us to face up to some hard choices. But remember, we’re making these choices anyway, whether we think about them or not. So even though it might be hard to not donate to something that seems really important — whether for personal reasons, or because you’re convinced by a charity’s marketing pitch — remember that you’re always trading off against other worthy causes.
Here’s an example of this in action. The typical person in the UK donates around £6,700 ($9,600USD) over the course of their working lifetimes. For this money we could fund the distribution of around 1,900 mosquito nets (likely preventing around 200children from becoming really, really sick from malaria, and probably saving at least two or three lives). However, most voluntary donations go to domestic medical charities. The UK’s National Health Service considers it good value to save one year of healthy life for around £25,000. It’s highly unlikely that a domestic charity will beat this figure, so the typical donor’s impact is going to be many, many times less than it could otherwise be. Remember, just because we don’t think about these choices, doesn’t mean that they’re not there.
So please, think carefully about these ideas — the importance of altruism, equality, and doing as much as we can with our scarce resources — and see if they make sense to you.
If they do, then the next time you think about how to make the world a better place, give voice to these values by thinking effectively, as well as altruistically.
Some resources for learning more about effective altruism:
Some actions you can take that we think are really effective
Donate to a charity recommended on the basis of its impact and cost-effectiveness — check out our Top Charities |
I would have lost. I won because I could out-organize everybody." In his junior year, he was vice president of the student body and the next year, president.
"I'm not a backslapper," he says. "I'm not good at small talk. I'm not good at palling around. They can call it snobbery or arrogance, but it's really shyness."
According to his mother, Stone was the only boy in the history of John Jay to receive an honorary athletic letter -- not for his prowess on the field, but for his pep rallies.
Social studies teacher John Wirchansky says nobody could forget Roger Stone.
"Politics was his life. When he ran for student council president, they had bunting, people coming down the aisles in hats. He put on quite a show. We never had another person like him."
In the fall of 1970, Stone moved to Washington to attend George Washington University. He became president of the District of Columbia Young Republicans. While his roommates were protesting the Vietnam War, Stone says, he was attending meetings of the Young Americans for Freedom. He also volunteered to work for Chuck Colson at the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). He became an assistant to Bart Porter, who helped manage the dirty tricks operations. Under the pseudonym "Jason Rainier," Stone went to Kentucky and recruited a political spy, paying him $5,800 for information on Democratic opponents. He also went to New Hampshire and donated money to the abortive presidential campaign of Rep. Pete McCloskey (R-Calif.) in the name of a left wing group called the Young Socialist Alliance. Stone then drafted a letter to the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader describing the contribution, enclosing a receipt from the McCloskey campaign.
"They were all dumb ideas," he says now. "I did some things, in retrospect, which were in terribly poor judgment. I was caught up in the hysteria of the times."
He attended classes at night. Asked if he spent four years at GW, Stone says, "Yes," adding that he majored in political science. "Actually, I was there five years because I had to go back to take courses because I was working for Nixon."
According to the GW registrar's office, he completed two years of college. After those first two years, he signed up for continuous enrollment status, which enabled him to take courses later without reapplying for admission. He completed one more course the next year, bringing his total credit hours to 48 out of the 120 required for graduation.
After a request is made for his re'sume', which lists him as having "attended" GW, Stone telephones to explain. "I never got the credits to graduate. My parents are very sensitive about my not getting a degree," he says.
"I tried to go back for five years," he says in a later conversation. "I'd get the course books."
Was he there, then, at school for five years?
"Definition of the word 'there,' I guess," says Bitsey Stone.
Stone says there was a reason he never finished college. The courses, especially those in political science, were, in his words, "not relevant to real life." ''Cause Roger Stone Told Me to'
The "dumbest politician" he ever worked for, Stone says, was "a guy I elected to the county legislature when I was 16 years old. He was a fuel oil dealer and I talked him into running. He could read and write. I remember we went to the first candidate's forum at the League of Women Voters. The first question was, 'Why are you running for the county legislature?' The first candidate said, 'I want to serve my country. The other guy said, 'I feel like I've taken so much, I owe it.' They came to my guy and he said, ''Cause Roger Stone told me to.' "
He grins, arms cradling his head. "The guy won."
While still in high school, Stone attended the 1968 Republican convention, where he says he was thrown into a hotel swimming pool by Christopher Buckley for wearing a Nixon button. "I'm sure he doesn't remember," Stone says. Buckley, son of columnist William F. Buckley, says the incident never happened.
By the time he got to college, however, Stone was being taken seriously as a political adviser. "I remember sitting in Roger's dorm," his wife marvels, "and having state legislators from New York call him and ask how they should vote on issues."
He says he worked on the 1973 Virginia gubernatorial campaign of Mills Godwin. "I frankly don't have any recollection of him," Godwin says. M. Patton Echols, a Virginia attorney general candidate that year, recalls that Stone was paid a small allowance to drive Echols to appointments.
In December 1973, Stone took a job as a junior staffer in Sen. Robert Dole's office. But he left six months later after Jack Anderson wrote a column revealing Stone's history as a "Dirty Trickster." (The departure was "by mutual agreement," says a spokesman for Dole's office; Stone says he'd given notice shortly before the column appeared.)
Although Stone was given, in his words, a "clean bill of health" by the Senate Watergate Committee and the FBI, Republican politicians, anxious to avoid the taint of scandal, regarded Stone as a pariah. "It was tough to get a job for a couple of years," he says.
After serving as Ronald Reagan's "youth director" in 1976, he became close to conservative fund-raiser Richard Viguerie. His wife was working for Viguerie at the time.
With his friends Terry Dolan and Charlie Black, Stone formed the National Conservative Political Action Committee, serving as its treasurer. In 1977, he ran for national president of the Young Republicans. Black managed his campaign.
A popular, soft-spoken man, Black is widely thought to be Stone's protector, the man who helped transform him from political pariah to powerful New Right activist. "Somebody could say I was looking after him," Black now says, "But Roger and I are peers. I've never thought of myself as an older brother."
Two months before the election, a stinging Evans and Novak column raised the question of what they called Stone's "waist deep" involvement in Watergate and expressed concern about his desire to make the Young Republicans independent of the national committee. Evans and Novak (who today often use Stone as a source) concluded the column, "Even Republicans too insensitive to worry about the impact of Roger Stone's past are getting frightened by Roger Stone's future."
Nevertheless, in June, Stone was elected YR president.
By this time, he was already working for Ronald Reagan and in 1980, signed on to handle the Northeast. Although Stone was regarded as a sharp technician, he angered a number of the party elders, including Sen. Lowell Weicker, who went to Reagan's campaign manager, Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.), and demanded that Stone be thrown out of Connecticut.
After the election, in 1980, he joined his partners in the lobbying/consultant firm they had founded. Gradually, he began to distance himself from the ultraconservative wing of the Republican Party. This shift angered many of the hard-line conservatives like Paul Weyrich, who saw Stone as abandoning his ideological beliefs for the sake of business.
"In my view, the man's word is no good," says Weyrich. "Every meeting I've had with the guy, I wanted to wash my hands three times afterwards." 'We're Both Ambitious'
In a strange way, Roger and Ann Stone are to the '80s what Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden were to the '60s. They represent the collective strivings of a new generation: toward consumerism, upward mobility and conservative values.
They live in a $200,000 red brick town house, tucked into a quiet cul-de-sac in Alexandria. The furnishings are reproductions of the federal style, and everything looks new and shiny.
She calls him "Pookie." He calls her "Bitsey." They have two dachshunds, Milhous and Dewey. Milhous has "a bit of a biting problem," Bitsey says, so the dog is kept in a room on the first floor. He barks constantly. Upstairs in the kitchen, on a spring evening, Roger is making his special spaghetti sauce for dinner while Bitsey, in navy and white polka dots, talks about their success.
"It's not a question of being smarter than the rest," she explains. "It's a question of working harder."
"We're both ambitious," her husband says.
One measure of success is their $230,000 beach house on the Delaware shore. "Which reminds me, Bitsey," says Roger, "Bay Buchanan the former U.S. treasurer is renting it for the last week of July."
The Stones appear older than their years. "Roger's big ambition in college was to have gray hair," Bitsey recalls. "He couldn't wait to be 30."
"People don't take you seriously when you're 25," her husband says.
They both work long hours and travel; Roger likes to leave the office at noon on Friday "to goof off." They like to entertain, but often go their separate ways to functions and parties.
"The beautiful strength of my marriage," she says, "is the independence. Yet, when we need it, we're there for each other." The Stones usually manage to eat dinner together only one night a week, Roger says.
They met at George Washington University. The story, as Bitsey relates it at dinner parties, goes like this: She walked into her room one time to find Roger and a girlfriend in bed together. Their mutual interest in conservative politics peaked when Roger managed Bitsey's campaign for secretary of the college Republicans. "The strongest thing underlying my philosophy as a Republican was anti-Communism," she recalls. "The Berlin Wall left a very profound impact."
Bitsey says she comes from a blue collar family in Stratford, Conn., and has worked all her life. She remembers buying dresses for $5 at the Grand Union.
She and Roger married in 1974, spending their honeymoon as camp counselors for the Teenage Republican Leadership Conference. Bitsey worked at Human Events magazine, selling advertising, then left to join Richard Viguerie's firm. Eventually, she says, she became the youngest vice president with the company, and she now heads her own direct mail firm, Ann Stone & Associates.
They are asked if it would it be possible to be married to someone outside the political world. Could Bitsey, for example, be married to a salesman?
"I am," she declares.
Dinner is served in the formal dining room. The table is long and polished, with three place settings, fine white china and silver. There is a flurry of activity as Roger fetches salad bowls, only to find salad plates already at the table. Bitsey frowns. Milhous has not stopped barking.
Bitsey says that her husband "is not as thick skinned or as mean as people think." As an example, she tells the story of a Korean mechanic who used to work on Roger's two Citroens. (He has since sold them. The Mercedes is a leased company car. He owns the Jaguar.)
The mechanic was eager to start his own business, but needed financial backing. Roger agreed to invest. In return, the mechanic invited the Stones for dinner. It was Christmastime, but there were no presents under the tree. Bitsey asked the children what they were getting from Santa. The parents, as Bitsey tells it, became sad and said there was no money for presents.
The next day, Bitsey says, "Roger sent his secretary out with some money to buy toys for the kids. We sent them by messenger, anonymously." But the parents "figured out it must have been us. It's been a tradition now for several years." She pauses. "This year, since we were away for Christmas, we still have the gifts downstairs." 'I Was Flattered That Ed Asked Me'
There is no question that Roger Stone is climbing the political flagpole. But the higher you climb, the saying goes, the more you expose yourself.
Herb Harman, former regional political director for the Reagan-Bush campaign, puts it this way: "You can parlay your short-term connections into making money, but administrations change. That's where Roger is going to end up short, because he doesn't have any real talent. He doesn't have any character. That's why questions have come up about his ethics and his way of doing business. He has to parlay connections to give himself credibility because he has no credibility on his own."
For now, at least, his position within the Reagan camp seems secure. Stone is "not an unfamiliar figure" in the halls of the White House," says Mitch Daniels, assistant to the president for Political and Inter-Governmental Affairs. "Clearly, he's been an important soldier."
Some Republican elders say the Whiz Kid has mellowed in the past few years. "I think he's matured," says Marvin Liebman. "A lot of the rough edges are off."
"He's not as brash as he was," says former Reagan adviser Lyn Nofziger. "I think he's learned a lot of things."
But Stone may have at least a few more things to learn.
Last February, he angered supporters of Bush and Dole at a Conservative Political Action Congress' meeting. David Keene, the chairman of the congress, accused Stone of rigging a presidential preference poll "in a Watergate-type tactic from the kind of people who learned to operate in that era."
According to Keene, Stone first complained that two pro-Kemp groups, the College Republicans and the Fund for a Conservative Majority, had not been included in the original poll. Then, after Keene agreed to conduct a second poll of those attending the meeting, Stone hastily recruited hundreds of College Republicans to come to the meeting and cast their votes for Kemp. For good measure, he orchestrated the most vocal demonstration of the day, with "Not Bush" buttons and "Kemp '88" signs.
When Keene confronted him, Stone said he was sick with the flu. "He said, 'I haven't been out of my house for two days, how could I have done this?' " Keene recalls. "And some reporter said, 'Yeah, but he's talked to all of us four times a day.' "
Republican insiders were incredulous when they read in The New Republic that Stone said he's turned down a high-powered White House job offered by Ed Rollins, the former deputy to the president.
"I was flattered that Ed asked me," Stone said later. "And I obviously did seriously consider it, but I just didn't think I'd be happy. I've worked for myself now for so long. I'm set in my ways."
Responds Rollins: "For him to say a formal offer was made and he turned it down is not quite true." The two men, he says, talked about it informally. But Rollins says he was not sure Stone would have "fit well in that setting," meaning the White House. He also didn't want "the baggage of Roger."
So far, Stone has not been hired for any 1986 senatorial campaigns. He is working with Jeff Jacobs, who is running for Ohio state treasurer, and Rep. Bob McEwen (R-Ohio).
Everyone says he is almost certain to play a role in the 1988 presidential election, although no one is willing to say exactly what that will be. "Roger and I have been friends for years. I consider him to be one of the best political professionals in Washington. I look forward to his continuing advice in the political arena," said Kemp, through spokesman John Buckley. David Keene, however, says that "Roger and Jack Kemp have never been close." If something were to happen to the Kemp connection, Keene says, "I think Roger would try to work in with Bush probably."
But Bush's people may not want him. In 1982, Stone approached the Bush camp about the job of deputy to the chief of staff and was rebuffed. "He expressed an interest," says Pete Teeley, Bush's former press secretary, but "it just didn't work out." It probably won't help that in a March issue of Time magazine, Stone was quoted as calling the vice president "a weenie" -- though he later complained that his unflattering assessment had been off the record.
"Roger would love to run a national campaign," says one former White House deputy. "He has the skills to run a national campaign. But he cannot do it because he doesn't have the relationship with people. The most important thing in putting a big campaign together is to have a team. They've got to respect you. It's not an individual sport. This is a business, as Mike Deaver is finding out, where you've got to have allies instead of enemies.
"The problem I think Roger has is nobody trusts him." 'That Guy's Got a Really Good Life'
On any given night, you can find them. Young men in button-down shirts and yellow ties, sipping Chivas in Georgetown bars and trading political war stories. Roger Stone's name comes up often these days. There are those who idolize him, and Scott Reed is one.
A former wind surfing teacher from Delaware, Reed worked on the Tom Evans campaign. Now, at 26, he is th regional political director for the Republican National Committee and a self-described prote'ge' of Stone.
"There's no question that there are a lot of guys my age who are very taken by him," Reed says. "It's hard not to be."
In 1982, Reed was a gofer for Evans, mostly getting sandwiches. "Here comes this consultant type guy, walking in," he recalls. "He's got a nice suit on. People were buzzing, 'Mr. Stone. Mr. Stone.' I said to myself, 'That guy's got a pretty good life.' "
Reed became Stone's deputy. "I basically did everything he didn't want to do. Which was a lot. He's a very demanding person. He spent a lot of time looking at the big picture. He can tell you how the press is going to handle something. Get stories in The New York Post. That kind of thing... "
"He doesn't have to worry about how he's going to make his monthly mortgage payment. I can't wait until I'm at that point. You can spend 100 percent of your time doing what you do best; trying to get people elected."
Says Reed: "He wants to elect the next president."FACT CHECK: 'Whatabout' Those Other Historical Figures? Trump's Question Answered
Enlarge this image toggle caption J. David Ake/AP J. David Ake/AP
"So this week it's Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson's coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?... [Jefferson] was a major slave owner. Are we going to take down his statue?" — President Trump, Aug. 15, 2017
The president made this statement Tuesday while jabbing at reporters over a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., where white nationalists protested the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
And he used one of his standard rhetorical techniques, "whataboutism."
While defending the protesters and claiming that they weren't all white supremacists, he changed the subject to attack others. "What about the alt-left?" he said, when asked about the white nationalist alt-right. ("Alt-left" is a term seemingly invented for whataboutism, making liberals seem like the moral equivalents of the "alt-right," whose members coined that term themselves.)
The president's whataboutism on history is the focus here.
"Are we going to take down statues of George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson?" Trump asked, given Washington's and Jefferson's slave ownership. He added, "You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?"
Well, let's take on those questions. The president is not the first person to ask.
Washington did own slaves — and does not get a pass for freeing them at the end of his life. Jefferson was a "major slave owner," too — and is even more to be criticized, because he understood that slavery was wrong, calling it a "moral depravity" and a "hideous blot."
Nor were they alone among our Founding Fathers: James Madison was a slave owner; even Benjamin Franklin owned two slaves before the practice was banned in Pennsylvania. Slavery was so deeply entrenched in the economy that it touched nearly everyone who lived before the Civil War, even those who did not own a slave.
This is an awkward reality for the keepers of memorials and historic sites. Keepers of the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's home, have been forced to wrestle with the reality that he took Indian land, used enslaved laborers on multiple plantations and even personally chased escaped slaves. The Hermitage has responded by expanding displays showing the dark side of this historic figure, but it is not planning to tear down the house.
So "whatabout" them? Must they all go if Robert E. Lee goes?
Not necessarily, because they are not all the same.
Some figures stood for something larger. Washington guided the foundation of a country that eventually preserved freedom for all. Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence, in which a single phrase — "that all men are created equal" — became a hammer that later generations would use to help smash the chains of slavery.
It's possible to make a case for honoring such men, so long as we are also honest about their flaws. They were participants in a great experiment in self-government, which has expanded over time to embrace more and more people of all races, not to mention women, too.
So "whatabout" Lee? What did he stand for?
Lee, who is connected by marriage to the family of Washington, resigned from the Army to fight against his country, on the Confederate side in the Civil War.
Then and later, Confederate apologists dismissed the idea that they were fighting to defend slavery. They said they were fighting for "states' rights" or against Northern oppression. But conflict over slavery was what drove the fight for states' rights and divided the country for years before the war. The election of Abraham Lincoln, a president who was critical of slavery, triggered the rebellion.
And the Confederate vice president, Alexander H. Stephens, was more frank than others in stating the rebels' aims. In an 1861 speech, he declared that the "cornerstone" of the Confederacy was "that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition."
Other Confederates may have fought for different reasons; it is said that Lee went over to the rebel side because he could not bear to fight against his native Virginia. But Stephens' "cornerstone" speech accurately describes the larger cause that Lee willingly served and generally accepted: a drive to overturn the idea of equality, which Stephens called an "error." This cause was the reason that many Confederate statues were built in the era of Jim Crow segregation, from after Reconstruction to the civil rights movement starting in the 1950s. Aside from Southern "heritage" or "pride," many explicitly represented white supremacy.
There is still a case to be made for Lee as a brilliant general, who won battle after battle and kept his army together for years, even though it was massively outnumbered and undersupplied. He is a significant figure in the American story.
Ulysses S. Grant, the general who defeated him, gave the best epitaph of Lee, saying the Confederate general "had fought so long and valiantly, and had suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I believe, one of the worst for which a people ever fought."
But let's be honest. In Charlottesville over the weekend, the "Unite the Right" protesters chanted "blood and soil"; others listened to Richard Spencer, who has called for an all-white homeland. Members of one group, Identity Evropa, "seem to revel in goading counter-protesters into violent clashes," according to a profile of a member on KQED. Counterprotesters were indeed goaded into clashes — and a car, allegedly driven by an Ohio man on the white-nationalist side, drove into them, killing a woman.
Is it remotely possible that Spencer and Identity Evropa and the driver of a Dodge Challenger came to defend the statue of Lee because of his skill in military tactics and strategy?
To have such defenders says a lot about the cause that Lee represented. To have the president of the United States compare Lee to Washington is simply, factually wrong.According to a new study released by social media management company Vitrue, Facebook Fans are valued at $3.60 a piece in earned media for big brands. When scaled to Fan Pages with one million Fans, that equates to $3.6 million annually — and Vitrue says that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
As more brands and companies start to make real investments in social media, having a handle on what kind of value various platforms can offer becomes extremely important. After all, why invest in something if you aren't going to get anything back?
Vitrue manages more than 45 million Fans for a variety of different companies, including entertainment, media, retail and restaurant companies. Its team sampled data from their clients' Pages to come up with their valuation.
Valuation Breakdown
To start, Vitrue looked at its data to determine the wall post to Fan ratio, i.e. how many impressions a single wall post receives based on the number of Fans a Page has. The average ratio for Fans:wall posts was nearly 1:1. In other words, if a brand has one million Fans, it gets an average of one million impressions per wall post.
Factoring in a frequency of two wall posts a day (for ~60 million impressions a month), Vitrue then applied a $5 CPM against that data.
Here's the math:
That certainly puts the value of advertising on Facebook in perspective, doesn't it?
What This Really Means
It's also important to note that this valuation is an average. Not all brands have a 1:1 Fan to wall impression ratio; some were higher and some were lower. The brands that did tend to have higher ratios tended to do a better job of posting relevant content, actively engaging Fans and customers, and also used rich media.
I talked to Reggie Bradford, the CEO of Vitrue, and he told me that while this data can certainly scale downward for smaller brands (and might even be more valuable in that sense), what this study really emphasized to him and the rest of the Vitrue crew was just how important it is for brands to have a strong Facebook presence. "It's no longer an option," Bradford said. "It's a necessity."
The potential value that brands and companies can get from Facebook Fans is huge, especially if you consider the potential of matching location data with some of these tools.
What do you think of this study? Let us know!Shuhei Ogawara is a former city employee of Koriyama, Japan. He worked in city hall, and one day decided that it was f'ed up all the cafeteria's disposable chopsticks were going in the trash after a single use. So what did he do? What any normal person would -- he somehow retrieved said chopsticks and made a freaking canoe.
Ogawara spent over 3 months gluing 7,382 chopsticks together into strips to form the canoe shell, to which he added a polyester resin coat. The canoe weighs about 30 kilograms (66 lbs), which is a bit heavier than an ordinary cedar canoe, but Ogawara is confident it will float. A launching ceremony is planned for May at nearby Lake Inawashiro.
That's awesome. As someone who regularly throws things in the lake to see if they float, I'm behind you, Ogawara. Also, I stabbed my roommate with a used chopstick once. But not before I coated the tip with wasabi. He died. Suck it, poison dart frogs.
Canoe made from disposable chopsticks [pinktentacle]
Thanks to Melissa, who never lets me down, for the tipCashew chicken (Chinese: 腰果雞丁) is a simple Chinese-American dish that combines chicken (usually stir-fried but occasionally deep-fried, depending on the variation), with cashews and either a light brown garlic sauce or a thick sauce made from chicken stock, soy sauce and oyster sauce.
Traditional cashew chicken [ edit ]
The traditional version of cashew chicken is stir-fried in a wok. Tender chunks of chicken are combined with crispy roasted cashews, vegetables and are tossed in a light sauce made from garlic, soy sauce and hoisin sauce, thinned with water.[1]
Springfield-style cashew chicken [ edit ]
The deep-fried version of the dish is closely associated with the city of Springfield, Missouri.[2][3] Deep-fried cashew chicken was apparently first served in 1963 at the Grove Supper Club in Springfield. David Leong, the chef, who moved to the United States from China in 1940, struggled to gain acceptance for the foods of his homeland so he began searching for a dish that would appeal to local residents' taste buds. His famous deep-fried cashew chicken recipe was so popular he soon opened Leong's Tea House in Springfield.[4][5][6] The dish became exceedingly popular in the Springfield area and is often cited as the unofficial "dish of the city". Springfield even hosts an annual festival that is centered on this chicken dish: Springfield Sertoma's Cashew Craze.[7][8]
A plate of Springfield-style (deep fried) cashew chicken
Borrowing from the local love of fried chicken, Leong came up with a variation of the preexisting dish. Instead of stir-frying the chicken, as is normally done, he deep-fried the chicken chunks. He then covered them with the typical sauce made from chicken stock, soy sauce and oyster sauce, and added the handful of cashews. He also included chopped green onions as a twist and it became an immediate hit with the local crowd. As word spread about the dish, so did the recipe. Leong's Tea House closed its doors in 1997, but Springfield-style cashew chicken is still being served at over 70 Chinese restaurants, as well as many non-Chinese restaurants, in and around the Springfield metropolitan area, and elsewhere in Missouri and other states.[2][4][9] Springfield-style cashew chicken has been mentioned on The Food Channel,[10][11] a nationwide syndicated radio program,[12] and the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.[13]
In 2010, Leong's son, with his father's assistance, opened a new restaurant in Springfield serving the same style of cashew chicken.[14][15]
Similar dishes [ edit ]
In Thai cuisine, there is a related stir-fry dish called kai pad med mamuang himmapan or gai pad med ma muang.[16]
In Haitian cuisine, there is an unrelated chicken stew with cashews called poul ak nwa.[17][18]
See also [ edit ]Duke public policy professor Anirudh Krishna and a team of researchers spent the last decade talking to over 35,000 families in India, Kenya, Peru, Uganda and the U.S. to answer this question: Why are people poor? Mr. Krishna's book on his findings, "One Illness Away: Why People Become Poor and How They Escape Poverty," will be out in October from Oxford University Press. India Real Time spoke to Professor Krishna about his research. Edited excerpts:
IRT: One of the findings you stress is that many poor people are "first-generation" poor. How many?
Krishna: Our results show as many as one-third of all poor people were not born poor. They became poor within their lifetimes on account of factors that could have been prevented. It's ironic that even as governments and donors and others are doing a lot to pull people out of poverty, very little is done to prevent people from falling into poverty so the pool of people in poverty keeps growing even as many people come out.
IRT: Were the reasons people became poor pretty similar across countries?
Krishna: Some of these reasons are similar across different domains, including right here in North Carolina. People have fallen into poverty on account of a chain of negative everyday events like illnesses and [spending on] marriages and deaths. Some of these factors vary considerably across and both within countries, suggesting the approach to poverty reduction needs to be contextual. What's common everywhere is the contribution illness and high health care costs make to the reproduction of poverty.
IRT: Was wedding spending as high a burden in other countries as in India?
Krishna: Not really. but expensive funeral ceremonies were common in parts of Kenya and parts of Uganda and expensive wedding ceremonies were important in one part of Peru, around Cajamarca [in the highlands], but still not as prominent as in parts of India.
IRT: And how do you compare the impact of spending on ceremonial events and illnesses on families?
Krishna: A wedding is something you plan for. An illness is something that happens mostly unexpectedly, especially an injury, and that wipes out the savings you've accumulated. That said there's an obscene amount of spending on weddings and dowries and these amounts are growing from year to year.
IRT: What sorts of policies does your study point towards?
Krishna: Health insurance is important but as important is the provision of high-quality health care. There are still several parts of India where there is no doctor available and we all know about the incidents of misconduct and overcharging so there's also a case for the regulation of the healthcare sector particularly as it's being privatized.
Paralleling that is a second set of policies that I call supporting policies. The policies really have to be about the individual. Institutions such as employment exchanges, career guides simply don't exist so many young people are simply unaware about the different opportunities they could tap.
In the 80 villages that I surveyed, out of more than 1,000 who have graduated from high school in the past 10 years, only 10 or 12 have risen to any higher paying position. The rest are bus conductors or school teacher or electricity linemen.
I contrast this to the situation in the U.S. My kids when they were in high school were bombarded with career-related information. They had so many choices they could explore. Why can't we have the same thing in our country?
IRT: India is currently trying to figure out how many of its people live below the poverty line. Any advice?
Krishna: I say good luck to them. When the linkage between incentives and poverty measurements is so obvious there are all sorts of reasons for people to lie. [For my research] I said to everybody "I'm a schoolmaster and we have nothing to do with the government or any NGO. So nothing you say to us can give you any benefit or cause you any harm." That's when we started to get real information. With so many things tied to the benefit of a BPL card there's all sorts of incentives for people to fabricate.
Personally I go more by assets than by income or by consumption. Particularly for poor people, income and consumption are hugely variable and fluctuating. What is so much more stable or durable is the possession of assets. They don't fluctuate so much. I would prefer to go by a very simple asset-based index measure of wealth. That's what I do in the book and that's what I'd suggest.
IRT: What do you view as positive steps in poverty reduction in India?
In some respects I think NREGA is doing a great job. I've been working in the same rural areas for almost 20 years know. I can no longer find anyone who's wiling to work at 40 rupees a day and that in itself is a huge accomplishment—the raising of the expected rural wage rate from abysmally low to acceptably low amounts. Will it be a pathway out of poverty? Probably not, but it keeps the wolf from the door.
IRT: What trends make you worry?
Krishna: What needs to be done is the enhanced provision of marketable skills. One of the pieces of research I'm currently working on looks at a data set of 15,000 rural Indians. These people were looked at in the early 1990s and in 2005.
In villages located more than 5 kilometers from the nearest town per capita income has fallen in real terms. This is during the period of high-speed growth. The reasons they have fallen are twofold. Beyond five kilometers from a town the bulk of the income comes from agriculture, where production is stagnant. Unless you've been able to build some connection with a city you are in a bad way.
It's really only rural families who've been able to build a second and sometimes a third source of income in the city—it's only such families who have been able to stay out of poverty.A SCOTTISH neo-creationist group has been accused of seeking to spread "disinformation" among children by calling for theories that deny evolution to be taught in science lessons.
The Centre for Intelligent Design (C4ID), based in Glasgow, claims evolution should be taught "objectively" in schools.
But critics say creationist views should only be discussed in the context of religious education and are demanding guidance for teachers to ensure it does not happen in science classes.
The C4ID, which opened around four years ago, expressed its views in response to a petition submitted to the Scottish Parliament by the Scottish Secular Society.
The petition, to be heard on November 11, calls for official guidance to be issued in schools barring the presentation of creationist and Young Earth doctrines as viable alternatives to the science of evolution. It has been backed by three Nobel-winning British scientists - Sir Harold Kroto, Sir Richard Roberts and Sir John Sulston.
There was an outcry last year after it emerged members of US creationist religious sect the West Mains Church of Christ had worked as classroom assistants for eight years at Kirktonholme Primary in East Kilbride. Children were given books intended to debunk evolution.
Last week, Pope Francis stepped into the evolution debate, saying he believes in the Big Bang theory and God was not a "magician with a magic wand able to do everything".
Alastair Noble, director of C4ID, said his organisation believed the petition was based on imposing a "particular world view" and would inhibit legitimate discussion in science lessons. He acknowledged the idea of teaching "for and against" evolution would be controversial, but claimed it was consistent with scientific method.
"Scientific theories are always an approximation to the ultimate truth, some of which is beyond our capacity to understand |
IN: That was Rod Kelly, a piano technician, Morico Irving, an unemployed college graduate, Jonathan Jones, who works for UPS, children's librarian Lindsay Wesson and sheet metal worker Carl Black. We recently spoke with financial planner Benjamin Birken to get some practical advice for these folks. We asked him what he tells younger workers who come into his office at Woodward Financial Advisers in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
BENJAMIN BIRKEN: We try to tell them to focus on the things that they can control. They can't control really what happens to Social Security but they can control things like how much are they currently spending right now? What options do they have if they're at a workplace that has a retirement plan like a 401k or a 403b? What options might they have in investing in themselves, in investing their careers that might boost their lifetime earnings?
MARTIN: So, you're saying look for options for professional development?
BIRKEN: Potentially, sure. You know, things that might have a good risk in return calculation.
MARTIN: What about people who are in their 20s, folks who may have a lot of student loans to repay, they're looking for jobs in a really tough market, maybe they have a lot of credit card debt?
BIRKEN: Again, you got to focus on the thing that you can control right now. Certainly, with credit cards, we want to pay those down as quickly as we can, particularly if the interest rates on those credit cards are high, like in the teens. If you think about paying down that credit card as an investment, your return is equal to the interest rate that the card is charging you. And chances are you can't find an investment that's going to give you a return in the 12 to 14, 15 percent like you can if you pay down a credit card.
MARTIN: How does the retirement picture differ for people in their 20s and 30s compared to their parents? I mean, will retirement itself look different for this younger generation? Should they expect to work longer?
BIRKEN: Absolutely. Retirement for folks in their 20s and 30s is going to look different than their parents', just like their parents' retirement is going to look different from their grandparents'. Their grandparents could mostly reliably count on Social Security and a government or employer pension and then maybe a little bit of savings to form a three-legged stool, is just how financial planners like to talk about it. Their parents' generation saw the disappearance of pensions from that retirement picture. And for people in their 20s and 30s pensions don't even exist. So, what's happening is people have to be more and more reliably counting on themselves to fund that retirement. But that's also mixed with they're going to live a lot longer than their grandparents. And retirement looks different. These days, retirement's a lot more of an active phase of life. People are taking on second careers, people are taking on more and more volunteer opportunities. And so retirement by itself is just going to look different. And accordingly, it's going to have to be funded differently.
MARTIN: And it sounds like from what you're saying that saving for retirement itself requires more active participation, that individuals actually have to get more involved in making proactive decisions.
BIRKEN: That's exactly right. People are a lot more and have to be a lot more responsible about their savings and where money is going to come from once they stop working.
MARTIN: Benjamin Birken is a certified financial planner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Mr. Birken, thanks for talking with us.
BIRKEN: Thank you very much. This was fun.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTIN: Coming up, my conversation with singer Michael Buble. It is a good one. And I may be on Twitter talking about it. So, if you're a Michael Buble fan, join us for a Twitter chat right after the puzzle. You can find me @RachelNPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOUNG AT HEART")
MARTIN: And you're listening to WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News.
Copyright © 2013 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.This drawing shows the proposed look of the Bristol Pointe apartments planned to be built in Loveland. (Photo: Courtesy photo )
Longmont-based Macy Development Co. broke ground recently on a $30 million luxury apartment complex at the corner of South Taft Avenue and Southwest 16th Street in Loveland.
The project, Bristol Point Apartment Homes, sits on 12 acres in southwest Loveland, east across Taft Avenue from the King Soopers shopping center and next to Walgreens.
The 220 units will be housed in 11 buildings ranging from 515-1,300 square feet and from studios to three-bedrooms. The complex will feature 9-foot ceilings, high-end finishes, 85 detached rentable garages and 338 open parking spaces, clubhouse, child wading and lap lane pool, fitness center, cybercafe, media room and conference center.
Macy Development has not said what the units might rent for, but Loveland's average rent at the end of March was $1,026. Like much of Northern Colorado, Loveland suffers from a shortage of rentals. Its vacancy rate was 2.3 percent, slightly higher than Fort Collins' 1.6 percent vacancy rate. Average rent in the city is $1,216.
Team Asset Management, which manages a 436-unit complex in Longmont for Macy, will also manage Bristol Pointe Apartment Homes.
Read or Share this story: http://noconow.co/1mpbYQ7Since my initial request to visit Private First Class (Pfc.) Bradley Manning on February 4, 2011, the Department of Defense (DoD) has consistently sought to frustrate any attempts to communicate with Pfc. Manning regarding his well-being.
I or my staff have been shuffled between the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, and the Office of Secretary Gates. I was initially told that I would need Pfc. Manning's approval in order to meet with him. When Pfc. Manning indicated his desire to meet with me, I was belatedly informed that the meeting could only take place if it was recorded because of a Monitoring Order imposed by the military's Special Courts-Martial Convening Authority on September 16, 2010, which was convened for the case. Confidentiality is required, however, to achieve the candor that is necessary to perform the oversight functions with which I am tasked as a Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. I was also told that I could be subpoenaed to testify about the contents of my conversation with Pfc. Manning.
This is a clear subversion of the constitutionally protected oversight process and it severely undermines the rights of any Member of Congress seeking to gather information on the conditions of a detainee in U.S. custody.
Though he has been held in custody since July 29, 2010, Pfc. Manning has not been convicted of any crime. His lawyer reports that he continues to be held in isolation 23 hours a day. He was also forced to strip naked at night and to stand at attention during roll call in front of other prisoners. The conditions of his treatment may violate his right to be protected from 'cruel and unusual punishment,' and punishment without trial as enshrined in the 8th and 5th Amendments of the Constitution.
We now hear that the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan E. Mendez, was denied a private meeting with Pfc. Manning in order to determine whether the conditions of Manning's confinement amount to torture. The very existence of a U.N. Special Rapporteur on torture investigation speaks volumes about the conditions of his treatment.
The continued delays I have experienced amount to a subversion of Pfc. Manning's legal rights as well as my own rights and obligations as a Member of Congress to conduct oversight. The whole world is now watching.Women are quite nice. Some of my best friends are women, or have at least met a woman before.
I generally appreciate how they are smarter and more attractive overall. I hear they can even be doctors and lawyers now. But not characters in video games.
Brink is a game that looks from all angles to be completely amazing. It's a first person shooter with fully-customisable characters, level progression, fast-paced action and an environmental message. It has a revolutionary system that allows the player to leap over or latch on to any object in the game world that you would be able to leap or latch in real life (so no more getting your elite mercenary stuck behind a coffee table).
Multiplayer, single player and co-op is persistent, meaning you can take your beloved character in and out of any mode you like at reasonable speed. Start getting excited... now.
Okay now stop. Browsing through the website of developer Splash Damage I noticed something peculiar. No girls. Pages and pages of potential characters and not a female of the species in sight. After a little hardcore journalism (internet) it seems that Splash Damage decided not to put women in because it would be too complicated and time consuming, what with the extra models, all the variations on those models, the problems of reduced hit zones, etc. Man, making games is, like, hard and stuff.
We should be thanking these guys. Because they chose to wipe out an entire gender, now the remaining men can have 400 different hairstyles. And it's not like women even PLAY games, let alone want to play as someone of the same sex. And guys wouldn't want to be a girl, because that wouldn't be nearly as manly as standing around with hundreds of other men, trying on different outfits.
Welcome to Brink, where you can be absolutely anything you want to be, unless you want to be a lady.
But it would be unfair to pick on Brink for this. Totally correct, but unfair. After a quick and nerdy count, I discovered I have around 130 games. Of these, roughly 12 have female leads, not including games where you make a character from scratch (the ones with a man on the cover) or RPGs (where girls are good at magic and horrible at fighting, because magic is the cooking of the fantasy world).
If a game has an ensemble cast, there will always be a weird imbalance. Borderlands has four characters but only one female. Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 also have four characters, and also only have one girl each. Gritty serial killer hunt Heavy Rain has another one-in-four ratio, with the added bonus of the woman being completely superfluous (except for the main character and at least one murderer to try and have sex with). The trick is to add a girl so your cast is diverse, but don't add too many or you might scare people off. Because only socially-backward man-children buy video games.
I feel offended on behalf of approximately 50% of the population, and embarrassed on behalf of the other 50%. For every no-nonsense bounty hunter, foot-gunned witch, mother wolf, mute test subject and plucky young journalist, there are a hundred men holding guns and flexing their necks.
Someone usually mumbles about Tomb Raider at this point. Surely there's something very wrong if Lara Croft is still a good example of anything?Kermit and Miss Piggy, various "Muppets" movies. OK, we love the Muppets, really. But this couple never made sense to us. Not only do they not have chemistry, they don't even have biology. And Kermit's much too nice for that diva. less Kermit and Miss Piggy, various "Muppets" movies. OK, we love the Muppets, really. But this couple never made sense to us. Not only do they not have chemistry, they don't even have biology. And Kermit's much... more Photo: Kevin Winter, Getty Images Photo: Kevin Winter, Getty Images Image 1 of / 25 Caption Close The 20 worst movie couples 1 / 25 Back to Gallery
The most essential element for a romantic movie is that the couple must be believable. Given that, it's amazing how often Hollywood gets it wrong.
Even in a comedy, it seems like there should be at least some chance that a couple would have ended up together, even if their odd match is the whole point.
Which brings us to the latest Muppets movie, "Muppets Most Wanted." Leaving aside the biological impossibility of a frog and pig getting together, we all know Miss Piggy never would go for a nice guy like Kermit. She's more interested in a glamorous, dangerous boy, like Dr. Teeth.
In any case, here are 20 couples that never should have been put together on the big screen (or any screen, really).It wasn't long after Carl Frampton won a majority decision over Leo Santa Cruz that Guillermo Rigondeaux was again calling out Frampton.
Congratulations to @CarlFrampton. I hope now we can settle our difference. I am available to travel to your hometown and do it there. — Guillermo Rigondeaux (@RigoElChacal305) July 31, 2016
So when asked about his thoughts on Rigondeaux challenging him again and if he thinks the fight will ever happen, here's what Frampton had to say as caught by FightHype.com:
"I don't know. Look, I'm happy to fight anyone and I genuinely am, I would fight anyone, but I want to be involved in big name fights. You know I had a bit of a stinker with Scott Quigg and I don't want to be involved in another fight with Rigo that would've been another stinker and people start to say 'this guy is boring,' and they start to not like me...So I want to be involved in big fights and whoever my team puts in front of me.
"And this is the important thing, and I don't think boxers speak about it enough. I have a young family, I have two young kids and a wife at home. I want to be financially rewarded because this is a short career. I'm 29, I have a few years left in me. I want to live a comfortable life after boxing. Rigo doesn't bring a pound to the table. That's the way it is. He's an unbelievable fight but I'm being honest - there's no money in the fight."
Shortly after he apparently heard word of Frampton's response, Rigo offered his rebuttal on Twitter.
Don't bother wondering. It will end this way. pic.twitter.com/VeR6oClEF2 — Guillermo Rigondeaux (@RigoElChacal305) July 31, 2016
Too many fakes today. None of the real champs ever made any excuses not to fight another champ.Dfans deserved better pic.twitter.com/o1LfnVhI3a — Guillermo Rigondeaux (@RigoElChacal305) July 31, 2016
What say you, fans? Both men make some legitimate points here. Is Frampton wrong for skirting Rigondeaux in lieu of bigger purses, or should have to face him on as a sportsman?Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says he’s “not at all” worried about robots displacing American workers, and his definition of artificial intelligence comes from Star Wars. In an interview today with Axios’ Mike Allen, Mnuchin said he was unconcerned about the effects of automation, both with physical machines and artificial intelligence. “In terms of artificial intelligence taking over American jobs, I think we're so far away from that that it's not even on my radar screen,” he said in response to a question from Allen. “I think it's 50 or 100 more years.”
When pressed, Mnuchin said that he wasn’t talking about things like self-driving cars, which he believes could run from coast to coast in the not-so-distant future. “That to me isn't artificial intelligence, that's computers and using real technology we have today,” he said. “But those types of things are very real. That's very different from artificial [intelligence], you know, R2-D2 taking over your job.”
“That's very different from... R2-D2 taking over your job.”
He also doesn’t think that robots will put Americans out of jobs in either the short or long term. “Quite frankly, I'm optimistic. I mean, that's what creates productivity. And what we need to do, we need to invest in training, we need to invest in education,” said Mnuchin, whose administration has proposed cutting the Department of Education’s budget by 13.5 percent. In fact, he’s “not at all” worried, he told Allen. “If anything what it's done is, it's taken jobs that are low-paying jobs.”
Some people might just be happy Mnuchin isn’t throwing the “AI” buzzword around toothbrushes and washing machines, and he’s actually reflecting a common idea about AI: that “intelligence is whatever machines haven't done yet.” But he’s also avoiding discussing the ramifications of “real technology that we have today,” either through deliberate evasion or ignorance.
Nobody is precisely sure how automation, whether in the form of simple robots or complex machine learning, will affect the economy. But most people aren’t outright dismissing short-term job loss either — something, again, that Mnuchin was specifically asked about. A December report from the White House cited studies that estimate automation will affect between 9 percent and 47 percent of jobs over the next 10 to 20 years.
Mnuchin is right that lower-paying positions are disproportionately affected by these changes. He’s also making the common (and plausible) pro-AI argument that workers will transition into better, higher-paying work. But that’s exactly the kind of argument that Trump advisor Peter Thiel claims makes Silicon Valley out of touch. And the Trump administration doesn’t say people whose jobs moved overseas should simply train for new ones. If the administration wants to prove that creating American jobs is more than just a xenophobic talking point, it will need to stop relegating questions about technology to a galaxy far, far away.Most people in the world are reactive in emergency situations – especially when it comes to SHTF disaster scenarios (Shit Hit The Fan) that result in TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It). Having the right survival gear and training isn’t the whole picture though; you have to have a plan and know how to use it.
I don’t normally write about full-on SHTF scenarios like this one but if you plan for the worst, it’s easier to plan for the most-likely.
Obviously, if you’re directly involved in a current disaster, such as finding yourself floating down main street during a flood or your building crumbling down around you, this article isn’t for you. Your first priorities are to get safe, fix your broken self, fix others, and get out of Dodge. This article is about what to do in the middle of a regional event that has happened but hasn’t yet directly affected you – but it soon will.
In this situation, something big happened to your region of the country and you have no choice but to leave town. Just make sure you don’t plan JUST for worst-case. Minor scenarios are MUCH more likely, but you can gain from thinking about the worst case. Let’s just go ahead and pretend that an EMP just hit, something like in this book (which is a really good book to get you thinking).
The world waits until something happens, then decides what they need to do. Preppers are typically different, but even they fall into a similar problem. They buy lots of stuff, and do lots of learning and training. Some even make plans. What they fail to miss is that sometimes the necessary assets to adequately deal with a situation aren’t readily available on a whim. You have to have them in advance.
The Special Forces and other organizations I’ve had the pleasure of working with are very good at executing effectively because the plan, then they drill it over and over and understand the military planning process. They wargame what could happen, develop possible COAs (Courses Of Action), run through mock exercises in as-real a circumstance as possible each time, and then do AARs (After Action Reviews) to redefine mission parameters, gear, and necessary additional training.
Their action may be reactive once it’s go-time but they’re proactive enough that they already know a good deal of what will happen once boots hit the ground. The more you make a plan, practice the plan, and adjust the plan, the more easily you’ll be able to deal with emergency situations.
The other problem is that without an adequate COA analysis, you may not recognize WHEN you need to take action, and you definitely won’t know what other people on your team or in your family will be doing. Essentially, everyone needs to not only know what to do, they need to know under what circumstances they should be doing it.
So, this isn’t an article about how to plan for a SHTF scenario. This is what you should do first, when you’ve recognized that there’s been a serious shift in your way of life due to economic collapse, natural disaster, EMP, or whatever. What you need to do after reading this article is to backwards plan so you can get to this point.
Obviously, this assumes that you have a team with which to rally. If you don’t, you won’t be surviving long though.
1. Collect intelligence on the current situation
Before you start phase 1 of any operation, you’re essentially in phase 0. This means that you should be shaping your environment, to include setting up ways to know what’s going on (which is what’s called Intelligence). During an EMP that blasts across most of the country, the first thing you’ll notice will depend on what time of day it is.
Make sure you get in touch with your neighbors. This could be critical not for just figuring out what’s going on, but for neighborhood security and augmenting skills you don’t have.
At night, the first thing you’ll notice is all the lights just went out. If you’re driving, your car will most likely stall. I say “most likely” because we really don’t know what would happen in real life and the exact circumstances would vary widely depending on the type of EMP, its altitude, atmospheric conditions, and the type and placement of the electronics and any shielding. We just don’t know.
Let’s assume you’re home, and it’s just after dark. All you know at the moment is that you lost power. So how would you know that this is a widespread event and not just that a tree fell on a powerline?
First thing would be to pick up something that would be susceptible to an EMP but not tied into the power grid. Check your cell phone for power. Check any battery-operated device.
Some things probably won’t be affected by an EMP though even if it’s strong so you’ll have to use some logic here. A metal flashlight that contains just a bulb, batteries, and wire would probably survive with no problem. A plastic one that has a little micro-controller circuit in it would be much more likely to fry.
Now, since you set things up previously, you pull out something electronic that you’ve stored in a Faraday cage. If the cage was constructed properly, it should protect your electronics against a decently-hard hit. There’s a lot of real crap out there on the web about how to build these things though so do some thorough research.
So at this point, you should have an idea as to whether the things in your home work or not. Next thing would be to start your car. Not only will this give you another indication, it’s necessary information to know how you’re gonna react.
Next thing you need to know is how widespread the EMP is so you’ll have to communicate with someone not in your immediate area somehow. Unfortunately, communicating long-distance pretty much means you have to use electronics. Hopefully you stored a ham radio in some kind of shielding (and not had it still attached to the radio). Many ham operators do this and most repeater stations have emergency power backup. I personally have a Yaesu 857d, that works very well for things like this.
Also consider that an EMP would develop massive power along any power lines or phone lines, which would most likely cause fires in the affected area.
What, or who, you check into next will depend on your own circumstances, but at this point, you should have an idea what happened. Based on that assessment, you decide that it meets your criteria for leaving town.
2. Gather gear and personnel for movement
If you’re already at your primary rally point, such as if you’re bugging in, best thing to do is immediately fill your tubs, sinks, pots, and other containers with water because that pressure probably won’t hold for long. Then move to gather your stuff in case you have to leave. Your plan must on some level involve bugging out at some point.
This is where you grab your bug out bags. Hopefully you’re not like most preppers and have 70 pounds of gear, or even worse – don’t have your stuff together and end up deciding at the last moment what to put in your bags. My bug out bag is currently is only 25 pounds plus whatever water and food I’m gonna carry (except when I’m traveling on my Harley, in which case all that gear and more is on my bike. If it works, I’ll ride it as-is. If not, two of my bags are weather-proof backpack/duffel bags and I know where each and every item is on my bike so I could assemble my gear in a few minutes).
Before you can move out, you’ll have to find everyone else with whom you’ll be traveling, and they’ll have to have their gear together.
Most likely, you won’t have everyone at home when it hits, so the next thing to do is try to establish comms.
3. Establish comms with your team
Hopefully, you’ve set up an emergency communications plan with your family and team, well in advance, and trained with it. If you haven’t read my article on SHTF communications, you should check it out too.
Essentially, that means you’ll have to have different ways to communicate, and those ways can’t all be electronics-dependent.
In a real situation, you may not be able to establish comms with every member within the time you can safely stay at home. In that case, hopefully you’ve planned and practiced and would each recognize what’s happened and that they need to now move out. Otherwise, you’ll spend a great deal of time just randomly trying to find each other.
If you can use electronics, nothing beats ham radio for SHTF communications. One of the best radios on the market is the Yaesu 857d, which I have. It’s super powerful, has a good menu system, and can Tx/Rx on a ton of frequency bands.
I have a Yaesu VX-6R as my personal handheld because it’s an awesome radio and it’s waterproof but if I were getting one now, I’d go for the Yaesu VX-8R. If you want to save some cash, get the Baofeng UV-5R but expect to spend some time learning it because it’s pretty confusing. It’s also not waterproof and requires a separate battery charger thing to charge the battery, which is inconvenient. Don’t get me wrong, I have one because it’s such a good deal, but I always go for my Yaesu.
If you can’t use electronics to reach someone, you should leave a message somehow. Have a predetermined location that everyone knows to check. Make it something that is out of the ordinary, can’t be accidentally done, is unlikely to be changed or moved, and easy to notice without having to walk right up to it. An example might be to bend the road sign at a particular corner as the sign that you’ve decided to bug out and they should move to the primary rally point and/or make comms with you.
4. Move to the primary rally point
In most cases, your primary rally point will be someone’s home but not in all cases, and for all you know, that home may not be there once you get there. Everyone should have noticed something happened and remembered during training that when ‘X’ happens, they should move to the primary rally point somehow.
You should all have already planned your bug out routes to get to where you need to go, which makes it much easier. Shit happens though, so you can expect that once you get there, someone will be missing. Make sure you wargame that scenario for each missing person or group of people because your next steps will depend greatly on who’s there and who’s not, and may also depend on what you’ve all brought or failed to bring.
Also, consider that you may find out that your primary rally point isn’t useable. The neighborhood may be rioting, the forest could be on fire, a roving band of baboons may have been given human-like intelligence by a mad scientist and started a commune there – all sorts of things. You need to have a secondary and at least a tertiary rally point set up that hopefully wouldn’t be affected by the reasons you can’t use the primary.
You may also find that for whatever reason, you have to move to a new location that wasn’t planned. Try to leave some sort of message to later parties who arrive so that they notice it and understand the message. In certain scenarios, you won’t want anyone else to understand the message though.
One example could be to stack rocks in the shape of a ‘4’ and the arrow defined by the triangle inside the four points toward the point where the two likes overlap (bottom right as the 4 is read). You might also add something underneath one of the stones such as a note or even more discreet, a symbol (anything blue meant you headed toward water in that direction, for example).
Essentially, you need to get to some rally point and wait for everyone to show up so you can figure out what to do next.
5. Establish security
Once you’ve arrived, in a very rare set of circumstances (such as a regional EMP strike), you’ll need to worry about people who wish to do you harm. Hopefully you’ve already shaped the battlespace of your bug out location to make it easier but if not, you need to do it now.
Quickly set up defenses (such as set up a few people on the perimeter) and then work on improving those defenses later.
If you’re in a neighborhood, start figuring out who’s staying and what their skills and abilities are so you can establish a neighborhood watch. If you’re in a decently-sized town, you can expect certain areas will riot very quickly.
6. Collect intelligence on the situation
Now is when you realize that going it alone would have been a stupid idea. You’ll have to make sure you’re set with food, water, shelter, fire, etc and set up guards who can scan the area so a threat presents itself in time and distance to react effectively, but you have to know your situation first.
First thing to do once you have a hasty defense set up is to do your three inventories (read that article for more details). Essentially, you need to figure out what you have on you in the way of gear and skills (and what you don’t), what your immediate needs are (medical, water, security), what’s in the immediate area that could be of use (or isn’t), and what’s in the extended area that may either present a problem or a solution.
This is also when you should start monitoring frequencies across the spectrum and gain some intel on the situation. As you find a frequency with some traffic – even if you can’t understand them, document the frequency, time of day, your Rx (receiving) location, and the gist of what you heard. This makes it easier to try to reacquire that same Tx (transmit) signal at a different location or know when they may transmit again.
7. Establish comms with your missing team members
Once you’re at the location you’ll be staying at for a while, you may find that not everyone is there yet with you. If you’ve already established a radio plan with everyone (and they have comms that were protected and still work), you’ll probably have a time of day and a frequency to transmit and monitor as well as a couple of backup freqs.
If you’re in some kind of Red Dawn scenario (great movie, btw), you won’t want to be transmitting from your location or in any pattern of locations. You’ll have to balance your need to communicate with your need for OPSEC and evasion.
If everyone knows the general area where you’ll be, such as a town or a particular forest area, you can agree on very obvious locations to leave messages, such as the top of a very large hill or a unique building, etc. As before, prior commo planning will allow you to leave more accurate messages to your team while not giving away the message (or hopefully that there even is a message).
8. Link up with missing team members
Once you’ve establish comms in some way, you need to get everyone together. Either you have to get them where you are or you need to go to them. Your primary mission continues to be assembling the team, even if you have to divert resources to other missions such as collecting food or water.
If you’ll be leaving your basecamp or primary rally point to go get someone, you’ll have to decide who will go and who will stay (if anyone). Obviously if you have even more people still out there, it may not be a good idea to send everyone out after one person unless it’s unlikely you’ll be coming back.
9. Decide your next COA
Now that you have everyone together, you need to decide what to do next. Do you stay where you’re at or do you bug out to a different location?
In a lot of cases, you’ll have temporary rally points that are good for easy meetup and security but won’t be the same as your ultimate destination.
Either way, you’ll have some larger decisions to be made once you have everyone.
What do you do if approached by others who may be of use – or may be a threat?
Should you start the process of preparing to make a long journey to a possibly unaffected area?
Is there an imminent threat at your current location what may require you to move out?
Continue to collect intel, improve your position, assess your process, and make plans, and you’ll be much better off than anyone who didn’t do all this planning in the first place.
Conclusion
As you can see, the whole key to all this is prior planning and practice. Remember that a half-assed plan that everyone follows is much better than a good plan that people follow half-assed.
Thoughts? Questions? Please feel free to contribute your own ideas or experiences and help anyone who has questions.Popovich closer to saying bye to Bobo - expressnews.com
Buck Harvey pulls no punches in summing up the end of Diaw's season with the Spurs.
Why did Spurs' bench fizzle out in playoffs? - projectspurs.com
Paul Garcia examines a couple of theories as to what happened to the reserves this postseason.
What's next for the Spurs? - todaysfastbreak.com
Free agency and potential retirements loom, and with Coach Pop admitting that the Spurs bench needs to become younger and more athletic, this off-season could be even busier and more crucial to the long-term success of the Spurs than last year's.
Tony Parker joins Chinese NBA show - gbtimes.com
No, I don't think that he'll need to learn Mandarin in order to contribute. But he's already multi-lingual, so I wouldn't put it past him.Yeah, no, nothing special really. Just the usual post, rant, musing, or what have you.For anyone who might not know who I am or what I'm about, let me try and do my best.I've always had a passion for writing. I used to keep journals when I was younger and writing has become very cathartic for me. Suffering from General Anxiety Disorder and Severe Depression is no picnic, but writing helps me, a lot.This doesn't make me Mark Twain or Stephen King. I do not suffer from delusions of grandeur. I can only hope, one day, No Pride or any other of my projects, might actually become something bigger and I can actually say I'm a blogger or writer, who gets paid for the things I create.Also, I ramble. I don't even try to hide this by saying, "Well, sometimes I ramble.", no.. A lot. I try to edit posts and everything I write, to the best of my ability, but I'm no editor, either.To anyone who came here expecting a riveting thesis (more on this later…One of China’s most prominent English-language state newspapers published a column this week claiming their country does not have sexually abusive figures such as Harvey Weinstein because of the strength of “Chinese values.”
In an opinion piece titled “Weinstein case demonstrates cultural differences,” Sava Hassan, a “Canadian Egyptian educator,” claims that contrasting values means that a similar sexual harassment scandal would not take place in China.
“It is a well-known fact that China is a traditional society based upon commendable values and virtues that respect the dignity and humanity of its citizens, regardless of their gender,” Hassan writes. “Chinese men are taught to be protective of their women. Behaving inappropriately toward women, including harassing them sexually, contradicts every Chinese traditional value and custom.”
The piece quickly attracted outrage, especially amongst feminist activists who condemned the Chinese regime for their conservative attitudes to gender. Both the link to the piece on China Daily and the tweet on its official account advertising the piece appear to have been removed following widespread criticism.
“There’s the pervasive misogyny in Chinese society, and then add to that this huge government crackdown on feminism, so any woman who wants to come forward needs to take a huge risk,” Leta Hong Fincher, the author of a forthcoming book titled Betraying Big Brother: China’s Feminist Resistance, told The Guardian.
“There’s also state media aggressively pushing traditional gender norms, where women are supposed to play these roles of a good wife and good mother who should be preparing themselves to have babies,” Fincher added.
The German author and writer on China Christoph Rehage pointed out China’s own problems with sexual abuse. “China is still patriarchal and abuse is widespread. It’s only for a lack of transparency that the problem can be swept under the rug,” he wrote on Twitter. “Western societies have systemic sexual abuse problems and discuss them. |
law that forces foreign financial institutions to disclose more information to the IRS about Americans' accounts and investments. Starting in 2014, foreign financial institutions will have to tell the IRS about income accruing to American clients (or businesses owned by Americans), and they'll have to withhold American income tax as appropriate.
In other words, it's going to become a lot harder to hide your income with a Swiss bank account.
The IRS can't directly tell foreign banks what data to turn over. But it has a pretty big stick — it can impose a 30% withholding tax on payments from the U.S. to foreign financial institutions unless they cooperate. As a result, many foreign banks and foreign countries have been entering into agreements with the IRS to comply with FATCA.
If you're an American living in the U.S. and your strategy for hiding income abroad isn't working anymore, you may have few options but to pay up. But if you live abroad, you have another choice available: Renounce your U.S. citizenship so you're not liable for American income tax.
That's one driver of the surge in renunciations. Another likely factor is the increase in capital gains and income tax rates in 2013, meaning that wealthy American expatriates can get a bigger tax saving by renouncing citizenship than they used to.
But a third factor is that FATCA creates compliance headaches apart from the actual tax bills it leads to. As the WSJ describes:
Some U.S. citizens say they are exasperated by a growing raft of paperwork that forces U.S. citizens living abroad to declare the minutiae of their financial holdings and other assets. That has increased the attraction of becoming a citizen in places such as Hong Kong, where the individual tax rate is capped at 15%.
"My decision was less about the actual amount of taxes I had to pay, and more about the system," said one investment banker, who renounced his U.S. citizenship and is now a Hong Kong citizen. "I'm not an ultrawealthy dude. It was the hassle with all the paperwork."
A few months ago, I attended a dinner where I sat between two Americans living abroad who complained that FATCA has made foreign banks less willing to provide American expatriates with checking accounts, credit cards and mortgages. This has been a major point of complaint for organizations representing American expatriates.
FATCA also complicates matters for foreign businesses with American investors (and for Americans who want to invest in foreign businesses) since American ownership makes a business subject to FATCA reporting.
If you intend to move back to the U.S., you're probably not going to renounce your citizenship because it was hard to get a checking account, or even because you had to forego an investment opportunity. But if you're a dual citizen with weak ties to the U.S. and the law is materially interfering with your financial dealings, it might be a reason to go ahead and quit being an American.
Marie Sapirie, the legal editor at Tax Notes, even says the IRS proposed renouncing citizenship as an option for an American with a complicated tax situation who had long resided abroad.
Last fall, I attended an American Swiss Foundation trip to Switzerland and FATCA was the number one hobby horse for the Swiss participants. The difficulty in evaluating the Swiss complaints is that the Swiss have a combination of good and bad reasons for hating FATCA. The law creates compliance burdens for Americans living in Switzerland and Swiss who do legitimate business with Americans. But it also undermines tax evasion strategies that are the key reason that some Americans were interested in banking in Switzerland in the first place.
Of course, every law has compliance costs, and it's not even clear that it's such a big problem if more Americans, presumably dual citizens living abroad with relatively weak ties to the U.S., are renouncing citizenship. But the benefits of FATCA may also be relatively modest: It's expected to raise $7.6 billion in added taxes over 10 years.
In 1999, the State Department estimated that there are between three and six million Americans living abroad; if those numbers are similar today, that means FATCA will generate about $170 in extra annual taxes per expatriate.
The revenue estimate for FATCA may prove incorrect in either direction; it's based on a guess about how much unreported foreign income will be discovered when the new reporting and withholding requirements come into effect. As the law is implemented next year, we'll start to see how much revenue actually rolls in — and whether the law is worth the compliance costs and expatriations that it causes.Film-makers worldwide are perpetuating gender discrimination by failing to find strong roles for women on the big screen, according to a landmark global study backed by the United Nations.
The report, details of which were revealed yesterday by the actor and activist Geena Davis, found that fewer than one third of all speaking roles went to women, who were also largely absent from positions of power. Only 22.5% of the overall fictional big screen workforce was shown to be made up of female employees, and fewer than 15% were portrayed as being employed as business executives, political figures, or in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics.
The study, from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, revealed “deep-seated discrimination and pervasive stereotyping of women and girls by the international film industry,” according to UN Women, which supported the study along with The Rockefeller Foundation and Davis’s Institute on Gender in Media.
Davis said: “The fact is: women are seriously under-represented across nearly all sectors of society around the globe, not just on-screen, but for the most part we’re simply not aware of the extent. In the time it takes to make a movie, we can change what the future looks like.
The actor added: “There are woefully few women CEOs in the world, but there can be lots of them in films. How do we encourage a lot more girls to pursue science, technology and engineering careers? By casting droves of women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), politics, law and other professions today in movies.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director Photograph: BIKAS DAS/AP
The study, which analysed popular movies from Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, United States, and United Kingdom, also found women were more likely to be depicted in a hypersexualised manner than men. Girls and women were twice as likely as boys and men to be shown either in sexualised attire, in the nude, or thin.
UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka called the study a “wake-up call” for the global film industry. “With their powerful influence on shaping the perceptions of large audiences, the media are key players for the gender equality agenda,” she said. “With influence comes responsibility.”
The UN report does not mark the first occasion upon which the film industry has been accused of failing on gender terms. A 2013 report commissioned by the Sundance film festival suggested that female directors were struggling in mainstream Hollywood despite appearing in greater numbers in the field of independent film. In July this year, another study revealed that 75% of employees on blockbuster film sets are male.It’s that time of year again, where Forbes magazine publishes their best guess at what the values of every NHL team are, and people get into a big fuss over where their team is ranked. In recent years, those in Toronto were able to sit back and laugh while the team sat in the top seed, but last season, the Blue and White fell from the peak of the mountain. This year, they’ve remained in the Bronze Medalist position, trailing two fellow Eastern Conference teams.
Rk Team Value Change Rank Team Value Change 1 New York Rangers $1.25b 4.2% 16 Calgary Flames $410m -5.8% 2 Montreal Canadiens $1.12b -4.7% 17 Minnesota Wild $400m 5.3% 3 Toronto Maple Leafs $1.1b -4.4% 18 New York Islanders $385m 18% 4 Chicago Blackhawks $925m 0% 19 Colorado Avalanche $360m 0% 5 Boston Bruins $800m 6.6% 20 Ottawa Senators $355m -4% 6 Philadelphia Flyers $720m 9.1% 21 Winnipeg Jets $340m -3% 7 Vancouver Canucks $700m -6.1% 22 New Jersey Devils $320m -3% 8 Detroit Red Wings $625m 4.2% 23 St. Louis Blues $310m 15% 9 Los Angeles Kings $600m 3.4% 24 Tampa Bay Lightning $305m 17% 10 Pittsburgh Penguins $570m 1.8% 25 Buffalo Sabres $300m 0% 11 Washington Capitals $570m 0.8% 26 Nashville Predators $270m 5.9% 12 Dallas Stars $500m 11% 27 Columbus Blue Jackets $245m 8.4% 13 San Jose Sharks $470m 5.5% 28 Arizona Coyotes $240m 9.1% 14 Edmonton Oilers $445m -2.3% 29 Florida Panthers $235m 26% 15 Anaheim Ducks $415m 3.6% 30 Carolina Hurricanes $230m 2.2%
Once again, the New York Rangers come out on top, to the surprise of few. The team has done consistently well over the last few years, their ticket prices trail only the Leafs in terms of average cost, Madison Square Garden is mostly full, and well, they’re a Manhattan team that owns their arena and the TV network they’re normally on.
The Habs are also probably riding a bit of the “have actually played more playoff games than the Leafs lately” train as well, barely squeaking ahead by about $20 million dollars or 40% of a Mike Babcock.
Beyond that, there’s a pretty obvious pattern here, and it’s that Forbes is really ride-or-die on the strength of the dollar. Every single Canadian team is down, even the ones that have picked up steam and marketing potential. By comparison, the New Jersey Devils are the only American team that isn’t equal or up, which I suppose isn’t a good look for them. Most interesting is the Islanders 18% increase in value; I figure that has to do with the move to Brooklyn, even though Barclays has been a disaster for them in many ways.
As noted throughout the network several times before, Forbes’ numbers aren’t usually the best or most accurate and likely serve more as entertainment with a vague outline.
[Forbes’ numbers] are collected from publically available documents and filings and some are estimates. Even then, there are many things that can get counted in a variety of ways when it comes to corporate finances, so comparing them is never going to be an exact science. This is even more true when we get to Operating Income, because any well-run company with a semi-competent CFO is going to try and use accounting methods to minimize the bottom line as much as possible in order to reduce the tax burden.
I can’t imagine that the Leafs won’t have a serious push back to the top next year. The new logo and wave of new young, marketable superstars has opened up a huge potential revenue stream, the Centennial Classic should bring in an income injection, and if the Leafs are, indeed, “Actually Good”, there should be a few games of playoff revenue to play with as well.
Either way, I doubt the MLSE cares too much right now. All four of their properties; the Leafs, Raptors, Toronto FC, and the Marlies are the most competitive they’ve been in a very long time (for the latter three teams, ever), fan satisfaction is at an all-time high, and revenues are still flowing in either way. They’re doing this the sustainable way, not the easy way, and while other teams are busy pretending to be slightly richer at the moment, Bell and Rogers are watching the long game fall into place.TOKYO — A heavily damaged reactor building at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has a slight tilt, but the tilt does not pose a risk to the integrity of the building, according to the plant’s operator.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, said in a report on Monday to Japanese nuclear regulators that at least two of the walls of the No. 4 reactor building are bulging outward at various points and that the building is tilting. The biggest bulge measured about 1.8 inches about a third of the way up the building, the report said.
The latest findings could add to concerns over the state of the No. 4 reactor building, which houses on its upper floors a cooling pool filled with 1,331 spent and 204 unused nuclear fuel assemblies. Each assembly contains approximately 50 to 70 rods.
Some experts say that the building — ravaged in a hydrogen explosion in the early days of the disaster in March 2011 — is not strong enough to support the fuel pool, especially if another earthquake hits the region.
Damage to the pool or loss of cooling could lead the spent fuel to overheat, releasing large amounts of radiation into the environment, the experts warn. Tepco has announced that it will start work to remove the spent fuel rods later this year, earlier than initially planned. However, other experts warn against removing fuel rods too hastily, which might pose its own risks.1 1 Open image in new window During three weekly night dives (1 h each) in November 2010 on the coral reef of Eilat, Gulf of Aqaba (GOA), across from the Underwater Observatory, we observed a filefish Amanses scopes (Monacanthidae) (Cuvier, 1829), using its teeth to anchor itself onto a dead branch tip of a colony of the coral Acropora sp. (Fig.a, b). The filefish “parked” in a narrow space between the branches of the coral, undisturbed by the strong light emanating from our underwater torches and camera flash. The fish’s eyes were motionless. Continued directed light, noise, and even gentle caressing did not cause the fish to escape, suggesting that it was sleeping. On December 11, 2010, an exceptionally severe southern storm took place in GOA that caused immense damage to the shallow water coral community, with hundreds of corals completely broken or damaged in our observation area. After the storm, during all our next seven weekly night dives (performed at different hours between 1900 and 0100 h), we observed to our surprise the same fish anchoring on a different Acropora sp. colony, two meters away from the first colony, which had disappeared after the storm. Again, the filefish was using its teeth to hold onto the tip of a living branch (Fig.c).
Some members of the Monacanthidae are known to be territorial and have preferred sleeping spots (Wüest 1993). Here, however, we describe for the first time an “anchoring” sleeping behavior of Amanses scopes, unknown from other fishes. We believe that we observed the very same individual on all occasions, since this species is rare in the area (pers. obs.); in addition, we observed this fish six times during day time at the same site. Although it is known that filefish are corallivores (Randall 1964), we suggest that the negligible damage to the first coral, (visible in Fig. 1a, b), was not due to predation but rather to the night-after-night tooth-hold of the fish and concomitant branch-tip abrasion. We suggest that this sleeping behavior may prevent A. scopes from being swept away by strong currents, provide shelter from predators, keep the fish away from contact with the substratum (i.e., avoiding abrasion), and possibly prevent attack by ectoparasites (gnathiid isopods) known to attack fishes while sleeping on the substrate (Grutter et al. 2011).Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi shout slogans against the military and the interior ministry as they gesture with the sign “Rabaa,” or “Four,” during a protest around Ain Shams square in east Cairo on Feb. 14, 2014. The placard reads “Our victory coming soon.” (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)
The House Judiciary Committee recently passed a resolution calling on the State Department to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. This resolution resonates with the feverish anti-Islamic politics of the Republican primary, fueled across the spectrum by candidates from Donald Trump to Marco Rubio. The specific focus on the Muslim Brotherhood has long been a trope over the last decade of demonization of Islam.
The Congressional bill also fits trends in regional politics. The terrorist designation for the Muslim Brotherhood has been pushed forcefully for several years by regional players such as the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Since the July 2013 military coup, the Egyptian government has aggressively pushed to equate the Muslim Brotherhood with al-Qaeda and to blame it for a wide range of violent attacks in the country. Yesterday, Egypt accused the leadership of the Brotherhood with carrying out the June 2015 assassination of public prosecutor general Hisham Barakat. In March 2014, Saudi Arabia and several of its Gulf Cooperation Council partners designated the Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.
The U.S. bill is unlikely to become law. Even if such a bill somehow made it through Congress, the mandated review would produce similar results as last year’s British investigation, which eventually concluded that Brotherhood membership might be associated with extremism but declined to label it a terrorist organization. Such a conclusion would be buttressed by an impressive body of academic literature developed over the past decade that did a very good job of explaining the Brotherhood’s organization, ideology, political strategy and place within the broader political and social context.
Academics have played a useful role in pushing back against a politicized terrorist designation. But they should not be overly reassured by their ability to interpret and explain the Brotherhood’s past behavior. The Brotherhood is not a terrorist organization, and there has long been a deeply significant divide between it and Salafi-jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda.
But the Brotherhood as examined and studied in this literature over the past several decades no longer really exists. The core characteristics that defined the Brotherhood’s internal organization and strategic environment, and which guided political science research about it, no longer operate.
The Muslim Brotherhood, at least in post-coup Egypt, no longer enjoys a strong presence in society with an elaborate network of social services and a tolerated public presence. Its patient strategy of long-term change through participation lies in ruins. Its organization has been shattered, with its leadership either in prison, exiled or dead and the survivors divided between multiple power centers inside Egypt and abroad. It is no longer deeply embedded in society or engaged in a patient strategy of Islamization of the political and cultural realms. It no longer has a robust internal organization, vast financial resources, a clearly defined ideology, or a tightly disciplined membership. It is neither shrouded in secrecy nor is it rigidly hierarchical.
This has important implications for long-standing hypotheses and assumptions about the Brotherhood and Islamist politics more broadly. Researchers should therefore admit to greater uncertainty about the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology, organization and strategy than ever before. Arguments that held up well five years ago no longer necessarily apply.
Fortunately, political scientists have been actively engaged for several years in multiple, systematic and sustained efforts to rethink Islamist movements. The Rethinking Islamist Politics series that I direct for the Project on Middle East Political Science has just published its third collection of essays by scholars revisiting earlier theories, methods, data, assumptions and conclusions. The papers for the earlier workshops can be read here (“Rethinking Islamist Politics”) and here (“Islamism in the IS Age”). This year’s collection has now been published as an open access PDF here.
Many long-standing debates about the Muslim Brotherhood are simply no longer relevant in an entirely new institutional and political context no longer marked by durable authoritarianism, tolerated but constrained Islamist movements in the role of permanent political opposition, and a clear distinction between mainstream Islamists and violent radical groups, such as al-Qaeda. The arguments about whether inclusion promotes moderation, for instance, was based on political institutions and opportunities which have radically changed.
Here, I would like to focus on a debate directly related to the congressional resolution about the Brotherhood’s relationship with terrorism: whether the Brotherhood served as a firewall against or a conveyor belt toward violent extremism.
Prior to the Arab uprising, I argued that mainstream Islamists served as a firewall against more violent extremists. The Brotherhood publicly articulated an ideology of nonviolence and democratic participation. It competed with al-Qaeda for recruits and for public influence, and kept its members tightly embedded within its institutional structures. The Brotherhood could compete with al-Qaeda and other extreme groups in ways that liberals and state elites could not.
The competing view held that the Brotherhood was a facilitator of violent extremism, serving not as barrier but as a step along the path toward radicalization. This “conveyor belt” theory suggests that even if the Brotherhood itself did not sanction violence, it set individuals on the path toward extremism and thus increased the net volume of potential terrorists. They pointed to inconsistencies in the Brotherhood’s rejection of violence, such as the continuing place of jihadist thinkers, such as Sayid Qutb, in their literature or their support for violence in arenas such as Palestine or Iraq.
Which of these has proven more accurate?
Many Brotherhood critics point to its erratic or violent behavior during the Egyptian, Tunisian or Libyan transitions to discredit the firewall thesis. But this is unconvincing. Some Brotherhood members behaved badly during Egypt’s transition, as did virtually everyone else. Brotherhood members violently attacked protestors outside Cairo’s Ittihadiya presidential palace on Dec. 5, 2012, while their opponents burned down Brotherhood party headquarters a few months later. Many Brotherhood took up arms in Libya and Syria, as did virtually everyone else.
Context matters more than ideology in those troubled transitions. Despite post-coup propaganda and arrests by the Egyptian regime, there is very little to substantiate the charge that the Brotherhood behaved like a terrorist organization during Egypt’s transition or embraced violence either ideologically or strategically.
Instead, the most striking trend is that the Islamic State’s upsurge and al-Qaeda’s revival coincides with the crushing of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and the broader regional crackdown on the organization.
The breaching of the Brotherhood firewall does seem to have coincided with a dramatic escalation in violent extremism. There are other factors, of course, but Egypt’s spiraling violence suggests that the military coup and subsequent violent repression of the Brotherhood did indeed open the space for more violent and radical actors.
What might explain the changing effectiveness of a Brotherhood firewall? There are three key mechanisms by which the firewall might operate: strategy, organization and socialization. Each has undergone severe tests over the last few years.
First, the Brotherhood might have been an effective firewall against al-Qaeda’s extremism and violence because it could demonstrate the organization’s strategic goals. This would not require any ideological conviction, nor deep buy-in from the membership — only a rational calculation by the leadership that such a stance serves their self-interest. Positioning the Brotherhood as a moderate counterweight to al-Qaeda helped to preserve the organization’s public presence, reassure a skeptical West, and win support within broad Islamist publics.
This positioning worked well in the decade following 9/11, but today it is a far less obvious strategic choice for what remains of the Brotherhood.
As Mokhtar Awad and Mostafa Hashem have carefully documented, the Brotherhood’s leadership has attempted to reaffirm its nonviolent commitments. But this stance has proved a difficult sell in the face of Egypt’s violent repression and the cancellation of any opportunity for meaningful democratic participation. Nonviolence seems less strategically effective given massive state repression and less in alignment with a new identity narrative centered around the August 2013 Rabaa massacre.
The Brotherhood has clearly struggled to articulate any effective strategic response to Egypt’s coup or to offer a compelling ideological rejoinder to those calling for more radical measures. It is difficult to occupy the center ground in a radically polarized environment, to preach the virtues of democratic participation following a military coup, or to preach restraint in the face of mass arrests and rampant unaccountable state violence.
The rise of the Islamic State has also changed the strategic calculus for the organization. Rather than being positioned as the successful mainstream avatar of Islamist politics, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is now competing with more extreme Islamist rivals from a relatively ineffectual and inarticulate position. The Syrian insurgency has been dominated by a wide range of salafi-jihadist factions that enjoy strong support from regional powers and a prominent media presence. Syria has blurred the distinctions between Islamist groups and pushed the “center” of Islamist politics toward violent jihad.
Islamist politics have moved sharply to the right and the mainstream center largely vanished, leaving the once mainstream organization isolated on a shrinking moderate flank. To the extent that the firewall was a strategic policy choice by the Brotherhood’s leadership, then, that has clearly been challenged and potentially undermined by the changing political context.
A second mechanism by which the Brotherhood might be an effective firewall has been through its organizational capacity.
The Muslim Brotherhood has traditionally been characterized by an exceptionally tight organizational structure, with a rigid hierarchy and extremely effective command and control. The Muslim Brotherhood’s internal discipline has been critical to its electoral success and its ability to survive bouts of state repression.
This organizational capacity is also a key mechanism for the firewall thesis. A strong organization gave the Brotherhood’s leadership the ability to enforce its decisions from the top down, prevent significant factional splits and exercise tight control over its membership. Those members who might have been tempted by al-Qaeda’s extremism found no space to advance those ideas or to pull the organization in a more violent direction.
The current Egyptian and regional crackdown has taken an extreme toll on this organizational capacity. Thousands of its members have been imprisoned, the assets of its leading members confiscated and the lines of internal communication disrupted. The leadership of this shattered organization is unable to maintain effective control in the face of radical reactions of youth cadres and incitement from leaders and members abroad.
To the extent that organizational capacity sustained the firewall, this, too, has been massively eroded.
Third, and finally, the firewall might have been sustained through socialization. Brotherhood members perhaps internalized the organization’s norms and ideas so fully that they would adhere to them even if strategic context or organizational conditions changed.
There are reasons to believe that the Brotherhood was especially likely to produce such deep socialization. Scholars such as Hazem Kandil and Eric Trager had focused attention on the deeply constitutive power of the Brotherhood’s cell structure, rigid hierarchy and intense indoctrination. Some went so far as to argue that this deep organizational control rendered Brotherhood members virtually incapable of independent thought or action — the so-called cultists, sheep or robots of popular anti-Brotherhood Egyptian discourse.
For the firewall thesis, this would be a very strong mechanism indeed: a full internalization of organizational norms would in principle lead Brotherhood members to sustain their ideological commitments even with the organization shattered, the political strategy failed and the context radically changed.
This thesis of Brothers as overly socialized dupes has fared poorly since Egypt’s military coup. Its members have reacted in wildly divergent ways to the new challenges. Rather than responding to the same stimuli in similar ways, different Brotherhood members have chosen dramatically different paths.
The Egyptian Brotherhood today is being battered by internal factional conflicts, challenges by the youth to a failed senior leadership and a broad rejection of hierarchical authority. Some Brothers have turned to violence, while others have reaffirmed the commitment to nonviolence. Accounts by perceptive observers, such as Abdelrahman Ayyash and Ibrahim Houdaiby, suggest a far less coherent and uniform Brotherhood adaptation to the new politics of Islamism.
In other words, Muslim Brotherhood members have turned out to be quite capable of independent thought and ideological disagreement after all.
At this point, however, we lack sufficiently fine-grained data to determine whether the proportion of Brotherhood members who adhered to their indoctrination and refused to embrace violence is greater than might be expected from a more “normal” organization. Nor do we yet know whether Brotherhood members were more or less likely than expected to join more extremist organizations than others in their demographic group. These will likely prove fine topics for future research.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s firewall against extremism, therefore, was a very real thing in the decade following 9/11. It was sustained by the seeming success of the strategic choices by the leadership, a robust organizational structure able to enforce internal discipline and the socialization of its members into the organization’s norms.
All three of the key mechanisms by which the firewall operated have now dramatically eroded.
This does not mean that the Brotherhood has been or is becoming a terrorist organization. It does mean that earlier assessments of its ability to play a role as a firewall against violent extremism need to be updated. And that is just what the scholars systematically rethinking the new Islamist politics for the Rethinking Islamist Politics project are doing.
Marc Lynch is a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, and the director of the Project on Middle East Political Science.'He didn’t say why. He just turned it down,' an unnamed official told McClatchy News. | REUTERS Report: Stevens declined security
U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens — one of the four people killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack at in the U.S. post in Benghazi, Libya — twice declined a senior U.S. military official’s offer to have added security assistance, according to a McClatchy News report.
McClatchy News reported Tuesday that two unnamed government officials told them that it’s still unclear why Stevens would turn down the offer.
Story Continued Below
In the weeks before the attack, Stevens met in Germany with Army Gen. Carter Ham, then-head of the U.S. Africa Command, and Ham told Stevens he could provide him more military security. But Stevens declined the offer.
( PHOTOS: 10 slams on Obama and Benghazi)
“He didn’t say why. He just turned it down,” an unnamed defense official told McClatchy.
Conservatives have heavily criticized President Barack Obama’s administration — including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — for their handling of the Benghazi attack, in part because of what they say was a lack of security at the post.
One of the most outspoken critics, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), told McClatchy that he found it “odd” that Stevens wouldn’t want additional military assets.
“That is odd to me because Stevens requested from the State Department additional security four times, and there was an 18-person special forces security team headed by Lt. Col. Wood that Gen. Ham signed off on that the State Department said no to,” Graham told McClatchy.
He added: “The records are very clear that people on the ground in Libya made numerous requests for additional security that were either denied or only partially granted.”Image caption Ugly scenes? Fans of Bring Me The Horizon film vocalist Oli Sykes on their smartphones and cameras
As fans filed into Webster Hall in New York City last week, a note from indie rock band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs wasted no syllables in laying down the law.
"Please do not watch the show through a screen on your smart device/camera," it said, along with some stronger words unrepeatable here.
During the gig, vocalist Karen O repeated the request, telling fans to take a picture right at that moment - but to then keep devices hidden for the good of those around them.
On the web, news of the band's defiance against the march of the amateur filmmaker spread - and was met with whoops of delight from many music fans fed up with seeing mobiles thrust into their line of sight at every public event.
Many of them longed for the days when the only thing illuminating the crowd at a packed gig would be a sea of cigarette lighters, held aloft during the more tender moments - and not, as is now more often the case, the glow of the mobile phone.
"I would never turn on a cell phone at any musical event," wrote Roger Waters, former bassist and vocalist for Pink Floyd.
People behind you are like 'put your phone down we can't see' Bring Me The Horizon fan
"It would seem to me to show a lack of respect to and care for fellow concert goers, or for that matter the artist.
"Apart from anything else, how could I possibly truly experience the thing I'd paid to see and hear, if I was fiddling with an iPhone, filming or twittering or chatting or whatever?"
'Weak and distorted'
To make matters worse, the type of footage recorded at gigs tends to have, as one Guardian journalist put it this week, "audio quality that would make Simon and Garfunkel sound like Slayer".
Sophisticated as it may be, your smartphone's microphone is only capable of capturing anything and everything immediately around it.
But one company emerging from Dublin's blossoming start-up scene thinks it has the answer - and appears to have record labels on its side.
"What our unique proprietary technology is able to do is take the poor quality on-camera audio from fan videos, and we analyse that and can see the patterns, even though it's very weak and distorted," explains Cathal Furey, co-founder of the firm, 45sound.
"The technology takes those patterns and matches it against what we call a master audio recording, which would be a professional live audio recording [from the same gig]."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption This clip shows original gig footage shot by a fan at a Deap Vally gig, and then the same clip with fixed audio provided by 45sound
From here, clips are re-uploaded with the high-quality audio, and in cases where there's more than one recording of the same moment, fans watching the gig on 45sound can switch camera angles.
In recent years, several sites have sought to make use of the swathes of fan footage recorded on a nightly basis.
Apps such as Vyclone have been used by the likes of Ed Sheeran to "crowdsource" gig footage, with fans being encouraged to upload their recordings of Ed for it then to be edited together for the official music video.
Another start-up, OutListen, gathers fan videos and, if there's sufficient interest, will go to record labels after a big show and request the professionally recorded audio.
Image caption Oli Sykes prompts the crowd at his band's gig to record one particular track
But Mr Furey believes it is 45sound's audio-matching software which gives it the edge over rivals - meaning no human intervention is needed in order to whip the clips into a listenable state.
"It's all completely automated," he says.
"What we're trying to build is a scaleable company. I'll be happy when one day we do a thousand shows in one night."
Sony trial
Vital to this scalability is in building relationships with record labels. To that end, 45sound has the ear of several companies - including Sony Music-owned RCA Records.
One of their acts, Bring Me The Horizon, has been trialling 45sound on their latest tour - prompting fans to record their show and upload it after the gig.
"It compliments the whole marketing plan," says Justin Cross, head of digital marketing for RCA.
"A lot of the artists we work with at RCA are live bands - if you're watching someone's video of Bring Me The Horizon and you can see for yourself how fantastic they are live, you're probably going to want to go and see them."
As part of their trial with 45sound, Bring Me The Horizon's vocalist Oli Sykes prompts fans during the gig to record one particular song.
For those who hate people recording, it may seem an irritating, even inconsiderate request - but it is somewhat tactical, the 26-year-old tells the BBC ahead of the band's gig in Bristol.
"When we did it in Leeds the other day it was almost like it got it out of everyone's system.
"Everyone filmed the song, and then everyone put [their cameras] down and everyone got back into it so it was cool."
'Put your phone down'
Meanwhile, in the shivering cold outside the venue, Bring Me The Horizon's fans are divided in their views of gig etiquette.
"People behind you are like 'put your phone down we can't see'," says one female fan.
"I think people kind of like just want to just get into it without standing around with your arm in the air all the time filming."
Another fan, male, has more enthusiasm towards the web's possibilities.
"It's always good when people film it, you can go on YouTube and see it, and relive it, and see all the people in the comments talking about it - you can make more friends with that as well."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Comedian Marcus Brigstocke and Graham Lambert, from Inspiral Carpets on phones at gigs
For record companies like RCA Records, it's a situation that requires delicate compromise, says Mr Cross.
"From a label perspective, and my perspective as a fan, it's something that's just part of a gig now, you can't get away from it.
"On one side of things, it can be quite annoying for the fan that isn't into doing this, but on the other side it's helping to push the band."
But 45sound's Mr Furey argues some events are just too good not to be widely shared.
"I can definitely see that having a sea of cameras can ruin the experience. Ultimately the most important person is the person who pays for a ticket to go and see the show.
"At the same time, I've been at other events where my first reaction is 'who's videoing this?'. Live music shows are an incredible human event - they're very tribal, very powerful, very emotional."
So while the Yeah Yeah Yeahs join a select group of grumblers that includes the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Jack White and the Stone Roses - it is likely that the "sea of cameras" is here to stay, and not just at gigs.
"I have that problem in general life myself," reflects Bring Me The Horizon's Mr Sykes.
"I find a lot of people are documenting too much stuff... rather than just living it."BOSTON—The first question on the November ballot will give voters the chance to repeal the state's alcohol sales tax.
Secretary of State William Galvin unveiled the order of the ballot questions Thursday.
The second question will give voters the choice to repeal the state's affordable housing law known as 40B. Question Three will ask voters if they want to reduce the state's sales tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent.
The alcohol sales tax was first implemented in 2009 as part of the state's efforts to raise revenues. Package store owners say the tax has turned customers away, especially on the border with New Hampshire, which does not have sales tax.
Opponents say the tax revenue pays for essential substance abuse programs.
Questions higher on the ballot tend to garner the most attention.
© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption A private member's bill proposes lowering the drink drive limit to match Scotland's lower limit
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He specifically mentioned the alliance’s assistance in clearing mines in the Donbas.
The armed confrontation between Ukrainian security forces and separatists of the self-proclaimed republics of the Donbas has been ongoing since April 2014. Russia has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the conflict.
According to the latest UN statistics, 9,371 people have been killed and 21,523 people injured since the beginning of the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
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Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.The annual fundraising bashes that Donald Trump hosted at his Mar-a-Lago Club for the renowned Dana-Farber Cancer Institute were showy affairs, complete with poolside champagne, flamenco dancers, and Tiffany party favors.
And his titles from Dana-Farber kept getting loftier: First, he was a Discovery Celebration Chair. Then a Grand Benefactor. Then a Grand Honorary Chair.
Those titles did not come at a cost to Trump because he himself has not donated to the cancer center in years. His foundation, which has not included any of his own money since 2008, has given the hospital $350,000 since 2010.
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Yet Trump himself may have profited from the relationship: The hospital has paid Trump’s private club up to $150,000 a year since 2011, and once before in 2008, to host the fundraising gala.
The relationship between Trump and Dana-Farber opens a window into the world of high-dollar philanthropy, where galas with celebrity guests attract wealthy donors who hop from party to party on the social circuit. Many hospitals make a point of hosting events in Palm Beach, where many wealthy spend the winter; the Cleveland Clinic’s Florida arm hosted a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago this year and will be back in 2017, according to its website.
And the snowbirds give — last year, Dana-Farber raised about $1.6 million from the Mar-a-Lago event, a small percentage of the $204 million it raised in total last fiscal year.
The hospital says its relationship with Trump is purely business: “Using or not using Mar-a-Lago is not a statement on the presidential election,” said Susan Paresky, Dana-Farber’s senior vice president for development.
But Trump’s foundation has drawn heightened scrutiny, and not everyone associated with Dana-Farber sees such a clear distinction between business and politics.
“Oh Jesus,” said Dr. David Nathan, who served as president of Dana-Farber from 1995 to 2000 and now sits on the board of trustees. He burst into laughter when told by STAT about the relationship between the hospital and Trump. “My first comment is no comment.”
But he continued to comment. “Poor Dana-Farber probably made a mistake getting involved with him,” he said. “But how were they supposed to know what was going to happen?”
The relationship isn’t well-known at the hospital, Nathan said. “I’m there every day,” he said. “I never knew we’re getting money from Donald Trump. And I don’t think anybody in the place really knows that.”
However, he said he didn’t think Dana-Farber should be criticized. “You’ve got to take money where it comes, and as long as it’s not illicit money, I think that’s fair game,” Nathan said.
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Dana-Farber’s galas at Mar-a-Lago were lavish affairs, as described in hospital newsletters. In 2011, “a speciality dessert parade” was followed by a Jennifer Hudson concert. The next year, “the event began with poolside champagne and caviar.”
Donald and Melania Trump “welcomed guests to their exclusive venue,’’ a Dana-Farber newsletter said about one of the events. The newsletter included a note from Paresky commending the Trumps’ “leadership.’’
When asked the nature of that leadership, Paresky said that “the Trumps agreed to lend their name to the event.”
The hospital’s fundraising staff and a volunteer committee do the actual hands-on planning for such parties, she said.
Some who have attended the fundraisers said they believe Trump’s presence is good for Dana-Farber.
“I think that his being associated with it is a plus,” said Sandra Bornstein, a Palm Beach resident who attends the fundraiser regularly. He’s “extremely friendly and nice to be around,” she said.
Sandra and her husband, Richard Bornstein, give about $5,000 each year at the Dana-Farber fundraiser. They are Trump supporters, and Richard Bornstein said he has contributed to Trump’s campaign.
A Dana-Farber doctor who presented research at a 2012 Mar-a-Lago dinner said that there isn’t much of a relationship at all between the Republican presidential candidate and the hospital.
“I don’t think there’s a significant there there,” said Dr. George Demetri, senior vice president for experimental therapeutics at Dana-Farber. He saw Trump at some of the Mar-a-Lago events and not at others. Once, he got a photo with the celebrity.
Demetri’s main impression: “He’s very tall.”
The Trump Organization did not respond to specific questions from STAT. The accounting firm listed on the Trump Foundation’s tax forms also did not respond to a request for comment. A Trump campaign spokesperson did not answer specific questions about the Dana-Farber donations but said the Trump Foundation “is proud to make the contributions to such a reputable and worthy organization.”
Dana-Farber stands out as receiving a large percentage of the Trump Foundation’s money. The foundation gave $200,000 to the hospital in 2012, which made up about 12 percent of its charitable contributions that year.
The foundation donated another $100,000 to Dana-Farber in 2013 and then gave $25,000 in each of the next two years.
Dana-Farber recognized the foundation’s generosity by naming Trump an “Honorary Chair” of the fundraiser and also a “Grand Benefactor” in 2013.
In 2014, Trump’s title morphed to “Grand Honorary Chair.”
Each year, Trump himself contributed $0.
Such honors have been examined closely since a series of stories in the Washington Post found Trump himself has not given any money to his foundation since 2008, but is still getting credit for some donations that the foundation makes.
“It is customary to thank and recognize a person most associated with a foundation for that foundation’s support,” Paresky said.
Each year that the fundraising gala was held at Mar-a-Lago, Dana-Farber paid about $250 per attendee to Trump’s private company for hosting the event. Between 320 and 600 attended per year, a hospital spokesperson said. That comes out to between $80,000 and $150,000 income for the Trump company each year. (Spokespeople for Dana-Farber and Trump declined to provide the exact amount paid.)
Trump’s new high profile doesn’t appear to have changed the relationship.
A Dana-Farber spokesperson said that an agreement has been signed for the hospital to host its 2017 gala at Mar-a-Lago.
Dylan Scott contributed reporting.A young woman is at the center of a controversy about clothing in Saudi Arabia, after she posted videos of herself in one of the nation's most conservative provinces wearing a short skirt and a cropped top.The woman has been arrested by Riyadh police for wearing "suggestive clothing," Saudi state television station Al Ekhbariya reported Tuesday.The brief clips, originally posted to the social network Snapchat over the weekend by a popular user named Khulood, show the woman walking through an ancient fort in Ushayqir, a village in Najd province about 95 miles from the capital, Riyadh.The woman wears a skirt that stops above her knees and a top that shows her midriff; her head is also uncovered.Such an outfit runs afoul of conservative Islamic ideas about women's dress that are prevalent in Saudi Arabia. The country legally requires women to cover themselves while in public by wearing an abaya, a loosefitting cloak. Traditionally, Saudi women are also expected to wear some kind of hijab or head covering, and some opt to cover their face with a niqab.Although foreigners are usually exempted from such rules and Saudi women often find ways to skirt them, many religiously conservative Saudis feel strongly about them.Ushayqir appears deserted in the videos, but Khulood's video soon spread online and quickly drew criticism - with many Saudis using a hashtag that said the woman should face trial for the videos.Some argued that as the woman lived in Saudi Arabia, she should accept its laws. "Just like we call on people to respect the laws of countries they travel to, people must also respect the laws of this country," Saudi writer Ibrahim al-Munayif wrote on his Twitter account.But others offered their support for the woman, suggesting her behavior was brave and that prominent foreigners sometimes dress similarly when visiting Saudi Arabia, and they are exempted from the country's dress codes. Many of them pointed out that Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump did not wear abayas when they visited the country in May, to little public outcry.#مطلوب_محاكمة_مودل_خلودالمجتمع السعودي ينضح بالتناقضات فهو يتغنى ب إبنة ترامب ساعات طوال ، ويكفر ويقذف فتاة سعودية ويطالب بمحاكمتها pic.twitter.com/sfnuyiysVk- Outside the flock (@6etc6) July 16, 2017One user crudely pasted Ivanka Trump's face onto the woman. "We have solved the problem," read the tweet, shared nearly 2,000 times.#مطلوب_محاكمة_مودل_خلودخلاص يا جماعه انحل الموضوع. pic.twitter.com/R7JPObzyba- شَهد بنت فهاد. (@shody_1234) July 16, 2017The exact fate of the woman remains unclear. Saudi newspaper Okaz had reported Sunday that local officials had written a letter to the region's governor and police asking to take action against those who made the video. Saudi Arabia's religious police also released a statement on Twitter saying they were aware of the video and looking into the matter.Saudi Arabia has some of the strictest laws for women in the world. In addition to the restrictions on their dress, adult women need to have permission of a "male guardian" to do things, such as work or travel, and they are prohibited from getting driver's licenses, meaning in practice they cannot drive."Saudi Arabia's continuing obsession with policing women's clothing choices shows authorities haven't moved on from the paternalistic and discriminatory mind-set that hampers women's lives," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division. "Saudi Arabia's purported plans to reshape society and advance women's rights will never succeed as long as authorities go after women for what they wear."Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has launched an ambitious plan to reform Saudi Arabia's society - dubbed Vision 2030. Although the program includes some social aspects, such as the promotion of entertainment, there are doubts about whether it will be able to address the entrenched gender inequality.One poll conducted in 2014 found that 63 percent believed that women should wear a niqab that covers all of their face except their eyes, and just 3 percent thought women not covering their hair were dressed appropriately.The CEO of Boeing listened in on a phone call between President Trump and the Air Force general in charge of the Lockheed Martin F-35 jet program, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Citing two unnamed people familiar with the calls, Bloomberg reported that Trump was in a meeting with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg when he made the latter of two surprise, unusual calls to Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan.
Bogdan is the program executive officer for the Department of Defense agency responsible for purchasing F-35 aircraft for the Navy, Air Force, Marines and some U.S. allies. Trump has frequently been critical of the program’s cost.
Trump’s first call with Bogdan was on Jan. 9, Bloomberg reported. The second, on Jan. 17, took place in front of an apparently surprised Muilenburg, according to Bloomberg’s sources.
“I would consider the calls to be very straightforward. He asked a lot of very, very, very good questions because he was in the learning mode,” Bogdan told Bloomberg of Trump’s calls to him. “The things I talked about in front of Mr. Muilenburg were clearly publicly releasable information. I understand the rules.”
A spokesperson for Boeing pointed Bloomberg to Muilenburg’s comments to press after his meeting with Trump in January.
“We discussed Air Force One, we discussed fighter aircraft,” the Boeing CEO told reporters on Jan. 17, noting that he had “made some great progress” with the President.
Aside from the bizarre logistics of having Muilenburg listen in on a call about his competitor’s government contract, Trump’s calls to Bogdan were also unusual in that they ignored the normal military chain of command, Bloomberg reported.The Jerusalem Local Planning Committee on Wednesday approved building permits for 184 housing units beyond the Green Line.
The committee gave its permission to proceed with building 144 housing units in the neighborhood of Har Homa C, and another 40 in Pisgat Ze'ev. With the permits in hand, ground work on the housing projects can now begin.
At the start of the week, Jerusalem approved construction on two lots in the neighborhood of Ramot – also beyond the Green Line - for the defense and police forces. Sources in the Jerusalem city hall say the lots were handed over to the housing administration of the Israel Defense Forces and police in order to prevent Haredi elements from getting them.
"City hall evidently thinks that the big boys are preoccupied with Ukraine and Crimea, and won't notice these plans," said Yosef Allo of Meretz, an opposition figure in the Jerusalem city council. "Or, the city of Jerusalem thinks that the prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, has given up and the chances of reaching an agreement are negligible. The municipality knows perfectly well that building beyond the Green Line, especially in Har Homa, hurts the chances of reaching an arrangement with the Palestinians, and reduces [U.S. Secretary of State John] Kerry's ability to achieve what we all want – an agreement in which we separate the Jewish neighborhoods from the Arab neighborhoods, with two capitals. We are going to lose our last hope. Kerry isn't looking for a Nobel prize. He's looking to achieve peace."
A month ago Catherine Ashton, foreign policy chief for the European Union, condemned an Israeli decision to issue permits for 558 new apartments in East Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line. She said she was "deeply concerned" by the Jerusalem municipal authorities' approval of building permits for housing in East Jerusalem, Har Homa, Neveh Yaakov and Pisgat Ze’ev, saying it could put the prospects of Jerusalem becoming the capital of two states at risk.Dear Creationist,
I’ve been watching you from afar and can no longer keep it my dirty little secret. I am profoundly, unabashedly and forever in love with your brain. My friends tell me I’m crazy. They say I’m infatuated. They say it’s just a stage. They say I’ll get over it. But I know what I believe and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let someone present a mountain of evidence against my purportedly irrational belief in our everlasting intellectual and spiritual bond. It’s finally time I told the world how badly I want to make slow, rhythmic love to your innermost mental processes. How I want to press myself against your unfaltering confidence in absolute truth and rid myself of the shackles that are my rational thoughts.
Remember that day in the park last summer? The sun was sinking into the trees and casting its incandescent glow over your perfectly designed, intelligent face. I was distraught because I ached to understand the mammoth complexity and enormous timescales involved in something as simple as the sun shining through your tightly wound curls. So many lightyears of vast, empty silence. So many atoms intermingling in a million different ways through space and time. So many creatures perishing over the millennia to enable us to sit together and stare into the rays of light. So many stars exploding, continents shifting and seas teaming with life. So many steps onto land and useless adaptations lost in the void along the way. I lost myself in the terror of so many questions with complicated and incomplete answers.
And there you were. A glorious beacon emanating a simple, all-encompassing truth. You explained the earth was but thousands of years old. That we had been created in the image of an all powerful being as masters of this world. You reminded me of the sheer folly that was hundreds of years of scientific discovery conducted by hundreds of thousands of individuals around the globe. All those gaps in the fossil record, all the misunderstood leaps and bounds between the animal kingdoms of the world. You showed me the alchemy that was evolution, denouncing its flaws and demonstrating in the process the immaculate beauty of your critical mind.
Forget those thoughts, you murmured, for they are hobbled by uncertainty. Have you ever seen evolution happen? How absurd to think that life proceeds by random chance over the course of billions of years, adapting to changing circumstances in what amounts to a cosmic theatre of death and rebirth. Natural and sexual selection were bad jokes that left an acrid taste in my mouth that only your words washed away.
And wash away they did. As the sun’s last rays dyed your hair a deep crimson in my perfect eye, the cumbersome reality of my world yielded to a single, seductive truth. How could I have believed when there were so many pinpricks in the endless ocean of painstakingly collected data? You demolished my argument by pointing out the missing shreds of evidence and pronounced the timeless truth of creation on the basis of faith.
And that’s when I knew it. I knew that I loved you. I loved your resolute belief in the laws of your elders. I loved your ability to evaluate one system with the highest standards of skepticism and scrutiny while abandoning all critical thought when assessing another. I loved your facile understanding of history that condensed so many struggles into a tantalizing narrative of human eminence. I loved your conviction that we were the be all and end all of it all. But more than anything, I loved the soft contours of your exquisitely designed skin, under which your heart beat in flawless unison with mine throughout eternity.
Forever yours,
Noam Everest
AdvertisementsFor weeks the Kyiv government and Western
officials have pointed the finger at Moscow, saying it has tacitly if not actively supported the unrest and supplied financing, manpower
and weapons, including at least three tanks, according to satellite images obtained by NATO, to separatist militias in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Interior
Minister Arsen Avakov posted on Facebook on June 20 what he reports to be hard proof of the Kremlin’s involvement.
Ukrainian
forces confiscated a BTR-80 armored personnel carrier, inside of which was a
document that showed it had been checked out from a Russian military base on
May 31, 2014, Avakov wrote. He said the BTR-80 was captured by National
Guardsmen near Marinovki after they clashed with separatist fighters there.
The
document shows the signature of a woman with the surname “Solovyova,” who described her
position as “head of storage” and allegedly signed out the BTR. A stamp above her signature reads the words “Russian Federation” and “military base 55443.”
A photograph posted on Facebook by Interior Minister Arsen Avakov shows what is purported to be a receipt for checking out a BTR-80 armored personnel vehicle from a Russian military base on May 31, 2014.
“Note the
seal of the Russian military. This is for diplomats and doubters,” Avakov
wrote.
Separately,
Vladyslav Selesnyov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s counterinsurgency operation in
the east, shared what he said was further evidence of Russian support for the separatists.
He wrote on June 20 that following a fierce gunfight with armed pro-Russian militias in Yampil and Zakotne,
during which some “300 militants were killed,” Ukrainian forces seized heavy weapons, including an armored personnel carrier,
a truck with a high-caliber machine gun mounted on it, a man-powered air-defense system (MANPADS), rocket-propelled grenade launchers and small arms.
Man-powered air defense systems (MANPADS) seized by Ukrainian forces and purported to be of Russian origin, according to Vladislav Seleznev, a Ukrainian military spokesman.
“All weapons and
equipment are of Russian origin,” he wrote.
The reports from Avakov and Seleznyov came after Ukraine’s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs on June 18 published what it said was proof that weapons from Russia were
being used to fight the country’s military forces.
In a statement on its website that included
a series of photographs, the ministry said MANPADS had been confiscated from
separatists in Donetsk Oblast. Among the weapons’ crates were documents showing they had been in Russian weapons facilities as recently as April.
A crate used to transport man-powered air defense systems (MANPADS) seized by Ukrainian military forces.
Inside the crate were documents showing the MANPADS had been in a Russian weapons cache in April before appearing in eastern Ukraine.
The separatists’
militias have used MANPADS to shoot down several Ukrainian military aircraft,
including at least four helicopters and a transport plane bringing in a fresh
rotation of 40 paratroopers. All were killed in the plane downing, along with
the plane’s nine crew members, as it attempted to land at Luhansk airport early
on June 14.
Previously, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that it had detained three Russian citizens it believed were members of Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, for their involvement in the violence in Odesa on May 2 that resulted in the deaths of 46 people, including 42 who died in the blaze at the Trade Unions building.
On 3 May, the SBU published the names and passports of the three citizens from the Russian Federation allegedly involved in the 2 May events.
A Russian citizen detained by the SBU, who it alleges was involved in the violence in Odesa on May 2.
A Russian citizen detained by the SBU, who it alleges was involved in the violence in Odesa on May 2.
The passport of a Russian citizen detained by the SBU, who it alleges was involved in the violence in Odesa on May 2.
The passport of a Russian citizen detained by the SBU, who it alleges was involved in the violence in Odesa on May 2.
The SBU furthermore stated on June 20 that it has recently captured 13 Russian citizens, most of whom are former or current special forces members, in Ukraine carrying out subversive and terrorist acts.
Still, Russia has not acknowledged direct involvement in the violence racking eastern Ukraine. It has urged Kyiv to cease what it called a “punitive” military operation in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and to negotiate with separatists there.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko this week proposed a cease-fire as part of a peace plan to end the conflict. He discussed the plan with Russian President Vladimir Putin as recently as June 19.
According to a Kremlin readout of the conversation, “Vladimir Putin shared a whole set of comments stressing the need to immediately end Kyiv’s military operations in Luhansk and Donetsk regions.”
“The President of Russia expressed hope that in implementing this plan, priority attention will be given to resolving key problems that have caused strong protests by the people living in these regions.”
A readout posted to Poroshenko’s official website said that he “emphasized that along with cease-fire, he counts on the support [of Russia] to the peaceful plan.”
But following the presidents’ talk, fights continued to rage in eastern Ukraine, with casualties reported on both sides.
Twelve soldiers of the 25th Dnipropetrovsk Airborne Brigade were killed and another 25 were injured in fighting near Krasny Lyman, Donetsk region, late on June 19, a spokesman for the Dnipropetrovsk region’s national defense headquarters told Interfax-Ukraine on June 20.
A separatist militia commander said his side had suffered “heavy losses” in the battle.
As the smoke settled briefly, Avakov, the interior minister, issued a stern warning for separatist fighters spilling into Ukraine from Russia to take with them back to Moscow.
“They need to remind Putin: Those who come to us with the sword, will die by the sword!”
Kyiv Post
editor Christopher J. Miller can be reached at miller@kyivpost.com and on Twitter at @ChristopherJM.President Donald Trump is breaking with tradition by visiting Poland, an ex-communist country in central Europe, before making a presidential visit to longtime allies Britain, France or Germany.
The White House has stressed Poland’s importance as a loyal NATO ally and its potential as an energy partner as reasons for the visit, which he will make Thursday just before attending a Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. But there are several other reasons that make Poland a logical early destination for the new U.S. president.
POLAND FIRST FOR A POPULIST WELCOME
Trump will be welcomed in Poland by populist leaders who are closely aligned with his worldview and who gained power in 2015 with the same brand of nationalistic, anti-Muslim rhetoric that has put both the new U.S. leader and the Poles in conflict with leaders in Western Europe.
READ MORE: London mayor Sadiq Khan calls on U.K. to cancel Donald Trump’s state visit
Like Trump, Poland’s leaders seek to restore more national sovereignty and weaken international institutions like the European Union. Some political observers worry that the visit could further deepen divisions between Poland and its Western European partners. There is also concern Trump’s visit could embolden the Polish government and encourage what the EU sees as an erosion of the rule of law in Poland.
WARSAW CAN PRODUCE CHEERING CROWDS
Trump can probably count on large enthusiastic crowds to greet him in Warsaw, where he is expected to give a major televised address to the nation. In fact, according to Polish media reports, that is exactly what Poland’s government promised the White House in its invitation. To make good on that pledge, ruling party lawmakers and pro-government activists plan to bus in groups from the provinces to hear Trump’s speech. A warm reception would certainly be a plus for Trump after his somewhat awkward debut in Europe in May. He also could get a frosty reception at the G-20 due to his recent decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord and other policies. Some NATO allies have also been annoyed by Trump’s repeated calls for them to increase military spending.
READ MORE: British officials deny changes to Donald Trump’s state visit to United Kingdom
POLAND SEES U.S. BOOTS ON THE GROUND
Poles, on the other hand, can expect only praise from Trump on their defence expenditures. A U.S. ally in Iraq and Afghanistan, Poland is one of the five NATO members that spends the expected 2 per cent of gross domestic product on its military. The Poland-U.S. security relationship has also gotten a boost this year with the deployment of some 5,000 U.S. troops to Poland as part of two separate American and NATO missions. The deployments are meant to reassure allies on NATO’s eastern flank that the alliance is serious about protecting them from Russian aggression.
WATCH: ‘Morning Joe’ hosts accuse Trump of blackmail
Many across the region hope to hear Trump commit himself to NATO’s Article 5, which says an attack on one member is an attack on all. After months of waffling on that defence pact, Trump finally did so in June standing alongside the Romanian president in the Rose Garden. Still, it would mean a lot to an anxious region to hear those words spoken on soil closer to Russia.
POLISH-AMERICANS VOTE IN U.S. ELECTIONS
The hundreds of thousands of Polish-American voters in the United States represent an important constituency in several battleground states, and last year they helped give Trump the edge he needed in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. They will certainly be grateful for Trump’s visit to Warsaw, especially since he has chosen to address Poles at Krasinski Square, a location that symbolizes Polish heroism during World War II. That large square has a memorial to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, a courageous but doomed uprising against Nazi Germany that resulted in more than 200,000 Polish deaths and the destruction of Warsaw.
ENERGY TIES
During Trump’s visit to Warsaw, he will also attend a summit devoted to the Three Seas Initiative, an effort to expand and modernize energy and trade links among 12 countries located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black seas. One driving purpose of the initiative is to make the region less dependent on Russian energy. Under the project, U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which began arriving in Poland in early June, would have the potential to supply more of the region. The visit coincides with efforts by Trump’s administration to become a net exporter of oil, gas and other resources to boost U.S. revenues and influence.Seated across the table, China’s representative railed against the Americans for a litany of offences. The Vietnamese, Philippines, and Indonesian representatives looked on, their thoughts obscured by a mix of smirks and smiles. This wasn’t, however, a meeting at this month’s ASEAN Regional Forum in Myanmar. Rather, it was a South China Sea simulation at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.
Divided into groups, attendees—a mix of Asia hands and novices—represented South China Sea claimants, along with the United States and not-quite-claimant Indonesia. Participants strove to hammer out a joint communiqué encompassing the parties’ varied interests while absorbing conflict resolution and negotiating skills. Complicating the matter, the talks were set against the scenario-injected backdrop of the Chinese construction of an artificial island in Vietnam’s claimed exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Although I flatter myself as educated in the basics of the region’s maritime disputes, the evening still proved educational. Readers of The Strategist might be interested in five distilled rules:
1. Chinese plays to Asian solidarity ring hollow
Assigned the role of a proud representative of Vietnam, I sought to halt construction of China’s artificial island and secure assurances against future infringement of our national sovereignty under the recognised principles of international law. That was a non-starter for the Chinese negotiating team. However, they did attempt to buy me off through vague promises of infrastructure investment before launching into a lecture on the US. In their view, Americans were destabilising the region, were themselves unable to provide stability rom half a world away, didn’t believe in international law, were interested only in a new breed of colonialism, and should acquiesce to a sphere of influence similar to their own dominance of the Caribbean.
I’ve witnessed this attempt at building an exclusive Asian rapport at other forums. Then, as in this instance, it was undermined by the accompanying mix of veiled threats and seeming indifference towards the neighbours’ real concerns. My rebuttals to China’s points—that its investments often led to little local hiring and spawned resentment, and that Vietnam cared less whether a nation signed UNCLOS than if it followed the principles therein (ie not parking an oil rig in someone else’s EEZ, for example)—received sympathetic concurrence from other claimant states.
2. Wild cards are unlikely to change the situation
In the run-up to the exercise I asked colleagues to suggest ‘wild cards’ that could be played to shake-up the negotiations. Unfortunately many of those turned out to be outside my bounds as a country representative (and I’ve covered them in a CIMSEC post here).
In the event, it was revealed that the Indonesian moderator had been meeting and potentially dealing with China on the sidelines of the talks. Yet that did little to alter the negotiations. Similarly, I sought out ‘win-win’ proposals, with a bid for joint economic development deals, as in the Gulf of Tonkin, after a freeze on new construction, claims, and resource exploitation—essentially the elusive ASEAN Code of Conduct and a reflection of Vietnam’s real position. At the same time, I noted that, if the United States was having difficulty maintaining its vessels in the region, the deep-water port of Cam Ranh Bay could be refurbished for a renewed American presence. Unfortunately, the joint-development proposal was rebuffed by China, as most were in the course of negotiations. Rule four explains why those wild cards and proposals failed to change the calculus.
3. Conflict transformation doesn’t always work
Indonesia tried to tap into ‘conflict transformation‘ to propose parts of the disputed waters be made ecological or resort preserves. I suggested bringing in Australia and New Zealand as disinterested third parties to oversee a fishing-rights management scheme preserving stocks until a final resolution on the dispute was made. Those ideas, and the desire for our communiqué to contain language affirming regional commitment to the peaceful settling of disputes under the principles of international law, were all scuttled in turn.
4. China has little to lose from torpedoing negotiations
The reason for those failures mostly stemmed from a single assessment. Because China didn’t appear to face any negative repercussions for continuing its policies of tailored coercion and salami tactics, it had the least incentive to alter the status quo. Therefore China had a strong position or, in negotiation theory, the best alternative to a negotiated agreement, should the negotiations fail. That meant China could effectively wield a veto due to its ability to walk away without fear of losing much. Little surprise that 5 of 6 teams failed to produce a substantive communiqué.
5. ‘If at first you don’t succeed…
…change the definition of success.’ After attempting to find ‘small wins,’ such as paying lip service to regional peace, the Indonesian moderator grew frustrated with Chinese vetoes of the rest of the agenda and decided to create a ‘unanimous minus one’ list of items all other negotiators agreed to.
… agree to keep meeting.’ Students of international relations will be heartened to learn that we did agree not only to meet again, but also to develop a new regional forum to focus solely on dispute resolution. After all, negotiators need to ensure they stay gainfully employed.
Simulations such as this won’t by themselves solve seemingly intractable issues. (For a look at lessons learned from the real-life negotiations between Indonesia and the Philippines over their maritime boundary, see this article from The Diplomat.) Nevertheless, simulations can serve a useful purpose by sparking novel approaches to well-worn squabbles.
Scott Cheney-Peters is a surface warfare officer in the US Navy Reserve and the founding director of the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC). Image courtesy of Flickr user Martin Fisch.There has been a lot of speculation about the features of Android 2.2, codenamed “Frozen Yogurt” or “Froyo” for short. I have been fortunate enough to have had plenty of time to work with a 2.2 device, using it as my day-to-day smartphone.
Now that Froyo has been announced at Google IO, lifting the embargo on the non-disclosure agreement of what Android 2.2 brings to the general public, we are bringing you some notes on the new features I have been taking for granted for the past few weeks.
Quick update from the Android Blog: "Android 2.2 will be here soon, and some devices will get the update in the coming weeks." More official notes can be found here.
Features Announced At Google IO
Just-in-Time compiler confirmed
Microsoft Exchange integration including auto-discovery and remote wipe
including auto-discovery and remote wipe New services just as data backup APIs for carriers to move your data from one device to another
Tethering announced for Wifi and USB, shown in demo, pokes fun at iPad; no word on whether carriers can disable it
, shown in demo, pokes fun at iPad; no word on whether carriers can disable it 2x-3x performance boost in the Browser, new Javascript engine is SO much faster
is SO much faster Optimizations for using the camera, orientation (accelerometers) within the browser
Speech control and recognition is so much smoother, including Mandarin and Japanese, including speech recognition to make phone calls
Real-time language translation
Announced support for Flash Player 10.1 Public Beta and AIR developer pre-release, showed Flash working on Nickelodeon
Public Beta and, showed Flash working on Nickelodeon New ways to work with apps: Finding new apps (app search) Searching data within apps (showed Mint.com app search) Installing to SD memory with a “Move to SD card” button within the Application Info screen, demoed Need for Speed game Update All and Auto-Update confirmed Bug reporting, can view stack trace online
Sneak peak of new Android Marketplace, because demo user is logged in, you can view your installed apps and over-the-air app sync
New Marketplace feature: over-the-air music sync, a web-based iTunes competitor?
Sync your Android device with your iTunes library to live-stream your music to your device via Simplify Media
This following part of the write-up is based on a developer release of Android 2.2 Froyo and doesn't include some of the features announced at Google I/O, listed above. This following part of the write-up is based on a developer release of Android 2.2 Froyo and doesn't include some of the features announced at Google I/O, listed above. It looks like some features were not disclosed at the conference, such as the color trackball and car dock enhancements.
New Feature: Speed
As we previously reported, Froyo got quite a speed boost, which is due to the Just-In-Time compiler. I’ve benchmarked the Nexus One as high as 39-and-change MFLOPS since our original post. Another benchmark I’ve been able to determine though: boot time is much faster. I clocked the Froyo-based Nexus One from first logo sequence through network connection in 72 seconds. My Android 2.1 Nexus One took over 120 seconds (two minutes) to fully boot and be ready for use. Similar apps are installed on both devices to keep this benchmark fair.
New Feature: Adobe Flash Support
This has been covered by Adobe and several other sites. Adobe has even gone to the trouble of compiling several mobile-friendly sites for major devices such as the Nexus One, Palm Pre and Motorola Droid which will lead users to web sites utilizing Flash. It’s uncertain yet when Flash 10.1 will be fully released; speculation is June 2010.
The one feature on my Nexus One with Android 2.1, that I missed from my brief time using an iPhone, was the ability to launch an update process on several apps at one time. 4 |
.
The conference, documented in hours of video and hundreds of photos, revealed federal workers sipping martinis, wine and beer; putting on magic and talent shows; and playing games and participating in team-building exercises near the pool of a posh Las Vegas resort.
Among the attendees was Robert Peck, the former public buildings commissioner forced out in the wake of the conference scandal. Former GSA Commissioner Martha Johnson did not attend, but she also resigned.
It’s unclear whether high-ranking officials from Washington faced any fallout for their participation.
Anthony Costa, who as chief people officer oversees human resources for the GSA, participated in a spoof at the conference where he joked that he was so busy that he needed a clone. As documented in a video, another GSA employee dressed up as Mr. Costa broke into song before the real Mr. Costa walked onto the Las Vegas stage to address the audience.
The Washington Times posted the video online last week, along with more than two dozen other videos and hundreds of pictures and documents from the conference — all obtained through an open-records request.
Another attendee in Las Vegas was Larry Melton, a Washington-based assistant commissioner at the GSA.
While all three executives attended and participated in spoof videos, one difference between Mr. Foley and Mr. Costa and Mr. Melton is that Mr. Foley was invited to testify before Congress. And the decision by the GSA to put Mr. Foley on leave was announced about the same time of his testimony.
“My remarks were wrong, and I take full responsibility for what I said,” Mr. Foley said during his appearance before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “I understand the outrage about this conference, my comments and how they’ve inflamed all of the issues surrounding this event.”
Mr. Foley was one of five GSA executives with ties to the Las Vegas conferences who received bonuses of about $10,000, according to a report last week by WUSA-TV Channel 9.
As the deputy public buildings commissioner, Mr. Foley serves as the agency’s chief operating officer and helps oversee the federal government’s vast real estate holdings.
While Mr. Foley returns to the agency, the public face of the conference scandal, Jeffrey Neely, a GSA regional commissioner, left last week after citing his Fifth Amendment rights in refusing to testify before Congress last month.
GSA spokesman Adam Elkington said last week that Mr. Neely, who is no longer employed by the agency, already had been placed on leave because of his involvement with the conference. He also said the agency was completing its review of the conference and is “pursuing all available avenues for disciplinary action against those responsible.”
Even as Congress investigates the conference, a law enforcement probe is also under way.
The GSA’s inspector general in a letter to The Times declined to release records on the conference in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, citing an exemption that permits officials to keep records secret if the release could interfere with “ongoing law enforcement proceedings.”
Officials said in the letter they were withholding more than 800,000 documents.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.29 Gallery: SU Football 2012: SU vs. Pittsburgh October 5, 2012
Defense saved the day for Syracuse University on Friday night inside a steamy Carrier Dome.
The Orange scored 14 points in the game’s first 14 minutes, then was shut out the rest of the way by a stout Pittsburgh defense.
Good thing the Orange defense came to play, too.
SU’s defense played by far its best game of the season, holding the Panthers to 13 points and scoring six of its own as the Orange won its Big East Conference opener 14-13, in front of a crowd announced at 40,394.
» Boxscore
» You Grade the Orange
The Orange offense, stymied most of the night, got its act together for a late drive that chewed up the final five minutes and preserve the victory for SU (2-3, 1-0 Big East).
Pittsburgh, which had beaten the Orange seven straight years, falls to 2-3 and 0-2 in the Big East.A feather, a rock star physicist, and a bowling ball (not necessarily in that order). Photo by BBC Two (from the video)
One of the funny things about being a human is that our intuition can steer us wrong, even on things that should be pretty obvious, things we see literally every day.
For example, if you ask someone what would fall faster, a bowling ball or a marble, I bet a lot of folks would say the heavier bowling ball falls faster. But in fact, if dropped from a meter or so off the ground, they’d fall at the same rate. Gravity accelerates them at the same rate, so they fall at the same rate.
Part of the reason our intuition is off here is due to air. As objects fall, the air pushes back on them. This depends pretty strongly on their surface area, how big they are, so a lightweight large object will in fact fall more slowly than a heavier, smaller one.
Dropping a bowling ball and a feather will yield results that will satisfy our intuition. But what if you removed all the air from the room and dropped them? What happens then?
My friend and physicist Brian Cox did just this for his new BBC TV series Human Universe. He traveled to NASA’s Space Power Facility at the Glenn Research Center in Ohio to test gravity. What happens when he does is pretty wonderful.
Lovely! With the air removed, the feathers and ball fall at the same rate, just as Galileo predicted and Newton showed mathematically. I assume the bit at the end of the video about Einstein is referring to the Equivalence Principle, which has to do with acceleration due to gravity—if you’re standing on the Earth’s surface, you feel this as your weight, the force due to Earth’s gravity on your mass—and is indistinguishable from acceleration due to some force (like being in a rocket under power). This idea has profound implications, and in part led to Einstein developing the theory of General Relativity. I’d love to see this show and find out how Brian follows that concept farther.
I’ve known Brian for quite some time, and I have to say it’s nice to see him finally get some recognition for his work. The poor guy has been languishing in obscurity for years.*Correction appended.
One of the most anticipated debates of the 85th Legislative Session began taking shape Monday with the layout of a two-part Texas Senate bill that would allow for Texas taxpayer dollars to be used to help parents send their kids to private or religious schools.
Senate Bill 3, filed by Senate Education Chairman Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, would establish the creation of two voucher-like programs that some parents could combine to subsidize the entire cost of private school tuition.
The first half of the bill proposes education savings accounts, or ESAs, which give Texas parents public money to spend on private K-12 school tuition and education-related expenses, including tutoring, technology, textbooks and special education services. Five states have implemented the program so far, mostly for students who have special needs.
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The second half of the bill brings back a proposal for tax credit scholarships, which was hotly debated during the 2015 legislative session. The tax credit scholarship program would allow businesses to count contributions to approved scholarship organizations as credit against their insurance premium tax.
"This is not money leaving the system. It is money following the student," Taylor said Monday at a Capitol news conference announcing the legislation.
"If Texas wants to remain economically sound... we need to pass school choice legislation to give all of our students the opportunity to receive a great education that is tailored to their specific needs," he added.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a former Senate Education Committee chairman, has championed private school choice legislation since his first session as a state senator in 2007. He said Tuesday that 13,000 to 15,000 students would be able to take advantage of this funding, if the bill passes.
At last week's National School Choice Week Rally, he called on the House to take a vote on the upcoming bill. "It's easy to kill a bill when no one gets to vote on it," he said.
At the same rally, Gov. Greg Abbott said he looked forward to signing the bill once it reaches his desk. "I hope and I urge that that law reach my desk. And when it does, I will make the choice to sign it and authorize school choice in the state of Texas."
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Last session, the Senate approved a tax credit scholarship bill, but the House did not bring it up for a vote.
Students in families of all income levels would be eligible to access the education savings accounts. Low-income students would receive 75 percent of average state operational costs per student. Students above the poverty line would receive 60 percent, and students with disabilities would get 90 percent, according to the bill.
Taylor said students' home districts and the state would share the portion of funds left over, leaving schools with more money to educate fewer students.
To use the education savings accounts, students must be currently attending public school, or looking to attend private school in kindergarten or first grade.
The tax credit scholarship program is more restrictive, allowing just the most vulnerable students up to 75 percent of average state operational costs per student. Students can use scholarships for private school tuition and other education expenses, if they are in foster care, need special education services, have family in active military duty, or are below the poverty line. They must be enrolled in public school, starting school for the first time, or be the sibling of a student who is eligible.
The scholarship program would also provide up to $500 for students who want to stay in the public school system and pay for extra academic support, including tutoring and transportation to other districts, Taylor said Tuesday. The total amount of tax credits allowed in the 2018 fiscal year would be $100 million, and the cap increases by 10 percent each year.
Low-income families could combine the two programs, Taylor said, to make up the difference for private school tuition and transportation costs. "Only a small percentage of families will take advantage of these programs, because most families want to stay in the public school system," Taylor said. "Parents really need to want something else in order to leave."
Critics argue that school choice measures like education savings accounts divert public money to private schools, with no accountability, and exacerbate school funding inequities. Proponents say the accounts could help ease excessive enrollment at "failing" public schools by subsidizing parents who want to take their students to schools outside of the public system.
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Patrick has linked "school choice" policies to the state's new A-F rating system for schools and districts. "No parent should be forced to send their child to a school that's a D or an F or a C, or frankly any school that they don't think serves their child," he said earlier this month at a forum hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank.
At the same forum, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz encouraged the Texas Legislature to "step up and lead and help lead the nation on school choice."
All parents, no matter the income level, should be able to use the education savings accounts, said Vance Ginn, an economist the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
"No matter your income, if you're paying property and state taxes...why shouldn't they have the opportunity to go to whatever school they choose," he said. "Once you add in competition, it increases student outcomes across the board — and public school outcomes."
Opponents immediately released statements against the bill Tuesday.
Charles Johnson, executive director of Pastors for Texas Children, said parents should not be allowed to take their tax money back, if they choose not to send their children to a public school. "We believe public education is a basic provision of the social contract," he said. "Anything that releases us from that public trust to the benefit of a few should be opposed."
"SB 3 is a school voucher on steroids. It marries a taxpayer-funded government subsidy for private schools and vendors to a corporate tax break with little public oversight and no accountability for results," said Alison Badgett, executive director of education nonprofit Raise Your Hand Texas.
“This is an attack on public education that will harm the vast majority of Texas school children in order to benefit a few private and religious schools, and it may allow a few homeschoolers to purchase new family computers at taxpayer expense,” said Noel Candelaria, president of the Texas State Teachers Association.
Senate Bill 3 is one of a few voucher-like bills this session that would have taxpayer money follow students to private schools and homeschooling.
State. Rep. Ron Simmons, R-Carrollton, proposed House Bill 1335, which would create education savings accounts allowing parents of special-needs students to pay for private school, special education services, and other education expenses. Other states with education savings account programs started by limiting them to students with disabilities.
The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops and the Texas Private Schools Association are pushing tax credit scholarships in separate bills -- Senate Bill 542 and House Bill 1184. Students with high academic and financial need could use those scholarships at any accredited private or parochial school, similar to Taylor's bill. But those bills do not include education savings accounts.
"When it comes to an education savings account, we're a little more cautious. We see potential there. We're a little more cautious because we haven't done it," said Jennifer Allmon, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference.
Read related Tribune coverage here:
At a "National School Choice Week" rally Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott urged the Legislature to take a vote on school choice legislation this session.
Longtime GOP political operative John Colyandro has been tapped to head a new organization that will aggressively push Texas lawmakers to approve education savings accounts.
In a bipartisan sparring match, members of the House Public Education Committee challenged proponents of using taxpayer dollars — or tax breaks — to help parents send their kids to private or parochial schools.
You can slow down or even kill a piece of legislation with a single word or phrase, if it's poisonous enough.
Disclosure: The Texas Public Policy Foundation, Raise Your Hand Texas and the Texas State Teachers Association have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Charles Johnson, executive director of Pastors for Texas Children.Last updated at 21:30 18 September 2007
Four Britons believed killed in Sunday's tragic Phuket plane crash were all part of a wedding party.
Neil and Helen Slater had flown to Thailand to be witnesses at the wedding of Steve Saunby and Susan Howells last Friday. All four, from Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, were onboard the budget flight when it hurtled off the runway at the Phuket International Airport during a monsoon on Sunday.
Eight Britons were among the 89 killed. The plane was carrying 123 passengers.
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Mr. Slater's former wife Jane Chudley said: "We are all devastated.
"It is awful to think that this happened just days after their friends wedding."
The death toll continues to rise in Phuket after the horrific aircrash.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said three Britons were still in hospital, one of them in critical condition. One, 23-year-old Bethan Jones, suffered burns to 90 per cent of her body.
Meanwhile two Britons hailed as heroes for saving eight people during the crash have insisted all they wanted to do was "get off the plane".
Peter Hill, 35 and Ashley Scott Harrow, who had sat next to each other on the flight, saved at least eight people by forcing open a jammed emergency exit.
But speaking from their beds in Bangkok-Phuket hospital, the injured holidaymakers said their "only thought was to get off the plane".
Mr Hill, who was visited by foreign minister Nittaya Phibulsongkram, said: "I am sure that there were acts of heroism, but not from me."
Hospital staff praised Mr Hill and Mr Scott Harrow as courageous men who saved lives with their quick thinking. But Mr Hill, an English language teacher in Saudi Arabia, said: "I don't want to be hailed a hero. My only thought was to get off that plane."
• Friends and family of people thought to have been travelling on the plane can get more information from an inquiry line: 0207 008 0000.
However, Mr Phibulsongkram, who presented him with grapes, flowers and £75 in Thai baht, told reporters: "He is a hero. I believed he pulled two people out at his own risk."
Mr Scott Harrow, 27, from Moira, near Belfast, added: "Me neither. I'm no hero."
Mr Hill told how he had a "bad feeling" from the moment he stepped on board the flight.
A Thai official has said half of wind shear systems at Phuket airport were not working at the time of the devastating crash.
Wind shear was pinpointed almost from the beginning as a possible cause of the crash.
A further 30 foreign dead have yet to be positively identified.
There were reports last night that ground officials had alerted the Indonesian pilot, Arief Mulyadi, about a change in wind direction at the airport but he attempted to land anyway.
So-called wind-shear can fatally destabilise an aircraft as the pilot compensates for a change in wind speed and direction, only for it to change back again just as suddenly.
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Two other pilots had reported dramatic changes in wind speed and direction as they landed on Thailand's biggest island minutes before the doomed One-Two-Go flight, Kamtorn Sirikorn, a senior executive at air traffic controller Aerothai, told Reuters.
"The pilot definitely knew about the windshear because he was on the same radio frequency as the previous two planes," he said.
"The control tower repeated the conditions to him and he acknowledged them just before the landing," after a crash, which 41 people survived, that raised more safety questions about the budget carriers which have sprung up across Asia.
"The tape I listened to verified this," he said, referring to the communications between the control tower and the plane.
But the airline said pointing fingers at Indonesian flight captain Arief Mulyadi and his Thai co-pilot, both killed, was unwarranted before the investigation was complete.
"As for people coming out with categorical statements about what had happened, I just don't know where they got their information as the black box is still on its way to the United States," airline chief executive Captain Kajit Habanananda said.
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"Captain Arief Mulyadi was our most experienced pilot who was regarded as an instructor. I knew him personally. He could always maintain the best composure in making sound judgements."
The flight data recorders from the American-built airliner could take two weeks to analyse, officials say.
Among Britons killed were grandparents Judy and Tony Weston from Bristol.
They had won a two-week holiday in Thailand and afterwards were to carry on to Australia where they planned to emigrate to be with their son and newborn grandson.
Neighbours said former Royal Marine Mr Weston, who was in his 60s, and his wife Judy, 64, a retired nurse, were elated about the trip and seeing their grandson for the first time after selling their home.
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One of the most seriously injured Britons was Bethan Jones, 23, from Porth, South Wales, who received 90 per cent burns to her body.
Last night her parents were preparing to fly to Thailand. Her father Stephen said: "We are absolutely devastated."
Her British boyfriend, Alexander Collins, 22, an English literature graduate, was among the missing, feared to have perished. The couple were four days into a six-month trip around South-East Asia and Australia.
Mr Collins's parents in Maesteg, South Wales, were waiting for news. A friend said: "It is unbelievable and we're all in a state of shock. They were so excited and had been planning this trip for ages.
"It is hard to believe that just a few days later it has all turned to tragedy."
University of Ulster graduate Aaron Toland, 22, from Londonderry, was also killed.
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness wept after learning of the death of the family friend who had set off on a trip around the world with electrician Christopher Cooley.
Mr Cooley was last night in a critical condition in intensive care.
Briton Colin Denny, whose Thai wife Sawitree Denny survived, is also believed to be among the dead.
Britain's ambassador to Thailand Quinton Quayle said: "I can confirm that, sadly, we believe that several British citizens have died on the flight.
"Identifying victims is a very difficult process after an accident in which the plane caught fire and unfortunately many of the people on board were disfigured."
Scroll down for more
More than half of the passengers on board the budget One-Two-Go Airlines flight from Bangkok were young tourists from Britain and Europe.
Yesterday investigators were poring over the charred remains of the twin-engine jet.
They have recovered the black boxes and plan to send them to the United States for analysis.
Survivors told how they had to scramble over burning bodies to escape after the plane skidded off the runway and then ran through a low retaining wall and erupted in flames.
Australian Robert Borland, 48, who burned his legs and broke an arm, said: "It seemed we were coming in too fast.
"I think the pilot decided conditions were not right because he accelerated and pulled up.
"It felt like we were going up but then we hit the ground. Everything went pitch black, with smoke. Then there was fire.
"Everybody was screaming. I was sitting in the middle of the aircraft next to an emergency exit window.
"I pulled the hatch but then realised there was an inferno outside, so I pushed it back and fell to the floor.
"I crawled to the other side to the exit door but could not raise myself to get out. Then a Thai man dragged me out on to the wing."Is 2016 going to be the best year for Indian stars in Hollywood? First Deepika Padukone gave us the news that she will star opposite Vin Diesel in xXx and now, Tamil star Dhanush has landed himself a massive project too.
The Ranjhana actor will play lead in Marjane Satrapi’s next along with Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill star Uma Thurman and Percy Jackson, True Detective actor Alexandra Daddario. The film is titled The Extraordinary Journey Of A Fakir Who Got Trapped In An Ikea Cupboard. Yes, that’s the title and it is based on a French best-seller book by the same name, written by Romain Puértolas.
Uma Thurman (left) and Alexandra Daddario will also star in the movie. (AP Photos)
Dhanush will play Aja, a conjurer from an Indian colony of artists, who is sent to Paris on a hush-hush mission by his mother. The shooting locations will include India, Paris, Morocco and Italy.
Read: Dhanush wanted to be an engineer initially
Marjane Satrapi is best known for the big screen adaptation of her own popular graphic novel Persepolis. Her latest directorial venture was The Voices starring Ryan Reynolds.
A still from Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. (Sony Pictures Classics)
On casting Dhanush for the lead role Satrapi told TOI, “As I was watching various Indian movies, Dhanush became the most obvious choice — his intelligence, his killer smile, his ability to enter fully into the skin of any character he played (and I can go on and on forever) made me confident that he was the one.”
Here’s wishing Dhanush the very best for his big project!
First Published: Jan 25, 2016 12:30 IST"Flaring" redirects here. For other uses, see Flare (disambiguation)
A gas flare, alternatively known as a flare stack, is a gas combustion device used in industrial plants such as petroleum refineries, chemical plants, natural gas processing plants as well as at oil or gas production sites having oil wells, gas wells, offshore oil and gas rigs and landfills.
North Dakota Flaring of Gas
In industrial plants, flare stacks are primarily used for burning off flammable gas released by pressure relief valves during unplanned over-pressuring of plant equipment.[1][2][3][4][5] During plant or partial plant startups and shutdowns, flare stacks are also often used for the planned combustion of gases over relatively short periods.
Gas flaring at many oil and gas production sites protects against the dangers of over-pressuring industrial plant equipment. When petroleum crude oil is extracted and produced from onshore or offshore oil wells, raw natural gas associated with the oil is brought to the surface as well. Especially in areas of the world lacking pipelines and other gas transportation infrastructure, vast amounts of such associated gas are commonly flared as waste or unusable gas. The flaring of associated gas may occur at the top of a vertical flare stack (as in the adjacent photo) or it may occur in a ground-level flare in an earthen pit. Preferably, associated gas is reinjected into the reservoir, which saves it for future use while maintaining higher well pressure and crude oil producibility.[6]
Overall flare system in industrial plants [ edit ]
Schematic flow diagram of an overall vertical, elevated flare stack system in an industrial plant.
When industrial plant equipment items are over-pressured, the pressure relief valve is an essential safety device that automatically release gases and sometimes liquids. Those pressure relief valves are required by industrial design codes and standards as well as by law.
The released gases and liquids are routed through large piping systems called flare headers to a vertical elevated flare. The released gases are burned as they exit the flare stacks. The size and brightness of the resulting flame depends upon the flammable material's flow rate in joules per hour (or btu per hour).[4]
Most industrial plant flares have a vapor-liquid separator (also known as a knockout drum) upstream of the flare to remove any large amounts of liquid that may accompany the relieved gases.
Steam is very often injected into the flame to reduce the formation of black smoke. When too much steam is added, a condition known as "over steaming" can occur resulting in reduced combustion efficiency and higher emissions. To keep the flare system functional, a small amount of gas is continuously burned, like a pilot light, so that the system is always ready for its primary purpose as an over-pressure safety system.
The adjacent flow diagram depicts the typical components of an overall industrial flare stack system:[1][2][3]
A knockout drum to remove any oil or water from the relieved gases.
A water seal drum to prevent any flashback of the flame from the top of the flare stack.
An alternative gas recovery system for use during partial plant startups and shutdowns as well as other times when required. The recovered gas is routed into the fuel gas system of the overall industrial plant.
A steam injection system to provide an external momentum force used for efficient mixing of air with the relieved gas, which promotes smokeless burning.
A pilot flame (with its ignition system) that burns all the time so that it is available to ignite relieved gases when needed. [7]
The flare stack, including a flashback prevention section at the upper part of the stack.
Impacts of waste flaring associated gas from oil drilling sites and other facilities [ edit ]
Flaring of associated gas from an oil well site in Nigeria.
Flaring gases from an oil platform in the North Sea.
Improperly operated flares may emit methane and other volatile organic compounds as well as sulfur dioxide and other sulfur compounds, which are known to exacerbate asthma and other respiratory problems. Other emissions from improperly operated flares may include, aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, xylenes) and benzo(a)pyrene, which are known to be carcinogenic.
Flaring can affect wildlife by attracting birds and insects to the flame. Approximately 7,500 migrating songbirds were attracted to and killed by the flare at the liquefied natural gas terminal in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada on September 13, 2013.[8] Similar incidents have occurred at flares on offshore oil and gas installations.[9] Moths are known to be attracted to lights. A brochure published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity describing the Global Taxonomy Initiative describes a situation where "a taxonomist working in a tropical forest noticed that a gas flare at an oil refinery was attracting and killing hundreds of these [hawk or sphinx] moths. Over the course of the months and years that the refinery was running a vast number of moths must have been killed, suggesting that plants could not be pollinated over a large area of forest".[10]
As of the end of 2011, 150 × 109 cubic meters (5.3 × 1012 cubic feet) of associated gas are flared annually. That is equivalent to about 25 percent of the annual natural gas consumption in the United States or about 30 per cent of the annual gas consumption in the European Union.[11] If it were to reach market, this quantity of gas (at a nominal value of $5.62 per 1000 cubic feet) would be worth $29.8 billion USD.[12]
Also as of the end of 2011, 10 countries accounted for 72 per cent of the flaring, and twenty for 86 per cent. The top ten leading contributors to world gas flaring at the end of 2011, were (in declining order): Russia (27%), Nigeria (11%), Iran (8%), Iraq (7%), United States (5%), Algeria (4%), Kazakhstan (3%), Angola (3%), Saudi Arabia (3%) and Venezuela (3%).[13]
That amount of flaring and burning of associated gas from oil drilling sites is a significant source of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. Coupled with fossil fuel combustion and cement production, flaring's carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 have tripled (1300 ± 110 GtCO2) compared to the last recording (years 1750-1970, 420 ± 35 GtCO had been emitted.)[14] 2400 × 106 tons of carbon dioxide are emitted annually in this way and it amounts to about 1.2 per cent of the worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide. That may seem to be insignificant, but in perspective it is more than half of the Certified Emissions Reductions (a type of carbon credits) that have been issued under the rules and mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol as of June 2011.[11][15]
Satellite data show that from 2005 to 2010, global gas flaring decreased by about 20%. The most significant reductions in terms of volume were made in Russia (down 40%) and Nigeria (down 29%).[11][16]
The Obama administration implemented rules curbing flaring, and subsequently the Trump administration attempted to delay implementation of the rules. In October 2017 a federal magistrate judge vacated the Department of Interior's move to delay implementation.[17]
Environmental benefit [ edit ]
Methane's estimated global warming potential is 34 times greater than that of CO 2.[18] Therefore, to the extent that gas flares convert methane to CO 2 before it is released into the atmosphere, they reduce the amount of global warming that would otherwise occur.[19]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Media [ edit ]The LA Lakers’ shooting guard arrived in Dubai on Wednesday for his first visit to the UAE at the start of the Kobe Bryant Health and Fitness Weekend.
DUBAI // Basketball star Kobe Bryant wants to learn about the culture of the UAE first-hand while he helps children lead a more active lifestyle.
The LA Lakers’ shooting guard arrived in Dubai yesterday on his first visit to the UAE at the start of his Kobe Bryant Health and Fitness Weekend, which starts today.
Bryant, 35, who is one of the biggest names in the NBA, will be visiting the Gems American Academy school in Abu Dhabi today where 40 pupils will join him in a basketball skills clinic.
The five-time NBA champion will be joined by players from the Real Madrid basketball “legends” team.
“It’s an honour to be here. When I told people I was coming to Dubai, everyone was trying to describe it for me,” Bryant said.
“I told them stop, don’t tell me, I want to see it for myself and take it all in. I want to learn about the culture here first-hand.
“I live by the idea of constantly challenging yourself. It’s important to try to inspire the youth, you work to be better and inspire others to be better.
“I hope that what I do on the court carries beyond the arena. The biggest gift we can give is to teach the game to the next generation by doing these camps.”
Bryant’s visit is about more than just basketball, it is about encouraging people to live healthier lives.
In the UAE, 18.9 per cent of the population live with diabetes and the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke are up to six times higher in people with this condition.
A sedentary lifestyle and bad eating habits have been cited as the main causes of the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes.
Traditionally, type 2 diabetes is referred to as adult-onset diabetes. However, in recent years diabetes has reached epidemic levels worldwide, with children as young as seven affected.
“This is an incredible platform to raise diabetes awareness in the Mena region,” said Dr Ghada Aoun, medical director and specialist endocrinologist and diabetologist at Boston Diabetes and Endocrine Centre, which is sponsoring the event.
“Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness and limb amputation in the region. Public awareness is a key factor in combating the disease.
“Such events help us to communicate with people, inspire a better lifestyle for children and adults and encourage early diagnosis of the disease. Most people with diabetes in the region don’t know they have it.”
Bryant said that both his grandfathers had diabetes but “I was young and didn’t understand”.
“I think the key here is to promote an active lifestyle. We want to show kids how to be active and have fun doing it – it can’t be like a chore,” he said.
“The hardest part is not the training. The hardest part is being able to change your diet and the way you see food. I made the change a little over three years ago. Now I eat for performance, recovery and purpose.”
The Health and Fitness Weekend will culminate in a celebrity basketball game tomorrow at the state-of-the-art Knights Arena at American University in Dubai.
Bryant, who is recovering from injury, will lead the warm-up and coach a team of celebrity players, called Team Black Mamba, which is Bryant’s nickname.
Playing against Team Black Mamba will be the Real Madrid basketball legends.
“I just want to be around the game and have fun,” Bryant said.
Addressing his Achilles injury, Bryant said he was getting stronger every day.
“Now it’s about cutting the recovery time, I should be OK [for the start of the season],” he said.
Ahmed bin Sulayem, the executive chairman of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), also took the opportunity to present Bryant with a DMCC Free Zone business licence, which will enable the American sportsman and business mogul to operate a business from Dubai with 100 per cent ownership and no corporate tax.
As for what he plans to do with the licence, Bryant said: “For now, I want to listen and learn. I want to understand the culture here and see how my ideas can fit.”
“Kobe is looking great and with the way he trains and takes care of his diet, he can keep going for another five or seven years,” said Mr bin Sulayem, adding: “No pressure Kobe.”
Bryant is the official ambassador for After-School All-Stars, an American non-profit organisation that provides comprehensive after-school programmes to children in 13 US cities.
malkhan@thenational.aeTwo senior U.S. intelligence officials said recently that defense and intelligence employees have an “unbelievable” amount of child pornography on their work computers and devices, and that child porn has been found on the systems of the National Security Agency, the country’s biggest intelligence organization.
But the NSA, which is responsible for keeping tabs on its own computers as well as military and intelligence agency networks, cannot say just how many times employees have been found to posesses or share child pornography, or how many times such cases have been referred to law enforcement for investigation and potential criminal prosecution.
An agency spokesperson was unable to provide The Daily Beast with statistics to elaborate on comments by Kemp Ensor, the NSA’s director of security, who said at a public conference in Virginia on April 28 that he had seen child porn on agency systems. Despite the fact that NSA employees know they work inside the most powerful surveillance organization on the planet, it doesn’t stop some from engaging in criminal behavior. “What people do [at work] is amazing,” Ensor said.
His comments were first reported by Nextgov.
“NSA is a professional foreign-intelligence and information-assurance organization with a highly disciplined workforce, serving around the clock in some of the world’s most dangerous areas,” an NSA spokesperson said in a written statement. “We set high professional standards for our personnel and any violations of the law are appropriately reported.”
But how many? How often? These are questions one might imagine the world’s premiere computer-monitoring agency could answer.
Privately, current and former intelligence officials told The Daily Beast that the NSA does know when employees are downloading, storing, or sharing graphic and illegal images. Downloading, purchasing, and disseminating child pornography is a crime. But NSA is probably not keeping track of the number of times child porn has been found, the current and former officials said—at least not in any form that it’s willing to release publicly.
If that’s the case, it’s not because defense and security officials have failed to raise red flags. Six years ago, the Pentagon released more than 90 pages from an investigation called Operation Flicker, which revealed that members of the military and defense contractors had allegedly purchased child porn on their government computers. One contractor with a top-secret security clearance was charged with possession. The contractor worked for the NSA.
So the agency clearly understands, even if anecdotally or based on the results of outside investigations, that there’s a problem. And the NSA isn’t alone.
“The amount of child porn I see is just unbelievable,” Daniel Payne, the director of the Defense Security Service, said at the same conference where Ensor spoke. The DSS, which is a separate agency from the NSA, conducts background checks on prospective and current government employees. Payne has worked in intelligence and counterintelligence for 34 years, including jobs in the military and at the CIA.
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, partner (immigration practice) in ALMT Legal, says, is to improve employment opportunities for its locals.Effective July, employers in Canada will have to pay $275 as processing fee for each application that they file to bring in a foreign worker. Till now there was no fee. The new fee is non-refundable in case the application is rejected.Employers have to fill a new questionnaire that tries to figure out whether a firm is seeking to replace existing Canadian workers.Employers must advertise for the position locally three months before the application for bringing a foreign worker is filed, and the advertisement must run for four weeks compared to two weeks previously.The Employment and Social Development Canada website adds, "In addition to advertising on the national Job Bank website or the equivalent provincial/territorial websites, employers must prove that they have used at least two other recruitment methods that are consistent with the advertising practices for the occupation."The new regulation also lays down English and French as the only languages that can be identified as a job requirement. If someone wants to bring in a foreign national who knows only one of the other languages, a very strong case has to be built for that.The latest restrictions follow a decision in April to end a provision that allowed employers to pay foreign workers as much as 15% less than the average Canadian wage for a job.Sajan Poovayya, managing partner in law firm Poovayya & Co, said the changes would have an impact on the Indian workforce movement to Canada. "Companies in India will find it harder to use this route to ship personnel on temporary IT assignments. There will be cost overruns and time delays in sending workforce to that country. The Canadian government's decision to insist on employers who rely on temporary foreign workers to have a firm plan in place to transition to a Canadian workforce over time, will make the whole programme unattractive to Indian technology players," he said.Canada's move comes after a ten-year period (2003 to 2012) that saw the number of Indian workers in Canada grow a whopping 730%.8th Annual Python in Science Conference - Pasadena, CA, August 18-23, 2009.
Editorial
Gael Varoquaux Stéfan van der Walt Jarrod Millman
p. 2
Cython tutorial
Stefan Behnel Robert W. Bradshaw Dag Sverre Seljebotn
p. 4
Fast numerical computations with Cython
Dag Sverre Seljebotn
p. 15
High-Performance Code Generation Using CorePy
Andrew Friedley Christopher Mueller Andrew Lumsdaine
p. 23
Convert-XY: type-safe interchange of C++ and Python containers for NumPy extensions
Damian Eads Edward Rosten
p. 29
Parallel Kernels: An Architecture for Distributed Parallel Computing
P. A. Kienzle N. Patel M. McKerns
p. 36
PaPy: Parallel and distributed data-processing pipelines in Python
Marcin Cieślik Cameron Mura
p. 41
PMI - Parallel Method Invocation
Olaf Lenz
p. 48
Sherpa: 1D/2D modeling and fitting in Python
Brian L. Refsdal Stephen M. Doe Dan T. Nguyen Aneta L. Siemiginowska Nina R. Bonaventura Douglas Burke Ian N. Evans Janet D. Evans Antonella Fruscione Elizabeth C. Galle John C. Houck Margarita Karovska Nicholas P. Lee Michael A. Nowak
p. 51
The FEMhub Project and Classroom Teaching of Numerical Methods
Pavel Solin Ondrej Certik Sameer Regmi
p. 58
Exploring the future of bioinformatics data sharing and mining with Pygr and Worldbase
Christopher Lee Alexander Alekseyenko C. Titus Brown
p. 62
Nitime: time-series analysis for neuroimaging data
Ariel Rokem Michael Trumpis Fernando Pérez
p. 68
Multiprocess System for Virtual Instruments in Python
Brian D'Urso
p. 76
Neutron-scattering data acquisition and experiment automation with Python
Piotr A. Zolnierczuk Richard E. Riedel
p. 81Warriors forward Ben Matulino is facing up to four weeks on the sideline after he was cited for a shoulder charge, while another eight players have been charged by the NRL match review committee on Monday.
Jacob Lillyman (grade one careless high tackle), James Roberts (grade one contrary conduct), Dylan Napa (grade one careless high tackle), Joseph Leilua (grade one contrary conduct and dangerous throw), Manu Ma'u (grade one dangerous contact), Matt Scott (grade one dangerous contact), Marika Koroibete (grade one dangerous throw) and David Klemmer (grade one contrary conduct) were all cited during a dramatic Round 2 of the NRL Telstra Premiership.
Matulino's 71st minute challenge on Broncos winger Corey Oates could rule the Warriors forward out for three matches with an early guilty plea or four matches if he fights the charge at the NRL judiciary and loses.
Leilua is facing a minimum of three weeks on the sidelines after he was charged twice by the match review committee, a grade one dangerous throw on Shaun Kenny-Dowall and a grade one contrary conduct for his involvement in an incident with Dyaln Napa that resulted in the Raiders centre being sent to the sin bin.
Leilua could miss four matches if he unsuccessfully challenges the charges at the NRL judiciary.
Parramatta forward Ma'u is facing a maximum two-week suspension for dangerous contact on Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt. Ma'u has 38 carry-over points meaning if he was to fight the charge at the NRL judiciary and lose he would miss two matches. An early plea would see him just miss Round 3.
Roberts, Napa, Scott, Lillyman and Koroibete could all escape suspension with early pleas.
Bulldogs forward Klemmer is contesting his contrary conduct charge at the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night. If he is found not guilty he will be free to play in Round 3, however a guilty verdict would result in the firebrand prop being suspended for two matches.
All other players will have until midday on Tuesday to enter a plea.Update: You should use My Pinned Site by Microsoft to create web page tiles.
Adding a web page to the home screen of an iOS device uses a screenshot of the page or a web page icon if it’s available. Similarly, adding a web page to a home screen on an Android device uses a generic bookmark icon or a web page icon if it’s available.
However, it’s impossible to set an icon for a web page on the home screen of a Windows Phone 7 device. Instead, the home screen icon is always a screenshot of the current page as-is. The desktop version of Internet Explorer allows developers to create pinned sites. The lack of a comparable feature in the mobile version is curious.
So how does Google make pretty home screen tiles? They don’t, really. They show WP7 users a link to a tile-able page that looks nice when it’s pinned to the home screen. All it does is redirect them back to Google’s home page.
Showing the link to only WP7 users is relatively simple. Either user-agent sniffing or conditional comments will handle that nicely. The pretty page that redirects is the hard part. Fortunately for you, I’ve done all the hard work.
I made a tile-able page for WP7. It handles everything on the client side, so it’s just a static HTML file. You can customize the title, icon, and destination URL with the query string parameters title, icon, and url, respectively.
The first time you visit the page, you’ll see the icon, title, and instructions. The next time you visit the page, it’ll redirect you to the URL you specified. This allows you to load the page on a WP7 device and pin it to your home screen. Every time you tap it on your home screen, it’ll just redirect you.
The page is available as a Gist on GitHub. (The example pages above are for Google, Facebook, and Twitter.)Today a portrait, which I've painted for RudeOwl, it's the main hero of her original manga - Shiba Ryuu. At first I wanted to draw something more complicated, but I had so much trouble with his face that I had to abandon my original idea and focus on the portrait. Maybe next time I'll manage to do something more interesting. Right now let's just see how this almost female face and massive amount of hair were painted :D
If you have any question I am listening, comments (critique too) are really welcomed :)
At first I try to sketch out everything and place face features in correct places. As you can see - I did not succeed :D Of course when I was painting I thought that everything is perfect but now I can see clearly that his lips should be placed more to the left and be wider. Composition also isn't first class one, it would be better with more space on the right side of the drawing but adding more light there could help a little. Colors are kind of dull, almost gray, I really don't know why I made them this way. Maybe after I ditched the more ambitious idea for this drawing I kind of run out of enthusiasm xD Then I add first shadows on the separate layer above the sketch. I use some fancy brush for this, it's great for painting clouds and also base for skin. You can download it HERE.
With a dark (almost black) line I draw eyes, nose and his mouth again. In a moment whole sketch will disappear under my new layer of colour so not to lose track of facial features I outline them once again like this. I also add more lights and shadows to the face, you can already see that I plan to make left part of his face way brigter than the other. On the second picture you can see that I fixed his lips a little and also added a bit of warmer colour to this trully gray face. On the last one face is already coloured (more or less), I added some purple to the shadow to make it more interesting. For now not much colour here, I focused more on adjusting lights and shadows.
Zooming out we can see that my Shiba has a bit of a problem with his chin. I will fix it in a minute, right now I want to add hair first, to see how this face will look with dark colour around it. It's still gray and gray and gray so I add new layer with an overlay blending mode and with soft brush I place some warm colour there. Way better :) I merge both layers and with this new palette I try to make some base for his neck and torso.
I move back to the face in a moment and add some highlights. White spot in the eyes, tip of his nose, near lips and chin makes the whole drawing look way better and more lively. I also fixed his chin, making it smaller, and added small scars this character has - on his lips and side of the face. Then I spend some time on his arm and armpit. I erase bad edges to give those elements a proper shape and deepen the shadows. I also draw some texture on the separate layer, using small, a bit blurred dots. More abouut drawing skin texture can be found HERE.
Arm looks way better now, I go back to the face for a moment and play with detail some more. I ty to remove messy lines and all random details and ugly transitions. I use smudge tool most of the time but small brush with low opacity is also very handy. I fix his eyebrows with were just thick lines a moment ago and paint over the forehead since the sketch was still showing through. I make nostrils and nose in general look better by adjusting edges with smudge tool. When all transitions are smooth and nice and edges are sharp and in proper places I can add some texture. It's good to draw it on the separate layer. That way you can always erase parts you don't need (like inside the nose). Last thing is making some shadows less dark, like on his nose and cheek. I can do that easily with soft brush and light colour, just under the texture.
Yes, face is ready. Finally the time has come to draw his hair. I start with that small bit near his face, which I paint simply with a hard round brush. I use few different colors and also add some light hair. The hardest part here is that Shiba is not standing, he's lying on something. This makes his hair act strange, mostly because gravity makes it bend upwards and then follow down his skull and so on. This is a bit tricky. I use lighter color to make his hair look like it's bending. Then I need to move whole thing up a bit since his forehead was too small ;D I break this lighter area into chunks. I make them a bit irregular to show that hair is just lying there freely, a bit messy even. When that hard part is done I just pick some dark and light colors and try to sketch out the flow of hair.
Hair detail, which is what we all like the most. When whole hair is more or less sketched and grouped into chunks, I can add more detail to the whole thing using hard and very small brush. It's not all that complicated but it takes time and patience. Usually I follow lines I already have there, painted, but sometimes it's a good idea to add a floating, messy hair here and there. It makes the whole hairstyle look less atrificial and stiff. I also use many colours, since variety is important and unless hair is dyed it never is all in one colour ;) Finally I add new layer with soft light blending mode and make the top part tad lighter.
Those feathers weren't really hard to make. At first I just painted the shape on the separate layer. Later on added some lights with a hard brush, used smudge tool to fix them a little and add some light with dodge tool (for shadows). Then I copy and paste this one feather and adjust all those copies to make them look a bit different. I warp them, change shape, add some details, make them darker and change the angle. That way I have many different feathers and had to paint only one of them ;)
Finally I spend some time fixing the neck and surrounding areas, blending lights and shadows together. You can do that with brush, simply setting it to low opacity. This way you slow down the work but don't have to change color so often and also you have full control over what you are doing. So I slowly build she shape and polish all those ugly transitions.
And final detail - simple bracelet on his forearm. At first I just draw the shape in dark color, using hard round brush. Detail is then painted on the separate layer. I just add some simple lights and dots for texture. Then I copy everything merged and paste it on top. I blur out this new layer with a filter and change layer's blending mode to overlay. I lower its opacity quite a bit and desaturate it a little. This way I can quickly add warm glow to the whole drawing.
One last thing to add are those strange dots on his forehead. And that's it, simple portrait is done. RudeOwl liked it so I guess I am satisfied :DCorrection appended: Dec. 16, 2014
Alviconcha strummeri is a snail with serious attitude.
These snails live in the deep sea near thermal vents 11,500 feet under water and their golf ball-sized shells are fully spiked. It’s no wonder the scientists who discovered them were reminded of mohawk-wearing, leather-clad punks.
“Because they look like punk rockers in the 70s and 80s and they have purple blood and live in such an extreme environment, we decided to name one new species after a punk rock icon,” said Shannon Johnson, a researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
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Specifically, they named him Joe Strummer, after the leader of iconic British rock band The Clash. Strummer isn’t the first punk legend to have a species named for him: Sex Pistol John Lydon and members of The Ramones have had species of extinct trilobite named after them. In fact, an exhibition of “Heavy Metal And Punk Fossils” opened at Oslo’s Natural History Museum last year.
Plenty of non-rock celebrities have had species named for them, too. There’s a lemur named for Monty Python comedian John Cleese, a small parasite named after reggae legend Bob Marley and a species of whale named for Moby Dick author Herman Melville. The practice is an easy and humorous way for scientists to draw attention to their discoveries. “This gets people excited about science,” Johnson said. “Otherwise, people might not see these snails.”
Correction: The original version of this story misstated how deep these snails live under water. The correct distance is 11,500 feet.
Contact us at editors@time.com.Shannon Stapleton / Reuters The Debt Clock near Times Square in NYC.
When out-of-control federal spending runs smack into sluggish tax revenues, red ink splashes all over Washington. In September, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the deficit this year would be $407 billion, a sum that reflected the $168 billion economic stimulus package approved by President Bush in February and the estimated $188billion spent for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through 2008. Add to that the $700 billion financial bailout package passed in October, plus another economic stimulus package likely to take shape in the coming months that could cost as much as $175 billion, and you're talking about an all-inclusive fiscal 2008 deficit exceeding $1 trillion.
You won't likely see such huge numbers leading the networks' evening newscasts because deficit talk is akin to Washington wonk speak. But Dave Walker, former Comptroller General of the U.S. and now President of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, is out to change that and bring the big picture of deficit woe to America's attention.
"We've got all kinds of warning indicators going off, and people are asleep,"said Walker, said, Walker, whose New York think tank seeks to promote awareness about the debt problem. (Walker stars in the August-released feature documentary, I.O.U.S.A., which focuses on the nation's credit binge.)
It's not even the current deficit, as big as it is, that causes so much concern, says Walker. The deficit merely represents the amount that government spending exceeds its revenues in a given year. A far bigger concern is the national debt the total of what we've cumulatively borrowed to finance those yearly deficits. Sometime around 2020, according to projections offered by Walker's foundation, the U.S. debt will be equal to or greater than annual gross domestic product a situation not seen since 1946 at the end of World War II. Worsening the picture is the fact that much of that debt is held by international lenders, chiefly China and Japan, who could grow wary of financing our spending and cut off funds, effectively leaving the U.S. in crisis.
Despite Walker's best efforts, voter resistance to deficit spending may be on the wane. "We're going to see an evaporation of concern about fiscal restraint simply because the threat of an economic collapse is so great," said Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute. "Policymakers are not going to adhere to the restraint that they know in their heads we need but in their hearts can't bring about."
Walker is more optimistic and determined. The current economic turmoil, he says, could serve as the best warning yet to policymakers and the public of more long-term problems fast approaching. "It's important that the federal government deal with the immediate but start taking steps to be able to defuse our fiscal time bomb so we can avoid what I refer to as a super subprime crisis associated with the federal government's finances down the road," said Walker. "We need to start making progress on multiple fronts at once."By By Angela Norwood Dec 12, 2012 in Politics Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter discussed his views on the benefits of marijuana legalization during a forum aired Tuesday on CNN. “Marijuana continues to be an emotional and controversial issue. After four decades, efforts to discourage its use with stringent laws have still not been successful. More than 45 million Americans have tried marijuana and an estimated 11 million are regular users. Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use.” Carter suggests the Although Carter doesn’t believe legalization will happen in his native Georgia anytime soon, he praised states like It appears many Americans agree with Carter’s view on cannabis legalization. In a recent Gallup poll reported on the Last Word by Lawrence O’Donnell in November, 50 percent of Americans are in favor of marijuana legalization while 46 percent are opposed. Despite the opinions of politicians like Carter and the number of citizens in favor of legalization, marijuana remains criminalized under the federal Interstate Commerce Clause. Classified as a Schedule I drug, cannabis falls into the same category as drugs including Ecstacy and heroin. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter expressed his support for marijuana legalization during a CNN forum on Tuesday. “I’m in favor of it. I think it’s OK,” Carter told CNN reporter Suzanne Malveaux. The former President advocated for marijuana decriminalization during his time in office, and addressed Congress on the issue in 1977:“Marijuana continues to be an emotional and controversial issue. After four decades, efforts to discourage its use with stringent laws have still not been successful. More than 45 million Americans have tried marijuana and an estimated 11 million are regular users. Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use.”Carter suggests the harsh penalties in some states for marijuana-related offenses lead to high incarceration rates, especially for minorities and those with mental illness. The former President noted that countries with liberal decriminalization policies, such as Portugal, could serve as a good example for the United States. "It's a major step backward, and it ought to be reversed, not only in America, but around the world," says Carter. Although Carter doesn’t believe legalization will happen in his native Georgia anytime soon, he praised states like Washington and Colorado, where cannabis was legalized on Election Day. “A few states in America are good to take the initiative and try something out,” he says. Carter suggests these states can show the United States government and its citizens any positive and negative effects of legalization that may arise.It appears many Americans agree with Carter’s view on cannabis legalization. In a recent Gallup poll reported on the Last Word by Lawrence O’Donnell in November, 50 percent of Americans are in favor of marijuana legalization while 46 percent are opposed.Despite the opinions of politicians like Carter and the number of citizens in favor of legalization, marijuana remains criminalized under the federal Interstate Commerce Clause. Classified as a Schedule I drug, cannabis falls into the same category as drugs including Ecstacy and heroin. More about Cannabis, marijuana legalization, President Jimmy Carter More news from Cannabis marijuana legalizati... President Jimmy Cart...It’s that time of the year when the feeling of coolness is accompanied with the joy of unpacking presents.
As usual, the hordes of Santa Clawses and alike swarm into Godville for whatever reason. They carry so many presents, so they literally just litter them around, making heroes happier and wealthier. Important note: for the first and only time during the holidays these special monsters can be tamed!
This year nature also rewarded us with a new invention – a special breed of holiday monsters that gift an accumulator charge once defeated. Pay attention to whom your hero is fighting and don’t miss your chance.
Finally, for this very special occasion, a pop-up settlement of fair tents was opened right next to the capital. Laplandville welcomes all visitors with bargain sales, generous traders, and extra-effective chapels.
Happy holidays!A Florida assistant has become the latest SEC coach to compare Nick Saban to the devil.
Tim Davis, the Gators' offensive line coach, made the remarks about Saban while comparing him to Florida coach Will Muschamp during a booster club meeting Tuesday.
Davis and Muschamp both worked as assistants under Saban with the NFL's Miami Dolphins. In an attempt to compliment Muschamp, Davis likened the Gators' offensive approach to that of Saban, who has led Alabama to consecutive BCS championships.
"I've always wanted to work with Will [Muschamp]," Davis said. "Will's got a plan. Will coached under the devil himself for seven years. I only did three. He did seven. And his DNA is not any different than Nick."
Davis' comments came less than four months after Vanderbilt coach James Franklin referred to Saban as "Nicky Satan" during a high school sports banquet. Franklin later apologized for his comment, claiming it was meant strictly as a joke.
Davis also addressed Saban's personality, claiming Muschamp is a warmer character.
"[Muschamp]'s like the other guy, but he's got a personality," Davis said. "He'll smile at you. He'll talk to you. You understand? That's what he's all about. That's Will. I'm proud to work for him."
Muschamp brought in Davis prior to last season to help implement a run-oriented offensive attack at Florida, which went 11-2 and played in the Sugar Bowl.I no longer understand my PhD dissertation (and what this means for Mathematics Education)
Junaid Mubeen Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 14, 2016
Earlier this week I read through my PhD dissertation. My research was in an area of Pure Mathematics called Functional Analysis which, in short, meant it was self-motivated and void of tangible real-world application. I submitted the thesis in 2011 and after a successful ‘defense’ made a swift exit from research mathematics.
I was curious to see how much of the dissertation I can still grasp, five years after the fact. I figured it couldn’t hurt my ego if I refreshed my mind with past mathematical glories.
How wrong I was.
This was not the casual read I had in mind. The notation was alien. I even had to scour the examiner’s report to direct me to the key results. And while I could have sworn this was a well-written thesis, I repeatedly found myself bamboozled by my own prompts. “The result now follows easily…” may have made sense back when, but now the author-turned-confused reader can profess that it most certainly does not follow easily, at least in his own mind.
A snapshot of my dissertation. That implication is no longer trivial to me, the consequence of (b) is no longer immediate and I have no idea how (d) follows from Proposition 4.2.6.
A humbling experience such as this begs the question: what was the point? Given I have retained precious little of what I devoted myself to over four long years, was this a misdirection of my talents (whatever they are)? A prolonged delay to my career proper?
Beyond scarcely stretching the boundaries of obscure mathematical knowledge, what tangible difference has a PhD made to my life?
These are not merely the musings of a has-been mathematician. They are relevant to all of us working in Education as we probe the rationale behind existing models of mathematics curriculum and assessment.
So let us ask the question in more general terms: what is the purpose of studying maths? I offer you three reasons, each informed by a resolute belief that my doctorate was worthwhile after all.
Mathematics is an excellent proxy for problem-solving
My PhD trained me to be a better problem-solver. I cannot prove this except to say that research empowered me with unrivalled tools for problem-solving: scouring journal papers to draw insight on existing methods, brainstorming with peers, trying new approaches…the list is endless.
My choice of field was irrelevant; Functional Analysis was mere proxy for pushing my problem-solving skills to new levels.
Mathematics, by its concise and logical nature, lends itself to problem-solving (it is not unique in this regard).
Choices around content are far less significant than the experiences they afford students to develop the skills of reasoning and problem-solving.
This understanding of how to nurture critical thinking is lost on policymakers. Curriculum standards are based on notions of what students should know (with some movement towards performing discrete acts of reasoning, itself very limited). Assessment is dominated by an obsession with short-term knowledge gains. Yet knowledge without understanding carries no currency in the world students are being prepared for.
In the era of data-driven accountability, educational measurement must focus on the processes of learning. Problem-solving is a creative and even holistic endeavour; it can not be codified or captured in absolute terms. Nor should it be; mathematics is beyond rigid measurement and mathematical thinking can never be reduced to knowledge acquisition.
Mathematics embeds character in students
Rich mathematical experiences are steeped in so-called non-cognitive skills (you know the ones — grit, resilience, mindset et al).
A thesis represents the very small subset of ideas that came good. It does not include failed efforts, yet they are the ones that define much of the research experience. Those failed efforts often contain the key insights that inspired the final breakthroughs. They condition the mathematician with a mental toughness. My own results only materialised after three years of failure and frustration (which included several renewed commitments to quit the damn thing altogether).
Those failures are largely what made me a better problem-solver. They endowed me with a refusal to give up, which often trumps natural intuition.
The mark of a good mathematics problem is multiple solution paths that give students the opportunity to experiment with different approaches. And a good teacher will create a safe environment for students to take risks and fail, all the while emphasising the importance of positive beliefs and mindset.
Mathematics is fun
Nothing profound here. I had great fun studying mathematics and was modestly compensated for the privilege. There are worse reasons to sign up to a 4-year commitment, and few better ones.
Students deserve schooling experiences that bring them joy and happiness. This will even suffice as a utilitarian argument, for these traits will outlast narrow knowledge gains and make a more positive impact on the world. In its purest form, mathematics is the perfect expression of human thought that marries logic with creative expression. There is much beauty to seek in the learning and teaching of mathematics. Is that not reason enough?
QED.
I am a research mathematician turned educator. This piece was originally posted on my personal blog, www.fjmubeen.comPlay 02:54 Play 02:54 Bal: Manohar's ICC reign could be significant
Shashank Manohar has resigned as BCCI president in the lead up to the elections for ICC chairman, a post that must now be contested by independent candidates not linked to any country's board. Manohar will not be able to continue as ICC chairman either until the elections because the present post goes to the BCCI nominee to the ICC, which is Manohar.
"I hereby tender my resignation with immediate effect from the post of President of Board of Control for Cricket in India," Manohar said in a letter to BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur. "I also resign with immediate effect as the representative of BCCI on the International Cricket Council, as also the Asian Cricket Council on which I was nominated by the General Body of BCCI."
Thakur confirmed to ANI that Manohar had stepped down because of the upcoming ICC election, for which the nomination process began on May 8. The ICC had announced in February that its new chairman would be independent and no longer be able to hold a position with their home board, like Manohar and his predecessor N Srinivasan had done.
The ICC election will be overseen by the body's independent audit committee chairman and all present and past ICC directors will be eligible to contest. Candidates can only be nominated by a fellow ICC director and a director can make only one nomination. Any nominee with the support of at least two Full Member directors will be put forward as a candidate for chairman.
Manohar had been elected BCCI president in October 2015 - his second term - after the death of Jagmohan Dalmiya. According to the BCCI constitution, in the case of the president resigning, the secretary will have to call a special general body meeting with two weeks notice to decide on the way forward.
Manohar's resignation came amid the Indian board's legal troubles with the country's Supreme Court in the wake of the Lodha Committee's recommendations to restructure the organisation.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain is "getting on" with plans to exit from the European Union despite a High Court ruling that Parliament must vote on the formal process. File photo by Monika Graff/UPI | License Photo
LONDON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Britain is "getting on" with plans to exit from the European Union despite a High Court ruling that Parliament must vote on the formal process, Prime Minister Theresa May said Sunday.
"I think we all have to remember, and what MPs [ministers of parliament] and peers have to remember, is that we had a vote on 23 June," May said at Heathrow Airport as she left for a trade mission in India. "The British people, the majority of the British people, voted to leave the European Union. The government is now getting on with that."
On Thursday, judges ruled that the Parliament needs to vote on when the government can trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would start formal negotiations with the EU.
May has pledged to invoke the article by the end of March. Then in two years the EU will leave the 28-member organization.
"I want to ensure that we get the best possible deal for the UK as we leave the EU, that's the best possible deal for trading with and operating within the single European market," she said. "But alongside that, the UK will be a confident, outward-looking nation, taking its place on the world stage, looking to build relationships around the globe."
The government says ministers already have sufficient powers -- under the Royal Prerogative -- to bypass a Parliament vote and plans to have the High Court decision overturned.
"The case is that [Mrs May] cannot use something called the Royal Prerogative to do it because we do not live in a tin-pot dictatorship," Gina Miller, the lead claimant in the High Court case against the government, said.
Several newspapers were highly critical of the judges, including the Daily Mail branding them "Enemies of the people."
"The papers have behaved, in my view, disgracefully," Miller said. "The dark clouds are definitely gathering -- and it's every -ism you can think of: sexism, racism, homophobia. Everything is there."
United Kingdom Independence Party leader Nigel Farage warned of protests on the streets if the voters' decision is rejected.
"If the people of this country think that they're going to be cheated, they're going to be betrayed, then we will see political anger, the likes of which none of us in our lifetimes have ever witnessed," Farage said on BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show.
The Bar Council, the organization representing barristers in England and Wales, called on Justice Secretary Liz Truss to condemn it "as a matter of urgency."
"The judges ought to be respected," Leader of the House of Commons David Lidington said on ITV's Peston on Sunday broadcast." But freedom of the press is important and you know, the press is sometimes offensive."Tori Amos announced her new album, "Unrepentant Geraldines," is coming. Also announced were Tori Amos Tour dates for 2014. Tori Amos has caused more than a few little earthquakes since she debuted as a solo artist after leaving Why Can't Tori Read.
Tori Amos announced tour dates for 2014, to bring the word, from the singer of "God," about her 14th album.
Amos will release her next studio album, "Unrepentant Geraldines," on May 13th.
Tori told Rolling Stone"I've always been inspired by visual artists of all mediums because, as with music, art is not a job you can go to and leave from, but it is something that defines who and what you are. Visual artists shake up our brains and force us to look at everything, from objects we don't normally think twice about to people we might not have cared about. In one image, they can remind us of nature's power to enchant, as well as humankind's fruitless attempt to overpower her or simply second-guess her. Through the visual artist's application of tone, shape, pattern and pigment, I not only begin to see, but I can honestly say I begin to hear."
The North American leg of tour launches July 16th at the Orpheum in Vancouver, Canada, goes across the United States and ends at the Jackie Gleason Theatre in Miami on Aug 24. She's starting her European tour on May 5th in Cork Ireland and hitting France, Belgium, Italy and Russia.
The last European stop on the Tori Amos will be making this summer is a return trip to Romania where she will take the stage at Arenele Romane in Bucharest on June 19. It has been seven years since Tori Amos has played in the land of Dracula.
Tori Aged Amos was born in Newton, North Carolina. She was scolded in music class for her interpretations of classic material like The Beatles.
Earlier this year, the Cornflake Girl launched Tori's first musical stage production "The Light Princess," which she co-wrote with Australian playwright Samuel Adamson, in London's West End and now she's hitting the road.
Tori Amos' North American Tour Dates
7/16 - Vancouver, BC - Orpheum
7/17 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre
7/18 - Portland, OR - Oregon Zoo Amphitheatre
7/21 - Oakland, CA - Paramount Theatre
7/23 - Los Angeles, CA - Greek Theatre
7/24 - San Diego, CA - Humphrey's
7/25 - Mesa, AZ - Mesa Arts Center
7/27 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre
7/29 - Dallas, TX - Winspear Opera House
7/30 - Austin, TX - Long Center
8/1 - St. Louis, MO - Peabody Opera House
8/2 - Kansas City, MO - Midland Theatre
8/3 - St. Paul, MN - O'Shaughnessy Auditorium
8/5 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre
8/6 - Detroit, MI - Fox Theatre
8/7 - Cleveland, |
on the biochemistry and genomics of cannabis and acts as a testing hub of sorts for licensed weed producers across the country. In fact, Anandia’s most recent claim to fame was discovering the genes responsible for giving cannabis its flavour — an important innovation for weed producers as they vye to differentiate their products for branding and marketing purposes.
“You could synthesize CBD in a lab, though that’s generally not economical. I just simply do not know of anything other than cannabis and hemp that have CBD in them,” Page says.
Page’s doubts are echoed by Kevin Chen, founder of Hyasynth Bio, a Montreal-based startup that genetically engineers yeast to mimic the effects of cannabis. “The short answer is no, aside from our strains of yeast and chemical synthesis, I have never heard of any plants that make cannabidiol naturally. The consensus in the community is similar, people are skeptical of it.”
Chen does, however, add that since both cannabis and the hop plant are chemically related, one could theorize that producing CBD from hops is possible.
Isodiol, for its part, argues that the only reason so few people have heard of non-cannabis derived CBD is because the company is the first ever to have discovered a method of extracting it. In fact, Isodiol’s CEO Marcus Agramont is confident that the company’s new product line has in some cases, “demonstrated greater effectiveness than many cannabis-derived CBD products.”
CBD is big business
Hussey and his Isodiol colleagues are attempting to capture what they claim is a large swath of the wellness market that are “not cannabis-aware, and not cannabis-okay.”
“Stay-at-home moms, and many working professionals want nothing to do with cannabis… there’s a stigma of being associated with it. We have the ability to open up CBD to the entire market, and remove that stigma,” Hussey told VICE Money.
A recent report from the Hemp Business Journal predicts that the CBD industry could grow by 700 percent in just five years, bringing its value to over two billion dollars. In 2015, the combination of hemp-derived CBD products and CBD products from the cannabis plant generated over $200 million.
But as with cannabis, the growth of the CBD industry rests on whether the U.S. government changes its approach to CBD. The Drug Enforcement Agency still classifies CBD as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, regardless of whether it is derived from a legal plant like hops, or cannabis, which remains illegal federally.
That effectively means that the sale of CBD products like ImmunAG, at least in the United States, are limited to states which allow the use of CBD extracts, and states where medical marijuana is legal — 45 in total.
“I can’t invest in the CBD space because of the current legal ambiguity,” says Nic Easley of Multiverse Capital, a Colorado-based venture capital firm in the cannabis industry. “I’ve seen many companies come into the CBD industry making false health claims, getting shut down by the FDA and then also engaging in interstate commerce across state lines.”
Many cannabis investors, says Easley are under the misconception that CBD is legal in all 50 states. “That’s technically not true.”
Isodiol, though, takes a slightly different position on this, marketing its products as “globally legal.”
“The legal landscape tends to be focused on two things — does the product originate from any kind of cannabis, and does the product contact THC,” says Hussey. “That’s what makes hops-derived CBD so great, it is none of that.”
In an email on Monday afternoon, Isodiol’s communications team confirmed that while the company’s “strains of hops” are patented, their extraction methods are not.
Since Isodiol announced the launch of ImmunAG, the company’s stock has soared almost 500 percent — it is currently trading at just under $1.70 per share.
Follow Vanmala on TwitterAndy Schmookler: What’s taking over America
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We, the people of the United States, are losing control of our destiny to an untrustworthy power.
It stands to reason that if money can buy political power, whoever has the most money will rule. The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision took us a long way down that path. A recent study confirms that what the people want has almost no effect on political outcomes while moneyed interests have considerable influence.
If America is to be ruled by whoever commands the most money, it will be the corporate system, not individual billionaires, that calls the shots. This corporate system is more than the sum of individual corporations, or even of whole industries.
Each powerful corporation and industry seeks to get government to serve its special interests – as in the subsidies given to oil and coal companies. But the corporate world has substantial common interests. Those who operate the system recognize those common interests and act to serve them.
It is in their interest to have a citizenry that distrusts the one power that might rival the power of the corporate world — the government. And the corporate system has worked to foment such distrust.
The history of how the United States came to have five justices on the Supreme Court hand down a decision like Citizens United – opening the floodgates for the rule of money – shows how this system can work over time to make our government its tool. It takes some doing to get five men onto the Supreme Court willing to say, with a straight face, “We now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.”
Likewise, it shows the power of the corporate system that today’s Democratic president and Republican-controlled Congress are moving toward passing a trade bill that Nobel-laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz calls “a secret corporate takeover.” That bill would take powers from our elected government and our legal system and hand them to a corporate-controlled panel. Regulation of economic activity could become so costly to governments at every level that the corporate system would be freed of some basic restraints.
Not just stealing the people’s power over our democracy but also stealing power away from the democratic system itself.
As this trade deal shows, today’s corporate system transcends national boundaries and is unencumbered by patriotic national allegiance. But we already knew this by watching supposedly “American” corporations devastate American communities and workers by shipping jobs overseas.
In the decades since the 1950s, the corporate world has undergone moral degradation. You could call it “breaking bad.”
As former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has written, the CEOs of that earlier era believed themselves to be “industrial statesmen,” managing their companies “for the benefit of all their stakeholders—not just shareholders but also their employees, communities, and the nation as a whole.” The corporate world prospered but so did average Americans.
But now, Reich says, “corporate statesmen” have been replaced by “corporate butchers,” who slice workers’ pay to the bone while their own pay has soared from 20 times to 300 times what the guy on the shop floor earns.
Taking more than its fair share. Stealing our democracy. And, in the face of the challenge of climate change, willing to sacrifice our children and grandchildren for its own enrichment.
(Exxon, for example, considered climate change in its decision-making more than 30 years ago. And yet, by sponsoring climate denial, this multinational corporation persists continues to work to make the American public believe what the industry knows is a lie.)
This is the moral spirit of the system to which we are losing power.
America’s founders understood that the people will be well-served only when the power over their destiny lies in their own hands. The ruler now taking control is not so much our fellow human beings as a system that is on autopilot to sacrifice everything for its own wealth and power.
Andy Schmookler, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Virginia’s 6th District in 2012, is the author of the forthcoming book, “WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST: The Destructive Force at Work in Our World– and How We Can Defeat It.”
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Shop GoogleBenjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, having refused to accept the policy victories offered in President Obama’s speech last Thursday and declining the opportunity to form a solid bond with President Obama, has now picked a useless, counterproductive fight with the president.
President Obama’s speech—billed as a “big” speech—was in fact rather vaporous as it pertained to the Arab uprisings. It did not explain what next steps were to be taken in Libya, Syria, or even Egypt, beyond some minimal financial support for Cairo. It surely did not create a policy architecture that explains the varying responses we have shown to the different revolutions in the region.
That said, the speech at least put the United States on the side of the longer arc of history, on the side of those standing for freedom and liberty, and in opposition to the tyrannies of the past. The conversation after the speech should have focused on the American desire to move against the Arab autocracies, whose funding of Islamic fundamentalism has been the bane of both the United States and Israel.
And from the perspective of Israel, the takeaway from the speech, as it pertained to the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, could have been seen as favorable for two critical reasons. First, the president made it clear that the U.S. continues to abhor Hamas, despite its partnership with Fatah and the Palestinian Authority. The United States would not expect Israel to negotiate with an entity pledged to Israel’s destruction. Second, the president made it clear that, in the absence of a true peace deal, the United States would vote against and object strenuously to any effort at the United Nations this September to legitimize a Palestinian state.
Each of these is a reasonably new policy of great import to Israel. And had Netanyahu chosen to focus on them, the speech would have seemed like a major success for the Israeli side, and would have shown once again that the United States and Israel were on the same page in current international affairs.
In particular, the proposed U.S. rejection of what has become a major Arab initiative of the past months —the effort to get recognition for a Palestinian state at the U.N. this September—is hugely important. The Arab effort once again to isolate Israel at the United Nations is the first significant diplomatic effort to channel the anger of the Arab Spring toward Israel. Most of the nations of the world—like lemmings—are willing to play along. Having the United States stand as a bulwark, as it always has, will stop the forward march of the Arab effort to once again encircle Israel. The president’s speech said not only that such a U.N. misadventure would not create a real state but also that distractions of this sort would not substitute for genuine reform within the Arab world.
But this didn’t interest Netanyahu. Nor did Bibi revel in the president’s clear articulation that as long as Hamas does not repudiate its avowed intent to destroy Israel, there can be no meaningful negotiations with its leadership. The burden is now squarely back on the Palestinian Authority and Hamas to change their worldview before anyone can demand that Israel resume negotiations. That is a fine gift for Netanyahu from the president.
A bit of appreciation for both positions would have gone a long way to easing relations between the U.S. and Israel.
Instead, Netanyahu decided to pick a fight over a meaningless and indeed standard articulation of where the future borders of a Palestinian state would be drawn. By saying that “the 1967 borders with agreed upon swaps” would be the basis of negotiation, President Obama merely reiterated what anybody who has any sense of the negotiations over the past decade knows to be the actual basis for all recent negotiations. It was nothing new. To have deviated from it would have been new.
Indeed, in a speech to AIPAC on Sunday, the president reiterated this exact formulation—making clear it was not new. “There was nothing particularly original in my proposal; this basic framework for negotiations has long been the basis for discussions among the parties, including previous administrations. … It is a well-known formula to all who have worked on this issue for a generation.”
Think about this from the perspective of the White House. The effort to refocus attention on the difficult dynamics of the Arab Spring, which is quickly becoming an Arab long hot summer, and may well become an Arab winter, has now been waylaid by another dispute with an Israeli prime minister whose repeated and often petty acts have caused the president needless angst.
Netanyahu could have, and should have, positioned himself as a staunch ally, thankful to the United States for continued support, appreciative of the difficult decisions the United States has often made. He could have focused on the fact that at this time of tumult in the region, Israel is, has been, and will continue to be the sole, true democratic state in the region. Hence the cultural and value-based alliance that supersedes all others. As we watch the Arab nations slowly—and uncertainly—evolve toward our common values, Netanyahu should have said, Israel and the United States can enjoy the fact that they already have a relationship based on the deepest of emotional and political connections.
Netanyahu’s focus could have also been on the uncertainties of any alliance with the Arab states, the deep cultural divisions between the U.S. and the Arab nations, the possibility—which nobody desires—that even Egypt might end up as an Islamic fundamentalist state. And in that context, Netanyahu could have said, isn’t having an ally like Israel even more important?
But he rejected that path, and we are now watching an unnecessary and bitter dispute between the White House and Israel, as the Arab states get a pass.Thousands of people took to the streets of Barcelona in support of the upcoming referendum on the independence of Catalonia, which is scheduled for November 9, Reuters reported Thursday.
MOSCOW, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - Thousands of people took to the streets of Barcelona in support of the upcoming referendum on the independence of Catalonia, which is scheduled for November 9, Reuters reported Thursday.
About half a million Catalans held a peaceful demonstration on Thursday, dressed in red and yellow clothes adorned with national symbols. According to the event organizers, the march was planned in the shape of the letter V, and designed to mark the upcoming vote.
"We want a say in politics and our future. We've won back our sovereignty (by getting independence on the political agenda) and realized the strength we have, if we mobilize, to change things," head of the National Catalan Assembly (ANC), Carme Forcadell said.
The regional authorities do not rule out that the vote will take place not in the form of a referendum, but in the form of a nationwide survey, as Spain's Constitutional Court declared the referendum illegitimate. Earlier, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and other members of the government have also repeatedly stated that they will not recognize its results.
"What is going on today is not a challenge to the state; it is the clamor of a large part of Catalan society," said Artur Mas, head of the Catalan regional government, noting that if the people of Catalonia want to vote, then there is no stopping this process.
Tensions in Catalonia about secession from Spain have increased on the eve of a referendum on Scottish independence, which will be held on September 18. Earlier, Mas stated that the positive outcome of the referendum in Scotland would support a similar campaign in Catalonia, creating conditions for its international recognition and entry into the European Union. If the majority of people in Scotland in a referendum votes in favor of independence, then the region will withdraw from the UK on March 24, 2016.Hi, this is Greg, one of the founders of Qbix. I wanted to write a post to you in first person.
Our company has been busy building apps to empower people and unite communities. The original goal was to build a social networking platform to offer an open-source alternative to Facebook and other centralized sites, letting people host their own networks. In this video (sorry about the sound) you can see my overall vision about decentralization, not just of software but of cellphone signals, power generation (solar panels), etc.
I believe that, over the next several decades, automation will lower demand for human labor. The hardest hit will be low-wage workers around the world, but when 1 person can do the job of 10, wages are bound to go down in that sector. I believe this has already been happening since the 70s (Piketty, et al) and wages going to be an increasingly ineffective way to bring enough money to the people, so our communities will need to institute an Unconditional Basic Income. The money for this income will come from the growing amount of profits Corporations will make from automating their operations. I’ve written about it extensively, in the larger context of the corporate world. I’ve written responses to libertarians and altruists. Those who wonder how we can afford UBI can look at single-payer systems in countries around the world, or right here at home. In those systems, people wind up paying less per capita for basic levels of service, because buyers don’t compete, only sellers do. A basic income would reduce inequality, remove the need for minimum wage laws, and provide better opportunities for everyone. Everyone from Milton Friedman to Martin Luther King advocated for it, but so far, it hasn’t been implemented.
What we’ve already done
So far, we have built a bunch of apps that got a lot of traction around the world. Now we are working to let communities host their own social networks, and let people use apps on their devices to authenticate with various communities (protocol), manage their identities across communities, and use social apps hosted by these communities. They can move their money between communities, spend it within a community (the businesses cash out through the community bank or crypto-network, etc.) and apply to receive UBI from various communities.
I’m currently in the process of building a team to execute on this vision. We’re also documenting our roadmap, writing a white paper, and speaking with an investment bank to do an ICO in addition to the equity funding that we’ve been doing up to this point. Among the people who have been advising us are Ryan Fugger (original creator of Ripple), the lead developer of solid, the creator of Ruby on Rails, the founder of PlanCast, and Warren Mosler (because MMT talks about issuing currency).
Basically, we started building social networks to decentralize the power of Facebook, etc. and we are now looking to actually build the first implementation of UBI as an app within a community currency.
Where this is all going
Our company is connecting 5 different facets (see above). We already have the first one – People – in 110 countries around the world. Now we started to build our first apps for communities to give to their members, and I should be able to invite you to some in the next month or two.
The last 12-18 months, I’ve been working to design a crypto-currency that would support UBI. Something like groupcurrency.org but implemented in practice. Here is the reasoning behind its design, in bullet points:
UBI needs to be on the local level, because the cost of living varies from place to place. In a desert environment, water is more expensive than right next to an aquifer, for instance, yet water is a necessary good. UBI doesn’t mean everyone can move to the desert environment.
Communities can already issue their own currencies, like the Bristol Pound. This is called “complementary currencies” – fiat of the larger polity is accepted, but inside the community, the currencies circulate. Due to Gresham’s law, people would actually spend them much more readily than fiat. You can also see a transition to internal currencies (backed by fiat reserves) in WeChat/AliPay in China, or how the Millennials venmo each other money.
Communities can be more resilient – e.g. Detroit Bucks can pay an employed plumber to do a job. Even if Detroit is hemmorrhaging dollars, most Destroit Bucks will stay in Detroit so it won’t go bankrupt. Same with Greece and the EU, for example. Communities need to be able to have their own fiscal policy.
Money is just another “social app”, but for now it’s been a dumb one. The value of a currency comes from network effects, just like an app – stores accepting the currency in exchange for all the stuff you need, is similar to all your friends being on facebook. Payments between communities can be done using the interledger protocol.
UBI can be implemented in the community currency without coercive taxation by automatically measuring the local CPI (of food etc) every day, and issuing that amount to everyone in their accounts. UBI comes with “immigration quotas” – the community or its representatives make decisions as to who can move there and start to receive UBI. So the U in UBI does have one condition: “membership” in a community. This is similar to how tribes used to live for centuries, except now they don’t need to work.
I believe this will also have a great impact environmentally. By stimulating local economies and issuing UBI to local residents, we counteract the effects of Capitalism that cause people to live further and further away from their jobs in expensive cities like SF, and commute to work and pollute the planet. The phenomenon of commuting to work to sit in a chair is only about 150 years old, and is very wasteful for most jobs.
The UBI will invariably cause the community currencies to inflate, and lose value against the fiat etc. But all the prices will be quoted in the fiat, so this shouldn’t lead to confusion. The endless inflation will not cause the same problems as it did in the Weimar Republic, but instead will transparently capture the cost of “how much it costs for everyone to eat”, mitigating shortages and fixing them later. Plus, communities can implement taxation to remove money from circulation if they want to disincentivize certain business activity. Or the Federal government can help subsidize the shortages of fiat reserves that some local communities have, the same way they rescued the banks when they overextended themselves.
So far, our talented team at Qbix has been able to put out some impressive apps that are well-received around the world. We built an open source platform that lets communities host their own social network, and for people to manage their own identities and data privately and securely. Hopefully, in the next few months, we will expand our team and bring on board the right partners (from the fields of security, crypto-currency, and economics) who can help us to achieve our larger vision of empowering people and uniting communities.If you have been reading about personal productivity on the Internet, I’m sure you’ve read plenty of articles on how to build a new habit. One of the common pieces of advice is to work on one habit at a time until it sticks and then move on to the next one. If you try to focus on too many at a time, you will have a high chance of failure.
I’m here to say that is not true.
I found a hack that allows you to learn multiple habits at a time. It allowed me to learn 5 habits in 30 days and I’m going to show you how you can do the same thing.
The flaw in the approach of one habit per period (usually it’s a month) is that the presupposition is that all habits are created equal. This is not the case — because not all habits take the same amount of effort to make them stick. There are a lot of habits that I would say require the commitment of learning one at a time, but what I found is that a lot of habits can be learned at the same time.
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The 5 Habits
I discovered by accident that you can build multiple habits at a time. As I was trying to figure out how to build more habits, I thought one habit per month was too slow for me. So I started to question the common advice out there and look at it from different angles. That’s when I found that the presupposition was flawed and I used this as a starting point to hack the habit learning process.
Here are the 5 habits I made to stick at the same time in 30 days (they are in no particular order):
Flossing every morning.
Reading a book before going to bed.
Drinking green tea once a day.
Taking my supplements in the morning.
Stretching my body as soon as I get out of bed.
Here is the flaw in the “one-habit-at-a-time approach” and the question that triggered my discovery.
If I want to floss every morning, why can’t I focus on the habit of drinking green tea once a day that might kick in later in the day? I asked myself this question and pondered it for a while. By mere logic, it doesn’t make any sense to focus on one habit at a time if the two habits aren’t related and are not dependent on each other. I can floss my teeth at 8am and drink green tea every day at 2pm. Why would I then focus on just one habit at a time?
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Like I said earlier, not all habits are created equal. Some take more effort to build because of their nature. The list of habits I wanted to work on don’t require continuous focus. Example of such habits that require continuous focus include positive thinking, eating healthy, becoming a better listener and practicing gratitude. For such habits you always have to be on the lookout because you don’t know when you can expect them to be practiced — and most of them have an external component you cannot directly control.
Let’s take the example of positive thinking. You can start your day with positive affirmations, but what do you do when a negative thought comes up later in the day? It’s not something you can predict to happen (nor expect it to happen) at a certain time of the day. When a negative thought does come up, you have to reframe it right away and this can happen numerous times a day. As you can see, such habits require a lot of focus and practice. For those habits — yes, go with the one-habit-at-a-time approach.
However, there are a lot of habits that do no require this much focus and practice.
These are habits that you can only work on when you are int the right location — and at the right time. By their nature you have a lot of control over them when you want to exercise them and I call them “controller habits”. These are the ones you can make habitual very fast with two simple technique that will I reveal. By applying these simple techniques I was able to learn five habits in a month without any problems.
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Pinging and sticky notes
The “life hacker” way of learning these controller habits involves pings and sticky notes. Like I said before, for certain habits you just need to work on them when you are in the right place and at the right time. A ping is sending yourself a reminder about the habit you want to work on. This is a process you want to automate so you don’t rely on your memory. Examples of how you can ping yourself is by setting reminders, automated emails to yourself, and text messages. These little pings will happen at a specific time and will remind you that you have to enforce the habit you want to learn.
As an example of a ping, I set calendar reminders for every day at 2pm to drink green tea. If you have your phone synced up with your desktop through the cloud (like with iCloud, MobileMe and the like), calendar reminders are awesome. You can setup the reminders on your desktop (make sure there are popup notifications set) and each time a reminder is due you will get notified on your desktop and mobile phone. That way you will not lose sight of the habit you want to work on. Whenever you read the ping is when you have to take action to cultivate your desired habit. Remember to do it right after you read the ping.
The second technique requires a simple prop: sticky notes. For each habit you want to cultivate, write down on a sticky note the action you need to take. For example, “floss your teeth” or “take your supplements” would suffice.
Now this is the essential part of making the sticky notes work. Place them visibly at the location where you need to exercise the habit. This is really crucial. This acts like a reminder for you to build your habit. When I wanted to build the habit of flossing every morning, I wrote down “Floss my teeth” and I posted the note on the bathroom door. This meant that each morning when I went into the bathroom, I would see this note that reminded me to floss my teeth. Likewise for my daily supplements, I posted the note in the kitchen on the cabinet where I stored my supplements. Every morning when I was in the kitchen it would help me remind me that I need to take my daily supplements.
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There is another benefit to these pings and sticky notes. Not only do they remind you of working on your habits but they will also help in getting those habits “burned” into your subconscious. The more you see it, the stronger it will be in your subconscious. Each time I go to my bathroom, I read the note about flossing my teeth — but I don’t have to exercise it each time. However, because I’m reminded of it all the time it becomes almost second nature to me — I now know that I have to floss my teeth in the morning. Repetition is not only the mother of learning, but also the father of getting something stuck in your subconscious.
One Last Thing
If you combine both the pings and sticky notes you can learn a lot of habits at the same time. To round it up, here’s how I used the pings and sticky notes to build those five habits:
Flossing – sticky note on my bathroom door.
Reading – ping at 10pm and sticky note in my bedroom.
Green tea – ping at 2pm and sticky note in my kitchen.
Supplements – ping at 8am and sticky note in my kitchen.
Stretching – sticky note in my bedroom I would see first thing as soon as I wake and stand up.
If you can chain multiple habits, you will create very effective rituals — or “super habits” as I often call them.
What 5 habits can you learn in 30 days? Let me know in the comments — and hopefully with this advice you’ll be able to make all 5 of them stick!
Featured photo credit: Pexels via pexels.comThe Cotswolds is an area west of Oxford in the UK. Essentially a living museum, the entire area is quintessential England, with stone-walled villages and quiet woods. On a work trip to the UK recently, I found a 24-hour slot to explore some of the area by bike.
Right now I’m at the University of Oxford in England, attending the Oxford Internet Institute’s Summer Doctoral Program. This is a two-week long intensive course for late-stage PhD students, and it was a great honor to be selected to be one of the attendees. One of the exciting by-products of taking part in this program, however, is the chance to use the one day off during the program to explore a little bit of English countryside by bike.
To this end, I took my folding bike (the Tern Verge S27h) with me to England, so I’d be ready for some adventure.
My return flights from Sapporo City in northern Japan to London were ticketed by Austrian Airways. Amazingly I was allowed two pieces of check-in luggage on all flights, and bicycles (classed as ‘sports equipment’) are taken for no extra charge so long as they fit within the weight allowance for each piece of luggage (23kg each), and are registered by phone at least 24 hours before the flight. For this trip I decided to copy another seasoned traveler Virginia’s technique for flying with a folding bike: encase the bike in Tern’s Stow Bag.
The bike arrived in one piece (albeit with slightly bent racks; easily bent back into place), and I promptly got to Oxford by bus, and got stuck into the 9 to 5 daily summer program schedule.
My chance for a 24-hour getaway came last Saturday. We had a social event in the afternoon and a picnic in the evening, and I said my farewells at around 7:15pm, and slipped out of the city on my already-packed bike. The plan was to get out of Oxford City towards the direction of Woodstock, and keep riding into the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB for short) until dark, whereby I would find myself a suitable tree to sleep under. The ultimate aim would be to roughly follow a recommended cycle route, taking in some of the sights in the area.
Approximate cycle route from Oxford (see map link here)
As I was making my way out of the northern end of the city, I stopped to snap a pic of my setup for this brief escape. The solid Tern Verge S27h folding bike, with Ortlieb bags, Shimano Alfine 11-speed internal gear hub, and Selle Anatomica saddle. The handlebar bag is attached to the head tube using Tern’s Luggage Truss. In the panniers are a change of clothes, sleeping bag and sleeping mat. Since this was only going to be an overnight trip, I figured I wouldn’t need my tent.
As I was knelt down in the quiet street taking photos, a young guy approached me and asked where I was going. He scoffed at my intention to cycle along side the A40 motorway out of the city. “I’m a cyclist, and I can tell you that the A40 is shit,” he said bluntly. “Look out for the blue and red Sustrans signs. They’re cycle routes and are much better!”
He then pointed me down a side route that cut onto the Oxford Canal path, which would take me a third of the way out to Woodstock, and keep me off the busy highway. The canal was quintessential England (at least according to my own idealistic stereotype of the country).
I pushed on and soon found myself navigating quiet back roads approaching the town of Charlbury. The weather was calm, and not a breath of wind was blowing. Each turn of the road felt like a scene out of the Shire in Lord of the Rings. So idyllic.
I was using the excellent bare-bones Open Street Maps application on my Andriod smartphone (called Offline Maps) to navigate. With a map of the area already downloaded onto my phone, all I needed was to check the map in conjunction with the GPS feature on the phone, to get an idea of where I was heading.
During one of these checks, when it was starting to get dark around 9pm, I spied a nice-looking wooded area indicated on the map, called Topples Wood. The map also indicated a bridle path (open-to-the-public access-way) cutting through the woods. I decided this would be a likely spot to sleep for the night. As the light was fading, I slipped onto the dirt road and quickly found myself surrounded by the quiet woods.
Once I was deep into the woods, I stopped and pushed my bike further off the path. There was something about the woods that was very peaceful. Usually at dusk in the woods one feels slightly on edge, with a hint of creepiness, but perhaps it was the peaceful undergrowth of green leaves…there was something inherently tame about the place that put my mind at ease.
That was until I disturbed a large pidgeon/fowl of some sort that gave me the fright of my life when it burst into life, barging its way headlong through the foliage with wings flapping and screeching at the top of its lungs.
I found a clear spot under a large tree and laid out my sleeping pad and sleeping bag. No sooner had I got myself tucked into bed than I heard (through my ear plugs, a must-have accessory for wild camping, in my opinion) the patter of rain on the foliage above. I briefly contemplated packing up and finding somewhere to shelter, but convinced myself to wait it out for 15 minutes. Sure enough, 15 minutes went by, the woods were quiet again, and I drifted off to sleep.
At around 3:30am, the sound of rain on the foliage above woke me up. This time it was raining with a little more determination than earlier in the night. Before long the foliage was drenched and was starting to let drips through down below. I curled up into the fetal position, covered my sleeping bag with my rain jacket, and hoped for the best.
The rain shower lasted an hour before letting up. It left in its wake a peaceful morning, with birds chirping. Amazingly my sleeping bag was still mostly dry.
First destination of the day was the achingly beautiful town of Charlbury. But to get there from Topples Wood, I followed the bridle path through wheat fields…
And I found myself on Sustrans Cycle Route 442 that cut through more quiet forest…
And passed magnificent estates…
Before giving me a glimpse of sleepy little Charlbury tucked away on a hill.
I had a breakfast of toasted sandwich, coffee and croissant at a small cafe at around 8am (for £8.25…ouch). Like all locals I had met so far on the trip, the cafe owner was effortlessly relaxed and seemed genuinely interested to hear where I would cycle for the day. “Definitely do make sure you see Kingham,” she gushed. “It is a very well maintained village.”
To my eye all the towns so far were simply immaculate. Each place was like cycling into a live museum.
One thing that I noticed very early on in today’s bike ride was the relatively short distances between towns. At the very most it would be 6 miles (10km). The between-town distances were covered via quiet lanes with little more than a few cars per hour.
And yes, Kingham was beautiful. Devastatingly beautiful little cottages abounded.
It was in Milton-under-Wychwood that I stopped for a break in the town park. I grabbed a £2 packet of cut fruit (300g) from the Cooperative supermarket next door and sat down on a bench. One can only sit in awe at the English perfecting standards when it comes to large lawn areas.
As I was admiring the perfectly cut grass, a black Labrador came galloping up to me and dropped a slimy tennis ball onto the bench I was sitting on. He looked at me with innocent expectation, so I obliged and hurled the ball as hard as I could onto the green. Moments later he had dropped the ball on my bench again. “You’re done for now,” a voice said from behind me. The owner of said dog had made it to my bench. “For some reason he’s got into his head that a bench is some sort of ball-launcher,” she explained.
This got us talking and I explained that I had already more or less completed the suggested loop of the area, and that I was looking for a detour on my way back to Oxford. “How much of a detour do you want?” she laughed.
In the end, she suggested I go via Bourton on the Water. “It is called the Venice of the Cotswolds,” she said. “In reality it’s just a village with a short |
to pay interest on government debt, Social Security payments, Medicare and Medicaid, unemployment insurance, and defense contractors. But that would leave it unable to pay troops and other government workers, and it would leave the criminal justice and education systems totally unfunded. And even then, it could afford those payments only as revenue came in, not at the beginning of the month, meaning the payments would face significant delays. In short, BPC concluded, a prioritization scheme would be “essentially impossible.”A purported video of the teenage Afghan refugee who attacked passengers on a German train with an axe has emerged.
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) on Tuesday released what it claimed was a video of the 17-year-old in which he threatens to carry out a suicide attack in Germany.
The teen was shot dead by police after he injured five people in the attack on Monday night. One is still in critical condition.
Isil named the attacker as Mohammed Riyad. His identity has not been officially released in Germany, but local media have named him as Riaz A.
“I am a soldier of the Caliphate. I will carry out a martyr attack in Germany. The time has come,” he says in the alleged video released by Isil’s Amaq online news agency.
Holding a knife in his hand, he claims the attack is revenge against the international anti-Isil coalition.
“The soldiers of the Caliphate will come to you. You will be slaughtered in your homelands, in your houses, in your countries,” he says.
“Know that the Islamic State is powerful. And it will target your parliaments.”
Witnesses described hearing the teen shouting “Allahu akbar” as he attacked passengers with an axe on a regional train in the suburbs of Würzburg on Monday night.
Three passengers were seriously wounded and a fourth received light injuries. All four are belived to be members of a single family of Chinese tourists.The video will start in 8 Cancel
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Police swarmed an office block in Liverpool city centre today where negotiators were seeking "direct contact" with a man claiming to have a "suspect package".
The bomb scare was sparked at 10.30am when workers in Silkhouse Court, a 14-storey office block, activated the fire alarm and chose to evacuate the building.
In the four hours that followed, several streets were cordoned off as negotiators entered the building and a bomb disposal unit arrived on the scene.
Armed police officers were also seen entering a building opposite Silkhouse Court, Tithebarn Street, reports the Liverpool Echo.
The armed siege appeared to draw to close at around 2.30pm when a middle-aged white man, believed to be a suspect, was filmed being escorted into a van.
He was led into the vehicle at gunpoint by two police marksmen.
Witnesses filmed his detention from an office on an upper floor.
Shortly after, Merseyside Police confirmed a man had been detained, adding that he would be questioned at a local police station, while the area remained closed.
Police said the drama got under way at around 10.30am this morning when a man walked into offices on the fifth floor of Silkhouse Court.
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Sources have told the Echo that the incident is linked to a confrontation in the offices of boat insurance firm, Groves, John and Westrup.
This has not been confirmed.
(Image: Liverpool Echo / Jack C)
According to officers, staff at the company decided set off the fire alarm and perform an evacuation amid concerns over the man's behaviour.
He reportedly claimed to have a "suspect package".
(Image: Liverpool Echo / Samantha Thompson)
Subsequently, several streets in the area around and including Tithebarn Street were cordoned off and other buildings were evacuated, too.
Specialist negotiators were also called in.
(Image: Liverpool Echo / Neil Edwards)
At the time, police said: "Merseyside Police is dealing with a security alert at a business premises in Silkhouse Court, Tithebarn Street, Liverpool.
"Officers were called to the scene at about 10.30am today following reports of a man acting suspiciously and claiming to be in possession of a suspect package.
"The fire alarm was activated by staff, who evacuated themselves.
"All employees have since been fully accounted for.
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"The man is still inside the building and negotiators are seeking direct contact with him, in order to safely resolve the situation.
"No one is injured and a cordon has been put in place as a safety precaution.
"There are a number of road closures in place, they are Tithebarn Street, Old Hall Street at the junction with Union Street.
"Police are advising motorists to avoid the area.
"There is also disruption at Chapel Street, George Street and Exchange Street at the junction of Dale Street."
The cordon was later extended on Tithebarn Street to its junctions with Chapel Street, Bixteth Street and Exchange Street East.
It was then extended again to its junction with Pall Mall.
Two bomb disposal units arrived at the scene. Armed police then entered a building opposite Silkhouse Court.
A crew from Merseyside Fire and Rescue and police dogs were also at the scene as a major investigation got under way and the police helicopter circled overhead.
Liverpool law firm MSB Solicitors were among the businesses affected.
One of their employees Emma Carey, a family law solicitor working on the 13th floor of Silkhouse Court, said most people initially thought it was a routine fire drill.
It was only as she and her colleagues got out of the building and saw police that they became concerned that it was more than a drill.
She said: “We moved to Exchange Flags to make sure everybody was accounted for and then people became a little bit frightened, and saying ‘It’s a bomb. It’s a bomb’.”
At Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, on the junction of Old Hall Street and Chapel Street, staff were told they could leave the building but not return.
Chamber chief executive Jenny Stewart ordered sandwiches for all chamber staff from a sandwich shop within their own building.
Ms Stewart said: “We were due to have a big Dragons’ Den style pitching session today but nobody can get in.
“There are a lot of police dogs and members of the bomb disposal squad outside our building.
“We have been told there is no imminent danger here.
“We are awaiting police updates and following their instructions so if they want us to go home we will do that.”
Speaking from inside the police cordon, Michelle Helsby, who also works at the Chamber of Commerce, told the Echo she could see police and army personnel.
She said: “We have been assured that everyone is safe and everyone is carrying on working as normal.”
(Image: Liverpool Echo / Helen Cooper)
Witnesses filmed the man being led into a police van from an office.
Police said: "Merseyside Police can confirm that a man has been detained following an incident at a business premises in Silkhouse Court, Tithebarn Street, Liverpool today, Friday, 8 January.
"He will be taken to a police station on Merseyside where he will be questioned.
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
"No one has been injured during the incident and the site will remain cordoned off until a search of the premises has been completed.
"Thanks to residents, businesses and motorists for their continued patience."
Recap the action as it happened in the Echo's live blog.White touring car (1909)
A steam car is a car (automobile) powered by a steam engine.[a] A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) where the fuel is combusted away from the engine, as opposed to an internal combustion engine (ICE) where the fuel is combusted within the engine. ECEs have a lower thermal efficiency, but it is easier to regulate carbon monoxide production.
The first steam powered vehicle was supposedly built in 1672 by Ferdinand Verbiest, a Flemish Jesuit in China. The vehicle was a toy for the Chinese Emperor. While not intended to carry passengers, and therefore not exactly a "car", Verbiest's device is likely to be the first ever engine-powered vehicle.[2] The first real experimental steam powered cars were built in the late 18th and 19th centuries, but it was not until after Richard Trevithick had developed the use of high-pressure steam, around 1800, that mobile steam engines became a practical proposition. By the 1850s it was viable to produce them commercially: steam road vehicles were used for many applications.
Development was hampered by adverse legislation from the 1830s and then the rapid development of internal combustion engine technology in the 1900s, leading to their commercial demise. Relatively few steam powered vehicles remained in use after the Second World War. Many of these vehicles were acquired by enthusiasts for preservation.
The search for renewable energy sources has led to an occasional resurgence of interest in using steam power for road vehicles.[citation needed]
Technology [ edit ]
Boiler in a 1924 Stanley Steamer Serie 740. To the right is the condenser
A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE: the fuel is combusted away from the engine), as opposed to an internal combustion engine (ICE: the fuel is combusted within the engine). While gasoline-powered ICE cars have an operational thermal efficiency of 15% to 30%, early automotive steam units were capable of only about half this efficiency.[citation needed] A significant benefit of the ECE is that the fuel burner can be configured for very low emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and unburned carbon in the exhaust, thus avoiding pollution.
The greatest technical challenges to the steam car have focused on its boiler. This represents much of the total mass of the vehicle, making the car heavy (an internal combustion-engined car requires no boiler), and requires careful attention from the driver, although even the cars of 1900 had considerable automation to manage this. The single largest restriction is the need to supply feedwater to the boiler. This must either be carried and frequently replenished, or the car must also be fitted with a condenser, a further weight and inconvenience.
Steam-powered and electric cars outsold gasoline-powered ones in many US states prior to the invention of the electric starter, since internal combustion cars relied on a hand crank to start the engine, which was difficult and occasionally dangerous to use, as improper cranking could cause a backfire capable of breaking the arm of the operator. Electric cars were popular to some extent, but had a short range, and could not be charged on the road if the batteries ran low.
Early steam cars, once working pressure was attained, could be instantly driven off with high acceleration; but they typically take several minutes to start from cold, plus time to get the burner to operating temperature. To overcome this, development has been directed toward flash boilers, which heat a much smaller quantity of water to get the vehicle started, and, in the case of Doble cars, spark ignition diesel burners.
The steam car does have advantages over internal combustion-powered cars, although most of these are now less important than in the early 20th century. The engine (excluding the boiler) is smaller and lighter than an internal combustion engine. It is also better suited to the speed and torque characteristics of the axle, thus avoiding the need for the heavy and complex transmission required for an internal combustion engine. The car is also quieter, even without a silencer.
History [ edit ]
Early history [ edit ]
L'Obéissante - 1875 - 1875
Cederholm #2, built in 1894.
A French inventor, Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, built the first working self-propelled land-based mechanical vehicle. There is an unsubstantiated story that a pair of Yorkshiremen, engineer Robert Fourness and his cousin, physician James Ashworth had a steam carriage running in 1788, after being granted a British Patent, No.1674 of December 1788. An illustration of it even appeared in Hergé's book Tintin raconte l'Histoire de l'Automobile (Casterman, 1953). The first substantiated steam carriage for personal use was that of Josef Božek in 1815.[3] He was followed by Thomas Blanchard of Massachusetts in 1825.[4] Over thirty years passed before there was a flurry of steam cars from 1857 onwards with Dugeon, Roper and Spenser from the United States, Thomes Rickett, Austin, Catley and Ayres from England, Innocenzo Manzetti from Italy, and Elijah Leonard of London, Canada being the earliest.[5] Others followed with Amédée Bollée and Louis Lejeune of France in 1878, and Rene Thury of Switzerland in 1879.
The 1880s saw the rise of the first larger scale manufacturers, particularly in France, the first being Bollée (1878) followed by De Dion-Bouton (1883), Whitney of East Boston (1885), Ransom E. Olds (1886), Serpollet (1887), and Peugeot (1889).
This early period also saw the first repossession of an automobile in 1867 and the first getaway car the same year - both by Francis Curtis of Newburyport, Massachusetts.[6]
1890s commercial manufacture [ edit ]
The 1890s were dominated by the formation of numerous car manufacturing companies. The internal combustion engine was in its infancy, whereas steam power was well established. Electric powered cars were becoming available but suffered from their inability to travel longer distances.
The majority of steam powered car manufacturers from this period were from the United States. The more notable of these were Clark from 1895 to 1909, Locomobile from 1899 to 1903 when it switched to gaosoline engines, and Stanley from 1897 to 1924. As well as England and France, other countries also made attempts to manufacture steam cars: Cederholm of Sweden (1892), Malevez of Belgium (1898-1905), Schöche of Germany (1895), and Herbert Thomson of Australia (1896-1901)
Of all the new manufacturers from the 1890s, only four continued to make steam cars after 1910. They were Stanley (to 1924) and Waverley (to 1916) of the United States, Buard of France (to 1914), and Miesse of Belgium (to 1926).[citation needed]
Volume production 1900 to 1913 [ edit ]
There were a large number of new companies formed in the period from 1898 to 1905. Steam cars outnumbered other forms of propulsion among very early cars. In the U.S. in 1902, 485 of 909 new car registrations were steamers.[7] From 1899, Mobile had ten branches and 58 dealers across the U.S. The center of U.S. steamer production was New England, where 38 of the 84 manufacturers were located. Examples include White (Cleveland), Eclipse (Easton, Massachusetts), Cotta (Lanark, Illinois), Crouch (New Brighton, Pennsylvania), Hood (Danvers, Massachusetts; lasted just one month), Kidder (New Haven, Connecticut), Century (Syracuse, New York), and Skene (Lewiston, Maine; the company built everything but the tires). By 1903, 43 of them were gone and by the end of 1910 of those companies that were started in the decade those left were White which lasted to 1911, Conrad which lasted to 1924, Turner-Miesse of England which lasted to 1913, Morriss to 1912, Doble to 1930, Rutherford to 1912, and Pearson-Cox to 1916.[citation needed]
Assembly-line mass production by Henry Ford dramatically reduced the cost of owning a conventional automobile, was also a strong factor in the steam car's demise as the Model T was both cheap and reliable. Additionally, during the 'heyday' of steam cars, the internal combustion engine made steady gains in efficiency, matching and then surpassing the efficiency of a steam engine when the weight of a boiler is factored in.[citation needed]
Decline 1914 to 1939 [ edit ]
With the introduction of the electric starter, the internal combustion engine became more popular than steam, but the internal combustion engine was not necessarily superior in performance, range, fuel economy and emissions. Some steam enthusiasts feel steam has not received its share of attention in the field of automobile efficiency.[8]
Apart from Brooks of Canada, all the steam car manufacturers that commenced between 1916 and 1926 were in the United States. Endurance (1924-1925) were the last steam car manufacturer to commence operations. American/Derr continued retrofitting production cars of various makes with steam engines, and Doble was the last steam car manufacturer. They ceased business in 1930.[citation needed]
Resurgence - enthusiasts, air pollution, and fuel crises [ edit ]
From the 1940s onward, various steam cars were constructed, usually by enthusiasts. Among those mentioned were Charles Keen, Cal Williams' 1950 Ford Conversion, Forrest R Detrick's 1957 Detrick S-101 prototype, and Harry Peterson's Stanley powered Peterson.[9] The Detrick was constructed by Detrick, William H Mehrling, and Lee Gaeke who designed the engine based on a Stanley.[10][11]
Charles Keen began constructing a steam car in 1940 with the intention of restarting steam car manufacturing. Keen's family had a long history of involvement with steam propulsion going back to his great-great-grandfather in the 1830s, who helped build early steam locomotives. His first car, a Plymouth Coupe, used a Stanley engine. In 1948 and 1949, Keen employed Abner Doble to create a more powerful steam engine, a v4. He used this in La Dawri Victress S4 bodied sports car. Both these cars are still in existence.[12] Keen died in 1969 before completing a further car. His papers and patterns were destroyed at that time.[13]
In the 1950s, the only manufacturer to investigate steam cars was Paxton. Abner Doble developed the Doble Ultimax engine for the Paxton Phoenix steam car, built by the Paxton Engineering Division of McCulloch Motors Corporation, Los Angeles. The engine's sustained maximum power was 120 bhp (89 kW). A Ford Coupe was used as a test-bed for the engine.[14] The project was eventually dropped in 1954.[15]
In 1957, Williams Engine Company Incorporated of Ambler began offering steam engine conversions for existing production cars. When air pollution became a significant issue for California in the mid-1960s the state encouraged investigation into the use of steam-powered cars. The fuel crises of the early 1970s prompted further work. None of this resulted in renewed steam car manufacturing.
Steam cars remain the domain of enthusiasts, occasional experimentation by manufacturers, and those wishing to establish steam-powered land speed records.
Impact of Californian legislation [ edit ]
In 1967, California established the California Air Resources Board and began to implement legislation to dramatically reduce exhaust emissions. This prompted renewed interest in alternative fuels for motor vehicles and a resurgence of interest in steam-powered cars in the state.
The idea for having patrol cars fitted with steam engines stemmed from an informal meeting in March 1968 of members of the California Assembly Transportation Committee. In the discussion, Karsten Vieg, a lawyer attached to the Committee, suggested that six cars be fitted with steam engines for testing by California District Police Chiefs. A bill was passed by the legislature to fund the trial.[16]
In 1969, the California Highway Patrol initiated the project under Inspector David S Luethje to investigate the feasibility of using steam engined cars. Initially General Motors had agreed to pay a selected vendor $20,000 toward the cost of developing a Rankine cycle engine, and up to $100,000 for outfitting six Oldsmobile Delmont 88s as operational patrol vehicles. This deal fell through because the Rankine engine manufacturers rejected the General Motors offer.[17]
The plan was revised and two 1969 Dodge Polaras were to be retrofitted with steam engines for testing. One car was to be modified by Don Johnson of Thermodynamic Systems Inc. and the other by industrialist William P Lear's Lear Motors Incorporated. At the time, the California State Legislature was introducing strict pollution control regulations for automobiles and the Chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee, John Francis Foran, was supportive of the idea. The Committee also was proposing to test four steam-powered buses in the San Francisco Bay Area that year.[18]
Instead of a Polara, Thermodynamic Systems (later called General Steam Corp), was given a late-model Oldsmobile Delmont 88. Lear was given a Polara but it does not appear to have been built. Both firms were given 6 months to complete their projects with Lear's being due for completion on 1 August 1969. Neither car had been completed by the due date and in November 1969, Lear was reported as saying the car would be ready in 3 months.[19] Lear's only known retrofit was a Chevrolet Monte Carlo unrelated to the project. As for the project, it seems to have never been completed, with Lear pulling out by December.[20][21][22][23]
In 1969, the National Air Pollution Control Administration announced a competition for a contract to design a practical passenger-car steam engine. Five firms entered. They were the consortium of Planning Research Corporation and STP Corporation; Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio; Continental Motors Corporation, Detroit; Vought Aeronautical Division of Ling-Temco-Vought, Dallas; and Thermo Electron Corporation, Waltham, Massachusetts.[24]
General Motors introduced two experimental steam-powered cars in 1969. One was the SE 124 based on a converted Chevrolet Chevelle and the other was designated SE 101 based on the Pontiac Grand Prix. The SE 124 had its standard gasoline engine replaced with a 50 hp power Besler steam engine V4, using the 1920 Doble patents; the SE 101 was fitted with a 160 hp steam engine developed by GM Engineering.[25] Power was transferred via a Toric automatic gearbox. The results was disappointing. The steam engine was heavy and weighted 300 kg more than a standard V8 and gave about half the power.[26]
In October 1969, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology put out a challenge for a race August 1970 from Cambridge, Massachusetts to Pasadena, California for any college that wanted to participate in. The race was open for electric, steam, turbine power, and internal combustion engines: liquid-fueled, gaseous-fueled engines, and hybrids.[27] Two steam-powered cars entered the race. University of California, San Diego's modified AMC Javelin and Worcester Polytechnic Institute's converted 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle called the tea kettle.[27] Both dropped out on the second day of the race.[28]
The California Assembly passed legislation in 1972 to contract two companies to develop steam-powered cars. They were Aerojet Liquid Rocket Company of Sacramento and Steam Power Systems of San Diego. Aerojet installed a steam turbine into a Chevrolet Vega, while Steam Power Systems built the Dutcher, a car named after the company's founder, Cornelius Dutcher. Both cars were tested by 1974 but neither car went into production. The Dutcher is on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.[29]
Indy Cars [ edit ]
Both Johnson and Lear had contemplated constructing steam-powered cars for the Indy 500, Johnson first in the early 1960s when with Controlled Steam Dynamics and in 1968 with Thermodynamic Systems and Lear in 1969. A third steam racing car was contemplated by a consortium of Planning Research Corporation and Andy Granatelli of STP Corporation. Lear proceeded with the idea and constructed a car, but ran out of funds while trying to develop the engine. The car is thought to be at the National Automobile and Truck Museum of the United States in Auburn, Indiana. Johnson was also noted as working on a steam-powered helicopter.[30]
William D Thompson, 69-year-old retired San Diego automotive engineer, also announced he planned to enter a steam-powered race car. Thompson was working on a $35,000 steam-powered luxury car and he intended to use the car's engine in the race car. He had claimed that he had almost 250 orders for his cars.[31] By comparison, Rolls Royces cost about $17,000 at that time.[32]
Donald Healey [ edit ]
With Lear pulling out of attempting to make a steam car, Donald Healey decided to make a basic steam-car technology more in line with Stanley or Doble and aimed at enthusiasts. He planned to have the car in production by 1971.[33]
Ted Pritchard Falcon [ edit ]
Edward Pritchard created a steam-powered 1963 model Ford Falcon in 1972. It was evaluated by the Australian Federal Government and was also taken to the United States for promotional purposes.[34]
Saab steam car and Ranotor [ edit ]
As a result of the 1973 oil crisis, SAAB started a project in 1974 [1] codenamed ULF (short for utan luftföroreningar, Swedish for Without Air Pollution))[35] headed by Dr. Ove Platell[36] which made a prototype steam-powered car.[citation needed] The engine used an electronically controlled 28-pound multi-parallel-circuit steam generator with 1-millimeter-bore tubing and 16 gallons per hour firing rate which was intended to produce 160 hp (119 kW) of continuous power,[37] and was about the same size as a standard car battery. Lengthy start-up times were avoided by using air compressed and stored when the car was running to power the car upon starting until adequate steam pressure was built up. The engine used a conical rotary valve made from pure boron nitride. To conserve water, a hermetically sealed water system was used.
The project was cancelled and the project engineer, Ove Platell, started a company, Ranotor, with his son Peter Platell to continue its development. Ranotor is developing a steam hybrid that uses the exhaust heat from an ordinary petrol engine to power a small steam engine, with the aim of reducing fuel consumption by 20%.[36] In 2008, truck manufacturers Scania and Volvo were said to be interested in the project.[38]
Pelland Steamer [ edit ]
In 1974, the British designer Peter Pellandine produced the first Pelland Steamer for a contract with the South Australian Government. It had a fibreglass monocoque chassis (based on the internal combustion-engined Pelland Sports) and used a twin-cylinder double-acting compound engine. It has been preserved at the National Motor Museum at Birdwood, South Australia.
In 1977, the Pelland Mk II Steam Car was built, this time by Pelland Engineering in the UK. It had a three-cylinder double-acting engine in a 'broad-arrow' configuration, mounted in a tubular steel chassis with a Kevlar body, giving a gross weight of just 1,050 lb (476 kg). Uncomplicated and robust, the steam engine was claimed to give trouble-free, efficient performance. It had huge torque (1,100 ft⋅lbf or 1,500 N⋅m) at zero engine revs, and could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 km/h) in under 8 seconds[citation needed].
Pellandine made several attempts to break the land speed record for steam power, but was thwarted by technical issues.[specify] Pellandine moved back to Australia in the 1990s where he continued to develop the Steamer. The latest version is the Mark IV.[citation needed]
Enginion Steamcell [ edit ]
From 1996, a R&D subsidiary of the Volkswagen group called Enginion AG was developing a system called ZEE (Zero Emissions Engine). It produced steam almost instantly without an open flame, and took 30 seconds to reach maximum power from a cold start. Their third prototype, EZEE03, was a three-cylinder unit meant to fit in a Škoda Fabia automobile. The EZEE03 was described as having a "two-stroke" (i.e. single-acting) engine of 1,000 cc (61 cu in) displacement, producing up to 220 hp (164 kW) (500 N⋅m or 369 ft⋅lbf).[dead link][39] Exhaust emissions were said to be far below the SULEV standard. It had an oilless engine with ceramic cylinder linings using steam instead of oil as a lubricant. However, Enginion found that the market was not ready for steam cars, so they opted instead to develop the Steamcell power generator/heating system based on similar technology.[40]
Notable manufacturers [ edit ]
Cederholm brothers [ edit ]
In 1892, painter Jöns Cederholm and his brother, André, a blacksmith, designed their first steam car, a two-seater, introducing a condenser in 1894. They planned to use it for transportation between their home in Ystad and their summer house outside town. Unfortunately the automobile was destroyed in Sweden's first automobile accident but the Cederholm brothers soon built a second, improved version of their steam car reusing many parts from the first one.[7][41] The car is preserved in a museum in Skurup.
Locomobile Runabout [ edit ]
The engine of a modern Locomobile steam car
What is considered by many to be the first marketable popular steam car appeared in 1899 from the Locomobile Company of America, located in Watertown, Massachusetts, and from 1900 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Locomobile manufactured several thousand of its Runabout model in the period 1899-1903, designed around a motor design leased from the Stanley Steamer Company. The company ceased producing steam cars in 1903 and changed to limited-production, internal combustion powered luxury automobiles. In 1922, it was acquired by Durant Motors and discontinued with the failure of the parent company in 1929.[42]
Stanley Steamer [ edit ]
Stanley steam car, (1923)
Perhaps the best-known and best-selling steam car was the Stanley Steamer, produced from 1896 to 1924. Between 1899 and 1905, Stanley outsold all gasoline-powered cars and was second only to the electric cars of the Columbia Automobile Company in the US.[7] It used a compact fire-tube boiler to power a simple double-acting two-cylinder engine. Because of the phenomenal torque available at all engine speeds, the steam car's engine was typically geared directly to the rear axle, with no clutch or variable speed transmission required. Until 1914, Stanley steam cars vented their exhaust steam directly to the atmosphere, necessitating frequent refilling of the water tank; after 1914, all Stanleys were fitted with a condenser, which considerably reduced their water consumption.
In 1906, the Land Speed Record was broken by a Stanley steam car, piloted by Fred Marriott, which achieved 127 mph (204 km/h) at Ormond Beach, Florida. This annual week-long "Speed Week" was the forerunner of today's Daytona 500. This record was not exceeded by any car until 1910.
Doble Steam Car [ edit ]
1924 Doble Model E
Attempts were made to bring more advanced steam cars on the market, the most remarkable being the Doble Steam Car[43] which shortened start-up time very noticeably by incorporating a highly efficient monotube steam generator to heat a much smaller quantity of water along with effective automation of burner and water feed control. By 1923, Doble's steam cars could be started from cold with the turn of a key and driven off in 40 seconds or less. When the boiler had achieved maximum working pressure, the burner would cut out until pressure had fallen to a minimum level, whereupon it would re-ignite; by this means the car could achieve around 15 miles per gallon (18.8 litres/100 km) of kerosene despite its weight in excess of 5,000 lb (2,268 kg). Ultimately, despite their undoubted qualities, Doble cars failed due to poor company organisation and high initial cost.
Toledo Steam Carriage [ edit ]
1902 Toledo steam car
In 1900, the American Bicycle Co. of Toledo, Ohio, created a 6.25 hp Toledo Steam Carriage (a description from the Horseless Age, December 1900). The American Bicycle Co was one of the enterprises within Col. Albert Pope's large conglomerate of bicycle and motor vehicles manufacturers. The Toledo Steam Carriage was a very well-made, high-quality machine where every component, bar the tires, bell, instruments and lights were made within the dedicated 245,000 sq ft factory in Toledo, Ohio. The Toledo is considered to be one of the best steam cars produced at the time. The engine was particularly robust and the 2, 3" diameter x 4" stoke pistons employed piston style valves instead of 'D' valves thus insuring better balance and reduced leakage of steam. In September 1901 two Toledo steamers, one model B (a model A machine 1,000 to 2,000 pounds or 454 to 907 kilograms but with the foul-weather gear designating it as a model B) and one class E (public delivery vehicle), were entered by the American Bicycle Co. into the New York to Buffalo Endurance Contest of mid-September 1901. There were 36 cars in class B and three in class E; the class B Toledo won the Grosse Point race. On 4 January 1902, a specially built Toledo steam carriage was the first automobile to forge a trail from Flagstaff, Arizona to the South Rim of The Grand Canyon, a distance of 67 miles. As a publicity exercise the trip was to assess the potential of starting a steam bus service but the anticipated afternoon journey took three days due to problems with supplies of the wrong fuel. Though the Toledo towed a trailer filled with additional water and fuel supplies, the four participants omitted to take any food; one, the journalist Winfield Hoggaboon, wrote up an amusing article in the Los Angeles Herald two weeks later. In December 1901, the company changed from the American Bicycle Company to the newly formed International Motor Car Company to concentrate on steam- and gasoline-driven models, with electric vehicles being made by the separate Waverly Electric Co. Both steam and gasoline models were manufactured, but, as the public favoured the gasoline models and steam carriage sales were slow, steam carriage production ceased in July 1902 and gasoline-driven models were then made under the name Pope-Toledo. Total production of the steamers was between 285 and 325 units, as confirmed by a letter from the International Motor Car Co bookkeeper to the firms' accountant in June 1902.
White Steamer [ edit ]
Advertisement for the White Sewing Machine Company's 1905 model
The White Steamer was manufactured in Cleveland, Ohio, from 1900 until 1910 by the White Motor Company.[citation needed]
Endurance steam car [ edit ]
The Endurance Steam Car was a steam car manufactured in the United States from 1922 until 1924. The company had its origins in the Coats Steam Car and began production on the East Coast before shifting operations to Los Angeles in 1924. There, one single touring car was made using a 1923 Elcar 6-60 body before the factory moved again, this time to Dayton, Ohio, where one more car was built, a sedan, before the company folded.[44][45]
Land speed record attempts [ edit ]
The land speed record for Steam powered cars stood from 1906 when a Stanley steam car, driven by Fred Marriott, which achieved 127 mph (204 km/h) at Ormond Beach, Florida. Despite several attempts to break the record it stood until 25 August 2009 when Team Inspiration of the British Steam Car Challenge set a new speed record of 139.843 mph (225.055 km/h). A second attempt by Don Wales on 26 August achieved an average speed of 238.679 km/h (148.308 mph). The Stanley steam car held the land speed record for all vehicles for four years before it was broken by an internal combustion engine powered land vehicle. The 2009 record was set by a steam turbine powered vehicle vs the reciprocating piston-engine design used by F.E. and F.O. Stanley in 1906.[46]
Autocoast Vaporizer [ edit ]
Ernest Kanzler, the owner of Autocoast approached Ross (Skip) Hedrick began work in the fall of 1968 with the idea of installing a steam engine in Hedrick's 1964 Indy car for an attempt at the 1906 steam car record. Hedrick and Richard J Smith joined Autocoast to design the engine. The car was readied for the 1969 Bonneville speed week, but was unable to run because an unexpected rain-storm made the salt flats too soggy.[47]
In 1985, Barber-Nichols Engineering of Denver used a steam turbine they had designed for Lear and the Los Angeles city bus program to attempt to gain the steam-powered land speed record. The car was run at Speed Week on the Bonneville Salt Flats over a period of several years, eventually reaching a measured speed of 145.607 mph one pass. A fire prevented the return run, and the speed was not recognized by the FIA.[48] FIA land speed records are based on an average of two runs (called 'passes') in opposite directions, taken within an hour of each other.
British Steam Car Challenge [ edit ]
On 25 August 2009, Team Inspiration of the British Steam Car Challenge broke the long-standing record for a steam vehicle set by a Stanley Steamer in 1906, setting a new speed record of 139.843 mph (225.055 km/h)[49][50] at the Edwards Air Force Base, in the Mojave Desert of California. This was the longest standing automotive record in the world. It had been held for over 100 years. The car was driven by Charles Burnett III and reached a maximum speed of 136.103 mph (219.037 km/h) on the first run and 151.085 mph (243.148 km/h) on the second.
On 26 August 2009, the same car, driven this time by Don Wales, the grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell, broke a second record by achieving an average speed |
isting coca as a dangerous drug and relations with Bolivia [ edit ]
In June 2009 President Vázquez, who had been courting diplomatically the Bolivian President Evo Morales, announced his support for the delisting of coca leaves from the category of a 'dangerous drug'.[8]
Popularity [ edit ]
Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez with Argentine President Néstor Kirchner
President Vázquez began his tenure with a 77%[citation needed] approval rating; but according to an Equipos/MORI opinion poll his approval had fallen to 44% by April 2007, a level below the electoral support he received in the 2004 elections.[9] His approval later recovered, however, reaching 80% by his last term in office.[10]
While his decision not to sign the failed Free Trade Area of the Americas treaty in 2006 alienated conservative voters, other moves by his administration concerning economic policy have met with resistance from trade unions and the left. Furthermore, many believe[who?] that Vázquez's opposition to legalising abortion and threats to veto any pro-choice legislation passed by the government – a position that stands in contrast with the opinions of the majority of his governing coalition – have made a modest dent in his public support. (Against this it may also be noted that one of the constituent parties of the ruling Frente Amplio coalition – the cohesion of which Vázquez is pledged to maintain – is the Christian Democratic Party of Uruguay, which opposes the measure.) In October 2006, President Vázquez was still personally more popular than his government with a 62% approval rating. However, a considerable drop in the government's popularity was registered by an Equipos/MORI poll in late April 2007, showing that 44% of Uruguayans approved of his administration.[9] A new poll by Factum showed a 57% approval by June 2008, however, indicating a significant recovery from a year earlier.[11]
In January 2008, two members of the ruling coalition, former Senator José Korzeniak and Foreign Secretary Reinaldo Gargano, made proposals to reform the Constitution of Uruguay, focusing on the possibility of the immediate reëlection of the President (forbidden under the present constitution). The central tenet of the re-election clause is based on Vázquez continuing popularity and in order to prevent a divisive succession battle within the Frente Amplio. A reform of the constitution is quite unlikely, however, as all of the opposition parties, as well as some members of the ruling coalition, have expressed their opposition to this idea. Vázquez himself ruled out that he would try to be reëlected in a public address he made in June 2007.[citation needed]
A perceived strength of Vázquez is his ability to hold together in the Frente Amplio ruling coalition figures of greatly differing outlook. After the Mujica-Astori couple were elected in November 2009 as President and Vice President respectively, Vázquez was offered to resume the presidency of the Frente Amplio but he declined. Vázquez went on to be the Frente Amplio candidate for Presidency in 2014.
On December 4, 2008, Vázquez resigned his leadership posts at the Socialist Party due to controversy over his opposition to abortion rights.
Second term as President [ edit ]
Vázquez left office in 2010, at the end of his 5-year presidential term, with an 80% approval rating, a record in Uruguay.[10] He formally announced his candidacy for the 2014 election in November 2013.[12]
Renominated by the Broad Front for the Presidency with running mate Raúl Fernando Sendic on 1 June,[13] he came up just a few thousand votes short of winning the presidency outright in the 26 October election. He was returned to office in the 30 November runoff, defeating right-wing candidate Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou of the National Party by 53% to 41% in the second round.[14]
Vázquez has already nominated his future cabinet:[15]
Honours and awards [ edit ]
WHO recognition [ edit ]
Vázquez was awarded the World Health Organization Director General's Award in 2006 in recognition of his leadership on tobacco control in Uruguay, which has implemented some of the most stringent tobacco control measures in the world.[18]
Cabinet [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]Ariana Grande closed “One Love Manchester” with an emotional rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” on Sunday. The benefit concert was organized to honor the 22 victims who were killed by a suicide bomber when Grande’s “Dangerous Woman” tour let out on May 22.
Grande teased a faux finale of “One Last Time” alongside all of her musical guests towards the end of the show. However, once the other musicians exited the stage, Grande returned without a word. She simply looked up at the sky from the end of her platform, and began singing “Somewhere…” A lifelong Judy Garland fan, this was Grande’s first time performing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” onstage.
After her beautiful and understandably teary-eyed version of “The Wizard of Oz” classic, she concluded the show, telling Manchester “Thank you so much, I love you.”
She fought the urge to cry while blowing kisses to her fans as she exited the stage. Grande’s mother and brother watched from a private perch, with Frankie Grande in tears.
In addition to headliner Grande, “One Love Manchester” also featured performances from Justin Bieber, The Black Eyed Peas, Coldplay, Miley Cyrus, Niall Horan, Little Mix, Katy Perry, Take That, Imogen Heap, Pharrell Williams, Robbie Williams, Victoria Monét, Marcus Mumford, and Liam Gallagher. Other celebrities showed their support via a pre-recorded message.
See Grande perform “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” at “One Love Manchester” above.NBC is quickly stocking up on drama series for next season. The network already gave early renewals to freshman breakout Blindspot and Dick Wolf’s Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. Now The Blacklist creator Jon Bokenkamp has revealed that the thiller show too had been picked up for next season, its fourth. The renewal was confirmed by NBC.
There had been rumors that NBC may have given The Blacklist a two-season pickup when it renewed it in February as a vote of confidence for the series the network was assigning the tough task of anchoring NBC’s ratings-challenged Thursday night. That was never confirmed but, speaking on The Blacklist: Exposed podcast, Bodenkamp did say that the renewal decision had been made a few months ago.
While its ratings have suffered in the move from Monday to Thursday, The Blacklist, starring James Spader and Megan Boone, remains one of NBC’s strongest performers when delayed viewed is factored in.Image caption Julie Carter claimed she could not afford the phone call to have the animals rescued
An Oxfordshire woman who admitted drowning eight cats in a bath has been jailed for 12 weeks.
Julie Carter, 43, of Bicester, told RSPCA staff she could not afford a phone call to have the cats rescued so killed them one by one over a week.
The cats were all aged between one and three years old. Another three were later rehomed.
Carter told Banbury magistrates she had killed the cats because housing officials had told her to remove them.
The callous and brutal drowning of her eight pet cats is not acceptable in the 21st Century. Doug Davidson, RSPCA Inspector
The RSPCA said that when an inspector later visited her property, she had initially lied, saying the animals had been put to sleep by a vet.
'No choice'
She later confessed, saying she had not had enough money to contact any animal charities, and had drowned the pets in a baby bath instead.
She told the inspector "she felt she did not have any other choice," the RSPCA said.
Carter, of Herald Way, who had admitted a charge of causing unnecessary suffering at an earlier hearing, was also banned from keeping animals for life.
Speaking after the case, RSPCA inspector Doug Davidson said: "The callous and brutal drowning of her eight pet cats is not acceptable in the 21st Century.
"She did not even attempt to seek help to rehome the animals, and instead caused them unnecessary suffering by drowning them."This image depicts the catastrophic collision of two planetary bodies similar in composition that led to the formation of the Earth and its moon 4.5 billion years ago.
The formation of the moon has long remained a mystery, but new studies support the theory that the moon was formed from debris left from a collision between the newborn Earth and a Mars-size rock, with a veneer of meteorites coating both afterward.
Earth was born about 4.5 billion years ago, and scientists think the moon arose a short time later. The leading explanation for the moon's origin, known as the Giant Impact Hypothesis, was first proposed in the 1970s. It suggests the moon resulted from the collision of two protoplanets, or embryonic worlds. One of those was the just-forming Earth, and the other was a Mars-size object called Theia. The moon then coalesced from the debris.
The long-standing challenges this scenario faces are rooted in the chemistry of the moon. Most of the models of the giant-impact theory often say that more than 60 percent of the moon should be made of material from Theia. The problem is that most bodies in the solar system have unique chemical makeups, and Earth, Theia and therefore the moon should as well. However, rock samples from the moon reveal that it is puzzlingly more similar to Earth than such models would predict when it comes to versions of elements called isotopes. (Each isotope of an element has different numbers of neutrons.) [Evolution of the Moon: A Visual Timeline (Gallery)]
The moon is Earth's nearest neighbor, but its origins date back to a violent birth billions of years ago. See how the moon was made in this Space.com infographic (Image: © By Karl Tate, Infographics Artist)
"In terms of composition, the Earth and moon are almost twins, their compositions differing by at most few parts in a million," study lead author Alessandra Mastrobuono-Battisti, an astrophysicist at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, told Space.com. "This contradiction has cast a long shadow on the giant-impact model."
The moon's violent birth
To shed light on this mystery, Mastrobuono-Battisti and her colleagues simulated collisions in the early solar system of between 85 to 90 protoplanets — each of which had up to 10 percent of Earth's mass, — and 1,000 to 2,000 smaller bodies, called planetesimals. Each of the latter had masses that were about 0.25 percent of Earth's. [How the Moon Was Made (Infographic)]
The researchers simulated the collisions taking place in a disk pattern that extended from half an astronomical unit (AU) to 4.5 AU from the sun. (An astronomical unit is the average distance between the sun and Earth, which is about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers.)
The scientists found that within 100 million to 200 million years after the models began, each simulation typically produced three to four rocky planets, with the largest comparable to Earth's mass. These worlds often were composed of material that was distinct from one another. However, they also found that 20 to 40 percent of the time, the composition of one planet was very similar to the makeup of the last protoplanet that had collided with it. This likelihood is about 10 times higher than previous estimates.
"The most exciting and surprising thing was to find out that we can shed new light on a 30-year-old mystery," study co-author Hagai Perets, an astrophysicist at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, told Space.com. "Compositionally similar planet-impactor pairs are not rare at all."
The reason for this similarity in composition has to do with the orbits occupied by these colliding bodies. The composition of these objects varied with the amount of heat they received — for instance, the farther away a protoplanet was from the sun, the colder it was, and therefore the more likely it was to retain a relatively heavy isotope of oxygen. The scientists found that as each planet assembled, the last protoplanet to collide with it probably shared a similar orbit. Thus, protoplanets that share similar birthplaces can also share a similar composition.
This finding suggests that the similar compositions of the Earth and moon could be a natural consequence of a giant impact. This theory also explains why their compositions differ from that of other bodies in the solar system, the researchers say. Mastrobuono-Battisti, Perets and their colleague Sean Raymond, of the University of Bordeaux in France, detailed their findings in the April 9 issue of the journal Nature.
This NASA image depicts the moon as it coalesced from debris created when a Mars-size object slammed into the early Earth. (Image: © NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)
A moon made of Earth
Another challenge to understanding how the moon and Earth were formed has to do with tungsten. This metal has highly siderophile characteristics, meaning it binds tightly with iron, and it would have a strong tendency to move into Earth's iron-rich core. However, Earth's crust and mantle have an excess of siderophile elements such as tungsten.
Prior research suggests that the iron-loving elements now seen on Earth come mainly from a "late veneer" of material from space that accumulated both after the giant, moon-forming impact and after Earth's core formed. If this theory is true, then Earth's tungsten isotope levels should be different from those found on the moon.
Now another two independent studies reveal there is indeed this predicted difference between the amount of tungsten isotopes on Earth and on the moon.
Scientists analyzing lunar rocks discovered an excess in the abundance of the isotope tungsten-182 on the moon compared with the present-day Earth's mantle. "It is the first time that we can resolve such a small difference," cosmochemist Thomas Kruijer at the University of Münster in Germany, lead author of one of the two studies, told Space.com. "Defining this value precisely is a very important step forward."
This difference is best explained by the theory that differing proportions of tungsten-182 each accumulated after the giant moon-forming impact, the researchers say. "Our results provide independent evidence for the late-veneer hypothesis," Kruijer said. The research in these two studies was also detailed in the April 9 issue of the journal Nature.
Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.ACLU attorneys Abre' Conner and Novella Coleman (Twitter)
A Fresno, California bar is under fire for kicking out two African-American attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union who were trying to have a night out singing karaoke, according to the ACLU.
Attorneys Abre’ Conner and Novella Coleman went to a bar called Brig. The two women were hoping for a night of karaoke and planned to sing the R&B classic, “Waterfalls,” by TLC.
“But before our song was called, a bar employee came up and said we had to buy drinks to sing karaoke,” they wrote on the ACLU’s website. “Another bartender lunged at us within inches of our faces and shouted ‘Buy drinks!'”
This despite the fact they had already bought drinks, they wrote.
“A second bartender — a very tall and large man — shouted louder and louder that we were loitering and that the bar wasn’t a hangout place,” they wrote. “Over and over again he pushed his body up against Abre’ — who is just 5’4” tall — to force her out of the bar.”
The bar is described as a “dive” on Facebook.
Conner and Coleman wrote that they were the only black customers in the bar.
“We pointed out that the bar staff was only using the rule against us and we seemed to be the only two Black people in the bar,” they wrote.
The police were called, and the police made the women leave.
“The bartender and police claimed to be exercising the business’ supposed ‘right’ to refuse service,” they wrote. “This sounds too much like when the country still had ‘colored’ sections and racially segregated water fountains. But this happened in March 2016.”Royal Challengers Bangalore allrounder Shane Watson admitted that 2017 was the "worst IPL" that he has ever had but is committed to doing everything possible to ensure the team wins their final game against Delhi Daredevils on Sunday.
Royal Challengers have only two wins in the season so far, and if they finish with that count, they will equal the worst performance by a team in IPL history. They recorded the lowest total in the tournament - 49 all out chasing only 132 - lost five out of six home games - one of which was despite Samuel Badree taking a hat-trick - and their batting has underwhelmed so much that they have the worst average (17.67) and strike-rate (117.03) among the eight teams. Watson's personal figures were similarly sombre - 67 runs in seven innings with the bat and an economy rate of 10.02 with the ball - but he wants to wrap things up a little better, if only to give some joy to the supporters for keeping the faith.
"The one thing I've realised playing for Royal Challengers the last two years is how incredibly loyal the fans are. Whether that was doing incredibly well last year or this year when we weren't doing well, but everywhere we went, obviously here at Chinnaswamy, and other parts around India, the support Royal Challengers get is nothing compared to what I've experienced before.
Even playing for Rajasthan [Royals], outside of playing in Jaipur, there was certainly no real support, they support the opposition as it should be. Whereas in Royal Challengers, you go to Kolkata, even though it's a horrendous day for us, there's still RCB chants going around at Eden Gardens, which was just mind-blowing."
But why was a side that made the final last year caught up in a scuffle not to finish last? Were the players bogged down? Did Watson think he was battling undue expectation?
"It's not difficult playing under this sort of pressure in franchise cricket because it's what I've been used to. Playing county cricket as well, which I did in 2004-05, there's a lot of pressure on you to perform. You're not getting paid more, but you're actually getting paid to help the team win and then in the IPL, having been exposed to it since 2008, and being someone who the team relies on, you have to perform and it doesn't always work out that you perform; certainly don't perform every game."
Did not playing enough cricket in the lead-up to the tournament affect him? Watson had called time on his international and first-class career in March 2016 and has since only been active in various T20 leagues around the world. Prior to his arrival in India, he had spent one month without match practice, although he had played the Big Bash League and the Pakistan Super League. That, he said, played a part in his poor form.
"The biggest challenge for me has been not coming off playing international cricket after which you just go into the flow of the IPL, which is obviously an incredibly strong tournament. And it's been a big learning experience for me, how it hasn't worked this year for me or this season and how I can actually learn from this experience so that the next tournament I'm playing, the Caribbean Premier League, I'm going to be better prepared.
"I'm going to be able to hit the ground running more than what I was here this year, even though I did everything I possibly could to give myself the best chance for performing well for Royal Challengers this year, just it didn't work. I'm always trying to get better. There's been a bit of soul searching this IPL over how things have panned out for me personally and about how I make sure I do it better in the next tournaments that I play to be able to contribute a lot better than I have this year to Royal Challengers because I know I've been incredibly fortunate to be able to play for another great franchise and last year was obviously an incredible year. But this year, for me personally, it hasn't been good at all but also for the franchise - things haven't gone exactly to plan at all and it's been very disappointing for everyone."Image copyright AFP Image caption Ms Okawa was born on 5 March 1898 and celebrated her birthday earlier this month
The world's oldest living person, Japan's Misao Okawa, has died from heart failure at the age of 117.
She died in a nursing home in Osaka, the city she was born in on 5 March 1898.
She is survived by three children, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Ms Okawa was recognised in 2013 as the world's oldest living person, as well as the world's oldest living woman, by Guinness World Records.
While celebrating her birthday earlier this month, Ms Okawa said that 117 years did not seem such a long time.
She also said the key to a long life was getting at least eight hours of sleep a night and eating sushi - her favourite food.
She said she particularly enjoyed mackerel on vinegar-steamed rice.
Her birthday celebration was shown on national television in Japan.
Born to a kimono-maker, Mrs Okawa married her husband Yukio in 1919. They lived in Kobe where he ran a business. When he died in 1931. she moved back to Osaka.
She lived across three centuries, seeing four emperors of Japan, six British monarchs, and 20 US presidents.
Image copyright EPA Image caption Ms Okawa celebrated her birthday with nursing home staff and family members
Craig Glenday, the editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records, said previously of Ms Okawa: "Her impressive longevity... is an inspiration and a testament to the Japanese lifestyle."
Ms Okawa's name has since been taken down for the entry for the world's oldest living person on the organisation's site.
It is not yet known who now holds that record, but the site does state that the oldest living man is Sakari Momoi, also of Japan, who turned 112 in February.
The oldest person who has ever lived according to Guinness was Jeanne Calment of France, who lived 122 years and 164 days. She died in August 1997.This is ORG's Policy Update for the week beginning 26/06/2017.
If you are reading this online, you can also subscribe to the email version or unsubscribe.
ORG’s work
Our newly appointed Scotland Director Matthew Rice has been setting up meetings with local groups across Scotland.
Official meetings
Jim Killock attended a meeting on 27 June with Google policy staff to discuss future legislation.
Jim Killock attended an EDRi Network meeting and discussed the future makeup and rules for the EDRi board.
Javier Ruiz participated in a workshop organised by Involve, Carnegie Trust and Understanding Patient Data on Better use of Data: Balancing Privacy and Public Benefit.
Javier Ruiz participated at a Symposium on Managing Risk in the Digital Society in Barcelona speaking about ethics and compliance in data protection, as part of our EU-funded work in the VIRT-EU project.
Jim Killock met with policy staff from Oath on 30 June to discuss future legislation.
Parliament
Queen’s Speech
Following the General Election 2017 results and Theresa May’s attempt to form a government, the Queen delivered her speech to both Houses of Parliament on 21 June.
The Conservative Government appears to have dropped several pre-election manifesto commitments, including the introduction of compulsory sex and relationship education in schools. In her speech, the Queen referred to the Government’s plans in three areas that will have an impact on digital rights: Digital Charter, Data Protection Bill and Counter-terrorism Review and Commission for Countering Extremism. The latest blog by Jim Killock offers a brief analysis.
Digital Charter
The Queen said that
”proposals for a new digital charter will be brought forward to ensure that the United Kingdom is the safest place to be online.”
This directly follows promises made in the Conservative manifesto.
”A Conservative government will develop a digital charter, working with industry and charities to establish a new framework that balances freedom with protection for users, and offers opportunities alongside obligations for businesses and platforms. This charter has two fundamental aims: that we will make Britain the best place to start and run a digital business; and that we will make Britain the safest place in the world to be online.”
The speech made it clear that this is a charter, not a bill, which suggests that this might be a voluntary framework. However, to ensure that free speech is not just placed in the hands of private companies, the Charter should be backed up by a regulatory framework including independent or judicial oversight of material. Relying solely on enforcement by private companies brings issues of accountability. It is unclear who would be responsible for the rules on making the Internet safe and what, if any, ways of appeal would be available.
This Government continues in their efforts to “regulate the online world in the same way the offline world is regulated” — a claim which does not however recognise that most of the changes they want would be dealt with by police and courts rather than private companies in the offline world. They aim to tackle harmful behaviours and harmful content online (extremist, abusive or harmful to children), and they plan to compel technology companies to do more to protect their users and improve safety online. Such an approach could make online rights weaker than offline rights, and subject to commercial rather than public concerns, in contrast to their demand to end to treat both online and offline in the same way.
The Government recognises that these challenges can be international in their nature and they intend to work with other “like-minded democracies to develop a shared approach”.
Theresa May meeting with the French Prime Minister last week to discuss a joint campaign to tackle online radicalisation would suggest that this strategy is already under way. Their plans involve creating a new legal liability for tech companies if they fail to remove content. Just this week, Germany already passed a law that would allow them to fine social media companies with more than 2 million users if they fail to remove hate speech or other criminal material within 24 hours. The fines can go up to 50 million EUR.
The Queen’s Speech and Background Notes accompanying it did not provide enough detail to assess potential harms of this policy. However, enforcement powers in the hands of private companies are highly problematic.
Counter-terrorism Review
”The government’s counter-terrorism strategy will be reviewed to ensure that the police and security services have all the powers they need and that the length of custodial sentences for terrorism-related offences are sufficient to keep the population safe.”
The notes on the speech detail that the review will cover:
counter-terrorism powers and other powers the Government can use to fight terrorism;
sentences for those convicted of terror offences;
working with online companies to reduce and restrict the availability of extremist material online.
The Conservative Party included similar but more extensive demands on online companies in their manifesto. Both Google and Facebook have already issued statements explaining how they intend to tackle online extremism.
Commission for Countering Extremism
“A commission for countering extremism will be established to support the Government in stamping out extremist ideology in all its forms, both across society and on the internet, so it is denied a safe space to spread.”
The Commission will:
Identify examples of extremism and expose them;
Help the Government to identify new policies to tackle extremism;
Support the public sector and civil society in promoting and defending pluralistic values across all our communities.
The Commission’s work is likely to include online extremism. This policy appears to be an approach to create new ideas to counter extremism. In order to be successful, the Commission will have to act impartially and ensure that fundamental rights are respected in all of their future policy suggestions.
The Government did not make it clear whether the Commission for Countering Extremism is a short-term "policy commission" or a long term body with permanent duties
Data protection
”A new law will ensure that the United Kingdom retains its world-class regime protecting personal data.”
The Data Protection Bill will replace the Data Protection Act 1998. The DPA is being removed by the EU General Data Protection Regulation that is coming into force in May 2018.
At the moment, it is not clear if the text of the GDPR will be brought into this Bill, or whether it supplements it.
The main benefits and elements specified in the QS background notes suggest that the Bill will implement some of the derogations in the GDPR and will include new rules for law enforcement agencies. The latter rules come from the EU Directive on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by authorities.
Privacy groups, including ORG, are asking the government to implement the optional right in the GDPR for organisations to bring collective complaints on data protection without the need for affected individuals to instruct them.
Other national developments
Tech companies establish the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism
Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and YouTube announced the formation of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism this week.
The aim to formalise and structure areas of collaboration between the four companies, smaller tech companies, civil society groups and academics and supra-national bodies (the European Union and United Nations).
The companies are going to cooperate on developing new technological solutions to detect online content that needs to be removed, research and knowledge sharing.
Jim Killock discussed in a blog if tech companies can do more to eradicate safe spaces online. You can read his take on the problems they face here.
Bulk data sharing by spy agencies was never reviewed by commissioners
Privacy International brought a case against bulk collection of data carried out by the GCHQ and MI5 in October 2016. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruled that several of these activities have been unlawful.
A follow-up hearing earlier this June revealed that there has never been a formal audit of information sharing. The lack of oversight became apparent from the letter authored by the Interception of Communications Commissioner’s Office and the Intelligence Services Commissioner. Their letter is a response to a request from Privacy International who asked for more information on the auditing of bulk communications and personal data.
"Neither commissioner with responsibility for the intelligence agencies, nor their inspectors, has ever conducted a formal inspection or audit of industry in this regard."
The letter states that
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal was also to consider the proportionality of the level of communication interference and the impact of EU law on mass data collection. The case has not concluded and will likely see more hearings.
Scotland
Scottish Parliament
Debate on cybersex trafficking
The Scottish Parliament debated the issue of live online streaming of sexual abuse of children. During the debate, MSPs commended the efforts of the International Justice Mission in highlighting child slavery and exploitation overseas and the Internet Watch Foundation for their work on taking down websites.
Finlay Carson (Conservative) suggested during the debate that the Scottish Parliament should consider more carefully “how privacy and encryption methods are now used and can make it more difficult for the perpetrators to be caught”.
”When Governments suggest that there should be more access to people’s internet logs, there is often an outcry about breaching human rights. Perhaps, in demanding human rights, we are abusing the rights of children who get abused.”
”the […] unfortunate truth, however, is that that would simply not work. If someone encrypts what is going through, we do not know what is in the encrypted package. Yet encryption is an important part of protecting certain kinds of data on the internet, so we cannot ban it on the internet. That is simply not possible.”
Carson said thatResponding to his comments, Stewart Stevenson (SNP) said that
Instead, Stevenson suggested using the “follow the money” approach and cut these websites from their cash flow and make it impossible for them to carry out their activities.
Europe
European Commission’s new legislation would allow police access tech firms data
The European Commission plans to propose new legislation that would allow EU police and law enforcement agencies to obtain electronic evidence from US companies.
The plans are the Commission’s response to the recent terrorist attacks across EU countries. The EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova introduced three options:
police/law enforcement agency in one EU state could directly ask a firm in another member state for data without consulting the state first
tech firms would be forced to share data with any force in any of the Member States
police and law enforcement would gain direct access to servers (e.g.cloud servers) and they would be able to retrieve and copy data themselves
The states are supposed to discuss what types of data would fall within the scope of the new legislation at a later stage, These could include location, traffic data or personal communications.
The suggested plans have not involved a judicial process for obtaining the data. Judicial process for data acquisition is crucial to ensure the law enforcement requests are necessary and proportionate.
The official documentation has not been published yet. The Commission is expected to present policy options at the end of 2017 or early 2018.
LIBE's draft report on e-Privacy Regulation asks to prohibit removal of encryption
Marju Lauristin, rapporteur for the European Parliament Committee Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) presented a draft report on E-Privacy Regulation to the European Parliament on 21 June.
The e-Privacy Regulation will regulate electronic communications services, including instant messaging services, web based email and IoT devices. The legislation is to supplement the General Data Protection Regulation providing a similar type of protection to individuals.
In her report, Lauristin introduced several amendments that would have positive impacts on privacy protections for individuals.
1.The report offers strong support for end-to-end encryption and do-not-track technology.
”when encryption of electronic communications data is used, decryption, reverse engineering or monitoring of such communications shall be prohibited.”
It clearly states that
2. The draft report widened the scope of the application of the legislation to machine-to-machine communications.
3. Lauristin amended the regulation to further limit the legal grounds to process communications’ content and metadata. The original proposals merely required the consent of one of the participants, the amendment requires both parties in the electronic communication to consent to allow data processing.
4. The report does not allow using consent to tracking users to be a prerequisite to using a service. A user should still be able to use a service, even though they decline to track their communications.
5. The amendments make clear that tracking users’ location or collecting information emitted through their wifi needs a prior consent.
6. The draft extends the maximum fines threshold to up to 20 million EUR or four percent of the company’s global turnover for violations of tracking rules for information stored on user’s device and information emitted by a device.
7. The report allows non-for-profit organisations to make complaints on behalf of users.
The draft report will be subject to a vote in the European Parliament (most likely) in Autumn 2017. If adopted, the different versions of the report will then be discussed between the Parliament, Council and Commission.
The draft report clashes with the proposals of the European Commission articulated earlier by Vera Jourova who revealed three possible ways of how the law enforcement could compel tech companies to afford them access to users’ communications and potentially prohibit encryption.
International development
UN Privacy Rapporteur calls for tackling of Internet regulation and censorship
The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye, demanded in his latest report that governments and companies tackle major threats of deliberate shutdowns of Internet access, censorship and data collection.
The report found that telecommunication companies and Internet service providers are increasingly becoming the essential players in monitoring expression online and enforcement of its suppression.
The report made recommendations for state and companies. The recommendations for states include:
independent assessments of interferences with privacy - the rapporteur suggests that at a minimum, states should ensure that surveillance is authorised by an independent judicial body and its scope is proportional and necessary;
review of all states activities into obtaining network access - the report recommends states review these activities in order to assess if they are lawful, necessary and proportionate;
state prohibition of prioritising certain types of Internet content for payment or commercial benefits - states should not be promoting the economic gain of private companies over users’ rights and freedom of expression.
The Rapporteur recommended that private companies strengthen their role in advancing users’ rights freedom of expression. The report further suggests that when states request corporate involvement in censorship or surveillance, they should attempt to prevent the adverse human rights impacts of their involvement as far as it is allowed by law.
The report was made to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein criticised Theresa May this week for her response to the recent terror attacks in Manchester and London.
UK Parliament Questions
Question on content creators
Tom Watson MP asked the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will ensure content creators are paid for the content they make available online.
Jo Johnson MP responded that the Government is currently working on these issues as part of the EU Digital Single Market strategy. Johnson said that the Government will continue to ensure there is a system for protection of intellectual property once the UK has left the EU.
Question on online sources of extremist propaganda
Lord Naseby asked the Government what measures they are taking to combat terrorist and extremist propaganda on social media and other online sources.
Baroness Williams of Trafford responded that they continue their cooperation with tech companies. She further said that they support the use of strong encryption but they want to ensure that the law enforcement and security and intelligence agencies are able to access the communications of criminals.
Question on online content removal
Nigel Huddleston MP asked the Prime Minister during her statement on the European Council, whether the Government would be willing to enact legislation if internet companies do not make sufficient progress with the removal of inappropriate content.
Theresa May MP responded that the Government is certainly willing to consider legislation. She stressed that she believes that the international pressure and cooperation will pressure the tech companies to do it themselves.
Question on the NHS hack
Jon Ashworth MP asked the Secretary of State for Health:
how sensitive data is protected in the NHS,
what steps the Department has taken to improve cyber-security in the NHS following the cyber attack on 12 May 2017,
what was the total cost of emergency measures put in place to address the attack,
how many similar incidents there have been since 2010, and
how many incidents there have been where patients’ data has been accessed or compromised and patient care has been interrupted.
Jackie Doyle-Price MP responded that the Department changed the NHS contract to include cyber security measures from April 2017. She noted that the use of unsupported systems is being reduced.
Doyle-Price said that the Chief Information Officer for health and care is undertaking a review into the attack and is expected to conclude in autumn 2017.
The cost of emergency measures to respond to the attack amount to £180,000. The Department refused to comment more widely on security matters.
Question on technical capability notices and encryption
Lyn Brown MP asked the Home Secretary, if she intends to activate the Section 253 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 regarding messaging services providing end-to-end |
void Func ( T1, T2, T3 ); template < class T1, class T2, class T3, class T4 > void Func ( T1, T2, T3, T4 );
With variadics, you can wrap it into one or two declarations (depending if you want some recursion to happen).
Structure
typename... Args is called a template parameter pack.
is called a template parameter pack. Args... args is called a function parameter pack. Each argument might have different type.
The real benefit of having variadics is that we might have functions that take an arbitrary number of parameters and this will be evaluated at compile time! This could be achieved in the past, but with a lot of effort. Now the code can be much more expressive.
Of course, Variadic templates is not the only method you could use: var args from C are well-known technique used especially in printf style functions. They work quite well (by taking benefit from various stack manipulation tricks), but the logic is executed at runtime, so this costs something. With Variadics we might create a type-safe printf, which takes no time at runtime…
Read more about variadics templates in the section 3.10 of te book Discovering Modern C++.
forward what?
In the variadic function, I’ve also used another thing that should be explained. Although all rules are quite confusing about rvalues/lvalues/xvalues… but for our code, it’s worth to remember the following thing:
Since we’ve used rvalue reference ( && ) - to be correct, we might even say it’s a universal reference since there’s type deduction happening - we cannot change the type that is passed to internal function calls. Those references have names in the context of ShowMenuOnClick so they now become regular lvalue references. To pass them with unchanged type we have to wrap them into std::forward.
If you’re curious, there’s a whole section in the book Effective Modern C++ - 5th section, items from 23 till 30 about rvalue references and move semantics.
Summary
Variadic Templates offers a way to specify a function or class that accepts a variable number of arguments. All the work happens at compile time, so there’s no cost at runtime. This feature opens a lot of possibilities like type-safe printf, classes similar to touples or “factory” function that was presented in this post.
Do you use Variadic Templates?
In what areas they are they are especially useful?
BTW: If you liked this article, please sign up for my free newsletter.
ReferencesNot long after Labor’s 2013 defeat, Julia Gillard dissected its years in government and got to the bloody heart of the disaster.
“Purpose matters. Being able to answer the question what are you going to do for me, for my family, for our nation, matters,” she wrote.
“Believing in a purpose larger than yourself and your immediate political interests matters.
“Labor comes to opposition having sent the Australian community a very cynical and shallow message about its sense of purpose … [It] unambiguously sent a very clear message that it cared about nothing other than the prospects of survival of its members of parliament at the polls.”
Last weekend, a similar penny seemed to drop for the treasurer, Scott Morrison, as this government begins to contemplate political mortality.
He told the Liberal federal council that after 10 years of political brawling, Australians simply didn’t care about the “old political fights” and had “collectively reached for the remote and turned down the volume on Canberra’s noise”.
Confusing outcome shows Coalition's same-sex marriage troubles are not over Read more
The only way to get them to listen again was to “communicate candidly and with authenticity” about things that mattered to them.
Gillard and Morrison are right. Politicians seem to be losing the capacity to explain their purpose in words they make up themselves.
There are many, in all parties, with a deep and driving purpose to improve Australia, who disagree on method but whose motivation is genuine. But as institutions, governing parties have excelled at obscuring and spoiling genuine attempts at policymaking with internal battles motivated by power and revenge. And when their leaders deal with those battles by pretending there’s nothing to see, it erodes their authenticity even further.
And so it goes, a descending spiral they can’t seem to stop.
As if to prove Morrison’s point, his own party embarked this week on another spin down this well worn and self-fulfilling track of pointless leadership destabilisation.
It was all so depressingly familiar. First, the confected (and for added hype, leaked) pretext, in this case a “secretly-recorded” late-night and exuberantly unguarded private speech in which Christopher Pyne said stuff everyone already knew but wouldn’t usually say out loud in public – the moderate faction is in the ascendancy (well, yes, Malcolm Turnbull is the leader), would like to legalise same-sex marriage (like they’ve been saying for years) and that he hadn’t ever voted for Tony Abbott in a leadership ballot (of interest to almost no one outside the party). Then the outrage, cue headlines from media outlets supportive of the destabilisers insisting that the leak is a “bombshell”, that the party is now in crisis, or will be, unless the leader does something unspecified by some kind of arbitrary media-imposed deadline. Then the back-up, speeches and media appearances (several by Abbott this week and more by his handful of supporters) to extend the life of the story. And then the attempts at shut-down, the admission, in this case Pyne apologising for causing the “distraction”, and the supportive ministers running interference.
Malcolm Turnbull's leather jacket may be zipped up but his frustration is showing | Gabrielle Chan Read more
None of this is candid or authentic. It has no bearing on anything that matters to voters at all. There is no actual crisis. The conservatives present it as a grand ideological battle for the soul of the party, but Abbott advances no coherent or workable alternative policy proposals – his central gripes are mostly retrospective, regrets over policies he now wishes he’d set differently when he was prime minister. If only he’d commissioned nuclear submarines instead of spending $50bn of our money on conventional ones after a highly politicised process, if only he’d set the renewable energy target even lower in his disastrous climate policy that stalled electricity generation investment and helped bring the market to the brink of crisis, if he’d only been less generous on immigration.
The only live policy difference is over same-sex marriage, which somewhat bizarrely, is being presented as a “line in the sand” as though all true Liberals should be opposed to this inherently liberal concept, or at the very least signed up for life to the current policy of holding a plebiscite, an idea even more ridiculous when you consider the chaotic process overseen by Abbott though which that particular policy was invented.
They then make the generalised complaint that politics has “lurched to the left” under Turnbull, because he does outlandish things such as providing more money for schools or acknowledging the reality of climate change. If you completely missed the visceral national rejection of Abbott’s politics of inequality, climate denial and general retribution, I guess that’s how it might seem.
Like every leader, Turnbull does have to accommodate differing views within his party. Many will disagree with where that takes him. Some wonder whether accommodation remains possible.
Because Abbott’s coulda-been regrets list is not about alternative options for this government, it’s more like notes he’d make if he were writing a prime ministerial memoir/manifesto for the future, which, oh look, he is! And his lack of internal support means it isn’t really a serious Rudd/Gillard come-what-may bid for the leadership either, but more like a campaign for some kind of personal vindication.
There’s cause for reflection here for the media. Even those of us who sought to report the original Pyne provocation in context, who named the response as a determined attempt at distraction, weren’t able to ignore it entirely as it proceeded through its predictable paces.
Christopher goes the Full Pyne as moderates’ roast gives conservatives indigestion Read more
And the way these issues are reported feeds the dilemma as to how political leaders respond.
Anything would be better than Turnbull’s fixed-smile insistence that the Liberal party was in fact “harmonious”, a denial as convincing as “pining for the fjords” was for Monty Python’s parrot. But when he was more direct, at a late week press conference, the “aren’t you a divided party” and “won’t you demote Christopher Pyne” questions kept coming, irrespective of the answers or the substantive things he was there to talk about. And if he goes much further, he’s creating the “war” Abbott is so obviously intent upon provoking.
Gillard’s essay was a rallying call for Labor as it entered another bleak stint in opposition carrying an almost unbearable burden – the knowledge that leadership divisions meant it had squandered the full opportunities to exercise power in government, to do all that it could to achieve its vision for the country when it had that hard-won, precious opportunity. For the most part, Labor has now learned that lesson.
And that, too, is contributing to the likelihood it will soon be former Liberal prime ministers reflecting on what might have been. Whether or not that feels unbearable to them probably depends on whether they were in it for authentic policy reasons in the first place.Cynthia Plaster Caster (born Cynthia Albritton on May 24, 1947) is an American artist and self-described "recovering groupie" who creates plaster casts of famous persons' breasts and erect penises.
Albritton began her career in 1968 by casting penises of rock musicians. She later expanded her subjects to include filmmakers and other types of artists. By 2000 she had begun casting female artists' breasts.
Biography [ edit ]
Albritton was born in Chicago, Illinois.[1]
Shy as a young girl, Albritton sought out a way to make contact with the opposite sex. In the late-1960s she became caught up in free love and rock music. In college, when her art teacher gave the class an assignment to "plaster cast something solid that could retain its shape", her idea to use the assignment as a lure to entice rock stars to have sex with her became a hit, even before she made a cast of anyone's genitalia. Finding a dental mold-making substance called alginate to be sufficient, she found her first client in Jimi Hendrix, the first of many to submit to the idea.[2]
Meeting Frank Zappa, who found the concept of "casting" both humorous and creative as an art form, though he himself never submitted to the procedure, Albritton found in him something of a patron. He moved her to Los Angeles, which she described as a veritable groupie heaven, with no lack of assistants. Together, Zappa and Albritton conceived an idea of preserving the casts of musicians for a future exhibition, entrusting them to his partner, Herb Cohen, for safekeeping. This idea never took off, due to a lack of famous rock stars as participants. A movie was made of Albritton and her celebrity grew. However, she found herself having to file a lawsuit to retrieve the casts.[3][4] In 2000, she decided to cast women's breasts as well.[5]
A film documentary, Plaster Caster (2001), has been made about her. She also contributed to the BBC Three documentary My Penis and I (2005), made by British filmmaker Lawrence Barraclough about his anxiety over his 9 cm erect penis.[6] She has inspired at least two songs: "Five Short Minutes" by Jim Croce and "Plaster Caster" by Kiss. She is also mentioned in Momus' song "The Penis Song" on his album Folktronic and the Le Tigre song "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo".[7]
In 2010, Albritton ran for mayor of Chicago, Illinois.[1][8]Jeffrey Jacob Abrams (born June 27, 1966) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his work in the genres of action, drama, and science fiction. Abrams wrote or produced such films as Regarding Henry (1991), Forever Young (1992), Armageddon (1998), Cloverfield (2008), Star Trek (2009), Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), and the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX (2019).
Abrams has created numerous television series, including Felicity (co-creator, 1998–2002), Alias (creator, 2001–2006), Lost (co-creator, 2004–2010), and Fringe (co-creator, 2008–2013). He won two Emmy Awards for Lost — Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series.
His directorial film work includes Mission: Impossible III (2006), Star Trek, Super 8 (2011), and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013). He also directed, produced and co-wrote Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy and his highest-grossing film, as well as the third-highest-grossing film of all time. He returned to Star Wars by co-writing, producing and directing Episode IX.[1]
Abrams's frequent collaborators include producer Bryan Burk, actors Greg Grunberg, Simon Pegg and Keri Russell, composer Michael Giacchino, writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, cinematographers Daniel Mindel and Larry Fong, and editors Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey.
Early life [ edit ]
Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of television producer Gerald W. Abrams (born 1939) and executive producer Carol Ann Abrams (née Kelvin; 1942–2012).[2] His sister is screenwriter Tracy Rosen.[2] He attended Palisades High School. After graduating high school, Abrams planned on going to art school rather than a traditional college, but eventually enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College, following his father's advice: "it's more important that you go off and learn what to make movies about than how to make movies."[3]
Career [ edit ]
Early career [ edit ]
Abrams's first job in the movie business started at 15 when he wrote the music for Don Dohler's 1982 horror 'B' movie, Nightbeast. During his senior year at college, he teamed with Jill Mazursky to write a feature film treatment.[4] Purchased by Touchstone Pictures, the treatment was the basis for Taking Care of Business, Abrams's first produced film, which starred Charles Grodin and James Belushi. He followed with Regarding Henry, starring Harrison Ford, and Forever Young, starring Mel Gibson. He also co-wrote with Mazursky the script for the comedy Gone Fishin' starring Joe Pesci and Danny Glover.
In 1994, he was part of the "Propellerheads" with Rob Letterman, Loren Soman, and Andy Waisler, a group of Sarah Lawrence alums experimenting with computer animation technology. They were contracted by Jeffrey Katzenberg to develop animation for the film Shrek.[5] Abrams worked on the screenplay for the 1998 film Armageddon with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay. That same year, he made his first foray into television with Felicity, which ran for four seasons on The WB Network, serving as the series' co-creator (with Matt Reeves) and executive producer. He also composed its opening theme music.
2000s [ edit ]
Under his production company, Bad Robot, which he founded with Bryan Burk in 2001,[6] Abrams created and executive-produced ABC's Alias and is co-creator (along with Damon Lindelof and Jeffrey Lieber) and was executive producer of Lost. As with Felicity, Abrams also composed the opening theme music for Alias and Lost. Abrams directed and wrote the two-part pilot for Lost and remained active producer for the first half of the season. Also in 2001, Abrams co-wrote and produced the horror-thriller Joy Ride.[7] In 2006, he served as executive producer of What About Brian and Six Degrees, also on ABC. He also co-wrote the teleplay for Lost's third-season premiere "A Tale of Two Cities" and the same year, he made his feature directorial debut with Mission: Impossible III, starring Tom Cruise. Abrams spoke at the TED conference in 2007.[8]
In 2008, Abrams produced the monster movie Cloverfield.[9] In 2009, he directed the science fiction film Star Trek,[10] which he produced with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof. While it was speculated that they would be writing and producing an adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series of novels, they publicly stated in November 2009 that they were no longer looking to take on that project.[11] In 2008, Abrams co-created, executive produced, and co-wrote (along with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman) the FOX science fiction series Fringe, for which he also composed the theme music. He was featured in the 2009 MTV Movie Awards 1980s-style digital short "Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions", with Andy Samberg and Will Ferrell, in which he plays a keyboard solo. NBC picked up Abrams's Undercovers as its first new drama series for the 2010–11 season.[12] However, it was subsequently cancelled by the network in November 2010.
In 2008, it was reported that Abrams purchased the rights to a New York Times article "Mystery on Fifth Avenue" about the renovation of an 8.5 million dollar co-op, a division of property originally owned by E. F. Hutton & Co. and Marjorie Merriweather Post, for six figures and was developing a film titled Mystery on Fifth Avenue, with Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot Productions,[13] and comedy writers Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky to write the adaptation. According to the article, a wealthy couple Steven B. Klinsky and Maureen Sherry purchased the apartment in 2003 and live there with their four children. Soon after purchasing the apartment, they hired young architectural designer Eric Clough, who devised an elaborately clever "scavenger hunt" built into the apartment that involved dozens of historical figures, a fictional book and a soundtrack, woven throughout the apartment in puzzles, riddles, secret panels, compartments, and hidden codes, without the couple's knowledge. The family didn't discover the embedded mystery until months after moving into the apartment.[14][15] After Abrams purchased the article, Clough left him an encrypted message in the wall tiles of a Christian Louboutin shoe store he designed in West Hollywood.[16]
2010s [ edit ]
He wrote and directed the Paramount science fiction thriller Super 8, starring Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning, while co-producing with Steven Spielberg and Bryan Burk; it was released on June 10, 2011.[17] Abrams directed the sequel to Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, released in May 2013.[18] The film ended being considered less original than its predecessor and more of a loose remake of Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan.[19] Despite critics reacting positively towards the film, the director of Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan from which Into Darkness borrowed lines and plot elements, revealed in 2018, to have been disappointed with the film. He was quoted saying: "In my sort of artistic worldview, if you’re going to do an homage, you have to add something. You have to put another layer on it, and they didn’t. Just by putting the same words in different characters’ mouths didn't add up to anything, and if you have someone dying in one scene and sort of being resurrected immediately after there's no real drama going on. It just becomes a gimmick or gimmicky, and that's what I found it to be ultimately."[20]
Abrams announced at the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit that Bad Robot Productions had made a deal with Valve Corporation to produce a film based on either the video game title Portal or Half-Life.[21] On September 9, 2013, it was announced that Abrams would release a novel, S., written by Doug Dorst. The book was released on October 29, 2013.[22]
On January 25, 2013, The Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm officially announced Abrams as director and producer of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the seventh entry in the Star Wars film saga, which is a rival saga to Star Trek for which Abrams previously directed.[23] Disney/Lucasfilm also announced that Bryan Burk and Bad Robot Productions would produce the feature.[24] Following the news that he would direct The Force Awakens, speculation arose as to Abrams's future with Paramount Pictures, with whom he had released all of his previously directed feature work, and which had a first-look deal with his Bad Robot Productions. Paramount vice-chairman Rob Moore stated that Abrams will continue to have a hand in the Star Trek and Mission: Impossible franchises going forward.[25] Abrams directed, produced, and co-wrote the screenplay for, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, working alongside Lawrence Kasdan, following the departure of co-writer Michael Arndt.[26] Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened in theaters on December 18, 2015. It grossed over $2 billion at the box office, making him the second director to make a $2 billion movie since James Cameron's Avatar.[27][28] Thefilm was considered too similar to the 1977 original Star Wars]] film, with many critics considering it a remake that is also a sequel.[29][30] Despite the strong box office, and acceptance from the critics. The reaction of creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, towards J. J. Abrams's Star Wars was similar to the one Nicholas Meyer would later express towards J. J. Abrams's Star Trek sequel, Lucas found himself agreeing with the critics who perceived The Force Awakens as too derivative of the original Star Wars trilogy, particularly the original film. During an interview with talk show host and journalist Charlie Rose that aired on December 24, 2015, Lucas likened his decision to sell Lucasfilm to Disney to a divorce, and outlined the creative differences between him and the producers of The Force Awakens. Lucas described the previous six Star Wars films as his "children" and defended his vision for them, while criticizing The Force Awakens for having a "retro feel", saying: "I worked very hard to make them completely different, with different planets, with different spaceships – you know, to make it new." Lucas also likened Disney to "white slavers", which drew some criticism. He subsequently apologized for his remark.[31][32] In 2017, Lucas described the sequel The Last Jedi, as "beautifully made", shortly after its release. The comment was interpreted as Lucas liking the film more than The Force Awakens, even if Lucas was never quoted as explicitly saying as much.[33][34] The previous year, the Disney-produced Star Wars anthology film Rogue One had been released, and it was reported that Lucas also liked it more than The Force Awakens.[35]
He served as a producer on the 2016 sci-fi sequel Star Trek Beyond.
Abrams produced The Cloverfield Paradox, a sequel to 10 Cloverfield Lane. It was released on Netflix in February 2018.[36][37] Abrams also returned to produce a sixth Mission: Impossible film, alongside Tom Cruise, Don Granger, David Ellison, and Dana Goldberg. The film, titled Mission: Impossible – Fallout, was released in July 2018.[38] Also that year, Abrams produced Overlord, a horror film set behind German enemy lines in World War II and directed by Julius Avery.[39]
Upcoming projects [ edit ]
In July 2016, Abrams reported that a fourth alternate universe Star Trek installment was in the works and that he is confident that Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Chris Hemsworth will return for the sequel.[40][41]
In September 2017, it was announced by Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy, that Abrams would be returning to Star Wars to direct and co-write the upcoming Episode IX with co-writer Chris Terrio.[42]
In February 2018, HBO ordered Abrams sci-fi drama Demimonde to series.[43]
In May 2018, Abrams and Avery had reunited to produce and direct, respectively, a superhero thriller film titled The Heavy, with a script written by Daniel Casey. Paramount and Bad Robot plan to begin filming sometime in 2018.[44]
Unrealized projects [ edit ]
In 1989, Abrams met Steven Spielberg at a film festival, where Spielberg spoke about a possible Who Framed Roger Rabbit sequel, with Abrams as a possible writer and with Robert Zemeckis as producer.[45] Nothing came up from this project, although Abrams has some storyboards for a Roger Rabbit short.[45]
In July 2002, Abrams wrote a script for a possible fifth Superman film entitled Superman: Flyby.[46] Brett Ratner and McG entered into talks to direct,[47] although Abrams tried to get the chance to direct his own script.[48] However, the project was finally cancelled in 2004 and instead Superman Returns was released in 2006.
In November 2009, it was reported that Abrams and Bad Robot Productions were producing, along with Cartoon Network Movies, Warner Bros., Frederator Films and Paramount Pictures, a film adaptation of Samurai Jack.[49] However, in June 2012, series creator Genndy Tartakovsky stated that the production of the film was scrapped after Abrams' departure from the project to direct Star Trek.[50] For this and other reasons, Tartakovsky decided to make a new season instead of a feature film. Also in 2009, it was reported that Abrams and Bad Robot Productions would produce a film based on the Micronauts toy line.[51][52] However, a film has never gone into production.[53]
In January 2014, during the promotion of the TV series Believe, it was reported that Abrams was interested in making film adaptations of Alias, Lost and Felicity. However, no films based on these series have been developed.[54]
Personal life [ edit ]
Abrams is married to public relations executive Katie McGrath and has three children.[4][55] He resides in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.[56][57] He is Jewish and his wife is Roman Catholic, and he sometimes takes his children to religious services on Jewish holidays.[58]
Abrams serves on the Creative Council of Represent.Us, a nonpartisan anti-corruption organization.[59]
Filmography [ edit ]
Film [ edit ]
Television [ edit ]
Theatre [ edit ]
Year Title Credited as Notes Director Writer Producer Composer 2017 The Play That Goes Wrong No No Yes No Broadway version
Awards and nominations [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]Posted by Chris Thomas on Monday, October 6th 2014
A man at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas tested positive for Ebola September 30th, the first case of the disease to be diagnosed in the United States. According to many experts, it was only a matter of time.
Health officials in the U.S. have been preparing since summer in case an individual traveler arrived here unknowingly infected. With stringent isolation protocols in place, infection-control steps to prevent the virus from spreading in health facilities, and efforts to trace people who have had close personal contact with the ill person, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Tom Frieden, was confident addressing media, saying “I have no doubt that we will contain this.”
But in West Africa, the Ebola epidemic is a sobering reminder of the lethal consequences of limited infectious disease surveillance and response capacities, and the vast development needs that persist in some of the region’s poorest countries despite rapid economic growth and investment.
At the heart of the Ebola epidemic sweeping across Africa, is a matter of health systems.
Much like cholera preys on weak water systems after a disaster, Ebola is preying on a weak public health system after years of conflict and upheaval in Liberia. And health system performance in many partner countries is challenged by critical health worker shortages, inadequate financing, poor or disjointed information systems, lack of essential information on public health threats, and inexperienced leadership.
Countries that already have limited ability to provide health care for their citizens can ill-afford to lose health care workers to sickness and death, close health facilities, or redirect resources for other development priorities to battle this epidemic.
As Ebola spreads, citizens are impacted not just by the virus itself, but also by the loss of other critically needed services. As hospitals and clinics become overwhelmed by the epidemic, they are unable to provide necessary maternal and child care and life-saving treatment for malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases.
Dr. Ariel Pablos-Mendez, USAID’s Assistant Administrator for Global Health, said, “The state of the health workforce and health systems has hampered the ability of these countries to respond to the Ebola epidemic – but these countries are hardly alone in having inadequate training, support and numbers of health workers.”
Zaira Alonso, a finance and administration director for USAID’s Rebuilding Basic Health Services project in Liberia implemented by John Snow International, paints a bleak picture. “The entire Liberian landscape has changed dramatically in just a matter of weeks. Many government ministries are practically empty, as non-essential staff were placed on 30 days compulsory leave. Roads are empty, as many Liberians are staying at home to remain safe, and a large part of the expatriate community has left the country. Most people are just simply scared.”
The U.S. Government, including USAID and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and others are using a broad disaster management approach to contain the epidemic. Since the spring of 2014, the United States has been providing health equipment and emergency supplies, training and supporting health care workers on infection control and case management, supporting public outreach campaigns and helping build the capacity of local health care and emergency response systems.
As part of the overall U.S. Government response effort, the United States recently provided support to the African Union’s urgent deployment of trained and equipped medical workers to West Africa to help combat the Ebola epidemic. This support is helping transport doctors, nurses and other essential personnel to manage and run Ebola treatment units that isolate and treat those affected by the disease, helping minimize the spread of Ebola. It will also provide urgent emergency supplies and health equipment to help these medical workers respond.
And President Obama earlier this month announced a major surge in U.S. assistance in West Africa to help recruit, organize and train new health care workers and build treatment clinics.
Adding qualified and trained health workers will make a big difference. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are among 83 countries worldwide that the WHO last year reported to have below the minimum ratio of doctors, nurses and midwives (22.8 per 10,000 people) needed to provide basic health services to a population. WHO and the Global Health Workforce Alliance estimate at least 7.2 million doctors, nurses and midwives are currently needed globally – a gap that could creep to nearly 13 million by 2035 if we keep with the status quo.
Dr. Larry Barat, senior advisor with the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative said one distinguishing factor of countries in Africa that have controlled malaria from those who still struggle to do so is the functionality of their health systems and their skilled human capacity. “Countries like Rwanda, Senegal, Ethiopia and Zambia have successfully reduced malaria burden, in part, because their health systems are able to deliver essential commodities to all parts of their countries, and people can access health services, with trained personnel.”
Haja Wurie, of COMHAS and the ReBUILD Consortium in Sierra Leone, where she has been working on health systems research, painted a vivid picture of a health system already weakened by years of war. Ebola first hit isolated, remote communities with limited access to health services. Their reliance on traditional healers and informal providers of health care may have exacerbated the spread of the illness. “Health staff face a very uncertain future as they bravely respond to Ebola,” she said. “They have inadequate supplies of the commodities they need to protect themselves. Many have watched their colleagues succumb to the illness die. They need urgent support and solidarity from the international community to motivate and incentivise them to face the tough times ahead.”
The Ebola epidemic reminds us that our global efforts to build the capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to infectious disease threats like Ebola have never been more vital. If we use all of our might to ramp up the response to Ebola while also investing in strengthening critical health care systems (including the components that prevent, detect, and respond to infectious diseases), we can help bring the current epidemic under control and reduce the possibility of future outbreaks.After French drug trial tragedy, European Union issues new rules to protect study volunteers
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has issued new, stricter rules for studies that test drugs in people for the first time. They aim to better protect participants in such first-in-human studies—often healthy volunteers who receive a financial reward.
The guideline, which was issued on 25 July, will take effect in February 2018. It comes in the wake of a tragedy in a French drug study last year that led to the death of one man and serious neurological damage in four others. But some say the revision isn't going for enough.
The new guideline emphasizes that drug developers must perform comprehensive preclinical tests of a new compound, including how it binds to its target and whether it has so-called off-target effects; experts argue such studies fell short for the French study. EMA also provides more detailed guidance on dosing and how to monitor subjects' safety. Trial sponsors need to have strategies to minimize risks at every step and have to deal with adverse events timely and adequately.
Also new in the guideline are provisions for trials consisting of multiple substudies, which have become far more common the past decade. (The French trial, run by Biotrial in Rennes for a Portuguese drug company named Bial, used multiple groups of volunteers to test many different dosing regimens and interactions with food.) In some cases, drug developers need to analyze all the results of an earlier part before moving on to the next.
Neuropharmacologist Daniele Piomelli from the University of California, Irvine, welcomes several of the new rules. Bial and Biotrial made the “incomprehensible decision” to test daily doses of up to 100 milligrams, he says, when much smaller doses had been shown to completely inhibit the target enzyme; the new rules would have prevented that.
But the guideline doesn't sufficiently address another mistake, Piomelli says. After the first volunteer was hospitalized with strokelike symptoms, the remaining subjects received another dose the next morning. Under EMA's new rules, a serious adverse reaction in even one subject should be considered a reason to stop if it is “at least possibly related” to the drug candidate. But Piomelli says that with healthy volunteers, any serious adverse event should be presumed to be drug-related. “In doubt, you stop,” he says.
EMA “certainly tried to improve” the guideline, says Joerg Hasford of Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich in Germany, the chair of the Association of German Research Ethics Committees. But the wording is “supersoft,” Hasford says. Drug developers want studies to go fast, and EMA appears to accommodate them, he says. Studies with multiple parts, for instance, are attractive to trial sponsors because they have to apply for approval and produce participant information only once. But Hasford says such setups should not normally be allowed for first-in-human trials.
The guideline also lacks sufficient ethical guidance on weighing the benefits against the risks before a trial starts, he adds. Some researchers criticized the Bial trial because the company had not shown that the test drug, called BIA 10-2474, was a promising drug candidate. “It was not clear that this compound was useful for anything,” Piomelli says.“It’s not baby-sitting when Daddy does it.”
It’s been seven years, but I’ve never forgotten those words. My neighbor across the street was heading out for work, tall, well-dressed and ready. Her child, a few years older than mine, had just wailed, “But I don’t want Daddy to baby-sit!” She squashed that plaint like a bug, and five minutes later (I was pushing my son on the swing in their front yard) I saw her car head down the driveway.
It’s not baby-sitting when Daddy does it. Who wouldn’t agree with that? The U.S. Census Bureau, apparently. When both parents are present in the household, the Census Bureau assumes for the purposes of its “Who’s Minding the Kids?” report, that the mother is the “designated parent.” And when the designated parent is working or at school, the bureau would like to know who’s providing child care.
If the answer is Daddy, as it was 26 percent of the time when these numbers were last released, in 2005, and 32 percent of the time in 2010, the Census Bureau calls that “care.” But if Mom is caring for a child while Dad’s at work, that’s not a “child care arrangement,” but something else. Parenting, presumably.
“Regardless of how much families have changed over the last 50 years women are still primarily responsible for work in the home,” said Lynda Laughlin of the Census Bureau’s Fertility and Family Statistics Branch. “We try to look at child care as more of a form of work support.” A mother, said Ms. Laughlin, is “not only caring for the child only while Dad works. She’s probably caring for the child 24 hours and so Dad is able to go to work regardless.”
That bears repeating. If, every morning, I go off to work and my husband stays home with a child, that’s a “child care arrangement” in the eyes of this governmental institution. If the reverse is true, it’s not. I asked Ms. Laughlin if the Census Bureau collected data on the hours mothers spend offering “work support” to their husbands. “No,” she said. “We don’t report it in that direction.”
Ms. Laughlin assured me that the Census Bureau is just trying to collect accurate data on how “designated parents” arrange care for their children while they’re at school or at work based on “gender norms.” Yes, as Sara Mead notes on the Education Week Policy Notebook blog, it’s important to track changes and trends in who is caring for children while their parents work. But fathers (apparently this needs to be spelled out) are parents too. Work support goes both ways, and if parents are going to work, parents – of both sexes — need support.
That support (unless you’re a dad who’s free to go to work “regardless,” |
, a USAF pilot and Wonder Woman's love interest, and appeared to be aiding his co-star with the handling of her weapon.
During the shoot, Gal looked pensive as she stood staring into the distance with her mouth slightly agape.
Sword off! Hollywood heartthrob Chris Pine, 35, could be seen looking dapper in a navy fedora, beige mac and grey suit
A bygone era: Pine is taking on the role of Steve Trevor, a U.S. military intelligence officer in the US Army Air Corps and Wonder Woman's love interest
In character: Gal wore a pair of cute, fine-rimmed specs and a navy hat with her brunette tresses tied up in a neat bun
The star wore a pair of cute, fine-rimmed specs and a navy hat with her brunette tresses tied up in a neat bun.
Her grey woollen coat was fastened up to her penultimate button and was tied tightly around her middle by a thick brown leather belt with a golden buckle.
The period set was swarming with extras in early 20th century garments in a bid to accurately portray the period.
Stepping back in time: A horse and carriage, classic cars and a two-tier tram occupied the road in a tree-lined square in the capital
If only they knew: Gal's disguised appearance kept the superpowers that lay beneath well hidden
Practice makes perfect: Despite her impressive weaponry, she appeared rather meek, brandishing the sword in an unassertive manner
A horse and carriage, classic cars and a two-tier tram occupied the road in a tree-lined square in the capital.
Gal's disguised appearance kept the superpowers that lay beneath well hidden. Despite her impressive weaponry, she came across as rather meek, brandishing the sword in an unassertive manner.
Back in November, Chris and Gal were spotted filming on the banks of the Thames in Tilbury, Essex.
The set was packed with 150 extras, many of which were wearing military uniforms.
It appears as though the soldiers were filmed arriving back to the UK after fighting overseas, with signage claiming: 'French money exchanged here for officers and soldiers in uniform'.
Created in 1941, Wonder Woman is an Amazonian princess gifted with a wide range of superhuman powers and battle skills.
As is typical in the comic book world, the character is a force for good and has faced a vast array of super-villains.
Wonder Woman isn't due to hit the big screen until 2017, but fans have already had their appetites whetted by the character's appearance in the trailer for Superman vs Batman, which will be released later this year.
Wrapped up: Gal's grey woollen coat was fastened up to her penultimate button and was tied tightly around her middle by a thick brown leather belt with a golden buckle
In the thick of it: She dressed head to toe in a vintage outfit circa the First World War while clutching Wonder Woman's sword and shield
Don't mess with her: Despite her delicate frame, Gal's eye-catching arsenal ensured she was well protected
Other cast members in the highly-secretive blockbuster include Robin Wright, Harry Potter's David Thewlis, Danny Huston, Trainspotting star Ewan Bremner as well as indie-darling Lena Anaya and Office star Lucy Davis.
The film is being directed by Monster's Patty Jenkins and she will be the first woman to direct a comic book super hero film.
Getting Wonder Woman to the big screen has been a long battle.
Since 1996 there have been many attempts to immortalise the character in film with Sandra Bullock even linked to the role, and another film was proposed in 2005 with Colbie Smulders mentioned before Christina Hendricks was thrown in the mix.Berwick-upon-Tweed ( (); Scots: Sooth Berwick, Scottish Gaelic: Bearaig a Deas) is a town in the county of Northumberland. It is the northernmost town in England,[1] at the mouth of the River Tweed on the east coast, 2 1⁄ 2 miles (4 km) south of the Scottish border (the hamlet of Marshall Meadows 2 miles (3 km) to the north is the actual northernmost settlement). Berwick is approximately 56 miles (90 km) east-south east of Edinburgh, 65 miles (105 km) north of Newcastle upon Tyne and 345 miles (555 km) north of London.
The United Kingdom census, 2011 recorded Berwick's population as 12,043.[2] A civil parish and town council were created in 2008 comprising the communities of Berwick, Spittal and Tweedmouth.[3]
Berwick was founded as an Anglo-Saxon settlement during the time of the Kingdom of Northumbria, which was annexed by England in the 10th century.[4] The area was for more than 400 years central to historic border wars between the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, and several times possession of Berwick changed hands between the two kingdoms. The last time it changed hands was when Richard of Gloucester retook it for England in 1482.[5] To this day many Berwickers feel a close affinity to Scotland.[6]
Berwick remains a traditional market town and also has some notable architectural features, in particular its medieval town walls, its Georgian Town Hall, its Elizabethan ramparts, and Britain's earliest barracks buildings, which Nicholas Hawksmoor built (1717–21) for the Board of Ordnance.[7]
Name [ edit ]
The name "Berwick" is of Old English origin, and is derived from the term bere-wīc,[8] combining bere, meaning "barley", and wīc, referring to a farm or settlement. "Berwick" thus means "barley village" or "barley farm".[9][10]
Alternative etymologies, including ones connecting the name with the Anglo-Saxon kingdom Bernicia, and the Brythonic element aber, meaning 'estuary, confluence', have also been suggested.[11]
History [ edit ]
Holiday at Berwick-upon-Tweed
Early history [ edit ]
In the post-Roman period, the area was inhabited by the Brythons of Bryneich. Later, the region became part of the Anglian kingdom of Bernicia. Bernicia later united with the kingdom of Deira to form Northumbria, which in the mid-10th century entered the Kingdom of England under Eadred.[12][13] Berwick remained part of the Earldom of Northumbria until control passed to the Scots following the Battle of Carham of 1018. The town itself was founded as an Anglo-Saxon settlement during the time of the Kingdom of Northumbria.[4]
Scottish burgh [ edit ]
Between the late 10th and early 11th centuries, the land between the rivers Forth and Tweed came under Scottish control, either through conquest by Scotland or through cession by England.[14] Berwick was made a royal burgh in the reign of David I.[15] A mint was present in the town by 1153.[16] In 1276 William de Baddeby was Constable of Berwick.[17] It is unclear if this relates to the walled town itself, or the castle.
While under Scottish control, Berwick was referred to as "South Berwick" in order to differentiate it from the town of North Berwick, East Lothian, near Edinburgh.[18]
Berwick had a mediaeval hospital for the sick and poor which was administered by the Church. A charter under the Great Seal of Scotland, confirmed by King James I of Scotland, grants the king's chaplain "Thomas Lauder of the House of God or Hospital lying in the burgh of Berwick-upon-Tweed, to be held to him for the whole time of his life with all lands, teinds, rents and profits, etc., belonging to the said hospital, as freely as is granted to any other hospital in the Kingdom of Scotland; the king also commands all those concerned to pay to the grantee all things necessary for the support of the hospital. Dated at Edinburgh June 8, in the 20th year of his reign."
Disputed territory [ edit ]
Berwick's strategic position on the Anglo-Scottish border during centuries of war between the two nations and its relatively great wealth led to a succession of raids, sieges and takeovers. William I of Scotland invaded and attempted to capture northern England in 1173–74.[19] After his defeat, Berwick was ceded to Henry II of England.[20] It was later sold back to William by Richard I of England in order to raise funds for his Crusade.[21] Berwick had become a prosperous town by the middle of the 13th century. According to William Edington, a bishop and chancellor of England, Berwick was "so populous and of such commercial importance that it might rightly be called another Alexandria, whose riches were the sea and the water its walls".[22] In 1291–92 Berwick was the site of Edward I of England's arbitration in the contest for the Scottish crown between John Balliol and Robert Bruce, 5th Lord of Annandale.[23] The decision in favour of Balliol was pronounced in the Great Hall of Berwick Castle on 17 November 1292.[23]
In 1296 England went to war with France, with which Scotland was in alliance. Balliol invaded England in response, sacking Cumberland.[24] Edward in turn invaded Scotland and captured Berwick, destroying much of the town and massacring some 20,000 of the inhabitants. Edward I went again to Berwick in August 1296 to receive formal homage from some 2,000 Scottish nobles, after defeating the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar in April and forcing John Balliol to abdicate at Kincardine Castle the following July. It was at this time that work began on building the town walls (and rebuilding the earlier Castle); these fortifications were complete by 1318 and subsequently improved under Scottish rule. An arm of William Wallace was displayed at Berwick after his execution and quartering on 23 August 1305. In 1314 Edward II of England mustered 25,000 men at Berwick, who later fought in (and lost) the Battle of Bannockburn.
Between 1315 and 1318 Scottish armies, sometimes with the help of Flemish and German privateers, besieged and blockaded the town, finally invading and capturing it in April 1318.[25] England retook Berwick the day after the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333.[26] In October 1357 a treaty was signed at Berwick by which the Scottish estates undertook to pay 100,000 marks as a ransom for David II of Scotland,[27] who had been taken prisoner at the Battle of Neville's Cross on 17 October 1346.
In 1461 Berwick was ceded back to Scotland by Margaret of Anjou on behalf of her husband, Henry VI, in return for help against the Yorkists during the Wars of the Roses.[28] Robert Lauder of Edrington was put in charge of the castle. He was succeeded in 1474 by David, Earl of Crawford. On 3 February 1478, Robert Lauder of the Bass and Edrington was again appointed Keeper of the castle, a position that he held until the final year of Scottish occupation, when Patrick Hepburn, 1st Lord Hailes, had possession.
In 1482 Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) recaptured the town.[29] The Scots did not accept this conquest as is evidenced by innumerable charters for at least two centuries after this date.[17] Over the course of a little more than 400 years, Berwick had changed hands more than a dozen times.
English town [ edit ]
Berwick-upon-Tweed fortress detail
In 1551 the town was made a self-governing county corporate. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, vast sums – one source reports "£128,648, the most expensive undertaking of the Elizabethan period"[31] – were spent on its fortifications, in a new Italian style (trace italienne), designed both to withstand artillery and to facilitate its use from within the fortifications. These fortifications have been described as "the only surviving walls of their kind".[13] Sir Richard Lee designed some of the Elizabethan works.[32]
Berwick’s role as a border fortress town ended with the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland. On 6 April 1603, James VI of Scotland crossed the Border on his journey southwards to be crowned James I of England. He was met at Lamberton by the Lord Governor of Berwick with a mounted party from the garrison and was conducted into the town. In December 1603, the Crown ordered the dissolution of the garrison of Berwick and the number of soldiers was reduced to 100 men and pensioners.[33]
In 1639 the army of Charles I faced that of General Alexander Leslie at Berwick in the Bishops' Wars, which were concerned with bringing the Presbyterian Church of Scotland under Charles's control. The two sides did not fight, but negotiated a settlement, the "Pacification of Berwick".[34]
Berwick Bridge, also known as the "Old Bridge" dates to 1611. It linked Islandshire on the south bank of the River Tweed with the county burgh of Berwick on the north bank.[35] Holy Trinity Church was built in 1648–52.[36] It is the most northerly parish church in England and was built under special licence from Oliver Cromwell during the Commonwealth period.[37]
British town [ edit ]
The Barracks (1717–21)
In 1707, the Act of Union between England and Scotland largely ended the contention about which of the countries Berwick belonged to. Since then, Berwick remained within the laws and legal system of England and Wales. The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 (since repealed) deemed that whenever legislation referred to England it applied to Berwick. England now is officially defined as "subject to any alteration of boundaries under Part IV of the Local Government Act 1972, the area consisting of the counties established by section 1 of that Act, Greater London and the Isles of Scilly.",[38] which thus includes Berwick.
Berwick remained a county in its own right, and was not included in Northumberland for Parliamentary purposes until 1885. In the same year, the Redistribution of Seats Act reduced the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) returned by the town from two to one.
Berwick in 1972
In the reorganisation of English local government on 1 April 1974 the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed was created by the merger of the previous borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed with Belford Rural District, Glendale Rural District and Norham and Islandshires Rural District.
The Interpretation Act 1978 provides that in legislation passed between 1967 and 1974, "a reference to England includes Berwick upon Tweed and Monmouthshire".
In 2009 the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed was abolished as part of wider structural changes to local government in England. All functions previously exercised by Berwick Borough Council were transferred to Northumberland County Council, which is the unitary authority for the area.
Climate [ edit ]
Berwick-upon-Tweed has a typical British marine climate with narrow temperature differences between seasons. Because of its far northern position in England coupled with considerable North Sea influence, the area has very cool summers for an English location, with a subdued July (1981–2010) high of 17.9 °C (64.2 °F). January in turn has a high of 6.8 °C (44.2 °F) with a low of 1.7 °C (35.1 °F) with occasional frosts averaging 38.1 times per annum. Precipitation is relatively low by British standards, with 589.2 millimetres (23.20 in) on average. Sunshine is still limited to 1508.5 hours per annum. All data are sourced from the Berwick-upon-Tweed station operated by the Met Office.[39]
Climate data for Berwick-upon-Tweed 22m asl, 1981–2010 Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Average high °C (°F) 6.8
(44.2) 7.1
(44.8) 8.8
(47.8) 10.4
(50.7) 13.4
(56.1) 15.6
(60.1) 17.9
(64.2) 17.6
(63.7) 16.0
(60.8) 12.8
(55.0) 9.3
(48.7) 6.9
(44.4) 11.9
(53.4) Average low °C (°F) 1.7
(35.1) 1.8
(35.2) 3.1
(37.6) 4.4
(39.9) 6.6
(43.9) 9.4
(48.9) 11.4
(52.5) 11.2
(52.2) 9.4
(48.9) 6.7
(44.1) 4.1
(39.4) 1.8
(35.2) 6.0
(42.8) Average precipitation mm (inches) 45.0
(1.77) 35.9
(1.41) 42.1
(1.66) 35.8
(1.41) 47.1
(1.85) 47.3
(1.86) 61.2
(2.41) 59.4
(2.34) 54.5
(2.15) 59.1
(2.33) 54.3
(2.14) 47.4
(1.87) 589.2
(23.20) Mean monthly sunshine hours 59.8 91.8 113.8 159.3 196.3 174.8 182.5 167.3 135.2 103.7 72.9 51.2 1,508.5 Source: Met Office[39]
Governance [ edit ]
The Town Hall, built 1754–60
During periods of Scottish administration Berwick was the county town of Berwickshire, to which the town gave its name. Thus at various points in the Middle Ages and from 1482 (when Berwick became administered by England) Berwickshire had the unique distinction of being the only county in the British Isles to be named after a town in another country.[40]
The town of Berwick was a county corporate for most purposes from 1482, up until 1885, when it was fully incorporated into Northumberland. Between 1885, and 1974, Berwick (north of the Tweed) was a borough council in its own right, and then on 1 April 1974 it was merged with Belford Rural District, Glendale Rural District and Norham and Islandshires Rural District.
During these periods, Berwick Borough Council and Berwickshire County Council (or District Council) existed, both named after the same town, but covering entirely different areas.
The Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed was abolished on 1 April 2009.[41] From that date, Northumberland County Council assumed its functions, and those of the other districts in its area, to become a unitary authority.
A new Berwick-upon-Tweed Town Council, a town council, has been created covering Berwick-upon-Tweed, Tweedmouth and Spittal. It has taken over the former Borough's mayoralty and regalia. The current Mayor, First Citizen and Council Chairman is: His Worship the Mayor of Berwick-upon-Tweed Cllr. Gregah Roughead FRSA.[42]
Berwick-upon-Tweed is in the parliamentary constituency of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Economy [ edit ]
High Street
Slightly more than 60% of the population is employed in the service sector, including shops, hotels and catering, financial services and most government activity, including health care. About 13% is in manufacturing, 10% in agriculture, and 8% in construction.[citation needed] Some current and recent Berwick economic activities include salmon fishing, shipbuilding, engineering, sawmilling, fertilizer production, malting and the manufacture of tweed and hosiery.
Berwick town centre comprises the Mary Gate and High Street where many local shops and some retail chains exist. There is a B&M which replaced the Co-Operative. A new office development has been built in the Walker Gate beside the library which combined spaced with the Northumberland Adult Learning Centre and Tourism centre.[43]
There is a retail park in Tweedmouth consisting of a Home Base, Farm Foods, Marks and Spencer, Argos, Next, Carpet Right, Curry's PC World, Halfords, and the newly opened Pound Land. Berwick Borough Council refused a proposal from Asda in 2006 to build a store near the site,[44] but in 2008 gave Tesco planning permission for its new store in the town,[45] which opened on 13 September 2010. Asda went on to take over the Co-op shop unit in Tweedmouth early 2010. A Morrisons supermarket with a petrol station, alongside a branch of McDonald's, a Travelodge UK and an Aldi all exist on Loaning Meadows close to the outskirts of the town near the current A1.
Transport [ edit ]
Berwick breakwater lighthouse
The old A1 road passes through Berwick. The modern A1 goes around the town to the west. The town is on the East Coast Main Line railway, and has a railway station. A small seaport at Tweedmouth facilitates the import and export of goods, but provides no passenger services. The port is protected by a long breakwater built in the 19th century, at the end of which is a red and white lighthouse. Completed in 1826, the 13 metres (43 ft) tower emits a white light every five seconds from a window overlooking the sea.[46] Seafarers' charity, Apostleship of the Sea has a chaplain to support the needs of mariners arriving at the port.[47]
Culture [ edit ]
Berwick's identity [ edit ]
Berwick is famous for its hesitation over whether it is part of Scotland or England.[48] Some people are adamant they are English and their loyalty lies with Northumberland. Others feel an affinity to Scotland with its free prescriptions and lower university fees.[49] However its close proximity to the Border means that the people of Berwick often have mixed Anglo-Scottish families and claim to be neither English nor Scottish, but simply "Berwickers".[50] Historian Derek Sharman said "The people of Berwick feel really independent. You are a Berwicker first, Scottish or English second."[51] Former mayor Mike Elliot said "25% of the town consider themselves English, 25% Scottish and 50% Berwickers."[52] Professor Dominic Watt of the University of Aberdeen noted that: "Older people view themselves more as Scots than the younger people in Berwick, and this can be heard in their accents."[53]
In 2008 SNP Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP) Christine Grahame made calls in the Scottish Parliament for Berwick to become part of Scotland again, saying, "Even the Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council leader backs the idea and others see the merits of reunification with Scotland."[54] The Liberal Democrat MSP Jeremy Purvis, who was born and brought up in Berwick, also asked for the border to be moved twenty miles south (i.e., a significant distance south of the Tweed) to include Berwick borough council rather than just the town, stating: "There’s a strong feeling that Berwick should be in Scotland. Until recently, I had a gran in Berwick and another in Kelso, and they could see that there were better public services in Scotland."[55] However, Alan Beith, the former MP for Berwick, said the move would require a massive legal upheaval and is not realistic.[56] Beith's successor as MP, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said: "Voters in Berwick-upon-Tweed do not believe it is whether they are in England or Scotland that is important."[51]
Berwick dialect [ edit ]
The local speech of Berwick-upon-Tweed shares many characteristics with both other rural Northumberland dialects and East Central Scots.[57][58] In 1892, linguist Richard Oliver Heslop divided the county of Northumberland into four dialect zones and placed the Berwick dialect in the "north-Northumbrian" region, an area extending from Berwick down to the River Coquet.[59] Likewise, Charles Jones (1997) classes the dialect as "predominantly North-Northumbrian" with "a few features shared with Scots".[60]
Features of this dialect include the "Northumbrian burr", a distinct pronunciation of the letter R historically common to many dialects of North East England; and predominant non-rhoticity: older speakers tend to be slightly rhotic, while younger speakers are universally non-rhotic.[61][62]
A sociological study of the Anglo-Scottish border region conducted in 2000 found that locals of Alnwick, 30 miles (48 km) south of Berwick, associated the Berwick accent with Scottish influence. Conversely, those from Eyemouth, Scotland, 9 miles (14 km) north of Berwick, firmly classed Berwick speech as English, identifying it as "Northumbrian or Geordie".[63]
Sport [ edit ]
Berwick Rangers Football Club were formed in the town in 1881.[64] Despite being located in England, the club plays in the Scottish football league system. The home stadium of Berwick Rangers is Shielfield Park and the club currently plays in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system.
The town also has a rugby union side, Berwick RFC who play in Scottish Rugby Union's East Regional League Division 1.
Speedway has taken place in Berwick in two separate eras. The sport was introduced to Shielfield Park in May 1968. A dispute between the speedway club and the stadium owners ended the first spell. The sport returned to Shielfield Park in the mid-1990s. The lack of a venue in the town saw the team move to a rural location called Berrington Lough. The team, known as the Bandits, have raced at all levels from First Division to Conference League (first to third levels).
Tweedmouth Rangers Football Club is a football team in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 2010, they currently play in the East of Scotland Football League, having joined in 2016. Prior to this, they were members of the North Northumberland League in England.[1][2] The club play at Old Shielfield Park, with a capacity of 1,000, and which the club use under an agreement with the Berwick Rangers supporters club
Berwick Rangers and Berwick RFC are unique in being English teams that play in Scottish leagues.[65]
Relations with Russia [ edit ]
There is an apocryphal story that Berwick is (or recently was) technically at war with Russia.[66] According to a story by George Hawthorne in The Guardian of 28 December 1966, the London correspondent of Pravda visited the Mayor of Berwick, Councillor Robert Knox, and the two made a mutual declaration of peace. Knox said "Please tell the Russian people through your newspaper that they can sleep peacefully in their beds." The same story, cited to the Associated Press, appeared in The Baltimore Sun of 17 December 1966; The Washington Post of 18 December 1966; and The Christian Science Monitor of 22 December 1966. At some point in turn the real events seem to have been turned into a story of a "Soviet official" having signed a "peace treaty" with Mayor Knox; Knox's remark to the Pravda correspondent was preserved in this version.[66][67]
The basis for such status was the claim that Berwick had changed hands several times, was traditionally regarded as a special, separate entity, and some proclamations referred to "England, Scotland and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed". One such was the declaration of the Crimean War against Russia in 1853, which Queen Victoria supposedly signed as "Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, Ireland, Berwick-upon-Tweed and all British Dominions". When the Treaty of Paris was signed to conclude the war, "Berwick-upon-Tweed" was left out. This meant that, supposedly, one of Britain's smallest towns was officially at war with one of the world's largest powers – and the conflict extended by the lack of a peace treaty for over a century.[67]
The BBC programme Nationwide investigated this story in the 1970s, and found that while Berwick was not mentioned in the Treaty of Paris, it was not mentioned in the declaration of war either. The question remained as to whether Berwick had ever been at war with Russia in the first place. The true situation is that since the Wales and Berwick Act 1746 had already made it clear that all references to England included Berwick, the town had no special status at either the start or end of the war. The grain of truth in this legend could be that some important documents from the 17th century did mention Berwick separately, but this became unnecessary after 1746.[citation needed]
Education [ edit ]
As with the rest of Northumberland, schools in Berwick use the three-tier system. Pupils may also commute across the Scottish border to Eyemouth or Berwickshire to attend secondary school.
First schools
Berwick St Mary C of E
Holy Island C of E
Holy Trinity C of E
Hugh Joicey C of E
Lowick
Norham St Celwulfs C of E
Scremerston
Spittal Community School
St Cuthbert's RC
Tweedmouth Prior Park
Tweedmouth West
Middle schools
Berwick Middle School
Tweedmouth Community
High Schools
Independent schools
Longridge Towers School (co-ed, all ages)
Special schools
The Grove School
Twin towns [ edit ]
Landmarks [ edit ]
Berwick Castle was built in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 1290s. It was in disrepair by the 17th century and much of it was demolished in the 19th century to make way for the railway. However, substantial ruins remain, just outside the town's rampart walls to the west by the river.
Berwick town walls and Tudor ramparts – some of the finest remaining examples of their type in the country.
The Old Bridge, 15-span sandstone arch bridge 1,164 feet (355 m) long, built in 1610–24 for £15,000. The bridge continues to carry road traffic, but in one direction only. The bridge, part of the Great North Road from London to Edinburgh was built by order of James VI and I.
St Andrew's Church, Wallace Green
St Andrew's Church, Wallace Green was built in 1859 and is one of only eight Church of Scotland congregations in England.
The Masonic Hall was built in 1872 for the town's St David's Masonic Lodge for £1,800. The lodge still owns the hall, and is also used by other Masonic lodges and orders. It is one of very few purpose-built Masonic halls in the country and is a very rare example of Victorian Masonic architecture. It has a large pipe organ built in 1895. The Hall contains many artefacts and documents concerning Freemasonry in the town which can be traced back to 1643.
The Royal Tweed Bridge, built in 1925 to carry the A1 road across the Tweed. Its span is 361 feet (110 m), which at the time was the longest concrete span. The A1 now bypasses the town to the west. In the early 2000s the bridge was renovated, the road and pavement layout revised and new street lighting added.
Dewars Lane runs down Back Street just off Bridge Street. Like other Berwick locations it was painted by L. S. Lowry, who visited Berwick often, especially in the 1930s, when he stayed at the Castle Hotel.[ citation needed ]
Notable people [ edit ]
See also Berwick Castle for Governors of the castle and Berwick-upon-Tweed (UK Parliament constituency) for a list of former MPs.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
PhotographsIn 2012, filmmaker Lina Esco started the Free the Nipple movement to wage war on sexist double standards. The movement has spawned topless demonstrations and led to Facebook lifting its ban on breastfeeding in its photos. “Why can you show public beheadings from Saudi Arabia on Facebook, but not a nipple?” Esco wrote on the Huffington Post. “Why can you sell guns on Instagram, but yet they will suspend your account for posting the most natural part of a woman’s body?” If Esco’s movement is seeking more support, it should consider enlisting the help of a presidential candidate who recently came out as pro-nipple, Bernie Sanders.
On Monday, Elle Bradford of Barberton, Ohio, attended a Sanders rally in Cleveland with her 6-month-old daughter, Harper. While they were seated in the second row, Harper began indicating that she was hungry, so Bradford breast-fed her daughter in their seat. “There is no, ‘I’m feeding you in 10 minutes.’ It’s ‘I’m feeding you right here, right now, or you’re screaming,’” Bradford told WEWS-TV. After the rally, a photo of Bradford and Harper began circulating on social media.
Later, Bradford said she was personally thanked for breastfeeding her baby at the rally by Sanders and his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders. “After the rally, Bernie and Jane O’Meara Sanders both thanked me for doing what mothers do and taking care of my daughter when she needed her mom,” Bradford wrote on Facebook, “even if that meant nursing in public!” Today, the Sanders campaign came out in support of Bradford’s actions.
To share your thoughts on the issue, use hashtag #BoobsForBernie.
Want to share this article on Facebook? Just copy and paste this link:
http://good-mag.co/BernieAndBreastfeedingA Complete History of Trump as a Jerk
Started right after the GOP Convention, July 22, 2016, and finished Nov 6. I wanted to have something completed before the election, but this proved to be quite a chore, and I have skipped over some nice material.
· (!) Let’s open with a Donald Trump quote: “Sorry, losers and haters, but my IQ is one of the highest—and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure; it’s not your fault.” He has also been quoted saying: “Being president is easy, and I’m, like, a really smart person.” Oh heck, one more: “Some people would say I’m very, very, very intelligent.” And another: “People are saying Donald Trump is a genius.” Trump may be unfamiliar with the writer’s dictim: “Show, don’t tell.”
· (!) According to Trump, Trump is not only very smart, but also very rich: “And I say this not in a braggadocious way—I’ve made billions and billions of dollars.”
· (!) Trump once claimed to have “the world’s greatest memory,” adding that this was “one thing everyone agrees on.” He demonstrated his incredible memory shortly afterwards, insisting that he remembered “thousands” of people cheering the collapse off the World Trade Center buildings. Later, testifying in the case of Trump University, he could not recall making this boast.
· (!) He’s also a very humble man—as he himself has said, on many occasions: “I think I am actually humble, I think I’m much more humble than you would understand”; “there’s more humility (in his name being on all his products) than a lot of people would think”; “the new pope is a very humble man, very much like me, which probably explains why I like him so much.” Trump also once said that he would like his Secret Service code name to be “humble.” By the way, many people refer to Trump as “The Donald,” something he likes and encourages.
· (!) When a very toadying Christian minister once commented to Trump that he was “divinely” sent to Earth to help America in its time of great need, Trump replied, “I’ve heard people tell me that.”
· (!) A Trump quote, from the past: “I don’t respect most people, because I believe most people are not worthy of respect.” Funny, I always thought that all people should be treated with respect, unless and until they demonstrate a reason why they should be not respected.
· (!!) Note to the above: As many people have noted, Trump tends to evaluate people to the extreme. He seems to see each person as either “brilliant, wonderful, amazing” or “horrible, disgusting, sad.” Either a “10” or a “1.” By the way, his main qualifier seems to be how that person speaks of The Donald. So someone who praises Trump (such as Vladimir Putin) is a great person, whereas someone who criticizes him is a scumbag.
· (!) One of the main criticisms of Donald Trump is that he avoids substantive answers. Let’s see—here are some of Trump’s declared positions. On China: “I have really strong feelings on China.” On Japan having a nuclear arsenal: “Well, it’s a position that we have to talk about, and it’s a position that at some point is something that we have to talk about.” On cyber warfare: “Cyber has to be in our thought process.” On foreign policy: “I’ll think about it.” Also, “I’ve had very strong feelings on foreign policy, and I’ve had very strong feelings on defense and offense.” On what he would do about Aleppo: “Aleppo is a mess, believe me.” On the Constitution: “I’ll |
(recommended for rain), 90 seconds and 150 seconds (recommended for clear and sunny skies). The up / down buttons pictured above determine these intervals.
The part pictured above (referred to as #6 in the manual) bolts to the outside of the rear derailleur cage and substitutes the stock pulley bolt for a longer one supplied with the kit.
There is also the tiny hose (#12) for delivery of the Via fluid, which is run from the Revo Via box to the rear derailleur, connecting to part #6. In the case of the Orica Scott mechanics, they did a nice job of running the fluid hose internally, following the path of the Shimano Di2 wiring.
These photos were taken as soon as Daryl Impey rolled in from his Saturday morning training ride, the same day as the team presentation for the 2017 Tour Down Under.
The photo above illustrates an oil like residue coating the derailleur, which is likely excess Via fluid; it certainly felt slick. The team’s training ride on this day was approximately two and a half hours in length.
Excess Via fluid? can be seen on the rear wheel brake track of Daryl Impey’s bike. The team is evaluating the system for events such as Paris Roubaix and I assume they are still making adjustments to the frequency of lubrication, etc.
Flaer claim power gains of up to 12 watts using the system, and a significantly cleaner drivetrain. Once the system has been setup and calibrated, it will provide automatic activation – the system features wake, sleep and deep sleep modes. A 125ml container of Via fluid is supplied with the system. The 27ml reservoir inside the control box (#1) will provide 7.5 hours of riding on the 30 seconds setting, and 37.5 hours on the 150 seconds setting.
The Flaer Revo Via system is priced at £250.00 / $US 305.00 and is available direct from the company. Refills of the Revo Via system are priced at £6 / $US 7.30 for 125ml and £10 / $US 12.00 for 250ml.
Flaer
Article and photos by Gravel Cyclist. Jayson O’Mahoney is the Gravel Cyclist: A website about the Gravel Cycling Experience.By: Jon Campbell, Albany Bureau
ALBANY – Charges levied under the SAFE Act – the state gun-control law considered by some to be the toughest in the nation – are on the rise.
State data analyzed by Gannett’s Albany Bureau shows there have been 7,442 arrests and arraignments under the SAFE Act through Jan. 21.
And there’s been a steady increase of charges brought each year: 1,552 came in 2013 (before the law fully took effect), 2,641 were in 2014 and 3,084 were in 2015.
But a closer look at the statistics shows a series of trends:
- The vast majority of the SAFE Act cases were in New York City. Of the total, 6,036 – 81 percent – were in the city, with 338 on Long Island and 1,068 in the entire rest of the state, according to the data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
- Most of the charges brought were already crimes before the SAFE Act took effect. Eighty-four percent of the cases were possession charges that would have been misdemeanors prior to 2013 but were elevated to a felony under the SAFE Act.
- Enforcement varies widely among different areas of the state. In New York City, there was one SAFE Act arrest or arraignment for every 1,407 residents. In the rest of the state, the rate was one case for every 8,040 residents.
Supporters say the bump in charges show the law is gaining its footing and is having its intended impact of reducing gun violence.
SAFE Act Arrests or Arraignments January 2016
Critics say the opposite: That the data shows many parts of the law are difficult or impossible to enforce and aren’t making the state any safer.
In a statement, Gov. Andrew Cuomo – the law’s primary booster – called the SAFE Act the “strongest gun-safety laws in the nation. The law, he said, proves it is “possible to both respect the Second Amendment and keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and the dangerously mentally ill.”
“This latest data shows that not only is the SAFE Act effective – it is also helping to ensure safer communities for all New Yorkers,” Cuomo said.
Debate continues
The SAFE Act -- passed during a late-night session at the Capitol in January 2013 shortly after the Newtown school massacre – made more than a dozen changes or additions to the state’s gun laws. Those included a boost in penalties for illegal gun ownership, an expanded ban on assault weapons and bolstered background-check requirements for ammo and private gun sales.
Its hasty passage spurred an often-heated, polarizing debate on gun control in New York that has spilled into the courts, which threw out a portion of the law that prevented firearms owners from loading more than seven rounds into their 10-round magazines.
The majority of the law has remained intact, however, though some of the charges have been rarely used.
By far the most popular SAFE Act charge levied has been Penal Law 265.01-b(1) -- criminal possession of a firearm, a class E felony generally charged against those who illegally possess an unloaded handgun.
Through Jan. 21, there were 6,104 such felony charges filed -- about 82 percent of the total SAFE Act charges, according to the state data. A total of 5,360 of those were in New York City.
Prior to the SAFE Act, an illegal, unloaded handgun drew a class A misdemeanor charge, which remains on the books. Under the 2013 law, prosecutors and police have the option of levying the felony charge.
Far less used has been the SAFE Act’s new laws governing assault weapons, defined in the law as semi-automatic weapons with a combat-style feature like a telescoping stock or a bayonet.
The law broadened the state’s ban on assault weapons, but allowed owners of since-outlawed rifles to keep their firearm if they register it with the state.
Only 31 people have been charged with possessing an unregistered assault weapon, according to the state data. Eight have been charged with failing to register, a separate charge that took effect in April 2013.
Safer or not?
Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, said the data shows the state’s pre-SAFE Act gun laws were “more than adequate.”
He pointed to the fact that the majority of SAFE Act charges have been for offenses that were crimes long before the law took effect.
“There is nothing that the state of New York has done in the SAFE Act that will make anybody in the state any safer,” said King, a National Rifle Association board member. “The laws that were on the books prior to it were more than adequate to keep guns out of the hands of criminals as long as the district attorneys and the police forces of New York state wanted to pursue enforcing those laws.”
Some Republicans in the state Legislature have supported efforts to repeal the SAFE Act, but they haven’t gotten far. Democrats control a majority of more than 2-to-1 in the Assembly, and Cuomo would have to sign off on any repeal.
Gun-control advocates said the data is indicative of many major new laws, which often take time before enforcement ramps up and law-enforcement officials become more familiar with the changes.
Leah Gunn Barrett, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, said her organization believes the statistics show the SAFE Act is being enforced uniformly, despite some of the charges being rarely used.
“You’re not going to have the State Police going door to door seeing if you have an AR-15 and if it’s registered,” Barrett said. “I don’t know, maybe that will start to happen, particularly if there’s a massacre using one of these weapons in the state.”
Barrett said she believes charges will continue to rise as the years go on.
”You always sort of go through a learning curve with a new law,” she said.
Regions of NY
The SAFE Act charges vary widely from county to county.
The Bronx has the highest rate of SAFE Act arrests and arraignments: one in every 677 residents, according to the state data and the most recent Census estimates.
North of the city, some rural, less-populated counties have seen hardly any: Chemung County, for example, has seen just two SAFE Act charges, or one for every 43,885 residents.
Counties housing some of the state’s larger cities fall somewhere in between. Westchester County, home of Yonkers, had 54 charges, or one for every 18,012 residents. Monroe County, which includes Rochester, had 116 charges, or one for every 6,464 residents.
Chemung County Sheriff Christopher Moss, an outspoken critic of the SAFE Act, said the charges in the SAFE Act are “not high on the priority list.”
Weapon owners in upstate New York “generally know how to use them and for the most part use them responsibly,” said Moss, who was the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in 2014.
“We’re just not seeing a lot of violations here,” Moss said. “Granted, we’re not out actively looking for them either. But if somebody violates the law and we know it, obviously we have to investigate it. We just don’t see that happening in upstate New York or in Chemung County.”
Daniel Feldman, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, said the variation among counties stands to reason and tends to mirror the public support – or lack thereof – for firearms and gun control in the different regions of the state.
A prosecutor in New York City or other cities where gun violence is a prevalent issue will likely be more willing to actively prosecute gun crimes, Feldman said. In rural counties where support for gun control is lower, prosecutors may be less likely to aggressively use the law.
“Prosecutorial discretion is a deep-seated precedent,” said Feldman, a former state assemblyman. “So the local culture will have an impact. In areas in which people’s attitudes toward guns is that everybody ought to have one, then the local prosecutor probably shares the public’s point of view – they’re elected locally.”
Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe, a Democrat who is president of the state District Attorneys Association, said he personally supports the SAFE Act, calling it a “positive step forward” that the total number of arrests and arraignments is increasing.
But the law hasn’t had much of a presence in Rockland: There have only been 11 SAFE Act charges, or one for every 29,442 residents.
“We don’t have a major gun issue here in Rockland County,” Zugibe said. “But I happen to believe that the SAFE Act is very progressive and needed. The problem is it isn’t a national program. We don’t have a wall around New York state keeping us safe.”
Findings
-Since the SAFE Act was passed in 2013, there have been 7, 442 arrests and arraignments under the law as of Jan. 21. The numbers are on the rise: There were 2,641 cases in 2014 and 3,084 in 2015.
- Of the total, 6,036 of the charges – 81 percent – were in New York City. There were 338 on Long Island and 1,068 in the entire rest of the state, according to the data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
- 84 percent of the total charges were possession charges that would have been misdemeanors prior to 2013 but were elevated to a felony under the SAFE Act.
- In New York City, there was one SAFE Act arrest or arraignment for every 1,407 residents. In the rest of the state, the rate was one case for every 8,040 residents.
Analysis based on data from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.Dubai: The obsession over Pokémon Go led a young motorist to stop his car in the middle of Jumeirah Road to catch a virtual Pokémon character, an eyewitness told Gulf News.
The incident, which happened last week, is the latest of many “bizarre” situations taking place around the city, residents say.
The world’s most popular smartphone game has initiated a wave of new behaviours, where people are less concerned about their safety and more concerned about chasing digital critters.
Despite recent warnings about the augmented reality game from Dubai Police and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), users continue to be glued to their phone.
Kuwait has already banned the game from being used at sensitive landmarks and a few UAE residents have suggested the implementation of something similar here.
Ahmad Abdul Rahman, an Emirati, said he was driving around Jumeirah Road last week only to see a young man stop his car in the middle of the road holding his device and chasing a Pokémon.
“I was in complete shock. He put himself and other road users in a lot of danger for a silly game. I think it’s time for some rules and regulations regarding this game because it seems to be getting out of control.”
Abdul Rahman said there have been incidents, according to stories shared with his friends, where people are even knocking on other people’s homes asking for a minute to chase a Pokémon inside. “It’s causing nuisance. If someone knocks on my door, I will call the police.”
Therese Masoud, HR specialist, said she has fears that such games with geo-positioning technology can result in the invasion of user privacy, which the TRA had earlier also warned about.
“I downloaded it and removed it in the next hour because I was worried by the fact that I needed to turn on my camera and share my surroundings with the app. I know almost all apps ask to access photos and location but turning on my camera was a bit alarming.”
Slyvia Narouz
Another resident, Sylvia Narouz, 23, believes the game should be allowed to be played only in safe areas and with caution.
“I think people should be careful when using it. It could be limited to parks and malls, not somewhere that will cause too much chaos. I think it’s a good platform to get people moving and collaborating.”
Ahmad Barghouthy
“As adults, people should be able to play any game that they enjoy as long as it doesn’t affect their health and safety,” Ahmad Barghouthy, a Jordanian finance consultant, said.
“Some people have had car accidents while playing this game and others have ended up entering a private property, but there are separate laws for committing such acts.”
Takim D
Takim D., 20, a student, has no particular stance on banning the game, and only insists that those who use it do so responsibly and reasonably.
Takim said that even if there was a ban people aren’t “going outside here, especially due to the heat”.
“If you’re going to go about wandering in the street, don’t go out at night. People should pay attention to their surroundings at all times,” he said.
Though the game hasn’t officially been released in the UAE, many have downloaded the app. Dubai Police have warned users about the dangers of distracted walking on the road.
Pedestrians have been cautioned by Dubai Police not to use their smartphones while crossing the road in any way as this can contribute to run-over accidents.
Habits like checking smartphones and texting lead to distracted walking, and can result in severe injuries and even death.
“We always warn people to give up the practice of using their phone while driving and while crossing the road,” a Dubai Traffic Police official said.
Police have regularly warned about how using the phone while crossing is a danger to themselves and other road users.
-With inputs from Omar Subhi Omar, Intern with Gulf NewsThe Bryan Fuller drama featuring the characters from Thomas Harris' "Red Dragon" gets a 13-episode pickup, while the network also moves forward with a "Revenge"-like soap.
NBC will make room on its schedule for Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
The network has given series orders to Hannibal, a 13-episode drama from Pushing Daisies' Bryan Fuller featuring the classic characters from Thomas Harris' novel Red Dragon.
In addition, the network has also picked up to pilot Notorious, a Revenge-like soap about a female detective from Liz Heldens (Prime Suspect, Friday Night Lights).
Hannibal, from Gaumont International Television, is described as an hourlong contemporary thriller featuring characters from Harris' best-seller and revolves around FBI agent Will Graham and his mentor, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who are reintroduced as the beginning of their budding relationship.
The order for 13 episdoes comes as NBC Entertainment president Robert Greenblatt -- a former Showtime topper -- the brings his cable sensibilities to the struggling network as he employs the abbreviated season model typically found on non-broadcast networks. The series order comes as NBC is two weeks into its 15-episode order for Greenblatt's pet project, Broadway drama Smash, which he brought with him after departing Showtime.
Fuller will write and executive produce the series, with Martha DeLaurentiis also on board as an EP. The series order comes a week after NBC opted to delay its planned Munsters reboot to the summer, allowing the high-concept proejct more time to find the right fit during the casting process.
Notorious, meanwhile, is described as an opulent soap in which a female detective returns, undercover, to the wealthy family she grew up in -- as the maid's daughter -- to solve the murder of the notorious heiress who was once her closest friend.
Heldens will pen the project and executive produce alongside BermanBraun's Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun and Gene Stein.
Notorious becomes the network's ninth drama pilot -- 10th if you count the Munsters reboot Mockingbird Lane -- in contention at the network.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @SnooditA report from Norway has San Jose Earthquakes goalkeeper David Bingham signing a loan deal with Strommen IF of the Norwegian First Division, the second tier of Norway football. The loan agreement, according to the report on the club's official website, is for the rest of the season, which runs until early November. A spokesperson for the Quakes confirmed that the loan deal had been completed.
Wanted to thank all the @SAScorpions fans for their support this year. On to the next adventure in Norway! @naslofficial @Crocketteers — David Bingham (@BinghamDb) August 12, 2014
Strommen IF are currently in the middle of its season and with a record of 6-7-5 are mired in the middle of the First Division table. Only a good run of form would move Strommen into the promotion playoffs to reach Norway's top division, the Tippeligaen. The club will also need to be wary of dropping into the relegation zone, of which they are currently three points clear. Bingham is expected to fight for a starting position as soon as his paperwork is completed.
Bingham last played for the Earthquakes in the U.S. Open Cup fifth round match at the Seattle Sounders that the Quakes lost on penalties. Bingham earned a victory in the previous round of the tournament with a 2-1 result over Sacramento Republic FC.
Since joining the Earthquakes as part of a weighted lottery prior to the 2011 MLS season, Bingham has ascended to no better than number two on the depth chart. Incumbent goalkeeper Jon Busch has made the position his own, limiting Bingham to four starts in four seasons with the Quakes. Bingham featured as the starting 'keeper in the Quakes first three CCL group stage games last year, but Busch took over for the remainder of that tournament.
Last November, Bingham trained with Danish club FC Copenhagen with an eye toward a loan deal or outright transfer. Upon his return to the U.S., Bingham resumed training with the Quakes and earlier this season was loaned out to NASL side San Antonio Scorpions, where he made some spectacular saves in 10 appearances. The Scorpions finished third in the Spring 2014 NASL season.
Bingham is probably best known for the unbelievable goal he scored for San Jose against West Bromwich Albion in a friendly in 2011. The video of that goal went viral on the Internet and spawned an annual competition hosted by the Earthquakes for season ticket holders called "Boot it like Bingham." Any fan who could repeat Bingham's feat would be awarded free season tickets. No one has yet to claim the prize.Posted by OrdainWomen on Feb 10, 2017 in Blog |
Joanna serves on the Ordain Women executive board.
I have been thinking a lot about my outspokenness within my faith. I have always believed that parity for women is possible. I have had faith from the minute I wrote my profile that women would get the priesthood. It would happen and that it was morally necessary for the health of our LDS community and sustainability of Mormonism. I still believe that now more than ever. Mormonism should be leading the way in equality for women. We teach our sons and daughters from their first nursery songs that they are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Parents and that they too will grow up to be divine. LDS women know that they are equal to men. I believe that women will become leaders in ALL areas of the world and religion is no exception. The reason I have faith in such a bold statement is simple…. the first place I ever saw true leadership was in my home ward during Primary.Just over a year ago the Game Journo Pro group had a very interesting conversation about “nerd shaming”. Using someone’s hobby to publicly humiliate them. This hot-button topic casually bubbled up into the conversation after Patricia Hernandez wrote an article on Kotaku about “This Is What A Brony Party Looks Like”, which was basically a video of people dancing at a My Little Pony Party. Ben Kuchera, of Penny Arcade fame and a current editor at Polygon, took great offense to Hernandez’ article.
The exchange happened last July, in 2013. It seemed like a throwaway event. Hernandez wrote a culture piece about guys who like the cartoon My Little Pony and decided to have a dance party by dressing up like the characters from the show. The original article, before Kotaku had Hernandez update the piece, is right here. That’s what caused all the ruckus.
Kuchera fired back a few days later with a very, very interesting piece over on The Penny Arcade Report (back when he wrote there). On July 16th, following the July 12th publication of the Kotaku piece, Kuchera wrote “Kotaku’s nerd-shaming article about Bronies is both nasty and unnecessary.” [the article has been deleted, as of September 9th, 2014 according to the last entry on the Wayback Machine] As outlined in the GJP thread.
What’s interesting here is that Ben’s stance is completely against an individual, a group, or an institution using a platform to “nerd-shame”.
He states…
“Listen, we get about 80 years on this planet, at best. Much of that time is painful. The night is dark, and full of terrors. If you find something that makes you happy, and it doesn’t hurt you or others, that is a great thing.” “Life is too damned short for the concept of “guilty” pleasures to have any meaning.”
I find it fascinating that his stance is so adversely positioned to that of the #GamerGate movement. A movement, I might add, that feels as if it’s come under attack from outside academics who don’t understand or even play video games, but want to inculcate a change away from the current culture of “fun” and one toward intellectia. Using social media platforms, websites and news radio to shame, belittle and dogmatically force gamers to “listen and believe” seems to stand in opposition to Ben’s own beliefs. Or at least, the beliefs he once held at Penny Arcade.
Those participating in the discussion within the GJP actually agreed with Kuchera.
The last e-mail goes on to say that the tone of the original Kotaku article came across as mean-spirited and diminutive towards that part of the community, in which case, Stephen Totilo was contacted about addressing the author of the article to make changes.
What’s interesting here is that Kuchera rallies to the defense of helpless “Bronies” but took the opposite stance in #GamerGate; gamers get no defense.
Kuchera’s reasons? Well, they were outlined in the Breitbart article containing the leaked e-mails. Ben felt it necessary to be a knight in shining armor against the threats, harassment and abuse levied at a certain individual. Except, no one actively supporting #GamerGate has condoned harassment, abuse or attacking anyone. Here’s one of the images that circulated early on to get the message out, but all the major gaming news outlets opted not to cover anything positive about #GamerGate.
And yet, following the incident involving the infamous Tumblr post relating to the Depression Quest creator, Kuchera completely switches gears; he decides to throw any sense of objective observation to the wind and completely blow off the audience he was supposed to represent.
Ben goading Escapist editor-in-chief Greg Tito to shutdown the forum discussion on The Escapist that surrounded the events of the situation – and at the time, one of the only places on the net that wasn’t being heavily censored – as gamers were being attacked as a community from all sides of the media over things they had no control over, seemed like someone turning their back on championing people who found a hobby that made them happy. Just so you know, Ben was very persistent in wanting that thread gone.
Funny Ben’s last comment goes both ways. I mean, why was it okay to print “demonstrably untrue things” such as the IRC chat logs that were used to form a narrative around content that proved to be factually incorrect but not okay for a personal blog to do the same? Or is “demonstrably untrue” one of those subjectivist notions that should only apply to fit a predetermined outlook on how news and information-perception is fed to the general public?
I can’t imagine what would have happened to the movement if The Escapist had closed the thread, seemingly since it was the only open place allowing discussion at the time, apart from 4chan (which, in itself, has now outlawed #GamerGate talk).
The turnaround from last year – where these journalists felt Kotaku was wrongly demonizing a group of My Little Pony advocates – to this year, with many big names from these larger outlets having morphed into the attackers against a community they were supposed to represent, is a strange and startling thing.
The sweeping torrent of “Gamers Are Dead” articles rife with inaccuracies and falsities against the gaming community were supported, spread and championed by the people who are the gatekeepers of information within the gaming industry.
What happened?
Why was it not okay for Kotaku to take a pot-shot at a fringe audience, but it’s now okay to chuck the entirety of game culture into the fire? Why was it okay for media to propagate “misogynerd”? Or why was it okay when Devin Faraci attempted to fat-shame Boogie2988? Why was it okay to “nerd-shame” in the face of #GamerGate?
Why did Ben go from supporting “guilty pleasures” to siding with people who would rather see them go away? Even worse yet, he did so with as little to go on other than Tumblr posts and hearsay, a problem that also plagued both Brad Wardell [via Breitbart] and Max Temkin [via Archive.Today].
I suppose the last part speaks volumes about the current climate of gaming news media; jumping to conclusions, not asking questions, and ratcheting up the need for controversy with little of anything to go on other than loose strings and random Twitter noise, as evidenced by the media’s flimsy attachment of #GamerGate to Sarkeesian’s 10-post Twitter abuser.
I’m most curious how someone like Ben Kuchera could repair a relationship with an audience he alienated through brash and blind emotion? And in light of #GamerGate calling for better ethics, will this mean Kuchera will take better care in surveying all sides of a situation before jumping the gun? This was a problem Greg Tito also had to rectify regarding Wizardchan.
Some of the current ilk of gaming journalists don’t believe in objectivity (or even standing by the truth, judging by some of the articles published), and their carelessness has led to this fallout. A lack of fact-checking, a lack of proper information sourcing and the ill-use of employing their platforms to bully their own audience, has resulted in irreparable damage to the image of gaming journalism moving forward.
As it was mentioned in the previous article pointing out gaming media’s current flaws, it would probably be best if the gaming journalists who helped promote, spread and instigate the misinformation during this debacle offer official apologies to the gaming community and consider resigning from their current publications.
(Featured image courtesy of District Geek)After a passenger was forcibly removed from an overbooked United Airlines flight, many people are wondering if United could be facing a lawsuit.
Judge Andrew Napolitano thinks they likely will.
On "Fox & Friends" this morning, Napolitano said there are two things at play: United's civil obligations and the actions of the security officers.
"By dislodging this passenger against his will, United violated its contractual obligation," Napolitano said. "He bought the ticket, he passed the TSA, he was in his seat, he has every right to stay there."
@united @FoxNews @CNN not a good way to treat a Doctor trying to get to work because they overbooked pic.twitter.com/sj9oHk94Ik — Tyler Bridges (@Tyler_Bridges) April 9, 2017
As for the police response, Napolitano said they should not have violently dragged the man off the plane just because United officials asked them to.
"If the reason for their call is not a crime, they should leave," Napolitano said. "They have no right using violence to resolve a civil a dispute.... If the passenger is politely or reasonably sitting there, waiting for the flight to take off, he's not committing a crime, he's not engaged in violence, he's not doing anything that justifies police force."
He said the man "absolutely" has a case against United if he files a lawsuit, because of the "inconvenience and public humiliation."
Napolitano added that the police could also face a lawsuit, because they used excessive force in a situation in which no force was required.
Watch more above, and read more about the disturbing incident.
Stephen Baldwin: Hollywood Trump-Bashing Shows Their 'Disconnect' From Reality
NYT Op-Ed: Mexico Owed 'Half Its Territory' By US
Judge Jeanine Challenges GOP: 'Put Your Big Boy Pants On,' Get Behind Trump
Puzder: Minimum Wage Hikes Are 'Robot Employment Acts'The shadow of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is cast on the NFL logo background as he pauses before answering a question from the media during a news conference at the annual NFL football meetings at the Arizona Biltmore, Wednesday, March 20, 2013, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Sexism. A culture of violence. Untrustworthy leadership. Runaway wealth inequality. An indifference to workers' health. Employees who are above the law. Hush-hush financing. Multimillion-dollar tax breaks.
We're not talking about America's top corporations. We're not even talking about the Christmas parties on Wall Street. We're talking about the National Football League.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's handling of Ray Rice's videotaped brutality has brought the NFL back into the public eye. It's a sorry spectacle that others have addressed at length, so we'll just repeat the cliché: It's the cover-up, stupid.
For my personal assessment of Goodell, we can turn the mic over to Bill Simmons and UltraViolet. And as for the NFL itself, let's just say it's America in microcosm.
Capital in the 21st-Century NFL
While the league's finances are largely kept secret from the public, we know the following from public filings (form 990) and news reports (including a leaked copy of the NFL's audited financials for 2010):
The NFL organization has 1,856 employees and paid $107.7 million per year in salaries last year. Goodell was paid more than $44 million. That means more than 40 percent of the organization's entire payroll went to one individual.
Most of Goodell's income was in the form of a "bonus" based on performance standards which, like that of many corporate CEOs, have never been publicly defined.
Roger Goodell is not a "job creator," even by the right's loose definition. He -- like most corporate CEOs nowadays -- invented nothing, made nothing, and built nothing. And the gravy train doesn't stop at his house. Jeff Pash, the General Counsel, was paid $6,199,000. The EVP of Business Ventures got $4,180,000. The CFO made nearly $2 million. The EVPs of Operations and Human Resources made more than $1.6 million each. (Another executive, the EVP of media, was paid $26 million by an "affiliated" organization.)
All told, more than 54 percent of the organization's entire payroll went to five individuals -- the organization's top 0.0027 percent. The remaining 43 percent or so was divided among 1,851 employees -- the 99.9973 percent.
Now that's inequality.
Government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich
The NFL doesn't even make a profit -- at least on paper. To the IRS, it's a "nonprofit organization." But "nonprofit" work pays well for some. The top guy's salary has certainly soared in recent years:
A bipartisan bill called the "PRO Sports Act," which would have ended the nonprofit status of the NFL and similar organizations, appears to have died in committee. It's reasonable to assume that Goodell, the son of a Senator, had something to do with that.
Executives like Goodell -- or, for that matter, bank CEOs like JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon -- seem to be compensated more for their ability to influence elected officials than for their business acumen. On that score, at least, he's been a good investment. In addition to protecting its tax status, Goodell's NFL has brokered loans, bonds and tax concessions for its franchises.
Payback
The NFL had annual gross receipts of $184.3 million in 2010 -- and that doesn't include earnings for the individual franchises which own it. It reported $788,113,036 in total assets on the tax-exemption form which is its only public disclosure. It gave exorbitant salaries to its top executives -- and it paid no taxes.
Goodell's hypocrisy and apparent dishonesty is a shameful but very CEO-like display, one for which he's not likely to be held accountable...
...that is, unless he becomes a financial liability.
But that day may be coming. More than half of those polled by Reuters/Ipsos said that sponsors should sever their ties with the NFL over its handling of violence scandals involving Rice, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, and other players. A number of sponsors have said they don't want their ads running during games involving the Vikings or Rice's former team, the Baltimore Ravens, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
They say payback is a bitch. But in today's America, the only payback that matters is counted in cold cash. If the day comes that owners are forced to choose between Roger Goodell and their own profits, the response will be swift and sure. The commissioner's instant gratification will turn into instant karma.
Goodell will be fine, of course, no matter what happens. That can't be said about most Americans. We don't even now if it can be said about most NFL employees, who are paid so little while the few are paid so much.
As for Goodell's accomplishments, well... Under his leadership the NFL fought reports of player head injuries for years. Its security apparatus and legal teams have intervened when its players are arrested, often for violent crimes, securing special treatment which ordinary citizens don't receive. It has fostered a culture of misogyny, brutality, and amorality in the field of sport, whose stars were once considered examples for young people to follow.I guess Copenhagen Suborbitals was founded on dreams and the joy of solving difficult tasks however irrelevant it may seem. The commonality of everyone working this project (and supporting it) is the passion for technology, team work and problem solving.
For me personally, one of the most important part of this project is aesthetics. The images and videos produced are a direct result of tests or ambitions and serve the purpose of “paying” back supporters and keeping ourselves reminded what we are supposed to do and how cool it will be.
Copenhagen Suborbitals are not hiring any people but expands when it serves the purpose or when the right person shows up. This week Sylvester has begun a 6 months internship as an engineer and is already working hard on rocket engines and capsule systems.
Some time ago I was contacted by conceptual artist Carsten Brandt who does magic with a Wacom-pad and I had no hesitation in opening the doors and letting him go crazy with nice illustrations of our future-to-come systems and missions. Such illustrations are important. We need to visualize what this is all about and it may be the best way to show the world our plans.
Carsten has just created this nice illustration of Tycho Deep Space II during splashdown. Hopefully we will see this happening soon – for real.
Needless to say, Carsten has been struck by rocket fever and is no longer satisfied with doing only illustrations. Now, he wants to weld and build and are getting his hands dirty in the process of building TM65 engines and HEAT1600 propellant tanks.
For some reason, this change in behavior seems to hit everyone joining our project.
Welcome guys!
Ad Astra
Kristian von BengtsonCows moo, lions roar, and pigs oink. But for many years it's been assumed that, except for the occasional snort, giraffes spent most of their lives in a tight-lipped silence. New research from a group studying animal sounds at the University of Vienna suggests giraffes might not be so quiet after all: They spend their evenings humming.
For decades zookeepers reported occasional snorts as the only sounds their charges made. The conventional explanation was that the long necks of giraffes caused their taciturn nature. Giraffes do have a larynx (voice box), but perhaps they couldn't produce sufficient |
.
Mr. Amaral begins the video debrief with a question prompt: “What is one difference between owning a home and renting one?” Carolina thinks she knows the answer so she raises her pointer finger to signal that she would like to answer the question. “Everyone is tracking Carolina.” Her classmates shift in their seats to face her. “One difference between purchasing home and renting is that if you buy a home, then you may need a mortgage.” Mr. Amaral asks another question, “A mortgage? That’s a new word. Carolina, what’s a mortgage?” Carolina thinks for a second and looks down at her notes. “A mortgage is a loan from a bank used to purchase a home.” Mr. Amaral, pleased with her response, says, “Nice definition, Carolina!” “Can anyone else think of another difference between owning a home and renting one?” Mr. Amaral uses this class discussion to tease out other distinctions such as the need to save for a down payment, responsibilities for maintenance and repairs, tax benefits of homeownership, and homeownership as a real estate investment.
12:00 pm – Carolina and her classmates exchange morning materials for afternoon materials from their cubbies by group and line up for lunch transition. Lunch transition like all other transitions are silent for scholars, and staff and teachers communicate with warm and supportive non-verbal hand signals (which are reviewed during Student Orientation) or whispers when necessary. Until all scholars have their lunches at their pre-assigned seats by homeroom, scholars are silent for the first five minutes so they can focus on eating their meals. After 5 minutes, Ms. Pavao says, “Good afternoon, Argosy Collegiate Scholars. Because of the Excellence you have demonstrated in your behavior with our lunch period, you have earned Level 2 Talk (Scholars know this means they can socialize using restaurant voices)…
It goes on reader. On and on and on and on. Dismissal is still hours away, meaning that Carolina has SLANT, many more timers, binders, 3-2-1’s, 1-2-3’s, DREAM points, exit tickets, “I do, you do, we do,” Q2, FOCUS and enrichment to go before at last boarding the bus for her silent ride home. But there is good news. Once fifth grade draws to its inevitable end, Carolina will have only 1295 days of silence to go before she gets to college…
She is tired, but knows she is working hard to keep her seat in college. The day’s work is intense but every day brings Carolina and the other scholars one day closer to college and a more successful future – full of opportunity and the promise of independence.
Send reactions to tips@haveyouheardblog.com.Cecil replies:
Schroedinger, Erwin! Professor of physics!
Wrote daring equations! Confounded his critics!
(Not bad, eh? Don’t worry. This part of the verse
Starts off pretty good, but it gets a lot worse.)
Win saw that the theory that Newton’d invented
By Einstein’s discov’ries had been badly dented.
What now? wailed his colleagues. Said Erwin, “Don’t panic,
No grease monkey I, but a quantum mechanic.
Consider electrons. Now, these teeny articles
Are sometimes like waves, and then sometimes like particles.
If that’s not confusing, the nuclear dance
Of electrons and suchlike is governed by chance!
No sweat, though — my theory permits us to judge
Where some of ’em is and the rest of ’em was.”
Not everyone bought this. It threatened to wreck
The comforting linkage of cause and effect.
E’en Einstein had doubts, and so Schroedinger tried
To tell him what quantum mechanics implied.
Said Win to Al, “Brother, suppose we’ve a cat,
And inside a tube we have put that cat at —
Along with a solitaire deck and some Fritos,
A bottle of Night Train, a couple mosquitoes
(Or something else rhyming) and, oh, if you got ’em,
One vial prussic acid, one decaying ottom
Or atom — whatever — but when it emits,
A trigger device blasts the vial into bits
Which snuffs our poor kitty. The odds of this crime
Are 50 to 50 per hour each time.
The cylinder’s sealed. The hour’s passed away. Is
Our pussy still purring — or pushing up daisies?
Now, you’d say the cat either lives or it don’t
But quantum mechanics is stubborn and won’t.
Statistically speaking, the cat (goes the joke),
Is half a cat breathing and half a cat croaked.
To some this may seem a ridiculous split,
But quantum mechanics must answer, ‘Tough shit.
We may not know much, but one thing’s fo’ sho’:
There’s things in the cosmos that we cannot know.
Shine light on electrons — you’ll cause them to swerve.
The act of observing disturbs the observed —
Which ruins your test. But then if there’s no testing
To see if a particle’s moving or resting
Why try to conjecture? Pure useless endeavor!
We know probability — certainty, never.’
The effect of this notion? I very much fear
‘Twill make doubtful all things that were formerly clear.
Till soon the cat doctors will say in reports,
“We’ve just flipped a coin and we’ve learned he’s a corpse.”‘
So saith Herr Erwin. Quoth Albert, “You’re nuts.
God doesn’t play dice with the universe, putz.
I’ll prove it!” he said, and the Lord knows he tried —
In vain — until fin’ly he more or less died.
Win spoke at the funeral: “Listen, dear friends,
Sweet Al was my buddy. I must make amends.
Though he doubted my theory, I’ll say of this saint:
Ten-to-one he’s in heaven — but five bucks says he ain’t.”
Send questions to Cecil via cecil@straightdope.com.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
July 10, 2017, 6:56 PM GMT / Updated July 10, 2017, 10:34 PM GMT By Ken Dilanian, Frank Thorp V and Adam Edelman
WASHINGTON — The Senate Intelligence Committee is interested in talking to Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of the president, about his meeting with a Russian lawyer last June, a well-placed committee source tells NBC News.
Trump Jr.'s meeting raises a host of questions, the source said, including why the president's son would sit down with a Russian lawyer he says he didn’t know on the pretext of learning damaging information about Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Committee members on both sides of the aisle also expressed a desire to meet with Trump Jr. in light of his acknowledgment Sunday that he met with a woman who turned out to be a Kremlin-connected lawyer during the 2016 presidential election — after being told she allegedly had information that could help his father's presidential campaign.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who serves on the committee, told reporters Monday that she would like to see her panel speak to him, while Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the committee vice chairman, said he "absolutely" wanted to interview Trump Jr. and ask him "serious questions."
Trump Jr. tweeted Monday that he would be "happy to work with the committee to pass on what I know," though a spokeswoman for the Senate committee’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., would not comment on whether the committee plans to invite him before the panel.
According to a Trump Organization spokesman, Trump Jr. has hired a lawyer, Alan Futerfas, to represent him in connection with the Russia probes.
The White House said Monday President Donald Trump only became aware of the meeting between his son, son-in-law, campaign manager and a Russian lawyer in the "last couple of days."
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters off-camera Monday that the president's son "certainly" did not collude with Russians to influence the election.
The Senate panel is scheduled to begin its first interviews with Trump campaign officials later this week as the panel continues probing alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, another source familiar with the committee's work told NBC News.
The source did not have names of the officials to be interviewed, or the times of those interviews.
The committee's likely interest in the president's son stems from the revelation that Donald Trump Jr. met with the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, during the campaign, which was first reported by The New York Times Saturday. Trump Jr. responded with a statement confirming that the meeting occurred.
He said he attended "a short introductory meeting" with Veselnitskaya, where the topic of conversation was primarily about adoption. He added that the topic was not a campaign issue at the time and that there was no follow-up conversation.
“I was asked to attend the meeting by an acquaintance, but was not told the name of the person I would be meeting beforehand," he added in Saturday's statement. According to Donald Trump Jr., the meeting occurred in June 2016, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, and Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended.
Then on Sunday, The Times reported that Donald Trump Jr. attended the meeting after having been told that the person there had information that would be damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign. The Times article, which was based on conversations with three anonymous White House advisers, said news of the meeting represented the first public indication that members of the 2016 Trump campaign were willing to accept Russian help.
Donald Trump Jr. then released a more detailed statement after the report Sunday.
"I was asked to have a meeting by an acquaintance I knew from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant with an individual who I was told might have information helpful to the campaign," Trump Jr. said in Sunday's statement. "I was not told her name prior to the meeting."
He added that he asked Kushner and Manafort to attend but that they knew "nothing of the substance."
"After pleasantries were exchanged, the woman stated that she had information that individuals connected to Russia were funding the Democratic National Committee and supporting Ms. Clinton," he said. "Her statements were vague, ambiguous and made no sense."
Donald Trump Jr. said that Veselnitskaya did not provide any details or information that related to Clinton and that the topic of conversation turned to U.S. adoption of Russian children.
He claimed that the conversation continued to revolve around adoption and the Magnitsky Act, a 2012 law that barred Russian human rights abusers from entering the country. In response, the Russian government stopped U.S. families from adopting Russian children.
"It became clear to me that this was the true agenda all along and that the claims of potentially helpful information were a pretext for the meeting," Donald Trump Jr. said in Sunday's statement. "I interrupted and advised her that my father was not an elected official, but rather a private citizen, and that her comments and concerns were better addressed if and when he held public office."
The meeting lasted about 20 to 30 minutes, he added.
On Monday, the Kremlin said that it was unaware of the meeting and did not who the lawyer is, according to the Associated Press.
It added that Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that the Kremlin "cannot keep track" of every Russian lawyer and their meetings in Russia or abroad.
The Times had previously identified the lawyer as Veselnitskaya, a Russian national known to push the Kremlin's agenda and its continued battle against the Magnitsky Act.
"Obviously, I'm the first person on a campaign to ever take a meeting to hear info about an opponent... went nowhere but had to listen," Trump Jr. tweeted.
Music publicist Rob Goldstone confirmed to NBC News later Monday he was the person to “help facilitate” the meeting.
"I was asked by my client in Moscow — Emin Agalarov — to help facilitate a meeting between a Russian attorney (Natalia Veselnitzkaya) and Donald Trump Jr. The lawyer had apparently stated she had some information regarding illegal campaign contributions to the DNC which she believed Mr. Trump Jr. might find important,” Goldstone said in a statement.
“I reached out to Donald Trump Jr. and he agreed to squeeze us into a very tight meeting schedule,” he added. “At the meeting, the Russian attorney presented a few very general remarks regarding campaign funding and then quickly turned the topic to that of the Magnitsky Act and the banned U.S. adoption of Russian children — at which point the meeting was halted by Don Jr. and we left. Nothing came of that meeting and there was no follow up between the parties.”
Donald Trump Jr. has said his father did not know about the meeting.
Kushner did not initially include the meeting on his national security questionnaire, which his lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, said was filed prematurely.
Manafort and Kushner did not respond to NBC News' requests for comment, though Kushner's attorney confirmed on Saturday that the meeting did occur.
The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia was the mastermind behind a series of hacks and propaganda campaigns to interfere with the 2016 election. NBC News has reported that senior intelligence officials believe — with a "high degree of confidence" — that Putin was personally involved.
Special counsel Robert Mueller is leading a team of investigators that is looking into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russian government's campaign. The House and Senate intelligence committees are also looking into Russian interference in the election.
Ken Dilanian and Frank Thorp V reported from Washington. Adam Edelman reported from New York.WASHINGTON – Long before comedian Kathy Griffin trashed President Donald Trump, holding up a mock image of his bleeding head, she did something at least one Christian comedian says ruined her career.
Griffin’s real downfall, says Chonda Pierce, began in 2007 when she insulted Jesus at an awards show.
“So, now she wants to tear up and say Trump is ruining her career?” Pierce posted on Facebook. “(Is that yet another right-wing conspiracy!?) Sadly, I believe she started down that road of ruin in 2007.”
She also linked to a video of Griffin’s 2007 acceptance speech at the “Primetime Emmy Awards” where she targeted Jesus while collecting her award for best reality program for her Bravo channel show “My Life on the D-List.”
During her speech Griffin said, “A lot of people come up here and they thank Jesus for this award.”
“I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus,” she said. “He didn’t help me a bit. If it was up to him, Cesar Millan would be up here with that damned dog.”
Griffin continued, “So, all I can say is, suck it, Jesus! This award is my God now!”
Asked about her speech backstage a short time later, an unrepentant Griffin added, “I hope I offended some people. I didn’t want to win the Emmy for nothing.”
Pierce has been nominated for an Emmy Award and is often billed as a best-selling “clean comedian” and “The Queen of Clean.”
Get Joseph Farah’s new book, “The Restitution of All Things: Israel, Christians and the End of the Age”
“I’m a comedian,” wrote Pierce. “I must own up to every word that comes out of my mouth. It’s not my job to ‘cross the line’ as Jim Carrey said in defending her,” the “Queen of clean” wrote on Facebook. “Comics can hold a mirror up to society, we can push the envelope, but there is always a boundary. And right or wrong, there will ALWAYS be consequences.”
Griffin created a national uproar when she posed for a photo holding a fake severed head of the president last week. Hours after posting the picture, she pulled the image down and apologized.
At a news conference Griffin held on Friday, the 56-year-old and her attorney, Lisa Bloom, accused Trump and his family of “using their power to target her” but could not provide any proof, except to say that some venues were canceling her shows and she was receiving backlash on Twitter, even from liberals, and her mother was refusing to speak to her.
Griffin was also fired by CNN and will no longer be hosting the cable network’s New Year’s Eve special with her friend, Anderson Cooper, who also said her ISIS-inspired beheading image was disgusting, which shocked Griffin, who thought Cooper would have supported what she did. She also lost an endorsement deal with Squatty Potty, a line of bathroom footstools.Despite his parents' treatment, Lorenzo did not get better Lorenzo Odone, whose parents' battle to save him from a rare nerve disorder was depicted in the 1992 film Lorenzo's Oil, has died from pneumonia aged 30. Doctors had predicted he would not live beyond childhood when he was diagnosed with the incurable disease aged six. But his parents found what seemed to be a cure made of acids from olive and rapeseed oils. Lorenzo died at his home in the US state of Virginia on Friday - a day after his 30th birthday. He was suffering from aspiration pneumonia, which was caused by food getting stuck in his lungs. His father Augusto said: "He could not see or communicate, but he was still with us. He did not suffer... That's the important thing." Preventative treatment Lorenzo had Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a genetic disease that progressively destroys the brains of young boys. The disease leads to the build up of dangerous fatty acids - long-chain fatty acids - in the blood, and within a year children are paralysed, blind, and unable to speak. It is invariably fatal. Lorenzo was given less than two years to live but his parents refused to accept the doctors' prognosis. With no scientific training, they took on the medical establishment and set about finding a cure. In 1986 it seemed they had succeeded with a combination of oils that effectively reduced the long-chain fatty acids in the blood. Despite the fairytale ending in the film, the claims have always been controversial and children suffering from ALD continued to die, despite being treated with Lorenzo's oil. However, a 10-year study showed that while the oil does not appear to work for people who are already ill, it does seem to prevent illness in those whose genes make them vulnerable to developing symptoms. Augusto Odone said his son's ashes would be taken to New York and placed with those of his wife Michaela, who died in 2000. He added that he was planning to move back to his native Italy and write a book about his son. Actors Susan Sarandon and Nick Nolte played Augusto and Michaela in the 1992 film. Lorenzo was played by Zack O'Malley Greenburg.
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StumbleUpon What are these?Stopwatching.us: Internet companies and civil liberties groups call for investigation into the surveillance state
A coalition of Internet companies and civil liberties groups have signed on to an open letter to the Obama administration calling for increased transparency and sensible checks on the power of the American surveillance apparatus and its spy agencies. The signatories – including Happy Mutants, the company that owns Boing Boing – call on Congress to convene a committee like the Church Committee of the 1970s, to investigate the scope and legality of American surveillance. The entire letter – and its associated campaign – is at Stopwatching.us.
We are calling on Congress to take immediate action to halt this surveillance and provide a full public accounting of the NSA’s and the FBI’s data collection programs. We call on Congress to immediately and publicly:
1. Enact reform this Congress to Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the state secrets privilege, and the FISA Amendments Act to make clear that blanket surveillance of the Internet activity and phone records of any person residing in the U.S. is prohibited by law and that violations can be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a public court;
2. Create a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying. This committee should create specific recommendations for legal and regulatory reform to end unconstitutional surveillance;
3. Hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance.The Fugitive
GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Waiting for the tram in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, Abu Omar is on his way to the mall. No groceries today — his shopping list includes a Turkish-made tablet computer and a small GPS navigation device loaded with digital maps of the Middle East.
"It’s nothing special," says Abu Omar, an Iraqi national, as he puts the goods in his rucksack. "But this stuff might come in handy after I make it to Syria."
Abu Omar, a handsome young man with long black hair, is not the only one making the trek to Syria. Hundreds of Iraqi prisoners — mostly suspected or convicted jihadists — were freed in July after al Qaeda-linked militants staged a deadly jailbreak at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. At the time, Iraqi and Western authorities feared that some of those men would travel to Syria, helping to fuel the rise of extremist groups there. Those fears have now become a reality.
Abu Omar is one of the al Qaeda members who escaped during the Abu Ghraib prison break. He says six of his former cellmates have also made it to Syria. "Many more are on their way," he says in a strong Iraqi Arabic accent. "Everybody wants to go for jihad to Syria."
Abu Omar sees the Syrian war as much more than a struggle against a brutal dictator. For him, it’s a war against unbelievers, and its ultimate aim is the establishment of an Islamic government that transcends the borders of the modern Middle East. "Syria and Iraq are the same struggle to us," he explains. "Both governments in Iraq and Syria are run by unbelievers, so we will fight both. Syria is currently very weak and close to falling into the hands of the mujahideen [jihadists]."
Abu Omar refuses to give his exact age, saying only that he is in his 20s. We were able to contact him through a Syrian activist in Turkey known for his close links to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), al Qaeda’s branch in Iraq and Syria. The jihadi organization, which is an extension of al Qaeda’s longtime networks in Iraq, has been growing in prominence in Syria’s north and east and has even recently clashed with several more moderate rebel groups.
Abu Omar spent 26 months imprisoned in Abu Ghraib, which gained notoriety in 2004 after shocking pictures were published of American guards torturing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners. He was imprisoned on terrorism-related charges, but claims he is innocent of any crime. According to him, the experience of being locked up in Abu Ghraib led to his radicalization. "When I was in prison I met a lot of ISIS inmates," he says. "They convinced me of their ideas. Their ideology of creating a caliphate is the best, and I decided to join them in their fight."
The prison break gave him the opportunity to make good on his word. It was a massive operation: Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed that it used suicide bombers, rocket-propelled grenades, and 12 car bombs in the assault on the Abu Ghraib compound, freeing over 500 inmates. According to the Iraqi government, 29 security personnel were killed in the attack.
"The higher-ups within ISIS knew beforehand that Abu Ghraib would be stormed by our comrades," he claims. "So shortly before the attack, we started a huge riot from inside the jail to distract the guards. The mujahideen then entered the prison."
After breaking free, Abu Omar sought refuge in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, the traditional heartland of Iraq’s Sunnis. The area was once the center of an Islamist insurgency against the U.S. troop presence, and in more recent years it has become a hotbed of resistance to Iraq’s Shiite-led government and a crucial gathering point for jihadists bound for Syria.
Abu Omar stayed for a couple of weeks in an ISIS camp set up in Anbar. The camp’s leaders provided him with military training and showed him rousing videos of jihadi speeches and operations within Syria.
Later, Syrian jihadists visited the camp. "They explained to us about jihad in Syria," Abu Omar says. "I decided to go there because mosques are being destroyed and Muslim women are being killed by the kafir [unbelievers]."
He considers jihad in Syria "holier" than jihad in Iraq — a view he says is shared by other extremist fighters. "The Quran and the hadiths already predicted that Satan will be defeated in Damascus," he says.
After Abu Omar made up his mind to leave for jihad in Syria, he was given a cell phone by an Iraqi ISIS member whom he refers to as "my handler." Abu Omar is only allowed to call one number — that of his handler. The handler, meanwhile, uses his phone only to call Abu Omar’s number. It’s a precaution designed to protect the jihadi network — if Abu Omar or his handler is under observation, the authorities can only find one contact from each man’s phone.
Before he left for Syria, Abu Omar decided to visit a barber and shave his beard. This way he would not stand out as a religious man. Clean-shaven, he traveled north to Iraq’s Kurdish region, snuck into the part of northern Syria controlled by the Kurdish rebels, and then illegally crossed the border into Turkey.
Abu Omar’s handler told him to travel to the Turkish city of Gaziantep and gave him the address of an ISIS safe house there. He stayed for a couple of days at the safe house, where he met fellow ISIS members who entrusted him with $10,000. "This money is meant for the mujahideen of Syria. I’ll bring it to them," Abu Omar explains.
The day after Abu Omar went shopping, his phone rang again. "Please know that you will go tomorrow to Syria," he says his handler told him. "Be ready; somebody will pick you up."
On Sept. 18, Abu Omar was taken by a Syrian ISIS contact to the Turkish border town of Kilis, just a stone’s throw away from Syria. After illegally crossing the border into Syrian territory, he kissed the ground and prayed. Five minutes later, his new comrades picked him up and drove him to the nearby town of Azaz, where he disappeared into the fog of Syria’s war.0 LSD is making a comeback, but not in the way you'd expect
People looking to get an extra edge at work are turning to an illegal drug to boost their focus and creativity. They are microdosing LSD, which involves taking small amounts of LSD about twice a week.
“It helped me with focus and creativity,” said Paul Austin, founder of the The Third Wave, which educates people about microdosing. “For creativity, to help with problem solving, to give them a little bit more energy, kind of to get another extra edge on what they’re doing."
Paul Austin, founder of the The Third Wave which educates people about microdosing. WSB-TV Channel 2's Dave Huddleston traveled to Brookyln to meet with people using this practice and experts studying its effects.
Psychedelic music and swirls of color may be what comes to mind when you think of LSD, but some people in tech and entrepreneurs are using the illegal drug to boost their performance at work.
People who microdose told Huddleston it doesn't cause them to hallucinate but that doesn't mean it's without risk.
“It’s the classic acid trip that we worry about,” said Dr. Gaylord Lopez, Director of the Georgia Poison Center.
Lopez says the center has answered about 130 LSD calls in the past six years.
He said LSD can change your perception and behavior.
“I mean the symptoms can range anywhere from flashbacks to bouts of paranoia and delusional state,” said Lopez.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration warns:
“LSD is a schedule I drug and is illegal, regardless of the quantity. It simply has no accepted medical use and has a high potential for abuse. It is a risky proposition when you obtain illicit drugs from any source.”
Austin, who is not a doctor, says anecdotal evidence he’s collected suggests microdosing LSD can help people struggling with low levels of depression and social anxiety.
“It just made me less in my head and more present with people in the moment,” said Austin.
But he told Huddleston anyone with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, general anxiety and color blindness should not microdose.
As a coach, Austin does phone consultations in which he explains the basics of microdosing.
“I really help them to clarify what is your intention, why are you interested in this and then how can we utilize microdosing as a tool to accelerate that path of personal development,” said Austin.
LATEST INVESTIGATIONS:
Lopez explained there are healthy ways to give yourself that extra edge.
“You can’t beat the old-fashioned getting a good night’s sleep and nutrition and exercise,” he Channel 2's Dave Huddleston traveled to Brooklyn to investigate. WSB-TV said.
“I think it’s really relevant for this movement of self-optimization we’re seeing where a lot of people want to be their best selves,” said Austin.
Austin says he is not involved in helping clients get the LSD.
Right now, there isn’t much research about microdosing. Austin told Huddleston he wants to focus on raising money for research.
Tell us what you think of the idea in the comments on our Facebook post:
© 2019 Cox Media Group.Ah Carl. The gift that keeps on giving. I cannot get enough of Carl Crawford on the base paths. I don’t know why but he is so amenable to photoshop and being put into strange images. So here we go. Enjoy!
Once again Carl made the mistake of taking a turn down the wrong street. Feet don’t fail me now!
Waking up late is such a bad habit. Carl barely makes it to the dramatic slow walk
That was the absolute last time Carl helps Sherlock on one of his crazy cases.
Carl’s tropical vacation takes a turn for the worst
Last one out is lunch.
Where’s Carldo?
Carl fulfills his life long dream of running with the bulls.
If you have any other suggestions of where you’d like to see Carl running, hit me up on twitter. @Eephusblue
Update:
The Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland proves a little too realistic for Carl
Forrest and Carl refuse to back down to oncoming traffic
AdvertisementsItalian officials say the government has threatened to block foreign boats from delivering African migrants to its ports, declaring the situation to be “unsustainable”.
“We can’t go on like this,” a source told AFP after media reports that Maurizio Massari, Italy’s ambassador to the European Union (EU), handed a letter to the bloc warning the country was considering closing its doors to boats of migrants.
“The ambassador highlighted that Italy’s efforts have been enormous and well beyond international obligations, and under the current circumstances it is difficult for our authorities to allow further disembarkations of migrants,” an Italian diplomat told German news agency DPA of the meeting with EU migration Commissioner Dimitri Avramopoulos.
Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Italy “cannot go on like this”, and accused other EU nations of “looking the other way”.
The threat comes after local elections at the weekend saw the ruling, globalist Democratic Party (PD) suffer heavy losses at the ballot box to the centre-right Forza Italia and the anti-mass migration Northern League party.
More than 10,000 Africans were ferried from Libya to Italy between Sunday and Tuesday — with 5,000 arriving on Monday alone — and whilst the Italian coastguard coordinates the operations, a large number of the ships taking part are NGOs sailing under foreign flags.
A number of these organisations have been accused by Italian authorities of “colluding” with criminal people-smugglers to bring migrants to Europe. Prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro reported that phone calls were being made from Libya to NGO vessels offshore to help smugglers complete the final leg of the journey in a billion-dollar European smuggling operation.
Several of the NGOs have financial ties to globalist billionaire George Soros, who has openly admitted that his goal is to bring down Europe’s borders.
The Hungarian financier’s Open Society Foundations has provided funding to Médicins Sans Frontiéres (MSF) and Save the Children, whilst the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) receives major support from Avaaz.org, the European branch of the Soros-founded organisation Moveon.org.
Earlier this month, Breitbart London reported on the ousting at local elections in Italy of a mayor who had struck a deal with the Hungarian financier to turn the tiny island of Lampedusa into a gateway to Europe for migrants travelling from Africa.
In 2014, Giusi Nicolini signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Open Society Initiative for Europe (OSIFE), in which the then-mayor agreed to let Soros’s international funding network “help strengthen Lampedusa’s capacity [to take migrants] and promote the island’s population and its guests”.
Noting how, with so many African migrants arriving on boats, Lampedusa “operates in a state of chronic emergency”, the document said OSIFE would send “manpower and expertise” to set up “humanitarian” and “cultural” projects on the island and facilitate mass migration to mainland Europe.At least 10 families have moved back on to the Dale Farm travellers' site in Essex, days after bailiffs and council officials cleared the site.
The action to remove caravans and chalets from 51 unauthorised plots finished on Monday.
Basildon Council obtained an injunction to prevent reoccupation of the site.
However, caravans have returned to the half of the land that was cleared, with travellers saying they have been given nowhere else to go.
Basildon Council said it had re-served injunction papers after the families started to return.
'Continue enforcement'
Tony Ball, leader of the council, said officials had "reminded residents of the consequences of breaching" the injunction.
"These attempts to reoccupy the site are unacceptable and put them in contempt of court that could lead to a prison sentence," he said.
"I am very disappointed by these latest events, as Mr Justice McDuff was very clear that he would treat any breach of the injunction very seriously.
The council simply hasn't provided anywhere else for us to go Patrick Egan, Traveller
"The only way forward to the travellers in the long term is to obey the law, follow rules and regulations and co-operate with local councils like ours.
"If the law is being broken, we will continue to enforce, as we would with any member of the community and as the public expect us to do."
The existing legal site is also above its authorised capacity.
During the clearance operation, the council removed concrete and placed earth embankments across the six acre site in order to prevent travellers resettling on their old plots.
However, some travellers have parked alongside the plots.
One traveller, Daniel Sheridan, 67, said: "This isn't home anymore. It is cold and like living in a war zone.
"But we need to stay somewhere and can't be out on the road over winter."
Another, Patrick Egan, said he had been given permission to stay in his house on the illegal site.
He said: "I am allowed to stay but I don't want to. We have come back because we have nowhere to go.
Violent scenes
"We fully expect the council to serve notices on us, telling us to leave.
"If that happens, we will occupy car parks and roadsides in Basildon, anywhere that we can get access to.
"The council simply hasn't provided anywhere else for us to go."
Violence erupted when police and bailiffs moved on to Dale Farm on 19 October.
The clearance followed a decade-long row over unauthorised plots on the travellers' site.
At its peak, some 400 people lived on Dale Farm.This was the dramatic moment Jeremy Irons leapt to the rescue of Slumdog actor Dev Patel while filming in Cambridge.
Shocked onlookers watched as the star lost his footing and fell in to the cold waters of the River Cam as Irons jumped to his aid to give him a helping hand.
Usually it is overambitious punters who fall in to the river but on this occasion Patel got a soaking as part of a scene for his latest movie.
The pair were stood at the side of the river, playing onlookers, for their roles in The Man Who Knew Infinity in Cambridge.
As Irons vigorously applauded a punting race, the 24-year-old actor lost his footing and slipped down the bank into the cold river while clasping his text books as part of his role and had to wait to be rescued by Irons.
His crisp cream suit didn't last long, as Patel held aloft his two books to save them from the murky waters of the Cam.
The pair spent the day by the River Cam filming at Trinity College in the historic university city as they rehearsed and shot scenes for the Hollywood epic about Indian mathematician Srinivasa.
Based on the 1991 novel by Robert Kanigel, the film sees the character Srinivasa Ramanujan Lyengar, played by Patel, growing up in poverty in Madras, India, and earning admittance to Cambridge University during World War One.
There he becomes a pioneer in mathematical theories with the guidance of his professor, G.H. Hardy, played by Irons, who recognised his brilliance.British studio Weston Williamson has unveiled a trio of Hong Kong skyscrapers that "kiss" one another, designed to sit on top of a new high-speed railway line.
Proposed for Victoria Harbour, the high-rise complex is envisioned as a cluster of towers with heights of up to 440 metres, all arranged around a landscaped plaza.
The three towers are to feature tapered profiles, which will allow them to touch between the 21st and 25th floors. It is this connection that Weston Williamson describes as the kiss.
"The towers momentarily kiss, creating the main public spaces within the building," explained the architecture firm, whose previous designs include a shape-shifting stadium.
"Beyond this point, each tower recedes to leave three iconic diminishing towers sitting harmoniously in the Hong Kong skyline."
The project is named Arcology Skyscraper – using a term that combines the words architecture and ecology. It is one of a series of designs by Weston Williamson intended to emphasise the importance of transport-focused architecture.
The complex will encompass housing, offices and retail. It will be located directly above a high-speed rail line – a proposed extension of the new Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link, the new 88-mile-long route connecting Hong Kong to mainland China.
"The Archology Tower would not be feasible without the high-speed rail link underneath the new towers," said Weston Williamson.
The positions of the towers will help to divide the complex into three zones, creating a total floorspace of 250,000 |
"Equally concerning is the move at the department and in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia to once again squeeze out or close many public schools and replace them with charters, an approach that is becoming the new silver bullet," Weingarten said in a statement.
Duncan's late father, Starkey Duncan Jr., was a University of Chicago psychology professor. His mother, Sue, started an after-school tutoring program on the South Side, where Duncan and his siblings helped out.
Duncan led a Chicago nonprofit, the Ariel Education Initiative, from 1992 to 1998. He became a top aide to then-Chicago schools chief Paul Vallas in 1999 and then-Mayor Richard M. Daley picked Duncan for the top job in 2001.
At CPS Duncan was viewed as an innovator who opened dozens of new schools but drew fire when other schools were closed or consolidated. The district saw increases in some state test scores for seven years, though scores lagged behind the Illinois average.
University of Chicago Urban Education Institute Chairman Timothy Knowles said Duncan had "used the levers at his disposal as assertively" as any education secretary ever, though his tenure would be judged in the future.Up to 16 Afghan security forces servicemen have been killed in a US airstrike in Afghanistan, according to local police spokesman Salam Afghan. Washington says the incident was a case of friendly fire.
“In the strike, 16 Afghan policemen were killed including two commanders. Two other policemen were wounded,” Salam Afghan told AFP.
Omar Zwak, spokesman for the governor of Helmand Province, also confirmed the death toll to the news agency.
The friendly-fire incident occurred in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province late on Friday afternoon, the US military said in a statement.
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“During a US supported ANDSF [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] operation, aerial fires resulted in the deaths of the friendly Afghan forces who were gathered in a compound,” the statement reads.
The US military has notified the Afghan authorities and launched an investigation to “determine the specific circumstances that led to this incident.”
Washington hasn't yet confirmed the number of casualties.
The US and coalition forces have recently intensified their air operations in the country, dropping more munitions during the first half of 2017 than in all of the previous year.
In 2017, 1,634 munitions have been released in more than 2,000 combat sorties so far, according to figures disclosed by the US Air Force. Levels of military activity have reached those of the first half of 2012, which was the most “prolific” year for the US and its allies in Afghanistan.
According to former Pentagon official Michael Maloof, this case of friendly fire in Afghanistan and other such incidents are the result of a deeply flawed US strategy in the country.
“When you’re bombing from on high or sending in drones, they are inevitably going to be some civilian casualties involved because it's not as precise as having people on the ground,” Maloof told RT.
Read more
“If you’re going to take the military approach, that’s what you need – you need people on the ground that can guide the forces in the air to be accurate.”
“We don’t have that, and given the number of US troops that are in highly remote areas, they are sparsely spread out and sprinkled unlike the way they were before and their primary goal now is to contain and secure Kabul, the capital, which itself is continuously under attack, whether it’s by the Taliban or even ISIS (Islamic State). And so, it’s clear to me, there needs to be a new direction, a new strategy that needs to be undertaken, because what is happening right now is just not working.”
The surge in airstrikes coincides with a spike in civilian casualties, according to the UN. Some 232 civilians have been killed in airstrikes so far this year, compared to the 162 in the same period in 2016. Roughly half of the civilian casualties were inflicted by the Afghan Air Force.
Intensified fighting has apparently led to a rise in friendly fire incidents, affecting both coalition and local Afghan forces. Last month, three Border Police agents were killed when a US military aircraft “returned fire” during a joint operation by Afghan and American special forces. In April, two US servicemen were killed in a suspected friendly fire incident. The military was not able to immediately determine whether the firing was initiated by US or Afghani forces and launched an investigation into the incident.Even if you don't enjoy writing and have no intentions of becoming a professional tech writer, chances are you'll have to draft reports, mailing list updates, or technical articles at some point in your career. With a few practical tips in mind—along with solid writing advice from Stephen King—you can improve your writing before you start writing. And, with proper planning, you can easily repurpose your content for multiple audiences.
Before we dive into the writing part, let's assume you know what you are writing about and why you are writing. For example, you may be writing to:
let your community know about a bug fix or security update;
provide a project status update to a manager;
tell developers about a new process for submitting patches;
or to inform the press about the latest software release.
When you know what you're writing about and your purpose for writing it, you need to understand your audience.
Who is your reader?
Before you start writing, step back and make sure you've defined your audience. Broadly speaking, you can lump your readers into three categories: lay, managerial, and experts. On Colorado State University's open-access learning environment, the Writing Studio, Michel Muraski explains the three categories of audience:
The lay audience has no special or expert knowledge. They connect with the human interest aspect of articles. They usually need background information; they expect more definition and description; and they may want attractive graphics or visuals.
The managerial audience may or may not have more knowledge than the lay audience about the subject, but they need knowledge so they can make a decision about the issue. Any background information, facts, or statistics needed to make a decision should be highlighted.
The experts may be the most demanding audience in terms of knowledge, presentation, and graphics or visuals.... For the "expert" audience,... style and vocabulary may be specialized or technical, source citations are reliable and up-to-date, and documentation is accurate.
If tech journalists are the readers you're supposed to reach, and you don't have experienced PR teammates taking the lead, hold the presses. Read The Care and Feeding of the Press. Then read it again. If tech journalists are the only readers you're trying to reach, The Care and Feeding of the Press has you covered. Otherwise, read on.
Opensource.com readers, for example, can be lay persons, managers, or experts. We can assume that our readers have an interest in open source software, communities, or methodologies, but we cannot assume that they are all experienced developers. If we have an article that mentions microservices, for example, we shouldn't assume that all readers will know what that means, so we need to provide a definition or link to a resource. On the other hand, we don't need to explain documentation for anyone reading an article called When does your documentation need screenshots?, because we can assume only readers who write or have an interest in documentation will read it. (For great advice on writing project documentation, read RTFM? How to write a manual worth reading.)
Stephen King on writing
You've defined your audience, but don't start writing yet. Instead, grab a cup of coffee or a snack, and start reading.
Because I've been thinking about writing fiction, I've been reading lots of novels in my spare time. Last summer, I also read On Writing: A Memoir on the Craft, by Stephen King. Although his book is about writing fiction, many of his observations fit technical writing, too. To be a good tech writer, you'll need to read technical content.
1. Good writing requires reading
If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut. ~ Stephen King
Sure, you can write only when you have to, but expect it to be a struggle—perhaps even torturous—every time. And yes, plenty of writers aren't big on reading, but they aren't generally good writers, and what they write isn't necessarily worth reading.
If you've been given a writing assignment, be clear on the expectations. Reading examples will help. For instance, if your manager wants a project status update, reading an example update or a list of what information to include will help you meet expectations. If you are expected to contribute an event report to the company blog, read previous reports on the company blog or similar sites. Before writing an article for a tech publication, read several similar articles to get an idea of what the editors are looking for and what the readers expect.
After you've done your reading and you've got an idea on the expected outcome, take a moment to consider how your content might be re-used. If you plan to write about the same topic for several audiences, keep this in mind during the writing process. For example, while researching for a talk I'm giving at LinuxCon Europe, Speaking Their Language: How to Write for Technical and Non-Technical Audiences, I realized that writing an article first would make planning my talk easier. Had I planned my talk first, odds are I wouldn't have gone back to write the longer piece (in this situation, an article) later. In either case, the research would be the same, but one approach (write the article, then the talk) is a more efficient use of time than the other (write the talk... never get around to writing the article). Deciding that I could write for Opensource.com readers in addition to LinuxCon conference attendees helped me decide which piece to write first.
Example: Writing for expert audience (developers)
Greg DeKoenigsberg, VP Community at Ansible (a popular open source automation tool), needed to let developers know about a new process, so he wrote an announcement for the developer mailing list. In his message, New process for acceptance of new modules in Extras, he didn't need to define what Extras are because the ansible-devel mailing list audience should already be familiar with the term.
Greg's mailing list post would also work well for a Ansible developer blog post.
Example: Writing for lay audience (community)
Robyn Bergeron, Community Architect at Ansible, wrote about the same process change, but for a wider community audience. In her blog post Ansible Extras Modules + You: How you can help, Robyn's audience isn't narrowed down to a mailing list of Ansible developers, so she defines her audience in the first sentence:
This brings us to a second lesson from Stephen King.
2. Invite the reader.
You can go back and revise your introduction later, but start with a sentence or two that grabs a reader's attention and tells them what to expect.
An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this. ~ Stephen King
A strong introduction also helps you, the writer, stay focused on your audience and objective.
3. Tell a story.
Stephen King has lots of advice for storytelling, which is what tech writers are doing.
When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. ~ Stephen King
Anything not essential to the story can be left out. Are you writing a HowTo for getting started with an open source graphics program? Consider linking to the installation instructions on the project's site, unless they aren't available in the documentation.
4. Leave out the boring parts.
When people ask me how long their articles should be, the answer is as long as necessary. Unless you're writing in a confined space (for example, a one-page printed magazine), word count is pretty flexible. But if you've found that you've written more than 1,000 words for a technical article, or 500 words for a project update, re-read your text to see whether you've accidentally included boring parts. King says to leave those out.
Mostly when I think of pacing, I go back to Elmore Leonard, who explained it so perfectly by saying he just left out the boring parts. This suggests cutting to speed the pace, and that’s what most of us end up having to do (kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your ecgocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.) ~ Stephen King
If you have much more than 1,000 words, and no boring parts, consider breaking your piece into smaller, more digestible chunks, such as a two-part series.
For example, Greg's post to the ansible-devel mailing list omits details about developing modules. Instead, he provides a link to module guidelines. After all, he wasn't writing for an audience of Ansible module developers, so he could leave out those boring parts.
In the example blog post to a wider Ansible community audience, Robyn provides a brief background:
Folks who keep an eye on the various Ansible repositories have probably noticed that your friendly neighborhood Ansible community team... have been digging through a pretty sizable backlog of issues and pull requests, primarily in the Extras and Core modules repos.... One of the main issues we’ve identified is, quite simply, bottlenecks in process...
After stating the problem, she explains the solution:
And thus: A new process has been born. I encourage you to read the details, particularly if you are interested in helping with reviews, or are already contributing to Ansible, which were outlined by Greg on Friday on the ansible-project and ansible-devel mailing lists. That said, here are the important highlights...
For the community audience, Robyn links to the boring parts, which include Greg's post for the more technical audience, and Ansible documentation, module guidelines, and how to contribute.
Outlines
In addition to a strong introduction, an outline can help you stay focused on your audience and goal. Here are a couple of sample outlines:
News or community announcement:
Introduction (invite the reader in)
Provide a brief background (state the problem)
Share the news (explain the solution)
Conclude (include important dates or action items)
Technical article, tutorial, or whitepaper:
Introduction (invite the reader in)
Provide a brief background (state the problem)
Share the news (explain the solution)
Get technical (HowTo steps, FAQ)
Conclude (include important dates or action items)
Depending on what you're writing, you may want to include additional resources after the conclusion, such as documentation links, press contacts, or community resources, such as links to social media accounts, IRC channels, and mailing lists.
The Care and Feeding of the Press suggests including a fact sheet with a press release, but the list of facts to include also works well for project updates and announcements. A fact sheet should include:
What the product is
When it was first released
What platforms it runs on
What the configuration requirements are
How much it costs
Contact people for the press
URLs and other contact information for the general public
What the product is, when it was first released, what platforms it runs on, configuration requirements, and cost are good to include in the beginning of an announcement or article.
After you've finished your draft, take a break and revisit it with fresh eyes. Before making revisions, getting input from a couple of colleagues is a good idea. If you don't work with anyone who has lots of writing experience and knows your subject, reach out to your network. Ideally, you want feedback from someone who will be brutally honest and thorough, not someone who will stroke your ego. In any case, remember that you don't have to accept all suggested revisions if you don't agree with them—your name is attached to your writing, so plan to take responsibility for what ends up in the final draft.
5. To edit is divine.
To write is human, to edit is divine. ~ Stephen King
Don't take criticism personally; instead, approach it with an open mind. For example, recently a colleague told me to cut almost a third of an article out of my draft because I had the beginnings of two incomplete articles, instead of one complete story. He was right, and my article was better because I accepted his suggestion.
Now you've decided what to write about and who you're writing for. You've done your research. You've sketched an outline. And you know how best to edit whatever you write. What's next?
6. Start writing.
The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better. ~ Stephen King
More writing tips
Doc
Dish
This article is part of the Doc Dish column coordinated by Rikki Endsley. To contribute to this column, submit your story idea or contact us.Allegra Ringo, Kevin Dorff, Josie Long and Thomas Nelstrop join host, Dave Holmes for transatlantic pop culture quizzing and face-friendship.
Allegra Ringo is on Twitter @AllegraRingo and wants to plug her own MaxFun podcast Can I Pet Your Dog and her Fast and Furious parody show which is playing at the UCB Sunset in LA on December 14th at 5.30pm. Allegra recommends the FX comedy show You're The Worst.
Kevin Dorff wants to plug Review on Comedy Central, which he's been writing for and recommends Showtime's The Jam About The Young Idea.
Josie Long recommends the new Joanna Newsom album and the British comedians Nish Kumar, Sara Pascoe and James Acaster.
Thomas Nelstrop in on Twitter @ThomasNelstrop and recommends The Smokes at the UCB.
Dave Holmes is on Twitter @DaveHolmes and hosts his live quiz show, The Friday Forty at LA’s Meltdown Theatre on the second Friday of every month.
You can let us know what you think of International Waters and suggest guests through our Facebook group or on Twitter.
Written by Sarah Morgan and Asterios Kokkinos, produced by Jennifer Marmor and Colin Anderson.Nicole Mullet has a secret. Actually, it's more like a covert mission.
Deep down, the executive director of the 2-year-old ArtsNow initiative fantasizes that her efforts to bolster and legitimize Akron's creative community will lure her brother Adam, a Seattle-based artist, back to Ohio — specifically Akron.
Adam may not be packing his bags yet, but thanks to Mullet and ArtsNow, the Summit County arts community is moving in the right direction. Institutional leaders are meeting regularly — something that wasn't happening just a few years ago. Arts patrons now can easily find activities and events of interest — that too had been missing. Perhaps most importantly, artists are getting work or advice they might not have had access to in the past.
In two short years, GAR Foundation president Christine Mayer said, ArtsNow has "had a really tangible effect on a lot of arts groups and made their work and presence more viable in the community."
Akron illustrator and painter Kevin Smalley, for example, said ArtsNow was the "starting line" for a cascading series of job opportunities that began with a classified ad on the organization's SummitLive365 website and culminated in a commission with Ohio Arts Council and his work being permanently exhibited at OAC's Columbus headquarters.
In addition, the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition selected Jessica Lofthus, one of the first artists to list her profile in the SummitLive365 directory, to create a 400-foot mural for the Cascade Plaza parking garage as part of its iTowpath beautification process.
Outside of Akron, ArtsNow was instrumental in the formation of a fledgling arts council in Cuyahoga Falls and instituted community dialogue in support of a burgeoning arts district in Barberton.
"We definitely would not be where we are at without the support of ArtsNow," said graphic designer Molly Hartong, co-director of Collide: Cuyhoaga Falls. "People in the Falls had not heard about what we were trying to do, but they were excited about ArtsNow, and the fact that ArtsNow was supporting our effort gave us some credibility.
ArtsNow launched in 2015 as a vehicle to make citizens more aware of the artistic events and cultural gems around them and to strengthen ties among the creative contingent. It was not formed on a whim. A 2013 study confirmed what Mayer and her colleagues had been hearing for more than a year.
While the Akron area was home to a vibrant arts community — more artists per capita than peer cities, Mayer said — residents did not know where to go to find out about showings or artists' talks or dance productions, for example. The study also unearthed a lack of communication among artists and art organizations.
"The sector wasn't behaving like a sector," said Howard Parr, executive director of the Akron Civic Theatre and an ArtsNow board member, "and we needed to get ourselves together and talk to one another and start to be pulling all along the same path."
So GAR, the Knight Foundation, Akron Community Foundation, Burton D. Morgan Foundation, and Mary S. and David C. Corbin Foundation supplied the funding to establish ArtsNow. The nonprofit's first order of business was SummitLive365, a website listing of arts events in Summit County, which Mullet said has been wildly successful as the go-to spot for all things culture.
On any given day, she said, there are between 600 to 1,000 event listings on SummitLive365, "which is incredible and speaks to what the assessment in 2013 told us. There are things happening here. People just didn't know about them."
The website also includes a classified section and directories where artists and art organizations can create profiles — both of which have been surprisingly fruitful.
"That's been the biggest surprise," Mullet said. "These directories, while unsexy, have been some of the most valuable work that we have done because we are starting to build that community beyond just the usual suspects."
ArtsNow also began convening individuals in the arts community to create connections and foster a sense of unity that had been absent. Parr said the executive directors of area organizations such as the Civic, the Akron Art Museum and Nightlight Cinema now meet quarterly. Other meetings target development executives and marketing professionals within arts organizations, or individuals artists or artists' collectives.
A recent meeting involving community art centers mashed up more established organizations, such as the Cuyahoga Valley Art Center, with newbies like Hive Mind on West Exchange and Pump House — an arts center planned for the vacant Pump House building next to Summit Lake — to discuss programming ideas, inspiration and even management issues, such as where to go for insurance.
ArtsNow's early efforts are exciting, but another big benefit of having an arts point person has been the newfound influence the sector enjoys in Akron and countywide, according to Mayer and Parr. When Akron mayor Dan Horrigan or Summit County executive Ilene Shapiro gather stakeholders to discuss neighborhood development, placemaking population growth or social services, Mullet is at the table.
"Nicole is right there with data about the sector, and she can pull together artists and arts groups to come forward and meet needs that government officials or private sector people have," Mayer said. "She's just become this really important connective tissue between the arts and culture sector and other parts of our community."
Mullet is quick to credit not only the foundations supporting ArtsNow, but also city and county officials who have been supportive and appear eager to help in the next phase of the organization's strategic plans, which include a pretty ambitious plan to measure and track the art sector's economic impact in Summit County.
"There would have been no better place than Summit County and Akron to launch something like this — this scrappy startup with these really robust goals — because once you explain why, everyone is on board," Mullet said.American Indian law expert Robert A. Williams, Jr. discusses the legacy of US government-American Indian relations on this week’s show. Williams explains how modern concepts of American Indian rights continue to stem from outdated models of thought. In both popular culture and the US legal system, he talks about lingering views of natives as “wards of the state,” as well as deference to the “Doctrine of Discovery,” the idea that Europeans’ “discovery” and conquest extinguished American Indian rights to the land.
Click through the timeline below to view some of the most influential court cases and political decisions that continue to define policies for the 5.2 million people who identify as American Indian and Alaska Native, either alone or in combination with one or more other races.
Katie Rose Quandt reports and produces for BillMoyers.com. She was previously a senior fellow at Mother Jones and has written for America, In These Times and Solitary Watch. Follow her on Twitter: reports and produces for BillMoyers.com. She was previously a senior fellow at Mother Jones and has written for America, In These Times and Solitary Watch. Follow her on Twitter: @katierosequandtPhoto Credit: US State Department Screenshot
In what can only be described as a complete about face, State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert would not make any statements endorsing or committing to the two-state solution for the Arab conflict with Israel.
Nauert said, “The President has made it clear that that is one of his top national security issues – one of his top priorities, I should say more correctly. We want to work toward a peace that both sides can agree to and that both sides find sustainable. Okay? We believe that both parties should be able to find a workable solution that works for both of them.”
This is particularly interesting in light of the recent statements by the Palestinian Authority ahead of the US delegation’s visit to the region, demanding the US clarify and confirm its endorsement of the two-state solution.
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It very clear the Palestinian Authority received their clarification, just not the one they wanted to hear.
Nauert slaughtered another sacred cow when she pointed out the abject failure of the two-state solution to bring peace,
“It’s been many, many decades, as you well know, that the parties have not been able to come to any kind of good agreement and sustainable solution to this. So we leave it up to them to be able to work that through.”
Back in February, during PM Netanyahu’s meeting to the White House, President Trump said, “I’m looking at two-state and one-state, and I like the one that both parties like.”
It seems the President’s message trickled down to State.
The discussion on Israel begins at 14:24 in the video.
MS NAUERT: Okay, can we – let’s move on. Said, you want to talk about Israel? Okay.
QUESTION: Yes, absolutely. I want to talk about the delegation’s visit. On the eve of the visit, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that he still does not understand what is the U.S. strategy regarding this effort that is ongoing. I mean, why are you so loath to say – to commit yourself – to recommit yourself to the two-state solution?
MS NAUERT: Look, we’ve talked about this since the first —
QUESTION: Right.
MS NAUERT: — day I got up here, and that is the importance of Middle East peace for this administration.
QUESTION: Right, but —
MS NAUERT: The President has made it clear that that is one of his top national security issues – one of his top priorities, I should say more correctly. We want to work toward a peace that both sides can agree to and that both sides find sustainable. Okay? We believe that both parties should be able to find a workable solution that works for both of them.
QUESTION: Right.
MS NAUERT: We are not going to state what the outcome has to be. It has to be workable to both sides. And I think, really, that’s the best view as to not really bias one side over the other, to make sure that they can work through it. It’s been many, many decades, as you well know, that the parties have not been able to come to any kind of good agreement and sustainable solution to this. So we leave it up to them to be able to work that through.
QUESTION: So are we departing from the long-held position that the outcome – the best possible outcome that everybody agrees upon is the two-state solution, a Palestinian state that lives side by side with Israel?
MS NAUERT: Look, our policy on this hasn’t changed.
QUESTION: Okay.
MS NAUERT: Okay? You can ask me the same question every time we sit down here together, but the policy hasn’t changed. (Laughter.)Nihilumbra is an existentialist platforming-fan's dream, with plenty of puzzles and unsettling presentation to make players feel isolated and challenged by their environment. Though the title's arrival is a tad late on Wii U, it is nonetheless admirable how much life developer Beautifun Games has breathed into this adventure centered around themes of death and darkness.
The story of Nihilumbra is presented unobtrusively through text that appears as players navigate across the landscapes. There is an impressive range of options for the voice that narrates this story, though we found that silencing this voice and reading the text ourselves made for a better experience (luckily this is an option). We follow a strange creature born from the "Void" who escapes his dark world to explore our own while on the run from the same Void which wants desperately to reclaim the part of it that escaped.
As the player clears levels the narrator laments how progressing through each area destroys it, since the void chases us relentlessly. During our journey, we are faced with the idea of our protagonist's own awakening as a living being versus the destruction we bring to our new home by simply existing in it. The themes here are not ever fully explored beyond much of an abstract level, but they do create a very uncomfortable backdrop that fleshes out the atmosphere and gives players an interesting impetus for making progress. Nihilumbra may at times take its protagonist's struggle with the meanings of life and death particularly seriously at times, but this doesn't distract from the methodical yet charming setting.
In most ways Nihilumbra is a standard puzzle-platformer, albeit one with a very grim atmosphere. The only actions our protagonist is capable of include running and jumping, as well as pushing boxes and activating switches. What makes this experience really stand out, however, is the ground physics mechanics. As players encounter a new area, they will find a flower which gives access to a new "color," or ability. This ability is utilized by touching the Wii U Gamepad and "painting" the walls, floors, or ceilings with a particular colour (which can switched between using the shoulder buttons). The first colour we came across was blue, which makes surfaces slippery. Applications for this particular colour include gaining enough momentum to jump a gap, or pushing an otherwise-immobile box.
There are five worlds in total, which means five colours (in addition to an "eraser"), and Beautifun has done a fantastic job of designing puzzles which make great use of all of these. There are sometimes multiple solutions to a puzzle, and often times using the brute force or the easiest thing that comes to mind will not suffice. The puzzles in Nihilumbra are designed to make players think, and they succeed to that end. Unfortunately, the credits roll somewhat abruptly; the positive is that there is more to do, so disappointed is quickly turned around.
The objectives in these latter stages are geared around clearing the world of the Void that our hero is responsible for spreading (accomplished by simply making it to the goal). These stages do not introduce any more colours, but are incredibly challenging (but never unfairly so). This is where the real meat of the game can be found, and where more advanced players can really challenge themselves.
Overall, the controls are tight and easy to pick up, even in situations where drawing and moving at the same time is necessary. There were just a couple of times when we felt that progressing was based on trial and error, which was frustrating, but fortunately these instances were few and far between. There's also a co-op mode that allows one player to simply focus on spreading colours with the GamePad, which is a neat way to share the experience. Additionally, a concept art gallery is gradually populated as players progress, but no guidance is provided for exactly how to unlock these. The art is beautiful to look at, but knowing exactly how to unlock it would help add some concrete replayability to the experience.
Nihilumbra's visuals are exceedingly engrossing. The protagonist's movements, as well as those of enemies, are detailed and charming, and the hand-drawn landscapes and backgrounds are gorgeous. The art style is a delightful mix of creepy and cute, and every single element feels perfectly in place. Though the atmosphere has much to do with the beautifully-directed art, it can also be attributed to the great sound design and music. The tunes are hauntingly pretty and fit every level well, and the sometimes-harsh sound effects of the environment and enemies serve as a sobering contrast to the fragility of our hero. The entire presentation is spot on, which is vital in atmospheric platformers like this.Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R) and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei (L) wave during their press conference after Mashaie registered his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election Photo by BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images
He may be president but that doesn’t mean he’s exempt from Iran’s justice system. Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could face 74 lashes or six months behind bars if he is convicted of breaking election rules. On Sunday, the Guardian Council, Iran’s constitutional watchdog, said it will seek possible charges against Ahmadinejad for accompanying his chief adviser to register for elections the previous day, reports the Associated Press. Ahmadinejad isn’t running in the June 14 presidential election because he isn’t allowed to seek a third term. But he has tried to push his protégé, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, as his natural successor.
Mashaei was one of the two potential candidates who shook up the presidential race Saturday, when former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani also said he would throw his name in the ring. Until Saturday, it was widely believed the election “would be fought between conservative candidates loyal to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,” reports the Washington Post.
Anyone interested in running in the election was required to sign up by Saturday afternoon. More than 400 people have expressed interest, but the vast majority will be disqualified, explains the Los Angeles Times. The Guardian Council, which is made up of senior clerics and jurists, vets candidates and determines who is qualified to run. The final ballot will likely have fewer than six candidates.O Serviço de Segurança da Ucrânia - SBU (Security Service of Ukraine), deteve Rafael Lusvargui (ou Lusvarghi), que lutava como mercenário no Batalhão Viking do DPR. Grupo apoiado pelos Russos na invasão da Crimeia e Donbass. A prisão ocorreu na manhã de quinta-feira (06OUT2016), cerca de 09:00 horas local.
Guerreiro profissional se formou como Polícia Militar (PMSP). Tem especialidades e habilidades: em montanhismo, militar operador de rádio militar, esqui. Também sabe como capturar e manter os reféns e trabalha com explosivos.
A partir de 2002, o brasileiro, visitou quase todos os "pontos quentes" em todo o mundo.
Na Ucrânia desde Setembro de 2014 e nas palavras do Serviço de Segurança “um assassino profissional”, de 32 anos, entrou no território ocupado da Ucrânia e se juntou ao Batalhão "Viking". Ele tomou parte nas operações de Verhulivky, Pervomaisky, Gorlovka, Starobeshevo, Debaltsevo e no aeroporto de Donetsk.
Trabalhou em estreita colaboração com os serviços especiais russos. Coordenou os treinamentos de outros combatentes e formou uma bateria de morteiros constituída por estrangeiros.
Ao cruzar a fronteira da Ucrânia no terminal «D» no aeroporto Internacional "Borispol", em Kiev, o brasileiro foi detido pelo Serviço de Segurança da Ucrânia, com a assistência do Serviço de Fronteiras do Estado.
Durante a inspeção dos pertences pessoais (ver vídeo), a polícia encontrou passaporte brasileiro, identidade militar da chamada “Ordem DNR" assinado pelo líder dos rebeldes Strelkova para a condecoração de uma medalha por ações em combate e um laptop, que contém conversas e emails com representantes de membros de grupos terroristas.
Segundo o site do Serviço de Segurança da Ucrânia foi aberto um processo penal nos termos da Parte. 1, art. 258-3 (criação de um grupo terrorista ou organização terrorista) do Código Penal da Ucrânia.
Chama a atenção das autoridades de inteligência a yentativa de sair pela Ucrânia, pois ele tinha entrado na região pela Rússia.
Para uma descrição detalhada das atividades de Rafael Lusvargui como Black Block em São Paulo e algumas atividades na Ucrânia veja a reportagem da revista Isto É :
“Matei quatro soldados e precisei comer cachorro”, diz brasileiro que luta na Guerra da Ucrânia Link
Vídeo disponibilizado na página do "Security Service of Ukraine".
Matérias RelacionadasDuring World War I and World War II, the Swiss Confederation maintained armed neutrality. Consequently, it was of considerable interest to belligerent states as the scene for diplomacy, espionage, and commerce. Additionally, it was a safe haven for refugees.
World War I [ edit ]
Alliances in Europe in 1915. Switzerland (yellow) found itself surrounded by members of opposing alliances
Swiss officers' barracks in the Umbrail Pass during World War I
Switzerland maintained a state of armed neutrality during the First World War. However, with two of the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) and two of the Entente Powers (France and Italy) all sharing borders and populations with Switzerland, neutrality proved difficult. From December 1914 until the spring of 1918 Swiss troops were deployed in the Jura along the French border over concern that the trench war might spill into Switzerland. Of lesser concern was the Italian border, but troops were also stationed in the Unterengadin region of Graubünden.[1] While the German-speaking |
time online and meet/challenge other players.
Walking
This update will also include the ability to take of your skis or snowboard and walk. This is a feature that many of you have asked for, and we’re excited to finally add it to the game. Simply stop riding and use the quick select menu to take off your skis or snowboard and enter walking mode. This feature will also be available in multiplayer, allowing you to easily hang out on the mountain and watch other players lap the park or session a backcountry kicker.
Multiplayer Improvements
Finally, in this update we hope to address some of the biggest and most noticeable issues in SNOW’s online experience. Primarily, this has to do with syncing player positions to the server, and interpolating them so that other players don’t ‘warp’ around while riding near you. We also want to re-implement ragdolling so that you can watch yourself crash and flail around in all of its wonder while riding with your friends. Enough with the gravestones!
And finally, the dessert of this blog post…
The Road to 1.0
Between the next few updates and our launch of SNOW 1.0 we have a lot to do – both to improve the quality of the game, but also make the game a sustainable business. While SNOW has been successful so far, it does not currently generate enough monthly revenue to finance the game’s on-going development without the need of additional investments from our generous shareholders. For SNOW to continue growing, we need to improve the ‘business’ side of the game. To achieve this, we have planned a bunch of new features that we hope will improve our key metrics in 1.0.
While we’re not ready to give finite details on what these features are, I can at least share some ideas we’ve discussed for this update.
Competitive Elements
We see users falling into 3 main groups – those that enjoy simply exploring the world, those that compete in events and complete challenges, and those that are happy lapping the park or picking a single jump to session for a while. Since one of our underlying fundamentals when designing SNOW is to never get in the way of what the player wants to do, we want to create an overarching competitive element that everyone can take part in, without affecting their play style. What we’ve come up with is the Mountain League that ranks players against each other based on your activity in-game.
It works like this: once you reach Level 10 you will be automatically ranked into a division based on how many points you earn on average during your gameplay sessions. Then, as you continue playing and end sessions, finish events, complete challenges etc. you will influence your rank. Every week you will have a chance of being promoted into a higher division. Everyone’s division rank will be visible in multiplayer and at the end of each season (roughly 3 months) players in each division will receive a different reward.
Progression Elements
In addition to your level progression (which we are reviewing for this update as well), we are also adding a brand reputation system so that you can earn reputation with your favourite brands. To mimic real life athlete sponsorship, we wanted to create more of a connection between players and brands. The brand reputation system will track what equipment and clothing you are wearing when you end session and earn you reputation points towards those brands. As you earn reputation levels with brands, you will unlock rare and exclusive items from them.
Skill Tree
We’re investigating a skill tree for SNOW. With this feature you would earn skill points every time you level up and then spend the points on different skills that affect your play style. These skills won’t suddenly make you a better player, but will give you the ability to focus your character on the aspects of the game that you identify with. Currently, the three skill categories we are considering are exploration, competition and style. Here are a few Skill that we’re currently discussing:
No poles (Style)
Stronger push (Competition)
Increase rewind length (Exploration)
Additional Session Markers (Exploration)
Bigger multiplier on Line Score (Competition)
Bonus score when tweaking grabs (Style)
We think that the skill tree will allow players to better differentiate themselves from each other and provide another level of individualization on the mountain.
Snowmobile and Drone Improvements
Both the drone and snowmobile were initially implemented with very simple physics and mechanics. These features have become core elements to gameplay, and tools that nearly all of you use to navigate and explore the mountain. Therefore, we want to go back and improve the features to make sure their gameplay is as authentic and fun as possible.
Xbox One
Finally, I’m happy to say that we have started preparations to bring SNOW to the Xbox One this year. This is not an official announcement, but I wanted those of you with an Xbox One that have been patiently waiting to play SNOW to know that the wait is nearly over.
SNOW 1.0 will be launched on PC, PS4 and Xbox One simultaneously as a free-to-play game. We can’t say when exactly 1.0 will launch, but we are doing everything we can to make sure it happens before the end of the year. The Xbox One version of SNOW will also include some exclusive outfits and content, but we’ll be making more official announcements about that and the actual launch at a much later date.
So there you go – a pretty detailed look at what we’ve been up to so far this year, and what’s to come. Again, as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, all of these plans can change or shift, and features might get cut or added. As you’ve seen in the past, our updates can get delayed, so don’t get too hyped until we announce an actual date.
Thank you all for your continued patience and feedback as we continue developing SNOW into the genre-defining game that we believe it has the potential to become. We are a small team with limited resources, but thanks to your support and feedback we have made it this far. We can’t wait to see how the game progresses with the next several updates.
See you on the mountain!
/AlexanderMany of us have had the misfortune of receiving a package that has been roughhoused in transit, and we might not have even realized it until we burrowed through the cardboard and tape. Cambridge Consultants' upcoming DropTag might just serve as the insurance we need. The badge can detect a drop or other violent motion, like earlier sensors, but carries Bluetooth 4.0 to transmit data and alerts in real-time to a mobile app, whether it's on the courier's smartphone or a tablet at home. As one watch-grade battery could power the sensor for weeks, we could know whether the box took a tumble at the warehouse or at the door -- a help not just for customers wanting their items intact, but for companies that can avoid delivering already-broken goods. At less than $2 in raw costs, DropTags would be cheap enough to slap on many packages. We just need Cambridge to line up clients to make this a reality and, just possibly, prevent a few overly hasty couriers from long-bombing our orders.Secrets of the Star Disc - transcript
NARRATOR (THUSITHA JAYASUNDERA): Deep inside this ancient mine is the key to one of Europe’s biggest archaeological mysteries. It’s a story that begins with a robbery from a burial site in the dark heart of Europe. Its hero is an archaeologist with a taste for adventure. There’s even an international police hunt, an undercover sting involving agents from two countries. At its heart is one small piece of bronze.
Prof MIRANDA ALDHOUSE GREEN (University of Wales): It’s the find of a lifetime, indeed the find of several lifetimes. What it’s doing is making people think for the first time, a society that can make this is, is complex, is sophisticated, it’s intellectual.
NARRATOR: This is the extraordinary tale of how one small bronze disc is rewriting the story of how civilisation may have first come to ancient Europe.
NARRATOR: This forest in Eastern Germany contains some of Europe’s oldest human settlements. People have lived and died here for thousands of years. But now the tombs of these ancient dead attract a modern breed to the forest, grave robbers. No one knows just how many objects they have scavenged. But archaeologists have been powerless to prevent it.
DR HARALD MELLER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION) (State Archaeologist, Saxony-Anhalt): When the Berlin Wall came down black market dealers flooded over from the west and handed out metal detectors. So now we’ve got the problem of people running all over the forests looking for burial sites.
NARRATOR: In 1999 three men came combing through this forest with metal detectors. After several hours they found themselves in a small clearing near a hilltop. Suddenly their detectors came alive. With a pickaxe they tore in to the earth. And after a brief struggle the earth gave up a treasure it had kept safe for over three thousand years. What these robbers didn’t realise was that they may have dug up one of the most significant archaeological finds of the century. For they had found an object that would change how we think about one of the most important times in all human history, the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age dawned some four and a half thousand years ago. It was a time when the trappings of true civilisation appeared. A full two and a half thousand years before the birth of Christ humankind took a giant stride forward. At least so it was around the Mediterranean. Here great architecture flourished.
DR BILL MANLEY: If you think about the traditional classical world in Mediterranean, North Africa, the Near East and Middle East. You’ve got cultures which have developed monumental architecture. They developed sophisticated housing. So urban civilisation is well established in the Eastern Mediterranean.
NARRATOR: With civilisation came astronomy and philosophy. And vitally they found ways to record all this new knowledge so that it could be preserved for future generations.
DR BILL MANLEY: By the Bronze Age writing is used in every area of Egyptian culture. It’s used to record religious texts in temples and in people’s tombs. But it’s also being used by thinkers. And every aspect of what it is to be human today is, is, is talked about by the ancient Egyptians. It’s the means by which their ideas and values can be passed on from generation to generation.
NARRATOR: But in the dark heart of Northern Europe it seemed to be an altogether different story. Here there were no great cities, no early forms of writing, no signs of philosophy. Instead crude lumps of rock were arranged in to mystifying monuments. They clearly meant something. But knowledge of their true purpose has not survived. What evidence archaeologists did find pointed to an altogether more primitive society. Among these remains were spears and axes, and above all swords. And they have sealed Bronze Age Europe’s reputation as a place of darkness and even savagery.
Prof RICHARD HARRISON: Swords appear, true swords appear round about seventeen hundred BC, over much of central and north western Europe. And we have thousands of swords. A sword really only has one function. Their design shows quite clearly that they could not be used for hunting animals because you have to get so close that the animal would run away. And the only real purpose for them is to be effective stabbing or slashing weapons against another person, against a human being, they’re for killing men.
NARRATOR: So this was the conventional image for Bronze Age Europe. An unsophisticated place ruled by the sword. Very different from the sophisticated civilisations of Egypt and Greece, but all that was before the discovery of the disc. In May 2001, Harald Meller had just been appointed Head Archaeologist at one of Europe’s most important Bronze Age museums, the Museum of Halle in Eastern Germany. One morning a colleague took him aside and showed him some photographs, they would change his life. These snapshots were taken by the gang who had plundered the forest near his museum just a couple of years earlier. They showed a fantastic hoard of what seemed to be bronze age treasure. There were jewels, tools and swords. But there was something else too, a disc of exquisite design.
DR HARALD MELLER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): It was a thirty centimetre bronze disc covered with golden decorations. But the real sensation was that the golden decorations formed a picture, and this was something completely unheard of from the Bronze Age. It looked to me like the most significant archaeological find I’d ever seen.
NARRATOR: It was now that an extraordinary thought formed in Harald Meller’s mind. By rights the disc should have been safe in his museum. Instead it was rumoured to be circulating on the black market with an asking price of a quarter of a million pounds. So he decided he personally would track down the criminals and rescue this disc for science. After a year of sleuthing a meeting was arranged in one of Europe’s black market hot spots, Basel in Switzerland. Harald Meller thought he’d finally tracked down the disc and its sellers to the Hilton Hotel. But a third party was also interested in this transaction, the Swiss Police, Meller had tipped them off.
Chief Inspector PETER GILL (Basel Public Prosecutor’s Office): When Dr Meller entered the Hilton Hotel he was constantly observed. We were observing entrances, we knew who came in, who left. We saw what Dr Meller was doing.
NARRATOR: An elaborate sting was underway and archaeologist Harald Meller was the bait.
DR HARALD MELLER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): Thus inside the hotel I was met by a blonde woman. She asked me to accompany her to a restaurant downstairs. Sitting there was a thin grey-haired man.
NARRATOR: Meller asked to see the disc but the couple seemed to be stalling.
DR HARALD MELLER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): I said I would have to verify the authenticity of the disc, could they please show me the disc. He said nothing but produced a sword from his bag, and he handed me the sword and asked me to analyse that instead.
NARRATOR: Meller produced some chemicals to test the bronze sword, but the disc was still nowhere to be seen, and now he grew nervous.
DR HARALD MELLER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): I wasn’t sure where the disc could be. I didn’t know, there was nothing in the suitcase, for all I knew maybe a gun. But the disc was too big to be in there. But finally the man opened his coat and his shirt and from underneath his shirt he produced something wrapped in a towel. He opened the towel and inside was the disc and he handed it to me. Chief Inspector PETER GILL: In the room there were police officers so we saw what was going on.
NARRATOR: And with the disc now in Meller’s hands the police swooped. Chief Inspector PETER GILL: They expect everything these two, but they never expected the police.
NARRATOR: The couple were arrested, the man was handcuffed and they were taken away. And for the first time Harald Meller really took in the disc. There inlaid in gold was the reason why it had been called magical. An incredible picture of the sky, with the sun, moon and what seemed to be stars. Nothing like this had ever been seen before.
DR HARALD MELLER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): I was completely amazed and astounded, and it was a very important moment in my life.
NARRATOR: Safely back in Harald Meller’s museum in Germany the Nebra Sky disc, as it had become known, sent the archaeological grapevine buzzing, because it wasn’t just a good find, it was an incredible find. And some archaeologists suspected it was all just a little too incredible.
Prof RICHARD HARRISON: When I first heard about the Nebra Disc I thought it was a joke, indeed I thought it was a forgery. Because it’s such an extraordinary piece that it wouldn’t surprise any of us that a clever forger had cooked this up in a backroom and sold it for a lot of money.
NARRATOR: so Dr Heinrich Wunderlich, the Chief Scientist of the museum was called in to determine the authenticity of the Nebra Disc. His laboratory is the first port of call when Bronze Age artefacts are found. He suspected verification would depend on one thing alone, corrosion. Corrosion occurs when metal comes in to contact with oxygen from the air. The disc certainly looked corroded. The green layer of corrosion had formed on its surface. But Dr Wunderlich knew that that didn’t mean the disc was genuine.
DR HEINRICH WUNDERLICH (Archaeology Service, Saxony-Anhalt): The problem for archaeologists is that corrosion can be faked.
NARRATOR: Fake corrosion can fool all but the most expert of specialists. So now he began to analyse the disc in forensic detail. Corrosion forms in crystals. The larger the crystals the longer they had taken to form.
DR HEINRICH WUNDERLICH: When I saw down the microscope I saw structural which was like bubbles.
NARRATOR: And these bubbles of corrosion were huge. Much bigger than anything a faker could produce.
DR HEINRICH WUNDERLICH: This can not be made artificially. You can't fake time.
NARRATOR: While they couldn’t give the exact age, the giant corrosion crystals confirmed that the disc was genuinely ancient. It was a revelation that was about to have even greater significance. Because something was about to be uncovered that would transform the disc from being merely a great find in to a worldwide sensation. It was all to do with the images on the disc. The moon and the sun were clearly visible, that in itself was stunning. But between them were mystery dots, what seemed to be stars. So astronomer Professor Wolfhard Schlosser was called in to try and identify them. Were these just random images or did they mean something more? Could Bronze Age Europeans have been advanced enough to have mapped the stars? First Professor Schlosser isolated the largest group of stars. These were spread out in a pattern across most of the disc. Then he ran them against the computer program to see if they would match with the stars in the night sky. But there were no matches. These stars it seemed were just decorations.
Prof WOLFHARD SCHLOSSER (University of Bochum): The stars on the disc are only meant to be a background, a decoration in something like this. Of course looking like the starry sky, but nothing more, no consolations.
NARRATOR: But then his attention turned to the small cluster of seven stars right between the sun and the moon. It seemed to form a distinct pattern like a constellation. Professor Schlosser quickly realised that of the constellations known in the time of the Bronze Age the cluster resembled one above all others. The Pleiades.
Prof WOLFHARD SCHLOSSER: The Pleiades is very well known in Greek, in Mesopotamia, in Russia, it’s a very important star or star group. And so the Pleiades are the first candidate on our list.
NARRATOR: The Pleiades is one of the most mystery constellations in the cosmos. With the benefit of telescopes we now it consists of eleven main stars. But several of these are barely visible to the naked eye. Usually only six or seven can be seen. So Schlosser turned to the oldest images of the Pleiades that he could find, tablets and scrolls from the east. And there he saw a wonder. The Pleiades drawn with just seven stars. An image just like on the disc.
Prof WOLFHARD SCHLOSSER: I nearly had tears in my eyes because it came to as a surprise to all of us because we would imagine such a find in Egypt or Mesopotamia but not in central Europe, central Germany. And so it was fantastic to all of us and I nearly had tears in my eyes yes.
NARRATOR: Mapping the stars has been one of the great achievements of humankind. It is a task that has obsessed scholars and scientists for thousands of years. But no one knows when or where he first started to understand their movement, or write this knowledge down. What is for sure is that in the civilisations of the eat Egyptians and Babylonians depicted their important constellations as animals. But realistic star images did not appear until 1400 BC in Egypt. These had always been considered to be the oldest known to man. But all that seemed to have just changed. Everything now hung on the exact age of the disc. Was it really older than anything found before? Could it really date from before 1400 BC? Because the disc was made of metal they were unable to use the most accurate technique, carbon dating. So they turned to another method called associative dating. The disc had been found in the same hole and had the same soil level as two swords. Swords of a very particular design. The idea was that the age of these swords and the disc could be fixed. By comparing them with similar objects that had been successfully carbon dated. So Meller examined the swords in minute detail, and then he compared those details with every known type of Bronze Age sword. Eventually he came across pictures of swords that looked exactly like those from the hoard, and the date was stunning.
DR HARALD MELLER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): Using the swords we could securely date the disc to 1600 BC.
NARRATOR: 1600 BC, it made the Nebra Sky disc the oldest accurate picture of the night sky in all history. Two hundred years older than the oldest images found in Egypt.
DR HARALD MELLER (ENGLISH TRANSLATION): The disc is the earliest concrete astronomical representation of the stars in the sky. It’s the first representation of the universe in human history.
NARRATOR: Suddenly an amazing question began to loom. Was early European man really an astronomer more advanced than his counterparts in the great Mediterranean civilisations? Or could there be an altogether less dramatic explanation? The disc contained not only an image of the stars but also a moon and an image of the sun. And beneath it a curious golden curve. And it was now that the hard questions began. It was Flemming Cowell who threw a spanner in the works. At the Danish National Museum he has built up an incredible collection of ancient images of ships, carved in to rocks, all over Northern Europe. They’re represented as curves, often surrounded by tiny strokes. But these are not images of seafaring ships.
DR FLEMMING KAUL (National Museum of Denmark): These ships we see carved on the rocks of the north. They are not ordinary ships in our practical sense. They are not sailing ships just for fun or for transport. No they are ships of the religious world.
NARRATOR: Flemming Kaul now made a vital connection between these religious ship images and the curve on the Nebra disc.
DR FLEMMING KAUL: Both in the north and on the Nebra disc we see the ship together with the sun, helping the sun over the hills or through the night, through the underworld. I believe that the ship on the Nebra disc is the sun ship.
NARRATOR: The sun ship was one of the most potent and enduring images of all pre-history. And it originated not in Europe but in Egypt. Ancient Egyptians believed that their most powerful deity Rah, the sun god, travelled through the night sky on a boat so that in the morning he could be reborn at sunrise. But what was an Egyptian idea doing on this allegedly European disc? There was now a new and disturbing possibility for the archaeologists. First there was the Pleiades, an image known to be important in the near East. Now a sun ship, a potent symbol from Egypt. In other words perhaps the sky disc itself wasn’t European at all. Perhaps the disc had simply been passed by traders from the advanced East, and had somehow wound up in the hands of primitive Europeans. The importance of the disc now hung in the balance. It was either the most sensational find of the Bronze Age, or more likely a trinket from the East. Then along came Professor Schlosser the astronomer, he had noticed yet another feature of the Nebra Sky disc. As well as the sun ship there was shallow curves on the side. Again they seemed to be very deliberate shapes.
Prof WOLFHARD SCHLOSSER: I didn’t know what they were but I measured the angle and it was eighty two degrees.
NARRATOR: Eighty two degrees is a very specific angle, and it reminded him of something that Europeans had known since the earliest times. For it is here that between the high mid-summer sunset and the low mid-winter sunset the sun is seen to travel around eighty degrees along the horizon. Since prehistoric times ancient monuments have been aligned to mark these solstices all across northern Europe. But the precise angle varies from place to place. Further north it would be ninety degrees. To the south just seventy degrees. In just a tiny band of central Europe would the suns journey measure exactly eighty two degrees. And as Professor Schlosser returned to the site of Nebra, in Germany, where the disc had been found, he realised something that was beyond coincidence.
Prof WOLFHARD SCHLOSSER: That’s where the sun sets mid-winter. That’s where the sun sets mid-summer. The angle between both is precisely eighty two degrees. This angle responds to the journey of the sun between summer and winter for this specific latitude right here in Nebra.
NARRATOR: In other words if the golden horizon bands did mark the solstices then the disc really could have been made in Europe, right at the place where it was found. But with so much at stake hard scientific evidence was needed. The archaeologists called in Professor Ernst Pernicka. He tests ancient metal to discover where it has come from. He had long nurtured doubts of the origins of the disc.
Prof ERNST PERNICKA (University of Tubingen): I knew scientifically it was unique, it was very interesting, it was a sensation. But when Harald Meller and I myself sat together we thought about various aspects of the, of the disc, like the boat. The questions come by themselves, of course you want to know if the disc came as a souvenir from the Mediterranean. But to know this it is important to know where the metal comes from.
NARRATOR: So Pernicka’s task was to determine if the disc was actually made from European or Mediterranean metal ore. Five hundreds metres inside this mountain, deep in the Austrian Alps, an expert guide eventually led him to the remains of Bronze Age copper mines.
Prof ERNST PERNICKA: It is important to try and get as, come as close to the spots, to the locations where the ancient miners actually obtained their ore. This is, this is the material that we can compare with the copper that was found in Nebra.
NARRATOR: But would this metal match the metal of the Star disc? Back in Professor Pernicka’s lab the origins of the Nebra disc could finally be revealed by scientific analysis. Copper contains a unique fingerprint by which it can be identified. This fingerprint is based on something called lead isotopes. These are radioactive atoms and they vary from location to location around the world. Professor Pernicka now used a mass spectrometer to identify the different fingerprints for ores from the Mediterranean and Europe. He then had to compare them with a tiny chip from the disc. First he registered the fingerprint of the Mediterranean copper.
Prof ERNST PERNICKA: The Aegean would plot here, and Cyprus would plot here.
NARRATOR: Then he marked where the fingerprint of the copper from the Alps came out.
Prof ERNST PERNICKA: The question is where does the Nebra disc plot, does it plot here or here? And the result is it plots right up here.
NARRATOR: The fingerprint of the Sky disc was the same as the fingerprint of the metal from the very heart of Europe.
Prof ERNST PERNICKA: These deposits here can not have provided the copper here for this disc. This is hundred percent sure.
NARRATOR: There was now no doubt, this ancient image of the stars was European. It seemed that in some ways European Bronze Age man really was as sophisticated as the civilisations of Egypt and the East. But now they had to figure out what did the disc mean to those Europeans who had made it? Professor Miranda Aldhouse Green thought she had the answer. An expert in Bronze Age religions, her starting point was that in those ancient times most pictures weren’t for decoration alone. They had a meaning, often a sacred meaning. And when she looked at the disc she gradually began to piece together a mosaic of religious symbolism.
Prof MIRANDA ALDHOUSE GREEN: As we began to put the thing together it gets better and better.
NARRATOR: First there was the sun, worshipped at Stonehenge and all across Europe as the bringer of life.
Prof MIRANDA ALDHOUSE GREEN: The sun is absolutely central to northern European Bronze Age religion. There’s a clear connection between the sun and life. If the sun disappears then life comes to an end. The next piece in the jigsaw, a crescent moon.
NARRATOR: The moon had been associated with cults from Germany to Scotland. It was used as a symbol to mark the passage of time.
Prof MIRANDA ALDHOUSE GREEN: Time is something because inexplicable in the past. And if you can control time and if you understand time then you are a powerful, a powerful human being.
NARRATOR: And then of course there was the horizon band marking the sun’s sacred solstices in central Europe.
Prof MIRANDA ALDHOUSE GREEN: We can see that what is represented is something which marks the summer and the little solstices at sunrise and sunset. So an immensely complex picture is beginning to build up.
NARRATOR: Alongside all these symbols from north and central Europe there was also the sun boat, found as far away as Egypt.
Prof MIRANDA ALDHOUSE GREEN: We have mythologies from this period which tell us that the sun during the night travelled by means of a solar boat.
NARRATOR: And lastly of course there were the stars.
Prof MIRANDA ALDHOUSE GREEN: Perhaps the most spectacular thing to see is the final piece in the jigsaw. And these are the Pleiades.
NARRATOR: The Pleiades was important in the ancient civilisations of Mesopotamia and Ancient Greece. It appeared in March and disappeared in October, vital dates for Bronze Age farmers.
Prof MIRANDA ALDHOUSE GREEN: We know from Greek writers that the Pleiades were used as an agricultural marker, so that farmers knew when they should do certain agricultural activities. So what the Nebra disc does is to tell people not only the right time to do it but it is the blessed time to do it.
NARRATOR: The sun, the moon, solstices, a sun ship, the Pleiades, five great religious themes. All had been glimpsed before in isolation or in ones or twos, spread out across Europe and the Middle East. But now it seemed that the makers of the disc had them all together for the very first time.
Prof MIRANDA ALDHOUSE GREEN: Seeing them all together, that’s the important thing, I mean that was what was so mind blowing for me. You’ve got all together the sun and the moon and that, that by itself would have been exciting enough. But not only that but you’ve got symbol upon symbol piling on to this disc.
NARRATOR: In the dark heart of Europe an area traditionally seen as primitive and uncivilised, three thousand six hundred years ago it seems that a complex religion had taken root. Drawing on influences from across the known world.
Prof MIRANDA ALDHOUSE GREEN: These symbols are all part of a complex European wide belief system. Whereby people looked at the heavens, worshipped them, worshipped the sun, worshipped the moon, aligned their monuments on the sunrise or the moonrise. And because Nebra has brought all these symbols together it tells us for the first time perhaps what people were really seeing, perceiving and believing. It’s not too presumptuous to make a comparison between this disc and a biblical text, the Old Testament. In a way the Nebra disc is a visible of that version of that kind of encoded sacred message that we find in the bible.
NARRATOR: So this was the great revelation of the Nebra Sky disc, it was a bible. Bronze Age European man had been able to codify his entire religious belief in a simple portable form. This could not have been the work of a primitive uncivilised people.
Prof MIRANDA ALDHOUSE GREEN: We’re dealing with people who had tremendous ability, not only a technological skill, but also immense intellectual ability. They were able to conceive of their world, they were able to represent it. There is tremendous imagination here, and there is an ability to encode information and beliefs and pass them down from generation to generation.
NARRATOR: Here in the supposed dark heart of Europe something profound and complex was happening three thousand five hundred years ago: civilisation was dawning.The Spurs manager will be replaced at White Hart Lane in the summer, but was always fighting a losing battle as he learned on the job after taking over from Andre Villas-Boas
SPURS TO REPLACE SHERWOOD
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY Heavy defeats to Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool convinced Spurs chairman Daniel Levy that he cannot afford to wait for Sherwood to learn on the job. His chopping and changing between sitting passively in the stands and screaming on the touchline reflected a man who is still experimenting has not found his comfort side.
His sensational post-match criticism of the players after the 4-0 defeat to Chelsea in March and other poorly chosen public statements have also exposed a naivety that has been brilliant for journalists, but not with the people who really matter - the fans and the players.
Sherwood will point to the fact that he was never given a pre-season to build his own squad having taken over mid-season from Andre Villas-Boas with players who were bought for the former manager, such as Paulinho and Roberto Soldado. He knows that some of the players are not playing for him.
Sherwood wanted to shake up the squad in the close season and bring in experienced Premier League players following the failure to integrate the seven signings from abroad last year.
He wanted players like Ashley Cole, James Milner, Adam Lallana and Romelu Lukaku but won’t have the opportunity to truly show the kind of side he’s capable of producing.
But he has made some decisions that leave the squad in healthier shape than when he arrived.
Adebayor has been in stunning form since being brought back from the cold, scoring 13 goals in 19 matches since the managerial change, Eriksen looks like the one great piece of business from last summer’s £100m-plus spending spree, while youth team players Nabil Bentaleb and Harry Kane have become part of the first-team squad.
Spurs still have an impressive squad and following the world record £86m sale of Gareth Bale last summer, they know they have missed a huge opportunity to capitalise on uncertainty and transitional periods at other clubs.
The target at the start of the campaign was to finish in the top four and qualify for the Champions League but they may not even secure a place in next season’s Europa League.
The campaign has cost two managers their jobs and now Levy will look towards another summer of change in north London. Franco Baldini, the club’s technical director, is also expected to lose his job in the summer.
Louis Van Gaal and Mauricio Pochettino are the two men who have been identified as potential replacements for Sherwood and both offer completely different profiles to each other.
For now, Sherwood will make sure to enjoy his final five games because if he’s going to go down, he’s going to do it his way.
By Greg Stobart Tim Sherwood has only been a manager for four months, but in that time he has become one of the most entertaining and controversial characters in the Premier League.He did not disappoint on Monday as his Tottenham team responded to the news that he will lose his job in the summer with a thumping 5-1 victory over Sunderland at White Hart Lane.On the touchline, Sherwood ranted, raved and saluted. When one supporter reminded him of the news he had been hearing all day - that he won’t be in charge next season - the 45-year-old clapped and nodded enthusiastically, a huge smile across his face.Gallows humour was the order of the day, while Sherwood kept his dignity in his post-match interviews as he was grilled about Tottenham’s decision to make yet another managerial change despite only appointing him in December on an 18-month contract.“It's an honour to manage this football club and if you have any questions about my future you'll have to ask my employers,” said Sherwood."I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me, it's been a great opportunity and I'm very proud to manage here."Sherwood has been much derided by the Spurs fans and although he has made mistakes, his win percentage of 58.8 per cent is better than any manager at the north London club in the Premier League era.There are signs of a promising manager in Sherwood for all the bluster about passion and heart. He is honest, charismatic and is a strong judge of a player’s strengths and weaknesses.Sherwood’s major problem has been that it felt as though he was on the brink of the sack almost from day one. He has always been swimming against the tide with the players, the board and the fans at White Hart Lane.Columbia Police Make Three Arrests in Homicide
COLUMBIA - Columbia Police officers arrested three suspects Wednesday for the homicide on West Texas Avenue Tuesday.
Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Darrius Edwards, 22, of Columbia for second degree murder. Edwards' bond is set at $1,000,000 cash only. Edwards is currently being guarded by officers at the hospital until he is released. After he is released, Edwards will be formally booked and taken to the Boone County Jail. He was charged Wednesday.
Columbia Police officers also arrested Deshai Richardson, 23, of Columbia and She'aun Prince, 22, of Columbia. Both are charged with second degree murder. A judge will set both of their bonds later.
Columbia Police said Edwards, Prince, Richardson and Derrick Brookins planned to rob a home at 920 W. Texas Ave. Police said Edwards and Brookins were armed with handguns when they entered the unlocked residence. Edwards and Brookins struggled with the homeowner and the homeowner shot at the suspects hitting both Brookins and Edwards and killing Brookins.
Edwards, Richardson and Prince then fled the scene and |
a better life. Crop failures continued into the 1850s and famine relief programmes became semi-permanent operations. During the ten years following 1847, from throughout the Highlands, over 16,000 crofters were shipped overseas to Canada and Australia.
Pull factors [ edit ]
Canada had plenty of land and jobs and new opportunities, which created a pull factor. The government made certain potential immigrants knew of the advantages, sending agents to recruit Irish and Scottish emigrants to settle in western Canada between 1867 and the 1920s. The Canadian government hoped to develop the economy in the sparsely populated western part of the country. It set up offices in towns in Ireland and Scotland, and agents went up and down the land pasting up attractive posters, giving lectures, handing out pamphlets and trying one-on-one to persuade farmers and laborers of the virtues of life in Canada. Although many people agreed to emigrate, the agents faced competition from the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, and opponents of emigration warned of hardship in Canada. The agents did not create 'emigration fever,' but they did tap into a sense of restlessness that, if nurtured, could result in a decision to emigrate.[12]
Cultural influence [ edit ]
Nova Scotia [ edit ]
The Scots have influenced the cultural mix of Nova Scotia for centuries and constitute the largest ethnic group in the province, at 29.3% of its population. The name of Nova Scotia literally means "New Scotland" in Latin, and its flag was designed as a combination of the Scottish Saltire and the Royal Arms of Scotland.
Nova Scotia was briefly colonized by Scottish settlers in 1620, although by 1624 the Scottish settlers had been removed by treaty and the area was turned over to the French until the middle of the 18th century. Scottish settlement greatly accelerated during the resettlement of Loyalists in Nova Scotia following the end of the American revolutionary war, and especially following the Highland Clearances in Scotland.
The Gaelic influences of Scottish immigrants continue to play an important role in defining the cultural life of the province, especially in its music. According to the 2006 census about 900 Nova Scotians are fluent in Gaelic languages (the census does not distinguish between Scottish Gaelic/Canadian Gaelic and Irish Gaelic), and about 6,015 in all of Canada.[13] However, the Nova Scotian Office of Gaelic Affairs estimates there are currently around 2000 Scottish Gaelic speakers in the province and notes the enduring impact of institutions such as the Gaelic College in Cape Breton.[14]
Dalhousie University in Halifax, the largest university in the Maritime provinces, was founded in 1818 by Scottish aristocrat George Ramsay as the only Gaelic college in Canada.[citation needed] St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish was also founded by a Scot — Colin Francis MacKinnon, a Catholic bishop.
Murdoch (1998) notes that the popular image of Cape Breton Island as a last bastion of Gaelic culture distorts the complex history of the island since the 16th century. The original Micmac inhabitants, Acadian French, Lowland Scots, Irish, Loyalists from New England, and English have all contributed to a history which has included cultural, religious, and political conflict as well as cooperation and synthesis. The Highland Scots became the largest community in the early 19th century, and their heritage in music, folklore, and language has survived government indifference, but it is now threatened by a synthetic marketable 'tartan clan doll culture' aimed primarily at tourists.[8]
Quebec [ edit ]
Scots have long and historic ties with the province of Quebec. The early Scots who arrived in the province were crofters and fishermen. When the Don de Dieu sailed up the St. Lawrence River during the first wave of colonization of French Canada, it was piloted by a Scot, Abraham Martin. The first British governor of Quebec was also a Scot, James Murray. He received the keys to the city gates from the French commander, Major de Ramezay, who was himself of Scottish descent, as many Scots had been employed by the French since the time of the Auld Alliance.
Large groups of Scots, chiefly from Ross-shire, arrived on the ship Nephton in 1802 to settle in Quebec. Many of their descendents have become prominent in the business, financial and religious activities of Montreal. Many early settlers from Tryon County, New York came here, in what was then wilderness. They were joined by many Highlanders during the Revolution, and after the War had ended, by a whole regiment of the "King's Royals."
McGill University was founded in 1821 with revenue from the estate bequeathed by James McGill, a merchant and politician who had emigrated from Glasgow. Its first head was Scotsman John Bethune, a pupil of Strachan (who was prevented from assuming the position only by a delay in its foundation). Another wealthy Scot, Peter Redpath, was responsible for financing the museum, the library and a University chair.
Ontario [ edit ]
Glengarry County in modern day-Ontario is a historic region with lots of Scottish background. This is because it is the site of where many Scottish Highlanders settled after the Highland Clearances. Scottish Gaelic / Canadian Gaelic is a spoken language in the county, but the number of speakers has declined to a great degree. Maxville Public School in Maxville, Glengarry still offers the language. Also known in the region are the Glengarry Highland Games where many Scottish competitions are held to celebrate Scottish Culture. The chief Scottish town in Glengarry was Cornwall, located in modern-day Ontario. It was reinforced in 1786 when The McDonald arrived at Quebec from Greenock with 520 new pioneers. Soon immigrants came from all parts of Scotland to make it one of the most important Scots-Canadian communities. The Glengarry clansmen managed to get away from their homelands before the British Government's embargo during the war with Napoleon. Many other retired officials from the Hudson's Bay Company joined the Glengarry Settlements. Another famous Scottish area that came to exert great influence in Ontario was the Perth Settlement, another region of Scottish and military origin. Unemployment and suffering following the end of the Napoleonic Wars caused the British government to reverse its former policies and actively encourage emigration. In 1815, three loaded transports set sail from Greenock for Upper Canada: the Atlas, the Baptiste Merchant and the Borothy. After the War of 1812 ended, many soldiers from the disbanded regiments joined them. In 1816, some Scots-Irish from Ulster arrived in the area. Many Perth families became prominent in both provincial and national governments.
An educational institution of Scottish origin is Queen's University in Kingston "the Aberdeen of Canada", founded largely through the efforts of noted scholar George Munroe Grant. Numerous educational institutions have Scottish influence, one being Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute, a secondary school located in Toronto, Ontario. The crest contains a map of Canada and the symbols of the Macdonald clan: a white coronet, a mailed fist, and crossed crosslets. Red, Royal Purple, and White, which predominate in the tartan of Sir John's family clan, Clanranald.
British Columbia [ edit ]
The first governor of the crown colony was the Scot, Sir James Douglas, often referred to as the Father of British Columbia. Scottish influence has been an important part of the cultural mix in metropolitan Vancouver and British Columbia. The St. Andrew's and Caledonian Society of Vancouver was founded in 1886, the same year as the city. On St. Andrew's Day, 1887, the society held a grand St. Andrew's Ball in McDonough Hall at the southeast corner of Hastings and Columbia and almost half the city's population attended. The city still celebrates Scottish Heritage week which concludes with the BC Highland Games.
Many local place names are of Scottish origin. The district of Dollarton was named for Captain Robert Dollar. West Vancouver's first European settler, John Lawson, planted holly by the side of the "burn" or river flowing across his property; he coined "Hollyburn" as the name for his place. Iona Island was formerly called McMillan Island, after a pioneer Scots settler, Donald McMillan. Part of West Vancouver is named after Dundarave Castle in Scotland. In 1905 at what is now West 41st Avenue in Vancouver, a young Scottish couple named MacKinnon who had recently settled in the district were invited to name the new station. She adapted the name Kerrisdale from her old family home, Kerrysdale, in Gairloch, Scotland. Kerrysdale means "little seat of the fairies."
Other evidence of the Scottish influence on the development of Greater Vancouver can be found in the names of parks, creeks and other geographical features throughout the metropolitan area, the most notable of which is the Fraser River.
Demographics [ edit ]
The following statistics are from the 2006 Census of Canada.[15]
Provincial and territorial tartans [ edit ]
The tartan of Nova Scotia is the first official provincial tartan in Canada.
Every province and territory has an officially recognized tartan, except for Quebec, whose tartan is unofficial, and Nunavut, which has no tartan. Tartans were first brought to Canada by Scottish settlers, and the first province to officially adopt a tartan was Nova Scotia in 1955. Several of the tartans are registered in the books of the Court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms of Scotland.[16]
Notable Scottish-Canadians [ edit ]
The list of Scots who influenced Canada's history is indeed a long one. The explorer Alexander MacKenzie completed the first known transcontinental crossing of America north of Mexico. John Sandfield Macdonald (1812–1872) became Premier of the Province of Canada in 1862 and the first Premier of Ontario in 1867. Sir John A. Macdonald (1815–1891), who emigrated in 1820, became the first Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada, leading the country through its period of early growth. Under his leadership, the dominion expanded to include Manitoba, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island.
Alexander Mackenzie was the first Liberal Prime Minister of Canada (1873–78). Another Scot, William Lyon Mackenzie, who led the revolt in Upper Canada against the Canadian government in 1838, became a symbol of Canadian radicalism. His rebellion dramatized the need to reform the country's outmoded constitution and led to the 1841 union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Another Scot, William McDougall, was known as one of the fathers of the Confederation; Sir Richard McBride (1870–1917) was from 1903–1915 the Premier of British Columbia, where his was the first government under the new system of political parties. McBride was also known for his tireless work on behalf of the extension of the Pacific Great Eastern Railroad, which was to bind British Columbia together the way the CPR had Canada..
In the 20th century, perhaps the most well-known Canadian politician, particularly revered in Britain for his contribution to the allied cause in World War II, was William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874–1950), who was very proud of his Scots background. King was three time Prime Minister of Canada, doing much to help preserve the unity of the French and English populations in his vast country. The first full-time Minister of Labour, King was the leader of the Liberal Party for over 30 years. His last term as Prime Minister was from 1935 to 1948.
Established as one of the major ethnic components of the Canadian population during the period 1815–1870, Scots dominated in many areas other than education and politics. Economic affairs also took their interest, and they largely controlled the trade in furs, timber, banking and railroad management. Almost one-quarter of Canada's industrial leaders in the 1920s had been born in Scotland, and another quarter had Scottish-born fathers.
It is important to remember that the Scots had a long tradition of struggle to maintain a separate identity in the face of a simultaneous pressure to integrate into a foreign society. Thus over the years, they had gained considerable experience in the ambivalence of being both accommodating and distinctive. Substantial numbers of Scots continued to immigrate to Canada after 1870. The early 20th century saw a great boom in the numbers leaving Scotland for Canada. As one of many ethnic groups in Canada, the Scots have managed to retain their separate identity, as well as adopting other religious practices such as deism.[1]
List of notable Scottish Canadians [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]A 70-year-old woman living in a Vermont retirement home passed her time experimenting with homemade ricin, even testing it on fellow residents, the Justice Department said Friday.
No one had apparently been killed by Betty Miller's activities at the bucolic Wake Robin retirement home in Shelburne, Vermont, which advertises a population of "vibrant, engaged people and a community in which you can be yourself."
But Miller was arrested by FBI agents Thursday amid fears she had stockpiled a weapon of mass destruction.
The FBI was alerted to a dangerous substance at the home earlier this week, and discovered a bottle labelled "ricin" in her residence. Tests confirmed it contained the deadly substance.
"Miller stated that she had an interest in plant-based poisons and had conducted internet research on how to make them," the FBI said in a statement.
"She stated that she manufactured ricin in the kitchen of her Wake Robin residence and, to test its potency, placed the ricin in the food or beverages of other residents."
An FBI WMD team returned for a search of her apartment and found more ricin, and components from plants, including apple, yew, cherry, castor and foxglove, which all can be used to produce poisonous substances.The former communists who ruled East Germany are set to return to power – just days before the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The Left Party, widely seen as the successor to the SED, East Germany's communist party, is expected to head the government of a German state for the first time since reunification, after the Social Democrats voted to enter a coalition with them in the state of Thuringia.
Many of the Left Party's leadership were senior figures in the old SED, which ruled East Germany as a single-party state. And the prospect of the party's return to power has caused alarm in some quarters.
The German President, Joachim Gauck, abandoned the role's traditional political neutrality to speak out against it.
"People of my age who lived through the GDR [communist East Germany] find it quite hard to accept this," he said, and questioned whether the Left Party "has really distanced itself from the ideas the SED once had about repression of people, so that we can fully trust it".
Angela Merkel, who grew up in the GDR, has said a government headed by the Left Party would be "bad news" for Thuringia.
The state – the birthplace of the composer Bach and home to the city of Weimar, where Goethe and Schiller worked – was part of communist-ruled East Germany until reunification.
The Social Democrats, Mrs Merkel's coalition partner at the national level, have voted to reject an alliance with her Christian Democrats in Thuringia, in favour of becoming junior partner in a government headed by the Left Party. The expected coalition would be completed by the Greens.
The move is seen as a message from the Social Democrats to Mrs Merkel that it has other options in the long-term.
If the expected coalition goes ahead, Bodo Ramelow will become the Left Party's first state prime minister.
Mr Ramelow, who grew up in West Germany, does not have any links to the East German SED. But the fact that many others in his party do has brought Germany's dark past back into the limelight, with some in the Left Party resisting calls to acknowledge that East Germany was a "rogue state".
"Of course the GDR was a rogue state," Mrs Merkel has commented. "A Stasi state has repeatedly trampled human freedom underfoot. What should we call such a state?"
She added that it is "sad that even today we still have to have this discussion again and again".In late summer 1985, San Francisco Police Department homicide Inspector Frank Falzon was escorting infamous serial killer Richard Ramirez to a holding cell when the man dubbed the Night Stalker turned around and smiled at him.
Ramirez had recently been captured by an angry mob after trying to steal a pregnant woman’s car. Los Angeles police already suspected Ramirez in more than a dozen homicides in that county and Falzon was sure he had committed at least one in San Francisco — the gruesome attack of Peter and Barbara Pan in their Lake Merced home, in which Barbara Pan was raped, shot and left for dead, and her husband was killed.
“Ramirez turned around and gave me that ugly smile of his and said, ‘Hey, Falzon, I bet you’d love to know about those two old ladies, wouldn’t you?’” Falzon said recently. “It didn’t register right away, so I said, ‘What old ladies?’ He said, ‘The two old ladies on Telegraph Hill.’”
As Falzon watched Ramirez walked away, it clicked: Christina and Mary Caldwell, ages 58 and 70, respectively, whose mutilated bodies were found months before in their Telegraph Hill flat. They each were stabbed dozens of times; every surface in the home was sprayed with blood. One of the sisters was found near the window, a knife had pierced her throat, as though the killer had silenced her just as she was trying to scream for help.
“There’s no doubt in my mind he killed those ladies,” Falzon said. “He virtually gave me a confession.”
Police long ago charged Ramirez with the Pan murders — though that crime was never prosecuted. In October, they discovered DNA evidence indicating he was responsible for the death of a 9-year-old girl in the Tenderloin.
Now, police are investigating four more quarter-century-old homicides that they’ve long believed belong on his rap sheet to see if they can find conclusive evidence against him — including the deaths of the Caldwell sisters.
Ramirez is best known for his reign of terror in Los Angeles, where the 13 murders he has been convicted of occurred.
Modern-day technology, however, is allowing police to start unraveling the horrors many believe he simultaneously unleashed on San Francisco.
In October, preliminary DNA tests from a 25-year-old case implicated the satanic serial killer in the May 1984 death of 9-year-old Mei “Linda” Leung, which would make the case his earliest known murder.
After announcing the DNA link in October, The City’s cold case unit — made up of just two detectives and established less than two years ago — examined dozens of other unsolved homicides from that era, searching for other victims who could be linked to Ramirez. Homicide Inspector Holly Pera said she and her partner, Inspector Joseph Toomey, have focused on three cold cases that fit the Night Stalker’s patterns.
Though Pera would not reveal details of any of the cases, she said they are the February 1985 murders of the Caldwell sisters in Telegraph Hill; the November 1984 stabbing death of celebrated chef Masataka Kobayashi in Nob Hill; and the June 1985 shooting death of Edward Wildgans in Cow Hollow. Other cases may be re-examined in the future for a link to Ramirez, Pera said.
She said all the homicides currently being investigated occurred within striking distance of the Tenderloin residency hotels where he lived periodically.
Ramirez is believed to have lived just blocks from Leung at the time of her death. Police are still awaiting the final confirmation that Ramirez’s DNA matches that found at the scene of her homicide. According to reports in The Examiner at the time, Leung was coming home from school with her brother and argued with him about going up the elevator. In the end, he took the elevator and she went up the stairs, but never reached her mother’s apartment. She was found half an hour later with her blouse wrapped around her neck, sexually assaulted and stabbed to death, around in overhead pipes in the basement of the building.
Though the police description of the perpetrator — a Caucasian man in a brown leather jacket with shaggy brown hair parted in the middle — fit Ramirez to the letter, police had never pegged him as a suspect, in part because it preceded the Los Angeles murders Ramirez became famous for.
The next time he’s known to have struck was two months later, in June 1984, when he slashed 79-year-old Jennie Vincow’s throat in her Los Angeles apartment — a crime he was later convicted of.
His next charged murder in Los Angeles didn’t occur for nine more months, but two of the killings being revisited by San Francisco police happened in the interim.
On Nov. 13, 1984, the esteemed chef and founder of French restaurant Masa’s on Bush Street was found dead in a blood-smeared hallway of his home, still dressed in his chef’s coat, according to Examiner reports at the time. A window near a fire escape leading to an alley behind the building was open when Kobayashi was discovered.
According to Pera, this is consistent with Ramirez’s known murders. He is not believed to have picked out particular victims, but rather sought out chances to attack.
“He would pick out a particular place to go inside, rather than picking out his victims in advance,” she said. “He was kind of an
opportunist.”
Three months later, in February 1985, the Caldwell sisters were found slain. Though shoe and palm prints were discovered throughout the apartment, police discovered most of them belonged to neighbors.
Shortly after that, the Night Stalker’s famous killing spree in Los Angeles began. He has been convicted of eight murders in Southern California committed between March and August 1985.
Police are investigating whether Ramirez also struck in San Francisco in the middle of that period. On June 2, 1985, 29-year-old Edward Wildgans was shot through the temple with a small-caliber gun, Ramirez’s weapon of choice in several of his Los Angeles killings. His girlfriend fought off the attacker, according to a Los Angeles Times story at the time.
His final known killing occurred in San Francisco’s Park Merced on Aug. 17, 1985, when he allegedly shot Peter and Barbara Pan with a small-caliber gun. Retired Inspector Falzon remembers the incident vividly: The perpetrator raped Barbara Pan, ejaculated on the carpet, ate food in the refrigerator and then vomited in the home. That case was fully investigated and went to the grand jury, but was never prosecuted.
“We did not have DNA tests or any of the scientific tools we have today, but at the time, we identified Ramirez as a suspect in four or five cases,” Falzon said. “It wouldn’t surprise me at all if cases continue to come in showing that he was active in the Bay Area at that time.”
Retired SFPD Lt. George Kowalski led the homicide unit in that era, and said there is great value in solving the cases.
“All police departments would like to close cases because first of all, it’s the worst crime there is. You’re taking somebody’s life and, also, it makes everybody feel a bit better — especially survivors,” Kowalski said. “I would love to see Mr. Ramirez be indicted for another couple murders.”
SF robbery, killing helped lead police to Ramirez
Most people don’t know the San Francisco Police Department’s crucial role in the capture of the Night Stalker.
After Peter and Barbara Pan were brutally attacked in their Lake Merced home in August 1985, police found a pentagram and other satanic symbols in the home, and they realized they must be dealing with a victim of the Night Stalker, now-retired Inspector Frank Falzon said.
The perpetrator had stolen jewelry from the Pans, so the newly formed Night Stalker task force decided to publish pictures and descriptions of the jewelry. Sure enough, a man in Lompoc called the SFPD, saying a man of the Night Stalker’s description was a friend of his mother-in-law’s and regularly gave her jewelry to hold onto that he had stolen.
After being contacted by police, his mother-in-law, Donna Meyer, cooperated, but only knew the man as “Rick” from El Paso, Texas. She led San Francisco detectives to another man, Armando Rodriguez, who, after a lot of heat, told investigators that Rick’s last name was Ramirez.
With a full name and a place of birth, in combination with finger prints lifted from crime scenes, police were able to find the suspect in the state’s files and come up with a mug shot from a previous arrest for a petty crime. Police released the photo, and within hours, Richard Ramirez was caught, Falzon said.
Among the jewelry police found at Meyer’s house was a bracelet stolen from the home of a prominent Marina district dentist, Jack Saroyan, Falzon said. In fact, the dentist’s teenage niece was at home when Ramirez entered the house, but she heard the intruder and hid in a closet until he left.
“That girl didn’t know how lucky she was,” Falzon said.
kworth@sfexaminer.com
Cold case unit has had some success with old investigations
The San Francisco district attorney has yet to file charges in a 1984 homicide linked to Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, but every week, the cold case unit meets to take on new cases with a lot less fanfare.
In the roughly two years since the group — which consists of police, medical examiner, crime lab and District Attorney’s Office representatives — has met, the unit has reviewed about 200 cases, according to Assistant District Attorney Braden Woods, head prosecutor of the task force.
About 90 cases have been charged, with more than half the charges being sexual assault, Woods said. Twelve of the cases are homicides and the rest are burglaries, robberies and attempted murders.
Two of the murder suspects, John Puckett and William Speer, have since been tried and convicted. Two cases, for alleged killers James Mayfield and Otis Hughes, are currently in trial.
The unit makes decisions about cases every Monday when the team meets at the Hall of Justice. Attention is focused on cases that have biological evidence, evidence that can be matched to the state Department of Justice’s databank. As of January, anyone arrested in California is required to provide swabs of DNA to the database.
Then, the group sets to finding witnesses to build a better case — something of a challenge considering how much time has passed. It’s difficult, Woods said, but with gruesome events, the memory lasts.
“You’d be surprised what people remember,” he said. “Something traumatic happens, and it tends to stick with some people. It’s almost haunting.”
— Brent Begin
Timeline of terror
Police are investigating whether the Night Stalker was committing murders in San Francisco as he was unleashing the horrors he is famous for in Los Angeles.
April 10, 1984: 9-year-old Mei Leung is found hanging over a pipe in the basement of her apartment building at 765 O’Farrell St.
June 1984: Jennie Vincow’s throat is slashed in her Los Angeles apartment.
Nov. 13, 1984: Famed San Francisco chef Masataka Kobayashi is found dead in his Nob Hill apartment at 1111 Pine St.
Feb. 20, 1985: Mary and Christina Caldwell, ages 70 and 58, respectively, are stabbed dozens of times in their Telegraph Hill apartment.
March 17, 1985: Dale Okazaki and Tsai-Lian Yu are shot.
March 28, 1985: Vincent and Maxine Zazzara are shot.
May 14, 1985: William and Lillian Doi are attacked while sleeping. Lillian survives.
May 29, 1985: Mabel Bell, 84, is violently beaten.
June 2, 1985: Edward Wildgans, 29, is shot through the right temple by a late-night intruder. His girlfriend fights off the attacker.
July 2, 1985: Mary Louise Canno is found beaten and with her throat slit.
July 7, 1985: Joyce Nelson is beaten with a blunt object.
July 20, 1985: Lela and Max Kneiding are shot. Chainarong Khovananth is shot minutes later.
Aug. 8, 1985: Elyas Abowath is shot in the head while sleeping.
Aug. 17, 1985: Peter and Barbara Pan are attacked in their Lake Merced home. Peter Pan is killed and his wife is shot but survives.
Aug. 30, 1985: Police release a photo of Ramirez to the media. Within 12 hours, he is captured by citizens.Were the teachings of Jesus really as morally incredible as his followers claim?
Not so much, says Peter Brietbart, producer of the terrific-looking new short film Madman or Something Worse.
I’ll sometimes hear Christians quote Mahatma Gandhi: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” I don’t know if Gandhi ever actually said that, but there’s a sense that even though some Christians are jerks, Jesus was a great role model.
Brietbart argues against that, though. He goes after the popular beliefs attributed to Jesus and gets people to think twice about them:
Should you always love your neighbor?
Can someone truly forgive you for your sins?
Is it right to preach about the afterlife when there’s no evidence it exists?
Jesus of Nazareth was an awful moral philosopher. He compares badly to such modern greats such as Mill, Rawls or Ross and also to historical thinkers such as Aristotle, Diogenes or Plato. His moral contributions are not original, and his original contributions are not moral.
Moderate Christians love to say they’re “followers of Christ” and not parrots of the Religious Right, but maybe that not a huge step up.
The entire video is about 15 minutes long and definitely worth checking out:
Part 1:
Part 2:Scotland may have to join euro or create new currency if first minister fails to accept Treasury's terms for joining sterling
The Treasury has launched a direct attack on Alex Salmond's plans for Scottish independence, warning an independent Scotland might have to join the euro or create a new currency if he failed to accept its strict terms for joining sterling.
In its first formal intervention on the currency debate, the Treasury will issue a report on Tuesday signalling that it would want to see significant restraints on Scottish economic policies before it agreed to a new currency union with an independent Scotland. If either side failed to agree on that deal, the Treasury will state, Scotland would need alternatives to a formal sterling pact. It could still use sterling without a currency union, leaving it with no influence on Bank of England policy, set up a new currency or join the euro.
The report, which will be studied by the City, is expected to show the Treasury would expect Scotland to agree to very strict disciplines on its budgets, borrowing and taxation before the UK agreed to a currency pact. Under those terms, there were "no guarantees" the rest of the UK and the new Scottish government could agree a deal, it will suggest. In a joint essay, published on Sunday, George Osborne, the chancellor, and Danny Alexander, chief secretary to the Treasury, said members of the Scottish government were "tying themselves in knots" over currency and independence.
Agreeing to a currency union would "hand to what would become a foreign government key decisions over the Scottish economy. This is one of the big contradictions in their whole economic approach [...] Calling for 'full fiscal freedom' with one breath, but calling for a 'full fiscal pact' with the next. It simply doesn't add up," they said.
Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor and chairman of the pro-UK Better Together group, said: "It's a pretty significant piece of work and you can't bluster your way around this. It raises very real problems and real consequences."
Their analysis is rejected by the Scottish government. Supported by some business leaders and other experts, Salmond and his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon, insist a sterling union is in the UK's interests. They cite Darling'searlier comments that union was logical and desirable.
It would ensure both countries could trade with minimum disruption, provide economic stability and allow the UK to count Scotland's multibillion-pound North Sea oil and whisky sales in its balance of payments, Salmond argues.
Reacting to the Treasury report, Salmond said: "This is the man who had the audacity to come to Scotland 18 months ago to sneer that the constitutional debate would damage the economy. The reality is that Scotland is outperforming the UK on every measure – inward investment, employment, unemployment and growth."
The report is intended to alarm voters and increase divisions within the SNP and pro-independence movement over Salmond's strategy, with Salmond acknowledging recently that he had no plans in place for an alternative currency.
But the pro-independence Scottish Green party said a new currency would be a better option, as have two senior SNP figures, former leader Gordon Wilson and former deputy leader Jim Sillars.
Other senior figures, including two economists often cited by Salmond – Prof John Kay, a former member of Salmond's council of economic advisers, and Jim Cuthbertson – said a separate currency could be Scotland's best interests.
In a co-ordinated move, the pro-UK Better Together campaign set up by the three main UK parties for the referendum campaign (Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems) are sending out half a million leaflets this weekend raising anxieties about the future of sterling.
Better Together officials say their private research identifies currency issues as one of the top issues that worries voters.
The Treasury report is also expected to raise doubts that Scotland's own banknotes, currently issued by three Scottish banks, could be at risk in a currency union, because the Bank of England as sterling's regulator may not want a foreign country issuing its own sterling notes.Capcom officially announced the existence of Resident Evil 6 last month, with the game heading to Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on November 20 this year. That’s a long time to wait, but also a great opportunity for Capcom to drip feed us new information about the game every month.
We already knew that RE6 is set 10 years after the Raccoon City incident, and that it will see Leon and Chris team up for the first time. New characters were also promised, but not detailed at the launch announcement. However, today Capcom has revealed more about the game.
We can now confirm that the main setting of the game will be a fictitious town called Lanshiang in China, with the action taking place in the year 2013. Alongside the main, known characters of Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield, the game includes, Helena Harper (secret service agent and president’s bodyguard), Ingrid Hunnigan (Field Operations Support for Leon), and the US president Adam Benford. But there’s also a mystery character who has yet to get a name. All we know is he’s a mercenary who likes to be paid for his work and that he’s been told, “he is the man to save the world.”
While knowing who the characters are is welcomed, it’s the gameplay we’re most interested in, and Capcom looks to be taking things up a notch. As you’d expect, this is a game full of zombies, but in RE6 they will have three new abilities: running, jumping and weapon use. That’s right, no longer will the zombies slowly lumber towards you or do a quick shuffle, they’ll leap in a surprise attack or sprint after you. Weapon use hasn’t been fully explained, but based on the trailer above, it does include the ability to fire gune. However, RE6 is going to have zombies swinging baseball bats and other such close-quarters weaponry too.
In terms of intelligent enemies, Capcom is serving up demons known as J’avo. They are creatures described as highly aggressive, capable of working in teams, and that can understand human speech. In other words, you’re going to die regularly when fighting them.
Depending on your experience of previous games, you may be glad or concerned to hear Capcom is changing the control system. It is being classed as an evolution, and introduces the ability to shoot while moving as well as being able to slide and roll in any direction to cover points. Capcom is also promising “an enhanced melee attack.”
Weapon-wielding zombies, a super aggressive demon enemy, and what sounds like a more fluid control system all look to be positive additions to the series. Now we just have to wait 9 months to get our hands on the game.The latest Gboard beta is rolling out this evening with a number of new features for the Google keyboard. Version 6.5 most signficantly adds sticker integration with apps like Bitmoji, while slightly redesigning several keys as well as the Themes settings page.
Stickers is now the first icon in the suggestions strip that appears after tapping the Google button. It also appears as a new tab next to emoji, GIF, and emoticons. Sticker integration in Gboard most notably works with Snapchat-owned Bitmoji, but is also able to access stickers downloaded with Google Allo and other apps. However, at the moment, the Allo integration does not yet appear to be live.
Once setup, your stickers will appear in an interface that is near identical to the GIF tab, with users able to select stickers by swiping through a carousel. Up top is a bar to search Bitmoji, while a secondary tab sorts stickers based on Recents, Popular, and other categories.
Similar to how GIFs function, stickers will only work in apps and text fields that support image keyboards and insertion.
Version 6.5 of Gboard also tweaks the shift button for capitalizing, as well as the backspace key. Both are now only outlines, while the shift key fills up to denote when typing in capital letters.
Meanwhile, Themes in Settings has again been redesigned, while Add-on dictionaries are no longer present in the Dictionary pane.
Version 6.5 is now available via the Play Store for those enrolled in the beta program.
Gboard 6.5
Gboard 6.5 Gboard 6.5 Gboard 6.5
Gboard 6.4Considering the Philadelphia Eagles' 2013 defenses ranked 23rd in opponent yards per pass attempt, it was hardly a surprise to see them address their secondary during the 2014 NFL Draft. The Eagles were in need of help at both cornerback and safety. So with pick No. 101, the Eagles selected Florida defensive back Jaylen Watkins, a player who can play both positions.
So far, head coach Chip Kelly has noted Watkins will be worked in at both cornerback and safety. During Eagles rookie minicamp, however, Watkins said he feels most |
symbol of commitment to eliminating this problem. That element of erasure sends a message that these losses of life don't matter."
The standard frame for understanding police and state violence against black people has largely focused on black men, so the exclusion of black women remains prevalent, Crenshaw said. However, she noted, black people — especially black women — have historically been victimized in multiple ways.
"In fact, there's a far broader template of being endangered while black that includes black women," Crenshaw said. She cited domestic interventions, botched drug raids, mental health incidents, government-ordered evictions and sexual assault cases involving officers as a few other examples of incidents that take place when black women are subject to brutality or death via the police — incidents unrelated to driving or walking while black. This includes the cases of women such as Aura Rosser, Kathryn Johnston, Tanesha Anderson and Eleanor Bumpurs.
Charlene Carruthers, national director of the Black Youth Project 100, told Mic, that at least two videos of black women being manhandled by police officers had spread in the past year. "We also must recognize other types of violence or else we miss parts of the population," she said. "When we look at how police and state violence affects black women, it includes black women and girls getting killed. It also includes black women and girls being sexually assaulted, harassed and beaten by officers as well."
Chicago Tribune/Getty Images Judge throws out charges against Chicago cop in fatal off-duty shooting of Rekia Boyd
Where news cameras focus: President Barack Obama criticized the way media handled the situation in Baltimore, as there was little national attention focused on the inequalities of black people in the city before Gray's death led to mass outrage. "If we really wanted to solve the problem, we could," Obama said. "It would require everybody saying, 'This is important, this is significant,' and not just pay attention to these communities when a CVS burns or a young man gets shot or has his spine snapped."
Police officers continue to disproportionately stop black pedestrians or drivers, as a 2011 report from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights concluded. Driving or walking while black isn't the only way police violence takes shape for black people, especially black women. Black men are most affected by this trend, but they're not the only ones who are suffering. Yet so far, the only viral videos involving unarmed black people being killed by police have only shown black men and boys as victims — including Garner, Scott and Rice.
Changing course: To elevate the narratives of black women, an ongoing "Say Her Name" campaign from the African American Policy Forum continues, while activists in the Black Lives Matter movement have used social media to raise awareness about black women victimized by police violence. Women in the movement have also called for May 21 as a national day of action for black women and girls. The date itself, Carruthers told Mic, coincides with actions in Chicago related to the recent ruling in Boyd's case, where an officer there was acquitted of killing the unarmed black woman. In the days leading up to the trial for Boyd's shooter, Chicago police officer Dante Servin, local activists pointed out to Progress Illinois that her situation mirrored the disproportionate pattern of violence waged against women of color.
"Our sisters are often forgotten," Danielle Villarreal of Feminist Uprising to Resist Inequality and Exploitation, a Chicago activist group, told Progress Illinois, "and we want their names, stories and struggles highlighted."Attack on Titan TGS 2015 screenshots, stage event gameplay
Stills and on-stage footage of the upcoming PlayStation game.
Koei Tecmo shared new footage and screenshots of its upcoming Attack on Titan game for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PS Vita during a stage event at the Tokyo Game Show.
The game will follow the entire story of the Attack on Titan anime’s first season. To kill a titan, you must slice the nape of its neck, but you’ll also be able to sever its other body parts like its arms and legs in the process. You’ll unite with NPC characters in taking out these giants.
Confirmed playable characters include Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Connie, Sasha, and Jean. Confirmed stages include “Plains,” “Giant Tree Forest,” “Communications Base,” and “Barracks.”
For a full outline of the game’s features, read up on our previous coverage.
Attack on Titan is due out for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PS Vita in Japan this winter, and in North America and Europe in 2016.
Visit the game’s newly opened official website here. It should be noted that there is a page for downloadable content that hasn’t opened yet. If you missed it, catch the Tokyo Game Show trailer here.
Watch the new footage below, via Koei Tecmo Europe and YouTube user South Planet. View the screenshots at the gallery.
(Off-screen version available at IGN.)UPDATE: Hope you downloaded the videos while you could (we did) because it's been pulled. It was good while it lasted, no?
For years it has been a Wall Street legend. Something for which people were willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a poor quality VHS copy. And now, thanks to the magic of the internet, it's available to all of us.
We're talking about "Trader," the 1987 PBS documentary about trader Paul Tudor Jones. Jones famously objected to the documentary after its original airing, demanding that PBS stop airing it. Of course, as Gawker points out, this only made everyone want to see what the fuss was about.
Gawker dug up the description of the film written on the back of the box that the VHS tape came packaged in:
Is financial trading an art, science, profession or out-and-out gamble? If you're interested in money and you want to know what it's really like on Wall Street, this is the video you, your family, your colleagues and your friends should own. Filmed before Wall Street's October 1987 crash, TRADER is a riviting one hour documentary of a fascinating man, Paul Tudor Jones II. It delivers a rarely seen view of futures trading and explains the workings of this frantic, highly charged marketplace. It gives viewers an inside look at his estate in Virginia, skiing in Gstaad, his New York apartment. It also examines Jones' prediction that America is nearing the end of a 200-year bull market. If he's right - and he almost always is - this country and the world are about to experience economic changes of unprecedented proportions.
The entire film is now available, broken up into seven parts on YouTube. You can watch the entire thing on the next seven slides.Image caption The legislation sets targets for the increase in the use of renewable energy in Mexico
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has signed a law introducing binding targets on climate change.
Mr Calderon said on Twitter that the law would make Mexico the "first developing country with integral legislation against climate change".
The law, which sets targets on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the use of renewable energy, is only the second of its kind in the world.
The measures had been passed by the Senate in April by 78 votes to nil.
'International leader'
"Mexico is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020 and by 50% by 2050," Mr Calderon said in another tweet.
"This law is part of the all the efforts that have made Mexico an international leader in environmental protection," he added.
The law was signed on Tuesday, the UN Environment Programme's World Environment Day.
As well as setting a target on greenhouse gas emissions, it stipulates that 35% of Mexico's energy will have to come from renewable sources by 2024, and that government agencies will be obliged to use renewables.
Despite being the sixth-largest oil exporter in the world, correspondents say the oil sector has been declining in importance in Mexico in recent years.
The law also provides for the establishment of a trading scheme for greenhouse gas emissions permits.
The only similar legislation to have been enacted so far elsewhere in the world was introduced by the UK government in 2008. It pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050.The Astros have become one of baseball's most progressive franchises as they try to rebuild and avoid a fourth consecutive 100-loss season.
But general manager Jeff Luhnow's radical approach to on-field changes and business decisions has created at least pockets of internal discontent and a potential reputation problem throughout baseball.
"They are definitely the outcast of major league baseball right now, and it's kind of frustrating for everyone else to have to watch it," said former Astros pitcher Bud Norris, now with Baltimore. "When you talk to agents, when you talk to other players and you talk amongst the league, yeah, there's going to be some opinions about it, and they're not always pretty."
The criticism, through interviews with more than 20 players, coaches, agents and others, comes in two parts:
On the field, the Astros shift their defenders into unusual positions to counteract hitter tendencies more than any other team, including in the minor leagues. They schedule minor league starting pitchers on altered and fluctuating rotation schedules, what they call a "modified tandem" system, a development strategy unique in baseball.
Off the field, the Astros are said to handle contract negotiations and the timing of player promotions with a dehumanizing, analytics-based approach detected by some across their operation.
The central question is how much criticism should be inherent to their process and how much should signal trouble in a game where word of mouth spreads quickly?
"Ninety-five percent of what we do is very similar to what all of baseball does," Luhnow said. "We're being a little bit different for very good reasons in some areas that we think are important.
"It doesn't affect our ability to make people happy at the big league level. It just doesn't. It affects their ability to perform better and be more prepared. That's at least our hypothesis, and what we believe. And to tie that together with (how we handle) contracts is ridiculous."
The Astros are firm in their belief that winning will fix everything, but that begets a question of how much buy-in by players and coaches is needed in advance, and how much perception and happiness matter.
"I don't think anybody's happy. I'm not," one Astros player said recently on the condition his identity not be revealed. "They just take out the human element of baseball. It's hard to play for a GM who just sees you as a number instead of a person. Jeff is experimenting with all of us."
Luhnow declined comment on the player's specific charge, but team owner Jim Crane said that "we treat everyone with respect" and that he supported Luhnow's use of statistics to help make decisions.
"We're not running for election here; it's not a popularity contest," said Luhnow, who seeks feedback from across the organization but said feelings aren't high on his list of concerns unless they impact outcomes. "We're trying to win big league games, and we're trying to produce major league players in the minor leagues, so if those two results are occurring, that's predominantly what we care about. Now of course, any time you've got human beings involved … you want to understand how they're impacted."
Ripe for doubt
Some teams share in similar practices, to varying degrees. But in totality, the Astros appear more overt in their efforts and have moved with a greater speed for simultaneous changes than anyone of late.
"If you look at every organization, I think the trend is going toward sheer statistical-driven analysis, and I think that (the Astros) are certainly on the front lines of that," said former Astros shortstop Jed Lowrie, now with Oakland. "Baseball is kind of going through this tectonic shift, and there are people out there banging on tables saying, 'This is not the way the game's supposed to be played or evaluated.' But from a business standpoint, I get it.
"It is a purely statistical analysis. I think you can't have that approach and expect to have good personal relations. That seems like a hard balance to strike, when you're judging someone strictly on numbers and nothing else, and I'm not talking about whether it's a good guy or a bad guy. But there are certain intangibles, and the perception is the numbers are trying to drive out (the importance of) those intangibles."
Years from now, the Astros may be shown to have undertaken a battle that every other advocate of change - see Billy Beane of the Athletics and the "Moneyball" revolution of a dozen years ago - has encountered.
The Astros say resistance is just a part of the process. But no matter what the future will say about their plan, they are presently in a combustible setting.
They have been bad at the major league level for so long - with 106-, 107- and 111-loss seasons in the past three years - that even "Jeopardy" mocked them on one episode over the winter. They are one of the lowest-spending teams in baseball, and their cable network is seeking bankruptcy protection.
Luhnow's tenure in St. Louis as vice president for scouting and player development was marked by an approach that often caused a sense of acrimony in an organization pulled between analytics and traditional methods even though many of his draft picks have played essential roles in the Cardinals' current run of success, which includes a World Series title in 2011 and another World Series appearance last year.
Add in the fact that the Astros are louder about their methods than perhaps anyone else, and you have a situation rife with second-guessing and grumbling.
"I would expect (some unhappiness) to be out there, and yes, of course we care about it," said Luhnow, a first-time general manager. "But is it going to change what we're doing if we believe we're doing the right thing? No, it's not going to. … We're sensitive to it. If it starts to affect us in a meaningful way that we can't sign players, or players quit, or players don't give us their best effort, then we'll have to address it. As of now, that hasn't happened."
Players don't want to feel they are just a number or part of an experiment. They want to know, too, that the here and now matters.
"Everything's harder in a losing setting," Luhnow said. "There's a process we're going through to get to a winning ballclub. It takes years to change things, and we're doing it for the right reasons. And it's not just us, we're not alone."
Sig Mejdal, the Astros' director of decision sciences, worked with Luhnow as his right-hand man in St. Louis, too, and criticism was relentless there.
"In my experience, change in any industry is difficult," said Mejdal, who worked for NASA and has a background in cognitive psychology. "Supporting a change that doesn't feel right is extraordinarily difficult. … If they felt right, they would already have been done.
"Human beings are risk-averse. It's hard to change and deal with all the pushback from change. Why weren't teams positioning their infielders different half a decade ago? I don't know. The data was all there."
Sign or else?
When players are first promoted to the majors, they need not be paid more than the standard minimum salary of $500,000. Once in the majors, a player's service-time clock begins, which eventually will determine when he is eligible for salary arbitration (three years, or two-plus in some special cases) and free agency (six years) - both vehicles for bigger paydays.
The Astros have benefited from making contract offers to young players at low rates and holding back players in the minors for service-time reasons.
Last year, Jose Altuve, signed a guaranteed four-year, $12.5 million deal (the Astros can extend it to six years) that made him even more valuable than his statistics alone - players who are productive and inexpensive are the game's most valuable commodity.
Top prospect George Springer, who was promoted to the Astros after the season started, will not be eligible for free agency until he is 30 after the team delayed his move to the majors. The Astros said service time wasn't a factor in the move that could potentially save them millions.
The Astros saved themselves money. But the question is whether the team handles these matters in a way that fosters confidence, and how much they should care about that perception in a business worth half a billion dollars based on a core product of 25 players.
"Players are people, but the Astros view them purely as property that can be evaluated through a computer program or a rigid set of criteria," one player agent said, echoing the comments of others. "They plug players into it to see what makes sense from a development or contractual perspective, and it does not engender a lot of goodwill in the player or agent community.
"They wield service time like a sword (in contract extension negotiations) and basically tell a player, 'This is what you are worth to us, take it or leave it.' "
Extension offers for players who have little or no major league experience have grown in popularity in recent years as teams try to get them at a bargain price, and the Astros have made several such offers.
The premise is not what some agents said bothers them, but how the Astros approach dealings and appear to handle clients.
Springer had an offer last year that reportedly was worth about $7 million guaranteed with the potential to earn more. The Astros also have made third baseman Matt Dominguez an offer worth $14.5 million for five years, plus two options, and outfielder Robbie Grossman received at least one similar offer - $13.5 million for six years plus two options, a person familiar with the offers said.
None of the players accepted. Luhnow has a policy of commenting on contracts only if a deal is finalized.
Astros prospect Jon Singleton is in situation akin to Springer's as he is still in the minors while the big league team is in need of a productive first baseman. Singleton's agency declined comment when asked if the slugging first baseman had been offered a contract extension.
What if these players signed deals?
Would Grossman still be in the majors? He was demoted just two weeks into the season. Would Springer have been here earlier? No one can prove anything, ultimately, but for a budget-conscious team like the Astros, critics say yes.
"I think the key thing is you got to be able to have the information to make a positive decision on them," agent Scott Boras said of how he views contract offers to players with little service time. "I view it as something you have to (have) very carefully analyzed, because normally when they're offering it that early, it's for a very consistent reason. And normally it's not one that's value to the player."
It is worth noting a contract extension does not guarantee a player a spot on the big league roster. Grossman still could have been demoted had he taken the deal, and the same goes for Springer today.
"We are always going to bring players up later than our fans and media expect them to come up because we have our own ways of evaluating what players are ready," Luhnow said. "And it has nothing to do with what contracts they have signed or not signed."
Service-time delays aren't new in baseball, but the Astros are in a situation in which their major league team is again among the worst in baseball, and talent that could help was and has been kept away.
Players are employees
Ultimately, the Astros have a right to run their business as they want.
They say that the defensive shifts and approach to using pitchers in the minors have been fruitful - saving runs with shifts and keeping young pitchers healthy.
Baseball Info Solutions' John Dewan wrote on Twitter this month that the Astros already have saved seven shift runs - "similar to adding a 10th fielder who happens to be elite."
If a minor league pitcher doesn't like the tandem rotation, too bad - he's still an employee. In the first month of the season, minor league pitchers threw every time out in a piggyback system, either starting ahead of or relieving behind a partner pitcher.
Now the pitchers throw some games in that form and some in a traditional way, where they are considered the game's lone starter.
"I don't tell organizations what to do," said Boras, whose client Mark Appel had to be pulled out of the tandem rotation in April because he was having trouble adjusting. "But I think that the key thing in developing players, you have got to do what's best suited for the player."
Astros pitching prospects talk of the tandem system - which is designed to keep them healthier, increase opportunity for pitchers in different roles and control workload - as something they tolerate rather than appreciate.
"I would strongly disagree with that," defending American League Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer said of the concept of tandem pitching. "The more you can pitch above the 100-pitch threshold, you find out more about yourself. You find out about pitching deeper into games and having to (face) a lineup three, four times."
Hard-throwing Astros prospect Mike Foltynewicz said in spring training he thought the tandem might have contributed to arm soreness last year.
"It's OK," Class AA pitching prospect Brady Rodgers said. "Throwing every four days is, it's a little tough cause I like to have my rest with my arm, because you know, every arm only has so many bullets, so I don't want to try to waste any. … I'm not going to bash it."
Luhnow stressed that he seeks feedback from players throughout the system in different ways.
"There's not one way to do this," Lowrie said. "There's more than one way, and at the end of the day there's a business, and if Jim Crane and Jeff Luhnow decide this is how they want to run their business, you can cry and say whatever you want about it, but that's their way they want to do it."
Talking about the defensive shifts, which in some instances can have three players on the right side of the infield with the third baseman near second base, Astros starter Jarred Cosart echoed the sentiment that players are ultimately employees.
"Everyone has their own opinion," Cosart said. "We do it a lot more and a lot more frequently. … (The front office is) not going to not shift, so if I did have a problem with it, there's nothing I can do about it, as a lot of the older guys have told us."
Everybody talks
If a young Astros player or his agent feels mistreated today or is just turned off by the organization's actions, why would he stick around on a hometown discount in the future, or stick around at all if comparable opportunities exist elsewhere?
Players in every organization rely on relationships formed at all levels of the game to help them. Everybody talks, and no one's a fool.
"Everything is seen," Orioles outfielder Adam Jones said. "There's nothing that's missed. Baseball, any sport, any business, word of mouth is good."
Money can make most problems disappear, and the Astros have a stated plan to increase their spending with time.
A player who can't find a job elsewhere in the majors or who has received the best offer from the Astros likely will always sign with the Astros, no matter what.
"I want my clients to get to the big leagues," Boras said. "One thing about this organization, there's a real opportunity."
But rarely will a player acknowledge he signed somewhere just for the money. The most expensive free agent Luhnow has signed - Scott Feldman ($30 million) - indicated he did not have a lot of choices over the winter.
"I think that when you're somebody like (former New York Yankees and current Seattle star) Robinson Cano or one of those top free agents that has his choice of where he wants to go, maybe some of that (reputation) stuff comes into play a little more," Feldman said. "For me, I really just had to go with wherever wanted me and stuff like that. … I knew that Houston was a cool city and the farm system was stacked here. That was really all I really knew."
Players always will be drawn to the Astros, too, because they want to play at home. Many ballplayers have ties to Houston - current Astros Matt Albers and Jesse Crain among them.
But the Astros still might have to pay more if the team is not well-regarded.
Luhnow disagreed, saying, "Houston's a very attractive place to play. We have a great stadium, we have a great city. And clearly it's easier to attract free agents when we have a winning ballclub, and when we get to that point, I think it'll be even easier for us."
Ultimately, everyone will settle on their own hypothesis.
"Word of mouth is still the No. 1 marketing pitch in the world," Detroit Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter said of how he would approach free agency. "If (Derek) Jeter tells me, 'Hey man, it's cool over here, but this and that and that and this,' or David Ortiz says that. Or any player. … I see on the outside it looks good, but on the inside, there's something else going on.
"That's why you ask questions. And you're going to get all of it from players. I don't think a lot of people know that we communicate with each other and all the free agents out there, they communicate with other players. … 'Hey, if that kettle's black, it's black.' "BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria released a video on Thursday that they said shows British journalist John Cantlie in captivity saying he will soon reveal “facts” about the group to counter its portrayal in Western media.
The Islamic State, which controls territory in Syria and Iraq, has already beheaded two American journalists and one British aid worker in recent weeks in what it said was reprisal for U.S. air strikes against it in Iraq.
But in the new roughly three-minute video posted on social media sites, the man identified as Cantlie appears in good health and promises to “convey some facts” in a series of “programs,” suggesting there would be further installments.
“Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, ‘He’s only doing this because he’s a prisoner. He’s got a gun at his head and he’s being forced to do this.’ Right?” the man in the video, wearing an orange shirt and closely-cropped hair, says.
“Well, it’s true. I am a prisoner. That I cannot deny. But seeing as I’ve been abandoned by my government and my fate now lies in the hands of the Islamic State, I have nothing to lose.”
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said he had heard reports of a video on social media and said authorities would look closely at any material released online.
“These videos can be very distressing for the families of the individuals involved,” he told reporters during a visit to Copenhagen.
U.S. President Barack Obama has been trying to build an international coalition to destroy Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim extremist group which has exploited the chaos of Syria and Iraq to seize swathes of territory in both countries.
The United States has already carried out scores of air strikes against the group in Iraq and Obama said in a policy speech he would not hesitate to strike it in Syria as well.
In the new video, titled “Lend Me Your Ears, Messages from the British Detainee John Cantlie,” the man identified as Cantlie says he was captured by the Islamic State after arriving in Syria in November 2012.
He says he worked for newspapers and magazines in Britain including the Sunday Times, the Sun and the Sunday Telegraph.
“After two disastrous and hugely unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, why is it that our governments appear so keen to get involved in yet another unwinnable conflict?” the man says in the video.
“I’m going to show you the truth behind the systems and motivation of the Islamic State, and how the Western media, the very organization I used to work for, can twist and manipulate that truth for the public back home.”
Cantlie said other Western governments have negotiated for the release of their hostages but that the British and U.S. governments chose to do things differently.
“I’ll show you the truth behind what happened when many European citizens were imprisoned and later released by the Islamic State, and how the British and American governments thought they could do it differently to every other European country,” the man in the video says.
“They negotiated with the Islamic State and got their people home while the British and Americans were left behind,” he says.
PREVIOUS CAPTURE
The United States resumed air strikes in Iraq in August for the first time since the withdrawal of the final U.S. troops from the country in 2011.
The raids followed major gains by Islamic State fighters who have seized a third of both Iraq and Syria, declared war on the West and seek to establish a caliphate in the heart of the Middle East.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Wednesday Obama’s plan to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels in a message of support for his military campaign to “degrade and destroy” Islamic State
Britain has delivered humanitarian aid, carried out surveillance, given weapons to Kurds and promised training in Iraq. On military action, Britain supports U.S. air strikes and British Prime Minister David Cameron has repeatedly said Britain has ruled nothing out except combat troops on the ground.
Cantlie had previously been taken hostage in July, 2012 along with Dutch photographer Jeroen Oerlemans while working near the Syrian border with Turkey. They were released the same month after a group of “Free Syrian Army” fighters freed them.
Cantlie told media after his release they were threatened with death unless they converted to Islam, and both were shot and slightly wounded when they attempted to escape. He was shot in the arm, Oerlemans in the leg.
At the time, Cantlie wrote in the Sunday Times that the group of about 30 militants had been made up of different nationalities, many British and none Syrian, and that the British jihadists had treated him the most cruelly in captivity.
On Saturday, Islamic State released a video showing the beheading of British aid worker David Haines. A black-clad man in the video said another hostage, identified as Alan Henning, would be killed if Cameron continued to support the fight against Islamic State.
Thursday’s video made no mention of Henning.
“Maybe I will live and maybe I will die,” the man identified as Cantlie says. “But I want to take this opportunity to convey some facts that you can verify. Facts that, if you contemplate, might help preserving lives.”The friendly confines of Matthew Knight Arena, where the Oregon men's basketball team has won an NCAA-leading 42 straight games, no longer will offer refuge for the Ducks in 2016-17.A game out of first place in the Pac-12, and generally projected for a No. 2 seed into the NCAA Tournament, the UO men will need to prove themselves on the road for the remainder of this season. That includes the final three games of the regular season, beginning Wednesday at California (6 p.m., ESPN2).The No. 6 Ducks (24-4, 13-2 Pac-12) head out onto the road on the heels of an emotional Senior Day victory over Colorado on Saturday. Seniorsandenjoyed big games in front of friends and family, and want to keep the momentum going this week in the Bay Area."My mom told me, just stay focused," Boucher said. "She was happy, I was happy and it's a great memory for me. If it was my last game, it would have been a hard goodbye. With more games, I'll definitely play harder and stay focused, because it's almost done."Based on its win over Arizona in their only the matchup this season, Oregon can win the Pac-12 by tying the Wildcats in the conference race. But the Ducks remain a game behind Arizona since their loss at UCLA; the Wildcats and Bruins meet this Saturday, and the UO men want to keep pace in the event Arizona stumbles."We're going to have to play well; we're going to have to take care of business," UO coachsaid. "Cal is fighting for an NCAA berth, and they'll give us everything. And Stanford on (Saturday, its) Senior Day? It's a tough road trip to be taking this time of year."The Ducks were reminded a year ago how dangerous the Bay Area trip can be. Oregon took a six-game winning streak to Cal in mid-February of last year, before allowing the Golden Bears to shoot.557 and dominate the boards, 39-26, in a 20-point win."They punched us in the mouth early, and we didn't respond," UO juniorsaid. "We can't let that happen this year."In the early going Wednesday, the Ducks would like to set a tone that carries over one theme from their 86-63 win over the Golden Bears in Eugene earlier this season, and reverses another.In that 23-point win on Jan. 19, Oregon limited Cal big man Ivan Raab to four points on 2-of-10 shooting, and six rebounds. Boucher and fellow UO postwill work to similarly limit the projected NBA lottery pick in Wednesday's rematch."We don't want him to get going," Boucher said. "We want to play hard from the first minute, and every guy that goes against him, try to make it hard on him."Of Raab's six rebounds in Eugene last month, however, five were on the offensive end. Overall, California grabbed 19 offensive rebounds in that game, converting them into 15 second-chance points.Second-chance points were Oregon's Achilles' heel last week against Utah, an issue the Ducks addressed successfully against Colorado. Wednesday's game in Berkeley will match the nation's No. 54 offensive rebounding team in Cal, according to KenPom.com, against the Ducks' No. 193 defensive rebounding."That's going to be a huge focus for us," Benson said. "We have to limit them to one shot. (Cal and Stanford) are both big and they're both athletic, but we've got to make it tough on them."Get the biggest celebs 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
Russell T Davies, screen-writer extraordinaire and father of modern Doctor Who, is 50 today – the same age as the Doctor himself!
In 2005 he may have brought Doctor Who back to a wave of unprecedented international popularity, but really, what has the former Stephen Russell Davies ever done for Doctor Who?
Here’s a far from exhaustive list of 50 reasons for Whovians to love him to bits.
50. He’s a national treasure
Life-loving and full of beans - and the same age as the Doctor! Davies was a natural fit with the greatest television show ever made. With an astonishing television track record, he is without doubt one of Britain’s greatest screen writers. When writer Frank Cottrell Boyce was asked his opinion on Davies' greatest contribution to British television drama he simply replied "saving it from extinction". We and the Doctor were lucky that he was a life-long fan. Hopefully his OBE will be upgraded sooner rather than later.
49. He created the brave new Whoniverse
Prior to the comeback Doctor Who’s TV spin-offs were limited to 1981’s derided pilot, K9 & Company. It was under Davies watch that the huge potential of the series actually worked as he spun-off the hugely successful Sarah Jane Adventures and the record breaking Torchwood. Davies continued to weave the shows’ characters together until he left the main show, but always allowed them to breathe on their own.
48. UNIT
UNIT are a crucial part of Doctor Who history, the Third Doctor having acting as their scientific advisor during the early 1970s. While Russell T’s Doctors were more closely associated with the families of their companions, UNIT continued to pop up. Sure, their name was changed to the far more appropriate Unified Intelligence Taskforce (heresy!), but the Doctor’s dealings with them were kept exactly as they should be: ”Yeah, I don't do orders...”
47. He knows how to scare kids
Scares are a crucial part of Doctor Who, right up there with time travel, the odd history lesson and long scarves – and kids love it just a little bit more than adults love to debate it. Davies made sure that the new Doctor Who would keep the fear factor intact. No doubt informed by his love of the show as a child, he had good experience as well. His 1990s children series ‘Dark Season’ – with Kate Winslet's first major role – and Century Falls were classics of children tea time chills.
46. He brought Daleks back to the front-line!
Would Doctor Who be as big as it is without the Time Lord’s most famous foes? It certainly wouldn’t be the same without them, but that was a very real possibility when the show came back in 2005. Negotiations on the usage rights of the tin can despots delayed their involvement for some time, but.... when they were finally appeared they did so in style and have played a key part in the series ever since.
45. He broke records
Doctor Who’s number one on iPlayer! We’ve got used to it now, but it wasn’t a given. Ratings of Doctor Who have remained strong ever since it rematerialised as an instant fixture of Saturday nights and Christmas Day. The Davies penned episodes Voyage of the Damned and The Stolen Earth broke audience records in 2007 and 2008 while Season four’s Journey's End was most viewed broadcast on British television that week. There aren’t many shows that can take on the Doctor.
44. Christopher Eccleston!
Who’s going to be the new Doctor? It’s a question constantly associated with the show – it’s being discussed right now! It’s also one of the Who producers’ main responsibilities, despite being one of the most sought-after roles on British TV. Having previously worked with Russell T Davies on The Second Coming, Eccleston was inspired casting as the Ninth Doctor and must take a lot of responsibility for the show’s massive success. Here’s hoping that one day he’ll make a proper comeback to the show he’s contributed so much to.
(Image: Getty)
43. David Tennant!
Funny to remember it, but David Tennant wasn’t so well known once... While he gave stunning turns in Blackpool and Davies’ own Casanova, it was when he appeared aboard the TARDIS in 2005 that he really hit it big. The most successful Doctor to date.
42. Variety
Russell T got so many things right with Doctor Who, but perhaps the most important thing was the variety he brought to it. For years, he produced storylines and dialogue for tragedy, comedy and massive space adventure. After all, this is the show where you can go anywhere in time and space from one week to the next with different lead characters... Variety is essential. From full on Dalek/Cyberman battles to the quiet terror of Season Four’s Midnight, Davies provided it in time-sco |
and worldwide challenge in 1917, came this magnificently unified credible voice with greater amplification in the national and worldwide scene,” said New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan.
After a century of dramatic changes, the USCCB is still responding to the multiple challenges and opportunities of that vision of collaboration in service.
– – –
Shaw is the author of more than 20 books and numerous articles and commentaries. He was information director of the NCCB/USCC (1967-1987) and the Knights of Columbus (1987-1997). Contributing to this story were Mark Pattison and Chaz Muth.By Landon Butterworth
It's been about two months since we launched Yana Virtual Relaxation on the Samsung Gear VR. But before that, Yana was originally made for more powerful, desktop VR setups and had to go through an extensive optimization process to work on mobile devices. Of course, at the outset we didn't realize just how extensive that process would be.
We chose to port over this experience not only because people seemed to like the desktop version, but we were looking ahead to our Lost Cities VR project (now in full swing!) and thought that the process of optimizing a desktop VR experience for mobile would teach us everything we needed to know about the mobile development process.
I wanted to write a brief overview to give other developers and users some insight into what it took to produce this type of experience, learn from our mistakes, and share some tricks that we came up with along the way.
A little bit about the old Yana project
Yana was the first virtual reality project The Campfire Union created; it actually predates and was started by Les's former company, and was completed under Campfire. It was one of the first virtual relaxation apps on Oculus Share and currently has over 3,000 downloads and some really positive reviews.
All of this is well and good, but it doesn't change the fact that it was an old project that no one had looked at for about a year, it was created through a process of trial and error, had very little documentation, and almost no attention had been given to efficiency. I dusted off the old Plastic SCM repository, pulled down a copy, and started poking around to see if this was even possible. To break it down for you:
Old project specs:
3.7 million tris
1700 draw calls
Dynamic reflection
Transparency on everything
Day/night cycle
New maximum specs:
100k tris
50 draw calls
No reflection
Minimal transparency
only 1 dynamic light allowed
Ignorance is bliss
Like anyone else attempting to do this for the first time I began researching and found several videos and blog posts that other developers had made after completing their porting process. Almost everyone said that you shouldn't port your game over and you should instead start from scratch.
Naturally I took the other developers advice with a grain of salt and the recommended maximum specs as rough guidelines rather than hard rules, otherwise the project would have been dead right then and there. I thought the other developers were exaggerating and that we would be able to push it. I thought we would be able to keep Unity's standard water and the transparency if we just cut back enough in other places.
The beach pre-optimization
The beach post-optimization
Jumping in
After creating a backup of the old project and creating a new branch for the repository, I converted the Unity project from desktop to Android and started removing everything that wasn't essential. I switched over to the Oculus Mobile SDK and imported the recommended project settings. I replaced all the shaders that I could with their mobile counterparts and did a build to see where we were at.
This was the first time there were any red flags. At one point the app chugged so hard it was like someone hit the 'F' key on the old OVRPlayerController - total freeze frame. There really wasn't any simulator sickness caused by the experience because it was less of an immersive 360 degree animation and more of a series of still images.
How could we take something that was rendering around 5 frames per second to 60 frames per second?
The teardown
I started exploring the scene more in depth and cutting things that I had originally thought we would be able to get away with keeping (like the seagulls). I turned refraction off on the water so it was no longer transparent, but kept reflection on.
I took out more than half of the trees on the beach and realized their shadows were still present when I ran it in the editor. It turns out it was using projectors to create the shadows that move across the beach. I removed the projectors and turned cast and receive shadows off on every game object in the scene.
I removed all lighting except the one that follows the rotation of the sun and changes from day to night. I did another build to check where we were at... there's the sim sickness I was looking for! We weren't using ADB to get an accurate Frames-Per-Second (FPS), but my guess is it was around 20-25 FPS and still spiking at points.
Time to set up a proper test environment
Although we could see progress from the changes we were making, we didn't have a reliable metric to compare with previous tests and we had no clue how much further we had to go.
I started researching the best way to remotely access the stats on the phone and came across a few possible solutions. The one that seemed to be the most popular was ADB wireless by Henry. We had some problems with it initially and sometimes there are still problems connecting to the mobile device but for the most part it's a great tool.
After setting that up we could just type adb logcat –s "UnityPlugin" in the command prompt to get an accurate read out of the current FPS. We also used the ADB wireless to connect to the Unity profiler.
The whole scene pre-optimization
The whole scene post-optimization
Diving into the scripts
At this point we had trimmed all the excess stuff that was easy to take care of and it was time to start evaluating the efficiency of our scripts.
One thing that was particularly interesting was a NodRecognizer script they had used for user interaction in the desktop version. When I started profiling I saw that Physics was taking up a huge chunk of the CPU usage, but only sporadically, which didn't make sense to me because I thought I had removed all the Rigidbodies.
It turns out that when a nod was recognized, a bunch of Raycasts were being used immediately after to determine where the user was looking after the nod. Thankfully because we were switching the menu navigation to "tap to continue" I just scrapped this script and we saw a major improvement because of it.
When we turned on the deep profiler we saw some scripts that should only be called every once in a while taking a small percentage of CPU every frame. It turned out to be empty Update() methods within those scripts. Even though they aren't executing any code, they are still called and each call takes a little bit of time. This made me go through every script we had and delete any empty Update() and Start() methods.
Trimming the excess
I realized that because the Gear VR doesn't have positional tracking we could use that to our advantage. Anything that you can't see from the position of the camera doesn't need to be included in the scene at all. Since the water is no longer showing refraction, anything under the level of the water could also be erased. I stripped out the water walls, cut the bottom, back, and sides off of the sand, and completely cut the back out of the stone archway as well as the part that was below the water level.
I did some of the trimming manually, but I also used a tool called Simplygon to reduce the number of tris and for some of the more complicated processes. This got us all the way up to 42 frames per second! We were well on our way, but on the other hand we were running out of things we could get rid of.
Necessary sacrifices
Early on I had cut out the seagulls and while we had originally intended on bringing back one or two it was becoming obvious that it wasn't going to happen. Somewhere along the path of optimizing for mobile you have to come to terms with the fact that you can't have everything you want. Sacrifices must be made!
For us those sacrifices really began adding up. We had to ditch the dark colouring around the water on the sand because it was using a diffuse-detail shader and the resolution on the detail texture was killing our texture memory.
We also had to ditch more than half of the trees as well as the animations on the trees behind the user, and switch them from skinned mesh renderers to mesh renderers.
Even after these sacrifices we still weren't fast enough. We racked our brains on what else we could cut, combing through all the shaders and scripts. We reduced all the textures in the scene to the lowest resolution we could get away with and created texture atlases wherever we could. No matter how hard we tried the highest FPS we hit at this point was 51.
We finally accepted the fact that the water had to go.
It just wasn't going to work on mobile. Sure the mobile version of the water worked fine, but without the reflection the experience crossed over our lower bound of quality that we were not willing to accept.
Creating water from wine(ing about the limitations of the Gear VR)
We knew we needed to mimic the effect the water had as closely as possible and we knew that dynamic reflection of any kind would kill our frame rate.
We started by exploring the Unity Asset store for a solution. Most of the options we found still used dynamic reflection. Then we moved to using a camera in the same position as the camera rig but reflected over the (x, z) plane to create a render texture of what would be the reflection. Not only did that not work very well but it also destroyed our texture memory, so every frame it was basically paging (kinda, sorta, not really) for textures, which ate up time and destroyed our frame rate.
We were out of ideas and I spent a couple days poking around other elements in the scene trying to cut and slash to no end. I came up with the idea of just duplicating all the objects in the scene that would be reflected and flipping them upside down, basically faking the reflection by having another physical object in the scene instead!
Right after I had that eureka moment I did a quick Google search and realized that's what they used to do on old gaming systems and I might not be as much of a genius as I thought.
So there it was, a tried and true method of faking reflections that worked on systems with way tighter restrictions than the Gear VR. I duplicated and flipped all the objects that should appear in the reflection: the arch, the sky sphere, the tree to the left, and built it. 60 FRAMES PER SECOND!!!
The sun sets on the celebration
I was so proud, we had finally done it! It was running at a solid 60 FPS with a reflection that looked convincing. A bit glassy, but convincing.
I started thinking about how we could improve the look of the reflection by blending a darker colour into the shader of the reflected object when I noticed the sun was setting and the sky started to turn pink and as I watched the sky switch from day to night and the horizon glow disappeared the sun was still visible well under the horizon line.
Then I realized I hadn't duplicated the sun... or the moon... or the shooting stars... or the catamaran... or even the horizon glow.
Not only that, how do you make a sun set when there is nothing for it to set behind? The shooting stars and horizon glow are easy: just duplicate and scale their game objects by -1 and voila, but how do you fake a sunset?
I wrestled with the idea of deforming the meshes of the sun and moon objects as they approached the horizon line but I decided that would be too complicated and probably wouldn't look right.
Into the weeds
I came up with the idea of creating a mask that would appear in front of the sun or moon, and would show what was behind the sun or moon, effectively masking just the sun or moon. I could simply stagger the original animation and the reflected animation and manually change the order of the render queue.
Using a very simple custom shader, we created the appearance of a sun setting over water. The mask just below the water line would hide the "real" sun as it sets downward, and the mask just above the water line would hide the reflected sun as it sets upward. And we could simply repeat the same thing later on for the rising moon as well as the sunrise.
Here's the actual code involved:
// DepthMask.shader Shader "Custom/DepthMask" { Properties { } SubShader { Pass { Blend Zero One } } }
// setRenderQueue.cs using UnityEngine; using System.Collections; public class setRenderQueue : MonoBehaviour { public int renderNumber; // Use this for initialization void Start () { renderer.material.renderQueue = renderNumber; } }
The Unity Mask Inspector - Note that the mask's renderNumber must be above 2000 so that it's rendered with the rest of the geometry, but below the renderNumber of the object being masked.
Almost there!
We were finally running at 60 FPS for the entire experience except for three sections: when the sun was setting and rising, and during the shooting stars.
The problem with the shooting stars was that I had simply duplicated the animation and flipped it, meaning there were twice as many particles as there were previously. I went through and reduced the number of particles on each of the shooting stars and removed one or two entirely because there were three stars in the sky simultaneously (which of course means 6 because of the reflection).
We were still using transparency for the horizon glow during the sunset and now with the masks using a Blend Zero One in the shader, that meant a lot of pixels affected by the transparency.
The horizon glow on the old project was a band that stretched around the entire horizon, so I reduced it to occupy just enough space surrounding the sun to make it convincing.
One last push
At this point everything that was being reflected was a separate object from the original and using a separate shader because we needed to tint the reflected objects a little to make it look like water. That means that for every object we were reflecting (the arch, the sky sphere, the tree to the right, and the rock to the left) we were adding an additional draw call.
Ryan Hill just happened to stop by to talk about becoming a member of the Campfire team and he recommended combining the meshes and using vertex colours to darken the reflected part. That would mean each object and its reflection would be one mesh with one material and therefore one draw call.
As I started thinking about where to start and looking through similar scripts online, I received an email with a script attached with the subject line "here, use this". I threw it into Unity, read the README.txt, combined all the reflected objects with their original objects, and voila! A solid 60 Frames-Per-Second through the entire experience!
Yana's performance stats pre-optimization
Yana's performance stats post-optimization
Getting Yana submission-ready
We had hit our 60 FPS mark, now all that was left to do was get the experience ready for submission. This actually took a considerable amount of time too because it was the first app we had ever submitted.
We added in a stereoscopic logo screen with a little animation, a stereoscopic loading screen, gentle fade-ins and fade-outs on scene changes, attached the standard back button functionality and the universal menu, changed the Android manifest to the required settings, and created a single screen version so we could take the necessary screen shots.
My part was done! I handed the project off to our Chief Creative Officer Rachael Hosein to create the description and branding for the experience.
In the end
Yana has been doing better than we ever expected. We have received messages from people who are using it for their daily naps, people using it for pain and anxiety therapy, and other people who say it's one of the experiences they show others as an introduction to VR.
Yana has also been in the top ten downloads on WEARVR for four weeks in a row now and we could not be happier! It was a grueling process porting it from desktop to the Gear VR and Google Cardboard, but the response from people has made it all worthwhile.
- by Landon ButterworthOne car barreled through a stop sign, struck a tree and landed upside down in a Texas lake, drowning four people. Another tore across an Indiana street and crashed into a jewelry store. A third raced at an estimated 100 mph on a San Bernardino County street before striking a telephone pole, killing a restaurant owner.
At least 56 people have died in U.S. traffic accidents in which sudden unintended acceleration of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles has been alleged, according to a Times review of public records and interviews with authorities.
Most died while doing the mundane: returning to work after lunch, shopping, driving to the bank to make a deposit. The deaths occurred in big cities and small towns throughout the U.S.: Los Angeles; Tucson; Auburn, N.Y.; Marietta, Ga. The stories are told in court filings, federal accident complaints and police reports.
In the last decade, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received complaints of 34 fatalities related to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles, far more than for any other automaker. At least 22 additional deaths related to Toyota acceleration problems have been alleged in lawsuits and police reports.When NRG eSports was founded in November 2015, their roster was greeted by plenty of fan hype and expectation as many predicted they would swiftly rise as a top team in the North American LCS.
Time would eventually wear away the shine on the squad, and a disappointing 5th-6th place finish would be the final nail in the coffin. Since then, NRG has decided to start with a clean slate, re-building a nearly entirely new roster for the upcoming summer season.
However, the memories of NRG's failed inaugural split remain for all the players who lived it — only a day after their 3-0 loss at the hands of Team Liquid in the playoffs, theScore esports sat down with the team's spring split roster to find out just what went wrong to make NRG eSports go from potential powerhouse to power out.
Altec: 'Compared to other seasons, I think it's the worst I've ever played'
KonKwon: 'Our communication problems got better and worse at the same time'
Moon: 'After getting 3-0'd I was just really sad. Walking off the stage, [it felt like] all the work was just gone [and] now there's nothing left'
Impact: 'I started to tilt more often'
GBM: 'We know about what's wrong with us and what's wrong with our team and what we have to do...next split'
For more videos and interviews, be sure to subscribe to theScore esports on YouTube.I’ve been to a lot of Bruce Springsteen concerts, and by a lot, I mean I actually lost count somewhere in the midst of several multi-night New Jersey tour stops. There are so many potent memories—the five-hour marathon, the one in pouring rain, the one in the front row, the Southside appearances, Amnesty International, the Hall of Fame, the Beacon, the endless Meadowlands tailgating and, of course, the first. That was in high school—December 4, 1980; I can still picture the rescheduled date stamped across my ticket—when my friend Maryann told me I had to go. The River had just been released, so I bought the vinyl and crammed, went to the concert, and finally understood. I’ll spare you the conversion details, but what stands out in my mind are those long confessionals (what writer wouldn’t be transfixed by such angst and soul-baring?), and what I didn’t know. What were those refrains everybody sang as they pumped their fists? What were all the songs between The River tracks? What the hell was Jungleland?
I lost no time catching up and, over the next decades, attended scores of concerts, even when, after a while, I no longer felt the same pull, long after I’d unloaded my boxes of Backstreets magazines, concert memorabilia, and buttons to a grateful eBay buyer; after Bruce had gone from confessor to carny showman and back to something not quite in between; after Clarence and Danny were gone. I always felt like I had to, because the time was coming when each concert could be the last. This time around, though, even as my ears registered the tour announcement, I realized my heart wasn’t screaming to go. It fell at a crazy mid-rehearsal time, I was broke, and I thought maybe the Asbury Park album tour—when I finally got to hear “Mary Queen of Arkansas” in concert—was the finish. But then I got a text from Maryann: didn’t we need to go to this one, for old time’s sake? Yeah, we did. Not only that, it was time to take my daughters who’d grown up on this sound.
Having my daughters next to me as we waited for the band to take the stage already meant this one would be memorable. And when the man came out, their reaction was everything I hoped it would be; what surprised me as Bruce played through The River, in order, was my own reaction. It’s been years since I listened to this studio album—when I listen to anything, it’s usually boots—so hearing it this way, remembering the next track, every word, triggered a wash of nostalgia. And then came “Independence Day.”
Anybody whose attended a Springsteen concert with me knows that “Independence Day” is my holy grail, the song I always want to hear, and one that infrequently shows up in concerts. The song speaks to me on so many levels, and tonight, while I didn’t expect a big intro for it, at least I knew it was a guarantee. To my delight, Bruce did take the mic to talk about the song, but not about his difficulties with his father, the hatred, the long nights spent talking to his girl in a telephone booth, or fighting about that damned guitar; instead, he said the song was about seeing his parents’ humanity for the first time, seeing the failed dreams and compromises, and not understanding the blessings that come with those. This wasn’t a tale told by a disenchanted, disengaged, distant teen, but a wise revelation borne of age, parenthood, perspective. Bruce understood it, and so did I. My daughter squeezed my hand, and I welled up.
As this flashback continued, so came the memories. My college roommate, Cindy, was a Grateful Dead fan with enthusiasm equal to mine for Springsteen. Whenever I came back to our room, a Dead album was on the turntable; whenever she came back, a Springsteen one: it was an unspoken battle of loyalties. I remembered other concerts with Maryann, who ultimately had to sell these tickets at the last minute—we all have different priorities now. I remembered taking others to their first concerts—Christine, Thanyalak—attending with Jody and Stephanie (who sent me an “Independence Day” video from the Madison Square Garden concert last month), camp friends, work friends, strangers on a bus. Springsteen has been the connective tissue at so many points in my life, beginning with this record.
The album continued and I mentally ticked off “end of side one,” “end of side two,” amazed that even when there were songs I never particularly loved, I wanted to hear them, and knew every word. Each song—part of a coming of age compilation full of love, sex, tears, longing, and dreams—landed harder with thirty-five years’ hindsight. Before “The River,” he talked about life being full of possibility, who will you marry, what kids will you raise. His “Dancing in the Dark” partner was no Courteney Cox, but a decidedly middle-aged woman who was past those wonderings, a woman reluctant to get on stage and dance; she just hugged him. This new resonance was particularly powerful as Bruce sang “I don’t want to fade away” over and over as the song ended, imbuing the song with melancholy, poignancy, and longing that just didn’t exist 35 years ago. It’s hard not to be reminded that just as two band members were absent from the stage, there are people—including my roommate Cindy—absent from my life now, too. This coming of age album became an album about life. I’m older. Bruce is older. Most of this audience is older. And we’ve all been on the same journey.
When the The River ended and the popular portion began, the spell was broken. That nostalgic haze evaporated into a string of hits, where I was able to sing every refrain that had eluded me 35 years ago, just as they were eluding my daughters now. But as I watched them air drum with Max, swoon a little at Jake Clemons, wave their arms during “Born to Run,” I cherished the present. It felt like the journey wasn’t quite over. I’d felt like these experiences were behind me, that the greatest hits shows could never have the resonance that those earlier cathartic shows once did. But tonight, as it was 35 years ago, The River was magic; I was again converted, connected, and carried away in a way I no longer thought possible. This may be my last best Bruce concert, and I’m okay with that. I know it will never be the same. Because I’m not. Bruce is not. And that’s the whole point.Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) denounced President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, just hours before the Senate was scheduled to vote on his approval.
Warren spent nearly an hour on the floor Thursday evening to voice her “strong opposition” to Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general who has sued the EPA 13 times. The excoriation came hours after a state judge ordered Pruitt’s office to release more than 2,500 documents and emails about his communications with energy companies during his tenure.
“I rise today to express my strong opposition to President Trump’s nomination of Scott Pruitt,” Warren said at the outset of her speech. “The reason is simple: In a choice between corporate polluters and people who want to breathe air and drink water, Scott Pruitt sides with the corporate polluters. He has no business as head of the EPA.”
The Senate is scheduled to vote on Pruitt’s nomination Friday afternoon, just days before the documents and emails are made public. An incredulous Warren demanded senators be given access to the communications to make an informed decision on the nomination and called for a bipartisan effort to ensure “access to clean air and clean water [as] a basic right for all Americans.”
“Their plan is to jam this nomination through tomorrow, four days before the emails are slated to become public. Are you kidding me?” she asked. “If those emails show corruption, every senator should have that information before, not after, they vote to put someone in charge of the EPA who may be there for years.”
She continued:
Clean air and clean water used to be a nonpartisan issue. In earlier decades, leaders in both parties had the courage to say no to suffocating smog and towering plumes of toxic chemicals poisoning our children. Republicans and Democrats came together, and together they declared that access to clean air and clean water is a basic right for all Americans. We passed the Clean Air Act, we passed the Clean Water Act... we did those things together.
Many leading Democrats have also expressed outrage over the vote.
Trump picked the worst group of cabinet nominees in the modern history of America. But EPA nominee Scott Pruitt is the worst of the worst. — Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 16, 2017
Republicans are forcing through Scott Pruitt’s nomination while he refuses to answer @EPWDems' questions. We object! Americans object! — Senator Tom Carper (@SenatorCarper) February 16, 2017
Pruitt’s nomination has prompted widespread fear among environmentalists and staff currently at the EPA. Since 2002, Pruitt has received more than $300,000 in contributions from the fossil fuel industry, and on his LinkedIn page, he lists himself as “a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda.”
This week, nearly 800 former agency staffers signed a letter in protest of his nomination. The letter called Pruitt “a close ally of the oil and gas industry [who] has made a career of suing EPA and attacking the idea of federal action to reduce pollution ― while simultaneously failing to enforce environmental laws in his own state and shutting down the Environmental Protection Unit in the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office.”
Warren echoed these fears and what she called Pruitt’s continual support for “his friends in the oil industry... to heck with everybody else.”Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and one of the largest manufacturers of computer memory, Samsung, have created a new kind of flash memory that uses graphene—atom-thick sheets of pure carbon—along with silicon to store information.
Incorporating graphene could help extend the viability of flash memory technology for years to come, and allow future portable electronics to store far more data.
Chipmakers pack increasing amounts of data in the same physical area by miniaturizing the memory cells used to store individual bits. Inside today’s flash drives, these cells are nanoscale “floating gate” transistors. Recent years have seen the rapid miniaturization of flash cells, enabling, for example, the iPhone 4 to store twice as much data as the iPhone 3. But below a certain cell size, silicon becomes less stable, and this has the potential to halt the march of miniaturization.
Graphene-based technology like that demonstrated the UCLA team and Samsung could let flash memory continue shrinking. The group’s prototypes devices are described online in the journal ACS Nano.
“We’re not totally replacing silicon but using graphene as the storage layer,” says Augustin Hong, who worked on the devices at UCLA and is now a research staff member at IBM’s Watson Research Center. “We’re using graphene to help extend the capabilities of the conventional technology.”
The graphene flash memory prototypes can be read and written to using less power than conventional flash memory, and they can store data more stably over time, even when miniaturized. The UCLA researchers have also demonstrated that they meet the industry standard of 10-year projected data retention—today’s flash memory does too, but future versions may not. Most important, the graphene memory cells don’t electrically interfere with one another—a problem with conventional flash cells as they are made smaller that can cause them to malfunction.
Other researchers are working on radical new kinds of computer memory that promise to hold more data. However, many of these alternatives require exotic materials and totally new manufacturing processes. Replacing silicon with graphene in flash memory cells could provide a simpler, more practical solution, at least in the short term.
Graphene flash memory cells perform better because of the material’s unusual chemical structure and electrical properties, says Kang Wang, professor of electrical engineering at UCLA, who led the work. Part of the problem with silicon-based flash is that as memory cells get smaller, the transistor gates have to be thicker relative to the rest of the circuit in order to store sufficient charge, and these thick-gated cells tend to interfere with their neighbors. Because gates made from graphene are ultrathin, says Wang, they do not interfere with one another. Graphene can also hold much more charge than silicon without its leaking out—another problem with conventional flash as the cells are miniaturized.
So far, the graphene flash memory cells the researchers have made are relatively large—on the order of ten micrometers. But graphene, unlike silicon, has no known physical properties that would cause a dip in performance as the devices are miniaturized. “Their simulation results suggest that graphene-made devices can be scaled down to about ten nanometers,” says Barbaros Özyilmaz, assistant professor of physics at the National University of Singapore, who was not involved with the research. Conventional flash is expected to become unstable below about 22 nanometers.
Wang says the researchers are now building smaller graphene cells to test. His group collaborated with researchers from Samsung on the project and is talking with Micron about commercialization.
“One question is when to get started with putting graphene on a commercial process line,” says Wang. Semiconductor manufacturing is an extremely well controlled process—defects at the scale of single atoms can turn a high-performance chip into trash—so introducing a new material takes much time and care.
Wang says that in theory, it should not be difficult to add graphene to chips, because the material is relatively stable and can be grown on wafers using processes that are already common in chip manufacturing plants.KRYPTOVALUUTAT
Olli Vänskä
Suomen tulli takavarikoi vuonna 2016 suomalaisen miehen pyörittämästä huumekaupasta 1666 bitcoinia, joiden arvo on sittemmin räjähtänyt. Nykykurssilla niiden arvo on yli 23 miljoonaa euroa.
Mitä virtuaalirahoille sitten tapahtuu?
Suomen valtiolla ei ole tällä hetkellä olemassa olevaa linjanvetoa siitä, miten kryptovaluuttoja pitäisi käsitella.
Valtionhallintoon valmistellaan kuitenkin parhaillaan ohjeistusta siitä, miten bitcoinin kaltaisiin kryptovaluuttoihin pitäisi suhtautua.
Valtiokonttorin maksuliikepäällikkö Keijo Kettunen kertoo, että viraston henkilö- ja taloustoimialojen työryhmä antaa kantansa asiaan tammikuun loppuun mennessä.
"Tämän hetkisen näkemyksen mukaan todennäköinen kanta on, että bitcoinia ei missään nimessä tultaisi käsittelemään maksuvälineenä, vaan omaisuuseränä", hän toteaa. Käytännössä esimerkiksi takavarikon yhteydessä niitä kohdeltaisiin kuten osakkeita tai niihin rinnastettavia eriä.
Kettusen mukaan kryptovaluuttoihin liityy tällä hetkellä niin paljon kysymysmerkkejä, että niiden kanssa tulee olla hyvin varovainen.
"Emme ole missään nimessä päänavaaja tällä rintamalla", hän arvioi.
Lopullinen kanta selviää kuitenkin vasta ensi vuonna.
Tivin tietojen mukaan bitcoineja on myös muiden viranomaisten hallussa, kuitenkin vähemmän kuin tullilla. Niitä säilytetään erillisissä bitcoin-lompakoissa, ja kokonaismäärä lienee alle 2000 bitcoinia.
Tammikuussa odotettu päätös vaikuttaa myös muun muassa siihen, miten takavarikoituja bitcoineja voitaisiin realisoida. Valtiokonttori haluaa todennäköisesti noudattaa tiettyä varovaisuutta esimerkiksi bitcoin-kauppapaikkojen suhteen.
Pohdinnassa on esimerkiksi, voitaisiinko bitcoineja huutokaupata samaan tapaan kuin esimerkiksi Yhdysvalloissa ja Ruotsissa on tehty. Länsinaapurimme myi takavarikoidut 0,6 bitcoinia lokakuussa, mikä toi valtion kassaan hieman yli 4000 euroa.
Jenkkipoliisi taas kauppasi vuonna 2015 loput 44 000 bitcoinia yhteensä 144 000 takavarikoidusta bitcoinista ja sai niistä silloin 14,6 miljoonaa dollaria: nykyarvolla koko läjän hinta olisi yli 2 miljardia euroa.
Turun hovioikeus teki hiljattain päätöksen, josta voi tulla Suomessa eräänlainen ennakkotapaus. Douppikauppa-nimisen huumekaupan pitäjän kaikki bitcoinit tuomittiin valtiolle, vaikka niiden arvo on kasvanut yli vuoden aikana huomattavasti.
Ole hyvä ja kytke Javascript päälle nähdäksesi kommentit.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Nuland declined to comment on the substance of the conversation but said the leak displayed "pretty impressive tradecraft"
Swearing scornfully about your allies isn't great diplomacy - but it is the revelation of the depth of the US involvement in the Ukraine crisis that really catches the eye.
Behind the banging of batons and the chucking of petrol bombs lies a very old struggle: whether Ukraine faces east or west, whether it does trade deals with the European Union or Russian President Vladimir Putin's ersatz Russian reflection of the EU, the Eurasian Union.
Much is at stake, not just for Ukraine, but others in the region facing a similar dilemma.
It seems Assistant US Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, whose conversation with US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt was leaked on YouTube, felt the EU was being tardy and inefficient.
Pity poor EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (the term "foreign minister" was rejected by real foreign ministers, and her official title is "high representative of the Union for foreign affairs and security policy") - who has to check her every move with Berlin, Paris, London and Warsaw not to mention the Baltic states and the Scandinavians, indeed any of the EU's 28 countries who might have a view on how to handle Russia.
The US state department does not, yet, have to consult the governor of Alabama on such matters, and so Ms Nuland could instead plot with the ambassador on who should and shouldn't be in a new Ukrainian cabinet.
After all the NSA revelations, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel's umbrage at them, saying a naughty word about the main players in the region is excruciatingly awkward.
But it's the larger conversation, which shows the US is manipulating Ukraine just as much as Russia, that is the real diplomatic disaster.The Museion Bozen-Bolzano museum in northern Italy said a cleaner mistook empty bottles of champagne, |
back into line that the next day and every day thereafter the battalions were marched through Burlington without a halt being made.
The troops, however, were welcomed at the Pettit farm halfway between Freeman and Guelph Line. The ladies of Burlington sent out pies and coffee. During the two weeks 1,200 pies were carried to the lunch stop by boys from the local high school.
During the war, Burlington women helped with Red Cross work. The Women’s Institute assisted the Queen’s Canadian Hospital Committee. This was a group of Burlington girls who met in the library to knit for the soldiers and roll bandages.
In 1915, a Home Guard unit was formed and the men improved their marksmanship on an indoor range.We’re one month out from the launch of Mighty No. 9 and things aren’t looking great.
This new Mighty No. 9 trailer isn’t going down well
Mighty No. 9 has had a really rough time. Kickstarted back in 2013, it has been pushed back a comical number of times from its original 2015 release window, accompanied by unfortunately-broken promises of no further delayed.
But now it’s really happening: Mighty No.9 went gold, so there really shouldn’t be anything else to worry about. Right?
Well, apparently not. A new trailer released overnight and has been absolutely slammed by viewers. The US version, embedded above, has over 93,000 views at time of writing. The likes to dislikes ratio is currently 920 to 7,465. Although the UK, DE, IT and FR versions have fewer views, none has managed a positive likes ratio.
This sort of reaction isn’t something we normally pay attention to, except when it illustrates something as fascinating as the Battlefield 1 versus Call of Duty Infinite Warfare YouTube rivalry, but in this case it’s a nice empirical measure of a fanbase’s reaction to a somewhat, uh, painful trailer.
I don’t know if it’s the kind of janky graphics and animation in the non-gameplay sections, which we might forgive given this is a crowdfunded project. Maybe it’s the patronising voiceover, which was probably chosen because Mighty No. 9 is a family-friendly game, even if its backers are all grown ups with credit cards.
Maybe it’s the jab about anime fans, which seems a bit disdainful given how much crossover there is between fans of Japanese animation and fans of classic Japanese games. It all feels a bit 90’s to me, which may have been intentional but hasn’t quite nailed nostalgia.
Whatever it is, it seems to have met with an unhappy reaction. The good news is, it’s only marketing; the game itself may well take a very different tone.
Mighty No 9. launches next month on Linux, Mac, PC, PS4, Wii U and Xbox One, as well as on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 via digital channels only. 3DS and Vita versions are due “at a later point”.Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said the president would request $1.5 billion in a supplemental spending bill. | AP Photo Trump wants $4.1 billion for border wall
The Trump administration proposes to kick-start construction of a border wall with $4.1 billion in spending through 2018, an official said Wednesday.
Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said the president would request $1.5 billion in a supplemental spending bill and $2.6 billion in his fiscal year 2018 budget. The combined $4.1 billion in spending is considerably greater than previous estimates on a down payment for the wall, but well short of its estimated total cost of $22 billion.
Story Continued Below
The proposed budget line items would be part of a broader push to secure the border in what Mulvaney called an "America First" budget.
“We wrote it using the president’s own words,” he said during a call with reporters. “We went through his speeches, we went through articles that have been written about his policies... and we turned those policies into numbers.”
Overall, the supplemental will ask for $30 billion for defense and border security. The president’s proposed budget also would increase Department of Homeland Security funding by 6 percent, Mulvaney said.
If approved by Congress, the $4.1 billion in border wall funding would represent a substantial investment in security. The figure is more than 10 times what President Barack Obama requested for the acquisition and maintenance of technology and tactical infrastructure along U.S. borders in the current fiscal year.
The border spending may trigger a standoff with Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week that border wall funding would be a “poison pill” that could lead to a government shutdown. "We believe it would be inappropriate to insist on the inclusion of such funding in a must-pass appropriations bill,” Schumer wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Some Republicans have voiced opposition as well. "Billions of dollars on a wall is not the right way to proceed," Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, was heard telling constituents last week in an audio obtained by POLITICO. "We shouldn't just build a wall and add billions of dollars because that's what somebody said should be done." Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma told POLITICO, "we can't pay for it out of thin air."
Even if Democratic and Republican opponents do agree to steer money toward the wall, it’s unclear how far the funds would go. An internal DHS report reviewed by Reuters found the wall could cost an estimated $21.6 billion.
OMB’s Mulvaney said Wednesday that the $1.5 billion would fund “pilot cases” where DHS could test several types of border wall in different areas.
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“The next question is going to be, ‘How many miles of wall does that build, right?’” Mulvaney said. “We don’t know the answer to that question because we haven’t settled on construction types, we haven’t settled on where we’re going to start.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection suggested this week that it could solicit proposals on two types of border wall designs in the near future, according to a post on a federal contracting website.
CBP initially said it planned to procure “concrete wall structures, nominally 30 feet tall, that will meet requirements for aesthetics, anti-climbing, and resistance to tampering or damage.” On Tuesday, it opened the door to the possibility of non-concrete proposals that would feature “other designs.”
In order to free up funds for the wall, the administration cut from other budget areas, Mulvaney said. The president’s fiscal year 2018 budget would slash State Department funding by 28 percent, the OMB director said.
Despite Trump's repeated campaign promises, the administration does not expect Mexico to pay for the wall. "It’s coming out of the treasury,” Mulvaney said.Kolkata: The West Bengal government’s decision to start wholesale distribution of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) has rattled the whole liquor supply chain in the state.
Though the government hasn’t said it would establish a monopoly, distributors fear their yearly licences may not be renewed after the proposed West Bengal State Beverages Corp. Ltd is launched. Around 17,000 people directly and indirectly employed in the sector face the risk of losing jobs, according to West Bengal Liquor Manufacturers Wholesalers and Bonders Association.
If the government establishes a monopoly, consumers, including retailers, will be at the risk of being over-charged by unscrupulous officials, a key official in lobby group for state’s liquor sellers, All Bengal Licensee Association, said. “That’s the experience in any state where liquor distribution and retailing is controlled by state-owned enterprises," this person said, asking not to be identified.
To be sure, the state hasn’t yet said anything about getting into retailing; it has only floated tenders to secure at least 30 warehouses on lease across West Bengal for wholesale distribution.
A key excise department official said West Bengal is currently studying the model of IMFL distribution by state-owned corporations in 11 states. “The idea is to learn the best practices to implement a transparent model of distribution," this person said, asking not to be named.
Describing the current distribution network as an “oligopoly", the excise department official said having a government corporation will “eliminate inefficiencies and maximize revenue for the state exchequer".
Members of the West Bengal Liquor Manufacturers Wholesalers and Bonders Association claim there are at least 102 players in the business, and the model is an evolved one.
Over 5,000 retailers, which include bars and restaurants, will have to find a new way of doing business, said Pradyut Saha, general secretary of All Bengal Licensee Association, another lobby group. If the state comes in as the sole distributor, retailers will be starved of trade credit, and those short on working capital will be badly hit, Saha said.
“How long will they survive against bigger sharks?" asked Saha, adding that the move will lead to consolidation among retailers and consequent job losses.
That’s what happened in neighbouring Odisha within only three years of the state launching its own liquor distribution company, said Hiranmoy Gon, secretary of the West Bengal Foreign Liquor Manufacturers Wholesalers and Bonders Association.
Wholesale IMFL distribution has thin margins, so it isn’t as lucrative as the government thinks it is, said Gon, whose lobby group has written to chief minister Mamata Banerjee to rethink the plan in the light of the potential job losses that it could lead to.
For the state, it’s a choice between biting the bullet to augment revenues or “play safe" so that it is not seen as stealing people’s jobs, said a finance department official, who too asked not to be identified.The Booklet has 3G, Bluetooth, and wi-fi connectivity
The world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones will join the PC market with its Booklet 3G netbook.
The Windows-based device is about 2cm thick and will offer 3G connectivity as well as wi-fi.
Analysts said the laptop was a "natural extension" of the company's product range but the firm would face stiff competition.
Nokia will release price and availability information at an event in Stuttgart on 2 September.
The Booklet has an aluminium case, weighs 1.25 kilograms (2.75 lbs) and its 10-inch screen is HD-ready.
Nokia has released a number of small, "tablet"-style internet-enabled devices in the past to mixed reviews, but this is the first effort which is claimed to be a full-function PC.
"A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility," said Kai Oistamo, Nokia's executive vice president for devices.
"We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us."
Crowded market
The Booklet also has integrated Bluetooth, GPS, a webcam and an SD card reader. Nokia claims it has a 12-hour battery life.
But if the Booklet has an edge in the crowded netbook market, it may lie in the device's heritage.
"Nokia now faces new and different competitors for the Booklet that are strong in the laptop PC space such as Dell, HP and Sony that are weak or non-existent players in mobile phones," wrote Forrester analyst Ian Fogg on his blog.
Mr Fogg said the Booklet's unique selling point was an "internal mobile broadband card with a SIM slot."
"Other netbooks rely on external USB mobile broadband modems for Internet access," he wrote on his blog.
"The presence of this internal wireless modem is why the Booklet 3G is a natural extension to Nokia's traditional phone handset product range."A Clearwater woman gave birth last week to twins from two separate uteruses.
Andreea Barbosa has uterus didelphys and on Thursday gave birth to Nathan and Natalie Barbosa, the St. Petersburg Times reported.
While the condition often results in infertility, Barbosa conceived the two children at the same time in separate uteruses.
"It was definitely a shocker," Barbosa told the newspaper. "I was frightened and scared - a little bit of everything in one."
Child Stars Then and Now
According to Barbosa's obstetrician, Dr. Patricia St. John, approximately one in 2,000 women around the world are diagnosed with this unique condition.
St. John said the odds of having such a pregnancy are one in five million and explained that a woman has to release two eggs at the same time and both must be fertilized and implanted successfully in two different uteruses.
Though researchers are unsure of the cause, it develops before birth as two tubes that usually fuse to form the uterus develop into two different cavities.
Weird News Photos: Holiday Edition
"From the outside, there was nothing wrong with me, " Barbosa told the newspaper.
When the mother gave birth to her now 2-year-old daughter, Izabella, by Cesarean section, St. John noticed that her left uterus was smaller than her right but did not mention the possibility as she did not think a double pregnancy would occur.
"She had a perfect pregnancy. She was so lucky," St. John told the paper. "She was delivered a little early, just to preclude any problems with the placenta bleeding and causing an emergency situation."
"The first pregnancy I had one, the second I had two," Barbosa told the Times, adding that she has no intent to try for a third time.“Attempts at military conflict in Ukraine will lead to a military conflict in Europe,” Yatsenyuk told a cabinet meeting broadcast live and translated by Reuters. “The world has not yet forgotten World War II, but Russia already wants to start World War III.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, warned that any violence against pro-Russian militia in Ukraine would necessitate “consequences.”
“[The confrontations] are just a punitive operation and will, of course, incur consequences for the people making these decisions, including on our interstate relations,” Putin said in a televised meeting with regional media on Friday.
Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement last week in Geneva that called on all parties in the country to lay down arms and vacate public buildings. Pro-Russian militias have been occupying government buildings in more than 10 cities in eastern Ukraine, and the nationalist Right Sector movement is still in control of two public buildings in Kyiv.
But tensions have not eased, and on Friday there were scattered reports of more violence. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said a grenade fired from a launcher caused an explosion in a helicopter at an airfield outside the eastern city of Kramatorsk. Deputy Minister Vasyl Krutov said the pilot was injured.
Ukrainian forces clashed with pro-Russian armed groups as they closed in on the city of Slovyansk on Thursday, seizing checkpoints and setting up roadblocks as helicopters circled overhead. On Friday a bus carrying international observers in the city from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was seized. The Ukrainian Ministry of Interior blamed the capture on pro-Russian armed groups.
The separatist self-declared mayor of Slovyansk told Reuters the mediators were being held because they were believed to have a spy among them from the pro-Western government in Kyiv.
"People who come here as observers bringing with them a real spy: It's not appropriate," Vyacheslav Ponomaryov said in front of a security service building occupied by separatists where the Ukrainian government said the observers were being detained.
In southeastern Ukraine, seven people were injured by a blast at a checkpoint set up by local authorities and pro-Ukraine activists outside the Black Sea port of Odessa. Local police spokesman Volodymyr Shablienko said unknown men threw a grenade at the checkpoint.
In a message posted to Facebook, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the mission to take back buildings occupied by pro-Russian armed groups was ongoing. “ATO [anti-terrorist operation] continues. Terrorists should beware around the clock. Civilians have nothing to fear,” he said.
Serhiy Pashinskiy, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, reiterated his remarks, saying they were attempting to encircle the city of Slovyansk, where the five rebels were killed on Thursday and where pro-Russian rebels have been particularly active.
Meanwhile, Lavrov on Friday accused the West of plotting to control Ukraine and said the pro-Russian armed groups in the southeast would lay down their arms only if the Ukrainian government clears out the Maidan protest camp in Kyiv. “The West wants — and this is how it all began — to seize control of Ukraine because of their own political ambitions, not in the interests of the Ukrainian people,” he said.Remembering the good ol’ days one action figure at a time.
Toybiz Spider-Man Animated Series – 1994: Spider-Man Web Racer
Originally Sold: Toys R Us, K-Mart and KB Toys Stores
Figure Ability: String Pulley mechanism for swinging action
Accessories: Bonus Collectors Pin
“With great power there must also come great responsibility!”. – Benjamin Parker.
Our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has been web slinging through many generations of kids and adults. His funny antics have been a huge selling point to all comic book super-hero lovers and Marvel fans. Spidey is one of my all-time favorite Marvel superheroes. As a homage for the upcoming Spider-Man movie coming out (July 7, 2017) we will be looking at this Toybiz Spider-Man Animated series figure. The design and build of this figure is based off the 1994 TV series. Peter Parker was an orphaned boy living with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben when a radioactive spider, from a school science exhibit, bit him and turned him into the wall-crawling Spider-Man. The bite granted him superpowers like the super keen senses of an arachnid, super strength, as well as wall climbing abilities. Being a whiz kid he produced a portable device capable of shooting artificial webbing for his own use to swing from one spot to another, much like a spider does. He started using his newfound abilities to earn some money but in turn also became the reason why his Uncle Ben dies. He is killed by a criminal that Parker fails to stop. The design and sculpt of this figure is decent and the pattern for the costume is actually very detailed. The pattern is the same as the one in the comics and it gives the nostalgic feel of his first appearance in the Amazing Fantasy #15. The only thing about the figure is the head is more round than oval-shape. Unfortunately the arms on the figure lack any articulation since it houses the mechanism part of the pulley web slinging action. The way it works is you hold the string from one end to the other and swing the figure left to right similar to how Spidey web slings between buildings. The figure also comes with a limited edition collectors pin featuring his arch nemesis, Venom. This action figure line is one of the more sought out sets following the 90’s, when the animated series had just premiered. The set also features most of the villains he had faced in the series. This includes famous villains like Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Carnage, Rhino and more. Spider-Man brings out a lot of good memories between young collectors to the adult collector. Over the next few years there were more Spider-Man figures being produced that improved upon the sculpt of this line. The animated series helped catapult the sales of this set, specifically the villains, which are above the retail value now and are going for as much as triple the price on eBay. Toybiz really dominated the action figure business in the 90’s and Spider-Man is one of their most iconic characters to look for if you are looking for a new addition to your nostalgic Marvel collection.
That’s all for our 90’s Call Back, this is Kim signing off! Check back next week for more nostalgic toy reviews from the past and don’t forget to follow me on Instagram over @figactiongram showcasing throwback figures from my personal collection!The library has about 18,000 books — roughly 9,000 titles — the bulk of which are in Arabic, along with a smaller selection of periodicals, DVDs and video games. Religious books are the most popular, Milton said, but there is also a well-thumbed collection of Western fare — from Arabic translations of books like “News of a Kidnapping,” by Gabriel García Márquez, and “The Kiss,” by Danielle Steel, to a sizable English-language room, which boasts familiar titles like the “Harry Potter” and “Lord of the Rings” series, “Watership Down” and the “Odyssey.” Some detainees arrived knowing English, while a few others have learned over time. Most have now been held without trial for over a decade.
Milton has a small budget for new acquisitions, and detainees’ lawyers and family members can send books to specific inmates through the International Committee of the Red Cross. Those copies are first donated to the library and then passed along to the prisoners, who can keep them in their cells for up to 60 days, rather than the usual 30.Sen. Dick Durbin Richard (Dick) Joseph DurbinKids confront Feinstein over Green New Deal Senate plots to avoid fall shutdown brawl Overnight Energy: Trump ends talks with California on car emissions | Dems face tough vote on Green New Deal | Climate PAC backing Inslee in possible 2020 run MORE (D-Ill.) suggested Tuesday Democrats will block legislation that bans states from issuing mandatory labeling laws for foods with genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
"The current feeling in our caucus is decidedly that we will not allow them to go to this bill," the Senate's No. 2 Democrat told reporters about the GMO bill.
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He added that unless senators are able to get a deal, "I think there will not be enough votes, 60 votes, on the floor."
In addition to banning mandatory state laws, Roberts's legislation would also establish a voluntary national standard for GMO labeling.
Democrats, however, have been deeply critical of the measure this week, arguing that the bill lacks teeth and the public should know what is in its food.
The rhetorical battle comes as the Senate is expected to take a procedural vote Wednesday on Roberts's bill. Republicans will need the support of at least six Democrats to move forward and get a final vote this week.
Roberts suggested the debate surrounding his legislation has "been a little harsh."
"I'm somewhat perturbed that everyone is criticizing the compromise, but they're sure as hell not offering anything else," he said.Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is calling high electricity prices her "mistake."
In a speech to party faithful at the Ontario Liberal annual general meeting today in Ottawa, Wynne says she takes responsibility "for not paying close enough attention to some of the daily stresses in Ontarians' lives."
She says while she is proud of the work done to remove coal from the system and ensure adequate supply, it is unacceptable that some people have to choose between paying for food and heating.
As Wynne's personal popularity has plummeted under 20 per cent, rising hydro bills have become one of the most pressing issues for the governing party ahead of the June 2018 election.
She says she thinks her polling numbers are low because people think she's not who they elected, and that she has become a typical politician who will "do anything to win."
Wynne is committing to visiting every single riding between now and the election to connect with Ontarians.To experimentally measure the refractive index of the metamaterial, we illuminated the metamaterial prism and measured the angle of the refracted beam (Fig. 1b,c). The prism was illuminated with TM-polarized light delivered via the tapered silicon waveguide. The light propagates through the prism with an effective index and reaches the interface between the prism and the SU-8 slab waveguide at an angle of incidence of 45°. The refracted beam then propagates as a guided mode of the SU-8 slab waveguide with known effective index, until it is scattered at the semicircular edge of the SU-8 slab waveguide (Supplementary Section 7). The scattered light was imaged from above using an infrared camera to determine the refraction angle α. This refraction angle was used to determine using Snell's law:.
Figure 3a shows the experimentally observed refraction in the prism and the SU-8 slab waveguide at λ = 1,570 nm, where the metamaterial shows zero index (Supplementary Section 8). Because of fabrication imperfections, this wavelength is slightly different from the design wavelength of 1,590 nm. The yellow arrow in Fig. 3a shows the refracted beam, which propagates perpendicular to the interface between the prism and SU-8 slab waveguide, corresponding to a prism with a refractive index of zero. The prism also generates several side beams at λ = 1,570 nm due to additional modes in the band structure (Fig. 2a, Supplementary Section 9).
Figure 3: Simulation and experimental results. a, Near-infrared microscope image of the prism (Fig. 1b,c) at 1,570 nm, showing the refracted beam, which propagates normal to the interface between the prism and the SU-8 slab waveguide. The grey area corresponds to the silicon waveguide and SU-8 slab waveguide. b, Left: simulated out-of-plane electric field (λ = 1,570 nm) in the prism and SU-8 slab waveguide region. The refracted beam is visible at the curved output edge of the SU-8 slab waveguide at 0°. Right: magnified view of the electric field distribution in the prism, illustrating the nearly constant spatial phase distribution. c, Measured (left) and simulated (right) far-field patterns. The white dashed line indicates the wavelength, 1,570 nm, at which the refracted beam crosses 0°. The image is normalized at each wavelength. d, Measured and simulated effective index of the zero-index metamaterial. Blue dots indicate the measured refractive index, and error bars represent uncertainties in the measurement. Full size image
Figure 3b shows the corresponding numerical calculation of the out-of-plane electromagnetic field distribution in the prism and the SU-8 slab waveguide region at λ = 1,570 nm. As in the observed results, the refracted beam propagates perpendicular to the interface between the prism and SU-8 slab waveguide, with several side beams appearing on either side. As shown in the magnified view on the right in Fig. 3b, there is no spatial phase variation within the prism, as the effective wavelength is infinite inside the metamaterial.
We probed the dispersion of the metamaterial index by measuring the angle of refraction while varying the input wavelength from 1,480 to 1,680 nm. The left panel of Fig. 3c shows the intensity measured along the curved output edge of the SU-8 slab waveguide as a function of wavelength and refraction angle. The right panel of Fig. 3c shows the corresponding simulated far-field pattern (Supplementary Section 10). We observe excellent agreement between the measured and simulated far-field patterns, with both patterns showing the refracted beam in the centre, near 0°. The shifting of the refracted beam indicates that the refractive index of the prism continuously changes from a positive value at shorter wavelengths to a negative value at longer wavelengths.
Using Snell's law, we extract the index of refraction of the metamaterial from the position of the refracted beam in the wavelength range 1,480–1,680 nm (Supplementary Section 11). As shown in Fig. 3d, the measured index varies from 0.15 ± 0.04 at 1,480 nm to –0.57 ± 0.04 at 1,680 nm, exhibiting linear dispersion near the zero crossing at 1,570 nm. The error bars represent uncertainties in the measured index due to finite image resolution and fitting uncertainty (Supplementary Section 11). Using a similar extraction method, we calculated the index of refraction from the simulated far-field patterns, showing excellent agreement with measured values.
To determine whether our measured zero index is caused by a Dirac cone or by a small bandgap, we measured two prisms with both smaller and larger pillar radii. Theoretically, a photonic Dirac cone has no bandgap at the Dirac-point wavelength. Due to fabrication imperfections, however, a tiny bandgap may open near the targeted Dirac-point wavelength of the fabricated zero-index metamaterial. In that case, the real part of the index has a constant zero value rather than linear dispersion. Given our error bars (Fig. 3d), the bandgap is at most 50 nm wide. Index measurements of prisms with smaller or larger radii show that the bandgaps of these metamaterials are blueshifted or redshifted, respectively. In addition, the bandgaps of those with larger radii become significantly wider. This behaviour confirms that the experimentally measured zero index in Fig. 3 corresponds to a Dirac cone at the Γ point17 (Supplementary Section 12).
As a control, we also measured the refractive index in the absence of the metamaterial prism. In this control experiment, light from the input silicon waveguide propagates through free space before refracting into the SU-8 slab waveguide. The measured index of the void is 0.94 ± 0.04 in the wavelength range 1,480–1,680 nm, in good agreement with the index of air (Supplementary Section 13). Therefore, the measured index shown in Fig. 3 corresponds to the effective index of the metamaterial prism, rather than being an artefact of the measurement set-up.Media playback is not supported on this device I'm a very proud manager - Louis van Gaal
Louis van Gaal says Manchester United's top-four hopes would have been over had they lost to Manchester City, but believes they now have a "big chance" of Champions League qualification.
Marcus Rashford's goal earned a 1-0 derby win over City on Sunday.
Van Gaal's side are sixth in the Premier League, but lie just a point behind their local rivals in fourth.
"The gap would have been too big if we had drawn or lost. It would have been very difficult," said the United boss.
"Now it is in our own hands but we have to win our games. We have more home matches than away and we don't lose so much at Old Trafford - so we have a big chance."
United won at Etihad Stadium for the first time since December 2012, just three days after being knocked out of the Europa League by Liverpool.
"I thought we played fantastic in the first half and the second half was a test of survival because we were very tired," added Van Gaal.
"We had only two days to recover after the Liverpool game and that is almost not possible.
"We have seen the result from Southampton today. Liverpool were 2-0 up at half-time and at full-time it was 3-2 to Southampton.
"I have not seen the match but I can only conclude it was because of tiredness and that is what we have done to them."Dispatches From a Public Librarian
Scott Douglas works for a smallish public library nestled cozily between Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm in Orange County, California. This is where most of the observations in his dispatch will take place, although sometimes he does go to other libraries (some even far, far away), and he’ll include those observations as they come.
Scott began as a student assistant at a college library in Fullerton. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he was bored, confused, and didn’t want to get off his parents’ insurance plan, so he enrolled in the Library Science and Information Technology program at San Jose State.
This dispatch will update on a sometimes-regular basis, and will include stories about strange patrons, strange tales, and otherwise just strange things. The names and description of the patrons are purposely left out, so as to protect their privacy (libraries are real sticklers for this privacy stuff, which is why many have been in a tiff about the Patriot Act, but don’t get me started).Posted 07 January 2013 - 03:50 PM
I tried this myself, but since my knowledge of Java is too poor to create something 'cool', never got too far into it.
I also noticed that I couldt add custom functions to GameMaker like before, this stalled me because I did NOT wanted to override stuff like get_string() in order to use my functions, too clumbsy and may upset people who uses the functions.
Anyway, Its great to see you actually got it working! If someone with more Java knowledge shows up, I'd be pleased to see what they come up with!
Edit: You may want to clearify that verything will be deleted with an update of GM:S, you dont want to loose all of your stuff!
Edit2: Ok, I was playing around with this all night, really good job on getting the wrapper working, I havent had to modify anything there, very good!
I managed to do something simple like make the phone vibrate, its clumbsy, but I cant believe it works! this is how I have done it: (on the toastTest class)
public static void gme_vibrate(String time) { final long vibrate_time = Long.parseLong(time); Handler h = new Handler(ms_context.getMainLooper()); h.post(new Runnable() { @Override public void run() { Vibrator v = (Vibrator) ms_context.getSystemService(Context.VIBRATOR_SERVICE); v.vibrate(vibrate_time); } }); }
After adding the Vibrate permission to the manifest it works perfectly! The only downside is that it takes AGES to compile, this is a really big bummer, especially when the Java is working and you only need to change stuff on the game, but its something at last!
I was also looking into more 'complex' stuff like notifications, this CAN be implemented, but it requires some more Java/Android knowledge, I have tried it but the Reiciever class got me frustrated and I kinda deleted everything (whpopsie!), But I trust someone with more experience and patience can get it to work like a charm.
I am also interested on knowing one thing, are the GM:S sprites accessible like this? I mean, they must be accessible, but where in the whole hierarchy are they, does anyone know? this can be extremely handy!
Actually, it doesn't override get_string; it augments it. Simply calling get_string(str,def) will function as it always has because GME checks for the key (ie, def has to start with GME_). Additionally, get_string is meant to be used as a debug function only (according to the help file) in favour of the async get_string or custom input.Yes, it does require a knowledge of Java, but it's not very complicated because of the way I set it up.As for deletion when it updates, I believe it will only change the runner file. That means you should only need to re-edit RunnerJNILib.java.That's great! You're the first (second next to me) extension creator! By the way, I see you used String in the parameter. There's nothing wrong with that, and it might even be better if you're dealing with large numbers (above int's limit). However, GME will also pass the parameter as an int if that's what's provided. Anyways, great job.I was actually going to include a larger test library (torch, vibrate, toast, UUID) but I didn't want to have to explain editing permissions, for simplicity.I'm interested in this too. I think they can be loaded as long as they're in the "sandbox". That means all we have to do is find the location of that and write files there. Should work I think.Thanks for downloading and good luck!On New Year’s Day 2001, Michigan, Tennessee and Washington fans could have been forgiven for thinking that their futures were bright.
Michigan had just won a share of a Big Ten title, its third in four years, and was about to play in the Citrus Bowl. Tennessee had ended a rebuilding season on a six-game winning streak and was about to play in the Cotton Bowl. And Washington was in the Rose Bowl, feeling legitimately aggrieved that it had been left out of the BCS Championship at 10-1.
The futures of all three were about to take a 15-year slide.
While Michigan was beating Auburn in the Citrus, John Cooper was coaching his last game at Ohio State, an embarrassing 17-point defeat to South Carolina in the Outback. Jim Tressel would soon replace him. Michigan’s record against the Buckeyes since? That’d be 2-13.
The Wolverines would win the Big Ten in 2003 and 2004 and have a few 10-win seasons, but they have not won a conference (or even a division) since then. Michigan finds itself unable to beat not only Ohio State, but also Michigan State. The Wolverines are 1-7 against the Spartans since Mike Hart's "Little Brother" comment. (Michigan's 10-3 2015 in Jim Harbaugh's debut might seem to disqualify the Wolverines from this conversation, but U-M once again lost to both OSU and MSU.)
Tennessee won the SEC in 1997 and 1998, then played in the Fiesta Bowl in 1999. Tennessee's 8-3 record in 2000 with a young roster appeared to be a brief blip before Phil Fulmer kept winning big.
In reality, the Vols haven’t played in a major bowl since, their seasons producing a collection of pre-Playoff Peach and Outback trips, at best. The Vols have no division titles since 2007. They haven’t beaten Alabama since 2006 or Florida since 2004.
And Washington... poor, poor Washington. The Huskies haven’t been to Pasadena since their trip to end the 2000 season. Rick Neuheisel’s tenure went downhill, and then the program bottomed out under Ty Willingham before the era of "Seven-Win" Steve Sarkisian.
Not only has Washington not beaten Oregon since 2003, last year was the first time in that 12-game losing streak in which the Huskies came within one score.
In the 15 years leading up to our starting point of New Year’s Day 2001, Michigan, Tennessee and Washington were fourth, fifth and 11th nationally in winning percentage. Since, they’re 26th, 36th and 85th.
2016 is supposed to be the end of that decade and a half of frequent misery for these three powers.
Michigan is sixth in early collective preseason rankings, Tennessee seventh and Washington tied for 10th. And those with skin in the game are also high on these three fallen powers. Michigan and Washington have the highest over/under wins projections in their leagues; |
Trump’s post-election rallies to a provincial touring show trying to recapture the glories of its Broadway run, with the reference to Clinton a “bit” that can be relied on to kill with audiences.
The president tweeted it – but is the US economy really great again? Read more
“He obviously enjoyed running for president because of the adulation of the crowd. He enjoys playing the role of president more than being president. He now wants to stage an encore performance of his campaign rallies. It’s a very strange way to govern.”
Trump’s supporters frequently condemn “safe spaces” on university campuses but the rallies are his own safe space, far from the intrigue, factional infighting and Russia investigations in Washington.
Gwenda Blair, a Trump biographer, said: “In front of a rally he has to be a performer. They’re there because he might say something unexpected. That’s what he’s very good at and he’s done it very successfully his whole career. The soundbite, the unexpected lurch, often attacking some sacred cow like John McCain or the pope, showing he won’t stop at anything to defend his people.”
Blair characterised Trump’s language at rallies as typically a blend of incomplete thoughts, simple vocabulary and repetition laced with bullying, threats and grievance.
“That’s a very compelling message,” she added. “That language is about telling you what you want to hear, not the truth and the facts. He’s found it works most of the time in business but not so well from the White House.”Image copyright EPA Image caption Thousands of Colombians who were living in Venezuela have crossed back into Colombia
Venezuela says a key border crossing with Colombia will remain closed.
The announcement follows talks by the two countries' foreign ministers on Wednesday aimed at normalising the situation in the border region.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered the closure last week after smugglers injured three Venezuelan soldiers and a civilian.
He also announced that Colombians living illegally in Venezuela would be deported.
Since then, more than 1,000 Colombians have been removed.
Another 5,000 are thought to have left by crossing the River Tachira, which separates the two countries.
Staying shut
The two foreign ministers said they had taken a first step towards normalising relations.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Colombian migrant in Venezuela: "Maduro is throwing us out like dogs"
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Delcy Rodriguez (left) and Maria Angela Holguin said they had had a "productive" meeting but the border remains closed
"We're satisfied with this meeting and we're going to continue taking steps firmly and with unity and in the spirit of friendship and co-operation," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said.
However, she did not accede to her Colombian counterpart's request to open the border crossing near the north-eastern city of Cucuta.
Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said many Colombians were engaged in legitimate business in Venezuela and could not work unless the border was reopened.
The two sides said their defence ministers would meet in the coming days.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos travelled to Cucuta on Wednesday to speak to some of the deportees.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos visited a shelter in Cucuta
Hundreds are living in shelters in Cucuta surrounded by the few possessions they could carry across the border on their backs.
At the scene: Natalio Cosoy, BBC Mundo, at a shelter in Cucuta
A small TV set was turned on in the shelter set up in the Coliseo Cucuta, a sports ground in the town centre.
Last night, some 40 people sat around it, watching the evening news.
They were watching the news coverage of their own drama, nodding or shaking their heads depending on what was shown.
Two-hundred-and-nineteen people were given shelter here after they were deported from Venezuela; their houses now empty on the other side of the border, some demolished by the Venezuelan authorities.
Food and clothing are in good supply but this is only a temporary solution. People here are worried about where they will go when the shelter closes.
Smugglers' haven
The border region around Cucuta is a haven for smugglers who buy subsidised goods in Venezuela and sell them at a profit in Colombia.
A number of criminal gangs are also operating in the area.
Some of them are the remnants of paramilitary groups originally created to fight Colombia's left-wing Farc rebels.
President Maduro blames much of the violence on the Venezuelan side of the border on Colombian paramilitaries, whom he accuses of crossing the border freely to commit crimes.
In order to fight these gangs he declared a 60-day state of emergency on Friday which, among other things, allows the authorities to search homes without a warrant.
But his Colombian counterpart said those who had been deported were "no paramilitaries but poor and humble families who only want to live and work".
President Santos said some had complained of mistreatment by the Venezuelan security forces, saying some parents had been forcibly separated from their children.
"The way in which many Colombians have been expelled from Venezuelan territory is unacceptable," he warned.
But the Venezuelan foreign minister dismissed allegations of mistreatment as "media lies".Hey everyone, back at it this Tuesday with our final pre-season closer rankings. A few things have changed over the past month and a lot has stayed the same. The closer competitions in Washington and Colorado became a tad bit more clear, but both situations are still fluid. I listed two new names for each team as their respective closer, but again, that can still change over the next week. The Angels are the third team to see a new name at the top of their closer depth chart, following the injury to Huston Street.
TIER 1: Nothing Compares 2 U
1. Kenley Jansen (Los Angeles Dodgers)—Grant Dayton, Pedro Baez
2. Aroldis Chapman (New York Yankees)—Dellin Betances, Tyler Clippard
3. Edwin Diaz (Seattle Mariners)—Nick Vincent, Evan Scribner
4. Zach Britton (Baltimore Orioles)—Brad Brach, Mychal Givens
5. Ken Giles (Houston Astros)—Luke Gregerson, Will Harris
The top 4 remain the same, with the big change being Ken Giles moving up to the 5 spot. Maybe I’m just enamored with the K potential here, but I really think he has a chance to be the #1 RP in fantasy leagues this year. He just needs to be consistent and get ahead in counts more often. Luke Gregerson was great as team USA’s closer in the WBC, but he is still better off in the set-up role. If Giles struggles at the beginning of the season though, there will sure to be talk of replacing him with Gregerson or Will Harris.
TIER 2: Save Tonight
6. Seung Hwan Oh (St. Louis Cardinals)—Trevor Rosenthal, Brett Cecil
7. Mark Melancon (San Fransisco Giants)—Derek Law, Hunter Strickland
8. Kelvin Herrera (Kansas City Royals)—Matt Strahm, Joakim Soria
9. Craig Kimbrel (Boston Red Sox)—Tyler Thornburg, Joe Kelly
10. Wade Davis (Chicago Cubs)—Hector Rondon, Carl Edwards Jr.
11. Jeurys Familia (New York Mets)—Addison Reed, Hansel Robles
12. Roberto Osuna (Toronto Blue Jays)—Jason Grilli, JP Howell
13. Alex Colome (Tampa Bay Rays)—Brad Boxberger, Xavier Cedeno
14. Cody Allen (Cleveland Indians)—Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw
Not much change here, with the exception being Seung Hwan Oh and Mark Melancon dropping down a tier. They are still solid RP1’s, just not quite in that same group above as far as upside goes. The job security here is fairly safe, but if I had to choose once candidate to lose a job here its Wade Davis. It would be nice if Major League Baseball would just announce Jeurys Familia’s suspension already. If it is under 30 games, I would probably slide him up 2 spots. Alex Colome has been way undervalued this month and is great value ahead of guys like Cody Allen, A.J. Ramos, Francisco Rodriguez, Sam Dyson and David Robertson. I’ve even seen Tony Watson go before him in a few mocks.
TIER 3: Bound for the Floor
15. A.J. Ramos (Miami Marlins)—Kyle Barraclough, Brad Ziegler
16. Fransisco Rodriguez (Detroit Tigers)—Bruce Rondon, Justin Wilson
17. Sam Dyson (Texas Rangers)—Matt Bush, Jeremy Jeffress
18. Greg Holland (Colorado Rockies)—Adam Ottavino, Jake McGee
19. Cam Bedrosian (Los Angeles Angels)—Huston Street, Andrew Bailey
20. David Robertson (Chicago White Sox)—Nate Jones, Michael Ynoa
21. Neftali Feliz (Milwaukee Brewers)—Corey Knebel, Jacob Barnes
22. Koda Glover (Washington Nationals)—Blake Treinen, Shawn Kelley
Now things get dicey. This is the tier of closers who are in good situations and conceivably should keep the job all year but it’s far from a sure thing. There’s also been some significant changes to this group, with 3 new faces to the closers group. We’ll start in Colorado, where all signs are pointing to Greg Holland beginning the year as the teams closer. It’s a bit of a surprise as it was believed the Rockies would bring him along slowly as he works back from Tommy John surgery. His stuff of old has seemed to be there this spring, touching 96 with his fastball even, but his command still is a bit rusty. It may take him a while to be the Greg Holland of old, but the early returns are promising. The injury concerns are obviously a problem, but he carries great upside and should be considered a bargain at his current ADP. It’s nice to finally see a new face in the closers role for the Angels to begin the season. Cam Bedrosian makes for a nice late round pick, and should be able to keep the job all year even when Huston Street gets healthy. He doesn’t have the greatest K upside, but he limits hard contact and should be good for ERA, WHIP and a few saves a week. No one really knows still what the Nationals will do to begin the year at closer, but there has been more and more rumblings that Koda Glover is the preferred in-house candidate. It seems like the job will be his eventually, if not right away, so he is preferred option to own right now. He has the stuff (can get up to 100mph with a sharp slider) and makeup for the role, and there should be plenty of save opportunities in Washington this season. He’s a nice high upside waiver pickup if available, or someone to draft after pick 200.
TIER 4: Better Days (and the Bottom Drops Out)
23. Tony Watson (Pittsburgh Pirates)—Felipe Rivero, Daniel Hudson
24. Jim Johnson (Atlanta Braves)—Arodys Vizcaino, Mauricio Cabrera
25. Fernando Rodney (Arizona Diamondbacks)—Jake Barrett, Randall Delgado
26. Brandon Kintzler (Minnesota Twins)—Ryan Pressly, JT Chargois
27. Brandon Maurer (San Diego Padres)—Carter Capps, Ryan Buchter
28. Raisel Iglesias (Cincinnati Reds)—Drew Storen, Michael Lorenzen
29. Ryan Madson (Oakland Athletics)—Sean Doolittle, Santiago Casilla
30. Jeanmar Gomez (Philadelphia Phillies)—Hector Neris, Joaquin Benoit
And here we have the 8 closers who almost certainly won’t be closers come September. Tony Watson gets move down do to his rough spring and the fact he is being listed as “Co-Closer” with Daniel Hudson. If anyone in that bullpen has closer type stuff and deserves a chance at the 9th inning job its Felipe Rivero. I have a sneaky suspicion he may be the closer heading into the second half of the season. Arodys Vizcaino (or possibly Mauricio Cabrera if he can get his control issues cleaned up) will be closing for the Braves at some point, when either Johnson loses the job on his own or is traded. Fernando Rodney and Brandon Kintzler at least have no one to challenge them for the job, so they have that going for them. Brandon Maurer and Raisel Iglesias (assuming he’s healthy after his shower fall) are both nice relievers, but neither will see many save opportunities for one reason or another. Carter Capps is the one to own/stash in San Diego. Ryan Madson is stuck in a committee and fell apart the second half of last year. Sean Doolittle is an intriguing late round flier/waiver add in deep leagues. Hector Neris should be the closer sooner rather than later in Philly, it’s only a matter of time. He could be a top 12 closer if they would just give him the job right away.If you couldn't tell by last weeks podcast or my Instagram feed this weekend, I am pretty excited by what Will Hodges has created with the Tactile Turn Gist. The design is extremely appealing to me, and the choice of materials available in the Kickstarter project has me drooling over the possibilities. I know many of you have reached out to me with questions about The Gist, and Will was kind enough to loan me a few prototypes to help out with answering those questions.
If you aren't familiar with this project prior to reading this post and are interested at all, you need to read the project page and watch the video before continuing. It looks very involved from an outsiders perspective, but Will does a nice job of breaking everything down into bite-sized chunks. There is also far more detail on the project page than I will get into here, so head there for additional information and the final say.
My intent with this post is break down a few components of the Gist models that I received, and help you make an informed decision if you are considering purchasing this pen. I say purchase because the project has met its funding goal already, so you know these pens are getting made.The hasty attempts by president Barak Obama, prime minister David Cameron and some of the leaders of the EU member countries to declare Russia guilty of the crash of the flight MH-17 (with anti-Poroshenko insurgents in Eastern Ukraine presented as mere “pawns of Kremlin”) was obvious.
The hasty attempts by president Barak Obama, prime minister David Cameron and some of the leaders of the EU member countries to declare Russia guilty of the crash of the flight MH-17 (with anti-Poroshenko insurgents in Eastern Ukraine presented as mere “pawns of Kremlin”) was obvious. In fact, the verdict (with Obama making undocumented accusations and the American representative at the UN calling the insurgents “armed thugs” and “criminals”) was passed by the US and the UK not only before trial, but even before the evidence was collected. All the doubting voices (former US presidential candidate Ron Paul, journalists Robert Parry and Daniel McAdams, etc.) were subjected in the mainstream media of the West to scathing critique, which looks more and more like moral terror now.
The haste with which Obama put the “burden” (his own word) of proving its own innocence on Russia, adding that Russia has “urged on, trained and armed with military equipment and weapons” the people who, in Mr. Obama’s opinion, downed the plane could not avoid puzzling a lot of observers with elementary legal skills. In a civilized court, a suspect does not carry any “burdens”, the “burden” of proving the guilt of a suspect is on the accusing side. It is strange that lawyers Obama and Kerry do not understand it. Ron Paul in his article on the website of his institute simply asked that simple question – can’t Obama and Kerry wait with their verdicts until the investigation is concluded?
The response was the same as usual – moral terror. An article in America’s “The National Journal” was headlined “Ron Paul Is Putin’s New Best Friend.”
In another article, Ron Paul was called “mad” for parodying Obama’s stance on the disaster: “It had to be Russia, it had to be Putin!” The usual array of accusations was used: that Ron Paul is fond of conspiracy theories, that he wants to make political gains from his “friendship” with Putin, etc.
At a traditional weekly live discussion on the waves of the Voice of Russia radio station, Paul Craig Roberts from the Institute for Political Economy (USA) and
Marcus Papadopoulos, the editor of the Politics First magazine (UK) tried to make present a sort of “anatomy of moral terror” against the dissenting voices in the Western media. “When it comes to foreign policy, British media follows the line of the foreign office, and so does the American one with the line of the department of state,” says Marcus Popadopoulos. “The West prides itself on having free press. But take any recent major crisis around the world: Libya, Syria, Iraq – the British mainstream media followed the line of the British government. And it is not a coincidence. It is a demonstration that the media has become part of the policy-making mechanism in Britain.”
But why should the American and British governments want a speedy “guilty” verdict for Russia? The answer is simple – it wants power and influence via the new civil war-waging government in Kiev. This answer was given not only in Ron Paul’s other column “What Does the US Government Want in Ukraine?”
A world-known researcher of Russia’s history Stephen F. Cohen, a professor of several American universities noted “deafening silence” of US officials about the bombings of East Ukrainian cities by Ukraine’s own new government. What is especially interesting is that we don’t hear anything about these bombings, tank attacks and landmines – we DON’T hear anything from the same people in the US and the EU establishment, who were terrified by the use of live bullets in Kiev on the final day of the violent Maidan protests (the investigation into who actually used these bullets is still pending). For this, professor Cohen got his share of moral terror – he was called “Putin’s American toady” by some young Russo-American “intellectual” Julia Ioffe.
“These insults do not surprise me,” says Paul Craig Roberts on Voice of Russia’s Live Discussion Panel. “Since the last years of Clinton’s administration, American media is run by several big corporations. The owners of these corporations know that they can’t go against the government: if they don’t toe the line, they can be denied federal broadcast licenses. Meanwhile, reporters know that jobs in the US are now hard to come by, so they do what the managers tell them. And these managers are not even journalists. They are corporate advertising clerks, who don’t care about the truth as long as their position is secure. Hence the moral terror.”
Indeed, the almost indecent pause which followed the initial array of accusations against Russia when the black boxes were finally obtained – this pause leaves many questions unanswered. Who will bear the responsibility for the gross calumny, if the accusations of, say, British tabloids running headlines about “Putin’s missile” are not confirmed?
“This is not the first case,” Marcus Papadopoulos of Politics First cautions. “We all remember stories in the mainstream press about 500.000 Kosovo Albanians purportedly slaughtered by Serbs in 1999, about thousands of Libyans allegedly killed by Qaddafi’s forces in 2011, etc. None of these stories revealed itself to be true. But no one took the trouble to find and punish the initial liars. There is complete impunity in the Western propaganda machine called the free media.”
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official position of Sputnik.I know I love you because I want to get you soup when you’re sick. Not only do I want to get it for you, I want to make it for you so you can eat something made with love instead of with crushed insects and preservatives. I know I love you because I want to slap anyone who hurts you, even if it’s your boss. I want to hold you when you’re having a nightmare and kiss the spot that hurts when you bump into something. I know I love you because I want you to be healthy even when you’re not sick, and that’s why I keep bugging you to change your crappy eating ways even though I know you’re over hearing about it.
I know I love you because I worry about the stuff only people who love you worry about, like the amount of quality sleep you get a night and how much you drink when you’re sad and whether you’re getting enough vitamin B. Like probably more than your mom does, I’m not sure she especially cares about vitamin B. I know I love you because I freak out when you’re obviously disintegrating yet too stubborn and too “I’m fine” to actually go to the doctor, even though I do that sort of thing myself.
I know I love you because I think you’re beautiful even when you’re not. And I don’t mean good-looking, I mean beautiful, beautiful like there’s something pervasive and magnetic about you that comes through even when you look positively bad. I think you’re beautiful even when you’re hungover and puking your guts out, covered in hives, or when half your face is purple and swollen because you decided to cosplay Fight Club and punched yourself in the eye too hard. I know I love you because I think you’re beautiful even when you’re wearing Crocs and that’s no small accomplishment.
I know I love you because I can’t abandon you, not even when you’re being a dick. Not even when you’re being ten dicks. Normally I don’t put up with that sort of behavior but I love you and I understand you’re stressed or frustrated or PMS-y so I’ll let it slide for a little bit. But I also love you enough to call you out on it when it gets to be too much. I know I love you because only people who love you care to say something about your bad behavior instead of saying nothing and just calling you an asshole behind your back.
I know I love you because I want to listen, I really do. I don’t have anywhere to be that can’t wait for a while and I’m not checking my phone, in fact turned it off and buried it in the cushions the moment you said you needed me. I’m here for you and that other thing can wait.
I know I love you because I’m truly concerned with how your life turns out. It’s not just that I want you to “be happy” or attain that vague self-helpy “inner peace” bullshit we’re all supposed to aspire toward, I want you to express yourself and be fulfilled and feel like you’re living life for a good reason, not just passing the time. I want everything to work out for you the way it should and I want to be there for it, occasionally with champagne.
And I’m genuinely convinced that I love you because I want to do things for you that I don’t want to do for anyone, ever. Examples: I’ll babysit your loud sticky children when you have them. I’ll bring you ice water and take care of you when you eat too much ecstasy like an idiot. I’ll even stand there patiently with a video camera as you attach piranhas to your nipples when you’re broke and trying to get on Jackass, all that and more. That’s how I know I love you, and I hope you know it too.
image – ShutterstockThe FIA has responded to lobbying from McLaren and Mercedes in particular and has decided to beef up the tests they carry out on the flexing of front wings.
On the face of it this will oblige Red Bull and Ferrari to stop their wings from flexing as much as they do now and this will cost them lap time. But let's look more closely at this and establish how much we think this will slow the cars down relative to the opposition.
The FIA is allowed to change the test as it sees fit thanks to a rule which says: "In order to ensure that the requirements of Article 3.15 are respected, the FIA reserves the right to introduce further load/deflection tests on any part of the bodywork which appears to be (or is suspected of), moving whilst the car is in motion."
Current rules allow the tips of the wing to flex by 10mm when a load of 50kg, which is 500 Newtons, is applied to them. But rival teams estimate that Red Bull's wing is flexing by up to 25mm at high speed and on board TV footage at the weekend in Budapest clearly showed the wing rising up at the end of the straight when the driver braked.
The FIA has indicated that it is likely to double up the test load, with up to 100 kilogrammes onto the wing - and it will only allow a linear increase of deflection up to 20mm, which would appear to rule out the current Red Bull wing.
Now, the key to this is what the FIA technical delegate, Jo Bauer, is physically going to do in Spa to test the wings. And in all likelihood the answer is that he and his boss Charlie Whiting won't tell the teams what the test will consist of before Spa scrutineering, they'll have to guess and beef up their wings accordingly.
But this also matters because the linear flexing might only be a part of what the Red Bull nose is doing. There is a theory among engineers, based on looking at the whole front wing when its loaded up, that there is some kind of spring loaded device in the crash structure to deflect the whole wing down, over and above what the wing tips do.
This theory was given some added impetus when Sebastian Vettel's wing snapped in practice at Silverstone.
This theory goes beyond grabbing a bit of extra downforce from wing endplates being close to the ground, it brings a gain of lowering the front of the car, which is very attractive under the 2010 rules.
So it will depend on how Bauer tests the wing as to how much it slows down the Red Bull car. How will Red Bull respond? They will look again at the rule and will have to think through whether the new test will be on the wing itself or the wing relative to the chassis, in which case they may have to do more.
With a two week compulsory shutdown, Red Bull will struggle to make anything up for Spa, so although they are likely stiffen the current wing when time allows, a short term fix might be to go back a step or two on the front wing.
But the new FIA test loading extra weight on the wing isn't necessarily going to catch the whole of what Red Bull's wing is doing.
Most teams, when they think up some brilliant new device, run it past the FIA's Charlie Whiting first to get a view on whether it's legal. It's the way the FIA like things to be done and the Brawn double diffuser and the McLaren F Duct are examples of that.
But Red Bull Designer Adrian Newey doesn't tend to work that way and neither did Rory Byrne on the winning Ferraris of the early 2000s. Newey puts things on the car and then waits to see if they get picked up. Whiting tends to like to keep things out of the public domain and so when he and Bauer pick something up, he marks a team's cards that he doesn't want to see it again at the next race. In this way Newey's cars can have a few wins under their belt before something is spotted and has to come off.
There is a belief among engineers that some of the "all nighters" the Red Bull mechanics have done this year have not been simply due to adding last minute parts flown out from England, but because Bauer and Whiting have knocked them back on some new device. The modification to the slot on the blown diffuser, spotted by McLaren's Paddy Lowe, is a case in point, but there are likely to have been others.
But even if he does go conservative, which is not in Newey's nature, rival teams are kidding themselves if they believe that any new flexi wing test will bring the Red Bull within striking range.
Frank Dernie, the veteran aerodynamicist observed to me this week that "The difference in performance between the Ferrari and the McLaren, is probably mostly down to the front wing. But the difference between the Red Bull and the Ferrari is elsewhere."
The Red Bull in Hungary was another full second faster than the Ferrari, which is therefore about far more than the front wing.
One of the secrets of the Red Bull car is the interaction of the front end aerodynamics of the car with the rear end and how they work together. No other car comes close to balancing out the front and rear so well and in generating overall downforce and it seems that the other teams are still scratching their heads about how it works.
Looking at - and even copying - something like the front wing in isolation isn't going to give them the answer. To match the Red Bull they would have to replicate the way the aero devices work with each other and that will take a long time. By the time they've figured that out, next year most likely, Red Bull will be well on with the next thing.
They have built an advantage it will take far more than a flexi wing test to cut down.
But if Adrian Newey has a weakness, it is that he cannot resist the temptation to add extra little things to the car to boost performance - hence the "all-nighters" - and it is often these things which lead to reliability problems.
There will be factions within the team, race operations people most likely and hopefully Christian Horner too, who will now be arguing for Newey to play it more conservative in this respect in the final run-in to the championship and not take risks with too many trick new parts. They have a big advantage and no doubt some more major upgrades coming, so it is vital that they just harvest maximum points from now to the end of the season and this will bring them both the Constructors' Championship for the team and the Drivers' title to one of their drivers.
They have dropped quite a few points through some unreliability niggles, especially on Vettel's car (although not necessarily ones which have stopped the car) and through driver politics. These remain the two areas where the team can still lose both championships.THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
The use of Nazism to attack Jews and Zionists in Britain is on the rise, according to a leading antisemitism watchdog.
A report published by the Community Security Trust, which monitors antisemitism in Britain, revealed an unprecedented level of Jew-hatred.
The growth of social media was having a clear impact on the spread of antisemitic discourse, threats and themes than ever before.
British Jews contacted the charity to say they felt the conflict in Gaza and between Israel and the Palestinians was “creating a climate of unusually heightened antipathy and hostility” towards the Jewish community.
CST’s report, Antisemitic Discourse in Britain, charted issues in 2014. CST said explicit Jew hatred – attacks on Jews simply for being Jewish – remained rare in British public life and within mainstream political and media discourse.
“Levels of antisemitic discourse are far harder to consistently observe and measure, than quantitative antisemitic incidents and hate crimes,” the report pointed out.
The charity highlighted the campaign against Britain’s youngest Jewish MP, Labour’s Luciana Berger, as an “extreme example of how one person can suffer repeated and targeted abuse”.
Cases of abuse elsewhere in politics, football and the media were also cited by CST.
But there was also praise for political leaders including David Cameron, Theresa May, Jim Murphy and Alex Salmond for challenging antisemitism and outlining efforts to combat hatred.Contents show]
History
A team created by the Justice League at the insistence of Vera Black after she helped save humanity from an enraged Earth, the Justice League Elite was designed to work in the shadows, with one absolute rule: No killing.
They fought multiple threats including a group of assassins known as the Blood Brothers who were intent on wiping out the population an entire country lead by a dictator as an example, Circe trying to seize the Spear of Destiny, and others before facing the Worlogog under the control of the personality of Manchester Black planted inside Vera's mind, an incident that resulted in their faked public destruction.
At one point it was revealed they had a member turn rogue and break their no-kill rule. Initially believed to be the reformed villain Coldcast, it turned out he was under the control of the real traitor, Menagerie.
Paraphernalia
Equipment: Shadow Thief's shadow suit, dummies for faking deaths, disguises.
Transportation: Mongoose Spirit
Weapons: Swords, magic axe and staff, bow and arrows, alien symbionts, cybernetic weapons.
Notes
Those members who were public heroes, namely Flash and Green Arrow, wore different costumes than their normal ones to provide deniability for their presence on the team. Additionally the team as a whole would often take fake identities for undercover work, in one case resulting in a clash with the JSA who believed them to be real villains.
Aside from their final mission, their only public appearance was in helping repel an assault by the Crime Syndicate of Amerika in the absence of most of the rest of the Justice League who was engaged elsewhere.
TriviaThe team, run by former Manor F1 chiefs Booth and Graeme Lowdon, is making its debut in the World Endurance Championship at the 6 Hours of Silverstone this weekend, fielding two Oreca 05-Nissans in the highly competitive LMP2 class.
Booth admits that he would be interested in making the step to the highest level of prototype racing, but only when rules would allow non-works entries to be more competitive than they are at the moment.
"It’s interesting to see where the regulations are going the next couple of years”, Booth told Motorsport.com. “The LMP1 non-works cars seem to be stuck in a gap in the middle.
"Unless regulations change they can’t compete with the overall [pacesetters]. Then we wouldn’t have much interest in it. But yes, for sure, let’s see how regulations go.”
Asked if a LMP1 move would solely depend on future regulations changes, Booth replied: “Well, regulations, opportunity, budget. There are lots of factors. But we would be interested for sure.”
Earning respect
As far as ambitions for for the foreseeable future go, Booth states: “To be regarded by our peers in the pit lane as a very good professional team.
"With everything we have ever been in we tried to present ourselves in the best possible way and we looked after ourselves in the best possible way.
"We want to earn the respect from a lot of people in the pit lane. That’s exactly what we intend to do in WEC.”
Booth is happy with the team he and Lowdon managed to put together in the short amount of time they gave themselves to prepare.
“It’s amazing how many people you get to know over the years”, Booth said. “I don’t think we ever advertised for a job.
"People came to us when word got out what we were doing. People we knew, people we didn’t know. I won’t say it’s easy [setting up the team] but I’m certainly very happy with the team we’ve put together.”
Fast learning
Manor doesn’t see 2016 as a learning year. The team wants to be competitive from the get-go. Booth: “We do have to learn but we’re gonna learn fast.
"Silverstone will be one step, Spa will be another step and then Le Mans. Every time out we want to ramp up our performance.”A woman holds up a poster during a protest against U.S.-based Monsanto Co. and genetically modified organisms (GMO), in New York May 25, 2013. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz The "March Against Monsanto" in 52 countries, an unapproved strain of its genetically modified wheat growing profusely in Oregon, cancelled wheat export orders... it's been a rough week for Monsanto.
But now it threw in the towel in Europe, where its genetically modified seeds have faced stiff resistance at every twist and turn.
Even its deep corporate pockets and mastery of lobbying have failed: "It's counterproductive to fight against windmills," its spokesman told the Tageszeitung.
The propitious week started last Saturday with the "March Against Monsanto," when people in over 400 cities in 52 countries protested against the company, its influence over governments, and its GMO seeds.
Much of it was focused on the mundane issue of labeling. Protesters wanted GMO ingredients in food to show up on the label, just like fat or protein. A simple solution to the controversy: Let consumers decide.
But it was a red line for the industry. It's worried that consumers would read the label and choose an alternative.
So Monsanto continued to assure us through its minions that labeling would be too costly, that it would kill the cupcake shop down the street, that we don't need to know anyway because GMO foods are safe for human consumption, etc., etc.
These assurances bring up echoes from the past. Monsanto's previous flagship products included the once-thought-harmless DDT, now banned worldwide; a family of industrial chemicals called PCBs that are now considered highly toxic; and Agent Orange, the defoliant liberally used during the Vietnam War and promoted as harmless to people, with grave results for the Vietnamese and U.S. soldiers who came in contact with it. And there was saccharine, the sweetener that ended up being a carcinogen.
More recently, Monsanto reinvented itself and decided to save mankind not with a DDT successor, but with genetically modified seeds, whether people wanted them or not.
The hubbub of the "March Against Monsanto" had barely died down when the USDA confirmed that genetically modified wheat was mysteriously growing on a farm in Oregon. Something that we'd been assured could never happen. Numerous impenetrable precautions would prevent that. Monsanto had developed that strain years ago, but field trials ended in 2004, and the thing had never been approved for sale or consumption. The reaction was immediate.
Japan would "refrain from buying western white and feed wheat effective today," a Japanese farm ministry official announced on Thursday, adding that the ministry is pressing the USDA for details of its investigation. U.S. wheat imports would be on hold until at least a test kit is available to identify GMO wheat, he said. South Korea, which bought about half of its wheat imports from the U.S. last year, announced that it would suspend imports of U.S. wheat. The EU's consumer protection office announced that any shipments that tested positive for GMO could not be sold in the EU. Other countries were making similar announcements. And everyone is badgering Washington for more information.
GMO contaminations have occurred before, most |
Hewlett. “I wanted to open myself up, to talk about what has been happening, but I didn’t imagine people would get as much from it as they have. Radio 4 talks a lot about having a relationship with its audience, how precious that is. This is the Radio 4 audience in top gear. That’s what it feels like to me.”WALTHAM, MA – Bentley University installed a new siren system on campus over the winter to notify the school community in the event of a serious emergency.
The sirens sound an alarm, followed by a voice message with safety instructions to provide immediate information to Bentley students, faculty and staff, as well as nearby residents and community members, visitors, vendors and external organizations who rent space on campus.
The school has scheduled two dates for sound calibration and a campus-wide test. Those who live in the neighborhood will hear the siren, so here is what you can expect:
Friday, March 10
Sound calibration testing will occur throughout the day. Sirens will sound intermittently from each location on campus and include a siren tone and voice message saying, "This is a test." Testing should be completed by approximately 2 p.m.
Wednesday, March 15
At 2 p.m., a 2-3-minute test will take place. This is required by law once a year.
Those who live on or near campus who have a question about a possible actual emergency can check the following channels:
www.bentley.edu (Bentley's website home page, which in the event of an emergency will include a banner linking to the university's Emergency Alert page)
Bentley's Emergency Alert web page
Campus emergency phone line 781.891.2020
Photo by Rob1646 (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia CommonsI released The Hitchhiker's Guide to AWS ECS and Docker a couple of weeks ago. It got a great response - the only thing that seemed to be problematic was the sheer size of the guide. What began as a small ECS Tutorial turned into the longest post I'd ever written!
In order to make things more digestible I turned the guide into a 10 part video series! It still covers the same concepts and themes, but we go more in-depth, with more visuals and explanations. Best of all, it's split up into chunks to avoid info overload.
For those who haven't read the post, this series covers the following:
This series covers:
1) Docker
2) Challenges with Managing Docker Deploys
3) AWS ECS from a 50000 ft View
4) Main Components of ECS
5) Supporting Components of ECS
Any feedback appreciated!
More from the blogMore than three years ago, a crippling internet attack brought down Sony's PlayStation Network and interrupted service for more than a month. Legal showdowns ensued and today, people in the U.S. who used the company's online services can begin the process of getting their share of a $15 million settlement. Here's how.
E-mails have started going out today detailing what longtime users of PSN, Qriocity, or Sony Online Entertainment need to do to get the rewards being offered as part of Sony's $15 million make-good. You'll need to have had a PSN account before May 15, 2011 to qualify and some of the offerings include free games like Infamous, LittleBigPlanet and God of War HD. The wording makes a specific, probably-legally-required point of absolving Sony of any wrong-doing :
A settlement has been reached with the Sony Entities about the illegal and unauthorized attacks (the "Intrusions") in April 2011, on the computer network systems used to provide PlayStation Network ("PSN"), Qriocity, and Sony Online Entertainment ("SOE") services. The Sony Entities deny any claims of wrongdoing in this case, and the settlement does not mean that the Sony Entities violated any laws or did anything wrong. Who is included? The Class includes everyone in the US (including its territories) who had a PSN account, a Qriocity account, or an SOE account at any time before May 15, 2011. What does the settlement provide? There are various benefits, depending in part on what type of account(s) you had. Benefits you could get (if you qualify) include: Payment equal to paid wallet balances (if $2 or more) in PSN or SOE accounts that have been inactive since the Intrusions,
One or more of the following: a free PS3 or PSP game, 3 free PS3 themes, or a free 3-month subscription to PlayStation Plus (once valid claims exceed $10 million, class members will still be eligible for one free month of PlayStation Plus),
A free month of Music Unlimited for Qriocity account holders who did not have a PSN account,
$4.50 in SOE Station Cash (amounts will be reduced proportionally if valid claims exceed $4 million).
Identity Theft Reimbursement: If you had out-of-pocket charges due to actual identity theft, and have documentation proving that the theft was caused by the Intrusion(s), you can submit a claim for reimbursement up to $2,500. Reimbursements will be reduced proportionally if the total amount payable on all valid claims would exceed $1 million. How can I get benefits? To get benefits, you must file a claim form. Claim forms are available at WWW.PSNSOESETTLEMENT.COM. You can also request claim forms from the Claims Administrator by writing to PSN-SOE Settlement, PO Box 1947, Faribault, MN 55021 or by calling 1-877-552-1284. The earliest deadline to file a claim is August 31, 2015, or 60 days after the settlement becomes final and effective. Visit the website for more details on submitting a claim online or by mail. Your other options. Even if you do nothing, you will be bound by the Court's decisions. If you want to keep your right to sue the Sony Entities yourself, you must exclude yourself from the Settlement Class by April 10, 2015. If you stay in the Settlement Class, you may object to the settlement by April 10, 2015. For instructions on how to exclude yourself from the Class or object to the settlement, please seeWWW.PSNSOESETTLEMENT.COM.
Kotaku staff have logged into the settlement website to get some awareness of what it'll ask users for:
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If you were an SOE user, you get a different benefit, with an offer of the network's Station Cash as a restitution. From the settlement site: "You can get a $4.50 deposit of "Station Cash" (450 Station Cash units) into your SOE account, usable for all SOE digital products and services for which Station Cash may be used."
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It looks like you're entitled to more free stuff if you can prove that you were a paid subscriber to to Netflix or Hulu that couldn't use those services during the outage.
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It seems like users who didn't pick up anything during the previous Welcome Back campaign may have the opportunity to do so now as part of this settlement, which includes first-party games like Puppeteer released since the the hack. If you're a person who doesn't own Super Stardust, God of War HD or Puppeteer yet, this is a great chance to pick up those good games at no risk.
For Sony, this settlement roll-out is hopefully the beginning of the end of a very ugly chapter in their corporate history. If you're an affected Sony services user making their way through the settlement process, let us know what you're experiencing in the comments below.Two youths aged 14 and 17, along with two 18-year-olds, convicted of killing Jeremie Malenge despite jurors receiving apparent death threat in trial
A group of young people have been found guilty of hunting down and stabbing a 17-year-old boy to death despite jurors in their trial receiving an apparent death threat.
Two youths aged 14 and 17 along with Sanaa Ibrahim and Tre Morgan, both 18, were convicted of their part in killing Jeremie Malenge who was attacked in the street in Hackney, north-east London, in January.
The six-week Old Bailey trial was halted after jurors reported seeing someone in the public gallery making a throat-cutting gesture in their direction while Ibrahim was giving evidence in her defence. However, they agreed to carry on regardless and went on to find all four defendants guilty of murder after deliberating for less than two hours.
Ibrahim broke down in tears as the verdicts were delivered. All four were remanded in custody until sentencing on 25 September.
On the night of the killing, Ibrahim acted as the “inside woman” by flitting between the killers and their targets after travelling back from Swindon with Malenge and his 17-year-old friend. She also secretly texted and called her 17-year-old co-accused 36 times before the half-hour chase began, the court heard.
Malenge, his friend and Ibrahim had arrived at Hackney Central at 11pm on 6 January at the exact time the three other defendants were seen running towards the station. Over the next 30 minutes, the attackers hunted Malenge and his friend through the streets to carry out the knife attack.
Even as Malenge ran for his life, Ibrahim was caught on CCTV meeting the killers face-to-face to pass on information before rejoining Malenge and his friend, the court heard.
The killers caught up with the pair in Homerton High Street, where the “sudden, brutal and terrifying” attack on Malenge took place after his friend managed to get away, prosecutor Timothy Cray told the jury. He was stabbed multiple times and received a fatal 12.5cm wound through his ribs, piercing the heart. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
In his closing speech, Cray had told jurors: “Many central facts are agreed. It is also agreed that this was a vicious, unnecessary killing of a young man who did not deserve to be cut down on the streets of London. No excuse has been put forward for these actions and there can be no excuse.
“Instead the four defendants in their various ways either say ‘not me’ and then point the finger at each other or say that they were not there at all, despite the clearest evidence that they were.
“You also appreciate that we say those attempts to shift the blame, including the lies and tortured explanations that two defendants put before you from that witness box, are designed to deflect you from the truth – that all four of them acted together to carry out the knife attack that killed Jeremie Malenge.”
Although she was not present at the time of the stabbing, Ibrahim was sitting just yards away and was with the killers minutes before and after. In her defence, she said Malenge had been in Swindon to deal drugs that day and he had forced her to go with him back to Hackney to steal a stash of drugs from her home.
She named the three other defendants as she told jurors she saw them disposing of bloody knives into a canal after Malenge’s death. Ibrahim, of Hackney, the two youths, and Morgan, of south-west London, all denied murder.
The 17-year-old boy, who admitted manslaughter, was caught on CCTV carrying a large knife in his hand before the killing. He was also accused of being involved in an earlier knife attack in the same area on another young man on 22 March last year. He was found guilty of wounding with intent relating to the earlier incident.Quiet Sun, Coronal hole faces Earth
Tuesday, 5 July 2016 - 21:17 UTC
Five B-class solar flares. That's the only solar activity the Sun managed to produce last week. We're only two years after solar maximum but the Sun has already gone very quiet as if it approaches solar minimum. Could this be a sign for the years to come? We hope not.
While we are in period with some very quiet space weather, we do have the occasional coronal hole that comes around to face Earth. Today we have such a coronal hole facing Earth and it could spark some high latitude aurora (for those that aren't troubled by the midnight sun) in about two to three days from now when the solar wind stream is expected to arrive at our planet. Active geomagnetic conditions (Kp4) are likely to occur this coming Thursday or Friday and there is a slight chance for minor G1 geomagnetic storm conditions.
A coronal hole is facing Earth. Enhanced solar wind could arrive in ~3 days - Follow live on https://t.co/T1Jkf6i4Cb pic.twitter.com/FI4lQd07lr — SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) 5 juli 2016
Thank you for reading this article! Did you had trouble with some of the technical terms used in this article? Our help section is the place to be where you can find in-depth articles, a FAQ and a list with common abbreviations. Still puzzled? Just post on our forum where we will help you the best we can! Never want to miss out on a space weather event or one of our news articles again? Subscribe to our mailing list, follow us on Twitter and Facebook and download the SpaceWeatherLive app for Android and iOS!
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Some administration officials who opposed leaving the Paris climate deal think their colleagues used dubious data to convince President Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE to do so, according to The Washington Post.
Pro-Paris figures in the White House thought Trump was presented with misleading or out-of-date information about the international climate accord, the report said.
The debate over whether to stay in the Paris deal split the administration. White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt Edward (Scott) Scott PruittEPA knows this pesticide is dangerous, so why did it reverse the ban? Archives investigation finds no ‘secret' Pruitt calendars existed California has sued the Trump administration 46 times. Here are the lawsuits MORE and White House counsel Don McGahn favored exiting the pact.
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, reportedly pressed Trump to stay in.
Bannon and Pruitt frequently showed Trump data and statistics showing what they said would be the deal’s negative impact on the economy, the report said.
“They were presenting facts and figures,” White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said. “They were really important. That was the evidentiary case.”
Trump on Thursday said he was formally withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate deal, which includes nearly 200 nations.
“The bottom line is that the Paris accord is very unfair at the highest level to the United States,” he said at the White House Rose Garden.
“We are getting out, but we will start to negotiate and we will see if we can make a deal that is fair,” Trump added.
The 2015 agreement consisted of individual greenhouse gas limits each signatory nation determined for itself.
The U.S. had pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions 26 percent to 28 percent by 2025 as part of the nonbinding deal.In the spring of 1942, the federal government hired a small group of photographers to document the relocation and incarceration of about 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom were United States citizens living on the West Coast. Some of the photographs were used for propaganda purposes during the war to give the impression that the men, women and children were doing well in the camps. In recent decades some images, mostly by Dorothea Lange, have been published. But most of the 7,000 images in the National Archives and the Library of Congress were seldom seen until recently.
Now about 170 images – many never before published – appear in “Un-American: The Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II” (City Files Press) by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams. It tells the stories of many of the Japanese-Americans in the pictures who endured the spartan relocation centers. The book also gives a detailed account of the photographers’ experiences.
The project was started well before Donald J. Trump called during his presidential campaign for increased surveillance of Muslims in the United States and proposed barring entry to Muslims from abroad. But, Mr. Cahan said, the “shameful” internment of Japanese-Americans during the war shows that “America is capable of being un-American.”
The images made by photographers working for the government’s War Relocation Authority were tightly controlled. Photographs of barbed wire, machine gun-wielding guards or dissent within the camps were forbidden, and at least 26 images were marked “impounded.” Instead, photographs of resiliency and civic engagement in the camps were encouraged. Ms. Lange left after three months. Clem Albers, a newspaper photographer from San Francisco, departed after just one month in spring 1942. But their work was carried on by others, including Francis Stewart, Tom Parker and Charles Mace.
Photo
The photographs can be quite moving, but they can also be imperfect vessels for studying the wartime experiences of Japanese-Americans. But there is very little other photographic documentation of their incarceration. A major exception are the optimistic photographs made by Ansel Adams in the Manzanar Relocation Center in eastern California, which he let the War Relocation Authority use before donating them to the Library of Congress. Some are included in this book along with a brief history of the controversy over them.
The War Relocation Authority photographers worked during a time when the relocation had widespread popular support, and when racial hatred of Japanese-Americans, often stoked by newspapers and the American government, was rampant.
“The story of this collection is that some truly remarkable photographers rose to the occasion despite intense pressure to not do such a good job,” Mr. Williams said. “Not only did they get the photographs, but they created these really powerful transcendent documents. They got up close.”
Among those who got closest was Hikaru Iwasaki, known as Carl, himself an inmate at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming during the war. Mr. Iwasaki, his mother, Hisako, and his younger sister, Akiko, were among those who were incarcerated at Heart Mountain in September 1942. Born in 1923, Mr. Iwasaki had taken a photography class and worked for his high school paper and yearbook in San Jose, Calif. He took a job in a photo studio, where he learned lighting techniques after his father’s death in 1940.
Photo
“When we headed to Heart Mountain, we did not know the destination,” Mr. Iwasaki said shortly before his death last year. “We arrived in the cold and we were issued Army pea coats.”
By the time the Iwasakis were sent to the camp, Ms. Lange and Clem Albers had left the War Relocation Authority. In 1943, Mr. Parker and Mr. Mace enlisted the young man as a darkroom technician in the War Relocation Authority’s Denver office. The next year, he was sent on a three-month train journey to more than 20 cities to photograph formerly incarcerated Japanese-Americans who had attained jobs away from the West and were being touted by the government as success stories.
The book recounts Mr. Iwasaki’s travels:
The cross-country trips must have been surreal for a young government employee who just a year before had been in an internment camp. Photographing in the South, he watched as black men and women were prohibited from using whites-only water fountains and movie theater entrances and saw how blacks knew they must sit in the back of the bus. Iwasaki did not know where to sit at first, but he soon learned. “I was able to sit anywhere.”
Photo
Mr. Iwasaki also made poignant photographs of the closing of the camps in 1945 and the return of some of the Japanese-Americans to their homes. That September, he photographed an older man in Poston, Ariz., receiving $25, a ticket home and modest travel expenses. (slide #23 )
Mr. Iwasaki’s mother and sister were released from Heart Mountain in June 1945, and they returned to San Jose. Mr. Iwasaki went on to a long career photographing for Time magazine, Life and Sports Illustrated. He spoke about his wartime experiences with Mr. Cahan last year.
“I think most Americans don’t know anything about this” Mr. Iwasaki said. “That is the sad part.”
Follow @leslyedavis, @jamesestrin and @nytimesphoto on Twitter. You can also find Lens on Facebook and Instagram.Ronald Koeman suggests Everton will look to sell Ross Barkley if he does not sign new deal
Ross Barkley has been linked with a move away from Everton this summer
Everton boss Ronald Koeman has indicated that the club will look to sell Ross Barkley this summer if the England midfielder does not sign a new contract.
Barkley's current deal expires in 2018 and Everton are seemingly prepared to cash in rather than risk him walking away at the end of next season if he does not re-sign.
Speaking after his team's 4-2 win against Leicester at Goodison Park, Koeman gave a blunt response when asked what could be done to resolve the 23-year-old's future.
"We offer him a new contract, and then (there are) two possibilities," Koeman said.
"One, he signs that contract, if he doesn't sign that contract then we need to sell the player. It's simple - it's not so difficult in my opinion."
Barkley was outstanding in the win over the Foxes, as was Romelu Lukaku, who scored two of Everton's goals to take his tally for the season to 23.
Lukaku's future has also been in doubt, with the Belgian having rejected a new contract.
"We try to keep the best players," Koeman added.
"We spoke a lot about Ross and Rom because they are really important.
"Most of the time the quality of the players can be the difference between Everton and the opponent, and they played really well."Friday, October 18, 2013. After scheduling a broadcast ABC decided, at the last minute it seems, to either delay or cancel a segment on AVFM scheduled for tonight. Instead it aired a re-hash from the Dr. Phil Show in which the alleged murderer failed a polygraph test.
This follows a story published on their website announcing the upcoming broadcast. The article featured Anita Sarkeesian of “Feminist Frequency” who alleged that she had received rape and death threats from the “manosphere” following the production of her YouTube videos dealing with misogyny in the gaming world. Sources of the alleged threats have never been substantiated. The piece also featured a segment of the interview with Elam that was to be broadcast.
“It is hard to say why ABC delayed the piece with certainty,” said Elam. “It is not beyond reason to think that the overwhelmingly hostile public reaction to the lies published on the ABC website could have caused them concern.” He also referenced a recent article in AVFM in which it was pointed out that Elizabeth Vargas misquoted him.
AVFM News sent an information request to 20/20 asking “Please explain why the piece on A Voice for Men and Paul Elam was not broadcast this evening. There are many disappointed viewers who want an explanation.”
Any response to the inquiry will be posted to the site.As of Sunday, there were at least 291 homicides in Detroit, the same as during the same period in 2014, when the city saw the fewest homicides in 47 years. (Photo: Detroit News)
With just four more days left in 2015, Detroit was close to mirroring last year’s homicide total, the lowest since 1967, although the good news was dimmed by the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl late Sunday, along with the Christmas Eve slaying of a noted musician.
As of Sunday, there were at least 292 homicides in Detroit, the same as during the same period in 2014, when the city saw the fewest homicides in 47 years.
A flurry of killings in late December drove the number up, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said.
“We were down by as many as 12 recently, but we hit a bad patch,” Craig said. “But we ended last year with the lowest number of homicides in 47 years, and it looks like we’ll end up about the same.”
Nonfatal shootings also were down by 12 as of Thursday, from 1,030 last year. Robberies dropped18 percent, with 695 fewer than in 2014. This year’s total: 3,063, vs. 3,758 during the same period last year.
“That’s good news, and a testament to our hard-working officers,” Craig said. “We’re trending in the right direction.”
Among the high-profile killings in 2015:
■Mitchelle Blair pleaded guilty to killing her two children, Stoni Blair, 13, and Stephen Berry, 9, and putting their bodies in a freezer, which she kept in her apartment.
■A 20-year-old man was killed at a block party, one of 10 people shot during the gathering. Despite there being hundreds of people at the scene, no one came forward to provide police with information, and the killing remains unsolved.
■Paul Monchick, 91, was fatally beaten inside his west side home in November, and his house was set on fire. Police arrested a neighbor, 17-year-old George Steward, who was charged with first-degree murder and is awaiting trial.
■Detroit firefighter David Madrigal was found inside his northwest side home on Dec. 21, dead of blunt force trauma to the head. No arrests have been made.
ghunter@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2134
Criminal homicides in Detroit
2014: 300
2013: 333
2012: 386
2011: 344
2010: 308
2009: 364
2008: 342
2007: 392
2006: 354
2005: 374
2004: 387
2003: 369
2002: 402
2001: 395
2000: 396
1999: 415
1998: 430
1997: 469
1996: 428
1995: 475
1994: 541
1993: 579
1992: 595
1991: 615
1990: 582
1989: 624
1988: 630
1987: 686
1986: 648
1985: 635
1984: 514
1983: 581
1982: 515
1981: 502
1980: 549
1979: 451
1978: 498
1977: 478
1976: 662
1975: 607
1974: 714
1973: 672
1972: 601
1971: 577
1970: 495
1969: 439
1968: 389
1967: 281
1966: 214
1965: 188
1964: 125
1963: 125
1962: 131
1961: 136
1960: 150
1959: 169
1958: 141
1957: 119
1956: 105
1955: 140
1954: 108
1953: 130
1952: 109
1951: 129
1950: 113
1949: 103
1948: 105
1947: 112
1946: 109
1945: 101
1944: 112
1943: 97
1942: 89
1941: 78
1940: 77
1939: 74
1938: 48
1937: 63
1936: 66
1935: 60
1934: 60
1933: 75
1932: 96
1931: 106
1930: 114
Source: Detroit police, Detroit News research
Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/1OuaQKKJosh Anderson knew he was going to have a big day when he got asked to model Notre Dame's Shamrock Series uniforms for his teammates Thursday. The program tweeted him suiting up, and it tweeted the players' reaction to the unveiling.
Great having our model Josh Anderson in this morning to model the #ShamrockSeries Uniform #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/5VVjBJbAtA — Ryan Grooms (@NDFBEquipment) August 13, 2015
What would make our players react like this? Find out at 10AM! https://t.co/fZpxjSw24l — Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) August 13, 2015
Or so we thought.
Yes, the Irish's jerseys for their Nov. 21 game against Boston College at Fenway Park are nice. But it turns out the roar of approval was for a much bigger moment: Anderson, a fifth-year senior running back, had been granted a scholarship.
Head coach Brian Kelly explained the moment after practice:
"[Anderson is] a senior for us that has done everything we've asked over the last five years. He's taken more hits than any one of our backs. He's a scout-team player. He's done everything. He's a great student. Well-respected by all of his teammates and we had an available scholarship and as a senior he deserved it so I brought him out to announce the Under Armour uniforms and I had him instead of the big mannequin, I had him dressed in the Under Armour uniform. He didn't know he was getting a scholarship. So the guys were pretty charged up. He had the Under Armour -- I said: You know, this is a great model. Matter of fact, he's such a great model -- I said, Josh, take your helmet off -- he models everything that I think is right about a Notre Dame football player. At that time I announced he was gonna get a scholarship, and the guys were excited. It was a good moment."
Pretty cool. Of course, the question now is who was a better "model" running back for the Irish: Anderson, or Cam McDaniel?GEELONG forward Mitch Clark has suffered another setback in his bid to be right for Round 1, with a recurrence of a calf injury.
But the cursed forward has declared in an emotional Instagram post that his career is not over.
“Shattered that my body has let me down once again,” Clark wrote on Tuesday night.
“I know some of you are saying ‘Here we go again’ and ‘Just give up’ but I refuse to accept that this is it.
“I will continue to do whatever it takes to get back out there with the boys and do what I love most.”
The key tall reinjured the calf while running in the past few days, after initially suffering the injury in late January.
The Cats had expected Clark to be on track to play against Hawthorn on Easter Monday, but the latest blow has dashed any hope of that.
Geelong officials have not put a timeline on when they expect him to return.
“This is frustrating for Mitch and for the club, but we expect that he will continue to rehab the injury and be available early in the season,” Cats football manager Steve Hocking said.
“Mitch has had a solid pre-season and has put a lot of work in through the summer.”
“His recovery was on track before this setback, and he will continue to work hard to get back on the field with his teammates.”
Midfielder Sam Menegola has been cleared of serious damage to his knee but the full extent remains unclear.
The 23-year-old hobbled off the ground in his first game for Geelong last Friday night against Collingwood.
Defender Jed Bews has also been cleared of any serious concern over a shoulder injury.
Hocking said Cats medical staff were still unable to determine what Menegola’s injury actually is.
“We’re waiting for the swelling in his knee to subside before they can make a full assessment of the ligaments in the knee,” Hocking said.
“The meniscus, there’s no damage to that, scans have cleared him of any damage there, we’re just waiting for that swelling to subside and we’ll have a clearer picture.
“That should happen in the next 24, 48 hours. I can certainly rule out an ACL.”This article is a compilation of the list of seasons completed by the Seattle Seahawks American football franchise of the National Football League (NFL). The list documents the season-by-season records of the Seahawks' franchise from 1976 to present, including postseason records, and league awards for individual players or head coaches. As of the end of the 2018 NFL season, the Seahawks have 23 winning seasons, 17 losing seasons, and 4 seasons where they finished 8–8. With a 35–6 Week 14 win over the Baltimore Ravens on December 13 during the 2015 season, not only did the Seahawks improved to 8–5 at that point in the season, but the Seahawks' all–time franchise regular season win–loss record improved to 313–312–0; this marked the first time ever in team history that the Seahawks have had an overall winning regular season win–loss record (a win–loss record above.500). The Seahawks are the one of four North American men's professional sports teams that have played in Seattle with an all–time winning record, after the Seattle Metropolitans (the first American team to win the Stanley Cup in 1917, folded in 1924), the Seattle SuperSonics (who relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in the summer of 2008), and the Seattle Sounders FC (established in 2007 as an expansion franchise, currently active). Therefore, the Seahawks are currently one of two active North American men's professional sports team located in Seattle with an overall winning record. On October 23, 2016, the Seahawks played the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium and the game ended in a 6–6 tie after OT, which was the first time this ever happened in franchise history.
Seasons [ edit ]
Super Bowl Champions Conference Champions Division Champions Wild Card Berth
^ The NFL expanded from a 14-game regular season schedule to 16 beginning in 1978. ^ The 1982 season was shortened to nine games by a players' strike. The top eight teams in each conference advanced to the playoffs. ^ The Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills finished with 4–5 records. Cleveland's better conference record (4–3 vs. Buffalo's 3–3 and Seattle's 3–5 advanced the Browns to the playoffs. The Bills and Seahawks did not go to the playoffs. ^ The Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos finished with 9–7 records. Seattle's and Denver's better head-to-head record (2–1 vs. Cleveland's 0–2) eliminated the Browns from the playoffs. Seattle's better conference record (5–3 vs. 3–5) gave the Seahawks the 1st Wild Card and Denver the 2nd Wild Card. ^ The Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals finished with 10–6 records. New York and Kansas City advanced to the playoffs as Wild Cards based on better conference records (8–4 and 9–5 vs. Seattle's and Cincinnati's 7–5). The Seahawks and Bengals did not go to the playoffs. ^ The 1987 season was shortened to 15 games by a players' strike. ^ The Seattle Seahawks, Houston Oilers and Pittsburgh Steelers finished with 9–7 records. Houston's better conference record (8–4 vs. Seattle's 7–5 and Pittsburgh's 6–6) gave the Oilers the Wild Card and eliminated the Seahawks and Steelers from the playoffs. ^ The Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs finished with 9–7 records. Seattle's head-to-head sweep of the Chiefs gave the Seahawks the division championship. The Chiefs did not go to the playoffs.
See also [ edit ]A scientific study has confirmed something many of us hoped wasn't true -- that men feel threatened by their female partners' success.
Psychologists Kate Ratliff from the University of Florida and Shigehiro Oishi from the University of Virginia conducted five different experiments with 896 participants overall to see how the men in heterosexual relationships were affected by their female partner's successes. The results are detailed in a paper published in the August 2013 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology -- and it's not pretty.
In one of the experiments, researchers asked 32 different couples to take a test that supposedly measured their intelligence. The tests were not actually graded, but each participant was told that their partner scored in either the top 12 percent or bottom 12 percent of all university students. Men whose partners allegedly scored in the top 12 percent scored lower on an implicit self-esteem test than those with partners who allegedly scored in the bottom 12 percent. In other words, when men's female partners were shown to have high intelligence, the men felt worse about themselves.
For the final two experiments, researchers recruited 657 participants to take an online test. The 284 male participants were asked to recall a time when their partner was successful in a specific area, for example intellectually or socially. They then took an implicit self-esteem test. The results showed that regardless or the type of success a woman had, their male partners felt bad after thinking about said accomplishments. This was especially true when their partner had succeeded in an area where the respondent had failed.
"It makes sense that a man might feel threatened if his girlfriend outperforms him in something they're doing together, such as trying to lose weight," Ratliff said in a press release. "But this research found evidence that men automatically interpret a partner's success as their own failure, even when they're not in direct competition."US officials today confirmed that during Monday’s talks between Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian FM Javad Zarif, Kerry had asked Iran to help facilitate peace talks in Yemen.
Interestingly, Iran has been the one pushing for peace in Yemen for weeks now, while the US has loudly endorsed the Saudi war. US officials now seem to think Iran is the key to getting the Houthis to the negotiating table.
Yet the Houthis never seemed to be averse to negotiations in the first place, and it has been the Saudis and their allies that have demanded unconditional Houthi surrender before any talks would even be considered.
It’s unclear what the US expects Iran to do in this case, as their influence with the Houthis is almost certainly overstated, and their ability to get them to agree to terms agreeable to the Saudis, who seem eager to continue the sectarian war, is likely |
’s Prison.” The book was adapted for the Netflix hit “Orange Is the New Black.”
Kerman’s book never identified Kashamu by name, only citing a West African drug kingpin.It’s been nonstop 7th Edition talk for a week, but let’s take a break to look at the latest Ork Chatter:
Orks are hot on the heels of 7th, (so June), and we have yet another source talking about kits that are jiving with stuff we’ve heard of late:
Look for the following:
– A new Ork Boys box triple-combo kit covering: Tank-Bustas, Kommandos, Flashgitz
– Buggie Combo kit (making the existing buggy and a new unknown kit)
– Mega-nobz Combo kit (making the existing Mega-nobz and a new unknown kit)
– Kopta Combo kit (making the existing Kopta and a new unknown kit) -Stompa is said to included in the codex as a Lord of War
This latest set of rumors lines up pretty well with this set of rumors from past month:
Orks – 5 Kits 1) Plastic Warboss: Multi-part plastic kit which make a warboss in mega armor with new weapon options.
2) Deffkoptas: Plastic box. Dual build kit with a new Grot skimmer.
3) Tankbustas/Flashgitz/Ardboys: Multi-part plastic kit which makes any of the three units.
4) Buggy/Halftrakk Plastic kit with a new Supa-rokkit Launcha option.
5) Mek/Mad-doc/Mega-armor unit (NEW): Plastic dual unit kit – First unit is similar to oversized Cyb-orks. Shoots new saw-cannon. Second unit option makes mega armor Orks
~If you listen closely you can almost hear the WAAAAGH in the distance…I got an email from a reader.
Could you please write a simple article on HOC(higher order component). Facing difficulty while learning it.
Higher-order components are a bit tricky to wrap one’s head around. So in this article we will take it from the beginning and we will keep it simple.
The concept higher-order component comes from the functional programming concept higher-order function. Let’s start by looking into what higher-order functions are.
Higher-Order Functions
Higher-order function is a general concept that applies to many programming languages, including JavaScript.
Higher-order functions are regular functions that do one or both of the following:
Takes one or many functions as arguments Returns a function
Let’s look at simple examples of these two.
1. Takes one or many functions as arguments
An example of a function that takes another function as argument is this:
function twice(f, v) { return f(f(v)); }
It takes a function called f, and calls it twice. This is an example usage:
function add3(v) { return v + 3; } const result = twice(add3, 1); console.log("Result is ", result);
That output would be:
Result is 7
2. Returns a function
An example of a function that returns another function is this:
function addX(x) { return function (y) { return x + y; } }
And we would use it like this:
const add1 = addX(1); add1(5); // will return 6
We could also call the returned function directly without assigning it to a variable:
addX(1)(5); // will return 6
Tricky?
If you are not 100% confident about how higher-order functions work, I want to advise you to open up a JavaScript REPL and play around with it. I put the code in an online REPL here.
It is easier to understand higher-order components when you have a feeling for higher-order functions.
Higher-order components
Ok, now we know what higher-order functions are. Higher-order components (HOC) are a very similar concept. Instead of working with functions as input parameters and return values, HOCs are working with components.
The most simple HOC
A HOC takes a component as input parameter and returns a new component. Let’s look at an example of the most simple HOC possible.
// Take in a component as argument WrappedComponent function simpleHOC(WrappedComponent) { // And return a new anonymous component return class extends React.Component{ render() { return <WrappedComponent {...this.props}/>; } } }
This HOC takes a React component, WrappedComponent, as parameter. It returns a new React component. The returned component contains the WrappedComponent as a child.
We use the HOC to create a new component like this:
// Create a new component const NewComponent = simpleHOC(Hello); // NewComponent can be used exactly like any component // In this case, NewComponent is functionally the same as Hello <NewComponent/>
Click here to see a fully working example.
Use HOC to enhance components
The HOC we just created does not do anything to the component, it just returns the same component with a wrapper component around it. It’s not much point with that, is it?
The idea with HOC is to enhance components with functions or data.
Let’s look at an example of an HOC that enhances the component.
The way we are going to do that is to add a prop to the component. Let’s add a name prop with the value “React”. It would look something like this:
// Take in a component as argument WrappedComponent function withNameReact(WrappedComponent) { // And return a new anonymous component return class extends React.Component{ render(){ return <WrappedComponent name="React" {...this.props} />; } } }
Lets take a look how we can use it.
First, we define the component to send in, which uses the name prop…
const Hello = ({ name }) => <h1>Hello {name}!</h1>;
…then we will enhance it with our HOC.
const HelloReact = withNameReact(Hello); // No need to send in the name prop, it is already sent in // by the HOC. It will output Hello React! <HelloReact/>
Click here to see a fully working example
Observations
HOC is a powerful concept that is used to enhance a component with new functions or data. It is worth noting the following:
We don’t modify or mutate the component. We create new ones.
A HOC is used to compose components for code reuse.
A HOC is a pure function. That means it has no side effects. It only returns a new component.
Summary and next steps
You have learned the basic principles behind HOC.
Now you can dive deeper into the subject and learn what problems HOC solves and when to use them. A good start is the section about HOC in the official React docs.On Thursday, March 6, Bitcoiners from across the United States and around the world will gather in Austin, Texas for the first Texas Bitcoin Conference. Attendees will have a stellar line-up of speakers to look forward to with ample time to network and take part in over 30 workshops and tutorials.
The Texas Bitcoin Conference Team issued the following press release:
Mt. Gox and the Future of Bitcoin Demystified
Texas Bitcoin Conference
Premier Two-Day Event
March 5th and 6th 2014
Features over 30 workshops and tutorials for consumer friendly Bitcoin adoption, a $1 Million Hackathon for advancing the development of Distributed Autonomous Applications (DAA), A diverse list of distinguished speakers. The conference will be making history in the arts with the world’s first Bitcoin-exclusive concert featuring Grammy-nominated Carolyn Malachi. Bitcoin will be used as a force for good at this event with all concert proceeds supporting Bitcoin accepting charities!
AUSTIN, DATE — The Texas Bitcoin Conference www.texasbitcoinconference.com is rapidly approaching. The event will be held March 5th and 6th at the Technology and Conference Center at the Circuit of the Americas Formula 1 complex (9201 Circuit of the Americas Blvd., Austin, TX. 78617).
In light of the recent Mt. Gox debacle, the Texas Bitcoin Conference has added a “Mt. Gox Explained” panel discussion on March 5th. The recent events surrounding Mt. Gox underscore the need for honest, transparent and auditable exchanges and Bitcoin endeavors.
The Texas Bitcoin Association looks forward to educating merchants, consumers and the curious public about Bitcoin adoption. Networking is a priority for the organization, with space and program time set aside for inventors, entrepreneurs, engineers and all attending to connect.
The Bitcoin 2.0 Hackathon: Building Next Generation Decentralized Applications & Protocols will take place both days. Teams will compete for more than $1 million in prizes and contracts in an event organized by the Mastercoin Foundation, Open-Transactions (Monetas), Ethereum, BitAngels, Ripple and others.
The Texas Bitcoin Conference will be making music history with the first ever BitCoinCert! www.bitcoincert.org The concert features Grammy-nominated Carolyn Malichi, the first known recording artist to accept Bitcoin payments for her music along with local favorites such as Eric Tessmer and Kalu James. The concert takes place Thursday, March 6th at 8:30 p.m. Volunteers are ready to help concertgoers new to Bitcoin quickly get empowered to purchase tickets with Crypto-currency. The suggested donation price is $25USD in Bitcoin.
Proceeds from the concert will support local and national service organizations. From a local perspective, the concert will support Without Regrets www.withoutregrets.org and Austin’s own Capital Area Food Bank. The Capital Area Food Bank is a Federal Reserve of food pantries and food banks across Texas.
Three organizations powered solely by Bitcoin will also be featured beneficiaries, including Sean’s Outpost homeless sanctuary in Florida, www.seansoutpost.com Bitcoin not Bombs www.bitcoinnotbombs.com and Fr33aid www.fr33aid.com Sean’s Outpost founder Jason King is running an ultra-marathon across the country that began in Miami on Jan. 26. He is expected to make an appearance at the Texas Bitcoin Conference on March 6.
Bitcoin as technology, Bitcoin as an ecomonic force, Bitcoin as a Force for Good. All aspects of this exciting community will be explored during the two day event.
For more information and ticket pricing, please visit the Texas Bitcoin Conference website, www.texasbitcoinconference.com
# # #The 1500 mile Appalachian mountain chain runs along a nearly straight line from Alabama to Newfoundland -- except for a curious bend in Pennsylvania and New York State. Researchers from the College of New Jersey and the University of Rochester now know what caused that bend -- a dense, underground block of rigid, volcanic rock forced the chain to shift eastward as it was forming millions of years ago.
According to Cindy Ebinger, a professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Rochester, scientists had previously known about the volcanic rock structure under the Appalachians. "What we didn't understand was the size of the structure or its implications for mountain-building processes," she said.
The findings have been published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
When the North American and African continental plates collided more than 300 million years ago, the North American plate began folding and thrusting upwards as it was pushed westward into the dense underground rock structure -- in what is now the northeastern United States. The dense rock created a barricade, forcing the Appalachian mountain range to spring up with its characteristic bend.
The research team -- which also included Margaret Benoit, an associate professor of physics at the College of New Jersey, and graduate student Melanie Crampton at the College of New Jersey -- studied data collected by the Earthscope project, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. Earthscope makes use of 136 GPS receivers and an array of 400 portable seismometers deployed in the northeast United States to measure ground movement.
Benoit and Ebinger also made use of the North American Gravity Database, a compilation of open-source data from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The database, started two decades ago, contains measurements of the gravitational pull over the North American terrain. Most people assume that gravity has a constant value, but when gravity is experimentally measured, it changes from place to place due to variations in the density and thickness of Earth's rock layers. Certain parts of Earth are denser than others, causing the gravitational pull to be slightly greater in those places.
Data on the changes in gravitational pull and seismic velocity together allowed the researchers to determine the density of the underground structure and conclude that it is volcanic in origin, with dimensions of 450 kilometers by 100 kilometers. This information, along with data from the Earthscope project ultimately helped the researchers to model how the bend was formed.
Ebinger called the research project a "foundation study" that will improve scientists' understanding of Earth's underlying structures. As an example, Ebinger said their findings could provide useful information in the debate over hydraulic fracturing -- popularly known is hydrofracking -- in New York State.
Hydrofracking is a mining technique used to extract natural gas from deep in the Earth. It involves drilling horizontally into shale formations, then injecting the rock with sand, water, and a cocktail of chemicals to free the trapped gas for removal. The region just west of the Appalachian Basin -- the Marcellus Shale formation -- is rich in natural gas reserves and is being considered for development by drilling companies.If there was any villain at the just-completed Conservative Political Action Conference, it was the generic figure of the Republican political consultant. Overpaid, unprincipled, always on the lookout for the next client — or easy mark — the consultants, to listen to a number of CPAC speakers, have helped bring the Republican Party to its current low state.
Democratic consultant Pat Caddell got the ball rolling with his remarks at a CPAC session entitled “Should We Shoot All the Consultants Now?” “The Republican Party,” Caddell said, “is in the grips of what I call the CLEC — the consultant, lobbyist, and establishment complex.” Top party and campaign officials join hands in schemes to walk away with millions of dollars — Caddell said it came close to criminal racketeering — while the GOP suffers at the polls.
“In my party we play to win,” the Democrat said. “We play for life and death. You people play for a different kind of agenda…Your party has no problem playing the Washington Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters.”
Caddell’s critique was echoed by other speakers throughout the conference, and from the meeting’s main podium, the consultant class took hit after hit. “Now is the time to furlough the consultants and tune out the pollsters!” said 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. “Send the focus groups home and toss the political scripts because if we truly know what we believe, we don’t need professionals to tell us!”
“We’ve had the establishment pick another loser for us,” conservative legend Phyllis Schlafly said, referring to Mitt Romney. “The establishment has given us a whole series of losers. Bob Dole and John McCain. Mitt Romney.”
The two non-candidates most mentioned in the consultant hall of shame were Karl Rove, the former Bush White House aide who has recently formed a group that he says will find more electable Republican candidates, and Stuart Stevens, the top adviser to the Romney campaign. Stevens, Pat Caddell said, “had as much business running a campaign as I do sprouting wings and flying out of this room.”
And on and on. So here is a question: Not to defend the pocket-lining practices of some consultants, but do the qualities of consultants, or do the qualities of candidates themselves, determine the fate of campaigns? What major failing of the Romney campaign, for example, can be laid solely, or even for the most part, at the feet of the consultants rather than the man who hired them?
And in a larger sense, did consultants create the weak 2012 GOP primary field? Did they cause Mitch Daniels not to run? Did they cause Rick Perry to implode? Were they behind Rick Santorum’s dogged march to success, and then his self-destruction over contraception, Catholicism, and other cultural issues? Was any of that the work of a consultant?
Ask the same questions about 2008 and the McCain campaign. And in an even larger sense, did consultants cause the damage to the Republican — and conservative — cause that came from George W. Bush’s eight years in office?
All of those developments were the exclusive creations of men who ran, or didn’t run, for office, not the people they hired to manage their campaigns.
To take Stevens as an example — since he has been the target of a lot of criticism lately — look at the list of candidates whose campaigns he has worked on in the last 20 years, taken from his company’s website:
Bush-Cheney (2000, 2004) Gov. Haley Barbour (MS) (2003, 2007) Sen. Rob Portman (OH) (2010) Attorney Gen. Bill Pryor (AL) (1998, 2002) Sen. Roy Blunt (MO) (2010) Gov. Chris Christie (NJ) (2009) Sen. Dan Coats (IN) (1990, 1992, 2010) Sen. John Cornyn (TX) Senate (2002) Attorney General (1998) Gov. Bob Riley (AL) (2006) Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ) (1994) Gov. Bob Ehrlich (MD) Congress (1994, 1996, 1998, 2000) Gov. Mary Fallin (OK) (2008, 2010) Sen. Chuck Grassley (IA) (1992, 1998) Sen. Johnny Isakson (GA) (2004, 2010) Gov. Bill Janklow (SD) Congress (1994, 1998) Cong. John Kasich (OH) (1994, 1998) Secretary of State Brian Kemp (GA) (2010) Cong. Rick Lazio (NY) (1996, 1998) Sen. Dick Lugar (IN) (1994, 2006) Sen. Mel Martinez (FL) (2004) Gov. Steve Merrill (NH) (1992) Gov. Tom Ridge (PA) (1994, 1998) Sen. Roger Wicker (MS) (2008)
Of course, Stevens worked for some losers — Bob Dole is the most prominent. And he worked for some winners who can’t be called conservatives — Bill Weld and Charlie Crist are examples. But looking at the records, talents, and flaws of each of those candidates, including the solid conservatives, it’s hard to claim that their fates were determined by a consultant. And of course, all had one thing in common: They chose to hire Stuart Stevens.
In the end, some of Stevens’ clients significantly advanced the Republican and conservative cause. Some didn’t. But their contributions were their own; their achievements came from inside themselves, and not their assistants.
So yes, Republicans should look at the way they run their campaigns, and who they hire to do the work. But in the long run, winning candidates win and losers lose, regardless of who the consultant is. A good candidate has deeply-felt beliefs that guide how he runs — and how he chooses and uses campaign help. At the moment, the Republican Party has far, far bigger problems than its consultant class.SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A group of scientists are developing more accurate drought and harvest forecasts for Indonesia using tree rings, historic rice production figures and sea surface temperature data.
Indonesia is one of the world’s most populous nations and a major producer of rice, cocoa, coffee and tobacco.
But the country is regularly at risk of drought caused by the El Nino phenomenon in which the eastern Pacific ocean heats up, with wet wetter moving toward the east and leaving drier weather in west around Southeast Asia and Australia.
U.S. scientist Rosanne D’Arrigo and her colleague Robert Wilson are working on simplified statistical models that can predict drought ahead of the main September-December rice planting season and how severe the drought might be.
The models focus on Java, one of the world’s most densely populated islands with 120 million people.
“We’re trying to develop simple, predictive model of drought and crop productivity on Java. There are complex models out there but you need to have a local type of analysis and something simple for local people to use,” said D’Arrigo of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of the United States.
She was speaking to Reuters from Dalat in southern Vietnam where she was presenting her team’s work at a climate change conference this week. Wilson is from Scotland’s University of St. Andrews.
A key part of the model is using sea surface temperature data from the tropical Pacific and from the Indian Ocean. A separate phenomenon called the Indian Ocean Dipole can also cause drought in Australia and affect rainfall in Indonesia.
Other data such as sea-level pressure and wind indexes are also used. The data are examined several months before the usual onset of the monsoon to try to accurately predict likely rainfall patterns over Indonesia.
D’Arrigo said she also found good agreement between the sea surface temperature model, a local drought index in Java and government data on crop productivity.
This suggested “we could estimate not only the coming drought condition but also the kind of crop season you would expect to have,” she said, adding she was also looking at a predictive model for the onset of the monsoon.
TREE RINGS
Her team also looked at tree rings from old teak trees in Java and Sulawesi island to build up a chronology of past droughts and found a very strong correlation with El Nino.
“Indonesia is kind of unique in the sense that it’s probably the area where you have the greatest ‘ground-zero’ climate signal related to El Nino,” she told Reuters.
The oldest teak tree ring records came from the 16th century, she said, but added it had been hard work finding the remaining centuries-old teak trees.
“It takes fair a bit of research. You have to do a bit of detective work to find the few remaining last stands that haven’t been cut for furniture.”Schneider (New Dem) & Dold (R)-- same gray flannel suit garbage
It shouldn't surprise anyone that DCCC Chair Ben Ray Luján endorsed Hillary Clinton yesterday. Corrupt conservatives stick together-- and who cares who Luján endorses anyway? His silly statement claimed that "Hillary embodies New Mexico values. She puts people first and will roll up her sleeves to change their lives for the better." Yeah... More impactful is how Luján continues to put his fat finger on the scale to advantage Republican-lite candidates over progressives. The DCCC used to keep out of tightly contested primary races, or at least they claimed they did, so that local Democrats could make their own choices. Now they don't even pretend to be neutral. In Illinois' 10th district, for example, where conservative and much-disliked New Dem Brad Schneider-- defeated in 2014 when Democratic base voters stayed home in droves to protest his backing for the Boehner agenda-- the DCCC kicked the more progressive candidate, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, to the curb to line up behind Schneider. If the idiot Luján has his way, Schneider will once again face Republican Robert Dold, the guy who beat him in 2014, and either lose to him again or win on Bernie's or Hillary's coattails and then lose the seat in 2016.
"Brad Schneider," mouthed Luján insipidly, "is a proven leader on progressive issues that matter to Illinois voters: fighting for common sense gun violence reform, standing up for a woman's right to choose and protecting seniors' health care. As a former member of Congress, Brad has the track record, relationships and resources to proudly take back Illinois' 10th district in 2016." As a former member with a track record, voters can clearly see that Luján is flat-out lying about Schneider who is the opposite of progressive. Progressive and the opposite of progressive are not the same (as we discussed the other day )-- but, then again, no one ever accused Luján of having a functioning IQ.
Sun-Times editors announcing that it is Both Chicago dailies endorsed Rotering this week, theeditors announcing that it is time to move on from the see-saw battle between the two conservatives, Dold and Schneider. "Our endorsement goes to Nancy Rotering, the mayor of Highland Park, who took a terrific stand against gun violence by pushing through a municipal ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines. A federal appellate court upheld the ban-- an important symbolic step toward sanity in our nation’s gun laws-- and the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to the law. Now Rotering is pushing a similar statewide ban in Illinois. This is leadership. Schneider, for his part, disappointed many supporters-- now former supporters-- when he unwisely opposed President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. Whatever enthusiasm we had for Schneider’s candidacy waned as well."
The more conservative, and historically pro-Schneider paper, the very corporate Chicago Tribune, decided to abandon him this time around. "Rotering," they wrote, "who says her No. 1 legislative priority would be combating gun violence, impressed us with the passion she would bring to that perennial lost cause. As mayor of the North Shore suburb, she passed an assault weapons ban meant to invite a lawsuit from the firearms lobby. The measure survived legal challenges all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and has become a model for other municipalities, she says. She's spoiling for a fight at the federal level... Both say changes are needed to preserve the Affordable Care Act, but Rotering-- who has a master's degree in health services management, worked in benefits analysis for General Motors and has practiced health care law-- would likely bring more to those discussions. Our endorsement goes to Rotering."
that stunning: The DCCC isn't just getting it wrong--and jeopardizing Democratic wins-- in Chicagoland. Their Rahm Emanuel/Chris Van Hollen/Steve Israel-inspired policy of butting into local primaries on behalf of conservative candidates has been devastating to the Democrats, who have lost dozens and dozens on House seats since the DCCC started undermining progressives. And this cycle, under a vapid moron as chairman, it's worst than ever. A few weeks ago we told you about Luján's primitive racism in central Florida. In fact... let's go over it again... it'sstunning:
East Orlando Post reported that This week thereported that FL-10 voters are furious that the DCCC is interfering in their congressional primary on behalf of the incompetent conservative candidate, Val Demings to the detriment of beloved civil rights heroine Geraldine Thompson and highly-respected former Florida Democratic Party chairman Bob Poe. Demings may be seen as an easily-controlled shill by DC powermingers but she is not well-liked by many central Florida Democrats. Jacob Engels reported that Demings "suffered a tough loss to Republican Dan Webster in 2012 [and] angered many local Democratic voters and activists when she dropped out of the Orange County mayoral race at the last minute in 2014, leaving the party with no one to challenge long-term incumbent Republican Mayor Teresa Jacobs."
Regardless, an insider close to the DCCC told us that Demings earned the respect from running a campaign in a tough race against Republican statesman Daniel Webster. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan recently held an event for Demings in Central Florida, signalling DC insiders determination to hand the crown to the former police chief.
"We are not handpicking a candidate, but Chief Demings has earned the respect of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and others on capitol hill. She seems to have the support locally."
Former Florida Democratic Party Chairman and serial entrepreneur Bob Poe, who is one of the candidates challenging Demings for the nomination, grew up in Florida's 10th district as a teen working at a gas station.
"This race is ultimately going to be decided by the voters in the 10th Congressional District and not a small group of power brokers in Washington," said Poe.
He continued by pointing to the fact that the party has far too many other "too close to call" races on their hands that have no contested primaries, and should be focusing their efforts there instead of in Florida 10.
"The DCCC should be spending their limited resources to defeat Republicans, not fellow Democrats."
Mr. Poe has spent the past three decades as an entrepreneur in the marketing and communications industry-- a sought after show-runner and ideas man. He has raised nearly $300k in the three weeks since he announced his bid.
A Democratic aide, who once worked in the office of Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi told the East Orlando Post that Poe does not have the right racial makeup for the district.
"Simply put, Poe can't buy this race. The hill has decided that we want Chief Demings, come hell or high-water. Thompson and Fahmy are not options either. They should wait their turn."
State Senator Geraldine Thompson, an African American civil rights icon, is also a candidate seeking the Democratic nomination. Thompson has served in elected office for 10 years in the area, and like Poe, she is determined to not let Washington dysfunction determine who the candidate ultimately is.
"This type of behavior signals a total disregard for the people in our district. To not allow a level playing field by openly supporting one candidate over the other three is flat out wrong. The Democratic party is supposed to be a big tent. I have been breaking down barriers and obstacles my whole life.
"While the open bias with which they are treating me and the other candidates is disappointing, I am not deterred. In this race is an openly gay man, a proud Latina woman and a veteran African American female elected leader. We are insistent that the people in the District will decide... not the Washington elite." Thompson told us on break from committee meetings in the Florida Capitol.
A donor familiar with the endorsement process and patterns of the DCCC told us that there is not really any rules against the committee supporting one candidate over another, but admitted that most of the time it is preferable to let the people decide.
"It is a little perplexing to see how they are handling this. Endorsements and support from Washington are in large part meaningless to the majority of voters. We have races that have no primaries and are extremely tough roads to victory against Republicans in the general election... why not focus on those?," the top bundler for Democrat candidates confided via text message, echoing Bob Poe's sentiment about smart allocation of precious party resources.
Fatima Rita Fahmy, a lawyer and former stockbroker who moved to Central Florida from Brazil when she was just five years old, is another Democrat making a run for congress in Florida's 10th district. Fahmy calls the DCCC's behavior "next level arrogance."
"They want to impose their will and I will push back hard against those movements. I am in total agreement with Mr. Poe and Senator Thompson, it shows a horrible disconnect between the power-brokers and everyday people."
Fahmy crashed a Demings event Monday morning where DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján was in attendance and publicly called attention to the committees unusual financial and structural support for a candidate who is facing a primary from other credible choices.
So, the DCCC claims that Poe, who is white and gay, "does not have the right racial makeup for the district" so they're stepping on a progressive African-American state senator and a Latina so they can support a conservative religious nut who also happens to be African-American. The district is 27.1% voting age African-American, 22.8% voting Hispanic, 44.3% voting age white and I was unaware Pelosi countenanced this kind of racial game-playing. The DCCC press secretary for the Southeast, Jermaine House, actually said, "We will never support Poe because he's white." I'd like to hear Pelosi defend that like DCCC statement. On top of that, the DCCC is complaining Poe "can't buy this election" when the hallmark of the DCCC in the last decade has been to always favor wealthy candidates over middle class candidates. The hypocrisy is overwhelming.
And Luján's disgraceful perfidy doesn't stop there. Right now the DCCC is working to guarantee another term for Tea Party Republican Steve Knight, but steamrolling the local Democrats in Santa Clarita, Simi Valley and the Antelope Valley and working to install some random self-funding candidate from Orange County in place of local progressive Lou Vince, an Agua Dulce councilman and a policeman. The biggest local newspaper in the district, The Signal ran this OpEd last week from David Barlavi, a local Democrat, disgusted with the DCCC's shenanigans.
Lou Vince has been fighting for progressive values here in the 25th Congressional District for years. Lou ran for L.A. County Sheriff in 2014 on a progressive platform. Over the last year, Lou has been fighting as our strong, local, progressive candidate for Congress. Lou has been phone-banking and door-knocking for a year.
Lou has attended countless Democratic meetings and been pounding the pavement for a year. He has earned the endorsements and support of every Democratic Club in the 25th District-- some unanimously.
He’s earned the endorsement of our state’s California Democratic Party with the vote of more than 80 percent of our Democratic delegates. Lou has the endorsements of many prominent Democrats, both locally and state wide.
But most importantly, Lou has earned the support and confidence of local residents in the 25th. Lou is a Marine, an LAPD lieutenant with 21 years of service, a local town council member and a wonderful family man and father of four great kids.
Lou has lived in the 25th for over a decade, knows our issues, and cares deeply about our/his community.
Why, then, would the Washington elites parachute in a Johnny Come Lately, unknown carpetbagger into our district to jeopardize the Lou Vince campaign?
Here’s why:
Remember when the DCCC political elite in Washington did not support Lee Rogers for Congress? The DCCC didn’t support Lee in 2012 when he raised good money, and they didn’t support Lee in 2014 when he raised nearly $400,000.
Therefore, it’s logical to conclude that the DCCC supports issues, not as they contend, “fundraising ability.”
So why did the DCCC abandon the 25th in those last two elections and not support Lee Rogers? It is clear to me that it’s because the DCCC opposes progressive politics.
So let’s be honest witch each other here in the 25th. When the DCCC comes out of nowhere and parachutes in a wealthy, unknown, inexperienced lawyer from outside of our district, the message is clear.
The DCCC is not concerned about Lou Vince’s fundraising ability; they are opposed to Lou’s progressive politics.
The second important question is whether the DCCC is concerned about Lou Vince losing the general elections in November. Absolutely not. We all know 2016 is the year Democrats can defeat the Republicans and turn the 25th blue.
Democrats will have record turn-outs in June and November. The DCCC has not parachuted in a carpetbagger because they fear Republicans; they have forced a carpetbagger on us because they fear Lou Vince’s progressive politics.
Finally, why this particular out-of-towner? Well, to put it bluntly, he’s rich, with rich friends outside of our district. Now, there is nothing wrong with being rich, but those rich out-of-district friends have funded this out-of-town campaign.
Yes, he has raised a lot of out-of-town money all at once, but his well in the district is dry. He has little support from local Dems.
Lou Vince has raised campaign funds from more than 600 local contributors. That is a strong grass-roots campaign.
The carpetbagger has come in with bags of outside money, rented a place in Valencia, and proceeded to try to make us think he cares about our local issues and concerns. Absurd!
We need to nip this issue in the bud. It goes against our Democratic values in the 25th to parachute an unknown, out-of-town candidate into our district to undermine the already-existing, strong, year-long grass-roots Democratic campaign of Lou Vince for Congress.
A carpetbagging campaign itself is an affront to Democrats in the 25th. Add to that the big money bags thrown on us from outside the district, and the urgency becomes clear.
Make no mistake about it; this is a slap in the face of Democrats in the 25th.
Let’s not find out the dark truth in July when it’s too late. Let’s not unnecessarily sacrifice a real and local progressive. An honest-to-goodness, home-grown, 25th district Democrat, Lou Vince.
Please write to the DCCC and ask them to withdraw their candidate from our district and put their support behind Lou Vince for Congress. Their address is:
430 S. Capitol St. SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
Phone: (202) 863-1500
If Pelosi had any interest in winning back the House, all it would take is a competent, uncorrupted staff. Too much to ask for? Nope. Banish people like Steve Israel, Chris Van Hollen and Ben Ray Luján from the building and appoint someone who knows how to win and wants to win-- a Keith Ellison or a Mark Pocan or Ted Lieu or Matt Cartwright, not another loser crony from her own circle. Enough of this loser bullshit!A construction worker had to be rescued from a balcony of the Montrose building that burned in a 5-alarm fire on Tuesday. Nervous neighbors watched and recorded the rescue as it happened.
Karen Jones watched the rescue from the fourth floor of an adjacent building. She shot video on which you can see that worker on the fifth-floor ledge of that burning complex.
The construction worker was desperate to get down. A ladder truck was nearby.
"When we saw his foot slip, it was just like uhhh, oh God he's going to fall. We thought he was going to be gone," Jones said.
The man hangs, then drops to a ledge below, slipping and falling, but then getting back up. With seconds now feeling like hours, the ladder truck finally makes it over to that man. He got on and then seconds later, the roof of that building started to collapse.
"You just try and get to him," said HFD Senior Captiain Hawthorn. "And then, you don't want him to jump too soon. He waited until we got the ladder truck close enough."
It was a close, close call, the worker makes it safely on the ladder.
"He just said, 'Thank you Jesus.' He was ecstatic," Hawthorn said.
Jones is still in awe.
"I hope that wherever he is, he's thanking God that he made it off there," said Jones. "And he's home with his family now."
That worker was treated and released on the scene.
The exact causes and origin of the fire has not been released.
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such as "rape" or "cancer" than when they see neutral words such as "tree." With psychopaths, Hare found no difference. To them, "rape" and "tree" have the same emotional impact -- none.
Hare made another intriguing discovery by observing the hand gestures (called beats) people make while speaking. Research has shown that such gestures do more than add visual emphasis to our words (many people gesture while they're on the telephone, for example); it seems they actually help our brains find words. That's why the frequency of beats increases when someone is having trouble finding words, or is speaking a second language instead of his or her mother tongue. In a 1991 paper, Hare and his colleagues reported that psychopaths, especially when talking about things they should find emotional, such as their families, produce a higher frequency of beats than normal people. It's as if emotional language is a second language -- a foreign language, in effect -- to the psychopath.
Three decades of these studies, by Hare and others, has confirmed that psychopaths' brains work differently from ours, especially when processing emotion and language. Hare once illustrated this for Nicole Kidman, who had invited him to Hollywood to help her prepare for a role as a psychopath in Malice. How, she wondered, could she show the audience there was something fundamentally wrong with her character?
"I said, 'Here's a scene that you can use,' " Hare says. " 'You're walking down a street and there's an accident. A car has hit a child in the crosswalk. A crowd of people gather round. You walk up, the child's lying on the ground and there's blood running all over the place. You get a little blood on your shoes and you look down and say, "Oh shit." You look over at the child, kind of interested, but you're not repelled or horrified. You're just interested. Then you look at the mother, and you're really fascinated by the mother, who's emoting, crying out, doing all these different things. After a few minutes you turn away and go back to your house. You go into the bathroom and practice mimicking the facial expressions of the mother.' " He then pauses and says, "That's the psychopath: somebody who doesn't understand what's going on emotionally, but understands that something important has happened."
Hare's research upset a lot of people. Until the psychopath came into focus, it was possible to believe that bad people were just good people with bad parents or childhood trauma and that, with care, you could talk them back into being good. Hare's research suggested that some people behaved badly even when there had been no early trauma. Moreover, since psychopaths' brains were in fundamental ways different from ours, talking them into being like us might not be easy. Indeed, to this day, no one has found a way to do so.
"Some of the things he was saying about these individuals, it was unheard of," says Dr. Steven Stein, a psychologist and ceo of Multi-Health Systems in Toronto, the publisher of the Psychopathy Checklist. "Nobody believed him thirty years ago, but Bob hasn't wavered, and now everyone's where he is. Everyone's come full circle, except a small group who believe it's bad upbringing, family poverty, those kinds of factors, even though scientific evidence has shown that's not the case. There are wealthy psychopaths who've done horrendous things, and they were brought up in wonderful families."
"There's still a lot of opposition -- some criminologists, sociologists, and psychologists don't like psychopathy at all," Hare says. "I can spend the entire day going through the literature -- it's overwhelming, and unless you're semi-brain-dead you're stunned by it -- but a lot of people come out of there and say, 'So what? Psychopathy is a mythological construct.' They have political and social agendas: 'People are inherently good,' they say. 'Just give them a hug, a puppy dog, and a musical instrument and they're all going to be okay.' "
If Hare sounds a little bitter, it's because a decade ago, Correctional Service of Canada asked him to design a treatment program for psychopaths, but just after he submitted the plan in 1992, there were personnel changes at the top of CSC. The new team had a different agenda, which Hare summarizes as, "We don't believe in the badness of people." His plan sank without a trace.
By the late 1970s, after fifteen years in the business, Bob Hare knew what he was looking for when it came to psychopaths. They exhibit a cluster of distinctive personality traits, the most significant of which is an utter lack of conscience. They also have huge egos, short tempers, and an appetite for excitement -- a dangerous mix. In a typical prison population, about 20 percent of the inmates satisfy the Hare definition of a psychopath, but they are responsible for over half of all violent crime.
The research community, Hare realized, lacked a standard definition. "I found that we were all talking a different language, we were on different diagnostic pages, and I decided that we had to have some common instrument," he says. "The PCL-R was really designed to make it easier to publish articles and to let journal editors and reviewers know what I meant by psychopathy."
The Psychopathy Checklist consists of a set of forms and a manual that describes in detail how to score a subject in twenty categories that define psychopathy. Is he (or, more rarely, she) glib and superficially charming, callous and without empathy? Does he have a grandiose sense of self worth, shallow emotions, a lack of remorse or guilt? Is he impulsive, irresponsible, promiscuous? Did he have behavioural problems early in life? The information for each category must be carefully drawn from documents such as court transcripts, police reports, psychologists' reports, and victim-impact statements, and not solely from an interview, since psychopaths are superb liars ("pathological lying" and "conning/manipulative" are PCL-R categories). A prisoner may claim to love his family, for example, while his records show no visits or phone calls.
For each item, assessors -- psychologists or psychiatrists -- assign a score of zero (the item doesn't apply), one (the item applies in some respects), or two (the item applies in most respects). The maximum possible score is forty, and the boundary for clinical psychopathy hovers around thirty. Last year, the average score for all incarcerated male offenders in North America was 23.3. Hare guesses his own score would be about four or five.
In 1980, Hare's initial checklist began circulating in the research community, and it quickly became the standard. At last count nearly 500 papers and 150 doctoral dissertations had been based on it.
It's also found practical applications in police-squad rooms. Soon after he delivered a keynote speech at a conference for homicide detectives and prosecuting attorneys in Seattle three years ago, Hare got a letter thanking him for helping solve a series of homicides. The police had a suspect nailed for a couple of murders, but believed he was responsible for others. They were using the usual strategy to get a confession, telling him, 'Think how much better you'll feel, think of the families left behind,' and so on. After they'd heard Hare speak they realized they were dealing with a psychopath, someone who could feel neither guilt nor sorrow. They changed their interrogation tactic to, "So you murdered a couple of prostitutes. That's minor-league compared to Bundy or Gacy." The appeal to the psychopath's grandiosity worked. He didn't just confess to his other crimes, he bragged about them.
The most startling finding to emerge from Hare's work is that the popular image of the psychopath as a remorseless, smiling killer -- Paul Bernardo, Clifford Olson, John Wayne Gacy -- while not wrong, is incomplete. Yes, almost all serial killers, and most of Canada's dangerous offenders, are psychopaths, but violent criminals are just a tiny fraction of the psychopaths around us. Hare estimates that 1 percent of the population -- 300,000 people in Canada -- are psychopaths.
He calls them "subclinical" psychopaths. They're the charming predators who, unable to form real emotional bonds, find and use vulnerable women for sex and money (and inevitably abandon them). They're the con men like Christophe Rocancourt, and they're the stockbrokers and promoters who caused Forbes magazine to call the Vancouver Stock Exchange (now part of the Canadian Venture Exchange) the scam capital of the world. (Hare has said that if he couldn't study psychopaths in prisons, the Vancouver Stock Exchange would have been his second choice.) A significant proportion of persistent wife beaters, and people who have unprotected sex despite carrying the AIDS virus, are psychopaths. Psychopaths can be found in legislatures, hospitals, and used-car lots. They're your neighbour, your boss, and your blind date. Because they have no conscience, they're natural predators. If you didn't have a conscience, you'd be one too.
Psychopaths love chaos and hate rules, so they're comfortable in the fast-moving modern corporation. Dr. Paul Babiak, an industrial-organizational psychologist based near New York City, is in the process of writing a book with Bob Hare called When Psychopaths Go to Work: Cons, Bullies and the Puppetmaster. The subtitle refers to the three broad classes of psychopaths Babiak has encountered in the workplace.
"The con man works one-on-one," says Babiak. "They'll go after a woman, marry her, take her money, then move on and marry someone else. The puppet master would manipulate somebody to get at someone else. This type is more powerful because they're hidden." Babiak says psychopaths have three motivations: thrill-seeking, the pathological desire to win, and the inclination to hurt people. "They'll jump on any opportunity that allows them to do those things," he says. "If something better comes along, they'll drop you and move on."
How can you tell if your boss is a psychopath? It's not easy, says Babiak. "They have traits similar to ideal leaders. You would expect an ideal leader to be narcissistic, self-centred, dominant, very assertive, maybe to the point of being aggressive. Those things can easily be mistaken for the aggression and bullying that a psychopath would demonstrate. The ability to get people to follow you is a leadership trait, but being charismatic to the point of manipulating people is a psychopathic trait. They can sometimes be confused."
Once inside a company, psychopaths can be hard to excise. Babiak tells of a salesperson and psychopath -- call him John -- who was performing badly but not suffering for it. John was managing his boss -- flattering him, taking him out for drinks, flying to his side when he was in trouble. In return, his boss covered for him by hiding John's poor performance. The arrangement lasted until John's boss was moved. When his replacement called John to task for his abysmal sales numbers, John was a step ahead.
He'd already gone to the company president with a set of facts he used to argue that his new boss, and not he, should be fired. But he made a crucial mistake. "It was actually stolen data," Babiak says. "The only way [John] could have obtained it would be for him to have gone into a file into which no one was supposed to go. That seemed to be enough, and he was fired rather than the boss. Even so, in the end, he walked out with a company car, a bag of money, and a good reference."
"A lot of white-collar criminals are psychopaths," says Bob Hare. "But they flourish because the characteristics that define the disorder are actually valued. When they get caught, what happens? A slap on the wrist, a six-month ban from trading, and don't give us the $100 million back. I've always looked at white-collar crime as being as bad or worse than some of the physically violent crimes that are committed."
The best way to protect the workplace is not to hire psychopaths in the first place. That means training interviewers so they're less likely to be manipulated and conned. It means checking resumés for lies and distortions, and it means following up references.
Paul Babiak says he's "not comfortable" with one researcher's estimate that one in ten executives is a psychopath, but he has noticed that they are attracted to positions of power. When he describes employees such as John to other executives, they know exactly whom he's talking about. "I was talking to a group of human-resources executives yesterday," says Babiak, "and every one of them said, you know, I think I've got somebody like that."
By now, you're probably thinking the same thing. The number of psychopaths in society is about the same as the number of schizophrenics, but unlike schizophrenics, psychopaths aren't loners. That means most of us have met or will meet one. Hare gets dozens of letters and e-mail messages every month from people who say they recognize someone they know while reading Without Conscience. They go on to describe a brother, a sister, a husband. " 'Please help my seventeen-year-old son....' " Hare reads aloud from one such missive. "It's a heart-rending letter, but what can I do? I'm not a clinician. I have hundreds of these things, and some of them are thirty or forty pages long."
Hare's book opened my eyes, too. Reading it, I realized that I might have known a psychopath, Jonathan, at the computer company where I worked in London, England, over twenty years ago. He was charming and confident, and from the moment he arrived he was on excellent terms with the executive inner circle. Jonathan had big plans and promised me that I was a big part of them. One night when I was alone in the office, Jonathan appeared, accompanied by what anyone should have recognized as two prostitutes. "These are two high-ranking staff from the Ministry of Defence," he said without missing a beat. "We're going over the details of a contract, which I'm afraid is classified top secret. You'll have to leave the building." His voice and eyes were absolutely persuasive and I complied. A few weeks later Jonathan was arrested. He had embezzled tens of thousands of pounds from the small firm, used the company as a mailing address for a marijuana importing business he was running on the side, and robbed the apartment of the company's owner, who was letting him stay there temporarily.
Like everyone who has been suckered by a psychopath -- and Bob Hare includes himself and many of his graduate students (who have been trained to spot them) in that list -- I'm ashamed that I fell for Jonathan. But he was brilliant, charismatic, and audacious. He radiated money and power (though in fact he had neither), while his real self -- manipulative, lying, parasitic, and irresponsible -- was just far enough under his surface to be invisible. Or was it? Maybe I didn't know how to look, or maybe I didn't really want to.
I saw his name in the news again recently. "A con man tricked top sports car makers Lotus into lending him a £70,000 model... then stole it and drove 6,000 miles across Europe, a court heard," the story began.
Knowing Jonathan is probably a psychopath makes me feel better. It's an explanation.
But away from the workplace, back in the world of the criminally violent psychopath, Hare's checklist has become broadly known, so broadly known, in fact, that it is now a constant source of concern for him. "People are misusing it, and they're misusing it in really strange ways," Hare says. "There are lots of clinicians who don't even have a manual. All they've seen is an article with the twenty items -- promiscuity, impulsiveness, and so forth -- listed."
In court, assessments of the same person done by defence and prosecution "experts" have varied by as much as twenty points. Such drastic differences are almost certainly the result of bias or incompetence, since research on the PCL-R itself has shown it has high "inter-rater reliability" (consistent results when a subject is assessed by more than one qualified assessor). In one court case, it was used to label a thirteen-year-old a psychopath, even though the PCL-R test is only meant to be used to rate adults with criminal histories. The test should be administered only by mental-health professionals (like all such psychological instruments, it is only for sale to those with credentials), but a social worker once used the PCL-R in testimony in a death-penalty case -- not because she was qualified but because she thought it was "interesting."
It shouldn't be used in death-penalty cases at all, Hare says, but U.S. Federal District Courts have ruled it admissible because it meets scientific standards.
"Bob and others like myself are saying it doesn't meet the ethical standards," says Dr. Henry Richards, a psychopathy researcher at the University of Washington. "A psychological instrument and diagnosis should not be a determinant of whether someone gets the death sentence. That's more of an ethical and political decision."
And into the ethical and political realm -- the realm of extrapolation, of speculation, of opinion -- Hare will not step. He's been asked to be a guest on Oprah (twice), 60 Minutes, and Larry King Live. Oprah wanted him alongside a psychopath and his victim. "I said, 'This is a circus,' " Hare says. "I couldn't do that." 60 Minutes also wanted to "make it sexy" by throwing real live psychopaths into the mix. Larry King Live phoned him at home while O. J. Simpson was rolling down the freeway in his white Bronco. Hare says no every time (while his publisher gently weeps).
Even in his particular area, Hare is unfailingly circumspect. Asked if he thinks there will ever be a cure for psychopathy -- a drug, an operation -- Hare steps back and examines the question. "The psychopath will say 'A cure for what?' I don't feel comfortable calling it a disease. Much of their behaviour, even the neurobiological patterns we observe, could be because they're using different strategies to get around the world. These strategies don't have to involve faulty wiring, just different wiring."
Are these people qualitatively different from us? "I would think yes," says Hare. "Do they form a discrete taxon or category? I would say probably -- the evidence is suggesting that. But does this mean that's because they have a broken motor? I don't know. It could be a natural variation." True saints, completely selfless individuals, are rare and unnatural too, he points out, but we don't talk about their being diseased.
Psychopathy research is raising more questions than it can answer, and many of them are leading to moral and ethical quagmires. For example: the PCL-R has turned out to be the best single predictor of recidivism that has ever existed; an offender with a high PCL-R score is three or four times more likely to reoffend than someone with a low score. Should a high PCL-R score, then, be sufficient grounds for denying parole? Or perhaps a psychopathy test could be used to prevent crime by screening individuals or groups at high risk -- for example, when police get a frantic "My boyfriend says he'll kill me" call, or when a teacher reports a student threatening to commit violence. Should society institutionalize psychopaths, even if they haven't broken the law?
The United Kingdom, partly in response to the 1993 abduction and murder of two-year-old James Bulger by two ten-year-olds, and partly in response to PCL-R data, is in the process of creating a new legal classification called Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder (DSPD). As it stands, the government proposes to allow authorities to detain people declared DSPD, even if they have not committed a crime. (Sample text from one of the Web sites that have sprung up in response: "I was diagnosed with an untreatable personality disorder by a doctor who saw me for ten minutes, he later claimed I was a psychopath.... Please don't let them do this to me; don't let them do it to anybody. I'm not a danger to the public, nor are most mentally ill people.")
Hare is a consultant on the DSPD project, and finds the potential for abuse of power horrifying. So do scientists such as Dr. Richard Tees, head of psychology at UBC, a colleague of Hare's since 1965. "I am concerned about our political masters deciding that the PCL-R is the silver bullet that's going to fix everything," he says. "We'll let people out [of prison] on the basis of scores on this, and we'll put them in. And we'll take children who do badly on some version of this and segregate them or something. It wasn't designed to do any of these things. The problems that politicians are trying to solve are fundamentally more complicated than the one that Bob has solved."
So many of these awkward questions would vanish if only there were a functioning treatment program for psychopathy. But there isn't. In fact, several studies have shown that existing treatment makes criminal psychopaths worse. In one, psychopaths who underwent social-skills and anger-management training before release had an 82 percent reconviction rate. Psychopaths who didn't take the program had a 59 percent reconviction rate. Conventional psychotherapy starts with the assumption that a patient wants to change, but psychopaths are usually perfectly happy as they are. They enrol in such programs to improve their chances of parole. "These guys learn the words but not the music," Hare says. "They can repeat all the psychiatric jargon -- 'I feel remorse,' they talk about the offence cycle -- but these are words, hollow words."
Hare has co-developed a new treatment program specifically for violent psychopaths, using what he knows about the psychopathic personality. The idea is to encourage them to be better by appealing not to their (non-existent) altruism but to their (abundant) self-interest.
"It's not designed to change personality, but to modify behaviour by, among other things, convincing them that there are ways they can get what they want without harming others," Hare explains. The program will try to make them understand that violence is bad, not for society, but for the psychopath himself. (Look where it got you: jail.) A similar program will soon be put in place for psychopathic offenders in the UK.
"The irony is that Canada could have had this all set up and they could have been leaders in the world. But they dropped the ball completely," Hare says, referring to his decade-old treatment proposal, sitting on a shelf somewhere within Corrections Canada.
Even if Hare's treatment program works, it will only address the violent minority of psychopaths. What about the majority, the subclinical psychopaths milling all around us? At the moment, the only thing Hare and his colleagues can offer is self-protection through self-education. Know your own weaknesses, they advise, because the psychopath will find and use them. Learn to recognize the psychopath, they tell us, before adding that even experts are regularly taken in.
After thirty-five years of work, Bob Hare has brought us to the stage where we know what psychopathy is, how much damage psychopaths do, and even how to identify them. But we don't know how to treat them or protect the population from them. The real work is just beginning. Solving the puzzle of the psychopath is an invigorating prospect -- if you're a scientist. Perhaps the rest of us can be forgiven for our impatience to see the whole thing come to an end.
© 2001 Robert Hercz. Used with permission.A North Carolina woman, unable to find housing thorough the Durham Department of Social Services, had her five children taken away from her by the DSS after she posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a home for herself and her family.
Frustrated with the DSS’s inability to help her find a place to live, and finding area shelters full, Moshimalee Johnson, 32, turned to Craigslist, seeking a temporary home while she looked for a new job, according to the News-Observer.
“Five kids in need of temporary home (durham nc),” Johnson, 32, wrote on July 9 in the apartments wanted section of Craigslist.
“I am currently homeless and looking for someone to take my five kids until I can find a job and a place to live,” Johnson’s ad said. “I called DSS and they won’t take them. The shelter has a waiting list and Urban Ministries won’t let you work if you come there. I am a certified nursing assistant but can’t find work due to numerous doctor’s appointments because my 6-year-old accidentally hung himself. Please help anyone.”
Johnson later explained, “Maybe I didn’t make myself clear. I didn’t want to give the kids up. I wanted a place for me and my kids.”
A day after the Craigslist ad posted, a case worker appeared to take her children away, saying using Craigslist was “inappropriate.”
“They said a murderer or child molester could have come asking about them,” Johnson said.
The children, aged 9, 7, 6 and 2-year-old twins were taken away and placed into foster care. Johnson is currently eight-months pregnant.
She explained that she was looking for a housing situation close to medical, therapy and social service appointments for her children, while hoping the person who provided housing could watch the children while she worked at night or on third shift.
According to Johnson, the children’s father helps financially, but not enough to provide for a home for the family.
Johnson lost her health care agency job in 2013 after her minivan broke down and she was late to work too many times because of the bus. She was then evicted from her apartment and moved her family in with her mother soon after.
Currently unemployed, Johnson, who previously made $10 an hour as a healthcare worker., hopes to get a job soon and find a place to live so she can be reunited with her children.
“I am a certified nursing assistant,” Johnson said. “It’s not hard to get a job. It’s just hard to get a job right now.”
[Image Moshimalee Jonelle Johnson Facebook]Supporters of Ralph Northam, the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, celebrate as early projections indicated a Northam victory at an election night rally, Tuesday, in Fairfax, Va. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
A Philadelphia activist lawyer who represented Black Lives Matter defendants for free is the city's new chief prosecutor. Two Asian-American school board candidates in Edison, NJ won despite an ugly campaign in which voters were warned that "the Chinese and Indians are taking over our town!" A transgender woman in Virginia unseated a self-described "homophobe," while statewide, the Old Dominion elected its first African-American lieutenant governor - despite a white supremacist pushback against the removal of Confederate monuments.
If there was a lesson for Republicans hoping to remain in control of the House and Senate next year, it's that tapping fears about race, immigration, gender and public bathroom access for transgender people may not be a winning message. While Donald Trump won last year in part by pushing such culturally conservative talking points, the tactic failed Tuesday night, across the board.
"From the Erie County School Board to the Seattle mayor's office to the Virginia and New Jersey governors' mansions — voters across the country last night rejected Donald Trump's and Mike Pence's politics of hate and fear," says an ebullient JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT rights organization. Erie County, Pa., elected a transgender man while Seattle voted in a lesbian mayor. "This is just the beginning of a wave of momentum that will take us to 2018, 2020 and beyond in the fight for full federal equality," Winterhof says.
Jessica Post, executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to statehouses, sees good things ahead for her party next year, based on results Tuesday and in earlier special elections. Democrats have flipped 33 state legislative districts from red to blue since Trump's election, while Republicans have taken away just one in contested races, according to Post.
"I think we're seeing trends that look like a brewing wave for Democrats in 2018," Post says. Not only does increased power in state legislatures build a farm team for congressional races, but the grassroots organization for local candidates boosts turnout that could put congressional and U.S. Senate candidates over the top, she says.
The most dramatic wins were in Virginia, where Democrats appeared poised to take control of the state House of Delegates by electing a record number of women to the chamber, including transgender candidate Danica Roem. Despite a fear-stoking campaign about the rise of Hispanic gangs in the state, Virginia also elected its first two Latinas to the House of Delegates. A candidate who fought for tighter gun laws after his TV news reporter fiancee was killed on camera won a delegate seat, beating an NRA-backed candidate.
"In their home state, [the] NRA is now officially toxic," the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence said in a statement, noting that the three statewide Democratic candidates had stood with gun control activists at NRA headquarters in Virginia during the campaign. Exit polls showed that 52 percent of Virginians own guns (and gun owners favored GOP gubernatorial contender Ed Gillespie by 61 percent to 37 percent), but Democratic winner Ralph Northam won no-gun household voters by a 73-26 percent margin.
Elsewhere, the culture wars favored Democrats as well. In Minneapolis, Andrea Jenkins, who is both African-American and transgender, won a city council seat. Women scored victories across the country, with a Washington state legislative win that flipped control of the state senate to Democrats and with city-wide races that elected women mayors for the first time in Manchester, NH and Framingham, Mass. Vi Lyles became Charlotte, N.C.'s first African-American female mayor. Hoboken, N.J. elected its first Sikh mayor.
Democrats were crowing about their victories, which they saw as a repudiation of Trump and a sign of big things to come in the mid-terms. "Hey, Republicans... how is the scapegoating of immigrants working for you tonight? What a mistake! Backfired. Democrats are running the table!" former Obama administration Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro tweeted gleefully. In another missive, he warned, "Mark my words - [Texas GOP Sen.] Ted Cruz has the jitters right now."
But the rejoicing could be premature. Next year, election metrics will be less favorable for Democrats. They need just three seats to wrest control of the U.S. Senate, for example, but 25 of the 34 seats up for election are held by Democrats, and many are in red states such as Indiana, Missouri, and North Dakota. Democrats would need to hang onto their seats in those states as well as make pickups in Nevada, Arizona and Tennessee, the latter two of which are open seats due to the retirements of sitting GOP lawmakers.
The House is viewed as more volatile that the Senate, but gerrymandering of congressional districts makes it tougher for any challenger to win, unless there is a wave election.
"I think what this year has highlighted across the board is that there is deep polarization in our country," says Amy Walter, an analysts with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. For example, Northam did very well in urban and suburban areas, but did not make gains in rural areas, she notes.
But what should make Republicans nervous is the enthusiasm gap, Walter says. Democratic performance and turnout was unusually high for an off-year election (downticket Democrats tend to do better in presidential election years). "They basically were hitting 2016 levels in enthusiasm. This is not a midterm performance. This is more like a presidential performance," Walter says. "And that is a big challenge for Republicans going forward."
House Republicans may have that challenge in mind as they consider their own political futures. Two more GP House members announced their retirements this week, before Tuesday night's weak GOP showing. That brings the number of Republican House retirements to 27, compared to 7 for Democrats. And while four of the GOP crew left to join the Trump administration and 11 are seeking other office, every single one of the departing Democrats is running for higher office except one, Massachusetts Rep. Niki Tsongas.
What will determine 2018 is whether next year looks more like 2016 or last night, Walter says. "If the story of 2016 was the story of the rise of rural, small town America, the story of [Tuesday] night was the rise of the suburbs," which turned out this year for Democrats, Walter says. Both parties are gearing up for the fight, and Republicans have an institutional advantage. But Tuesday's battle belonged to the Democrats.Serial sex offender's release bid on health grounds
Updated
Sorry, this video has expired Video: Rapist freedom bid (7pm TV News TAS)
One of Tasmania's worst serial sex offenders is arguing he should be released from jail because he is too ill to re-offend.
42 year old Ian Robert Smith says there is no longer a threat of him raping another person because his serious heart condition makes physical exertion difficult.
Smith has to take his bid for release to the Supreme Court because he has been declared a dangerous criminal, due to a long history of sex offending.
In 1989, he was sentenced to 18 months jail for the sustained sexual assault of a 14 year old, but months after his release he raped a seven year old girl.
Prosecutors successfully argued he should be locked up indefinitely in 1995, when he was jailed for raping a 19 year old woman.
Smith has been told that without a heart transplant he could be dead within seven years and says the condition means physical exertion is difficult and he is no longer a threat.
He told court when he raped the seven year old he was acting on an urge that was hard to control and likened it to lighting up when you crave a cigarette.
His psychiatrist agreed it may be possible for Smith to overpower someone weaker, like a child.
The court heard his lawyer wants the dangerous criminal order scrapped now and his client released in six months so he can complete the sex offenders' program.
The matter has been adjourned pending clarification from Risdon Prison about when Smith could take part in the program.
If the court rules Smith is no longer a dangerous criminal and can be released, it has no powers to order ongoing supervision or counselling
Topics: courts-and-trials, sexual-offences, hobart-7000
First postedLas denuncias de compra de voto se han conocido durante la visita de la ministra
TELEPRENSA.- Unión Mojaquera y posteriormente el resto de fuerzas políticas del municipio mojaquero fueron los primeros en denunciar posible compra de voto por correo en aquella localidad por parte del Partido Popular. Esta práctica, sin embargo, parece haberse extendido a Almería capital donde esta mañana el candidato de Ahora Almería denunciaba, a través de un artículo de opinión que se puede leer en Teleprensa, los numerosos casos con los que se está topando de vecinos que le aseguran que ya han votado porque han cambiado un puesto de trabajo por un puñado de votos. Así señala que un mes de trabajo en la concesionaria de la limpieza urbana o la renovación de un contrato temporal en otra empresa concesionaria del Ayuntamiento de Almería son cuarenta votos.
Pues bien a estas denuncias se suman hoy dos más: la del PSOE de Turre que ha descubierto al alcalde del PP entregando 80 votos en Correos y la del Grupo Municipal Socialista en Almería capital que ha decidido poner en conocimiento de la Fiscalía una posible compra de votos por parte del Partido Popular por lo que pide una investigación ya que puede haberse producido un delito electoral.
Así, denuncian “que el pasado día 16 de mayo en el barrio de Pescadería, en la calle Botalón y Bitácora y adyacentes, varios vecinos nos dijeron que “los votos de aquellas calles ya estaban comprados por el PP a cambio de puestos de venta en el mercado ambulante”, que la fórmula realizada era darles a los muñidores electorales del PP entre 10 y 20 DNI por cada puesto de venta ambulante”. Igualmente personas que trabajan en mercados ambulantes les han contado que “desde el Ayuntamiento, presuntamente a cambio de votos, se han adjudicado provisionalmente nuevos puestos de venta en distintos mercadillos durante el presente mes de mayo por parte del responsable del Área, el concejal Carlos Sánchez, sin pasar, al parecer, por el procedimiento establecido, sin pagar, al parecer, las tasas estipuladas, etc”. En concreto, enumeran hasta más de una decena de puestos.
El Grupo Municipal Socialista ya ha pedido al Alcalde de Almería una copia del Expediente para poder comprobar esta información, “para ver si es más extensa la relación de autorizaciones provisionales dadas por el concejal referido en estos momentos electorales y para estudiar las garantías de estas personas y su seguridad jurídica así como verificar el proceso legítimo de otorgamiento de las autorizaciones a dichas personas”.
En el escrito que han entregado en el juzgado, apuntan a que en la investigación la Fiscalía deberá requerir a la Delegación de Estadística de Almería comprobar si las personas adjudicatarias de estos nuevos puestos han emitido el voto por correo así como sus familiares. De la misma manera, entienden que será preciso preguntar a la Policía Municipal si estos señores cumplen con los requisitos legales y tienen los papeles en regla para ubicarse en dichos puestos de venta ambulante.
Pero éste no es el único caso de compra de voto detectado por los socialistas. Así |
že by si s ním pohrávalo dítě. Ti idioti si mysleli, že cedule "DRŽTE SE OD PODIA" by stačily jako varování.Zbavili se jich RYCHLE, jakmile zjistili, jak se mýlili.Nightmare: Dva? Jaký byl ten druhý?Panel 4:Springtrap: Kostým, který rovněž fungoval jako animatronic. Víte, jak skvěle TO dopadlo.**********by Springaling 278: La joie de la créationCase 1:Springtrap: C'est l'ours qui a...eh bien...Nightmare: Nous savons. D'où est ce que ca vient?Case 2:Springtrap: Version courte: Un robot mal foutu avec aucune sécurité en cas de problème critique. Vous voulez la version longue?Nightmare: Oui.Nightmare Foxy: Aye, j'aimerais aussi.Case 3:Springtrap: Ok. Fredbear était à l'origine juste un idiot dans un costume. Puis ils ont fait des "prototypes " de robot-mascottes qui n'ont pas connu une bonne fin. L'un n'était pas programmé pour s'arreter si un enfant commencer à interférer avec. Les idiots pensaient que le panneau "Ne montez pas sur la scéne" serait assez comme avertissement.Ils s'en sont RAPIDEMENT débarasséss après qu'ils aient découverts à quel point il était mal foutu.Nightmare: Deux? Quel était l'autre?Case 4:Springtrap: Une costume qui faisait aussi animatronique. Vous savez déjà ce qui LUI y arriver.*****by Panel 1:Springtrap: Ez az a medve aki... hát...Nightmare: Tudjuk. Honnan származik?Panel 2:Springtrap: Rövid válasz: Egy gyenge robot vész-leállítás nélkül. Akarod hallani a hosszabb választ?Nightmare: Igen.Nightmare Foxy: Egen, én is hallanám.Panel 3:Springtrap: Oké. Fredbear igazából egy áruló volt egy jelmezben. Azután készítettek két "kísérleti" robot-kabalát aminek nem lett jó vége. Nem lett beprogramozva megállító funkció ha egy kölyök megzavarná. Az idióták azt hitték egy "Ne menj fel a színpadra" felirat elég lesz. Aztán levették AZZONNAL miután kiderült milyen hibásak voltak.Nightmare: Kettő? Melyik volt a második?Panel 4:Springtrap: A jelmez ami ugyanúgy egy robot volt. Tudod jól, mi lett a vége.*****by Springaling 278: Rozkosz tworzeniaPanel 1Springtrap: To jest misiek który...no....Nightmare: Wiemy. Skąd on się wziął?Panel 2Springtrap: Krótka odpowiedź: Gówniany robot bez zabezpieczeń. Chcecie długą odpowiedź?Nightmare: Tak.Nightmare Foxy: Tak jest, ja też bym chciał.Panel 3Springtrap: Okej. Fredbear był oryginalnie tylko palantem w kostiumie. Wtedy zrobili dwie "eksperymentalne" robo-maskotki, które nie wyszły na dobre. Jeden nie był zaprogramowany, by zatrzymać się jeśli dzieciak zacznie coś z nim odwalać. Idioci myśleli, że znaki "nie zbliżać się do sceny" będą wystarczać.Pozbyli się go SZYBKO jak tylko odkryli, jak bardzo się mylili.Nightmare: Dwie? Czym była druga?Panel 4Springtrap: Kostium, który był zarazem animatronikiem. Wiecie na jak dobre TO wyszło.*****by Springaling 278: A alegria da criaçãoPanel 1:Springtrap: Esse é o urso que...bem...Nightmare: Nós sabemos. De onde é que veio?Panel 2:Springtrap: Resposta curta: Um robô malfeito que não era à prova de falhas. Quer a resposta longa?Nightmare: Sim.Nightmare Foxy: Uai, eu gostaria também.Panel 3:Springtrap: Ok. Fredbear era originalmente algum cara em uma fantasia. Aí eles fizeram dois robô-mascotes "experimentais" que não acabaram tão bem. Um não foi programado para parar se uma criança começasse a mexer com ela. Os idiotas acharam que placas de "Fique fora da plateia" seriam suficiente.Eles tiraram-o RÁPIDO depois de descobrirem o quão errado estavam.Nightmare: Dois? Qual era o outro?Panel 4:Springtrap: Uma fantasia que também era um robô. Vocês sabem o quão bem ISSO se tornou.*****by Спрингалинг 278: Радость творенияКадр 1:Спрингтрап: Это тот самый медведь, который… Ну…Найтмер: Мы знаем. Откуда он взялся?Кадр 2:Спрингтрап: Вкратце: неуклюжий робот без программы аварийного выключения. Хотите полный ответ?Найтмер: Да.Натймер Фокси: Да, и я тоже.Кадр 3:Спрингтрап: Окей. Изначально Фредбер был просто олухом в костюме. Потом они сделали двоих «экспериментальных» робо-маскотов, и это кончилось не лучшим образом. Один из них не был запрограммирован выключаться, если бы к нему полез ребёнок. Эти идиоты думали, что таблички «Не подходить к сцене!» будет достаточно.Они БЫСТРО избавились от медведя, когда поняли, какую совершили ошибку.Найтмер: Двоих? А другой?Кадр 4:Спрингтрап: Костюм, который также был аниматроником. Вы-то знаете, как хорошо ЭТО закончилось.*****by Springaling 278: La alegría de la creaciónPanel 1:Springtrap: Este es el oso que... bueno...Nightmare: Lo sabemos. ¿De dónde salió?Panel 2:Springtrap: Respuesta corta: Un robot de mierda sin mecanismos a prueba de fallas. ¿Quieres la respuesta larga?Nightmare: Si.Nightmare Foxy: Si, yo también.Panel 3:Springtrap: Bien. Fredbear era originalmente un tonto en un traje. Entonces hicieron dos robot-mascotas "experimentales" que no resultaron para nada bien. Uno no estaba programado para detenerse si un niño empezaba a entrometerse con él. Los idiotas pensaron que señales de "Manténgase fuera del escenario" serian suficiente advertencia.Se deshicieron de él RÁPIDO, luego de darse cuenta lo equivocados que estaban.Nightmare: ¿Dos? ¿Qué era el otro?Panel 4:Springtrap: Un traje que también era un animatronico. Tu sabes lo bien que ESO resulto.*****by and Springaling 278: Glädjen med att skapaPanel 1:Springtrap: Det här är björnen som... tja...Nightmare: Vi vet. Varifrån kom den?Panel 2:Springtrap: Det korta svaret: En dålig robot utan nödstopp. Vill du höra det långa?Nightmare: Ja.Nightmare Foxy: Aj, jag med.Panel 3:Springtrap: Okej. Från början var Fredbear bara en klantskalle i en dräkt. Sedan skapade de två "experimentella" robotmaskotar som inte funkade så bra. En var inte programmerad att sluta om ett barn skulle börja leka med den. Idioterna trodde att "Var inte på scenen"-skyltarna skulle vara tillräckliga.De tog bort den SNABBT efter att de förstod hur fel de hade.Nightmare: Två? Vad var den andra?Panel 4:Springtrap: En kostym som också var en robot. Ni vet hur bra DET gick.PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — According to parents, legal action is in the works after a controversial anti-bullying program at West Allegheny Middle School.
At a special parent meeting Tuesday night, parents and taxpayers told KDKA’s Kym Gable that they’ve retained the services of a Pittsburgh attorney to pursue a possible class action lawsuit, claiming administrators infringed on students’ rights.
KDKA tried to gain access to the meeting, but was told it was a private, closed-door session with no media allowed.
During an exercise at the Jan. 15 workshop, students were asked questions amongst their peers and then “grouped” based on their answers.
There were more than two dozen questions. The statements included:
“Please move to the middle of the circle if:”
You have been impacted by drugs or alcohol
You have been called fat or made fun of
You or someone close to you identifies as gay, lesbian, or transgendered
You have been impacted by mental challenges or learning disabilities
You or your family has ever worried about not having enough money
You or someone close to you has been imprisoned
You have been raised by a single parent
The district says students were told they did not have to share if they did not feel comfortable, but parents say they wish they would have seen the questions prior to the workshop.
“There is now so much damage done to these children and there is no way to go back and make this better for them,” said Diane Kolesar.
Pam Brosovic added, “I asked them [administrators] to do the same thing they asked the kids to do: Stand in a circle, put a mask on and step in the circle and say all your problems.”
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Brosovic believes the exercise “gave the bullies ammunition.”
No one from the school district administration would comment on camera.
The designated spokesperson after the meeting was school board president Debbie Mirich, who read a written statement.
“We do stand behind the intentions of our workshop and we look forward (to) continuing our work with parents to address this very serious issue of bullying and the unintentional acts that continue to marginalize different groups of students.”
Mirich acknowledged that the school board did not have any direct involvement in facilitating the workshop.
Parent Marie-Noelle Briggs said, “I would never expect a middle school to ask kids if their parents have been in school, if they’re [the] same sex, if they’re having financial issues. How is that going to affect them?”
Jan. 20, 2016: UPDATE —
West Allegheny School District Superintendent Jerri Lynn Lippert says school officials are reaching out to the families upset by the program.
“What I think went wrong with this is we did not do a thorough vetting process with parents. Had the workshop involved parents in the planning, I don’t think we would be here.”
The school board also addressed the controversy at a meeting Wednesday night.Google On China: Yeah, So Apparently The Gov't Doesn't Like Us Redirecting All Traffic To Hong Kong
from the shocker dept
Without an ICP license, we can't operate a commercial website like Google.cn--so Google would effectively go dark in China.
That's a prospect dreaded by many of our Chinese users, who have been vocal about their desire to keep Google.cn alive. We have therefore been looking at possible alternatives, and instead of automatically redirecting all our users, we have started taking a small percentage of them to a landing page on Google.cn that links to Google.com.hk--where users can conduct web search or continue to use Google.cn services like music and text translate, which we can provide locally without filtering. This approach ensures we stay true to our commitment not to censor our results on Google.cn and gives users access to all of our services from one page.
Over the next few days we'll end the redirect entirely, taking all our Chinese users to our new landing page--and today we re-submitted our ICP license renewal application based on this approach.
This can't really come as a surprise, but it appears that Google's plan to redirect all traffic from China to its Hong Kong site, in response to China's censorship... and hack attack isn't making China very happy. The country has apparently threatened to take away Google's Internet Content Provider license... so, now it appears that Google is taking a step back into China in an attempt to keep the license. Google's argument (effectively the same one it had when it first went into China despite concerns about censorship there) is that havingaccess in China is better than no access for people there:I'm not sure this will actually satisfy the Chinese government, or do Google much good either. It seems like taking a bit of a step backwards after insisting that it would stay out of China if China continued to require it to censor results.
Filed Under: censorship, china, filters
Companies: googleHuddlestone has made just four appearances this season
Tottenham midfielder Tom Huddlestone will have further surgery on his ankle injury and miss the rest of the season as a result, the club have confirmed.
"Thanks for messages! My season is over before it's even started. Operation Friday," said Huddlestone on Twitter.
"My main objective is to make sure I'm 100% for pre-season."
The 25-year-old has made just four appearances for the club this season because of the injury and first had surgery late last year.
Tom Huddlestone factfile 2004: Makes Derby County debut aged 16
Makes Derby County debut aged 16 2005: Joins Tottenham
Joins Tottenham 2008: Wins Carling Cup with Spurs
Wins Carling Cup with Spurs 2009: Makes England debut against Brazil
Tottenham now say he requires further surgery to complete his recovery from the ligament damage and the club are expecting him to return in time for pre-season training.
"The midfielder has progressed well since his initial surgery," the club said in a statement.
"The specialist has determined that the anticipated reconstruction of a lateral ankle ligament is the next step towards the England international making a return to full fitness."
Huddlestone has established himself as a key figure in the Spurs set-up in recent years following his move to White Hart Lane from Derby in 2005.
He made more starts than any other outfield player in all competitions in the 2009-10 season as Tottenham finished fourth in the Premier League and qualified for the Champions League for the first time.Does your child bother you with question after question? Learn why your child’s annoying questions are actually good for him.
“What is time?” “Why is an orange a circle?” “How do people love each other when they’re apart?”
Your kids chase you around the house, even as you try to ignore them by reading a book or doing chores.
Do these “annoying questions” seem useless? Maybe to our over-scheduled, harried adult selves.
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We like to discuss things that make sense. Stuff that happened at school, what she wants to eat for dinner, and where she put her teddy bear. You know, real stuff.
Why your child’s annoying questions are actually good
But these “annoying questions” are those that many philosophers and academics ask. People have written books and journals about time, botany and love, but we don’t roll our eyes at them.
It’s easy for us to forget how much we don’t know. We’re adults—we think we’ve gone through enough to survive life and get the basics. Somewhere along the line, we stopped asking questions and settled for what we know.
We leave the abstract and profound to other minds. We see philosophy as a luxury career, one left for “smart” people to sort. But here are our kids asking the “annoying questions,” determined to make sense of our world.
Get tips about how to raise a smart child.
And what are some of our typical reactions when kids ask “annoying questions”? We…
get annoyed.
don’t take their questions seriously.
rush through an answer.
don’t encourage further thought.
judge their questions.
Kids stop asking philosophical and worldly questions around elementary school years.
Part of that I would say is because they’re older. With age, we understand (or at least accept) the world. We don’t need to know exactly how high the clouds are, only that they’re high. We’ve adjusted and are better acclimated to our world in ways young children have not.
But kids also stop asking is because they’ve learned about “good” and “bad” questions.
We respond to some questions while brushing others off. Some questions we laud with “Great question!” and others we smirk or ignore. This isn’t just parents either—their peers, teachers and family might do the same.
How can we raise kids even with the “good question/bad question” feedback they’ll receive and not kill the philosopher in our kids?
Respect the question
I’ll be the first to admit I sometimes don’t respect my son’s questions. I don’t mean to, but certain questions elicit strange looks or reactions. Or sometimes household stress doesn’t give me the time or patience to answer him.
That’s when I need to remind myself to respect his questions, no matter how silly they may seem to me. My kid jokes, but many other times he’s dead serious about something that seems odd to us. Yet if you look at the question, you realize how deep or inquisitive he is.
Respect your child’s question the next time he asks. Don’t brush it off or don’t give fluff answers just to keep him quiet. Give it your best shot to answer the question. Make him feel like he can ask questions without you judging or making him feel silly.
Questions are not “good” or “bad”
I never run out of reasons to say “good,” it seems. From “good job!” to now, “good question!” I’m adding unnecessary judgment to my conversation with my son:
Judgment.
When we think about judgment, we imagine the negatives. Putting people down or saying something disrespectful.
But judgment also applies to positive phrases, including calling something a “good question.” We’re saying certain questions are the ones they should keep asking. And that they should stop asking the “bad” ones.
Instead, honor all questions, whether strange or magnificent, silly or profound. If something catches you off-guard, encourage conversation and say, “That’s interesting.” Ask them what they think.
In treating all questions as valid, you’re encouraging your child to keep asking. All without wondering if it’s worth asking or not.
Read how you may be judging your child.
Admit your own curiosity
“How do bees make honey?” my four-year-old asked me the other week.
[Pause] “You know, I have no idea,” I replied. “When we get home, let’s look it up on the computer and see how exactly they do that.”
We don’t know all the answers, and we do a dishonesty to our kids in assuming we do.
They should see us stumped or curious about the same questions they wonder about. They’ll feel better knowing these are questions you’re willing to ask and learn about as well.
They’ll also know that learning is a never-ending practice. We don’t reach a particular age or graduate from school having learned everything. There’s always something to question.
Keep asking questions
Encourage thinking and wondering in your little philosopher. From religion and life to space and the universe. From feelings and emotions to the elements of the earth. These are all valid questions each of us have wondered about, yet stopped asking when we grew up.
And your child will grow up. He may stop asking the same questions he did as a five-year-old. He may have learned exactly why the clouds are as high as they are or have a better grasp of time.
But a child who asks and questions will be an adult dissatisfied with complacency. He’ll thrive on constant learning and curiosity instead.
After all, asking these questions have led to some of the world’s best inventions, cures, theories and solutions. Don’t hold your child back from these aspirations. Instead, encourage these questions, no matter how “annoying” they may seem.
Get more tips about communicating with your child:
Your turn: What are some of the questions your kids have asked? How do you think our responses can affect their curiosity? Why do you think kids stop asking philosophical questions as they grow up? Let me know in the comments below.Donald Trump cleaned up on Tuesday night, winning an outright majority in the five northeast states that held presidential primaries. Tuesday's resounding victories brought Trump closer to accruing the 1,237 delegates that will allow him to avoid a convention fight, silencing the chatter of the last few weeks that Trump's extremism might finally slow his progression towards the Republican nomination.
Trump is probably going to win the GOP nomination, folks.
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Meanwhile, Trump's remaining opponents engaged in a number of last minute stunts to try to stop him. For some days, Ted Cruz and John Kasich claimed to have a pact to split up remaining states in hopes they could deny Trump wins in them, and thereby prevent him from getting the delegates to avoid a floor fight. Trump complained it was the kind of collusion that would be illegal for corporations to engage in. "In business you go to jail for that, but it's collusion where they're coming together because they are getting beaten badly," Trump told Sean Hannity. But Kasich, perhaps too honest a capitalist for his own good, soon squelched the notion of getting his supporters to vote for Cruz.
Cruz, meanwhile, loudly vetted and eventually, on Wednesday, made a big production of picking Carly Fiorina as his running mate for a presidential ticket that will never come to be. Cruz seemed to imagine picking a woman -- even if he treated her like the world's greatest failed CEO babysitter when they were rivals-- might give Republican women appalled by Trump's misogynistic bullying a place to turn.
Yet this last ditch effort to stop Trump has simply come far too late to do any good. And there's an underlying, almost delicious irony behind the delay: Citizens United.
One of the things that forestalled a viable Stop Trump movement until the last few weeks is that there was simply too much money sloshing around, permitting candidates like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, and even John Kasich to stay in the race long after it was clear they couldn't get the nomination. (It admittedly didn't help that most people hate Ted Cruz, who was the only candidate able to string together more than one or two victories against Trump.) Whereas in previous years, a comparative scarcity of money would have made it easier for the Republican Party to winnow an enormous primary field (and thus heavily influence the outcome), this year the winnowing took months, all the while ensuring the remaining candidates would split opposition to Trump.
There were just too many million- and billionaires willing to dump huge amounts of money into one or several campaigns, and not enough actual voters voting for the candidates those big donors preferred. That meant a lot of non-viable candidates didn't face financial limitations that would normally force them to drop out early. This great pool of money prevented the marketplace for presidential candidates to function as it normally does. And Trump -- who has barely had to dip into his own billions, given his ability to invent new outrages every day and dominate the cable news coverage -- had managed to get by on a series of plurality wins before Tuesday.
The long and the short of it: The Republican are suffering from a market failure.
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Don't get me wrong. The irony of the Republican party drowning under its own unlimited political dollars is a bitter irony. After all, in both parties, big money funders are buying influence that will lead to stupid policies going forward. That great, sloshing sea of money will increasingly prevent average voters from being able to demand sound policies, from their president as well as their members of Congress.
But this week, watching the last dregs of a Republican establishment attempt to stop Trump long after any such attempt might have worked, along with the knowledge that, demographically, it will take a major unforeseen crisis for Trump to beat Hillary, we can take some solace in the fact that the Republicans drowned themselves in unlimited campaign funds and in the process nominated the candidate with the highest negatives ever.Guess what I’m doing at 9:00 on a Sunday night?
If you guessed making homemade peanut butter, then you’d be right. (That’s what we do for a good time out here on the prairie. We’re wild like that…)
Peanut butter can actually be a very healthy food. That is, when it’s made with healthy fats and no refined sugars. Unfortunately, your typical-everyday-choosy-moms-choose-it brand of peanut butter is seriously lacking in that department. I have a jar of that certain brand of peanut butter sitting before me as we speak. The ingredients are:
Roasted peanuts (no problems there), sugar (eh, not great, but ok), molasses (ok), fully hydrogenated rapeseed and soybean oils (Yikes!), mono and digyclerides (don’t know what these are, but they don’t sound good), and salt.
Full disclosure: I don’t always make homemade peanut butter– sometimes I just buy it. However, knowing how to make your own homemade nut butters is a delicious skill to have.
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How to Make Peanut Butter
You will need:
1 1/2 cups peanuts. (I used roasted and salted- see note below)
1/2 teaspoon olive oil (where to buy) (you may need slightly more or less)
1 tablespoon raw honey (where to buy) (optional)
Salt to taste (where to buy) (if you are using salted peanuts, you probably won’t need to add any extra salt.)
Thoroughly process the peanuts in a food processor or high-powered blender until they are finely chopped. (This is the food processor I have. LOVE it.)
While the processor is running, stream in a bit of olive oil. You may have to turn off the processor for a minute, remove the lid and scrap the bottom of the bowl in order to make sure everything is incorporated well enough.
Next, stream in the honey in the same manner, if desired.
And you’re done!
Kitchen Notes:
You could totally start out with raw peanuts and roast them yourself. Here’s a tutorial.
A lot of folks make homemade peanut butter without adding any extra oil. Depending on how fresh your peanuts are, this may work for you– but you’ll need to process the nuts for a while longer to make this work.
Don’t like peanuts? No problem! Use this same technique to create other nut butters instead. (Almonds, cashews, etc)
You will need to store your homemade peanut butter in the fridge, since it’s not hydrogenated like the store-bought stuff. It won’t last for years on the shelf like the commercial peanut butters do, but I doubt it will have a chance to be around for that long anyway.
Your homemade peanut butter recipe should last at least a couple weeks in the fridge, if not longer
Can you imagine a PB&J made with homemade peanut butter, homemade chokecherry jelly or strawberry jam, and freshly baked bread?
THAT my friends, would be one heck of a sandwich.A young coed (Nan Barlow) uses her winter vacation to research a paper on witchcraft in New England. Her professor recommends that she spend time in a small village named Whitewood. He originally came from the village, he also recommends she stay at the "Raven's Inn," run by a Mrs. Newlis. When she arrives at Whitewood, she notices macabre happenings, Soon, things begin to happen in earnest, and she finds herself "marked" for sacrifice by the undead coven of witches. It seems that the innkeeper is actually the undead spirit of Elizabeth Selwyn, and the "guests" at the inn are the other witches who have come to celebrate the sacrifice on Candalmas Eve. As one of them said when Nan walked away, "HE will be PLEASED." Written by John A Kostecki <jak@wbst207v.xerox.com>Dallas County officials have declared a state of emergency because of West Nile virus and will reconsider its decision not to conduct aerial spraying for mosquitoes. (Published Friday, Aug. 10, 2012)
West Nile virus is spreading so quickly in Dallas County that officials declared a state of emergency on Thursday.
The number of human cases of the virus in Dallas County is up to 175, and there have been nine deaths.
"This declaration will expand our avenues for assistance in our ongoing battle with West Nile virus. We are in constant communication with our state and regional partners," County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a statement.
NBC 5 has learned there is a meeting Friday at which the county will reconsider aerial spraying for mosquitoes to attack the West Nile virus.
County commissioners said no to the plan earlier this week in favor of continuing targeted ground spraying.
Dr. Edward Goodman, an epidemiologist at Texas Health Dallas and a member of the Dallas County Medical Society, which recommends aerial spraying, said ground spraying would not be enough to save lives.
Goodman said this week's rain would only make the West Nile virus epidemic worse because it leaves behind standing water where infected mosquitoes can breed.
He said he hopes to convince the county to change course.
"I'm concerned that they don't really understand that ground spraying is inherently inefficient," Goodman said. "There is a limited number of trucks, they have a limited amount of space they can cover, and they just can't cover the area comprehensively, whereas aerial spraying can take all of those issues and make them a non-issue."
West Nile virus is not expected to peak until late August. There are no approved treatments at this time, which is why doctors say prevention is so important.
Get tips on symptoms of West Nile virus and West Nile virus prevention here.
West Nile Virus Facts
Most people bitten by a West Nile virus-infected mosquito will not show any symptoms. Symptoms, if they appear, are fever, headache, nausea, body aches, swollen lymph nodes and skin rashes.
Fewer than 1 percent of those infected with West Nile virus experience the serious form of the illness. Serious symptoms include high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness, disorientation, tremors or convulsions, vision loss, muscle weakness and numbness or paralysis.
Both Dallas and Richardson are urging residents to:(If you like this picture you can COMMISSION ME at this [link].)Full Color commission for Reblmebl [link] with her and her Pokemon team, consisting of an Oddish, Vaporeon, Arcanine (Tai), Aipom, Charmeleon, and a Raichu.Drawing this commission was really interesting for me, since I knew exactly what I wanted in an image in terms of theme and lighting. As the commissioner matched my idea of traveling, then this was a very natural commission for me to draw. With the exception of the Arcanine, either none of these Pokemon I have drawn (Aipom, Charmeleon), drawn for some 10 years (Raichu, Oddish), or drawn properly (Vaporeon), so a lot of referencing was required. Am I ever pleased with the Arcanine especially, since they use to look like Growlithes when I drew them, and now I have managed to draw them as such noble dogs. Add a bit of backlighting and that adds a good level of drama to the characters as well.Photoshop CS4(CBS) — Guns and ammunition are disappearing off store shelves in the Chicago area.
Is it fueled by gun-ban fears, or something else? CBS 2’s Courtney reports.
Several gun store owners say they started noticing a surge in sales after mass shootings like the ones in Aurora, Colo. and Newtown, Conn.
To add fuel to the fire, customers really began flocking to their stores when politicians started talking about making changes to gun laws.
Empty cases, bare shelves, and a phone that’s been ringing off the hook – that’s what things have been like for Don Mastrianni inside his Elmwood Park gun store.
“You can’t get them in here fast enough. As a matter of fact, for a while, I was selling things before I actually got them,” Mastrianni, owner of Illinois Gun Works, says.
He tells CBS 2 the state’s proposed assault rifle ban and President Obama’s vow to address gun laws has sent him customers by the dozen. They’re buying whatever they can get their hands on, he says.
“A lot of the politicians really are the gun industry’s best salesman, because anytime they threaten to make some kind of regulation, everybody runs out,” Mastrianni says.
Bernadette Terry, co-owner of North American Firearms in Lombard, is noticing the same thing. She says even ammunition is now hard to come by.
“Anything that has high-capacity availability: gone. People are grabbing it because they don’t’ think they’ll be able to get it anymore,” Terry says.
State Sen. Dan Kotowski, D-Park Ridge, says he believes gun sellers are using such rhetoric as a marketing ploy to help boost sales. He is sponsoring the bill to ban assault rifles in Illinois.
Gun store owners tell CBS 2 they’re having a hard time replenishing their supply because most nationwide distributors are also out of stock.Today’s New York Times features an article on Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, the skeptic who was assassinated earlier this week, presumably because his debunking of supernatural claims angered a few too many people…
The article is a glowing tribute to what he accomplished in his life and how far India still has to go:
If a holy man had electrified the public with his miracles, Dr. Dabholkar, a former physician, would duplicate the miracles and explain, step by step, how they were performed. If a sorcerer had amassed a fortune treating infertility, he would arrange a sting operation to unmask the man as a fraud. His goal was to drive a scientist’s skepticism into the heart of India, a country still teeming with gurus, babas, astrologers, godmen and other mystical entrepreneurs. … The founder of one such [Hindu extremist] group, Sanatan Sanstha, noting that he did not condone the killing, did not bother to feign sorrow over Dr. Dabholkar’s death. “Instead of dying of old age, or by surgery, which causes a lot of suffering, the death Mr. Dabholkar got today was a blessing from God,” the leader, a former hypnotherapist now known as His Holiness Dr. Jayant Athavale, wrote in an editorial in the organization’s publication, Sanatan Prabhat.
As we learned a couple of days ago, the anti-black-magic bill Dabholkar had been fighting for finally passed — as an ordinance. It’s kind of like a president’s Executive Order — done without the support of Congress. It only has a shelf life of six months, after which time it has to be reissued. It’d become law only if the legislature ratified it. The Times of India notes some of the details of the new ordinance in the state of Maharashtra:
Prohibits practice, promotion and propagation of human sacrifice, other inhuman, evil and Aghori practices and black magic, unauthorized, illegal practices of medicine or healing or curing by quacks, conmen etc. Such practices will be treated as offence and punishable with imprisonment for a term of six months extending up to seven years along with a fine ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000. The offences to be non-bailable. Implementation to be monitored by a vigilance officer with power to detect and prevent contravention, collect evidence, conduct search, raid and prosecute. What constitutes black magic: Giving chilli smoke, beating a person by stick, forcing him to perform sexual acts, display miracles to cheat, create impression that divine spirit has possessed a person, parading a person naked in the name of jaran-maran etc.
The question will be whether the law will actually be implemented. At least one person quoted in the NYT piece explained that the law didn’t apply to him because his superstition was based in science:
… Kumar Shankar was offering palm readings in the same spot where he has worked since 1987. He sat cross-legged and barefoot, in a vest of rough homespun fabric, and was not especially bothered by the challenges of secularists. A reading was 60 rupees, about $1. “The Constitution of India has given us freedom of expression,” he said. “Many people say God is not there, but many more believe in God. Many people do not believe in spirits. Many people believe in spirits.” To charges that he was exploiting that belief, he said, “If you go to a doctor, will he treat you for free?” Mr. Shankar had heard about Dr. Dabholkar’s death, and about the sudden progress of the new legislation. He shrugged off the idea that it would have any effect on him. “No, mine is a science,” he said. “This is palmistry! Numerology, palmistry, astrology, these are sciences! The law cannot ban them.”
*Sigh*
Pseudoscience is still a way of life in India, and it’ll continue to be unless more people pick up the fight where Dabholkar left off.
So far, no one has been arrested for his assassination.Reacting to Mr Trump’s shock victory, Ms Sturgeon said: "While this is not the outcome I hoped for, it is the verdict of the American people and we must respect it. I congratulate president-elect Trump on winning the |
of Oaxaca, an embryonic soviet which challenged the power of the local state apparatus, headed by Ulises Ruiz.
Anthony Garz, then US ambassador to Mexico, described Calderon’s assumption of the presidency as taking place in "the greatest possible situation of political weakness" adding in an internal cable revealed by Wikileaks that: "We are running the risk that the matters that are important to us might be blocked, unless we can send a strong signal of support for the future president to implement his agenda”.
From the beginning, imperialism did whatever it could to save a government that had been shaken by the revolutionary struggle of the masses. A representative of the Bush administration stated that "a team from the mission under my command will be actively involved with the transition team of Calderón to promote and advance the areas that are priorities to us." He concluded that Felipe Calderon "will need much support from the US government" (La Jornada, 21/2/2011).
It was in this context that the war against drug trafficking was launched, which meant the militarisation of the country and a way of getting people back to go home and bringing an end to the revolutionary movement of the masses. That broke all equilibrium between the drug cartels and was a catalyst to accelerate the contradictions. It triggered a violent struggle for the drug markets, where the Calderon government intervened to support Chapo Guzman and his Sinaloa cartel, but all the cartels brought in corrupt police, judges and governors to act on their behalf.
The imperialists permanently kept advisers from the DEA and the CIA on the ground in Mexico. Many of the weapons used in this war came from the US, and operations with such names as "Fast and Furious" saw a massive influx of arms that ended up in the hands of the cartels. On one occasion, a plane carrying drugs for Chapo Guzman crashed in Yucatan and it was revealed that this plane was previously used by the CIA.
The USA is the biggest consumer on the planet and drugs are no exception, comprising over 50% of the world’s total drug market. The drug business in Mexico cannot be understood without taking into account the enormous consumption in the USA.
In the Calderon era, the Secretary of Public Security and its head, Garcia Luna, acted more like a cartel than a government department, or rather acted in the interests of the cartels. At least between January 2007 and November 2009, the Secretary of Public Security (SPS) used a series of hangars in the Toluca International Airport. "In these hangars planes from Venezuela and Colombia unloaded tons of cocaine with the protection of the SPS". They used Cancun airport, where the plains descended under the pretext of refuelling, and in that way the status of the flight was changed from national to international under the status of the SSP. The Mexico City airport has also been used for massive drug trafficking. This is the reality of Calderon's "war on drugs', using one of his closest men, Garcia Luna to cover up and protect the drug traffickers (Anabel Hernandez, Mexico on Fire: The Legacy of Calderon, Grijalbo).
With Peña Nieto things have changed superficially, but in essence the situation continues to be the same. Social decomposition continues to advance. Organized crime does not just keep to the drug trade, but meddles in all kinds of illegal business. In cartel-controlled areas, any illegal enterprise not controlled by them is viewed as competition which must be co-opted or elbowed out.
The Obama administration has shown its concern for Mexico and has offered its help in finding the 43 Normalistas. What worries the imperialists is not the disappeared students, but the weakness of the regime. Peña Nieto met with US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson in December, and one can be sure that they did not only talk about immigration and drug trafficking. Just like in 2006, the imperialists are trying to take measures to save the regime from the mass revolutionary struggle.
Diversification of illegal business
Without changing the conditions that give rise to organized crime, the problem of violence will persist. Even in cases where the cartels have been dealt real blows, this does not solve the problem of violence; on the contrary, this intensifies it, leaving behind uncontrolled criminal gangs. Journalist Anabel Hernández explains that, "There are mercenary groups operating in Mexico; criminals who form part of one of the country's important cartels, or its cells, but which, in the face of the dismembering of said organizations, now reform themselves as their own, gravely dangerous groups" (Ibid.).
Groups of mercenary thugs have been created in the country that do their job very effectively, and who sell their services to the highest bidder. Other detached cartel cells go it alone, extorting and using force on the population. The State of Mexico, surrounding the Federal District and for the past two years governed by Peña Nieto, has been turned into one of the most violent areas in the country.
The PAN government of Felipe Calderon and the PRI government of Pena Nieto have not sought to end drug trafficking. If they wanted to do so, they would have attacked the cartels economically, preventing money laundering and freezing their accounts. In 2012 the DEA calculated that in the US, $65 billion was destined to be spent buying illegal drugs, of which only $1 billion was confiscated, and calculated that something between $19 and $29 million dollars flowed from the US into the Mexican cartels. It is thought that the larger part of the profits from drug trafficking is laundered within the US itself, but that in Mexico $10 billion are laundered annually (The Economist, 04/07/2012). Drugs have assumed a role as one of the principal sources of foreign currency deposits in the country, possibly taking second place behind oil revenues, and topping remittances from migrants in the US.
The violent industry generated by migrants passing through Mexico on their way to the US, mainly Central Americans, is among the most alarming: kidnappings demanding huge ransoms, women captured by the cartels and sold to prostitution rings, or the bodies of migrants butchered to sell their organs.
Human trafficking is another of these lucrative businesses; in addition to the migrant trade, thousands of youths, adolescents, and even young girls are kidnapped and sold, many of them into prostitution. In the state of Mexico there are 400 disappeared teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17; many of them could have fallen into the clutches of sex slavery.
The Mexican drug lords are big capitalists who trade in a highly lucrative illegal product. Their businesses are extensive and are based on theft, the sale of human beings, robbery, and extortion. Some of them invest in legal businesses and appear in public as respectable entrepreneurs. In their areas of control, they impose their own business taxes, to allow working of the land, crossing their territory, etc. They have become a living nightmare for the population.
[to be continued...]Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
According to a new study, two-thirds of professionals who work in sexual health believe that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination should be given to all men who have sex with men.
Gay and bisexual men suffer higher incidents of anal cancer due to the HPV virus, according to the research, and many healthcare professionals believe the vaccine would dramatically decrease cases.
The study, which was published in the British Journal of Cancershowed that 14% of healthcare professionals already administer the HPV vaccine to gay and bisexual men even though NHS England offers no guidelines to GPs in this area.
However, half of the participants also stated that they lacked the knowledge required to offer the vaccine to gay and bisexual men.
Tom Nadarzynski, who lead the report said: “Our study showed surprising differences in healthcare professionals’ views on vaccinating men against HPV.
“Some already gave the vaccine to men at high risk, while others opposed targeting men who had sex with men.
“We need to provide clear guidelines to healthcare professionals to make sure they receive adequate information and that men at high risk of HPV have equal access to the vaccine.”
Dr Julie Sharp from Cancer Research UK said in a statement “It’s interesting that some healthcare professionals are already vaccinating men at high risk of developing HPV-related cancers, as they aren’t protected by the vaccination programme for girls.”
Back in 2014,The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation declared that they believe the HPV vaccine should be administered at sexual health clinics to men who have sex with men, aged between 16 and 40.
Last month the Department of Health announced it would begin rolling out a HPV vaccination program for men who have sex with men.SUPERGIRL is an action-adventure drama based on the DC Comics character Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist), Superman's (Kal-El) cousin who, after 12 years of keeping her powers a secret on Earth, decides to finally embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be. Twelve-year-old Kara escaped the doomed planet Krypton with her parents' help at the same time as the infant Kal-El. Protected and raised on Earth by her foster family, the Danvers, Kara grew up in the shadow of her foster sister, Alex (Chyler Leigh), and learned to conceal the phenomenal powers she shares with her famous cousin in order to keep her identity a secret. Years later at 24, Kara lives in National City assisting media mogul and fierce taskmaster Cat Grant (Golden Globe Award winner Calista Flockhart), who just hired the Daily Planet's former photographer, James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks), as her new art director. However, Kara's days of keeping her talents a secret are over when Hank Henshaw (David Harewood), head of a super-secret agency where her sister also works, enlists her to help them protect the citizens of National City from sinister threats. Though Kara will need to find a way to manage her newfound empowerment with her very human relationships, her heart soars as she takes to the skies as Supergirl to fight crime. Greg Berlanti ("The Flash," "Arrow"), Ali Adler, Sarah Schecter and Andrew Kreisberg are executive producers for Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. The pilot was directed by Glen Winter ("Arrow").In a video that went viral on Twitter, people wearing American flag-themed clothing, including one wearing a shirt supporting President Donald Trump, can be seen laughing at a Palestinian-American family who attended a pro-Palestine rally in Los Angeles on Sunday.
In a video that went viral on Twitter, people wearing American flag-themed clothing, including one wearing a shirt supporting PresidentDonald Trump, can be seen laughing at a Palestinian-American family who attended a pro-Palestine rally in Los Angeles on Sunday. Family members told HuffPost that the Trump supporters called their 5-year-old cousin a “little terrorist” shortly before the footage was captured.
One of the family members, Rawan Yasin, filmed the video and it was posted by her sister, Rania.
Twitter users and somemedia outlets have since identified the man in the video as John Turano, who’s best known for dressing up in Spartan-inspired costumes and attending alt-right protests as “Based Spartan.” But as ofJune,he has claimed he no longer identifies with the alt-right movement. The woman talking in the video and wearing the Trump shirt has been identified as Turano’s daughter, Bianca.
Another video, which shows the incident from Turano’s angle, captures Turano accusing the Yasin family of filming videos with their “little heebobs on,” in a mispronunciation of “hijabs.” Bianca can be heard shouting at the family, “You guys are terrorists. Get out of here.”
The girl’s older brother can be heard in the video calling Turano abusive names, which Rawan Yasin told HuffPost was a defensive reaction.
Turano called the 5-year-old “a little terrorist and so that’s what provoked the incident, it led to an argument.”
Turano responded to the incident with a Facebook video, seen by HuffPost, in which he said he never called the young girl a terrorist. But he can be heard in one of the videos from Sunday’s confrontation saying she “looks like one.”
The girl was holding a “Dump Trump” sign.
Turano also apologized for his actions, saying “he’s not a person for racism.”
“First of all, me and my family have been bombarded with hate from tons of groups... and why? Because we stand against racism,” Turano said in the video, in which his daughter also appeared.
Even as he apologized, he claimed his actions on Sunday were sparked by members of the Palestinian-American family of yelling “death to Jews” at the rally ― which Rawan Yasin adamantly denied.
“My family did not say any of those things, and all arguments and incidents were provoked by Turano and his family members,” Yasin said. “We are in no way anti-Semitic or against Jewish people, we love and accept all faiths.”
Turano’s Facebook profile has since been removed.
Yasin told HuffPost she attended the march with her family to protest Trump’sdecision to recognize Jerusalemas Israel’s capital. They were returning to their car when the argument occurred, she said.
The family has contacted the Palestinian Youth Movement and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) for guidance on the confrontation. Masih Fouladi, CAIR-LA’s advocacy manager, told HuffPost the group is monitoring the situation and is not reaching out to law enforcement at this time.
Fouladi said that what the Sunday videos capture is not a unique experience for the Muslim community. “But one thing that makes this different is that it was caught on tape and clearly demonstrates the impact of the negative rhetoric of [Trump’s] administration and its supporters on impacted individuals like Muslims,” he said. Acts of bigotry and hate crimes have increased since Trump emerged as a major political figure, a recent FBI report showed. Another study found that among seven major U.S. cities, six experienced a jump in anti-Muslim hate crimes in 2016. Fouladi said his organization provides training on how to deal with hateful confrontations, which include not escalating the situation, determining an exit strategy if the situation does escalate and, if possible, recording the incident. “It is also important for us to recognize there is nothing American in what these individuals did when they attacked a 5-year-old Muslim girl,” he said. “No amount of flags or accessories make this type of behavior acceptable. As Americans, we should embrace and benefit from our diversity and freedoms, not use those freedoms to belittle others.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.Tien-Min: I was very busy at the time, working during the day and taking classes at night and on the weekend. The workload was pretty heavy, but I enjoyed it a lot! After I graduated from the program the first time, I went back to take the program again (most of the classes that is. I did miss a few…) but this time with different instructors. I felt like one year was not enough — and it was really fun to take it with a new set of instructors. Really, for me the first year was just the beginning —and after I finished the second year I felt more comfortable in terms of making my own design decisions when working with type — and at the same time I started to have more opportunity to work on some logotype refinements at S+G which also grew my confidence.
Ulrik: Cool, and what was the experience like at Cooper? Especially working on the side? Was it a tough period, or was it nice to have job on the side where you could apply your learning?
Tien-Min: I remember when I was in middle school, I was fascinated by the custom logotypes for these Taiwanese pop artist’s album designs. That was the first time I noticed how much personality type can bring into a design. But before I took those typeface design classes with Jesse, I didn’t know much about the difference between things like typeface design and lettering.
I got in to typeface design while taking one of Jesse Ragan’s typeface design workshops at Pratt. And then a year later I got in to the Type@Cooper program, while still working at S+G.
OK, I am originally from Taipei, Taiwan. I came to New York to study graphic design after graduating from college in Taipei and now I am working in a branding agency called Siegel+Gale where I have had the chance to work on a lot logotype development and refinement projects, which is part of where I am coming from with my bilingual type studies.
So, you do a lot of work dealing with the pairing of Latin and Kanji lettering, and how you can translate the look and feel from one script to another. I’ll dive in to that in a moment, but before we do that, maybe you’d like to tell our readers a bit about yourself and where your interest in type stems from?
Ulrik: Wow! You took the course twice! That’s dedication. Right, so let’s talk a bit about your work in bilingual lettering. Can you explain the project to our readers?
Tien-Min: Well the project is a series of Latin-Kanji pairing studies for use in bilingual lettering and logotypes. I’ve also written some essays on my observations, process and synthesis, and documented all of it on my site.
Ulrik: Right, and I stumbled across it on your Instagram which I have been following for a while now and really find the work interesting. So tell me, what is the problem you are trying to solve with the project?
The logo for the Typeji project; the two logos share the same personality, elements and meaning.
Tien-Min: Wow, thank you! After working in a branding agency for a while, and traveling between US, Taiwan and China, I started to notice that a lot of western brands didn’t make their Chinese/Kanji version logotypes as good as their original logotype and vice versa.
What people usually do is they choose an existing typeface (mostly a generic one) to pair with their original logo. So a Latin logotype gets a generic Kanji script and vice versa. However, this kind of treatment works only when both languages appear at the same time, When the translated logo stands by itself, the brand personality is typically not present at all because all you are seeing is the generic. It’s not designed to be a logotype. The other common thing that I often see is that even when someone has gone through the effort to draw a translated logotype, it is often badly drawn by designers who are not familiar with typeface design. For example, I often see wrong thick-and-thin strokes in Latin or Kanji logotypes respectively. So I was wondering if there is way to make both languages or scripts work together and be able to express a common personality at the same time. And that is really why I started this project.
Ulrik: That’s really interesting. I hadn’t really thought of that being mainly familiar with Latin script — but it makes sense. And of course, I am aware that companies like Toyota or VW are investing in families of typefaces across Latin, cyrillic and Kanji, so what you are saying explains a lot about the motivations for those companies to want a consistent brand across cultures.
So tell me a little about the differences in designing Latin script and Kanji?
Tien-Min: Yes, some big corporates have the budget to invest in multi-language typefaces for use in throughout in their brand’s visual identity. But for most of the clients, although it might be hard for them to do custom typeface, I think at least they should be trying to customise their logotype.
Tien-Min’s sketches for her type explorations
When it comes to Kanji and Latin, the two scripts are really different in terms of structure and the density. As a script they can both can be divided into smaller units, but the way those units are put together is totally different. Latin script is arranged horizontally while every Kanji characters is built differently. Some are built with two units—one on top of the other—some are set side by side, while some are built with multiple units, so the density between each character varies. Compared to Kanji, Latin script looks relatively even.
Ulrik: Right, and am I correct in thinking there is a somewhat limited amount of Kanji typefaces to choose from as well — I think someone was telling me that because of the huge character sets, it’s relatively expensive to design a Kanji typeface?
Tien-Min: That’s true. There are not as many typefaces in Chinese or Japanese compared to Latin typefaces, but because of this fact, I think this should spur people on even more to do custom logotypes in Kanji.
Ulrik: Tell me a little bit about your process? How do you go about creating your pairings?
Tien-Min: I usually start with one script and sketch it on paper first. At first, there was a lot of failure trying too hard to force logotypes to have the same appearance. But it’s hard—traditionally Latin and Kanji are drawn with different tools so there are differing weight distribution rules that need to be followed. However after doing around 50 exercises, I started to figure out a systematic way to do it.
Left; Using the typeface’s features as decorative elements. Right; imagining that both are drawn with the same tool.
I use three methods to create complimentary styles. The first one is to create the structure based on traditional weight distribution and then extracting the traits from the other script as decorative element.
The second one is to imagine they are drawn with the same tools. However, this kind of treatment often makes the type look informal or a bit too stylised.
The last one is totally illustrative. Treating both as images and creating a more expressive lettering or logotype. Which one is the better approach really depends on the design subject. After deciding which approach to use, the next step is to make sure they are consistent in all visual parameters, such as color, tension, balance, contrast and so on.
For instance, Li-shu is one kind of calligraphy style; it was often found carved on stone from the Han Dynasty, so it is usually used to express seriousness, but it may also make things feel a bit old.
Ulrik: That’s a great approach. I think I’ve also read you saying that it’s not just making the Latin script and Kanji look the same, but also having them express the same thing across cultures? So if a logotype is meant to look modern and forceful in Latin, then the Kanji should echo that too? Is that always easy to do?
Various pairing examples
Tien-Min: Yes. I think they should express the same personality. I feel one must have cultural knowledge of both scripts to do bilingual lettering well and to really understand the cultural cues. For instance, Li-shu is one kind of calligraphy style; it was often found carved on stone from the Han Dynasty, so it is usually used to express seriousness, but it may also make things feel a bit old.
Ulrik: That’s fascinating — is it a stupid question to ask how many calligraphic styles there are? And how are they used? Do people change between them depending on what they are writing or… Is it like as a westerner I might choose a more severe serif if it needs to look serious, a lighter sans if it needs to look more modern?
Tien-Min: There are five big categories in terms of calligraphy. It’s hard to say which one is more modern. Sometimes it also depends on how they are drawn. It’s like blackletter can be used in both old and modern ways. Apart from calligraphy, there are also many different typeface catalogues like Song-ti, Hei-ti and and so on, just like Latin typefaces.
Ulrik: Got it. Ok, so if I am a type or graphic designer and want to learn more, how do I do it? Where do I start?
Tien-Min: I am not sure… most of the Kanji type design books and magazines are published in Japanese or Chinese. I haven’t seen a book or tutorial in English yet. If you are interested I have some very basic info on my site, although that is probably not enough…
Reform — a bilingual logotype
Ulrik: Ha, yes — I was reading through some of that earlier on. It’s a nice primer though. However, sounds like there is a gap in the market for a book or instructional series — a project for you perhaps?
Tien-Min: Haha, maybe I can translate some really good books into English in the future if people are interested.
Ulrik: That sounds like a great idea! In the meantime, thank you so much for your time. I’ll look out for the book and in the meantime, I’ll follow along on your website and Instagram.
Best of luck in the future!
Tien-Min: Thank you so much for your time chatting with me!CLEVELAND, Ohio--When the Polish freighter Mamry steamed in to Cleveland Harbor early Wednesday, its captain and crew had been on the water 11 straight days. They left high seas in the North Atlantic for round-the-clock shifts through the locks of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
Now a city of shiny glass buildings and stately towers--plus restaurants and dance clubs--rose enticingly close. Jim Clark made sure the sailors knew they were welcome.
Wearing a bright orange vest that lets him move about the Port of Cleveland, Clark climbed a steep gangplank and followed an escort to the captain's quarters, where he delivered news of free Wi-Fi, postcards and directions, available at his office a short walk away.
And that stadium looming to port? American football would be played there on Sunday, he said.
"Cleveland Browns?" Capt. Sylvester Kacrzarksi asked in thickly accented English. "Maybe there is time enough this time."
That encounter, a version of which unfolds every few days during the shipping season, ranks among the little known but much appreciated protocols on the lakefront.
Clark, 65, is president of the Cleveland Seamen's Service, an institution about as familiar to visiting seafarers as a Lake Erie lighthouse.
The all-volunteer group greets foreign ships and their sailors and helps them to make the most of their port-of-call. The service turned 50 years old this month, making it one of the oldest private seamen services on the continent--and one of only two still holding out a lamp on the Great Lakes.
Its relevancy was quickly validated by younger members of the Mamry crew, who followed Clark across the docks to the Seamen's Service office--a modest, box-like building with a crow's nest at the edge of the port, in the shadow of FirstEnergy Stadium.
They wanted to talk to wives and children and girlfriends via the Internet. They wanted directions to a "disco club." They wanted the bus to Walmart.
"Some of us are interested in American football," said Marek Paszcuk, the first mate in a crew of 20. "How much the tickets?"
Clark grimaced.
"You know," he brightened, "we have a baseball team playing, too."
On the waterfront
At its birth in 1964, the Seamen's Service sheperded a larger flock. Foreign ships called upon Cleveland more frequently in the early days of the Seaway, sending their sailors into the city for several days, sometimes a week at a time.
Accustomed to bigger ocean ports, the sailors often struggled do find someone who spoke their language or cooked their food. Claire MacMurray Howard, a popular columnist for The Plain Dealer, noticed that many never ventured beyond the dim taverns of the Flats.
She founded the Cleveland Seamen's Service to connect the sailors to the city, modeling it after seamen services found in ocean ports around the world.
According to historical accounts, the city embraced her concept. MacMurray Howard mustered a force of 300 volunteers, men and women who guided captains and crew to ethnic markets, soccer games, bowling alleys and cultural dances.
Veteran members say she was passionate about her goal of making Cleveland renowned as the "friendliest port in the world."
The challenge has changed but the quest remains much the same.
Time enough to feel welcomed
Today, larger ships arrive with smaller crews for shorter stays. The port sees two to three ocean ships a week from May to December. They unload quickly, with their own cranes, and are often gone in a day or two.
Still, that's time enough to dash to the store, Skype home, enjoy a good meal and even catch a ball game. That's time enough to feel welcomed.
"We are the face of Cleveland to the international visitors," said Rita Clark, a volunteer for 17 years. "We want to welcome them to our city."
The Cleveland Seamen's Service counts 21 active members, including Jim and Rita Clark of Brecksville. Most are retirees but the ranks also include young professionals and downtown office workers.
The group would love to add some speakers of Polish, Ukrainian and Tagalog, the language of the Philippines. That would linguistically cover most of the sailors sailing in on the Seaway, Clark said.
But when phrasebooks fail, English and pantomime are often enough. Many of the ships return year after year and the crews become familiar.
Maggie Wendel had the duty when a sailor she knew visited the office to talk with his family via the Internet. He had Wendel say hello to his daughter.
"The most important thing for the sailors is their families," said Wendel, a retired Euclid social worker. "Then comes the sightseeing and the shopping."
She joined the service 45 years ago, hoping to reconnect with her German roots among German ships. As the longest-serving member, she has plenty of stories of sailors and their misadventures.
Those tales shine more vividly these days, as the group marks a half-century on the waterfront with celebrations like a birthday party Saturday at Pier W in Lakewood.
Reminiscing at the Seamen's Service office last week, Gisela Luck recalled the Burmese sailors who sought to defect one day in the 1990s.
"They walked in here, seven of them," she recalled. "Only one of them spoke English."
She said they were upset not with their dictatorial government but with the ship's food; that, and lousy working conditions.
Luck called the port authority, which alerted an immigration agent, who arrived with a burly stevedore. She said she'll never forget how the pair convinced the Burmese sailors to jump ship in Montreal instead.
"Now, it's totally different," she said. "You go on a ship, the kitchen is spic and span. They serve fabulous food."
The happier sailors tend to have less time to explore the city. But if a window of opportunity opens, the Seamen's Service is ready to guide or to give a ride.
When he boarded the Mamry, Clark had in his hand a sheet listing information handy to sailors on leave; like where to find a hair cut, wire money or buy electronics. He could offer discount admission to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and game times.
A window opened wider. The Mamry had no sooner begun unloading its steel coils from Holland than the rains began, forcing the captain to close the massive hatches that cover the hold.
His mobile phone gave a shrill ring. It was the shipping agent with a weather report. It would likely rain steady for a few days, forcing the ship to stay in port through the weekend.
Capt. Kacrzarksi turned to Clark.
"American football," he asked, "How much are the tickets?"Coinbase is going whale hunting. The popular crypto-currency exchange announced on Thursday it will open a new custodian service aimed at large institutional investors like hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds.
The new service, Coinbase Custody, will offer a raft of extra security measures and hand-holding in order to persuade big investors to put their money into assets like bitcoin.
Those measures include strict financial controls and a “regulated digital currency custodian.” Coinbase is only making the service available to those who deposit at least $10 million, and will charge 0.1% a month in addition to a $100,000 set-up fee.
According to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the absence of a trusted digital asset custodian is preventing major investors from getting exposure to crypto-currency.
“Over 100 hedge funds have been created in the past year exclusively to trade digital currency. An even greater number of traditional institutional investors are starting to look at trading digital assets,” said Armstrong in a blog post. “By some estimates there is $10B of institutional money waiting on the sidelines to invest in digital currency today.”
While there is no shortage of companies that provide “vault” and wallet services to hold crypto-currency, the majority of them would not qualify as custodians for the purposes of hedge funds and others that are entrusted with managing the money of others.
“Everyone sees a gaping hole,” said Michael Moro, the CEO of Genesis Trading, a firm that specializes in providing liquidity for crypto-currency markets.
Moro explained that traditional banks and brokerage firms have been reluctant to act as custodians because of know-your-customer laws, and because any such firms that carry bitcoin must back it with dollar-based reserves at a one-to-one level—a formula that ties up capital, and is an unattractive proposition for the likes of Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan.
Moro said Hong Kong-based Xapo is currently the leading custodian in the digital currency world, but added that Xapo is limited by the fact it only holds bitcoin and not Ethereum or many other newer crypto currencies.
Other custodians include Boston-based Circle, which began as a consumer bitcoin service, but has pivoted into a global money transfer service.
Coinbase currently offers only bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin on the retail level, but Armstrong’s blog post says Coinbase Custody will support “a wide range of digital assets and currencies.” The service is slated to be ready by 2018.
This is part of Fortune’s new initiative, The Ledger, a trusted news source at the intersection of tech and finance. For more on The Ledger, click here.In the United States, writing credit for motion pictures and television programs written under the jurisdiction of the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) is determined by the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which is composed of members of the WGAE and the WGAW. Since 1941, the WGA has been the final arbiter of who receives credit for writing a theatrical, television or new media motion picture written under the WGA's jurisdiction. A production company that signs the WGA Theatrical and Television Basic Agreement ("MBA") must comply with the WGA rules on writing credits.
Rationale [ edit ]
The system affects reputation, union membership, and income.
It affects reputation since some sources list only WGAE or WGAW determined writing credits. John Howard Lawson, the first president of the Screen Writers Guild (the WGAW's former name) said, "A writer's name is his most cherished possession. It is his creative personality, the symbol of the whole body of his ideas and experience."
The credit system can affect eligibility for membership in the union, as one way in which a person becomes a member of the WGAW is by accruing points which are awarded based on the individual's writing credit. Membership points are also accrued through employment by, or sale or option to, a company that is signatory to the MBA.[1]
It can also affect income. While all writers are paid when they work, some contracts limit contingent compensation to writers if they are not officially credited. Additionally, only credited writers typically receive residual income from future exploitation of a film on video, pay-per-view, broadcast television, etc.
Process [ edit ]
On completion of a film or television motion picture, the producer submits to the WGA and to all eligible "participating writers" a Notice of Tentative Writing Credits (NTWC) which sets forth the proposed writing credits for the project and circulates the final shooting script to all participating writers employed on the script.[2] A "participating writer" is a writer who was either 1) employed by the Company to perform writing services on the project or who 2) sold literary material to the Company and is a "professional writer" as that term is defined in the MBA.[3]
If any participating writer objects to the proposed credits, credit for the film enters arbitration. In addition, if a production executive (i.e. the director or producer of the film) is being proposed for writing credit and there are other, non-production executive participating writers on the project, an automatic arbitration is required.[4] An automatic arbitration is also required when three writers are proposed for "screenplay by," "teleplay by" or "written by" credit, when an "adaptation by" credit is proposed, when a "screen story by," or "television story by" credit is proposed and, with television and new media series only, when a "developed by" credit is proposed and there is a writer who is entitled to separated rights in the series.[5]
In arbitration, Guild members review all drafts of the screenplay by each writer and determine writing credit on the project based on the rules set forth in the SCM or the TVCM.
The credit rules differ for theatrical motion pictures and television/new media motion pictures. On a theatrical motion picture, the applicable rules depend on whether the screenplay is classified as an "original screenplay" or a "non-original screenplay." An "original screenplay" is a screenplay that "is not based on source material and on which the first writer writes a screenplay without there being any intervening literary material by another writer pertaining to the project."[6] "Source material" is defined as "material assigned to the writer which was previously published or exploited and upon which the writer's work is to be based (e.g., a novel, a produced play or series of published articles), or any other material written outside of the Guild's jurisdiction."[7] In the case of an original screenplay, the first writer must contribute more than 33% of the screenplay to receive "screenplay by" credit. Subsequent writers must contribute 50% of the screenplay to receive "screenplay by" credit, unless the subsequent writer is a "production executive" (a producer or director), who must contribute more than 50% of the screenplay to receive "screenplay by" credit.[8]
A "non-original screenplay" is a screenplay that is "based upon source material and all other screenplays" that do not qualify as original screenplays, such as sequels.[9] In the case of a non-original screenplay, any writer who contributes more than 33% of the screenplay is entitled to "screenplay by" credit. There is no heightened percentage for production executives.
On a television or new media motion picture, the credit rules are the same regardless of whether the participating writer is a production executive. Any subsequent writer who contributes "substantially more" than the first writer on a television or new media motion picture is entitled to "tele |
“…… you are from the Himejima clan right?”
“Yes, that’s right. Although I have been disowned by the clan.”
Akeno-san made lightening appear on her hand and the sound of electricity rang around the area.
When I was about to join Akeno-san… I felt an odd and overpowering aura from behind me! When I looked behind… a giant black dog was there. It was Jin who Tobio Ikuse-san wields. When the Lightening Beast and Kamaitachi saw Jin, they couldn’t hide their excitement.
Kamaitachi wielded blades on both of his hand and shouted.
“I heard the rumours! I heard that my comrades had a bit of trouble with you? Where is your master?”
But Jin did not reply. It seems like Ikuse-san didn’t come here. It bothered me to think how it came here by itself but… it’s an independent Sacred Gear with its own instinct with Longinus also being the case. Maybe this shouldn’t be surprising.
“Hmm, you came alone then.”
Lightening Beast admired Jin who came alone.
Jin stood next to Akeno-san. Seeing that, Rias said.
“I can see a fate here.”
Rias continued.
“That dog’s master, Jin’s master, Tobio Ikuse-san, also inherited the blood of Himejima. Himejima’s former leader had two older sisters. One of them was Akeno’s grandmother and the other is Ikuse-san’s…”
… Ku! …. So that kind of story existed?! Akeno-san and… Ikuse-san are related?! Their grandmothers are sisters… that makes them second cousins!
Akeno-san gave a smile towards Jin and said.
“… Will you help me?”
Jin wagged his tail once, giving her a positive answer. Did Ikuse-san sent Jin alone to help her?
“Thank you, Jin.”
After thanking Jin, Akeno-san turned around towards us.
“Leave this to us and go ahead!”
If Jin is with her, we won’t have to worry about Akeno-san. Me and Rias nodded our head and left Akeno-san to deal with this. After that, we heard a loud sound of explosion.
After following the corridor more, another huge space appeared. As we headed towards the area… Kuroka and Koneko’s expression froze. For some reason unknown to us, Kuroka’s face is covered in cold sweat.
Kuroka said in a struggling voice.
“………… Ku! No way……! This is…………..?!”
Koneko also spoke while shivering uncontrollably.
“O-Onee-sama……! W-What is this……?!”
Two nekometas seems like they’ve sensed something. But me and Rias can only feel an odd aura and our bodies didn’t shiver like Kuroka and Koneko.
When we arrived at the field, there was…… a spotted cat standing there but it wasn’t a normal cat. It had… nine tails!
“Oh ho, it looks like white cat has become a respectable nekometa.”
The young female’s voice rang around the field. When we looked closer, the voice was… coming out of the nine tail cat……. Is she the nekometa who didn’t transform into human?
That spotted cat spoke while looking at Koneko and Kuroka.
“It’s been awhile, Kuroka.”
Kuroka, who had cold sweat running across her cheek, spoke with a nervous expression.
“…… I never expected you, Tortoiseshell granny, to be here!”
When Kuroka said that, Koneko was also surprised.
“S-So this is Elder Tortoiseshell.”
“Yes. She’s our youkais… Nekometa’s leader Magari, nicknamed as Tortoiseshell granny.”
Nekometa’s leader! She’s a big deal! I never thought I would meet such a person here! Ah~ thinking back, those youkais that came to our house said something about her.
The leader of the Nekometa youkai narrowed her eyes.
“Every cats that calls me such name are delinquents.”
Since she’s in her cat mode instead of her scary mode, it’s cuter but…
“Is she well known?”
I asked Rias.
“…… She’s a strong youkai, whose age is more than 800 years old. I’ve researched a lot about nekometas but… this is the first time meeting her like this… it seems like the only ones who are known in the youkai world as the strongest have assembled here.”
Rias was also surprised.
… Wait, the youkai that have lived for more than 800 years?! Maybe she is older than Sirzech-sama or any other current maous…? But her voice sounds very young.
The spotted cat looked at me and Rias.
“I’ve only got business with those cat sisters. Sekiryuutei boy and Devil princess can always go forward.”
She is saying such a thing… it is true that I don’t feel any hostility towards us from her but instead of hostility, she’s showing more along the lines of curiosity towards Koneko and Kuroka.
Kuroka pointed towards the inside of the mansion and said.
“Go first. Leave her to me and Shirone. It looks like they called us two for this reason; even Nurarihyon can’t ignore this elder’s words.”
Koneko also spoke after Kuroka.
“Don’t worry, buchou and Ise-senpai. Please go to Kunou-chan quickly.”
And even the Elder cat spoke.
“I’m not going to eat them. Granny simply wants to lecture them. This is just a simple [Meeting between cats]. Well, the person who my boss really wants to meet is that boy over there.”
… Since all three nekometas were saying that, we couldn’t say no. Rias and I looked at each other and nodded our heads.
“Then I’ll leave it to you two, Koneko, Kuroka!”
“If something happens, just run!”
After saying that, Rias and I ran towards the inner part of the mansion……
At the end of the long corridor, there was a fancy looking door that looked like it was saying its final destination. I opened the door and burst in!
“Kunou! Are you okay?!”
The room that was in front of me as I was shouting was… a luxurious looking room! The room was decorated with wall scrolls with drawings of dragons and on the head seat, Kunou was sitting there! And with the coffee table between the two of them, Nurarihyon was sitting across Kunou.
“Ise! You came!”
Kunou seems happy to see us but she wasn’t tied down with a rope. Looking at the tea and snacks in front of her, it looks like she’s getting treated properly.
Nurarihyon spoke after sipping his tea.
“So you came. What do you think; our boys are useful aren’t they?”
Nurarihyon said in a non-apologetic tone to Rias.
“Leader of the East youkai, this is enough right? We’ll be taking Kunou back.”
Nurarihyon replied in a calm manner.
“You don’t have to hurry; this is just this old man’s fun. Why don’t you have some tea.”
… My patience has run out. Those youkais, I don’t know what Nurarihyon’s youkais are thinking about or what they are not satisfied with. But……
I made a fist with my arm with gauntlet and put my fist towards Nurarihyon.
“This may be the result of some kind of political agreement between you and our boss but Kunou is our guest! We can’t let her be part of this anymore! Return her! Or else I will show my own complaint.”
As I said that without hesitation, Nurarihyon seemed to be taken back for a second but regained his composure and snickered like he was seeing something fun.
“Like what the leader of the Fallen Angel said, I like your attitude. It looks like you aren’t a normal pervert… however.”
Nurarihyon looked behind me when I turned around myself… Koneko and Kuroka are standing there! Did their talk already finished? It doesn’t look like they had a fight since their clothes also looks clean.
“Koneko, Kuroka… you guys were safe.”
When I sighed with relief and said that, Koneko suddenly hugged me. When I looked at her face to see what’s going on… her face was reddened. She was looking at me longingly with her wet eyes and said in longing voice.
“…… Senpai, hug me.”
With no time to react to that, Kuroka hugged me from behind this time! Because of that, I fell down on the floor. Kuroka on ecstasy pressed her body onto mine and spoke in a seductive voice.
“Fufuf, Sekiryuutei~ do you wanna do erotic stuff right here right now~?”
W-W-W-W-What is this bad cat saying?! This is Nurarihyon’s mansion! Not only is Nurarihyon himself in here! H-How can anyone do perverted stuff in this situation! Even Koneko is rubbing her body against mine! The soft sensation of a female body is amazing! It feels amazing but there is time and places!
My eyes then met with the spotted cat that came out of nowhere.
“It seemed like they weren’t going to listen to me so I’m controlling them.”
No way! It’s because of that Elder cat that Koneko and Kuroka are doing such things!
While being stuck here, I requested help from Rias.
“H-Hey! T-This is…! R-Rias!”
But Rias was…
“…… Ise, don’t shout in here. This is the old man’s house……”
She was massaging Nurarihyon’s shoulders with a relaxed smile on her face!
“Oh~ you are good at this.”
Nurarihyon also became a kind and friendly old gramps just like when he broke into our house! Uuuu, he’s using that technique again! So he can use it in his own house as well!
Kunou stood up and was perplexed.
“Uuu, this is unbelievable. I heard stories that Nurarihyon -sama and Magari-sama’s spell are very strong but for it to be this effective…!”
Nurarihyon spoke while receiving a massage from Rias.
“I heard that the Sekiryuutei boy is weak against these kinds of tactics which means going against me would be the worst scenario for you.”
Well I’m sorry! It’s true that it’s difficult fighting against someone who doesn’t fight directly!
Nurarihyon stared at me.
… Ku! Suddenly my sight faded… M-My consciousness is…… as soon as I met his eyes…the ability to think clearly reduced and… it feels like fog clouded in my head…
…… as my consciousness slowly faded… Nurarihyon spoke to me.
“Hey, Sekiryuutei boy. Why don’t you give me that house of yours with everyone living in it? That house looks comfortable and the ladies there can make quite a fire power. So what do you think? Won’t you give them to me?”
…… I wonder why, his voice sounded sweet and absolute at the same time. I feel like I can trust his words with everything I’ve got… No, I feel like I can just follow his words… Ah, so it was like this… back there at that Ero room… this is Nurarihyon’s spell…
Then I heard Kunou’s voice……
“Don’t do it, Ise! Don’t answer him back! If you lose against his spell, the future of alliance and the future of [DxD] will be in dire situation!”
… T-That’s right… I can’t lose to this kind of spell……! A-And also… ask for everyone living in that house… Kuu, my consciousness is…… is wanting me to follow his words… also this fault…!
Not only that… Koneko and Kuroka are rubbing their bodies against me so… I feel like I’m about to give in to temptation! Kuroka’s huge and elastic breasts are amazing…
“Ufufufu, Now, let’s do perverted stuff nya. You can do anything you want with my body nya.”
… After removing the front of her kimono, Kuroka tried to undress me! Lying next to Kuroka, Koneko transformed into Shirone mode and tempted me with her developed body!
“…… Senpai, with this body maybe I can engage in a more violent act? Even then will you not do it with me…?”
Even Koneko started taking half of her kimono off… and was shaking her breasts while at the same time, moved my face towards her breasts! Ah, my face is buried under Koneko’s breasts. This is like a dream… the grown up Koneko’s… her developed breasts are equal in size and elasticity compared to Kuroka’s…!
Nurarihyon then spoke cheerfully.
“Okay, if you agree with me, I’ll ask the others to do more stuff like this with you.”
… Really……?! …. T-That’s awesome…! W-Wait a second, is it really alright for me, who aims to be the harem king, to do that…?… can I be satisfied with breasts that other give me…?… Damn it, I don’t want to lose! Ah, damn Kuroka, she’s biting my earlobe…! Koneko is licking my body with her tongue!……Uuu, don’t lose, Ise! Rias, Asia, Akeno-san, Koneko, Xenovia, Irina, Rossweisse-san, Ravel, Le Fay, Kuroka, Ophis… Mum, dad…! Everyone’s face is, all the happy times we shared flashed through my mind……
Nurarihyon asked again.
“So what do you think, will you give me that house?”
“T-That is…”
… My answer was…
“No way, I won’t give it to you… that house is a place that I must go back… and everyone is my precious comrades… and my family… I can’t give it to you, old gramps…!”
… I resisted with all my might and just barely said that… even if my body is being controlled… I can’t give him my house! I was… resisting the sweet voice of Nurarihyon appealing to me with all my might!
Seeing me in such a state, Nurarihyon couldn’t hide his surprise and laughed wholeheartedly.
“… To give me such an answer, that’s surprising.”
I am… rejecting my mind that wants to accept everything, and shouted.
“I don’t want to get help from someone else to do perverted things to girls!”
That’s right! I don’t want someone else to control my pervert mind! My ero mind is mine only! I can’t let my ero mind be controlled by Nurarihyon as well!
“Damn it!!”
With the shouting gantlet’s power continuously rising, my armour responded by appearing within seconds.
[As expected from my partner. I was worried for a second but… well if it’s got to do with your perverted mind, I thought you will sort it out somehow.]
Even Ddraig said so! My partner understands me!
I said to Koneko and Kuroka.
“Koneko, Kuroka! Snap out of it! If you want to do perverted things with me, then don’t give in to mind control and tempt me fair and square! I will take you guys on anytime!”
But be wary of the time and place! I want to do it under a better situation!
At my shouting, Kunou responded.
“I won’t just stand here and do nothing! I am Kyoto Youkai’s leader, Yasaka’s daughter, Kunou!”
Kunou summoned her power and… her blond hair turned white! Her body is now emitting an overwhelming aura unfitting of this little girl.
“I also trained daily! If I want to walk the path with you guys I need to be strong!”
Our nine tail princess shouted confidently!
When Kunou’s hair changed colour, even Nurarihyon stood up from his seat and exclaimed.
“… her hair has turned white… is she going to turn into Hakumen no Mono Kyubi no Kitsune… <TN you guys have got NO IDEA how long I spent time to search for the right term. roughly translate into White fur gold hair nine tail fox>”
When the Elder cat heard him, she shook her head.
“No, boss. This isn’t Hakumen no Mono Kyubi no Kitsune. This is more like a Beast god from [Hakkenden], similar to Masaki Kitsune. It becomes [Koryuu] <TN Fox dragon> when it gets stronger… maybe it is because of her relationship with that Sekiryuutei boy that it is affecting her growth…?” <TN it’s a novel series from EDO era. Not to be confused with manga series of same name.>
That Elder cat then looked at me….Hmm, I haven’t done anything special towards Kunou though. Well, thanks to her I get praise!
This is a good chance; I can test out the new feature of my technique! I quickly touched the back of Rias, Koneko and Kuroka. <TN how?>
“I will also try out my new technique here!”
After shouting that, I pulled out all the imaginations from inside my mind! What I want is the power to destroy things around these girls! Not their clothes! I thought of this when Asia was captured by that bastard Diodora and got chained into that contraption! Back then, I touched her body that was chained into that machine and used [Dress Break] to destroy the seal.
To destroy the seal… in other words, destroy their technique! Simply put, I’m breaking the spell that’s on the girls! The thing I am breaking is not their clothes, nor their armour but the spell on them!
Lewd aura filled around me… I collected the imaginations in my mind! I opened my eyes and shouted!
“Dress Break!”
When I snapped my fingers, my imagination seeped out of my armour and filled the entire surroundings! Rias, Koneko and Kuroka who I’ve touched just before were enveloped in light. After that, the intensity of light kept getting stronger until it exploded. It sounded like something just exploded and when they look like they’ve got back to their senses, the light in their eyes returned.
“… Why am I massaging Nurarihyon’s shoulders…”
Rias tilted her head. She’s back to normal!
Meanwhile Koneko, who has gone back to her original size, realised that her body is pressing against mine.
“… I-I’m doing such shameless things…!”
Koneko pushed me away in embarrassment! But her sister Kuroka was…
“Ufufufu, well this is fine.”
Even when she gone back to normal she’s not moving away! Well she has always been an ero-cat!
But it’s a success! My new use of [Dress Break]! Instead of destroying their clothes, I’ve destroyed the spell around them! With this, I can break any weird spells on these girls!
The technique that destroys anything and everything that the girls has on their body is named [Dress Break] Ver.B (Body)! And the technique that destroys spells on them will be called [Dress Break] Ver.A (Astral)!
In the near future, I will cross both Ver.A and Ver.B together to form a single technique that will destroy both the spells and their clothing!
Now, while I was making a new resolve, we felt a familiar aura from behind. When we looked the source of the aura, No way! Ophis!
“Kunou, Ise.”
Ophis appeared out of nowhere! She should be back home… did she come all the way here just because she was worried about Kunou!
“Oh, Phis-sama! You came!”
When Kunou saw Ophis, she was so happy that she was jumping. However, when Nurarihyon saw Ophis, he raised his eyebrows.
“… I don’t think I’ve invited you here.”
Nurarihyon and the elder cat shouldn’t know the real identity of Ophis but the Elder cat seemed to notice Ophis’s unnatural power since she took a step back.
“… Boss, stand back. That girl… No, she’s not someone who you should mess around with. That presence of Dragon we felt on the fox princess was hers…”
The Elder was on full alert mode, as expected of an 800 years old youkai.
But Ophis walked towards Nurarihyon without faze. And after staring into his face for a while, she said.
“Don’t bully Kunou.”
And slapped his butt with her hand!
“…Ku! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG!”
Even if it’s simple slap on the butt, if our infinite Dragon-God-sama is the one initiating it, the power of the slap would be unimaginable… Nurarihyon was so shocked he was jumping on the spot.
Soon after, in one of the room of Nurarihyon’s mansion, a thing that mustn’t be told to anyone was happening.
Nurarihyon was laying down face first and was grabbing his swollen butt while the Lightening Beast and Kamaitachi, who already finished with their fight, joined us and placed an ice bag on his butt.
Akeno-san and Jin also joined us and thus everyone that Nurarihyon called out arrived. Since the owner of this mansion, Nurarihyon was in such a state, there was a weird mood since we came here expecting to fight him.
I was originally thinking of giving him a piece of my mind, but since Ophis did that for me, I decided not to do it. By the way, Ophis is eating a snack with Kunou in the corner of the room…. Anyway I want to return as soon as possible.
… As I was thinking that, new people arrived.
“Leader of the East, I think your pranks have gone too far.”
The person who came in while saying so was Kunou’s mother… Yasaka-san!
“… Yasaka, I’m showing some embarrassing scene here.”
Nurarihyon said in a slightly embarrassed tone.
“Mother!”
Kunou jumped into her mother’s body. Yasaka-san pet her daughter’s head.
“Hohoho Kunou, you developed a glimpse of the power as a Beast God correctly.”
While the fox mother and daughter were having a reunion, Azazel-sensei appeared this time.
“Yasaka, I told you didn’t I? Kids grow up fast even before their parents notice them.”
“Azazel-sensei!”
Sensei made a bitter smile on his face and roughed up my hair.
“Sorry I couldn’t call you guys for a while. The talks between the Japanese youkais got longer… well, the reason behind it was provided by that leader over there though.”
Sensei looked at Nurarihyon with a dumbfounded glare.
Then Nurarihyon complained.
“Don’t be too harsh. We also had a complicated reason.”
Sensei said without any concerns.
“I, Michael and Sirzech said to Nurarihyon’s side, who weren’t really up with the alliance this [Why don’t you observe the symbol of alliance, the youth from [DxD], especially the guys at the Hyoudou residence?] like that.”
Just like Rias said. Uuu, we always get involved in troublesome things… I had a feeling that we were made with these kind of jobs in mind.
“… So what did you think of our guys after all?”
Sensei asked Nurarihyon.
Nurarihyon stole a glance at Ophis but then laughed wholeheartedly.
“I’ve seen enough. It’s not often that I get hit on my butt like a troublemaker at this age. But thanks to that, I got to understand the [DxD] team. Honestly, I had fun.”
Nurarihyon stood up, still clenching his butt and lowered his head towards us.
“I do apologise, Sekiryuutei boy, Devil princess, daughter of the Himejima clan. I wanted to just tease you youngsters. Thanks for playing along with my stubbornness. But I will make sure that the young ones from my side won’t complain again.”
Nurarihyon spoke to Kamaitachi and the Lightening Beast.
“You guys are fine now right?”
Both of them stood while paying attention and replied.
“Yes. We have realised that they have no evil intent first hand.”
“We will not object the alliance.”
It seems like they’ve realised while fighting Akeno-san and Jin that we haven’t got either hatred nor evil intent towards them and Akeno-san also fought them seriously. There are many types of people in the [Himejima] clan and whatever the former clan leader was like, Akeno-san is Akeno-san.
Those two also bowed towards us.
“We apologise for acting rude.”
“We will receive any punishment you give us.”
It was like they were ready to give up their lives so we just replied [Let’s get along from now on]. Peace is the best and also, I’ve attained a new feature of [Dress Break] so I have profited from this.
Nurarihyon said to sensei.
“The leader of the opposition has now accepted so the others will now follow them. The head of the Fallen Angel, Azazel, I know this is just shameless request but will you make a treaty with us?”
Sensei smiled and prepared to shake his hand.
“Well, I knew from the beginning that making a treaty between mythologies that were distant from each other would be hard. Well since we managed to resolve this at this line, I guess we should be grateful. Let’s fix a new date and talk again so until then, take care of your butt, Boss.”
“Haa~ you had to say that didn’t you.”
The two leaders of the factions shook their hands. It’s finally over.
Meanwhile, Kuroka was trying to escape using this time.
“Now, excuse me…”
“Kuroka, wait there.”
The elder cat stopped her on her track! Kuroka was resistant.
“Nyaa?!W-What do you want… have you still got business with me…?”
Elder cat narrowed her eyes.
“I will train you and Shirone next time. Come here whenever you want.”
“W-Well I think I will…”
Kuroka was trying to refuse but…
“Yes! Take care of us! Onee-sama, let’s come here again.”
Koneko gave an instant OK. Seeing her sister like that, Kuroka nodded her head reluctantly.
When the situation got under control, Yasaka-san said to Kunou.
“Now, let’s go back Kunou. Maou-sama said they will treat us to dinner at the hotel in Tokyo. It’ll be great since things Kunou like are there.”
“Yes, I can’t wait! But mother! Listen to me! I’ve decided that I’ll eat everything and not be picky!”
“Oh ho~ and the reason for that is?”
Kunou drew a circle around her chest and proclaimed.
“Yes! I have understood that Ise can’t help himself with woman with big breasts! I won’t be picky and I will have breasts as large as yours mother!”
“I also want bigger breasts.”
Ophis mimicked Kunou and drew a circle around her chest!
Children shouldn’t be saying such things! Seeing these two, Rias and Akeno-san had gentle expressions.
After that, the talks between the three factions and Nurarihyon’s side went well and in the end, they’ve finalised the details of the treaty. They said it’s not a matter of time until the treaty is implemented. The Nine tail mother and the daughter also finished their business here and went back to Kyoto.
Soon after, as an apology for creating such troubles, Nurarihyon sent in all sorts of treasures, talismans believed to bring luck, old paintings and more. According to Rias, they are all rare and priceless things. From Sirzech-sama and sensei, everyone received a fancy gift catalogue that is easily equivalent to 5 figures worth saying that this is our reward. Getting these kinds of things makes me feel guilty.
Anyhow, peace is the best and after coming back to our normal lives, I needed to go to the bathroom once again one night. After thinking for a while in front of the bathroom door, I purposely went to one underground.
When I thought they wouldn’t come here and I opened the door…
“Welcome Ise!”
“Amazing! it’s just as Xenovia said!”
“Ise-san, welcome in.”
It was the Ero room and Xenovia, Irina and Asia…the Church trio were waiting there! Ah, what’s going on? Have my bathroom break been totally compromised by these three?!
“Just stop it already!”
I couldn’t help but scream deep into the night.Cops: High School Coach Had Cheerleaders Strip At Team Sleepover Share
Tweet
A high school cheerleading coach resigned from her job--and is now the subject of a police investigation--after a student told Georgia school administrators about a stripping game called “Judge and Jury” that was played during a recent team sleepover at the woman's home.
According to a Clayton County Sheriff’s Office report, a Lovejoy High School student let administrators know about the July 18 gathering where the unnamed coach “assumed the role as the Judge while the other students assumed the role as the Jury.”
During the game, cheerleaders would be asked a series of questions and “would have to answer the question beginning with ‘Honestly.’” If they did not answer correctly, they were given a choice: Either run around the school’s track or “remove an article of clothing.”
The student told officials that while the game was being played, she closed her eyes and did not see “anyone remove all their clothing.” She added that only students--and not the coach--“removed clothing to reveal their under garments.”
Sheriff's deputies--who were told by school lawyers they would need a subpoena to get the names and ages of the teens at the sleepover--continue to investigate based on the “outcry made by the student” and the possibility that “the incident was video taped.”Any day now, it could be conservatives looking for protections for religious-based discrimination who are celebrating a Trump executive order.
It is pretty safe to say that the first decision of the Trump administration that has gained widespread progressive approbation occurred this morning:
The White House sought Tuesday morning to calm fears that President Donald Trump will roll back protections for the LGBTQ community, issuing a statement saying he will keep in place a 2014 executive order that bans anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination.
“President Trump continues to be respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights, just as he was throughout the election,” the statement reads. “The President is proud to have been the first ever GOP nominee to mention the LGBTQ community in his nomination acceptance speech, pledging then to protect the community from violence and oppression.”
The Obama order in question protects LGBTQ workers at companies with federal contracts from discrimination. Leaving it in place technically breaks Trump’s campaign pledge to revoke all of Obama’s executive orders. More to the point, today’s announcement contradicts rapidly spreading rumors that Trump was about to do something that gay-haters would love.
Or does it?
At Vox, German Lopez explains that another shoe may soon drop that could undermine today’s action significantly, or even effectively reverse it in many cases:
The decision to keep this executive order does not prevent Trump from signing another order that creates religious exemptions for the LGBTQ protections.
Depending on how that other executive order is written, it could allow federal contractors to cite their religious beliefs — for example, religious opposition to same-sex marriage or just LGBTQ people in general — to fire, refuse to hire, or refuse to promote an LGBTQ worker.
On the campaign trail, Trump said a whole lot more about protecting the right to discriminate as essential to “religious liberty” than he said about LGBTQ protections. Indeed, he received a definitive seal of approval from none other than Hobby Lobby CEO David Green, whose lawsuit defying Obamacare’s contraception-coverage mandate led to the most important Supreme Court precedent carving out an area of protected discrimination for religious individuals who run for-profit corporations. Anyone supporting that line of reasoning will certainly have no trouble exempting federal employees who claim a religious motive for disliking LGBTQ folk from the executive order allegedly protecting them.
So any celebration of Trump’s announcement today should be put on hold until we see whether it represents the president’s final word on the subject.
And keep in mind the overall context at play: Trump will tonight announce a Supreme Court nominee. “Religious liberty” enthusiasts are mostly rooting for Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neil Grouch, who is considered an important judicial champion of their cause. If Trump goes in another direction, he could assuage hurt feelings among conservative Christian activists by a complementary gesture like a “religious liberty” executive order. But odds are he’ll let the potentially false impression that he’s broken with the Christian Right on LGBTQ rights percolate for a while first.11 Week 30 Minute
Beginner Treadmill Workout Program
If you want to get into jogging and lose weight, try this 11 week 30 minute beginner treadmill workout program.
Aerobic exercise is good for so many things. Working up a sweat is good for your lungs, heart, blood vessels, brain, muscles, and skin.
In addition cardiovascular exercise (cardio) is important for maintaining a healthy weight and is essential for weight loss.
If you want to start working out, here is a 30 minute treadmill workout program.
Beginner Treadmill Workout Program
11 Weeks to Go from Walking to Jogging
This program is designed for the person who is not in good shape but wants to lose weight and really improve fitness levels.
This 11 week treadmill program is easy to follow. In the first week you simply start by walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes and by the 11th week you'll be jogging for 30 minutes.
Each week progresses by adding 30 seconds of jogging in 5 minute intervals, until by the 11th week you'll just jog for the entire 30 minutes.
You should complete each workout at least 3 times before moving on to the next week's workout. Also, adjust the speeds as you need to in order to complete the workout.
Here's the Beginner Treadmill Workout Program:
Week 1: Walk continuously for 30-60 minutes between 3.0 mph and 4.0 mph. Repeat this workout 3-4 times during the first week. This is just to get you going. If you're somewhat active you can skip this week and go straight to week 2.
The next 9 treadmill workouts are interval workouts. This just simply means that you walk then jog, then walk then jog for 30 minutes.
30 minute Interval Workouts (walk-jog-walk-jog)
Week 2: Walk for 4:30 between 3.0 and 4.0 mph then jog for 30 seconds at a speed between 4.5 and 5.0 mph. After jogging for 30 seconds go back to a walking speed for 4:30. Repeat this pattern 6 times until you reach 30 minutes.
Week 3: Walk for 4 minutes between 3.0 and 4.0 mph then jog between 4.5 and 5.0 mph for 1 minute. Repeat 6 times until you've completed 30 minutes.
Week 4: Walk for 3:30 minutes between 3.0 and 4.0 mph and then jog for 1:30 between 4.5 and 5.5 mph. Repeat 6 times until you've completed 30 minutes.
Week 5: Walk for 3 minutes between 3.0 and 4.0 mph and then jog for 2 minutes between 4.5 and 5.5 mph. Repeat 6 times until you've completed 30 minutes.
Week 6: Walk for 2:30 minutes between 3.0 and 4.0 mph and then jog for 2:30 minutes between 4.5 and 5.5 mph. Repeat 6 times until you've completed 30 minutes.
Week 7: Walk for 2 minutes between 3.0 and 4.0 mph and then jog for 3 minutes between 4.5 and 6.0 mph. Repeat 6 times until you've completed 30 minutes.
Week 8: Walk for 1:30 minutes between 3.0 and 4.0 mph and then jog for 3:30 minutes between 4.5 and 6.0 mph. Repeat 6 times until you've completed 30 minutes.
Week 9: Walk for 1 minute between 3.0 and 4.0 mph and then jog for 4 minutes between 4.5 and 6.0 mph. Repeat 6 times until you've completed 30 minutes.
Week 10: Walk for 30 seconds between 3.0 and 4.0 mph and then jog for 4:30 between 4.5 and 6.0 mph. Repeat 6 times until you've completed 30 minutes.
The last workout is a continuous treadmill workout.
Week 11: Jog for 30 minutes between 4.5 and 6.0 mph. Do your best not to take any breaks, but if you're really out of breath simply walk for 30 seconds to 1 minute and then go right back to your jogging speed.
Conclusion
By the end of this beginner treadmill workout program, you will be shocked by how much better you feel and how strong and fit you are.
Once you get in shape, stay consistent and keep working at it. Also, listen to your body. Stretch afterwards for 10-15 minutes, and wear good supporting shoes.
There's no time like the present, so pick a day in the very near future and start this 30 minute beginner treadmill workout program.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Charles
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, it's all about upside I would want Colin Kaepernick. His mobility is far superior to Joe Flacco's. I mean, that's like comparing a Porsche 911 to an '83 Pulsar. But I digress...
Kaepernick has shown that he can throw the football very well, particularly on intermediate throws. He might not have Flacco's incredible touch in the vertical game, but for a guy with just nine NFL starts under his belt, he's shown ridiculous upside. At this point with Flacco, we know what we're getting. He's a good quarterback who doesn't complete a high percentage of his passes but can seriously hurt teams with the deep ball and plays relatively well in the postseason. The sky might be the limit with Kaepernick, even though the jury is still out at this point. Nonetheless, if you're starting from scratch, it's all about upside.THERE’S been a lot of focus on the AFL’s rising costs this season, yet most fans would be unaware at how the very team they barrack for is targeting their hip pocket.
In many cases, your home budget is affected by which team you choose to follow, with the cost and conditions of club memberships varying significantly from team to team.
While the league and clubs trot out their ever-growing membership tallies, they neglect to mention that some of these fully paid up members have only had to fork out $50 or less and never attend a game to claim membership benefits.
media_camera Elise Potter
Is it North Melbourne’s improvement on the field that has boosted its membership figures towards 40,000, or the fact that for $25 fans can purchase the Shinboner Spirit membership — which includes a members pack, including cap, bumper sticker and entry to VFL games, and a bonus game at Etihad Stadium?
Is it any wonder Adelaide has 10,000 more members than powerhouse Carlton when they offer an adult membership that includes a game at Adelaide Oval, exclusive members polo shirt, sports bag and members kit for $50, when the Blues’ cheapest package, the At Home membership, stings fans $95 for a members kit and fleecy blanket but does not provide access to any Blues AFL games?
It doesn’t matter if you choose a one, three or 11-game package, or pay top dollar for reserved seats and guaranteed Grand Final tickets, you’re all lumped in together and considered the same in the great club membership racket.
It is little wonder that there doesn’t seem to be any correlation between the number of paid-up members a club has and the crowds they are attracting to a game. And clubs persist in boasting about the trumped-up figures with implied comparisons to their rivals’ tallies without ever disclosing that they are, in fact, comparing apples to avocados.
To quote Kyle from South Park, I declare shenanigans.
I recently received an email from my club offering a new digital membership. For only $99, digital members can access live streaming of all AFL games, including the finals, and still be counted as a club member. That’s a deal $50 cheaper than the AFL’s Live Pass plus all of the usual benefits being a club member affords. However Freo fans only have to pay $80 for the exact same service, while Gold Coast fans pay $110.
Why the discrepancy when every subscriber gets the same service? And why should signing up to watch football at home, which can be accessed by as many people as you can fit around the screen, be considered the same as a more traditional 11-game membership when it comes to keeping score? Is it good value or a cheap ploy to boost membership figures through a service that is already offered? I subscribe to Fox Footy, can my club count that towards their tally as well?
A colleague recently discovered his club had continued to take direct debit payments for a membership for his grandfather who died almost two year ago. They had rolled over the membership without his knowledge and continued to take money from his bank account without any notification. Despite alerting the club to the error almost two months ago, they have yet to cancel the membership or refund the payments.
We all love and want to support our clubs as best we can in the increasingly competitive marketplace, but it seems in some cases fans are being emotionally blackmailed by their passion for their club to pay more than is necessary.
Until the AFL mandates some regulation so that all fans are treated the same, club membership figures, whether 20,000 or 70,000, will remain meaningless.MARC BARTRA SAYS pride is his overwhelming emotion four days on from the bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus that caused him to suffer the longest 15 minutes of his life.
Bartra suffered a wrist injury in the incident that saw three explosions go off near the vehicle as it made its way to Signal Iduna Park prior to the Champions League quarter-final, first leg against Monaco.
The Spanish defender has subsequently undergone surgery and is expected to miss at least four weeks.
After a visit from his family, Bartra opened up on the events of Tuesday night.
He wrote in an Instagram post: “Today I’ve received again a visit that makes me the happiest. They are my everything, the reason I fight to overcome every roadblock, and this has been the hardest of my life. I do not wish this on anyone.
“The pain, the fear, not knowing what was happening or how long it would last… It was the longest 15 minutes of my life.
“I want to say that the shock is wearing off every day and is replaced by the will to live, to fight, to work, to laugh, to cry, to feel, to love, to believe, to play, to train, to enjoy my people, my loved ones, team-mates, my passion, to defend, to smell the grass before a game, like I usually do to motivate me before a game.
“To see the stands filled with people who love this sport, good people who only want us to feel the emotion of football to forget about the world, especially the world we live in which is crazier than ever.
“The only thing I ask, THE ONLY THING, is that we ALL live in peace and leave wars behind.
“These days when I look at my wrist, swollen and broken, do you know what I feel? Pride. I look at it and feel proud thinking of all the harm they wanted to cause and that it ended only in this.
“Thank you to the doctors, nurses, physios, and everyone who help me recover and help my wrist be back to perfect.
“To the thousands and thousands of people, the media, all organisations, BVB and team-mates who have sent me your support and love… even the smallest gesture has filled me with the strength to ALWAYS move forward.
“I needed to get this off my chest and put it behind me so I can be at 100 per cent as soon as possible!”CLEVELAND, Ohio -- LeBron James is well practiced in the art of deflecting questions about his legacy.
Each time he leapfrogs another NBA great on the scoring list, after every never-been-done-before comeback in the Finals or hoisting of the Larry O'Brien Trophy, James reflexively says he hasn't given much thought to all that he's accomplished.
When he retires, James likes to say, he's going to sit back with his longtime friend and business partner Maverick Carter, uncork a bottle of Screaming Eagle Cabernet (a bottle from 2012, the year of James' first championship, costs about $700) and reflect on what is already one of the league's greatest careers.
But there is one way in which James has impacted the league so greatly, so obviously, that even he can't pretend to ignore it:
When the 2016-17 season opens in Cleveland on Tuesday, and Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah are wearing Knicks jerseys, he'll see one example of the wreckage he has caused across the NBA over the past six seasons.
While James has taken a team to the Finals each year, other franchises have built, torn down, and rebuilt themselves to try and stop him. And they've failed.
"I know teams switch and pick up new coaches or new players, and their whole goal is kind of they want to beat me," James told cleveland.com, in a candid discussion about the upcoming year and his place in the sport at age 31, in this his 14th season. "It's never just about me, but I always hear them saying, 'We gotta beat LeBron.' It's not just me on the court, but I understand that teams get together in this conference and across the league to try to beat me."
LeBron vs. MJ
It's true, in Cleveland, James has Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, who both played huge roles in pushing the Cavs to their first championship in June. And in Miami, he paired himself with perennial All-Stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
But as soon as James left Cleveland or Miami over the last six years, the franchise spiraled downward. And when he returned to the Cavs, they were instantly great again.
With three titles, four MVPs and six consecutive Finals appearances to his name (seven total), James now talks openly of chasing the ghost of Michael Jordan.
Chasing Michael's ghost
Jordan's not dead, of course. He's alive and owns the Charlotte Hornets. He's also a six-time champion and five-time MVP whom many consider the greatest to ever play.
But not even Jordan went on a run like this. His Bulls teams reached and won the Finals from 1991-93, and again from 1996-98. In between, though, he took a year off to play baseball and when he returned, toward the end of the 1995 campaign, Chicago was eliminated in the conference semifinals.
There is no "in between" with James. His six consecutive Finals hasn't been done since Bill Russell's Celtics teams in the 1960s.
And most, if not all of the seismic shifts among other NBA franchises can be traced back to James' run. It's a trail of broken teams not even Jordan could claim.
"I don't know, I mean, if that's a story you want to tell and write, that's cool," James said. "I'm just, listen, I want to make a point in this league where guys look back at the run that I had and be like, 'Wow, what he was able to do was some good times, some good ball, and what he was able to accomplish was either something we've never seen before, or was one of a kind.'"
Winds of change
Consider the major changes across the NBA since James and the Cavs finished off their improbable comeback from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Warriors in the Finals:
* There's Rose and Noah, gone from the Bulls. Their old coach, Tom Thibodeau, is working the sidelines in Minnesota now. James eliminated the Bulls from the playoffs three times over the last six seasons; four if you count 2010, before James left Cleveland for Miami.
* Frank Vogel is coaching the Orlando Magic, not the Indiana Pacers. James' Heat teams booted the Pacers from the playoffs every year from 2012-14: twice in the conference finals, and once when Indiana was the No. 1 seed.
* Al Horford is a Celtic; Jeff Teague a Pacer. Both used to be Hawks. They were 0-8 against James and the Cavs in the 2015 and 2016 playoffs, and were the East's top seed when Cleveland sent them packing from the conference finals in 2015.
* Also, Kevin Durant is a Warrior now. True, Golden State is in the West, as is Durant's old team, the Thunder. They can't do anything to stop James' dominance in the East, but the Warriors - with Durant, and Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green - are built to string together championships, to stomp out James' rule over the NBA and keep him from stockpiling titles in Cleveland.
Only, that was the Warriors' plan before Durant joined them. James had other ideas. He still does.
"I think every team is put together for one reason and one reason only, and that's to try and win a championship," he said. "That's what Golden State wants to do. For me, I'm the same way. I don't like being stagnant, and we've got great guys in here, but I want to continue to get better in this league each and every year and have the opportunity to win a championship. That's what it comes down to."
More than money
For the first time since he returned to Cleveland, James signed a multiyear deal last summer worth $100 million over three years. The first two seasons are guaranteed.
The structure of James' contracts is first and foremost about maximizing his earning potential. But, secondarily, James wanted to keep Cleveland's front office on its toes, ensuring that general manager David Griffin and owner Dan Gilbert (with his wallet) are always trying to improve the team around him so that the Cavs remain a perennial contender.
When the Cavs signed J.R. Smith to a four-year, $57 million contract on Oct. 22, it meant the team's core of Smith, James, Irving, Love, and Tristan Thompson was under contract for the next 2-4 seasons.
With J.R. signed, LeBron's next big free agent
James is happy about that, but the moment this team becomes stale, or is shown to not be good enough to beat the latest Warriors iteration, James will want the Cavs' front office to react. It's why he said, "I don't like being stagnant."
You see, James has been on the other side of this equation, the victim of a superteam. It's true that he, Wade, and Bosh plotted for years to join forces as free agents in the summer of 2010, but at that time it was also clear to James he couldn't beat the Boston Celtics with his team in Cleveland.
The Celtics, with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, among others, knocked the Cavs out of the playoffs in 2008 and 2010. Boston won it all in 2008 and lost to the Lakers in the 2010 Finals.
"I understood at that point in time that in order for me to compete for a championship and get to that next level, I had to figure out and get with some guys that could be on the same level as Paul, Ray, (Rajon) Rondo, KG and those guys," James said. "I just didn't feel like... to do it here, I was out calling guys in the summer time, trying to get guys to come here and guys just continued to decline offers from us.
"And then at that time we didn't even have any money to go get anybody. I knew personally that D Wade was a free agent, I knew Bosh was a free agent, I knew Amare (Stoudemire) was a free agent, I knew Carlos Boozer was a free agent, so I knew I had to try and get some guys to try and get Boston, man. That was my whole mindset."
Boulevard of broken teams
Before James left Cleveland in 2010, the Cavs had won at least 60 games in each of the past two seasons and reached at least the conference semifinals in every year since 2006. Without him, Cleveland posted seasons of 19, 21, 24, and 33 wins.
With James, Miami went to the Finals every year and won it twice. Without him, the Heat missed the playoffs in 2015 and lost Wade to the Bulls. Neither would've happened had James stayed.
In summary, James' boulevard of broken teams is long and distinguished. It's a road on which he intends to remain, having experienced what it's like to have to move cities to beat the best.
"Yeah, but I was just trying to get Boston," James said. "They're all trying to get me."The contraction in higher ed has distinct consequences for young people hoping for an academic career. If your advisors are telling you to ignore all this, follow your passion, and everything will be fine, my advice is: Find new advisors. Everything is *not* going to be fine.
Moreover, a good chunk of a big university's money comes from cash cow courses (the 1100 students in Economics 101), and these are easily done online as well. Revenues at big university will contract dramatically. There will be cutting; there will be blood on the tile. All those hyphenated departments, majors, and programs, created only to satisfy political demands or the power-lust of big-name professors, will go away.
Apparently these days are upon us. I've heard that 3,000 US colleges and universities will fold within the next 10 years. This gloomy forecast comes from the people who sell grotesquely overpriced textbooks to these schools. What a small lifeless campus can do, Phoenix University Online can do better. Thus, good-bye Direction-State University; good-bye Dead-Guy's-Name College.
Why is the university system in the US about to pop? I first thought about this future back in about 2000 when I was working at a Cal State school. The tone of the place was entirely vocational. There was no student life. No spirit. No mentoring. Nothing that I would associate with higher education. It was a group - albeit a large and at times hard-working group - of young people seeking a certificate by the easiest possible means. A university in name only. Naturally, the thought occured that the whole thing could be done online at a fraction of the cost. And that someone out there would do that. And when they did, the Cal States of the world would go under.
You're hearing it more and more: There's a higher-education bubble. Remember bubbles? They're those things that pop and cause catastrophes. In 2008, the housing finance bubble popped and we're still dealing with the effects. Personally, I think the 4th straight year of economic molasses has a lot to do with long-run trends in technology and the negative effect of the internet on aggregate demand. People who spend all day surfing and tweeting and playing just don't buy as much stuff. They're certainly exposed to a lot less advertising. But still, even when long-run trends are downward, the economy tends to contract via bubble-pops, not smooth decline.
It will be harder and harder and harder to find a tenure-track job. As the years go by, the security of any job you find will erode. Your line may be eliminated for cost reasons. Your department may be shut down, especially if it is in a low-achievement, lost, or boutique field. Respectively, that would be things like Communications, Sociology, or Asian Studies. I could see currently useless fields being folded into departments where there's an aspiration to actually do something; Economics, I'm looking at you. (Obviously I'm only speculating and being rather personal about it at that. I'm sure I've misread many aspects of the state of the University; for all I know, Sociology will turn out to be the most valuable discipline of all in the 21st century.) Beyond line and department closures, your whole school may go under. Academic job security ain't what it used to be.
How do you best protect yourself? First I think you have to recognize how much sheer luxury there is in the current academy, and how much of thta luxury will be pruned away. The primary luxury is in what I would call "the presumption of scholartude." We have hundreds of thousands of people with the title "Professor" and darn near every one of them (me included of course) thinks of himself as an Aristotle. "My job is to think, reflect, ponder, and then declaim truth." As if. Let's face it. All that cogitating and declaiming produces far more crap than truth. I don't mean to denigrate the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge's sake; in fact I think it's wonderful and critically important. The thing is, only 100-200 people worldwide have brains sufficiently marvelous to *earn* that kind of life. The rest of us are just worker-bees in the sphere of knowledge. We have some aspiration to an insight now and then, but for heaven's sake it's not like we're junior Leonardos! Just because we've been given the luxury of Leonardo's lifestyle so far does not mean that our fellow-citizens will indulge us thusly forever. Indeed they almost certainly will not. For the main glory of capitalism, and our largely for-profit university system here in the US, is that unearned luxuries eventually get carved away. Europe will live on with its bloated systems for some time until a major collapse happens, but here, we'll have a correction. And the correction will involve getting rid of professors who just sit around and think and write.
Professors who don't actually know how to do anything will be shown the door; who remains will be professors who can do things. The mere reading of texts and writing of opinions (including reading aloud at conferences opinions that you already wrote down) will not be sufficient to keep a job. The world has no interest in your mere musing. Unless you are really insightful or really funny, the mere articulation of your thoughts will not put bread on the table. Therefore, learn how to do things that the world needs and is willing to pay for. What are those things?
Teaching is doing something. There will always be a small, high-quality market for face-to-face mentoring, old-to-young. Wholesome small campuses that take in loco parentis seriously will want good teachers. There will also be a few slots for rockstar teachers, those whose messages transfer well via video and interactive interfaces. Some mix of religious colleges and online universities will always want teachers.
Empirical analysis is doing something. Professors can do research that actually helps people in the real world solve problems. Fields that teach such things will remain in demand. The critical constraints are, the methods and results have to be either intelligible and persuasive to smart laymen, or, obviously transferable to some form of useful technology. If you can learn how to do this kind of work, there will always be a market for it. Statistics; data; experiment; observation; analysis.
Creating is doing something. Professors can build things, like symphonies and dresses. Professors can write novels and poems, they can offer sermons and software. If you cna learn how to make things that people like, you will be safe.
Just what you do depends on your own tastes and skills, of course. Readers of this blog will be more inclined to pursue games and virtual worlds and social networks. Just make sure you know how to make these things, or analyze them quantitatively and empirically. Don't think you can just have an opinion about games and be well off as a professor. Who will pay for it?
I'm sorry if this comes off as terribly commercial - think of it as cynicism if it helps. Ya gotta eat, kid. If working for other people's money was good enough for Micheleangelo, it's good enough for you. So, don't look at your professor's lifestyles and assume they will be open to you. They won't be. Just reading and thinking and writing won't be enough. Mere expertise won't keep you alive. Instead, figure out how to do something that the world needs, and flourish!Serial Fiction
‘‘I see you are skeptic about what’s in front of you. You have the right to be. Allow me to explain! These are the three African mammals that I have been studying for many years and I have come to the conclusion that they are the best candidates for domestication. However, generations and thousands of years of human experience had failed to do just that, due to those animals’ untamable nature. I took the experiment here far from scrutinizing eyes in order to use unconventional science to solve this problem. As you are undoubtedly aware my success would provide a food source to many starving nations. I will give you a brief run through my approach. The three animals are treated independently with personified nutrition compound. The colors play a very significant part as the animals learn to associate their living quarters, their appearance and food with their well-being. The color even though crucial comes second to the nutrition substance that is designed based on the individual animal’s natural feeding habits and nutrition needs. I have worked on the formulas for these three animals independently for a decade with the help of the greatest minds in the field. The orthodox step is the addition of the pigmenting component. You must have thought that I am loosing my mind for painting the animals different colors. I don’t blame you. The colors however come from a pigmenting ingredient in the nutrition formulas. It took about six months for the pigment to start appearing in their actual fur and years to reach the potent level that is now. See, with the change of looks, personality and character are bound to alter gradually. It’s like taking on a new direction in life that comes with new habits and prompts new actions. Even the untamable adopt the change. They choose lazy days and free food over running wild and scorching the ground for a stick of grass. The association with the color of home, skin and food being uniform makes everything stick. We created a universe better that their own. They liked it, they stayed.’’
‘’In other words they become addicted to the new food!’ Said I.’
‘‘Technically, yes. But using that term makes it sound so sinister. Look! I understand the political and social stumbles paving the way of this out of the lab. The truth is that I have put so much work into it that I don’t want it to go to waste. That’s why you are here. This experiment is not finished. It is very advanced. It needs to be nurtured politically. I have transferred the power of my assets in your hands. And I, as I have always thought you, have made the final arrangements in a triplicate. One copy is sealed in a strong hold on the old continent. The other two copies are for you to keep.’ He handed me two leather-bound ledgers.’
‘He had a grave look on his face as if he was uncertain if I would oblige with his request. It was a gentleman’s request and it was my duty and honor to take the torch from him. Even, if it was only to bury it in the sand. He died solaced! His intensions were good. But! It was a political suicide.’
‘‘Thank you! I will rest better knowing that you are handling the future of my work. I see doubt in your eyes. Take some time to reflect in the garden and then judge me.’ He was fully open.’
‘I didn’t realize how I walked to the garden and sat by his rubber monument. I rested my chin on my hand with an elbow on the table. I couldn’t help but stare at a giant ficus tree. Its leaves were as big as the table, it must have been at least a hundred years old. These plants grow naturally thousands of miles from here. It must have cost a small fortune to excavate and cultivate one in artificial conditions. Had humans gone mad? I was sitting next to a million dollar silicon clone of a wealthy old man. There were fake croissants, butter, toast and tea on the table. Complex fragrance dispensers kept the air infused with the aroma with all of the above mentioned plus heavy tobacco smell from the fake pipe. I could smell the leather on my fingers. That smell reminded me of good old scotch the rolling wet hills around the distilleries in the high lands. My suspicion that I was here to be sedated and used as a shell to plant in my mentor’s brain faded away. It was not that bad. One thing, I promised myself is never to do things in excess of the natural abilities of the environment I am in. There are better ways to keep yourself entertained than acts of mad affliction.’
‘This wine cellar is my alternative to futuristic castle in the middle of the desert. It has been here for hundreds of years, I am just another tenant. It naturally holds the same temperature all year round. It also holds a lot of history and wisdom and I am content being able to visit every so often. Not too often I need to start missing it only then it becomes special.’
NEXT CHAPTER – THE BAKER 19
PREVIOUS CHATER – THE BAKER 17
ALL CHAPTERS
more by PETER ODEON
photograph by paraflyer
The Writers ManifestoAutoGuide.com
With the recall focus aimed squarely at Toyota these days, now would be a great time for an automaker to issue a recall and go unnoticed by the media. General Motors may be in just such a situation, as the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced it is investigating the Chevy Cobalt for faulty steering.
The NHTSA has decided to take action after receiving 1,132 complaints about a loss of power steering in Chevy Cobalt models from 2005-09, as well as the Cobalt SS model from 2008-09. In total, 11 of those cases have been related to crashes due to temporary loss of steering. The recall could affect as many as 905,000 vehicles.
The Cobalt is current in its last year of production as Chevy plans to replace it with the Cruze in 2011.“It’s kill or be killed.”
I saw those words at the beginning of Undertale, and something about them won’t go away. Despite my best efforts to distract myself, that phrase stays in my head. It sticks there like a parasite, a little itch that I can’t quite scratch to satisfaction. It’s… Unnerving.
“It’s kill or be killed,” sneers a character in the opening scene, grinning cruelly at the truth of these words. His eyes are black voids, his mouth a crooked slash across his face like it was carved into him. I think he knows something I don’t. I think he’s hoping I’ll find out what it is.
“It’s kill or be killed.” Damn it, I really can’t shake them.
Can I prove him wrong?
Undertale is one of those games that’s been giving critics a lot of trouble by its sheer weirdness. It’s almost impossible to describe and still do it justice, but many feel the need to praise it anyway, because – well, because it’s amazing. But I’m going to try. I’m also going to do what I can to avoid spoilers, so this review might be weirdly coy in places, but I’ll do my best.
So, Undertale. It’s a game that came out in September after nearly three years of development, made almost solely by a chap named Toby Fox and funded by Kickstarter. It needed only five grand to make, but clearly some people saw potential in it because in classic crowdfunding style it made over ten times the amount.
And that’s interesting in itself, because with a perfunctory glance Undertale does look incredibly cheap. The graphics are nothing special, not a bit of it. They’re designed to look like they’d be on the NES, and though there’s the occasional bit of underwhelming design, every now and then they’ll surprise you – and sometimes they’ll surprise you a lot. This is the kind of graphic design where the placement of a single pixel can convey emotion, and Fox manages to utilise this to its best in some scenes. Oh, and there’s a boss fight where… Agh, I don’t want to spoil. Let’s keep it a surprise, yeah?
And that’s kind of the theme of Undertale – it’s always surprising, never boring. Every scene can make you laugh, quiver, snarl, or even cry. Think about that. I’m a pretty emotionally-repressed guy, and this was making me well-up like a fifteen year-old watching a romance movie about terminally ill people. And I felt like that more than once! I had to go and lift some weights afterwards just to affirm my masculinity.
Because Undertale is Well Written. I’ve capitalised those words, because of how true they are. It’s amazing, it’s superb. From a rather innocuous and simplistic start – “humans live above ground, monsters live beneath ground, and you’ve fallen down from one to the other, oh no,” the game gets a thousand times deeper (no pun intended) than you could possibly imagine. This isn’t a set of rooms and caverns clipped together, this is a living, breathing world that shines on every level. It’s got history, personality, small-scale conflict, large-scale conflict, and a cast of characters who really felt like friends to me at the end.
In fact, Undertale has one thing that I haven’t seen this much of in a long time: HEART. And yes, that is kind of a joke to those who’ve played it, but I really do mean that. You can feel the love, the delight, and the spark of creativity that can’t be factory farmed; that can’t be produced by committee or on the whim of a contract. It’s shining with the personality and pride of its creator in a thousand ways, and really gives the impression that somebody wanted to make this.
This is certainly one of those games that could only ever emerge from an indie company or a solo developer, because Undertale also takes the occasional potshot at mainstream gaming. They’re infrequent and subtle, but they always made me grin when I saw them. My favourite moment of this is the tutorial, where the person escorting you asks with complete seriousness if you’re ready to walk across an empty room, all by your own. Yes? Are you sure? Well, just be careful not to hurt yourself.
And you can’t get that kind of self-parody properly with AAA, because the whole house of cards could come tumbling down if you point out where it’s badly put together. Can you imagine any blockbuster title like Call Of Duty or Rise Of The Tomb Raider having the balls to point and laugh at such a common attribute of gaming? I don’t think I can.
So what about gameplay? Well, it’s odd, but I like it. I’m reminded a little of Earthbound (though that might just be the visuals) mixed with the Mario and Luigi series, as it’s a narrative-driven turn-based RPG that gives you chance to avoid enemy attacks with reaction tests. These tests take the form of little bullet-hell sections, where you have to weave a tiny heart-shaped icon around the various objects that are thrown at it. Pull these sections off and you’ll never suffer a scratch. And good fucking luck in the later battles, buster.
But you don’t need to hurt enemies either, not if you don’t want to. You see, the fascinating thing about Undertale is that it’s possible to complete the whole game without killing anybody at all. Every attacker has an exploitable trick that allows you to persuade them to bugger off and leave you alone. For example, earlier today I was attacked by a small dog in a suit of armour (which is about as normal as enemies get in this game. I haven’t even got to the sentient airplane with complex romantic feelings yet).
And I could’ve killed Rover, sure enough. In fact, killing enemies tends to be the easier option by far. But instead I studied him and thought – why should I? I’m sure we can settle this amicably.
And we did, playing a brief game of fetch before I gave him a friendly pat on the head and he went to sleep in my lap. The battle was over, and everybody was happy. Why bother slaughtering your foes when you could bring the olive branch of peace? It’s generally slower than a sword, but it weighs a lot less on your back.
By the way, the life/death choice isn’t just for show. The game’s story varies HUGELY depending on how murderous you’re feeling. And I can only speak for me, but I couldn’t muster a single iota of aggression, even against the most challenging bosses of all.
That’s weird. I didn’t want to hurt any of the members of the monster kingdom, yet I spend time in The Phantom Pain tormenting people for fun. How the hell did it manage that, considering my usual modus operandi in RPGs is to splatter anything that looks at me funny?
It’s probably the aforementioned characterisation. The cast of Undertale are a lovable band of misfits who care about each other deeply, and who’ve all been wounded by their past in some way or another. They’re not evil – they’ve just suffered. And you might be able to make them feel whole again, if you’re really willing to try.
I’m kind of surprised about this, actually. Normally this sort of “power of friendship” thing would make me roll my eyes and stick my fingers down my throat, but Undertale pulls it off by having a strong character focus and understanding when to dial “the feelz” back just enough to keep it in sub-text, rather than rubbing it in the player’s face.
This is actually a very important distinction. A good writer doesn’t have their characters standing around saying how much they love each other. No, he shows his audience how they interact – and we see that love for ourselves.
And that’s kind of infectious to be honest, because they interact with us too, and we grow to love them as much as anyone. My particular favourite was an early figure named Toriel, who has claimed a special place in my flinty heart alongside Dungeons And Dragons, Cadbury’s milk chocolate and the actress in the “Stacy’s Mum” music video – though for very different reasons than any of those.
But what about flaws? Well, I’m pretty hard pressed to think of any major ones, though there are a few small wrinkles. Occasionally the graphics do seem a bit more “lazy NES visuals” than “clever NES visuals,” and there are one or two story beats I didn’t feel entirely on board with. And though boss fights are pretty brief when you’re going aggressive, the pacifist route tends to take a lot longer – perhaps too long in some cases.
But these are tiny flecks of dirt on a big, sparkling diamond, and there’s one glittery facet I haven’t even mentioned yet – the soundtrack.
Oh my god, the soundtrack. A score so diverse, so clever, so catchy and so fundamentally good I immediately went out and bought it afterwards, stuck it on my phone and had my head bobbing up and down like a pigeon for the rest of the day. The music varies between retro 8-bit tunes, dynamic upbeat guitar solos and powerful orchestral pieces – and that’s barely scratching the surface. There’s techno-synth pop, tinkling little music boxes and swinging jazz pieces that wouldn’t sound out of place on a montage in a kid’s cartoon. But it gels together well and certain melodies are repeated at the most poignant second possible, giving a lovely sense of deja vu.
Whilst Undertale does have a few very minor blemishes, I’m hard pressed to think of anything fundamentally wrong with it. Sure, some things it does better than others, but it doesn’t |
’ve been going to shul, I’ve been falling in love with these men, these beautiful men of shul, who combine the machismo of Jewish scholarship and the softness of maternal love.
The leader of our chabura—my shul’s study group—has a face that radiates the wisdom of Torah and also, improbably, the kindness of motherhood. He gently spoon-feeds us the complex matters of the Talmud, smiling indulgently as we struggle—sometimes with a good question and other times, with klutz-kashyas (questions that betray our ignorance). He comes to shul, face broadened by Torah knowledge, features that look as if they were brushed lightly with egg, a broad Russian back that I place as having come somewhere from the Pripyat Marsh in the Russian steppes, like a genetic hiccup echoing through the generations. In short, he has a yiddisher panim. How can you not be a better person just by looking at his face?
But it is not only the scholars, the leaders, who are beautiful. There are the broken ones, as well, often good and pious, but too often empty. But even these broken ones are part of a whole—a minyan.
One man in our shul dresses like a hobo; his hair is wild and shoulder-length, and I would like to scream at him: Get a haircut! I cannot bear when he is called to the Torah for an aliyah—I am often the Torah reader and it is irritating in the extreme to stand next to him as he makes his blessings. He makes a spectacle of himself: He reads together with me loudly and in a way that is thoroughly distracting; his spittle often winds up on the letters of the holy parchment. It is a relief when he steps down from the bimah, but he too must get an aliyah once in a while like everyone else. Doesn’t the Torah say the entire nation is holy?
One man davens three times a day at the shul, standing in the back and faithfully answering amen with devotion. Tall and prosperous-looking, he is a well-heeled professional, yet inexplicably he refuses to make a single donation of any kind to the shul. “I wish I could afford to,” he says with a laugh, before he gallops away with his tallis and tefillin, and then rushes off, presumably to his office. Why? I believe this man is looking for something in shul, and I am pretty sure he doesn’t know what it is. But I have a feeling the shul won’t receive a donation until he finds it. This, I think, is going to take a very long time.
Another man I know can always be found in shul, but never in the sanctuary. Instead, he is near the coffee machine, a sad sack who is forever injuring himself in one accident or another. He is moderately overweight, with a large body shaped like an anjou pear. One gets the impression that there is something about him that is out of whack. To be near him is to experience all manner of psychological and spiritual imbalance and disequilibrium. He dresses in garish clothes, and the way he walks and his bearing looks as though he were about to topple like an old tree. He reminds me of the Sholem Aleichem-type of Jew who is unsuccessful at everything except the winning of an odd lawsuit here and there. He is the kind of man I would like to throw out of shul. And yet, shul would not be shul without him.
After all, what is the Yiddish saying? Nine rabbis cannot daven together, but 10 illiterate shoemakers—a minyan they make. (Nayn rabbonim kennen kayn minyan machen, auber tzehn shuster’n …) Perhaps in shul we come to terms with the broken-ness in all of us: the part of us that is out of touch, out of step.
For better or worse (and I think for better) the shul is my home. In these sacred precincts where odd bits of humanity and sacredness commingle—bits of light and loss, hubris and humility, the hobo and the prince, the schlep and the schlepped—I watch myself and my contemporaries grow old as we say amens and chant verses and see people and things that alternately torture and touch us.
***
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Alter Yisrael Shimon Feuerman, a psychotherapist in New Jersey, is director of The New Center for Advanced Psychotherapy Studies. He is also author of the Yiddish novelYankel and Leah.As I write this, I am currently in the San Jose airport, waiting to board my flight back to New York City. You'd think I would have had enough of Magic after a weekend of nonstop Limited play, but then you obviously don't know me well enough. I woke up today comfortably at 8-1 and finished a respectable 12-3, but my itch hasn't been scratched yet. Yes, I am going to do another draft, right here, right now.
Before I get into the pack for today, I want to mention something I have found extremely important in this Limited format: sizing.
Creatures in Aether Revolt are small. Remember how was mediocre in Kaladesh? Well, it's pretty great now. Don't be afraid to maindeck if your deck has Improvise. Even more so, there are so few creatures with four or more power that a 3/4 is just great! I won many games off using (which needs to get more respect...I got one eleventh pick) to make a random 2/3 a 3/4. This is also why I have higher than most people. Yes, we all agree it's one of the best cards in the set, but I'll take it over anything barring. The +1/+1 counters on all of your creatures go such a long way, more than I expected. And the 5/5 body is completely uncontested!
Woohoo, you learned something! All right, now let's get into the pack.
Pack 1, Pick 1
The Pack:
The Pick:
My Take!Most people run into big problems when trying to mine Bitcoins. If you are a newbie, it is very hard to know what is what when you are just starting so you will surely run into some problems. In this article, we will show you how to mine Bitcoins step by step. This guide is meant to help you get a basic understanding of the process.
Get a Bitcoin Mining Rig.
First things first; get a mining rig. Bitcoin mining is a super competitive niche to get into. The more miners that come on board with the latest mining hardware, the more difficult it becomes to mine. Even before you start Bitcoin mining, you need to do your research. What I mean is that you need to find out if Bitcoin mining is profitable for you. You don’t want to go through the difficulty associated with Bitcoin mining, just to discover that Bitcoin mining is not profitable for you.
The best way to find out if Bitcoin mining is profitable for you is by using the Bitcoin mining calculator. Enter the data of the Bitcoin miner which you want to buy and see how long it will take you to make a profit. However, all I can say is that if you don’t have a few hundred dollars to spare you won’t be able to mine any Bitcoins. Once you have finished with your calculations, it is time to get your miner. Do your research to know which miner is best for you.
You should know that in the past it was very possible to mine Bitcoins with your computer or with a graphics card, which is also known as GPU is mining. Today, the mining niche has become so competitive that you have to use ASIC miners; a special computer that is built strictly for mining Bitcoins.
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Get a Bitcoin Wallet.
After you have gotten a miner, the next thing to do is to get a Bitcoin Wallet. Because Bitcoin is an internet-based currency, you need a place to safe keep your Bitcoins. Once you have gotten a wallet, make sure you get your wallet address. Your wallet address will be a long sequence of letters and numbers. Each wallet has a different way to get the Bitcoin address, but most wallets are straightforward about it.
Note. You will definitely need your PUBLIC Bitcoin address and not your Private Key (which is like a password for your wallet).
If you are using a self-hosted wallet (for instance you just downloaded a program to your computer, and it’s not using an Internet-based service), there is one additional very important step that you must know. You have to be sure that you have a copy of the wallet.dat file on a thumb drive, and they print a copy out and keep it in a safe location. The main reason you should print a copy of the wallet.dat file and keep it in a safe location is to safe yourself and your Bitcoin in case your computer crashes. If your computer crashes without you having a copy of your wallet.dat file, you will lose all your Bitcoins. Although they won’t go to someone else, they will disappear forever.
Find a mining pool.
Now that you have gotten a wallet, you are probably roaring to go, but if you want to make money from Bitcoin, you need to join a mining pool. A mining pool is a group of Bitcoin miners that combines all their computing to make more Bitcoins.
In a mining pool, you are given smaller and easier algorithms to solve, and all of the miners combined work will make you likely to solve the bigger algorithm and earns Bitcoins that are shared throughout the pool based on any contributions each member of the makes. Basically, you will make a consistent amount of Bitcoin and you will be more likely to receive a good return on your investment.
However, when choosing a mining pool, you will need to ask yourself several questions:
How stable is the mining pool?
What is the reward method of the mining pool; is it proportional/score based/pay per share/PPLNS?
How easy is it withdrawing funds?
What fees do they charge for mining and withdrawal of funds?
How frequently do they find a block (it means how frequently do they get rewarded)?
What kind do stats do they provide?
Once you are able to answer all these questions, you can move on to choosing a mining pool. Immediately you have set up your account for the mining pool; you will have to add a “worker.” You will have to have a worker ID for every miner you have so that the pool can keep track of contributions.
Get a mining program for your computer
Now that you have got the basics covered, we are almost ready to start rolling (I mean mining). You definitely need a mining client to run on your computer so that you will be able to manage and monitor your mining rig. You will need to find the right software depending on the mining rig you have. Most mining pools have their software, but some mining pools don’t. There are lots of Bitcoin mining software like BFGMiner, MacMiner, but Cgminer is the most common.
Start Mining
So hopefully, everything is ready to go. The one last thing left for you to do is to start mining. So to start mining, you have to connect your miner to a power outlet and fire it up. Make sure you also connect the miner to your computer (usually via USB) and start up your mining software. Once you start up your mining software, enter your mining pool details (username and password). Once it has configured, you will immediately start mining for Bitcoins. You will start collections shares which will stand in for your part of the word in finding the next block. Depending on the mining pool you have chosen, you will be paid or your share of coins; just to make sure that you enter your address in required fields when signing up to the pool.
Bitcoin mining has a very unfortunate feature; if you don’t stay updated in the Bitcoin industry, you will make less and less money over time. This is not just because of the four-year inflation prevention; it is because all other miners will be busy improving their nabbing blocks and improving their equipment faster than you have done. To keep up with other miners and make more money, you need to update your software wallet and even your hardware. You also have to stay on top of any important development or news and watch how Bitcoins compare to other cryptocurrencies and currencies. And most importantly, don’t be afraid to change anytime.
Last update on 2019-02-26 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising APIWatch CBS News Videos Online
This story was filed by CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer in Vienna. CBSNews.com's Tucker Reals in London contributed to the report.
(AP Photo/Hans Punz)
Diplomats from Iran, the U.S., Russia and France agreed Wednesday to a draft proposal that would see Iran ship about 75 percent of its enriched uranium to Russia by the end of this year.
Each nation's government will still need to ratify the agreement individually by Friday, and it's unclear whether Iran's hard-line rulers intend to do so.
Iran's envoy was upbeat following the morning talks. Lead negotiator Ali Asghar Soltanieh told reporters upon emerging from the closed door meetings that a side deal attached to the proposal includes an historic first: a proposed direct transfer of U.S. nuclear technology to Iran, including "control, instrument and safety equipment" for the research reactor at Tehran University.
Above: Iran's Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, left, speaks to media after talks between Iran and the United States, Russia and France over Iran's nuclear program, Oct. 21, 2009, at Vienna's International Center.
That deal, which the American side has not yet confirmed to CBS News, would be monitored and facilitated by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency.
"We have been informed about the readiness of the United States, in a technical project with the IAEA, to cooperate in this respect," said Soltanieh. "This will be also further elaborated at a later stage," he added.
Diplomats from Iran, the U.S., France and Russia resumed meetings Wednesday in Vienna, Austria seeking agreement on a deal that would see Iran move the majority of its enriched uranium stockpile out of the country before the end of this year.
Iran agreed in principle a month ago that the uranium should go to Russia and France for re-processing into fuel rods for medical use in their old, U.S.-built research reactor at the University of Tehran.
The Obama administration and its allies in Europe are pushing for the deal because it would move the uranium out of the Islamic Republic's reach for any potential military purposes.
Iran could make another equivalent stockpile of enriched uranium — theoretically enough for a bomb — but it would take about two years. The country's leaders have always insisted their nuclear intentions are peaceful, but the U.S. and many European nations fear they are hiding a clandestine weapons program.
Senior American officials said before heading back into the talks that negotiations would end Wednesday, but that the outcome was still far from clear.
Asked whether a deal was within reach they said, "We just can't tell."
Describing the talks as "classic negotiation," the U.S. officials said that, even after a day and a half of hard bargaining, none of the outstanding issues had been completely resolved.
It's believed the two main sticking points are the quantity of uranium Iran will ship abroad for re-enrichment, and how soon they will do it.
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner laid out France's terms for the deal Tuesday in Paris. "It must be before the end of the year," he said, and Iran must send, "at least 1,200 kilograms" (2,600 pounds, or about 75% of their stockpile) of its enriched uranium to Russia to be re-processed.
Wednesday night, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, which is also taking part in the talks, said they were making progress on the technical issues — including the "how much and when" questions, and costs.
"The door is wide open for Iran. If they want this deal, all they have to do is say yes and there will be one," said International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei.
American officials have continued talks with Iran in Vienna even as the Islamic Republic moved Tuesday to sentence American-Iranian academic Kian Tajbaksh to 12 years in jail for policital reasons.
The White House has choosen to deal with the various Iran issues one at a time. While Tajbaksh's sentence has angered the Obama administration, there is hope that a nuclear deal with Iran could set the stage for a more constructive relationship overall on all matters, including human rights.A new report from Taiwan's DigiTimes suggests that Microsoft is readying to mass produce "a head-worn virtual gaming device". The device is expected debut in June - at the E3 show in LA.
In November we heard that Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick had tried an 'enhanced reality' product at Microsoft HQ. He described it as follows: "The demo that I had was at Microsoft's headquarters in a room given over to this [technology], and you had an immersive headset on, and there are characters that appear to be real, and you're interacting with the characters and they're not real, and it's pretty extraordinary," reports GameSpot.
As is often the case, the DigiTimes sources come from the "upstream supply chain," the contract manufacturer companies in Taiwan. The sources indicate that Microsoft's hardware team, developers of the Surface tablet, are making plans with Taiwan manufacturers to mass produce the head-worn device in time for E3, which takes place in June.
As Sony pushes forward with its Project Morpheus is it believed that head-worn VR products will become a new front line in the competition between the PS4 and Xbox One. It's entirely possible that Sony's VR headset will be readied within a similar timeframe to clash directly with Microsoft's plans.
Microsoft is said to have been planning such a VR/AR device since 2010. Previously seen documents contain an illustration, as above, showing people gathered around a large TV wearing special glasses that wirelessly connect with a games console. Other previous mentions of a Microsoft VR/AR project are tagged by the codename 'Fortaleza,' or 'fortress' in Portuguese.Commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday the NFL's competition committee would consider in the offseason replacing the kickoff. The league previously had moved the kickoff from the 30- to 35-yard line to cut down on violent collisions.
Goodell and Rich McKay, the head of the league's competition committee, discussed an idea brought up by Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano in which a team, instead of kicking off, would get the ball at its own 30-yard line in a fourth-and-15 situation. The team then would punt the ball away or, to replace an onside kick, could go for it and, if it failed to get a first down, the opposing squad would start with great field position.
"The fact is, it's a much different end of the play," Goodell said during the meeting, according to Time magazine.
Speaking about the potential change before Thursday night's Raiders-Broncos game in Oakland, Calif., the commissioner said, "I thought it was an interesting idea. The committee will look at it."
Schiano discussed his idea earlier this season in an ESPN The Magazine story. Schiano, who was the coach at Rutgers in 2010 when Eric LeGrand was paralyzed on a kickoff, has seen first-hand how the play can adversely affect the safety of players.
LeGrand broke two vertebrae and suffered a serious spinal cord injury in October 2010 during a kickoff return against Army. He became an inspiration to his college teammates, eventually being able to stand upright with the help of a metal frame.
Schiano told ESPN The Magazine in September that he believed kickoffs eventually would be eliminated from pro football.Peter Svensson writes his notes from Image Expo. And we publish them!
Jason Aaron hits the stage. “I used to do Scalped. R.M Guera was the artist and co-creator. If you ever wondered if the Scalped team did the Bible”…
Theie new book is The Goddamned with Giuila Brusco on colours. He has changed his mind, it is “what if Tarantino did the Bible?” Set in a time before the biblical flood, before Noah.
So what exactly happened to get the world so broken that God decided to kill everyone. Aaron is not seeing this book in a Christian bookstore, and if there is a hell this book is ensuring that he goes there.
Every arc will see a new story set in that world, some might be from the Bible. but interpreted differently. He sees it like a caveman spaghetti western, where you have sharpened sticks instead of guns. And cavemen fighting dinosaurs. November 2015.
Cameron Stewart also joined Aaron on stage, to talk about The Other Side. They created this close to a decade ago with Vertigo and Stewart is still proud of it and immersed himself in Vietnam to do the job right. Doing a new edition of it, deluxe edition for Image Comics. Stewart created new art, but they didn’t have it ready for the presentation. The volume will have some new material, the art will be remastered and there will be a new epilogue.
Catch up with the rest of the Image Expo announcements here.
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
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None foundFor women, phone calls can keep long-distance friendships going, but men need to meet face-to-face, study shows
Key to keeping friendships alive different for men and women, scientists say
Much like a long-distance romance, it can be difficult to keep the spark alive in a friendship with someone living in a different city. Now scientists say they have uncovered the key to staying close – and it appears to be different for men and women.
Men need to meet up face-to-face and bond over activities, according to the study of students leaving home for the first time, while for female friendships, long phone conversations can bridge the physical distance.
Professor Robin Dunbar, who led the work at the University of Oxford, said: “What determined whether [friendships] survived with girls was whether they made effort to talk more to each other on the phone.”
However, talking had absolutely no effect on boys’ relationships, the study found. “What held up their friendships was doing stuff together,” said Dunbar. “Going to a football match, going to the pub for a drink, playing five-a-side. They had to make the effort. It was a very striking sex difference.”
Should men invest more in friendships? Read more
In the research, thirty students who were in their final year of sixth form were asked to compile detailed lists of all their friends and how close they felt to each of them.
Four months after the initial assessment, the students took their final A-level exams and many left home for university. They were then followed up nine months and 18 months after the initial assessment.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston, Dunbar said different friendship styles between genders could be behind the effect.
“This is about the idea that women clearly have much more intense close friendships,” he said. “They’re very intense, very like romantic relationships – in the sense if they break, they break catastrophically.”
By contrast, men tend to have more casual friendships.
“They tend to have a group of four guys that they do stuff with,” he said. “With guys it is out of sight out of mind. They just find four more guys to go drinking with.”A driver had no time for pipeline protesters who were blocking traffic in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
The small group of protesters, who oppose the planned construction of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline, blocked traffic near the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers office in downtown L.A.
During the demonstration, aerial footage showed a motorist in a white car who was determined to get to his destination.
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Instead of going around the crowd, the driver went right into it. As the vehicle pushed through, protesters gathered around it with their signs.
One even briefly rode on the hood of the car before falling off.
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Among claims that led Consumer Affairs Victoria to investigate the Get Off Drugs Naturally Foundation was a graph showing “cocaine metabolites being excreted in the sweat and urine of clients participating in the Detoxification program”.
The foundation’s site in East Warburton is owned by Narconon, an international group inspired by the teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Counted among its supporters are singer Kate Ceberano, who won the church’s Freedom Medal.
An online testimonial from Ms Ceberano says the detox helps people “overcome their addiction using no drugs but a thorough Sauna Detox and a series of life skills courses”.
But the CAV probe, triggered by complaints to the state’s Health Services Commissioner, found there was a “lack of scientific methodology” in the foundation’s claims. As a result, the foundation will remove claims from its websites, pay a fine of $3000, and publish information about the undertaking.
Patients at the Get Off Drugs clinic pay thousands of dollars for rehab, which includes spending hours daily in a sauna and self-help classes.
National policy manager at the Australian Drug Foundation, Geoff Munro, said people should be cautious about undertaking treatment.
Consumer Affairs Minister Jane Garrett said misleading health claims often made vulnerable people the target.
“It gives people false hope that a complex health issue can be quickly and easily solved,” she said.
Get Off Drugs’ executive director Andrew Cunningham said last night the foundation was working with Consumer Affairs to clarify its web content.
“Anyone doing this program must have their healthcare professional’s advice as to their suitability for the program. This has also been a long-standing policy for our facility. We have been organising a scientific, peer-review study here in Australia,” Mr Cunningham said.
“We have assisted hundreds of addicts and their families, over a decade, to become drug free and productive members of society.”
He added that he had ten years experience in the field. Staff included a trained nurse, two naturopaths and paramedic and key staff members had also qualified for a certificate IV in disability for alcohol and other drugs, Mr Cunningham said.
A spokesman for Ms Ceberano said she continued to support the centre.
matthew.johnston@news.com.auPitt was cleared to play its first ACC football game Labor Day night Sept. 2 against Florida State at Heinz Field, and the conference will make an official announcement Monday, a high-ranking college football source said Saturday.
The game will be televised by ESPN.
Pitt was scheduled to play Villanova on Aug. 31 in the 2013 season opener, but that game was canceled.
Villanova has scheduled another game against an FBS opponent to replace Pitt this season. Florida State and Pitt officials declined comment, and an ACC official did not respond to phone calls and an email for comment.
An ACC spokesman said earlier this month that Pitt’s game against defending ACC champion Florida State was one of the options being considered for an opening-night, nationally televised date, but both schools needed to move games scheduled for Aug. 31. Florida State would have played Wofford.
Pitt is leaving the Big East in all sports after the 2012-13 academic year, ending a football alliance that began in 1993.
The Panthers will compete in the Coastal Division of the ACC, with North Carolina, Duke, Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech.
The ACC is expected to announce its entire football schedule this week, but it had previously revealed Pitt will play FSU, Miami, North Carolina and Virginia at Heinz Field and Duke, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Syracuse on the road.
Jerry DiPaola is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.
Jerry DiPaola is a Tribune-Review pitt football reporter. You can contact Jerry at 412-320-7997, jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter.The silver lining of Chicago's snowless winter: Our shovels and backs get a break.
As of Wednesday, Chicago has a new weather record: 320 days without at least an inch of snowfall.
That breaks a 72-year-old record last set in the season of 1939-1940.
Sunday's dusting pushed the city's snow total to 1.3 inches for the entire season, a rarity for a city that saw its largest snowfall ever just two winters ago.
According to NBC Chicago meteorologist Andy Avalos, Chicago winters usually produce 11.5 inches by this time of the year. That means we've had a mere 10 percent of typical snow to-date.
City Saving Big With Lack of Snow
But the Chicago-area's lack of snow could pose problems down the road. Sharon Wright reports. (Published Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013)
This mild winter is no stranger to record-busters. The record for most snow-less days set in 1994 fell Dec. 10 after Chicago went 281 days without snow accumulation and unseasonably warm temperatures.
The record for latest snowfall of at least 1 inch in a calendar year is approaching, as well. Jan. 17, 1899 marks the latest arrival of snow in city history.
But What's Good for the Goose....
Blizzard 2011: Animals in the Snow
That lack of snow is providing some relief for the city's bean counters and its taxpayers.
"It was in 2011 we used over 260,000 tons of salt. In 2012, we used a little bit over 100,000 tons. And so far, in 2013, we've used about 4,800 tons of salt. So, quite a big difference," said Streets and Sanitation Deputy Commissioner Dominic Salerno.
That translates to a big financial savings. Salerno said a typical year of snow removal runs about $20 million.
... May Not Be Good for the Gander
Experts warn that the lack of snow will likely affect the water table later in the season. By this time of the year, Lake Michigan and the Chicago River would typically be frozen over, sealing in water. But that water is evaporating this year.
"The effect of a drought has been a devastating impact on the agricultural economy," said Henry Henderson, the director of the Midwest bureau of the National Resources Defense Council. "These low levels in Lake Michigan could make the river reverse itself now into Lake Michigan, so we would have the problem of sewage going into southern Lake Michigan."
The unseasonable warmth isn't just affecting the Chicago area. The Mississippi River is dangerously shallow in places, and that threatens the ability for barges to pass.
Last year, most of Illinois dealt with drought conditions.Hawaii Marijuana Decriminalization Bill Passes Unanimously in Senate
HONOLULU, HI — A marijuana decriminalization bill aimed at reducing minor marijuana possession offenses to a non-criminal, $1000 fine-only offense unanimously passed a vote on the floor of the Hawaii Senate Tuesday by a 25-0 vote.
The bill, Senate Bill 472 SD1, which establishes a civil violation for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana, with offenders subject to a fine of $1000, now advances to the House.
The bill originally called for fines up to $100, but was amended to a set fine of $1,000.
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The bill is co-sponsored by thirteen of the state’s 25 senators, and received a favorable recommendation by a Senate committee last week.
Currently, the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana for non-medical purposes is classified as a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana could free up police and judicial resources, and could save state and county governments in Hawaii an estimated $9 million annually according to a University of Hawaii study released in January.
The same study found that arrests for simple marijuana possession have increased by 50% since 2004.
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Recent polls show that Hawaii residents, who have been allowed the use of medical marijuana since 2000, strongly support further marijuana law reform. A poll released in January found strong support for decriminalization (58%), medical marijuana dispensaries (78%), and for the existing 13 year old medical marijuana law passed by the legislature in 2000 (81%).
A bill to legalize and regulate the adult possession and recreational use of marijuana in Hawaii died in a House committee earlier this month.
Tags: HawaiiWorld heavyweight boxing champion and MP tells reporters, ahead of fight in Mexico, he is keen to run for president in 2015
First he was a boxer, and a brainy one at that – the first heavyweight champion to hold a PhD. Then he was an MP, winning a seat in the Ukrainian parliament last year after promising to shake up the political establishment.
Now Vitali Klitschko is reportedly keen to run for president in Ukraine, with a promise to modernise the country and improve the lives of ordinary Ukrainians.
During a trip to Mexico to discuss his next fight, the reigning WBC heavyweight champion, said he would run for president in 2015, according to the World Boxing Council. His office would not confirm the report. But Klitschko, 42, has become one of Ukraine's most popular MPs with a reformist agenda and a stellar sporting career behind him.
Klitschko was elected to parliament last autumn as part of the pro-western party Udar. Since then, he has campaigned against what he calls authoritarian moves by President Viktor Yanukovych, such as the jailing of former Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko. His supporters are known in Ukraine as the "disappointed" – people who don't believe in the authorities or the opposition and feel bitterly let down by the failure of the 2004 Orange revolution.
In an interview with the Guardian last year, Klitschko said: "Many people want to be the president, many people. But it's not enough. If some candidate doesn't have support of the people it's no more than a wish."LONDON (Reuters) - Britain runs a secret monitoring station in the Middle East to intercept large numbers of telephone calls, emails and internet traffic that it shares with intelligence agencies in the United States, the Independent newspaper reported on Friday.
Satellite dishes are seen at GCHQ's outpost at Bude, close to where trans-Atlantic fibre-optic cables come ashore in Cornwall, southwest England June 23, 2013. REUTERS/Kieran Doherty
The station is part of a 1 billion pound ($1.56 billion)global eavesdropping project run by Britain to intercept digital communications, the paper said, citing leaked documents from former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden.
Snowden’s leaks have sparked a global surveillance scandal that has pitted U.S. President Barack Obama against the Kremlin and prompted British Prime Minister David Cameron’s advisers to demand the return of secrets from the Guardian newspaper.
The London-based Independent, which did not say how it obtained the information from the Snowden documents, said the British had tapped into the underwater fiber-optic cables which pass through the Middle East.
Britain’s foreign ministry and a spokesman for Britain’s eavesdropping agency GCHQ declined comment.
Data gleaned from the monitoring station, whose exact location the Independent said it would not reveal, is then passed onto GCHQ in Cheltenham, England, and shared with the U.S. National Security Agency.
Snowden’s leaks have embarrassed both Britain and the United States by laying bare the extent of their surveillance programs. London and Washington say their spies operate within the law and that the leaks have damaged national security.
UNDERWATER CABLES
Western intelligence agencies rushed to improve their monitoring of Middle East traffic after the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
A network of worldwide cables pass from Britain and the United States through the Mediterranean, running via the Suez canal linking India and the Far East, according to a map from fiber-optic cable providers, Alcatel-Lucent
In the Middle East, underwater cables from the sea link into a number of points on land including Tel Aviv, Athens, Istanbul, Cyprus and several Egyptian cities.
Telecommunication links between countries were expanded during the British empire in an attempt to link its colonies.
Britain still has two areas of sovereign territory in Cyprus with a NATO military base in south east Turkey.
Britain’s monitoring station in the Middle East was set up under former Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who served in that post between 2007 and 2010, the Independent said.
The Guardian newspaper previously reported in May that GCHQ had tapped fiber-optic cables and shared personal data with the NSA under a project codenamed “Tempora”.
British police said on Thursday that documents seized from the partner of a Guardian journalist who has led coverage of Snowden’s leaks were “highly sensitive”, and could put lives at risk if they fell into the wrong hands.
Counter-terrorism detectives said they had begun a criminal investigation after looking at material taken from David Miranda, partner of American journalist Glenn Greenwald, during his nine-hour detention at Heathrow Airport on Sunday.
Miranda, a Brazilian citizen who had been ferrying documents between Greenwald and a Berlin-based journalist contact of Snowden’s, was held at Heathrow under anti-terrorism powers. He was released without charge minus his laptop, phone, a computer hard drive and memory sticks. He later left for Brazil. ($1 = 0.6421 British pounds)When we think of great mystics and wonder-working saints, we often think of those who lived centuries ago. Yet, St. Pio of Pietrelcina was both a mystic and a performer of many miracles—and he died in 1968, only 46 years ago.
In many ways, this saint was and is a contradiction to our scientific, rational age, and despite their eagerness to prove him a fraud, skeptics remain consistently unable to explain the many miracles that accompanied St. Pio’s life.
But while St. Pio is remembered as |
began in the museum’s basement where glass and frames protecting the works were removed. The technique is a combination of a three-dimensional laser scan of the painting, digital imaging and state-of-the-art high-resolution printing. A type of very soft cloth described as feeling both like rubber and silk, was applied, taking in the relief of the original painting. After seven hours of delicate work, a wide negative was produced. The original, unharmed, was rehung in the Museum and the cloth was sent to Fuji’s laboratory in Belgium. Then, with the exact measurement of the relief, two color matchers got to work, with the colors projected into the relief. From this mold, 260 Relievos for each painting, were produced using 3D printing – each inspected by a curator. The mold is then destroyed. Even the exquisite frames are re-produced by hand, made from rosewood in the south of England.
“The Museum is the first in the world to have this patent,” explains van Eck. “It’s an amazing capability because the lead in the paints used by the artists of Van Gogh’s time, has caused deterioration in the original paintings.” He believes that the Relievos, priced at $40,000 U.S. each, while still a chunk of change, will increase in value.
That’s a bargain when you know that Vincent van Gogh’s painting, Vase With Fifteen Sunflowers sold at Christie’s auction for 86.3 million to a private collector from Japan in 1987!
In hindsight, it’s almost unimaginable that Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime –Red Vineyard at Arles. This painting now resides at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. The rest of Van Gogh’s more than 900 paintings were not sold or made famous until after the painter’s death in 1890. In May 1901, German Jewish art dealer Paul Cassirer who promoted Van Gogh and Cezanne, organized the inclusion of five Van Gogh canvases in the May show of the Berlin Secession.
The limited edition Relievos (210 of the 260 are for sale,) are all numbered and certified and even show the original stickers and markings on the reverse of each canvas. A portion of the sales will go back to the Museum in Amsterdam.
Will this high-tech 3D printing for Relievos become the new standard for reproducing all original art perhaps even sold in museum shops? van Eck believes so. “The Getty and MOMA have already inquired about it. It certainly changes the accessibility of great art to the masses in the 21st Century.”
TOP PHOTO: Willem Van Gogh, the painter’s great, great nephew, opened the Oakridge Centre Exhibition, in Vancouver Canada.
Tribute International WebsiteVegetarians need the same amount of protein as omnivores – 5.5 ounces a day, based on a 2,000-calorie diet – but it doesn’t have to come from animal sources. Plant-based sources of protein include soy, legumes, seeds, nuts and whole grains. Eat a variety of plant proteins each day to ensure you get all the necessary amino acids. Vegetarians should also aim to get enough iron from dried beans, dark green leafy vegetables and iron-enriched products, as well as vitamin B-12, which is only found naturally in animal products. Look for fortified breakfast cereals and soy beverages. Vegetarians also run the risk of being deficient in zinc, so take in plenty of grains, nuts and legumes. If you don't eat dairy products, obtain calcium from plant sources such as spinach, kale, broccoli and fortified soy products.'I feel like I've been given four lives': Father is among first to receive THREE kidney transplants from his OWN family
Andy Knox went into renal failure when he was 25 years old
He was put on the transplant list and told without treatment he could die
In 1998 his mother Teresa stepped in donating her kidney for his first op
Eight years later it failed and Mr Knox's father Freddie volunteered to help
Last year the 42-year-old's second donated kidney also failed
Sister Helen, 33, was found to be a 100 per cent match
Two weeks ago the siblings went into Royal Liverpool Hospital for third op
Father-of-one Mr Knox said he feels'rejuvenated' thanking his family
When his kidneys began to fail at the age of 25, Andy Knox faced a lifetime hooked up to a dialysis machine.
He was put on to the transplant list but warned he would have to undergo dialysis for six months before he was deemed eligible for a new organ.
In those six months if he received no treatment at all M,r Knox was warned his renal failure would claim his life.
Determined not to watch their son deteriorate in front of their eyes, the now 42-year-old's parents Freddie and Teresa, stepped in.
Andy Knox (bottom left) is believed to be among a handful of people in the world to have received three kidney transplants from his mother Teresa (bottom right), father Freddie (top right) and sister Helen (top left)
They put themselves forward to be tested to see if they were a match - and remarkably, both parents were told they could save their son.
It was Mrs Knox, 63, who insisted on joining her son in the operating theatre, donating her kidney, in what appeared to be a successful transplant operation.
But after more than 50 hospital visits in the next eight years, the organ began to fail.
In 2006 Mr Knox returned to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital for transplant number two.
This time it was his father, Freddie, 67, who stepped in to help, donating one of his kidneys.
Again the success of the transplant operation was short-lived, when last year - seven years after receiving his father's kidney - Mr Knox faced another failing organ.
He was forced to go back on dialysis and appeared to be running out of options when his sister Helen, 33, said she wanted to help.
The nursery manager underwent the relevant tests, which revealed she was a 100 per cent match.
Two weeks ago the siblings were admitted to the Royal Liverpool where surgeons carried out Mr Knox's third transplant.
The father-of-one today said he feels'rejuvenated' and is looking forward to getting his life back on track after years of uncertainty and treatment.
Mr Knox, whose son Bailey is 15, said:'In the space of two weeks I had gone from being on top of the world to being told I may only have six months to live.
The 42-year-old's first operation took place at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital in 1998 when he was 25 years old. Eight years later he had the second procedure, when father Freddie donated one of his kidneys
'Without a matching donor I faced life on dialysis. But I was extremely fortunate because mum and dad had tests and were both matches for me.
'You have to take a lot of drugs to stop your body rejecting the kidney but they suppress your immune system, which leaves you at risk of infection.
'It is a fine balancing act, and I was just unlucky. The air smells cleaner and food tastes good again.
'I have a real feeling of rejuvenation and it feels like I've been given four lives.
'Mum, dad and Helen have all put their own lives at risk to make my life more comfortable and I will be forever grateful for that.
'Mum, dad and Helen have all put their own lives at risk to make my life more comfortable and I will be forever grateful for that' - Transplant patient Andy Knox
'They can see that I am not taking it for granted by keeping myself fit and active. Some people can be dialysis for 10 or 20 years and never get a donor.
'Some eventually get one from a stranger, which is great for them but the added benefit I have is that I can thank my mum, dad and Helen every day.'
After his first transplant, Mr Knox took up a voluntary committee management role for Transplant Sport UK.
He won two silver medals at the World Transplant Games in Australia where he was captain of the UK's tennis team.
He has also won medals at the Games in Thailand in 2007, Australia 2009 and Sweden 2011.
Mr Knox said: 'The games are a way for people like me to show everyone that since having a transplant, we have not just sat at home and rested on our laurels.
'It shows that we want to make the most of what we've been given.
Two weeks ago Mr Knox and his sister Helen (pictured) underwent his third transplant. He said he feels'rejuvenated', and thanked his family for stepping in when he needed their help
'My son Bailey was born a year after my first transplant so he's grown up knowing that I need a lot of treatment.
'He's still in school but he's a bright lad and just like the rest of my family he's very supportive.
'People I've met have said it's quite uncommon for people to have that many transplants at all, let alone all from their own family.
'The odds would have been incredible.
'Everyone we spoke to at the hospital said it was very rare to have three kidneys donated all from family members.
'It really does feel like I've had a new lease of life again, not for the first time, so I'm massively grateful to my family and all of the medical staff who have helped me.'
Abdul Hammad, a consultant transplant surgeon at the hospital, said: 'We have seen many cases where a person has two or even three transplants.
'But Andrew is the first we have treated who has been fortunate enough to find three matches in his own family.Dubai has signed a contract with Martin Jetpack to arm firefighters of the city with actual jetpacks that aim to help first responders become more effective in fighting fires, especially in high-rise buildings.
The jetpacks, which cost up to $250,000 each, can fly up to 3,000 feet, which will come in handy when fires happen at top floors of the many skyscrapers in the city, or when winds push the fire towards upper floors, Business Insider reported.
Under the terms of the agreement, Dubai's Civil Defense could get up to 20 jetpacks and two simulators, as well as training and support for its personnel. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed, according to Mashable.
"The vision of Dubai Civil Defence is protecting lives, properties and environment and to provide fast professional service, efficient investment of human and material sources to give [the] best results," said DCD's Lt. Col. Ali Almutawa, according to Fox News. "Dubai is one of the fastest growing future cities in the world with its modern skyscrapers and vast infrastructure... the introduction of Martin jetpacks into our fleet of emergency response vehicles is another example of how Dubai leads the world."
Dubai is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and has always been on top when it comes to modern infrastructure and technology that help improve people's lives, the Daily Mail reported.Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Six London Underground stations were closed as trouble flared when thousands of people marked the banning of alcohol on London transport with a party. Four tube drivers, three other staff members, and two police officers were assaulted, and there were 17 arrests. Several trains were damaged and withdrawn from service, which led to suspended services. Drinkers gathered on Tube trains and station concourses for a last drink before the ban came in at midnight. Police said what should have been a fun event came to an "unfortunate" end. 'Like rush hour but fun' The ban on drinking from - or carrying - open containers of alcohol applies to the Tube, London buses, Docklands Light Railway and trams as of midnight on Saturday. It was announced by London Mayor Boris Johnson shortly after he took office, with the aim of making public transport safer and more pleasant. It's sweaty on there but I'm going round and round until I vomit
Peter Moore, from Brighton
Booze ends with a bang Tube party in pictures Your pictures: Tube party The party, mostly on the Circle Line, was dubbed the Last Round on the Underground or Last Orders. It had previously been widely advertised on social networking and other internet sites. The party began in a celebratory mood, with many people in good spirits and anticipating a good night. Londoner Matt Wynn, 43, a banker, said: "I've come along with a bottle of Champagne because I want to show that you can drink responsibly on the Tube and not cause trouble." But others took a different approach from the beginning. Peter Moore, 35, a sailor from Brighton, said he had downed a can of beer in 10 seconds. "It's sweaty on there, but I'm going round and round until I vomit," he said. 'More considerate' Transport for London's director of transport policing and enforcement, Jeroen Weimar, said the new policy on alcohol was a reasonable one. "We are encouraging our passengers to show a bit more respect and to be more considerate and involve other people's views and other passengers views as they make their journeys," he said. "And clearly drinking alcohol can create a culture whereby people feel it's ok to do that sort of thing, it's ok to get more drunk when you're travelling. "We're not going to the stage where we're saying we're not going to carry people who've had a few drinks and who are trying to get home." Damaged police vehicle As Saturday night wore on, eyewitnesses described how drunken partygoers began fighting and vomiting, ripping up maps and adverts, spilling alcohol and leaving debris. Liverpool Street was one of six stations closed after it was mobbed British Transport Police said there was a "large amount" of instances of disorder reported. Liverpool Street underground station was closed to ease overcrowding for several hours. Other Tube stations closed by police were Euston, Euston Square, Aldgate, Gloucester Road and Baker Street. Seventeen people were arrested for offences such as assault, being drunk and disorderly, assaulting police, public order related offences and drug offences, BTP said. One police vehicle was damaged and two officers assaulted and another injured. Police also reported four assaults on train drivers and three assaults on other members of London Underground staff. 'Risk of assault' Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) general secretary Bob Crow said: "Boris Johnson should apologise personally to all those who were assaulted and abused last night thanks to a half-baked gimmick designed solely as a publicity stunt and without a moment's thought for the people told to implement it." He said the RMT supported measures to reduces anti-social behaviour but that the ban was imposed in haste. "We warned it could put our members at greater risk of assault, but there is no comfort in being proved right when Tube workers have been injured and abused," Mr Crow added. Police said the evening started with people keen to have fun As well as assaults, there were also "multiple instances" of Tube trains being damaged, which meant they were withdrawn from service, which in turn led to several Tube services being suspended. A spokesperson for the Greater London Authority said: "Londoners are fed up of feeling threatened and intimidated on public transport. That's why the mayor has introduced an alcohol ban which came into effect today. "It is ridiculous of the RMT to suggest that the alcohol ban threatens the safety of London Underground staff, when it was the consumption of alcohol that fuelled the reprehensible incidents of violence that took place yesterday." The GLA said a majority of the London public welcomed the alcohol ban "as a reasonable step that is long overdue" and that Mr Crow was "out of step with ordinary Londoners and the vast majority of the hard-working men and women who work for London Underground". 'Dangerous' Superintendent Ellie Bird said she had no doubt that the event had begun with a small number of people keen to have fun without causing trouble. Other Tube passengers reported debris, broken glass and spilled alcohol But she added: "Alcohol has a significant impact on crime and anti social behaviour, not only rendering people more vulnerable but raising levels of aggression. "Those under the influence of alcohol are more likely to cause disruption to the service through their physical state and conduct. "We have seen numerous examples this evening of the negative impact of alcohol and antisocial behaviour. It is dangerous for those individuals and others."
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StumbleUpon What are these?BEIJING -- A sinkhole in a northeastern Chinese city swallowed five people in a dramatic scene that was captured on security video and shared widely on Chinese social media.
China's Xinhua news posted a tweet of the surveillance video, which shows the ground giving way underneath the unsuspecting commuters.
A provincial broadcaster said four people were injured in the Saturday incident in the provincial capital of Harbin.
The surveillance camera video shows pedestrians walking or standing on the sidewalk when it suddenly gave in.
Three people fell straight into the hole, while a woman clung to pipes just underneath the sidewalk. Another person standing on the edge fell sideways into the hole.
Heilongjiang Network Broadcasting Television said the people were probably waiting for a bus because it occurred at a bus stop. The bus sign also was swallowed by the sinkhole, the broadcaster said.
Passers-by pulled the victims from the hole, which was about 10 feet deep, the broadcaster said.
It said four received minor injuries to their feet, legs, arms and shoulders.
It was not immediately clear what caused the sidewalk to collapse.GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The "dangerous crew" of five people who allegedly broke into a Veto Street NW home early Monday,
, likely knew exactly what property they wanted to steal. That's because they had seen some of it hours earlier. Grand Rapids police say the suspects attended a party thrown by the college students Sunday night, then came back at 4 a.m. to carry out their criminal plan. Police talked about that plan today as they announced the arrests of four young men, including a 14-year-old, for the troubling robbery and assault. Police are still looking for a 19-year-old in connection with the case. Male college students who were sleeping at the home were pistol-whipped and then tied up while a female was sexually assaulted. Grand Rapids police Capt. Jeff Hertel said several detectives and investigators worked many hours on tips that rolled in from neighbors and even other party-goers about the case. The tips paid off. "We have a very dangerous group of individuals here," Hertel said. "This case has been troubling. It has shaken even our most seasoned investigator in the family services team," he said. As they continue to investigate, police now think the suspects are responsible for other crimes in Kent County, including church burglaries and other break-ins. During a press conference today, Hertel described them as a "dangerous crew." The adults who have been arrested -- Rederick Melton, 20; Dorian Jacqwell Jones, 20; and Brandon Tyrell Towns, 25 -- all are expected to be charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, armed robbery and home invasion. Police did not release the names of those who had been arrested, but jail records show they are lodged in the Kent County Jail in relation to the Veto Street NW case. Police are still looking for a James Edward Hodges, 19, as the fifth suspect. Police today credited an intensive investigation by detectives, who put long hours working on the case, with getting it solved. "It all came together really quite well," he said.
E-mail John Tunison: jtunison@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/johntunisonHis choice of poison - ecstasy and cocaine. And he's not alone. The apparent "normalisation" of social drug taking is troubling experts and authorities. Young, primed and loaded adults head out each weekend, assess their night's prospects, and choose oblivion. "It's super common, super normal," Andrew says.
"You get to a point where you just worry about the party, the good time... that's all that's on your mind." Based on a recent survey by the Queensland Alcohol and Drug Research Centre, Brisbane's typical ecstasy user is a heterosexual male with tertiary or trade qualifications who is employed full time. He takes two ecstasy pills at a time, and usually once a fortnight. You get to a point where you just worry about the party, the good time... that's all that's on your mind Illicit drugs are widely viewed with fear and loathing. The stereotypes are perpetuated by the headline-grabbing horrors of diseased, drug-addled addicts roaming the streets.
However, the reality is that most people taking illicit drugs do so recreationally and without severe consequences, albeit the inherent risk. "I didn't take it because I needed it... it just meant I was going to have more of a good time," Andrew says. "It was always a social thing. It amplifies a good time, if you will." "I never needed it during the week," he adds. Ecstasy remains the second most used illicit drug in Australia, according to the Australian Crime Commission.
Initially Andrew was curious, not unlike many young teenagers. He had one friend with "less than savoury" connections who arranged his first hit. It then became an economical option in pubs and clubs, and at music festivals too. "You can take a $15-$20 pill and you're pretty much set for the whole night... well you might need two of them, but that's still only $40 and you're set," Andrew says. "You can go out on the drink at a night club and spend $100 and you're still sober." Queensland's Assistant Crime Commissioner Kathleen Florian has documented the changing drug culture.
"One of the more remarkable changes has been this 'normalisation' of taking pills," she says. "There's almost an assumption that because something is in a pill it's safe to take, and that that's an acceptable thing to do. "There just seems to be a level of trust around pills." What social drug users fail to acknowledge, Ms Florian says, is that with each pill they're effectively playing Russian Roulette. In August last year, a 22-year-old Brisbane man died after taking an ecstasy pill stamped with the letters LV which was laced with the dangerous drug PMA.
Several of his friends were rushed to hospital after taking the same drug at a house party, believed to be part of a bad batch stamped with the logo of the designer fashion house Louis Vuitton. PMA - paramethoxyamphetamine - is a particularly dangerous hallucinogen with street names including 'Death' and 'Dr Death'. For those who survive, they face trouble with the law. ‘‘If you come into the Valley with pills, or any other illicit drug for that matter, chances are we will catch you,’’ Fortitude Valley Police Inspector Ray Brownhill says. ‘‘We're not just talking about a slap on the wrist, a drug conviction may mean you can't travel overseas, you can't be a doctor, you can't be a dentist, you can't even get a taxi licence.’’
Inspector Brownhill has observed the changing drug culture first-hand in his time walking the beat. "There's certainly been a shift in the last 10 years to social drug taking," he said. "It doesn't have that significant nexus to criminal networks." Online social networking sites have supported the burgeoning trend. "We've seen a shift in the users, and we've seen a shift in the suppliers as well. There's greater connectivity than there was 10 years ago for potential buyers and potential sellers," he says.
Most concerning for Detective Superintendent Tony Duncan, who oversees police in the nightclub precinct, are those willing to risk it all - their careers, their travel plans and their health. "They're everyday people with no criminal history, or limited criminal history," he says. "There's a perception that it's not criminal, that it's normalised, and it's accepted practice among the young demographic coming into the Valley on the weekend." At any level of their use, drug users can run into trouble. "People have a perception of who a person with a drug problem is, and it's not them," social worker Cameron Francis, of Dovetail, says.
"They might think, I'm not a so-called junkie in a gutter, I'm not homeless, so I'm OK." Andrew considers himself one of the lucky ones. "I've never really had any adverse reactions or side-effects of my recreational drug use," he says. "It's never really set me back. "If you do something, and get a high out of it, with no repercussions I guess you then find yourself thinking 'why not do it again'."
Amphetamine molecules trigger a flood of naturally occurring "pleasure" chemicals in the brain, the so-called neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin. Over time, however, the brain becomes unable to naturally produce the neurotransmitters. Chronic depression, agitation and paranoia follows. With that, the good times of today become the sad thoughts of tomorrow. "Unfortunately, the best way of learning is learning the hard way," Andrew says.
"Human nature is as human nature does. We all put our hand in the fire." Loading *Andrew is not his real name. The series, Wasted Lives: Queensland's drug battle, will continue this week featuring more stories about the trade and toll.Concert
Fall Out Boy: Sunday’s concert in Tampa might not feature as much new music as originally intended, but Fall Out Boy can still shake an arena with a hit like Dance, Dance, Thnks fr th Mmrs or This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race. And they’ll probably play at least one new, unreleased song called Expensive Mistakes. "I feel like rewarding people’s patience for sticking around is good to do," bassist Pete Wentz said in a phone interview. " Blackbear and Jaden Smith (yes, Will Smith’s kid) open at 7 p.m. Sunday at Amalie Arena, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa. $30.50 and up. (813) 301-2500. amaliearena.com.
For more with Pete Wentz, see tampabay.com/soundcheck.
Art
In Daring Fashion: Dali and Schiaparelli: This new exhibition at the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, blurs the lines between art and fashion. The Italian-born Elsa Schiaparelli was a prominent couture designer in Paris during the 1920s and ’30s whose chief rival was Coco Chanel. With garments, jewelry, paintings, sculptures, prints and photographs, it’s plain to see they were kindred spirits. The exhibition runs through Jan. 14. Admission is $24, $22 seniors, $17 students and children ages 13-17, $10 children ages 6-12. $10 after 5 p.m. Thursdays. 1 Dali Blvd. (Bayshore Drive SE and Fifth Avenue SE), St. Petersburg, 33701. (727) 823-3767.
Hip-hop
Last Damn Show: Hip-hop station Wild 94.1 put together a solid lineup for its first Last Damn Show festival in five years, starting with Grammy winner and industry innovator Chance the Rapper at the top. He’ll fight for stage time with the omnipresent Migos, who since hitting No. 1 with Bad and Boujee have guest-starred on half the hits on this year’s Hot 100. Ludacris will also be there, so will gospel-rap superstar Lecrae, R&B new-schooler Jessie Reyez and Atlanta mixtape upstart 24hrs. 7 p.m. Friday at Amalie Arena, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa. $50 and up. (813) 301-2500. amaliearena.com.
Oddities
Two-Headed Calf Fest: Celebrate the weirdness of St. Petersburg at this craft beer party that toasts the St. Petersburg Museum of History’s Alligators and Oddities exhibit, highlighted by a nearly 100-year-old two-headed calf. The freaky creature, born in Safety Harbor in 1925, was stuffed and donated to the museum after its short, six-week life, and it has long been a popular exhibit. In keeping with the oddities theme, there will be live mermaids and alligators, carnival side-show oddities, a costume contest, live music, food trucks and museum admission. The party is 6 to 10 p.m. Friday. St. Petersburg Museum of History, 335 Second Ave. NE. $30-40. (727) 894-1052. spmoh.com.
Old school
95.7 Beats By the Bay: The music festival returns after a five-year hiatus at 2 p.m. Saturday to Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg, with an old-school lineup of T-Pain (I’m ’n Luv (Wit a Stripper)) above, Bad Boy rapper Mase (Feel So Good), R&B singers Brandy (The Boy Is Mine) and Mario (Let Me Love You) and, at the top, Ja Rule and Ashanti (Always on Time, Mesmerize, Put It on Me, What’s Luv?). $49.50 and up. 957thebeat.com.
Comedy
COMEDY: Demetri Martin, Tracy Morgan: Multitalented Demetri Martin, who has been branching out into directing, brings his lauded standup comedy to Ferguson Hall at Tampa’s Straz Center at 8 p.m. Sunday. $37.50. strazcenter.org. Saturday Night Live legend and 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan returns to St. Petersburg’s Mahaffey Theater at 7 p.m. Sunday. 400 First St. SE, St. Petersburg. $39-$69. mahaffeytheater.com.
Stage
The Year of Magical Thinking: Joan Didion’s no-frills memoir of loss and recovery, opens at Stageworks Theatre this weekend. Didion wrote the piece while mourning the loss of her husband, fellow novelist and screenwriter John Gregory Dunne, and a daughter, Quintana, within two years. Opens Friday and runs through Nov. 19. 1120 E Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. $30-$35. Preview 8 p.m. today, $15. (813) 374-2416. For show times, see stageworkstheatre.org.
Picnic
Straz Live: Bring a picnic lunch to Curtis Hixon Park on Sunday to hear singers performing Broadway favorites and operatic gems. Opera Tampa’s Straz Live! in the Park returns from 3 to 5 p.m. (activities start at 1:30 p.m.). Free. Tables available for $125. (813) 229-7827. strazcenter.org.
Food trucks
Asian Lantern Festival: There will some special mood lighting added to this month’s food truck rally in downtown St. Petersburg. More than 200 giant lanterns will be strung among the trees in Albert Whitted Park (but not released to the sky) for the Asian Lantern Festival. The food truck lineup includes I Wanna Wok, Smokin’ Bowls, Flip’n Tasty Filipino Food Truck, Empamamas, the Twisted Indian, BBQ, Maggie on the Move and Surf and Turf Truck. 6-9 p.m. Friday. 107 Eighth Ave. SE, St. Petersburg. Free admission.
Family fun
Conga Caliente: The annual celebration of Hispanic arts, culture and food includes a youth area, health village, art displays, beer garden and cigar area. Entertainment includes salsa singer Oscar D’León and Dominican bachata singer Andy Andy. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Al Lopez Park, 4810 N Himes Ave., Tampa. Free.
Honey-do list
Tampa Bay Home Show: The largest home show on Florida’s west coast brings the area’s top home improvement experts, along with more than 600 exhibits. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Tropicana Field, 1 Tropicana Drive, St. Petersburg. Free.
Contact Sharon Kennedy Wynne at [email protected] Follow @SharonKWn.
FORECAST: Check the weekend’s weather forecast while making your plans.
MORE THINGS TO DO
MORE EVENTS: Search By Date, Price and Neighborhood
MUSIC: Our Top Concert Picks
DINING: Where to Eat This Week
MOVIES: What’s New In Theaters
FOLLOW: Things To Do Updates on Facebookhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:20120630_panneau-stop.jpg Most people don't realize that Facebook can continue to monitor their internet activity, even if they are no longer logged into the site.
Using "Facebook Connect," and other social plug-ins, Facebook is able to set up a cookie on any site that has a "Like" or "share" button, giving Facebook access to a startling amount of user information. Technically, the purpose of these plug-ins is to authenticate users, but it still has the ability to collect personal information such as the IP address of your computer, browsing data, outside login information, phone numbers, etc.
The cookie, known as the "datr" cookie, has been a controversial topic for the past year. Using this cookie, among other things, Facebook knows what you have read on a web page even if you did not click the "like" button. As the Wall Street Journal reported, "for this to work, a person only needs to have logged into Facebook or Twitter once in the past month. The sites will continue to collect browsing data, even if the person closes their browser or turns off their computers."
To help users control how and when their information is tracked and distributed, companies such as Abine and Ghostery have developed tools that allow users to block Facebook social plug-ins, cookies, and other trackers.
We identified five practical options for consideration, including an option for web site publishers that will help protect their customers from trackers while keeping their websites running smoothly.You might even call him an original gravity gangsta.
In the long list of things we love about doing a craft beer podcast and web series is the fact we get to personally talk to OGs in the industry. On our recent trip to Vermont, Matt Cohen aka Matty O, founder and head brewer of Fiddlehead Brewery, was incredibly generous with his time and dropped more than a few gems on us.
Matty started off volunteering/interning at Magic Hat and worked his way up to a brewer position, schooling himself in the industry along the way. He was there through their transition after the purchase by North American Breweries, and was able to see firsthand the difference that a corporate takeover can deploy on the culture of an independent brewery.
Cohen started Fiddlehead himself, initially in a small space next to Folino’s Pizza. More recently, he opened a full production brewery just behind the original taproom, which is still in operation and will be expanded. One of the most impressive things he told us was that the new production brewery is debt free — paid for by profits from the original smaller brewery. That, my friends, is how a business should be run.
Matt constantly impressed us throughout the chat with his wealth of knowledge on the brewing industry, his business savvy and his genuine enthusiasm for his line of work. He even stuck around for 30 minutes after the podcast to just chat about business, then gave us a full tour of the new brewery, seeing us out the door with enough Second Fiddle to last us, well, a while.
If we weren’t already, we’re fully fledged fanboys of Fiddlehead now, and personally, I really feel that Matt is a fantastic example to up-and-coming brewers or entrepreneurs. Master your craft, pay attention to detail, learn the business. Check out the highlights below, or listen to the full (almost) 2 hour chat via Apple Podcasts.
If you haven’t caught up with BAOS, check out our latest videos…Learn more on ruby with our tutorial Understanding Eigenclasses in Ruby and Realizing Their Importance on SitePoint.
Rails provides a powerful mechanism for easily creating rich forms called “nested attributes.” It allows you to combine more than one model in your forms while keeping the same basic code pattern that you use with simple single model forms.
In this article I’ll be showing a number of different ways to use this technique. I’ll assume that you’re familiar with basic Rails forms, of the kind that are generated by the scaffolding commands. We’ll be building up a complex form step by step that allows a user to edit their preferences. Our domain is a not-for-profit management system, where volunteers (users) have areas of expertise and tasks that have been assigned to them.
The Base Form
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Let’s start with a basic form that can edit a user. I assume you are familiar with this pattern, so I won’t explain it. I only present it here because the rest of the article will be building on top of this code.
First up is a simple user model with just one attribute:
# app/models/user.rb class User < ActiveRecord::Base validates_presence_of :email end
We will be using the same controller for the entire of this article. This is the beauty of nested attributes—we don’t have to change our controller code!
# app/controllers/users_controller.rb class UsersController def new @user = User.new end def edit @user = User.find(params[:id]) end def create @user = User.new(params[:user]) if @user.save redirect_to @user else render :action => 'new' end end def update @user = User.find(params[:id]) if @user.update(params[:user]) redirect_to @user else render :action => 'edit' end end end
Our base form is exactly what is generated by the Rails scaffolding:
# app/views/users/_form.html.erb <%= form_for(@user) do |f| %> <% if @user.errors.any? %> <div id="error_explanation"> <h2> <%= pluralize(@user.errors.count, "error") %> prohibited this user from being saved: </h2> <ul> <% @user.errors.full_messages.each do |msg| %> <li><%= msg %></li> <% end %> </ul> </div> <% end %> <div> <%= f.label :email %> <%= f.text_field :email %> </div> <div class="actions"> <%= f.submit %> </div> <% end %>
With that out of the way, let’s dive in!
Adding an Address
We are storing a user’s address record in a separate model, but we want to be able to edit the address on the same form as other attributes of the user.
# app/models/user.rb class User < ActiveRecord::Base #... code from above omitted has_one :address accepts_nested_attributes_for :address end # app/models/address.rb class Address < ActiveRecord::Base belongs_to :user validates_presence_of :city end
Note the addition of accepts_nested_attributes_for to the User model. This method allows you to modify instances of Address using the same mass-assignment |
-EFRC, visit the Website at http://www.lmi.caltech.edu/
For more information about Alta Devices, Inc., visit the Website at https://www.altadevices.com/Microsoft is getting a lot of attention for pushing Internet Explorer towards retirement and replacing it with a young upstart called Edge. So here’s a quick overview of what you can expect from Microsoft Edge, the new web browser in Windows 10.
Note: At the time of this writing, Edge isn’t complete and some of these features aren’t yet working. –Paul
Here’s what you need to know about Microsoft Edge.
It was previously codenamed Project Spartan. Microsoft Edge previously went by the codename Project Spartan.
Why a new browser? Not surprisingly, some are confused why Microsoft didn’t simply push forward with the Internet Explorer product and brand. But IE is 20 years old, and while it’s available in Windows 10 for compatibility reasons—especially for business customers—Microsoft felt that it needed to start over with a new, modern web browser that was designed from the ground up for today’s needs. The company describes Edge as “the browser for the next 20 years.”
Why the name Edge? Believe it or not, the primary consideration for the Edge name was that users see an “E” icon on their Start menu or taskbar. For hundreds of millions of users, “E” means “the Internet.”
It’s all new. From a user’s perspective, Edge is a brand-new web browser with a new user experience. It’s not some version of IE with a new look and feel.
It’s not all new. From a web browser engine perspective, Edge uses a forked version of IE’s Trident rendering engine. Called Microsoft Edge HTML, this engine was stripped of much of Trident’s IE-specific legacy technologies and moved forward in ways that ensure Edge behaves like other popular browsers (Chrome, Safari) and is more compatible with modern web standards.
It’s a universal app. Microsoft Edge is a universal app, which means it will run on any version of Windows 10 with a graphical user interface. So you’ll be able to use this app on Windows 10 PCs, tablets, phones, plus Xbox One, HoloLens, and Surface Hub too.
What about competing platforms? I’ve asked whether Microsoft whether it will create versions of Edge for Mac, iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android, but have been told there are no such plans at this time.
It looks modern. Like other universal apps, Edge features a somewhat stark, modern-looking UI that is designed to scale well across the various devices on which this app will run.
There are no versions or manual updates to worry about. Edge will be kept up to date and there won’t be a version 2 or 3 in later Windows versions, or any fragmentation. Edge will simply be kept evergreen going forward, by Microsoft, using Windows Update.
You may want to use the New Tab experience as your home page. This page is rich and attractive, and combines Bing-based search with a row of top sites tiles and personalized content that is somewhat reminiscent of the old Yahoo and iGoogle web portals.
Cortana is integrated. While Cortana will continue to work directly from the Windows 10 shell, Microsoft’s digital personal assistant is available right in Edge too, since so many people use the web to find answers and information. This integration is fairly deep, and you can summon Cortana implicitly or explicitly in many ways. For example, when you type terms in the address bar (or the Bing search box on the New Tab page), Cortana will provide instant answers—weather, or specific questions like when does summer start?, for example, without needing to go to a search page. When you’re on a web site that has phone, address and other information, Cortana appears in the address bar so you can open a pane right in the browser that provides a lot more information about the place. And you can highlight words or phrases, right-click, and then choose “Ask Cortana” to find out more, again in a pane (so you don’t need to navigate away from the page. It’s powerful stuff, and will require further exploration.
You can read without distractions. Like the similar feature in IE, Edge has a feature called Reading View that lets you read a web article without any of the ads, multiple pages, and other surrounding distractions. You can customize this view with your own fonts and colors, and just focus on the content.
You can save articles and web pages and read them later. Like IE, Edge integrates with a Windows 10 feature—really, a separate app—called Reading List so you can save web articles for later. Reading List of course syncs between your devices, so you can save an article on your work PC, perhaps, and then read it on your phone on the way home from work.
You can annotate the web. A unique Edge feature called Web Notes puts the browser into a special mode where you can add annotations on top of the page. These annotations can be made with your finger or, if you have one, a stylus (like Surface Pen). Web Notes are saved locally, but can be synced between devices, and you can share them with others too, even people who aren’t using Edge.
It will be extensible. Edge will support an extension model similar to that found in Google Chrome and Firefox. Extensions won’t ship in the initial version of Windows 10 this summer, however: Microsoft plans to add this functionality later in the year, on PCs first, with mobile versions coming later. The good news? Edge’s extension model will be very compatible with Chrome’s, so you will be able to use many of those extensions, and porting Chrome extensions to Edge should be fairly simple. Microsoft says that extensions will be available through the Windows Store.
Some promised features are not happening. Some of the features Microsoft showed off early on—most notably tab previews—will not ship in the final product. That’s what happens during a beta, folks.
It’s missing some very useful features from Internet Explorer. Edge is pretty cool, but if you’re an IE user, you will notice some useful features are missing. For example, you can’t save a web page as a web archive (which combines all the text, graphics and layout into a single MSHTML file). And you can’t pin sites to the Windows 10 taskbar, as you could with IE.
I’ll update this article as more Edge is updated.
Tagged with HoloLens, Microsoft Edge, Project Spartan, Surface Hub, Windows 10 Mobile, Xbox OneVERO BEACH, Fla. — Murray McCormick’s mutterings, meanderings and musings from Thursday’s final day of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ mini-camp at Historic Dodgertown:
WHERE WAS THE VINSANITY?
The first on-field appearance by former NFL quarterback Vince Young with the Roughriders was rather tame. A smattering of fans typically showed up for the sessions, but few remained for the duration. The Young sideshow that was expected to dominate the mini-camp never really materialized. Young received a lot of media attention but, ultimately, he was just a quarterback — albeit one with a big name — trying to land a job in the CFL.
THE GLENN FACTOR
Kevin Glenn, who turns 38 on June 12, was the most consistent of the five quarterbacks at the mini-camp. He performed so well that he was often given repetitions off because the Riders already know what the 17-year CFL veteran is capable of doing. Based on Glenn’s performance during the mini-camp, he should have the edge in the open competition for quarterback.
MURRAY’S MONSTERS
National offensive lineman Dillon Guy earned the offensive monster for his performance over the entire mini-camp. Guy is recovering from surgery to his right knee that led to him missing all of the 2016 season. The knee stood up to the rigours of mini-camp. Guy progressed through each day of mini-camp and it was evident that he gained confidence with each rep.
The defensive monster was unheralded national Alexandre Gagne, who played so well that he was rewarded with regular repetitions at middle linebacker. Gagne showed off his long-snapping skills that could help him land a spot with the team. It takes versatility for young players to crack head coach Chris Jones’ roster. Gagne helped his cause by showing an ability to handle multiple positions during the mini-camp.
RUNNING TO SASKATOON
Young isn’t the only player from mini-camp headed to Saskatoon. Jones said most of the 30 prospects will be invited to the main camp. Receivers like Jenson Stoshak and Dezmond Reese looked great in the mini-camp, but will be in tough when it comes time to crack the Riders’ veteran-laden receiving corps. The Riders have holes at linebacker and defensive back. Erick Dargan may be able to play outside linebacker after a stellar career with the University of Oregon Ducks. Fellow defensive back Zavian Bingham was a ball hawk, with four interceptions at the mini-camp. He can play and has priorities in order as well. Bingham missed Thursday’s final session because he was attending his graduation from Jackson State.
mmccormick@postmedia.com
twitter.com/murraylpAn aeroplane was forced to make an emergency landing after the gas of 2,186 animals was mistaken for smoke in the cargo hold.
The Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 freighter plane, which was en-route from Adelaide, Australia to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, was diverted to Bali Denpasar on October 26 following the urgent announcement.
Upon landing, emergency services boarded the aircraft - which was carrying four crew members and the flock of goats- however reported that there was no trace of fire, heat, or smoke.
Flight SQ-7108 re-departed after the two and a half hour which determined the smoke was said to be a result of the gas and manure of 2,186 goats on board
According to the Aviation Herald, The smoke indication alarm sounded as the result of exhaust gasses and manure produced by the animals on the plane.
Flight SQ-7108 re-departed after the two and a half hour stop in Indonesia and reached its final destination two hours later than scheduled.
An SIA Spokesman said: 'On 26 October 2015, a Singapore Airlines Cargo Boeing 747 freighter aircraft carrying a shipment of goats, operating as SQ7108 from Adelaide to Kuala Lumpur diverted to Bali after the crew received a warning from the onboard fire alarm system.
'The aircraft landed at 5.11pm local time and upon inspection, no evidence of fire or smoke was found.
'The aircraft was certified serviceable and departed at 8.20pm local time.
'It delivered its shipment safety to its destination in Kuala Lumpur at 11.16pm local time.'
Regarding claims that animal flatulence had caused the landing, SIA said: 'It is not able to be confirmed.
'Inspections were carried out on the ground and the aircraft was certified serviceable.'
The smoke indication alarm reportedly sounded as the result of gasses and manure produced by the animals
The incident follows another emergency landing by Singapore Airlines in August after one of its aircrafts flew into a flock of storks which tore a hole in its nose.
The Singapore-bound Boeing 777-200 took off from Istanbul Ataturk Airport with 255 passengers and 14 crew members aboard but quickly ran into trouble.
The plane ran into the flock while gaining altitude, damaging its radome - a weatherproof protective shield for its radar antenna.
A Singapore Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Turkey after running into a flock of storksReady to try your hand at having a philosophical discussion with children? To help you out, we’ve assembled all the materials you’ll need to do so, except the books.
Most of the modules were created by students in Tom Wartenberg’s Philosophy for Children class at Mount Holyoke College. For each story or book, you will find a summary of the plot, a discussion of the main philosophical issues raised by the books, and a series of questions that can be used to initiate philosophical discussion of the story or book with children. Many have been edited by Jayme Johnson and Tom.
These are just suggestions for you to think about, so don’t feel bound by them. But they’ll help you get an idea of how to approach the discussion of the story that you choose.
In addition to the alphabetical listing below, book modules can be accessed through categories.
The main categories are aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, existentialism, logic, metaphysics, multiculturalism, language, the mind, religion, and society.
Each of these category pages also contains subcategories for more specific issues.Pope Francis prayed Saturday for the Coptic Christians killed a day earlier in Egypt by Islamic extremists, saying that there are more Christian martyrs today than in ancient times.
During a meeting with clergy in the Italian port city of Genoa, Francis urged them to pray "for our brothers the Egyptian Copts, who were killed because they did not want to renounce their faith."
"Let's not forget that today there are more Christian martyrs than in ancient times, than in the early day times of the church," Francis told bishops, priests and nuns gathered in the Cathedral of San Lorenzo.
Twenty-nine people died in the attack Friday on Christians traveling to a monastery south of Cairo. The attack, which took place on the eve of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, was the fourth to target Egypt's Christian minority since December.
The Egyptian Cabinet says 13 victims wounded in the attack remain hospitalized.
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi blamed the attack on suspected Islamic State group extremists in Libya.
After Francis visited Egypt last month, IS vowed to escalate attacks against Christians and urged Muslims to steer clear of Christian gatherings and Western embassies.Then last week, Myleene Klass—best known as the singer in '00s pop band Hear’Say, runner up of the sixth I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here reality TV series, or your dad’s favorite radio presenter—went live on air at Capital Xtra (the urban leg of Capital FM) for a “Grime Time Special.” When she kicked off her radio show by saying, “I got bare tunes for you fam, who remembers this one?” and pressed play on Dizzee Rascal’s “Stand Up Tall,” it felt like it might be genuine appreciation; she was, at least, playing actual grime. Then Kano’s classic track “P’s and Q’s” came in, and she continued: “I see you Dizzee, shouts to my crew looking criss, shouts to the tracksuit badmans and the one tens crew.” I was furious: she was mocking, not just the grime scene, but grime’s culture too.
This time, I wouldn’t STFU—and Myleene Klass’ car-crash foray into grime made me kick myself for shutting up about Ora weeks before. Can anyone let me know how we went from positive strides like JME’s album charting in the top 20, to rappers Section Boyz and Krept and Konan being mislabelled “grime” and Myleene Klass being our new grime ambassador? Because I am mad baffled.
Grime’s culture is one of kids in estates having something to say, and not being listened to because of the way they walk, the way they talk, the language they use and the ECKO and Akademiks tracksuits they used to wear (that were deemed unapproachable to anyone in a suit). Granted, fashion has come leaps and bounds since those baggy tracksuit days, and these kids have since upgraded to Nike and Adidas, but they’re still there. They still speak casually in slang daily, they’re still of a lower class bracket to Klass, they still MC with their friends on the corner of a block with an ambition to become as successful as our current kings Boy Better Know (Skepta, JME, Jammer, and Frisco). The grime music Klass played on her show derives from the same culture she simultaneously took the piss out of; and that’s infuriating.thibault edited #1 Thanks to the work of @revoof, lichess local analysis is now up to 40 times faster than it was yesterday!
We now use a special chrome/chromium technology called "NaCl", which allows much faster code execution, and supports multi-threading.
Here's the expected performance gains. If your computer has:
- 1 or 2 threads (old processors like Pentium): 5 times faster!
- 4 threads (Intel i3, Intel i5): 10 times faster!
- 8 threads (Intel i7): 20 times faster!
- 16 threads (high-end): 40 times faster!
Note that:
- lichess will detect your computer performance and allow local evaluation up to 25 plies, against 18 before.
- by default, lichess only uses half your computer processors, as to not stress it too much during analysis. But you will be allowed to configure it soon, and double the performances again by using all your processors!
- only Chrome, Chromium, and Opera browsers support this optimization. Firefox and other browsers performances are unchanged.
As far as we know, this is a lichess exclusivity. Enjoy!
szeweningen2 #5 Quick question, is it possible we could have an option to see top 1-3 lines during engine eval? I know arrows are giving the top move anyway, but seeing a regular line makes analysis so much easier.
thibault #6 We're working on multipv - i.e. see the best 3 moves, not only the best one.
Displaying lines is another matter. Engines output UCI moves (g1f3) but players want SAN notation (Nf3). Converting from UCI to SAN is way harder than it may seem, and requires complete knowledge of the rules of chess. Because performances and chess variants, only the server knows how to do that.
Also lines are text-heavy and tend to clutter the UI.
Finally, they are of no help to the majority of players who, like myself, are incapable of visualizing the boards while reading a line.
For all these reasons, I prefer showing an arrow only.
blackzombie #7 Great! It was a bit slow before.
LikesTal #8 Perhaps at least in "Study" mode show full lines instead of arrows? I mean, this is what it is for, to study chess games.
brokenwifi #9 This is great. Given the plugable nature of lichess' Stockfish (native mobile, js, now nacl) have you considered to use ethereum.org to create a full desktop app with lichess?
The advantage would be many. You could distribute lichess on OS X and windows app stores. The main advantage would be that you could use the c library for stockfish directly or even support all UCI engines on the machine.This week at the Summit 2015, Citrix announced a prototype of a mouse. (Yeah, that kind of mouse!) There's not much info on it yet, but here's what I learned from people who attended Summit this week.
Called the "X1 Mouse," this thing is a Bluetooth mouse you can use with your iPad so you can have a real mouse with your remote Citrix desktops and applications. This is a big deal because Apple doesn't support using a mouse with an iPad. So the Citrix X1 mouse talks to the Citrix Receiver iOS app and sends your mouse movements up to the remote session.
The current user experience for remote Windows desktops and apps from an iPad is pretty clunky, because you have to give up valuable real estate from your 10-inch screen to use a virtual keyboard and/or virtual track pad. Even if you configure the Citrix client to use your finger as a pointer, it's still tough because your finger tip is much bigger than a mouse pointer, and it's really hard to hit the tiny buttons on the screen.
Even if you configure your iPad to work with an external keyboard (which Apple supports and works fine), you still have to touch your iPad with your fingers for mouse movements. There's another option to use your iPhone as a trackpad (with your iPad as the display), but that's also really clunky as your phone slides around the desk and then it's awkward to answer calls.
So anyway, using a mouse with an iPad is kind of a Holy Grail scenario for Citrix Receiver. (Funny that Apple could solve this in two minutes if they wanted to, but alas...)
By the way none of this is an issue if you use an Android tablet since Android supports Bluetooth mice, but the problem there is that whole "Android tablet" thing. (How many white collar non-IT professionals use Android tablets for anything other than reading? Exactly.)
Previously you had to use an on screen track pad, but that's clunky
It would be really cool if this mouse had some smarts in it to be used as a two-factor authentication token. No word on that though.
Congrats to Citrix for creating something that I immediately said "Wow!" to. I imagine this will be tremendously popular. Hopefully they can get the cost down enough that they could throw this into their platinum software bundles. (Or at least cheap enough that we can all get one as a Synergy attendee giveaway this month.)
Citrix is planning to release the X1 mouse in the second quarter of this year. (Hey.. Synergy is in the second quarter of this year. Fingers crossed!)Get the biggest daily news stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Do not get on the wrong side of this door. No, literally, do not walk through the door.
The list of things that could go wrong if you do includes electrocution, hitting your head and a heavy fall.
Paddy O'Clery, CEO of digital sport company Chroma, spotted the door at Vauxhall tube station and tweeted a picture of it.
One person suggested it could be the Batcave...
We put in a call to Transport For London to ask if the door does lead to the Batcave, but they could neither confirm nor deny the claim.
One brave person said they would open the door. We wouldn't advise it.MySQL’s future has been uncertain since Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems in April 2009. Fortunately, all those who doubted the company’s intentions can relax a little: MySQL 5.5 has been released.
There have been impressive claims about MySQL 5.5, and you’ll find reports detailing speed improvements of up to 4,000%. Take those with a large pinch of salt, but you can generally expect version 5.5 to be faster.
Let’s take a closer look at the best of the new features…
InnoDB Becomes The Default Storage Engine
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It’s about time. There are many, many, many reasons why InnoDB is a better choice for most applications, yet MyISAM had up to now remained the default. From MySQL 5.5, developers will have out-of-the-box reliability and stability with ACID-compliant transactions, foreign key support and crash recovery.
In addition, the latest InnoDB storage engine offers better performance, scalability and recovery from catastrophic failure.
Better Availability
Performance has been improved in multi-server replicated systems with:
Semi-synchronous replication
To improve the reliability of failover, the master can wait until at least one slave has logged the transaction.
To improve the reliability of failover, the master can wait until at least one slave has logged the transaction. Replication heartbeat
The master sends a message to all slave nodes at frequent intervals. Slaves therefore know when the master has failed, and it helps estimate the delay between master and slave updates.
New LOAD XML Command
LOAD XML reads data from an XML file into a table. Three different formats are supported:
<row column1="value1" column2="value2".../>
or
<row> <column1>value1</column1> <column2>value2</column2> </row>
or
<row> <field name="column1">value1</field> <field name="column2">value2</field> </row>
New SIGNAL/RESIGNAL Commands
Both commands allow you to implement exception handling within stored procedures, functions, events, triggers.
SIGNAL is effectively the same as the ‘throw’ command in PHP and other languages. It allows you to pass back an error number, SQLSTATE value and message to the calling code.
RESIGNAL lets you propagate a SIGNAL exception, perhaps after further doing further work such as data clean-ups. RESIGNAL can pass the original or a modified version of the error.
New TO_SECONDS() Function
Handling dates and times is not always as easy as you’d expect. The file system, PHP interpreter and MySQL itself have different methods of storing times, so many developers resort to the UNIX timestamp or other integer formats.
TO_SECONDS() could help resolve some issues; given any date or datetime value, it returns the number of seconds since year 0 (or NULL if you pass any other value).
Pluggable Authentication
Until now, a client connecting to the MySQL server had to pass a user name and password which was authenticated against a record in the mysql.user table. It’s now possible to create a plugin which handles authentication using your own systems and credentials.
Improved Performance on Windows
Many businesses install MySQL on Windows servers. This often makes sense; they already have IT administrators with Windows expertise, but need a cost-effective database solution or want to install a web application which requires MySQL.
The MySQL development team has tidied the system and improved performance on Win32 and Win64 platforms.
Have you evaluated MySQL 5.5? Have you experienced any performance gains? Will you be upgrading? Has the 5.5 release reassured you about Oracle’s commitment to the database?Chaka Fattah’s supporters are going straight to the top in a bid to get the ex-Philly congressmen out of his corruption charges: Barack Obama.
Earlier this month, Lanny Davis, Bill Clinton’s lawyer and spokesperson during the Lewinsky Scandal, and outspoken New Jersey pastor Rev. Dr. Therman Evans wrote a letter to Obama, asking for a Presidential pardon for Fattah.
Fattah is facing a 10-year prison sentence for corruption charges. He was convicted of accepting a bribe and using grant money to pay off an illegal campaign loan. His sentence begins January 25.
The letter begins with Davis and Evans stating they’ve known Fattah for 30 years. “Considering his record of service and the recognized irregularities in the process for this case I ask that you consider assisting Mr. Fattah, his family and those charged with him in finding relief through Presidential action.”
They go on to bring up several parts of the case Fattah’s lawyers have brought up as reasons for why he should stay out of prison while he works on an appeal. These reasons include the dismissal of a juror on the first day of deliberations and flaws in the prosecution’s case, namely what they claim to be a lack of witnesses and evidence regarding, among other things, the illegal repayment of loans.
Last month, Obama announced a number of pardons, including former Pittsburgh City Councilman Sala Udin.
Fattah has had a close professional relationship with Obama over the years. During Fattah’s unsuccessful 2007 mayoral run, Obama, then an Illinois Senator, wrote a message Fattah used in an email blast to gain supporters. Even while the Feds were circling, Fattah flew with Obama on Air Force One to an NAACP conference in Philly.
Last April, as Fattah attempted to get re-elected to his Congressional seat, he used Obama’s voice on a robocall to prospective voters. The White House said Obama did not approve.
Fattah’s other attempts to stay out of prison have so far been unsuccessful. Earlier today, an appellate court judge rejected his motion to stay out of prison during his appeals process.Spanish Rugby Head Coach Santiago Santos has confirmed a 23-man roster for his team’s home test match against Chile in Torrelavega, Cantabria on November 21. Included are nineteen players who play in France, predominantly in the Pro D2.
With both Chile and Spain now knowing what they must do to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2019 the fixture is a genuine opportunity for both to begin building for their respective qualification paths. It is also a vital fixture in building for the short-term as Spain will play in the European Nations Cup in February while Chile’s dream of a Six Nations competition in the Americas will become reality in under 90 days.
Spain is taking the opportunity to build with six debutants having been selected – Xerom Civil, Asier Usárraga, Jonathan García, Afa Tauli, Mathieu Belie, and Narbonne fly half Christopher Ruiz.
The fixture itself is to be historic with Chile playing test rugby in Spain for the first time. It is also to be the first match between the countries in four years. Previous matches between the countries has seen split results with Los Condors winning 28-23 in 1995 and 20-18 in 2000 while Spain completed wins by score-lines of 30-25 in 2007 and 36-3 in 2013.Media playback is not supported on this device Mayweather v Pacquiao: Fight of the Century preview
Mayweather v Pacquiao Venue: MGM Grand, Las Vegas. Date: 2/3 May: 21:00 local time/05:00 Sunday BST Coverage: Live text commentary on the BBC Sport website
This weekend, American legend Floyd Mayweather will fight Philippine great Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. It's a bout so big that everybody is talking about it - so it's probably best you know your stuff.
Wow your hairdresser with tales of Mayweather's wealth and Pacquiao's upbringing; surprise your accountant with massive numbers; embarrass your ex's new partner with your superior knowledge of boxing tactics.
And be sure to keep this in your pocket at all times if you are attending a dinner party between now and Saturday - you don't want to look like a complete idiot.
Why all the hype?
In short, because Mayweather and Pacquiao are widely recognised as the two best boxers in the world - and it is a rare thing to have two all-time greats fighting in the same weight division at the same time.
Back in the 1980s, arguably the sport's last golden age in the United States, such match-ups were regular occurrences.
Fighters such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran and Marvin Hagler were household names.
Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao (centre) with their respective trainers, Floyd Sr & Freddie Roach
But boxing's disappearance from terrestrial television, the proliferation of governing bodies and boxing's internecine politics saw the sport recede from the public consciousness.
Boxing needed two genuine superstars to make it the biggest sport in the world again and it found them in Mayweather and Pacquiao.
What have they won?
Mayweather, 38, is unbeaten in 47 professional fights stretching back to 1996 and has won world titles in five different weight classes.
Pacquiao, 36, is a six-weight world champion (some say eight, although that includes a couple of minor belts) but has been beaten five times in 64 fights since turning pro in 1995.
Between them, they have victories over a host of fellow boxing greats, including Oscar de la Hoya, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto and Britain's Ricky Hatton.
How big is it?
In financial terms, the biggest ever. By miles. Given the myriad revenue streams involved, it is impossible to say how much each fighter will walk away with once the fighting is done.
But it is estimated that once the accountants have done their work, Mayweather will pocket about £90m ($140-$150m) and Pacquiao £60m ($90m-$100m).
That the fight will generate so much money is largely down to the fact that American boxing fans will have to pay almost $100 (£65) to watch the action.
Media playback is not supported on this device Mayweather-Pacquiao top facts
Mayweather-Pacquiao will shatter the records for pay-per-view buys (2.5m for Mayweather versus De la Hoya in 2007) and pay-per-view revenue ($152m for Mayweather versus Saul Alvarez in 2013).
The live gate at the 16,000-capacity MGM Grand Arena will be $74m, more than triple the previous record and more than this year's Super Bowl, which was watched by 70,000.
Tickets on the resale market are changing hands for six-figure sums, with most of that money finding its way back to the boxers.
Throw in foreign television money, sponsorship and merchandising and you're looking at double the gross domestic product of the Pacific nation of Kiribati.
What else is at stake?
In boxing terms, Mayweather's WBC and WBA welterweight titles and the WBO title owned by Pacquiao.
Also on the line is Mayweather's unbeaten record, while you could argue that Pacquiao doesn't have as much to lose.
Their fight will also go a long way to defining each other's careers: whoever wins will be able to claim they were the greatest fighter of their era, rightly or wrongly. As for the loser, there will be an awful lot of soul-searching to do.
Did they need the money?
In a word, no. Mayweather, who goes by the nickname Money, is already worth $295m (£192m) and earned $105m last year. Pacquiao, a relative pauper, is worth $110m (£71.2m).
Mayweather's annual earnings in 2014 topped all other leading sports stars
Mayweather has banked more than $400m from boxing over his 19-year career and has been the highest-earning athlete in the world for the past three years. Pacquiao's feats in the ring across two decades have earned him $263m.
Mayweather's primary residence is a 22,000 square-foot, custom-built mansion in Las Vegas, although he also has a house in Miami.
He also owns two fleets of cars - a black fleet in Vegas, a white fleet in Miami - and his collection includes a couple of Bugattis worth more than $1m each.
He is also the proud owner of a 14-passenger private jet. Oh, and he only wears his trainers once.
Mayweather revels in his nickname 'Money' - and is estimated to be worth $295m (£192m)
PacMan still has a relatively modest abode in his home town of General Santos City, although he did recently splash $12.5m on a gaff in Beverley Hills.
Have they always been so lucky?
Both men had troubled childhoods. Mayweather was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, into a family of boxers - father and trainer Floyd Sr was a welterweight contender and uncle Roger a world champion.
But his mother was a drug addict, while Floyd Sr was once shot in the leg by a fellow drug dealer while holding his son in his arms.
Pacquiao's family of seven lived in a cardboard shack in the poverty-stricken province of Sarangani in the Philippines.
He scrounged for food and on some days only drank water. He quit school at 10 and ran away at 15, after his father ate his dog.
For a while, Pacquiao slept rough on the mean streets of Manila.
But like many poor boys before and since, Pacquiao turned to boxing to feed his family, fighting for $2 a pop in the early days.
Is there more to the fight than cash?
Mayweather says no. And not surprisingly, there are those who find Mayweather's slavish devotion to Mammon somewhat distasteful.
As such, his fight against Pacquiao - who was raised a Christian but was only recently born again - is being billed by some as a battle between good and evil.
Some commentators have noted that this fight lacks greatness because it lacks a cultural dimension.
This is wide of the mark. Mayweather is rampant capitalism personified, as much a reflection of his era as Muhammad Ali in the 1960s.
Media playback is not supported on this device Pacquiao and Mayweather talk to the press ahead of the big fight weekend
As well as being a terrible braggart, Mayweather, a father of four, has also been a very bad boy. In 2011, he was sentenced to three months in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting his girlfriend at the time.
However, his stint behind bars was delayed on the grounds that the cancellation of his scheduled bout with Puerto Rico's Cotto would have cost the city of Las Vegas in the region of $100m.
Pacquiao is a more likeable individual. Witness his recent duet with movie star Will Ferrell on an American chat show, or a very amusing advert for a footwear company. Despite his many millions, Pacquiao just seems like a nice, humble bloke.
But Pacquiao has a dark side. He has admitted to adultery in the past - his wife, Jinkee, mother of his five children, was moved to tears when talking about it in a recent documentary - and in 2013 his assets were frozen in the Philippines after it was alleged he owed $50m in taxes. It should be noted, both men do a lot of work for charity.
Will it be a good fight?
The smart money is on the fight going the full 12 rounds - and on Mayweather being awarded the decision. And many think those 12 rounds will disappoint.
Mayweather is essentially a defensive boxer and has never been overly concerned about entertaining the fans. Pacquiao, on the other hand, is an all-action fighter - which could play right into Mayweather's hands.
If Pacquiao chooses a plan of all-out attack, then Mayweather could pick his rival off and win easily. If Pacquiao is more educated, which is more likely, then things could be more intriguing. If both men show each other too much respect, then we could be in for a very dull 12 rounds indeed.
Who wins?
Media playback is not supported on this device Mayweather v Pacquiao: Ricky Hatton's tactical analysis
According to almost every expert you talk to, Mayweather. Hatton, who lost to both men, calls Mayweather "a genius".
Hatton's fellow Brit Amir Khan, who wants to fight the winner, also believes Mayweather will be too clever.
However, Pacquiao does have some heavyweight backing, with former world champions George Foreman and Mike Tyson both picking him to win it.
What next?
If it's a decent fight, then they will probably do it all again in September.
Mayweather says he only has one more fight left in him - although with Rocky Marciano's record of 49 fights undefeated in his sights, he might fight on.
Whether Pacquiao chooses to fight |
_census_regions('CA16') %>% filter(level=='C') pr <- list_census_regions('CA16') %>% filter(level=='PR', name=='British Columbia') cma2 <- list_census_regions('CA16') %>% filter(level=='CMA', PR_UID==pr$region) %>% top_n(4,pop) regions=as_census_region_list(do.call(rbind,list(cma2,pr,canada)))
Normalized Change
Looking at the normalized change for these time periods, we see that Metro Vancouver overall fits in quite nicely with broader trends. It is interesting to see that Abbotsford - Mission shows stronger growth in the top bracket than Metro Vancouver.
How about Inflation?
Adjusting for inflation and comparing the result is tricky business, and we will leave that for another blog post. There are a variety of ways one could go about doing this, but all require some sort of assumption on the income distribution within each of these brackets. Probably the cleanest way to do this is to fit continuous distribution functions to the income bracket data. These can then easily be adjusted for inflation and subtracted to see how these distributions changed.
Housing Affordability
How does this relate to housing affordability? The unadjusted (for inflation) numbers we have been working with lend themselves well to that comparison if we use unadjusted house prices or rents as a comparison. Or the HPI, which by definition is not adjusted for inflation.
Changes in prices and rents are negotiated by the marginal buyers/renters. And those are overwhelmingly from the top income bracket. We don’t know how the incomes are distributed within the open-ended top bracket. Looking at the 2015 income distribution we can infer that it skews high, the top $200k+ income bracket for 2015 contained 23,310 people, or 53% of the $150k+ bracket. This highlights that using median incomes to explain changes in the real estate market is too simplistic, and that incomes do play some role in the Vancouver real estate market. Both, in supporting prices as well as in segregating households. It lead some credence to the notion that lower income households feel the pressure to move out of the central region, and are being replaced by higher income households. We don’t see the same dynamic at the metropolitan level, it still fits in well with movements in the rest of BC and Canada.
However, while these income gains are substantial, it is also clear that they simply cannot explain the rapid rise of Vancouver’s real estate on their own. A quick comparison with incomes needed to afford the luxury subset of our housing market consisting of single family homes shows that the incredible rise in home prices in Vancouver can’t be explained by incomes alone, even when splitting things up by movement in individual income brackets. It is inescapable that wealth plays a significant role in this market, at the very least at the upper end of it.
We will have to wait for the rest of the 2016 data to trickle in to dig down further.
We re-run the analysis for the 2010 - 2015 adjusted after tax family income deciles. The advantage of this data is that it looks at adjusted income so the income is adjusted by family size. For details refer to the census dictionary, essentially this takes into consideration that larger families need larger incomes to get by. Looking at deciles is a relative measure of how the composition by incomes changes compared to how things changed overall in Canada. The main disadvantage is that this data is not part of the standard release for 2006 so some degree of caution is advisable. The regions we chose are large enough that the NHS income numbers should be reasonably robust.
With a bit of copy-paste we can see how this pans out in Vancouver.
Looking at the change in the total number of people per adjusted income decile we see that again Vancouver stands out with high gains in the top bracket and a significant drop in the second decile.
Normalizing the data so that the total net change adds to 1 for each region emphasizes the trends we observed in the data. Especially Richmond is curious with a large increase in the bottom decile and a drop in the top decile (and also the two below that), a pattern that is, to a lesser extent, mimicked by Burnaby.1.) You can train the captain with free exp:
2.) Missouri has radar added (35 second duration, appears to be the same as Baltimore’s) and rudder shift reduced to 19.4 seconds
3.) New skills (max point limit for skills is now 4, all 5-point skills reworked to lower point values):
Thanks to Urakaze for compiling.
1st Row skills:
Defense tree
-On the mark, shows the number of enemies aiming at you
-Preventive maintenance, -30% chance of module incapacitation
Offense tree
-Expert loader, -50% to ammo swap speed
-Aircraft servicing expert, -10% to servicing time of carrier-based aircrafts, +5% to HP of carrier-based aircrafts
Support tree
-Smoke for the god of fog. +20% to smoke screen radius
-Dogfight, +10% to fighter’s loadout, +10% per tier to DPS dealt towards fighters of a higher tier
Special Ops tree
-Incoming fire alert, alerts player of incoming long range enemy fire (with a shell flight time >6 seconds)
-Evasive maneuver, -40% to detectability of carrier-based bombers returning to carrier, +15% to survivability of carrier-based bombers returning to carrier, -10% to max speed of carrier-based bombers returning to carrier (debuff)
2nd row skills:
Defense tree
-Basics of survivability, -15% to time of firefighting, recovery from flooding and module incapacitations
-Jack of all trades, -5% to consumables reload rate
Offense tree
-Torpedo Acceleration, +5 knots to torpedo speed, -20% to torpedo range
-Expert marksman, +2.5°/sec to traverse speed of guns with caliber up to 139mm. +0.7°/sec to traverse speed of guns with caliber above 139mm
Support tree
-Two is better, sends 2 catapult fighters or spotter plane per activation of the consumable, +20% cruise speed of catapult aircraft
-Expert rear gunner, +10% to DPS of self-defence armament for aircraft with rear gunner(s)
Special Ops tree
–Last Chance, -0.1% of reload time for all weapons per 1% HP loss
-Last Stand, allows ship to maneuver with incapacitated rudder and engine
3rd row skills:
Defense tree
-Firefighters, -7% to risk of fire
-High alert, -10% to reload time of damage control party
Offense tree
-Torpedo experts, -10% to reload time of torpedoes, -20% to servicing time of carrier-based torpedo bombers
-Firey take off, allows planes to take off and land even when the carrier deck is on fire
Support tree
-Basic fire training, -10% to reload time of all secondaries and main guns with caliber up to and including 139mm, +20% to DPS of AA guns
-Superintendent, +1 charge to all consumables
Special Ops tree
-Demolition Expert, +3% to chance of fire for HE shells and bombs
-Vigilance, +25% to detection range of enemy torpedoes
4th row skills:
Defense tree:
-Manual fire control for secondary armament, fires only at manually selected targets, -15% to dispersion of secondaries of Tier I-VI ships, -60% to dispersion of secondaries of Tier VII-X ships -Survival Expert, +400 HP per ship tier Offense tree: -HEAP (High-Explosive-Armour-Piercing), +25% of penetration for main and secondary gun HE shells, -6% of chance of fire for main and secondary gun HE shells -Air Supremacy, +1 fighter per squadron, +1 dive bomber per squadron Support tree: -Advanced fire training, +20% to firing range of all secondary guns and main guns with a caliber of up to 139mm, +20% to firing range of AA guns -Manual fire control for AA armament, fires only at manually selected targets, +100% DPS of AA guns with a caliber of 85mm or above Special Ops tree: -Keen Intuition, displays, only to you, the direction of the nearest enemy to your ship, even if the enemies are not spotted -Concealment Expert, -16% detectability of CVs, -14% detectability of BBs, -12% detectability of CA/CLs, -10% detectability of DDs
AdvertisementsMichael Vick got a second chance. He believes Ray Rice should get one, too.
"I hope so," the New York Jets' backup quarterback said Tuesday.
Vick, in his weekly spot on WFAN radio, was asked about the Rice controversy. He speaks from experience. In 2007, he was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for violating the personal-conduct policy. He served nearly two years in prison on federal dogfighting charges, managing to resurrect his career upon his release.
Asked what he'd tell Rice if the former Baltimore Ravens running back came to him for advice, Vick paused a few seconds.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t know what to tell Ray Rice right now,” Vick said. “That’s just being transparent with you right now. That situation is just so out of control. I just hope masses of people learn from this. As athletes, we understand the position that we’re in, and that we are superior athletes. Some things you’ve got to learn to bottle up. There are so many different ways to handle things that come about. We’ve just always got to be mindful and competent when we’re in those situations."
Vick, once deemed an NFL outcast, has rehabilitated his image. He said he learned life lessons from his sordid past.
"I took away a lot from what I went through -- the importance of decision-making," he said. "And like I tell so many people now: Ray Rice has had a great career. A lot of us had great careers and everything was in our favor, and you do the wrong thing in one hour of the day and everything turns around and is obviously not in your favor anymore.
"Somebody told me you can go 23 hours in a day and do the right thing, and in the last hour screw up, and that’s all people are going to remember. You’ve just got to be conscious of what you’re doing and what’s going on at all times. You just can’t let things get out of character. We control everything. We control our actions, we control our movement, we control the people around us. We’ve got to take that into consideration at all times."
These days, Vick is perceived as the wise mentor to Geno Smith. He said Smith is like his "little brother" (Vick is 10 years older), complimenting the Jets' starter on his maturity.
"He walks around with the football in his hand a lot," Vick said. "He eats, sleeps and breathes football. I wish I could’ve been that way when I was 22 years old, when I was 24 years old. The things that I could’ve accomplished would’ve been so far-fetched."
The host, Mike Francesa, tried to stir up a controversy with some leading questions, but Vick wasn't biting. He acknowledged that it's "hard" not being the starter, but he has accepted his No. 2 role, as he has stated many times since signing with the Jets. He was in for three plays Sunday -- the so-called Vick package -- but he suspects those appearances will be "few and far between." He missed a wide-open Eric Decker in the end zone on a gadget pass, prompting the 34-year-old Vick to say he might need to apply Icy Hot to his shoulder to keep it warmed up.I want to thank everyone for the positive response to my previous budget article, if you’re new to the game its good piece to check out since it will give you a nice starting point for your collection. I promised that I would bring my budget deck to my local tournament and I did so. What happened? Well, lets first go over what I played:
The only change I made going into the tournament was swapping Obi-Wan’s Hut for Secret Facility. The week before there were a lot of Vaders in my meta and I also tought the starter deck Kylo would make an appearance. Since I had a few supports in my deck I knew I would most likely not be claiming. I ended up playing against 4 Vader decks in the three rounds and one side game the breakdown being: one Anakin/Elite Phasma and the other three were Sith Lord/Phasma. I went 3 and 1 losing to one of the Sith Lord decks, if I had played that match up before I would have been able to anticipate what was in his deck but my inexperience coupled with his solid play slayed me. It was at least close.
The Good
Rey and Poe are much better than people think they are. Who your opponent goes for presents a tough question for your opponent: Poe has better dice but Rey has a really annoying ability that on average seems to account for 3 or 4 damage per game.
The upgrades were all solid and held their weight. C-3PO guaranteed that I would be able to resolve my Poe’s Blaster or Lightsaber special which made my damage very consistent.
Riposte was insane at killing characters as a 1st or 2nd turn action. Combined with Rey’s ability it would usually guarantee 4 damage in the first two actions of the round. The rest of the events did work, Caution combos well with Riposte and since I ended up playing against combat focused decks it caused headaches for my opponents. I ended a couple of my games with a late game Hit and Run plus an All In, that combo was mvp and shows you that even a budget deck can do some end of game action cheating. Flank was solid because I played against 2 character decks but that will vary depending on the metagame.
The Bad
At one point I did unlock the achievement of having all three droids in play. The look on my opponents face when I played BB-8, C-3PO and R2-D2 certainly had some comedic value, my inner child jumped for joy as my opponent was overun by my robot army. This was fun but unnecessary to my victory. In one instance I was able to claim Emperor’s Throne Room and turn R2-D2‘s die to a special allowing me to resolve a damage side I had out and increase the value by 1. That was pretty sweet but aside from that, R2-D2 was unimpressive in comparison to C-3PO, Poe’s Blaster or Jedi Robes. BB-8 did less than that and moving forward I will be cutting them but by all means keep testing them. Two cost supports may have value against Thrunkar because they can’t interact with them so maybe R2- D2 will have some value.
Between Poe’s blaster, C-3PO and Rey’s Lightsaber there was some concern that I might get unique flooded. That came up once and it was the game that I lost so I think I’ll be trying different combinations. This is easily solvable when we break the budget rule but otherwise it’s kind of tough. I’d say that Poe’s Blaster is the best followed by Rey’s Saber and C-3PO being tied.
Now with Empire at War
EAW adds new possibilities. Rend is an auto include in my mind since will give us some more non-combat related disruption. Being able to kill Imperial Inspection, Sith Holocron, Fast Hands, Force Speed or Running Interference will go a long way to staying competitive with the top decks. Below is a YouTube video with my update list and further explanations.
Stage 3: Fully Powered Starter Deck Poe Rey
I’ve been impressed with the character combo so I wanted to test a fully powered version of the deck. This in my mind, currently, means having access to Force Speed and Ancient Lightsaber which costs more than the 2 starters put together! I currently haven’t been blessed with an IRL Ancient Lightsaber but online I’ve dabbled with it in a Lightsaber Pull package. This gives the deck a high level of consistency when it comes to dropping a 2 drop upgrade, playing Rey’s Saber without having to run two copies, hitting regular old Lightsaber and gives us consistent access to Handcrafted Lightbow which may be insanely important vs Thrunkars ability to make a million shields.
I took this to my store last night and went 3 and 0 although my win against Thrunkar was due to time being called. Had we been able to finish the game I certainly would have lost. I didn’t have Ancient Lightsaber and Lightsaber Pull yesterday. I played an extra Lightsaber and two Defensive Position and while I was able to claim at times its probably not consistent enough for me to play both. The above is what I’ve been playing with online and its proved pretty competitive. This is certainly not the most powerful deck but its a good honest deck that has two really good characters that can compete vs anything and can end the game without your opponent taking an action in the mid to late game
Thanks for reading and as always…
May You Always Draw Your Rends at Just the Right Time.
-NJCuenca
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PatreonWhat You Are Not Being Told About the Afghanistan War
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October 7, 2016 marks the 15th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan by US-led NATO forces.
15 years since the bombs began raining down on the country. 15 years of drone strikes and civilian massacres, detainees and prison torture, insurgency and bombings, warlords and druglords and CIA kickbacks.
15 years of death. 15 years of destruction.
And still, like a decades-long nightmare, it continues.
The world was told that the invasion, launched after the invocation of NATO’s self-defense treaty, was a response to the false flag events of September 11, 2001.
But this explanation, like the official narrative of the events of 9/11 itself, was a carefully constructed lie. As Professor Michel Chossudovsky of the Centre for Research on Globalization explains, the US government’s demands for Osama Bin Laden’s extradition were proven disingenuous when they repeatedly denied the Taliban’s offers to extradite him, and the invasion itself, a major theatre operation, was launched impossibly quickly.
That the invasion of Afghanistan had been planned well before 9/11 was first revealed by Niaz Naik, the former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, who told BBC News that he “was told by senior American officials in mid-July [of 2001] that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October.”
This story was confirmed by Donald Rumsfeld, who told the September 11th Commission Hearings in March of 2004, that the first major national security directive of the Bush administration was a plan to combat the Taliban in Afghanistan. Although it was not officially signed until October 25, 2001, nearly three weeks after the invasion began, it was in fact drafted in June of that year and was sitting on the president’s desk waiting to be signed on September 4, 2001, one full week before 9/11.
“Dr. Rice has stated that she asked the National Security Council staff in her first week in office for a new presidential initiative on al Qaeda. In early March, the staff was directed to craft a more aggressive strategy aimed at eliminating the al Qaeda threat. The first draft of that approach, in the form of a presidential directive, was circulated by the NSC staff in June of 2001, and a number of meetings were held that summer at the deputy secretary level to address the policy questions involved, such as relating an aggressive strategy against Taliban to U.S.-Pakistan relations. “By the first week of September, the process had arrived at a strategy that was presented to principals and later became NSPD-9, the President’s first major substantive national security decision directive. It was presented for a decision by principals on September 4th, 2001, seven days before the 11th, and later signed by the President, with minor changes and a preamble to reflect the events of September 11th, in October.” SOURCE: RUMSFELD 9/11 COMMISSION TESTIMONY MARCH 23, 2004
So if the plan to invade Afghanistan was not about 9/11, then why were the neocons so eager to take over the country?
Like any major military operation, there are multiple strategic objectives to be achieved.
Securing a key transportation corridor from rich Caspian Sea oil and gas reserves has always been one important objective of the Afghanistan war.
But this was by no means the only objective of the invasion.
From the monetary perspective there is as much as a trillion dollars of untapped mineral wealth in the country that could make it one of the world’s leading mining centres in the coming years, a mineral wealth that has been known about for decades.
And there is also the fact that the world’s lucrative multi-billion dollar heroin trade sources almost entirely from the country, with up to 90% of the world’s opium coming from the record crops that are being diligently protected by US troops.
The oil and gas pipelines. The mineral extraction. The opium. All of these are factors in the ongoing occupation of Afghanistan years after any pretence of an excuse for NATO’s presence evaporated. But there is one factor that has made Afghanistan the target of would-be world rulers for centuries: its location.
In 1904, Sir Halford John Mackinder PC, the Director of the London School of Economics, published an essay in The Geographical Journal titled “The Geographical Pivot of History.” In that essay, Mackinder laid out the “Heartland Theory,” a theory that would come to dominate foreign policy and geostrategic thought.
The Heartland Theory holds that the earth’s surface can be divided into a “world island,” the “offshore islands” and the “outlying islands.” The “Heartland” lay at the center of the “world island” and the Eurasian landmass, and its importance was summarized in Mackinder’s famous dictum:
“Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland;
Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island;
Who rules the World-Island commands the World.”
This is why control of the Central Asian region, and Afghanistan in particular, has been prized by empire since the 19th century, when Britain and Russia engaged in diplomatic struggle, intelligence operations, military conflicts and subterfuge for control over Afghanistan in what was called “The Great Game.” And this is why former National Security Advisor and perennial Washington insider Zbigniew Brzezinski was able to predict in his 1997 magnum opus, “The Grand Chessboard,” that the first major war of the 21st century would take place in Afghanistan.
Brzezniski had no crystal ball. He did not know that the neocons would be in office in 2001. He had not seen NSPD-9. He did not know how 9/11 would be used as the fig leaf to cover the naked ambition of NATO’s land grab. But he did understand the geostrategic imperatives of world empires, and he knew that control over Central Asia was crucial to control over the world. Without NATO’s Afghanistan toehold, the US hegemon would have no chance of countering China and Russia in the New Great Game of the 21st century.
This is what Afghanistan was, is and always will be about: empire. The naked ambition of would-be world rulers. As long as that ambition remains unchecked, NATO will continue to keep its forces in the region at any cost. And as Russia and China continue to exert their own influence in the region, that deployment brings us one step closer to direct military confrontation.
And the people of Afghanistan, once again, are crushed underfoot, mere pawns in the game for world empire.
Help Us Be The Change We Wish To See In The World.When Ashton Kutcher won the Ultimate Choice Award -- the "old guy" award, as he said -- at Sunday night's Teen Choice Awards, the 35-year-old star told his fans that he felt like a fraud.
"My name is not even actually Ashton," he said. The "Jobs" actor revealed that Ashton was in fact his middle name and that his first name was "Chris." He changed his name to Ashton when he became an actor at age 19.
The heartthrob then launched into a list he titled "What I Learned While I Was Chris." Among the lessons were "being sexy." This was of course greeted with a faint cry of "Take it off!" But Kutcher also told his fans that "sexy is smart" and "opportunities look a whole lot like work."
Perhaps this Chris Kutcher was channeling the real Steve Jobs when he ended his inspirational speech by saying, "Build a life, don't live one."One of the trouble areas with CSS (other than it's too hard to master) is that it's too easy to write a lot of it. (I'll just leave it here. Lately we've seen far too much anti-CSS talk, I'm sure most of it is not wrong, but maybe not too productive either.)
Therefore anything you can do to reduce the CSS code you produce is a good thing.
One way to reduce amount of code is to use one and only one line-height declaration.
Gimme
Somewhere in you reset/normalize/whatever just go:
html { line-height: 1.6; }
Refresh, look, agree ("hm, I can read this"), move on.
If you forget the 1.6 value, just search for "golden ratio", copy and paste.
So yeah, technically, you can make it...
line-height: 1.61803398875;
That's actually better for maintenance. Because it looks like someone thought about it. So the next person touching the site will think twice before they overwrite the value.
Relative?
Did you know line-height can be relative to the font-size? In other words no unit of measure necessary (no px, pt, etc). Well, now you do. You're welcome! 🙂
So the beauty is you go with one line-height for the whole site. It will look as good with that 36px summary ("summary" means "tl;dr" for you kids) as with that 10px pill side-effects disclaimer.
Unless of course you or your designer have a good reason to deviate from this value in one context or another. Which brings me to your question...
Is this really the best?
Well, I don't know enough about design and typography to promise you it is. You can read about golden ratio on Wikipedia for yourself. You can read a more detailed article on typography. There's even a calculator. Because turns out the width of the text and characters per line also have a say.
But all I can say, empirically... It's good enough.
And often good enough is good enough, especially if you don't have a typography person around to consult with.
Proof?
Just check the sites that look like they know what they're doing. Not too scientific, I know, but... good enough.
1. Facebook notes
28 / 17 = 1.647058823529412
2. Medium
33.1833 / 21 = 1.580157142857143
3. 24ways
30 / 20 = 1.5
4. Smashing Magazine
27.9 / 18 = 1.55
5. A list apart
30 / 18 = 1.66
Average, rounded, yadda, yadda (these are anecdotal biased picks anyway)...
(1.66 + 1.55 + 1.5 + 1.580157142857143 + 1.647058823529412) / 5 = 1.58744319328 ≈ 1.6
Mic. Drop. 🙂
Update: Wait, one more
"Reader View" in Desktop Safari. This is Apple, people, I mean didn't they, like, invent design or something? 🙂
1.61111111... Mind: blown.
Tell your friends about this post: Facebook, Twitter, Google+by Paul Sagar
Wikileaks has been handed confidential information by banker Rudolf Elmer, which threatens to reveal Swiss banking complicity in tax evasion and other criminal activity.
Accordingly, Elmer is to go on criminal trial for breaking Swiss bank secrecy laws.
One thing you can expect to hear around the build-up to this case is that Swiss banking secrecy was enacted to protect Jewish assets from the Nazis during the 1930s.
This was the line repeatedly deployed in 2008, when US authorities unveiled systematic complicity from Swiss bank UBS in assisting American tax avoidance.
It would be nice for the Swiss if it were true; providing some sort of vague moral justification for the systematic undermining of the laws and revenue authorities of other states. But it’s not true.
From Treasure Islands, the new book by Nick Shaxson you should all read:
A pervasive story now exists that Switzerland put bank secrecy into place to protect German Jewish money from the Nazis. This myth dates back to a bulletin in 1966 from the Schweizerische Kreditanstalt (today’s Credit Suisse), and Swiss bankers have wielded it to great effect ever since. American officials negotiating a new tax treaty with Switzerland at that time lodged an official complaint after being frequently lectured about the supposed origins of bank secrecy as protection for Jewish money. A Swiss Federal Council report in March 1970 officially endorsed the story, and this was backed up in 1977 by a lurid book by a former Geneva newspaper editor outlining the fabulous story of Gestapo agents infiltrating Switzerland to worm out Jewish bank details. The problem with the story is that it’s not true Amid the Great Depression, Swiss farmers’ and workers’ movements began in 1931 to clamour for more control over the banks. Bankers feared state inspection of their hitherto closely controlled financial domain would risk secrets leaking out, and they pressed fiercely for a new law, to make it a crime to violate Swiss bank secrecy. By August 1931, the highly-influential right-wing daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung was attacking government oversight of the banks, and in February 1932 a top banker sent the government draft legislation with a clause making it a crime to violate bank secrecy. It was the French scandal [revelations that up to 4 billion francs were being lost to Swiss-facilitated tax evasion schemes] that October, however, which really spurred government into action. A new banking law was prepared and an official draft was ready by February 1933, just eighteen days after Hitler came to power and long before he had consolidated his grip on the German state or even gained control of all of Germany’s intelligence services. The Swiss law finally adopted in 1934 for the first time made it a criminal offence punishable by fines and prison to violate bank secrecy, and was almost unchanged from the original draft. In Germany the death penalty for having foreign accounts undeclared to the Third Reich only appeared in 1936. Even the Swiss Bankers’ Association has no records of the supposed activities of Gestapo agents coming to Switzerland to squirrel out information about Jewish money.
Of course, even if it were true that Swiss banking secrecy was originally adopted to protect Jewish assets (which it wasn’t), that wouldn’t justify the facilitation of tax avoidance and evasion today.
Instead, using of the legacy of the holocaust to provide cover for illicit financial skullduggery simply compounds the distasteful nature of what the Swiss tax haven operation involves.
Incidentally, Treasure Islands continues to pick up excellent reviews. Having started it over the weekend, I can confirm that it’s a cracking read. You should buy it.
Update: a video from the press conferenceCut up a fresh, bone-in chicken breast and you’ll notice that it naturally separates into two distinct parts: a larger, teardrop-shaped lobe of flesh — the piece of meat that you probably think of when someone says “chicken breast” — and a more narrow piece sometimes referred to as a “tender.” The chicken finger originated in the need to find something to do with that tender, explains food historian Gary Allen in a short history of the convenience food published online five years ago. Chicken fingers, Allen says, were seldom seen before 1990 or so, but by the end of the 1980s, fear of saturated fats turned many North Americans away from beef and toward chicken. Increased demand meant billions of additional chicken breasts were processed — but what was the industry to do with the tenders? The answer is on children’s plates. We can look at Allen’s mini-history of a mini-food as a metaphor for how cuisine has come to be divided in contemporary North America: The prime cuts go to the adults while the less healthy morsels — dressed up in extra salt, fat and sugar and processed almost beyond recognition — end up on the kids’ menu, both in the family restaurants that traffic in such fare, and at home.
For a generation, many North American parents have indulged children’s picky eating tendencies by sticking them in an endlessly repeating loop of chicken fingers, burgers, pizza, plain pasta, mac and cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches. Anyone who has sat down for a meal with youngsters over the past 25 years will recognize this list of typical “kids’ foods.” Pushed out of the picture, to varying degrees for different children, are fruits and vegetables and anything else that might challenge them, from spicy delicacies to unfamiliar proteins. To picture what this might look like to a visitor from almost anywhere else in the world, imagine we just mashed up some bread and cheese and mechanically separated chicken flesh together, called it Kiddy Chow, and bought it by the bag to rip open to feed the tots.
Mealtimes for children were quite different just a few decades ago. Over the past few months, I’ve spoken casually and in formal interviews with dozens of people about food and childhood. As a general rule, people who grew up in North America and are now over the age of 30 recall that when they were children, kids ate what the adults ate. Families usually dined together at the table. There might have been foods you didn’t like; depending on the rules of the house you might have been expected to try them or even finish them. Or you might have been free not to, as long as there weren’t too many foods you were refusing. Either way, it wouldn’t have occurred to you that an adult was going jump up from the table to prepare you something precisely to your liking. And if you didn’t eat, you might have to wait quite a while for the next opportunity: Studies show that North American kids snack more often and consume more calories than they did in the 1970s.
So what happened? What stopped us from feeding normal adult foods to children?
Adam McDowell took a group of younguns to Le Select in Toronto to see if they’d eat adult-style food. (Alex Urosevic for National Post)
Knowledgeable fingers are frequently pointed at the gradual extinction of the family dinner, which in turn usually gets blamed on parents’ busy schedules, which in turn gets partially blamed on hockey practice and piano lessons. Michael Moss, a New York Times reporter whose investigations into the evolution of processed food led to the 2013 book Salt Sugar Fat, knows it’s easy to fall into the habit of feeding beige foods to children because he’s done it many times himself. “I’m a parent of two boys, living in Brooklyn, being highly motivated by work [with] long hours, having these kind of fractured dinners,” says Moss. “When you’re crazy busy and you’re not focused on this goal of having an adult kind of meal for the entire family, you can succumb to that immediate feedback from the kids to go the easy way and serve highly palatable but sort of limited types of food.”
The busy house with a full freezer turns into something almost like a restaurant, and the kids get what they want, with the food industry playing an instrumental role in exploiting children’s preference for nutritionally dubious foods.
Adam McDowell took a group of younguns to Le Select in Toronto to see if they’d eat adult-style food. (Alex Urosevic for National Post)
The 1980s and ’90s saw the advent of countless convenience and snack foods, from fruit and chicken nuggets pressed into “fun” shapes to sugar-laden yogurts and foods kids could assemble themselves. Grocery stores increasingly sold meals that resembled fast food. As Moss chronicles in Salt Sugar Fat, these products, many of them portable and/or frozen, helped transform the North American diet. Their flavour profiles, packaging, and advertising and marketing programs were often designed to appeal specifically to children with a sophistication that made the 1960s breakfast cereal explosion look limited and quaint.
And why wouldn’t a child, given the choice, select from typical kids’ menu items? “The sensation of biting into a toasted cheese sandwich or pizza,” Moss observes, “especially when it’s hot and gooey, and with all the aromas … is actually quite powerful from a psychobiology and sensation standpoint.”
Do picky children become adults with infantilized palates whose restricted tastes will make for a duller culinary world?
Regardless of the processed food industry’s role, putting children on their own restricted, bland diet would never have been possible had parents not gone along with the shift. Observe what happens when you try to challenge other people’s children by feeding them something unfamiliar. It’s often the parents themselves who will push back, giving up before a battle has even begun (“She won’t eat that”). A less challenging food like grilled cheese and fries offers a path of least resistance, guaranteed to succeed — if success is narrowly defined as getting the kid to actually eat it.
By now, the effects of the modern kids’ diet are relentlessly well-documented. Diverse eating habits tend to lead to healthier children, and those who don’t eat their fruit and veg are more likely to |
. But it emerged this weekend that the vials of liquid did not contain ecstasy. Instead, the animals received a dose of methamphetamine, or speed - a drug widely known to affect the body's dopamine system. The tubes had somehow been mislabelled by the supplier.
In this week's Science, the scientists will publish a retraction of their original study, reigniting the row over the role of those who investigate ecstasy, as well as the real risks or benefits of the drug.
In academic circles, the mistake is a severe embarrassment to Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, which attracts millions of dollars of research funding from both government and companies. Questions are already being asked about whether the lead researcher, George Ricaurte, was inherently biased against the drug.
The mistake only came to light when follow-up tests gave conflicting results. The original study reported how two out of 10 animals died quickly after their second or third dose. Six weeks later, the dopamine levels in the surviving animals were down by 65 per cent, leading Ricaurte and his colleagues to conclude that it could provoke the onset of Parkinson's, which is linked to a loss of dopamine-producing cells.
He said at the time: 'It is possible that some of the more recent cases of suspected young-onset Parkinson's disease might be related, but that this link has not been recognised.'
When the study was published last September, a chorus of experts saw it as evidence of drug damage. Professor Colin Blakemore of Oxford University, soon to be the new head of the Medical Research Council, said it provided further evidence that 'ecstasy can be toxic to nerve cells'.
Dr Alan Leshner, chief executive of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, which publishes the journal, went as far as to describe taking ecstasy as playing 'Russian roulette' with brain function.
He added: 'This study showed that even very occasional use can have long-lasting effects on many different brain systems. It sends an important message to young people - don't experiment with your brain.'
Yesterday, Ricaurte was attempting to put a brave face on the calamity. He is under attack from all sides, and has already been accused of rushing his study into print because Congress was looking at a bill known as the Anti-Rave Act, which would punish club owners who knew that drugs such as ecstasy were being used on their premises.
Ricaurte has denied political bias. He said yesterday that his laboratory made 'a simple human error', adding: 'We're scientists, not chemists.' Asked why the vials of liquid were not checked before being used on the animals, he replied: 'We're not chemists. We get hundreds of chemicals here - it's not customary to check them.'
It is unusual for Science to have to publish a retraction, but that is exactly the right thing to do, according to Joe Collier, professor of medicines policy at St George's Hospital Medical School.
'People must realise that mistakes are made, even by scientists,' said Collier. 'It is embarrassing - a lot of self-questioning will be going on over there - but it's important we learn from this.'
Over the past five years, controversy has raged about the real dangers of ecstasy, a drug which is taken by around a million clubbers in Britain every weekend.
Some studies have suggested that ecstasy has no long-term impact on the levels of the hormone serotonin in the brain, while others have suggested that it leaves clubbers feeling depressed and unable to concentrate.
The controversy is not likely to go away quickly while the scientists themselves are caught up in such a political and academic minefield.
jo.revill@observer.co.ukHere's a novel idea. Members of Congress should have time to read—fully read, from start to finish—the text of a bill before being asked to vote on it.
Frustrated by a secretive process for rewritting the House's health care bill, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that he would reintroduce a resolution requiring the Senate to give its members sufficient time to read lengthy bills before they could be called upon to cast votes. His "Read the Bills" resolution would change Senate rules to require bills and amendments to be filed for one day per 20 pages before they could be considered, giving lawmakers time to digest legislation before giving their vote.
"Legislation is too often shoved through Congress without proper hearings, amendments, or debate, as the secrecy surrounding the Senate's health care bill and the pressure to vote for it with little time to fully evaluate the proposal once again remind us," Paul said in an emailed statement Wednesday.
The Senate version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) is expected to be unveiled later today, after weeks of secretive work behind closed doors to draft changes to the bill. (UPDATE: The bill has been released. Read Peter Suderman's coverage of it here.)
As passed by the House, the AHCA is 131 pages long. Under Paul's proposed resolution, a 131-page bill would require a period of at least seven days between when it was filed and when it could be voted. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has promised there won't be a vote until next week, but the Senate version of the bill is likely to grow longer, perhaps much longer, than the House-passed version as amendments are added. For context, the final version of the Affordable Care Act was more than 900 pages long when it was passed in 2010.
"If we are to answer to the American people, it is imperative we pay close attention to the legislation we pass," Paul said.
Paul isn't the only member of the upper chamber to be rankled by the secretive, rushed legislating. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Mike Lee of Utah have expressed concerns about having enough time to read and understand the bill before an expected vote next week. "Even though we thought we were going to be in charge of writing a bill within this working group, it's not being written by us," Lee told Bloomberg News earlier this week. "So if you're frustrated by the lack of transparency in this process, I share your frustration. I share it wholeheartedly."
With 52 Republicans in the Senate, it would take three defectors to block the bill's passage.
Paul is the most likely to jump ship. In addition to his complaints about the process, Paul has been openly dissatisfied the substance of the AHCA since it was first introduced by House Republicans in March, criticizing the bill for not going far enough to repeal taxes and regulatory mandates created under Obamacare. The tax credits included in the bill—a replacement for Obamacare's subsidies to help low-income Americans afford insurance—have been specifically targeted by Paul as "a new entitlement program."
"My main concern is I promised voters that I would repeal—vote to repeal Obamacare. And everything I hear sounds like Obamacare-lite," Paul told The Washington Post on Wednesday.
Despite months of criticism of the bill, Paul has not taken an official position on whether he will support it. He told Bloomberg News earlier this week that he would make that decision after seeing the text of the bill.
He will likely get to see it on Thursday. Whether he has time to read the whole thing remains to be seen.French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called on Germany to work alongside France in fostering a fresh approach to European politics and winning back the trust of people feeling disenfranchised by the EU.
Speaking to a number of European newspapers ahead of his first EU leader summit in Brussels on Thursday, Macron said the greatest threat facing the bloc was the propensity for lawmakers and voters to veer away from liberal policies.
Read more: Opinion: Europe, En Marche!
"The question now is: will Europe succeed in defending the deep values it brought to the world for decades, or will it be wiped out by the rise in illiberal democracies and authoritarian regimes," he said.
The French president called on Germany and France to drive the necessary reforms needed to reconcile citizens with the European project. Macron's policy roadmap would see the EU promote "greater economic and social wellbeing" and introduce tighter rules on workers and make it harder for companies to employ low-wage labor from eastern Europe.
"One country's strength cannot feed on the weakness of others," Macron told reporters. The French president insisted that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in total agreement and realized the need for deeper cooperation. "Germany, which underwent a series of reforms around 15 years ago, is realizing that this isn't viable," he said.
Doubts remain over new eurozone ministry
One area where Macron's vision has drawn skepticism in Berlin concerns the euro currency. The French president has called for a common eurozone budget and a democratically controlled "Euro Ministry."
Reports last month suggested that the proposal had been rejected in Berlin by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble.
Read more: Macron's EU ideals meet Merkel's mastery
However, Macron insisted on Thursday that it was the "only means of achieving more convergence within the eurozone," and that "Germany does not it deny it."
On Tuesday, Merkel signaled that she would be open to the idea of a eurozone budget.
"We could, of course, consider a common finance minister, if the conditions are right," the chancellor said in a speech at the annual congress held by Germany's largest industrial lobby, the Federation of German Industries. However, Merkel ruled out any European body taking responsibility for member states' risks and liabilities for debt.One of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s great skills as a political communicator has been his ability to constantly summon up catchy buzzwords. If 2014 was the year of ‘acche din’, Make in India and Swachh Bharat, 2015 was about Start up and Stand up India, 2016 was Digital India and 2017 is now about ‘New India’. But shorn of the artful messaging, what does ‘New India’ really mean?”
Is it a ‘new India’ when over 70 ill-fated children tragically die in a Gorakhpur government hospital, an annual monsoon ritual in one of the more backward regions of the country? Is the prime minister assuring us that Japanese Encephalitis will be conquered, that public investment in health will be doubled, or that primary health centres will be strengthened? The truth is, the public health system in the country is in ICU.
Is it a ‘new India’ when Assam is flooded every year, when thousands are displaced in another annual catastrophe? Are we being assured that there will be a genuine effort to plug the encroachments of river banks, the lack of drainage, rampant deforestation, all of which contribute to the sorrows heaped upon hapless people by a swelling Brahmaputra?
Is it a ‘new India’ when government schools struggle to provide quality education to lakhs of students across the country? In a statement in parliament in December 2016, the HRD minister acknowledged that 18% teacher posts in government-run primary schools and 15% in secondary schools remain vacant. Is the government assuring an end to this acute teacher crisis in the immediate future?
Is it a ‘new’ India where agricultural land-holdings are shrinking, where small and marginal farmers remain indebted to village money-lenders, where deepening agrarian distress means that even in a year of a bountiful harvest, farmers denied a remunerative price commit suicide? Is it a ‘new’ India where the government is in denial on the reality of a manufacturing slowdown and jobless growth, especially in a post-demonetisation universe? A recent study of the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE) reveals that 1.5 million jobs were lost post-demonetisation in the first four months of 2017.
Is it a ‘new’ India where municipal authorities routinely fail to provide for pot-hole free roads, where every year dozens of citizens die in road accidents that could be avoided with better infrastructure and greater accountability? Is it a ‘new’ India where the backlog of cases continue to pile up in our courts, where the notion of speedy delivery of justice is a cruel joke being played on lakhs of petitioners?
Is it a ‘new’ India where fearful minorities are routinely subject to ‘patriotism’ tests, where sporting a cap and beard or eating beef, studying in a madarasa, reciting azaan or not singing Vande Mataram could provide automatic entry into the ‘anti-national’ club? Can a new India be built on ill-conceived cattle slaughter rules that only seem to encourage vigilante groups to flaunt their muscle against cattle traders? The fact is, as a recent report on data website India Spend points out, Muslims comprised 86% the 23 Indians killed in 63 cow lynching related incidents since 2010: 97% of these incidents were reported post May 2014.
Is it a ‘new’ India where the prime minister promises to end bureaucratic and political corruption but where ‘local’ corruption and red-tapism still haunts the average citizen: India still ranks a lowly 79 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. And if you believe ministerial corruption has ended, just travel to my home state of Goa where ‘rates’ for legislators switching sides to form a government are freely discussed.
Truth is, ‘new’ India is for now at least an undefined but alluring futuristic dream, one which is being strategically spun by a leader who knows that the promise of ‘acche din’ that won him the 2014 general elections could never match the vaulting expectations it threw up. Rather than being devoured by past hype, the prime minister is cleverly changing the goalposts by embarking on another feel-good journey to woo the gen-next voter. Which is why the ‘new’ India artifice is not offering instant gratification but sets a five year target of 2022 by which time another election will have, in all probability, also been won!
Post-script: Despite the ‘invented’ fantasy of a ‘new’ India, an India Today mood of the nation poll forecasts that the Modi-led alliance could win close to 350 seats if general elections were held now. Clearly, the hope of a better India embodied in the charismatic Modi persona is still attractive. Unless a divided and dispirited opposition carves out its own compelling counter-narrative.
Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and author
The views expressed are personal
First Published: Aug 17, 2017 13:27 ISTWILMINGTON, Mass. � Listed as a rail-thin 185 pounds when the Boston Bruins drafted him after his junior year at Milton Academy in 2011, Robbie O�Gara knew that he needed to get bigger and stronger if he is going to someday play in the National Hocke
WILMINGTON, Mass. � Listed as a rail-thin 185 pounds when the Boston Bruins drafted him after his junior year at Milton Academy in 2011, Robbie O�Gara knew that he needed to get bigger and stronger if he is going to someday play in the National Hockey League.
But by the time his sophomore season at Yale University ended in March, O�Gara decided that he might have added a few too many pounds.
�School food,�� the 6-foot-4 defenseman said with a smile.
�I actually played most of last year between 215 and 220. I don�t think I put [weight] on the right way. When I got home [to Nesconset, N.Y.] I started to diet, started to cut body fat.��
And when O�Gara reported to his fourth Bruins development camp on Wednesday, he weighed in at 211 and felt better.
�I think that helped a lot. I feel great right now. Even though I�ve lost some weight so far this summer, I�ll be able to put it on for the rest of the summer and do it the right way,�� he said.
While O�Gara�s body has been growing over the past three years, so has his game.
�If you�ve watched him play over the course of his two seasons at Yale and realize how much he plays and the situations he plays in � and part of the national championship team as a freshman � I think you quickly understand that he has a lot of good tools, a lot of things that we are very, very excited about as a National Hockey League defenseman,�� said Bruins assistant general manager Don Sweeney, himself an NHL defenseman for 16 seasons.
Providence Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy, who runs the on-ice sessions at camp, also has taken note of O�Gara�s progress.
�I think the best part of his game that has gotten better is his ability to move the puck. When I first saw him, big guy, you�re assuming stay-at-home defensive defenseman,�� said Cassidy, who has helped defensemen such as Johnny Boychuk, Adam McQuaid, Matt Bartkowski, Kevan Miller and Torey Krug grow into NHL regulars.
�He has a good stick, always had good lateral feet from day one, and now you see a guy that can make plays with the puck, as well, below the goal line, breaking it out to the neutral zone. He�s more of a complete package than maybe you thought at first,�� he said.
O�Gara, who scored four goals and 11 points in 33 games for Yale last season, said he looks forward to development camp each summer.
�The first year, I was extremely nervous. You�d see guys like Tommy Cross, and I think it was his sixth camp, just going about his business like it was any other week and I�m looking up to these guys. Even though I�m a pretty tall kid, I�m still looking up to them. I sort of felt like a deer in the headlights. Now I feel I can take a leadership role. I�m more confident, I�m more prepared. Now it�s more excitement for the week instead of nervousness,� he said.
�It�s such a long road and I�ve been talking about it since the first camp, getting bigger, stronger and faster. �Not losing foot speed, getting stronger, and putting mass on, but doing it the right way.
�I feel like every camp is a benchmark. It�s a week where you can say, �This is where I am, this is where I have to be.� That�s why it�s so helpful,� he said.
When Long Islander O�Gara was a teenager watching games on television a few years back, his dad, Brian, often pointed to a New York Ranger who has developed into one of the top defensemen in the NHL.
�It was always Marc Staal when I was growing up � a guy who can play an offensive game but is always solid, at home, in his position. It�s kind of what I want to be. I want to be that guy that�s going to be solid and can play against the top line, but can add a little bit offensively, too.
�My dad always said, this is the guy you�ve got to watch. This is who you can be,�� said O�Gara, who turned 21 on July 6.
The Bruins, obviously, hope he is right.
�He�ll have to continue to work on some stuff, he plays both of the sides of the ice as a lefty and a righty, as an off-shoot/off-side player � that is important. His offensive confidence has continued to emerge so he�s continuing to round out his game,�� said Sweeney.
�This isn�t a sprint. The finished product is still well down the road, but he�s made a lot of good strides and we feel really good about where he is and, more importantly, where he�s going to go to.��We haven’t heard the name “M. Night Shyamalan” in a while, almost as if he had gone into hiding after last year’s After Earth, but in fact, he had been working quietly on a couple of lower-budget movies, one of them being a horror film with the working title “Sundowning.”
The film, starring Kathryn Hahn, had wrapped without much word on who might release it, but Universal Pictures announced today that one of the release slots they had reserved for September 25, 2015 as “Untitled Blumhouse Horror 1” will in fact be for Shyamalan’s movie, now called The Visit. Produced by Jason Blum and Blumhouse Pictures, it will instead be released on September 11 next year.
According to Universal’s press release, it’s the terrifying story of a brother and sister who are sent to their grandparents’ remote Pennsylvania farm for a weeklong trip. Once the children discover that the elderly couple is involved in something deeply disturbing, they see their chances of getting back home are growing smaller every day.
At the same time, Universal have announced that their found-footage thriller Cybernatural, previously scheduled for April 10, 2015, has moved back a week and is now called Unfriended. Developed and conceived by Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) and directed by Levan Gabriadze, the Blumhouse co-production involves a group of teenagers being “stalked by an unseen figure who seeks vengeance for a shaming video that led a vicious bully to kill herself a year earlier.”
(Photo Credit: PNP/ WENN.com)How to Estimate Market Demand for a Product?
As a product manager in any industry the method of how to estimate market demand for a product will be one of the critical skills to develop. Here are some tips on how to go about this…
From the ‘market based’ business perspective, a key question to consider is: ‘how many customers are interested in our product’. This is different to the traditional product based approach which is concerned only with product volume.
With the market based approach you will start with the maximum number of customers. For example let’s say you are selling Security Services into the business market and you are trying to work out your market demand for the next year.
At the highest level your market is defined as all businesses (say 100,000 companies)
At the next layer you may identify that some businesses are locked into contracts with other suppliers which are more than 12 months away from ending (this may reduce your number of customers to 30,000)
At the next layer, from the remaining 30,000 customers for example, you may realise 10,000 are only interested in Web Applications Security (which is service you can not offer for example). This will then finally reduce your potential market to 20,000 businesses
While the above steps are illustrative, they are representative of the process you will undertake to identify market demand from the TOP DOWN perspective.
To further understand the demand you also need to identify and manage five market forces that impact and limit the market potential:
Awareness (eg. this factor needs to also include comprehension of benefits in addition to product awareness)
Availability (eg. product availablility in a geographical market)
Ability to Use (knowledge & resources to make the product workable)
Benefit Deficiency (certain benefits are not relevant to a subset of customers)
Affordability (eg. product is just too expensive for some users)
Another factor to consider, which is very relevant to product planning and forecasting is market growth. This is a factor of growth of the whole market which you would usually source from market research companies.
When you get the whole of market growth statistics, you can compare those to your own business growth. For example you may find that the market is growing at 10% p/a while your business is growing at 5%. In this case, it’s clear you are losing market share to your competitors.
Another variation in demand estimation is what we call BOTTOM UP review. To estimate potential market demand for new products from the bottom up perspective, certain assumptions will need to be drawn, along with sound calculations, rationale and estimates.
The first question to be asked is who will be the first 5, 50, 500, 5000 customers. Good marketers and business planners understand their markets and customers at an intimate level, and test products before launching at a wholesale or mass production level. Determining market demand should be a precise as possible at each level. Good business planning involves specifically naming the first 5 customers that will adopt the new product and the reasons for doing so.
From there, the next 45 customers for example can be determined by good market analysis of customer industry types and consultation with your sales teams. The next 450 customers can be determined through market segmentation, with the final 4500 customers extrapolated from assessed market demand.
Once you have this view, we suggest you compare this bottom-up view with the earlier top-down analysis to ensure some level of alignment exists.
Also worth adding is that every market will have a floor and a ceiling. Knowing each of these is paramount, as this will assist in determining the economic feasibility of a new product. For this to be understood, we must be aware of all the parameters of market demand. The parameters are as follows:
Total defined potential customer volume
Geographical limitations
Total time of product consumption
Total market demand is not a fixed number, but rather a function of the stated conditions. This function will depend on various factors including environmental, economical and other market forces.
From here, company demand can be defined. Company demand is the company’s estimated share of market demand at alternative levels of company marketing effort in a given time period.Running the fledgling city of New Amsterdam was a rough business. Its inhabitants were inclined to cheating and drunkenness. Pigs and goats ran loose and trampled the walls of the settlement’s old fortifications. Homeowners were lax about chimney maintenance, which led to fires that threatened surrounding structures. And, like the inheritors of the place more than three centuries later, they weren’t always meticulous about how they disposed of their trash.
“It has been found, that within this City of Amsterdam in [New Netherland] many burghers and inhabitants throw their rubbish, filth, ashes, dead animals and suchlike things into the public streets to the great inconvenience of the community,” reads a New Amsterdam ordinance dated February 20, 1657. The law goes on to stipulate that residents need to bring their refuse to one of several collection places (one of which is “near the gallows”) or face penalties ranging up to six florins.
Scholars around the world will be able to research New York's unique history as a city that tolerated people of all religions and races in the name of creating a favorable economic climate—though never without strife.
That snapshot of the settlement that would become New York City is just one of many illuminating treasures to be found in the digitized ordinances of New Amsterdam just put up online by the city’s department of records. The material, which covers rules and laws issued during the period from 1647 to 1674, includes original Dutch manuscripts as well as English translations. (Quotations for this piece are taken from an 1897 translation by Berthold Fernow that is available on the new site.)
“You get this real flavor of what New York was like in that time,” says Michael Lorenzini, deputy director of the New York City Municipal Archives and one of the moving forces behind the project. “This is a town on the frontier, at the edge of the known world. People are living an existence that’s marginal. They’re trying to make a town modeled on where they came from, a multicultural center of commerce, but it’s not easy.”In Debate II, John McCain twice laid out the criteria for how the American people should judge the candidates: In tough times, we need someone with a steady hand on the tiller.
By that measure, Obama was the clear winner. He was centered where McCain was scattered. Forceful where McCain was forced. Presidential where McCain was petulant.
In the first debate, McCain wouldn't look at Obama. In this one, he referred to him as "that one." The contempt was palpable, and unpalatable.
In the run-up to the debate, McCain lowered himself into the sewer in a desperate attempt to portray Obama as dangerous, untrustworthy, a risk too big to take.
But Obama's measured reasonableness totally countered that caricature. You could fault Obama for not being particularly inspiring, but you could not miss the rock steady competence he exuded -- authoritatively delivering substantive answers to questions on the economy, health care, taxes, and foreign policy.
He scored with his history lesson, reminding voters of the economy the Republicans inherited, and how they squandered that inheritance.
He scored with his reminder of how much the war in Iraq is costing America and the enormous strain that puts on our economy -- as well as our national security.
He scored when he declared that affordable health care is a "right" of every American and not, as McCain put it, a "responsibility" of... he actually didn't specify who.
And Obama scored big when he gave voice to the vast gulf between the two candidates' -- and the two parties' -- position on the role of government in our lives, invoking JFK's commitment to put a man on the moon in 10 years as an example of what can be done in fueling a new alternative energy-based economy, and pointing out how government investment played a key role in developing the tech advances that have driven our economy for the last two decades.
McCain, like Palin last week, couldn't decide if government is the enemy or the deep-pocketed benefactor that is going to buy up all the bad mortgages in America.
Is "a government-bought house on every lot" the 21st century equivalent of "a chicken in every pot"?
McCain also provided the debate's strangest moments, twice chiding Obama for backing an "overhead projector" in a planetarium, and raising the idea of "gold-plated Cadillac" insurance policies that pay for hair transplants. Huh?
McCain also told us he knows how to fix the economy, knows how to win wars, and knows how to capture bin Laden. Is there a reason he's keeping all these a secret?
The debate ended on a question Tom Brokaw described as having "a certain Zen-like quality": "What don't you know and how will you learn it?"
Both men used the opportunity to pivot from the Moment of Zen into impassioned but familiar stump speech stories about single moms (Obama) and absent fathers (McCain), about the American Dream (Obama) and the country put first (McCain), about the need for fundamental change (Obama) and the desire for another opportunity to serve (McCain).
At the end of the debate, Brokaw asked McCain to get out of the way of his Teleprompter, so he could sign off.CNN
March 20, 2011
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) — Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi called the allied nations bombing his country “terrorists” Sunday, a day after the United States, United Kingdom and France began to enforce a United Nations-mandated no-fly zone to protect Libya’s civilians from their leader.
There was violence across the country on Sunday, with Gadhafi apparently shelling rebels in the west while allied airstrikes destroyed one of Gadhafi’s convoys in the east, according to rebels.
Gadhafi said the strikes were a confrontation between the Libyan people and “the new Nazis,” and promised “a long-drawn war.”
“You have proven to the world that you are not civilized, that you are terrorists — animals attacking a safe nation that did nothing against you,” Gadhafi said in a televised speech.
Gadhafi did not appear on screen during the address, leading CNN’s Nic Robertson in Tripoli to speculate that the Libyan leader did not want to give the allies clues about his location.
Read entire articleGood news for all players over 190cm! The IFF has renewed its policy where players can ask for special permission to use an extra long stick.
That means that players between 190-194cm can use a stick with the overall length of 116cm. If you are even taller, let’s say 194cm+, you can use a stick with a total length of 118cm. Why is this news? The IFF only started giving permission four years ago. Now the system is extended until 2019. If you already have permission you only have to get in touch with the IFF Office to receive a new permit card.
If you don’t have permission yet and you would like to use an extra long stick you can send an application to Mr. Veli Halonen (Halonen at floorball.org). It has to include a medical certificate with the height of the player signed by a person with a medical education.
Floorball Worldwide Facebook Group - 1.920 members! Become a member For lovers of floorball worldwide! Here you find the latest news about floorball!
Join the Floorball Worldwide Facebook GroupBy Dan Kosky, CEO Kosky Communications
Yingluck Shinawatra (pictured) has led a strange existence since General Prayuth Chan-ocha seized power from her in May of last year. Thailand’s democratically elected prime minister has found herself not only turfed out of office, but banned from politics with multiple spurious charges hanging over her head. Yet at the same time, she has been permitted to live a quiet life in the country and if her social media posts are correct, Yingluck has seemingly enjoyed the simple pleasures of rural living. Hardly the life of a repressed victim of a brutal coup you might think. However, it appears to be very much the calm before the storm.
The military junta has stalked its prey for long enough and is now seemingly ready to launch a determined attack on Yingluck. But the junta’s offensive is designed to reverberate way beyond Shinawatra and her family, to send a clear warning to all those who oppose its’ dictates. The military generals hope that the public demonization of Yingluck will strike fear into its opponents, in effect quashing Thailand’s political opposition.
The junta’s legal manoeuvring is gathering pace. The Supreme Court recently gave Yingluck until 31 August to provide evidence and witnesses in her defence over charges of negligence related to a rice-subsidy scheme which she introduced as prime minister in 2011. If found guilty, Yingluck could face up to 10 years behind bars. However, this is not the only direction from which the junta is hounding her.
Yingluck has also been accused of the seemingly innocuous act of reinstating her brother Thaksin’s passport in 2011, during her time in office. Interestingly, both cases focus on episodes and decisions taken several years ago, a political eternity away.It points strongly to a determined effort to besmirch Yingluck, to cast the net far enough back into her past in order to triumphantly uncover some, any hint of controversy, however tenuous it may be. In other words, the wave of allegations and legal posturing aimed at Yingluck is nothing more than pure political opportunism. Yingluck and her elder brother Thaksin have won each of Thailand’s elections since 2001. In 2011, Yingluck’s Pneu Thai Party secured almost 50 per cent of the vote. They retain a strong base of support, especially in Thailand’s rural heartlands. The Shinawatras represent the most potent political threat to Bangkok’s coterie of military men. With Thaksin already in exile, it is no wonder that Yingluck is now in their crosshairs.
But what is perhaps even more shocking is the lengths to which the generals will go to orchestrate Yingluck’s demise, wholly abusing the foundations of government and democracy in order to achieve their goals. Incredibly, Yingluck has been charged with “abuse of authority” regarding the rice pricing accusations against her. With Thailand the world’s leading rice exporter at the time, Yingluck’s government agreed to pay above market prices to local rice farmers in an attempt to raise the global price and eventually boost the Thai economy. The plan didn’t work as exports decreased. It may well have been an error of judgement on Yingluck’s behalf, but surely the freedom to take bold decisions is the essence of healthy democratic politics. No crime was committed by any stretch of the imagination. It was a policy agreed by an elected government and approved via a legislature chosen by the people. The very idea that such adherence to the legislative process could be deemed ‘abusive’ or ‘illegal’ is an affront to the rule of law. And in the meantime, Yingluck’s defence has inexplicably had a request to add 72 pieces of evidence to the case turned down. It seems that the trial itself, as well as the case’s premise will prove to be farcical.
Although Yingluck may eventually avoid charges of unlawfully reinstating her brother’s passport, the episode is instructive. The country’s laws on defaming the revered royal family are rarely applied. Yet, Thaksin Shinawatra’s claim in the South Korean media that privy counsellors may have approved General Prayuth’s coup last year was enough to find him accused of this apparently grievous crime. He faces a possible prison sentence and has had his passport revoked. Sensing an opportunity to weaken Yingluck, she was subsequently accused of wrongfully reinstating Thaksin’s passport while in office. It remains unclear exactly how the law may have been contravened. No matter to the junta though, which enthusiastically seized the opportunity to beat the anti-Yingluck drum once again.
For those who have closely followed General Prayuth’s rule, the vendetta against the Shinawatra family comes as no surprise. His is a regime which has arrested at least 166 people for daring to express anti-government sentiments. Freedom of assembly has been curtailed too, with political gatherings of more than 5 people banned. Meanwhile, Prayuth is attempting to railroad through a new constitution including Article 44, dubbed the ‘dictator law,’ which would grant him unfettered control of government, law and order. In this context, the junta’s obsessive pursuit of Yingluck makes sense. Should she be convicted of any of the specious charges against her, it would be a stern warning to remaining opponents and a final nail in the coffin for political freedom in Thailand.
Category: A Frontpage, Featured Article, Opinion, Thailand, WorldAmid soaring support for Medicare for All at the grassroots and among Democratic lawmakers, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) is attempting to "troll" Democrats by proposing a single-payer amendment during the debate over his party's plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The effort, according to the Washington Examiner, is an attempt to both expose divisions within the Democratic Party and "force vulnerable Democratic senators running for re-election in red states in 2018 to take a position" on single payer.
"I believe that Bernie will take any and all opportunities to fight for single payer."
—RoseAnn DeMoro, National Nurses UnitedBut the most prominent backer of Medicare for All in the Senate—Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—has no plans to play along with the Republicans' political stunt.
"We must guarantee healthcare as a right," Sanders wrote in a Facebook post, "but we will not participate in their sham."
"No amendment will get a vote until we see the final |
ADB) to cushion its foreign currency reserves which started depleting again on the back of heavy debt repayments.
The Manila-based lending agency would approve two policy loans, each amounting to $300 million, under the second and third tranches of the Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) Reforms and Sustainable Energy Sector Reforms, respectively, said sources in the finance ministry.
The first loan will be approved on Thursday for the energy sector followed by another on June 22 for the PSE reforms, they said.
Another $100 million loan, sanctioned by the French Development Agency (AFD), is also pegged with the ADB’s energy sector loan but Paris will disburse the money sometime in the new fiscal year.
$86.4m ADB loan to finance Pehur canal extension
With fresh injection of $600 million, ADB’s total loans to Pakistan would surge to over $1.5 billion during the outgoing fiscal year – $500 million more than the government’s budgetary estimates.
It seems that the ADB is throwing in good money after bad money.
Despite receiving foreign loans worth billions of dollars over the past four years from the ADB and the World Bank, Pakistan had been unable to improve the financial conditions of its enterprises.
Despite taking these loans, the government failed to address issues causing the accumulation of circular debt.
The circular debt again crossed the Rs400 billion mark and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are once again threatening to stop power generation because of non-clearance of dues.
Eurobond debt paid off with Chinese loan
The government was also unable to privatise any of its loss-making enterprises and the Pakistan Railways showed any signs of improvement whose books showed a reduction in losses. However, its finances still remain in the red.
The $300 million PSE reforms had originally been planned for the next fiscal year (2017-18). On the request of the finance ministry, the ADB advanced the calendar and the loan will now be disbursed this month, the sources said.
Unlike project lending that is disbursed as work on scheme progresses, policy loans are paid upfront in one tranche helping the government build up its foreign currency reserves besides diversifying budget financing.
Instead of building up foreign currency reserves through exports, the Finance Ministry resorted to increasing its reserves by borrowing from traditional partners and from foreign commercial banks.
Railways eying $2.5b ADB loan for improving service
The government has already borrowed $2 billion from China for balance of payment support.
As of June 2, the central bank’s own gross official reserves stood at $15.7 billion – $1.2 billion lower than a week ago because of foreign loans repayments.
Pakistan’s external debt servicing – including interest payments – consumed $3.9 billion during the first nine months of the outgoing fiscal year, according to the Economic Survey of Pakistan (2016-17).
The amount equalled almost one-fourth of its total export receipts, and over one-tenth of the country’s total foreign exchange earnings, creating doubts about debt sustainability.
Govt to borrow another Rs41b to pay circular debt
The World Bank also raised this issue in its latest report.
To deflect criticism on debt, the government changed the definition of total public debt in June last year by amending the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act, 2005 through the Finance Bill of 2016.
Finance Ministry’s viewpoint:
Amid growing criticism on debt situation in the local press as well as by international financial institutions, the Finance Ministry issued a rejoinder on Monday in response to a story based on the World Bank’s latest report.
“There is limited pressure from external debt repayments in the medium term,” claimed the Finance Ministry.
It insisted that external debt repayment obligations for Pakistan would not exceed more than an average of $4.3 billion per annum until 2022 based on outstanding external public debt at the end of March this year.
ADB approves $20m loan for micro, small and medium enterprises
Keeping in view the country’s track record, repayments should not raise any concern, said the ministry.
It said that in the past, Pakistan had successfully met its higher repayment obligations.
Furthermore, it anticipated that the average yearly external inflows would be around $6.7 billion until 2022 against expected annual average repayment obligations of $4.3 billion.
Read full storyMandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images; Melina Mara / Washington Post
President Obama and House majority leader Eric Cantor engaged in a high-stakes test of wills during Wednesday’s debt-ceiling negotiations at the White House, trading dramatic ultimatums in the most intense round of talks yet. With tempers boiling over, Cantor took his grievances public in an unprecedented press conference after Obama issued a veto threat and told the Republican lawmaker he’d had “enough.”
The meeting began normally enough, with Obama welcoming eight congressional leaders from both parties to the White House. He made opening remarks and then called on Cantor. Cantor griped that the figure in cuts had been shrinking since last week. On July 7 — when Obama and House Speaker John Boehner proposed a grand bargain that Cantor helped bring down two days later in the face of a revolt from the right — the President offered $1.7 trillion in savings, Cantor said, as a baseline of agreement.
After the failure of the big $4.5 trillion deal, Cantor took over the negotiations for House Republicans. Suspiciously, he said, the baseline started shrinking. “When we were there yesterday, somehow the number became 1.6 to 1.7 to 1.8,” Cantor said he told the President. “So all of a sudden we are now drifting further downward, and today we now look to be below $1.4 trillion.” Democratic sources say the number, which came from the talks led by Biden — talks that collapsed when Cantor walked away from them two weeks ago — hasn’t changed. It has always been $1.5 trillion as a base with an additional $200 billion in savings that Republicans wanted and that the Administration had agreed to push for with congressional Democrats.
(MORE: Debt-Ceiling Negotiators’ Task: Getting Cantor to Deal)
But Cantor wasn’t done. Not only was the baseline number shrinking, he said, but the details had changed: the White House wanted $80 billion in Medicare spending and another $50 billion to fix the dual eligible problem in the Prescription Drug Program. “That’s something we never agreed to in the Biden talks,” Cantor said.
The President replied that though the White House still advocated for the $1.7 trillion figure, House and Senate Democrats could not support it, especially without revenue increases. The President added that the new conditions also came from congressional Democrats. “Maybe they ought to get it straight and see if they can get to $1.7 trillion,” Cantor told reporters in an unprecedented press conference outside of House votes in the Speaker’s Lobby after the White House meeting. Listen to it here:
Given that the two sides are so far apart — House Republicans have long demanded that the value of any increase to the federal borrowing limit be offset by deficit reductions, and it will take at least a $2.4 trillion hike to get through 2012 — Cantor offered to back off his insistence that there be only one debt-ceiling vote. (Some context: up until this point, House leadership aides had said the reason they were resistant to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell’s suggestion of multiple votes is that they knew more than one vote would never pass their conference — i.e., they didn’t consider it a concession, but a necessity.) “And so I said, ‘Really, Mr. President, if you look at where we are right now, we are very far apart,’ ” Cantor told reporters. “And if you want the full $2.4 trillion increase and you won’t sign anything else, I don’t know if we can get there. And so I said I was willing to come off of my insistence that there be one vote that perhaps we could avoid default. That’s when he got very agitated.”
(MORE: Joe Klein Viewpoint: Cantor to the Woodshed)
Democratic sources coming out of the meeting allege that Cantor rudely interrupted the President three times — an accusation Cantor’s staff hotly disputes (“Eric waits to be recognized before speaking to the President,” says Cantor spokesman Brad Dayspring). Democratic sources say it was the third interruption that sparked the President’s temper.
The following paraphrased account of what Obama said next is cobbled together from Democratic and Republican sources:
What we’re seeing here confirms what the American people think is the worst about Washington: that everyone is more interested in posturing and political positioning and protecting their base than solving real problems. Eric, I could get well above the numbers the GOP is talking about with revenue increases. I am not afraid to veto this, and I will take that message and defend it to the American people. If we default, it will be a tax increase on every American. My responsibility is to the American people. I have reached the point where I say, ‘Enough.’ I have sat here long enough, and no other President — Ronald Reagan — wouldn’t sit here like this. I’ve reached my limit. We’ve reached the point where something’s got to give. You’ve either got to compromise on your dollar-for-dollar insistence or you compromise on the big deal, which means raising taxes. Eric, don’t call my bluff. I will go to the American people on this. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this.
According to Cantor, Obama then shoved back his chair and stormed out of the room. Democrats present at the meeting say there was no shoving or storming involved, but that he simply got up and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I was somewhat taken aback because, you know, I was compromising,” Cantor told reporters. A Democratic source involved in the talks scoffs at Cantor’s “compromise.” “We’re not a banana republic,” the source says. “We’re not going to deal with this every three to six months. If you think it’s hard now, imagine how hard it’ll be in the middle of an election.”
The episode illustrates how far apart the two sides remain, even as the nation stands at the brink. But perhaps almost as troubling is Cantor’s litigation of the tension in the press. I have never seen negotiations broadcast so openly. It’s not a good sign. For every major successful bill I’ve covered on the Hill — Medicare Part D, the Bush tax cuts, the 2005 energy bill, CAFTA, the pension overhaul, TARP, the stimulus and health care reform — the principals always came out of the room and said, “We’re making progress,” or “Nice try, but I’m not going to negotiate with you,” or even, “I’m not going to negotiate with myself.”
(MORE: Eric Cantor, the GOP’s Hard-Line Lieutenant, Sways Debt Talks)
An agreement on raising the debt ceiling will not come from winning a spin war. If talks collapse, both sides will be blamed, and whatever they’re saying now won’t matter much in the face of economic disaster. The only solution at this point is to bite the bullet and draft a deal everyone is unhappy with. And the more public the process is — both for Cantor and the President — the harder it will become to reach a deal behind closed doors. Don’t get me wrong: I like getting the story as much as the next reporter. And if something big happens, we usually find out. But when talks blow up, there’s a real risk: if negotiators can’t trust one another not to snipe in the press — and this goes for both Cantor and the President, who has given his fair share of press conferences during this time — how can they trust one another to join arms and enact something as painful as deficit reduction?The "Gang of Eight" presser that rolled out the immigration reform bill was Washington theater at its finest.
Until a little reality intruded on the proceedings.
ICE union head Chris Crane was present and tried to ask a question of the Senators. But the Gang ignored him and he was eventually escorted to the wings in order to allow the play to continue.
Recall in the film Dr. Strangelove President Merkin becoming angry when an argument broke out between the Russian ambassador and one of his advisors.
"There's no fighting here," shouted Merkin. "This is the War Room!"
Might Senator Schumer have said to Crane, "There are no questions here. This is a press conference!"
Daily Caller:
Chris Crane, head of the immigration officers union, was pulled out of a Senate press conference today when he tried to question Sen. Chuck Schumer during the televised roll-out of the 844-page immigration rewrite. While reporters asked questions, Schumer ignored three requests from Crane, who sought to question him about aspects of the far-reaching law, which promises to tighten enforcement of immigration laws at borders, airports and seaports. "Will you take a question from law enforcement?" Crane asked, repeating the question twice before being removed. Schumer ignored the question, and repeated his advocacy for the bill. Crane's union represents agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) service. Schumer and the other Senators have struggled to control the debate about the bill, which was released this week after months of closed-door drafting. Supporters are now trying to win Senate approval of the far-reaching bill by June. Critics say the bill has many loopholes and flaws that will allow political appointees to minimize enforcement of immigration law. Crane, who heads the president of the National ICE Council, has been a vocal critic of the bill.
One would think that the man who heads the union responsible for enforcing our immigration laws might want to ask a question or two of the Senators so that maybe he and his members could better perform their jobs.
One would think.
But in the bizarro world of Capitol Hill where you can't ask questions at press conferences, situation normal - all screwed up.Oil spills in Bodo, in the Gokana district of Ogoniland, southeast Nigeria, have devastated the local environment (AFP Photo/PIUS UTOMI EKPEI)
Bodo (Nigeria) (AFP) - Under a leaden sky in oil-rich southern Nigeria, young men hang around with nothing to do, covering their noses from the noxious fumes of the polluted swamp.
The sight in Bodo, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of Port Harcourt, is repeated in communities elsewhere in the maze of creeks that criss-cross Ogoniland.
One year after the launch of a much-heralded clean-up programme, the oil slicks which blackened the waters, killed the fish and ruined the mangroves remain untouched.
Locals, deprived of their livelihoods from fishing and farming, and with the billions of dollars extracted from under them channelled elsewhere, are angry and frustrated.
"The progress made on the Ogoni clean-up is known only to the government," said Fegalo Nsuke, from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People pressure group.
"The people of Ogoni still cannot have access to safe drinking water, not to talk of electricity, basic schools and roads," he told AFP.
- Environmental disaster -
In January 2015, there were hopes Ogoniland's luck was changing after Shell agreed to pay £55 million ($70 million, 63 million euros) in compensation to more than 15,500 Bodo people.
The Anglo-Dutch energy giant also agreed to start a clean up of two devastating oil spills in 2008, following a three-year British legal battle that was settled out of court.
In June 2016, Nigeria's Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo formally launched the project, which the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said could take 30 years.
So far, however, only $10 million of the initial $1 billion programme has been released.
Since then, a governing council and trust fund have been set up, and a project coordinator appointed, but no equipment has been moved to the sites, residents say.
Drinking water is still not fit for human consumption.
"The fact is that Ogoni still drinks poisoned water and remains polluted and these cannot be changed by internal processes and media promotions," said Nsuke.
"Our people are frustrated," added Livinus Kiebel, chairman of the Bodo council of chiefs.
"The environment is completely devastated."
- Fish and carcinogens -
Ignatius Feegha, 41, used to catch fish as a child in the waterways of the Niger Delta.
"I used to wake up around 5:00 am with my father to fish and would come back with baskets of fish before going to school," said the civil servant.
Today, fishermen are lucky to catch even periwinkles.
Standing near a jetty, Buddy Pango holds up a plastic bottle filled with discoloured water as the heavens open and a boat heading to the Bonny Island natural gas plant speeds by.
"We can't see no fish in this water because the water is stained with crude oil," he said. "Before we can get some fish, we (must) go to the ocean and it is very far."
In places like Ogale, wells and boreholes are contaminated with the carcinogen benzene at levels more than 900 times above the recommended World Health Organization limit.
Signs beside boreholes warn residents not to drink the water.
"Every week, at least five people die because of cancer and respiratory diseases," said community leader Dandyson Nwawala.
- Clean-up suspended -
Roman Catholic priest Father Abel Agbulu, who has been mediating between Shell's Nigerian subsidiary and Bodo locals, said the clean-up could have started earlier but for opposition from some youths.
He said the youths who were unemployed insisted on being paid the money instead of allowing Shell to give the job to contractors.
"The youths said they wanted money instead. So Shell, which had already engaged two companies to do the job, had to back out," he added.
Agbulu said Shell was not ready to give cash to the youths and since they would not allow the contractors to handle the job, decided to suspend the clean-up.
The head of the government-appointed Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), Marvin Dekil, said training local workers in the required skills is taking time.
"We don't want... to rush it and get it done in a wrong way," he explained.
In the meantime, some locals have taken matters into their own hands and begun planting trees to try to restore the damaged mangroves.
The United Nations Development Programme's representative in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, visited Ogoniland last week and called for patience.
"This is a very technical investment, it is not a rural type of investment where you are going to see houses built within a short period of time," he said.
How long they will have to wait is anyone's guess.IKEA’s products are known for their clean, Scandinavian design and low cost, but it is their DIY or “assemble it yourself” feature that probably makes them so popular with hackers. We seem to receive tips about IKEA hacks with a consistent regularity. [Robin Reiter] has a Bekant Sit/Stand motorized table with buttons to raise and lower the surface, but it doesn’t have any memory presets. That’s a shame because it requires a lot of fiddling with the up/down buttons to get it right every time. It would be nice to press a button, go grab a Coffee, and come back to find it adjusted at the desired height. With a little bit of hacking, he was able to not only add memory preset buttons, but also a USB interface for future computer control.
The existing hardware consists of a PIC16LF1938 micro-controller with two buttons for movement control and a LIN bus protocol which communicates with the automotive grade motors with integrated encoders that report position values. After a bit of sniffing around with his oscilloscope and analyzer, he was able to figure out the control codes for the motor movements. For some strange reason, however, the LIN signals were inverted, so he had to introduce a transistor signal inverter between the PIC master and the Arduino Nano that would act as a slave LIN node. Software was made much easier thanks to an Arduino library developed by [Zapta] for the LIN Bus signal Injector, The controls now have four buttons — two to replicate the original up/down movements, and the other two to act as memory presets.
The code, schematic and a simple wiring layout are posted on Github, in case there are others out there who’d like to replicate this hack. Check out the video after the break where he gives a walk through the code.ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Evan Smotrycz broke up a pass at one end of the court, then Tim Hardaway Jr. rattled in a shot from the baseline at the other.
Michigan's slumping sophomores were finally giving the Wolverines a lift again.
Hardaway scored 15 points and Smotrycz added 13, helping Michigan (No. 25 ESPN/USA Today, No. 22 AP) remain unbeaten at home with a 70-61 win over Illinois on Sunday.
Freshman Trey Burke added 14 points for the Wolverines, but it was Smotrycz and Hardaway who came through with the most encouraging performances of the day, especially in the first half.
"I just didn't like the pace of that game. We needed something good to happen," Michigan coach John Beilein said. "Tim hits a shot. Evan hits a shot. We have been waiting for that."
Hardaway entered the game shooting 19 percent from 3-point range in Big Ten play. Smotrycz wasn't much better at 24 percent, but they both went 2 for 2 from beyond the arc in the first half.
"When your two worst 3-point shooters go 4 for 4 -- Hardaway and Smotrycz -- in the first half, it's a killer for you," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "They have so many other weapons and they spread you out."
Brandon Paul led Illinois (16-9, 5-7) with 21 points and Tyler Griffey added 18. The Fighting Illini have lost six of seven and are on the NCAA tournament bubble despite wins over Ohio State and Michigan State.
Hardaway's poor outside shooting and Smotrycz's ineffectiveness have been concerns for Michigan, but both players were sharp Sunday, especially early. Hardaway gave the Wolverines a 10-8 lead with a 3-pointer from the left wing, and his shot from the baseline -- after Smotrycz's defensive play -- made it 25-20.
"It was a great relief, just seeing one go in and then another one," Hardaway said.
Smotrycz made a backdoor pass to Matt Vogrich for an easy basket, then added a 3-pointer of his own to make it 30-21. Michigan (19-7, 9-4) was ahead 37-31 at halftime and pushed the lead to double digits early in the second.
Hardaway was 8 for 35 from the field in his previous three games, and Smotrycz had scored in double digits only once this calendar year.
"I've just been trying to bring energy to the team in other ways every day in practice -- help out in other ways," Smotrycz said. "Guys still have confidence in me -- still getting me shots."
Smotrycz and Hardaway combined for 22 points in the first half on 7-of-10 shooting.
It was 53-44 after Paul made a 3-pointer for Illinois, but Vogrich connected from long distance for the Wolverines and Jordan Morgan scored to put Michigan up by 14 points.
Illinois went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead in half, but Morgan broke up Paul's pass into the post, and Hardaway made a layup in transition to make it 60-51.
Michigan has won consecutive games for the first time since beating Wisconsin and Northwestern at home in mid-January. The Wolverines improved to 14-0 at Crisler Center this season.
Michigan trails Big Ten co-leaders Michigan State and Ohio State by a half-game and will try to avenge a January loss to the Buckeyes next weekend in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines don't play again until then, so the home crowd began chanting "Beat Ohio!" at the end of the game.
Illinois center Meyers Leonard, who at 7-foot-1 had at least a 5-inch height advantage over every Michigan starter, was in foul trouble early and finished with five points, although he did have 12 rebounds. The Illini had 14 offensive rebounds to Michigan's six but couldn't take advantage.
Illinois shot 9 of 29 in the second half and finished at 39 percent for the game.
Zack Novak had 12 points and nine rebounds for Michigan.LAS VEGAS -- Tony Sanchez didn't need a history lesson in UNLV football when he agreed to become the school's new head coach. Sanchez was coming from Bishop Gorman High, a local prep powerhouse that he built into arguably the top high school football program in the country, so he was already well-versed in the Rebels' ability to lower the bar for the past 20 years.
However, there is one thing he always wondered: Why has Las Vegas itself, a place people flock to from all over the world, been perceived as a negative by past coaching staffs?
"You look what people have tried to hide so much, the Strip, and I just don't get it," Sanchez said.
Tony Sanchez is out to dispel two strongly held notions: that college football can't thrive in Las Vegas and that high school coaches can't make the jump directly as an FBS head coach. Courtesy UNLV athletics
Rather than keep recruits and their parents away from the Strip, it's the first place Sanchez takes them, specifically the High Roller, which bills itself as the world's tallest observation wheel. As the city's best views come into sight, Sanchez extols the socioeconomic opportunities Las Vegas has to offer, and draws on his own personal experience to explain why he thinks Vegas is a special place.
The son of a Puerto Rican father and an English mother, Sanchez is a rarity as a Latino head coach at the FBS level, and his story is vastly different than the one told by his predecessors. Unlike them, Sanchez was all in on Vegas well before UNLV came calling. Nearly seven years ago, he left a stable situation coaching football and teaching special education at a high school outside San Francisco, near where he grew up, and moved with his wife and two children to the desert.
At Gorman, a private Catholic school just outside Vegas, Sanchez went 85-5 in six seasons, winning a state championship in every season while becoming a prep fixture on national television. The Gaels finished the 2014 season ranked No. 1 in the country in most high school rankings. Thirty-four of his players received college scholarships -- 25 to FBS programs -- and he oversaw the construction of a football facility that would compare favorably with facilities in the Mountain West Conference, and put UNLV's to shame.
The facilities at Bishop Gorman rival those of some FBS programs, UNLV included. Kyle Bonagura/ESPN
One of the first orders of business for Sanchez will be to upgrade the Rebels' football facilities. Kyle Bonagura/ESPN
"Coming off a national championship, the stars kind of aligned for this to work out for Tony," said Rebels offensive coordinator Barney Cotton, whom Sanchez has called a mentor for nearly 20 years. "At this point in time, he was the perfect fit. Rather than trying to hide Vegas, we embrace Vegas. Tony is absolutely embracing Vegas."
The hope is that, in turn, that embrace will be reciprocated.
"UNLV truly should be Las Vegas' team and I don't know if that's really been done before," Sanchez said. "And a lot of changing that has to be getting out in caravans, speaking at Rotary Clubs, throwing out first pitches at Little League games and really going out and doing a lot of community outreach with myself, my coaches and our players to let everyone know that we don't want to be this separate entity. We truly want to be a community school.
"There's 2 million people here and a great tradition with basketball that shows the type of support this community is capable of providing. Honestly, in the past there hasn't been a commitment from the community or the university [to football]. There have been a lot of well-wishers, but I don't know how many people have really helped this program step forward. And that's where we're going to challenge everyone."
If Sanchez is successful, what will be most remarkable is not how he's able to conjure support from a historically apathetic fan base -- the Rebels drew just 15,674 fans per game at Sam Boyd Stadium last season -- but that he will be defying a trend that has always ended in failure.
Since 1974, only three other high school coaches have been hired as head coaches at what is now the FBS level, but only one -- Todd Dodge, who went 6-37 at North Texas from 2007-10-- occurred in the past 30 years. Sanchez hopes to succeed where Dodge failed by assembling a veteran staff, especially in key roles.
Dodge brought four coaches from his high school staff, and made two of them coordinators. Sanchez tapped Cotton, most recently the interim head coach at Nebraska after Bo Pelini's firing, to the run the offense, and Kent Baer, who has held nine other FBS defensive coordinator posts, to run the defense. The only holdover from his staff at Gorman is quarterbacks coach Ron O'Dell, who was Aaron Rodgers' high school quarterback coach and mentored Arizona's Anu Solomon at Gorman.
"He ran kind of a college program at the high school level," said UCLA coach Jim Mora, who signed receiver Cordell Broadus, the son of Snoop Dogg, out of Gorman in February. "He was advanced in the way he did things and the way he processed the game, taught the game, the expectations he had for his players, the facilities. I got to watch him a lot and it was very impressive. I don't think the transition will be as drastic as it would be for some others. I think Tony is very qualified to be doing what he's doing."
Sanchez, whose only previous experience coaching college football was as an undergraduate assistant at New Mexico State, where he played for two seasons, would have been nearly an impossible sell at most FBS programs, but not at UNLV, which has won just two games in eight of the previous 11 seasons. It also helps that former high school coaches have recently gone on to lead successful FBS programs. Auburn's Gus Malzahn, Baylor's Art Briles and Arizona State's Todd Graham may have worked as assistants before becoming head coaches, but their success has helped diminish the stigma Sanchez may have otherwise faced.
Malzahn thinks Sanchez will handle the transition just fine.
"I think his background [at Gorman] will definitely help him from the standpoint that he was already at a high-profile school. A team that was one of the best in the country and on national TV and everything that goes with that," Malzahn said. "Being a head coach [in college] feels exactly the same way as it felt in high school as far as dealing with your players and getting ready for practice and games and all that. The football is all the same."
Sanchez turned Bishop Gorman into a national high school powerhouse, winning 85 of 90 games over six seasons. UNLV athletics
What drew UNLV's interest wasn't just that Sanchez won. It's how he went about winning. His energy was infectious and the city took notice. Games were so well-attended that Fertitta Field, a football-only stadium named in honor of billionaire donors UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta and his brother Frank, underwent an expansion. In some of the well-to-do social circles in Las Vegas, Gorman football registered as far more relevant than UNLV.
"I was able to talk to some really wonderful people in college that could do really well in college football, but not necessarily in Vegas," UNLV athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy said. "Two head coaches that had a lot of success, but it kept coming back to how to change the culture. We've had good coaches. Why did they fail? I don't have the magic bullet or magic answer, but it I kept going back to Tony."
The more people she introduced him to, the more sure she became he was the right fit. Ten minutes after Sanchez walked out following his introductory meeting with Kunzer-Murphy and Don Snyder, the school's interim president, Snyder looked at her and said, "We have to hire this guy."
She introduced him to her husband, a former high school football coach, and the response was the same: "He's the real deal."
Before the hire could become official, incoming president Dr. Len Jessup needed to sign off and when Snyder brought up Sanchez as a candidate, Jessup, a big sports fan who said he was introduced to the UNLV brand through the Jerry Tarkanian-coached basketball teams of the late 1980s, already was aware of what Sanchez built at Gorman.
Jessup, who previously had served as the dean of the Eller College of Management at Arizona, went to Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne, with whom he shares a close relationship, and a few members of Rich Rodriguez's football staff in Tucson to gather a few more opinions.
"They all said not many people had made the jump [from high school to college] successfully, but if anybody could, he could," Jessup said. "They thought he was stellar. 'You ought to go for him, he's a good bet.' They had just recruited [quarterback] Anu Solomon from [Gorman], so they knew the program really well and all gave him a thumbs up -- as a good guy and as a very successful coach."
In Vegas that has never been enough, but that's part of the appeal of a long shot, and here they know that better than anyone.Los Angeles, CA – August 29, 2012 – Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut, HOW TO CATCH A MONSTER, will star Christina Hendricks in the lead role. Marc Platt and Adam Siegel will produce on behalf of Marc Platt Productions, along with Ryan Gosling via his Phantasma Films banner, and Michel Litvak and David Lancaster via the Bold Films banner. Sierra / Affinity will handle international sales for the film which will be made available to buyers for the first time at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. Principal photography for the film is scheduled to commence in the spring of 2013.
Ryan Gosling said, “I am very appreciative to Marc Platt, Adam Siegel and Bold Films for being so supportive and I look forward to making this film with all of them.”
Michel Litvak, Bold Films financier, said, “We have a tremendous amount of trust and confidence in Ryan, Christina, Marc and Adam, both personally and professionally. We responded immediately to Ryan’s script, and look forward to nurturing the next phase of his career and continuing Bold’s commitment to an artistically collaborative environment.”
Producer, Marc Platt added, “We are thrilled to be producing Ryan Gosling’s debut as a writer & director and continue our collaboration which began on DRIVE. He has composed a beautifully haunting script and has a very clear vision of how he will bring it to life. His ability to draw audiences into his world as an actor will serve him well as a filmmaker.”
“Ryan Gosling has established himself as a dynamic talent onscreen with incredible instincts, and that ability to connect with audiences will serve him well in the director’s chair.” said Sierra’s Nick Meyer. “We are excited to be involved with the next phase of his career and look forward to bringing his directorial debut to the international marketplace.”
Written and directed by Ryan Gosling, HOW TO CATCH A MONSTER weaves elements of fantasy noir, and suspense into a modern day fairytale. Set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city, Billy, a single mother of two, is swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while her teenage son discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town. Both Billy and Bones must dive deep into the mystery, if their family is to survive.
HOW TO CATCH A MONSTER marks Gosling’s first time writing and directing a feature film. Gosling is an Oscar® nominated actor having starred in films including DRIVE, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL and HALF NELSON for which he received his Academy Award® nomination. Gosling also stars alongside Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes in Derek Cianfrance’s THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES, which will premiere at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.Dana Vanburen, captain of the Schaghticoke Fire Department, along with other members of his department, march in the 47th Annual Troy Flag Day Parade on Sunday, June 8, 2014, in Troy, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union) less Dana Vanburen, captain of the Schaghticoke Fire Department, along with other members of his department, march in the 47th Annual Troy Flag Day Parade on Sunday, June 8, 2014, in Troy, N.Y. (Paul Buckowski /... more Photo: Paul Buckowski Buy photo Photo: Paul Buckowski Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Donors save Troy Flag Day Parade for 50th year 1 / 9 Back to Gallery
Troy
Carole and Jerry Weaver poured their hearts into organizing Troy's annual Flag Day Parade for most of the past 49 years. As recently as two weeks ago, they were sure the 50th annual event would never happen.
They needed $30,000 to roll the parade from South Troy through Fourth Street. Then an unlikely savior emerged, and the Weavers now say 59 groups or "units" will step off at 1 p.m. Sunday in what seems destined to be the Collar City's final Flag Day promenade.
"Michael Fusco is our hero," Carole said.
Fusco is president of Franklin Hospitality, which operates Troy's historic Franklin Plaza, known for its pink marble ballroom and Brazilian mahogany boardroom. The building is on Fourth, right on the parade's route, and Fusco has been a fan of the event since he was a little boy in Green Island.
"The organizers said they needed $30,000, so I reached out to some contacts and we raised $41,000," Fusco said. "We had to get a parade that has meant so much to people in its 50th year."
Fusco contacted other potential donors and offered amenities including tented seating right outside the Plaza.
The Weavers created the nonprofit that runs the parade. The group has struggled for years to raise enough money to pay for police overtime, public works assistance, transportation for bands and other expenses.
More Information Troy Flag Day Parade When: 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday Route: The parade will travel north from the Rens |
. On top of that, medical drugs cause anywhere from two to four millions severe adverse effects annually.
https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/an-exclusive-interview-with-dr-barbara-starfield-medically-caused-death-in-america/
https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/another-smoking-gun-the-fda-versus-the-people/
https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/hidden-in-plain-view-fda-murder/
https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/how-medical-criminals-are-faking-medical-science-every-day/
Beyond this straight-out destruction, there is the turmoil, suffering, grieving, and confusion that extends in ripples, from each one of the deaths and injuries, to families, friends, and co-workers. The overall effect? Demoralization and the inability to see and think past the emotional pain—which is exactly what you want if you are running a planet.
The medical cartel (drug companies, public health agencies, medical schools, doctors) will eventually assure cradle-to-grave treatment of every person. This means 30 or 40 diagnoses of illnesses and mental disorders during a lifetime, and treatment with toxic drugs. This also means medical issues are at the forefront of every person’s mind as he/she wends through life, believing that Disease is the most important aspect of living.
People become proud, yes, proud of their diagnoses and treatment. They wear the diagnoses like badges of honor, and every social communication is an occasion for displaying badges and discussing treatments and comparing notes.
“You know, at first my doctor thought it was ADHD, but then he did one of those new brain scans, and realized it was Bipolar with a trace of genetically inherited Oppositional Defiance Disorder. Once he had the ODD under control with a major tranquilizer, he could go after the Bipolar. But then I developed tremors. So he implanted a chip…”
It’s not only a sick society, it’s a society about sickness.
Medical care is free, if by free one means: paid for by extraordinary levels of taxation.
The basic collectivist slogan, “We’re all in this together,” achieves its most fervent support from the axiom that Disease is our primary opportunity to help each other by accepting awesome tax burdens.
Of course, huge segments of the world population won’t be able to participate in modern, up-to-date, cutting-edge “care.” For them, there are several solutions. The first is vaccines seeded with chemicals and genes that reduce fertility and potency. As birth rates gradually decline, cover stories are invented to explain the phenomenon: stress; rising employment rates; the social effects of urbanization; the dissolution of the nuclear family.
The second solution is epidemics that purportedly kill off large numbers of people. These epidemics are routine frauds, based on concocted science. In the poverty-stricken Third World, announced epidemics are nothing more than cover stories; people aren’t dying because of germs; they’re dying because their water is contaminated, because of overcrowding, lack of basic sanitation, generation-to-generation starvation. They’re dying because their fertile growing lands have been stolen. While medical experts crow about attacking the germ of the moment with (toxic) drugs and vaccines, these real causes of death can be ignored and even enhanced.
Meanwhile, in industrialized technological sectors of the planet, psychiatry ascends to new heights of control over the educated classes. Although no so-called mental disorder has ever been diagnosed by a real laboratory test, the experts who dominate the field continue to invent new disorders at the drop of a hat.
Patients believe they have brain conditions that must be treated with (highly toxic) drugs. The patients also believe their own aspirations are limited by their disorders, and so they acquiesce to a psychiatric model that circumscribes their lives.
At the top-end of society, new medical inventions are applied to the wealthy. Genetic enhancement is the most touted of these. Despite the fact that, as yet, there are no genetic treatments for any disease that work across the board, experiments will be done to extend life, to seed the unborn with special talents, to cure a wide variety of illnesses.
There will be efforts to substitute technological components for biological nature. Limbs, organs, whole body systems.
The workability of high-tech pieces is not really the issue. The aim is to involve the rich in the entire grand experiment, thereby swallowing them up in a medical paradigm of existence.
At any level of medical cartel operations, a person will be enrolled in the system while in utero, and a path will be laid out that extends all the way to the grave. Once he is on record with a medical ID package, he will be tracked and treated and tweaked without let-up.
Finally, the inevitable proposal and program will come into view. Why risk natural birth, which is already considered a medical event, in the womb of a woman? Why not create birth in a laboratory?
And if, at any point in life, a person experiences doubts and regrets about his membership in the universal medical control apparatus, he can obtain a prescription for any number of drugs that target “pleasure centers,” and then check out of his worries and anxieties.
Huxley’s Brave New World will move in like a wave on a beach.
At every way-stop to that day, sophistication, elegance, assurance, and concern will be the watchwords of the practicing doctor, the secular priest in this drama of human dismantling.
And yet, for those who remember, who know what the Individual is, who know what freedom is, who know what imagination and creative power are, the rigging and distorting and flattening and collectivizing will look like nothing more than a horrible cartoon.
And these people who remember will lead a revolution like no revolution ever seen before.
Or we can defect from, and withdraw our consent to, this mad matrix now.
Jon Rappoport
The author of an explosive collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world.
www.nomorefakenews.comEven Sarah McLachlan changes the channel when her notoriously gut-wrenching ASPCA commercials come on.
The famed singer has lent her voice to numerous commercials sponsored by the American Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty to Animals that feature sad-looking animals desperate for a home. The PSAs have taken on a life of their own because of how hard they can be to watch. When she spoke with HuffPost Live's Caitlyn Becker about the release of her new album, "Shine On," McLachlan added that she too avoids the commercials.
"I change the channel. I can't take it," McLachlan said. "I can't even look at it. It's just so depressing."
She added that even though these ads generated more than $30 million for the ASCPA, she doesn't want her legacy to only include these tear-jerking commercials.
"Do I want to be remembered just for that? Absolutely not," McLachlan said. "I mean, I love animals absolutely; but, if I want to think about what my legacy would be, it would be more about kids and music, which is sort of my true passion."
Watch the full HuffPost Live interview with Sarah McLachlan here.Haiti - FLASH : Passing away of the New Grand Chief Voodoo of Haiti
The hougan (voodoo priest) Alcénat Zamor (60 years), 42 years of priesthood in Gros Morne, his hometown, who was elected for 7 years on Thursday 10 December, as Grand Chief Voodoo of Haiti (Ati), unanimously by representatives of the National Confederation of Haitian Vaudouisants [Konfederasyon Nasyonal Vodouizan Ayisyen] (KNVA) https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16035-haiti-religion-alcenat-zamor-elected-new-supreme-leader-of-voodoo-in-haiti.html died Wednesday morning December 30 to the Bernard Mevs hospital, where he had been hospitalized following a road accident that occurred a few days before Christmas.
He had taken over the National Ati Max Gesner Beauvoir (79 years) died last September 12 following a bravely supported disease https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15125-haiti-flash-max-beauvoir-passed-away-a-great-loss-for-the-country-dixit-martelly.html and wanted to be unifier and opened his arms to dissidents, despite their differences when elected.
His enthronement as the new ATI should have taken place on March 7, 2016 on the Place of Gonaïves.
The entire Vaudouisante community is hit hard by this disappearance.
See also :
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16035-haiti-religion-alcenat-zamor-elected-new-supreme-leader-of-voodoo-in-haiti.html
https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-15444-icihaiti-religion-evans-paul-met-voodoo-sector.html
https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-15411-icihaiti-voodoo-the-mambo-euvonie-georges-auguste-replaces-augustin-st-clou.html
https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-15385-icihaiti-religion-the-new-chief-of-voodoo-sector-challenged.html
https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-15339-icihaiti-religion-new-acting-supreme-leader-of-voodoo.html
https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-15174-icihaiti-social-words-of-sympathy-of-mirlande-manigat.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15170-haiti-religion-haiti-salutes-the-departure-of-its-national-ati-max-beauvoir.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15154-haiti-notice-tribute-and-funeral-of-the-national-ati-max-beauvoir.html
https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-15136-icihaiti-social-the-ministry-of-culture-pays-tribute-to-max-beauvoir.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15133-haiti-social-national-tribute-to-max-beauvoir.html
https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-15126-icihaiti-social-words-of-sympathy-of-government-youth-of-haiti.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15125-haiti-flash-max-beauvoir-passed-away-a-great-loss-for-the-country-dixit-martelly.html
HL/ HatiLibreJames Clapper said "I can deny" the existence of a court order allowing the FBI to tap Trump Tower under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. | AP Photo Clapper rejects wiretapping allegation
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Sunday denied President Donald Trump's unsupported claim that the Obama administration had wiretapped Trump Tower before his inauguration.
Clapper told NBC's "Meet the Press" that "I can deny" the existence of a court order allowing the FBI to tap Trump Tower under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The national intelligence director from 2010 until Obama left office in January also said none of the agencies under his purview were involved in the type of wiretapping Trump alleged, without evidence.
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"I would certainly hope" to be aware of any wiretapping of Trump during the 2016 campaign, Clapper said.
Clapper added that his remarks on the absence of any wiretapping activity would not cover potential state or local operations, nor "other authorized entities in the government."
Clapper's comments also do not rule out the possibility of Trump's communications, or those of his aides, being swept up in potential surveillance orders not covering Trump Tower.
His comments come as Trump's Twitter accusation of wiretapping on Saturday — followed by a Sunday call from the White House for congressional intelligence committees to investigate the matter — leaves lawmakers nonplussed.
Clapper singled out the Senate intelligence committee's efforts to investigate Russian meddling in the presidential election as "a truly bipartisan effort" further along in the process than its House counterpart, though he left the door open to support an independent probe if the Senate's work were stymied.
Clapper also told NBC that he expects to be called to testify on Capitol Hill over the course of the investigation.A few days ago, it was revealed by U.S. intelligence that China was selling oil to North Korea via ship-to-ship transfers. Now Reuters is reporting that Western intelligence sources are claiming Russia is also selling oil to the Kim regime in violation of UN Security Council sanctions.
The transfers in October and November indicate that smuggling from Russia to North Korea has evolved to loading cargoes at sea since Reuters reported in September that North Korean ships were sailing directly from Russia to their homeland. “The Russian vessels made transfers at sea to the North Koreans,” the first security source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. The source said the transfers of oil or oil products took place on several occasions and were a breach of sanctions. A second source, who independently confirmed the existence of the Russian ship-to-ship fuel trade with North Korea, said there was no evidence of Russian state involvement in the latest transfers. “There is no evidence that this is backed by the Russian state but these Russian vessels are giving a lifeline to the North Koreans,” the second European security source said. In comments carried by Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency on Saturday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said the country was observing sanctions against North Korea. The two security sources cited naval intelligence and satellite imagery of the vessels operating out of Russian Far Eastern ports on the Pacific but declined to disclose further details to Reuters, saying it was classified. The Russian Customs Service declined to comment when asked on Wednesday if Russian ships had supplied fuel to North Korean vessels. The owner of one ship accused of smuggling oil to North Korea denied any such activity.
Is it possible that two governments with tightly controlled economies would be unaware of smuggling operations worth many millions of dollars?
Possible, but not likely.
In fact, the manner in which the oil transfers are carried out -- on the open sea outside the territorial waters of either China or Russia -- gives both governments plausible deniability.
There is also this little gambit by the Kim regime to get oil by hook or by crook:
In September, Reuters reported that at least eight North Korean ships that left Russia loaded with fuel this year headed for their homeland despite declaring other destinations, a ploy that U.S. officials say is often used to undermine sanctions. A Russian shipping source with knowledge of Far Eastern marine practices said North Korean vessels had stopped loading fuel in Russia’s Far Eastern ports but that fuel is delivered at sea by tankers using ship-to-ship transfers, or even by fishing vessels.
Short of a blockade where every ship going to North Korea is searched, it's impossible to shut down the flow of oil completely. All the sanctions really do is keep the Kim regime from buying oil legitimately on the open market. We can call out countries like Russia and China for violating the sanctions, but even if we could prove complicity conclusively, there isn't much to be done. It is, after all, the UN we're talking about.“Produce 101 Season 2” contestant Samuel Kim is taking stern action against malicious commenters.
On May 24, a source from his agency Brave Entertainment stated, “We believe that it is very difficult for a 16-year-old to endure the spreading of false information and attacks on his character by himself. So we will be filing a complaint against malicious commenters for the cyber crime of defamation and slander in accordance with the Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection Act.”
The source continued, saying, “We are gathering a considerable number of evidence through fans who have been monitoring malicious comments and posts, and we will aggressively take measures to ensure that there is no additional damage done to our artists. Because Samuel Kim is still a minor, we will be acting as his guardian to protect him from malicious comments. We ask everyone to give him more love and support in the future.”
Source (1)IBM's System 360 mainframe, celebrating its 50th anniversary on Monday, was more than a just another computer.
The S/360 changed IBM just as it changed computing and the technology industry.
The digital computers that were to become known as mainframes were already being sold by companies during the 1950s and 1960s - so the S/360 wasn't a first.
Where the S/360 was different was that it introduced a brand-new way of thinking about how computers could and should be built and used.
The S/360 made computing affordable and practical - relatively speaking. We're not talking the personal computer revolution of the 1980s, but it was a step.
The secret was a modern system: a new architecture and design that allowed the manufacturer - IBM - to churn out S/360s at relatively low cost.
This had the more important effect of turning mainframes into a scalable and profitable business for IBM, thereby creating a mass market.
The S/360 democratised computing, taking it out of the hands of government and universities and putting its power in the hands of many ordinary businesses.
The birth of IBM's mainframe was made all the more remarkable given making the machine required not just a new way of thinking but a new way of manufacturing. The S/360 produced a corporate and a mental restructuring of IBM, turning it into the computing giant we have today.
The S/360 also introduced new technologies, such as IBM's Solid Logic Technology (SLT) in 1964 that meant a faster and a much smaller machine than what was coming from the competition of the time.
Thomas J Watson Jr - in the hot seat when the S/360 was born
Big Blue introduced new concepts and de facto standards with us now: virtualisation - the toast of cloud computing on the PC and distributed x86 server that succeeded the mainframe - and the 8-bit byte over the 6-bit byte.
The S/360 helped IBM see off a rising tide of competitors such that by the 1970s, rivals were dismissively known as "the BUNCH" or the dwarves. Success was a mixed blessing for IBM, which got in trouble with US regulators for being "too" successful and spent a decade fighting a government anti-trust law suit over the mainframe business.
The legacy of the S/360 is with us today, outside of IBM and the technology sector.
Bankers' delight... unless you're RBS
Banks, insurance companies, retailers and power companies - the great and the familiar from the City mile to the high street run many operations on an IBM mainframe: RBS, Nationwide, EDF, Scottish Power, Sainsbury's, Tesco and John Lewis. There's the Met Office and Land Registry, too.
Ninety-six of the world's top 100 banks run the S/360 descendants with mainframes processing roughly 30 billion transactions per day.
These transactions include most major credit card and stock market actions and money transfers, manufacturing processes and ERP systems.
If you want a testament to the sustained power of the mainframe then look at RBS. Two years ago, a simple human error on the part of those running RBS's mainframe crippled the company's core business. Sixteen million customers were locked out of their accounts for days, unable to withdraw money or pay in.
These accounts were housed, as they are in many banks, on the mainframe at the banking group's corporate and technology HQ in Edinburgh.
Lessons learned
Fifty years after the first S/360 was announced and 30 years after the rise of distributed systems that were supposed to replace them, the mainframe is smaller in market share, but its principles are being embraced once again.
Google and Facebook run tens of thousands of distributed x86 servers but these servers are clustered, use fast networking and virtualisation and are managed centrally to ensure near-continuous uptime of mission-critical tasks.
Searches on Google and status updates on Facebook are the new mission-critical: back in the day a "mission critical" was ERP and payroll.
Further, there has been an uptick in the mainframe business for IBM - more servers and more processing are being bought. Meanwhile, IBM has released new mainframe servers – and not just for the old guard: it's targeting cloud startups.
With so many core business apps sitting on mainframes, mobile computing is making it even more important to what companies are doing.
CIOs now predict they will depend on the mainframe for least another decade, while 89 per cent reckon their mainframes are running new and different workloads to those they ran five years ago, in 2009. Mobile computing is the driver, as companies' customers want to access accounts and information held on those legacy systems.
2009, if you remember, was the year after the first iPhone and Android phones from Apple and Google's partners were released... and just one year before the first iPad was released.
Along with the mainframe's renewed success there have been problems: dependency, as well as a shortage in staffers qualified to run or maintain them.
Compuware tells us of a large number of support calls it receives are from those who simply don't know how to install new software on a mainframe.
The consequences can, and have, been disastrous – as RBS proved.
The same Compuware survey that found CIOs' reckon the mainframe will be critical to their business over the next decade also found that the tech chiefs were fearful.
Guess who's back?
That resurgence was somewhat surprising for something that was intended as nothing more than a 10-year product roadmap for a company that had seemed to be running out of steam. There was nothing inevitable about the business that grew from the S/360. In fact, Fortune in 1966 called it (PDF) IBM's $5bn gamble - the amount the S/360 finally cost IBM to deliver.
And no wonder: the S/360 had gone more than $4bn over budget - it had been initially estimated by IBM's beancounters in 1962 to cost $675m.
ENIAC: 18,000 square feet and 30 tones of computer
IBM – first incorporated back in 1911 as the Computing Tabulating Recording Company – entered the 20th century making and selling tabulators and punch cards along with a range of lesser business equipment that included meat and cheese slicers.
The 1930s and 1940s saw government, academics and businesses start to build their digital computers to crunch large volumes of data more quickly than could be done using the prevailing model of the time: a human being armed with a calculator.
Big names from the era included ENIAC - the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer - used by the US army to calculate missile firing ranges in 1946. ENIAC used 17,468 vacuum tubes for switching and computation, and was capable of 5,000 additions, 357 multiplications and 38 divisions in one second. It was also big - 18,000ft2 and weighing 30 tonnes, it took an all-female team of mathematicians weeks to program ENIAC's system for jobs – and it cost a whopping $500,000 to build.
In the UK we had the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), which ran its first programs in 1949. It was a stored-program system with 3,000 valves and magnetic tape backup and storage. EDSAC paved the way to LEO - the Lyons Electronic Office - the world's first business computer. And there were others.And in the process he learned something awesome.
It's easy to be cynical about -- or perhaps merely bored by -- the annual profusion of best-of lists. There are simply so many that they begin to lose their meaning. What good is one best-of list, when hundreds of others lay their own claim to that superlative? The arbitrariness of any single list is laid bare by the sea of competing lists it swims among.*
But that vast sea might itself tell us something, if only we could see it all -- and that's the project writer and web developer David Gutowski has set himself to for five years, collecting all of the year's best-of-books lists into one massive meta-list, which he updates continuously on his site, Largehearted Boy, from mid-November to mid-January. He finds most of the lists through a couple dozen search strings he's developed over the years, and others are sent to him by readers, journalists, and other bloggers, he explained over email. As of today, he's collected 1,320 best books lists for 2012.
"Lists are pervasive in our culture -- even more so in the Internet age because they drive online traffic," he wrote. In the time since he started, Gutowski says he's seen some changes, as many media outlets try to compete for an original take -- for examples, he's observed an increasing number of negative lists (such as "worst books" or "most disappointing book"), more "most overlooked" lists, and more lists where famous authors are asked to name their own personal favorites.When wolves came off the endangered species list in western states like Idaho, wildlife advocates worried how the species would fare without protection. Ranchers aren’t known to be particularly fond of wolves, for starters. In March, a disturbing story confirmed some of advocates’ worst fears: A Forest Service employee had trapped and tortured a wolf in northern Idaho.
The Center for Biological Diversity is asking for an investigation into the incident, Environmental News Service reports. The employee, Josh Bransford, “posted online photos of a wolf he had trapped that was then non-fatally shot by people who saw the animal from a nearby road,” according to ENS. That’s a nice way of saying that a bunch of humans with guns stood around and shot at the wolf, injuring it but not putting it out of its misery. (One of those pictures is after the jump. It’s kind of brutal, so don’t click through if you’re not up for it.)
The story first came to environmentalists’ attention after Bransford described the situation in a since-deleted post on a hunting website:
“I got a call on Sunday morning from a FS [Forest Service] cop that I know. You got one up here as there was a crowd forming. Several guys had stopped and taken a shot at him already…The big, black male wolf stood in the trap, some 300-350 yards from the road, wounded – the shots left him surrounded by blood-stained snow.”
In the pictures, you can see the wolf limping next a large circle of blood-tinted snow, and Bransford, smiling, kneeling in the foreground.
Since May, Idaho has culled the wolf population in the state from 1,000 or so to 470, according to ENS. Reducing the population is one thing. But this is another entirely — not just ethically, but legally. Idaho requires all would-be trappers to take a training course, and state law requires that all population-control killing be done humanely. So it’s a little bit bananas that conservation groups are having to agitate for Bransford to be disciplined.PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — An employee with a local company famous for its bronze statuary, cemetery plaques and other memorials is reportedly under investigation in an embezzlement case that could end up being the biggest in Pennsylvania history.
Late last month, Matthews International, the parent company of Matthews Bronze on West Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh, reported in its third quarter earnings press release that the company had “identified a theft of funds from the Company by an employee that had occurred over a multi-year period through May of 2015.”
The loss, according to the company, totaled $14.8 million.
Defense attorney Phil DiLucente represents Cindy Mills, who describes herself on LinkedIn as a “Treasury Specialist” at Matthews.
He confirms that his client is no longer an employee of Matthews, and that federal authorities are investigating her in connection with the missing funds.
She has not been charged.
“These are allegations that Matthews International are surprisingly making at this juncture for whatever reason,” DiLucente told KDKA investigator Marty Griffin.
DiLucente went on to say, “$14.8 million dollars sounds like a whole lot of money for a woman whose about 5-foot-1 and weighs about 120 pounds to take out of a company.”
Sources tell KDKA that the thefts occurred over a 17-year period and involved two schemes that sources describe as well disguised.
Sources say Mills bought expensive items and supported her gambling with the funds, something that DiLucente was unwilling to substantiate.
“My client’s a good lady. She’s always been a good employee,” he said. “I can tell you she’s no longer with Matthews International. And I can tell you there’s an investigation.”
Matthews International confirms to KDKA that there is an ongoing investigation into the missing money and says the company is cooperating with federal authorities, who also confirm an investigation is underway, but declined to identify the target of the investigation.
Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On TwitterALLENTOWN — With the American League's most talented players on display, those in attendance at the PPL Center were sure to get a show.
And based on the reaction of the standing-room only sellout crowd of 8,451 for each of the six round-robin tournament games between the AHL's four divisions, they did.
Cheers, "oohs" and "aahs" came after each goal, acrobatic save and shot that grazed a goal post no matter which teams were on the ice.
But what made things even more entertaining for the predominantly Lehigh Valley-based crowd was the performance their own Phantoms put on playing for the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division team.
The three Lehigh Valley All-Star representatives — Taylor Leier, Jordan Weal and T.J. Brennan — combined for five goals and two assists in three round-robin games.
For Leier, it even ended with the top honor of the evening — All-Star Challenge MVP.
Phantoms forward Taylor Leier talks about the AHL All-Star Classic weekend and his home building, the PPL Center. Phantoms forward Taylor Leier talks about the AHL All-Star Classic weekend and his home building, the PPL Center. SEE MORE VIDEOS
Unfortunately for the Phantoms fans in attendance, the Atlantic Division fell just shy of winning the championship game, losing 1-0 in a shootout in the finals to the Western Conference's Central Division.
"It was a tight one," Weal said. "It was a lot of fun though. Couldn't find that last goal that we needed, but I think it was really cool getting to play with some of these guys we play against night in and night out."
After a six-minute game of 3-on-3 neither the Atlantic or the Central found twine, sending the game to a shootout.
Weal led things off finding a post before Hershey's two representatives, Chris Bourque and Travis Boyd, failed on their opportunities. The Central Division didn't score on any of their attempts either, extending the shootout to another round.
PHOTO GALLERY: The 2017 AHL All-Star Classic Monday at the PPL Center in Allentown (CHRIS KNIGHT / SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL) (CHRIS KNIGHT / SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL)
With three goals on the night already, Leier had a chance to lock up the MVP award right there with a score but he fanned on his shot. The Central's Matt Lorito ended things going to his backhand and beating Zane McIntyre through the five-hole for the championship.
Playing in his first professional All-Star Game, Leier couldn't have written a much better story for himself.
"It was crazy," Leier said. "I didn't really know what to expect. It was a really fun day and I think that's the bottom line."
Before falling in the finals, the Atlantic Division won all three of its tournament games. Wearing orange and black jerseys, there should have been no confusion for area fans as to which team they should root for but if there was, there was no doubt by the night's end. A "Let's go Phantoms!" chant was started by the crowd in the second half of the Atlantic Division's final round-robin matchup.
Monday's challenge championship was a rematch of the first contest in the six-game round-robin tournament.
There the Atlantic Division got the better of the Central Division with a 2-1 win. Weal assisted on the Atlantic's first goal and Brennan had a helper on thier second, scored by Boyd.
That was the Central's only loss, winning their other two round-robin games 2-1 (versus the North) and 5-3 (against the Pacific). The North Division went 1-2 in tournament play and the Pacific didn't win any of their three games, giving the Central and Atlantic the best two records.
While the Atlantic failed to win for the hometown fans, it was clear with a very successful weekend and two sellouts, the Lehigh Valley was still certainly a winner.
"It was an exceptional weekend," Leier said. "The Lehigh Valley did a tremendous job. Our organization, I think took a lot of pride in this weekend and it was great for everyone. It was great for the fan base, it was great for Allentown as a city."
The six round-robin tournament games were 10 minutes a piece, split into two five-minute halves.
The Atlantic Division's second game, the fourth overall in the tournament, was the strongest for the Phantoms' participants.
Each of the team's three representatives scored once with Leier adding a second in a 6-1 win over the Pacific.
Brennan and Weal got the Atlantic started with goals, giving them a 2-0 advantage 4:28 into the first half. That's when things really started to get crazy.
The final three goals of the first half came within 22 second of each other. Daniel O'Regan scored the Pacific's only goal in the game 12 seconds after Weal's and then Chris Bourque, the Eastern Conference's captain, scored 10 seconds later.
Leier's two tallies capped the scoring in the fourth tournament game.
The players are used to 3-on-3 play in overtime during the regular season, but the play really opened up with the All-Stars attempting riskier moves in the Challenge.
"So fun," Leier said of the strictly 3-on-3 format, a slight change from last year. "I loved it. There's so much room, you're able to be creative and have some fun with new players you don't usually get to play with."
Central Division All-Stars 1 (SO) at Atlantic Division All-Stars 0 - Status: Final SO
Monday, January 30, 2017 - PPL Center
Central Division 0 0 - 1
Atlantic Division 0 0 - 0
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout - Central Division 1 (Agostino NG, Abbott NG, Bjorkstrand NG, Lorito G), Atlantic Division 0 (Weal NG, Bourque NG, Boyd NG, Leier NG).
Shots on Goal-Central Division 2-0-1-3. Atlantic Division 3-0-0-3.
Power Play Opportunities-Central Division 0 / 0; Atlantic Division 0 / 0.
Goalies-Central Division, Leighton 1-1-0-0 (2 shots-2 saves); Forsberg 2-0-0-0 (1 shots-1 saves). Atlantic Division, Jarry 3-0-0-0 (0 shots-0 saves); McIntyre 0-0-0-1 (2 shots-2 saves).
A-8,451
Referees-Tom Chmielewski (43), Keith Kaval (40).
Linesmen-Glen Cooke (6), Scott Pomento (25).
smgross@mcall.com
Twitter @SteveGrossMCall
610-820-6187In the new Civil War, I’m with George — as in George Washington. It’s one thing to start dismantling monuments of Civil War generals. It would be another to go after the most famous founding father.
Washington’s name was raised Tuesday by President Trump. He wheeled on reporters and tried — yet again — to suggest an equivalence between the alt-right and alt-left at Charlottesville.
Trump was getting his head handed to him when he noted that there were people there “to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue.”
The president was referring to Robert E. Lee, hero of the Confederacy. Charlottesville had long since made its decision to remove its statue of Lee. It acted through its city council, the democratic way.
On Monday, though, protesters in Durham, NC, took matters into their own hands. They slung a rope around the neck of a statue of a Confederate soldier and pulled it down.
“So will George Washington now lose his status?” the president asked Tuesday. “Are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson?”
It’s a good question — no doubt the question for many Americans. It’s not that the alt-left has already got its noose around statues of Washington, but the leftist-outrage industry does move fast.
Even in New York.
Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted Wednesday, “New York City will conduct a 90-day review of all symbols of hate on city property.”
Protesters have already swarmed the statue of Teddy Roosevelt at the Museum of Natural History. They reckon it’s a symbol of white supremacy.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind wants to remove two concrete markers honoring French World War I heroes who ended up collaborating with the Nazis in World War II. De Blasio agreed. One of those, in the name of Philippe Pétain, “will be one of the first we remove,” said the mayor.
It’s not my intention here to defend Trump’s floundering on Charlottesville. He clearly should have, as I noted in the New York Sun over the weekend, singled out David Duke and the other racists and anti-Semites at the center of the riot.
Neither, though, should the president be blamed for keeping a weather eye out for the good name of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
It’s hard, after all, to imagine that the hard-core left has any noble purposes |
this season; and the current video refereeing system meant a try was awarded last Monday night without confirmation. Greenberg said he would put a recommendation on the number of interchanges and the introduction of a shot clock to the ARLC this month following a four-month review aimed at making the game safer and more entertaining.
NRL head of football Todd Greenberg. Credit:Getty Images There has been a push to cut the number of interchanges to six per game for each team but the change is intended to also be adopted in Super League and the NSW and Queensland Cup competitions, and that may be considered too radical. However, Greenberg said a shot clock would be introduced for goal-line drop outs and scrums to ensure players didn't use the stoppages to overcome increased fatigue levels caused by fewer interchanges. The use of a shot clock was trialled at this season's NRL Nines in Auckland, with defending teams having 20 seconds to take a goal-line drop out and goalkickers having a 25-second limit for conversion attempts. Currently, teams have 30 seconds to take a goal-line dropout but many take longer and are not penalised but the time limits for stoppages would be easily enforced if a shot clock was shown on the scoreboard.
Every text message, phone call and email Tony gets from a coach is logged NRL head of football Todd Greenberg "There is a recommendation ready to go but it is not just the quantum of interchange," Greenberg said. "To work on continuous play and make sure fatigue is increased it is not just about dropping the number, it is also about what I call timing controls or a shot clock. "We can't just say it is going from this number to this number and that will bring fatigue back because if we have a certain number of scrums or drop-outs and we allow them to take 60 seconds that is the equivalent of interchanges. Those two things are aligned so when we go to the commission we will take it as a package and that will be at the back end of July." The fan forum at Suncorp Stadium last Tuesday night was the third that Greenberg, Archer and NRL operations manager Nathan McGuirk have conducted, with the others being in Sydney and Melbourne. Those in attendance were able to ask questions about refereeing and had the opportunity to make decisions while watching vision of an incident taken from a camera mounted on the head of a referee.
Among the issues raised by the fans were the dual refereeing model, the amount of time taken by the video referee to make a decision and referees calling players by their names. "The referee speaks to a player to get a response from him but if he calls him by his number he gets less of a response," Archer said. Archer also said he was the contact point for coaches who had complaints about refereeing and he and Greenberg keep a record. "Every text message, phone call and email Tony gets from a coach is logged so I know them 1 to 16 in terms of who contacts him the most," Greenberg said. Fairfax Media understands that Parramatta coach Brad Arthur has made the most complaints to Archer this season but Greenberg refused to provide details of the list, saying: "All I can tell you is that it is in no way reflective of the competition ladder. In fact, it probably looks more like the reverse."
The forum was also shown footage of Greg Inglis' disallowed try in Origin II with the Channel Nine commentary and then with the audio from the video referee. "I have a saying which is that people watching on TV watch with their ears, not their eyes," Archer said. However, Archer conceded that he still did not know if a try to Pat Richards should have been awarded last Monday night as the video referee did not have access to footage from the broadcaster that showed if the Wests Tigers winger had stepped into touch. That would change with the introduction of the central command centre being costed by Greenberg ahead of an ARLC meeting in August, as video referees would have access to 20 angles from Channel Nine and 11 from Fox Sports.Truxton Sega Genesis
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Loose, CIB, and New prices are the current market price.During my 24 years in Congress, I have led the fight against disastrous trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA, and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China. These agreements have two things in common. One, they have destroyed millions of good middle-class jobs for Americans. And two, they were both passed under what is called “fast-track authority.”
Fast-track authority removes the ability for Congress to make changes to trade agreements. It puts the negotiation of trade agreements in the hands of secretive trade officials, who do not share much information with Congress or the public about what they are negotiating. Even worse, the United States Trade Representative has afforded more than 400 representatives of special interests and corporations the right to confidential information about these agreements. When agreements are negotiated in secret and using these fast-track procedures, it’s no wonder they are good for big corporations, and bad for ordinary Americans.
Today, the United States Trade Representative is negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This agreement would be the largest free trade agreement in history. Its member states account for 40 percent of the world’s GDP. And there are serious problems with this agreement. One of the new entrants is Vietnam, a country which has a minimum wage of 56 cents an hour. Another is Malaysia, which uses modern-day slave laborers in its electronics industry.
The simple reality is – and one doesn't have to be a PhD in economics to figure this out – that if a company has the option of hiring somebody in a low-wage country at 56 cents an hour and they don't have to deal with unions or with environmental standards, why would they not go to those countries? The answer is they would go. The answer is they have gone. Our trade policies have caused a global race to the bottom, and have led to a disappearing middle class and skyrocketing poverty and inequality.
Over the past 30 years, we have been told by the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and now the current White House that unfettered free trade will increase jobs in America. For example, the Clinton Administration estimated that NAFTA would create 200,000 American jobs over a two year period and 1 million jobs over five years. Instead, since it was signed, NAFTA has cost us a million jobs. In 1993, the year before NAFTA was implemented, the United States actually had a trade surplus with Mexico of more than $1.6 billion a year. Last year, our trade deficit with Mexico was $54 billion.
In 2000, more than 200 high tech CEOs signed a letter saying that the deal with China would “increase U.S. jobs and reduce our trade deficit.” Instead, the U.S. trade deficit with China has quadrupled since 2001. The deficit in computer equipment alone has increased from to $20 billion in 2001 to $155 billion in 2014. More recently, the current administration estimated that the Korea Free Trade Agreement would "support at least 70,000 American jobs.” Instead, our trade deficit with Korea increased, and that cost us 60,000 jobs.
The bottom line is that the Trans-Pacific Partnership is another corporate-backed agreement that is the latest in a series of failed trade policies which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs, pushed down wages for American workers and led to the decline of our middle class. We want American companies to create decent-paying jobs in America, not just low-wage countries like Vietnam, Malaysia or China. The Trans-Pacific Partnership must be defeated.You can read more stories on telecommunications in our newsletter ExchangeDaily, click here to sign up for a free trial...
Spin marketing manger, Bill McArthur, said: "We have also restructured our other phone and Internet plans to create more flexible options for our customers. One of the highlights of the new plans is our FREE ADSL2+ plan'¦"The new plan offering coincides with the relaunch of our website'¦that enables customers to easily identify the right plan to suit their needs."McArthur added: We will protect our market share and continue to grow our retail business. Telstra is currently offering retail plans below wholesale prices. We question the legality of this and hope the ACCC takes action.'The new plan will be available from 31 August. McArthur told iTWire: "We'll have that confirmed shortly. We just need to confirmed some details and see what, if any adjustments to our network we need to make." The Free ADSL2+ plan is 1GB at no additional charge on Spin's $49.95 per month phone service which comes with free local calls fixed price $1 national calls and mobile calls capped at $1.50 per call.Despite iiNet, iPrimus and now Spin making much of their new terabyte and two terabyte plans, unlimited plans are already available from other ISPs.At a time when BJP government's in Maharashtra and Haryana are clamping down on sale of beef, Goa CM Laxmikant Parsekar has decided to tread a separate path.
According to reports, he has made it clear that Goa government will not beef ban. In a quote published in The Indian Express, Parsekar said that, “As the CM, I have to take care of all people in the state including its 38 per cent minorities. Christians account for 30 per cent of the population while the remaining are from the Muslim community. It is not like they started consuming beef recently; this has always been part of their daily cuisine. How can I ban it?”.
Goa currently allows for all kinds of cattle slaughter except for cows and Parsekar has made it clear that this norm will continue in the future. Reacting on other states banning beef Parsekar said that each state is free to have its own opinion, but Goa will not follow suit. Parsekar said that sentiments are hurt with regard to killing of cows, but not oxen and bulls. However he clarified, "We don't permit killing of cows, and even oxen are not killed there (in Goa) now".
A veteran RSS man, Parsekar also said that it was extremely hard for BJP in Goa to gain trust of the minorities. But over the years, BJP has reached out to them and Christians have now started voting for the saffron party. Parsekar also claimed that his government has done more for the uplifting of the Christians than the previous Congress regime.Blockstream Wants to Make Bitcoin More Private with Confidential Transactions
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Blockstream recently announced the alpha release of their Sidechain Elements project, and one of the more interesting experiments in the release is Confidential Transactions. This is a proposal to improve privacy in bitcoin, which is not as anonymous as some users would like to think. In an introductory presentation to Sidechain Elements, Blockstream Co-Founder and Bitcoin Core Developer Greg Maxwell mentioned how he wouldn’t want to live in a bitcoin world if privacy were not improved.
Also Read: Blockstream Closes $21 Million Seed Funding to Fulfill the “Promise of Blockchain Technology”
The problem with bitcoin privacy right now
Bitcoin transactions are quite public. Although no one can gain much information about a transaction by simply looking at it on the blockchain, a lot of data can be revealed by simply figuring out one of the parties involved in the transfer of bitcoins. As Maxwell explained in his presentation of Sidechain Elements:
”Once you pay someone, they know who you are because you transacted with them. They can look at your transaction history to make a good guess at what your financial history is. You can leak this information to everyone, and they just have to attach your name to one address [to] get all of the other details. When we ask institutions about using bitcoin, even the most boring institutions look at this and say, ‘We don’t want to use all of our transactions in public.’”
In many instances, the financial privacy of the legacy banking system is preferred over bitcoin. When dealing with a centralized financial institution, one’s transaction history is at least kept private (in theory) from everyone other than the bank and the customer.
Maxwell also discussed bitcoin’s privacy issues in the context of the digital commodity’s usefulness as a money:
“And a loss of privacy loses fungibility, and that’s an inherent property of money. If each bitcoin has a history and people know how it’s used, then maybe some people won’t want some bitcoin.”
Past bitcoin privacy proposals
The privacy issues with bitcoin are well known, which is why there have been so many new privacy-enhancing proposals in the past. Some of these proposals are compatible with bitcoin as it stands today (CoinJoin, CoinSwap, offchain servers), while other, cryptographic solutions would require more serious changes to the underlying protocol (ZeroCoin, traceable ring signatures, zerocash).
Maxwell noted that the second group of possible solutions have the “greatest functionality,” but they also have the problem of breaking pruning — which is essential for scaling bitcoin. At this point, a perfect solution for bringing more privacy to bitcoin does not exist.
Many developers are focused on finding a privacy solution for bitcoin to make-up for the mistakes made during the development of other widely-used Internet protocols. According to Maxwell, there is a sense of regret within long-time developers who wish they put more focus into making the protocols of the Internet more secure and private. He explained:
“When I work in the IETF with other long-time developers of the protocols of the internet, there is almost a ubiquitous regret that we built an internet where encryption wasn’t a default and always on. And there was always a reason for this: it’s complex, it’s slow, it’s incompatible with stuff already deployed. This is all true. But when we look at this history, these reasons were insignificant and we should have taken the cost 10 years ago to make encryption the default. As time goes on, it becomes harder and harder to deploy pervasive encryption. And it is universally recognized as a regretful scenario. I don’t want to make the same mistake with money. I think that if bitcoin were going to displace other forms of money, we need to improve privacy.”
The Confidential Transactions element
Confidential Transactions are based on ideas expressed by Adam Back on the bitcointalk forum almost two years ago. The idea is that the transaction amounts will be private, while still allowing the public network to confirm that everything adds up correctly.
When explaining the thinking behind Confidential Transactions, Maxwell compared cryptographic privacy work in bitcoin with traditional cryptographic privacy found on the Internet:
“Most of the prior work on cryptographic privacy in bitcoin has focused on protecting the transaction graph — the flow of coins from one party to another. You can liken this to metadata to phone records or Internet traffic. And so it’s a little funny because for cryptographic privacy on the Internet we often don’t do anything about metadata. Now, metadata is important to make private, but it’s usually almost impossible to make private. So what if in bitcoin instead of protecting the metadata we protected the content.”
Maxwell also explained how avoiding address re-use can help protect even more financial data:
“What’s the content? A transaction’s content is its destination and its amounts. If you use the pseudonymous accounts and don’t reuse them, then your destinations are already private.”
In addition to making transaction amounts private, Confidential Transactions also enables the ability to add an encrypted memo to any transaction. This is often valuable for adding invoice numbers or short descriptions to transactions.
Bitcoin Core Developer Peter Wuille has also described how Confidential Transactions become even more interesting when combined with CoinJoin on Reddit:
Although there are a few other cryptographic solutions to bitcoin privacy in the works, this is one of the more practical options that doesn’t involve any “moon math.” As Blockstream’s Adam Back explained on Reddit:
“What’s new here is that this math is making no new novel crypto assumptions (assumes only the same crypto building blocks as bitcoin), and is provably secure.”
You can follow @kyletorpey on Twitter.Segregation is not all bad. Have you ever heard of a collision where the people in the back of the bus got hurt? - Dick Gregory
Dick Gregory could be described as one of the greats of stand-up comedy history, or one of the most uplifting African-American civil-rights activists of all time. However, one thing is for sure, Gregory's charismatic personality has inspired others to become someone special, or do something special.
Early days
Richard Claxton Gregory, better known as Dick, was born on October 12, 1932, in a run-down neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Never having known his father, Dick learned at an early age that life doesn’t always give you apples and oranges. His mother had to rear him alone, and survived on the government's assistance of "lemons and limes." Dick's mother was rigorously motivated, however, and supplied the Gregory household with the little bit of public assistance she received monthly, as well as "bottom-of-the-barrel" wages she made as a part-time maid. Food in the household was scarce, and when it came time to pay the electric bill, there wasn't always money.
Kids can be cruel, and young Dick was not an exempt target. Battering and verbal abuse during his early school days became a daily routine for the poor, "uncool" black kid who lived on the wrong side of the tracks. However, the ragged and outdated clothes he wore with embarrassment belied the fact that he had a brilliant wit. The ammunition Dick fired back at bullies wasn't in the form of wheedling or defiance, but a few lines of "shut-'em-up" comedy that left his enemies thinking twice.
Dick's involvement in civil rights activism started at a young age, but his public appearances didn't begin until he organized and led a march protesting segregated schools while attending Sumner High School in St. Louis. Dick's grades throughout school were lower than average, which didn't leave much chance of getting into college. However, with lightning speed in track and the guidance of a Sumner High School teacher, Warren St. James, Dick landed a scholarship at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, following his senior year.
Dick's college track days came to a halt when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1954. Comedy for Dick became front and center when his commanding officer suggested that he focus his never-ending wisecracks on regional talent shows sanctioned by the army. Dick had audiences in side-splitting laughter every time he got up on stage, which earned him numerous talent show titles. The respect and comraderie that resulted from his successful stage performances in the service paved the way for something special to come.
Chicago
After serving two years in the army, Dick Gregory returned to college at Carbondale, only to drop out because he believed that the school only wanted him to run and not learn.
Comedy had become a kind of calling for Gregory. Performing had become a passion, and destiny had Chicago, Illinois, written all over it. Gregory landed a job with the U.S. Postal Service shortly after arriving in Chicago, then he followed his "calling" into predominately black nightclubs. His love for the small stage was shared with such new and upcoming greats as Bill Cosby, Godfrey Cambridge, and Nipsey Russell.
That new generation of comedians departed from the traditional tongue-in-cheek comedic style, favoring a more "in-your-face" approach — especially evident when Gregory was on stage. With plenty of cynical satire, Gregory found a way to express his racial concerns, and his take on current events, while leaving the audience rolling in their seats: "I never believed in Santa Claus because I knew no white dude would come into my neighborhood after dark."
Gregory became nationally recognized in 1961 when, at the request of Hugh Hefner, he was booked at the Chicago's Playboy Club as a fill-in for comedian, Professor Irwin Corey. Dick's performance at Hefner's club provoked gales of laughter, which ultimately landed him a permanent job and the beginnings of fame.
Activism
Gregory stepped down from the limelight following a year of work at the Playboy Club. He focused much of his time throughout most of the 1960s addressing racism and various social issues. He took up his verbal foil against world hunger, dictatorships, drug abuse, and the Vietnam War. He was left emaciated while fasting in protest more than 65 times. He even traveled to Iran to fast in an attempt to coax the Ayatollah Khomeini into releasing American embassy hostages.
In 1963, Gregory published his autobiography titled, Nigger, which would later become a best seller in the U.S. Even today, the work is a sought-after reference by activists, and has retailed more than seven million copies. Gregory has described his choice for the title in a letter that he sent to his mother, "Whenever you hear the word nigger, you'll know their advertising my book."
As a write-in candidate representing the Freedom and Peace Party, Gregory made a surprising, if unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1968. Many political theorists agree that Gregory's 1.5 million votes probably hurt Democratic candidate, Hubert Humphrey, who lost the election to Richard Nixon. Gregory also wrote a book titled, Write me In, following his presidential campaign.
The assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy, prompted Gregory to team up with renowned film maker, attorney, and author, Mark Lane, to co-write Code Name Zorro: The Murder of Martin Luther King Jr., in 1971. Gregory and Lane became close friends while delivering more than 40 years of lectures related to such topics.
Businessman
In 1973, Gregory moved with his wife, Lillian, and 9 children to Plymouth, Massachusetts, following the release of his comedy album, Caught in the Act.
Gregory had begun a vegetarian quest in the 1960s, eventually restricting his diet to fruits and vegetables. He also become a nutritional consultant. While pursuing his mission for racial justice over the next decade, Gregory also founded Health Enterprises, Inc., in 1984. The weight-loss company, which introduced the Slim-Safe Bahamian Diet, saw profits almost immediately, and made life comfortable for the Gregorys.
Gregory's activism continued well into the 1990s, and often got him into hot water. He publicly alleged that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had started the crack epidemic by supplying cocaine to predominantly African-American neighborhoods in Los Angeles. When Gregory continued his allegations in person in front of CIA headquarters, he was immediately arrested and incarcerated.
Redemption
Owing to a financial crisis that was largely precipitated by a confrontation with business partners, Gregory's dietary empire failed, which left him and his family evicted from their home in 1992. A turn of events for such a remarkable survivor as Gregory only spurred him on. The same year, Gregory launched a crime-fighting campaign that targeted St. Louis, dubbed "Campaign for Human Dignity."
In 1996, Gregory re-entered the spotlight to give what had been the foundation of his career another shot. The recorded Dick Gregory Live became a colossal hit, hailed by critics as one of the greatest stand-up performances in comedy history.
The year 2001 brought bad news for Gregory. He had been diagnosed with cancer. Like a true nutritionist, Gregory opted to pass up chemotherapy and place matters into the hands of Mother Nature. Following an intense combination of dieting, vitamin supplements, and exercise, Gregory is nearly 85 percent free of it.
Dick Gregory's striving for excellence and rigid discipline led to his latest book, Callous on My Soul, a continuation of his first autobiography, which also became a best seller.
On April 21, 2005, Gregory delivered his State of the Union Address to African-Americans live via the Internet. Dick Gregory, longtime friend Mark Lane, as well as his family, currently reside in Washington, D.C.The Marcliffe hotel in Aberdeen will not be listed until they prove they don't discriminate
A Scottish hotel has had its five-star status suspended after the owner made homophobic comments.
Stewart Spence, owner of the Marcliffe Hotel in the north-eastern Scottish city of Aberdeen, reportedly left guests stunned when he made anti-gay remarks.
During a speech at his hotel last Thursday (20 October), he reportedly said he was ‘lucky’ to never have hired a gay employee and also made offensive remarks about John Travolta.
‘The room went so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. Not one person defended him afterwards,’ an anonymous guest told STV.
‘It’s a shame that the dinner was about emerging talent in our industry and he was making a statement that there are certain people we don’t welcome – which is not true.’
Spence, who is good friends with Donald Trump, immediately apologized the following day, calling the comments ‘ill-advised’ and describing himself as ‘mortified’.
‘I don’t know what I was thinking,’ the email reads according to STV.
‘I was hoping to raise a few laughs around the seventies theme and while the words I used may have, regrettably, been commonplace in that generation, they were still entirely unacceptable.’
Now the hotel, which is a member of VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance (QA) scheme, has had its five-star status suspended and been removed from the agency’s website.
‘We have advised the hotel that their membership of QA and listing on the website is suspended until such time as we have received written evidence that they do not operate a discriminatory policy with staff and customers and that they both fully understand and meet, in full, the requirements of appropriate legislation,’ a spokesperson for VisitScotland told STV.
‘We have also advised them of training and support available through organisations such as Stonewall.’
The measures will stay in place until the hotel provides written evidence that they don’t discriminate in any form.Finally, the white flag. We're not talking about Sunday's 4-1 loss to the Yankees. That was more along the lines of "final nail in the coffin."
ESPN reported that Carl Crawford will be shut down and undergo Tommy John surgery Tuesday. Ben Cherington would only say the decision on Crawford's surgery will be made Monday. Meanwhile, Ichiro has filed a petition with the players' union that he only face Josh Beckett for the rest of the season.
Terry Francona and Orel Hershiser both openly criticized the possibility of putting Crawford on the shelf - saying in essence "it ain't over until it's over." Crawford, in his defense, is actually an athlete and he's no quitter. There is a world of difference between being injured and being unable to perform vs. being hurt because you're out of shape and had a back-blubber spasm. There will be no "Miracle at Fenway" this season, unless Beckett (5-11, 5.23 ERA) throws a complete game. The Red Sox are nothing this year if not predictable.
Whether the decision to have the surgery is made by Crawford, his agent, Valentine, the Three Stooges, Shemp Cherington, Wally, Jenny Dell or the guy selling beer in Section 27 - it doesn't really matter. The Red Sox need to stop selling the "Grand Illusion" of the second wildcard in 2012 and start thinking about building toward a division title in 2013. The Red Sox have too much money invested in Crawford to risk any further damage to the torn ligament in his elbow. For the Red Sox and their fans, it would be the kindest cut of all.
But there's good news in Red Sox Nation. Kevin Fowler of "Hell Yeah I Like Beer" fame posted on his Facebook page Sunday that he'll be playing at Beckett's charity event Monday - the "Beckett Bowl." That's not to be confused with Beckett's 2012 season - the "Toilet Bowl."
Earlier Sunday, the Red Sox continued to wallow in their dysfunction. So let me get this straight. It was Kelly Shoppach, with the candle holder, in the dining room, using Adrian Gonzalez's cellphone. Silly me, I had Colonel Mustard.
Forget, "Clue." Try "Clueless."
The New York Daily News said the dearly departed Shoppach came up with idea and wrote the infamous text message that triggered the July 26 Meeting of the Minds in New York. "Fan Cave" had nothing to do with it - well sort of. He just allowed the message that stated this mess to be sent from his phone because he was "sick and tired" of hearing Shoppach and friends complain about Bobby Valentine.
Of course, this was the same meeting that was supposedly routine and standard operating procedure for the past 10 years - so said John Henry in his missive to the masses. And even though nothing happened in this regular, routine meeting, that was entirely secretive, Henry and "Larry Lucchino runs the Red Sox" saw fit to launch a media offensive last week in a desperate attempt at damage control and tell us that nothing of substance occurred while telling us at the same time they can't go into details.
While Valentine fits the role as the perfect patsy for this lost-season, Shoppach - who flat out denied being a part of any of this and was in Texas with his family on the day the infamous meeting occurred - is the perfect fall guy for this fiasco, being neatly disposed of right before the initial story of the meeting exploded across Red Sox Nation. Remember when Kevin Youkilis was the problem with this team? Those were the good old days.
The Daily News piece - on its surface - does a nice job in exonerating "Fan Cave":
"Gonzalez had nothing to do with the messageâs content, which â according to a report this past week on Yahoo! Sports â indicated the team was unhappy that Valentine had left ace Jon Lester in a game to give up 11 runs against Toronto on July 22. 'The text message was not his idea or his opinion... or his words,'â one said. Those were from the small group of players that included Shoppach."
Yet no one denies that the message in question - which didn't even exist according to Henry's statement or the multiple appearances by Lucchino across the print, digital and broadcast spectrum - was sent from Gonzalez's phone. He at the least allowed his name to be attached to what was said. Even if Gonzalez was "tired of hearing the constant grumbling" from his teammates, why did he not tell them to "shut the hell up" and play? Nope, "Fan Cave" decided to be the front man in all of this - agreeing - according to the Daily News - that a message from him "would get managementâs attention."
So even the story that said Gonzalez had nothing to do with the text message made it clear that he had everything to do with the text message and the subsequent attempted "coup d'etat" against Valentine by allowing himself to be the voice of the crybabies. In the real world, if you let someone use your phone to text a message to your boss using your name - it really doesn't matter who hits "send."
Laughable.
Then there's Lucchino. The Three Stooges - Larry, John and Tom Werner - showed up in Baltimore last week and wanted the world to know that all was indeed well with the Red Sox. So, Larry, why are Red Sox fans so angry? It is - get ready - the fault of the âjaded and cynical mediaâ the team has imploded over the past 11 months. âWe have to remember the jaded, cynical media does not speak for (or) necessarily capture the voice of the fan base."
In Larry's world. real fans - at least the one Pink Hat he ran into outside Fenway Park or the person who works for the Rockies but grew up in Worcester and still loves her Red Sox - know that any criticism equals disloyalty. Larry wants you to understand that if you're not happy with the way things are going - you're a misguided fool. "Keep the Faith." "Remember the Second Wildcard." "Buy those bricks."
Whatever you do - don't pay attention to the standings or the fact the Red Sox just dropped two out of three in Baltimore and New York.
As both a legitimate life-long fan and quasi-pseudo member of the media - that one quote personifies Lucchino's current Reign of Error over the Red Sox. The literal criticism about media is baffling considering the media members who actually cover the Red Sox can't seem to uncover any substantive news about their undoing. Lucchino is no doubt lumping in the folks on talk radio, a few venerable columnists and maybe even some bespeckled bloggers in his scatter-shot blast.
Still, the rip jobs delivered by "jaded and cynical media" have come as a result of 7-20, the trashing of Terry Francona, the lack of compensation for Theo Espstein, the departure of Jonathan Papelbon, the arrival of Valentine after the hapless GM got shot down on his first five picks,, another stumble out of gate, more injuries, a 12-14 record in July, a 17-29 record in games started by Beckett and Lester this season, more beer and the "Malice at the Palace." They were not the cause of it.
Has Larry forgotten how the media gushed over the Red Sox heading into 2011 and throughout the season. The Red Sox were still pegged as sure-fire postseason entrants by much of State Run Media until the rain stopped in Baltimore on Sept. 28. (In Larry's defense - some of us hit the 2011 panic button long before Robert Andino ever came to the plate in the wee hours of Sept. 29.) And before this season, Valentine was touted by so many as the answer to the team's problems.
Those sellout crowds of 27,000 or so at Fenway who leave unhappy night after night, the shrinking hundreds of thousands who tune into NESN expecting the worst, the partisans who boo Beckett when he exits early, cringe (and watch Bryce Harper in awe) when they get swept at home by the Nationals, the viewers who groan after each inning-ending double play and who swear in frustration whenever Gonzalez fails again to deliver in the clutch - they are disloyal. In Larry's world, real fans take solace in those very cool "Fenway 100" commercials featuring Clemens, Pedro and Tiant all teaming up to strike out Derek Jeter. Real fans ignore the real Jeter hitting his 250th homer against the Red Sox Friday night or his three hits Sunday. It's all about the Red Sox "experience" and "enhancing the brand." That's reality, don't you see.
(Self-serving re-tweet of myself alert) Before this weekend's series - @RealOBF tweeted the following:
# RedSox vs. # Yankees -- Mad as hell at the Red Sox. Will always hate the Yankees. Big difference. — Obnoxious Boston Fan (@realOBF) August 17, 2012
That's what a mercenary like Lucchino doesn't understand. His "loyalty" to and "love" for the Red Sox will only continue as long as his contract permits. Ours will, unfortunately at times, never end. He's paid to "run the Red Sox" - something he has not done very well since about 2008. (For this exercise - we'll define "doing well" as having won a playoff game.") Lucchino was born in Pittsburgh and played basketball with Bill Bradley at Princeton. He did not grow up living and dying with the Red Sox - like so many of the millions who watch this team did. He's worked for the Redskins, Orioles and was a part-owner of the Padres. He's an attorney - and a very good one. He likes cheap watches. And, like any good attorney, he can argue all sides of any case but knows not to get emotionally invested in any of them.
That's the most insidious part of Lucchino's swipe at fans - like myself and probably a few others - who are so overwhelming disappointed, disgusted and dispirited with the current state of the Red Sox. His relationship with the team is strictly business. Ours is entirely personal. His childhood was not marked by milestone trips to Fenway Park - whether watching Texas Rangers manager Ted Williams put on an epic pre-game batting exhibition back in 1972, being at the first "Looooie" game in 1975, the World Series finale against the Reds later that year, both Oct. 1 and 2 in 1978, Yaz's 400th home run and so many others. Larry doesn't still carry a photo of himself with his now collegiate son at his first Red Sox game (Opening Day - 1997). Larry did not visit the cemetery after the 2004 World Series to lay a Red Sox hat at the gravesite of his parents. But he'll happily exploit those of us who did. Even "Sweet Caroline" was special - the first 10,000 times.
Shame on Lucchino for questioning the loyalty or judgment of anyone who bristled at the amount of money paid to Crawford, the length of the John Lackey deal, the hiring of Valentine and the symbolism that he'd be the answer to all of the team's problems, the fact that the single biggest monthly collapse in baseball history coincided with the arrival of Bud Light and Popeye's, the neutering of Cherington, the litany of out-of-shape players, horrible starting pitching, inconsistent play, lackluster loss after loss and everything else that has occurred leading up to the current state of the Red Sox.
Red Sox fans want their team to win in the worst way. Well, can it get any worse than this? Again, there have been no arrests yet, so the answer is "yes."
Larry, want the "voice" of the fan base?
Try this:
"Two words. Seven letters."
We'll still be here next year.
How about you?
As always, let us know what you think. Post your thoughts here, on our Obnoxious Boston Fan Facebook page or e-mail them to me at obnoxiousbostonfan@hotmail.com. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @realOBF. Thanks for reading. Pass the clicker.how do i know my ex is truely over |
area: Jane’s Addiction sang, “Ain’t no wrong now, ain’t no right. Only pleasure and pain” (from the song “Ain’t no Right”). The Red Hot Chili Peppers followed this up by singing, “I like pleasure spiked with pain” (from the song “Aeroplane”). Thus, these modern day philosophers took us from morality based on sensory input to the recognition that we are, in reality, speaking of interpretation of said input.
The Greek philosopher Epicurus (341–270 ) stated the classic form of the problem of evil. His syllogism may be stated:
If a perfectly good God exists, then there is no evil in the world. There is evil in the world. Therefore, a perfectly good God does not exist.
The logic behind the argument, again attributed to Epicurus, runs thus:
“Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or he can, but does not want to.
If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent.
If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked.
If God can abolish evil, and God really wants to do it, why is there evil in the world?”
Evil is indeed a very difficult problem. This is not because it is philosophically or theologically difficult but because it is emotionally difficult. In seeking to respond to the problem of evil we are pitting real pain versus abstract concepts. Emotion versus intellect makes for an uneven fight—how do you argue against an emotion? Thus, responses to the problem of evil are generally seen as heartless or dry-as-dust academic theorizing.
Biblically and philosophically, Epicurus’ first syllogistic point is false since a perfectly good God who allows free will can exist and thus, his syllogism fails.
Epicurus’ logic behind the argument fails because he proposes a restricted number of options—it is a false dichotomy.
Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; or He can, but does not want to.
Yet, biblically and philosophically a third option is that God wants to abolish evil and can, yet He functions on his own timing and He has not done it yet because He has a higher purpose in allowing evil to persist for a time.
Note also, as we point out on this site, God did not create the world with evil; it is the result of sin, and is a privation of good. See the discussion under No actual evil in the finished creation and this refutation of an atheist.
4.2 Atheism and the “Euthyphro Dilemma”
The “Euthyphro Dilemma” calls into question the very basis, foundation, grounding or premise upon which theistic morality is built. Its name comes from Plato’s work Euthyphro (written in 380 ) wherein Socrates proposes the dilemma which states:
Is something good because God proclaims it to be good? Or, does God proclaim something to be good, because it is good?
Translations vary such as gods for God, virtuous or moral for good, etc.
Socrates’ question to Euthyphro caught him on the horns of a dilemma:
Is something good because God proclaims it to be good? Which is to ask whether something is good merely because God proclaims it to be —in which case goodness is an arbitrary construct and at a whim God could change that which is good into that which is bad and vice versa. Or, does God proclaim something to be good, because it is good? Which is to ask whether there is something up, above, beyond and separate from God to which God must adhere—does God have to act according to a moral standard which is outside of Himself in which case God is not all sufficient and in fact, obeys a higher standard than Himself.
While many theologies fail to answer the Euthyphro Dilemma, biblical Trinitarian theology does not fail. Let us briefly consider how various theologies fare:
Generally stated, in dualism we have in view two co-eternal gods. Two separate and distinct beings, two separate and distinct “persons”. This concept consists of one “good” god and one “evil” god. In such cases the goodness of the one is measured against the evil of the other and vice versa. Moreover, the one considers itself to be good and the other evil. Thus, theological dualism presents arbitrary morality in that which one is good and which one is evil is purely subjective.
Generally stated, in strict monotheism we have in view one single being, one single person. Since such a god lacked companionship or relationship, it had to create beings with whom to enjoy that which it lacked and may therefore be considered imperfect or incomplete. Regardless of the reason for creation, the strictly monotheistic god existed alone from eternity and so companionship or relationship are simply not a part of its nature so that such a God generally treats its creations as a dictator whose will is absolute and unrestrained. Such a god is typically not personal or, perhaps more accurately, not personable. This is because both their personal morality and their moral prescriptions for their creation are arbitrary since it had to concoct them upon having other beings with which to deal.
Generally stated, in pantheons, polytheism and henotheism we have in view more than two gods who are either eternal or were created by one or two previously existing gods (sometimes a male god and a female god, such as in Mormonism). They were not lacking in eternal relationships since they did enjoy them with each other. Yet, being distinct gods (distinct being, distinct persons) they are not exactly famous for conducting moral relationships with each other, but are rather infamous for their quarrels and warring. Since these supernatural beings could enjoy good or bad relationships with other supernatural beings, other gods, they were not generally interested in relationships with humans. They generally considered humans to be play things—they may manipulate our fates, they may take human form and fornicate with us, but there is little, if anything, that they did that they could have considered moral relationships. Since Euthyphro worshipped such a pantheon, it was perfectly reasonable for Socrates to think there was a standard of goodness to which the gods were beholden.
Lastly, generally stated, in Trinitarian monotheism we have in view one God and yet, three “persons” each of whom is God, each of whom is eternal, each of whom is distinct and yet, each of whom are the one God; one coeternal, coexisting, coequal being consisting of three “persons”. The God of the Bible has been referred to as “one what and three who’s”.45 This God is not alone in eternity and yet is not in relation to separate eternal beings. Since each member of the Trinity is eternal, each has enjoyed eternal relationships. This God is not lacking in relationship. God enjoys a relationship that is both unified in purpose and diverse amongst the persons.46
Thus, is something good because God proclaims it to be good or, does God proclaim something to be good, because it is good? Ethics is based upon the Triune God’s nature. God’s nature is relational and benevolent. This relationship is eternal and free from conflict. God enjoys relationships and encourages His creation to enjoy like relationships. In this view, an afterlife is conceived of as the enjoyment of relationships with other humans grounded upon the mutual enjoyment of an eternal relationship with God.
God does not merely exhibit attributes; God is the attributes, “God is love” (1 John 4:8,16). Thus, God did not have arbitrarily to invent ethics; God’s very nature is the ethos.
So the solution is that it is a false dilemma—perfect goodness is an essential part of His character, not something outside Him. God indeed commands things which are good, but the reason they are good is because they reflect God’s own nature. So the goodness does not come ultimately from God’s commandments, but from His nature, which then results in good commandments.47
4.3 Atheism’s “problem of evil”
Imagine considering the problem of evil and (illogically) concluding that God does not exist—what happens next? Well, you look around the world again and notice that evil still exists and now you do not even have God to blame. Rejecting God does nothing about evil. Thus, atheism does nothing about evil. Of course it does nothing—it cannot do anything and is not supposed to do anything. Atheism is merely an idea and thus, has no volition by which to do anything at all. Indeed, and that is just the point: atheism is an idea, but God is a being who can and does various things about evil: God can condemn it absolutely, God can make provision for redeeming evil, God can abolish evil.
Atheism not only does nothing about evil; atheism actually makes evil even worse. Atheism guarantees that evil is for nothing, it has no greater purpose or meaning; it guarantees no redemption of evil.
However, it is inaccurate to state that atheism guarantees that evil is for nothing and has no greater purpose or meaning. This is because in the absolute materialism that atheism implies, evil is very purposeful in that it benefits the evildoer. The evildoer commits evil acts, and as long as they are not caught they evade the judicial systems of this world and simply get away with it, the victim suffers and may suffer for decades while the evildoer enjoyed committing evil deeds.
Also it is inaccurate to state that atheism does nothing about evil; it actually makes it go away by pretending that it does not exist. A tsunami that drowns thousands of people is not “evil”; it is a large wave. A hurricane that destroys cities and kills people is not “evil”; it is high winds. An animal, whether human or otherwise, that kills another animal is not “evil”; it is acting according to all that there is; its own will. It may be inconvenient, we may not like it, we may attempt to do something about it, against it, but it is not evil; it just is.
The fact of evil in the world is one of the very best reasons for rejecting atheism.
4.4 Atheism’s Euthyphro Dilemma
Let us propose an atheist’s version of the Euthyphro Dilemma:
Is something good because atheists proclaim it to be good? Or, do atheists proclaim something to be good, because it is good?
If something is good merely because an atheist proclaims it to be good, then goodness is an arbitrary construct and at the whim of atheists who could change that which is good into that which is bad and vice versa.
There is a disturbing trend amongst many atheists, particularly the New Atheist sect, whereby they define parents raising their children according to their own faith as ‘child abuse’.
Atheists tend to claim that we somehow intuit the ever-evolving morality, or as Richard Dawkins puts it, the “shifting zeitgeist” (German for “spirit of the age”). As to how we discern the zeitgeist’s latest maneuver, “one can almost use phrases like ‘it’s in the air’.”48
Do not think that this means that Richard Dawkins has no absolute standards by which to determine what is evil. He has stated, “What’s to prevent us from saying Hitler wasn’t right? I mean, that is a genuinely difficult question.”48 Yet, he has made a definitive statement about what he sees as absolutely evil, “It is evil to describe a child as a Muslim child or a Christian child. I think labelling children is child abuse and I think there is a very heavy issue”49 (more on this below in the Religion as Child Abuse section).
Back to the atheists’ Euthyphro Dilemma; the question is whether something is good merely because the atheist proclaims it to be good. Or is there is something up, above, beyond and separate from the atheist to which the atheist must adhere—does the atheist have to act according to an ethical standard that is outside of the individual, in which case the atheist is not all sufficient and in fact, obeys a higher standard than the individual (or a group of individuals known as a society).
If something is good merely because the atheist proclaims it to be good, then if two atheists disagree, the same action could be both good and evil, which conflicts with the law of non-contradiction.50 At this point a common objection is raised to the effect that two people disagreeing proves that there is no absolute ethic (standard, moral law, moral code, etc.).
Yet, this is tantamount to arguing thus:
Claim: “In the USA it is absolutely illegal to run a red light in a non-emergency response vehicle.” Response: “If that is the case, then why do some people operating non-emergency response vehicles run red lights? It must not be true that there is such an absolute law.”
All this shows is that there is a hierarchy of morality, also called graded absolutism. That is, there are higher and lower laws, and if there is a conflict, one should obey the higher law and is exempt from the lower law. In the above case, the duty of an emergency vehicle to arrive as quickly as possible to help in an emergency makes them exempt from the duty to stop at a red light. In general, the hierarchy is duty to God > duty to man > duty to property.
George F. R. Ellis (a theist) noted the following:
“The foundational line of true ethical behavior, its main guiding principle valid across all times and cultures, is the degree of freedom from self-centeredness of thought and behavior, and willingness freely to give up one’s own self-interest on behalf of others.”51
Moreover, if something is good merely because an individual, or a society, proclaims it to be so, then Nazism was good for the majority of Germans who outnumbered those whom they persecuted, but it then became evil when the fitter and more numerous Allied Forces defeated them.
It seems apparent that there is something up, above, beyond, separate and transcendent from the atheist to which the atheists must appeal to for their moral declarations. During his debate with William Lane Craig entitled “Does God Exist?”52 James Robert Brown, an atheist, stated,
“you can’t just make up facts, including moral facts; you’re under obligation, moral obligation without God, you don’t need God for this, you have a moral obligation to not murder, not rob people … All I ask you to do is believe there’s no God but still murder is wrong. There are moral facts, as well as physical facts, as well as mathematical facts, that’s all I’m asking … It’s just a basic fact, a basic moral fact, that murder is wrong.”
This is what I pointed out in the “Atheism and Ethics/Morality” section about atheists making epistemic (knowing) statements about morality but not providing an ontological premise (origin/source) for ethics. Brown merely asserts the immorality of murder by referring to himself as a “moral realist”, which, at least in his case, appears to mean that he can just make any statement he wishes with regards to morality and moreover, dogmatically assert “you’re under obligation, moral obligation … moral obligation … moral facts … moral fact.”
Yes, atheists can think through moral issues and come to a conclusion. They may even consider these conclusions to be absolutes or obligations, but these are merely impotent claims that only carry force of obligation when the governmental/societal iron first is behind them, and then are only potent if the moral-obligation-breaker is caught. But what about being moral for the simple and pure motive of being moral without expectation of reward and punishment? This will be considered below in the section entitled, “Theism’s reward and punishment versus Atheism’s pure motives”.
Succinctly stated: atheism discredits condemnation and condemnation discredits atheism:
Atheism discredits condemnation because their condemnation is merely an expression of personal moral preferences, arguments from outrage, or impotent epistemic assertions.
Condemnation discredits atheism because atheists’ deep and heartfelt urges to condemn immorality demonstrate that they are appealing to a moral standard that is outside of the individual.
4.5 Theism’s reward and punishment versus Atheism’s pure motives
Theism’s reward and punishment
An argument against Christian claims of God-ordained ethics that has become ubiquitous in atheist circles is that Christian morality is actually immoral since, so the claim goes, it depends upon threats of punishment and enticements to receive rewards (this applies to various religions).
The first thing to point out is that Christianity does not hold to a works-based salvation doctrine and thus, good deeds do not “buy” Heaven. Yet, to the charge that, even so, Christian morality is based on the expectation of reward in Heaven or punishment in Hell, let us secondly note the intolerance: if you are the sort of person who is perfectly moral but you are moral due to fear of punishment, atheists condemn you—you are not allowed to disagree with them; or you can disagree and suffer their looking down their collective noses at you.
Atheists presume that they can read the minds and/or discern the motivations of those whom they condemn. How do they know who is behaving morally because of reward and punishment? Apparently, they merely consider whether someone adheres to such a presumed belief system. Yet, even then; how do they know? Let us consider Christianity, for example. Christians would likely answer “Why be moral?” by referencing “For the love of God and the love of humans who were made in God’s image.”
Consider this scenario: a soldier receives the honor of a Purple Heart. During the ceremony an atheist stands up and shouts that the soldier is undeserving since they were merely acting out of fear of punishment and expectation of reward: “If they deserted they would fear charges of treason and they were heroic merely due to expectation of being rewarded with a Purple Heart!”
Let us consider another scenario in light of the fact that all secular, atheistic, “non-religious” countries/nations/governments/societies premise their laws upon reward/punishment:
You are driving your car with an atheist as a passenger. You come to a red light and stop. The atheist asks you, “Why did you stop?” You answer, “Because I do not want to cause an accident whereby someone could get hurt or killed. I am empathetic and compassionate and do not want to harm anyone.” Yet, the atheist protests, “Oh, please! You know very well that if you run that red light you could get a ticket and you are merely stopping in order to not suffer the law’s punishment for lawbreakers!”
But does the fact that it is also illegal mean that I am not truly compassionate? Does it mean that my compassion is a façade for my true motivation which is avoiding punishment? Not at all. Thus, this argument may be ubiquitous but it is narrow, unrighteously judgmental and fallacious.53
Atheism’s pure motives?
The twin fallacy to the “Theism’s Reward and Punishment” claim is the claim that, sans divine reward and punishment, only atheists have pure motives for morality, or “doing good”, since they are doing so merely for its own sake. This was the assertion behind the American Humanist Association’s bus ad campaign which stated, “Why believe in God? Be good for goodness’ sake.”
Yet, just as with any twins this fallacy shares its sister’s unfounded presuppositions:
It is presupposing to know the atheist’s minds and/or discerning their motivations.
But what else could be motivating the atheist? Surely it is pure goodness? Perhaps.
However, that would be a utopian and unskeptical, narrow view. The atheist could be motivated by multitudinous impure factors, such as those which I already noted in the “Dan Barker on Morality” subsection to the main section on “Atheism and Ethics / Morality”:
“if you wish to be … a healthy person … if you wish to be labeled ‘ethical’ by other people … if you wish to be viewed by your society as ‘a good person’ … if that’s something you wish”33 “I’m happier and feel better about myself if I’m honest.”34 “if one does horrible things to people, that person will eventually have horrible things happen to him.”54
Thus, the atheist may be seeking public approval, may seek to give in order to get, may even be seeking to be thought of as a purely motivated atheist, etc.
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5. Religion as child abuse
Wikimedia (CC BY 2.0) Atheists such as Daniel Dennett say that parents’ teaching their children their faith in God is child abuse.
There is a disturbing trend amongst many atheists, particularly the New Atheist sect, whereby they define parents raising their children according to their own faith as “child abuse”.
Daniel Dennett wrote,
“ … many declare, there is the sacred and inviolable right of life … On the other hand, many of the same people declare that, once born, the child loses its right not to be indoctrinated or brainwashed or otherwise psychologically abused by those parents.”55
Richard Dawkins stated,
“It’s one thing to say people should be free to believe whatever they like, but should they be free to impose their beliefs on their children? Is there something to be said for society stepping in?”56
Also,
“A phrase like ‘Catholic child’ or ‘Muslim child’ should clang furious bells of protest in the mind … Catholic child? Flinch. Protestant child? Squirm. Muslim child? Shudder.”
Also,
“‘How much do we regard children as being the property of their parents?’ Dawkins asks. ‘It’s one thing to say people should be free to believe whatever they like, but should they be free to impose their beliefs on their children? Is there something to be said for society stepping in? What about bringing up children to believe manifest falsehoods?’”57
Also,
“It is evil to describe a child as a Muslim child or a Christian child. I think labelling children is child abuse and I think there is a very heavy issue.”58
As I just noted above, Richard Dawkins stated that ascertaining whether Hitler was right, “is a genuinely difficult question.”59 Yet, he does, most assuredly, state that, “It is evil” to label children with their parents’ religion—at least he has standards.
The ultimate goal is, of course, that this, “might lead children to choose no religion at all.”60
These militant, society stepping in, tactics seem to overlook the fact that children are referred to as such due to cultural and social consideration and not primarily theological. For instance, Judaism has Bar Mitzvahs when a child becomes an adult and makes a commitment to the faith. Likewise, various forms of Christianity have confirmation. Etc.61
What is the logical conclusion of this atheistic agenda? Apparently it is “evil” (“child abuse”) for parents who believe in God to teach their children to believe in God, but it is “good” (not child abuse) for atheists (or government-paid teachers?) to inculcate atheism (disbelief in God) into all children. This is the same twisted thinking that drove Stalin, Hitler and Mao et al., and resulted in the deaths of 100 million people.62
So, atheists have circumvented parental authority and have indoctrinated children into atheism and Darwinism via public schools. But Christians are fighting back. One of the great mission fields that is gaining momentum today is child evangelism. Missionologists are increasingly focusing on the 4/14 Window, which refers to the demographic group from age four to fourteen years old. This group is being reached in public schools through Bible clubs, for example. Specialized and innovative tracts for children have been developed. Much more needs to be done. Scripture declares, “Train a child up in the way he should go and he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). It is imperative for Christians to reach children before secularists do, and not after.
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6. Atheism’s arguments against theism, or Atheism’s “atheology”
This section will not reflect what one would expect in considering the particular arguments that atheists raise against the existence of God. The reason for not focusing on particular arguments is that they all have something in common. Thus, it seemed most important to focus on the commonality so that it may be detected within any of their arguments. The only argument that we will consider directly is, “Who made God?”
It is not hyperbolic language to state that every one of atheism’s arguments against God’s existence is premised upon the atheology of the individual atheist making the argument. While “atheology” would technically mean “lack of” or “no” theology I am employing the term in order to bring attention to the fact that atheists are some of the most theologically minded, often quite dogmatically, people—thus, the “a” for “atheism” and “theology” for the study of God or systemization of doctrines about God.
Atheism’s arguments against God’s existence are peppered with statements such as, “Why would God … ” or “Why wouldn’t God … ” or “Why does God … ” or “Why doesn’t God … ” or “If God was, then God would … ” or “should … ” or “surely could … ”, etc. These are all theological statements because they are premised upon presupposed attributes of God.
For example, if God was, then God would be omnipotent and loving; loving means not allowing any pain, evil, or suffering and so either God is not loving or is not omnipotent and if God is neither loving and/or omnipotent then God is not (various likewise examples could be concocted).
Yet, this statement, though admittedly fictional, is based upon typical atheist statements. And it is premised upon various theological assertions: God is, would or should be omnipotent. God is, would or should be loving. Loving means not allowing pain, evil, or suffering. God would or should either not allow it or would or should eradicate it based on our preferred schedules, etc.
Also, note that atheism’s arguments against God’s existence do not exist in a vacuum. That is to say, the atheist does not exist in a realm of utter ignorance of the world, then come to certain conclusions as to what would constitute evidences of God’s existence, only then emerge from the vacuum and look around the world and conclude, “Therefore, God does not exist.”
Rather, the atheist considers what is and what is not, what does and does not occur and only then makes statements as to what God would or should do, knowing that those things do not occur (this is all generally speaking since, for example, the atheist would claim that God does not perform miracles even though God does so).
Thus, rather than seeking to instantly answer the atheist’s argument, the first response should be to ask the atheist to substantiate their premise, their atheology. Following are some examples of relevant questions:
How did you arrive at your atheological positions?
Why should we confine our understanding of God to your atheology?
Why do you define love the way you do?
Why do you set certain restrictions on God?
Why do you demand that God do as you dictate?
Therefore, the atheist’s argument should first be dissected and inspected for atheology.
6.1 Who made God?
This atheist argument has been very popularly restated as, “Who designed the designer?” This is, by his own admission, the very central argument of Richard Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion.63
The following quotations demonstrate the ubiquity of the argument:
Richard Dawkins (in The Blind Watchmaker) wrote, “To explain the origin of the DNA/protein machine by invoking a supernatural Designer is to explain precisely nothing, for it leaves unexplained the origin of the Designer.”
Flickr (Creative Commons) Prominent atheist, Christopher Hitchens, like others, asks the philosophically naïve question, “Who created the Creator?” The answer is in Sunday School 101.
Christopher Hitchens (in God Is Not Great) wrote, “who designed the designer or created the creator? Religion and theology have consistently failed to overcome this objection.”
Daniel Dennett (in Darwin’s Dangerous Idea) references Richard Dawkins and declares that it is an “unrebuttable refutation, as devastating today as when Philo used it to trounce Cleanthes in Hume’s Dialogues two centuries earlier.”
And of course, Richard Dawkins (in The God Delusion) quotes Daniel Dennett who is quoting Richard Dawkins and proclaims that Daniel Dennett is correct in approving of Richard Dawkins!
This argument, although very popular and promulgated by atheist scientists and even atheist philosophers, is a premier example of what is generally termed “Sunday School Atheism”. It is called this because it is a Sunday School level question and one that Sunday School children are able to answer before achieving puberty.
God is eternal and thus does not need a cause.
To elucidate a bit, in the next section we will consider the cosmological argument which makes clear that everything that begins to exist has a sufficient cause. Since God never began to exist, God did not have a cause.
But is not claiming that God is eternal a mere way out of the problem of who made God? No.
Since time began to exist, time had a cause. Since time began to exist, whatever caused time is timeless (aka infinite or eternal). It is the linear time that we experience that makes cause and effect relationships possible: an effect follows a cause. Yet, since God exists outside of, or without, time, cause and effect relationships are impossible and thus God is the uncaused/uncausable first cause. It was God’s first action of creation that brought the space-time continuum into being and set cause and effect relationships into motion. Therefore, in God’s timeless realm there is no such question as “Who made God?” since this is a time space domain based question which simply does not apply. It is like asking “To whom is the bachelor married?”64
Note, however, that atheists have no problem believing in an uncaused first cause, at least when it is not supernatural, but Nature, as they promulgate the following assertions:
It is ignorant and superstitious to believe that God made everything out of nothing.
It is rational and scientific to believe that nothing made everything out of nothing.
It is ignorant and superstitious to believe that God is eternal.
It is rational and scientific to believe that matter (or energy) is eternal.
God is an effect and must have had a cause.
Matter/energy is the uncaused first cause.
If God made everything, then who made God?
Matter made everything and nothing made matter.
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7. Arguments for God’s existence
This section will be as irregular as the previous in that it provides the most basic sketch of various arguments.
This is for three reasons:
In an article meant to criticize atheism, substantiating theism is not necessarily required. Elucidating each argument and seeking to defend it against attempts to topple it would be an undertaking which, as per 1), is not necessary and would expand this article beyond its present, and already hefty, size. It is important to note that these arguments function most effectively when considered together since individually they tend to be specific to a particular point. Therefore, it seems necessary to present various specific arguments and recommend how they may work together to form a more encompassing argument.
Let us consider these arguments, some of which are presented in various forms.
7.1 Forms of the cosmological argument
The universe had a beginning Anything that had a beginning must have been caused by something else Therefore, the universe was caused by something else (a creator)
Every part of the universe is dependent If every part is dependent, then the whole universe must also be dependent Therefore, the whole universe is dependent for existence right now on some Independent Being
Every event that had a beginning had a sufficient cause The universe had a beginning Therefore, the universe had a sufficient Cause
Every effect has a cause The universe is an effect Therefore, the universe has a Cause
An infinite number of moments cannot be traversed If an infinite number of moments had to elapse before today, then today would never have come But today has come Therefore, an infinite number of moments have not elapsed before today (i.e., the universe had a beginning) But whatever has a beginning is caused by something else Hence, there must be a Cause (Creator) of the universe
An actual infinite cannot exist An infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite Therefore an infinite temporal regress of events cannot exist
The temporal series of events is a collection formed by successive addition A collection formed by successive addition cannot be an actual infinite Therefore the temporal series of events cannot be an actual infinite
Some things undeniably exist (e.g., I cannot deny my own existence) My nonexistence is possible Whatever has the possibility not to exist is currently caused to exist by another There cannot be an infinite regress of current causes of existence Therefore, a first uncaused cause of my current existence exists This uncaused cause must be infinite, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-perfect This infinitely perfect Being is appropriately called “God” Therefore, God exists This God who exists is identical to the God described in the Christian Scriptures Therefore, the God described in the Bible exists
7.2 Argument from cosmological natural theology
Time, space and matter came into existence at a certain point in the finite past. Since time, space and matter began to exist they had a cause. Therefore, whatever caused them was time-less (or eternal), space-less (not subject to locality, or omnipresent) and matter-less (immaterial, non-physical, or spirit).
7.3 Forms of the teleological argument
All designs imply a designer There is great design in the universe Therefore, there must be a Great Designer of the universe
7.4 Forms of the ontological argument
God is defined as a being than which no greater can be conceived. Such a being can be conceived. If there were no such being in reality, then a greater being—namely, a being than which no greater can be conceived, and which exists—can be conceived. Yet nothing can be greater than a being than which no greater can be conceived. Therefore a being than which no greater can be conceived—i.e., God—must exist.
God is the entity of which nothing greater can be thought. It is greater to be necessary than not. God must therefore be necessary. Hence, God exists necessarily.
7.5 Forms of the moral law argument
Moral laws imply a Moral Law Giver There is an objective moral law Therefore, there is a Moral Law Giver
There are objective moral laws Moral laws come from a moral lawgiver Therefore, a moral lawgiver exists
If atheism is true, everything is permissible.
7.6 Dostoevsky’s argument from the consequences of positive Atheism
If atheism is true then man is “the chief of the earth” If man is “the chief of the earth” then he can abandon absolute standards (i.e., morality) If man can abandon the absolute standards then “everything is permissible” Therefore, if atheism is true, everything is permissible
7.7 The argument from joy
Every natural innate desire has a real object that can fulfill it Human beings have a natural, innate desire for immortality Therefore, there must be an immortal life after death
7.8 Ronald Nash’s argument from numbers
An argument proposed by Ronald Nash is known as the argument from numbers. This is how Ronald Nash explained it:
“ … when I used to teach philosophy to undergraduate college students, I would sometimes ask them to tell me what the number one is. They would usually reply by writing some of the many symbols we use such as ‘1’ or ‘I’. I would then explain that such symbols are not really the number we are seeking but are only convenient ways we use to refer to the real number one. No wise person should ever confuse a symbol for something with the thing itself. So what then is the number one? The first step is to recognize that the number one is a concept. What is a concept? The short answer is that it is an idea. The next step is to ask where the concept of oneness exists. The idea of oneness, like all ideas, exists in minds. The third step is to note that the number one is eternal. If someone has trouble with this claim, ask when the number one began to exist. Not only has the number one always existed, it is impossible for the number one ever to change. If the number one were ever changed, it would cease to be the number one. After all, if the idea of oneness changed, let us say, into the number two, then it would no longer be the number one. So where are we? I believe we can show many people that the concept of oneness is an eternal and unchanging idea that exists in some mind. And, the only kind of mind in which this kind of eternal and unchanging idea could exist must be an eternal and unchanging mind. When I reach this point in my little example, some student in the back of the classroom usually raises his hand and asks if I am talking about God.”65
This argument is very interesting in that it can be employed in the service of various considerations. For example, you may replace the term “the number one” with “the laws of logic” and produce a similar argument.
Let us now consider these as a whole and note how they demonstrate some of God’s attributes:
The cosmological argument demonstrates God’s omnipotence—that God is infinitely powerful.
The teleological argument demonstrates that God is an intelligent being—a purposeful Creator.
The ontological argument demonstrates that God is a necessary being—the uncausable first cause.
The moral law argument demonstrates that God is a moral being—He will never act against His moral nature.
Dostoevsky’s argument demonstrates that without God as the premise for ethics, subjective, individual, relative morals are all we have.
The religious need and joy argument demonstrates that God is the fulfillment of the ultimate human need—nothing but God will fill the void in a human soul.
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8. Atheism and science
Although the scientific endeavor has nothing to offer atheism, atheists have co-opted it and employed it as a façade which they wrap around atheism in order to make it appear as if it is deserving of the merits of scientific respectability.
The contradiction in the atheist’s attempt to employ science towards their end is:
They claim that science only deals with the material and therefore, has nothing to say about the immaterial or supernatural. They claim that science has disproved the immaterial or supernatural.
Evolution is the atheists’ origins myth, designed to do away with God the Creator; creation without a Creator.
Despite this, some atheists claim that the way that science disproves the immaterial or supernatural is by increasingly finding material causes for material effects. However, this does not trouble the Christian because God created the material realm and it follows logically that material effects will have material causes and such causes and effects do not exclude the imm |
identify much of the quackery that CAM practitioners and woo-friendly physicians have "integrated" into integrative medicine. A lot of it is based on prescientific ideas of how the human body and disease work (e.g., traditional Chinese medicine, especially acupuncture, for instance, which is based on a belief system that very much resembles the four humors in ancient "Western" or European medicine); on nonexistent body structures or functions (e.g., chiropractic and subluxations, reflexology and a link between areas on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet that "map" to organs; craniosacral therapy and "craniosacral rhythms"); or vitalism (e.g., homeopathy, "energy medicine," such as reiki, therapeutic touch, and the like). Often there are completely pseudoscientific ideas whose quackiness is easy to explain to an educated layperson, like homeopathy.
Then there are modalities being "integrated" into medicine whose quackiness is not so easy to explain. Perhaps the most popular and famous of these is a specialty known as "functional medicine" (FM) whose foremost practitioner and advocate (in the US, at least) is Mark Hyman, MD, a man whose fame has led him to become a trusted medical advisor to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Perhaps Hyman's greatest coup came in 2014, when the Cleveland Clinic Foundation hired him to create an institute dedicated to FM, an effort that has apparently been wildly successful in terms of patient growth. Never mind that around the same time Dr. Hyman teamed up with rabid antivaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to write a book blaming mercury in the thimerosal preservative that used to be in vaccines for causing autism, an idea that was shown long ago to have no scientific merit. Unfortunately, elsewhere FM has been pretty successful as well, to the point where it has now even started to “integrate” itself with dentistry in the form of an emerging specialty of "functional dentistry."
The problem with "functional medicine" is that at its core it is close to being as nonsensical as the more "obvious" forms of quackery. It just hides it better, mostly behind a battery of fancy-sounding laboratory tests. It's also incredibly difficult to pin down just what the heck it even is, as I've discussed many times in the past. The late, great Wally Sampson's once wrote a post about FM entitled Functional Medicine: What Is It? It was a question he asked after referring to it as the "New Kid on the Block."
That's why I'm grateful to Jann Bellamy, who sent me a case study on the use of FM in oncology published in a journal that I had never heard of before, Integrative Medicine: A Clinician's Journal ( IMCJ ). Even better, the case is a woman treated for breast cancer, my area of expertise, which allows me to discuss the case presentation in even more depth. Before we do that, let's review a bit about FM as a prelude to diving into the specifics of this published case report. To be honest, I'm surprised that anyone would publish such tripe, as it's incredibly embarrassing. Or at least it would be to any competent oncologist. What really scares me is that FM is now specializing. What we are seeing here is the birth of "functional oncology," and it is terrifying to me.
Functional Medicine: What Is It?
I begin by asking the same question that Wally Sampson asked many years ago, just a bit more “insolently”: Just what the hell is functional medicine, anyway? It has been a long time since I’ve asked that question; so now is as good a time as any to ask it again. Indeed, I was curious to know just what has changed about functional medicine; so I even went back to the same source that Dr. Sampson used eight years ago, the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM), an organization founded by the other big name in FM, Jeffrey Bland, PhD.
Like pretty much all of "integrative medicine" FM claims to look at the real cause of disease:
Functional Medicine addresses the underlying causes of disease, using a systems-oriented approach and engaging both patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership. It is an evolution in the practice of medicine that better addresses the healthcare needs of the 21st century. By shifting the traditional disease-centered focus of medical practice to a more patient-centered approach, Functional Medicine addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms. Functional Medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease. In this way, Functional Medicine supports the unique expression of health and vitality for each individual.
You could remove the word "functional," replace it with "integrative," and easily plop this paragraph down into just about any article written about integrative medicine by one of its advocates. It's the same weasel words of woo, different branch of woo. Or actually it's the same branch, just a different sub-branch. But what does this all mean? The IFM claims:
Functional Medicine offers a powerful new operating system and clinical model for assessment, treatment, and prevention of chronic disease to replace the outdated and ineffective acute-care models carried forward from the 20th century.
Functional Medicine incorporates the latest in genetic science, systems biology, and understanding of how environmental and lifestyle factors influence the emergence and progression of disease.
Functional Medicine enables physicians and other health professionals to practice proactive, predictive, personalized medicine and empowers patients to take an active role in their own health.
You know, I really hate it when woo-meisters liken things to "operating systems" while referring to "outmoded acute care models." One thing you can be sure of, though, is that whenever someone like Bland refers to using the "latest in genetic science, systems biology, and understanding of how environmental and lifestyle factors influence the emergence and progression of disease," you will be in for a heaping helping of abuse of those new sciences. We've seen it time and time again with, for example, epigenetics (which doesn't do or mean what quacks think it does), placebo effects, the power of diet (which is often grossly exaggerated), and, of course, systems biology, which FM guru Mark Hyman himself abuses shamelessly in the service of his made-up specialty. Indeed, Hyman is an excellent example, as he's mangled science in the service of FM in many areas, including cancer, autism (of course, given his latest foray into antivaccine propaganda), and, of course, Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. That's just a sampling, of course. What's worse, is that FM seems to value anecdotes over actual clinical studies. Basically, its form of "personalized medicine" appears to be a "bait and switch" designed to lower the standard of evidence required to justify a treatment.
Don't believe me? Read it right from the horse's mouth, so to speak. First:
Functional Medicine is an approach to health care that conceptualizes health and illness as part of a continuum in which all components of the human biological system interact dynamically with the environment, producing patterns and effects that change over time. Functional Medicine helps clinicians identify and ameliorate dysfunctions in the physiology and biochemistry of the human body as a primary method of improving patient health. Functional Medicine is often described as the clinical application of systems biology. [Emphasis in original]
But more tellingly, see what Bland says about the evidence base for FM:
When people ask to see the evidence for Functional Medicine, they often mean, "Where are your research trials, comparing Functional Medicine to conventional medicine in a clinical setting?" Unfortunately, current research models do not have a way to test each individualized, patient-centered therapeutic plan that is tailored to a person with a unique combination of existing conditions, genetic influences, environmental exposures, and lifestyle choices. Clinical trials do play a significant role in evaluating and comparing the efficacy of new pharmaceutical treatments, especially when it is important to rule out placebo effects, but they have many inherent limitations which constrain their ability to inform clinical decision making.
So let's not even bother doing clinical trials, then, amirite, guys? Basically, this is a manifesto for doing whatever the heck a physician wants in the name of "personalizing" care. Whenever I see such piece of utter nonsense used as a justification, I can't help but point out that real doctors and scientists are trying very hard to figure out new clinical trial methodology in order to test precision medicine (which used to be called "personalized" medicine) in a scientifically rigorous manner. Yes, in the early "wild west" days (which we are only now coming out of), a lot of physicians made it up as they go along with respect to interpreting the results of whole genome sequencing to select cancer treatment, but that is increasingly frowned upon. If scientists can put together a trial as clever and complex as the SHIVA trial, I laugh at Jeff Bland telling me that FM can't be tested because it's two "personalized." It's a lame excuse—the very lamest—and exactly the same excuse that homeopaths, acupuncturists, and the like make for not doing clinical trials testing their quackery, though FM tries to "science it up" by rationalizing it with these seven principles:
Acknowledging the biochemical individuality of each human being, based on concepts of genetic and environmental uniqueness
Incorporating a patient-centered rather than a disease-centered approach to treatment
Seeking a dynamic balance among the internal and external factors in a patient's body, mind, and spirit
Addressing the web-like interconnections of internal physiological factors
Identifying health as a positive vitality—not merely the absence of disease—and emphasizing those factors that encourage a vigorous physiology
Promoting organ reserve as a means of enhancing the health span, not just the life span, of each patient
Functional Medicine is a science-using profession
That very first principle is FM's "get out of jail free" card for basically anything its practitioners want to do. They can always find ways to justify any form of treatment, be it science-based or quackery, simply by invoking the "biochemical individuality" of each human being. Here's the problem: Yes, human beings are individuals, and each human being is unique. However, we're not so unique that our bodies don't all work pretty much the same way. In other words, in terms of biology, physiology, and yes, systems biology, human beings are far more alike than they are different. If that weren't the case, modern medicine, developed before we had the tools to probe our genetic individuality, wouldn't work as well as it does. FM fetishizes "biochemical individuality," not so much because humans are so incredibly different that each one absolutely has to have a markedly different treatment. We're not. FM fetishizes "individuality" because it distinguishes FM as a brand from science-based medicine and, I suspect, because it makes FM practitioners feel good, like "total" doctors never at a loss for an explanation for a patient's symptoms or clinical condition. As for the last bit about FM being a "science-using" profession, I like to say that FM "uses" science the same way that an illusionist or magician uses misdirection: So that the audience can’t see how he pulls off his trick.
Overall, there are some things that FM gets right, although they are no different than the things every primary care doctor should be getting right, namely emphasizing healthy lifestyles, good nutrition, enough exercise, adequate sleep, cessation of habits known to be deleterious to health (e.g., smoking). They tend to spend more time with patients, which is something that primary care doctors have a harder time doing these days. They emphasize prevention, which is a good thing but again something that good primary care doctors do anyway; that is, except of course for the antivaccine FM practitioners (of which there are quite a few), who are the very antithesis of prevention.
Where they go wrong is in what Grant Ritchey described as a major unstated premise. That premise is that FM really does address the root causes of disease better than conventional medicine. FM also encompasses a lot of quackery, such as acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, and especially "detoxification" programs. There also seems to be considerable overlap between FM and orthomolecular medicine, as FM practitioners seem quite enamored of high dose vitamin C infusions. Indeed, one of the quackiest of the quackademic medicine centers in this country, the University of Kansas, emphasizes FM and orthomolecular medicine and is run by a woman who is very much a proponent of high dose vitamin C infusions for cancer.
One of the most prominent identifying features of FM is its reliance on laboratory tests, lots and lots and lots of laboratory tests. They use these laboratory tests to seek out each patient's "biochemical" individuality and analyze his systems in these areas:
Assimilation: digestion, absorption, microbiota/GI, respiration
digestion, absorption, microbiota/GI, respiration Defense and repair: immune, inflammation, infection/microbiota
immune, inflammation, infection/microbiota Energy: energy regulation, mitochondrial function
energy regulation, mitochondrial function Biotransformation and elimination: toxicity, detoxification
toxicity, detoxification Transport: cardiovascular and lymphatic systems
cardiovascular and lymphatic systems Communication: endocrine, neurotransmitters, immune messengers
endocrine, neurotransmitters, immune messengers Structural integrity: subcellular membranes to musculoskeletal integrity
This search for "biochemical individuality" leads FM practitioners to order incredible numbers of labs, as you will see, many of which, as are bogus and of no use, and many of which are routine lab tests that regular doctors order but often end up massively misinterpreted and abused. In particular, FM practitioners appear to like to order lab tests related to endocrinology. Of course, "normal" lab values are usually defined to be a certain number of standard deviations from the population mean, which means that by random chance alone a small percentage of "normal" people will have an abnormal value of a given laboratory test. When a clinician orders a bunch of laboratory tests on a patient, the likelihood that one of those tests will be "abnormal" will approach 100% the more tests are ordered. No wonder FM practitioners can always find lab abnormalities to chase. Of course, to correct those lab abnormalities, there are always many, many supplements to be sold. Indeed, arguably the IFM was founded as a means of marketing the supplements Jeffrey Bland sold. Mark Hyman, through his "Ultrawellness" brand, also sells a lot of supplements.
Functional oncology in action
This brings us back to the case report, and boy is it a doozy. The authors include Elliot T. Taxman, BA; Erin D. Conlon, BS; Alex Speers, BA; Kristin L. Dismuke, BS; Tonya S. Heyman, MD, FACOG; Thomas L. Taxman, MD, FAAP. It turns out that Elliot Taxman, Erin Conlon, and Alex Speers are all students at the National College of Natural Medicine, while Tonya Heyman is a gynecologist specializing in "integrated personalized medicine" and Thomas Taxman is a pediatric gastroenterologist and functional medicine practitioner. The physicians are located at the Cleveland Health Institute in Lyndhurst, OH, which is a suburb of Cleveland. Given that the authors are all affiliated in some way with an "integrative medicine" clinic, I wasn't sure where the patient discussed was treated for real. (I mean real cancer treatment, as opposed to the quackery she was subjected to in addition to her cancer treatment in a "complementary" fashion.) Perhaps it was at the Seidman Cancer Center at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, given that Dr. Taxman is an assistant clinical professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Be that as it may, here is the clinical presentation as described in the case report:
An 80-year-old Caucasian female patient presented to an integrative medicine clinic in December 2012 with a 1-month history of a tender right breast. Her history was significant for arthritis, obesity, hypothyroidism, chronic gastritis, and hypertension. Her current medications included hydrochlorothiazide and triamterene, quinapril hydrochloride, levothyroxine sodium, and esomeprazole. Her family history was positive for breast cancer (daughter at age 46 y and sister at age 70 y). Physical exam revealed an erythematous, warm mass with irregular borders and localized skin thickening palpated across both upper quadrants of the right breast. The mass measured approximately 15 × 10 × 5 cm. In addition, a prominent 1-cm right axillary lymph node was noted.
This presentation sounds like that of an uncommon and particularly nasty form of breast cancer known as inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). IBC is characterized clinically by more than half the breast being involved with an inflammation-like reaction and pathologically by tumor cells in the dermal lymphatics (the lymph vessels right under the skin). The standard treatment for this aggressive form of breast cancer is neoadjuvant chemotherapy (chemotherapy before surgery), a modified radical mastectomy (removal of the breast and the axillary lymph nodes), followed by post-mastectomy radiation therapy to the chest wall. By definition, IBC is at least stage IIIB. On the other hand, IBC is a clinical diagnosis. Absent a skin biopsy showing tumor cells in the dermal lymphatics, its diagnosis is purely clinical so this woman might not have had IBC. Still, from the description, it looks as though neoadjuvant chemotherapy was appropriate:
Mammography revealed increased irregular density in the central upper quadrants of the right breast. A subsequent ultrasound noted a mass in the right breast that was highly suggestive of malignancy and the accompanying guided biopsy concluded invasive ductal carcinoma, grade 3, with involvement of a right axillary lymph node. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on January 7 confirmed the previous diagnosis and indicated that a small mass was found in the left upper outer quadrant of the left breast. A follow-up sonogram and mammogram of the left breast confirmed the MRI findings. She was given a Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) score of 6 and her cancer was concluded to be ER/PR negative and HER2 positive.
A tumor that lacks estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor but does have amplified HER2 almost always gets neoadjuvant chemotherapy consisting of a regimen of cytotoxic chemotherapy combined with Herceptin, which targets HER2. The patient underwent a bone scan and PET-CT scan, the latter of which is bit of overkill, because PET-CT has never been shown to be superior to CT alone in the setting of breast cancer. Both were negative, which means that the patient was not stage IV and the title of the case report, "Chemotherapy and Functional Medicine in a Patient With Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Case Report," shows that the people writing and reviewing it were clueless about breast cancer. This woman did not have metastatic breast cancer, at least not the way a breast cancer surgeon and oncologist look at it. Lymph node metastases are generally considered regional disease; we usually don't refer to "metastatic" disease until there are metastases to distant organs (i.e., stage IV disease). Be that as it may, this woman was potentially curable and was clearly in pretty good shape for an 80 year old if they were willing to give her chemotherapy, even though she did have a fairly typical litany of diseases and conditions of the elderly (arthritis, obesity, hypothyroidism, chronic gastritis, and hypertension). On the other hand, it's not as though there was much choice, given that the cancer was ER/PR-negative and therefore estrogen blocking treatments were not an option.
In any case, what sounded like fairly standard chemotherapy was initiated, including docetaxel (Taxotere), carboplatin (Paraplatin), and trastuzumab (Herceptin), and the patient underwent a right modified radical mastectomy after six cycles, followed by radiation therapy. She also underwent a left simple mastectomy (no evaluation of lymph nodes) for reasons that were unclear to me. She apparently had had something spotted in the right breast on her preoperative MRI, but it was never biopsied, as far as I can tell, and therefore never proven to have been cancer. Given that there is no survival benefit in doing it in the absence of a deleterious cancer-causing mutation, it's hard enough to justify a prophylactic mastectomy on the other side in much younger woman, say 50 years old, but to do this operation on an 80 year old, whose life expectancy (and thus time remaining in her life to develop another life-threatening invasive cancer) is so much shorter, is questionable. Yes, they did find a small focus of ductal carcinoma in situ, but that would have been very unlikely to have progressed to endanger this patient's life in her remaining time. Of course, the choice of surgery was on the conventional breast surgeon, not the FM doctors, but I felt obligated to point this out, given that we're talking about my specialty here.
Now get a load of this chart, which shows what she got overall (click to embiggen):
She received 97 infusions of vitamin C. Yes, you read that right. In the eleven months or so that her complete science-based therapy of her breast cancer required, this woman was subjected to 97 unnecessary and potentially harmful infusions of ascorbate. Afterward, she received "sporadic" doses of vitamin C up through to August 5, 2014, which was one year after her mastectomy. Fortunately, she was tumor-free. As I've written before many times, there is no good evidence that high dose IV vitamin C has a clinically useful antitumor effect. No, Linus Pauling has not been vindicated, although FM practitioners, naturopaths, and other believers have been trying for decades.
But that's not all this poor patient received.
She was placed on a dairy-free, gluten-free, low glycemic index diet. Why? Who knows? There's no good evidence that such diets have an anticancer effect. Why make the woman eat a diet that makes it harder for her to keep her weight up during chemotherapy? Again, who knows? She was also placed on the following supplements:
Melatonin: 20 mg QHS
Digestive enzymes AC
Probiotics: 60 billion CFU BID
Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM
Bifidobacterium animalis Bi-07
Medical food shake bid
Vitamin D3: 5000 IU QD
EPA:DHA: 6000 mg QD
Wheat germ extract: 5.5 g QD
Oral vitamin C: 18-24 g QD
Standardized herbal inflammation relief supplement
One wonders why she was taking 18-24 g (that's right, grams) of vitamin C per day in addition to the boatloads of vitamin C she was receiving intravenously three times a week. That’s enough to cause significant diarrhea. As for the rest, they probably don't hurt, but there's no reason to think they help, either. They add no detectable medical benefit, but they certainly do add cost. That's not even counting the labs ordered. Chemotherapy patients get a lot of labs done, but look at the additional unnecessary labs ordered on this patient. The results take up more than two pages of the case report, and include amino acid levels, "gut immunology" markers, secondary bile acids, parasite tests, pancreatic enzyme levels, heavy metal levels, and, of course, the most beloved lab tests of FM practitioners and autism quacks, oxidative stress markers like glutathione and coenzyme Q 10.
And I haven't even listed them all. None of these tests were necessary. Almost certainly, none of them added any value to the patient's care. Equally certainly, they added a great deal of cost to this patient's care. They are almost all pure quackery.
In fairness, what the FM practitioners added wasn't all bad. An exercise program was started consisting of 10 minutes of bicycling a day working towards 30 minutes, Qigong classes, a sleep log, individual counseling and group support, and a part-time caregiver. None of these things, however, is the least bit "integrative" and could easily have been done by any oncologist.
The end result: Nothing
So what was the result after all of this? The patient survived two years, but the odds of her surviving five years were probably around 70% anyway with conventional therapy and probably 85% of surviving two years, based on her clinical presentation and final pathology, worse if she actually did have IBC. Try as they might, even the FM docs who wrote up this case report couldn't make a case that what they did added anything to this patient's care, other than getting her off of her hypertension medications, which could easily have been result of weight loss and exercise, coupled with a hypersensitivity reaction she suffered when her cardiologist changed her medications. Indeed check out the final paragraph:
This case is unique because of the integrated approach guided in part by nutritional and digestive evaluation (NutrEval) from a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-certified laboratory testing company (Genova Diagnostics, Asheville, NC, USA) that was used in the management of this patient with advanced ductal breast carcinoma.5 Because this is a case report from the real world practice of medicine, it is not possible to determine the responsibility of the treatments in this patient's success in achieving remission. Nevertheless, the patient survived her cancer with minimal side effects during treatment and is now in her third year of remission. This case study highlights the potential benefits of integrative therapy in the comanagement of patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.
No, we can say with a very high degree of certainty that the only benefits this patient experienced came from exercise, a personal care giver, counseling, and perhaps her sleep log. The high dose vitamin C, the dozens of lab tests, and all the supplements did her no good but certainly cost a lot of money. I can't help but shake my head at this. In particular, I am amazed that the FM doctors presenting this case actually seem proud of what they did. They should be ashamed. Very ashamed.
I am, however, glad they wrote up this case report, as horrifying as it is. It shows what FM really is when in actual use. All those high-sounding ideals and principles, all the claims that FM treats the "underlying cause" of disease are revealed to be delusions when you just look at what FM doctors really do when treating cancer patients. Harriet Hall's aphorism about CAM in general fits perfectly: What's good about FM is not unique, and what's unique about it is not good. My conclusion about FM is, in addition to Harriet's, that it takes "making it up as you go along" to a whole new level, and that's not a good thing in medicine.Appointing Ausmus
In early November Detroit Tigers fans were a bit surprised by the hire of Brad Ausmus as the club’s new manager. As the new skipper revamped his coaching staff it became obvious a new brand of baseball would arrive in spring. The new coaching additions served as a harbinger of smaller ball and Dave Dombrowski has followed course with his off-season moves thus far. The Tigers have traded away some big names, but in doing so will have the funds to retain their best. As we take a look at the roster moves made so far, bear in mind that the game plan in Detroit has changed.
Fielder for a Fielder
Shock waves bigger than Prince Fielder‘s seismic slides rumbled through Detroit on November 20th. ‘The Prince’ was heading to the Texas Rangers in return for Ian Kinsler. Suddenly, the Tigers had shed the burden of Fielder’s salary, opened up first base for Miguel Cabrera, and added some much needed speed to the team. Couple that with new first base coach Omar Vizquel and the station to station days at Detroit appear finished. In 2013 the Tiger’s leader in stolen bases was Austin Jackson with a pathetic total of eight steals. The trade solved some serious issues in Detroit with one swipe of Dombrowski’s mighty pen.
Clinging to Coke
Phil Coke has come up big for the Tigers in the post season. His performance in the 2012 ALCS is truly legendary. Coke saved Game 2, in Game 3 preserved a Justin Verlander gem for his second save, and recorded the final out in Game 4. He sprints from the bullpen to the mound and is a fierce competitor. He may simply be a LOOGY, but he is the best damn LOOGY one could wish for. The Tigers needed lefties in the pen and his signing made sense.
Farewell to Fister
This transaction was was harder to digest. The Tigers dealt Doug Fister to the Washington Nationals for Steve Lombardozzi, Ian Krol, and pitching prospect Robbie Ray. Detroit simply had too many starters. Drew Smyly spent a solid year in the bullpen, but his potential demanded a starting role. Rightly so the Tigers will give Smyly a well deserved spot on arguably the best rotation in baseball. Fister is a gamer and will be missed. What many have not considered is that he was traded out of the American League. The Tigers may not have received full value in return, however not having him in the same league or division ought be factored in.
Lombardozzi was well liked and treated with reverence by National’s fans. Check out this subreddit to get a feel for fan opinion. Beyond fan praise Lombardozzi is a solid defender who can handle the bat. He fits directly into the scheme Ausmus is preparing and will contribute positively for Detroit.
Krol and Ray are both 22 year old left handed pitchers. Krol has only pitched 27 major league innings but projects to be more than a specialist. A solid lefty in the bullpen is always welcome. Robbie Ray, however, is even more unproven. He has compiled an A ball record of 17-20 with a 4.29 ERA. Fans in the motor city can only wait and see if Ray pans out.
Overall this trade seems to be one of necessity. The deal ultimately hinges on the future success of Robbie Ray. The nightmare scenario for the Tigers would be facing Fister in the World Series.
Nathan Nabbed
Perennial closer Joe Nathan was signed for two years and reportedly signed with Detroit for one reason: To win the World Series. Nathan has averaged around 40 saves a year and last year posted a stellar 1.39 ERA with the Texas Rangers. The signing of Nathan places a proven closer in a bullpen in dire need of one. The pitching staff in Detroit now appears complete and solid.
Keeping Kelly
Don Kelly defines versatility. He can be substituted in every defensive position; even catching. He is a smart baserunner. Kelly has even pitched showing off his 86 MPH fastball. He is also famous for this walk off sacrifice in the 2012 ALDS. Kelly is a capable, hardworking player who simply gets the job done. There is a ‘Cult of Don’ in Detroit who are most pleased at his resigning.
Postseason Potential
Many say that the Tigers are currently no better equipped to win the World Series than last year. They are correct if they are faithful to the three run homer. They also fail to note the impact of fewer runs allowed. This off-season the Tigers have remained a threat to win it all while injecting defense and speed. The bench has become much more solid and the prospects are ‘Aus’picious for a highly competitive season. Their roar will be heard loud and clear.To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the classic film, the stars have agreed to present the best picture award on the Feb. 26 telecast.
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, who co-starred in 1967's classic Bonnie and Clyde, have agreed to mark the 50th anniversary of the film's release by co-presenting the best picture Oscar at the 89th Academy Awards on Feb. 26, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The Academy declined to comment, but several sources say Oscar telecast producers Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd personally reached out to the duo to present the top award of the evening. (Plans could change, of course, but sources say the Oscars run of show is being finalized this week.)
Both Beatty, 79, and Dunaway, 76, continue to act in movies. Dunaway is featured in three films that are in the can, according to IMDb. As for Beatty, he recently made his first on-screen appearance in 15 years in the 2016 period-piece drama Rules Don't Apply, which he also co-wrote, produced and directed.
The best picture Oscar is Hollywood's most prestigious competitive prize, one for which the Academy tends to seek out the most prestigious of presenters. Beatty twice has done the honors: first in 1975, when he opened the envelope and it contained the title The Godfather, Part II; and in 1990, when he and friend Jack Nicholson announced the win of Driving Miss Daisy. This would be Dunaway's first time presenting or co-presenting the best picture Oscar.
It has been speculated that the best picture Oscar-nominated films from 1967 — Bonnie and Clyde, as well as Doctor Dolittle, The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and eventual winner In the Heat of the Night — would be highlighted in some way on the Oscars telecast. They already were the subject of Mark Harris' acclaimed 2008 book Pictures at a Revolution, and survivors of the films include not only Beatty and Dunaway, but also Gene Hackman, Samantha Eggar, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross, Lee Grant, Scott Wilson, Katharine Houghton and, of course, Sidney Poitier, who will turn 90 on Monday.It promises some ’90s style visuals, a Metroidvania experience and plenty of action based platforming. Dare you take control of the Nightmare Boy?
Available right now on Xbox One, PS4 and PC, Nightmare Boy is the debut title from the Vanir Project, telling the story of Billy. After waking up from his very worst dream, he finds himself turned into the mysterious Rolok, before heading through a world that is filled with nightmare upon nightmare.
You’ll need to fight off enemies as you attempt to save other kids from their own nightmares, recovering Billy’s original appearance in the process, but with a huge world to explore, hidden secrets to find and tough bosses to fight, Nightmare Boy won’t be a walk in the park.
If you fancy taking in the dark story holding everything together, and are gaming on Xbox One, then you should be hitting up the Microsoft Store right now. PS4 and PC players should be able to find the game available on their own stores. £10.39 is the price, but should you be needing a bit of a push in order to really consider it, then it may well be worth holding off for our full review. It will be with you in the days ahead.
Features include:
Classic mechanics and playability that joins roaming, adventure and platforms.
Upgradeable character after defeating each final boss: double and triple jump, different magic attacks…
Graphic engine that mixes pixel art and cartoon characters, hand drawn, giving the game a 90’s arcade feeling.
Saving system based on collected jewels in the game. The more you save, the more expensive it gets.
Dark atmosphere, shady storyline; can you discover what lies beneath?
Game Description:
This story takes place in Donorok, in the state of Noctum. After the King of Noctum, Aster, disappears, chaos rules over the world. The relationships between Monsters, Mongos and Dreamers are completely unstable, and Donorok – the land so heavily affected by the chaos – slowly absorbs terrain from the surrounding regions.Catholic bishops have warned the Minister for Education that it is not her role to interfere with the ethos of faith schools.
The move follows a pledge by Jan O’Sullivan this week to abolish a 50-year old rule which gives privileged status to religion in the classroom.
She also called for changes to the Equal Status Act - which permits schools to discriminate on the basis of religion - in order to prioritise the admission of local children, no matter what their religion is.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Bishops’ Council for Education said religious education and admission policies were crucial to preserving the ethos of faith schools.
“It is not the role of the Minister to determine or interfere with the ethos of faith schools. Legal advice available to the Department of Education confirms this,” it said.
While it said it supported moves to update rules contained in the Rules for National Schools - published in 1965 - the rules relating to religion should not be dealt with isolation from others.
School choice
The Iona Institute went further, saying that plans to abolish “rule 68” represented another attack on the rights of faith schools.
Its spokesman David Quinn said while there is a need for more school choice, denominational schools must be allowed to have a “strong, faith-based ethos.”
The move has been supported, however, by Equate, a new campaign group dedicated to promoting equality in education.
Its spokesman Michael Barron said the removal of rule 68 could allow for the placement of religious education at the start or the end of the school day. This, he said, could allow parents to opt-in to faith formation classes if they wished.
Ms O’Sullivan has also indicated that long-awaited school admissions legislation, which sought to restrict the number of past-pupils that schools can admit, will not be enacted in advance of a general election.
The Minister had pledged to reserve a maximum of 10 per cent of places for children of past pupils on the basis it would provide greater access to schools for the wider community.
Disappointed
Ombudsman for Children Dr Niall Muldoon said he was disappointed the Bill will not be progressed during the lifetime of this Dáil.
He said it would have provided for very important changes to make enrolment policies fairer and more transparent, as well as improving access to school for children with special needs.
He said: “I would urge whatever parties form the next Government to make the passage of this Bill an absolute priority.”
Olivia Mitchell, a Fine Gael TD for Dublin South, however, welcomed the shelving of the legislation which she was “very restrictive” and unpopular with parents.
“We should be trying to encourage parents to get involved in schools,” she said.
Eoghan Murphy, a Fine Gael TD for Dublin South East, said there will be frustration among schools parents who want certainty about what reforms there will be to admissions systems.Colonizing the Moon might not be so difficult after all. NASA |
eano, an epic musical melodrama about a Roman legion preparing for war. It was inspired by a real-life melodrama of even more epic proportions: arguably the most fractious falling-out in the history of Irish sport, a gripping and often amusing controversy prompted by Roy Keane’s contentious departure from the Republic of Ireland World Cup squad in 2002.
The captain’s headline-grabbing exit from the squad briefly transformed the tiny western Pacific island of Saipan into the most famous places on Earth. It made a cute and goofy Labrador puppy named Triggs into a household name. It was the source of more pompous pontification in the bars of the British Isles than any number of budgets, general elections and scandals. It practically sundered a nation, driving it to the brink of something approaching civil war and prompted the Taoiseach (prime minister) of the day to offer his services as a mediator. It became the subject of more hand-wringing sanctimony and general tomfoolery than almost any incident before or since in modern Irish life. It was all about standards. Roy’s standards. Depending on your point of view they were either too high or not high enough. Was Roy the perfectionist who wanted the best for his country or the traitor who abandoned it? In Ireland, 16 years on, the jury remains out.
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Everybody and nobody seems to know exactly what happened. The definitive version remains unconfirmed and even now, those who were privy to events as they unravelled remain understandably reluctant to talk about them in too much depth. Keane’s detractors claim he walked. His supporters insist he was sent home. The truth seems to lie somewhere in between: he made his position untenable and forced his manager’s hand.
This much we know: Ireland’s captain, then a 30-year-old volatile driving force who had almost single-handedly dragged his country through qualification for Japan and South Korea 2002 out of a group containing Portugal and Holland, decided to leave the camp out of frustration at poor preparation but then changed his mind. However, a newspaper interview he’d given to the Irish Times rolled off the presses like a grenade and exploded, prompting the famous showdown at which Keane embarked on a character assassination of his manager, Mick McCarthy, that was so brutal, the object of his scorn felt compelled to say he could no longer work with his captain.
In a chat with me for the Irish magazine Hot Press a few months after the event, the former Republic of Ireland international Niall Quinn insisted that “Roy walked out”. Later in the same interview he stressed that Keane had walked out “twice in three days”. He could not have been more clear: “You must remember that,” he said. “We’re not talking about a happy bunny here, who suddenly said the wrong things for a few seconds. I think it built up and up in him. While the rest of us were prepared to get on with things, knowing how ramshackle things are, he allowed it to get in the way of his World Cup.”
Roy Keane was the only subject that mattered in Ireland in the summer of 2002.
Keane tells it differently, stating in his autobiography that having originally become so exasperated by a rock-hard training pitch, the FAI’s failure to get their squad’s training kit to Saipan and a row about five-a-side goalkeeping arrangements, he decided to throw his hat at the whole jamboree and go home. A short time later, having been given time to cool down and review his position, he subsequently changed his mind only to be, in his opinion, ambushed at a team meeting called by McCarthy, who accused him of having faked an injury to avoid having to play the second leg of Ireland’s successful qualifying play-off against Iran. That, according to Keane, was the straw that broke the camel’s back and the cue for his outburst, which Quinn described as “the most surgical slaughtering anyone has ever got”.
“You’re a fucking wanker. I didn’t rate you as a player, I don’t rate you as a manager and I don’t rate you as a person. You’re a fucking wanker and you can stick your World Cup up your arse. I’ve got no respect for you. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country! You can stick it up your bollocks.”
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“Humiliation in front of the whole party was the result he was seeking,” wrote Keane of McCarthy in his autobiography, stating that the meeting had been a set-up. Not too long after that, Keane received a phone call from his representative, the Irish solicitor Michael Kennedy. “You’ve been kicked out,” he was told. At 6pm the next day, with the rest of the Republic of Ireland squad en route to Japan, Keane was on the next plane home. How had it come to this?
Since his days as a youth footballer making a name for himself in Cork, Keane had never had much time for the FAI, an organisation that favoured players from Dublin clubs to those from elsewhere in the country. Upon becoming a senior international, he was increasingly perplexed by its amateurish approach to match preparation and was not alone, as a cursory flick through the autobiographies of any Republic of Ireland international who played through the Jack Charlton and Mick McCarthy eras will prove.
Roy Keane speaks to reporters before leaving Saipan on a flight home.
Things began to go pear-shaped at the airport on the way to Saipan. Already annoyed that he had been criticised in some newspapers for missing Quinn’s famously generous fundraising testimonial in Sunderland in favour of remaining in Manchester for treatment on a number of injuries that were threatening to rule him out of the World Cup, Keane was in understandably grumpy mood at Dublin airport and immediately buttonholed a couple of the journalists who had portrayed his non-attendance as a “snub”. The journey to Saipan had started badly and went quickly downhill. “The trip is a shambles from the beginning,” recalls Keane in his book. “Dublin airport is packed, you can’t move. We hump a month’s luggage through the main concourse. Check ourselves in. We’re travelling KLM, going the scenic route, via Amsterdam and Tokyo. Fans, journalists, players, officials all mingle together. The package tour image comes to mind again. Amid the chaos, the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, arrives to give us a send-off.”
With Keane already seething, it was left to Hollywood actor Will Smith to make things worse. On the flight to Tokyo, Ireland’s captain killed time watching Smith’s portrayal of Muhammad Ali and was transfixed by the scene in which the boxer resists the urgings of his family, friends and advisers to accept the draft for the Vietnam war. “They’re all urging him to give in,” recalls Keane. “Take the draft. You won’t have to fight. Just go through the motions, play the game, screw the things you believe in. Ali resists them all. I’m doing what I think is right. It matters. You don’t compromise on your principles. Watching this is very moving. I hadn’t known this about Ali. Something in this scene strikes a chord with me. Don’t put up with shit. I’m not fighting a white man’s war. It’s an inspiring notion, a demonstration of conviction that I understand very clearly and I relate to my own life. Don’t compromise the things you believe in.”
Nice one, Will.
Emboldened by what he had seen on his flight to Tokyo, Keane was unimpressed when Ireland’s squad eventually arrived in Saipan for what was ostensibly a week of pre-World Cup relaxation with some light training, only to discover their hampers of training kit, footballs and medical supplies had not arrived on the island. It was his nightmare scenario: Ireland preparing for a tournament in what he described as “happy-camper mode with no real ambition, settling for second best”. Visiting McCarthy in his hotel room, he voiced his disquiet and told his manager the team’s gear should have arrived the previous week. The following morning, Monday, Ireland’s players arrived at their training ground for a run to discover the surface was too hard. “We could have watered it,” Fifa’s liaison officer told Keane. “If anyone had told us you were coming down.” Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.
Roy Keane keeps busy by walking his dog Triggs.
Things went from bad to worse. The missing equipment arrived that night and the following day the squad had a full training session on a pitch that was still too hard, apart from one section, which had been flooded by those responsible for watering the pitch. When the training session finished with a game, Keane was outraged to discover the squad’s goalkeepers were unwilling to play on the grounds that they were too tired, having begun training half an hour before everyone else. In front of a couple of journalists, he got in a heated argument with the reserve goalkeeper Alan Kelly, one of the players in the squad he rubbed along with better than most. With Lee Carsley and Steve Finnan having picked up injuries on the training pitch, Keane decided he’d had enough of Ireland’s “third world approach to the game” and upon returning to the team hotel, he took McCarthy to one side and announced he wanted to go home.
The way Keane tells it, he subsequently apologised to Kelly for the row they’d had, went for a walk and was persuaded to stay on by team physio, concierge and agony uncle Mick Byrne. Upon being informed of the U-turn, McCarthy told Keane he’d already asked the Celtic midfielder Colin Healy to come out as his replacement. Feeling bad for Healy, Keane left it up to McCarthy to decide what should happen next. “I was indecisive,” recalls Keane. “I desperately wanted to play. Yet I couldn’t stand the fuck-ups. There is no hero here.” The indecision continued: Keane told Byrne he was definitely going, secretly hoping he’d be invited to stay. With the news of his imminent departure breaking in Ireland, he spoke on the phone to his adviser Kennedy, then Alex Ferguson. His Manchester United manager told him he had earned the right to change his mind and remain in Saipan. With mere minutes to go before the Republic of Ireland were due to fax their World Cup squad to Fifa, Keane decided to stay and a potential crisis appeared to have been nipped in the bud. Determined to keep his head down and his mouth shut until the squad moved to their proper training camp on the mainland, Keane did exactly that … apart from honouring promises to give a couple of interviews to favoured journalists, one of which appeared in the Irish Times the day before the Irish squad were due to leave the island. What could possibly go wrong?
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“It expressed exactly what I felt,” said Keane of the interview in his book. “I believed the people at home had a right to know the truth. The Irish fans are celebrated for the support they give the team. Thousands of them were flying out on expensive packages to support us in the World Cup. My own brothers and cousin were coming. It was the trip of a lifetime for them. Millions more would be watching the matches at home, as I’d done in 1988 and 1990. Were the people to be treated like mugs? They spent their hard-earned money, paid our wages and then we insult them with PR crap about all they’ve done for us. Maybe we should do something for them to repay the debt we owed them. Like get our act together. And tell them the score now and then.”
The end was nigh. The interview caused a sensation in both Ireland and Saipan, prompting the team meeting which resulted in Keane’s exile from the squad. At a hastily convened press conference, McCarthy confirmed the news of Keane’s departure flanked by his new captain Steve Staunton, along with Kelly and Quinn in a show of solidarity. Upstairs in his room, Keane bade farewell to a procession of largely sympathetic team-mates at the door of his hotel room. His World Cup jig was very much up.
Months later, Quinn expressed his regret at the manner in which events had unfolded. “When Roy exploded like he did, we needed to have a 24-hour cooling off period,” he told me. “Looking back, I think the events of history would have been a lot different if we had done that. Roy walked out, Mick called a press conference and it seems like minutes later myself, Stan and Alan Kelly are in there with Stan [Steve Staunton] as the new captain. Obviously, at the time we were shocked by what Roy had done, but Mick had asked us to stick up for him because he knew there’d be a hostile reception waiting for him. We knew we were putting ourselves in a dreadful position but we walked in with no other choice at the time. There was no way Roy was going to walk in and apologise a minute later, it was too intense for that. But at the same time, we might have prepared ourselves and structured ourselves for what was going to happen a little bit better. After that, I could give you a list of 20 other mistakes we made, all horrendous stuff. I’m almost apologetic for the mistakes we made. I’m certainly apologetic for the mistakes I made.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Roy Keane, photographed for the Guardian in 2002. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian
Appearing at the press conference alongside McCarthy, Kelly and Staunton appears to have been Quinn’s biggest mistake, as Keane saw it as an outright act of betrayal. Wounded at having been accused of disloyalty by McCarthy for feigning injury, he was outraged that none of his team-mates, particularly the more senior ones for whom Japan and South Korea represented a last international hurrah, had not spoken out on his behalf when McCarthy rounded on him. Having made his own travel arrangements with help from staff at Manchester United, he went home to a house under siege from reporters. Several daily dog-walks with Triggs around Cheshire later, with Ireland’s World Cup opener against Cameroon looming, he granted an interview to RTE news reporter Tommie Gorman, who spoke of Keane’s role model status, all but berated him for his use of industrial language at a private team meeting attended by grown men, pleaded with him to think of Ireland’s children and urged him to reconsider his position. With the Irish football press pack listening in from Japan, courtesy of one of their relatives holding a phone up against a television in Dublin, the entire fiasco had officially entered the realms of high farce.
“If for one second I thought ‘Maybe Roy, you were a little bit out of order, maybe there’s a way back’, I’d be back on that flight,” said Keane to Gorman. “No doubts in my mind about that. But I went to my room and we had three players in a press conference within 20 minutes or half an hour of [the team meeting] saying they were behind Mick. People look at them as role models; they’re cowards. If I went back I couldn’t give 100% for my country. When they had their chance to speak up they didn’t.” Clearly bemused by a decidedly melodramatic interrogatory style in which Gorman pointed out that people in Ireland would be “absolutely haunted” by his departure from the squad, Keane was typically blunt. “That’ll pass,” he said. “People will get on with their lives. It’s a football tournament.” He was spot on. It did pass and most people did get on with their lives, but at the time in Ireland, such steely-eyed pragmatism went strangely unappreciated."We've always had the mandate for motherhood — it's what women have been deemed 'for' in human history," Sandler told Here & Now. "But lately, the mommy industry is so enormous, what I call 'the ambient roar of motherhood' seems to be so deafening, that I think that women who feel like we should have transcended this pressure by now are feeling pretty stigmatized."
Author Lauren Sandler writes about the phenomenon in the Time magazine cover story, " The Childfree Life: When having it all means not having children," where she notes that though it's becoming more common, a decision to remain child-free is anything but socially acceptable.
American birthrates are lower now than at any time in American history — including the period after the Great Depression.
I didn’t make the decision because it’s too expensive or any of these other reasons. I just — this is who I am.
Some people may feel it's too expensive to have kids, but others would rather do something else with their time, Sandler said. Many people who make a conscious decision not to have children feel strongly that it's not for them.
Among them is Barbara Brownell, a hospital administrator and avid gardener in Oakland, Calif., who has been married for almost three years. She and her husband have no plans to have kids.
"Over the first two years of our relationship, we just decided that we've got a great life — neither one of us really had a huge pull to have children, and we're happy the way it is," Brownell told Here & Now. "We have plenty of children in our lives. I think that we choose to spend our time with each other and in the garden and cooking together, rather than raising children."
Brownell does feel pressure from friends and family to have children, but she says it doesn't burden her or her husband.
"Since we've been married and we have lots of friends with kids, it's 'Oh my God you guys are going to be the best parents! You guys are going to have beautiful children. When are you going to start?'" Brownell said. "I didn't make the decision because it's too expensive or any of these other reasons. I just — this is who I am."
Note: We got wonderful feedback on our Facebook page about this story. To check out the comments, or to add your own, visit facebook.com/hereandnowradio. You can also share your thoughts in the comments section below.Data released in the hack on Ashley Madison's servers seem to show that family activist and former TLC reality star Josh Duggar has held not one, but two different monthly subscriptions for the site, which connects individuals who are married or in committed relationships in order to have extramarital affairs.
Gawker reports that the leaked information lists a credit card belonging to a Joshua J. Duggar paying a total of $986.76 for two different accounts from February of 2013 through May of 2015. According to the account information, Duggar had been paying the website to find a partner for one-night stands, "sharing fantasies" and a "bubble bath for 2," among other acts that go above and beyond simple cuddling.
The second account, opened in July 14, even paid an initial $250 fee that appears to have been for an "affair guarantee."
While the birth date listed for Duggar's first account is February 3, 1988, a month shy of the 19 Kids and Counting star's actual birthday of March 3, the account's address matches that of Duggar's grandmother Mary in Arkansas, and his middle name is, in fact James.
Back in May, Josh, the eldest of the Duggar children, released a statement admitting to "wrongdoing" after In Touch Weekly uncovered a 33-page police report stating that he has a history of molesting, sexually assaulting and "forcibly fondling" young girls, including his sisters.
Josh Duggar admits to wrongdoing in response to molestation reports
"Twelve years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably for which I am extremely sorry and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends," Josh said in his statement. "I confessed this to my parents who took several steps to help me address the situation. We spoke with the authorities where I confessed my wrongdoing, and my parents arranged for me and those affected by my actions to receive counseling. I understood that if I continued down this wrong road that I would end up ruining my life."
TLC ultimately canceled the family's reality show. Duggar, who is married and has four children, resigned from the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council in May.
Request for comment from Duggar's attorney was not immediately answered. TLC's parent company, Discovery Networks, had no comment. There is currently no official statement from the Duggar family.(Tell me what a terrible person I am on Hacker News.)
For as long as I can remember^1^ I've dreamed of reimplementing the entirety of mathematics from scratch. And now that I've finished the "Wheel of Time" series I have a little bit of extra time on my hands each day, which has allowed me to take baby steps toward my dream.
What this is
An implementation of mathematics in F# (and also in Clojure)
What this is not
An efficient implementation of mathematics in F# (or in Clojure)
You would never want to use this library to do mathematics, as it is chock-full of all sorts of non-tail-recursive function calls that will blow your stack like there's no tomorrow. (If you don't know what that means, just take my word that you would never want to use this library to do mathematics.) Instead, this library is an interesting way to learn about
how to construct a mathematics from scratch
how to implement a mathematics in F# (or Clojure)
my bizarre obsessions
As always when I work on stuff like this, the code is on my GitHub.
This was originally just going to be in F#, and then I read a couple of blog posts about ClojureScript, which reminded me I'd been meaning to do something in Clojure, so why not implement the same stuff a second time? (This is why "in Clojure" is in parentheses everywhere, and why the F# code has all the comments.) I tried to make the F# code F#-y and the Clojure code Clojure-y, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded.
I won't go into excruciating detail about either mathematical theory or F# (or Clojure), but hopefully you can understand both from the detail I do go into. I also will only call a few high points of each codebase, if you want more gory details check out GitHub.
Both sets of code have handfuls of tests written, which should give you a good sense of how both libraries operate.
Comparisons
In F#, I'll define a discriminated union
type Comparison = LessThan | Equal | GreaterThan
In Clojure you don't typically use "types", but we can just use keywords :less-than and :equal and :greater-than.
Natural Numbers
We'll define these recursively. A natural number is either
"One" (which is just some thing, forget that you're already familiar with a "one"), or
the "Successor" of a different natural number
Anything you can make using these rules is a natural number. Anything that you can't isn't.
We'll call the successor of One "Two", and the successor of Two "Three", keeping in mind that at this point those are just names attached to things without any meaning other than "Two is the successor of One" and "Three is the successor of Two".
In F# we can do this with a discriminated union:
type Natural = One | SuccessorOf of Natural let Two = SuccessorOf One // and so on
After trying a lot of things in Clojure, I finally decided the most ~~Clojure-ish~~ Clojurian way was
( defn successor-of [ n ] { :predecessor n }) ( def one ( successor-of nil )) ( def two ( successor-of one )) ; and so on
Although the Clojure way at first looks backward, if you think about it both ways define the "successor of One" to be the number whose "predecessor" is One.
Next we'll want to use this recursive structure to create an arithmetic. For instance, we can easily add two natural numbers:
let rec Add (n1 : Natural) (n2 : Natural) = match n1 with // adding One to a number is the same as taking its Successor | One -> SuccessorOf n2 // otherwise n1 has a predecessor, add it to the successor of n2 // idea: n1 + n2 = (n1 - 1) + (n2 + 1) | SuccessorOf n1' -> Add n1' (SuccessorOf n2)
Clojure doesn't have built-in pattern-matching, so instead I did something similar using a one? function:
( defn add [ n1 n2 ] ( if ( one? n1 ) ( successor-of n2 ) ( add ( predecessor-of n1 ) ( successor-of n2 ))))
Both make it easy to create lazy infinite sequences of all natural numbers.
let AllNaturals = Seq.unfold (fun c -> Some (c, SuccessorOf c)) One
and
(def all-naturals (iterate successor-of one))
And (blame it on the natural numbers) both run into trouble when you try to define subtraction. In F# the natural thing to do is return an Option type:
// now, we'd like to define some notion of subtraction as the inverse of addition // so if n1 + n2 = n3, then you'd like "n3 - n2" = n1 // but this isn't always defined, for instance // n = One - One // would mean One = One + n = SuccessorOf n, which plainly can never happen // in this case we'll return None let rec TrySubtract (n1 : Natural) (n2 : Natural) = match n1, n2 with // Since n1' + One = SucessorOf n1', then SuccessorOf n1' - One = n1' | SuccessorOf n1', One -> Some n1' // if n = (n1 + 1) - (n2 + 1), then // n + n2 + 1 = n1 + 1 // so n + n2 = n1, // or n = n1 - n2 | SuccessorOf n1', SuccessorOf n2' -> TrySubtract n1' n2' | One, _ -> None // "Impossible subtraction"
In Clojure there is no option type, so I just returned nil for a bad subtraction:
( defn try -subtract [ n1 n2 ] ( cond ( one? n1 ) nil ( one? n2 ) ( predecessor-of n1 ) :else ( try -subtract ( predecessor-of n1 ) ( predecessor-of n2 ))))
Integers
The failure of "subtraction" leads us to introduce the Integers, which you can (if you are so inclined) think of as equivalence classes of pairs of natural numbers, where (for instance),
(Three,Two) = (Two,One) = "the result of subtracting one from two" = "the integer corresponding to one"
In F# we can again define a custom type:
type Integer = | Positive of Natural.Natural | Zero | Negative of Natural.Natural
and map to equivalence classes using
let MakeInteger (plus,minus) = match Natural.Compare plus minus with | Comparison.Equal -> Zero | Comparison.GreaterThan -> Positive (Natural.Subtract plus minus) | Comparison.LessThan -> Negative (Natural.Subtract minus plus)
whereas in Clojure we just use maps:
( def zero { :sign :zero }) ( defn positive [ n ] { :sign :positive, :n n }) ( defn negative [ n ] { :sign :negative, :n n })
and the very similar
( defn make-integer [ plus minus ] ( let [ compare ( natural-numbers/compare plus minus )] ( case compare :equal zero :greater-than ( positive ( natural-numbers/subtract plus minus )) :less-than ( negative ( natural-numbers/subtract minus plus )))))
We can easily define addition and subtraction and even multiplication, but when we get to division we run into problems again. You'd like 1 / 3 to be the number that when multiplied by three yields one. But there is no such Integer.
let rec TryDivide (i1 : Integer) (i2 : Integer) = match i1, i2 with | _, Zero -> failwithf "Division by Zero is not allowed" | _, Negative _ -> TryDivide (Negate i1) (Negate i2) | Zero, Positive _ -> Some Zero | Negative _, Positive _ -> match TryDivide (Negate i1) i2 with | Some i -> Some (Negate i) | None -> None | Positive _, Positive _ -> if LessThan i1 i2 then None // cannot divide a smaller integer by a larger one else match TryDivide (Subtract i1 i2) i2 with | Some i -> Some (SuccessorOf i) | None -> None
and similarly
( defn try -divide [ i1 i2 ] = ( cond ( zero? i2 ) ( throw ( Exception. "division by zero is not allowed" )) ( negative? i2 ) ( try -divide ( negate i1 ) ( negate i2 )) ( zero? i1 ) zero ( negative? i1 ) ( let [ td ( try -divide ( negate i1 ) i2 )] ( if td ( negate td ))) :else ; both positive ( if ( less-than i1 i2 ) nil ( let [ td ( try -divide ( subtract i1 i2 ) i2 )] ( if td ( successor-of td ))))))
And if we're clever we can get a lazy sequence of all prime numbers:
let rec IsPrime (i : Integer) = match i with | Zero -> false | Negative _ -> IsPrime (Negate i) | Positive Natural.One -> false | Positive _ -> let isComposite = Range Two (AlmostSquareRoot i) |> Seq.exists (fun i' -> IsDivisibleBy i i') not isComposite let AllPrimes = Natural.AllNaturals |> Seq.map Positive |> Seq.filter IsPrime
and in Clojure
( defn prime? [ i ] ( cond ( zero? i ) false ( negative? i ) ( prime? ( negate i )) ( equal-to i one ) false :else ( not-any? # ( is-divisible-by i % ) ( range two ( almost-square-root i ))))) ( def all -primes ( ->> natural-numbers/all-naturals ( map positive ) ( filter prime? )))
Rational Numbers
Now, to solve the "division problem", we can similarly look at equivalence classes of pairs of integers, just as long as the second one isn't zero.
// motivated by the "division problem" -- given integers i1 and i2, where i2 not zero, // would like to define some number q = Divide i1 i2, such that EqualTo i1 (Multiply q i2) // proceeding as above, why not define a new type of number as a *pair* (i1,i2) representing // the "quotient" of i1 and i2. Again such a representation is not unique, as you'd want // (Two,One) = (Four,Two) = [the number corresponding to Two] // when do we want (i1,i2) = (i1',i2')? // when there is some i3 with i1 = i2 * i3, i1' = i2' * i3, or // precisely when we have i1 * i2' = i1' * i2 // in particular, if x divides both i1 and i2, so that i1 = i1' * x, i2 = i2' * x, then // i1 * i2' = i1' * x * i2' = i1' * i2, so that (i1, i2) = (i1', i2') type Rational(numerator : Integer.Integer, denominator : Integer.Integer) = let gcd = if Integer.EqualTo Integer.Zero denominator then failwithf "Cannot have a Zero denominator" else Integer.GCD numerator denominator // want denominator to be positive always let reSign = match denominator with | Integer.Negative _ -> Integer.Negate | _ -> id // divide by GCD to get to relatively prime let _numerator = (Integer.Divide (reSign numerator) gcd) let _denominator = (Integer.Divide (reSign denominator) gcd) member this.numerator with get () = _numerator member this.denominator with get () = _denominator
or
( defn rational [ numerator denominator ] ( let [ gcd ( if ( integers/equal-to integers/zero denominator ) ( throw ( Exception. "cannot have a zero denominator!" )) ( integers/gcd numerator denominator )) re-sign ( if ( integers/less-than denominator integers/zero ) integers/negate ( fn [ i ] i ))] { :numerator ( integers/divide ( re-sign numerator ) gcd ), :denominator ( integers/divide ( re-sign denominator ) gcd )}))
There is lots of extra code around the rationals, although it's hard to run into limitations as we did before. The most common limitation is that there's no rational whose square is two, but it's hard to run into that limitation without reasoning outside the system.
Real Numbers
Two common ways of constructing the real numbers from the rationals are Dedekind Cuts and equivalence classes of Cauchy Sequences. Neither is easy to implement in code.
Instead, I found a way to specify real numbers as cauchy sequences along with specific cauchy bounds:
// following http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(mathematics)#Example_from_real_analysis // we'll define a Real numbers as a pair of functions: // f : Integer -> Rational // g : Integer -> Integer // such that for any n, and for any i and j >= g(n) we have // AbsoluteValue (Subtract (f i) (f j)) <= Invert n type IntegerToRational = Integer.Integer -> Rational.Rational type IntegerToInteger = Integer.Integer -> Integer.Integer type Real = IntegerToRational * IntegerToInteger let Constantly (q : Rational.Rational) (_ : Integer.Integer) = q let AlwaysOne (_ : Integer.Integer) = Integer.One let FromRational (q : Rational.Rational) : Real = (Constantly q), AlwaysOne
or
( defn real [ f g ] { :f f, :g g }) ( defn f-g [ r ] [( :f r ) ( :g r )]) ( defn constantly [ q ] ( fn [ _ ] q )) ( defn always-integer-one [ _ ] integers/one ) ( defn from-rational [ q ] ( real ( constantly q ) always-integer-one ))
One interesting twist here is that it is impossible to say whether two numbers are equal without reasoning outside the system. For instance, the real number FromRational Rational.Zero is equal to the real number
(Rational.FromInteger >> Rational.Invert, Rational.FromInteger >> Rational.Invert)
(which represents the sequence 1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4,...), but again you can only reason about that outside of code. Instead you can define CompareWithTolerance which -- given a tolerance -- can tell you that one number is definitively greater than another, or that they're "approximately equal".
The ultimate test here would be to show that the real number
let SquareRootOfTwo : Real = let rationalTwo = Rational.FromInteger Integer.Two let sq x = Rational.Subtract (Rational.Multiply x x) rationalTwo let sq' x = Rational.Multiply x rationalTwo // newton's method let iterate _ guess = Rational.Subtract guess (Rational.Divide (sq guess) (sq' guess)) let f = memoize iterate Rational.One let g (n : Integer.Integer) = n f, g
gives you the real number FromRational Rational.Two when you square it. It looks like it should. Unfortunately, trying to do so will blow up the call stack, so it's not advised. Maybe someday I'll go back and try to make everything tail-recursive.
Gaussian Integers
Another drawback of the Integers is that none of them have negative squares. One way to solve this is by adding a number "i" whose square is negative one. I got kind of bored with these, so I never took them too far and never wrote any tests.
Complex Numbers
The obvious next step would be to add the square root of negative one "i" to the real numbers. But since they're not working so great I never did this.
Conclusion
I spent way too much time on this project, and I really need to get back to other things, like the group-couponing site I'm planning to build, so I'm ready to call this quits. Here are some things I learned:
1. Math is hard.\ 2. Writing the Clojure versions was more "fun". However,\ 3. Getting the F# versions to work was much easier, because most of my Clojure bugs would have been caught by a type checker (or were caused by using maps as types and then having them unintentionally decompose).\ 4. If I put this much work into useful ideas, imagine what I could accomplish!\ 5. Probably I shouldn't read "Wheel of Time" again.Who’s who?
Misterioso is in a dark green mask with red/black tendrils hanging off the back. His partner Sagrado is in black with a thick white cross over his face with crosses on the sides of his black pants.
Guerrero Maya has a lighter green mask with pink and black pants while his partner is in white/red attire is Drone.
How’s the match?
Great… it’s refreshing to see a tag match in CMLL that isn’t just the first match on the card. These four guys are fun and of course with Misterioso we got stolen masks again. Doesn’t seem like this match has much importance, but it has some better talents than the lower card tags. Though those too weren’t too bad either if you feel you need more Lucha.
Who’s who?
Mistico and Dragon Lee are brothers and both wearing white here, but Mistico has pants while Lee has non briefs and boots with tassels hanging off them. Their 3rd in black is Angel de Oro.
In the rudo corner we have Cavernario in a caveman singlet, Mephisto as the only masked man and Negro Casas in black |
debate about the economic and political repercussions of immigration in Europe. The discussion is not entirely new.
However, the current migration flow into Europe is somewhat different from those of the past. Unlike the litany of previous population movements, this one involves a combination of asylum seekers from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan and economic migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and the Balkans, most of whom arrive in Europe by land or sea.
Many of these migrants endure long and dangerous trips from their countries of origin.
Still, though this refugee crisis is unique in many respects, previous migration experiences offer some indication of how it could affect Europe. For one thing, the process of integrating foreigners remains problematic for European nations.
Migrants walk to cross the border with Austria in Hegyeshalom Thomson Reuters
In most Western European countries, migrant workers tend to be disproportionally represented in the bottom segments of the national earnings distribution. Eurostat data also shows that in most EU countries, unemployment rates are higher among migrants.
Both disadvantages are particularly pronounced among non-European immigrants — a key aspect to keep in mind considering the backgrounds of the men and women currently arriving in Europe.
Moreover, migrants tend to go where jobs are available and migration policies are friendly. This fact will undermine any EU efforts to introduce one-size-fits-all policies such as the automatic relocation of migrants.
If a migrant wants to go to Austria, there is little the European Union can do to keep him or her in Romania. If Germany allows refugees to work three months after they arrive in the country while France makes them wait for a year, it is only natural that migrants will continue to choose Germany over France.
Stratfor
And as long as Sweden offers friendlier asylum legislation than Denmark, the former will be a destination country while the latter will be a transit country for asylum seekers.
In the months ahead, the European Union is likely to harden its resolve to stem immigration, taking steps to consolidate the so-called Fortress Europe. But this position will have little meaning without additional measures to integrate those who have already arrived and those who will undoubtedly arrive in the future.BERLIN — This morning, activists affiliated with the group “Dust to Glitter,” who had occupied the Volksbühne theater since last Friday, were forcibly evicted by police. Ten police vans arrived on the scene around 10am to clear remove activists who were occupying the theater — one of Berlin’s most culturally relevant institutions — to protest the city’s accelerating gentrification.
“It seems that the theater workers were not entirely supportive of the occupation,” Sarah Waterfeld, one of Dust to Glitter’s organizers, told press assembled outside the theater after the eviction. “The collective wants to stay in the house and they would like to invite to a performance. Nobody wants to leave.”
Chris Dercon, the recently appointed director of the Volksbühne, filed a compliant against the occupiers late Wednesday night and asked the police to intervene after negotiations between theater staff and the occupiers failed to reach an amicable solution, a spokesperson for the Berlin Police said in a statement this afternoon.
Wir werden Herrn Dercon jetzt in die #Volksbühne begleiten. Dort wird er die Anwesenden bitten, das Gebäude zu verlassen. pic.twitter.com/Vj5KqAOO0S — PolizeiBerlinEinsatz (@PolizeiBerlin_E) September 28, 2017
Protesters associated with Dust to Glitter had been occupying the theater since Friday night, declaring the building “property of the people” in their initial statement. They intended to develop a “People’s Stage” over the next three months, as well as an “anti-gentrification center” and a “parliament of the homeless.” Dust to Glitter activists had also been planning a production in the context of the occupation, B61-12, whose title refers to a nuclear bomb. Speaking with Hyperallergic, Waterfeld framed the occupation as a “transmedial and mimetic theatrical production.”
On Tuesday night, negotiations took place between Dercon, members of Dust to Glitter, two Volksbühne employees, Berlin Secretary of Culture Klaus Wöhlert, and other representatives of the Senate Administration, including Klaus Lederer, Berlin’s senator for cultural policy. Negotiations centered on “de-escalation instead of confrontation,” theater management said, but according to activists an ultimatum was given, allowing them use of the Green Salon and the Volksbühnen-Pavillon for their events, under the condition that “no techno parties” were held and that their actions would not disrupt the theater’s administrators, dancers, and stage workers as they prepared for scheduled premieres in November. Dercon’s program this year includes new productions by Tino Sehgal, Mohammad Al Attar, and Ari Benjamin Meyers, among others.
However, by Wednesday evening, talks had reportedly broken down after Dust to Glitter’s central demand — that the Volksbühne be operated not according to a top-down, hierarchical structure, but rather as a collective, on the basis of a two-year interim council — was deemed “unfulfillable” by theater management.
During this morning’s eviction, most activists left voluntarily, while five had to be carried away by police. According to activists present during the eviction, approximately 50 members of the group were present when police arrived and several were taken into custody, yet it’s unclear what they will be charged with or if they have been detained for questioning.
In a statement posted to Facebook late Thursday, Lederer, Berlin’s senator for cultural policy, said that while he supported the underlying concerns of the activists, he did not agree with their methods:
I regret that the occupants and occupiers did not accept the offer of the Volksbühne. It would have enabled a side-by-side without affecting the work of the Volksbühnen artists. The debate about displacement and defending freedom will continue. But I want to say once again: the Volksbühne was and is a public cultural institution, which belongs to all Berliners alike. It can continue to be a place for urban and social discourse. However, this must not be carried out in a manner seen by the employees of the house as an unfriendly act, if not as a hostile takeover.
By the time news of Dust to Glitter’s eviction spread on social media Thursday afternoon — largely via the Dust to Glitter Twitter account (@VB_6112) — activists associated with the occupation called for solidarity and for people to assemble on the lawn in front of the Volksbühne for a plenary. They remained throughout the afternoon and into the evening.
News of Dust to Glitter’s eviction brought widespread condemnation from artists and activists on social media, who also criticized Dercon for filing a criminal complaint against the occupiers. By late Thursday afternoon, an open letter began circulating online in support of Dust to Glitter, collectively authored by cultural workers in Berlin. One of them, Ivor Stodolosky, wrote: “Dialogue is at the core of Berlin’s post-war culture. If the art world is to be more than an entertainment industry backed by a police force, Dercon needs to talk. By letting violence talk, he is losing all credibility.”
In response, the Volksbühne issued a press release that quoted Dercon as saying, in part: “Our offer from Tuesday until now to use the Green Salon and the Pavilion was rebuked …. Tomorrow we will try again.” As darkness fell over the German capital today, Dust to Glitter activists remained on the lawn in front of the Volksbühne, surrounded by a significant police presence. For now, calm seems to have taken hold on both sides. Only time will tell whether plans to de-gentrify the theater will lead to more negotiations or friction between theater staff and activists.
Ironically, in 2014, Dercon was part of the jury that awarded Teatro Valle — an occupied theater in Rome —the European Cultural Foundation’s Princess Margriet Award.
“For many countries, these new models of cultural collaboration and not to forget self-organization are ways to lead us out of the mess,” he said in a statement at the time. “The future of cultural institutions and cultural makers will be determined by these initiatives, and the question of the commons, which has political questions beyond art, is a very important message of solidarity.”As I mentioned last month we are taking Henry VIII on tour to Tatton Park. This is the story that inspired us to do that…
Henry VII had a tremendous influence on the customs of court that his son, Henry VIII, would inherit. In 1485 Henry VII seized the crown from the now reinterred Richard III. Henry VII’s marriage to Elizabeth of York ended the War of the Roses but the country was still in a turbulent state. Competing factions vied for the throne and counties (which were very independent) were unhappy with the new king. To soothe his restless country Henry VII went on long progresses around the kingdom. He would visit towns and cities to listen to their grievances and attempt to pacify them by exchanging gifts. Where necessary he enforced his will to underpin his right to be king. Most importantly he promoted himself as king, declaring he and his future dynasty were there to stay.
The tradition continued with Henry VIII. He travelled for the same peace-keeping purposes as his father. However, with a more relaxed atmosphere in the country, Henry could take progresses a little less seriously. Progresses were an excuse to hunt in a fresh ground, a sport Henry was passionate about. Hunting was a time for political manoeuvring where courtiers and dignitaries could get close to the king. The trophies of the hunt also provided excellent gifts to offer to the host. Although Henry made the most out of his tour, with many trips out on the hunt in the company of his close companions, political negotiations were always an underlying factor and indeed the real purpose of a royal progress.
Henry’s court was naturally peripatetic, which meant it travelled from palace to palace as part of its normal agenda. A full court – around eight hundred people – could only stay in one place for a short amount of time before resources like food ran out and sanitary conditions became too foul to live with. Before each progress officials would survey local properties to gauge how well the land could accommodate the tour. Progresses were often very destructive. Plagues of people descending on an estate could cause large amounts of damage. It was suggested hosts make an inventory prior to a royal stay to chart any damage and get costs reimbursed: servants would steal furniture, food, and even the locks off the doors.
The country would have felt a lot bigger then and travelling by horse would have meant days of travel for a journey that now takes hours. A royal caravan travelled with great wardrobes of clothes, furniture, and tapestries and could travel up to seventeen miles in one day. Often progresses could go astray: William Knight, the king’s secretary, was guiding a pair of French ambassadors to join Henry in Winchester when he managed to lose them completely. When reporting this to Wolsey he was shamefaced, to say the least!
If you can manage not to get lost on the way to Tatton Park (and face the wrath of Wolsey) you can visit Henry and his court on progress Saturday 2nd to Monday 4th May.
Charlotte Barker
Curatorial Research Assistant“Believe it or not, there are grown men out there who are interested in watching more than just sports and violence on TV,” the subject said. “I’m one of them.”
The interviewer nodded and wrote something on his clipboard. He looked back up at the subject.
The subject adjusted his glasses and ran his hand across his forehead, wiping beads of sweat through his thin brown hair. A thudding sound from above broke the silence as a fan turned on somewhere. A stale, warm breeze passed over them.
“Also, Lauren Faust is a freakin’ genius.”
The interviewer put his clipboard down on the table between them. He slid his pen into the front pocket of his lab coat. “Do you not worry about what other people might think?” he asked.
The subject glanced around him at the walls of the tiny room, completely featureless except for the metal door behind the interviewer. “I don’t know,” said the subject. “I guess I just don’t think that the opinion of anyone who would judge me for something like that is really worth worrying about.”
“I see,” said the interviewer. He narrowed his eyes and leaned in toward the subject. The fan that had turned on earlier quietly sputtered and turned back off; the warm breeze stopped.
“Look,” said the subject, “I really need to go, unless you’re going to, I don’t know, arrest me or something, I don’t think you can hold me here. I have rights!”
The interviewer sighed and leaned back. “Very well,” he said. He stood up and pushed his chair under the table. “I’ll get the release papers for you to sign and you can be on your way. Just wait here a moment.” He reached down and took his clipboard, then turned and walked toward the door.
“You should give it a chance some time,” said the subject. The interviewer paused mid-stride—his hand outstretched an inch away from the door handle. He turned his head to see the subject grinning at him.
“The show, I mean,” said the subject. “I don’t think you really understand what you’re dealing with. It might surprise you.”
The interviewer frowned, then opened the door and stepped out of the room. The door closed behind him, followed by a soft click as the lock slid into place.
The interviewer turned the corner into the monitoring room, where a man in a military uniform was watching the subject on a TV screen.
“How dangerous is he?” asked the man in the uniform.
“I can’t tell with this one,” said the interviewer. “The others were obviously harmless, but this one is… different somehow. I don’t want you to terminate him yet, not until I’ve had a chance to study him further. But to be safe, I’m recommending level three containment protocols.”
The man in the uniform frowned and scratched his chin, then turned back to the TV screen. The subject turned his head toward the camera.
“I think…” said the subject, “that it’s going to surprise everypony!”
The screen cut to static for a moment, then shut off along with all of the lights. Less than a second later, the emergency backup lights clicked on in the hall outside the monitoring room. The man in the uniform and the interviewer looked at each other in the dimness.
“Shit!” said the interviewer.
“Get to the door,” said the man in the uniform. “Make sure he can’t escape!”
The interviewer rushed out into the hall and around the corner. A sliver of warped metal clinging to the hinges was all that was left of the door to the interrogation room. The interviewer’s eyes went wide at the sight of the empty room, and he slowly backed away.
“Sir, we need to get out of here!” yelled the interviewer. He turned to run to the exit at the far end of the hall. In his haste, he almost tripped over something heavy and low to the ground that blocked his way. He turned to see what it was, and his face went white when he saw that it was the eviscerated corpse of the man in the uniform. The interviewer gasped, then slipped in a pool of blood and collapsed to the floor. He struggled to a sitting position, and started scooting away from the body.
“Don’t you know…” said the subject’s voice. The interviewer looked all around him, but didn’t see the subject anywhere. The voice had a strange echo to it, as though it had traveled a long distance to get there.
The interviewer started to get to his feet. “Please…” he cried. The emergency lights flickered and went out, leaving him in complete darkness.
The hallway filled with a soft light, made of all the colors of the rainbow. As the interviewer scrambled toward the exit, the rainbow light quickly intensified. The interviewer screamed as his retinas detached and his skin burned and peeled from the heat of the light. A loud crack sounded, shaking the ground and rattling the walls.
Dazed, the interviewer dropped to his knees. Before darkness finally overcame him, the subject’s voice whispered softly in his shattered ear drums.
“…You’re all my very best friends.”Image copyright Reuters
Shares in Twitter have fallen more than 10% after the company reported that its fourth-quarter losses had nearly doubled.
The social networking service reported a loss of $167m (£133m) in the final three months of 2016, as against $90m in the same period a year earlier.
There were 319 million active users, 4% up on a year earlier, but revenue from ads fell slightly to $638m.
Donald Trump's ardent use of Twitter did little to boost users or ad income.
Fourth-quarter revenues were $717m, 1% up on last year's $710m.
Revenues and user numbers both fell short of analysts' expectations.
It was the company's slowest quarterly revenue growth since it became a publicly listed company in November 2013.
Some analysts had expected new US President Donald Trump's widely publicised use of Twitter would give the service a financial boost.
But during a conference call, chief operating officer Anthony Noto dismissed the idea that the "Trump effect" had been a key factor in user growth.
He said that while Mr Trump had shown "the power of Twitter" and broadened awareness of the service, it was hard for "an event or a single person" to make such a difference.
Analysis: Rory Cellan-Jones, technology correspondent
These were supposed to be the results that showed Twitter resurgent after a year of disappointment. The fact that it had been the prime social networking battleground during the US election and that every tweet from the new president garnered worldwide attention would have new brought new users - and advertisers - flocking in.
That was the theory. In fact, the figures showed the slowest growth in quarterly revenue in the company's short history and a very modest increase in user numbers. The company has put on a brave face, focusing on the growth in daily rather than monthly active users.
It also says that revenue growth is lagging user growth - but investors have grown impatient for evidence that Twitter has found a sustainable business model.
Donald Trump's tweets - and the reactions they provoke - may have become essential viewing for journalists and the markets. Whether they make Twitter a great destination for advertisers is a different matter.
'Toughest challenge'
Despite the increased losses, Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey said 2016 had been "a transformative year" for the service.
"We reset and focused on why people use Twitter: it's the fastest way to see what's happening and what everyone's talking about," he said.
"We overcame the toughest challenge for any consumer service at scale by reversing declining audience trends and re-accelerating usage."
He said daily active usage had risen for the third consecutive quarter and the upward trend was set to continue.
"While revenue growth continues to lag audience growth, we are applying the same focused approach that drove audience growth to our revenue product portfolio, focusing on our strengths and the real-time nature of our service.
"This will take time, but we're moving fast to show results."Nokia is already confirmed to enter the smartphone market by launching Android powered devices soon. Now the company is said to launch two new high-end smartphones running on latest Android Nougat based Nokia Z Launcher. The device will be manufactured by Foxconn while HMD Global looks after the marketing and distribution of the Nokia device.
Nokia will not get into the device distribution or manufacturing; it will just give authority to use its brand name and in return get the royalties. Two new Nokia smartphones with a screen size of 5.2-inches and 5.5-inches are reported to come soon. Both the devices are expected to come with similar kind of design and sports mostly the same hardware. The company opted for the AMOLED display panels with QuadHD resolution.
The devices shall be powered by Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor clocked at 2.1GHz along with Adreno 530 GPU. Recently, Qualcomm also unveiled the upgraded Snapdragon 821 chipset which is clocked at 2.4GHz and offers 10% better performance. It is also mentioned that both the devices are IP68 certified which means they are waterproof and dustproof.
The Nokia-Foxconn deal was announced in May 2016 through which Foxconn will manufacture Nokia’s Android smartphones. Since Foxconn has permission to use the Nokia name, it’s thought that it has simply slapped a more recognisable brand name and logo onto the handset in order to get more market interest when launched in western parts of the world.
The devices will be launched first in China, same as Nokia N1 Tablet and the pricing of these is said to be around 3000 Yuan (approx $450).
Source: WeiboThere's either very sad news or very good news for AC/DC and their fans as two conflicting reports have surfaced online.
First, Australian radio station 3AW entertainment reporter Peter Ford stated that the band was close to announcing their retirement and that "the tour will not happen and we will never see AC/DC perform again or record again." Ford also tweeted that there was "some sad detail behind" behind their decision. The rumor could have some credence given the fact that frontman Brian Johnson had stated in a previous interview that recording of their new album had been delayed due to one of the band members being seriously ill. The new rumor also suggests that guitarist Malcolm Young has "returned to Australia to live with his family and for his own personal reasons he may not want to continue with the band."
But the above rumor later took a back seat as a conflicting report stated that the band was not retiring and had in fact booked studio time for their new album. According to The Australian, the group has booked a six-week stint set to begin May 1 in Vancouver to lay down music for their next album, which would be their first since 2008's 'Black Ice.' Johnson had stated earlier this year that he was confident that a new album would get done and that it would coincide with a tour.
So while the booking of studio time suggests that a new album may be in the works, it's also possible that the time was booked before circumstances changed. Stay tuned for more updates as these conflicting rumors sort themselves out.As much as a log about developing a game, this is also a log about the founding of a studio. My ambition is to take the work I've done so far and parley that into building a team of passionate professionals, not only to create this game but to grow into a development studio that works exclusively on VR titles.
Last week saw a lot of progress on that end. I found that UploadVR has free job postings while they build their credibility as a job source for VR companies. I also started to get responses from my tweets on the subject. The tweets were more immediately effective, especially when retweeted by friends who have been at this longer (I currently only have 20 followers @BoneyardChris) This lead to meeting a number of promising candidates.
That first week was jam packed with activity. It was my first week full time, so there was just a massive ton of things to catch up on. I caught up so much that this past week was slow by comparison, but there were some good accomplishments:
* Got my Washington State Business License
* Sent the build out to several people and companies for feedback and consideration
* Met with folks from the City of Seattle about reaching out to a more diverse set of candidates
* Learned about Seattle Startup Week, which is next week and has a ton of activity of interest and a big local VR meetup which I'll be attending.A guide has been issued to parents of university graduates
Advice on using "tough love" to motivate children to find a job and leave home after university is being issued to parents by the government.
The guide from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills admits graduates could find things difficult in the current financial climate.
It warns against nagging but also against being "too supportive".
The Conservatives have dismissed the measure, saying Lord Mandelson should focus on improving the economy.
BBC reporter Rachel Bulkeley said that with graduate unemployment at its highest level for more than a decade, the idea of staying at the parental home might seem more attractive than ever.
'No laundry'
Official figures released earlier this month showed more people in their late 20s and early 30s were staying put after graduating.
The government's new guide includes a list of dos and don'ts, and suggests that nagging comes out as the worst approach.
This, the guide says, can make young people more stressed, and graduates should be allowed some time to relax.
But it warns parents against being "too supportive," saying newly-qualified offspring should be encourage to be realistic, rather than wasting away the years pursuing their dream job.
The guide also advises against allowing a few weeks back home to turn into a few months. Its solution is to show some "tough love" by not doing their washing and ironing.The most precise measurement ever made of the current rate of expansion of the Universe has been achieved by physicists in the US, and there’s a problem: the Universe is expanding 8 percent faster than our current laws of physics can explain.
If confirmed by independent tests, this new measurement will force us to rethink how dark matter and dark energy have been influencing the evolution of the Universe for the past 13.8 billion years, and that means something in the standard model of particle physics has to change.
"I think that there is something in the standard cosmological model that we don't understand," lead researcher Adam Riess from Johns Hopkins University, who also co-discovered dark energy back in 1998, told Davide Castelvecchi at Nature.
So… wtf just happened? Well, right now, physicists explain the gradual expansion of the Universe - which has been in effect since the Big Bang - by the presence of dark matter and dark energy.
While invisible dark matter is thought to make up 27 percent of the Universe, and visible matter a measly 5 percent, dark energy is estimated to make up a whopping 68 percent of the known Universe, and the way all three interact could explain why everything has been expanding since the beginning of time.
According to the accepted model of cosmology, the biggest influence on the evolution of the Universe is the competition between dark matter and dark energy. While the gravitational pull of dark matter appears to be slowing down the expansion of the Universe, dark energy seems to be tugging it in the opposite direction to make it accelerate.
Astrophysicists were able to figure all this out thanks to measurements of radiation left over from the Big Bang, which we can now observe as the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB.
Earlier observations of the CMB made by Riess and other astrophysicists around the world have suggested that the pull of dark energy on the Universe has remained constant since the Big Bang, Castelvecchi reports.
This hypothesis was backed up by the most comprehensive analysis of the CMB, performed recently by the European Space Agency’s Planck Observatory, and scientists have since used Planck’s measurements to estimate the rate of expansion at any point in the Universe’s history.
Image of the cosmic microwave background. Credit: NASA
"For years, those predictions have disagreed with direct measurements of the current rate of cosmic expansion - also known as the Hubble constant," says Castelvecchi. "But until now the error margins in this constant were large enough that the disagreement could be ignored."
Now Riess and his colleagues have found another way to measure the rate of expansion - the brightness of certain types of celestial objects, such as stars and supernovae, known as'standard candles'.
As Kelly Dickerson explains for Mic.com, standard candles are thought to emit the exact same level of brightness, which means physicists can use them as markers to measure how fast the Universe is expanding away from us.
Riess’s team analysed 18 standard candles using hindreds of hours of data from the Hubble Space Telescope, and calculated that the speed of expansion is about 8 percent faster than the Planck’s measurements predicted.
"If this new measurement is accurate - and our maps of the CMB are also accurate - then something about our fundamental understanding of the Universe is wrong," says Dickerson.
These results, which have been posted to pre-print website arXiv.org and are awaiting peer-review, have the potential of "becoming transformational in cosmology", cosmologist Kevork Abazajian from the University of California, who was not involved in the study, told Nature.
We’re going to have to sit tight and wait for these results to be independently confirmed or disproved, but we’ve been hearing pretty often recently of things happening out in our Universe that challenge our current laws of physics, so something’s probably gonna have to give eventually.
One thing’s for sure - it’s an exciting time to be a physicist.Regarding the discussion about feminism in videogames and the way the heroines are portrayed in them, “Street Fighter V” has been criticized because of two characters seen as extremely sexualized – including the Brazilian Laura.
In an interview for UOL Jogos, the producer of the fighting game series Yoshinori Ono guaranteed that Capcom wants to erase that notion so that their game doesn’t disturb the female audience.
“Our objective with ‘Street Fighter V’ is to start over from zero”, explains Ono. “We want the professional players and the casual fans of the series to return, but we also want to reach those who have never even touched a fighting game. So we can’t have something in the game that makes people think, ‘This is not acceptable’”.
Originally, the fighter Rainbow Mika slapped her butt during one attack sequence, but the action was removed. That led some fans to question if some kind of ‘censorship’ had occurred.
“We didn’t make any change because of external influences”, reassures Ono. “Those changes came up internally. We decided to remove that because we want the biggest possible number of people to play, and we don’t want to have something in the game that might make someone uncomfortable”.
The objective, according the producer, is to have characters that people like, and not put them off the game. “Probably we won’t be able to remove everything that could offend someone. But our goal is, at least, to reduce that number as much as possible so that they think ‘Ok, there is this issue here, but it is within the limits’. We want that everyone can play and enjoy without worrying about anything else”, he says.
“Street Fighter V” will be launched for PlayStation 4 and PC on the February 16, 2016.
*The journalist travelled at the invitation of Sony.Sacramento County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously voted to ban outdoor marijuana crops, joining a growing number of California cities and counties that have prohibited cultivation in response to safety and nuisance complaints.
Sheriff Scott Jones told supervisors that marijuana plants have increased throughout the county because of a lack of clarity in federal and state laws and inconsistent prosecution. County aides and law enforcement showed numerous aerial photos of reported grow sites, including open space near Rio Linda High School and the Cherry Island Soccer Complex.
“We’ve seen a profusion – an explosion – of marijuana grows,” Jones said.
The new restrictions would apply to unincorporated Sacramento County and likely take effect in mid-June. The city of Sacramento already bans outdoor cultivation in residential areas, while Elk Grove prohibits all outdoor marijuana growth.
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Some advocates for medical marijuana said Tuesday that law enforcement overstated the risks associated with marijuana growth, though others were sympathetic with the county’s concerns about large grow sites. They asked supervisors to preserve the ability of patients to grow plants for personal use. Supervisors on Tuesday asked county staff to return May 28 with proposed restrictions for indoor marijuana grows specifically limited to medical use.
Local governments have moved quickly to regulate growth after a favorable state court ruling in November upheld their ability to ban cultivation despite the state’s 1996 initiative legalizing marijuana for medical use.
The ruling by the Sacramento-based 3rd District Court of Appeal, upholding a ban in the city of Live Oak, paved the way for similar ordinances across California. Most bans have focused on outdoor cultivation, while Fresno County has gone the furthest by prohibiting outdoor and indoor medical marijuana grows, according to the California chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Sacramento County Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan introduced separate indoor and outdoor ordinances Tuesday to ban marijuana crops, saying she has received many complaints from residents. In addition to safety and quality of life issues, marijuana grows create undue demands on the environment, including high water use in a drought, she said.
Supervisors unanimously approved the ban on outdoor cultivation. But MacGlashan said she agreed to continue the indoor ordinance discussion because she thinks a majority of board members prefer regulation instead of an outright ban, even though she does not agree with that approach.
The board in 2011 effectively banned medical marijuana dispensaries after as many as 99 such establishments had opened in the unincorporated county.
The nebulous nature of state and federal laws makes prosecution of marijuana cultivation difficult, Jones said. The county will rely largely on code enforcement officers to police its new ordinance, citing growers for civil infractions with backup by sheriff’s deputies when needed.
Dozens of plants can be found in residential backyards as well as in more remote areas, law-enforcement officials said.
Lt. John Laughlin of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said many of the marijuana grows are run by organized crime, and it’s not hard to figure out why: A single plant can yield $1,500 worth of marijuana in California, and much more in other parts of the country. The drug trafficking task force he serves on found a cornfield in Sacramento County with $52 million in marijuana, he said.
Marijuana crops lead to violence as people try to steal and protect them, said Michael Neves, an assistant chief deputy district attorney. The District Attorney’s Office is actively prosecuting 10 people on homicide charges involving marijuana, he said.
“It’s out of control,” said Neves, who said in late summer some neighborhoods will be permeated with the skunk-like smell of freshly harvested marijuana.
Neves pointed to the case of Kelly McClurg, a 60-year-old Wilton man who was shot and killed when two men stole his indoor pot grow in 2012. Three men were convicted in the case.
Medical marijuana advocates told supervisors Tuesday the county should take action against large growers who engage in criminal enterprise but not restrict the ability of patients to cultivate plants for their own needs.
“We agree with pretty much everything you said today,” said Bob Bowerman of the Sacramento chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
The debate on indoor growing will possibly hinge on how much marijuana is reasonable for a patient to have. Ron Mullins of Sacramento NORML told supervisors that prosecutor Neves’ assertion that 2 pounds was enough to last a patient a year was far off the mark. He estimated that he smoked 51/2 pounds of marijuana in a year.
“No way – that’s too much,” said Supervisor Susan Peters.Something is coming in 2017 for Microsoft’s Surface product line, but what could it be?
At Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington, placeholders have begun appearing in Building 88, purportedly teasing the 2017 line of Surface products. While there haven’t been any announcements as to what we can expect, there are rumours that an All-in-One Surface will be making its way to the living room in 2016, however, this could turn out to actually be 2017.
These rumoured releases also line-up with the so-called Surface Phone, which is claimed to also be launching in 2017, and will be ‘category innovating’, so there are high hopes for Microsoft’s next Windows 10 Mobile device.
Could we see a product launch involving a new 2-in-1, All-in-One and a phone, all in one year? It seems likely. As always, we will keep you up-to-date on the latest rumours and announcements regarding Microsoft Surface.
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Further reading: MicrosoftBreitbart News is now the enemy, according to advertisers. Joining Allstate, EarthLink, and others is Kellogg Co. which has pulled its ads from the conservative site because it is perceived as a breeding ground for hate speech.
An announcement was made by Kellogg spokeswoman Kris Charles:
“We regularly work with our media-buying partners to ensure our ads do not appear on sites that aren’t aligned with our values as a company. We recently reviewed the list of sites where our ads can be placed and decided to discontinue advertising on Breitbart.com. We are working to remove our ads from that site.”
Along with these companies, the online ad service AppNexus Inc. barred the conservative website earlier this month from using its ad tools claiming Breitbart violated the company’s hate-speech rules, Bloomberg reports.
This pushback intensified as Breitbart’s former chairman Steve Bannon was hired on as chief strategist to President-elect Donald Trump. However, Breitbart CEO Larry Solov maintains the site “has always and continues to condemn racism and bigotry in any form,” despite the condemnation of others to the contrary.
As Bloomberg noted, Breitbart’s traffic has risen significantly. That’s true for other conservative outlets, too, as more Americans are moving away from a biased mainstream media. With over 19 million unique visitors in October, up 6 million over last year, Kellogg apparently doesn’t want to make breakfast great again. Instead, the company caved to social media activists who watch for ads to appear on conservative sites, screenshot them, and then pressure the company to pull them off.
One company not bowing to that pressure is Nissan. So far, the car company prefers to “place ads in a variety of sites in order to reach as many consumers as possible,” adding, “The placement of Nissan advertising is not intended to be a political commentary, and there are no plans to change the advertising mix at this time.”
One thing is for sure, conservatives love capitalism and will support companies that don’t discriminate against their beliefs. But as more and more companies alienate buyers by calling them all kinds of phobic, the free market will do its job of weeding out the winners and losers. After all, Kellog’s doesn’t make the only Frosted Flakes on the block.AI is a prediction technology. Its improvement is akin to turning up the volume knob on a speaker dial. But rather than volume, you’re turning up the AI’s prediction accuracy. What happens to Amazon’s strategy as their data scientists, engineers, and machine learning experts work tirelessly to dial up the accuracy on the prediction machine? In this example, it shifts Amazon’s business model from shopping-then-shipping to shipping-then-shopping, generates the incentive to vertically integrate into operating a product-returns service (including a fleet of trucks), and accelerates the timing of investment due to first-mover advantage from increasing returns. All this is due to the single act of turning the dial on the prediction machine.
How will AI change strategy? That’s the single most common question the three of us are asked from corporate executives, and it’s not trivial to answer. |
any political party. Johnson said repeatedly that he's done running for office. Petersen definitely has his toe in the water for 2020. Many activists are fond of Larry Sharpe, an African-American corporate consultant and a close runner-up to Weld for the vice presidential nomination, who stressed the attractiveness of libertarianism to traditionally disadvantaged communities. Weld, meanwhile, said on election night that "the Libertarians have a very clear path in Washington, and I intend to participate in that," but he will likely face fierce internal resistance.
Virginia State L.P. Vice Chair Andy Bakker is adamant about the carpetbagger issue. "The young activists I talk to have a real desire for someone to come from the inside," he says. "Politics is about trust and looking out for your people, and if we keep bringing in outsiders, we can't be surprised if they don't trust us and don't look out for [the L.P.'s interests]. There's a big movement to make sure there are no former anythings on our stage in 2020."
The Next Big Thing?
The Libertarian Party finds itself in a place it's never been before, with momentum stronger than ever. But the L.P. still can't manage a lot of things a major party is expected to do. D.C. activist Majors points out that the national headquarters found it hard to cope with such mundane tasks as shipping campaign materials. Internal polling is too expensive, tending to cost at least $20,000 per survey. Libertarians don't currently have a thorough database of their own registered voters, let alone likely prospects, though the Johnson campaign will be sharing elements of its database with the party moving forward. (The specific details of this database sharing are currently covered under a confidentiality agreement signed between the L.P. and the campaign.) "The L.P. doesn't currently have the institutional culture to know how a big campaign is supposed to be run, how to raise money and how to spend it," says Youth for Johnson's Weinman. Nearly every local candidate interviewed laments that neither their state nor the national party machines are able to do much of anything for them other than provide ballot access.
One conflict almost certain to come up at the 2018 Libertarian Party Convention is what to do should the next presidential candidate break through the 5 percent barrier nationally. Clearing that milestone would make the party eligible for federal campaign funds. Most of the activists, candidates, and funders interviewed for this story would have been perfectly happy to see the party's candidate accept the money, which comes from voluntary taxpayer contributions. ("It's a game changer," Johnson says. "You can't compete in politics without money.") But the Radical Caucus is much more circumspect about taking what they characterize as a "welfare check."
What the party needs most, nearly everyone agrees, is more people willing and able to be candidates—particularly if they have the willingness and ability to ask for money, since the L.P. can't really help them with that. Johnson campaign worker and House candidate Andy Craig thinks the party needs to focus on intelligently learning about every state and federal legislative race in which a major-party candidate is running unopposed. Such targeted investments of as little as $20,000–$30,000 via either the party or affiliated super PACs could win state House seats, with as little as $100,000 enough to win a federal one, Craig believes.
Some lifelong activists are glum about third-party prospects in a two-party world. "I have been a member of the Libertarian Party for 32 years and never regretted a moment," says Bill Redpath, credited by many insiders for being the party's prime mover for ballot-access success. "But I do not think it will be an electoral success until some form of proportional representation is adopted in the U.S.," or perhaps ranked-choice voting, an idea Maine voters approved in November.
Being America's biggest third party does come with one distinct advantage: If the other major parties should fracture or dissipate, Libertarians stand ready to expand. "I think in eight to 12 years the Libertarian Party could become the No. 1 party in the United States in terms of size," Bill Weld enthused on election night.
The line between here and there is not necessarily straight. Chris Rufer, a California-based tomato magnate (and occasional donor to Reason Foundation) who gave over $650,000 to efforts related to the Johnson campaign, thinks libertarianism's eventual electoral victory is as inevitable as gravity. But how to get there from here "for now is a puzzle," Rufer says. "It's not going to happen tomorrow and that it's a puzzle makes it interesting."
Jeff Yass, who gave over $1 million to Johnson super PACs and who was new to supporting L.P. candidates this year, says he's not at all discouraged that his investment didn't lead to electoral victory. "No matter how small the chance [to] live in a libertarian world," he says, "I don't have to figure out the odds. The payoff is so high it's worth it."Firm says closures continue despite lifting of sanctions after Iran nuclear deal and have continued since Trump’s inauguration
A UK law firm handling more than 60 complaints by Iranian nationals who have had their UK bank accounts closed allegedly because of their nationality has reported a continuation in such closures since Donald Trump assumed office.
Iranian nationals living legally in the UK often have to go to extra lengths when opening a bank account and many who already with one have complained about their accounts being abruptly closed. Some banks refuse to explain why, while others cite sanctions against Iran as the main reason.
Blackstone Solicitors represents a string of Iranians who have taken high street banks to court over allegations of racial discrimination. The firm said account closures have taken place despite the lifting of sanctions after the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers.
All nuclear-related sanctions imposed by the EU and the UN against Iran were lifted in January 2016 when it was announced that Tehran had fully complied with the terms of the landmark nuclear accord, known as the the joint comprehensive plan of action.
Ordinary citizens were exempted from the punitive measures even when sanctions were in place but the complex nature of the sanctions regime and overcompliance by banks means Iranians unrelated to the government are still being punished.
“In the past two or three months more people have come to us to instruct us to act on their behalf because of their bank account closures,” Rokhsareh Vahid, head of the Iran desk at Blackstone, told the Guardian. “In total we have more than 60 cases involving Iranians who have sued banks over racial discrimination.”
Vahid said her firm has secured compensation in most of those cases, often as the result of pre-trial settlements. “I only recall one case which was not successful,” she said. “A lot of such settlements include non-disclosure agreements, so we won’t be able to publicise them.”
An Iranian student in Greater Manchester represented by Blackstone received a five-figure compensation from RBS in July 2016. He had been an RBS customer for seven years. The Guardian is not publishing his name to protect his identity.
“Upon his arrival in the UK in 2008, our client opened a bank account at RBS. He maintained this account without any issues until he received a notice of closure in 2015,” Blackstone said. “RBS wrote to our client to advise him that his account would be closed in 60 days. These incidents happened before sanctions on Iran were partially lifted in January 2016.”
Blackstone was first contacted a week before the scheduled closure of the student’s account. “Immediately, we contacted RBS demanding that our client’s rights are recognised,” the firm said. “We proceeded to file a complaint against the bank and pursued it until our client recovered a total of £31,200 from RBS in July 2016.”
The payment included £15,000 compensation for emotional injury and £16,200 in respect of costs of the claim.
An RBS spokesperson said: “We are unable to comment on specific customers or decisions made in relation to individual accounts. However, in line with our legal and regulatory obligations, we do not close customers’ accounts because of their race and strongly refute any suggestion that we do so.”
Vahid said accounts are often closed when people receive money from Iran, usually by cash transfer or via a money broker. Despite the removal of sanctions, major European banks still do not handle Iranian payments, so ordinary Iranians, such as students, would have to bring their money in cash or through a money exchange, which may look suspicious to banks.
“Banks will inquire and when they find that the client has an Iranian passport or the source of money is from Iran, then they might face problems,” she said. “A lot of banks here have a strong relationship with the US and are wary of the remaining sanctions, that’s why a lot of Iranians unrelated to their government have had their accounts closed.”
In May 2016, a group of Iranians launched the Unjustly Unbanked campaign to end discrimination by UK banks against customers of Iranian origin.
PhD student Pooya Ghoddousi, one of its founders, has also had his account closed. “I received a letter from the bank telling me that my accounts and credit card will be closed in two months. After nine years of banking and an excellent credit score they didn’t even see the need to justify this act. I suddenly felt uprooted like a persona non grata,” he said.
“Something obviously needed to be done to raise awareness, increase the cost for the banks, and eventually stop the discriminatory effects of their careless de-risking practices.”
The situation is preventing Iran from benefiting from the nuclear agreement or capitalising on huge interest in foreign investment interest under President Hassan Rouhani. The Trump administration has attacked the deal, with the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, saying this week that the agreement has been a failure. The US, however, has not taken any steps to scrap the nuclear deal.
Sir Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Iran, warned in a 2016 report that the west, including the UK, risked breaching the deal if it continued to fail to give Iran proper access to the international financial system.
In February, the UN nuclear agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, confirmed in its first report on Iran since Trump’s victory that Tehran was complying with the nuclear agreement.Buy Photo Oshkosh Area School District main office (Photo: USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo
The Oshkosh Area School Board passed a list of hefty cuts to its budget Wednesday should an April 5 Referendum for Learning not pass.
The first year of cuts - $3.4 million - would be enacted in the 2016-17 school year, the largest of which would be to require all middle school students to take one study hall. The $1,120,000-savings would eliminate 16 teaching positions and keep students from taking electives such as family consumer science and technology and engineering, according to documents presented at the meeting.
Other cuts in the first year include closing a middle school, increasing class sizes and reducing the high school athletic budget by $90,000.
However, the referendum's passing would also include $600,000 in security upgrades to district buildings in 2016-17, a move administrators have said was recommended by local authorities to increase school safety. The cameras would be installed in hallways, common areas and buildings' exteriors.
The district would cut $4 million in the 2017-18 school year.
Related:Oshkosh schools release possible budget cuts
Three residents gave their input on the referendum, one of whom strongly opposed it, before the vote.
Town of Black Wolf resident Charles Beyer said Oshkosh residents have to live within their means and the school district must do the same. He also suggested the district consider moving to year-round schooling.
"It's one referendum after another," he said. "When does it stop?"
With 80 percent of the district's budget made up by people, administrators have said the cuts would push it even lower than it already is in comparison to other school districts.
Besides teacher turnover, Oshkosh would most likely lose students, as the cuts would eliminate numerous opportunities that neighboring districts have that Oshkosh would not.
The state funding formula has not kept up with inflation, Superintendent Stan Mack said in an interview Tuesday that funding has actually gone down.
It's an issue districts are grappling with all over the state, as there are 55 districts in Wisconsin going to referendum in April, said Board President Steve Dedow at Wednesday's meeting.
School board member John Lemberger said the district has struggled every year since he joined the board in 2008.
"We have really tried. We closed schools, froze salaries, cut and cut and cut - even gone to the extremes of changing the phone system to save money," he said. "We're in a straitjacket."
Reach Noell Dickmann at 920-426-6658 or ndickmann@thenorthwestern.com; or follow her on Twitter @ONW_Noell. Nathaniel Shuda contributed to this report.
2016-17 Proposed Budget Reduction List
Require all middle school students to take one study hall ($1.12 million) Eliminate all lower enrollment classes and electives in middle and high schools to increase average class size and transfer orchestra to Fund 80 ($595,000 and $280,000) Close one of five middle schools ($350,000) Reduce employee health plan by requiring a spousal surcharge ($300,000) Decrease teacher preparation at the secondary level by eliminating supervisory assistants and requiring teachers to sub for 16 periods ($160,000 and $60,000) Reduce district administration ($130,000) Reduce high school athletic budget ($90,000) Double high school athletic participation fee from $50 for each sport to $100
Combine North and West high school teams for the following sports Football Boys and girls golf Softball Boys swimming Boys and girls soccer Boys and girls cross country
Increase high school music teaching load from four to five sections ($84,000) Eliminate funding for professional development and reduce employee travel ($60,000 and $25,000) Reduce building budgets by 5 percent ($43,296) Reduce district clerical and maintenance staff ($55,000 and $65,000) Sell Ryf Road property ($700,000)
2017-18 Proposed Budget Reduction List
Combine two elementary schools into one middle school ($250,000) Suspend compensation increase for all staff and eliminate department chairs ($1 million and $71,000) Contract cleaning for all facilities ($420,000) Reduce K-5 art, music and physical education specialists by half ($700,000) Eliminate math and literacy intervention teachers ($880,000) Eliminate all professional development and instructional support not mandated by federal programs, such as Title 1 ($1.42 million)
Source: Oshkosh Area School District
Read or Share this story: http://oshko.sh/1XP25vcFormer Texas congressman Ron Paul, a longtime hero of the libertarian right, surprised many on Monday when he told MSNBC that he has no plans to back Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson.
Paul, who himself was the Libertarian nominee in 1988 and ran as a Republican primary candidate on several subsequent occasions, said he actually prefers Green Party nominee Jill Stein on important issues like civil liberties and foreign policy.
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“She’s probably the best on foreign policy at the moment,” Paul said, stressing that he hasn't endorsed anyone for president yet.
"On Gary Johnson,” Paul explained, “he does not come across with a crisp libertarian message.”
Johnson has come under recent ridicule for his inability to express a coherent answer on the conflict in Syria, his so-called "Aleppo moment," and then for his inability to name a single foreign leader he admired.
"If you want to express yourself — I am voting for the non-aggressive principles that create the libertarian message. And that is, nobody can commit aggression. Individuals cannot, nor the government. Unfortunately, there's not a crisp answer," Paul said, referring to Johnson.
Paul continued: “On occasion, Gary will say something good about the economy. Even Donald Trump -- I find him talking about the bubble that the Federal Reserve created. All those things, if you put them together, you come up with a libertarian message.”
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Paul earlier told Fox Business that he is “disappointed with the performance of the Libertarian leaders.”
Paul's son, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a failed 2016 GOP presidential candidate, has endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump.Hudson music thrived in 2015, with new venues, new bands, new opportunities, and even a few locals graduating on to the national stage.
After building a rabid local fan base with gigging at venues like Maxwell's and events like Groove On Grove in Jersey City, the Front Bottoms signed to the Warner Brothers imprint Fueled By Ramen for Back On Top, their major label debut,
Music blogs like UnderTheGun.com raved, "Back On Top takes everything we've grown to love about this band over the years and pushes it into new sonic avenues that prove that they're not a one-trick pony with an acoustic guitar," while AbsolutePunk opined, "It's kind of heartwarming to realize that even though they've graduated to arguably the biggest label and have played with some of the biggest bands this scene has to offer, The Front Bottoms still come across like the same ragtag group of nice guys that we fell in love with over the course of their last few releases."
While the Front Bottoms represented youth, a few old hands helped bring Hudson County back into the spotlight as well. Hoboken's Bar None Records, which helped launched the Front Bottoms' career, released a long awaited instrumental album from Feelies frontman Glenn Mercer entitled Incidental Hum, which rock critic Jim DeRogatis hailed as "a slow-burn classic" and "an absolute gift" to Feelies fans.
Yo La Tengo spent some time on Bar None too, but currently record for top-flight indie Matador. 2015 found the ageless, low-key trio (expanded to a quartet here with the return of founding member Dave Schramm) releasing Stuff Like That There, a collection of mostly-obscure covers as well as reinterpretations of the group's own back catalog. Even though founding (and married) members Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley left Hoboken after Hurricane Sandy, Yo La Tengo is still referred to as a Hoboken band and probably always will be. Stuart Berman of Pitchfork noted, "Whether they're covering Sun Ra or Sonny Bono, Yo La Tengo covers sound unmistakably like Yo La Tengo songs, because they serve the exact same function as the band's best originals: They're intimate exchanges, the sound of secrets being revealed." (Yo La Tengo have announced they'll be performing at Loew's Theater in Jersey City on April 6, 2016.)
Maxwell's Tavern rebounded from a rocky start under its new ownership by giving the venue's iconic back room a much-needed makeover and hiring local music maven Dave Entwistle as its primary booker. Under Entwistle, Maxwell's Tavern has started luring national bands again while remaining an important showcase spot for up-and-coming young acts like Deaf Rhino, Wyland, and Casey James. Northern Soul and Finnegan's Pub on the west side of Hoboken continue to book live original music as well.
While there's been no update lately on the long-awaited opening of White Eagle Hall, the multi-purpose facility and restaurant complex in downtown Jersey City that will be booked by former Maxwell's owner Todd Abramson, Jersey City has enjoyed a live music boom over the last year. WFMU's Monty Hall has presented an impressive array of classic-if-obscure rock 'n' roll acts like the Flamin' Groovies, the Real Kids, and Wreckless Eric while offering opening slots to some of JC's best local bands.
Jersey City might still lack a proper rock club with a stage and sound system, but with a little Do-It-Yourself ingenuity, the city has blossomed with places for bands to play, from downtown's Porta Lounge and the Citizen (formerly known as the Dopeness,) to the Lincoln Inn and the Fox & Crow in JC Heights. The band Crazy & The Brains has brought all-ages punk shows back to Jersey City with the Fun House, a DIY space tucked into an out-of-the-way neighborhood on Center Street. Downtown's Lucky 7's remains the city's best dive bar, a great place to see a band, groove to a DJ, or just hang out.
For a more upscale evening, Battello (on the waterfront near Newport Mall) offers free live music evenings with gourmet nibbles and signature drinks. The summer brought outdoor events like regular evenings at the Lumberyard in JC Heights, "Dancing Tony's" Groove on Grove series at Grove Plaza, and frequent live-music events at the Historic Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery.
Jersey City also proved there's no shortage of outstanding local bands ready to play all these venues; a short list would include Wyldlife (back in action after an extended hiatus finding a new drummer,) the Rock N Roll High Fives, the Defending Champions, Head Cheerleader, Adam & The Plants, June & The Pushas, Desir Decir, and perhaps the hardest working band on the East Coast, the Sensational Country Blues Wonders.
No wrap up of Hudson County music would be complete without mentioning two of its most indefatigable champions, "Dancing Tony" Susco in Jersey City and Geri Fallo in Hoboken. From Groove On Grove to the Hoboken Arts & Music Festivals, from alcohol-fueled weekends at Lucky 7's to Hoboken's Movies Under The Stars, it's the Tony Susco's and Gerri Fallo's of the world who make local music happen. Be sure to raise a toast to them on New Year's Eve, and get ready for a rockin' New Year.
TRIS MCCALL TO PERFORM AT THE CITIZEN
Singer-songwriter, music blogger, rock journalist, author, and unofficial Jersey City Bard Tris McCall barely performed in 2015, but he'll help ring in the New Year on a bill to support Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at The Citizen (332 2nd Street, Jersey City) on Saturday, January 2. Also appearing will be the Sensational Country Blues Wonders, Secular, and other artists. Showtime is 8 p.m. and requested donation is $20 at the door.The Ector County Independent School District’s board of trustees agreed to wait on finding a superintendent until after Precinct 2 nominee Fay Batch joins the board next month.
Trustees discussed procedures Tuesday night to use in finding a new superintendent to replace interim superintendent Hector Mendez.
Mendez was named interim in July.
Trustee Ray Beaty asked for the discussion item to be placed on Tuesday's agenda because he wanted an update on where the trustees were on the issue of hiring a superintendent.
Trustee Randy Rives asked if a timeline existed for when a superintendent may be hired.
Board president Carol Gregg said she didn’t see a need to begin a superintendent search at this time since she’s pleased with Mendez’s performance and because she’d like for seven board members to go forward with the issue.
“I am personally very happy where we are, and I am not eager to start this process,” Gregg said.
Trustee Doyle Woodall asked if a workshop could be set up at a later date so trustees may discuss the process further. Gregg said she didn’t see any problem with that idea.
Batch will join the board following its first meeting after Nov. 6.
Batch, who was in the audience, didn’t address the board but said she appreciated the trustees considering her vote.
Also Tuesday, Permian parent Michelle Lambert, also an ECISD substitute teacher, addressed the trustees and said she didn’t agree with how her 16-year-old daughter Samantha Lambert was treated by a district officer and an assistant principal at Permian.
Lambert said her daughter was led into a dark classroom in September after the officer and administrator stopped Samantha in the hallway at school following an altercation she’d had with a fellow student. No female was present when Samantha was led into the room, Lambert said.
Her daughter wasn’t frisked but a friend of hers had been, Michelle Lambert said, and it was by a male police officer.
Michelle Lambert asked trustees to approve a policy where only female officers may frisk female students — or at least have a woman present when taking female students into a room.
“My concern is how it’s done and who does it,” Lambert said.
After the meeting, ECISD Police Chief Brian Moersch said there’s an investigation into Michelle Lambert’s allegations. Both hers and the officer’s reported statements are being looked into, Moersch said.
“Our investigation is contrary to the story she gave,” Moersch said.
Earlier in the evening, prior to the regular board meeting, trustees unanimously upheld a level-two grievance for Hood physical education coach William Ritter.
Ritter declined to comment following the board’s decision on his grievance.
Trustees also approved:
>> Out-of-state travel for the Permian band and orchestra and Odessa High orchestra.
>> Out-of-country travel for the Career Center History Explorers to go to Italy and Greece in summer 2008.
>> An amendment to the School Health Advisory Council bylaws to allow two or more candidates who tie in a ECISD trustee vote to serve as elected members of the council. The remaining next highest vote members would serve as alternate members.Oh, boy. Here we go. It was only a matter of time before Atlanta United found itself a natural rivalry. Many have always assumed it would be Orlando City SC just because of location. But now, we may have actual cause and origins for such a rivalry even if it is such a small event.
Atlanta United's front office staff visited Sporting Kansas City this weekend on a diplomatic visit to see how the club operates and to take in a match and so on. They've done it plenty of times in Seattle, New York, etc.
A seemingly innocuous visit as turned into a talking point among Orlando City fans because of an incident at the wall of scarves at SKC's stadium. As a ceremonious gesture, the Atlanta Untied brass brought along a scarf to put on SKC's wall, as you do. Except now a few observant Orlando fans are now furious over where the club put the scarf:
In what was likely just a weird coincidence, Darren Eales and Ann Rodriguez slipped that beautiful Atlanta United scarf right over top of that hideous Iron Lion Firm (an Orlando City supporters group) scarf, completely hiding it from view. That did no go over well with the Iron Lion Firm.
@ATLUTD If that's a war you want, it's a war you'll get... — Iron Lion Firm (@IronLionFirm) March 13, 2016
Atlanta and Orlando was bound to be a logical rivalry. This minor incident will only help that cause. Did the Atlanta United brass mean to hide the Iron Firm's scarf? Probably not. But that won't stop their fans from overreacting and taking it personal.
I really hope Atlanta United realized what they just did. — Jared had dreads (@JaredisAOK) March 13, 2016
The pathetic Atlanta United plastics patting themselves on the back for that act of disrepect.. They'll learn their place next season — Chris (@OrlandoCountySC) March 13, 2016
And so it begins. This is going to be fun...Another year gone (trans. Robert Hass)
Matsuo Basho
Another year gone –
hat in my hand,
sandals on my feet.
Comment:
This continues the theme of the wanderer from “Many nights on the road.” At first glance, it does not seem terribly different. The wanderer is exhausted and may still be walking. A further implication: the aimlessness of this particular pilgrim.
But maybe “on the road” in the previous poem sets a different scene from the “my” in question here. We spent much time in the previous discussion on the wanderer’s journey – on his incompleteness, his impossible task. Here in this poem we can imagine him a visitor, in front of the door. The emphasis may be on the forced return to a conventional way of being, if only for a few moments. One needs to eat, sleep, talk to people (and not consider muttering at stray cats social interaction). I wonder if “another year gone” is the speaker’s wondering whether he has rejected conventionality, or if it has rejected him.
References
The Essential Haiku. ed. Robert Hass. New York: HarperCollins, 1944.Parents of boy accidentally killed with homemade gun issue warning
Updated
The parents of a 15-year-old boy accidentally killed with a homemade airgun have issued a warning to other families.
Daniel Cowan died in Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital in October, 2012, a week after he was hit in the head by a missile fired from a friend's airgun at a property in Heathcote Junction, central Victoria.
The projectile was made of a bicycle handle grip, wrapped in electrical tape and inserted into the gun, which was pumped full of air before being fired through a PVC pipe.
The Victorian Coroners Court heard the accident happened when several boys were playing with the gun, at the property of a friend whose father had brought the weapon home from work.
The boys were unsupervised at the time.
They (airguns) are no different to giving the kids a shotgun to play with. Darren Cowan
The gun fired the projectile into Daniel's head, causing extensive injuries.
Daniel's parents were visibly upset throughout the inquest and his father, Darren Cowan, spoke outside.
"Daniel went to a neighbour's place to hang with a few mates and never came home," he said.
"We understand his death is an accident, and that no-one intended for this to happen. But it doesn't change the fact that we've lost our precious boy."
Homemade weapons 'a risk'
Mr Cowan said his son's death was preventable.
"We're determined to prevent this from ever happening again and happening to another family, and that's why we're speaking out today," he said.
"They (airguns) are no different to giving the kids a shotgun to play with.
"It beggars belief the boys had access to the weapon to play with on the day."
Mr Cowan said a surgeon described his son's injuries as akin to something he would expect to see in a war zone.
He said Daniel had also left behind two brothers, including a twin, Thomas.
"Nothing could bring Daniel back, but please be warned of the serious risk of having any type of weapon like this around the house, or for the kids to play with," Mr Cowan said.
"I hope no-one has to experience what we have had to experience."
Airguns are lethal weapons: coroner
Coroner John Olle described homemade airguns as "lethal weapons".
"This case highlights the dangers of how young adolescents using homemade airguns for entertainment can lead to significant misadventure, which in this case has resulted in the tragic loss of a young man," he said.
This case highlights the dangers of how young adolescents using homemade air guns for entertainment can lead to significant misadventure. Coroner John Olle
"This is why firearms laws are in force; to ensure that individuals using firearms hold a valid licence."
The father of the boy with the airgun pleaded guilty earlier this year to possessing an unregistered firearm.
It is not yet known if the Cowan family plan to take further legal action.
"I think the other message to take away from this case is that parents have responsibility for supervising their children," the family's lawyer, Barrie Woollacott, said.
"Boys will be boys, but parents need to be parents."
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, death, heathcote-junction-3758, vic
First postedEssendon Football Club is pleased to announce Tom Bellchambers will return for the Bombers next season.
Bellchambers has recommitted until the end of the 2018 season and said he wants to repay the faith the Club has shown him over the journey.
“The time away from the football Club has allowed me to freshen up physically and mentally,” Bellchambers said.
“Missing this season and a big chunk of 2015 through injury makes me want come back fitter and stronger in 2017.
“I really appreciate all that Essendon has done for me over my career, they gave me the chance to pursue my dream of playing AFL and I’m looking forward to repaying the faith they’ve shown me.
“I feel I still have plenty of good footy left in me, I’m excited about our future under John Worsfold and the opportunity to build a really strong ruck combination with Matthew Leuenberger is very exciting.”
CEO, Xavier Campbell, said Tom’s decision to continue his career at Essendon was a significant vote of confidence in the direction of the football Club.
“Tom is a fantastic young man with an exceptional talent and we’re extremely pleased he’s returning to the Club next season,” Campbell said.
“When we sat down with Tom he spoke about his passion for the Club and his burning ambition to help Essendon become a great Club again.
“Today we’ve seen Kyle Langford and Tom Bellchambers proudly say they want to be part of the new Essendon Football Club. This is a great vote of confidence in the elite football program John Worsfold and the coaching staff are building.”
List & Recruiting Manager, Adrian Dodoro, said Tom’s re-signing has bolstered the Club’s ruck stocks for 2017.
“Tommy is a spiritual leader amongst the playing group, he’s rated highly internally and he’s a proud Essendon person,” Dodoro said.
“We’ve really missed Tommy's ability to play forward and ruck this season, and we believe at his best he can be an All-Australian ruckman.
“I know Essendon members and supporters will be thrilled that Tom will be back in the red and black in 2017, and the prospect of him combining with Matthew Leuenberger is exciting.”
Bellchambers joins Heath Hocking, Travis Colyer, Cale Hooker, David Myers and Dyson Heppell who have also re-committed to the Club so far this season as well as Kyle Langford who also re-signed earlier today.For many, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s upcoming royal wedding brings to mind designer white gowns, grand cathedrals, and elaborate fascinators. For others, their minds turn straight to porn.
According to porn website Pornhub, searches containing the words ‘Meghan Markle’ have skyrocketed since the news of the royal engagement broke on Monday. Analysis on the site shows worldwide searches for the American actress shot up 2,208 percent.
“While most royal Pornhub searches are contained to parody characters like Princess Peach and Princess Leia, the engagement announcement nonetheless caused a massive search increase for soon-to-be princess Meghan Markle,” Pornhub said in a blog post.
It added that the highest number of searches came from the US (up 2,273 percent), followed by the UK (up 2,242 percent), then Spain (2,193 percent), Germany (2,167 percent), and Belgium (2,011 percent).
The research also found men were 51 percent more likely than women to search Markle’s name. Popularity of searches also increased by age group – visitors aged 18-24 were proportionately 65 percent less likely to search for Markle, while those over the age of 65 were 249 percent more likely.
Searchers will not find anything hardcore featuring the actress, as Markle has never appeared in any adult movies. Raunchy scenes she featured in for the TV series Suits, however, are being tagged with pornographic labels to make it easier for her fans to find.
Pornhub says its users tend to search for famous figures when celebrities hit the news – and it’s not the first time an increase in searches for ‘Markle’ have been shown. Her name also saw an uptick of 1,430 percent in November 2016 when it was revealed she and Prince Harry were dating.
READ MORE: ‘No one cares’: Backlash as Prince Harry announces he is about to marry a TV star
Meanwhile, plans for the Royal wedding are underway. The happy couple is set to marry at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in May 2018. Markle will have to first be baptized and confirmed in the Church of England.
There were questions raised over whether Prince Harry and Markle could marry in church at all, given she is a divorcee. Previously, members of the Royal Family have not been allowed to marry divorcees in church. In 1936, Edward VIII abdicated from the throne in order to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson. Markle and Prince Harry will still be able to have a church wedding as, in 2002, the Church of England agreed that divorced people could remarry in church, with the discretion of the priest.BJP has chosen Venkaiah Naidu as their Vice Presidential candidate.
Highlights BJP candidate Venkaiah Naidu to file his nomination papers today Mr Naidu is contesting against opposition nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi Election for Vice President of India is scheduled for August 5
The opposition has decided on Gopalkrishna Gandhi as the Vice Presidential candidate.
Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu is the BJP's choice for Vice Presidential candidate against Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the opposition's nominee.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after a meeting of top BJP leaders, tweeted that he had known the 68-year-old politician for years and had "always admired his hard work and tenacity".Mr Naidu, the Urban Development Minister, will file his nomination on Tuesday for the August 5 election."I am neither runner up, nor winner up. I am not aspiring to be anything, there is no such habit in BJP. The party decides," he had said before the meeting,But the party had more or less decided even before the meeting, it appeared; a note on his "journey to VP's office" was shared even before any decision was announced.The choice confirms the importance that the party attaches to improving its presence in south India, especially Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.Mr Naidu also checks important boxes for the party; he is the seasoned politician it can trust to run smoothly the Rajya Sabha, where the Vice President is chairman and where the government is in a minority, and he also believes in the core values of the BJP and its ideological mentor the RSS.The PM referred to his "years of parliamentary experience" and his goodwill across the political spectrum.On Sunday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi conceded that the opposition doesn't have the numbers but called it a battle that needs to be fought hard.Like in the case of President, the BJP's Vice President nominee enjoys a clear edge over the his opposition rival. With the backing of southern parties like AIADMK, Telangana |
When House Bill (HB) 3400 was signed in to law by Oregon’s new Governor, Kate Brown, on June 30th, 2015, which regulated and restricted the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP), patients expected to be able to study the 111 page document and plan for how to operate legally. Typically bills that change state laws will stipulate several months or multiple years before implementation which helps people learn the new changes and plan accordingly. These changes have major implications to the people in the OMMP who would be committing a crime if they are ill-informed.
Northwest Alternative Health which runs medical marijuana clinics is one of my clients and I am in charge of helping run their Eugene clinics. The last time there was a change to the medical marijuana program was when the state added a reduced rate for an OMMP application for veterans deemed 100% disabled or receiving 100% pension by the VA. When this change occurred, a letter was sent to OMMP clinics to inform us of the change.
Roughly two months after HB 3400 was signed, medical marijuana patients who signed up after July 1st, 2015 started receiving letters from the OMMP stating that they needed to submit a grower residency form. Clinics, patients and growers were caught off guard wondering why the OHA was implementing this part of the bill so early. HB 3400 states on page 109 Section 173. (2) “the authority may not require proof of residency for any person whose name is included in the application for renewing a marijuana grow site registration or renewing a medical marijuana dispensary registration until January 1, 2016.” This means the OHA could have waited until January 1st 2016 to institute grower residency rules but they chose to do it on the earliest possible date. The OHA decided the rule went into effect July 1st 2015 with no warning, which was the day after the Governor signed the bill.
This hasty implementation caused a 2+ month delay in processing cards which means patients that relied on dispensaries had to wait to get medicine. Many of those patients had only been prepared for a month delay as was the usual time it took to process cards. Dispensaries were used to 1/12 of their patients being ineligible to shop as they waited on their card to be processed. It was especially harmful to medical only dispensaries and those who process concentrates, edibles, tinctures and topicals because 1/6th of their customers were ineligible to shop. Meanwhile patients paid a significant amount of money to the state for the ability to shop at dispensaries and felt that they were being taken advantage of by the state.
December 30th I received a phone call from a patient in our co op named Randy who was told by his clinic that they are looking into whether patient residency requirements would go into effect January 1st. This particular patient is the Pastor in his church, a veteran and a cancer survivor. If patient residency was to be implemented, then his money was going to be wasted at the clinic. According to the helpful clinic employee named Tracy at Portland Alternative Clinic, they had been calling the OHA about when residency for patients is implemented. They were being told different things but seemed resolute that residency went into effect 1/1/16. So I did some research.
HB 3400 states confusingly under “Patient residency implementation statues:” on page 110 Section 179.. “(1) Sections 81a, 82a, 83, 85 to 85e, 86b to 87 and 88 to 88f of this 2015 Act, the amendments to statutes and session law by sections 80 to 80b, 81, 82, 84, 86, 87a, 87b, 89 to 90i, 168 and 169 of this 2015 Act and the repeal of ORS 475.324 by section 175a of this 2015 Act become operative on March 1, 2016.”
Section 80a starts on page 32 and ends on page 37. Page 34 pertains to patient’s registry identification cards which continues on page 35 “(2)(d) Proof of residency, as required by the authority by rule.” This section goes into effect March 1st. I contacted the OHA myself and offered to send an email highlighting the part of the law explaining implementation but the OMMP conceded to me that they understood now that the date of implementation is March 1st. There is still a question of whether they tried to correct themselves to all clinics.
Now that I have examined the language again, I’m convinced that the strictest interpretation of HB 3400 is that patients will have to provide “proof of residency, as required by the authority by rule” which means they don’t have to prove that their residency is in Oregon. Because they know the legislature intended for patients to prove Oregon residency they are clearly not going to interpret this law strictly even though it would benefit patients to do so.
Another patient who would benefit from a literal interpretation is Remie Ellett. Remie lives in Utah. Her mother Sarah came to Oregon to help her daughter obtain whole plant cannabis medicine legally. Remie’s health improved dramatically after starting medical marijuana treatments and was finally able to eat and drink like a normal person. Click on Remie Ellet’s name at the beginning of this paragraph to see Sarah tell Remie’s story. Sarah is under the impression that Remie is not allowed to be a patient now because she lives in Utah. Apparently the clinic she was going to was under the impression that patient residency implementation started January 1st. This begs the question, did the OHA inform clinics that the residency starts March 1st? And if not, why?
I’m not normally one to speculate as to why the OHA seems to be strict in their interpretation of laws surrounding the OMMP (except for patient residency) but after two mistakes that hurt patients I have to look into this possibility and ask the question, why? Is the OHA ashamed of the OMMP? I have always wondered why the OMMP does not have a link on OHA’s website. The only mention of marijuana on OHA’s main page comes from the scrolling pictures at the top of the page. The third picture is regarding marijuana, but not the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program which is run by the OHA. It seems to encourage people to look into adult use marijuana run by the OLCC, a different agency. The fine print on the right of the picture leads to a page that finally mentions medical marijuana, but this information is not prominently placed.
At a time when so many changes are in process for their medical marijuana program I would expect to have more alerts on the main OHA page, especially considering so many laws and rules are changing that could lead to uninformed people committing crimes unknowingly. I would prefer an Oregon Health Authority that champions it’s medical marijuana program. The people of Oregon organized to pass Measure 67 in November 1998 which legalized medical marijuana. Then our people voted not to change medical marijuana as it stated three times in Measure 91 in November 2014. I would like to see an Oregon Health Authority that respects the OMMP as much as the voters. Because the OHA has already “bungled” implementation of residency requirements twice, and there is enough evidence to suggest the OHA is embarrassed of the OMMP, we will have to be especially vigilant to protect OMMP patients from harmful changes to the program. After tomorrow’s OHA Rules Advisory Committee Meeting we will need to take this fight for patient’s rights to the Oregon legislature. This blog originally posted at duffjohnsonconsulting.com. Reposted here with special permission.Twitter has published an official “moment” that praises a pro-illegal immigrant group and movement, who “have a message” for the President-elect.
“Moments” are a curated collection of stories and tweets that can be put together by any user of the site. Moments that then become popular can be viewed on the relevant section on the social media website. Twitter itself releases official Moments that they have curated, relating to news, entertainment, or other trending topics.
One of Twitter’s official moments, released on Saturday, documents a movement known as #HereToStay, a pro-illegal immigrant movement that wants to “fight back” against Donald Trump and his policy of enforcing immigration laws.
Immigrants and their supporters across the country have a message for Trump: They are #HereToStay. https://t.co/rYOnOnMQay — Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) January 14, 2017
One tweet in the moment, from progressive pro-immigrant group United We Stand, proclaims the fact that “more than 70 cities” are “standing in support of undocumented immigrants.” (“Undocumented” is the politically correct term for “illegal,” of course.)
Twitter has not included any tweets within the moment that are critical of #HereToStay.
More than 70 cities standing in support of undocumented immigrants, ready to protect #DACA and refugees.#HereToStay pic.twitter.com/f7L5HdcHNp — United We Dream Action (@UNITEDWEDREAM) January 14, 2017
It's working families who get torn apart by deportations. We stand together against anti-immigrant policies & hateful rhetoric #HereToStay pic.twitter.com/MJuOMaYWXG — UNITE HERE #1Job (@unitehere) January 14, 2017
We are a single drop but united together, we are an ocean#WeWillResist #HereToStay — Bianca I. Mena (@biancamena456) January 14, 2017
Twitter users were almost entirely united against #HereToStay, with only a couple of tweets in reply to the moment being positive, with the vast majority of people railing against illegal immigration and supporting the President-elect. The Moment did receive a large number of retweets and likes, above the average for non-political Moments selected by Twitter.
Nobody is talking about removing legal immigrants. Illegal immigrants are breaking the law and are criminals by definition. — A Dude of Horror (@TheHorrorDude) January 14, 2017
My grandparents came through Ellis Island. We all come from LEGAL immigrants. But these people are an embarrassment. — Sy Crux (@Sy_Crux) January 14, 2017
The only group in HISTORY to scream about the legality of being here illegal. It was never the Irish, or Italians. — FeistyMonk (@FeistyMonk) January 14, 2017
Jack Hadfield is a student at the University of Warwick and a regular contributor to Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @ToryBastard_, on Gab @JH or email him at jack@yiannopoulos.net.You may have heard about the recent Clinton fund-raising email that says "Breitbart has no right to exist." While we think it's a given that liberals love the First Amendment until someone says something they don't like, we didn't put a lot of stock in the specific wording here. We get a lot of fundraising emails (more on that in a second) and they're all basically a pitch. That goes for Mr. Trump's emails too. Campaigns need money--you have to ask for it.
We found the Breitbart Must Be Destroyed here (assuming it's legit--we don't trust the source too much). It wasn't too bad. The Daily Caller was maybe overstating the case a little bit.
BUT THEN...
As we said, we get onto a LOT of mailing lists for the campaigns. We've even used some of our technical expertise to get onto restricted mailing lists so we can get emails that don't go to the populace at large. That includes some heavy-duty donor-lists. Today--this morning--we got the OTHER Breitbart-Must-Die email. It doesn't look nearly so innocent. Here it is:
We do our email through an anonymous encrypted service. This is from Hillary's campaign. Note the customized name use (the name we signed up under).
Here's how it starts. Note that they have to tell their donors that THIS TIME, 538 is telling the truth. Also, we don't know what a QUANTUM PLATINUM donor-level is, but we think it's probably one of the $300,000 USD per plate people. Maybe higher.
Here's how it finishes:
This is a pretty direct threat. It's a threat to Breitbart and it's a threat to Clinton's big-money donors. If you were wondering why no one really wanted to get into a race against Hillary, this is why. We're working on a leak inside the Clinton Campaign's email machine that promises to be VERY revealing! Stay tuned!
NOTE: We got a follow-up email which is posted here--which was cleaned up some. We are trying to determine the veracity of this. It appears that someone at Hillary HQ may have tried to recall the first one and then, when that failed, sent a second version. This lends credibility to our theory that the sender may have been Hillary herself--and she might be suffering from some kind of dysphasia as suspected!Men carry the coffin of a soldier, killed a day earlier on the Sinai Peninsula, during a funeral in 10th of Ramadan city, north of Cairo, in July. Islamic State-affiliated militants claimed responsibility for the attack. (Fayed El-Geziry/AP)
Egyptian security forces are finding themselves increasingly bogged down in their four-year fight against an Islamic State affiliate in the northern Sinai Peninsula, despite billions of dollars in U.S. counterterrorism aid. The struggle has cost the lives of hundreds of police officers and soldiers, including at least 20 in the past week.
On Monday, at least 18 policemen were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car near their security convoy. The attack, near the heavily patrolled North Sinai provincial capital of Arish, was followed by clashes as other militants opened fire, a military spokesman said.
The Islamic State affiliate, known as Wilayat Sinai, asserted responsibility for the attack, claiming that the bomber "plunged himself into six of their vehicles and blasted his car." The militants also destroyed several military vehicles, as well an ambulance and a firetruck.
Two days later, two soldiers were killed in a gun battle after militants staged a failed assault on a security checkpoint in North Sinai, a military spokesman said. Again, the Islamic State asserted responsibility.
"We see this attack that is supposedly in a completely secure area, and it claims 18 lives," said Mohannad Sabry, the author of a book on the Islamist insurgency in Sinai. "It's a signal that things are still not really under control."
Similar violence has unfolded every few weeks in recent months, underscoring the insurgency's resilience, as well as its ability to mount complex, multilayered attacks using the local terrain to its advantage.
[Egypt’s upheaval has transformed much of Sinai into a no-go zone]
Since July 2013, at least 1,000 members of the security forces have been killed in terrorist attacks across the restive Sinai Peninsula, according to data compiled by the nonprofit Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy. In 2017, more than 200 members of the security forces have been killed there.
Wilayat Sinai alone has claimed more than 800 attacks across Egypt since its pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State in November 2014, said Nancy Okail, the Tahrir Institute's executive director. Egyptian security forces, she added, have killed more than 2,500 suspected terrorists in operations in Sinai since 2013, although unofficial numbers reported by local media are significantly higher.
Although there have been fewer terrorist attacks this year than last, the number of fatalities has risen, Okail said. That suggests the militants are planning their operations more strategically and with the intent of creating maximum carnage, according to analysts.
With the Islamic State nearing defeat in Iraq and Syria, its affiliates are asserting themselves in other parts of the world, from North Africa to Afghanistan to the Philippines. The militant group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, has penetrated the mountains of Tunisia and maintains a robust presence in Libya, despite the loss of its stronghold of Sirte last year.
In northern Sinai, Islamic State-linked militants are leading the Islamist insurgency launched in the summer of 2013 after Egypt's military overthrew the elected Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi. The coup was led by the current president, Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, and the insurgency's stated goal is to topple his government.
The Islamic State has also increasingly targeted Egypt's Coptic Christians, who make up roughly 10 percent of the country's 94 million people. The tactic appears designed to sow further division, turning Egyptians against the Sissi government, which has failed to protect the minority community.
[After Egypt church bombings, Israel closes southern border with Sinai]
In 2015, the Islamic State affiliate in Sinai asserted responsibility for the downing of a Russian passenger plane after it took off from the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. That attack, which killed all 224 people aboard, hit Egypt's economy hard; Russia halted civilian flights to the country, and Britain and other nations stopped airlines from flying to Sharm el-Sheikh.
Monday's attack came two months after Islamic State militants killed at least 23 soldiers at a remote outpost near Rafah, the Egyptian town bordering the Gaza Strip, in the deadliest attack on security forces in two years.
Heba Farouk Mahfouz contributed to this report.
Read more:
Christians flee Sinai Peninsula in fear of Egypt’s Islamic State affiliate
As ISIS roils neighboring Sinai, Israel keeps this border highway empty
Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign newsFrank Lloyd Wright designed some of the world's most celebrated buildings, but even they, in some cases, fall victim to the ravages of time, neglect, and disaster. Buffalo, New York's Larkin Administration Building, one of the architect’s most renowned creations, was razed in 1950. The Rose Pauson House, an organic desert getaway in Phoenix, Arizona, burned down one year after Wright completed it in 1942.
But they've recently risen again. Not in drawings or photographs, but a series of hyperrealistic renderings painstakingly crafted by Spanish architect David Romero. “3D tools serve for precisely this reason—to be able to see that which does not exist,” he says
Romero used a powerful combination of Autocad, 3dsMax, Vray, PhotoShop and a long list of plug-ins to create the images. His models nail the lighting, exude just enough depth, and display the perfect amount of rawness and texture—a welcome departure from the customary sheen in marketing visualizations. For research he combed Wright books and web sites, and collected valuable feedback from the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy and its online forums.
The results look exquisite. Romero's version of Larkin’s 5-story, red-brick and pink-mortar facade jumps out at you in three dimensions, its strong lines, layered masses, and intricate friezes standing in modern contrast to the old-fashioned automobile and cobblestone streets below it. Inside, natural light floods through its blond, glass-topped atrium. It’s impossible not to marvel at Wright’s geometric furniture, light fixtures, and detailing.
David Romero
Pauson, in contrast, is the ultimate embodiment of its desert surroundings. Its low-lying field stone and plank wood walls seem to grow from the desert itself; its large vertical windows frame views of the rock-littered mountains all around. The same materials exist inside, where the space feels light, airy, and modern, yet also vaguely cave-like and prehistoric.
Romero also produced a rendering of Wright’s unbuilt, spaceship-esque Trinity Chapel in Norman, Oklahoma, and he’s working on designs of Wright’s abandoned Ocotillo Desert Camp in Scottsdale, Arizona. If he can find enough time away from work as a renderer for a Spanish engineering company, he’d like to recreate the lost work of other Modern architects, like Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, and Mies van der Rohe, along with ancient monuments like the temples of Mesopotamia.
Romero says his main goals are to draw attention to the thousands of exceptional buildings—new and old—under threat today, and to inspire others to reconstruct the past with modern tools. “I find it curious that, even with the number of people who today work professionally in the world of architectural visualization, there are very few initiatives like mine,” Romero says. What’s missing, he says, is funding.
One such effort, a competition last year called Project Soane, encouraged designers to digitally recreate Sir John Soane’s Bank of England, a 19th Century Neoclassical wonder demolished in the 1920s. (Historians have called its destruction the greatest architectural crime of the 20th Century.) The contest, conceived by Graham Wyatt, a partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects, attracted more than 80 submissions, many creating stunningly realistic depictions of the building, with its temple-like detailing and soaring glass rotunda. Tech giants like HP and Nvidia sponsored. Perhaps there is enough interest—from designers and financial backers, alike—to revive buildings from all over the world.As we celebrate Black History month, the HIV/AIDS community pays honor to a life and contribution of Junie Tate Sugar, an advocate for HIV/AIDS, and Transgender, who was found at dead on the job on Jan. 31, according to reports.
Tate began her work on HIV/AIDS in the late 1980s and later became HIV Prevention/Education program coordinator for Neighborhood House of North Richmond.
Tate was a role model. She said her main goal in life was to demonstrate to other Transgender women there is “Hope for them, too, and that they also can achieve success in any working field they choose.”
Tate was a member of Bay Area African American State of Emergency Coalition/Black Treatment Advocacy Network (BASE/BTAN), and she was the first Transgender woman to sit on the executive committee of the Contra Costa County Consortium.
There are two memorials scheduled:
Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1 pm, at Harmony Missionary Baptist Church, 108 17th street, Richmond; Friday, Feb. 28 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Neighborhood House of North Richmond, 820 23rd St.
For information call Jesse Brooks (510) 575-8245 or email [email protected]The epicenter of this shift from being progressive or liberal to being neo-Marxist, neo-fascist, and subversive of too many established social, political, and economic norms began in the 1960s. Conceptual and practical shifts, especially in the philosophy of education, merged with other developments both in the anti-Vietnam War movement and in the burgeoning drug culture.
The Democratic Party has morphed over time from being a party that was pro-labor; anti-greed; and, via the New Deal, a supporter of demand-side Keynesian economics to being the party that is against "The System" and anti-capitalist. Instead of upholding national goals and national identity, it has taken the side of tribalism, where identity politics is the end-all and be-all.
During the sixties, Jonathan Kozol came out with a book Death at An Early Age, about his experiences teaching for one year in the Boston public schools. His conclusion was that much more money had to be spent to uplift the schools. This philosophy – if you can even call it a philosophy – became his personal hobby horse for decades. And it still is a mantra among liberal circles, only now liberals have morphed into a radicalized leftist agenda that goes a lot farther than the liberals of that earlier period. Throwing excessive amounts of money at social and economic problems has become a norm – and it has not worked.
Kozol's call for reform became hooked into the human potential movement and built on the idea that a different attitude toward and relationship between the teacher and student could get results that "traditional education" could not attain. So these two streams – throwing more money at the schools via per pupil expenditures and tinkering with traditional teaching modalities – began to merge. Howard Gardner's "multiple intelligences" found traction despite the lack of studies supporting it, and the realistic understanding that some people were smarter than others was gradually diluted by the centrality of self-esteem and need for more "cooperative learning" (presumably opposed to traditional "competitive learning").
Fritz Perls was a leading spokesman for gestalt learning. Here, the idea was to get away from discrete facts, and to develop our capacity to see reality as a whole rather than in a factual and limited way. He succeeded marvelously. There are now millions of students in high schools and colleges who will tell you that whites, especially white males, are inherently racist. Ask them how they know this, and they will only be too happy to tell you: look how Columbus treated the Indians, and we had slavery for hundreds of years. That's gestalt!
Then throw into the mix the anti-authority and anti-American pounding the left was giving the USA during the Vietnam War. This played on the fear of high school students in particular of being drafted into the army and being sent to risk their lives in the jungles of Vietnam. Their basic fear – or shall we say unpatriotic cowardice? – now became rationalized as a righteous antagonism against a wicked, self-serving government. The antiwar advocates portrayed the "hawks" of both parties as people whose irrational anti-communist agenda had caused them to lose perspective.
SDS and other antiwar groups claimed that the power-trippers of both parties were so obsessed with their rigid and irrational anti-communism that they ignored the legitimate need of the Vietnam people for unity and for self-governance after years of colonial subservience to the French. For SDS and other activist groups, communism was not the threat our pro-war leaders proposed; instead, we had to recognize that Ho Chi Minh was a national hero of the Vietnamese people who had their best interest in mind. Communism is just another name for freedom in the Vietnamese context, and not the political bogeyman our warlords were trying to make it.
From being the heroic saviors of Europe in WWII and of Korea in the early fifties, we found ourselves internally being portrayed by the antiwar militants as demonic exploiters of the Vietnamese people and a force for no good in Southeast Asia.
Thus, as noted, liberal blame of our educational institutions for student failure to learn, and blame of society for its unwillingness to sufficiently support education, expanded to connect with the human potential movement. Then those two streams intersected with the intense anti-authority stream of the antiwar movement. These three streams in turn converged with a fourth that also began in the 1960s – namely, the counter-culture embrace of the expanding drug culture. In that culture, not only was "weed" king, but a new hallucinogenic drug, LSD, was being used by increasing numbers of high school students, as well as college undergraduates and graduate students.
Use of this drug was promoted by Richard Alpert and Timothy Leary. Both had begun their careers as Harvard professors who promoted the use of LSD on the Harvard campus, at which point they were fired. They were portrayed by their supporters as modern-day Socrateses – like Socrates, persecuted for corrupting the youth while actually freeing the youth from the bondage of their own middle-class, commercially oriented mindsets.
This writer was personally informed by a friend who had taken 75 "trips" on LSD that it freed one from his ego and fixed ideas of "reality" and opened the door to an alternate universe. After his 75 "trips," my friend had to be straitjacketed and forcibly removed from his apartment to be incarcerated for drug withdrawal and observation at Massachusetts General Hospital for 45 days.
As these four streams of antisocial and anti-authority ideology converged, they became a raging river, lasting until our very day. That raging river is called "We Hate The System."
What is "The System"? The system is the entire legal and economic structure that can be designated as capitalism combined with the legal and political structures of law roughly called "constitutionalism." Constitutionalism includes (1) federalism, which balances the respective authority of the states and the federal government; (2) checks and balances among the three branches of government – legislative, executive, and judicial; and (3) the sociological unity founded on the more vaguely stated, yet nonetheless real, premises of one nation under God; protection of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and the abiding presence of natural and inalienable rights. In this conceptual troika, personal liberty and responsibility are forever intertwined. Both the law and the individual receive total respect, and each complements the other.
Thus, we can see over the 50 years, from the mid-sixties to the present, that we are facing an attack on our cultural, political, social, legal, and economic identity. The attack has been embraced not merely by demonstrators or by an immature counter-culture. Rather, it has been embraced substantially by one of our two political parties. Dark and difficult days lie ahead as we struggle to maintain the viability of the institutions we need and love.What is lab-grown meat?
This is one of those occasions where the term really is self-explanatory. While your standard steak, chicken drumstick or pork chop is originally farmed from an animal that is killed for its meat, lab-grown meat cuts out the animal completely and grows muscle cells extracted from the animal in the laboratory for a slaughter-free meal.
In theory, anyway. Although the first lab-grown burger was eaten all the way back in 2013, it did come at a cost of £215,000, which exceeds the majority of the world’s weekly food budget by some margin.
Video of Cultured Beef (culturedbeef.net)
The cost has come down considerably in the years since, and last year the price was closer to £50 per kg. That’s still a lot – beef mince is around £2.50 per kg, but given Wagyu beef can go as high as £195 per kg, we’re getting close – and it could be on the menu by 2020.
£50 per kg? So lab-grown meat tastes good, right?
Uh. I’ve not personally tried it (but I wouldn’t say no, if given the chance), but early feedback on the world’s first lab-grown burger wasn’t exactly a five star TripAdvisor review:
“There is quite some intense taste,” said food scientist Hanni Rützler. “It is close to meat, but it is not juicy.”
“This is kind of an unnatural experience, because I can't tell you how many times in the last 20 years I've had a hamburger without ketchup,” said author Josh Schonwald.
“The texture, the mouthfeel, has a feel like meat,” he added. “The absence is the fat. It's a leanness to it. The bite feels like a conventional hamburger.”
Yeah, the lack of fat. The earliest lab-grown burger was fat-free, like no beef on the planet, so it’s unsurprising that it tasted slightly foreign. We’ve come a decent way in three years.
Why do we need lab-grown meat?
Just because we’ve been eating meat in the world since the year dot doesn’t mean it’s desirable. As demand has grown and populations swelled, it’s gone from being a personal moral choice to a real, global problem.
Video of Google burger: Sergey Brin explains why he funded world's first lab-grown beef hamburger
It’s broadly an environmental and sustainability issue: global meat farming contributes around 18% of our greenhouse gases, and the gases it puts out in serious quantities – methane (40% of our total) and nitrous oxide (65% of our total) – are significantly worse for the climate than common or garden carbon dioxide. Around 300 times worse, in the case of the latter.
Away from the hidden pollution problem of livestock, there’s a far more visible issue: industrial farming uses up a huge amount of both space and resources. This 2003 report from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition is pretty damning on the subject, explaining that farm animals in America consume seven times more grain than the people living in the same country – enough to feed around 840 million people. On top of that, the report explains that 25 kilocalories worth of fossil fuel energy are consumed in order to make one kilocalorie of meat protein, and meat also needs 100 times more water than the equivalent weight in grain. It’s not clear how big the environmental foodprint of lab-grown meat will be yet, but it would be shocking if it were anywhere near as bad as industrial farming.
The problem is partly one of scale, but it’s only going to get worse. These issues weren’t a big deal when the population was small and meat was something only the very rich could afford (ignoring the massive equality issue for one moment), because the animals of the world weren’t as significant a hog on resources and as big a part of climate change. However, as factory farming has pushed the cost of meat down (along with the wellbeing of animals), and previously poor economies’ populations begin to eat meat, the problem becomes far more significant. China and India represent nearly 40% of the world’s total population between them, and meat eating is growing rapidly as living standards rise. China went from an average of 13kg of meat per person in 1982 to consuming 71 million tonnes per year in 2012. That simply isn’t sustainable. If demand increases at this rate, animal welfare will get (even) worse and the price will skyrocket, suddenly making the expense of lab-grown meat that bit more appealing.
And while it’s not a “need” exactly, there’s a significant body of people who believe either eating meat is wrong or that factory farming is cruel, or both. These issues are neatly sidestepped by meat that involves no pain to animals.
Wait, does that mean vegetarians can eat lab-grown meat?
Not all vegetarians are clamouring to eat meat, of course, but depending on their reasons, very possibly. Lab-grown meat does, after all, remove the big problem animal rights activists have with carnivorous diets: that it involves the slaughter of living things.
Not everyone is convinced of this, however. Not only because lab-grown meat wouldn’t replace the meat industry (not right away in any case), but it could actually be counter-intuitive and get more people eating meat – very much the cause they are opposed to. There’s also the risk that lab-grown meat could create demand for real, authentic meat, and make it a more desirable product compared to the “imitation” stuff.
And, of course, lab-grown meat is still meat – there are not just dietary reasons why a lifelong vegetarian may find it less than appetising, but it is still the result of animal suffering. Just significantly less animal suffering than current farming methods.
Ethics aside, unless you’re a vegetarian who would be all over eating meat if it weren’t for the killing involved, Mark Post – the researcher who led Maastricht University’s lab-grown meat project – suggests vegetarians stay that way. “Quite frankly, vegetarians should remain vegetarians, that's better for the environment than cultured beef. We're aiming toward beef eaters that want to eat beef in a more environmental and ethical way. But the vegetarians should remain vegetarians, it's better for the environment.”
Video of Cultured Beef Process How is lab-grown meat made?
The process of making lab-grown meat isn’t exactly pleasant, but hey, neither is the inside of an abattoir. Here are the details, in the case of the burger. Scientists are already working on other animals, including chickens.
Stem cells are taken from cow muscle tissue and then cultured with nutrients and chemicals to encourage them to grow and multiply. Three weeks later, you have over a million stem cells, which are then moved to dishes where they form small strips of muscle around a centimetre long.
Layer them together, mix them with fat and add some colour and your meal is served.
What are the alternatives to lab-grown meat?
Aside from the whole planet embracing vegetarianism or actively reducing meat consumption? Well, there’s one interesting solution, but it might be even harder to stomach than meat grown in a laboratory: eating insects.
Even the United Nations is behind this idea. Pound for pound, insects can provide a source of protein similar to minced beef – 28.2 grams from 100g of caterpillars to 100g of beef, for example. Insects also reproduce quickly and naturally take up considerably less natural resources than full scale cattle farms. Already, around two billion people eat insects in some form or other (not just those who accidently inhale spiders in their sleep), so it’s not completely unheard of. The UN does concede that “consumer disgust” is the biggest barrier to mass adoption, though.
Is lab-grown meat more acceptable, or are we more likely to blindly continue mass farming?
READ NEXT: Taking on climate change with technology
Images: David Parry / PA Wire, while photographs from Stiina, Robert Couse-Baker and Flavio Ensiki are used under Creative CommonsGAELIC GAMES:The ash dieback problem has the GAA authorities on high alert, writes IAN O'RIORDAN
The already clear and present danger of a sudden and potentially complete devastation of the ash tree continues to leave the GAA on high alert – and they’re not the only ones.
Although highly valued in various guises, the ash tree in the Irish context has long been associated with the manufacture of hurleys, not least because of the irreplaceably unique properties of the wood itself. In the worst case scenario, even the likes of Henry Shefflin and Joe Canning might find themselves looking towards the synthetic hurl, as strange as that might feel.
It’s just over a month since the first reported Irish case of Chalara fraxinea – more commonly known as ash dieback, a rampant, fungal disease that can effectively spread like wildfire. Around 35,000 imported ash saplings have now been destroyed, starting at a forest in Leitrim, then four other sites, after the entire consignment was traced back to the Netherlands.
The problem is drifting westward from continental Europe, with 90 per cent of Denmark’s ash population already wiped out, and reports too that the disease is now “out of control” in the UK, where there are 80 million ash trees. Over the weekend came further reports of the first outbreak of ash dieback in Northern Ireland, at five separate sites in Down and Antrim, where notice of destruction has been served.
Governments across Europe have reacted accordingly; the Department of Agriculture here last week passing legislation to ban the import of all young ash plants and seeds from any infected area, extending that to a ban on any ash wood not already de-barked and sufficiently dried.
“That recognition, and realisation, is |
poem later that year, had to reprint 400,000 copies of all her books to keep up with the demand. They sold more of her books in January 1993 than they did in all of 1992, accounting for a 1200% increase.[145] Angelou famously said, in response to criticism regarding using the details of her life in her work, "I agree with Balzac and 19th-century writers, black and white, who say, 'I write for money'."[73] Younge, speaking after the publication of Angelou's third book of essays, Letter to My Daughter (2008), has said, "For the last couple of decades she has merged her various talents into a kind of performance art—issuing a message of personal and social uplift by blending poetry, song and conversation."[11]
Angelou's books, especially I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, have been criticized by many parents, causing their removal from school curricula and library shelves. According to the National Coalition Against Censorship, parents and schools have objected to Caged Bird's depictions of lesbianism, premarital cohabitation, pornography, and violence.[146] Some have been critical of the book's sexually explicit scenes, use of language, and irreverent depictions of religion.[147] Caged Bird appeared third on the American Library Association (ALA) list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 and sixth on the ALA's 2000–2009 list.[148][149]
Awards and honors
Angelou was honored by universities, literary organizations, government agencies, and special interest groups. Her honors included a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her book of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie,[139] a Tony Award nomination for her role in the 1973 play Look Away, and three Grammys for her spoken word albums.[150][151] She served on two presidential committees,[134][152] and was awarded the Spingarn Medal in 1994,[153] the National Medal of Arts in 2000,[154] and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.[155] Angelou was awarded over fifty honorary degrees.[3]
Uses in education
Angelou's autobiographies have been used in narrative and multicultural approaches in teacher education. Jocelyn A. Glazier, a professor at George Washington University, has trained teachers how to "talk about race" in their classrooms with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Gather Together in My Name. According to Glazier, Angelou's use of understatement, self-mockery, humor, and irony have left readers of Angelou's autobiographies unsure of what she left out and how they should respond to the events she described. Angelou's depictions of her experiences of racism have forced white readers to either explore their feelings about race and their own "privileged status", or to avoid the discussion as a means of keeping their privilege. Glazier found that critics have focused on the way Angelou fits within the genre of African-American autobiography and on her literary techniques, but readers have tended to react to her storytelling with "surprise, particularly when [they] enter the text with certain expectations about the genre of autobiography".[156]
Educator Daniel Challener, in his 1997 book Stories of Resilience in Childhood, analyzed the events in Caged Bird to illustrate resiliency in children. He argued that Angelou's book has provided a "useful framework" for exploring the obstacles many children like Maya have faced and how their communities have helped them succeed.[157] Psychologist Chris Boyatzis has reported using Caged Bird to supplement scientific theory and research in the instruction of child development topics such as the development of self-concept and self-esteem, ego resilience, industry versus inferiority, effects of abuse, parenting styles, sibling and friendship relations, gender issues, cognitive development, puberty, and identity formation in adolescence. He found Caged Bird a "highly effective" tool for providing real-life examples of these psychological concepts.[158]
Poetry
Angelou is best known for her seven autobiographies, but she was also a prolific and successful poet. She was called "the black woman's poet laureate", and her poems have been called the anthems of African Americans.[144] Angelou studied and began writing poetry at a young age, and used poetry and other great literature to cope with her rape as a young girl, as described in Caged Bird.[18] According to scholar Yasmin Y. DeGout, literature also affected Angelou's sensibilities as the poet and writer she became, especially the "liberating discourse that would evolve in her own poetic canon".[159]
Many critics consider Angelou's autobiographies more important than her poetry.[160] Although all her books have been best-sellers, her poetry has not been perceived to be as serious as her prose and has been understudied.[5] Her poems were more interesting when she recited and performed them, and many critics emphasized the public aspect of her poetry.[161] Angelou's lack of critical acclaim has been attributed to both the public nature of many of her poems and to Angelou's popular success, and to critics' preferences for poetry as a written form rather than a verbal, performed one.[162] Zofia Burr has countered Angelou's critics by condemning them for not taking into account Angelou's larger purposes in her writing: "to be representative rather than individual, authoritative rather than confessional".[163]
Style and genre in autobiographies
Angelou's use of fiction-writing techniques such as dialogue, characterization, and development of theme, setting, plot, and language has often resulted in the placement of her books into the genre of autobiographical fiction.[164] Angelou made a deliberate attempt in her books to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing, and expanding the genre.[165] Scholar Mary Jane Lupton argues that all of Angelou's autobiographies conform to the genre's standard structure: they are written by a single author, they are chronological, and they contain elements of character, technique, and theme.[166] Angelou recognizes that there are fictional aspects to her books; Lupton agrees, stating that Angelou tended to "diverge from the conventional notion of autobiography as truth",[167] which parallels the conventions of much of African-American autobiography written during the abolitionist period of U.S. history, when as both Lupton and African-American scholar Crispin Sartwell put it, the truth was censored out of the need for self-protection.[167][168] Scholar Lyman B. Hagen places Angelou in the long tradition of African-American autobiography, but claims that Angelou created a unique interpretation of the autobiographical form.[169]
According to African-American literature scholar Pierre A. Walker, the challenge for much of the history of African-American literature was that its authors have had to confirm its status as literature before they could accomplish their political goals, which was why Angelou's editor Robert Loomis was able to dare her into writing Caged Bird by challenging her to write an autobiography that could be considered "high art".[170] Angelou acknowledged that she followed the slave narrative tradition of "speaking in the first-person singular talking about the first-person plural, always saying I meaning 'we'".[134] Scholar John McWhorter calls Angelou's books "tracts"[140] that defend African-American culture and fight negative stereotypes. According to McWhorter, Angelou structured her books, which to him seem to be written more for children than for adults, to support her defense of black culture. McWhorter sees Angelou as she depicts herself in her autobiographies "as a kind of stand-in figure for the black American in Troubled Times".[140] McWhorter views Angelou's works as dated, but recognizes that "she has helped to pave the way for contemporary black writers who are able to enjoy the luxury of being merely individuals, no longer representatives of the race, only themselves".[171] Scholar Lynn Z. Bloom compares Angelou's works to the writings of Frederick Douglass, stating that both fulfilled the same purpose: to describe black culture and to interpret it for their wider, white audiences.[172]
According to scholar Sondra O'Neale, Angelou's poetry can be placed within the African-American oral tradition, and her prose "follows classic technique in nonpoetic Western forms".[173] O'Neale states that Angelou avoided using a "monolithic black language",[174] and accomplished, through direct dialogue, what O'Neale calls a "more expected ghetto expressiveness".[174] McWhorter finds both the language Angelou used in her autobiographies and the people she depicted unrealistic, resulting in a separation between her and her audience. As McWhorter states, "I have never read autobiographical writing where I had such a hard time summoning a sense of how the subject talks, or a sense of who the subject really is".[175] McWhorter asserts, for example, that key figures in Angelou's books, like herself, her son Guy, and mother Vivian do not speak as one would expect, and that their speech is "cleaned up" for her readers.[176] Guy, for example, represents the young black male, while Vivian represents the idealized mother figure, and the stiff language they use, as well as the language in Angelou's text, is intended to prove that blacks can use standard English competently.[177]
McWhorter recognizes that much of the reason for Angelou's style was the "apologetic" nature of her writing.[140] When Angelou wrote Caged Bird at the end of the 1960s, one of the necessary and accepted features of literature at the time was "organic unity", and one of her goals was to create a book that satisfied that criterion.[170] The events in her books were episodic and crafted like a series of short stories, but their arrangements did not follow a strict chronology. Instead, they were placed to emphasize the themes of her books, which include racism, identity, family, and travel. English literature scholar Valerie Sayers has asserted that "Angelou's poetry and prose are similar". They both rely on her "direct voice", which alternates steady rhythms with syncopated patterns and uses similes and metaphors (e.g., the caged bird).[178] According to Hagen, Angelou's works were influenced by both conventional literary and the oral traditions of the African-American community. For example, she referenced over 100 literary characters throughout her books and poetry.[179] In addition, she used the elements of blues music, including the act of testimony when speaking of one's life and struggles, ironic understatement, and the use of natural metaphors, rhythms, and intonations.[180] Angelou, instead of depending upon plot, used personal and historical events to shape her books.[181]
References
Explanatory notes
Citations
Works citedYou can’t understand the conflict without talking about natural gas
By Maj. Rob Taylor
Much of the media coverage suggests that the conflict in Syria is a civil war, in which the Alawite (Shia) Bashar al Assad regime is defending itself (and committing atrocities) against Sunni rebel factions (who are also committing atrocities). The real explanation is simpler: it is about money.
In 2009, Qatar proposed to run a natural gas pipeline through Syria and Turkey to Europe. Instead, Assad forged a pact with Iraq and Iran to run a pipeline eastward, allowing those Shia-dominated countries access to the European natural gas market while denying access to Sunni Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The latter states, it appears, are now attempting to remove Assad so they can control Syria and run their own pipeline through Turkey.
The standard Shia-Sunni conflict is little different from many other socio-ethnic-economic-political-religious (SEEPR) conflicts that originate in competition for resources, but in Syria it has a lucrative twist. The pattern of SEEPR control in Syria is similar to that in many other Middle Eastern and sub-Saharan Africa countries (and is arguably common in every country, but more so in traditional societies): Who controls the government controls the state’s resources, and by extension, the wealth derived from them. In Syria, the Sunnis have tried to unseat the Alawites ever since France installed them during the French mandate that ended in 1943. But now the stakes are higher, thanks to natural gas.
Any review of the current conflict in Syria that neglects the geopolitical economics of the region is incomplete. (Nearly all media reports fit this description.) Take “The Geopolitics of the Syrian Civil War,” published in January by STRATFOR’s Reva Bhalla, which provides an effective Syria-specific revision of Robert Kaplan’s “Geography Strikes Back,” complete with historical acuity, but without mentioning the pipeline. Reports such as these shed little light on current geopolitical economic developments that are at the heart of the issue. Oil and natural gas pipelines bring large amounts of wealth to states which control them, thus attracting international attention, intrigue, and in many instances, terrorist activity.
It is helpful to look at a similar situation: the GAAT region (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey), also known as the Caucasus. As proposals for an oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Europe took form, every power broker in the region struggled to influence the route, seeking the wealth that would flow to any country involved in the deal.
Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, a key Russian ally in the region, prevented the shortest pipeline route, through Armenia. The pipeline ultimately went west through Tbilisi and Ceyhan, but only after Moscow demanded and received a partial diversion pipeline that transports Azerbaijani oil north into Russia. In 2005, oil first flowed through the BTC Pipeline, so named because of its route from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, through Tbilisi, Georgia, and on to Ceyhan, Turkey.
But the pipeline’s completion hardly settled questions in the conflict-ridden Caucasus. Potential malcontents include factions from Armenia’s Nagorno-Karabakh region (backed by Armenia’s sponsors Russia and China), separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, and Turkey. In October 2012, an explosion damaged the pipeline in Turkey; although it remains unclear whether the blast was an accident, the PKK separatist group was quick to claim responsibility.
The potential for conflict in the Caucasus is so great that the U.S. Army uses it as the setting for capstone exercises at several of its service schools. Conducting several iterations each year at various locations, officers from all branches of the U.S. military, interagency community, and several international partners study coalition warfare using the Caucasus and its pipeline as a theater of operations. These field-grade officers study the general regional strategic implications of the pipeline’s development, including the controversy involved in its formation.
If the BTC pipeline is destabilizing enough to convince the world’s superpower military to plan key developmental exercises around it, the planned pipeline in Syria must have similar implications.
Viewed through a geopolitical and economic lens, the conflict in Syria is not a civil war, but the result of larger international players positioning themselves on the geopolitical chessboard in preparation for the opening of the pipeline in 2016. Assad’s pipeline decision, which could seal the natural gas advantage for the three Shia states, also demonstrates Russia’s links to Syrian petroleum and the region through Assad. Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as al Qaeda and other groups, are maneuvering to depose Assad and capitalize on their hoped-for Sunni conquest in Damascus. By doing this, they hope to gain a share of control over the “new” Syrian government, and a share in the pipeline wealth.
The main point for decisionmakers is that the upcoming pipeline increases the geopolitical stakes surrounding the Syrian conflict. The tremendous wealth from the natural gas flow, enough to transform regional economies, has drawn in competing regional players from both ideologies. Analyses that include the pipeline make Syria look a lot like the Caucasus scenario playing out in real time, and they provide reliable information on which to base international decisions. Reports that disregard the pipeline and its geopolitical implications ignore the elephant in the room.
Army Maj. Rob Taylor is an instructor at the Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth. The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.Information Japanese name 一反木綿 Romanized name Ittan-Momen Meaning One bolt(tan) of cotton Type Tsukumogami Places Kagoshima Prefecture
The Ittan-Momen (一反木綿 or いったんもめん, Ittan-Momen) is the tsukumogami form of a possessed roll of cotton, that flies through the night often attacking people and trying to smother them by wrapping itself around their faces or mouths. Most has been handed down to the Kagoshima Osumi district.
Description Edit
Ittan-momen is a long, narrow sheet of cloth normally used to make clothes, but reanimated with the spirit of a tsukumogami. They are native to Kagoshima, and can be seen flying through the sky at night, occasionally attacking people.
Ittan-momen attack by wrapping their bodies around a person’s face and neck, strangling or smothering them to death. As far as tsukumogami go, they are fairly malicious and often dangerous or deadly instead of simply mischievous.
Gallery Edit
References EditIf you are reading tutorials on Mactuts+, or on the computing section of hub.tutsplus.com, then you’re likely either a Mac owner wanting to learn more, or you are looking to get into Macs.
And why not, a Mac running OS X is an enjoyable experience that makes work that little bit easier and pleasure, well, more pleasurable I suppose?
Previously, we have looked at the best places to purchase a new Mac. In this tutorial it’s slightly different in that I’ll be giving you tips on the best times to buy a brand new Mac.
Black Friday
Black Friday is regarded as the start of the Christmas shopping season, in America, falling on the day after Thanksgiving (which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November).
Many major retailers open very early and offer promotional sales to kick-start the holiday shopping season, a similar idea to the Boxing Day sales, in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world, that start on the day after Christmas.
As with many American ideas, the concept of Black Friday is crossing the Atlantic and is beginning to be recognised in the United Kingdom, especially with large retailers such as Apple and Amazon.
This means that Black Friday is the one day of the year that you can purchase Apple products, either from an Apple Store or via the Apple website, at a discount on the normal retail price.
Black Friday - Apple's one day sale
This is significant. Apart from education and some business sales, Apple does not discount the retail price of its products. Except for Black Friday. This is because discounting the price of a product also discounts the perception of the value of that product, in the minds of the consumer, and Apple does not aim its products as the expectations of mass market consumers. Remember the “race to the bottom” with netbooks?
That said, the discounts that Apple gives on Black Friday are not massive. Indeed, they are quite modest, and not all products are given the discount treatment.
As a rule, don’t expect any discounted prices on the iPhone – Apple never has done so, before.
In December 2012, for example, Apple offered the new iPad (iPad 4) with Retina display for $458 compared to its normal selling price of $499 which is a modest discount of around eight per cent.
Deals are usually also available on iPods. The $299 iPod Touch was available for $268, in December 2012.
To get three-digit deals, you need to be looking at the Macs where an 11-inch MacBook Air was available for $898, down from the normal retail price of $999.
If you are buying a brand new Apple device in November, then it’s probably worth ensuring that you purchase it on Black Friday. You’ll make a saving compared to purchasing the same item on any other day.
Christmas 0% Finance
If you miss the Black Friday deals, you may be best advised to wait until after Christmas – especially if you reside in the United Kingdom.
Normally starting in early December, and ending in early January, Apple’s UK website normally runs a 0%-interest promotion that generates a lot of interest!
Apple’s offer is very straightforward. Spread the cost of your purchase over ten months and pay in ten equal instalments. There are no set-up fees, for the credit, and there is zero interest to pay. If you purchase a £949 MacBook Air 13", you pay an intial £94.90 followed by a further nine monthly payments of £94.90.
There is a minimum spend of £429 required, however, to take advantage of the offer and you must place your order on Apple’s UK website.
Apple seasonal 0% finance offer
Affiliate schemes
If you have missed, or can’t wait, for Black Friday and Apple’s nought-percent finance offer, then it may still be possible to snag yourself a discount.
Well, it’s more of a cashback than a discount, but it does mean that you get a small percentage reduction on the cost of a new Mac. It’s not immediate, you could wait up to four months for the cashback. Nor is it guaranteed, that said I have never had an issue being paid this way.
To take advantage of a modest discount, in the order of 1–3%, visit an affiliate scheme such as Quidco. Go via their website to visit Apple and complete your purchase and, some time later, you’ll get the cashback.
Affiliate schemes
Tip: Do read the instructions to ensure that you understand the scheme clearly. There are some reasons that the cashback might not pay out (ie: trying to combine cashback with other offers)
Apple’s All-Year Sale
If you are not too concerned about getting the latest and greatest, are prepared to bide your time and don’t mind checking regularly – as the stock does change daily – then Apple’s Refurbished Mac store could be what you are looking for.
A discount of 37% from Apple! With one-year Apple warranty.
In fact, you can pretty much forget Black Friday and Apple’s 0% finance (the latter is not available on refurbished products), this is where the unicorns are: Apple products at double-digit discounts!
Located in a menu option in the sidebar of Apple’s website is their Refurbished Mac store. This is where Apple sells refurbished products at discounts of up to 33%, sometimes more.
Coming with the same warranty cover as regular Apple kit, this is where price-astute, tech-savvy Apple fans buy their kit.
Double-digit discount percentages from Apple.
What’s more, you can combine this with Quidco affiliate cashback for an even bigger saving. Bonus!
Working Out the Best Times to Buy a Mac
So far, I’ve measured the best time to buy a Mac in terms of price and how to get a discount. It should be acknowledged that the best time to purchase a Mac is not always defined by price alone.
An important consideration, of which any prospective Mac-purchaser should be aware, is that of the product cycle.
This is the old Mac Pro. Don't buy. A new one is imminent.
Apple tends to introduce a product, give it a “speed bump” every year or so, and then give the product a major refresh after a few years. Well, in general terms, anyway; it’s not an exact science.
One of the worst things that can happen is you save up your money and purchase a brand new, shiny Mac. Why not, you deserve it. Then, within a couple of weeks, a newer, shinier, faster model with more features is launched. Immediately your new Mac becomes the “old” model.
To avoid the potential of this happening, any savvy Mac buyer should be keeping an eye on the MacRumors Buyers’ Guide.
By employing a simple traffic light system – of red, amber and green – you can quickly see whether a given Apple product has been refreshed recently.
Green would suggest it has and, consequently, it would be a good time to buy. Amber suggests that the product is mid-cycle and you may want to consider your purchase before going for it. Red suggests that the product has not been refreshed for some time and that you might want to consider holding out for the product refresh, unless your purchase is unavoidable or otherwise required.
As I alluded, earlier, it’s not an exact science. MacRumors bases its recommendations on the number of days since the last refresh compared the the average number of days Apple has taken to refresh that particular product.
The problem with this approach is that Apple does not release each product to a calendar you can determine. Having previously launched iPads in the March/April part of the year, Apple unexpectedly made available the new iPad (iPad 4) in the October of 2012. It is now thought that this product has switched from an end-Q1 to a beginning-Q4 product cycle. In reality who, outside of Apple, really knows?
Use MacRumors Buyers' Guide as a guide.
The MacRumors Buyers' Guide.
Conclusion
The right time to buy a new Mac will, ultimately, depend upon the requirements of you: the buyer. Are you price-sensitive, are you looking for a discount, do you want the best possible specification, the latest Machine?
Whatever your requirements, in this tutorial I have shown you some different things that you should be considering when purchasing new Apple kit. Perhaps you have other tips that you can offer? If so, please do so in the comments, below.Timings and schedule
Work should take approximately 6 weeks
Updates of the process, photos and videos will be tweeted and blogged and posted on the Kickstarter updates page, along with video evidence of our work on the car. Be sure to follow us!
What your donations will cover and why we need £20,000 for this project to get the green light!
What are we going to do with the car?
We plan to take it on tour and contact lego or mini if they would like to display it at a venue or even try and contact an art museum!
Contact! info and more! keep up to date!
Our Twitter! https://twitter.com/LegoMiniCooper
Contact us via email! legominicooper@gmail.com
How should we design the car? Click here!
Thank you for your time! TheKeeneFamily!
Your Pledges will get:
Keep up to date! :
£3 you’ll get a big thank you to your email inbox and a shout out tweet saying ‘thank you’ also a mention on our email and photograph updates of the car in progress and pictures of the making!. A HD picture of the finished car will be sent straight to your email!
Become a collector! :
£5 will get you a unique postcard of the finished masterpiece with a thank you note. These are guaranteed to be a collector’s item when it gets world famous!
You’ll also receive:
The tweet
Email updates – Of the car in progress and pictures of the making!
And a big thank you! Straight to your email!
The Video a mini documentary! :
£10 you’ll receive a unique insight into the creation process with a mini documentary video of the process.
You’ll also receive:
The postcard
The tweet
Email updates – Of the car in progress and pictures of the making!
And a big thank you! Straight to your email!
Handmade goodies! :
£15 we are excited to share with you our fantastic handmade Lego earrings or a necklace – quirky and eye-catching, they’re sure to capture admirers!
You’ll also receive:
The postcard
The tweet
Email updates – Of the car in progress and pictures of the making!
And a big thank you! Straight to your email!
The bumper pack! :
£20 this is a bumper pack and a fantastic deal – for your generosity of £20 you’ll be rewarded with Lego earrings AND a necklace, why not pledge that £5 more for both!
You’ll also receive:
The postcard
The tweet
Email updates – Of the car in progress and pictures of the making!
And a big thank you! Straight to your email!
Mouse mat or notepad
£35 get your hands on a unique mouse mat or notepad! With a picture of the finished car and spread the story (with it sitting proudly at your office desk!) of the amazing project that YOU played a part in being made to happen!
You’ll also receive:
The postcard
The tweet
Email updates – Of the car in progress and pictures of the making!
And a big thank you! Straight to your email!
Mug or T-shirt
£45 mug or T-shirt. Switch the kettle on love! This contribution will get you a unique mug (or t-shirt if you’d prefer) of the finished Lego car photograph… your morning cuppa won’t be the same again as you sip away remembering the successful project you gave so kindly to.
You’ll also receive:
The postcard
The tweet
Email updates – Of the car in progress and pictures of the making!
And a Lots of love! With a Thank you to your email!
Mug or T-shirt with the dvd!
£55 mug or t-shirt and video process, same same but different – again you have the choice of mug or T-Shirt but this time along with the video process.
You’ll also receive:
The postcard
The tweet
Email updates – Of the car in progress and pictures of the making!
And a HUGE thank you! Straight to your email!
ALERT ALERT ALERT
£60 - Wanna see the car - open event
Wanna See,touch and smell the car then this is the perfect reward for you! after the car is finished you will be invited to see the project at a open event! where Thekeenefamily will be there, we can discus business or the car! go ahead and bring a friend or the whole family! there will be some snacks and drinks! Travel not payed for :(
Two for the price of one!
£75 mug AND T-Shirt. Be our biggest fan, spreading the joy, wonder and marvelous project that is the Lego covered Mini Cooper in a wonderful t-shirt with the finished car on it! Bound to be a talking point for many years to come, you’ll get to wear the success of the project everywhere you go.
You’ll also receive:
The postcard
The tweet
Email updates – Of the car in progress and pictures of the making!
And a SUPER BIG thank you! Straight to your email!
And a ticket to the open event!
MEGA PACKAGE!
£150 the first in the line of the MEGA PACKAGE, for your kindness and support in making history, you’ll get a t-shirt, mouse mat and notepad, plus the homemade necklace and earrings and video process. Along with our other thank you bits and bobs – the postcard, email and tweets! You’ll look like our biggest fan with all of the Lego covered car paraphernalia! also a ticket to the open event!
Amazing portrait!
£200 this is where things get snazzy! Designer and project co-ordinator Alex Keene will be making a unique, one-of-a-kind Lego portrait 15x15inches - designed specifically for contributors for the project. Put it up in your front room and marvel at the gift that your generosity was rewarded with!
You’ll also receive:
The postcard
The tweet
Email updates – Of the car in progress and pictures of the making!
Also the! DVD!
And a big thank you! Straight to your email!
And a ticket to the open event!
An ever more Amazing portrait!
£300 just as before, this is also a unique, one of a kind Lego portrait but this time it’s 30x15 inches – even more impressive and an eye catching addition to your home! Along with the video process, postcard, email updates and thank you tweets you’ll have a lasting reminder for why Kickstarter is such an amazing portal for people to share, create and make together. also a ticket to the open event!
Going big!
£500 Now, move on over, Tate Modern, this one’s going to need a gallery all of it’s own. Donate £500 and your support will receive a shocking 30x30 inch portrait! And if that wasn’t startling enough, we’ll chuck in the video process, postcard and this time a DVD of the video process for a unique keepsake! also a ticket to the open event!
Super Package!!
£750 Warning: Fantastic News the SUPER PACKAGE has arrived, and it’s one of our most impressive yet. Deep breath…. it will involve a 30x30inch Lego patterned design, the cup, t-shirt, mouse mat and notepad PLUS the homemade necklace and earrings, postcard, DVD of the video process, the email updates and tweets…and phew!!! We’re very happy to offer this package to anyone that is able to dig deep enough and donate a wonderful £750 to our Lego covered Mini Cooper. You know you this is the button you’ll need to press! also a ticket to the open event!
Rent the car!
£2500 Drum roll, fanfare…heck, let’s invite the Queen to this one while we’re at it - £2500 will get you hire of the vehicle for personal use or appearance at a venue or event for your company for up to 3 days. You’ll actually get to meet the pride and joy in all it’s Lego covered glory, show it to everyone you know, take an unlimited amount of photos and impress everybody you know! ON TOP OF ALL OF THIS, you’ll get a 15x15 inch patterned Lego design, the cup, t-shirt, mouse-mat, notepad, handmade necklace and earrings, postcard, DVD of the video process, postcard, email updates and tweets. We can hardly contain our excitement on this one and know you’ll be over the moon with this one too! also a ticket to the open event!
Contact! info and more! keep up to date
Our Twitter! https://twitter.com/LegoMiniCooper
Contact us via email! legominicooper@gmail.com
How should we design the car? Click here!
Thank you for your time! TheKeeneFamily!AN ARTICLE in the current edition of Business Traveller magazine offers "101 tips to make travelling easier". You'll be familiar with most of them, as they owe much to common sense. But tip 62 was a more unusual suggestion, and one that I hadn't read before:
Sometimes your ears won't pop—if it is prolonged and causing real pain, an old trick for treating it is "hot cups". Ask the crew for a plastic cup for each ear and two cloths dampened with boiling water to put in them. Then hold them over your ears for a couple of minutes. The heat generated will create a small vacuum that should unblock your ears and ease any pain.
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I now realise that this is a well-established way to ease in-flight ear ache, which is usually caused by a closure of the Eustachian tubes preventing the air pressure in the middle ear equalising with the air outside. The Daily Mail recommended the technique a couple of months ago, and indeed it does sound very effective. I suspect it would work particularly well with infants who can't understand instructions.
Those who can't quite face wearing plastic cups on their ears in front of a plane full of strangers have various other options. Swallowing or yawning can help open the Eustachian tubes. If that doesn't work, you could use the Valsalva manoeuvre, where you block your nose with your fingers, close your mouth and "blow" gently, though some doctors advise against this. The technique can harm your ear drums if you have an infection. But I'm sure you knew that.Why Does This Provillus Stuff Work?
Provillus currently comes in a liquid form and is sold by a company called ultra herbal LLC. It attempts to treat hair loss using an FDA approved OTC drug called Minoxidil.
Provillus was designed to block DHT and 5-alpha-reductase.
There were other ingredients in the original formula. However the company decided to stick with the FDA approved formula for dealing with hair loss.
Most people looking for a treatment like Provillus are trying to avoid the potential side effects of Propecia and get back the hair that that they’ve lost.
With some of the herbal ingredients in the original formula there have been [small studies] done outside of the United States that showed the potential for hair growth. However, the only FDA approved ingredient for fighting hair loss in Provillus is minoxidil.
In the near future minoxidil could possibly be the only FDA approved drug available for fighting hair loss. Propecia has been under attack lately because of its failure to disclose severe and permanent side effects. Of course, those side effects only happens in less than 3.8% of patients according to the FDA. It’s just that if you are unlucky enough to suffer from those side effects they could become permanent.
One particular side effect is this sort of “brain fog” that prevent you from thinking at a high-level. What is devastating because it impacts your effectiveness at your job and causes some people to feel depressed. Many of these people have to undergo hormone replacement therapy for the rest of their lives.
Ok, So What Do I Need To Know About This Product?
The product contains minoxidil which could cause you to have itchy scalp if you suffer from psoriasis.
Some people also complain that they aren’t given [adequate instructions] for this particular product.
There are also some differences between the men’s version and the women’s version. Make sure you take the right version for your particular gender. They have [very specific reasons] for having two different versions of the treatment.
What About The Side Effects?
Fortunately, there haven’t been too many side effects reported with the use of provillus. You just won’t get very many long-term side effects with a topical solution like minoxidil. It is probably safer than the oral prescription drug alternative Propecia.
In Conclusion
The reason why you would buy Provillus is that you get all of the ingredients that you need in one product and in only the dosages amounts needed for good results. It’s just more convenient to buy all of these ingredients in one package. Plus, it combines minoxidil in and absorbable form to help make sure that you receive the best possible results.
Recommended Product Links
Provillus – Get A Discount When You Buy Through This Link.Standing in a long line for an otherwise commonly available food is a cherished pastime in San Francisco, so I find myself on the corner of 18th and Valencia streets on a Saturday afternoon, phone in one hand, dog leash in the other, doing just that. In this case, it’s not |
. Flashbacks have been a droll staple of fast-moving shows like ArrestedDevelopment and 30 Rock. Here the flashbacks come in packs. There’s never just one; there are four, five, six, often ramping up to some absurdity—a cardboard robot creating panic in the halls of the school—and then deflating down to something nonsensical, like the characters all beaming as they participate in a jump-rope class. This happens over and over again. When the dean comes in dressed as a Carnival dancer, Jeff asks him how many excuses he needs to dress up in dumb costumes. The answer, as we see from an ensuing series of shots (Tina Turner, Julius Caesar, Scarlett O’Hara …) is at least a half dozen. The Cape comes back two or three more times. That’s what I meant above when I said Community already comments on itself comprehensively. “Paradigms” knows how complex it is. It’s about its own complexity.
Jeff’s summation: “So maybe we are caught in an endless cycle of screw-ups and a lot of hurt feelings, but I choose to think it’s just the universe’s way of molding us into some sort of supergroup.” But a supergroup they definitely are not. A deflating reference to the Traveling Wilburys follows, and, for now, the group’s anger is cooled, and they give a pass to Jeff and Britt’s liaison, after which the pair quickly realize that secret sex that isn’t a secret isn’t very appetizing. Then Chang comes back to take his rightful place in the universe—trapped in an AC duct and being beaten over the head continuously by the monkey. We see his figurine placed solidly outside the diorama, looking in.
You can reflect that Jeff, Abed, Britta, and the rest are just caught in their character straightjackets, trapped in the rubber room that is the conventions of the contemporary American sitcom. But that, too, was one of the recurring flashback scenes in the show. You could go further and say that, in “Paradigms of Human Memory,” Community has just taken everything that has ever happened on the show and shoved it up its own ass. The fact that that’s just a line from the same show doesn’t make it any less true. But finally, it’s also true that, in its own twisted, self-referential, postmodern head-up-its-own-ass way, the episode does with an almost giddy profundity encompass multitudes, if multitudes can be understood to include television tropes, forgotten pop culture, and plushie jokes. What show on TV is as blithely, pointlessly ambitious?Some of the Internet’s leading websites, including Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, WordPress, and BoingBoing, will go dark tomorrow to protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). The U.S. bills have generated massive public protest over proposed provisions that could cause enormous harm to the Internet and freedom of speech. My blog will join the protest by going dark tomorrow. While there is little that Canadians can do to influence U.S. legislation, there are many reasons why I think it is important for Canadians to participate.
First, the SOPA provisions are designed to have an extra-territorial effect that manifests itself particularly strongly in Canada. As I discussed in a column last year, SOPA treats all dot-com, dot-net, and dot-org domain as domestic domain names for U.S. law purposes. Moreover, it defines “domestic Internet protocol addresses” – the numeric strings that constitute the actual address of a website or Internet connection – as “an Internet Protocol address for which the corresponding Internet Protocol allocation entity is located within a judicial district of the United States.” Yet IP addresses are allocated by regional organizations, not national ones. The allocation entity located in the U.S. is called ARIN, the American Registry for Internet Numbers. Its territory includes the U.S., Canada, and 20 Caribbean nations. This bill treats all IP addresses in this region as domestic for U.S. law purposes. To put this is context, every Canadian Internet provider relies on ARIN for its block of IP addresses. In fact, ARIN even allocates the block of IP addresses used by federal and provincial governments. The U.S. bill would treat them all as domestic for U.S. law purposes.
Second, Canadian businesses and websites could easily find themselves targeted by SOPA. The bill grants the U.S. “in rem” jurisdiction over any website that does not have a domestic jurisdictional connection. For those sites, the U.S. grants jurisdiction over the property of the site and opens the door to court orders requiring Internet providers to block the site and Internet search engines to stop linking to it. Should a Canadian website owner wish to challenge the court order, U.S. law asserts itself in another way, since in order for an owner to file a challenge (described as a “counter notification”), the owner must first consent to the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts.
Third, millions of Canadians rely on the legitimate sites that are affected by the legislation. Whether creating a Wikipedia entry, posting a comment on Reddit, running a WordPress blog, participating in an open source software project, or reading a posting on BoingBoing, the lifeblood of the Internet is a direct target of SOPA. If Canadians remain silent, they may ultimately find the sites and services they rely upon silenced by this legislation.
Fourth, the U.S. intellectual property strategy has long been premised on exporting its rules to other countries, including Canada. Spain’s recent anti-piracy legislation that bears similarities to SOPA is the direct result of U.S. threats of retaliation if it did not pass U.S.-backed laws. Canada has a history of similar experiences. The same forces that have lobbied for SOPA and PIPA in the United States are the primary lobbyists behind the digital lock provisions in Bill C-11 and the recent submission to the U.S. government arguing that Canada should not be admitted to the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations until it complies with U.S. copyright demands. Moreover, the Wikileaks cables documented relentless U.S. pressure in Canada including revelations that former Industry Minister Maxime Bernier raised the possibility of leaking the copyright bill to U.S. officials before it was to be tabled it in the House of Commons, former Industry Minister Tony Clement’s director of policy Zoe Addington encouraged the U.S. to pressure Canada by elevating it on a piracy watch list, Privy Council Office official Ailish Johnson disclosed the content of ministerial mandate letters, and former RCMP national coordinator for intellectual property crime Andris Zarins advised the U.S. that the government was working on a separate intellectual property enforcement bill.
SOPA virtually guarantees that this will continue. Not only is it likely that the U.S. will begin to incorporate SOPA-like provisions into its IP demands, but SOPA makes it a matter of U.S. law to ensure that intellectual property protection is a significant component of U.S. foreign policy and grants more resources to U.S. embassies around the world to increase their involvement in foreign legal reform.
The SOPA/PIPA protest tomorrow offers people around the world the opportunity to add their voice against dangerous legislative proposals that could eventually make its way into international trade agreements and domestic lobbying pressures. For Canadians participating in the protest, consider this three step process:
If you have a website or blog, turn it dark for the day with information on SOPA, Bill C-11 and why this issue matters. If not, consider adding Stop Sopa to your Twitter or Facebook image. Write to your Member of Parliament to register one more objection to the digital lock rules in Bill C-11. The digital lock rules are the Canadian version of SOPA – overbroad, ineffective legislation that targets technology and that is widely opposed by most stakeholders. While many are frustrated by the sense the government simply ignores these objections, the SOPA protests are attracting attention and it is important to remind Canadian politicians of the similar concerns here. Speak out against the copyright provisions in the Trans Pacific Partnership, particularly the plans for copyright term extension and the digital lock rules. The government consultation is open until February 14, 2012. All it takes a single email with your name, address, and comments on the issue. The email can be sent to consultations@international.gc.ca. Alternatively, submissions can be sent by fax (613-944-3489) or mail (Trade Negotiations Consultations (TPP), Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, Trade Policy and Negotiations Division II (TPW), Lester B. Pearson Building, 125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2).ENGLEWOOD, CO--(Marketwire - Oct 21, 2012) - DISH Network Corporation ( NASDAQ : DISH)
Terms call for DISH to pay $700 million in cash; DISH to receive certain wireless spectrum licenses
DISH enters multi-year agreement to carry AMC, IFC, WE tv, Sundance Channel and Fuse; AMC channel broadcast resumes Sunday, October 21
DISH Network Corporation ( NASDAQ : DISH) announced today that its subsidiary, DISH Network L.L.C., has settled all of its pending litigation with Voom HD Holdings LLC.
Terms of the settlement call for DISH Network to pay $700 million in cash. As part of the agreement, DISH will receive 500 MHz of wireless multichannel video distribution and data service ("MVDDS") spectrum licenses that cover a population of 150 million in 45 DMAs including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
As part of a separate, multi-year agreement, DISH will resume broadcast of the AMC channel Sunday, October 21. The AMC channel will be carried on DISH channel 131.
"We are glad to have settled the case and reestablished our long-term relationships with AMC Networks and Cablevision," said Dave Shull, senior vice president of Programming at DISH. "This multi-year deal delivers a fair value for both parties and includes digital expansion opportunities for AMC Networks' programming."
Other AMC Networks programming, including Sundance Channel, WE tv and IFC, will return to DISH Nov. 1. The Madison Square Garden Company's music-oriented Fuse channel will begin broadcast Nov. 1, as well.Two pairs of words have been prominent in the reaction to the news that Liverpool seem poised to sign Clint Dempsey once they remember to get the go-ahead from Fulham. One of those pairs has no business being bandied about, viz. Charlie Adam. The other pair is more pertinent: Brendan Rodgers.
The reference to Adam has been made by people who believe Liverpool have been seduced by one fine season into coveting a player who cannot reasonably be expected to bring Liverpool nearer to the level they aspire to play at. Such people should be sworn at like cold callers.
Because although last season was Dempsey's most productive, he has been an excellent performer in the Premier League for the best part of five years. Furthermore, where Adam's most obvious failing is a lack of mobility for which his attempts to atone lead him to strain, lunge and generally become clumsy, Dempsey is a genuine dynamo, the second most prolific tackler among forwards in the Premier League for each of the past three seasons and covering more ground than prize horse manure.
Tenacity and energy are Dempsey's first two defining traits and also the founding blocks of the style that Rodgers will seek to build, if his old Swansea City side were anything to go by. The drive that has already propelled Dempsey from his relatively disadvantaged roots in a small town in East Texas to the top of the MLS and then the Premier League ensure that he will not be rendered as meek by Anfield expectations as, say, Stewart Downing and young Jordan Henderson appear to have been.
This is a ferocious competitor who has played matches with a broken jaw and gone into challenges hard enough to fracture John Terry's cheekbone. A seasoned American international, he will be fazed neither by the stature of Liverpool nor the amount of off-the-ball work that Rodgers will demand.
That is the foundation. Dempsey, of course, offers much more on top. His well-timed surges, dangerous shooting and knack for the audacious and unpredictable mean he could help overcome the dependency on the undependable Luis Suárez for goals. His intelligence and instincts make him adaptable: while it is easy to see him slotting in on either side of the front of a Swansea-style 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2, at Fulham he also proved his usefulness as a shape-shifting No9 long before Cesc Fábregas showcased the role at Euro 2012.
Dempsey would deserve to be greeted at Liverpool by the same sort of optimism that Joe Cole's arrival inspired a couple of years ago: and since he is a more intelligent and influential footballer than Cole, the feelgood factor should last a lot longer. At 29, he hardly represents the far future of the club but he could play a significant role in setting it on the right path.John Dennis, Pelosi Challenger, Campaigned at Cannabis & Hemp Expo
For all their passion, Tea Party members struggle with consistency: the cries for fiscal conservatism stop at national defense, where big spending is encouraged, and calls for personal freedoms stop at the war on drugs, where use of personal chemicals is restricted.
Not so for John Dennis. The San Francisco Republican – a frequent attendee of Tea Party events who is waging a perhaps quixotic war to unseat most-powerful San Franciscan Nancy Pelosi, to whom he has referred as a “wicked witch” – made a campaign stop Sunday at the Cow Palace, where the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo was in full swing. His campaign even altered its signage for the marijuana-appropriate occasion: instead of red, white and blue, the name John Dennis was featured next to Rastafarian red, gold and green. Instead of a star, there’s a pot leaf.
The new signage caught Dennis slightly off guard: “Volunteers in my campaign came up with the idea,” he said. “I didn’t even know they had made the posters [until the weekend], but I think it’s definitely appropriate for the venue.”
Dennis spent “about an hour” at the event on Sunday. While not every attendee was a San Francisco voter, Dennis says he was met with nothing but kindness and support.
“People were very mellow,” he said. “They were pleased we were picking up on this issue.”
While he says he neither partakes nor promotes use of the miracle plant – “I’m not telling people to go out and smoke pot, but if you do, it’s your choice and your responsibility” – the Pacific Heights resident has made his support of marijuana semi-legalization measure Proposition 19 no secret. He’s attended Americans for Safe Access meetings, and endorsed Proposition 19 as early as July.
However, Sunday’s stop was a definite step towards embracing the medical cannabis community, a voting bloc few would associate with the Tea Party movement. But for Dennis, it makes perfect sense.
“In 23 years in the House, what has Nancy Pelosi done for that crowd?” Dennis asked.
“80 percent of San Francisco voters say they think marijuana should be legal. She’s out of step [with her constituency].”Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Jeremy Paxman challenges Pratchett on the issue of assisted suicide.
Sir Terry Pratchett has said witnessing a man being helped to die for a controversial BBC film has not affected his support for assisted suicide.
In Choosing to Die, the 63-year-old author - who has Alzheimer's disease - went to Switzerland to see a British man with motor neurone disease dying.
Liz Carr, a disability campaigner, said it was pro-suicide propaganda and that she was surprised the BBC had made it.
The BBC said Monday's film would help viewers make up "their own minds".
The programme, showed Peter Smedley, a 71-year-old hotelier, travelling from his home in Guernsey to Switzerland and taking a lethal dose of barbiturates given to him by the Dignitas organisation.
Dignity of life
Sir Terry, who made the film to establish whether he would be able to die at a time and in a way he wanted, said seeing what Dignitas did had not changed his mind.
It is up to you to decide whether his last moments are deeply moving, distressing, or rather ordinary Charlie Russell, Director of Choosing to Die Read Charlie Russell's blog on making the film
"I believe it should be possible for someone stricken with a serious and ultimately fatal illness to choose to die peacefully with medical help, rather than suffer," he told BBC's Newsnight.
Asked about the sanctity of life, Sir Terry responded: "What about the dignity of life?" Lack of dignity would be enough for some people to kill themselves, he said.
He added that he believed the right to an assisted suicide should extend to anyone over the age of consent.
He also accused the government of "turning its back" on the issue of assisted suicide.
"I was ashamed that British people had to drag themselves to Switzerland at some considerable cost," he said.
The BBC denied the screening could lead to copycat suicides and said it would enable viewers to make up their own minds on the subject.
The documentary maker Charlie Russell said the decision to film Mr Smedley dying had been given a lot of thought.
"As a film maker I felt it was the truth and unfortunately we do all die," he said. "It's not very nice but that's what happens to us all."
Ms Carr said: "I and many other disabled older and terminally ill people, are quite fearful of what legalising assisted suicide would do and mean and those arguments aren't being debated, teased out, the safeguards aren't being looked at.
I want to see much more emphasis put on supporting people in living, than assisting them in dying Right Reverend Michael Langrish, Bishop of Exeter
"Until we have a programme that does that, then I won't be happy to move onto this wider debate."
The Bishop of Exeter, the Right Reverend Michael Langrish, said: "I want to see much more emphasis put on supporting people in living, than assisting them in dying."
He said: "The law still enshrines that sense of the intrinsic value of life. But the law ultimately is not there to constrain individual choice. It's there to constrain third party action and complicity in another person's death.
"That remains illegal. There may be ameliorating circumstances that can be taken into account. But the law remains clear and is there to protect the vulnerable."
Debbie Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis, went to court to protect her husband from prosecution if he accompanies her to Dignitas.
'Quality of life'
She said in a debate after the programme: "Politicians haven't kept up.
"Lawyers and judges have been the only people who have been prepared to defend my rights... and my right to life and the quality of my life is the most important thing to me."
In the last 12 years 1,100 people from all over Europe have been "assisted to die" by Dignitas.
A spokeswoman for the pressure group Dignity in Dying said it was "deeply moving and at times difficult to watch".
She said: "It clearly didn't seek to hide the realities of assisted dying. In setting out one person's views on assisted dying, it challenges all of us to think about this important issue head on and ask what choices we might want for ourselves and our loved ones at the end of life."
She said the current legal situation in the UK meant "not only are people travelling abroad to die, but there are also those who are ending their lives at home, behind closed doors, or with the help of doctors and loved ones who are helping illegally."
'Propaganda'
Dignity in Dying is calling for an assisted dying law with "upfront safeguards".
But Alistair Thompson, a spokesman for the Care Not Killing Alliance pressure group, said: "This is pro-assisted suicide propaganda loosely dressed up as a documentary."
Campaigners claim it is the fifth programme on the subject produced by the BBC in three years presented by a pro-euthanasia campaigner or sympathiser.
Mr Thompson said: "The evidence is that the more you portray this, the more suicides you will have.
"The BBC is funded in a different way to other media and has a responsibility to give a balanced programme."
The BBC denied it was biased on the issue and a spokeswoman said the documentary was "about one person's experience, Terry's journey exploring the issues and the experience he is going through".
"It is giving people the chance to make their own minds up on the issue," she added.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "The government believes that any change to the law in this emotive and contentious area is an issue of individual conscience and a matter for Parliament to decide rather than government policy."
The documentary, Choosing to Die, and the debate on BBC's Newsnight are both available to watch on BBC's iPlayer.The Detroit Lions have released veteran wide receiver Nate Burleson and safety Louis Delmas.
Burleson, 32, was scheduled to make $7,531,645 against the team's salary cap in 2014, but was willing to restructure his deal to take less money to stay with the franchise.
The Lions apparently did not have interest in that.
"I'm in a pretty good position because I've been in it long enough that I'm not surprised by what happens in the NFL, so this situation isn't foreign to me," Burleson told ESPN.com earlier this week. "Which means there's a certain comfort in knowing whatever happens is the best situation for both parties."
Burleson had 39 receptions for 461 yards and one touchdown in nine games in 2013. He missed seven games in the middle of the season with a broken forearm; he was injured trying to save a sliding pizza box while driving.
Feeling he showed he could still play when healthy, Burleson plans on playing in 2014. He has played in 135 games since being selected by Minnesota in the third round of the 2003 draft. He has 457 catches for 5,630 yards and 43 touchdowns.
Nate Burleson, limited to nine games last season, was released by the Lions on Thursday. AP Photo/Duane Burleson
"I think I voiced my opinion enough that everyone knows I want to stay in Detroit and finish up my career there," he said. "But there's just no promises in the NFL, so you've got to hope for the best and be prepared for the worst."
Delmas was slated to make $6.5 million against the cap next season.
While he played all 16 games for the Lions in 2013, he was usually on a practice regimen where he would miss two days of practice a week and be able to play in games on Sundays to save his ailing knees.
The 26-year-old Delmas was selected by the Lions in the second round of the 2009 draft. In his five seasons with the team, he played in 65 games, making 328 tackles, intercepting six passes and recording five sacks.
In all, Detroit saved over $10 million Thursday by cutting Burleson and Delmas, two moves that should put the team under the salary cap in time for the new league year on March 11.A group of parking advocates, neighborhood associations, and members of UCLA’s transportation studies department recently presented sweeping changes to how the city deals with the thorny issue of parking.
The “working group” wants to cap first-time parking offenses—specifically ones that don’t risk public safety—at 23 dollars. If approved by the city and council, that would reduce most tickets in L.A. by more than a third (the most common ticket is the dreaded street-cleaning offense, which costs drivers $73).
Other, less exciting, suggestions from the group include allowing parking when street cleaning is canceled, reducing the windows of restricting parking, and expanding tech-responsive parking meters.
The working group, which in the past wagged their finger at the city for using parking revenue to plug budget holes and threatened to try to get parking reforms on the ballot, is now collaborating with Mayor Garcetti’s administration. The next step for possible implementation of these reforms is getting city officials on board. We probably won’t see $23 tickets ever again, but maybe a compromise can be reached; 49 bucks sure feels a lot more palatable than 73.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Examples of careless driving that might attract a fine under the new rules
Police will get powers to fine careless drivers, rather than taking them to court, as part of a government strategy to make Britain's roads safer.
Ministers say motorists who tail-gate, undertake or cut others up often go unpunished and that introducing instant penalties would be more efficient.
Offenders would get a fine of at least £80 and three points on their licence.
Critics say the approach - likely to be introduced in 2012 in England, Scotland and Wales - is too simplistic.
Currently motorists who have driven in a careless manner have to be prosecuted through the courts. Under the new plans, they will still have that option should they contest the offence.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond released the new strategy for England, Scotland and Wales on Wednesday.
The proposals still have to go through Parliament.
Plans for an 80mph speed limit for motorways and reduced speeds on country roads are not included in the legislation, but are part of ongoing plans.
Drug crackdown
Mr Hammond told the BBC that the fines would not change the government's approach towards serious offenders but were for "low-level" offences.
He said: "We're going to crack down on the most reckless and dangerous drivers, we're going to support those who are basically law-abiding but who perhaps have an occasional lapse."
He added that he hoped the plans would alleviate the pressure on police officers.
"We hope to allow them effectively and efficiently to address poor driving skills and behaviour on our roads, while at the same time freeing up court and police resources to tackle the really dangerous drivers that are the real problem on our roads."
The Department for Transport (DfT) said it would also include a clampdown on drug-driving and the closing of loopholes that allow people to escape drink-driving charges.
Disqualified drivers would have to undergo retraining, and possibly take another test, before they got their licence back.
Courts would be encouraged to make more use of their powers to seize vehicles for the most serious offences.
There will be support for new drivers who need to hone their driving skills, and wider range of retraining and education courses for cases of less serious offences.
In some cases, motorists will be spared the penalty and points if they agree to undergo training, at their own expense.
'Greatest danger'
A DfT spokesman said: "By giving the police the tools to deal with those who present the greatest danger to others we can make our roads even safer.
"While seeking to do everything possible to tackle the most dangerous drivers, the strategy will also help the responsible majority to improve their driving.
"This is the government's twin approach to improving road safety."
Image caption Currently motorists who drive carelessly have to be prosecuted through the courts
But the Institute of Advanced Motorists said the fines were not necessarily the right approach for careless driving because, unlike speeding, cases were often not clear-cut.
It also said their introduction could make police reluctant to enter into lengthy prosecutions even in more serious cases.
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, agreed that the proposals should help tackle anti-social driving but expressed concern over whether the police had the necessary resources.
He said: "The three things needed to make these plans work are enforcement, enforcement, enforcement. With police services being cut it is far from certain the desired results can be achieved. Without adequate enforcement there is no strategy."
'Slap on the wrist'
Julie Townsend, campaign director at Brake, the road safety charity, expressed her "concern" at whether the level of the fines would be enough of a deterrent for motorists.
She said: "You can be fined £1,000 for dropping litter yet we're talking here about committing crimes behind the wheel that all too often lead to injury and death. To many people £100 is little more than a slap on the wrist."
Robert Gifford, chief executive of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Traffic Safety, gave the plans a "cautious welcome".
He said that the fines would not remove much of the burden from police officers.
"The main argument seems to be that it'll reduce police bureaucracy and therefore more people will be given a fixed penalty. But the police will still have to gather evidence, as the person will have the right to challenge it in court."
Mr Gifford added: "We don't want it to backfire in the way that speed camera funding did, if people think the police are doing it simply to raise money."A smoggy day in New Delhi this winter near the India Gate war memorial Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters
I wake up and suck a bowl of charred asbestos through a dirty bong.
Well, that’s what it feels like most winter mornings when I open the door of the fourth-floor New Delhi apartment that I currently call home. Fog-drenched clumps of soot, ozone molecules, and microscopic bundles of nitrogen oxides flow down my trachea and into my chest, where some become lodged. Some of these particles might give me lung cancer. Others will enter my bloodstream, further inflaming old ankle and finger injuries. The airborne detritus puts me in danger of contracting bronchitis, asthma, a lung infection, even hypertension and dementia.
China’s appalling air quality made headlines around the world this winter. But people living in New Delhi and in dozens of other cities throughout the developing world consistently endure air with heavier loads of soot than do the residents of Beijing. While most Americans and Europeans now enjoy cleaner air than they did for much of the last century, air pollution is worsening in Asia, claiming millions of lives every year.
After weeks without a trip outside of Delhi, I gradually stop noticing the filth in the air. There are exceptions, of course, such as that hostile blast of moist air on a foggy winter morning. Or when I’m sitting at a stoplight in an open-air auto rickshaw, feeling fumes wash over me from a honking swarm of vehicles. Or when a layer of darkness veils my drying clothes, coats the inside of my nose, or hangs heavy along a horizon.
With every breath, regardless of how mindful or oblivious I am of the poison that’s filling my lungs, my risk of suffering a stroke or a heart attack increases.
An estimated 3.2 million people died prematurely in 2010 because of the poisonous effects of outdoor air pollution, according to the findings of an exhaustive study of global causes of death published in December in the Lancet. Two-thirds of those killed by air pollution lived in Asia, where air quality continues to worsen.
Outdoor air pollution has become India’s fifth highest killer. Only tobacco, high blood pressure, indoor air pollution (typically caused by poorly ventilated stoves), and diets that are poor in fruit and vegetables kill more people here.
The most vulnerable to air pollution are children, the elderly, and people already suffering from respiratory or cardiac illness, says Anumita Roychowdhury, an air pollution expert at the Delhi-based nonprofit Center for Science and Environment. Even fit adults in the prime of their lives are at risk. The dangers range from cancer to hypertension, diabetes, and birth defects. “We need to be extremely careful,” says Roychowdhury.
Air pollution levels in China recently reached dizzying new heights. An air quality monitor operated by the U.S. Embassy detected a spectacular spike in pollution levels in Beijing in January and broadcast them over Twitter. The media frenzy helped force the country’s rulers to pledge to take steps to clean the city’s air, such as removing polluting vehicles from the streets.
“Beijing was filthy,” says Mark Bagley, a San Francisco resident who visited Asia recently. “The rain and snow were gray to dark gray with minimal visibility—maybe two blocks at most. Rain that pooled in the gutters looked black.”
But according to World Health Organization data covering more than 1,000 cities in 91 countries, China’s capital is not the city that consistently endures the world’s worst air pollution. It doesn’t even come close.
One of the crucial measures of dangerous air pollution is the number of parts per million of particles smaller than 10 micrometers (PM10) wafting through the air. Beijing’s residents breathe in air with an average PM10 of 121, but millions of people have it worse.
The rankings, cobbled together using air monitoring data from a variety of sources between 2003 and 2010, suggest that the world’s worst air pollution floats over Ahwaz, a city in southwestern Iran where the average PM10 level hovers around 372. Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, ranks second, enduring a 279 PM10, far higher than the global average of 71.
Farther down the list are more cities in Iran, along with some in India, Pakistan, and Botswana, before Delhi appears in the 12th spot, with average particulate levels of 198 parts per million.
To Americans, Asia’s air pollution woes may seem a world away. But it is a small world. Pollution travels east along jet streams from Asia to the North American West Coast. Research indicates that nearly one-third of the soot in the San Francisco Bay Area blew over from Asia.
The most polluted region in the United States, according to the WHO’s air quality data, is in California’s Central Valley, where industrial and exhaust pollution gets trapped inside an expansive bowl of rock that’s home to farms, heavy industry, and millions of people. But the valley city of Bakersfield, America’s No. 1 air pollution hotspot, ranked just 276th in the WHO’s list, with an average PM10 count of 38 parts per million.
I’ve spent time in Los Angeles, and I lived for a year in the Central Valley. The ambient pollution in those places can be sickening. But it doesn’t compare to that in Delhi.
Here, it feels like I’m drawing tiny fibers deep into my respiratory system. They seem tangibly solid against my spongy insides.
Regulations such as the Clean Air Act and technological advances have helped scrub America’s air. That is not the case in many developing countries.
“We could easily have taken a cleaner pathway of development,” says India’s Rajendra Pachauri, who chairs the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He pointed out that cities such as Pittsburgh and London have recovered from terrible air pollution from when the United States and the United Kingdom were at earlier stages of development. “Unfortunately, we have not learned from those examples.”
The New York Times’ India Ink blog reported that air pollution was more than twice as bad in Delhi on Jan. 31 than it was in Beijing. There are 46 cities, in such countries as the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India, Mexico, and Nigeria, where average pollution levels exceed those of Beijing. Overall, India recently ranked last in a list of 132 countries surveyed for their air quality.
Most of the pollution that I inhale in Delhi comes from diesel-burning trucks and buses. Other aerial filth that enters my lungs broke away from gasoline as it combusted incompletely in cars and from natural gas burned by auto rickshaws.
Coal-fired power plants and agricultural burning take a toll. As do makeshift campfires that line the streets at night during the winter, where everything from leaf litter and cow dung to rubber motorcycle saddles are burned for warmth.
It’s not that officials here don’t care. Efforts to cut pollution from vehicles in Delhi in the late 1990s and early 2000s, by taking such steps as switching auto rickshaws over to natural gas and requiring annual vehicle inspections, helped clear the air. But as the city’s wealth grows, it is experiencing an explosion in the number of cars and other vehicles on its roads, pushing air pollution levels back up again. The Indian Express newspaper recently reported that Delhi’s environment department is mulling a suite of efforts to tackle the problem anew, such as promoting public transit, jacking up parking fees, shuttering coal-fired power plants, and more harshly penalizing those who break pollution rules.
But as is the case in so many other cities in developing countries throughout Asia, economic progress and the clamor for trade, travel, and newfound luxuries are proving no match for incipient government programs that aim to protect people from bad air.
After just six months in India, I’m growing accustomed to occasional fits of coughing and hacking. I hold American and Australian passports, and even as a freelance journalist I’m wealthy by local standards, making it easy to leave Delhi whenever I am ready.
But for a substantial portion of the planet’s population, some of them Chinese but many of them living in countries where pollution woes go little noticed by Western journalists, there would seem to be little hope of gulping at the fresh air that so many people in other parts of the world take for granted.The nation’s campaign-finance laws aren’t exactly stringent. Thanks in large part to conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court, the system is woefully lax, making it difficult to actually run afoul of the law.
But right-wing provocateur Dinesh D’Souza, best known for his activism and racially charged rhetoric, stood accused of breaking the law anyway. As Rachel reported in January, D’Souza was charged with using straw donors to make illegal third party donations to a candidate for Senate in 2012. According to prosecutors, D’Souza encouraged others to contribute to a candidate and then reimbursed those donors for the contributions – in effect, using others to exceed campaign-finance limits.
After the charges were initially filed, D’Souza insisted he’d done nothing wrong. Today, D’Souza changed his mind
Conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza pleaded guilty Tuesday to using “straw donors” to make excessive contributions to a U.S. Senate candidate in the 2012 election. His plea came the same day his criminal trial had been scheduled to begin in a Manhattan federal court on charges that he made $20,000 in illegal contributions to Republican Wendy Long, a Republican who sought unsuccessfully to oust Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
In a statement, D’Souza’s attorney said, “Mr. D’Souza agreed to accept responsibility for having urged two close associates to make contributions of $10,000 each to the unsuccessful 2012 Senate campaign of Wendy Long and then reimbursing them for their contributions.”
It’s not yet clear what kind of criminal penalty, if any, the far-right personality will face as a result of his guilty plea. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 23.
And while this is the latest in a series of ignominious twists for D’Souza’s unfortunate career, the lingering question has to do with all the Republican lawmakers in Congress who were convinced these charges were not only baseless |
can still join the $200K club when they retire. None of the reform proposals scheduled to be voted on Friday will change that because public employees rights to vested benefits have long been upheld by the state Supreme Court, Burdick said.
The reforms are not meant to be an instant fix, said a spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento.
“As we go through the years, you presumably will have several thousand employees who retire and new employees who take their place,” said the spokesman, Mark Hedlund. “For every year you go through that, you have more people on different tiers with lower benefits and the (pension) cap in place.”
One member of the $200K club, retired Santa Clara County deputy district attorney Robert J. Masterson, acknowledged Thursday that his $208,000 pension is “substantial,” but he’s only been collecting it for three years. The 83-year-old retiree worked half his life for the DA but understands why the state is pushing for reforms.
“I don’t think anybody including myself thought the state’s finances would be heading over the cliff,” he said.
Critics point out that Brown’s cap proposal would only affect a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of state and local government workers.
The proposed pension reforms are a “good going forward, but it’s a long-term solution when we still have short-term problems,” said Katz-Lacabe, the San Leandro school board member. “This will affect future generations.”
Lim’s final salary was not immediately available, nor were documents showing how her pension was calculated. She could not be reached for comment.
Kennedy, Santa Clara County’s former district attorney, is the one retired elected official on the list, with a pension of $223,000 based on nearly 40 years of government employment, records show.
Like Kennedy, other members of the $200K club worked for local governments for decades. Under the current system, public employees can pad their pensions by buying years of service, a practice known as “air time.” Brown’s proposals would ban the practice for new employees, but it won’t stop current employees from the controversial perk.
Burdick, the pension expert, said the practice is common and he believed people drawing high pensions like members of the $200K club were likely to have taken advantage of the perk.
“You get more out of it than you pay in,” Burdick said.
Staff Writers Rebecca Parr, Tracy Seipel, John Woolfolk and Steven Harmon contributed to this report. Contact Thomas Peele at Twitter.com/thomas_peeleJames Damore, an ex-Google employee who wrote a controversial memo arguing the merits of gender and diversity programs, was interviewed by two YouTubers. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post)
The controversial memo written by James Damore, a 28-year-old former Google engineer, rattled Silicon Valley last weekend when it became public and stirred a fierce debate about diversity in the workplace.
Google leaders billed the memo as “offensive” and “harmful.” The memo said that “genetic differences” may explain “why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership.”
This week the company fired the author for “perpetuating gender stereotypes,” he said.
Until now, little has been known about Damore. But since his firing, he’s given at least two lengthy interviews with the hosts of right-wing YouTube channels and a significantly shorter interview with Bloomberg TV.
“I’m not saying that any of the female engineers at Google are in any way worse than the average male engineer,” Damore told Stefan Molyneux, a vocal supporter of President Trump and the host of Freedomain Radio. “I’m just saying that this may explain some of the disparity in representation in the population.”
Damore filed a complaint Monday with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging he was subjected to “coercive statements” by Google, according to the Associated Press. Damore told the AP that he filed the complaint before being fired later that day, and that he’s also weighing other legal options.
“It’s illegal to retaliate against a NLRB charge,” he said. A Google spokesman told the AP on Tuesday that the company could not have retaliated because it was unaware of his labor complaint until reading about it in the media after his dismissal.
Former Google engineer James Damore speaks with right-wing YouTube video host Stefan Molyneux about his controversial memo. (YouTube)
Both YouTube interviews with conservative hosts lasted more than 45 minutes. Damore appeared reserved and composed, his words carefully chosen and interlaced with nervous laughs. He told Molyneux he decided to write the memo after attending a Google diversity program, where he heard things he “definitely disagreed with.”
“There was a lot of just shaming and ‘no, you can’t say that, that’s sexist,’ Damore told Molyneux.
“There’s just so much hypocrisy in a lot of things they are saying,” he added.
Molyneux is unabashed in his views against feminism and has generated a large YouTube following, with more than 654,000 subscribers. Damore told him he wrote the document on a 12-hour flight to China for a work trip, and shared the document internally multiple times a month ago.
Initially, the reactions weren’t “explosive,” he said. But once it leaked outside of Google, he said he “couldn’t really get ahead of it at all.”
“People got offended because it goes against the left’s ideology,” Damore said, adding that those on the right in Silicon Valley often feel the need to “stay in the closet” in a workplace culture he defined as a “progressive echo chamber.”
Since his firing, Damore said he has received an outpouring of support in personal messages from individuals within and outside of Google, as well as a number of job openings.
He told Molyneux that Google should attempt to become a more “female-friendly environment” by capitalizing on his viewpoint that women tend to be “more people-oriented” while men are “more things-oriented.” He suggested promoting more collaboration among coders, skills in which he says women tend to excel.
Molyneux criticized the mainstream media’s portrayal of Damore’s memo and praised him for writing it. The host also said he believed critics targeted Damore in large part because he is a white man, and claimed white privilege is “the opposite of privilege.”
In another interview, Damore spoke with Jordan B. Peterson, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, a critic of “political correctness,” feminist postmodernists and the concept of white privilege. He said that Damore’s memo was well-supported by scientific facts and is “certainly not an anti-diversity screed.”
Damore told Peterson he has mostly declined to speak to the mainstream news outlets because they will “twist whatever I say towards their agenda.” Peterson, however, encouraged him to rethink that position.
On Wednesday night, Damore told Bloomberg TV: “The whole point of my memo was to improve Google and Google’s culture and they just punished me and shamed me for doing it,” he said. “I’m not a sexist.”
[One of Google’s highest-ranking women has answered that controversial memo with a very personal essay]
A number of Google leaders have spoken out about the memo in the days since it circulated. The most personal response came from one of the company’s highest-ranking women, Susan Wojcicki, the chief executive of YouTube, which is owned by Google.
In an essay published by Fortune on Wednesday, Wojcicki wrote that her daughter asked her about the memo.
“Mom,” her daughter asked her, “is it true that there are biological reasons why there are fewer women in tech and leadership?” After some thought, her mother responded, “No, it’s not true,” she wrote.
“I thought about the women at Google who are now facing a very public discussion about their abilities, sparked by one of their own co-workers,” she wrote. “And as my child asked me the question I’d long sought to overcome in my own life, I thought about how tragic it was that this unfounded bias was now being exposed to a new generation.”
In response to Wojcicki’s essay, Damore told Bloomberg TV “there are simply fewer women” wanting to get into tech.
“But if you’re a girl and you’re interested in technology, then that’s great,” he added.
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Jury rules: Former FBI agent and his daughter murderously crushed her husband’s skullIn the White Bear Lake garage belonging to Hub Meeds is a box containing the original Minnesota Vikings mascot costume.
From 1970 to 1992 -- Hub was the Minnesota Viking, traveling with the team and pumping up the crowd at three Super Bowls.
"Been fun through the years," he said.
And he did it, for little to no pay.
"I felt it wasn't right to try and negotiate a big contract or anything. If they wanted to offer me money, then I took it. But otherwise, I felt I'm doing a service to fans, mostly," Meeds said.
Hub says for the final 9 years of his service, he made about $3,000 a season.
His successor - Joe Juranitch - better known as Ragnar - reportedly made $1500 per home game. Ragnar is now off the job after a contract holdout.
This is the first contract negotiation I've ever covered involving a mascot. And hopefully it'll be one of the last," said Associated Press reporter Jon Krawczynski.
A source told Krawczynski that Ragnar was negotiating with the Vikings during the preseason -- and asked for $20,000 per game.
"I think a lot of fans were in Ragnar's corner when it first came out that he wouldn't be coming back, but when the truth came out about the gravity of his demands, I think it led some people to have some understanding on the Vikings' part," Krawczynski said.
According to multiple online sources - official NFL Mascots like Viktor the Viking make between $23,000 and $60,000 a year. Ragnar is an independent contractor.
Read more here.This article is also available in Spanish, Romanian and Swedish.
The European vacation is now done and the EU is back at what it’s doing best: coming up with insidiously insane bills to shove down the throats of the peoples of Europe.
And they have not waited too long. Before the vacation, the bureaucrats in Brussels were debating what is now called “The Rodrigues Report” (named after Liliana Rodrigues, Portuguese MEP from the Socialist group) and it seemed at the time that the bill will fail (as countless others on similar issues have).
However, just this week, a final version of the bill also called “Empowering girls through Education in the EU” has been forwarded to be put to a vote during the September 7-10 plenary of the European Parliament.
What does the bill say and what it implies
As usual with EU bills, what it says in the title and what it actually implies are two entirely different things. Also, as per the EU tradition, the devil is in the details.
The full text that will sit on the table can be read here (in English).
Even without reading the text, the bill is entirely out of place since education is not (and never has been) under the competence of the European Commission. In plain English – Brussels, by its own rules, treaties and regulations, can have no say in how the nations in the EU run their educational systems.
In what is legalistically called “reasons exposure” the bill makes a plethora of downright false statements as well as misleading or completely irrelevant statements. For example, article Y states:
whereas 17 % of adults worldwide, two-thirds (493 million) of them women, are unable to read or write;
That may indeed be true, but illiteracy is hardly a huge problem in the EU. The worst ranked country in the EU in terms of literacy is Portugal, with a literacy rate of “only” 95.4%. In other words, the EU does not have a continent-wide illiteracy problem worthy of being addressed by the hyper-bloated Brussels bureaucracy.
Article V is also an example of being out of touch with reality:
whereas school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV) includes acts of sexual, physical and/or psychological violence inflicted on children because of gendered stereotypes and social norms; whereas SRGBV is a major barrier to access, participation and attainment;
The idea that girls are the victims of rampant “school-related gender-based violence” in Europe is completely out of touch with reality to such an extent that even the hypothesis that the Earth may be flat has more legitimacy.
The implication is that this supposed violence leads girls to abandon school in droves. Yet that is not happening at all. On the contrary – boys and men are significantly more likely to drop out from school1. In the last 13 years, the school abandonment rate for girls remained relatively constant while the school abandonment rate for boys kept on rising. Bulgaria, Croatia and Austria are the only countries where the number of boys and girls dropping out is relatively similar2 (less than 1% difference). At the opposite end is exactly Portugal, Ms. Rodrigues’s country of origin where the abandonment rate from boys is almost twice higher than the one for girls (27.1% for boys versus 14.3% for girls).
More to the point, educational experts in the UK3 and Romania have noted for years that girls are getting more and more violent in school and routinely outpacing boys in violence initiation4. Similar reports have come from the US, New Zeeland, South Korea and other places.
In this context, the premise of this bill is entirely ridiculous.
But what’s really troublesome is the radical approach to the so-called problem. The bill comes with 57 “recommendations” which we will discuss in the September 4, AVFM Voice of Europe programme. For the purpose of this article, the most outrageous of them are by far the “recommendation” number 1, 10 and 13.
The first “recommendation” says:
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to implement and improve measures to apply gender equality at all levels of the education system, and to fully integrate improving awareness of gender issues into teacher training, but also for all categories of school professionals, e.g. school doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers and pedagogues, as well as to ensure the creation of mechanisms throughout the education system to facilitate the promotion, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of gender equality in educational institutions;
In plain English, non-feminist positions are to become forbidden in schools, hospitals and all the other taxpayer-funded services that currently exist in the unfortunate nations of the European Union.
“Recommendation” number 10 says:
Asks the Commission to ensure that this recommendation be put to the national institutions responsible for implementing central, regional and local education policies, school management bodies and regional and local authorities;
In other words, any semblance of school autonomy is to be superseded by Brussels diktat in order to make sure that nobody avoids the feminist indoctrination that the socialist MEP has in the bag for everyone.
“Recommendation” number 13 says:
Urges the Commission to initiate as soon as possible the procedure for EU accession to the Istanbul Convention; calls on the Member States to ratify the Convention, and also calls for the EU and the Member States to work together for gender equality in the Union’s external relations; underlines the close links between gender stereotypes and bullying, cyberbullying and violence against women, and the need to fight these from an early age; stresses that the Istanbul Convention calls for signatories to include teaching materials on issues such as non-stereotyped gender roles, mutual respect, non-violent conflict resolution in interpersonal relationships, gender-based violence and the right to personal integrity, adapted to the evolving capacity of learners, in formal curricula and at all levels of education;
Translation: Everyone must adopt the utterly horrifying police-state mandated by the Istanbul Convention which has the potential to render private lives between men and women irrelevant – as the State gets absolute power over them.
The Istanbul Convention is a highly contentious topic as the government of Hungary publicly refused to even consider adopting it – even though at first the Budapest administration signed it and promised to adopt/ratify it.
The governments of Poland and Slovakia have pulled out from the process of adopting it (although they have not yet stated that they will sign out entirely) and the government of Czech Republic didn’t even consider signing it, let alone ratifying it – the Prague administration rejecting the document outright.
In the countries where the Istanbul Convention is already in force, the voices against it are becoming stronger and stronger.
Given these realities, it is no surprise that the Eurocrats are trying yet again to push it by force on everyone else.
To learn more about the Istanbul Convention, read this article.
What can be done?
The vote is scheduled to take place on September 8, 2015. In other words, we have a little over one week to contact as many Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) as possible and urge them to vote against the “Rodrigues report”.
To find the contact of your MEP, go here, choose the country, and a list will pop-up.
Unfortunately, not all MEPs have listed their contacts on the EU’s portal. In those cases, you’d have to go an extra step and look for their contact in a third party place in your native tongue.
Citizens of the UK can go to this website which has centralized the contacts of all UK MEPs. When this article will appear in other languages in which AVFM is being published, the editors will make sure to offer resources for that particular area/country.
In order to avoid spamming the MEPs, it is recommended that you write them in your native tongue (and NOT in English, unless you’re from an English-speaking territory, of course). Also, avoid sending the exact same e-mail multiple times. Be creative! The reasons to object to this bill are infinite and the campaign is much more likely to be successful if the objection doesn’t come in bulk and spam-like format.
To help a bit more, I have compiled three models of letters to send to the MEPs, one a bit more pompous, one more colloquial and one for far-Left politicians. It is no secret that a significant proportion of MEPs aren’t exactly the most sophisticated bunch. As a result, a more colloquial approach may be more successful in some cases.
Model #1:
Subject: Stop the European Parliament’s Rodrigues Report
Dear Member of European Parliament, As your elector(s), I/we would like to bring to your attention the important vote on the Rodrigues Report on 8 September in the plenary session. This report “Empowering girls through Education in the EU”, infringes upon the European and International Treaties and Covenants by: Violating the right of parents to be the first educators of their children. It is a direct intrusion in the private lives of parents, children, teachers and school-book editors, as this report does not make any attempt to respect the freedom of belief and conscience, guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Violating of the Principle of Subsidiarity of the European Union, as “education” is not a competence of the EU, as defined by Article 5 of the Lisbon Treaty or the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. More to the point, the premise of this bill is based on misleading data at best and outright falsehoods at worst. The bill for instance stresses on the supposed millions of illiterate women – yet those women don’t reside in our country or in the EU for the most part. I/we do not want the EU bureaucracy to dictate at my son’s PTA meetings because one girl in his class is still slow in reading at the age of 8. I/we think we can solve whatever educational problems may exist at local level far better than at the Commission level. I/we don’t think it is extreme to say that the politicians in [insert remote country here] can understand and know better the situation in our country than we do ourselves. For all of the above reasons, we respectfully urge you to REJECT the Rodrigues Report. Sincerely, [Your Name] Citizen of [your country]
Model #2
Subject: Please vote against the Rodrigues Report on Thursday, September 8
Dear Member of European Parliament, As an elector of yours, I/we would like to bring to your attention the important vote on the Rodrigues Report on 8 September in the plenary session. This report “Empowering girls through Education in the EU” has a nice sounding name but it is in fact addressing a problem that either does not really exist or it can be better addressed at a local level. In addition to being against the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, as “Education” is not under the competence of the EU, this report also infringes upon the freedom of conscience of the people in this country/constituency. I/we think it is better to have the debate on, for instance, sex education, gender equality or other topics at the local level, rather than have the EU simply dictate an agenda that may be contrary to the values of this country/constituency. Whilst gender equality is an important topic, I/we believe that the EU’s involvement in this issue through this bill is misguided. More boys than girls drop out from school, yet this bill stresses that we should help the girls even more. Suffice to say that such approaches are out of touch with reality in our country/constituency to say the least. Please vote to keep us free from Brussels bureaucratic intervention in our schools. For the reasons stated above, I/we urge you to vote against the Rodrigues report on September 8! Sincerely [or “Best regards”], [Your name] Citizen of [your country] (alternatively you can use the constituency if your country elects MEPs on regional constituencies)
Model #3
Subject: Please vote against the Rodrigues Report on Thursday, September 8
Dear Member of European Parliament, As an elector of yours, I/we would like to bring to your attention a few issues regarding the Rodrigues Report which you will be asked to vote on in the upcoming plenary session. This report called “Empowering girls through Education in the EU” or the “Rodrigues report” sounds quite good on paper, but I’m afraid it is completely out of scope, in addition to going too far. For starters, the EU’s competence on Education, as per Articles 5 and 6 in the Lisbon Treaty, is limited. The EU has the right to attempt to improve access to education through programs facilitating the movement of students and pupils across Europe, but the EU does not have the right to determine the curricula in any Member State. As a result, this bill’s request to the Commission to compel Member States to adopt a certain curricula in regards to gender politics is contrary to the EU’s Functioning Treaty itself. Secondly, the bill stresses exclusively on girls’ school abandonment which is an issue that is in fact affecting boys far more often than it does girls. I/we don’t think our sons should be left behind in this fashion. More to the point, the approach proposed by this bill is in direct violation of Article 20 (Equality before the law), Article 21 (Non-discrimination) and Article 23 (Equality between men and women) from the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Given that boys are far more affected by many of the issues addressed in the bill, I/we consider to be not only unfair but outright harmful to our sons to approach the issues in the fashion proposed by Ms. Rodriguez. Thirdly, the bill breaches the subsidiarity principle which is entrenched in EU policies precisely because the EU is a diverse place. Surely it’s not extreme to say that a school from northern Finland, one from London and one from Naples are not identical in any way, shape or form. More to the point, even the Socialist Group of the European Parliament S&D recommended the rejection of portions of this bill under the grounds that it breaches the UN Declaration of Universal Rights. The recommendation was not taken appropriately into consideration by the FEMM committee and the bill put forth now is in a form that runs completely against the tradition of the European Union. For these reasons, I/we urge to take the S&D’s recommendations into consideration and to vote against the Rodriguez Report on September 8. Sincerely [or “Best regards”], [Your name] Citizen of [your country]
Other suggestions
Obviously, the three models of letters put forth here are not definitive nor “the best” way to approach one or more MEPs.
The point of these three models is to show that it can be argued against this bill from multiple sides of the political spectrum.
Also, the examples given in the models are there for perspective. Feel free to use your own examples.
If you know a politician is more nationalistic, do not abstain from using historical examples or arguments that you know that particular politician may like.
As a general guideline (as observed in the models) – the idea is to hit the main talking points of the far-Left, the Left, the centre-Right (EPP) and the rest.
An EPP politician may be willing to hear more about subsidiarity (model #1), for instance, whilst an S&D politician is more likely to be interested in “preserving diversity”. An ALDE politician is likely to want to hear a bit of both. The politicians on the far-Left (Nordic Green Left, et. al.) may be persuaded by arguments such as “we already have that at home – our model is better” (despite the public rhetoric, Scandinavian ideologues are very nationalistic).
Another group to pay attention to is ECR (Conservatives and Reformists). This group is likely to be persuaded by arguments similar to the ones in the second model as well by presenting national statistics (if you can find them for your country).
For the “extremist” groups such as the EFDD or ENF, things vary by individual. The ones hooked on international-socialist (communist) extremism (Syriza, et. al.) arguments such as “we have people starving, we can’t afford luxurious nonsense like this” are likely to work. For the ones hooked on national-socialist (fascist) extremism (NPD, Front National, et. al.) arguments such as “these cocooned foreigners have no idea about our nation – why should we listen to them?” are the most likely to work.
Also, please do not dismiss the extremist groups and do contact them too – regardless of whether you like them or not. I need to remind you that Front National was the most popular party in the last European elections in France. Since France is a large country, Front National has 23 seats in the European Parliament. In total, these formerly fringe groups represent over one quarter of the European Parliament. Given these realities, convincing these groups to vote against this bill is very important and necessary.
Can non-EU residents do anything?
If you do have a passport in a EU nation – then yes, you should also write to a few MEPs, even if you have not voted in the European elections or you moved outside the EU years ago.
If you do not have an EU passport, please do share this article (or its equivalents in other languages when they’ll emerge on AVFM) to as many Europeans as possible and via as many social networks and websites as possible.
I will update this article with other models (if they appear in the comment section) as well as with the translations of this article when they get published in other languages on AVFM.
Let’s get this done! This is a chance to defend liberty and say NO to feminism!
Sources:
1 Report on equality between men and women, 2014, p. 5 – http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/annual_reports/150304_annual_report_2014_web_en.pdf
2 Europe 2020 Target: Early School Leavers from Education, p. 6 – http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/themes/29_early_school_leaving.pdf
3 Girls get violent, The Independent, published on May 2, 1996 – http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/girls-get-violent-1345290.html ; further analysis from 2008 – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7401996.stm
4 Fetele se bat mai mult decât băieţii la şcoală, Realitatea, published on June 7, 2012 – http://www.realitatea.net/fetele-se-bat-mai-mult-decat-baietii-la-scoala_950236.htmlTotal Nonstop Action superstar Eli Drake grew up during a different era in professional wrestling. As a kid, he tuned in to watch in-ring battles between "big, masculine" giants whose muscle-bound frames inspired awe and intimidation inside the ring and out.
"They seemed like dangerous men, guys you would be afraid of if you encountered them on the streets," said TNA's King of the Mountain champion during a telephone interview. "So many guys wrestling today you wouldn't be afraid of; I aim to be that guy -- whether it's because of my verbal barbs or a fist or foot."
Eli Drake Is TNA's King of the Mountain Champion.
Drake has come a long way in realizing that goal since his 2015 TNA debut as one-third of "The Rising." After breaking from the trio of young superstars led by Drew Galloway, he has emerged as a cocky, trash-talking adversary unafraid to trade fisticuffs with the top names in the business. According to Drake, many might say the character isn't much of a departure from who he truly is.
"I have this personality, where I'm a natural introvert in my personal life, but when you give me a camera and microphone, I have a so much to say," Drake explained. "It might be scathing to whomever is on the opposite side of me, but it is something that just really comes organically to me."
Playing to his true beliefs and personality, it's little surprise Grado landed in the emerging solo superstar's crosshairs. More than falling into the realm of wrestling personalities one certainly would not fear in a dark alley, the TNA British Bootcamp contestant exemplifies another of the former NXT talent's pet peeves.
"One of my biggest gripes with wrestling in the last decade is it has seen a lot of silly, goofy characters," Drake stated emphatically. "I feel like every other match is a comedy spot, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I think if there is a comedy spot, it should be special."
Eli Drake Cashes in His Feast or Fired Briefcase
Drake blames over-saturation of wrestlers who "dance, take selfies and other cutesie things" for a shift in the industry's core audience overall. He contends it alienates the "testosterone-driven male audience" which once defined pro wrestling. Needless to say, that made the likable Grado's in-ring tomfoolery quite irksome.
Drake took to attacking the grappler, who looks a bit more like a plumber, perhaps, than pro wrestling superstar. A series of onscreen battles, in which the muscular competitor generally bested the affable British buffoon, culminated earlier this year at TNA's "Feast or Fired" event. Top names in the company competed to win briefcases mostly filled with contracts for upcoming title shots -- though one held a pink slip.
Through what might have been a switch-a-roo, Drake secured a guaranteed King of the Mountain title match -- and Grado was unceremoniously fired. Though the popular Grado eventually did return to the company by upsetting his nemesis in a grudge match, the wheels were already in motion for Drake's next step toward championship gold.
On the May 31 broadcast of TNA's flagship Impact Wrestling broadcast, airing Tuesday nights on cable's Pop TV, Drake won the KOTM title. The contender strategically cashed in his briefcase in the wake of a vicious attack on then-champion Bram by "The Destroyer" Bobby Lashley. Though many felt this cheapened the victory, Drake managed to retain the belt in a rematch two weeks later at TNA's Slammiversary pay-per-view.
Eli Drake Is a New Face Emerging in Total Nonstop Action.
Now Drake is defending his newly-won title against the British bruiser Bram. With two giant brawlers -- over 500 lbs. of combined muscle slugging it out in TNA's six-sided ring -- it would seem he's finally getting to participate in the kind of matches he grew up watching.
This, and being showcased on a "national, global platform," has been a "long time coming," says Drake. Though with TNA scarcely more than a year, he's been wrestling for more than a decade. On the indie circuit, he captured the Heartland Wrestling Association TV title and the NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood tag titles with current Lucha Underground star Brian Cage.
Since jumping to current cable home Pop TV, Drake says TNA has benefited from a "vast reshuffling of the deck." As veterans are fading from the scene, new faces are emerging to lead the charge forward -- not the least of whom is Eli Drake.
"In all honesty, I'm super happy to be where I am, doing what I'm doing and making a living doing what I love to do," he concluded. "Now I'm being recognized in the sense of being given a more prominent role and being showcased; I couldn't ask for anything more."
Total Nonstop Action 'Impact Wrestling' Broadcasts Tuesday Nights on PopTV. Check Local Listings for Times & Availability.About
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The state Department of Transportation has completed a preliminary report considering three designs for a passenger terminal and real estate development proposed for the “Gulch” area of downtown Atlanta. The state won’t make its recommendation on the complex until the end of this year, but one design is looking good, according to the report.
That one would have a pedestrian connection beneath Forsyth Street to the Five Points MARTA station.
The state has not yet committed to funding the project, no matter what design is chosen. A financial feasibility report is expected this summer. Backers hope real estate development around or above the terminal could generate profits to help pay for the terminal.
And even if there is money to build the bus and train terminal, the rail portion is uncertain. Commuter rail advocates have long hoped such a terminal would be a hub for passenger trains, but funding to establish the rail lines has not materialized.
DOT spokeswoman Jill Goldberg emphasized the report is preliminary. But she said the complex could have a “huge benefit” to the downtown area and the region, revitalizing the area and providing activities for visitors and tourists.
Though trains are a big question, the development could still provide a single place for public and private buses that spill over downtown streets or use haphazard docking quarters.
The three alternatives under question would basically use the same pieces of land. The leading alternative would connect two buildings on upper floors, stretching the terminal far enough so passengers could get from it to MARTA’s Five Points hub. In addition, it would preserve the historic Atlanta Constitution building on Forsyth and Alabama streets.
The other two options don’t make it as |
I was heartbroken and I wept every day, missing my fatherland and my parents back home."
The double defector has been living with her parents in her hometown since last month.
It's unclear how Lim crossed the border back into North Korea, but South Korean intelligence officials fear the defector was kidnapped and sent back to Pyongyang, the BBC reported. Other North Korean defectors have speculated that Lim was attempting to smuggle other family members into South Korea before she was abducted.
IN NORTH KOREA, HATRED IS AS CLOSE AS AN ENVELOPE
At least 25 defectors have come forward in North Korea claiming they returned to the rogue nation voluntarily since Kim succeeded his father in 2012, according to the BBC. North Korea has been known to call defectors "traitors" and "human scum."
On Wednesday, a detailed report released by The Transnational Justice Working Group, a human rights organization, revealed a North Korean firing squad executed so-called criminals in public areas, such as schoolyards and fish markets -- a tactic used to create an "atmosphere of fear" in the country.
The "criminals" included people who stole livestock and rice, but also included citizens convicted of harsher crimes, such as murder and manslaughter.Background
Recording and production
Music and composition
Promotion and release
Critical reception
Commercial performance
Track listing
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[5] Technical Noah Goldstein – associate production, additional programming (3; SFX on 8), engineering (all), mixing (1, 6–8)
, engineering, mixing Hudson Mohawke – production consultancy, additional programming (4)
Arca – production consultancy, additional programming (4)
Young Chop – production consultancy
Ken Lewis – noises and vocal sounds creation and engineering (4), "oh" vocals creation (6), choir production (1)
, "oh" vocals creation, choir production Tammy Infusino – "oh" vocals creation (6)
Che Pope – additional programming (3)
Travis Scott – additional programming (3)
Anthony Kilhoffer – engineering (1–8, 10), mixing (4, 9)
, mixing Mike Dean – engineering (1–6, 8)
Andrew Dawson – engineering (1, 9)
Brent Kolatalo – engineering (6)
Marc Portheau – engineering assistance (all)
Khoï Huynh – engineering assistance (all)
Raoul Le Pennec – engineering assistance (all)
Nabil Essemlani – engineering assistance (all)
Keith Parry – engineering assistance (all)
Kenta Yonesaka – engineering assistance (1–5, 7, 8)
David Rowland – engineering assistance (1–5, 7, 8)
Sean Oakley – engineering assistance (1, 2, 4–8), mixing assistance (1, 4, 6–9)
, mixing assistance Eric Lynn – engineering assistance (1, 2, 4–8), mixing assistance (1, 4, 6–9)
, mixing assistance Dave “Squirrel” Covell – engineering assistance (1, 2, 4–8), mixing assistance (1, 4, 6–9)
, mixing assistance Josh Smith – engineering assistance (1, 2, 4–8), mixing assistance (1, 4, 6–9)
, mixing assistance Kevin Matela – engineering assistance (4)
Mat Arnold – engineering assistance (6, 8)
Dale – engineering assistance (6)
Damien Prost – engineering assistance (7)
Manny Marroquin – mixing (2, 3, 5, 10)
Delbert Bowers – mixing assistance (2, 3, 5, 10)
Chris Galland – mixing assistance (2, 3, 5, 10)
Kyle Ross – mixing assistance (4)
Uri Djemal – choir engineering (1)
Vlado Meller – mastering
Mark Santangelo – assistant mastering engineering
Chris Gehringer – mastering (2) Musicians Mike Dean – additional instrumentation (guitar solo on 5; bass, guitar on 10)
Chris “Hitchcock” Chorney – additional instrumentation (cellos on 8)
Dylan Wissing – drums (1)
Matt Teitelman – percussion (1)
Alvin Fields – choir direction (1)
Carmen Roman – choir (1)
K. Nita – choir (1)
John Morgan – choir (1)
Jessenia Pena – choir (1)
Ronnie Artis – choir (1)
Crystal Brun – choir (1)
Sean Drew – choir (1)
Natalis Ruby Rubero – choir (1)
Lorraine Berry – choir (1)
Gloria Ryann – choir (1)
Timeka Lee – choir (1)
Matthew Williams – music consultancy
Benji B – DONDA music consultancy Artwork Kanye West – creative direction, art direction
Virgil Abloh – art direction
Matthew Williams – art direction
Justin Saunders – DONDA art direction
Joe Perez – DONDA graphic design
Jim Joe 13 – illustration and type treatment for DONDA
Todd Russell – art production
Kristen Yiengst – art production
Alex Haldi – art production
Andrew Zaeh – art production
Meredith Truax – art production
Tai Linzie – art production
The DGS Team – art production
Charts
Certifications
Release historyI've never done one of these before so I'll give it my best shot. It assumes you know how to get ADB working on your watch.Go here for adb help.**This only works on bootloader unlocked, rooted devices. The tool at the link above can help you achieve this requirement.** -thanks 7dk Download Link: Here MD5 Checksum: AC0F2B4AA2C1B5199789F2770CDA5B06Directions:0) YOU MUST BE ON ANDROID WEAR VERSION 4.4W2 (BUILD KNX01Q) IN ORDER TO FLASH THIS OTA1) Install ADB and successfully connect to your watch over ADB.2) Rename the install ZIP to 'update.zip' if not already done so.3) Move the ZIP to your ADB directory.4) Open a command prompt in your ADB directory and follow these commands:adb push update.zip /sdcard/update.zipadb shellsucp /sdcard/update.zip /cache/update.zipecho 'boot-recovery'> /cache/recovery/commandecho '--update_package=/cache/update.zip' >> /cache/recovery/commandreboot recoveryYour watch should now reboot and begin updating.Thanks to reddit users z0mbiexx and TjPhysicist for getting the link and install working.Ramtin Sabet said that he was fired for complaining to about "severe and pervasive" discrimination.
Highlights Ramtin Sabet filed a federal lawsuit after he was fired last month He alleged he was repeatedly called terrorist by his co-workers North Chicago officials denied harassment or discrimination against Sabe
An Iranian-origin ex-police officer in the US has filed a discrimination lawsuit after being fired, alleging that his colleagues in the police department called him an "ISIS leader" and asked if he rode a goat to work.Ramtin Sabet, who was fired last month, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that he was fired after he complained that he was constantly harassed for practicing his Muslim faith.He alleged that he was repeatedly called a terrorist by his co-workers at the North Chicago Police Department, told he was an "ISIS leader working as a police officer" and asked if he rode a goat to work, according to the lawsuit.Ramtin Sabet, an Iranian immigrant, is suing the city of North Chicago and its former and current police chiefs, the Chicago Tribune reported.He has alleged that he complained both formally and informally to his supervisors but they did nothing to deter or investigate his claims.Ramtin Sabet joined the department in 2007 and later filed two separate complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging discrimination at work.North Chicago officials denied that harassment or discrimination against Sabet occurred.Police Chief Richard Wilson, in a statement on Friday, said the city embraces diversity."Officer Sabet was terminated for violations of police department rules and regulations," he was quoted as saying."He has challenged that determination. The city plans to vigorously defend its decision," Wilson said.Ramtin Sabet contends in the lawsuit that he was fired for complaining to the EEOC about what he called "severe and pervasive" discrimination and harassment that went on for years and included mocking of his religion, culture and food.North Chicago officials responded in court records by saying that Ramtin Sabet's performance kept him from becoming a field training officer and attending supervisor school."It was like I was being hazed all the time," Ramtin Sabet was quoted as saying.He said the officers, whom he considered his "brothers in blue," told him he held his gun like a "terrorist Muslim".Ramtin Sabet said they made derogatory comments about him in public and while dealing with suspects.Ramtin Sabet, who has worked as a police officer for 15 years, pulled a colleague out of a fire and assisted others when they were injured or shot on the job, he said in a statement released by the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which is representing him. "We trust our police departments to keep us safe. We trust that they have moral fortitude that they should practice within their own departments, as well as with the citizens that they serve," CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab said.For the second year in a row, Investigative Reporters and Editors solicited nominations from the public for one of the least coveted prizes in government: the Golden Padlock. The award recognizes “the most secretive publicly-funded agency or person in the United States,” and the U.S. Border Patrol last year took home the inaugural honor for stonewalling Freedom of Information Act requests related to agent-involved shootings along the border. While we’ve had our own FOIA battles with Customs & Border Protection in the past, it’s nothing compared to what we’ve encountered trying to shine light on how the NSA conducts mass surveillance.
This year, we formally and publicly nominate the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, or DOJ NSD, for the Golden Padlock.
For years, EFF has been trying to obtain opinions issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or FISA court, that contain secret interpretations of the Constitution and federal surveillance laws. The government then relies on those secret interpretations to justify the NSA’s surveillance programs. We requested these opinions from DOJ NSD, which represents the government before the FISA court. After the government refused to produce the opinions, we sued—twice.
In each case, DOJ NSD claimed that none of the FISA court’s opinions—not a page, not a portion of a page, not a sentence, not a word—could be released without damaging national security. In some cases, DOJ NSD even refused to tell us how many pages the opinions contained.
The Snowden leaks changed things. In the government’s scramble to contain the damage from the leaks, they publicly disclosed many aspects of the programs the opinions described. That allowed us to successfully argue in court for the release of many of these opinions, which show multiple ways in which, by policy, error or outright misconduct, the rights of Americans were violated by NSA’s surveillance programs. But we also learned something else from these releases: DOJ NSD had misled EFF and the courts hearing our lawsuits when they claimed that nothing could be released from the opinions they were withholding.
There are numerous examples we can point to, but one is just so spectacularly egregious that it, alone, is worthy of special recognition. In one lawsuit, a DOJ NSD official swore that everything in the opinion was classified as “TOP SECRET” and disclosure of any part of the opinion would threaten “grave harm” to national security. Now that the FISA court’s opinion has been declassified, we now know that the super-sensitive information the DOJ was so aggressively defending included… the text of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.
Other information the DOJ NSD contended was classified as TOP SECRET included sentences concerning illegal government action, like these:
“The Court is exceptionally concerned about what appears to be a flagrant violation of its order in this matter[.]”
“[T]he Court must have every confidence that the government is doing its utmost to ensure that those responsible for implementation fully comply with the Court’s orders. The Court no longer has such confidence.”
“The Court now understands, however, that the NSA has acquired, is acquiring, and... will continue to acquire, tens of thousands of wholly domestic communications.”
No exemption to FOIA justified the withholding of this information at any time. Release of these sentences would not have revealed any sensitive intelligence information: it only would have informed the public that the government’s surveillance programs were in dire need of reform.
Even as the White House pledges greater transparency on issues surrounding mass surveillance, DOJ NSD continues to withhold key opinions that are necessary to an informed public debate. The agency’s obstinacy seems to be contrived to control public perception rather than protect any legitimate intelligence-gathering practices. EFF has gone back to court to force the DOJ to release more opinions and orders, but in the meantime, we’ll make our case to IRE’s Golden Padlock judges.
The Department of Justice’s National Security Division deserves a trophy for trampling transparency.Most horror movies are generally told from a male perspective, despite the fact that studies have shown the audiences for these films are 50% female. There have been some powerful genre movies made by women, featuring feminist leanings and a strong female viewpoint. We wanted to highlight these works — those films that bypass the stereotypical (naked) damsel in distress trope and call attention to the male gaze, sometimes turning it back onto itself. If the only names that come to mind when discussing horror are Hitchcock and Romero, let this list also serve as an introduction to fantastic female filmmakers who enjoy scaring the hell out of their audiences.
Trouble Every Day
Claire Denis’ blood-soaked meditation on desire, obsession, and longing centers on a pair of cannibals (Vincent Gallo and Béatrice Dalle) who indulge their animal appetites with abandon and force us to face some of our most primal fears: being eaten alive, being alone, and losing time.
Near Dark
Kathryn Bigelow’s severely underrated vampire film, Near Dark, follows a ruthless family of nomadic vampires. There’s nary a cape or exotic accent amongst the bloodsuckers, who behave like junkies out for a fix. Darker, grittier, and more grounded in real-life horror than most vampire tales, Near Dark presents a hazy, brutal world akin to a horror-western — far from the typical romantic tableaux we’re used to.
Messiah of Evil
This was American Graffiti screenwriters Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz’s ticket to a directorial career — a tradition many Hollywood hopefuls followed during the 1970s (make a genre movie, pray you get noticed, direct another, “respectable,” film). Messiah of Evil was never completed the way the filmmakers originally intended — their budget ran out and investors took over the project — but that disconnect gives the film some of its surreality. A young woman searches for her missing father in a seaside town that is overrun by a zombified cult. Cue Lovecraft-inspired weirdness, nightmarish visions, and a Euro-horror influence that makes Messiah of Evil palpably eerie.
American Psycho
Mary Harron’s adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho — about a wealthy, narcissistic, and psychopathic investment banker who slaughters his way through the 1980s — highlighted the incredible talent of Christian Bale. But it also made us notice Harron, who cleverly balances the bleakness and bitterness of Ellis’ story (previously considered unfilmable) with smart satire and style through her curious, clinical eye.
Amer
Directors Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani created a glowing tribute to the Italian thrillers of the 1960s and ‘70s (known as the gialli) with Amer. Where those films tend to cater to male audiences, using sex and nudity galore, Amer’s trilogy tale is told from a female perspective à la Repulsion. The film’s dream logic allows viewers to indulge in Cattet and Forzani’s sensual, and sometimes frightening, observations.
The Hitch-Hiker
Pioneering filmmaker Ida Lupino had an impressive directorial career for a woman during the 1940s and ‘50s, when big-screen opportunities were largely in front of the camera and not behind it. Often cited as the first film noir feature directed by a woman, The Hitch-Hiker blends an anxiety-ridden narrative — about two men held at gunpoint by an escaped murderer — with psychological horror and stark realism.
The Slumber Party Massacre
Legendary producer Roger Corman has given many big name actors and directors their first break, including Jack Nicholson and Francis Ford Coppola. Corman did the same with screenwriter and editor Amy Holden Jones, who turned down a gig behind the scenes of E.T. in order to direct her first feature, The Slumber Party Massacre. The film was meant to be a parody of the slasher films that populated the 1980s, written by feminist author Rita Mae Brown. However, Corman took a straight approach to the story. Still, Brown and Jones’ subversive humor, filtered through a female perspective (the men make dumb decisions while the women are more resilient), manages to shine through.
American Mary
Canadian twin filmmakers Jen and Sylvia Soska have been leading the way for contemporary female horror directors with their indie debut, Dead Hooker in a Trunk (picked up by IFC), and the recent American Mary. A disenchanted medical student enters the world of underground surgery and extreme body modification where her career takes a dark turn. Ginger Snaps’ Katharine Isabelle leads the twisted character study, and the Soskas allow the antiheroine to flourish without straining to make her likable (a rarity for female characters in general).
Pathogen
Emily Hagins directed zombie horror flick Pathogen when she was only 12 years old. The precocious director’s newest film, Grow Up, Tony Phillips, will be released on Halloween in 2014 (although it’s not a horror film).
Boxing Helena
Following in the footsteps of her famous filmmaker father, David Lynch, Jennifer Chambers Lynch started her own movie career with a bizarre, provocative story about a surgeon who holds a woman captive by amputating her limbs. The odd mix of quiet horror, fantasy, and erotic drama plays as lurid and downright (delightfully) weird.
Ravenous
Antonia Bird’s Ravenous is set during the 1800s at a remote military outpost in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where a group of soldiers meet a mysterious stranger who shares a disturbing tale of cannibalism. Part horror film, part black comedy, part character drama, Ravenous treats the power struggle that develops amongst the men, and the film’s gory premise, as a biting satire on consumption and our culture of excess.
In My Skin
New French Extremity film In My Skin by Marina de Van uses disturbing self-mutilation as a metaphor for the alienation we (especially women) often feel regarding our own bodies.
Organ
Think Cronenberg body horror filtered through a Japanese aesthetic when it comes to Kei Fujiwara’s Organ. The director previously starred in Tetsuo: The Iron Man — a transgressive classic that also deals with the limits and grotesqueness of the human body.
Jennifer’s Body
Written and directed by women (filmmaker Karyn Kusama and Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody), Jennifer’s Body tapped into high school horror (featuring Megan Fox as a possessed cheerleader) and the dark side of female friendship.
The Captured Bird
Former Rue Morgue magazine editor Jovanka Vuckovic directed a nightmarish fable about a little girl whose chalk drawings lead her to terrifying supernatural creatures. The short was produced by none other than Guillermo del Toro, and can be watched online right now.When one invokes the buzzword “signature champion,” they expect a monstrous statistics line like Koro1’s now 31-4 all time Maokai, or Faker’s previously undefeated Leblanc. Clearlove’s Evelynn is 16-8 since the Season 2 World Championship, which is only a 66.67 percent win rate.
Even Clearlove, in his long career, has champions with far more impressive scorelines like Rengar (13-2), Rek’Sai (12-2), Hecarim (9-2), and Nunu (24-6). After watching his monstrous Lee Sin play this split in the LPL’s regular season, many might say that the blind monk is Clearlove’s strongest pocket pick or that his tank play is his most comfortable.
Make no mistake, Clearlove’s signature champion is Evelynn.
Faker’s Leblanc, undefeated until the MSI Finals, is a legendary pick, but the significance of Clearlove’s Evelynn was not lost by spectator’s of the Chinese language stream. Evelynn is the champion Clearlove defaults to when his teams play important series, and it doesn’t always succeed, but he uses it for some of his most confident plays.
Evelynn picked in tournament Win Loss 2013 LPL Spring 2 0 StarsWar League Season 2 1 0 4th Asian Indoor Martial Arts Games 1 1 2013 LPL Summer 0 2 2014 LPL Spring 4 2 2014 LPL Summer 4 1 2014 IEM Shenzhen 1 2 2014 World Championship 1 0 2015 LPL Spring 1 0 2015 Mid-Season Invitational 1 0 Total 16 8
In the famous StarsWar Season 2 loss to Invictus Gaming that WE suffered after six months of dominance, the single win in the series WE achieved was with Evelynn. Clearlove played it in the finals of the 4th Asian Indoor Martial Arts Games when WE lost to KT Rolster Bullets.
He played it in both Group stage Bo2 games against OMG, the only team Edward Gaming couldn’t beat, in the 2014 LPL Spring split. He played it in all three games against WE in the finals of IEM Season IX Shenzhen and he played it heavily in the 2014 LPL Summer playoffs.
At the 2014 World Championship, when Edward Gaming fell down two games to Star Horn Royal Club, Clearlove locked in Evelynn. In the 2014 World Championship documentary, Clearlove said that his teammates asked him to pick Elise, but he chose Evelynn instead. “She is my better champion," he said. The only other player to pick it during the 2014 World Championship was Loveling against Fnatic in the Group Stages.
With a single lock-in, EDG seemingly managed to reverse their fates in the SHRC series. Clearlove ganked top quickly, snowballing Koro1’s Ryze ahead. The pick gave EDG a second wind when Clearlove’s passive style in the first two games had made him look weak next to inSec. EDG ultimately lost that series, but they pushed it to five games.
The obvious joke is that Clearlove picks Evelynn because it gives him map pressure for free. Clearlove, the quintessential Evelynn player, is invisible to the world until 20 minutes into a game, but the opposing lanes still play extremely safe for fear of an unseen threat. That hasn't been the case for Clearlove’s Evelynn since about halfway through 2014, even when his play-style was inconsistent. If he grabs Evelynn, he wants to dive you.
Enter Bengi. Bengi’s career has been fraught with as much, if not more, criticism than Clearlove’s. "He gets caught out warding. His ganks are ineffectual. He’s a non-factor late game." Almost any conceivable negative claim against a jungler has been levied against him.
Yet Bengi’s performances lately have done wonders for SK Telecom T1. The meta shift favored him, and his substitution into the SKT’s team during the CJ Entus semifinal in League Champions Korea allowed SKT to reverse sweep and advance to face the GE Tigers in the finals.
Then in the semifinals at the Mid-Season Invitational against Fnatic, Bengi chose Nunu in Game 5. His creative pathing shut down Reignover, who had been previously controlling the jungle, and he dominated the buffs during invasion attempts with ease.
Outside of Rek’Sai, the champion he relied on during the LCK playoffs, and Nunu, Bengi didn’t seem comfortable on other meta picks until the Mid-Season Invitational finals. His Gragas in the group stage against AHQ left much to be desired in the early game. Edward Gaming opted to ban Rek’Sai and Nunu in Game 1, and Bengi proved effective on Gragas. He countered many of Clearlove’s ganks and disengaged on EDG’s aggression attempts.
After EDG lost Game 4 to Bengi’s Gragas, it became clear that that pick was a larger threat than his Rek’Sai. The Explosive Cask provided an ability to reset fights and punish EDG’s all-ins. They banned it in Game 5 and allowed Bengi to pick Nunu for the first time in the series, just as Fnatic had paved the way for Nunu in Game 5 of their series and ultimately lost to SK Telecom T1.
There’s debate as to whether Clearlove deserves the tournament MVP award. There are arguments to be made for almost every member of the team winning, especially during the finals, when Koro1, Clearlove, pawN, and Deft all seemed to have questionable games, but Meiko’s performances on Thresh, Annie, and Alistar were continuously solid throughout.
During the tournament as a whole, Koro1 had a breakout international performance in the top lane with powerful initiations. PawN was perhaps the most hit-or-miss, but it’s impossible not to see the value of his precise Morgana bindings. Deft also forced a Jinx ban two games in a row.
But Edward Gaming let more than just Faker’s Leblanc through in the Game 5 draft. They planned for SK Telecom T1 to pick Nunu, just as bengi did against Fnatic. In multiple post-game interviews, Clearlove referenced EDG’s prepared strategy to counter Bengi’s Nunu.
Clearlove told Sjokz he had been practicing Evelynn in solo queue, and that Evelynn counters SK Telecom T1’s Nunu strategy. Against Fnatic, Nunu invaded Reignover’s jungle diligently, denying buffs. It’s much harder to invade Evelynn’s jungle, because it’s more difficult to find her on the map. If one doesn’t ward for her properly, she can catch Nunu on an invade and assassinate him.
Beyond that, Clearlove’s team fight flanks were reminiscent of his 2014 Evelynn engagement play with Lulu’s Wild Growth. He dove the bottom side of the map early for a quick snowball against MaRin’s questionable Teleport.
Evelynn may have countered Nunu, but the pick still put Edward Gaming at risk against Faker’s Leblanc. A tankier jungler like his favored Sejuani may have kept him safer from Leblanc’s all-ins. With Koro1’s and Meiko’s damage reduction abilities during dives, pawN’s self-applied Black Shield when he entered the fray for a Dark Binding, and Deft’s Spell Shield, Clearlove was the squishy target vulnerable to a pick. Add in Urgot’s Position Reverser, and the Evelynn choice could have gone horribly wrong.
Clearlove’s Evelynn was far from invisible in team fights. He was constantly pinning himself onto Wolf, and sometimes even Faker himself, for an easy pick. As the most obvious target in SK Telecom T1’s composition, Wolf did not fare as well as Clearlove. He dropped eight times in a 38 minute game. By contrast, Clearlove only died once, claiming the least deaths of any member of his team, and he was involved in 22 of 25 kills.
In Clearlove’s own words, “Strats depend on timing.” Edward Gaming waited until the fifth game to let both Faker’s Leblanc and Bengi’s Nunu through the draft into SK Telecom T1’s pick rotation. Coach Aaron’s draft timing was on point, but so were Clearlove's Evelynn flanks and positioning decisions.
Evelynn hasn’t seen much play this Spring, as champion tweaks and the rise of Cinderhulk have seen her fall out of favor. In the typically considered Top 4 international regions, only Clearlove and Diamond dared to play her, each picking her once. Clearlove won his game, and Diamond didn’t.
For the Evelynn pick in the current meta to work out as a counter to Nunu in the same game as Faker’s Leblanc pick, a truly legendary performance is required. The fact that the team built a strategy around it showed that Edward Gaming trusts Clearlove on a gamble. The grief of the 2014 World Championship quarterfinals loss, the dominant regular season play in LPL, pawN's heroic entrance in LPL Playoffs, and EDG's climb through MSI all came down to an Evelynn game.
When asked about Clearlove, his ex-teammate, Misaya, professed, “He'll learn whatever it takes for his team to succeed. I believe that Clearlove is the best jungler.”
Whether or not you agree with Misaya’s assessment, especially given the amount of jungle talent concentrated in China’s LPL that wasn’t present at MSI, facts cannot be ignored. The reign of Faker’s undefeated Leblanc ended this week in Tallahassee with an Evelynn on the enemy team.
It had to be Clearlove.
Kelsey Moser is a staff writer for the Score eSports. She enjoyed MSI and promises this isn't the last feature she'll write about the event. You can follow her on Twitter.All disease begins in the gut.
– Hippocrates
Hippocrates said this more than 2,000 years ago, but we’re only now coming to understand just how right he was. Research over the past two decades has revealed that gut health is critical to overall health, and that an unhealthy gut contributes to a wide range of diseases including diabetes, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, autism spectrum disorder, depression and chronic fatigue syndrome.
In fact, many researchers (including myself) believe that supporting intestinal health and restoring the integrity of the gut barrier will be one of the most important goals of medicine in the 21st century.
There are two closely related variables that determine our gut health: the intestinal microbiota, or “gut flora”, and the gut barrier. Let’s discuss each of them in turn.
The gut flora: a healthy garden needs healthy soil
Our gut is home to approximately 100,000,000,000,000 (100 trillion) microorganisms. That’s such a big number our human brains can’t really comprehend it. One trillion dollar bills laid end-to-end would stretch from the earth to the sun – and back – with a lot of miles to spare. Do that 100 times and you start to get at least a vague idea of how much 100 trillion is.
The human gut contains 10 times more bacteria than all the human cells in the entire body, with over 400 known diverse bacterial species. In fact, you could say that we’re more bacterial than we are human. Think about that one for a minute.
We’ve only recently begun to understand the extent of the gut flora’s role in human health and disease.
Among other things, the gut flora promotes normal gastrointestinal function, provides protection from infection, regulates metabolism and comprises more than 75% of our immune system.
Dysregulated gut flora has been linked to diseases ranging from autism and depression to autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s, inflammatory bowel disease and type 1 diabetes.
Unfortunately, several features of the modern lifestyle directly contribute to unhealthy gut flora:
Antibiotics and other medications like birth control and NSAIDs
Diets high in refined carbohydrates, sugar and processed foods
Diets low in fermentable fibers
Dietary toxins like wheat and industrial seed oils that cause leaky gut
Chronic stress
Chronic infections
Antibiotics are particularly harmful to the gut flora. Recent studies have shown that antibiotic use causes a profound and rapid loss of diversity and a shift in the composition of the gut flora. This diversity is not recovered after antibiotic use without intervention.
We also know that infants that aren’t breast-fed and are born to mothers with bad gut flora are more likely to develop unhealthy gut bacteria, and that these early differences in gut flora may predict overweight, diabetes, eczema/psoriasis, depression and other health problems in the future.
The gut barrier: the gatekeeper that decide what gets in and what stays out
Have you ever considered the fact that the contents of the gut are technically outside the body? The gut is a hollow tube that passes from the mouth to the anus. Anything that goes in the mouth and isn’t digested will pass right out the other end. This is, in fact, one of the most important functions of the gut: to prevent foreign substances from entering the body.
When the intestinal barrier becomes permeable (i.e. “leaky gut syndrome”), large protein molecules escape into the bloodstream. Since these proteins don’t belong outside of the gut, the body mounts an immune response and attacks them. Studies show that these attacks play a role in the development of autoimmune diseases like Hashimoto’s and type 1 diabetes, among others.
In fact, experts in mucosal biology like Alessio Fasano now believe leaky gut is a precondition to developing autoimmunity:
There is growing evidence that increased intestinal permeability plays a pathogenic role in various autoimmune diseases including [celiac disease] and [type 1 diabetes]. Therefore, we hypothesize that besides genetic and environmental factors, loss of intestinal barrier function is necessary to develop autoimmunity.
The phrase “leaky gut” used to be confined to the outer fringes of medicine, employed by alternative practitioners with letters like D.C., L.Ac and N.D. after their names. Conventional researchers and doctors originally scoffed at the idea that a leaky gut contributes to autoimmune problems, but now they’re eating their words. It has been repeatedly shown in several well-designed studies that the integrity of the intestinal barrier is a major factor in autoimmune disease.
This new theory holds that the intestinal barrier in large part determines whether we tolerate or react to toxic substances we ingest from the environment. The breach of the intestinal barrier (which is only possible with a “leaky gut”) by food toxins like gluten and chemicals like arsenic or BPA causes an immune response which affects not only the gut itself, but also other organs and tissues.
These include the skeletal system, the pancreas, the kidney, the liver and the brain.
This is a crucial point to understand: you don’t have to have gut symptoms to have a leaky gut. Leaky gut can manifest as skin problems like eczema or psoriasis, heart failure, autoimmune conditions affecting the thyroid (Hashimoto’s) or joints (rheumatoid arthritis), mental illness, autism spectrum disorder, depression and more.
Researchers have identified a protein called zonulin that increases intestinal permeability in humans and other animals. This led to a search of the medical literature for illnesses characterized by increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut). Imagine their surprise when the researchers found that many, if not most, autoimmune diseases – including celiac disease, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease – are characterized by abnormally high levels of zonulin and a leaky gut. In fact, researchers have found that they can induce type 1 diabetes almost immediately in animals by exposing them to zonulin. They develop a leaky gut, and begin producing antibodies to islet cells – which are responsible for making insulin.
In Step #1: Don’t Eat Toxins, I explained that one of the main reasons we don’t want to eat wheat and other gluten-containing grains is that they contain a protein called gliadin, which has been shown to increase zonulin production and thus directly contribute to leaky gut.
But what else can cause leaky gut? In short, the same things I listed above that destroy our gut flora: poor diet, medications (antibiotics, NSAIDs, steroids, antacids, etc.), infections, stress, hormone imbalances, and neurological conditions (brain trauma, stroke and neurodegeneration).
Leaky gut = fatigued, inflamed and depressed
Here’s the takeaway. Leaky gut and bad gut flora are common because of the modern lifestyle. If you have a leaky gut, you probably have bad gut flora, and vice versa.
And when your gut flora and gut barrier are impaired, you will be inflamed. Period.
This systemic inflammatory response then leads to the development of autoimmunity. And while leaky gut and bad gut flora may manifest as digestive trouble, in many people it does not. Instead it shows up as problems as diverse as heart failure, depression, brain fog, eczema/psoriasis and other skin conditions, metabolic problems like obesity and diabetes and allergies, asthma and other autoimmune diseases.
To adequately address these conditions, you must rebuild healthy gut flora and restore the integrity of your intestinal barrier. This is especially true if you have any kind of autoimmune disease, whether you experience digestive issues or not.
How to maintain and restore a healthy gut
The most obvious first step in maintaining a healthy gut is to avoid all of the things I listed above that destroy gut flora and damage the intestinal barrier. But of course that’s not always possible, especially in the case of chronic stress and infections. Nor did we have any control over whether we were breast-fed or whether our mothers had healthy guts when they gave birth to us.
If you’ve been exposed to some of these factors, there are still steps you can take to restore your gut flora:
Remove all food toxins from your diet
Eat plenty of fermentable fibers (starches like sweet potato, yam, yucca, etc.)
Eat fermented foods like kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, kim chi, etc., take a high-quality, multi-species probiotic, and/or drink bone broth
Treat any intestinal pathogens (such as parasites) that may be present
Take steps to manage your stressEver have a burning passion for something that no matter what, you’re going to make it a reality? The recent release of the movie Burnt is about a real-life story about chef Adam Jones, who made it big in the culinary world. Not all was smooth sailing! His ego, anger issues, Prima Donna and erratic behavior, and drug addiction spiraled him to the lowest place a person can go |
but this requires parties to enter into dialogue without demands and without assuming they have sole access to either the Divine or the Truth. The United States should also remember that the rest of the world has a much longer memory than it does. Muslims still recall the horror of the Crusades, in which Middle Eastern Christians as well as Jews and Muslims were brutally slaughtered for their different faith, and US calls for the spread of “democracy” and “freedom” in past decades were accompanied by unrivaled support for authoritarian regimes, a boycott of the democratically elected Palestinian government, and military occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The call for freedom and tolerance ultimately means allowing people to define and choose how they wish to frame their life and their choices; and those choices may be different than the ones we might make.
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Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University
The need to “take religion seriously” has become something of a mantra in discussions of religion and foreign policy. It is often taken as synonymous with support for US religious freedom promotion and religious engagement. What can it mean for the government to take religion seriously?
Taking religion seriously does not mean there will be no government engagement with religion. There is no religion today without government involvement in some form. Taking religion seriously means that the government is forced to choose among religious groups and authorities. It is impossible to take all religions equally seriously, just as it is impossible to distinguish “religious” from “non-religious” activities and groups for the purposes of public policy.
Take religious outreach. A USAID Program Guide advises that “engagement with top religious leadership is critical…organizing at the community level requires a great deal of groundwork and relationship building with senior leaders.” Religious outreach requires diplomats and practitioners to seek out leaders and spokespersons for strategic dialogue. Nontraditional religions and unorthodox versions of protected religions are usually absent. Groups that don’t count as “religions” at all because the authorities don’t recognize them as such go missing. Dissidents and doubters are nowhere to be found. USAID’s RelHarmony program has already confronted this dilemma, observing in its final report that: “religious leaders from Albania’s four traditional religious groups were, with few exceptions, supportive of interfaith initiatives, which included all traditional religions, however their views differed on the question of including members of non-traditional religious groups in RelHarmony activities.”
Yet religious engagement still operates on the pretense that all religions can be taken equally seriously. This masks the power relations involved: it will always be easier for the religion(s) of the majority, the religion of those who are in power, or the particular version of a religion supported by the state, the United States, the United Nations, corporate interests, or other power brokers to carry more weight, politically, than others. Religious engagement means that groups that the United States disfavors are more likely to be classified as “cults” or “extremists,” while US-friendly groups are registered and protected as tolerant and orthodox.
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Peter Mandaville, Associate Professor of Government and Politics and Director of Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, George Mason University
I think there is potentially great promise in setting up an office of religious engagement at the State Department – but a lot of it comes down to the question of how such an initiative is implemented. To my mind the worst outcome here would be one whereby other people at the State Department stop thinking about religion because there’s now a new office that handles that. Rather, the single greatest contribution such an office could make is to help foreign affairs officers and diplomats across all regional and functional bureaus understand that engagement with religion and religious actors needs to become a routine and standard part of the diplomatic toolkit. Right now religious engagement is confined to several very specific issues: religious freedom, countering violent extremism, and conflict resolution. We need to move beyond that framework and help policymakers understand that religion is relevant across a much wider range of issues. At the same time, we need to avoid over-emphasizing religion or religious identity, as some of the US government’s Muslim engagement efforts have done.
Many worry about whether a new emphasis on religious engagement is consistent with the US constitution. Hopefully any new office can work with the White House and State Department lawyers to develop better and more consistent legal guidelines to enable such work. I’m actually more concerned about making sure that a new focus on religion and religious actors is consistent with our broader human rights commitments. For example, our diplomats will likely encounter situations in which they want to partner with a particular religious leader to address US national security concerns even when that same figure espouses views inconsistent with our goal of advancing the rights of women globally.
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Nadia Marzouki, Research Fellow, European University Institute
The State Department’s plan to create a new office of religious engagement is consistent with the recent elevation of the theme of “engagement” in foreign policy talk, from the Cairo Speech (2009) to the report of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (2010). With this new project, US diplomacy and policy expertise proves once again its inability to grasp the political reality of the so-called “Muslim world.” Until the 1990s, secularization and modernization theory provided the main lens through which the future of this region was assessed. The continuous dismissal of religious beliefs and actors led to major errors in the anticipation, and interpretation of some of the most dramatic changes in Muslim majority countries, from the Iranian revolution to the victory of FIS in Algeria.
Today, the special focus on engagement with religious actors reproduces the same mistake in reverse. Not only is it based on an illusory effort to find a one-size-fits all-model for understanding and possibly transforming the world. But it misses what makes the changes that the post-“Arab Spring” countries are undergoing so specific. The protests, claims and sometimes tragic conflicts that have emerged in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Tunisia go beyond the secular-religious divide and it is precisely this complex reconfiguration of the secular-religious binary that Western foreign policy should address. True, religion plays a role, but as a political category, and as a politicized reference. It does not correspond to any hidden, repressed cultural reality or social fact, waiting for salvation by American diplomacy. The new insistence on religious engagement, no matter how well intended (or not), is simply beside the point. It contributes to a tendency to depoliticize the crucial processes taking place in these countries. Ironically, the politics of religious engagement reenacts the old Orientalist assumption that denies the “Muslim world” any capacity to construct an autonomous field of politics, and that refuses to acknowledge the desire of the individuals of this region to exist and be recognized as citizens, not as religiously motivated “actors” who need to be engaged by the United States.
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Melani McAlister, Associate Professor of American Studies, International Affairs, and Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University
So here’s the question: is the State Department’s newly created office of religious engagement the long-awaited answer to the problem of a myopically secular US diplomacy? Or, instead, is it another example in a long line of ham-fisted US attempts to shape religion abroad to fit the needs of US foreign policy?
Scholars have argued both positions, and for good reason, since the seemingly impeachable argument that the United States needs to work more often with local NGOs is marred by the particular problems that come with first defining “religious actors” and then implementing policies that give power and money to some of those actors over others.
But there is another issue: when media, policymakers, and advocates enthuse about the new attention to religion, they also frequently assume that religious people in the United States should play a primary role in developing relevant US policy. The new State Department office is a dream come true in this regard, and for good reason: it emerged in part from the work of advocates who see their own religious values as a precious resource for shaping US interactions with religious groups abroad.
Let’s take the Institute for Global Engagement, one of the most important think tanks in this game. Its leader Chris Seiple has been an indefatigable advocate for more US foreign policy attention to religion. He writes for Foreign Affairs, works with the State Department on training its diplomats, and publishes an impressive journal, the Review of Faith and International Affairs. Under his leadership, IGE has also led a series of international delegations to places like Laos and China. In Pakistan, it has created a group called “Faith Friends” to promote “tolerance” and interfaith cooperation in the Peshawar region.
But, although IGE might sound like a typical (read: presumably secular) and vaguely liberal inside-the-Beltway think tank, it isn’t. The organization was founded by Chris Seiple’s father, Robert Seiple, who in 1998 became the first US Ambassador for Religious Freedom.. Before that, he headed of the evangelical international aid agency World Vision and served as president of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Thomas Farr, who knows Seiple from their shared work on religious freedom at State, has described how Seiple could “draw at will from an enormous reservoir of biblical imagery, delivered in the cadences and tones of an evangelical preacher.” But Seiple could speak to secular audiences too, and from the beginning his message at IGE was that American evangelicals should play a role in cultivating a greater understanding between religions, which would in turn help support the growth of “better,” more tolerant religion abroad. Most recently, IGE has developed a program called “Women of Faith for Peace and Security,” which, among other things, cultivates collaboration between US Christian women and Muslim women in the Middle East, and supports Muslim women in developing “non-oppressive” interpretations of their faith.
The point is not that IGE is a bad organization. In the world of evangelical foreign policy activism, it is quite a good one. But as IGE has become a leading voice of advocacy for more US government involvement in religion, we need to remember that its model emerges from its specific mission, which includes both teaching evangelical Christians to think about global issues and teaching supposedly secular Washington that religious groups matter a great deal for the conduct US foreign policy. The surge of enthusiasm about State’s new agenda has too often carried with it the assumption that when the US government decides to engage religion abroad, religious Americans are best equipped to teach us how to do the work. If that is taken to be true, then religion, and inevitably specific religious groups, will be part of US foreign policy in ways that raise serious questions about Establishment.
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Sara Silvestri, Senior Lecturer in International Politics, City University London
Religion has been part of global politics for a long time. But it is only in this so-called “post-secular” moment that scholars and policy makers have directed their attention to this in an explicit manner. The decision of the US government to set up an office of religious engagement may seem an anomaly from the standpoint of the US constitution and its understanding of the “liberal secular order,” yet, in my analysis, it is neither completely new nor extraneous to recent developments in international affairs.
I have researched the growing saliency of religion in the institutional and policy framework of the European Union over the last three decades. While it is difficult to ascertain a single factor in determining this shift, it seems that historical events have played a major role in pointing to the relevance of religion in international affairs and public policy. The growing number of Muslims in the world is probably one of the factors that triggered global attention to religious identities in the last two decades, but in this early twenty-first century the picture of faith-based mobilization has become broader. The sweeping popularity of current Pope Francis among people of all ages and ideological backgrounds, his unprecedented gestures to restructure the governance of the Catholic Church, his call for Christians to be alive and participating in society, his recuperation of some central tenets of radical liberation theology are all vivid examples that religion matters and that the link between faith and politics is not just about Islam.
Although the European Union and the United States are politically, constitutionally, and institutionally two rather different “beasts,” many parallels can be drawn in relation to how they have “rediscovered” religion and are experimenting ways to engage with faith-based ideas, actors, and organizations. The United States and the European Union are facing the same global challenges concerning the economy, migration, diversity, development, terrorism, democratic transitions, and the balance between fundamental freedoms and security. And they are both steeped in same legacy of secular, liberal, and democratic assumptions as they are trying to make sense of the meaning and power of religious ideas, actors, and networks, both formal and informal.
The European Union put in place an embryonic system for engaging with religion back in the 1990s and gradually consolidated it in the course of the 2000s in the form of anti-discrimination measures and later through Article 16C of the Lisbon Treaty. Faith-based organizations and lobbying groups are increasingly active in Brussels while the topic of religious freedom has been widely debated in the European Parliament. This new article means that the institutions have offered spaces for faith groups to participate in open consultations and the European Commission is heading annual meetings with religious leaders. These new openings indicate a fresh way to look at religious actors and to consider religious freedom; frictions and contradictions are nevertheless present, as individual member states retain control over traditional “church state” relations.
The European Union has been more concerned with the role of religion in domestic matters while the United States is more interested in the foreign policy dimension. However these two regions of the world seem to be driven by a similar spirit in appreciating the role of religion in current affairs and making space for it in their institutional frameworks. I am positive about both efforts as long as they remain objective and realistic attempts to incorporate neglected actors and issues, and as long as this effort is not driven by proselyting zeal or by secular ideological crusading aimed at disciplining and putting aside religion.
The policy dialogues that Peter Mandaville and I will coordinate thanks to a grant received from the British Council will enable us to explore different ways in which the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have raised awareness of religious issues in different areas of foreign policy and to draw lessons from these different mechanisms of religious engagement.
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Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Professor and Department Chair of Religious Studies, Indiana University
The State Department announced this past week the creation of a new office of religious engagement whose purpose, according to the Washington Post, is “to outreach to the global faith community and religious leaders.” Many Americans will react warily to this initiative, as the promoters of the effort acknowledge, although the reasons for that wariness may not be self-evident or immediately articulable.
What exactly is it about having an office in the State Department whose purpose is to engage with religious communities that strikes one immediately as being un-American? It is not that we think that American diplomats should not be informed about religion. Nor is it because we think American diplomats should not work with whomever can help them, religious or non-religious or otherwise, to achieve American goals. We all know that the “separation of church and state” is political rhetoric, not a description of the actual state of affairs—or even an accurate account of the legal mandate of the First Amendment. Religion and government are all mixed up with each other in the United States and always have been, domestically, and in foreign policy. Government “engages” with religious organization and religious leaders all the time, at home and abroad.
So…why do we need an office? The problem with the new office is not a legal one. There are no constitutional obstacles to creating such an office. The problem with the new office is political and aesthetic—perhaps, even, theological. In the United States we have a constitutional—in every sense—commitment to the idea that religion should not be formally and bureaucratically aligned with the work of government. We are allergic to established churches, ministries of religious affairs, offices of the chief rabbi, etc. We don’t do religion that way. We want these engagements to remain voluntary and informal. We want to avoid the hardening of doctrine and structures that occurs when religion is legally defined and managed—when religion and government are interlocked. We want to pretend that religion and government freely interact with each other, each preserving her own integrity, so that religion—and politics—retain their ragged anarchic capacity to interrupt, dissent, and surprise—on behalf of justice, unfettered by government offices. We call this freedom.
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Mara Willard, Lecturer, Harvard Divinity School in Religion, Ethics, and Politics
Religions are both agents and objects of imperial power. Paul spread the gospel thanks to his protected status as a Roman citizen under the Pax Romana, only to be executed for apostasy. Mid-fifteenth century papal bulls approved Portuguese and Spanish military conquest of the New World, accompanied by missionary mechanisms including slavery. The British East India Company prompted the fixing of India’s internally diverse culture as a monolithic “religion” of Hinduism. Today, the United States is an oversized force affecting religious identities, norms, and practices. From lobbying by American Christian Zionists for a Jewish-majority state in Israel, to issuing the majority of Christian missionaries, to providing bully pulpit definitions of Islam or what it means to be Muslim, neither our culture nor our government realizes a “separation of church and state.”
For those concerned about ways religion and national power interact, the establishment of an office of religious engagement at the State Department provides both continuity and change. Change, perhaps, because rather than a de-facto alignment of cultural religious norms (often Protestant Christian) and formal federal powers, the office will be legally accountable to America’s enshrined respect for political pluralism: i.e., the Establishment clause. The office can thus be a site for improved scrutiny of, discussion about, and even litigation over America’s complex relationship between “church and state” at home and abroad. Change also because the office may prove a source of much needed religious literacy regarding cultures in which the United States has a diplomatic presence. In recent years, constitutional prohibition of state-sanctioned religion has too often been confused with our citizenry’s need for decent working knowledge about religions’ histories, traditions, and practices. Continuity because even these notions—that we must respect religious difference, learn about religions, tolerate “moderates” and isolate “extremists”—are claims with religious histories. Instability is the way of religion, and the way of the world.
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Erin K. Wilson, Director of Centre for Religion, Conflict and the Public Domain, University of Groningen
The relationship between religion and politics in the United States and the West more broadly has arguably been navigated through a series of deeply embedded assumptions about the nature of religion. Consciously or not, assumptions underpinning approaches to religion frequently rest on the view that religion is best understood as primarily institutional, individual, and irrational. Understanding religion in this way justified its exclusion from politics and foreign policy, contributing to religion’s neglect for many years. This definition also placed religion in a similar category as other “irrational,” habitually excluded dimensions and actors in society – tradition, emotion, the body and women, subordinated to modernity, rationality, the mind, and men. Further, and related to these embedded assumptions, religion was considered important in non-Western, pre-modern societies, but not in the Enlightened, secular West.
While the establishment of an office of religious engagement may in some ways address the years of neglect of religion that these deeply embedded assumptions have previously engendered, there is a danger that it will instead entrench these stark divisions. An office for religious engagement abroad to some extent reinforces the notion that religion is an issue “out there,” for “them,” not for “us.” While we (that is, the United States and more broadly speaking the West) may have to consider how religion influences non-Western societies that stubbornly refuse to secularize, the implication is that there is not the same need for us to think about how religion may have shaped and continues to shape our own values, perceptions, and policy goals, including foreign policy goals that our secular identity may not be as secular or as fixed as we at times like to think it is. As such, it runs the risk of further sidelining an important dimension of self-reflexivity that is critical when dealing with sensitive issues such as religion.
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______PITTSBURGH—Everything’s great. Hear that, hockey fans? Everything is great, and more, it is not an accident that it is great. Sure, some people complain about the National Hockey League, but people can complain about anything. Some people complain when it’s too sunny! Some, when it rains. What a world, am I right? A couple hours before the Stanley Cup final opened, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman performed his annual state-of-the-league address, in which he spent rather a long time detailing how everything was indeed great. Who saw that coming? In fairness, goals are slightly up, there is an NBC darling in the final (Pittsburgh) against a vibrant Sun Belt market that the league championed, and whose sale to an eventually convicted fraudster named Boots was only approved by the league once, way back when. Boots wanted to move the team to Kansas City, before the bottom fell out and he went to jail. Anyway, it all worked out fine, though not for him.
Before Game 1, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman laid out where the league is at in several key areas. ( Gene J. Puskar / AP )
So yes, Gary was riding high. And time after time, when the familiar issues that bedevil the league propped up, a theme emerged: this isn’t an accident. The offside reviews, which drag the game to a halt and in some cases actually drag it backwards in time in order to make a call which might be correct by millimetres? The review of goaltender interference, which is the closest thing in sports to interpretive modern art? “They are working exactly as they are intended to,” said Bettman. “We hear the commentary... but the fact is it’s our job to make sure the rules are complied with, and the video replay, through the coach’s challenge on offsides, has worked exactly as we hoped it would.” (A P.K. Subban goal was called back on offside review to start the game, after a lengthy delay and some inconclusive video. Catch the fever!)
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The concussion protocols which seem to have holes, as shown when Sidney Crosby hit the boards in the series against Washington and wasn’t immediately pulled after getting up slowly? “It is evolving. It is working well,” said Bettman. Not going to the Olympics in South Korea in 2018, which has angered the players and no small number of fans? “We’re not anti-Olympics,” said Bettman. “We’re anti-disruption to the season.” He blamed the players for that one, and also derailing a calendar that would have included two World Cups and maybe two Olympics and two Ryder Cup-like events, and some of that is true. The union responded by saying they would prefer not to trade collectively bargained rights to reopen the CBA — or to decline to extend it — for the right to go to an Olympics, which didn’t require that degree of horse-trading before. In hockey, remember, all roads lead back to eventual labour disruption.
Now in fairness, many indicators are at least not trending downwards in every way. Yes, the salary cap will stay flat unless an artificial inflator is triggered by the players, which will only lead to more money clawed back from the players in escrow. (Also in hockey, all roads lead back to eventual escrow.) If the inflator isn’t used, the already-limited trade market will tighten, as will free agency. Well, super. But hey, scoring was at its highest level since 2012, at 2.77 goals per team per game from 2.71, with fewer empty-net goals. Now you might say, there have only been 12 lower-scoring seasons since 1956-57, and five of them happened in the past five years before this season, but an increase slightly beats the alternative. Maybe forcing the goaltenders to wear skinny jeans and tight shirts will pay off.
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“The general managers meet on a regular basis to take the pulse of the game to see what, if any, adjustments are needed. But I think the game is in as good a shape as it’s ever been... it’s about flow, it’s about scoring chances, it’s about how entertaining the game is,” said Bettman. “And the game has never been faster, never been more skilful... we’re in a good place. But that doesn’t mean we take it for granted, and we’re constantly in a self-evaluative mode.” But on the whole this remains a league mired in the land of the uninspired, a league whose vision remains so limited. Rob Rossi, a longtime Pittsburgh reporter and columnist, asked one question about player safety and headshots that went uncalled; afterwards, NHL executive vice-president and director of hockey operations Colin Campbell told Rossi he thought the question was “crazy” and “out of line.” This in a league where the player safety department under Stephane Quintal has reduced public communication, and seems to have taken a step back when it comes to consistent and strong penalties (for example, Tommy Wingels elbowing Pittsburgh’s Scott Wilson in the face at the end of Game 5 of the Pittsburgh-Washington game). But regardless, everything is great. Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine have arrived, and Crosby is still hanging around getting cross-checked and poked and generally abused, and it’s going to be fine. You might think the league has boxed itself in with salary caps and labour worries and a generally pervasive sense that its mistakes are the product of an incrementalist vision executed by men who have been the stewards of hockey for a long time, even too long. You might think that. But this is the NHL, in all its glory. It’s not a bug. It’s a feature.
Read more about:A three-member adjudication panel at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has rejected four contentions lodged by an anti-nuclear group that the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant should not have its operating licenses extended for 20 years.
San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace argued at a hearing held at the NRC offices in Rockville, MD, on July 9 before an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board panel that the plant’s operator, Pacific Gas and Electric, misrepresented the impact of renewable energy sources in an analysis of energy sources. The group also said that the plant was not in compliance with safety mandates related to risks of floods and earthquakes.
The Associated Press (AP) reports that two of the group’s contentions were that PG&E skewed an analysis of energy alternatives to ignore or reject renewable energy options that could replace Diablo Canyon. The group also asserted that the NRC has no justification for renewing the licenses in light of the plant’s greater environmental impacts compared to renewables.
The group’s other two contentions were that PG&E has failed to comply with environmental laws requiring it to propose measures to lessen the impacts of Fukushima-like earthquakes and floods.
AP also reported that attorneys for PG&E argued that the legal challenges were baseless because recent seismic analysis has shown the plant could safely shut down in an earthquake. They also argued that renewable power is too unreliable to replace Diablo Canyon, and that renewables also have environmental impacts such as the intensive use of land in large-scale solar operations.
The two Westinghouse PWRs at Diablo Canyon began commercial operations in August 1985. The plant’s operating licenses expire in 2024 and 2025. Significantly, the plant’s owner, Pacific Gas and Electric, has not yet declared its intention to seek a license renewal according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune reported. One of the reasons is that state agencies, which must issue water quality and coastal zone permits required for the license, haven’t yet acted.
PG&E attorneys have argued that the plant would shut down during an earthquake event. Furthermore, the risk of flood caused by a post-earthquake tsunami, the company says, does not compare with the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster from March 2011. The Fukushima Daiichi plant is situated 20 feet above sea level, while the Diablo Canyon plant is 85 feet above sea level, far out of reach of any predicted tsunami event.
The company also argues that renewable power sources, such as wind and solar, are unpredictable base don prevailing weather. In addition, the huge tracts of land used to generate renewable energy presents a significant environmental impact.
According to local news media reports, two solar power operations in San Luis Obispo County cover nine square miles and produce only one-ttenth of the power produced at Diablo Canyon.
# # #President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be derelict in their duties if they do not launch a full investigation into the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal.
At the very least, the next pompous award show would be a whole lot more muted, and justifiably so.
In what many celebrities, to include Mr. Trump himself, likely acknowledge: The depths of sexual criminality in Hollywood are almost certainly not limited to the likes of Weinstein and his company. Indeed, the so-called “open secret” has not been much of a secret as of late.
Hollywood has been openly raping women and children for decades. There’s Polanski. There’s Woody Allen. There’s Sean Connery bragging about smacking women around.
More recently, Corey Feldman and Elijah Wood, both one-time child actors, had to “walk back” their allegations of Hollywood’s wide spread child sex peddling. Worse yet, X-Men director Bryan Singer made headlines a few years ago for allegedly throwing drug-fueled “twink” parties in which scantily clad teenage boys pranced around partaking in any number of illicit activities.
And, of course, there is the cliche “casting couch,” Hollywood’s pressure-filled obstacle course of auditioning, renowned for being step one on the way to sexual exploitation.
Mr. President, if you want to lead the “law and order” White House, now is your chance. There is only upside to a far-reaching investigation of Hollywood’s elite production companies.
Tweet by tweet, suit by suit, indictment by indictment, Trump would win back the American people. Who can disagree with defending women and children? Forget about Nazis. Rapists and child molesters are perhaps the most detested among us.
MERYL STREEP JOINS IN WEINSTEIN-BASHING FOR A POPULARITY BOOST:
Politically, consider it the NFL kneeling cycle on steroids. Such an investigation would almost certainly yield massive results. The Russia investigation would pale in comparison. Trump’s base would rally. Trump detractors would be paralyzed. Hollywood would choke on its own faux virtue.
Moreover, it would rob the stage of all the stuffy Streeps, Clooneys, and Sarandons. It would force Mark Ruffalo to eat his own insufferable pontification, to finally sit down and give the microphone to the platoons of people who almost made it.
Finally, Trump could take away an award Hollywood has always loved to bestow upon itself. He can give voice to the voiceless. He can give victims the opportunity to shake the shackles of Hollywood exploitation.
Give them justice, Mr. President, give them a win.
Anything else would be dereliction of duty.Ron Vlaar's agent has told the Mirror that now is the time for the reported Manchester United and Arsenal target to make "a nice big move in his career."
Aston Villa centre-back Vlaar, 29, was linked with a transfer away from Aston Villa in the summer after an impressive World Cup with Netherlands but ultimately remained with the Premier League side.
However, club sources told ESPN FC in October that Villa are holding out for 12 million pounds from United for Vlaar ahead of a possible January deal.
Vlaar's agent, Arnold Oosterveer, has suggested the defender should take his opportunity and secure a move to a team that matches his ambitions.
Oosterveer said: "It is obvious that for Ron, now is the moment to make a nice big move in his career. Ron is very ambitious.
"The situation is ideal for Ron right now. You can imagine that we are not in a hurry. I don't want to react to the rumour that he will move to either Arsenal or Man United, but Ron is very ambitious."
Vlaar signed for Villa from for Feyenoord in 2012 and has since made 66 Premier League appearances for the Midlands club.WIKIMEDIA, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTHDuring adulthood, the mouse brain manufactures new neurons in several locations, including the hippocampus and the subventricular zone of the forebrain. The hypothalamus, previously identified as an area with an important role in aging, also generates new neurons from neural stem cells. In a study published today (July 26) in Nature, Dongsheng Cai and his team at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York connect the dots between these two observations, reporting that hypothalamic neural stem cells have widespread effects on the rate of aging in mice
In what David Sinclair, who studies aging at Harvard Medical School and who was not involved in the work, calls a “Herculean effort,” the researchers “discovered that stem cells in the hypothalamus of the mouse play a role in overall health and life span,” he tells The Scientist.
Cai and his team found that killing hypothalamic neural stem cells accelerates aging, and transplantation additional neural stem cells into the brain region slows it down. Further, the stem cells’ anti-aging effects could be reproduced simply by administering the cells’ secreted vesicles, called exosomes, containing microRNAs (miRNAs).
“If this is true for humans, one could imagine a day when we are treated with these small RNAs injected into our bodies or even implanted with new hypothalamic stem cells to keep us younger for longer,” Sinclair adds.
Researchers who study aging have long been searching for a central location that controls the process system-wide. In a 2013 paper, Cai and his team reported aging-associated inflammation in the hypothalamus of the mouse, which they could experimentally manipulate to speed up or slow down various types of aging-related decline, from muscle endurance to cognitive skills.
This study, Cai says, suggested the hypothalamus might be that central locus in control of aging. The researchers wanted to understand more about how this region of the brain drives aging and what role hypothalamic neural stem cells might play in that process, so they undertook a series of experiments.
Age-defying stem cells
The researchers first confirmed that cells bearing protein markers of neural stem cells (Sox2 and Bmi1) were present in the hypothalamus of early-to-middle-aged mice (11 to 16 months old) and that the number of those cells decreased in older mice.
Next, they destroyed neuronal stem cells in the hypothalamus by injecting the third ventricle, adjacent to the hypothalamic region where the stem cells are found, with a lentivirus that converted an administered compound into a toxin in cells expressing the stem-cell marker Sox2. Three or four months later, the researchers compared a variety of aging-related measures, including muscle endurance, coordination, social behaviors, novel object recognition, and cognitive performance, between mice injected with the virus and various control groups of mice that received a brain injection of some sort but in which the toxin could not be produced and the hypothalamic stem cells were consequently not ablated.
The mice in the experimental group lost 70 percent of their hypothalamic stem cells and, based on results of the physiological tests, had accelerated aging. Mice with ablated hypothalamic stem cells also died earlier than control mice.
Next, the researchers implanted middle-aged mice with neural stem cells derived from newborn mice to see if the additional stem cells would slow aging. But the implanted stem cells almost all died, which the researchers believe was a result of the inflammatory environment of the aging hypothalamus. Newborn neuronal stem cells genetically engineered to withstand that environment, on the other hand, did survive, and mice implanted with those cells lived longer and performed better on aging-related measures than control mice.
“What’s cool about this study is that they specifically delete a population of cells in the hypothalamus of the brain... and they show pretty striking alterations in whole-body aging,” says Anna Molofsky, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies glial cells and whose graduate work focused on neuronal stem cells and aging. “That’s really showing that there’s a mechanism within the brain that’s regulating whole-body organismal aging,” she adds. Molofsky, who was not involved in the work, says that these results support the idea of the hypothalamus as a central regulator of aging.
Anti-aging mechanism
Although neural stem cells are known for their ability to produce new neurons, that doesn’t seem to be their primary method for protecting against aging. The anti-aging effects of these hypothalamic stem cells were visible at around four months—not long enough, the authors write, for significant adult neurogenesis to have taken place.
The authors looked instead for some other factor that might be responsible for the stem cells’ effects. In the hypothalamic neural stem cells, the researchers detected exosomes—secreted vesicles that can contain RNA and proteins—containing a variety of miRNAs, short RNA molecules that inhibit the expression of targeted genes. These exosomes were not present in non-stem cells of the hypothalamus.
To test the effects of the exosomes alone on aging, the researchers purified the vesicles from cultured hypothalamic neural stem cells and transplanted them into middle-aged mice, finding that the exosome-treated mice aged more slowly than vehicle-treated controls. They also found that the exosomes could ameliorate the aging symptoms of mice whose hypothalamic neurons had been ablated.
Cai says microRNAs could be a potential mechanism by which hypothalamic neural stem cells have such wide-ranging effects on aging, yet he believes that neurogenesis may also be involved.
Regardless of the mechanism, Molofsky says, “the medical applications could be pretty profound.” The phenotypes, such as muscle mass and skin thickness, affected by these stem cells are the same ones that cause age-related disease, she notes. “The fact that you can reverse that with a brain-specific modulation, potentially, in a cell type that one could pharmacologically target, I think potentially that could be very profound, assuming that the mouse work translates to humans.”
Y. Zhang et al., “Hypothalamic stem cells control ageing speed partly through exosomal miRNAs,” Nature, doi:10.1038/nature23282, 2017.Republicans are starting to sour on GOP closet case Mark Kirk
In the radio ad, which aired Monday on WGN-AM and WBBM-AM, Martin attributes a "solid rumor that Kirk is a homosexual" to conservative Republican businessman Jack Roeser. Martin's ad also claims |
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(0.0) 0.0
(0.0) 0.0
(0.0) 0.0
(0.0) 0.3
(0.76) 3.1
(7.86) Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 10 9 10 8 10 10 11 11 9 7 8 10 113 Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 0.5 0.4 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.2 1.2 Source: WRCC (average temperatures and precipitation 1981-2010) https://wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?ga4230 SERCC Nowdata (record temperatures and snowy days 1956-2017) WRCC (snowfall) https://wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?ga4230
Transportation [ edit ]
Major roads [ edit ]
Pedestrians and cycling [ edit ]
River Hiking Trail
Unicoi State Park Trail
Demographics [ edit ]
Historical population Census Pop. %± 1920 176 — 1930 252 43.2% 1940 198 −21.4% 1950 191 −3.5% 1960 227 18.8% 1970 252 11.0% 1980 265 5.2% 1990 300 13.2% 2000 430 43.3% 2010 510 18.6% Est. 2016 542 [1] 6.3% U.S. Decennial Census[8]
As of the census[2] of 2000, there were 430 people, 208 households, and 112 families residing in the city. The population density was 203.8 people per square mile (78.7/km²). There were 319 housing units at an average density of 151.2 per square mile (58.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 82.56% White, 5.12% African American, 0.23% Native American, 10.93% Asian, 0.23% Pacific Islander, 0.47% from other races, and 0.47% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.02% of the population.
There were 208 households out of which 25.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.0% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.7% were non-families. 42.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.07 and the average family size was 2.83.
In the city the population was spread out with 20.5% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 28.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $32,917, and the median income for a family was $40,781. Males had a median income of $39,107 versus $23,750 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,281. About 6.7% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.1% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over.
Sister city [ edit ]
Education [ edit ]
Alpine Public Schools are part of the White County School District, which includes four elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school
Dr. Jeffrey Wilson is the Superintendent of Schools.[10] The district has 233 full-time teachers and over 3,758 students.[11]
Gallery [ edit ]Generally, when scientists look to nature for inspiration, they look to environments that mimic what they’re trying to build. In the case of collecting water from air, that meant desert plants and animals — seeing what special structures they might have to harvest fog water. So it was surprising when a fog-collecting discovery came from a far wetter source: the beaks of shorebirds. And it could inspire a pretty radical redesign of fog collection devices.
Right now, most fog collection is done using mesh fabric. The Standard Fog Collector, used all over the world since Robert Schemenauer's first paper on it in 1994, consists of a fabric mesh 1 square meter in size and faces the wind like little perforated sail. As the wind blows fog through the device, water droplets accumulate on the mesh and drop down into a trough, from which they flow down a tube into a container. "Fog has a really big impact on the world"
Daniel Fernandez, a fog researcher at California State University, Monterey Bay, has set up 20 standard fog collectors along the California coast. While most such fog collectors gather just a few liters a day, where they’re placed can make all the difference; Fernandez says he has collected almost 40 liters, or about 10 gallons, per square meter in a day from some parts of Big Sur. "Fog has a really big impact on the world we live in, particularly in the coastal areas in California," Fernandez says. On a summer day along the winding Northern California coast, the cool waters of the Pacific can cause the moisture in the air above to condense, forming low-lying clouds. As the breeze brings these clouds onto the shore and close to the ground, they form fog. It’s the same kind of fog that spreads into San Francisco, giving the city its iconic fog cover — and keeps temperatures along the California coast cool. "what's nice about fog is it tends to happen when we don't have rain." Fog is made of tiny suspended water droplets. When these droplets hit California’s coastal redwoods, they are intercepted by the trees’ leaves and drip down to make the surrounding areas wet. That’s crucial in the coastal ecosystem, since fog can contribute water when other sources such as rain are scarce. "What’s nice about fog is it tends to happen when we don’t have rain, typically," Fernandez says. Even now, during one of California’s most severe droughts, there’s been plenty of coastal fog to go around. For instance, 2013 was California’s driest calendar year since the state started measuring rainfall in 1849, with just 7 inches of aggregated rain, and the period from October 2013 to September 2014 has been the third-driest on record. But the fog rolled in as usual this summer, and contributed its water both to the redwoods and to Fernandez’s fog collectors. Fog collectors are even more useful in areas with more extreme conditions than California, particularly in parts of South America such as Chile. High up in the Andes, in desert areas that receive almost no rainfall, dense fog can serve as a significant source of water. "You get more water from fog in many parts of Chile than you get from rain," Fernandez says. Fog collection is a relatively cheap and environmentally friendly source of water in many remote arid regions. The collected water is often of good quality, so it can provide drinking water where it’s otherwise unavailable. Fog collecting projects have been implemented all over the world, in countries such as Chile, Peru, Guatemala, Namibia, Eritrea, Oman, and Nepal, many of these implemented by a Canadian non-profit called FogQuest. fog collection can serve as a relatively cheap source of water in many arid regions Right now, fog collection is still useful in a limited range of places — ones with large amounts of fog and few other sources of water — but that may not always be the case. Several research groups are working on devising better fog collectors made of new materials and designs, which could collect water more efficiently and expand the regions where fog collection could be useful. As we try to reduce our water consumption and look for more sources of fresh water, we may need to rely on more such innovative approaches.
This technique is for the birds Xin Heng, a doctoral student with professor Cheng Luo at the University of Texas at Arlington, was working on replicating a cactus’s fog-collecting apparatus when he chanced upon an article about the feeding mechanism of shorebirds. Many shorebirds dip their beaks into the water while swimming, capturing their tiny prey in water droplets held between their beaks. They then open and close their beaks repeatedly to transport the prey-containing droplets into their mouths. Heng saw stills from high-speed videos showing the birds' open-and-close technique, and wondered if he could harness it to catch water from air, rather than prey from water. He used two hinged plates that come together and then move apart to mimic the movement of the shorebirds’ beaks. Droplets of fog that collect on the plates are transported en masse to the hinge each time the plates clamp down and then separate. At the moment, Heng moves the plates by hand, but he expects to motorize future models. Heng saw stills from high-speed videos showing the birds' technique and wondered if he could harness it. Mesh-based fog collectors rely on gravity to passively drive water droplets down into a trough. "In our case, we actively transport the water droplets," Heng says. He expects active transport to be much better at transporting small droplets that otherwise would remain on the mesh. "Because we use an active transport process, we expect that all the drops can be transported," he says.
Heng and his fellow researchers "are developing an interesting technique," says Otto Klemm, a professor of climatology at the University of Münster who has been interested in fog for the past 30 years. Klemm says even a small increase in the amount of fog water collected "would be helpful, definitely." Heng has tested both a tiny fog collector that’s a little smaller than a matchbook, and a larger model that’s a little smaller than a license plate, and published his results in September 2014. The larger model collected about a tablespoon’s worth, or about 15 mL of water, in 36 minutes in lab tests. That makes it several hundred times more efficient at collecting water than individual desert beetles, grasses, or metal wires, Heng says. The larger version can collect both fog and dew over short periods of time and on a small scale — so it could also be developed into a portable model. Heng is currently testing a much larger version made of plastic acrylic plates 70 square centimeters in size. He hopes to have an even larger collector ready in a year. "I need to do more experiments to try to optimize our setup, but after that we can try to commercialize our device," Heng says. the unorthodox design could prompt researchers to look more broadly for inspiration Once he’s finished lab tests of his largest device he plans to take his fog collectors out to a nearby lake or river to try them out in the morning fog and dew. He also plans to compare the device to existing mesh-based fog collectors, and to his original cactus-based designs. While it’s still too early to know how the new plate-based fog collector will fare, it could prompt researchers to look more broadly for inspiration. Heng's device bears a resemblance to dew collectors, which often consist of a plastic or metal sheet on which water condenses — and as a consequence, Heng expects his design will also harvest dew. He also plans to incorporate additional tweaks, such as including microstructures on the plates to try to enhance their efficiency. It’s not until the new design has been used in the field that it can be properly evaluated, Klemm says. "That’s a very, very large step, maybe larger than the engineering itself," he says. "Out there it’s a different world, and many things don’t behave as nicely in the field as they do in the laboratory," Klemm says.
It's different outside the lab One of the advantages of the mesh-based fog collectors is that they’ve been extensively tested in the real world. The Chilean-made mesh material is hardy and inexpensive, and has been used in successful projects all over the world. "Existing meshes are well-tested and work well," says Klemm. "We’re still looking for other materials, but the Chilean version is a very good one, and it’s cheap." The mesh design is also better able to withstand the strong winds present in many fog-heavy areas than a solid plate would be, says Klemm. In addition, while high-tech designs could be more efficient, they could also result in fog collectors that are more expensive and harder to maintain in remote arid regions, Klemm says. "The more engineering there is, the less is the chance that these will be applicable for poor people in semi-desert regions," he says. To harvest large amounts of water, researchers use a bigger version of the Standard Fog Collector called a Large Fog Collector, with a mesh that’s about 40–50 square meters in size. Both versions of the fog collector use a double-layered polypropylene mesh manufactured in Chile, with a pattern of vertically stretched triangles. Researchers have been trying to optimize the mesh-based fog collectors, and Cal State’s Fernandez says he’s currently testing three different types of meshes. "We’re comparing the standard one made in Chile, we’re comparing one made in Germany, which is supposedly a bit more effective, and we’re comparing one that’s made by researchers made at MIT, which is supposedly optimal," he says. Fernandez says he’s collecting data from all three types of meshes, and should have the results sometime in 2015. The MIT mesh was developed by mechanical engineering professor Gareth McKinley and chemical engineering professor Robert Cohen. The new mesh is much finer, made of stainless steel filaments 3-4 times the thickness of a human hair, and has smaller holes and a special coating that allows water to flow down more easily. Laboratory experiments showed that these changes could make it five times as efficient as traditional meshes, and the group published their results in July 2013. The MIT group notes that the increased efficiency of fog collectors made of their optimized mesh could expand the geographic range where collectors would be useful. Fog collection is currently most useful only in certain areas — but in those areas, it can be invaluable. Location, location, location Fog collectors could make a significant difference to the water supply of many arid regions. A United Nations report notes that "fog collection technology appears to be an extremely promising and low-cost water harvesting system for drinking water, crop irrigation, livestock beverage, and forest restoration in dryland mountains." "Fog collection makes sense in very specific regions of the world," Klemm says. "These are areas where there’s a lot of fog but no rain, and a lot of wind, and they can collect huge amounts of fog water there," he says. It’s not just the abundance of fog that makes these areas suitable for fog collectors, but also their sparse populations and lack of other freshwater sources, he says. Klemm cites Guatemala as a successful example. In the high mountain regions, some villages don’t have fresh water close at hand. Villagers must go down to the valley to get water and then carry it back up the mountain. With fog collection, though, each villager gets the few liters of water they need daily without the strenuous hike. "I think in some areas one can really develop nice networks of fog collectors, that really supply several hundreds or thousands of people," Klemm says. "But you need the right environment for it." Given the current extreme drought in California, and how much fog the state gets both at the coast and as Tule fog in the central valley, it’s tempting to think that fog water could help alleviate California’s water deficit. The problem is that unlike the inhabitants of remote desert regions in Chile or Eritrea, an average US citizen uses about 100 gallons of water a day. That’s without taking into account how many people live in California, or the even vaster amounts of water needed for the state's agriculture. Fog collection would struggle to meet the water needs there, especially since California could get water more efficiently and cost-effectively from its snowpack and rivers and dams, Münster’s Klemm says. "If somebody was surviving on a few gallons a day, that might make sense, but given the vast amounts of water we consume and waste, I would question the value of trying to hook up fog into a municipal water system," says Fernandez. We’re better off first learning to use less water and to minimize wastage, he says. "Just the amount of water wasted would far exceed the amount that one could physically bring in by setting up fog collectors." There are situations where the collectors could be useful, though. There are areas in Spain and in the Canary Islands where fog water is collected to help fight forest fires, Klemm says, and one could envision similar initiatives in California. Fog collectors could be placed in remote areas to collect drinking water for wild animals, to collect extra water during a dry summer, or to supplement rainwater capture in a building that already has a cistern, Fernandez says.IN ALL species that practise sexual reproduction, males and females show gender-specific behaviours. These range from the way they mate to the way they defend—or fail to defend—their territory. Both males and females start out with the same template at birth, but then something acts on the male to masculinise him for life. But nobody knows just how that happens.
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It is well known that sex hormones like oestrogen, which is typically seen as a female hormone, and testosterone, similarly seen as a male one, play a role in shaping the neural circuits in the developing brain, and that much of that moulding takes place before birth. It has also been established that testosterone, as well as being a fully functional hormone in its own right, can be (and often is) converted into oestrogen in the body.
Male mice experience a short-lived testosterone surge on the day they are born. It lasts less than 36 hours and the level then remains low until puberty. (In human males, there appears to be a similar neonatal surge.) This pulse of testosterone is believed to be a key event in the masculinisation of the brain. Nirao Shah and his colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco wanted to find out which neurons in the brain were responding to it. What they discovered was a surprise.
It was reasonable to think, as many people did, that androgen receptors—which respond to male hormones—were mediating the manly transformation. But androgen receptors were found to be nearly non-existent in the brains of newborn animals. Dr Shah could not find them earlier in development either, such as just after the fetal testes first started putting out testosterone in a 13-day-old embryo. Without male hormone receptors to respond to testosterone, the researchers started to suspect androgen receptors were not the players they had been assumed to be. Nor, perhaps, was testosterone.
In their study, published this week in Neuron, the researchers decided to look at male mice which had been genetically engineered to lack androgen receptors in their nervous systems. These males still had androgen receptors in their muscles and elsewhere, so they had masculine bodies, and they experienced the testosterone surge and responded to normally circulating testosterone. But their brains were simply not able to detect it.
The mice were compared with normal males in tests of masculinity. In one, a female was put into the cage. Interestingly, the genetically modified mice still showed the classic male-mating repertoire—mounting, penetration and ejaculation. But the researchers noted that they mounted less often, were less apt to penetrate and did not stick at it for as long as the normal mice. Another test turned up similar results. Typically, a strange male entering another male's cage is met with a fight. Again, the mutant mice behaved appropriately, but they were much less aggressive, spent less time fighting and they took longer breaks between attacks. The same was found for scent-marking. Like normal males, the mutant mice urinated in various spots around their cage (unlike females, who create a single latrine). But they deposited significantly fewer urine marks than the normal males.
Because male-typical behaviours developed as the result of a burst of testosterone, but in the absence of receptors for the hormone, the researchers suspect that the testosterone in the surge is being converted into oestrogen to carry out the newborn sexual-differentiation. “Masculinisation of neural pathways in response to the testosterone surge at birth proceeds primarily under the control of oestrogen,” they conclude. Androgen receptors are not the master regulators for male behaviours, but rather, the researchers say, a “gain control mechanism” which amplifies such behaviours—or, when the receptors are absent, dials laddish behaviour down.Guitarist/vocalist Piotr "Peter" Wiwczarek of Polish extreme metal veterans VADER has issued the following update:
"The summer and festival season is almost over.
"The concert Fist Full Of Metal in Germany crowns the promotion of the album 'Welcome To The Morbid Reich' on the European continent.
"With VADER's last record we're gonna move yet to Australia/New Zealand (at the end of October), China, Taiwan and — again — South America (in November) and finally to USA early spring 2013.
"Before we'll start working on next record (under the title 'Straight To Hell'), we're gonna perform VADER's third album 'Black To The Blind' from 1997 as a whole!!! The tour, named 'Back To The Black', will include — besides mentioned record — many different songs from a variety of albums during a 70-minute-long set. We start in December in Poland and Czech Repuplic.
"At the beginning of 2013, we will tour with same set in Western Europe, Scandinavia and Baltic Lands too. More details soon!"
VADER's latest album, "Welcome To The Morbid Reich", was released in Europe on August 12, 2011 and in North America on September 13, 2011 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded at Hertz Studio in Bialystok, Poland and features the cover artwork of Zbigniew Bielak (DESTRÖYER 666, WATAIN). The band laid down a total of 12 songs for the CD, which was mixed and mastered in May 2011.
Due to "family matters," drummer Pawel "Paul" Jaroszewicz left VADER last year and was replaced by the "very talented" 22-year-old English musician James Stewart, who has previously played with DIVINE CHAOS.In Monero, coins are received to a unique, one-time stealth address. The formula for stealth addresses is as follows:
P = Hs(rA)G + B
Where:
P -- the final stealth address (one-time output key, the destination where funds will actually be sent);
Hs* -- a hashing algorithm that returns a scalar (i.e., the hash output is interpreted as an integer and reduced modulo l);
r -- the new random scalar Alice chose for this transaction;
A -- Bob's public view key;
G -- the standard Ed25519 base point;
B -- Bob's public spend key.
You provided us with the private view key (a) and private spend key (b), and the public view key (A) and public spend key (B). In addition, we have the base point (G). It should be noted that you forgot to reduce modulo l your private view key. Your correct private view key (a) is:
faa5defce980fdbd03b9dd4841371dfcdc1f2fc6f1145de131fd52a5b468790d
This gives the correct public view key (A), which is:
3c450f27cd6849d9130addb2c566d910c5ef9bf4cecaed547004496fda52a4ff
I don't know what you used to get to your public spend key (B), but it returns differently for me, namely:
b66991d7d7c68513533d0560f820d75adfb0911487ba62274b759f7b3ccd4a90
For what it's worth, the curve constants from the CryptoNote whitepaper can be seen here. Note that for a dual-key stealth address to be created, the sender (Alice) does ECDH (Elliptic curve Diffie–Hellman) with her randomly-chosen r (private tx key) and the receiver's (Bob) public view key, A. This is point D (D = rA), which is a shared, secret point known only to Alice and Bob (D = D'). Thus, no one other than Alice or Bob is able to compute D. Second, Alice uses D to generate a new scalar, f, with f = Hs(D). Third, Alice computes F = fG. Lastly, Alice computes P = F + B (Bob's public spend key). Note that F is equal to Hs(rA)G in the formula above.
Back to your question. You first have to generate a random r, which can be done as follows in the Chrome console using Javascript on this page. Since you already generated a random private spend key, we only have to generate a random r. This can be done by using random_scalar();. Using this I get:
9f558def5f918481f3c130d4cbea908f0cef9aedc5f5b259bb18b3b9ea4e5b0e
The public tx key (R) is then:
11f63287b184708fd40618154a19afa35e2366ef22417223e8feac1639b68ace
For what it is worth, the public address is:
48Y3H2eSZ6C4EUjY1B5viSGCbCLPcmMiy7aD69yqUsaHR8GLE3rvSwrdJtpZYG1peC3oipCqfUvCcF89i86kuEjVVr5GCdj
Thus, to summarize, our "start" variables are:
var b = "198584347013dd91832be3d82529437db7cc8e1850e559cdd3872b29ca819601"; | Your private spend key var a = hash_to_scalar(b); | Your private view key (deterministic derivation) | a = "faa5defce980fdbd03b9dd4841371dfcdc1f2fc6f1145de131fd52a5b468790d" var B = sec_key_to_pub(b); | Your public spend key, this function multiplies base G by its input | B = "b66991d7d7c68513533d0560f820d75adfb0911487ba62274b759f7b3ccd4a90" var A = sec_key_to_pub(a); | Your public view key | A = "3c450f27cd6849d9130addb2c566d910c5ef9bf4cecaed547004496fda52a4ff" pubkeys_to_string(B,A); | This will return your public address | Public Address = "48Y3H2eSZ6C4EUjY1B5viSGCbCLPcmMiy7aD69yqUsaHR8GLE3rvSwrdJtpZYG1peC3oipCqfUvCcF89i86kuEjVVr5GCdj" var r = "9f558def5f918481f3c130d4cbea908f0cef9aedc5f5b259bb18b3b9ea4e5b0e"; | private tx key var R = sec_key_to_pub(r); | Public tx key | R = "11f63287b184708fd40618154a19afa35e2366ef22417223e8feac1639b68ace"
Now let's create a stealth address! This is done as follows:
var D = generate_key_derivation(A, r); | ECDH, rA | D = "b2896554aa33603868b4c5d106f4873620aabb96d22bc236192f1bcfa38451bb" var f = derivation_to_scalar(D, 0); | 0 is the output index. The standard method combines these last few steps into one, but for clarity they are split here | f = "236b65c107cf838db70d41f5e795e526e2043f471d2b2daefa24fb4b22f0340c" var F = sec_key_to_pub(f); | F = "2dd26c9941f5fe2aeeab30d2ebc41dd21241cb4d4327c27588bde076a0e893f4" var P = ge_add(F,B); | "ge" means group element. This function adds two points together. Note that F is Hs(rA)G | P = "b696760c160efa648d681a7a65cdee3c5f0c23d3866c08c90473021d7892f1a3"
P (b696760c160efa648d681a7a65cdee3c5f0c23d3866c08c90473021d7892f1a3) is a valid stealth address. An image of the aforementioned steps performed in the browser console on https://xmr.llcoins.net can be seen here.
Note, however, that in Monero the stealth addresses are created by the sender and not by the receiver. Thus, those last four steps are performed by the sender (Alice) in Monero.
Sources:
https://steemit.com/monero/@luigi1111/understanding-monero-cryptography-privacy-introduction
https://steemit.com/monero/@luigi1111/understanding-monero-cryptography-privacy-part-2-stealth-addressesA funny thing about doing a job like this is that you’re expected to write all the time. Which means you’re expected to write early in seasons, and you’re expected to write analytically, and when you write analytically early in seasons, you can end up looking like a moron. Earlier this season, for example, I remember writing reasonably positive things about Carlos Peguero. And early last year, over at JABO, I wrote about how the Rockies weren’t striking out anymore. You can guess what happened to Peguero. And you can guess what happened with the Rockies. The Rockies resumed striking out. They lost lots of games.
So, this isn’t anything new, but early information can mislead. We’re always just trying to separate what’s real from what’s fake, and we tend to be too impatient about that. But every so often, you can spot something legitimate. Several months ago, also at JABO, I observed that the Royals were barely ever striking out. They were on a potentially historic pace, and it was definitely something to stay aware of. To be honest, I at some point stopped being aware of it, but then I noticed again. The season’s about over, now. The Royals are thinking about the playoffs. They’ll be taking with them one hell of a group of contact hitters.
In the first half this year, the Royals, as a team, posted the lowest strikeout rate in baseball. Then they got to the All-Star break, and since that point, the Royals have again posted the lowest strikeout rate in baseball. This isn’t a huge shock, because the Royals didn’t strike out very much a year ago, so this definitely didn’t come out of nowhere. Still, it’s about the magnitude of what we can see.
There’s a graph right below this. To put AL and NL teams on a similar scale, I looked at team strikeout rates by non-pitchers. Then, for the whole group of teams, I calculated the average and the standard deviation, so then I could assign for each team a z-score, reflecting relative strikeout rate. In case you’re not familiar with z-scores, a rating of 1.0 would mean that team’s stat was one standard deviation higher than the average. Same idea goes for negative numbers. Now, here are the relative team strikeout rates:
The Cubs have the highest relative team strikeout rate, north of average by more than two standard deviations. At the other end, we see the Braves, striking out far less than the average team. But then the Royals are practically there on their own. The Braves’ team z-score is -1.43. The Royals’ team z-score is -2.56. Put another way: the difference between the Royals and the next-closest team, in terms of not striking out, is greater than a full standard deviation. The Royals are an outlier, constantly putting balls in play when so many other teams have been willing to come to terms with whiffs.
The style is more or less team-wide. At this point, 13 Royals this year have batted at least 100 times. Only one of them has a strikeout rate that’s higher than the average. That one is star outfielder Alex Gordon, and his strikeout rate is higher than average by less than two points. The Royals haven’t made contact with swings any more than, say, the A’s, but they’ve put almost a third of all strikes in play. They lead baseball, by almost two percentage points. They like to swing, and they like to hit the ball fair.
I got curious about that giant z-score, so I dug into history. I went all the way back to 1950, and for every team, I calculated a z-score for that season. In this table, you’ll find the lowest relative team strikeout rates, excluding pitchers to keep the leagues even. I know there was baseball before 1950, but the further back you go, the less recognizable the game. So this’ll suffice.
10 Lowest Relative Strikeout Rates Season Team K% Z-Score 2015 Royals 15.5% -2.56 2002 Angels 12.6% -2.44 1982 Indians 9.8% -2.36 1969 Braves 9.2% -2.31 1962 White Sox 9.6% -2.29 2004 Giants 12.5% -2.29 1975 Cardinals 9.0% -2.28 1961 White Sox 8.3% -2.24 1994 White Sox 12.5% -2.23 1986 Red Sox 11.3% -2.20
The Royals don’t have the lowest raw strikeout rate ever, but doing that would be almost impossible, given the changes in eras. Strikeouts, as you know, have gone up, so once you take that into account, then this year’s Royals really emerge. Relative to the rest of baseball, no team has struck out less often than this year’s Royals, beneath the average by more than two and a half standard deviations. Behind them you get the 2002 Angels, and it’s somewhat encouraging to know that team won the World Series. If you’re curious, last year’s Royals are four slots away from the table, with a z-score of -2.10. Those Royals seldom struck out. These Royals kicked that up a notch. Or down. I don’t know.
Something else to observe about the Royals — though their bullpen has gotten so much attention, last year their hitters led baseball in Clutch score. And this year, again, their hitters lead baseball in Clutch score, by a big margin over the Twins. Clutch hitting has been a big part of the Royals’ success, and it’s only natural to wonder if there’s a relationship between clutch team batting performance and contact ability. Here’s a plot of batting Clutch against those strikeout-rate z-scores, going back to 1974:
Would’ve been nice to find something, but nothing has been found, here. If you just look at the line, then you see a very slight relationship, but the r-squared number is pathetically small. There’s not much to indicate a link. Certainly nothing that would explain the magnitude of the Royals’ recent offensive clutch-ness. Contact hitting has worked for them, but it’s not a recipe, necessarily, for other teams to follow.
And make no mistake, there are several ways to put together a quality offense. This year the Cubs have the highest relative strikeout rate, and the Royals have the lowest, but |
insistence of the PMR, maintain a military presence in the region for twenty years, thereby guaranteeing the agreement’s implementation.
Moldova’s president at the time, Vladimir Voronin, initially expressed support for the plan. Voronin, president from 2001 to 2009, had been the head of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova since 1994, and he thus represented that part of the electorate that wanted to maintain good relations with Moscow. In the face of considerable domestic opposition to the Kozak plan, however, as well as opposition from Western governments and the OSCE, he ended up rejecting the proposal, arguing, inter alia, that Moldova’s constitution precluded the stationing of foreign troops on Moldovan territory.
For Washington and its European allies, a federation was fine as the basis for a settlement, including one that provided Gagauzia and Transnistria with extensive autonomy. (Gagauzia is currently designated a “semiautonomous” region of Moldova and already has extensive political autonomy). However, the country’s external orientation and alliances should be determined by the national government. In particular, they did not want to give Transnistria and Gagauzia the power to block gradual integration and eventual membership in the European Union. Neither did they want to accept the permanent existence of a more-or-less lawless entity on the EU’s periphery.
The Kozak Memorandum was a key item on the agenda of an OSCE meeting in December 2003. Disagreement over the plan between Moscow and Western governments contributed to the failure of the meeting to produce a Joint Declaration at its conclusion. Since then, Chişinău has been increasingly chary of federalization, and in 2005 its parliament adopted a law that effectively excludes it as a solution to the conflict.
That same year, a so-called “5+2” process for reaching a settlement began, with the OSCE, Russia and Ukraine as mediators, Chişinău and Tiraspol as the parties to the conflict, and the European Union and the United States as observers. The process has helped maintain the status quo, but there have been no signs of progress toward a final settlement.
Chişinău’s ambivalence
Although Chişinău continued to insist that it wanted to restore its sovereignty over Transnistria and that Russia withdraw all troops from Moldovan soil, it has been less than enthusiastic about the prospect (not unlike South Korea with respect to unification with North Korea).
One reason for this ambivalence is that Moldovan authorities fear that restoring sovereignty over the east bank would mean a significant number of new voters who did not support the construction of Moldova as the nation-state of ethnic Moldovans. They would also likely block Moldova’s efforts to join the EU and support closer economic and political ties to Russia. That most of the population of Transnistria is, and probably remains, strongly pro-Russian was suggested in 2006 when PMR organized a referendum in which 97% of those voting supported “independence from Moldova and free association with Russia,” as well as by the recent appeal of the region’s legislature to follow Crimea in joining Russia.
As in Ukraine, the Moldovan electorate has been divided on whether the country should seek to join the EU or try to maintain good relations with Russia and join the Eurasian Economic Union. The balance of political forces in Chişinău has been relatively even. The current pro-EU coalition government of Liberal Democrats, Democratic Party, and Liberal Party has a relatively narrow parliamentary majority, and it might well lose that majority to the less anti-Russian Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova in parliamentary elections this November. Adding Transnistria’s voters to the national polls would make the current governing parties’ electoral prospects worse in November and beyond. Moreover, as shown by the chart below, the country’s ethnic minorities are much more likely to oppose EU accession than Moldovan/Romanians, so pressing ahead runs the risk of aggravating ethnic tensions in the country.
Yet another factor behind Chişinău’s reluctance to move aggressively to reach a settlement with the PRM is that integration would likely be very expensive. Moldova is already Europe’s poorest country, and the national government does not want to take on the economic burden of subsidizing Transnistria’s uncompetitive enterprises – some 80% of the region’s economy comes from manufacturing, and most of that is in steel production, and Russia is its largest trading partner. Nor does Chişinău want to assume responsibility for Transnistria’s considerable external debt, most of which is the result of borrowing to cover natural gas deliveries from Russia.
Finally, Transnistria is notorious for its corruption, organized crime, and general lawlessness, even more so than Moldova proper. The Moldovan government and the Moldovan electorate worry that those problems would worsen considerably in Moldova proper in the wake of a settlement.
All of the considerations – the electoral impact of reintegration, the economic costs, and the effect on the rule of law in Moldova proper – complicate the country’s turn to Europe. On the other hand, a resolution of the conflict would make eventual full membership in the European Union more likely because the EU is reluctant to accept members that have unresolved internal conflicts and cannot successfully control their borders. That is even more the case with NATO.
Nevertheless, unwillingness to spend political capital in pursuit of settlement does not mean willingness to accept secession. Even less does it suggest a willingness to accept annexation by Russia. In this sense, it is no different than Russia with respect to Chechnya, Georgia with respect to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Azerbaijan with respect to Nagorno-Karabakh. Objectively, each of these countries would be politically, economically, and militarily better off allowing the separatists to go their own way, but subjectively the electorate in each country considers such a move almost unthinkable, and no government could survive if it proposed it. Canada’s willingness to countenance the possibility of the secession of Quebec, or the United Kingdom’s willingness to accept Scotland’s independence if it votes for independence later this year, is not an option in the ethno-national states of central and eastern Europe.
A bridge too far?
Chişinău’s best hope for eventually reaching a settlement with Transnistria would be for EU integration to raise the standard of living in Moldova proper, while a pro-European government in Kyiv makes Russia’s presence in the PMR increasingly untenable. This outcome became considerably more likely after Moldova and Ukraine, along with Georgia, signed so-called Association Agreements and Deep and Comprehensive Free-Trade Agreement (AA/DCFTA) with the European Union on June 27.
Moscow no doubt assumes, in my view correctly, that Moldova’s integration into the EU will be increasingly difficult to derail over time. It must also assume that its position in Transnistria will become more costly and precarious if Ukraine also integrates successfully into the West. The obvious problem for Moscow is that goods, officials, soldiers, and military equipment passing from Russia to Transnistria (and/or back) have to transit Ukraine or Romania. Permission from both countries to do so is likely to become increasingly difficult, particularly for military assets.
Moscow’s best, and perhaps last, chance to keep Moldova out of the EU is therefore the Moldovan parliamentary elections in November. It is hoping for a victory by the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, which if not pro-Russian is at least less hostile to Moscow and considerably less enthusiastic about EU accession. In the months leading up to the election, Moscow will do its best to convince the Moldovan electorate to vote for the Communists by making EU integration maximally painful, much more painful than joining the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union. There is also a small chance, particularly if the crisis in eastern Ukraine escalates and Russia sends troops across the border, that Moscow will make another out-of-the-box move by recognizing Transnistria’s independence, annexing it, or ignoring Ukrainian and Romanian efforts to deny Russian officials, soldiers, and military equipment access to their airspace.
Russia’s leverage in Moldova is still considerable, even if it is diminishing. The PMR remains extremely pro-Russian, anti-European, and anti-Chişinău. Tiraspol has repeatedly asked Moscow to allow it to join Russia, most recently on April 16. A large majority of the Gagauz is also pro-Russian and favors joining the Eurasian Customs Union rather than the EU. In February, a referendum in Gagauzia – which Chişinău considered illegal – showed overwhelming support among the Gagauz for closer ties to Russia and opposition to EU integration. And as noted earlier, the electorate as whole, at least until recently, has been divided over whether to embrace Europe and seek membership in the EU or whether to maintain good relations with Russia.
As for economic leverage, Moscow announced last year that it was embargoing wine imports from Moldova on the grounds that Moldovan wine did not meet Russian safety standards. (The fact that Moscow chose not to embargo wine from Transnistria made it abundantly clear that the move was made for political, not health, reasons.) Moscow has since suggested that it might also embargo Moldovan fruits and vegetables, which would be particularly painful because it is going to be difficult for Moldovan farmers to sell into the EU’s highly protected and regulated agricultural markets – and the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova, it should be noted, draws much of its support from the rural population.
Yet another measure under consideration by the Kremlin is limiting permits for Moldovans seeking work in Russia. It may also force Moldovan workers already in Russia to leave. Annual remittances from Moldovans in Russia are estimated at some $1 billion, and significantly reducing those transfers will make life even more difficult for already hard up Moldovans.
Finally, Moldova is already a sideshow in the Ukrainian-Russian natural gas dispute. The country gets almost all of its gas from Russia through Ukraine. In the past, Ukraine has helped ameliorate Russian pressure on Chişinău using gas deliveries by making up some of the shortfall, but that is going to be more difficult if Russia and Ukraine fail to resolve their dispute and the gas is not delivered over the winter. On the other hand, Transnistria gets its gas from Russia through Ukraine as well, and it will find it even more difficult to make it through the coming winter without assistance from Ukraine or Moldova proper.
Meanwhile, Moscow’s economic leverage over Moldova is declining. The Moldovan government, despite popular concerns about the economic consequences of deeper integration with Europe, has been steadily reorienting trade to the West. In 2013, the EU’s share of Moldova’s total trade was 54%, while with Russia it was only 12%. As shown in the chart to the right, total trade with the EU has been growing, while it has been decreasing with Russia.
Chişinău has also been taking steps to limit Russia’s economic influence in Transnistria. In December 2005, Chişinău and Kyiv signed an agreement requiring all Transnistrian companies (many of which are entirely or partially Russian-owned) that export into or through Ukrainian, notably goods destined for Russia, to register with Moldovan authorities. The agreement came after Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution brought a pro-Western government to power in Kyiv, and after a Border Assistance Mission from the EU arrived in Moldova and Ukraine to help Chişinău and Kyiv control their borders and limit smuggling operations in and out of Transnistria. Kyiv followed up by introducing new customs regulations on its border with Transnistria in early 2006.
Tiraspol and Moscow responded by characterizing these measures as an “economic blockade” that was creating a “humanitarian disaster” in Transnistria. This did not stop the PRM from retaliating by blocking trade with Ukraine and Moldova. Given its location, however, this would have meant effective autarky for the region, and the PMR’s counter blockade was quickly lifted. Exports from Transnistria nonetheless declined, and the Ukraine crisis has only made Transnistria’s economic isolation worse. Trade is being hurt in the first place by Ukraine’s economic freefall.
But in addition, fearing border provocations or the participation of Russia’s Transnistrian troops in a possible invasion, Kyiv has taken more steps to police its border. While the border is not closed, checkpoints have been set up that discourage carriers from delivering the goods, and there are reports that exports from the region have already fallen 30-40% and may fall further. Transnistria is particularly dependent on the importation of food products from Ukraine, and it can expect an even more miserable winter if food as well as natural gas imports are seriously disrupted.
Meanwhile, Chişinău has been trying to convince the people of the region that they, too, can benefit from European integration. As of April 28, Moldovans with biometric passports have been allowed to enter the 26 countries of the EU’s “Schengen Group.” In May, the number of Moldovans traveling to the EU increased by some 20 percent over the same period last year. Although Tiraspol insists, convincingly, that the people of the region remain staunchly pro-Russian and anti-EU, visa-free travel to Europe may help ameliorate tensions and reduce hostility over the long run.
Moscow’s increasingly precarious position in Transnistria was highlighted by an unusual diplomatic incident last month involving Moscow’s point man on the conflict, Dmitry Rogozin. Rogozin is a former Russian ambassador to NATO, one of two Russian deputy prime ministers, and Putin’s special envoy to Transnistria. He is also known for his undiplomatic language and his contempt for Washington, the EU, and Western liberalism. Suffice it to say that he does not speak “European.” He is also currently on the EU’s (as well as US’s, Canada’s, and Australia’s) post-Crimea sanctions list, which among other consequences bans him from traveling to EU countries or through EU airspace.
On May 9, the date most Soviet successor states celebrate as the anniversary of Germany’s surrender in World War II, Rogozin traveled to Transnistria, where he presided over a military parade, met with the PMR leadership, and promised Russia would continue to defend the people of Transnistria. While the exact facts are murky, it appears that upon departing Tiraspol for Moscow, his plane was denied permission to fly through Romanian airspace. (Romania, as a member of the EU, was presumably enforcing the EU travel ban.) The plane then tried to return to Russia through Ukrainian airspace but was intercepted by a Ukrainian fighter and forced to land in Chişinău. Rogozin managed to make it to Moscow on a commercial flight, but the plane was detained in Chişinău, which allowed Moldovan officials to confiscate a petition with some 30,000 Transnistrian signatures asking Moscow to annex the region. In Moscow, Rogozin tweeted the following about the incident: “Upon US request, Romania has closed its airspace for my plane. Ukraine doesn’t allow me to pass through again. Next time I’ll fly on board TU-160.” (The TU-160 is Russia’s largest strategic bomber.)
If nothing else, the incident highlighted the extent to which Russia’s position in Transnistria is in trouble. At some point, Ukraine and Romania may deny Moscow the right to use their airspace to deliver troops or military supplies to the region. Moscow would then be faced with a Hobson’s choice of either accepting a humiliating stand-down or trying to resupply its forces illegally (presumably through Ukrainian rather than Romanian airspace, given the latter’s NATO membership), with all the attendant risks of a possible military confrontation.
*****
Moscow’s leverage over Moldova will likely continue to wane – geography will prevail, it seems. Had Transnistria shared a border with Russia, or even with Belarus, it would likely have taken the path of North Ossetia and Abkhazia and become an unrecognized dependency of Moscow. Given that it was once part of Novorossiya, it might even have been annexed, like Crimea. But the fact is that Russia cannot get to Moldova, or Transnistria, without first going through Ukraine or Romania.
Russia’ s influence in Moldova, and its role as the external defender of Transnistria, has been facilitated until recently by Kyiv. In the post-Soviet era, Kyiv has had a series of more-or-less pro-Russian governments, the principle exception being during the Viktor Yushchenko presidency, when the government was weak and ineffectual. Many Ukrainians, including many Ukrainian nationalists (notably, for example, Ukrainian Cossacks) have been sympathetic to the mostly Slavic speakers of Trasnistria – indeed many of the outsiders who assisted the Transnistrian rebels during the 1992 war were Ukrainian. For the most part, Kyiv has tried to avoid provoking Moscow by making life more difficult for the breakaway region or for Russian troops in Transnistria. Given the extent of the current hostility in the country to the Russian government, the people of Russia, and Putin personally, that is likely to change, as the Rogozin incident highlighted.
Moreover, the credibility of Russian levers of influence over Moldova – and to some extent over Russia’s other neighbors as well – has been compromised by the signing of the AA/DCFTAs by Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia. It would be an exaggeration to say that Russia used all the arrows in its quiver to prevent those agreements from going forward, but it clearly used many, including the annexation of Crimea and the destabilization of eastern Ukraine. In Moldova’s case, Moscow’s wine embargo failed to get Chişinău to change course, despite the fact that Russia has historically been a critical market for Moldovan wine producers. Neither did threats of other economic sanctions. It is also unlikely that Russia can do much to destabilize the frozen conflict in Transnistria, given the limited size of its military contingent there and the difficulties it would face trying to build it up in the face of opposition from Ukraine and Romania, not to speak of the EU, OSCE, NATO, and Washington.
This is not to suggest that the Kremlin has given up on Moldova. On the contrary, we are very likely heading, unfortunately, into a long period of confrontation between the West and Moscow over the external orientation of Russia’s western neighbors. The contest is going to be waged with economic, informational, and military instruments, although hopefully that later will not include outright war.
But of the countries that the Kremlin would like to integrate into the Eurasian Union, Moldova is the less likely to do so. The Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova is a weak reed for Moscow to rely upon, and in any case it may not prevail in November. Moscow’s influence will weaken further if, in the relatively near future, the EU decides to offer Moldova a firm date for membership. And at some point down the road, depending on how Russia’s relationship with the West develops, Moldova may well be accepted into NATO.What you are about to hear is pan-galactic, motherfucker.
Hello, and welcome to the Kakos Industries corporate shareholder announcements. My name is Corin Deeth III, and I am CEO of Kakos Industries. Shareholders, I regret to inform you that we are still holed up in Junior’s lair. Just kidding. We’re back above ground and everything is fine now. I admit that I am feeling a bit emotional about the whole thing, but that’s only because I’m so overwhelmed with joy to have things back as they were. We’re in the old studio, but most of the equipment is new. I still see Soundman Steven wince when he looks around sometimes. Time will heal this wound. Also, lots more stuff to play with. How are those knobs, Soundman? He does like knobs.
Today’s broadcast is coming to you from the Laugh Manufacturer’s new Canned Laughs. Yeah. It’s a can. And when you opened it, my voice began to ring out. The can appears to be empty, yes, but hidden within those thin walls are all of the necessary components for high quality canned laughter. And corporate announcements. I am told that this technology is mainly targeted at those who are desperate for approval, but it can also be used to fill in the background of standup shows of comedians no one likes but are still somehow incredibly famous. Joke didn’t land? No one watching at home will know. Just pull the tab. I am told that there are also models for sarcastic laughter, pity laughter, and maniacal laughter, which you can keep handy for whatever situation you see fit. Your significant other launched into another one of his famous I’m-not-really-sexist-but-it’s-funny-when-I-say-terrible-things-ironically stories? Open up that sarcastic laughter. It’s guaranteed to keep whoever from doing whatever it was that you hated so again. Coming soon are condescending laughs, for when you’re just too rich to laugh at the plights of the poor yourself. Each can of condescending laughter costs five-hundred dollars. Those are some premium laughs for sure. Our employees in the Division of Chucklery have been working for close to a year with the Laugh Manufacturer to perfect this design. I think we can all agree that this is Evil done much better. This broadcast, as always, is exclusively for shareholders. We’re still in the process of “cleaning up” after our leaks from using the emergency frequencies, and it’s really no trouble to swing by your place of residence, too. So if you’re not a shareholder in Kakos Industries, stop listening now.
I am told that work is underway to replace all of the emergency radios that I used during my time out of the office. If you think you see something or someone doing something, it’s probably best just to ignore it. That’ll keep you out of trouble.
In regards to the Darkest Universe, we were unable to have our Dark Friday celebration. After the pisspoor job you guys did of wishing Henrik dead, I didn’t see the point. I am told that Lady Kiarawa attempted a similar feat, but she just sort of eliminated a good person. There wasn’t much artistry. Just dunked him into a vat of hungry tar squids that like to live in the Evil Matmos in the moat. Where was the wishing? Where was the involvement of others? Where are the dirty hands besides hers? Well, I no longer need to compete with her, so I suppose I don’t have to put down her technique any more. At any rate, this will not be the Darkest Universe this year. However, I have great hopes for next year. Perhaps we can outcompete all of those horrible other Universes that like to show off how fucking dark they are. It’s all about perspective, you assholes.
The Blood Sacrifice to Literally Any Deity that’s Listening or In the Neighborhood took place only minutes after you last heard from me. There was a lot of blood. An uncomfortable amount of blood. Just big puddles of the stuff coming from the people down in Junior’s Lair. Desperate to bargain with anything they had. It was blood. They had blood to bargain with, apparently. Well, it seems that no deities were available, or they weren’t real, just like always, so we had to take our chances with the miners’ tunnels. I’ll get back to that later. Really, they ruined some good shoes with all of the blood.
The Agriculture Festival has to happen every year, and I am glad that Kiarawa did not have to deal with this herself. You see, it’s not an easy festival to manage. There are a lot of interests. And a lot of people. And if everything isn’t just right, then everyone on the whole fucking planet dies, and then who is left to do Evil? I don’t have too much to say on this. We’re all expecting Galacton imports and Giant Ass Food for your Face and the Thorgonites to do something thoroughly offensive. We have no idea what it is, and why ruin the surprise? You will be given instructions on how to watch the festivities from home, as always. You do not want to miss this, shareholders. It is going to deeply upset you.
After last year’s Festival of Doom, the Division of Dionysia has decided to really step up their game. I mean, we all enjoyed the festival for its loose feel, allowing each of us to celebrate how we wanted to, embracing doom and whatnot. But apparently the lack of structure did not sit well with them. I am told that the new Festival of Doom, which is still required by the additional rules we found, will involve roller coasters, theme park attractions, live performances, and visual arts, each existing right on the edge of mortal danger, each reminding us of our doom. The invitation I received says, and I’m quoting here, “Be prepared to have your boundaries pushed. A lot. You will not be the same. And you will like it.” I don’t know exactly what that means, but they do tend toward hyperbole, so we’ll have to just see what happens. Really, I feel like the Festival of Doom is probably just everyday here at Kakos Industries. Just this morning, I saw a guy squeezing his own heart to keep it beating. I’m not even sure how that works with what I know about physiology. It was grisly, though.
Now that we’ve got those mandatory segments done, I think it is finally appropriate to recap the events of the last two weeks. I do like keeping you in suspense, it’s true, but I think I may have run out of other things to say. Shortly after the employees began to bleed everywhere down there, it became pretty clear that things were not going our way. The doors were nearly broken down, and everyone was weak from the blood loss. Doing the only thing I could think of, I ordered everyone to go through the Division of Mining and Tunneling’s tunnels. I stayed by the entrance to the tunnels as long as I could, helping others to make their way through. Many of us held hands so that we would not be separated in what we just knew would be labyrinthian hallways. The Division of Mining and Tunneling had been missing for years, so this would undoubtedly be a maze. I helped the last person through the tunnel entrance, and then I caved it in using a small explosive I keep in my wallet. Then I caught up with the group in the now dark tunnels. The Division of Mining and Tunneling led the way, so we were fairly certain we would be heading in the right direction, at least partly. They seemed a bit uneasy. We were afraid they would get lost. Again. But then we saw light. Not daylight. Lamp light. What we emerged into was… a lounge. It was one of the best setup game rooms I had ever seen in my life. Modern technology, appliances, furniture. High ceilings. Ping pong tables. An actual wall ball court. Jacuzzis. I am confident there are few places on this planet that are as well equipped to chill as this location. Then we began to realize that this recreation space was not far from where the Division of Mining and Tunneling had began their tunneling operations. And also that Kiarawa’s forces were waiting for us inside of it.
I can’t say for certain what the Division of Mining and Tunneling had in mind when they began leading us down those tunnels. I am told that they were in this recreation space ignoring their responsibilities and the events of the world topside when Kiarawa’s forces broke through their defences. They began tunneling as quickly as possible, and as luck would have it, they found Junior’s lair. Perhaps they were hoping that Kiarawa’s forces would have left by the time we got there. Perhaps they were hoping all would be clear. Perhaps they were hoping for a cave-in to end things quickly. Whatever they were hoping for, they didn’t get it. We were all quickly subdued and marched off. Many of us were taken to infirmaries to get transfusions. But I was taken somewhere else entirely.
When my blindfold came off, I was in a gorgeously decorated, albeit monochromatic, office. At first, I thought it was my office, but then I realized it was just slightly larger. And the window overlooked the monochromatic section of the Kakos Lawn. It’s difficult to explain quickly, so I’ll just leave that to your imagination if you haven’t seen it. Kiarawa looked out the window thoughtfully as I was tied to a chair. She was dressed in a large, formless robe. Seated on her desk were Maggie and Hailey. Hailey greeted me brightly, and Kiarawa sent both of them out of the room. Maggie had this dark contentment on her face and dark circles under her eyes. She didn’t look at me as she left. Hailey… waved a lot, holding a finger to her lips like it was our secret. When the Sudodilatese guards finished with my bonds, Kiarawa turned to look at me. It was a look of disgust. Of disappointment. “You could have been so much,” she said through an ever weakening accent. “But you are nothing. Your forces could never hope to defeat mine. Your brand of Evil has no chance against the dark truths that I express with my every action.” She then hit me in the face with an open hand. Then she turned to look at the zebras playing below. “Now everything is up to me,” she said with just a hint of emotion coming through. “Your Evil was too weak. Now there is only mine. I am all the Evil there is.” The guards had not thoroughly searched me, shareholders. They mumbled something along the lines of “castrati” while they were ushering me into her office. What they didn’t realize is that I had a knife in my sleeve. I like to keep one there before important meetings, and I try to have it in place if I know I’m going to be captured. Kiarawa continued to insult me looking out the window. “You are the most useless man I have ever met. The nepotism at Kakos Industries weakens it.” I got the knife free and began to cut the bonds at my right wrist. Then the left wrist with my free hand. “You had responsibilities, Skeeyo. You had responsibilities, Corin.” She said my name with disgust. “And now they are my responsibilities,” she continued. I got my legs free as quietly as I could. I’m not used to escaping from situations like this, shareholders. Usually, it’s a lot harder, but the stakes are lower. I knew that I had one chance to make all of this right, so I moved as quietly as I could. Kiarawa pounded a fist against the glass of the window. “It’s too much!” she shrieked. I felt a sudden pang of pity for her. This job is definitely not easy, and it’s definitely not a kind one. I thought of all my employees, and all of you, shareholders, and I found my resolve once again. I took the blade I had hiding in my shirt, and I lodged it in her back. She was wearing a cloak, as I said, so my aim was less than true. She made no sound, but whipped around to look at me. Her expression was deadly serious. She slapped me again. Hard. Saying, “Where have YOU been?” Then she threw me to the ground and leapt on top of me.
My clothes came off quickly through our combined efforts. She put my hands on her body. And then she moved one of them to the knife that she insisted remain between her ribs. I twisted it gently. She spat blood on my face… um… encouragingly? The moment was quick for both of us, but we found ourselves close in the Devil’s laughter. She held onto me, the knife still in her rib cage. She coughed blood on my chest as we began to talk. Our conversation seemed to last for hours, going over the things we both hate about my job, the pressures that others can place on us, even more mundane things. She has become quite the observer of our culture outside of the time chamber. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever met another person that I had so much in common with. Shareholders, I think I began to have real feelings for her. She dressed herself in the cloak once again. I asked where she was going. “The infirmary,” she responded. I said that that was probably a good idea. I watched her walk out of her office and close the door behind her. I lay back on her carpet, with a stupid grin on my face. I dozed off. She didn’t go to the infirmary, and no one has seen her since. I am… heartbroken. We think that she took the dragon with her.
Having no one from her ranks to take over her side of this battle, the war dissolved. I have taken my place back as CEO, and the only CEO at that. The Exectopode have been addressing me properly again. My employees have mostly taken to pretending that there was never a conflict of any sort. The Sudodilatese have assimilated into our ranks mostly painlessly. The Division of Mining and Tunneling have been fired, but I’ve kept their recreation room for myself. Soundman Steven, Junior, Brosephus and myself meet there for our gaming. We had to widen the entrance by a lot so Junior can fit.
When Soundman and I visited the studio here, it was barren, much as expected. That is, with two exceptions. The first: a brand new mystery contraption, complete with a monitor and keyboard. The body is a more angular. A post-it note on the device said, “This one isn’t a dragon. Good luck!” We’ve put it in a room far from my office. So far away it would be too difficult to visit frequently. The second thing we found was a Mojo Scienta Mojo Box III. It’s a piece of sound hardware. I don’t know what it does, and Soundman hasn’t been able to explain it very well, but it made him really happy. His erection grew three sizes that day. He says that it’s the third edition, before they were sold to some other company that changed the direction. It’s incredibly rare and valuable. We’re using it right now. I honestly can’t tell the difference, but he can. It has almost soothed the wounds of losing the last studio. We’re rebuilding bit by bit.
In terms of other things she damaged to hurt me, I have collected almost all of the butt plugs made from my favorite tree. I have been told that they are really comfortable, and that would explain why so many of them needed to be… extracted by hand. I will give this tree the viking funeral it deserves.
Sometimes Evil is like an allergy to foods that you love. This is things we’re taking credit for now. Today we’re taking credit for being uncomfortably warm, the talent of your competitors, and being an ass man. We can never be completely sure that we did anything, but we did those things, and if you disagree, you’ll get stabbed in the neck. Wouldn’t that be awful. I’m shuddering thinking about it.
Dudley Abednigo has won this week’s Ruin-A-Life Drawing. As a result, the life of his nemesis will be ruined. Dudley has selected Alistair Whitley Smith as his target. We spun the Wheel of Misery with enough force to feel like we tried, and it landed on the space for “Climaxes too quickly”. I’m not sure I even have to explain how this will cause problems and ruin the life of Alistair Whitley Smith. For good measure, Dudley Abednigo will always climax a little too late. We’re not sure what that means yet, but we are sure it will be a problem. Congratulations on the win and best of luck.
This brings us to the end of this broadcast, shareholders. I feel much better leaving off here than at any point in the last few months. Things are back as they should be. Or at least they will be soon. So much is happening to restore everything that I’m sure I’ve missed some things. All of the people who were down in Junior’s lair with us have been avoiding eye contact as much as possible. It was a different time and a different standard. We thought we were going to die, you know? I don’t know if Kimmie and Maggie have seen each other, or if they intend to now that their separating force has gone, if indeed she was their separating force. The Damnation and Ruination Squad have begun paying attention to me again, especially since I had them all flogged with frozen fish, you know, the standard. So I think that is where we will leave off for now. Please recycle your radio responsibly. Or crush it against your head if you’re like really manly and stuff. The numbers are next. Please, please, please do not listen too closely. I am told that these numbers are way too much to handle at this time in your life.
88
8
88
8
99
7
99
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77
9
88
7
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Kakos Industries is written and produced by Conrad Miszuk, who is also the voice of Corin Deeth. The music is also composed by Conrad Miszuk. The introduction is read by Kim Aiello, and the credits are read by Hanna Jones, who is currently casting a spell for better jellybeans. Check out KakosIndustries.com for more episodes. There’s also transcriptions if you’d rather read the Kakos Industries announcements. That’s K-A-K-O-S-I-N-D-U-S-T-R-I-E-S dot com. Please check out store.KakosIndustries.com for merchandise and special offers. Questions, comments, or a strong desire to collaborate? Drop us a line at inquiries@kakosindustries.com. If you like Kakos Industries, be sure to rate and review us on your favorite podcasting service, and connect with us on Facebook (facebook.com/kakosindustries), Tumblr (kakosindustries.tumblr.com), and Twitter (@KakosIndustries).
Special thanks to Patreon patrons Ian Kroall, Dan Shumway, Patrick Green, Renee Stein, and Courtney Campbell. Our Patreon patrons are the best. If you want a thank you in the credits or other great rewards that help to keep this show running, please head to Kakosindustries.com/patreon. That’s Patreon p-a-t-r-e-o-n.
If you’re feeling down after this broadcast, have you considered a nice cozy place in the suburbs?The Nov. 6 election left more than two-thirds of states under single-party control beginning in January, with one party holding the governor’s office and majorities in both legislative chambers.
The single-party |
A quarter of lane miles needed preventative maintenance treatment, and roughly 16 percent were distressed and needed major rehabilitation.
(Reporting by Robin Respaut; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)by Staff Reporter
Swansea City may be involved in the Dutch FA’s investigation looking into the relationship between Chelsea and Vitesse following allegations relating to Wilfried Bony’s sudden transfer.The Ivory Coast international made switch to the Liberty Stadium in the summer from the Eredivisie outfit, and became Swansea’s record signing of £11m.However, former Vitesse chairman Merab Jordania has claimed that the striker’s sale was pushed through earlier than he would have liked just as the club started to gain heavyweight status."I wanted to keep Bony in Arnhem for six more months,” Jordania was quoted in the media as saying."I was in touch with Michael Laudrup, the Swansea manager at the time. I told him it was better that he took Bony in the winter, for Vitesse to start strong in the season, but Bony had to be sold."The comments come at the same time as Jordania claimed that Chelsea did not allow the Vitesse to become Dutch champions because UEFA rules prevent two clubs with the same owner playing in the Champions League.The London outfit also have four players on-loan at Vitesse this season.New Delhi: In a bid to ensure foolproof security to French President Francois Hollande, who will be the chief guest at the January 26 Republic Day Parade in New Delhi, Indian intelligence agencies are working in tandem with France's Directorate General for External Security (DGSE). Amidst the extreme threat assessment in the wake of terror attacks in Paris and Pathankot, the two agencies are being assisted by the Central Intelligence Agency, the intelligence service of the US government.
According to Indiatimes, experts from India, France and the US have been in touch to share intelligence.
Arrests have been made in India ahead of the Republic Day amidst reports that Islamic State and al Qaeda terrorists are planning targetting the country.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh had earlier this week reviewed the security situation in the national capital with the Delhi Police chief and other senior officials of intelligence and security agencies.
The country's top leadership including President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers, senior civil and defence officials will be among those attending the main function at the majestic Rajpath.
A ground-to-air security cover will be put in place in the national capital.
The city has already been put on a high alert after the Pathankot terror attack as there were intelligence inputs which suggested that at least two terrorists had entered Delhi.
All steps are being taken to ensure foolproof security during the visit of Hollande, especially as Paris saw one of the worst terrorist attacks on November 13, when 130 people were killed by seven gunmen, they said.
Apart from deployment of forces on the ground, government will also ensure security in air by deploying anti-aircraft guns and declaring no-fly zone in many areas of Delhi.
A total of 10,000 paramilitary personnel, in addition to 80,000 strong Delhi Police, will be on the job in the national capital to ensure greater security cover.Photo
INDIANAPOLIS — Bernie Sanders capped off a day of campaigning around Indiana on Monday with a boisterous and energetic rally in downtown Indianapolis.
Mr. Sanders’s voice sounded particularly hoarse as he railed against income inequality, with many of his supporters reciting parts of his now familiar speech along with him. The rally was one of three he held in Indiana on Monday to court the state’s voters, who go to the polls on Tuesday, and stress the state’s importance in his push to win the Democratic presidential nomination.
Although the chances have narrowed for the Vermont senator, his supporters were as lively as ever on Monday night, shouting his name and waving signs throughout his speech.
“Our ideas are the future of America,” Mr. Sanders said to loud cheers. “Our ideas are the future of the Democratic Party.”
A victory in Indiana, where polls show that Mr. Sanders and Hillary Clinton are in a tight race, could help him regain some momentum after tough losses last week on the East Coast. On Monday, Mr. Sanders repeatedly told supporters that he was counting on them to add to his victories.
“Tomorrow let us see Indiana have the largest voter turnout in its history,” Mr. Sanders said at his Indianapolis event. “Tomorrow let us see Indiana help lead this country into the political revolution.”
In Evansville earlier on Monday, Mr. Sanders emphasized that he needed big wins to clinch the nomination. He also said the election system disadvantages “insurgent candidates” like himself, lamenting that he has been able to get only a small fraction of superdelegates to support him.
“As of today, in what I call earned delegates, the delegates that you earn after a primary or a caucus, we have won about 45 percent of them,” Mr. Sanders said of pledged delegates. “There are 10 states left and we have to earn over 50 percent of those delegates and that’s what the importance of Indiana is. And we are going to fight as hard as we can for every vote.”
The senator also made his pitch at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne as well, casting his platform as crucial to achieving health care for all Americans, combating climate change and reforming the campaign finance system.
“Together we are going to change our national priorities,” he said.It has been said that all good things must come to an end and those words throughout the ages have always been proven true. The best one can hope for is when something “good” approaches its end, it gets the chance to go out in a blaze of glory. The hope that it will be allowed to go out on top, to exit the stage in its finest form and to leave us all wanting more and lamenting its finish.
Sometimes things work out that way, but other times they don’t. Often something “good” slowly starts to degrade. It erodes upon itself, still clinging to past visions of greater glory in a deluded self perception of continued relevance. It leaves the rest of us with no other recourse other than to stand around its proverbial death bed and watch its flame finally extinguish as nothing but a shell of its former self.
These sad events can often be seen as a company existing long past its usefulness (can you believe Friendster is still around?), professional athletes that play long past their prime… and for me, worst of all and the most tragic of all the examples… when a beloved movie franchise turns itself into a laughing stock, loses all touch with its true fan base and finally becomes so bad that even the most die hard and loyal supporters of the franchise are forced to look in the mirror and acknowledge that the glory is gone, and accept the beloved object of their fandom is dead.
As a life long Star Wars fanatic I had to face the facts and finally say the words. STAR WARS IS DEAD, AND MY OBSESSION HAS DIED WITH IT.
And I’m not alone. Around the world the great masses of former Star Wars legions spoke loudly with their silence this weekend. A new Star Wars movie opened (granted, it was animated which accounts for a little bit) this past weekend and pulled in numbers so low I had to pinch myself. A Star Wars movie… had an opening weekend of UNDER $15 million.
To all those who would try to rush to defend those number with excuses ranging from “this was a kids movie”, or “it’s only because it was an animated film” or worst of all “You just don’t get it”… I ask this question: If this EXACT movie had been released 10 years ago… do you think it’s even possible that it would have made a dollar less than $50 million opening weekend? Not a chance!
So what happened?
Return of the Jedi ended the original trilogy in magnificent fashion. The most dramatically brilliant lightsaber duel between Luke and Vader in the Emperor’s throne room set to a musical score that will live forever, the single greatest space battle scene in the history of film or television and the perfect completion of Darth Vader. It was brilliant, it was awe inspiring, it was legendary, it was a trilogy of near perfection. It left us satisfied, it left us cheering and the only sadness that came from it was the knowledge that it was over. Film would never be the same again.
The downfall of the franchise has been discussed, debated and argued extensively, but some points warrant some repeating.
The Phantom Menace started right… and everything was going fine until… until that moment… that pivotal moment that changed everything and forever shook the fans faith in George Lucas forever. JAR… JAR… BINKS!
It signaled the beginning of the end, and that Lucas had lost both his way and his touch with reality. His idea was to make something that little kids would love. Here’s the problem that has resonated throughout the Star Wars franchise ever since… there is a huge difference between making a character that kids will ALSO like, and making a character SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED JUST FOR LITTLE KIDS. When you take a character designed just for little kids and drop his into the middle of a franchise that was NOT meant exclusively for little kids, you spoil the soup and ruin the taste of all the other ingredients. And that’s what Jar Jar, and George did.
But being the faithful Star Wars fan that I was, I continually held out hope that the next one would be better. Somehow, Lucas would right the ship and get the Star Wars universe back on track and revive the former glory of the franchise. Yes, Phantom, Attack of the Clone and Revenge of the Sith all had elements that were good, certain scenes that stood out… but as a whole the essence of the franchise had been irreparably changed and damaged.
Star Wars had always been something that all ages could enjoy. Both kids and adults could adore R2-D2, we could all be scared of the Rancor, we all dropped our jaw at the size of the Death Star and kids and adults alike could agree that Darth Vader was the greatest character in all of fiction! But with Phantom and Jar Jar, that all changed. Now children were the target demographic. Fart jokes “Pee-UU-Sa” and cultural puns “Esqqueeeze Me” were now the norm.
Even as we got to Revenge of the Sith, the scenes that could have been really poignant and dramatically stirring were sanitized and dumbed down.
After Revenge of the Sith, although my favorite of the new prequels, something died in me. The naive optimism that still existed in me was extinguished… but I didn’t know it, and it took me a couple of years and the release of the new Clone Wars to discover it (as I sort of posted about the day I was heading to the premiere of Clone Wars). It was true, my Star Wars obsession, and fandom, had died. It died a slow, painful, humiliating death.
Seeing Clone Wars was the last nail in the coffin. Yes the action was great… but it was empty action whose enjoyment had nothing to do with the fact that it was a Star Wars movie. Clone Wars was the last gasp of life in the franchise as it gave itself over totally to the dark side (becoming nothing but a little kids franchise dropped into the continuity of an all ages franchise).
Ahsoka Tano, the annoying little orange Jedi Padawn who replaced Jar Jar’s “Pee-UU-sa” with calling Anakin Skywalker (her Jedi Master) “Sky-Guy” and R2 “R2 Two-ie” is the true heir the the mantel of franchise killer once held by Jar Jar. Yes, Ahsoka is the new Jar Jar, only worse… because there is no tiny grey area with her… she is 100% and unapologetically a WB kids show character aimed directly at children.
It was the final nail in the coffin, the nuking of the fridge and the jumping of the shark all rolled into one and confirmed the already existing truth. Star Wars was dead, and actually had been for a few years already and now there’s really nothing left to do but start the grieving process and begin to accept it.
So good bye Star Wars universe. You were a critical part of my life for almost as long as I’ve been alive. You helped shape my imagination, you made me fall in love with movies, you influenced the movie industry like very few other movies had and above all you entertained me more than any other property in the entertainment industry. It breaks my heart to see what you have become, and I’ve tried to be a faithful fan… but you’ve been unfaithful to me and the rest of us. Good bye, fare thee well and may the force be with you.In blessed memory of Keith Ginther of Montana: “He’d seen the way the Jewish-American soldiers disappeared from the prison camps”
On Christmas Eve 1944, U.S. troops were in the freezing cold of the Ardennes forest during the Battle of the Bulge, waist-high in snow.
We have remembered and told that story on recent Christmas Eves:
I encourage you not only to read the posts and the comments, but also the comments to our prior Facebook threads [here and here] and our current Facebook thread [here] in which people recounted their family experiences.
We also previously remembered Christmas in German POW camp Stalag Luft 1, particularly Lt. Elroy Frank Wyman from Maine, murdered by a German guard.
An Unlikely Silent Night, as told by Keith Ginther
In preparing today’s post, I looked for something beyond the war stories.
And I found a story that took place while American POWs captured during the Battle of the Bulge were marched to Germany.
[German propaganda film][longer video here]
The story was told in 2011 by Keith Ginther of Montana, and was republished on his death in July 2014 by The Great Falls Tribune:
Quiet, dependable, faithful rancher Keith Ginther died Sunday in Choteau. His passing brought to mind this story, which we featured Christmas 2011. I had known him for many years in a vague sort of way. He never had much to say. And then at Christmas one year, he suddenly started talking. He seemed shocked later by all he’d reveled [sic] but proud to have told his story, too. — Kristen Inbody
Here’s an excerpt from his story (emphasis added):
In December 1944, Ginther became one of the 23,000 Americans captured or missing by the end of the Battle of the Bulge, Germany’s final and ultimately unsuccessful offensive on the Western Front. He began a 150-mile march into Germany 67 years ago this month. He remembers feeling humbled in defeat, even more so as the POWs met German artillery pulled by horses or one truck pulling another on its way to the front…. The column of POWs passed through a countryside devastated by war and damaged by Allied bombing. At one village, the POWs had to clear rubble so German artillery could pass through. An American bomber pilot joined the prisoner ranks. “The people seemed to be more hostile to airmen, whom they blamed for being bombed,” Ginther said. Germans harassed the downed pilot. They’d rush the sides of the column, trying to grab him. The villagers were starving, exhausted and angry. When the hostility was at its worst, all the prisoners had reason to be afraid — though none so much as the captured bomber pilot. Yet at that moment, an American in the ranks began singing “Silent Night.” “Pretty soon the Germans were singing ‘Silent Night’ too, so it calmed things down,” Ginther said. “Halfway through the first verse, you could hear the German words, too.” If not for the song, which for one moment brought a measure of peace to a one small corner of Germany, “I don’t really know what would have happened,” he said. “The guards would have tried, I guess, to protect him.”
Read the rest of Ginther’s memories at the link.
The Fate of Jewish-American POWs
This unlikely singing was but a fleeting moment of humanity, as Ginther recalled this:
And he’d heard about the concentration camps. He’d seen the way the Jewish-American soldiers — even just those who looked vaguely Jewish — disappeared from the prison camps. “Germans figured out a certain percent would be Jewish, so they would try to figure out who they were,” he said. “If they couldn’t tell, they’d find troublemakers to weed out to make the quotas.”
That mention led me to more information about the fate of Jewish-American POWs:
About 350 American POWs who either were Jewish or appeared to be to their German captors were imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp during World War II, according to survivors who have begun telling their stories in a series of special reports on CNN. Anthony Acevedo, a medic in the 70th Infantry Division during the war, was the first survivor to step forward with the grisly tale of the American soldiers held at Berga an der Elster, a subcamp of Buchenwald. After being captured during the Battle of the Bulge, Acevedo says he was sent to a POW camp near Bad Orb, Germany, where he was held with other American soldiers. About a month later, the camp’s commander told the prisoners to line up and ordered all of the Jewish soldiers to take one step forward. When few volunteered, Acevedo says, about 90 Jewish soldiers and more than 250 others the Germans thought “looked like Jews” were put on a train to Buchenwald. Acevedo, a Mexican American, is not Jewish.
And certainly non-Jewish American POWs were treated brutally as well. I learned for the first time of the Malmedy Massacre. Perhaps that is for next Christmas Eve’s post.
Keith Ginther’s Quiet Life in Montana after the War
Ginther’s Obituary states in part:
Keith was born August 26, 1921 to Ernest and Lola (Burton) Ginther in Bartley, Nebraska. At age 8, he moved with his family to their new farm on Redwater near Richey, Montana. After graduating from high school, he joined the US Army in July 1942. Following two months of basic training he served as an MP and then went into Engineer training in the ASTP program. In October 1944, he shipped out to Europe with Co. G 422 Infantry, 106th Division and was taken prisoner on December 21st during the Battle of the Bulge. He was released from German Prison Camp as WW II was ending in May 1945. After leaving the military, Keith rejoined his family who had moved to their farm near Fairfield, Montana. He bought 3 of the neighboring farms and, following the death of his father, managed the home place for his mother as well, in addition to his work, he also managed to serve in various positions with the Fairfield Cattleman’s Association, and as scorekeeper for the Augusta High Basketball team for many years. He even managed to slip away on the occasional trip to the mountains to hunt or fish, two things he enjoyed. In his later years, he became very active in the Teton Steam and Gas Association and served as Commander of the Big Sky Chapter of the Ex-Prisoners of War.
That seems to be a theme. So many didn’t talk about what they experienced.
I’m glad that Keith Ginther finally did, may he rest in peace.
———————
Featured Image: Sergeant John Opanowski of the 10th Armoured Division, emerges from a dug-out built under snow in the Bastogne area. The 10th Armoured Division and the 101st Airborne Division were pinned down in the Bastogne area by General von Manteuffel’s crack Panzer Divisions – the 2nd and the 116th.Paul Craig Roberts – The New Greek Government May Be Assassinated
Today Dr. Paul Craig Roberts stunned King World News when he said that the new Greek government may be assassinated because the stakes are so high. The former U.S. Treasury official takes KWN readers on a terrifying trip down the rabbit hole of government lies and assassinations, where the stakes are high and governments play for keeps.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: “There is much more involved here with Greece than just the interests of the creditor banks, who still want to be paid 100 cents on the dollar. There is another strong interest and this is the interest of the centralizing European Union government and the interest of the European Central Bank as the policy-maker for all of the countries.
So they are using the Greek crisis to establish that ruling power structure….
Continue reading the Dr. Paul Craig Roberts interview below…
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“That makes it difficult to make an agreement with the new Greek government to ameliorate the conditions imposed on Greece. So it makes the EU inflexible. That inflexibility gives Greece the cards to say, ‘We’re not playing your game — we’re going to play a different game and accept Russia’s offer.’
New Greek Government May Be Assassinated
We’ll see whether the Greek government does that. Now of course they may not be allowed to. They may be assassinated. It’s entirely possible. I’ve never thought that the United States would allow a new government in any of its vassal states to rise up and become independent of Washington’s control.
Or Perhaps Have An ‘Accident’
So the new Greek government officials may have an ‘accident.’ All kinds of terrible things can happen to people, and have, that get out of sync with Washington. We’ve had several cases in Latin and South America of leaders who wouldn’t follow Washington’s line having mysterious deaths. There have been a number of them who have been overthrown in CIA organized coups.
When President Obama came into office, the democratically-elected government in Honduras was overthrown by the military. Of course the Honduran military has been in Washington’s pocket forever. So all these kinds of things can happen to the new Greek government and they may be aware of that.”
Planes Crash, Government’s Get Overthrown
Eric King: “So Merkel or somebody may have already explained to the new Greek government: ‘If you go down the rabbit hole of dealing with Russia and China, that may be the end of you.’”
Dr. Roberts: “Yes. Somebody may have already said to them that ‘aligning with Russia and China isn’t a very good idea. Planes crash. Governments get overthrown.’ That’s a way of telling them ‘We’ll get you.’ This is not a prediction, this is a possibility.
The Brothers
And these things happen. Read the book that came out recently titled The Brothers. The book is about Allen Dulles, who was the head of the CIA, and his brother John Foster Dulles, who was the Secretary of State. They just overthrew country after country, from Iran, through Africa and South America to Indonesia. If you read the book you can see how it works.
Any time some American interest was deemed to be threatened by some government somewhere, they went in there and overthrew it — that’s the American way. Look at what happened to the Ukrainian government. This was an organized coup and the other day President Obama more or less admitted it.
“The Brothers” shows on a country by country basis how they operated and how they overthrew the governments.
Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man
Another good book to read is Perkin’s book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. Perkin’s was one of them who would do this type of thing. American interests would set their sights on the resources of some country and then they would send in Perkin’s to make some big development plan. He would then convince the country that this development plan was going to make the country so rich that it didn’t matter how much money they borrowed to implement the plan because it would be easy to pay it back.
It Was All A Lie
Of course it was all a lie. It was designed to get the countries heavily in debt, and the development plan would not succeed well enough to repay the debt. Then the banks would come in and dispossess the country of their resources. That would be the solution to the indebtedness — ‘Turn over your oil, your timber, your other natural resources, etc.
So the book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man shows how these countries are subverted and looted, and the book The Brothers shows how the CIA and the State Department went about overthrowing governments.
Operation Gladio
Well, these people in Greece probably know about these things. Certainly they know about Operation Gladio because this was revealed by the President of Italy in 1990. This is not a conspiracy theory. It was, of course, a conspiracy of secret services against the people. This is something that the President of Italy told the Italian Parliament and the whole world.
The Italian President made clear that the bombings that occurred in Europe after the Second World War up to 1990, these were bombings that were blamed on Communists. But these were bombings carried out by Italian Intelligence and the CIA. They would explicitly target women and children and blow them up with bombs so they could influence elections. This false flag terrorist operation was called Operation Gladio.
The Bologna Train Station was one place where the bombs were set off. The bombs killed 85 people and wounded hundreds of others. This was blamed on Communist terrorists but it was done by Italian Intelligence in collaboration with the CIA and other European Intelligence Services, including the British. The Greeks have to know this and they also have to be aware that this can happen to them.
The Stakes Are High
So when Putin and Russia offered help for the Greek’s financial situation, they handed the Greeks a card that can’t be trumped. The question is: Do the Greeks dare to play that card? The stakes are high and it’s extremely dangerous to go against Washington for all the reasons I just told you.” ***ALSO JUST RELEASED: Superpowers Battle Over Greece As Europe Trembles With Fear Of World War III CLICK HERE.
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The audio interviews with Felix Zulauf, Andrew Maguire, John Mauldin, Egon von Greyerz, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Gerald Celente, Lord Christopher Monckton, Michael Pento, Bill Fleckenstein, David Stockman, Dr. Philippa Malmgren, Stephen Leeb, John Embry, Rick Rule, Rick Santell and Marc Faber are available now. Other recent KWN interviews include Jim Grant — to listen CLICK HERE.
Eric King
KingWorldNews.comSamsung today defended its attempt to back out of a disputed patent deal with Microsoft, citing antitrust concerns over the Redmond company’s purchase of Nokia’s smartphone business.
At issue in the case are agreements that set out patent licensing fees for Samsung’s use of Android, as well as terms for the two companies to work together on making Windows Phone handsets.
“Before Microsoft’s merger with Nokia DSB, these provisions between Microsoft, an input supplier, and Samsung, a downstream seller, comported with United States antitrust laws,” Samsung said in its filing. “After the Nokia DSB Merger, the agreements, now between competitors, invite charges of collusion. No reasonable business would knowingly undertake the risk of contractually obligating itself to coordinate and collaborate with a competitor—particularly, as here, with respect to setting third-party incentives and controlling the ‘out of box’ experience of a competitor’s products.”
Under one provision, if Samsung hit certain sales targets with its Windows Phones, the company would have to pay less in patent licensing fees. That agreement also mandated that the companies share certain information that Samsung now refuses to give Microsoft. Samsung claims that doing so could run afoul of U.S. antitrust law.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia closed earlier this year, with the approval of U.S. regulators, who didn’t have any antitrust concerns at the time, though it’s not clear if they were privy to or aware of the details of Microsoft’s agreement with Samsung.
Unsurprisingly, Microsoft doesn’t think that Samsung’s argument holds water. A spokesperson for the company said in an email to GeekWire that “Microsoft is confident that our case is strong and that we will be successful.”
Microsoft filed the lawsuit earlier this year, claiming that Samsung had breached its contract and owed the company $6.9 million in back interest. Earlier filings revealed that Samsung paid Microsoft $1 billion in licensing fees last year as a result of the agreement, so any modification to the deal between the two companies could have a significant impact on their businesses.
Microsoft says that Android violates its patents, and has struck licensing deals with a series of Android manufacturers.
Samsung’s full filing is embedded below.A Cape Breton senator is working to try to have the Gabarus seawall repaired before hurricane season hits in a few weeks time.
Gabarus is perched on the eastern coast of Cape Breton, with only the seawall protecting the community and the Gabarus wharf from the ocean's ravages.
The seawall has buckled in several places from storms over the past few years. It needs to be fixed before the next big storm hits.
A recent inspection by provincial officials deemed it an urgent situation.
But legal issues are holding up any repairs or replacement.
The federal and provincial governments are awaiting a ruling from the Department of Justice on which branch of government owns it and has a responsibility to pay for the work.
Senator Michael MacDonald, who grew up in nearby Louisbourg, says he's going to Ottawa to try to get a compromise while the legal issue is decided.
"There's enough argument to go around to think that perhaps there's shared jurisdiction here, I'm going to operate under that assumption and see if we can find some at least some short-term funding to stabilize this area," MacDonald said.
Tim Menk lives in Gabarus and is a part of a community group called Friends of Gabarus that's been fighting to get the seawall fixed.
The Seawall was constructed by the federal government in the 1940s and repaired in the '80s
Menk says MacDonald's efforts are well appreciated.
"I think every turn we have here where we have yet another person who has influence and connections in different levels of government is important for us," Menk said.
Cape Breton Regional Municipality has offered to pay one-third of the cost of the estimated $300,000 repair bill.
Menk says with the approaching hurricane season, the community is hoping that MacDonald comes through for them and quick repairs are done.Wizards forward Paul Pierce high-fives the bench after coming off the court during the second half of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals between Washington and Toronto. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)
If you talk the talk, you’d better walk the walk. Having walked said walk, some more talking certainly seems warranted, and in the case of Paul Pierce, it’s a lock.
The Wizards’ veteran forward, arguably the NBA’s foremost troll, publicly stated before the playoffs that he didn’t think the Raptors had “the ‘It’ that makes you worried.” Then he dropped a game-high 20 points on Toronto in Game 1, sticking it to hordes of booing fans.
After another Washington road win in Game 2 of the first-round series, Pierce shouted, “I don’t want to go through customs no more!” And you know what? He doesn’t.
The 37-year-old hit several huge shots down the stretch in Game 3, and on Sunday the Wizards romped past a demoralized Raptors squad for the first sweep of a seven-game series in franchise history. One can only imagine how many swear words Toronto General Manager Masai Ujiri is uttering now.
And if you thought Pierce would merely take quiet satisfaction from these developments, well, you just don’t know “The Truth.” On Sunday night, the forward posted this to his Facebook account:
That image dovetails nicely with the Wizards’ #SweepTheNorth social media campaign during the series with the Raptors. (It works best if you don’t think too much about what happened to the last guy to be proclaimed “King in the North.”) And there is precious little anyone in Toronto can do about it now.
Speaking of which, the drubbing of the Raptors also served as a personal humiliation for Drake, the team’s ubiquitous celebrity fan. After the series shifted to Washington, pretty much everyone in these parts got a chance to take a shot at the rapper, from the Wizards’ Game 3 crowd, to Washington’s own hip-hop deity, Wale, to the team itself.
So you just had to know that Pierce was getting in on that action.
Drake a fool lol pic.twitter.com/h5qrj1a28i — Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) April 27, 2015
Pierce made sure that message got out on all sorts of social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Because when you get the last laugh, you want it to be heard far and wide.Texas Sen. Ted Cruz admonished the Obama administration's interactions with law enforcement as creating a culture where police officers feel under attack.
Cruz chaired a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on Tuesday titled, "The war on police: How the federal government undermines state and local law enforcement." While Cruz was back in Washington, D.C., on official business, the senator wasted little time using the heated rhetoric he vents from the stump on the campaign trail.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2575923
"Everyone here agrees that we should enforce the law and we should vigorously enforce America's civil rights laws. In any government organization, there can be bad actors," Cruz said during his opening remarks. "But in my view, it is deeply harmful — not only for the men and women of law enforcement but for the safety of the American people — for the federal government to treat police officers as the enemy; for the president or the attorney general to be holding up police officers for vilification."
"I believe every one of us, Republican and Democrat, should stand unequivocally with the brave men and women of law enforcement. I do not believe it is beneficial for this country to have a culture where the men and women of law enforcement feel under siege."
Cruz's decision to frame the federal government's interaction with law enforcement as a "war on police" has far-reaching implications into the 2016 presidential race, where the Black Lives Matter protests, which seek to call attention to police brutality and discrimination, could become an important factor. Cruz currently ranks second in the Washington Examiner's GOP presidential power rankings.Dane Wigington
GeoengineeringWatch.org
"WInter Storm Stella" is the latest all out geoengineering assault to be launched by the power structure against the US population. "Stella" is now also "predicted" to inflict winter weather warfare damage in regions of the UK in spite of London remaining warm.
The first satellite image below (from NASA), clearly reveals massive atmospheric aerosol spraying operations in skies along the US East Coast as the climate engineers prepared for the manufacturing of "Winter Storm Stella". Virtually all the "cloud cover" visible in the NASA satellite photo is from geoengineering / solar radiation management (SRM) aerosols being sprayed by jet aircraft.
Click image to enlarge
The planet is now covered in a haze of toxic metal and chemical particulates which are a major component of "global dimming". These highly toxic materials are a primary aspect of the ongoing "solar radiation management" climate intervention programs.
The next two radar images below should be examined very carefully. The scenario they reveal is meteorologically impossible short of massive climate engineering deployments of chemical ice nucleating materials. The "stripe" of snow just north of New York that extends far out into the Atlantic Ocean is shocking proof of chemical ice nucleation operations being carried out.
Glaring anomalies like the strip of snow extending through warm bands of incoming rain (shown above) are never addressed or even mentioned by mainstream meteorologists. Mainstream sources of weather and climate data are being used to cover the tracks of the climate engineers. In regard to all the meteorologists who are engaged in the climate engineering cover-up, we must conclude one of two possibilities, they are either criminally unqualified for the positions they hold and thus don't recognize the inarguable impacts of the ongoing geoenigneering planetary assault. Or, they are paid liars who will parrot any narrative they are given by those who supply their paychecks and pensions.
The next screenshot (shown below) was taken 20 minutes after the image shown above. The first stripe of chemically ice nucleated precipitation that was north of NY has already reverted back to rain (leaving a patch of grey (sleet) on the map just north of NY). In the image below another completely anomalous stripe of snow has appeared just south of NY (which extents out into the Atlantic through the far above freezing temperature bands of rain). As this second line of chemically nucleated precipitation drifted north, it likely provided the New York City snow which was an objective of the climate engineers.
Creating theatrically named chemically nucleated winter storms is a major component of the ongoing climate engineering assault.
The short but very revealing radar animation loop below clearly shows the chemically nucleated "snow stripes" flashing in and out of the radar screen.
The chemically nucleated winter weather warfare has been ramped up to levels that are far beyond blatant.
The temperature map below clearly illustrates just how warm the surface air temperatures are along the US North East coast.
Why would far above freezing temperature moisture migrating over these regions suddenly "change over" to snow for no apparent reason?
What is the true state of global temperatures? The GISS global temperature map below reveals that the average global temperatures for the last 17 years have been far above the baseline average from 1951 to 1980 (a period which was already experiencing temperatures that were far above the pre-industrial eras). Geoengineering is a highly destructive attempt to mask the true severity of climate implosion from the public for as long as possible while fueling the overall warming in the process.
Click image to enlarge
Globally there are almost no regions that have had below normal overall temperatures during the last 17 years.
The next GISS map for January, 2017, shows far more magnified and alarming temperature anomalies. The blue toned "below normal temperature" regions are meteorologically unprecedented given the overall surrounding far above normal temperatures. Further, recent studies reveal that "rich nations are warming at a slower rate than poor nations", such a scenario is not possible without global covert climate intervention programs.
Click image to enlarge
The start of 2017 has already seen many thousands of high temperature records broken in the US following years of record setting heat all over the world. Record ice melting at the poles is also occurring with sea ice at record low levels in both polar regions. The climate engineers commonly orchestrate winter storms like "Winter Storm Stella" in the highest population zones where they can create the most sensationalized headlines in order to add to the populations continued climate confusion.
The NOAA "Departure From Normal Temperature" |
.
AP, AFP, MCT, FairfaxSteam | Posted 4 hours ago It's about ethics in user reviews - how to get a positive Steam critique of your game for $5
Phil Iwaniuk By Comments
from from
38 - 2 0 "I'm interested in having you review a Steam game for me," I tell a seller on Fiverr. "Could you send me some sample reviews?" They oblige. Noticing that all their reviews have a thumbs-up accompanying them, I put it bluntly: "Will the review be positive?" "Yes."
If you don't know Fiverr, it's kind of like Gumtree for odd jobs. People post ads offering their services, from graphic design to translation work to really left field stuff, like this seller who'll make your wish come true for $5. Hey, don't laugh: he's "using some ancient secret techniques that I've discovered after 30 years of practice, study and meditation."
So, I created an account, and I got in touch with every seller offering a paid-for Steam review. I sent them all the same message:
A couple of things about this. I've aked sellers to review "a Steam game," not "my Steam game." I also didn't make any attempt to mask my identity. My username on Fivver is - well, my name and the company I work for, and the email address associated with it is the one I use for this job. So this wasn't about approaching people pretending to be Gabe Newell with a Steam key for Half-Life 3.
Secondly, I'm offering to provide a Steam key because that's the done thing. Every seller stipulates that the game must be provided to them gratis, so I'm getting with the program.
Every seller got back to me, most of them within the hour. Nearly all of them linked me to their Steam accounts too, which is what I was really looking for. Because if you can see all the Steam reviews pages belonging to each of these sellers, you can start to build up an idea of which games they've written paid reviews of by finding the titles that keep cropping up.
In total: 20 games cropped up.
20 titles appeared in more than one seller's reviews page. A couple of them - Counter-Strike: Source and Super Hexagon - are super-popular titles that would appear in nearly anyone's Steam library. It seems incredibly unlikely that anyone would need to pay people to leave reviews of these games given their success, so using some common sense to eliminate them from the paid review conversation, that leaves 18 games.
We'll get to those games, and what we can extrapolate from their frequent appearances in Fiverr seller's accounts. First, let's establish what $5 actually buys you when you pay someone to review a Steam game.
Some sellers have multiple accounts and offer two Steam reviews. Others guarantree they'll log at least one hour with the game before reviewing, and offer a further 10 hours if you pay them more. But the wording of these services is very careful. Some postings at least allude to the review being positive, but no one is coming out and saying it:
"I will write a great Steam review for your game" here, and "I will genuinely play, review and rate your game" there. There are mixed messages being conveyed by sellers, some suggesting they'll leave an honest review, others suggesting they'll give a thumbs-up if you pay them.
Having had surprising success with the route one approach up to this point, I decided the best question to ask the sellers I'd contacted was the most direct:
I asked that exact question to all 13 sellers. Of that group, just one said that he couldn't guarantee a thumbs-up:
"I guarantee only that my review will be honest," he replied. "If you're looking for those kinds of fake reviews, there are plenty on Fiverr who provide such a service. However, I would suggest that you take great care because while in the short term such schemes may make your product look good, it usually ends up doing more harm in the long run."
He also writes a disclaimer in italics at the beginning of each of his Steam reviews, stating explicitly how he got his copy of the game, and advertising his services on Fiverr. Of the ten reviews on his accounts, eight carry the disclaimer. All of them are positive.
I got a similar message from another seller, although this one did offer me greater assurance that my money would go towards that all-important thumbs up. It was a message of contradictions:
Everyone else who replied - six sellers - told me their review would be a positive one. "Of course!" someone told me. "Yes, all my reviews are positive," assured another.
What all that has established is this: for a small amount of money, you can pay someone to leave a positive review of your game, or in fact any game, on Steam. Is that a problem? And if so, why?
Well, because Steam reviews are generally such a good indicator of a game's quality. Not everyone who plays a given title feels compelled to leave a review on its Steam page, but those who do have generally logged significant hours with that game and leave succinct, honest opinions about their experiences.
Those Steam reviews hold value because they're percieved to have been written without any agenda. They're another voice in a critical conversation once dominated by media outlets, who some percieve to have exactly that: an agenda. One driven by advertising deals, or business relationships, or personal politics... but all linking back to money. Paid journalists have been the focus of significant attention and scrutiny for the last few years, so the value of independent, impartial voices outside the media contributing to game criticism is higher than ever.
So if there are people taking money to write positive reviews of Steam games, that's a problem.
It isn't a problem created by the sellers alone though. They wouldn't be advertising their services if there weren't interested parties out there who are actually prepared to pay for reviews. I'll be honest here - aside from the reviews carrying 'I was paid for this' disclaimers, I wasn't able to conclusively identify the titles or publishers who have definitely used Fiverr to buy positive reviews. That would mean getting confirmation from the game developers, publishers or PR agencies themselves, and no one I reached out to provided any comment to that effect.
However, by identifying the games that keep showing up in the reviews of each Fiverr seller I've contacted, and the publishers whose names keep appearing, it's possible to make an educated guess about where they're coming from. So, here's the list of titles that appeared in more than two Fiverr seller's Steam review pages:
AdvertCity
Apocalypse Hotel
Areeb World
Blood of Magic
Cat Simulator
Centauri Sector
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
D3DGear
Egyptian Senet
Epic Character Generator
Epic Showdown
Garfield Kart
Gods Vs Humans
Home Design 3D
Hospital Manager
Moto Racer Collection
Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy
Prehistorik
Shiplord
Super Hexagon
Like I said before, I find it unlikely to the point of absurd that anyone's paying to have positive reviews of CS:GO or Super Hexagon, so I'm going to go ahead and discount them. There are patterns to observe and conclusions to be jumped towards when observing the list of reviews and their corresponding games in detail, but there are two things you can say about them conclusively.
Firstly, they're all positive. Every review of the above game written by the Fiverr sellers I contacted, including those who told me they couldn't guarantee a positive review, was positive.
The second is just how striking they are in contrast to CS:GO and Super Hexagon - they're games few people are likely to have heard of. Whether or not certain individuals were paid to write positive reviews of them, it didn't suddenly gift them Dota 2's active users, or put them on the fast-track to mainstream exposure.
And it is important not to make generalisations or jump to conclusions here - that list doesn't tell us that anyone associated with those games are paying people to leave positive reviews. But as you join the dots, you wonder how and why they would appear so frequently in seller's review pages if they weren't.
Some are published by the developers themselves, others are published by companies who have no website, social media footprint or contact details. None are represented by major publishers, or for the most part anyone I've heard of during my time writing about games, for what that's worth.
I reached out to everyone I could find contact details of for comment, and also directly asked if they'd paid for, or hired any external PR agency who might have paid for, positive Steam reviews. You won't be too shocked to hear that I heard very little back. Just1337 Studio, creators of Shiplord, had this to say:
"Sorry but we don't pay for reviews, we just gift alot of keys to Youtubers, forum users, random guys from facebook, etc."
Centauri Sector creator George Neguceanu told me: "I used Fiverr for translations, proof reading texts and others things on Centauri Sector. Reviews, only 2 or 3, from which only one was really good, the rest not so much."
Richard from D3DGear simply asked: "Do you need a free license to review D3DGear?"
In the absence of a meaningful dialogue with a Steam review buyer, I returned to the sellers. I felt it was only fair to ask them directly if they felt there was anything wrong with the service they were providing.
"No, there is nothing misleading or unethical about the reviews," said one seller, who'd previously assured me I'd get a thumbs-up for my $5. "The review will be positive and will make other people satisfied about buying the game."
Another seller - I'm blurring out everyone's names because unlike their Fiverr profiles, the emails they sent me weren't intended for the public domain - hopes I make the right choice developing my game, playing the ethics of Early Access development at the fore instead.
Generally the responses I got to that question conveyed that the sellers genuinely don't see anything wrong with the service they provide. They're supporting independent developers by getting some attention for their game. "If i found myself enjoying the game... I will post the positive review on Steam, says another. "If there's a lot of things needed to implement/change i'll attach the review in the format of.doc file in this conversation/order because i don't want my review to detrimental to the success of your game."
Just one seller - the one who adds disclaimers at the start of his reviews, and told me he couldn't guarantee a thumbs-up - gave me anything other than a straight 'no.'
"I don't believe so," he tells me, "but then, who sets out to be intentionally misleading or unethical? I'll admit that I have a lot of experience with alpha testing and betas, so my standards for a game are far more realistic. I don't expect GTA V-caliber story, graphics, maps, and gameplay in a $5 Early Access game, for instance. If there is fun to be had and the game has promise, such is stated in my reviews; I point out bugs and issues I run into in the same reviews."
After hearing people on both the buyer and seller side of paid-for Steam reviews discuss the practice openly and often nonchalantly, I found myself regularly asking the question: "is this a big deal?" The games that appear in several seller's user reviews aren't well-known, nor are the developers and publishers behind them. As far as I've been able to ascertain, it's an industry populated by twenty or so sellers, with as many games possibly implicated. The impact on the industry then, realistically, seems to be minimal at this point. It's not Watergate - but it is important, I think.
User reviews exist for those who want to bypass the games media, and any possible agendas it might have towards a given game's coverage. So the discovery that some user reviews have been written, in exchange for $5 and a Steam key, for what amounts to marketing purposes, is unsettling.
There's also the scale of the issue to discover. We happened to stumble upon one site on which ten or so peope were offering this service. Honestly, I don't know if there are other places you can go to buy a positive user review, other games whose Steam reviews have been written with an unspoken financial incentive. All I can say is that it's currently possible for this practice to occur at any scale as buyers and sellers dictate, without any explicit guidelines from Steam to deter review "sellers' who fancy themselves as entrepreneurs.
.American artist
James Montgomery Flagg (June 18, 1877 – May 27, 1960) was an American artist, comics artist and illustrator. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but is best remembered for his political posters.[1]
Life and career [ edit ]
Flagg was born on June 18, 1877 in Pelham Manor, New York.[1]
He was enthusiastic about drawing from a young age, and had illustrations accepted by national magazines by the age of 12 years. By 14 he was a contributing artist for Life magazine, and the following year was on the staff of another magazine, Judge.[2] From 1894 through 1898, he attended the Art Students League of New York. He studied fine art in London and Paris from 1898 to 1900, after which he returned to the United States, where he produced countless illustrations for books, magazine covers, political and humorous cartoons, advertising, and spot drawings. Among his creations was a comic strip that appeared regularly in Judge from 1903 until 1907, about a tramp character titled Nervy Nat.[3][4]
In 1915, he accepted commissions from Calkins and Holden to create advertisements for Edison Photo and Adler Rochester Overcoats but only on the condition that his name would not be associated with the campaign.[5]
The grave of James Montgomery Flagg in Woodlawn Cemetery
He created his most famous work in 1917, a poster to encourage recruitment in the United States Army during World War I. It showed Uncle Sam pointing at the viewer (inspired by a British recruitment poster showing Lord Kitchener in a similar pose) with the caption "I Want YOU for U.S. Army".[6] Over four million copies of the poster were printed during World War I, and it was revived for World War II. Flagg used his own face for that of Uncle Sam (adding age and the white goatee), he said later, simply to avoid the trouble of arranging for a model. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt praised his resourcefulness for using his own face as the model. By some accounts though, Flagg had a neighbor, Walter Botts, pose for the piece.
At his peak, Flagg was reported to have been the highest paid magazine illustrator in America.[7] He worked for the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's which were two of the most popular US Journals.[8] In 1946, Flagg published his autobiography, Roses and Buckshot. Apart from his work as an illustrator, Flagg painted portraits which reveal the influence of John Singer Sargent. Flagg's sitters included Mark Twain and Ethel Barrymore; his portrait of Jack Dempsey now hangs in the Great Hall of the National Portrait Gallery. In 1948, he appeared in a Pabst Blue Ribbon magazine ad which featured the illustrator working at an easel in his New York studio with a young lady standing at his side and a tray with an open bottle of Pabst and two filled glasses sat before them.[9]
James Montgomery Flagg died on May 27, 1960, in New York City.[1] He was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City.
Legacy [ edit ]
Fort Knox, Kentucky, has a parade field named for and dedicated to James Montgomery Flagg. It is called Flagg Field and located behind the Fort Knox Hotel.
Flagg spent summers in Biddeford Pool, Maine, and his home, the James Montgomery Flagg House, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[10]
Gallery [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]MahaNakhon, the newest addition to Bangkok’s skyline, takes the title of Thailand’s tallest building, and hosted a light show to celebrate its completion.
The skyscraper in Chong Nonsi rises at an astonishing 314m into Thailand’s sky and has 77 floors, exceeding Baiyok II Tower, Thailand’s former tallest building by 10m.
Video provided by @thanath
Designed to complement the Thai landscape, MahaNakhon boasts the eccentric appearance of a glass-curtain wall made up of a unique pixelated façade, with a cuboid-surfaced twisted rip in the side of the building.
The PACE Development-owned skyscraper brands itself as having the ultimate luxury design. Inside, the structure houses a hotel as well as numerous retail businesses, bars, restaurants, and the Ritz-Carlton Residences condominium. One of MahaNakhon’s key features is that it hosts distinguished restaurants Morimoto a Japanese-fusion fine dining spot, owned by Iron Chef America’s Masaharu and one of the first Morimoto restaurants in Southeast Asia – and L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon (Bangkok) – Thailand’s first L’Atelier from the renowned French chef and restaurateur.
Images provided by PACE DevelopmentI’ll never know how many people liked this article, shared it or found it irrelevant, anti-progressive or ironic. Nor will I get to read comments about my personal hygiene, or suggesting that a luddite like me needs to embrace industrialism. And that is no bad thing, for the moment writing becomes a popularity contest – rewarding sensationalism, groupthink and deceit over honest exploration of complex matters – people and places lose, and those who need to be held to account win. Win, that is, for a shortsighted moment.
The reason I won’t see any web reaction is because I live in a cabin – built with spruce, oak, hands, straw, Douglas fir, stubbornness, earth and knees – without electricity or so-called modern conveniences (I’ve never found doing the work to buy and maintain them particularly convenient).
From Wednesday, I’m rejecting the world of complex technology entirely. That means no laptop, no internet, no phone, no washing machine, no tapped water, no gas, no fridge, no television or electronic music; no anything requiring the copper-mining, oil-rigging, plastics-manufacturing essential to the production of a single toaster or solar photovoltaic system.
Having already rejected these industrial-scale, complex technologies, I intend to move fully towards what is pejoratively called primitive technology. Insofar as engaging with civilisation allows, I’m also trying to resist the modern domination of what Jay Griffiths, in Pip Pip, calls clock time – and failing daily.
That probably sounds like I’ve given up a lot of stuff. But while I intend to be clear and honest about the difficulties involved over the coming months, especially in the digital age, I’m just as fascinated in exploring what lessons about life – myself, society, the natural world – I might learn; perhaps things my cyborg-mind cannot yet imagine. That was my experience of living without money for three fine years.
Rejecting technologies that my generation considers to be the basic necessities of life wasn’t done on a thoughtless whim. I already miss not being able to pick up the phone and talk to my parents. Writing is different, my pencil unaided by both copy-and-paste and the easy delete, two word-processing functions reflective of a generic, transient and whimsical culture; and it has been a while since the media and publishing worlds worked by snail mail.
I decided to eschew complex technology for two reasons. The first was that I found myself happier away from screens and the relentless communication they generate, and instead living intimately with my locale. The second, more important, was the realisation that technology destroys, in more ways than one.
It destroys our relationship with the natural world. It first separates us from nature, while simultaneously converting life into the cash that oils consumerist society. Not only does it enable us to destroy habitat efficiently, over time this separation has led us to valuing the natural world less, meaning we protect and care for it less. By way of this vicious technological cycle, we are consciously causing the sixth mass extinction of species.
Living without money: what I learned Read more
Technology destroys places. Aside from the oceans, rivers, topsoil, forests, mountains and meadows, it helps us massacre and pollute with ever-improving precision and speed, its complex set of cogs quickly spreads us out all over the world, safe in the knowledge that we can stay in touch with loved ones via technologies that offer what is really only a toxic substitute for real connection and time together. It is badly injuring, perhaps fatally, rural communities, luring their youth into industrial and financial centres – cities – whose existence is premised, as the American writer and environmentalist Wendell Berry said, on the devastation of some other far-flung place, which consumers don’t have to look at thanks to the out-of-sight, out-of-mind distance afforded by technology.
When I walk to the spring to collect water in the morning I meet neighbours and we talk. Yes, it takes time, something I found frustrating at first, but slowness only became a bad thing when time became money. Walking four miles to the post office to send my letters takes time too, but it ties me to people and place in a way that sitting in my bedroom on my own, writing endless emails, could never do.
Technology destroys people. We’re already cyborgs (pacemakers, hearing aids) of a sort, and are well on our way to the type of Big Brother dystopia of the techno-utopians. And look at the state of us. Our toxic, sedentary lifestyles are causing industrial-scale afflictions of cancer, mental illness, obesity, heart disease, auto-immune disorders and food intolerances, along with those slow killers, loneliness, clock-watching and meaninglessness. We seem to spend more time watching porn than we do making love, relationships are breaking down because we stare into screens instead of eyes, while social media are making us antisocial.
Living without complex technology has its own difficulties, especially for people like me who were never initiated into those ways. But already I much prefer it. Instead of making a living to pay bills, I make living my life. Contrary to expectation, my biggest issue is not being bored, but how to do all the things I’d love to do. Of course hand-washing your clothes can be a pain sometimes, but that minor inconvenience is hardly worth destroying the natural world over.
Well-intentioned friends often try to convince me to go off-grid, but in using batteries, electrical cables and photovoltaic panels (as I once did), I would still be connected, by a peculiar sort of invisible cable, to the global network of quarries, factories, courtrooms, mines, financial institutions, bureaucracies, armies, transport networks and workers needed to produce such things. They also ask me to stay on social media to speak out about the technology issue, but I say I’m denouncing complex technology simply by renouncing it. My culture made a Faustian pact, on my behalf, with those devilish tyrants Speed, Numbers, Homogeneity, Efficiency and Schedules, and now I’m telling the devil I want my soul back.
No fridge, no TV: send your questions to the writer ditching technology | Sarah Marsh Read more
My life has its fair share of irony, and it can look hypocritical. Despite originally writing these words (a technology) with a pencil (a technology) in a hand-crafted cabin (a technology), the irony of this being an online blog is not lost on me. That is my compromise for now, for if you want to contribute to a healthier society, compromise can be a healthy thing if you know your boundaries. Being a hypocrite is always my highest ideal, as it means I’ve set higher standards for myself to strive for than I’m achieving at any one moment.
We know that, at the very least, some technologies are harming our natural world, our societies and, ultimately, ourselves. Therefore we can recognise the need to reject some technologies. If we’re to avoid technological extremism we’re going to have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. I’ve drawn mine, and I will only move it in the direction of my home.
• Get in touch with Mark here or in the comments below, a selection of which will be posted to himOur Story
Sardarabad bookstore and Sosé and Allen’s Legacy Foundation are excited to present the first English-language translation of Malkhas’s classic four-part work, Zartonk (Awakening), an Armenian novel published in Boston, Massachusetts in 1933. Translated by Simon Beugekian, Awakening is a project over three years in the making. With your help, we hope to bring it to its finish line.
Awakening (presented in 3 Volumes) tells the story of young Armenians who come of age during a period in Armenian history known as ‘zartonk.’ Meaning awakening in Armenian, ‘zartonk’ refers to the rise of collective consciousness among Armenians living across three empires: Russian, Ottoman, Persian. Through the entangled lives of its characters, Awakening recounts stories of activism and heroism, love and camaraderie that emerge out of years of servitude, oppression, and ignorance. The story develops over a fifteen year period (1903-1918) and offers glimpses into the Armenian revolutionary movement, the 1915 genocide, and the establishment of the first independent Armenian Republic.
Following its initial publication in 1933, Zartonk was reproduced in serial form and reprinted in various diaspora communities. Over the course of its many publication runs, Zartonk became a household staple and an emblematic piece of popular literature for generations of Armenians growing up in diasporic communities. The novel’s action-filled, page-turner quality, its central romantic love story, and its vivid descriptions of Armenian life in the villages of the Ottoman empire or central cities of the Caucasus have inspired diaspora Armenians searching for their own history.
With this translation, we hope to make the story accessible to a global audience and inspire a new generation of Awakening.
Silk Screened Poster
Our Team
Editorial Director: Dr. Talar Chahinian teaches in the Department of Comparative World Literature at California State University, Long Beach. She is also the assistant editor of the Armenian Review.
Translator: Simon Beugekian is a translator now living in Los Angeles. He began his career in translation while working for the Boston-based Armenian Weekly. His most recent translation project, Karnig Panian’s memoir Goodbye, Antoura, will be published by Stanford University Press in 2015.
Creative Director: Sako Shahinian is an LA based designer who is currently the creative director of TICLA. He also is involved with many passion projects.
Editor: Dr. Carole Viers-Andronico lives and works in Paris, where she directs the academic programs at the University of California's Paris Study Center and teaches courses in language, literature, and film. She is also a literary translator.
Publishing: Varouj Ourfalian is the Director of Sales and Programming at Sardarabad bookstore in Glendale, California. Founded by the Armenian Youth Federation in 1984, Sardarabad offers a wide collection of books that explore topics related to Armenians.
Project Coordinator: Vaché Thomassian is the Director of Sosé & Allen's Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to continuing the works and vision of his sister and brother-in-law in Armenia and the Diaspora.“I will stir the smooth sands of monotony:” Peter O’Toole, 1932-2013
By Paul Bond
23 December 2013
Peter O’Toole, who has died aged 81, was in some ways an actor out of his own time. His love of the barnstorming performers of previous centuries did not quite sit comfortably with the theatre of his own age, although he was able to bring some of their rollicking theatricality to a different medium, the cinema.
Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia 1962
The recklessness of his performances sometimes rather obscures his real qualities as an actor, while the achievements of his later career seem not so much the fruition of earlier promise as the product of its glorious derailment. That derailment, of course, was not simply his personal problem, but associated with some of the cultural difficulties of our time.
It was rare to see an unmemorable or dull performance by O’Toole. That is a double-edged remark, but applying his own self-assessment it would constitute some sort of success. Speaking to a press conference in 2003 after receiving an honorary Academy Award, he told journalists “I’m an entertainer. That’s my job.” In some way this was a fulfilment of his promise in an early poem to “stir the smooth sands of monotony.”
He was also blunt about the need to take any work over none. “If there isn’t a good part,” he told the Independent on Sunday in 1990, “then I do anything, just to pay the rent. Money is always a pressure. And waiting for the right part—you could wait forever. So I turn up and do the best I can.”
Man of La Mancha 1972, with Sophia Loren [Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios]
At his worst this left him dangerously close to self-parody. During one performance of his critically panned Macbeth at the Old Vic in 1980, he joined the audience’s laughter when an ambulance siren outside accompanied his appearance after Duncan’s murder: “I was dripping with blood. The ambulance howled … I got the giggles. So did the audience. It was bloody marvellous.” At his best, as in Richard Benjamin’s My Favorite Year (1982), this presentation of himself as an entertainer allowed him to find real depth in a character’s charm.
The strengths of this rambunctious self-presentation can be seen in his two volumes of memoir, Loitering with Intent: The Child (1992) and Loitering with Intent: The Apprentice (1997), covering his childhood and his first years at drama school. They reveal him to be a talented writer, but their discursive and engaging style deceives as much as it delights. The reader feels buttonholed by a brilliant barroom storyteller who has managed to sustain a consistently magical and poetic atmosphere through his digressions. The cumulative effect is overwhelming, but the books also bring home how far O’Toole was the inventor of his life as much as its central character.
It is unclear whether he was born in Ireland or Leeds in West Yorkshire, although he grew up in Hunsbeck, south Leeds. His mother was a nurse, his father a metal plater who also worked as a bookmaker. O’Toole was devoted to his mother’s warmth and charmed by the sometimes violent sophistication of his father’s world.
The family was Catholic. He renounced the religion in his teenage years, but returned to it later in life. There was some disruption to his education because of his religion, and he moved around various schools in the city.
The blending of these influences, combined with a vigorous outdoor life (cricket, swimming and so on) and an early enthusiasm for Arthurian legends and tales, sparked and developed the romantic self-image he was to cultivate.
It was also shaped by the growth of fascism and the eruption of World War. His memoirs are alive with the horrors of the war, and as a child he developed the image of a romantic hero who could assassinate Hitler. The viscerality of the response is naïve and sincere, and as an adult he seems to have continued to respond to political events in the same way.
Meditations on Hitler dominate his first volume memoirs, while his performance in Rogue Male (1976) was driven by that childhood vision. Rogue Male was a television adaptation of Geoffrey Household’s 1939 novel in which a British sportsman unsuccessfully targets an unnamed European dictator whose regime had killed his Jewish lover. O’Toole read the novel only after the war, but identified closely with it because it echoed his childhood instincts.
That marked sense of what is decent and best in society (and, conversely, what is abhorrent and worst) can be seen in many of his remarks, although it remained politically amorphous. Welcoming the election of Harold Wilson’s Labour government in 1964 he declared himself a “total, wedded, bedded, bedrock, ocean-going, copper-bottomed, triple-distilled socialist.” At the time of the Bloody Sunday massacre in 1972, in which British soldiers shot and killed 26 unarmed civil rights protesters and bystanders, O’Toole would express some sympathy for the Irish Republican Army. The actor was an outspoken opponent of both the Korean and Vietnam wars.
The actor and man O’Toole was to become were shaped by the horrors of the war and relief at its end. O’Toole once identified his sociality with his generation: “We were young people who’d been children throughout the war—well, you can imagine what it felt like in 1945 to be free—not to be bombed, not to be rationed, not to be restricted. There was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm.”
At the same time he was finding drama a cultural form that could express the inward sensations generated in such a period. He had taken several jobs but was increasingly interested in theatre. With a friend he hitchhiked to Stratford-upon-Avon to see Michael Redgrave play King Lear.
This is often described as the moment O’Toole knew the theatre was for him, but he had been pushing towards it for a year. He had previously seen Donald Wolfit’s production of King Lear. Wolfit, one of the last grand actor-managers in the Victorian style, variously influenced many of O’Toole’s generation. O’Toole was impressed by his “volcanic” Lear. Harold Pinter, who acted in Wolfit’s company, was struck by his intense silences.
Shakespeare’s Lear also made sense for O’Toole’s view of theatre and society. Denouncing attempts to play Lear as someone “who deserves all he gets,” O’Toole wrote that “there is no justice, human or providential, in the play; there is no redemption; for three hours we share Shakespeare’s unflinching gaze at the extreme nature of man’s estate, within and without, human and cosmic, the condition and predicament of humankind.”
In 1681 Nahum Tate had rewritten the play with a happy ending, and O’Toole’s scorn points again to the traumas of the twentieth century, fully understood or otherwise: “Events of the subsequent centuries shatteringly demonstrate that such tinkering didn’t do the delicate sensibilities of many much lasting good, and in our period, after Auschwitz, to perform the play in a way that provides any character with a dainty justification for his or her actions is perversely silly.”
He went to RADA (the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) on a scholarship. British theatre was undergoing a radical overhaul in playwriting and acting in the 1950s. In place of plays set in bourgeois drawing rooms a new realism was developing with plays set in bedsits and terraces. Regional accents were no longer eradicated, and anger was the defining emotion.
Although his Irish-Yorkshire background and enthusiasm apparently suited O’Toole well to this movement, his instincts were somewhat apart. He remained, at heart, an actor in the grand classical tradition. He was not embarrassed by Wolfit’s style, as some of his generation were. O’Toole’s hero was Edmund Kean, of whom Coleridge wrote that, “Seeing him act was like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning.” O’Toole remained hostile to a theatre driven by directors, preferring actors to be at the centre of the craft.
But he worked on a broad repertoire. After RADA he spent three vital years at the Bristol Old Vic. There he played in Osborne, Becket, Shaw, and gave an electrifying Hamlet. After a successful return to London in Shaw he spent a critically acclaimed season at Stratford playing Petruchio (The Taming of the Shrew) and Shylock (The Merchant of Venice).
He loved the theatre, but film offers were beginning to come in. He turned down an invitation to join Peter Hall’s company in order to make his fourth film, David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962). The vibrant intensity of his performance, coupled with his good looks, made him a star. As he would note later, “Stardom is insidious. It creeps up through the toes. You don’t realise what’s happening until it reaches your nut. That’s when it becomes dangerous.” The film earned him the first of his eight Oscar nominations.
Becket 1964 [Photofest]
What followed was patchy. The riotous lifestyle certainly contributed, while his good looks generated some lucrative but bad film offers. He also remained determined in his vision of acting. He was again nominated for an Oscar for Peter Glenville’s Becket (1964) with Richard Burton, but his theatre production of Brecht’s Baal was not a success. Laurence Olivier invited him to the newly formed National Theatre at the Old Vic to play Hamlet again. Olivier’s production did not create the same stir as O’Toole’s Bristol performance had, and the actor described it as a “humbling and humiliating” experience.
The films are dizzyingly eclectic: Clive Donner and Woody Allen’s What’s New, Pussycat? (1965), a silly, sometimes amusing movie in which O’Toole is thoroughly charming; The Lion in Winter (1968), during whose filming co-star Katherine Hepburn told him he was “profligate” with his talents: Under Milk Wood (1972), again with Burton; and the over-sentimental Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969).
The Lion in Winter 1968, with Katherine Hepburn [Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios]
Many of O’Toole’s performances are remarkable, like his unbridled turn as an aristocrat who believes he is Jesus Christ or Jack the Ripper in Peter Medak’s The Ruling Class (1972), but there was an increasingly self-indulgent streak to them that outweighed the quality of the material. By the 1980s he was doing some execrable rubbish. Of course, by then a great deal of execrable rubbish was being made.
Between films he had |
2, son of a prominent Russian lawmaker, was convicted last year on 38 counts of computer intrusion and credit-card fraud. “This investigation, conviction and sentence demonstrates that the United States will bring the full force of the American justice system upon cybercriminals like Seleznev who victimize U.S. citizens and companies from afar,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco said in a statement. “And we will not tolerate the existence of safe havens for these crimes – we will identify cybercriminals from the dark corners of the Internet and bring them to justice.”WASHINGTON — A proposal by the Obama administration to overhaul the international food aid program has set off a jurisdictional fight among members of several House and Senate committees, threatening to derail the most significant change to the program since it was created nearly 60 years ago.
The $1.4 billion annual program provides emergency food supplies to disaster-stricken regions across the globe. The United States provides over half of the world’s food aid.
The food aid money is currently part of the Agriculture Department’s budget, but President Obama’s proposal would transfer it to the foreign affairs budget, where it would be overseen by the Agency for International Development. The reorganization would also mean that Congressional oversight of the program would shift from the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees on agriculture to the appropriations subcommittees on foreign operations.
Administration officials say the current program is costly and inefficient, and does not get food quickly enough to the people who need it. By law, the food must be bought from American farmers and shipped on vessels flying American flags, which can sometimes take weeks, with food arriving after a crisis is over, administration officials and development experts say.People often ask her, Ms. Rice said that day, whether playing chamber music is relaxing. "It's not exactly relaxing if you are struggling to play Brahms," she explained. "But it is transporting. When you're playing there is only room for Brahms or Shostakovich. It's the time I'm most away from myself, and I treasure it."
She is not the only secretary of state to pursue amateur music-making. Thomas Jefferson, the first to hold the office, was an excellent violinist who played chamber music, especially Baroque trio sonatas, throughout his political career. But back then, playing music at home was commonplace.
Not so today, in the era of recording technology, when you can hear almost any piece from the entire history of music by switching on an iPod. The trade-off is that so few people know the personal joy of making music. Whatever else she is to political supporters and opponents, Ms. Rice may be the most prominent amateur musician in the world right now, which is big news for classical music.
THE amateurs in Ms. Rice's ensemble do have some professional credentials. Two of the players had successful musical careers before switching to law. Soye Kim, the first violinist, who has two degrees from the Juilliard School, spent busy years studying in Europe and freelancing in New York before she entered law school at 39. Robert Battey was a professor of cello at the University of Missouri for 12 years, and still sometimes coaches.
Though Lawrence Wallace, the violist, now retired, is a former law school professor who served as a deputy solicitor general under eight presidents, he used to moonlight as a musician. Joshua Klein, the second violinist and the youngest member of the ensemble, who clerked for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor last term, studied violin seriously during college and law school.
"I don't make money playing the piano," Ms. Rice said, with the pride of a honorable amateur.
"No," Mr. Battey replied, "though you have gotten some pretty nice dinners out of it."
He was referring to a concert the group played two years ago at the British Embassy for an audience of 100. After the performance, which lasted just over an hour, the British ambassador presented an elegant dinner.
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In 2003, the group also gave a private concert at Ms. Rice's apartment, which attracted an overflow bipartisan audience, including Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court, Alan Greenspan and Harriet Miers, classical music lovers all. Ms. Rice's ample living room has a nook in a corner, which accommodates her midsize grand piano, a Chickering, a cherished gift from her parents when she was a teenager.
On this Sunday, once the musicians had settled down and tuned up, they began by playing through the ebullient first movement of Schumann's Piano Quintet in E flat. The piano part has fancy runs and elaborate flourishes, especially in a tempestuous contrasting development section, alive with intricate counterpoint.
"We generally like to start off with a nice finger-buster for the secretary," Mr. Battey said. That way, he explained, she's warmed up when they really get to work.
Ms. Rice's long, thin fingers are nimble indeed, especially for someone who doesn't have much time to practice. Her touch has lightness and subtlety, yet she plays with crisp clarity and, when called for, robust sound.
They played right through the first movement. When things got a little tangled in the difficult development section, they had the collective wit to forge ahead and let things untangle.
It was wonderful to hear chamber music as it was meant to be: played by friends for their own enjoyment, in the confines of a living room, which makes the sound seem enveloping. Playing chamber music is a bonding experience. During an earlier interview at the State Department, Ms. Rice said the members of her group had become "like my best friends."
"We are like family," she added.
Traditionally, playing chamber music has also been a great equalizer. But do these string players really feel free to critique their pianist? Mr. Wallace answered, "I just assumed from the beginning that it wouldn't be any fun for her if we were deferential."
Though the Schumann went well, Ms. Rice felt that things had become shaky in the exuberant push to the coda. "Can we try the ending again," she asked, "just for our pride?" So they did, and they played it with more solidity and just as much spirit.
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But the real give-and-take began when they turned to the first movement of Shostakovich's Piano Quintet in G minor, a piece they are still learning. The music is episodic, moody and -- as so often in Shostakovich -- elusive. Are the evocations of Bach-like counterpoint to be taken at face value? Are the grim outbursts ironic?
The players began the somberly oracular opening section and soon fell out of sync. "My tempo is not your tempo," Ms. Rice told her colleagues, when they stopped to regroup. As a musician she is a palpably attentive listener. As they tried again, the opening section emerged in a more cohesive arc, and they segued smoothly into a faster episode with curious triplet figures in the piano, which Ms. Rice infused with a stealthy character.
When they failed to coalesce in an up-tempo section of the movement, Ms. Rice blamed herself. "I don't know this passage coming up," she said. "So I hesitated to turn the page." She stared at her printed score and said, almost to herself, "I'll get that fixed." There was no doubting it.
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Ms. Kim commented on the articulate way Ms. Rice played a series of thick chords. "You're playing them really short, Condi," she said. "I hadn't thought of that," she added, warming to the idea.
"I like them separated," Ms. Rice replied. "Not too short, maybe kind of sticky." Everyone knew what she meant.
After the Shostakovich, they turned to Brahms's Piano Quintet in F minor: "Condi's piece," as Mr. Battey called it. This intense, intricate and extremely difficult work is one of Ms. Rice's favorites. She reveres Brahms, she said, because the music is "passionate but not sentimental." In the scherzo, the players set a breakneck pace. Sometimes notes splattered and coordination teetered on the brink. It hardly mattered. The music-making was risky and vital.
MS. RICE, an only child, is a fourth-generation pianist on her mother's side. Her mother, Angelena Rice, who died of cancer in 1985, taught music and science at an industrial high school in a black suburb of Birmingham, Ala. "My mother was a church musician, and she read music beautifully, but she didn't play classically that much," Ms. Rice said during the earlier interview. "But she had a marvelously improvisational ear, which I don't have."
Her father, John Rice, who succeeded his father, a son of slaves, as minister at a Presbyterian church in Birmingham, also loved music, especially big-band jazz. (John Rice died on Christmas Eve in 2000, days after learning that Ms. Rice had been appointed national security adviser.) When she was an infant, Ms. Rice's parents gave her a tiny toy piano. "They had a plan," she said. Today that gift is prominently displayed on the coffee table in her apartment.
But it was her maternal grandmother, Mattie Ray, who proved the decisive musical influence in her life. Because both Ms. Rice's parents worked, she was dropped off each day at the house of her grandmother, who taught piano privately and sensed her eagerness and talent. Lessons started when she was 3. "I don't remember learning to read music -- you know, the lines and spaces and all that," Ms. Rice said. "From my point of view I could always read music."
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Classical music became her passion from the day her mother bought her a recording of Verdi's "Aida," and she listened, "my little eyes like saucers," she said, to the brassy and stirring "Triumphal March."
Ms. Rice, not quite 9, was sitting in her father's church on the Sunday morning in 1963 when, two miles away, bombs went off at a Baptist church and four black girls were killed, one of them a childhood playmate of hers. During this period of protests, fire hoses and bombs in Birmingham, she found comfort taking music classes at a local conservatory that had boldly opened its doors to black children. In 1969, the family moved to Denver, and Ms. Rice, having skipped the first and seventh grades, entered the University of Denver at 15 as a music major.
At 17, she attended the prestigious summer school at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado and came to believe that though she was a very good pianist, she was "not great," she said. "That was the really the revelation," she added. "And it wasn't just that experience. You start noticing prodigies, and you realize that I'm never going to play that way." There is "just some intangible" in music, she said. Whatever it was, she said she felt she didn't have it. She decided to major in international relations instead, focusing on the Soviet Union.
As her career in higher education and government prospered, she began to let her music slip. Feeling the loss in 1993, when she became the youngest provost in the history of Stanford University, she applied herself again on the piano and took regular lessons with a faculty member, George Barth. It was he who encouraged her to immerse herself in chamber music.
A couple of times in recent years she has ventured onto a concert stage for special occasions. In 2002, when the cellist Yo-Yo Ma received a National Medal of the Arts, he requested that Ms. Rice accompany him in a piece during the ceremony at Constitution Hall. They played the slow movement of Brahms's Violin Sonata in D minor in an arrangement for cello and piano. A photo showing her playing with Mr. Ma that night has pride of place in her living room.
Ms. Rice has only just begun to see the potential of music as a diplomatic tool, notably last February, when she delivered a speech in Paris about American rapprochement with Europe in the face of vehement disagreements over the invasion of Iraq. During the trip, she visited the Hector Berlioz Conservatory in Paris, where she attended a children's music class and watched young ensembles perform. As cameras caught her listening, she seemed deeply affected by the fledgling musicians.
At the time, there were "whole questions about U.S.-French relations and so forth," she said, "and I think it was just nice to connect with the French kids." Asked to play something, she declined, but promised to come back sometime with her chamber group.
Her fellow players would surely be eager to go. At the Sunday session, after their hellbent rendition of the Brahms scherzo, they segued without a break from the fortissimo final chords of that movement to the mysterious introductory section of the finale, a minor-mode Allegro with a touch of a Gypsy dance. Connecting these two movements is a bold interpretive stroke.
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"The scherzo has such an odd and abrupt ending," Mr. Rice said. So plunging right into the slow introduction that follows "seemed like a good idea," she said. Wanting credit, Mr. Battey said, "It was my idea." His colleagues laughed and said, "Yeah, yeah."
As the session ended, the string players packed up their instruments and took places around the coffee table for their traditional postrehearsal reward: white wine and cheese. As they chatted, Ms. Rice's friends spoke of how touched they had been to be invited to her swearing-in as secretary of state and to her 50th-birthday celebration, attended by President and Mrs. Bush.
Ms. Rice, who lives a short walk from the Kennedy Center, said she was looking forward to attending the Washington National Opera's new production of Wagner's "Rheingold" when she returned from an overseas trip. In February she took in the Kirov's production of Puccini's "Turandot," when the company visited the capital. She spoke of how impressed she had been by the innovative staging. By the music, too.
"That's about the only Puccini opera I can take," she said. A couple of us, led by this Puccini lover, stuck up for him. But Ms. Rice is not alone in her opinion.
Her favorite opera is Mussorgsky's epic "Khovanshchina," not surprising, given her expertise in Russian culture, language and history. It may have special resonance today: it tells of bloody factional strife at the time of the ascension of Peter the Great, made worse by the intransigence of the Old Believers, a fundamentalist Orthodox group opposed to reform.
These days, Ms. Rice finds chamber music so fulfilling that she has almost no desire to play solo works, she said. But she does have her eyes on a particular prize of the piano repertory.
"Before I leave this earth, I'm somehow going to learn the Brahms Second Piano Concerto," she said, "which is the most beautiful piece of music." It is also dauntingly hard.
Whether Condoleezza Rice some day becomes commissioner of the National Football League, president of Stanford or president of whatever is anyone's guess. But don't bet against her learning Brahms's Second Concerto.Our rating: By: Electronic Arts Version #: 1.01.22 Date Released: 2011-03-15 Developer: Price: 4.99 User Rating: Loading... Loading... Download App
EA Sports’ Fight Night series is undoubtedly the dominant boxing game series on the home formats. Its incredible graphics, wealth of famous boxers and brutal realism have made it a flagship title for EA. It was inevitable then, that they’d bring the series to the iPhone sooner rather than later.
The iPhone version of Fight Night Champion is, unsurprisingly, very different to its console counterparts. The roster is smaller, the game modes are fewer, and the graphics are blockier. Nevertheless, it utilises the iPhone’s touch-screen technology very well, making it a challenging but fun boxing game rather than a mere cash-in on a popular series.
Movement around the ring is performed by tilting your iPhone in the desired direction, which works OK, but needs to be re-calibrated fairly often. Punches, meanwhile, are cleverly pulled off using various swipes with your fingers. An upwards swipe, for instance, pulls off an uppercut, while a sideways swipe is a hook, tap the top left corner of the screen for a left straight, and the top right corner for a right straight. This system works very well, and a good planning of your combinations will reward you with fast-fisted flurries of punches.
The graphics in FNC are impressive. The modest handful of licensed boxers bear a good resemblance to their real-life counterparts, and they even have facial expressions; though these are mostly pained grimaces as the fighters absorb the punishment you dish out (or vice-versa). On top of that, sweat flies, blood sprays, and bruises burst; for a mere iPhone game, EA have paid plenty of attention to the little details.
Aside from one-on-one fights, there are also Legacy and multiplayer modes in FNC. While the multiplayer works smoothly, more effort could have been made to make the legacy mode for satisfying. In it, you create a boxer (or use a pre-existing licensed one) and fight random opponents until you get a title shot. The training between fights is simply a matter of picking easy, medium, or intense training, and hope for the best as the computer randomly generates what you got out of the session. The lack of depth in this area is disappointing.
Despite a lack of game modes, Fight Night Champion is the most entertaining (and toughest) boxing game on the iPhone. It’s not a game in which you can win by frantically swiping and smearing at your touch-screen, and you’ll need time to feel comfortable with its control scheme. With its challenging learning curve, good roster of boxers – past and present – and an enjoyable, if lightweight, legacy mode, FNC is the game to get for fans of the ‘sweet science.’
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Enjoy my ramblings? Follow me on Twitter: @Rob_ZedThe Popular Revolutionary Army or Ejército Popular Revolucionario is a leftist guerrilla movement in Mexico. Though it operates mainly in the state of Guerrero, it has also conducted operations in other southern-Mexico states, including Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guanajuato, Tlaxcala and Veracruz.
The EPR announced its existence on June 28, 1996 at the commemoration of the Aguas Blancas massacre one year earlier. Dozens of rebels, carrying AK-47 and AR-15 rifles, declared war against the Mexican government and read aloud the "Aguas Blancas Manifesto", as well as firing 17 shots into the air to pay respect to the 17 who died in the massacre.
Political ideology [ edit ]
The Popular Revolutionary Army advocates socialist peasant revolution. Subcomandante Marcos has distanced the EZLN from the EPR in his communiqués, largely because of the EPR activities in the state of Chiapas in the midst of peace talks in 1996 and 1997. The EPR though still asserts its support of the Zapatistas.
The Popular Revolutionary Army has founded a militarized political party, the Popular Revolutionary Democratic Party, or Partido Democrático Popular Revolucionario. The group often signs its communiqués "PDPR-EPR," combining the Spanish initials of the army and the party. However, the Popular Revolutionary Democratic Party does not function in the political world independent of the Popular Revolutionary Army; the party does not appear on ballots in any local or federal elections.
Attacks [ edit ]
1990s [ edit ]
June 28, 1996: After the reading of the "Aguas Blancas Manifesto" by "Captain Emiliano", guerrillas engaged police in a fire fight near the Guerrero capital of Chilpancingo, wounding several policemen and one civilian.
July 2, 1996: An EPR communiqué warns of "imminent" armed clashes with the army and police, this in response to the massive military presence in the area. Military intelligence concludes the EPR to be a genuine force, better equipped and organized than the EZLN.
July 17, 1996: An attack on an army patrol in the southwest of Guerrero wounds several soldiers and kills one civilian. Two weeks later an ambush on Navy patrolmen leaves another wounded.
August 7, 1996: EPR snipers kill one soldier and wound several others. The EPR general command give a press interview the same day. On August 25, the rebels claim to have killed 59 soldiers since June 28.
August 28 and 29: The largest assault so far, exceeding public and government conceptions about the group's strength. A coordinated multistate attack hits army, police and government targets in Oaxaca, Guerrero, Puebla and the Federal District, killing 18 and wounding more than two dozen. The EPR claims 41 dead and 48 wounded. Guerrilla forces also blocked roads in Chiapas to distribute pamphlets and seized a radio station in Tabasco. President Zedillo at his State of the Union Address (Segundo Informe de Gobierno) said: "Against terrorism, all the power of the State" in a message that terrorist acts would be prosecuted.
May 1997: Two engagements left 5 soldiers and 4 guerrillas dead.[citation needed]
2000s [ edit ]
July 2007: EPR claimed responsibility for several attacks against Pemex oil facilities in the Bajío region and stated that the attacks would continue until two of its members were released. The government denies responsibility for the disappearance of these 2 members.[1]
August 1, 2007: EPR also claimed responsibility for a bomb attack on a Sears store in Oaxaca, there was some damage but no injuries. On the same day the EPR also claimed responsibility for an attempted bombing of a Banamex bank branch also in Oaxaca.[1]
September 10, 2007: Pemex reported explosions due to sabotage on several pipelines located in the key energy producing state of Veracruz and further inland in Tlaxcala.[2] According to reports, there were six explosions targeting pipelines carrying natural gas, propane, and crude oil. The effects of the explosions were so severe that they caused the evacuation of over 20,000 people from the area. The explosions caused millions of dollars in damages to Pemex equipment. Additionally, it is estimated the explosions cost the Mexican economy $100 million a day as over 2,500 businesses were effected and 60% of Mexico's steel industry was shuttered.[3] On September 11, 2007 the EPR claimed responsibility for the explosions.[4]
Mexican government reaction [ edit ]
Following the July 2007 pipeline attacks, President Calderón deployed 5,000 special troops to secure the pipelines, along with dams and power plants. These troops began regular patrols of the region both on the ground and in the air. However, Pemex has 60,000 km of pipeline so it will be difficult to secure the pipelines from saboteurs.
Shortly after the September pipeline attacks, the Centro de Investigación y Seguridad Nacional (Mexican intelligence service) leaked a report stating that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez was believed to be supporting the EPR with materials, armament, and training.[5]
Mexican magazine Contralínea has announced that at least 21 members of the EPR have gone missing apparently after being kidnapped by government forces since the arrival to power of incumbent President Calderón. These disappearances of political activists are not restricted to the EPR but also to many others independent activists. The government claims they are caused by narcotraffic gang disputes.[6]
Suspected members [ edit ]
Edmundo Reyes, a shop-keeper from Mexico City who is believed to be one of the leaders of the EPR. He went missing in May 2007 and it is believed that his disappearance sparked the recent pipeline bombing campaign. [7]
Gabriel Alberto Cruz Sanchez, the other member of EPR who went missing in May with Edmundo Reyes.
Tiburcio Cruz Sanchez
Emiliana Contreras, wife of Tiburcio Sanchez
See also [ edit ]
Castellanos, L. (2007). México armado: 1943-1981. Epilogue and chronology by Alejandro Jiménez Martín del Campo. México: Biblioteca ERA. 383 pp. ISBN 968-411-695-0 ISBN 978-968-411-695-5
References [ edit ]I purchased the Asus Transformer TF300T after doing a lot of research into tablet computing - particularly budget tablet computing. As a former Android smartphone user (and current iPhone user), I was initially hesitant about going back to Android, but the Transformer appeared to offer a far better value proposition than an iPad or iPad Mini for my uses. I have had the tablet for a little over a month now, and I'm so far very satisfied with my purchase. The overwhelming feature of this tablet is its beautiful screen - it's huge, colorful, sharp, and very bright. It's so bright that I rarely keep it above 25% brightness. The main issue I've noticed with the screen is that the default Asus customized settings call for it to adjust the backlight based on screen content (color, etc.), which is great for saving battery but can cause some vaguely noticeable flicker on pages or apps with a grey background. I usually leave this feature on anyway, as the flicker is not terribly annoying. The viewing angles are decent; I can comfortably rest the tablet on my lap or a table and still view the screen while sitting up without too much loss of brightness or color shift. The battery life of the tablet is quite good. I can generally get about 2 days of average use out of it, although pumping some of those gorgeous nVidia Tegra enhanced games through it will wear the battery down within a day. Still, it's long enough to rarely be a hassle. The ergonomics of the device are decent - the textured back plate feels nice under the fingers, and the shape is nicely contoured. I've noticed it can be a little weighty when holding it for long periods of time (like when reading a book or watching a movie), but that's to be expected from a tablet with this screen size. The screen is a fingerprint magnet, but you can't really tell when the unit is on, and it includes a very nice cleaning cloth that takes care of it quickly. The fit and finish is ok - the seams between the screen bezel and the outer rim of the chassis could be tighter and straighter, but they're not terrible by any means, and the device doesn't feel cheap or too delicate. My unit shipped with Android Jelly Bean (not ICS), and so far, I'm enjoying how Android has come along. This may be my only real problem with the unit - Android still lags in some apps, sometimes heavily. It usually comes around, but there are a few apps that occasionally lag so much when you first start them up that Android assumes they've crashed and asks you whether you want to force close them (they do come back to life if you just tell it to wait 99% of the time). It's something I haven't been accustomed to since switching to an iOS phone, but it's not nearly as laggy as I remember Android being, and for the most part, it's more of a momentary annoyance than a detriment to productivity or enjoyment of the product. The settings in Asus's flavor of Jelly Bean are very well layed out - most of the quick settings you'll find yourself using the most (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, screen brightness, etc.) are just a tap of the clock on the task bar away. Asus's addition of a lockable task bar is also very nice - it keeps you from registering unwanted taps when playing games or reading. The stock software keyboard is a bit under-powered (and slow) for a tablet, but it's easy to install a superior replacement from the Google Play app store. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase of this tablet. It's replaced my laptop for almost every task short of graphic design and programming. It's got features (like a micro SD slot, HDMI port, and optional keyboard dock) that I have yet to explore but enjoy having around in case I decide to use them someday. And for the price, it's hard to beat this if you're looking for a 10.1" tablet.
Read moreSIALKOT: The three sisters who allegedly murdered on April 19 a man charged with blasphemy said they did not regret killing him as, what they called, a punishment for committing blasphemy 13 years ago.
Suspects Amna, Afshan and Razia, who had been sent to prison on two-week judicial remand in the murder case, showed no remorse for the murder while recording their statement at the local police.
Local police quoted the sisters as saying that they did not regret killing Fazal Abbas Shah at his home in Nangal Mirza Bajwa village, Pasrur tehsil.
“No one had motivated us to kill [Shah] for blaspheming, as we had heard in our childhood that the punishment for any blasphemer is only death,” they told police.
They said that hate for the Shah also increased as they grew up, which resulted into the murder.
“We killed him when we were able to kill him, as we could not do it 13 years for being children at that time,” they added.
The sisters had murdered Shah after they learnt of his return from Denmark after 13 years. Pasrur Sadar police had arrested them and registered a murder case.
Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2017Jessica opened up about how she has changed during the last 10 years since she made her debut in 2007.
In celebration of her 10th year anniversary as a singer, Jessica has announced plans for the release of a new album and taken part in a special pictorial with 1st Look magazine.
The pictorials beautifully capture the romantic scenery of Paris and the maturity of Jessica. During the shoot, Jessica’s 10 years of experience in the industry shined through as she posed professionally for the camera in autumn clothes.
Jessica also shared her thoughts on her last 10 years of working relentlessly. She said, “I feel a difference between myself in my 20s and myself now. At one point, I started to think that focusing on what makes you yourself is the most beautiful thing to do.”
She went on to say, “Now, instead of being influenced by my surroundings and by what others think, I spend more energy on doing what I want and on believing in myself.” She added, “I realized that being myself is what’s most comfortable and what I like best.”
Meanwhile, Jessica’s new album is scheduled for release in August.
Source (1)With the Super Bowl behind us, the 2015 off-season officially begins. But as they say in football ‘There is no off-season'. So, with that in mind, here are the upcoming dates to remember for the Raiders.
*All times are Pacific
February 2 - NFL waiver system begins
February 16 - March 2 - Franchise or transition tag period
February 17-23 -- NFL scouting combine
March 7, 9:00am - Free Agent negotiation period begins
March 10, 1:00pm - Free Agency opens (start of league year), teams must be under salary cap
March 22 - Veteran free agent combine
March 22-25 - Owners meetings
April 6 - Derek Carr, Khalil Mack press conferences
April 7 - Off-season program begins (teams with new head coaches)
April 21-23 - Voluntary minicamp
April 24 - Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets
April 29 - Deadline to exercise right of first refusal to RFA's
April 30, 5:00pm - NFL Draft Round 1
May 1, 12:00pm - NFL Draft Rounds 2-3
May 2, 12:00pm - NFL Draft Rounds 4-7
May 8-10 - Rookie minicamp
May 19-21 - First OTA
May 26-28 - Second OTA
June 1-4 - Third OTA
June 9-11 - Mandatory minicamp
June 21, 9:00am - Rookie Symposium
July 26 - Raiders rookies report to training camp in Napa
July 30 - Raiders veterans report to training camp in Napa
September 1 - Roster cuts to get to 75 players due
September 5 - Roster cuts to get to 53 players due
Follow @LeviDamienDownload the "Fossil CO2 & GHG emissions of all world countries, 2017" booklet.
EDGAR’s Global Fossil CO2 Emissions from 1990 to 2016 (EDGARv4.3.2_FT2016 dataset)
The following time series report country-specific CO2 emission totals of fossil fuel use and industrial processes (cement production, carbonate use of limestone and dolomite, non-energy use of fuels and other combustion, chemical and metal processes, solvents, agricultural liming and urea, waste and fossil fuel fires). Excluded are: short-cycle biomass burning (such as agricultural waste burning), large-scale biomass burning (such as forest fires) and carbon emissions/removals of land-use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF).
The EDGARv4.3.2_FT2016 emissions are calculated based on:
- IEA energy balance statistics (2014) (http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/energy/co2-emissions-from-fuel-combustion-2014_co2_fuel-2014-en) and IEA (2016) for China
- BP 2015-2016 data of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, (June 2017) (http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/about-bp/energy-economics/statisticalreview-ofworld-energy.html)
- USGS 2013-1016 data of cement, lime, ammonia of the USGS Commodity Statistics (April 2017) (https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/)
- IFA 2011-2016 urea consumption and production statistics (June 2017) (http://www.fertilizer.org/Statistics) NOAA 2013-2015 data for CO2 from flaring (June 2017)
- REN21(2017), Renewables 2017 Global Status Report (http://www.ren21.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/17-8399_GSR_2017_Full_Report_0621_Opt.pdf)
- WSA 2012-2015 (June 2017) (https://www.worldsteel.org/steel-by-topic/statistics/monthly-crude-steel-and-iron-production.html)
For the per capita and per GDP emissions, the following auxiliary data have been used:
- UNDP population statistics (2017), World Population Prospects (WPP), The 2017 Revision Report United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.
- IMF/WEO data of GDP (expressed in 1000 US dollar adjusted to the Purchasing Power Parity of 2011) (2017). World Economic Outlook Update January 2017. International Monetary Fund.
Download the 1970-2016 fossil CO2 timeseries for all countries: total emissions, per capita emissions, per GDP emissions.
EDGAR’s Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions from 1970 to 2012 (EDGARv4.3.2 dataset)
The new version v4.3.2 of the EDGAR emission inventory provides global emission estimates by region/country for all anthropogenic activities except the land-use, land-use change and forestry sector (including Forest fires and Savannah burning) for the three major Greenhouse Gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O, summed in CO2 equivalent using the GWP-100 metric of AR4). Further details can be found in the ESSD publication of Janssens-Maenhout et al. (2017).
Download the 1970-2012 GHG timeseries for all countries: total emissions, per capita emissions, per GDP emissions.
CO2 and GHG emissions by country
Please click on each country to visulize the corresponding factsheet with two graphs of timeseries (for CO2 and for GHG). The data are orderder in the table below for key years, to allow easy comparison of different countries.
References
- Janssens-Maenhout, G., Crippa, M., Guizzardi, D., Muntean, M., Schaaf, E., Dentener, F., Bergamaschi, P., Pagliari, V., Olivier, J.G.J., Peters, J.A.H.W., van Aardenne, J.A., Monni, S., Doering, U., Petrescu, A.M.R. (2017) EDGARv4.3.2 Global Atlas of the three major Greenhouse Gas Emissions for the period 1970-2012, Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2017-79, in review, 2017.
- Janssens-Maenhout, G., Crippa, M., Guizzardi, D., Muntean, M., Schaaf, E., Olivier, J.G.J., Peters, J.A.H.W., Schure, K.M., Fossil CO2 and GHG emissions of all world countries, EUR 28766 EN,Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2017, ISBN 978-92-79-73207-2, doi:10.2760/709792, JRC107877.
- Olivier JGJ, Schure KM, and Peters JAHW. (2017). Trends in global CO2 and total greenhouse gas emissions. 2017 Report. PBL, |
Synder, the embattled right-winger who many hold most responsible for the poisoning of Flint’s drinking water.
Underestimating Teachers Unions and the Public
Behind the scenes, some observers sense that as was the case with the Broad Plan to turn half of the city’s schools into charters in eight years, Alliance's owners may have misread the political climate and overreached, thinking they would not have much union resistance. For years, UTLA was not seen as a unified, powerful union and effective player in LA politics. The union is affiliated with the two major national teachers unions—the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. But in 2014 UTLA members overwhelmingly elected Alex Caputo-Pearl as their president, pledging a “Union Power” team.
“The mandate is for an approach that builds power through aggressive organizing of the membership and organizing of broad coalitions with parents and community to more effectively fight for class size reduction, staffing for safe, clean, well-rounded schools, the pay increase educators deserve, and more,” Caputo-Pearl said, after being elected. Those who have observed the union during the past year strongly suggest Caputo-Pearl is the real deal: a committed, talented, savvy leader who has effectively united the city’s teachers.
Support for the organizing effort at Alliance is one part of UTLA's strategy for the L.A. schools. Another key part is reviving their profession’s reputation and helping lead an effort, along with parents and the community, to improve public education and meet the social and economic needs of students and their families. Last week, UTLA members overwhelmingly passed a dues increase with 82 percent support to help step up this fight. Caputo-Pearl told the LA Times, "As billionaires are trying to cripple unions, our vote sends a national signal that educators are willing to invest more in our unions and in the fight for educational justice."
Public school teachers have often been scapegoated for their inability to overcome the massive problems caused by poverty in America. They have been targeted by right-wingers for years, who downplay or ignore the decades of historical reasons that perpetuate poverty. But Democrats have also been gulled into thinking that charter schools are the newest and best solution, especially in California, where many technology executives believe America’s problems would be solved if public schools were run like their companies. President Obama, and Democrats like New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and former L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have lined up to support the almost unbridled growth of charter schools. They have advocated super-rigid testing regimens for students and corporate management models (although President Obama last fall belatedly expressed concern about the impact of over-testing students).
Many elected officials across the board have provided cover for the massive charter organizing efforts, which have falsely painted a picture of charter schools coming in and rescuing American education, when research shows that notion to be patently untrue. These industry cheerleaders are not sharing that between 2000 and 2013, 2,500 new charter schools across the country failed, according to a 2015 report by the Center for Media and Democracy. When added to the 6,700 charters that are now open, that’s a 27 percent failure rate. Academically, charters, which often cherry-pick students, do not uniformly outperform traditional public schools, researchers find—a fact that runs counter to the industry’s sales pitches and political talking points.
The Charter Chain Big Picture
Nonetheless, charter school advocates often operate with the religious fervor of believing they have the answer. They base much of their vision on what experts say are two huge fallacies.
The first assumption has to do with how to improve schools. Most education experts, reflecting years of evidence, understand that severe poverty, which is epidemic in the U.S., especially in southern states and inner cities, is the primary cause of student failure. Poverty results in fractured families, trauma and PTSD, hunger and a whole range of urban catastrophes including drug and alcohol addiction, violence and crime that have a powerful impact on chances of education success. Student absences, impaired attention and concentration, reduced cognition and creativity, lack of social skills and judgment, lack of motivation and effort, likelihood of increased depression, and even reduced brain cell growth all have been traced to impoverished conditions that originate outside the classroom. For schools to improve for many of these students, there must be a large-scale effort to alleviate poverty.
Yet charter advocates place the blame for education failure on a long list of red herrings: teachers (and their unions), lack of testing and accountability, poor management, bureaucratic rules and slow-moving school boards. This analysis ignores the fact that the majority of wealthy school districts have a 95 percent graduation rate, while only 20 percent of the poorest districts have graduation rates of 75 percent or more. America’s most successful public schools have always been successful, while schools in impoverished areas, with very rare exceptions, have always "failed,” despite any number of innovations over the past 50-plus years.
The second fallacy is the claim that schools organized on a corporate model, freed of regulatory requirements for transparency and accountability, often using new and relatively inexperienced teachers with little training and high turnover, will succeed where long-standing public schools in poverty areas have not. In fact, numerous studies have shown that in many cases, charter schools perform less well than the public schools they are aiming to replace. And for those that do fare better, the improvements can be explained by the cherry-picking of students, heavy use of suspensions and other suspect strategies that can lead to an overall group of students likely to perform better on tests than their peers in public schools, which are required to enroll everyone.
The Powerful Charter Business Network
The charter school super establishment has created a powerful network of funders, think tanks, lobbyists, advocacy groups, public relations companies and consultants. The huge amounts of money pouring into charters comes first from super-wealthy benefactors such as the Walton Family Foundation, which has spent $1 billion to date and takes credit for creating one-quarter of the nation’s 6,700 charter schools, and then from the hundreds of millions spent by states and the federal government annually for charters. Other large funders include Bill Gates, the richest man in the world; Michael Bloomberg, who gave CCSA $600,000 in 2014-'15; Mark Zuckerberg, who gave $100 million to charters in Newark, New Jersey and just started a charter in East Palo Alto; and most recently, Reed Hastings, who pledged $100 million for more charters and has called for abolishing elected school boards.
The economic model for many charters involves a highly successful fiscal sleight of hand. Most charter chains are operated by CMOs—charter management organizations—that are set up as non-profits over a set of individual schools, while at the same time creating limited liability corporations (LLCs) to own and control school properties. In California, for example, the LLCs control valuable real estate, supported by rent and lease reimbursements, and other monies available through state and federal agencies, including the ability to issue taxpayer-backed bonds. Many statewide charter school associations push for model laws provided by the American Legislative Exchange Council, an avowedly anti-union and free-market espousing group. In many instances, these laws privilege the charter chains by removing regulatory oversight and other requirements—such as competitive bidding for contractors—that give charters an unfair advantage over the public schools they seek to displace.
Overall, the wealthy charter school advocates have created and are hell-bent on expanding a parallel, privatized education system that reflects corporate values and is not publicly accountable to parents and communities. This effort exacerbates income inequality as it drains funds from public school districts and undermines their success.
Charter school chains, by their nature, are anti-democratic businesses. Like the corporate model they are built upon, charter chains are often designed to avoid public accountability and transparency. As a result, in cases that have been documented from coast to coast, CMOs have become a breeding ground for self-dealing, real estate scams and a wide range of corruption and mismanagement. In mid-2015, the Center for Popular Democracy reported on more than $200 million of such abuses, from “ghost schools” that never opened to other failures that left tens of thousands of students in a lurch.
The Alliance Model
Back in Los Angeles, critics point out that the Alliance College-Ready Public School chain shares many of these same features as other major players in their industry nationally. It is building a real estate empire with a large collection of properties throughout the city. These properties are largely paid for by public tax dollars and through a rent-lease program financed by issuing tax-free bonds via the state’s California School Finance Agency.
Alliance has set up school-by-school LLCs that own the facilities and rent them to the school, which hides the true costs of operating the charters. However, should the schools close for any reason, Alliance’s management company, the LLC, retains ownership of the property. Its 2014-2015 audited financial report listed property and related assets of more than $200 million.
Alliance also projects an image of autonomy among its 27 schools, but all are controlled by central headquarters and by a small group of board members who oversee them. All Alliance schools have nine board members. Five come directly from corporate headquarters and the corporate board of directors, while four (two teachers and two parents) are appointed by the principal. Its board is not filled with lifelong educators, but with corporate executives. The chair is Frank Baxter, whose Baxter Family Foundation is a funder of the education section of the city’s largest newspaper, the Los Angeles Times. The paper didn’t disclose that conflict of interest until last fall, when the Washington Post questioned its credibility.
In other words, Alliance’s business model seeks to have it both ways, acting as a public school for various taxpayer-backed revenue-gathering strategies, and as a private corporation—either an LLC for its property holdings or claiming private-sector corporate privilege—when it comes to labor rights, public information requests and fiscal transparency.
What Does the Future Hold?
Alliance’s stated goal of expanding to 50 charter schools in L.A. in the near future is part of a persistent push by the charter advocates to keep growing as fast as regulators will allow. Los Angeles is one of 13 cities across America cited by the Walton Family Foundation in its strategic plan for investing $1 billion in charters through 2020. Meanwhile, the Broad Foundation’s plan to turn half of the city’s schools into charters in eight years has not vanished, even though the L.A. school board voted against it last year.
But the grandiose plans made in boardrooms at the Walton Foundation, the Broad Foundation, California Charter School Association and Alliance College Ready Public Schools, to keep privatizing the country’s second largest school district, are clearly running into unexpected opposition from those on the real frontline of the city’s schools: teachers and parents.
“We are all very concerned with Alliance’s campaign against its own educators, including creating a school environment where teachers are made to feel afraid even to say that they want a voice and a union,” the previously mentioned coalition of parents wrote to Alliance CEO Katzir late last fall. “Equally troubling is the level of resources that Alliance is devoting to fighting its own teachers and counselors’ right to organize the union; resources that should be devoted to our children’s educational needs.”
As the drive by Alliance teachers and United Teachers Los Angeles continues, with a California court issuing a temporary restraining order and an injunction against Alliance’s anti-union activities and yet to rule on all of the unfair labor practice complaints brought by the state Public Employment Relations Board, what’s clear is that what happens at Alliance is a microcosm that reflects one of the most troubling trends in America: the billionaire-led takeover and dismantling of America’s public school education.The Republicans may have stormed the House, but it was Wall Street and the Fed that won the election. Regardless of party power plays and posturing, there are two constants that remain unaltered after the election. First, Wall Street will continue on with business as usual while shifting its campaign and lobbying dollars to the new winning team. And second, the Fed will keep on pretending to prop up the economy by buying more U.S. debt, thereby keeping interest rates low, the dollar weak and money cheap for the banking system to inhale. This fictional boosting of the financial economy, absent the real boosting of the general economy, will march on sans debate, inspection or restriction.
In the wake of the election, the Fed pulled off a move detected only by downtown Manhattan. It quietly announced a purchase of $600 billion in Treasury securities (read: our debt) while pundits on the left and right were dissecting the role of the tea party in political life as we know it, the Obama dissatisfaction quotient, and the chance of Sarah Palin heading for the White House in 2012.
That $600 billion figure was about twice what the proverbial “analysts” on Wall Street had predicted. This means that, adding to the current stash, the Fed will have shifted onto its books about $1 trillion of the debt that the Treasury Department has manufactured. That’s in addition to $1.25 trillion more in various assets backed by mortgages that the Fed is keeping in its till (not including AIG and other backing) from the 2008 crisis days. This ongoing bailout of the financial system received not a mention in pre- or postelection talk. No one in Congress or the White House gets a say on the maneuver. Yet, it was the Fed buying more treasuries, and not the fact that the Republicans gained control of the House, that caused the Dow to shoot to a 2010 high and bank stocks to rally 2 percent on average.
Like many other Americans, as the results of the elections were pouring in for insta-analysis I was obsessively flipping cable TV channels. It didn’t matter whether I landed on Fox, CNBC or MSNBC, the same two main items were being debated: (1) the tea party’s rise and (2) the other victorious Republicans (including the ones labeled as tea party candidates — even though they did not actually run as candidates of a separate party, a trick that progressives have never managed to pull off or even try).
All the Republicans sang their refrain from the same song sheet, vowing to work on extending George W. Bush’s tax cuts, killing what they refer to as Obamacare, cutting spending (though none gave specific details as to how) and, of course, getting Americans back to work. The catch — and this was a notion taken up by President Barack Obama and ignored by the Fed the very next day — is that the Republicans wanted to do so the free-market way, by reducing government constraints on businesses so they can stop worrying about obstacles like rules, and thus somehow spontaneously start hiring more. (Note: To underscore this strategy, CNBC paraded a bunch of chief executive officers on screen throughout the election night.)
But, for the most part, the Republicans left the so-called financial reform bill alone as a topic, except to make it clear, as incoming House Majority Whip (aka 2012 contender) Eric Cantor did, that they don’t want onerous regulations (it is much better to wait for the next leg of this crisis and the loss of more jobs and homes, apparently, than to bar Wall Street from financial innovation).
Here’s what wasn’t mentioned during the election or postelection chatter: the cost and logic of bailing out, subsidizing and now propping up Wall Street as it heads decisively (despite Obama’s promises of those days of fill-in-the-blank being over) to another year of record bonuses.
No winning Republican mentioned repealing the financial reform bill, since it doesn’t really actually reform finance, bring back Glass-Steagall, make the big banks smaller or keep them from creating complex assets for big fees. Score one for Wall Street. No winning Democrat thought out loud that maybe since the Republican tea partyers were so anti-bailouts they should suggest a strategy that dials back ongoing support for the banking sector as it continues to foreclose on homes, deny consumer and small business lending restructuring despite their federal windfall, and rake in trading profits. The Democrats couldn’t suggest that, because they were complicit. Score two for Wall Street.
In other words, nothing will change. And that, more than the disillusionment of his supporters who had thought he would actually stand by his campaign rhetoric, is why Obama will lose the White House in 2012.
Then, there’s the Fed. Ben Bernanke, who like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has survived two administrations under different parties to have a hand in bailing out the banking system and fictitiously stabilizing the markets, continues to run the country into the path of massive debt in the name of easing money, so as to avoid the Second Great Depression from which Obama thinks he saved us (along with Geithner and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson).
Last Wednesday morning, Obama had the chance to at least attempt to re-engage the voters who believed in his mantra of change. In his contrition speech, he took responsibility (read: apologized) for having made it seem he extended government too much (thereby taking on the language of the Republican opponents), explaining that we were in an emergency situation (not that the banks screwed up and stole the life rafts). He assured businesses he was still on their side (in case the fact that he’s keeping Wall Street lackey Geithner on and his ringing praise for Larry Summers on “The Daily Show” weren’t sufficient signs).
It is likely that, going forward, Democrats will fear losing more seats in 2012 and vote more with the pro-bank center. That would be a mistake for them and bad for the country.
Yet sadly, Obama showed pre-emptive signs of capitulation with two words: free market. Toward the end of the Q&A session after his speech, Obama said that the free market has to be “nurtured and cultivated” and that he has to take responsibility to make clear to the business community and the country that the most important thing we can do is boost and encourage our business sector and make sure that companies are hiring. His facial expression was as hollow as his words. He added that “we” have been talking to CEOs constantly (and don’t we all feel good about that?) — and that on his trip to Asia this week his whole focus will be on opening up markets, so “we can prosper, sell more goods and create more jobs in the United States” (that playbook comes from Bush Treasury Secretary Paulson, but that policy has been shown only to enable CEOs to outsource more, not less). He also pointed out that a whole bunch of corporate executives will join “us.”
And that is the second reason he will not be re-elected: Businesses won’t need to fund his next campaign when they can fund the Republicans now that they are back in vogue. Businesses will meanwhile just extract what they can as long as they can, like better deals abroad in the name of free markets — the kind that the Fed is subsidizing back here at home. Obama and his supporters will see this in 2012 if they don’t now. The president could go all out and ignore the CEOs and focus on the general populace, but signs point to the contrary. If he has learned something from the November elections about loyalty to his voters, he isn’t showing it. So maybe progressives should stop defending him and start yelling at him … or seriously look for another 2012 candidate to run against Sarah Palin.No decision on SAU changes for now
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says that won’t make a decision on changes proposed by NBN to the company’s Special Access Undertaking (SAU), at least for now.
The SAU is a key document that outlines NBN’s operations as a wholesale-only network operator. In 2016 NBN submitted proposed changes to the SAU to reflect the shift away from a fibre-only network to a ‘multi-technology mix’ (MTM) approach.
In March this year the ACCC rejected a number of proposals by NBN, including language in the SAU defining NBN’s network that the competition regulator said could erode its oversight of the National Broadband Network.
The ACCC today said that because NBN is undertaking a consultation with telcos (retail service providers or RSPs) that deliver services over NBN’s network about its pricing model, it would not make a decision on the proposed variation to the SAU.
“There has been a lot of discussion about NBN Co’s pricing, particularly around capacity issues and whether it is impacting consumers’ experiences on the NBN,” ACCC chairperson Rod Sims said.
“We think an industry outcome on NBN pricing is the best solution and preferable to a regulatory outcome. We welcome NBN Co’s initiative here and will let the process run its course.”
“We do not think it is appropriate to make a decision on the SAU variation until the pricing consultation is further progressed,” Sims said in a statement.
Changes to the pricing model could result in the need to submit further changes to the SAU, the ACCC said.
NBN’s pricing model has come under intense scrutiny, particularly the company’s Connectivity Virtual Circuit (CVC) charge.
NBN doesn’t deal directly with consumers; instead its customers are the RSPs that sell services to households. RSPs pay two key charges: CVC — a charge for capacity shared between an RSPs’ customers — and Access Virtual Circuit (AVC), which is a per end user charge based on the theoretical maximum speed of a connection (25/5Mbps, 100/40Mbps etc.)
The CVC element of NBN’s pricing structure has sometimes been blamed for pushing telcos to minimise the amount of bandwidth they purchase for end users, potentially resulting in poor network performance during peak usage periods. NBN CEO Bill Morrow has said that it is not CVC per se that is resulting in poor performance.
“The CVC – like the cost of marketing, customer service, labour, their own network and others – is just one of many variables that make up the cost base of RSPs when delivering broadband to their customers,” Morrow argued earlier this year.
“To suggest the CVC affects the quality of service would also be saying the cost of every other expense item does the same. It is a conscious decision to save money in this area versus others.”
However in a position paper the CEO said that NBN knows “we need to evolve our pricing structure even further in a way that allows for a triple win solution for nbn, RSPs, and end-users”.
“This is a focus for the board and management and we will be working closely with our RSP partners and relevant stakeholders to address these issues and solve for the problem at hand,” Morrow said.
NBN has previously undertaken two major revisions of pricing. The most recent was this year when it introduced a ‘dimension-based discount’ scheme that worked on an individual RSP basis. Under the system, RSPs receive steeper CVC discounts as their capacity per end user ratio increases.We ask a lot of our armed forces. They serve our country in some of the most dangerous environments and difficult situations faced by any American. Yet having endured those experiences, too many veterans returning to civilian jobs find themselves in work that barely pays enough to live on. In fact, of the roughly 10 million veterans working in America today, 1 in 10—that’s one million veterans—is paid wages low enough that they would receive a raise if the federal minimum wage were increased to $10.10 per hour, as proposed in the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013.
Months ago, we released an analysis showing that increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 would lift wages for 27.8 million workers nationwide. The one million veterans that would benefit from such an increase are a relatively small segment of this larger group, but the fact that a million former service members would benefit from raising the minimum wage should dispel the persistent myth that raising the minimum wage only benefits teenagers and students from affluent families. Not only is this an inaccurate description of the typical low-wage worker, but the veterans that would get a raise look nothing like this affluent teen stereotype and are, in some ways, noticeably different from the larger population of would-be beneficiaries from a minimum-wage increase. (See the table below for details, or click here for a pdf.)
Unsurprisingly, the majority of veterans that would be affected by a minimum wage increase are men (80 percent), whereas the majority of the total population (veterans and non-veterans) that would be affected are women (55 percent). However, female veterans would still be disproportionately affected—they make up 20 percent of veterans who would be affected, yet only 14 percent of working veterans.
Veterans who would be affected by a minimum wage increase are significantly older than the total population that would be affected. 40 percent of the veterans that would benefit are age 55 or older, and almost two-thirds are age 40 or older. Of the total population (veterans and non-veterans) that would benefit from an increase, 14 percent are age 55 or older and about 34 percent are age 40 and older.
Given their older ages, it is perhaps not surprising that veterans who would get a raise are 50 percent more likely to be married than the larger group of workers that would get a raise under a $10.10 minimum wage.
Veterans who would get a raise tend to work longer hours than the total affected population (59 percent full-time among veterans vs. 54 percent full-time overall).
Veterans who would be affected by a minimum wage increase also have higher levels of education than the total affected population, with nearly 60 percent of affected veterans having some college experience, compared to 44 percent of the overall affected population.
No one should be paid wages so low that working full-time can still leave them below the poverty line, fighting just to get by. But the fact that so many of America’s veterans—despite being older and having more education than the typical affected worker—are facing this reality shows just how far we’ve let the wage floor fall.Transformer issue 25. I am really excited to dive into this book and learn how the G.I. Joe and the Transformers cross over is going to impact this next Transformers story. Also, this book has, what I think, is just a really great cover. So lets start by checking it out!
The cover for Transformers issue 25 ‘Gone but Not Forgotten!’ Has a battle damaged Megatron front and center looking like he wont make it and out numbered by the first appearance of the Predacons. The predicons are a group of Decepticons who transform into animals. They are known as Razorclaw, Divebomb, Headstrong, Rampage and Tantrum. Together they combine to form the mighty Predaking! The background of the cover is a gradient of bright orange at the top and turns to yellow at the bottom. The Transformers logo is in white this time and a box next to the beaten Megaton reads, ‘MEGATRON’S LAST STAND!’. I have learned early on not to trust these covers. Thought they are cool to look at, they are often misleading.
We start off issue 25 with the United States army preparing to attack the Decepticon base. At the same time the Decepticons are currently planning to abandon their base for a new one in the Florida Keys. They feel that this location is a place where they can make better use of the stolen hydrothermocline to generate their energy needs.
Megatron’s head is not int he game. He is very upset over the death of Optimus Prime and is unable to accept that his equal on the battle field is dead. A problem that all but drives him insane.
As the Decepticons leave their old base for a new one, Shockwave and Soundwave stay behind to inform the Predacons of their mission. Their mission to destroy Megatron. An act that only further confuses Megatron as the Predacons have been outfitted with Autobot symbols to make him think they where sent by Optimus Prime.
The predicons go out on their mission, locate Megatron and engage him in battle. Even thought Megatron is out numbered, he still manages to fight off them off. In a last attempt the Predacons combine to form Predaking. Megatron finishes the battle with a solid blast from his fusion cannon.
Eventually the Decepticons all arrive at the new base. A laser disk is located inside of Predaking and is played back for Megatron. The disk reveals Shockwave’s plan to kill Megatron.
As Megatron prepairs to destroy Shockwave, Shockwave revels that he recorded portions of his personality on the disk he gave the Predacons. This is like a revelation to Magatron as he thinks back to Optimus Prime’s death. Megatron knows that Optimus Prime’s personality had been saved on a computer disk, and this pretty much drives him mad that he blows up the space bridge with himself on it.
Shockwave revels that it was not he himself who destroyed Megatron, but “a memory did!”
My Thoughts On This Issue
What really stuck out to me about this issue. What seemed to be said between the lines is that, without evil, you can not have good. Megatron needs Optimus Prime as much as the Joker needs Batman or as much as Lex Luthor needs Superman. Without the other, neither can exists with any true purpose.
Also, the Predicons just look like such badasses. Really well drawn.
Transmission Letters This Issue
Dear Marvel,
I just read TRANSFORMERS #20 and it was fantastic! bob Budiansky did incredible things with Skids’ personality. It must be weird to lack the ability to enjoy the wonders of nature that we humans take for granted during everyday life. I also liked the relationship between Skids and Charlene. I wonder what I’d do if i ever ran into a Transformers. I guess I’d be pretty scared, but open-minded like Charlene was.
I’d also like to say that the artwork was great (as usual!). Herb Trimpe really did a good job filling in for Don Perlin on this issue. I really enjoyed his work on the covers of all of your TRANSFORMERS and it was good to see a full issues from him.
Well, all i would like to say now is that you guys are doing a great job with the book and I hope you keep up the phenomenal work!
Neil Esiason
Philadelphia, PA
Dear Transformers Guys,
I just read TRANSFORMERS #20 and then read it again. I think it was terrific as usual. It reminded me of TRANSFORMERS #16 with the story focusing on one character showing the relationship between Autobot and human in completely extraordinary! I was fully able to see Charlene’s and Skids’ feelings towards each other. They really came out! As I read the issue, I thought up a few questions which I would like to see answered:
1. I read somewhere that each of the Autobot commanders can possess the Creation Martix. If that’s so, Then does Perceptor, the heir apparent to Optimus Prime, possess the Creation Martix?
2. On Cybertron, you showed the life that is currently being led by a lot of Transformers. TRANSFORMERS #17 and #18 kept me spellbound as I watched the horrors of life on Cybertron. That story was tremendous! Hey, since so much is going on at both Earth and Cybertron, why not create a second comic showing the adventures of the Transformers on Cybertron? The different characters would be great! Please give it a thought, O.K.?
Thank you for this wonderful comic, and as Shingo would say, you guys are really cool!
Miguel Marolt
Aurora, CO
Thanks for your kind words, Miguel. here are some answers:
1. Currently, Optimus Prime is the only Transformer who has possession of the Creation Matrix. any Autobot worthy enough could theoretically possess the Creation Matrix, but there’s only one of them in existence.
2. Boy, we don’t know if we can handle another TRANSFORMER book right now, but your idea is a good one! Hey, if you want to see the future life on Cybertron, check out TRANSFORMERS THE MOVIE. The Marvel Comics version of the movie is drawn by the regular team of Don Perlin andAkin + Garvey, so you know it looks good!
Dear Marvel,
I have recently finished TRANSFORMERS #20 and I enjoyed every page of it. One thing I didn’t enjoy, thought, was the abuse of Skids by Jake Dalrymple. Why did he have to smash Skids’ window? He should at least have tried to talk it out with him. After all, it was Jake’s fault anyway, wasn’t it?
In general, I think that all people should act more like the Autobots: heroic and noble in all of their actions. After all, if it weren’t for the Autobots, we’d all be enslaved by the Decepticons today!
Reuben J. Andrews
Edmonton, Ont
Dear Don,
I am a long time reader of TRANSFORMERS and I really enjoyed #20. Bob Budiansky is doing marvelous work with the story line. However, there is a subject that could use improvement.
I’ve noticed you print very few letters from girls in your letter column. Is this because TRANSFORMERS is “a guy’s toy?” I have an idea that might spark some thoughts, though – female Transformers. I, for one, would really like to see them in your pages.
Also, I have a few other comments. I’ve heard about the TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE and I’m deeply interested in seeing it. I hope you guys don’t over look anyone, like Venom, ransack, or Barrage. these characters have been around for a while and even thought they are Insecticons, they deserved to be included, I also hope that none of the characters’ powers are over looked. I want to see Windcharger’s magnetism, Huffer’s arm sensors, and Houd’s holograms.
I’m sure you guys will satisfy me (you always do!). Keep up the good work, and say hello to all the Autobos for me.
Barry Craig
Midland, TX
Well Barry, if you want to see a female Autobot, there’s quite a powerful one in TRANSFORMERS THE MOVIE! To answer your other question, don’t worry about a Thing! Every Transformers will be included in the volumes of the TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE. Hey, you’re in luck! according to our calculations, the first issue should already be available in your local comic store (maybe even issue #2. So stop reading this column and go get it!
Dear Transformers,
I’m flattered! Every month there’s something new and exciting going on in the pages of your comic. TRANSFORMERS #21 was great, and it had the Aerialbots in it! They even combined to form Superion! I was impressed.
I am really glad that Donny Finkleberg decided to help the Autobots. He finally decided to do the right thing. He should figure out a way to control Circuit Breaker. I hope that she eventually realizes that the Autobots are good!
In closing, i’d really like to thank Don Perlin and Akin + Garvey for their work. It keeps getting better and better. Keep up the great work, guys.
Chris Key
Highland Spring, VA
Dear Marvel,
I really enjoyed TRANSFORMERS #21. I especially like the way that you are bringing all the caracters into it. The pace is excellent.
Before Transformers caught my eye, I hadn’t read a comic in over five years. Nothing ever excited me when I ventured into comic stores. But, upon walking into a newsstand one fateful day and seeing issue #9 with Circuit Breaker, you book really captured my interest. After reading it, that old magic came back and I haven’t missed a single issue yet!
So, thanks for everything guys. I appreciate it!
Mike Kulak
Dear Marvel,
TRANSFORMERS #21 was magnificent. I finally got to see my favorite Autobot, the Aerialbotsm in action. It was great how, in their first appearance, they trashed the new Decepticons. I also go a kick out of seeing the Insecticons transformering into bugs the size of a car. The return of Circuit Breaker was perfectly timed. She came back just as the new Transofrmers began arriving, so there are more evil robots for her to play with. I didn’t like the way she was hanging the heads on the wall. I hope they aren’t really dead! That would anger me enough to go after Circuit Breaker myself (and I know you guys wouldn’t want that).
Supin Ko
Hilo, Hawaii
Dear Marvel,
Whose side is Circuit Breaker on? So far, that stupid maniac has caused more trouble than good. She nearly caused the deaths of Jazz and Wheeljack, deactivated seven innocent Autobots, and recently helped Menasor defeat Superion. Why don’t you place a Decepticon insignia on her costume and let her marry Megatron? Please either get rid of her or complete her costume by giving her brains.
Keith A. Perkins
New Carrollton, MD
Gee, Keith, you seem to feel pretty strongly about old C.B.. We’ll bet that there are a lot of Transformers out there who share your feelings toward her. Let’s hope that she changes her view soon, because, the way things seem to be going, she’ll take out every Transformers on Earth!!!
New Ads This IssueT-Mobile's Binge On program is taking flak from critics who oppose it on net neutrality grounds, but the service seems to be gaining fans in a big way. T-Mobile said customers on qualifying data plans are watching more than twice as much video than they were before the service launched almost three months ago. The carrier added that since launching Binge On, T-Mobile customers have streamed 34 petabytes of video for no additional fee.
And the carrier said it has added Amazon Video, Fox News, Univision NOW and WWE Network to the zero-rated service, which now offers content from more than 40 providers.
Importantly, T-Mobile also announced that it has made it easier for customers to manage their Binge On settings by reducing the number of clicks necessary on the web and the app, as well as introducing new short codes. The operator has been criticized for a lack of transparency about its data policies for Binge On, which throttles speeds and downgrades the quality of all video -- not just Binge On content -- when the service is turned on. Press releaseFormer Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, speaking at a 2010 event in Michigan. (AP/Carlos Osorio)
During the event, in which Palin was interviewed by the Long Island Association's president, she sounded off about presidential things--the deficit, whether or not to raise the nation's debt ceiling and President Obama's health-care reform law. And she weighed in on the debate over Obama's citizenship, reportedly saying it is "distracting. It gets annoying. Let's stick to what really matters."
But if that's what she really wants people to do, why did she crack a joke about Michelle Obama's campaign to make it easier for women to breast |
2016
After similar instances of Iranian aggression in the past, Khamenei often praised or promoted those responsible. As Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official and now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, noted in Newsweek, the commander of the IRGC operation that seized British sailors in 2007 “later was decorated as soldier of the year.”
Khamenei’s record of rewarding Iranian aggression would not have happened, Rubin wrote, if the bad behavior “was not blessed, encouraged, and supported from the very top” of Iran’s leadership.
Khamanei has used Twitter in the past to express extreme views. In November 2014, Khamenei tweeted a nine-step plan for eliminating Israel. Last July, just after the nuclear deal was announced, he tweeted an image purporting to be President Barack Obama with a gun to his head, with text threatening the “aggressive and criminal” United States.
In a video released on YouTube in September, Khamenei said that Iran would defeat the United States in the event of a war.
[Photo: Manuchehr lenziran / YouTube ]Hey Poptropicans! 😀
It’s been a while since we’ve featured a Poptropica artist’s portfolio here on the PHB – if you haven’t already, check out the works of Chris Goodwin and Nate Greenwall.
This next one has been around for a while, but we’re finally getting around to posting about it: the portfolio of Poptropica illustrator Abraham Evensen Tena! (The character of Gamer Guy, or Abe on Zomberry Island, is most likely modeled after him.) You can check out the works we’re highlighting in this post and more on his portfolio website.
Perhaps the most interesting pictures from Abe’s portfolio are these glimpses of the forgotten underground island that we’ve seen sneak peeks of in past Daily Pops. It’s a land lined with pink crystals, flowing streams, and even dinosaur bones! I for one would love to play this island someday.
The concept art… …and the final production piece!
The rest of the Poptropica-related art on his site are mostly desktop wallpapers for islands we’ve already seen, some illustrations he made for the Poptropica Lunar Colony chapter book, and other miscellaneous concept art. Here’s a look at some more pieces (click to enlarge the artwork):
If you check out his website, you’ll find even more Poptropica pieces. You can also see some of his personal non-Poptropica work on other parts of the site, but be warned that some of his (non-Poptropica) illustrations contain nudity, so only proceed if you are comfortable with that.
Abe Tena’s resume states that he worked as a game designer (most likely for Poptropica) from October 2010 to July 2015, which means he no longer works there. Right now, though, he’s an assistant professor specializing in human figure drawing at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, the city where Poptropica HQ is located. How cool would it be to have a Poptropica Creator be your art teacher?
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this look into a Poptropica artist’s portfolio! Thanks to Abe for all the fantastic ideas and artwork he’s contributed to the game we know and love. 🙂
Advertisements"I don't have pet peeves - I have major psychotic hatreds" -- George Carlin 5/12/1937 - 6/22/2008
George Carlin was, simply put, a master comedian, and prolific writer. When it came to delivering raw, in your face, relevant, and hilarious stand-up routines, George Carlin never let you down. And, like with all the greats, you know right away when you see a great comedian. And, anyone could clearly see that George Carlin was a true master.
I knew immediately that Carlin was among the greats as soon as I first saw him perform when I was a child. His performance was just so special, and recognizably honest, and sincere that you felt as though he was speaking directly to you.
George possessed the type of stage presence, courage, and perfect timing that made you feel as though you knew him and, not only that but, he thought just like you, only a lot more bitter and angry. His comedy was always thought provoking, and relevant as well as hilariously crafted, and well delivered. Carlin owned the stage and your attention. He demanded it, and he was a clear, and undeniable master of the art of Stand-Up comedy. A prolific, and masterful storyteller, hilarious and relate able performer, and downright brilliant humorist, George Carlin and his unique brand of comedy truly was a gift to society.
For anyone who is a loyal reader of 'Laughing at Life, 2', I don't have to tell you about our tribute pieces but, to those who are new to our little blog, let me explain them. These tributes are for the entertainers and comedians who inspired and molded me as a comic or, just the ones who inspired me or, I felt were relevant and, had something valuable to say. For me, Carlin fits right in this category like a glove. That being said, I did not agree with every thing George had to say. But, I don't feel that agreeing with everything a person says is a deciding factor in whether or not that person was gifted or had other valuable things to say. When it came to Carlin's comedy, even when I disagreed with the things George might be saying, I always could respect his right to say those things and, even if I completely disagreed, I agreed he had every right to have his own views. I am very open minded, which I feel is a good way to be. So even the rare times that George would lose me or even offend me, he always made me think while he entertained me and I feel that in itself is a true gift.
George Carlin had a very long and successful comedy career that spanned many decades and genres. Carlin had MANY successful comedy albums and feature length stand-up specials as well as, many best selling books, tons of movie roles, and many television appearances throughout his lengthy career in entertainment. He was everywhere in films and television from a dirty hitchhiker in Kevin Smith's 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back', down to his memorable, but often forgotten, role as 'The Conductor' on the popular hit children's show 'Thomas The Tank Engine'. George Carlin had a unique range in his comedy appeal which, I feel, made him a hot commodity in entertainment and, will also lead to him being remembered and revered for generations to come.
Carlin's stand-up routines always had an underlying message to them. His early ones seemed to focus on freedom of speech as well as pointing out the absurdities of society and human nature but, at the same time, stayed light hearted in their delivery. Later in his career and mainly in his last special before his death they seemed to focus more on his hatred for organized religion and, his last one in particular seemed to me to be an outright attack on God himself. To me this increase in George's bitterness was sad. I watched ALL of his specials and own most of them but that last one left me mostly feeling sorry for him. For those who haven't seen it it was called 'It's Bad For Ya', it focused almost exclusively on religion and, to me, felt like an outright attack on God. As I said before, I am open minded but, this special of George's didn't make me laugh once and, just left me feeling sorry for him. Especially since he died soon after it was released. George clearly had a problem with the church, as any fan of his work knew but, near the end that dislike for the corruption of organised religion seemed to turn into a sour and misguided hatred for God. I was saddened by this because in that special he didn't seem concerned at all with being funny, as he had always done throughout his career no matter what sociological absurdity or subject matter he was tackling, he just seemed to be so full of hatred and no longer concerned at all with humor in that last special.
For the record, I'm not saying anyone has to be religious, or for that matter have faith in God but, for it to make someone so angry and hateful that others do just makes me feel sad for that person. That being said, I still feel that his comedy collection and contribution has tremendous value to society and was filled with great messages on what was truly important in life while making us laugh at ourselves in the process.
It would be very hard for me to pick my favorite George Carlin comedy special or even my favorite Carlin routine, there were just so many great ones throughout his career. But, some of my favorite ones were, his recurring bit on the seven words you can't say on television, his bit on the human obsession with'stuff', as well as another favorite bit of his about how to solve the nation's debt and crime problems using custom prisons and pay per view TV. Carlin had tons to say it seemed and always said it in very funny and thought provoking ways while making us laugh as we learned to think differently. That in itself is a very rare gift that only a handful of entertainers posses. And those entertainers, for me, are the most valuable and precious ones that we have. The ones who really have something to say and teach us about life and ourselves and can say it in a way that makes us think without knowing it all while we are being entertained. So, in closing, I'd just like to say, 'Thank you George Carlin, for all you shared with us throughout your career and for all the laughs you gave us along the way. You will be deeply missed and in the end I hope you finally found the peace you were looking for. We love you George. Thank you.'
Before you leave, we have more great tribute pieces here at Laughing at Life, 2 like...
In the wake of a report published yesterday into the CIA’s use of torture, many people are shocked and appalled. Yet one defence of the practice remains popular – “the ticking time bomb scenario”.
This is the idea that torture is justified if a suspect knows the location of bomb in a public place, and many lives would be saved if he or she were coerced into telling authorities the location in time for it to be deactivated. The new Senate Intelligence Committee report describes how the ticking time bomb scenario was in fact used by the CIA to defend its use of torture or “enhanced interrogation”.
The ticking time bomb scenario is usually presented as a “utilitarian” argument for the moral good of torture in certain circumstances, when one person’s suffering is preferable to the deaths of many. Some commenters have gone as far as claiming that most people endorse torture in the ticking bomb situation.
A new study puts this to the test. Joseph Spino and Denise Cummins surveyed hundreds of people online asking them for their views about the acceptability and appropriateness of torturing a suspect in variations of the classic ticking bomb scenario. In particular the researchers were interested in whether people’s views vary according to changes in the “hidden assumptions” with which the scenario is loaded.
The researchers found that people’s endorsement of torturing a suspect is reduced when they are told that torture is likely to be ineffective (which, by the way, is true), and when they are told other interrogative methods are available. The researchers also found that people’s support for torture increased when they were told the suspect was a terrorist, or that the suspect was guilty of actually planting the bomb. People’s increased support in this context was not because they thought the suspect was more likely to hold information about the bomb. This suggests that the participants’ endorsement of torture was based on retribution, rather than being a cool utilitarian judgment.
Spino and Cummins said their results show that people’s support for torture in the ticking time bomb situation depends on a “highly idealised” and “highly unrealistic” set of assumptions being met. Moreover, their finding that people’s support for torture is influenced by the identity and the culpability of the suspect shows that the practice is often endorsed as a form of punishment, not as a way to extract information. Taken altogether the researchers conclude their findings “cast serious doubt on the use of ticking time bomb scenarios as an argument for legalized torture”.
_________________________________
Spino, J., & Cummins, D. (2014). The Ticking Time Bomb: When the Use of Torture Is and Is Not Endorsed Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 5 (4), 543-563 DOI: 10.1007/s13164-014-0199-y
–Further reading–
Torturing the brain. On the folk psychology and folk neurobiology motivating ‘enhanced and coercive interrogation techniques’ (pdf)
The British Psychological Society’s response to the new Senate report.
Psychologist magazine news story on the Senate report.
The psychology of violent extremism – digested
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.This is a content which was previously published as a mailing campaign in the Arkency Newsletter. This promotes our new book - Frontend Friendly Rails which is available on sale now. Use FF_RAILS_BLOG to get 40% discount on the book, which you can buy here.
ECMAScript 2015 is the new standard of JavaScript, popularised mostly by communities around React.js view library. While Angular people chose TypeScript for their language of choice and Ember is (mostly) unopinionated about it, React people tend to use ES2015 extensively.
ECMAScript 2015 is the new standard of JavaScript. Just like Ruby has version 2 or 1.8, ECMAScript 2015 is the new version of the language. It’ll be supported by every browser soon. Right now it’s not, but you can still use it today thanks to so-called transpilers or source-to-source compilers that understand new syntax and transforms it into the old standard of JS.
Since it’s hard to chase all JavaScript novelties if you don’t sit in it, it’s understandable that ES2015 can be a new thing to you. I’d like to present you what you can gain by using it today and what’s the best way to do it with Rails.
ECMAScript 2015 is the ’more familiar’ JavaScript
ES2015 is an evolution, not revolution - it adds features to the language. Old JavaScript code is automatically ES2015 code - no changes needed. Just like Ruby 1.9 code is automatically Ruby 2.0 code.
One of the most common struggles people have with JavaScript is its ‘unfamiliarity’. JavaScript is object-oriented, but in a different way than most language - it’s object model is based on prototypes, not classes. This is nor simpler nor more complex model of object orientation - just different. In fact, it has the same capabilities that classical ‘class’ object model has.
To aid developers migrating from languages like Ruby, C# or C++, ECMAScript 2015 provides a support of classes you already know and love. Compare:
// Old JavaScript, using prototypes function Vehicle () {} Vehicle. prototype. drive = function drive ( speed ) { console. log ( "Whopping " + speed + " kilometres!" ); }; function Car () {} // Inheritance: Car. prototype = new Vehicle (); Car. prototype. nitroBoostDrive = function nitroBoostDrive ( speed ) { this. drive ( speed * 10 ); }; Car. prototype. constructor = Car ;
To:
class Vehicle { drive ( speed ) { // BTW. You can interpolate strings in new JS! console. log ( `Whopping ${ speed } kilometres!` ); } } class Car extends Vehicle { nitroBoostDrive ( speed ) { this. drive ( speed * 10 ); } }
Much familiar syntax is a great addition to the language. You can stick with it if you want, or learn the underlying prototype model later - it usually pays off and makes some ‘weird’ edges of JavaScript much more understandable (like the concept of context in functions).
Other problem people tend to had with JavaScript is a visibility of variables and the concept of hoisting.
Old variables in JavaScript has the function scope - that means whenever you’ll define them they’ll be bound to the scope of a function. Consider this:
function weirdJavascript ( n ) { if ( n % 2 == 0 ) { var f = 3 ; } else { var f = 5 ; } console. log ( f ); }
In most languages console.log(f) would throw an error since f is undefined. But since JS variables tend to be scoped in a function scope and there is a concept of hoisting, the function behaves more like this function:
function weirdJavascript ( n ) { var f ; if ( n % 2 == 0 ) { f = 3 ; } else { f = 5 ; } console. log ( f ); }
This breaks familiarity with other languages you know. It is because most languages use so-called block scope - so variable is visible in the block it is defined and nowhere else.
ES2015 fixes this by introducing a new type of variables which are block scoped - say hello to let and const :
function familiarJavascript ( n ) { if ( n % 2 == 0 ) { let f = 3 ; } else { let f = 5 ; } // Uncaught ReferenceError: f is not defined. console. log ( f ); }
The difference between let and const is that if you define const, you can’t change it later (because it is constant):
function constantJavascript ( n ) { const result = n + 1 ; if ( n % 2 == 0 ) { // Uncaught TypeError: Assignment to constant variable. result += 1 ; } return result ; }
Such additions to the language are making JavaScript more friendly and familiar to developers coming from Ruby and other languages. This is a great thing because, well, no matter you like it or not, we all end up writing JS eventually… Aren’t we? :)
ECMAScript 2015 is the ‘unsucked’ JavaScript
JavaScript is burdened by its past - and certain unhappy decisions made that you must live with.
One of the most annoying is the concept of default context. If you forget to use var, let or const in an assignment to the variable, you’ll define a global variable:
f = 3 ; window. f ; // 3
That’s unexpected and it sucks. It allows you to create global variables by an accident - or shadow existing global functions with accidental values. Ouch!
There is a concept of strict mode in JavaScript. It breaks backwards compatibility in favor of providing better defaults - like fixing this default context issue.
Fortunately, since most people tend to forget to switch strict mode on, certain ES2015 features like classes or modules enable it by default. Also tooling behind transpiration today are producing “ES2015 modules” by default so strict mode is enabled for free - you don’t need to remember about adding it by yourself.
Next thing, coming from the way how JavaScript works under the hood is the idea of context binding to functions. If you write a class in Ruby, no matter how you call the method, the context ( self or @ ) will be the object from which you called this method.
This is not the case in JavaScript. Due to its prototypical nature, they decided to compute the context when a function is called. This is not necessarily a bug (for me it’s a feature), but it is very surprising to many:
var incrementor = { x: 1, increment: function increment() { this.x = this.x + 1; } }; incrementor.increment(); incrementor.x; // 2 var fn = incrementor.increment; fn(); incrementor.x; // 2?! window.x; // NaN
In this case calling fn set the context to default one - so window. Since window.x is undefined and the number is added here, the result is NaN.
Specifying context works different than in most languages that are using lexical binding of context.
This is also the reason of the pattern you may often see in jQuery code:
var counter = { count : 0, setCount : function setCount ( newCount ) { this. count = newCount ; }, countFriends : function countFriends () { /* $(".friend").each(function iterateFriends() { // ERROR! each set its own context here. this.setCount(this.count + 1); }); */ var that = this ; $ ( ".friend" ). each ( function iterateFriends () { that. setCount ( that. count + 1 ); }); } };
This that pattern is because context is not lexical scoped. This is powerful concept, really, but often you just want to refer to the lexical context, no matter what.
Fortunately, ES2015 provides lexical-scoped functions, being also a very handy shorthand for defining functions in place - the feature is called ‘arrow functions’:
var counter = { count : 0, setCount : function setCount ( newCount ) { this. count = newCount ; }, countFriends : function doSomething () { // Arrow function has lexical 'this'. No 'that' necessary! $ ( ".friend" ). each (() => { this. setCount ( this. count + 1 ); }); } };
Not only it’s more concise than function syntax (which comes in handy if you don’t care about the context at all), but also provides a nice feature of having a lexical context. This has tremendous effect on typical frontend code that is being written - making it easier to read, more concise and less surprising.
ECMAScript 2015 is the ’more convenient’ JavaScript
Arrow functions are one thing that is making writing typical code in JavaScript less tedious. But there are more features that are making writing code more pleasant.
First feature that was lacking for a long time is string interpolation. ES2015 provides it by wrapping your string content with backticks:
var answer = 42 ; var output = `answer to the ultimate question of life the universe and everything is ${ answer } ` ; var multiline = `Multiline strings? Not a problem.` ;
Unpacking objects and arrays is so common operation that ES2015 provides a special syntax for it called destructuring. Just see it in action to see how useful it is:
const object = { x : 1, y : 2, foo : { bar : 3 } }; // Extract 'x' and 'y' fields from object // and make variables x and y. const { x, y } = object ; console. log ( x ); // 1 console. log ( y ); // 2 // The same, but first and second variables are created. const { x : first, y : second } = object ; console. log ( x ); // 1 console. log ( y ); // 2 // Nested destructuring. `bar` variable will be created. const { foo : { bar } } = object ; console. log ( bar ); // 3 // Nested restructuring with returning the whole object too. const { foo : { bar : baz }, foo } = object ; console. log ( foo ); // { bar: 3 } console. log ( bad ); // 3 // What about arrays? const arr = [{ a : 1, b : 2 }, { c : 3, d : 4 }]; const [ obj1, obj2 ] = arr ; console. log ( obj1 ); // { a: 1, b: 2 } console. log ( obj2 ); // { c: 3, d: 4 } // Combo! const [{ a }, { d }] = arr ; console. log ( a ); // 1 console. log ( d ); // 2 const arr2 = [ 1, 2, 3 ]; // You can use spread operator (three dots): const [ firstNum,... restNumbers ] = arr2 ; console. log ( firstNum ); // 1 console. log ( restNumbers ); // [2, 3] // You can use object destructuring // in function arguments list too: function sumObj ({ a, b }) { return a + b ; } // If your arrow function body is an expression, just skip // brackets and enjoy implicit return. const multiplyObj = ({ a, b }) => a * b ; sumObj ({ a : 2, b : 2 }); // 4 multiplyObj ({ a : 2, b : 2 }); // 4
Looking innocent, this saves you a lot of tedious writing.
There is also a change to defining functions. You can supply default arguments and use spread operator to work with variadic functions:
function addTwo ( a = 0, b ) { return a + b ; } function sumAll (... elements ) { return elements. reduce ( ( partialResult, elem ) => partialResult + elem, 0 ); } addTwo ( 2 ); // 2 addTwo ( 2, 2 ); // 4 sumAll ( 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ); // 15
The last addition that is extremely useful is enhanced object notation. It’s better to see it by an example:
const x = 2, y = 3, itsMe = "hello" ; const enhancedObj = { methodInPlace ( y ) { // Method in place return this. x + y ; }, x, // It's so common to make assignment in object like x: x // there is a shorthand for this. y, // Computed properties are possible. [ itsMe. toUpperCase ()]: "Can you hear me?" }; /* { methodInPlace: function methodInPlace() { return this.x + y; }, x: 2, y: 3, "HELLO": "Can you hear me?" } */
There are many more. Those are only that I’m using in my day-to-day work, making my work more pleasant. There are generators, iterators, new for syntax and so on. That being said, there is a lot of sugar added to JavaScript - a sugar which makes you way more productive once you master it.
ECMAScript 2015 is the ’modular’ JavaScript
Last, but not least. Before ES2015 JavaScript had no syntax for building modules. There were technologies and standards that allowed your code to be modular (CommonJS, RequireJS…). But with ES2015 modules became first-class citizens, having its own syntax. It allows your code to hide implicit details of implementation, relying only on the public API. Not to mention it makes your dependency control way easier:
// moduleA.js const moduleState = { timesCalled : 0 }; function moduleFunction () { moduleState. timesCalled += 1 ; if ( moduleState. timesCalled > 10 ) { console. log ( "Why are you calling me in " + "the middle of the night?" ); } } export default callModuleFunction ;
// moduleB import moduleAFunction from './moduleA' ; for ( let i = 0 ; i < 15 ; ++ i ) { moduleAFunction (); } // Prints the message 5 times.
You can use destructuring, make default or name imports:
// moduleA.js function foo() { /*... */ } function baz() { /*... */ } export default { foo, baz, answer: 42 }; export const bar = () => { /*... */ } export const abc = () => { /*... */ }
import { foo, baz, answer }, * as lib from './moduleA'; lib.bar(); lib.abc(); foo(); baz(); answer;
This allows you to structure your code way better and with concise syntax. Previous solutions like using IIFE was quite verbose - here you have nice syntax and (soon) native support for modularization of your code.
I want it! How can I use it?
As you can see, ES2015 brings much into the table. Not only it’s more convenient to use, but also comes with many great opportunities (better stdlib, modularization, TCO after being implemented by browsers natively) for today and future.
Unfortunately, having all of it with Rails is not that super-easy.
First of all, Sprockets will support ES2015 starting from version 4. If you have a new version of Rails, you’re probably using version 3, which only has an experimental support. Even with this support, load system of Sprockets kinda doubles your work if you want modularise your code.
What’s more, this technology is developing in a very rapid pace, so tooling is constantly evolving and the best of tools are available on Node.js-based stacks.
Does it mean we’re doomed and we can’t use this stuff?
Of course we can. You can use experimental support in Sprockets if you want or use many gems that are trying to add the support for it. But the most robust solution for me is to add a separate, Webpack-based stack. There is SurviveJS book about it (grab it - it’s cool!), which is also teaching React.js which is quite cool technology. There are also many articles in the web.
In fact, for me it’s so important I’ve made a big chapter about it in my “Frontend-friendly Rails” book. It seems people are struggling with it, so I’ve decided to make a step-by-step process of constructing the whole stack from zero to a complete solution.
And you can buy it now.
“Frontend-friendly Rails” is live!
Download the free chapter
Finally I managed to write this book :). It’s a set of good practices and techniques I’ve worked during my work on couple of projects I’ve worked so far. This book is about making Rails more friendly to your frontend, making it easier and faster to write, as well as more powerful and maintainable.
I had tons of fun writing it and I’m using those techniques in my day to day work. I hope you’ll find it useful too in your projects - hours of development in Arkency proved me those are battle-tested solutions to real problems.
It’s the beta version of the book. If you buy it now, you’ll get all updates for free.
Just enter FF_RAILS_BLOG as a coupon code to get 40% discount for this book. The original price is $49 and you’ll get it for less than $30!
Book has 97 pages of exclusive content now + bonus chapters, so it’s 154 pages in total. If you don’t like it, we have an eternal no-questions-asked refund policy - just drop us an e-mail and you’ll get refunded.
Click here to buy the book! Download the free chapter
The following topics are covered in the book:
Switch your Rails application to frontend-generated UUIDs - a step-by-step, database-agnostic, test-driven solution you can use with legacy applications too. It’ll allow you to free your frontend code from being tightly coupled to the backend with every data change.
Setup the Cross-Origin Sharing (CORS) - the description of the problem as well as the solution described. Useful if you want to host frontend on a different host than your backend.
Prepare JSON API endpoints for your API - JSON API allows you to have very robust response format for your endpoints which will serve you well and you won’t need to think about it. That’ll allow you to focus what’s more important - which is doing your business logic right.
Create a living API - beyond request-response cycle - this is a chapter about adding real-time support to make your frontend even more user friendly. The solution presented is made using the Pusher library, but the way of doing it is tool-agnostic. I also present cool technique to make the real-time support as maintainable as possible.
Consequences of frontend decisions - level up your knowledge and understanding of shaping your frontend, knowing consequences of your decision. More theoretical (but code-based) chapter which will improve your thinking about designing frontend code.
A complete overview of creating modern assets pipeline - the last chapters are about creating the assets pipeline from scratch. You’ll learn what tools you’ll use, what their responsibilities are and how to configure it in a step-by-step manner. After you finish, you’ll have the stack with ES2015 support, CoffeeScript support for legacy compatibility, testing stack and production builds.
I’m available to you for all questions about this book. Just drop me a comment I’ll try to clarify everything you may need to make a decision whether this book is a good choice for you or not.
Techniques I’ve described in the book made my work better and allowed me to write better Rails API applications. I hope you’ll find the book as useful as I’m finding those techniques.
Click here to buy the book! Download the free chapter
Listen to the podcast
Is listening a your kind of consuming content? You can grab a 30-minute podcast where we discuss what you can find inside the book and what were our motives to write it:
You can also download it in the mp3 format and see the shownotes here.US rabbinical group lauds commutation of slaughterhouse exec's sentence. 'There was widespread sentiment the sentence was disproportionate.'
US rabbinical organization The Coalition for Jewish Values welcomed news that US President Donald Trump had commuted the sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, former head of the country’s largest kosher meat-processing company, who had been sentenced to 27 years in prison for fraud and money laundering.
The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), the largest rabbinic public policy organization in America, articulates and advocates for public policy positions based upon traditional Jewish thought.
Rabbi Pesach Lerner, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, said in a statement: "This was an extremely welcome decision from the Trump Administration. There was widespread, bipartisan sentiment that the prosecution was vindictive and the sentence disproportionate. His family has longed for this day for eight long years."
As Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel at the time of investigations into the management of the Agriprocessors Kosher Meat plant in Postville, IA that Rubashkin headed, Rabbi Lerner was one of the first public advocates for Sholom Rubashkin and his family.
On Wednesday, Trump commuted Rubashkin’s prison sentence, after the decision was “encouraged by bipartisan leaders from across the political spectrum, from Nancy Pelosi to Orrin Hatch,” said a statement from the White House.
Rubashkin is a 57-year-old father of 10 children. He previously ran the Iowa headquarters of a family business that was the country’s largest kosher meat-processing company. In 2009, he was convicted of bank fraud and later sentenced to 27 years in prison.
He was charged with defaulting on loans after his funds were frozen during a federal investigation into child labor violations that he was ultimately acquitted of, and immigration-related charges that the prosecution eventually declined to pursue.
“Rubashkin has now served more than eight years of that sentence, which many have called excessive in light of its disparity with sentences imposed for similar crimes,” the White House said.
“This action is not a Presidential pardon. It does not vacate Mr. Rubashkin’s conviction, and it leaves in place a term of supervised release and a substantial restitution obligation, which were also part of Mr. Rubashkin’s sentence,” the statement stressed.
“The President’s review of Mr. Rubashkin’s case and commutation decision were based on expressions of support from Members of Congress and a broad cross-section of the legal community,” it continued.
“A bipartisan group of more than 100 former high-ranking and distinguished Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, prosecutors, judges, and legal scholars have expressed concerns about the evidentiary proceedings in Mr. Rubashkin’s case and the severity of his sentence. Additionally, more than 30 current Members of Congress have written letters expressing support for review of Mr. Rubashkin’s case.”Raj Singh is a new force on the independent scene.
Jinder Mahal was a busy WWE superstar, booked constantly in his four years with the company, and showcased recently as a part of the comedic 3MB trio with Heath Slater and Drew McIntyre. Therefore he was taken by surprise when he was released along with a handful of others on June 12th.
"I was surprised, because we were pretty well booked on everything," Mahal told SLAM! Wrestling in his first interview since his WWE departure. "We were on a lot of the live events, a lot of the overseas tours. We were always on Raw and Smackdown, and if we weren't, we would do Superstars or Main Event in the week. So yeah, I was surprised."
To capitalize on his new independence, Mahal has turned to veteran talent booker Bill Behrens at sbibookings.com. Since he can't be Jinder Mahal on the indy circuit, it'll be Raj Singh, the same name he used in his early days coming out of Calgary. The name comes from shortening his given name of Yuvraj Singh Dhesi.
There are plenty of opportunities afoot, he believes.
"I want to keep wrestling," said Mahal. "I'm still young and I would like to go back to WWE someday and accomplish things that I never got to do, work with people that I never got to work with."
Behrens also represents the released McIntyre, and Mahal expects to keep working with his friend.
"Me and Drew are taking bookings together," he said. "Yeah, there is a lot of interest because we're fresh off TV, and we were tag teaming on TV, and we spent a fair amount of TV time together."
Just 27 years of age, Mahal is decidedly in a positive state of mind about the career transition, and hopes to spend a lot of the time with the 29-year-old McIntyre, now known as Drew Galloway.
"He's also excited for this opportunity. There's no limit. We want to wrestle everywhere, all over the world. We're excited, both young and hungry. We both want to work our tails off and some day, one day, get back to the WWE."
3MB, shown here in San Jose, Calif., in August 2013, always seemed to have fun. Photo by Devin Chen, www.chdevinphotos.com
The 3MB team came together in the fall of 2012, and quickly proved to be an entertaining staple of WWE programming. Sure, they were often cannon-fodder for bigger stars, but there was never any doubt that they enjoyed what they were doing and rolled with the punches.
"WWE is all about providing a very entertaining show," Mahal explained. "There's the different aspects -- there's the serious wrestling, some comedy segments, they like to have some guest hosts every once in a while. It's not just wrestling anymore. It's more of an entertainment type that they're providing to people nowadays, something that all sorts of people can enjoy -- wrestling fans and non-wrestling fans."
The chemistry between the three members of 3MB was pretty real, he said. While they had never done much before together -- McIntyre as a babyface fought Mahal the night before the team was created actually -- they were comfortable around each other.
"We would hang out. Those guys are good friends |
achyon: a superluminal particle that has an imaginary rest mass. Say a warm “welcome” to complex numbers again! One interesting property of this particle is that it cannot decelerate to the speed of light; its energy would be infinite. So, if FTL communications are possible, then tachyons are one way of doing it.
This way, we can have an answer before the question. Which leads to solving undecidable problems (before they are stated!!) and even the hardest problem of them all: “A problem which we cannot formulate”. A problem we don’t know of. A problem we cannot even state or pose.
From a philosophical point of view, FTL should be possible. As a friend of mine once said:
“If we were bats, we would think of the speed of sound as the ultimate speed - this is exactly the case with light and how we perceive it”.
Any intelligent manifestation of life with the willingness to communicate, as we conceive it in this universe, has the ultimate destination of achieving the un-achievable. The conquest of Everything. This is a universal standard. In terms of the Kardashev scale, a Type III (or above in the extended Kardashev scale) civilization is bound to use FTL methods in various situations.
We may think that something is impossible, but Physics teach us that the world is not the way we see it; there’s a whole lot bigger kind of picture, meaning that there’s ALWAYS a kind of solution, there’s always a WAY - direct or indirect. We just have to change our way of thinking.
-DionysisNetflix garnered an Academy Award nomination for “13th” from filmmaker Ava DuVernay — marking its fourth consecutive year landing a nod in the documentary category.
“13th,” which is currently available worldwide on Netflix’s streaming service, investigates the high rate of incarceration in the U.S., particularly among African Americans. The title is a reference to the 13th Amendment of the Constitution abolishing slavery.
For Netflix, the recognition for “13th” — along with 2017 Oscar nominations for two documentary shorts, “Extremis” and “The White Helmets” — reflects the company’s continued strength in the documentary field. So far, however, it has been unable to crack into other major Academy Awards categories, while Amazon Studios this year became the first streaming service with a best-picture nom for “Manchester by the Sea.”
Netflix’s “13th” will face off in the 2017 Oscars against the four other nominated documentaries: “Fire at Sea” from Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo; “I Am Not Your Negro,” from Raoul Peck, Rémi Grellety and Hébert Peck; “Life, Animnated,” from Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman; and ESPN Films’ “O.J.: Made in America” from Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow.
Related Oscar Nominations: Complete List Amazon Makes Oscar History as First Streaming Service Best Picture Nominee Variety's Review of '13th'
In “13th” DuVernay, whose directing credits include “Selma” and “Middle of Nowhere,” traces a historical throughline from 1915’s “The Birth of a Nation” up through the Black Lives Matter movement, incorporating archival footage and interviews with figures including Angela Davis, Cory Booker, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Newt Gingrich and Van Jones.
In a statement, DuVernay said, “My thanks to the Academy for amplifying the injustices of mass criminalization and mass incarceration that we chronicle in ’13th.’ Now more than ever, it is important to educate ourselves, explore our shared history and elevate our awareness about matters of human dignity. It’s an honor be included in a category with such fine documentarians and to be nominated in a year that truly embraces and celebrates inclusion within our creative community.”
The film was directed by DuVernary and produced by DuVernay, Howard Barish and Spencer Averick. Executive producers are Lisa Nishimura, Ben Cotner, Adam Del Deo, Angus Wall, and Jason Sterman.
“13th” premiered at the 2016 New York Film Festival (originally titled “The 13th”) on Sept. 30, before release on Netflix worldwide on Oct. 7.
DuVernary earned a Golden Globe best director nomination for “Selma” (and the film was a 2015 Oscars best picture nominee) and she won the 2012 Sundance Film Festival’s best director prize for “Middle of Nowhere.” In fall of 2016, her first TV series as executive producer, writer and director, “Queen Sugar,” debuted on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN.
For Netflix, the streamer’s only Oscar win so far came in 2014, for short documentary “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life,” about pianist and Holocaust survivor Alice Herz-Sommer.
Last year, two Netflix docus, “What Happened Miss Simone?” and “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” picked up Academy Awards nominations. In 2015, “Virunga,” about endangered gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was nominated for best documentary, and a year before that “The Square,” about the 2011 popular uprising in Egypt, was in Oscars contention.
Netflix has focused on procuring non-fiction programming under Lisa Nishimura, VP of original documentary and comedy — who also has led a wave of deals for comedy specials and series from Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, and Amy Schumer.
Pictured above: Angela Davis in Ava DuVernay’s “13th”Overview (4)
Born May 3, 1975 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA Birth Name Christina Rene Hendricks Nickname Christy Height 5' 8" (1.73 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Christina Rene Hendricks was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho. Her father, Robert, originally from England, worked for the U.S. Forest Service, while her mother, Jackie Sue (Raymond), was a psychologist. At the age of 13 her father transferred to the Forest Service Washington, D.C. headquarters and the family moved to nearby Fairfax, Virginia. She began acting at school and went into modeling from the ages of 18 to 27. In her early 20s, she also began appearing on television, landing a recurring role in Beggars and Choosers (1999) in 2000 and another on Kevin Hill (2004) before rising to international fame in Mad Men (2007). As well as her more famously conventional awards nominations (Emmys) and wins (SAG Awards) she also won a SyFy Genre Award in for "Best Special Guest/Television" for her role as Saffron in Joss Whedon's short-lived Firefly (2002).
- IMDb Mini Biography By: IMDb Editors
Spouse (1)
Trade Mark (7)
Known for playing intelligent and dominating women.
Bright red lipstick.
Voluptuous figure.
Red hair and blue eyes.
Breathy, girlish voice.
Wearing glasses.
Soprano voice.
Trivia (18)
Her character in the television series Firefly (2002) never gave her real name. The three aliases the character used (Yolanda, Saffron, and Bridget) were contracted into the nickname "Yo-Saf-Bridge" in the episode Firefly: Trash (2003).
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, but raised in Twin Falls, Idaho, since the age of three.
Although known as a redhead, Hendricks is a natural blonde having dyed her hair since she was 10 years old.
In 1989, her family moved to Fairfax, Virginia, where she appeared in several high school plays and local community theatre.
She was a model from the ages of 18 to 27.
Always loved redheads like Ginger Grant from Gilligan's Island (1964).
Dyed her hair because of "Anne of Green Gables".
Ranked #89 in the 2012 FHM list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".
Ranked #33 in the 2011 FHM Australia list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".
Ranked #82 in the 2011 FHM list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".
Ranked as having one of the most "beautiful famous faces" by "The Annual Independent Critics List of the 100 Most Beautiful Famous Faces From Around the World." She was ranked #10 in 2010 and #21 in 2009.
Ranked #87 in Men's Health 100 Hottest Women of All Time (2011).
Ranked #14 on Askmen's list of the top 99 "most desirable" famous women for 2013.
Lived in Islington, London, England, UK. [1996]
Her father is originally from England. Her mother, who is American-born, has English, and small amounts of Norwegian and German, ancestry.
On her wedding day, she and her husband Geoffrey Arend danced to "The Origin of Love" from the film Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) as their first dance as a married couple.
Is a fan of British writer-director Richard Curtis
Personal Quotes (4)
I don't think any woman in the world could get tired of being compared to Marilyn Monroe.
I know that when I play Joan and she's going to react a certain way, I have to remember that she can only behave this way because the men at work wouldn't want her to act this way, or it's only appropriate to act this way, or a lady would do this. It's become so natural to me to look at the scripts of Mad Men (2007) in that way that I immediately almost become a woman of the 60's in my mindset.
I choose a project based on who's involved and my faith in them and the script and the rest you just let go.
It's so bizarre that people are constantly asking if my breasts are real or fake. They're so obviously real that anyone who's ever touched a breast would know.Æternity Blockchain
Recently we published a whitepaper for a new scalable blockchain architecture, with Zack Hess and Jack Pettersson: Æternity Blockchain — the trustless, decentralized and purely-functional Oracle Machine.
Both, Zack and Jack brought in valuable knowledge from previous blockchain projects. Zack was developing the augur blockchain, before they switched to Ethereum (a mistake in our eyes). Jack was working for Synereo, where he created a new language to write smart contracts. Then there is me, the “Godfather of Ethereum”.
Back to our paper, let me first explain what an oracle machine is:
The Oracle Machine
Oracle machine is something more powerful than a Turing-machine. It can give answer to any question, in a single step. It is essentially a magical construct from theoretical computer science.
Æternity builds up a decentralized oracle, one which can’t be easily corrupted, similarly to Augur and Gnosis but with a few crucial differences, which effect especially efficiency and security of the oracle.
A machine with an oracle for the halting problem can determine whether particular Turing machines will halt on particular inputs, but they cannot determine, in general, if machines equivalent to themselves will halt. This creates a hierarchy of machines, each with a more powerful halting oracle and an even harder halting problem. This hierarchy of machines can be used to define the arithmetical hierarchy (Börger 1989). — from Wikipdia.The NFL might have some explaining to do.
One of the reasons listed for the strict punishment imposed on New England Patriots in the DeflateGate scandal was the team’s failure to be fully cooperative with the Wells Report investigation.
“The Wells report identifies two significant failures in this respect,” NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent wrote to the team. “The first involves the refusal by the club’s attorneys to make Mr. (Jim) McNally available for an additional interview, despite numerous requests by Mr. Wells and a cautionary note in writing of the club’s obligation to cooperate in the investigation. The second was the failure of Tom Brady to produce any electronic evidence (emails, texts, etc.), despite being offered extraordinary safeguards by the investigators to protect unrelated personal information. Although we do not hold the club directly responsible for Mr. Brady’s refusal to cooperate, it remains significant that the quarterback of the team failed to cooperate fully with the investigation.”
McNally, the Patriots’ officials locker room attendant, agreed to be interviewed over the phone, but the NFL declined his offer, a league source told ProFootballTalk. McNally lives in New Hampshire and has a full-time job outside his part-time employment with the Patriots. He didn’t want to participate in another in-person interview at least partially because he had been “ambushed at his home by ESPN’s Kelly Naqi based on a perceived leak from her husband, a former league-office employee who now works for the Jaguars,” ProFootballTalk wrote.
Here is what is contained in the Wells Report about the Patriots’ lack of cooperation:
“The Patriots provided cooperation throughout the investigation, including by making personnel and information available to us upon request. Counsel for the Patriots, however, refused to make Jim McNally available for a follow-up interview requested by our investigative team on what we believed were important topics, despite our offer to meet at any time and location that would be convenient for McNally. Counsel for the Patriots apparently refused even to inform McNally of our request. We believe the failure by the Patriots and its counsel to produce McNally for the requested follow-up interview violated the club’s obligations to cooperate with the investigation under the Policy on Integrity of the Game & Enforcement of League Rules and was inconsistent with public statements made by the Patriots pledging full cooperation with the investigation.”
So, something doesn’t add up here.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft released a statement after the Wells Report was released, saying the Patriots already had made McNally available for four interviews with the NFL.
“In addition, given our level of cooperation throughout the process, I was offended by the comments made in the Wells Report in reference to not making an individual available for a follow-up interview,” Kraft wrote. “What the report fails to mention is that he had already been interviewed four times and we felt the fifth request for access was excessive for a part-time game day employee who has a full-time job with another employer.”
Apparently it was the NFL’s way or excessive punishment.
Thumbnail photo via Matthew Emmons/USA TODAY Sports ImagesFinalists Sita Lewis, Emilia Cirker and Matthew Grunwald during elimination as seen on Food Network Star, Season 11. Eddy Chen, 2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
It's the nature of the Food Network Star beast that even though no matter how badly finalists want to achieve their dreams of stardom, ultimately only one can win the coveted title, and with that, 11 finalists will be going home. Every week Star Talk will bring you the first exclusive interview with the most-recently eliminated finalist. From thoughts on mentors' critiques to reflections on past challenges and hopes for the future, be sure to check back every Sunday night for the latest one-on-one chat. We're about to break down the ins and outs of tonight's new episode and reveal who went home, so if you've yet to watch the show, read no further until then.
There was no shortage of Star power in Episode 2; not only did Melissa d'Arabian join the cast as a guest judge for the Mentor Challenge, but Alex Guarnaschelli was on hand to oversee the Star Challenge alongside five of the country's most-acclaimed pastry chefs. This was the first week in which the finalists cooked in Food Star Kitchen, and for some the new setting came with its challenges. In the Mentor Challenge, the rivals were tasked with creating dinner dishes using leftovers and refrigerator staples. While both Dom and Arnold struggled through their presentations of their dishes, Matthew performed better on camera than he did last week, and Melissa even called him "incredibly charming."
For Matthew, however, the situation changed in the Star Challenge, in which the competitors had to embrace baking as they put savory spins on classically sweet treats. Matthew opted for galettes filled with greens, which the Committee found to be jumbled. Perhaps more problematic, though, was his presentation in front of the judges and pastry chefs. "I find it a little bit hard to connect with Matthew," Alex said of him, and sure enough, he placed among the bottom-three performers this week. At evaluation, Matthew was nearly spared from elimination, but ultimately he caused his own demise by flashing a too-confident smirk to the Committee.
Read on below for the first exclusive interview with Matthew and find out his take on the competition.
What three words best describe how you were feeling when you learned of your elimination?
Matthew Grunwald: Oh, devastated, defeated and sad. Like, not good. I mean, really, it was not good at all.
What was your initial reaction to learning of your elimination?
MG: Oh, I was literally so bummed. I really was. It’s very therapeutic for me to bake. So I made doughnuts and fried chicken, and I was frying everything in shortening. And I was really just kind of eating my feelings and then taking a picture of it. I was self-soothing in my own way.
Finalist Matthew Grunwald preparing his dish, Bitter Greens Mostarda Galette with Blue Cheese Greek Yogurt Ice Cream with Smoked Sea Salt, Espelette and a Marsala Berry Syrup, for the Star Challenge, Savory Baking, as seen on Food Network Star, Season 11. Eddy Chen, 2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Do you stand by your last dish and your last presentation?
MG: No. I think my dish needed to be simpler. I think that the flavors were there, but I was trying to do too much and it was chaotic. It was like a hurricane of flavors, when it just needed to be, like, a single raindrop. I think I should have really focused my food to my point of view. I think I not only needed to simplify my point of view but also my cooking.
In your own words, how would you describe to fans what this competition is really like?
MG: This competition is what you make it. I think if you come into it, you need to treat it with a certain level of severity, and this needs to be the only thing that matters. But you really need to have fun. And if you come into this super competitive, it really actually works to your downfall.
Finalist Matthew Grunwald introducing himself to the Selection Committee, as seen on Food Network Star, Season 11. Eddy Chen, 2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
You had very strong reactions to both your fellow finalists and the mentors at times.
MG: I barked at people. I’m like: "Oh, my gosh. What was I doing?" I just get so competitive.
Are there any moments in particular that you wish you could do over?
MG: Ah, no. I’m going to say no to do-over moments because I think that this was such a teachable lesson. And I am, yes, very naturally competitive, but I think it’s so important to have discernment with what you share about who you are, and really, portraying yourself in the light as opposed to this super-aggressive, like highly competitive, person, you know? And that’s good to still have that, but I think there needs to be a nice friendly mix.
You mentioned lessons learned. What’s one of your greatest takeaways from this experience?
MG: Oh, it was [having] a focused point of view. I respond really super well under pressure, and this competition really was a lot of pressure. And naturally when I’m under pressure, I’m usually in a restaurant, so I brought chef mode to this competition where I really needed to just, like, take a chill pill and, like, lighten up. You know, honestly coming into this I had sat down, written out a plan; I had my point of view and when I came here, I think that I got so nervous that it just went aloof.
Finalist Matthew Grunwald in evaluations for the Mentor Challenge, Kraft Pantry, as seen on Food Network Star, Season 11. Eddy Chen, 2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
After an exploration in hashtags, you honed your POV to be Southwestern. Talk to us about the journey that led to that.
MG: I think I was being too [concerned with the] strategy, and I was thinking too much about how I was going to reach a fan base. I think I was taking the back-of-camera approach, whereas with flavors of the Southwest — I had been cooking flavors of the Southwest my whole life. I don’t have hashtags attached to that. I have memories with my family and my friends and experiences that correlate with a dish, which is really what I think it boils down to.
So that was a natural fit for you?
MG: Yes and I think the hashtag, that’s still something I enjoy, but it’s not, that’s just another aspect of who I am. That’s not the core. That wasn’t the root and the trunk of the tree. That was maybe some of the branches.
What piece of mentor feedback will you keep with you going forward?
MG: Oh, when Bobby said I was fearless. That was so inspiring. That was really — I mean, I am. I am fearless.
Finalist Matthew Grunwald preparing his dish, Hamachi Sashimi, Roasted Pineapple and Poblano Chimichurri, Gochujang Aioli, Avocado, Radish, for the Star Challenge, Food Star Showcase, as seen on Food Network Star, Season 11. Eddy Chen, 2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
What are some of your highlights and lowlights of the competition?
MG: Being outdoors at the vineyard [was a highlight]. It’s something that will live with me forever. I love cooking outdoors. It was a beautiful 74-degree day out, the sun was shining, people were outdoors, it was a food festival, people were hungry. I wanted there to be, like, a live band; that would have been nice. But it was just being outdoors and being able to really push myself and display my culinary capabilities to the network and the mentors and JD Heyman from People Magazine. I mean, it was just the perfect day.
What elements of the competition, be they positive or negative, were you least expecting?
MG: Interesting. I don’t even know what I would say. What was I not expecting? I wasn’t expecting to get sent home the second week. That was really, I mean, it was so disheartening; it was very disheartening, being sent home that early, what with all of the hard work I’ve done. But what I was expecting: I’m not surprised, though. Because if you don’t deliver results — like passion, I mean, that’s great if you have passion, but if you can’t consolidate that into a clear sentence, then adios.
Any funny behind-the-scenes stories from time with your fellow finalists?
MG: Rosa is a hoot. She is so funny and she’s such a bubbly Italian woman. Oh, and you know what else? Hearing Dom talk about the business side of food trucks in New York City and how many logistics go into it. That was something that I really found fascinating, I mean, with all the permits and laws and how you got to hustle and beat out the halal cart.
Were Rosa and Dom your best buds in the competition?
MG: I think, I’d say I most got along with Rosa and Dom. They work hard and they have that, like, hustler mentality. So you know I think that’s kind of what — I think I got along very well with them. But it was kind of difficult being the youngest person here. There was such an age gap that it was like, what do I talk about? Do I, like, talk about emojis? Like, they’re not going to want to talk about that.
You felt that age gap?
MG: I did feel a little bit of an age gap, yes. And I think it was kind of a two-way street, especially since I came into this so competitive. I think that they were just expecting me to come into this and be like the boy next door, and then they got this, like, vicious lion that needed to be a little bit tamed.
Fill in the blanks with your fellow finalists' names:
_____ was the class clown? Rosa
_____ is the quietest? Me
_____ is the most daring? Me
_____ has the best recipes? Dom, I think, has some really good recipes.
Mentor Bobby Flay during the Star Challenge, Savory Baking, as seen on Food Network Star, Season 11. Eddy Chen, 2015, Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserved
Did you have any nerves in working with Bobby, Giada and the special guests?
MG: I get adrenaline. I get so amped up. I have such respect for them, but I don’t get intimidated. Like, I wanted to talk to them. Like, when I called Alex Guarnaschelli a beast. Like, oh my gosh, did that happen? But I think that’s what’s so special about Food Network is that because it’s such a talent-driven brand, I mean, the talent really has to be so approachable. And I think that that’s something that’s really special from their end. That even though they’ve developed these international culinary brands, they’re superstars, they’re still very approachable. And I think that they want to be approached. I think that they enjoy that. Maybe. I don’t know.... But I think people like that, I mean, that’s that warmth. It’s that human interaction.
You mentioned being really "amped up" to learn from the panel. Was there one person in particular when you started the competition that you were most excited to learn from.
MG: Susie Fogelson. I wanted to pick Susie Fogelson’s brain. That woman is outstanding. Not to say the others aren’t, but my goodness, like, what a track record she has. She makes zero mistakes.
What was the greatest piece of advice that maybe the Committee gave you?
MG: The focus. And it was something that while I was in the process it didn’t make sense, but once the seed had time to take root, it really made sense.
What piece of advice would you give future finalists?
MG: Oh, write it down. There’s something very therapeutic and scientific to taking a critique from the mentor and writing it down. It's the follow-through. That's something I wish I would have done when they said, "Focus." Just the process of writing down focus is doing something. It’s an action. And taking that action gets you out of the chaos, so I would say writing everything, writing everything down, because it gives you something visually you can see, you can edit. You can pull from that and then have something clear and concise.
What do you want fans to remember most about you?
MG: What I want them to remember most about me is my culinary point of view, my flavors of the Southwest. I want people to want to cook family meals because of me. I want people to want to set the table, invite people over and make the dinner plate a destination.
If you could go back to day one in that spotlight challenge, what would you tell yourself?
MG: I don’t necessarily know if I would have listened to myself. I think that this was maybe a blessing in disguise to kind of, like — sometimes I need, like, a little smack to the head, you know?
Who are you rooting for now?
MG: I'm rooting for Dom.Pope Francis phoned Rome’s chief rabbi to express condolences on the murder of three Israeli teenagers.
Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni said the pope called him at home on Tuesday afternoon, the day the teens were buried side by side and within hours of the Vatican releasing a strong statement condemning the killings, according to the daily Il Messaggero.
Di Segni told Il Messaggero that the pope said, “Good evening. This is Pope Francis. I wanted very much to personally express my grief for the death of the three youths.”
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The rabbi, who, at first, thought the call was a prank, also said the pope had promised he would pray for the youths and their families.
Earlier in the day, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi had called the murders “terrible and dramatic.” He said “the assassination of innocent people is always an execrable and unacceptable crime and a serious obstacle on the path toward the peace for which we must tirelessly continue to strive and pray.”
Lombardi said Pope Francis “participates in the unspeakable suffering of the families struck by this homicidal violence and the pain of all persons afflicted by the consequences of hatred, and prays that God might inspire all with thoughts of compassion and peace.”
Also Tuesday, clashes in Rome between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel demonstrators left several injured, including one pro-Palestinian demonstrator who reportedly was beaten up by supporters of Israel.Biologists divvy up all animals into 40 or so phyla, depending on the classification scheme. Humans, fish, and other vertebrates, for example, are in the phylum Chordata. Late last year, Peter Funch and Reinhardt Kristensen, zoologists at the University of Copenhagen, announced that they’d found an animal strange enough to merit its own phylum, which they have named Cycliophora. Barely visible to the naked eye, Symbion pandora--the species name--seems to live exclusively on the mouthparts of a Norwegian lobster, which it clings to with an adhesive disk. Using funnel- like round mouths (Cycliophora is Greek for carrying a small wheel), the tiny symbionts eat crumbs from the lobster’s meals and reproduce asexually until the lobster molts, which obliterates their home. Then each S. pandora gives birth to either a dwarf male or a female. The male (one is visible as a small blob on the upper right of the belly of the topmost of the two creatures shown here) lands on another asexual S. pandora and waits for it to produce a female. After being fertilized by the dwarf, the female bears a motile larva and immediately expires; the male, which has no digestive system, dies a little later. The larva either finds a new host or lands on the same lobster’s new lips, starting a new round of feeding and asexual breeding. It would be hard to get an answer from a zoologist if you asked what group S. pandora belongs to, says Funch. It’s quite impossible to place it in one of the existing ones.LOS ANGELES -- Virgin Galactic is switching to an alternate plastic-based rocket motor fuel for its SpaceShipTwo (SS2) commercial space vehicle to improve performance over the original rubber-based fuel grain propellant.
While specific reasons for the change have not been given, it is thought that it may be related to ride-quality issues caused by oscillations during operation of the original motor, as well as the requirement to increase burn time. The hybrid rocket motor is designed to thrust SS2 to an apogee above 100 km (60 mi.) altitude following air launch from the company's WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft. "We felt we could probably get there with both [fuel options], but plastic has exhibited the best characteristics," Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides says.
Although the switch to a polyamide-based grain comes late in the development effort, Virgin Galactic remains optimistic of completing initial sub-orbital passenger flights on schedule around the end of this year. Work on the alternate fuel has been underway in parallel with the baseline hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) rubber-based system for some time, with several static firings noted so far this year at the company's test stand at Mojave, Calif.
"We don't expect it to have a major impact on the overall schedule," says Whitesides, who adds the original permit application to the FAA for tests by SS2 developer Scaled Composites included provision for flights using both fuel types. However, Whitesides also acknowledges that any hope of staying even close to the latest schedule is heavily dependent on the successful completion of the ongoing ground tests that precede the final series of full-burn, Mach 3.5 flight tests to sub-orbit. "We have done full-duration burns on both motors and we are in the midst of the qualification process for the plastic grain motor," Whitesides says. Around four more ground tests are expected before flight tests resume with the new fuel, he adds.
Although slightly more powerful than the baseline HTPB-fueled RM2 hybrid rocket motor made by Sierra Nevada, the switch to the alternate fuel does not require additional structural reinforcement or major systems changes, Whitesides says. The cartridge containing the polyamide, a form of benign thermoplastic developed by engineers at Scaled Composites, will be integrated into SS2's large, mid-fuselage mounted nitrous oxide tank in the same way as the baseline motor. Although the installation of the new cartridge will "require a few tweaks to the plumbing system," the integrated fuel canister and nozzle assembly will connect to the oxidizer tank valve without added modifications, he adds.
Sierra Nevada, which based the RM2 on the HTPB-fueled hybrid motor it developed for the Burt Rutan-designed SpaceShipOne vehicle that preceded SS2, will remain a partner on the propulsion system despite the switch. "They will stay involved. We are still working our way through the division of responsibility," Whitesides says.
Whitesides says the final performance capabilities of the polyamide-fueled SS2 will only be known through powered flights later this summer. "We need to prove it out in test flights. We are like any other form of vehicle. We will improve over time but we need to make sure from the safety perspective that we will meet our goals from the start. This is a journey." The SS2 has so far made three powered flight tests, the last being on Jan. 10 when the vehicle reached 71,000 ft. and Mach 1.4 after a 20-sec. rocket burn.
The Polyamide-fueled rocket powered flight tests are aimed at a maximum apogee demonstration flight to 361,000 ft. (110 km) after an approximate 60-second burn. On completion of this milestone, Scaled is scheduled to turn the first vehicle over to Virgin Galactic which plans to begin commercial sub-orbital services from Spaceport America, New Mexico. The two-crew SS2 is designed to take six passengers or a science payload, with full-tempo operations expected to get underway in early 2015.
Virgin Galactic is meanwhile conducting its first annual inspection of WK2. "We are doing it on our own for the first time," Whitesides says, referring to the transfer of the carrier aircraft to Virgin from its developer, Scaled Composites. "As it's the first time around we are being very cautious," he adds. One of the discoveries was unspecified issues with one of the aircraft's large composite spars. Although widely reported elsewhere as cracks in the laminate close to the junction of the spar and one of WK2’s twin fuselages, Whitesides says the discoveries were minor. "We cleaned up a few things in the wings - a cleanup of some extra adhesive. The team is pleased about it," he says.
Other changes to WK2 include the development of a sturdier main landing gear system designed to withstand the repetitive loads associated with higher-rate commercial service. "We just did taxi tests up to 80 knots, so now it's back in the hangar while we inspect it. The Virgin Galactic/The Spaceship Company engineering teams have done a lot of work on the new gear - it's been a huge effort," he says. The gear redesign has been a long-term goal for the company since flaws were discovered following the partial collapse of the left main gear during landing from the aircraft’s 37th flight in August 2010.
The cabin of SS2 is meanwhile being prepared for the installation of interior features and attachments for passenger seats. The mounting brackets, dubbed "Lucky 7" attachments by the engineering team, have been installed on the fuselage sides. The first four of six seats have also been assembled and the design has passed the first set of loads testing. "If all goes well over the over the course of summer and the early fall we will install the seats," Whitesides says.How Alcohol Almost Ruined Lea Seydoux's Spectre Audition By Nick Romano Random Article Blend
While I was very shy. I don’t know, I don’t feel comfortable sometimes with the casting. It’s — you never know how you’ll feel at the moment.
Auditioning for a major female role in one of the most popular and beloved movie franchises of all time is a pretty uncomfortable feeling. We definitely understand that. So, she decided to calm her nerves, and that’s when things went down hill. I was, like, early and so I thought that maybe I could have a little beer to, like, relax, which was a very bad idea. I lost my text. I couldn’t remember my text anymore. So, I [said], ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. Can I come back and redo the casting?’ And, so, I said, ‘Yes.’ [Laughs]
As Jamie Foxx and T-Pain famously said, "Blame It On the Alcohol." Watch the full clip below. It’s common for people to have an alcoholic beverage — or eight — to calm the nerves before a high-pressure situation. But for Lea Seydoux, it nearly ruined the biggest moment of her career. The Blue Is the Warmest Color actress portrays Madeleine Swann in the new James Bond movie Spectre, but she could’ve easily lost the role thanks to that beer she had before her audition.While visiting the Mexico City set of Spectre earlier this year, I caught up with Seydoux about her role. Though she still couldn’t reveal much about the character, she did reveal how non-traditional her audition was. She first explained,Auditioning for a major female role in one of the most popular and beloved movie franchises of all time is a pretty uncomfortable feeling. We definitely understand that. So, she decided to calm her nerves, and that’s when things went down hill.As Jamie Foxx and T-Pain famously said, "Blame It On the Alcohol." Watch the full clip below.
Funny enough, Spectre was so secretive even from the actors’ standpoint that Seydoux took on the role without reading a script or knowing exactly who she was playing. She said |
The boy was taken to a general ward inside the cramped hospital, which overlooks Destruction Bay on the city’s east end. The hospital’s open windows were covered by sheets to block out the sun and the smell of burning trash. A sign painted in red by the hospital entrance read, “Water from the well in the hospital compound is unsafe for drinking.”
Two days later, the boy’s gums started to bleed. He was transferred to the hospital’s isolation ward. A day later, his lab tests came back. He had Ebola. Doctors delivered the news to the boy’s stepmother and asked again about his travels. The stepmother said the boy had attended his grandmother’s funeral in the provinces.
The father had lied to us, said Sara Hommel, a German pediatrician with a foreign aid group, clearly upset.
She couldn’t understand it. Other doctors, too, have complained about patients not being forthcoming about possible exposure to Ebola. But facing a disease with no cure, perhaps the father and others were afraid to admit the truth.
The hospital had remained closed for several days as the remaining hospital staff members demanded to be taught the infection-control measures considered essential to guarding against this unforgiving virus. “We are not going to rush back to work,” a hospital administrator said. “We want to be protected.”
The wait dragged on. Hommel and another German doctor, Noa Freudenthal, wondered how many cases of malaria or typhoid were going untreated. Ola During once had been filled with 250 patients. Where were these sick children now? Recently, a charity hospital tried to deliver a 2-year-old child suffering from cerebral malaria to the children’s hospital but was turned away. The gates were closed.
And then, one day last week, an infectious disease specialist from the University of California at San Francisco walked into Ola During. Dan Kelly conducted days of training, teaching staff members how to sanitize the floors and how to put on and remove the personal protective gear.
“Fear of Ebola is just permeating everything right now,” Kelly said.
He hoped maybe the training might instill a little confidence.
In the coming days, the children’s hospital is expected to reopen its metal gates.
The only question is whether patients will be too scared to come.Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou AP President Donald Trump has said several times that he wants Apple to manufacture iPhones and other products in the United States.
If Apple were to build phones in the United States, it would require the help of Foxconn, its primary manufacturing partner, which builds iPhones and other products in its factories in China.
Foxconn's chairman suggested on Thursday that if Trump wants to see electronics made-in-America, he should be willing to open the government's wallet and offer incentives and tax breaks.
"Does the U.S. offer incentive programs for foreign investors? They'll need to pass bills first, and we'll need to wait for American authorities to make a decision first," Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou said after a groundbreaking ceremony in China last week, according to Nikkei.
Gou suggested that rumored plans for Foxconn to build a $7 billion flat-panel screen factory in the U.S. will depend on governments addressing "investment issues."
"I am concerned as to whether the U.S. can resolve all the investment issues in only a few months' time," he said.
Gou also said that the United States might not have the skilled labor or supply chain for high-tech manufacturing. Late Apple founder Steve Jobs used similar arguments when he told Barack Obama why Apple did not manufacture iPhones in the United States.
"No one is willing to see a trade war happen. I am not willing to choose between [the U.S. and China]. Why should I give up on any market?" Gou reportedly said.
Government subsidies are a core part of Foxconn's business model
A Foxconn facility. Kin Cheung/AP Foxconn isn't shy about asking for government subsidies. The manufacturing giant receives billions of dollars in perks, tax breaks, and subsidies from China, The New York Times reported in December.
When Gou discussed the display panel factory, he suggested that Pennsylvania could offer incentives. "I have to tell other states to hurry up or we'll go ahead and sign with Pennsylvania," Gou said.
New York state has also reached out to Foxconn about possible incentives for a display plant, too.
Foxconn in 2013 pledged to hire 50,000 U.S. workers for a facility is Harrisberg, Pennsylvania, but the factory was never built, according to the Washington Post.
Nikkei reports that Gou said he had recently visited Washington D.C., but declined to comment on whether he met with Trump.
Apple likes to play down the possibility of assembling iPhones in the United States, but it says that parts built in the U.S. eventually make it into phones — 8,000 suppliers in 31 states provide parts and equipment for building iPhones and Macs, according to Apple.In last year’s Stanley Cup commemorative issue of the Indian, I believe in the first paragraph I declared that this was “The Blackhawks Era.” It felt like that at the time. And having a few days to reflect, maybe that’s the pain that won’t subside now. Because at best, the Hawks are going to have to share this era.
Last night didn’t really do anything to dissuade most of us that the Kings will make quick work of the Rangers and collect their second Cup in three years. And once that happens, we’ll have to wait another year before making that claim again, and even then it will sound pretty hollow with another team holding multiple championships, if the Hawks return to the summit.
I fully recognize that this would be the hockey definition of #FirstWorldProblems (a phrase I abhor, by the way). Fans of 28 other teams wish they had this conundrum, and I get that. But being a sports fan means being greedy. One championship is never enough, unless there are extenuating circumstances like a certain Northside baseball team (I don’t know if Sox fans think 2005 is enough or not, but I’m guessing no). Two means you have a chance to go down in history forever. And you don’t want anyone else doing that with you.
And yet, it’s hard to bring yourself to have too much distaste for the Kings. Sure, it hurts to watch them now. But I don’t know that it will next October. They’re just too good. And while Dustin Brown dives a lot and Willie Mitchell is a yappy dipshit, there’s not too many real jerks you can develop a real dislike for. Hell, I used to love Dustin Brown before his legs and hands went into the toilet.
It’s hard to see now, but it would probably be better for hockey in general to have a Two Towers of dominance set-up. It’s highly likely that the Kings and Hawks will play at least once more in the playoff in the next few years. And it’s been a long time since the NHL had a overarching rivalry based not on proximity or hate but on Cups riding on the outcome. Avs-Wings is the last to come to mind. I’m sure Canucks fans would like to argue Canucks-Hawks, but y’know, you have to actually win the thing for that to count.
Before Avs-Wings? Hard to say. 80’s Flames-Oilers I guess, but when Edmonton won five times and Calgary only the once, it’s hard to call that in the same class. The NBA had Lakers-Celtics. To a lesser extent Bulls-Pistons. Baseball had Yankees-Red Sox, even though that eventually drove us all nuts. Football had 49ers-Cowboys in the 90’s. Steelers-Ravens could count if you want.
But that doesn’t seem like much consolation now. I guess what hurts most is that this was probably the Hawks best chance to repeat. They may win again, or even a couple times more. But to repeat? Let’s say there’s a parade in June of ’15. The following season Hossa will be 37. Sharp 34. Keith 33. Seabrook 31. Toews and Kane will be pushing on 30, if you can believe that. And while the system will produce contributors, maybe even a star or two, it’s highly unlikely it can produce too many players of that level.
Maybe they’ll prove me wrong. They’ve made a habit of that the past couple years. Maybe I’m getting too far ahead of myself, because just one more Cup is hardly guaranteed. That’s what also hurts here, because this one was right there and lost on a coin flip (though a coin flip that didn’t have to be). Every chance is sacred. Toews or Keith could blow out a knee next year, and that chance would be lost. Look at the Penguins, who basically lost two prime chances to injuries to Malkin and Crosby. It’s so fragile. Which I guess is what makes them so special.VIDEO - Some 200-300,000 people gather every year on Mount Meron in northern Israel to celebrate the biggest Jewish festival in Israel in honor of the Lag B'Omer holiday.
The first visitors immediately after Passover with containers and equipment, while others begin flocking to the area several days before the holiday.
Photographer Harel Stanton took his camera to one of the religious world's "hottest" events and returned with unusual sights, experiences and angles from the Lag B'Omer celebration on Mount Meron.
1. Throwing clothes and pouring oil into the bonfire throughout the night and the following day in order to fan the flames.
2. The "halake" tradition: Many haredim and Sephardim don't cut their sons' hair until the age of three. This is one of the strongest transition ceremonies, which symbolizes the boy's separation from his asexual identity. The next day, a professional barber completes the haircut by giving the boy the look of a young Jewish man – a bold head and two side-locks. The child is about to bid farewell to his mother and sisters and start studying in a "cheder" (traditional elementary school). The cut hair is weighed and given to charity.
3. Hasid leaves a box and a letter asking for donations on the bumper of his car and goes to sleep…
4. Father showing his small children how to use bow and arrow
5. Several hundred worshippers and journalists receive the police's permission to gather above the tomb (for fear that it would collapse). The rest of the public stands on tribunes facing the grave, watching the ceremony from afar
6. Celebration is a religious-social meeting of joy, food and prayers
7. After starting the fire, the Hasidim burst into singing and dancing into the night and the following day. A Klezmer band plays songs praising the righteous rabbi. Children are carried on their fathers' shoulders
8. Rejoicing in black and white
9. Taking a short nap between celebrations
10. The entrance to Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai's tomb
11. Praying for 'Rabbi Shimon the Righteous'
12. Complete faith
13. Every year, dignitaries, ministers and dozens of people gather at a crowded courtyard for blessings and speeches, followed by a colorful Torah Scroll procession through Safed's narrow alleys, accompanied by Klezmer bands, singing and dancing
14. Young girls experience the festivities as well, separated from the boys of course
Harel Stanton is an international photographer and lecturerH29 – Future
This scene was originally written into the Hanako script, but we could never really find a good place to put it. Since it looks like I won’t have an Omake slot in the final game, I’m going to go public with this one.
“*Fzzzt*”
“The lights of the town went out with the sound of dying electricity; a blackout caused by excessive snowfall.”
“In a small, two-bedroom house near the station, the quiet scratching of pencil on paper stopped.”
“The shadowed figure responsible for the noise sighs, places the pencil on the paper, and then stands up.”
“Carefully feeling her way around the house, she retrieves the items that she is looking for, and breaths a sign of relief.”
“*Click* *Click*”
“The tiny sparks from the lighter light up the tiny kitchen like a strobe.”
“Finally, the lighter manages to take hold, and a meagre flame flickers at its mouth.”
“The shadowed figure carefully lights two candles, then extinguishes the lighter’s flame.”
“In the weak yellow light of the candles, the figure resolves into a young woman in casual clothes.”
“Walking carefully, as to not spill too much wax, she returns to her study.”
“The plans spread out on the table in the centre of the room are once again visible; nothing more than a collection of lines on an otherwise blank sheet.”
“The walls of the study are decorated with hand-rendered drawings of various buildings, each accompanied by a photo.”
“Against the far wall stand two deep chests, full of hand-drawn plans.”
“The woman carefully places the candles on either side of the desk, and picks up her pencil once more.”
“In a short time, she is once again working at full pace, the scratching of the pencil nearly matching the flickering light from the candles.”
“And so the woman continues, drawing away into the night.”
“Before long, the lines on the paper are connecting, forming the outline of a house.”
“A new house.”
“She buries her head deeper into the plans, making the most of the weak candle light.”
“She is so engrossed in her work that she doesn’t hear the soft sobbing and padding of feet until their owner wraps its arms around her legs.”
ha “Mommy…”
“The woman looks down, startled.”
“Her daughter, in her flannel pyjamas and carrying her favourite plush rabbit, is wrapped firmly around her leg, crying.”
ha “It’s all dark, mommy…”
“The woman puts down her pencil, and picks up her daughter, placing her on her lap.”
“Mother” “Shhh now Hana-chan.”
“Mother” “What’s the matter?”
ha “It’s dark, and I can’t sleep. Where are the lights, mommy?”
“The woman gently strokes her daughter’s hair before gently kissing the top of her head.”
“Mother” “Come on now, I’ll fix that for you.”
“The woman picks up one of the candles, now covered in hardened rivulets of wax, and helps her daughter stand up.”
“The daughter stumbles slightly, and bumps the desk, but neither of them notices beyond that.”
“Hand in hand, they walk into the next room, where a man lays sleeping on the edge of a double futon.”
“Next to him lay another two pillows; the small family always sleeps together.”
“The woman guides her daughter into the futon next to the sleeping man, and places the candle at the head of the futon.”
“Mother” “There you are, see? Now there’s light here.”
“The man stirs into consciousness.”
“Father” “Eh? What’s going on here?”
“Mother” “There was just a little blackout, and the night light went out.”
“Mother” “I brought a candle for Hana-chan to get to sleep by.”
“The man smiles slightly, and wraps an arm around his daughter.”
“Father” “Don’t you have a great mother, Hanako?”
“Father” “Say “Thank you.””
ha “T…thank you mommy.”
“The daughter hugs her plush rabbit tightly as her mother smiles and leaves the bedroom.”
“As she slides the door to the bedroom closed, she hears a strange sound…”
“…smells a strange smell…”
“…and realises that the corridor is much brighter than it ought to be.”
“She gasps, and rushes to the next room.”
“She tries to enter the blazing room, but the intense heat drives her back.”
“Her desk has collapsed into a pile of burning firewood, the floor around it blackened by the smoke.”
“The drawings on the wall curl away and disintegrate as they burn.”
“Smoke billows from the cracks in the drawing chests in puffs as the smouldering fire inside them draws air through the same cracks to survive.”
“Flames leap across the ceiling in mesmerising patterns.”
“The woman, too shocked to scream, falls over backwards, and can do nothing but sit and stare as her livelihood is consumed by the flames.”
“A picture frame, ablaze and losing its integrity, smashes to the floor.”
“The noise rouses the sleeping man, who enters the corridor.”
“Father” “What’s going on… oh my god…”
“As the pair stare into the inferno, the wall separating the study and the bedroom buckles and falls.”
$doublespeak (“Father”, “Mother”, “Hanako!”, “Hanako!”)
“The woman tries to get to her feet but slips.”
“The man, already standing, makes for the bedroom.”
“He opens the door, providing a second supply of air for the flames.”
“In an instant, they increase their brightness and intensity, and shimmering waves of heat separate the man and his daughter.”
“Their eyes meet, and the man knows what he must do.”
“Using his arms as a shield from the flames, he charges towards his daughter, scooping her up into his chest.”
“She screams an airless scream, but it is lost to the ever-increasing roar of the fire.”
“Even as he barrels through the short hallway to the house’s front door, he feels the flames lick against his body, instantly blistering skin and vaporising hair.”
“As he fumbles with the lock, he feels the heat of the fire upon his back, and hears the structure of the house slowly staring to crumble.”
“Opening the door seems to take an eternity, and as soon as he has it open a fraction, the back draft of air slams the slab of wood into him and his daughter, sending them flying.”
“Enraged by the fresh air outside, the fire screams and reaches out towards its flesh-based enemy.”
“Clawing his protesting body along the floor, breathing in lungfuls of smoke, the man makes his way towards his daughter.”
“She is curled tightly around her plush rabbit, her flannel pyjamas blackened and covered in glowing trails of smouldering fire.”
“Her skin is lost amongst the ashes of her clothes; as charred as the walls around her.”
“The man summons the last of his strength, and shoves the small girl out through the door and onto the pristine white snow outside.”
“He hears the hiss of the melting snow turning into steam at the door, but he can see that his daughter is now safe from the flames.”
“She stirs, and turns towards him, her tiny hand pushing through the snow towards him.”
“He smiles slightly as the walls finally buckle, sending the roof crashing down around him.”
AdvertisementsDowntown bike lane project pranks Albuquerque mayor Copyright by KRQE - All rights reserved Video
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Careful with what you see and hear Wednesday, after all, it is April Fool's Day, and that hasn't stopped some from even trying to prank Albuquerque's mayor.
An online article popped up Wednesday, showing Mayor R.J. Berry announcing a new, expensive project for cyclists that had a lot of people guessing. But the response from the mayor's office, may be just as surprising for some.
For lots of cyclists in Albuquerque, the idea of making more room on the road is something they can get behind.
"Being that I am a bike rider myself, I think it's a good idea," said Fred Williams, a native Albuquerque resident.
"I would love it," said Patrick Plagenhoef, another Albuquerque cyclist.
On Wednesday, it was almost as if their hopes were answered. Online, a news article popped up with a bicycling bombshell: "Mayor Announces Buffered Bike Lanes for Downtown."
The post came with a picture, showing blue-prints for 13 miles of downtown bike lanes, all painted in turquoise. The article also claimed that the lanes will go on the Lead and Coal corridor, MLK Jr. Boulevard, Tijeras and Broadway Boulevard. In many of those places, bikers are forced to ride in traffic.
"I think they should have more of them," said Williams.
"I'm all for the safer bike buffering," said Plagenhoef.
According to the article, the cost of the project is about 4.7-million dollars.
But as KRQE News 13 learned Wednesday, the story was even news to the mayor's office.
"It looks like components of a real picture that has been doctored," said Mayor R.J. Berry's Chief of Staff Gilbert Montaño as he looked at a copy of the article Wednesday.
Montaño says the picture is a fake, and so is the article.
"No we didn't have any part in making that," chuckled Montaño.
So who did it? A local downtown advocacy group called "Urban ABQ." The group admits the photo and article are fake.
"Yeah we made it all up, yeah it was completely fabricated," said Leila Salim, a member of Urban ABQ.
Salim says the group would really like to see bike lanes downtown. The group played the "April Fool's" prank to start a conversation.
"Maybe people will get excited about it actually happening and we can have a little push with the mayor's office," said Salim.
Turns out the mayor's office says it's listening, and appreciated the prank.
"It's something that ironically has been in any of the discussions at top levels," said Montaño.
Urban ABQ says if they can help make the bike lanes become a reality, even if it's through a prank, it's worth it.
"It's a fun way to get those conversations started and then hopefully encourage people to get involved," said Salim.
Urban ABQ says nearly seven-thousand people have seen the article on Facebook so far and shared it about 40 times. The group plans to update the prank with the truth shortly, but hopes to continue talking about and advocating for the idea.
As for a real downtown bike lane plan, the mayor's office says there's no timeline, but they'd like to have one drafted in the next year.Hundreds of thousands of NATO troops will be put on a higher state of alert amid growing tensions with Russia as the Bloc`s commanders want to prepare a substantial land force capable of deterring Russian aggression, the head of the alliance has indicated, according to The Times.
Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance`s secretary-general, did not give precise figures, but Sir Adam Thomson, Britain`s outgoing permanent representative to NATO, said he thought that the goal was to speed up the response time of up to 300,000 military personnel to about two months, The Times reported.
At present a force of this size could take up to 180 days to deploy.
The troops would act as a ”follow-on force” to NATO`s existing response force, which can be deployed to a warzone within days. The personnel will come from nations across the alliance.
”We have seen Russia being much more active in many different ways,” Stoltenberg said.
”We have seen a more assertive Russia implementing a substantial military build-up over many years; tripling defense spending since 2000 in real terms; developing new military capabilities; exercising their forces and using military force against neighbors.” ”We have also seen Russia using propaganda in Europe among NATO allies and that is exactly the reason why NATO is responding. We are responding with the biggest reinforcement of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War,” said the NATO chief.
”We are... addressing what we call the follow-on forces,” he said. ”There are a large number of people in the armed forces of NATO allies. We are looking into how more of them can be ready on a shorter notice.”
He added that the issue had been discussed at a meeting of NATO defense ministers last month.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, defense budgets in most member states of NATO were slashed and militaries reduced. Most of those forces still in uniform were put on a lower state of readiness. By contrast, Russia has continued to train its military at scale, with exercises of more than 100,000 personnel taking place each year.
NATO is also responding to an increase in espionage, hybrid warfare and cyberattacks by Russia and other non-NATO states. One step has been the creation of an intelligence division, headed by an assistant secretary-general of intelligence.
See also: Cold War may become reality as tensions between Russia and the West – Analyst4 PHOTOS Doomsday clock - Bulletin of Atomic Scientists See Gallery Doomsday Clock moved forward 2 minutes, sits only 3 minutes from midnight The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists says due to the severity of threats facing humanity, the doomsday clock might move closer to midnight. Matt Sampson has the details. WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 22: Scientists from the group Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists speak during a press conference after updating the ÃDoomsday Clockà January 22, 2015 in Washington, DC. The group moved the clock, considered a metaphor for the dangers facing the world, from 5 minutes to midnight to three minutes to midnight due in large part to growing concern over global climate change. From left to right are Kennette Benedict, executive director of BAS; Sharon Squassoni, director of the Proliferation Prevention Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Sivan Kartha, senior scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute; and Richard Somerville, research professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Professor Richard Somerville of the University of California in San Diego unveils the 'Doomsday Clock' showing that the world is now three minutes away from nuclear disaster, from five minutes previously, during a press conference of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientistists in Washington,DC on January 22, 2015. AFP PHOTO/NICHOLAS KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images) NEW YORK - JANUARY 14: Lawrence Krauss, co-chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists speaks at a press conference announcing the adjustment by one minute back of the 'Doomsday Clock' on January 14, 2010 in New York City. The clock measures how vulnerable the world is to disaster from nuclear weapons and threats from the climate or new technologies. (Photo by David Goldman/Getty Images) Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE
By RYAN GORMAN Humans are inching closer to a doomsday scenario, experts believe.The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists (BAS) moved the infamous Doomsday Clock ahead two minutes, leaving it three minutes from midnight.Citing global warming and increasingly dangerous weapons caches around the world, BAS leaders claimed in a Thursday press conference that the "probability of global catastrophe is very high.""In 2015, unchecked climate change, global nuclear weapons modernizations, and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals pose extraordinary and undeniable threats to the continued existence of humanity," the group said in a statement."World leaders have failed to act with the speed or on the scale required to protect citizens from potential catastrophe. These failures of political leadership endanger every person on Earth." Earth's warmest recorded year was 2014, according to NOAA, and 14 of the 15 warmest years have occurred since 2000.The remarkable warming led the U.S. to vote overwhelmingly across party lines this week (98-1) in agreement that climate change is real –- a marked shift from Republicans claiming the theory is a hoax.Increasing tensions between Islamic extremists and the West, as well as chilling relations between the U.S. and Cold War enemies Russia and China were also cited.The last time BAS moved the Doomsday Clock was in January 2012, according to the statement, when it was moved ahead one minute to five minutes to midnight."Since its creation in 1947, the Doomsday Clock has been adjusted only 18 times, ranging from two minutes before midnight in 1953 to 17 minutes before midnight in 1991," said BAS.The Doomsday Clock's most recent move this close to the end was three minutes to midnight in 1983, "when U.S.-Soviet relations were at their iciest," BAS explained.More than a dozen Nobel laureates sit on the board that decides where the doomsday clock should sit.Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.A political action committee is joining the debate on Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE’s hands.
Trump Has Tiny Hands PAC was launched Monday by Portland, Ore., resident Henry Kraemer.
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The size of Trump’s hands — and another appendage — has become fodder on the campaign trail.
“You know what they say about men with small hands … you can’t trust 'em!” Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration Sixteen years later, let's finally heed the call of the 9/11 Commission Schumer urges GOP to reject Trump's 'destructive' national emergency MORE quipped in late February.
During a Republican debate days later, Trump responded to Rubio’s jab.
“I have to say this: He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. I’ve never heard of this one. Look at those hands — are they small hands?” Trump asked. “He referred to my hands — if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you, there’s no problem.”
Trump has since defended the remark and accused Rubio of lying.
“I didn’t bring it up, somebody else said, ‘Donald Trump has small hands’” the front-runner said at a press conference Saturday. “What happened is Marco made it up because he’s a politician and politicians lie and they say bad things.”
“The day after, I’m shaking hands with people and everybody’s saying ‘wow you have strong hands, you have very big hands,'” he added.
Kraemer said he decided to start the PAC when Trump began "to deny he has tiny baby hands."
"When a call comes into the White House at 3 a.m., will Donald Trump's tiny baby hands be able to lift the phone receiver? This is something Americans should know before voting," Kraemer said in an interview with The Hill.
Kraemer said he has not decided who he is voting for.
Updated at 4:23 p.m.President Trump just had his worst terrible-no-good-very-bad week. That’s saying a lot, because he has had so many terrible-no-good-very-bad weeks since becoming president that one could easily wonder: how it could get worse?
It just did.
By naming Genenal John Kelly as his new Chief of Staff, Trump is admitting he needed to make a drastic change. But not even Kelly can erase this week's numerous debacles. And he certainly cannot change Trump's nature which is at the root of all his troubles.
What marks this week as particularly pernicious for the administration is the ominous danger sign for this president in his loss of support among Republican members of Congress — in both the House and Senate. Could this mark the beginning of the end?
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The abandonment of Trump became clear though a series of political missteps and gross miscalculations that began with Trump’s mean, bare-knuckled, treatment of Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsFormer Trump refugee director did not notify superiors about family separation warnings Court rejects challenge to Mueller's appointment Trump says he hasn't spoken to Barr about Mueller report MORE. In a series of tweets, Trump insulted him; he called him “weak” and “beleaguered;” and he seemed determined to push Sessions to resign.
We know Trump is upset that Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe. But to go to these lengths to verbally abuse him simply because he followed the law betrays Trump’s own sense of guilt and frustration that Sessions could not shut down any Russia-related investigations. The president is particularly incensed that Sessions’ recusal may have led to Mueller’s appointment as White House special counsel.
Republicans are none too pleased Trump is going after his own AG who also happens to be their long-time former colleague in the Senate — and the reason Trump was given conservative bonafides during his run for president. Sessions vouched for him. And conservatives came to support him because of it.
The second misstep came as he gave a fiery, red-meat, profanity laced and completely inappropriate speech before tens of thousands of Boy Scouts. It was not only hyper-political — (even after he said, “Who the hell wants to talk about politics in front of the Boy Scouts?”) — but it was also a grossly inarticulate, rambling, steam of consciousness about things these poor scouts had no clue about or interest in.
It was so bad that an official with the Boy Scouts felt compelled to issue an apology to the scouting community for the political rhetoric of Trump’s speech.
Then came the mystifyingly out-of-left-field series of tweets declaring that the military would no longer accept transgender troops. Trump changed national, military policy on Twitter, without giving his military generals a heads up.
The dam broke. The barrage of criticism from Republicans — from conservative Ruby Red states no less — was a deafening and beautiful sound to those who have fought for LGBT rights for so long. As hurtful, outrageous and bigoted as Trump’s tweets were, it actually demonstrated in real time just how much our country has moved in the progressive and humane direction of viewing transgender Americans as human beings. Ironically, Trump used to brag about how he would protect LGBT Americans. How empty those words became this week.
Add to this brew the Russia sanctions bill that passed overwhelmingly in the House and Senate, which the White House may only begrudgingly support because they know a Trump veto would be easily overridden. Add to that, warnings from Republicans to Trump to not even dare try to fire either Sessions or Mueller. Then there is the weird, unhinged, vulgar tirade coming from new White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, insulting (now former) White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus and threatening any staffer involved in leaks.
On their own, these were all difficult moments for Republicans supporting an unpopular president.
Then came the straw that broke the camel’s back: The slow train-wreck of a debacle that was the GOP Senate effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare. After a procedural vote to open debate barely passed this week, the Senate embarked on a bizarre “vote-o-rama” that showed just how tortured, out-of-order and secretive the process was. No one really knew what they would ultimately be voting on.
Talk of a “Skinny Repeal” bill dominated the day, but no bill came to light until the dark of night. Then, we all saw just how inadequate and cruel the bill would be if passed. The Congressional Budget Office confirmed it would leave 16 million without health insurance in the first year while premiums rose 20 percent. Then premiums would rise another 20 percent in the second year.
It was so heinous that Sens. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration GOP lawmaker says panel to investigate drug company gaming of patent system Sixteen years later, let's finally heed the call of the 9/11 Commission MORE (R-S.C.) and, the maverick, John McCain John Sidney McCainGOP lobbyists worry Trump lags in K Street fundraising Mark Kelly kicks off Senate bid: ‘A mission to lift up hardworking Arizonans’ Gabbard hits back at Meghan McCain after fight over Assad MORE (R-Ariz.) called it bad policy and bad politics. Even Republicans who were voting for it wanted assurances from House leaders that the bill would never become law — that it would only be a vehicle that would be a catalyst for a Senate-House conference.
But come on, how can you justify voting for a bill you say you would never want to become law? Take it from a former Democratic senator, the slogan, “I actually voted for it before I was against it,” is not a winning slogan.
In the end, the McCain joined Sens. Susan Collins Susan Margaret CollinsWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration Cohen grilled by Senate Intelligence panel Pence meets with Senate GOP for 'robust' discussion on Trump declaration MORE (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski Lisa Ann MurkowskiWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration Pence meets with Senate GOP for 'robust' discussion on Trump declaration House votes to overturn Trump's emergency declaration MORE (R-Alaska) in helping to sink the bill.
These three senators stood up to Trump’s pressure and bullying and did the right thing for their constituents and most Americans.
Hopefully, this week marks the beginning of Republicans standing up to an emperor they know has no clothes. Until now, they were willing to look the other way just as long as they got their agenda through.
Hopefully, Republicans realize this is no longer a good enough reason to continue supporting a president who is not only not making America great again, but making America a weak laughing stock around the world.
Hopefully, Republicans realize they are Americans first, and are now free to act like it.
Maria Cardona is a principal at the Dewey Square Group, a Democratic strategist and a CNN/CNN Español political commentator. Follow her on Twitter @MariaTCardona.
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.In Xinjiang, a region of deserts and mountains that makes up one-sixth of China’s landmass, more than 43 percent of the population is Uighur and more than 40 percent is Han, according to a 2000 census, the most recent data available. The Han population in the region has surged since the Communist takeover of China in 1949, fueling anxiety among Uighurs. Kazakhs make up 8 percent of the population, and the rest are Hui, Kirghiz and Mongols, among others.
At a high-level policy meeting in Beijing in May, Communist Party leaders discussed how to better assimilate Uighurs into Chinese society and tamp down violence in Xinjiang.
Mr. Xi, the Chinese president and party leader, said at the meeting that more Uighurs should be moved to Han-dominated parts of China for education and employment. He said the party and the state should establish “correct views about the motherland and the nation” among all of China’s ethnic groups, so that people of every background will recognize the “great motherland” and “the socialist path with Chinese characteristics.”
The promotion of Han-Uighur marriages is one of the policies to emerge from that meeting, said James Leibold, a scholar of China’s ethnic policies at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. He noted that the most recent data available showed that only 1 percent of Uighurs were in an interethnic family, compared with nearly 8 percent of Tibetans. The average among all ethnicities was more than 3 percent, but the Han also had a low rate, 1.5 percent.
Communist officials have long promoted popular tales of mixed marriages to paper over ethnic conflicts, including the story of the Fragrant Concubine, a |
the “only senator in the Senate” who will say that he’s “proud of my vote.”
Feingold calls public opposition to health care legislation the result of “an intentional effort to destroy the Obama presidency,” and he’s convinced it can’t last. The law is “going to look pretty damn good in two years,” Feingold told a sympathetic roundtable of a dozen women Friday morning.
“Some of us have to be the infantrymen on the front line, so that’s my fate,” he said.
Among the senatorial qualities Feingold lacks is any sense of being larger than life. He’s a life-size man of no special warmth — he’s long had a reputation as a bit of a humorless scold in Washington circles — and he slipped without friction out of a gathering in Janesville, his hometown, of retired autoworkers at the UAW’s Walter Reuther Memorial Hall. (“Only union-built vehicles assembled in the USA or Canada are allowed to park on premises.”)
“It’s obvious what the hacks that work for these people do,” Feingold said bitterly of the waves of attack ads aired by his opponent, Ron Johnson, in an interview at the union hall. “You hold a focus group, and you find out what are the qualities that people like in a person, and then you lie.”
Feingold is more accustomed to talking about process than most politicians, and the unlimited funds spent by Johnson and the outside groups supporting him are a major theme on the stump. One of his signature achievements was McCain-Feingold, which has been largely dismantled by the U.S. Supreme Court, but he is sticking to a pledge not to take outside money. He wrote the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee again this year asking that it not intervene on his behalf and told POLITICO that he would “absolutely” rather lose than see outside groups airing ads on his behalf. (He has taken fundraising and organizing help from MoveOn.org and from unions, of which he’s been a staunch ally.)
Feingold, at every stop, quotes Johnson’s having called health care reform “the greatest affront to personal freedom in my lifetime.”
“He must have led a charmed life,” Feingold jokes. “How does it hurt him that our youngsters can stay on their parents' insurance? And how does it hurt him that our seniors are finally going to get some help on that doughnut hole.”Before I pray, let me say a word about where we are going in the preaching this summer. If the Lord wills, today and next weekend I would like to finish the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John. Then on June 17, I hope to address the issue of homosexuality and so-called homosexual “marriage.” Then we will have a guest on June 24, Ed Stetzer, on 1 Peter 4. And in July and August a nine-week series on 2 Timothy: “To Him Be Glory Forever and Ever”: Unashamed of Christ and Ready to Suffer: A Summer in Second Timothy.
The plan is for me to do five of those nine and when I am on vacation for other pastors to do four. Summer is for seeing and savoring and showing Christ. Keep Christ at the center. Wherever you go, don’t neglect worship with God’s people. The point of today’s sermon, and my experience in Bucharest and Geneva and Hamburg, is that Jesus Christ will be with you, and manifest himself to you wherever you are.
Enjoying the Risen Christ
I serve a risen Saviour,
He’s in the world today;
I know that He is living,
Whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy,
I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him
He’s always near. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and He talks with me
Along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He live, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart.
My prayer is that when this message is over, you will be able to sing that song with more conviction and more joy and a sweeter experience of fellowship with the risen Christ than you’ve ever known before.
“Loving Jesus is not the same as keeping his commandments. It precedes and gives rise to keeping the commandments.” Twitter Tweet Facebook Share on Facebook
Disciples in Need of Encouragement
These words in John 14:15–24 were spoken just hours before the greatest event in world history — the greatest act of love in history — namely, the death of the incarnate Son of God in the place of sinners so that everyone who receives him and believes on him will be forgiven all our sins and be accepted as righteous by the creator of the universe into the never-ending joy of eternal life. What Jesus is saying here assumes that. He is, as he said in John 10:15, about to lay down his life for the sheep.
And these sheep — these eleven precious friends, apostles — are very confused and fearful and in need of much encouragement because of what they are about to face in the loss of Jesus. And that is what Jesus does for them, and not only for them, but for you — for everyone who believes in his name.
And his message here to them, and to us, is that when he dies, he will live again, and he and the Father and the Holy Spirit will come to us and be with us forever, and never leave us, no matter where we are, or what is happening to us.
God’s Special Love for His Own
Let’s make two introductory observations about what Jesus says here. First, he makes explicit that the gifts he is promising to us here are not given to the world. Or to say it another way, the love that he promises us here is not a love that he has for the world. There is the John 3:16 love of God: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that anyone who believes will not perish but have eternal life.” But here there is a love — there are gifts — that God reserves for his own. Look at verses 16–17:
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
And verse 19: “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me.” And verse 22: “Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?’”
So it is clear from verses 17, 19, and 22 that the gift of intimacy and help and love being promised in these verses is something the world cannot see, does not know, is not given, and does not experience. What is promised here is something so personal, so intimate, so reciprocal and relational that the world cannot receive it.
That’s the first introductory observation.
His Beloved People’s Love for His Son
The second is that those who do receive these gifts — these promises, this love — are not simply called Christians or believers, they are described repeatedly — four times as those who love Jesus.
Verse 15–16: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.”
Verse 21: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father.” This is not a love God has for the world. This is a personal, intimate, relational, affectionate, committed love from the Father only for those who love Jesus.
Verse 23: “Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him.’” We know from Romans 5:8 that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God didn’t wait for us to love him before he loved us. And we know that’s what John believed too, because in 1 John 4:19 he says, “We love because he first loved us.” No doubt about it. Gloriously true.
And now here is another glorious truth. Verse 21: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father.” Or again in verse 23, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him.” In other words, God’s love precedes and enables our love (Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:19). And God responds to our love and loves with a unique, personal, intimate, affectionate, caring, committed love that belongs only to those who love his Son.
Those are the two introductory observations. The promises of these verses are not for the world. They can’t see them, know them, or experience them. Rather, this love is for those who love Jesus.
Now just two more questions. What does it mean to love Jesus? And what are we promised if we do?
1. What does it mean to love Jesus?
Jesus tells us four times that this love is of such a nature that it results in the keeping of Jesus’s commandments, or, more generally, his word.
Verse 15: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
Verse 21: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.”
Verse 23: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.”
Verse 24: “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”
The first thing to notice is that loving Jesus is not the same as keeping his commandments. It precedes and gives rise to keeping the commandments. Keeping his word is the result of loving him, not the same as loving him.
Verse 15: “If you love me, [the result will be that] you will keep my commandments.”
Verse 23: “If anyone loves me, [the result will be that] he will keep my word.”
So, what is this love for Jesus that gives rise to keeping the commandments of Jesus? Jesus has no defects. He has no demerit. Therefore, we cannot and dare not love him graciously, the way God loves us. We dare not love him with a love that overcomes some fault or ugliness or sin in Jesus to treat him well. No. Love for Jesus is entirely deserved. He is infinitely worthy of being loved. He is perfectly lovely. He is loved not in spite of what he is, but because of all that he is.
“Loving Jesus isn’t a matter of doing excellent things. It’s a matter of delighting in an excellent Savior.” Twitter Tweet Facebook Share on Facebook
Which means that love for him is a response to beauty and greatness and glory. It is not a response to need or weakness or defect. Which also means that love for Jesus is pleasurable. It’s desiring him because he is infinitely desirable. It’s admiring him because he is infinitely admirable. It’s treasuring him because he is infinitely valuable. It’s enjoying him because he is infinitely enjoyable. It’s being satisfied with all that he is, because he is infinitely satisfying. It’s the reflex of the awakened and new-born human soul to all that is true and good and beautiful, embodied in Jesus.
In short, loving Jesus is not a matter of doing excellent things. It’s a matter of delighting in an excellent Savior. Jesus says doing excellent things — keeping my word — is the result of delighting in the excellent Savior. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.”
Love: Wanting, Desiring, Enjoying, Preferring
Two confirmations that we are on the right track. The word love in John’s Gospel is used like this. For example, John 3:19 says, “People loved the darkness rather than the light.” That is what they wanted. They desired it. They enjoyed it. They preferred it. They didn’t love the darkness out of duty. They loved it out of craving.
The same kind of love is in John 12:43: “They loved the glory of man more than the glory of God.” They wanted it. That’s what loving it means. They longed for it. They craved human praise. That’s how they “loved” it.
Or consider the Father’s love for the Son John 3:35: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.” Remember the words of the Father at the baptism of Jesus and at his transfiguration: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).
This is the only way to love the Son: to be pleased with him. To feel pleasure in him. To esteem and admire and enjoy and treasure and stand in trembling, happy awe of him.
That’s one confirmation. The word “love” is used that way. The other is to ask: What are the commandments Jesus has in mind when he says in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”?
The “Commandments” in Jesus’s Mind
When you read through the whole Gospel of John just looking for specific moral-behavior commandments, what do you find? You find about two explicit commandments that you might call moral-behavior commandments: the new commandment to love each other as Jesus loved us (John 13:34–35), and the command to Peter: “Feed my sheep” (John 21:16).
But Jesus didn’t say, “If you love me, you will keep my moral behavior commandments.” He said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (verse 15). So if you read through the Gospel again, what you find is lots of commandments like: “Receive me” (John 1:12). “Follow me” (John 1:43). Get up, crippled man (John 5:8). Rise from the dead, Lazarus (John 11:43)! “Believe in the light” (John 12:36). “Believe in God” (John 14:1). “Believe me” (John 14:11). “Abide in me” (John 15:4). “Ask whatever you wish” (15:7). “Abide in my love” (John 15:9). “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). These are the commandments that are all over the Gospel of John.
Now how does that confirm the way we have understood love for Jesus in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”? Because if the commandments in the Gospel of John are overwhelmingly receive, believe, ask, abide, then it makes perfect sense that Jesus would say, “If you love me — if you desire me and delight in me and treasure me — then you will receive me, and believe me and abide in me.”
In other words, if you have been born again so that you treasure Jesus above all other treasures, and he commands you, “Receive me,” “Take me,” “Have me as your treasure,” we will. If we have been born again so that we find him supremely and wonderfully trustworthy, and he commands us, “Trust me,” “Believe me,” we will. And if we are born again so that we long to be with him, and he commands us, “Abide in me,” we will.
So my answer to the first question: What does it mean to love Jesus in John 14:15, 21, and 23 is that it means to treasure him above all others, to desire him, long for him, enjoy him, be satisfied in all that he is.
2. What are we promised if we love him?
Now the last question is what does Jesus promise such people, a few hours before he goes to die for them? The sum of the promise is: The Father, the Holy Spirit, and I will be with you forever. We will never forsake you no matter where you are. But to say that, Jesus piles up an amazing array of expressions. Let’s walk through and spot them.
Verse 16: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.” When he calls him “another Helper,” he means that this Helper is not the Father and he is not me, because I am the first helper. This second Helper is the Holy Spirit (verse 26). When Jesus returns to heaven, the Father will give the Holy Spirit, another helper. He promises.
Verse 17: “Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” The Helper, the Holy Spirit, is the Spirit of truth. That is, he will help you by opening you mind and heart to glorious truth about Jesus. He is with you now, in my presence, and he will be in you in a new way when I pour him out after my ascension.
Verse 18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Not only will the Holy Spirit come. Jesus will come. And he will give us what orphans need: they need protection and provision and guidance. Jesus will be all that and more, now, in this life. He will not leave us without help.
Verse 19: “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” In three days I will rise from the dead. But I will not start my ministry over again on the earth before the world the way I have ministered for three years. I will appear to you. You will see me. I will assure your hearts by a bodily resurrection that you will see. And because I live, you will live.
Verse 20: “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” You will have assurance. I will give it to you — assurance that I and the Father are one. And that you and I are bound together forever, I in you and you in me. If death couldn’t sever it, nothing will sever it.
“The Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus will be with you forever. They will never forsake you no matter where you are.” Twitter Tweet Facebook Share on Facebook
Verse 21: “And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” My Father and I have a special, close, family love for you. And in that love I will manifest myself to you. I will show you things about me that the world cannot see or know. They are experienced by those who love me and treasure me and receive me. And keep my commandments.
Verse 23: In answer to the question why this manifestation will not be for the world, Jesus simply says again: It’s for those who love me — “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
Heaven on Earth
I end with this. The word “home” is used only one other time in John, namely, verse 2, “In my Father’s house are many rooms [same word as “home” in verse 23]. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” Which means: If you love me and keep my word, my Father and I will come to you and — in all your suffering and trials — give you heaven on earth.
We have prepared a dwelling for you in heaven. We are that dwelling. And if you have me and keep my word, we will come and be that dwelling for you now.
Love Him, Receive Him, Abide in Him
Therefore, love him. Keep his sweet commandments to receive him and abide in him. Overflow with his fullness for others in love. And he will come to you, and the Holy Spirit will come and the Father will come, and they will protect you and provide for you and lead you — you won’t be an orphan. And they will comfort you, and love you in a very personal way the world does not know, and they will manifest Jesus to you, and make you their home.For other people named Charles Jenkins, see Charles Jenkins (disambiguation)
Charles Robert Jenkins (February 18, 1940 – December 11, 2017)[2] was a United States Army soldier who lived in North Korea from 1965 to 2004 after deserting his unit and crossing the Korean Demilitarized Zone.[3][4]
Military service and desertion [ edit ]
Jenkins was born in Rich Square, North Carolina. He joined the Army National Guard in 1955, aged 15, below the minimum enlistment age. He joined the Regular Army in 1958 and was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. He served in South Korea from 1960 to 1961, in West Germany from 1962 to 1964, and in South Korea again.[5]
In South Korea, Jenkins was assigned to night patrols.[citation needed] He subsequently crossed into North Korea and surrendered to forces there, in the hope of being sent to the Soviet Union and then, through prisoner exchange, eventually returned to the United States.[citation needed] Shortly thereafter, North Korean propaganda declared that a U.S. sergeant had defected, and broadcast statements allegedly made by the defector, reportedly in stilted English. The U.S. Army claimed Jenkins wrote four letters stating his intention to defect (an allegation Jenkins denied); however, the original letters are reportedly lost. His relatives maintained throughout his absence that he was abducted.[3]
Life in North Korea [ edit ]
Information about Jenkins' status was unavailable outside North Korea for many years. Jenkins said he almost immediately regretted his desertion. He said that for seven years, until 1972, he and three other U.S. servicemen—Larry Abshier, Jerry Parrish, and James Dresnok—were quarantined in a one-room house with no running water, where they were made to study the Juche philosophy of Kim Il-sung daily. They were forced to memorize large passages of Kim's writings in Korean, and beaten frequently by their guards.[5]
He said that at one point in 1966, he found his way to the Soviet embassy in Pyongyang and requested asylum, which was denied. Eventually, Jenkins was placed in separate housing and began teaching English at the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies.[4][6]
In 1980, 40-year-old Jenkins was introduced to 21-year-old Hitomi Soga, a Japanese nursing student who had been abducted by North Korean agents in 1978, along with her mother, during a search for Japanese citizens who could train future spies in Japanese language and culture. Soga's mother was never heard from again, and Soga was "given to" Jenkins. Thirty-eight days after meeting, they were married. They had two daughters, Roberta Mika Jenkins (born 1983) and Brinda Carol Jenkins (born 1985). In 1982, Jenkins appeared in the North Korean film Unsung Heroes, which provided the first evidence to the Western world that he was alive. The U.S. government did not publicly reveal this information until 1996.[3][4][7][8]
Confirmation and return [ edit ]
Jenkins in September 2004, getting a haircut to conform to US Army grooming regulations
Jenkins drew international interest again in 2002, when North Korean leader Kim Jong-il confirmed that North Korea had abducted Japanese citizens. In an effort at détente, surviving abductees were allowed to travel to Japan, including Jenkins' wife. The visit was intended to last for a week, but the Japanese government chose not to return them on schedule and instead negotiated for their families to join them in Japan. Most of the families did ultimately travel to Japan, but Jenkins and his daughters stayed behind out of fear that the North Korean government was testing his loyalty.[3]
After assurances of protection from the Japanese government, he traveled with his daughters to Japan by way of Indonesia for medical treatment, arriving in Japan in July 2004. Japan formally requested a pardon for Jenkins,[9] which the U.S. declined to grant. After expressing a desire to put his conscience at rest, Jenkins reported on September 11, 2004 to Camp Zama in Japan. He reported in respectful military form, saluting the receiving military police officer.
On November 3, Jenkins pleaded guilty to charges of desertion and aiding the enemy, but denied making disloyal or seditious statements – the latter charges were dropped. He was sentenced to 30 days' confinement, received a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and benefits and was reduced in rank to E-1 private (the lowest rank in the US Army). He was released six days early, on November 27, 2004, for good behavior.[3]
Jenkins and his family settled on Sado Island in Japan, which is Soga's home. On June 14, 2005, Jenkins, his wife, and two daughters traveled to the United States to visit his 91-year-old mother in North Carolina, returning later in the month.[3] He found work as a greeter at a shop in Japan.[6]
There were three other U.S. deserters who remained in North Korea as well: James Joseph Dresnok (who was interviewed for a 2006 British documentary Crossing the Line), Private Larry Allen Abshier, and Specialist Jerry Wayne Parrish. The former two defected in 1962, while the latter defected in 1963.[4] Dresnok continued to live in North Korea until his death in 2016. According to North Korean official reports, Abshier and Parrish died of natural causes while living in that country.[10]
On July 15, 2008, Jenkins obtained permanent residency status in Japan, a month after he applied for the status.[11] Jenkins commented that he wanted to stay in Japan for the rest of his life, and would also like to obtain Japanese citizenship.[12]
Memoirs [ edit ]
Jenkins published a book in Japanese in October 2005, titled To Tell the Truth (Japanese: 告白; Romaji: kokuhaku; ISBN 978-4047915107), about his experiences in North Korea. A Korean-language edition was also released in June 2006 by Mulpure Publishing of South Korea. (Korean: 고백, gobaek, ISBN 978-8981102340)[13]
An English-language version, titled The Reluctant Communist: My Desertion, Court-Martial, and Forty-Year Imprisonment in North Korea, co-authored with journalist Jim Frederick ( ISBN 978-0520253339), was published by the University of California Press on March 1, 2008.[14][15]
Later life and death [ edit ]
After his release, Jenkins lived in Sado, Niigata, with his wife.[16] He died there at age 77 on December 11, 2017.[2]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Last week, we learned from an Atlus survey that Etrian Odyssey V (originally announced in November 2014) might be on Nintendo 3DS. Today, we have confirmation that it will indeed be the case, and that in fact, the game will be revealed in the latest issue of Famitsu magazine (coming out on Thursday in Japan).
The Famitsu preview reveals that the game is called Sekaiju no Meikyuu V: Nagaki Shinwa no Hate (Etrian Odyssey V: The End of the Long Myth), and that it will be released on August 4th in Japan. The game will get a 10 page article in the magazine, which will include an interview of the developers. There will also be an illustration by Yuji Himukai (chara-designer), and the game will be featured in on the cover.
The preview below shows some new characters:
Arslan
Lunaria
Cerian
Branii
Famitsu gives two keywords: “Arcadia” (most likely the name of the land the game takes place in), and “race”. According to the magazine, players will have even more freedom when it comes to character customisation, and the various classes will be new.
And following the article in Famitsu magazine, Etrian Odyssey V will also be showcased in a livestream on Saturday, March 5th, on NicoNico. It will start at:
Europe: 12PM
UK: 11AM
North America (ET): 6AM
North America (PT): 3AM
Japan: 8PM
The following voice actors will be there:
Yoshihisa Kawahara
Ayumu Murase
Kaori Nazuka
Chiaki Matuzawa (MC)
and more…
Here’s the preview from Famitsu magazine:
Etrian Odyssey V (3DS) comes out on August 4th in Japan, and will cost 6 480 Yen (+ taxes).
Source: FamitsuThe ex-gay movement consists of individuals and organizations that encourage people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, eliminate homosexual desires and to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relationship.
It relies on the involvement of individuals who formerly identified themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual but no longer do; these individuals may either claim that they have eliminated their attraction to the same sex altogether or simply that they abstain from acting on such attraction.
There have been various scandals related to this movement, including some self-claimed ex-gays[1] having been found in same-sex relationships despite having denied this, as well as controversies over gay minors being forced to go to ex-gay camps against their will, and overt admissions by organizations related to the movement that conversion therapy does not work.
A large body of research and global scientific consensus indicates that being gay, lesbian, or bisexual is compatible with normal mental health and social adjustment. Because of this, major mental health professional organizations discourage and caution individuals against attempting to change their sexual orientation to heterosexual, and warn that attempting to do so can be harmful.[2][3]
Definition of change [ edit ]
Various ex-gay organizations have working definitions of change. Prior to disbanding and renouncing the idea of a cure,[4] Exodus International described change as, "attaining abstinence from homosexual behaviors, lessening of homosexual temptations, strengthening their sense of masculine or feminine identity, correcting distorted styles of relating with members of the same and opposite gender."[5] People Can Change defines change as, "any degree of change toward greater peace, satisfaction and fulfillment, and less shame, depression and darkness", and emphasizes that for most people, heterosexuality is not the ultimate goal.[6] When the term ex-gay was introduced to professional literature in 1980, E. Mansell Pattison defined it as describing a person who had "experienced a basic change in sexual orientation".[7] Some ex-gays advocate entering (or remaining) in a heterosexual marriage as part of the process. Some in mixed-orientation marriages acknowledge that their sexual attractions remain primarily homosexual, but seek to make their marriages work anyway.[8]
Objectives [ edit ]
Aside from achieving a degree of change in sexual orientation, the ex-gay movement pursues several broad goals and these include:
coordination with individuals and organizations, particularly opponents of gay and lesbian civil equality to influence public perception and public policy;
offering vulnerable gays and lesbians a procedure that is claimed to solve many of their problems by making them heterosexual;
promotion of ex-gay movement leaders as legitimate representatives in gay cultural/political discourse;
the destigmatization of therapeutic attempts to change sexual orientation to undermine the American Psychological Association's long-standing position that homosexuality is not a mental disorder.[9]
Motivation of participants [ edit ]
The American Psychological Association reported that some ex-gay groups may help counteract and buffer minority stress, marginalization, and isolation[10] in ways similar to other support groups, such as offering social support, fellowship, role models, and new ways to view a problem through unique philosophies or ideologies.[11] Additionally, the same researchers also found that people joined ex-gay groups due to: a lack of other sources of social support; a desire for active coping, including both cognitive and emotional coping; and access to methods of sexual orientation identity exploration and reconstruction.[10][12][13][14] The same report found that some[13][14][15] have described the ex-gay groups as, "a refuge for those who were excluded both from conservative churches and from their families, because of their same-sex sexual attractions, and from gay organizations and social networks, because of their conservative religious beliefs."[10] According to the APA report, "Ex-gay groups appear to relieve the distress caused by conflicts between religious values and sexual orientation and help participants change their sexual orientation identity, but not their sexual orientation."[10] The APA goes on to report that some[13] believed that by, "taking on 'ex-gay' cultural norms and language and finding a community that enabled and reinforced their primary religious beliefs, values, and concerns",[10] they could resolve identity conflicts by:
Adopting a new discourse or worldview.
Engaging in a biographical reconstruction.
Embracing a new explanatory model.
Forming strong interpersonal ties.[10]
One of the APA's sources for the report[14] found that, "ex-gay groups recast homosexuality as an ordinary sin, and thus salvation was still achievable."[10] Another one of their sources[15] is summarized as having observed that, "such groups built hope, recovery, and relapse into an ex-gay identity, thus expecting same-sex sexual behaviors and conceiving them as opportunities for repentance and forgiveness."[10] The APA report warns however that, "some [ex-gay] groups may reinforce prejudice and stigma by providing inaccurate or stereotyped information about homosexuality."[10]
Ex-gay organizations [ edit ]
The first contemporary ex-gay ministry, Love in Action, was formed in 1973.[16] Three years later, with other ex-gay organizations, it formed Exodus International, the largest ex-gay organization and the largest organization under the Exodus Global Alliance. In June 2013, the Exodus board decided to cease operations, with president Alan Chambers apologizing for the pain and hurt the group had caused and saying that he no longer believed sexual orientation could be changed.[4] Chambers apologized for what he identified as regrettable techniques, and the narrow message of a cure and marriage rather than a relationship with Christ for all.[17] Shortly after, Chambers and his wife started Speak.Love., an organisation for promoting conversations on sexual orientation for all. In September 2014, Speak.Love. was merged into Chambers' personal website.[18] Exodus Global Alliance, however, no longer affiliated with Exodus International,[19] has continued operations.
Other ex-gay organizations cater to a specific religious groups, such as Courage International for Catholics, North Star for the LDS Church, JONAH for Jews, Joel 2:25 International for Catholic and Protestant Christians and OneByOne for Presbyterians.
Some groups follow a specific technique, such as Homosexuals Anonymous,[20] modeled after the Alcoholics Anonymous twelve-step program. Other ex-gay organizations include Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays.
People [ edit ]
People associated with the ex-gay movement [ edit ]
People who no longer support the ex-gay movement [ edit ]
Controversy [ edit ]
Sexual orientation change efforts [ edit ]
Prior to disbanding, Exodus International recommended to their members that they undertake sexual orientation change efforts, such as conversion therapy.[46] Exodus warned against going to counselors who tell a patient that they "can definitely eliminate all attractions to your same gender, or that you can definitely acquire heteroerotic attractions."[47] Evergreen International did not advocate any particular form of therapy,[48] and warns that "therapy will likely not be a cure in the sense of erasing all homosexual feelings."[49]
Sexual orientation change efforts are controversial and the American Psychological Association reported that, "the available evidence, from both early and recent studies, suggests that although sexual orientation is unlikely to change, some individuals modified their sexual orientation identity (i.e., individual or group membership and affiliation, self-labeling) and other aspects of sexuality (i.e. values and behavior)."[10] Virtually all major mental health organizations have adopted policy statements cautioning the profession and the public against treatments that purport to change sexual orientation.[50][51][52]
In 2012, the Pan American Health Organization (the North and South American branch of the World Health Organization) released a statement cautioning against services that purport to "cure" people with non-heterosexual orientations as they lack medical justification and represent a serious threat to the health and well-being of affected people, and noted that the global scientific and professional consensus is that homosexuality is a normal and natural variation of human sexuality and cannot be regarded as a pathological condition. The Pan American Health Organization further called on governments, academic institutions, professional associations and the media to expose these practices and to promote respect for diversity. The World Health Organization affiliate further noted that gay minors have sometimes been forced to attend these "therapies" involuntarily, being deprived of their liberty and sometimes kept in isolation for several months, and that these findings were reported by several United Nations bodies. Additionally, the Pan American Health Organization recommended that such malpractices be denounced and subject to sanctions and penalties under national legislation, as they constitute a violation of the ethical principles of health care and violate human rights that are protected by international and regional agreements.[53]
In March 2018, the European parliament voted by 435 to 109 members of parliament to stop conversion therapies in memberstates of the European Union.[54][55][56]
Controversy over teenagers [ edit ]
A controversial aspect of the ex-gay movement has been the focus of some ex-gay organizations on gay teenagers, including occasions where teenagers have been forced to attend ex-gay camps by their parents. A 2006 report by the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce outlined evidence that ex-gay and conversion therapy groups were at the time increasingly focusing on children.[57] Several legal researchers[58] have responded to these events by arguing that parents who force their children into aggressive conversion therapy programs are committing child abuse under various state statutes.[59][60]
One case of emancipation involved Lyn Duff. Duff was admitted to Rivendell Psychiatric Center in West Jordan, Utah on December 19, 1991, at age 15, after being |
-site part of Supersonic Festival, but you don’t have to have a festival ticket to enjoy it. It’s all free.
Events include:
Trace: Music and Poetic Robotics – a performance by composer and roboticist Sarah Angliss and actor Emma Kilbey.
Dissidents and Dreamers: Anti-Authoritarian Art from the East and West, an exhibition of punk protest art and documents produced before the fall of the Iron Curtain + talk from Gee Vaucher, Oskar Kasperek and Nic Bullen, discussing their experiences in punk counter-cultural production. Chaired by John Robb, editor of Louder Than War.
Music improv with cutting-edge electronics, immersive string duets and acoustic free jazz.
Musician and writer, Honor Gavin, will talk to artist, Aideen Doran, about their shared interest in Birmingham’s architecture and the influence it has had on their artistic endeavours.
Other things not to miss in the coming days:
If you have children to entertain this Saturday, why not check out Supersonic’s free Kid’s Gig at Symphony Hall, led by Flamingods.
The All Ears exhibition at Millennium Point is well worth a look. Closing on Sunday, it’s a fascinating showcase of musical machines old and new.
Visual storyteller Stewart Easton will be showing his stunning interactive embroidery at A3 Project Space over the weekend.
As part of Hidden Spaces and open until Sunday; uncover some of the remaining traces of Birmingham’s cinematic history in the basement of Piccadilly Arcade, formerly a cinema between 1910 and 1926.
Digbeth Delights takes place from 12-5pm on Sunday 14 June 2015. More information can be found here.Games Played Wins Loses Overtime Loses Points Anaheim 47 34 8 5 73 San Jose 46 28 12 6 62 Los Angeles 46 27 14 5 59 Vancouver 46 24 13 9 57 Phoenix 44 21 14 9 51 Calgary 45 25 24 6 36 Edmonton 47 15 27 5 35
Welcome to the first installment of the Pacific Division Playback, a weekly feature where we take a look back at what went down in the Pacific Division over the last week. For today’s post we look at the Pacific Division action between January 5th and January 11th, the first full week of 2014.
In the table above you can the standings in the division as of the 11th. In the weeks that follow we will track the movements of each team. At the moment the Anaheim Ducks have been the creme of the crop both in the Division and the entire NHL, sitting atop the Pacific with 73 points. San Jose and Los Angeles round out the top three and the three guaranteed playoff spots in the Pacific. However, Vancouver is not far behind in fourth place just two points out of third and five points out of second.
The Phoenix Coyotes sit in no mans land, not quite in playoff contention and not quite at the bottom of the barrel, where the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers have sat for much of the season.
Now lets take a team by team look at how the last week of play panned out.Police arrested a man Monday evening in connection with stabbing a Columbus State Community College professor.
According to Columbus State Community College officials, Isaac Rotich was arrested and charged with felonious assault. He was arrested at Faith Mission on East Long Street shortly before 6 p.m.
Rotich was wanted for questioning in connection with the stabbing of a part-time statistics professor, Kipleting Mengich, inside Davidson Hall, on the campus, located at 550 E. Spring St., at about 8:35 a.m., 10TV’s Kevin Landers reported.
Investigators said that the Mengich, 38, was stabbed in the stomach with a pocketknife. And collapsed in the hallway of nearby Madison Hall
School officials said that Rotich, 45, is not a student at the school. The man said that both Rotich and the victim were from Kenya, Landers reported.
Willy Mutai said that he has known Rotich for six years.
“I was shocked, because like three months ago, he came to my place and he told me he would not die without somebody,” Mutai said.
Mutai said that he became so concerned for his safety and his friends that he started taking pictures of Rotich to send to his family back in Kenya. He said that he never contacted police about the threats but wished he had.
“We didn’t see the reason as to why we should let the police know, because we didn’t take it serious, but now it’s serious,” Mutai said.
The man said that he was even more concerned for his safety now.
“I’m worried about the rest of my friends, because he would say that he would target any of us,” Mutai said.
Watch 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for continuing coverage.Rome's Mayor Virginia Raggi has officially withdrawn the city's support for the Italian capital's bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Raggi used a press conference today to announce her decision, during which she claimed that pressing ahead would be "irresponsible".
Her verdict essentially ends Rome's hopes of hosting the Games in eight years time - there is no way it could continue without the support of the city's most prominent elected official - and comes after months of speculation that she would pull the plug.
This leaves a three-horse race of Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris ahead of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) electing a host at its Session in Peru's capital Lima on September 13 next year.
Rome 2024 has responded with a tweet from the bid's official account which said "an incredible opportunity" for the city and Italy had been lost, while a series of others followed suggesting that supposed problems the capital faces would now not be resolved.
A statement from the bid team then expressed "profound surprise and disappointment".
The Rome bid was placed in immediate trouble when Raggi took office after an election in May, as she had consistently placed herself on an anti-Games platform.
Along with her Five Star Movement party (M5S), a populist group started by comedian and blogger Beppe Grillo, she has often cited financial concerns when claiming that the bid should not proceed and has argued that other services in the city deserve the funds instead.
During her press conference, she claimed that past host cities have been left with financial problems, a point she highlighted using a big screen.
CONI President Giovanni Malago gestures after a meeting with Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi was reportedly cancelled shortly before she announced the city would not support the id for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympics ©Getty Images
"We want to escape the big events that bring money and debts," said Raggi, who claimed the city was still paying back debts from the Games it hosted in 1960.
"We want something more for Rome, 70 per cent of citizens said no to the Games.
"We are effectively asking the people of Rome and Italy to shoulder the debts and we don't support it.
"The Olympics are a dream turning into a nightmare - a blank cheque signed by host cities, as shown by an Oxford University study.
"Sport was an integral part of our electoral campaign, but we don't want it to be used as a pretext to a building spree around the city."
This will mark the second occasion on which Rome has filed an application to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, only to withdraw the bid.
In February 2012, Italy's then Prime Minister Mario Monti called an end to a bid for the 2020 Games, citing "uncertain costs and unknown financial benefit" at the peak of the financial crisis.
His decision was announced a day before the deadline for bidding cities to submit their application files, with Tokyo eventually awarded the Games.
A motion on the 2024 candidacy has also been prepared by the M5S.
"Following an in-depth analysis, we believe the conditions for the ongoing candidacy of the City of Rome for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics are not there," it read.
A tweet from the Rome 2024 account said an "incredible opportunity" has been lost ©Twitter/Rome 2024
The motion, now due to be debated at Rome City Hall, listed cities around the world that have withdrawn bids to host the Olympics in the past, including Boston and Hamburg which were both in the frame for 2024.
Rome 2024 officials and the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) had desperately been hoping to persuade Raggi to change her mind, with talks planned for after the Rio 2016 Paralympics, which ended on Sunday (September 18).
However, it was reported today that a Rome 2024 delegation, led by CONI President Giovanni Malagò, walked out of City Hall after Raggi was 35 minutes late for a meeting this morning.
"We waited but nobody turned up," Malagò said to a group of reporters.
"Roma 2024 was the chance to change a lot of things, without the Games this won't be possible."
Malagò claimed this week that the country risked a loss of credibility and "looking like a fool" if Rome did abandon its bid, with ANSA reporting that he has pledged to "go on" before a "formal act" by Raggi dooms the bid.
A Rome 2024 statement outlined a lengthy list of "disappointments" regarding Raggi's decision.
It added: "What saddens us most is having to tell our children that the new Government of Rome doesn’t have the courage to take on the responsibility of their future.
A Rome statement outlines the various "disappointments" they felt after the Mayor's decision ©Rome 2024
"It would have been so much better to have been able to tell them that a new, enlightened Government is willing to make difficult decisions and have the courage to clear a path, without getting trapped by contingency and by the deafening sound of the present, looking beyond the horizon and pointing the way for a new generation.
"That is how a dream is born, at least for those who know how to take on challenges."
The country's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, a vocal supporter of the bid, said earlier this month that the country would bid again in 2028 if plans for eight years time were scuppered.
A withdrawal for financial reasons can be considered as a blow for the IOC's Agenda 2020 reforms, which sought to promote more cost-effective ways for cities to bid.
Rome had proposed a "low cost approach" to hosting when submitting the first part of its Candidature File to the IOC in February, but the well-documented financial concerns experienced by Rio 2016 this year likely played into Raggi's hands.
The Bid Committee unveiled a package worth €5.3 billion (£4.1 billion/$5.9 billion), considerably less than the €13 billion (£10.1 billion/$14.5 billion) Rome envisaged spending on its aborted bid for the 2020 Games.
It envisioned spending €2.1 billion (£1.6 billion/$2.3 billion) on permanent structures, principally the Olympic Village and the press centre, and €3.2 billion (£2.5 billion/$3.6 billion) on temporary facilities, running costs and management.
Rome 2024 President Luca Di Montezemolo claimed that 70 per cent of the facilities required to host the Games were already in place.
Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi arrives for the press conference where she ended the city's Olympic bid today ©Getty Images
Today's news marks the second time one of the five original 2024 contenders has withdrawn after Hamburg's bid was axed following a referendum defeat.
Citizens in the German city voted 51.6 per cent against during a public ballot in November.
Boston dropped its bid amid poor public support in the city with Los Angeles then chosen as the American replacement.
insidethegames has contacted CONI and the IOC for comment.WASHINGTON -- Yes, the economy's growing, the unemployment rate is inching down and America is feeling a little bit better about itself. But don't think for a minute that all the lost jobs aren't still taking a severe toll all across this nation -- especially all the chopped government jobs.
Since February 2010, the nation's private employers have added more than 3.9 million jobs, or roughly 164,000 per month. Over the same period, however, some 485,000 government jobs were lost. The effects of those job cuts are being felt by children, families and businesses across America.
When city leaders in cash-strapped Camden, N.J., laid off more than 60 firefighters just over a year ago, many felt it created a public safety nightmare waiting to happen. The loss of nearly one-third of the city's firefighting capacity was a calculated risk, but a necessary sacrifice in order to close a $26 million budget deficit.
More than a year later, the cracks in the city's public safety armor are growing wider. Seven, sometimes eight fire companies are doing the work of 11. Volunteer departments in neighboring towns routinely must provide backup. Firefighter injuries are up. So are response times. And during one "brownout week" each month, no Camden firefighter can take vacation or holiday time off.
"It's been tough. It's been really tough, morale-wise. We've got guys being pushed to the max every day," said Al Ashley, president of Fire Officers Local 2578 in Camden.
Worse yet is the nagging feeling that the depleted fire department is tempting fate. If a serious structure fire breaks out, each of the city's seven companies would need to respond, making it impossible to respond to any other fire or emergency at the same time.
"It hasn't happened yet, but it's not a question of 'if,' it's a question of 'when,' " Ashley said. "The politicians are playing a game of roulette."
Last year, 19 percent of U.S. cities cut spending for public safety, according to a survey by the National League of Cities.
Camden, a city of 77,000 -- which also cut 168 police officers in 2011 -- is the extreme example of that national trend toward leaner, cheaper and ultimately less able state and local governments in the wake of the Great Recession. The 2010 elections, which brought in a wave of conservative policymakers who believe less government is best, exacerbated the situation in many places.
The per-capita employment rate in public education, by far the largest sector of government hiring, is at the lowest level since 1999. And the rate of public employment outside of education has fallen to the 1986 level, said Nicholas Johnson, vice president for state fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank.
When the recession hit, Johnson said 33 states raised tax rates, but that wasn't enough to make up for the decline in property, sales and income tax revenues, which still haven't fully recovered. Johnson said the recession caused 41 states to raise state college tuition and lay off university staff; 30 cut funding for local school districts; 25 cut funding for seniors and people with disabilities; and 30 states cut the availability of health care services.
Teachers have been one of the hardest-hit professions in the public sector. Seventy-one percent of school districts reported cuts in state and local funding from last year's budget, 68 percent eliminated positions this year, and 65 percent expect to do so again next year, according to a new survey by the American Association of School Administrators.
No surprise that job satisfaction among teachers has dropped 15 points from the 59 percent who were "very satisfied" in 2009. It was 44 percent in 2011, according to the MetLife Survey of the American Teacher. That's the lowest level in more than 20 years.
Meanwhile, the percent of teachers who no longer feel their job is secure has jumped from 8 percent in 2006 to 34 percent last year, the survey found.
Nowhere is that feeling more pronounced than in the Chester Upland School District outside Philadelphia, where budget cuts forced layoffs of 187 of the district's 320 teachers. The district is also in jeopardy of not meeting its payroll after emergency funding runs out.
"We have not missed a paycheck yet, but we don't know from paycheck to paycheck if there's going to be money there," said Gloria Zoranski, president of the Chester Upland Education Association. "There's money through the end of March," but April is unclear.
The loss of teachers has caused class sizes to swell. It's harder to provide individual attention to the district's 4,300 students. Art and music classes were eliminated district-wide in all grade levels. Reading programs were cut, and electives are no longer offered for secondary-school students. Third- and fourth-year language courses were eliminated, along with higher-level math courses. Even refills for the copying machine are hard to find.
"There just isn't money to purchase this stuff, so the teachers are more or less purchasing their own," said Zoranski, who teaches high school business/computer-education classes. The job cuts have left only one IT person for the district, so most of the computers that Zoranski's students use either need upgrading, repair or replacement.
When teachers at the district's one high school, two middle schools and six elementary schools were told there was no money to pay them in January, they continued working. Public outcry ultimately prompted the state to provide $3.2 million in emergency funding. When that money runs out this month, Zoranski isn't sure what will happen.
"We're just coming to work and not thinking about it," she said. "But in the back of our minds, we know that one day they're going to tell us that they can't make payroll. But we're going on like we're not in this financial trouble, because we want the district to survive."
In Georgia, the state board of education recently agreed to waive restrictions on class size for the fourth straight year, as "austerity" cuts in the state budget continue to force teacher layoffs that lead to larger classes. In the Cobb County School District just outside Atlanta, 250 teachers and 26 paraprofessionals will likely be cut next year to close a projected $62 million deficit caused by state funding cuts.
Most Georgia school districts are also furloughing teachers without pay for two to 10 days -- at a time when many teachers are being paid less than they were three or four years ago, and also being asked to be more accountable.
"I'm hearing more and more from our members that 'I'm thinking about retiring a little earlier' or 'I'm looking at a private school opportunity because I've just had it,' " said Tim Callahan, a spokesman with the Professional Association of Georgia Educators.
The larger classes are stressful for all teachers, but "particularly for our new teachers right out of school," Callahan said. "Suddenly they're looking at 34 or 35 high school students, so they really have to be part lion tamer, you know. It's tough. So the impact of increased class sizes is very negative."
In California -- which has lost 32,000 full-time teachers since the 2007-2008 school year -- the impact of seniority-based teacher layoffs hits particularly hard on low-income, minority students. They disproportionately attend schools with younger instructors who can be bumped by older, more tenured teachers who've lost their jobs at other schools in the district.
In 2010, the Center for Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington studied this teacher "churn" caused by "last in, first out" layoff policies at the 15 largest school districts in California. They found that for teachers with up to two years' experience, high-poverty schools would lose 30 percent more teachers than wealthier schools, while schools with the most minorities would lose "a staggering 60 percent more teachers than would the schools with the fewest minority students."
In Louisiana, a 5 percent cut in state funding left a $29 million budget shortfall that caused the Louisiana State University Health Care Services Division to cut 600 positions from its seven hospitals earlier this month, including 235 at LSU Interim Hospital in New Orleans. The hospital lost 41 registered nurses, 23 nursing assistants, 22 licensed practical nurses and 22 psychiatric aides among others, said Dr. Roxane Townsend, CEO of LSU Health Care Services Division.
In addition, Interim closed a 25-bed medical-surgical unit, nine of 38 beds for patients with psychiatric problems and a 20-bed chemical detoxification unit. In 2010, the hospital stopped delivering babies and closed its neonatal intensive care unit, while cutting 10 of its 20 beds for patients with behavioral health problems.
Next year, the seven-hospital LSU system will likely face $20 million in additional cuts.
"My employees haven't had a raise in three years. And next fiscal year, we don't plan on giving merit increases because there's just no money to do that," Dr. Townsend said.We’re happy to tell you that now it’s possible to play to ShootMania Storm for free from today with the Universal Demo!
We want that as many players as possible enjoy the ShootMania and the Maniaplanet experience at their best level. Which means that now you have access to the following features:
3 multiplayer ranked modes: Battle, Elite & Siege
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Access to all editors (Map, MediaTracker (Video), Actions & Weapons, Items)
Custom Titles: solo & multiplayer innovative modes
Several improvements have been made to ShootMania the last months like a better netcode, many tweaks of gameplay, new blocks. It’s also possible now to embed 3D objects in the maps of any title!(1)
All these features are available for free the first 48h for the environments you don’t own and then for an unlimited amount of time for titles with less than 100 concurrent players OR one hour per day otherwise. Download the setup on www.shootmania.com
While you can play for free, you have also the possibility to buy, through Uplay, the ShootMania website or Steam, ShootMania Storm to unlock several features such as:
Unlimited play
Allow you to customize your nickname, horn and your character (both skins and 3D models)
Have fun and see you soon on the servers!
(1) Following several limitations.Unemployment in France was higher than many other European countries before the euro crisis began.
But in the last year, the number of people out of work has climbed by more than 5 percent.
New figures suggest in November alone, an extra 30,000 people were looking for work taking the overall unemployment figure to a 12 year high of 9.3 percent.
The under-25s and over-50s are the worst affected. 53-year-old Isabelle Léger is a former engineer who has been out of work for two years.
“Of course I’m very demoralised but what can I do? My skills are becoming outdated and there are things I can’t do anymore because of my age. Things I could do when I was 30 but not at 50,” she said.
The unemployment figures deal a fresh blow to French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s re-election hopes for the spring.
Analysts are concerned the euro crisis could push the jobless figure above 10 percent next year.Geoff Johns sets the record straight on the possibility of the CW's 'Arrow' and 'The Flash' existing in the same world as the planned...
Since Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Entertainment announced their intention to create a connected live-action filmic universe with their DC Comics characters, kicking off with last year’s Man of Steel, there has been much speculation — and a loud rumbling amongst the fanbase — as to whether the DC television properties would be rolled into that universe. During the CW show presentations at the Television Critics Association press tour on Friday, DC Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns sought to provide clarity to that issue.
During the session, Johns stated definitively that “the film and television universes for DC Comics ‘are separate worlds.'”
“Arrow and The Flash create a huge DC universe for us. And it’s going to live and breathe and grow,” he continued. “We also want to let the creators tell the best stories they can with these characters without putting them in a box, so to speak. And so we want to do the best TV show, television series we can possibly do with the DC universe with these characters.”
Fans hoping for a narrative structure similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that happily includes both of the ABC series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the upcoming Marvel’s Agent Carter, as well as the forthcoming Netflix block of series, are sure to be disappointed. While the dark world of Arrow‘s Starling City would seem to slip easily into the tone of the nascent DC Movie Universe as established in the Henry Cavill-fronted Superman film, it appears it is not meant to be, at least for the time being.
This is not altogether surprising, as Stephen Amell announced earlier in the month that he was definitely not in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The 2016 film is said to feature a number of cameos from very prominent members of the DCU in anticipation of setting up a full-fledged Justice League movie, rumored to be released in May 2017. While it’s unclear if Green Arrow will be featured in Justice League, the Flash is a core member of the group. With a potential planned movie also teaming the Scarlet Speedster up with one of the Green Lanterns, it makes sense to clearly delineate early on that Grant Gustin is not their movie version of the character.
No doubt we’ll be hearing more on WB’s plans for the DC Movie Universe coming out of San Diego Comic-Con International over the next week. For now, the DCMU and the Arrow/Flash-verse are separate planes in the Multiverse. Of course, things are always subject to change.
Or a Crisis.
Craig Byrne contributed to this story.Image copyright DR P. MARAZZI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Image caption The current HPV vaccine is given in two doses
Women vaccinated against human papilloma virus (HPV) - thought to cause about 99% of cervical cancers - may only need three smear tests in their lifetime, a new study suggests.
Since 2008, the HPV vaccine has been offered to girls aged 11 to 13.
Reported cases of HPV have fallen sharply since then.
A team from Queen Mary University of London found that screenings at age 30, 40 and 55 would offer the same benefit to these young women as the current 12.
Prof Peter Sasieni, the lead author of the study, said cutting the number of smear tests for vaccinated women would make sense and save money.
"These women are far less likely to develop cervical cancer so they don't need such stringent routine checking as those at a higher risk," he said.
"This decision would free up resources for where they are needed most. The change in the screening system is a unique opportunity to reassess how often women are invited for cervical screens during their lifetimes."
'Great news'
The study, published in the International Journal of Cancer and funded by Cancer Research UK, comes ahead of changes being planned to the screening programme in England for 2019 and similar adjustments in Scotland and Wales.
At the moment, labs test for abnormalities in cells taken in a smear test but the new tests will check for the presence of HPV first and only check for abnormal cells if the virus is found.
The study says that when the new HPV testing first comes in, unvaccinated women should only need seven screenings in their lifetime, instead of 12.
Dr Julie Sharp, head of health information at Cancer Research UK said it was "great news" for women.
"While we hope to see these improvements to the screening programme in the future, it's important that women continue to take up invitations for cervical screening."
Image copyright Family photo Image caption Sarah Farr with her daughter Maisie, who is seven
Sarah Farr, 34, from Barrow in Cumbria, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in November 2016. Her cancer was picked up early through a screening - she had surgery to remove the cancer and didn't need any further treatment.
She is very glad her seven-year-old daughter Maisie will be able to get innoculated and experience fewer screenings.
"Cervical screening can be quite an uncomfortable experience, but I'm forever grateful that the test spotted my cancer early.
"It would be great if Maisie doesn't have to have to go for screening as often as I did, because of the HPV jab and the new screening test."
Cervical cancer facts
Cervical cancer is one of the most deadly but most preventable forms of cancer in women
It is the most common cancer in women under 35
Around 3,000 cases are diagnosed every year in the UK and it causes 900 deaths
Public Health England says almost all the deaths are of older women who did not benefit from the HPV vaccination programme
Currently 85% of eligible girls are immunised and HPV vaccine rates in England are among the world's highest
The vaccine could save several hundred lives every year and also provide protection against other cancers and genital warts
Women aged 25 to 64 are automatically invited for cervical screening, which detects abnormal cell changes in the cervix
Source: Public Health England
Image copyright Science Photo Library
New vaccine
Testing for HPV first will be rolled out into the English cervical screening programme over the next two years.
A new HPV vaccine is also expected to be introduced at some point from 2019. It should have a 90% success rate - up from 70% for the current vaccine.
With this new vaccine, the researchers believe vaccinated women will only need two smear tests in their lifetime.
Robert Music, chief executive of Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, said while it is positive to see a potential reduction in screenings needed, focus must continue on increasing the uptake of the vaccination and screening programmes to ensure more women are able to benefit from these advances.
"We would urge the government to use any savings made as a result of reduced screening intervals to fund a national cervical screening awareness campaign.
"If we do not reverse falling screening attendance we will simply be faced with more lives lost to the disease which could have been prevented."
In July, immunisation experts decided there was little evidence to justify giving boys the HPV vaccine because high uptake among girls would reduce everyone's risk of HPV infection - but critics said the decision was concerning.
Who should have the HPV vaccine?
The HPV vaccine works best if girls get it before they come into contact with HPV - in other words, before they become sexually active.
That is why getting the vaccine during the teenage years is recommended.
However, girls who have already had sex should still have the vaccine if they are in the relevant age group.
Girls can have the HPV vaccination on the NHS up to their 18th birthday but they will need three doses, rather than the normal two, in order to be fully protected if they are over 15.
If you are not eligible for the vaccine, experts say the best protection against cervical cancer is to continue going for regular cervical screenings.
In the UK, women are invited for screening between the ages of 25 and 64, every few years.Langenbrunner, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, hoisting the goods in 2003.
Personally, it’s something you don’t want to happen. I understand it’s part of the business, friends and people come and go. I think he’s a great leader. David Clarkson
Jamie Langenbrunner is headed back where he began his NHL career.On Friday, the Devils announced they had dealt their captain to the Dallas Stars in exchange for a conditional third-round pick in 2011. Langenbrunner did not dress for Thursday’s game, fueling speculation that a deal was imminent. Reports confirmed that he had agreed to waive the no-trade clause in his contract and expected to be moved.If Dallas wins a playoff round or re-signs Langenbrunner before this year's Entry Draft, then the pick becomes a second-rounder in 2011. If that doesn't happen and the Stars re-sign Langenbrunner after the draft, then the Devils get the Stars' second-rounder in 2012 in exchange for their own third-round pick.Devils' President/CEO/GM Lou Lamoriello addressed the news in a conference call."When it's a quality person who has given you what Jamie has given, been part of success, a Stanley Cup, then certainly (the trade) is difficult," Lamoriello said. "But if it were easy, anybody could do some of these things we have to do. Unfortunately, the decision with the status that we're in, is being made for the right reasons."The trade closes out Langenbrunner's outstanding run of eight-plus seasons in New Jersey that included the club’s third Stanley Cup championship in 2003. He was an integral part of the team’s fortunes that spring, posting a League-best 11 goals and 18 points in 24 games.Langenbrunner appeared in 564 games as a Devil, collecting 142 goals (12th in club history), 243 assists (11th) and 385 points (10th). His 32 game-winners are fifth-best in Devils’ history.He's four games shy of 1,000 for his NHL career.The Cloquet, Minn., native was acquired from Dallas in a 2002 blockbuster that also brought Joe Nieuwendyk to the Devils in exchange for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and a first-round pick. Nieuwendyk is currently the Stars’ general manager. The Devils reacquired Arnott in a trade this summer.Now Langenbrunner returns to the team that selected him in the second round, 35th overall, in 1993. He was a member of the Stars’ 1999 Stanley Cup winner, then lost out to the Devils the next season when Arnott’s double-overtime goal clinched New Jersey’s second crown.Thursday’s 4-2 loss to the Flyers extended the Devils’ (10-28-2) skid to three games with their 14th defeat in 16 outings. While the decision to move a respected veteran leader is never an easy one, Langenbrunner will be an asset for the Pacific Division-leading Stars (24-13-4)."We have all gone through some situations here that none of us are accustomed to," Lamoriello said. "I start with myself. Right now, we all have to become part of the solution and not part of the problem."Other decisions may follow."Right now, we will be making every decision that we possibly can to push ourselves forward to certainly get out of what we're in right now," Lamoriello said. "I believe that right now we have to get a total consistent approach and everybody has to put aside whatever aspirations we had at the beginning of the year – whatever we looked at as the team on paper – and right now whatever decisions have to be made going forward will have to be made for the right reasons. There could be more, yes."No announcement has been made on a replacement for the captaincy. The Devils wrap up a home-and-home with the Flyers Saturday in Philadelphia.A two-time Olympian, Langenbrunner captained Team USA to a silver medal at the 2010 Vancouver Games. His leadership skills were admired by his Devils teammates.“You always look up to certain guys,” David Clarkson said. “Jamie’s a right winger, a right-handed shot. I tried to pick up little things about the way he played. Personally, it’s something you don’t want to happen. I understand it’s part of the business, friends and people come and go. I think he’s a great leader.”Clarkson added: “He will be missed.”Langenbrunner has four goals, 10 assists in 31 games this year. He missed eight games with a neck injury suffered against Buffalo on Nov. 10.As one-third of the successful ZZ Pops line with Zach Parise and Travis Zajac, Langenbrunner set career highs In 2008-09 with 29 goals, 40 assists and 69 points. That followed being named the eighth captain in club history on Dec. 5, 2007.Langenbrunner’s six career playoff game-winners are tied for the most in team history ( Patrik Elias, Claude Lemieux, Scott Stevens, Petr Sykora ). His four career postseason overtime goals are tied for first among active players (Chris Drury).American Academy of Pediatrics have reported talc’s hazard. Turns out that talc, in and of itself, is a toxic mineral for human use. It's crafted by mining talc rocks, then crushed, dried and milled – similar to how flour is processed. This process leaves behind minute asbestos-like fibers. It’s reported that products containing talc has been linked to being a known carcinogenic (cancer causing). Even thehave reported talc’s hazard.
I know what you’re thinking, “I’ve used baby powder all my life and didn't have any problems at all.” Although this may be true for most, buy products containing small traces of talc, the side effects are not always identifiable or easily related. Further, although it doesn't pose a danger to many, exposing to babies and your more delicate parts does lend itself to improve your health or overall well-being. Like most products using small amounts of harmful substances, after continued use of its carcinogens toxins are more prone to pile up in the body and become a problem eventually. Research has shown talc particles found inside ovarian tumors in women who use powder near their genitals.
To be on the safe side, here's how to make your very own talc-free body powder at home:
What you’ll need:
1/3 cup Arrowroot powder
1/3 cup Cornstarch (non-GMO)
2 Tbsp White Kaolin Clay
1-3 drops Vanilla essential oil (or your preferred gentle essential oil)
Directions:
Combine all ingredients then mix together and sift to ensure that ingredients are well blended. Then, pour powder into a bottle with a sprinkler top (re-use Parmesan cheese or an old spice container if you do not have any on hand).
Note: arrowroot powder and kaolin clay can be found in most local health food stores. You can also order these items online with Mountain Rose Herbs
If you don’t want to make your own, but prefer to simply buy it. Try these carriers:Get the latest news and videos for this game daily, no spam, no fuss.
The new Star Wars Battlefront game in development at DICE is far from complete, but it will be making an appearance at this year's E3.
During today's EA investors conference call, CEO Andrew Wilson responded to a question about the Star Wars games it has in development. The new Battlefront was the only one he discussed, saying it is coming along "very, very well," but there remains "lots and lots of work to go."
That said, Battlefront will be among the games |
th among all fantasy wide receivers. During his three-year stretch with Romo, Bryant averaged 9.42 targets per game. The 2.0 targets per game decrease (21 percent) puts an even stronger premium on his red zone touchdown production.
As fantasy players, we know touchdowns are very difficult to predict on a year to year basis. Certainly, Bryant’s 6.25 to 1 touchdown to reception ratio from last season is almost impossible for him to reproduce.
Strength of Schedule
The Cowboys finished the 2016 season with a 13-3 record, while feasting on one of the easiest schedules in the league. Based off winning percentage, the Cowboys had the fourth easiest schedule among all NFL teams last season. By all accounts, 2017 will be the exact opposite.
2017 NFL Strength of Schedule: Hardest: 1. Cowboys 2. Jets 3. Chiefs 4. Broncos Easiest: 1. Bengals 2. Jaguars 3. Titans 4. Patriots — Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) July 18, 2017
Based on Warren Sharp’s data-driven Strength of Schedule measurement, the Cowboys will play the eighth hardest schedule this season. From a fantasy perspective it will be even tougher. The Cowboys start the season against three top pass defenses: the Giants (home), Broncos (away), and Cardinals (away).
The end of the season is even more difficult, especially for Bryant. The Cowboys face the Redskins (home), Giants (away), Raiders (away), and Seahawks (home) during the critical week 13-16 stretch for fantasy owners. Without an accomplished second receiver lining up across the field, those defenses will focus their attention on taking Bryant away. Examining Bryant’s recent history against the Giants and Seahawks, it is easy to predict a repeat of his past disappointing performances (RotoViz).
NYG/SEA (Last Two Seasons) Other Games 4 18 PPR/G 4.2 13.9 Recs/G 2.2 4 TDs/G 0 0.61 Rec Yds/G 19.5 62.2
Summary
Dez Bryant is still one of the NFL’s best wide receivers, but will fail to perform to his current 20.6 ADP for fantasy football owners. He has suffered several injuries over the past two seasons that will limit his red zone effectiveness. With a second-year quarterback and a lack of fellow receiving options, Bryant will frustrate fantasy owners with extreme volatility on a weekly basis.
If you draft a wide receiver in the second round, it is expected he will finish the season ranked in the top 12 at the position. In 2017, avoid spending a second or third round draft pick on this year’s wide receiver bust, Dez Bryant.
Embed from Getty ImagesDaily Beast retracts story on Scott Walker
Another major media outlet has apologized after getting a story about Scott Walker wrong. Last week, it was the New York Times; now, it’s The Daily Beast.
The Daily Beast has retracted an article from one of its college columnists that claimed that the Wisconsin governor’s budget would cut sexual assault reporting from the state’s universities.
Story Continued Below
The post, published Friday, cited a report from Jezebel that wrongly interpreted a section of the state budget to mean that all assault reporting requirements were to get cut altogether.
In fact, the University of Wisconsin system requested the deletion of the requirements to get rid of redundancy, as it already provides similar information to the federal government, UW System spokesman Alex Hummel told The Associated Press on Friday.
The Daily Beast’s correction and retraction is posted in full below. The “USA Today” story it references, however, is actually an AP article posted on the site:
“A Daily Beast college columnist at the University of Wisconsin based this article off a Jezebel posting which was incorrectly reported. Jezebel updated their post on Saturday with the following after USA Today [sic] published a story debunking Jezebel’s account and clarifying Gov. Scott Walker’s position. ‘UPDATE: After Jezebel ran this item yesterday, a spokesman for the University of Wisconsin came forward—over two weeks after the budget was released—to clarify: the University requested that Gov. Walker delete the requirements because efforts were redundant with their compliance of the Cleary Act. Scott Walker’s camp assures that he’s committed to protecting victims.’
The Daily Beast is committed to covering the news fairly and accurately, and we should have checked this story more thoroughly. We deeply regret the error and apologize to Gov. Walker and our readers. This story should be considered retracted.”
The Daily Beast did not include the last two sentences of Jezebel’s ‘update’, which were added later:
“We reported this piece without full context, and while this piece conveys factual information, omission of that context for that information presents an unfair and misleading picture. We regret the error and apologize.”
Jezebel reporter Natasha Vargas-Cooper tweeted her own thoughts on the ‘update’:
Ran an update on the Walker piece. Find another thing to be outraged about sweet, sweet Walkerites. — Natasha VC (@natashavc) February 28, 2015
Also, I'm not gonna apologize for reporting what was in the budget. Because that was in the budget. Ask your gov. to apologize for bad optix — Natasha VC (@natashavc) February 28, 2015
At a time when there is HEAVY scrutiny on state/fed/colleges, a proposal to delete standing regulations, requires more tact. — Natasha VC (@natashavc) February 28, 2015
Vargas-Cooper apologized for the error Saturday afternoon:
(1) I realize now that it would have been worth a follow up phone call to Walker's office. — Natasha VC (@natashavc) February 28, 2015
(2) So, you guys, Walker folk and media pundits alike, I screwed up. — Natasha VC (@natashavc) February 28, 2015
(3) I know I said I wasn't going to say sorry but I hope you won't fault me for changing my mind. — Natasha VC (@natashavc) February 28, 2015The Braves haven't been known as a team that's big on working out long-term extensions for arbitration eligible and pre-arb players, but that reputation may be changing. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (via Twitter) that after this week's colossal eight-year, $135MM Freddie Freeman extension and a two-year, $13.3MM deal for Jason Heyward, the Braves are interested in working out extensions for shortstop Andrelton Simmons and right-hander Julio Teheran.
Simmons currently has one year, 125 days of Major League service time under his belt. Extensions for shortstops with between one and two years of service time are a rarity, though Troy Tulowitzki inked a six-year, $31MM contract with one year, 33 days of service. Simmons is cut from a different cloth than Tulowitzki, but that contract is also six years old. Recent extensions for defensive-minded shortstops who signed with two to three years of service time include Alcides Escobar (four years, $10.5MM) and Elvis Andrus (three years, $14.4MM). Simmons is regarded as a superior defender to both and has more power than either of his slick fielding peers, and neither was a Super Two player. As such, his remaining years of team control figure to come at a higher price than either Andrus or Escobar, especially considering that each of those contracts is two years old.
While the potential for Super Two status throws a wrinkle into talks, both Evan Longoria and Ryan Braun had clauses built into their contracts boosting future guarantees should the reach arbitration eligibility early. Simmons could end up in the $20-25MM range for his remaining five years of team control, depending on Super Two status. For the purposes of this projection, I'll split the middle and project $22.5MM for his five years of team control. Tacking on a free agent year at a discounted rate of $10MM would put him into the six-year, $32.5MM range. In reality, nothing in the mid-$30MM range would surprise me, as the final number would be dependent on his Super Two status and the contract language negotiated by the Braves and his agents at Relativity Baseball. Free agent seasons beyond that would figure to escalate, perhaps bringing his price range into the upper-$40MMs on a seven-year deal.
Shifting to Teheran, the right-hander currently has one year, 62 days of service time. There's a much larger sample of historical context when looking at his case, as starters Martin Perez, Wade Davis, Brett Anderson, James Shields and Cory Luebke have all signed four-year deals in the $12MM range with multiple club options at similar junctures of their careers. Madison Bumgarner and Ricky Romero each netted more than $30MM over a five-year span, but they projected as potential Super Two players and each had experienced more success by that point in their careers.
It's also important to remember that most of those four-year, $12MM deals are several years old (with the exception of Perez). Each contained relatively tame arbitration salaries, but the days for those types of deals could be coming to an end due to inflation and increasing TV revenues (Freeman's deal, in particular, demonstrates the rising price of extending young talent). Teheran could sign away his two remaining pre-arb years and his first two arbitration eligible seasons for something in the $14MM range, plus a pair of options that would cover his third arb season and first free agent year. The option values on previous contracts of this ilk ranges from $15-20MM. Placing Teheran slightly north of that scale, a potential extension could reach $35MM or so over a six-year span, assuming both options on the deal are exercised.
One thing working in the Braves' favor when it comes to this potential rash of extensions is the new Cobb County stadium on the horizon, which figures to boost revenue (as pointed out by David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Twitter). The increased revenue from the stadium should help to offset, to an extent, the fact that the Braves' television contract as believed to provide them with less than $20MM annually (O'Brien reporting).
That's clearly not the case for all teams, as new television deals have infused the game with more money than ever. That influx of cash could render historical context on contract extensions — even from two years ago — largely irrelevant. Players such as Simmons, Teheran, Jason Kipnis and Wil Myers (just to name a few examples) could redefine the market for pre-arb extensions in the next 12 to 14 months.Oyster-based tummy troubles spiking in Seattle Vibriosis cases reported at Costco, 6 other restaurants and fish markets
About 25 people have been sickened by oysters in the Seattle area this summer. Vibriosis isn’t uncommon during summer months. Here's a look at some of the happier things about summer in Seattle. About 25 people have been sickened by oysters in the Seattle area this summer. Vibriosis isn’t uncommon during summer months. Here's a look at some of the happier things about summer in Seattle. Photo: Karen Ducey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Photo: Karen Ducey, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close Oyster-based tummy troubles spiking in Seattle 1 / 33 Back to Gallery
And we thought raw oysters were gross on the way in.
The Seattle area is seeing a spike in vibriosis, an affliction associated with consumption of raw oysters that causes … let’s euphemize and say intestinal distress. We’ll get into it more in a bit. Fair warning.
Vibriosis isn’t uncommon during summer months, though this year’s spike has seen about 25 people sickened. Here’s how Public Health – Seattle and King County describes the bacteria’s life cycle:
“The vibrio bacterium is naturally found in salty, brackish waters where oysters are grown. Therefore, while temperature violations before and after delivery to restaurants can contribute to the growth of vibrio, the restaurants are not the direct source of vibrio in oysters.”
The state Health Department tracks the harvest locations of the oysters implicated in these illnesses, and will close oyster beds linked to larger outbreaks.
MORE FROM SEATTLEPI: Oyster farmers burned by pesticide backlash aim to spray
Suspected vibriosis cases have been reported at Seattle’s Salted Sea restaurant, Wild Salmon Seafood Market and Chinooks at Fisherman’s Terminal, the White Swan Public House in Seattle, Matt’s Rotisserie & Oyster Lounge in Redmond, and Elliott’s Oyster House on the Seattle waterfront. One case has also been tied to oysters purchased at Costco in Redmond.
Public health officials note that oyster eaters can minimize their risk of contracting vibriosis by ensuring that their shellfish is kept colder than 41 degrees. Of course, for sensible cowards, cooking remains an option.
All that brings us to the vibriosis experience.
Epidemiologists distinguish shellfish-related disease as “non-cholera” vibriosis. And it’s never great to be compared to cholera, even positively.
Public Health describes the affliction’s symptoms as “watery diarrhea, abdominal cramping, and vomiting.” Symptoms usually present within 24 hours and tend to last about three days.
Harvesters are encouraged to avoid taking oysters exposed to direct sunlight and to harvest as soon as possible after the tide goes out. Oysters should be iced or refrigerated immediately.
Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.The bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie was premeditated mass murder. Gadhafi was taking revenge for Reagan's raid on Tripoli in 1986.
The downing of KAL 007, flying from Anchorage to Seoul, was mass murder in the second degree. Seeing an aircraft intrude into Russian air space, Soviet officers brutally ordered it shot down.
The downing of the Malaysian airliner that took the lives of 298 men, women and children was not deliberate terrorism. No one wanted to massacre those women and children.
It was a horrendous military blunder, like the U.S. shoot-down of the Iranian Airbus by the Vincennes in 1988.
That U.S. cruiser thought it was coming under attack. And Ukraine's separatists thought they were firing at an army plane.
The distinctions are as important as those between first- and second-degree murder, and manslaughter.
The respective reactions confirm this. Gadhafi concealed his role in the Scotland slaughter. Moscow was defiant in the KAL case. America was apologetic over the Iranian airliner.
Today, Vladimir Putin, with an indictment being drawn up against him, is blaming Ukraine for the war out of which the tragedy came.
But though Putin did not order the plane shot down, the horror of it all has put him in a box. And the course he pursues could determine the future of U.S.-Russian relations for his tenure.
For the rebels in Ukraine are seen as Putin's proxies. They have been armed and advised by Russia. And it was a Russian SA-11 that brought the airliner down.
While the separatists say they got the surface-to-air missiles from an army depot, there is evidence the missile was provided by Russia, and Russians may have advised or assisted in the fatal launch.
This crisis has caused President Obama to insist that Putin cut off the rebels. And if he does not rein them in, and abandon their cause, Putin is likely to face new U.S.-EU sanctions that could cripple his economy and push his country further out into the cold.
And the ostracism of Putin and the sinking of Russia's economy is what some in the West have long had in mind.
The Day of the Hawk is at hand.
John McCain and John Bolton are calling for punitive sanctions, declaring Russia an adversary, putting defensive missiles and U.S. troops in Eastern Europe, and arming Kiev.
"That's just for openers," says McCain, who wants "the harshest possible sanctions on Vladimir Putin and Russia."
"So first, give the Ukrainians weapons to defend themselves and regain their territory," McCain adds, "Second of all, move some of our troops into areas that are being threatened by Vladimir Putin."
Right. Let's get eyeball to eyeball with the Russians again.
In this "moment of moral and strategic clarity about the threat that Vladimir Putin's regime poses to world order," the Wall Street Journal said this weekend, we should send "arms to Ukraine until Mr. Putin stops arming the separatists."
The Washington Post urges "military assistance to Ukraine" and sanctions to "force Mr. Putin to choose between continued aggression in Ukraine and saving the Russian economy."
But if aiding rebels in overthrowing their government is "aggression," is that not exactly what we are doing in Syria?
Hopefully, those who prodded the U.S. to send surface-to-air missiles to the Syrian rebels are having second thoughts today.
But before we sink the Russian economy and send weapons to Ukraine, perhaps we should consider the potential consequences.
If Kiev, bolstered by U.S. weapons, decides to go in for the kill in Eastern Ukraine, Putin will face a choice: Back down and let his allies be defeated and routed, or move his army into Ukraine to protect them.
Heretofore, Putin has not done so, clearly because he does not wish to annex Luhansk and Donetsk, which would have been a cakewalk for the army he had on Ukraine's border after the Crimea crisis.
And should Ukraine, with U.S. arms, win its war in the east, what is to stop it from sending troops to recapture Crimea, which would surely cross any "red line" of Vladimir Putin.
Arming Ukraine, and putting U.S. prestige on the line for a victory by Kiev over the rebels in the east and Russians in the south, is a formula for a war Ukraine cannot win, unless the United States comes in to win it for them. Then we could be on the escalator to something unthinkable.
Sanctions on Russia can cripple her economy. But Russia can also cripple the economies of Ukraine and Europe.
Declaring Putin persona non grata may make us feel good about ourselves, but it could also mean Russia tightening ties to Beijing, and breaking up the U.S.-led sanctions regime on Iran.
Russia is on the other side in Ukraine, but in battling the Taliban and Islamic State, al-Qaida and the al-Nusra Front, she is on our side.
That "moral and strategic clarity" exists only in uncomplicated minds.
Patrick J. Buchanan needs no introduction to VDARE.COM readers; his books State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, and Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025? are available from Amazon.com. Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of the new book “The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority.“A unusual protest will be repeated this weekend at some Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints houses of worship, as advocates of inclusion participate in what is being called the “The Second Annual Wear Pants to Church Day.”
“Our approach is not protesting any church doctrine or leadership. If anything it is a protest against the culture—against other members of the church—who have decided to create controversy over who is accepted in our church walls,” said Jerilyn Pool, who is the organizer of this year’s event, a member of the LDS church and a self-described Mormon feminist.
More than 1,000 LDS women participated in the inaugural Wear Pants to Church Day in 2012. The women who wore pants to church and the men who wore purple ties in solidarity received some pushback.
“Other LDS members see it as a feminist protest against the church, but that is not how we view to characterize it at all,” Pool told Boise Weekly. “I believe we are standing in solidarity with our leadership, who over and over had said the church is for everyone.”
Dieter Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency of the LDS church, made headlines in October, when he stated in an address to the LDS membership, that the church had “made mistakes” and “there is room” for everyone in the church, regardless of circumstances and beliefs.
Pool said Uchtdorf's remarks were precedent-setting for the church.
“The church I belong to is for everyone. So when I am wearing pants it is just a little way of bucking against the culture of the church and saying, ‘Let us recognize what is culture and what is doctrine,’ said Pool. "Our doctrine is such that everyone is welcome. But our culture is that not everyone is welcome.”Think you know HTML? Most developers probably feel they have a good handle on modern Web standards. It’s with this in mind that I offer you a challenge.
Below you’ll find some HTML questions that will test your familiarity and understanding of the markup language. And if you’re conducting job interviews, you can use these questions to gauge a candidate’s knowledge of the Web’s standard markup language.
You will also find questions about closely-related markup languages and standards such as XML, XHTML, and microformats in order to really test your mettle.
There isn’t a time limit or score-tracking for this “quiz”, so take your time. Then, share your results in the comments.
Beginner Questions
Question 1 What’s the name of the main international standards body that publishes HTML specifications? See the answer Answer: World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C was formed in October 1994. You can find the current recommended HTML specs at w3.org, the official site of the W3C.
Question 2 How many HTML heading levels are there? See the answer Answer: 6. The HTML heading elements are h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, and h6. You can use these elements to create a hierarchical outline of the contents of an HTML document.
Question 3 What’s wrong with the following HTML markup? <p style"font-size:10px;">Copyright <span>2015</span></p> See the answer Answer: The style attribute is missing an equals ( = ) sign. But, did you know that under the current HTML standards, the double-quotes ( " ) above are optional? As long as the attribute value has no spaces, you can drop the double-quotes. Thus, the following is valid HTML markup: <p style=font-size:10px;>Copyright <span>2015</span></p> Learn more about the unquoted attribute value syntax in section 8.1.2.3 Attributes of the HTML5 specs.
Question 4 Which version of Internet Explorer was the first to natively support new HTML5 elements? See the answer Answer: Internet Explorer 9 (IE9). IE9 was released in March 2011. IE9 was the first to support new semantic HTML elements such as article and section, as well as canvas and inline SVG support, and more.
Question 5 What is the name of the metadata that allows you to set a value of initial-scale=2, causing a page to zoom to twice its natural size? See the answer Answer: viewport. In the following example, the viewport meta tag (as it’s commonly called) is used to specify that the zoom level must be twice the device’s width: <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=2"> The viewport meta tag is not a standard metadata name for the meta element. However, it is well-supported by browsers. Quirksmode has a good guide on the viewport meta tag.
Question 6 What’s the name of the microformat in the following example? Fill in the blank (??? ). <span class="???"><span class="latitude">52.48</span>, <span class="longitude">-1.89</span></span> See the answer Answer: geo. geo is a microformat designed for semantically marking up geographic coordinates in HTML and other standard markup languages. Read more about the geo format in the Geo Microformats Wiki.
Question 7 What markup language do RSS, Atom and OpenSearch use? See the answer Answer: Extensible Markup Language (XML). XML is short for EXtensible Markup Language. Learn more about the language by reading XML’s W3C specs.
Question 8 What’s the name of the new HTML5 element that begins with the letter K? See the answer Answer: keygen. The keygen element is for marking up a control element that generates a public-private key pair, which is typically used for encryption.
Intermediate Questions
Question 9 If a hyperlink points to a resource containing copyright information about the current web page’s main content, what link type can you specify on the hyperlink? See the answer Answer: license. The license link type can be used as follows: <main> <img src="freephoto.gif" /> <a rel="license" href="copyright.html">Copyright info.</a> </main> Learn more about the license link type (and other hyperlink link types) by reading this guide.
Question 10 According to Microdata and Schema.org vocabulary, what’s the name of the microdata boolean attribute which indicates that the element’s descendants may contain information about the element? See the answer Answer: itemscope. When the itemscope attribute is specified on an HTML element, it informs search engines and web browsers that descendants of the HTML element may be carrying machine-readable information about the HTML element. Search engine like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! use microdata markup to improve their search results.
Question 11 What is the HTML5 element that represents a line break opportunity? See the answer Answer: wbr. The wbr element indicates a location in the document where there’s a good opportunity to render a line break if needed. Quirksmode describes the utility of the wbr element if you are curious about this obscure HTML tag.
Question 12 What attribute can you use to specify a regular expression which describes a valid value for an input element? See the answer Answer: pattern. The pattern attribute exposes a client-side, machine-readable description of how an input element is being validated. This, in turn, can be used by software such as assistive technologies to help its users understand why the form submission was not successful. The attribute can also be used for client-side input validation logic in conjunction with JavaScript.
Expert Questions
Question 13 According to the HTML5 W3C Recommendation, how many states/values does the type attribute have? See the answer Answer: 18. You can see all states of the type attribute in section 4.10.5.1 States of the type attribute.
Question 14 Which HTML element can be used to express and annotate the pronunciation of East Asian characters? See the answer Answer: ruby. Ruby characters are annotative characters typically associated with East Asian (e.g. Japanese and Chinese) typography. Here is an example from the HTML5 specs which uses the ruby element: <ruby>?<rt>?</rt></ruby><ruby>?<rt>??</rt></ruby> 4.5.21 The ruby element
Question 15 Which ARIA landmark role does the HTML5 footer element default to, if the footer element isn’t inside an article or section element? See the answer Answer: contentInfo. ARIA landmark roles are regions of a web page that contain navigational aids. Navigational aids are things such as a website’s navigation menu or breadcrumb navigation. The contentInfo role is one of these standard landmark roles. The contentInfo role states that the element contains information about the web page. As defined in section 3.2.7.3 Strong Native Semantics, if the footer element isn’t inside an article or a section element, its role is implicitly set to contentinfo.
How Did You Do?
Don’t feel bad if you didn’t get them all right. I’d be quite surprised if anyone got the right answer for every single question. For the questions you managed to answer correctly, congratulations!
How many questions did you answer correctly? Which questions gave you a tough time? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Related Content
Alexander Dawson is a web designer/developer and book author specializing in web standards, accessibility, and UX design. Learn more about him over at his personal site, HiTechy.Even amid the off-beat bustle of the city’s busiest intersections, a crowd starts to gather when the three members of MunizO start to set up. On a recent afternoon at Spadina and Queen with no shortage of other stimuli on offer — including a vodka-cooler giveaway and an agitated man howling obscenities — curious passersby started to cluster as the trio unravelled their instruments, noticing the group’s daunting tangle of cords and amps, and their red sun-peppered sign: “MunizO from Japan, support our travels & dreams to make our SOUND LOUD.”
Pop-punk trio Munizo had a major-label deal in their native Japan, but they gave it up to busk on the streets of Toronto.
Then they started playing and the crowd became more curious still. That’s because brothers Taro and Jiro Fukae, and drummer Yuta Sakai kick up a turbulent racket that combines the time-signature trickery of math rock with the aggressive funk bass of the group’s beloved Red Hot Chili Peppers, plus cheerful theatrics. A few blazing solos later (of both the guitar and drum varieties), admiring and bemused pedestrians began approaching to snap photos or throw up appreciative devil horns. Sakai, aged 25 with a Beatles cut dyed sienna, drew particular interest as he wildly pounded his drums, pausing only to receive fist bumps or for surprisingly frequent stick flips.
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“Busking is a very good way to express our feelings,” said Taro, 28, sipping pints of Canadian with his band at the Horseshoe beforehand. “If we play badly, nobody stops. If we’re really into playing and we play well, then people crowd around us.” Good thing, too, because MunizO is counting on winning the city over, one traffic light cycle at a time. Taro and Jiro, 25, have been playing together now for 16 years, first as siblings inspired by the popular Japanese folk-pop duo Yuzu. In 2009, the brothers set off for London and, over the next few years, performed alongside Steve Vai and Scorpion, busked around Europe and won a competition in France. Upon returning to Japan in 2013, Taro and Jiro signed a major-label deal with Imperial Records. A breakthrough felt inevitable and that was when the brothers began feeling anxious. Taro felt the Japanese rock scene was waddling toward bland homogeneity and “originality was not really appreciated anymore.” And they worried they’d never reach an audience beyond their borders.
Tomojiro Fukae gives his all at Queen and Spadina. Pop-punk trio Munizo had a major-label deal in their native Japan, but they gave it up to busk on the streets of Toronto. ( Chris So / Toronto Star )
“So,” he said, “only one year and a half after we signed with them, I decided to quit. I felt no, I can’t make it with them. My dream has always been the same: it sounds strange, but it’s to be... more famous than sushi.” The duo agonized over the decision. The Japanese music industry, they say, is unkind to amateur musicians, who generally have to pay to play a venue and then scramble to sell enough tickets to recoup. “If the band is unknown, nobody will come,” Jiro said.
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“I broke my stomach; it was too much stress,” recalled Taro. “I felt sorry for my parents because they were so supportive and always (built) my courage up.” The brothers recruited Sakai, who had been studying at Los Angeles’s Musicians Institute, and together set off for Toronto in March, despite knowing nothing of Canada except Justin Bieber, hockey, Simple Plan and poutine. (“Our first week, we really loved poutine,” Taro recalled, “but we ate it every other day and got sick and tired of it.”) They shared short-term Airbnb rentals before recently signing a one-year lease. They struggled to get gigs at first, perhaps because they told promoters up front they had no built-in audience — “maybe we are too honest,” smiled Jiro — but after much pleading, they landed at the Horseshoe last month. Via word of mouth they drew 100 people and earned another gig there July 20. Another upcoming engagement (at the Goethe Institut’s Toronto Open Minds: Adapting to the Future program July 12) came about because co-curator and futurist Sanjay Khanna caught them jamming at Yonge and Dundas. “I had to be somewhere else and I didn’t want to be,” Khanna said. “I wanted to stick around and watch them.” The band isn’t really interested in prog or math-rock. They’ve just always liked odd time signatures for the uneasy feeling they create. “We like to do tricks in our songs,” Taro explained. “I love making songs that sound weird. We like it to be unpredictable.” Well, that should help MunizO both stand out and fit in for as long as they’re angling for your attention on Toronto streets.As Karla Homolka rushed past photographers videoing and snapping pictures in front of Greaves Adventist Academy in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a woman was pacing behind her, screaming and clapping her hands.
“In the name of Jesus, leave her alone,” the woman yelled at the throng of reporters. “It is written that everyone of us is sinful and we must forgive, because God is a forgiving God. Leave her alone.”
When approached by reporters, the woman declined to comment or to give her name.
“I don’t have nothing to say,” the woman said.
Homolka, who lives in Châteauguay, has been sending her three children to the private, Seventh-day Adventist school on West Hill Ave. just north of de Maisonneuve Blvd. since September. On Wednesday morning, Homolka parked her black Honda SUV in front of the throng of reporters, and rushed inside the school with her three children. On her way back to her car, she used her purse in an attempt to block the view of her face.
Homolka served 12 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the deaths of two schoolgirls, Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French. Her ex-husband, Paul Bernardo, is serving a life sentence for his role in multiple rapes and homicides.
Homolka reportedly supervised kindergarten children from Greaves Academy on a field trip in March. Parents told the Montreal Gazette on Wednesday that Homolka has been seen in the schoolyard with her dog, allowing the children to pet it. Homolka was also permitted into school to show off her dog to the students, and she came into a class to instruct students about knitting. The academy, a private Christian school, was aware of Homolka’s criminal past before she started volunteering there.
Several parents told the Montreal Gazette they became aware of Homolka’s involvement with their school only after a man, who called himself a concerned citizen, passed out leaflets to parents in March. One parent, who tried to raise the issue with the school, was told he would not be welcome back when the new school year starts in September.
“When I first read the (leaflet), I thought it was a hoax,” said Andy Maraj, whose daughter attends Grade 3 with one of Homolka’s children. “But then I saw her and I saw her walking around with her dog for the children to play with. I told my daughter: ‘This lady, I don’t want you to go near her please. If she calls you, don’t go near her and call me,’ because I don’t trust the school.”
Maraj said he’s upset Homolka was permitted inside the school and to interact with the children.
“Because once you have a (criminal) record, you’re not supposed to be in the school,” he said. “They could have asked her to stay in the car, and have someone escort her kids into the school, and not to bring her dog. And it’s not her fault, it’s (the school’s) fault.”
Maraj said he started discussing Homolka’s presence with other parents in April, and on May 2, he received a letter that he would not be welcomed back in September.
Stéphanie Deligne, whose daughter attends Grade 4 at the school and is in a class with one of Homolka’s children, said she would have liked to have been informed about the situation.
“It’s really unacceptable,” Deligne said. “My daughter was playing with the dog of Karla Homolka, and I was right next to her, but I didn’t know who she was.”
After she raised her concerns, Deligne said she was told she will have to find another school in September.
Related
Tim Danson, the lawyer for the Mahaffy and French family said the parents’ concerns are justified.
“She is a psychopath, and there is no cure for psychopathy,” Danson said. “And there could be a sequence of events that could come into play that could trigger her psychopathy.”
He added that it pains the parents of her victims to see Homolka enjoying a life that was denied to their children.
He said the news of Homolka comes at a difficult time for the families involved as they are preparing victim impact statements for Bernardo’s upcoming parole hearing.
The Montreal Gazette contacted Greaves Adventist Academy about Homolka’s involvement with the school on May 17. School superintendent Marc Bouzy said the academy hadn’t received any complaints.
“The school has been here for a long time and we have never been involved in anything contrary to the proper norms of the students,” Bouzy told the Montreal Gazette. “There is no reason for anyone to be concerned about the way we do things right now for the benefit of the students in our community.”
The Seventh Day Adventist Church of Canada, which runs the school, told Breakfast Television Homolka isn’t a regular volunteer at the school and that she’s not allowed to be alone with the children.
Under provincial law, volunteers at elementary schools are supposed to undergo criminal background checks before interacting with students. Michael Cohen, a spokesperson for the English Montreal School Board said anyone who volunteers in any capacity at one of the board’s schools must have a background check done.
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facebook.com/JasonMagderJournalistAs a huge fan of Top Gear I normally regard the presenters' brand of irreverence as a part of the rough and tumble that goes with |
base and state that are managed independently by smaller agile teams. This allows companies to develop, deploy and update parts of their application in a faster, more agile way, and thereby react to new market requirements and competition in a more timely and flexible manner. Netflix and other "born in the cloud companies" serve as prime examples of successful microservices architectures.
Figure 1 shows a simple application that is built using microservices:
Figure 1: A microservices based application with three microservices
With time to market and agility being the main drivers for using microservices, the big question is what enables that agility and speed? The answer to this question leads to the main advantages of microservices.
Independent Deployments
With a large monolithic application, fast reliable deployments can be problematic. Think about a scenario where you want to introduce a new feature, for example adding a new field for a user profile, or simply fixing a bug. A monolithic application is typically built and deployed as a single, entire application, requiring the need to build and test the entire application to make sure that a small change does not break any other component in the application. The entire application must also then be redeployed, including all those other components that have not changed. Depending on the size, technologies, and processes used, building and deploying an update can take quite some time.
In a microservice-based architecture, such as shown in Figure 1, you would only need to update and deploy the service to which the feature update or a critical bug fix applies, assuming you follow the best practice of loose coupling. If a change to a service needs to be rolled back, it can be done without impacting the other services in production. This makes it possible for large applications to remain agile, and deploy updates more quickly and more often.
Independently Scalable
In the cloud, applications are commonly scaled out by increasing the number of machines, called instances. Basically, one creates more machine instances, each with an instance of the application, and then applies load balancing across those instances. In the case of a monolith, even if only one feature of the application requires additional scale, the entire application needs to be scaled out, and thus more machine instances need to be added at a much higher cost, compared to the microservices model.
A microservices architecture allows the ability to scale each service as needed and deploy the services to instances that better match their resource requirements. If the order service needs to be scaled out to meet demand it can be done without having to scale the other services that compose the application. If the profile service requires a lot of memory it can simply be deployed to instances with more memory. It's still possible to deploy the various services to the same instances, but we have the ability to better optimize for cost and scale in our deployments.
Different Technology Stacks and Conflicting Dependencies
Monolithic applications are typically developed in one language and on one technology stack, often even on a specific version of a stack. If one component of an application can benefit from some new features in a more recent version of the technology stack, they may not be able to adopt it because another component in the application may be unable to support it. So the ability to take advantage of more modern capabilities can lag seriously behind in a monolithic application.
With a microservices approach the application can be composed of independent services that leverage different frameworks, versions of libraries or framework, and even completely different OS platforms. This allows you to pick the best technology for the feature and the team and to avoid stack version conflicts between features or libraries.
For example, in Figure 1 the profile service may be implemented in Java and benefit from Elasticsearch features while the order service can use Node.js and a transactional database with strong consistency and reporting features like Oracle database. You can even use different versions of the same language or stack in your services without worrying about dependency conflicts.
Considerations When Dealing with Microservices
While microservices architectures offer great benefits, it is important to be aware that you are entering a distributed computing world. Distributed computing has always been a complex topic and microservices are no exception to this. There are a couple of things that you need to consider when starting with microservices.
Increased Complexity
Due to the many moving parts in such an architecture, management of the services becomes much more complex. Instead of one deployment, you are dealing with deployments of tens or hundreds of services, which need to work seamlessly together. That requires service registry and service discovery solutions, so that a new or updated service can make itself known to the system, and be detected by others. You also need to ensure all the services are up and running, not running out of disk space or other resources, and remain performant. All the services will generally require load balancing and communication over synchronous and asynchronous messaging. Cluster management and orchestration tools help with some of those tasks but it also requires you to understand how those tools work. Part 2 of this blog post series will have a closer look at cluster management and orchestration and how that helps with microservices.
Network Congestion and Latency
As microservices communicate via APIs through standard protocols, such as HTTP, networking becomes an important factor. Considering that there are hundreds of services in one application, and that requests typically span multiple services, it's not hard to see how this can impact the overall performance of your application if networking isn't given a lot of consideration. Another aspect that is often overlooked at first is data serialization and deserialization. Sometimes the same data is passed from one service to the next where it's de-serialized and serialized multiple times which can substantially increase the latency. There are several patterns that can be used, such as data caching or replication, to limit the number of requests. Regarding the serialization issues, you can use efficient serialization formats and mandate a common serialization format across the services. This may reduce some of these steps by allowing one service to pass data along to another service without having to reserialize it again.
Data Consistency
As each microservice typically has its own state store you must deal with the consistency and integrity challenges that come with decentralized data. Consider the following scenario. An order service references data in another service, say a product catalog service that you need to maintain integrity for. You now have some of the same data in both services that must remain consistent; if it changes in one it must change in the other. What if some data in the catalog service is deleted or changes, e.g. number of available items, and the order service needs to be made aware of this? Dealing with these consistency challenges, and concepts like eventual consistency, can be extremely hard to get right, but luckily the problem has been tackled already. For example, you can use patterns such as event sourcing, or notifications services to publish changes to data where consumers can subscribe to learn of these changes and updates.
Fault Tolerance and Resiliency
One characteristic of microservices applications is that they are typically fault tolerant even in the case of catastrophic failures. As there are many microservices with networks in between, faults can be more prevalent and more of a challenge in a microservices architecture. You may wonder how this can be the case as microservices are usually running in their own process or container and another would not directly affect its process. So how can one bad microservice bring down the entire application? Well, for example if a microservice takes too long to respond, exhausting all the threads in the calling service, it can cause cascading failures in the entire call chain. Not handling faults properly can also have an impact on your application's uptime SLA. Let's assume that your application needs to comply with a 99.9% uptime SLA, which relates to roughly 44 minutes of downtime per month, and that your application consists of three microservices, each offering 99.9% uptime. As each microservice can feasibly go down at a different time, you are now looking at a potential downtime of about 132 minutes, which would obviously violate the application's uptime SLA.
To handle faults and make your application fault tolerant you need to implement resiliency patterns such as timeouts, retries, circuit breakers and bulkheads, which can be quite challenging for developers being new to those types of patterns.
Diagnostics
Logging and tracing require a sound strategy in microservices based applications. Log aggregation and analysis require serious thought, as there can be hundreds and thousands of microservices in an application producing a huge number of logs. Furthermore, requests typically span multiple services, so it's important to find a way to tag a request through the system, enabling you to look at the entire request across all services. This is typically done by using correlation or activity IDs that get passed on to all downstream services, and each service includes this ID in its logs. But given that services are developed by different teams, it is also important to agree on a common log format. Overall diagnostics and debugging of microservices can be challenging, and must be planned for right at the beginning. In part three of this series we'll cover some diagnostics best practices.
Versioning
In monolithic systems, the code consuming an interface will typically be deployed with the implementation of the interface. Breaking changes in interfaces are typically caught during integration testing or during build time. In a microservices world, changes to an interface of a microservice are not necessarily handled by a consuming microservice right away, as they may be on different release cadences. To make sure that the consuming services can still work as expected requires all teams to think through and agree on service versioning techniques.
DevOps
Advanced devops, automation, and monitoring are key to successful Microservices operations. Testing in production is generally the goal, which requires more emphasis on monitoring to enable detection of anomalies and issues very quickly, and roll back as needed. Investment in automation, and use of tools and practices such as blue-green deployments, canaries, A/B testing, and feature flags are vitally important. Setting up a well-defined workflow where development and operations work together to produce agile, high quality releases can be challenging. Part three of this blog series will cover the entire devops process in more detail.
Summary
This introductory post discussed some the benefits of using microservices and explained why microservices are so appealing to many companies. We also covered some of the challenges that come with microservices-based applications. Going forward in this series we will discuss how to cope with those challenges in more detail. The next part will look into how containers and microservices play together and what role orchestrators and container management tools such as Kubernetes play in a microservices world.We’ve already gone through the top ten saves of the Stanley Cup final, but now it’s time to go a little bit further back and count down the greatest saves of the regular season. The goaltending was fantastic league-wide this season, and it was fun to count down the top ten saves of the week every week here on InGoal. Plenty of great saves needed to be left off the list, and it was an extremely difficult task to reduce this to only ten. We’re already looking forward to next season! Without further delay, here are all of the best saves from the 2014-2015 NHL regular season:
#10 Braden Holtby – Washington Capitals
It’s a good thing Holtby never takes his eye off the puck! Ryan Callahan shoots it through Brooks Orpik’s legs, but he is still able to pick it up. He reaches back and just gets his stick on it for a phenomenal save. It took a great combination of skill and desperation for Holtby to not only make this save, but to scoop it off the line and cover it before Ryan Callahan had chance to get the rebound.
#9 Jonathan Quick – Los Angeles Kings
Even though this save happened in a shootout, it’s far too brilliant to leave off the list. The behind-the-back glove/blocker stop along the ice is a move that is seen every once in a while, but never fails to inspire shock and awe. It’s a complete desperation move from Quick, and all Perreault has to do is raise the puck. The goalie wins this time!
#8 Cam Talbot – New York Rangers
This is the kind of glove save that kids dream about making in overtime of the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final. Although this only happened in a regular season game, nothing can take away from how truly amazing it was. A bit of a delayed reaction from Talbot forces him to fully extend, and he pulls it right off the goal line for the perfect glove stop.
#7 Calvin Pickard – Colorado Avalanche
Nobody expected Calvin Pickard to be in the NHL this soon, which made his success even more astounding. He stepped in and was a rock for the Avalanche while Semyon Varlamov missed some time due to injury. Saves like this made it very difficult to send him down when Varlamov came back. The sheer strength in that second-effort push to get his toe on it makes for a great GIF, because it is very satisfying to watch over and over again.
#6 Cam Ward – Carolina Hurricanes
Cam Ward is had an up and down season, but this save may be his best in a Hurricanes uniform. He can still show flashes of the star young goaltender that he once was, and this massive glove save certainly falls under that category. David Perron actually made a nice play to even get a shot off, but Ward was ready for it! Of course he had to add some of that classic Ward flare to it at the end.
#5 Jonas Gustavsson – Detroit Red Wings
Jonas Gustavsson was another guy that didn’t have the greatest season, but a big save like this almost makes you forget about it. The puck hit a leg and caromed into the slot, and waiting there for it was none other than the sniper Rick Nash. Goalies have always been taught to simply get something to the middle of the net when faced with an opportunity like this, but full extension glove saves like this are never expected. It’s not a save you want to be forced to make, but it feels great if you pull it off!
#4 Carey Price – Montreal Canadiens
Carey Price was bailed out because the shooter Matt Martin fanned on the shot a bit, but it still would have gone in if he didn’t have the presence of mind to reach back and make the save. Price not only gets his glove on it, he is able to contort his body backwards and scoop it out of harm’s way. Just another ho-hum save to add to the Carey Price career highlight package.
#3 – Karri Ramo – Calgary Flames
You can see Ramo think about recovering with a push, but he abandons all technique when he realizes that there is no time. That quick decision making is what makes this save rank so high. The only way he would be able to make this save would be to do a headfirst dive. It’s usually very difficult to quickly react on pucks that hit the post, but Ramo made it look easy.
#2 Kari Lehtonen – Dallas Stars
Even after watching this clip one thousand times, it’s still unbelievable to see Lehtonen get his glove on it. When the puck is on Jarret Stoll’s stick, the thought is that it is an automatic goal. There is no way an NHL shooter doesn’t bury that puck in that spot. Give Kari Lehtonen all of the credit in the world to reach back and snare it, plus he squeezes it so there is no rebound. It is easily the best save of his career so far.
#1 Carter Hutton – Nashville Predators
This is the top save of the year for a number of different reasons, and the complete randomness of a play like this happening is the main one. The puck deflects off Daniel Winnik and begins to bounce into the net for a sure goal, but Hutton tracks it all the way until it is behind his back and manages to swipe it away with the goal stick. The timing had to be perfect, the angle he hit the puck at had to be perfect, and the strength required to even reach back like that adds up to the greatest save of the 2014-2015 season.
If this top ten list left you wanting more, check out the top ten saves of the week for each individual week of the season by clicking here!
If bloopers are more of your thing, check out the top ten worst goals of the 2014-2015 NHL season by clicking here.Photo from usnews.com
The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is now offering a package for contraceptive implants to its women members. That means, yes, you can now get a birth control implant courtesy of the government.
Here’s what you need to know about it.
PhilHealth is calling it the “Subdermal Contraceptive Implant Package” and it is “to increase access to long acting reversible family planning methods,” according to PhilHealth Circular No. 038-2015
Birth control implants release a synthetic hormone called progestin that keeps a woman’s eggs in her ovaries, thus preventing fertilization and pregnancy. Small and matchstick-shaped, the procedure entails inserting one under the skin of a woman’s upper arm. It’s a relatively painless procedure requiring no incisions.
It’s reversible because its effect only last up to three years.
The subdermal contraceptive implant package will cover P3,000 in fees per case; P1,200 goes to professional fees and P1,800 to health care institution fees.
The amount will cover consultation and counseling prior to the procedure, use of facility and the procedure itself, medicine and supplies including the implant and, follow-up and counseling after the procedure.
The package from PhilHealth may be availed of once every two years. That’s okay since the implant, as we’ve mentioned, lasts longer than this.
The package has been available since Jan. 1, 2016 as an out-patient or in-patient service at accredited health care institutions and accredited health care professionals, including midwives. So, yes, you can avail of the package now!
The Department of Health will handle training and certification of healthcare providers to ensure competence in subdermal contraceptive implant techniques.
Here are the requirements you’ll be needing to file for a claim for this package (which has the package code FP001, by the way):
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PhilHealth Benefit Eligibility Form (PBEF) as proof that you’re eligible for this package. You can also provide a Member Data Record (MDR); a proof of premium payment (for individually paynig and overseas workder members); or PhilHealth ID (for indigent, sponsored and lifetime members).
as proof that you’re eligible for this package. You can also provide a Member Data Record (MDR); a proof of premium payment (for individually paynig and overseas workder members); or PhilHealth ID (for indigent, sponsored and lifetime members). PhilHealth Claim Form 2 (CF2) filled out by a health care provider.
Note: You’ll also need a PhilHealth Claim Form 1 (CF1) if your PBEF was denied.
Reimbursement claims should be filed within 60 days after the procedure. Don't forget or your claim will be denied.
And, that’s all the information we can give you about PhilHealth’s new contraceptive implant package. The circular can be found here if you want to read through the whole of it.
Photo of implant from mariestopes.org.zaBiologists Identify Six New Unique Species of the Western Rattlesnake
Courtesy of Blake L. Thomason The great basin rattlesnake (Crotalus lutosus), one of six new unique species identified by University of Arkansas biologists and their colleagues
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – There are more species of rattlesnake slithering around western North America than previously thought.
That’s the conclusion of a new study conducted by University of Arkansas biologists Michael Douglas and Marlis Douglas and their colleagues at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Western Kentucky University.
The researchers published their findings in the journal PLOS One.
The research team, using head shapes and genetic analyses, recommend that six groups of subspecies of the western rattlesnake be elevated to full species status, with the following names:
Crotalus viridis, prairie rattlesnake
Crotalus oreganus, northern Pacific rattlesnake
Crotalus cerberus, Arizona black rattlesnake
Crotalus helleri, southern Pacific rattlesnake
Crotalus concolor, midget faded rattlesnake
Crotalus lutosus, great basin rattlesnake
The scientific and standard English names will be submitted to the International Committee on Zoological Nomenclature for ratification.
The study has important implications for ecological conservation efforts across the United States, said Michael Douglas, professor of biological sciences and Twenty-First Century Chair in Global Change Biology.
“These snakes have been long been recognized by herpetologists as being demonstrably different, and in fact were designated as western rattlesnake subspecies in the first half of the 20th century,” Douglas said. “None are currently considered rare, but species designation allows them to gain certain legal protection, particularly within individual states.”
Marlis Douglas, associate professor of biological sciences and Bruker Chair of Life Sciences, said the genetic data were also evaluated to identify these snakes as individual species. The Douglases collaborated with Mark Davis, research scientist at the Illinois Natural History Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois, and Michael Collyer, associate professor of biology at Western Kentucky University.
As part of his doctoral research, Davis collected data from nearly 3,000 western rattlesnakes available in natural history museums across the western United States.
In addition to genetic traits, the team examined head shape, which can vary drastically between different species of snakes and potentially reflect what kind of prey the snake prefers.
About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.“When someone throws you a stone, throw back a flower.” ~Gandhi
“Ouch,” I cried out instinctively as my husband, Barry, and I walked through the beach parking lot, barefoot. It was only when Barry turned to me and asked me why I yelled out that I realized it was him who stubbed his toe, and not me.
“Because it hurts,” I answered him. He looked at me curiously and said, “But it didn’t hurt you. It hurt me. I’m the one who stubbed my toe.”
It hadn’t dawned on me that feeling other people’s pain wasn’t a “normal” reaction.
All my life I have been extremely empathic, but for the first half of my life I didn’t even realize that this was a unique character trait, that not everyone shares.
When I was in close contact with people who were yelling, I would literally shake. When those around me were sad or scared, I would drink in those feelings like a sponge, not realizing that these feelings weren’t my own.
As a result, I felt on edge a lot of the time, as I was carrying not only my own feelings but also the emotions of many people around me. However, I was not in touch with this anxiety—I didn’t even know it was there. It was unconscious.
Because I was empathic, I was often sympathetic to the plights and concerns of friends and family.
Even as a child, people turned to me for guidance in resolving their problems. At the time, I didn’t mind because I was happy to offer whatever support I could.
However, as I entered my teen years, the burden of other people’s emotions, on top of my own unresolved feelings, became too heavy to bear. But I didn’t know that consciously. I wasn’t even aware of what was happening for me.
I turned to food, alcohol, and other substances to numb the intensity of what I felt.
I felt a strong need to withdraw and I could no longer be in the same room or the same house with people who carried intense, often unconscious, emotions.
I had to learn ways to manage the emotional energy—both my own feelings as well as the energy of others—that I was absorbing.
This was a major key for me in breaking free from food and all other addiction. There were many bumps along the road as I learned to do this. Over time, I discovered four powerful ways to help manage emotional energy.
1. Practice a wareness.
I noticed that if I wasn’t aware of what I was feeling, either in response to an internal shift, such as a hormonal or mood change, or a reaction to another person’s strong emotion, I was much more likely to be reactive and act out in a way that wouldn’t feel good to me.
With awareness, I could consciously choose a response and an action that I could feel good about.
2. Understand the nature of energy.
A big key to healing for me has been the understanding that my response to my environment also feeds the energy. Therefore, if someone throws me a stone and I throw another stone back, or worse, a rock, I am going to exacerbate the problem.
Not only will I add fuel to the fire and cause pain for the other, but I will be increasing my own suffering. Energy feeds on energy.
If my daughter comes home from a long day at school expressing negativity, if I feed on that, consciously or unconsciously, by being in any way critical, negative, or judgmental myself, I will only increase the dark energy that is now in the kitchen.
Instead, if I can give her love and sweetness, most likely that will be healing to her and the energy will shift to something that’s supportive and healing for both of us. That’s because love is all the soul seeks and when we can come back to a loving place, everything else in life becomes manageable.
When we drift from a place of love, kindness, wholeness, and forgiveness, we feel “out of sorts” and often express bad energy (anger, fear, complaining, etc.).
3. Don’t take anything personally.
One of the main reasons I came to see that I absorbed and hung on to other people’s dramas and intense energies is because I bought into their suffering at some level. But over time I realized that nothing means what I think it does.
I don’t have to force open the caterpillar’s cocoon to help it become a butterfly. I realized that the same power within me that has turned every difficulty and challenge I have faced into an ultimate lesson and blessing is in everyone else, too.
I have learned to trust that other people, even those I love the most, need to learn life’s lessons through their own experiences and insights.
I’m not responsible for fixing the energy or the situation. My only responsibility was and is how am I managing my own energy: am I adding goodness, love, and warmth to the space and people around me, or am I contributing to the creation of a frenetic and fearful environment?
4. Balance yourself.
The key to staying balanced for me is to continuously stay connected to my heart—my deeper, spiritual self—and when I stray from there by getting caught up in the voices in my head or the drama unfolding around me, to know the short-cut back to center.
For me, the most powerful way to do this is with a form of meditation that I call self-hypnosis.
This method helped me to heal so many aspects of my life, including my health, which had deteriorated at a young age, my weight, and food addiction issues as well as my relationships. Any type of meditation—and even just a few minutes of deep breathing—can help us center ourselves.
Being empathic and super sensitive to energy is not something that I can just decide to change, but I can become more aware of how it affects me.
The empowering thing is the realization that I can change my reactions and my own behaviors, no matter how overwhelming the emotions, my own and others’, feel to me, in the moment.
Because 90 percent of the behaviors we do are habitual—meaning we are only doing them because we did them yesterday—we can literally re-train the brain to respond in a new way to the exact same stimuli.
I used to think my only two choices were to react to negative energy with negativity or to withdraw and detach. Neither option was conducive to building strong, supportive relationships or to my own happiness.
I now know that when someone throws me a stone, I can throw back a flower (as a wise spiritual teacher once recommended), and I can feel great about it!
I wouldn’t change my empathic nature even if I could because, on a positive note, it has helped me to understand people and open my heart to them—to realize that we are all on the same human journey together, seeking compassion and love, even if we’re not going about it in the most effective way.
Every cloud has a silver lining, and the blessing of empathy and feeling emotions strongly is the opportunity to connect to our deepest strength and transmit something greater that can bring healing to our self and others.
About Rena Greenberg Rena Greenberg can be reached at http://EasyWillpower.com. Her success with weight loss hypnosis has been featured in 150+ news stories including USA Today, Woman’s World Magazine, The Doctor’s Show, CNN, Good Morning America and ABC-TV Nightline. Her wellness program has been sponsored in 75 hospitals and 100+ major corporations. She’s the Author of The Right Weigh and The Craving Cure.Having high self-esteem doesn’t just feel good, it has physical benefits too. It seems that thinking well of ourselves may protect both the heart and immune system.
High self-esteem makes us feel safer when faced with threats, which in modern western society tend to be related to social status rather than physical danger.
So psychologist Andy Martens from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, and his colleagues wondered if this protective effect might go further, and dampen our physiological responses as well.
To find out, they carried out a series of experiments involving a total of 184 participants. In one study, participants were given false feedback about their intelligence or personality that was designed to raise or lower their self-esteem. In another, they were asked to rate their natural self-esteem levels each day for two weeks. The team analysed the activity of the participants’ cardiac vagal tone – a measure of how strongly the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) influences the heart.
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Fight or flight
The PNS acts to slow and calm the heart, in opposition to the “fight or flight” state governed by the sympathetic nervous system. The PNS dampens stress and inflammation, and if underactive can lead to cardiovascular problems and autoimmune disease.
In each experiment, higher self-esteem correlated with higher vagal tone. The effect was relatively small, but Martens and his colleagues say this is the first study to show how a change in self-esteem can lead to an immediate change in physiology, and is an important step towards “filling the gap” between self-esteem and health.
Martens suggests that the most reliable way for someone to boost their self-esteem is to surround themselves with supportive friends or family – people who provide convincing positive feedback – rather than, say, trying to think positively.
“Low self-esteem means more than just feeling bad,” he says. “It also means the body isn’t functioning in a very healthy way, and this could have serious health implications down the road.”
Journal reference:Journal of Research in Personality, DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2010.07.001A WOMAN who used homeopathy instead of taking her dogs to a vet has been banned from keeping animals for three years.
When the RSPCA received a call about Susan Lambert’s dogs, the 54-year-old claimed her two German Shepherds were suffering from a skin condition because they had been burnt by the sulphuric acid that a farmer had sprayed on nearby fields.
She was advised to seek veterinary treatment, but refused saying she would continue to use homeopathy.
Three months later, an RSPCA officer returned to find the dogs’ conditions had rapidly deteriorated.
Five-year-old male K had lost half his fur, while eight-year-old female Tee (pictured) was almost completely bald.
Eventually the RSCPA and police attended Lambert’s address in Colwall to seize the animals.
They were taken to a vet who found that parasitic mites had burrowed into the dogs’ skin and caused severe mange.
At Hereford Magistrates’ Court last week, Gaynor Sutton, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said Lambert had been “difficult to deal with”.
Lambert had accused the RSPCA of harassment and, when police called at her house, initially refused to let them in.
She was been found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to animals during a hearing at Hereford Magistrates last month.
Lambert, who now lives in the Nottingham area, did not attend that trial and did not attend court to be sentenced due to illness, but in a letter to the court said she was now too sick to continue the fight to get her dogs back.
Since being taken in by the RSPCA, Tee has made a full recovery. She will soon be up for adoption through the animal charity.
Sadly K was put to sleep after vets found an inoperable tumour.
As well as being banned from keeping any animals for three years, Lambert was fined a total of £600 and ordered to pay £400 costs.IN these extravagant years where 'rotation' is viewed as key it can be pleasant to ponder simpler times when the game brought characters and glory. Aston Villa claimed the old First Division title in the 1980/81 season; amazingly only 14 footballers were used during the campaign. The pitches were poor, the tackles were tough, but the spirit which Ron Saunders engendered in that team lives on.
Last Sunday week the third anniversary mass of one those heroic Villians, Eamonn Deacy, took place in Galway. It was a poignant affair; the sense of loss in the Tribal town hasn't diminished, but the fondness for a great sports figure endures.
Like many others Deacy, an ultimate homebird, had to leave the west of Ireland to fulfil his potential. One appearance as a professional in the Football League was his target. “I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it,” Deacy once remarked with a dictaphone placed on boxes at Ernies Fruit and Vegetable shop on Sea Road in Galway. “ If I got one game I knew I'd be happy. That is what I wanted to do - to get one game in England.” It wasn't limited ambition - his burning desire was to cross the white chalk lines in a match of importance.
The journey wasn't exactly smooth, there was plenty of turbulence. Before Galway had a League of Ireland club Deacy scripted chapters in his fascinating personal story with Sligo Rovers and Limerick. Deacy penned letters furiously searching for a trial in England, and when Ron Saunders gave him an opportunity at the Villa, he had been given all that he ever craved: a chance. “I remember after training when on trial I was outside Ron Saunders' office. All the coaches were positive saying he likes you, he definitely likes you, don't worry, it will all work out. I wasn't sure, though. He eventually asked me to come in. I remember being there and he said, are you from near Tipperary? If you are my wife says I have to sign you,” Deacy joked about the meeting as a deal was promptly agreed.
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There was something about Deacy's heart which Saunders and subsequently the Villa squad adored. "He was so proud of the team's success but he was a modest man,” captain Ken McNaught said shortly after Deacy tragically passed away. “I can't highlight enough the contribution he made.” That was the esteem in which he was held.
Deacy cried when Saunders attempted to give him his League winners medal -thinking he hadn't contributed enough to the Villa cause. That most certainly wasn't the case.
A four match loan stint at Derby County followed, the offer a contract with the Rams was available, but Deacy preferred to go home. Playing for Galway United, where he never accepted a single penny deeming it an honour, and working alongside his brother, Ernie, in their famous shop on Sea Road Deacy he inspired a generation. A quiet man who had his own unique way making others believe and dream.HA NOI (VNS)— Infectious diseases in Viet Nam have decreased considerably in the past 10 years thanks to the preventive medicine system, yet some newly emerging and re-emerging illnesses still remain complicated public health issues.
Nguyen Tran Hien, director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said this at a conference held yesterday by Viet Nam Public Health Association.
The country did not see any hand-foot-mouth cases before 2005. But since 2011, the disease has broken out in cities and provinces across the country. That year also saw the highest number of patients, with more than 100,000 cases reported.
By 2010, the number of dengue fever patients decreased compared with the 1990s, but it has been rising steadily for the past six years.
"There are seven main reasons that these infectious diseases are emerging and re-emerging," said Hien.
These reasons are: population booms and urban-isation, immigration and poultry trading, agricultural development, climate change, unhygienic food, the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and globalisation.
Meanwhile, deputy director of the Ministry of Health's Department of Preventive Medicine Phan Trong Lan said the main reason was that Viet Nam has tropical weather, giving bacteria a comfortable place to develop.
Moreover, residents in different areas had different levels of awareness about disease prevention, he said.
Hien said that the health sector should strengthen the health care system, especially districts' and communes' medical stations, to improve their services and intensify interdisciplinary disease prevention.
The health sector should also reinforce international co-ordination and call for support from international organisations, said Hien.
Lan added that the Ministry of Health has founded a steering committee with the participation of more than 30 health, food safety and environmental experts to control the diseases.
The committee will focus on diseases transmitted via respiratory organs and spread by poultry as 75 per cent of re-emerging diseases originate from birds, such as the flu type A/H5N1 and A/H1N1.
In April 2003, the World Health Organisation recognised Viet Nam as the first country in the world to control SARS successfully.
"This proved our capacity to prevent diseases. Together with the steering committee foundation, controlling the re-emerging infectious diseases is possible," Lan said.
Meanwhile, the country has successfully maintained its achievements in polio elimination since 2000 and innate tetanus since 2005, he said.
The number of patients and fatalities of diarrhoea, whooping-c |
on what the extravagant one pays just to get to and from his job everyday for a year.
Now of course, people tend to trade in their cars every few years and so the annualized costs, over a couple of decades say, works out to less than $81k – $128k. But it still stuns me that, just in order to get to their job, some people purchase a machine that costs more than the capital required for a frugal retirement.The team has the quality to do well in Federation Cup, says Mridul
Kolkata: Bengal’s Santosh Trophy-winning coach Mridul Banerjee was appointed as East Bengal’s interim coach on Tuesday morning. After four consecutive losses Trevor Morgan had stepped down on Monday. An Advisory Committee consisting of the club greats like Manoranjan Bhattacharya, Tushar Rakshit and Bhaskar Ganguly has also been formed.
The AFC-A license-holder was preferred over five time I-League winning coach Armando Colaco, who was all set to return to the red and gold camp last evening. The 56-year-old Mridul recently coached Bengal to a record 32nd title in the Santosh Trophy National Football Championship stunning Goa in Goa.
“Mridul is our choice and has been appointed coach. He has been given a contract till the Federation Cup,” East Bengal General Secretary Kalyan Majumdar said. In a press conference, East Bengal’s new advisory committee member Manoranjan Bhattacharya said, “I know Mridul for a long time. I advised his name for Bengal team as well for the Santosh Trophy and he justified the choice by winning the Santosh Trophy. We all want the club to do well and it will be a team work to rectify the mistakes.” On the flip side, new interim coach Mridul Banerjee said, “This team has the quality to do well in the Federation Cup and my intention will be to help the team as much as possible. There are still a couple of games left in the league and we will try to do well in those.” He didn’t wanted to disclose the loopholes he found in the team and said, “There were certainly some problems, but I don’t want to look back to the past.”
East Bengal are now third on the I-League table with 27 points from 16 fixtures, below title-contenders Aizawl FC and Mohun Bagan. East Bengal’s hopes for the elusive I-League title went up in smoke after their 0-1 loss on April 16 to DSK Shivajians — their fourth on the trot. East Bengal’s string of losses began with Churchill Brothers. They went on to be beaten by Chennai City FC. The derby defeat was enough for the fans, who laid siege at the club last week demanding “Morgan go back”.
Mridul will start his work from tomorrow morning and his first match will be against Minerva.DAMASCUS (AFP) – The Syrian army said on Friday that Israeli missile strikes caused a series of explosions at an airbase outside Damascus before dawn.
“In a desperate attempt to support terrorist organisations, Israeli enemy aircraft launched missiles from the north of Lake Tiberias (the Sea of Galilee) at 00:25 am (2225 GMT Thursday),” a military source told the state SANA news agency.
“The Syrian armed forces warns the Israeli enemy of the repercussions of this blatant aggression, and insists on continuing the war on terrorism to eliminate it,” the source added.
The Israeli army had no comment on the strikes when contacted by AFP earlier on Friday.
An AFP correspondent heard several explosions and saw a large fire inside the Mazzeh airbase on the western outskirts of Damascus, with smoke?visible across the capital.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said there had been eight blasts around the base as missiles hit ammunition warehouses.
Since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, the government has accused Israel of carrying multiple strikes on its territory, including in the Mazzeh area.
Several have targeted Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an Israeli archfoe whose fighters have been supporting the Syrian army against rebels whom the government of President Bashar al-Assad regards as “terrorists.”
Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating war in 2006.The mystery jets that were spotted over Amarillo, Texas, and Wichita, Kan. earlier this year are in fact Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bombers on a training sortie, military sources told USNI News on Monday.
“The Amarillo jets were B-2 training sorties,” an U.S. Air Force official with direct knowledge of the incident told USNI News on Monday.
The jets were enroute to the Utah Test and Training Range to practice dropping bombs after a brief delay at the Melrose Air Force Range in New Mexico.
Flying out of Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., the B-2s would likely have navigated via Amarillo to get to Melrose Range.
View Mystery Planes Are B-2s in a larger map
“The Kansas picture is likely any number of training sorties flown around Kansas and Missouri,” the official added.
Whiteman, the home station of the B-2 fleet, is just outside of Kansas City near the border between Kansas and Missouri.
Earlier reporting that suggested that the images showed a thus far unknown type of triangular aircraft were mistaken due to the poor resolution of the photos.
The triangular planform on apparent display in those shots is the result of an optical illusion that obscured the trailing edge of the B-2s design.
“Given the resolution of this photo, we can’t even tell if it is a military
aircraft, much less an Air Force one,” Air Force spokeswoman Jennifer Cassidy told USNI News on April 21.
The U.S. Air Force fields 20 of the stealth bombers.Sour Beer Blending
Blending is one of the most important steps in sour production, blending is essentially combining multiple fermentation’s into one beer. This process helps remove drastic variations between batches and help maintain a more consistent product.
Blending gives the ability to “tailor” a beer by combining various aspects. For example if you have a beer that is too acidic or too oaky you can blend it with another beer to tone down the acid/oak. Also allows acidity/oak to be added to a beer that is lacking in certain flavor components.
Many brewers keep an “Acid” beer on hand at all times for blending purposes a dry “brett” beer is also recommended to have on hand to mellow acidity or Important to note with blending is that you don’t want to use a beer with fermentation flaws and try to cover it up by blending as the beers will change in the bottle and likely develop the same flavors.
First step is coordinating your brewing to have several beers ready at the same time Ideally the beers used for blending should have a range of flavors. Acidity, maltiness, funky, oaky, etc.
Lauren Salazar from New Belgium
Questions from Milk the Funk:
Thought process when developing a blend. Do you sample everything first and then
develop the blend? or do you have something in mind first and then figure out how to get there using the stock you have. How do you proceed to a final blend.
Thoughts on Brett and esters since NB uses a lager yeast, are esters a motivating factor in the decision?
Why pasteurize? Thought process behind decision? Locks in blend but do you think the beers still develop over time in the bottle. Is part of that decision to pasteurize related to keeping some sweetness in the beer? So the brett/bugs don’t chew through everything. (Or is it really because your sours and clean beers share a bottling line?)
How should homebrewers setup their pipeline for blending? Should we have for example a golden sour and a red sour several months apart or should it be the same beer over and over?
At what stage does NB add fruit to their sours? Recommendations for hombrewers?
Why are Felix & Oscar lager bases? What other yeasts and temps did NB try before settling on a Lager yeast.
What are the average ferm temps for Oscar and Felix in primary and secondary?
Whats new and on the Horizon for NB as well as for the NB sour program
Will there be a sour program (Foeder Forest) at Asheville?
Is there something we can do on the hombrew level that you wish you could be doing at NB
Does NB keep overly acidic or overly funky beer just for blending?
How do you go about blending SO MANY std size barrels? Do they still use barrels for La Folie or are they just for special releases?
What is the best way to go about starting and maintaining a solera (such as Oscar / Felix)?
Where do you think the American craft beer scene is headed in the next 10 years?
Recommended Sites:
madfermentationist.com
embracethefunk.com
Dr Lambic: http://sourbeerblog.com
What has everyone been up to:
Joe:
NC brewer’s collaboration
German pilsner
Packing up for NJ, hitting up Cape May Brewing again
Daan:
Birthday weekend in Texas w/ Stephen Williams. Calling in via Skype
Michael:
Brewed a Dunkelweizen
Finishing the Kegerator Build
Went to the North Carolina Brewers Celebration at BB&T Ballpark courtesy of House of Brews
Pinkee Brewster:
Filling in for Daan while he is in Texas
Recovering from Marathon Brew month
Working on equipment build and upgrades
Shawn:
Not much brewing a lot of transferring & Kegging.
Naturally keg carbed Farmhouse Sour (GigaYeast Famhouse Sour fermented in a Barrel)
Kegged a Hop Drop inspired IPA w/ Omega DIPA (Heady Topper yeast) w/ Equinox and Amarillo.
Getting geared up for vacation!
Also looking forward to the Beer Bloggers Conference & The Wicked Weed Funk Asheville event w/ Daan
Upcoming Events:
Wooden Robot soft opening this weekend and full open 7/11 Free Range Brewing Opening soft opening this week, full open Thursday, July 9th. Red Clay Cider opening July 18th Beer & Branding http://charlotte.aiga.org/event/beerbrandingkickoff2015/ Asheville brewers conference 8/22 Unknown Collaboration 9/13 The Great NC Beer Map on Kickstarter Map will feature more than 160 craft breweries, festivals and general information about brewing
How To Find Us:
iTunes
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fermentationnation.net
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Twitter @Ferm_Nation
Beer/Brewery industry news/updates:
Contract Brewing is legal in NC
NC Distillers can sell product on Premise
L.E. is cracking down
Sponsors:
House of Brews
17th Annual Charlotte Oktoberfest on October 3rd. (Biggest beer fest in SouthEast) Sponsored by Lagunitas (We will be giving away 2 pairs of tickets) Charlotteoktoberfest.com Premium & General Admission Tickets Ferm Nation booth selling craft beer bottle candles for charity.
on October 3rd. (Biggest beer fest in SouthEast) Sponsored by Lagunitas (We will be giving away 2 pairs of tickets) Charlotteoktoberfest.com Premium & General Admission Tickets Ferm Nation booth selling craft beer bottle candles for charity. Saluds 3306 N. Davidson end of Noda before the railroad tracks.
July Specials from House of Brews!
US Golding Pellet Hops: Mild and delicate with sweet floral characteristics 6.5%
1 oz-$.50
1 LB-$7.00
Eng Challenger: Challenger is a granddaughter of Northern Brewer with some Northdown in its lineage as we 9.6%.
1oz-$.50
1LB-$7.00
Target: Excellent bittering hop with a classic English character. 7.1%\
1oz-$.50
1LB-$7.00
Please come see us at our retail store located at 3611 Tryclan Drive-Charlotte, NC 28217 or visit our website at www.House-of-Brews.comFor the Labour Party I love, the party I have devoted more than 50 years of my life to serving, the re-election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader is a catastrophe.
I’m in despair at this calamitous situation. I honestly cannot see how we’re going to get out of it.
Most readers, of course, will not be lifelong party members like me. Perhaps you think that this is merely a Westminster matter.
Scroll down for video
David Blunkett: For the Labour Party I love, the party I have devoted more than 50 years of my life to serving, the re-election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader is a catastrophe
Jeremy Corbyn’s position as leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition has been reinforced by a vote, and that’s just politics. Does it affect real life?
The answer is a resounding yes.
This is about the immediate future of British democracy. There has to be a credible opposition party, one that the wider public can trust.
If not, there will be a permanent Conservative majority in the Commons, with nobody to keep the government honest and accountable.
And even for the most dyed-in-the-wool Tories that is very bad news. For the country, it’s an utter disaster. Everyone should be as concerned as I am.
The Labour Party under Corbyn is not electable. I am at a loss to understand what the 313,000 members who voted for him believe they can really achieve in the next three years, and what the eventual outcome will be, other than annihilation at a general election in 2020.
They have shown that they are completely disconnected from the broad electorate and, when that happens to a party, it ceases to be relevant.
That’s my worst political nightmare – a Labour Party that doesn’t connect to the lives of ordinary working people.
Jeremy Corbyn’s position as leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition has been reinforced by a vote, and that’s just politics. Does it affect real life?
Much of the support for Corbyn exists on social media, in online forums such as Facebook and Twitter.
I can appreciate that for the activists constantly parroting each others’ soundbites, it must be deeply satisfying to be surrounded by the echoes of their own voices.
But it’s a terrible mistake to imagine that noise is the voice of the whole country.
With the backing of Britain, Labour leaders in the past have achieved massive social changes. We did not establish the National Health Service by being a protest movement.
David Blunkett, former Labour Home Secretary from 2001-2004
We did it by uniting millions of people. And that’s what Jeremy Corbyn can never do.
He’s a past master at the art of opposition. He’s been opposing the government, whether it’s Tory, Labour or Coalition, since he first entered the Commons in 1983.
And that’s all he can do. He could never lead a government, because he has no experience of it and no aptitude for it.
My own experience tells me so. I joined Labour when I was 16 years old in 1963, the year The Beatles had their first No 1.
I became the youngest member of Sheffield City Council in 1970, and I was elected leader of that council ten years later.
My own politics were left of centre, but I was able to work with men and women with widely differing convictions because we all wanted the same thing: a Labour government.
That’s why, as part of the National Executive, I was instrumental in fighting and expelling the Trotskyite Militant Tendency during the 1980s. Some of those people are the same ones who are steering the Momentum organisation that now backs Corbyn.
Labour is my lifeblood. All of us who love the party have to fight to take it back. But that doesn’t mean a knee-jerk reaction, setting up an alternative movement to seize the middle ground. If we attempt to do that, without thinking it through very carefully, we’ll be doomed to failure.
My worst political nightmare – a Labour Party that doesn’t connect to the lives of ordinary working people
The Corbyn wing controls all the money and the party machinery, for a start. MPs who try to break away will be powerless.
I was against the peremptory move to dislodge Corbyn this summer, because we weren’t prepared for the battle. We hadn’t made enough of an effort to recruit ordinary people to the party, to combat the extremists. And we didn’t have any clear idea of our goals, other than ‘Corbyn must go’.
It would be madness to carry on like that. We have to stop, take deep breaths and start talking.
For those who demand acquiescence and see even the writing of this article as betrayal, I have one question: Do you really believe that repeating someone else’s message, and swearing that Jeremy can lead Labour to victory, can change reality?
The great political novelist George Orwell wrote in the late 1930s that the problem with Marxists is that they don’t have any clue what’s going on in normal people’s heads. That’s as true today as it was before the Second World War.
Much of the support for Corbyn exists on social media, in online forums such as Facebook and Twitter
The people running Momentum are modern-day Marxists. And they are incapable of seeing that Britain will never vote for Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister, when he has no concept of national security.
He doesn’t want to fight terrorism – he can’t even bring himself to denounce Palestinian terrorists or the IRA.
He has already said he would never push the nuclear button, and I strongly suspect he could never sanction any kind of war at all. A Britain led by this man would be vulnerable and helpless, and the electorate knows it.
All the Twitter and Facebook slogans in the world won’t change that.
Labour is a great party, founded by great men. I ask myself what our past leaders, visionaries such as Keir Hardie and Clement Attlee, would make of this current mess. I strain to hear their voices down the ages, and I think they would be as speechless with dismay as I am.Audio
Ride-hailing firm Uber has fired about 20 of its employees, including some senior executives, after an investigation into more than 200 sexual harassment and other workplace-misconduct claims.
The company is not commenting on the findings of the report from Perkins Coie, which was hired after former Uber engineer Susan Fowler last year alleged that she was sexually harassed, and her complaints disregarded by the company's human resources department.
On Tuesday, the San Francisco company held an all-hands meeting for its 12,000 employees, where it discussed those findings and, according to a source familiar with the meeting, 40 additional employees were reprimanded or referred to counseling and training. Uber set up a hotline where employees and former employees could file complaints.
The findings from the investigation will feed into a second, broader report from former Attorney General Eric Holder due out next Tuesday, which will include more detailed recommendations for how Uber should address and remediate its workplace culture.
The case has has gotten attention in part because Silicon Valley already has a reputation for attracting and catering to male tech talent, but not to women. So, in a way, Uber is a test case for how serious the tech industry is about fixing its gender-diversity problems.
Uber has rapidly become a household name. It's hugely successful with investors. But it is also a consumer brand, and consumer brands have to care very much about their public image. And that's an area where Uber has struggled recently.
Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
To view PDF documents, Download Acrobat Reader.Papiss Cisse accepted the original FA charge, but Jonny Evans denied the allegation
Manchester United defender Jonny Evans's actions in spitting at Papiss Cisse were "simply disgusting", said the FA panel which found him guilty.
Evans, 27, denied spitting at the Newcastle striker during the Red Devils' 1-0 win over the Magpies on 4 March, but was given a six-match ban.
"The ordinary man in the street will find his action to be simply disgusting," said the three-man panel.
"It should not be allowed in any walk of life, let alone any football field."
The written reasons for the punishment given to Evans and Cisse, 29, were released by the FA on Thursday.
Manchester United argued that a six-match ban against Evans was excessive, the report also revealed.
Cisse, who accepted the original charge, will miss seven games through suspension for his part in the incident.
The Senegal international misses an extra match because he was banned in December for elbowing Everton's Seamus Coleman.
Games that Evans and Cisse will miss Jonny Evans: Arsenal (H - lost 2-1), Tottenham (H), Liverpool (A), Aston Villa (H), Manchester City (H), Chelsea (A) Papiss Cisse: Everton (A), Arsenal (H), Sunderland (A), Liverpool (A), Tottenham (H), Swansea (H), Leicester (A)
"It is clear that Mr Evans is looking directly and indeed aggressively at Mr Cisse. His lips are 'pursed' and he is close to Mr Cisse," added the report by an independent regulatory commission.
"If he was, as alleged to be the case, a person who 'habitually spits', then the commission were concerned as to why he did not turn his head away from Mr Cisse when so spitting.
"If that had been a family member or indeed another team member or his manager in front and below him would he still have carried out the same manoeuvre?
"Mr Evans had (and has) a duty of care, if spitting for whatever reason, not to direct the same in the general direction of an opponent, or indeed anyone else. The video clips clearly show that he failed in his duty of care."
Manchester United and Evans accepted that spitting has "no place in football", but hoped that the Northern Ireland international would receive less than a six-match ban.
But the panel, which admitted Evans had a "good and maybe commendable" previous disciplinary record, did not believe there were any exceptional circumstances to warrant a lesser punishment.Unlike other laws that enjoy the presumption of regularity, this cybercrime law, insofar as it infringes on freedom of expression, will come to court with a very heavy presumption of unconstitutionality
Published 7:40 AM, September 20, 2012
Despite the view of the United Nations Committee on Human Rights that Philippine criminal libel is contrary to Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on freedom of expression, Congress and President Aquino still enacted the Cybercrime Prevention Law which, among other things, added electronic libel as a new criminal offense.
Worse, this new law increased the penalty for cyber libel to prision mayor from the current prision correctional provided under the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
This means that electronic libel is now punished with imprisonment from 6 years and one day to up to 12 years, while those convicted for ordinary libel under the RPC are subject to imprisonment only from 6 months and one day to four years and two months. And because parole, a means by which a convict may be spared from actual imprisonment may be granted only to those sentenced to serve a prison term for no more than 6 months and one day, anyone convicted for cyber libel will inevitably serve a prison term.
Since the Philippines leads the rest of the world in terms of Facebook and Twitter usage, this means that unlike ordinary libel complaints which are oftentimes brought against printed newspapers -- given the element of publication -- any user of these leading social media tools is now liable for prosecution since the fact that an allegedly libelous writing appeared on the internet is already sufficient to prove the element of publication.
The new Cybercrime law is an outright defiance of the UN Human Rights Committee View in the case of Alexander Adonis vs. Republic of the Philippines.
In that View, the UNHRC declared that Philippine libel law under the RPC contravenes freedom of expression on two counts: one, it is a disproportionate means by which to achieve its avowed goal of protecting the privacy of private persons; and two, because there is an alternative in the form of civil libel, or the payment of damages. The UNHRC also took the view that our libel in the Philippines, because it does not recognize truth as a defense, is additionally defective on this ground.
While the View of the UNHRC in this instance is non-binding, the Philippines nonetheless is under an obligation to heed it because of the maxim “pacta sundt servanda”, or that treaty obligations must be complied with in good faith. The UN Human Rights Committee Views, since the membership of the body consist of leading experts in human rights, are accepted as authoritative on the issue of states compliance with their obligations under the ICCPR.
See you in court
Simply put, the view against our libel law is very strong evidence of breach of a state obligation under the ICCPR And instead of heeding the UN’s call to review its existing libel law, Congress and PNoy appeared to have slammed the body by enacting an even more draconian legislation against cyber libel.
Our constitutional commitment to freedom of expression has long been recognized. Justice Holmes, for instance, wrote : “When men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas -- that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market...."
The commitment exists because it is only through freedom of expression that we are able to discern the truth and able to fiscalize despotic regimes: “The freedom to speak one's mind is not only an aspect of individual liberty -- and thus a good unto itself -- but also is essential to the common quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole. We have therefore been particularly vigilant to ensure that individual expressions of ideas remain free from governmentally imposed sanctions."
By criminalizing Internet libel, government expanded the infringement of freedom of expression even to the realm that has enabled us to give life to the principle of a free market place of ideas - the Internet. Prior to this law, it is ironic that the Philippines was even cited by the United Nations for not interfering with the internet. The law is a testament to the reality that despite the overwhelming mandate given to this administration, coupled with its unprecedented public approval ratings, it continues to be insecure and unable to compete in the market place of ideas.
We will see the PNoy administration in court on this one. And we will prevail. For unlike other laws that enjoy the presumption of regularity, this Cybercrime law, insofar as it infringes on freedom of expression, will come to court with a very heavy presumption of unconstitutionality.
There can be nothing sadder than suing the son of icons of democracy for infringement of a cherished right. - Rappler.com
More on the Cybercrime law:Here’s a shorter version of the trade policy speech Donald Trump gave in front of a pile of garbage on Tuesday: Don't do as I do. Do as I say.
As the presumptive Republican nominee unveiled his new trade proposals at an aluminum plant in Pennsylvania, he ignored decades of his own actions, opinions and to oppose outsourcing and free trade.
And it not only goes against what he’s preached and practiced, but runs contrary to the conservative economic philosophy that has formed the backbone of the Republican Party since at least the Reagan era.
“Our politicians have aggressively pursued a policy of globalization -- moving our jobs, our wealth and our factories to Mexico and overseas,” Trump thundered. "NAFTA was the worst trade deal in history, and China's entrance into the World Trade Organization has enabled the greatest jobs theft in history."
But Trump has not only been an outsourcer of jobs -- but an enthusiastic supporter of it.
“We are now closer to having an economic community in the best sense of the term -- we work with each other for the benefit of all,” Trump wrote on CNN, during January 2013. “We will have to leave borders behind and go for global unity when it comes to financial stability... The future of Europe, as well as the United States, depends on a cohesive global economy."
“Outsourcing Creates Jobs in the Long Run," Trump wrote in a now-defunct blog back in 2005.
In that article, he cited a study that showed outsourcing can actually create jobs by making companies more productive.
Trump has put his money where his mouth… well, was. An investigation by The Washington Post points out that Donald J. Trump Collection shirts, eyeglasses, perfume, cuff links and suits are made throughout the world, by workers in Bangladesh, China, Honduras and other countries where salaries are far lower than in the United States. [[Embed: https://twitter.com/DougHeye/status/747883700201857024]]
The origin of Trump’s products have become a political liability for the business mogul, and an attack line for Hillary Clinton, who has listed the place of origin for everything from his Bangladeshi shirts to his Slovenian barware.
Trump also played to the heartstrings of American steelworkers, even though he has a history of choosing other options.
“We are thirty miles from Steel City. Pittsburgh played a central role in building our nation. The legacy of Pennsylvania steelworkers lives in the bridges, railways and skyscrapers that make up our great American landscape,” Trump waxed romantically on Tuesday.
But when Trump had the opportunity to use Pennsylvania steel, he chose not to because it was too expensive. When Trump was constructing Trump Tower, he relied heavily on reinforced concrete instead of steel from Pennsylvania as a means to save money, according to Wayne Barrett’s 1991 book “Trump: the Deals and The Downfall.”
“While concrete gave Trump a more rigid and solid building, it was also more appropriate because the tower was being built on a fast track-meaning it was being designed two floors at a time and going up as fast as it could be designed,” Barrett wrote. ‘When you change concrete,’ architect Scutt explained, ‘all you have to do is change the form a little bit. When you change steel, you have to send it back to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and it comes back five weeks later. To do it in steel would have been prohibitively expensive.’”
Trump Tower, according to Barrett’s book, ran up a $22 million concrete bill, with only $300,000 used for steel touch-up work.
Trump also argued that the growth in America’s economy was approximately 3.5 percent from until after World War II to 2001. Since 2002, after opening markets to Chinese imports, that GDP growth rate has been cut in half, he argued.
“The Trans Pacific-Partnership is the greatest danger yet,” Trump said. “The TPP would be the death blow for American manufacturing.”
But, according to experts, this is a deeply simplified way of looking at the U.S. economy -- omitting the 2008 financial crisis (which he in fact cheered on).
“Measuring the economy from 2002 to now gives results that are driven heavily by the financial crisis. Blaming China for our weaker GDP growth the past 15 years is ignoring the elephant in the room,” argued Derek Scissors, an economist at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. [[Embed: https://twitter.com/morningmoneyben/status/747860563452174341]]
Trump’s opposition to free trade and the evolution of the American economy to a service-based economy stands contrary to the conservative economic policy that has dominated the GOP since the Reagan era, alienating potential allies inside the party and out.
“Lumping NAFTA and China together and acting as if the TPP is a disaster, rather than a dud, are what protectionist groups like labor unions do. This is a major shift from what have been for decades generally pro-trade Republican positions,” Scissors told The Daily Beast.
“It is simply sloppy to attribute a slowdown in growth to China and the WTO while ignoring the financial crisis, Great Recession, and misguided Obama Administration economic policies,” added Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former Director of the Congressional Budget Office and now president of a conservative think tank, the American Action Forum.
Two powerful groups, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Chamber of Commerce, moved swiftly to condemn Trump’s speech Tuesday. Both groups often align themselves with pro-business GOP policy makers, and it is especially unusual for them to take on the Republican presidential nominee so directly. [[EMBED: https://twitter.com/JayTimmonsNAM/status/747860631794049024] [[EMBED: https://twitter.com/USChamber/status/747862708641476608]]
But as Trump has demonstrated time and time again, he’s not concerned with what happened in how own career —he’s not even concerned with what he himself promised months ago. All that matters is what he said today: and today, he wants to break up the world order and turn the country inwards to itself.
“It is time to Believe in America,” he said. “This is how we are going to make America great again, for all Americans.”
--Gideon Resnick contributed to this articleTORONTO (Reuters) - About 1,500 Americans floating down a river that separates the United States from Canada had to be rescued from the water when strong rains and winds sent them illegally into Canadian territory, the country’s coast guard said on Monday.
A Canadian Coast Guard ship tows floatation devices used by U.S. partiers to the Canadian side of the St. Clair River between Michigan and Ontario on August 21, 2016. Canadian Coast Guard/Handout via Reuters
The Americans were taking part in the annual Port Huron Float Down on Sunday in the St. Clair River, which runs between the U.S. state of Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario.
The winds blew the flotilla of inflatable rafts and inner tubes off course and toward the Canadian shore. Some rafts deflated, spurring a rescue effort by the Canadian Coast Guard as well as federal and provincial police, coast guard spokeswoman Carol Launderville said in an email.
Most “floaters” had to be rescued from the water, with many towed to shore, according to the coast guard.
“They were terrified of entering another country without documentation. No one carries their passport or any ID, and a lot were drinking alcohol,” Peter Garapick, superintendent of search and rescue for the coast guard, told CBC television.
Some tried to swim back to the United States.
“We had to pull a lot of people out of the water and say ‘no,’” Garapick said.
The Americans were gathered at Sarnia, Ontario, and bussed back to the United States by the city’s public transit.
Sarnia police did not say whether anyone was charged in the incident and there were only minor injuries reported.
Launderville said the event has no official organizer and poses “significant and unusual hazards” due to the river’s fast-moving current and participants’ lack of life jackets.
A Facebook page for the event, which dates back more than 30 years in the city of Port Huron, west of the border from Sarnia, made a post Sunday night thanking Canadian authorities.
“You’ve shown us true kindness and what it means to be amazing neighbors!” the post read.
The Facebook page appears to be operated by a group named Port Huron Float Down, which says on its website it is not an organizer. The page’s operators did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The beauty of Glass is that we're just barely scratching the surface of what Google's smart eyewear can, and eventually will, do. Leave it then to the brainiac undergrads at UC Berkeley's CITRIS lab to show us one possible direction that sees the wearables modded for at-home convenience. By adding an IR emitter to the side of Glass, the Berkeley team was able to demonstrate remote control of home appliances by pairing them with an Xbee 802.15.4 WiFi radio and microcontroller.
The controls for the setup are simple. A user need only look at the intended appliance to bridge a connection -- made possible by an IR-transmitted device ID -- and view toggles for control. We know what you're thinking: how does Glass select one appliance from a cluster of nearby devices? To accommodate for this hassle, the team's made it so that the heads-up display will show the user a numerical range of selectable devices and a blinking, blue LED on the intended target when pairing is successful. Users can also swap between appliances by swiping down on Glass' touchpad or allowing for a connection timeout. Yes, it's still early days for cumbersome Glass prototypes like this one, but we'd bet the farm you'll be turning on the AC with the blink of an eye before long. You can check out the demo video after the break for proof of this Glass concept.Reacting to the first remarks of the Pope on his state visit, the British Humanist Association has expressed its disappointment.
Andrew Copson, BHA Chief Executive, said, ‘The notion that it was the atheism of Nazis (who were mostly not atheists in any case) that led to their extremist and hateful views or that somehow fuels intolerance in Britain today is a terrible libel against those who do not believe in god. The notion that it is non-religious people in the UK today who want to force their views on others, coming from a man whose organisation exerts itself internationally to impose its narrow and exclusive form of morality and undermine the human rights of women, children, gay people and many others, is surreal.’
Notes
For further comment or information, please contact Andrew Copson on 07534 248596 or andrew@humanism.org.uk
The British Humanist Association is the national charity representing and supporting the interests of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.I think we can all agree that the game of golf has changed immensely over time. From the days of mashie niblicks and featheries to adjustable drivers with graphite shafts, the game we now play bears little resemblance to the game of Scotland of yore. Most of the changes have been fairly recent and hugely innovative.
With new scientific discoveries made daily, not one among us would dare to predict where the game might be in 25 years, or even 10 years from now. So I thought it might be fun to think about some of the inventions that have most radically changed our game. Here’s my list of the 15 best innovations in golf history, and I invite your thoughts on the ones you think I missed.
I did not go into any depth with these, as they can all be explored elsewhere. The list is not in any particular order, but we will start in antiquity.
The Molded Golf Ball
From hard wooden balls, followed by Featheries, followed by the Haskell ball, then the Balata era and finally the solid core, multi-layer urethane, the modern golf ball hardly resembles its ancestors. The biggest impact here was clearly cost. |
vote for John Edwards (written as John Ewards) for president.[40]
(b) Because Arrin Hawkins, then aged 28, was constitutionally ineligible to serve as vice president, Margaret Trowe replaced her on the ballot in some states. James Harris replaced Calero on certain other states' ballots.
Popular vote Bush 50.73% Kerry 48.27% Nader 0.38% Badnarik 0.32% Peroutka 0.12% Others 0.17%
Electoral vote Bush 53.16% Kerry 46.65% Edwards 0.19%
Results by state [ edit ]
The following table records the official vote tallies for each state as reported by the official Federal Election Commission report. The column labeled "Margin" shows Bush's margin of victory over Kerry (the margin is negative for states and districts won by Kerry).
States/districts won by Bush/Cheney States/districts won by Kerry/Edwards
Although Guam has no votes in the Electoral College, they have held a straw poll for their presidential preferences since 1980. In 2004, the results were Bush 21,490 (64.1%), Kerry 11,781 (35.1%), Nader 196 (0.58%) and Badnarik 67 (0.2%).[41]
Maine and Nebraska district results [ edit ]
★Maine and Nebraska each allow for their electoral votes to be split between candidates. In both states, two electoral votes are awarded to the winner of the statewide race and one electoral vote is awarded to the winner of each congressional district. The following table records the official presidential vote tallies for Maine and Nebraska's congressional districts.[42][43]
Close states [ edit ]
Red font color denotes those won by Republican President George W. Bush; blue denotes states won by Democrat John Kerry.
States where margin of victory was under 1% (22 electoral votes):
Wisconsin 0.38% Iowa 0.67% New Mexico 0.79%
States where margin of victory was more than 1% but less than 5% (93 electoral votes):
New Hampshire 1.37% Ohio 2.11% (tipping point state) Pennsylvania 2.50% Nevada 2.59% Michigan 3.42% Minnesota 3.48% Oregon 4.16% Colorado 4.67%
States where margin of victory was more than 5% but less than 10% (149 electoral votes):
Florida 5.01% Maine's 2nd Congressional District 5.82% New Jersey 6.68% Washington 7.18% Missouri 7.20% Delaware 7.59% Virginia 8.20% Hawaii 8.74% Maine 9.00% Arkansas 9.76% California 9.95%
Notes on results [ edit ]
Bush received 62,040,610 popular votes compared to Kerry's 59,028,444.
Because of a request by Ralph Nader, New Hampshire held a recount. In New York, Bush obtained 2,806,993 votes on the Republican ticket and 155,574 on the Conservative Party ticket. Kerry obtained 4,180,755 votes on the Democratic ticket and 133,525 votes on the Working Families ticket. Nader obtained 84,247 votes on the Independence ticket, and 15,626 votes on the Peace and Justice ticket.
Note also: Official Federal Election Commission Report, with the latest, most final, and complete vote totals available.
Finance [ edit ]
These maps show the amount of attention given by the campaigns to the close states. At left, each waving hand represents a visit from a presidential or vice-presidential candidate during the final five weeks. At right, each dollar sign represents one million dollars spent on TV advertising by the campaigns during the same time period.
Source: FEC[44]
2004 United States Electoral College [ edit ]
Ballot access [ edit ]
Presidential ticket Party Ballot access Bush / Cheney Republican 50+DC Kerry / Edwards Democrat 50+DC Badnarik / Campagna Libertarian 48+DC Peroutka / Baldwin Constitution 36 Nader / Camejo Independent, Reform 34+DC Cobb / LaMarche Green 27+DC
Faithless elector in Minnesota [ edit ]
One elector in Minnesota cast a ballot for president with the name of "John Ewards" [sic] written on it.[45] The Electoral College officials certified this ballot as a vote for John Edwards for president. The remaining nine electors cast ballots for John Kerry. All ten electors in the state cast ballots for John Edwards for vice president (John Edwards's name was spelled correctly on all ballots for vice president).[46] This was the first time in U.S. history that an elector had cast a vote for the same person to be both president and vice president.
Electoral balloting in Minnesota was performed by secret ballot, and none of the electors admitted to casting the Edwards vote for president, so it may never be known who the faithless elector was. It is not even known whether the vote for Edwards was deliberate or unintentional; the Republican Secretary of State and several of the Democratic electors have expressed the opinion that this was an accident.[47]
Electoral vote error in New York [ edit ]
New York's initial electoral vote certificate indicated that all of its 31 electoral votes for president were cast for "John L. Kerry of Massachusetts" instead of John F. Kerry, who won the popular vote in the state.[48] This was apparently the result of a typographical error, and an amended electoral vote certificate with the correct middle initial was transmitted to the President of the Senate prior to the official electoral vote count.[49]
Analysis [ edit ]
Map comparing voter turnout to result
Electoral College changes from 2000 [ edit ]
With the completion of the 2000 census, Congressional reapportionment took place, moving some representative districts from the slowest growing states to the fastest growing. As a result, several states had a different number of electors in the U.S. Electoral College in 2004 than in 2000, since the number of electors allotted to each state is equal to the sum of the number of Senators and Representatives from that state.
The following table shows the change in electors from the 2000 election. Red states represent those won by Bush; and blue states, those won by both Gore and Kerry. All states except Nebraska and Maine use a winner-take-all allocation of electors. Each of these states was won by the same party in 2004 that had won it in 2000; thus, George W. Bush received a net gain of seven electoral votes due to reapportionment while the Democrats lost the same amount.
Gained votes Lost votes Arizona (8→10 +2)
Arizona (8→10 +2) Florida (25→27 +2)
Florida (25→27 +2) Georgia (13→15 +2)
Georgia (13→15 +2) Texas (32→34 +2)
Texas (32→34 +2) California (54→55 +1)
California (54→55 +1) Colorado (8→9 +1)
Colorado (8→9 +1) North Carolina (14→15 +1)
North Carolina (14→15 +1) Nevada (4→5 +1) New York (33→31 -2)
New York (33→31 -2) Pennsylvania (23→21 -2)
Pennsylvania (23→21 -2) Connecticut (8→7 -1)
Connecticut (8→7 -1) Mississippi (7→6 -1)
Mississippi (7→6 -1) Ohio (21→20 -1)
Ohio (21→20 -1) Oklahoma (8→7 -1)
Oklahoma (8→7 -1) Wisconsin (11→10 -1)
Wisconsin (11→10 -1) Illinois (22→21 -1)
Illinois (22→21 -1) Indiana (12→11 -1)
Indiana (12→11 -1) Michigan (18→17 -1)
(This table uses the currently common Red→Republican, Blue→Democratic color association, as do the maps on this page. Some older party-affiliation maps use the opposite color-coding for historical reasons.)
Voter demographics [ edit ]
The 2004 presidential vote by demographic subgroup Demographic subgroup Kerry Bush Other % of
total vote Total vote 48 51 1 100 Ideology Liberals 85 13 1 21 Moderates 54 45 1 45 Conservatives 15 84 1 34 Party Democrats 89 11 0 37 Republicans 6 93 1 37 Independents 49 48 3 26 Gender Men 44 55 1 46 Women 51 48 1 54 Marital status Married 42 57 3 63 Non-married 58 40 2 37 Race White 41 58 1 77 Black 88 11 1 11 Asian 56 44 0 2 Other 54 40 6 2 Hispanic 53 44 3 8 Religion Protestant 40 59 1 54 Catholic 47 52 1 27 Jewish 74 25 1 3 Other 74 23 3 7 None 67 31 2 10 Religious service attendance More than weekly 35 64 1 16 Weekly 41 58 1 26 Monthly 49 50 1 14 A few times a year 54 45 1 28 Never 62 36 2 15 White evangelical or born-again Christian? White evangelical or born-again Christian 21 78 1 23 Everyone else 56 43 1 77 Age 18–29 years old 54 45 1 17 30–44 years old 46 53 1 29 45–59 years old 48 51 1 30 60 and older 46 54 0 24 First time voter? First time voter 53 46 1 11 Everyone else 48 51 1 89 Sexual orientation Gay, lesbian, or bisexual 77 23 0 4 Heterosexual 46 53 1 96 Education Not a high school graduate 50 49 1 4 High school graduate 47 52 1 22 Some college education 46 54 0 32 College graduate 46 52 2 26 Postgraduate education 55 44 1 16 Family income Under $15,000 63 36 1 8 $15,000–30,000 57 42 1 15 $30,000–50,000 50 49 1 22 $50,000–75,000 43 56 1 23 $75,000–100,000 45 55 0 14 $100,000–150,000 42 57 1 11 $150,000–200,000 42 58 0 4 Over $200,000 35 63 2 3 Union households Union 59 40 1 24 Non-union 44 55 1 76 Military service Veterans 41 57 2 18 Non-veterans 50 49 1 82 Region Northeast 56 43 1 22 Midwest 48 51 1 26 South 42 58 0 32 West 50 49 1 20 Community size Urban 54 45 1 30 Suburban 47 52 1 46 Rural 42 57 1 25
Source: CNN exit poll ( 13,660 surveyed )[53]
Battleground states [ edit ]
During the campaign and as the results came in on the night of the election there was much focus on Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. These three swing states were seen as evenly divided, and with each casting 20 electoral votes or more, they had the power to decide the election. As the final results came in, Kerry took Pennsylvania and then Bush took Florida, focusing all attention on Ohio.
The morning after the election, the major candidates were neck and neck. It was clear that the result in Ohio, along with two other states who had still not declared (New Mexico and Iowa), would decide the winner. Bush had established a lead of around 130,000 votes but the Democrats pointed to provisional ballots that had yet to be counted, initially reported to number as high as 200,000. Bush had preliminary leads of less than 5% of the vote in only four states, but if Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico had all eventually gone to Kerry, a win for Bush in Ohio would have created a 269–269 tie in the Electoral College. The result of an electoral tie would cause the election to be decided in the House of Representatives with each state casting one vote, regardless of population. Such a scenario would almost certainly have resulted in a victory for Bush, as Republicans controlled more House delegations. Therefore, the outcome of the election hinged solely on the result in Ohio, regardless of the final totals elsewhere. In the afternoon Ohio's Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, announced that it was statistically impossible for the Democrats to make up enough valid votes in the provisional ballots to win. At the time provisional ballots were reported as numbering 140,000 (and later estimated to be only 135,000). Faced with this announcement, John Kerry conceded defeat.
The upper Midwest bloc of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin is also notable, casting a sum of 27 electoral votes. The following is list of the states considered swing states in the 2004 election by most news organizations and which candidate they eventually went for. The two major parties chose to focus their advertising on these states:
Presidential electoral votes by state. Red is Republican, Blue is Democratic
Presidential popular votes by county. Note substantially more "mixing" of colors.
Presidential popular votes by county as a scale from Red/Republican to Blue/Democratic
Presidential popular votes cartogram, in which the sizes of counties have been rescaled according to their population.
Cartogram in which each square represents one electoral vote.
Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote.
Change in vote margins at the county level from the 2000 election to the 2004 election. While Bush improved nationally overall, making his strongest gains in the South, he suffered a loss of support in parts of New England and the Western United States, which swung in Kerry's favor.
The 2004 Presidential Election in the United States, Results by Congressional District
Election controversy [ edit ]
Map of election day problems
After the election, some sources reported indications of possible data irregularities and systematic flaws during the voting process.
Although the overall result of the election was not challenged by the Kerry campaign, Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik obtained a recount in Ohio. This recount was completed December 28, 2004, although on January 24, 2007, a jury convicted two Ohio elections officials of selecting precincts to recount where they already knew the hand total would match the machine total, thereby avoiding having to perform a full recount.[55]
At the official counting of the electoral votes on January 6, a motion was made contesting Ohio's electoral votes. Because the motion was supported by at least one member of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, election law mandated that each house retire to debate and vote on the motion. In the House of Representatives, the motion was supported by 31 Democrats. It was opposed by 178 Republicans, 88 Democrats and one independent. Not voting were 52 Republicans and 80 Democrats.[56] Four people elected to the House had not yet taken office, and one seat was vacant. In the Senate, it was supported only by its maker, Senator Barbara Boxer, with 74 Senators opposed and 25 not voting. During the debate, no Senator argued that the outcome of the election should be changed by either court challenge or revote. Senator Boxer claimed that she had made the motion not to challenge the outcome, but to "shed the light of truth on these irregularities."
Kerry would later state that "the widespread irregularities make it impossible to know for certain that the [Ohio] outcome reflected the will of the voters." In the same article, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said "I'm not confident that the election in Ohio was fairly decided... We know that there was substantial voter suppression, and the machines were not reliable. It should not be a surprise that the Republicans are willing to do things that are unethical to manipulate elections. That's what we suspect has happened."[57]
Points of controversy [ edit ]
New during this campaign [ edit ]
International observers [ edit ]
At the invitation of the United States government, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sent a team of observers to monitor the presidential elections in 2004. It was the first time the OSCE had sent observers to a U.S. presidential election, although they had been invited in the past.[80] In September 2004 the OSCE issued a report on U.S. electoral processes[81][82] and the election final report.[83] The report reads: "The November 2, 2004 elections in the United States mostly met the OSCE commitments included in the 1990 Copenhagen Document. They were conducted in an environment that reflects a long-standing democratic tradition, including institutions governed by the rule of law, free and generally professional media, and a civil society intensively engaged in the election process. There was exceptional public interest in the two leading presidential candidates and the issues raised by their respective campaigns, as well as in the election process itself."
Earlier, some 13 U.S. Representatives from the Democratic Party had sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking for the UN to monitor the elections. The UN responded that such a request could only come from the official national executive. The move was met with opposition from some Republican lawmakers.[84] The OSCE is not affiliated with the United Nations.
Electronic voting [ edit ]
For 2004, some states expedited the implementation of electronic voting systems for the election, raising several issues:
Software. Without proper testing and certification, critics believe electronic voting machines could produce an incorrect report due to malfunction or deliberate manipulation. [85]
Without proper testing and certification, critics believe electronic voting machines could produce an incorrect report due to malfunction or deliberate manipulation. Recounts. A recount of an electronic voting machine is not a recount in the traditional sense. The machine can be audited for irregularities and voting totals stored on multiple backup devices can be compared, but vote counts will not change.
A recount of an electronic voting machine is not a recount in the traditional sense. The machine can be audited for irregularities and voting totals stored on multiple backup devices can be compared, but vote counts will not change. Partisan ties. Democrats noted the Republican or conservative ties of several leading executives in the companies providing the machines.[86]
Campaign law changes [ edit ]
The 2004 election was the first to be affected by the campaign finance reforms mandated by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain–Feingold Bill for its sponsors in the United States Senate). Because of the Act's restrictions on candidates' and parties' fundraising, a large number of so-called 527 groups emerged. Named for a section of the Internal Revenue Code, these groups were able to raise large amounts of money for various political causes as long as they do not coordinate their activities with political campaigns. Examples of 527s include Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, MoveOn.org, the Media Fund, and America Coming Together. Many such groups were active throughout the campaign season (there was some similar activity, although on a much lesser scale, during the 2000 campaign).
To distinguish official campaigning from independent campaigning, political advertisements on television were required to include a verbal disclaimer identifying the organization responsible for the advertisement. Advertisements produced by political campaigns usually included the statement, "I'm [candidate's name], and I approve this message." Advertisements produced by independent organizations usually included the statement, "[Organization name] is responsible for the content of this advertisement", and from September 3 (60 days before the general election), such organizations' ads were prohibited from mentioning any candidate by name. Previously, television advertisements only required a written "paid for by" disclaimer on the screen.
This law was not well known or widely publicized at the beginning of the Democratic primary season, which led to some early misperception of Howard Dean, who was the first candidate to buy television advertising in this election cycle. Not realizing that the law required the phrasing, some people viewing the ads reportedly questioned why Dean might say such a thing—such questions were easier to ask because of the maverick nature of Dean's campaign in general.
Colorado's Amendment 36 [ edit ]
A ballot initiative in Colorado, known as Amendment 36, would have changed the way in which the state apportions its electoral votes. Rather than assigning all 9 of the state's electors to the candidate with a plurality of popular votes, under the amendment Colorado would have assigned presidential electors proportionally to the statewide vote count, which would be a unique system (Nebraska and Maine assign electoral votes based on vote totals within each congressional district). Opponents claimed that this splitting would diminish Colorado's influence in the Electoral College, and the amendment ultimately failed, receiving only 34% of the vote.
See also [ edit ]
Other elections [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Sources [ edit ]
Official Federal Election Commission Report, a PDF file, with the latest, most final, and complete vote totals available.
"Presidential Results by Congressional District". Polidata. Washington, D.C.: Polidata.
Barone, Michael J. The Almanac of American Politics: 2006 (2005)
(2005) Daclon, Corrado Maria, US elections and war on terrorism (2004), Analisi Difesa, no. 50
(2004), Analisi Difesa, no. 50 Evan Thomas, Eleanor Clift, and Staff of Newsweek. Election 2004 (2005)
Books [ edit ]
Ceaser, James W. and Andrew E. Busch. Red Over Blue: The 2004 Elections and American Politics (2005), narrative history.
(2005), narrative history. Greene, John C. and Mark J. Rozell, eds. The Values Campaign?: The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections (2006).
(2006). Miller, Mark Crispin. Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election (2005) –
(2005) – Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash And Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005).
(2005). Stempel III, Guido H. and Thomas K. Hargrove, eds. The 21st-Century Voter: Who Votes, How They Vote, and Why They Vote (2 vol. 2015).
Further reading [ edit ]
Election maps and analysis [ edit ]
State-by-state forecasts of electoral vote outcome [ edit ]
Controversies [ edit ]
Election campaign funding [ edit ]Why is the Teacher so depressed? When I was a teenager, the existential angst felt natural and obvious. Returning to the text as an adult who will be teaching it in class, I felt less secure. It seemed almost like an American arthouse film from the 70s, with everyone railing against an unspecified “phoniness” to which there nonetheless seemed to be no alternative. Compared to what is everything “vanity”? This is the only world, the only point of reference we have — what would it even mean for it to be meaningless?
And then it hit me: this isn’t the only point of reference, because this very “secular” text makes strategic reference (unlike Esther, for example) to God. Ecclesiastes is the lament of a man who can never be God, who lives in a world that God set up to remind you that you can never be God. The more he seeks for power, wisdom, and permanence, the more obvious it becomes that he can never be as all-powerful, as all-knowing, as eternal as God is. Indeed, the more he pushes the boundaries of what is possible for human beings — it is no accident that this text is traditionally attributed to Solomon, the pinnacle of human achievement in the Hebrew biblical tradition — the more reminders he gets.
Hence the continual advice that we should eat and drink and enjoy our toil. It’s not that those things are great or enjoyable. We are not dealing with an edifying message that we should “live for today.” The reason we should embrace fleeting pleasures and make the most of our subordination is that then we will not have to live with any painful reminders that we are not God.
In The Prince of This World, I claim that the political theology of the Hebrew Bible sets up a rivalry between God and the earthly ruler, and Ecclesiastes is arguably the only place that we see that rivalry from the first-person perspective of the ruler himself. Hence if Pharaoh is the primal root of the figure of the devil as God’s permanently humiliated rival, the Teacher of Ecclesiastes is the root of the philosophical despair of Milton’s devil, who knows for a fact that he can never defeat or replace God, but nonetheless feels compelled to keep trying — because for all his diagnoses of vanity, we never hear that the Teacher follows his own advice and abdicates the throne to become a simple laborer.
No one who has seized upon that hopeless hope can ever give up the quest to be God. Once that insane, impossible thought has entered one’s mind, there is no choice but to embrace the futility and humiliation and pain as a protest that becomes its own pleasure and satisfaction. Better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven — and better a world in which I can cast God as an illegitimate, arbitrary despot (in the very canon of Scripture!) than a world in which I cannot be God.Editor’s Note: With a month left before the Nov. 4 general election, voters in Colorado and Oregon are considering a measure requiring the labeling of foods containing genetically modified ingredients (GMOs). Proponents of these laws say consumers have a right to know what’s in their food. Opponents believe labeling laws will cause hardship for those who grow and sell GMO crops and derived products. It’s a ballot issue inspiring strong emotion – and large campaign donations – from both camps. For KUNC and Harvest Public Media, Luke Runyon explores the science, politics, and personal concerns motivating this debate.
At a west Denver grocery store, Ben Hamilton says he puts a lot of weight on food package labels.
“I am a label reader,” says Hamilton, a human resources consultant. “I think a lot of people read labels and are curious.”
That means gravitating toward organic options and scanning nutritional facts. But Hamilton says he wants more information, specifically whether or not the food he’s about to buy includes a genetically modified ingredient.
Before the current run-up to November, Hamilton and 19 other voters in Colorado sat on a citizen review panel tasked with hearing from both sides. At the end of three days of debate, the group wrote up their conclusions and took a straw vote. The panel voted 11 to nine in favor of labels. Hamilton’s “yes” vote is right in line with consumer groups that say GMOs come with too many unanswered questions.
“I think this boils down to a consumer’s right to know,” Hamilton says. “So it’s not to debate whether GMOs are safe or they’re good for you or bad for you. But it is about a right to know what’s in our food supply.”
Efforts to pass labeling laws through ballot initiatives in other states have been unsuccessful. Similar measures failed in California and Washington state. Vermont is being sued for the labeling law it enacted earlier in 2014.
Oregon voters will also be voting on GMO labeling in this election. Like Colorado, there was a similar citizen review panel. Ernest Estes, a Portland lawyer who sat on that panel has his doubts.
“I’m not convinced we need it at this point,” Estes says. “And I’m not sure it does much for Oregonians.”
Estes wasn’t alone in that sentiment. The citizen panel in Oregon also voted 11 to nine, but in the opposite direction as the Colorado panel. They turned down the labeling proposal.
“If there is little to no risk to the public,” Estes says. “I’m not sure the government should be in the role of requiring things like this.”
Current science hasn’t found adverse health effects from humans eating genetically modified foods. That’s supported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the World Health Organization. Many scientists, including the board of directors of the AAAS, say labeling initiatives are being driven by misconceptions about genetically modified crops being unnatural or untested.
As it’s written, the Colorado labeling proposal includes a bevy of exemptions. The meat from a cow that’s fed GMO corn and hay won’t be labeled. Neither will dairy products, chewing gum, alcohol and pet food. Colorado Right To Know leader Larry Cooper, who spearheaded the signature gathering campaign to get the issue on the ballot, says the proposal had to be narrowly written.
“We had to be very careful what subjects we put in the ballot. Yes, we’ve eliminated some specific areas, but certainly they can be added later,” Cooper says.
Even with narrower language, lawsuits are likely inevitable if it passes, like in Vermont. Legal experts say to expect even more legal wrangling over labeling as more states look to add to the national patchwork of GMO laws.
“When you’re compelling a business to say something or a producer to say something, there has to be some governmental interest. There has to be a substantial government interest,” says Justin Marceau, a University of Denver constitutional law professor.
The proposals in Oregon and Colorado bring up thorny constitutional issues about free speech and commerce, Marceau says. If a GMO labeling law makes it all the way to the Supreme Court, and opponents are unable to prove genetically modified food is harmful, Marceau says the law would be in jeopardy for violations of the First Amendment and Commerce Clause.
“Why do we need this information? If it’s idle curiosity that we’re all just really curious about what’s in our food, that might not be good enough. If it is GMOs are harmful, then that’s a different matter,” Marceau says.
GMO labeling would undoubtedly have economic implications. Opponents of the measure say implementation of the new labels could raise the average family’s food bill by several hundred dollars per year. Labeling proponents say those figures are blown out of proportion.
Farmer Paul Schlagel says he’s sympathetic to curious consumers who want to know how their food is grown, but GMO labels are too far down that rabbit hole. He grows genetically engineered sugar beets outside Longmont, Colorado. The sweet tasting beets are turned into granulated sugar at a nearby plant.
“When you process the sugar beets, there’s no GE material in the sugar. The sugar is identical to conventionally grown sugar, sugar cane, even organic sugar,” Schlagel says.
Schlagel’s beets are Roundup Ready, meaning the plant’s DNA has been altered to withstand applications of the herbicide glyphosate, though the particular gene that allows for the resistance isn’t present after the fleshy beet root is processed into sugar. If Proposition 105 passes though, the sugar that’s grown on his farm will bear a label saying it was genetically engineered.
“It’s just misinformation. It’s misleading. Prop 105 is a mistake and I hope the consumers can figure that out,” Schlagel says.
Both Colorado and Oregon consumers will have a chance to make their voices heard at the ballot box in November. And with more states taking up proposals, the national debate about GMO labeling is far from over.When Google announced the Marshmallow update for Android Wear, the focus was on the new wrist gestures and the addition of speaker support — as well as sending voice messages, which has been possible for a while. However, it turns out that there are other features lurking in this update, as spotted in the Moto 360 2nd gen's release notes.
In the update's details, Motorola talks about the new wrist gestures, but also a lot of other additions:
New language-country pairs: Mandarin (Taiwan), Cantonese (Hong Kong), Indonesian (Indonesia), Polish (Poland), Dutch (Netherlands), and Thai (Thailand). But remember, your watch will always follow your phone's language preference.
Doze mode: recognizes when your watch is idle (not charging and not in active use) and puts it in a deep sleep state to preserve power.
App permissions: Settings > Permissions will list all of the installed apps on your watch and all of their permissions. Tapping a permission will disable it.
Independent date and time from your phone: Settings > Date & time lets you switch automatic date & time and automatic timezone off, then manually set them as you want.
Screen dimming: turns your screen off or switches to Ambient mode when the watch is not in use, to preserve battery and improve privacy.
Moto Body Running: tracks indoor runs (time, pace, distance, heart rate) and syncs with other apps.
Bluetooth and performance improvements, various bug fixes.
Out of these, we can assume that the first 4 won't be exclusive to the 360, but will come to all Wear watches. The screen dimming's description isn't very clear in explaining how it differs from how Wear watches currently work (does it mean that watches will now not only turn on based on the sensor, but also off, instead of just relying on the timeout?) so there's no way of knowing whether it's a Moto 360-only feature or a global Wear one. The Moto Body Running is definitely exclusive to Motorola's watches, and the improvements and fixes could be either.
Motorola says the update will be rolling to the Moto 360 in the next few days, same as what Google said about the Marshmallow update to all Wear devices. If you're anxious to get it, there's nothing you can do beside sit and wait. Oh and make sure your battery never dips below 50% because you'll need that to install the update whenever the pop-up appears.Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has already set the stage for the DC Extended Universe last month. In a nutshell, that film had been pretty dark. If you’re among those who expect the next slate of DC films to have the same tone, then you’re right, at least with Wonder Woman.
In a recent interview with Digital Spy, the movie’s lead star, Gal Gadot explained how one of the most highly anticipated films in the DCEU will be adopting a dark tone despite being humorous.
The 30-year-old Israeli star said:
In Batman v Superman, you get a glimpse of who she is but not where she comes from. In Wonder Woman, this would be the first time we ever tell the coming-of-age story of how Diana becomes Wonder Woman. It's very interesting. It has moments of humor, but it's pretty dark.
It actually makes sense that Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman is one of the darkest films in the upcoming slate of DC films. The movie of the feminist cultural icon is set in the days of World War I, and from Diana Prince’s background, the movie won’t be veering far from the grittiness of the era. Seeing the carnage from that time would be hard to make light of.
Wonder Woman, who’s from the Amazonian island of Themyscira, has been training her whole life for war, thus making her the best warrior in the DC Universe. It would be interesting to see her showing on the big screen what she’s learned of her training.
Just see for yourself the first footage from Wonder Woman.
From the looks of it, the movie is going to be great.
By retrospect, there have been reports that DC’s Aquaman and the Justice League will have a lighter tone that Batman v Superman. In any case, DC has a lot of films to explore different tones up until 2020.
Wonder Woman is slated for release on June 2, 2017.
Read: New Photos From The Set of Wonder Woman, and Cool Fan-Made Trailer"Undiscovered." This word, appearing in tooltips that hover by waypoints, moons, planets and star systems, is No Man's Sky's sales pitch in a nutshell. In this remarkable game of space exploration, a universe has been born by algorithm, and it's so incomprehensibly vast that the chances of seeing anything another player has seen are vanishingly small. Your starting position is randomly selected. Even the wildlife is generated from an unthinkable number of variations. Every discovery you make is logged to the game servers and reported in those tooltips, so if anyone has been there before you, you'll know.
No Man's Sky Publisher and developer: Hello Games (with Sony on PS4)
Hello Games (with Sony on PS4) Platform: PlayStation 4 tested
PlayStation 4 tested Availability: Out now on PS4, released today on PC.
That little colony of knee-high, cat-eared Ewok-things scampering about on a dusty hillside? They're just for you; you can name them if you like. No-one else has ever laid eyes on the azure dell of Oximo Dale, sloping down to the ocean under the jade skies of Iotsud Siunnin. It's quite probable that no-one else ever will, and when you leave this star system behind, it will likely never be seen again. Drink in the sight of that silver-edged moon setting behind silhouetted mountains, because this glowering, scarlet sky is yours and yours alone.
The surprise is that it takes quite a long time - dozens of hours and star systems and planets, hundreds of light years - before a true appreciation of this sets in. To begin with, your sense of wonder is inspired by the sheer aesthetic bravura of the developers at Hello Games. They set out to create an entire universe of airbrushed sci-fi book covers and succeeded to an extent you wouldn't think possible. Even as beholden as it is to the vagaries of the algorithm, No Man's Sky is exotically gorgeous. That's thanks in large part to the spectrum of richly saturated colours used. Space glows with shimmering nebulae and planets are lush and strange. It can be a very lonely game, but it's never cold or drab.
The audio, too, is magnificent. The responsive ambient music by 65daysofstatic is ominous and thrilling, adding an edge of hard futurism to the luscious retro panorama. The sound design is rich, pushing ambient effects to the fore to give voice and physical presence to the ecologies you explore. Roaring dust storms, rustling flora, the eerie cries of the wildlife, and the fizzing and chattering of machines are layered into distinctly alien soundscapes you can picture with your eyes closed.
Beyond logged discoveries, there doesn't seem to be any multiplayer, |
our kids,' " Christian enthused. " It's the proof that they're getting what we've been trying to do here: create a kid's TV series that works on different levels. A show that's broad enough for kids but still sophisticated, satirical and silly enough to entertain the 'big kids.' "
Mind you, Jacobs doesn't blame Hasbro executives or Discovery Communications for opting not to pick up a third season of The Aquabats! Super Show!
"I mean, if The Aquabats! Super Show! doesn't fit into their vision of what the new HUB will look like... Well, it is what it is," Christian said. "But given that we now live in a world where people are streaming TV shows directly onto their iPhones & computers, and given that companies like Netflix & Yahoo! are now picking up so much new content for their customers... I just find it hard to believe that The Aquabats! Super Show! is really over. I mean, we haven't even made any toys yet."
Which is why last month -- after Jacobs and other members of the Super Show! production team were given the word that the show wasn't being renewed -- Christian and the rest of the team opted to put as many of this TV series' sets & props as they could into self-funded temporary storage.
"That's what we'll be telling the Aquabats' fans this Friday night at our Comic-Con panel. (Which -- by the way -- is being held in Room 25ABC from 9 - 10 p.m.) That the Super Show! isn't really over. It took us almost 15 years to get that TV series made. And even though we've got a bunch more concert dates lined up for the rest of this year, our first priority is to find a new home for The Aquabats! Super Show!," Jacobs stated.
That never-say-die attitude which Christian displays off-screen seems very similar to MC Bat Commander, that over-the-top, live-action cartoon-of-a-man trying to be a super hero that Jacobs plays on the small screen. Which is why -- given that the Aquabats are such perennial underdogs -- it would really be great to finally have these characters come out on top and have some network or online presence provide a new home for this Emmy Award-winning TV series.
"As a band, we've got 20 years worth of fan support behind us," Christian concluded. "Not to mention a brand-new audience of kids & parents who are eager for more episodes! Plus there are people in the U.K. and Australia who have only just discovered the Super Show! So what are we supposed to do? Just give up? Not a chance! I mean, we've already got scripts written and ready to go!"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The notes are handwritten on a legal pad and provide a verbatim account of the shock, pain and grim determination aboard Air Force One on Sept. 11, 2001.
They were scribbled by Ari Fleischer, press secretary for President George W. Bush, and he is releasing them to mark the 15th anniversary on Sunday of the worst attack on American soil since Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.
There are six pages in all, the only original verbatim text of what Bush said on Air Force One as he and his senior aides absorbed the news.
“We’re at war,” Bush told Vice President Dick Cheney. Hanging up and turning to his aides, he added: “When we find out who did this, they’re not going to like me as president. Somebody’s going to pay.”
Fleischer adopted the role of presidential note taker as Air Force One lifted off from Florida after the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon were attacked by hijacked passenger jets.
“I always took notes. It’s how you do your job,” Fleischer told Reuters. “But on Sept. 11 it was instantly clear how much more important it was to have a record of what the president did and said. I basically glued myself to his side almost the entire day and remained in his cabin on Air Force One to listen and take notes.”
Much of the material has been part of the public record. Fleischer has used them for annual tweets about Sept. 11 and in speeches and made them available to the commission that investigated the 9/11 attacks. But he has not previously released them in full to the public.
The story that unfolds in Fleischer’s penmanship begins with the raw emotions Bush and his aides experienced, the president already itching to retaliate.
“I can’t wait to find out who did it,” Bush said. “It’s going to take a while and we’re not going to have a little slap on the wrist crap.”
Ari Fleischer speaks during an interview with Reuters in his office in Bedford, New York, U.S. September 7, 2016. Picture taken September 7, 2016. REUTERS/Hussein Waaile
There is a dramatic period in which Bush tries to overcome opposition from the Secret Service to letting him return to Washington. The plane first took him to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, then Offutt air base in Nebraska. He got back to Washington that night.
“I want to get home as soon as possible,” Bush said. “I don’t want whoever this is holding me outside Washington.”
An aide responded: “Our people are saying it’s too unsteady still.”
Bush said that was the message he was hearing from Cheney as well.
Bush chief of staff Andy Card said, “The right thing is to let the dust settle.”
Fleischer’s notes include an eerie reference to a communication heard on the plane from the ground that “Angel is next.” Because Air Force One’s codename at the time was “angel,” there was worry onboard that the plane was a target.
He said an armed guard was stationed outside the door leading to the Air Force One cockpit, just in case someone was a threat on the plane itself.
A month later, Bush and his team were told the reference to “angel” was a miscommunication from the ground. One offshoot of the 9/11 attacks was a major renovation of Air Force One’s communications abilities.
The president, only in office for eight months, had another priority in mind as well: making sure his family was safe. Bush’s wife, Laura, and their two daughters were whisked to secure locations.
Slideshow (2 Images)
“Barney?” Bush said, inquiring about his beloved Scottish terrier.
“He’s nipping at the heels of Osama bin Laden now,” said Card.Each time you take a measurement with Jiffy, the measurements are recorded in the DOM under a single JSON object. This firefox extension simply grabs the values when its panel is opened in firebug, a page with metrics is loaded or the Refresh button is hit.
The extension provides the following features:
Graphical view of Javascript measurements. Two types of rows are displayed. The first is a summary row for each measurment category. These are created in Jiffy by calling Jiffy.mark(markName). Individual events within a mark category are captured with Jiffy.measure(eventName, markName). These are displayed as subrows.
Two types of rows are displayed. The first is a summary row for each measurment category. These are created in Jiffy by calling Jiffy.mark(markName). Individual events within a mark category are captured with Jiffy.measure(eventName, markName). These are displayed as subrows. Clear. Measurements can be cleared from the DOM and the graph reset. This is useful for taking measurements that might happen after the onload during user interaction with the page.
Measurements can be cleared from the DOM and the graph reset. This is useful for taking measurements that might happen after the onload during user interaction with the page. Refresh. If more measurements are collected after the onload, Refresh will generate a new graph based on the current measurements.
If more measurements are collected after the onload, Refresh will generate a new graph based on the current measurements. Print. Opens a new window with a printable version of the graph.
The Extension has been tested on the following Firefox versions:
Firefox 2.0.0.*
Firefox 3.0.*
The Extension works with the following Firefox/Firebug combinations (it may work on other versions, but these are officially supported):
Firebug 1.0.5 for Firefox 2
Firebug 1.2.0b6 for Firefox 3 (Latest Firebug version)
The extension has four command buttons: Clear, Refresh, Duration and Print.
Clear
Pressing the clear button will clear the stats from the page and render a blank panel. This is a destructive operation as it calls the clearMeasures method (see Configuration section below).
Refresh
Forces the graph to render the current measures available on the page. This is useful if some measures are captured on user events. After triggering these measured events, press the Refresh button to see a new graph including the new measures. This calls the getMeasures method (see Configuration section below).
Duration
This toggles rendering the measures as a list of elapsed times vs. rendering the measures as elapsed and duration times along a timeline.
When the Duration button is off, marks are rendered in a vertical list fashion. Each event measurement is plotted relative to the mark.
In duration mode the both elapsed and duration times are represented for each mark.
When the Duration button is on, marks and events are rendered along a timeline. Each mark displays both elapsed and duration times. Each mark bar graph renders the elapsed time plus the "dead" time giving a total picture of duration.
Print
Displays the current stats as a list of elapsed time measurements in a separate window formatted for printing.
This is a firebug extension. You will need Firebug installed. The steps to getting setup are:
If installed correctly, the test page should look something like this.
By default, the Jiffy extension gets measurements from the web page by calling window.Jiffy.getMeasures() and clears measurements by calling window.Jiffy.clearMeasures(). It also tests whether a page has metrics by looking for the presence of the window.Jiffy object.
These three points of interaction with Jiffy are defined in Firefox configuration properties. The three properties and the default values are:
Property Default Value Description extensions.jiffy.clearMeasures Jiffy.clearMeasures() A valid Javascript code fragment that when appended to 'window.' will clear the measurements for the page. extensions.jiffy.getMeasures Jiffy.getMeasures() A valid Javascript code fragment that when appended to 'window.' will return the measurements for the page. The details of the Java array returned is discussed below. extensions.jiffy.scopeObject Jiffy A valid Javascript variable that when appended to 'window.' will denote (by it being defined and non-null) that measurements exist on the page.
Array returned by getMeasures()
The getMeasures() call should return an array of Java objects, each containing the following fields
Field Description et Elapsed time for this measurement. evt The event measured (in Jiffy this is recorded with the Jiffy.measure() method). name The name of the category that holds a set of events. In Jiffy this is called a'mark'. A mark is created by calling Jiffy.mark(markName). Each call to Jiffy.measure(evt, mark) associates an event with a mark.
Here is an example of the array returned by Jiffy.getMeasures().
var measures = [ {et:2676, evt:"load", name:"PageStart", rt:1213159816044}, {et:7, evt:"carouselcreated", name:"onLoad", rt:1213159818722}, {et:67, evt:"finishedonLoad", name:"onLoad", rt:1213159818729} ];
If you set the three extensions.jiffy.* configuration parameters (use about:config to access them), return an array as described above, clear the measures and supply the name of the object holding your values or methods, then the Jiffy extension can work with your Javascript measurements. Jiffy Extension will render it like this:
What the Jiffy extension will graph with the mock data above.
Frequently asked questions will be added here.
Jiffy Firebug Extension by Bill W Scott is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.If you’re anything like me, then from time to time you’re going to, ahh, let’s just say accidentally, smack into something with your car. And, again, like me, sometimes that something is going to be a person. It may come as a surprise, but this sorta thing is frowned upon in most areas. “Serious consequences” can result, I’m told. But fear not! There’s always a way out. All you need is a probable cover story:
Explain that the person you struck was on fire. You didn’t have a blanket to smother the flames so you fell back on the next best thing- your car. Suggest that you should be awarded a medal for your bravery.
Blame the whole thing on your evil twin. Say he ran off after the accident. Keep some photos of yourself with a fake mustache on hand to throw them off even further. But what if you already have a mustache? Then blame it on your good twin. Just magic marker out the ‘shache in the pics.
Argue that THEY hit YOU. From your perspective, you were sitting perfectly still in the seat of your car while the world around you slid by. Then suddenly, from outta nowhere, this stranger came careening through your windshield. Make up some bogus math to support your claim, or some real math if you’re into that sorta thing. Either way, most judges don’t have degrees in physics so you should be fine.Vietnamese players produced a shocking display against Malaysia in the second leg and lost the semifinal tie 5-4 on aggregate.
Vietnam Football Federation(VFF) have asked the local authorities to investigate the country's football team for any suspicion of foul play after their 4-2 capitulation in the second leg of their AFF Suzuki Cup semifinal against Malaysia.
Toshiya Miura's men had a 2-1 advantage from the first leg and was firm favourites to make it through to the final but was clearly not at the races on Thursday night at the My Dinh Stadium.
Dollah Salleh's men put four goals past them while a Le Cong Vinh brace was all the home team could muster.
As reported by New Straits Times, VFF deputy chairman Nguyen Xuan Gu indicated that the players may have played poorly on purpose.
"The Vietnam Football Federation will immediately ask for police to investigate the match," said Xuan Gu. "We will seriously punish wrongdoing if we find any. The goals we let in were unacceptable, especially as we were playing at our home stadium,"
This is not the first time Vietnamese players have gone through a suspicion of foul play. In 2007, two Vietnamese footballers were jailed and six others were given suspended sentences after being found guilty of rigging an Under-23 match against Myanmar at the 2005 Southeast Asia Games in return for some cash.
Malaysia will now take on Thailand in the final that will be played over two legs on Dec. 17 and 20, to decide who lifts the 2014 ASEAN crown as the best football country in the region.I think everybody can see how close they are. And they tangibly feel that, the chemistry amongst the group. They like being around each other.
LAS VEGAS — During one of the Utah Jazz Summer League games last week, the row behind the home team’s bench filled up with a bunch of familiar faces and really long legs.
For much of the final game, Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors, Alec Burks, Trevor Booker, Joe Ingles, Elijah Millsap and Raul Neto sat behind the Summer Jazz squad.
Guys in Jazz uniforms at that time got some welcomed support from the experienced athletes.
Fans in the stands got one more thing to get excited about.
And Utah's NBA players got a chance to catch up with each other and continue to solidify an already strong bond.
“I think everybody can see how close they are,” Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said. “And they tangibly feel that, the chemistry amongst the group. They like being around each other.”
The scenario is one that warms the hearts of Jazz management, which has tried to help convince players to work with their team trainers and coaches and to stick around town as much as possible in the offseason.
Utah has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve the Zions Bank Basketball Center facility and to bolster the player development staff to make it worth the players’ while, too.
While participation in Utah is encouraged, it’s not required — but just about every player on the team has taken advantage of it.
“They’ve improved a lot of stuff. They’re making it real home like,” Favors said. “Guys want to come out to Utah, (train) in the practice facility and work with the coaches and enjoy what Salt Lake’s got.”
That team training and togetherness has extended to Santa Barbara (for workouts at the P3 performance lab) and to this week in Las Vegas for the Jazz’s summer league away from home.
Lindsey credited the Miller family for ponying up the travel money for players and staff to participate in extra out-of-state opportunities.
Gobert left Utah to go home to France to train with his national team ahead of the EuroBasket 2015 tournament and Gordon Hayward remains on diaper duty with his newborn in Indiana, but every other player on the roster has traveled to Las Vegas at some point in the past week.
(Newly signed German center Tibor Pleiss is a Las Vegas exception, but he recently worked out in Utah before returning home to work out with his national team.)
One Jazz veteran joked that the Las Vegas trip is like a paid vacation.
Lindsey quipped that’s “like herding cats where you’re trying to match everybody’s schedule.” Rodney Hood, Dante Exum and Trey Lyles are all part of the summer league squad, but arranging most of the other players to get in together was a challenge.
Trey Burke, who had a camp in Ohio during the Jazz's summer league, even helped the NBA put on a clinic for employees this week.
And the Jazz players and personnel all agree that these offseason group sessions (which include anywhere from three to seven Jazz veterans) are great for camaraderie, which can pay off in the locker room and on the court during the season.
“It’s something we all came up with,” Favors said, “just to come down to Vegas for a couple of days, get a couple of workouts in, watch the summer league team play and work out, try to build chemistry.”
While in Las Vegas, players are lifting weights, watching some film, doing individual workouts, talking with coaches and, as Favors put it, just “enjoying ourselves.”
“It’s good. We all chilling,” added Burks, who’s continuing to rehab his surgically repaired shoulder. “It’s hard to get together in the summertime, so anytime we get together it’s great.”
This is Ingles’ first NBA offseason, but the second-year player sees value in how the Jazz players are uniting away from the arena and in the weight room.
“I think it’s great. I think it shows the character of our guys,” Ingles said. “It’s all pretty much by choice really. No one’s been forced to come. It’s great that the guys have been open to it, to come support these guys and, when we can, we get our own work in.”
Jazz management has made it clear this offseason that one reason the organization didn’t make a big free-agency push was because of the team chemistry that developed in the successful late-season surge a few months ago.
“I think the way we finished last year was kind of a little glimpse of what we can do,” Ingles said. “I think if we could build from the start now on what we did — not many changes — it’s a pretty quick learning experience.... It’s a pretty exciting group of guys to be around and obviously play with.”
Ingles, who recently signed a two-year, $4.5 million deal with Utah, returned to Australia on Tuesday, but he reinforced his excitement about the Jazz on Twitter on his way out of Las Vegas.
“On the plane heading home! Short trip but a great trip,” Ingles wrote. “Really excited for the next 2 years with the @utahjazz! Exciting times ahead!”
Burks pointed out that it’s easier for most Jazz players to hang out because they’re mostly young guys with similar interests who are in similar places in their lives.
“Guys feel like they’re a part of the team and we all just want to come out and support each other and get some work in, hang out with the summer league guys and watch them play,” Favors said. “Guys are just starting to feel part of the program.”
TWITTER: DJJazzyJody× Man claims driving dog led deputies on high-speed chase
SARASOTA, Fla. — A man in Florida, who led deputies on a high-speed chase, claimed that his dog had been driving the car, according to WFTS.
The high-speed chase began when a deputy spotted a white four-door vehicle speeding through a neighborhood.
The deputy attempted to pull the vehicle over, but the driver sped up while attempting a turn and traveled into a ditch.
There, the driver, Reliford Cooper III, 26, overcorrected, swerved, went through another ditch and crashed into a home.
Cooper then ran from the vehicle and hid inside the bathroom of a nearby church.
While he was being handcuffed, Cooper said, “I wasn’t driving that car.”
“My dog was driving that car. I ran because I wanted to. You ain’t gonna find no drugs or guns on me.”
Deputies reporting smelling a strong odor of alcohol and marijuana on Cooper. He was charged with DWI.
Cooper was taken to the hospital after he began throwing up and was later placed in jail.Both homes and condominiums saw prices rise in August at the fastest 12-month pace seen this year, according to data released Thursday.
The path to homeownership for Dominick Pham and Sarah Cheung was short. Two blocks, actually.
The engaged couple, Maryland transplants in their late 20s, had forked out rent for two years at a new, luxury apartment tower on First Hill. This summer, they noticed the Luma condominiums being built nearby and jumped at the chance to buy a one-bedroom unit on the lower floors.
“Why pay rent when that could go toward a mortgage?” thought Pham, a software engineer. “This is the perfect opportunity.”
Across the region, home prices are zooming skyward, driven by new buyers like Pham and Cheung, a record-low inventory and expectations of higher interest rates.
In August, the median price of single-family homes in King County was $499,950, 14 percent higher than a year ago. Condos fetched a median $299,250, a 20 percent gain over last year, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. In both, the gains were the biggest 12-month jump seen so far this year.
The biggest jump occurred in Seattle, where the median single-family-home price was $575,000, a 15 percent annual gain, and median condo price was $395,000, 32 percent more than a year ago. A big factor in the soaring Seattle condo prices is the handful of new downtown projects, where units can cost $600,000 or more.
In Snohomish County, August’s median single-family home price was $366,825, or 11 percent higher over the year; in Pierce, $255,000, up 6 percent; and in Kitsap, $259,975, or 6 percent higher.
In the four-county region, there were 7,792 pending sales — mutually agreed sales contracts that haven’t closed yet — the highest level for August since 2005, the MLS said.
While the inventory of homes for sale has ticked up steadily since March, the region continues to suffer the worst shortage in more than a decade.
But prices haven’t risen enough to jump-start new-home construction.
From January to July, building permits were issued for a total 5,103 single-family homes in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, down 4?percent from a year ago, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
But permits were issued for 9,938 multifamily units, a 45 percent jump over a year ago, with the vast majority being apartments.
Builders are opting for apartments over condos, experts say, because they don’t face the liability of being sued under the state’s condominium act. Some condo builders still bear fresh memories of multimillion-dollar settlements with homeowner associations.
“You’re finding developers saying, ‘Why take the risk of building a condo?’?” said Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate. “Whereas in today’s environment, you can build an apartment, get it half leased up, sell it to an institutional investor and walk away.”
Salt Ballard Condos, a 38-unit project being built at 5601 20th Ave. N.W., had sold seven units before the developer, InHaus Development of Vancouver, B.C., decided to switch to apartments and issued refunds to the buyers.
InHaus principal Dave deBruyn said he was left with no choice when nearly all the contractors he sought bids from declined.
“Everybody has so much work building apartments, they didn’t want the potential long-term liability of building condos,” he said.
In Canada, condo builders have full liability in the first two years and partial liability after that. “Because the warranty program isn’t well-defined in Washington state, there’s far too much room for litigation,” deBruyn said.
Such concerns didn’t stop Canadian developer Nat Bosa from building the two-tower Insignia complex in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood.
Of the 698 units for sale, over 75 percent are sold, according to a Bosa spokeswoman. As is customary with new construction, buyers who had put down deposits began closing on their homes when the units were ready for occupancy.
Sales of 222 units have closed in the South tower, which opened in July. The North tower will open next summer.
“I cannot figure out how he’s making any money,” said Brian O’Connor, a Seattle consultant who conducts feasibility studies for developers. “New condos don’t pencil. They’re not selling for a high enough price.”
Besides Insignia, the only other new condo projects in or near downtown are Lowe Enterprises’ Luma, a 168-unit tower slated to open next summer; and Daniels Real Estate’s Gridiron, a 107-unit mixed-use project next to CenturyLink Field.
Suzi Morris, a Lowe spokeswoman, says there aren’t more condo projects popping up because “there is not enough of a spread on investment returns to a developer between selling a new high-rise apartment and new condos to justify taking on the additional risks and costs associated to develop condominiums.”
From the consumer’s perspective, O’Connor said that by his calculations it’s still cheaper to rent downtown than to buy an equivalent downtown condo.
In 2015, his firm forecasts that 57 percent of new households will choose to rent, compared with only 13?percent a little over a decade ago, mostly because they can’t afford the high price of owning a condo downtown and don’t want to live in the suburbs.
Pham, 29, and Cheung, 28, definitely wanted the urban life. After moving here from Maryland to take high-wage jobs, they could afford to pay the $1,900 monthly rent for an apartment on First Hill.
“I think millennials want to be more free and have less ownership,” Pham said. “We sold my car. We don’t own a car now.”
Still, owning a condo didn’t seem like a big commitment since he wasn’t saddled with painful memories of the housing bust.
Except for downtown Seattle, Capitol Hill and West Bellevue, median condo prices so far this year in all submarkets of King County are below their peaks in the last housing boom, according to MLS data. In many parts of South King County, prices are still more than 25 percent below their peak.
Pham bought his first home in Maryland in 2011 when prices hit bottom and has been renting it out at a profit since he moved to Seattle.
“I’ve never experienced a housing crash,” he said.
The couple recently bought a 720-square-foot unit at Luma for $465,000, he said. They only needed to put down 5 percent; the sale won’t close until next summer when Luma is scheduled to open.
They hadn’t wanted to buy a home until after a few years of marriage, Pham said, but they saw the Luma unit as an opportunity to build equity in an investment. If they end up leaving for another city, they figure they can rent it out.
“I know quite a few people around my age group who really do want to buy property,” Pham said. “People just need to be more educated in how easy it is to own a property. In my opinion, it doesn’t tie you down.”
The couple haven’t locked in an interest rate yet. They plan to do so next spring.
“If they haven’t locked in a rate, they run the risk that rates go up and they no longer qualify,” said David Floan, executive vice president at Evergreen Home Loans in Bellevue.
Buyers at Luma who cancel their contract forfeit their deposit.
The upswing in condo prices will benefit buyers who can’t afford the newly built ones, too.
“You can’t get inventory until people have some equity in their home, so they have some net proceeds for a down payment on their next purchase,” Floan said.Infamous Alaska serial killer Robert Hansen died Thursday morning at an Anchorage hospital, according to the Department of Corrections.
Hansen died around 1:30 a.m. at Alaska Regional Hospital, Sherrie Daigle, deputy director of administrative services for the Department of Corrections, said. He had been transferred to the hospital on Wednesday. Cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner, but it appears he died of natural causes, she said. He had been in declining health for the past year, according to a press release.
"On this day we should only remember his many victims and all of their families and my heart goes out to all of them," wrote Glenn Flothe, retired Alaska State Trooper who was instrumental in Hansen's capture.
"As far as Hansen is concerned, this world is better without him." Flothe wrote. "It's a sad day for me, for their families."
Hansen had been moved from the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward to the Anchorage Correctional Complex on May 11, Alaska Dispatch reported at the time. Hansen, 75, had been placed in medical segregation in Anchorage, which is akin to being in the hospital, Daigle said then. Anchorage's jail is one of the state's only correctional facilities with a medical unit.
Hansen had received a 461-year sentence in February 1984, pleading guilty to the murder of four women. Hansen had confessed to authorities that he had killed 17 women and raped another 30 women over more than a decade.
"He will not be missed," said Frank Rothschild, the assistant district attorney who tried the case, from Hawaii on Thursday afternoon. "Good riddance to him."
"He's one of those kind of guys that you kind of hope every breath he takes in his life, there's some pain associated with it, because he caused such pain," Rothschild added.
The infamous murderer lured topless dancers and prostitutes in downtown Anchorage with money. Hansen would kidnap the women at gunpoint, tie them up, then fly to remote areas to kill his victims.
A turning point came in 1983, when a teenage prostitute named Cindy Paulson ran into a Fifth Avenue motel in handcuffs, saying that Hansen had imprisoned her at his home, raped her and put her on his plane for a one-way ride.
Several months later, police armed with several search warrants went through Hansen's home, finding enough evidence to eventually charge him with four murders. As part of his plea deal, Hansen agreed to help authorities find the graves of the murdered women. Only a dozen bodies were located.
Rothschild recounted watching Hansen transform into "the monster he was" the day prosecutors sat down with Hansen and laid out the evidence they had against him. They told Hansen they had his own map marked with 17 locations that they believed indicated the locations of bodies.
"He was mild-mannered Bob the Baker, and as I'm looking at him, all of sudden he transformed. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and his neck got red, and he was pissed.
"I can still see him when he got livid like that," Rothschild said.
Hansen asked to speak with his attorneys and went out into another room. "You could hear him screaming at his lawyers," Rothschild said.
Rothschild worked as a district attorney in Anchorage for only three years. His wife at the time had asked that at some point, he take some time off so they could go traveling. "When the Hansen case was over... I was ready," Rothschild said. "It was just so heavy to see what this human being was capable of doing."
Hansen didn't see his victims as human, Rothschild said. "In his mind there were good girls and bad girls. These were all purposefully bad girls."
Hansen's sentence began in Pennsylvania, but he returned to Alaska in 1988. Hansen was one of the first prisoners at the newly opened Spring Creek Correctional Center, where he had remained since.
During much of his time at Spring Creek, Hansen worked as a barber, but he had not held a job in the facility for many years, Daigle wrote. He had several cellmates during his decades at the facility, was well-behaved and was considered a low-maintenance prisoner, Daigle wrote.Two years ago, Kelley Bruce’s husband and a business partner bought a remote, 240-acre property outside the town of Dinsmore for about $600,000. That same property is now up for sale for the asking price of $8 million. Bruce said it’s a steal, considering it comes with a fully-fledged marijuana farm on site.
Less than two days after posting the property on the marijuana real estate website 420property.com, Bruce said their phone was “ringing off the hook” with potential buyers.
“We’ve got people calling us, potential celebrity investors contacting us,” Bruce said. “… People are feeling a little bit more confident that (the marijuana industry is) not going to go away — at least from the medical side.”
This spike in land prices is now common, according to local real estate brokers, who state that California’s new regulations on medicinal and recreational marijuana have caught the attention of outside investors seeking to get a piece of the county’s prized cannabis market.
“Humboldt County grows the best weed in the world and they’ve branded themselves. It’s almost like you have a mansion in Torrance, California, or you have a mansion in Napa,” said Charlie Tripodi, owner of The Land Man real estate business in Eureka. “May be the same building, but people are sure going to want the one in Napa just because of the name. Nothing else.”
But as the state marijuana market floods with new producers and President Donald Trump’s administration signals a possible crackdown on recreational marijuana, the question now is how long this land boom will last.
“All it’s going to take is one tweak by Trump to say ‘I’m going to challenge the state marijuana laws and going after people’ and things are going to get real crazy,” Tripodi said.
‘Proof is in the production’
Within the last four years, Ming Tree Realtors President Larry Doss of Eureka said he’s seen prices for large acreage and ranch property prices increase by about 90 percent, with some increasing by as much as 150 percent if they have the right conditions for a marijuana grow.
“This is the first time in my lifetime I’ve seen these kind of increases,” Doss said.
These properties have not only caught the eye of local investors, but also from those in New York, Florida, Texas, and Nevada, to name a few. However, properties that are selling are those with county cannabis cultivation permits.
“The proof is going to be in the production,” Doss continued. “The really top quality producers are going to do well and then I think there is going to be another junction point. The ones that don’t grow quantity and quality well aren’t going to do as well because the competition is greater now.”
Tripodi said he has sold over 3,000 large acreage properties in Humboldt County in his 16-year career. Many of the properties now on the market for millions of dollars were some he had sold at much lower prices in the past.
“And now they’re going for prices that border on unbelievable,” he said.
Within the last year, Tripodi said the land market has shifted from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market due to the state legalization of recreational marijuana and Humboldt County medical marijuana market.
“People ended their season and they realized people got all this money last year and they say, ‘S— yeah, I’ll sell for that amount,’” Tripodi said. “So they’re throwing out their land at high prices and some of them are getting it and some them are not.”
Boom or bust?
When Bruce’s husband purchased the Dinsmore property two years ago to add to their Alpha Organic Group collective, she said the land was pretty much barren. Now it is home to several greenhouses and soil beds, an irrigation pond, water storage tanks, a five-bedroom house complete with a redwood burl bar, and — most importantly — is in the process of obtaining county cultivation permits.
Bruce said they spoke with a Realtor who recommended a price of around $5 million to $6 million for the property. She disagreed.
“I think $8 million is where it needs to be and I think people in Humboldt County can understand that it has something that is so valuable,” she said. “The land is now forever permitted to cultivate cannabis. Regardless of whether you want to do it or not, you can sell. It’s only going to go up.”
Pacific Partners Real Estate owner and broker Scott Pesch and other local Realtors have likened the recent property demand to California’s Gold Rush days. But Pesch said this initial boom may slow down as the cannabis industry expands to other areas of the state and the price of the product drops.
“The whole reason behind the (property) value doubling is the rent doubles,” Pesch said. “It’s because of the income coming in. Your property is only worth what income it can achieve.”
Since posting their property online, Bruce said they have received calls from buyers in Southern California all the way out to Hawaii. Compared to the multi-generational farmers in the county, Bruce and her husband are relative newcomers, having moved from Colorado about 10 years ago. Bruce said she understands the concerns by some locals about maintaining the local |
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