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3a/3b/3c hair types and yes all the 4 hair types too. So we are four different women with four different types of hair and we each have our own list of natural hair products. You may have your own hair products but this is what works for us.
My Hair Solutions
Natural Hair 3B, 3C, and 4A mix
My Hair is a mix of 3b, 3c and 4a
Okay, this pic is not my worst hair day and it is not my best hair day. There is no real curl definition, but the shrinkage is being managed, so... it is not a bad hair day. I would show you a bad hair day, but my family will kill me. I would show you a good hair day, but good hair days have not accompanied good body days. Plus my curls have yet to read well in a photo. Healthy hair, strong hair, is good hair. My hair requires a lot of moisture. Guess what? Oil is not moisture. Oil is a way to seal moisture, but it does not give your hair moisture and can seal out moisture if it is add first. I never shampoo my hair. I co-wash or use Wen or Rinse with apple cider vinegar. Okay, time for my list of products.
Feb 12 2017 note: There is a lot of controversy about WEN. At the bottom of this page I include a video addressing it. I still stand by co-washing and the WEN product and I am not paid by WEN at all.
Wen Six Thirteen
It is my cleanser, my hair conditioner, my leave in all in one. I get the 32 oz from QVC.
Kinky-Curly Knot Today
This is my leave in and styling product. If I need to look good and care free this is my product.
Kinky-Curly Curling Custard
I must look good. I must be perfect. I wash with the Wen, leave-in Knot Today and lock in my curl with the Curling Custard.
I seal my hair with vitamin E oil or almond/coconut/olive oil or Aloe gel from Trader Joe's. I dry my hair with a T-shirt. I hate twist outs on my hair but may change my opinion when my hair gets longer.
My Baby Sister Faith's Solution
Natural/Curly Hair 3A, 3B, and 3C
Her Hair is a mix of 3A 3B and 3C
Faith uses the exact same Wen I use Six Thirteen
Rituals It's A Wrap
Faith loves the product. Wishes she could use it everyday.
ELLiN Lavar PenetratingBalm
This is Faith's perfect finisher but it is always out of stock. So...we need to test some other balms. But the two above products give her the look she wants.
My Mother's Solution
Natural/Curly/Wavy Hair 2A, 2B, and 3B mix
Mom has 2A 2B 3B
It is hard to get a good hair and body pic cause my mom doesn't do anything to her hair. When she does her hair for pictures many times she has a roller set or blow out. This pic is one of the few with her hair down and curly.
Mom can use any Wen original or Six Thirteen. She uses Sweet Almond Mint because it is slightly cheaper than the Six Thirteen and does exactly what she needs. For styling mom is a Carol's Daughter girl. It is the first styling product she really loves.
Carols Daughter Hair Milk Original Leave-in Moisturizer
She loves this and needs very little to get results. When she uses it she looks perfect.
Carols Daughter Hair Milk Pudding Style
This allows mom to get through the day with a finished look. Her products last longer than most women with natural hair because her hair responds quickly to this product so she uses less of it. It is exactly what her hair needs.
Joy is the Middle Sister
Born with perfect 3C Hair
She has 3C only and her hair is strong
Joy can do anything to her hair and does. WEN keeps her hair in good condition.
She also uses Aveda. Joy's hair can take just about anything, so she plays with it a lot and rarely suffers consequences. The truth is I am not confidant that Joy is a 3C because her hair is super hair and completely bulletproof.
Family Event
At a family event last Saturday I realized more than 60% of the family has gone natural. We compared notes and there was one product that stuck out, Kiss My Face. Now I love Kiss My Face body wash but I have never tried their product in my hair. I must give it a try.
Focus
I feel that we all would have better hair days if we could remember and focus on what works. I know that my follow through could and should be improved in all areas of my life. If I can make my hair life easier I might have an easier time at other things. Image, talent, health and wealth are not easy to come by, but like momma always says,"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." Hair is image and my first bite.
Wen vs Ren; Wen vs Balding; Co-Washing vs Clarifying Shampoo
When I was a little girl, my hair was constantly compared to the hair of other women in my family, and to hear other people talk I was born with the least desirable grade of hair. Back story: My grandmother was born with straight hair; not even a wave graced her hair. This made my grandmother and her sisters' lives easier than the lives of other women with varying grades of hair.My grandmother and her sisters pin-curled their straight hair and went about their days, three sisters with beautiful and easy to work with hair. My Grandmother's daughters would not be so lucky. They were born with mixed grades of hair. My mother had the easiest hair to deal with because it was mostly wavy. Noticed I said mostly. My mother was born with three grades of hair. She has mainly waves, but she has also large curls mixed with extremely kinky, frizzy hair. My mother's hair can look wavy and curly, but it takes a little more care and a lot of moisture. Still, my mother's hair is a breeze compared to mine. Her hair uses very little product. My mother's hair just needs a little love, but because it doesn't take that much effort she really doesn't do anything. Let me say this: neglecting your hair can destroy even the best hair.ORLANDO, Fla. (CN) – A Florida police officer may be liable for shooting and killing a dog while it was being restrained by the owner, a federal judge ruled.
Mitchell and Jackie Schutt, along with their two kids, say Ocoee police officer Jerry Lewis shot and killed Laila, the family dog, last year after Lewis knocked on the door. The dog allegedly came out when the door opened.
“Plaintiff Jackie Schutt grabbed Laila but this did not stop Lewis from drawing his firearm and shooting Laila,” U.S. District Judge Roy Dalton Jr. wrote, summarizing what he called “sparse factual allegations of the complaint.
“Besides killing Laila while she was being restrained by Jackie Schutt, Lewis narrowly missed shooting the minor children who were in the home,” the summary continued.
Dalton refused to dismiss the family’s claim that Laila’s murder constituted an unlawful seizure under the Fourth Amendment. He points out in his footnotes that a number of appeals courts “have held that the unreasonable killing of a dog constitutes an unconstitutional seizure of personal property under the Fourth Amendment.”
The Schutts also claim that the Orange County seized Laila’s body without authorization, cremated it and then refused to hand over the ashes.
Dalton dismissed a municipal liability claim against Ocoee, and he found that the city has immunity from failure to train and negligent supervision claims.
There is also evidence, however, that Ocoee knew of “past shootings, or that Lewis had shot dogs previously while on duty,” according to the ruling.
Dalton also found that the Schutts cannot pursue negligence claims against Ocoee or Lewis since the shooting allegedly represents an intentional tort.
Ocoee and Orange County lastly have immunity from emotional distress claims, the Orlando court found.
Like this: Like Loading...Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption London's population has increased by nearly two million in the past 25 years
London's population has topped 8.6m, the highest since its 1939 peak, the Greater London Authority has revealed.
The figures show Hillingdon has had the greatest growth in population, while 44% of the city's people are now of black or ethnic minority origins.
Mayor Boris Johnson said the figure was predicted to reach 11m by 2050.
He added the capital was the "best big city on the planet" but said more financial control was needed to fund key infrastructure, like housing.
Image caption London now has a population of 8.6m, the highest since the start of World War Two
London covers a total area of 1,572 sq km (607 sq m) with a population density of 5,197 Londoners per sq km, making it the largest city in Europe.
Hillingdon as a borough has increased from 159,000 residents in 1939 to 289,000 this year, while Islington has seen the biggest reduction, falling from 343,000 residents in 1939 to 221,000 in 2015.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption London's population has increased by nearly two million in the past 25 years
Prof Michael Batty, from University College London, told BBC London 94.9 the population fell after 1939 in part due to "suburbanisation".
He said: "It went down from about 8m to 6.6m over a period of about 30 years and the main reason was suburbanisation - suburban growth, people getting cars, changing transport and also slum clearance.
"London, of course, was less attractive internationally in terms of migration during those years."
He said much of the population growth in the past 10 years was down to international migration, which could make the population size difficult to predict in the future.
"When you have such a large proportion of growth which relates to international migration, this is really dependent on what is happening in the rest of the world," he said.
Population facts from the Mayor of London's Office
Image copyright Science Photo Library
London's population has increased by nearly two million in the past 25 years
Just over 3.8 million of London's residents (44%) are of a black and minority ethnicity origin, which is expected to increase to 50% by 2038
The life expectancy of Londoners has increased from 62 in 1939 to 82
Find out more - London's population high: Top metropolis facts
Mr Johnson said: "With more green space than any other European city, a thriving economy, a low crime rate and a roaring cultural scene, it is no surprise that London is the place to be.
"What we need now is the government to grant greater fiscal devolution to London so that we can properly fund the key infrastructure that is so vital to stimulate jobs."
'Services pressure'
To manage the city's growth the mayor said he was developing the London 2050 Infrastructure Plan.
He said with transport requirements expected to increase significantly, Tube services would need to be extended, Crossrail 2 would need to be approved and in addition more accessible green space, schools and colleges were needed.
Labour has called for further spending on infrastructure.
Len Duvall, London Assembly Labour Group leader, said: "Londoners are desperate to see much needed investment in the capital's transport and wider infrastructure, and today's population figures show why that funding is so necessary."
Dr Michelle Drage, chief executive of the Londonwide Local Medical Committees, which represents GPs in the capital, said the increase had led to a pressure on services.
"Everyone focuses on hospitals, but nobody thinks about investing in community services," she said.
"We heard the mayor talking about housing, if you have housing you have to have doctors and nurses but you also have to have support services, community nurses, mental health services, social services and they have been stripped back to the bone."The Lilith Blog 1 of 2
May 3, 2017 by Rena Rotenberg
I have been involved for years in Jewish early childhood education (teacher, then preschool director, director of an early childhood department, consultant, college instructor, supervisor of education students for local college), so I am well aware of the problems in this field.
Just a quick glance at Glassdoor profile for Jewish Community Centers shows that early child care professionals are paid less than many other staff members. Most workers in this field are women (and for some, perhaps, their pay is considered a supplemental income; it would be impossible to support a family on this salary). In some states, in facilities at JCCs in particular, salaries are beginning to rise, although not enough to compete with salaries in public and/or other programs, such as church-related facilities, since many churches subsidize their schools.
But the crisis that concerns me beyond salaries is the lack of Jewish literacy among teachers/staff in non-Orthodox schools. Oftentimes, attempts are made to give staff rudimentary knowledge of Jewish holidays and rituals, but this only goes so far. This is particularly critical with regard to pre-Shabbat rituals in a preschool classroom. When I was the Director of Early Childhood for the Center for Jewish Education in Baltimore, I would often visit a classroom on Friday to observe the rituals for this important day of the week. In some classes, the closet was opened, Shabbat items were taken out, put on a table; the ritual was very quickly done, then the items were put back into the closet. No wonder that some children went home thinking that they “had Shabbat.” There was no talk about Shabbat, or preparations within the classroom (books about Shabbat, ritual items visible, cleaning for Shabbat, music, stories, etc.)
The impact of the early years on a child’s growth and development and attitudes is enormous. Note how many hours a baby or young child spends in a child care facility; some babies/children arrive as early as 7 AM and stay until 5 or 6 PM. This is more time than a child would spend in regular school. As more parents are employed outside of the home, the need for good, quality childcare facilities continues to grow.
“The Early Years Last Forever” is the title of a program on Maryland public radio. Judging by the enormous research and the expansion of child care facilities—both for private, for-profits like KinderKare, Celebree, Goddard schools and within many public schools that now offer care for ages three and four—this is a burgeoning field.
Parents of very young children are often involved in their children’s early experiences in a child care facility. These parents are quite amenable to learning about Jewish rituals and customs and will sometimes incorporate these Jewish ceremonies into their routine as a result of seeing their children’s experiences. For instance, I remember when, as the Early Childhood Consultant for the Center for Jewish Education in Baltimore, I answered a call from a local director. This director reported that a mother of a three-year-old had been a Shabbat guest several times in her child’s class. The mother was so impressed with the joy of her child that she asked the director to please write out the ritual for Friday night so as to be able to do the same at home.
As the Director of Early Childhood Education, I developed an exit survey that was distributed to families of children who were completing Jewish early childhood programs. The response was very touching and meaningful. Parents wrote that they were incorporating some Shabbat rituals into their homes, introducing Jewish items, and continuing their child’s Jewish education beyond the early childhood level. Reading these comments brought tears to my eyes and provided an example of what Jewish early child hood education can offer when given the necessary support.
There are attempts being made to address these issues and concerns. Organizations, such as the National Jewish Early Childhood Network (I am a co-founder), an affiliate of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), attempts to educate its members and to advocate for these professionals through conferences and materials distributed to members. The National Association of Jewish Early Childhood Specialists (NAJECS) is an organization that works within central agencies to provide curriculum materials, annual conferences, and workshops. It is also important to note that colleges such as Stern College for Women in New York and Gratz College in Philadelphia offer courses in Jewish early childhood education.
As more parents are employed outside of the home, the need for quality Jewish early childhood facilities continues to grow. In the Jewish community, the need is very great and very important—for the children and the families, for the entire Jewish community, and for Jewish continuity.
If the goal of Jewish early childhood education/child care is to begin to inculcate and instill in both children and families a sense of Jewishness, this goal has yet to be widely met.
Rena Rotenberg is currently working in an early Jewish child care facility and is an award-winning Jewish early childhood educator.Born a Spartan, and raised to become one of Greece’s most formidable generals, Kratos’ iron will eventually collide with the pride of the Greek gods. But what makes this gaming legend tick? We examine the character evolution of one of Sony’s most memorable characters.
Needless to say, this story is full of spoilers. If you haven’t played the God of War series, read this at your own risk. And if you missed any of the game's on this list, check out the God of War Saga for PS3, which collects all five titles listed here.
God of War (2005)
A large amount of Kratos’ backstory is delivered during the first game in the series. When the original God of War begins, Kratos is already a fearsome Spartan warrior who grew a small band of 50 men into a fearsome army of thousands. However, Kratos’ army was massacred by a barbarian horde. In a last-ditch effort, a desperate Kratos offers his life to the service of the god Ares. Aware of Kratos’ enormous power, Ares wipes the Barbarians from the battlefield and takes the Greek warrior under his wing.
Ares grafts the curved Blades of Chaos – forged in the pits of Hades – to Kratos' arms and promotes him to be one of his most fearsome warriors. One day while Kratos was razing a small village, Ares puts Kratos into a blood-lust rage, forcing him to slaughter everyone in his path. When Kratos comes to his senses, he realized that two of his victims were his own wife and daughter. The village Oracle curses Kratos, binding the ashes of his dead family to his skin. Kratos’ milky complexion earns him the nickname, Ghost of Sparta. Thus begins Kratos’ 10-year journey of revenge against the god who “killed” his family.
By the end of the events of God of War, Kratos achieves his revenge and takes the throne as the new God of War. But there is much more to Kratos’ story.
God of War II (2007)
At the start of God of War II, Kratos has become a ruthless god who treats many of Greece’s city-states ruthlessly. None of the other members of the Greek pantheon accept Kratos into the fold, so Kratos continues to do what he knows best – leading his army of Spartans on a conquest of the country. This forces Zeus to put an end to Kratos’ reign by tricking the god of war into relinquishing his power before sending Kratos to Hades.
Before he is confined to an eternity of torment in Hades, Gaia, the mother of the Titans, rescues Kratos and offers to ally with him in an effort to exact revenge against Zeus. Gaia and the Titans seek revenge against Zeus for his leadership in the revolt against the Titans ages before.
After killing the Sisters of Fate to change his own past, Kratos confronts Zeus, but before he can kill the father god, Athena jumps in the way and sacrifices herself. As Athena dies she reveals that Zeus is actually Kratos’ father. Kratos isn’t impressed, and readies the Titans for another revolt against the gods.
God of War: Chains of Olympus (2008)
Chains of Olympus is set during Kratos' 10-year service to Ares. When the world is plunged into darkness, Kratos learns that the sun god, Helios, has been abducted, and Kratos sets off on a quest to find him. Along the way, Kratos meets the goddess Persephone, who tells him that he can be with his daughter, Calliope, again in the fields of Elysium if he only relinquishes all the powers that the gods have bestowed on him. Kratos becomes a man again, and is reunited with his daughter for a short time, but he quickly learns that the denial of all his powers was all part of Persephone’s plan to use the Titan Atlas to destroy the world, so Kratos pushes away his daughter, abandoning her in order to seek revenge against the gods. Chains of Olympus was a bit of a side story, but it gave us a good glimpse of Kratos’ character, and showed us how far the warrior was willing to go to enact justice.
God of War III (2010)
God of War III does a nice job of tying up the story of Kratos’ revenge against the gods, and Zeus, in particular. Kratos systematically works his way through what’s left of the Greek Pantheon. Along the way, he uncovers the secret power locked inside Pandora's Box: the power of hope. Kratos uses this hope to finally kill his father, and then he shares hope with all of humanity – don’t worry, Kratos still looks angry as he does this. God of War III wraps up the console trilogy nicely, but it doesn’t add much to Kratos’ backstory. For that, we need to turn to the series’ second handheld title.
God of War: Ghost of Sparta (2010)
God of War’s second PSP game greatly expands on Kratos’ backstory. Before Kratos was born, an oracle foretold that a marked warrior would cause the destruction of Olympus. Ghost of Sparta also introduces us to Kratos brother, Deimos, a Spartan born with a birthmark similar to the iconic war paint Kratos has worn throughout the series.
When the Greek gods learn of Kratos’ marked brother, they believe he will be the doom of Olympus, so Zeus and Ares travel to Kratos’ hometown and kidnap Deimos. Kratos tries to stop them, but Ares brushes the Spartan aside, giving Kratos the scar he wears across his eye. Kratos eventually takes to wearing war paint that resembles his missing brother’s birthmark.
Years later, after Kratos has ascended the throne of the God of War, he undertakes a journey to rescue his brother who is chained inside the Domain of Death and being guarded by Thanatos, the god of death. Kratos frees his brother and the two of them do battle with Thanatos, but only Kratos walks away from the struggle. In the game’s closing scenes, it is revealed that after defeating Thanatos, many believe Kratos has become death itself, alluding to the ultimate destruction he will bring to the world and Olympus in God of War III.
That’s Kratos’ basic story, but God of War: Ascension is set during Kratos’ servitude to Ares, so we expect that there could be a few more twists to the warrior’s history that we haven’t learned yet.
Want more character histories? Check out our story on The Evolution of Ganon.This article is from the archive of our partner.
Saif Qaddafi says the Libyan government was "surprised" by the airstrikes launched on his country to stop his father, Muammar Qaddafi, from brutally crushing rebels. "It was big surprise that finally President Obama--we thought he was a good man and friend of Arab world--is bombing Libya," the younger Qaddafi told ABC News' Christiane Amanpour Sunday.
Qaddafi claimed "terrorists" had taken control of Benghazi and were attacking civilians. "No country in the world will allow the second-largest city to be controlled by gangsters and armed militia." The U.N.-authorized airstrikes are just part of a "big misunderstanding" and likened it to "the fiasco of WMD" in Iraq. Qaddafi said his father would not be stepping down. He vowed America would regret helping the rebels.
View footage of the airstrikes in this Euronews clip:
Meanwhile, the Arab League, which endorsed the airstrikes, is having second thoughts: Reuters' Maria Golovnina and Michael Georgy report the group is calling an emergency meeting because "what we want is protection and not the bombardment of more civilians." Reuters calls the statement a "serious diplomatic setback" for the intervention. (Condemnation of the strikes by the Taliban, however, will likely pose less of a problem.)
And Andrew Exum adds this fun fact: dropping ten Tomahawk missiles on Libya cost the U.S. about $81 million.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.My name is Deia Schlosberg and I am an independent filmmaker and climate reporter. I was arrested while filming an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in North Dakota and I'm currently facing felony charges that I believe are unjust. I am a climate reporter; my specialty is following the story of how humankind is creating a grave problem for civilization by continuing to flood the atmosphere with greenhouse gases through the burning of fossil fuels and other industrial processes. I don't think there is nearly enough reporting on climate change nor the movement of people around the world working to lessen the impacts of climate change.
"Journalism needs to be passionately and ethically pursued and defended if we are to remain a free democratic country."
When I was arrested, I was doing my job. I was reporting. I was documenting. Journalism needs to be passionately and ethically pursued and defended if we are to remain a free democratic country. Freedom of the press, guaranteed by the First Amendment, is absolutely critical to maintaining an informed citizenry, without which, democracy is impossible.
It is the responsibility of journalists and reporters to document newsworthy events, and it is particularly important for independent media to tell the stories that mainstream media is not covering. The mainstream did not break the story on fracking nor did it break the story about what is happening at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota, nor the stories told in my most recent film with Josh Fox, How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change. With this and other recent films, I have sought to portray and humanize the climate movement that is fighting for all of us with integrity, resilience and deep compassion.
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Accordingly, I felt I had a duty to document the unprecedented #ShutItDown climate action, which stopped all Canadian oil sands from entering the United States. Canadian oil sands importation is a controversial issue that is not getting the coverage it warrants, especially considering that the extraction and use of oil sands has a profound impact on every person on this planet.
I'd also like to call attention to two reporters covering the same action in Washington State, Lindsey Grayzel and Carl Davis, who are facing preliminary felony charges as well. For reporters who are simply doing their job, which is their constitutionally protected right, to be facing such charges is an outrage.The lunatics have taken over the asylum. The Labour and Conservative conferences were proof positive that the moderates no longer hold sway. The cheers were for the zealots, whether that was John McDonnell or Jacob Rees-Mogg. And, whether from front or back benches, it is they who rule the roost when it comes to leaving the EU. So where have the centrists (and I acknowledge, as Helen Lewis has underlined, that the term is imprecise and potentially misleading, but I can think of no better one) gone? And how should they react?
Another month, further deadlock – this isn’t what the Brexiters promised | Hugo Dixon Read more
The missing middle is all the more striking as there is a clear majority in parliament for a much softer form of Brexit than both leaderships seem committed to. Moreover, public opinion appears to favour such an outcome, too. Indeed, strikingly, a recent poll carried out for the Times found that 42% think the UK is right to leave the EU and 47% think it is wrong, the biggest gap since the referendum.
Yet Brexit elicited barely a mention from the platform in either Brighton or Manchester. From a party management point of view, this made perfect sense. Both Labour and the Conservatives are riven with divisions between leavers and remainers, hard and soft Brexiters. Avoiding debate means the respective leaderships can cling to the line that Brexit means hard Brexit: departure from both the single market and customs union.
Both parties are officially backing policies that will make us poorer as a country. A hard Brexit will dramatically decrease our trade with our nearest and largest trading partner, while impacting on levels of foreign investment here.
Where, then, are the voices of moderation? On the evidence of the last few weeks, desperately rowing in behind their party leaderships. While David Lammy gushed praise for Jeremy Corbyn’s conference speech, Philip Hammond hardly mentioned Brexit in his own peroration in Manchester. At fringe events, former remainers acted for the most part like converts. Stephen Kinnock and Yvette Cooper triangulated desperately on free movement, while Charlie Elphicke has clearly drunk the Brexit Kool-Aid. Once home from Manchester, Nicky Morgan wrote of the need for the Tories to reclaim the moderate centre ground – without mentioning the Brexit revolution.
And so, on the biggest single issue of our time, a process that promises to rewrite the political economy of the country, relatively few opposing voices are being raised in parliament.
There are, of course, perfectly good, career-related reasons for this silence. The hard Brexiters hold the whip hand and indeed control the whips. On the Labour side, moreover, non-Corbynite MPs fear deselection processes triggered by Momentum to punish disloyalty.
Moreover, there is genuine loyalty to party. Labour MPs fear prolonging Tory rule by fostering disunity. Similarly, many – if not most – Conservatives believe a Corbyn administration would be more catastrophic than the hardest of hard Brexits.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘In France, Emmanuel Macron created a political movement from scratch and wiped the floor with incumbents of left and right. Yet beware appealing analogies.’ Photograph: Francois Mori/AP
So on the biggest issue of the day, the centre ground is disappearing before our eyes. Little surprise that this has sparked renewed interest in the idea of a new party to fill the void. Remarkably, at one point during the Tory conference, I noticed Ladbrokes were offering 200-1 on the Democrats – a party that exists solely on Twitter – winning most seats at the next election (the odds have subsequently lengthened).
France, we are told, provides a model. There, the president, Emmanuel Macron, created a political movement from scratch and wiped the floor with incumbents of left and right. Yet beware appealing analogies. Macron certainly saw off the traditional parties, but they largely did his work for him. The incumbent socialist president was polling in single digits, while François Fillon, the candidate of the centre right, became embroiled in a scandal about corruption and nepotism.
The chances of something similar happening over here seem remote. For one thing, far from the two major parties collapsing, they are resurgent. Between them, Labour and the Conservatives won no less than 82% of the votes in the last election. The last time they had gobbled up this proportion of the vote was in 1970.
And of course, we live under an electoral system designed precisely to produce two-party politics. Granted, there have been times in our recent past when it has failed to do so. But that was a moment when Labour and the Conservatives had converged on an ideological centre ground, driving people to experiment with alternatives. When the two big beasts are as ideologically polarised as now, all eyes tend to be on them.
And beyond the electoral hurdles there are financial ones. While a French presidential campaign is hardly cheap, it is far more so than campaigning in a parliamentary system. Running campaigns and gathering data in 650 constituencies is a herculean task.
So the two major parties are following an extreme path, internally hugely divided and yet enormously popular. The structural constraints on a new entrant were perhaps most neatly encapsulated in Nick Clegg’s call for those opposed to Brexit to join Labour or the Conservatives.
Easy, then, to understand why those MPs opposed to the course we are on have chosen to keep their heads down. Kicking the can down the road is, after all, a tried and tested political strategy.
Theresa May needs a ‘coalition of the sane’ to stave off Brexit calamity | Simon Jenkins Read more
Yet, this time, the road involved is a cul-de-sac. In March 2019 our EU membership will cease. At that point, even under the best-case scenario, large-scale economic adjustment will take its toll in the short term. Under the scenario considered more realistic by the majority of serious economists, leaving the single market and the customs union will significantly disrupt trade with the European Union, imposing a serious hit on the British economy.
What then? Do the moderates really believe that this kind of economic fallout will lead to a lurch back to the political centre ground? Will sensible, centrist politics really be the victor from an economic shock that might rival that of the financial crisis in scale? At a minimum, neither party will have a hope in hell of delivering on its policy pledges. It is hardly inconceivable that even more extreme political alternatives profit from the dissatisfaction that is bound to result.
The prospects for the political middle ground are bleak. Their influence in their own parties is negligible. Speaking out is not safe. Nevertheless, the time for silence is past. Allowing a hard Brexit would harm the country and, in all likelihood, disempower them still further. People who knowingly walk off a cliff are, if anything, more culpable than those who simply refuse to admit that the cliff is there before crashing to earth. Surely it’s time for the centrists to be bold?
• Anand Menon is a director of UK in a Changing EuropeJai Ganesh
Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Lyrics in English with Meaning
[1] Jay Ganesh, Jai Ganesh, Jai Ganesh Deva,
Maata Jaaki Parvati Pita Mahadeva.
( Victory to you, oh Ganesh, Victory to you, oh Ganesh Our Lord.
You are the all-powerful son of Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva. )
[2] Ek Dant Dayaavant, Chaar Bhuja Dhaari,
Maathe Pe Sindhoor Sohe, Muuse Ki Savaari.
( Oh Lord Ganesh, you possess a single tusk and four arms.
You have a Vermilion mark on your forehead and ride on a humble animal vehicle (or vahana) – the mouse. )
[3] Paan Chadhe, Phool Chadhe, Aur Chadhe Meva,
Ladduan Ka Bhog Lage, Sant Kare Seva.
( We, the devotees of Lord Ganesh make offerings of Betel leaves, flowers and dry fruits to please him.
Similarly ladoos are also offered to Lord Ganesh to seek his blessings while distinguished saints and sages offer their lives and services to him. )
[4] Jay Ganesh, Jay Ganesh, Jai Ganesh Deva,
Maata Jaaki Parvati Pita Mahadeva.
( Victory to you, oh Ganesh, Victory to you, oh Ganesh Our Lord.
You are the all-powerful son of Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva. )
[5] Andhan Ko Aankh Det, Kodhin Ko Kaaya,
Baanjhan Ko Putra Det, Nirdhan Ko Maaya.
( Oh Lord Ganesh, you bless the blind man with vision and cure the leper of leprosy.
You bless infertile women with children and help the poor earn wealth. )
[6] Surya Shaam Sharan Aye, Safal Kije Seva,
Mata Jaaki Parvati Pita Mahadeva.
( We pray to you day and night, Lord Ganesh. Please bless us with success.
You are the all-powerful son of Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva. )
[7] Jai Ganesh, Jai Ganesh, Jay Ganesh Deva,
Maata Jaaki Parvati Pita Mahadeva.
( Victory to you, oh Ganesh, Victory to you, oh Ganesh Our Lord.
You are the all-powerful son of Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva. )
Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Lyrics in Hindi with Meaning
[1] जय गणेश, जय गणेश, जय गणेश देवा।
माता जाकी पार्वती, पिता महादेवा॥
( जय हो आपकी, श्री गणेश, जय हो आपकी, श्री गणेश, हमारे प्रिय देवता।
आप माता पार्वती और भगवान शिव के शक्तिशाली पुत्र हैं॥ )
[2] एक दंत दयावंत, चार भुजाधारी।
माथे पर तिलक सोहे, मूसे की सवारी॥
( हे भगवान गणेश, आपके पास एक दांत और चार भुजाएं हैं।
आपके माथे पर सिंदूर का तिलक लगा हुआ है, और आप अपने विनम्र वाहन मूसे पर सवारी करते हैं॥ )
[3] पान चड़ें, फूल चड़ें और चड़ें मेवा।
लडुअन को भोग लगे, संत करे सेवा॥
( आपके भक्त, आपकी पूजा करते समय प्यार और भक्तिभाव से आपको पान के पत्ते, फूल और मेवे चढ़ाते हैं।
उसी तरह आपको आपके पसंदीदा लड्डू भी चढ़ाय |
never figured out. I usually just threw in things that didn’t fit into the other categories.
And no matter what, recycle or else. There was a time when I placed the wrong kind of paper in the paper bin and was sharply scolded by one of my neighbours!
Someone (maybe the old lady who’d lectured me?) reported me to my landlord, claiming I was not recycling at all. My landlord then called me to have a long conversation about this. Upon further discussion, we determined that it was another expat living in the building who was committing the recycling sins. I’m a good recycler, I swear!
9) New Year’s Eve
Berlin’s New Year’s celebrations, which Germans call Silvester, are epic in nature. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it and had the best time of my life ringing in 2012.
Early in the day on Dec 31, you suddenly start to hear loud bangs which increase in frequency as the day goes on. Although it sounds and almost feels as if you’re in a war zone, the locals are going crazy setting off fireworks. I remember walking with a friend near Alexanderplatz and having to keep running to avoid having one go off directly beside us.
At midnight, my friends and I (we’d been attending a super club event) ventured outside together to light sparklers and view the firework spectacle. People were laughing, cheering, singing, hugging, dancing and setting off fireworks from their balconies. It was amazing, surreal and so unbelievably fun! And all of this from a quiet residential street in Prenzlauer Berg.
If anyone does New Year’s Eve well, it’s Berliners.
Walking along the city streets over the next days, all you could see was the mess and litter left behind from the burnt-out firecrackers.
10) Long Days
In Toronto, it gets dark around 9:00 p.m. in the summer. In Berlin on the other hand, it stays light until about 11:00 p.m. I loved sitting outside in a biergarten, in the park or down by the Spree at a beach bar with friends, enjoying life.
On the flip side, the sunrise happens around 4:00 a.m. I spent many a late night out (which somehow always happens in Berlin) and loved viewing the gorgeous sunrises during my drunken walks of shame home.
Personal Reflections
I know what you’re probably thinking. I like to drink, party, stay out late, eat poorly and have super bad taste in music. This may or may not be far from the truth (I’ll never tell!) but these were the things that made Berlin so cool for me.
I left Berlin just over a year ago and am such a different person now that I’m home in Toronto again. I don’t enjoy life in the way that I used to. I have a full-time job, long commute, German class twice a week (which involves homework and hours of self study) and lastly, travel blog obligations. Somewhere along the way, the fun was sucked out of my life and now I’m the most boring person I know.
I need to take my lessons learned in Berlin, apply them to my life here and really start living. Perhaps the answer is moving back!?
For now, my top ten list above explains the reasons why I love Berlin. I’ll be back someday, hopefully sooner rather than later.
What Do You Think?
Have you been to Berlin? Do you love it as much as I do? Tell me why you love Berlin in the comments below.
I think I’m going to turn this into an ongoing series. There are tons of other reasons why I think Berlin is so cool and I can’t wait to build further on this post! I may also include some of your comments or suggestions.A plan to build scores of offshore, electricity-generating windmills within eyesight of the Kennedy compound and numerous other tony properties in one of America’s wealthiest, and most scenic areas, is officially dead in the water.
The Cape Wind project, which envisioned 130 turbines to be built off the Massachusetts coast, would have been the first U.S. offshore wind farm. It would also have spoiled the view from the Kennedy family’s estate and that of the Democratic family's billionaire neighbor, William Koch, owner of a nearby 26-acre estate.
Besides their opposition, Energy Management Inc., which led the project, had to battle fishermen and tourism-related businesses. But after 16 years of fighting, with the help of environmentalists, for the project – and scoring numerous legal battles along the way – Energy Management threw in the towel late last week, citing the cancellation of several contracts to sell its power to local utilities.
“During Cape Wind’s development period we successfully developed over a billion dollars of renewable solar and biomass energy projects and, although we were unable to bring Cape Wind to fruition, we are proud of the catalyzing and pioneering effort we devoted to bringing offshore wind to the United States,” Cape Wind President James Gordon said in a statement to the Cape Cod Times.
Championed as the future of clean energy by environmental activists, the 478-megawatt offshore farm would have been a power supply for Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.
However, the Kennedy family opposed the project for years. Back in 2006, then-Sen. Ted Kennedy called for more federal guidelines first. “Senator Kennedy has real environmental and economic concerns, and the federal government continues to lack a national policy and process to guide offshore alternative energy development,” spokeswoman Melissa Wagoner told The Washington Times. The senator died in 2009.
In addition, attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote in a New York Times op-ed in 2005: “I do believe that some places should be off limits to any sort of industrial development. I wouldn't build a wind farm in Yosemite National Park. Nor would I build one on Nantucket Sound.”
While the Kennedys and their activities on Cape Cod have been well known for decades, Koch’s ties to the area have been less well publicized. The billionaire fossil fuel industrialist, whose brothers Charles and David are well known for their underwriting of Republican politicians, bought Rachel Mellon’s 26-acre waterfront estate in Oyster Harbors in 2013 for $19.5 million and quickly turned his attention to combating what he called the “visual pollution” from the Cape Wind project.
“I am equally confident that the project’s lack of merit will result in its demise,” Koch wrote in an email to the New York Times back in 2013.
Cape Wind’s demise came despite significant support. The U.S. Energy Department gave Energy Management a conditional $150 million loan guarantee, Siemens AG was mulling a $100 million equity investment and Rabobank, Natixis and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group led a $400 million debt package.
In the end this wasn’t enough and, after the project was hit by numerous lawsuits and Cape Wind missed a number of contractual milestones, energy suppliers National Grid and Northeast Utilities canceled their purchase agreements.
The fate of Cape Wind has taught offshore wind developers a valuable lesson: Keep the turbines out of a sight of beachgoers.
Last year, Deepwater Wind completed the first offshore wind farm 3.8 miles off of Rhode Island’s Block Island and the country’s largest offshore wind farm is slated to be built in the waters between the eastern tip of Long Island and Martha’s Vineyard. Part of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s goal to draw 50 percent of the state’s power from renewable sources by 2030, the project will be built on a 256-square acre parcel and generate enough energy to power 1.25 million homes.
“This project will not only provide a new, reliable source of clean energy but will also create high-paying jobs, continue our efforts to combat climate change and help preserve our environment,” Cuomo said in a statement in January when the project was approved by the Long Island Power Authority’s board.Nail Tutorial – Glitter Accent Nail Posted by colourblastme on 17/03/2012 · 5 Comments
1 – Começa com as unhas limpas e limadas. As minhas estão o mais curtas possível.
2 – Aplica uma base. Eu uso a Bonder, da Orly.
3 – Aplica duas camadas de um verniz cremoso cinza claro. Eu uso o Skull & Glossbones da OPI.
4 – Com o verniz ainda húmido, mergulha a ponta da unha no recipiente do glitter, e com a ajuda do pau de laranjeira espalha alguns pelo resto da unha para criar um degradé. Eu comprei o meu no ebay.
5 – Por fim, aplica uma ou duas camada de topcoat para fixar o glitter à unha e dar uma textura mais uniforme. Eu uso o Seche Vite.
—
1 – Start with clean and filed nails. Mine are as short as possible.
2 – Apply basecoat. I’m using Bonder, by Orly.
3 – Apply two coats of a creme light grey. I’m using Skull & Glossbones by OPI.
4 – With the polish still wet, dip the tip of your nail on the glitter container and then, with the help of an orange wood stick, sprinkle a little more on the rest of the nail to create a gradient effect. I bought mine on ebay.
5 – Lastly, apply one or two coats of topcoat to seal the glitter and to create a better texture. I’m using Seche Vite.Image copyright SPL
Earwax is one of those bodily substances which few of us like to discuss in polite company.
Like other secretions, it is something that most of us deal with in private. Yet it also holds a fascination for many.
In the past, it has been used as a lip balm and salve for puncture wounds.
But it can do a little more than that. Recent research suggests it can indicate a build up of pollutants in the body - and it could even be used to diagnose certain conditions.
Here are five things you - probably - didn't know about ear wax.
1. How it gets out
Image copyright Brian Evans Image caption The cul-de-sac of the ear canal
The cells inside the ear canal are unique in the human body - they migrate. "You could put an ink dot on the eardrum and watch it move over a few weeks and it would be 'carried out' by the movement of the cells." according to Prof Shakeel Saeed at London's Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear hospital.
If this didn't happen the mini cul-de-sac of the ear canal would soon fill up with dead cells created by the natural process of skin shedding.
This movement also propels the wax - produced by the modified sweat glands which line the ear canal - towards the outside. It's thought that normal movements of the jaw - through eating and talking - assist with this movement.
Prof Saeed has noticed that ear wax does sometimes get darker as we age - and that men whose ears get noticeably hairier as they age sometimes find that the wax can't escape through this jungle of hair.
2. It has anti-microbial properties
Image copyright Science Photo Library Image caption Cerumen or ear wax secreted by a gland in the ear canal
Ear wax contains waxy oils but much of it is made up of keratinocytes - dead skin cells. The rest of cerumen - to give it its technical name - is a mixture of substances.
Between 1,000 to 2,000 glands produce anti-microbial peptides - whilst sebaceous glands close to hair cells add into the mix alcohols, an oily substance called squalene, cholesterol and triglyceride.
The production of earwax doesn't vary much between men and women. young or old - but in one small study its triglyceride content decreased from November to July.
Cerumen also contains lysozyme, an antibacterial enzyme capable of destroying bacterial cell walls. Other researchers are less convinced and claim that it is the perfect medium in which bacteria can grow.
3. It matters where your family is from
Image copyright Science Photo Library
Asian and non-Asian ears produce different types of earwax according to scientists at the Monell Institute in Philadelphia. Chromosome 16 is home to the "wet" or "dry" gene for earwax - with the wet variant dominating.
A small change in the gene ABCC11 is related to both the dry-type earwax and also for reduced underarm body odour found in Chinese, Japanese and Korean individuals.
The American study measured the concentration of 12 volatile organic compounds found in earwax - in groups of East Asian and white men.
In 11 out of the 12 compounds the Caucasian earwax had greater amounts of odorous compounds.
Kate Prigge from Monell says their analysis of the smell of ear wax is a first step towards finding out whether they might eventually use it to detect disease.
The institute studies a rare genetic disorder called maple syrup urine disease, which can be easily diagnosed through the scent of earwax compounds. Swabbing someone's ears is a much simpler and cheaper process than doing a genetic test.
Dr Prigge does realise how odd her choice of career might sound. She says: "You tell someone that you work in human body odour you get a good laugh," says Prigge. "But when you explain the importance behind it or how much information can be gained in these types of studies, people often understand why."
4. A vacuum rather than a syringe might help clear it
Image caption Carrie Roberts said the procedure was "miraculous"
Carrie Roberts is in her 40s and has an ear wax problem. She had her ears syringed at the GPs several times, tried hot oil with no success - and ended up with both ears blocked.
Ms Roberts decided to pay for micro-suction treatment, where the ear canal is cleaned with an instrument like a tiny vacuum cleaner.
Prof Saeed prefers this method to syringing. "With syringing you are going in 'blind' - not under direct vision. If you use water it has to get past the wax and come back, bringing the wax with it.
"If there is no gap it can't get through and it shouldn't be forced. It is uncommon to damage the ear drums during syringing, but it does happen."
With the micro-suction the whole procedure is carried out whilst looking into the ear canal with a microscope.
Carrie said the procedure was "painless, a little noisy and very quick".
She adds: "It felt like one of those things they put in your mouth at the dentist to suck water out while you are having a filling, but in your ear. It has been miraculous."
Carrie is a convert. "I will go every time now. Much better than syringing as I didn't feel dizzy and faint afterwards, it was much quicker and I didn't have to mess about with olive oil for a week first.
5. It can be a pollution monitor
Image copyright Science Photo Library Image caption Ear implements from the 1800s
Earwax, like many other bodily secretions, can show traces of certain toxins in the body such as heavy metals. But it's an odd place to look and no more reliable than a simple blood test.
There are also some rare metabolic disorders that affect earwax. The most notable earwax scientific discovery of recent times is that of a 24cm wax earplug from a blue whale.
Unlike humans which shed their earwax and dead skin cells, filter-feeding whales retain their earwax, recording life events similar to the way tree rings reveal arid and wet seasons during its lifetime.
The earwax was analysed by Sascha Usenko, a environmental scientist at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He and his team found that during the 12-year-old male whale's life it came into contact with 16 different pollutants such as pesticides.
There was a peak of exposure during the first year of life - suggesting that these were transferred from its mother either in the womb or through her milk.
High levels of the stress hormone cortisol appeared in the waxy plug as the animal reaches sexual maturity - when competing for a mate would have been a priority.There is one summary for H.R.1275. View summaries
Shown Here:
Introduced in House (03/01/2017)
World's Greatest Healthcare Plan Act of 2017
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the requirements for individuals to maintain minimum essential coverage and for large employers to offer affordable coverage to full time employees.
Health insurance is no longer required to cover preventive care at no cost or include the essential health benefits.
Individuals enrolling in health insurance who have not maintained continuous coverage over the previous 12 months are charged an extra 20% on premiums for each consecutive year without coverage, unless the individual is subject to similar state incentives to maintain coverage.
States may enroll uninsured residents in high deductible health plans. Individuals must be permitted to opt-out of this coverage.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must develop a risk adjustment mechanism for health insurance in the individual market.
For residents of a state to qualify for premium subsidies or the health insurance tax credit in this bill, the state must permit health insurance with an annual limit on benefits to be sold on its exchange.
The bill establishes an advanceable, refundable health insurance tax credit for taxpayers enrolled in coverage that does not cover abortion except in certain circumstances.
States may: (1) apply to HHS to use unclaimed health insurance tax credits for indigent health care; and (2) enroll Medicaid-eligible individuals in health insurance that qualifies for the tax credit instead of in Medicaid, at the individual's option.
The tax on excess health benefits (commonly called the Cadillac tax) is repealed.
The bill establishes Roth HSAs (health savings accounts) for paying certain medical expenses and health insurance premiums.
The tax deduction for medical expenses is eliminated.
This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) and title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, including to turn federal Medicaid payments into block grants.A judge in Minnesota Second Judicial District (Ramsey County) on Tuesday stuck down a ban on transgender medical care for those accessing public health programs.
Minnesota law specifically forbade the state’s Medicaid program from covering gender confirmation surgical care for transgender people. The state covered such procedures until 2005 when legislators passed, and Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed, a health and human services omnibus bill that blocked the coverage. Medical Assistance, General Assistance Medical Care, and MinnesotaCare did not provide equitable health care for transgender Minnesotans.
The case was brought in December 2015 by OutFront Minnesota and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota on behalf of Evan Thomas, a transgender man who was denied gender-related surgery while on a state-subsidized health plan.
The order of Judge William H. Leary III stated that the ban “violates the right to privacy as protected by the Minnesota Constitution and, therefore, is void and unenforceable.” The judge also found that the ban “discriminates on the basis of gender.”
Leary wrote:
The statute bars a category of medical treatments even if medically necessary. The statute thus constrains the healthcare decisions of transgender recipients of MA or MinnesotaCare benefits because it covers one medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria (hormone therapy) but not another (sex-reassignment surgery). Thus the statute impermissibly impairs transgender people’s autonomous decision-making concerning their own bodies and impairs their medical treatment choices.
Evan Thomas, who the Minnesota Department of Human Service told he couldn’t have transgender-specific medical care, reacted to the decision in a press release on Wednesday:
“I’m so happy we’ve won. The judge’s ruling is a forceful statement that transgender people deserve equal treatment under the law. Right now, when we’re suddenly facing a path that’s so much rougher than it looked a few days ago, this victory looks even more important, and I’m proud to have been part of this case,” said Thomas. “I thank the ACLU for taking it on and winning such a good ruling — it’s been a privilege to work with these wonderful, dedicated people.”
Phile Duran, who head’s OutFront’s legal programs, said “OutFront Minnesota is delighted by this ruling, confirming what we knew all along: targeting transgender people like this is discriminatory, unconstitutional, and wrong. Since filing this suit, we have been contacted by many individuals and families whose access to health care has been unjustly harmed. At last we can provide some hopeful news that the care they need may now be within reach.”
Joshua Block, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s LGBT Project, said “The victory will bring immediate relief to the scores of transgender people living in Minnesota being denied the medical care they need. Singling out groups of people and denying them medically necessary care for no legitimate reason is wrong and harmful. We are glad the court agreed with respecting the dignity of people.”
Here’s the judge’s order:
Download (PDF, 1.51MB)Companies are scaling back graduate programs as the mining boom fades
Updated
Just five years ago, when Western Australia's mining boom was beating strongly, engineering graduates could just about walk into any job they wanted.
Talk of students being offered up to five jobs, even before they graduated, was not uncommon.
Now the tables have turned.
"It's not as easy for graduates as it was a few years ago when four, five, six, even eight companies were all vying for one graduate."
That's Megan Motto from Consult Australia, the body which represents engineering companies around the country.
Ms Motto says the slowdown in the mining industry is affecting the number of graduates companies need.
Many companies have scaled back or axed their graduate intake programs this year.
Industry figures show almost half of the sector is cutting back on recruitment while a quarter is handing out redundancies.
Many senior engineers have lost their jobs or been cut back to fewer hours to deal with the dwindling supply of work.
It's a problem Queensland University of Technology lecturer, Doug Hargreaves has been experiencing first hand with his students.
"There is a slowing down or a flattening I guess for the numbers of students who are able to get jobs, certainly in vacation experience at this stage," he said.
"I predict very much so that by the end of this year there will be quite a lot of students who have graduated in engineering degrees who will have difficulty getting jobs."
But back in Western Australia and university lecturer Tony Lucey says the downturn is yet to be reflected in his numbers.
"Over the last four years, we've approximately doubled the number of mechanical and civil graduates," he said.
"At the same time the percentage employment rate for civil engineers is typically [that] 90 per cent find work after three months.
"For mechanical engineering it's 80 per cent after three months.
"Our data obviously lags because we don't have the employment data for this year but students are having to put in more applications in order to obtain graduate positions."
Step change
The mining game has always experienced ups and downs because of the cyclical nature of the market.
But it is safe to say the most recent mining boom has been the biggest and most profitable yet.
It sparked a period of growth many economists believe the nation will never see again.
Megan Motto says while the engineering sector is accustomed to the cycles, the most recent one has delivered profound impacts.
"The sustained economic growth of the country of 22 years, and of course the mining boom simultaneously over that period, has marked some of that cycle and it's become an expectation now for graduates in the engineering market that they will always have plentiful work," she said.
Tony Lucey moved from the United Kingdom more than a decade ago to take up a teaching post at Curtin University's school of engineering in Perth.
He says the slowdown is simply normalising the engineering jobs market to better reflect the same trends experienced in other countries around the world.
"In Western Australia, the demand for engineers from the resources sector has dominated the employment of graduate engineers and that's an unusual situation," Professor Lucey said.
"It's not the same for engineers around the world."
He says the situation experienced in WA - where students have walked into jobs, with little or no experience, at the rates they have over the past five years - is unparalleled.
"I come from the UK, [and] it was always my expectation when I taught in the UK that students would have to spend a six month period writing a lot of applications to gain employment."
Short lived?
Despite the current 'doom and gloom' overshadowing the market, Doug Hargreaves is confident the sector will rebound swiftly.
"I do believe this will be short lived; the economy has been flat over the past year or so, coming down from a boom if you like, [and] as a result there has been no investment in new projects, [either] large ones [or] small ones," he said.
He says new infrastructure projects promised by the incoming Abbott government will drive demand for engineers in the future.
"With more people, we need more infrastructure, we need more transport systems, we need more telecommunications, we need water, we need power, we need all of those things and engineers are involved in delivering all of those services," Professor Hargreaves said.
It's a challenge Megan Motto is urging governments' to deliver on; to establish new drivers to create a steady pipeline of work for the nation's growing skilled workforce.
"Governments need to get serious about [creating] independent decision making authorities to supply a very secure pipeline of infrastructure work," she said.
"We would also like to see some national co-ordination in terms of infrastructure markets and we'll see that centred around the development of cities in particular."
Professor Lucey believes the slowdown in the resources industry frees students up to work on other engineering endeavours.
"There is a clear need for engineers in any developed, modern society," he said.
"In the future it may not be so lop-sided and so dependent on the resources.
"[So engineering graduates], rather than seeing themselves automatically destined for the resources industry in Western Australia, may actually see themselves as innovators, creators, developers, founders of small to medium sized enterprises.
"That will be the new form of intellectual engineering needed to take Western Australia's economy to the next step."
But for now, Professor Hargreaves says graduates will be taking several steps to wait out the downturn.
"I think there are three options for students who are going to struggle getting work towards the end of this year.
"Some of them is post graduate studies, some will find employment somewhere, and it might not be in the engineering field, and I think some of them will travel."
Topics: mining-industry, university-and-further-education, wa
First postedPosted by Prometheus
Posted by Dadel
Posted by Filth
And you are so true in the idea but so wrong in the real world of D3.Why?1. the game is loot based. So, once you tried many build (and I did for WIZ, DH, WD and CRUZ) you are back to the most efficient ones, which are not that numerous, TO FARM.2. I agree with you and that is why i am so angry: my best enjoyment is to try many things, play with several gameplay, with each kind of build. But you know what? those builds depend on ITEMS. Not only we are back to the loot problem but we are back to another one: WHERE THE HECK WILL YOU STACK ALL THOSE ITEMS for 6 classes? hest is so tiny!!! One full page goes for only all the craft mats!3. T5/T6 is quite different to T4-. you have to focus, to tactical things etc...and you must wear the end games stuff.4. probably the most UNCOOL thing:: switching to another build and change the Gems cost A LOT!! Rerolling a thing for a build, cost a LOT.they are mules man, just read my post i made it clear that i was playing full time one classes (DH) then the WD because of the 3 weeks of non progression at all and frustration. (BTW, with the end of rift xp bonus you have several lvl70 chars in no time)that is what i think also.libc++ C++14 Status
In April 2013, the C++ standard committee approved the draft for the next version of the C++ standard, initially known as "C++1y".
The draft standard includes papers and issues that were voted on at the previous three meetings (Kona, Portland, and Bristol)
In August 2014, this draft was approved by ISO as C++14
This page shows the status of libc++; the status of clang's support of the language features is here.
The groups that have contributed papers:
CWG - Core Language Working group
LWG - Library working group
SG1 - Study group #1 (Concurrency working group)
Paper Status
Paper # Group Paper Name Meeting Status First released version 3346 LWG Terminology for Container Element Requirements - Rev 1 Kona Complete 3.4 3421 LWG Making Operator Functors greater<> Portland Complete 3.4 3462 LWG std::result_of and SFINAE Portland Complete 3.4 3469 LWG Constexpr Library Additions: chrono, v3 Portland Complete 3.4 3470 LWG Constexpr Library Additions: containers, v2 Portland Complete 3.4 3471 LWG Constexpr Library Additions: utilities, v3 Portland Complete 3.4 3302 LWG Constexpr Library Additions: complex, v2 Portland Complete 3.4 3545 LWG An Incremental Improvement to integral_constant Bristol Complete 3.4 3644 LWG Null Forward Iterators Bristol Complete 3.4 3668 LWG std::exchange() Bristol Complete 3.4 3658 LWG Compile-time integer sequences Bristol Complete 3.4 3670 LWG Addressing Tuples by Type Bristol Complete 3.4 3671 LWG Making non-modifying sequence operations more robust Bristol Complete 3.4 3656 LWG make_unique Bristol Complete 3.4 3654 LWG Quoted Strings Bristol Complete 3.4 3642 LWG User-defined Literals Bristol Complete 3.4 3655 LWG TransformationTraits Redux (excluding part 4) Bristol Complete 3.4 3657 LWG Adding heterogeneous comparison lookup to associative containers Bristol Complete 3.4 3672 LWG A proposal to add a utility class to represent optional objects Bristol Removed from Draft Standard n/a 3669 LWG Fixing constexpr member functions without const Bristol Complete 3.4 3662 LWG C++ Dynamic Arrays (dynarray) Bristol Removed from Draft Standard n/a 3659 SG1 Shared Locking in C++ Bristol Complete 3.4 3779 LWG User-defined Literals for std::complex Chicago Complete 3.4 3789 LWG Constexpr Library Additions: functional Chicago Complete 3.4 3924 LWG Discouraging rand() in C++14 Issaquah Complete 3.5 3887 LWG Consistent Metafunction Aliases Issaquah Complete 3.5 3891 SG1 A proposal to rename shared_mutex to shared_timed_mutex Issaquah Complete 3.5
Library Working group Issues Status
Issue # Issue Name Meeting Status 1214 Insufficient/inconsistent key immutability requirements for associative containers Kona Complete 2009 Reporting out-of-bound values on numeric string conversions Kona Complete 2010 is_* traits for binding operations can't be meaningfully specialized Kona Complete 2015 Incorrect pre-conditions for some type traits Kona Complete 2021 Further incorrect usages of result_of Kona Complete 2028 messages_base::catalog overspecified Kona Complete 2033 Preconditions of reserve, shrink_to_fit, and resize functions Kona Complete 2039 Issues with std::reverse and std::copy_if Kona Complete 2044 No definition of "Stable" for copy algorithms Kona Complete 2045 forward_list::merge and forward_list::splice_after with unequal allocators Kona Complete 2047 Incorrect "mixed" move-assignment semantics of unique_ptr Kona Complete 2050 Unordered associative containers do not use allocator_traits to define member types Kona Complete 2053 Errors in regex bitmask types Kona Complete 2061 make_move_iterator and arrays Kona Complete 2064 More noexcept issues in basic_string Kona Complete 2065 Minimal allocator interface Kona Complete 2067 packaged_task should have deleted copy c'tor with const parameter Kona Complete 2069 Inconsistent exception spec for basic_string move constructor Kona Complete 2096 Incorrect constraints of future::get in regard to MoveAssignable Kona Complete 2102 Why is std::launch an implementation-defined type? Kona Complete 2071 std::valarray move-assignment Portland Complete 2074 Off by one error in std::reverse_copy Portland Complete 2081 Allocator requirements should include CopyConstructible Portland Complete 2083 const-qualification on weak_ptr::owner_before Portland Complete 2086 Overly generic type support for math functions Portland Complete 2099 Unnecessary constraints of va_start() usage Portland Complete 2103 std::allocator_traits<std::allocator<T>>::propagate_on_container_move_assignment Portland Complete 2105 Inconsistent requirements on const_iterator's value_type Portland Complete 2110 remove can't swap but note says it might Portland Complete 2123 merge() allocator requirements for lists versus forward lists Portland Complete 2005 unordered_map::insert(T&&) protection should apply to map too Portland Complete 2011 Unexpected output required of strings Portland Complete 2048 Unnecessary mem_fn overloads Portland Complete 2049 is_destructible is underspecified Portland Complete 2056 future_errc enums start with value 0 (invalid value for broken_promise) Portland Complete 2058 valarray and begin/end Portland Complete 2091 Misplaced effect in m.try_lock_for() Bristol Complete 2092 Vague Wording for condition_variable_any Bristol Complete 2093 Throws clause of condition_variable::wait with predicate Bristol Complete 2094 duration conversion overflow shouldn't participate in overload resolution Bristol Complete 2122 merge() stability for lists versus forward lists Bristol Complete 2128 Absence of global functions cbegin/cend Bristol Complete 2145 error_category default constructor Bristol Complete 2147 Unclear hint type in Allocator's allocate function Bristol Complete 2148 Hashing enums should be supported directly by std::hash Bristol Complete 2149 Concerns about 20.8/5 Bristol Complete 2162 allocator_traits::max_size missing noexcept Bristol Complete 2163 nth_element requires inconsistent post-conditions Bristol Complete 2169 Missing reset() requirements in unique_ptr specialization Bristol Complete 2172 Does atomic_compare_exchange_* accept v == nullptr arguments? Bristol Complete 2080 Specify when once_flag becomes invalid Bristol Complete 2098 promise throws clauses Bristol Complete 2109 Incorrect requirements for hash specializations Bristol Complete 2130 missing ordering constraints for fences Bristol Complete 2138 atomic_flag::clear ordering constraints Bristol Complete 2140 notify_all_at_thread_exit synchronization Bristol Complete 2144 Missing noexcept specification in type_index Bristol Complete 2174 wstring_convert::converted() should be noexcept Bristol Complete 2175 string_convert and wbuffer_convert validity Bristol Complete 2176 Special members for wstring_convert and wbuffer_convert Bristol Complete 2177 Requirements on Copy/MoveInsertable Bristol Complete 2185 Missing throws clause for future/shared_future::wait_for/wait_until Bristol Complete 2187 vector<bool> is missing emplace and emplace_back member functions Bristol Complete 2190 ordering of condition variable operations, reflects Posix discussion Bristol Complete 2196 Specification of is_*[copy/move]_[constructible/assignable] unclear for non-referencable types Bristol Complete 2197 Specification of is_[un]signed unclear for non-arithmetic types Bristol Complete 2200 Data race avoidance for all containers, not only for sequences Bristol Complete 2203 scoped_allocator_adaptor uses wrong argument types for piecewise construction Bristol Complete 2207 basic_string::at should not have a Requires clause Bristol Complete 2209 assign() overspecified for sequence containers Bristol Complete 2210 Missing allocator-extended constructor for allocator-aware containers Bristol Complete 2211 Replace ambiguous use of "Allocator" in container requirements Bristol Complete 2222 Inconsistency in description of forward_list::splice_after single-element overload Bristol Complete 2225 Unrealistic header inclusion checks required Bristol Complete 2229 Standard code conversion facets underspecified Bristol Complete 2231 DR 704 removes complexity guarantee for clear() Bristol Complete 2235 Undefined behavior without proper requirements on basic_string constructors Bristol Complete 2141 common_type trait produces reference types Chicago Complete 2246 unique_ptr assignment effects w.r.t. deleter Chicago Complete 2247 Type traits and std::nullptr_t Chicago Complete 2085 Wrong description of effect 1 of basic_istream::ignore Chicago Complete 2087 iostream_category() and noexcept Chicago Complete 2143 ios_base::xalloc should be thread-safe Chicago Complete 2150 Unclear specification of find_end Chicago Complete 2180 Exceptions from std::seed_seq operations Chicago Complete 2194 Impossible container requirements for adaptor types Chicago Complete 2013 Do library implementers have the freedom to add constexpr? Chicago Complete 2018 regex_traits::isctype Returns clause is wrong Chicago Complete 2078 Throw specification of async() incomplete Chicago Complete 2097 packaged_task constructors should be constrained Chicago Complete 2100 Timed waiting functions cannot timeout if launch::async policy used Chicago Complete 2120 What should async do if neither 'async' nor 'deferred' is set in policy? Chicago Complete 2159 atomic_flag initialization Chicago Complete 2275 Why is forward_as_tuple not constexpr? Chicago Complete 2284 Inconsistency in allocator_traits::max_size Chicago Complete 2298 is_nothrow_constructible is always false because of create<> Chicago Complete 2300 Redundant sections for map and multimap members should be removed Chicago Complete NB comment: GB9 Remove gets from C++14 Chicago Complete 2135 Unclear requirement for exceptions thrown in condition_variable::wait() Issaquah Complete 2291 std::hash is vulnerable to collision DoS attack Issaquah Complete 2142 packaged_task::operator() synchronization too broad? Issaquah Complete 2240 Probable misuse of term "function scope" in [thread.condition] Issaquah Complete 2252 Strong guarantee on vector::push_back() still broken with C++11? Issaquah Complete 2257 Simplify container requirements with the new algorithms Issaquah Complete 2268 Setting a default argument in the declaration of a member function assign of std::basic_string Issaquah Complete 2271 regex_traits::lookup_classname specification unclear Issaquah Complete 2272 quoted should use char_traits::eq for character comparison Issaquah Complete 2278 User-defined literals for Standard Library types Issaquah Complete 2280 begin / end for arrays should be constexpr and noexcept Issaquah Complete 2285 make_reverse_iterator Issaquah Complete 2299 Effects of inaccessible key_compare::is_transparent type are not clear Issaquah Complete 1450 Contradiction in regex_constants Iss |
administration, as well as by the Pentagon. That exists, and we do have a need for unformed military services. The larger issue always is about the decisions that are made by political figures, about how you use that military. And we can‘t lose sight of that.
MATTHEWS: How do the young guys you were talking to at the table, how do folks like that that you talk to feel about the debate that goes on in this country, on our program here and elsewhere in the media, and in probably every kitchen in America, about this war?
BROKAW: They don‘t pay a lot of attention to it. They said, We‘re soldiers. We respond to commands. Three of them still do support the war. The wife of the young man who was killed was—pardon me—the mother of the young man who was killed was very upset that he didn‘t have appropriate armor protection. She was always opposed to the war, but she was not opposed to the war in histrionic fashion. She wrote to her Congressman, she mounted a crusade in her local area to make sure that there was more armor for the Humvees there. And she doesn‘t think it‘s going to bring back her son. She‘s proud of his service and she‘s still very well connected to these young men.
We were talking a few moments ago about stories being planted in the Iraqi press by the American military or by the NSA monitoring things. My guess without checking with them is they would say look, if that will bring the war to a close faster, we‘re for that. And there were things that they would not share with me that they said they don‘t want to tell anybody about what they had to do when they were in combat conditions. War is an ugly, violent enterprise and there is always the fog of war, not just in combat, but how it‘s conducted as well.
MATTHEWS: That harkens back to the way you reported the Greatest Generation. They didn‘t want to talk a lot about what they had to go through too.
BROKAW: No, they didn‘t. One time a prominent military historian was saying, When Americans would arrive in an area that had been occupied by the enemy, they were always welcome because the Americans would be seen only as liberators and they didn‘t engage in acts of brutality. I had to take him aside and say, Look, can‘t say that to military audiences, because they know what they did in some instances. I had one man tell me, from the Greatest Generation, when he heard that his brother had been killed by the Germans, he said I never took another German prisoner of war alive.
This is the very nature, it‘s the essence of war. And we need to confront that so that we understand what we‘re involved in when we send young people to war.
MATTHEWS: My Uncle George was a tank commander going into Auschwitz, and he didn‘t talk much about the war, like the fellows you‘ve talked about and written about. But he told his son—and I heard this a while ago—all we did was kill Germans. Nothing about POWs.
BROKAW: Right.
MATTHEWS: Thank you very much. Tom Brokaw.
Sunday night at 8:00, you can watch Tom Brokaw reports: To War and Back. That‘s Sunday 8:00 p.m. on NBC.
When we return, much more on the reports that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to spy on American groups after 9/11. Why did the “New York Times” go with story now? That‘s a tricky question. And what is the political reaction inside the White House? I think you can guess.
You‘re watching HARDBALL on MSNBC.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: He has always said he will do everything he can to protect the American people from the kind of attack that we experienced on September 11, but within the law and with due regard for the civil liberties of Americans, because he takes absolutely seriously his constitutional responsibility both to defend Americans and to do it within the law.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL. That was, of course, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the TODAY SHOW this morning, reacting to that “New York Times” story this morning on the president giving the okay to spy on Americans without a warrant.
For the political implications, we turn to MSNBC political analyst and “Newsweek‘s” chief political correspondent, Howard Fineman, and the “New York Times‘” new genius, Anne Kornblut. Thank you.
So what do you think about your paper running that story the very day of the president‘s greatest victory? You guys are raining on his parade?
ANNE KORNBLUT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: If only we were that organized.
No, this is, I think, a really good story. I knew nothing about it.
MATTHEWS: Why today? Why did you break it today?
KORNBLUT: There was room in the paper. I honestly have no idea why.
I don‘t think there was any big calculation behind it, if I had to guess.
MATTHEWS: Has the “Times” taken any stink from the White House for having taken half the front page, instead of praising the fact that 11 million Iraqis voted yesterday in the Arab world?
KORNBLUT: Half of the front page?
HOWARD FINEMAN, NEWSWEEK: Let me—
MATTHEWS: Can I ask the questions, Howard?
FINEMAN: Sure; go ahead.
MATTHEWS: You‘ve gotten no criticism on this?
KORNBLUT: I work there, Chris, what are you talking about? Half the front page was devoted to the Iraqi elections. And honestly I was working on other things today, so I don‘t know.
MATTHEWS: Okay. You‘re not in management.
FINEMAN: Can I now, in gentlemanly fashion—
KORNBLUT: Thank you, Howard.
FINEMAN: -- defend her and the “New York Times?”
MATTHEWS: You can even be gross, if you want, at this point.
FINEMAN: Big picture, big headlines, lots and lots of stories about that marvelous story in Iraq. And my guess—strictly a guess—it didn‘t even occur to the editors of the “New York Times” as they sat there putting the paper together, that one would be necessarily be seen in the context of the other. I really don‘t think so. I think they gave great coverage to the Iraq and I think that the Iraq story out in the country is politically going to mean more than the one about the National Security Agency.
MATTHEWS: Because?
FINEMAN: Because the pictures are positive. They‘re inspirational. And most important, General Casey said, as a result of the success in Iraq, 12,000 troops are going to begin coming home immediately.
MATTHEWS: By the way, just to rain on THAT parade—I‘ll do it right now—didn‘t we know that they were going down to a complement of 138,000 after the election?
FINEMAN: Sure. But he also said that they‘re going to look to the rather rapid removal of additional troops after that. He‘s already talking about American troops coming home. And I do think the pictures, to any American, are inspirational, and a reminder to us of how lucky we are as a country. There is no gain say. It‘s the real deal over there.
MATTHEWS: I was hoping we could come on tonight with purple fingers.
FINEMAN: It‘s red this time.
MATTHEWS: Red, then.
KORNBLUT: Aren‘t you going to get a parade of members of Congress now for the next few days who‘ve all gone over and seen it? It strikes me that this is going to be a fairly huge story for days and days to come.
MATTHEWS: It‘s probably the greatest gamble since Roosevelt backed Britain before World War II. The president deserves credit, if this gamble comes through—and it‘s not clear yet. If his gamble that he can create a democracy in the middle of the Arab world and he does it, he belongs on Mount Rushmore.
We‘ll be back with Howard Fineman and Anne Kornblut.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL. We‘re back with MSNBC‘s political analyst and “Newsweek‘s” chief political correspondent Howard Fineman. I feel like Darrell Hammond when I do that sometimes, on “Saturday Night Live”—and the “New York Times‘” Anne Kornblut. Is it Kornblut or Kornbluth?
KORNBLUT: Kornblut. You got it, finally.
MATTHEWS: Kornblut. Well, correct me if you will.
The day after the big successful election in Iraq the “New York Times” story dogged the president. Here‘s President Bush talking with PBS‘ Jim Lehrer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We don‘t talk about sources and methods, don‘t talk about ongoing intelligence operations. I know there is speculation. But it‘s important for the American people to understand that we will do—or I will use my powers to protect us. And I will do so under the law. And that‘s important for our citizens to understand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTHEWS: Well, I think that‘s OK. He‘s defending himself and I think this is—he must be a little upset, as you were saying, Anne, to take, you know—when you go to Vegas and you bet the entire fortune you were born with and put everything you‘ve got on it, in this case real lives, a half trillion dollars in Federal Treasury, the hostility of the world—European world, Third World—and you‘re betting all that cost, which is real in short run on the long run, bet you can take a tyranny and convert it to a democracy right there in the middle of the Mideast, in the Arab world, and that will become sort of the standard, the gold standard, for that part of the world. And I want you to respond to the gravity of that, Howard.
FINEMAN: I think there couldn‘t be anything more grave or important in the world today. I wasn‘t there but I read avidly every word of coverage, a lot of it marvelous coverage in the “New York Times” by a lot of tough, skeptical, I think terrific reporters from around the world.
And I couldn‘t find a single one of them in any of the coverage I read in all the papers and all the Web that said anything other than this was a marvelous, fragile, and maybe temporary moment, almost a magical thing for one day.
Now, the Sunni warlords cut a deal to leave the thing alone for a day because temporarily they want to try to get some seats in the legislature. The hope is that they‘ll get sort of caught up in, trammelled, and the people—and the Sunnis will get trammelled up in the idea of continuing that ball rolling. But this was an amazing thing.
You can say the weapons of mass destruction weren‘t there, which the president now admits. You can still question some of the reasons why he claimed Saddam Hussein was an immediate threat. But what you can‘t argue with, I think, is the reality of that one day in Iraq. And I think it was pretty amazing. From everything I‘ve read and seen, you know, but now Bush has to follow it up with more.
MATTHEWS: What comes next, Anne?
KORNBLUT: Well, I mean, I think if—you know, I think if what you were getting at before is that there were moments of irritation from Bush in this interview or in this day that he‘s not, you know, getting his due, I think the administration has always taken a much longer view. This is not sort of a one day story.
This—sure, the pictures were lovely out of Iraq but, you know, they‘re looking way down the line. They‘re looking a year, five years. I mean, Bush himself always talks about this in the sweep of history. So I think, you know, in that sense I actually don‘t know that the White House is sweating about the one-day coverage of this, of the election.
FINEMAN: Yes, they still would have loved the heck out of it, I can tell you that.
MATTHEWS: You know, I felt sensitive. I was with him last night, the president. We all went to see the president. You were there—went to see the president for our Christmas. You get your picture taken with him. It‘s like Santa Claus and he‘s always very generous and friendly.
FINEMAN: You don‘t get to sit on his lap.
KORNBLUT: What did you ask him for?
MATTHEWS: And I was wearing a red scarf. And I wanted to look a little bit festive for the occasion, look a little preppy. And he came up to me and said Matthews, I didn‘t know you were that preppy. This is the president of the United States after his biggest victory, and he said I didn‘t know you were that preppy.
And I said, well, you know, I went to Holy Cross. But you guys started with all this stuff—the old guys started with all this stuff and then he started kidding around. I felt like I was too towel-snappy with him. I felt he deserves a little—I mean, he deserves a lot of respect for this bet he‘s making.
FINEMAN: Well, in those kind of social situations where you have your picture taken—I was there with your son—you don‘t really want to talk serious things. But I have to admit I was vaguely tempted right then, because it was a big day. It was a big day.
MATTHEWS: I forgot to do it. We shouldn‘t all said, Mr. President, you gambled everything and it looks pretty good right now for this.
FINEMAN: And as Anne said though, this is just—this is the long view here, because that moment, however magical it was, can disappear in a hail of gunfire.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: For the purposes of this show it just did. Let‘s talk about Karl Rove. I‘m going to be gone for a little bit here now. Karl Rove—is he facing the gallows? Is he going to get indicted?
KORNBLUT: Howard—I mean, I would say, you know, he‘s bided his time so far. You know, who knows?
(CROSSTALK)
FINEMAN: As long as we‘re talking color let‘s talk the White House Christmas party last night. Karl Rove was there...
MATTHEWS: He sure was.
FINEMAN:... and I thought he was a little suspiciously jolly. Maybe it‘s just my skepticism.
MATTHEWS: Well, he was friendly with me which I thought was very suspicious. Just kidding, Karl. Anyway, this whole thing with Abramoff, a story we‘re probably going to cover a lot next year. It has the tentacles of an octopus. It reaches out to Congressman Ney, it reaches down to Tom DeLay. There‘s talk now that he‘s going to turn, that he‘s going to flip. What do you hear this? If Abramoff flips, there‘s only one reason. He‘s going to throw the big boy at them. I mean, Tom DeLay must be worried about this guy.
(CROSSTALK)
KORNBLUT: Well, I mean, or the big boys plural. I mean, this is a case—look, he was the pride of K Street, of the lobbying world for years. This is what Tom DeLay did, was to help Republicans get jobs in lobbying. And now to have it turn all around—I mean, look, he helped get tons of people elected. He donated to Democrats, had his clients donate to Democrats.
MATTHEWS: You know, this is one thing people ought to watch that don‘t really get it but they can imagine. You work on Capitol Hill for a couple of years, sometimes for six months. You mean to go downtown. You inflate the total you used on the Hill, which by the way grows every year you‘ve been gone, and you get bigger and bigger money. Then you come back in a nice suit and a tan and nice shoes shined up, and you walk up to see the Congressman you once worked for, and say how would you like to go on a golf trip?
You know, this is what is going on here, the sleaze. And this guy is the king of it, Abramoff.
FINEMAN: But the thing is that Abramoff knew virtually every deal for every piece of legislation and every triangular trade of money for legislation for golf trips and everything.
If Abramoff flips and tells all, the city is going to turn upside down. Especially, not exclusively, but especially the Republican leadership because that‘s where he came out of and those are most of the people, not only, but most of the people he dealt with.
MATTHEWS: That is like opening the sea hawks on a submarine.
FINEMAN: It really is.
MATTHEWS: Was that good?
FINEMAN: It was very nautical.
MATTHEWS: Howard Fineman thanks. Howard Fineman it is great to have you on. Anne Kornblut from “The New York Times.”
Up next, will the success of this week‘s elections, and they are a success, in Iraq bring U.S. troops home any faster? We‘ll talk to Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. He is just back from Iraq. We‘ll know more from him in a minute.
And a reminder, Hardblogger is the online place for political debate, and now you can watch my video blogs and download pod casts of HARDBALL. Just go to our web site hardball.MSNBC.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL for more on the NSA spy story and an update on the big election in Iraq yesterday, we turn to Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss from Georgia, who monitored the voting on Thursday over there in Iraq, himself.
And Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, who sits on the committee on Homeland Security and governmental affairs.
Senator Saxby,give us the color of the game over there. The biggest bet the president ever made and it looks like it paid off this week.
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS ® GEORGIA: Well, yesterday was a great day, a very historical day for the Iraqis, needless to say. And being on the ground with the Iraqi people like we were, Senator Biden, Senator Graham, Senator Cantwell, and myself, for the first time you had the opportunity to see the excitement in the eyes of people.
You had the opportunity to see their enthusiasm. They brought their children with them. They allowed their children to stick their finger in the ink just like they allowed us to do. It really was almost a festive feeling in some parts of Iraq yesterday.
MATTHEWS: How can you explain the participation by the minority Sunnis who know they are going to be outnumbered?
CHAMBLISS: Well, I think they learned their lesson. We asked that question over and over again. We had a meeting yesterday with the Iraqi Election Commission. There were eight Sunnis there. Every single one of them said we learned our lesson. We know now that we probably should have participated last time. We didn‘t. We aren‘t going to let that happen again.
Even some of the insurgents, who apparently are Sunnis, protected people at the polling places to make sure that the Sunnis could get out and vote.
So I think they understand that this is a bigger game than one election, one constitution. It is going to prevail now, and they want to be part of it.
MATTHEWS: Senator Lautenberg, will this relieve the pressure to bring back the troops for a while? Will the president get a little slack in this?
SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D) NEW JERSEY: Listen, first of all, I congratulate the administration for having seen this election take place. But you have got to remember, this is maybe the fifth round in a 12 round fight. We have got a long way to go. We want it to succeed. Believe me we do.
But the fact of the matter is it cannot succeed and ignore the fact that there is a terrible penalty being paid by lots of families, lots of people across this country. And when we look at what the budget is going to be. It is going to be $300 billion before we know it probably headed toward a half trillion dollars. So there are questions to be asked.
And again we hope that success will come. Because we want our people back home safely, and if in the same time we can see a Democratic Iraq it would be great. But the principal thing for me is how do we get people home who have been away, some as many as three years.
MATTHEWS: Is the success of the electoral process so far over there a case for leaving our troops there at least another couple more years? Will we be yanking them this coming year?
LAUTENBERG: I think if there is a clear plan that says this is what we‘re going to do as they get themselves ready to take over. We are drawing down, and we expect that in the next 12 months or whatever it is that this is the level we might be at and then two years we‘ll be clear out of there.
But the president, himself, said just because this is taking place doesn‘t mean that there is an end to the violence that we can expect. And that, I think, is the thing that we have to be most wary of.
MATTHEWS: Let‘s go to the dark side. The National Security Agency story that ran in “The New York Times” today that said that the National Security Agency, which basically used electronic devices to monitor and to wiretap foreigners, has been used against American groups since 9/11 without any kind of court orders or warrants. They‘ve just gone ahead and done it. Is that OK?
CHAMBLISS: Well, you know, Chris, we‘re in very unusual circumstances in this country since September 11. We now know that there are people inside of America that want to kill and harm Americans. We know there are terrorists here.
Do we indiscriminately spy on these individuals? No, absolutely not. What that story said today and frankly I don‘t know whether the facts in the story, what they said are true or not.
But I know this. They said that where there are individuals outside the United States who are suspected terrorists, our contacting individuals inside the United States, that they have been monitoring some of their phone calls, some of their emails.
They also said that when there is a conversation between somebody inside the United States and somebody else inside the United States they are not using this particular authority to monitor any calls.
LAUTENBERG: And even in wartime and we certainly have those concerns, the fact is we should not be violating rights like that, peeking into people‘s homes, listening to their conversations without a court order, without some sense of what is...
MATTHEWS: Even the militant Islamic groups that have been espousing this kind of—festering or pushing this kind of festering anti-western attitude?
LAUTENBERG: Well, if there is reasonable belief that some terrorist activity is taking place, then go to the court, get a warrant and do it the old fashioned way which says protect our rights at home.
Listen, I fought in a war that took place a long time ago and we were all concerned about keeping a tight lip, but our rights were protected individually. And I think that has to happen. If you resort to just jumping on innocent people‘s privacy, I think that‘s a bad start and a bad direction.
MATTHEWS: Senator Saxby, what about going after these Quaker groups? The Pentagon, according to Lisa Myers‘ report, has been, you know, spying, basically, on these Quaker groups, the anti-war groups, American groups, homegrown groups.
CHAMBLISS: I don‘t know anything about that. Again, that‘s part of the facts in the story, whether true or not they have not been substantiated. But, you know, we do know that there has been surveillance of domestic groups for years. That‘s nothing new.
But let me tell you what the alternative to this story is, because this happened. We know that Osama bin Laden was communicating over the airways with his lieutenants and other people around the world. That came out in a story in a major United States magazine.
As a result of that story, all of a sudden bin Laden went underground.
We‘ve never picked up another communication of bin Laden‘s over the air. That was done secretly. This is being done secretly to a minimal number of persons who are known terrorists.
LAUTENBERG: Well, I think it‘s a terrible example because we said we know where bin Laden is very specifically and here we haven‘t touched him yet and it‘s all these years. We don‘t know whether he‘s alive or dead. The same thing is true of Zarqawi.
Listen, we have to protect ourselves. Nobody would sacrifice a danger to our families for some unreasonable restriction. But on the other hand, we are a nation of laws. And I think we have to start with that premise. If we‘re talking about creating a democracy there, is it a democracy that can spy on their neighbors or listen in on their telephone calls? I don‘t think so.
MATTHEWS: This just sounds like the Democratic party is concerned primarily about civil liberties in these kind of cases and you, Senator, are primarily concerned about the war effort and that it is almost like the end justifies the means. We can do things if we have to to win the war.
CHAMBLISS: Well, Frank said we haven‘t found bin Laden. Well, we haven‘t. But if we had been able to pick up his communications over the airways for the last three years, we would have found bin Laden by now.
MATTHEWS: We‘ll be right back with Senator Saxby Chambliss and Senator Frank Lautenberg. They have been held over by popular demand. You‘re watching HARDBALL only on MSNBC.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MATTHEWS: We‘re back with senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.
Is—the Patriot Act got held up today because you couldn‘t get the votes for cloture. Are you, as a senator, a Democrat from New Jersey, against continuing the Patriot Act? Where do you rMD+DN_rMDNM_stand?
LAUTENBERG: Well, I‘m against some parts of it. And when we see that they can go search in a library or other place that is a private area without having to get any kind of permission to do so, I think it‘s wrong. And we proposed an extension of the current act so it would give us the time to do this thing more thoughtfully instead of rushing into it under the guise of getting out of here and completing our work. It‘s not an honest approach in my view. It needs review.
MATTHEWS: Senator Chambliss?
CHAMBLISS: Well, there is no question we need to continue the Patriot Act, need to continue all the provisions of it. There are 16 provisions, two of them involved sunsets—that is where the real issues are. I meet with my joint terrorism task force in Georgia occasionally.
I have never met with those folks when FBI agents didn‘t tell me without the Patriot Act, we simply wouldn‘t be able to do our investigation and interrupt and disrupt terrorist activities like we‘ve been able to do. There‘s no question...
MATTHEWS: 9/11, Senator, is going to haunt us for our lives. It‘s an iconic event, you know, all those people getting killed, more than Pearl Harbor or anything. Do you think we could have stopped it if we were doing what we were doing now. Would we have those guys off the plane?
Would we have caught them in the first place? Would we have caught Moussaoui? I mean, we did catch Moussaoui, we didn‘t know what he was up to. Do we have what it takes right now to save this country from another one?
CHAMBLISS: Under ideal conditions, Chris, I would say yes, we could. And by ideal conditions I mean that if we had had all of the watch lists in the right hands of folks on the airlines, folks at State Department who were issuing visas, if we had had it on the NCIC which the Patriot Act provides for where law enforcement officials been able to punch in the name of somebody after they stopped them for a traffic offense, you know, chances are pretty good we might have been able to do a better job of stopping them. Could we have stopped it totally? I don‘t know.
LAUTENBERG: But we had advance information. We had warnings that there was something afoot that was going to us bring disaster and we chose not to act on it—not chose not to act on it. We failed to act on it.
MATTHEWS: Well, because of the concerns you have about civil liberties, too.
LAUTENBERG: Well, I don‘t think that was the concern. I think the concern was the fact that it was just some information that just wasn‘t—it didn‘t get its proper place.
MATTHEWS: Weren‘t you all shocked when you look back on it, that 9/11, by that afternoon, we had a whole picture display of all the guys on the planes who did it, that we knew their names, we knew who they were, that we knew all this about the 19 killers of 9/11. They‘re all dead, it‘s too late, and all the people were dead but we knew everything about them.
We had pictures from the Wal-Mart, we had pictures from the check-in, of the ATM machine. We had pictures of Mohamed Atta‘s day, that amazing electronic ability to get stuff but it didn‘t do us any good.
CHAMBLISS: So we weren‘t prepared for an act of terrorism to occur
LAUTENBERG: But we weren‘t restricted in getting it.
CHAMBLISS: But we‘re better prepared today.
MATTHEWS: Happy holidays, gentlemen.
CHAMBLISS: Thank to you to, Chris.
MATTHEWS: Thank you so much for coming over. Thank you Senator Saxby Chambliss, Senator Frank Lautenberg.
Join us again—you people out there—Monday night at 5:00 and 7:00 Eastern. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going to be on the show. Right now, it‘s time for the “ABRAMS REPORT” with Dan.
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Copy: Content and programming copyright 2005 MSNBC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Transcription Copyright 2005 Voxant,Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No license is granted to the user of this material other than for research. User may not reproduce or redistribute the material except for user‘s personal or internal use and, in such case, only one copy may be printed, nor shall user use any material for commercial purposes or in any fashion that may infringe upon MSNBC and Voxant, Inc.‘s copyright or other proprietary rights or interests in the material. This is not a legal transcript for purposes of litigation.Suspect charged in Muni stabbings
A homeless man was charged Wednesday with a string of stabbings against women and children as they rode Muni or walked the streets of San Francisco.
Bobby L. Brown Jr., 30, faces four counts of attempted murder, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon and seven other felony charges stemming from the unprovoked attacks, including one Monday.
District Attorney Kamala Harris said all four attacks - and two more that are being investigated as potentially involving Brown - appear to be random, targeted at vulnerable people and committed with no motive.
"We are ending tonight this defendant's reign of terror," Harris said Wednesday night. "We've got our guy, and he's off the streets."
Harris said Brown faces 72 years to life in prison if he is convicted.
Rachel "Ty" Brown, 24, who is not related to the suspect, was stabbed on the J-Church streetcar as she slept on the way to school. Prosecutors say Bobby Brownattacked her with a corkscrew found in his pocket when he was arrested Tuesday. Authorities believe he used a knife in the three earlier incidents.
The first occurred on Sept. 1, when 11-year-old Hatim Mansori was repeatedly stabbed as he rode home from baseball practice.
Bobby Brown's mug shot had been in a group of photos the boy was asked to review after leaving the hospital, but he was unable to identify him. Unable to make a case against Bobby Brown, San Francisco police turned him over to San Mateo County authorities on an outstanding warrant in an indecent exposure case.
The boy's mother, Laila Elfazouzi, said Wednesday that her son had been asked to assist police in making an identification this week.
She said she was frustrated in how long it took to capture a suspect. "It takes so long, meanwhile, he hit another victim, the lady, it's very sad," she said.
The attacks escalated after Bobby Brown was released from jail in San Mateo County on Nov. 10, authorities said.
He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges and was put on probation. He was later charged with misdemeanor battery of a San Mateo sheriff's deputy while in custody.
Four days after his release, prosecutors say, on Nov. 14, Bobby Brown allegedly stabbed a 25-year-old San Francisco woman at Sutter and Jones streets at 10:40 a.m. after she refused to give him money. She was stabbed twice in the back and buttocks and was hospitalized.
On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, he allegedly attacked a 26-year-old woman in the Tenderloin at Golden Gate and Leavenworth streets in front of her three young children, one of whom she was pushing in a stroller.
Prosecutors said Bobby Brown grabbed the victim for no apparent reason and stabbed her three times in the back. She was hospitalized for seven hours.
"I feel like there's been some closure," said the victim, who asked not to be named. "I feel utterly grateful that I am alive today. That guy could have taken my life.
"He's sick - anyone in this world who would just randomly attack a woman with three small children is sick. "
Police Commander John Loftus said police were able to link the attacks because they were all stabbings, all random, the locations were all clustered in the city's central neighborhoods and the victims' and witnesses' descriptions of the attacker all matched up.
Loftus said two other stabbings are being investigated in connection with Bobby Brown, and that anybody who knows of similar attacks should call the police department's tip line at (415) 575-4444.
Harris said she could not discuss the defendant's mental state, but that it would not prevent her office from getting a conviction in court.
Harris said an arraignment could be scheduled for as early as this morning.
Authorities said Bobby Brown has been violent before on public transit.
On Dec. 14, 2004, he was accused of punching a woman for no reason as she waited for train doors to open at the MacArthur BART Station in Oakland, BART spokesman Linton Johnson said. Bobby Brown was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor battery, and although no charges were filed, he was sent back to state prison on a parole violation.
Bobby Brown had also been cited twice in 2003 for BART fare evasion.
The most serious crime on his record dates to July 13, 1999, when police said he shot at a Noe Valley man who confronted him for knocking on a woman's window at 11 p.m.
The man told him to leave but Bobby Brown fired at the man and fled, officials said. Bobby Brown was arrested on attempted murder charges and pleaded guilty to charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
He was given a three-year suspended prison sentence but was later sent to prison for violating his parole.
He has told authorities in San Mateo that he lived at an O'Farrell Street SRO hotel, but a clerk there said this week he had not been staying there for several months.
Bobby Brown's father, Bobby L. Brown Sr. of Richmond, declined to comment late Wednesday.Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Antonin Scalia
Justicewrote the majority opinion for the case.
In a 7-2 decision handed down on Monday, the US Supreme Court struck down California's violent video game law and ruled that video games are protected speech covered by the First Amendment. The California law banned the sale and rental of violent video games to minors.
The underlying question was whether the violence in video games has the ability to affect children more than violence in other media, such as books, movies, plays and other forms of entertainment.
Video games qualify for First Amendment protection. Like protected books, plays, and movies, they communicate ideas through familiar literary devices —Justice Antonin Scalia
Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the majority, said that depictions of violence have never been regulated by the US government. Thus violent videos are not to fall under government control as does pornography but is to be accorded the same First Amendment protections as other forms of entertainment. The sale of violent video games is not to be criminalized and California's attempt to do so was "unprecedented and mistaken." Scalia noted, referring to fairy tales, that "the books we give children to read—or read to them when they are younger—contain no shortage of gore."
[T]he books we give children to read—or read to them when they are younger—contain no shortage of gore. —Justice Antonin Scalia
The beginning of the decision states, "Video games qualify for First Amendment protection. Like protected books, plays, and movies, they communicate ideas through familiar literary devices and features distinctive to the medium. And 'the basic principles of freedom of speech...do not vary' with a new and different communication medium."
"The most basic principle—that government lacks the |
policy concerning abortion funding, the Human Trafficking bill would clear the Senate and the chamber could quickly move to the Lynch nomination. Already, five GOP Senators have announced their surrender on the Lynch nomination and say they will support her, so she would likely be confirmed.
Because the word “abortion” is involved, Republicans in Washington would rather not have a public debate on the Senate Democrat’s radical position. As a result, the public is largely unaware that the Lynch nomination is only being held up because Democrats are pushing to loosen the restriction on federal funding of abortion.
A vote on Loretta Lynch is hostage to the Senate Democrats’ abortion demands, not intransigence from Republicans. The GOP has very substantive reasons to oppose Lynch, as she has endorsed President Obama’s extra-constitutional executive orders and directives. Sadly, the Republicans will likely demur from that topic as well.
Debates in Washington are rarely what they appear to the public. This is especially true when the D.C. Republicans cede the public debate to Democrats and the professional left. The fight over a Lynch confirmation vote is about abortion. The Republicans will shortly lose both fights.
You can’t win a fight you don’t engage.“Enjoy difference – start tolerance,” says the blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman in a new TV ad running in Germany as she appears in a Muslim head covering.
The 18-second ad encourages German women to embrace “tolerance” by wearing the hijab.
The commercial begins with the text “Turkish women wear the hijab,” as a veiled woman is seen with her back to the camera.
But when she turns around she reveals herself as, not a Turk, but a fair-skinned German, before she says, “Me too! It’s beautiful!”
Watch the 18-second TV ad running in Germany:
The ad campaign is funded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or UNESCO, as well as German taxpayers.
There has been a international effort to get Western women to wear the Islamic veil to show “solidarity” with Muslims against so-called “Islamophobia.” Special “Hijab Days” have been organized on college campuses throughout Western Europe and the U.S. But on “World Hijab Day” in April, the effort backfired at a prestigious Paris university, where only a few non-Muslim students showed up in hijabs, the New York Times reported. Feminists and secularists condemned the protest as an “insult.”
Rampant sex crimes being covered up
Germany has allowed between 1.5 million and 2 million Muslim migrants to flow across its borders in less than two years, an unprecedented migration that many conservative pundits regard as national suicide.
The country has experienced mass sexual assaults of German women during celebratory events such as New Year’s Eve in Cologne and Hamburg, at public swimming pools and music festivals in other cities.
Gatestone Institute recently reported that sexual violence in Germany has reached “epidemic proportions” and the German government is covering up much of the data that would document this violence.
Up to 90 percent of the sex crimes committed in Germany in 2014 do not appear in the official statistics, according to André Schulz, the head of the Association of Criminal Police.
So instead of unveiling the sex-crime crisis for all to see, the government is teaching its female citizens to cover up and be more tolerant, says Robert Spencer, author of the Jihad Watch blog and numerous books about Islam.
Is that really a hijab?
Not to mention, the ad is deceptive.
“The woman is not wearing a hijab. She’s just wearing a scarf over part of her hair. Much of her hair is showing,” Spencer told WND. “Some of her bare leg shows also as she struts around.”
All these elements of the presentation would make it absolutely unacceptable to the Islamic hardliners that she – and the German government, and UNESCO – are demanding that the Germans tolerate, Spencer said.
“The tolerance is, as always, one way: non-Muslims are told, on pain of charges of ‘racism’ and ‘hate,’ that they must tolerate an authoritarian, supremacist ideology whose adherents aim to take power, and once they do, will not accord non-Muslims that same tolerance.”
Robert Spencer’s book, “The Complete Infidel’s Guide to ISIS,” documents the blood-drenched history and inner workings of the Islamic State — its military conquests, how it is financing its expansion, and the ideology that is driving its success
Is Germany ‘conquered?’
Anti-Shariah activist Pamela Geller said the ads are not only deceptive but coercive.
“The German government is determined to force its people to accept massive numbers of Muslims into their country, and as this commercial shows, to force them to accept Islamic culture as well,” Geller said. “But this cultural generosity will not be reciprocated. Where are the ads in Saudi Arabia telling Saudis they must accept and tolerate women who go out without their heads covered? It is always only the West that must be tolerant, even to the point of civilizational suicide.
“These are the actions of a conquered people.”It is finally here! From one rainy city to another (Seattle to Bergen, Norway) my SS2014 gift is here... and it. is. AWESOME!
My SS asked me lots of questions, and one was "what do you miss from the US that you can't get in Norway?" Well I said Cheez-Its and he delivered, my oh my he delivered. A whole box of them!!!
I dug and dug... cheez-it pack after wonderful cheez-it pack... and then there was more! I also got a pop filter for my microphone! A must have for anyone doing voice work! (which I am)
This was a wonderful gift! Thoughtful and delicious. The hardest part about this will be trying to pace myself so I don't eat them all right away.
Thank you so so much. You were a wonderful Santa!In a landmark verdict on Thursday, the nine-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court unanimously held that right to privacy is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. “Privacy intrinsic to freedom of life and personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of Constitution,” the nine-judge bench observed.
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Reading out the judgment, Chief Justice of India Justice Khekar overruled the apex court’s previous judgments in two cases where it had held that right to privacy was not protected by Constitution.
Before pronouncing the judgement, the CJI said that among the nine judges some of them have authored different orders.
Senior counsel Prashant Bhushan, who is a party to the case, told reporters: “The judgment doesn’t say anything about the right of citizens to share biometric details for Aadhaar. The nine-judge held that right to privacy is a fundamental right. Any law which is made to restrict this fundamental right will have to be examined keeping Article 21 in mind. For example, if the government tomorrow says that your Aadhaar card will be required for your travel and income tax filings, that in my view these are unreasonable restrictions… it is a setback to the government as they said right to privacy is not a wholly qualified right.”
With the nine-judge bench ruling against the government stand on privacy, the Aadhaar case will now be referred to a five-judge bench which will hear a clutch of petitions challenging the validity of the Act.
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Earlier, during the court hearing, the government counsel said privacy is a “wholly qualified right”, implying that it could be subject to reasonable restrictions. However, the apex court today held that privacy is a limited right.Palestinian women who fled the Yarmouk refugee camp at a school in Damascus in April 2015.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Tuesday that there is a typhoid outbreak among civilians from the besieged Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, with at least six confirmed cases.
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Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the agency known as UNRWA, said its staff gained access to Yalda, an area east of the Yarmouk camp hosting displaced Palestinian refugees and Syrian civilians, for the first time since June 8 and established a mobile health point.
UNRWA said in a situation report that its medical personnel provided 211 consultations over the course of Tuesday in Yalda, including confirming six cases of typhoid.
But the refugee agency also noted “credible reports” of a typhoid outbreak in the region with other cases in Yarmouk, Yalda and two other areas, Babila and Beit Sahem.
UNRWA said it was authorized to provide limited health assistance as well as water, sanitation and hygiene supplies to the community.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, typhoid is a life-threatening illness caused by the bacteria Salmonella typhi which is spread by eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water. It can usually be treated with antibiotics, but can be fatal in some cases without treatment.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl said in June that before the Syrian war began in 2011 there were 160,000 Palestinians in the Yarmouk camp, many of whom held jobs.
Before the Islamic State extremist group entered the camp in early April there were 18,000 refugees, but he said several thousand have fled since then and the UN has not had access.
“UNRWA’s priority remains the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians within Yarmouk itself,” Gunness said. “Never has the imperative for sustained humanitarian access been greater.”
(AP)The new US secretary of state needs to win over a disgruntled staff before soothing allies alienated by Trump’s chaotic administration
Every new US secretary of state comes to the office at Foggy Bottom to find a full in-tray waiting, but Rex Tillerson will find his overflowing on Thursday with looming new crises created in the first two weeks of his own administration.
Tillerson was 45 minutes late at his first day of work because the annual presidential prayer breakfast had overrun. It seems that this year, he explained, “people felt the need to pray a little longer”. The line was met with a knowing laugh from the staff gathered in the state department’s C Street lobby.
In the time it has taken for the former ExxonMobil executive to get his Senate confirmation, Donald Trump has alienated allies in the Arab and Islamic world with his refugee ban, setting off a wave of dissent from more than a thousand US diplomats, whom the White House then angered further by inviting them to leave their jobs.
Donald Trump rages at 'dumb deal' with Australia over refugee resettlement – live Read more
The president has provoked a diplomatic storm with Mexico, apparently threatening to send US troops over the border, which led that country’s president to cancel a planned visit. The new US ambassador to the UN has drawn derision for threatening she would be “taking names” of countries that did not support US proposals. The administration green-lighted a special forces raid in Yemen that went horribly wrong. On Wednesday alone, the national security adviser, Michael Flynn, set nerves on edge in the Gulf by sabre-rattling at Iran, and Trump gratuitously insulted the leader of one of Washington’s staunchest allies, Australia.
Apart from that, it has been plain sailing.
As he sits down at his desk for the first time, Tillerson could be forgiven for wondering whether the post is quite as was advertised in December when he emerged as Trump’s surprise, untested nominee.
For one thing, the leadership level on the seventh floor of the department will be eerily quiet since a string of the most senior career officials were told to pack their bags on Wednesday last week. Such an exodus is not unusual for a change of administration, particularly when there is a change of party. What is unusual is that the Trump team has not yet nominated replacements. As senior state department officials take months to get vetted and confirmed, the former chief executive will have to work with a significant hole in his administration for quite some time. It will not be like running ExxonMobil.
Tillerson’s introductory speech to the assembled staff on Thursday was aimed at calming them without picking a first-day fight with the White House. He did not explicitly guarantee the protection of those diplomats and officials who used the department’s dissent channel to complain about the refugee ban and were told by Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer, to “get with the program” or get out. But in laying down the principles he wanted to run the department on, he made a point of mentioning honesty and mutual respect.
“I know this was a hotly contested election and we do not all feel the same way about the outcome,” Tillerson said. “Each of us is entitled to political beliefs but we cannot let our personal convictions overwhelm our ability to work as one team.”
The third principle Tillerson spoke of was accountability and he made it clear that organisational change was coming to the state department.
“Change for the sake of change can be counterproductive but that will never be my approach. But we cannot sustain ineffective traditions over optimal outcomes,” he told his new staff. The vocabulary came from the corporate world, and it was largely a CEO’s speech, with little lofty rhetoric about ideals, something that had been the trademark of his predecessor, John Kerry.
Steve Bannon: 'we're going to war in the South China Sea... no doubt' Read more
Tillerson will now face all the same intractable global crises that Kerry did, but from within an administration that is far more erratic and combustible than Barack Obama’s was. Only when he has put out the home fires will he be able to focus on the various blazes the White House has ignited before his arrival, and he will have to wonder whether the ideological, self-styled disruptors around Trump, such as Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, set those fires deliberately before his confirmation and before he could try to moderate the administration’s tone abroad.
After the Oval Office swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday night, Trump said Tillerson would understand “the importance of strengthening our alliances and forming new alliances to enhance our strategic interests and the safety of our people”. That is certainly the impression the 64-year-old Texan gave at his confirmation hearings. But the president himself clearly sets little store by old alliances. He seems far less enthusiastic about Nato than his secretary of defence.
Collisions on policy are inevitable in this administration and are likely to happen early. Tillerson will only discover how much real say he has on foreign policy when he attends his first meeting of the national security principals, where Bannon, the disruptor-in-chief and emerging dominant power behind the throne, has been given a permanent seat.
The Texas oilman, with not a day’s previous government experience, will face gargantuan challenges around the world in the months to come, but some of his biggest and earliest battles will be in Washington.NIAMEY (Reuters) - A multinational force has begun operations against Boko Haram along the border between Niger and Nigeria, a general from Niger said on Tuesday.
Brigadier-General Abdou Sidikou Issa, tactical chief of staff for troops based in Niger’s southern zone of Diffa, a region plagued by the Islamist militant group, said troops from Chad and Nigeria were involved in the operation. It began in secret almost a week ago.
This is not the first time the nations in the Lake Chad basin — Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon — have joined forces against Boko Haram, a violent Islamist group which started in Nigeria seven years ago and has since launched deadly attacks in all four countries.
“The operations have as their objective (to end) the occupation of all the zones currently occupied by Boko Haram,” Issa said. “Our role is to firmly secure the border.”
The multinational force, headquartered in Chad’s capital of N’Djamena, began trying to dislodge the militants from areas where they are active last year.
Niger and Chad have performed joint army operations against Boko Haram, which wants to establish an Islamic state in West Africa, since early 2015.
Chad this month committed soldiers to the latest counter-attack against Boko Haram after its fighters attacked the southern Niger town of Bosso, killing 26 soldiers.A woman wrapped in the Romanian flag takes pictures before minor clashes erupted during a protest in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. Romania's government decriminalized official misconduct overnight Wednesday, defying mass protests and warnings from prosecutors and the president that the move will reverse the country's fight against corruption.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Protesters and riot police clashed sporadically in Romania’s capital late Wednesday as tens of thousands demonstrated against the government for decriminalizing some official misconduct, a move that critics at home and abroad called a major a setback for the anti-corruption fight.
A handful of protesters threw firecrackers and smoke bombs at police guarding the main government offices, who responded with tear gas. At least one person was detained and a newspaper kiosk was set on fire. Media reported that the violent protesters were football supporters and not anti-government demonstrators.
Emergency situations official Raed Arafat said two police officers and two demonstrators were treated at hospitals for minor injuries. An unspecified number of other officers sustained light injuries.
It was the second consecutive night of protests against the government, whose adoption of an emergency ordinance that decriminalizes abuse in office went against widespread protests and warnings from prosecutors and the president.
The ordinance was published in the official government monitor at 3 a.m. Wednesday.
The speed with which the center-left government approved the proposal and the hour of its action alarmed critics. The coalition government has been in office for less than a month and the ordinance benefits its allies and Romanian officials facing corruption charges.
“It shows that the government is willing to use backdoor methods with no scrutiny or checks and balances in order to protect and promote itself,” said Dan Brett, an associate professor at the Open University.
There were protests in a half dozen cities around Romania, with people calling for the resignation of the government.
President Klaus Iohannis, who has limited powers and doesn’t oversee the government, called the measure’s adoption “a day of mourning for the rule of law.”
In recent years, Romania has been touted as a regional leader for targeting the rich and the powerful in a crackdown on corruption. But the drive proved unpopular with politicians.
The leaders of the center-left Social Democratic Party and the junior Alliance of Democratic Liberals, which form the current coalition government, both face corruption charges that bar them from serving as ministers.
Social Democrat chairman Liviu Dragnea was unable to become prime minister because in April 2016 he received a two-year suspended jail sentence for vote rigging. On Tuesday, he went on trial for abuse of power while he was president of the Teleorman local council from 2006 to 2012. He denies wrongdoing.
Justice Minister Florin Iordache said the emergency ordinance will decriminalize cases of official misconduct in which the damages are valued at less than 200,000 lei ($47,800).
On Wednesday, Romania’s Supreme Council of Magistrates unanimously agreed to take the emergency decree to the Constitutional Court, which is the last legal resort to stop the law.
The government on Tuesday evening also sent to Parliament a proposal that would pardon thousands of prisoners for non-violent crimes. It says the measure, which would free about 3,000 convicts, would help reduce overcrowding in prisons.
Prisoners interviewed by The Associated Press scoffed at the idea, saying the changes were likely to benefit senior officials rather than ordinary convicts.
Protests erupted in cities around the country after the decriminalization plan was made public last month. The chief anti-corruption prosecutor, Laura Codruta Kovesi, said it “will render the anti-corruption fight irrelevant.”
The National Anticorruption Directorate has prosecuted 1,170 cases of abuse in office during the past three years with damages worth 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion), just under one-third of all of its cases, she said.
The European Union criticized the Romanian government’s move.
European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic told reporters that the EU is “following the latest developments in Romania with growing concern.”
“The fight against corruption needs to be advanced and not undone,” Sefcovic said.More than 1,200 new wind turbines will be dotted throughout Britain’s countryside over the next year.
There are 763 onshore wind turbines due to be erected this year, adding to the 4,366 currently in operation.
A further 7,843 wind turbines have been approved but are yet to be built, taking the total slated for construction the UK over 10,000.
Wind power now provides 10 per cent of the country’s electricity needs when the wind is blowing, or 8.2GW of power- enough to power 4.5 million homes for a year.
Last year, despite some deriding them as blights on the landscape, the number of wind farms approved by local councils went up for the first time in five years.
The surge has been attributed to a cut in subsidies due this year and an apparent relaxing of the planning rules.
Last year the approval rate for wind farms went up by 50 per cent, according to Renewable UK, who said: “This welcome trend is coupled with continued strong support for wind energy, with two thirds of the population in favour of continued development of wind energy.
“What is more, this support rises in rural areas.”
But Dr John Constable, director of Renewable Energy Foundation, a UK charity publishing data on the energy sector, said the increase owes more to the impending subsidy cut.
He said: “The UK’s wind power deployment on and offshore is way ahead of the learning curve, and needs to slow down to a rational pace to avoid insupportable burdens on the consumer and the risk of major malinvestment the unwinding of which will be painful and embarrassing.”
John Hayes, the Energy Minister, has said that the number of wind farms does not need to go beyond those planned.
The Government is committed to generating 13GW with onshore wind turbines by 2020.
RenewableUK has welcomed new figures showing that the UK is moving up the European league table in terms of wind energy capacity, as well as holding its own near the top spot in terms of new capacity installed in 2012.
The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has released new statistics showing that the UK now has 8.4 gigawatts of wind energy installed, overtaking Italy and France. In 2011, the UK was fifth in the league table, with less capacity installed than France or Italy, but we have now moved up to third in Europe. Germany is at the top with 31.3GW and Spain is second with 22.8GW.
According to EWEA, the UK installed 1.9 GW in 2012 – 16% of all new wind capacity in Europe. This puts the UK 2nd in terms of new deployment last year. Only Germany installed more in 2012 (2.4GW – 21% of new capacity).
EWEA highlighted the fact that renewable energy represented 69% of all new power capacity in Europe in 2012, while coal, oil and nuclear capacity continued to decline due to decommissioning.
RenewableUK Deputy Chief Executive Maf Smith said:
“The UK’s strong performance in the European league table reflects the growing importance of the British wind industry as a leading player. This proves the increasing significance of wind energy to the UK’s economy despite tough global economic conditions.
“The Government is calling for the UK to quadruple the amount of wind installed between now and 2020. The industry can achieve 31 gigawatts onshore and offshore by the end of the decade, but only with clear cross-party political support.
“We can attract billions of pounds worth of investment to the UK and create tens of thousands of jobs, but only if the signals from Westminster are right. The proof of this will be in the Energy Bill, which is due to become law by the end of the year. So the decisions taken by Government over next few months are absolutely crucial for the UK’s wind industry”.
http://www.renewableuk.com/GETTY Captagon allows those fighting in Syria to stay in battle for hours, often with no food or sleep
There is some evidence the killers who struck in Paris last Friday may have been high on the drug, which is produced by ISIS chemists and sells across Syria and the Middle East for as little as 90p a tablet. Captagon, the trade name of a now banned German drug designed to treat ADHD, has in it’s copy-cat home-made form, for years been the narcotic of choice for many in the Middle East. The drug, whose generic name is Fenethylline, increases aggression at higher doses and abusers can have aural and visual hallucinations, psychotic episodes or extreme dysphoria that manifests as paranoia or depression. It also carries the risk of heart failure or brain haemorrhages, followed by death.
Long before the start of the conflict, Syria was a major stop-gap for drugs destined to the wealthy markets of Western Europe and the Gulf States. But with the start of the war in 2011 and the breakdown of law and order and basic infrastructure, the drug trade has flourished. Captagon was first produced in the 1960s to treat conditions such as hyperactivity, narcolepsy and depression, but was banned by most countries in the 1980s for being too addictive. The underground trade continued to prosper over the years, however, and today ISIS fighters are using the drug to help them stay alert and on their feet for days, during long, protracted battles.
GETTY At high doses the drug increases aggression, causing visual hallucinations and psychotic episodes
Lebanese psychiatrist, Ramzi Haddad, said Captagon works as a "stimulant" that "gives you euphoria." He said: "You're talkative, you don't sleep, you don't eat, you're energetic." The drug is also thought to have become a major source of income for all those involved in the Syrian conflict. The ingredients and production methods are cheap, yet a Captagon tablet sells for $20 in the black market. ISIS fighters and anti-Assad rebels alike use the proceeds to buy weapons.
GETTY Captagon consumption among civilians is on the rise as they try to cope with the brutal conflict
But it's just not ISIS and anti-Assad rebel fighters who have become hooked to Captagon. Consumption among civilians is also said to be on the rise, as they try to cope with a bloody conflict which has so far killed 200,000 people and caused millions to flee their homes.Montgomery County and Metro have filed a $166 million lawsuit against the companies that designed, built and inspected the Silver Spring Transit Center, contending that their “collective failure” led to five years of delays and $50 million in cost overruns to correct substandard work.
The long-anticipated, 62-page complaint, filed this week in Montgomery County Circuit Court, accuses designer Parsons Brinckerhoff, general contractor Foulger-Pratt, and construction inspection firm Robert B. Balter of multiple counts of negligence and breach of contract.
It alleges that Parsons Brinckerhoff did not design floors in the transit center that would be strong enough to handle the daily forces exerted by hundreds of buses dropping off and picking up passengers. It also accuses the firm, an internationally prominent engineering and design company, of intentionally misrepresenting what work it had done to calculate potential pressures on the building’s interior beams and girders.
In a statement issued late Friday, Parsons Brinckerhoff said: “The complaint is overblown and simply incorrect in its allegations. This lawsuit is wholly without merit and will be vigorously defended.”
[Read the lawsuit]
The complaint charges that Foulger-Pratt failed to complete its work in a timely manner and properly oversee the work of the project’s various subcontractors. Balter is accused of failing to ensure that the concrete used for the building had the proper strength and was properly poured.
Overall, the county and Metro said, missteps by the three firms led to cracks and other defects in the three-story concrete structure, envisioned as a bus, taxi and bicycle hub next to the Silver Spring Metrorail station. The problems and subsequent infighting among the players delayed completion of the facility for years and turned the venture into a massive black eye for a county accustomed to smoothly delivering capital projects.
The $120 million center is scheduled to finally open to passenger service Sept. 20. Had the facility “been designed and constructed correctly,” the complaint says, it would have opened in September 2010.
“Despite their collective failure to provide the public what it has paid for [the three firms] each have received a substantial amount of public funds for their respective work” on the transit center, the complaint says.
[How the transit center project became a fiasco]
According to the lawsuit, the county seeks no less than $50 million in damages from Parsons Brinckerhoff and Foulger-Pratt for failing to prevent construction defects or bringing them to the county’s attention. The suit seeks $30 million from Balter for failing in its inspection duties.
Metro, which will operate the transit center as part of its regional bus and train system, seeks no less than $25.8 from Parsons Brinckerhoff, Foulger-Pratt and Balter for additional monitoring, inspection, maintenance and repair costs it expects to incur because of defective design and construction.
The most provocative allegation in the complaint is that Parsons Brinckerhoff was “less than forthcoming” with the county over whether it had performed calculations to ensure that the transit center’s concrete could withstand torsion — a twisting force exerted when concrete is under pressure — and shearing — the vertical force that can cause concrete to crack or fail.
According to the complaint, the county asked Parsons Brinckerhoff to provide the shear and torsion calculations at a series of meetings beginning in 2013.
In response, county attorneys said, Parsons Brinckerhoff “stated falsely that it had already provided the data.”
The lawsuit says the company’s “intentional misrepresentations” delayed repairs to the interior beams and girders, “causing substantial additional delays.” The county is seeking $60 million in punitive damages from the firm.
Jerry Jannetti, vice president of Parsons Brinckerhoff, told The Washington Post last year that industry standards did not require that torsion and shearing be taken into account in a building such as the transit center.
The lawsuit is the first of what is expected to be a series of claims filed by major players involved in the transit center.
The county filed its action in circuit court Monday but has not announced it, County Attorney Marc Hansen said, because officials wanted to wait until they knew which docket the case would be assigned to.
The county wants to see the matter placed on the “business and technology” docket, because it would allow more time to prepare.
The suit is also notable in that it aligns the county and Metro as plaintiffs. The two have been at odds over most of the past five years over the project, which was built by the county but will be operated by the transit agency.
Until a couple of weeks ago, Metro was seeking millions of dollars directly from the county to pay for additional maintenance and repair costs. It now appears that the two have settled their differences.Jeff Greenfield is a five-time Emmy-winning network television analyst and author.
Only one Republican senator ultimately didn’t vote for the tax bill—and it wasn’t because of concerns about the debt, or the tilt of the bill toward the wealthiest Americans. It was because John McCain was back home in Arizona, battling life-threatening brain cancer.
Mississippi’s Thad Cochran did make the vote, after missing votes throughout the fall, due to a persistent urinary tract infection. The health of the 80-year old Cochran has raised questions about whether he will be able to serve out his term, which has three more years to run.
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Should the health of these two senators force them to step down, the political consequences could be hugely consequential. Arizona would have two Senate seats in play in 2018. Democrats have already targeted the seat of retiring Republican Jeff Flake, finding encouragement in the narrow results of Arizona’s presidential contest (Donald Trump won with a 3.5 percent plurality, contrasted with Mitt Romney’s 9-point win in 2012). Capturing both seats could be enough to put Democrats in control of the Senate (assuming they hold all of the seats they’re defending next year—10 of them in states Trump won).
While Mississippi is deep red, Cochran barely survived a 2014 primary challenge from state Senator Chris McDaniel. The Tea Party favorite actually ran slightly ahead of Cochran in the first primary, then lost the runoff by only 7,500 votes. An open seat in Mississippi could trigger an intense fight that could wind up with a fringe candidate sufficiently unappealing to put that safe GOP seat in play. Just ask Alabama.
This speculation might seem morbid, but there’s a point that has to be kept in mind as the 2018 midterms loom. Beyond the traditional measurements—generic ballots, the president’s approval rating, the state of the economy—there are matters of fate that can and have played decisive roles in who takes the reins of power. And in a Senate so narrowly divided, those matters loom especially large; everything from a Supreme Court nomination to the future of heath care to the scope of financial and environmental regulation may hang on a single vote.
Back in 2002, Democrats held a one-vote margin in the Senate, thanks to the defection a year earlier by Vermont Republican Jim Jeffords. (His decision to become an independent and caucus with Democrats shifted the balance of power.) But just 11 days before the midterm election, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash. His stand-in, former vice president Walter Mondale, lost to Norm Coleman, and Coleman became the 51st GOP senator. Had Wellstone been reelected, the Senate would have been evenly split.
One can go back further in time. When the 83rd Congress convened in 1953, Republicans held a 48-47 margin (Oregon’s Wayne Morse had left the GOP to become an independent, but chose not to caucus with either party). Over the next two years, nine senators died. In two of those cases, the deceased senator was replaced by a member of the opposing party. When Ohio’s Robert Taft died in July, his Democratic replacement gave that party a one-vote advantage. The following June, when Wyoming Democrat Lester Hunt committed suicide, his Republican replacement restored a Republican one-vote margin.
The most critical lesson from history is what did not happen. As Senate historian Betty Koed notes, “When the second session began in January 1954, the Democrats actually had a one-member advantage in the body, but the Senate did not reorganize under the Democrats. Or, perhaps I should say, the Democrats did not insist on reorganizing.” This led to an unprecedented situation, best summarized in an exchange between the respective party leaders. When Republican William Knowland said, “I have the responsibility of being majority leader in this body without a majority,” Democratic leader Lyndon Johnson replied: “If anybody has more problems than a majority leader with a minority, it is a minority leader with a majority.”) It’s hard to imagine Democrats making a similar decision today. Back then, both parties were highly diverse, with very conservative Democrats and very liberal Republicans. The party designations were far less reliable predictors of how any given senator would vote.
Not anymore. In recent decades, major votes have broken down consistently across party lines. Not one Democrat voted to repeal Obamacare, or for this week’s tax cuts. Not one Republican voted for Obamacare, or for Bill Clinton’s 1993 budget. Given such near-total partisanship, the loss of one or two senators would shift not just the numerical balance of power, but the balance on issues ranging from judicial confirmations to the funding of the government.
At the risk of taking yet another step into the morbid, here’s another thing to consider: If a senator steps down, how is that senator replaced? While some states require special elections—we just saw that in Alabama—36 states give the governor the power of appointment. And in only four states—Hawaii, North Carolina, Utah and Wyoming—is the governor required to choose a replacement from the same party as the departing senator. Right now, there are 23 Democratic senators from states with Republican governors. (I’m excluding New Jersey from this count because there will be a Democratic governor in a couple of weeks.) Only seven Republican senators come from states with Democratic governors and two of them are from North Carolina, where the governor must choose a Republican successor.
No one but the most fanatical partisan looks at the political horizon in hopes that illness, injury or death removes an opponent from the battle. But neither does it serve a clear-eyed view of politics to ignore how the arrival of the unexpected can radically alter expectations. There have been too many times when a “black swan” has appeared to ignore the possibility—and the consequences— of a sudden twist of fate.
This article tagged under: Congress
PoliticsWashington D.C.—
Agreeing to President Donald Trump’s IQ test challenge, almost-ex Secretary of State Rex Tillerson walked across the White House to the Oval Office and demanded Trump take an IQ test in a Facebook livestream Mr. Trump could not back out of and save face.
Secretary Ben Carson happened to be hanging around at the time, and he officiated an IQ test he found near the top of a Google search. The rules stipulated one hour to finish as many questions as possible out of sixty.
There was only one computer in the room, so Mr. Tillerson took the test first, while Trump watched him. He worked diligently and didn’t answer all the questions, but he methodically worked them one at a time. He ultimately scored an amicable 110.
Mr. Trump went second, but a technical difficulty ensued in that the IQ test had only one set of questions. This gave Mr. Trump, who had just watched Tillerson take the test, a distinct advantage.
Trump began the test very confidently, but the first question stumped him. He tried two more and then abruptly quit, unable even to remember any of Tillerson’s answers.
Trump explained to the gathered White House crowd that he didn’t want to embarrass his Secretary of State, and left for a golfing outing.
(Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore.)
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FacebookIn the spring of 2012 the Obama campaign decided to go after Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital, a private-equity firm that had specialized in taking over companies and extracting money for its investors—sometimes by promoting growth, but often at workers’ expense instead. Indeed, there were several cases in which Bain managed to profit even as it drove its takeover targets into bankruptcy.
So there was plenty of justification for an attack on Romney’s Bain record, and there were also clear political reasons to make that attack. For one thing, it had worked for Ted Kennedy, who used tales of workers injured by Bain to good effect against Romney in the 1994 Massachusetts Senate race. Also, to the extent that Romney had any real campaign theme to offer, it was his claim that as a successful businessman he could fix the economy where Obama had not. Pointing out both the many shadows in that |
two serious operations in 2000 and 2002, which slowed me down for a spell, and my golf suffered for several years, indeed, fatally. Then came the idea of a book and that has taken some time to mature.”
With the average age of debut novelists sitting around 40, Kat Parr, of Austin Macauley, said mature writers often bring good life experience to texts.
She added: “My Resignation is an insightful and enjoyably clever work that reads all the richer for the author’s experiences.
“It may be a cliché to say ‘write what you know’, but there are few authors who write better than those who have a full life to draw on for inspiration; at 88 years old, this is certainly something to which James – and his book – are a testament.”
The book costs £5.99.‘Tommy,’ the First 30 for 30 to Debut Exclusively on the ESPN App, Makes Broadcast Premiere Tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2
Beginning today, fans will be able to stream a selection of their favorite shows on demand on the ESPN App, including College GameDay Built by The Home Depot, Pardon the Interruption, and Around the Horn.
“Our mission at ESPN is to serve sports fans, and now more than ever, they expect to stream their favorite shows on the device and time of day they prefer,” said John Lasker, ESPN vice president of digital media programming. “With today’s launch, fans can now access an array of ESPN’s most popular, award-winning shows – with more to come in the near future – anytime, anywhere.”
Full episodes of select studio shows are now available to stream on demand under “Latest Episodes” within the Watch tab on the ESPN App. The shows will be accessible shortly after the conclusion of their live on-air telecasts. They include:
Around the Horn (weekdays at 5 p.m. ET)
College GameDay Built by the Home Depot (Saturdays at 9 a.m. ET)
College Football Countdown (most Thursdays at 7 p.m. ET)
College Football Live (weekdays at 5:30 p.m. ET)
College Football Final (at the conclusion of the Saturday games/post-game show on ESPN2 during the season)
The Fantasy Show with Matthew Berry (weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2)
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (weekdays at 10 a.m. ET on ESPNU)
Jalen & Jacoby (weeknights at 1 a.m. ET on ESPN2)
The Jump (weekdays at 3 p.m. ET)
Pardon the Interruption (weekdays at 5:30 p.m. ET)
The Paul Finebaum Show (weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on SEC Network)
SEC Nation (Saturdays at 10 a.m. ET)
SEC Now (nightly on SEC Network)
Thinking Out Loud (Mondays at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network)
Studio shows add to the ESPN App’s expanded offering of long-form VOD content that includes 30 for 30 films, E:60, Outside the Lines and SC Featured episodes.
“Tommy,” a documentary about the late WBO heavyweight champion Tommy Morrison, was released on the ESPN App and on-demand September 13, marking the first time ESPN Films has premiered a documentary exclusively on the ESPN App. To date, “Tommy” has reached 234,000 unique devices and generated 7.6 million minutes, and achieved the second strongest premiere day viewership for a film this year, behind only “Celtics/Lakers: Best of Enemies Part 1.” The film makes its broadcast premiere tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
-30-A few days before Josh Hamilton had his historic four-homer game, I had written a post asking readers to vote for the greatest day by a hitter in major league history.
After Hamilton set an American League record with his 18 total bases, I was on an email chain in which the writer Allen Barra posited the greatest game ever wasn't one of the guys who hit four home runs or drove in 12 runs. "The best game ever was Ty Cobb on May 5, 1925, Detroit Tigers against the St. Louis Browns, when Cobb hit three home runs in one game," Allen wrote. "The Tigers team had just 50 home runs that season, and the entire AL had just 533."
Ty Cobb hit five home runs in two games in 1925, but finished the season with just 12. AP Photo/File
Cobb went 6-for-6 that day in St. Louis, adding a double and two singles. The next day he hit two more home runs. Cobb's power outburst has long been presented as evidence of his desire to show he could hit home runs like Babe Ruth, that he was tired of everyone praising Ruth and dismissing his mere singles.
In Charles C. Alexander's biography of Cobb, he cites a story of Cobb sitting in the dugout before the game and telling a sportswriter, "I'll show you something today. I'm going for home runs for the first time in my career."
See? Cobb could have hit 40 or 50 home runs, just like Ruth. Alexander writes, "He had... made his point: There were different ways to play baseball. He still loved the old game, still preferred most of the time to 'nip' at the ball, as Walter Johnson had once described his hitting style. But he could also clout with the musclemen when he chose."
You know what? I think the whole notion is a bunch of rubbish. The quote that Alexander cites comes not from a contemporaneous account, but from a 1961 article in The Sporting News that ran a few months after Cobb died. The story was told by Sid Keener, a former sportswriter and then the 73-year-old director of the Hall of Fame. You don't think that perhaps a little myth-making was at work here?
Aside from that, there are two other major loopholes in this legend.
Ruth first cracked the 50-homer barrier in 1920. Why did Cobb wait until 1925 -- when he was 38 years old -- to show he could "clout with the musclemen" if he wanted? There's also the fact that after that five-homer outburst, Cobb hit just seven home runs the remainder of the season, finishing with 12 to match his career-best.
Why did he suddenly stop hitting home runs? The Tigers won those two games in St. Louis, scoring 25 runs. Cobb didn't homer again until June 1, even though the Tigers went just 13-12 in games he played. From July 12 through Aug. 22, the Tigers went 8-16 in games Cobb played and he went homerless. Surely, a few home runs may have helped the Tigers win another game or two, no?
Look, I'm sure if Cobb had arrived in the major leagues in 1920 he would have adopted more easily to the modern game and hit a few more home runs. He was a big guy for his era -- 6-foot-1 -- and had extra-base power. But in the end, this tale doesn't add up. Ty Cobb had a great game -- or a great two games. But the idea that he could have matched Ruth's power approach is absurd, as ridiculous as those who suggest Ichiro could hit more home runs if only he wanted to.Masanori "Mashi" Murakami (村上 雅則, Murakami Masanori, born May 6, 1944 in Ōtsuki, Yamanashi) is a retired Japanese baseball player.
He is notable for being the first Japanese player to play for a Major League Baseball team. Sent over to the United States by the Nankai Hawks, Murakami saw success as a reliever for the San Francisco Giants, debuting at the age of 20 in 1964. In 1965, he struck out over one batter per inning pitched, posted an ERA under 4 and earned eight saves. Following this season, however, Murakami headed back to his original Japanese club due to contractual obligations, where his success continued for another 17 years.
Biography [ edit ]
Murakami entered the Japanese Pacific League professional team, the Nankai Hawks, in September 1962, while still attending high school. In 1964, his team sent him, along with two other young players, to the San Francisco Giants single-A team Fresno as a baseball "exchange student". He was originally only scheduled to stay in the United States until June, but the Hawks neglected to call him back to Japan, and he stayed with the Giants for the rest of the season. In August of the same year, he was promoted to the majors, and on September 1, 1964, he became the first Japanese player to play in the major leagues and the first Asian-born player since Chinese-born Harry Kingman's cup of coffee 50 years earlier. [1] He entered the ninth inning against the New York Mets and pitched to four batters, striking out two and allowing just one hit and zero runs. [2] He pitched the final three innings of an 11-inning 5-4 win by the Giants on September 29 over the Houston Colt.45s to get his first career win. [3] In nine games with the Giants, he pitched a total of 15 innings while allowing eight hits and three runs (with all of the runs occurring in his final game on October 4th) while having 15 strikeouts and one walk for a 1.80 ERA. [4] Murakami's performance caused the Giants to refuse the Hawks' order to return him to Japan. The argument escalated during the 1964 off-season, and Japanese baseball commissioner Yushi Uchimura was called in to make the final decision on which team Murakami would play with. The commissioner made a compromise; Murakami would return to the Hawks after he had played for another full season with the Giants. He wore number 10 with the San Francisco Giants. He appeared in 45 games, pitching a total of 74 1⁄3 innings while going 4-1 with a 3.75 ERA, 85 strikeouts and 22 walks. [5]
Murakami returned to the Hawks in 1966, but failed to live up to the team's high expectations. He proved himself by winning 18 games in 1968, and contributed to the team's league championship in 1973, but was traded to the Hanshin Tigers in the 1974 off-season. He did not pitch well, and the Tigers released him after one year, but the Nippon Ham Fighters picked him up. He made a comeback in 1978, winning 12 games, and contributing to the team's league championship in 1981. Murakami retired in 1982, but returned to the San Francisco Giants spring camp in 1983. He was not signed as a player, but became a batting practice pitcher for Giants' home games.
On July 20, 2018, at the Japan Information and Cultural Center, in Washington, DC, ̪l to Rˈ Robert Fitts, Yuriko Gamo Romer, Masanori "Mashi" Murakami, Adam, discussed U.S.-Japan baseball relations.
He worked as a commentator from 1984 to 1986, and became a minor league pitching coach for the Nippon Ham Fighters from 1987 to 1988. He also served as a pitching coach for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks and Seibu Lions. He also briefly worked as a scout for the San Francisco Giants, and is now a commentator for NHK major league baseball games, and writes for the Daily Sports newspaper.
In 2004, Murakami was presented with the Foreign Minister's Certificate of Commendation in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Japan-US relationship by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.[6]
Murakami was honored by the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Friday, May 16, 2008, when a limited edition Murakami bobblehead was given away at the evening game against the Chicago White Sox as part of the team's "Japanese Heritage Night" promotion. He was again honored on the 50th anniversary of his debut on Friday, May 15, 2014 during the team's "Japanese Heritage Night" promotion and game attendees were given a figuring-style bust of Murakami, and threw out the first pitch of the game.
Pitching style [ edit ]
Murakami was not an overpowering pitcher. His fastball was only in the low to mid 80 mph range, even during his prime. His best pitch was a sharp screwball, which he learned in the majors, and he also threw a good changeup and curve. He was a valuable reliever, being a left-hander throwing from the sidearm. His total record in two years in the majors was 5–1, 9 saves, with a 3.43 ERA in 54 games.
Language skills [ edit ]
Murakami could barely speak or understand English when he first came to the United States, and always had a dictionary on hand to communicate with teammates. When promoted to the majors, he was told to go to New York City (where the San Francisco Giants were playing), and was given his plane ticket on the spot. In New York, he signed a major league contract even though he could not read a single word written on the contract.
The authors of 1973's semi-satirical reference, The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book, stated that Murakami was "with the possible exception of Yogi Berra, the only major league ballplayer who did not speak English."I went to the hairdresser on 13 December 2016, I had lots of blonde foils in (I am unsure of the mixture and I believe it also has cureplex mixed in). They started to get warm, which I said was okay because it's happened before and then it suddenly got incredibly hot to the point it was stinging my head and steam/smoke was coming out of the foils. I suffered a third degree burn that still has not healed, all of the hair fell out around it. The area is 2.8 by 2cms and the area still not healed is about.5cm. I can't wear my hair down without it being visible.
I've had my hair dyed blonde many times and I've never had a reaction that's even close to this severe.
I went to a skin specialist yesterday and she told me the hair won't grow back, the burn penetrated deeply enough to destroy the hair follicles... She has advised me to take legal action, but I said I wasn't sure if I wanted to. She told me she'd write a report for me if I changed my mind....
I'm pretty confident I can take legal action, but the hairdresser has been very nice about it all so far. She's offered to pay for the specialist and I also asked her to pay for the various creams and other GP appointments I've been to (haven't heard back from her yet). She is very apologetic and has changed her practices - she told me she now performs a strand test every time (she didn't when she did my hair). I feel very self conscious and shattered by this - I know it's a relatively small area but it's right on the top of my head.
My question is: if I do take legal action, what kind of compensation can I expect? Is there any kind of requests I should ask of the hairdresser that she might be open to without legal intervention? I don't know if it's worth getting a lawyer involved despite everyone I know thinking I should.Friend in real life and frequent blog commenter, Neil, posed a theory to me:
Did Arnold Schwarzenegger Bring Science Fiction to the Masses?
Of course he did.
Outstanding.
Neil also jokingly added, “and we’ll just pretend Star Wars never happened.”
Nerd in-jokes aside, in any discussion of science-fiction Star Wars has to be dealt with, because more often than not, it’s name-checked by everyone who talks about the genre.
Star Wars is one of the greatest movies ever made and is incredibly popular to the point that every franchise, every big budget, kid-friendly, epic movie ever made is constantly compared to this, the first true franchise. Sequels, billions in merchandising, religious movements, and fervor for a piece of media not seen since the heyday of the Beatles. I for one am reduced to a screaming pile of tears anytime I see Chewbacca. Then I try to marry him.
I’m getting this tattooed on my face.
But Star Wars doesn’t count in this discussion of bringing science-fiction the masses for two reasons.
First, Star Wars has long since surpassed any trappings of genre and has become cultural. Everyone knows Star Wars. Even those rare, pitiful bastards who haven’t seen the movies (or only saw the prequels) know what a lightsaber is, or an ewok, and have, at one time or another said “Luke, I am your father” into a fan or at a friend of theirs named Luke. It’s still kind of nerdy to be really into Star Wars, but that’s due to fringe elements that take it WAY too seriously.
Ride together, die together, bad boys for life.
Second, it’s not really sci-fi. The first movie (and by first I mean New Hope, Episode 4, the one that came out in 1977, you know, the FIRST one) is broad, and I don’t mean that as a slight, but rather an explanation of it’s staying power and ability to reach people. The movie’s characters do grow, but they are, in essence, broad archetypes that have existed since there were stories to tell: young and inexperienced hero, the brave princess, the loveable rogue, the wise old man, the black knight, and of course the bear-monkey with laser crossbow.
Lucas has even said he based the structure on Kurosawa’s the Hidden Fortress. It’s a fairy tale that instead of taking place in the enchanted forest, besieged kingdom, or on the road to grandmother’s house, takes place a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The lightsaber could easily be a sword. The Millennium Falcon could be a faithful horse or stage coach. The Star Destroyers are massive armies on the march. The Death Star is the evil castle or the fearsome dragon that kidnapped the princess. It’s a fairytale wearing sci-fi’s clothes. The story and the characters could easily fit into Japanese folklore, medieval Europe, or a western motif (Firefly).
Literally the best thing to come out of the prequels. Seriously, the 2-D Clone Wars vol. 1 and 2 by Genndy Tartakovsky are incredible. Go watch them.
The lightsaber can cut through anything, but so can most legendary blades, and the aliens, while weird looking, don’t do anything alien. They get drunk; they snitch; they’re greedy; they’re good, etc.
Wow, that was a lot of stuff for me to be nowhere near my main point. Christ, I need an editor.
Well, he’s going to have, because everyone else sucks.
So, yes, Star Wars doesn’t count, because, really, just putting something in space doesn’t make it science-fiction. There has to be a game-changer. Something different, alien, and at such a remarkable level that society and/or basic interaction is affected by it.
And in space.
Kidding.
It’s so easy to bag on Arnold. He butchers our language, spouts one-liners, and stars in movies where his co-stars are usually explosions.
Did I say “bag?” I meant “love forever.”
However, when you look at a lot of his movies, there are a lot of deeper ideas and themes going on, and, as Neil put it, he truly brought science fiction to the masses.
Let’s start with what is obviously one of my favorite movies of all time, Predator.
One of these days, I’m just going to have to break down and buy this damn poster.
Predator is a straight-forward action movie; there’s a bit of the bullshit twist/betrayal stuff that seems has to be in every action movie these days, but it comes up early, explains something to the plot, and then politely leaves.
Where the sci-fi comes in is the alien itself. The Predator first of all looks completely fucking insane. It doesn’t look like a space bear, or space cat, or a space shark, or a space iguana, it looks like a fucking nightmare. No part of it can be construed as as adorable or relatable. It’s ugly as hell and mean as fuck.
Second, it’s motives are something we can understand, hunting, but beyond that it is inscrutable. It can’t be bought, or deterred by automatic weapons, and has every conceivable advantage from camouflage to weaponry. It’s here to hunt, and not for food, or money, it’s here to kill because that’s what it does. We get no insight into the culture other than what the creature shows us. We have no idea if they prize honor in hunting above all other virtues, or if their society functions off a spine-based economy.
Hello, again, old friend.
Alien.
The best sci-fi functions as a good story but also to hold up a lens to contemporary society. A lot of people have pointed that it could be a parable to the Vietnam War, a more advanced and heavily armed army against a numerically superior, entrenched, and scrappy force, or the evils of trophy hunting. Given that it’s directed by John McTiernan, I’m going to say the hunting metahpor is probably out.
Take that, taxes!
The Predator is a completely alien being with motives unknown to us from a culture we cannot understand, and the movie examines how humanity could deal with something like that: gunfire. Which, like it or not, is probably how it’d go in real life.
Next up, The Terminator movies.
I wanted to recreate this image for my senior pictures. Got mom vetoed.
All together now, Ja jung, jung JA JUNG.
Easily the most popular movies he’s made, and for good reason. The exoskeleton is iconic and scary, as is the look of Arnold as the killer robot, especially in the second film. Clean lines, nothing unnecessary, but given everything it needs to do it’s job efficiently. With so much put into making things look overcomplicated to show that it’s high technology in modern film, The T-800 looks like something a machine intelligence would actually design.
I want to wake up every morning and feel the way this picture looks.
Add the iconic look to the myriad of quotes and classic moments, the first ‘I’ll be back’ at the police station, the endoskeleton crawling toward Sarah, the motorcycle chase in the LA river, the T-1000 walking out of the flames, coming up from the floor, the ‘I’ll be back’ before Arnold takes on the LAPD (again), the frozen T-1000 shattering, I could go and on, but the point is, there is a reason this movie was wildly successful and put Cameron on the map as THE modern action director.
Almost twenty years old and it still looks better and is a million times cooler than the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four 2: the Turdening.
Now, about that sci-fi. In between all those well-shot action scenes, tense moments, and iconic dialogue there is a lot of stuff going on. It’s a commentary on us becoming too dependent on machines to the point where they don’t need us anymore.
The idea of the machines taking over. It’s been done before in novels, short stories, and comics, but never like this. Those showed us the entire world and what would happen, but the Terminator movies made it personal. It made the battle for your life, not some abstract notion for the future of humanity.
Sarah Connor, the future is coming to kill you.
I wish she and Ellen Ripley would team up to fight crime and solve mysteries.
Then we have all the fun time travel stuff. You can only go back in time, never forward, you can only send organic material, and the time travel paradoxes.
If they shut down SkyNet and destroyed all the T-800 pieces shouldn’t John Connor not exist? Or can matter not be destroyed? But you prevented it from ever forming?
Hot damn, who wants to watch T2 with me, right now?
Finally, the really sci-fy one, Total Recall.
Leave him be. He’s governing.
Man, where to start? There’s all the speculative fiction stuff about Mars having a civilization prior to man discovering the telescope; the terraforming of other planets to make them suitable for us; the ideas of corporations becoming government entities; what is identity; personality restructuring, and more.
Not bad for a movie most people just remember for ‘Quinn, start the reactor,’ and ‘GETCHA ASS TO MAHRS!’ And of course ‘LOL three bewbs.’
*sigh* if only…
Okay, terraforming and ancient alien civilizations is just that, and terraforming can look at colonization and government collusion in developing countries in the contemporary world, and the moral implications of terraforming any planet or surface, whether a dead world or a planet filled with non-sentient life.
The ancient alien civilizations comes out of a line of thinking in the 1970’s that our world was visited by “alien astronauts” that seeded our world with knowledge and technology. Mostly about pyramids in early civilizations looking a lot alike, or what appears to be UFO’s in some Incan and Egyptian art, and to explain the pantheons in every culture as aliens with technology so beyond early man, that it could only be explained as magic and divinity. Combine that idea with Mormonism and you have the original run of Battlestar Galactica.
This creeped the hell out of me when I was 8. Not a lot’s changed.
Then we get to the false memory implants. If something didn’t actually happen to you, but you believe it does, does it count? If you didn’t go to a place, breathe the oxygen, and move the atoms assembled into objects does that experience count?
Shooting from the hip, you’d say no, of course not. however if those memories and experiences are implanted in you to the point where they are indistinguishable from your actual memories, and that you act on the knowledge and experience gleaned from them, then they would count, right? If the way you live your life is affected, or it forces a change in your personality, then real or not, those experiences count, because they’ve shaped you.
But what if you, is not actually you?
Quinn, whether or not he was Hauser and whether or not Hauser was a traitor doesn’t matter. Unless it does. He lived like everything that they said happened to him actually did happen and he acted accordingly. He took that information from those experiences and what happened was the fallout of knowledge meeting a call to action.
Big ideas, interesting theories, and limitless fodder for late night/drunk/stoned conversation all hidden in big dumb action movies, presided over by the world’s biggest action star. Born geeks, and converted nerds all owe a debt of gratitude to the Austrian Oak.
Special thanks to Neil for the topic, and to anyone who read the whole damn thing. This one got away from me.
And here’s the most metal thing you’ll see today.
AdvertisementsOn Saturday night, in one of his first announced public appearances since, uh, shit happened, Mayor Rob Ford was booed.
This was sufficiently predictable that I attended the opening ceremonies of the annual Cavalcade of Lights in Nathan Phillips Square for the sole purpose of documenting the moment.
(The reaction was actually a wave of jeers with some cheers and whistlng over top, such that it could fairly - if generously - be described as "mixed.")
Here is a video:
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Equally predictable was that Ford pulled his family - wife Renata and kids Stephanie, 8, and Douglas, 6 - out on stage with him. This may have been merely because he brought them last time (in 2011, when he was also booed) and figured they might again enjoy the experience. Perhaps he knew that councillors Peter Milczyn and Peter Leon were bringing their own families.
Or he may have been using his children as human shields to dampen the crowd's response to his presence.
At a panel discussion this past Thursday entitled Toronto's Watergate? The Inside Scoop On How The Media Exposed Rob Ford, the Star's Robyn Doolittle offered a rather excellent summary of one of the mayor's more cowardly tactics:
And to all that, we say "Boo."It might seem odd that nations with no access to the ocean would maintain naval forces, but many do. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, for example, keep many naval vessels on the enormous Caspian Sea. Switzerland and Burundi have armed patrol boats on their border lakes. These forces, however, are not separate military entities, but integrated into the other armed forces. What makes the following nations unique is that they maintain separate military organizations identified as navies, but these forces have access only to inland rivers and lakes.
Boliva once had a substantial coastline, but lost it after a defeat by Chile in the War of the Pacific (1879-1884). Bolivia has never forgotten this blow and did not disband its navy, though it lacked anywhere on the sea to base it. Instead, it rebuilt its flotilla of ships on Lake Titicaca, a large lake that it shares with its wartime ally Peru. Every year, on March 23, the nation commemorates "Bolivia Sea Day" and its representatives at the United Nations call upon Chile to return the territory. The Chilean government is not adverse to the notion of retuning a narrow corridor of territory along its northern border, but Peruvian objections and other issues have so far prevented a resolution of this border dispute. In the meantime, the Bolivian Naval Academy trains navy and marine corps officers to lead the 4,500-man force. The sailors experience actual sea duty serving in the navies of friendly Latin Amercian neighbors. And the fleet of fourteen patrol boats, six transports, two hospital ships, and two research vessels patrols Lake Titicaca and several tributary rivers of the Amazon -- all in preparation for the day when Bolivian territory again reaches to the Pacific Ocean.
Paraguay, to the east, never had access to the sea. But its economy is tied to the Rio Paraná and the Rio Paraguay, so it has longed maintained a substantial brown water navy. This would prove essential to preserving its independence during the War of The Triple Alliance (1864-1870) against Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. It fought gallantly but unsuccessfully at the Battle of Riachuelo (1865), one of the largest riverine engagements in modern naval history. Today, its 2,500 sailors, including 500 marines, protect the nation's rivers on sixteen patrol boats, three amphibious assault ships, and seven support vessels. After basic training in-country, Paraguyan sailors gain experience in the navy of Argentina before assuming their duties at home.
Yugoslavia once had eighty warships in its fleet. But after the dissolution of that state in the 1990s, Serbia's access to the sea was limited to its federation with tiny Montenegro, where it based a 8,000-man navy with an assortment of frigates, missile boats, minesweepers, and landing craft. When that nation seceded in 2006, Serbia became landlocked. The remains of its seagoing navy were auctioned off by Montenegro, mostly to Egypt. Its forces on the Danube and other rivers (such as the old Yugoslav riverine assault ship pictured above) were subordinated to the army.
In the 13th Century, the Mongolian Navy was the largest in the world. It lost that fleet during two failed invasions of Japan. Since that time, it shrank down to nothing. In the 1930s, the Mongolian Navy was reborn under the auspices of the Soviet Union. It received one boat, the Sukhbaatar, to patrol Lake Hovsgal. The Soviet-made vessel was dragged overland to that lake. The ship was named after Damdiny Sukhbaatar, the Mongolian leader who drove China out in the 1920s. It, and its successor, the Sukhbaatar II, eventually sank.
But as of 2001, one vessel remains -- the tugboat Sukhbaatar III. It's manned by seven men, only one of whom knows how to swim. The ship is homeported at Khatgal, and it continues its regular patrols of Lake Hovsgal. But due to financial constraints, the Mongolian government privatized its navy in 1997. So now the Sukhbaatar III supplements its income by hauling freight across the lake. You can watch a documentary about the Mongolian Navy here.
Images: Picasa user robynfr54, militaryphotos.net, TravelPod.TALLAHASSEE — How many counties in Florida have more jobs now than before the recession? The answer stumps Enterprise Florida.
The question from Florida Chamber of Commerce chief economist Jerry Parrish seemed innocent enough for the quarterly board meeting of Enterprise Florida, the state's business and government partnership: How many counties have more jobs now than before the recession?
The audience of executives was stumped on Thursday. Parrish had to ask it twice and then someone volunteered an answer: 50.
"Wrong," responded Parrish.
The real number of counties that have more jobs today than they had before the Great Recession "is stunning," he admitted to the group that has pegged its future and fate on job creation in Florida.
The number is 31.
That leaves 36 counties that still have not returned to pre-recession employment levels, a sign of an uneven and incomplete recovery in an era when Gov. Rick Scott has made job creation his singular focus.
"Florida's recession started a lot earlier, ended a lot later," Parrish told the crowd in the ballroom of the Doubletree Hotel in Tallahassee. "It was double the depth" of the national average.
To be sure, there was an overall growth of 670,000 Florida jobs since 2007. But most of them were clustered in large metropolitan counties like Orange, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach, which accounted for 402,000 of the new jobs — more than half the increase. Job losses were mainly in rural counties, with Okaloosa and Citrus counties leading the state in losing more than 8,000 jobs each.
What's more troubling, he warned, is that his projections are that Florida will produce 54,000 fewer jobs in 2017 than it did in 2016. An interactive map on the Florida Chamber website shows that the 215,400 jobs created to date is lower than last year's level of 244,000 as every county but nine has seen job losses. The metro areas of South Florida, Orlando and Tampa Bay have been the only bright spots in terms of job growth.
"It's a concerning trend," Parrish admitted. "We may have peaked."
This is the hard data Enterprise Florida faces as it fights for its survival. The budget handed to Scott on Wednesday includes $16 million in funding for Enterprise Florida in the 2017-18 fiscal year, down from $23.5 million for the current year. On Friday, legislative leaders agreed to add $85 million to a new economic development fund for job training and education, but that will be handled through the Department of Economic Opportunity, the agency that oversees Enterprise Florida.
For the second year in a row, legislators rejected the governor's request for $200 million for the Quick Action Closing Fund to award up-front incentives for major corporate relocations and expansions. House Speaker Richard Corcoran has called the incentives "corporate welfare."
Parrish acknowledged that part of Florida's problem is its lack of industry diversification, ranking 24th nationwide. The benefits of diversification are that while some sectors suffer, others remain strong, he said.
Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber, said this data doesn't go over well when they take their slide show on the road to community groups around the state.
"When they see the numbers that their community has fewer jobs today than they had 10 years ago, you have people almost getting in fistfights," he said. "They didn't know this number.... People are realizing that this data is real."
He noted that the chamber keeps track of data on a scorecard on its website. "Only 54 percent of our third-graders are reading at grade level," he added.
There is nothing new about this data, however. An economic analysis compiled for the Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau by Florida International University's Metropolitan Center and published in October showed that in 40 of the state's 67 counties there were fewer people working in 2015 than were working in 2007. Only south and central Florida's metropolitan areas have seen employment levels return to — or exceed — pre-recession levels.
The analysis also found that although many jobs have returned since the Great Recession, the new jobs are paying workers significantly less than the jobs they replaced, and the rebound has been dramatically uneven across the state. From 2007 to 2015, only 7 of the 39 Florida counties with reliable data experienced an increase in household income.
Stan Connally, president and CEO of Gulf Power and vice president of Enterprise Florida, noted that many at the board meeting had their "fingerprints" on the economic recovery that has taken place to restore many of the jobs.
But, he asked: "Can we do more under our watch? There are macro economic things that are not under our control, but I think a lot goes back to leadership." He urged them all to stay engaged.
Contact Mary Ellen Klas at [email protected] Follow @MaryEllenKlasIt is no secret that negative opinions of popular games and movies are met with hostility in this day and age. Critics of the Ghostbusters reboot, Suicide Squad, Virginia, and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, for example, have been accused of a litany of transgressions ranging from misogyny and racism to purposeful malice.
This trend was demonstrated most recently by development studio Digital Homicide, who initiated aggressive litigation against reviewers and commenters who expressed negative opinions about their products on Steam. The most notable action taken was the filing of a subpoena which demands the identities of 100 users who submitted negative or hateful comments. Valve responded by removing all Digital Homicide products from Steam.
This is not the first time Digital H |
we've got North Sea oil."
And Mr Cameron insisted he raised human rights issues with certain countries when he visited them.
He said: "It's perfectly possible to go to those countries as I do and raise human rights abuses.
"In fact I would argue that if you have a relationship with them and you have a way of talking to them they are more likely to listen to you than if you just cut yourself off."A change to college savings accounts in the Republican tax plan would expand eligibility to unborn children.
The tax-advantaged accounts, called 529s, help people save for future college expenses. Anyone -- a relative, a friend, or yourself -- can be named as a beneficiary at the time the account is opened.
The House legislation unveiled Thursday would allow unborn children to be named as a beneficiary as well. It defined an unborn child as a "child in utero" and further as "a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb."
The proposed change was praised by anti-abortion groups.
"A child in the womb is just as human as you or I yet, until now, the U.S. tax code has failed to acknowledge the unborn child -- all while granting tax breaks for those seeking an abortion under the pretense of 'healthcare,'" said Jeanne Mancini, President of March for Life, in a statement.
Planned Parenthood, on the other hand, blasted the move, suggesting that defining an unborn child in the tax code would end up restricting access to abortion.
"It is absurd that House Republican leaders would use a tax bill to try to advance their agenda to undermine access to safe, legal abortion," said Dana Singiser, Vice President for Public Policy and Government Affairs at Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Related: House tax plan would kill the student loan interest deduction
Currently, even without a change to the tax code, parents can open a 529 account in their own name before a child is born and change the beneficiary at a later time. There are no tax consequences for changing the beneficiary to another family member, according to the IRS.
The 529 college savings accounts are offered by states, which determine contribution limits and the tax advantages. Typically, investments grow tax-deferred and withdrawals are not subject to federal taxes if the money is used for qualified education expenses. Some states offer a state tax deduction on contributions or exemptions on withdrawals.
Related: All the weird parts of the tax reform bill, in one post
The unborn child provision is not the only proposed change to 529 accounts included in the House plan. It would also allow up to $10,000 per year in savings to be used for private elementary and secondary school expenses. But, it would end the Coverdell savings account program which currently allows parents to save for those K-12 expenses.Rotaract Club Chandigarh Himalayan supporters in association with members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal (PETA) assembled at the Sukhna Lake on Tuesday, to mark World Vegan Day. Clad in animal bodysuits and cow-buffalo masks with red painted palms, the protesters stood in a stall, holding banners claiming, “Dairy cattle are killed for beef. Try vegan.”
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“Several vegetarians who consume milk and other dairy products have no idea, they are supporting the beef industry by doing so,” said Ayushi Sharma, a PETA campaign assistant from Mumbai, who is traveling throughout the northern part of the country to create awareness about the cruelty against animals. “Yet in India, cattle are not raised specifically for beef, rather, this industry gets its cattle supply from the dairy industry,” added Ayushi.
PETA members expressed their pain on behalf of animals and how the dairy industry is systematically inhumane. Farmers repeatedly inmpregnate cows and buffaloes through artificial insemination which is equal to rape.
Enlightening the people about the dairy farmers Shambhavi, a PETA member said, “Farmers commonly inject their cattle with Oxycontin, to force them to produce more milk which causes pain similar to a labor pain. Cows and buffaloes are treated like milk machines. Shortly after the cow or buffalo gives birth, their calves are taken away from them. If the calf is female it is kept as a milk producer and if is a male, it is absconded for starving in the streets or sold to slaughter houses.”Puerto Rico is in crisis. Last month, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose parents came to New York from Puerto Rico before he was born, visited Congress to plead with them to pass legislation that would help the territory restructure its $72 billion debt.
“We have a humanitarian crisis on our hands,” Miranda, who created the Broadway hit Hamilton said in his address. “We face a financial crisis that triples anything you’ve experienced in the United States. It is a solvable, fixable crisis, and what we really need is help from Congress. What we need is the ability to restructure and get Puerto Rico out of the hole it’s in.”
Then he offered members of Congress tickets to his perpetually sold-out show if it would help encourage them to act. “I know a guy,” he joked.
“Wow, that is incredible,” John Oliver said during his deep dive into the Puerto Rican crisis on Last Week Tonight. “I’m amazed he can even get tickets. It is easier for a meerkat to get into Harvard Law School than it is to get into that show.”
Oliver, clearly a fan of Hamilton—“It’s so fucking good!”—dedicated the majority of his show Sunday night to explaining how and why the U.S. federal government is ultimately to blame for Puerto Rico’s problems.
Because Puerto Rico is a territory and not a state, there are several loopholes in U.S. law that have led directly to its current situation. For one, Puerto Rican bonds were deemed “triple tax exempt,” making them incredibly appealing for Wall Street, but ultimately terrible for Puerto Rico. “You might even own Puerto Rican bonds and not even know it,” Oliver said, due to sketchy laws about how the bonds are labeled.
In addition, unlike states, Puerto Rico does not have the ability to declare Chapter 9 bankruptcy in order to restructure its debt, due to a mysterious provision in an unrelated 1984 bill. “If you are massively in debt and can’t declare bankruptcy, you are stuck,” Oliver said.
“The good news here is, Congress is now considering a bipartisan bill that would give Puerto Rico some breathing room to negotiate with creditors,” Oliver said. While the details are still being worked out, he added, “This could be a real help to Puerto Rico.” Unfortunately, there is a misinformation campaign underway to convince voters that a so-called “bail out” would be financially disastrous.
“The point is, 3.5 million Americans are facing a dire crisis right now, and the clock is ticking,” Oliver added, urging viewers to start treating Puerto Rico like “an island of American citizens whose fate is interwoven with ours.”
“There are certainly better voices than mine to speak on behalf of Puerto Rico,” Oliver offered, which brings us back to Lin-Manuel Miranda.
To end the show, Oliver welcomed the man himself to the stage to perform an entirely new rap song directed squarely at those in power about his “commonwealth, with not a lot of wealth, a not quite nation.”
“Hoping to God John Oliver’s comical dissertation resonates with the Congress that got us in this situation,” Miranda rapped. “Along with suicidal tax incentive declarations, ‘Yeah we’ll pay your bonds first, close the hospital, fuck the patients. This is an island, 100 miles across. A hurricane is coming and we’re running up a loss.”
“Paul Ryan, I’ll come sing Hamilton at your house, I’ll do-si-do with Pelosi, I’ll wear my Hamilton blouse,” he added, growing more impassioned. “Our citizens are suffering, stop the bleeding, stop the loss. Help Puerto Rico, it’s just 100 miles across!”A Richmond developer with ties to Justin French and known for his flashy Monument Avenue home was arrested Wednesday for alleged fraud related to the state’s historic tax credit system.
Billy G. Jefferson Jr., head of River City Real Estate, was charged Thursday with eight felony counts of forging and uttering public records by the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
“The charges stem from the submission of false documents to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources,” according to a statement released Thursday by the State Police. “The submission of the false documents has resulted in over two million dollars in tax fraud to the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
The charges were related to four of Jefferson’s real estate projects that were certified for state tax credits in 2012, the DHR said in a statement Thursday.
Jefferson was arrested in Carytown on the 3000 block of West Cary Street, according to the State Police. He was arraigned Thursday morning and released on a $10,000 bond. The state attorney general’s office will handle the case.
Jefferson did not return a call for comment. He is not facing any federal charges.
Williams Mullen attorney Charles James is representing Jefferson in the case. James declined to comment on the matter.
Kathleen Kilpatrick, director of DHR, said in a statement that the arrest “comes as no surprise” because it was DHR that tipped off state law enforcement to irregularities in Jefferson’s tax credit filings.
“During the past four years, DHR has fully cooperated with law enforcement on this matter and we intend to continue to provide assistance to state and federal partners as these investigations move forward,” Kilpatrick said in the statement.
The agency declined to specify the four properties in question.
Kilpatrick said that she still believes the tax credit program is crucial for revitalization in urban and rural areas of Virginia but that “DHR has been and remains vigilant in protecting the program against any abuses by reporting suspected fraud and cooperating with law enforcement officials.”
That’s despite high-profile cases of tax credit fraud in Virginia uncovered over the past several years, including the French saga and two developers in Norfolk who last year were charged with gaming the system.
Julie Langan, DHR’s deputy director of preservation programs, said the agency had been wary of Jefferson for about four years, dating back to the time the agency began investigating Justin French’s misdeeds.
“We had some of the same concerns with Bill Jefferson that we had with Justin,” she said.
Jefferson, 51, partnered with French on a 225-unit conversion project called the Tobacco Factory at 700 Stockton St. and on the Parachute Factory building at 307 Stockton St.
French is serving a 16-year sentence in federal prison for tax credit fraud. French lied about the expenses he put into redeveloping old properties in order to inflate the amount of tax credits he could recoup.
In addition to his French collaborations, Jefferson’s company has amassed properties throughout the Fan and the Museum District. Jefferson’s companies or their affiliates own more than two-dozen apartment buildings along Boulevard, North Thompson Street and Monument Avenue.
His 10,000-square-foot house at the corner of Monument Avenue and Boulevard made a splash in Richmond and attracted media attention when it debuted in 2004.
According to a 2004 article from the Times-Dispatch, Jefferson designed the house around ideas gleaned from Internet searches related to the word “mansion.”
The house is valued at $1.5 million.Last nights Season Finale of ‘The Office’ ends in the epic “Office Wedding Dance’ (above). Leave it to ‘The Office’ to transcend mediums and spoof this popular viral in a way as… touching as the original. In fact, it’s probably more touching. We’ve been rooting for Pam and Jim for five seasons. We know the Dunder Mifflin crew in an intimate way that only television (At least, for the moment) can create.
I wrote about the original JK Wedding Dance previously and it’s now more important than being Sony’s #8 music video on YouTube (And I bet that will rise the ranks for a few days following the Office spoof). It’s a new kind of Traditional and New Media merge – One of content and ideas rather than technical or distribution paradigms. It sets a precedent that it’s ok for TV to copy the Web. Audiences will get it.
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Think about that for a second.
It’s the reverse of how it was and what we are used to – People on the web spoofing or coping what is on TV. The Wedding Dance video has 27 million views. Last nights ‘The Office’ had a 4.5 Nielsen Rating according to Variety. That means 4.5% of the 114.9 million ‘television households in the United States’ or 5.17 million viewers. We can safely assume most people watching last night had seen the original Wedding Dance and would ‘get it’. The characters in ‘The Office’ got it and reference the RK video on multiple occasions. YouTube videos are part of our lexicon and have been for some time now. It’s wide enough to work on network TV.
I can’t think of many other times a popular TV show has spoofed a web video. TV characters frequently reference YouTube. Arrested Development spoofed Star Wars kid (14 million views in 3 years) but last nights ‘The Office’ takes it to a totally different level.
Does this further legitimize Web Video?
At the very least, the RK Wedding video is the gift that keeps on giving to Sony. And to think – They almost took it down due copyright infringement.Guest Post Series
words by Cary O’Dell
It was August of 1911, when Sheriff J.B. Webber of Oroville, California, got word of a strange “savage” found in the corral of a local slaughter house.
The stranger–male, at least middle-age, weak and malnutritioned, and nude save for a strip of cloth worn like a cape–bore the appearance of an Indian. But Indians native to the area, like most Native American tribes, had long since died out, the last of them killed in one final massacre in 1865, almost 50 years ago.
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Discovery
Sheriff Webber collected the man and transported him back to the town’s jail—largely for the man’s own protection. It seems locals, alarmed at the man’s sudden arrival and appearance, had grown fearful and hostile.
Not helping were area newspapers who the next day quickly labeled the man everything from the “Wild Man of Oroville” to “the missing link.” Some papers even printed fictional, fanciful stories to sell more copies.
Luckily, also reading the local press were Alfred Kroeber and T.T. Waterman, two University of California professors of anthropology.
They quickly wired the Sheriff: “Hold Indian til arrival professor State University who will take charge and be responsible for him. Matter important account aboriginal history.”
Once the professors arrived, communication with the “Wild Man,” fortunately, proved relatively easy; Kroeber and Waterman picked up the stranger’s language quickly.
The two university professors then took him to the UC Parnassus campus where it was soon deduced that the “Wild Man” was actually a member—perhaps the last—of the Yahi Indian tribe.
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The Yahi Tribe
The Yahi, a once populace tribe (1,500 members in 1770), were native to Northern California. The Gold Rush of the mid 1800’s foretold their doom. Migrating white settlers violently displaced many of them.
By the 1860’s, Yahi numbers had decreased to around 400. Further conflicts with gun-toting settlers lowered their population even further. The Three Knolls Massacre of 1865, it was believed, killed all but a handful. Finally, a few years later, in 1868, a group of cowboys cornered the final tribesmen and women in a cave, killing them.
All that is but one.
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The Last Yahi?
One thing the professors could not learn from this man was his name; he would not speak it. It was considered a violation of his culture and principals to speak one’s name oneself.
Instead, the two professors named him Ishi, the Yahi word for “man.” Ishi’s exact age could never be determined either. It was believed he was born around 1862, making him 49 years-old when he stumbled into the yard of the slaughterhouse in 1911.
After the hecatomb of the Yahi in the mid 1800’s, Ishi reported that there were no more than six remaining Yahi by 1872.
Weakened by starvation, disease and white hostility, Yahi numbers eventually decreased to just him. For years, Ishi refuged in the canyons of Mill and Deer Creeks until the increasing scarcity of wild game drove him out of the hills and into the white man’s world.
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Able to Adapt
Though Ishi was given the chance by the University to return to the wild or be relocated to a nearby reservation, he declined both options, preferring to take up residence in the college’s Department of Anthology.
Despite his stranger in a strange land status, Ishi showed an extraordinary willingness to adapt to his new environment.
Though not forced upon him, Ishi took quickly to American ways of dress and showed an interest in modern forms of transportation including ferryboats, streetcars and trains. (Existing photos of Ishi in native dress standing in the forest were staged specifically for the camera.)
(click thumbnails to enlarge)
Under the friendship and guardianship of Dr. Alfred Kroeber, numerous scientists came to study with and interview Ishi. Ishi’s responses to their myriad of questions would be meticulously documented and provide to modern scholars details of the Yahi’s culture and daily life as well as insight into his tribe’s methods of fire-making, tool construction and weapons like bows and arrows.
[ Did you know? In 1901 Alfred Kroeber was awarded the first doctorate in anthropology by Columbia University. ]
Ishi would also often be asked to demonstrate his own excellent craftsmanship; an expertise he, by all accounts, was gleeful to share with onlookers.
Research into Ishi’s earlier life and the lifestyle of his people was often achieved via the full immersion of his friends/studiers. In the summer of 1914, Ishi, Krober, Waterman and Dr. Saxton Pope and Pope’s 11 year-old son embarked on a hunting trip with Ishi acting as guide for a three-month trek into the California wilderness.
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Leaving a Legacy
Along with these experiences, Ishi was also often audio recorded. These documents, which eventually numbered to 148 wax cylinders, are the world’s primary source for information about Ishi and the Yahi.
Ishi was a surprisingly chatty storyteller; his retelling of his people’s fable “The Story of Wood Duck” spans 51 cylinders.
In 2010, these recordings were chosen by the Librarian of Congress for the National Recording Registry, an annual list of recordings deemed to be of vital import to the history and culture of the United States.
[ Ishi’s audio can be streamed here. (Requires RealPlayer) ]
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Illness & Death
Ishi’s life among the white man would not be long however. Life expectancy for men in 1900 was only 48 years-old. Additionally, from almost the day of his discovery, Ishi was beset with a variety of physical aliments including bronchial infections and back pain.
(click thumbnails to enlarge)
It was theorized that Ishi’s early isolation from others had forever weakened his immunity. In 1915, Ishi was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB), a then wide-spread and incurable disease.
The man known only as Ishi died of TB in March of 1916.
It had only five years since his discovery at the slaughterhouse.
In the 1964, Krober’s widow, Theodora, sorted through and edited her husband’s voluminous notes (he had died in 1960) to publish the book, “Ishi in Two Worlds.” Upon publication, it would sell over two million copies.
[ Thanks to the Sloan Foundation & Library of Congress, Ishi’s medical records are digitally available. View them here. ]
*
New Information
Decades after Ishi’s death, Ishi’s name entered the news again when another University of California anthropology professor, Steven Shackley, theorized that Ishi may not have been of the Yahi tribe at all.
Based upon the arrowheads and other artifacts Ishi made while in residence at the University, he discovered that they were not in the style of the Yahi leading to speculation that Ishi may have been of Wintu or Nomlaki or other mixed blood.
As Indians populations in the West died out, members increasingly turned to outside (even one-time enemy) tribes to try to forestall their mutual extinction. Ishi may have been the product of one of these unions, his upbringing an amalgamation of various Indian cultures.
It has also suggested that Ishi remarkable adaptability with the white world may have had its roots in a childhood that necessitated the synthesizing of various traditions and customs.
*
Conclusion
Of any heritage, amongst the many often romanticized tales of last persons or of people out of time (the Japanese soldier abandoned on a Pacific isle, etc.), there is at least one true example of such a man, the last of his kind, and representing with him the last bit of a culture and an era–
the man still known as Ishi, the Last Yahi.
*
Want to see more of Ishi? UC Berkeley has made Dr. Kroeber’s original photographs available online via the Phoebe A. Heart Museum of Anthropology.
**
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PinterestWindows/Linux: Re-installing your favorite software in a new system takes time—boring, click-to-proceed time you could spend more wisely. Ninite, the web-based installer that takes the nag out of installs, now offers great custom packages for Ubuntu Linux.
If you're running Ubuntu, head to Ninite's site, check the apps you want on your system, then click "Get Installer." The.deb file you get in return installs everything, and handles the addition of third-party repositories for apps like Dropbox, Adobe AIR, and other apps. Some of these apps are included in Ubuntu's official repositories and the Software Center "store," but through Ninite and third-party repositories, you get updates and new versions much quicker.
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The DEB packages may install on other Debian-based distributions, but they appear designed for Ubuntu systems. Many of the packages included in Ninite's picks are part of the Lifehacker Pack for Linux, and we might need to update our Pack with a Ninite page, as we did with our 2010 Pack for Windows.
Ninite for LinuxIn 2011 Conservative watchdog group Media Trackers filed with the IRS to achieve nonprofit status. The application got stuck in Obama-induced IRS limbo. In 2012 the same group changed its name and filed again with the IRS as “Greenhouse Solutions.” They were granted nonprofit status in 3 weeks.
Yahoo reported:
In May 2011, Drew Ryun, a conservative activist and former Republican National Committee staffer, began filling out the Internal Revenue Service application to achieve nonprofit status for a new conservative watchdog group.
He submitted the paperwork to the IRS in July 2011 for a research site called Media Trackers, which calls itself a “non-partisan investigative watchdog dedicated to promoting accountability in the media and government.” Although the site has investigated Republicans like Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Gov. Rick Scott, the site’s organizers are unapologetically conservative.
“One thing we don’t hide is: ‘Yeah, we’re conservative—free-market, free-enterprise, full-spectrum conservative,'” Ryun told Mother Jones magazine last year.
Eight months passed without word from the agency about the group’s application, Ryun said. In February 2012, Ryun’s attorney contacted the IRS to ask if it needed more information to secure its nonprofit status as a 501(c)3 organization. According to Ryun, the IRS told him that the application was being processed by the agency’s office in Cincinnati, Ohio—the same one currently facing scrutiny for targeting conservative groups—and to check back in two months.
As directed, Ryun followed up with the IRS in April 2012, and was told that Media Trackers’ application was still under review.
When September 2012 arrived with still no word from the IRS, Ryun determined that Media Trackers would likely never obtain standalone nonprofit status, and he tried a new approach: He applied for permanent nonprofit status for a separate group called Greenhouse Solutions, a pre-existing organization that was reaching the end of its determination period.
The IRS approved Greenhouse Solutions’ request for permanent nonprofit status in three weeks.Disney’s animated classic The Lion King is the latest movie to be reimagined as a live-action/CG project.
Disney is reteaming with Jon Favreau, the filmmaker who brought to life The Jungle Book, for a 21st century take on the tale, which Disney has fast-tracked to production, the studio announced.
“The Lion King builds on Disney’s success of reimagining its classics for a contemporary audience with films like Maleficent, Cinderella and The Jungle Book,” the company said on its website. “The upcoming Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson as Belle, is already one of the most anticipated movies of 2017. Like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King will include songs from the animated film.”
The new take won’t be live-action, per se, but will definitely look it. Favreau will build on what he accomplished with Jungle Book — using a real child actor and bringing to life the jungle and its animals via cutting-edge technology and a greenscreen set in a Los Angeles studio.
Lion King is considered one of the pinnacles of Disney’s animated movies, and animation in general. The 1994 movie was the culmination of the successful turnaround the studio undertook after spending much of the 1970s and 1980s in the doldrums.
Set on the African savannah, the story told of a young lion named Simba who is is cast out into the wilderness after his father, Mufasa, is killed by his evil uncle Scar. Years later, Simba returns to reclaim his throne.
For years The Lion King was the top-grossing animated movie of all time — $968.8 million worldwide, including $422.8 million domestically. It won Academy Awards for the original song Can You Feel the Love Tonight and original score. Its soundtrack has sold more than 14 million copies.
Disney also translated the movie for the stage, where the production surprised naysayers by winning six Tony Awards and has gone on to become one of Broadway's biggest hits.
Purists may roar, but in light of Disney’s continued success with this strategy (there's already a sequel in the works for Jungle Book given its almost $1 billion take at the box office), to them the studio says, "Hakuna matata."Around 700 demonstrators gathered on Berlin's Alexanderplatz on Sunday evening, bearing umbrellas to keep dry and waving anti-AfD signs to protest the far-right populist party's election result.
Just hours earlier, the Alternative for Germany's (AfD) earned an estimated 13 percent of votes in the German national election, ensuring that the young party would enter the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament.
Read more: AfD: What you need to know about Germany's far-right party
The crowd was continuing to grow outside the building where the AfD was celebrating their historic election result. Protestors chanted slogans such as, "Racism is not an alternative," "AfD is a bunch of racists" and "Nazis out!"
Later, the crowd shouted as one, "The whole of Berlin hates the AfD!" The party currently holds 23 out of 160 seats in the Berlin city parliament.
Police were monitoring the situation and prohibiting the protesters from drawing close to the building housing the AfD's victory party. According to security personnel, AfD supporters were cleared from the building's balcony after demonstrators on the ground threw objects in that direction, Reuters reported.
Berlin police also reported that some of their officers were also pelted with bottles and rocks.
'It's important that we speak up against racism'
DW's Kate Brady spoke with some of the anti-AfD protesters at Alexanderplatz in Berlin. Lisa, 22, expressed her belief that such protests would become common.
"Especially in times like these, I think it's really important that we speak up against racism and xenophobia and against the right-wing ideologies that the AfD unfortunately stands for."
Similar anti-AfD protests also took place on the other side of the country in Cologne. There, some 400 demonstrators met in front of the west German city's central train station before marching through the streets while carrying a banner that read, "Whoever is silent, is complicit."
In Hamburg, anti-AfD protestors marched from the central station toward the city hall and the far-right party's local headquarters. There were no reports of violence.
Spontaneous protests also reportedly broke out in Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf, Göttingen, Dresden, Leipzig, Mainz and Saalfeld.
Around 800 protesters took to the streets in Frankfurt, while in Leipzig local media reported that around 500 to 600 people were marching toward the city hall to protest the AfD's results.
Around 800 anti-AfD protesters marched through the city of Frankfurt to protest against the far-right party
Third-largest party
The AfD is set enter the Bundestag as the third-largest party, after Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). It already holds seats in various state parliaments in Germany.
Since its founding four years ago as a euroskeptic party, the AfD has moved to the far-right with anti-immigration policies and calls to review how German public memory of the Nazi era is defined.
Jewish groups have condemned the AfD's electoral advance. Ronald Lauder, the head of the World Jewish Congress, said it was "abhorrent that the AfD party, a disgraceful reactionary movement which recalls the worst of Germany's past and should be outlawed, now has the ability within the German parliament to promote its vile platform."
Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said his worst fears had come true. "A party that tolerates far-right views in its ranks and incites hate against minorities in our country is today not only in almost all state parliaments but also represented in the Bundestag.
"I expect all our democratic forces to unveil the real face of the AfD and to expose the party's empty, populist promises," he added.
Le Pen, Wilders congratulate AfD
Leading far-right lawmakers around Europe welcomed the AfD's entry into the Bundestag. The leader of France's National Front, Marine Le Pen, took to Twitter to congratulate her "allies," writing: "This is a new symbol of the awakening of the European people."
Geert Wilders, the head of the Netherlands' far-right Dutch Party for Freedom, posted a picture of himself alongside the AfD's Frauke Petry and Le Pen under the caption: "We will fight for our countries and our people. Always."
Read more: AfD's unlikely duo: Alexander Gauland and Alice Weidel
cmb, dm/cmk (Reuters, dpa)Celebrate 50 Years of 'Star Trek' with a Massive 30-Disc Box Set
Published Jun 07, 2016
On September 8, 1966, NBC aired the first episode of a little TV show called Star Trek. Now, 50 years later, the original series is being further immortalized with an overwhelmingly enormous box set.The release celebrates half a century of Trek across 30 Blu-ray discs. It includes every movie and television series that featured the original crew.That means your collection will be complete with everything from the original series through six Star Trek movies. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was recently released in a Director's Cut edition, which will appear on Blu-ray for the first time here. Star Trek: The Animated Series has also been remastered to appear in the box.As if that weren't enough, the set comes with a brand new, multi-part documentary that features almost two hours of previously unseen footage. There's also over 20 hours of bonus material. Rounding out the box is a collectible Starfleet Insignia pin and six mini movie posters.The Star Trek 50th Anniversary TV and Movie Collection will arrive on September 6.Did you illegally download a copy of The Expendables, Sylvester Stallone’s old-school macho get-together fight-fest from last year? If so, watch your inbox: You’re likely one of the more than 23,000 file sharers being sued for doing so by the US Copyright Group in what is now the largest BitTorrent downloading case in US legal history.
Hey, look at it this way: you’re part of history!
A federal judge has agreed to a subpoena request from the U.S. Copyright Group to get the names of everyone who downloaded the movie from their ISPs. According to the Copyright Group’s leader, Thomas Dunlap, he’s already got 23,322 addresses that he wants names for, but it’s expected that that number will grow during the discovery process. Subpoenas are expected to go out to ISPs in the next week or so, and once received, the ISPs will contact downloaders to notify them that their information is to be shared as a result.
More on TIME.com:
Most People Are Basically Thieves (At Least Online)
MPAA Sues Hotfile.com For Promoting Internet Piracy
When It Comes to Illegal Downloads, Movies Trump MusicPernille Skipper Foto: Henning Bagger / Scanpix Denmark
Partiskat, to gange arv og mindre bidrag har været med til at give Enhedslisten over seks millioner kroner.
Med fem dage til kommunal- og regionsvalget fremlægger Enhedslisten en liste over partiets bidragydere fra 2016 til 2017 - og opfordrer de øvrige partier til at følge trop.
Venstrefløjspartiet har sidste år og i år modtaget 6.049.530 kroner i private støttebidrag. De 3.421.998 kroner er bidrag fra blandt andre partiets folketingspolitikere, som er kommet ind igennem partiskat.
Således betalte politisk ordfører Pernille Skipper eksempelvis sidste år 99.082 kroner i partiskat til fælleskassen.
Vælgerne kan kun sætte et kvalificeret kryds i stemmeboksen 21. november, hvis de kender de økonomiske særinteresser bag politikerne, betoner demokratiordfører Maria Reumert Gjerding (EL):
- Det er vigtigt, at vælgerne kan sætte deres kryds på et oplyst grundlag. Og det kræver indsigt i, hvem der finansierer politikernes valgkampagne.
- Vi havde gerne set, at lovgivningen sikrede åbenhed. Men når vi ikke har det, må partier og politikere selv gå foran og give vælgerne den åbenhed, de har krav på.
Enhedslisten har modtaget 1.753.817 kroner i mindre støttebidrag fra især partiets medlemmer samt modtaget arv for 873.715 kroner efter boet fra to personer.
3.320.000 af støttekronerne er sendt videre til lokalafdelinger og går blandt andet til den igangværende valgkampagne.
Adspurgt hvorfor andre partier skal fremlægge deres støttebidrag, når de i forvejen overholder partistøttereglerne, svarer Maria Reumert Gjerding:
- Der er åbenlyse smuthuller i reglerne. Virksomheder kan for eksempel støtte et parti via en erhvervsklub, så bidraget ikke vil fremgå af partiets offentlige regnskab.
Enhedslisten er ikke det eneste parti, der ønsker større gennemsigtighed om støtten og fremlægger mere, end reglerne kræver. Alternativet offentliggør også bidrag over 1000 kroner i partiets regnskab.
Der er stor forskel på, hvor mange penge politikerne poster i kampagner. Det viser en rundspørge, hvor Ritzau har spurgt kandidater i kommuner landet over, hvor meget de forventer at bruge på deres kampane.
8559 kandidater er blevet spurgt, og 4020 har svaret på spørgsmålet. Dermed er rundspørgen ikke repræsentativ, men giver et billede af de kandidater, der har svaret.
50 procent svarer, at de forventer at bruge mellem 0 og 5000 kroner på deres personlige valgkamp. 22 procent svarer 5000 til 10.000, 15 procent svarer 10.000 til 25.000 og 5 procent svarer 25.000 til 50.000.
To procent forventer at bruge mellem 50.000 og 100.000 kroner, mens kun ganske få vil bruge et højere beløb.Trans-Pro-Palestine #BlackLivesMatter Activist Wanted for Murder in Berkeley
Another violent attack by Black Lives Matter.
When will Barack Obama disavow this radical terror group?
Pablo Gomez, Jr. who uses the pronoun “they” instead of “he” or “she” was arrested for murder in Berkeley, California.
Pablo was wanted for is connection to a stabbing death – the first homicide this year in Berkeley.
GotNews.com reported:
Pablo Gomez, Jr., the first murder suspect of 2017 in the city of Berkeley, California, is a transsexual or “queer”, pro-Palestine, #BlackLivesMatter-supporting UC Berkeley student and “social justice warrior” (SJW), who is apparently studying “Chicanx/Latinx Studies.” According to Berkeleyside: Police are looking for a person described as armed and dangerous who authorities say is responsible for Berkeley’s first homicide of 2017. After a seriously wounded woman flagged someone down for help just north of the UC Berkeley campus shortly before noon Friday, police ultimately located a “violent crime” |
They were left devastated. “What chance do people like us stand who want to rent in the area they grew up in, when people push them out of their beautiful homes just so they can make so much more money by renting them commercially?” says Nicholas Louisson, 28, who works in marketing procurement.
“It was our first home together, we loved living there, it was just opposite my work, and we imagined staying there for up to the next 10 years of our lives. But then when we started looking for another apartment in the suburb to rent, there was so little available, and so much competition for it, because so much there is now on Airbnb.
“It’s wrong that this is being allowed to happen.”
However the landlord who sub-let the unit, Chris Cooper, said that the tenants had been given the legally-required notice of 90 days, and the lease had been terminated “due to renovations, and family making good use of the property including myself actively residing there”.
An advocate of the “sharing economy” and its role in helping to provide him with an income as a single father, Mr Cooper also disputed the comparison between the rent paid by Louisson and the rent he could receive on Airbnb.
“The Airbnb rental covers all furniture, cleaning services and more – which is a large amount of ‘value’ that is being ignored. To compare rent versus a ‘serviced apartment’ is completely different,” he said.
There are currently 13 one-bedroom apartments and 18 two-bedroom apartments to rent in Kirribilli listed on property site domain.com.au. On Airbnb, there are 306 listings of properties to rent. Kirribilli was named as one of the Airbnb hotspots in a study conducted by Fairfax Media this year.
The group Neighbours Not Strangers, critics of Airbnb when it pushes homes away from residential use and into short-term lets, says this is typical of what’s happening everywhere in Sydney, and globally. “We’re at a crisis point with housing now,” says convenor Trish Burt.
“From May this year there’s been a 75.5 per cent increase in listings in Airbnb in Sydney, that’s 23,558 Sydney dwellings no longer available for people to live in. They’re bleeding the residential housing market dry.”
North Sydney Council, when told of the couple’s situation, said it would investigate. A spokesman said: “At the moment, North Sydney Council defines an Airbnb-type stay as short-term accommodation [which] is considered a commercial activity and outside the permitted use within residential zones in terms of the North Sydney LEP.
“Properties in residential zones are considered to be for residential occupation and not for short-term letting except as permanent residential occupation, usually defined as a period of three months or more.”
Airbnb spokesman Dylan Smith said the company proactively reminds its hosts of their obligations to follow locally set rules and regulations.
“Overwhelmingly, Airbnb hosts in NSW are everyday people – mums and dads, seniors and young families – who occasionally list their primary residence or spare room to make a modest extra bit of income,” he said. “Our hosts tell us this extra income helps pay down the mortgage, cover bills and household expenses. Others list their home to pay for their own holiday away with the family once or twice a year.”
With the same family owning more than one of the four units in the boutique block on Hipwood Street, it effectively has control of the Owners Corporation, so no one can stop them. A family with two small children renting the fourth apartment have already complained about all the noise, strangers in the block and people barging their way constantly through the common areas with luggage, but are fearful their landlord will choose to evict them and do the same.
When contacted by Fairfax Media, however, the owner of Louisson’s old apartment, Louise Ommundson, a director of custom-made furniture company Evostyle, said she’d received complaints from the people living in the block and had now, as a result, decided to stop it being used for Airbnb.
She said her brother, Cooper, had rented the unit from her and subsequently turned it over to Airbnb. “It’s going to go back to a rental place,” she said. “It isn’t working out with the other residents. I’m not against Airbnb, but that place isn’t the right environment for that sort of thing. It’s caused a lot of anguish.”
At the time of publishing, the apartment was still being advertised on Airbnb.
When Fairfax Media suggested she offer it back to Louisson, Ommundson said: “I hadn’t thought of that but I’d be happy to. He was a good tenant.”
Louisson says he complained to North Sydney Council but nothing had been done.
“It’s actually not legal to turn a residential apartment building effectively into a commercial business, but nothing has happened,” he says.
“You’re not meant to have tenants there for less than three months, but now it’s changing nightly. And you wonder how much money they’ll make on New Year’s Eve.
“I’m just incredibly upset about what happened. I love Kirribilli and imagined I’d be spending the next 10 years there. It’s so peaceful and quiet and yet nearly everything’s within a 10-minute walk. But now it seems it’s just for rich people or for tourists.”
Ironically, under proposals currently before NSW Parliament, North Sydney could soon no longer be able to ban short-term holiday lets such as Airbnb.
Burt, from Neighbours Not Strangers, says the success of Airbnb is the envy of all short-term lease operators who are now all trying to follow suit, too. “We are just leaking housing now, even while everyone debates the lack of affordable housing,” she says. “It’s so distressing on so many levels.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story has been amended to:
– Remove an incorrect reference to eviction in the headline and first paragraph.
– Remove an implied Airbnb rental fee based on three rooms being occupied at the unit and remove remarks by Mr Louisson that assumed three rooms would be occupied. Fairfax Media accepts that the Airbnb advertisement, while showing three rooms with beds, was for a single room for a maximum of three guests.
– Add additional paragraphs of explanation from the landlord who sub-let the unit, Mr Chris Cooper, in paragraphs five, six and seven.
Fairfax Media acknowledges that the original report caused distress to Ms Ommundson and Mr Cooper, and apologises for the errors.
AMD is planning to launch two new graphics cards in the product lineup which include the Radeon R9 280 and the Radeon R7 265. As you may have noticed from the title, both graphics cards would be rebrands and are expected to launch in the upcoming months as reported by VR-Zone.
AMD Readies Radeon R9 280 ‘Tahiti Pro’ and Radeon R7 265 ‘Pitcairn Pro’
AMD has just recently launched their Radeon R7 250X graphics card which is an HD 7770 for $99 US. AMD has kept an effective pricing scheme on their entry level products with several sub-$100 and sub-$200 price range SKUs. The new Radeon R9 280 and Radeon R7 265 are meant to expand AMD’s portfolio of their latest Radeon R200 series which was announced in October 2013.
The Radeon R9 280 would feature the Tahiti Pro core which is fused with 1792 stream processors, 112 TMUs, 32 ROPs. The Tahiti Pro chip consists of 4.313 billion transistors and is based on a 28nm design which is running since the Southern Islands series. The Radeon R9 280 is coupled with a 3 GB GDDR5 memory which runs along a 384-bit interface at a clock speed of 5.0 GHz pumping out 224 GB/s bandwidth. The exact core clock for the card are not known but the card will feature a maximum TDP of 200W. We expect the card to be priced around $249.99 US at launch.
The Radeon R7 265 on the other hand is not part of the Radeon R7 260 series since its based on the Pitcairn Pro while the R7 260 series cards feature the Bonaire core with TrueAudio and DirectX 11.2 support. The Radeon R7 265 will feature the Pitcairn core with 1024 stream processors, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs and 2.8 billion transistors on the chip itself. The Radeon R7 265 would be coupled with 2 GB GDDR5 memory running along a 256-bit interface at a clock speed of 4.8 GHz (effective rate) pumping out a bandwidth of 153.6 GB/s. The R7 265 will have a max TDP of 130W and would be priced at $159 – $149 US.
Update – The Radeon R7 265 will launch tomorrow which makes us believe that the Radeon R9 280 (Non-X) will also arrive within this month.
VR-Zone also has news regarding the Dual-Chip Hawaii based graphics card which according to their sources has entered boot stage and we may see it in June 2014, just around Computex 2014. NVIDIA also has their own Dual-Chip GeForce GTX 790 graphics card planned for launch around the same time which will feature GK110 cores.
AMD Radeon R9 280X AMD Radeon R9 280 AMD Radeon R9 270X AMD Radeon R9 270 AMD Radeon R7 265 AMD Radeon R7 260X AMD Radeon R7 260 GPU Codename Tahiti XT Tahiti Pro Curacao XT Curacao Pro Pitcairn Pro Bonaire XTX Bonaire Pro GPU Process 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm 28nm GPU Shaders 2048 1792 1280 1280 1024 896 768 Transistors 4313 Million 4314 Million 2800 Million 2800 Million 2800 Million 2080 Million 2080 Million ROPs 32 32 32 32 32 16 16 Core Clock 1000 MHz 800 MHz+ 1050 MHz 925 MHz 900 MHz+ 1100 MHz 1000 MHz Boost Clock 1050 MHz N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A VRAM 3 GB GDDR5 3 GB GDDR5 2 GB GDDR5 2 GB GDDR5 2 GB GDDR5 2 GB GDDR5 2 GB GDDR5 Memory Bus 384-bit 384-bit 256-bit 256-bit 256-bit 128-bit 128-bit Memory Bandwidth 288.4 GB/s 224.4 GB/s 179.2 GB/s 179.2 GB/s 153.6 GB/s 104.0 GB/s 104.0 GB/s Memory Clock 6.00 GHz 5.00 GHz 5.60 GHz 5.60 GHz 4.80 GHz 6.50 GHz 6.50 GHz TDP 250W 200W 180W 150W 130W 115W 95W Power Configuration 8+6 Pin 6+6 Pin 6+6-Pin 6-Pin 6-Pin 6-Pin 6-Pin Launch Date 8th October 2013 2014 8th October 2013 2013 13th February 2014 2013 2014 Launch Price $299.99 US $249.99 US? $199.99 US $179.99 US $159.99 US? $139.99 US $109.99 USScientists hope their findings will help detect those teenagers most at risk
But those who reported using cannabis to alleviate their boredom were more likely to go on to try cocaine and
Smoking marijuana when bored increases the likelihood that a teenager will go on to try harder, class A drugs, scientists have warned.
Cannabis is the most prevalent drug in the US, and is licensed for medicinal use in 23 states.
A new study has now revealed that around 70 per cent of the 2.8 million individuals who first used illegal drugs in 2013, reported that marijuana was their first drug.
Researchers identified the different reasons teenagers give for using cannabis, as well as other illicit drugs.
They found students who reported using drugs did so to tackle boredom, to experiment and in a bid to attain insight into taking drugs.
A new study has found that while two thirds of students who smoke cannabis do not go on to try other illicit drugs, those who choose to smoke marijuana to alleviate their boredom are at increased risk of drug use
To examine the links between smoking pot and progressing to harder drugs, including cocaine and heroin, scientists at New York University analysed data from around 130 public and private schools across 48 states.
The results showed that while the two-thirds of teenagers who took cannabis, did not progress to use harder drugs, those who smoked marijuana to alleviate their boredom were at risk.
Approximately 15,000 high school seniors, aged 17 to 18, take part in the annual Monitoring The Future survey.
Researchers focused on those students who reported using cannabis in the previous 12 months.
The study looked at the self-reported use of eight other illicit drugs: powder cocaine, crack, heroin, LSD, other psychedelics, and non-medical use of amphetamines or stimulants, tranquillisers, and narcotics.
Researchers found that using marijuana to alleviate boredom was linked with an increased risk of reporting use of cocaine and hallucinogens, other than LSD.
Almost one in five (19 per cent) of those students using cannabis for insight or understanding and this reason was also positively related to use of hallucinogens other than LSD.
It seems that only a subset of illicit marijuana users is at risk for use of other illicit drugs Dr Joseph Palamar
And, 11 per cent reported using marijuana to increase the effects of other drugs.
Dr Joseph Palamar said: 'Interestingly, we found that using marijuana 'to experiment' decreased risk of reporting use of each of the eight drugs examined before adjusting for other variables.
'The marijuana users in this sample who used to experiment were consistently at low risk for use of non-medical use of prescription narcotics.'
However, Dr Palamar warned this does not mean experimenting with cannabis is a means of preventing further drug use.
Rather, among recent marijuana users, those who say they're merely just trying it are often at low risk for moving on to other drugs, he noted.
Researchers also found infrequent use in the last year, was generally not found to be a risk factor for use of other illegal drugs.
Dr Palamar said: 'It seems that only a subset of illicit marijuana users is at risk for use of other illicit drugs.
Researchers at New York University found that using marijuana to alleviate boredom was linked with an increased risk of reporting use of cocaine
'Most teens who use marijuana don't progress to use of other drugs and we believe this is evidenced in part by the fact that nearly two-thirds of these marijuana-using teens did not report use of any of the other illicit drugs we examined.'
The study highlights the different reasons for marijuana use, and the progression to other illegal drugs.
The researchers hope their findings will help to inform preventative and education efforts, and efforts to identify those teenagers most at risk of drug use.
Dr Palamar said: 'Programmes and education efforts, for example, can benefit from knowing that marijuana users who use because they are bored are more likely to use certain other drugs.
'It may be feasible for prevention programmes to address ways of coping with factors such as boredom in order to decrease risk.'
He added that further research is needed to determine whether legalisation and regulation in states such as Colorado, further remove marijuana from'street' markets, which may contain sources of not just cannabis, but other illicit drugs.Ms Gibson has publicly claimed to have given away 25 per cent of her company's profits and in her book writes that "a large part of everything" earned is donated to various causes. Last year she said $300,000 had already been given to charity but now says these contributions were never made because app sales were not as high as forecast. Ms Gibson was unable to provide a list of organisations that have received money or say how much has been donated to date. She launched her business and her app off her story as a young mother diagnosed with terminal brain cancer who rejected conventional medicine and is healing herself with a healthy diet and lifestyle. The popular app developer gives nutrition advice online and says she has helped countless people dump conventional medicine to treat ailments including cancer. Ms Gibson has run two campaigns purporting to raise money for five charities, but Fairfax Media has confirmed that none has a record of receiving a donation. Four of the organisations, including Melbourne's Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, had no knowledge fundraising drives had taken place. In the first fundraiser, in December 2013, Ms Gibson hosted an exclusive event in St Kilda to raise money for three charities.
Melbourne-based charity One Girl, which runs education programs in Sierra Leone, was promoted as one of the fundraiser's beneficiaries but said repeated attempts to contact The Whole Pantry about the promised donation more than a year after the event had been unsuccessful. Chief executive Chantelle Baxter confirmed Ms Gibson donated $1000 following questions from Fairfax Media. In May, Ms Gibson ran a second fundraiser pledging to donate proceeds from app sales to two charities working in south-east Asia, in which she praised her supporters for raising a further $5000 for the cause. "Don't forget – for every app downloaded until this Sunday, your purchase goes straight to The 2h Project and the Bumi Sehat Foundation to prevent maternal and infant deaths," she said on social media during the campaign. Ms Gibson now says the week-long campaign raised $2800 and that she felt it was not enough to divide between the two organisations. The money, she claimed, was "allocated" to the Bumi Sehat Foundation. A spokeswoman for the Bumi Sehat Foundation said: "I can say with confidence that we have never received a donation from Belle Gibson".
Neither Ms Gibson nor her companies are lawfully registered as fundraisers. Consumer Affairs Victoria said organisations found to misrepresent fundraising events could be in breach of criminal and consumer law. Companies face penalties of up to $28,000, while individuals risk 12 months' jail and a $14,000 fine. Ms Gibson said money from the two fundraisers "sat with the company finances, which were a mess". She also said The Whole Pantry was running at a loss and that profit margins had been overestimated. "We have not yet donated the naive, yet confident amount of $300,000, considering the very quickly [arising] issues with cash flow versus growth, providing content, managing external expectations," she said. Confirmed donations from Ms Gibson and her business total about $7000. "It was with nothing but good intention that we publicised that a percentage of profit from the app will be donated to charity. The intentions always were and still are to give back. The execution of this has obviously been flawed."
She said she intended to support the nominated causes "when the cash-flow management is stabilised". A spokeswoman for one of the charities said: "You don't take charitable funds and put it into the cash flow of your own business". Do you know more? beau.donelly@fairfaxmedia.com.au, nick.toscano@fairfaxmedia.com.auThe pro-NAFTA forces in Washington are escalating efforts to protect the agreement from President Donald Trump, including entertaining the idea of shielding it via some legislative mechanism.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced it will hold weekly events to rally support for the deal, as the country's largest business lobby held an initial such gathering Tuesday at its headquarters across the street from the White House.
Speakers at the event were senators from the president's Republican party. They urged trade supporters to raise their voices to help sway an internal debate within the White House, as Trump considers whether to start the NAFTA cancellation process as a hardball negotiating ploy.
One senator from Kansas dismissed that as a "Humpty Dumpty" strategy — break NAFTA first, attempt to fix it later. Pat Roberts called it an unnecessarily risky move and said he has personally confronted the president three times over his approach to trade, including at a closed-door caucus meeting last week.
He said the president told Republican lawmakers not to get excited over his negotiating ploy, to which Roberts replied: "I am excited."
Roberts said it's imperative that people who believe in trade speak out now to counter the anti-trade impulses in Trump's Washington, echoing a message also delivered at Tuesday's event by his colleague Sen. Ted Cruz.
"Saddle up. Everybody saddle up. We have to ride. Ride with me," Roberts said in a speech.
"We are fighting a pervasive view that our economy has not benefited from NAFTA. That is simply not right. We are coming to a crossroads... These issues affect real jobs, real lives and real people."
Both senators described how their states have benefited from NAFTA. A new document produced by the Congressional Research Service on state-level trade data says Kansas exports about US$750 million in grain products to Mexico, and another $10 million to Canada.
Farming groups have spoken out too, warning that the mere threat to cancel NAFTA could send foreign customers scrambling to find new non-U.S. suppliers.
Roberts briefly addressed the emerging debate about what power Congress might have to block a presidential NAFTA pullout. Trade lawyers say it's unclear whether the president can act unilaterally, and some suggest such a move could wind up at the Supreme Court.
That's because the U.S. Constitution offers contradictory instructions: Its Article One gives Congress power over international trade, and Article Two gives the president power over foreign affairs.
Some analysts like former U.S. trade czar Robert Zoellick have urged Congress to flex its muscles by taking legislative steps to wrest some control away from the White House. Ideas being floated around Washington, for example, include attaching pro-NAFTA clauses to a bill, or passing a bill that would insist on a thorough study of the consequences before any U.S. pullout.
Asked whether his colleagues are discussing such steps, Roberts said it's a possibility: "That might be an option. Right now I think it would be a little early to be doing that... I think we can make our case before the administration," so it doesn't get there.
Cruz said his GOP colleagues are almost universally pro-trade.
"The Republican conference and Senate is virtually united," he told the business crowd. "I want to encourage everyone in this room: Let your voice be heard. Because the administration is being pulled in two different directions."
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has sounded the alarm over what it sees as potentially fatal moves to undermine the agreement by the Trump administration amid negotiations to upgrade the deal.
Those moves include demands by the Trump administration for a five-year termination clause allowing easy cancellation of the agreement; tougher Buy American rules; auto-parts requirements the industry calls impossible to meet; and a gutting of the dispute mechanisms that enforce NAFTA.
"For many in the business and agriculture community, the outlook has shifted over the past month. There's growing concern about the direction of the negotiations," said John Murphy, the chamber's vice-president.
"A number of the proposals that the United States has put on the table have little or no support from the U.S. business and agriculture community. It isn't clear who they're intended to benefit.... (They) will only add costs for business, add to uncertainty, depress investment...
"But I think many in Congress are catching up to those concerns. They're increasingly hearing from their constituents. Threats to withdraw from the agreement are catching attention."
More than 80 agriculture groups wrote to the administration last week urging Trump not to use NAFTA's pullout clause as a negotiating tool. That clause, Article 2205, allows a country to provide six months' notice of its intention to withdraw.
"Withdrawal is looked upon as a potential catastrophe,'' Murphy said. ''So I do think members of Congress are rapidly coming to grips with those concerns, as they're hearing them from their constituents."The illustration shows the following situation. Two mysterious men hide behind a computer screen where the image of a scantily clad woman is displayed. One of the man is showing a picture of a man undressing on a tablet. The other is reaching through the screen, asking for money. The compute user is giving this man a wad of bank notes.
The illustration shows the following situation. Two mysterious men hide behind a computer screen where the image of a scantily clad woman is displayed. One of the man is showing a picture of a man undressing on a tablet. The other is reaching through the screen, asking for money. The compute user is giving this man a wad of bank notes.
Chapter 3 «What do you say we have fun on cam?» Who’s behind all of this?
Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017, around 3 p.m. (France local time). I’ve just uncovered the most important element of the entire investigation. It’s a photo of a group of friends on Facebook, really nothing special. However, this photo, and the comments under it, allow me to finally confirm the identity of one of the men behind the network. Then, like in a movie, a few seconds after having taken a few screengrabs, everything disappears. A dozen of the most popular fake accounts in the network go offline. It’s a total blackout, as if someone knows I’m getting closer to the truth.
Let’s call him “Mehdi.” His name has been popping up in my notes for months. He’s the moderator of a private Facebook group that has more than 600,000 members, and which is often used by the network’s fake profiles to drive traffic. The other moderators of the group are all fake profiles. Everything points to Mehdi. Then, one day, I find this picture from September 2016, where he made a serious mistake. One of Mehdi’s friends publishes a group photo and tags her friends, including Mehdi. I recognize him in the picture. But when I put my mouse cursor on Mehdi’s face, I see that he’s not tagged using his name. His face is tagged to Amandine Ponticaud, one of the biggest fake profiles in the network.
A photo published on Facebook. We see 10 young people, 5 women and 5 men. Their faces are blurred. On the right, we see Pablo and Mehdi, two of the administrators of the network.
In the comments, a guy started making fun of Mehdi. Mehdi answered back. But he did so with Amandine’s profile, not his own. What follows is a flurry of insults between the guy and Mehdi. Mehdi finds a picture of the guy’s mother on his Facebook profile and says he’s going to use it “in his next porno post.” Remember that bait accounts use fake porno links to trap its victims. Tired of the abuse, the guy blocks Amandine’s profile. But then Mehdi jumps back into the fray, this time under the name Léa Pierné – another fake account in the network. The guy blocks this account, and Mehdi comes back again with yet another of the network’s fake profiles, Isabelle Bekaert. It’s clear, then, that Mehdi had, in September 2016 at least, access to these three fake profiles, which are some of the keystones of the network. He even admits to publishing “porno links.” In fact, in the comment section of a July 2017 post by the network, these three same fake profiles were used to give the illusion that people had watched a supposed porno video.
A conversation that took place in the comments section underneath one of the network's posts. Four of the network's fake profiles write that they downloaded the alleged pornographic video linked to by the post.
The Marseille gang Where things become interesting is when we search for Mehdi’s name on Google. Because, you see, he seems to have been doing this for quite some time. His name pops up on video game forums in France. Since 2012, forum users have wanted to get him kicked off Facebook. Why? They said he shares “fake accounts” that publish “pictures stolen from chicks’ accounts.” In July 2012, some users banded together in a systematic campaign to flag Mehdi’s Facebook profile. In these old forum posts, another man is also named, purported to be Mehdi’s partner. We’ll call him “Pablo.” He does seem to be Facebook friends with other people involved in the network. Mehdi and Pablo seem to come from southern France, around the city of Marseille. By snooping a bit, I found two ads – one published by Pablo, the other by Mehdi – published on the listings website Webfrance in April 2015. In both ads, Mehdi and Pablo try to sell the same Facebook page, now defunct, which had, at the time, 280,000 subscribers. A person writes in the comments that they were scammed “three times” by Pablo, who had tried to sell him “fake accounts.” In another ad, Pablo says he wants to “quit social media to concentrate on real life.” He says he’s selling three Facebook pages, with 280,000, 129,000 and 70,000 active subscribers. He uses an email address that includes Mehdi’s name in his ad.
Caught red-handed Here’s where the story takes an unexpected turn. By searching for Pablo’s name on Facebook, I stumble upon a very strange page. It’s in Pablo’s name and uses his face as a profile picture. On July 10, 2013, the page simultaneously published 373 pictures in the same public album, accessible to all. These images seem to be screengrabs from computers and mobile phones. In these screengrabs, we can see the inner workings of a sextortion ring of fake accounts. In this album, we can see pictures of young women, some more explicit than others; anything one would need to, say, create a fake profile to scam men. We can also see statistics of the engagement created by several Facebook pages supposedly belonging to pretty young girls. What’s more, we see a screengrab of a Facebook chat window, where Mehdi asks a friend to make him administrator of a page. “I’m gonna scam a dude and I just told him that I was admin,” he writes. Mehdi gloats a few minutes later that the scam worked. There’s also a screengrab of a PayPal transfer worth 500 euros ($740 CDN). Then come a series of four incriminating screengrabs where we see – beyond doubt – a person carrying out a sextortion scam. It’s the classic setup: make a man believe that he’s talking to a woman so that he gets naked in front of the camera, then take screengrabs of the exchange to blackmail him. n the image, we see a Skype video conversation. The owner of the computer is chatting with a man. This man is naked and masturbating. In the small window which usually shows a Skype user what his chat partner is seeing, we see a nude woman masturbating on a bed.
However, behind the Skype window, we can also see that this user is using a computer program to display pornographic videos on Skype, to give his victim the illusion that he is interacting with a woman. In the background, we can see that this user has at least two videos of the same nude woman, which he can display in his Skype window. I can’t be absolutely certain where these screengrabs come from. It would be very unlikely that someone could manage to fake 373 images to try and make Pablo look bad. Were these screengrabs obtained through a hack? Were they uploaded by mistake by someone working for the network? It’s impossible to know. Still, it would be a curiously improbable coincidence that screengrabs showing the inner workings of a sextortion ring would be published to a Facebook page bearing Pablo’s name, when he seems to be at the center of a network which does exactly that type of activity. Pablo and Mehdi both ignored multiple attempts to contact them. However, my colleague Marie-Eve talked to two (real) young women who had participated in the network’s activities by sharing posts from fake profiles. Both confirmed that the network is used to make money. One of them said that she made 10,000 euros ($14,800 CDN) in a single month by “sharing links on Facebook.” She also claimed that the network was based in France, Spain and Italy. Both women abruptly ended all communication with us after initially agreeing to an interview. Shortly after this, the fake profiles started disappearing. It’s probably no coincidence that the profiles to which Mehdi had access in 2016 disappeared as well. To me, it’s clear that Pablo and Mehdi are not running this network by themselves. What we’re seeing is most likely several different interconnected networks that co-operate to attract a mutually beneficial audience. Another part of the network, based in northern France and Belgium, seems to run a slightly different scheme, using fake profiles to attract men towards Snapchat accounts. These accounts seem to be running a cyberprostitution ring. But that’s a story for another day. With regards to the network run by Pablo and Mehdi, its disappearance – which is probably only temporary – allowed me to better understand its scope. The profiles seem to have been deactivated rather than deleted outright. What’s more, Snapchat accounts related to some of the fake Facebook profiles run by the network have continued sharing fake pornography links, using the same tactic as on Facebook.
« I was alone at home, I made a hot video... Who wants to see it? Slide the screen up. » - Émilie HébertBill Maher interviewed Wikileaks head Julian Assange last night and had one thing on his mind. Maher wanted to know why Wikileaks hasn’t hacked Donald Trump yet. Maher questioned Assange about the ethics of hacking the DNC while Hillary Clinton is the only person standing between Trump and the White House.
“Why don’t you hack into Donald Trump’s tax returns?” Maher asked. Trump has refused to release his tax returns, despite every presidential candidate doing so since the 1970s. Assange implied that Wikileaks may soon have something to publish from the Trump campaign in a ‘watch this space’ moment.
Maher then criticized Wikileaks for encouraging the idea there was a plot against Bernie Sanders. Assange said he ‘knew’ the DNC had plotted to stop Sanders winning the nomination and he was delighted with the resignations the email leak caused.
Maher, a reluctant Clinton supporter, took Assange to task for apparently co-operating with Russia to hurt the Democrats. “It looks like you are working with a bad actor, Russia, to put your thumb on the scale and basically fuck with the one person who stands in the way of us being ruled by Donald Trump.”
You can watch the full interview below.
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TumblrThe next time a bird craps on your car, say thank you. A little poop is a small price to pay to keep from having to fight off insects with wingspans of twenty-eight inches. Find out the evolutionary twists that kept people from having houseflies the size of kittens.
Humans need oxygen to survive. This is generally not such a hardship, although it makes undersea and space travel harder than they need to be. It would be a little harder, though, if the trade-off for being in an oxygenated world was having to bat away the kind of insects that were last seen in the King Kong remake. Before that, they were seen in the late Carboniferous and early Permian eras, roughly 300 million years ago. These flying insects had wingspans between twenty-two and thirty inches wide. Some ate smaller bugs. Some ripped or sucked parts out of larger creatures. None of them were the type of things that you would want to have to shoo away from your potato salad.
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Traditionally, as oxygen levels went up, insects got bigger. Insects don't have lungs that can be pumped full of air. They have tiny breathing tubes scattered around their body, and rely on oxygen that they get through these thin straws. As oxygen levels go up, they can fuel bigger and bigger bodies, and insects get huge. Or at least they did.
The trend towards giant insects got stopped about 150 million years ago. Although oxygen levels in the atmosphere went up, insects got smaller. This is because birds had appeared on the scene. Although far more people recoil from an insect than from a sparrow, the latter is higher up the food chain.
Birds are sturdy, fast, agile, and deadly. And large insects were their easiest prey. Big flying bugs just didn't have the maneuverability they needed to outfly their hunters. They could breathe well enough, but they wouldn't be breathing for long. Since then, birds have been keeping the giant horrifying bug population under control for us. And they've been doing it while being far cuter than the insects. Hopefully, the next evolutionary leap forward will give us something that looks like a baby otter and preys only on spiders, and the world will, once again, be made a better place.
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Via PNAS.Tetris Professional
Posts: 522
Joined: 9-November 10
Tetris ProfessionalPosts: 522Joined: 9-November 10
I think It would fit under "Free lessons with some of our established members for specific help to your game:"
I also accept FB friends to play and help and I have been in touch with tons of people (OK only helped about 20 the rest was just playing 2-3 games and say hi) and I make videos on demand - have done several videos after Ive had comments on how to do different things and I watch TB replays and give pretty in depth comments and advice
I mainly focus on TB now and the people I help are from TB and then converted to nullpo
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlexTelon?feature=mhee
Edit: haha forgot - very nice work with this! - have found a few really good threads thanks to you (just have to read them now ) A bit of selfpromoting - my channel covers a lot on ST stacking. I have several guides on stuff from simpel openings, how to stack in the different areas of the matrix and also just ST gameplay which can be very helpfull to see. Have a video for example where I pretty much go 200lines of ST stacking which shows very stable ST to mimic.I think It would fit under "Free lessons with some of our established members for specific help to your game:"I also accept FB friends to play and help and I have been in touch with tons of people (OK only helped about 20 the rest was just playing 2-3 games and say hi) and I make videos on demand - have done several videos after Ive had comments on how to do different things and I watch TB replays and give pretty in depth comments and adviceI mainly focus on TB now and the people I help are from TB and then converted to nullpoEdit: haha forgot - very nice work with this! - have found a few really good threads thanks to you (just have to read them nowThere are a lot of great family |
2015 at 10:41pm PDT
TAKKYU ISHINO
MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN
HARUNA and TOMOMI are a force to be reckoned with together
HARUNA's deep, sublime and powerful voice, juxtaposed with TOMOMI's sweet and rich voice, is a match made in heaven. To have two distinct yet complementary voices paired together- they have gotten everything right, from the mix of instruments to their individuality down to their vocals, which is undeniably one of the most difficult to nail-this must be why I love SCANDAL so much despite attending their concert for the first time. After all, you can have a remarkable composition, a fitting arrangement and impactful lyrics but the vocals, the human voice, the soul of the music which brings it to life still plays a very quintessential and pivotal role.
"EVERYBODY SAY YEAH! EVERYBODY SAY YEAH!" the crowd echoed frenetically as they leapt into the air in sync with the band member. The ebullient TOMOMI rousing the crowd while MAMI and HARUNA expended every quantum of energy left to play their guitars as best as they could with RINA, drumming home from behind, as buoyant and effervescent as ever. "Do you want to dance?" HARUNA called out to the crowd as electronic beats started pulsating around the coliseum. "Is there going to be some surprise SCANDAL concert after-party or are they going to play a remix?" I did not think to myself. The audience whooped in unison as the throbbing party bass morphed into the drum and guitar intro of "EVERYBODY SAY YEAH!" HARUNA took the lead from the start, playing her guitar with finesse as she sang the first lines of the song. Then, it was she who penned the lyrics to the song and most of SCANDAL's songs, TOMOMI's turn to sing. And it was HARUNA's turn again, and this went on for the first part of the song, just as it had been throughout most of the entire hour-and-forty-five-minutes concert.HARUNA's deep, sublime and powerful voice, juxtaposed with TOMOMI's sweet and rich voice, is a match made in heaven. To have two distinct yet complementary voices paired together- they have gotten everything right, from the mix of instruments to their individuality down to their vocals, which is undeniably one of the most difficult to nail-this must be why I love SCANDAL so much despite attending their concert for the first time. After all, you can have a remarkable composition, a fitting arrangement and impactful lyrics but the vocals, the human voice, the soul of the music which brings it to life still plays a very quintessential and pivotal role."EVERYBODY SAY YEAH! EVERYBODY SAY YEAH!" the crowd echoed frenetically as they leapt into the air in sync with the band member. The ebullient TOMOMI rousing the crowd while MAMI and HARUNA expended every quantum of energy left to play their guitars as best as they could with RINA, drumming home from behind, as buoyant and effervescent as ever.
SCANDAL was in top form all night, delivering a stupendous performance worthy of a world-class act. The intensity and vivacity of the crowd was a living testament to that. Until we meet again, let this not be the final goodbye. "One last time! EVERYBODY SAY YEAH!" It was farewell. It was heartfelt gratitude for an amazing night. They loved each other deeply, they hoped to see each other again. They might be reunited in a year, or maybe two, again. No one knows. Only time will tell (and only your support can make it happen). Nonetheless, this was an unforgettable night and wonderful memories were made. Memories that would be cherished and treasured dearly. As TOMOMI tweeted later, "シンガポール公演、一生の思い出になりそうな予感。 (A feeling that the Singapore performance will be a memory of a lifetime)."
AFTER-SHOW THOUGHTS
SCANDAL posing in front of the concert venue the day before the concert
Time for some thoughts about the concert. Collaborating with me on the concert report this time is Nakitty from Time for some thoughts about the concert. Collaborating with me on the concert report this time isfrom Nakitty Channel, a longtime fan of SCANDAL since 2009. Do head over to his blog too.
Nakitty: It’s been quite some time since I’ve last attended a SCANDAL concert. The last one was their concert held in SCAPE around 2-3 years back. I got my first exposure to SCANDAL when I was introduced to their MV way back in 2009. It’s quite new for me to see an all-female group doing rock songs. And they’re musically talented too! The members themselves composed most of the songs, notably their bassist TOMOMI. They pen their own lyrics and also have the looks and charm to boot. They kind of rubbed onto me and got my first taste of their live performance during AFA 2009.
WIDE SONG APPEAL
Coming into my first concert and having some knowledge on the team's background, history and songs, I felt that this concert was a pretty excellent one, appealing to both old and new fans alike with a mix of older fan favourites such as "DOLL" and "Shunkan Sentimental", to songs from the new album for the most die-hard fans who listen to every single, be it A-side, B-side or unreleased and even, recent popular singles of last year such as "image" and "Departure". From what I gathered from some of the fans, the setlist for this concert was definitely more balanced compared to that of the ENCORE SHOW concert two years back, which featured many lesser-heard B-side singles. If given a chance, I would definitely return for a Scandal concert again. As I had gushed plenty about OLDCODEX in my previous post on Lantis Festival, rock never dies and J-ROCK is the best there is! Add to that the fact that SCANDAL's girls are alluring and very much likable and we have a clear winner for Best Rock Group here.
A little while ago.☀️ Why? #SINGAPORE #SCANDALWorldTour A photo posted by SCANDAL (@scandal_band_official) on May 7, 2015 at 10:52pm PDT
Nakitty: For this concert, they played some classics such as Shunkan Sentimental, DOLL and SCANDAL BABY. They included songs from their Hello World album too! A first for this concert was that each member took turns to sing solos. And Rina Suzuki (my own personal fave member!) took a reprieve from the drums and played the guitar! Crowd interaction was there. DOLL is most fun performance as it's the only one you can twirl your towels in the air. A sea of lightsticks illuminated the venue and fans were notably high on the music being dished out. VIP fans who attended the hi-touch event, gave good response. There's a difference in atmosphere for this concert. Perhaps due to HARUNA interacting with the crowd in English. And during their performance of
Yoake no Ryuuseigun Yoake no Ryuuseigun Yoake no Ryuuseigun, fireworks were found shooting in the sky nearby. Though they were very likely fireworks for another event altogether, it does complement the song well. For this concert, they played some classics such as Shunkan Sentimental, DOLL and SCANDAL BABY. They included songs from their Hello World album too! A first for this concert was that each member took turns to sing solos. And Rina Suzuki (my own personal fave member!) took a reprieve from the drums and played the guitar! Crowd interaction was there. DOLL is most fun performance as it's the only one you can twirl your towels in the air. A sea of lightsticks illuminated the venue and fans were notably high on the music being dished out. VIP fans who attended the hi-touch event, gave good response. There's a difference in atmosphere for this concert. Perhaps due to HARUNA interacting with the crowd in English. And during their performance ofYoake no Ryuuseigun, fireworks were found shooting in the sky nearby. Though they were very likely fireworks for another event altogether, it does complement the song well.
ALMOST THERE
My sole gripe and what I gathered from several other concertgoers was that the sound system did not do justice to SCANDAL's fantastic performance. Some concertgoers were dissatisfied with the sound system as it was "sub-par for such a world-class venue" and that the sound was too muffled for the song lyrics or MC segments to be heard. In addition, feedback was received that there was poor instrument separation and the guitars, drums and bass could not be distinguished clearly over the speakers. Personally, I felt that the night started off slightly weak, but gained traction as discernible adjustments were made over time. The sound was overly loud and sharp in the early stages, with TOMOMI's naturally high voice approaching ear-piercing levels. As "love in action" played on, the sound quality picked up and I found myself enjoying SCANDAL's performance of "DOLL".
If the technical and perhaps, venue-dependent issue, could be resolved well, the concert would be an impeccably executed and flawless one.
Nakitty: Due to the venue, there was some sound feedback but that did not deter the crowd from enjoying the good music.The only sad part that I’ve still yet to hear them perform Namida No Regret live. But otherwise, the concert is different from the others due to the solos sung.
THE GIRLS
🍴🍜Dinner in SINGAPORE. #SCANDALWorldTour A photo posted by SCANDAL (@scandal_band_official) on May 7, 2015 at 7:19am PDT
TOMOMI and MAMI shared most of the vocals for the night. As mentioned earlier, I like how they alternated between HARUNA's smooth vocals and TOMOMI's cuter, sharper vocals. TOMOMI was really happy, smiling, waving, jumping and looking into the crowd all night. I was also perpetually leaping into the air from where I was standing at the back and I wonder if she could see me. I thought she looked in my direction a couple of times. RINA was as cute as ever, playing the drums with her best, it wasn't easy but she sure did a great job. I could not really see MAMI from where I was standing (had to jump to catch a glimpse of her standing at the far right of the stage) but nevertheless, she played the guitar with great finesse and HARUNA was the ever charismatic leader of the group.
cafe. #SINGAPORE #SCANDALWorldTour A photo posted by SCANDAL (@scandal_band_official) on May 8, 2015 at 12:52am PDT
Nakitty: Each member has their own charm points. HARUNA (lead guitarist) improved her usage of the English language this time. She still has it in her to rally the crowd around. MAMI (guitarist) has the aura of attraction. She can show off her skills on the guitar! Though there was a part when MAMI forgot part of her lyrics, all is fine as she still can enchant the crowd. Based on accounts from the crowd, Mami was known to be charming during the post-concert Hi-touch event. TOMOMI (bassist) or Timo as her fans affectionately call her, has a unique voice. There was quite a legion of Timo fans too. During the introduction, she greeted the crowd with a tinge of singlish with “thank you lah”. Lastly RINA (drummer), ahhhh she’s such a cutie there. As mentioned earlier, her talents were not just restricted to the drums, she went down to do her solo with the guitar too.
VENUE-WISE
I feel that The Coliseum is an appropriate venue for medium to large standing crowds. Even though I was standing at the back with a few other members of the media, we could still see the girls on stage from a distance and if we wanted an even better view, from an angle as the coliseum is shaped in a circle so no one gets blocked from the back, unlike a typical rectangular/square set-up. It was also sheltered overhead but open at the sides. Wind was blowing in and it felt pretty breezy, chilly and relaxing. Concertgoers could relax at the back if needed and the venue was not hot and stuffy.
NEW SINGLES AND ALBUM FOR 2015? As with standing concerts, in order to get the best view, one would have to purchase VIP tickets and get to the venue really early to queue and get front-standing positions. Those who are able to secure them deserve so because admission is strictly and fairly on a first-come-first-serve basis after all. If one is not such a hardcore fan, the middle to even the back rows have a pretty decent view and the tickets are more affordably priced too. It is not bad for trying out or experimenting with bands for the first time and for those who want to have some breathing space.
Looking at past trends, SCANDAL tends to release at least 3 singles and an album per year, with the first single dropping around March to May. With mid-May fast approaching and June around the corner, we should see SCANDAL announcing a new single, their first of 2015 in the coming weeks. The song has reportedly been performed in the
Looking at past trends, SCANDAL tends to release at least 3 singles and an album per year, with the first single dropping around March to May. With mid-May fast approaching and June around the corner, we should see SCANDAL announcing a new single, their first of 2015 in the coming weeks. The song has reportedly been performed in the Japan leg of their world tour. Do look out for it despite their jam-packed schedule for their 「HELLO WORLD」 World Tour, their heaviest tour to date, having already completed a staggering 31 concerts in Japan and 4 on their world tour with 6 more concerts to go in USA, Taiwan, Mexico and Hong Kong. In fact, I am guessing those lucky fans in the stops after Taiwan will get to hear them perform their new single live.
That sums up XDantheManX Online's coverage of the SCANDAL WORLD TOUR 2015 [HELLO WORLD] in Singapore. Thank you for hanging in there with us. We hope that you have enjoyed reading our coverage and see you again at the next event!
COMING UP NEXT IN THE JAPAN MUSIC FESTIVAL
If you haven't heard already, four-time AFA alumnus LiSA will be performing her first solo concert, LiVE is Smile Always on Sat, 18 July at the Resorts World Theatre, Resorts World Sentosa. VIP tickets are sold out but if you haven't grabbed your tickets, CAT 2 tickets are still going for $98.
It was time for the final set. The last songs. "This is a song is very special to us. Departure." As the girls plucked their guitars on stage and RINA drummed with all her might, it dawned upon the audience that the concert was nearing its end but it was not time yet. Another wave of ecstasy gushed over the concertgoers and everyone was in high spirits, soaking in the lively atmosphere, which spilled over into "Taiyou Kimi ga Egaku Story 太陽と君が描くSTORY". The moment of intimacy with the crowd really took off with "Yoake no Ryuuseigun 夜明けの流星群", the hit theme song to last year's Pokemon movie, as everyone mouthed "Oh oh oh oh Oh oh oh oh" in unison as they waved their hands and lightsticks in the air. In what was the most serendipitous highlight of the night, perfectly-timed fireworks set the night sky alight in synergy with the chorus, much to the delight and awe of the concertgoers. It happened to be so that Resorts World Sentosa has a fireworks display taking place at the same time every weekend.Having checked the setlists of previous stops on their world tour, I knew there was going to be an encore. Sure enough, the fans were roaring for an encore once the girls left the stage. The question was what was going to be the first song of the encore. They had played "Awanai Tsumori no, Genki dene 会わないつもりの、元気でね" for their live at O2 Academy and "Shoujo S 少女S" for Paris so it was almost confirmed that they were going to play another all-time fan favourite from their vast repertoire of songs, or so we thought. Nakitty, who is a contributing writer on the concert report, thought that it might be "Shoujo S" as Singapore has a huge anisong following and I was secretly hoping that it would be "Pinheel Surfer ピンヒールサーファー" because it was such a catchy song. We waited and waited and when the girls returned to take the stage, it turned out to be... "Rainy".Rainy!? Yes, SCANDAL pulled off a complete surprise on us by playing a B-side track from their Departure single. I was caught off guard, being a casual SCANDAL listener and having spent the last week absorbing myself in their best singles, hoping that they would play them. Granted, it was a pretty decent rock anthem which was well-received by many of the concertgoers. In fact, I came to discover after the concert that SCANDAL had subtly teased playing the song as they had filmed themselves enjoying Singapore's thunderstorm earlier in the day and were going on about how the weather in Singapore is hot yet so amazing throughout the concert. "Does this happen usually?" they had asked about the storm and the crowd responded in affirmation with no attempt at concealing their white lie. Kudos to those who had figured out which song they were going to play in advance while the both of us were discussing cluelessly.Where Jokes Go To Die, And Other Observations From Comic John Oliver
Enlarge this image toggle caption Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Comedy Central Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Comedy Central
British comedian John Oliver made a name for himself as a correspondent for Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where he spent his time lampooning the media and the politicians on it.
Now, as sometimes happens with an actual star reporter, Oliver has his own show. It's called Last Week Tonight and it premieres Sunday on HBO.
He joins NPR Steve Inskeep to discuss mocking the U.S. with an English accent and why the White House Correspondents' Dinner is where jokes go to die.
Interview Highlights
On Daily Show segments in which he seems to get genuinely angry about a story
I think if there's real anger, it's provoked. Anger cannot be your default setting 'cause it's draining to perform and it's draining to watch. But there are some times that what you're talking about is so frustrating that the whole day has been a process of trying to channel that anger into something funny.
On whether his jokes would still be funny without his English accent
Well, let's hope so, because that's basically been my business model for a decade.... I'm telling you, the kryptonite is if the jokes I tell — if you see them written down, that is no good.... I am exposed in script form.
On whether he feels the need to differentiate himself from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report
For sure. You know, if a story happens early in the week and they cover it, we probably won't touch it. So, I think we'll end up looking slightly off the regular radar.
On whether it ever feels strange to mock the U.S. as someone who isn't from here
I don't think so. I mean, I've lived here for nearly eight years now, and I love it here, and, you know, I've married an American.... And also, I think sometimes it helps to have a slight outsider's voice in comedy, whatever that voice is. And as it happens, my voice sounds like I don't belong here. Or at least, I haven't belonged here post-1770.
On whether an outsider's perspective is good for journalism
It would be if journalists were more outsider than they were, but there is a coziness. You see something like the warmth of response... at the White House Correspondents' Dinner [where] everyone is so comfortable being in the same room as people that they are supposed to be the check and balance on. If the system worked right, you would think that would be the most excruciatingly awkward room to be in, and it's pretty comfy and that comfort is a problem.
On whether he would accept an invitation to perform at the White House Correspondents' Dinner
Oh, definitely.... Of course, because as a comedian you're attracted to sometimes doing the things that are the most difficult. That room is not a good room for comedy. The people in it and the way it's laid out — that is where jokes go to die. But the challenge — when you see something like the speech that Stephen Colbert gave, when he did it, is just — it's a master class in comedy.
On what concerns him about America's engagement with its wars
You know, this comes from — I have a slightly closer perspective on this because I married an Iraq war veteran, and this does not feel like a country at war.
And I went to Afghanistan to do a USO tour for a couple of weeks... and it was a fantastic experience, but the disconnect between America and what we are asking young Americans to do is incredible. I honestly think if you ask people in this country whether we were at war, lots of them would forget.Our editor’s pick of this week’s 10 best psychology and neuroscience links:
Psychology’s Favorite Tool for Measuring Racism Isn’t Up to the Job
Almost two decades after its introduction, the implicit association test has failed to deliver on its lofty promises. By Jesse Singal for New York’s Science of Us.
BPS Response to Theresa May’s Speech on Mental Health
Professor Peter Kinderman, the President of the British Psychological Society, has welcomed Theresa May’s pledge to introduce new measures to improve mental health care.
Do 1 In 4 People Really Have A Mental Illness Right Now?
Theresa May says a quarter of Britons suffer from mental health problems at any given time. But it’s really not clear where that number comes from. By Tom Chivers for Buzz Feed.
The Voices in Our Heads: Why Do People Talk To Themselves And When Does It Become a Problem?
By Jerome Groopman for the New Yorker.
What Scientific Term or Concept Ought to be More Widely Known?
As usual, many psychologists contributed answers to the annual Edge question.
Why Are We So Attached To Our Things?
I scripted a TED-Ed lesson on the psychology of ownership. The animation is by Avi Ofer.
Neuroscience: The Risks of Reading The Brain
Russell Poldrack reviews a new book by Barbara Sahakian and Research Digest contributor Julia Gottwald: Sex, Lies, and Brain Scans: How fMRI Reveals What Really Goes on in our Minds.
Cognitive Science Suggests Trump Makes Us More Accepting Of The Morally Outrageous
By Joshua Knobe for Vox. But sadly, cognitive science doesn’t yet have a remedy.
Are You A Giver Or A Taker?
Newly posted TED talk: In every workplace, there are three basic kinds of people: givers, takers and matchers. Organizational psychologist Adam Grant breaks down these personalities and offers simple strategies to promote a culture of generosity and keep self-serving employees from taking more than their share.
Op-Ed The Futility of Gender-neutral Parenting
By Debra Soh for the LA Times. Soh is a sex writer and sexual neuroscientist at York University in Toronto.
—
Christian Jarrett (@Psych_Writer) is Editor of BPS Research DigestA half-decade after the financial crash, with Wall Street's ruinous misdeeds receding into the past, it might seem like the world of investment banking has been practically absolved of its sins.
Bankers themselves have certainly done their best to encourage the impression that they've repented: Bonuses are down. New standards were (grudgingly) implemented. Even their once-extravagant holiday parties have been scaled back to human levels of decadence.
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But in a remarkable scene toward the end of Kevin Roose's new book, "Young Money," the banking world's bad behavior is once again cast in sharp relief. In it, Roose describes how he sneaked his way into a lavish gathering of Wall Street's most exclusive secret society, Kappa Beta Phi. Among the gathered horde of investment-banking executives and private-equity moguls -- "If you had dropped a bomb on the roof, global finance as we know it might have ceased to exist " -- poor taste was as bountiful as top-shelf champagne. Over the course of the proceedings (which Roose first wrote about for the New York Times in 2012) the attendees casually traded jokes laced with sexism and homophobia, and evinced an startling elitism that would make even Uncle Pennybags blush. By all appearances, these people had learned almost nothing from the (very recent) past.
Which gets at a larger point: While much has changed since 2008, the leadership at the top of the financial pyramid remains largely the same, ensconced in the protective armor of its staggering wealth. But what about the next generation of Wall Street leaders? Will they turn out exactly like their predecessors?
In the course of writing "Young Money," Roose spent three years following the career development of eight recent Wall Street hires, from the moment they were first introduced into the crucible of high finance. Along the way, as Roose documents with both candor and empathy, their mettle and their principles were repeatedly put to the test. Many of these young people, once the crush of Wall Street's torturous work schedule sank in, evan began questioning the value of the industry into which they had enlisted.
Last week, I spoke with Roose about the major generational shift that's shaken the foundations of investment banking, and solicited his forecast for the future of the industry. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I think a lot of people right now associate working on Wall Street with an environment along the lines of "The Wolf of Wall Street." But one of the first things that struck me about your book was how life for a young banker is in many ways exactly the opposite of that. Were you surprised?
I had the same impression you had. I thought Wall Street was all cocaine and strippers and million-dollar bonuses. It turns out not to be the case at all for the people who are on the young end of it. It’s still a place where people make good money: As a 23-year-old you can make more than $100,000 straight out of college. But the culture is much more subdued now. I think most of it has to do with the crash of 2008 and what happened after that: Regulation began to be implemented, and profits fell, and banks became much more austere places.
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Young bankers sort of bore the brunt of that. They work these insane hours and they are tasked with some of the most boring, menial work you can imagine. I don’t think they would have the time to go and get drunk even if they wanted to. There’s a thing called the “banker’s nine-to-five,” where you work from 9 a.m. until 5 a.m. the next morning. That’s something [young bankers] all talk about having done at some point in their career.
So you’re right. It’s very much not a "Wolf of Wall Street" culture anymore. In some ways it’s a lot less fun, and a lot more hard work in an unforgiving work environment.
Speaking of the "banker's nine-to-five," there’s actually been something like a national conversation recently about the insane hours that young bankers are working. The New Yorker, for example, published an article last month about how, from an empirical standpoint, working people that hard is just not productive, because efficiency goes down substantially after a certain number of hours worked. But it seems like there's been a lot of resistance in the financial world to changing anything about the way work is structured. Why is that?
Well, in the reporting that I did, and the people that I talked to, I came away with two answers to the question of why these guys are put through such a crucible.
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The first is that these banks are essentially client service businesses. So, if your client is Coca-Cola,and you’re Goldman Sachs, and Coca-Cola needs a spreadsheet changed at 3 a.m. on Christmas morning, it’s your job to do that. So banks actually need to be staffed by hundreds of young people who can jump into action at any moment. The second part, and the thing that I was surprised by: A lot of the young bankers that I talked to sort of took pride in the hours that they worked, in a way to separate themselves from people in other industries.
There’s a thing called “misery poker” where they compare their work loads: One guy will say, "I’m staffed on three deals and I pulled four all-nighters last week"; and the next guy will go, "Oh, that’s nothing, I pulled six all-nighters last week.” So there’s really a sort of status symbol in the amount you work. And for the firm it’s also useful because you’re trying to find out from your young analysts who is real Wall Street material. One of the ways you can do that is by pushing them all to the brink and seeing who sinks and who swims.
I should also say that this is terrifying in a way. These are the people who are managing our 401Ks and overseeing these million-dollar transactions. And on the bottom level, the real work is being done by these young people who are getting two hours sleep a night. So I think that should give us a lot of pause, as people who consume the products that these banks offer.
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Some of the people you followed seemed to really push back at that culture, to resent this system that was working them into the ground. Is that kind of resistance becoming more common? Especially after the financial crash and Occupy Wall Street, are young bankers thinking more critically about the places where they’re working?
The culture definitely doesn’t go unquestioned. All of the eight young bankers I followed questioned, at some point, the culture of the institution. But, more to your point, that sort of the work environment has become much less widely tolerated because bankers are looking out to Silicon Valley -- where people wear jeans to work, and work relatively normal hours, and are making a ton of money. And they say, "Well, if they can do that, why do I have to stay here in the office in my suit until 4 a.m.?"
And I think for a lot of them it comes down to … well, all workplace politics is local, so for a lot of the people I followed, the banking schedule really took a toll on their personal lives. I followed people whose girlfriend or boyfriends broke up with them because they were never available or were always canceling dinner at the last minute because they got called back to work. So for a lot of them, I think it’s that stuff, more than the big picture of morality, that ends up pushing them out of the industry. It’s just a miserable way to spend your first two years out of college.
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You mention how, in the years directly preceding the financial crisis, students from elite colleges were flocking at a ridiculous rate to investment banks. Princeton one year sent 40 percent of its graduates into finance. But as you noted, that's started to change. And what I'm wondering is, do you think that pressure could force Wall Street to make even bigger changes to how it does business? Or, when things start getting good again, will they just go back to the way things were before?
Well, to the second part of your question: Things have already gotten good for the banks themselves. Stocks are high, profits are recovering, and these banks are no longer in the existential-crisis mode. But I think they do have a recruiting problem, and I think the problem is that the next generation just isn’t all that interested in investment banking. It’s not the sort of indicator of status that it once was. One of the people I followed told me that the new status jobs aren’t at Goldman Sachs, they’re at Google and Apple and Facebook. So if you’re a Princeton graduate or a Yale graduate or a Harvard graduate trying to figure out what’s going to set you up for success, you’re actually more likely now to go out to Silicon Valley or do Teach for America, or something else like that, than you are to go to Wall Street. It provides a much more pleasant experience.
I think that’s a good thing. It makes me hopeful that there are more choices today, that if you go to one of these schools that tend to feed people to Wall Street, it’s no longer the case that all of your friends are going into finance, or all of your friends are going into consulting. There are many more options available to people now. And I think the rest of the economy is going to be stronger for that.
One of the areas where, from reading your book, I didn’t necessarily see a whole lot of progress was in terms of racial and gender politics. One of the people you followed, for example, was a young black man who was subtly made to feel very conscious about his race. Another of them went to an advocacy event for women on Wall Street, and found herself disillusioned about the industry's progress. In both of those cases there didn’t seem to be a lot of forward momentum. How big of a problem is that? And what will it actually take for Wall Street to become more inclusive?
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I absolutely think it’s a problem, and it’s a pervasive problem.
There are no female CEOs on Wall Street. If you look at the management committees of these big banks, they are dominated by white men. I think it’s getting better. But it’s not just Wall Street. If you look at the Fortune 500, it’s largely white males running those companies too. I do think Wall Street has a special role and a special duty to make themselves as egalitarian as possible -- and I think they’re trying to do that -- but they keep making all these, sort of, dumb mistakes. Just recently, Goldman Sachs was doing an event at Harvard for female computer programmers, and the gifts they gave out at the conference were nail files and vanity mirrors.
I think part of what the young bankers I followed were struggling with is that in some ways Wall Street still carries remnants of its "old boy" culture. And you can chip away at that, but it takes a while.
The central conflict of your book seemed to be the collision of young bankers' idealism and optimism with that "old boy" culture, and the difficulty your subjects had in reconciling the two. What happens when they can't? Are these kids you followed around, who seemed very fresh and optimistic at first, are they going to eventually end up just as cynical as the people who came before them?
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You know, before I started writing this book I was very pessimistic. I thought, the markets will recover, the firms will live, and it will all go back to business as usual. But after spending three years with these young bankers, I feel much more optimistic. Even the bankers who are staying in finance and who still work in the industry, they think about their work much more holistically than the people who came before them. It’s not just Gordon Gekko, and "greed is good." "Let’s make as much as we can." They actually want to, sort of, do something to improve the world. For a lot of people on Wall Street, especially young people, there’s a new sort of moral fabric that didn’t exist before.
It’s certainly not night and day. There are still people doing crooked things on Wall Street. I’m sure there will still be insider trading and accounting fraud and all manner of wrongdoing. That hasn’t changed. But I think that the industry now has been forced to look in the mirror and say: "Do we want to keep being hated? Do we want to keep causing misery in people’s lives? Or do we want to do the things that banks used to do, um, giving people loans and financing deals and making the grinding gears of capitalism run?"
I doubt any of the young people I followed will end of being the, sort of, tone-deaf fat cats that we see today. You never know, but I’m hopeful.Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump highlighted an awkward moment on the tarmac as President Obama landed in China over the weekend, saying "it's a sign of such disrespect." "If that were me, I would say, you know what, folks, I respect you a lot but close the doors, let's get out of here," he said. (Reuters)
Donald Trump said Monday that he would have left the G-20 summit in China over a logistical flap that left President Obama disembarking Air Force One onto a plain metal staircase.
The president’s subdued arrival on Saturday afternoon, from a secondary exit on the presidential plane, stood in contrast to other world leaders who departed their planes onto red-carpeted stairs — and some, including Trump, perceived it as a snub by Chinese officials.
1 of 56 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × What Obama is doing on his final trip to Asia as president View Photos President Obama travels to China for three days to attend the Group of 20 economic summit and then a first presidential visit to Laos. Caption President Obama travels to China for three days to attend the Group of 20 economic summit and then a first presidential visit to Laos. Sept. 8, 2016 President Obama speaks to the media during a news conference at the landmark Mekong Riverside Hotel in Vientiane, Laos. Nyein Chan Naing/European Pressphoto Agency Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
“They won't even give him stairs, proper stairs to get out of the airplane. You see that? They have pictures of other leaders who are … coming down with a beautiful red carpet. And Obama is coming down a metal staircase,” Trumps said Monday at the beginning of a roundtable with labor leaders in Brook Park, Ohio.
“I’ve got to tell you, if that were me, I would say, |
can. The seaweed is optional but adds additional vitamins and minerals. The teff or amaranth seeds thicken the soup and add a little protein. Cilantro is incredibly cleansing, but it can overwhelm the soup. Use as much as you prefer.Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) fired a group of Democratic staffers right before Christmas.
Schumer fired almost all the staffers in the Senate Democrats’ internal video department, the Senate Democratic Media Center, to make room for a new digital operation focusing on viral social media content, Politico reported.
“On Friday, December 16, 2016, my colleagues and I in the Senate Democratic Media Center were informed by the incoming Democratic Leaders office that our services were no longer needed,” said one staffer in a goodbye email to other Democratic staffers.
Sources said that more than a half-dozen people were fired.
The media center employs eight people, according to data from LegiStorm.
The firings come as Democrats have dealt with the turmoil of being without a chairman for the Democratic National Committee and losing both the White House and the Senate majority. Democrats have been left without a leader or messenger as a result.
Schumer intends to set up a more buzzy, viral video department to get out the party’s message on social media.
He’s already started hiring new staff for the media operation and he expects to have a full bench of staffers by January.
“The mission of the revamped SDMC will be to produce more content to make content more creative and catchy, and to do so faster than we’ve been able to in the past,” a senior Democratic aide told Fox News.Image caption The BPI says blocking sites helps protect the revenue streams needed to create new music
The High Court has ordered the UK's major internet service providers to block three websites offering links to pirated material.
The ISPs must stop their users from accessing Kickass Torrents, H33T and Fenopy.
Music industry group the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) said the sites infringed copyright on a "significant scale".
Opponents have argued that blocking sites in this way was ineffective.
The block follows a similar ruling last year involving The Pirate Bay, a much larger site founded in Sweden.
Data seen by the BBC suggested that the blocking of The Pirate Bay had only had a short-term effect on the level of pirate activity online - with levels of peer-to-peer sharing returning to normal soon after.
However, a recent report from market research firm NPD suggested that there had been a large reduction in the number of users illegally downloading music, with fans instead favouring legal options like streaming site Spotify.
Speaking of Thursday's decision, BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said: "The growth of digital music in the UK is held back by a raft of illegal businesses commercially exploiting music online without permission.
"Blocking illegal sites helps ensure that the legal digital market can grow and labels can continue to sign and develop new talent."
Loz Kaye, the leader of Pirate Party UK, which had offered UK users a workaround for the ban on The Pirate Bay, said the BPI was "out of control".
"The British music industry has nothing positive to show from their site blocks and personal legal threats," he said.
"Looking at sales figures from 2012, you can't draw the conclusion that stopping access to the Pirate Bay did anything to help artists.
"The UK has now handed the power over what we see on the internet to corporate lobbyists."MacroSolve is a company that got a lot of (generally negative) attention when it turned full-blown "patent troll" in 2011, suing dozens of companies (including small app development shops) over patent No. 7,822,816, which it claims covers using questionnaires on a mobile app.
Now, a coalition of defendants led by Newegg and Geico Insurance has stopped MacroSolve in its tracks. MacroSolve has dismissed all remaining cases, and it has admitted that it can't proceed to go forward with a trial that was scheduled to take place this June in East Texas.
MacroSolve was able to "extort over $4M from over 60 defendants," Newegg Chief Legal Officer Lee Cheng wrote in a victory e-mail to his coalition. Last year, Newegg began to organize the final group of MacroSolve defendants, urging them to band together and stop paying MacroSolve, which was generally demanding between $50,000 to $100,000 to settle a lawsuit. (Those demands are on the low side for patent troll settlements; five-figure settlements are considered to be in the "nuisance" range.)
In addition, Geico Insurance filed an ex parte reexam against the MacroSolve patent. That move paid off, and all claims were rejected on March 7. A couple of weeks later, MacroSolve started dismissing defendants.
"MacroSolve is now trading at a smidge above $0.01 per share," noted Cheng in his e-mail to allies, which he shared with Ars. "Why those asshats continue to trade at ANY value, I do not know. The world would be a better place without them and their advantage-taking ways. Please continue to support efforts to bring symmetry to patent law, legislatively, administratively, in the courts, and in the court of public opinion."
Newegg has a reputation for taking a hard line against companies it views as patent trolls. The company fought and won a lengthy battle over a patent on an electronic "shopping cart," and it has defeated Alcatel-Lucent and Kelora. Last fall, it experienced a setback when it lost a trial against a TQP Development, which has sued more than 100 websites for using common encryption technology. Newegg was ordered to pay $2.3 million. Cheng has vowed to fight that outcome in the appellate courts.
Strength through unity
In an interview with Ars, Cheng explained how the MacroSolve case went down.
MacroSolve is publicly traded, a "zombie-troll" that once had a product but has long since stopped being able to earn its living in the market. After looking at the company's financials, Cheng and his advisors saw that the company was not highly capitalized. MacroSolve had about $800,000 on hand and looked to be burning through about $50,000 a month, not including payments to its lawyers. It didn't have the resources to push through a trial, perhaps not even enough for discovery and claim construction. The company was pulling in one or two settlements each month, and most of the proceeds immediately went to legal expenses or were distributed to stockholders. Interrupting the stream of settlements would "severely impact MacroSolve’s ability to continue abusively asserting the ’816 patent," explained an internal defense strategy document that was distributed to MacroSolve defendants.
"People just had to start saying no," said Cheng. "It was very frustrating that people kept writing checks for $50,000. Every single person keeled over before they hit us and Geico."
Cheng encouraged the remaining defendants to band together into a joint defense group, keep their expenses low, and stop paying. Meanwhile, Geico filed an ex parte reexam, one of two challenges to MacroSolve at the patent office.
Cheng's "stop feeding the trolls" pitch didn't meet with 100 percent success, but it worked well enough. MacroSolve financial filings and court documents show that most of the companies in the final batch of targets did not settle. The holdouts included Chipotle, Kayak, HBO, Meetup.com, Mediafire, Carlson Hotels, and Five Guys Burgers. (Yes, MacroSolve wrote another chapter in the ignominious history of patent trolls suing burger joints.)
MacroSolve had wanted Newegg out of the case. "Last year, they offered to walk away," said Cheng. "But they were quite insistent that we give up our right to seek fees. We said, 'Sorry guys, this is part of our strategy. People like you do not get to sue Newegg without consequence.'"
As promised, Newegg filed a motion last week seeking about $27,000 in costs from MacroSolve. It has also filed a motion for legal fees, which will be harder to win. That motion is under seal. Cheng told Ars the litigation against MacroSolve cost Newegg about $450,000.
MacroSolve CEO: “If you enforce your rights, you’re a troll”
"It's just an advertisement." That's how MacroSolve CEO Jim McGill described the Newegg press release and blog post about the case. "We had a claim rejection at the patent office, and we have until May to respond to it," McGill said in an interview with Ars. "But they've claimed victory, and they're doing their victory lap."
MacroSolve's most recent public financial statements inform its investors that its patent is unenforceable. Its litigations have been dismissed. Even if it does emerge victorious in the patent office, it will have to start up its patent-lawsuit engines from the beginning.
"We've dismissed all the outstanding suits," acknowledged McGill. "But that doesn't mean we won't come back later. It would be acting in bad faith to go to trial in June when we've had a rejection from the patent office."
He objected to Newegg's labeling him a patent troll, despite the fact that the company's own financial filings show that it earns 97 percent of its revenue from patent lawsuits. "MacroSolve has been around since 1996," said McGill. It sold Illume Mobile, a division with non-patent operations, in 2012. "We were at the first Palm developer conference. We built up and sold three divisions of our company, and we've got another division we're building up right now. But as soon as we started enforcing our patent rights, people want to come along and holler 'patent troll.' If you enforce your rights, you're a troll. If you don't, big companies will walk all over you."
But even McGill's description of the operating "part" of his company doesn't hold up. Illume Mobile was indeed sold to DecisionPoint in 2012 for $1 million in cash and stock—but that sale was pursuant to a patent lawsuit settlement.
In other words, the one customer McGill could point to was one he had sued.
McGill demurred when asked if his patent was a patent on filling out forms, but he then gave his own broad description of the technology: "It involves the first app for collecting information."
If that sounds broad, it is. Back when MacroSolve was working on its technology, "you couldn't go to a Web page and fill out a form, because the connectivity was so bad," said McGill. "It's a unique patent."
It's also mystifying how MacroSolve acquired it. The patent's priority date is 2002, but there's nothing special about HTML forms on the Web that substantially pre-dated that year. And of course, electronic forms have been gathered and stored in non-networked databases for decades.
In his declaration, McGill explained to the office the ways he believed MacroSolve had improved on the state of the art. MacroSolve, which in better days had partnerships with Sprint and Palm, had innovated "the use of tokenizing to accommodate limited bandwidth... and questionnaire updating," said McGill. He claimed that MacroSolve advanced the idea of "device independence so the same questionnaire can be executed on multiple types of devices" and "the ability to incrementally update the questionnaire."
McGill also disclosed to the USPTO the total earnings from the patent campaign: $4.6 million in payments from 63 different companies.Bedaquiline, a'miracle drug' for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and extensively-drug resistant TB will be available from Monday at select public hospitals in India.
According to a leading daily, the treatment has been rolled out under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme and is part of co-ordinated programme between the government and Johnson & Johnson.
Initially, the drug will be available in six public hospitals across the country.
Also read Prevalance rate of Tuberculosis down, but diabetes cases on the rise
Sanjiv Navangul, MD of Janssen India, the pharma arm of Johnson & Johnson which has manufactured the drug, told the daily, "We are ready with the roll-out of the drug through the government-run control programme, for which 600 patients will be enrolled across the country, over the next six to nine months, after the required tests. Upon the review of clinical data after two years, the access programme will be expanded nationwide."
Though the cost of the drug has not yet been decided, Navangul said that the company will be flexible about pricing as the drug is not about revenue for the company.
However, the report said that Janssen is believed to be offering the drug through a tiered-pricing structure, for example $3,000 in middle-income countries and $900 in low-income countries.
In 2014, over two lakh people died due to Tuberculosis in India, the highest in the world.
As per World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2015, for the year 2014, deaths due to TB were estimated in India to be 2,20,000 which is higher than any other country.OBETZ, Ohio – The Columbus Crew have already confirmed that the club has beaten the Sept. 15 MLS roster freeze deadline with the addition of Austrian defender Emanuel Pogatetz.
But at training Monday, Gregg Berhalter hinted that another deal could be in the works as well.
“We’re active, and we’re looking for the right guy,” the Crew head coach and sporting director said. “We have guys identified.”
The Crew still have the top spot in the allocation order. And with rumors of former Sporting Kansas City forward Kei Kamara returning to the league, where he would be subject to that process, Berhalter admitted that the club is thinking of bringing in the former Middlesbrough man.
“We’ve looked into it,” Berhalter said. “He’s an interesting player.”
It seems that Berhalter and the Crew have done their Kamara research.
“We see him as a guy that can play number nine, he can play on the wing, he can score,” Berhalter said. “If you look at his goals in the last three years in MLS, it’s pretty good. There are not many guys who have more goals than him. So we like him. We think he’s a good player.”
Kamara wouldn’t be able to play for an MLS club this season because he was under contract with Middlesbrough after the MLS transfer window closed on Aug. 6, but Berhalter said using the allocation spot to acquire Kamara for the future would still be worth it.
Get the latest Columbus news at TheCrew.com
“What’s the alternative?” he said. “The alternative is maybe moving that spot or other guys. So [bringing in Kamara] is one alternative that we think is a good option.”
Berhalter said that other clubs have contacted the Crew about potentially moving into that spot, but he once again reiterated that any deal in MLS involving acquiring a player has plenty of nuance.
“These deals don’t happen easily, and you’ve got to put a lot of effort and work into them to get them done,” he said. “But we’re working. And I think the most important thing is bringing in the right individual.”Regular aerobic exercise improves blood flow to the brain and speeds learning process, says a new study.
The study led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is the first to examine these relationships in a non-human primate model. The finding is available in the journal Neuroscience.
While there is ample evidence of the beneficial effects of exercise on cognition in other animal models, such as the rat, it has been unclear whether the same holds true for people, said senior author Judy L. Cameron, Ph.D., a psychiatry professor at Pitt School of Medicine and a senior scientist at the Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health and Science University. Testing the hypothesis in monkeys can provide information that is more comparable to human physiology.
"We found that monkeys who exercised regularly at an intensity that would improve fitness in middle-aged people learned to do tests of cognitive function faster and had greater blood volume in the brain's motor cortex than their sedentary counterparts," Dr Cameron said. "This suggests people who exercise are getting similar benefits."
To reach the conclusion, researchers trained adult female cynomolgus monkeys to run on a human-sized treadmill at 80 percent of their individual maximal aerobic capacity for one hour each day, five days per week, for five months. Another group of monkeys remained sedentary, meaning they sat on the immobile treadmill, for a comparable time. Half of the runners went through a three-month sedentary period after the exercise period. In all groups, half of the monkeys were middle aged (10 to 12 years old) and the others were more mature (15 to 17 years old). Initially, the middle-aged monkeys were in better shape than their older counterparts, but with exercise, all the runners became more fit.
During the fifth week of exercise training, standardized cognitive testing was initiated and then performed five days per week until week 24. In a preliminary task, the monkeys learned that by lifting a cover off a small well in the testing tray, they could have the food reward that lay within it. In a spatial delay task, a researcher placed a food reward in one of two wells and covered both wells in full view of the monkey. A screen was lowered to block the animal's view for a second, and then raised again. If the monkey displaced the correct cover, she got the treat. After reliably succeeding at this task, monkeys that correctly moved the designated one of two different objects placed over side-by-side wells got the food reward that lay within it.
"Monkeys that exercised learned to remove the well covers twice as quickly as control animals," Dr. Cameron said. "Also, they were more engaged in the tasks and made more attempts to get the rewards, but they also made more mistakes."
She noted that later in the testing period, learning rate and performance was similar among the groups, which could mean that practice at the task will eventually overshadow the impact of exercise on cognitive function.
When the researchers examined tissue samples from the brain's motor cortex, they found that mature monkeys that ran had greater vascular volume than middle-aged runners or sedentary animals. But those blood flow changes reversed in monkeys that were sedentary after exercising for five months.
"These findings indicate that aerobic exercise at the recommended levels can have meaningful, beneficial effects on the brain," Dr. Cameron said. "It supports the notion that working out is good for people in many, many ways."1 3.0 Production Schedule Report 1 3.0 Production Schedule Report
2 Our schedule for the next Star Citizen Alpha releases, up to date. 2 Our schedule for the next Star Citizen Alpha releases, up to date.
3 Welcome, 3 Welcome,
4 4
5 Below you will find the latest roadmap for the development of the Star Citizen Persistent Universe. While the bulk of this schedule outlines our tasks and estimates that you can expect to find in the upcoming 3.0.0 patch (as well as some of the tasks that we’ve already completed), we are also including projections for the remainder of the year so you can have some visibility into the upcoming Persistent Universe features and content. These are the very same schedules we update daily and circulate internally on our intra-studio hand-offs with a few exceptions: the individual developer names assigned to the tasks will be omitted (for obvious reasons), we’ll remove the JIRA details, and we’ll modify the technical wording to make it readable for a wider audience. 5 Below you will find the latest roadmap for the development of the Star Citizen Persistent Universe. While the bulk of this schedule outlines our tasks and estimates that you can expect to find in the upcoming 3.0.0 patch (as well as some of the tasks that we’ve already completed), we are also including projections for the remainder of the year so you can have some visibility into the upcoming Persistent Universe features and content. These are the very same schedules we update daily and circulate internally on our intra-studio hand-offs with a few exceptions: the individual developer names assigned to the tasks will be omitted (for obvious reasons), we’ll remove the JIRA details, and we’ll modify the technical wording to make it readable for a wider audience.
6 6
7 Also note, this schedule does not represent everything CIG is working on, but more the functionality and content we feel comfortable committing to at this time. Outside of the work on Squadron 42, we have a few research projects that, once validated, we would move into production and add to this schedule. Otherwise, when something changes, slips or is completed, you will know. 7 Also note, this schedule does not represent everything CIG is working on, but more the functionality and content we feel comfortable committing to at this time. Outside of the work on Squadron 42, we have a few research projects that, once validated, we would move into production and add to this schedule. Otherwise, when something changes, slips or is completed, you will know.
8 8
9 What you are seeing here is the result of our scheduling and planning process. We have a high level feature and content set that we want to achieve for Star Citizen and Squadron 42. The first step is to break these features into higher level tasks with which we populate Microsoft Project, JIRA and Shotgun (the three tools we use for project scheduling and tasking). Then, as we approach a task, Production works with the relevant developer(s) to make sure the task is broken up with enough detail to allow completion. Sometimes this means adjusting the initial task estimate, as things tend to come into a clearer focus when coming up on a task, but it almost always means breaking down the big task into a bunch of smaller tasks that have their own individual sub tasks that possibly are distributed to multiple developers. 9 What you are seeing here is the result of our scheduling and planning process. We have a high level feature and content set that we want to achieve for Star Citizen and Squadron 42. The first step is to break these features into higher level tasks with which we populate Microsoft Project, JIRA and Shotgun (the three tools we use for project scheduling and tasking). Then, as we approach a task, Production works with the relevant developer(s) to make sure the task is broken up with enough detail to allow completion. Sometimes this means adjusting the initial task estimate, as things tend to come into a clearer focus when coming up on a task, but it almost always means breaking down the big task into a bunch of smaller tasks that have their own individual sub tasks that possibly are distributed to multiple developers.
10 10
11 Both tasks and sub-tasks get created in JIRA, linked under an Epic (which is a high level task or feature) and are then pulled into Microsoft Project to manage with granular detail providing us global visibility through Gantt charts and visual timelines. No developer works on a task unless it has been created in JIRA, prioritized and assigned by a lead or a member of the Production Team. 11 Both tasks and sub-tasks get created in JIRA, linked under an Epic (which is a high level task or feature) and are then pulled into Microsoft Project to manage with granular detail providing us global visibility through Gantt charts and visual timelines. No developer works on a task unless it has been created in JIRA, prioritized and assigned by a lead or a member of the Production Team.
12 12
13 Then as the developers work on the tasks, Production will adjust the schedule and JIRA tickets to reflect the work being done. 13 Then as the developers work on the tasks, Production will adjust the schedule and JIRA tickets to reflect the work being done.
14 14
15 In the schedule below, you will first find a master schedule that covers the broad departments/disciplines that are being developed. Each department will then have its own dedicated sub-schedule, briefly explaining the various features that are being developed and their current status. 15 In the schedule below, you will first find a master schedule that covers the broad departments/disciplines that are being developed. Each department will then have its own dedicated sub-schedule, briefly explaining the various features that are being developed and their current status.
16 CAVEATS 16 CAVEATS
17 17
18 But also, we would like to establish some ground rules before proceeding: 18 But also, we would like to establish some ground rules before proceeding:
19 19
20 I.Quality will always be our number one goal. We set out on this journey by looking at the gaming landscape and asking: can we do better? We continue to ask that question about everything we do. As a result, we will ALWAYS extend timelines or re-do features and content if we do not feel they are up to our standards. The freedom to fight for a new level of quality in game development is what crowd funding has allowed us, and we will continue to fight to make sure Star Citizen is the best possible game it can be. 20 I.Quality will always be our number one goal. We set out on this journey by looking at the gaming landscape and asking: can we do better? We continue to ask that question about everything we do. As a result, we will ALWAYS extend timelines or re-do features and content if we do not feel they are up to our standards. The freedom to fight for a new level of quality in game development is what crowd funding has allowed us, and we will continue to fight to make sure Star Citizen is the best possible game it can be.
21 21
22 II.The estimates we provide are just that: estimates. They are based on our knowledge and experience, but there are many aspects of game development that are impossible to predict because they literally cover uncharted territory. You will see the same estimates we use in our internal planning, but it is important to understand that in many cases (especially with groundbreaking engineering tasks) these estimates are often subject to change due to unforeseen complexity in implementing features. 22 II.The estimates we provide are just that: estimates. They are based on our knowledge and experience, but there are many aspects of game development that are impossible to predict because they literally cover uncharted territory. You will see the same estimates we use in our internal planning, but it is important to understand that in many cases (especially with groundbreaking engineering tasks) these estimates are often subject to change due to unforeseen complexity in implementing features.
23 23
24 III.The time expected for bug fixing and polishing is also very hard to estimate, increasingly so in online and multiplayer situations. The complexity and the difficulty in testing at a large scale make it harder to reproduce and isolate bugs in order to fix them. We base our estimates, again, on our experience, but we also know that it’s possible for a single bug to cause a delay of days or weeks when a hundred others might be fixed instantly. 24 III.The time expected for bug fixing and polishing is also very hard to estimate, increasingly so in online and multiplayer situations. The complexity and the difficulty in testing at a large scale make it harder to reproduce and isolate bugs in order to fix them. We base our estimates, again, on our experience, but we also know that it’s possible for a single bug to cause a delay of days or weeks when a hundred others might be fixed instantly.
25 25
26 IV.Internal schedules, the ones you will now be privy to, tend to have aggressive dates to help the team focus and scope their tasks, especially in the case of tech development. Every team, even a team blessed with the kind of support and freedom you have allowed us, needs target dates in order to focus and deliver their work. 26 IV.Internal schedules, the ones you will now be privy to, tend to have aggressive dates to help the team focus and scope their tasks, especially in the case of tech development. Every team, even a team blessed with the kind of support and freedom you have allowed us, needs target dates in order to focus and deliver their work.
27 27
28 V.This schedule doesn’t cover everything being worked on across Cloud Imperium Games, but is meant to highlight our aims for the remainder of the year on the Persistent Universe. 28 V.This schedule doesn’t cover everything being worked on across Cloud Imperium Games, but is meant to highlight our aims for the remainder of the year on the Persistent Universe.
29 29
30 VI.This schedule doesn’t include every audio, vfx, tech art, etc. task. Those are detailed in our departmental sub-schedules. 30 VI.This schedule doesn’t include every audio, vfx, tech art, etc. task. Those are detailed in our departmental sub-schedules.
31 31
32 VIIAlthough technology is shared between the two games, this does not reflect the Squadron 42 schedule. That will be released at a future date. 32 VIIAlthough technology is shared between the two games, this does not reflect the Squadron 42 schedule. That will be released at a future date.
33 33
34 VIII.These aim dates are determined based on our current staff. Additional hiring will potentially allow us to bring in some dates below. 34 VIII.These aim dates are determined based on our current staff. Additional hiring will potentially allow us to bring in some dates below.
35 WELCOME TO THE PROCESS 35 WELCOME TO THE PROCESS
36 36
37 The community has always been integral to Star Citizen, so we will be updating this page weekly to keep you informed about our development. We hope that this page will not only help explain our latest status, but also provide some explanations in the event that updates are delayed. 37 The community has always been integral to Star Citizen, so we will be updating this page weekly to keep you informed about our development. We hope that this page will not only help explain our latest status, but also provide some explanations in the event that updates are delayed.
38 38
39 Last update : July 21st, 2017 39 Last update : July 28th, 2017
40 40
41 3.0.0 Overview 41 3.0.0 Overview
42 42
43 The following lists and charts show our progress towards releasing 3.0.0, with all remaining major tasks listed. 3.0.0 marks the next major step forward in realizing the vision of the Star Citizen Persistent Universe. As you’ll see from the sections below, there’s a lot of new content and underlying tech being worked on for this release which will enhance the experience of our players. 43 The following lists and charts show our progress towards releasing 3.0.0, with all remaining major tasks listed.
44 44 Tasks are either feature complete, or have an ETA for completion.
45 Tasks are either feature complete, or have an ETA for completion. It’s important to remember that some tasks may require further QA, bug-fixing and iteration. Tasks that delay beyond our target dates might cause the release of 3.0.0 to be delayed, or might be excluded from 3.0.0 if appropriate to maintain the release date target. 3.0.0 work is separated into Subsections: Persistent Universe Content, FPS / Space Gameplay, Engineering, UI, AI, Graphics, Backend, Network, and Ships & Weapons. 45 Some tasks may require further QA, bug-fixing and iteration.
46 46 Tasks that delay beyond our target dates might cause the release of 3.0.0 to be delayed, or might be excluded from 3.0.0 if appropriate to maintain the release date target. 3.0.0 work is separated into Subsections: Persistent Universe Content, FPS / Space Gameplay, Engineering, UI, AI, Graphics, Backend, Network, and Ships & Weapons.The 3.0.0 Procedural Planet update marks a major advance in the Star Citizen Persistent Universe.
47 Since our last update, the team has been busy addressing the feedback from our ongoing Directors reviews. With the various systems being implemented and tested, we’ve discovered a handful of new bugs that have required additional focus. 47 This week, we entered the optimization, polish and bug fixing phase for the 3.0 feature set. As there have been so many features and content implemented, we’ve encountered some stability issues that we want to address before going to a wider test audience. The ongoing work on the new Patcher system (that will save you from having to completely re-download each build) and some new bugs with CopyBuild3 (our internal version of the patcher) have also slowed us down. Because of this we have pushed back the Evocati and subsequent date ranges to reflect the additional time needed to get Star Citizen Alpha 3.0 ready for prime time.
48 48
49 Planetary Update 49 Planetary Update
50 50
51 Yela 51 Yela
52 52
53 Yela is the most frigid of the Crusader moons. Those bold (or careless) enough to step outside without a spacesuit will be killed instantly by its freezing temperatures. If the cold doesn’t kill you, than any of the treacherous crevasses that crisscross the planet might. Cyrovolcanos have been known to erupt unexpectedly from such crevasses, so be wary when flying at low altitudes. Despite all its danger, there is much beauty to be found on Yela, like the underwater caves hidden beneath the moon’s crust. 53 Yela is the most frigid of the Crusader moons. Those bold (or careless) enough to step outside without a spacesuit will be killed instantly by its freezing temperatures. If the cold doesn’t kill you, then any of the treacherous crevasses that crisscross the planet might. Cyrovolcanos have been known to erupt unexpectedly from such crevasses, so be wary when flying at low altitudes. Despite all its danger, there is much beauty to be found on Yela, like the underwater caves hidden beneath the moon’s crust.
54 54
55 Cellin 55 Cellin
56 56
57 57
58 58
59 Burning with volcanic activity, Cellin is the counter to her icy sister. Although the volcanoes have been dormant for hundreds of years, the surface is dotted with thermal geysers that erupt without notice. The largest of such geysers can destroy heavy vehicles. Highly corrosive clouds of gas are regularly released from the moon’s surface, creating low visibility and damaging anything caught outside. 59 Burning with volcanic activity, Cellin is the counter to her icy sister. Although the volcanoes have been dormant for hundreds of years, the surface is dotted with thermal geysers that erupt without notice. The largest of such geysers can destroy heavy vehicles. Highly corrosive clouds of gas are regularly released from the moon’s surface, creating low visibility and damaging anything caught outside.
60 60
61 Daymar 61 Daymar
62 62
63 Daymar’s surface is like a harmonic blend of Yela and Cellin. It’s mountainous surface is reminiscent of Cellin’s volcanoes, while its craters share a warm likeness to Yela’s frozen crevessases. Known for its dense atmosphere, thick fog and a loose dirt surface makes travel difficult. Lightning storms can help illuminate the fog, just don’t get struck by their flash. 63 Daymar’s surface is like a harmonic blend of Yela and Cellin. It’s mountainous surface is reminiscent of Cellin’s volcanoes, while its craters share a warm likeness to Yela’s frozen crevessases. Known for its dense atmosphere, thick fog and a loose dirt surface makes travel difficult. Lightning storms can help illuminate the fog, just don’t get struck by their flash.
64 64
65 Remaining Aims for 3.0.0 Release 65 Remaining Aims for 3.0.0 Release
66 Persistent Universe Content 66 Persistent Universe Content
67 67
68 Moons 68 Moons
69 69
70 We are adding 3 new moons to the Crusader system; Yela, Cellin, and Daymar. 70 We are adding 3 new moons to the Crusader system; Yela, Cellin, and Daymar.
71 Feature Complete 71 Feature Complete
72 72
73 Surface Outposts 73 Surface Outposts
74 74
75 The new moons will also have outposts on their surface to explore. 75 The new moons will also have outposts on their surface to explore.
76 Feature Complete 76 Feature Complete
77 77
78 Surface Outposts Lighting 78 Surface Outposts Lighting
79 79
80 Feature Complete 80 Feature Complete
81 81
82 Mission Givers 82 Mission Givers
83 83
84 We’re introducing Miles Eckhart (first seen in the Gamescom video) and Ruto to provide missions to players. 84 We’re introducing Miles Eckhart (first seen in the Gamescom video) and Ruto to provide missions to players.
85 The estimate for the mission givers has been pushed back due to some animations requiring rework and newly discovered code dependencies. 85 The estimate for the mission givers has been pushed back due to some animations requiring rework and newly discovered code dependencies.
86 ETA is 28th July (was 14th July) 86 ETA is 11th August (was 28th July)-some code dependencies are still present and animation rework is still in progress
87 87
88 Basic Derelict Ships 88 Basic Derelict Ships
89 89
90 Feature Complete 90 Feature Complete
91 91
92 Inhabited Derelict Ship Sites 92 Inhabited Derelict Ship Sites
93 93
94 Feature Complete 94 Feature Complete
95 95
96 Debris Fields 96 Debris Fields
97 97
98 Feature Complete 98 Feature Complete
99 99
100 Delamar / Levski 100 Delamar / Levski
101 101
102 We are adding the planet Delamar and the landing zone, Levski 102 We are adding the planet Delamar and the landing zone, Levski
103 There is some remaining shop kiosk implementation to be completed for 3.0.0 resulting in a slight delay. 103 There is some remaining shop kiosk implementation to be completed for 3.0.0 resulting in a slight delay.
104 ETA is 28th July (was 14th July) 104 Shop kiosk implementation – Code complete
105 105
106 Already complete in the 3.0.0 branch: 106 Already complete in the 3.0.0 branch:
107 107
108 Modular Room System for procedural generation of planetary outposts 108 Modular Room System for procedural generation of planetary outposts
109 Official Outpost Spawning System ready for mission designers 109 Official Outpost Spawning System ready for mission designers
110 Integrated Outpost distribution to PlanetEd 110 Integrated Outpost distribution to PlanetEd
111 Single outpost Object Preset 111 Single outpost Object Preset
112 Cluster of Outposts 112 Cluster of Outposts
113 Crash site mission |
.
Also worth noting the role Rodney Wallace played right there, and on Diego Valeri's goal against Seattle in the second leg:
Wallace originally won his starting role for the Timbers because he offered penetration on the left flank. As he's gotten more comfortable his responsibilities have grown, and he understands now that if you come at him, he can put the ball into space for a teammate.
That's the defining principle of how Porter has his team attack. Forget positions, formations or anything else: It's all about getting into space at pace.
We knew Valeri would be excellent at it, and Darlington Nagbe as well, but Wallace's ascent -- first as a goalscorer, but now as a chance creator -- has lifted the Timbers to a higher level. There are just too many options out there for most teams to handle.
One more, for fun:
If RSL are spending a lot of time stopping attacks that look like this, they're going to be in trouble. Chris Schuler and Nat Borchers both did great emergency defensive work against LA, but the Timbers are executing through the middle and into the final third with a ruthlessness and precision that the Galaxy couldn't match.
Make the central defense defend on the back foot
Easier said than done, of course. But it needs to be done by RSL to open up time and space for their attackers -- especially Javier Morales, who has struggled somewhat over the last couple of months.
Robbie Findley has been excellent at this, and changed the shape of the series against LA.
In the first leg, which the Galaxy won 1-0, here are Omar Gonzalez's defensive interventions before Findley came onto the field:
And here's what Gonzalez's night looked like when he had to chase Findley:
RSL can't let Futty Danso and Pa Modou-Kah get that much leeway to step into the middle and block lanes, or -- worse -- physically dominate smaller, quicker attackers. Everything has to be crisp, and diagonal runs have to be happening all the time.
Here, Danso has to come way up the field and to the sideline to track Obafemi Martins, who slips a little pass inside to Eddie Johnson:
Portland's defensive rotation was good, but EJ had to do more there. And Devon Sandoval -- who should get the start in place of the injured Alvaro Saborio -- has to do more Sunday night.
One last little note:
Set pieces. RSL annihiliated the Timbers on restarts back in August, and Seattle scored two of their three goals against Portland last week from long throw-ins. Watch for that Sunday, and in two weeks.As a man who battled with and sometimes beat Max Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Antonio Giovinazzi in F3 a few years ago, you could forgive DTM title contender Lucas Auer for being slightly envious about the way Formula 1 doors opened up for his former rivals.
But, as he prepares for his own maiden F1 outing with Force India at the post-Hungarian Grand Prix test, Auer has no complaints about the way his career has developed.
Instead, talking about his former rivals, Auer says he takes encouragement for what they have done, as he hopes an impressive job for Force India next month will open up further F1 opportunities for himself.
In fact, as he knuckles down for a DTM title assault, Auer is being tipped as someone who could have what it takes to make that F1 switch – and follow in the footsteps of Ocon, Pascal Wehrlein and Paul di Resta.
“To be honest, it is incredible,” Auer told Motorsport.com when asked about the growing interest around him.
“In motorsport you go from hero to loser in three months, and you go from loser to hero in three months. It is just crazy this motorsport world because things can change so quickly.
“In my first year in DTM I had to learn, as everybody saw Pascal had to do as well, and it is very difficult for a young guy. Last year being with a customer team and winning a race, that was my breakthrough.”
That win, at the Lausitzring for Mucke Motorsport, showed the progress that Auer had made as a driver since his switch from F3.
And it was a no-brainer for Mercedes to keep him on board as part of its consolidated HWA works outfit this year, while more experienced hands like Dani Juncadella and Christian Vietoris were left out in the cold.
Auer’s two wins so far this campaign, which leave him two points adrift of points leader Mattias Ekstrom, have put him on the radar of Mercedes and F1 teams – which is what has triggered the Force India run.
“This year I had a pretty good start to the season and, as the youngest DTM driver and with teams looking for somebody, Force India with the Mercedes engine fitted very well,” he said. “I had a great start, and had a couple of contacts, so people are looking at supporting some young guns.
“And you can imagine for me it is a childhood dream come true. When I started out as 4-5 years old in karting, my eyes were only on F1. But after F3, it changed for me. I got an opportunity from Mercedes to drive in DTM.
“I am very happy there and it is a great championship, but of course to get now this test and an opportunity to drive an F1 car is amazing and of course I am excited – especially to be doing it with a top team like Force India.”
But the test is not just about fun for Auer – for he is an ambitious youngster who learned plenty during that epic 2014 Euro F3 campaign against Ocon and Verstappen.
“Of course I have big respect for those two – and I raced with Esteban also in DTM,” he said. “They were always impressive.
"Of course sometimes you look back to the F3 races and you think you overtook this guy and won this race…. But anyway, everything happens for a reason. I went to DTM, so let’s keep on working and then see what is possible.”
It is Ocon though who perhaps provides Auer with the biggest encouragement about what is possible. The Frenchman had a season in DTM and got an F1 opportunity thanks to backing from Mercedes – and showing so strongly for Force India during test sessions.
Auer added: “It is no secret that if you impress in those tests, this is a good plus point for you and your career. Esteban did a great job there, so it was right to sign him up.
“Pascal and Paul [di Resta] also showed it is possible to go from touring cars to F1, but for me it is quite early. I have to be happy I get a test, and it is also an opportunity to do well.
“Let’s see what else will happen. But first you have to do a pretty impressive job in DTM to get somewhere else.”
Auer has certainly come on a long way since his F3 days, although he feels that the development has been more in his off-track approach to the job than behind the wheel.
“For sure my driving got better but when it comes to the DTM there are other factors too. For the first time you get money, you get security, and you work with manufacturers like Mercedes – which is very big – and I think for a young guy, I learned really a lot.
“Especially about how to behave, how important it is to work well in a big team. From this perspective I learned a lot. My driving got better, more consistent and when it counts I am there.
“It is also about how to behave in a big team, who are the important people, who I need to speak a lot. What I have learned is massive and not comparable to two or three years ago.”
It is perhaps why this Force India test has come at the perfect time.
“At the moment I have the feeling it is a one-off but it is also an opportunity,” said Auer.
“Most important for me, because it is a childhood dream, is to enjoy every second and try to perform well, work hard and give the team the impression that you are able to drive the car, able to develop the car. After that, we will see what happens.”Denim from Japan has a reputation among denim enthusiasts as being the best in the world and for good reason. While it doesn’t have nearly as long of a history, Japanese denim is known for its premium construction and the skilled, artisanal craft required to make it. Here we’ll explore the relatively short but significant history of Japanese denim to discover how it earned the reputation it has today and debunk a few myths along the way. Take a look below for the full story.
To understand why Japanese denim is significantly better than other types of denim we must first understand how denim is constructed and what makes some denim more sought after than others. Denim is a cotton twill textile in which the weft (the transverse thread) passes under 2 or more warp threads (the longitudinal threads). Indigo denim, the type of denim people think of when they think of jeans, dyes only the warp or longitudinal threads. If you look closely at a pair of jeans you’ll notice the weft or transverse threads maintain their white color as do the inside of a pair of jeans. Most denim made today uses synthetic dye which is cheaper and contains less impurities than natural dye, while premium denim often uses natural dye.
The other important trait in denim’s quality is the cloth the denim is made from. Selvage or selvedge, from the phase “self-edge”, refers to the natural end of a roll of fabric which, when made into a pair of jeans, prevents unraveling of the material. The cost of producing selvage denim is more expensive since it can only be woven at a width of 31″, about half the width of non-selvage denim, and is woven on old looms requiring more skill and adeptness. This leads to a tighter, denser weave along with various imperfections. Selvage denim is usually woven together with a signature red stripe although green, white, brown, and yellow are not so uncommon.
The combination of these characteristics gives each pair a distinctive composition that only becomes more unique over time. True denim enthusiasts are known to go months or even years before washing their jeans for the first time as the first wash creates the characteristic fades and creases unique to each wearer.
Most fabric was woven on slow, inefficient machines until the world’s 11th biggest company, Toyota Motor Corporation, came along and set our gaze toward the future. Before Toyota was rolling out the world’s best selling cars, they were producing textile looms under the name Toyoda Automatic Loom Works (yes, with a “d”). The company’s founder, Sakichi Toyoda, introduced the Model G Automatic selvage loom featuring new innovations like the ability to change shuttles without stopping among a range of other improvements which lead to a 20-fold increase in productivity compared to other looms in use at the time. It would be a few decades before the machines were used to create denim but for now they were an impressive and significant development toward what lay ahead.
Up until World War II, jeans had been the garment of choice for the working class and American GIs when they were off duty. After the war, jeans became a symbol of youth rebellion when James Dean was filmed wearing a pair in the iconic 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause. American culture and vintage clothing quickly became a fascination among Japanese youth with the most entrepreneurially-minded importing classic American jeans to sell for top dollar. This high demand in combination with the culture’s obsession and search for perfection caused jean production to take off in Japan, mostly in the town of Kojima located in the Okayama Prefecture.
Kojima had always been a hotbed for textile production thus it only made sense to produce the first pair of jeans in Kojima at Kurabo Mills, one of the world’s longest operating mills now running over 110 years. These jeans were produced on those previously mentioned Toyoda machines from American-made denim in April 1965 under the Canton Brand by Maruo Clothing. In 1967, BIG JOHN jeans were produced alongside Canton jeans and were made of denim from Cone Mills, the same mill that provided Levi’s with their unmistakable denim. While the jeans were successful, the Japanese still craved a pair made from their own selvage denim.
In 1972, after 8 tries, Kurabo finally managed to produce Japan’s first ever selvage denim aptly titled the KD-8, for Kurabo Denim 8. Now, all the pieces were in place for Japan to introduce to the world what would later become a global phenomenon.
One year later, in 1973, those pieces came together.
The “M” series, produced by BIG JOHN of Kurabo KD-8 denim, became Japan’s first pair of jeans made entirely by their fellow countrymen. What followed was a revolution in jean production lead by the same people who were at the forefront of the vintage craze.
Since then, denim from Japan has become renowned for perfecting those 2 defining qualities jeans were originally made from: being woven on an old loom to produce selvage fabric and for using natural dye. Of course not all Japanese denim is created equally and there’s plenty of variation among different factories, manufacturers, and pairs of jeans. Still, denim heads in Japan already knew the true value of a perfectly made pair of jeans but it wasn’t until the explosion in luxury denim in the late 90s that the rest of the world began to take notice of this quietly growing art form.
One of the first on the premium denim scene was Hidehiko Yamane, the founder of Evisu, who, along with creating some of the world’s first premium denim, may have spread the common misconception of Japanese denim manufacturers buying the types of looms used to make Levi’s since he himself owned one. Using the methods of his predecessors, Yamane was able to create 14 pairs of selvage jeans a day on old looms along with hand-painted seagull symbols which have since become iconic. Originally done as an homage to Levi’s classic 1944 501 xx, the brand took off and gained him a cult following among those in the streetwear scene. Evisu quickly earned the reputation of being the best of the best in denim and was soon able to sell each pair for over $100 – the first denim brand to do so.
Other brands continued to experiment with selvage denim in search of the perfect pair while the global luxury denim market blew up. Japan Blue Group, based in Kojima of course, was already known for its premium denim in Japan and soon began selling to the world’s biggest luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci among many others. Soon every fashion house in the world had a line of Japanese denim jeans. In order not to stray from their own love and respect for jeans, Japan Blue created the label Momotaro Jeans.
Photography: Nordic Denim House
Momotaro’s G001-T Gold Label jeans are perhaps the pinnacle of denim artistry. Priced at roughly $2,000, the jeans are made entirely by hand and dyed using natural indigo from the indigofera tinctoria plant. This process goes against what most denim heads look for in a pair of jeans in that the jeans don’t fade since the dye penetrates the core of the cotton. In fact, they often get darker with age. Woven by hand on a loom that used to weave Kimono silks, the denim itself takes up to 8 hours for every 3 feet of material. The fastening button is made of silver and silk lines the back of each pair. Once finished, the jeans are washed in Seto Sea water. Each pair can take up to a year to produce and even becomes a community event with locals involved in each pair’s creation. Many would scoff at the idea of paying $2,000 for a pair of jeans while denim enthusiasts find the price reasonable considering the years of tradition, training, craft, and skill involved in creating each unique pair.
In short, Japan’s obsession in recreating the American jeans they crazed over led Japanese denim manufacturers to become the world’s best in terms of knowledge and production. From then on it was only a matter of time before the rest of the world caught on to the craftwork behind Japanese denim. Now, the jeans market is saturated with Japanese denim leading to a dizzying amount of “Made in Japan” jeans. Although it’s often difficult to find out the exact origins of a pair of jeans, it’s best to do some research beforehand to ensure you get what you’re looking for. Classic brands are always a sure bet but there are plenty of new ones too that have the same passion and respect for jean making as those that came before them.
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Words by Brock Cardiner Director of Content Strategy Brock Cardiner is Highsnobiety's Director of Content Strategy. He oversees Highsnobiety's editorial approach across platforms & mediums. Brock splits his time between Berlin, Los Angeles and New York.Stefano Rellandini / Reuters file U.S. Postal Service Team rider Lance Armstrong of the United States, the first six-time winner of the Tour de France cycling classic, waves in 2004 as he cycles past a U.S. flag during the rider's parade on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Updated 3:45 p.m. ET: The document of evidence has been released. Read it here from NBC News in a PDF file. Additional documents, including the sworn statements of Armstrong's teammates, are here.
American cyclist Lance Armstrong's career was "fueled from start to finish by doping," according to a detailed report of evidence against the seven-time Tour de France winner released Wednesday by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. The release of the report came hours after the agency issued a statement alleging that Armstrong participated in “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”
In what it called a “Reasoned Decision” that it intends to share with worldwide cycling authorities, the USADA said that Armstrong was not merely a participant in what it called "a fraudulent course of conduct that extended over a decade," but a leader of the cheating scheme. It describes USPS team members testifying to widespread use during the Tour de France of the human growth factor known as EPO, as well as testosterone and a human blood product known as Actovegin.
The report says Armstrong's teammates testified under oath to him giving them the drugs, plotting how to evade drug tests, and finally trying to intimidate teammates from testifying against him.
The U.S. anti-doping agency has presented 1,000 pages of what it calls overwhelming evidence of an undeniable web of cheating. NBC's Lisa Myers reports.
Armstrong has repeatedly denied the allegations, blasting the process as "an unconstitutional witch hunt," and cycling authorities who backed Armstrong's legal fight to block the case have said they want to see the material before deciding whether to appeal the U.S. agency's sanctions to the world Court of Arbitration for Sport. The New York Times reported that Armstrong's legal team tried to preemptively discredit the report in a letter sent Tuesday to the antidoping agency’s lawyer, Bill Bock. Timothy J. Herman, one of Armstrong’s lawyers, called the case a farce. “USADA, the prosecutor, now pretends to issue its own ‘reasoned decision,’ even though there was no judge, no jury and no hearing,” Herman said in the letter. The Times said Armstrong, through his spokesman, said he would not comment on the report.
But the USADA report described the evidence that Armstrong engaged in doping dating back to his first Tour de France victory in 1999 as "overwhelming," stating:
"Five of the eight riders on the 1999 Tour de France team other than Armstrong, i.e., George Hincapie, Frankie Andreu, Tyler Hamilton, Jonathan Vaughters, Christian Vande Velde, all have first hand evidence of Armstrong’s violations of sport antidoping rules, and all have admitted their own rule violations in 1999. Several other witnesses, including Emma O’Reilly and Betsy Andreu, also have first hand evidence of Armstrong’s involvement in doping in 1999. "Finally, although additional corroboration is not necessary given the testimony of USADA’s witnesses, as described in Section V.B. below, the retesting of Lance Armstrong’s samples from the 1999 Tour and the clear finding of EPO in six of the samples provides powerful corroborating evidence of Armstrong’s use of EPO. With or without this corroborating evidence, however, the evidence demonstrates beyond any doubt that Lance Armstrong used EPO during the 1999 Tour de France. No other conclusion is even plausible."
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Referring to a public statement from Armstrong that the team set a goal to repeatedly win the Tour de France, the agency said, "The path he chose to pursue that goal ran far outside the rules. His goal led him to depend on EPO, testosterone and blood transfusions but also, more ruthlessly, to expect and to require that his teammates would likewise use drugs to support his goals if not their own. The evidence is overwhelming that Lance Armstrong did not just use performance enhancing drugs, he supplied them to his teammates.... It was not enough that his teammates give maximum effort on the bike, he also required that they adhere to the doping program outlined for them or be replaced."
The report describes how the agency says Armstrong allegedly avoided testing positive for drugs. First, it said, he had fewer than 60 tests, not the 500 to 600 his lawyers have claimed. Second, the riders tried to use undetectable drugs and methods of taking the drugs. And sometimes they just hid from inspectors:
"The most conventional way that the U.S. Postal riders beat what little out of competition testing there was, was to simply use their wits to avoid the testers. Tyler Hamilton summarized: "We also had another time honored strategy for beating the testing – we hid. At the time, the whereabouts programs of drug testing agencies were not very robust, the UCI did not even have an out of competition testing program. If a tester did show up, you typically would not get a missed test even if you decided not to answer the door. In any case, there was no penalty until you had missed three tests. So, avoiding testing was just one more way we gamed the system. "The first rule of EPO use was to inject intravenously, the second rule was to use the drug in the evening and the third rule “was to always try to hide from testers and... try not to get tested.” The riders were advised to not answer the door if a tester came after they had used. "If a rider became aware that another had recently used drugs and learned that the drug testers were around they would warn their teammate. An example of this was when George Hincapie was aware that Lance Armstrong had recently used testosterone and (George) Hincapie learned that testers were at the hotel. Hincapie texted Armstrong who dropped out of the race to avoid beingtested. "Also, the team staff was good at being able to predict when riders would be tested and seemed to have inside information about the testing. "USADA has also learned that at least in the second quarter of 2010 Lance Armstrong was providing untimely and incomplete whereabouts information to USADA, thereby making it more difficult to locate him for out of competition testing."
The USADA's report "is in excess of 1,000 pages, and includes sworn testimony from 26 people, including 15 riders with knowledge of the US Postal Service Team (USPS Team) and its participants’ doping activities," the agency said in a news release earlier in the day.
"The evidence also includes direct documentary evidence including financial payments, emails, scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance enhancing drugs by Lance Armstrong and confirm the disappointing truth about the deceptive activities of the USPS Team, a team that received tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars in funding," the agency said.
Teammates of Armstrong's who offered evidence included Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters and David Zabriskie, the agency said.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in August ordered that Armstrong’s many cycling titles from his 14-year career be erased and banned him from cycling for life because of the doping allegations. The agency is required to submit its evidence to the International Cycling Union.
David Epstein, a senior writer with Sports Illustrated, told NBC News that the USADA report may turn the page for the sport of cycling.
“You would never say that something like this is good for the sport because now I think 20 of 21 riders who had podium finishes in Lance's Tour wins have now been directly linked to doping either in investigations (or) positive tests or their own admissions," he said. "… Everybody sort of realized you kind of had to tear an era down before you could start a new one. And I think that's what USADA and the men who testified are hoping this is.”
The CEO of the anti-doping agency, Travis T. Tygart, issued this statement:
Today, we are sending the ‘Reasoned Decision’ in the Lance Armstrong case and supporting information to the Union Cycliste International (UCI), the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The evidence shows beyond any doubt that the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen. The evidence of the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team-run scheme is overwhelming and is in excess of 1000 pages, and includes sworn testimony from 26 people, including 15 riders with knowledge of the US Postal Service Team (USPS Team) and its participants’ doping activities. The evidence also includes direct documentary evidence including financial payments, emails, scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance enhancing drugs by Lance Armstrong and confirm the disappointing truth about the deceptive activities of the USPS Team, a team that received tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars in funding. Together these different categories of eyewitness, documentary, first-hand, scientific, direct and circumstantial evidence reveal conclusive and undeniable proof that brings to the light of day for the first time this systemic, sustained and highly professionalized team-run doping conspiracy. All of the material will be made available later this afternoon on the USADA website at www.usada.org. The USPS Team doping conspiracy was professionally designed to groom and pressure athletes to use dangerous drugs, to evade detection, to ensure its secrecy and ultimately gain an unfair competitive advantage through superior doping practices. A program organized by individuals who thought they were above the rules and who still play a major and active role in sport today. The evidence demonstrates that the ‘Code of Silence’ of performance enhancing drug use in the sport of cycling has been shattered, but there is more to do. From day one, we always hoped this investigation would bring to a close this troubling chapter in cycling’s history and we hope the sport will use this tragedy to prevent it from ever happening again. Of course, no one wants to be chained to the past forever, and I would call on the UCI to act on its own recent suggestion for a meaningful Truth and Reconciliation program. While we appreciate the arguments that weigh in favor of and against such a program, we believe that allowing individuals like the riders mentioned today to come forward and acknowledge the truth about their past doping may be the only way to truly dismantle the remaining system that allowed this “EPO and Blood Doping Era” to flourish. Hopefully, the sport can unshackle itself from the past, and once and for all continue to move forward to a better future. Our mission is to protect clean athletes by preserving the integrity of competition not only for today’s athletes but also the athletes of tomorrow. We have heard from many athletes who have faced an unfair dilemma — dope, or don’t compete at the highest levels of the sport. Many of them abandoned their dreams and left sport because they refused to endanger their health and participate in doping. That is a tragic choice no athlete should have to make. It took tremendous courage for the riders on the USPS Team and others to come forward and speak truthfully. It is not easy to admit your mistakes and accept your punishment. But that is what these riders have done for the good of the sport, and for the young riders who hope to one day reach their dreams without using dangerous drugs or methods. These eleven (11) teammates of Lance Armstrong, in alphabetical order, are Frankie Andreu, Michael Barry, Tom Danielson, Tyler Hamilton, George Hincapie, Floyd Landis, Levi Leipheimer, Stephen Swart, Christian Vande Velde, Jonathan Vaughters and David Zabriskie. The riders who participated in the USPS Team doping conspiracy and truthfully assisted have been courageous in making the choice to stop perpetuating the sporting fraud, and they have suffered greatly. In addition to the public revelations, the active riders have been suspended and disqualified appropriately in line with the rules. In some part, it would have been easier for them if it all would just go away; however, they love the sport, and they want to help young athletes have hope that they are not put in the position they were -- to face the reality that in order to climb to the heights of their sport they had to sink to the depths of dangerous cheating. I have personally talked with and heard these athletes’ stories and firmly believe that, collectively, these athletes, if forgiven and embraced, have a chance to leave a legacy far greater for the good of the sport than anything they ever did on a bike. Lance Armstrong was given the same opportunity to come forward and be part of the solution. He rejected it. Instead he exercised his legal right not to contest the evidence and knowingly accepted the imposition of a ban from recognized competition for life and disqualification of his competitive results from 1998 forward. The entire factual and legal basis on the outcome in his case and the other six active riders’ cases will be provided in the materials made available online later today. Two other members of the USPS Team, Dr. Michele Ferrari and Dr. Garcia del Moral, also received lifetime bans for perpetrating this doping conspiracy. Three other members of the USPS Team have chosen to contest the charges and take their cases to arbitration: Johan Bruyneel, the team director; Dr. Pedro Celaya, a team doctor; and Jose “Pepe” Marti, the team trainer. These three individuals will receive a full hearing before independent judges, where they will have the opportunity to present and confront the evidence, cross-examine witnesses and testify under oath in a public proceeding. From day one in this case, as in every potential case, the USADA Board of Directors and professional staff did the job we are mandated to do for clean athletes and the integrity of sport. We focused solely on finding the truth without being influenced by celebrity or non-celebrity, threats, personal attacks or political pressure because that is what clean athletes deserve and demand.
Rich Gardella of NBC News contributed to this report.A Dutch judge has today killed the large torrent tracker Mininova, telling the site to either delete all copyrighted content from the tracker, or pay a €5 million penalty.
The site had been charged with "contributory copyright infringement," by the Dutch anti-piracy agency BREIN, as the site did no direct copyright infringement.
Mininova notably removed links if copyright holders flagged them, but as with all trackers, when one went down, five would take its place, making the whole situation redundant.
The new court decision says Mininova was profiting from "inciting copyright infringement" and made over €1 million in 2007 on ad sales. Estimates have said about 90 percent of Mininova content is infringing.
The site must now "adopt proactive filtering" of copyrighted content or face a large fine.“So we are left with a stark choice: allow climate disruption to change everything about our world, or change pretty much everything about our economy to avoid that fate. But we need to be very clear: because of our decades of collective denial, no gradual, incremental options are now available to us.”
~ Naomi Klein
Well. Here we are. Another record low of arctic ice for this time of year, setting us on track for the very real possibility of an ice-free arctic sea by September of this year, according to Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge University. Wadhams and others predict in a study published in the journal Nature that an ice-free arctic summer will lead to an increase in average global temperatures of 0.6 degrees Celsius over the next five years.
What does this mean in layman’s terms? It means in the next five years, average global temperatures shoot up more than half of what they’ve increased since the beginning of the industrial revolution. It means a massive increase in record-high temperatures over the summer all over the world. This means an increase in storms and catastrophic climate events year-round, which will put an increasing strain on industrial agriculture as crops are scorched and frozen throughout the year. Dead crops mean famine.
And it’s happening already.
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In short, the arctic is our planet’s air conditioner, and it’s failing. And now we learn that Antarctica has joined the party, hitting a 400 ppm carbon level that hasn’t been seen in over 4 million years. The ecosystemic context in which our species evolved is rapidly vanishing.
People are still talking about saving the environment “for our grandchildren.” Turns out it should have been our grandparents saying that.
The current frontrunner in the U.S. presidential race is Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose record of fracking endorsement and environmental policy of what Senator Bernie Sanders calls “small, incremental changes” has been criticized by environmentalists all over the world as a policy of too little, too late. And from the right, any environmental policy whatsoever is of course dismissed and attacked as “hurting jobs.”
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Yes, “hurting jobs.” Even if Clinton’s presidential run is able to get past Sanders’ relentless persistence on the left and Trump’s inane Twitter rants on the right, we all know what fate awaits her “small incremental changes” in environmental policy once she gets into the Oval Office. The inertia from Republican members of the House and the Senate will bog those changes down at every opportunity, because “jobs.” Scaremongering pundits will terrify their viewers, telling them that their own president is trying to collapse the nation’s economy and drive unemployment through the roof, as they always have.
But let’s look at that for a second, can we? The chief argument against taking rapid, sweeping action to save the environment (apart from the indefensible position that climate change isn’t happening) is that there are people whose job is to help destroy the environment.
“Think about the coal miners and oil rig crewmembers!” they exclaim. “Who will pay them if we stop paying them to destroy our environment?”
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The hand-wringing about jobs is a legitimate fear for us working people who can’t eat unless we have one. It’s a funny thing though, when talking heads decry “job loss” because they’re worried about impoverished families. They only worry about people eating if it’s to keep people working specifically for the benefit of their sponsors. If they only cared about our jobs, they could make the same argument for paying people to do literally anything. You could, using the same logic, say that those thousands of people could instead be paid to build a purposeless pile of bricks in the middle of the desert. Just tax a few billionaires a few extra dollars and we could fund that project for centuries, and it would have a far less negative impact on all of us than paying them to help pour carbon into the atmosphere. Or you could pay them to disassemble the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, brick by brick. That would be just as absurd as flinging dangerous substances into the air, but at least it wouldn’t imperil the existence of our species.
But that’s not going to happen. The talking heads in Congress and on the news aren’t actually worried about the jobs of American families, and they certainly aren’t going to tell us that we should tax billionaires a bit more in order to subsidize an ecosystem-saving overhaul of our way of life. That would go directly against the interests of the men signing their paychecks.
So it looks like we’re going to have to come together on this one on our own. Let’s get some people elected who are interested in aggressively defending us against the real national security issue that is anthropogenic climate change.
And if the existing economy won’t allow us to do that, guess what? We can change that too. We made the whole thing up, after all. Money was invented by humans to serve humans, and it only works the way it works because we’ve all agreed that that’s how it works. If a few billionaires try to hold us hostage to their ecocidal policies by telling us that they’ll have to starve American families to death if they stop paying workers to destroy the environment, guess what? Money doesn’t work that way anymore. We can rewrite the whole script into something far saner if enough of us can come together.
[Photo by Ben Birchall/Glasgow 2014 Ltd via Getty Images]Currently, ten states have some form of bottle bill on their books that require deposits on certain aluminum and glass beverage containers that can be returned later for a refund. In addition to my home state of California, the other states that have bottle redemption laws on the books are: Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont.
I’ve already explained why I hate bottle redemption fees. Here are ten of the biggest reasons:
When it comes right down to it, they do little to help the environment. That’s because bottles are a very small portion of the so-called waste stream. Depending on where you live, deposits are not fully reimbursed. In California, for example, distribution center reimbursements are determined via weight — and that total is usually far less than the actual deposits. The bottle redemption fee model is inefficient. It’s more expensive than other recycling solutions, like the now-ubiquitous and highly-successful curbside pick-up programs. Bottle redemption fees are inconvenient to redeem. In order to get my money back, I’m forced to store my empties until I’ve accumulated enough to hopefully make the drive to a recycling center worthwhile, which is why: I never get a single penny of the fees refunded to me. That’s because, when it comes right down to it, the hassle I must endure to redeem the deposits isn’t worth it. Ironically, it’s also environmentally counterproductive because: Those who do end up reclaiming their deposits are creating new environmental burdens. Driving to those redemption centers increases fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. That’s especially infuriating when you consider: Curbside recycling programs have been shown to be more effective. Delaware finally repealed its law in 2009 after recognizing that three neighboring states had higher recycling rates despite |
Stradivarius? What the fuck is a Stradivarius? How could a violin—whatever it’s called—cost $6 million? It seemed to be going in a circular direction, so Levy made a call to the orchestra’s development director, Tanya Mazor-Posner. She in turn called a member of the board named Mike Gonzalez, who was on a golf vacation in South Carolina. Mike Gonzalez in turn called Chief Flynn, who was a friend of Gonzalez’s. Flynn, in turn, was sound asleep, since it was about 12:30 A.M. Flynn had been to Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concerts. He knew Almond. He did not have to be given a quick tutorial on the Stradivarius. He called the sergeant at the scene on his cell phone. “Sarge, Chief Flynn.” “Really?” “What do you got?” “I got a guy here. Somebody robbed his violin.” “Listen to me very carefully. This is not a violin. This is a fucking multi-million-dollar musical instrument. Call the cavalry.” The investigation picked up a notch after that. Many notches actually. There were those who questioned the priorities of the department in expending such manpower on finding a $6 million violin that at the end of the day was still a violin. During the period leading up to the recovery, there were two homicides in the city, which did not sit right with critics given the number of detectives who had been assigned to the stolen-Lipinski investigation. (Both cases were reportedly solved.) But Flynn strongly felt otherwise. It wasn’t just the dollar value of the violin but its symbolic value as a piece of history that could never be replaced. “This was Milwaukee’s little piece of the Western heritage,” Flynn said later. “We had just been challenged. It had just been stolen. And we were bloody well going to find it.” To Catch a Thief
The next morning at around six, with the aid of G.P.S. technology, the violin case for the Lipinski was discovered in the middle of a street. It appeared to Milwaukee police inspector Carianne Yerkes, one of the supervisors on the investigation, that it had been thrown out the window of the getaway vehicle, presumably for the very reason that there might have been some kind of tracking device inside it. Not only had the Lipinski been taken out of the case but so had two bows, valued in the range of $50,000, another indication that whoever was involved knew something about the marketplace. The Milwaukee Police Department explored the possibility that whoever took the Lipinski might try to fly out of the city with it. The Transportation Security Administration was asked to keep an eye out for anyone traveling with a violin. Interpol was contacted. The F.B.I. office in Milwaukee offered major assistance. Investigators followed up on hundreds of tips, with the possible exception of the person calling to say one of their in-laws was squirrelly. There was speculation that this had been the work of the Russian Mafia or an Asian gang. But Agent Bass immediately felt otherwise. Stradivarius violins had been stolen before, but they had been stolen quietly, out of a dressing room of a concert hall or from an apartment, so it took a while for the owners to even notice. You wanted to create as little noise as possible, when all this particular crime did was create noise that only got louder. There was also the issue of who would buy a $6 million violin after it was stolen. Bass did not think there was a dealer in the world who would touch it, because it was so hot. As for the theory that a collector might want it even if he could never display it to anyone, Bass pointed out that collectors live to show off what they have collected. The Taser also didn’t add up. Bass thought it was a very odd and unsophisticated choice, the risk high that it would not work if you were not familiar with it. In fact, only one of the two barbs that were fired broke Almond’s skin. The other lodged in his jacket. There was another problem with the Taser: the confetti with the serial number that shot out when it was fired. It ultimately led to a distributor in Texas, who supplied the name and address of the purchaser, Universal Knowledge Allah. Police captain Jeff Point, the lead supervisor on the case, immediately assumed that it was a dead end, because how could anyone have a name like that? On February 2, an off-duty Milwaukee police officer ran into someone he apparently knew from the street. This witness said he had gotten his hair cut by Allah the day before at a barbershop called First Impressions, where there was a lot of chatter about who would be stupid enough to do something like this, since you could not readily sell it. Allah asked the client for a ride home, during which Allah volunteered that about seven months earlier Salahadyn had asked him to purchase a Taser since he had a permit to carry a concealed weapon and Salahadyn could not get one, because of his record. Allah further said, according to the criminal complaint that was filed, that Salahadyn called him the evening after the robbery and told him he had gotten the “instrument.” Allah confirmed to police what he had said in the car. Salahadyn was a client of his, he told police, and he had known him for at least seven years. The mention of Salahadyn’s name looped police back to the e-mail from the former inmate. The investigation moved quickly after that. Salahadyn and Allah were arrested on February 3 and taken into custody. It was a huge breakthrough. There was only one significant gap: Where was the violin? During a search of Salahadyn’s apartment, according to Detective Ball, police had found a scrapbook containing general articles and pictures about the Stradivarius instrument. But there was also one from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from 2008 about the Lipinski finding a home in the city with Frank Almond. The Lipinski had been through a great deal in its history. It had survived countless wars and epidemics. But neither the Lipinski nor any Stradivarius instrument could have been prepared for the indignities it suffered after it was stolen. Taken from the bosom of its case, it had ultimately been placed in a soft-cloth American Tourister suitcase and transported to one of the worst possible places for its health, a cold attic. Lost and Found
When Detective Billy Ball interviewed Salahadyn, he said, the suspect seemed quite taken with himself. Ball recalled the following conversation: “I figured you guys would be coming.” “Why?” “Because of my reputation.” “What reputation?” “My reputation as a high-end art thief.” Ball said Salahadyn danced around that day and part of the second. He had the leverage of knowing the location of the violin. But police believed they had significant leverage of their own. On the third day of interrogation, Ball said, a written agreement was made between Salahadyn and the Milwaukee County district attorney. Later that night Salahadyn led detectives to the apartment building where the violin was being stored. He guided them to the second floor, then pointed to the attic. A search warrant was obtained. A ladder was borrowed from the SWAT team. Bass, who had handled high-value musical instruments before, climbed up the steps through the space in the ceiling. Bass’s biggest worry was that the violin had been damaged, and the condition of the attic did nothing to lessen that fear. The temperature hovered at about freezing, and such cold can be devastating: the wood of the violin might dry out, in turn causing a catastrophic split in the back. There was dust and insulation everywhere. But one item was free of detritus. Bass unzipped the suitcase. He took a peek. Wrapped in a blue baby blanket with the logo of a little toy truck was the Lipinski. CodaThe former pizza shop on Winthrop Street in Medford may not be much to look at from the outside, but inside there's a bustling operation. Stone & Skillet bakery specializes in handmade, locally sourced English muffins — for which there's apparently a growing demand.
Stone & Skillet co-founders Kyle Meekins and Dan Crothers, who showed us around the Medford shop, say the business is outgrowing their existing 750-square-foot bakery facility, so they're exploring other spaces.
Stone & Skillet co-founders Dan Crothers, left, and Kyle Meekins (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Interview Highlights
On the inspiration to create Stone & Skillet:
Kyle Meekins: "We started this out of my apartment. I was working at a local bakery and I started talking to a lot of chef friends. Both Dan and I have been in the industry for many years and people kept asking me for a better English muffin, you know, something they could use for more applications than just Eggs Benedict and breakfast sandwiches.
"So after hearing it a bunch of times, I brought Dan in, we played around with the recipe, we started making them out of our apartment with a residential kitchen license and selling them to little restaurants down the road. We were cooking them one at a time in a cast iron skillet and rolling them out on my granite counter top, and that's where we came up with the name Stone & Skillet."
Rory Lee preps the muffins. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
On the growth of their business:
Kyle Meekins: "Well, our very first order was for a hundred muffins... averaging about an English muffin or two an hour back then, as opposed to close to 300 an hour now.
"Right now, we're making about 30,000 a week and growing."
On a nationwide vision for local and artisan goods:
Kyle Meekins: "We like to think of the idea as keeping ourselves local and artisan while expanding. You don't see a lot of artisan companies that, you know, expand into different regions of the country and we kind of thought, 'Why not?' Why couldn't we build little bakeries all over the country and have those little bakeries provide English muffins to their communities, you know, hire through their communities, source the ingredients through their communities, and we don't think there's any reason why local and artisan have to be exclusive to a smaller region. We think that local and artisan could be nationwide, as long as you do it the right way."The Pizza Kettle ($79.95) is an aftermarket insert that turns your Weber Kettle grill into a sort of coal-fired pizza oven. It basically "extends" the height of your grill enough to give it an oven mouth that you can slide pizzas in and out of. The lid stays on, with the idea being that the temperature stays high enough inside to cook the pizzas under the same intense heat that the best wood- and coal-fired ovens reach.
I got wind of it in this email from Slice'r Philip Given, with the subject line "Look what I just bought":
... I like the actual design of the product. I'm thinking I will mod it to be sort of like the 2stone Pizza Grill thing, since it's basically a metal insert. It also reminds me a lot of the PizzaForge/FrankenWeber that Pizza Hacker uses (but not made of stone).
Massachusetts inventor Al Contarino makes the Kettle Pizza Oven and sells it from Main Street Hardware in North Andover, Massachusetts. It's $79.95. You can also buy it online via eBay.
More at kettlepizza.com »
This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.Second, conservatives are angry about the Department of Justice's decision to stop enforcing a handful of laws on the books. That includes the Defense of Marriage Act, a decision that left House Republicans to defend the federal government themselves against lawsuits challenging federal laws denying benefits to same-sex, married couples. That is, until the Defense of Marriage Act's exclusions were struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this year. The articles also mention the the Controlled Substances Act, and the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986.
Third, there's the IRS scandal. Even though the story has lost some of its teeth with time, conservatives would like to see Holder impeached because no one has been prosecuted. (The former director for the department's agency on tax exempt organizations has since resigned, and the IRS has said that they've initiated a number of oversight reforms since the scandal broke).
Last, there's the troubling case of Fox News correspondent James Rosen. The Department of Justice went to great lengths, including subpoenaing the journalist's personal email, to try and figure out how he got information from a CIA analysis issued only hours before his report. The FBI argued that Rosen should face charges for reporting on classified information.The argument against Holder specifically is an allegation that he provided misleading testimony on whether he knew of the investigation into Rosen or not.
So is this going to happen for the tiny group of House conservatives who really want Holder out? Well, It's still not clear whether Speaker John Boehner will endorse the plan and let it move forward through the House. For the record, the 1876 House impeachment of Secretary of War William Belknap was the last time a cabinet member was successfully impeached by the House. The Senate eventually acquitted him, but only after he resigned from office.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.For those who wondered why upwards of two hundred thousand have died in Syria, Boko Haram abducts Christian schoolgirls, and ISIS beheads and burns people alive in its reign of terror, the president placed a major part of the blame on fossil fuels and your SUV.
President Obama’s assertion in his commencement address to cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy that the rise of ISIS in Syria and Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the brutality of both, is somehow linked to climate change shows just how dangerously detached from reality U.S. foreign policy has become.
I understand climate change did not cause the conflicts we see around the world, yet what we also know is that severe drought helped to create the instability in Nigeria that was exploited by the terrorist group Boko Haram. It's now believed that drought and crop failures and high food prices helped fuel the early unrest in Syria, which descended into civil war in the heart of the Middle East.
Believed by whom? Those who think Elvis Presley and Jimmy Hoffa are alive running a donut shop in Idaho? Weather, which is what we used to call climate change, has played a pivotal role in world history, from the defeat of the Spanish Armada to Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow to the Normandy invasion and Battle of the Bulge in World War II. But it does not create tyranny and evil.
There was no violence, there were no beheadings, there was no burning people alive during the American Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Groups like ISIS and Boko Haram are not out foraging for food. They are poster children for the evil that lurks in the world and that advances as we retreat from our global responsibilities and indulge in these irresponsible fantasies.
Not long ago, State Department spokesperson Marie Harf opined on MSNBC’s Hardball that the rise of terrorist groups like ISIS could be prevented by a good jobs program. “We need … to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs, whether …,” Harf told host Chris Matthews, who interrupted her at this point to remind her there will always be poor Muslims.
Harf persisted, insisting that the U.S. should work with other countries “to help improve their governance” and “help them build their economies so they can have job opportunities for these people.” Harf added: “If we can help countries work at the root causes of this – what makes 17-year-olds pick up an AK-47 instead of trying to start a business?”
And to think we are only a few Walmarts in Damascus and Baghdad away from world peace, or that solar panels in the Sinai will make the lion lie down with the lamb. Who knew? It is fairly certain that the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot in a cage was not caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide, and that the beheading of Coptic Christians on a beach in Libya was not caused by that coal plant in West Virginia.
President Obama gets both his conclusions and his facts wrong – particularly regarding droughts and their frequency and intensity, as evidenced by the testimony of Dr. Roger Pielke before Congress, as cited by Investor’s Business Daily:
Pielke, a professor at the University of Colorado, told the Senate environment and public works subcommittee in July 2013 that droughts have "for the most part become shorter, less frequent and cover a smaller portion of the U.S. over the last century." Globally, he said, "there has been little change in drought over the last 60 years."
The fact is that global temperatures have essentially flat-lined over the last two decades. As John Fund noted in National Review last September, the only thing heating up is climate-change rhetoric:
One reason the rhetoric has become so overheated is that the climate-change activists increasingly lack a scientific basis for their most exaggerated claims. As physicist Gordon Fulks of the Cascade Policy Institute puts it: “CO2 is said to be responsible for global warming that is not occurring, for accelerated sea-level rise that is not occurring, for net glacial and sea-ice melt that is not occurring... and for increasing extreme weather that is not occurring.” He points out that there has been no net new global-warming increase since 1997 even though the human contribution to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by 25 percent since then. This throws into doubt all the climate models that have been predicting massive climate dislocation.
As the Cato Institute’s Patrick J. Michaels points out, President Obama’s war on coal and other draconian regulations pushed by the Environmental Protection Agency will hardly move the global temperature by any measurable amount, much less score a victory in the war on terror:
The EPA’s own model, ironically acronymed MAGICC, estimates that its new policies will prevent a grand total of 0.018ºC in warming by 2100… In fact, dropping the carbon dioxide emissions from all sources of electrical generation to zero would reduce warming by a grand total of 0.04ºC by 2100.
President Obama genuinely believes that climate change is a greater threat than terrorism and is targeting coal plants with greater vigor than we are allegedly degrading and destroying ISIS. Look on the bright side, Mr. President. If sea levels rise high enough, maybe ISIS and Boko Haram will drown.
Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine, and the Chicago Sun-Times, among other publications.America’s Apollo 11 lunar module photographed a human skeleton on the moon when it landed there in 1969.
That’s the claim of Chinese astrophysicist Dr. Kang Mao-pang,who first floored the world when he released pictures of bare human footprints on the moon at a news conference in Beijing last winter. The scientist claimed to have received those photos – which were so secret the Apollo 11 astronauts didn’t even know they existed – from “an unimpeachable U.S. source.”
The photograph of the human skeleton was included with a second batch of photos and documents he received from the same source. “The Americans have conspired in a cover-up of monumental and possibly even criminal proportions,” Dr. Kang told newsmen in Beijing. “They hid photos of bare human footprints on the moon for 20 years and managed to keep the human skeleton secret even longer. The implications of what they found up there are staggering,” he continued. “But the Americans apparently feel that nobody else in the world is privileged enough to share the information.”
The story goes that Dr. Kang’s allegations stunned U.S. space and intelligence experts, one of whom went into hiding after reporters tried to question him in a Washington, D.C., restaurant. Other sources also allegedly refused to comment–even when told that the Chinese expert has copies of over 1,000 NASA photographs that clearly show bare human footprints and a human skeleton on the lunar surface.
Intriguingly, the skeleton appears to have been wearing jeans. Judging from the position of the bones, it seems likely that the person it belonged to was at least partially dismembered and met with a violent death. It is also probable that the skeleton was transported into space long after the person was killed. The decomposition of bone and flesh would not have been possible in the airless atmosphere of the moon. The Chinese expert further noted that the age of the skeleton cannot be estimated without analyzing the bone firsthand.
“Like the footprints on the moon, these photos were taken by a remote camera aboard the lunar lander and were given to me by an American source who is beyond reproach,” said Dr. Kang. “I am also in the possession of classified documents and letters that describe the footprints as being fresh and the skeleton unquestionably human. The question that must be answered is how the footprints and skeleton go to the moon. The obvious implication is that extraterrestrial lifeforms were involved but we’ll never know unless the Americans release the information they have.”
The documents Dr. Kang quoted from are stamped “top secret” and dated Aug. 3, 1969, which means they were written just two weeks after astronauts Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked on the moon–in boots, not barefoot–on July 20, 1969. Large portions of the text have been redacted in black ink. It’s clear that U.S experts agreed extraterrestrials had something to do with the bare footprints and skeleton on the moon.
Repeated attempts to get officials at any level of government to address Dr. Kang’s report were unsuccessful. Explained a Washington source: “Nobody’s going to say anything until President Bush gives the go-ahead. This isn’t any ordinary cover-up. It makes Watergate look like a Sunday School picnic. It’s that damn big.”
(via)What do you do when you own the most valuable sports franchise in North America (and second-most valuable in the world), worth a reported $2.1 billion, and you recently built the largest domed stadium in the world for $1.15 billion?
You buy a bus, I guess.
Hey — you gotta spend your cash somewhere, right? You can’t take it with you to the afterlife.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his associates will be riding in style when they attend the NFL Scouting Combine later this week. The Dallas Morning News reports that Jones just spent a cool $1.5 to $2.5 million on a luxury bus complete with nine televisions, three Blu-ray players, three leather couches, marble counters, Tiffany crystal display cases and, of course, beer coolers and a microwave (you never know when you’ll need to heat up a burrito).
This isn’t purely a show-off purchase for Jones, however. The old Cowboys bus was driven for a reported two million miles over the past few decades and it’s a safe bet that this one will get plenty of use, too.
Check out the photos of the sweet ride below:Since 2008, a group of predominantly conservative, Protestant churches have participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday—a day started by the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, when hundreds of pastors across the country give explicitly political sermons in protest of the IRS’s rule. The movement has been growing, and religious leaders will often mail tapes of their sermons directly to the agency to showcase their defiance.
The IRS doesn’t often go after these churches, though. Agency leaders have emphasized the importance of educating religious organizations about what is and is not legal, rather than aggressively initiating audits or trying to revoke the non-profit status of houses of worship. The agency has rarely pursued this last option; one of the most prominent recent cases was in 1995, when it denied the non-profit status of an upstate New York church that took out a full-page ad in USA Today warning Christians not to vote for Bill Clinton in 1992.
In general, though, “the political climate has changed in the last four or five years, where attacks on the IRS has been more frequent, more virulent, and the IRS has become extremely defensive,” Galston said. Especially with the budget cuts of the last half decade, the agency has scarce resources for enforcement of the Internal Revenue Code. “They can’t, in my view, allocate the resources in such a way that they preclude proper enforcement of the other code sections,” Galston added.
Yet even beyond purposeful protests like Pulpit Freedom Sunday, religious leaders seem to openly defy the ban on participating in political activities. The televangelist Mark Burns has openly stumped for Trump, as has Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. And at the start of the Democratic National Convention, the Decatur, Georgia, pastor Cynthia Hale prayed for Hillary Clinton to become president. Even if the IRS would not see these actions as formal violations of the law, the difference between pastors electioneering and speaking as private citizens “is a fine distinction that is easily evaded,” said Galston.
Critics of the agency, including some progressive religious groups, argue that the IRS should put more resources toward enforcing the electioneering ban. The main question, said Alan Brownstein, a law professor at the University of California, Davis, is not whether religious groups and leaders should be able to express their views—it’s whether that activity should be subsidized by the government. “Pastors can say whatever they want, as can anyone else,” he said. “The question is whether a tax-exempt institution can say whatever it wants and retain its tax-exempt status, and whether the pastor as an official can use his or her position in the tax-exempt institution to engage in electioneering.”
Although religious groups often participate in political and campaign activities in defiance of the law, only Congress could make these activities fully legal. And doing so would raise big questions about money: Would religious organizations get to keep their tax-exempt status if they were permitted to participate in campaigns and endorse candidates? More importantly, could people still make tax-deductible donations to religious organizations—effectively giving money to promote a particular candidate or campaign?Many of you who have been following our current funding round on BnkToTheFuture will have seen a significant increase in the amount raised. We’re delighted to give you an initial heads up on an upcoming exciting development. We have reached an investment agreement with a Hong Kong based company, but while we’re finalising the terms, we can provide only high level details. The agreement reflects a direct investment within MaidSafe UK, in addition to the formation of a joint venture, based in Hong Kong.
MaidSafe Asia (the working title for the joint venture) will benefit from the local market knowledge, trading licenses and established business relationships of MaidSafe’s new partner, while MaidSafe will provide network licenses, know how and technical support for customers using the SAFE Network. The location of MaidSafe Asia will be an excellent launch pad for the Chinese market with its 720 million internet users. Additionally, with around 50% Internet penetration, MaidSafe Asia will have a huge opportunity to reach the broader Asian region as it is one of the world’s most exciting areas for growth.
The focus of the joint venture will be to enable Chinese companies and projects to leapfrog traditional data centre models, and move to decentralised secure networking. Data protection and security from cyber attacks is obviously very appealing to businesses around the world, while a low cost infrastructure will provide increased profit margins.
We anticipate this will encourage existing application developers to engage deeply with the current API roll out and examples. Thus they will be able to exploit a much larger marketplace and possibly also engage with partners globally to adjust their offerings to various markets.
This deal reflects part of our global strategy to grow the company and the SAFE Network through a series of partnerships, and we see this push into the Asian market as a first step. In time, we plan for further ventures within areas like; Dubai, South Africa, South America as well as the UK, USA and Europe, with the local partners driving business adoption, which in turn will increase end user take up.
As you can imagine we have a lot of details to work through in the coming months and we will keep you updated with developments as we progress.Going through the text and reading the initial reviews I want to briefly point out several key points. I won't go into too much detail as a lot of other articles have been posted already.
From section 8.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
Read it again. The Secretary gets to make all the decisions and they can not be reviewed or questioned BY ANYONE, not even the courts.
From Section 12
The term "mortgage-related assets" means residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before September 17, 2008.
How the hell did commercial mortgages get involved in this. This is an outrage to say the least.
From Section 10.
Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $11,315,000,000,000.
Yup, the Debt ceiling just got raised...this time to $11.315 trillion (the current debt is about $9.6 trillion). Paulson has been given the authority to go out and spend $700 billion with NO oversight and NO review.
From Section 6.
The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time
Note the open ended nature here. Although the purchases are limited to $700 billion, the little line at the end says "outstanding at any one time. So in theory at least Paulson could buy $700 billion in mortgages, sell them for say $400 billion, and then be right back to the beginning, able to buy another $700 billion. This looks like the mother of all blank checks.
From Section 3.
In exercising the authorities granted in this Act, the Secretary shall take into consideration means for-- (1) providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets or banking system; and (2) protecting the taxpayer.
Note the Secretary shall take into consideration "protecting the taxpayer". That's it! He only has to take it into consideration. He doesn't actually have to do it!
Summary:
What a MESS!!!!! The US dollar will be toast. The taxpayers are screwed. The people who made this mess remain at large, with no penalties.
This is a total sell-out, corporate socialism of the worst kind, and even so, it may not work. It relies on the Treasury being able to sell even more debt...to whom may I ask? China? Russia, Saudi Arabia? American institutions no longer have the financial flexibility to take on thsi volume of debt, and I question whether some of the other nations do either...at least without a major kick higher in interest rates.We were recently contact by the 3D Printing Club at UC Irvine who were looking for people to donate time to mentor the leaders of the club so that they will be able to teach other members about the functionality of 3D printers. This lead to Andrew not only donating his time to the club but also lending our MakerBot to club to use at their booth for UC Irvine’s Wayzgoose Festival and Car Show earlier this month.
This is a key chain with their logo we printed out:
Here is their booth at the festival…
…and some more photos of the event.
It would be awesome if these guys could get more support. To make a donation, send them an email and they’ll instruct you how to do so: 3dpuci.president@gmail.com
Good luck guys!ADEN, Yemen — Surrounded by sandbags, sitting cross-legged on a roof under a makeshift awning to shield from the sun, the young gunman stares down the sights of his high-caliber weapon. Glancing over his shoulder he gestures for silence from those around him, in a bid to avoid detection from his hidden counterpart, apparently in another high building a few yards down the street. He points into the middle distance before firing off a few rounds that reverberate through the deserted street of crumbling buildings, battered by weeks of shelling, airstrikes and heavy gunfire. This is the frontline of Yemen’s civil war that began here in the southern port city of Aden on March 19, days before the country’s president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, was forced to flee the escalating battle by boat. These are the men that the country’s now-exiled government, along with their Saudi hosts, portray as the pro-Hadi force that they say are fighting to restore Yemen’s president in exile. But the reality on the ground does not reflect the depiction and rhetoric coming from Yemen’s far-off leaders and their foreign backers in Riyadh. Mohammed Hussein Omar, previously a captain in the army of the formerly separate southern state of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) is now leading a group of Southern Resistance fighters who are battling to regain control of one of the crucial supply routes into the city. When asked about his support for Hadi and the government-in-exile, he pauses thoughtfully as sporadic gunfire rattles behind him. “We are fighting to protect our homeland from the Houthis. We don’t care about the politics, the rest, who is in charge,” he says in reticent reference to Hadi who, although a southerner by birth, supported then-president Ali Abdullah Saleh in his war against the south in 1994 before taking up his post as vice president after the northern army crushed the southern uprising. Captain Omar was one of thousands of southerners subsequently sacked from the army. Another fighter standing at his elbow mutters under his breath in Arabic: “I hope she doesn’t ask me whether I support Hadi,” before wandering off. The Southern Resistance is a ragtag force, predominantly made up of men defending their homes — the older generation of which is former members of the PDRY army. Others are from neighboring southern provinces that have joined the fight to defend Aden from the Houthis, who they see as fighting for their long-reviled foe, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Another faction battles for religious reasons to, as they say, defend their Shafi’i school of Sunni Islam from the predominantly Shia Houthis. On the fringes are Yemen’s notorious Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants, who members of the Resistance quietly acknowledge are in their ranks, albeit in small numbers. Although their reasons for going to war may not correspond, for now AQAP and the separatists share a common enemy. But the PDRY flag, with its distinctive red star set in a blue triangle fluttering from checkpoints and tanks behind the lines of the Resistance, hints at the conflicting goals of those who fight and their sponsors. While the green standard of Saudi Arabia is also intermittently displayed on makeshift flag poles wedged into rusting oil drums, the Kingdom’s apparent hesitance to throw its full weight behind the secessionist-leaning Resistance indicates their aversion to the separatist cause. Meanwhile, the Resistance complains of lack of support from their Saudi patrons, including a shortage of weapons. On the frontlines, local commanders stand among their men — who share one automatic rifle between three soldiers. The heavy weapons they’ve seized are few and unreliable. “It wasn’t working yesterday. We couldn’t move it,” says field commander Saleh al-Umri, gesturing towards the aging tank with its muzzle pointing down the street. “As a result, we lost two men here.” A bloody handprint on a blown-out white wall provides a memorial to the previous day’s casualties. “Saudi has remained very supportive of Hadi's legitimacy as president. This has left them in a tight spot — particularly in the south — as many key anti-Houthi factions reject Hadi,” says Yemen analyst and visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, Adam Baron. “Funding and significantly empowering key southern resistance factions risks building new rivals to Hadi and the exiled government.” However, foreign support has been renewed in recent weeks. Fresh shipments of weapons arrived by sea under the cover of darkness earlier this month. While Special Forces from the United Arab Emirates, a member of the Saudi-led bombing campaign, were said to be among the sparkling new anti-aircraft guns and the Howitzer artillery piece that appeared on the streets in the following days. Yet, so far the occasional influx of weapons has only provided the Resistance with just enough to keep them fighting, without giving them enough to gain the upper hand against their opponents. Two-thirds of the city is now in the hands of the northern Houthi militiamen who have teamed up with the heavily armed military units loyal to the country’s former president of 33 years, Saleh. The renegade units of Yemen’s former standing army, alongside battle-hardened Houthis who previously fought six wars against the Yemeni government between 2004 and 2010, have proved their resilience in the face of the nearly three months of airstrikes against them across the country.
Saudi has remained very supportive of Hadi's legitimacy as president. This has left them in a tight spot — particularly in the south — as many key anti-Houthi factions reject Hadi. Adam Baron fellow, European Council on Foreign RelationsAmazon has released an update to its Kindle for iOS app, and it features (for the first time ever) the ability to search its catalog of books online. This is a departure from the past versions of the app, which forced you to jump out to Amazon’s website to search for or buy books.
That restriction came from Apple’s App Store rules, which forbid apps from offering items for purchase that do not give the company its 30% cut of sales. Amazon wasn’t about to slice off that much of its cut of the profits after already splitting it with publishers, so the app has remained ‘purchase free’ for years now.
This latest edition, however, allows users to search Amazon’s online library for books with ‘free samples’ available. Users can download the sample and read it to their heart’s content. When they’re finished with the sample section, they’re presented with a ‘before you go’ screen that allows them to email themselves a purchase link for the book.
Previously, the search field would only search a user’s existing library.
Yes, it’s convoluted, but it also offers a significantly improved user experience for those ‘just looking for a book’. It lets them grab the book quickly for free and, once they’re locked in, offers them a way to purchase it from a link. I believe, just breezing over the guidelines again, that it also does not violate the rules of the App Store as they stand. We’ve reached out to Apple to clarify.
We’ve reached out to Amazon to clarify the scope of the books available with free samples, though the update does say ‘millions of books’ and casual searches for popular authors and titles all returned results. The endgame |
… It may be small things to some, but they are big things for me. I’m anxious to see what happens next.”
When we spoke, to Patient D, he said that he had continued to have improvements with further treatment. His case has been reviewed by several doctors, including Dr. Susanne Cappendijk of Florida State University Medical Center, who relayed some of the results at a conference at the New York Academy of Sciences on April 27th.
Ibogaine as a Prescription Medicine
Much like ibogaine’s use in addiction treatment, the current use of ibogaine for Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative disorders is illegal in the U.S. due to its Schedule 1 status. In most countries, including Canada and Mexico, this is not the case. Yet, even in places where ibogaine can be administered, treatments are considered experimental until they undergo the full battery of demanding clinical trials.
This widening berth of ibogaine research may help to build a more encouraging case for its approval as a prescription medicine. But even if both applications hold efficacy, as long as one is granted FDA approval, the other could speculatively be administered “off-label.”
The clinical trial process is bulky and challenging for many medications, including useful new antibiotics, because they cost millions and are slow to develop. If medications that are advantageous from a public health perspective don’t come packaged with a lucrative business plan there few big pharmaceutical companies willing to invest. One of the main reasons that ibogaine hasn’t been funded by the existing addiction treatment industry is that it is only administered once, or a few times, rather than as an ongoing regimen.
In 2009, New Zealand became the first country in the world to offer ibogaine as a prescription on an experimental basis, a trend that may eventually follow elsewhere. Now, in Vermont, addiction rates have become so severe that the governor dedicated his entire State of the State speech to the issue. This prompted members of the Vermont State Legislature to table a bill that would allow the operation of a non-profit ibogaine detox center in the state. The bill could find its way to the governor’s desk as early as next year.
Even in the midst of these isolated examples, and without broad regulatory reform, FDA approval is needed to make ibogaine treatments more widely available. Researchers who are studying ibogaine for addiction treatment have to look past a $35 billion U.S. addiction treatment industry that believes it possesses effective modalities, even despite a general increase in rates of addiction. Parkinson’s researchers, on the other hand, may have the benefit of a number of large foundations that are established to fund research in yet another field where few other drugs can claim similar promise.
Jonathan Dickinson is executive director of the Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance.
*Patient D’s name has been anonymized to protect his identity.It was bound to happen. Beloved and lauded as it is, the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” is being taken to task as problematic by social justice warriors in the academy and beyond. This is another of example of how, culturally, we just can’t have nice things. Works of art must not merely be entertaining and insightful, they must be constantly investigated and interrogated to find the ways they cross the boundaries of political correctness.
In Slate, Rebecca Onion interviewed historian Lyra Monteiro about her essay, “Race-Conscious Casting and the Erasure of the Black Past in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton.” A quote from the conversation perfectly illustrates this modern penchant for holding art to unattainable standards of race consciousness. Asked if she has received any negative feedback on her article, Monteiro says:
I honestly haven’t heard from anyone who says something negative about the article. I think enough people today are exposed to the idea that all your faves are problematic, that there’s no such thing as pop culture that isn’t biased and hugely problematic in all kinds of ways. So I think that helps. I have a good friend who’s a huge fan of the musical who has not mentioned this article to me, though I know she’s read it! I think that’s partially because she doesn’t know what to say because she loves it so much.
Before tackling Monteiro’s actual criticisms of Lin-Manuel Miranda and his musical, let’s unpack this statement a bit. First of all, the central idea here is that everything is problematic. If we look closely enough, we will find the scourge of racism and sexism in every work of art, and we should. It is irresponsible to create or consume art without constantly viewing it through this prism of oppression.
Secondly, it could be that Monteiro’s friend hasn’t criticized her article because she is somewhat afraid to. If the basic premise under which we are operating is that “everything is problematic (a polite way of saying racist),” then to defend a work of art against those charges is in itself to aid and abet in that racism. So broadly is that view held by liberals in arts and education that it is left to conservatives to defend art from these spurious accusations.
‘Hamilton’ Is Art, not History
The first thing that has to be understood is that “Hamilton” is a work of art, not a work of history. The very best you can hope for from historical art is that it will develop a framework and spur an interest in a subject that leads audiences to deeper learning. Miranda worked with Alexander Hamilton biographer Ron Chernow to ensure historical accuracy, but in crafting a theater piece such accuracy is but one of many concerns. The primary job of a Broadway musical is to entertain, not to educate or revise the standard historical record.
But even Monteiro’s historical criticisms don’t pass muster. For instance, she argues there is no evidence that Hamilton was, as Miranda and most historians agree, truly anti-slavery. His wife’s family had slaves, she argues, and he would have benefited from their general presence in the economy. In so arguing, Monteiro downplays Hamilton’s work with the New York Manumission Society. In his newsletter The Transom, Ben Domenech points out how unfair this is to Hamilton and his memory:
The society organized, advocated, boycotted, and worked in spite of political pressure in the opposite direction to achieve the liberation of slaves and eventual abolition of slavery. Hamilton’s initial act as a member was to push for a requirement that all members liberate their slaves. It is of course possible to argue Hamilton’s motivations for participation were Machiavellian, as so many of his stances were, but to suggest that (Historian) Rick Brookhiser needs to prove something that is so widely accepted as historical fact is just ridiculous. Here’s a hint: When the founding member of an organization (John Jay) signs that organization’s top priority into law as the state’s governor, the organization might’ve had a little bit to do with it. Politics – how does it work?
In Defense of ‘Founders Chic’
One of the principal foundations for Monteiro’s criticism of “Hamilton” is that it employs a technique called “Founders Chic.” The idea was invented by H.W. Brands, in a 2003 article of the same name in The Atlantic. Basically, it argues that historians overpraise the good nature of the Founding Fathers while downplaying their connections to slavery, misogyny, abuse of Native Americans, etc. In Monteiro’s view, “Hamilton” is guilty of this white male hero worship.
The teaching of early American history must be more than an exercise in knocking rich, white dudes down a peg.
Broadly speaking, it is for the best that historians take a levelheaded view of historical figures. George Washington could and did tell lies. But more is being asked here. Monteiro is demanding that Miranda and historians subsume the very actions that led to the veneration of a white historical figure to that figure’s failures to live up to modern codes of identity politics.
This is a historical test that no white person from the federal period could ever possibly pass. In fact, it is only because he was a product of his time that Hamilton’s work for the furtherance of democracy and abolition are remarkable. This is not to suggest that we make out of Hamilton an alabaster statue of perfect goodness, and clearly that’s not what Miranda has done. But the teaching of early American history must be more than an exercise in knocking rich, white dudes down a peg.
Miranda Isn’t Erasing the Black Past
Monteiro’s most strident criticism of Miranda’s musical is that he erases the black past. This might seem odd, given that almost everyone on stage is either black or a person of color. The problem is that everyone in this diverse and gifted cast is playing a white historical character. Miranda stands accused of engaging in a kind of historical blackface. He is inviting people of color to see themselves in the men who founded our nation, but like everything else this is problematic.
Monteiro is calling for a kind of character with a long and very problematic history in theater. She wants some magical Negroes.
Monteiro would prefer that Miranda had peopled his play with some historical black characters, so as not to give the impression that federal-period America was all-white. She even goes so far to suggest that, had Miranda worked with a historian of color rather than Chernow, we would see these black historical figures represented.
Setting aside the fact that it was Chernow’s book that inspired the musical, this is a bizarre suggestion. The assumption that a minority historian would stress minority participation while a white historian would ignore it is baseless. The simple fact is that the people in power, who are Miranda’s subjects, were white men. A social historian, of any race, might suggest a broader representation of people not in power to put the events in context. But that would depend on his view of history, not the color of his skin.
Ironically, Monteiro is calling for in “Hamilton” a kind of character with a long and very problematic history in theater. She wants some magical Negroes. Her suggestion is that Miranda should have given life to some of the slaves who worked in the fancy houses depicted in the play. But what could that have resulted in, other than the classic, often offensive trope of the poor, oppressed black man who with his keen, inherent common sense teaches the white people important lessons? Miranda is far too gifted a playwright and too astute a student of theater to fall into such a disastrous trap.
A big part of what has made “Hamilton” such a phenomenal success is that it has great appeal for people all over the political spectrum. For a work steeped in history and politics in this day and age, that is a remarkable feat. Liberals love the diversity of the cast, the translation of American history into the idiom of hip-hop, and the careful repudiation of the period’s racism and sexism. Conservatives cheer that the recently much-maligned Founding Fathers are being presented positively, not first and foremost bathed in guilt.
What Monteiro is asking for would undermine the balance that Miranda has so brilliantly crafted. Indeed it would turn the play into just another festival of grievance. Frankly, there is plenty of that in modern theater already. “Hamilton” is a work of art uniquely able to bring the citizens of our nation together. That is something to be celebrated, not to be criticized as a whitewashing of our common historical legacy.A 22-year-old Illinois man has been charged with desecrating the American flag after he posted photos on Facebook along with messages decrying the state of violence and race in the U.S.
This is the first time the Urbana Police Department has seen the flag desecration statute used in 27 years.
Update 6/5: Flag-Burning Illinois Man Has Flag-Desecration Charges Dropped, Free-Speech Advocates Confounded
Bryton Mellott was booked into the Champaign County Jail at about 9:47 a.m. Monday after police received numerous calls from citizens concerned about his safety and theirs. The calls started coming in around 7:30 a.m., Sgt. Andrew Charles told me over the phone.
The calls prompted the Urbana Police Department to investigate Mellott’s Facebook page, where he had posted photos of him burning an American flag along with the following commentary.
“I am not proud to be an American. In this moment, being proud of my country is to ignore the atrocities committed against people of color, people living in poverty, people who identify as women, and against my own queer community on a daily basis,” Mellott wrote on Facebook in a post.
Mellott’s Facebook page also included the name of his employer, which created a problem, Charles added.
“The free speech that he was exhibiting, while it was distasteful to some, free speech is free speech,” Charles told me. “It’s when you say things that are inciteful and make it clear that you are associated with someone that doesn’t share your ideas; it got raised to a level where a reasonable person there would fear for their safety. It’s similar to yelling fire in a movie theater.”
See also: How Reddit Users Dug Up Dirt On (And Destroyed) Third-Party Chat Tool 'Carrot'
Mellott has been charged with Section 49-1, flag desecration, a class four felony in Illinois, Charles said. He’s also been charged with disorderly conduct, both as an offender and a victim. The reason for both classifications is because police fielded calls from people making threatening calls against Mellott while he himself committed an act that was “causing others to be put at risk of harm,” Charles added.
When Mellott was apprehended this morning, police officers asked him to take down the photos from his Facebook page. Mellott declined. At about 2:30 p.m. today, Mellott’s Facebook page was taken down for reasons unknown at the moment. Charles was also not sure why the Facebook page was removed. Mellott is still in police custody and does not have access to a cell phone.
“I just think it’s an unfortunate situation when freedom of speech issues come into conflict with safety issues,” Charles added. “Concerns have to be balanced. This wasn’t an issue with anyone at the police department being personally offended by his speech. But the reaction that it was gathering, and the concern for the safety of all involved forced us into a reaction.”
Mellott is to be arraigned Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.
One of the first web communities to notice Mellott’s arrest was 4chan’s /pol/, home to all things politics related. Members of /pol/ pointed out that flag burning is not technically illegal in the U.S. According to the 1989 ruling in Texas v. Johnson, the American “flag is so revered because it represents the land of the free, and that freedom includes the ability to use or abuse that flag in protest,” Time reported.
I've reached out to Facebook for a comment regarding Mellott's account and will report back with an update.Mitt Romney has a strong lead over Barack Obama in Georgia among likely voters just three weeks until the presidential election, but a new poll for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution finds Georgians, by a larger margin, expect Obama to be re-elected in November.
The poll, conducted last week by Abt SRBI Inc., found Romney leading Obama among likely voters 51 percent to 43 percent, with 5 percent undecided.
The results reinforce the political picture that has existed in Georgia for at least a decade: Democrats find success in Atlanta’s urban core and parts of southwest Georgia while Republicans dominate nearly everywhere else.
But the poll reveals some nuances in how Georgians feel about issues such as bipartisan cooperation, how to close the federal deficit and — despite a general rejection of Obama’s health care law — one aspect of what is called Obamacare that would expand Medicaid.
Georgians are, in fact, eager for bipartisan compromise, with 93 percent — including 90 percent of Republicans — saying it is better for the two parties to work together.
Compromise, especially in Congress, has been rare, even though Republicans and Democrats acknowledge the major issues the country faces. An example is the budget deficit, which topped $1.1 trillion this year. Obama and congressional Republicans have said they want to address it but have been unwilling or unable to compromise.
Georgia voters, meanwhile, have strong feelings on the subject. Asked whether the deficit should be addressed through tax increases, spending cuts or both, a strong majority — 65 percent — said both.
But the poll also found Romney with strong support on pocketbook concerns as voters here trust the former Massachusetts governor by overwhelming margins to fix the economy and the budget deficit.
Jordan Janico, 19, of Johns Creek is studying economics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He’s voting for Romney because he believes “the country hasn’t gone in the right direction” under Obama.
“It’s not what I think the country ought to be doing,” Janico said. “Romney’s plan and not taxing the crap out of the rich is a big way to improve job growth.”
But Tom Lagow, 77, of Rome sees little hope that the proposals of Romney and his running mate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, will invigorate the economy. “They need to go back to school and take some math classes,” Lagow said. “Their proposals just don’t make sense mathematically.”
The poll results show more Georgians agree with Janico, said Eric Tanenblatt of Atlanta, a member of Romney’s national finance team, and support Romney’s message.
“And that’s dealing with jobs and the economy,” said Tanenblatt, the senior managing director of the McKenna Long law firm. “Most Americans right now are asking, ‘Are we better off today than we were four years ago, and do we want to experience the same policies we just experienced the last four years?’ and I think people want a change.”
Romney gets his biggest margins among white voters — particularly men — seniors, evangelicals and those in Atlanta’s exurbs.
The bright spots for Obama, who lost Georgia to Republican John McCain in 2008 by 52 percent to 47 percent, are among those ages 40-to-64, live in metro Atlanta and southwest Georgia, and those with school-age children.
While Romney has a commanding lead, more Georgia voters overall believe he will lose the election. Fifty-four percent of all likely voters say Obama will win, compared with just 37 percent who say Romney will be the next president. The poll carries a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Another concern for Romney: Obama’s supporters show greater enthusiasm for their candidate.
While the candidates are nearly even on net enthusiasm — that is, voters who said they were either “very enthusiastic” or “somewhat enthusiastic” — only 41 percent said they were “very enthusiastic” to vote for Romney, compared with — 63 percent of Obama supporters. Forty-nine percent of Romney voters said they were “somewhat enthusiastic.”
“That number jumps out at you,” said Seth Brohinsky, an associate at Abt SRBI, which also polls for Time magazine and The Washington Post. “
That “enthusiasm gap” also shows up when Romney supporters are asked whether they are voting more to support him or to defeat Obama. Forty percent said they will vote “against Obama,” compared with 57 percent who said “for Romney.” Meanwhile, 75 percent of the president’s supporters said their vote is “for Obama.”
Julia Bellair, 70, of Whitfield County in northwest Georgia, is one of those whose vote for Romney is more about getting rid of the other guy.
“I hate to tell you this, but one of the main reasons (she’s voting for Romney) is Obama,” she said. “I don’t want to see him in the office of the president for another four years. I just feel like he has absolutely ruined this country.”
Listing health care, unemployment, food stamp use and foreign policy, Bellair said Obama has been “a disaster.”
But Devlin Boswell, 26, of Stone Mountain said Obama has made great strides, considering what he inherited.
“I don’t think it’s easy for anybody to pick up that mess and make it better,” said Boswell, who works for a staffing firm. “He’s doing a good job and he has a plan. He isn’t just up there saying whatever he needs to get votes.”
Bellair and Boswell illustrate the split among Georgia women over the candidates. Obama’s lead in that category of 48 percent to 46 percent falls within the margin of error.
They are also split on one of Obama’s biggest accomplishments, the Affordable Care Act, sometimes referred to as Obamacare. Overall, a plurality of the poll’s respondents, 47 percent, said Obamacare’s goal of expanding access to health insurance was a bad thing, while 40 percent supported it.
Women also strongly believe Obama will do a better job on health care policy, with an even half choosing him over Romney.
A slight plurality of Georgians believe the state should adopt one of the measures under Obamacare, to expand Medicaid, the state-and-federal program that provides health insurance to the poor and disabled. Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, has rejected the idea, as have many Republican governors around the country.
“Obama is doing well on health care,” said Brohinsky, the pollster.
The president also is more trusted to set education policy.
Obama and Romney are essentially tied on who would do better representing the interests of the middle class, although women prefer Obama by 10 percentage points.
Liz Flowers, an Atlanta Democratic activist who has worked for Obama’s campaign, said the poll results are neither surprising nor discouraging, “given the current political composition of the state.”
“Democrats are building our infrastructure,” she said. “We’re focused on solidifying our base, candidate recruitment, staff training and things that will build the party.”
Obama is not far off his 2008 numbers, she said, and with Georgia’s economy lagging behind the nation’s recovery, it’s not surprising “Romney would (look) like the change for that.”
It is good news for Democrats, she said, that on issues “held closest to families, like education and health care, those things that matter most to women, are trusted to Obama and not to Romney.”Melissa Gorga of The Real Housewives of New Jersey wrote an advice book called “Love Italian Style: The Secrets of My Hot and Happy Marriage” for women who want to know how to keep their man happy, and Tracie at Jezebel read it so you don’t have to barf out every inch of your insides while taking in these words of fucked-up fuckery.
Based on the pieces from Melissa’s book that Jezebel posted, a wife keeps her man devoted to her by always keeping her legs open for him, always keeping dinner on the table and never letting the smell of her shit waft up into his nostrils. Melissa takes instruction from the Chimpanzee King of her Castle, Joe Gorga, on how to behave like a good, little wife and she basically does whatever he says. The title of this mess should’ve been: “The Gold Diggers Guide To Becoming Your Rich Husband’s Slave So He Won’t Drop You For Another Trick.”
You should read all the excerpts at Jezebel, but here’s a few healthy and wise bits of advice from Melissa and Joe:
Melissa on how her husband won’t want to stick his peen in some side whore if her coochie is always ready to go: “The way I see it, if a wife is a puttana, her husband will never feel the urge to go outside the marriage to actual whores, or strip clubs. He won’t hit on women in bars, or drool over his friend’s girlfriends or the secretary. He’ll rush home to his wife, who makes sure he’ll have a good time (the best time) in the comfort of his own home.” Joe on how “no” means “yes.”: “Men, I know you think your woman isn’t the type who wants to be taken. But trust me, she is. Every girl wants to get her hair pulled once in a while. If your wife says ‘no,’ turn her around, and rip her clothes off. She wants to be dominated. Women don’t realize how easy men are. Just give us what we want.” Melissa on how any good wife must be ready to bone at all times: “[A] woman needs to keep herself in shape. She has to be seductive. She must be willing to try new things for her husband’s pleasure and her own. And, most important, she has to be available for sex.” Melissa on how Joe taught her to be home when he gets home: “His style was to make corrections and to teach me from the beginning days of our marriage exactly how he envisioned our life together. Joe always says, ‘You got to teach someone to walk straight on the knife. If you slip, you’re going to get cut.’ Even if something didn’t bother him that badly, he’d bring it up. He wanted to make sure that I knew, for example, if I ran out to CVS and he came home from work to an empty house, he didn’t like it. He’d call me and say, ‘I don’t care if you’re out all day long. But I don’t want to come home to an empty house.'” Joe on how his sons can be sluts but his daughter must be a virgin bride: “My sons can have a separate entrance to the house. They can come and go as they wish. They can have anyone up to their room. I don’t care. But I want to keep my Antonia my little girl. My wish is for her to have on boyfriend for a very long time. They have a mutual breakup with no bad feelings. Then she marries the next guy. That would be ideal. I don’t want her to ever have her heart broken. The only way I can see to helping her romantic life work out that way is be really strict and overprotective about who she sees, when she goes out, and what she does. I know it’s a double standard but I just don’t care! I don’t see it so much as restricting Antonia, but as protecting her.” Melissa on how if Joe did housework, he’d grow a vagina: “When gender roles are confused, sexual roles are, too. If he’s at the sink and then changing diapers, then who throws down in the bed? In our marriage, Joe is always the man, doing masculine things. I’m the woman, and I do the female things, including housework.” Melissa on how she never lets Joe know that she’s taking a caca: “Girls don’t poop. Me, never have. Never will. It just doesn’t happen. Or, that’s what Joe things! We’ve been married for nine years, and he has never once seen or smelled my business. How have I pulled this off? I don’t do it when he’s around or awake. In an emergency, I have my ways of pooping so he won’t hear, smell, or see. It’s a challenge.”
It’s kind of funny how Melissa is scared to shit in front of a big piece of shit.
If Melissa labeled her book as “fiction” and titled it “Fifty Shades of Grey: The Marriage Years,” it would be a worldwide best-seller. But none of this is really surprising, sadly. Taking marriage advice from Melissa and Joe Gorga is like taking financial advice from Teresa Giudice and Juicy Joe. And I bet the audio version of Melissa’s book is nothing but her whispering “heeeeeeelp me” over and over again.These are four videos (A New Hope is two parts) detailing all the changes George 'I'll Do What I Want' Lucas made to the original Star Wars trilogy after they were already released. Most of the changes are pretty minor, like adding an alien in the background, and almost all are entirely unnecessary. If I had any more energy I would get angry but I don't have any energy so I'm not going to. Plus my therapist says I need to focus on letting my anger go. He said if I try to choke him one more time he'll have no choice but to refer me to somebody else which would suck because I feel like we're just getting to know each other.
Keep going for almost an hour of footage. Pretend like you're working and get paid to watch it!
Thanks to MUDDERS, whoThis pack contains:
Spintires
Kholat
Spintires
Spintires™ is an Intel® award winning off-road driving experience designed to challenge the player's driving skill and endurance.
Take responsibility of operating large all-terrain Soviet vehicles and venture across the rugged landscapes with only a map and compass to guide you. Explore the levels and unlock portions of the map whilst discovering new trucks, fuelling stations, garages and lumber mills.
Collect lumber with the crane attachments and try to deliver them to the objectives. Try not to damage your vehicle or consume all of the fuel, prior to completing the objectives. Use the surroundings to your advantage, you may need to winch yourself free!
The real-time deformable terrain will challenge even the most seasoned offroader. Do you accept the challenge?
Kholat
Kholat is an adventure-horror game inspired by true event known as Dyatlov Pass incident – mysterious death of nine Russian hikers, that led to countless, unconfirmed hypotheses. Player will dive directly into boundless scenery of inhospitable Ural Mountains, with a task to find out what really happened. In the course of events you may approach even more question marks.
Will you find the answer? Will you get any closer to the truth? Will you survive?
Dyatlov Pass incident was a real story that happened in winter of 1959. Nine skilled alpinists went for a trip to the northern part of Ural Mountains, which ended fatally. Bodies of expedition's crew were found scattered on slope of Kholat Syakhl.F. Glenn Miller Jr. calls himself a patriot. On Monday, a Johnson County jury called him something else: a murderer.
A Johnson County jury deliberated less than than two hours Monday before finding Miller guilty of capital murder in the shooting deaths of three people last year outside two Jewish facilities in Overland Park.
The 74-year-old avowed anti-Semite reacted to the verdict announcement with a Nazi salute and a “sieg heil.”
“I believe the fat lady just sang,” he said.
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Acting as his own attorney Miller had argued that the shootings were justified because he was trying to stop “the Jewish genocide against the white race,” though all his victims were Christians.
The jury also found him guilty of three counts of attempted first-degree murder for shooting at other people on April 13, 2014, outside the Jewish Community Center and the Village Shalom retirement community.
Jurors convicted Miller of aggravated assault for pointing a shotgun at a woman and asking if she was Jewish. When she answered no, he put his gun away and fled.
They also found him guilty of firing numerous bullets and shotgun rounds into the community center.
Jurors began deliberating the case about 2 p.m. Monday and notified the court about 3:45 p.m. that a verdict had been reached.
As jurors filed from the courtroom after their verdicts were read by District Judge Kelly Ryan, Miller blurted out that they would have trouble sleeping.
“I hope you’re happy,” he said.
The outburst prompted Ryan to warn Miller that his “snide comments” would result in him being removed from the courtroom for the second phase of the trial, which will determine whether he is sentenced to death or to life in prison without parole.
The judge reminded Miller that the same jury he had just made comments to will be the ones deciding his sentence.
Ryan scheduled a sentencing date of Oct. 30 on the non-capital charges for which Miller was convicted. That provoked another outburst, when Miller said, “I’d just as soon be on death row than sit around here.”
SHARE COPY LINK Jurors in the capital murder trial of F. Glenn Miller found him guilty Monday afternoon in the deaths of three people in Overland Park in April 2014. (POOL VIDEO --- Aug. 31, 2015)
The resident of Aurora, Mo., who also is known as Frazier Glenn Cross Jr., shot and killed Terri LaManno, 53, William Corporon, 69, and Reat Underwood, 14.
In the six-day trial, Miller admitted to the killings. In his closing argument Monday, he described his beliefs that Jews were attempting to replace the white race with people of color.
To begin his argument, he wrote, “Diversity is a code word for white genocide!”on a whiteboard.
Miller said that 48 years ago, his father first instilled in him the idea that Jewish people were seeking to destroy white people.
Miller said that after years of political efforts, he decided that “armed revolution was my only option.” Miller said he had hoped he would be considered a martyr and would die “with a smile on my lips” over what he did.
In his rebuttal, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said Miller took the lives of three people who were only trying to live peacefully.
“He wants to be the one to decide who lives and who dies,” Howe said.
Howe told jurors that a “mountain of evidence” proved that Miller was guilty of capital murder and other charges.
“Clearly his mission was to kill as many people as possible,” he said.
Miller objected, saying he was trying to kill Jews.
SHARE COPY LINK In his closing argument, F. Glenn Miller Jr. encourages jurors to be brave enough to find him not guilty in his capital murder trial. (POOL VIDEO -- Aug. 31, 2015)
The penalty phase of the trial is set to begin Tuesday morning.
Howe said that the prosecution plans to call only one witness and will rely on evidence already presented to argue that Miller should be sentenced to death.
Miller then will be able to present evidence. One of the standby attorneys who is helping Miller said Miller plans to call nine witnesses. Those witnesses include members of his family, two death penalty attorneys who will testify about the relative costs of capital punishment compared with life in prison, at least one medical doctor and a man who served in the Army with Miller in Vietnam.
Miller also is expected to testify and be allowed to present articles and videos that he says helped form his opinions about Jews.
Ryan also told Miller on Monday that he had “no slack left” as far as his courtroom behavior. The judge said one more instance of Miller talking to spectators or making snide comments would result in him being removed from the courtroom for the duration of the proceedings. If that were to happen, the standby lawyers would take over the defense.
Miller objected, saying it was an attempt to curtail his right of free speech.
He said that the outbursts were just part of his personality.
“I’m southern,” he said. “I don’t take things that seriously.”
Ryan said that Miller may think he is “cute” or “funny,” but he will be expected to abide by the rules of courtroom decorum.
Family members of the victims declined to comment Monday on the verdicts because the trial was not finished.
SHARE COPY LINK Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe tells jurors they have the evidence to convict F. Glenn Miller of capital punishment. (Pool Video -- Aug. 31, 2015)
SHARE COPY LINK District Judge Kelly Ryan explains to F. Glenn Miller why he removed him from the courtroom Monday
The Star’s previous trial coverage
Day 1: As the trial opens, F. Glenn Miller Jr. puts himself at the scene of the Jewish center shootings.
Day 2: Jurors view police video of F. Glenn Miller Jr. just after his arrest.
Day 3: Prosecutors are close to finishing the case against F. Glenn Miller Jr.
Day 4: F. Glenn Miller Jr. will begin his defense case Friday.
Day 5: F. Glenn Miller Jr. tells jurors he regrets not killing more people.Buoyed by recent polls showing Hillary increasing her lead over Trump, Democrats are now talking of a sweep at the top of the ticket so immense that it may just give them control of both the House and the Senate.
Currently Senate Republicans hold an edge of 54 seats to 46 for the Democrats. A net gain of four for the Democrats will leave the Senate split 50-50 between the parties, with a Vice President Tim Kaine casting the tie-breaking vote to give the Democrats control.
With 34 Senate seats up for election this fall and 24 in Republican hands, the GOP must play an intense game of defense.
Moreover, no less than six Republican senators are considered vulnerable to defeat: Marco Rubio (Florida), Mark Kirk (Illinois), Kelly Ayotte (New Hampshire), Rob Portman (Ohio), Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania), and Ron Johnson (Wisconsin). In addition, former Sen. Evan Bayh currently leads GOP Rep. Todd Young in the race for the Indiana seat of retiring Republican Sen. Dan Coats.
In striking contrast, only one seat currently in Democratic hands is thought to have a chance of falling to a Republican: that of retiring Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada, where GOP Rep. Joe Heck is now locked in a tight struggle with Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, a former state attorney general.
“We can expect a good bit of ticket splitting, even though it's been significantly on the decline since the 1980s,” said Franklin and Marshall College professor G. Terry Madonna, pollster in Pennsylvania, “But at some point it will be hard to get enough of them if one of the presidential candidates carries the state by ten points or more. That's a big hill to climb.”
Michael Barone, Washington Examiner columnist and one of the co-founders of “The Almanac of American Politics,” agreed.
Over the past two decades we have seen increasing straight ticket voting,” Barone told me, “This has come about, I believe, because there has been an increasing convergence on issues and attitudes of presidential and congressional candidates of each party.
“This year there seems to be less convergence, at least on the Republican side because of the peculiarities of Donald Trump, and there may be less on the Democratic side, to the extent that the party is fielding moderate candidates, even though there was a big drop-off between 2008 and 2016 in self-described moderates voting in Democratic presidential primaries.”
But Barone also pointed out that “current polling in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, and elsewhere suggests there will be less straight-ticket voting, at least in some high profile Senate races.”
Asked if there will be enough ticket-splitting for Republicans to retain Senate control even after a big Clinton win, Dr. Christopher Hull, political scientist and author, replied: “In a word, no. In 2012 we hit a 100-year low in ticket-splitting.”
Hull believes that “this election may be an aberration, with conservatives in chaos swirling in the Trump tornado. But we are more likely to see a realignment where they eventually come to earth all in the same party. Whether that party remains the Republican Party, or it goes the way of the Whigs, remains to be seen.”
Much more optimistic about GOP chances of holding the Senate was Grover Norquist, president |
in the Chicago area revealed why they were more likely to have acquired guns through social connections than in private deals with strangers. Illicit gun sellers avoid doing business with strangers because they worry about being caught in a sting operation; buyers, meanwhile, are fearful of being sold a gun that has been used in a crime. Most of the guns that criminals use are old and change hands repeatedly, sometimes being borrowed rather than sold. However, legally purchased guns often quickly make their way to criminals; several inmates reported that gun suppliers bought weapons in stores, reported them stolen, and resold them.
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These findings are a reality check. There are many, many guns already in circulation in the United States, and it would be incredibly difficult to impose background checks on criminal social networks. Our best hope is to stop guns from being diverted to the criminal market to begin with. And while background checks cannot stop people from reporting guns stolen that actually haven’t been, they do seem to have an effect in the handful of states that have enacted them: Gangs are often forced to bring in guns from states without such restrictions. Criminals will not simply give up if background checks go nationwide, of course, but this does suggest that the policy affects behavior on the margins.
Polls indicate overwhelming support for universal background checks — with a majority in favor even among Republicans, gun owners, and NRA members. But the devil is in the details, and proposals face staunch opposition from NRA leaders. In the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, even a relatively modest bill from Senators Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin fell flat on its face. (The authors are reportedly looking to bring the legislation back.) Here are the major tradeoffs such a scheme poses:
#related#Which gun transfers require checks? Manchin-Toomey would have been limited to sales that took place at gun shows or were advertised online or in a publication — precisely the sales that criminals are already avoiding. A requirement of background checks in a broader swath of transfers, while difficult to enforce in real time and harder to sell politically, would aid the prosecution of those whose guns wind up in the hands of criminals. Under this approach, the simple act of transferring a gun without a check would be a crime; by contrast, today, prosecutors need to prove that someone deliberately sold to a prohibited person or served as a “straw purchaser,” passing a background check and buying a gun on someone else’s behalf. Other tricky issues include how to permit inheritances, gifts, and the temporary borrowing of guns among family and friends without creating loopholes or making criminals of innocent people. (For a detailed discussion of how this might be achieved, search online for David Kopel’s new law-review article “Background Checks for Firearms Sales and Loans: Law, History, and Policy.”)
Are records kept? Under Manchin-Toomey, gun dealers conducting checks on behalf of private sellers would have kept records the same way they do when selling their own inventory — but this was a major point of contention during the debate in Congress. Without records of these sales, police would have less of a paper trail to follow. The objection to keeping such records is that they constitute a de facto gun registry, albeit a scattered one, that the government could use to track down and confiscate legally purchased firearms. This seems rather unlikely, but, in fairness, gun confiscation has happened in other modern Anglosphere nations: Australia, the U.K., and Canada.
Who keeps the records? Currently, records are spread through countless gun stores, and getting to them involves tracing the gun through manufacturers, importers, and wholesalers. When stores go out of business, their records are transferred to the federal government, which must not organize them into a searchable database because doing so would create a registry (which would be illegal under current federal law). All this would become even more complicated with private sales in the mix — different sales of a gun would be documented at different stores, and the gun’s various owners would need to point police to each new dealer. One solution would be to have gun manufacturers, rather than stores, keep track of who has purchased their guns: If the gun is a Ruger, Ruger has its records. Another would be for stores to report the serial numbers of the guns they’ve sold, but not the buyers’ information, to a searchable federal database. This would quickly point investigators to the correct gun store without compromising the privacy of those not under investigation. (It’s similar to a requirement already in place regarding used guns sold by dealers who are considered high-risk.) Of course, these approaches would heighten concerns about a registry.
Who pays? Manchin-Toomey would have allowed those conducting the checks to charge fees. If the government decides to require these checks of people exercising a constitutional right, perhaps it should pick up the tab.
In my opinion, a background check — provided it’s free and convenient — is not too much to ask of someone buying or selling a gun, and I am not particularly troubled by the prospect of a “registry” held by private businesses. But background checks will not be the ultimate solution to our homicide problem. They may not even be worth the considerable expense.
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America has a high rate of homicide relative to similar countries, and reducing that rate is a laudable and pressing goal. But preventing violence is a far more difficult and complicated task than many would have us think.
— Robert VerBruggen is a contributing editor of National Review and the editor of RealClearPolicy. A version of this article appears in the December 21, 2015, issue of National Review.
* National Review magazine content is typically available only to paid subscribers. Due to the immediacy of this article, it has been made available to you for free. To enjoy the full complement of exceptional National Review magazine content, sign up for a subscription today. A special discounted rate is available for you here.There’s been some confusion and bad blood over the course of Broken Age‘s emphatically Kickstarted development cycle, but now the end (for the beta version of part one, because this is the year 2014) is nearly in sight. I guess all I can really say at this point is, break an age, Double Fine. You know, because it sounds like… like break a leg? Kinda? And the game is called Broken Age? Sigh, I know that look you’re giving me, entire RPS readership. You’re wordlessly suggesting that I should break my own legs in penance for that abysmal excuse for a joke, and also that you wish fire ants would begin erupting from my eyes, thematically unrelated though that might be. Fine. Fiiiiiiiiiine. But only for you.
The funnyman, the mirthmyth, the gigglegend Tim Schafer himself made the announcement on Twitter:
“Haven’t shipped a game of my own in 4.5 years, an adventure game in 16, a point-n-click in almost 20. Next Tuesday is going to be exciting.” “Next Tuesday is going to be exciting because that’s when backers can play Broken Age, Act 1! Public release date will be announced then too.”
And then he publicly endorsed Iron-Maiden-branded beer, like you do prior to any momentous life occasion.
Did you back Broken Age? By which I suppose I mean, are you a human being from planet Earth who did not briefly and inexplicably blip out of existence between the months of February and March 2013? Are you still pleased that you chose to, um, keep existing?The Frankenstein-like new face of Matrera fortress has upset heritage watchdogs, but restores the clout its Moorish creators originally intended. As with other famous ‘botches’, might detractors learn to love it with time?
It has been damned as the world’s worst ever restoration, yet another national embarrassment to add to Spain’s inglorious track record of botched conservation projects. The quaintly crumbling ruins of the ninth-century Matrera castle in Cádiz province have been invaded by a white concrete hulk, the precious Moorish stone walls reduced to a thin rind of history, stuck on the front of a big blank box. It is one of the most extreme facadectomies of modern times.
'What the hell have they done?' Spanish castle restoration mocked Read more
The project has been the subject of derision and disbelief across social media, decried as “absolutely terrible” by national heritage body Hispania Nostra. “No words are needed,” they added, “you just need to look at the photographs.” But look at the photographs and you may well be witnessing a work of accidental genius.
Until local architect Carlos Quevedo got his hands on this protected national monument, in Villamartín, it was just another ruined Andalusian fortress – indistinguishable from those topping practically every hill in the region. Now it has been mutilated into a startling Frankenstein bunker, it has become an international celebrity.
It can also join Spain’s illustrious history of inadvertent masterpieces. When 80-year-old Cecilia Giménez got to work with her pot of paints, the fresco of Jesus in the church of Santuario de la Misericordia, in the small town of Borja, was simply another fresco of Jesus in an unremarkable church. Since her inspired creation of the smeary-faced ape-Christ – instant meme-fodder around the world in 2012 – the village has become a place of pilgrimage, seeing thousands of visitors, a booming novelty T-shirt business and even inspiring a comic opera.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Borja’s Ecce Homo-style fresco of Christ, left and Cecilia Giménez’s ‘restored’ version. Photograph: AP
Whether Quevedo’s neo-brutalist insertion has quite the same comic value as the smeary Jesus of Borja remains to be seen, but the architect is adamant his work is in keeping with the original building’s spirit. It is certainly more forbidding than its original creator, the fearsome Christian anti-Umayyad leader, Umar ibn Hafsun, could ever have hoped.
Some front: the bad developments making a joke of historic buildings Read more
There were three basic aims, Quevedo told the Guardian. “To structurally consolidate those elements that were at risk; to differentiate new additions from the original structure – thus avoiding the imitative reconstructions that are prohibited by law; and to recover the volume, texture and tonality that the tower would originally have had.”
Squint a bit, and you can sort of see what he was trying to do. His approach follows a recent fashion for restoring ruins with blank additions, rebuilding the general volume of what the original structure might have been, but without any of the detail or decoration. The spirit of the original is revived, in its mineral bulk and heft, so the argument goes, but without pretending to construct an exact replica or resorting to shallow pastiche.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest David Chipperfield’s model for a proposed restoration of Castello Sforzesco, Milan – the white areas were to be made of tonally sympathetic materials. Photograph: David Chipperfield Archictects
Perhaps Quevedo had seen David Chipperfield’s model of his proposal for the 15th-century Castello Sforzesco in Milan, in which he planned to fill in the ruined battlements with a solid mass, devoid of texture or decoration. But maybe he didn’t realise that the stark white blocks in the model were intended to be built in brick and stone, of a tone that chimed with the original – not rendered in white concrete, as he has chosen to do.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Sensitivity and care’ … the dining room of the restored Astley Castle, Warwickshire. Photograph: Richard Powers/Sydney Living Museums
The Stirling prize-winning Astley Castle, by Witherford Watson Mann, followed a similar logic, inserting sharp blank walls of brick into the burnt-out ruins of an old manor house. Some heritage purists once again decried what they saw as a blunt and disrespectful intervention, but visit the building and you will find a finely wrought collage of old and new, stitched together with unparalleled sensitivity and care.
One of the precedents for Astley was another project in Spain that was met with equal controversy to the Matrera castle when it was unveiled. The Roman theatre in Sagunto, near Valencia – one of the first structures to be declared a national monument, in 1896 – was radically overhauled in the early 1990s by Italian architects Giorgio Grassi and Manuel Portaceli. They smothered the crumbling stone steps with bright white limestone seats and erected a 25-metre high stage front in brick and stone, ignoring a “stop work” order issued halfway through construction.
One again, locals were outraged at the stark imposition, complaining their views were blocked and that national laws had been flouted. Spain’s 1985 Law of Historical Patrimony spells out that conservation, consolidation and rehabilitation of historical monuments “should avoid all efforts at reconstruction unless parts proven to belong to the original are used”.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Defiantly intact’ … the new ‘Roman theatre’ at Sagunto, Spain, 2007. Photograph: Alamy
“If one extreme is simple conservation, that is, leaving something to die, this is the other extreme,” Grassi conceded when he showed a visitor around the site. “In this case, out of a Roman theatre, we have created a modern and functioning theatre in the style of the ancient Romans.”
Eight years ago, after almost two decades of legal battles, the supreme court ruled the building should returned to its previously ruined state, but it remains defiantly intact – and visited by architects from around the world who shower praise on its bold originality. With Quevedo’s blunt monolith, Spain has added another landmark to its roster of stubborn anti-monuments that may prove enduring – and perhaps, with time, even endearing.Bats need sensitive hearing to function effectively, yet live immersed in an intense clamor of sound – a new study shows that the noisy background doesn’t reduce their hearing sensitivity, which is a rare immunity in nature.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — At some time or another – perhaps at a loud concert or a construction site, for instance – many people have experienced the loss of hearing sensitivity that becomes strikingly evident after the noise subsides. That phenomenon is called a “temporary threshold shift” (TTS) and its occurrence is the norm among a wide variety of animals. But not so for bats. The company of other bats surrounds them with a cloud of incredibly intense sound, yet the results of experiments at Brown University show that their hearing doesn’t suffer any significant sensitivity loss from their experience.
“They are naturally exposed to continuous intense sound levels from their own and neighboring sonar emissions while foraging, orienting, and emerging from their roosts,” wrote the authors of the article in the Journal of Experimental Biology. “For bats, exposure to prolonged intense wideband sound is an occupational hazard.”
Individual bats emit up to 100 to 110 decibels in sound pressure. The combined level of sound pressure among bats flying in groups can increase to 140 decibels, and it can last for several hours, which is comparable to the ambient sound on the deck of an active aircraft carrier.
“This would be like a pounding to a human,” said study co-author Kelsey Hom, who graduated from Brown in 2015 and has stayed on as lab manager. One day in a class, Hom asked senior author Andrea Simmons, professor of cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences and of neuroscience, whether bats experience the same TTS that other animals do. The answer was not known, so a study (and a senior thesis) was born.
High-volume research
They took to the lab to test the hypothesis that bats – in this case big brown bats from Rhode Island – have evolved some way of remaining resilient to their noisy circumstances.
The team, which also included then-lab manager Michaela Warnecke and Professor James Simmons of the neuroscience department, caught wild bats from around Rhode Island and brought them to the lab for a set of experiments. First they trained the bats with extra food rewards to move toward a natural spectrum of bat sound played from a lab speaker if they heard it. Then, they used the bats’ newfound skill to test their baseline hearing sensitivity – how quiet a sound could still reliably induce the bat to move toward it. Next, they exposed some bats to the prolonged loudness and range of frequencies they would hear in normal bat life. Other bats were left unexposed to the cacophony as experimental controls. Finally they re-measured the bats’ hearing sensitivity again 20 minutes, 2 hours and 24 hours later.
The results showed that unlike in people, fish, birds, rodents and other animals, the bats’ hearing sensitivity barely changed. One bat for one timeframe lost about 5 decibels of sensitivity, but on average across seven bats, the total loss was only about 0.6 decibels 20 minutes after exposure. After 24 hours their sensitivity actually improved a similarly insignificant 1.7 decibels. Bats in the control group, who weren’t exposed to prolonged loud noise, showed just about as much variation.
“In the literature, the definition of TTS is 6 decibels and above,” Andrea Simmons said.
Could this help people?
The study documents the natural resiliency of bats’ hearing, but it doesn’t explain it.
“We hypothesize that the bat’s inner ear may have some special adaptations that allow it to protect itself from loud noises,” Simmons said.
The team is eager to learn how bats resist being deafened temporarily, not only for the sake of better understanding bat biology and behavior, but also because it may provide the inspiration to design devices or implants that can help people better weather exposure to loud noises.
“Bats have always been looked at as a model for sonar, with the goal of technological development, but these data suggest that they could be looked at as a biomedically related model as well,” Simmons said.
The Office of Naval Research (grant: N000141410588), the Capita Foundation and Brown University funded the research.AHMEDABAD: When
, a director (research) at
(SSWT) Inc., a manufacturing unit founded in 1844 in Piscataway, New Jersey, returned home one day in 1988, he told his wife Meena that the company was up for sale. Worried that it might mean losing the job, she inquired what his plans were. To her astonishment, he said that he intended to buy it.
“The bar was $ 6 million and my wife informed me that we had exactly $ 6,000 in our savings. I told her that we were almost there, with only managing a few zeroes to be rightly placed,” recounts Shukla, 70, now president and CEO of the company where he started off as a quality control inspector.
Of course it was not that easy task as it took Shukla nine months to pursue different banks selling the idea of the company’s future to raise the fund. But today, the high-tech firm specializes in manufacturing flexible rotary shafts, which Shukla proudly mentions, are used in 98% of the aircrafts flying today and even in space projects.
“My native is Wadhwan in Surendranagar district. I got my education in Wadhwan, Bhavnagar and Ahmedabad. I went to the US to pursue MS in industrial engineering in 1971 and started a temporary job at SS White along with other jobs to make ends meet,” recalls Shukla.
Today, the SSWT has manufacturing and marketing facilities in the US, the UK and India. Shukla says that soon after taking over, his thrust was on innovation and technology. “We changed the overall portfolio and invested in the new-age research due to which today most of the aircrafts use the SSWT manufactured thrust-reversal system which is used during landing,” he explains.
It is his Gujarati dream that sets him apart. “We were planning on expansion of manufacturing facilities and we had choice between China and India. India was an obvious choice and the plant was set up in Noida in 2008. My father admonished me for the move and said that I must do something for my native. Thus, the same unit—producing rotary shafts and medical devices—was shifted to Surendranagar,” describes Shukla.
Today, the unit in Surendranagar employs 450-plus workers who produce around $ 6 million worth of instruments. One of the eye-catching devices produced in Gujarat is used for power seats in cars in the US and Europe. Shukla says that he has plans to expand the facility in time to come.
“Before being at the place I am, I have worked as a driver, a security guard and a waiter and thus, I know how important every person’s work is. Hence, when our company decided to give $ 1,000 bonus to each and every employee in December 2016, it made news as the industry was then replete with reports of slowdown and layoffs,” says Shukla, who has also penned books of fiction and non-fiction.
Award for 2014 was conferred on him in London.The Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), allies of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has proposed a new policy for migrants crossing the Mediterranean: turn the boats around and send them back to Africa.
The CSU, under the leadership of Horst Seehofer, continues to push away from the migrant policies of their coalition allies the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) led by Chancellor Merkel. A new report, written largely in response to the Berlin Christmas Market massacre which was carried out by a Tunisian asylum seeker, calls for stricter asylum and migrant policies,.
Among the proposals are the ability to send rescued boats in the Mediterranean back to Africa, reports Tagesschau.
The report, entitled “Security for our Freedom” contains a list of demands by the party which has become increasingly hard line on mass migration over the course of the past year. The CSU wants to see more protection for police officers, expansion of video surveillance, and stricter policies for the deportation of migrants who are considered vulnerable.
The largest and most controversial demand is to send rescued boats back to their countries of origin in Africa rather than the current policy which is to bring them to Italy or Greece. Italy has seen a record number of migrants arrive across the sea this year and a record number dying during the journey.
The CSU has said that Germany and the European Union (EU) need to forge better ties with North African countries in order to get them to take back their nationals and resettle them in Africa.
The idea to process legitimate refugees in North Africa is not new. Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz and former Freedom Party (FPÖ) presidential candidate Norbert Hofer have both expressed a desire to follow in the footsteps of Australia who turn back boats and hold migrants on islands off the coast of the country.
Foreign Minister Kurz has taken the policy further this week, saying that there should be real consequences for countries that refuse to take back their nationals. Germany, in particular, has faced opposition from North African countries who make specific and costly demands to take back their citizens.
Kurz has said that uncooperative African countries should be sanctioned for not accepting the return of migrants and that the EU should limit the amount of foreign aid sent to them. “Many of the countries have no interest in taking back their citizens,” he said.
“If we can not control whoever immigrates into the EU and who lives here, that is a security risk,” Kurz remarked and added, “I warned a year and a half ago that the refugee routes can also be used by terrorists, which unfortunately proved to be right.”Cowboy movie star and Las Vegas entrepreneur Hoot Gibson (Andy Daly) meets up with Frank Sinatra (Matt Gourley), Dean Martin (Jeremy Carter), and Sammy Davis Jr. (Baron Vaughn) backstage at the Sands Hotel and Casino to shoot his scene for the new motion picture Oceans 11. While they wait, Hoot regales the Rat Pack with a story from back when he was owner of Hoot Gibson’s D4C Ranch and Casino. Hollywood ingénue Sophie Pembroke (Molly Quinn) arrives on the ranch to secure her divorce, but first Hoot and Sophie will have to deal with movie tough guy Tom Pembroke (Weird Al Yankovic), in an adventure that takes them through the Las Vegas Strip all the way to an old west theme park and the Little Church of the West.
Can Hoot save the day?Editor’s Note: The following was supplied to us by our friends at Links Golf Ireland. Enjoy!
Rory McIlroy: From Holywood Toddler to Hollywood Golfer – Storymap
Having turned professional at the age of just 18, the signs looked good even then that Rory McIlroy would become a globally recognised name in the golfing world. Eight years on, the Northern Irishman is among the sport’s best players, having accumulated four Major wins and spent many months at the summit of the world rankings.
This interactive storymap by golf tour operator Links Golf Ireland charts the career of McIlroy from his childhood right up to the modern day. The boy from the village of Holywood was just seven when he first became a member at his local golf club, having been introduced to the game by his father Gerry, and Rory’s love affair with the sport was duly born. He was only 18 when he competed as an amateur in his first Major, the Open Championship in 2007, and he joined the professional ranks later that year.
McIlroy was still only a teenager when he broke into the top 20 of the world rankings and he has been involved in all of Europe’s last three Ryder Cup triumphs. His collapse in the 2011 US Masters would have psychologically crushed many golfers, but instead he quickly put it behind him to romp to victory at the US Open just a few weeks later.
McIlroy reached the world number one spot at the age of 22 and he has been one of the sport’s true stars over the last few years, his fame transcending golfing circles. In addition to his on-course successes, he has accumulated a number of individual awards, including the BBC Northern Ireland Sports Personality of the Year. His career has been remarkable and, at just 26, there is plenty more to come from McIlroy.
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There's no way around it, Breaking Bad fans: It's almost over. On Sunday, September 29, AMC will air the final episode of the acclaimed drama, drawing to a close the saga of high school chemistry teacher-turned meth kingpin Walter White, as portrayed by Bryan Cranston. Since the show's start in 2008, it's slowly and patiently built its case for the "Greatest Television Show of All Time," with creator/writer/showrunner Vince Gilligan expertly guiding a stellar cast through a thrilling, often excruciating exploration of human ego. It's racked up numerous Emmys (it was awarded "Outstanding Drama Series" Sunday night) and other awards along the way, and earned a "universal acclaim" rating on Metacritic.
See also: 10 Sexiest Food Scenes in Movies (NSFW)
Throughout the whole thing, Gilligan and co. have dotted the bleak Southwestern landscape of the show with black humor: the wisecracks of scummy lawyer Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk), Danny Trejo's dismembered head saddling a turtle, and of course, the infamous pizza-on-the-roof shot in the third-season episode Caballo Sin Nombre.
Eagle-eyed viewers and fans of Valley pizza joint Venezia's Pizzeria probably noticed a familiar logo on the pizza box in that scene, and it wasn't the only time Venezia's was featured on the show. Turns out the Phoenix pizza joint has roots in Albuquerque, where the show is shot and takes place.
Venezia's "originated in Albuquerque," explains Domenick Montanile, owner of four Venezia's in the Phoenix area. "My father started it in 1978, in a town called Rio Rancho, which is like a suburb of Albuquerque. I moved out here to go to ASU, and that's how I ended up opening the stores out here. My dad retired, and my cousins -- Renato and Aldo Venturino -- worked with him [in New Mexico]. We've all worked together since we were young, and they basically wanted to open a pizza place as well. They asked my dad to be partners and use his name, so they opened there as well, as Venezia's. We all use the same recipes; my dad started it, and he's been partners in both [areas]."
Apparently someone on the Breaking Bad staff dug the pies at Venezia's ("We're true Italians, man, parents straight off the boat -- first generation," Montanile says of the pizza's tasty authenticity). They delivered to the set occasionally, took take-out orders, and provided empty boxes to the crew. But one day the Venturinos got a call for 10 of the restaurant's massive party pizzas.
"The film crew, they were always picking up pizzas, that sort of thing," Montanile says. "One day they came to them and said, 'Hey, we need to buy 10 party pizzas.' They don't really say why -- because they're not allowed to and that sort of thing -- but my cousin knew something was going on; so that was the first scene we were featured in, when [Walter White] threw it on the roof."
Though Breaking Bad-philes know the lore -- that Cranston somehow managed to get that pizza on the roof perfectly in the first take -- Montanile has even more behind-the-scenes gossip.
"The first time they got the pizzas from them, there was a miscommunication," Montanile explains. "Either they forgot to tell them not to cut [the pizzas] or they cut them by accident, but they picked up like 10 pizzas and they were cut, so they had to go back and get 10 more because in the episode, it's not cut."
So that's 20 giant party pizzas that went toward Cranston nailing it in one take. The scene, however, led to some confusion for Venezia's customers. In the shot, the pizza is clearly whole, not cut into slices. Though it makes sense in the writing room -- scattered slices rotting in the sun makes for a much less a powerful image than a whole pizza -- it doesn't make much sense reality-wise.
So writers expanded on the fictional Venezia's of the Breaking Bad universe in season 4, when a distraught Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) hosts a meth-fueled bacchanal in his house, orders a couple more Venezia's party pizzas, and his bumbling buddies Skinny Pete and Badger have to figure how to cut the unsliced pizza. (Skinny Pete: "Maybe it's, like, democratic, bro, you know? Cut your own Christmas tree, cut your own pizza.")
Montanile said the scene resulted in lots of calls from concerned customers about whether or not the pizzerias in Albuquerque and Phoenix cut their pizzas, but he doesn't mind. Being part of the Breaking Bad world has only helped the pie chain.
Though he's more of a sports guy, Montanile loves the show, and he was super excited to see the pizza-toss scene featured on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Though the series did reference another Albuquerque pizza joint as well, Pizza 9, it's Venezia's that is most associated with the show.
"I've had people from New York email us through the website and they want us to send them a pizza," Montanile laughs. "Cause they're like, 'We want to try your pizza because you're on Breaking Bad.' They want us to ship it with dry ice and all this stuff. We're not really set up for doing that. We're not ready to do that, but we've had two inquiries on that."
The chain has embraced the Breaking Bad love. It's ran Sunday night specials and regularly calls out Breaking Bad fans via its social media accounts. "It's a huge benefit to be on a show like that," Montanile says. "They take care of the local shops out there [in Albuquerque]. You see a lot of local stuff on the show."
The show's relationship with the pizzeria culminated with an actual name check in Ozymandias, the third-to-last episode of the series, which Montanile says was thrilling, minus one tiny catch. Skyler White, played by Anna Gunn, botches the name of the pizzeria.
"It's Va-net-zia's, and she says Va-nee-zia's," he laughs. "Yeah, unfortunately, that's one of those things people pronounce incorrectly. It's hard to say."
Follow Chow Bella on Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest.Reza Shah Pahlavi (Persian: رضا شاه پهلوی; pronounced [reˈzɑː ˈʃɑːhe pæhlæˈviː]; 15 March 1878 – 26 July 1944), commonly known as Reza Shah, was the Shah of Iran from 15 December 1925 until he was forced to abdicate by the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran on 16 September 1941.
Two years after the 1921 Persian coup d'état, led by Zia'eddin Tabatabaee Reza Pahlavi became Iran's prime minister. The appointment was backed by the compliant national assembly of Iran. In 1925 Reza Pahlavi was appointed as the legal monarch of Iran by decision of Iran's constituent assembly. The assembly deposed Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last Shah of the Qajar dynasty, and amended Iran’s 1906 constitution to allow selection of Reza Pahlavi. He founded the Pahlavi dynasty that lasted until overthrown in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution. Reza Shah introduced many social, economic, and political reforms during his reign, ultimately laying the foundation of the modern Iranian state.
His legacy remains controversial to this day. His defenders assert that he was an essential modernizing force for Iran (whose international prominence had sharply declined during Qajar rule), while his detractors assert that his reign was often despotic, with his failure to modernize Iran's large peasant population eventually sowing the seeds for the Iranian Revolution nearly four decades later, which ended 2,500 years of Persian monarchy.[3][4] Moreover, his insistence on ethnic nationalism and cultural unitarism, along with forced detribalization and sedentarization, resulted in the suppression of several ethnic and social groups. Similar to Atatürk's policy of Turkification his government also carried out an extensive policy of Persianization trying to create a single, united and largely homogeneous nation.[5]
Early life [ edit ]
Mazandaran Province Museum of Reza Shah Pahlavi, the house where he was born, Alasht
Reza Shah Pahlavi was born in the village of Alasht in Savadkuh County, Mazandaran Province, in 1878, to Major Abbas-Ali Khan and Noush-Afarin.[6][7] His mother was a Muslim immigrant from Georgia (then part of the Russian Empire),[8][9] whose family had emigrated to mainland Persia (Iran) after Qajar Empire was forced to cede all of its territories in the Caucasus following the Russo-Persian Wars several decades prior to Reza Shah's birth.[10] His father was commissioned in the 7th Savadkuh Regiment, and served in the Anglo-Persian War in 1856. Abbas-Ali died suddenly on 26 November 1878, when Reza was barely 8 months old. Upon his father's death, Reza and his mother moved to her brother's house in Tehran. She remarried in 1879 and left Reza to the care of his uncle. In 1882, his uncle in turn sent Reza to a family friend, Vartan Gorguekoohi, an officer in the Persian army.[11] When Rezā was sixteen years old, he joined the Persian Cossack Brigade. In 1903, he is reported to have been guard and servant to the Dutch consul general Frits Knobel. Reza was 25 years old then.
He also served in the Iranian Army, where he gained the rank of gunnery sergeant under Qajar Prince Abdol Hossein Mirza Farmanfarma's command. In 1911, he gave a good account of himself in later campaigns and was promoted to First Lieutenant. His proficiency in handling machine guns elevated him to the rank equivalent to Captain in 1912. By 1915 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel.[12] His record of military service eventually led him to a commission as a Brigadier General in the Persian Cossack Brigade. He was the last commanding officer of the Brigade, and the only Iranian commander in its history, succeeding to this position the Russian colonel Vsevolod Starosselsky, whom Reza Shah had helped, in 1918, take over the brigade. He was also one of the last individuals to become an officer of the Neshan-e Aqdas prior to the collapse of the Qajar dynasty in 1925.[13]
Rise to power [ edit ]
1921 coup [ edit ]
Reza Pahlavi behind a machine gun
In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Persia had become a battleground. In 1917, Britain used Iran as the springboard for an attack into Russia in an unsuccessful attempt to reverse the Revolution. The Soviet Union responded by annexing portions of northern Persia, creating the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic. The Soviets extracted ever more humiliating concessions from the Qajar government, whose ministers Ahmad Shah was often unable to control. By 1920, the government had lost virtually all power outside its capital: British and Soviet forces exercised control over most of the Iranian mainland.
In late 1920, the Soviets in Rasht prepared to march on Tehran with "a guerrilla force of 1,500 Jangalis, Kurds, Armenians, and Azerbaijanis", reinforced by the Soviet Red Army. This, along with various other unrest in the country, created "an acute political crisis in the capital."[14]
Reza Pahlavi portrait during his time as war minister
On 14 January 1921, the commander of the British Forces in Iran, General Edmund "Tiny" Ironside, promoted Reza Khan, who had been leading the Tabriz battalion, to lead the entire brigade.[15] About a month later, under British direction, Reza Khan led his 3,000-4,000 strong detachment of the Cossack Brigade, based in Niyarak, Qazvin, and Hamadan, to Tehran and seized the capital. He forced the dissolution of the previous government and demanded that Seyyed Zia'eddin Tab |
incidents involving armed subjects, verbal or physical contact was made with the armed subjects in 81 incidents (approximately 322 armed subjects in total). An encounter with one of these Mexican Government Law Enforcement or Military entities does not always equal a standoff or confrontation. It depends on a case-by-case basis where one would have to read the narrative completed on the Significant Incident Report for the specific incursion;
Of the 81 armed encounters, a total of 131 subjects were detained. While the number of unauthorized incursions by Mexican authorities is relatively few, it is imperative for our officer safety to handle each situation assertively but with sensitivity and professionalism.
“It is clear that the Mexican government has little regard for the sovereignty of the United States,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Our border is insecure and the Mexican government has contempt for our sovereignty. Its military and law enforcement personnel intentionally and without consequence cross our border and place U.S. law enforcement and other innocent Americans at risk. These new documents show how our Border Patrol agents were almost killed by a Mexican ‘law enforcement’ helicopter that crossed our border and fired on the Border Patrol’s clearly marked position. America is placed at risk by the Obama administration’s lawless open-borders policy that purposefully fails to protect American citizens and front-line law enforcement from a corrupt Mexican government, the drug cartels, the illegal alien crisis, ISIS and the Islamic terrorist threat.”Image by ~uminotorino Some rights reserved
Routing is one of the primary aspects of the MVC framework which makes MVC what it is. While that is possibly over-simplifying, the routing framework is where the MVC philosophy of “convention over configuration” is readily apparent.
Routing also represents one of the more potentially confounding aspects of MVC. Once we move beyond the basics, as our applications become more complex, it generally becomes necessary to customize our routes beyond the simple flexible default MVC route.
Route customization is a complex topic. In this article we will look at some of the basic ways we can modify the conventional MVC routing mechanism to suit the needs of an application which requires more flexibility.
NOTE: most of the examples in this post are somewhat contrived, and arbitrary. My goal is to demonstrate some basic route customization options without getting distracted by the business case-specifics under which they might be required. I recognize that in the real world, the examples may or may not represent reasonable cases for customized routes.
In any sufficiently complex ASP.NET MVC project, it is likely you will need to add one or more custom routes which either supplement or replace the conventional MVC route. As we learned in Routing Basics in ASP.NET MVC, the default MVC route mapping is:
{controller}/{action}/{id}
This basic convention will handle a surprising number of potential routes. However, often there will be cases where more control is required, either to:
Route incoming requests to the proper application logic in complex scenarios.
Allow for well-structured URLs which reflect the structure of our site.
Create URL structures that are easy to type, and “hackable” in the sense that a user, on examining the structure of a current URL, might reasonably make some navigation guesses based on that structure.
Route customization is achieved in a number of ways, usually by by combining modifications to the basic pattern of the route mapping, employing route default options to specify controllers and actions explicitly, and less frequently, using route constraints to limit the ways in which a route will “match” a particular URL segment or parameter.
URLs are Matched Against Routes in Order – The First Match Wins
Incoming URLs are compared to route patters in the order the patters appear in the route dictionary (that is what we added the route maps to in our RouteConfig.cs file). The first route which successfully matches a controller, action, and action parameters to either the parameters in the URL or the defaults defined as part of the route map will call into the specified controller and action. This is important, and requires us to think our routes through carefully so that the wrong handler is not called inadvertently.
The basic process of route matching was covered in Routing Basics in ASP.NET MVC.
Modifying the URL Pattern
As we learned previously, in an MVC application, routes define patterns by which incoming URLs are matched to specific controllers, and actions (methods) on those controllers. Route mappings recognize URLs as a pattern of segments separated (or delimited) by a slash (/) character. Each segment may contain various combinations of literals (text values) and parameter placeholders. Parameter placeholders are identified in a route definition by braces.
MVC recognizes the special parameter placeholders {controller} and {action} and uses these to locate the appropriate controller and method to call in response to an incoming URL. In addition to these two special placeholders, we can add just about anything to a route as a parameter placeholder to suit our purpose, so long as we adhere to good URL design principles, and of course, reasonably expect the parameter to be useful.
We are familiar with the default MVC pattern shown above. We can see that the route is composed of three segments, with no literals, and parameter placeholders for the special parameters {controller} and {action}, as well as an additional parameter called {id}.
When creating route URL patterns, we can combine literals with parameter placeholders in any number of ways, so long as parameter placeholders are always separated by either a delimiter, or at least one literal character. The following are examples of valid route patterns (whether they are sensible or not is another issue):
Examples of Valid Route Patterns in ASP.NET MVC:
Route Pattern URL Example mysite/{username}/{action} ~/mysite/jatten/login public/blog/{controller}-{action}/{postId} ~/public/blog/posts-show/123 {country}-{lang}/{controller}/{action}/{id} ~/us-en/products/show/123 products/buy/{productId}-{productName} ~/products/buy/2145-widgets
The following pattern is not valid, because the {controller} parameter placeholder and the {action} parameter placeholder are not separated by either a slash (/) or another literal character. In this case, the MVC framework has no way to know where one parameter ends, and the next begins (assume the controller is named “People” and the action is “Show’):
Route Pattern URL Example mysite/{controller}{action}/{id} ~/mysite/peopleshow/5
Not all of the valid route examples above include either the {controller} parameter placeholder or the {action} parameter placeholder. The last example does not include either. Also, most include user-defined parameters, such as {username} or {country}. We’ll take a look at both in the next two sections.
Modifying Route Default Options
In conjunction with modifying the route URL pattern, we can also take advantage of the route defaults to create routes which are more specific, and in some cases which map only to a specific controller and/or action.
The standard MVC project file contains the route mapping configuration in a file named RouteConfig.cs:
The standard MVC RouteConfig.cs File:
public class RouteConfig { public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes) { routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}"); routes.MapRoute( name: "Default", url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}", defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional } ); } }
The route above establishes a default value for both the controller and the action, in case one more both are not provided as part of an incoming URL.
We can take this a step further, and add a new, more specific route which, when it matches a specific URL pattern, calls into one specific controller. In the following, we have added a new route mapping in our RouteConfig.cs file:
Adding a More Restrictive Route:
public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes) { routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}"); // ALL THE PROPERTIES: // rentalProperties/ routes.MapRoute( name: "Properties", url: "RentalProperties/{action}/{id}", defaults: new { controller = "RentalProperty", action = "All", id = UrlParameter.Optional } ); routes.MapRoute( name: "Default", url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}", defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional } ); }
First off, take note that we have added the new, more specific route before the default in the file (which determines the order it is added to the route dictionary). This is because routes are evaluated for a match to an incoming URL in order. The default MVC route a pretty general, and if route order is not carefully considered when adding additional routes to your project, the default route may inadvertently match a URL intended for a different handler.
Beyond this, what we see in the new route added above is that there is no {controller} parameter placeholder in the URL pattern of the “Properties” route. Since no controller can be passed to this route as a parameter, it will always map to the RentalPropertiesController, and to whichever Action is provided as a parameter. Since there is a default action defined, if the incoming URL matches the route but does not contain an Action parameter, the default All() method will be called.
A Contrived Example
So far, in this rather contrived example, we haven’t accomplished anything we couldn’t have done using the default MVC route pattern. However, suppose in our application we wanted to define the following URL patterns and associated URL examples for accessing views in a property management application:
Desired URL patterns for Simple Property Management Application:
Behavior URL Example Show all the rental properties ~/rentalproperties/ Show a specific rental property ~/rentalproperties/propertyname/ Show a specific unit at a property ~/ rentalproperties/propertyname/units/unitNo
We could define a RentalPropertyController class as follows:
Rental Property Controller Example:
public class RentalPropertiesController : Controller { private RentalPropertyTestData _data = new RentalPropertyTestData(); // List all the properties public ActionResult All() { var allRentalProperties = _data.RentalProperties; return View(allRentalProperties); } // get a specific property, display details and list all units: public ActionResult RentalProperty(string rentalPropertyName) { var rentalProperty = _data.RentalProperties.Find(a => a.Name == rentalPropertyName); return View(rentalProperty); } // get a specific unit at a specific property: public ActionResult Unit(string rentalPropertyName, string unitNo) { var unit = _data.Units.Find(u => u.RentalProperty.Name == rentalPropertyName); return View(unit); } }
Given the above controller, and the desired URL patterns in the previous table, we can see that the default MVC route mapping would work for some, but not all of our URLs. We might be better served by adding the following controller-and-action-specific routes to our application, so that our RouteConfig.cs file looks like this:
Modified Route Config File for Property Management Example Application:
public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes) { routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}"); // RentalProperties/Boardwalk/Units/4A routes.MapRoute( name: "RentalPropertyUnit", url: "RentalProperties/{rentalPropertyName}/Units/{unitNo}", defaults: new { controller = "RentalProperties", action = "Unit", } ); // RentalProperties/Boardwalk routes.MapRoute( name: "RentalProperty", url: "RentalProperties/{rentalPropertyName}", defaults: new { controller = "RentalProperties", action = "RentalProperty", } ); // RentalProperties/ routes.MapRoute( name: "RentalProperties", url: "RentalProperties", defaults: new { controller = "RentalProperties", action = "All", id = UrlParameter.Optional } ); routes.MapRoute( name: "Default", url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}", defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional } ); }
As we see now, all of the newly added routes explicitly specify both the controller and action, and allow for our progressively enhanced URL structure which includes the property name as part of the URL.
Of course, in the real world, this URL scheme would likely not work the way we desire, because (depending upon how our database is going to be used) the names of rental properties may not be unique, even within a given management company. If the company operated rental properties in several states or even counties within a state, it is entirely possible that there would be more than one property named (for example) “Maple Glen.” It is a sad fact that despite all the wonderfully simple examples we can find while learning, the real world often fails to model in the way we want.
Adding Route Constraints
Route constraints can be used to further restrict the URLs that can be considered a match for a specific route. While we have so far examined whether routes match based upon URL structure and parameter names, Route Constraints allow us to add some additional specificity.
The MVC framework recognizes two types of constraints, either a string, or a class which implements the interface IRouteConstraint.
Regular Expressions in Route Constraints
When a string is provided as a constraint, the MVC framework interprets the string as a Regular Expression, which can be employed to limit the ways a URL might match a particular route. A common scenario in this regard would be to restrict the value of a route parameter to numeric values.
Consider the following route mapping:
Example Route Mapping for Blog Application with no Constraint:
routes.MapRoute( name: "BlogPost", url: "blog/posts/{postId}", defaults: new { controller = "Posts", action = "GetPost", }, );
This route will call into the PostsController of a hypothetical blog application and retrieve a specific post, based on the unique postId. This route will properly match the following URL:
http://domain/blog/posts/123
Unfortunately, if will also match this:
http://domain/blog/posts/gimme
The basic Route Constraint allows us to test the value of the {postId} parameter to determine if it is a numeric value. We can re-write our route mapping thusly:
Example Route Mapping for Blog Application with Added Constraint:
routes.MapRoute( name: "BlogPost", url: "blog/posts/{postId}", defaults: new { controller = "Posts", action = "GetPost", }, new {postId = @"\d+" } );
The tiny Regular Expression @"\d+ in the code above basically limits the matches for this route to URLs in which the postId parameter contains one or more digits. In other words, nothing but integers, please.
I’m not going to dig too deep into Regular Expressions here. Suffice it to say that Regular Expressions can be used to great effect in developing a complex routing scheme for your application.
A Note and More Resources for Regular Expressions
Regular Expressions are a powerful tool, and also a giant pain the the ass. As Jamie Zawinskie said, “Some people, when confronted with a problem, think ‘I know, I’ll use regular expressions.’ Now they have two problems.” However, Regular Expressions are sometimes the very best tool for the job – restricting route matches in an MVC application is one of those cases. I find three tools most helpful when writing more complex regular expressions. In order of importance:
Custom Route Constraints using IRouteConstraint
The other option for using route constraints is to create a class which implements the IRouteConstraint interface.
We’ll take a quick look at a custom route constraint which can be used to make sure a particular controller is excluded as a match for our default MVC route.
Note: The following code was adapted from a code project article by Vijaya Anand (Code Project member After2050), originally posted at his personal blog Proud Parrot.
In creating a custom constraint, we first create a new class which implements IRouteConstraint. IRouteConstraint defines a single method, Match for which we need to provide the implementation. In order for the constraint to work, we will also need to create a constructor with which we set the argument(s) required for the method:
The Custom Constraint Class ExcludeController:
public class ExcludeController : IRouteConstraint { private readonly string _controller; public ExcludeController(string controller) { _controller = controller; } public bool Match(HttpContextBase httpContext, Route route, string parameterName, RouteValueDictionary values, RouteDirection routeDirection) { // Does the _controller argument match the controller value in the route // dictionary for the current request? return string.Equals(values["controller"].ToString(), _controller, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase); } }
Now, suppose we have a hypothetical controller ConfigurationController for which we have defined a special route which requires authentication. We don’t want the MVC default route map to inadvertently allow access to the Configuration controller for unauthenticated users. We can make sure of this by modifying our default MVC route like so:
Adding a Custom Constraint to the Default MVC Route:
routes.MapRoute( name: "Default", url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}", defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }, constraints: new { controller = new ExcludeController("Configuration")} );
Now, if a URL which has not been matched by any previous route mapping is evaluated for a match with our default route, the MVC framework will call the Match method of our custom constraint ExcludeController. In the case above, if the URL contains the {controller} parameter with a value of “Configuration” the Match method will return a value of false, causing the route to reject the URL as a match.
Stephen Walther presents an excellent tutorial on Custom Route Constraints, and specifically, creating a authentication constraint at his blog in ASP.NET MVC Tip #30 – Create Custom Route Constraints.
8/23/2013 – UPDATE: I forgot to mention that Attribute Routing is an alternative routing model which allows you to specify routes directly on the controller action handler for a specific URL pattern. You can use Attribute Routing now as a Nuget package, but it is actually going to be an integrated option shipped with the upcoming release of ASP.NET 5 and Web Api 2. There is some debate as to whether Attribute Routing is a good thing, as evidenced by K. Scott Allen’s recent post on OdeToCode. In this article I keep the focus on customization of the standard routing mechanism in ASP.NET.
Additional Resources
John on Google CodeProjectResidents of a town in Latvia reported seeing a huge shining swastika among a neighbor's outdoor Christmas decorations, but city authorities brushed it off, saying it was an ancient folk symbol unrelated to the Nazis.
Neighbors and passers-by reported the festive fandangles on Kalnsetas street in Saldus, western Latvia, confused at seeing the disturbing symbol displayed so openly.
But a representative of the district council told the Delfi news portal that the owner of the house has always put up decorations around Christmas-time, and this year chose the “Fire Cross”, the traditional Latvian symbol of fire. Dina Neimeta, a public and international relations official at the council, said although some may find the set-up confusing it was not breaking any laws.
A number of other Saldus residents seemed to agree. "This is not a swastika. A swastika is the other way around," Uldis, a local janitor, told RT’s Ruptly video agency.
In fact, the Nazi swastika is the exact same way around, and even tilted at the same angle on the Third Reich's 1933-1945 flag, and in that shape is banned in a number of European countries.
While the swastika in the general sense is a spiritual and religious symbol that has been seen for millenia across India and Asia, the particular straight-angled, tilted, right-facing form displayed in Saldus has now come to be firmly associated with Nazi Germany and the atrocities it committed.
In Latvian folk tradition, the swastika, known as the "Fire Cross" or "Thunder Cross," is iconic of the god of thunder, light, lightning, power and happiness. As such, it is often incorporated into complex patterns used for jewelry and clothing like mittens.
Read more
The Fire Cross, overlayed on a "cross of crosses", was also used in the 1930s by the Latvian Perkonkrusts, an ultranationalist movement that adopted aspects of fascism and Nazism, although at the beginning it was equally opposed to Germans and Jews. Later during WWII, some Latvian nationalists collaborated with the German forces against the Soviets, with members of the Perkonkrusts taking a keen role in the Holocaust.
In Latvia Nazi collaborators are still honored on Legion Day, an unofficial holiday in which veterans of the Latvian Legion of the Waffen-SS openly march through Riga. Russia has repeatedly voiced its concerns about the glorification of Nazi-era war criminals and the relaxed attitude of the authorities towards the march.
With this dark chapter of Latvian history still celebrated in some circles, it is easy to see how a symbol standing for happiness and prosperity could be mistaken for something more sinister.
The debate over whether the swastika can be acknowledged as a symbol of ancient traditions rather than a genocidal regime has also raged in neighboring countries. In 2010, a court in the city of Klaipeda, Lithuania, ruled in favor of four men who displayed swastikas at the national independence parade, stating the sign is part of the country’s historical legacy and not a Nazi symbol.Bitcoin Price: $357.44(£222.76, €282.63, via CoinDesk.com)
The price of bitcoin has continued to slide, falling by a further 3% over the last 24 hours to take its market capitalisation below $5bn, (£2.5bn).
Dogecoin and peercoin also saw their values fall by a similar margin, while litecoin, darkcoin and namecoin remained relatively stable.
The biggest mover across all markets was solarcoin, a digital currency distributed to incentivise the use of solar energy over the next four decades. Solarcoin rose in value by 65% since yesterday to take its market cap above $250,000, (£156,000).
Saxo Bank panel says bitcoin is a 'fad'
Senior vice president at Eurex Exchange Javier Tordable called bitcoin a "fad" at a panel discussion at Saxo Bank's Trading Debates this week.
Tordable did suggest that the block chain through which bitcoin transactions are processed holds potential for storing and sharing data in the future.
"We are very interested in the technology behind it, the block chain," Tordable said, according to CoinDesk, before stating that he would like to explore the idea of storing data in a "multi-channel" or distributed manner.
Twitch accepts dogecoin
Online streaming service Twitch has started accepting dogecoin as a payment option for its premium service.
Dogecoin is the second cryptocurrency to be accepted by the popular gaming venue, after it began accepting bitcoin earlier this year.
Google-owned Twitch offers other unusual payment methods to its 55 million monthly viewers, including Burger King and Subway gift cards.
Also in operation on Twitch's site is the dogecoin tipping platform DogeTipBot. The DogeTipBot first appeared on the social news site Reddit and quickly became a popular way for users to express their approval of another user's comments.Diarmuid Martin, who says he voted no in Ireland’s historic referendum, believes decision symbolises a social revolution
One of Ireland’s most senior Catholics has said the church needs a “reality check” following the country’s overwhelming vote in favour of same-sex marriage.
The first gay marriages are likely to take place in the early autumn, after a referendum found 62% were in favour of changing the constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.
Ireland becomes first country to legalise gay marriage by popular vote Read more
Ireland has become the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote in a move hailed as a social revolution and welcomed globally. And Diarmuid Martin, the archbishop of Dublin, said it showed the church needed to reconnect with young people to regain its traditional cultural standing and moral authority in Ireland.
The archbishop told the broadcaster RTE: “We [the church] have to stop and have a reality check, not move into denial of the realities. We won’t begin again with a sense of renewal, with a sense of denial.
“I appreciate how gay and lesbian men and women feel on this day. That they feel this is something that is enriching the way they live. I think it is a social revolution.”
The archbishop personally voted no, arguing that gay rights should be respected “without changing the definition of marriage”. “I ask myself, most of these young people who voted yes are products of our Catholic school system for 12 years. I’m saying there’s a big challenge there to see how we get across the message of the church,” he added.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ireland celebrates historic gay marriage vote
Meanwhile, the taoiseach, Enda Kenny, praised the courageous step by Irish voters, including the tens of thousands who registered for the first time and many who travelled home to cast ballots, to decide in favour of same-sex marriage.
Ireland says yes to same-sex marriage - in pictures Read more
“The decision makes every citizen equal and will strengthen the institution of marriage for all existing and future marriages. All people now have an equal future to look forward to,” he said.
Already the resounding victory for gay rights campaigners is being billed as a massive boost for the republic’s reputation on the international stage. The UK prime minister, David Cameron, has praised the historic reform on social media. “Congratulations to the people of Ireland, after voting for same-sex marriage, making clear you are equal if you are straight or gay,” he said.
Ireland’s equalities minister, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, went one step further than Cameron, tweeting:
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD (@AodhanORiordain) Ireland hasn't just said "Yes"... Ireland has said: "F❤️CK YEAAHHHH"
He later added: “This is our Republic - we’ve taken it back today.”
The official result showed almost 1.95 million people went to the polls – a higher than normal turnout of 61%. Some 1,201,607 people backed a change of the 1937 constitution to enshrine in the section titled The Family an amendment that “marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex”. Those voting against the proposal numbered 734,300.
All but one of the republic’s 43 parliamentary constituencies voted yes to same-sex marriage. And fears of an urban-rural, yes/no split proved to be unfounded. Constituencies such as Donegal South West, which in the past voted against divorce and abortion reform, backed the yes side.
‘Ireland might just have become a great little country in which to be gay’ Read more
The health minister, Leo Varadkar, who this year came out as the country’s first openly gay minister, said the campaign had been “almost like a social revolution”.
At Dublin Castle, the site of the national count, the social transformation was evident in the rainbow colours of the gay movement, which lit up the 18th century cobbled courtyard amid glorious sunshine on Saturday afternoon. Some 2,000 activists had gathered there to celebrate the resounding victory for a country where homosexuality was not decriminalised until 1993.
A high turnout, particularly among younger voters, boosted the yes side. The overall turnout of 61% was higher than the poll to ratify the 1998 Good Friday agreement, when 56% of the electorate came out to vote.A student at the University of Florida (UF) became a victim of collegiate political correctness earlier this semester when his “History of Water” (AMH/EUH3931) professor, Jack E. Davis, deducted points from his essay for the use of the word “man.”
Martin Poirier, a history major at UF, informed The Daily Nerv that he was penalized on his essay for his use of the word “man” as opposed to its gender-neutral alternative, “human.”
[RELATED: Student has grade docked for using'mankind' in English paper]
A picture of Poirier’s essay is attached below. The paper is laden with corrections from the professor, but Davis’ controversial correction can be seen in the first line of the essay. The word “man” is circled with the label “W.M. #20”, which refers to Professor Davis’ Writing Mechanics Exercise, specifically Writing Mechanic #20. A look at Professor Davis’ Writing Mechanic #20 (see below) shows an example that purports a difference between “mankind” and “humankind.”
At the bottom of the essay, Davis’ final remarks on the paper state: “Thoughtful paper, although the writing mechanics errors are killing you.”
In addition, the night before the papers were returned to students, Professor Davis sent a copy of Poirier’s essay to the entire class and asked the students to “scrutinize” the mechanics and content of his essay for the following class period. According to Poirier, Professor Davis refers to this as putting a student in the “hot seat.”
Although the e-mail that Davis sent to the class maintained Poirier’s anonymity, Poirier chose to defend his use of the word “man” during the in-class critique. Poirier attempted to argue that Davis’ efforts were politically motivated. This, according to Poirier, prompted Davis to enter a rant on “how everything is political,” and how the intent for gender-neutral pronouns were “pre-baked into the original intent of the independent American nation’s values and founding documents.”
The Daily Nerv reached out to Professor Davis for comment; he replied stating he would provide a comment, but did not.
Poirier added that this was not a one-time occurrence. He emphasized that “Dr. Davis requires us to use only gender neutral expressions” and that this was not the first, or the only form of bias he has encountered on campus.
"I have plenty of more examples of bias in other courses, many much more severe,” he told The Daily Nerv.
“Mankind” and “humankind” bear identical definitions in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
This article was originally published in The Daily Nerv, a conservative student newspaper affiliated with the Leadership Institute's Campus Leadership Program. Its articles are republished here with permission.
Follow The Daily Nerv on Twitter: @thedailynervPOPULAR
Hello Tankers!
I have some news that just came in today and I think a few of you might appreciate it!
The previous announcement regarding the Stage 1 Phase 1 battles not counting towards the Stage 1 reward requirement was made due to a technical limitation in the way the event was programmed. We've been very busy the last few days working with the developers to find a way to resolve this, and I am happy to announce that the Stage 1 Phase 1 (June 10th) landing tournament battles that did not result in a technical victory/loss WILL count towards the required 5 battles for this stage.
TO REPEAT: Stage 1 Phase 1 (June 10th) landing tournament battles that did not result in a technical victory/loss WILL count towards the required 5 battles for this stage.
We would like to apologize for the mix-up in information given last week and we will be working diligently to provide accurate information in the future.
So congratulations to the players in the top 5 clans in this stage who played at least 5 games during the full duration of stage 1 (June 10th - June 20th), you will be qualified for the M60!Indonesian police have detained 58 men including several foreigners in a raid on a gay sauna, an official said on Saturday, the latest sign of a backlash against homosexuals in the Muslim-majority country.
Police late on Friday raided a building in the capital Jakarta that houses a sauna and a gym after they received information from the public that it was being used for prostitution.
"We secured 51 and seven employees for allegedly providing pornographic services," Jakarta Police spokesman Argo Yuwono said in a statement.
Six foreigners were among those detained, including four men from China, one from Thailand and one from Holland.
Homosexuality and gay sex are legal everywhere in Indonesia except in conservative Aceh province, but police have used the country’s tough anti-pornography laws or drugs charges to criminalise LGBT people in the past.CHICAGO -- Authorities say the man accused of executing a Chicago 9-year-old last year planned to torture the child by cutting off his fingers and ears.
Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said at a press conference Tuesday that Tyshawn Lee's murder on Nov. 2 was retaliation for another fatal shooting. She said the suspects blamed the previous incident on a gang they believed Lee's father was in, according to CBS Chicago.
Dwight Boone-Doty CBS Chicago
Dwight Boone-Doty, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder in Lee's death, and the Oct. 18 shooting death of 19-year-old Brianna Jenkins. He has also been charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting 20-year-old Deshari Bowens in the attack that killed Jenkins.
Another man, 27-year-old Corey Morgan, also has been charged with first-degree murder in Tyshawn's death; and authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a third suspect, 22-year-old Kevin Edwards.
"These are calculated killers whose actions define the words brutality and cowardice," Acting Chicago Police Supt. John Escalante said.
Boone-Doty allegedly lured Tyshawn away from a basketball court by offering to take him to a store, and then shot him multiple times in an alley.
Prosecutors said Boone-Doty originally planned to kill Lee's grandmother and torture the boy.
"In nearly 30 years of policing, I have never witnessed such a hateful act of treachery and savageness towards an innocent child whose life barely had the chance to flourish," Escalante said.
Corey Morgan Cook County Sheriff
Police and prosecutors said both shootings stemmed from an ongoing gang war between the Terror Dome faction of the Chicago gang the Black P-Stones and the Killa Ward faction of the Gangster Disciples.
Alvarez said that on Oct. 13 that 25-year-old Tracy Morgan was shot and killed while sitting in a car with his mother, who was also wounded in the attack. Morgan's brother, Corey Morgan, planned to retaliate, and allegedly said he "was going to kill grandmas, mothers, and children," Alvarez said.
Corey Morgan, Boone-Doty, and Edwards - all purported Terror Dome members - allegedly went out daily, armed with guns, seeking revenge, Alvarez said.
On Oct. 18, 2015, Boone-Doty allegedly shot Jenkins and Bowens after spotting the duo sitting in car. Alvarez said Boone-Doty and Corey Morgan believed the two victims were rival gang members.
Kevin Edwards Chicago Police Department
She said the suspects were still seeking retaliation when they, and Edwards, spotted Lee playing with a basketball in at a playground. Alvarez said Morgan and Edwards drove off in an SUV while Boone-Doty stayed behind.
Lee put down his basketball and began playing on the swings at the park, and Boone-Doty walked up to him and offered to take him to the store and buy him anything he wanted, Alvarez said. The two then walked into a nearby alley, where Boone-Doty allegedly shot Tyshawn multiple times at close range.
"I don't think I have ever been more disgusted and appalled by such inhumanity. This intentional murder of Tyshawn Lee is among the worst that I have ever seen in my almost 30 years as a prosecutor," Alvarez said.
Authorities said Boone-Doty, who was in custody on unrelated gun charges, gave statements admitting his role in the killings, and said when he shot Tyshawn he "seen that bitch go in his head."
"Shorty, he was like he couldn't take it no more. Shorty couldn't take it no more," Boone-Doty allegedly said, according to Alvarez.
Alvarez said Boone-Doty's initial plan was to torture Tyshawn by kidnapping him, and cutting off his fingers and ears. She also said he set up surveillance of Tyshawn's grandmother at one point, to draw out rival gang members.
Boone-Doty was ordered held without bail at a bond hearing Tuesday afternoon.
Corey Morgan was charged with first-degree murder in Tyshawn's death in November, and is being held without bail.
Edwards remains at large, but a warrant has been issued for his arrest.The fourth and final season of Star Wars Rebels is now on the air and it promises to answer a lot of questions. Some of those questions could even link to the two live-action movies set in the same timeline as the show: Rogue One and Solo.
And though Rogue One has already woven its way in and out with Rebels, and will continue to do so, executive producer Dave Filoni told me that we should not expect Solo to do the same.
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“I don’t know if there’s anything Ezra Bridger could really add to the saga of a Han Solo type character,” Filoni said. “We already had Lando in our show, but we have to be careful about it being a variety show. We’ve had a lot of characters come in and out and I always get worried about small galaxy syndrome.”
That small galaxy makes sense, though, when it’s a character like Princess Leia. Besides Ezra, the main focus of Rebels is the creation of the Rebel Alliance, and Leia is a major part of that. Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the few remaining Jedi, so as Ezra trains in that discipline, it makes sense for him to appear. “You just have to make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons and that you really want these characters to cross over,” Filoni said. But to work in some connection to a smuggler who we damn well know doesn’t want to get caught up in the Rebellion just yet would probably be a little much.
However, while Filoni denied any Solo connections, he does hypothetically think one Rebels character could fit in with his story.
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“There is some rationale that, if she should survive Star Wars Rebels, being an ace pilot, it seems more likely that Hera would be the one that knows someone like Han Solo,” Filoni said. “I’ve had rather large arguments about which ship is better, the Ghost or the Falcon, but that doesn’t really seem relevant for anything [the Rebels] are doing.”
It’s true—figuring out which ship or pilot in the best in the galaxy does not make much sense when you’re fighting for the survival of the galaxy. And that’s what the rest of Star Wars Rebels season four is likely to be about.
We’ll have much more from my interview with Dave Filoni soon. Star Wars Rebels continues Mondays on Disney XD.The study showed that women who lifted weights twice a week had a healthier brain than those who did not
A new study indicates that lifting weights twice a week helps to combat a decline in brain health, particularly in women.
A lot of past studies have explored the beneficial impact of physical activity such as running, walking, and aerobics on the body, but few have looked at lifting weights.
This was noticed by Teresa Liu-Ambrose, director of the Aging, Mobility and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, |
baby is undoubtedly, 110 percent his.”
Of Brown, the source said, “There was no doubt in people’s minds anyways, least of all hers. It wasn’t a surprise to her. She knew all along.”
Murphy’s rep declined to comment.
Brown, 32, gave birth to the baby, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, on April 3, and has long contended that Murphy is the child’s father.
She and the comic dated last summer, but in December Murphy told a Dutch TV show of Brown’s pregnancy: “I don’t know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test.”
In May, Brown told PEOPLE Murphy not only was refusing to take a paternity test but that he also had not contacted her since Angel was born: “He hasn’t seen his daughter. My people have contacted his people and they just had no response to anything.”
• Reporting by BRYAN ALEXANDER6 years ago
Denver, Colorado (CNN) - Two-thirds of people who watched the first presidential debate think that Republican nominee Mitt Romney won the showdown, according to a nationwide poll conducted Wednesday night.
According to a CNN/ORC International survey conducted right after the debate, 67% of debate watchers questioned said that the Republican nominee won the faceoff, with one in four saying that President Barack Obama was victorious.
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"No presidential candidate has topped 60% in that question since it was first asked in 1984," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.
While nearly half of debate watchers said the showdown didn't make them more likely to vote for either candidate, 35% said the debate made them more likely to vote for Romney while only 18% said the faceoff made them more likely to vote to re-elect the president.
CNN Fact Checks: What was truth, and what was not?
More than six in ten said that president did worse than expected, with one in five saying that Obama performed better than expected. Compare that to the 82% who said that Romney performed better than expected. Only one in ten felt that the former Massachusetts governor performed worse than expected.
"This poll does not and cannot reflect the views of all Americans. It only represents the views of people who watched the debate and by definition cannot be an indication of how the entire American public will react to Wednesday's debate in the coming days," cautions Holland.
The sample of debate-watchers in the poll was 37% Democratic and 33% Republican.
"That indicates that the sample of debate watchers is about four points more Democratic and about eight points more Republican than an average CNN poll of all Americans, for a small advantage for the Republicans in the sample of debate-watchers," adds Holland.
Romney to deliver major foreign policy address next week
The poll suggests that the debate didn't change opinions of the president. Forty-nine percent of debate watchers said before the debate that they had a favorable opinion of Obama, and that number didn't change following the debate.
It was pretty much a similar story for Romney, whose favorable rating among debate watchers edged up just two points, from 54% before the debate to 56% after the debate.
The economy dominated the first debate and according to the poll, and by a 55%-43% margin, debate watchers said that Romney rather than Obama would better handle the economy. On the issue of taxes, which kicked off the debate, Romney had a 53%-44% edge over Obama. And by a 52%-47% margin, debate watchers said Romney would better handle health care, and he had the edge on the budget deficit by a 57%-41% margin.
From the spin room...
Debate watchers thought Romney was more aggressive. Fifty-three percent said Romney spent more time attacking his opponent. Only three in ten thought Obama spent more time taking it to Romney. By a 58%-37% margin, debate watchers thought Romney appeared to be the stronger leader.
"Romney's only Achilles heel may be the perception that he spent more time attacking his opponent than Obama, which may explain why two-thirds of debate-watchers said that Romney did the best job but only 46% said that he was more likeable than Obama," says Holland.
Dems: Today is a new day
The CNN poll was conducted by ORC International, with 430 adult Americans who watched the debate questioned by telephone. All interviews were conducted after the end of the debate. The survey's sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser contributed to this storyThe opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com.
This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) could have been titled President Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Don. For the first time in years, most of America’s premier conservatives gathered to find themselves the proverbial dog who chased and caught the car. With the White House, Congress, and most likely SCOTUS in the near future, the big question seemed to be “What the hell do we do now?”
Clearly, one of the answers was drink, and there was plenty of that. The bars were only lightly packed this year because a lot of familiar faces were missing. Conservatives seem to thrive on threats, and if Hillary had been elected or – shiver – Jeb, the place would have been packed. One can easily imagine #Fail Bush having started off his term by building a bridge to the people who hate us by re-nominating Merrick Garland. Don’t laugh – that’s not a joke.
After all, there is a tiresome strain of conservatism that loathes the thought of victory and revels in the delicious ecstasy of submission to the liberal master caste. Those guys weren’t here. John McCain and Lindsey Graham didn’t show up, and most of the diehard Never Trumpers didn’t bother coming either. But then, what could they say? “Gorsuch. Mattis. Pruitt. See, I told you Trump was terrible!”
Very few senators and congressjerks showed up either, probably because they didn’t want to be mocked. We all know the current crop of doofy leftist clowns being bussed into town halls are paid shills hoping the GOP legislators are stupid and cowardly enough to be intimidated. And that bet is kind of like doubling down on an ace when the dealer has a six showing. The astroturf goofs are one thing; showing up here, they know they’d be raked over the coals for what is becoming increasingly clear is their burning desire to not do what they promised yet again.
“We can’t repeal Obamacare until we get the Senate.”
“Okay, we have the Senate, but we don’t have the White House.”
“Sure, we have the White House, but Jupiter and Mercury aren’t in alignment.”
The president hinted he’s not inclined to let these dorks slither their way out of helping him keep his promises. This convention was a message. CPAC showed that relevant hardcore conservatives are making peace with a president who is not ideologically pure – irrelevant ones stayed away, probably fearing wedgies.
Even McMullin didn’t show up, at least I don’t think he did. I assume I would have heard one of the many awkwardly-dressed college students saying something to the effect of “Hey, isn’t that the guy my dad listens to? I think his name was Moby.” There was no George Will, no Bill Kristol. The old guard knew it wasn’t welcome – to the extent it was even remembered – and, in Fredocon fashion, it was too gutless to come looking for a fight. Instead, they no doubt retired to their studies with a warm cup of tea to read their own forgotten books and look back on the days when they mattered, back when talking a good game was enough. Back before all this rabble showed up demanding results.
This is no longer their conservative movement, and the rejection stings. From here on, they’ll be on the sidelines whining because Trump is so uncouth, while he turns the Supreme Court red, rebuilds our military, and motivates Congress to get off its collective Boehner.
Conservatives are sick of excuses, and sick of movement timeservers whose primary goal isn’t upending the establishment but securing their comfortable place in it.
President Trump entered the ballroom like a rock star, at least up front with the attendees. In the back in the media area, there was stony silence – except for me and my pal Stephen Kruiser. As opinion folk, we aren’t bound by the whole fake objectivity thing that only applies when it’s a conservative. Looking around at the collection of geebos and durwoods who made up the majority of the press, you could almost see the tracks of their tears on their sad faces from their abject boo-hooing when Hillary lost. And when Trump laid into them, they were most unhappy.
Of course, we were giddy. This annoyed the media tools even more.
Naturally, about three minutes of trashing the trashy, lying media became the entire story of a fairly long speech. If you weren’t there, the real story was that President Trump absolutely intends on keeping his promises. Obamacare will be repealed. There will be a wall. We are deporting illegals. We are cutting taxes. The clock is ticking. Congress better understand – this guy’s patience is not unlimited. If they think they can slide back into the big talk in election years/big walks in off years mode, they are going to find Trump in their districts rallying for their primary opponents.
My Never Trump pals – not the weak, whiny folks but the people truly concerned because Trump is not a conservative ideologue – seemed to have entered the acceptance stage. Of course, a Secretary of Defense nicknamed “Mad Dog” makes Trump a lot easier to swallow. They have not abandoned the party or the movement. They are adapting. They even enjoyed CPAC. Maybe they don’t yet love the Don, but they are at least tolerating him.Image caption Ugandan gay people often fear living openly
Uganda will pass a new law against homosexuality by the end of 2012 as a "Christmas gift" to its advocates, the speaker of parliament has said.
The AP news agency quoted Rebecca Kadaga as saying that Ugandans were "demanding" the law.
Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda, but the bill which is before parliament proposes tougher sentences for people convicted.
Foreign donors have threatened to cut aid if gay rights are not respected.
The bill, tabled by MP David Bahati, proposes jail terms for homosexual acts, including a life sentence in certain circumstances.
It prohibits the "promotion" of gay rights and calls for the punishment of anyone who "funds or sponsors homosexuality" or "abets homosexuality".
But a clause which calls for the death penalty against people found guilty of "aggravated homosexuality" - defined as when one of the participants is a minor, HIV-positive, disabled or a "serial offender" - is to be dropped, Mr Bahati has said.
If homosexuality is a value for the people of Canada they should not seek to force Uganda to embrace it Rebecca Kadaga, Ugandan parliamentary speaker
Diplomatic spat
The bill was strongly condemned last year by Western leaders, including US President Barack Obama who described it as "odious".
International donors have threatened to cut off aid to Uganda if the country does not do more to protect the rights of gay people.
Ms Kadaga said she hoped the bill, first tabled in 2009 and now before a parliamentary committee, would be passed by the end of the year, Reuters news agency reports.
"Ugandans want that law as a Christmas gift. They have asked for it and we'll give them that gift," Ms Kadaga is quoted as saying.
Last month, Ms Kadaga was involved in a row with Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird over gay rights at a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Quebec.
When Mr Bairn warned Uganda not to trample on people's human rights, Ms Kadaga replied: "If homosexuality is a value for the people of Canada they should not seek to force Uganda to embrace it. We are not a colony or a protectorate of Canada."
She received a rapturous welcome from several hundred anti-gay activists, including religious leaders, at Uganda's Entebbe airport when she returned from her trip.
In June, Uganda's Minister for Ethics and Integrity Simon Lokodo said 38 non-governmental organisations which he accused of promoting homosexuality would be banned.
Clare Byarugaba, the co-ordinator of Uganda's Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, said the group would challenge the law in the constitutional court, Reuters reports.
"The international community supports us and we also believe in the constitution of our country which protects the rights and freedoms of everyone," she is quoted as saying.
Correspondents say many Ugandans are deeply conservative, and say homosexuality is against their religious and cultural beliefs.Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)
By Joel Ebert, USA TODAY NETWORK — Tennessee
One day after the worst mass shooting in American history, Rep. Andy Holt, is firmly standing behind his decision to give away a semi-automatic rifle similar to the one used in the Orlando shooting.
While announcing his plans last week to hold his first annual "Hog Fest and Turkey Shoot," Holt, R-Dresden, said he will give away an AR-15 as a door prize to an attendee of his June 25 fundraiser.
The event is also scheduled to include a turkey shoot — participants are encouraged to bring their own rifle and ammo.
Holt said despite Sunday's massacre in Orlando that left 50 people dead and 53 wounded, he remains stalwart in his belief that the weapon used in the mass shooting is not to blame.
"It has nothing to do with the style of weapon. It has everything to do with who's behind the weapon," said Holt, who has sponsored several gun bills, including one recently enacted law that allows full-time employees at Tennessee colleges and universities to carry weapons on campus.
Holt said the weapon is the type that can be used for multiple purposes including hunting, target shooting and self-defense.
He said the only thing wrong with the AR-15 is that "it's black and it looks real scary" adding, "If I beat somebody to death with a hammer that's just a hammer. But if I was to take and wrap it up in electrical tape and make it black I guess that would make it an assault hammer."
Holt said there is no functional difference between any semi-automatic weapon and an AR-15, and argued that it didn't matter that an AR-15 had been used in various American mass shootings in recent years, including the 2012 shooting in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater and last year's mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. "It's not about the gun. It has everything to do with the position and condition of that person's heart that's behind the gun behind pulling the trigger," he said.
When asked how someone could determine whether a person has a good or bad heart while trying to obtain a weapon, Holt said, "Ultimately we don't know the answer to that question. But what we do know is that the vast majority of weapons that are used are not used for those unlawful purposes. They're used for lawful purposes of defending one's self."
Turning to the issue of background checks, when Holt was asked if he believes there needs to be additional steps taken, he said, "I believe there needs to be decreased amounts of that for lawful citizens. The Constitution is very clear that all Americans, all U.S. citizens, have the right to keep and bear arms."
In March, Rep. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville, brought an AR-15 style rifle he purchased in a parking lot to the Tennessee legislature to argue for additional background checks. Stewart's efforts failed to make it out of committee.
Holt said mass shootings frequently occur in gun free zones, a point which defenders of the 2nd Amendment frequently make.
According to Florida state law, a person cannot carry a gun openly or concealed while in any establishment that sells alcohol on the premises.
"When we deprive people of their opportunity to defend themselves, this is what happens," Holt said. "Innocent individuals are sitting ducks."
Holt argued that gun free zones should not exist in any public spaces in Tennessee, while standing behind his plan to introduce a bill next year that will allow students to carry guns on college campuses.
He said Omar Mateen, the New York-born gunman responsible for Sunday's shooting at a gay nightclub, was a "crazed Islamist" and an "ISIS devotee."
Supporters of the Islamic State have praised the massacre on social media but it remains unclear if the organization had any knowledge of the attack before it occurred. Initial reports suggest Mateen called 911 in the midst of the attack and pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Holt said Mateen should have never been able to obtain the weapons he used during the shooting, given the fact that he was interrogated by the FBI in separate incidences.
"There were some very clear indicators — not once but twice or three times — this man had pledged himself to ISIS," Holt said. "Guess what? If you do that, I don't think you should have any guns."
Holt said there was a clear difference between Mateen and the average law abiding Tennessean who wants to purchase an AR-15, adding that the Orlando massacre is further proof that "Islam is at war" with the United States.
In an effort to stave off future massacres, Holt said the best way to stop a "crazed individual who is wielding a firearm" is to have armed citizens who can take action.
"I would encourage everyone in the state of Tennessee today if they don't have a firearm to go out and purchase one. And if they have a firearm, go out and purchase another one to be trained in the execution of using that weapon in a dangerous situation," he said.
In a post on Facebook, Holt said he was "furious" because the federal government has not recognized the threat of radical Islam and lawmakers like Congressman Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, have blamed the 2nd Amendment.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Cohen called for House Speaker Paul Ryan to bring a bill to the chambers' floor that would ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
Holt said he was also furious that he received an inquiry about his AR-15 giveaway but wasn't asked "how many extra firearms I'll be handing out to ensure people can protect themselves. After all, it was a bullet that stopped the terrorist."
"I want you to arm yourselves and learn to shoot with deadly accuracy should the need arise. Protect your family. Protect yourselves. Protect your friends. Our government has made it quite clear that it is incapable of doing so. At the end of the day, it's your responsibility anyways," he concluded.
In the late afternoon, Holt announced on Twitter that he planned on giving away two AR-15s at the fundraiser.
Giving away two AR15s now. See you all there! https://t.co/QI3meb24iA — Andy Holt (@AndyHolt4TN) June 13, 2016
Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Mary Mancini immediately ripped into Holt, saying, "We’re furious that in the wake of this tragedy, state Rep. Andy Holt is being such a reckless and irresponsible gun owner.
"Andy Holt doesn’t know if he’s putting the winning raffle ticket in the hands of the next mass shooter," Mancini said.
Late in the day, Holt's legislative assistant, Michael Lotfi, says he fielded a series of phone calls from an anonymous Memphis-based male caller who said he would come to Nashville on Tuesday to "beat our a--es," Lotfi said in a statement. Lotfi, who said the caller said he had multiple guns, and Holt reported the incident to state troopers.
Holt blamed the threats on the "left wing," saying, "Here we are trying to ensure that people have the right to protect themselves, and we’re getting death threats over it? These liberal activists are threatening to bring their guns to the Capitol and harm people. … It makes zero sense, but it’s what we have come to expect. I’d sure like to see where Democrat leaders are on condemning this type of behavior from members of their party rather than letting it go unchecked."
It is unclear whether the caller identified himself as a Democrat.Bill Cassidy, R-Cave.
The Republican Party’s moderate wing has been in a continuous state of slow-motion collapse for four decades. If there is a single line that encapsulates the process, it is this quote by a senior Republican aide in Congress to Caitlin Owens: “Moderates always cave. I don’t know if conservatives will cave.”
The principle that Republican moderates always cave explains the fate of the health-care bill in the House. When the bill initially failed, it faced opposition from both wings of the party: vulnerable swing-district Republicans who worried that it snatched insurance away from too many of their constituents, and the hard-liners in the House Freedom Caucus who thought it didn’t snatch away enough. Republican leaders solved this seemingly intractable dilemma by moving the bill to the right, bringing the hard-liners onboard, and counting on moderates to cave and support something that was even harsher. It worked.
This also explains the design of the Senate bill. The main barrier to passage in the upper chamber has seemed to be the party’s centrists. Blue- and purple-state Republicans said they wanted to preserve coverage for their citizens who had obtained it through the Medicaid expansion. Bill Cassidy seemed to be leading the moderate wing in a direction that could not be reconciled with the leadership’s agenda. In March, he said, “There’s a widespread recognition that the federal government, Congress, has created the right for every American to have health care.” In May, he attacked the GOP plan for cutting taxes, making drastic coverage reductions inevitable. “I am a critic of the American Health Care Act,” he told the American Hospital Association. “I think it’s to set up tax reform and all the money used for coverage is instead going to be used to pay down the bill for tax reform.”
The Senate bill does not remotely address any of these criticisms. It preserves every cent of the tax cuts in the House bill. It makes health care unaffordable to millions of people with low incomes or expensive medical needs. Astonishingly, it cuts Medicaid more deeply than the House bill. The legislative strategy reflects the assumption that the moderates will cave no matter what.
And so far that strategy appears correct. The only stated opponents all sit on the party’s right wing, setting themselves up to gain leverage to demand pulling the bill even farther right — or, at the very least, prevent it from moving left. How can they possibly pull this off when the bill already sits far to the right of the “moderates” stated parameters? Because the moderates always cave.The Polish government has accused the European commission of a politically motivated attack after the EU’s executive body triggered a process that could see the country stripped of voting rights in Brussels, over legal changes that the bloc claims threaten the independence of the judiciary.
In a highly symbolic moment, Poland’s fellow 27 EU member states were advised by the commission on Wednesday that the legislative programme of Poland’s government was putting at risk fundamental values expected of a democratic state by allowing political interference in its courts.
The row represents the greatest crisis in the EU since Britain’s decision to leave the EU last year, with the Polish government showing little inclination to back down.
Frans Timmermans, the vice-president of the commission, told reporters in Brussels that in two years 13 laws had been adopted that put at serious risk the independence of Poland’s judiciary and the separation of powers.
“Judicial reforms in Poland mean that the country’s judiciary is now under the political control of the ruling majority. In the absence of judicial independence, serious questions are raised about the effective application of EU law,” Timmermans, a former Dutch diplomat, said.
“We are doing this for Poland, for Polish citizens.”
Polish MPs pass judicial bills amid accusations of threat to democracy Read more
Poland’s new prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, responded on Twitter: “Poland is as devoted to the rule of law as the rest of the EU.” The Polish foreign ministry said in a statement: “Poland deplores the European commission’s launch of the procedure [...] which is essentially political, not legal.”
Hours later the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, gave a televised address to announce he had signed into law the two bills overhauling the judiciary.
The issuing of a formal warning to Poland has been recommended to the member states under the first clause of an, until now, unused article 7 procedure, which is regarded as a nuclear option in EU affairs. “It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to initiate Article 7.1,” Timmermans said. “But the facts leave us with no choice.”
At least 22 of the 28 member states will now need to vote in favour of the commission’s proposal for a formal warning, but Brussels is confident it has the numbers it needs.
The most serious sanction possible under article 7 would be to suspend the member state of its voting rights in EU institutions, and potentially EU financial transfers to the bloc’s largest beneficiary, but it would require unanimity among the member states in a subsequent vote. Hungary’s rightwing government has insisted it would never support such a move.
Zsolt Semjén, Hungary’s deputy prime minister, immediately described the commission’s move as “unprecedented and astounding” and reiterated the declared intention of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, to block any sanctions.
“The decision seriously damages Poland’s sovereignty,” Semjén said. “It is unacceptable that Brussels is putting pressure on sovereign member states and arbitrarily punishing democratically elected governments.”
Timmermans said that although there has been no dialogue with the Polish government this year on the issue, the EU was open to talks on the current standoff.
Morawiecki took office this month and Warsaw was advised that the commission could rescind its decision if remedies were enacted within the next three months.
It was always clear, however, that the commission’s decision would exacerbate a growing sense of crisis over Poland’s membership of the EU.
Speaking to state television earlier on Wednesday, the foreign minister, Witold Waszczykowski, said that any decision to initiate article 7 proceedings would constitute “an attempt to stigmatise Poland and push us aside when key decisions are made in the EU”.
State television news, controlled by the ruling Law and Justice party since the passage of a controversial media law in 2016, accompanied its coverage of the announcement with the headline “Frans Timmermans wants to take away Poles’ right to reform their own country”.
“Poland’s image and influence in the EU has already suffered under the policy of the PiS government, so the international consequences of the commission’s move will be limited, but the domestic fallout will be more important,” said Piotr Buras, director of the Warsaw office of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
“State propaganda is likely to portray this decision as an hostile act of foreign oppressors directed against Poland’s democracy and sovereignty. It will fuel the narrative about Poland as a besieged fortress, and about the west betraying Poland.”
The Polish government insists the judiciary retains too much of the institutional architecture that was in place during Poland’s time as a communist state and that it needs to be placed in a new legal framework.
The development will prove highly awkward for Theresa May, who will be in Warsaw for a UK-Poland summit on Thursday, at which she hopes to push forward her vision of a post-Brexit trading relationship with the rest of Europe.
The UK government has been ambiguous over its position, due to concerns that Brussels should not be meddling in domestic affairs.
While it is a keen advocate of independent judicial systems, the British government also wants to build alliances as it attempts to win support for May’s pursuit of a “deep and special” trade deal with the EU.
A spokesman for the prime minister said she would raise her concerns over the rule of law when in Warsaw, but that the UK hoped the issue could be swiftly resolved.
The row over the Polish government’s reforms to the country’s judiciary has been rolling on for two years but appears to have come to a head in the wake of the Polish senate’s decision last Friday to approve legislation giving the executive greater control of the supreme court and national council of the judiciary, which appoints judges.
Under the new laws the supreme court will be able to conduct “extraordinary reviews” of final judgments by lower courts, including those issued over the last 20 years.
The European council president, Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, and a party political rival to the Law and Justice party, urged Warsaw to “come to its senses”.
“I sincerely hope that the Polish government will … not seek a conflict at all cost in a case where it is simply not right,” Tusk said in Kraków, southern Poland.Chronicles of Darkness, Vampire: The Requiem
Tales from the Dark Eras contains stories from many of the eras covered in Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras. This week we look at Dry Spell, a story by Renee Ritchie set in Vampire: The Requiem’s late 16th century.
“For crimes against the state and the pacts of our safety and contaminating the masses upon whom we feed, Abbot Nathaniel Pendleton is hereby condemned to Final Death, to be carried out immediately. Court is adjourned.”
While not the most ideal words to hear upon returning to court, that utterance confrmed that I was, indeed, home, if nearly an hour late. The Ieldra’s voice flled the court chamber as only hers could: placid, but brimming with power, even when bored. The rustle of her heavy velvet skirts along the floor struck my ears more deeply than the Abbot’s shouted protests and the resulting scuffle.
Harald elbowed me brusquely, returning my attention to my more immediate surroundings instead of the presence of the Ieldra. The Haunt grinned at me, his teeth crisscrossing each other in a fght for dominance in his own mouth. “Oi, some fancy tricks she’s learned there, eh?”
“Trick. Yes. Serpents,” I mumbled. My gaze wandered back to the high table where the Ieldra, seated at the center of the table, greeted a few richly dressed courtiers. Caedmon sat to her left, fretting with the long robes of offce and glaring sidelong as Richard Bithewaye introduced those courtiers to the Ieldra personally. One of Caedmon’s arms protectively encircled an earthenware vessel with a bit of ash smeared on its lip and handle.
“If that answer pleases you, sir,” Harald replied, his voice a little louder and more pointed than it needed to be. “Good to have you home, lad, but I’m afraid this conversation is more business than pleasure, so your full attention is requested.” Harald reinforced his message by gripping my arm with surprising power and flashing those wayward teeth once more.
“The Ieldra would like to see you, sir. Says it’s important.”
The old woman I’d killed on the way into the city flashed before my memory, and the gnawing sensation in the pit of my stomach, a quiet but persistent presence throughout the proceedings, made its presence known once more.
I followed Harald obediently rather than resisting, and his vicious grip loosened as we approached the high table. The Ieldra politely nodded along to whatever honeyed words spilled forth from Bithewaye’s companion, but her eyes moved to me, and I felt the cold of winter in my spine once more. Her conversation partner’s gaze shifted as well, narrowing to scrutinize my mean-looking garb and unremarkable face. I dipped my head in the deference the nobility prefers, and the delicate flower held a handkerchief to his face.
“Leave us,” the Ieldra said. I felt Harald back away behind me in quick steps. Caedmon and Richard both looked at me askance, but did as the lady bid. Caedmon collected the urn that surely carried the remains of his wayward abbot, and Richard escorted his fellows toward the center of the room, speaking to them in stilted French.
“Sit,” the Ieldra requested, gesturing to the empty chair to her right. I nodded once more and took the offered seat. My tongue darted out unbidden to lick my burning lips, and my gaze drifted to the cup before her on the table that I was certain was not there before. Her lips curled into a catlike smile.
“I hear you had a bit of a feast on your way in, Mister Starling,” she began, raising the cup to her lips, and the vitae within stained them red. It was all I could do to not stare at them, but her eyes remained on mine. “Would that explain your tardiness? Normally, you are so punctual.”
I swallowed hard, then nodded once more. “Yes, my lady,” I murmured. “It was a bit of clumsiness on my part, and I am truly sorry for any inconvenience–”
“And you still hunger.” Her tone grew sharper than the blade on my hip, and the ice in my spine melted, turning to water in my bowels. Were I still mortal, the reek of shit would have given me away.
“Worry not,” she continued with a resigned sigh. “I know this hunger is not your own. Your plight is by no means common, thought it has happened before. Normally, it does not even come to my attention, and if the poor afflicted soul survives the night, the condition may fade over time, but more frequently, it takes root so deeply that his ravenous hunger forces a more final solution.”
I am not a man to pray, but as the Ieldra explained, my mind concocted supplications to the Almighty, the God of the Jews, and all spirits the Weihan Cynn revered to spare me. “Am I entirely lost, m’lady?” I managed to reply.
“Not in the least.” She rolled her eyes. “You are lucky. Some of my allies were looking for that same woman to levy the same fate on her that you did by accident. They can alleviate it. Your payment to me for this is to deliver a small gift, which you will fetch from Cicely Rowe. Bring it to the Lodenstane, intact, before you kill again from your hunger. The recipient will be waiting there for you. One of my daughters will accompany you to ensure the proper forms are followed, but you must be the one to deliver it. Return to me before dawn with whatever they give you. You have my word that nothing in your delivery includes a command or request for its recipient to kill you upon delivery.”
I nodded, and I could feel my body relax and uncoil as she spoke the words required by the Post’s rules to allow me to accept the task. “Of course, my lady. As is right and proper.”
The Ieldra raised her hand, palm up, and then Gwendolyn approached, as if waiting in the wings at the Globe. Her milk-white skin and golden hair were the stuff of sonnets, even in life. When I left London, she still breathed and reveled in the sun warming her face. Now, the warmth that livened her bosom, a warmth I relished in moments of quiet between travels, was gone. She clasped the Ieldra’s extended hand, but when her eyes alighted on me, her sweet lips, once ruddy with kisses but now pale, parted in a startled gasp. “You! You’re…” she began, and a hint of girlish trembling made her clutch the box tighter.
The Ieldra’s smile spread, and she brought Gwendolyn’s hand to her lips, kissing the girl’s fingers gently to soothe her. Still, Gwendolyn stared at me in horror.
“I know she was a favorite of yours,” the Ieldra explained to me. “And for good reason. But she was mine long before she was ever yours. Remember that. She will go with you. You’ve taken good care of her before. I expect nothing less from you now.” With a gentle push to the small of her back, the Ieldra guided Gwendolyn to me, and I could not help but open my arms to her. My fangs pierced my tongue as I recalled the taste of her from many a visit to her bed. My Beast roared in fury in my chest, especially as Gwendolyn recoiled from the offered embrace.
“Go, both of you,” the Ieldra commanded. “Time is precious. To fail is to commit treason. But I would advise getting a proper meal beforehand.” The knowing smile on her lips as she turned away set my teeth to gnashing behind tightly closed lips. I snatched Gwendolyn’s hand and practically dragged her behind me as I left the hall.On April 27, 1813, the British commander of Fort York, then a remote colonial outpost, ordered his troops to detonate a building packed with gunpowder in an attempt to distract the advancing American forces. The massive explosion of the so-called Grand Magazine could be heard for miles and killed several soldiers.
Apparently, the reverberations were still faintly audible as recently as this past March, when Toronto resident Nathan Ng decided to post a question on the fort's Facebook page, asking about the exact location of the storied blast.
Mr. Ng is a 40-year-old tech manager who grew up in Kitchener and has lived here for about 15 years. He describes himself as "a Toronto enthusiast." "The question," he recalled recently, "got back to Steve Otto and he sent me a note."
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Mr. Otto, the 73-year-old founder of the Friends of Fort York, is the pre-eminent expert on the city's architectural heritage. The crater, he explained to Mr. Ng, was just outside the southern ramparts, and is denoted on maps of the fort.
The question, however, didn't end with the answer. Indeed, the serendipity of their social network exchange brought Mr. Otto and Mr. Ng together on a thoroughly 21st-century collaboration, which seeks to make the fort's rich, but largely paper-based, mapping legacy readily available to the citizen historians who trawl the Web.
Their recently launched website, fortyorkmaps.blogspot.ca, has almost 60 pages of maps of the fort and the properties situated on the surrounding military reserves, later known as "the liberties." "We're trying to trace [the fort's] history through historical maps," says Mr. Ng. "Some had not been digitized before."
Serving up history as a captivating cartographic mash-up, the website vividly illustrates how a rapidly industrializing city nosed its way up to the very walls of the garrison, finally choking it off with landfill, industry |
from the incremental nature of the reform, and its reliance on the private sector to provide a public good. For good measure, it actually saved the government money, and it slowed soaring health-care costs. The exchanges, with predictable early hiccups, largely worked — a case study in the benefits of market competition. The law allowed for experiments to test how efficient health care could be. It even insisted on personal responsibility by mandating individual coverage. And the concept of insurance is not socialism; it’s a matter simply of pooling risk as widely as possible. If any European conservative party were to propose such a system, it would be pilloried as a far-right plot. And yet the Republican Party opposed it with a passion that became very hard for me to disentangle from hatred of Obama himself.
The Trump GOP’s attempt to abolish it is therefore, to my mind, neither conservative nor decent. It’s reactionary and callous. Its effective abandonment of 95 percent of us with preexisting conditions will strike real terror in a lot of people’s hearts. Its gutting of Medicaid will force millions of the poor to lose health care almost altogether. It will bankrupt the struggling members of the working and middle classes who find themselves in a serious health crisis. It could hurt Republicans in the midterms —though that will be cold comfort for the countless forced into penury or sickness because of Trump’s desire for a “win.” But it’s clarifying for me. It forces me to back a Democratic Party I don’t particularly care for. And it destroys any notion I might have had that American conservatism gives a damn about the vulnerable. It really is a deal-breaker for me. I hope many others feel exactly the same way.
The one aspect of the current, drama-filled European political scene that hasn’t gotten enough attention, I think, is the power now wielded by women. All three of the biggest economies in Europe — Germany, Britain, and France — now have women at the very center of their national politics. Angela Merkel and Theresa May currently run their respective countries and Marine Le Pen is only the second woman in the final round of a French presidential campaign. And here’s the refreshing thing: No one seems to care much about their gender. Neither Le Pen nor May is appealing to women as some kind of gesture toward gender solidarity. And their opponents almost never mention May’s or Le Pen’s gender, either.
You can see the impact of this in the opinion polls in Britain and France, where the gap between men’s and women’s votes is close to nonexistent. May, Merkel, and Le Pen, it seems, have been pioneering a new politics of gender equality, but none of them wants to make a big deal out of it. Compare this with the Hillary Clinton campaign. Yes, I know she based her campaign on many issues beyond her gender. But when she was asked how she would bring change to America, did she really say that being a woman was change in itself? And when she brought her convention to a climax surrounded by women celebrating the breaking of a glass ceiling, she couldn’t have been more different than her successful European peers.
Merkel and May. Photo: Ulrich Baumgarten/via Getty Images
That’s not to say, of course, that their gender isn’t salient in subtler ways. Le Pen has promoted an image of herself in the French campaign as a woman and as a mother, changed the party’s logo from a flame to a blue rose, and deployed gender in her campaign against Islam: “In France, we respect women,” she declared recently. “We do not beat them or ask them to hide behind a veil as if they were impure.”
May has tried a more British tactic. During her campaign to win the Conservative Party leadership last July, she pounced on a “hot mic” gaffe by a Europhile Tory grandee, Ken Clarke. He was caught saying that May was a “bloody difficult woman” to deal with. This Thatcher-style soubriquet helped rally support behind her — even or especially among the male-dominated Tory parliamentary party. Last week, May reached back to this moment. Details of a private, contentious meeting about Brexit with EU leaders in Downing Street — almost certainly leaked by the German government — had painted her as delusionally confident about negotiating Brexit with her European partners. Claude Juncker, the president of the EU Commission, was quoted as saying their meeting made him ten times more skeptical about the feasibility of Brexit, and that May was living on another planet. May responded publicly by insisting that, indeed, she intended to be a “bloody difficult woman” in negotiating Brexit with Juncker. Not quite a “nasty woman” moment — but close. And she deftly exploited it to bring the Tories near an unprecedented 50 percent in the polls.
I’m also struck by the fact that so many working-class men have rallied behind Le Pen and May — the very demographic that Clinton lost. Check out this video of an older Brit who says he had always voted Labour before but this time will vote for May because she is “a strong woman” who will defend Britain’s interests abroad. And take a look at this revealing Guardian video interviewing men and women in a region in rural France that was once a bastion of the left. You can see that there’s a mild gender-influenced strain behind “notre Marine” but that she is reaching new heights for her party among women almost entirely because of the core question of globalization and nationalism.
Perhaps the first female president of the U.S. will have to come from the right, as May, Merkel, and Le Pen do. That position scrambles the gender war in such a way that conservative women may be more likely to succeed in politics than liberal women — at least at first. (The pioneer in this, of course, was Margaret Thatcher, who was subjected to sexist criticism entirely from the left.) It’s also true that feminism in Europe is still, at the political-elite level, interested in getting past gender, rather than obsessing about it. When Le Pen loses the vote next Sunday (as seems likely), the one thing you can count on is that she won’t blame misogyny. It seems as if those who actually succeed in breaking the glass ceiling don’t actually campaign on breaking the glass ceiling. I wonder if the Democrats will one day realize that.
One of the great achievements of the gay-rights movement has, in my view, been its successful engagement with the police. I was reminded of this most starkly watching the video of the memorial service in Paris for gay policeman Xavier Jugelé, who was shot in the head by an Islamist terrorist last month. His civil partner, Etienne Cardiles, gave a beautiful eulogy, while President François Hollande, Marine Le Pen, and Emmanuel Macron put aside their political differences and watched and listened. None of this would have been imaginable a generation ago. Jugelé himself was an activist for gay rights. He “was a simple man who loved his job, and he was really committed to the LGBT cause,” Mickaël Bucheron, president of the French association for LGBT police officers, told the New York Times. “He joined the association a few years ago, and he protested with us when there was the homosexual propaganda ban at the Sochi Olympic Games.”
We can easily forget how new this is, how profound the transformation of the West on this subject has been in such a short period of time. From cops busting the Stonewall Inn or enforcing sodomy laws, we now have openly gay cops defending us from Islamist terrorism (and we have openly gay soldiers doing exactly the same thing). In my own city of Washington, D.C., in my adult lifetime, we went from cops wearing rubber gloves to shut down a Halloween drag race in the AIDS era to a Pride March which proudly includes gay cops and which is made possible by the work of many straight cops who police the event. It moves me every time I see this. It is a quiet and profound revolution.
But I fear it is only a matter of time before Pride everywhere is hijacked by the social-justice left.
And that’s why it is so deeply saddening that a faction of the far left is now attempting to shut down or disrupt Pride marches next month … in part because they include gay cops. It has already happened in San Diego, where a group called “No Justice No Pride” held up the parade for five minutes and caused the local sheriff to leave the event. In Toronto, the Pride March was held up for half an hour last summer until the Pride organization agreed to a set of demands from a Black Lives Matter group, including a ban on gay cops in the parade in the future. This year, gay cops will indeed be barred from the parade entirely because BLM wants more “inclusivity.” I’m not kidding: Exclusion is now inclusion. A new board member of Toronto Pride, one Akio Maroon, explained her position: “We cannot have the same people who are beating us, who are harassing us, who’re responsible for violent encounters with us, dancing with us in revelry in uniform with their guns on their side while being paid to participate. Absolutely not.” The “same people”? Does she have any proof of this blanket description of all gay cops as violent racists? Or does she simply believe that gross generalizations about an entire group of people can be applied to any member of that group?
In D.C., a branch of the same group is threatening to do the same this year because the police are part of “the very forces that oppress queer and trans individuals.” So far, Capital Pride has not capitulated the way Toronto has. But I fear it is only a matter of time before Pride everywhere is hijacked by the social-justice left. For them, gay rights are inextricable from the broader social-justice agenda, and “intersectionality” requires solidarity with any number of other demographics, even if it means discriminating against our own. And I have no problem with their expressing their views on this. I’d defend their right to march and to express themselves as loudly and as passionately as they want. That’s what you call inclusion and diversity of viewpoints. But I don’t think they have a right to unilaterally define the gay-rights movement along far-left lines, to exclude anyone with a politics different than their own, to use the tactics of physical confrontation to impose their will and to discriminate against and vilify some of the heroes of the movement. More to the point, their bid to exclude gay cops from Pride is obviously counterproductive. It cannot help but alienate the very police we need to engage.
Remember the righteous protests against the various Saint Patrick’s Day parades because of their exclusion of openly gay Irish marchers? Does no one see the excruciating and damning parallel here? It seems to me that inclusion and diversity mean, well, inclusion and diversity. And that this is a core principle worth defending.
Correction: This article originally stated that Marine Le Pen is the first woman to reach the final round of a French presidential campaign. Ségolène Royal reached the run-off against Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007.The Weeknd performing "Reminder" at 6LACK's show in LA tonight pic.twitter.com/b3BeObwHzd — The Weeknd Direct (@TheWeekndDirect) January 25, 2017
Back in November, Atlanta's 6lack offered his spin on The Weeknd's "Wicked Games" with “Just in Time 4 the Weeknd,” and on Tuesday night (Jan. 24), fans of the rapper were treated to more than a send up, as the real deal showed up at 6lack's show at The Roxy in Los Angeles. The Weeknd had tweeted earlier in the day that he was looking to to pop up somewhere in La La Land and sure enough, he found his stage.
In clips above and below, the singer performs "Starboy" and "Reminder" off his recently released album Starboy. The titular track continues to do damage on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, sitting at No. 5, behind both "Bad and Boujee" and "Black Beatles." As for the Album 200 chart, Starboy has retained the top spot in this, its eighth week out.
Speaking with XXL a few months back, 6lack said that he grew up listening to a lot of R&B and that he hopes to help listeners through his music. "I want people to listen and take something from [my music]. Whether it’s relationships, whether they’re at home, whether they’re with friends, whatever the case may be, I just want to deliver some kind of message to the people who listen,” he said.
Check out footage from last night's show above and below, the pairing a possible sign of things to come.BEIJING (Reuters) - China will tighten emission standards for thermal power plants, a main source of pollution, aiming to curb worsening environmental degradation.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a report on its website that emissions allowances for sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and soot for thermal power plants would be reduced, while mercury discharges from coal burning and emissions from gas-fired boilers would also be restricted for the first time.
Beijing will also toughen emissions levels in environmentally-sensitive regions.
The new standards, which will take effect from January 1, 2012, may involve about 260 billion yuan ($40.74 billion) in new investments for power companies by 2015 to meet several key requirements.
China had 707 gigawatts of thermal power generating capacity at the end of 2010, accounting for 73 percent of overall power generating capacity. A majority of the plants use coal as fuel and half of China’s coal output is used for power generation. ($1 = 6.382 yuan)The letter by those 47 Senators is getting scorned and abused nationwide. The hashtag #47Traitors has been trending on twitter. Huffpo speculates that it was “treason.” And no wonder, USA Today says the letter has subverted US diplomacy. Slate calls the letter stupid and idiotic. Salt Lake City Tribune says it was felonious:
Chances are that the foolish, dangerous and arguably felonious attempt by the Obama Derangement Caucus of the Senate will soon be forgotten.
The Tribune labels Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton an “uber-hawk.” The letter is sure to define his career, and not in a good way. The Kansas City Star says:
On Tuesday, Tom Cotton, the freshman senator from Arkansas who started the letter, defended it and said he wasn’t a traitor.
The liberal Zionist group J Street says that Cotton was scripted by neoconservative Bill Kristol. Street is reveling in the letter because it is sure to drag the neoconservative rightwing Israel lobby down politically, marginalize the greater-Israel lobby in the far right wing of the Republican Party. Just as the Netanyahu speech has hurt Netanyahu and the Likud wing of the lobby, the Cotton letter is turning out to be an own-goal, scored by the neoconservatives.
The neoconservatives reached out and groomed Tom Cotton when they saw him coming down the pike. The Harvard College and Harvard Law grad spent just one term in the Congress before challenging and defeating Mark Pryor last fall. And he got tons of money then from the Israel lobby.
Neoconservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin embraced Cotton back in 2012. She was worried then that with Joe Lieberman leaving the Senate, we were losing national security hawks.
Hawks are nervous that, with the retirement of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and the demands of a fiscal crisis, fewer lawmakers will be interested in and devoted to national security.
It was a genuine embrace. The sixth-generation Arkansan who grew up on a cattle farm read Leo Strauss the neocon icon when he was in college. And the letter to Iranian leaders is not his first outrageous letter. In 2006 he earned notoriety for a letter he wrote to the New York Times from Iraq where he was serving as an officer officer. The letter said that he hoped the Justice Department showed the courage of US soldiers and prosecuted the New York Times and its journalists for disclosing details of the government’s program on stopping the funding of terrorists.
The letter was published on Power Line. It fetishized war:
I apologize for not writing sooner. But I am a lieutenant in the United States Army and I spent the last four days patrolling one of the more dangerous areas in Iraq. Unfortunately, as I supervised my soldiers late one night, I heard a booming explosion several miles away. I learned a few hours later that a powerful roadside bomb killed one soldier and severely injured another from my 130-man company. I deeply hope that we can find and kill or capture the terrorists responsible for that bomb…. Next time I hear that familiar explosion — or next time I feel it — I will wonder whether we could have stopped that bomb had you not instructed terrorists how to evade our financial surveillance… I hope that my colleagues at the Department of Justice match the courage of my soldiers here and prosecute you and your newspaper to the fullest extent of the law. By the time we return home, maybe you will be in your rightful place: not at the Pulitzer announcements, but behind bars.
He later told Power Line that war had been in his dreams:
“here I was in Iraq, leading a platoon, going out every day on patrol, as I had dreamed of doing for so long.”
Of course Cotton came home to run for Congress in southwestern Arkansas. By the time he reached D.C., he seemed to love war a little too much. From Jennifer Rubin’s column:
Cotton certainly advocates a strong U.S. presence in the world. He recalled, “What I used to say in the campaign was, ‘You may be tired of war, but war is not tired of you.’ There are evil people in the world who would do evil things.” Because of questions about U.S. resolve, he pointed out, “Certain Middle East countries are hedging and edging closer to Iran.” He said, “It’s important to remind the American people why we’re still engaged, [to] still maintain force projection, stand with Israel … because it is not something they experience firsthand. They experience the economy, but they don’t experience Gaza or Libya or Afghanistan.”
Neoconservative Bret Stephens made the same comment, by the way, in February, quoting Lenin:
“You may not be interested in war but war is interested in you.”
Cotton loves to flash his military experience:
He wryly took issue with the president’s suggestion in the last debate that ships were as outmoded as bayonets and horses. “My first four hours in basic training was in bayonet training. And we’ve used horses in a number of special operations.”
Grooming a young politician is how Bill Kristol and the Israel lobby work. I saw Kristol at AIPAC many years ago talking about how important it is to cultivate rising politicians. He mentioned Dan Quayle, whom Kristol ultimately served as chief of staff when he was vice president.
Bill Kristol said that Hart Hasten, a Holocaust survivor and successful Indianapolis businessman, had been crucial to shaping Dan Quayle’s view of Israel, having “spent a lot of time” with Quayle when he was still a congressman. (Quayle’s office later told me, “The statement Bill Kristol made was not exactly accurate. Mr. Quayle said his broad knowledge of Israel came from many people and sources, not specifically from Mr. Hasten.”) Dan Senor, an analyst on CNN and former AIPAC intern, boasted that AIPAC won over Spencer Abraham when he was the head of the state Republican Party, years before he became a Michigan senator. The party was $500,000 in debt, and an AIPAC leader helped him pay that off.
As we noted yesterday, Kristol’s Emergency Committee for Israel bankrolled the Cotton campaign with $1 million as he went down to the wire against Mark Pryor last fall.
According to the Federal Election Commission, the Kristol family gave Cotton money. Susan Kristol gave Cotton $2500, his daughter Anne Kristol gave $1,000.
Elliott Abrams and Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam also gave Cotton money. So did rightwing Israel supporter Kenneth Bialkin. So did James Berenson, a board member of the neoconservative Hudson Institute.
Jennifer Rubin praised Cotton’s fire-and-brimstone speech about Iran in January. She was defensive about the Israel lobby allegation:
You see, this is not about simply being a friend to Israel — although a Cotton-type policy would certainly fit that description. This is about whether a leader is ready to defend the West against the jihadist threat — whether it comes from Sunni or Shiite Islamists.
Paul Blumenthal has a good piece up at Huffpo showing how a large portion of the money funding Republican Party nominees is from the same sources who are trying to defeat Obama’s negotiations with Iran– the Israel lobby in short, though Blumenthal does not use that description.
Cotton has received a great deal of support from the donors who fund these and other groups opposing an Iran deal. [Paul] Singer and [Seth] Klarman have given a combined $350,000 to the pro-Cotton super PAC Arkansas Horizon. Singer also gave $2.6 million to American Crossroads, $100,000 to B-PAC and $10,000 to John Bolton Super PAC, all of which spent money to support Cotton’s Senate campaign last year. Klarman has directed $400,000 to American Crossroads. The Emergency Committee for Israel — a nonprofit group, led by the neoconservative Bill Kristol, that opposes an Iran deal — spent nearly $1 million to support Cotton in his election campaign. These donations are just a fraction of the total spent by these funders. Overall, the combined giving of [Sheldon] Adelson, Klarman, Marcus and Singer accounted for over 10 percent of all pro-Republican independent spending in the past two election cycles. In some cases, contributions from these donors have been the dominant source of funds for party-linked groups.
Here is the bottom line on all these Iran capers, they have been self-defeating.
Democratic Hawk Brad Sherman: “Brouhaha last week reduced chances of Democratic support for veto override from 40 to 4 percent”
PS Here’s yet another likely-Israel-lobby group, the American Security Initiative, with a video out saying that the Iranians want to nuke an American city.When he was running for president, George W. Bush loved to contrast his law-abiding morality with that of President Clinton, who was charged with perjury and acquitted. For Mr. Bush, the candidate, “politics, after a time of tarnished ideals, can be higher and better.”
Not so for Mr. Bush, the president. Judging from his decision yesterday to commute the 30-month sentence of I. Lewis Libby Jr. — who was charged with perjury and convicted — untarnished ideals are less of a priority than protecting the secrets of his inner circle and mollifying the tiny slice of right-wing Americans left in his political base.
Mr. Libby was convicted of lying to federal agents investigating the leak of the name of a covert C.I.A. operative, Valerie Wilson. Mrs. Wilson’s husband, Joseph Wilson, was asked to investigate a central claim in Mr. Bush’s drive to war with Iraq — whether Iraq tried to purchase uranium from Africa. Mr. Wilson concluded that Iraq had not done that and had the temerity to share those conclusions with the American public.
It seems clear from the record that Vice President Dick Cheney organized a campaign to discredit Mr. Wilson. And Mr. Libby, who was Mr. Cheney’s chief of staff, was willing to lie to protect his boss.
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That made Mr. Libby the darling of the right, which demanded that Mr. Bush pardon him. Those same Republicans have been rebelling against Mr. Bush, most recently on immigration reform, while Democrats in Congress have pursued an investigation into whether Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney lied about Iraq’s weapons programs.
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All of this put immense pressure on the president to do something before Mr. Libby went to jail. But none of it was justification for the baldly political act of commuting his sentence.A protester was removed from Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE’s rally in Kissimmee, Fla., Thursday when he heckled the Republican candidate over his ties to Russia.
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“You love Russia,” the man could be heard shouting. “You’re Putin’s b----.”
“Good-bye,” Trump responded as the crowd erupted in jeers.
“Where the hell did he come from?” Trump said.
Critics have accused the GOP presidential nominee of sympathizing with Russia, pointing to his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin and several of his campaign staffers who have ties to Moscow.
“I get a lot of heat over Russia. Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got along with Russia?” Trump said later in the rally.Film shows Roosevelt being pushed in his wheelchair in 1944 – a secret that was hidden from the public until after his death
A professor at an Indiana college says he has found film footage showing President Franklin D Roosevelt being pushed in his wheelchair, depicting a secret that was hidden from the public until after his death.
Ray Begovich, a journalism professor at Franklin College south of Indianapolis, said Tuesday he found the eight-second clip while conducting unrelated research in the national archives in College Park, Maryland. The national archives and the FDR Presidential Museum and Library couldn't say for certain if other such footage exists but both said it is at least rare.
Roosevelt contracted polio in 1921 aged 39 and was unable to walk without leg braces or assistance. During his four terms as president, Roosevelt often used a wheelchair in private, but not for public appearances. News photographers co-operated in concealing Roosevelt's disability, and those who did not found their camera views blocked by secret service agents, according to the museum website.
"This raw film clip may be the first motion picture images of the president in his wheelchair, and it was never meant to be shown to the world," Begovich said.
Bob Clark, supervisory archivist at the Roosevelt library in New York, said he wasn't aware of any other similar film.
A spokeswoman for the National Archives concurred.
"With respect to whether or not this is the earliest or only existing footage of FDR in a wheelchair, we cannot state that this is definitively the case, although such footage is certainly rare," Laura Diachenko said in an email.
The film shows Roosevelt visiting the USS Baltimore at Pearl Harbor in July 1944. Eight seconds of the clip show Roosevelt exiting a doorway on the ship and being escorted down what is apparently a ramp. The wheelchair is not clearly visible because the view of the president is screened by a line of sailors, but Roosevelt's distinctive white hat can be seen gliding past the men at a lower level. Roosevelt, at 6ft 2in, was likely taller than most of the soldiers.
Although Roosevelt's disability was virtually a state secret during his presidency, which spanned the Great Depression and most of the second world war, it has become an inspiration to advocates who successfully pushed for a statue of him in his wheelchair to be added to the Roosevelt Memorial in Washington.
"To me, the importance of this clip as historic media imagery is that it reminds all of us that this president fought the Great Depression and the second world war from a wheelchair. I think it's a tragedy that we haven't had many candidates for national office who use a wheelchair or guide dog or sign language," Begovich said in a statement.Experimentation and cross pollination are at the heart of a new jazz, combining it with grime, jungle and house to make a sound that works at clubs and festivals
British jazz has a long and storied history. From the visionary sounds of Michael Garrick and Graham Collier to stalwarts and free improvisation enthusiasts such as Evan Parker, and Courtney Pine and the Jazz Warriors – British musicians created sounds which brought them cult followings and a reputation for experimentation. Jazz fans in the UK, particularly in the capital, have been able to see big names at institutions such as Ronnie Scott’s and Jazz Cafe for decades, and recently more avant-garde fare has come to east London via Cafe Oto, Servant Jazz Quarters and Vortex in Dalston.
Jazz enthusiasts such as Gilles Peterson have consistently championed the genre since the 80s, placing it alongside left-field sounds from all over the globe on his radio show and Worldwide events. Recently though, British jazz has started to morph and change into a sound that’s getting recognition beyond the usual genre boundaries.
All that jazz? The Mobo awards are failing the UK's jazz scene Read more
That experimentation and cross pollination of sounds is at the heart of a new type of jazz coming out of the UK at the moment. Groups and artists such as Moses Boyd, Shabaka Hutchings, Zara McFarlane, Ezra Collective and United Vibrations are combining jazz with grime, jungle and house to create a sound that works on dance floors and festivals, as well as in jazz clubs.
Boyd, who is from Catford in south London and was first exposed to jazz by a music teacher, says in the last five years he’s noticed a palpable change. “The whole landscape has changed, before venues and night world were quite separate,” he says. “Put in simple terms, jazzers were doing jazz and other people were off doing things that were considered totally different. In the last five years things have become more broad and integrated.”
Boyd says platforms such as live concert streaming site Boiler room and east London online radio station NTS have helped bring this new breed of jazz to a wider population that is starting to see it as a sound which is on the same continuum as dance music or hip-hop, rather than something completely removed.
“That’s why music sounds the way it does now with different styles merged together,” he says. “It’s why festival lineups mirror that and have jazz alongside hip-hop – I talked to my friends all the time about it.”
Boyd says his love of jazz made him stand out at school, where grime and hip-hop were the predominant sounds. He cites Dizzee Rascal’s 2003 album Boy In Da Corner as being “pivotal”, but at the same time he discovered grime he was also trying to wrap his head the fusion of Miles Davis and the cosmic sounds of Sun Ra.
“I was equally interested in what was going on on pirate stations there were playing Grime and jungle. I was discovering all of this stuff at the same time as pirate radio and Art Ensemble of Chicago. Everything was kind of new to me,” he says.
“Picture how that was: a 14-year-old and talking about Duke Ellington with his friends and then going to sixth form and being into Sun Ra – while Giggs was Talking Da Hardest on the radio.”
Boyd joined a weekend workshop at the Roundhouse, which was run by British jazz bassist Gary Crosby. There he met peers and began to play out, including at the long-running Rich Mix jam session alongside Soweto Kinch, and began to see as much live jazz as possible. “I remember going to see Chick Corea at the 02 and we were the youngest people in the room by about 30 years. People would be shocked we were there, like it was impossible for a teenager to be into jazz,” he says.
“There would be a bunch of us from south London stood at the back of Ronnie Scott’s with no money, who had somehow got onto the guestlist and we were there to see Wynton Marsalis. It wasn’t necessary normal.”
Then Boyd applied for a grant from the Steve Reid foundation, which was set up after the drummer’s death in 2010 to help support musicians. Trustees of the charity include Floating Points and Four Tet, who helped Boyd mix some tracks including Rye Lane Shuffle. After, Four Tet included it in a Boiler room set and from there Boyd was inundated with requests from DJs around the world who wanted to play the track, which was clearly jazz but influenced by soca and afrobeat. For Yussef Dayes – one half of Yussef Kamaal and a member of United Vibrations alongside his brothers – that amalgamation of styles is something which typifies the jazz sound coming out of London and the UK at the moment.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Yussef Kamaal: ‘We can wear tracksuits and play, we’re not busting the suit and tie thing’ Photograph: PR
“I’m sure that some purists wouldn’t even call it jazz, but for me jazz is about creative freedom and it’s always been my interpretation,” he says. “I’m interested in making it a bit more relatable. I see a correlation between what grime mcs do on the vocals and what we do it on the instruments, there’s a similar energy. When you grow up in London, you’re just inspired by a mix of these things.”
The new cool: how Kamasi, Kendrick and co gave jazz a new groove Read more
Labels such as Eglo Records and Peterson’s Brownswood imprint helped put the music out and along with Boiler room, helped project the new sound to a new audience. For Dayes, the more mainstream iteration of jazz in the UK wasn’t particularly inviting for him or his bandmates. “It’s got a vibe now and it’s getting the limelight but it was a bit bougie before, and it could be seen as a bit chin scratchy. We’re jazz influenced but it’s the vibe that’s important. We can wear tracksuits and play, we’re not busting the suit and tie thing.”
Boyd also saw that world as being impenetrable before the new melting pot mentality took over. “I don’t feel there was always a platform for what we were doing. Before it was either you played straight ahead or you played avant-garde. The infrastructure hadn’t caught on with the music.”
Boyd and Dayes both point to club nights as being the breeding ground for the new wave of British jazz. Boyd says the multi-disciplinary art and music night Steez in south London was crucial for him, while for Dayes it was gigging with United Vibrations from the age of 12, busking before eventually playing regular nights at Hackney’s Passing Clouds and The Crypt in Camberwell, where he met his Yussef Kamaal bandmate, Kamall Williams AKA Henry Wu.
At SXSW this year Boyd and Dayes are joined by a group of UK jazz musicians who come to a country that’s had it’s own new wave of jazz – spearheaded by the LA musicians Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin and Thundercat. Both Boyd and Dayes are reticent to draw too many parallels between the two scenes, with Dayes saying the UK offering is influenced by sounds – like jungle, broken beat and grime – that could only ever come from Britain.
“It’s been an influence,” Dayes says. “But we’re doing our thing as well. Let’s not worry about anything thing else and just do our things – making your own identity and having your own voice is the most important thing.”
The British Jazz SXSW showcase takes place on 15 March from 8pm at 603 Red River Street, Austin, TexasWhen you open the cover of a pop-up book, components of the story spring to life. While they may often be associated with children’s books about monsters and fairy tales, artist and photographer Colette Fu uses the moveable, three-dimensional elements of pop-up books to capture the life and culture of forgotten minority tribes in China.
“My pop-ups are a way for me to speak and inform,” Fu writes on her website. “Constructing pop-ups allows me to combine intuitive design and technical acuity with my love of traveling as I try to understand the world around me.”
Since 2008, Fu, whose mother is a member of the black Yi tribe, has ventured throughout China photographing the unique culture, food, folktales, and lifestyle of minority tribes. The Philadelphia-based artist returns to her studio where she edits and prints photos, and cuts and folds them into one-of-a-kind single-spread, pop-up books. She uses up to 20 photos to create one scene.
In the animated video above from her pop-up book series titled “We are Tiger Dragon People,” you can watch colorful scenes unfold of minority tribes in the Yunnan Province, China’s most southwestern Province. At the 12-second mark you can see an enticing spread of food cooked by the Dai people, and the Wa people in the midst of their Hair Swinging dance at the 29-second mark. Some of the covers of the books have a motif that symbolizes the photograph and the story inside.
Below is a close-up view of Fu’s 8 1 Village pop-up book. She explains that the unmarried Yao women of 8 1 village wear black turbans, while the married women wear red conical-shaped hats. In earlier times, the leader of the group would wear a red plantain flower on the top of their head.
While learning more about her Yi ancestry in her mid-twenties, Fu got the idea to craft a pop-up art series inspired by the minority cultures of Yunnan Province. The region, dotted with snow-capped mountains in the northwest and tropical rainforests in the south, is home to 25 of the 55 minority tribes in China. These tribes make up only 8.5 percent of the nation’s population, Fu explains.
Currently, Fu is expanding her collapsible book series to feature more ethnic minority groups, traveling to other regions including Shanghai, Mongolia, and Hunan Province.
“While I am directly unable to help these groups preserve their identity and ways of living, I can use my skills as an artist to spread knowledge and provide just a brief portrait of their existence,” Fu writes.
Every day we track down a Video Wonder: an audiovisual offering that delights, inspires, and entertains. Have you encountered a video we should feature? Email ella@atlasobscura.com.A senior Russian defense official has announced that Moscow is looking to build military bases throughout different countries in Asia and the Western Hemisphere.
According to RIA Novosti, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia is looking to build military bases in Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, the Seychelles, Singapore and several other countries.
“The talks are under way, and we are close to signing the relevant documents,” Shoigu said, according to RIA Novosti. The newspaper noted that “Moscow currently has only one naval base outside the former Soviet Union – in Tartus, Syria, but the fate of this naval facility is uncertain because of the ongoing civil |
.
It’s a long way from Idaho, Jim, but congratulations. You found your place in D.C.
– Researcher Sheelagh McNeill contributed to this report.
Photo: Charles Dharapak/AP (2)Billions and Billions of Demons
RICHARD LEWONTIN January 9, 1997 New York Review of Books
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
by Carl Sagan
457 pages, $25.95 (hardcover)
published by Random House
"But the Solar System!" I protested. "What the deuce is it to me?" he interrupted impatiently: "you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or my work."
Colloquy between Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet
I first met Carl Sagan in 1964, when he and I found ourselves in Arkansas on the platform of the Little Rock Auditorium, where we had been dispatched by command of the leading geneticist of the day, Herman Muller. Our task was to take the affirmative side in a debate: "Resolved, That the Theory of Evolution is proved as is the fact that the Earth goes around the Sun." One of our opponents in the debate was a professor of biology from a fundamentalist college in Texas (his father was the president of the college) who had quite deliberately chosen the notoriously evolutionist Department of Zoology of the University of Texas as the source of his Ph.D. He could then assure his students that he had unassailable expert knowledge with which to refute Darwinism.
I had serious misgivings about facing an immense audience of creationist fundamentalist Christians in a city made famous by an Arkansas governor who, having detected a resentment of his constituents against federal usurpation, defied the power of Big Government by interposing his own body between the door of the local high school and some black kids who wanted to matriculate.
Young scientists, however, do not easily withstand the urgings of Nobel Prize winners, so after several transparently devious attempts to avoid the job, I appeared. We were, in fact, well treated, but despite our absolutely compelling arguments, the audience unaccountably voted for the opposition. Carl and I then sneaked out the back door of the auditorium and beat it out of town, quite certain that at any moment hooded riders with ropes and flaming crosses would snatch up two atheistic New York Jews who had the chutzpah to engage in public blasphemy.
Sagan and I drew different conclusions from our experience. For me the confrontation between creationism and the science of evolution was an example of historical, regional, and class differences in culture that could only be understood in the context of American social history. For Carl it was a struggle between ignorance and knowledge, although it is not clear to me what he made of the unimpeachable scientific credentials of our opponent, except perhaps to see him as an example of the Devil quoting scripture. The struggle to bring scientific knowledge to the masses has been a preoccupation of Carl Sagan's ever since, and he has become the most widely known, widely read, and widely seen popularizer of science since the invention of the video tube. His only rival in the haute vulgarisation of science is Stephen Jay Gould, whose vulgarisations are often very haute indeed, and whose intellectual concerns are quite different.
While Gould has occasionally been enlisted in the fight to protect the teaching and dissemination of the knowledge of evolution against creationist political forces, he is primarily concerned with what the nature of organisms, living and dead, can reveal about the social construction of scientific knowledge. His repeated demonstrations that organisms can only be understood as historically contingent, underdetermined Rube Goldberg devices are meant to tell us more about the evolution of human knowledge than of human anatomy. From his early Mismeasure of Man, 1 which examined how the political and social prejudices of prominent scientists have molded what those scientists claimed to be the facts of human anatomy and intelligence, to his recent collection of essays, Eight Little Piggies, 2 which despite its subtitle, Reflections on Natural History, is a set of reflections on the intellectual history of Natural History, Gould's deep preoccupation is with how knowledge, rather than the organism, is constructed.
Carl Sagan's program is more elementary. It is to bring a knowledge of the facts of the physical world to the scientifically uneducated public, for he is convinced that only through a broadly disseminated knowledge of the objective truth about nature will we be able to cope with the difficulties of the world and increase the sum of human happiness. It is this program that inspired his famous book and television series, Cosmos, which dazzled us with billions and billions of stars. But Sagan realizes that the project of merely spreading knowledge of objective facts about the universe is insufficient. First, no one can know and understand everything. Even individual scientists are ignorant about most of the body of scientific knowledge, and it is not simply that biologists do not understand quantum mechanics. If I were to ask my colleagues in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard to explain the evolutionary importance of RNA editing in trypanosomes, they would be just as mystified by the question as the typical well-educated reader of this review.
Second, to put a correct view of the universe into people's heads we must first get an incorrect view out. People believe a lot of nonsense about the world of phenomena, nonsense that is a consequence of a wrong way of thinking. The primary problem is not to provide the public with the knowledge of how far it is to the nearest star and what genes are made of, for that vast project is, in its entirety, hopeless. Rather, the problem is to get them to reject irrational and supernatural explanations of the world, the demons that exist only in their imaginations, and to accept a social and intellectual apparatus, Science, as the only begetter of truth. The reason that people do not have a correct view of nature is not that they are ignorant of this or that fact about the material world, but that they look to the wrong sources in their attempt to understand. It is not simply, as Sherlock Holmes thought, that the brain is like an empty attic with limited storage capacity, so that the accumulated clutter of false or useless bits of knowledge must be cleared out in a grand intellectual tag sale to make space for more useful objects. It is that most people's mental houses have been furnished according to an appallingly bad model of taste and they need to start consulting the home furnishing supplement of the Sunday New York Times in place of the stage set of The Honeymooners. The message of The Demon-Haunted World is in its subtitle, Science as a Candle in the Dark.
Sagan's argument is straightforward. We exist as material beings in a material world, all of whose phenomena are the consequences of physical relations among material entities. The vast majority of us do not have control of the intellectual apparatus needed to explain manifest reality in material terms, so in place of scientific (i.e., correct material) explanations, we substitute demons. As one bit of evidence for the bad state of public consciousness, Sagan cites opinion polls showing that the majority of Americans believe that extraterrestrials have landed from UFOs. The demonic, for Sagan, includes, in addition to UFOs and their crews of little green men who take unwilling passengers for a midnight spin and some wild sex, astrological influences, extrasensory perception, prayers, spoon-bending, repressed memories, spiritualism, and channeling, as well as demons sensu strictu, devils, fairies, witches, spirits, Satan and his devotees, and, after some discreet backing and filling, the supposed prime mover Himself. God gives Sagan a lot of trouble. It is easy enough for him to snort derisively at men from Mars, but when it comes to the Supreme Extraterrestrial he is rather circumspect, asking only that sermons "even-handedly examine the God hypothesis."
The fact that so little of the findings of modern science is prefigured in Scripture to my mind casts further doubt on its divine inspiration. But of course, I might be wrong. I doubt that an all-seeing God would fall for Pascal's Wager, but the sensibilities of modern believers may indeed be spared by this Clintonesque moderation.
Most of the chapters of The Demon-Haunted World are taken up with exhortations to the reader to cease whoring after false gods and to accept the scientific method as the unique pathway to a correct understanding of the natural world. To Sagan, as to all but a few other scientists, it is self-evident that the practices of science provide the surest method of putting us in contact with physical reality, and that, in contrast, the demon-haunted world rests on a set of beliefs and behaviors that fail every reasonable test. So why do so many people believe in demons? Sagan seems baffled, and nowhere does he offer a coherent explanation of the popularity at the supermarket checkout counter of the Weekly World News, with its faked photographs of Martians. Indeed, he believes that "a proclivity for science is embedded deeply within us in all times, places and cultures." The only explanation that he offers for the dogged resistance of the masses to the obvious virtues of the scientific way of knowing is that "through indifference, inattention, incompetence, or fear of skepticism, we discourage children from science." He does not tell us how he used the scientific method to discover the "embedded" human proclivity for science, or the cause of its frustration. Perhaps we ought to add to the menu of Saganic demonology, just after spoon-bending, ten-second seat-of-the-pants explanations of social realities.
Nearly every present-day scientist would agree with Carl Sagan that our explanations of material phenomena exclude any role for supernatural demons, witches, and spirits of every kind, including any of the various gods from Adonai to Zeus. (I say "nearly" every scientist because our creationist opponent in the Little Rock debate, and other supporters of "Creation Science," would insist on being recognized.) We also exclude from our explanations little green men from Mars riding in space ships, although they are supposed to be quite as corporeal as you and I, because the evidence is overwhelming that Mars hasn't got any. On the other hand, if one supposed that they came from the planet of a distant star, the negative evidence would not be so compelling, although the fact that it would have taken them such a long time to get here speaks against the likelihood that they exist. Even Sagan says that "it would be astonishing to me if there weren't extraterrestrial life," a position he can hardly avoid, given that his first published book was Intelligent Life in the Universe 3 and he has spent a great deal of the taxpayer's money over the ensuing thirty years listening for the signs.
Sagan believes that scientists reject sprites, fairies, and the influence of Sagittarius because we follow a set of procedures, the Scientific Method, which has consistently produced explanations that put us in contact with reality and in which mystic forces play no part. For Sagan, the method is the message, but I think he has opened the wrong envelope.
There is no attempt in The Demon-Haunted World to provide a systematic account of just what Science and the Scientific Method consist in, nor was that the author's intention. The book is not meant to be a discourse on method, but it is in large part a collection of articles taken from Parade magazine and other popular publications. Sagan's intent is not analytic, but hortatory. Nevertheless, if the exhortation is to succeed, then the argument for the superiority of science and its method must be convincing, and not merely convincing, but must accord with its own demands. The case for the scientific method should itself be "scientific" and not merely rhetorical. Unfortunately, the argument may not look as good to the unconvinced as it does to the believer.
First, we are told that science "delivers the goods." It certainly has, sometimes, but it has often failed when we need it most. Scientists and their professional institutions, partly intoxicated with examples of past successes, partly in order to assure public financial support, make grandiose promises that cannot be kept. Sagan writes with justified scorn that We're regularly bombarded with extravagant UFO claims vended in bite-sized packages, but only rarely do we hear of their comeuppance. He cannot have forgotten the well-publicized War on Cancer, which is as yet without a victorious battle despite the successful taking of a salient or two. At first an immense amount of money and consciousness was devoted to the supposed oncogenic viruses which, being infectious bugs, could be exterminated or at least resisted. But these particular Unidentified Flying Objects turned out for the most part to be as elusive as the Martians, and so, without publicly calling attention to their "comeuppance," the General Staff turned from outside invaders to the enemy within, the genes. It is almost certain that cancers do, indeed, arise because genes concerned with the regulation of cell division are mutated, partly as a consequence of environmental insults, partly because of unavoidable molecular instability, and even sometimes as the consequence of a viral attack on the genome. Yet the realization of the role played by DNA has had absolutely no consequence for either therapy or prevention, although it has resulted in many optimistic press conferences and a considerable budget for the National Cancer Institute. Treatments for cancer remain today what they were before molecular biology was ever thought of: cut it out, burn it out, or poison it.
The concentration on the genes implicated in cancer is only a special case of a general genomania that surfaces in the form of weekly announcements in The New York Times of the location of yet another gene for another disease. The revealing rhetoric of this publicity is always the same; only the blanks need to be filled in: "It was announced today by scientists at [Harvard, Vanderbilt, Stanford] Medical School that a gene responsible for [some, many, a common form of] [schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, arterio-sclerosis, prostate cancer] has beenlocated and its DNA sequence determined. This exciting research, say scientists, is the first step in what may eventually turn out to be a possible cure for this disease."
The entire public justification for the Human Genome Project is the promise that some day, in the admittedly distant future, diseases will be cured or prevented. 4 Skeptics who point out that we do not yet have a single case of a prevention or cure arising from a knowledge of DNA sequences are answered by the observations that "these things take time," or that "no one knows the value of a newborn baby." But such vague waves of the hand miss the central scientific issue. The prevention or cure of metabolic and developmental disorders depends on a detailed knowledge of the mechanisms operating in cells and tissues above the level of genes, and there is no relevant information about those mechanisms in DNA sequences. In fact, if I know the DNA sequence of a gene I have no hint about the function of a protein specified by that gene, or how it enters into an organism's biology.
What is involved here is the difference between explanation and intervention. Many disorders can be explained by the failure of the organism to make a normal protein, a failure that is the consequence of a gene mutation. But intervention requires that the normal protein be provided at the right place in the right cells, at the right time and in the right amount, or else that an alternative way be found to provide normal cellular function. What is worse, it might even be necessary to keep the abnormal protein away from the cells at critical moments. None of these objectives is served by knowing the DNA sequence of the defective gene. Explanations of phenomena can be given at many levels, some of which can lead to successful manipulation of the world and some not. Death certificates all state a cause of death, but even if there were no errors in these ascriptions, they are too general to be useful. An easy conflation of explanations in general with explanations at the correct causal level may serve a propagandistic purpose in the struggle for public support, but it is not the way to concrete progress.
Scientists apparently do not realize that the repeated promises of benefits yet to come, with no likelihood that those promises will be fulfilled, can only produce a widespread cynicism about the claims for the scientific method. Sagan, trying to explain the success of Carlos, a telepathic charlatan, muses on
how little it takes to tamper with our beliefs, how readily we are led, how easy it is to fool the public when people are lonely and starved for something to believe in. Not to mention when they are sick and dying.
Biologists are not the only scientists who, having made extravagant claims about their merchandise, deliver the goods in bite-sized packages. Nor are they the only manufacturers of knowledge who cannot be bothered to pick up a return package when the product turns out to be faulty. Sagan's own branch of science is in the same business. Anxious to revive a failing public interest in spending large amounts on space research, NASA scientists, followed by the President of the United States, made an immense fuss about the discovery of some organic molecules on a Mars rock. There is (was) life (of some rudimentary kind) on Mars (maybe)! Can little green men in space machines be far behind? If it turns out, as already suggested by some scientists, that these molecules are earthly contaminants, or were produced in non-living chemical systems, this fact surely will not be announced at a White House press conference, or even above the fold in The New York Times.
Second, it is repeatedly said that science is intolerant of theories without data and assertions without adequate evidence. But no serious student of epistemology any longer takes the naive view of science as a process of Baconian induction from theoretically unorganized observations. There can be no observations without an immense apparatus of preexisting theory. Before sense experiences become "observations" we need a theoretical question, and what counts as a relevant observation depends upon a theoretical frame into which it is to be placed. Repeatable observations that do not fit into an existing frame have a way of disappearing from view, and the experiments that produced them are not revisited. In the 1930s well-established and respectable geneticists described "dauer-modifications," environmentally induced changes in organisms that were passed on to offspring and only slowly disappeared in succeeding generations. As the science of genetics hardened, with its definitive rejection of any possibility of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, observations of dauer-modifications were sent to the scrapheap where they still lie, jumbled together with other decommissioned facts.
The standard form of a scientific paper begins with a theoretical question, which is then followed by the description of an experimental technique designed to gather observations pertinent to the question. Only then are the observations themselves described. Finally there is a discussion section in which a great deal of energy is often expended rationalizing the failure of the observations to accord entirely with a theory we really like, and in which proposals are made for other experiments that might give more satisfactory results. Sagan's suggestion that only demonologists engage in "special pleading, often to rescue a proposition in deep rhetorical trouble," is certainly not one that accords with my reading of the scientific literature. Nor is this a problem unique to biology. The attempts of physicists to explain why their measurements of the effects of relativity did not agree with Einstein's quantitative prediction is a case no doubt well known to Sagan.
As to assertions without adequate evidence, the literature of science is filled with them, especially the literature of popular science writing. Carl Sagan's list of the "best contemporary science-popularizers" includes E.O. Wilson, Lewis Thomas, and Richard Dawkins, each of whom has put unsubstantiated assertions or counterfactual claims at the very center of the stories they have retailed in the market. Wilson's Sociobiology and On Human Nature 5 rest on the surface of a quaking marsh of unsupported claims about the genetic determination of everything from altruism to xenophobia. Dawkins's vulgarizations of Darwinism speak of nothing in evolution but an inexorable ascendancy of genes that are selectively superior, while the entire body of technical advance in experimental and theoretical evolutionary genetics of the last fifty years has moved in the direction of emphasizing non-selective forces in evolution. Thomas, in various essays, propagandized for the success of modern scientific medicine in eliminating death from disease, while the unchallenged statistical compilations on mortality show that in Europe and North America infectious diseases, including tuberculosis and diphtheria, had ceased to be major causes of mortality by the first decades of the twentieth century, and that at age seventy the expected further lifetime for a white male has gone up only two years since 1950. Even The Demon-Haunted World itself sometimes takes suspect claims as true when they serve a rhetorical purpose as, for example, statistics on child abuse, or a story about the evolution of a child's fear of the dark.
Third, it is said that there is no place for an argument from authority in science. The community of science is constantly self-critical, as evidenced by the experience of university colloquia "in which the speaker has hardly gotten 30 seconds into the talk before there are devastating questions and comments from the audience." If Sagan really wants to hear serious disputation about the nature of the universe, he should leave the academic precincts in Ithaca and spend a few minutes in an Orthodox study house in Brooklyn. It is certainly true that within each narrowly defined scientific field there is a constant challenge to new technical claims and to old wisdom. In what my wife calls the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral Syndrome, young scientists on the make will challenge a graybeard, and this adversarial atmosphere for the most part serves the truth. But when scientists transgress the bounds of their own specialty they have no choice but to accept the claims of authority, even though they do not know how solid the grounds of those claims may be. Who am I to believe about quantum physics if not Steven Weinberg, or about the solar system if not Carl Sagan? What worries me is that they may believe what Dawkins and Wilson tell them about evolution.
With great perception, Sagan sees that there is an impediment to the popular credibility of scientific claims about the world, an impediment that is almost invisible to most scientists. Many of the most fundamental claims of science are against common sense and seem absurd on their face. Do physicists really expect me to accept without serious qualms that the pungent cheese that I had for lunch is really made up of tiny, tasteless, odorless, colorless packets of energy with nothing but empty space between them? Astronomers tell us without apparent embarrassment that they can see stellar events that occurred millions of years ago, whereas we all know that we see things as they happen. When, at the time of the moon landing, a woman in rural Texas was interviewed about the event, she very sensibly refused to believe that the television pictures she had seen had come all the way from the moon, on the grounds that with her antenna she couldn't even get Dallas. What seems absurd depends on one's prejudice. Carl Sagan accepts, as I do, the duality of light, which is at the same time wave and particle, but he thinks that the consubstantiality of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost puts the mystery of the Holy Trinity "in deep trouble." Two's company, but three's a crowd.
Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. The eminent Kant scholar Lewis Beck used to say that anyone who could believe in God could believe in anything. To appeal to an omnipotent deity is to allow that at any moment the regularities of nature may be ruptured, that miracles may happen.
The mutual exclusion of the material and the demonic has not been true of all cultures and all times. In the great Chinese epic Journey to the West, demons are an alternative form of life, responsible to certain deities, devoted to making trouble for ordinary people, but severely limited. They can be captured, imprisoned, and even killed by someone with superior magic. 6 In our own intellectual history, the definitive displacement of divine powers by purely material causes has been a relatively recent changeover, and that icon of modern science, Newton, was at the cusp. It is a cliché of intellectual history that Newton attempted to accommodate God by postulating Him as the Prime Mover Who, having established the mechanical laws and set the whole universe in motion, withdrew from further intervention, leaving it to people like Newton to reveal His plan. But what we might call "Newton's Ploy" did not really get him off the hook. He understood that a defect of his system of mechanics was the lack of any equilibrating force that would return the solar system to its regular set of orbits if there were any slight perturbation. He was therefore forced, although reluctantly, to assume that God intervened from time to time to set things right again. It remained for Laplace, a century later, to produce a mechanics that predicted the stability of the planetary orbits, allowing him the hauteur of his famous reply to Napoleon. When the Emperor observed that there was, in the whole of the Mécanique Céleste, no mention of the author of the universe, he replied, "Sire, I have no need of that hypothesis." One can almost hear a stress on the "I."
The struggle for possession of public consciousness between material and mystical explanations of the world is one aspect of the history of the confrontation between elite culture and popular culture. Without that history we cannot understand what was going on in the Little Rock Auditorium in 1964. The debate in Arkansas between a teacher from a Texas fundamentalist college and a Harvard astronomer and University of Chicago biologist was a stage play recapitulating the history of American rural populism. In the first decades of this century there was an immensely active populism among poor southwestern dirt farmers and miners. 7 The most widely circulated American socialist journal of the time (The Appeal to Reason!) was published not in New York, but in Girard, Kansas, and in the presidential election of 1912 Eugene Debs got more votes in the poorest rural counties of Texas and Oklahoma than he did in the industrial wards of northern cities. Sentiment was extremely strong against the banks and corporations that held the mortgages and sweated the labor of the rural poor, who felt their lives to be in the power of a distant eastern elite. The only spheres of control that seemed to remain to them were family life, a fundamentalist religion, and local education.
This sense of an embattled culture was carried from the southwest to California by the migrations of the Okies and Arkies dispossessed from their ruined farms in the 1930s. There was no serious public threat to their religious and family values until well after the Second World War. Evolution, for example, was not part of the regular biology curriculum when I was a student in 1946 in the New York City high schools, nor was it discussed in school textbooks. In consequence there was no organized creationist movement. Then, in the late 1950s, a national project was begun to bring school science curricula up to date. A group of biologists from elite universities together with science teachers from urban schools produced a new uniform set of biology textbooks, whose publication and dissemination were underwritten by the National Science Foundation. An extensive and successful public relations campaign was undertaken to have these books adopted, and suddenly Darwinian evolution was being taught to children everywhere. The elite culture was now extending its domination by attacking the control that families had maintained over the ideological formation of their children.
The result was a fundamentalist revolt, the invention of "Creation Science," and successful popular pressure on local school boards and state textbook purchasing agencies to revise subversive curricula and boycott blasphemous textbooks. In their parochial hubris, intellectuals call the struggle between cultural relativists and traditionalists in the universities and small circulation journals "The Culture Wars." The real war is between the traditional culture of those who think of themselves as powerless and the rationalizing materialism of the modern Leviathan. There are indeed Two Cultures at Cambridge. One is in the Senior Common Room, and the other is in the Porter's Lodge.
Carl Sagan, like his Canadian counterpart David Suzuki, has devoted extraordinary energy to bringing science to a mass public. In doing so, he is faced with a contradiction for which there is no clear resolution. On the one hand science is urged on us as a model of rational deduction from publicly verifiable facts, freed from the tyranny of unreasoning authority. On the other hand, given the immense extent, inherent complexity, and counterintuitive nature of scientific knowledge, it is impossible for anyone, including non-specialist scientists, to retrace the intellectual paths that lead to scientific conclusions about nature. In the end we must trust the experts and they, in turn, exploit their authority as experts and their rhetorical skills to secure our attention and our belief in things that we do not really understand. Anyone who has ever served as an expert witness in a judicial proceeding knows that the court may spend an inordinate time "qualifying" the expert, who, once qualified, gives testimony that is not meant to be a persuasive argument, but an assertion unchallengeable by anyone except another expert. And, indeed, what else are the courts to do? If the judge, attorneys, and jury could reason out the technical issues from fundamentals, there would be no need of experts.
What is at stake here is a deep problem in democratic self-governance. In Plato's most modern of Dialogues, the Gorgias, there is a struggle between Socrates, with whom we are meant to sympathize, and his opponents, Gorgias and Callicles, over the relative virtues of rhetoric and technical expertise. What Socrates and Gorgias agree on is that the mass of citizens are incompetent to make reasoned decisions on justice and public policy, but that they must be swayed by rhetorical argument or guided by the authority of experts. 8 Gorgias: "I mean [by the art of rhetoric] the ability to convince by means of speech a jury in a court of justice, members of the Council in their Chamber, voters at a meeting of the Assembly, and any other gathering of citizens, whatever it may be." Socrates: "When the citizens hold a meeting to appoint medical officers or shipbuilders or any other professional class of person, surely it won't be the orator who advises them then. Obviously in every such election the choice ought to fall on the most expert." 9 Conscientious and wholly admirable popularizers of science like Carl Sagan use both rhetoric and expertise to form the mind of masses because they believe, like the Evangelist John, that the truth shall make you free. But they are wrong. It is not the truth that makes you free. It is your possession of the power to discover the truth. Our dilemma is that we do not know how to provide that power.Narrative and Images by David Manthos; Data Analysis by David Darling
Recognized carcinogens are used in 1 in 3 hydraulic fracturing operations across the nation – according to industry self-reporting. Independent analysis of the SkyTruth Fracking Chemical Database by IT professional David Darling found that 9,310 individual fracking operations conducted between January 2011 and September 2012 disclosed the use of at least one known carcinogen. While not all hydraulic fracturing operations or all chemicals used in the process are disclosed by the drilling industry, thanks to the lack of a uniform national disclosure law and exacerbated by the liberal use of “trade secret” exemptions, known cancer-causing substances such as naphthalene, benzyl chloride, and formaldehyde were used in 34% of all fracks reported by industry to FracFocus.org.
Hydraulic f racturing operation near private homes in Wetzel County, West Virginia, November 2012 (photo by SkyTruth ; a erial overflight provided by LightHawk).
Since creating a Fracking Chemical Database, which we released to the public back in November, SkyTruth has worked to quantify some of the issues related to fracking, but our main objective in building and publishing the database was to enable research on the subject by anyone interested. This approach has been fruitful in several ways, such as our work with David Darling, an IT professional specializing in database and software programming, who enjoys working with complicated datasets for his own professional development.
Darling has built powerful structured query language (SQL) tools to analyze our database and join it to others, which he writes about in very technical detail on his website. For those of us not familiar with database management and SQL language, we provide a layman’s guide to his findings here.
Searching 27,000+ reports from the fracking database, Darling found 11,586 separate instances of recognized carcinogens used in hydraulic fracturing operations during the 20 months the database covers. However, in a long list of substances like Nitrilotriacetic Acid – Trisodium Salt Monohydrate (used 259 times) or ethylbenzene (used 134 times), three known carcinogens were used far more than all the rest:
Furthermore, when Darling expanded the search to include suspected carcinogens, a long list of substances from common household chemicals to arsenic and chromium, he found 24,861 fracks (or 90% of all reports) that listed using at least one suspected carcinogen in the fracking process. Understanding that nearly all industrial processes pose some risk to public health, we think the routine use of these chemicals highlights an area in need of independent research and evaluation: What are the pathways for water, soil, and air contamination from hydraulic fracturing that could potentially lead to human exposure? And how often do failures occur during drilling and fracking operations that could result in unwanted chemical migration along those pathways? Hopefully the EPA’s ongoing study of hyd raulic fracturing safety is going to produce definitive, scientifically robust answers to these questions. Until then, here are a few relevant observations about likely pathways:
Spills of raw ingredients or wastewater: Drilling chemicals are transported by truck to the worksite along public roads and often over private land; workers must handle these chemicals to mix and pump them into the ground; and in the end some chemicals return to the surface in wastewater that must be either disposed of or treated for reuse. Anywhere along this chain of events human error or unavoidable accidents can and do occur, releasing chemicals into the environment and exposing workers and/or the general public to toxic substances. Our SkyTruth Alerts system tracks oil and hazardous materials spills reported to the National Response Center, as well as state-issued environmental and safety violation reports in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Air pollution: Unconventional shale oil and gas development has substantially impacted air quality around active fields such as the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline fields in the Upper Green River Basin of Wyoming, where on some winter days ozone levels are worse than in Los Angeles. From aerosolizing these chemicals through the high-pressure process of fracking, to flaring off gases from the well (which may also burn a number of these chemicals), to evaporating the chemicals from open pits of drilling fluids, water is not the only vital resource impacted by fracking.
The risk of exposure to these chemicals should be thoroughly studied by pubic and occupational health experts, and their findings accounted for in regulatory and policy decisions about drilling and fracking. Full and open disclosure of the chemicals used at all stages of drilling and completion activity — including during hydraulic fracturing operations — is a necessary element of protecting public health. We recently provided specific recommendations for improved disclosure to the Bureau of Land Management (which just announced they will go back to the drawing board and publish an entirely new proposed rule for fracking on public lands at the end of March after criticism of the 2012 draft from both industry and environmentalists).
After searching for data from many sources, and hitting what he described as “the fracking wall” around data on oil and gas development, Darling concluded that “FracFocus.org’s website at that time was intentionally constructed to make information extraction difficult.” However, with open access to the information, researchers, citizen scientists, and skilled professionals can begin to unravel some of the mysteries that surround the boom in unconventional oil and gas development.
To read David Darling’s perspective on the FracFocus data and learn more about how he conducted this analysis, visit his website at:By: veggielover
I couldn't wait to make these based on all the reviews. I made it pretty much as written, but I did double the recipe, used cilantro instead of parsley, and added a can of drained and rinsed black beans. The burgers are flavorful, easy to form into patties and don't fall apart. I ate mine on a whole wheat bun with ketchup and lettuce. I used a mini food processor to chop the onion and red pepper which expelled a little juice so I didn't need the olive oil to cook it in. Next time I will omit the cheese with the option of adding a slice to the sandwich. Finally, I think I'm going to think of a substitute for the bread crumbs. I put the extras in the freezer. It was worth the effort, tasty and healthy.Look at this gorgeous purple! This is Butter London’s HRH shade and it is a gorgeous purple indeed.
Swatch/Picture Gallery
Review
Website Description:
HRH
A proper royal-purple nail lacquer. Even the Queen would agree, and she never agrees with us.
My Review:
I am a big fan of Butter London. I find their varnish formula to be stronger than Opi in terms of chip resistance and longer lasting. I bought this shade at Sephora and felt in love with it immediately. HRH or Her Royal Highness is a royal metallic purple nail polish with ruby red shimmer. It is gorgeous shade for rock shows or when ever you want to show off your independence.
This shade lasts about 1 week.
Dupe: Essie Sexy Divide (just a tad darker than HRH)British researchers have discovered that copper and copper alloys can rapidly destroy norovirus – the most common cause of acute gastroenteritis worldwide.
Norovirus belongs to the viral family Caliciviridae. The virus is highly infectious and can be contracted from contaminated food or water, person-to-person contact, and contact with contaminated surfaces.
The new mice study, reported in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, showed norovirus was rapidly destroyed on copper and its alloys, with those containing more than 60 per cent copper proving particularly effective.
Copper alloys have previously been |
system of superdelegates, we welcome you with open arms,” he said.
For many Bernie supporters, the message was received. According to a recent poll by The Guardian, if and when Sanders drops out of the race, the battle for his voters will be neck and neck, with 39 percent planning on voting for Clinton and 36 percent voting for Trump. It may seem odd that so many are willing to throw their support to a man on the opposite side of the ideological coin, but many voters see important similarities between the two candidates.
“I’m not a Republican or a Democrat. I’m an American,” said Oswald, a 19-year-old student from Denver, and a Bernie supporter who’s decided to vote for Trump. “I like that [Sanders and Trump] both say what they want.”
Michael Canada, a 30-year-old senior software analyst from Niagra Falls, NY, agrees, saying he was initially drawn to Sanders’ authenticity. “Someone had posted a video on Facebook of him talking to reporters shortly after he announced he was running. I watched it and was completely blown away by what he was saying about the pharmaceutical industries ripping us off for medications. I had never heard a politician be so candid before. The more videos I googled of him, the more I loved the man.”
For many Bernie supporters, this loyalty to Sanders and his campaign – and subsequent battles with the press and the Democratic National Committee – have lead to a sense of disenchantment with America’s political system in general, leading them to identify with Donald Trump’s outsider status.
I am voting for Bernie today. Should he lose the nomination, makes best sense to next vote for Trump. #CAPrimary #CaliforniaPrimary — Scott Ford (@ScottFordTVGuy) June 7, 2016
I will never vote for that woman. IF Bernie loses I'm voting Trump pic.twitter.com/4O3FE6RFLs — Erica M (@Emp646) June 10, 2016
“I’d say it’s both a stance against Hillary and for Trump, but most of all against the establishment,” said Oswald of his vote.
Michael agrees, saying that for him, the one thing Trump and Sanders have in common is that neither fits within the folds of their respective parties.
Here we have it. I officially endorse Donald Trump for president. Politicians have been lying to us for too long. #Trump2016 #FeelTheBern — Bernie Support➡Trump (@berniesfortrump) June 7, 2016
While many are using their vote to make a statement to the DNC and the political system, still others are simply trying to avoid a Clinton White House.
“I’d rather vote for Trump than Hillary,” said Ashley Rayhel, echoing the lesser-of-two-evils sentiments that are now dominating decision rhetoric for Sanders supporters.
Ashley, a 26-year-old massage therapist for St Louis, said she’s decided she would prefer Trump as President on the basis that he would be too ineffective to accomplish his goals. “Trump means nothing will change,” said Ashley. “Hillary means everything that’s bad will get worse.”
For many Sanders fans, Clinton represents everything that’s wrong with US politics: corruption, greed, and corporate entanglements. After years of dealing with these issues, they’d hoped Sanders would be the one to break the mold.
While some are still holding out hope for Philadelphia, many will have to settle for a different type of anti-establishment candidate: Donald Trump.Right-hander Chris Tillman won his 10th game in the Orioles’ 11-6 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon, accomplishing something that no Orioles starting pitcher has done in nearly two decades.
Tillman (10-1) became the fastest Orioles pitcher to reach the 10-win mark since 1997, when Jimmy Key improved his record to 10-2 with a 2.56 ERA on June 8, 1997. Key went on to compile an impressive 16-10 mark and a 3.42 ERA.
Tillman has also won nine straight decisions.
So does Tillman’s first half warrant a trip to this year’s All-Star Game in San Diego?
Well, wins are just one way to measure success. But when Tillman earned his first career All-Star Game nod in 2013 -- he was named to the team late when another player couldn’t participate -- he won his 10th game of that season on June 30. He finished that season with a 16-7 record and 3.71 ERA, setting his career high in wins.
eencina@baltsun.com
twitter.com/EddieInTheYardI knew there was going to be a fatally as soon as I saw the lid of the compost bin fly up into the air propelled by the hose pipe which I had just vigorously jerked in order to reach the plants at the bottom of the garden. Two slugs, who had been sitting cosily in the curve of the lid, flew up into the air and whilst one of them was thrown free the other was unfortunately pinned beneath the heavy plastic lid as it came crashing to the ground. I turned off the tap to inspect the damage. As I removed the lid, I could tell that the slug had been fatally wounded. The other one managed to pick itself up and after a quick shake of his antennae appeared to make a full recovery. Once it found its bearings, the survivor slug slowly rushed to the aid of his companion. I then witnessed a fascinating event. The survivor circled the now prostrate slug several times as if in grave concern. I only watched a few of these circuits as they took some time to complete, but when I came back to check a few hours later there were a large number of silver trail lines weaving an intricate pattern around the dead slug. Others had come out to see what all the fuss was about, but unable to revive their colleague they started to eat him instead. The survivor companion however, did not share in this meal, but watched from a distance until well into the night. To me this appeared to be a perfect example of slug affection, although I know that some of you will doubt the truth of this.
You can probably guess that I don’t kill my slugs, well only accidentally. I abhor slug pellets as they cause a painful death and put toxins into the environment for years to come. If birds or hedgehogs eat slugs which have consumed pellets then the poison passes through to them. Even dogs have died if they have eaten a sufficient number of the ‘blueys’ Slugs serve a useful function in the great balance of nature and they are expert at recycling debris. Unfortunately, they can’t always distinguish between decaying items and your freshly grown vegetables. Not their fault. Slugs dislike gravel and one way to protect your plants is to lay sharp edged gravel around your new seedlings. I have managed to keep all my new ‘bee friendly’ plants free from slugs using this method. I can confirm that gravel will keep the area slug free, but their cousins, the elegant snails are more difficult to deter.
Oscar checking out the cat mint in the bee friendly pots which have been protected by a thick layer of gravel.
One warm summer’s evening last year. Yes we did have one, did you miss it? I went out into the garden with a torch to check on the wildlife. The quiet daytime garden had turned into a melee of slugs and snails all sliding in different directions and many climbing over each other, in search of food. Careful not to tread on anybody I made my way to the bird feeding area. A large number of molluscs were sliding round in search of bird seed. One particular character had a better idea. He had climbed up the metal pole on which the seed tube was hanging. He must have started at first dusk because he was now at the top of the pole. He just had to make the stretch across the chasm between the pole and the base of the tube. You will never do it, I thought to myself as I watched him reach out into open space. When his head finally touched the base of the tube he was clinging to the metal pole by just the tip of his tail. The weight of his shell was now in the balance as slowly it moved from rear end to front end. The snail did not look the least bit fearful as he let go with his tail and his shell swung to join his upper body which was now attached to the feeder tube. Just a short sprint round the corner and he could put his head inside the feeder hole to enjoy an uninterrupted feast.
With acrobatic snails in your garden it is a lot more difficult to protect your plants. They are able to climb up nearby fences or other plants and bridge near impossible spans in order to gain access to a juicy green leaf. Most pragmatic gardeners plant two for themselves and one for the gastropods. Protect the ones you want to keep with netting, gravel or whatever and leave easy access to the other one.
On the subject of crawling, I found the caterpillar. He was hidden under a flowerpot close to his potato bag hibernation site. Not easy to say if he was the same one I disturbed late last autumn, as his green onsie pyjamas were stretched beyond all recognition. In any event I was pleased to see him. The next day after I fed the birds I looked under the flower pot to check his progress but he had vamoosed. Then we started a game of hide and seek where the caterpillar disappeared for days on end, only to turn up again in unexpected places. I found him stretched out on the door inside the shed, which really made the game far too easy. To give him a head start I put him inside a large pot of herbs where he could actually find something to hide behind. He spent a few days in there, curled up with a number of slumbering snails, then he disappeared again. It wasn’t until I was cleaning out Sooty’s outdoor litter tray that I found him again, having a good stretch under the base of the tray. I was both delighted and concerned to find him there as I couldn’t put the tray back down without the danger of squashing him. I picked him up and gave him a little tickle to make sure he was still alive, then put him back under the flower pot. He didn’t stay there for long and I was beginning to think that the game was over as I couldn’t find him for several days, then I spotted him pretending to be a leaf hanging down from the recently planted sunflower. He hung there for a while, through wind and rain and sun until finally he did his last Houdini act and leaving behind only a slimy case, disappeared for good.
For more information on environmentally friendly ways to deter slugs and snails check out this web site. Say no to pellets!
http://www.slugoff.co.uk/killing-slugs/
AdvertisementsI absolutely love pumpkin. My Mom would make an amazing soup with pumpkin, onion, spinach beans and rice… so yummy! When I make it myself I trade the rice for some pasta and add thyme, who knew? Thyme plus a splash of my mother-in-law’s fresh olive oil, can’t beat it!
After devouring a million versions of this soup I finally decided to get some guts and make something I typically would be scared to make and just go for it. I googled pumpkin recipes and found an open faced recipe really intended for butternut squash on Smitten Kitchen. It’s called a galette, a French term for a free formed crusty cake. I swapped the squash out for pumpkin and carrots et voilà, my very first pumpkin galette!
Hopefully, you will try to make this dish and have your eyes roll waaaaay back when you try it for the first, second and third time. The first bite changed my life. I couldn’t get over how great it was and that I actually made it. I was really impressed and have now made it my go-to for the Holidays and friend’s houses besides the good ‘ol trusted banana bread. If you try it, please let me know how it went.
Pastry
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces at room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream (I used plain yogurt)
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup ice water
Filling
1.5 cups of chopped pumpkin
1 chopped carrot
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons butter
1 large sliced onion
1.5 teaspoon salt
pinch of sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
3/4 cup fontina cheese (I did without this)
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves
Directions
1. Make pastry
In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour. Add the butter to the well and mix it with a mixer (preferably a pastry blender) until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Make another well in the center.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream (or yogurt), lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the well. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour-butter mixture. Pat the lumps into a ball—don’t overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Prepare squash
Preheat oven to 375f/175c. Cut up a quarter of a pumpkin into a 1/2-inch dice along with the carrot. Toss pieces with olive oil and a teaspoon of the salt and roast on foil lined sheet for 35 minutes or until pieces are tender, turning it midway if your oven bakes unevenly. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Caramelize onions
While the pumpkin and carrot are roasting, melt the butter in a heavy skillet and cook the onion over low heat with the remaining half-teaspoon of salt and pinch of sugar, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly golden brown, about 20 minutes. Stir in cayenne.
4. Mix
Raise the oven temperature to 400f/205c. Mix pumpkin, carrot, caramelized onions, cheese and herbs together in a bowl.
5. Assemble pumpkin galette
On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. Spread the mixture over the dough, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Fold the border over the mixture, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open.
6. Bake
30 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature. It serves 6, but Nicco and I killed it on our owns the first time I made it.
7. Eat
You have entered heaven…
What is your go-to dish? Anything you can share the recipe to? 😉A former FBI agent says he was retaliated against and ultimately fired after attempting to blow the whistle on two federal agents he accused of rampant sexual misconduct that came at a price tag of tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money.
LtCol. John C. Parkinson tells Firedoglake’s Kevin Gosztola that his October 2010 termination from the Federal Bureau of Investigation occurred after he sent a letter to the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General pleading for a probe into two FBI pilots he accused of engaging in sexual acts with prostitutes on government property.
In that letter, dated September 27, 2008 and published by Gosztola, Parkinson tells the Inspector General that a thorough probe into FBI Special Agents Steven Broce and Andrew Marshall “will reveal a clear pattern of fraud, waste and abuse over a period of years that has cost the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars and damaged the public reputation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Department of Justice.”
“Mr. Broce has utilized his position as an FBI agent to engage in a career-long pattern of soliciting sex from prostitutes,” Parkinson wrote. “The symbols of his position as an FBI agent, specifically, his gun, badge and official identification, are utilized as part of the act of soliciting sex from prostitutes and have on at least two occasions been left behind in brothels by Mr. Broce.”
Parkinson goes on to allege that Broce and Marshall engaged in a number of exploits with hired sex workers two years before his letter to the IG was written, and that the security of an undercover FBI facility was compromised because the women were brought back by the agents.
On multiple occasions, Parkinson wrote, Broce utilized official FBI property at a Sacramento, California office to engage prostitutes during government work hours, “often during evening shifts that he is known for being especially eager to work.” In one instance, Broce was caught driving with a known prostitute by a Lodi, California police officer, but Parkinson said the FBI “handled the matter.” In another, Parkinson allegedly took an FBI aircraft and used it to travel across state lines to pick up prostitutes in Nevada.
“As a pilot assigned to the Sacramento office of the FBI, Mr. Broce has unrestricted access to the FBI hangar, plane and aviation pool,” the 2008 letter reads. “Mr. Broce utilized the FBI’s plane to fly at night to Reno, Nevada for the sole purpose of engaging prostitutes in acts of illicit sex. In addition to spending thousands of tax dollars to fund his prurient interests in prostitution, Mr. Broce, who has failed multiple check rides and has vision and hearing impairments, violated FAA and FBI regulations by flying alone from California to Nevada.”
“Mr. Marshall,” Parkinson writes later on, “has also utilized the FBI’s airplane hangar for years as a personal storage facility.” Parkinson estimates that the cost of running that facility is roughly $25,000 annually in taxpayer money.
And although Parkinson took up his grievances through the appropriate channels, Gosztola writes that the former agent was reprimanded and terminated for his actions. According to the Firedoglake article, Parkinson was involuntarily reassigned in August 2008, then took his concerns to the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) but ultimately had his role terminated in 2010 after an undercover investigation into the whistleblower was revealed.
“David Loftus, an OIG investigator, met with Parkinson throughout 2009 and early 2010,” Gosztola wrote. “Parkinson believed this was all related to his whistleblower complaint.” Only later, though, did Parkinson learn that he was being retaliated at by other high-ranking special agents, allegedly for reporting that Broce and Marshall had engaged in misconduct.
According to the report, Parkinson was reprimanded for moving furniture in the FBI facility which he claims he did to keep Broce and Marshall from defiling them any further after finding evidence of sexual acts, including stains, on sofas and chairs at the site. For that maneuvering, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gregory Cox, Supervisory Special Agent Leticia Lucero and Special Agent in Charge Drew Parent accused Parkinson of misusing $77,000.
When approached for comment by Gosztola, Paul Bresson of the FBI National Press Office said, “As you might imagine, we neither comment on nor even confirm the existence of OPR [Office of Professional Responsibility] investigations involving our employees. We take this position out of respect for the rights of all parties potentially involved and the fairness of the process.”
“Firedoglake tried to contact multiple individuals in the FBI who were involved in the decision to terminate Parkinson,” Gosztola added. “Nobody answered and in at least one case, where a message was left, the executive forwarded the message to the FBI National Press Office so the office could be prepared to give an answer if the executive was contacted again. And, when the FBI Sacramento Division’s Public Affairs Office was asked to comment, the public affairs official forwarded the query to the FBI National Press Office.”It’s official. It’s finally over. Online poker, as a business, is legal in New Jersey.
Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill Tuesday that authorizes casinos in struggling Atlantic City to eventually offer Internet versions of casino games intrastate — and one day beyond.
Christie’s action comes after he decided to conditionally veto the measure earlier this month, sending it back to lawmakers to vote on his proposed changes. They agreed with the governor, voting Tuesday to make the amendments and end years of debating the issue in Trenton.
What Christie wanted was considered very minor, and thus it was easy to get the bill back to him just a couple of weeks later. Now it’s up to state gaming regulators to figure out precisely how to license and oversee the complex new industry.
However, it could take quite some time for the first New Jersey-based sites to offer real-money games. Nevada legalized online poker in June 2011, but still hasn’t allowed any of its online gaming licensees to bring a product to the market. Just last week, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed a bill that tweaked his state’s Internet gaming rules.
In addition to New Jersey and Nevada, Delaware has legal online betting. That state could see its first real-money games debut this fall, probably following a Nevada move.
“It’s off to the races for New Jersey,” Sen. Ray Lesniak, sponsor of the bill, told Card Player on Feb. 7. “This is a huge lifeline for Atlantic City — a big win for the state.”
The news is also great for PokerStars, which is looking to buy a casino in Atlantic City.
Image via Wikipedia.
For news and daily tournament information from New Jersey, check out our state page.WASHINGTON (RNS) A coalition of evangelicals is calling on fellow Christians to support access to family planning across the world, saying it does not conflict with evangelical opposition to abortion.
The centrist New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good released a 15-page document Monday (Oct. 16) calling for "common ground" support of family planning and the health of mothers and children.
"We affirm that the use of contraceptives is a responsible and morally acceptable means to greater control over the number and timing of births, and to improve the overall developing and flourishing of women and children," said the Rev. Jennifer Crumpton, one of the advisers to the evangelical group.
The NEP document does not include abortion in its definition of "family planning." It emphasized that access to contraception prevents unintended pregnancies and reduces abortion, and stressed the need to avoid "confusion of family planning with abortion" that has led some religious groups to oppose both.
"It is urgent, urgent and imperative, that this issue be discussed and cleared up," said Crumpton, a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister who was raised Southern Baptist.
The Rev. Richard Cizik, president of the two-year-old organization, said family planning used to be considered a "third rail" topic of discussion but his organization is now calling on churches to address it. He said NEP leaders intend to circulate the document to gain signatories.
The National Association of Evangelicals, where Cizik worked for years as vice president, has urged frank talk about the vast majority of young evangelicals engaged in premarital sex and briefly mentions family planning in its online "Theology of Sex" document. Among discussion items for church leaders is a question about whether they should advise their congregants on "informed choices about family planning."When I cut my hair last summer, I sheared 12 inches of chemically straightened hair from the coarser curls closest to my scalp. I had only an inch of hair in its natural state; at the time, I felt free.
I was working from home for a non-profit, so I didn't think much about how my "big chop" would be received by my co-workers. A few months after the haircut, though, my contract ended and I was on the job market again with a rapidly-sprouting afro. It was the first time in 15 years of professional life that I’d ever interviewed for office positions with my hair in its natural state.
I was wary enough to poll my social media feeds: Should I straighten my afro? Should I get braided extensions that could be styled into a neat, efficient updo? Or should I walk in unapologetically, my hair as free as it was on the day I cut it? Feedback was wide-ranging. One friend admonished me to avoid braids, suggesting I’d only be replacing one stereotype (“militant”) with another (“ghetto”). Others told me I was right to rethink walking in “with a bush.” A blowout was gingerly suggested. Eventually, I sauntered into those interviews with my TWA—teeny weeny afro—in part because I resented that I’d had to deliberate at all. That none of my interviewers mentioned my hair directly afforded me a few sighs of relief, but every time I apply for a new position, I return to those same aesthetic anxieties.
Last week, Allure reminded me of this when it published a feature on afros that entirely erased women of color (“You (Yes, You) Can Get An Afro*” the headline read, with an asterisk: “*even if you have straight hair”). In 2015, only particularly willful ignorance could account for an afro hairstyle magazine spread that treats the afro as a white woman's entitlement. "An Afro is not an introvert’s hairstyle,” they write, apparently uninterested in its political overtones. “This is confident hair.”duncan_mcalpine_sennett.jpeg
Duncan McAlpine Sennett practices his Bar Mitzvah speech with Rabbi Joseph, who worked with him on the speech, and Cantor Cahana.
(Photo courtesy of Robin McAlpine)
A Portland teen has become an Internet sensation for using his Bar Mitzvah speech to support gay marriage.
A video of 13-year-old Duncan McAlpine Sennett's remarks had more than 72,000 views just six days after it was published on YouTube.
“I'm really just blown away, because I had no idea that it would get this big at all,” he said. “It feels really good.”
Duncan McAlpine Sennett on the day of his Bar Mitzvah.
Sennett, a student at da Vinci Arts Middle School, spoke on Nov. 9 to Congregation Beth Israel in Northwest Portland as part of the traditional Jewish right of passage.
He was assigned to study and speak about a portion of the Torah, which consists of the first five books in the Hebrew Bible. Sennett’s passage, Genesis 28:10 to Genesis 32:3, details Jacob’s marriage to Leah and Rachel.
Gay marriage opponents often cite the Bible, Sennett said, saying gay marriage defies the Biblical definition of marriage: A union between one man and one woman. But in the Torah portion Sennett studied, Jacob marries two women, who also happened to be his first cousins, he said, and the women don’t have a say in the marriage.
“Today, in the United States, marriage is very different,” he said in his speech. “No longer do the fathers arrange marriages, and women can marry whoever they want.”
“The traditional definition of marriage is nothing like what we think it is today.”
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“The definition of traditional marriage has changed a lot since the days of the Torah,” Sennett said in his speech. “Why can’t it change just a little bit more so everybody can marry who they love?”
The congregation posted video of Sennett’s speech -- also known his d'var torah -- on YouTube a couple of weeks later, on Nov. 26.
"The next thing you knew it was on the Huff Post," said his mom, Robin McAlpine
The video has also made news on multiple gay and LGBTQ news sites. There are more than 100 comments on the video on YouTube. Some comments are hateful, Sennett said, but he isn't letting criticism get him down.
“I don't care,” Sennett said. “I'm not letting it affect me in any way.”
Sennett spent about a year preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, his mom said. He learned Hebrew, studied the Torah passage he was given and wrote his speech.
The family has lots of gay friends, she said, and her son has been attending gay weddings since he was a child. He attended a rally protesting Proposition 8, a constitutional ban on gay marriage in California, when they lived in Los Angeles a few years ago. Though only 13, he’s a strong supporter of gay rights.
“My son just grew up believing that's the way it should be,” she said.
The portion of the Torah he was assigned for his Bar Mitzvah speech just happened to relate, she said, and it was fun to watch him make the connection.
Sennett said the attention is exciting, but what matters most is that thousands of people have heard his message. He wants to continue to advocate for gay marriage, he said, but hopes that 10 years from now advocacy isn't necessary.
-- Melissa Binder‘‘Is there a part of you that thrives on drama, or is it no, just pain and unpleasantness—’’
This was the unfinished question posed to Nicki Minaj by New York Times Magazine writer Vanessa Grigoriadias shortly before the rapper shut down the interview.
Minaj, the first rapper to appear on the cover of NYT since 2pac, was being interviewed at the Trump hotel for the latest issue of the magazine. Grigoriadias asked questions about Minaj’s music and personal life – including the feuds between her boyfriend Meek Mill and labelmate Drake, and mentor Lil Wayne and Birdman.
“They’re men, grown-ass men,” she said. “It’s between them.” How does it make you feel, I ask? “I hate it,” she said. “It doesn’t make me feel good. You don’t ever want to choose sides between people you love. It’s ridiculous. I just want it to be over.”
The interview turned south when the Grigoriadis suggested that Minaj enjoys and benefits from the drama by asking: ‘‘Is there a part of you that thrives on drama, or is it no, just pain and unpleasantness—’’. According to the NYT profile, the room suddenly went silent before Minaj, ‘‘That’s disrespectful. Why would a grown-ass woman thrive off drama?’’.
Minaj continued:
‘‘What do the four men you just named have to do with me thriving off drama?’’ she asked. ‘‘Why would you even say that? That’s so peculiar. Four grown-ass men are having issues between themselves, and you’re asking me do I thrive off drama?’’. “That’s the typical thing that women do. What did you putting me down right there do for you? Women blame women for things that have nothing to do with them. I really want to know why — as a matter of fact, I don’t. Can we move on, do you have anything else to ask? To put down a woman for something that men do, as if they’re children and I’m responsible, has nothing to do with you asking stupid questions, because you know that’s not just a stupid question. That’s a premeditated thing you just did.”
Minaj eventually ended the interview, but that was not the last of it. Once published, many on social media celebrated Nicki’s response, and criticized the writer’s motives.
The execution of this Nicki Minaj NY Times piece was condescending, patronizing, lost. Even Minaj expressed discontent during the interview. — Ivie Ani (@ivieani) October 7, 2015
If you’re interviewing Nicki Minaj about her labelmates’ pending litigation or Drake/Meek, you deserve to get shut down. How insulting. — Brienne of Snarth (@femme_esq) October 7, 2015
The reporter simply wasn’t ready for Nicki Minaj. But Nicki was ready for the interviewer. — deray mckesson (@deray) October 7, 2015|
This is How USA-Installed Puppets Go from Democratic Presidents to Despots & Terrorists When Their Time Comes
Have you heard this famous quote ‘Marketing is everything … and everything is marketing’? I know it was originally meant for product sales, because admit it, you can have the best product engineering, financial backing and operational mastery … but in the end the success of your product is determined by how your customers perceive your product-your brand. This principle of marketing applies equally as well to our domestic politics and politicians, and it is equally valid for world politics and leaders. The principle governs one of the main operations of the U.S. Empire: Regime Building & Puppet Installation. Not only that, it is also used in reverse as well. Think of it as reverse engineering. It is very similar: The Empire uses the same principle of marketing to bring down regimes and uninstall puppets. The reversal of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan’s world and domestic image provides a perfect example of the Empire’s reverse marketing.
In the United States, for over a decade, Turkey’s AKP Party and its leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been branded, marketed, and promoted as truly democratic and fair, and the best model of a democratic government for the Islamic world. Please allow me to provide examples of this branding and marketing performed by the US media for the masters and planners of the Empire:
Let us begin with one of the top marketing arms of the Empire’s branding and marketing operations- CNN
Turkey Can Model Democracy for the Arab World …Turkey, led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), as a model of a modern, democratic and Islamic nation nurturing pluralist ideals. … Rather than viewing Turkey's increasing currency in the region as a challenge, America should see it as an opportunity. From its free-market economic system, which is registering Chinese-level growth, to its compatible ideals, the promotion of the Turkish model is in America's national interest. Turkey effectively counters militant groups by challenging them from within Muslim society while also representing a crucial bridge between the West and the Muslim world. … America can immediately take practical steps to promote the Turkish model by encouraging the Egyptian army to move the nation toward a genuine, civilian-elected government. …
Now, let’s move to another significant marketing branch-this one disguised as independent and nonprofit: NPR
Then there are the middle-of-the-road marketing arms:
Turkey is a Model for Democracy & New Relations with the West Turkey’s rising trajectory was highlighted by the rock-star reception accorded to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his recent tour of the Arab Spring states of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya and his high-profile meetings during the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly. … Many find the Turkish model enticing, with the moderate Islamic Justice and Development Party, known as AKP, in office; a secular constitution in place; a strong military that is subservient to the elected civilian authority; and an economy that has been expanding. … Overall there’s hope that a new democratic era in the Middle East and North Africa will enable Arabs to develop a new paradigm for relations with the West. This paradigm would be based on equality and partnership – a position that Turkey has already achieved. …
We must not leave out one of the major international marketing branches of the Empire: BBC: Turkey: a model of democracy for the Arab world
And, let us not forget or leave out the important role played by the symbolic head(s) of the Empire in its branding and marketing operations. Here is President Obama selling the world on the Empire’s own installed leader:
I just want to say how much I appreciate the opportunity to once again meet with my friend and colleague, Prime Minister Erdogan. I think it's fair to say that over the last several years, the relationship between Turkey and the United States has continued to grow across every dimension. And I find Prime Minister Erdogan to be an outstanding partner and an outstanding friend on a wide range of issues.
Of course, once that happens, when the symbolic Imperial President markets and sells an imperial product, the world echoes it: Obama Names Turkey’s Erdoğan among Top Five International Friends
That’s right. The U.S. Empire spent over a decade marketing and promoting its favorite puppet in the Middle East- the AKP Party & Erdogan, as the model for the Islamic World, Islamic Democracy, People’s Choice, Great Leader … And then, bam, suddenly the AKP Party and its leader reached their shelf-life. All of a sudden they reached their expiration date. Almost over-night the party and its leader went from democratic to despotic, from democracy-loving to dictator, from squeaky clean to utterly corrupt, from moderate to extremist … what the hell happened? How did the Empire-directed man of choice make a 180 degree turn overnight?
Let me give you some examples of the sudden reversal in branding and marketing, and have you compare and contrast them with those above. Please keep in mind, you are looking at a only few months between the decade-long branding-marketing and the now reverse branding-marketing.
The following is from the same uber branch of the Empire that spent over ten years promoting the opposite: CNN
Turkey's Erdogan: Successful Leader or 'Dictator'? Erdogan "is offering unfortunate proof that it is possible to be both elected and authoritarian." … Many journalists say press freedoms in Turkey have declined under his rule. Reporters Without Borders says Turkey "is currently the world's biggest prison for journalists, especially those who express views critical of the authorities on the Kurdish issue." … Many secular Turks complain that the Islamist-rooted government is intolerant of criticism and diverse lifestyles, as evidenced by the recent enactment of tight restrictions on the sale of alcohol, Fadi Hakura, manager of the Turkey Project at the London-based think tank Chatham House, said in a CNN.com column. …
Let me just go ahead and list a few other headlines from thousands that have been filling the headlines on Turkey’s AKP & Erdogan for the last few months:
Erdogan: Turkey's 'Good Dictator'
Turkey’s Erdogan: An Autocratic Islamist Bigot
Erdogan is Harming Turkey’s Secular Democratic Tradition
Erdoğan’s Naked Theatre of Democracy
Simmering Anger at Erdogan's Authoritarianism Boils over in Turkey
Turkey: Between Deep State & Dictatorship
Turkey's Democratic Institutions Besieged
The Specter of Dictatorship Hangs over Turkey
I know that even the idiots among us would not believe such a sudden and drastic change in a person. No one goes from being the most freedom loving leader to the most authoritarian despot. No human being can be transformed from democratic to dictator in a matter of few months. No person can switch from fair and squeaky clean to utterly dirty and corrupt. Nobody can convert from being a moderate Islamist to an extremist bigot in less than a year. But wait, there is even more.
The Empire has even resorted to the “Terrorist” label in the reverse branding-marketing of their previous puppet boy. You know what it means when they start using that card-terrorist. Right?
Here is an |
killing all its beloved console franchises.
Mobile games are the future, of course!
Konami’s new CEO Hideki Hayakawa gave a lengthy interview to Nikkei Trendy Net where he laid out how the company’s new mission going forward would be an unrelenting focus on mobile. His statement has been translated by NeoGAF, and it’s worth reading in its entirety.
"We will pursue mobile games aggressively. Our main platform will be mobiles. Following the pay-as-you-play model of games like Power pro and Winning Eleven with additional content, our games must move from selling things like "items" to selling things like "features." "We saw with these games that even people who buy physical games are motivated to buy extra content. The success of Power pro especially has motivated us to actively push more of our popular series onto mobile than ever before." "Gaming has spread to a number of platforms, but at the end of the day, the platform that is always closest to us, is mobile. Mobile is where the future of gaming lies." "We hope that our overseas games such as MGSV and Winning Eleven continue to do well, but we are always thinking about how to push our franchises onto mobile there too." "With multiplatform games, there's really no point in dividing the market into categories anymore. Mobiles will take on the new role of linking the general public to the gaming world."
For a long while now, I’ve been one of the biggest proponent of the idea that mobile games are not killing traditional gaming. The two markets are both growing, and even if mobile is perhaps growing faster, the two seem content to co-exist with one another.
But if there is a way mobile games are doing harm to core games, Konami just summed it up perfectly here.
This is a company once responsible for some of the best console games ever made. Hell, they’re still making pretty good ones every so often. But the call of mobile is too strong, where cheap, often uncreative (or outright stolen) games can make hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars a day. Konami views mobile as “the future of gaming” when really it’s just getting out of one industry and sliding into another where they think they'll make more money for less effort.
Konami’s statement reads like an Onion article or South Park episode. “Our games must move from selling things like "items" to selling things like "features,” they say. Microtransactions for gear aren’t enough, it seems, and Konami is referring to the notion that certain parts of gameplay must be locked behind paywalls. It might even be a reference to the “feature” of being allowed to play a game by paying to skip a wait timer, a famous mobile money-extracting tactic that has made a king of Candy Crush for years now. Konami even goes on to suggest that one of the premiere console experiences of all time, Metal Gear Solid, could see its future relegated to the Apple and Google app stores.
I’m just going to say it. Mobile gaming is a cesspool.
That’s overly harsh, and overly broad, and may offend some hard-working, creative mobile devs out there. But the fact remains that for everyone one of them, there are ten untalented hacks slapping together garbage and throwing it onto the app store. And if someone makes a successful game? That number increases a hundred-fold, and the market will drown in countless shovelware games trying to imitate it.
Mobile monetization is no better. There are a few games that manage to find a good balance between free-to-play and microtransactions, or just charge a reasonable up-front price, but they’re few and far between. The fact remains that every mobile game I’ve ever played would have been better without items or “features” hidden behind paywalls. But as the public pursues “free” relentlessly, that’s lead to everyone paying more if they want a not-crap game experience through microtransactions.
The fact that mobile games are hugely profitable is not some testament to their quality. It’s just because many have tapped into a primal part of the human brain that becomes addicted to small rewards. So many mobile games are now little more than slightly-more-involved slot machines. Some, like Game of War which literally features a slot machine to dole out items and bonuses, aren’t even more than that. It’s no wonder that gambling-focused Konami, who makes a fortune from Pachinko machines, thinks this is “the future.”
If this is the future, it’s a dystopian one I don’t want to live in. Yes, we occasionally see diamonds in the rough, but even those are usually dwarfed by the awfulness of the rest of the market. For example, Monument Valley, a beautiful, critically acclaimed “successful” mobile game has made $6M in revenue. The abominable Game of War will make that much by the end of this week. Which type of game do you think Konami is going to try to make?
Given Konami's recent actions, diving headfirst into the lake of fire that is mobile gaming is no real surprise. But if more and more companies want to stop trying to make money by selling high quality games, and try to trick people into buying cheap, addictive crap instead, that is what could ultimately doom the gaming industry.
Follow me on Twitter, on Facebook, and on Tumblr. Pick up a copy of my sci-fi novel, The Last Exodus, and its sequel, The Exiled Earthborn, along with my Forbes book, Fanboy Wars.
Watch below to see when Call of Duty may return to World War II:Tragedy: Samuel Epps, 11, died of an apparent suicide Tuesday night after shooting himself
A young boy is dead in what is being considered an apparent suicide after firing a single bullet into his head earlier this week.
Samuel Epps, 11, of San Tan Valley, Arizona, was home with his father and three siblings Tuesday evening when, after getting into an argument over his chores, he ran off and locked himself in the house's master bedroom.
Moments later, he reportedly turned a gun on himself and fired.
'Initial information indicates that Samuel had been asked to complete some chores and he became upset,' Pinal County Sheriff's Office spokesman Tim Gaffney said in a news release.
'Samuel went into the home's master bedroom and a short time later a single gunshot was heard by other family members.'
According to NBC 12, investigators believe that Samuel used an off-duty weapon belonging to his father, who is a supervisor with the Arizona State University Police Department.
It is still unclear how exactly he got the handgun.
When medical personnel arrived on the scene, they reported that Samuel was still breathing and had a pulse, but he was pronounced dead two hours later after being flown to Maricopa Medical Center.
'This child, from our understanding, had no intention to play with the weapon but to harm himself, and so that dramatic decision was made in this young child's mind to likely result in ending his life,' said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.
There is no evidence that Samuel exhibited depression, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to detectives.
Devastated: Many have donated money to help the family pay for Samuel's funeral
The family is said to be 'devastated' according to a page trying to raise funds for Samuel's funeral.
So far, they have collected over $20,000.HM Defense has announced that their new HMB AR-15 bolt is now available for purchase. What makes it different is that instead of having a cam pin hole it has a cam pin socket. In other words, the cam pin hole in this bolts is not machined all the way which increases the amount of material in one of the weakest portions of the AR-15 bolt.
Even if you haven’t encountered such a failure yourself, just type “AR-15 broken bolt” in your search engine and you’ll probably see many results with bolts broken in half right in the middle of the cam pin hole. Just like this one:
The HM Defense bolt is designed to reduce the probability or completely eliminate this issue. Because the cam pin hole is not completely machined it has additional supporting material in the bottom. It also has a proprietary tapered cam pin. Other features advertised by the manufacturer are the ability to hold the lubricant in the socket for a longer period of time and the reduced contact of the cam pin with the firing pin which is supposed to decrease the friction between the parts and ensure smoother operation.
Here is a video review of the HMB bolt.
The HM Defense HMB bolt comes with its own cam pin. It is a drop in part compatible with MIl-spec bolt carriers. The bolt is made of 9310 steel and the cam pin is made of 4340 hardened steel. Both parts are nitrided. The 5.56NATO/.223Rem version of the bolt is available for purchase at an MSRP of $85. Right now you can get it at a special introductory price of $69.PARIS (RNS) Two of the most interesting photo ops of France’s current presidential election campaign took place last month 2,000 miles away in Lebanon — and they were all about religious optics.
In one, the far-right leader Marine Le Pen called off a scheduled meeting with Grand Mufti Abdellatif Deriane just outside his Beirut office when the Muslim cleric’s staff insisted she don a headscarf before going in for the meeting.
Official separation of church and state is normally taken so seriously that politicians rarely if ever mention in public whether they have a faith or not
With the video cameras rolling, she emphatically refused.
Later that day, with the same media entourage in tow, she smiled and exchanged pleasantries with Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai, leader of Lebanon’s Maronite Christians and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.
The National Front leader made her first trip abroad as presidential hopeful to burnish her weak foreign policy credentials, but the images flashed back to France sent a strong domestic message.
Her supporters back home immediately got the memo — “no to Muslims, yes to Christians” — and loved it.
Playing the religion card so openly is unusual in France, where the official separation of church and state is normally taken so seriously that politicians rarely if ever mention in public whether they have a faith or not.
But this two-round election, on April 23 and May 7, is not taking place in normal times.
After several deadly attacks by militant Islamists in recent years and sliding support for the main parties, politicians — especially from the right and far-right — are harking back to a secularized version of France’s traditional Catholic identity as one of several ways to mobilize voters.
Their occasional religious references, which are mostly aimed at reassuring worried swing voters who could provide a crucial margin of victory, stand out in a country where many — notably on the left — denounce any suggestion of religion in politics as unacceptable populist manipulation.
“Candidates know that religion as a shared culture speaks to many people in a world that no longer offers them a shining future,” Philippe Portier, sociologist of religion, told the newspaper 20 Minutes. “This talk can quickly resonate with a population that feels more and more culturally Christian, even while it doesn’t always follow the rules.”
Eleven candidates are competing in the election, and the top two from the first round will meet in the runoff two weeks later.
Opinion polls have long put Le Pen out front in the first round with about 25 percent of the vote, but losing the runoff to whichever mainstream rival she faces. Centrist Emmanuel Macron, now polling about evenly with her, looks likely to be her opponent.
When Le Pen took over the National Front from her father, Jean-Marie, in 2011, she set out to soften its reactionary image and woo mainstream voters by dropping its traditional anti-Semitism and stressing economic and social issues.
A twice-divorced lawyer with three children and a sharp debater, she projected the image of a modern woman not afraid to take a stand.
But Francois Fillon showed in November that there were still lots of votes to win on the right when he swept the primary of the Republicans — the main conservative party — by openly appealing to traditional Catholics angered by the Socialist government’s legalization of same-sex marriage in 2013.
His unexpected primary victory made him look like the probable next president. But his campaign soon became mired in a series of financial scandals that unsettled Catholics originally attracted by his Mr. Clean image.
Le Pen’s campaign shifted focus to go after those voters. In late February, she appeared at Mont Saint Michel, the famous medieval monastery off the Normandy coast, to deliver a stirring appeal to patriotic French voters to rally around her.
“Mont Saint Michel, the eternal symbol of a France that draws strength and grandeur from its Christian roots,” the National Front’s secretary-general tweeted from her rally.
In interviews with Catholic publications, Le Pen explained she was Catholic but not practicing, like most French. “I am a believer,” she told the Christian news magazine La Vie. “But I only go to church for weddings, funerals and baptisms.”
When asked how to square her opposition to immigration with the biblical teaching to welcome strangers, she insisted that those words pertained only to individual behavior and not political policies.
Religion also figures in Le Pen’s campaign in a negative way through her insistence on a vigorous application of “laïcité,” the official church-state separation that enjoys wide support in majority public opinion, especially on the left wing.
On closer inspection, her version of “laïcité” turns out to be aimed against Muslims because it would rule out headscarves, halal meat, Islamic holidays and any other religious-based demand the minority might make.
Fillon, the candidate who brought religion into the campaign last autumn, engineered his surprising primary win by wooing traditional Catholics who took to the streets in 2012-2013 — many for the first time — to demonstrate against same-sex marriage.
After gay marriage was legalized, many of them formed a network to keep their movement going.
Fillon tapped it for his campaign by openly calling himself Christian and expressing a personal opposition to abortion, even though he did nothing to limit it when he was prime minister from 2007 to 2012.
Because of his financial scandals, Fillon has since slipped to third place behind Le Pen and Macron with 18 percent in the opinion polls.
But he commands continued loyalty from a hard core of supporters, including campaign organization help from his traditional Catholic network, and still hopes to overtake Macron to run against Le Pen in the second round.
Fillon, the candidate who brought religion into the campaign last autumn, engineered his surprising primary win by wooing traditional Catholics who took to the streets in 2012-2013 — many for the first time — to demonstrate against same-sex marriage
Perhaps fitting for a centrist, Macron performs a balancing act on religion, upholding France’s policy of “laïcité” but stressing it should not be pushed too far.
During last summer’s debate about the “burkini,” the full-body swimsuit for Muslim women, he defended both some mayors at Mediterranean resorts who banned it and a woman’s freedom to decide what to wear.
A child of an agnostic family, he revealed in December that he decided to be baptized a Catholic at 12 when he entered a Jesuit high school.
Derided by his critics as “a new messiah” for the enthusiasm he generates among supporters, Macron doesn’t talk much about faith publicly. But he likes to say that “politics is mystical” and he finds “a transcendence in political activity.”
“I think about the nature of my faith all the time, but I have enough humility that I don’t pretend to speak with God,” he told La Vie.
(Tom Heneghan is a correspondent based in Paris)You must enter the characters with black color that stand out from the other characters
— The Wake County Board of Education is considering a former industrial plant site in north Raleigh for a new high school, prompting concern from some about possible hazardous waste on the property.
The board on Tuesday agreed to offer $4.5 million for the 32-acre site at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and New Hope Church Road. Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based AVX Corp. closed its electronic components plant there a few years ago.
The plant, which Corning Glass Works opened more than 50 years ago, remains on state and federal inactive hazardous waste sites priority list, meaning that it's been identified as a place where hazardous waste may have been spilled. State environmental regulators conduct routine groundwater monitoring of the site.
The school district is conducting its own environmental reviews to ensure safety, and school board members say they won't go through with any deal for the property until they are certain the site is safe. Yet, some people say the plan is too risky.
"I just see danger. I don't even know why they would want to put children in harm's way," Minisha Gray said. "Sometimes things are overlooked and things are unknown, so I just wouldn't."
Resident David Smith said he has no problems with the site if studies show there's no hazardous waste there.
"We need schools. North Carolina needs schools," Smith said. "I think that they should take every precaution before they do it because kids are important, and we don't want anything like waste to take place there."Recent financial market turmoil and lower price of commodities including energy has made it tough for US central bankers to go ahead with a rate hike in immediate policy meeting scheduled for September 16th/17th.
While survey based inflation expectation has remained stable, market bases measure has dropped to lowest level not seen since August 2010, when financial market was on its recovery from 2008/09 slump.
Inflation expectations as measured by 5 year- 5 year (5y/5y) forward inflation expectation calculated using swap dropped to 1.87% as of Monday, a level not seen in 5 years.
With global energy and commodity prices at multi decade low, FED doves are going to argue strongly against a rate hike next month as lower inflation provides FED with opportunity to see further improvement in the economy as well as labor market.
Rise in global volatility has pushed investors to the safety of treasuries, which has pushed expectations of inflation down.
Sudden devaluation of Chinese currency by PBoC this month has opened up Pandora's Box of volatility and fear that China will be importing some of its deflation and volatility to the global market.
US benchmark stock index, S&P500 is still struggling to pose sustained comeback after Monday's aggressive selloff, currently trading at 1900.As I noted on Saturday, past vice-presidential announcements have typically been greeted with a small “bounce” in the polls. Harry J. Enten, at The Guardian, has run the numbers on this for vice-presidential announcements dating back to 1984. He finds a net gain of four percentage points in the polls — and a mean of six — for the party that just named its new running mate.
The Guardian
Mr. Enten, importantly, evaluated polls conducted in the brief window of after the vice-presidential announcement but before the party convention. (He excludes the pick of Dan Quayle in 1988, who was announced during the Republican National Convention itself.) The conventions produce their own bounces, which tend to be both larger and more predictable than the vice-presidential bounce.
An objection can nevertheless be raised to Mr. Enten’s method on the following grounds. Take Al Gore’s announcement of Joseph I. Lieberman as his running mate in 2000. Mr. Enten says that this produced a nine-point bounce for Mr. Gore, in polls conducted after the announcement but just before the Democratic convention.
However, we might have been expecting Mr. Gore to be gaining ground in the polls anyway at this time. Why? Because although the announcement of Mr. Lieberman was made on Aug. 8, just before the Democratic convention, it was also made just after the Republican convention, which concluded on Aug. 3 that year. And a party’s convention bounce typically peaks just a couple of days after its convention ends. In other words, the apparent bounce from Mr. Lieberman may have reflected the recession of the Republican Party’s convention bounce, rather than anything having to do with Mr. Gore’s vice-presidential pick.
So eliminate Mr. Lieberman from the list — along with Sarah Palin, who was named during a similar time frame, in between the party conventions in 2008. Now we’re looking only at the vice-presidential candidates who were named before either party’s convention, as Representative Paul D. Ryan just was.
We see a median bounce of three percentage points, and an average of five, with Mr. Lieberman and Mrs. Palin eliminated. So that’s a little lower than Mr. Enten’s initial estimate, although not much.
What about Mitt Romney and Mr. Ryan? We are starting to see more polls trickle in that were conducted wholly or partly after the announcement.
On another day, these polls would constitute some decent numbers for the Republicans — but so far, also, they suggest a below-average bounce.
The only two polls done entirely after the announcement of Mr. Ryan were conducted by Rasmussen Reports. Their latest survey in Ohio now shows an exactly tied race, whereas their last poll before the announcement had Mr. Obama ahead by two points instead.
There is also Rasmussen’s national tracking poll, which has now rolled over so that all three days of interviews were conducted after the announcement. It shows Mr. Romney ahead of Mr. Obama by three points, versus two points before. So this Rasmussen polling seems to be suggestive of a one- or two-point bounce for Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan.
The other firm that was prolific on Tuesday was Public Policy Polling. It released data from Ohio, New Hampshire and its national tracking poll. All three polls conducted some of their interviews after the announcement of Mr. Ryan.
In their Ohio poll, Mr. Obama was ahead by three points, the same margin as in the firm’s poll in Ohio in June. The surveys are not strictly comparable, since Public Policy Polling has switched over to using a likely voter model since June. (Previously, it used an ambiguous category called “voters,” which we treat as being somewhere between a registered voter and likely voter poll.) However, ordinarily, a switch to a more restrictive voter universe helps Republican candidates, so that does not necessarily work in Mr. Ryan’s favor.
In New Hampshire, oddly, there were two separate Public Policy Polling surveys out on Tuesday. One poll was conducted Aug. 7 and 8, before the announcement of Mr. Ryan, on behalf of Democracy for America. The other was conducted Thursday through Sunday, partly after the announcement.
But this does give us a good head-to-head comparison, especially as both polls were conducted among likely voters. And the polls showed the same result, both putting Mr. Obama up by six points (although there were fewer undecided voters in the newer survey). So this seems to suggest no bounce at all.
(An earlier Public Policy Polling survey of New Hampshire, conducted among “voters” in May, had given Mr. Obama an 11-point lead there, although it had been a modest outlier at the time.)
Public Policy Polling’s weekly national tracking poll, conducted among registered voters, was also released on Tuesday and gave Mr. Obama a two-point lead — the same as his margin last week.
About 30 percent of the interviews in Public Policy Polling’s national poll were conducted after the announcement of Mr. Ryan. If you dig into the cross-tabs of the poll, you can find a break-out of the results they received on each day of the survey. Although the results were highly variable because of the small sample sizes — Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan had a very poor day in their poll on Saturday, but a very good one on Sunday — in the two days combined of post-announcement interviewing, the Republicans trailed Mr. Obama by one percentage point, as compared with two points in the poll overall.
Lastly, three of the seven days of Gallup’s national tracking poll now post-date the announcement of Mr. Ryan. Gallup now shows a slight gain for Mr. Romney — he holds a lead of two percentage points in their poll, versus an exact tie before.
So there’s something of a consensus in the polls, showing a net gain for Mr. Romney of between zero and two percentage points since the announcement of Mr. Ryan.
The consensus is not quite as robust as it looks — we’re mostly relying on data from just two polling firms — and whatever signal there might be is competing against statistical noise.
I can’t rule out the possibility that, a few days from now, we’ll be talking about a significant bounce for Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan — or about how there seems to be none at all.
But this seems to be our best guess: that they’ve gained a percentage point, or perhaps two. If so, it would constitute a below-average bounce for the Republican candidates.
It would also not be that much of a surprise: there are several reasons to suspect that Mr. Ryan might get a below-par bounce. Mr. Ryan’s favorability ratings are fairly low by the standard of recent vice-presidential nominees. The announcement was made on a Saturday — a slow point in the news cycle to begin with, and especially when the announcement was competing against the final days of the Summer Olympics.
And the polls have been very stubborn this year, rarely moving in a consistent direction for any reason at all.
While I haven’t looked into the vice-presidential bounce as deeply as Mr. Enten has, I have looked at the convention bounce, and my research suggests that the volatility of polls before the party conventions is correlated with the magnitude of the convention bounces. Volatile polling years seem to predict larger convention bounces, but they are smaller when the polling has been more stable heading into the conventions.
Since the polls have been especially steady this year, we should probably expect below-average convention bounces: perhaps more like four percentage points rather than the long-term average of around seven points.
Our forecast model, which does not adjust for potential vice-presidential bounces, did have Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan making some modest gains — largely because of the Ohio polls, which show somewhat better numbers for them than other recent polls. The model estimates their chances of winning the Electoral College to be 29.3 percent, up from 28.6 percent in Monday’s forecast.
But you should probably get accustomed to reading the polls with a more of a jaundiced eye during the next several weeks. The reason we call a “bounce” a “bounce” is because, more often than not, it fades, and polling conducted in the midst of it is not very predictive of the eventual result.
The model will make an effort to adjust for the convention bounces. For instance, if Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are only polling in a tie with Mr. Obama in the days between the Republican and Democratic national conventions, this will be a bearish sign for them, since this is normally a high-water mark for the opposition-party candidates. But if the polls show a tie a few days after the Democratic convention, that will be a bullish sign for the Republicans.
I think it’s better to make an effort for adjust for the convention bounces than not; in theory, our forecasts will be more stable than those at some competing polling Web sites. Nevertheless, the conventions simply introduce a lot of noise into the system, and the adjustment could easily overcompensate, or undercompensate, for their effects. This year, also — as in 2008 — the conventions will nearly overlap with each other: there may still be some after-effects from the Republican convention in Tampa, Fla., after the Democrats hold theirs in Charlotte, N.C.
A cardinal rule of polls is that they become more accurate as you get closer to the election: gradually, at first, then more vigorously over the final 45 days of the campaign.
But this is the part of the cycle when that rule is violated, because of the vice-presidential announcements and the conventions. We are now entering a foggy period in the polling.
Keep in mind that, before any of this, Mr. Obama appeared to hold a lead of two or three points in the national race overall. While I don’t take the position that there’s no new information to be gleaned from the new polls that will come in — we’ll keep updating the model and wrestling with the polls as best we can — you might want to hold that number in your head as a sanity-check.
Suddenly, in mid-September, the conventions will be far enough behind us, and the fog will clear up. And the election itself will be just a few weeks away.My santa sent me two wonderful gifts. The first is from Russia (with love); it's a little wolpertinger totem. Wolpertingers, if you don't know, are like... better jackalopes. They're rabbits with wings and antlers and they're from Bavaria and I love them. The little one is just so beautiful; it's a tiny work of art and it will live forever on my bookcase.
The other present was a gorgeous cut paper piece of the Loch Ness Monster. The Loch Ness Monster's one of my favorite anythings. I had this book when I was a little kid (and I mean tiny, like four)- this big atlas with illustrations- and the page for Scotland had this little Loch Ness Monster on it. For some reason, I was both terrified of and fascinated by that page. I'd flip it open reeeeal slow, trying to avoid the monster- but I'd always peek at it and startle myself. This Loch Ness Monster's a proper monster; the woodcut style is amazing and I just love it to pieces. I framed it immediately and hung it up on the wall by my desk. What's even more amazing? My santa made this.
Thank you so much! I truly adore both of these lovely gifts and will treasure them forever.• Thousands demonstrate on streets of London • OccupyLSX protesters 'take over' Trafalgar Square • Protests over student tuition fees; 4,000 police on patrol • Scotland Yard imposes 'additional conditions' on protest • Met Police: 20 people arrested for disorder
21:30 That's it from us tonight, thanks for following. Fears of trouble at the march seemed to have been eased by the large number of police officers keeping a lid on any violence. Protesters accused Scotland Yard of "ludicrous" tactics as officers appeared to outnumber them, but the strategy appeared to work, with only 24 arrests for minor incidents as numbers dwindled this evening.
21:01 India Lenon, herself still a student at Oxford University, writes in the Telegraph that today's protest was a misdirected waste of time. "Call me a traitor to my peers," she says, but "today's'student' protest represents a total misuse of time, energy and resources."
Today’s march, in contrast to those last year, draws ts support from trade unions and anti-cuts movements. Organisers claim they are fighting the Government’s recent white paper on higher education, yet instead of marching on Parliament (like last year), they are marching on the City. A spokesman from the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts tried to explain this by claiming, “In marching on the City, we are sending a message that we will not let the Government hand over education to the markets.”
This is nonsense: if the protest is about the Government’s actions towards students, it should march on Parliament. Instead, it is merely an attempt to jump on the banker-bashing, anti-capitalist bandwagon which has received so much attention in recent weeks, and it has no coherent aims in relation to higher education.
20:46 The Telegraph's video team managed to film police dragging demonstrators from Occupy Trafalgar Square protest camp, before arresting them:
20:30 Jenny Jones, a Green Party member at the London Assembly, said she thought the prospect of police using rubber bullets had scared off families from demonstrating. She said:
Policing isn't an exact science and it is often impossible to assess what levels can be expected at a demonstration such as today's.
However, by issuing a statement that threatens the use of rubber bullets, the police have not only directly discouraged protesters from attending, but also potentially changed the nature of the event itself.
Surely those committed to peaceful protest and those with children are most likely to be put off by this kind of warning?
19:42 Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello performed a three-song set for the Occupy camp outside St Paul's Cathedral and told the crowd: "The people that own and control this world don't deserve to. I have a message for them, the beginning is near. History isn't made by CIA men running dope or by old men. It is made by people."
19:33 A Scotland Yard spokesman has said there were fewer arrests made than expected, at 24. Three arrests were for public order offences, one was for possession of an offensive weapon, three were for going equipped and 12 breaches of the peace.
There was also one arrest relating to a suspect covering his face.
19:30 Some scenes from earlier:
#
19:23 Liam Burns, president of the National Union of Students (NUS), was at the demonstration, and he has said some serious questions need to be asked about the Met's handling of this protest.
He said: "Talk of rubber bullets and direct mailings to students who attended past protests is dangerously close to a clear agenda of either discouraging peaceful, legitimate protest or heightening tensions before a single protester even arrived in London."
It's hardly surprising that young people are continuing to protest against a Government that has put our future at risk.
The assault on higher education with the triple whammy of fees, cuts and White Paper proposals which attempt to create a rigged university market have caused much anger and frustration.
Without real change and opportunity the next generation's dissent will grow.
19:17 Resident columnist Toby Young thinks it's beggars belief that anyone can protest against government "cuts" on the day when Italy's bond yield has risen above 7 per cent.
The government hasn't actually cut public expenditure. In April-May 2011, public expenditure was 4.1 per cent higher than in April-May 2010. Even after factoring in inflation, that's a real terms increase. Over the course of 2011, the government has, at best, not increased public spending.
That's what "too deep, too fast" means – absolutely no cuts whatsoever. So what the anti-cuts protesters are complaining about is that that the coalition government hasn't continued to increase spending at the rate that the previous government did – which, needless to say, was quite astonishingly high. According to the IMF, Britain had the fourth highest level of cyclically adjusted borrowing among the world's 28 most advanced economies in 2007, behind only Ireland, Greece and Portugal.
19:07 This video has emerged which purports to show undercover officers tackling protesters to the ground. Demonstrators had claimed earlier that groups of plain-clothes police were moving among them and were seen passing on intelligence to riot police.
19:02 Less than a third of the 10,000 expected demonstrators were estimated to have turned up, according to the Press Association. it is thought many stayed away after police chiefs warned that rubber bullets would be used if the demo got violent.
17.08 Scotland Yard has just posted the following on Twitter.
All road closures presently being removed except in Newgate St, St Martin's Le Grand & London Wall #9nov #nov9 #studentprotest. London Underground & Overground working as normal #nov9 #9nov #studentprotest.
16.55 Michael Rundle, from HuffingtonpostUK, tweets the "Sunset at St Paul's".
Overheard disappointed bloke who came looking for a fight. 'I thought today would be a big one."
16.42 While it is relatively calm at present, with journalists on the scene reporting quite a good natured atmosphere, with dancing and singing, protesters have until about 5.30pm to move on. Could spark ugly scenes.
Student protesters confront police during a march through the City of London (Picture: EPA)
16.35 A Flickr stream by a user called Chu's your weapon has produced one of the more extraordinary images from the protest. @chu3d says it was posted on the officer's helmet by
Quick fingers and a bit of good adhesive... #sleightofhand"
16.33 Sky News showing footage of protesters dancing and partying around Moorgate, and Mark White say protesters very good natured.
16.25 Occupy London attempt to set up third camp in Trafalgar square. Occupation is short lived as police make arrests and clear tents.
16.23 Sky have just interviewed some protesters who have admitted they had "hoped more would turn out". Organisers say about 10,000 took part but police say that figure is more likely about 2500.
16.22 Victoria Ward has posted this picture of Billy Bragg entertaining protesters.
Billy Bragg praising the "new generation, the Occupy generation" challenging the status quo #nov9
16.20 James Orr reports from the protest:
Well that could be it folks! Raggae pumping but some students definitely heading home #nov9
16.15 Billy Kenber, a reporter from the Times, tweets that the "Irish jigger is back! Now at Moorgate. (see 12.32 and 12.45 posts).
16.10 About 20 people have been arrested, Scotland Yard say. A spokesman said three were for public order offences, one was for possession of an offensive weapon, three were for going equipped and 12 breaches of the peace. There was also one arrest relating to a suspect covering his face.
Demonstrators walk past the Museum of London (Picture: PA)
16.00 Victoria Ward emails in from St Paul's cathedral:
The March sailed around the back of St Paul's and the Stock Exchange quite peacefully. The Occupy London group who stayed at the camp are being entertained by a string of musicians who are engaging the crowd in a lively singalong. All quite jolly, regardless of the fact that their counterparts were swiftly evicted from Trafalgar Square.
15.55 Black cab drivers adding to the chaos now and are blocking Trafalgar Square.
15.53 The Telegraph's picture desk has put together a gallery of the most dramatic pictures from today's protest.
15.51 James Orr reports from the march
First sign of trouble as some students confront police #nov9
15.47 End of the march takes on a "carnival feeling" with huge cheers from supporters, reports the London bureau of RT, the Russian 24-hour news channel,
15.41 Atika Shubert, from CNN, reports that
Protesters peacefully walked by LSX. Inside LSX staff watch demo as protesters make rude gestures back. #nov9
15.34 Tony Benn has been pictured addressing the crowd at St Paul's Cathedral, LBC Radio reports. Meanwhile police are preparing to meet the march in "full riot gear".
Protesters set up tents before being cleared by Police in Trafalgar Square (Picture: GETTY IMAGES)
15.32 Richard Alleyne reports from Trafalgar Square that police have cleared all the protesters.
Occupy Trafalgar Square camp |
alcohol content, says Dr. Robert J. Geller, a medical toxicologist and Emory University pediatrician.
He says these sanitizers "are actually products that are 60% ethanol which means they are 120 proof," and "if you drink 2 ounces of it, it's like drinking 3 ounces of 80-proof tequila."
In California, where word of the trend first surfaced, there have been reports of 60 teenagers exposed since 2010, says Dr. Cyrus Rangan, toxicologist and assistant medical director of California Poison Control.
In recent months L.A. County doctors noticed an increase in cases, so last week they asked the California Poison Control Center to run numbers to see if data matched their instincts.
But nationwide statistics haven't been compiled, so CNN asked the American Association of Poison Control Centers check their database.
Turns out the number of cases around the country are going up too.
Last year there were 622 calls involving cases where teenagers reported exposure to ethanol-based hand sanitizer, according to the AAPCC. So far this year, they've already received 203 calls.
The specifics of each case aren't known, but overall, "77% of teen exposures to hand sanitizers were oral; the rest were mainly the eye and skin," says Loreeta Canton, spokeswoman for the AAPCC.
None of the reports involving hand sanitizers resulted in the deaths of young people, although one 2011 report involved a teen "with major effects that were life-threatening," according to the AAPCC.
Also in 2011, there were 14 teens with "moderate effects"requiring treatment that were not life-threatening and 122 cases of teens with "minor symptoms" that were "minimally bothersome and generally resolved rapidly," the AAPCC says.
So far this year, poison centers have received hand sanitizer reports of one incident that was "life threatening or resulted in disability or disfigurement," one incident that "required treatment, but was not life threatening" and 48 which were "minimally bothersome and were resolved rapidly."
For teens there can be serious consequences, says Geller, from sedation, to vomiting, to slowed breathing, "it really depends on how much they take and how often they are doing this."
Dr. Jennifer Shu, a CNN consultant and Atlanta pediatrician, says this is not a new concept for teens, it's just a new product for them to try. She says, "when used the wrong way, a lot of these things can have unintended consequences."
Ethanol can interfere with normal body functioning and side effects can range from sedation, loss of coordination, and reaction timing, warns Dr.Carl Baum, a pediatric emergency physician and a medical toxicologist. "Too much ethanol can lead someone to have dangerous drops in blood sugar," just like drinking too much alcohol.
Teens are being exposed through friends and finding recipes online to help make it more palatable, Rangan says. Some teens even add ingredients to separate the alcohol from the rest of the gel while some dilute it down.
Drinking hand sanitizer poses the same risks as drinking alcohol for kids, says Rangan. "Regard it like you would regard any kind of medication in your house and monitor the amount in your house." He suggests parents use foam sanitizers which might be a little less appealing for a teenager to use in a recreational way.
"I think it's just because of the easy accessibility," he says, "teens who are showing behaviors of intentionally taking hand sanitizer in an effort to get the alcohol high need to be evaluated for why are they doing that, and is this a symptom of a larger problem of substance abuse."
For more information on alcohol abuse and kids visit Elizabeth Cohen's "Empowered Patient" at CNN.com.Diego Fabbrini scored a late goal to rescue a draw for Watford at Reading.
The home side took the lead through Adam Le Fondre's powerful left-footed strike and Jem Karacan bundled in from a set-piece to add a second.
Watford's Marco Faraoni scored a header but Karacan slotted in a Le Fondre knock down to restore a two-goal lead.
In-form Deeney Watford striker Troy Deeney has scored five goals in three appearances this season
Troy Deeney converted a penalty for the visitors after Danny Guthrie's foul on substitute Fabbrini, who prodded home in the 89th minute.
The result ended Watford's 100% start to the season as they were knocked off the top of the Championship table by Nottingham Forest, who beat Bolton 3-0.
Reading's opener came after Watford keeper Manuel Almunia could only punch a Jobi McAnuff cross to Le Fondre, who sent a first-time volley into the top corner.
The Royals were on top and deservedly extended their lead when Karacan latched on to an Alex Pearce header across goal to score at the second attempt after his initial shot had been saved.
Faraoni nodded home from close range to reduce Watford's deficit, only for Karacan to respond.
Deeney's coolly taken spot-kick set up an exciting finish and, when a deflected shot fell into Fabbrini's path, he completed Watford's comeback.
Reading manager Nigel Adkins:
"It was a cracking game of football. It really was. But for a late deflection we could have won the game.
"We changed our formation to play against a side who are very good. We got on the front foot. It was an excellent goal from Adam Le Fondre and then we did well to go in at half-time 2-0 up and we deserved that.
"They got themselves back in it with a header but then Jem got his second and at 3-1 up you are in a good position and then we gave away a penalty.
"Was it a penalty, wasn't it? It doesn't really matter because it was given by the assistant referee. And then it was game on and very exciting and they got a goal at the end.
"The game was far too open and we gave possession away too easily we could not see the game out thanks to a deflection falling into the path of their player. There were a lot of positives going forward and we played good football, and but for a late deflection we could have been celebrating."
Media playback is not supported on this device Post-match: Watford boss Zola
Watford boss Gianfranco Zola:
"It feels good not to lose that game. It was difficult to see how we could get anything at half-time when we were 2-0 down.
"I told the players at half-time that it was not enough. I thought we were scratching their back and they were punishing us.
"It pleased me that we never gave up. That is the good thing about this side, sides can score one or two goals against us but we will not be beaten easily. I am delighted we have that quality.
"There are a lot of new players in the squad and lots of them are foreign and maybe they thought that the game builds slowly like in some other leagues, but they need to learn to start games with a high intensity or they will be punished."Jeremy Corbyn has been given a boost after Momentum, the organisation devoted to supporting his leadership, took all six of the seats elected by party members on the party’s ruling national executive committee, a net gain of two. Ellie Reeves, who had the support of Labour First and Progress, has lost her seat on the NEC, as has Johanna Baxter, an independent.
Separately, Nick Forbes and Alice Perry were re-elected to the councillors’ section of the NEC, which has 33 members in total elected by Labour’s composite elements (trade unions, affiliated societies, MPs, local councillors and the Shadow Cabinet). Forbes is a Corbynsceptic while Perry is seen as a swing voter.
In practice, the election means little for the balance of power on the ruling executive, where Corbyn already enjoyed a narrow majority in the full NEC. In the NEC’s many sub-committees, which are composed out of the party’s composite elements, it ensures that the members’ representative will be a solid supporter of Corbyn’s, but the balance will still be made out by other representatives. The new representatives will take post after party-conference.Tater Titan - project finished on 3/2/2009
With Apocalypse out, I decided I needed something BIG for my Orks. After all, superheavy vehicles are what Apocalypse is all about. One of the members over on The Waaagh!, who goes by the handle of burna_boy, suggested the idea of using a Mr. Potato Head as a basis for making a Stompa. I just had to get in on such a crazy/stupid/genius/insane idea. After a year and a half of work, this beastie is finally complete. Why so long? Well, I only worked on him when I felt inspired to. I put so much effort into this thing, I didn't want to half-ass any of it by rushing. It's been a long time coming, but he's finally finished. Hey, at least I beat the release date of the 'official' Games Workshop Stompa (only by a week, though) Click on the image for a larger view.
Concept and Construction Some of the examples in the original thread were a bit static in my opinion. A Stompa should look like it can actually stomp! While the body shape is perfect, the feet of the stock spud are stuck together. Something needed to be done... I decided to chop open the body and rig up my own legs while still retaining the shoes. The first step in building my "Tater Titan" was to make the stance a bit more dynamic. I turned the body around, so the 'butt-hatch' became a 'belly hatch'. The pot-belly look really suits the stompa model. I used PVC pipe for the hip axle held in place by a foamcore frame within the body. The legs are a mockup using foamcore with some Imperial Tank wheels as ankle joints. The legs will be reworked using plastic tubing and tank wheels, but the foamcore is good enough for this stance test. I'm not sure yet what's going into the belly hatch. Either a BIG gun, or an assault ramp for a mob of boyz. I might keep the belly modular so I can swap in whatever I want. Here's a mockup of how I intend the thing to look, as well as a boy next to it for scale. Here I've started on the business end of the 'choppa arm'. I've also made some improvements to the feet and legs. Here's the choppa arm in a rough placement of where it will be on the finished model. Here's a shot of the'stompy' foot and leg. You can see I'm starting to replace foamcore with actual plastic parts. I'm using 12 guage copper wire to hold the parts in place as well as provide structure. 12 guage wire is good stuff, pliable enough to be formed and bent into shape, but sturdy enough to hold weight and retain it's shape. Here's a shot of the'standing' foot and leg. I've used copper wire here too, as well as a length of coat hanger running from the foot, through the leg, and up into the body for support. Once this thing is mounted on a base, it should be pretty stable, the coat hanger will provide an anchor and the copper wire will tie it all together. Here you see the arms are coming along nicely. There's still a lot of detail work to be done on them (wires, pistons, rivets and other gubbinz), but the structure is pretty much all there. Here's a close up shot of the 'choppa' arm. It's basically a huge version of the chainsaw choppa carried by the slugga boy you see in the scale shots. Here's a close up of the gun arm. I loved the idea of a massive gatling cannon, something that would unload rapid-fire death. Now that the Apocalypse book is out, I may have to redesign the gun to fit in with the specs in the book. Either that or just come up with my own rules for this guy. And just so you all know that I've gone absolutely, 100%, batshit crazy...... I'm making this beasty poseable. Here you can see I've got the face pretty much done as well as some armor plating. I've also done some more work on the feet and legs, bulking them up and adding some detail work. The feet are going to get more armor plating to give them kind of a steel toe boot look, but not to worry, the shoelaces are STAYING! A close up of his cute little mug. This is his "Angry Face"...... and this is his "Sad Face. That's right boyz and girlz, he's not only poseable, you can change his expression too! A concept I've been toying with is making his right eye a gun slit with a big shoota poking out. For those of you interested in seeing some of the 'worky bitz', here's a shot of the innards. You can see the PVC pipe I've used as the axle, the foamcore support struts, and the copper wire holding it in place. The foamcore struts have been cut to fit into 'feet' and'mouth' holes of the original potato head toy. Here you can see the interior shot with the coat hanger bit running up from the leg and into a pin stuck into the 'arm slot'. You can also see the tab on the foamcore strut that fits into 'foot slot'. I've actually used the 'ear slots' for the placement of the arms. I think it gives the little guy a more hunched over, 'orky' appearance. And another shot of our favorite spud. Ain't he cute! Some more progress has been made. I have started to cut a hole to make room for the belly cannon. I also managed to get myself the classic bowler hat for him. I think it adds a nice touch. More work has been done on the metal plating covering the body. The engine/boiler/smokestack assembly has been started. Another shot of the boiler and the armor plating. Riveting this thing is quite a chore. A face only a mother could love!.... well, maybe not. It's been awhile since the last update on the guy, mostly because I was getting a bit burned out on building him. There was also something not quite right about him, but I couldn't quite place it. After taking a long break and coming back with a fresh perspective, I realized I wasn't too happy with the rivets on the main body. I decided to strip them all off and start fresh. As you can see here, the rivets are no longer made from white plasticard. They were a bit too large and too uniform. The rivets you see now are made from the spear shafts of a bunch of fantasy orcs (yet another project waiting for me, oh man...). I sliced the spear shafts into small discs, kinda like slicing sausage only reeeeeally small. I think they came out a lot better this time around. I'm also starting to add some cables and hoses to various parts of the stompa, as well as getting the small rivets done on various parts of the body, weapons, feet and engine. I gotta tell ya, the detail stage of a project is the most tedious...but also the most important. Here you can see a bit more detail added to the ejection port on the main kannon as well as some detail work on the iron gob. The feet have also been largely finished. I had to redo the toe spikes since I wasn't happy with them the first time around. I've also added tread to the bottom of the shoes and some'style stripes' to the sides to give them that running shoe look. After all the plasticard work was done, I slapped on the rivets. These were made from plasticard using a small hole punch. Here's a close-up shot of the belly kannon, complete with a co-axial mounted big shoota. The 'belly gun' mount is modular so I can create multiple weapons for it, that way I can tailor this bad boy to whatever mood I happen to be in. The arms on this thing are also modular. The tater titan will probably have several weapon loadouts in the future. I really want to make a 'toaster' weapon configuration, all with big flame-belching weapons, as well as a 'zapper' model with a bunch of crazy looking energy guns. First things first though, let's get the 'dakka' configuration finished. Another round of detailing has been done to this bad boy. Along with more riveting, the weapons and powerplant are pretty much finished. Here's a shot showing the gun arm and a couple of the 'grot rokkits'. These little one-shot-wonders add a lot of character to the machine as well as being pretty effective anti-tank weapons in their own right. A shot of the powerplant, showing the second exhaust stack. The chainsaw arm and another 'grot rokkit'. Here's a close up shot of the engine exhausts. The large exhaust pipe on the left is a chimney from the Games Workshop Manufactorum kit. The compression chamber and small exhaust in the middle is from the Chemical Plant kit by Pegasus Hobbies, just like most of the other engine bits. Here's a close up of the chainsaw arm, showing some engine and exhaust bits. The exhaust pipe is from the same Chemical Plant model kit I mentioned above. The vent plate is a Forgeworld piece. The other side of the chainsaw arm, as well as a menacing shot of the 'grot rokkit'. Here's a close up of the gun arm. I did quite a bit more detail work on this baby. Hyraulic pistons on the arm, tons of rivets, a heat shield for the gattling cannon, and a mounting rack for a 'grot rokkit'. Rear shot of the gun arm. A close up of the 'grot rokkits'. They're custom built from plasticard, some bits, and the shells from a 1:35 scale Sturmtiger model. There's a "How To" for them in the Tutorials section. Here we are! Construction on this beast is complete. I've added a base made from MDF board. The foot is attached to the base with liquid nails and wood screws. He's not going anywhere. He can now stand on his own, no more propping him up with the cap from a bottle. I've also mounted a twin-linked big shoota to the hat and carved in a whole ton of dings, scuffs and scrapes. Here's a close up of the big shoota on the hat. And an aerial view as well. Here he is all dismantled and ready for primer. One last dramatic pose before paint.
Painting Here he is after being primed flat black. Word to the wise: Make DAMN sure you paint any pieces of foamcore with a brush before you break out the spray paint. The propellant in spray cans eats styrofoam (which is a component of foamcore). It had been so long since I'd worked on the legs, I completely forgot there was still unprotected foamcore in there. His legs were so wobbly that his'stompy' foot actually came clean off. Some superglue and liquid nails fixed him right up, and then I touched up the primer. Here all his metal pieces got a liberal drybrushing of Tin Bitz. I left the hat alone. I want it to be a slightly different color than the rest of the titan. After the Tin Bitz coat dried, I gave him a drybrushing of Boltgun Metal. You can just make out the Tin Bitz below the surface of the Boltgun coat on the teeth and gob. I think it produces a pretty convincing rusty metal effect. Here's his chainsaw arm, looking extra choppy with some paint on it. And the gatling cannon. I couldn't resist doing the brass effect on the shells in the ammo drum. Here we see more paint on this bad boy. Right now I'm just blocking in the solid colors. That's why he's got that saturated "explosion-in-a-paint-factory" look. Don't worry, he'll look all dingy, dirty, and beat to s**t by the time I'm done. Side angle showing more colors. I'm still working on how to put some color on the rear of this thing. Eh, something will come to me... The other side with colors. Here I have the painting stage all but completed. The weathering and battle damage are all done as well as the rest of the detail work. After a year and a half, this beast is finally ready for some dullcoat varnish and some glamor shots. Another angle of everybody's favorite spud. Side shot. I really like how muddy his shoes look. Back shot showing the engine and exhausts The gun arm with the Grot Rokkits Here's the lighting effect on his eye. After two days, three seperate attempts and countless washes of various green colors I'm finally happy with how it came out. Close up of the gunner. Grot Rokkit on the right shoulder. Preflight checklist complete and ready to ruin somebody's day :-) The other two Grot Rokkits, "Smiley" and "Sharky"If patterns at other universities hold true, the Charles Koch Foundation might use graduate students and research in the Whitman School to influence legislation in Washington.
The foundation recently gave $1.75 million to Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management to fund the Institute for an Entrepreneurial Society. The Whitman School will recruit Ph.D. students to work and conduct research specifically in the institute.
In the past, Koch-funded free market institutes, similar to Whitman’s, have been used as part of a larger cycle to enact legislation supporting deregulated capitalism. The Kochs have attempted to do that using two mechanisms: by generating a “talent pipeline,” in which graduate student researchers at Koch-funded institutes later populate Koch-funded think tanks, and by developing their “Structure of Social Change” model, a process designed to influence politics that begins at universities.
“Privately-funded political change is at the heart of the Koch foundation’s operation on campuses,” said Ralph Wilson, a co-founder of UnKoch My Campus, a campaign that studies the Kochs’ influence at universities.
Maria Minniti, the founding director of the Whitman institute, said there are “absolutely not” any strings attached to the Koch grant, and that the Kochs will not influence graduate student research.
But in the past, Koch officials have boasted about doing just that at other universities. At a 2014 Koch donor summit in California, a top Koch official explained the Koch foundation’s desire to build a “talent pipeline” beginning with students, according to recordings published by the Center for Public Integrity.
The Kochs often start, experts said, by funding student researchers at institutes similar to Whitman’s, with the Kochs frequently controlling the research so that it aligns with their priorities of free market capitalism. Those same students later staff the Koch-funded free market think tanks and political front groups that the Kochs use to push for political change.
Kevin Gentry, the vice president of the Charles Koch Charitable Foundation, explained the process to Koch donors during a summit in 2014 and a recording of his speech was later published by the Undercurrent and the Center for Public Integrity.
“‘The students that graduate out of these higher-education programs populate the state-based think tanks and the national think tanks,’” Gentry said. “ … They ‘become the major staffing for the state chapters’ of the ‘grassroots’ groups.’”
Universities and free market institutes similar to Whitman’s are also the first step in the Kochs’ “Structure of Social Change” model designed to enact policy changes.
The strategy, developed by Koch Foundation President Richard Fink, begins with the Koch foundation funding researchers at universities to create free market concepts that the Kochs call “intellectual raw materials.” The Kochs then fund think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute, to turn those concepts into real-world policy options. But because the think tanks generally aren’t able to implement change themselves, the Kochs then fund implementation groups to pressure legislators into enacting policies.
Together, each of those groups form what Koch officials call their “fully integrated” network.
“We see that institutions at all stages are crucial to success. While they may compete with one another for funding and often belittle each other’s roles, we view them as complementary institutions, each critical for social transformation,” Fink wrote in the “Structure of Social Change.”The foreclosure crisis gnawing away at overbuilt suburbs has accelerated that migration, and the problems. Antioch is one of many suburbs in the midst of a full-blown mortgage meltdown that has seen property owners seeking out low-income renters to fill vacant homes. The most recent Contra Costa County records available show that from 2003 to 2005, the number of Section 8 households in Antioch grew by 50 percent, to about 1,500 from 1,000. Many new residents are African-American; Antioch’s black population has grown to about 20 percent, from 3 percent in 1990.
Federally assisted tenants in Antioch brought a class action lawsuit against the police department last month, claiming racial discrimination, intimidation and illegal property searches. The lawsuit, which was filed in the Northern District of California, claims that the police routinely questioned Section 8 residents about their housing status and wrote letters to the county’s housing authority recommending termination of subsidies. They say the police also threatened Section 8 landlords for infractions by tenants. A December 2007 study of Antioch police records by Public Advocates, a law firm in San Francisco, counted 67 investigations of black households, compared with 59 of white families; black households, it found, are four times as likely to be searched based on noncriminal complaints and to be contacted by the police in the first place.
Chief James Hyde of the Antioch Police Department denied that his officers routinely asked whether tenants were Section 8 recipients and said that the police department did not have information about which homes were on federal assistance. But Chief Hyde also said that the local housing authority was not meeting its obligation to screen tenants properly, and that as his department focused on nuisance issues, the police had become a de facto enforcement arm of the federal government.
“Other cities have come asking us for guidance,” Chief Hyde said.
The Section 8 program is designed to encourage low-income tenants to settle in middle-income areas by subsidizing 60 percent of their rent. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development issued 50,000 more vouchers for suburban relocations in 2007 than in 2005, bringing the total number of renter families to 2.1 million.
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Federal officials and housing experts say that the increase in vouchers was offset by people being forced out of federal housing projects that closed and by renters moving into foreclosed properties. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy and research group, 30 percent to 40 percent of residents in foreclosed properties were renters, many of whom have since sought federal assistance.
Linda Couch, the coalition’s deputy director, said families often waited a decade or more for housing vouchers.
Demand for subsidized suburban housing, meanwhile, is outstripping supply. In Salinas, Calif., applicants circled an entire block around a housing authority office earlier this month. Mobile, Ala., has 3,400 Section 8 families, and 2,000 more awaiting homes.
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Sociologists have long claimed that leaving behind high-crime, low-employment neighborhoods for the middle-class suburbs buoys the fortunes of impoverished tenants. An article in the July/August edition of The Atlantic Monthly, however, cited findings by researchers at the University of Memphis that crime in Memphis appeared to migrate with voucher recipients. More broadly, a 2006 Georgia Institute of Technology study found that every time a neighborhood experienced three foreclosures per 100 owner-occupied properties in a year, violent crime increased by approximately 7 percent.
As Antioch’s population grew to 101,000 in 2005, from 73,386 in 1995, the city built about 4,000 housing units in the early years of this decade.
Now it has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the state, with about 23 of every 1,000 homeowners losing their homes as of June, according to DataQuick, a real estate information clearinghouse.
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While total crime in Antioch declined by 15 percent in the first three months of this year, compared to the same period in 2007, violent crime increased by about 16 percent, according to city statistics. Robberies and assaults accounted for most of that rise.
In an incident report filed with the Antioch Police Department, Natalie and Darin Rouse complained of constant problems with gang members’ blaring car stereos and under-age drinking on the street. In a written account, they blamed “gross community overdevelopment, affirmative action loopholes and incompetent state government management of federal affordable housing programs” for the problems.
Several white women, all professionals who attend the same church and have lived in Antioch for 12 years or more, recently sat outside a Starbucks coffee shop and discussed how their declining home equity had trapped them in a city they no longer recognize.
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“My father got held up at gunpoint while he was renting a car to a young African-American man,” said Rebecca Gustafson, 35, who owns a graphics and Web design company with her husband. Ms. Gustafson said her car had also been broken into three times before being stolen from her driveway.
Laura Reynolds, 36, an emergency room nurse, said that she often came home to her Country Hills development tract after working a late-shift to find young black teenagers strolling through her neighborhood.
“I know it sounds horrible, but they’re scary. I’m sorry,” said Ms. Reynolds, who like her two friends said she was conflicted about her newfound fear of black youths. “Sometimes I question myself, and I think, Would I feel this way if they were Mexican or white?”
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Housing advocates argue that the impact of Section 8 in Antioch and other communities is exaggerated and that Section 8 houses make up only a small amount of the real estate market. Section 8 homes rarely exceed more than 2 percent of available housing in any metropolitan area; in Antioch the average is 8 percent, according to housing officials.
Brad Seligman, a lawyer with the Impact Fund, a nonprofit civil rights advocacy group based in San Francisco that is representing Section 8 tenants in Antioch, along with groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Public Advocates, accused the city’s police department of racially profiling black subsidized tenants. The N.A.A.C.P. has made similar accusations.
“Instead of driving while black, it’s renting while black,” Mr. Seligman said.
Thomas and Karen Coleman and their three children were the only black family on their street when they moved to Antioch in 2003 with a housing voucher.
In June 2007, a neighbor told the police that Mr. Coleman had threatened him. Officers from the police community action team visited the house and demanded to be allowed in.
“I cracked the door open, but they pushed me out of the way,” Ms. Coleman said.
The officers searched the house even though they did not have a warrant, said the Colemans, who are now part of the class-action suit against the department. The police questioned Mr. Coleman, a parolee at the time, about his living arrangement. He explained that he and his wife were separated but in the process of reconciling. The police accused the family of violating a Section 8 rule that only listed tenants can live in a subsidized home.
After the raid, officers made repeated visits to the Coleman home and to Mr. Coleman’s job at a movie theater. They also sent a letter to the county housing department recommending that the Colemans be removed from federal housing assistance, a recommendation the authority rejected.
“They kept harassing me until I was off parole,” Mr. Coleman said.Hey, mon, you wanna see your home values get high? Then make sure your home is near a retail marijuana dispensary.
According to a report in the Colorado Springs Independent, a report titled “Contact High” by researchers with the University of Wisconsin and California State University studied the connection between legalized marijuana and housing prices in Denver between 2013 and 2014, with a comparison of valuations on homes within 0.1 mile of dispensary and those farther away.
However, the report warned that credit for this surge in home values may not belong solely to the wacky weed.
“Potential explanations include, but are not limited to: A surge in housing demand spurred by marijuana-related employment growth, lower crime rates, and additional amenities locating in close proximity to retail conversions,” the report stated, referring to former medical dispensaries that became recreational marijuana retail outlets. “Our results indicate that retail conversion has a large positive impact on neighboring property values after controlling for property attributes and neighborhood characteristics.”Pastebin is a website where you can store text to easily copy and paste, and it’s also apparently a leading source of music news. A few outlets have crowed that an anonymous user uploaded what is billed as the tracklist for Kendrick Lamar’s upcoming album (set to drop on April 7) to the site. The leaked list is 14 tracks long and sports the names of some of Lamar’s most frequent collaborators, such as Sounwave, Thundercat, Anna Wise, and Terrace Martin.
Alas, leaked track lists are traditionally fake news. Beyoncé’s alleged collaboration with Azealia Banks and Lady Gaga called “Ratchet” never materialized, and with good reason. Who would ever want to hear that? Kanye West’s Rich Black American also does not exist. It stands to reason that Lamar’s new album almost certainly doesn’t have Kanye West and Q-Tip on one track and Thundercat and D’Angelo collaborating on another, because we live in real life and not in a fantasy.
But if those two too-good-to-be true credits don’t send you looking for the jig, then look merely at the track titles themselves. A few feel just little too on-brand to be real Kendrick songs:
“Richard Nixon,” which could be a cover of the Killer Mike song with more of Kendrick’s weird “DOOT DOOT DOOT” ad-libs.
“Delusional (Like You Haven’t),” which is said to feature Anderson.Paak, Anna Wise, and an apparent existential crisis.
“Paranoia, Is Love Stronger Than Death?”— for which the short answer is no.
“Commercialized, Failed Experiments,” another classic Kendrick Lamar song title.
See the fake track list below, complete with alleged producer credits. New Kendrick soon come, though not looking like this.
1. “Purple Hibiscus” (produced by Sounwave and Terrace Martin)
2. “Counterfeit” (produced by Rahki and Taz Arnold)
3. “Trust Everyone” (produced by DJ Dahi, Terrace Martin, and Thundercat)
4. “Delusional (Like You Haven’t)” ft. Anderson.Paak and Anna Wise (produced by Sounwave)
5. “Product” ft. Andre Benjamin (produced by Kanye West and Taz Arnold)
6. “Richard Nixon” (produced by LoveDragon)
7. “None of Your Business” ft. Anna Wise, Kanye West and Q-Tip (produced by DJ Dahi, Kanye West & Sounwave)
8. “Double Standards” (produced by LoveDragon & Rahki)
9. “If You Had Me, You Lost Me (Interlude)” (produced by Flying Lotus and Mono/Poly)
10. “Commercialized, Failed Experiments” (produced by Alchemist, Cardo, and Swizz Beatz)
11. “Ten Steps” ft. Bilal, D’Angelo, & Thundercat (produced by Sounwave and Terrace Martin)
12. “Paranoia, Is Love Stronger Than Death?” (produced by K.L. and LoveDragon)
13. “Rest in Paradise (Interlude)” (produced by Terrace Martin)
14. “Swim with the Fishes (God Said)” (produced by Sounwave and Terrace Martin)Mauricio Pochettino reports that Toby Alderweireld is fit and ready to face Liverpool on Saturday.
The Belgian defender - outstanding in an ever-present season so far in the Premier League - missed out on international duty this week after falling ill.
But he's back in training at Hotspur Way and available for selection at Anfield.
"Toby was ill but he’s okay," said Mauricio after training today (Thursday, March 31). "He has trained with us Tuesday, Wednesday and today. He’s good, he’s fully fit and no issues for Saturday."
Toby was one of 16 first team squad regulars to report for international duty.
All bar Erik Lamela - who was back in South America - trained today. "Everyone is okay," added Mauricio. "We need to assess a few players like Erik Lamela, who only arrived back (from Argentina) today but we’re happy with how everyone has come back. We will now assess them all tomorrow and then make decisions.
"Jan Vertonghen (knee, pictured above training today) is very close, Clinton Njie (knee) is doing well but needs a little more time and Nabil (knee) is out after his surgery."Bitcoin Industry Report: No Bitcoin Crime Goes Unpunished
A bitcoin buyer is robbed, the latest game to pay in digital currency, and new initiatives for fighting ransomware are set forth. Want to catch up on your latest digital currency news? Take a look below.
Also read: Industry Report: Bitcoin Fraud Never Works
BITCOIN ROBBERY
A bitcoin buyer has undergone quite a scare after being robbed at knifepoint. 32-year-old Steve Manos of Lake Worth, Florida set out to take part in what he thought was a routine bitcoin sale last Sunday in a nearby parking lot. The thieves, whom Manos had done business with before, held him at knifepoint in the street before making |
are increasingly interested in the possibilities of subterranean development.
Since its creation in 1996, the Associated Research Centers for Urban Underground Space (ACUUS) has promoted research, discussion, and implementation of underground urban development. At quasi-regular conferences, the NGO brings together global innovators to examine the potential of building infrastructure underneath existing cities, a strategy they see as a way of improving traffic flow, energy efficiency, and land conservation. The next ACUUS conference, to be held this year in Seoul, Korea, will focus on the unique challenges associated with the planning, administration, and design of underground space.
And, in case you were wondering, the conference will not look like this. Or like this. ACUUS’s board of directors is made up largely of academics, and experts in engineering, architecture, city planning, and energy usage.
And they’re not just talking about subways, subways, subways, here. Proponents of underground development envision large-scale building projects such as commercial zones, athletic centres, business parks, pedestrian throughways, highways, and transit systems.
Some urban centres are already putting underground development into practice.
Singapore has built extensive stretches of underground expressways and rapid transit lines. The city state’s government has also committed to updating its “master plan” for urban redevelopment to include major subterranean builds. The feasibility of pedestrian walkways, bicycle lanes, utilities plants, and scientific research facilities is being explored.
As far as building underground is concerned, we here in Canada are ahead of the game. Singapore officials have pointed to RÉSO, a 32-km “Underground City” of corridors beneath downtown Montreal, as an inspiration for their own plans. And, of course, we’ve got PATH here in Toronto, just a shade smaller than RÉSO (not that this is about competition).
Is massive underground development a wholly practical idea? You’ll have to wait for the 2014 ACUUS conference to find out what potential challenges the experts have identified, but “tearing up and tunnelling under large swaths of occupied land,” will likely be one of them. Still, in a city where cyclists, drivers, and pedestrians constantly battle for their own space on the roads, and most people at this time of year would do anything to get from work to the stores to their homes without going outside, maybe expanding our underground presence à la Singapore would be worth a shot.A BRISBANE burger outlet neighbouring a homeless shelter frequented by rehabilitating drug users is sending out 20,000 pens closely resembling blood-filled syringes to attract customers.
Police visited the Burger Urge store on Brunswick Street this week after local social service workers complained about the pens, made to resemble what addicts call a "jacked up" syringe, being used to advertise the store's new menu, featuring options such as the "Lamb Phetamine" and "Beef Injection" range and burgers such as "The Blue Vein".
Rod Kelly, general manager of the neighbouring 139 Club homeless shelter, described the campaign as being "without any thought of moral and community responsibility".
"I am unable to see any synergy or strategic direction between serving food to the local community and promoting a business through what appears to be a blood-filled syringe," said Mr Kelly, who runs Queensland's biggest homeless day centre, supporting about 70,000 people each year, many of them fighting drug and alcohol addiction.
"I'm an ex-intravenous drug user and, in the early days when I was getting clean, if I saw that in my letterbox it would have made me want to start using again," he said.
"Imagine going to your letterbox... to find a syringe filled with what looks like blood," he said.
"Parents will be asking their children to check the mailbox only to find a pen that looks identical to a hypodermic syringe."
The Courier-Mail yesterday asked Burger Urge co-owner Sean Carthew, 30, if he was comfortable using intravenous drug addiction to sell burgers in an area plagued by drug-related physical and mental illness.
"Yeah, that's a fair comment," he said.
"Umm... I am comfortable with it because we talked about it long and hard and, at the end of the day, if someone can't pick up a syringe and realise that it's a pen, you know.
"It doesn't say 'drug addiction' on the pen, it says 'taste addiction'," he said.
"I am comfortable with it. Whether that's a good or bad thing, I don't know."
Mr Kelly has called for the Fortitude Valley community to "seriously consider purchasing products from the store".
An officer from the Brisbane Central District's Crime Prevention unit said there were "a number of concerns" regarding the pens.Welcome to "Simple Projects" week on Ruffles and Stuff!
Today's project is simple bow hair clips!
A long time ago I saw simple hair bows like these for sale and I thought: "how easy would that be??". And I was so right, they were ridiculously easy.
Like, easy enough to make one in every color. For every outfit!
There are two different styles, both made with only two tiny scraps of felt. Nice!
For a more traditional style bow:
1. Cut a 1" x 7" strip and a tiny scrap to go around the middle (aprox. 1.5" x.5")
2. Cut a "v" out of each end and slit one slit about.5" from the end.
3. Slide opposite end through slit.
4.-5. flatten top and wrap the little piece around the middle.
6. Glue.
Then glue to a bobby pin, barrette or ribbon covered clip:
Enjoy!
The next style (my favorite) is even easier!
1. Cut out a rectangle and round off the corners.
2.-3. Pinch middle and wrap scrap piece around.
4. Glue to a clip.
Bam. Done. :o)
Wasn't that easy?
Paige even helped make a few of these, so if a four year old can do it, so can you!
I didn't have time to make more, but I think these would be positively wonderful in leather or suede as well. Can you just see that? Cute! In fact, any fairly sturdy non-fraying material would work just fine I should think. And don't limit your bows to hair clips! They make adorable accents for all sorts of things.
Have a simply lovely day!
Love you,
Disney
Edited: I couldn't resist-I tried a leather version using a heinous old jacket my mom gave me for scrap fabric:
Aren't they cute??This article appeared in Rock and Ice issue 241 (April 2017).
Welcome to Tijuana (5.14b) in Rodellar, Spain, barrels around from about 60 degrees overhanging, to 45, then 20. The first boulder move is crimpy, the second (and hardest) uses a sloping pocket and core tension; the third is a huck to a rounded flake. In summer of 2012, Shawn Raboutou told his sister, then age 11, that he thought she’d like the route. Brooke, then 4’5”-ish feet tall, spent a week on it: solid on the first two cruxes and falling off the last, big move six times. Her body was completely extended: “And it’s a lot of work to get up there,” she says. Shawn “was helping me out” on sequences. The family’s rental cottage, which overlooks the canyon, was situated just above the route, and made a convenient base between climbing sessions. “Well, one day I was with my brother, and we were eating lunch, and I went back down, and I just finally did it.” Her brother, now 18, had made headlines when he sent the climb the year before, at 13. Her mother did the climb the next year. Brooke, who lives in Boulder, Colorado, is the daughter of two World Cup champions: Didier Raboutou of France and Robyn Erbesfield-Raboutou, founder of the Team ABC climbing program. The 15-year-old has grown up in a world of ability and reciprocity, with a brother and mother also on fire for climbing. (Didier long ago switched to biking, but has lately begun climbing again.) Brooke, who is bilingual, is a junior at Fairview High School. She is good-natured, known as kind to other kids, and a hard worker, who says, “I don’t like giving up.”
Q&A with Brooke Raboutou
How would you describe yourself as a climber?
I’m pretty all around, I’d say. One of my strengths is crimps ’cause I’m smaller and have really good finger strength. I really love climbing dynamically, jumping and letting go and catching other holds. As a small person I have to climb big. There’s a lot of info out about your bouldering and redpoints.
What about onsighting?
I don’t onsight too often. I’m more of a second- or third-try person. I onsighted this climb near where we live [summers] in France. It’s called … um, let me think of the name. It’s a.13a, 7c+ [Phenomene de Roger]. Usually I ask for beta, and so I blow the onsight … It makes the climbing a lot smoother. I love to project hard climbs. When you project a climb you get to know it and get the rhythm of it, and then the whole thing comes together, and you say, “Hey, that wasn’t that bad.” How do you cope if you get frustrated? I don’t get too angry ever. In the moment, if I’m falling close to the top, I feel like, Get over it. I think, It’s just a climb, I’ll get it, I just have to work harder.
What if there’s time pressure, on a trip?
I don’t put time pressure on myself. I know I can always come back, whether in two weeks or a year or three years. My mom is a big part of that. She’s never pressured me or anythingB. She says, “There’s more where that came from,” which is usually about food [laughs], but it’s related to climbs, too.
What do you talk about at the dinner table?
We just talk like a normal family. Sometimes what was going on at practice today, how are the climbs. Sometimes my brother sets those climbs at the gym, so I ask him which ones he set.
What do you like in school?
I’m more of a math/ science person. I like the difficulty of math. It reminds me of climbing or sports in general: You have to figure it out. There’s one solution, and you have to find it. In other subjects there can be more, and it’s kind of annoying.
You placed first in the combined at Worlds. Does that create a good position looking toward the Olympics?
Olympics, that’d be cool but I’m not, like, set on it. Whatever happens, happens. If I get the chance to try out, of course I’d take it. I don’t actually know that much about it. They’re working it out.
Is your mother your coach on the team, or do you try to work with others?
My mom is one of my coaches. [Laughs] It can be annoying but she’s a really good coach.
BEST HITS
Full Service (V10) and Focus (V10), same day, Hueco Tanks, TX, 2017, age 15.
Cosi fan tutte (5.14c), Rodellar, Spain, 2016, age 15.
Southern Smoke (5.14c), Red River Gorge, KY, 2016, age 14.
Barefoot on Sacred Ground (V12) and Dark Age (V11), same day, Hueco, 2015, age 14.
Fragile Steps (V13), Rocklands, South Africa, 2014, age 13.
Youngest American/youngest female to climb 5.14a, God’s Own Stone, Red River Gorge, 2012, age 10.
Sunshine (V11) and Crimping Christ on the Cross (V10), same day, Hueco, 2011, age 10.
Your Brain’s on Drugs (V9), Hueco, 2009, age 8.
SECOND in lead, THIRD in bouldering, FIRST in combined (bouldering, lead, speed), World Youth Championships, Guangzhou, China, 2016.Federal investigators are worried that the shady IT staffer at the center of Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ widening scandal may have sold intelligence to foreign governments, particularly Russia and Pakistan, reports the New York Post.
According to officials, the government is currently probing whether Imran Awan, Schultz’ top computer technician, had access to sensitive emails and other communications and then sold that information to foreign intelligence agencies.
The investigation of Awan began in April of 2016, when Congressional staffers noticed several “irregularities” in the Capitol’s computer equipment and billing information. What began as a suspected case of fraud is now spiraling into a “massive scandal” according to one government aide.
Authorities now believe Awan had access to secret material, and moved that information from government-owned servers to private devices, possibly with the intent to distribute the classified information.
Imran Awan was arrested while trying to flee the country in late July after funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to his family in Pakistan. The shady IT staffer had been previously barred from the Capitol in February, but remained on Wasserman Schultz’ payroll until the time of his apprehension.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz stands by her decision to keep Awan as an employee, saying he was being persecuted because he is a Muslim.
“I believe that I did the right thing, and I would do it again,” Wasserman Schultz said in an interview with the Sun Sentinel. “There are times when you can’t be afraid to stand alone, and you have to stand up for what’s right.”The commonwealth has opened the door to funding the Melbourne Metro Rail in an apparent thawing after months of hostility.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Warren Truss said he expected his government would be approached to fund one of the state government's key infrastructure projects, an $11 billion rail tunnel connecting north and south suburban lines through a second CBD subway.
The state government says 44 buildings covered by 94 property titles will be acquired to make way for the new metro line. Credit:Penny Stephens
"We will probably receive approaches in relation to that project," he said. "If we receive those approaches then we will have them assessed by Infrastructure Australia and make a decision."
His comments are at odds with Prime Minister Tony Abbott's resistance to funding Melbourne Metro. Mr Abbott has repeatedly insisted the federal government is opposed to funding urban rail projects.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Aug. 23, 2016, 7:17 PM GMT / Updated Aug. 23, 2016, 7:17 PM GMT By Zachary Roth
A federal appeals panel has approved a bid by Ohio Republicans to reduce the early voting period and eliminate same-day voter registration, the latest in a string of court decisions that are setting the rules for voting access this fall.
Although Ohioans will still have four weeks of early voting, the Tuesday decision could make it harder for some voters to cast a ballot in one of the most pivotal swing states this fall. In 2012, 59,000 Ohioans, disproportionately racial minorities, voted during the week at issue.
By 2-1, a panel for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling in May that the move violated the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against blacks and Hispanics.
Related: Virginia Restores Right to Vote to Thousands of Ex-Felons
"Federal judicial remedies, of course, are necessary where a state law impermissibly infringes the fundamental right to vote,” wrote Judge David McKeague for the appeals panel’s majority. “No such infringement having been shown in this case, judicial restraint is in order."
"Ohio offers a generous number of days, hours and ways to vote—making us one of the easiest states in which to cast a ballot,” said Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican who defended the cuts, in a statement. “This issue has been dragged through the courts by political activists twice over the course of several years, and both times, it has ended with the same result: Ohio's laws are fair and constitutional."
Marc Elias, a lawyer for the plaintiffs who is also a top lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the ruling would be appealed either to the full appeals court or to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Related: North Carolina GOP Out to Limit Crucial Early Voting Period
Tuesday’s ruling is the latest step in a decade-plus fight over voting access in the perennial swing state. In 2004, all-day lines in minority- and student-heavy neighborhoods kept large numbers of voters, disproportionately Democrats, from the polls. President George W. Bush won Ohio, and with it the election, by 119,000.
In the following years, state Democrats implemented reforms to make voting easier, including extending the early voting period and creating a week, known as Golden Week, when voters could register and vote early all in one trip to the polls.
After Republicans regained control of the state legislature and governorship in 2011, they moved in the opposite direction. In 2014, lawmakers cut the state’s early voting period from 35 to 28 days, eliminating Golden Week in the process.
Related: Why Don't People in Nevada Vote?
At trial, experts for the plaintiffs offered evidence that both same-day registration and early voting were used disproportionately by racial minorities.
The Ohio Democratic Party is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Both McKeague and Judge Richard Griffin, who joined the majority opinion, were appointed by President George W. Bush. Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, who dissented, was appointed by President Obama.
In addition to the presidential race, where polls show Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump locked in a close contest in Ohio, the state also hosts a competitive Senate race.
Tuesday's ruling goes somewhat against the grain of recent voting rights rulings in states across the country. Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Kansas all have seen restrictive voting laws struck down or weakened over the last six weeks, though several of those decisions are being appealed.WASHINGTON ― The Border Adjustment Tax may not be dead, but President Donald Trump himself may be giving up on making the controversial surcharge on imports part of a tax reform bill later this year.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin indicated during a private meeting with House Freedom Caucus members on Tuesday that Trump doesn’t support the Border Adjustment Tax.
“He indicated the president is not supportive of the BAT and that we should discuss other differences that might move things forward,” one Freedom Caucus member in attendance told HuffPost, requesting anonymity.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said Mnuchin indicated that Trump is moving from a noncommittal, at times ambivalent, stance on the border adjustment tax to straight-out opposition.
“He said POTUS was concerned it would affect too many people adversely that are often forgotten in tax reform,” Meadows said.
A border adjustment tax, which still has the support of some GOP House leaders, would impose significant levies on imported goods from clothing to auto parts, driving up prices for Americans.
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
”It is somewhat of a tax on consumers,” another Freedom Caucus member, Rep. Rod Blum (R-Iowa), told HuffPost.
Blum agreed with other Freedom Caucus members that Mnuchin seemed doubtful about prospects for a border adjustment tax.
“My feeling is it’s not going to make it through,” Blum said, adding that he thought Trump and Mnuchin felt the same way.
“I don’t know if they’ve given up, but my sense out of that meeting was that Mnuchin and ― he doesn’t speak for the president, of course, but ― doesn’t think that,” Blum said, trailing off. “There’s just too much controversy. Too many people are divided about it.”
Mnuchin himself issued his strongest words against the tax on Tuesday during a Peter G. Peterson Fiscal Policy Summit.
“One of the problems with the border adjustment tax is that it doesn’t create a level playing field,” Mnuchin said. “It has very different impacts on different companies. It has the potential to pass on significant costs to the consumer. It has the potential of moving the currencies. We want to make sure we’re creating a level playing field.”
Republicans in Congress also poured cold water on the tax during a Ways and Means hearing, with Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.) publicly switching from a supporter of the tax to an opponent.
Still, it’s hard to declare the border tax idea totally dead. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) remains an enthusiastic supporter, and Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) hasn’t given up on the scheme, though he did signal some openness to new proposals Tuesday.It was a Friday morning during sixth form when a man from a blood donation charity came in to speak to us. Most of my year group had recently turned 17 – the age at which it’s legal to donate blood under UK law. The man told us that it was one of the most selfless and necessary acts of kindness and generosity, how we could donate blood and save lives. Unless of course, you were gay.
This was 2010, and the law was pretty stringent: men who sleep with men (MSM) weren’t allowed to give blood. I was young, and still pretty naive about queer sexualities and all that came with them, but already it seemed obvious that something about gay sex was deviant and dirty; those who engaged in it to be treated with mistrust. It was just another reason to be ashamed.
My heterosexual teenage friends had their sexual awakenings, slept around and talked openly of their conquests. STIs and terminations were part of adolescence, but each and everyone one of them could donate blood. A man who had any form of sexual relationship with another man throughout his lifetime – however safe, however much time had passed – was barred.
Gay men to be allowed to give blood three months after sex Read more
A bit of research made it clear the ban was a hangover from the HIV crisis from 1983 – but with advances in medical technology making the screening process easier, and a shift in the demographic of HIV diagnoses, something just didn’t add up. By 2011 the abstinence period was reduced to 12 months – but for sexually active MSM, whatever their sexual practice, it was in all but name still a blanket ban.
In an announcement last weekend, Justine Greening, the women and equalities minister, revealed that the 12-month period would soon be reduced to three. On first inspection, this might look like a step forward – in the week that marks 50 years since the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, an important and progressive step. But the reduction is simply a reflection of technological advances – so announcing such changes under a banner of promoting LGBT equality is disingenuous, or ignorant at best.
It generally takes just four weeks for HIV to show up in a blood sample; the 12-month deferral period is now simply out of date. This new rule change purely reflects a medical reality, not a shift in ideology from the 2011 approach. Equality does not mean reducing the time in which MSM must not engage in sexual activity, equality would see the introduction of an evidence-based system when deciding who is able to donate blood. One that is based on individualised risk assessments and, most important, trust.
Heterosexual men can have unprotected sex with multiple partners – complete strangers – and still donate blood, while a gay or bisexual man who practises safe sex with a known partner is excluded for a three-month period. Yet in the UK in 2015, 38% of new HIV diagnoses came from heterosexual sexual activity. More than one-fifth of the total diagnosed as HIV+ were women.
Of course, HIV still disproportionately affects the gay community – infection rates are at an alarmingly high level – but the reality is that anyone you sleep with could be at risk. It’s why donation must be considered on a case-by-case basis – to ensure both safety in the blood supply and the eradication of stigma.
There would be uproar – and rightly so – if heterosexual people were banned from blood donation after practising safe sex with a known and trusted partner. Instead, the NHS has a list of conditions and experiences that preclude a heterosexual person from donating blood. So we trust heterosexual people to know their sexual history and be open, but the same can’t be said for gay men – a situation that invokes the tropes of deviancy for which gay men have been ostracised for generations.
It’s vital that we don’t reinforce stigma of those who are more sexually active than others, and with multiple partners of whatever gender (there’s nothing wrong with having safe and consensual sex). Your level of risk should dictate your ability to donate blood, not the gender of your partner or partners.
As a society we need to trust men who sleep with men to be honest about their sexual activity – and right now, that isn’t what’s happening. It’s reassuring that in the government’s announcement is an aspiration to further improve the blood donation process for MSM to make it more equitable. But for now it will continue to feel as if gay men can’t be trusted if they engage in sexual activity, take precautions or be truthful about what they’ve done.The 4 Best Lenses for Amazing Lens Flare
Love them or hate them…lens flares have been trending non-stop over the last several years. You can find them in every J.J. Abrams movie, car commercial, wedding video, print ad or recent independent film. Lens flares are caused by the scattering of light and the reflection/refraction of light within the various glass elements of the lens. Flares manifest in two ways: visible artifacts of various shapes or a haze across the entire image. Modern lenses have multi-coated glass that remove almost every trace of lens flares…and software/CGI is used to add these analog aberrations back into the image.
I love the visual character of old lenses and have chosen my favorite four low budget lenses that create beautiful and dramatic lens flares. These lenses are inexpensive, readily available and can be mounted on a RED Dragon or a $500 DSLR. Take a look at the striking results possible with a Canon 5Dmkii, these four lenses and the sun…
PENTAX Super-Takumar 28mm f3.5
The 2nd version of this Japanese lens was made from 1966 to 1971. There are three variations of this lens and this was the last one to not have multi coated optics. The Super-Takumar has an orange tint to the glass and creates crazy orange pentagonal flares and a full frame orange haze when pointed into a strong light source.
HELIOS 44-2 58mm f2
This lens was produced in the Soviet Union from 1958 to 2001. There were 7 variations but I prefer the 44-2 (8 aperture blades) with the single coating on the front glass that allows for an abundance of flares. This lens used at f2 creates a soft haze across the entire frame that can look very appealing.
NIKON 43-86 AI f3.5
This Nikon zoom was made from 1963-1976. It was voted the worst lens ever created by Nikon and I love it. The flares run a long orange stream of shapes when pointed into the sun. I think they are beautiful, distinctive and elegant. To replicate this look in post would take a very long time and never come close to the authentic flavor of this amazing lens. The weird zoom range only makes it more appealing! BTW…$100 on eBay.
MIR 1B 37mm f2.8
Based on the Carl Zeiss Flektogon, this Russian lens won the 1958 Brussels World Fair “Grand Prix” prize. When shot against a bright source in a dark room or low light…it creates a beautiful and huge blue flare that fills the frame. It’s one of the only lenses (short of a Panavision Anamorphic) that brings out this much blue flares. Here is an example of the blue flare in a dark room. In sunlight the blue blends into the sky…but believe me, it’s in there!
My quest of capturing compelling and distinctive images always returns back to finding the right lens. The camera bodies continually change and improve but a lens can be used forever. The Canon 5Dmkii I used to shoot these images just turned 5 years old and is considered by some to be a dinosaur. It still serves me well and will be in my arsenal for years to come.
A demonstration using the 4 lenses mentioned above:
A new cinema lens can cost $40,000…but does that mean it delivers the look you were going after? Only you can answer that question. For each project you will need the right tools. The four lenses above can all be bought for around $100. That’s insane. Some are over 50 years old and are still capable of producing spectacular still and motion images. We use software now to take the edge off the super-sharp digital imagery we capture. Sometimes…the craftsmanship of the past along with their perceived flaws can manifest themselves into beautiful images. Who am I to argue with that? I love the flaws, distortions and the unapologetic chaos of older lenses. To each their own…
To learn more about old lenses and lens flares…a quick list of sites I visit:
Dog Schidt Optiks allows you to customize an old Russian lens to deliver the exact flare color and amount you want.
Vintage Lenses for Video – Alan provides a great resource for low budget lenses.
MkCine has a wonderful Vimeo account that demonstrates the flare on almost a hundred lenses.
Nikon Lens Survey and Subjection Evaluations – Bjorn Rorslett examines almost every Nikon lens in extreme detail.
Timur Civan is a wonderful DP who has an extensive knowledge of lenses and tools for creating stunning images.
Ferling Digital Works – Pete Ferling reviews several lesser known vintage lenses you may not have even heard of.
Matthew Duclos – The Circle of Confusion blog covers higher end lenses and is a wealth of information.
Technology has always and will always be moving forward. We embrace it with open arms…but never forget where it came from. Old School has it’s benefits, it’s distinctions and it’s advantages. “Visual Nostalgia” garnered from using older lenses gives me something I latch onto and enjoy. It helps me tell the stories I want to tell. Maybe it can help you too…
What are your favorite vintage lenses? Do you have a super-flaring lens you want to add to my list? Please let me know in the comments below.
Until next time…
Vashi Nedomansky
vashivisuals.com
@vashikooI used a simple hombrewed Ground Plane antenna for receiving the Weather satellite transmission by NOAA at 137 MHZ using a RTL SDR dongle. My setup is very simple. RTL SDR dongle with SDR# software installed on a Windows 7 laptop. WXtoImg is used to decode the NOAA transmissions. Audio from the SDR dongle is bypassed to the WXtoImg using VA-Audio virtual cable. What this does is, once installed creates a virtual Line IN like port and a Line Out like port.
To start with Install the VA-Audio application from this link. In SDR# you have to select the output under Audio settings as Cable Input:
Go to WxtoImg, under Option go to Recoding Options and under Soundcard select Cable Output.
What this does is, it creates a virtual audio cable to transmit the signal from the SDR# application to the to WXtoImg application. Once this is all set go to SDR# and make sure your AF Gain is good enough. Start SDR# and come back to WXtoImg and test record to make sure the it is getting the signal from SDR#. the audio level in WXtoImg is shown at the right bottom corner of the screen and it should be around 50 atleast.
With this you are all set to receive the signals from SDR# to yoyr WXtoimg. now wait for the time the satellite is going to pass over you, use the Satellite pass-list option from the WXtoimg under File menu to see the local time of the pass. once it comes close select Record option and set to Autorecord. Go to SDR# and set the frequency of the transmission. For me it was 137.1000 Mhz for NOAA19, put SD# in WFm mode with around 35Khz as bandwidth and wait for the transmission to start. As the satellite passes from your location it will capture the image and start transmitting and you will start receiving the audio.
The audio sounds like this:
Once the Satellite pass time is completes WXtoImg will autoprocess the audio file to decode the image data and show you the image. You can go to file menu to save the image to your preferred location. This is the final image for my recording:
So this is it, finally I was able to get a clear NOAA transmission. If you see by 13th June the south-west monsoon has reached the lower parts of Maharashtra. Rains are coming!
A better antenna like a QFH will further improve the quality of your audio and the image. May be ill try that in the future. In the meanwhile if you have any suggestions or feedback, leave your comments below!It was not a promising week for diners or cooks on DineSafe this week. Farm Fresh Supermarket on Sheppard is shut down for racking up 14 infractions, which somehow even makes repeat offenders like La Prep and Amaya Express look good (despite having each failed three past inspections in the last year).
Here are the rest of this week's most dire on DineSafe.
The Sister (1554 Queen St. West)
Inspected on: August 11, 2014
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 4 (Minor: 2, Significant: 1, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated
Magic Oven (127 Jefferson Ave.)
Inspected on: August 11, 2014
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 3 (Minor: 2, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4 C (40 F) or colder.
Bocca (26 Baldwin St.)
Inspected on: August 11, 2014
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 4 (Minor: 2, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4 C (40 F) or colder.
Amaya Express (1168 Queen St. East)
Inspected on: August 11, 2014
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 5 (Minor: 1, Significant: 4)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4 C (40 F) or colder.
Alexandria (1940 Lawrence Ave. East)
Inspected on: August 11, 2014
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 6 (Minor: 4, Significant: 1, Crucial: 1)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4 C (40 F) or colder.
La Revolucion (2848 Dundas St. West)
Inspected on: August 12, 2014
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 4 (Minor: 3, Significant: 1)
Crucial infractions include: N/A
Vivoli (665 College St.)
Inspected on: August 13, 2014
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 6 (Minor: 1, Significant: 5)
Crucial infractions include: N/A
La Prep (207 Queens Quay West)
Inspected on: August 13, 2014
Inspection finding: Yellow (Conditional)
Number of infractions: 5 (Minor: 1, Significant: 2, Crucial: 2)
Crucial infractions include: Employee fail to wash hands when required. Operator fail to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4C (40F) or colder.
Farm Fresh Supermarket (4466 Sheppard Ave. East)
Inspected on: August 14, 2014
Inspection finding: Red (Closed)
Number of infractions: 14 (Minor: 2, Significant: 7, Crucial: 5)
Crucial infractions include: Operator fail to prevent an insect infestation. Operator fail to maintain hazardous foods at 60 C (140 F) or hotter. Operator fail to maintain hazardous food(s) at 4 C (40 F) or colder. Operator fail to ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated. Employee fail to wash hands when required.When the California Labor Commissioner’s Office ruled last month that an Uber driver was an employee deserving of a variety of workplace protections — and was not, as the company maintained, an independent contractor — it highlighted the divided feelings many Americans have about what is increasingly being called the “gig economy.”
On one hand, start-ups like Uber, which is appealing the decision, and Lyft make it possible to conjure up rides on a smartphone in a few seconds’ time.
On the other, Uber — which directly employs fewer than 4,000 of the more than 160,000 people in the United States who depend on it for at least part of their livelihood — and similar companies pose a challenge to longstanding notions of what it means to hold a job.
As it happens, though, Uber is not so much a labor-market innovation as the culmination of a generation-long trend. Even before the founding of the company in 2009, the United States economy was rapidly becoming an Uber economy writ large, with tens of millions of Americans involved in some form of freelancing, contracting, temping or outsourcing.
Along with other changes, like declining unionization and advancing globalization, the increasingly arm’s-length nature of employment helps explain why incomes have stagnated and why most Americans remain deeply anxious about their economic prospects six years after the Great Recession ended.
Last year, 23 percent of Americans told Gallup they worried that their working hours would be cut back, up from percentages in the low to mid |
and the people are completely different, even though we’re just five minutes away.” “Where I live, you’ve got houses that are boarded up, and have trash.” “Everything is still segregated, opportunities are different, kids aren’t allowed to go to certain schools, if they do, they won’t feel comfortable, they’ll feel like outcasts in those schools.” “Educational opportunities in my neighborhood are poor.”
It was those underlying issues, issues that lie at the confluence of race, place, and opportunity in America, that motivated a colleague and I (a Baltimore resident) to write a piece in the wake of the unrest.
We called it, “Good fortune, dire poverty, and inequality in Baltimore: An American story.” The title was more about the art of search engine optimization than anything else.
But we wrote it in part as a response to the emerging narratives in the media about the deeper structural issues in Baltimore that fueled the unrest. Narratives like:
– Baltimore is “The Wire.” It’s “Homicide: Life on the Street.” It’s a dangerous city overrun by crime and the drug trade. Or – Baltimore is a city of extremes. It’s gentrifying rapidly and people feel threatened. Or – Baltimore is one of the very poorest American cities. It has no fiscal base to improve city services.
We thought that the truth, as usual, lay somewhere in the middle of all these interpretations.
But we also thought that for all that makes Baltimore a unique place—I married into a Baltimore family, so I’ve seen some of that uniqueness firsthand—the city is hardly alone when it comes to these deeper structural issues. On those fronts, it often looks like a very typical American city.
The charts and the maps you see around the room tonight are adapted in part from that piece. They compare Baltimore to the other cities that are part of the Project on Municipal Innovation. Let me just briefly walk through the story I think they tell.
First, Baltimore does indeed have deep poverty. Adjusted for the cost of living, about 30 percent of Baltimore’s households have incomes in the bottom 20 percent nationally. That’s quite high, although a number of cities—Cleveland, Detroit, Newark, Providence, Philadelphia, and New Orleans—exhibit even deeper poverty.
We know that low levels of income make it very difficult for these families to get by, for children to succeed in school, and for cities to fund the critical services that improve opportunities and quality of life for all.
Second, poverty doesn’t spread evenly. This map shows that many of Baltimore’s poor households are concentrated on the city’s west and east sides, including the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood where Freddie Gray lived and the unrest occurred. We know that this form of concentrated poverty limits educational opportunities, fuels disinvestment, and causes physical and mental health challenges for residents who live amid it.
However, Baltimore is hardly an outlier on concentrated poverty. This chart shows that actually, Baltimore’s poor households are less concentrated in extremely poor neighborhoods than poor households in many other big cities. In Baltimore, about one in five poor residents lives in a neighborhood where the poverty rate exceeds 40 percent. In Milwaukee, for instance, double that share live in an extreme-poverty neighborhood.
Third, issues of poverty and concentrated poverty in Baltimore dovetail with divisions by race. The poverty rate for black children in Baltimore is three times as high as that for white children. And as this map shows, the Baltimore neighborhoods with the highest rates of poverty are generally those with the largest African American population shares.
But the high level of racial segregation that helps to perpetuate these divisions is, once again, not unique to Baltimore. By one common metric of segregation—the black/white dissimilarity index—Baltimore has above-average segregation, but still short of that in a number of big cities such as Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, D.C., and Boston.
Fourth, inequality is real in Baltimore. Like the young person in the Brookings video said, there are parts of the city where you can walk 5 minutes and find yourself in a completely different community.
This, too, is the reality in many major American cities today. The typical high-income household in Baltimore earns about 12 times what the typical low-income household does. That gap is 19 in Atlanta, 17 in San Francisco, land of expensive chocolate shops, and 15 in Boston. But by this measure, Baltimore’s inequality also exceeds that in cities like Oakland, Denver, and Seattle.
So yes, Baltimore is an unequal city. It’s a city of low incomes. It’s a segregated city with concentrated poverty. Those are really just another way of saying, Baltimore is an American city.
While none of these factors by itself reveals the true challenges facing Baltimore and its residents, or explains why peaceful demonstrations in April transformed into violent unrest, they add up to something very sobering.
That’s in the final chart displayed here, which is derived from some new groundbreaking research by Raj Chetty, now at Stanford, and Nathaniel Hendren here at Harvard.
Many of you might have seen this research highlighted a few months back in the New York Times, with great maps and storytelling. As a policy wonk really concerned about these issues, I was extremely grateful for the attention it so deservedly got. As a researcher, I was insanely jealous!
Essentially, Chetty and Hendren used IRS data from across 20 years to estimate the impact that growing up in a particular place had on a child’s future earnings.
These data are for the counties surrounding big cities, so they’re not always a perfect representation of city effects, but they clearly revealed that where you live—particularly where you grow up—really does seem to matter for social mobility.
On this measure, the effect of living in Baltimore city on future economic outcomes for poor kids was highly negative, equivalent to reducing their income by about $4,500 a year at age 26. By contrast, growing up in King County, Washington, around Seattle, would raise that individual’s earnings by about $3,000 at that same age.
Again, Baltimore is not off the charts here—you can see even larger negative impacts in New Orleans, Atlanta, and even Los Angeles, for instance.
And it’s important to keep in mind that this is how these cities have affected social mobility for people who are today younger adults. Most cities have changed over the past 20 years in ways that might change mobility prospects for today’s kids. As they say, your results may vary.
But I wanted to highlight these data for a couple reasons.
First, because the researchers behind these estimates find that many of the factors shown in these other charts have direct implications for upward mobility. I realize this is getting super-wonky for late in the evening, but let me quote their study briefly:
“Counties that have higher rates of upward mobility tend to have five characteristics: they have less segregation by income and race, lower levels of income inequality, better schools, lower rates of violent crime, and a larger share of two-parent households.”
Now, I didn’t highlight all of those factors in the charts, but from other research we know that school quality, violent crime, and family formation patterns are themselves influenced by things like segregation, inequality, and concentrated poverty.
And second, I think that promoting upward mobility may be a more helpful, unifying goal for cities to embrace than, for instance, solving inequality.
This is not to say that high inequality doesn’t pose an obstacle to upward mobility. In fact, I just said it did! But really addressing inequality inevitably means doing something about society’s top incomes, whether through industry regulation or taxation, because astronomical growth at the top is truly fueling rising inequality. But that’s really hard to do at a city level.
However, there are many other things that cities—indeed, many of your cities—are doing, and can do, that can make them more effective engines for upward mobility:
– More cities are taking new steps to ensure that their workers are paid wages that help their families meet basic needs and afford a decent home. – More cities are re-examining their economic development strategies to ensure that the industries and businesses they cultivate provide better jobs accessible to workers with less than a four-year college degree. – More cities are experimenting with strategies—charters, magnets, new enrollment policies—to give kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods access to better-resourced schools. – More cities are contemplating inclusionary zoning and promoting mixed-income development to limit exposure to concentrated poverty and keep their places affordable for all. – In some cases, those cities are part of new region-wide strategies—like the Opportunity Collaborative in Baltimore—to foster growth of mixed-income communities throughout the metro area. – And more cities are leading or joining collective impact strategies that aim to ensure young people are hitting the key milestones that matter for eventually accessing college and good careers.
That last area is one in which we are hoping Brookings can provide further help and support to cities and their partners.
We are beginning to develop data for a “dashboard” of indicators that show cities and regions how their families and young people are performing on key success factors, such as having a normal birthweight, attaining pre-reading and math skills, graduating high school before childbearing, and gaining a post-secondary degree or a good-paying job.
Eventually, we would like to help places use this sort of “metro mobility model” to target and braid their investments together around the interventions that matter most for local mobility.
This is, of course, tough, long-term stuff, and it’s no substitute for the hard work many of you face in the near term to build or maintain trust between law enforcement and communities. I know you’ll be talking about that tomorrow, too.
But I hope this provides some useful framing for further discussion tonight and tomorrow about the many constructive roles your cities can play in expanding opportunities for all your citizens.
I suspect that the chance to do that was one of the reasons you all got into this business in the first place. I know that my colleagues and I at Brookings are grateful for the chance to help in that regard, too.Hulbert (1776)
The Hulbert Flag begins in July, 1775 when John Hulbert, a cordwainer and magistrate, became captain of a company of Long Island minutemen. Two months later Hulbert's company moved to Ticonderoga to assist in the campaign to liberate the Champlain Valley. In November, the Long Islanders escorted a group of British prisoners to Trenton and Hulbert reported to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. After a short term of duty at Fort Constitution (Lee) on the Hudson, the company returned to their homes for discharge on January 18, 1776.
Exactly 150 years later, in 1926, a tattered old flag was found in a house once occupied by John Hulbert. The banner, which looks almost too much as an original model should look, was soon heralded as the prototype of the Stars and Stripes. One version of the story relates that the flag was made on Long Island before Hilbert's company left for Ticonderoga. Another version says it was made in the Champlain Valley to rival the banner of the British Seventh (Royal Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot, captured at Fort Chambly, October 18, 1775.
Regardless of its origin, the heart of the Hulbert flag claim lies in what is supposed to have taken place in Philadelphia when Hulbert reported to the Congress in November. Proponents of this account say that he brought the flag with him and that Francis Hopkinson, a delegate from New Jersey, may have been asked to make a sketch of it. This sketch supposedly formed the basis of the later Flag Resolution. However, all of this is speculative.
According to David Eggenberger's Flags of the U. S. A.:
"There can be little doubt that the Hulbert Flag is of the Revolutionary era. Its workmanship and its thirteen six-pointed stars confirm this. There is little reason to believe, however, that it predates the first flag resolution of 1777."Image: LL Twistiti/Flickr
Large swaths of rural Western Massachusetts are about to get gigabit fiber internet after residents in 22 separate towns decided to join a government cooperative designed to bring high speed broadband to places where traditional cable companies refuse to offer service.
The towns have secured $34.5 million in government bonds to undertake the project, which is expected to cost a total of $79 million. The Massachusetts state government is expected to pick up 40 percent of the overall cost as part of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (the $34.5 million is not included in that total), according to the coop, called WiredWest.
WiredWest hopes to eventually wire a total of 32 towns in the state. Of those, 22 have formally joined, meaning that 40 percent of the households in a given town agree to buy the fiber service and have made a $49 deposit to secure their spot. Town councils must also pass a measure agreeing to contribute their share of the overall costs.
"This is a major commitment for a town. In time WiredWest's revenues from the network may cover all or part of the principal and interest on that debt," WiredWest wrote on its site, explaining why wiring the towns may be a controversial issue. "But the town will be on the hook, and some townspeople may oppose borrowing the money. If you want high-speed internet service, you need to be at town meeting to vote yes."
In the end, enough towns have decided to join to make it a reality. So far, 6,700 people have placed deposits for service, which represents a third of the area's overall number of households.
The collective is notable because it's one of several throughout the country attempting to bring high speed internet to places that are primarily served by dial-up or slow DSL lines. The Federal Communications Commission has said that such arrangements are critical to eventually wiring the country, because companies such as Comcast and Verizon have made it clear that it's not worth their investment to connect rural areas.
WiredWest says it will offer 25 Mbps speeds for $49 per month, 100 Mbps for $79 per month, and 1 gb/s speeds for $109 per month. DSL or satellite internet, which is common in the area, usually tops out at just a couple Mbps, at best.
"For too long we've been making do with satellite, DSL or wireless internet. Fiber will render these as obsolete as a dial-up connection," the collective wrote. "After creating a telecommunications coop to bring broadband to rural communities in Western Mass, and completing four years of planning, WiredWest member towns have signaled they're ready to move forward with a regional fiber-optic network."We'd like to share early info on one of our key in-game mechanics: plant growth.
Posted by NaturallyIntelligent on Jan 3rd, 2015
From Fruit to Seed to Plant
Patchman is capable of growing a wide variety of plants. If he's in the mood to. The most basic ones are apples and oranges. Like most of the plants they have a three stage lifecycle. Starting with a fruit, you can either eat it or throw it. When thrown on the ground, eventually it starts to rot. If it's on soil it rots faster. Once rotted it leaves behind a number of seeds. These seeds can be picked up and saved for later, or left to hatch and sprout:
What does he need so many oranges for? What does he need so many oranges for?
Once sprouted on wet soil the seed grows into a plant. Oranges and apples grow into trees, and for the purposes of demonstration the growth rate has been accelerated. The trees have more complex behavior than the seeds or fruits, they can be injured and require water to grow. The water is drawn from the soil and the soil can be watered with the aid of a watering can or rain. When the plant has reached a certain stage it can bear fruit and then these fruit drop off the tree and are available to the player. The old tree now requires a hoe to destroy it and free the soil for the next plant.
The trees can die on their own but right now we haven't added any animations for their death. They just disappear after a certain age, or once you hoe them to 0 health, or maybe they are damaged in other ways (yet to be revealed).
High Resolution Video (720p @ 60fps available)
Too many butterflies...?
Credit for the art goes to Ihor Motuz (character, animated plants, house)
and Karly MacDonald (scenery plants, backgrounds).
Development Outline
Internally these are represented as objects, there are separate objects for seed, fruit, and tree. Apples and oranges are similar enough that they don't need separate classes, but many of the other plants have their own classes:
----------------------------------------------------------------- ----- SEED ------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------- function seed:new() function seed:init(x, y, kind) function seed:step() ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----- FRUIT ----------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- function fruit:new() function fruit:init(x, y, kind) function fruit:step() function fruit:build_body(x, y) function fruit:decay_deck() ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----- TREE ------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------- function tree:new() function tree:init(x, y, kind) function tree:step() function tree:wipe() function tree:visual_pause_step() function tree:activate() function tree:inactivate()
The apples and oranges are fairly realistic but as you explore further into the game the plants become weirder and stranger and more useful and... more fun!Read more articles by
John Dennen
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JAMES DEGALE makes the first defence of his IBF super-middleweight title on Saturday (November 28) against Lucien Bute in Quebec, Canada. If, as expected, DeGale prevails, he’s looking forward to a big year in 2016.
“A massive year, there are some big names in the division. Badou Jack [the WBC champion] is the one I want, in Vegas,” James said. “It’s about unifying titles, he beat George Groves [DeGale’s rival, who holds a win over him], plus it’s in Las Vegas, one of my dreams. Imagine boxing in the MGM, in front of how many thousand, unifying titles. It’s a dream, he beat Groves, plus I get paid for it so it’s all good.”
He’s confident that it can happen. “[Al Haymon] gives me three opponents and I tell [him who I want to fight]. I’m in such a good position. When I hear fighters thank Al Haymon [I know why]. I’m going to be thanking Al Haymon, trust me. It’s not just that he pays you well, he’s a very, very nice humble intelligent man and all he cares about is his fighters,” James said.
He’s targeting next summer for his major fight. “This is why I’m so easy to work with because I’m willing to fight anyone. If they say [Gennady] Golovkin, why not?” he said. “I’d rather he came up to super-middle, I don’t think he’s big, he’s five foot eight. He hits extremely hard, he cuts off the ring very well. But I’m telling you, he got beaten before in the amateurs. He got Olympic silver… Trust me, he’s beatable.”
He would be willing to shed a few pounds to make that fight at a catchweight. He reckons he could make 164lbs. “As an amateur I made 75 kilos on the morning of the [bout],” James noted.
An appealing fight for a British audience would be Chris Eubank Jnr. “For a big stadium fight,” DeGale mused. “He carries that name, obviously, Eubank. You’ve see it helps him a lot along the way because he [Chris Snr] is always there, giving his bit. If he carries on winning and carries on looking good and people want to see the fight, why not? If he wins a world title, he comes up in weight, it’s catchweight or whatever and it sells, let’s do it. It could well sell.
“But I’m not too sure if he’s going to get past Gary O’Sullivan, I’ve heard he’s looking really good and he’s a good fighter. Billy Joe Saunders rates him so we’ll see.”Photo: Novosti (File)
Every year some 670 Thai women marry Norwegian men, but many end up working as prostitutes after their husbands leave them, a church charity has found.
Lured to Norway with promises of riches and a secure life, many Thai women are instead abused or dumped by their husbands, often in favour of other women from their home country, according to the Church City Mission (Kirkens Bymisjon).
The charitable organization, which runs a support centre for prostitutes, said that 70 percent of the 59 massage parlours it visited recently in Oslo offered sexual services to clients, Christian newspaper Vårt Land reports.
A large proportion of the people working at the massage centres are Thai women who are desperate for work, speak little Norwegian, and are often pressed into selling sex against their will, the Church City Mission said.
“Thailand is a very poor country where it is difficult to find a job, and the women think a lot about their responsibilities towards their families,” said Kornchawan Thorsen, who heads the Thai Women’s Association in Norway and also works with the Nadheim support group.
Nadheim has now begun contacting the women in question to inform them of their right to assistance from the authorities.
Thorsen stressed that, of the 15,000 Thai women living in Norway, only a very small minority work in prostitution.Our new issue, on what a President Bernie Sanders could actually do in office, is out now. Subscribe today to receive it!
Media scholars like Siva Vaidhyanathan and Shoshana Zuboff have argued convincingly that ordinary citizens and regulators should be concerned about the immense power Google has amassed over many parts of our lives. Yet Amazon, nearly as ubiquitous, and also a frequent target of critical press, maintains a much less troubled public profile than Google. This should hardly be the case. Amazon’s role in developing disturbing new workplace trends, especially for non-white-collar workers, should be of central concern for labor advocates. While both Amazon and Google famously maintain resort-like “campuses” to recruit and retain top IT workers, Amazon relies on a workforce three times the size of Google, not including its army of contingent workers, for critical aspects of its business. As a 2011 story about the company’s Allentown, PA warehouse reported, many of Amazon’s warehouse workers are temps employed by a third-party staffing firm, and it manages its warehouse workers using the same web-centric, piecemeal, “just-in-time” methods it uses for other aspects of its supply chain, enterprise planning, and customer relationship management. According to a recent report in the Harvard Business Review, Amazon will release a change [to its enterprise software management systems] about once every 11 seconds, adding up to about 8,000 changes per day. In the time it takes Staples to make one new [software] release, Amazon has made 300,000 changes. Its software-heavy strategy relies on the use of enterprise-wide tools, similar to companies like Walmart. These tools, which Amazon is beginning to market (or help its partners sell) through its Web Services cloud-based platform, track and manage every aspect of the company’s business — from the location of products in the warehouse to the time it takes for warehouse workers to pick them out of their bins to the seconds spent by customers on a product’s web page (and the number of products left unpurchased in their shopping carts). Amazon’s development of a wide range of labor and what might be called “quasi-labor” practices (including what Tiziana Terranova and others refer to as “free” or “immaterial” labor activities such as producing customer-based rating and referral systems) meshes uncomfortably with how Amazon micro-manages its customers as producers of value for its commercial enterprises. This is similar to Facebook and Google, though Amazon is rarely mentioned in the same breath as those paragons of immaterial labor. A number of recent announcements and actions by the company put these problems into focus. All of them in one way or another show the company contributing to the casualization of labor, and to blurring the lines between private and public spaces and between labor and leisure.This Fair Will Fry Anything And Everything For You
Glenn writes to us after surviving a San Diego fair that’s gone a little wild with the fry vat. As if a sandwich with Krispy Kremes as the bread wasn’t deadly enough on its own, the carnie folk have gone and fried it good.
Fairs have never been known for caloric restraint, but the ad display Glenn shot and sent us signifies that the fair is pushing the fry-everything craze into sign-of-the-apocalypse territory.
He writes:
We went to the Del Mar Fair in San Diego this past weekend (think County Fair) and was totally blown away by one booth that totally focused on everything fried! The Chicken Charlie’s booth promoted fired Klondike ice cream, fried Twinkies and get this, fried Krispy Kreme donut chicken sandwich! I can just imagine the gut busting calories of each of these artery clogging desserts. I have to say that the line to get food at this concessionaire was intense!
What’s your favorite fried food that really shouldn’t be fried?ISIS - which now calls itself the Islamic State - militants in Iraq and Syria met the death of beloved American actor Robin Williams with an unexpected Twitter outburst declaring their love of the 1995 film “Jumanji.”
Islamic militants and supporters took to Twitter after the death of Williams, 63, in an apparent suicide Monday. While some condemned Williams for jokes he made about jihadists, others declared their love for his work.
An militant named Abdullah, a 19-year-old British born ISIS fighter, responded to a tweet calling Williams’ death “a shame” because he loved “Jumanji.”
Abdullah agreed that it was “a good movie.”
“Love it as a kid,” he tweeted.
Users were stunned at the sentiment, leading another militant, Omar Shishani, to defend them.
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“'We are humans like you, joke about girls mirls... why we shouldn't see movie?” Shishani tweeted.
Abdullah also tweeted that he also loved Steven Spielberg and “The Lion King.”
When asked why he was so interested in Western films and TV, he responded: “They think I grew up somewhere in a mud hut so I never saw a movie whereas I've seen most of the flicks they ask. lol.”
“Now I'm actually worried that people will start to follow me because they wanna hear about my favorite movies instead of reporting jihad,” he tweeted Tuesday morning.
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He claimed he was contacted by the BBC to discuss Williams' movies.
“‘Jumanjihadi’? It’s kinda catchy,” he wrote.
Television and film are banned under Islamic Sharia Law in the territory controlled by ISIS, International Business Times reports.
Williams was well known for his support of American troops in Afghanistan.
Sources: Daily Mail, International Business Times
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons / US Navy, Wikipedia
undefinedPhoto by Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Byron Buxton was picking at his food. At two other tables in the visiting clubhouse at Nationals' Park, his Twins teammates were seated in small groups, joking in the casual, comfortable, giddily immature manner unique to young men who spend a great deal of time together. Not Buxton, though. He was hunched alone over the hard grey plastic of his table, square shoulders rounded, staring straight down, pushing a small portion of potato chips and mac and cheese from side to side across his plate. On the clubhouse TV, right in front of him, ESPN played highlights of Mike Trout's home run in Los Angeles the previous night.
Later that day, Buxton would smoke a double off of one of Washington's star pitchers, Stephen Strasburg, score a run later that inning, and make two sensational catches in center field. That's the Jekyll side of Buxton, and it's thrilling to watch. Hyde was there, too, though: Buxton struck out four times, all swinging, all ugly, and when the game ended his triple-slash line for the young season was just.156/.208/.289, with no home runs and 24 strikeouts in 49 mostly brutal plate appearances. He was sent to Triple-A the next day.
Read More: Watching Jason Heyward, A Virtuoso Who Is Still Figuring It Out
It wasn't supposed to be this way for Buxton. For all the talk about baseball being a game of failure, prolonged struggles like this aren't easy for anyone, let alone a player so incomparably talented that Baseball America ranked him the top prospect in the sport in 2014, ahead of Carlos Correa, Kris Bryant, and Noah Syndergaard. But, right now, this is Buxton's reality.
"It's a tough game, man," Buxton told VICE Sports at his locker before the game on Sunday afternoon. "I don't pay too much attention to what goes on on social media or what people say. I just focus on what I can do and what I'm here to do." Which, lest we forget, is hit: Buxton was called up to the majors with great fanfare last June, at the age of 21, more or less to be the savior of a Twins franchise that found itself muddling through a division dominated by the Royals. At the time, they were neither good enough to contend with the eventual world champs nor bad enough to conduct a full teardown and rebuild; the idea was that Buxton could be the difference. Those weren't fair expectations in the least, but the Twins weren't in the mood to worry much about that.
Buxton, understandably enough, crumbled under that pressure. His big league line settled at.209/.250/.326, which was well below league average and in a different universe than the mind-boggling.400/.441/.545 he'd hit at Triple-A Rochester earlier that same year. His talent was unmistakable even as he struggled, but Buxton simply could not bring it to bear from one at-bat to the next. Despite the mentorship of respected vets Joe Mauer and Torii Hunter, each of whom knows something about being a top prospect themselves, and one of whom (Hunter) was brought back pretty much exclusively to mentor the kid, Buxton just never quite found a groove. That set up 2016 as a bounceback season, which is the sort of pressure few 22-year-olds have to face. Before the Twins mashed the reset button and returned him to Rochester, the results were distressingly familiar.
Buxton has in fact hit this baseball with his bat. Photo by Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
"I take advice from everybody and try to use it in my game," Buxton said on Sunday morning. "If it works, it works, and if it doesn't, I don't use it." Which makes perfect sense, except that at the moment a million different people—including the Hall of Famer now managing Buxton's squad, Paul Molitor—are talking, shouting, or whispering in his ear. Each is trying to help him understand how to bring to bear the extraordinary physical tools that that carried him so quickly through the minors. Some may even be right. But also that's a lot of noise.
"It's hard to play when you're trying to be somebody you aren't, and it just puts more pressure on you," Buxton said. "Me trying to get more and more every day back to myself is what I'm trying to do." That sounds about right: stay true to yourself, and take advice from everyone, and be polite with the media, and take care of your young son (Brixton, age 3), and oh, yeah, hit big-league pitching every day. It's that simple.
Which is to say that it's not simple at all. Those thoughts about staying true to yourself are probably best understood as those of an honest young man grasping at straws, trying as hard as he can to do the right thing and say the right thing while doing it, and nonetheless finding himself wholly unable—for the first time in what has otherwise been a brilliantly successful career—to make things right. Buxton is young, but he's pro enough to know the right things to say, and how to say them the right way. That's a different thing than knowing the answers.
Fact is, he'll probably be fine, when all is said and done. Players with Buxton's range of physical tools—his blazing speed, his sharply intelligent routes in center, his quick wrists at the plate—are exceedingly rare, and they don't usually fail in the long run. Even Mike Trout, the player to whom Buxton is most frequently compared, hit.220 his first season in the Show. Buxton mentioned that he had heard from Trout, and from Bryce Harper, too, about the struggles of being gifted in the major leagues. I didn't get the impression that they had helped him much. "You need to fail to succeed up here, man," Buxton said, and failure is a solitary game. There's no easy way to learn that.cityscape We Mapped the City’s 311 Requests
Noise, damaged green bins, and furniture missed during garbage pick up are some of the things Torontonians reported in 2014.
Toronto decided to open up its municipal databases in 2009. That is to say, the City decided to adopt the open data and open government movement that has been sweeping the country over the past several years.
Basically, governments—especially municipal ones—are opening up by making the data they use to govern available to the public. You can now see these values enshrined in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “open by default” data policies.
Doing so makes sense, given the fact that these data sets are generated using taxpayer dollars. But there are other underpinning principles of open data, like improved government transparency, accountability, civic engagement, and the like. One open data perk of particular note is the civic hackathon, where data nerds get together to develop cool new apps to improve city living using municipal open data.
Arguably, one of the more insightful data sets included in Toronto’s open data portal is the 311 service requests—data that literally lists everything that Torontonians have asked of their local government. I happen to count myself among the ranks of the aforementioned data nerds, so I decided to map what people were asking for when using 311 in 2014.
The map below shows the most common request in each of Toronto’s forward sortation areas—areas delineated by the first three digits of a postal code.
One of the things I do for my day job as a postdoc is look at the ways open data can help us understand how interacting social and ecological forces shape the city’s natural environment. I was justifiably—perhaps shamelessly—thrilled to see the spatial patterns emerging from the 311 data.
Blocked sewer lines are clustered around the Humber River delta and flood plain, where major downpours overburden Toronto’s watersheds and sewersheds. The Humber River drains the extensive swaths of Etobicoke, Brampton, and Vaughan, and stormwater falling on all those paved, impervious surfaces comes barreling downriver in high volumes and has apparently taken its toll.
The noise associated with downtown living is certainly not falling on deaf ears among surrounding condo and apartment dwellers. The same appears true with Toronto Island residents, but hey, they’ve got things pretty good otherwise.
There are a few anomalies that beg further investigation. For instance, the “Eastern Furniture Belt” shown in yellow that tracks the Don River reveals an apparent problem with furniture pick up on garbage day.
In the red-coloured “Bay Street Signage Hotspot,” top 311 requests are coded only with the word “signs.” This might lead us to one of two conclusions: traffic signals are inadequate or those Bay Street financial types simply demand more from their signage.
Perhaps most importantly, mapping 311 requests has revealed the absolute carnage being wreaked by Toronto’s raccoons on our population of green bins. By far, the most frequent request across the city is to replace a damaged green bin. (Keep in mind, this data set is from before the green bin offensive of 2016.) These results serve only to reinforce Toronto’s raccoon culture.
Anecdotes aside, there is tremendous value in using open data for understanding and managing Toronto’s natural environment. The sheer volume of data collected by the city—including 311 data—can enable government and communities alike to keep a finger on the pulse of potential environmental hazards. For instance, calls for tree maintenance and removal spiked after the ice storm of 2013 in many spots across the city. These patterns can highlight future risk by showing where aging tree populations need some extra care from arborists.
Wellbeing Toronto is another city initiative and mapping website that leverages open data. The intent is to let citizens visualize and compare data describing things like education, employment, income, and housing prices in their neighbourhood.
Again from an environmental perspective, this might let Torontonians see where inequities exist in their city with regards to who has—and who doesn’t have—access to trees and green spaces, along with the beneficial ecosystem services they provide.
Municipal governments are increasingly becoming open, but we’ve only begun to understand the ways in which open data can help us to comprehend and manage city environments.
James Steenberg is an environmental scientist and writer focusing on forests, cities, and data.The US military announced today that two American service members were killed a third wounded during a raid against the Islamic State in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar Province. The operation was conducted last night in coordination with Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.
“The fight against ISIS-K is important for the world, but sadly, it is not without sacrifice,” General John W. Nicholson, the Commander of US Forces – Afghanistan, said in a statement. “On behalf of all US Forces and our coalition partners, I offer our deepest sympathies to the families, friends, and fellow service members of our fallen comrades.”
ISIS-K is an abbreviation used by US officials to described the Islamic State’s Wilayah Khorasan, or Khorasan province, which operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Nangarhar is the group’s main operational hub in the region.
Another American soldier was killed while fighting the so-called caliphate’s men in Nangarhar earlier this month. [See FDD’s Long War Journal report, American soldier killed fighting Islamic State in Afghanistan.]
Days later, the US dropped the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB (better known as the “Mother of all Bombs”), on an Islamic State tunnel complex in the Achin district of Nangarhar. NATO’s Resolute Support released a video documenting the destruction |
adult media enjoy some constitutional protection, as they should. Forcing 18-year-old would-be porn stars to grow up three more years might limit freedom of expression — for them and for those who make not only money but also some artistic or political point by exhibiting films of 18- to 21-year-olds engaged in sex acts.
But we’re talking about a justifiable regulation of speech, which the Supreme Court has upheld, not censorship. If Congress raised the porn-participation age, I doubt the courts would favor the marginal First Amendment interests on the other side.
The commercial porn industry attracts its share of free spirits but also exploits more than its share of damaged ones. Linda Lovelace, the unhappy subject of a new Hollywood biopic, began her journey to the set of “Deep Throat” in a troubled home.
News stories about King noted that she was in foster care between the ages of 12 and 18. Not spelled out was the fact that Delaware law prescribes foster care for children whose parents abused them sexually or physically, or neglected to provide them food, clothing and education.
We don’t know exactly why authorities separated King from her parents. (Her lawyer, J. Gregory Hannigan, declined to comment.) The fact that they were never reunited implies a pretty serious problem. Nor do we know whether King suffers from post-traumatic stress, as foster children do at a disproportionately high rate. It’s a fair guess, though, that she suffered a lot in the first two-thirds of her life — and that all the tiaras in the world could never compensate.
“Boxes of filled up journals from when I wrote everyday,” she mused on Twitter, “not once have I been able to open up and reopen those times nor let them go.”
If there’s a scandal here, it is not King’s conduct but that roughly 25,000 foster children, like her, turn 18 each year without being adopted. They “age out” of state care and fend for themselves.
Such youth face “higher risk for homelessness, unemployment, illness, incarceration, welfare dependency, and sexual and physical victimization than their peers,” according to a 2008 report by the National Association of Counties. The federal Foster Care Independence Act funds scholarships and services for foster care “alumni” ages 18 to 21. But their needs often remain unmet.
Strange, isn’t it? One federal law recognizes the immaturity and vulnerability of some 18- to 21-year-olds, but another — the law setting the porn age at 18 — does not. Congress should change that.
Read more from Charles Lane’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Joe Dirt is back. “Doesn’t get much gooder than this,” he says. That’s debatable, but the fact remains that he’s all in all the time – again. But the ultra-mulleted, ultra-uncool character who first hit the big screen 14 years ago is not coming to a theater near you. No, Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser is the first digital sequel to a major studio film, and Sony’s Crackle will start streaming the David Spade spectacle on July 18.
Seems our, uh, hero got sucked up in a tornado and was dumped semi-Oz-like in the past. Will he find a way to reconnect with the love of his life (Brittany Daniel, back from Round 2) and their kids? On the way he’ll encounter other veterans of the not-Oscar-winning 2001 film including Christopher Walken, Dennis Miller and Adam Beach. Franchise rookies include Patrick Warburton, Mark McGrath, Charlotte McKinney and Kevin Farley. Fred Wolf, who co-wrote the original adventures of J.D. with Spade, is in the director’s chair for this one. Spade gets to claim this screenwriting credit all by himself. Inspirational line he wrote for his character: “I just get stupider.” Enjoy.Gardaí are questioning a suspect after a man was beaten and stabbed to death in a house in west Dublin in the early hours of this morning.
Tom O’Gorman, a minister of the Eucharist who was involved in a number of Catholic groups and campaigns, was attacked at his home in Castleknock, west Dublin, in the early hours of this morning.
He is believed to have lost his life in a dispute over a game of chess.
The fatal attack occurred at a house on Beech Park Avenue, Castleknock, just before 2am.
Gardaí responded to a 999 call and when they reached the house, a large detached property in a middle-class area of the west Dublin suburb, they found the victim. It is understood he had received stab wounds and had been assaulted.
The man who raised the alarm was still at the house when gardai arrived.
The suspect, a 34-year-old Italian national from Palermo in Sicily, was arrested at the scene and taken to Blanchardstown garda station.
Gardaí believe he was the only person in the house when the deceased was fatally attacked at 1.50am.
He was arrested at the scene under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, allowing for his detention for up to 24 hours without charge. He is being questioned at nearby Blanchardstown Garda station.
The property where he was murdered was Mr O’Gorman’s childhood family home. He had continued to live there since the death of his mother in 2012.
His father, who had worked as a vet, is also deceased.
He has a sister and brother, neither of whom lives in Dublin.
It is understood he shared the property with a lodger.
The body remained at the scene overnight and underwent a preliminary examination this morning at the scene by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy.
The remains were then removed to the city morgue, in Marino, north Dublin, for a full postmortem.
Mr O’Gorman worked as a researcher for the Iona Institute, a Dublin-based Catholic advocacy group that promotes the place of marriage and religion in society.
The group is headed by well known social commentator David Quinn, who last night expressed the group’s “total shock and deep sorrow” at what he called his colleague’s “terrible and untimely” death.
“Tom was a friend as well as a work colleague to us all,” he said in a statement.
“He was a fond and dear friend and we will all miss him. We extend our deepest commiserations to his family and above all to his sister and brother, Catherine and Paul.”In July of 2003, Wick Allison bought People Newspapers. He quickly began to shake things up. As the paper’s publisher, he did crazy things like hire a professor, Glenn Arbery, to write arts coverage. He printed crime reports from the Park Cities, including incidents wherein parents were caught serving alcohol to minors, which ruffled feathers. As far as I know, Park Cities People is the only community newspaper ever to be used by Ross Perot to pull a prank (see item No. 4). Last year, for its coverage of a school bond vote, the paper won first place in its category for the National Newspaper Association’s Better Newspaper and Education Contest, and it has taken top honors some 16 times in the Texas Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. But after almost 14 years, it is time for someone else to take the baton.
“Park Cities People has always been a consistent performer, and especially so the last three years,” Wicks says. “But in a company devoted to the D brand, it has also been a sort of stepchild. The Park Cities are a very important and tight-knit community, and it rightly expects the very best. We’ve come to believe that a new owner could better serve the community by giving the newspaper the energy and attention it deserves.”
The family of weekly papers once expanded to Oak Cliff and North Dallas. The papers now publish monthly and serve the Park Cities and Preston Hollow. Both papers have sites that report daily news (see Park Cities People and Preston Hollow People). They employ 11 people, three of whom started with the company before Wick bought it.(The third part in a series celebrating Charles Darwin.)
Charles Darwin was a giant. He did not merely write “On the Origin of Species” — one of the most important books ever written by anyone — in which he describes how evolution by natural selection works, and what some of its consequences and implications are. He also wrote — and this list is not exhaustive— a treatise on the formation of coral reefs that is still thought to be correct; a definitive monograph on barnacles, both extinct and extant; a book about how earthworms make soil; a now-classic text on carnivorous plants (the ones, like Venus fly-traps, that ensnare and digest insects); a book about the strange ways that orchids get themselves fertilized; and an account of the five years he spent aboard the ship HMS Beagle, which has become a classic of travel writing.
As if that wasn’t enough, he proposed sexual selection — the idea that decorations and ornaments, like peacocks’ tails, evolve because females in many species prefer to mate with the most beautiful males. Sexual selection has since become a major field of research in its own right.
In short, Darwin did more in one lifetime than most of us could hope to accomplish in two. But his giantism has had an odd and problematic consequence. It’s a tendency for everyone to refer back to him. “Why Darwin was wrong about X”; “Was Darwin wrong about Y?”; “What Darwin didn’t know about Z” — these are common headlines in newspapers and magazines, in both the biological and the general literature. Then there are the words: Darwinism (sometimes used with the prefix “neo”), Darwinist (ditto), Darwinian.
Why is this a problem? Because it’s all grossly misleading. It suggests that Darwin was the beginning and the end, the alpha and omega, of evolutionary biology, and that the subject hasn’t changed much in the 149 years since the publication of the “Origin.”
He wasn’t, and it has. Although several of his ideas — natural and sexual selection among them — remain cornerstones of modern evolutionary biology, the field as a whole has been transformed. If we were to go back in a time machine and fetch him to the present day, he’d find much of evolutionary biology unintelligible — at least until he’d had time to study genetics, statistics and computer science.
Oh, there would be so much to tell him! A full list would take me weeks to write out. But the obvious place to begin would be the discoveries of genetics, especially DNA. We’d have to explain that cells in each organism contain a code describing how to build that organism, written in chemical form — DNA — that evolutionary forces are constantly rewriting. Indeed, the study of DNA allows us to see the action of natural selection on a molecule-by-molecule basis. We can see the genes where natural selection acts to prevent evolutionary change, those where it drives change and those where it has no effect at all.
Then there’s the fusion of genetics with natural selection, which has enormously expanded our understanding of how natural selection can work. For example, it has led to the discovery that natural selection does not just shape individuals — the length of a beak, the color of a fin. It can also act on family groups, and thus drive the evolution of cooperation and other altruistic behaviors.
The reason is that evolutionary success can now be measured in terms of the number of genes an individual contributes to the next generation. Anyone who dies without reproducing does not directly contribute any. But because individuals have some genes in common with their family members, they can make an indirect genetic contribution if they help their relations to reproduce instead of reproducing themselves. Such “kin selection” is thought to have contributed to the evolution of the social insects — especially, ants, bees, wasps and termites — where only a few individuals reproduce and everyone else looks after the offspring.
We’d want to discuss evolution beyond natural selection — the other forces that can sometimes cause (or prevent) evolutionary change. For although natural selection is the only creative force in evolution — the only one that can produce complex structures such as wings and eyes — it is not the only force that affects which genes will spread, and which will vanish.
And, and, and.
What would he make of it all?
I think his reaction would be a mix of satisfaction and astonishment. Satisfaction: that natural selection has turned out to be such a powerful idea, explaining such a wide range of phenomena. Astonishment: for the same reason. He would, I think, be fascinated by the weird natural history that has been discovered in the past 150 years — such as Wolbachia, bacteria that pervert the reproduction of insects for their own ends. (Wolbachia can have a number of effects, but one of the most common is to kill all a female’s sons. The reason is that sons don’t transmit Wolbachia, so from Wolbachia’s point of view, they are a waste of space.) I’m not sure he’d enjoy analyzing DNA sequences — he might find it a bit too abstracted from the living organism — but I think he’d be delighted to learn the results. I think he would be shocked by how much we know about the so-called model organisms — worms, toads, fruit flies, mice, humans and the bacterium E. coli — and how little we know about everything else. And I think he’d be startled by the nature of scientific research — the scale of the enterprise, the cost, the pressures to publish and the degree of specialization that results. His brand of science — 20 years of thinking about a problem before publishing — could not be done today.
But I digress. To return to my argument: I’d like to abolish the insidious terms Darwinism, Darwinist and Darwinian. They suggest a false narrowness to the field of modern evolutionary biology, as though it was the brainchild of a single person 150 years ago, rather than a vast, complex and evolving subject to which many other great figures have contributed. (The science would be in a sorry state if one man 150 years ago had, in fact, discovered everything there was to say.) Obsessively focusing on Darwin, perpetually asking whether he was right about this or that, implies that the discovery of something he didn’t think of or know about somehow undermines or threatens the whole enterprise of evolutionary biology today.
It does not. In the years ahead, I predict we will continue to refine our understanding of natural selection, and continue to discover new ways in which it can shape genes and genomes. Indeed, as genetic data continues to flood into the databanks, we will be able to ask questions about the detailed workings of evolution that it has not been possible to ask before.
Yet all too often, evolution — insofar as it is taught in biology classes at all — is taught as the story of Charles Darwin. Then the pages are turned, and everyone settles down to learn how the heart works, or how plants make energy from sunshine, or some other detail. The evolutionary concepts that unify biology, that allow us to frame questions and investigate the glorious diversity of life — these are ignored.
Darwin was an amazing man, and the principal founder of evolutionary biology. But his was the first major statement on the subject, not the last. Calling evolutionary biology “Darwinism,” and evolution by natural selection “Darwinian” evolution, is like calling aeronautical engineering “Wrightism,” and fixed-wing aircraft “Wrightian” planes, after those pioneers of fixed-wing flight, the Wright brothers. The best tribute we could give Darwin is to call him the founder — and leave it at that. Plenty of people in history have had an -ism named after them. Only a handful can claim truly to have given birth to an entire field of modern science.
**********
NOTES:
A full account of the range of Darwin’s activities and accomplishments can be found in any biography. Many publications are guilty of the “Was Darwin wrong?” trope, and some of the biggest quarrels in modern evolutionary biology have concerned the validity of “non-Darwinian” evolution. A number of popular accounts discuss aspects of modern evolutionary biology; one of the best is “The Ancestor’s Tale,” by Richard Dawkins. Much has been written about male-killing by Wolbachia; see, for example, Jiggins, F. M., Hurst, G. D. D., Dolman, C. E., and Majerus, M. E. N. 2000. “High-prevalence male-killing Wolbachia in the butterfly Acraea encedana.” Journal of Evolutionary Biology 13: 495-501.
This article was inspired (as so many others have been) by a conversation with Oliver Morton — many thanks, as always. Thanks, too, to Dan Haydon, Gideon Lichfield, Dmitri Petrov, Daniel Richler and Jonathan Swire for insights, comments and suggestions.That smile on Jerry Jones' face after Sunday night's comeback victory won't be disappearing anytime soon after Forbes magazine, in its annual NFL team valuations, estimated the Dallas Cowboys are now worth $4 billion.
That not only makes the Cowboys the most valuable franchise in the league for the ninth consecutive year, but the most valuable franchise in the world for the first time since 2007.
How 'Bout Them Cowboys? The Dallas Cowboys, with an estimated value of $4 billion, overtook Real Madrid to become the most valuable franchise in sports, according to Forbes magazine's annual rankings. Team Est. value Dallas Cowboys $4 billion Real Madrid $3.26 billion New England Patriots $3.2 billion New York Yankees $3.2 billion FC Barcelona $3.16 billion Source: Forbes magazine's annual valuations
Jones bought the team in February 1989 from H.R. "Bum" Bright for $140 million. Factoring for inflation, the value of the Cowboys has jumped 1,382 percent based on Forbes' new valuation.
Rounding out the top five most valuable NFL teams are the New England Patriots ($3.2 billion), Washington Redskins ($2.85 billion), New York Giants ($2.8 billion) and San Francisco 49ers ($2.7 billion).
Forbes says the average NFL franchise is now worth $2 billion, a 38 percent increase from last year that is due in part to a $39 million increase in national television rights fees shared among all teams.
The Cowboys became the most valuable sports team by passing Real Madrid ($3.26 billion). The Patriots and New York Yankees ($3.2 billion) are tied for third, with FC Barcelona rounding out the top five at $3.16 billion.JULIA Gillard's last act as prime minister included signing off on cabinet approval for slashing the cost of abortion pill RU486 to as little as $12.
Listing the abortion drug on the taxpayer-funded Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will see the price of a medical abortion in Australia drop from up to $800 to just $12 for concession card holders from August 1.
Women not eligible for concessions will pay around $70 under the PBS.
General practitioners will also soon be able to prescribe abortion pills if they undergo specialist training under the reforms.
This is expected to expand the use of RU486, which is currently highly restricted.
The Rudd government will also fund a new 24-hour hotline for women who are concerned about any symptoms they are experiencing after undergoing medical abortions.
Why I betrayed the sisterhood
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said the increased availability of the RU486 was an important issue for women in regional communities.
"It means women who previously would need to travel to a capital city may be able to have a termination closer to home," Ms Plibersek said.
"The GP will need to do a training course.
"There are conditions including that you are a gynaecologist or obstetrician or that you have done a course with the Marie Stopes foundation. There will also be a 24-hour back-up telephone line for women to call if they experience any symptoms they are worried about."
RU486 is only permitted for use in the first seven weeks or 49 days gestation. Under the PBS scheme, the two-part abortion pill RU486 will now cost concession card holders $11.80.
"No drug is without the potential for side effects," Ms Plibersek said.
"But there is a great deal of statistical evidence now internationally that show the complication rates are very low."
Last year Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration confirmed that a woman died of sepsis after taking the drug in 2010.
However, the risks of taking the abortion pill are regarded as low. One risk of RU486 is that if the drugs don't work, a pregnant woman is then required to undergo a surgical abortion, or dilation and curettage, known as a "D and C".
"That is something a woman should discuss with her doctors," Ms Plibersek said. "There are cases where women still have to go and have a D and C after medical terminations and that risk should be presented to a woman when she's making a decision."
Overseas, the pattern over time is for more women to elect to have medical rather than surgical abortions.
"This is about giving women more options at a very difficult time," Ms Plibersek said.
Originally published as Gillard's cut-price abortion drugLooking for news you can trust?
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On Sunday night, a day after the mass arrest of some 400 Occupy Oakland protesters—and journalists including one of my Mother Jones colleagues—many of those who’d been released met outside City Hall to let off steam. Broadcasting through a speaker in a bicycle trailer, members of Occupy Oakland’s Anti-Repression Committee denounced the use of “teargas, rubber bullets, and assault grenades.” The crowd chanted, “Fuck the cops!” But anger at those who’d encouraged police violence by throwing rocks, ransacking the inside of City Hall, and burning an American flag was hard to find. A veteran member of Occupy Oakland later told me that proponents of nonviolence had largely quit speaking up at Oakland meetings for fear of being shouted down.
The militancy of Occupy Oakland contrasts sharply with the culture of Occupy Wall Street in New York City, where I was embedded this fall. In the weeks leading up to the occupation of Zuccotti Park in September, experts schooled groups of young people in peaceful protest tactics. Calls to occupy the park invariably stressed nonviolence, and the movement’s official “Declaration of Solidarity,” adopted later that month, proclaimed that “we have peaceably assembled here.” Occupiers took turns waving an American flag on the night of the eviction, and even during the most confrontational demonstrations that followed, enforced a code of restraint. During an effort to shut down the New York Stock Exchange, for example, I saw garbage bags that had been tossed into the street by a few rogue protesters get picked up by other activists and put back on the sidewalk. A young anarchist I was shadowing denounced the incident as “stupid black-block shit,” showing his disdain for anarchism’s militant wing.
The same nonviolent tenor defined the movement’s early days in Oakland, as when some 10,000 people blockaded the city’s port on November 2 in a tour de force of peaceful resistance. But that was then. As the Occupy movement faded from the headlines this winter, many of its more moderate supporters stopped showing up at meetings, leaving the radicals to run the show. That hasn’t mattered much at Occupy Wall Street, where the radicals and reformers mostly agree on rhetoric and tactics, but it has left the Oakland group increasingly marginalized. Last month, for example, a group of Oakland occupiers began holding a weekly “Fuck the Police” march where they’ve chanted “Kill the cops!”, smashed patrol-car windows, and lit a box on fire in the middle of an intersection.
“The police are being paid to protect them, but they’re attacking them,” says one Oakland Occupy member. “Most people feel that kind of nullifies the contract.”
Many of the Oaklanders see it as their duty to fight back. In October, Oakland police critically injured a peaceful protester, the former marine Scott Olsen, when a projectile shot from police lines at an Occupy march downtown fractured his skull. Video shows police lobbing a flash-bang grenade into a group of protesters who were trying to help him. “The police are being paid to protect them, but they’re attacking them,” says Jessica, a 28-year-old Occupy Oakland member who tweets under the name @BellaEiko. “Most people feel that kind of nullifies the contract.”
The OPD’s defenders argue that the police have inadequate funding to do their job properly. Indeed, the department’s manpower has dwindled by 20 percent since 2008, although the city posts one of the nation’s highest murder rates per capita. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan accuses Occupy Oakland of compounding the city’s crime and budget problems by sucking up scarce police resources. The occupiers counter that the police should just leave them alone and focus instead on robberies and murders.
If only it were that simple. A cycle of tit-for-tat violence between the OPD and its activist citizens stretches all the way back to the racially charged civil rights era. It was in Oakland in 1966 that Huey Newton and Bobby Seal founded the Black Panther Party, a group initially dedicated to stopping police brutality in African American neighborhoods. In 1967, Oakland police officer John Frey was shot to death during an altercation with Newton at a traffic stop. (Newton went to jail for the murder but was later exonerated.) A year later, OPD officers retaliated, it seemed, by killing 17-year-old Bobby Hutton; the Panther’s body was shot at least 12 times after he’d surrendered and stripped down to his underwear to show that he was unarmed. Through the 1970s, the police harassed the Panthers and the FBI disrupted the group through its secret CoIntelPro program—increasingly turning the city’s African American community against law enforcement.
Ever since, the cycle has repeated itself. In the 1990s, a gang of rogue police officers dubbed the “Rough Riders” allegedly planted evidence, beat up suspects, and falsified police reports to frame victims. Their actions led to a 2003 class action settlement in which OPD agreed to pay $10.9 million to 119 victims and submit to a series of reforms overseen by a judge. But nine years later, those reforms still haven’t happened. The department’s violent response to Occupy Oakland also has tested the patience of the judge, who last week moved toward placing the OPD under federal receivership.
Meanwhile, working for OPD remains a tough and dangerous job. In 2009, the 26-year-old parolee Lovell Mixon killed two Oakland police officers who’d pulled him over, and killed two more during a subsequent shoot-out. But the officer who took down Mixon, Sergeant Patrick Gonzales, has himself been accused of misconduct. A recent study by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley found that Gonzales and 15 other officers were responsible for nearly half of last decade’s police shootings in the city, suggesting that rogue elements still exist within the force. The investigation also found that the department has bent over backward to prevent complaints against police officers from becoming public knowledge.
“The militant stance of the Black Panther Party is being emulated. It may actually, at some point, graduate to the carrying of firearms.”
The upshot is that ballot measures to put more cops on the street are a tough sell in Oakland even when crime is high. And to this day, many Oakland residents equate calling the police to snitching. “You can see the Black Panther mindset becoming more and more present in the Occupy movement by the actions that are being taken during the marches,” says the occupier Jessica, who is part black. “On Saturday, for example, when the police came out with shields and gas masks, there were protesters out there that had shields and gas masks. They were ready as well. You can see that the militant stance of the Black Panther Party is being emulated. It may actually, at some point, graduate to the carrying of firearms.”
Of course, the Panthers long ago lost the support of black leaders, who decided that militant tactics and rhetoric weren’t the best path to equality. But that lesson hasn’t trickled down to the young white anarchists who’ve come to represent the largest demographic at Occupy Oakland meetings. While critics complain that many militant protesters come from outside of Oakland and don’t have its best interests at heart, occupiers like Jessica see room in the movement for a “diversity of tactics,” especially ones that target property owned by the 1 percent.
Saturday’s mayhem may have helped energize the national Occupy movement. Occupiers in dozens of cities held rallies in solidarity with Occupy Oakland the next day, and have shrugged off a call by Mayor Quan to reject the Oakland contingent for its embrace of property destruction. Still, Occupy Oakland’s “diversity of tactics” may take its toll on the diversity of its supporters. On Twitter and on Bay Area radio shows, many Oaklanders were as critical of the protesters as they were of the police. “The Occupy people have totally lost a sort of one-direction focus of economic equality,” said Ken, a self-described middle-class resident and one-time Occupy supporter, on a Monday morning Public Radio call-in program. “They are trashing my city and bankrupting my city, and to the fellow who said these marches are a direct result of the OPD, I’m just saying, ‘What? Where did that come from?'”The Writing Center at the University of Washington, Tacoma, is telling students that expecting Americans to use proper grammar perpetuates racism.
A press release put out by UW Tacoma’s Writing Center argues that “there is no inherent ‘standard’ of English,” and that pressure to conform to proper American grammar standards perpetuate systems of racism.
“Linguistic and writing research has shown clearly for many decades that there is no inherent ‘standard’ of English,” claims the writing center’s statement. “Language is constantly changing. These two facts make it very difficult to justify placing people in hierarchies or restricting opportunities and privileges because of the way people communicate in particular versions of English.”
The university’s Writing Center Director, Dr. Asoa Inoue, suggests that racism has produced certain unfair standards in education.
“It is a founding assumption that, if believed, one must act differently than we, the institution and its agents, have up to this point,” Inoue claimed. While overt racism is usually easily identified, more elusive are microaggressions, forms of degradation which manifest on a subconscious and casual level. As the statement reads “Racism is pervasive. It is in the systems, structures, rules, languages, expectations, and guidelines that make up our classes, school, and society.”
The university’s Vice Chancellor, Jill Purdy, claimed that the Writing Center’s new statement is a great example of how academia can fight back against racism. “Language is the bridge between ideas and action,” she claimed. “So how we use words has a lot of influence on what we think and do.”This is the postseason of the underdog. The Angels, Dodgers, Tigers, and Nationals were all bounced in the first round. Both wild card teams advanced, combining to lose one game in the process, despite having burned their best starting pitchers in the play-in game. One of the remaining division winners won just 90 games. These are not the League Championship Series many people expected, and with the little guys advancing in each division series, we should be in for some pretty even match-ups. At least, that’s what one would think.
But if you look over at our Playoff Odds page, our depth chart forecasts don’t exactly see it that way. This is how those projections look right now, before the start of either LCS.
Team LCS Odds WS Odds Royals 63% 36% Cardinals 52% 25% Giants 48% 23% Orioles 37% 16%
Our projections have the Royals as a significant favorite over the Orioles, even though Baltimore was the better regular season team by just about any measure you want to use. But this isn’t another FanGraphs-just-hates-the-Orioles situation — we don’t, really, I promise — as our forecasts actually had the Royals-Angels match-up as essentially a coin toss, and see them as a legitimately strong contender, not just a Wild Card who snuck past the first round due to the randomness of October.
But the Royals certainly didn’t play like an elite team this summer. By BaseRuns, they were a.500 team, and only managed to snag a Wild Card spot because of their strong performances in the clutch. So what’s the deal? Why do our forecasts love the Royals so much?
Thanks to our Depth Charts overview page and our positional leaderboards we can actually go see exactly where the differences are between projected value and what the Royals produced in 2014. So let’s find out where exactly the projections are bullish on this roster.
Royals C 1B 2B SS 3B LF CF RF DH SP RP Bat Pit WAR Projections 4.4 2.6 2.2 2.2 3.4 4.4 3.5 2.4 1.6 10.3 5.0 26.7 15.3 42.0 2014 3.0 1.0 1.0 3.4 1.3 6.2 5.8 2.3 (1.7) 12.9 5.9 22.3 18.8 41.1 Difference 1.4 1.6 1.2 (1.2) 2.1 (1.8) (2.3) 0.1 3.3 (2.6) (0.9) 4.4 (3.5) 0.9
Overall, the forecasts are pretty optimistic about the Royals young position players, giving them league average or better marks at essentially every position on the field. But there are two notable forecasts that paint a significantly more positive view than just looking at 2014 performance: third base and designated hitter.
Let’s start at DH, where Billy Butler was a miserable failure, especially when he wasn’t playing the field. His overall.271/.323/.379 line is bad enough for a bat-only player, but even that was pulled up by solid production when Butler played first base; as a DH, Butler hit.259/.307/.335, good for just a 79 wRC+. The guys who filled in when he played first base weren’t a lot better, and overall, the Royals DH’s combined for the second worst total in the AL, with only the Mariners (-3.2 WAR!) getting less from the position.
But the Steamer forecasts — the engine powering our Playoff Odds models — aren’t really phased by Butler’s lousy 2014 season, and think he’s basically still the good-not-great hitter he’s always been. The 119 wRC+ forecast for him is actually slightly above his career average mark, as Steamer is still giving weight to his strong 2012 season, and at 28 years old, he’s right in the sweet spot of the aging curve. This season, Butler was awful, but the forecasts don’t see Butler as an actually awful player, and assuming that he’s classic Billy Butler and not the 2014 version gives the team a significant boost in the forecasts.
The story is similar at third base. Mike Moustaksas had a miserable regular season, posting a 76 wRC+ and getting himself optioned back to Triple-A for a stint, but Steamer sees him as an above average big league third baseman. In fact, his +3 WAR in 586 PA is shockingly strong given that, in nearly 2,000 plate appearances, Moustakas has produced a total of just +5 WAR over his career. Steamer is really bullish on Moustakas despite a poor Major League track record, and so to find out why, I emailed Jared Cross, the gatekeper of the projection system and asked him what was up. His response:
In addition to going into a peak age, I think he’s benefitting from having a slightly better year this year (than his career average) in terms of BB%, K% and a worse year in BABIP. BABIP not only gets regressed more than K% and BB%, but BABIP data from longer ago weighs in more heavily relative to data from the more recent season (although the most recent season still gets the highest weight, of course). So, his rough year in 2014 isn’t quite as bad as it looks, projection-wise, because it’s largely the result of a terrible BABIP.
Jared isn’t kidding; Moustakas had a.220 BABIP this year, the lowest mark of any hitter who hit at least 500 times this season. His high infield fly rate shows that this isn’t just bad luck, as Moustakas makes a ton of weak contact that results in easy outs for the infield. But Moustakas has always hit a ton of infield flies, and he’s never run a.220 BABIP before; his career mark is.260, and Steamer is only forecasting him for a few ticks above that, at.272.
But as Jared notes, if you don’t hold the entirety of his.220 BABIP against him, the rest of Moustakas’ line actually isn’t half bad. His walk rate was the highest of his career, and his strikeout rate was well below the league average, while he also posted a decent-ish.149 ISO. For comparison, Moustakas’ BB/K/ISO numbers are almost exactly the same as Jacoby Ellsbury’s, and actually a little bit ahead of guys like Lonnie Chisenhall, Starlin Castro, and Pablo Sandoval, each of whom were slightly better than league average hitters. This high-contact/some power combination, mixed in with a smattering of walks, is a decent offensive player as long as the BABIP is within the normal range.
And that’s basically what Steamer is projecting for Moustakas; a strong enough BABIP regression to make him a league average hitter, based on his solid enough underlying skills. Add in his defensive skills at third base, and Steamer sees Moustakas as a productive player, not the black hole he was in the Royals line-up for most of the year.
Interestingly enough, this is one of those times when the data and the scouts likely agree. The Royals believed themselves to be contenders this year based in part on their faith in Moustakas and Butler, and both underachieved relative to what the team and the forecasts believed they were capable of. The same could be true, to a lesser extent, of Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez, and Omar Infante. The Royals expected to have a productive infield, and the forecasts thought this group should be pretty solid as well, but in reality, they were pretty lousy, especially if you consider Butler part of the infield group. But just as the Royals haven’t given up on |
statement on her website from her family said: ‘It is with deep shock and great sadness that we must announce that Jill Saward (Jill Drake) died this morning in New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, following a subarachnoid haemorrhage on Tuesday. She was 51-years old.
‘In consultation with medical staff, the family readily agreed to Jill’s desire to be an organ donor.
‘Jill dedicated the past 30 years of her life to helping other people. It gives us great comfort to know that our wonderful wife, mother and sister was able to help other people to the very end. We would like to thank all those who contributed to her medical care in recent days.
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‘We are also so very grateful for the many expressions of prayer, love and support we have received. At this stage we would appreciate space and time to come to terms with what has happened.’
Alison Boydell, of campaign group Jurors Understanding Rape Is Essential Standard (Juries), said: ‘I am overwhelmed with sadness that Juries co-founder and friend, Jill Saward died this morning.
‘Jill was an indefatigable advocate for victim-survivors of sexual violence and dedicated her life to campaigning and raising awareness of rape and sexual violence.
‘She also championed many other campaigns and causes and supported so many through her work, kindness and compassion.
‘I miss her terribly. I will do everything in my power to ensure that her work on Juries was not in vain and that victim-survivors get justice.’
The Ealing Vicarage Rape Burglar Robert Horscroft, then 34, who was not directly involved in the rape, was sentenced to 14 years in jail for the burglary. While Martin McCall, then 22, was sentenced to five years for rape and a another five for the burglary. And Christopher Byrne, who was also 22 at the time of the assault, was given three years for the rape of Ms Saward and an additional five years for the burglary of the vicarage.AI Ethics?
Contrary to fictional portrayals of humans being herded like animals by Artificially Intelligent (AI) machines, realistic concerns about artificial intelligence are far more benign. Still, they are very important, and conversations have to begin in order to look at perhaps setting some ground rules.
That’s why the big players are stepping up. Researchers and scientists from large tech companies Google, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Facebook have been meeting and discussing the future implications of AI for humans.
While no hard details on the group’s policies, objectives, or even it’s name have come out, insiders have stated the group’s intentions: to ensure that A.I. research is focused on benefiting people, not hurting them. That’s according to the New York Times.
Self-Policing
While no evil Skynet-esque boogeymen have revealed themselves, the increasing pace of AI technology has far outrun regulation or even ethics discussions on the topic. IBM’s Watson has already demonstrated its ability to make movie trailers and beat humans at their own game. AI is the brains behind all self-driving tech. Militaries all over the world are increasingly being automatized.Jung Yeon-Je / AFP / Getty Images U.S. tourists stand on the south side of the truce village of Panmunjom looking north as South Korea soldiers stand guard and U.S. soldiers lead the tourists at the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas
More than a month ago, Merrill Newman, an elderly American disappeared into North Korea. Pulled off a flight on the final day of a guided tour, the Korean War veteran was missing until he reappeared over the weekend in a video reading a stilted — and likely staged — apology. Reading a four-page, handwritten letter, Newman says he served as an adviser to the Kuwol unit, a clandestine, anticommunist guerrilla force that fought behind enemy lines during the war.
Newman’s detention prompted the State Department to update its North Korea travel advisory with a warning about the risk of “arbitrary arrest and detention.” Their advice for would-be adventurers: don’t go.
But people are going. China-based tour operators that specialize in taking foreigners to North Korea say the ordeal of the 85-year-old Newman has not deterred travelers. Beijing-based Koryo Tours and Xian-based Young Pioneer Tours both have had groups in North Korea since his detention, and have more trips scheduled between now and year’s end. Koryo has not had a single cancellation; Young Pioneer had one, but insists they aren’t worried. “For every one person that cancels we probably pick up five,” says Christopher P. White, travel director for Young Pioneer. “When things like this happen, we see a surge in interest.”
(MORE: A 21st Century North Korea POW)
The irony is that bad news from North Korea often deepens people’s desire to visit. Despite this year’s nuclear standoff and, now, the detention of an American grandfather, the tourist sector is thriving. Koryo’s tours took roughly 2,400 people this year, Young Pioneer another 1,000. Each say about a quarter of their clients are from the U.S. Many are drawn to North Korea by curiosity, while some are “country collectors,” checking locations off their list. There are thrill seekers too. Young Pioneer’s website promises to take travelers “where others fear to tread.” Another slogan: “Taking you to the places your mother would rather you stayed away from.”
There were no doubt a few worried families when word of Newman’s disappearance broke. Simon Cockerell, a veteran guide for Koryo Tours, was in North Korea with a group of about 50 travelers, including 12 Americans, when a friend informed him, via WeChat, that a U.S. tourist had been pulled off a plane. He says his North Korean colleagues at Korea International Travel Company seemed just as surprised as him. “It was a shock to them,” he says. “They didn’t want it to be true, nor did anybody.”
Cockerell gathered all the tourists together and gave them the news. He then took them to a hotel with a decent wi-fi connection so they could reach out to those back home. There were a lot of questions, he says, but no panic, and the tour continued without incident. “The kind of person who books a trip to North Korea is the kind of person who has traveled a lot, who has done their research,” he says. “They know exactly what they are in for.”
In recent years, those detained or arrested by Pyongyang were usually journalists (like Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were arrested while reporting at China’s border with North Korea) or Christian missionaries (like current detainee Kenneth Bae). Both Koryo and Young Pioneer say tourist travel to North Korea is safe. A notice posted on Koryo’s website last week notes that in 20 years of operation, there has yet to be an arrest or detention. “We have been taking in a lot of people for a long time now, and nothing like this has happened,” says Young Pioneer’s White.
Judging by the carefully choreographed statement, Newman’s case appears to turn on his alleged involvement in clandestine operations. Yet, Korean War vets have visited North Korea before without incident. It’s unclear if the company that organized Newman’s trip, Juche Travel Services, knew about his military service. Juche declined to talk to TIME about Newman.
Both Koryo and Young Pioneer have December tours scheduled and will push ahead as planned. Starved for foreign currency, Pyongyang says it wants to develop tourism and is building new development zones, airports and hotels. There is even a ski resort in the works.
That won’t happen in time for Young Pioneer’s New Year’s Eve trip, but the itinerary is shaping up nicely, says White. Young Pioneer has 2o people signed up to party in Pyongyang. “We’re going to tour local microbreweries, some of the fancier local restaurants,” he says. “We’re really going to hit it up.”
PHOTOS: North Korea’s Totalitarian Tableau: Scenes From the Mass GamesI should begin by saying I was completely blown away by how brilliant Kelly has been with this entire exchange - she kept me up to date on everything, and gave me a much better gift than I could have expected!
Initially, I got a small package in the post, which I opened to find a brilliant looking licensed metal Mockingbird pin (as sported by Petyr Baelish), which I absolutely loved (I've worn it on my blazer to all my exams so far this month).
I also received a message telling me that there was more to come, and that it was being hand-made, which left me really excited for the next 4 days (from then until today, when it arrived).
My postman handed me a large jiffy bag, which I tore open to find a painted wooden box, which gave me a good idea of what it would contain, though I couldn't be certain.
Eventually I brought myself to undo the latch and opened the box, and I was amazed at how good the dragon eggs looked! They feel cool, heavy, and slightly metallic, exactly how I'd expect real dragon eggs would feel. These were also handmade, and they are very accurate to the colours of the eggs in the show, comfortably packaged in hay.
I absolutely love my gifts, and I really want to make it clear how overjoyed I am that my gifter went above and beyond expectations to buy/create all of this for me.
I feel that with my combination of Littlefinger's pin (and the powers of cunning and deception afforded to me through it), and Daenerys' eggs, I will soon be ready to march on the Seven Kingdoms, right after I find a funeral pyre! Sorry, Tommen - you'll have to prepare for a hostile takeover!First of all, I deserve some kind of medal for valor for even
to write anything this morning beyond, “The Hornets blew a 16-point lead last night to Boston, they lost, I’m distraught, the end.” Not only did the game end in a parade of gruesome horrors, but that 5-minute bridge spanning the third and fourth quarters was like a condensed
. With 2:24 left in the 3
, and leading by 14 points, the Hornets swapped out Al Jefferson, Mo Williams, and Gerald Henderson for Brian Roberts, Lance Stephenson, and Jason Maxiell, and Coach Clifford might as well have swapped a humidor of premium Cuban cigars for a carton of Pall Mall Lights. The Celtics promptly took us apart faster than an unlocked parked car in east Detroit. The good news is that Henderson was back less than a minute into the 4
, when our lead had Ant-Man’d to 4; the bad news is he replaced Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who hadn’t really been the problem. Thus the second unit continued performing its symphony of destruction, and by the time the coroner called it, Boston had stacked up a 37-point quarter.
Now our puny playoff hopes have faded faster than Freezy Freakie images in a microwave. The only way to avoid total calamity is for Jefferson and Stephenson to get back to playing within the vicinity of their career averages. Lance’s stumble down the bottomless well of suck has been thoroughly covered; he’s the Baby Jessica of basketball talent declension. But Big Al has been nearly as ineffective all season. The Hornets are a catastrophic -6.2 points per 100 possessions with Jefferson on the court this year, compared to +1.2 last year. This is predominantly due to Jefferson’s career-worst TS% of.500, off of last year’s.532. Jefferson’s also getting to the free-throw line on just 16% of his field goal attempts, which is also a career-low, and down from last year’s 20%. All this would be salvageable if Charlotte had any other credible threats, but without Big Al they’re like Iran minus the enriched uranium.
Why is Professor Al shooting so poorly?
After a lengthy investigation I’ve concluded it’s because he seems to be missing his shots. According
. At least on paper, Jefferson has been the same loveable dancing bear as always. to NBA.com, he’s getting roughly the same number of attempts from within 5-feet—36% last year, 35% this year—but his FG% within that range is down from 65% to 60%. There’s also about a 5% drop-off on attempts from 5-9 feet when you look at his year-over-year comparisons. But there are a ton of incongruities in the data as well. For instance, he’s actually cut back quite a bit on the inefficient 15-19-footers compared to last year, and he’s hitting them at a much better rate: 42% to 37%. Meanwhile, NBA.com shows him as the most prolific post-up player in the game, accounting for 59% of his possessions. And among players who’ve played at least 300 possessions this year (Jefferson’s got 504), Big Al has got the best post-up eFG% in the entire league (48.6, ahead of second-place Marc Gasol’s 47.. At least on paper, Jefferson has been the same loveable dancing bear as always.
Take a closer look, though, and you see that maybe it’s not so much Jefferson as it his opponents: the percentage of Big Al’s shot attempts that are tightly guarded (meaning a defender within 4 feet) has sprung up from 65.9% last year to 73.7% this year. I don’t think there exists data on the percentage of shots that are double-teamed, but there sure does exist anecdotes, and it feels like Big Al’s spent much of this year trapped on the wrong side of a handicapped tag-team match.
Then again, this might not be an opponent problem as much as it is a teammate problem. 40% of Jefferson’s minutes last year were spent in the jolly good company of Josh McRoberts. Now, McBob’s 3-point skills have taken on a life of their own since he left the team, to the point that they are remembered to be much better than they actually were, like the fish you caught 20 years ago or the war zone you say you covered as a young reporter. But there’s no denying that McRoberts at least posed a threat to go off each night from downtown, so opponents were forced to account for him on the perimeter, which gave Big Al room to work his magic. By contrast, this year Jefferson’s played even more time with Cody Zeller as his partner down low, 53%, than he did with McRoberts, and as much as I’ve enjoyed watching the Zeller Propeller, he gives you less space than a fat guy on a futon. The Hornets are a net -3.6 with those two at the 4-5 this season, compared with +3.6 with the McJefferson combo last year.
You’d think Jefferson would work better with Marvin Williams, whose 34% 3-point shooting isn’t much worse than McRoberts’ 36% last year, and who shoots them at nearly an identical per-36 minute rate. But alas, the two of them are an atrocious net -10.6 together, because Marv’s all-around game is as wispy as his mustache. And after that, there’s nothing. Other than the seldom-used Jeff Taylor, no other 3-4-5 on the team attempts more than two 3-pointers per 36 minutes. The bottom line is that most of Jefferson’s minutes have been with guys who are less of a threat from downtown than a Mormon nightclub, and the good professor is choking on the lack of space.
If there’s any reason for hope, it’s that Mo Williams continues such bonkers proficiency from long-range that the trickle-down effect on defenses leaks all the way down to Big Al. The two are a net -0.7 in the brief 121 minutes they’ve played together, but that’s pretty damned good considering the team is 1-3 overall in that time, with games against the upper-echelon Bulls, Thunder, and Mavericks. Williams is up to 39.5% from distance with a zany 9.8 3-pointers/36 minutes. If Mo can keep this up until Kemba Walker gets back, one can envision a small-guard crunch-time lineup of Walker-Williams that provides the close-air support needed for Big Al to infiltrate down low.
In all likelihood, though, there simply might not be enough time. These past few weeks I’ve spent worrying about the Pacers, Heat, and Pistons taking those last couple of playoff spots, and I completely forgot about the Nets, who are also ahead of us. I don’t feel too bad about it, because I’m pretty sure everyone has forgotten about the Nets, including many on the actual team, given how conditioned we were to expect a complete dismantling of the franchise. But lo and behold, Brooklyn picked up Thad Young at the deadline, who could easily be our 2nd- or 3rd-best player. And now the Celtics are tied with us, record-wise. It’s going to be brutal basketball to behold, and it’ll necessitate Jefferson emptying out everything in his low-post bag of tricks if we’re to have any hope at all.
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attemptingSalem’s LotU.S. President Barack Obama awards a 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom to musician Bob Dylan during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, May 29, 2012. REUTERS/Jason Reed Wait, what?
Slate.fr reports a Croatian community association in France is suing Bob Dylan and the French version of Rolling Stone magazine for racism.
Dylan, of course, was at the vanguard of the artistic wing of the Civil Rights movement, so it may seem impossible that anyone could accuse him of such a thing.
But the Croatian group appears not to have appreciated comments made in Rolling Stone's cover interview of Dylan from this September. In response to a question about whether he sees parallels between Civil War-era America and today, Dylan responded:
Mmm, I don't know how to put it. It's like... the United States burned and destroyed itself for the sake of slavery. The USA wouldn't give it up. It had to be grinded out. The whole system had to be ripped out with force. A lot of killing. What, like, 500,000 people? A lot of destruction to end slavery. And that's what it really was all about.
This country is just too f***** up about color. It's a distraction. People at each other's throats just because they are of a different color. It's the height of insanity, and it will hold any nation back - or any neighborhood back. Or any anything back. Blacks know that some whites didn't want to give up slavery - that if they had their way, they would still be under the yoke, and they can't pretend they don't know that. If you got a slave master or Klan in your blood, blacks can sense that. That stuff lingers to this day. Just like Jews can sense Nazi blood and the Serbs can sense Croatian blood.
What Dylan is referring to in the final part of that last sentence is the longstanding feud between majority Roman Catholic Croats and Christian Orthodox Serbs, instances of which still occasionally pop up to this day. In October, unknown assailants destroyed several bilingual and Cyrillic signs placed on state buildings and Serb minority institutions in the Croatian capital of Zagreb, according to Balkan Insight. "Bilingual signs have been installed on state buildings in areas where Serbs make up more than a third of the population - a requirement under the minorities legislation - but the move sparked protests by war veterans in the city of Vukovar which was devastated by Serb forces during the 1990s conflict," the site reported.
Europe's free speech laws are much stricter than in the U.S., and the suit has been accepted on formal grounds, though remains to be evaluated on its merits, Slate says. Cases such as these can take up to 18 months to decide, and even longer when the counter-party is not a French citizen. Dylan and the magazine would face a fine and formal sanction if found guilty.
Dylan was recently named a Legion of Honour by France, though at least one member of the Legion's committee objected on the grounds that Dylan had once done drugs and showed signs of radical leftism...A new home for indies?
Last week, Kevin reported on a surfacing trend of indie games finding success on the Nintendo Switch as potential players move toward it and away from the Nintendo 3DS. The handheld's eShop might not be the best place for indies, but they seem to be performing splendidly on Nintendo's prized home console.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap sold more on it than any other platform combined. Now, two more developers have come forward to praise the Switch, saying they've also sold more copies of their games on it than any other platform.
FDG Entertainment took to Twitter to dub the Switch a "great home for indies." Its Wind Waker-like adventure Oceanhorn: Monster of the Uncharted Seas has been released on almost every platform known to man, and it outsold them all on the Switch.
We can also confirm #Switch being a great home 4 Indies! #Oceanhorn sold more copies on #NintendoSwitch than all other consoles combined. <3 pic.twitter.com/bUzSoSeFWR — FDG Entertainment (@FDG_Games) September 12, 2017
SMG Studio tweeted about the console as well, stating that their co-op puzzler Death Squared found a wider audience with the Switch than the PS4, Xbox One, or PC.
Our hot take on Switch 4 Indies. We sold more #DeathSquared on Switch in first 3 days! than all other platforms 😂 pic.twitter.com/CBEHeyBE7Z — SMG @ #PAXWEST (@smgstudio) September 13, 2017
They followed this tweet with a thread where they attributed some of Death Squared's success to most of its reviews being for the Switch -- 23 on Metacritic vs. only 5 for other platforms. "Interesting though that sales on other platforms only rose slightly with the increased press/buzz. Guessing non Nintendo users tuned out," they said. "We've hit the tail for Switch now and still selling more per day than all the other platforms combined by 200-500%."
With more and more indie devs lauding the Switch for their success, I look for indies to continue moving toward the platform, especially considering that Nintendo has been embracing smaller studios through their Nindies showcase and other support. Nintendo is having a pretty amazing year all around, with sales of the Switch exceeding expectations in its first month and promising things in store for the future, including significant third party support.
The Switch Version of Oceanhorn Outsells All of the Other Versions Combined [Twinfinite]
[Disclosure: Zack Furniss and Kyle MacGregor, who represent Death Squared for Stride PR, were previously employed at Destructoid. Additionally, SMG Studio put a Destructoid-inspired cosmetic customization in the game. No relationships, personal or professional, were factored into the content of this post.]
You are logged out. Login | Sign upLevi Stubbs: The Four Tops 1936-2008 (Video, Photos)
The Four Tops
Levi Stubbs 1936-2008
of the Four Tops has died at age 72 in Detroit, Michigan. The famed singer, the cousin of soul singer, had been in failing health since 2000, when he was forced to retire from the group because of a cancer diagnosis. He had since suffered a stroke.
Stubbs formed a doo-wop quartet in 1954 with three friends who were first known as The Four Aims. They became the Four Tops in 1956. They first gained a following as a club act. They signed with Motown Records in 1963 and quickly notched up a string of hits that have endured as classics for more than 40 years.
Hits that featured Stubbs singing lead vocals include Reach Out I'll Be There, I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Love) and Standing in the Shadows of Love. The group received their star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990.
Group members include Renaldo Benson, who died of lung cancer in 2005 and Lawrence Payton, who died of liver cancer in 1997. The only surviving member of the original group is Abdul 'Duke' Fakir.
Stubbs is survived by his wife of 48 years, Clineice Stubbs and five children.
Check out his beautiful rendition of I Believe in You and Me (1982) below.After the events of FOREVER EVIL, Central City is a mess…in just about every way you can measure. The reconstruction work has begun, and everyone is dealing with the consequences of the vicious attack on the Gem Cities by the Crime Syndicate. Barry is feeling a particular level of guilt…after all, he IS the Fastest Man Alive. The themes of devastation, recovery, regret, and lost time run strongly through this excellent debut from the new FLASH team of Robert Venditti, Van Jensen, Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund. Oh, and did I mention….Wally?
LIGHT SPOILERS ONLY
We begin with a flash-forward to Iris being pulled from a wreck that Barry was unable to stop. There is an unidentified (for now) young man who didn’t make it…but more on that later. In the present day, every member of the Central City Police Department has been required to go through psychological evaluation in order to be cleared for duty. Makes sense, given the utter devastation the city has faced. Barry could use some counseling…he can’t stop moving, can’t stop running around the city, can’t stop trying to make up for the simple fact that he wasn’t there when they needed him. Not that he could help that fact, as anyone who has been reading FOREVER EVIL can attest. But still, there’s that guilt…that significant guilt. Later on he receives a special gift from Patty that plays into this theme of lost time, and by the end of the issue you’ll find just how significant that truly is as we flast-forward once again, this time twenty years to find the Future Flash…and a startling revelation! As for Wally…I’ll have to leave that to you to read. All I will say is that we will obviously see a lot of him in this series. Hang on to that thought, okay?
New writers Robert Venditti and Van Jensen have done a great job in establishing their themes for THE FLASH, and I’m looking forward to their contributions to the great history of this franchise. Many of you know the song “The Ballad of Barry Allen” by Jim’s Big Ego (Jim, by the way, is Jim Infantino, the nephew of Carmine Infantino). I had that song running through my head throughout reading this issue. Barry is absolutely the type of guy who would experience this type of guilt and his reaction here makes perfect sense. As for the artwork…let me admit here that I’m VERY biased, as I’ve been a fan of Brett Booth for some time. Lest anyone forget, this is the artist who gave us some great redesign ideas for Wally while we were all missing him at the start of the New 52. He’s obviously a true fan along with being a fantastic talent. His take on The Flash’s speed mixes in a little Infantino with a little bit of Manapul, and I like how he handles super-speed motion here. His glowing lines on the Flash’s costume seams may get some notice in our comments section, but overall I like the look and style he brings, with great inks from Norm Rapmund (always a great job whenever he is inking) and excellent colors from Andrew Dalhouse.
A final thought – those very few of you who read my personal blog at the start of the New 52 (before I started reviews here at Speedforce.org) know that I was willing to give Manapul and Buccellato a chance at a time that others were questioning why DC gave such a great assignment to artists who didn’t have a track record in writing. Not that I’m psychic, but that turned out really well…and I’m still a fan of M&B and am glad to follow them over to DETECTIVE for more of their excellent work. With this change, I’m once again more than willing to give the new team a chance…but there is a difference. That difference is I’ve already seen their work in writing and art elsewhere, and I already know what these excellent creators are capable of producing. I’m certain we will see some differences in tone or plot or style from the new team, and that’s okay – I’m impressed with their first issue and am looking forward to more.
ShareDrowning Pool - "Bodies" (Cuerpos)
Mudvayne - "Death Blooms" (La Muerte Florece)
Megadeth - "Dread and the Fugitive" (El Temor y el Fugitivo)
Megadeth - "Sweating Bullets" (Balas que Sudan)
Saliva - "Click Click Boom"
P.O.D. - "Boom"
Metallica - "Seek and Destroy" (Busca y Destruye)
Metallica - "Harvester or Sorrow (Recolector de Tristeza)
Metallica - "Enter Sandman" (Entra el Coco)
Metallica - "Fade to Black" (Desvaneciéndose hasta Oscurecer)
Todas las canciones de Rage Against The Machine
Nine Inch Nails - "Head Like a Hole" (La Cabeza como un Agujero)
Godsmack - "Bad Religion" (Mala Religión)
Tool - "Intolerance" (Intolerancia)
Soundgarden - "Blow Up the Outside World" (Explota el Mundo Exterior)
AC/DC - "Shot Down in Flames" (Derribado en Llamas)
AC/DC - "Shoot to Thrill" (Disparado hasta el Estremecimiento)
AC/DC - "Dirty Deeds" (Acciones Sucias)
AC/DC - "Highway to Hell" (Autopista al Infierno)
AC/DC - "Safe in New York City" (Seguro en Nueva York)
AC/DC - "TNT"
AC/DC - "Hell's Bells" (Campanas del Infierno)
Black Sabbath - "War Pigs" (Guerra de Cerdos)
Black Sabbath - "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (Sábado Sangriento Sábado)
Black Sabbath - "Suicide Solution" (Solución Suicida)
Dio - "Holy Diver" Submarinista Santo)
Steve Miller - "Jet Airliner" (Avión de Pasajeros)
Van Halen - "Jump" (Salta)
Queen - "Another One Bites the Dust" (Otro que Muerde el Polvo)
Queen - "Killer Queen" (Reina Asesina)
Pat Benatar - "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" (Dame con tu mejor Disparo)
Pat Benatar - "Love is a Battlefield" (El Amor es un Campo de Batalla)
Oingo Boingo - "Dead Man's Party" (La Fiesta de los Hombres Muertos)
REM - "It's the End of the World as We Know It" (Es el Fin del Mundo que Conocemos)
Talking Heads - "Burning Down the House" (Prendiendo Fuego a la Casa)
Judas Priest - "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" (Algunas Cabezas Van a Rodar)
Pink Floyd - "Run Like Hell" (Corre Como el Demonio)
Pink Floyd - "Mother" (Madre)
Savage Garden - "Crash and Burn" (Choca y Arde)
Dave Matthews Band - "Crash Into Me" (Estréllate Contra Mí)
Bangles - "Walk Like an Egyptian" (Camina Como Un Egipcio)
Pretenders - "My City Was Gone" (Mi Ciudad Desapareció)
Alanis Morissette - "Ironic" (Irónico)
Barenaked Ladies - "Falling for the First Time" (Cayendo Por Primera Vez)
Fuel - "Bad Day" (Mal Día)
John Parr - "St. Elmo's Fire" (El Fuego de San Elmo)
Peter Gabriel - "When You're Falling" (Cuando Estás Cayendo)
Kansas - "Dust in the Wind" (Polvo en el Viento)
Led Zeppelin - "Stairway to Heaven" (Escaleras al Cielo)
The Beatles - "A Day in the Life" (Un Día en la Vida)
The Beatles - "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (Lucy en el Cielo con Diamantes)
The Beatles - "Ticket To Ride" (Billetes para el Avión)
The Beatles - "Obla Di, Obla Da"
Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses - "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (Llamando a las Puertas del Cielo)
Arthur Brown - "Fire" (Fuego)
Blue Oyster Cult - "Burnin' For You" (Ardiendo Por Ti)
Paul McCartney and Wings - "Live and Let Die" (Vive y Deja Morir)
Jimmy Hendrix - "Hey Joe"
Jackson Brown - "Doctor My Eyes" (Doctor Mis Ojos)
John Mellencamp - "Crumbling Down" (Desmoronándose)
John Mellencamp - "I'm On Fire" (Estoy Ardiendo)
U2 - "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Domingo Sangriento Domingo)
Boston - "Smokin" (Humeando)
Billy Joel - "Only the Good Die Young" (Sólo los Buenos Mueren Jóvenes)
Barry McGuire - "Eve of Destruction" (Víspera de la Destrucción)
Steam "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"
Drifters - "On Broadway" (Sobre Broadway)
Shelly Fabares - "Johnny Angel"
Los Bravos - "Black is Black" (Negro es Negro)
Peter and Gordon - "I Go To Pieces" (Me Hago Pedazos)
Peter and Gordon - "A World Without Love" (Un Mundo sin Amor)
Elvis - "(You're the) Devil in Disguise" (Tú eres el Demonio Disfrazado)
Zombies - "She's Not There" (Ella No Está Allí)
Elton John - "Benny & The Jets" (Benny y Los Aviones)
Elton John - "Daniel"
Elton John - "Rocket Man" (Hombre Cohete)
Jerry Lee Lewis - "Great Balls of Fire" (Grandes Bolas de Fuego)
Santana - "Evil Ways" (Maneras Diabólicas)
Louis Armstrong - "What A Wonderful World" (Qué Mundo Más Maravilloso)
Youngbloods - "Get Together" (Unámonos)
Ad Libs - "The Boy from New York City" (El Chico de Nueva York)
Peter Paul and Mary - "Blowin' in the Wind" (Soplando en el Viento)
Peter Paul and Mary - "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" (Partiendo en un Avión)
Rolling Stones - "Ruby Tuesday" (Martes de Rubí)
Simon And Garfunkel -"Bridge Over Troubled Water" (Puente Sobre Aguas Turbulentas)
Happenings - "See You in Septemeber" (Nos Vemos En Septiembre)
Carole King - "I Feel the Earth Move" (Siento que la Tierra se Mueve)
Yager and Evans - "In the Year 2525" (En el Año 2525)
Norman Greenbaum - "Spirit in the Sky" (Espíritu en el Cielo)
Brooklyn Bridge - "Worst That Could Happen" (Lo Peor que Podía Pasar)
Three Degrees - "When Will I See You Again" (¿Cuándo te Volveré a ver?)
Cat Stevens - "Peace Train" (Tren de la Paz)
Cat Stevens - "Morning Has Broken" (La Mañana Se Ha Roto)
Jan and Dean - "Dead Man's Curve" (La Curva del Hombre Muerto)
Martha & the Vandellas - "Nowhere to Run" (Ningún Sitio Adonde Correr)
Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen - "Dancing in the Streets" (Bailando en las Calles)
Hollies - "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" El no Es Duro, Es mi Hermano)
San Cooke Herman Hermits - "Wonder World" (Mundo Maravilloso)
Petula Clark - "A Sign of the Times" (Una Señal de los Tiempos)
J. Frank Wilson - "Last Kiss" (El Último Beso)
Buddy Holly and the Crickets - "That'll Be the Day" (Ese Será el Día)
John Lennon -"Imagine" (Imagina)
Bobby Darin - "Mack the Knife" (Saca el Cuchillo)
Surfaris - "Wipeout" (Exterminar)
Blood Sweat and Tears - "And When I Die" (Y Cuando Yo Muera)
Dave Clark Five - "Bits and Pieces" (Trozos y Pedazos)
Tramps - "Disco Inferno"
Paper Lace |
the Morsi government. Nor was his government passing laws requiring women to wear the hijab or force non-Muslims to pay jizya. Nor were the Hadd punishments going to be enforced. Nor had the Islamist dominated parliament of Egypt passed a law allowing a husband to have sex with his dead wife’s corpse up to 26 hours after her death (!), as one of my Egyptian friends insisted had occurred. Nor had Morsi made himself an all-powerful dictator, as the then respectable Egyptian liberal Mohamed Elbaradei accused him when he claimed that “not even the Pharaohs had so much authority.” Was Morsi, who was so easily toppled and arrested, really the new Pharaoh? Or is that comparison more apt for the ruler who unleashed so much violence on the sons of his own nation that Elbaradei resigned from government and left Egypt?
Youssef’s song & dance came at the end of a yearlong campaign of demonization against the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Like Serbian TV, the airwaves of Egypt during 2012-13 were permeated by ceaseless and vicious criticism of the organization and Morsi’s government. Like Serbian TV, the most virulent and pernicious of this diatribe had no basis in fact. And like Serbian TV, the result was that a significant portion of a population cheered the brutal massacre of civilians and the unprecedented repression that followed.
And how well it worked. The result can only be described as some sort of crazy-gas that turned otherwise prudent people into zealots out for Muslim Brotherhood blood. I remember well a friend of mine, a pious Muslim who an impeccable political conscience, coming to my house and telling me and my family that he wanted to “devote [his] life to destroying the Muslim Brotherhood,” to making sure that any mention of the Brotherhood was removed from “the pages of history.” I remember being so shocked because I couldn't remember hearing anyone say they wanted to devote their life to anything, let alone to deracinating an organization with such fury.
How We Forget
I have been asked many times why my Facebook icon is the Rab’a symbol (a hand with four fingers extended), the symbol that in the summer of 2013 quickly came to mean a stand of solidarity with those Egyptians who had stood for the democratic process against a military coup. And for those who had died or been imprisoned as a result. I’m often accused of being part of the Muslim Brotherhood or an MB sympathizer. I’ve never been either. What I do believe is that peoples should be able to choose the path their governments take, and that a country’s wealth and decision-making power should not be dominated by an elite more concerned with the political interests and lifestyle choices of Western powers than with the wellbeing and wishes of their own population.
As I pondered my conversation in Sarajevo, I came to realize why I had put the Rab’a symbol as my Facebook profile picture. I understood why I had never been able to take it down, despite all the flags and symbols of solidarity for numerous worthy causes that had come and gone on social media since the summer of 2013: The powers that first dehumanize and then kill or jail those they have demonized must then make us forget. We must not be allowed to remember how this process works, lest we raise alarm when its cogs again start in motion for the next crackdown, invasion or dispossession.
And so it was with Egypt. In the immediate aftermath of the Rab’a massacre, the Egyptian military regime made posting the Rab’a sign on Facebook or other social media illegal, punishable by five years in prison. It was then criminalized in Saudi Arabia as well. So I decided to make the sign my Facebook picture, for all those who were not allowed to in Egypt and elsewhere. And I keep it up because I do not want to lapse into forgetfulness. I do not want time, which is wont to wash away all memories, distraction or social pressure to make me forget how people can be driven mad with hatred and convinced that men like their fathers, women like their mothers, and children like their own sons and daughters are no more than meat for the sword.A natural gas pipeline explosion near Otterburne, Man., 50 kilometres south of Winnipeg, has left thousands without heat as temperatures drop to -20 C, or -34 C with the wind chill.
A fire is out after burning for more than 12 hours at the site of a natural gas pipeline explosion near Otterburne, Man., about 50 kilometres south of Winnipeg. But officials say there are now natural gas outages affecting as many as 4,000 people in nearby communities, where temperatures dipped to near -20 C overnight.
The Rural Municipality of Hanover declared a state of local emergency Saturday afternoon in a release that said the outage was expected to last 24 to 72 hours.
The trouble began early Saturday when RCMP responded around 1:05 a.m. to a "loud explosion."
Witnesses who live close to the scene said it was massive. Paul Rawluk lives nearby and drove to the site.
"As we got closer, we could see these massive 200 to 300 metre high flames just shooting out of the ground and it literally sounded like a jet plane," he said. "And that's the thing that really got us, was the sound of it."
He said it was hard to describe the scale.
"Massive, like absolutely massive," he said. "The police were by [Highway] 59 and you could just see little cars out there and you could see in comparison how big the flame was. It was just literally two to 300 metres in the air. And bright, I mean lit up the sky."
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Tyler Holigroski, who lives in the Otterburne area, remembers seeing a flickering, bright light in the sky.
"Thought it was the neighbours' house or something like that," he said. "I thought there was a fire, but the way it lit the sky, it was like the sun coming up. The only thing is it was flashing. It would get brighter, get dim, get brighter, go dim.
"It lit up the whole sky here for half an hour," Holigroski said.
Hunter Gagnon and his dad live outside the evacuation zone.
"It was just insane," he said. "It was absolutely huge, the fire. It was at least 300 feet high, there was a bunch of people there all parked along the highway."
Otterburne resident Marc Labossiere was forced from his home moments after shooting a video of the blast. He lost power a short time later, and police knocked on his door, telling him to get out.
He's back at home now, and said he could still see the flames late Saturday morning.
"It went from 500-600 feet in the air down to manageable," he said. "Like, something they're just waiting for it to snuff itself out and it's still burning right now."
Police said the burning gas was non-toxic.
Thousands lose gas service
As many as 4,000 people in the area are without natural gas.
Emergency Measures spokesperson Nicki Albus on Saturday acknowledged cold weather is on the way.
"We know it's cold and people may be concerned about that but we are on the job here. Everyone here's communicating well. We have a great group of people at the site and in the communities who have set up their emergency operation centres to handle this dilemma."
She said warming centres have been set up to take in residents who have no heat.
The town of Niverville said it has lost gas service and that will continue for at least 24 hours and possibly "multiple days."
Manitoba Hydro said the following communities are affected:
New Bothwell.
Niverville.
Otterburne.
Kleefeld.
St-Pierre-Jolys.
Grunthal.
St. Malo.
Dufrost.
Ste. Agathe.
Hydro said it does not know when service will be restored but that people should "prepare for an extended outage."
The utility is reminding customers to use only approved space heaters indoors and where possible conserve use of electricity during this gas outage.It says people should not use barbecues or any unapproved heaters indoors because they may produce carbon monoxide. Anyone leaving home, should shut off the water supply and turn down the thermostat.
The New Bothwell cheese plant had to shut down production because it's sanitizer is dependent on gas to operate. The plant may try to switch its generator over to propane this week if the outage persists.
Pipeline crews worked to vent gas
The pipeline, which is owned by TransCanada, has been temporarily shut down according to a statement from a company spokesman. The statement also said that nearby roads have been closed, and that the company is not aware of any reports of injuries.
However, five houses within the vicinity of the fire were evacuated by RCMP and St-Pierre-Jolys Fire Department.
The residents of two of the homes have been allowed to return, but police were not letting residents return to the three homes closest to the site.
Crews spent most of the day venting the natural gas from the system to eliminate the fuel source for the fire.
The company said that process generated a loud noise but posed no risk to the public.
By Saturday afternoon, more than 12 hours after it started, TransCanada officials said the fire was out.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
TransCanada is working with Manitoba Hydro to restore regular natural gas service, the company's spokesperson Davis Sheremata said in a statement Saturday night.
Trucks containing compressed natural gas are being sent to metering stations in the area. The initial supply will be used to provide gas to critical services such as personal care homes and hospitals, as well as schools or churches being used as emergency warming centres.
The company did not provide a timeline of when regular natural gas service will resume.In a 2009 study of 450,000 Americans, the economists Angus Deaton and Daniel Kahneman discovered that for Americans happiness seemed to level off at a household income level of $75,000. Earnings beyond that, even far beyond that, didn’t seem to make people much happier. Interestingly, the $75,000 limit had nothing to do with the cost of living; people were just as happy earning $75,000 in expensive cities like New York as they were in much lower-cost cities. One reason for this may be that although the cost of housing is higher in larger cities, the cost of transportation and food is lower, and there is a much larger selection of goods and services. In fact, as the size of a city doubles, the number of things to buy increases by 20 percent, and their cost declines by 4.2 percent.
But there is a deeper reason. Happiness is tied to what Deaton calls emotionally enriching social experiences. Kahneman says, “The very best thing that can happen to people is to spend time with other people they like. That is when they are happiest.” The way people spend their time is also a critical component of sense of well-being. In another study Kahneman and his colleagues tracked how people experience their day by asking them to record events in fifteen-minute intervals and evaluate them. Walking, making love, exercise, playing, and reading ranked as their most pleasurable activities. Their least happy activities? Work, commuting, child care, and personal computer time. How many people really enjoy a night of plowing through endless emails?
This survey should not mislead us about the value of work. Work can be deeply gratifying and meaningful, and it can also provide rich social relations. Employment is a key element of well-being. People who are unemployed or underemployed are statistically more likely to die younger and be in worse health. People who lose their job in middle age and have difficulty finding a new one are more likely to become depressed, and have a two to three times higher risk of heart attack and stroke over the next ten years. So one of the key challenges of cities in the 21st century is to develop economies that generate stimulating, productive work for all of their residents.
In the past people often held the same job for life, whether as a shepherd, a member of a medieval guild, or an employee of a large corporation. Today the average Millennial will have had 11 jobs by the time he or she reaches the age of 40. This underscores the need to acquire many different skills beyond technical ability. Satisfying work often requires not only a high level of education, but the emotional and social intelligence required to work successfully in teams. This wider range of qualifications will be essential in a world where computer coding may become the entry-level position that a factory job once was. As agriculture becomes more and more industrialized, rural people are flocking to cities seeking work. Yet with robots increasingly taking line positions in factories, there are likely to be fewer jobs for the uneducated in the future.Posted by
Harjeet Johal,
May 5, 2016 Twitter
@HarJournalist
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VANCOUVER, B.C. - It's no secret that the Vancouver Whitecaps are not where they want to be after ten games into the season. The 3-5-2 Whitecaps have had an up and down start to the campaign as they look for solid consistency and a run of form with positive match results. Concerns on the pitch have alternated between not scoring enough goals, to allowing too many goals against. The Whitecaps are coming off a 3-2 loss to New York City FC at the weekend and they will host 2015 MLS Cup winner, Portland Timbers on Saturday, May 7 at BC Place. Centre-back Kendall Waston did not play at Yankee Stadium due to a suspension. He was however in attendance with his family, and minus his Barbie dolls. Following practice this week, Waston talked about the bigger concern, scoring goals or working to allow fewer opposition tallies. "I think both, we need to score and try and have a clean sheet. Winning games is not only about scoring, we have to give a nice balance, a nice security from the back so we can let our forwards score goals." Carl Robinson's squad will be embarking on another stretch of three matches in eight days and that will test the Caps abundance of depth. To avoid injuries, and running out knackered players, it's vital that player rotation come into play vs Chicago on May 11, and away to Toronto FC on Saturday, May 14. "We have to think at one at a time," said Waston. "If we think that we have three games we're going to get tired before we play. We have to try and win this big game that we have at home against Portland. We know it's a big, big game. From there we'll have to see the other ones." Not only are Caleb Porter's lads the reigning MLS Cup Champions, but they also eliminated the Vancouver Whitecaps in western conference semi-final playoff action last November. The 28 year-old Waston remembers what it was like when Portland came into BC Place and took the two leg-series over Vancouver. This is no doubt a match that Caps players have had circled on their calendar. "It's going to be a tough game," admitted Waston. "It's going to be a nice battle because, we remember the bad feeling that they gave us last year. Now we need this win because, we need to have points, we need more points to get up in the table. This game is massive." This match will mark the one-third fixture completion mark for the Whitecaps and they won't want to drop any more points at home, especially against a Cascadia rival. The team, supporters, and media have all set high expectations for the Whitecaps this season and that's not lost on players like Kendall Waston. "We expect to be better", said Waston. "Last year we began very well and that helped us to the end of the season, but the reality is that sometimes it doesn't matter how you begin, it's how you end. Last year, the New York Red Bulls did it, because at the beginning they didn't do so well and at the end they finished first. Hopefully we can do that this year." The 'Towering Tico' could very well be matched up against a former Whitecaps FC player on Saturday afternoon. Darren Mattocks will be making his return to Vancouver, in a Timbers kit. Mattocks was traded to Portland on March 14. Waston wishes Mattocks the best, but not so much on Saturday. "Darren's a nice guy, but in the field it's going to be war. I'm going to keep it clean, but we know him pretty much and we know that he's going to come here with all his energy and try to do his best." Whether it was warranted or not, Darren Mattocks received a lot of criticism during his time with Vancouver. Fans grew frustrated with his skill level, work rate, and production. It will be interesting to see what type of reception the Jamaican striker receives when he enters the pitch. "Maybe it could be some that will clap and some of them will be booing," said Waston, "but that's up to the fans. Out of the pitch, he's my friend, but in the pitch, he's my enemy." The battle lines have certainly been drawn. Kendall Waston and his Whitecaps teammates will be looking to snap out of an early season funk and earn three important points against a big foe from a season ago.Larry Page, CEO of Google, came up with the idea for Street View, which has been the subject of an FCC investigation
Ryan Anson/ Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Was Google’s snooping on home Wi-Fi users the work of a rogue software engineer? Was it a deliberate corporate strategy? Was it simply an honest-to-goodness mistake? And which of these scenarios should we wish for—which would assuage your fears about the company that manages so much of our personal data?
These are the central questions raised by a damning FCC report on Google’s Street View program that was released last weekend. The Street View scandal began with a revolutionary idea—Larry Page wanted to snap photos of every public building in the world. Beginning in 2007, the search company’s vehicles began driving on streets in the United States (and later Europe, Canada, Mexico, and everywhere else), collecting a stream of images to feed into Google Maps.
While developing its Street View cars, Google’s engineers realized that the vehicles could also be used for “wardriving.” That’s a sinister-sounding name for the mainly noble effort to map the physical location of the world’s Wi-Fi routers. Creating a location database of Wi-Fi hotspots would make Google Maps more useful on mobile devices—phones without GPS chips could use the database to approximate their physical location, while GPS-enabled devices could use the system to speed up their location-monitoring systems. As a privacy matter, there was nothing unusual about wardriving. By the time Google began building its system, several startups had already created their own Wi-Fi mapping databases.
But Google, unlike other companies, wasn’t just recording the location of people’s Wi-Fi routers. When a Street View car encountered an open Wi-Fi network—that is, a router that was not protected by a password—it recorded all the digital traffic traveling across that router. As long as the car was within the vicinity, it sucked up a flood of personal data: login names, passwords, the full text of emails, Web histories, details of people’s medical conditions, online dating searches, and streaming music and movies.
Imagine a postal worker who opens and copies one letter from every mailbox along his route. Google’s sniffing was pretty much the same thing, except instead of one guy on one route it was a whole company operating around the world. The FCC report says that when French investigators looked at the data Google collected, they found “an exchange of emails between a married woman and man, both seeking an extra-marital relationship” and “Web addresses that revealed the sexual preferences of consumers at specific residences.” In the United States, Google’s cars collected 200 gigabytes of such data between 2008 and 2010, and they stopped only when regulators discovered the practice.
Why did Google collect all this data? What did it want to do with people’s private information? Was collecting it a mistake? Was it the inevitable result of Google’s maximalist philosophy about public data—its aim to collect and organize all of the world’s information?
Google says the answer to that final question is no. In its response to the FCC and its public blog posts, the company says it is sorry for what happened, and insists that it has established a much stricter set of internal policies to prevent something like this from happening again. The company characterizes the collection of Wi-Fi payload data as the idea of one guy, an engineer who contributed code to the Street View program. In the FCC report, he’s called Engineer Doe. On Monday, the New York Times identified him as Marius Milner, a network programmer who created Network Stumbler, a popular Wi-Fi network detection tool. The company argues that Milner—for reasons that aren’t really clear—slipped the snooping code into the Street View program without anyone else figuring out what he was up to. Nobody else on the Street View team wanted to collect Wi-Fi data, Google says—they didn’t think it would be useful in any way, and, in fact, the data was never used for any Google product.
Should we believe Google’s lone-coder theory? I have a hard time doing so. The FCC report points out that Milner’s “design document” mentions his intention to collect and analyze payload data, and it also highlights privacy as a potential concern. Though Google’s privacy team never reviewed the program, many of Milner’s colleagues closely reviewed his source code. In 2008, Milner told one colleague in an email that analyzing the Wi-Fi payload data was “one of my to-do items.” Later, he ran a script to count the Web addresses contained in the collected data and sent his results to an unnamed “senior manager.” The manager responded as if he knew what was going on: “Are you saying that these are URLs that you sniffed out of Wi-Fi packets that we recorded while driving?” Milner responded by explaining exactly where the data came from. “The data was collected during the daytime when most traffic is at work,” he said.
After reading the FCC report, you’re left with one of three unpleasant scenarios of what was really going on at Google during the period when the snooping program was created.
1) Despite reading his design document, looking at his code, and talking to him about the data he was collecting, Milner’s colleagues were genuinely in the dark about what he was doing.
2) They knew the kind of data he was collecting, and while they didn’t support the collection, snooping didn’t strike them as the kind of offense they should move to stop.
3) They understood Milner’s plan and supported it, and it was Google’s intention to collect Wi-Fi data all along.
I don’t think theory No. 3 is correct. While Milner believed his data might be useful for the company someday, the record suggests that his managers and colleagues weren’t all that interested. They never looked at the information he collected and they didn’t build any programs that depended on it. Moreover, collecting snippets of random people’s Internet surfing habits doesn’t seem like a very Google-y thing to do. Sure, Google exists to collect and analyze the world’s information, but it tries to do so in a systematic manner. Milner’s idea strikes me as too hacky and inelegant to have been a corporate-sanctioned project.
On the other hand, blaming Milner alone—theory No. 1—also seems a stretch. Google hires some of the smartest engineers in the world. The thought that every one of Milner’s colleagues might have missed his massive data-collection scheme—and that they only saw what was really going on when regulators discovered it—strains belief. What’s more, it’s telling that Milner still works at Google. (He is now a software engineer at its subsidiary YouTube.) Google declined to discuss personnel matters with me, but if its worst privacy scandal had been the work of one guy alone, you’d imagine that the company would have pushed him out.
That leaves us with theory No. 2: Snooping was Milner’s idea, and even if his colleagues didn’t think it was something the company should do, they also didn’t consider it a very big deal. If you believe this framing, the Street View scandal was a collective failure, a mistake that began with Milner but for which the entire company was culpable.
Google seems to share this view. The company did in fact overhaul its internal policies after the scandal, making sure all engineers and managers are familiar with Google’s privacy principles, which promise that the firm will always be transparent about the data it collects. Now, new Google engineers must take courses on protecting users’ privacy, and managers must constantly investigate and report how their teams are handling user data.
I’m gratified by the changes Google made to its privacy systems after the Street View probe. But it’s hard to know if its response will be enough. In part, that’s because Google is still not being as transparent as it should be about how the Street View spying case arose. The company declined my request—and those of other reporters—to discuss the story on the record. “We hope that we can now put this matter behind us,” it said in a statement.
My theory about the case is based on what Google told the FCC, but I have doubts that the FCC’s report tells the full story. That’s because, as the FCC makes clear, Google stymied regulators’ attempts to look into the Street View snooping. Over the course of nine months, investigators repeatedly asked Google to produce all its information and correspondence about Street View, and Google repeatedly delayed doing so. As the FCC says:
Although a world leader in digital search capability, Google took the position that searching its employees email “would be a time-consuming and burdensome task.” Similarly, in response to the [FCC Enforcement Bureau’s] directives to identify the individuals responsible for authorizing the company’s collection of Wi-Fi data, as well as any employees who had reviewed or analyzed Wi-Fi communications collected by the company, Google unilaterally determined that to do so would “serve no useful purpose.”
Google denies delaying the investigation, and the company eventually provided the FCC with more detail about the Street View plan. The commission determined that Google’s actions weren’t technically illegal—the company snooped on unencrypted wireless data, which isn’t prohibited by the Wiretap Act—but it issued a fine to the company for its efforts to delay the investigation. That fine was $25,000—or, as ProPublica pointed out, the amount of money the firm makes in 68 seconds.
I’ve long trusted and admired Google. I use its services to store and organize my most personal data, including my email, contacts, bookmarks, Web history, and calendar. The Street View scandal hasn’t destroyed my trust in the company, but after reading the report, I no longer trust it implicitly. Even in the best-case scenario, someone at Google thought it would be a good idea to insert code that spies on the world, and no one else noticed. It doesn’t inspire my confidence that, a far as anyone from the outside can tell, anything has happened to the people who perpetrated this.
How do we know some similar rogue program isn’t operating in Gmail, Chrome, or Android? I don’t think it is. But after what happened with Street View, how can we be sure?Recently returned bookseller Lam Wing-kee has said that he was only allowed to return to Hong Kong from China if he agreed to travel back with a hard drive full of evidence from his book store. Lam – the founder of Causeway Bay Books, which sells political gossip titles banned in China – returned to the city on Tuesday. He was due to return to China on Thursday but held a surprise press conference at the legislature with lawmaker Albert Ho instead to expose what really happened during his eight month detention.
The hard drive demanded by the Chinese authorities contained sales records from the bookstore. Lam said that Lee Bo, another bookseller who returned to Hong Kong in March, copied a hard drive of customer records. Lam was asked to look through the records to identify customers.
The records include some 600 people, mostly mainlanders, and some 4,000 book titles.
“I was afraid my readers would be affected, that they would think Hong Kong people – or I – sold them out,” he said. “But I did not do so… Now they were doing something even worse – asking me to bring them a hard drive as evidence.”
He said he was accompanied back to Hong Kong by two men. One was surnamed Chen – a “chief” – and another surnamed Shi. They separated after crossing the border as they could not be seen near him. He added that Shi treated him kindly but was not allowed to speak to him.
‘Touched’ by protests
Lam said that he could not read any information when he was in the mainland, and that he felt touched when he returned to Hong Kong and read that 6,000 supporters had marched for the release of the booksellers in January.
“I watched videos on my phone for two days,” he said. “I don’t know these 6,000 people – they spoke out for the five of us, our small bookstore – I am thankful.”
He said he was supposed to return to the mainland on Thursday and hand over the hard drive to a “central special unit.” However, after seeing the support from Hongkongers, he hesitated at the Kowloon Tong MTR station en route to the border.
See also: Bookseller’s testimony has ‘blown apart’ Beijing’s ‘lies’ on the missing publishers, says Amnesty
He said he spoke out after coming back because he was less burdened in that his family was not on the mainland. He said he had dinner with his sister and a phone conversation with his son upon returning to Hong Kong.
Lam said that, on the day he was accosted on the mainland last October, he was originally planning to visit his girlfriend, who he met after living away from his family.
She was also detained on the mainland as she had helped him with sending “banned” books into China. She was released on bail.
“I am sorry for my girlfriend,” he said. “But I don’t consider this a personal matter anymore, rather a matter for the whole of society… Hong Kong people were forced without any way out.”
He said it was unacceptable that his colleague Lee Bo was “kidnapped” from Hong Kong.
“Hong Kong has rule of law – I am not afraid for my personal safety, and I do not plan to go to the mainland again,” he said. “This is the red line for Hong Kong people – Hong Kong people will not give in to the powerful regime.”
Regarding the booksellers that returned to Hong Kong and went to the mainland again, he said he hoped the Chinese government would “treat them well.”
“Just like God treats human beings well – I only hope for that,” he said.
The bookseller saga
Five booksellers from the Causeway Bay store went missing from Thailand, China and Hong Kong last year. The whereabouts of Swedish national Gui Minhai are still unknown. The UK and the US governments, and the European Union, have expressed concern over the issue.
Lam founded and operated the banned book store before it was purchased by Mighty Current in 2014. He last used his computer at the shop on October 23 and was reported missing by his wife on November 5. He called his wife the next day to say he was safe, following media reports of his disappearance. He was confirmed to be in China on February 4 this year.
Lam stood accused of being involved in illegal activities on the mainland. Chinese authorities said that criminal compulsory measures were imposed upon him and he was under investigation.UPDATE 2/27/17 | Excision is embarking on the second year of the Paradox tour, with way more special guests and updated visuals on his massive stage. He’s still touring throughout the entire month of March, with a couple more shows to round out February and a final show on the first of April. Find all of the dates and ticket information here!
Excision is currently on tour across North America with Figure and Bear Grillz on The Paradox Tour and showing off his brand new stage of the same name.
Excision’s stage is said to be able to pack on over 150,000 watts of PK Sound, and while I can’t quantify just how much that is in layman terms, I won’t have to. One of his fans at his Philadelphia show recorded a video showing just how strong it is, check it out below and hear for yourself!
It’s hard to tell exactly how far away the video-taker is from the stage, but it certainly looks far enough to be impressive. If you’re seeing Excision at any stop on the rest of his tour, do yourself a favor and wear ear plugs!
H/T: EDMSauce | Image via RukesERBIL, Iraq -- A young Kurdish fighter who introduces himself only as Akram mans a checkpoint to get into this northern Iraqi city, the afternoon heat rising from the pavement. He and his friend crack jokes and smoke cigarettes to make the long shift in the 100-degree heat go faster. And every so often, a few cars drive up, some with washing machines and satellite dishes strapped to their roofs, others with chickens fluttering in their trunks.
The day is relatively normal for the soldiers, despite the fact that the military checkpoint in Mosul just 500 meters away has been taken over by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, an ultra-extremist group the international community is calling the world’s most ferocious terrorists.
ISIS launched a surprise attack earlier this week to take over several Iraqi cities, including Mosul -- capturing its banks, prisons, official buildings and military checkpoints and bases. Not only is the group reportedly $425 million richer after looting Mosul’s central bank, it has also claimed most of the U.S. equipment, weaponry and vehicles the Iraqi army left behind when it fled the city. Its fighters are moving south toward Baghdad with eyes on establishing an Islamic caliphate stretching across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
But right now, there is no violent action on the road leading from Mosul to this city in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region, unlike other areas in Iraq. And while many of those who fled Mosul say the group is out to terrorize and conquer, others say ISIS is treating civilians well and that they have crossed the ISIS-controlled checkpoint with ease. They say they prefer the group to Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his government, which they see as violent and alienating to the country's Sunni minority.
The Kurdish flag flies at a checkpoint in northern Iraq just 500 meters from an ISIS checkpoint in Mosul.
“The insurgents have taken Mosul, but their actions are calm,” said Arshad, an English teacher who only gave his first name for safety precautions. He said he's leaving Mosul not because he's afraid of ISIS, but rather because he fears the Iraqi government will bomb the city to eradicate the group. “There’s no violence [by ISIS] -- it shocked us.”
Yousef El Eskandar, a middle-aged man who said he was heading into Erbil to buy a car -- not to flee -- said that ISIS is "liberating Muslims."
“They are people of Mosul -- not ISIS. They want to liberate Iraq from the tyranny of Maliki," he said.
Yet for many of the thousands of Mosul residents who fled to Erbil, ISIS is known only for its brutal track record and violent reputation. On Friday, the United Nations warned of war crimes committed by the group, saying that it executed at least 30 Mosul residents believed to be working with the Iraqi police and security forces. The U.N. also said there are reports of women committing suicide after being raped by ISIS militants or forced into marriage. ISIS has claimed on Twitter that it killed 1,700 Shia soldiers in the city of Tikrit, though the report is unconfirmed.
Much of the international community, including the United States, is panicking over the possibility of Iraq spiraling into another bloody sectarian conflict. The ISIS takeover has caused many former Mosul residents to declare that they'll never return if the extremist militants maintain control over their city.
A woman named Leyla, who declined to give her last name out of safety fears, fled with her young son several days ago and now lives in a small makeshift camp near Erbil for internally displaced Iraqis. She has no kind words for the group she says killed her brother, a local journalist in Mosul, nine months ago.
“I hate them,” she said as friendly volunteers passed out food to hungry families. “They aren’t Muslims. They kill people based on identification,” she added, referring to the militant group's harsh interpretation of Sunni Islam and low tolerance for other beliefs.
A man living in the camp who goes by Mohamed said that ISIS is made up of terrorists. "All they want is to get power by violence," he said while holding on tightly to his barefoot toddler's hand.
While many of the former Mosul residents are gearing up for what could be a long, bloody battle, the Kurdish Peshmerga -- the highly trained fighting forces of Iraqi Kurdistan -- say they don’t expect a fight with ISIS over Erbil, even though Kurds are currently fighting the group in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. There’s an “unspoken agreement” that neither side will start a fight near Erbil, they say, because the Kurds are focused on holding their territory, not fighting ISIS for Mosul.
Iraqi police and soldier uniforms lay strewn about outside a Kurdish checkpoint near Mosul after ISIS captured the city and the soldiers fled.
The soldiers laugh at the idea of ISIS taking over Erbil. It’s “out of the question,” they said, mocking the Iraqi forces for fleeing Mosul in the dead of night, leaving their military uniforms, equipment, and even underpants in the dirt next to the Kurdish checkpoint.
Mahmoud Ahmed Hussein, a Kurdish brigadier general in charge of the city's military checkpoint and base, doesn’t think they'll have to confront ISIS, but he said his men are ready to fight to the death to defend their homeland, if need be.
“The international community calls [ISIS] terrorists. But right now, they changed their strategy,” he said to a room full of senior Peshmerga officers, alluding to what he described as a shift from violent tactics to a more tolerant rule in order to gain support. “It’s not in their benefit to kill people.”Cam Newton didn’t play well in Carolina’s Super Bowl 50 loss to the Denver Broncos, so it wasn’t a surprise when he offered one-word answers to the media before getting up and walking off early.
Most figured it was just Newton in a bad mood.
But now we know the real reason why Cam bailed: He heard Denver’s Chris Harris explain close by that their gameplan was to make Carolina prove it could throw the football (which obviously the Panthers did not do well on Sunday).
Article continues below...
Here’s what Harris said: "Load the box, force y’all to throw the ball. Can you throw the football? That |
's no way they should come close to your starting lineup.
Giants at Eagles, Mon., 8:30 p.m. ET
Quarterbacks
Eli Manning (7.8): First thing's first -- if Odell Beckham is out for the Giants, Manning shouldn't be started. It's also worth noting Manning hasn't thrown a touchdown in Philadelphia since Chip Kelly became the Eagles coach (which was 2013). The matchup seems favorable but Philly's penchant for turnovers have left opposing quarterbacks with one game over 20 Fantasy points and three very close to it.
Sam Bradford (7.4): The only time the Eagles didn't throw two touchdowns over their last four against the G-Men was when Matt Barkley started. Bradford seemingly has his act together and should take advantage of a Giants defense that could be without one of its starting cornerbacks.
Running backs
Shane Vereen (5.0), Rashad Jennings (3.7) & Andre Williams (2.2): The Eagles run defense is awesome and the Giants' three-headed monster has been very hit-or-miss for Fantasy. If the Giants are to play from behind, or avoid running into the teeth of a tough run defense, then Vereen makes sense as the running back of choice, just as he wound up being last week.
DeMarco Murray (7.3): The Giants were battered late last week against the run, but they hung tough before the fourth quarter and will get linebacker Jon Beason back. He makes a huge difference for their run defense and could make things a little tough on Murray.
Ryan Mathews (6.3): When he's in the game for Philly, good things happen. He's still not getting much work with Murray active but he's worth a flier as a low-end No. 2 running back.
Wide receivers
Odell Beckham (9.6): Obvious must-start if he practices by Saturday.
Rueben Randle (5.2): Randle practiced this week and looks like he'll play through a hamstring injury that sidelined him last week. The Giants will need him against an Eagles pass defense that's allowed seven touchdowns to receivers through five games and 30 total Fantasy points to two Saints wideouts in Week 5.
Jordan Matthews (6.7): Matthews has been a disappointment this year but he's still getting targets. That will change if he keeps underperforming, but the Giants have had a hard time with underneath-type receivers this year.
Josh Huff (5.0): It's a total hunch play but with Nelson Agholor sidelined expect Huff to get some extra opportunities as an outside receiver.
Tight ends
Larry Donnell (5.1): The Eagles allowed their first touchdown to a tight end on the season in Week 5, but that's not a reason to like Donnell. With the Giants receiving corps banged up, Donnell should end up with extra targets and a decent chance at getting near 10 Fantasy points.
Zach Ertz (5.3) & Brent Celek (4.1): The Giants are among the worst in the league in covering tight ends. Ertz has picked up plenty of chances to make plays and Celek has been scoring touchdowns. Both are sneaky plays.
Defense/Special teams
Eagles (6.3): They're already a pretty good starting option as it stands, but if the Giants roll into this game without Odell Beckham, they should have a feast.
Giants (3.3): With Philadelphia's offense rolling and key members of the Giants defense either playing hurt, coming back from a concussion or missing, this isn't the right time to trust the unit.
Falcons at Saints, Thu., 8:25 p.m. ET
Quarterbacks
Matt Ryan (8.0): Obvious must-start.
Drew Brees (7.2): Brees tossed for over 300 yards in each game against the Falcons last year but couldn't land more than one touchdown. Between that track record, his recent numbers (just one game over 20 Fantasy points) and the Falcons pass defense being better than expected, Brees should figure to come in right around 20 or 21 Fantasy points.
Running backs
Devonta Freeman (9.2): The Saints run defense has been hot and cold all season, but Freeman has been red hot. On a short week, expect very good numbers.
Tevin Coleman (1.9): Coleman won't play much anytime soon but is still worth rostering as a handcuff for Freeman or a lottery ticket in the event Freeman misses playing time.
Mark Ingram (8.1): Obvious must-start.
C.J. Spiller (3.9): Knowing how bad the Falcons are at defending running backs through the air (8.5 yards per catch), expect Spiller to see a few more than the four targets and six touches he had last week.
Wide receivers
Julio Jones (9.1): Obvious must-start.
Leonard Hankerson (6.1): Last week was a weird game for Hankerson. A rib injury cost him the first half, but he came back in the second half only to have Ryan miss him on three end-zone targets and a two-point conversion. Don't be the least bit shocked to see him land at least seven targets and potentially deliver a big game.
Roddy White (2.0): The only way White's targets will rise is if Jones doesn't suit up for the Falcons. Otherwise, expect him to remain bench/waiver material.
Brandin Cooks (7.0): Garbage time saved him last week against the Eagles, but Cooks at least showed why he was worthy of an early-round pick. He's always worth a start when playing at home.
Willie Snead (6.2): Opposing non-No. 1 receivers have come down with at least 80 yards against the Falcons in their last two games. Snead has at least that many yards in each of the Saints' last two games and should notch at least that many in Week 6.
Tight ends
Jacob Tamme (3.4): Nine of his 10 targets last week came in the first half when Hankerson was sidelined with an injury. The Saints have struggled against tight ends, but it's unclear just how many passes will go Tamme's way (he has zero red-zone targets on the season).
Defense/Special teams
Falcons (6.8): Atlanta's allowing 22.4 points per game and 366.4 yards per game. The Saints are averaging 387.4 yards per game but have struggled to put numbers on the scoreboard with 20.6. The Saints are also giving up a bunch of sacks and Brees has turned the ball over five times in four games. The Falcons aren't a horrible start and are worth dealing with this week if only to keep for the two games after.
Saints (2.8): The Falcons are one of the league's top scoring teams and they rack up a lot of yardage to boot. The Saints DST still hasn't posted a game with more than nine Fantasy points.Travis Snider has been locked in a battle with Eric Thames for the final roster spot in the Jays’ outfield, but I don’t think this makes any sense. Not because I think Snider should be handed a job, or that Thames is terrible or anything. No, the reason is that I’m not sure why Ben Francisco has a guaranteed job with Toronto.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that Snider hasn’t performed optimally in the Majors the past three seasons, and that last season in particular was a bit of a disaster. But as bench options go, Ben Francisco simply isn’t a great fit for the Blue Jays. While Francisco does bring a decent stick to the table — his projected.327 wOBA ties him for 61st among outfielders — it’s not going to be terribly valuable for Toronto. Jose Bautista isn’t going to need or get a caddy in right field, and Francisco isn’t capable of playing center field. That leaves left field. And while both of the main candidates for the starting gig there — Snider and Thames — are worse at hitting southpaws than Elaine Benes is at ordering soup, Francisco isn’t the best candidate to carry the shallow half of a platoon with either of them.
Francisco is a nice little hitter, but against lefties, he’s not as good as Rajai Davis. Over the past three seasons, Davis has a better wOBA and wRC+ against lefties than does Francisco. The difference was even more pronounced last season, as Davis’.362 wOBA left Francisco and the.301 mark he put up in a down year in the dust. The two hitters have different skill sets, but overall Davis has simply been more effective. It’s not just offensively that Francisco comes up short — Davis is also the much better baserunner and basestealer. Finally, Davis is probably the better defender as well. Over the past three seasons, Francisco comes in behind Davis in DRS, UZR and UZR/150. To be sure, Davis isn’t anyone’s idea of a Gold Glover, but he wins out here as well.
Francisco is a better hitter against right-handed pitchers than is Davis, but here again, Francisco isn’t the best option –Thames hit righties better than did Francisco last season. Francisco may be a better defender than Thames, but Thames is five years younger, already has more built-in knowledge of the Rogers Centre and is fleeter of foot. And while Francisco may or may not have an edge over Thames defensively, Snider is easily the best defender of the bunch. In fact, of the seven players most likely to see time in the outfield this year for the Jays — Bautista, Colby Rasmus, Thames, Davis, Francisco, Snider and Mike McCoy — only the latter two could be considered plus defenders, and most of McCoy’s time will likely be spent in the infield.
So, outside of Bautista and Rasmus, here are our best options among the four remaining outfield candidates:
– Hitting vs. LHP – Davis
– Hitting vs. RHP – Thames
– Defense – Snider
– Baserunning/stealing – Davis
If you subscribe to the theory, as I do, that a player on the bench should have one thing that he does better than everyone else, then Francisco is expendable. And while there is an argument that he could be the best pinch-hitter of the bunch, there are two mitigating factors there. One, he wasn’t any great shakes in the role last year (7-for-26, no homers in the regular season), and two, Blue Jays manager John Farrell didn’t pinch hit much last season — the Jays’ 59 pinch-hit at bats tied for 26th in the Majors last season.
There is another consideration here as well. While Snider has flailed at the Major League level since 2009, he has mashed in the Minors. Since his Major League debut, he has hit.322/.388/.542 in the Minors. There’s not much left that he can prove there. We frequently hear that young players need consistent at-bats to mature and find a groove in the Majors, but that doesn’t really seem to have helped Snider. Every time Snider has been in the Majors, it has been with heavy expectations — even if he has hit in the bottom of the order during much of that time — and he has failed to meet them. Perhaps if Snider was allowed to sit on the bench and learn for a bit in a low-pressure role, coming off the bench as a defensive sub and spot starting once-twice a week, it would help him get comfortable and allow him to produce, and then take on a larger role gradually. Not to mention it would allow the Jays to save his one remaining option.
While we can’t know exactly how Snider would react to such a situation, we can state that a platoon of Thames and Davis, with Snider serving as the fifth outfielder is going to align the Blue Jays’ talent more optimally, since Snider is a better defender than is Francisco. If the Blue Jays are serious about trying to make the playoffs this year, they are going to need every little edge, and having a plus defender off the bench to spell one of the Jays’ many subpar defenders is definitely an edge worth having.
Snider and Thames are dueling for the starting spot in left field, and it is a toss-up. Snider has played better in Spring Training, but Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos has maintained that Thames is the favorite. But the best option may be to roster both, at the expense of Francisco. Yes, Francisco’s homer in the 2011 postseason was awesome, and while he is coming off of a down year, he does have a good bat overall. But he offers Toronto less utility than he might another team, and they should explore trading him.When Matt Marquez had a bulldog gang tattoo covered up with a gypsy woman on his arm, it was symbolic of a larger transformation from gang leader to family man.
“I was a dirty scoundrel. That’s who I was. Now I’ve got three kids,” Marquez said. “I don’t want anything to happen to them.”
The large gang tattoo had repeatedly drawn the convict into street fights with gang members, made it tougher for him to get jobs and was a constant reminder of why he attended 30 funerals of young friends and relatives.
Enter tattoo artist Chris “Lil’ Devil” Klein.
Klein, 35, donates his work for gang members trying to change their lives and forswear violence.
On Thursday, Klein inked over the bulldog and gang tribute on Marquez’s left arm in a charitable gesture that could help Marquez put gang life behind him forever.
“I admire people who are trying to change their lives,” said Klein, who owns That Scary Place Tattoo and Piercing Studio at 7739 E. Colfax Ave.
Though tattoos of his two daughters, a rubber duck and a purple hippopotamus cover his arms and neck, he knows what it’s like to be judged merely because of his body art.
That is why Klein has for years offered his tattooing talent for free to gang members who regret emblazoning their bodies with swastikas, tagger symbols and gang names in ornate old- English lettering.
A lot of Klein’s referrals come from Denver cops who have gotten tattoos at his shop. They tell him about convicts who want to escape gangs.
It can be a dangerous transition.
Several years ago, a hit was put out on the life of a friend of Klein’s who had moved from California to Colorado to escape gangs.
Gang members spread descriptions of the man’s tattoos around, much like police sending a description to catch a fugitive. His tattoos identified him better than a photograph.
Klein’s friend had his forearm tattoo of a large brick wall with an X over it replaced with an African design.
Shifting image, priority
Klein has turned gang symbols or drawings of AK-47s into beautiful señoritas in sedate country scenes.
He is particularly proud of turning one former white supremacist’s swastika-covered back into a Japanese-themed lake scene with a colorful koi fish splashing out of the water.
Klein doesn’t promise gang members their new tattoos won’t lead to some long stares in grocery-store lines, but artistic tattoos don’t carry the same stigma or put up barriers that gang tattoos do, he said.
Marquez, 31, who is on probation for theft and wants to go straight, got his bulldog tattoo in jail from a fellow gang member who used a guitar string as a needle.
Years later, as relatives and fellow gang members were killed or sent to prison for life, gang life lost its allure for Marquez. The deciding factor was how it affected his growing family when he went to jail and his wife considered divorcing him, he said.
“I don’t sell drugs or gangbang no more,” said Marquez, adding that he is a retail salesman.
He doesn’t make as much money, but he’s happier.
Marquez has been wearing long-sleeve shirts when he takes his daughter and two sons, ranging in age from 2 to 9, to the park.
The bulldog vanished Thursday in a gypsy’s long curling black hair.
“I’m going to put on a tank top,” Marquez said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.comHydrogen is the most abundant element found in the universe, making up nearly three-quarters of all matter. Despite its prevalence, questions about the element remain.
In a new paper published today by Nature Communications, a team of researchers, including scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), aims to answer one of those questions – what happens to hydrogen at high pressure.
“This research tells us something about the process of hydrogen’s transformation from insulator to metal at high pressure,” said lead author Paul Davis. Davis conducted this research while working as a University of California, Berkeley graduate student sited within LLNL’s National Ignition Facility & Photon Science Directorate in the former group of Siegfried Glenzer (now a professor at Stanford/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). Paul Davis now serves as a science and technology policy fellow at the Department of Defense.
“Because it’s hard to do these kinds of high pressure experiments, there tends to be more theoretical and computational work than data available. In particular, no one has been able to do detailed X-ray scattering studies at a range of pressures before,” he said. “This work helps us confirm theoretical models for materials under extreme conditions.”
In the newly published research, the team outlines how they used X-rays to look into the interior of a hydrogen target, looking for free electrons to appear in high pressure shock waves formed when hydrogen is shot with a high-energy laser beam. Those electrons are freed from bonded molecules when the hydrogen is sufficiently compressed by the shock.
“Our X-ray scattering technique allows us to measure those electrons directly,” Davis said. “Knowing what pressure that happened at tells us about the material physics at work – how compressed does hydrogen need to be for free electrons to appear, and in what quantities."
The experiments were conducted at LLNL’s Jupiter Laser Facility using the two-beamed Janus laser. One beam was used to launch a shock wave into deuterium targets (an isotope of hydrogen that is utilized in inertial confinement fusion experiments). The second beam was used to create X-rays to scatter off that shocked hydrogen. A curved crystal spectrometer was used to spread the scattered X-rays into a spectrum, similar to how a prism would spread optical light into a spectrum.
“By looking at the details of the spectrum and comparing it to theoretical calculations, we can infer the behavior of the high-pressure target. In particular, by doing the same thing at several pressures, we can see where free electrons begin to appear in the spectrum, indicating that the hydrogen is turning from an insulator to a metal at that pressure,” Davis said. “The challenge of the experiment is that very few X-rays are scattered, especially in hydrogen, which is very low density. Because the experiments only last a few nanoseconds, we’re fighting to capture enough scattered X-rays to make an analysis.”
Collaborators from the University of Rostock in Germany performed sophisticated calculations of the hydrogen at a variety of shock conditions, calculating how many of the deuterium molecules turned into lone atoms – a process called dissociation. The team found that the pressures where its X-ray measurements indicate the appearance of free electrons (“ionization”) coincides with where they calculate the breaking of molecules into atoms (“dissociation”), confirming that those processes appear to happen at the same time.
“The change from strong bonding to almost free electrons is mainly driven by pressure. To treat this electronic transition correctly is still a challenge for modern quantum physics,” said Ronald Redmer from the University of Rostock. That physics determines fundamental properties of hydrogen (such as electrical conductivity), which are important in understanding planetary science and nuclear fusion. Also, because hydrogen is the simplest element, it’s a very important model system for understanding the physics of materials under extreme conditions.
“This work helps us understand the physics at work inside giant planets like Jupiter,” Davis said. “The details of how hydrogen dissociates under pressure and becomes electrically conductive are important for scientists seeking to understand planetary interiors and the dynamo action that causes their magnetic fields. The very same physics is at work in the targets at the National Ignition Facility, where designers must understand the high pressure target properties in order to advance toward fusion.”
According to Davis, while the team has demonstrated that their experimental technique works on laser systems, they expect more sophisticated versions to be used at new X-ray laser facilities like the Linac Coherent Light Source at Stanford’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
“New facilities make it possible to do much higher fidelity dynamic X-ray scattering studies, which could be used to answer subtle questions in planetary and material science,” he said.
“X-ray laser experiments on laser-heated hydrogen are one of the most interesting new research areas that have become possible in recent years,” Glenzer said. “These new studies can resolve the ultrafast time scales on which hydrogen transforms into a dense plasma state and measure its properties with high accuracy.”
Davis was joined by LLNL co-authors Tilo Doeppner, Laurent Divol, Arthur Pak, Peter Celliers, Rip Collins, Otto Landen and Ryan Rygg, and scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Rostock and Sandia National Laboratories.
This work was supported by LLNL’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, Fusion Energy Sciences. Davis was supported by the NNSA Stockpile Stewardship Graduate Fellowship.Admit it, you are curious about Nick Gillespie's favorite flavor of Pop Tart. You want Matt Welch to dish about his recent interviews with Rand and Ron Paul. You're wondering if Somalia really is a libertarian paradise. And you probably need some advice about a new leather jacket you are thinking about purchasing.
Didn't get a chance to ask those burning questions during previous Ask a Libertarian sessions? Now's your moment.
Tomorrow at 12 noon, head over to Reddit for an epic Reason AMA. Editors in Chief Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch will be there to answer all the questions the Internet can throw at them for a couple of hours. And by "the Internet" we mean you.
The link will go live a few minutes before noon, so post early to increase your chances of getting an answer.
Reason's annual Webathon is underway! Your (tax-deductible!) gift will help Reason magazine, Reason.com, and Reason TV bring the case for "Free Minds and Free Markets" to bigger and bigger audiences. For giving levels and associated swag, go here now.WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork) — In the Weekly Democratic Address Saturday, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) took President Donald Trump and other Republicans to task for their budget and tax proposals.
“President Trump and his Republican colleagues are now pushing the most destructive and unfair budget and tax proposal in the modern history of our country. A budget that would do incalculable harm to tens of millions of working families, to our children, to the sick, to the elderly, and to the poor,” Sanders said in part.
“At a time when the middle-class is shrinking, and over 40 million Americans are living in poverty, we need a budget that reflects the needs of working families of the middle-class, and not just the wealthiest people in our country, nor the largest campaign contributors. Our job now is to stand up, fight back, and to defeat this horrendous budget,” he continued.Now that Ebola is officially in the US on an uncontrolled basis, the two questions on everyone's lips are a) who will get sick next and b) how bad could it get?
We don't know the answer to question #1 just yet, but when it comes to the second one, a press release three weeks ago from US based Lakeland Industries, a manufacturer and seller of a "comprehensive line of safety garments and accessories for the industrial protective clothing market" may provide some insight into just how bad the US State Department thinks it may get. Because when the US government buys 160,000 hazmat suits specifically designed against Ebola (cost is $1,200 each), just ahead of the worst Ebola epidemic in history making US landfall, one wonders: what do they know that the public doesn't? From Lakeland Industries:
Lakeland Industries, a leading global manufacturer of industrial protective clothing for industry, municipalities, healthcare and to first responders on the federal, state and local levels, today announced the global availability of its protective apparel for use in handling the Ebola virus. In response to the increasing demand for specialty protective suits to be worm by healthcare workers and others being exposed to Ebola, Lakeland is increasing its manufacturing capacity for these garments and includes proprietary processes for specialized seam sealing, a far superior technology for protecting against viral hazards than non-sealed products.
"Lakeland stands ready to join the fight against the spread of Ebola," said Christopher J. Ryan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lakeland Industries. "We understand the difficulty of getting appropriate products through a procurement system that in times of crisis favors availability over specification, and we hope our added capacity will help alleviate that problem. With the U.S. State Department alone putting out a bid for 160,000 suits, we encourage all protective apparel companies to increase their manufacturing capacity for sealed seam garments so that our industry can do its part in addressing this threat to global health. The US Government helped itself to some $192m of taxpayers money and purchased 160,000 suits for a disease that's supposedly not airborne. If this Ebola strain wasn't airborne, it would not have spread with the speed it has, in Western Africa and now the US. Lets look at the Canada's Public Health Agency who for several months had this statement on its website: In the laboratory, infection through small-particle aerosols has been demonstrated in primates, and airborne spread among humans is strongly suspected, although it has not yet been conclusively demonstrated (1, 6, 13). The importance of this route of transmission is not clear. Poor hygienic conditions can aid the spread of the virus. For unknown reasons (we can only speculate pressure from outside), the Canadian PHA edited their statement on the new ebola strain, and it now says this: "In laboratory settings, non-human primates exposed to aerosolized ebolavirus from pigs have become infected, however, airborne transmission has not been demonstrated between non-human primates". The US based CDC issues a statement that insults everyone's intelligence: People are not contagious after exposure unless they develop symptoms. The current strain, as stated here early on, is novelgenetically as well as geographically. Second, the distinction between incubation and visible symptoms is a continuum, not discrete in nature; a few droplets might not be rain, but theyre not indicative of fully clear skies eitherso the boundary drawn by the CDC is, like nearly everything else the U.S. government does, arbitrary. Third, as even rank amateurs at statistics know, previous outbreaks have consisted of too few cases to confidently rule out small but consequential probabilities of asymptomatic transmissioncompletely leaving aside the fact that we have a new genetic variant of Ebola to deal with. //Dr. J. Kissner & Martin D.FROM: Project Lead
TO: Arma 3 Users
INFO: Helicopters DLC status, Firing from Vehicles Dev-Branch
PRECEDENCE: Flash
SITUATION
Let's take a look at the status of Arma 3 Helicopters as a whole. The two new helicopters and their variants are Beta in our internal milestones. The artwork is complete, cockpit instruments configured, crew animations plugged in, and most recently, sound effects enabled. We're very happy with the results, and will keep tweaking them for a solid release. The supporting playable content (some of which is premium content, and other bits will be added to everyone for free), sits somewhere between Alpha and Beta. Our designers are play-testing daily to offer an introduction to beginning helicopter pilots and provide a new multiplayer experience based around aerial logistics. As of yesterday, Firing from Vehicles has been staged to Dev-Branch. This means all three major features complementing the helicopters are in Beta and in testing: RotorLib Flight Dynamics Modeling, Sling Loading and Firing from Vehicles. Your feedback has already helped us improve the first two, and we're tracking your reports on the latest addition. To iterate again, these features are part of a free platform update to Arma 3, not locked to owners of the DLC.
INTELLIGENCE
1.30 hotfix testing and iterating continues on the Steam Release Candidate and Profiling branches. The (slow) procedure is as follows:
We place a RC version of the game on its Steam branch (access code Arma3Hotfix130).
Online Services technician David Foltýn updates his special testing servers and enables extensive netcode logging.
We ask a mix of internal testers and community players to connect and play on this server.
After a period of at least several hours, the logs are collected and passed to our programmers.
These logs are processed, and issues identified and fixed for a new iteration.
The process starts again, until we arrive at an acceptable state and can release it to everyone.
It is simply not feasible for us to replicate all multiplayer conditions in-house, so we appreciate your help with our'stress tests'! If you're interested in helping, please keep an eye on our Twitter channel for tests. Community member CiforDayZServer has written a quick guide on how to use the RC branch and connect to the test servers.
OPERATIONS
The Dev-Branch staging of Firing from Vehicles was quickly followed by an OPREP on the feature in question. Senior Programmer Krzysztof Bielawski and Encoding Lead Petr Kolář joined forces to shed some light on how the technology was implemented and what it means for modders / scenario designers. Getting this feature to work was not just about firing primary weapons. We also had to support other infantry features, such as sidearms, zeroing, reloading, optics and grenades. And to top it off, the Artificial Intelligence underwent training to be able to make it rain down lead. Your feedback is very welcome in this dedicated forums thread.
The Launcher team is happy to report they have found the primary culprit for those encountering an invisible launcher. There was an incompatibility with the third-party SweetFX Shader Suite. Upcoming versions of the launcher will be able to detect this situation and correct for it.
LOGISTICS
More splendid scripting language enhancements are under way via Dev-Branch. It is now possible to select a range in an array or string, as well as to delete a specific array element or range. Scripters will now be able to avoid the common deletion work-around (_array = _array - ["delete_me"]). There also is a new command getHit to retrieve hit point damage via selection name rather than config class.UPDATE 12/1 9AM: Seagate confirmed Thursday that it decided to revive the Maxtor brand in a bid to sell value products. In the coming months the company plans to phase-out its inexpensive Samsung-branded products and Maxtor will take their place.
Seagate has quietly started to sell Maxtor-branded external storage devices in various countries. At present, the company offers the Maxtor M3 and the Maxtor D3 Station DAS devices, which it also sells under the Samsung name (yes, you read that right - click here for proof). Right now, it is unclear for how long Seagate plans to use the trademark, which it has not touched for quite a while.
Maxtor was a major maker of hard drives that was founded in 1982 and acquired by Seagate in 2006. In the early 2000s, Maxtor was the largest maker of HDDs in the world after its acquisition of HDD division from Quantum, but its advantages somewhat diminished by the middle of the decade due to various reasons, such as the lack of a comprehensive lineup of 2.5” hard drives in the product stack. Maxtor faced severe financial troubles for the most part of its history, and after it was acquired it was also plagued by quality problems as well as controversial management decisions. After Seagate took the company over in 2006, it did ship Maxtor-branded internal and external drives for a couple of years (in fact, external storage was a strong side of Maxtor), but eventually the trademark was dropped.
Earlier this year Seagate decided to start using the Maxtor brand again to sell its M3 and D3 Station external storage products. Both of the DAS devices are also known as the Samsung M3 as well as the Samsung D3 Station which are available worldwide today. In fact, it is surprising to see that Seagate still uses the Samsung brand for hard drive products about five years after the acquisition of Samsung’s HDD business. Under the initial agreement, Seagate had rights to use the Samsung trademark for hard drives for 12 months following the buyout. Apparently, the two companies have amended the initial agreement as Seagate currently offers four Samsung-branded products for consumers. Meanwhile, the revival of the Maxtor brand could indicate that Seagate has begun to phase-out use of the Samsung trademark for its products, which is why it creates alternatives featuring a different brand (some may say that we are dealing with a plain re-badging).
Seagate’s Maxtor DAS Lineup Product Capacity Interface Dimensions
W×L×H (mm) Model Number M3 500 GB USB 3.0 82 × 112 × 17.5 STSHX-M500TCBM 1 TB STSHX-M101TCBM 2 TB STSHX-M201TCBM 3 TB 82 × 118.2 × 19.85 STSHX-M301TCBM 4 TB STSHX-M401TCBM D3 Station 2 TB 129.2 × 180.6 × 129.2 STSHX-D201TDBM 3 TB STSHX-D301TDBM 4 TB STSHX-D401TDBM 5 TB STSHX-D501TDBM
The Maxtor M3 external drive offers 500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB capacities via a USB 3.0 interface. The top of the range Maxtor M3 model is based on the Spinpoint M10P 2.5”/15 mm HDD with five 800 GB platters featuring shingled magnetic recording technology at 5400 RPM spindle speed as well as 16 MB of cache. In the meantime, models with lower capacities use different hard drives and have smaller dimensions. The DAS comes with AutoBackup and SafetyKey software for automatic backup and protection.
The Maxtor D3 Station uses two 2.5” HDDs to offer 2 TB, 3 TB, 4 TB and 5 TB capacities (as opposed to up to 6 TB offered by the Samsung D3 Station version). Just like the M3, the DAS uses a USB 3.0 interface both for data transfer and for power. In addition it also comes with AutoBackup and SafetyKey. Since the D3 Station is designed to serve essential storage needs, it is basically a JBOD device that does not offer any kind of RAID for additional performance or reliability (it also makes for an inconsistent performance profile).
At present, Seagate uses its own brand to sell various external storage devices, the LaCie trademark for premium DAS products and the Samsung brand for select inexpensive external storage solutions. On Thursday the company said that it plans to continue using three brands for its external storage devices going forward with Maxtor taking the the place of Samsung. Seagate intends to add more products into the Maxtor lineup when it makes sense. The statement by Seagate reads as follows.
"Seagate’s consumer strategy is to have three brands to serve our customers varied external storage needs. Seagate (mainstream), LaCie (premium/creative pro) and Maxtor (value)," the company indicated. "The Samsung external HDD line is indeed being transitioned to the revived Maxtor brand. We will continue to provide products under the Maxtor brand and evolve the line as it makes sense."
At present, the Maxtor M3 and the Maxtor D3 Station products are available at Amazon and multiple other online and retail stores across the world.
Related Reading:Does this mean that his
On Tuesday, the 60-day deadline US President Donald Trump gave the US Congress to fix or scrap the Iran nuclear deal will pass – with no serious, formal action.Does this mean that his decertification move failed, that he will scrap the deal on his own or that a new kind of dynamic has started regarding the Iran deal, which is still playing out? First, let’s explain Congress’s lack of action to date.
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It was not for lack of a will to act – US Senator Bob Corker and some other partners had a bill ready to go to fix the deal.Although Trump did not want to be bound by having to reapprove the nuclear deal every three months, his threat that, absent Congressional action, he might completely scrap the deal on his own was not to sell Congress.The deal was already unpopular in Congress two-and-a-half years ago; now Congress has been working to reduce Iran’s capacity as a nuclear threat, at least in the short-term.No Democrats want to scrap the deal – and about a dozen Republican senators don’t want to scrap it either.Former CIA Director Michael Hayden, who opposed the deal, has told The Jerusalem Post that for now it should be kept, with an eye to individually address its shortcomings. Former IDF military-intelligence chief Amos Yadlin wrote similarly in a Post op-ed last month.Even current CIA Director Mike Pompeo – possibly Trump’s closest adviser – admitted two weeks ago that he told Trump that Iran is in short-term compliance with the deal.Just as important – and related to Congressional non-action – Europe was unmoved, at least in the short-term, by Trump’s threat to scrap the deal.If Europe is not on-board with re-sanctioning and re-negotiating the deal with Iran, most observers view any unilateral action by the US as having a limited impact.There is essentially no real level of trade between the US and Iran to sanction away. And if the US tries to penalize its European partners for trading with Iran, they have threatened lawsuits in international courts – which they might very well win, since virtually no one says that Iran has formally broken the deal.But there is another track.The Post reported last month on a position paper by former defense minister Moshe Yaalon recommending that Trump formally leave the deal as is, but work with European allies to pressure Iran regarding issues not directly related to the deal, such as limiting its ballistic-missile testing and sponsorship of regional terror, and accepting an eventual extension of the deal’s nuclear restrictions.Similarly, Former CIA Director Hayden told the Post in October that if Trump was not so stuck on |
person's position in the community is based on how much they gave of themselves to their people. As such, potlatches are hosted where gifts and material wealth is shared with the community. Food is prepared and a large feast is given to the community. All the foods eaten by their ancestors are considered "traditional foods", and are usually accompanied in the feast celebrating their indigenous culture. It was this event that was banned and made illegal by the Canadian government from 1884 to 1951. During that time, their ceremonies and events went underground, only to be revived years later.
Prior to contact, travel was primarily done by canoe. Large cedar trees are cut down and carved into a single cedar dug-out canoe. Families would travel to different villages or nations to visit their relatives, or in the summer months journey to resource rich camping sites to gather food and materials for the colder winter months. In 1992 the construction and revitalization of the canoe culture came back when they construct an ocean-travel canoe. This canoe is measured at 52 feet and was carved from a single cedar tree. Since that time multiple canoes have been carved, either for single-family use, or community-wide use.
Art [ edit ]
Language [ edit ]
Squamish elder Audrey Rivers wearing wool regalia in July 2012.
The Squamish language, or Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim, is the ancestral language of the Squamish people. It's considered an important part of cultural revitalization. Although nearing language extinction, it's still used in ceremonies, events, and basic conversation among some. As the language is moribund, with no children learning it as a first language and all language speakers over the age of 65, much work is being done to preserve and revitalize it. The language is part the Coast Salish linguistic group, and most closely related to Sháshíshálh (Sechelt), and (Halkomelem) and Xwsa7km,(Lhéchalosem). Many anthropologists and linguists have worked with Squamish people and their language including Franz Boas, Charles Hill-Tout, Homer Barnett, and Aert J. Kuipers.
Since the late 19th century the language has had a history. Before contact, it was the prominent language of all the villages, along with the Chinook Jargon. Most children would learn Chinook as a first language because it was so basic, then Squamish language as they become older. After the spread of diseases which caused massive population drops and after colonizations of the territory, the language became a minority language in its own lands. When the Canadian government enforced an assimilationist policies regarding their culture and language, a residential school was set up in the village of Eslha7an with children coming from many Squamish villages, plus some Church officials sending children to another school in Sechelt. At the school, a home for many children 10 months out of the year, the children were forbidden to speak their Squamish language. This caused a deep resentment about speaking the language, and so the next generation grew up without any knowledge of their native-tongue.
Over the years, English became the prominent language. Then during the 1960s, a great deal of documentation and work took place to help in the revitalization of the Squamish language. The BC Language Project of Randy Bouchard and Dorthy Kennedy undertook more documentation under the direction of these two main collaborators of this project. They devised the present writing system that is used for the language. Eventually a local elementary as well as a high school came to include Squamish language classes in place of the usual French language option. A children's school called Xwemelch'stn Estimxwataxw School, meaning Xwmelch'stn Littleones School, with grades kindergarten to 3, was built to assist in language immersion, with plans to expand it into a full immersion programmed school.[39]
Food and cuisine [ edit ]
An elder, by the name of Sekwaliya, cooking salmon on open fire and cedar carved cooking sticks. Circa 1940
Nutrition [ edit ]
Their geographical territory was abundant in rich food sources from land animals to sea life and plants and animals. For meat, deer, bear, elk, duck, swan, and small rodents such as squirrel. With ocean food it was mussels, sea eggs, cockles, clams, seaweed, herring, trout, crab, urchin, sea lion, seal, all kinds of salmon. For berries and plants, it was different kinds of wild blueberry, blackberry, salmon berry, salal berry, five different kinds of grass and the roots of different plants.[40] Ooligans were once in their river system and Ooligan grease was once made from it. Sea food, particularly salmon was their main staple. It was this abundance of sea food and salmon that their diet was considerably heavy on natural fats and oils. This left relatively small amounts of carbohydrates in the diet. To ensure that essentials vitamins are acquired, they eat almost all parts of animals which they harvest. Ground calcined shells, algae and seaweeds were sources of calcium for Indigenous peoples. Vitamin A is obtained from liver. Vitamin C is primarily found in berries and some other plants. Intestines and stomachs can be eaten to provide vitamin E and the vitamin B complexes. Within the decade following the establishment of Fort Langley in 1827 the Squamish had begun extensive farming of potatoes.[41]
Salmon [ edit ]
As the most important food staple, salmon had esteemed respect within Squamish culture. At a yearly springtime Thanksgiving Ceremony or First Salmon Ceremony, specially prepared fish was made for community gatherings. After the community feasted, they would follow a time-honored ritual as they returned the bones to the water. A story recounts how the salmon come to the Squamish people; the salmon have their own world, and an island far out in the ocean. They appear every year to sacrifice themselves to feed the people, but the people asked that after the people are done with them, they return the salmon bones back to the ocean so they can come back.
Salmon was caught using a variety of methods, the most common being the fishing weir. These traps allowed skilled hunters to easily spear a good amount of fish with little effort. Fish weirs were regularly used on the Cheakamus River, which takes its name from the village of Chiyakmesh. This translates into People of the Fish Weir, denoting the weir utilized in this area. This method of fishing required extensive cooperation between the men fishing and the women on the shore doing the cleaning.
In the past, salmon would be roasted over fires and eaten fresh, or dried for preservation. Using smoke over alder or hemlock fires preserved salmon so it could be stored for up two years. It could be soaked in water and prepared for eating. Over time, this evolved into a method preserving salmon through canning. Canned salmon are jarred or pickled, then stored for winter months.
Notable Squamish [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
Media related to Skwxwu7mesh at Wikimedia CommonsDoubt has been cast on the future of the controversial Garden Bridge over the Thames after Labour Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan vowed to withdraw City Hall’s support for the scheme.
The bridge, which is backed by actress Joanna Lumley, is being supported with £60m of public funds despite initial promises by Mayor Boris Johnson that no taxpayer money would be spent to build it.
Mr Johnson has also committed Transport for London to underwrite the bridge’s maintenance costs in perpetuity should its backers be unable to raise enough money from corporate lets and hospitality to pay the bills.
Over the past year a series of revelations about the bridge and restrictions on its use – including a ban on cycling the playing of games – have caused politicians from all opposition parties at City Hall to question its receipt of public funding.
London Assembly members have previously revealed that Londoners will have no right of access to the bridge despite bankrolling its building costs and that the entire bridge will be closed at night to enable it to hired out for corporate events.
And it’s recently been confirmed that TfL managers disposed of notes made during a tender process for the bridge’s early development despite questions about how TfL handled key contracts.
Speaking on Thursday Mr Khan said the scheme “has become another of Boris Johnson’s white elephant projects” which “no longer represents value for money”.
He added: “his was supposed to be an entirely privately funded project costing £60 million, but the overall cost has tripled, and £60 million is being paid for out of the public purse, with a possible maintenance cost of £3.5 million a year – for a bridge which will often be closed to the public for private events and won’t be open overnight.”
Instead of backing the bridge, Khan said he would use the promised cash “in a way which is more beneficial to London’s economy” and pedestrianise Oxford Street to create a “place for all Londoners to be proud of, to walk and shop and meet in, with space for pedestrians and cyclists, open 24/7 with no closures for private functions.”
Mr Khan’s comments came as the Evening Standard reported that Lambeth council “effectively pulled the rug out from under the project by putting negotiations over the land required for the Bridge on hold.”Saints have secured the services of experienced Australian Alan Gaffney, who will become the club's technical coaching consultant until the end of the season.
Gaffney will begin working at Franklin’s Gardens on New Year’s Day ahead of the home Aviva Premiership match against Gloucester on January 6.
The 70-year-old is one of Australia’s most experienced coaches who will bring more than two decades of professional coaching experience to Saints.
Gaffney will already be a household name to supporters of Irish rugby after spells with the Munster, Leinster, and Ireland squads between 2000 and 2011.
As backs coach of the Ireland national team and Leinster in 2009, Gaffney helped to mastermind both a Six Nations Grand Slam triumph and a Heineken Cup victory in the same year.
Since then, the Australian served as senior assistant coach at the New South Wales Waratahs from 2011 to 2013, and has been Rugby Australia’s national elite programmes coach from 2013 to present.
Saints have been in the market for both short-term and long-term options to fill the void left by director of rugby Jim Mallinder, who departed earlier this month.
And Gaffney will now oversee the existing coaching team of acting head coach Alan Dickens, forwards coach Dorian West, Phil Dowson, who will now oversee defence having previously been transition coach, and assistant coach Mark Hopley.
“We are delighted to have recruited Alan as our technical coaching consultant until the end of the season,” said Saints CEO Mark Darbon.
“Alan is hugely experienced and admired throughout the game for being a forward thinking, innovative rugby coach.
"His CV speaks for itself; he has been successful with some of the best teams in the world – including winning a Six Nations Grand Slam and Heineken Cup – and has a clear understanding of how to set-up an effective all-around rugby team.
"He also has a proven track record of developing some of the world’s best coaches and players.
“Alan will take on responsibility for the rugby department and will lead the existing coaching group made up of Alan Dickens, Dorian West, Mark Hopley and Phil Dowson.
“In parallel, the board will continue to focus on the recruitment of a permanent director of rugby to be in place for the start of the 2018/19 season.
"As I have said previously, there has been a great deal of interest in this vacancy and we hope to be able to announce this appointment in the coming months.”
After making more than 200 appearances for Sydney outfit Randwick as a player, Gaffney began his coaching career at his home club before getting his break as assistant coach at the NSW Waratahs in 1997.
During his time at Randwick, Gaffney coached current Australia boss Michael Cheika and England’s Eddie Jones – forging a relationship that saw him work as Jones’ assistant coach with the Australian national team.
From there, Gaffney moved to Saracens where he was director of rugby from 2006 to 2008, guiding the north Londoners to the Aviva Premiership play-offs for the first time ever in 2007 and their first Heineken Cup semi-final in 2008.
That appointment followed initial spells with Leinster as backs coach and then Munster as head coach from 2000 to 2005, where he won back-to-back Celtic League titles.
“I am really excited about the challenge ahead,” said Gaffney.
“Any coach would jump at the chance to work with the calibre of players Saints have.
"The squad have shown what they’re capable of earlier in the season but, for whatever reason, they have not been able to perform at that level consistently.
“I’m looking forward to working with Alan Dickens, Dorian West, Mark Hopley, Phil Dowson and the rest of the backroom staff from the start of the new year.”A newly published study from Yale University reveals that metformin (the most popular treatment for type 2 diabetes) may be safer for patients with mild to moderate kidney disease than guidelines suggest.
The new study is published by Yale investigators in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
For 20 years, metformin has been used in the United States to lower blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. Most experts consider it the best first agent to treat blood sugar increases in this disease. Despite its strong safety profile, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has long recommended that metformin not be prescribed to patients with mild to moderate kidney disease due to the risk of lactic acidosis, a potentially serious condition. But those decades-old guidelines have recently been called into question.
Yale professor of medicine Dr. Silvio E. Inzucchi and colleagues at Yale, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and Aston University in the United Kingdom conducted a systematic review of published research to assess the risk of lactic acidosis with metformin in diabetes patients with mild to moderate kidney disease. They found that the risk in these patients is extremely low — actually comparable to the risk in those who did not take metformin.
“What we found is that there is essentially zero evidence that this is risky,” said Inzucchi, who is also medical director of the Yale Diabetes Center. “The drug could be used safely, so long as kidney function is stable and not severely impaired.”
The finding is key because doctors often avoid or stop prescribing metformin to older patients with diabetes who need it. “They hit a certain age, their kidney function starts to decline, and the first thing most doctors do is to stop metformin,” Inzucchi said. “What invariably happens next is their diabetes goes out of control. Other drugs may be substituted, but they are usually not generic products like metformin, and so are more expensive and may also have more side effects.”
The JAMA review also noted that metformin is already being routinely prescribed to patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease despite the guidelines. “Many in the field know that metformin can be used cautiously in patients who have mild to moderate kidney problems,” Inzucchi noted. “Most specialists do this all the time.”
He cautions that the review findings do not apply to individuals with severe kidney disease. Should the guidelines change, as many in the field have recommended, dosage of metformin would probably need to be reduced at a certain level of kidney function, and patients would need to be more closely monitored to make sure kidney function remains stable.
If the FDA guidelines for metformin use are updated, as Dr. Inzucchi and colleagues have recommended, the drug could be made available to more than 2.5 million Americans living with type 2 diabetes. His group has assembled more than 100 signatures from diabetes experts throughout the country to petition the FDA to update its guidelines.
Other authors include Yale’s Dr. Kasia J. Lipska; Clifford J. Bailey of Aston University; and Helen Mayo and Dr. Darren K. McGuire from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Publication: Silvio E. Inzucchi, et al., “Metformin in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Kidney Disease,” JAMA, 2014, 312(24):2668-2675; doi:10.1001/jama.2014.15298
Image: Yale University via ShutterstockGet the biggest Everton 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
Financial expert Joe Beardwood believes the announcement that Farhad Moshiri has bought a large stake in Everton raises more questions than answers.
The Iranian-born billionaire, 60, has bought 49.9% of Everton shares after selling his stake in Premier League rivals Arsenal on Friday.
Lifelong Evertonian Beardwood, a former chief executive of Carling, offered a cautionary note though and said: “I’ve found the announcement this weekend interesting but to date it probably raises more questions than answers.
“Farhad Moshiri has 17,465 shares if you do the maths. The key question is who has he bought the shares from?
“True Blue Holdings as a pack must have owned somewhere in the region of 24,000 shares.
“Listed in the annual report in 2015, Bill [Kenwright] has 9,044 shares and Robert Earl had 8,146, so if you add that together it’s 17,190.
“(The late) Sir Philip Carter had 714 shares and Jon Woods had 6,622.
“So when I look at those numbers it sort of gives me the impression that three out of four of those tranches of shares have been acquired.”
He added: “If that’s the case and this is the bit that people sometimes get carried away with, if Robert Earl had a £10million investment in Everton then it would seem that he’s sold that - but we don’t know for how much because it’s a private transaction.
“In terms of Everton, the club is no better off. There’s been no indication that there’s any extra money for players, a stadium project or whatever.
“All this announcement says is that 17,465 shares have traded hands. It doesn’t tell us whose 17,465 shares have been sold, it just tells us who has acquired them.
“It also doesn’t tell us the price at which those 17,465 shares have been acquired.
“For illustration, if you believe the initially reported figure that they were sold for £175million – although a lot of subsequent reports are now saying it was nowhere near that – then you’re looking at £10,000 a share but we don’t know that figure.”
Beardwood stresses that this is not a takeover given that Mr Moshiri, while now the single biggest shareholder in Everton, does not possess a majority stake in the club.
He said: “Every wealthy, successful businessman I’ve known will try and do two things to start off. First is to take 51% because they want ultimate control to call the shots. I think it’s very interesting that he’s taken 49.9% and not 51% and what the thinking is behind that.
“In the plc (public limited company) world there’s something called a ‘squeeze out’ so there are rules about what level of shares that somebody needs to acquire before they have to make an offer for everyone else’s shares. If somebody acquires 90% by value then they’ve got to buy all the shareholders out.
“Everton’s isn’t a public company and Mr Moshiri is nowhere near that amount anyway but the figure of 49.9% seems significant.
“What we don’t know is whether this is just his first purchase and he will in time make an offer to other shareholders to gain ultimate control.
“If you’re going to want to start pumping money into an equity you’ve got to own that equity. It’s just too risky otherwise unless you’ve got the majority controlling stake.”
Bearwood also finds it unfathomable that for all his significant personal fortune, Mr Moshiri would pump large amounts into Everton without possessing a majority stake.
He said: “I can’t see how Mr Kenwright could have been given assurances about investment at this stage.
“It’s like me saying to someone ‘come in, take 49.9% of my company, we’re still in charge and we’ve still got the company balance sheet.’
“There’s no discussion because if you say to the new shareholder ‘you’ve got to put money in’ then the new shareholder would say back to me ‘then so have you.’
“Let’s say they’re going to build a new stadium for £200million then the other 51% have to say ‘we’ll put our hands in our pockets as well and will match the investment.’
“There’s no way those discussions could have taken place.”
Beardwood added: “In the past Bill Kenwright, Robert Earl, Jon Woods and Sir Philip Carter had 24,126 shares which was a 68.9% stake of Everton Football Club.
“That meant in terms of driving a strategy, appointing the chief executive, money that was going to be borrowed or whatever, they had complete control of the club.
“With Mr Moshiri acquiring 49.9% I think it would be highly unlikely that he would have gone to other, lesser, shareholders and purchased their shares.
“In the past there were people like Arthur Abercrombie and Lord Grantchester, who I think have about two-and-a-half-thousand shares and then there are the minority shares. I’ve got two shares but nobody has come to me and said ‘I want to buy your shares off you.’
Guesswork and speculation
“I think the deal has been done in that 69%. When I add the numbers up, how do I get to 17,465? It’s the Bill Kenwright shares, plus the Robert Earl shares, plus the Sir Philip Carter shares is 17,800, so it’s there or thereabouts.
“Maybe Bill has said ‘I’ll keep three or four hundred shares and I’ll sell you eight and a half thousand of my shares.’
“In some ways, in terms of the P and L (Profit and Loss) balance sheet and everything else, absolutely nothing seems to have changed at Everton other than Mr Kenwright and Mr Carter’s shares are in the hands of somebody different.
“Until a majority shareholder talks about a strategy and a plan then it’s all guesswork and speculation.”
Beardwood added: “I’d be staggered and amazed if anything significant financially in terms of players happened as a result of this first acquisition. This first step doesn’t change the landscape that much.
“Mr Moshiri has not come out and said ‘I’m about to spend £500million, £200million, £100million or even £75million on Everton’s infrastructure.’ So far there’s been no announcement on that whatsoever.
“What we do know is that 17,465 shares have changed hands.”On Tuesday, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) sent a letter to Bunker Hill Community College informing them of their unconstitutional policies and potential legal litigation if they fail to comply.
Earlier this year, Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) members were handing out copies of the U.S. Constitution in an open area outdoors when they were approached by campus police to stop. This was apparently because the club was not officially recognized and because the college requires approval of literature distributed, according to the ADF press release.
RELATED: College arrests students for handing out Constitutions, ADF files suit [VIDEO]
Imagine that! The U.S. Constitution, the very document that guarantees unalienable rights, needs to be approved by campus officials in order to be distributed. The joint letter from ADF and FIRE explains that BHCC’s policies unconstitutionally “restrict the content of literature distributed, prohibit anonymous speech, prohibit spontaneous speech, and grant unbridled discretion to administrators who may approve or disapprove of the speech based on its content or viewpoint.” These policies violate the First Amendment and restrict free expression.
The Bunker Hill Community College Student Handbook 2016-2017 states, “Items distributed by clubs must relate directly to on-campus information and events sponsored by the club or College.” Unrecognized student groups will be “will be subject to disciplinary action” if they choose to meet and/or engage in club activities. The YAL chapter at BHCC applied for recognition over two months ago, pending administrative approval, according to the ADF press release. Regardless of club approval, students have a right to free speech, universally defended by the Bill of Rights.
The suppression of free expression exists across the country, from the Los Angeles Community College District in California to Kellogg Community College in Michigan to George Mason University in Virginia, and it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. “A majority of America’s higher education institutions maintain some type of restrictive speech code that infringes on the First Amendment rights of its students,” said Cliff Maloney Jr. President of YAL in their press release.
The problem with such anti-expression policies is that they prevent college campuses from being the hotbed of diverse thought and ideas that they have historically been, and they stifle creativity among students who are searching for answers outside the box. Our Founding Fathers realized how paramount this freedom of expression is, which is the reason they included its defense as the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights. Were it not for the devoted efforts of YAL, FIRE, and ADF, among many others, this type of speech-suppressing incident at Bunker Hill Community College would be much more commonplace in the U.S. than it already is.
Latest VideosBiden has been on a tour of diners and delis in swing states. Joe Biden: Sex symbol?
He’s No. 2 on the ticket but No. 1 in their hearts.
Women born before the baby boom generation seem to have a collective crush on a handsome vice presidential candidate with piercing blue eyes and a wide smile who likes to talk about government benefits for seniors. No, not Paul Ryan.
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Joe Biden’s bringing sexy back — to the Medicare-eligible set — and that could be valuable for a president who trails Republican rival Mitt Romney with women of a certain age despite having a wide advantage with their 18- to 65-year-old counterparts.
The vice president, who turns 70 in November, has been on a tour of diners and delis in swing states, charming as many white, blue-collar voters — and their mothers — as possible.
( PHOTOS: Joe Biden over the years)
He’s kissed women on the lips – and the cheek. He pulled a biker chick so close to him at one pit stop that she appeared to be sitting in his lap in photos. And he’s talked about the acrobatic acts of cheerleaders in terms that would draw at least a PG-13 rating in Hollywood.
Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist, said it makes sense to have Biden working the crowd at lunch counters because he’s good at it.
“He is a classic old school retail politician and politics and elections never [tire] of that. Obama’s a great orator and Biden is the retail politician,” Kofinis said. “They’re very different and they appeal to different types of emotions of voters.”
It’s undeniable that he’s a little different than the other candidates on the presidential ticket — the vice president is a big flirt.
( See also: POLITICO’s swing-state map)
On Saturday at Mel’s Diner, a Fort Myers, Fla., joint, not the fictional greasy spoon on TV’s “Alice,” Biden asked a group of nurses if they would “take my pulse.”After a quick photo shoot, he told them: “If there’s any angels in heaven, they’re nurses.”
He’s an equal-opportunity flatterer, dishing out compliments to women of all ages and often admonishing school-age girls that they shouldn’t date “until you’re 30.” At one stop in Virginia in August, he told a 13-year-old young man to “keep the boys away from your sister.”
The act may seem a bit hokey to the younger generation, but the 60- and 70-somethings take Biden very seriously. Often, he’s the first to flirt — but not always.
( Also on POLITICO: The Biden factor)
Jan Queen, 74, snagged a hug and a kiss from the man one long, slow heartbeat away from the presidency at a campaign stop on Sept. 8. She said something to him in a hushed tone, drawing nervous laughter from other women nearby, according to a pool reporter’s write-up of the encounter. “I told him he was so handsome, so good-looking that I was not going to let go of him, and he is better looking off camera than he is on,” she said later.
The Obama campaign declined to comment for this story.FC Barcelona prepared for the derby against Espanyol, the 35th game of the La Liga season, without their captain Andres Iniesta on Friday.
The midfielder missed the session with groin trouble and it's practically impossible he will be ready to take part in Saturday's game at Cornella-El Prat.
It's a game in which Barça are once again obliged to win as they continue to tussle with Real Madrid for the league title.
The absence of Iniesta is a blow for Luis Enrique, who will not be able to repeat the side (with Neymar coming back in for Paco Alcacer) which won at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Iniesta had already been reserved with Espanyol in mind against Osasuna, where he was an unused substitute on Wednesday.
With Rafinha also injured, the options to replace Iniesta are Denis Suarez and Andre Gomes, both of whom played well against Osasuna.
However, Gomes' physical strength makes him the favourite -- plus he scored twice in the 7-1 win and it's hoped his Barça career can kick on from there.With the Vancouver Olympics approaching, sports regulators are taking note of a new wave of genetic technologies that could one day be used to cheat.
Like steroids and other performance enhancers, "gene doping" might soon allow athletes to grow bigger, stronger, and faster via unnatural means.
(Related: "What It Takes to Build the Unbeatable Body" in National Geographic magazine.)
While nobody knows if gene doping is currently being practiced, "it can be done now," said Theodore Friedmann, a gene-therapy researcher at the University of California, San Diego.
Most likely, current efforts would be "hamfisted" and dangerous, he said. But "we know there are disreputable people in sport with access to technology and a lot of money."
Friedmann and colleagues are therefore calling on scientists to help keep gene doping out of the Olympics and other sports events. The experts advise controlling access to gene therapies and warning athletes of the potentially serious health risks.
"Marathon Mice"
No Vancouver Olympian has been accused of gene doping to date.
But Friedmann and colleagues note in tomorrow's issue of the journal Science that it's currently possible for athletes seeking to increase endurance to do so by boosting their muscle cells' expression of a gene called PPAR-∂. (Get an overview of human genetics.)
This gene affects muscle-cell metabolism, and "it also has major effects on fat metabolism and is one of the things being looked at for treatment of obesity and diabetes," Friedmann said.
When used in mice, PPAR-∂ converted ordinary creatures into superathletes, dubbed marathon mice.
Another potential gene-therapy agent is Repoxygen, a medication that was being considered as a way to fight anemia, Friedmann said.
The experimental technique boosts red blood cell production—which would be a way for athletes to increase the amount of oxygen delivered by blood to the muscles. In fact, in 2006 a German newspaper reported on a coach caught trying to buy Repoxygen, which is not approved for human use.
Misusing such treatments via gene doping is dangerous, Friedmann said, with substantial risks of cancer or even death.
How to Catch Olympics Cheats
Unlike drug enhancements, gene doping won't show up in existing blood or urine tests.
To catch gene dopers, sports authorities are considering new testing methods based on looking for changes in cheaters' gene expression and cellular proteins.
"Doping agents don't act in a vacuum," Friedmann said. "They have multiple effects, and many of these will influence the way in which genes are expressed and the proteins produced. If you look at all 25,000 [human] genes, there will be a large number of changes" after gene doping.
Figuring out which changes are caused by doping, however, won't be easy.
"The biggest problem would be understanding what other factors might affect the pattern," said Michael Lawton, molecular toxicologist and drug-safety expert at the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
Gender, age, diet, and exercise can all affect gene expression, he said. "What you want is to avoid false positives that you think are drug use but are actually something else."
Study author Friedmann agrees that looking for changes in gene expression isn't a validated and foolproof approach yet, but he thinks definitive tests will be coming down the line.
He also notes that, while delving into athletes' genomes raises important privacy issues, "that's kind of the cost of being an elite athlete."
Mari Holden, a silver-medal cyclist from the 2000 Summer Olympics and now a cycling coach, agrees.While "Merica" stresses out over free agency changes and speculation over who, what, when, why and how, Miami Heat star Chris Bosh is not only enjoying a family vacation in multiple countries, he is most certainly getting recharged for the new season. And that little light of his, Mrs Adrienne Bosh, is shining right alongside him as they explore the world "through the eyes of a two year old," riding elephants and hugging penguins. (Stand-down, PETA.)
While in Ghana, Bosh was "head tutor" of the 2014 Sprite Ball Basketball Clinic where, along with a delegation from NBA Africa, Bosh enjoyed a special opportunity to teach and share his experiences with players and fans in Ghana. The visit was possible by a collaborative effort with Coca-Cola, NBA Africa and the Ghana Basketball Association.
In speaking to the young players Bosh said Ghana can excel in basketball and he encouraged, "Don’t ever be afraid of your dreams."
The Boshes also visited Hoops Care, a non-profit in Ghana, creating opportunities for youth through basketball and education. They spoke to and took pictures with many young players as well as the wheelchair basketball league, then went on to distribute education materials to many of the kids.
Adrienne Bosh visited the Wesley Girls School where they spoke about the importance of developing sports for girls. Spreading love and light, Mrs Bosh gave interviews and shared #TodayICan wristbands with her new friends.
In the classic "Out of Africa," Karen Blixen said, "We must leave our mark on life while we have it in our power." The Bosh Family World Tour 2014 has proven to be more than a sight-seeing pleasure trip. The Boshes have gone out into the world to have fun and leave their mark of love and light. And you can bet, that little light of his will be shining even brighter come game time.
(Photos: NBA Africa, Buoniconti Fund, April Belle Photos.)A vehicle of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) was carrying troops scheduled to rotate out of their mission when it came under gun fire in an area of Damascus where military operations between the Syrian armed forces and armed members of the opposition were taking place, a spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.
Peacekeepers serving with UNDOF operates in the area of Golan, where they monitor the 1974 disengagement accord between Syria and Israel after their 1973 war. In July, the Security Council agreed to extend the mission’s mandate until 31 December this year.
Over the past couple of weeks there have been reported clashes in Golan between Syrian security forces and the armed opposition, linked to the violence taking place in Syria. On 22 November, Syrian arms fire in the Israel-occupied area prompted a response from Israel, and led Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to call on both countries to exercise restraint and cease fire.
“The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the evolution of the conflict in Syria,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson added. “As today’s incident illustrates, the ongoing clashes between the Syrian armed forces and the armed members of the opposition affect UNDOF’s operations and pose a serious risk to United Nations personnel on the ground.”
Preliminary information from UNDOF stated that all its personnel from the convoy proceeded to Damascus International Airport, including the four wounded people.
Syria has been wracked by violence, with at least 20,000 people, mostly civilians, killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 20 months ago. The violence has spawned more than 440,000 refugees, while more than 2.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to UN estimates.It’s never too early to start fostering a deep, almost obsessive love of Star Trek in your children. So while your toddler is innocently rocking back and forth in this lovely wooden USS Enterprise rocking horse, they’ll have no idea they’re secretly being groomed as a future Trekkie.
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Available from Etsy seller GandGRockers for $195, there’s some wonderful detailing on this miniature version of the Enterprise including warp engine nacelles, a tiny deflector dish beneath the saucer section, and the ship’s call sign branded on top of it.
The only reason not to order one before they sell out is that this Starfleet ship can only accommodate a single crew member, and they can be no larger than a five-year-old. So don’t even think about trying to beam aboard.
[Etsy via Nerd Approved]Sacramento leaders are poised to spend up to $300,000 to boost the city’s status as a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants, even as the federal government threatens to crack down on jurisdictions providing such immigrant protections.
The City Council will vote Thursday on a proposal to invest in an education and legal defense network for undocumented immigrants, with the money coming out of a general fund that supports most core city services. The plan under consideration would also strengthen Sacramento’s status as a sanctuary city by turning into law privacy policies that prohibit city employees – including police – from making inquiries into immigration status.
“It is a modest investment, but it is a very important investment,” said Mayor Darrell Steinberg. “It says very clearly to our community, especially those who are affected by these unconstitutional orders, that ‘we are going to stand with you.’ We have to back up our values with real action to help people who feel at risk and who may be actually at risk.”
Both the sanctuary city ordinance and legal defense fund were proposed by a Safe |
(UTC) Oops! Sorry! Too much taken up by thoughts on which sources to mention here Joshua Jonathan (talk) 06:48, 3 December 2011 (UTC)
Both would seem to be right in different ways. There is no unified system called Zen, it is an amalgam of various ideas and traditions. This is true of any religion you care to choose. There are Catholics who do not accept the authority of the Pope, just as there are Christians who do not believe in a personal God. Likewise, there are in Zen people who do not believe, as Ewkpates says, in demons and spirits. But there are also people who do. It is hard to say exactly why Zen is even classed as part of the Mahayana, perhaps Joshua can give some examples that justify such a classification? It claims to be a tradition based solely on meditation, that vilifies scriptures, other than it's own, and which burns wooden statues of Buddha just to keep warm. This iconoclasm has set it apart from all other forms of Buddhism. Just my ten cents on this. Peter morrell 10:09, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
Hi Peter. Thank you for your reaction and challenge. It's good to be challenged on my statements; it necessitates me to give well-sourced information and quotations, which is also insightfull to myself. I think you're completely right that Zen too is an almalgam of various ideas and traditions. But that does not mean there is no system, or teaching or doctrines in it. The claims you mention are exactly that: claims, very appealing stories about what Zen is, according to it's own tradition. This has been described in a very insightfull way by John MacRae in "Seeing through Zen". I can really recommend this book to anyone interested in Zen. Let me give two quotes: "In the Song dynasty (960-1279), Chinese Chan Buddhism reached something of a climax paradigm. By "climax paradigm", I mean a conceptual configuration by which Chan was described in written texts, practiced by its adherents, and, by extension, understood as a religious entity by the Chinese population as a whole [...] Previous events in Chan were interpreted through the lens of the Song-dynasty configuration, and subsequent developments in China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam were evaluated, even as they occurred, against what was known of the standards established during the Song. Thus the romanticized image of the great Tang-dynasty masters - Mazu and his students, Caoshan, Dongshan, and their students, and of Course Linji - was generated by Song-dynasty authors and functioned within Song-dynasty texts. Similarly, even where subsequent figures throughout East Asia - Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1769), the famous reviver of Japanese Rinzai, is the best example - evoke the examples of Bodhidharma, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, Mazu, and the others, they do so through the conceptual filter of Song-dynasty Chan" (McRae 2003, p.119-120)
"...one important feature must not be overlooked: Chan was not nearly as separate from these other types of Buddhist activiteis as one might think [...] [T]he monasteries of which Chan monks became abbots were comprehensive institutions, 'public monasteries' that supported various types of Buddhist activities other than Chan-style meditation. The reader should bear this point in mind: In contrast to the independent denominations of Soto and Rinzai that emerged (largely by government fiat) in seventeenth-century Japan, there was never any such thing as an institutionally separate Chan'school' at any time in Chinese Buddhist history" (emphasis by McRae)(McRae 2003 p.122)
I think that this quote makes clear that Zen created it's own narrative, and is not so distinctive from other brands of buddhism.
Regarding the use of doctrines and teachings, a quote by Hakuin himself:
"After you have reached the nondual realm of equality of reality, it is essential that you clearly understand the awakened ones' profound principle of differentiation. After this you must master the methods for helping sentient beings [...] This is why one must arouse an attitude of deep compassion and commitment to help all sentient beings everywhere. To begin with, you should study day and night the verbal teachings of the Buddha and patriarchs so that you can penetrate the principles of things in tehir infinite variety. Ascertain and analyze, one by one, hte profundities of the five houses and the seven schools of Zen and the wondrous doctrines of the eight teachings given in the five periods of Buddha's teaching career" (Albert Low (2006), Hakuin on Kensho, p.35)
.
Regarding Zen being part of Mahayana-buddhism: yes, Chan is a dstinctly Chinese product (see Whalen Lai, Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey. Nevertheless, it is Mahayana. If only we take the supposed basis of Bodhidharma's teaching, the Lankavatara-sutra. This was an Indian Mahayana-sutra, trying to bring the tathagatagarba-doctrine and the madhyamaka-philosophy in accord with each other.
As last comment: the image of Zen as an a-historical transcendental truth is a modern construction, created especially in Japan as a reaction to western imperialism, and endorsed by western followers. See Robert H. Sharf, Whose Zen? Zen Nationalism Revisited and John McRae (2005), Introduction (to the reprint of Dumoulin's Zen Buddhism: A History. India and China as starters. Further publications have already been mentioned before by me.
Friendly regards, Joshua Jonathan (talk) 15:57, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
Thanks Joshua, for such a detailed and interesting reponse. Thinking aloud, my question was mostly rhetorical, but after writing it, and from further reflection, it occurred to me that it MUST be Mahayana because such overtly disrespectful iconoclasm could never be part of the Hinayana tradition, its frequent use of the term Bodhisattva and its scriptures: Lotus Sutra, Diamond Sutra, Heart Sutra, Lankavatara Sutra, etc, are all Mahayana texts. So in summary form these points came to mind as clear and simple ways to substantiate its inclusion as part of the Mahayana tradition. However, as you also say, it has created over many centuries its own narrative and constructed its own cultural image as a distinct religious form. And as you say, it is always instructive to remind ourselves of these easily forgotten points. many thanks Peter morrell 17:52, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
I found this interesting text, when Googling "Zen is not Mahayana" and, there-after, "Zen is not Buddhism": Paul L. Swanson, Why They Say Zen Is Not Buddhism. Recent Japanese Critiques of Buddha-Nature, with this nice quote from Hakayama:
"I have said that “Zen is not Buddhism” but do not recall ever saying that “Chinese Ch’an is not Buddhism.” This difference may appear minor, but it is an important distinction. The reason is that anything which shows no attempt at “critical philosophy” based on intellect (prajñ„), but is merely an experiential “Zen” (dhy„na, bsam gtan), whether it be in India or Tibet or wherever, cannot be Buddhism.".
It's a really interesting discussion, but way beyond the original statements of Ewkpates. Friendly regards, Joshua Jonathan (talk) 18:20, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
Well, given that Ewkpates seems to have been talking to a mythologised and romanticised version of Zen as popularised both in Japan and in the West, maybe the article should make some mention of this point, don't you think? so as to more clearly differentiate between what we might term the 'orthodox scriptural version of Zen' and this other more popular form that is out there and which clearly comprises a living reality to some. What do you think? thanks Peter morrell 19:13, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
I was thinking the same. But this asks for a careful wording, because of the sensitivities involved in religious issues. Interestingly, Steven Heine has used almost the same wording: Traditional Zen Narrative (TZN) versus Historical and Cultural Criticism (HCC)(Heine (2008), Zen Skin, Zen Marrow, p.6). Actually, it makes three kinds, the western popularized version being the third. McMahan has described this third version in "The making of Buddhist modernity". Joshua Jonathan (talk) 06:05, 5 December 2011 (UTC)
OK, well you have masses of material here to work with, so why not put something together, if you have time, and place a draft version of it here for folks to comment on until we get some consensus about its wording, and then it can go on the article? sounds like a good plan to me, thanks Peter morrell 07:08, 5 December 2011 (UTC)
I'll give it a try. The header is clear: Zen narratives. Does anybody know if it is convenient to create a subpage for this draft? Joshua Jonathan (talk) 09:39, 5 December 2011 (UTC)
Zen is NOT Mahayana.
'Where in any Zen Master's writings is there the suggestion of either a belief in Universal freedom from suffering OR a belief in the supernatural?' If there are two basic doctrines of Mahayana, those would be two possibilities, and Zen does not embrace either in the writings of any Zen Master, past or present, that I've found. In order for two religions to be linked they have to espouse the same basic beliefs.
It is not enough to say, "somebody wrote a book that says Zen has doctrine." What is the doctrine of Zen? Belief in what, exactly? God? Reincarnation? Afterlife? Spirits? Good? Evil? And which Zen Masters, which lineages, espouse this belief?
The big problem I have with this page is that the conversation is based on books mostly written 1) recently, 2) by scholars rather than Zen followers and 3) unbalanced by any Zen history or the Zen Masters themselves. The easiest example is to say the Christianity is actual a form of Judaism because Jesus was a Jew. Scholars have argued this. But Jesus himself, and those that followed his traditions, completely reject this lineage. By the same token, if when discussing Zen we should focus on Zen Masters, both contemporary and historically, rather than third hand academic discussions. Oddly enough, Google and a handful of web pages may not be all the resources needed to fully describe the history of Zen.
Note: There are koans that touch on the supernatural (Hyakujo and the fox) but koans are notoriously tricky, often misleading, and in the case of Hyakujo ends in both a paradox and a slap, which detracts from it's seriousness as an endorsement of the supernatural. Ewkpates (talk) 15:56, 22 January 2012 (UTC)ewkpates
Hi Ewkpates. Did you bother to read any of the studies I recommanded? I'll try to respond to the points you mention. "Zen is not Mahayana": is this your personal point of view, or a view based on secundary and tertiary sources? Could you provide any source for this point of view? And if zen is not Mahayana, then what is it? Again, read Whalen Lai, Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey
Regarding the "supernatural": Bernard Faure has done very interesting research on this topic Bernard Faure, The cult of relics and Justin Ritzinger and Marcus Bingenheimer, Whole-body relics in Chinese Buddhism – Previous Research and Historical Overview.
and Justin Ritzinger and Marcus Bingenheimer, Basic doctrines: could you please explain what exactly are the basic doctrines of Zen, according to which secondary and tertiary sources?
Zen emphasizes that the 'essence' of yourself, of reality, is not a 'thing'. This seems to be an essentially point in Zen, though not the only one. But that's not unique to zen, despite it's rhetorics. It's thoroughly Buddhist, from the beginnings on. It's also emphasized in the prajnaparamita-sutra's - which are not written by Zen-buddhists, but are still being chanted by Zen-buddhists today, as you probably do know.
Wikipedia-articles are, by definition, based on secunday and tertiary sources.
Academic research in this field is progressing, and is changing the popular narrative of Zen and it's history.
What do you mean by "any Zen history"? Anecdotes? The Traditional Zen Narrative? That is being mentioned, and being put into context. An example of "Zen history" would be Dumoulin's "Zen. A history". McRae has given an introduction to the 2005 reprint of this book, which makes very clear what has been changed regarding the scholarly view on Zen McRae (2005), Introduction by John to the reprint of Dumoulin's "A history of Zen"
being mentioned, being put into context. An example of "Zen history" would be Dumoulin's "Zen. A history". McRae has given an introduction to the 2005 reprint of this book, which makes very clear what has been changed regarding the scholarly view on Zen McRae (2005), Regarding Jesus, I can recommand "Rober M. Price (2003), The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man. How Reliable Is the Gospel Tradition? ". He makes clear that most, if not all of the autobiographic information and sayings attributed to Jesus are based on Old Testament texts, and cannot be reagrded as authentic, to the point that is it's questionable if there ever was a historical Jesus. Apart from that, yes, Early Christianity definately was a form of Judaism. What else? Paul was proud to be a Pharizee.
". He makes clear that most, if not all of the autobiographic information and sayings attributed to Jesus are based on Old Testament texts, and cannot be reagrded as authentic, to the point that is it's questionable if there ever was a historical Jesus. Apart from that, yes, Early Christianity definately was a form of Judaism. What else? Paul was proud to be a Pharizee. "Third hand academic discussions", "Google and a handful of web pages": that's not exactly a fair representation of the sources being used in the article. Researchers like John McRae, Bernard Faure and Steven Heine are highly regarded scientists, who take great measures to give a balanced view on the history of Zen, based on the study of original texts. That's exactly what Wikipedia articles are supposed to be based on, not the personal views on primary texts of Wikipedians.
Koans and the supernatural: read "Steven Heine (2002), Koans of the Zen Masters" From the preface: "This book is a translation with commentary of sixty koan cases that feature an important supernatural or ritual element [...] In contrast to conventional interpretations that view koans as psychological exercises with a purely iconoclastic intention, the approach here highlights the rich component of mythological and marvelous elements that pervade this genre of literature" (p.xiii). Joshua Jonathan (talk) 20:51, 23 January 2012 (UTC)(Larry Downing/Reuters)
SÃO PAULO - Amplamente esperado pelo mercado, o último encontro dos líderes do Federal Reserve em 2015 resultou na confirmação da primeira alta de juros nos Estados Unidos em quase uma década. Com isso, as taxas americanas ficam entre 0,25% e 0,50% ao ano. Além da alta já esperada, a autoridade americana manteve também suas expectativas para encerrar 2016 com juros em torno de 1,375%.
Quer saber onde investir em 2016? Veja no Guia InfoMoney clicando aqui!
Dadas as condições econômicas atuais, o Fed afirmou que as taxas de juros só são suscetíveis a aumentar de forma "gradual", terminando em um alvo de longo prazo de 3,5%, meta que ficou inalterada em relação à previsão setembro. As projeções da autoridade mostram que em 2016 devemos ver quatro altas de juros.
A maioria dos membros esperam uma nova taxa se fixando em torno de 0,375% antes de uma próxima elevação, de acordo com um gráfico mostrando as expectativas de cada membros individualmente.
A decisão marca o primeiro aumento das taxas desde que o Fomc elevou os juros para 5,25% em 29 de junho de 2006. Em uma sucessão de movimentos pressionados pela crise financeira que terminou em 2009, o Fed levou a taxa de juros para zero exatamente sete anos atrás, em 16 de dezembro de 2008.
Olhando para o futuro, o Fed disse que vai “monitorar atentamente” a inflação real à “luz dos baixos níveis atuais”. E, considerando as condições econômicas atuais, o banco disse que a taxa de juro básica provavelmente vai subir em um ritmo “gradual”, que será encerrando quando atingir a meta de longo prazo de 3,5%. O conselho de diretores do Fed também elevou a taxa de redesconto de 0,75% para 1%.Each week, readers Bob and Ivey discuss ‘Game of Thrones’ from the perspective of those who have read the books. This week we take a look at one of the most misunderstood men in Westeros, Stannis Baratheon. Spoilerphobes beware!
After last week’s incredible episode “And Now His Watch Has Ended,” Game of Thrones had set a very high bar for “Kissed By Fire” to meet. There are some — Ivey yes, Bob no — that think that this week’s installment was actually the better of the two. Despite the argument that no one could ever win (especially Bob, since he’s wrong), it is impossible to deny that it was pretty great television. From the battle between the Hound and Beric Dondarrion to an Emmy-worthy bath (Brienne and Jaime and not Ygritte and Jon, for those of you with your minds in the gutter), this episode brought the goods.
Lost behind Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s outstanding performance, however, was a couple of scenes that showed a different side of Stannis Baratheon. We’ve only seen him as a battlefield commander: leading war rooms or men into battle, treating with his enemies — and his family, because in Westeros those things are rarely mutually exclusive — or “conspiring” with the most jacked-up wartime consigliere on television today, the Lady Melisandre.
Unless you were wondering why Shireen was singing Patchface’s song, you should probably skip this post.
This week’s Beyond the Wall will focus on Stannis. Do these new scenes paint the would-be king in a different light, or is he still the unwaveringly cold man we’ve always known him to be. But first, a reminder of the Spoilers that will likely follow. Beyond the Wall is intended for those who have already read the books that Game of Thrones is based on. So, unless you were wondering why Shireen was singing Patchface’s song, you should probably skip this post.
Bob: Stannis.
I know you were a little jazzed up by all the new stuff that was in this episode with the least exciting candidate to be king. I thought it was interesting getting a deeper look into the last surviving Baratheon brother’s home life, but I was a little ambivalent about it all too.
It seems like the producers were trying to build a little sympathy for the cold man. Let’s have him admit his infidelity! Let’s show his crazy ass wife and her jarred dead babies (which was by far the creepiest thing this show has produced, and that includes a shadow monster coming out of… where it came out)! Alright, so it makes Stannis look a little less like a jerk, but you know what? I like that Stannis is a jerk. Isn’t the appeal of the character his complete lack of tact and generally surly attitude?
Tell me how wrong I am.
Ivey: Let me preface my response with reminding you that I think Stannis is probably the most boring “main” character in the entirety of the series, followed closely by his BFF Davos Seaworth. I’ve always thought Stannis was a fairly rotten leader/father/husband/whatever, and will make an even more rotten King. But I’m not sure I ever thought he was a “jerk.” The only thing I ever thought, “Hey, that’s a major dick move,” was his punishing Davos after the smuggler saved his bacon … erm onions.
The only thing I ever thought, “Hey, that’s a major dick move,” was his punishing Davos after the smuggler saved his bacon … erm onions.
But other than his decision to go North and save the Wall, I can’t exactly say he’s been the type of character to inspire a following — from his actual men or people reading the books. This week, though, meeting Shireen and Selyse colored his character just a little bit better in my eyes. You’re right: the baby-corpses were easily the most disturbing images I’ve seen on my television in a long time — and that includes eating while watching Bones. Then, we meet Shireen, a character that is nearly a complete opposite from both of her parents. It is weird to think that a child that sweet could have grown up in a household that cold.
When you add up a batshit crazy wife — and let’s define “batshit crazy” as Lysa Arryn x 3 — and a daughter fraught with Greyscale but is likely the only character in all of Westeros with her innocence still intact … yeah, I see Stannis a little differently than I did Saturday.
Perhaps “jerk” was the wrong word, but I would call Stannis arrogant, entitled, distant, terse, and … nope, he’s a jerk.
Bob: Perhaps “jerk” was the wrong word, but I would call Stannis arrogant, entitled, distant, terse, and … nope, he’s a jerk. All those things add up to jerk. I say that in the nicest possible way, though. I can remember reading A Dance with Dragons and laughing at some of his lines because they were so quintessentially Stannis. He’s an unfeeling oaf who probably has the best claim to the throne and weakest amount of support.
Oh, and helping his red priestess conjure up a shadow demon to stab his own brother in the back … you didn’t find that to be a bit of a dick move?
I’m not sure everyone interpreted the scenes from the episode as you did, though. He was certainly not a warm and loving father with his sweet little scaly daughter, and he only went to see his wife (after a very lengthy absence) to satisfy his own guilt. Some fans I spoke with thought the extra focus on Stannis just cemented his jerky attitude. It didn’t build any sympathy for him, but just made him appear as unsympathetic as ever.
Dude was just asking for it. He might as well have just said, “Please, Red Lady: kill me with your nether regions.”
Ivey: You raise a fair point. Fratricide by vagina-shadow-monsters probably should be tossed in the “dick move” category … but, remember: Renly ate a peach. A peach! Dude was just asking for it. He might as well have just said, “Please, Red Lady: kill me with your nether regions.”
Listen, I’m not saying that Stannis is now the shining example of what every man, woman and child in Westeros should aspire to be (An aside: Is there any one character that we can point to as that person that all of Westeros should look up to? [Bob: Ned Stark.] Yeah, how well did that work out for him?). Through five books and a season and a half of television, I never cared for Stannis because George R. R. Martin never, at least in my eyes, gave me a reason to. Jaime’s redemption arc has begun on the show. Tywin Lannister saved his family’s name and station while being crapped on by his king. And by the time we know what Reek rhymes with, we even feel sorry for him. But other than Ramsay Bolton — the one character in the series I think is evil incarnate — we’re given little to find redemptive in Stannis. These few moments represent more of that than I had seen previously.
Bob: I don’t know. I think you’re oddly biased to many characters in the novels … as is your right, but I just didn’t see these scenes as changing my opinion of the man. If anything, his frank discussion with his young daughter, telling her that he locked up her “friend” for being a traitor, was one of those classic Stannis moments that made me chuckle.
Photo Credit: HBODo you drive a car in the greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area? According to the L.A. Police Department and L.A. Sheriff's Department, your car is part of a vast criminal investigation.
The agencies took a novel approach in the briefs they filed in EFF and the ACLU of Southern California's California Public Records Act lawsuit seeking a week's worth of Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) data. They have argued that "All [license plate] data is investigatory." The fact that it may never be associated with a specific crime doesn't matter.
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This argument is completely counter to our criminal justice system, in which we assume law enforcement will not conduct an investigation unless there are some indicia of criminal activity. In fact, the Fourth Amendment was added to the U.S. Constitution exactly to prevent law enforcement from conducting mass, suspicionless investigations under "general warrants" that targeted no specific person or place and never expired.
ALPR systems operate in just this way. The cameras are not triggered by any suspicion of criminal wrongdoing; instead, they automatically and indiscriminately photograph all license plates (and cars) that come into view. This happens without an officer targeting a specific vehicle and without any level of criminal suspicion. The ALPR system immediately extracts the key data from the image—the plate number and time, date and location where it was captured—and runs that data against various hotlists. At the instant the plate is photographed not even the computer system itself—let alone the officer in the squad car—knows whether the plate is linked to criminal activity.
Taken to an extreme, the agencies' arguments would allow law enforcement to conduct around-the-clock surveillance on every aspect of our lives and store those records indefinitely on the off-chance they may aid in solving a crime at some previously undetermined date in the future. If the court accepts their arguments, the agencies would then be able to hide all this data from the public.
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However, as we argued in the Reply brief we filed in the case last Friday, the accumulation of information merely because it might be useful in some unspecified case in the future certainly is not an "investigation" within any reasonable meaning of the word.
LAPD and LASD Recognize Privacy Interest in License Plate Data
In another interesting turn in the case, both agencies fully acknowledged the privacy issues implicated by the collection of license plate data.
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LAPD stated in its brief:
"[T]he privacy implications of disclosure [of license plate data] are substantial. Members of the public would be justifiably concerned about LAPD releasing information regarding the specific locations of their vehicles on specific dates and times.... LAPD is not only asserting vehicle owners' privacy interests. It is recognizing that those interests are grounded in federal and state law, particularly the California Constitution. Maintaining the confidentiality of ALPR data is critical... in relation to protecting individual citizens' privacy interests"
The sheriff's department recognized that ALPR data tracked "individuals' movement over time" and that, with only a license plate number, someone could learn "personal identifying information" about the vehicle owner (such as the owner's home address) by looking up the license plate number in a database with "reverse lookup capabilities such as LexisNexis and Westlaw."
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The agencies use the fact that ALPR data collection impacts privacy to argue that—although they should still be allowed to collect this information and store it for years—they should not have to disclose any of it to the public. However, the fact that the technology can be so privacy invasive suggests that we need more information on where and how it is being collected, not less. This sales video from Vigilant Solutions shows just how much the government can learn about where you've been and how many times you've been there when Vigilant runs their analytics tools on historical ALPR data. We can only understand how LA police are really using their ALPR systems through access to the narrow slice of the data we've requested in this case.
We will be arguing these points and others at the hearing on our petition for writ of mandate in Los Angeles Superior Court, Stanley Mosk Courthouse, this coming Friday at 9:30 AM.
The Freedom of Information Act is not the only law the public can use to obtain records from the government. Most states have similar laws for accessing documents on the state and local levels. Here in California, EFF is using the California Public Records Act to learn what new technologies local law enforcement agencies are using and whether these technologies violate our rights. You can find all of EFF's Sunshine Week posts linked here.
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This article is reproduced from Electronic Frontier Foundation under Creative Commons license.One person is dead and another has been charged with impaired driving causing death after a collision in the Niagara-bound lanes of the QEW at Stoney Creek Tuesday morning.
The collision has closed all Niagara-bound lanes as police investigate.
The crash happened around 5:12 a.m. at Fifty Road. A blue Toyota Tundra pickup truck ended up going the wrong way in the Niagara-bound lanes, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told CBC Hamilton. The truck struck a Buick vehicle head on.
The male driver in the Buick died at the scene, he said. The driver of the truck was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The 28-year-old driver has been charged with impaired driving causing death.
"He's under arrest right now in police custody in hospital," Schmidt said.
It doesn't appear that the weather was a factor in the crash, Schmidt said. "The skies were clear and the roads were dry. There was no fog or anything like that."
Police aren't releasing the victim's name until his next of kin have been notified. As of about 9 a.m., crews were working to move the man's car to the side of the highway and cut him out of it.
Traffic on the Niagara-bound lanes is being diverted on the South Service Road, and is moving slowly. The OPP recommends drivers take a different route. The Toronto-bound lanes are moving smoothly, Schmidt said.
The Niagara-bound lanes should reopen around 10 a.m.Earlier today, members of the media were given their first chance at seeing the 2016 Indianapolis Colts on the field as there was media availability for the second day of OTAs.
There were a handful of players who sat out of practice as they rehab injuries, but another player actually left the practice (which is non-contact) due to an injury. Wide receiver Phillip Dorsett left practice early with a trainer, which prompted a question to head coach Chuck Pagano after practice - though he hadn't had a chance yet to get an update at the time.
"I think they’re looking at him," Pagano said. "I don’t know the extent of it right now so until I meet with the docs, I haven’t had a chance to talk to them yet. I don’t have any idea. I’m guessing a hamstring. When you lay out, he’s running 100 miles per hour for the ball and stretched out for it, I’m guessing it’s a hammy. Hopefully it isn’t too serious.”
According to a report this evening, Pagano's hopes came true in the sense that Dorsett's injury is not a serious one. According to Bleacher Report's Jason Cole, Dorsett indeed suffered a hamstring injury that is considered "just a 'tweak.'"
If true, that's good news for the Colts. It would hurt to lose a significant contributor on the second day of OTAs, but it sounds like Dorsett should be back out there soon - though there's no sense in rushing him back at this point.
The Colts took Dorsett in the first round of last year's draft to much criticism, but he will be the team's number three wide receiver this year and could have a big role. In his rookie season, he only caught 18 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown as he missed several games due to injury, but he's back and expected to contribute in 2016. The Colts aren't too deep at receiver other than the top three - T.Y. Hilton, Donte Moncrief, and Dorsett - so keeping those three healthy and on the field will be important.At least eight people have been killed and 22 injured in two suicide attacks in the Chechen capital Grozny, local officials said on Wednesday.
At least eight people have been killed and 22 injured in two suicide attacks in the Chechen capital Grozny, local officials said on Wednesday.
The attacks took place during celebrations to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan on Tuesday.
It was earlier reported that seven had been killed and 18 injured in the twin blasts.
Chechnya's strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov said five policemen, an emergency official and a civilian were killed.
A sixth policeman died in the hospital overnight, the restive region’s Health Minister Musa Akhmadov said, adding that five of the 22 injured are in critical condition.
A man blew himself up when a police patrol tried to detain him near a local parliament building, and a second blast came just 30 minutes later. There were also reports of a third blast.
Kadyrov said the attackers had "shown their real faces" by choosing "the most sacred day for all Muslims."
Islamist violence has recently increased in the troubled Muslim North Caucasus region.
Russian forces have fought two wars in Chechnya since the fall of the USSR, and while Moscow has declared victory over a Muslim-led insurgency there, violence has spilled over into neighboring Ingushetia and Dagestan.By WJBC Staff
ST. LOUIS – Valparaiso University has accepted an invitation to join the Missouri Valley Conference this fall.
The Indiana school becomes the league’s 10th team to join, following the departure of Wichita State which left this spring to join the American Athletic Conference.
“We are truly excited to welcome Valparaiso University to our Missouri Valley Conference family,” said MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin. “Valpo brings a combination of strong athletics tradition and academic excellence, and will be a great fit competing in our league.”
President Dan Bradley, Chair of the MVC Presidents Council, added: “Valparaiso University has very high academic standards, and will be a wonderful addition to the league. Valpo also has a strong, recognized athletics brand, and many Missouri Valley members are excited at the opportunity to renew old rivalries.”
Valparaiso sponsors all 17 sports in which the MVC conducts a championship, including men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, softball, baseball, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track & field, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, women’s tennis and women’s swimming. Valpo also offers football in the Pioneer Football League; men’s tennis, men’s swimming, and women’s bowling in the Southland Bowling League.
Valpo’s men’s basketball team has advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice in the last six years as members of the Horizon League. Baseball has two NCAA Tournament appearances in the past five years, while men’s golf, women’s soccer and softball have also competed in the NCAA Tournament at least once in the past five seasons.
Founded in 1859, Valparaiso University is an independent Lutheran institution, located in Valparaiso, Ind., approximately one hour east of Chicago. With more than 4,000 students, Valpo has five colleges, a graduate school and a law school.
“This is an exciting time for Valparaiso University and our athletics programs,” said Valparaiso President Mark Heckler. “We are fortunate to join the historic, tradition-rich Missouri Valley Conference. Membership in the Valley will increase the national profile of our institution and our athletics program, and we will undoubtedly contribute to the strength and character of the conference.”Image caption President Obama is in Colombia for the sixth Summit of the Americas
Several Secret Service agents providing security for President Barack Obama in Colombia have been recalled, following allegations of misconduct.
The agency did not give details, but reports suggest the accusations involve prostitution in Cartagena, which is hosting the Summit of the Americas.
Agency spokesman Edwin Donovan told the BBC the agents had been replaced and Mr Obama's security would not be affected.
Mr Obama arrived in Colombia on Friday to attend the summit.
In a statement, Mr Donovan said the agency took allegations of misconduct "very seriously" and said an investigation had been launched.
"There have been allegations of misconduct made against Secret Service personnel in Cartagena, Colombia prior to the President's trip," he said.
"Because of this, those personnel are being relieved of their assignments, returned to their place of duty, and are being replaced by other Secret Service personnel."
According to The Washington Post, 12 agents were recalled, and at least one was suspected of involvement with prostitutes.
More than 30 leaders are in the Colombian port city for the summit, which will see talks on economic policy and trade.
The BBC's Arturo Wallace in the capital Bogota says that, even before the incident with the agents, the summit seemed likely to be an awkward one for the US government, with debates on the legalisation of drugs and sanctions against Cuba promised.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa is boycotting the summit because of Cuba's exclusion, and the attendance of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in doubt.
Earlier, Colombian police said two small explosions took place in Cartagena, but caused no casualties or damage.
Those explosions followed at least one other blast in Bogota near the US embassy |
revenge.
At this rate, she’d forget about how she was an Oni, and she and her sister would continue living as maids along with Frederica and Clind. ──Was there an option like that?
Rem never talked about it, and it wasn’t like she clearly considered it to be one, either. However, it would be a lie to say that she didn’t have those feelings growing inside her.
While having those feelings, Rem continued to work hard everyday to distract herself from that.
Being afraid of change, sinking into stagnation.
However, change would always come by seeking slothful peace.
──That was something inevitable to Rem at this time.
[Rem: Onee-chan is going to go with Roswaal-sama on his trip?]
Rem ponders the beginning topic, and she widens her eyes in surprise.
The details were of course like a bolt from the blue, but that wasn’t the main reason why she was surprised. The thing Rem was surprised about the most was the schedule for the trip.
The schedule──basically, they were plans that would make the trip take several days, and during that time, Ram would be away from the mansion. The sisters were going to be separated for the first time in their lives.
[Roswaal: Normally, only a certain number of people are supposed to come near “Sanctuary”. However, I have a duty to protect you guys safely. The treatment I give to Ram is a part of that. I shouldn’t abandon that duty due to my own selfish reasons.]
[Ram: I’m telling you, skipping a day or two won’t do any harm……]
Ram was unhappy with Roswaal, who leaned on the sofa with his long legs crossed elegantly. But, sitting next to Roswaal, the older sister didn’t shake off his hand caressing her hair.
Rem, sitting face to face with them, did not hide her surprise from that change.
[Rem: Onee-chan, will you be okay with Roswaal-sama?]
[Ram: If by okay you mean my neck won’t break from being unable to take it, then yeah I’ll live.]
[Roswaal: It’s a chance to look forward to Ram’s perseverance that was bound to come up sooner or later. Consider this as a challenge, and I would like you to accept iiiiiiit.]
[Rem: A challenge? What kind of……]
[Roswaal: Of course, the older sister separation and the little sister separation……or maybe I should call it the sisters separation?]
Roswaal’s words make Rem and Ram’s cheeks stiffen. Roswaal smiles at that sister-like reaction, and he put his chin on his stacked hands.
[Roswaal: Since you guys left the village, you both were never separated, not even for a second. So, I can easily imagine that it was the same at the village as well. How about you try taking a little breather now?]
[Ram: If we do that, does it even mean anything to Rem and I?]
[Roswaal: It does! You have to believe that everything has meaaaning. I just wanted to try it, wanted to see it, wanted to know how it’d be……that’s why I’m doing this.]
[Ram: If that’s the case, then it’s obvious that we should end the conversation here. Rem, let’s go.]
[Roswaal: You have a short temper. Sheeeeesh, you sure are a sassy girl.]
He stops Ram from getting up and pulled her arm as he sat her on the sofa. Then, once Roswaal cleared his throat, he made a genuine, serious look.
[Roswaal: I really am worried. One day, you guys will have to choose your future. Whether you stay here or leave is up to you.]
[Rem: ──. But you said that Onee-chan and I belong to Roswaal-sama.]
[Roswaal: I meant that to solely be something like an expeeeedient. I can’t force you. If you guys really want to leave, then the door out the mansion is always there. And I won’t maliciously insist on ownership to try and bring you guys back as you leave on your own.]
The statement makes Rem widen her eyes, and even Ram had her eyes slightly widen, too. Seeing that reaction, Roswaal continued with a serious look.
[Roswaal: Even if it comes to that, you are free to do what you want. Buuuut, no matter what future you choose, there’s no way you’ll live without being separated forever. And then when that time comes, if you guys drown in suffering……well, if a time comes where I could lend a hand, I’ll personally save youuuu.]
[Ram: ……Stop beating around the bush. What exactly are you trying to say?]
[Roswaal: To put it frankly, I’m worried about you guys. So I want to help as much as possible while I can. ──Do you understand?]
Roswaal winks at Ram, who pouted, and Rem, whose eyes widened in surprise. That clown gesture and the kindness of his blue eyes make Rem dumbfounded.
However, she understood that this ridiculous looking master really was caring for Rem and Ram. Thus──
[Rem: Onee-chan……]
[Ram: Don’t make that look, Rem. ──I guess I understand what he’s trying to say.]
Upon being called out to, Rem looks down, but she still let out a reluctant sounding sigh. Just from that gesture, Rem understood she and her sister came to the same conclusion.
Being separated would make them lonely. Even if it was just a few days. But, Roswaal was saying the truth. Holding hands forever as sisters and living life without being separated for an instant was impossible. Even if they wanted it, unfairness would attack them occasionally with a perfect surprise attack.
Just like how the witch cult absurdly destroyed the Oni village.
[Roswaal: What, you’re only going to be separated for three days at most, you knoooow. It’s not like it’s going to be a final faaaarewell. Spend this time without your sister’s vision as well as possible.]
[Ram: It’s as if you’re saying that I’m a burden to Rem. I don’t like it.]
[Rem: I’m going to be lonely and anxious without Onee-chan. Please come back soon.]
[Ram: See, look how cute Rem is. ……I shouldn’t go after all.]
[Roswaal: It’s already been decided, so you can’t do that obvioooously.]
He ends the interaction with a smile, and Rem and Ram were going to be split up for the first time.
And then, after three days, the promised day where Ram and Roswaal would leave the mansion together came.
The two gigantic headed earth dragons pull the dragon carriage, and the two of them leave for their destination on it. But before that, Ram and Rem spent some time reluctantly saying their goodbyes, and they just wouldn’t stop embracing each other.
[Ram: Listen, Rem. Don’t cry at night, even though I won’t be there.]
[Rem: Okay, I won’t Onee-chan, you be careful too……]
[Roswaal: You make it sound like you’re going off to war. This isn’t a final farewell, is iiiiiiit?]
They spent so much time that Roswaal ended up teasing them. Once the sisters finally separated from each other, Frederica stepped up to Ram as if deciding to do so on purpose when that happened.
When she fixed Ram’s appearance just like always, she finally brought something out of her pocket.
[Ram: Is that…….a letter?]
[Frederica: Yes, it is. My brother is at “Sanctuary”. He’s intrusive and noisy, so you’ll definitely come across him. Can you give it to him?]
[Ram: If he’s intrusive and noisy, I might end up shutting him up by force. If you’re okay with that, then I’ll take it.]
[Frederica: That’s fine. It’ll teach him a good lesson.]
There were bitterness and regret on Frederica’s profile as she handed over the letter, perhaps because there were some sort of complicated circumstances. Ram appeared to have noticed it, but she accepted her letter without mentioning it.
And then, she stepped onto the dragon carriage that Roswaal boarded first as she said,
[Ram: Rem, I’ll write a letter when we get there.]
[Frederica: Don’t you know that you’ll be back before she gets the letter!?]
Frederica sees them off saying that, and the dragon carriage they were on departed. Rem watches the dragon carriage fade away on the other side of the cloud of dust caused by the earth dragons, and she puts her hand on her chest.
There wasn’t as much uneasiness in her chest as she thought. Although, she did have a feeling that she might’ve collapsed right there after her tears overflowed because of her separation from Ram.
[Rem: Thank goodness that didn’t happen.]
[Frederica: It would be worrying if that happened when it’s only going to be three days! Garfiel and I have……]
Then, Frederica unconsciously stopped herself from talking as if she blurted something out, and she looked down awkwardly. Based off that reaction, Rem guessed this person she spoke of, Garfiel, was the brother she was talking about earlier.
[Rem: Frederica-sama, have you always been separated from your little brother?]
[Frederica: ──The situation is complicated. I haven’t seen him for quite a long time.]
Frederica made a slightly distant look in response to Rem’s question.
[Frederica: If an opportunity ever comes up, Rem might end up going to “Sanctuary” with Master too. If that happens, please get along well with Garfiel. He’s about the same age as you guys.]
Just for a moment, Rem was charmed by Frederica, who was smiling slightly, perhaps because she had remembered her brother. Her profile as she put her hand on her mouth with her fangs hidden certainly was just like a painting──.
[Clind: ──Frederica, we have no time to smile. We’ll be thoroughly taking care of the mansion’s duties while Master is away from the mansion. It’d be nice if I got help from even a cat right now……yes, this has to be your time to shine as a cat half-beast. I really will be looking forward to it. Anticipation.]
[Frederica: So annoying! I’ll be right there!!]
Although, it also felt like Clind’s usual jokes being shattered instantly.
4
Despite the start, the time without Ram at the Mathers mansion had begun.
Not having her sister by her side certainly did cause loneliness and anxiety, but it didn’t bring about the hopeless sadness that she expected.
It wasn’t because she had succeeded in the sister separation, but rather due to Frederica’s care──there were many times when she threw her into one job after another, so often that she didn’t have the time to think about Ram’s absence.
In the end, Rem cried slightly about Ram’s absence only at night; the night where she finished her work, returned to her room, and spent the night on her bed without someone to cry to.
And then it happened the next day on the afternoon of the second day.
[Frederica: Well then, Rem. I’ll be accompanying those kids, so please take care of the mansion while I’m gone.]
[Rem: Yes, Frederica-sama. Have a safe trip.]
In front of the mansion, Rem sees off Frederica, who had her back against the dragon carriage, and she gave a deep bow.
Inside of the dragon carriage up front, there several little girls dressed like Rem and Frederica. The girls weren’t similar to the two of them just with their clothes, but their circumstances as well. ──In other words, they were Demi-humans.
Just like Rem and the others, they were found by Roswaal with no place to go, and they were trained to work as maids at the mansion. Their training ended, and these girls, who were deemed to have adequate skills as maids, were now being sent out to service at another mansion.
[Rem: ──]
In response to the women nodding at her from the passenger window, Rem also bowed her head politely and quickly.
Even though they were at the same mansion, Rem wasn’t involved with them very much as someone still in training. Nevertheless, Rem hoped the best for her coworkers traveling to a new workplace.
At first, when Frederica talked to her about Roswaal, she said that he had a benevolent and tolerant personality, but that really was the truth.
He educated Demi-humans, gave them work, and sent them off to different places. This wasn’t the first time Rem saw off travelling coworkers like this as someone who has been at the mansion for two months. She felt thankful that so many Demi-humans were saved by Roswaal.
[Frederica: Though Clind is unlucky, and I am worried about leaving you alone at the mansion.]
Putting Rem showing admiration aside, that was Frederica worrying, who was acting as the girls’ attendant. It was the first time Clind was going to be out while she was away from the mansion, and if things went as planned, Rem was going to be left alone at the mansion for half the day.
[Frederica: Having no one at the mansion is out of the question. But still, for you to be the one left alone……]
[Rem: It’ll be fine, Frederica-sama. I’ve gotten somewhat used to the mansion. I’ll be able to take care of it while you’re out.]
Rem nods back at Frederica, who worried about her, and she tried sticking out her chest, something she would rarely do.
There were already many times when Rem had to wait for her sister’s return alone while she was mixed with the adults’ meetings at the village, which Ram called duties. A situation like this was nothing to her.
[Rem: Besides, Clind-sama also left some work for me to do.]
[Frederica: There’s no doubt that……arranging the mansion’s basement warehouse will be a lot of work for one person. I’m really sorry, Rem. When I get back, I promise I’ll help out right away.]
Frederica, continuing to show care, says that and worried about Rem until the end, but she finally departed from the mansion, though she still had a conflicted look on her face.
And so, once Rem saw off Frederica and the others, she was now the only one left at the mansion.
[Rem: But I have no time to just stand around absentminded.]
Once Rem said that to herself, she quickly returned to the mansion and headed towards the wing with the basement warehouse. The old looking key in her pocket was something Clind gave her, who was out to do some errands.
It seemed that Clind was planning on doing a makeover of the mansion, cleaning it during these three days without Roswaal. The big job of rearranging the basement warehouse that started yesterday was also part of that.
[Rem: ──It’s here, right?]
The west wing, east wing, and then the third wing in the middle made up the Mathers mansion, and the basement warehouse Clind left her to take care of was at the middle wing. It was there at the deepest part of the first floor. People rarely came to the deepest part of the cold, stone passageway, and this was also the first time Rem came here.
That’s how it was, so she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to tell if the warehouse would need to be rearranged or not, but──
[Rem: Clind-sama said that you’d be able to tell once you see it, so…]
Clind was basically never wrong. Contrary to Frederica’s fears, he was always gentlemanly and kind, so he even patiently worked with someone unskilled like Rem. He really did bother her sometimes, but it actually was only when she’d get surprised by him looking at her from afar.
With the help of her trust in Clind, Rem reaches for the door to the basement warehouse without hesitation. When she inserted the old key into the keyhole, it unlocked easily making a rough sound, and the door opened with a creak.
[Rem: ──]
But, the next moment, Rem shrieked softly at the stink leaking through the door.
She closes the door reflexively and fell to her knees on the spot. The stink was that strong.
[Rem: W─what was that……? Huh, what? Wha─what in the world……?]
It was a shock way beyond comprehension, and so Rem became confused while she leaned against the door.
A stink──yes, it was something that could only be described as a stink, and a cruel, hideous odor.
It differed from a rotting smell and the smell of blood, and it didn’t even smell like feces or stimulants. She couldn’t compared it to anything. Rem had never came across this smell──actually, that’s not right.
[Rem: Where have I…come across this smell……]
She smelled it before. She came across this smell somewhere once.
She didn’t have a clear picture that appeared in her memory. But, she definitely did smell it. Sometimes sense of smell would be more accurately connected to memory than images and sounds. This was proof of that.
[Rem: ────]
While not knowing which memory it connected to, Rem slowly opened the door.
Once again, she grimaced at the suffocating, enveloping stink, and Rem shakes her head dizzily. Even if she stopped breathing from her nose, she couldn’t prevent the truly strong smell from breaking into her nasal cavity.
Despite the stink assaulting her sense of smell, Rem stepped forward and entered the basement warehouse.
──The basement warehouse was shut in darkness, and there wasn’t anything she could use.
[Rem: ──]
Rem, putting her hand on the cold wall while using it to move forward, goes down the stairs. Dry footsteps sound throughout the darkness, and Rem felt as if she was sinking endlessly. As sound came down, so did her body, into the abyss. That was the type of illusion she felt.
However, that nightmarish delusion ended quickly, and Rem reached the basement warehouse.
[Rem: ……The…lights]
The moment she thought “I have to find them”, Rem’s vision suddenly became white light in front of her. When that shocked Rem and made her jump, she saw her surroundings, the state of the basement illuminated by faint light.
Miscellaneous tool shelves, piles of old books, tools of unknown use covered in dust, many very old furnishings that decorated the warehouse, all those kind of countless, unnecessary things filled the basement warehouse.
She agreed with what Clind had said. “Once you see it, you’ll know if it’s necessary or not.” I get it, I’m positive that anything and everything in here are unneeded things. So he’s telling me to take out all of it.
The light that shined on the room was a magic light installed on the basement wall. It seemed to be a mechanism in which it would light up automatically whenever someone came to the basement, and once that became clear to her, she wasn’t surprised
She understood her goal, and her anxiety disappeared. Now she should engage in her work while feeling like this. That’s what Rem concluded, and she would quickly clean up the basement warehouse──
[Rem: It stinks……it’s far worse than it was before……]
If Rem’s spirit wasn’t so strong that she could divide it like that, she wouldn’t have been able to kill her senses.
Rem, holding onto her breath, turns her head around to find the source of the stink. Once she tried following that smell in the cramped underground basement, she found what she was looking for in merely 10 seconds.
Then it was right before her eyes, and this was truly when Rem’s throat froze up.
[Rem: ────]
In front of Rem, gazing dumbfoundedly, there was a door to another room that lead to the inner part of the basement warehouse.
The existence of it in itself wasn’t something to be surprised about, but she was concerned about what was inscribed on the door itself. ──Several tight chains were wound on the door, and a magic circle was drawn to seal it.
[Rem: This was Onee-chan’s……]
She came across it before. This door had the same exact seal spell that isolated Ram as she went out of control without her horn, applied to ensure outside safety.
[Rem: ────]
No doubt about it, the stink was coming from the other side of this door. Even if it was a strictly sealed door, it couldn’t prevent the escape of the intense smell.
The moment Rem understood that, the loudest alarm bell sounded in her brain. Rem feels something that was like a direct hit to her skull, and her instincts were telling her to leave this place immediately.
Rem’s senses that perceived the stink also surrendered in agreement with her instincts calls. You shouldn’t be here. You can’t be here. That’s what her senses and her instincts clearly answered together.
She remembered being irritated by the stink before. Rem forcibly holds down the cover of her closed memories that tried to open itself, and she came to the conclusion that she should leave this place for now.
And then, while being careful to not make a sound with her footsteps, she turns around quickly, and she sought to leave the basement──.
[???: ──Che che che che che]
She heard a noise. A sound that opened the cover of her memories.
The next moment, Rem broke the chains by sheer strength, and she kicks down the sealed down as she jumped into the room.
Inside the room, on the other side of the broken door, there was someone that opened his eyes wide because of her Oni impulse. He opened his eyes wide, and right after that, he laughed and laughed──
[???: Welcome, little girl. Can you give a nice cry for me?]
Immediately after, the raging flames completely cover Rem’s vision, and she was blown away by the blast.
5
[???: Does this mean I’m free now that the magic circle is broken?]
[Rem: ────]
[???: Oh, it’s the great little girl. I guess this is where I should say “I want to thank you”?]
[Rem: ────]
[???: Ah! Guess you got too close. I guess you wanna say “Ouch my ears, I can’t hear”?]
Someone, someone was…something, something…someone was saying something.
Rem, falling over on the hard floor, did everything she could to restore the blank space created in her head. I have to gather the thoughts blown away by the impact, find a voice I can speak with, and do my absolute best to break the stalemate and understand the situation──that’s what she thought, but the dark anger rising in her heart stood in her way.
Just previously, a sound Rem heard through the door released something that was shut inside her memory. The fire that died down day by day at the mansion flared up into a flame extreme enough to destroy the world.
[Rem: ──Ah…AAAH]
Rem, mouth open, glares at the dirty ceiling, and she raised a distorted voice that shook the atmosphere. In response to that low voice, a white horn──the proof of an Oni showed up on her forehead. Her horn spreads the black smoke clouding the room, and it usurps a very minimal amount of mana from the world, turning it into energy.
She touches the ground with her hands, lifts her body up, slowly stands, and she glares at the man standing still in front.
It was an extremely skinny, unhealthy looking man. He had depressing cheeks and eye sockets, and a countenance that was so vapid that it looked ill. He wore nothing over his upper half of his body, and he only had hemp trousers for his lower half, but there were many burns and lacerations on his exposed skin. It looked as if he had been tortured before.
[???: ……Wow, so I guess that horn means you’re an Oni survivor. If that’s the case, then did you come here for your family’s revenge?]
[Rem: ────]
[???: No response. But you do want it, don’t you?]
She wasn’t obligated to answer. Rem faces the man with a sadistic smile on his face, and she decides to attack.
She steps forward, kicks the miscellaneous waste around her, gets right in front of the man, and while relying on the strength produced by the horn, she punches his guts──
[???: Okay, boom!]
That moment, a blast was produced beside her face, and Rem’s consciousness and her upper body shook violently. She felt dizzy, and her brain bounces in her cranium because of the blow that came from her blind spot. She staggers, and a complete gap was created.
[???: That’s 6 now! If you can handle this, then this is where I should say impressive, right?]
Explosions occurred, following the man’s voice. Three shocks were shot into Rem’s chest, stomach, and abdomen one by one going into her small body from behind, and she was blown away.
[Rem: My…abdom──]
She tumbles doing a somersault, and a lot of blood came out of her throat coughing violently. The shock jumbles her intestines, and her broken ribs felt pain because of the vibration from her vomiting blood and coughing. She couldn’t tell if she was seeing red because of the pain, or if it was because her face was split in half.
[???: As expected, Onis are tough even when they’re brats. You were hit that much and you still aren’t damaged?]
Based off what the man looking down on her said, she was now sure that her body was the same as before. She was breathing heavily from the pain, but her shining horn wouldn’t let her lose her will to fight. Rem’s wounds blew red steam, the damage of her limbs were healed in an instant, her disconnected bones were reconnected with a sound, and she stood up fiercely.
[???: I saw it at that mountain many times, but man you guys are literally monsters. Will this be when I’m forced to torture you?]
[Rem: GaAAA──!!]
Rem roars, and once she jumped back to make time, she faced the man at front and attacked him as she brandished her Oni nails. But there’s no way she could rush forward like a madman after it already failed once. Hearing that little girl’s battle cry, the man raised his arms covered with scars and went,
[???: Che che che che che]
He clicks his tongue, and right after that, there was the stink that would brush against her nasal cavity. Rem twisted her body at once, and she avoided coming in contact with the space where the stink gathered. However, she couldn’t escape from the produced blast.
Even if she escaped from a direct hit, the explosion would create heat, impact, and destruction. Rem gets engulfed in those things immediately, and she was repelled again as she raised cries of pain. She rolls on the floor, and she hits the wall.
[???: No technique, no plan, no tricks. Are these the effects of somehow making it by, using only the strength of some power? You guys are all just like kids who swing their arms and legs around, so aren’t you the same as beasts?]
[Rem: Oo…Oooooo!]
[???: You even cry like beasts, how dull. If you’re going to cry, then do it in a cute way. Entertain me by barking. You’re a let-down, you know?]
Rem, crouching, roars in frustration, and she senses the stink again. She hits the floor, and jumps back at that spot. But, it was too late. Immediately, there was another explosion, and she was blown off, rolling.
She bleeds, and the clotted blood that became a splash stains all over the basement. The scattering unneeded things were crumpled up by the impact turning them into waste, and Rem was going to meet the same fate very soon.
She was going to die. She was going to get killed. At a place like this, in an incomprehensible state, to the enemy──
[???: You may do this much, but no one will come. Actually, you have no one. If that’s the case, then this is a golden opportunity. This is where I should kill the little Oni with a slash and get the hell out of here, right?]
When Rem heard the man’s statement that didn’t hide his intent to murder, she felt herself losing the will to fight back.
In proportion to her blood coming out the desire for revenge inside Rem──the Oni blood inside her also poured out. When she finally became empty inside, that would be the end of her life and the oath for retribution. If that happened──
[Rem: ────]
If that happened, Ram would surely start the retribution for Rem.
[Rem: No, no……]
She can’t. No, she can’t. She can’t she can’t she can’t she can’t no no no no no no no.
With Ram’s current state, even if she had the same will and intentions she had when her horn wasn’t gone, she didn’t have the body to make it happen. That’s what she understood in this past month in her days at the mansion. She understood it so well it hurt.
If revenge was put into Ram’s hands only, she would definitely die in vain. And even if she knew it was in vain, there’s no way her sister would give up. She couldn’t leave revenge up to Ram.
Her sister won’t die. She couldn’t die. Her sister couldn’t have revenge. She couldn’t accomplish it.
Why? The answer to that is simple. ──It was because of Rem.
[Rem: ────]
The village burned, her race died, and Ram’s horn broke. If Ram went to fight recklessly with how she was, then it would be Rem’s fault. Because Rem let her sister do everything.
She couldn’t let that happen. There’s not a chance she’d let this man kill her precious sister.
[???: It’s about time I put an end to this. Little Oni, don’t you know that you’re no fun when you don’t cry?]
The man turned his palm towards her, and he was trying to stab Rem with the finishing blow while she faced up on the floor.
She focuses her eyes, will, everything she could feel into her Oni horn, and gathers them. She works out a countermeasure, changing it into an idea that was “Determine what this man is doing, and ruin it”.
In this extreme situation, that’s what her violent Oni blood and her instincts as the Oni fighter race bursted open and shined on.
[???: Die──]
When the man said that cruel death sentence, his intentions became bursting heat, and there was an explosion with Rem in the center of it. That burst and scattered the little girl’s body, and it was enough to throw out her blood and flesh.
However, that was if it were a direct hit.
[Rem: Ha──ah]
Rem kicks the floor and clings to the ceiling, and she looked down on the basement enveloped in the blast. She wasn’t seeing with her bloodshot light blue eyes. She threw all of her senses into her sense of smell that has been sounding an alarm this whole time.
[???: Hold on hold on, let’s not get carried away just because you dodged it by pure luck, alright?]
She escapes the certainty of the deadly blow, and the man looks up at Rem, who was above his head, with his eyes that had irritation in them. Signs of an explosion rose when the man concentrated on his consciousness, and Rem immediately got away from there as if on impulse. The blast was produced shortly after, but this time it couldn’t capture Rem.
[???: What…….!! Gaguwa!?]
[Rem: AAAaah!]
Her roar blots out his surprise, and her swinging Oni nails stabbed the man’s shoulder. It was the first time in the basement blood and screaming came out of someone other than Rem, and she jumped as she escaped from the blast that came right after.
The man holds onto the wound on his shoulder, breaking into a cold sweat, and he followed Rem frantically with his eyes
[???: You, have you really……!]
Rem didn’t respond to the man’s trembling as he forced himself to speak.
She simply answered by dodging the countless produced blasts in the cramped basement.
[Rem: ────]
She cracked the code to the man’s explosive magic. The answer was shown to her on the door from the beginning.
He was a man who was sealed by chains and a magic circle. That situation was the same as Ram’s, who went out of control without her horn. In other words, they were measures to prevent the mana manipulated by the man from damaging the surroundings. They were the same measures taken for Ram, who caused a chaotic mana storm, and if that was the case, then the principle behind the man’s powers had to be the same too──
[???: Damn it, damn it, damn it damn it damn it damn it damn it!]
The man, causing chain explosions in the space, gets desperate to blow off Rem’s limbs. However, Rem scents out the stink by using her sense of smell, and they didn’t reach her as she predicted the “Explosion Spots”.
The man’s invisible explosions. That trick was plain and simple──the man sets up explosive techniques in a space beforehand and he was detonating them in accordance with his target’s approach.
Therefore, the technique wouldn’t detonate at unset spaces, and he was limited to using extremely minor firepower so that he wouldn’t blast himself away.
The most fatal thing to the man was the fact that he wasn’t the only one who could detonate.
[Rem: GaAAA!]
[???: How could someone…the one thing I’ve mastered……]
The man jumped back and dodged Rem, who kicked the wall and came at him as fast as a bullet. Without a pause, the man tried to detonate the technique while Rem was as close as she could be, but Rem threw something even faster than that.
[???: ──Ah?]
In front of the man’s eyes, a red, glowing crystal was thrown.
It was one of the magic stones inserted in the magic lights that lit up the basement, and it was something that Rem had been carrying after she removed it from the wall and took in the mid battle.
The magic stone gives a slight amount of mana, and a spark was produced right near the man’s face. ──The next instant, the technique arranged there reacts with the fire and it explodes with the man’s face getting caught in it.
[???: Boo, gyaaaa──!!]
The explosive heat produced around the man’s face blew off his ear and nose. Face burned, eyes wide open, the man holds his face up, and falls down while screaming.
[Rem: ────]
Rem wasn’t going to miss this chance. She rushes up to the man in agony and crushes his neck by stepping on it. ‘Kill when the opportunity is given’, not one bit of such mercy was given.
The hunting instincts as an Oni, stronger than hatred and anger. The man probably had a hunch that death was near. When he reached his hand towards the ceiling desperately to stop his screaming from the pain──
[???: Ch, Ch ch ch──]
It was painful sounding tongue clicking and his attempt to get himself out of a hopeless situation.
The detonations set up in the basement warehouse all go off in reflection with the man’s intention. Tremendous, explosive heat and impact engulf the basement, and Rem also was caught in them as she lost her escape from the stink.
From top to bottom, the impact goes through her whole body, enough so that she couldn’t even recognize her own hands and legs anymore──
[────]
Hearing the piles of scraps wood collapsing, the man covered in snute crawls out of the ground.
The blast shook the whole mansion, and it produced a power that could have buried the basement warehouse in a cave. Although the man didn’t want to make the choice that got himself caught in it, on the contrary it did bring him luck.
[???: He, hee, haa……ha…haha]
The man pushes the metal shelf off of his body, and he looks around the disastrous scene as he laughed convulsively. It was a blessing in disguise──no, to the man, this was good luck for sure.
The first explosion of the chain explosions that blew up the whole basement turned over this shelf, and it acted as a shield that protected the man’s body from the blasts. Thanks to that, the man miraculously cheated death.
[???: That kid……whatever, first I have to get out of here……]
The man thinks of the girl who brought him both good luck and bad luck─releasing him unexpectedly and fighting back unexpectedly─however, he quickly stopped caring about it, and he hurriedly headed towards the way out of the basement.
He lost his right ear, nose, and some of his front teeth because of the explosion, but it didn’t cost him his life. After he found even just a random cloth to stop his bleeding, he had to escape before getting seen by the people in the mansion.
[???: And then I guess I’ll hurry and meet up with them……?]
The man, who was thinking of what his plan would be after escaping, suddenly feels strange as he tilted his head. The basement warehouse no longer had its original form because of the explosion, but even now he still heard weird sounds in the spaces here and there where the crumbling continued.
It was metal clustering, or maybe the metals meshing with each other, a scraping sound, like they were locking──
[???: Wha──]
Without being able to finish saying ‘What’ even in this short moment, something glancing passes by the man’s body. That made an aberrant, destructive noise, and it fiercely broke down the wall right next to the man.
[???: Wh……]
He was speechless, having no idea what sort of destruction that was, and he watched it. It |
transformation of the market.
Today, we are the only provider in the world offering recent server configurations in high volumes for less than €20 per month. Our selling prices have always been extremely competitive and offer the best ratio price-quality-performance on the market.
Consequently, we have been facing an incredible growth, four times higher than our forecasts, on all our families of products and especially in our mid to high-end servers ones.
2 - Data centers scaling
More sales also means more datacenter space
DC2, DC3, DC4, DC5
Amsterdam
In June 2016, we announced our first facility outside of France in Amsterdam. The demand for AMS1 was amazing and we were out of stock within a week. Since then, we offered as many servers as we could but not fast enough to satisfy all the demand. We've now reached full network and power capacity.
To increase the capacity in our Amsterdam facility, we are performing the following operations:
We purchased 5x new 100Gbit/s links between our core network in Paris DC3 and Amsterdam AMS1 to satisfy our growth for the next months. But, in the meantime, our links provider upgraded all its network equipments and has been impacted by multiple issues on their European optical fibres. The last issue occurred the 3rd July, 2017 when five optical fibres have been destroyed in Belgium. These incidents have delayed our deployment of additional capacity.
We will upgrade our backbone in AMS1 with two Cisco ASR9910 to offer a high availability zone and increase the density of 100Gbit/s uplinks. But some paperwork issues are adding extra delays for the deployment.
Amsterdam backbone Aug 2016
Today, the situation in Amsterdam is starting to stabilise. We will add 350kW of power capacity and 500Gbit/sec of additional network capacity during the summer to handle the demand in this region.
Paris
At the same time in Paris, we reached 100% of the capacity of all our data centers:
DC4 has been delayed multiple times due to administrative authorizations missing. We hope all the authorizations will be approved by the end of 2017. The nuclear fallout shelter opened and is in production since the 1st July and is currently dedicated to our cold storage platform - C14.
DC4 nuclear fallout shelter before / after
At DC3, we deployed the capacity extension in September 2016 as expected. This extension increased the power, cooling and space capacity by a factor of two and was supposed to support two years of growth. But five weeks after the opening, everything had been filled due to the huge demand, mainly on our high-end services.
DC3 before / after
DC2 is full since 2015 but we are optimizing the facility with retrofits and density increase of the first generation data halls.
To meet the constantly increasing demand we acquired a new building, DC5. This hyperscale facility provides extraordinary characteristics. It's one of the biggest investments we ever made. The facility offers three times the capacity of DC3 and is a decisive project to sustain our growth for the seven next years. We finished the design in December 2016 and the construction is ongoing. DC5 will be one of the biggest data center in Europe, it will deliver up to 20.8MW of net IT power in January 2018 with a target PUE of 1.1. Last week, we opened a first room in DC5 with a capacity of 250kW.
DC5 first room
We will provision 500kW capacity in a partner facility in Paris until the DC5 launch.
The biggest challenge in the data center industry is the lead time. It requires between twelve and eighteen months to design and build a data center. We have always rejected the idea of delivering cheap data centers to sustain our growth, reducing costs in spite of our customers has never been an option. This decision has been recognized by a certification delivered by the Uptime Institute in 2014.
All our forecasts have been surpassed, in only a few years we've filled more than 8500 rack and 42k square meters of data center space. With DC5, we plan to keep one step ahead and sustain our growth for a mid-term period.
3 - The hardware failure
Back in February 2017, we've been alerted by one of our suppliers of an erratum concerning a component used in some of our entry-level servers (Dedibox SC 2016, Dedibox XC 2016, Dedibox XC 2015, Scaleway C2S, C2M, C2L, VC1S, VC1M, VC1L). This erratum impacts the component by reducing its lifetime at an accelerated rate. As of now we're not seeing any occurrences for this erratum in our data centers. Since that, our supplier totally stopped the production of this component. We are now waiting for deliveries of the upgraded and fixed component to continue our production. It is currently causing stock issues on the servers listed above.
At the same time, the Online Labs team worked to release earlier our 2018 products. We were able to accelerate the design of these new servers and they are now ready for production.
Our factory in France is currently starting the production of the electronic boards for our next generation of servers. We plan to deploy these new servers in our data centers in October.
4 - DRAM and NAND market crisis impact delivery
More sales also mean more RAM and SSD in a volatile and under pressure market.
In October 2016, we started facing a major issue with one of our components supplier. RAM and SSD disks prices raised week after week, the delivery times were not guaranteed anymore, which started to disrupt our production pipeline. Currently, the situation is worse than what we expected. More that an outbreak of prices, the problem is we don't even know when and if we will receive all the SSDs and RAMs we order.
To minimize costs and improve our time to market, we use a lean manufacturing strategy. This strategy allows us to move fast and upgrade our hardware frequently. This method offers many advantages except when this kind of scenario happens. Today, the situation is still difficult but we are adapting our supply chain to the situation, even if we have no visibility on the delivery lead time of our suppliers. We continue to receive what we order but the delivery time is really unstable and can be delayed for more than three months. By way of illustration, we are partially receiving orders we did 6 months ago.
Since May, we try to secure our SSD, HDD disks and RAM stocks to meet the demand on the coming months and now work with three different manufacturers to get a backup solution in case of delivery issues. All our efforts are still not enough to satisfy the demand of the market. Our supply chain team is doing magic everyday to improve the situation which is still critical today.
5 - IPv4 shortage
More sales also mean more IPv4
Nothing is faster than the speed of light... except maybe the growth of the speed of our IPv4 reserve utilization. As you probably know, there is a shortage of IPv4 addresses and acquiring IPv4 range is more and more complex and expensive. Similar to data centers, getting IPv4 is a very hard scaling point, unless you buy them on the black market. The majority of available IPv4 ranges are owned by governments and administrations and dealing with them is a very long legal process that can take up to 11 months to succeed. The Brexit froze 12 months of negotiations we were finalizing. We currently own 311 238 IPv4. This address space is used at 94%. We are acquiring three new /16 IPv4 ranges (196 602 IPs) to keep a healthy reserve for the coming months for both Online & Scaleway. We hope to conclude this acquisition before the end of summer.
6 - Supply chain transformation
The phoenix must burn to emerge. -Janet Fitch
Back in July we decided to revamp and industrialize our supply chain to increase our production speed from 2500 to 6000 servers per month. We moved from a per site logistic platform to a unique, centralized logistic platform for all sites in Paris and Amsterdam.
The logistic platform
Our new supply chain center will be totally up and running by November and will massively increase our daily production.
The new setup has been underestimated and had a direct impact on the delivery of our servers in addition of other issues. We totally had to rethink our processes and methods to scale out the manufacturing process which is now running at nearly its full production capacity. Last adjustments are being finalized.
Our logistic platform was delivered in February 2017 with a 3 months delay.
We changed our information system in favor of Odoo. The setup of this new solution required many changes in our organization and a long running-in period before things worked well.
We centralized all our stocks at the logistic platform, which were previously split between four facilities. During this period, more than 200 tons of hardware have been transferred and inventoried.
The dispatch of spare stocks in the data centers took more time than expected and is still not fully operational. This delay impacts our system and customer success team in their day to day operations.
Test benches to qualify hardware after assembly is not yet fully operational and results of a bottleneck in our servers delivery time.
Our supply chain team was under-capacity and we didn't anticipate correctly the team sizing to success in this challenge of rapid industrialization.
Conclusion
In 2006, when we announced Dedibox, it was a real earthquake. We deployed and sold 10s of thousands units in 10 months. We reached our first company achievement : completely filled-in a datacenter, DC1 with a huge market share. Everything was easy to scale, we had only 1 product, 1 huge and empty datacenter, 1 simple network and a team of 6 peoples.
The first issue we encountered was after reaching this insane milestone: we had nothing to sell for the next 22 months, the time needed to build our first self-owned datacenter, DC2.
DC2 before / after
This first sold-out period caused irreversible damages to Online. During this long period, the high demand of dedicated servers we created on the market was picked up by our competitors and we never succeed to catch up, even 9 years later.
After this period, we decided to learn from our errors and changed everything needed to never end up in a such situation.
We re-worked our brand image, our technical assistance, invested massively in the construction of facilities and deployed our own independent network. We focused on quality and refused to provide wobbly infrastructures and products. This major refactoring ends up with the success we know today. We currently grow by a factor of two every two years and we've delivered the total of our growth capacity during seven years without any major difficulty.
The next step is to develop a large scale industrialization. We anticipated this at the right time but we faced to many issues in cascade to succeed. We’ve been a bit enthusiast and underestimated some parts while restructuring the way we work everyday. This mistake had a direct impact on our stocks and sales during last months.
Our teams work everyday to do incredible things and ensure a smooth experience with Online services. The good news is that everything will be back to normal in September and we do not plan to face similar issues in the coming years.
We are more than 150 people and counting working 24h/24 to run a part of the Internet, and, let's face it, it’s not so easy to scale.
We hope you will like our transparency and we want to thanks each one of you who help us make great and amazing things by your feedbacks and suggestions.
If you have any question about this story, please leave us a comment here, we’ll be happy to answer you.
To sustain our growth, we'll massively open new positions in Paris in the coming months! You can already send us your resume at jobs at online dot net
[1] - Netcraft Hosting Provider by Computer - Jul 2017She was everywhere, and seemingly everyone’s friend, a compassionate do-gooder who worked long hours with underprepared students while balancing several jobs, including directing a center on ethics.
On Wednesday the world learned something else about Jeanette M. Boxill: Her own ethics were malleable.
Most of the blame fell on Julius E. Nyang’oro, a former department chair at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his longtime assistant, Deborah Crowder, after they were identified as the chief architects of a widespread academic scandal there.
But the person everyone’s talking about is Ms. Boxill, a senior philosophy lecturer and former academic counselor for athletes. According to an independent report released on Wednesday, she played a key role in steering athletes into fake classes to help them maintain their eligibility with the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
While many people were implicated in the breakdown, which involved more than 3,000 students over 18 years, Ms. Boxill was unique because of her background: Although she did not have tenure, she was a faculty leader, administrator, and athletics insider, lending her a credibility that few people on the campus enjoyed. That status made her precipitous fall all the more puzzling. (A university official would not comment on Ms. Boxill's employment, but on Wednesday the university said that nine employees were being terminated or were under disciplinary review. And Ms. Boxill did not return a call from The Chronicle.)
Her reputation as an honest broker—she directed the university’s Parr Center for Ethics—made her an unlikely villain. Several colleagues describe her as someone who often set aside her own needs for people who had little to give in return. She took orders from chancellors, but she still talked to the groundskeepers.
She grew up poor herself and had an affinity for underprivileged students. And, like several other colleagues who made questionable choices, she bled Carolina blue.
As faculty and staff members step back from this week’s storm, many are still conflicted about the role Ms. Boxill played. But some have harsh words for their colleague.
“I don’t think she’s evil, but she violated standards of academic integrity and did it knowingly,” said Jay M. Smith, a history professor and founder of an athletics-reform group on the campus.
But her greater sin, Mr. Smith said, is that she appeared to cover it up.
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“She has been knowingly dishonest about her role in this scam the last three years,” he said. “She has obstructed those of us who wanted to get to the bottom of things.”
A Respected Leader
Ms. Boxill was raised on a farm in upstate New York with no indoor plumbing, and she lost her parents at a young age, according to an online biography. She grew up playing football with her 11 siblings and wanted to play sports in high school. Back then, though, girls had few opportunities.
At 18 she joined the military, and she used the GI Bill to help pay her way through the University of California at Los Angeles.
She arrived at UNC in the mid-1980s and has never risen above the adjunct rank. But by all accounts, she has been among the campus’s most respected leaders.
In 2011 she was elected chair of the faculty, a position that had never before been held by a fixed-term instructor. Her term ended in June. Last year she worked closely with several faculty members on a report about academic fraud.
“I’ve done more than anybody could think to address the problem,” Ms. Boxill said in an interview last year with The Daily Tar Heel, a student newspaper.
Colleagues and friends describe her as soft-spoken and not prone to self-promotion. They say she is kind. “I’ve never heard her say a negative thing about another person,” said one associate.
After long days of teaching and counseling, she often shows up at lectures and dance performances, and she has been spotted on athletics fields and courts at all hours. For 20 years she was the public-address announcer for women’s basketball. She has also done radio commentary on games.
Over a more-than-40-year academic career, she has written and spoken extensively about social justice, and she has given numerous presentations on such topics as ethical decision-making and the moral significance of sports, according to her online CV.
But this week’s revelations have led many people to question the accuracy of her own moral compass. According to a 136-page report produced by Kenneth L. Wainstein, a longtime official of the U.S. Department of Justice, Ms. Boxill was one of several academic counselors who worked closely with Ms. Crowder, the longtime assistant in the department of African and Afro-American studies, to give players easy grades for little or no work.
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One email exchange between the two women was particularly damning, suggesting that the two had colluded to fix a player’s grade. In the email, Ms. Crowder asked Ms. Boxill, then an academic counselor for women’s basketball, if “a D will do.”
"I’m only asking," Ms. Crowder wrote, "because 1. No sources, 2, it has absolutely nothing to do with the assignments for the class and 3. It seems to be a recycled paper."
"Yes," Ms. Boxill replied, "a D will be fine; that’s all she needs."
Other emails suggested that Ms. Boxill had helped players write papers, which the report characterized as "stepping across that line" of permissible behavior for a tutor.
Dubious Ethics
It’s not the first time that Ms. Boxill has been accused of dubious ethics. Last year emails obtained by the News & Observer, a North Carolina newspaper, suggested that she had watered down a report on academic fraud to stave off NCAA investigators.
Ms. Boxill denied the accusation, saying the changes she had made did not alter the essence of the document.
In an article published last fall on chapelboro.com, the website of a local radio station, she said that the newspaper had taken her comment out of context and that, as an eductor, she had always strived to teach students about the importance of taking a broader view.
“Every issue we deal with is complex, whether it’s affirmative action, whether it’s abortion, whether it’s the voters’ rights,” she told WCHL. “It’s easy to criticize one aspect, but if you look at the overarching, then you see there’s a lot more strands than just the single issue.”
In the same article, she lamented that information gleaned from emails often did not contain the whole story.
“Emails are not the best way to communicate,” she said, “because you read them as you want to read them, not as perhaps they were intended.”
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The 'Ethics of Care'
Damning emails don’t tell the whole story here either. But they certainly raise an important question: What led a beloved professor to apparently go against the ethical framework on which her own scholarship was based?
The answer, like a lot of things in the study of ethics, is complex, said Richard M. Southall, an associate professor of sport management at the University of South Carolina at Columbia. Several years ago, he collaborated with Ms. Boxill on a book chapter about ethics in sports.
In the chapter, Mr. Southall said, he outlined three ethical frameworks: deontology, consequentialism, and existentialism. Ms. Boxill, he said, offered a fourth: the "ethics of care," which involves treating and caring for people.
In a nutshell, Mr. Southall said, the ethics of care puts the needs of an individual foremost, looking out for what’s in his or her best interests.
The tutors and counselors named in the report released this week said they mostly followed the rules with players. But when they were presented with a conflict—namely, that some of their students couldn’t write, and if they didn’t help those students, it might lead to their dismissal from the university—they questioned whether the rules should apply.
For Ms. Boxill, the dilemma may have come down to this, said Mr. Southall: “If you have students who are plopped down within an inherently corrupt system, do you have a moral obligation to help them?”
Deborah Stroman, a faculty member in the business school whom Ms. Boxill met years ago through her work with the women's basketball team, said the two had long debated big moral issues like that.
Asked whether Ms. Boxill might have viewed her situation as a counselor through that kind of lens, Ms. Stroman declined to comment: “I don’t want to speak for her.”
But in her view, Ms. Stroman said, Ms. Boxill often let her heart guide her.
“It would be easy, knowing her spirit of being a very caring person, to imagine that she would try to do whatever she could to help,” Ms. Stroman said. “But I’ll never know what Jan was thinking at the time.”
Clarification (10/24/2014, 9:42 a.m.): Ms. Boxill did not return a call from The Chronicle seeking comment for this article; it has been updated to reflect that.Illustration: Lu Ting/GT
I was appalled to read last week's article by Cyril Saidah, a foreigner living in Shanghai, who wrote that underarm hair on Chinese women is "nauseating" and "just wrong." As a modern Asian female, I was appalled by Saidah's misogynistic attitude toward, and fetishism of, Asian women. As a fellow writer, I was also dismayed by his argument's utter lack of logic.
Saidah wrote that women with armpit hair are "masculine and neglectful of their hygiene." But he does not seem to be up on his knowledge of Chinese history. For millennia, Chinese women have not practiced the unnecessary art of shaving their armpits. Local women only just started to epilate their bodies two decades ago, due to the country's opening up and the growing influence of Western trends.
Even in modern times, most local women still won't give their body hair a second thought. But according to Saidah's logic, such women (including, I suppose, Mulan, Wu Zetian, Cixi and other famous females throughout Chinese history) have not a smidgen of self-respect.
Saidah, a Frenchman, hails from a country where men wear tight speedo trunks to swim. In the US, where I'm from, this form of swimwear is a fashion faux pas; he'd be laughed off the beach. But were I to visit France, I would not go around saying that Frenchmen are nauseating, effeminate and have no self-respect; I would understand that they are only acting in line with their own cultural norms.
I wonder if Saidah thinks that Jemima Kirk, Julia Roberts and Madonna (fashion trendsetters and paragons of femininity) also have no self-respect? They have all proudly shown off their underarm hair on Hollywood red carpets - but they do so as an act of defiance against misogynistic standards of beauty. They refuse to subjugate their bodies to arbitrary and unfair alterations just for the pleasure of men like Saidah.
In fact, what Saidah's TwoCents reveals is that he is the one who lacks respect - respect for cultures and perspectives outside of his own narrow one. I wonder if he even knows that, in Colombia, men often shave their armpits? Does that half of the country's population also lack self-respect?
Saidah also had the audacity to write that "Western men throughout history have mythologized Chinese women." What he's doing here is rhetorically excusing his own attitude by lumping himself in with a larger group. No, this mind-set is not acceptable just because it's common. And he is not "mythologizing;" he is fetishizing. The former lifts something up to an ideal; the latter demeans something into a sexualized object.
He repeatedly states that women with underarm hair are unhygienic, but I'd kindly ask him to look up the word. "Conditions or practices conducive to maintaining health and preventing disease." Nowhere is it scientifically proven that underarm hair leads to poor health.
As for body odor, East Asians at large have a much lower number of osmidrotic apocrine "body odor" glands than members of other races. I've lived in Asia for years, and I'll be blunt: most of the time, when I get a whiff of B.O. on the subway here, it's more often than not coming from a foreigner.
At the start of the summer, I myself decided to keep growing the underarm hair that I'd accumulated over the winter. They are not grotesque "thick tufts" but instead small downy fluffs. In fact, they are cute; downright lovely! When I told my husband that I was going "au naturel," he was indifferent.
You'd be surprised, Saidah, but there are men out there who do not require women to change our bodies just to conform to heteronormative standards of beauty. They accept our bodies in all of our mature beauty. I urge other women and wives to confidently speak out against the damaging "hairless little girl" fetishism popular among this vocal minority of misogynists.
What is the purpose of underarm hair, anyway? And why have humans evolved to keep rather than shed it? One common belief is that underarm hair serves as a kind of diffuser for pheromones, the hormones that secrete subtle scents to attract the opposite sex.
So perhaps the revulsion felt by Saidah is serving a purpose he did not even realize: the many Chinese women he's been encountering are actually sending him a message with their bodies. He just did not understand. Let me translate. Their message says: "We don't like you; we refuse to please you; and there's no way we'll ever be mating with you."
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Global Times.CHICAGO -- Derrick Rose isn't worried about what has happened in the past. He's just trying to focus on what will happen in the future. He doesn't want to think about the serious injuries he's sustained over the past two years, and he certainly doesn't want to relive what happened to Team USA teammate Paul George after his gruesome broken leg.
Rose just wants to be the best he can be right now, and he reaffirmed that mantra Thursday.
Derrick Rose knows he has a lot to prove -- not just to his doubters, but himself. "I have my own little goals in my head," he said. "I got my own little things that motivate me in my head I keep to myself." Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
"I don't have no fear," Rose said. "I have faith. I know that I'm going to be fine. I know that I've busted my ass the entire two summers, two seasons, in getting back to where I am right now. I'm just trying to keep it moving and stay positive every day. Do everything consistent like I've been doing... just getting my mind clear before I step out here on the floor. And I'm doing everything that Coach K and them want me to do."
After George's injury and Kevin Durant's decision to leave the team, Rose knows his role has changed since Team USA opened camp last month.
"When you lose players like that it's definitely going to be some changes, but at the same time we just can't quit and go home," Rose said. "We got to go out here and compete. Coming in today, guys that are still on the team still have the drive and still are trying to make the team, so it seems like [the circumstances] didn't take anybody down."
Players and coaches echoed that sentiment Thursday. Chicago Bulls coach and Team USA assistant Tom Thibodeau again was pleased by what he saw from his star point guard.
"I think the pacing," Thibodeau said, noting the improvements in Rose's game. "I know he puts a lot of pressure on himself. And I think that's something that he learned from the last comeback is he's got a great pace to his game right now. I think he's reading the game extremely well. He's shooting when he should shoot, he's passing when he should pass. He's not forcing things. He's playing well defensively. And that's what we want him to do -- find the rhythm of the game. I think he's comfortable, he's confident, he knows he's prepared himself well."
Rose also knows he has a lot of doubters he wants to prove wrong. He proved during his time in Vegas that he still has the speed and explosion to perform at a high level. What he hasn't shown in recent years is the ability to stay on the floor for long stretches of time. After playing only 49 games in the past three years and just 10 in the past two, Rose understands he has a lot to prove.Monetary Policy in Hybrid Regimes : The Case of Kazakhstan
Author/Editor:
Natan P. Epstein ; Rafael Portillo
Publication Date:
June 13, 2014
Electronic Access:
Free Full Text. Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file
Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate
Summary:
This paper analyzes the monetary policy framework in Kazakhstan. The authorities have been successful in containing inflation in the context of a managed exchange rate regime. Over the past two years, the central bank has taken steps to enhance its ability to regulate liquidity in the financial system. However, the current policy interest rate does not properly signal the stance of policy, reflected in a weak transmission from the policy rate to money market interest rates. With the use of a stylized model, the paper studies the macro determinants of money market interest rates under the current framework, and illustrates both the benefits and challenges of active interest rate policy. The model shows that limited use of instruments to steer short-term interest rates weakens the framework’s ability to counteract shocks. Finally, the paper explores the implications of varying degrees of exchange rate flexibility for interest rate policy and open market operations.Vote fraud at issue in YR race
Here's an interesting entry in the long-running, partisan battle over (usually, Republican) allegations of widespread (Democratic) voter fraud:
A leading candidate to head the Young Republican National Federation is also one of the few people actually charged and convicted for voting shenanigans in recent years.
The candidate, Rachel Hoff, pled guilty to the misdemeanor of notarizing absentee ballot signatures without actually witnessing them during the 2004 South Dakota Senate race, when she was working for the state Republican Party on behalf of John Thune, who went on to beat Tom Daschle.
Local authorities charged six Republicans with violating the rules, and the State Attorney General, Larry Long, explained the rare decision to prosecute notary violations on the grounds that they had invalidated the ballots of students who intended to vote.
Long said at the time that "there's no indication that any unqualified voter tried to cast an absentee ballot," the Argus Leader reported.
The lack of indication of actual fraudulent voting didn't get in the way of a large-scale GOP effort to claim voting fraud in the run-up to last year's election, but Hoff said in an interview that she didn't see a connection.
"It's certainly an issue and it's got to be taken seriously," she said of voting fraud, saying that her goal as chair would be to help "young people make sure they're not cogs in the wheel of an unethical process" as she had been.
She called the misdemeanor, made when she was just 22 and in the process of "cutting corners," a mistake, and said it had taught her a "harsh lesson."A look at the number of babies born through C-section deliveries has continued to increase. Private hospitals prefer them and so do women for private reasons.
Mumbai: Komal Vora Veera was expecting a normal delivery when she was due in February 2016. After all, she was active even in the ninth month of pregnancy with no complications. No wonder she was disappointed when told that she would have go for a Caesarean delivery by her gynecologist at a private hospital in Panvel, near Mumbai.
Post-delivery, Komal suffered intense backache. Her stitches hurt, and itched. “I believe I could have had a normal delivery. But of course at that time you listen to your doctor, and also, you know no better,” she told 101Reporters.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of C-section deliveries in a country should ideally be under 15%. A report published earlier in the year in Live Mint noted that a higher percentage “suggests that either women are opting for a controlled birth or that a profiteering healthcare system is pushing women into caesareans.”
Compare the WHO figures with the reality in Mumbai’s hospitals. Information obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act by OnlineRTI, a Bangalore based organisation that helps citizen file RTIs, revealed that during 2010-2015, 27.5% childbirths in Mumbai’s private hospitals were by c-section. In the same period, government hospitals in the city recorded only 16.5% c-section deliveries.
“No one can deny that many doctors in private hospitals push for c-sections to make more money,” said Gargi Goel, a pediatrician who studied at a government hospital in Udaipur and is now working in the city in a private set up. By November, she will start working with a private hospital in Mumbai.
If a normal delivery costs Rs. 15,000-Rs. 20,000, a C-section could cost anywhere between Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 1 lakh, depending on the hospital selected.
Requesting anonymity, a doctor and a research fellow told 101Reporters that some hospitals actually ask their doctors to convince expectant mothers to go for a C-section delivery.
“At times even medical reports are manipulated and the radiologist is told to purge reports and say that conditions are not conducive for normal delivery,” he said. “It is a fact that doctors practising in large corporate-run hospital chains are incentivised if a patient ends up paying more.
YEAR C-SECTION At Public Inst. C-SECTION At Private Inst. Total Deliveries At Public Inst. Total Deliveries At Private Inst 2010-11 9791 22467 95285 83189 2011-12 12389 28077 86399 85308 2012-13 12719 31680 83763 92955 2013-14 14339 29464 86179 83347 2014-15 18802 33340 87328 87663 2015 (Apr to Dec) 17131 27009 67051 65402
Source: Public Health Department, Municipal Corporation Of Greater Mumbai
Dr. Sumedh (who goes by his first name), a public health communication expert and an alumnus of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said a lot depends on the power dynamics between the doctor and the patient, which is not necessarily always balanced. As patients are not aware of the decisions to be taken, they give that power to the doctors and usually follow what the doctors recommend.
A similar trend is seen across the country. The Mint report ed that across India 10% of all the childbirths at government hospitals were through C-sections, but 31% of the deliveries at private hospitals were by the surgical method.
Other Factors
Gargi Goel explains that the other reasons for a higher number of c-section deliveries in private hospitals include lifestyle factors of the patient, lack of regulatory laws, the risk of litigation (should the delivery go wrong) and unskilled staff to conduct normal deliveries.
“I have worked in rural areas for two years. Especially in primary healthcare centres, the number of C-sections is almost nil. Most deliveries happen normally. That number could go up to 2% at the district level,” said Goel. “But in private hospitals, it’s almost the opposite. According to my experience, about 60% to 80% babies are delivered through C-section, mainly because nurses are just not trained to handle complications and ensure a normal delivery.”
Another reason she cited was lack of time, and lack of patience in doctors. She said a normal delivery is a time-consuming process and the patient has to be continuously monitored. Neither the doctors nor the mothers have the patience to wait for the body to take its own time.
Over-crowded public setups, however, still record fewer c-sections.
“That’s because there are frequent health ministry inspections. Public Hospitals also double up as colleges, there insistence is on adhering to the regulations prescribed by the ministry before undergoing a C-section,” Goel said.
One of the regulations is not to induce labour as far as possible as the drug used to do so can be harmful to both mother and baby.
Dr. Sumedh said private setups do not pay much heed to prescribed regulations. The birthing guidelines mention under what conditions a C-section should be conducted, but they don’t say you can’t do a C-sections if these conditions aren’t found in the patient.
“There are regulations, but no laws,” he laments.
Another reason behind the high number of c-section deliveries is possibly a hospital’s cautious approach to avoid litigation. Explaining this, Dr. Suhas Datray, medical director of Cloud 9 hospital said cases have been foisted on doctors for not opting for a C-section delivery when things went wrong.
“Doctors obviously do not want to take any chances,” he said. “How many cases have you heard of lodged against a government setup?”
The lifestyle of the women who can afford the services of private hospitals is another factor that makes a case for C-section deliveries, Dr. Datray told 101Reporters.
Many pregnant women admitted to such hospitals are above 30 and/or suffer from diabetes/obesity or some other medical condition. In such cases, due to health complications are more and the chances of a normal delivery are less.
While explaining why private hospitals tend to see more cases of c-section deliveries, he did not refute the contention that many hospitals prefer it over normal delivery in order to make more money of each patient.
“I won’t say that the allegations are completely untrue. The malpractice, though, isn’t widespread and it is not always a money-making racket,” he said.
To ensure that such an unfair practice doesn’t happen in his hospital or at his private clinic, Dr. Datray says he charges the same fee whether it’s a normal delivery or a C-section delivery. A norm that will probably be a long-time coming in private hospitals across the country.
Riddhi Doshi is a Mumbai based independent journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.As time marches on, the distance between us and City of Heroes’ closure grows ever-greater. However, the memories linger, and today I felt like making a list of 10 things I still miss about |
Shrek in that scene, his father tried to eat him. It is unknown what their fates are as they never appear in the films.
A Fairy Godmother appears in Shrek the Musical and is banished to Shrek's swamp.
The Gnome appears in the Seattle Try-out & Broadway Line-Up of Shrek the Musical amongst the fairy tale characters that are banished to Shrek's swamp.
The Mad Hatter appears in the West End Line-Up version of Shrek the Musical amongst the fairy tale character that are banished to Shrek's swamp.
Based on one of the elves from The Elves and the Shoemaker, it appears in the Seattle Try-out & Broadway Line-Up and US National Tour Line-Up versions of Shrek the Musical amongst the fairy tale characters that are banished to Shrek's swamp.
Based on the Sugarplum Fairies from The Nutcracker, the Sugarplum Fairy appears in all three versions of Shrek the Musical amongst the fairy tale characters that are banished to Shrek's swamp.
The Ugly Duckling appeared in all three versions of Shrek the Musical amongst the fairy tale characters that are banished to Shrek's swamp.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee appear in the West End Line-Up version of Shrek the Musical amongst the fairy tale characters that are banished to Shrek's swamp.
The White Rabbit appeared in the Seattle Try-out & Broadway Line-Up and West End Line-Up versions of Shrek the Musical amongst the fairy tale characters that are banished to Shrek's swamp.
The Cow who jumped over the moon [ edit ]
She appears in the Travel Song where she jumps over the moon as Shrek and Donkey walk on their way to rescue Fiona. The character is mentioned in "The Pig Who Cried Werewolf" when The Three Little Pigs remember when Heimlich claimed that he has seen an OVNI, but Dieter says that was just the Cow who jumped over the moon
The Dish and the Spoon [ edit ]
They appear in the Travel Song where they run away as Shrek and Donkey walk on their way to rescue Fiona. The Dish and the Spoon are having a conversation and somehow being pursued by the police, it is unknown if they escaped or got arrested.
Recurring characters [ edit ]
Character Shrek Shrek 2 Shrek the Third Shrek Forever After Shrek the Musical Shrek 3D Shrek the Halls Scared Shrekless Puss in Boots Shrek Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Donkey Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Princess Fiona Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Puss in Boots No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Farquaad Yes No Flashback (footage from the first film; hands and voice only) No Yes Yes No Mentioned No Fairy Godmother No Yes Photograph Cameo Yes No No No No Prince Charming No Yes Yes Cameo No No No Yes No Rumpelstiltskin No No Yes Yes No No No No No Queen Lillian No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No King Harold No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Dragon Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Artie No No Yes Deleted scenes No No No No No Gingy Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Pinocchio Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Three Pigs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Big Bad Wolf Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Blind Mice Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Ogre Triplets No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Dronkeys No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Doris No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Mabel No No Yes Yes No No No No No Robin Hood Yes Video game only No No No No No No No Captain Hook No Yes Yes Soundtrack No No No No No Headless Horseman No Yes Yes No No No No No No Snow White Yes No Yes No No No No No No Cinderella Yes No Yes No No No No No No Sleeping Beauty No Yes Yes No No No No No No Gepetto Yes No No Yes No No No Yes No Muffin Man Mentioned Yes Yes Yes Mentioned No No Yes No Merlin Yes No Yes No Yes No No No No Thelonious Yes No No No Yes Yes No No No Magic Mirror Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No Pied Piper Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No Cyclops No Yes Yes No No No No No No Captain of the Guard Yes Yes No No Yes No No No No Evil Trees No Yes Yes Video game only No No No No No Witches Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Three Bears Yes Video game only No No Yes Yes No No No Red Riding Hood No Yes Yes No Yes No No No No Seven Dwarfs Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes No Tinkerbell Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No No Peter Pan Yes No No No Yes No No No NoA model and medical student who appeared on the cover of Vogue and even received praised from the president of her native Maldives for her striking appearance has reportedly committed suicide at a dormitory hostel in Bangladesh.
Raudha Athif, 21, a second-year student at Islami Bank Medical College in Rajshahi city, was found dead in her room on Wednesday.
Her body was recovered by police at around midday after her classmates found her dead.
Raudha Athif, 21, a second-year student at Islami Bank Medical College in Rajshahi city, was found dead in her room on Wednesday
The body was sent to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital for an autopsy, according to The Daily Star.
Mahmuda Begum, the superintendent of the female hostel, said the model 'always looked happy,' and added, 'it is hard to believe she would commit suicide'.
Ms Begum said: 'I was in my chamber. Suddenly, I heard screams of my students.
'Rushing to the second floor of this six-storey building, I saw some of the students trying to break the door of Athif's room.'
Her body was recovered by police at around midday after classmates found their fellow student dead in her hostel room at Islami Bank Medical College (pictured)
Full picture: https://500px.com/sottimv A post shared by Rau. Maldivian. �� (@raudhaathif) on Aug 28, 2015 at 6:57pm PDT
The door was locked from the inside and students broke into the room.
'We primarily suspect it is a suicide case. However, we can't come to any conclusion until we get the autopsy report,' said the officer-in-charge Zillur Rahman.
The model's first major breakthrough was a stunning image taken by photographer Sotti called 'Maldivian Girl With Aqua Blue Eyes,' which was praised by the former president of the Maldives over social media.
The model's (far left) fame grew and she eventually landed on the cover of Vogue India in October last year
The picture made her an internet sensation in 2014.
Her fame grew and she eventually landed on the cover of Vogue India in October last year.
'Modelling is a hobby rather than a career for me, since I'm studying to become a doctor,' she told Vogue.
'Modelling is a hobby rather than a career for me, since I'm studying to become a doctor,' she told Vogue
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details.The state Health Department says it has reduced how long it takes to process patients’ applications for medical marijuana from up to eight weeks to no more than five business days.
House Rep. Della Au Belatti said the department’s improved efficiency is the main reason why she agreed to kill a bill Wednesday that would have forced the agency to give patients temporary registration certificates that allow them to grow marijuana while they wait for their cards.
That was a common practice when the medical marijuana program was run by the Department of Public Safety, but the state Department of Health and Attorney General Doug Chin have opposed the idea. The program was transferred from Public Safety to Health last year.
Belatti and House Rep. Karl Rhoads deferred House Bill 2709 Wednesday in a joint hearing of the Health and Judiciary committees. A similar measure, Senate Bill 2177, died in the Senate earlier this month.
Cory Lum/Civil Beat
Last fall, the agency had a backlog of 1,500 applications, sparking the ire of some lawmakers. That has now shrunk to about 250.
That includes about 150 applications yet to be reviewed. Another 100 applications are missing key information and must be returned to patients.
Scottina Ruis, medical marijuana registry program coordinator, said the agency was able to reduce the backlog by working overtime and implementing a new online registration process.
But Carl Bergquist, executive director of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, said that while he’s happy the wait time has improved, he’s concerned that the backlog will grow after dispensaries open later this year.
Hawaii has allowed patients to grow their own medical cannabis since 2000, but the state’s new medical marijuana dispensary law permits production centers and stores to come online in July.
A large increase in applications is expected based on what’s happened in other states that have legalized dispensaries. Hawaii also recently added post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of qualifying conditions for a medical cannabis card.
“It’s short-sighted to just nix this now because of the current situation,” he said of HB 2709. “It wasn’t that long ago there was a wait. What’s to say there wouldn’t be another one in the future?”
Ruis said the medical cannabis registry program only has four staff members and acknowledged that the backlog could increase again if there’s big spike in applications.
The agency also doesn’t have the resources to support all of the patients who may need help navigating the new online system.
While the department provides a tip sheet for navigating the website, answers calls on weekday afternoons and encourages people to email questions, that’s not enough help for some patients.
“If your challenges is that you don’t know anything about the Internet then it’s hard for me to coach you through it because I need to get you on the Internet first,” Ruis said. Some 44 percent of the state’s 13,000 medical marijuana patients are over the age of 55.
“We’re counting on physicians to help or even family members and caregivers,” she said. “We just don’t have enough staff … to guide people through the application process.”
But the Health Department hasn’t requested any additional staff this year for the registry program, Ruis said. The department is expected to hire another full-time staff member starting next January, but that person will only work for half the year and won’t be there this summer when dispensaries are allowed to open and the demand for cards will likely increase.
And while the Health Department has touted its progress in improving the registry backlog, Bergquist said he doesn’t think currently registered patients should have to wait three to five business days to renew their cards. New patients may also have medical reasons for needing cannabis right away, he said.
“People don’t wait for their medicine for normally more than 30 minutes at the pharmacy,” Bergquist said.It might be canon but Calley MacLeod isn't about ready to make her daughter a Chocolina outfit. "Imagine my reaction when my 10 year old asked me to make her that outfit when her original tail had started looking similar to Chocolina's - Nope!"
MacLeod's daughter has since moved on to requesting an Easter costume made in the image of Final Fantasy XII's Fran, yet another thing the craft-happy mom has vetoed. "Especially given that I mostly make outfits for my daughter, I'm really not interested in making the outfits into anything sexual. Not even an outfit for myself, in truth, since my self confidence is pretty low and I'd not have the guts to wear such a thing, hahaha. Not to mention, I'd just be too cold!"
No matter how you cut it, though, the facts are clear: Calley MacLeod is kind of awesome. Especially for a mom. Not too long ago, she and her daughter both took part in Square Enix's first EU FFXIV:ARR Cosplay Contest; MacLeod made the suit, her daughter the uncannily life-like bird. The pair did well though not well enough to win the competition. A fantastically-well dressed Miqo'te swept imaginations and first place. However, that doesn't stop MacLeod's underdog(bird?) story from being a fine example of cost-effectiveness and parenting done right.
A lifelong fan of the franchise, MacLeod is a newcomer to the cosplay scene. "I've thrown a few little outfits together for my daughters school events and such but never really done serious cosplay before this contest."
"A year or two ago, I watched Gackt's Diabolos tour. I ended up loving his red and black coat so much that I decided to try to make it and it turned out OK. A few months later, we were going to Distant Worlds in London and having found out that Genesis Rhapsodos (also Gackt) wore the same coat in his first role in Dirge of Cerberus, kiddo suggested I that should wear it to the Distant Worlds concert...which I did! She also had just bought a little Chocobo hat from Ebay with her pocket money since she loves Chocobos and asked me to help her make some wings from some fluffy fabric that she had spare. This was her first appearance as the Chocobo which people loved so much that we started off a mass photo session outside the Royal Albert hall with other cosplayers."
It escalated from there. "Following on from that, she wanted a better Chocobo outfit and the first full suit was made for her. We won tickets to an exclusive event for the next Distant Worlds show (2012) and we got to meet Nobuo Uematsu and Arnie Roth who also loved the outfit! She was a huge hit for the whole day and I thought that the Chocobo outfit would be my best work ever. A Square Enix representative told us about a FFXIV ARR contest that they had running and suggested the Chocobo should enter. After looking at the contest I could see that whilst she was a Chocobo, she was not an FFXIV Chocobo, they looked completely different. As the grand prize was a trip to Japan (which we're desperately trying to visit! still saving up!), I definitely wanted to enter!! So I got to work."
Like so many amateur cosplayers, MacLeod didn't have much of a budget to toy with. As a result, she found herself working with what was available around the house. To make the head, MacLeod used a cardboard skullcap cobbled together from cereal box strips, masking tape, paint, felt and'superdough' clay for detailing.
The body, according to this wonder mother, is a'shirt' made out of yellow cotton and hand-made felt feathers, the tail a corrugated triangular cardboard made out of even more felt feathers, bamboo cane, fencing wire and copious amounts of hot glue. As for the rest of it, Macleod says it's hacked apart sofa cushions, slathered in liquid latex, for the feet, fencing wire-lined cereal boxes for the armor and foam for the saddles with detail provided by paper mache and paint.
Unsurprisingly, the finished product only cost a pittance; MacLeod says it set her back somewhere between £50 to £60.
"I was honestly stunned at how much people spend on getting their cosplays to look exactly like the character they are portraying. I'd seen a lot of people using Worbla or Wonderflex, or other various expensive materials for their outfits. I saw an armor set that the creator said cost her $1200 to make, having used resins and Wonderflex and other materials that aren't readily available. " MacLeod says.
The real challenge for MacLeod, however, wasn't so much the financial constraints but the amount of time required to complete the project. It was a lot of sleepless nights, MacLeod confesses. Between managing a household and mollifying with the family's pet bird ("Time to make the outfit was not an acceptable excuse for him. Any attempts to make parts of the outfit were met with tool stealing and standing in the middle of me trying to work with a determined look on his face!"), the intrepid costume designer had her work cut out for her.
"After going mental in March to get it finished in time, I then tried to submit my entry only to find they had extended the contest by another 3 months! After screaming like a Rayman Raving Rabbid (Daaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!), I decided to try for the saddle. I wasn't sure it would work given the anatomical differences between a bird and a human but I'd managed to catch my daughter in just the right pose in one of the photos and I could see that it just might work! I also re-made the face plate since I'd managed to get a source image that was bigger than 3 inch square and could see it looked different so I started that again. I now had plenty of time to put in stupid amounts of detail!"
Which she did, obviously.
Now that the costume is completed and the Internet is cognizant of her skills, what's next? MacLeod says she already has a new project in the wings (pun completely intended). "I'm pretty excited and hoping that this project will work out as well as the first. I'm hooked for sure! My husband keeps suggesting I make outfits to sell, but to be fair it takes more time and stress than it is worth in the money I'd possibly get. Not to mention the Chocobo was made for my daughter and she loves it so much, she'd be really upset with me if I sold it. I've had lots of offers for her outfit. I do this for fun and for my daughter to have fun with and she now wants to wear her chocobo outfits to Expos. We'll hopefully be attending our first event in October in London."
With Halloween slowly closing in, would-be Chocobo cosplayers may be interested to know that Macleod has detailed production notes available online.Producer George Lucas at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. (Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)
When George Lucas tried to expand his production company studios in California’s wealthy Marin County, the community pushed back. Then the “Star Wars” creator wanted to sell the land to a developer who would build affordable housing.
“It’s inciting class warfare,” Carolyn Lenert, then head of the North San Rafael Coalition of Residents, told The New York Times at the time.
Now, two years after that project stalled, Lucas has decided to build the affordable housing and pay for it all himself.
“We’ve got enough millionaires here. What we need is some houses for regular working people,” Lucas said through his lawyer Gary Giacomini, CBS affiliate KCBS reported.
[George Lucas chooses Chicago for ‘Star Wars’ museum]
The 224-unit affordable housing complex would go on Grady Ranch, where his once-planned studio expansion would have been, according to a plan being submitted to the Marin County Development Agency this week, the Contra Costa Times reported. The plan, which would allow development on 52 acres, includes workforce and senior residences, as well as a community center, pool and an orchard.
Income requirements could be set so eligible residents had to make less than 80 percent of the area’s median income, the paper reported. The median household income for Marin County is $90,839, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
Lucas first bought land in Marin in 1978 and dubbed the property Skywalker Ranch.
Before Lucas sold his production company Lucasfilms to Disney, he abandoned plans in 2012 for a third studio expansion on another ranch in Marin called Grady. Residents had opposed the project, citing environmental and traffic concerns, and threatened to sue. The studio expansion would “pose a serious and alarming threat to the nature of our valley and our community,” a homeowners’ association warned, the Times reported.
“We love working and living in Marin, but the residents of Lucas Valley have fought this project for 25 years, and enough is enough,” Lucasfilms had said in a statement. “We have several opportunities to build the production stages in communities that see us as a creative asset, not as an evil empire.”
Skywalker Ranch in the hills of Marin County, Calif., in 1999. (Jeff Vendsel/Marin Independent Journal)
Lucas then tried to build affordable housing on the site, which once again stoked concern among some residents. The people who had opposed the studio expansion were being blamed for the possibility of low-income housing coming to a wealthy community.
“We got letters saying, ‘You guys are going to get what you deserve. You’re going to bring drug dealers, all this crime and lowlife in here,’ ” Carl Fricke, a board member of the Lucas Valley Estates Homeowners Association, told the Times in 2012.
The initiative did have supporters, including some residents and officials. But then it lost key financial backing in 2013. Costs for the project had been estimated at $120 million to $150 million at the time.
Now Lucas has decided to bankroll the project himself. “George Lucas said, ‘If I’m not going to do what I wanted to do there, what can I do that would be really beneficial to this community?’” Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey told KCBS.
[Affordable housing didn’t cause the financial crisis]
While it’s tempting to cast this latest venture as Lucas striking back at his millionaire neighbors, he has previously rejected that characterization. When Lucas first tried to build affordable housing on the land, he had told the Times, “I’ve been surprised to see some people characterize this as vindictive.”
He had also emphasized the need for affordable housing in the county, so that people with moderate incomes who worked in Marin could also live there. “I wouldn’t waste my time or money just to try and upset the neighbors,” Lucas told the Times.
According to Census estimates, 7.7 percent of county residents live below the poverty line.
County Supervisor Damon Connolly worried about the impact that numerous development proposals could have, which would “literally and figuratively change the landscape in Marinwood and Lucas Valley,” the Contra Costa Times reported. Another supervisor called the affordable housing proposal a “wonderful opportunity.”
Lucas financing the project entirely means it can’t stall because outside funders pull the plug, and he can set aside units for people like teachers and local employees who meet income requirements, Giacomini told the local newspaper. If the proposal is approved, the development could be finished by 2019, the lawyer added.
“The standard naysayers will be hanging around, but an awful lot of people will support it,” Giacomini said. “We will have a healthy public process but it will not be one-sided.”This photo obtained January 26, 2014 courtesy of the US Secret Service shows a smal drone that crashed on the White House grounds in Washington, DC (AFP Photo/)
The pilot of a unmanned commercial drone that crashed at the White House and sparked a security alert works for the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, officials revealed Tuesday.
The agency — which provides vital imagery and analysis for US military and civilian intelligence agencies — said one of its staff members had been questioned by the Secret Service.
“The employee was off duty and is not involved in work related to drones or unmanned aerial vehicles in any capacity at NGA,” the agency said.
The DJI Phantom “quadcopter” that crashed into the White House grounds in the early hours of Monday is most commonly used by professional and amateur photographers to capture aerial video.
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency said its employee had turned themselves in and “was using a personal item while off duty.”
“The agency takes the incident very seriously,” it said, adding: “The Secret Service is currently investigating the incident.”
The incident led President Barack Obama to call for drones to be more closely regulated.
Obama told CNN commercial and recreational drones, which can now be bought for as little as $40, are not really regulated “at all.”
While most are used for recreation, the authorities fear drones could also pose a safety risk or security threat.
“The drone that landed in the White House you buy in Radio Shack,” said Obama.
Obama also noted that Amazon is among those companies mulling the commercial use of drones, unveiling plans to use the devices to deliver packages.
“There are incredibly useful functions that these drones can play in terms of farmers who are managing crops and conservationists who want to take stock of wildlife,” he said.
“But we don’t really have any kind of regulatory structure at all for it.”
“So I’ve assigned some of the relevant agencies to start talking to stakeholders and figure out how we’re going to put an architecture in place that makes sure that these things aren’t dangerous and that they’re not violating people’s privacy.”0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
Some Republicans are outraged at GOP chairman Michael Steele because he has refused to call President Barack Obama a Socialist. The Republican National Conservative Caucus has been pushing the RNC to adopt a resolution calling on the Democratic Party to rename itself the Democratic Socialist Party.
Here is the resolution, “RESOLVED, that we the members of the Republican National Committee recognize that the Democratic Party is dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals; and be it further RESOLVED, that we the members of the Republican National Committee call on the Democratic Party to be truthful and honest with the American people by acknowledging that they have evolved from a party of tax and spend to a party of tax and nationalize and, therefore, should agree to rename themselves the Democrat Socialist Party.”
However Steele has said that he doesn’t view Obama as a Socialist, “We don’t see this president so much as a socialist as we see him as a collectivist. When you strip away this idea that the individual matters, for this concept of the collective – all of us pulling together and working towards some governmental goal – that’s what I’m more concerned about.”
This is a real problem for Steele because his base is moving further right than he is willing to go. Steele realizes that calling a president with a 64% approval rating is probably not the best strategy for a party that is hoping to pick up seats in a mid-term election. It is also likely that the GOP is going to lose the NY-20 House special election that was contested in a heavily Republican district. This dispute is bound to stir more problems in the RNC, where many members have been grumbling that Steele isn’t the correct person for the job.
All you need to know about the current state of the Republican Party is that their most hotly debated issue revolves around calling the Democrats Socialists. They have become a party that is completely empty of ideas. One would think that they might be working counter proposals for the economy and healthcare, but no, they are busy complaining that Michael Steele won’t call Obama a Socialist. The GOP leadership does not understand that there is no quick fix to their problems. There isn’t some magic word that will take Obama’s popularity away. I think Steele is right, but the RNC will probably end up dumping him anyway.
(h/t: Think Progress)
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:2016 was an exciting year for science and space exploration.
Scientists reported earlier this year that Albert Einstein was right: there really are such things as gravitational waves that move through space.
The discovery of a nearby planet has many people wondering if conditions there could be just right to hold life.
Two other planets, Jupiter and Mars, also made the news. And, what is the possibility that “planet nine” really does exist far out in our solar system?
Let’s look back on 2016.
Gravitational Waves: Einstein was right!
It took nearly a century, but scientists finally proved Albert Einstein’s theory that gravitational waves exist.
A computer simulation of the collision of two black holes —a tremendously powerful event detected this year for the first time ever by LIGO
The waves were predicted as part of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. It is the theory of the physical workings of our world and the universe.
The idea was that gravitational waves are like ripples in space, caused by some violent and energetic processes, such as two black holes crashing into each other.
A group of scientists, including ones from the California Institute of Technology and Ligo Scientific Collaboration, confirmed the presence of the waves.
These plots show the signals of gravitational waves detected by the twin LIGO observatories at Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington. The signals came from two merging black holes, each about 30 times the mass of our sun.
What exactly are gravitational waves? Well, imagine throwing a stone into a lake. When the stone hits the water, it creates ripples in the lake. Spacetime is like the surface of the water. That means gravitational waves are like the ripples moving out from where the stone lands.
Is There an Earth-like Planet Next-Door?
In August 2016, scientists reported the discovery of an Earth-like planet just 4.2 light years away from us. In space terms, that is like having a next-door neighbor. The planet is an exoplanet, meaning one outside our solar system. It is orbiting the star that is closest to Earth, outside of our solar system.
Artist's impression of the planet orbiting Proxima Centauri. Courtesy of ESO/G. Coleman.
This makes it the closest planet ever found outside our solar system that could support life as we know it.
An international team of astronomers said the exoplanet is orbiting the star “Proxima Centauri.” Scientists named the planet “Proxima b.” It is a little larger than Earth.
Breakthrough Starshot
Space scientists think an unmanned spacecraft might reach Proxima b before the end of the century — in time for people alive today to see it.
This artist’s impression shows a view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the solar system. (Credit NASA)
Back in April, before the discovery, an international team launched a project they hope will answer the age-old question of whether or not we are alone in the universe.
The group includes British physicist Stephen Hawking, Russian-born billionaire Yuri Milner and American Mark Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook.
Called Breakthrough Starshot, the project now will work on how to get to Proxima b.
Investor Yuri Milner holds a Starchip, a microelectronic component spacecraft, during an announcement of the Breakthrough Starshot initiative with physicist Stephen Hawking in New York, April 12, 2016.
The team is proposing deployment of thousands of very small spacecraft, called StarChips. Each one will be about the size of a postage stamp.
Team members say the spacecraft could reach Proxima b in about 20 years. They say the first step will require about 20 years of research.
Juno to Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth – and largest — planet in our solar system. On July 4, 2016, the American space agency’s Juno spacecraft entered Jupiter’s orbit. Scientists want to find out about the planet’s beginnings, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.
Juno is busy taking pictures, and collecting data on Jupiter. Scientists also will study its auroras — the northern and southern lights and the very strong winds on the planet.
Jupiter as seen from NASA's Juno spacecraft as it approaches the giant planet. Taken August 27, 2016.
The spacecraft was expected to make a total of 37 orbits, or trips, around Jupiter before the mission ends in 2018.
Making the Trip to Mars
Other scientists continue work on getting people to the planet Mars.
In September, American businessman Elon Musk announced plans to build a colony for up to a million people on Mars. He says his company, SpaceX, is building a powerful reusable rocket and spaceship. He wants to get people to the red planet by the early 2020s.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk tells the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, that he envisions 1,000 passenger ships flying en masse to Mars and says it could become reality within a century, Sept. 27, 2016.
NASA, the American space agency, has its own program for sending astronauts to Mars. It plans to use its own equipment, some of which is still being developed.
NASA officials are hoping to send humans to Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, in the 2030s.
Is there a Planet Nine?
Scientists say they have found evidence of a ninth planet in the outer edges of our solar system.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology said this planet travels in a strange “highly elongated orbit in the distant solar system.”
So far, there have not been any direct observations of the mysterious object.
The scientists said it would take this planet 10,000 to 20,000 years just to make one full orbit around the sun. The new planet, called “Planet Nine,” has a mass about 10 times the size of Earth.
Actual confirmation of a ninth planet would be very big news. Maybe that will be one story making science news in 2017.
Author : Anne Ball
Source : http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/the-year-in-space-yearender-for-science/3653145.html'This is without doubt the worst environmental disaster in our history,' White House environmental adviser Carol Browner said Sunday. W.H.: Can't trust BP on spill size
The Obama administration is adopting an increasingly confrontational approach with BP — accusing company executives of intentionally underestimating the scale of the Gulf oil spill to spare themselves billions in fines.
The White House, under withering fire for not pressuring the oil company more forcefully in the 40 days since the oil well blowout that led to the still-gushing spill, is stressing a new take-charge stance, revealing Sunday that it pressured BP into drilling a second relief well, which could stop the flow — in August.
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“BP has a financial interest…They will ultimately pay a fine on those [spill] rates,” said Obama environmental adviser Carol Browner, director of Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, speaking on CBS's “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “BP has a vested financial interest in downplaying the size of this.”
“This is without doubt the worst environmental disaster in our history,” Browner said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House environment committee, went even further, suggesting BP might have criminal liability for its actions since the April 20 sinking of its Deepwater Horizon platform.
“The fine that can be imposed upon them is based on how many barrels [leak out]; it could wind up in billions of dollars of fines,” said Markey. “Their focus was not completely on the livability of the Gulf; they had a stake in low-balling the number right from the beginning… They were either lying or they were incompetent.”
The White House has become increasingly angry with BP, which initially assured administration officials the spill would be no greater than 1,000 barrels per day; estimates now range from 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day.
And Obama’s team was incensed that the company kept them in the dark for a half-day last week after suspending their unsuccessful “Top Kill” efforts to plus the leak with mud and dross.
Yet even as the administration ramped up response efforts — which includes dispatching senior officials back to the Gulf for another round of visits next week — Browner was the only top Obama adviser to take to the Sunday airwaves.
As it has several times since the April 20 oil well blowout that caused the spill, the White House took a back seat to BP on the Sunday shows, forcing company officials to defend themselves hours after announcing the failure of its highly touted “Top Kill” capping procedure.
BP Managing Director Bob Dudley, looking dejected, appeared on several networks, saying that he still believed the spill estimate was on the low side of the new estimated range — which would still be more than double the oil giant’s recent estimates of 5,000 barrels a day — and stressing the company’s determination to stop the spill as quickly as possible.Rick Schu (right) talking to Ryan Zimmerman during the 2014 playoffs. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post)
Rick Schu is expected to return as Nationals hitting coach, according to people familiar with the situation, marking, at least for now, the lone holdover from the previous coaching staff. As he mulled over the choice, Manager Dusty Baker had considered Schu a strong candidate to return because he wanted players to have some measure of continuity. He hinted at the hiring during an interview Friday on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio.
The Nationals have not yet announced any coaching hirings beyond Mike Maddux as pitching coach and Davey Lopes as first base/baserunning coach.
The Nationals finished third in runs scored in the National League each of the past two years. Even though the offense started slow and endured numerous injuries, the Nationals finished with a.251 average (ninth in the NL) and with a.724 OPS (5th). Several players have spoken highly of Schu, 53, and his personality. Bryce Harper blossomed into a MVP-level player this season under fired-manager Matt Williams and Schu, who also coached him in the minors. Denard Span credited Schu’s help in his own improvements.
Schu, a former major league third baseman, was twice the hitting coach in Arizona before joining the Nationals in 2009 as a minor league hitting instructor. He and Baker already know each other and are both from the Sacramento area. In fact, both went to the same high school, Del Campo High in Fair Oaks, but several years apart.
“I don’t believe in going into an organization and cleaning house because you’ve got to have somebody’s opinion that you trust in personnel,” Baker said of Schu on the radio. “What you see a lot of times on that side of the field is totally different than what you see on the side of the field.”
The Nationals coaching staff still has a few spots left. Chris Speier will either be the third base coach or bench coach, although the choice is still being decided. Baker said the Nationals also wanted to hire an assistant hitting coach as the seventh coaching position.
“We’ve got to come up with a bullpen guy and a catching guy, which I think baseball has done a poor job of,” Baker said on the radio. “The catching guy is usually the first guy to go or last to sign. But I think that’s one of the most important positions on the field. Somebody to correct the catchers and the pitchers and be a direct reflection on me. They’re my field general. …
“I believe in a diversified staff, some old, some young, some white, some black, some Latin. Everybody has to have somebody they can converse with and talk to. I’ve always said |
6 E7 E8 E9 EA EB EC ED EE EF T21 F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 FA FB FC FD FE FF
That allowed me to keep the 18-sector interface code, and only the read addresses had to be changed ($32 -> $30, $52 -> $50, etc). Nothing was added. Even the copy protection at page $D0 is loaded and run, but altered to not engage the phases, leaving track $22 unused.
The 18-sector tracks on master side A were probably used just for faster loading. As you can see, there was plenty of room to convert them to 16-sector tracks.
THE HARD PART
Now we move to Master Side B. It is the interesting one.
The first two tracks are the fonts. There are four fonts, in different styles. This is the layout:
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F 10 11 T00 F0 F0 F0 F0 F0 F0 F0 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F2 F2 T01 F2 F2 F2 F2 F2 F3 F3 F3 F3 F3 F3 F3
That became
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F T00 F0 F0 F0 F0 F0 F0 F0 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 F1 T01 F2 F2 F2 F2 F2 F2 F2 F3 F3 F3 F3 F3 F3 F3
Toy Shop contains both a regular DOS 3.3 with RWTS, VTOC, and the 18-sector tracks. The VTOC contains a fake catalog which lists the credits, and a hidden catalog with real files that are used.
One of the files is named TEDIT. TEDIT is the Text EDITor, and is the one that makes use of the fonts. This is the code that constructs the read from 18-sector tracks. The code supports reading fonts that span tracks.
5B75 A0 00 LDY #0 5B77 loc_5B77: 5B77 B9 00 DE LDA $DE00,Y 5B7A 99 9D 5B STA byte_5B9D,Y 5B7D C8 INY 5B7E C0 12 CPY #$12 5B80 90 F5 BCC loc_5B77 5B82 loc_5B82: 5B82 B9 00 DE LDA $DE00,Y 5B85 99 A3 5B STA byte_5BA3,Y 5B88 C8 INY 5B89 C0 24 CPY #$24 5B8B 90 F5 BCC loc_5B82
Since our tracks are only 16 sectors large, we only need to support 32 slots, instead of 36.
5B75 A0 00 LDY #0 5B77 loc_5B77: 5B77 B9 00 DE LDA $DE00,Y 5B7A 99 9D 5B STA byte_5B9D,Y 5B7D C8 INY 5B7E C0 12 CPY #$10 5B80 90 F5 BCC loc_5B77 5B82 loc_5B82: 5B82 B9 00 DE LDA $DE00,Y 5B85 99 A3 5B STA byte_5BA5,Y 5B88 C8 INY 5B89 C0 24 CPY #$20 5B8B 90 F5 BCC loc_5B82
Then we just add our sector read routine in place of the 18-sector read routine, and the calling convention remains the same. That was the easy one. In fact, since there's a DOS 3.3 RWTS, I just called it directly.
Tracks $16+ are models and decals. They are stored in an overlapped format, such that the start of a model or decal might be inside a block that holds another model or decal. Since the sizes of the models and decals are not constant, it was too hard to separate them and move only some data to other tracks. Further hampering the effort to understand what was going on is the fact that the program is a mix of interpreted code and native code. Instead, I had to move the entire data to lower tracks.
The objects are loaded via a table of track/sector pairs:
5E65.BYTE $1F, 8.BYTE $1F, $B.BYTE $1F, $E.BYTE $20, 0.BYTE $20, 8.BYTE $20, $10.BYTE $21, 5.BYTE $21, 8.BYTE $21, $C 5E77.BYTE $19, $10.BYTE $19, $11.BYTE $1A, 1 5E7D.BYTE $16, 9.BYTE $16, $D.BYTE $16, $10 5E83.BYTE $1C, $A.BYTE $1D, 0.BYTE $1D, 8.BYTE $1D, $E.BYTE $1E, 2.BYTE $1E, 9 5E8F.BYTE 0 5E90.BYTE 0 5E91.BYTE $19, 8.BYTE $19, $B.BYTE $19, $E 5E97.BYTE $18, $A.BYTE $18, $D.BYTE $18, $11.BYTE $19, 3.BYTE $19, 4.BYTE $19, 6 5EA3.BYTE $16, 0.BYTE $16, 3.BYTE $16, 6 5EA9.BYTE $17, 5.BYTE $17, 9.BYTE $17, 1 5EAF.BYTE $1A, 2.BYTE $1A, 3.BYTE $1A, 4.BYTE $1A, 5.BYTE $1A, 6.BYTE $1A, 7 5EBB.BYTE 0 5EBC.BYTE $1A, $E.BYTE $1B, 0.BYTE $1B, 4 5EC2.BYTE $1B, $C.BYTE $1B, $A.BYTE $1B, 8 5EC8.BYTE $1B, $E.BYTE $1B, $11.BYTE $1C, 2 5ECE.BYTE $1C, 3.BYTE $1C, 6.BYTE $1C, 8 5ED4.BYTE $1A, 9.BYTE $1A, $B.BYTE $1A, $D 5EDA.BYTE $1E, $11.BYTE $1F, 2.BYTE $1F, 5 5EE0.BYTE $17, $D.BYTE $18, 0.BYTE $18, 5 5EE6.BYTE $21, $10.BYTE $22, 1.BYTE $22, 4
That's a lot of extra sectors - two entire tracks worth - that are needed in order to map the result to 16 sectors... but where do we find two extra tracks? It turns out that tracks 2-8 are not referenced by anything. Even though they are in 18-sector format, it seems that they were originally intended for the models and decals during early development (at a time when SELECT was on side B, and GEDIT was on side A. We know the original location of these files because the deleted entries remain in the VTOC). After the disk layout was finalized, the tracks were left in 18-sector format. I moved the DOS files down by two tracks, overwriting some of the unused data, to make room for the new content. The resulting track/sector translation for the models and decals looks like this:
1600->1400
1601->1401
1602->1402
1603->1403
...
160D->140D
160E->140E
160F->140F
1610->1500
1611->1501
...
2208->2200
2209->2201
220A->2202
220B->2203
220C->2204
220D->2205
220E->2206
220F->2207
2210->2208
2211->2209
The translation table in both GENTOY (GENerate TOY, the renderer from side A) and GEDIT (Graphics EDITor, from side B) had to be changed. The tables are identical in both files, only their load address in memory is different. So we end up with a table that looks like this:
5E65.BYTE $1E, $A.BYTE $1E, $D.BYTE $1F, 0.BYTE $1F, 4.BYTE $1F, $C.BYTE $20, 4.BYTE $20, $B.BYTE $20, $E.BYTE $21, 2 5E77.BYTE $18, 6.BYTE $18, 7.BYTE $18, 9 5E7D.BYTE $14, 9.BYTE $14, $D.BYTE $15, 0 5E83.BYTE $1B, 6.BYTE $1B, $E.BYTE $1C, 6.BYTE $1C, $C.BYTE $1D, 2.BYTE $1D, 9 5E8F.BYTE 0 5E90.BYTE 0 5E91.BYTE $17, $E.BYTE $18, 1.BYTE $18, 4 5E97.BYTE $16, $E.BYTE $17, 1.BYTE $17, 5.BYTE $17, 9.BYTE $18, $A.BYTE $17, $C 5EA3.BYTE $14, 0.BYTE $14, 3.BYTE $14, 6 5EA9.BYTE $15, 7.BYTE $15, $B.BYTE $15, 3 5EAF.BYTE $18, $A.BYTE $18, $B.BYTE $18, $C.BYTE $18, $D.BYTE $18, $E.BYTE $18, $F 5EBB.BYTE 0 5EBC.BYTE $19, 6.BYTE $19, $A.BYTE $19, $E 5EC2.BYTE $1A, 6.BYTE $1A, 4.BYTE $1A, 2 5EC8.BYTE $1A, 8.BYTE $1A, $B.BYTE $1A, $E 5ECE.BYTE $1A, $F.BYTE $1B, 2.BYTE $1B, 4 5ED4.BYTE $19, 1.BYTE $19, 3.BYTE $19, 5 5EDA.BYTE $1E, 1.BYTE $1E, 4.BYTE $1E, 7 5EE0.BYTE $15, $F.BYTE $16, 4.BYTE $16, 9 5EE6.BYTE $21, 6.BYTE $21, 9.BYTE $21, $C
Then we insert the 16-sector read routines, just like for TEDIT.
THE DATA DISKS
The data disks contain the full-size bitmapped versions of the models, so they are really necessary. They are fully 18 sector format, and completely full. That 157kb of data per side, that need to be crammed into a 140kb format. They needed to be compressed. Fortunately, the bitmaps are read in chunks of 9 sectors at a time. It was simply a matter of compressing the content enough to convert 9x2 sectors to 8x2 sectors, and then decompressing them on demand.
And there you have it.
(*) in the 80s, when disk space was severely limited, and transmission costs were expensive, no-one wanted anything except games on their boards. Certainly, no-one was going to accept a graphics program for printing toys, which would have required more than three entire disks to hold the data, and several hours to download. That meant that most of the educational and graphics software were left untouched, and possibly lost forever. What a sad situation.Gurgaon's Essel Towers residential society has been in the news several times over the last few months. In April, the RWA there had 'banned' guests of the opposite sex from visiting the houses of single residents, leading to much uproar. Then, earlier this month, another controversy had erupted when a video of a fight between residents and RWA members over certain rules was uploaded on social media. In the video, RWA members accused certain single residents of "supporting prostitution." Last week, a corporate replacement and accommodation agency filed a case against the RWA of Pilot Court society in Essel Towers for imposing rules restricting movement of their clients and guests of clients. Residents say that the RWA lifted the ban after the controversy, while the case was still in court. On August 17, the court of senior civil judge Amit Nain issued an ex parte stay on the RWA orders that restricted entry of guests to the society, stating that "such conditions can in no way be imposed upon legal rights of individuals, which are otherwise guaranteed to them under the law of the land."Residents across NCR say that this ruling sets a great precedent in their fight against the often illogical diktats given by RWAs. They add that now, if they are harassed, they know they have the option of going to court.Ridhi Khurana, resident of a society on Sohna Road, says, "It is, of course, a wonderful precedent. Like they saw, the law works on precedents. Now, the RWAs know what the court’s stand is when it comes to these illogical diktats. So they will hopefully be wary before issuing more of them. In fact, I’m sure that in the coming days, we will see quite a few RWAs rolling back some of their restrictive rules because of this."Manish Rajpoot, who lives in an apartment complex in Delhi’s Mayur Vihar, says, "Most people fear going to the court feeling it is a long-drawn process but if a decision or stay can be given this quickly, then more people will be encouraged to do so. RWAs across NCR issue several strange rules, ranging from what guests you are allowed to have to what time you can party. They are against our fundamental rights. Now that the residents know the courts are willing to listen to them, it will change things."However, not all are very optimistic about the kind of impact the ruling will have, saying it’s too soon to take a call on that. Paarkhi Mehrotra, a former resident of Essel Towers says, "It's a good move that people went to the court and got their problem resolved. It might deter RWAs and homeowners from issuing senseless diktats. However, it’s too soon to say what impact it will have. I don’t see this becoming a norm, because while the residents of Essel Tower are aggressive and can go to court, most corporate employees in Gurgaon might not take this route if this happens to them."Residents have a tendency of not complaining against the RWA because they think that if they do so, they’ll be asked to vacate the flat.Poornima Banerjee, who works with a Delhi Walks group and lives in Jamia Nagar, says, "I had to change three apartments because of the RWA diktats. Essel Tower's issue was highlighted but there are a number of bizarre rules imposed by RWA's and residents and tenants don't complain because the landlord might say, 'Problem hai toh khali kar do'. We can’t take any action because it’s a long process and you can never be sure if the ruling will be in your favour.Meenal Singh, a banker, who lives in a society in Sector 62 Noida, says, "I had no clue that a resident can actually go to court and file a case against RWA members.Whenever there is a tussle between me and the RWA, I prefer moving out because it is not worth my time to engage with them. But now that the stay has come so fast, I think it’s worth taking it up. At least, after this case, more residents can stand up against an RWA and say, ‘See you in court’."Amitabh Sinha, who works in an NGO in Vasant Kunj, tells us, "I had to move out of a society in Ghaziabad after some of the RWA members complained to my landlord that they were not comfortable with women visiting me. So my landlord asked me to vacate the house. Most of the time in societies, if the RWA doesn’t want to be in the spotlight, they contact the landlords. Sometimes, even when the landlord is in your favour, he refuses to go against the RWA. Although such court orders give hope, there are way too many layers and I don’t think it will change the mindset of RWAs. However, it might instill fear in them."Margaret Fagenson, the wife of a millionaire Wall Street legend, jumped to her death from the 14th floor terrace of her luxury New York City apartment.
The 68-year-old was reportedly suffering from depression, and died at the scene after landing on a sidewalk next to her building, the Henderson House.
She was identified by sources at the scene around 10:50am on Thursday, reported the New York Daily News.
Margaret Fagenson (left), the wife of millionaire Wall Street legend Robert Fagenson (pictured), jumped to her death from the 14th floor terrace of her luxury New York City apartment. She is pictured here with her husband and two daughters, Jennifer (center left) and Stephanie (far right)
One witness who saw Fagenson leap was too far away to help, and she did not leave a note.
Robert Fagenson, her husband, is the CEO of a boutique investment bank in New York, Fagenson & Co. He reportedly appeared devastated as he stood next to his wife's body, holding their two dogs.
A shocked friend said to the New York Post: 'She is the last person who would do such a thing'.
Fagenson was a prominent animal rescue donor, and the couple supported for years groups such as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society.
A neighbor said to the Post: 'I saw them yesterday, they were so happy'.
Fagenson, pictured with her family, was a prominent animal rescue donor, and the couple supported for years groups such as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Human Society
The couple owned 14th floor apartment on E 86th Street, a building called the Henderson House, which is worth $2.8million
A doorman from across, Rodney Bissoondath, 37, the street told the Daily News: 'I heard a loud "boom" noise and I waited a couple minutes.
'By the time I went outside the cops were already putting sheets on the person'.
The couple owned 14th floor apartment on E 86th Street, which is worth $2.8million,
Bissoondath told the Daily News that this is the third person to jump from the building in recent years.
If you need to speak to a counselor, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 1 (800) 273-8255.About
In celebration of the craft beer industry, Detroit Art Initiative is pleased to announce four
seasonal and festive installments in the Royal Oak Beer Fest series, each held at the Royal Oak Farmers Market. These events
will provide an amazing experience in taste and sound, including hot live music to compliment cool brews. Each attendee will
receive a commemorative event pint glass, keepsake photograph, live entertainment, complimentary coat check and an
opportunity to sample their way through the event. Offering beer from dozens of breweries from around the world, across the
state and down the street, each event showcases unique libations from some of your favorite brands.
The focus of Royal Oak Beer Fest is the promotion of craft beer and the brewers that create them. This event is the perfect
opportunity for beer aficionados, beer lovers and the casual beer drinker to speak to company representatives and brewers
responsible for some of their favorite brews. And it’s an opportunity to discover and taste new brews, special “limited release”
beers and ales, and special seasonals. Each January brings cool brews in the form of Polar Beer Fest, April blossoms with
Spring Fever Beer Fest, June warms up with Summer Beer Fest, and finally Oktoberfest comes in – you guessed it – the lovely
autumnal month of October.Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Migrants returning to Indonesia said their crew had been paid by the Australian navy to turn back
Migrants on a boat headed for Australia have told the UN that the crew was paid by the Australian navy to turn back.
James Lynch, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), told the BBC that passengers saw smugglers being paid after the boat was intercepted.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday admitted using "creative" strategies to stop migrant boats but refused to go into detail.
The country's immigration and foreign ministers denied payments were made.
"The boat that was rescued by the Indonesian navy on 31 May - we have interviewed the 65 passengers and they have said that the crew received a payment," said Mr Lynch.
He said the passengers - 54 from Sri Lanka, 10 from Bangladesh, and one from Myanmar - were transferred to a customs boat for four days "before being put on two boats and sent back to Indonesia".
He added: "Mr Abbott says the reason is to save lives because people risk their lives on the boats, and I agree, but I'm not sure putting them back on boats and sending them back is the answer."
'Wrong signal'
Mr Lynch said Australia had a responsibility under UN treaties, which it had signed, to see if any of the migrants were in need of international protection.
He accused Australia of "sending the wrong signal" to other countries in the region - including Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand - which the UN is trying to persuade to allow migrants to disembark.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Australia has a zero tolerance approach to migrant boats approaching its territory
Indonesia's foreign ministry said it was "very concerned" about the alleged payment.
The Indonesian navy said it intercepted the boats on their return and arrested the crew, who said they had each been paid A$5,000 ($3,900; £2,500) to turn back.
Local police chief Hidayat told AFP news agency: "I saw the money with my own eyes."
Speaking to Radio 3AW on Friday morning, Mr Abbott refused to deny that a payment had been made, saying simply that "creative strategies" had been developed to stop the migrant boats.
"We have stopped the trade and we will do what we have to do to ensure that it stays stopped," he said.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Tony Abbott told radio station 3AW: ''I am just not going to get into hypotheticals''
Under Australia's controversial policies, no migrants and asylum seekers are allowed to reach its territories by boat. They are instead intercepted at sea and turned back or taken to detention facilities on the island nation of Nauru and on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
Australia and asylum
Asylum seekers - mainly from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Iran - travel to Australia's Christmas Island by boat from Indonesia
The number of boats rose sharply in 2012 and early 2013. Scores of people have died making the journey
To stop the influx, the government has adopted hard-line measures intended as a deterrent
Everyone who arrives is detained. Under a new policy, they are processed in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Those found to be refugees will be resettled in PNG, Nauru or Cambodia
Tony Abbott's government has also adopted a policy of tow-backs, or turning boats around
Rights groups and the UN have voiced serious concerns about the policies and accuse Australia of shirking international obligations
Australia asylum: Why is it controversial?Singer-songwriters Daryl Hall and John Oates are one of the most successful pop duos ever. Their brand of blue-eyed American soul found its biggest British audience during the late Seventies and early Eighties, with numerous Top 10 singles including `She's Gone', `Your Kiss Is On My List', `Maneater' and `I Can't Go For That'; since their debut in 1974 they have released 18 albums (the latest, `Marigold Sky', is their first in seven years). They both grew up in Philadelphia, and were educated at Temple University. Hall, 48, lives in London and New York with Sara Allen, who has co-written many Hall & Oates songs. He has released four solo albums. Oates (far right), 48, is married with one young son. He lives near Aspen in Colorado
DARYL HALL: When I was about 17 or 18 years old I had a doo-wop street- corner group called the Temptones, and one night in 1967 we were supposed to sing at a place called the Adelphi Ballroom in West Philadelphia. There were a lot of R'n'B bands on the bill, including a group called the Masters, which turned out to be John Oates's band. And suddenly, right before we were due to go on, a fight broke out between rival high-school fraternities - which really were just gangs with Greek letters. There were chains and knives and shots rang out. Obviously, the show was over.
We were on the upper floor and there was a lift down to the street, so I ran and jumped into it, and John Oates was in it too. I said, "Oh, well, you didn't get to go on, either. How ya doin'? You go to Temple University, I go to Temple University. See you later, bye." And that was it, that's how we met.
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We would see each other in school after that - I was studying music, John was studying journalism - and we'd nod to each other and say hello, and soon we were travelling in the same circles and we realised we had an interest in the same kind of music. And then, since our families came from the suburbs, we both needed places to stay in the inner city, because Temple University is an inner-city school, so we started sharing flats together. After all that time, it wasn't until about 1971 that we actually tried making music together.
He was very different from me, I knew that right away. I remember he was just a teenager but he had a moustache and short hair. He was a college wrestler, a sports jock, and I never really knew people who did that kind of stuff. When we got our first flat together, I said, "OK, we're going to move some furniture." He goes, "OK, I'll meet you at your parents' house at 9 o'clock in the morning." I said, "OK, John, here's the deal. I don't do anything in the morning." He was pretty much a straight arrow, and I was the opposite of that, I was just what you'd imagine a musician to be. I introduced him to lots of things: "Take this, smoke this, try this." I brought him into the world of the late Sixties, shall we say. I was, in that respect, sort of a mentor.
Being at college, I think that's the time when you really start searching for things outside yourself. I grew up pretty much on the streets, in a black neighbourhood, so my perception of music was really formed from living in that area. All I knew was soul music, gos- pel music, and I wanted to learn about other things. John had experience of folk music and bluegrass and blues, and I didn't know any of that stuff. He brought that American folk thing, and that was his important contribution to the creation of the Hall & Oates sound.
I admire the things about him that I'm lacking. He's a dedicated person, and when he makes up his mind about something, he sticks to it. He's meticulous, and I'm not. I look at the whole picture, and I'm a little slack at the details. He looks at the details - sometimes to the detriment of the whole picture. I think that's where the complementary thing happens. He has a very strong sense of loyalty and honour, all those things which are old-fashioned but necessary. He's a good person.
We've grown apart in the sense that it's a working relationship now, whereas it used to be much more personal. There was a proximity, where John was sitting there working on a song on the guitar and I was sitting here working on a song on the piano, and you'd hear the other person's ideas. It's a little more formalised now. But underneath all that is the sort of relationship that doesn't change. I think the things that I saw in him when he was 17 years old are pretty much the same things that I see in him now. Those are the things that I like, and when I see them come out, that makes me happy. It's when they get buried for one reason or another that I get disappointed.
I think that the only person I could say knows me as well as John would be Sara. Apart from her, John and I know each other as well as anyone does. And why not? We've known each other most of our lives.
JOHN OATES: I had just graduated from high school and entered Temple University when I heard Daryl's group, the Temptones, at a black R'n'B show called the Freedom Show at Philadelphia's Convention Hall. There must have been about 12 groups playing, and coming on very early was Daryl's group. They were white, obviously, and the audience was, like, Wohhhh! There were murmurings of, like, "These guys, are they going to deliver or not?" And I remember a very interesting thing happened. Daryl's group were supposed to start a song, and the band wouldn't give them their chord to get the note - they were a purely vocal group - so Daryl sang the note
from his head. He knew what key it was in and he just sang. And I said, okay, they've got something going on here.
Because of the Vietnam war, two of the guys from my group, the Masters, got drafted, and so it was effectively disbanded. So I joined the Temptones as a guitar player. They were just on the verge of breaking up, but that left Daryl and me as friends, hanging out. We became room-mates, we lived a downtown Philadelphia life in that hippy time of the late Sixties.
When I graduated from college in the spring of 1970, I decided to hitchhike around Europe with my guitar and my backpack. I was gone for about four months. The place I was staying in, Daryl's sister had sublet it with her boyfriend through the summer, and I guess they didn't pay the rent, because when I got back the doors were bolted shut, and all my stuff was gone. Daryl was married at the time, and he and his wife had a really tiny house, but he said, "Hey, come and stay with us." So, we were there and we just started writing songs. Our concept was: "Well, you're a songwriter and I'm a songwriter, let's get together and play our songs. You'll accompany me, I'll accompany you, and we'll do it very honest and straightforward. We won't have to deal with band members, and all this other crap, we'll just go out and play." And that's what we did. We never had a masterplan. We never said, okay, we're gonna be the biggest duo of all time. Our first objective was to play, and then it was get a record contract, and then it was go on tour, and it just escalated.
When I met him it was a real dichotomy, because he was very much like me in terms of background, and he liked the same kind of music, so there was that real bond there. On the other hand, he was very different from the other people that I knew because he was more forward-looking. He's always had his finger on the pulse of something: everything from hairstyle and the way he dresses to the kind of things he would think about. And that really appealed to me because my nature tends to be a little bit more laidback, more take-it-as-it-comes, so I think he filled in a gap in my personality.
In a lot of ways he hasn't changed at all. He still has that sense of pushing the envelope, and he has the most uncanny sense of style of anyone I've ever known who's not in the fashion business. He would be wearing a pair of shoes and you would say: "They look strange." A year later, everyone else'll be wearing them and he'll be wearing something else. That's the way he's always been.
He doesn't necessarily have a lot of friends, but the friends he has, he has for a long, long time. A lot of people might think he's stand-offish but they don't understand that he's not interested in casual associations. He's more interested in something with quality.
The thing about Daryl is he's a dedicated life-long musician. His self-identity is completely wrapped up in the creative process, and everything in his life is oriented towards creation. The kind of places he lives - he loves it here in London because he feeds off the musical creativity of the city - and even the way his home is set up, it has to do with writing and keeping his mind active. I'm much more into sports and being outdoors. But he always has a guitar next to this chair, and a tape recorder on that chair. If it means getting up in the middle of the night because a dream makes a song come, he'll get up to record it. I may get the same dream, but I'll go back to sleep.
His creative needs go far beyond the context of working with me, and I have no problem with that. Quite frankly I was hoping he'd have more successful solo albums because it would give me more time off!
! `Marigold Sky' (Eagle Records) is out now.
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN MOODYHi all,
Is anyone working on porting PostgreSQL to Rust?
Corrode looks a bit limited for the task, but maybe it can be a start.
It doesn't support goto or switch, but maybe the gotos patterns are not too
complicated.
My motivation is primarily I don't want to learn all the over-complicated
details of C,
but at the same time I would like to be productive in a safe system
language,
a category in which Rust seems to be alone.
Porting PostgreSQL to Rust would be a multi-year project,
and it could only be done if the process could be fully automated,
by supporting all the coding patterns used by the project,
otherwise a Rust-port would quickly fall behind the master branch.
But if all git commits could be automatically converted to Rust,
then the RustgreSQL project could pull all commits from upstream
until all development has switched over to Rust among all developers.
Is this completely unrealistic or is it carved in stone PostgreSQL will
always be a C project forever and ever?Sanders Statement on Trump's Harrisburg Speech
BURLINGTON, Vt., Oct. 11 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) released the following statement ahead of President Donald Trump's speech on tax reform in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania:
"Donald Trump is going to Pennsylvania to tell truck drivers how his tax plan will benefit them. Unfortunately, once again, the president is lying.
"His tax plan, based on the widely discredited theory of 'trickle down economics,' will provide virtually no benefit to truck drivers and will result in a tax increase for tens of millions of middle class Americans. It is designed to benefit the wealthiest people and the largest and most profitable corporations in this country.
"Nearly 80 percent of the tax benefits in Trump’s plan will go to the top 1 percent and 40 percent of the benefits will go to the top 0.1 percent by the end of the decade, according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Further, as part of Trump’s overall budget, this huge tax gift to millionaires and billionaires will result in a $1 trillion dollar cut to Medicaid and a $473 billion cut to Medicare, in addition to massive cuts to education, nutrition and the needs of children, the elderly and the environment.
"Trump’s tax plan and his budget is the Robin Hood principle in reverse. He takes from the poor and working families of this country in order to give to the very rich. This disastrous proposal must be defeated."Kosovo conflict, (1998–99) conflict in which ethnic Albanians opposed ethnic Serbs and the government of Yugoslavia (the rump of the former federal state, comprising the republics of Serbia and Montenegro) in Kosovo. The conflict gained widespread international attention and was resolved with the intervention of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Read More on This Topic
Serbia: The Kosovo conflict
The most serious threat to both |
a lot, Germany. [Drew Fortune]
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13. Sesame Street: Count turns Ernie into a zombie (1976)
Bert and Ernie’s friendship is one of the most endearing parts of Sesame Street. The pair bickers, but it’s never anything serious; in fact, their interactions work so well because they’re generally always tucked away in their own little world, insulated from outside distractions or traumatic experiences. Perhaps that’s why a sleepover visit from Count Von Count threw such a wrench in the space-time continuum. When the number cruncher can’t sleep, it’s suggested he count sheep as a way to induce slumber. However, this idea backfires in a big way: Count stays up all night reciting numbers, and emerges refreshed the next morning, while Ernie turns into a tired zombie with bags under his eyes, stuck counting sheep in an unsettled monotone voice. It’s a jarring and frightening sight, because it’s such a far cry from the normally bubbly, cheerful Ernie who adores his Rubber Ducky. Thankfully, Zombie Ernie is only on screen for less than a minute in this transformed state, but it’s enough of an appearance to have a lasting negative impact on impressionable young viewers. [Annie Zaleski]
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15. The Wizard Of Oz: Winged monkeys (1939)
The movie canon of Frank L. Baum’s work is full of not-safe-for-children imagery (see below), but the winged monkeys just might top the list. In Baum’s book, the monkeys are enslaved by the Wicked Witch Of The West, but in the film version, their only motivation is to serve the green-skinned baddie. Dorothy and company make it out of the haunted forest, only to have the Wicked Witch’s minions swoop down and steal Dorothy and Toto and fly them away. What’s so scary about the winged monkeys are their size. They aren’t cute and tiny, but human-sized, lumbering after Dorothy with terrifying strength. Her buddies, who have protected her thus far, are no match for them, even the Tin Man with his ax, and especially not the Scarecrow. Dorothy has no shot against a bunch of monkeys who are strong enough to pick her up and fly her away. But it’s the sheer number of them that gives the winged monkeys their terrifying power. When they first start their attack, it’s not just a couple of monkeys, but hundreds of evil primates descending upon our heroes. Dorothy never had a chance. [Molly Eichel]
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15. Return To Oz: Evil Queen Mombi (1985)
Return To Oz places the audience in a fantastical utopia in ruins, with Oz transformed into a dystopian wasteland, ruled by homicidal Queen Mombi and a gang of freaky wheeler-type things. Return To Oz is wall-to-wall nightmare, a completely bummer trip devoid of candy-gloss Munchkinlands or uplifting travel songs. The grim death march begins with Dorothy (Fairuza Balk) narrowly escaping electroshock treatment before retreating to the ruins of Oz. The nightmare really ramps up when Dorothy encounters The Wheelers outside the ruins of Emerald City. Oddly reminiscent of Alex and his Droogs in A Clockwork Orange, these snarling, steam-punk baddies are evil incarnate, cackling and enjoying their amorality. The ultimate freakout is evil Queen Mombi, who is introduced playing a mandolin and oozing sweetly veiled menace. What Dorothy doesn’t know is that Mombi is a vicious psychopath with a powerful lust for decapitation. The madness reaches a fever pitch when Dorothy escapes the Queen, whose coterie of screaming human heads is a nightmare chorus of bloodlust and insanity. Yikes. [Drew Fortune]
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16. Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird: Miss Finch (1985)
There’s certainly no shortage of creepy Muppets out there, but few people seem to remember Miss Finch, one of several antagonists from Sesame Street’s first feature film, Follow That Bird. As much as she means well (she’s a social worker who believes that Big Bird should live with his own kind), it’s hard to shake the fact that she’s an imposing full-bodied Muppet, one who has the agitated smoker’s voice of Oscar nominee Sally Kellerman, no less. And how about her eyelashes? Tar-black and slanted into a perpetual glare, those things were surely made from amputated tarantula legs. Miss Finch reaches maximum menace early on in the film when, after Big Bird has run away from his foster family, he catches Kermit The Frog’s late-night news interview with her on a TV in the window of a hardware store. She vows to find Big Bird wherever he is, and sure enough, she drives on-camera just moments after he drops his teddy bear in the mail and starts hightailing it back to Sesame Street. It’s as if Miss Finch has burst from the television screen Big was just watching, her red van the public-television equivalent to Michael Myers’ station wagon in Halloween—enormous, loud, and shark-like in its prowling. Hell, it even comes emblazoned with a state seal on the driver’s side. When Miss Finch leans her head out the window, looks around for Big Bird, then grunts in frustration and speeds off into the night when he’s not there, you can’t help but think the overgrown canary’s in deadly trouble, even though Finch’s intentions are (supposedly) altruistic. [Dan Caffrey]
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17. The Secret Of NIMH: Dragon the cat (1982)
What is it about Don Bluth and cats? An American Tail’s Tiger notwithstanding, Bluth’s animation studio was obsessed with depicting felines as sociopathic, slobbering monsters in the ’80s, the scariest portrayal being Dragon in 1982’s The Secret Of NIMH. When mousy protagonist Mrs. Brisby and the klutzy Jeremy the crow first see him, it’s from a distance. He frolics in some swamp grass, playfully leaping into the air at a couple of stray birds. By all accounts, he looks like a normal house cat. But the closer Dragon gets, the more terrifying he becomes, emerging from the orange light at the mouth of a log as if ascending from the bowels of hell. His ogre-like silhouette creeps into frame, followed by a truly grotesque face that’s made up of scars, teeth, and one milky blind eye. When he roars and starts pursuing Mrs. Frisby and Jeremy through the water, they may as well be running from a T. rex. Sure, the tabby probably looks normal to his human owners, but when you’re a tiny mouse or a slightly bigger crow, Dragon looks… well, like a dragon. [Dan Caffrey]
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18. The Dark Crystal: Skeksis (1982)
Although Jim Henson never intended for his work to be seen as mere “kids’ stuff,” by the early ’80s his workshop had acquired that reputation anyway. That status led many a clueless parent to rent The Dark Crystal for their Muppets-loving offspring, thinking that the fantasy adventure would have the same innocent appeal of Kermit, Miss Piggy, and the gang. Those illusions were shattered with the appearance of the Skeksis, an evil race of hateful monsters whose twisted alien faces resemble a hybrid of a vulture and a lizard and who are able to suck the souls, or “essence,” from living creatures and (gasp!) drink it. Their deformed features, genocidal agenda, and disgusting table manners are nightmarish enough, but throw an army of crystal bats and the Garthim, the Skeksis’ hermit-crab-like foot soldiers, into the mix, and you’ve got a generation of kids forever scarred by the knowledge that not all Muppets are nice. [Katie Rife]
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19. We’re Back!: The creepy crow mystery (1993)
For the most part, We’re Back!: A Dinosaur’s Story is a dopey, amiable animated kids’ film about force-evolved dinosaurs brought into the modern era to make children happy. The dinos are all bright colors, rounded edges, and celebrity voices; the singing T. rex voiced by John Goodman is introduced golfing and reminiscing about his life. There’s one scary scene where the underdeveloped villain de-evolves them from cuddly plush toys into roaring monsters, but for the most part, the film is about manic banter and mildly antic little-kid mayhem. But then the good guys win and fly away from the villain, and out of nowhere, a flock of evil-looking crows swoop in and… devour him? Evaporate him? Unmake him? It’s profoundly creepy, all the more so because it’s so unexpected and unexplained. Note to children watching: This is apparently just something crows do to people who are left alone for five minutes. Oh hey, do you sleep alone, in your own bedroom? And in the dark? Good luck with that. [Tasha Robinson]
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20. Pinocchio: Transformation of little boys into donkeys (1940)
Every parent worries that their child might someday fall in with a bad crowd, but few animated films underline just how bad a crowd can get as Disney’s 1940 adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures Of Pinocchio. Not long after the Blue Fairy brings Geppetto’s marionette to life, Pinocchio is tricked into joining a puppet show run by rival puppeteer Stromboli and is led down a perilous path that ultimately takes him to Pleasure Island, a haven of debauchery where kids are drinking, gambling, smoking, and vandalizing. Sure, it sounds great, but there’s a catch: Eventually the kids are turned into donkeys to work in the salt mines. On the surface, it may seem a little silly, but it quickly becomes horrifying when Pinocchio’s new “friend,” Lampwick, begins to transform. First the donkey ears pop up, then the tail pops out of the seat of his pants, and then as he turns around to ask, “What’s he think I look like, a jackass?” he’s got the head of one. Realizing what’s happening to him, Lampwick begs for help, but it’s too late: The remainder of the transformation has already started to take place. While moviegoers only see his shadow as his body contorts, combine that with his horrific braying and you’ve still got the stuff of nightmares. [Will Harris]
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21. Thomas & Friends: Henry bricked in the tunnel (1984)
Stop-motion preschool favorite Thomas & Friends usually follows a simple formula. Thomas The Tank Engine, or one of his fellow locomotives, is prevented from doing his job efficiently by some emotion—jealousy, pride, ambition—which eventually causes a crash or other mishap. Stern but affectionate railroad boss Sir Topham Hatt firmly sets things right, and a valuable lesson is learned. Except in one first-season episode, things aren’t set right. Powerful but insecure Henry drives into a tunnel and refuses to leave, fearing that a pending rainstorm will damage his paint job (the engines on this show are overly concerned about their paint). Unable to reason with him or force him out of the tunnel, Hatt flies into a rage, bricking up Henry inside the tunnel like a demented Edgar Allan Poe villain. While the subsequent episode sees Henry pluck up his courage and ask to be released from his prison so he can go back to work, rain or shine, the first episode gives no hint that there’s a second part to the story, and merely ends with the haunting vision of Henry’s sad eyes peeking out from behind his brick prison, sentenced to eternal torment. [Mike Vago]During AMD's Q1 2016 earnings call on Thursday, executives from AMD estimated a 15 percent revenue increase in Q2 2016, plus or minus 3 points, and they cited three semi-custom system-on-chip (SOC) "wins" as the "larger driver" for that revenue. AMD estimates that these SOCs will bring in $1.5 billion in revenue "over the next three or four years." At least one of those three SOC deliveries will begin "ramping" in the second half of this year, with all of those SOCs launching by 2017.
The reason that news is interesting is because AMD's SOC products have mostly been the core components in small-form-factor games consoles in recent years, and major news leaks have connected one of those upcoming AMD SOCs to the "Neo" refresh of the PlayStation 4, which could launch as soon as October of this year.
AMD's CEO Lisa Su made it clear during the earnings call that these semi-custom wins were related to the gaming sector, describing "semi-custom business and gaming" as the "larger driver" of Q2's revenue growth. "If you think about the semi-custom business in the past few years, the third quarter is always the peak," Su told reporters. "It will be the peak this year, as well, but we're starting some of the ramping in the second quarter as we build to the stronger third quarter."
But who is purchasing those other two gaming-related SOCs? AMD remained coy when asked directly: "I don't believe we've gone through any detail about what those wins are," Su said in the call. "I'd prefer to let that come out as our customers are ready to launch."
One of those SOCs may very well land in Nintendo's upcoming console, which the company began publicly acknowledging in March of last year with the name "Nintendo NX." Nintendo only tapped AMD for a GPU with its Wii U console, but speculation of an incredibly powerful NX leads us to believe that Nintendo will dump IBM as a CPU provider and seek a more elegant, integrated SOC solution this time around, which AMD may very well provide. In addition, reports from last October speculated that this system would include "at least one mobile unit that could either be used in conjunction with the console or taken on the road for separate use." If that rumor bears out by the time the Nintendo NX is announced this year, this could mean that AMD has provided two distinct SOCs for both the Nintendo NX's primary console base and its portable, "separate-use" controller.
If that NX rumor does not bear out, however, that leaves us with an SOC that could land in a new, Xbox-branded console. According to Su's statements, any unannounced SOCs would land in "a different console or a new console," as opposed to "the current generation," so this wouldn't merely describe any AMD contribution to an "Xbox One Slim" model, but there's no telling at this point whether Microsoft would actually create an Xbox 1.5 console as a result. (Some sort of new Xbox hardware will definitely be revealed by this June, at any rate.)
Su told reporters to expect the Polaris GPU rollout in the "second half" of 2016.Feeling bummed about Election 2016 and the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump?
Cheer up - free doughnuts could be in your future.
Krispy Kreme is offering a free doughnut of your choice to anyone wearing a sticker indicating he or she voted. The offer is good only on Election Day - Nov. 8 - and you can go here to see what locations are participating.
Election day freebies, discounts
A host of national brands, local restaurants and bars are offering free stuff, deals and fun Election Day specials. Here are a few:
7-Eleven - Get a free cup of coffee on election day at participating stores. Deal is available through 7-Eleven mobile app.
Chuck E. Cheese - Get a free personal size pepperoni pizza with any pizza purchase with coupon code #5253.
Firehouse Subs - Firehouse is offering a free medium drink if you wear you "I voted" sticker on Nov. 8.
Gold's Gym - Bring a valid "I voted" sticker and get free access to Gold's Gym on election day. You can find locations here.
Great American Cookie Company - You can nab one free cookie at participating locations when you show your "I voted" sticker.
Harper Collins - Get 30 percent off and free shipping on ballot books with promo code VOTE2016. Offer good on select titles.
Macy's - Election Day sale at Macy's offers an extra 20 percent, 15 percent or 10 percent off select items with promo code VOTE.
Marco's Pizza- Marco's Pizza is offering a voucher for a free medium one-topping pizza for customers who vote for Marco's Pizza on Nov. 8 here.
PF Changs - Order takeout and get 20 percent off with promo code VOTE20. Offer is valid on Nov. 8. Enter promo code online or reference when ordering online.
Regal Theaters - Watch Harrison Ford in "Air Force One" at 7 p.m. on election night. Tickets are $5 and popcorn is 50 percent off for Crown Club members (it's free to join). You can see locations here.
Schlotzksy's -Buy one Mac and get one free on election day with code 4207.
Uber - First-time Uber users can get $20 off their ride with the promo code "VoteToday." The Uber app also has information on polling locations.
YMCA - Some YMCA locations are offer childcare so parents can vote on election day. The service is free for YMCA members, nominal charge for others. Go here to see if your location is participating.
Zipcar - More than 7,000 Zipcars across the country will be free from 6-10 p.m. on election day. They can be reserved online or through the mobile app.It has long been immortalised as the tipple of gold-hungry pirates.
Now a Cuban proposal to use its trademark rum as a substitute currency could send the Caribbean nation’s Cold-War era creditors singing yo-ho-ho all the way to the bank.
The Czech Finance Ministry says Cuban authorities have proposed to pay back £222 million lent to the island by Communist Czechoslovakia in instalments of the spirit.
If that proposal becomes reality, the Czechs would have enough Cuban rum for well over a century.
According to the Czech Statistics Office, the Czechs – a nation of beer drinkers – imported rum from Cuba worth over £1.6 million last year.
Michal Zurovec, spokesman for the Czech Finance Ministry, said Prague would still prefer the debt was at least partly paid in cash
In the past, North Korea offered to repay its £8 million debt in products made with ginseng.
In 1993, Russia offered New Zealand a nuclear submarine and two MiG jet fighters to settle a $100m bill for dairy products including Anchor Butter.Python developers love to say that “everything is an object.” And indeed, when I teach Python classes, I say this several times, and many people nod in agreement, assuming that I’m merely repeating something they’ve heard before. After all, people often say that everything in Java is an object (except for the things that aren’t), and that everything in.NET is an object.
But when we say that everything in Python is an object, we really mean everything, including — much to the surprise of my students — classes. This makes enormous sense, and it makes the entire object system easier to understand. And yet, it is still hard to put things in perspective.
In this blog post, I want to walk through some of the connections that we have among objects in Python, in the hopes that it’ll help to cement some of the ideas that stem from this “everything is an object” idea. It’ll also demonstrate some of the fun that happens when you’re creating an object hierarchy, and how things can get a bit weird.
Let’s start with a simple class (MyClass), and a simple instance of that class (m). In Python, we would write:
class MyClass(object): pass m = MyClass()
In Python 3, we don’t need to explicitly say that MyClass inherits from object, since that’s true for all classes. But in Python 2, we have to inherit from object; if we don’t, then we get old-style classes, which we really don’t want.
Let’s see how this looks visually, with the arrow indicating that m is an instance of MyClass:
So far, that’s not very exciting. But let’s remember that everything in Python is an object. Thus, it’s true that m is an instance of MyClass; we can learn this by using the type function:
>>> type(m) __main__.MyClass
What happens if we ask MyClass about its type?
>>> type(MyClass) type
Yes, MyClass is an instance of type — just as str, int, bool, and other Python classes are instances of type. Our diagram has just gotten a bit more complex:
In the above diagram, we see that m is an instance of MyClass, and MyClass is an instance of type.
One main difference between regular objects and classes is that classes have a __bases__ attribute, a tuple, which indicates from which other class(es) this class inherits. MyClass, like all classes, should really have two pointers in our diagram — one representing its type, and another representing from which class (object) it inherits:
Many of the people to whom I teach Python are confused by the distinction between type and object, and what roles they play in the object’s life. Consider this:
Because MyClass is an instance of type, type.__init__ determines what happens to our class when it is created.
Because MyClass inherits from object, invoking a method on m will result in first looking for that method on MyClass. If the method doesn’t exist on MyClass, then Python will look on object.
All of this is well and good, but let’s take it a bit further: We know that MyClass is an instance of type. But this means that type itself is a class, right? What is the type of this type class?
>>> type(type) type
Yes, in one of my favorite parts of Python, the type of type is type. In other words, type is an instance of itself. Pretty cool, eh? Let’s see how that fits into our diagram:
If type is a class, then we know it must have two pointers in our diagram — one pointing to its class (type, aka itself), but the one to the class from which it inherits. What does type inherit from?
>>> type.__bases__ (object,)
Let’s thus update our diagram, to show that type inherits from object. This makes sense, since if we invoke str(MyClass), we can rely on the inherited implementation of object.__str__, without having to create a separate type.__str__. And indeed, it would seem that this is what happens:
>>> type.__str__ is object.__str__ True
Let’s now update our diagram to indicate that type inherits from object:
Finally, let’s not neglect our object class. As an object, it too must have a type. And as a class, we know that its type is type. Let’s add that to our diagram:
Remember that object is at the top of our inheritance hierarchy. This is represented in Python by an empty tuple:
>>> object.__bases__ ()
We can represent this in our diagram in the following way:
Finally, let’s see what happens when we add a new class to this hierarchy, subclassing from MyClass. MySubClass inherits from MyClass, but is still an instance of type:
If you’re an experienced Python developer, then the above may well be second nature for you. But if you’re new to the language, and particularly to the ways in which the various objects and classes interact, then I hope this has provided you with some additional clarity. Please let me know if there are additional aspects that you find confusing, and I’ll try to clarify them in future blog posts.
If you liked this explanation, then you’ll likely also enjoy my ebook, “Practice Makes Python,” with 50 exercises meant to improve your Python fluency.The film revolves around Park Hee-bong, a man in his late 60s. He runs a small snack bar on the banks of the Han River and lives with his two sons, one daughter, and one granddaughter. The Parks seem to lead a quite ordinary and peaceful life, but maybe they are a bit poorer than the average Seoulite. Hee-bong's elder son Gang-du is an immature and incompetent man in his 40s, whose wife left home long ago. Nam-il is the youngest son, an unemployed grumbler, and daughter Nam-joo is an archery medalist and member of the national team. One day, an unidentified monster suddenly appears from the depths of the Han River and spreads panic and death, and Gang-du's daughter Hyun-seo is carried off by the monster and disappears. All of the family members are in a great agony because they lost someone very dear to them. But when they find out she is still alive, they resolve to save her. Written by Plot SummaryW e have created the biggest library of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 shortcuts. We have almost everything you need and we are willing to expand our collection, which now includes 139 shortcuts for Windows 7, 137 shortcuts for Windows 8.1 and 172 shortcuts for e have created the biggest library of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10 shortcuts. We have almost everything you need and we are willing to expand our collection, which now includes 139 shortcuts for Windows 7, 137 shortcuts for Windows 8.1 and 172 shortcuts for Windows 10. They are created in such a way that they will all work on each and every Windows computer.
The collection was made using Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8.1 Pro and Windows 10 Professional.
Shortcuts For Windows 7
In the Windows 7 folder you will find the following shortcuts:
Administration Tools – Computer Management, Computer, Control Panel, Disk Cleanup, Disk Derangement, Event Viewer, Indexing Options, Performance Information and Tools, Services, System Configuration, System Restore, Windows Easy Transfer, Windows Firewall with Advanced Security and Windows Memory Diagnostic.
Appearance and Personalization – Adjust screen resolution, Aero Transparency Off, Aero Transparency On, Change desktop background, Color Management, Desktop Icon Settings, Desktop Personalization, Display Settings, Folder Options, Fonts, Notification Area Icons, Screen Saver Settings and Taskbar and Start Menu.
Clock, Language, and Region – Date and Time and Region and Language.
Ease of Access – Ease of Access, Magnifier, Narrator, On-Screen Keyboard and Speech Recognition.
Hardware and Sound – Add a Device Wizard, AutoPlay, Device Manager, Devices and Printers, Keyboard, Location Settings, Mouse, Power Options and Sound.
Network and Internet – Advanced sharing settings, Homegroup, Internet Explorer InPrivate, Internet Explorer, Internet Options, Manage wireless networks, Network and Sharing Center, Network, View network connections.
Productivity Shortcuts – Clear the Clipboard, Recycle Bin, Shut Down Windows, Volume Mixer and Windows Mobility Center.
Programs – Add or remove programs, Calculator, Character Map, Command Prompt, Default Programs, Desktop Gadgets, Math Input Panel, Notepad, Paint, Private Character Editor, Remote Assistance, Remote Desktop Connection, Run, Snipping Tool, Sound Recorder, Sticky Notes, Sync Center, Task Manager (All Users), Task Scheduler, Windows DVD Maker, Windows Explorer, Windows Fax and Scan, Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player, Wordpad and XPS Viewer.
Shut Down Menu – Hibernate, Lock – Switch User, Log Off, Restart, Shut Down, Sleep and Stop Shut Down.
System and Security – Action Center, Administrative Tools, Backup and Restore
BitLocker Drive Encryption, Microsoft Security Essentials Scan, Microsoft Security Essentials Update, Microsoft Security Essentials, System Information, System Properties, Windows Anytime Upgrade, Windows Defender Scan, Windows Defender Update, Windows Defender, Windows Firewall – Disable, Windows Firewall – Enable, Windows Firewall and Windows Update.
Tablet PC – Personalize Handwriting Recognition, Tablet PC Input Panel and Windows Journal.
Troubleshooting – Aero Troubleshoot, Audio Playing Troubleshoot, Audio Recording Troubleshoot, DirectX Diagnostic Tool, Hardware & Devices Troubleshoot, HomeGroup Troubleshoot, Incoming Connections Troubleshoot, Internet Connections Troubleshoot, Internet Explorer Performance Troubleshoot, Internet Explorer Safety Troubleshoot, Network Adapter Troubleshoot, Performance Monitor, Performance Troubleshoot, Power Troubleshoot, Printing Troubleshoot, Resource Monitor, Shared Files & Folders Troubleshoot, System Maintenance Troubleshoot, Windows Media Player DVD Troubleshoot, Windows Media Player Library Troubleshoot, Windows Media Player Settings Troubleshoot and Windows Troubleshooting Tools.
User Accounts and Family Safety – Credential Manager, Parental Controls and User Accounts.
Windows PowerShell – Windows PowerShell (x86), Windows PowerShell ISE (x86), Windows PowerShell ISE and Windows PowerShell.
Shortcuts For Windows 8.1
Inside the Windows 8.1 folder you will find the following shortcuts:
Administration Tools – Computer Management, Computer, Control Panel, Disk Cleanup, Disk Derangement, Event Viewer, Indexing Options, Performance Information and Tools, Print Management, Services, System Configuration, System Restore, Windows Easy Transfer, Windows Firewall with Advanced Security and Windows Memory Diagnostic.
Appearance and Personalization – Adjust screen resolution, Change desktop background, Color Management, Desktop Icon Settings, Desktop Personalization, Display Settings, Folder Options, Fonts, Notification Area Icons, Screen Saver Settings and Taskbar Properties.
Clock, Language, and Region – Date and Time, Language and Region and Language.
Ease of Access – Ease of Access, Magnifier, Narrator, On-Screen Keyboard and Speech Recognition.
Hardware and Sound – Add a Device Wizard, AutoPlay, Device Manager, Devices and Printers, Keyboard, Location Settings, Mouse, Power Options and Sound.
Network and Internet – Advanced sharing settings, Homegroup, Internet Explorer InPrivate, Internet Explorer, Internet Options, Network and Sharing Center, Network and View network connections.
Productivity Shortcuts – Clear the Clipboard, PC_Settings, Recycle Bin, Show Start, Shut Down Windows, Volume Mixer and Windows Mobility Center.
Programs – Add or remove programs, Calculator, Character Map, Command Prompt, Default Programs, File Explorer, Math Input Panel, Notepad, Paint, Private Character Editor, Remote Assistance, Remote Desktop Connection, Run, Snipping Tool, Sound Recorder, Sticky Notes, Sync Center, Task Manager (All Users), Task Scheduler, Windows Fax and Scan, Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player, Wordpad and XPS Viewer.
Shut Down Menu – Hibernate, Lock – Switch User, Log Off, Restart, Shut Down, Sleep and Stop Shut Down.
System and Security – Action Center, Add features to Windows 8.1, Administrative Tools, Backup and Restore, BitLocker Drive Encryption, File History, Storage Spaces, System Information, System Properties, Windows Defender Scan, Windows Defender Update, Windows Defender, Windows Firewall – Disable, Windows Firewall – Enable, Windows Firewall and Windows Update.
Tablet PC – Personalize Handwriting Recognition, Tablet PC Input Panel and Windows Journal.
Troubleshooting – Aero Troubleshoot, Audio Playing Troubleshoot, Audio Recording Troubleshoot, DirectX Diagnostic Tool, Hardware & Devices Troubleshoot, HomeGroup Troubleshoot, Incoming Connections Troubleshoot, Internet Connections Troubleshoot, Internet Explorer Performance Troubleshoot, Internet Explorer Safety Troubleshoot, Network Adapter Troubleshoot, Performance Monitor, Performance Troubleshoot, Power Troubleshoot, Printing Troubleshoot, Resource Monitor, Shared Files & Folders Troubleshoot, System Maintenance Troubleshoot, Windows Media Player DVD Troubleshoot, Windows Media Player Library Troubleshoot, Windows Media Player Settings Troubleshoot and Windows Troubleshooting Tools.
User Accounts and Family Safety – Credential Manager, Family Safety and User Accounts.
Windows PowerShell – Windows PowerShell (x86), Windows PowerShell ISE (x86), Windows PowerShell ISE and Windows PowerShell.
Shortcuts For Windows 10
Inside the Windows 10 folder you will find the following shortcuts:
Administration Tools – Computer Management, Control Panel, Disk Cleanup, Disk Defragmenter, Event Viewer, Indexing Options, Memory Diagnostics Tool, Services, System Configuration, System Restore, System, This PC and Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.
Appearance and Personalization – ClearType Text Tuner, Color Management, Desktop background, Desktop Icon Settings, Display Color Calibration, Display Settings, File Explorer Options, Fonts, Notification Area Icons, Personalization, Project – Display Switch, Screen resolution, Screen Saver Settings and Taskbar and Start Menu Properties.
Clock, Language, and Region – Date and Time, Language, Region.
Ease of Access – Ease of Access Center, Magnifier, Narrator, On-Screen Keyboard and Speech Recognition.
Hardware and Sound – Add a Device Wizard, AutoPlay, Device Manager, Devices and Printers, Keyboard Properties, Mouse Properties, Power Options and Sound.
Network and Internet – Advanced sharing settings, Homegroup, Internet Explorer InPrivate, Internet Explorer, Internet Properties, Microsoft Edge, Network and Sharing Center, Network connections and Network.
Productivity Shortcuts – Clear the Clipboard, Recycle Bin, Settings, Show Desktop, Show Start, Shut Down Windows, Volume Mixer and Windows Mobility Center.
Programs – Calculator, Character Map, Command Prompt, Default Apps, Default Programs, Devices, File Explorer, Math Input Panel, Notepad, Paint, Private Character Editor, Programs and Features, Remote Desktop Connection, Run, Snipping Tool, Sticky Notes, Sync Center, Task Manager, Task Scheduler, Turn Windows Features On or Off, Windows Fax and Scan, Windows Media Player, Windows Remote Assistance, Wordpad and XPS Viewer.
Shut Down Menu – Hibernate, Lock – Switch User, Log Off, Reboot And Go To Advanced Startup Options Screen, Restart, Shut Down, Sleep, Slide To Shut Down and Stop Shut Down.
System and Security – About Windows, Administrative Tools, Backup and Restore, Device Encryption, File History, Manage Work Folders, Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, Optional Features, Recovery Media Creator, Security and Maintenance, SmartScreen Settings, Storage Spaces, System Information, System Properties, User Account Control Settings, Windows Defender Scan, Windows Defender Update, Windows Defender, Windows Firewall – Disable, Windows Firewall – Enable, Windows Firewall and Windows Update.
Tablet PC – Handwriting Recognition Personalization, Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel and Windows Journal.
Troubleshooting – Aero Troubleshoot, DirectX Diagnostic Tool, Hardware & Devices Troubleshoot, HomeGroup Troubleshoot, Incoming Connections Troubleshoot, Internet Connections Troubleshoot, Internet Explorer Performance Troubleshoot, Internet Explorer Safety Troubleshoot, Network Adapter Troubleshoot, Performance Monitor, Performance Troubleshoot, Playing Audio Troubleshoot, Power Troubleshoot, Printer Troubleshoot, Recording Audio Troubleshoot, Resource Monitor, Shared Folders Troubleshoot, Steps Recorder, System Maintenance Troubleshoot, Windows Media Player DVD Troubleshoot and Windows Media Player Library Troubleshoot, Windows Media Player Settings Troubleshoot and Windows Troubleshooting Tools.
Universal Apps – Alarms & Clock, Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Contact Support, Cortana, Get Started, Groove Music, Mail, Maps, Microsoft Edge, Movies & TV, People, Phone Companion, Photos, Settings, Store, Voice Recorder, Weather, Windows Feedback and Xbox.
User Accounts and Family Safety – Credential Manager, Family Safety, User Accounts (Hidden), User Accounts and Your Account.
Windows PowerShell – Windows PowerShell (x86), Windows PowerShell ISE (x86), Windows PowerShell ISE and Windows PowerShell.
Note : The Windows Mobility Center shortcut will work only on mobile computers such as tablets, hybrids or laptops, and not on desktop PCs. The shortcuts for Microsoft Security Essentials will work only if you have this security product installed. In Windows 8.1 and in Windows 10 this product cannot be installed. You will be able to use the built-in Windows Defender which is an upgraded version of Microsoft Security Essentials. The Windows 7 folder includes shortcuts which do not work in Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 and vice-versa. This is because of the different features included or excluded from each operating system.
Attachment : Windows Shortcut by Digital Adda
Password : digitaladdaCharlie Zelle (Photo: Submitted photo)
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Everyone has likely heard that line before, from your parents, a mentor, a friend. It’s a warning to be suspicious of a situation that offers a large benefit for very little in return.
Rep. Jim Knoblach’s plan to extend the Northstar rail commuter line from its current northernmost point of Big Lake up to St. Cloud – all at no additional cost – is not a real solution. In fact, in his April 9 Your Turn "Here’s how Northstar extension might work," Knoblach even suggests the operating cost would be less to do so.
Unfortunately, the facts don’t match his rhetoric.
To be clear, if we could extend Northstar to St. Cloud for free, we would do it. Gov. Mark Dayton has long pushed to extend the line the additional 27 miles north to a large population of people who would benefit from an additional option to get to work, school, services and more. Extending the line would undoubtedly improve ridership numbers and overall be a benefit to our entire state to take more drivers off the road and reduce congestion. That’s why we share Dayton’s strong support for extending the line.
But it’s disingenuous – and not true – to suggest, as Knoblach has, that it can be done for free.
As the heads of our state’s two transportation and transit operations, we know the true costs of providing transit to Minnesotans across the state. We’ve shared much of this information with St. Cloud residents at roundtables, public forums and more – most recently April 8.
Our non-partisan experts have run the numbers. Building out the line involves some up-front costs, including upgrading the St. Cloud Amtrak station to make it ADA compliant; upgrading railroad crossings in St. Cloud; and adding a third track at the Big Lake station to allow trains to stop there.
These capital costs along are estimated at up to $43 million, and this doesn’t include the additional funding to operate the line day-in and day-out.
Knoblach has suggested that by reducing the number of daily trips, the train would run almost the same amount of miles each day, so therefore it would cost the same. He also wrongly asserts that reducing the service would not cause a decrease in ridership and fare revenue.
Reducing service frequency for transit and commuter lines has a negative impact on ridership. The fewer options available, the less likely people are to choose public transit. It’s a direct relationship, borne out by decades of empirical ridership data.
Our $43 million cost estimate also does not include the cost of acquiring right-of-way from BNSF Railway.
Adam Duinick (Photo: Submitted photo)
Again, Knoblach claims this can be done for free. He writes that he’s spoken with BNSF and they “do |
0-11, notching 34 goals and 68 points. But in 2011-12 he played fewer games, played fewer minutes per game, generated fewer shots per minute, and had a lower shooting percentage -- all of which worked to reduce his goal total.
The result is that he dropped from 34 goals to 16, and for the first time since '98-99 he played more than 30 games and finished with fewer than 50 points. Is this the beginning of the end for Briere, or should we expect him to bounce back?
Health
Last year, Briere struggled with injuries. He missed two games with an upper body injury sustained at the end of October, missed a game in December with a hand injury, missed six games from a concussion in January, didn't miss time from this hit or this one, but did miss the last three games of the year with a back injury.
That sounds bad, and you might expect him to be healthier this year. But honestly, his 12 games missed last year isn't really out of the ordinary. Since the lockout, Briere has averaged over 16 games missed per season, and he's missed at least five in each of the last four seasons.
As he advances through his 30's, injury becomes an increasing risk, and it seems reasonable to guess that a player who's been injured as often as he has will miss significant time again next year.
Ice Time
Last year, Briere got less ice time per game (17:22) than the previous season. However, like with his games played, his usage was in line with his recent career -- since coming to Philadelphia, his average ice time has been 17:37 per game.
It seems unlikely that Briere will be asked to fill Jaromir Jagr's vacated role as a top-line winger, so it's hard to see his ice time increasing substantially. If anything, one might guess that Briere might cede a bit of ice time to improving young centers like Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn.
Shot Rate
Shot rate is where 2010-11 really stands out as an anomaly. That year, he averaged 10.5 shots per 60 minutes played, the highest of his career by far (his second highest was 9.6, and he was over 9.0 only one other time).
In 2011-12, he got 8.6 shots per 60 minutes, which is right in line with the 8.8 that he's averaged since coming to Philadelphia -- and a reasonable expectation for next year. It seems awfully optimistic to hope that at 35 he'll return to his career best; merely continuing his recent performance would be a victory at this age.
Shooting percentage
This is the one place where last year really was a down year -- and strikingly so.
His ice time and shot rate weren't really declining so much as coming back in line with his established talent level, but the reason he had his worst goals per game output in over a decade was that his shooting percentage plummeted.
Briere is a career 14.7% shooter and until last year's 9.2%, he was over 13% every year since he left the AHL. Was this drop a sign of age or just routine fluctuation? We know shooting percentage varies quite a bit, so I'm going to assume it's just normal variation unless I see a lot of evidence to the contrary; let's take a quick glance and see what we can find.
There were 22 forwards who played at least 60 games at the age of 34-36 last year. Of those, only three (Craig Adams, Petr Sykora, and Patrik Elias) had shooting percentages above their career rates. Another eight were roughly flat, showing less than a percent drop from their career rate and/or from their rate over the last three years (since some guys have inflated numbers from earlier eras).
But fully half of them showed a significant decline in shooting percentage:
There are a lot of reasons this might not be as damning as it seems. Perhaps in their old age, a lot of these players got less power play time or moved down from playing with elite passers. Perhaps last year was just a bad year for the old guys. Without doing a more detailed investigation, I'm not going to call an end to Briere's career as a good shooter, but seeing this many sharp declines versus only three people advancing leaves me less optimistic about his shooting percentage bouncing back up than I was before.
Overall
So where does that leave us?
With these projections, it should always be understood that looking at all of the factors might give us a reasonable guess, but performance is variable and some players will outperform or underperform the projection.
In this case, I'd have to say the range of possibilities is particularly large. Maybe Briere stays healthy for 80 games, gets his shooting percentage back up to 14%, and scores 28 goals and 60 points. Even if he has exactly 70 games again, given the skimpy evidence on shooting percentages at his age, I think optimists and pessimists could reasonably argue anywhere from 15-25 goals based on 8-14% shooting percentage.
I'll take the centrist route and guess that he's legitimately declining but that random chance made the shooting percentage drop-off look worse than it really was; I'll put his projection at 20 goals and 52 points over 70 games.We all just love Littlewargame. It’s a great game, and we highly recommend it.
For a browser game the strategy depth in Littlewargame is quite good. You’ll find yourself mixing units like the soldier, archer, mage, catapult and even dragons while upgrading their damage and defences to suit your grand strategy. It might not rival the depth of a full blown game but it’s more than enough to keep you interested and you’ll no doubt see more units added over time as the game has a good track record of updates.
Littlewargame is a little gem that is perfectly suited to players wanting a quick RTS fix.
What is Littlewargame?
Ever wished you could play a good real time strategy game in your browser with minimal fuss? That’s exactly what Littlewargame aims to achieve with its simple (but very enjoyable) browser based RTS. Littlewargame is an HTML5 Real-Time-Strategy game with multiplayer mode and a map editor. It runs completely in your browser without any download, plugin or registration required.
Why should I play it?
Well, it’s all up to you in the end, but it’s a very good game, in fact heavily influenced by StarCraft and WarCraft.
What is this blog about?
This blog is about all things related about Littlewargame, and that’s it. Really.
Play the game.
And, with all of that being said, why not start playing?
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– Mage, Glaba, Aicy, Mehrez, Xao, sl1nky, Echonance, BBQChicken, ItanoCircus, pyroneedsfire, and SlammerIVSenate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker speaks during a committee hearing on Feb. 16, 2017. (Photo11: Zach Gibson, AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — The Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says he senses the Trump administration’s expectations for a closer relationship with Russia are “hugely diminishing” and that a “grand bargain” with Russian President Vladimir Putin to fight global terrorism and resolve the conflict in Syria may be off the table for now.
“I just think the perception of what is real in that regard is changing, as I thought it would,” Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker said. “I don’t get the sense there are plans today of some grand bargain, which was a little concerning on the front end.”
In a wide-ranging interview with the USA TODAY, Corker suggested that administration officials like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis may be injecting a dose of reality into the Trump administration’s conversation about Russia.
Corker himself also raised doubts about the possibility of establishing a closer relationship with Moscow.
“To the extent that we can find common ground with Russia on issues, I’m all for it,” Corker said from his Senate office, not far from the Capitol. “I just think, though, that we need to look at them for who they are and realize that over the last five years, they’ve done a great deal to destabilize portions of the world that we care about.”
Read more:
Syria is the place to begin testing whether there is any common ground between the U.S. and Russia, Corker said, “but I don’t get the sense anybody is looking at some big grand plan right now, which is a relief.”
Corker suggested a “slow pace” approach in U.S. dealings with Russia.
“They have equipment and men in eastern Ukraine right now — in eastern Ukraine, not Crimea,” he said. “They took Crimea. But they have people that are killing other people in eastern Ukraine right now with Russian equipment. They are a country that doesn’t abide by international norms.”
On the campaign trail last year, President Trump heaped praise on Putin, even saying he was a better leader than then-president Barack Obama.
Asked for his own opinion of Putin, Corker called the Russian leader “ruthless, calculating.”
“When you look at a country that has got the economic issues they have, has the demographic issues they have — very dependent on minerals and oil, has gone through no reforms — it’s very remarkable he has taken his place on the world stage in the way he has since 2012,” Corker said.
“He has got not much of a hand to play, and yet he has played it incredibly well. We’ve got to figure out a way to begin notching him back away from some of the nefarious activities he has been involved in.”
Read more:
Democrats have called for a special commission to investigate some Trump associates’ alleged ties to Russia during last year’s election. Last week, California Rep. Darrell Issa became the first Republican call for an independent investigation.
Corker, however, said he doesn’t yet think an independent commission is needed.
Corker said he has talked to both North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, the Republican chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, and the committee’s top Democrat, Mark Warner of Virginia, and believes “there’s a full and robust effort” by that panel to get an understanding of what transpired.
“I personally think the way it’s being handled right now is appropriate,” he said. “At any point in the future, if I feel differently, I’ll weigh in and speak in that manner.”
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2m8YnmfLove makes people do the craziest things. Like buy an Alfa Romeo Spider. Thing is, a 1966 to 1994 Alfa Romeo Spider (just like so many cars from this marque) is so easy to love, at least from afar. The styling, courtesy of design legend Battista Pininfarina, is a big part of the seduction. Especially the Series I with that gorgeous sloping "boat tail" rear styling.
This model, the Duetto as it was named in a public contest, came out in 1966, powered by a 1.6L four-cylinder engine making 108 hp with dual Weber carburetors. Although Alfa Romeo has a wonderful reputation for making driver's cars, the Duetto really isn't one of them, despite a decent power-to-weight ratio. It doesn't even come with particularly impressive handling chops. But, boy, does it look elegant. Later S1 engines grew to 1779 cc, swapping the carbs for SPICA mechanical fuel injection and the Duetto name for Spider 1750. Since decent Series 1 models command high prices, Series 2 cars could be a good place to start the search if you're on a budget.
The Kamm-tailed Series 2 hit the scene in 1970, retaining the 118hp, 1.8L engine. But later that year came the popular 2.0L Spider 2000. These larger engines continued with SPICA mechanical fuel injection. This system was a bit ahead of its time and not well understood by some, so it's not unusual to find S2 models retrofitted with carburetors. Yet SPICA-equipped examples retain their value better. If inspecting a SPICA model, check the "choke cable," which is meant to provide a richer mixture for cold starts and not intended to be used as a kind of cruise control. By 1975, the Spider's elegant chrome bumpers morphed into large rubber items to handle U.S. impact standards. Smog regulations added catalytic converters and lowered compression, making mid-to-late S2 cars heavier and less powerful than ever before.
Photo 2/3 | ’66 to ’94 Alfa Romeo Spider - Looking Back on an Icon
Some salvation was found in the Series 3. Contemporary Bosch fuel injection restored some of the 2.0L's performance and greatly improved its driveability and reliability. By 1984, the little Alfa had sprouted an ungainly rubber spoiler and in 1986, the classic dual-pod speedo and tach (with individual chrome-rimmed ancillary gauges atop the center stack) made way for a contemporary and unremarkable plastic-bodied instrument cluster.
A base model, the Graduate (named after the Dustin Hoffman film in which a red Duetto plays a major role), arrived in '85 with vinyl seat covering, manual mirrors, and steel wheels. Generally, a Series 3 from '82 to '84 represents a sweet spot for Spiders, still with a wooden steering wheel, classic instrumentation, and an un-spoilered Kamm tail, yet with more modern—and therefore more reliable—mechanicals.
The Veloce's interior was upgraded in '86 with better leather seats. This was also the year when the range-topping Quadrifoglio Verde (green clover leaf) model was introduced. It came with 15-inch "phone dial" wheels, while the standard car has 14-inch "five-pointed star" Cromodora alloys, gray suede-trimmed seats, a removable hardtop, side skirts, and unique badging.
Post-'90 models were face-lifted to create the Series 4 cars, which remained on sale in the U.S. until 1994. The tacked-on rear spoiler was ditched and the front and rear bumper fasciae were better integrated with the rest of the car's smoothed-out body. S4 cars also enjoy power steering and a new airbag-equipped steering wheel, along with more expensive-looking leather and standard Quadrifoglio-style wheels.
The usual gripes with an Alfa Spider center on ergonomics. It has that typical Italian driving position (for the era) where the driver needs long arms and short legs to really feel at home. The position of the long-throw gear lever is another idiosyncrasy, but at least the driver is always aware that this is far from the bland, instantly forgettable experience of almost any Japanese sedan. On the subject of gears, there's a general tendency for the synchromesh (designed by Porsche, incidentally) to wear out in such a way as to make swift shifts into second nigh on impossible.
Electrics are not a strong point (when were they ever in Italian cars?). Gauges shouldn't be trusted. The roofs don't age well, but there are specialist replacement companies, and do-it-yourselfers can buy new roofs from $309.95. Seals in the brake servos will perish over time, and leaking brake fluid gets sucked into the engine, creating white smoke. A servo reconditioning kit is an affordable fix, but a garage will probably replace the servos, lines, and master cylinder.
Photo 3/3 | ’66 to ’94 Alfa Romeo Spider - Looking Back on an Icon View Photo Gallery (3) Photos
Rust. It's not that the Spider is any more of a rust bucket than other Italian cars of its time, but the most obvious flaw is that water coming down from the roof gets into the rocker panels (sills), where there's a distinct lack of drainage holes. Keep a magnet handy when inspecting a possible buy to make sure the whole thing isn't held together with Bondo. And if you're looking at a couple or three, buy the one with the best bodywork.
The aluminum engines are considered to be pretty strong. They're essentially the same motor, so parts are easy to get and often interchangeable. Just make sure it's fully warmed up before exploring the upper revs.German submarine U-260 was a Type VIIC U-boat built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine for service during World War II. Her keel was laid down 7 May 1941 by Bremer Vulkan, of Bremen-Vegesack. She was commissioned 14 March 1942 with Kapitänleutnant Herbertus Purkhold in command.
Design [ edit ]
German Type VIIC submarines were preceded by the shorter Type VIIB submarines. U-260 had a displacement of 769 tonnes (757 long tons) when at the surface and 871 tonnes (857 long tons) while submerged. She had a total length of 67.10 m (220 ft 2 in), a pressure hull length of 50.50 m (165 ft 8 in), a beam of 6.20 m (20 ft 4 in), a height of 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in), and a draught of 4.74 m (15 ft 7 in). The submarine was powered by two Germaniawerft F46 four-stroke, six-cylinder supercharged diesel engines producing a total of 2,800 to 3,200 metric horsepower (2,060 to 2,350 kW; 2,760 to 3,160 shp) for use while surfaced, two AEG GU 460/8–27 double-acting electric motors producing a total of 750 metric horsepower (550 kW; 740 shp) for use while submerged. She had two shafts and two 1.23 m (4 ft) propellers. The boat was capable of operating at depths of up to 230 metres (750 ft).
The submarine had a maximum surface speed of 17.7 knots (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) and a maximum submerged speed of 7.6 knots (14.1 km/h; 8.7 mph). When submerged, the boat could operate for 80 nautical miles (150 km; 92 mi) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph); when surfaced, she could travel 8,500 nautical miles (15,700 km; 9,800 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). U-260 was fitted with five 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes (four fitted at the bow and one at the stern), fourteen torpedoes, one 8.8 cm (3.46 in) SK C/35 naval gun, 220 rounds, and two twin 2 cm (0.79 in) C/30 anti-aircraft guns. The boat had a complement of between forty-four and sixty.
Service history [ edit ]
U-260 conducted nine patrols in total. On her second, U-260 was part of Spitz wolfpack[5] which attacked Convoy ON-154, making contact with the convoy on 28 December 1942, and sinking the 4,893 ton British freighter Empire Wagtail (lost with all hands – 43 dead).[6] This was the only ship sunk by U-260.
Purkhold was relieved in April 1944 by Oberleutnant zur See Klaus Becker. Becker commanded the boat until March 1945.
On 12 March 1945, U-260 was scuttled south of neutral Ireland, in position Coordinates:, after sustaining mine damage. The minefield had been laid by HMS Apollo, an Abdiel-class minelayer.
After the sinking, a sealed container of papers floated to the surface. A British expert flew to Cork to examine them.[7]
The crew of five officers and 48 crew were interned in Ireland for the remainder of the war. In her entire career, U-260 suffered no casualties to her crew.
Post war [ edit ]
The wreck site of U-260 was discovered in 1975 by local fisherman Colin Barnes after snagging nets, although it was presumed that the wreck of Counsellor (sunk due to a mine in 1917) was in the area. A friend of Mr Barnes, Joe Barry, dived on the noted position and discovered the U-boat rather than the expected cargo ship.
U-260 currently lies in about 40–45 metres (131–148 ft) of water approximately seven kilometres south of Glandore, and is a popular scuba diving site from Baltimore, County Cork and Union Hall.
There is recent speculation that U-260 did not actually strike a mine, but instead struck an underwater pinnacle (now known as '78 Rock' but which was uncharted at the time) leading to its damaged state.
On 1 July 2014, two divers got into trouble whilst exploring the wreck, the bodies of both of them were later recovered.
Wolfpacks [ edit ]
U-260 took part in 16 wolfpacks, namely.
Blitz (22–26 September 1942)
Tiger (26–30 September 1942)
Luchs (1–6 October 1942)
Panther (6–11 October 1942)
Südwärts (24–26 October 1942)
Spitz (22–31 December 1942)
Seeteufel (21–30 March 1943)
Löwenherz (1–10 April 1943)
Lerche (10–15 April 1943)
Specht (21 April – 4 May 1943)
Fink (4–6 May 1943)
Leuthen (15–24 September 1943)
Rossbach (24 September – 7 October 1943)
Rügen 6 (28 December 1943 – 2 January 1944)
Rügen 5 (2–7 January 1944)
Rügen (7–11 January 1944)
Summary of raiding history [ edit ]
Date Ship Name Nationality Tonnage Fate[8] 28 December 1942 Empire Wagtail United Kingdom 4,893 Sunk
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]Here's a fascinating trend in U.S. agriculture that's been going on for the past few decades. It's the dramatic rise... of no-till farming:
(U.S. Department of Agriculture)
"No-till farming" sounds pretty dull at first. The term basically describes ways to grow crops each year without disturbing the soil through tillage or plowing.
But it's an important idea. Plowing and tillage are major sources of soil erosion around the world — they were key factors behind the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. What's more, churning up all that soil can release a significant amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, helping to warm the planet. So, since the 1980s, more and more American farmers (and policymakers) have started taking no-till farming seriously.
In the United States, no-till farming is now growing at a pace of about 1.5 percent per year, according to the Department of Agriculture. In 2009, about 35.5 percent of the country's cropland had at least some no-tillage operations — though only 10 percent were full-time no-till operations. (The rest involve a selective use of no-till or a mix of techniques.)
Why did no-till farming spread? This 2008 report (pdf) in Scientific American tells the broader back story. For most of human history, farmers plowed their soil to plant crops. The advent of tractors in the 20th century made it even easier to churn up fields. But as soil erosion became a massive environmental problem around the globe, that slowly changed.
Soybeans grown into corn stalks in a no-till field in Union County, Iowa (USDA)
The advent of new herbicides such as atrazine and paraquat in the 1940s and 1950s allowed farmers to kill weeds without plowing up more soil. And the invention of specialized seeding equipment in the 1960s allowed farmers to plant while barely disturbing the soil. Various federal government subsidies for soil conservation also gave farmers incentives to switch practices — particularly after the 1985 farm bill. So did higher oil prices.
The pros and cons of no-till: As the technique became more widely used, U.S. farmers found that they could conserve water, reduce erosion and use less fossil fuel and labor to grow crops. Cropland erosion in the United States dropped nearly 40 percent between 1982 and 1997.
But the practice can have downsides too: For one, it often leads to heavier use of chemical herbicides to kill weeds, which makes many farmers and consumers uneasy. (It's worth noting, however, that heavy herbicide use may not be inevitable; here's a look at ongoing research on how to reduce it through the use of cover crops and other techniques). The specialized equipment can also cost more upfront, even if it eventually saves time and fuel.
In addition, the transition in farming methods can often be difficult. And there are still some clear advantages to conventional tilling, which can, for instance, allow farmers to start planting earlier in the year after heavy rains, since plowing helps dry out the soil sooner.
Will no-till farming keep spreading? Based on survey data, the Department of Agriculture expects no-till operations to keep spreading in the United States in the years ahead, "albeit at a much reduced pace among corn producers."
But what about the rest of the world? That's a trickier question. In 2004, farmers were practicing no-till operations on less than 7 percent of cropland worldwide — and most of that was in the United States, Brazil, Australia, Canada and Argentina. The practice has barely caught on in Europe, Africa or Asia. China has only recently begun taking an interest in the concept (see chart).
A recent report (pdf) from the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) argued that, historically, governments have had to step in to encourage the practice to get it to spread — either by offering research and training or providing financial support to help ease the transition. Australia, for instance, has offered tax credits to farmers to pay for the climate-change benefits from no-till farming.
If that trend caught on, it could have a few big climate benefits. It would lock more carbon in the soil and curtail fossil-fuel use in farm operations. The UNEP estimates that no-tillage operations in the United States have helped avoid 241 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide since the 1970s. That's equivalent to the annual emissions of about 50 million cars. What's more, the practice could help farmers deal with drought, which may become more prevalent in parts of the world if the planet keeps heating up.
Further reading:
-- This 2008 Scientific American essay on no-till farming (titled "No-Till: The Quiet Revolution") is a nice little introduction to the subject.
-- Page 24 of this UNEP report on climate change has a helpful discussion of no-till practices around the world — including both the benefits and why the transition is often so difficult.
-- Tom Philpott has a good profile in Mother Jones of no-till/cover-crop evangelist David Brandt.Chrome users are complaining about an extension named Imgur Uploader, which they say has started injecting ads on various Web pages after a recent update.
The extension is one of the two most popular Chrome add-ons for automatically uploading images to the Imgur image hosting service. According to its Web Store page statistics, the extension has over 17,500 users.
Extension started injecting ads after an update last week
In the past three days, several users have complained about how the extension loads three scripts. The first two gather data about the user while the third sends it to various ad companies, and then injects ads into the current page the user is navigating.
http://connectionstrenth.com/addons/lnkr5.min.js
http://connectionstrenth.com/addons/lnkr40_drct.min.js
s3.amazonaws.com/jscache/72d07657ba1ad678d2.js
The extension's Chrome Web Store page has already started filling with negative reviews, and some users have already reported it to Google's security staff. Navigating the reviews section, it will take you a few pages to get to a positive review.
The extension's author name is ok.ru, which is the URL for Odnoklassniki (Classmates), a Russian-based social network, one of Alexa's Top 100 websites. It is unclear if a developer has used this name without permission or if the extension is offered officially by Odnoklassniki.
All clues lead to a botched update
The extension injects ads by mentioning "Search Enhanced Results by Not set [x]". At the end of the third JavaScript file mentioned above, there is a block of JavaScript code that prints out the following message in HTML, inside a modal:
“ [Parameter loading extension's name -> Imgur Uploader]'s development is supported by optional advertisements that are added to some of the websites you visit. During the development of this extension, I've put in thousands of hours adding features, fixing bugs and making things betternot mentioning the support of all the users who ask for help. Ads support most of the internet we all use and love; without them, the internet we have today would simply not exist. Similarly, without revenue, this extension (and the upcoming new ones) would not be possible. You can disable these ads now or later in the settings page. You can also minimize the ads appearance by clicking on partial support button. Both of these options are available by clicking 'x' button in the corner of each ad. In both cases,your choice will remain in effect unless you reinstall or reset the extension. ”
The functionality mentioned in this message does not exist in the extension's settings section. If we take into account the "Not set" parameter mentioned before, it appears this was a botched extension update.
The author may have wanted to warn users about the ads they were seeing and offer them a way to turn them off, but now the extension has unfortunately fallen into the adware category.
Furthermore, Google may not look kindly on an extension that messes with its search results, even if the "disable" option was working, so the extension might have been removed either way, regardless of the developer's message.Donald Trump Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Paul Ashworth, the chief economist at Capital Economics, does not know what to make of President-elect Donald Trump's effect on the economy.
In fact, Ashworth is so undecided he titled his note to clients on Friday "Trump: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯" using the emoji known as the "shruggie," which indicates uncertainty in internet parlance.
"More than a week on from the election, there is still considerable uncertainty surrounding what fiscal, trade and regulatory policies President-elect Donald Trump will pursue," Ashworth wrote in the note.
Essentially, Ashworth said that the large amount of uncertainty surrounding a Trump presidency makes it near impossible to truly discern the economic outcomes of Trump's policies, or even what the policies will be.
The market has already seemed to have taken in the potential positive aspects of policy, according to Ashworth, given the all-time highs that the stock market has hit.
"The markets have convinced themselves that there is a major fiscal stimulus coming early next year, that a roll-back of regulation will boost the financial sector and that Trump will take a much softer line on trade than some of his inflammatory rhetoric earlier this year would have suggested," the economist wrote.
While Ashworth thinks that stimulus and a regulation rollback are probably coming, he is not convinced on the trade aspect. The ultimate outcomes of the policies are also up for debate, according to the economist.
Take, for instance, the $550 billion fiscal stimulus plan from Trump. Ashworth notes that an expansionary fiscal attitude could be a positive for economic growth, but there are some drawbacks as well.
"Our view is that, in an economy approaching full employment, the fiscal stimulus will boost inflation as much as real economic growth," Ashworth wrote. "With construction sector wage growth already accelerating, public sector infrastructure projects could turn out to be a particularly problematic inflationary source."
He also noted that the construction sector is already seeing increased labor costs because of a lack of workers, so the fiscal stimulus and Trump's hard line immigration policies could drive up construction costs significantly.
On trade, Ashworth imagined a "Good Trump" scenario in which there is a small change to rules with China and Mexico that Trump can point to as a victory, but would not change the relationship too much. There is also a "Bad Trump" scenario as well.
"Trade protectionism is bad economics, but it is clearly good politics," Ashworth wrote.
"There is a downside scenario in which, struggling with a still misfiring economy, plummeting approval ratings, and perhaps even a dysfunctional relationship with Congress, Trump might try to deflect attention from those troubles by switching the blame to foreigners and their 'exploitative' trade policies."
This could lead to a trade war and significant negative economic shocks, according to the note.
Thus there is little known about how the economy under Trump will play out, only ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.North Dakota Libertarian runs for Congress by Chris Hennen |.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | News |
With all the dissatisfaction we are seeing over whether to vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, and people upset at the two-party system, it’s important to highlight the alternatives to those in our own state.
Businessman Jack Seaman is running for Congress against the incumbent Republican Congressman Kevin Cramer in North Dakota for the second straight time. This time around however, the Libertarian presidential candidate is polling nationally at some of the highest levels ever. Could it mean Seaman has a chance? We will see, but first read on to learn more about his positions in an HPR interview.
High Plains Reader: First off, tell me a little about yourself and why you are running?
Jack Seaman: I own and operate MinDak Gold Exchange here in downtown Fargo, the precious metals dealer. I ran in 2014 and am running again in 2016 because I think that our government needs to change, and the only way to do that is by getting different people to run for office and get elected.
HPR: Talk a little about the differences between you and your opponents, the incumbent Congressman Kevin Cramer and the Democrat challenger Chase Iron Eyes. How would you be different from them if elected?
JS: First and foremost, I would consider myself a fiscal conservative which is something that Kevin and his party have claimed to be for years now but the facts show different. Kevin has voted for budgets that have sent us an additional $2 trillion dollars in debt since taking office. Currently, the federal debt stands just under $20 trillion dollars and it seems that very few in Washington are willing to make the hard choices necessary to try and rein that in. So that’s your biggest difference between me and Kevin Cramer.
Honestly, Chris, I don’t know much about Mr. Iron Eyes. He lacks positions or takes on the issues on his website that I am aware of, and I haven’t had a chance to debate with him yet. So I really don’t know where he stands on the issues. I can just assume that as a Democrat, he’s probably going to want to install more tax-and-spend policies that the Democrat party is known for.
HPR: One of the other things that traditionally is said about Libertarians is that they are socially liberal, would you fall in line with that?
JS: Yeah, I think we are socially tolerant is a better way of putting it. We’re fiscally conservative, socially tolerant, that covers a wide range of people and issues. I think a lot of people are Libertarian, they simply don’t know it yet.
HPR: I’ve heard you talk a lot on your Facebook page about some of the foreign engagements that we’ve been involved in the last few years. What is your take on foreign policy and where we are at currently especially in relation to what Congressman Cramer supports?
JS: This is an issue that does indeed separate me. The Libertarian stance on foreign policy is one of non-interventionism. Now unfortunately a lot of times that gets confused as isolationist. We don’t propose that we are isolationist at all. We simply don’t feel that we need to intervene all over the globe playing global military offense and getting ourselves involved in all kinds of conflicts and civil wars and religious wars and regime overthrows. We believe in a strong national defense. I as North Dakota’s Congressman would want the USA to be the strongest military in the world, no question about it. But you can still be the strongest military in the world and practice national defense rather than global offense which ultimately costs us trillions and trillions of dollars.
HPR: Another thing traditionally you hear about Libertarians is that they want to end the war on drugs. What is your take on that?
JS: Libertarians do not support the war on drugs. We recognize that it’s a complete failed policy that has done nothing to reduce drug use in our country and it’s absolutely crippling our society, filling our prisons with nonviolent drug offenders and it’s costing taxpayers again trillions of dollars. It’s proven over the course of its 50-year history that it’s completely ineffective and I don’t support it.
HPR: I think another thing people say is can you win, especially in relation to the presidential race. A lot of people are unhappy with the two major party-nominated candidates and the traditional thing is to vote the lesser of two evils. What do you say to that?
JS: I say that anyone who votes for the lesser of two evils still gets evil. There’s no vote that’s more thrown away than a vote for the lesser of two evils. The only true well-placed vote is based on heart and conscience not on outcome predictability. I think a person’s vote is a treasure and it’s something that they should not give away lightly. When a person makes a decision to vote for somebody that they don’t think is a good candidate for the job, but they are giving it to them anyway because they are making a prediction on how the race is going to turn out, then that is the |
for truck drivers, taxi drivers, to valet drivers.
What jobs are next? Automation already threatens many professional jobs:
Automated Journalism: Since 2011, journalists have been talking about Narrative Science a firm that uses software to writing both sports and financial articles for the like of Forbes Media.
Legal Services: In 1978, it cost CBS USD 2.2 million to hire an army of lawyers to shift through 6 million documents as part of legal discovery process. In 2011, Blackstone Discovery, a legal software firm, can easily analyze millions of documents for about 20% of the cost and at fraction of the time. (source)
Automation will test our cognitive limits
“Go back to the history of the loom. There was absolute dislocation, but I think all of us are better off with more mechanized ways of getting clothes made.” – Eric Schimdt, Chairman of Google
A common refrain from technologist is that jobs replaced by automation – be it truck drivers, factory jobs or even legal services – will produce new jobs and leave overall society better off, just like during the Industrial Age (1760s to 1840s).
It now takes years of training and schooling to secure these newer knowledge-intensive jobs, which are also fewer in number. Even today, we cannot expect everyone who lost their job as an salesman at RadioShack or Tesco today to be able to become Big Data Scientist by tomorrow or even next year.
Can we expect the workers of the world to make the cognitive leap to higher skilled and higher specialized job that will remain for humans?
Will everyone want to or be cognitively able to enter into the remaining jobs available? Will everyone have the opportunity to become a material scientists, human-centered design experts, or specialize in bioinformatics?
Can Developing Countries afford Basic Minimal Income?
With automation threatening jobs from checkout clerks at supermarkets to office jobs, the idea of a Basic Minimal Income has become a constant discussion to address both wealth inequality and lack of jobs as automation takes over.
In 2014, Switzerland was the first to test this idea with a proposal for unconditional guaranteed basic income of (2,500 Swiss francs or USD 2,800 per month) for all Swiss citizens. The measure failed to pass but marked the first time basic income because a point of serious political and social discussion.
But will countries like Ethiopia or Bangladesh (with 90 and 157 million people respectively) be able to avoid a comprehensive Basic Minimal Income?
How Can the Developing World Compete Against Robots?
Discussions about the software automation and robotics have been focused on the Developed World: United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia et cetera. But what of the Developing World?
Recent developed countries like Japan, South Korea, and Singapore had their start as export oriented economies. China, still a developing country, has become an economic powerhouse as the world’s workshop. These countries used export-focused manufacturing as a springboard in to professional industries (aka creative & knowledge economies).
We have the majority of the world population in developing countries like Nigeria (183 million), Indonesia, (255 million), Pakistan (188 million), Philippines (100 million), and not to speak of China and India as well. How will countries like Indonesia and Pakistan compete as an export economy or knowledge economies when robots excel in both manufacturing and knowledge worker (aka professional) jobs?
Can countries like Indonesia provide Basic Minimal Income to those who cannot enter manufacturing jobs, service jobs, or professional jobs? How can Developing Nations compete with robots taking over manufacturing jobs, robots taking over service jobs and robots taking over the jobs of lawyers and writers?
While thought leaders look at the impact of robots and automation in the Developed Countries, there are still 108 Developing Countries and that are looking for economic growth. Technophile’s dream about “Post Labour Scarcity” economics as discussed now will not help the Developing world.
Where does this leave Developed Countries?
How would you advise developing countries like Indonesia prepare for the coming onslaught of robots and software automation?
Is it reasonable for countries like the Philippines or Indonesia to strive for economic development? Should developing countries forsake hopes to become a based for manufacturing or professional services, and focus on sustainable social welfare instead?
Should only countries like the United States and the like reap the benefits of Post-Labour Scarcity?
Image Source:California health care workers who “willfully and repeatedly” decline to use a senior transgender patient's “preferred name or pronouns” could face punishments ranging from a fine to jail time under a newly signed law.
California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the legislation last week.
The sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, has argued adamantly that nobody is going to be criminally prosecuted for using the wrong pronoun.
“It’s just more scare tactics by people who oppose all LGBT civil rights and protections,” he said in a statement last month.
But the language seemingly allows for the possibility, however remote.
The bill itself is aimed at protecting transgender and other LGBT individuals in hospitals, retirement homes and assisted living facilities. The bill would ensure those facilities accommodate transgender people and their needs, including letting them decide which gender-specific bathroom they prefer to use.
"It shall be unlawful for a long-term care facility or facility staff to take any of the following actions wholly or partially on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status," the bill reads.
Among the unlawful actions are “willfully and repeatedly” failing to use a transgender person’s “preferred name or pronouns” after he or she is “clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns.”
The law states that if provisions are violated, the violator could be punished by a fine “not to exceed one thousand dollars” or “by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed one year,” or both.
Wiener's office noted that violations for residential care facilities under existing law rarely resulted in criminal charges, especially for minor violations. Criminal penalties are meant more for violations that expose a patient to risk of death or serious harm, his office said.
Wiener’s office noted that the law “does not create any new criminal provisions,” but rather creates “new rights within an existing structure.”
One opponent of the law, the California Family Council's Greg Burt, slammed the measure when the bill was in its early stages.
“How can you believe in free speech, but think the government can compel people to use certain pronouns when talking to others?” he said to the California Assembly Judiciary Committee in August, according to CBN News.Looking for news you can trust?
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A coalition of odd bedfellows—including Greenpeace, CalGuns Foundation, the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, the Council on American Islamic Relations, and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws—are suing the National Security Agency (NSA) over its alleged “illegal and unconstitutional program of dragnet surveillance.” The groups, which are being represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, are bringing the suit in the wake of revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that the secret US spy court forced Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint to hand over customer records to the feds.
“When the government has access to your communications records for a period of up to five years, it creates a chilling effect on your willingness to participate in political discourse and join political groups,” Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in a press call on Tuesday. EFF also sued the NSA in 2008 over the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program—a case that has yet to be resolved.
The plaintiffs allege that through the NSA’s tracking program, “defendants…continue to collect, acquire, and retain, bulk communications information of telephone calls made and received by plaintiffs, their members and staffs. This information is otherwise private.” They also claim that the collection of this information was “neither relevant to an existing authorized criminal investigation, nor to an existing authorized investigation to protect against international terrorism.” The charges are being brought as violations to the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments, among other laws.
The Director of National Intelligence, Keith Alexander—who is also listed on the suit—testified last month that the NSA’s surveillance program has helped stopped more than 50 terror plots since 9/11. The NSA maintains that the only information that has been collected through phone surveillance is basic information called metadata, which includes information like which numbers made and received a call, when it took place, and how long it lasted.
At the call on Tuesday, representatives for the groups said that even though the coalition comes from across the political spectrum, they have one big thing in common: They feel their First Amendment rights are being squashed. Reverend Rick Hoyt from the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles noted that the church played an important role in fighting hysteria during the McCarthy years, and he sees this as more of the same: “We’re very aware how organizations can be affected by government surveillance…we want to make sure our current church members feel they have the right to associate with this church.” Gene Hoffman, chairman of The Calguns Foundation, which fights gun control laws, said his members are “definitely” hesitant about calling his organization because of surveillance concerns. “It’s common to have caller-ID block for our members even before this [came out.]”
Shahid Buttar, the executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, a civil rights organization that fights to end racial profiling, notes, “A lot of our members have had concerns about these kinds of activities happening for a long time, they’ve been dismissed for years by the broader public as paranoia… The people who suspected they were being watched, until now, couldn’t prove it.”#Breaking 2/2 samples tested positive for #Norovirus in Person Co. Health Dept says they need more samples to confirm pic.twitter.com/8E54V4u6xu — Stephanie Lopez (@LopezABC11) September 4, 2015
Almost 1000 students were absent from Person County Schools on Friday after an outbreak of a mysterious gastrointestinal illness, according to the office of the superintendent. Now, health officials are saying two of the samples tests have returned positive for norovirus.Since Wednesday when the first students and staff members showed symptoms, the Person County Health Department has been working with the North Carolina Division of Public Health in testing samples from some of the sick patients.Friday, the Health Department submitted the samples they had received. While two of the samples did return positive for the norovirus, officials say they will need additional samples to confirm the cause of the outbreak.Person County officials said 980 students were absent Friday, but it is not known how many of these students were symptomatic versus how many were absent as a precaution. The office of the superintendent also told ABC11 the number of absences could be due to the holiday weekend.Harley West is a 7th grader at Southern Middle School in Roxboro. He said his parents had him miss school Friday as a precautionary measure."I talked to two of my friends and they told me that they were sick too," West explained. "So, they said they caught it, so that's why I didn't really go to school today."Superintendent Danny Holloman said a gastrointestinal outbreak kept almost 700 students out of school and off the field in Person County on Thursday. More than 100 students and teachers left school Wednesday due to the virus.The State Health Department canceled all athletic events, including Friday Night Football.Wake County resident Candy Williams works in Roxboro. He said he's also worried about the mysterious illness."It can spread. I live in Wake Forest and I can take it from here to there," Williams said.The gaping chasm between the world’s richest and poorest citizens is widening more rapidly than expected, says Oxfam International, and it’s a trend being reflected here in Canada.
A new report released by Oxfam on Monday highlights some alarming statistics. Perhaps most notably, the organization has estimated that the richest 62 people on Earth now own the same amount of wealth as the poorest half of the global population (approximately 3.6 billion people).
Meanwhile, the have-nots are getting poorer and the resulting inequality is getting worse — fast. A mere five years ago, the number of billionaires who had accumulated the same amount of wealth as the bottom 50 per cent of the population stood at 388.
While developing nations certainly see the starkest inequality, Canada is a kind of microcosm of the broader global pattern, noted Oxfam Canada executive director Julie Delahanty.
“In Canada there continues to be this huge gap between the rich and the poor, and it’s growing,” she said. “The people who are really losing out … are the working poor in particular, who are not seeing the gains of economic growth.”
According to Oxfam Canada:
Five Canadians have the same wealth as the bottom 30 per cent of our population – more than 11 million people.
The poorest 10 per cent of Canadians only make about $2.30 more per day than they did 25 years ago.
The wealth of the five richest Canadians has risen by $16.9 billion since 2010, a 44 per cent increase.
The poorest half of Canada’s population has received just 26 per cent of the total increase in income growth.
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gets set to attend the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Delahanty said there are a few things his government could be doing to combat the patterns being highlighted by Oxfam. The first is to lead the charge internationally against tax havens. It’s estimated that $7.6 trillion of individuals’ wealth sits offshore, tax-free, and that if tax were collected on the income that this wealth generates, an extra $190 billion would be available to governments each year.
READ MORE: World Economic Forum revokes invitation to North Korea to attend annual meeting
That money could then be re-invested in social programs that benefit the poorest people, Oxfam has suggested.
“Canada is one of the biggest losers when it comes to tax havens,” Delahanty explained. “But in any country, it’s a loss of revenue. So they should be working a lot harder than they have been.”
The Liberal plan to provide tax relief for the so-called middle class while increasing taxes on the richest Canadians is a good start, said Delahanty, but it ignores the people right at the bottom who are barely scraping by.
“We need more money for public services, for health and education and childcare. Things that have an overwhelming benefit for the poorest, and particularly for women,” she said, adding that this should be a no-brainer for a prime minister who has “made really strong statements around gender equality and women’s rights.”
On the legislative side, Oxfam Canada is encouraging the Canadian government to look at forcing the closure of the gender wage gap. Studies have shown that Canadian women are still making, on average, about $8,000 less a year than men for doing the same job.
“It’s also having legislation in Canada that requires companies to provide a living wage by province,” Delahanty said. “We know what a living wage is in each province and we could make so-called minimum wages actually be a living wage. That’s something that the government could put pressure on provinces to make happen.”
Canada’s Richest
1. The Thomson Family (net worth $36.76 billion): Thomson Reuters
2. Galen Weston (net worth $13.67 billion): food processing/distribution, high-end department stores
3. Garrett Camp (net worth $9.18 billion): Uber, web development
4. The Rogers Family (net worth $8.86 billion): Rogers Communications
5. The Irving Family (net worth $7.50 billion): Forestry, shipbuilding, Irving Oil
(Source: Canadian Business magazine)Looking for news you can trust?
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It’s difficult now to recall the giddy sense of possibility that greeted Paul Wellstone’s 1990 election to the US Senate. Running against Minnesota Republican Rudy Boschwitz, a popular and seldom controversial incumbent with a $7 million war chest, he was widely considered the burnt offering of a state Democratic Party that had never really wanted him in the first place. Only weeks before Election Day, polls showed him running 16 points behind. Wellstone eventually triumphed by running a low-budget campaign that was risky, inventive, populist in tone, and unabashedly left-liberal. In so doing, he became the only candidate to unseat a Senate incumbent that year. If popular disgust for Beltway elites has become a matter of conventional wisdom in the decade since, it is easy to forget that Wellstone’s improbable win was among the first portents compelling the discomfited hordes of Washington pundits and party leaders to admit there was trouble in the air.
Wellstone quickly made a name for himself—first by openly denouncing the racist politics of Jesse Helms and his kind, and soon thereafter by emerging as one of the most vociferous critics of the war in the Persian Gulf. In the latter capacity, he made the rounds of TV talk shows and staged a controversial, emotionally charged press conference in front of the Vietnam War memorial. He was the “Senator from the Left,” exulted The Nation’s David Corn. Mother Jones held him up as “the first 1960s radical elected to the US Senate.” George Bush offered a more withering assessment: “Who is this chickenshit?” he muttered after being grilled by Wellstone at a reception for new members of Congress.
At the time, these seemed merely the first of what promised to be a long series of dust-ups between Wellstone and the Washington establishment. He was already on record committing himself to the pursuit of two measures absolutely anathema to the Beltway gang, namely the public financing of political campaigns and a government-financed single-payer health care system. To get anywhere at all with such an agenda, Wellstone realized, he would have to work with citizens’ groups and organizers across the country to rally public pressure. His chief role as senator, he said in those first months, was to begin working “with a lot of people around the country—progressive grassroots people, social-action activists—to extend the limits of what’s considered politically realistic. I have always been a community organizer, and I can do that here.”
Wellstone never emerged as the left’s national spokesman for reforms in health care, campaign finance, or anything else.
Wellstone, in fact, was uniquely well qualified among members of Congress to take on such a task. During his years at Carleton College, the small, elite liberal arts school where he was a professor of political science, he organized and directed protest groups (supporting farmers who faced foreclosures and opposing South African investment, among other things); he also traveled the state building grassroots coalitions—most notably in the late 1970s, when he helped organize rural Minnesotans in a battle against a high-voltage power line.
Yet 10 years after he took his Senate seat, Wellstone has disappeared from the national consciousness. He never emerged as the left’s national spokesman for reforms in health care, campaign finance, or anything else. Apart from his abortive 1998 exploration of a 2000 presidential run—highlighted by a little-noted reenactment of Bobby Kennedy’s 1967 “poverty tour”—he has kept a generally low public profile.
When I spoke to him in the midst of his 1996 reelection campaign, we talked about what he deemed the greatest achievements of his first term. He first cited a largely symbolic ban on lobbyist gifts worth more than $100. He also told the story of uncovering and defeating an obscure provision that would have extended the patent on an arthritis drug called Lodine; had the measure passed, it would have meant another five years of inflated manufacturer profits. In each case, tellingly, Wellstone’s victories were mainly the product of masterful parliamentary maneuvers—laudable actions, no doubt, but hardly the stuff one expects of the “Senator from the Left.” He had fashioned himself into a formidable inside player; meanwhile, the grassroots organizing work he had once called his top priority never came to pass.
During his 1996 reelection campaign, I asked Wellstone why. He responded by describing the rigors of life in the Senate and concluding, “It’s taken a lot of time and energy to deal with that process, and I find it hard to do both. It’s very hard in terms of time.” In other words, his priorities had changed. It was not so much a disavowal of his political principles as a tactical decision about what it meant to be “senatorial.”
If it’s painfully clear that Wellstone sold out his best impulses along the way, the matter of how and why still bears examination. On that subject, Barry Casper—a longtime friend and fellow Carleton professor who accompanied Wellstone to DC in 1991 for a stint as a policy adviser—offers some firsthand insight. In his new book, Lost in Washington: Finding the Way Back to Democracy in America, Casper points to a few key moments in the fledgling senator’s seduction: the early embrace of then Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, who took Wellstone under his wing and saw to it that he received two plum committee assignments (Labor and Human Resources, Energy and Natural Resources), and the personal beseechings of Hillary Clinton, who cannily targeted the outspoken single-payer advocate as a potential adversary in promoting her managed care scheme. Hillary spent a good deal of time soliciting Wellstone and bending his ear; when the senator finally confided to Casper that he was thinking of supporting the Clinton plan, it became clear that her time had been well spent.
In a broader sense, though, it is the culture of Capitol Hill as a whole that conspires to change the Paul Wellstones of the world. To begin with, the sheer complexity of the social and procedural rules governing affairs on the Hill is an inducement to buy into the worldview: You can’t play the game if you don’t know the rules, and learning the game is in itself a job that commands one’s full attention and commitment. Once so committed, the newcomer is helpless to resist the DC establishment’s almost mystical powers, foremost among them the capacity to define what’s “politically realistic” and to suppress all else.
As Casper points out, the taming of members of Congress begins in their own offices. Wellstone’s initial staff was composed almost entirely of activists like Casper, but over time the balance shifted toward Hill professionals—just as DC veterans had assured Casper it would. The livelihoods of professional legislative staffers depend entirely on their bosses’ “viability” and reelection; there is little question about where they stand on playing it safe versus playing the pariah.
On the floor, the comity and respect of one’s colleagues are bought at a price that precludes hanging on to serious left-liberal aspirations. (Wellstone began to play the vote-trading game early on, most auspiciously when he voted against government aid for the postwar rebuilding of Iraq.) The result is a kind of betrayal that typically goes unremarked: American liberals harbor a traditional weakness for the rhetoric of “working within the system,” no matter how absurd. This tends to obscure the fact that, for a person of Wellstone’s professed goals, the decision to work within the system as presently constituted bears unflattering resemblance to a compulsive gambler’s decision to slink off to the casino for one more go at beating the house.
The inevitable question is, what else could he have done? Simple: He could have done what he set out to do, which was to concentrate on mobilizing and building ties between left-liberal citizens and activists across the country. Doing so would have antagonized most of Wellstone’s colleagues and committed him to using his position as a bully pulpit. And, given the negative reaction back home to his early prominence in opposing the Gulf War, it might well have meant he’d serve only one term. But there’s every reason to think it would have been a more honorable and productive course than the one Wellstone chose. If he had kept to plan, he might have forged something lasting, a legacy he and others could have continued building when his Washington days were through.
As it is, political observers now speculate that Wellstone may run for a third term in 2002, in express violation of a pledge he made in 1990 and again in 1996. If he does run, and if the Republican opposing him is even marginally more inspiring than the soporific Boschwitz, he may very well lose. And he’ll lose owing to the public perception that, contrary to his two-terms-and-out promise and all that it implied, he went to Washington and became just another career politician.This is a true story from a country in Europe, a country that one would normally deem civilized.
The sequence of events is this:
1. A foreign woman (country unspecified) arrives in the European country, seeking asylum. 2. The woman is eight weeks pregnant, and the pregnancy is due to a rape. 3. The country in question prohibits abortion except in cases when the pregnancy will result in the mother’s death. Those cases can include a mother’s potential suicide. They do not include rape, incest, or fetal deformity. 4. The pregnant woman is suicidal and wants an abortion badly. She presents herself at the hospital and requests an abortion shortly after her arrival in the European country. 5. To approve abortion under the law in those cases, however, requires unanimous approval of a panel of several physicians. 6. The panel is convened: two psychiatrists and an obstetrician. The psychiatrists concur that an abortion is warranted by the woman’s suicidality, but the obstetrician, while agreeing with the potential suicidality, doesn’t go along because he considers the fetus viable. By this time the woman is 21-23 weeks into her pregnancy. 7. The woman, in protest, goes on a hunger strike, intending to kill herself through starvation or dehydration. 8. Determined to have its child, the country straps the woman to a bed and forcibly feeds her through a nasogastric tube. 9. Finally, at about 25 weeks after conception, the fetus is forcibly removed from the woman by caesarian section. Reports are that it is healthy and will be given into state care.
Okay, which country has those kind of draconian abortion laws (prohibiting it even in cases of rape an incest), and not only overrules a woman’s clear suicidality, in violation of the law, but then straps her to a bed and forcibly feeds her, keeping the baby alive until she can be cut open and the fetus extracted? How many violations is that, by the way? I count three horrible and unwanted penetrations.
It’s Ireland, of course, and the law applying here (a new and supposedly liberalized one) is heavily conditioned by the wishes of the Catholic Church. Before 2013, no abortions were allowed in Ireland under any circumstances. Irish women who wanted abortions had to travel abroad (usually to England) to get them. That, too, had been illegal until 1992, when Irish courts ruled that pregnant women could not be prevented from traveling even if authorities suspected they were off to get an abortion. Still, Irish women who were poor for such a journey were forced to stay home and bear the child.
Then came the highly publicized death of death in 2012 of Savita Halappanavar at University Hospital Galway. 17 weeks pregnant, Halappanavar sought an abortion because her fetus was infected and she was miscarrying; of course the mother was infected as well. The hospital refused an abortion and, on October 28, the woman died of septicemia after the dead fetus was finally removed and the woman given antibiotics—too late.
This debacle led to the passage of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act (pdf at link), supposedly remedying the problems with the Halappanavar case. But the “liberalization” consisted only of allowing abortion when the mother’s life was endangered by suicidality (not fetal infection or deformity)—suicidality caused by something like rape or incest. Rape or incest alone was not sufficient: a woman is, by law, forced to bear her rapist’s baby, even if she doesn’t want it, so long as she is not suicidal. The act also allows a woman to leave the country to obtain an abortion (something prohibited previously), but in the case of this refugee, that may have been difficult, for she would have needed a special visa to re-enter Ireland and, at any rate, it’s not clear that the woman was even informed that she had this right. Nor do we know whether she could even afford the trip.
Does the Catholic Church show any sympathy here? Don’t make me laugh. It simply piles insult on top of injury: the newest Catholic bishop of Ireland, Kevin Doran, Bishop of Elphin, saw went public with his opinion that the woman should have been forced to stay pregnant for longer:
[Doran] said the church has always taken the view that legislation “certainly doesn’t resolve the concerns”. “You are creating greater risks for the child by terminating pregnancy at an early stage,” he said. He also said: “I don’t think that anybody has established the right of a mother to terminate the pregnancy because she feels that she’s at risk of suicide”. The Bishop described the early delivery of the baby as “not without its difficulties” and “simply not a healthy option” given that the normal period of pregnancy is somewhere around 38 – 40 weeks. He said to terminate the pregnancy at 24 weeks with a caesarean “places the child more seriously at risk”. The Bishop questioned what assistance the State provided the woman with her psychiatric problems. He said he has seen “nothing to suggest that there is a good reason why” the pregnancy could not have progressed to full term.
Indeed; the good Bishop has no problems with having the woman strapped down for another 11 weeks or so, force-fed while the fetus gets older.
This whole scenario conjures up images of the Catholic Inquisition: women tied to boards and tortured. This poor woman was strapped down and intubated, forced to serve as an incubator for a fetus that nobody wants—save the Catholic Church with its twisted morality. And of course the Church had no problems with the previous law, nor any problems with the present law that won’t allow abortion if a woman harbors a deformed fetus, or one produced by rape or incest.
The Church has long been behind society’s opinions about women’s issues, and their barbarity, and lack of concern for the well-being of pregnant women at the expense of church doctrine, is palpably clear in this case. The people of Ireland want a liberalization of Ireland’s abortion laws, and so does the European Union. Only the Church, clinging to outdated doctrine, objects.
How long can an institution continue to force a medieval mentality on a country that doesn’t want it? Apparently for many years. But it’s time for the people of Ireland to rise up against the retrograde and sexist mentality of Catholicism. Given the power of the Church in Ireland—similar to the power of the National Rifle Association in the U.S., which overrides the will of the people by threatening legislators with defeat—action will be slow. But even the Church must eventually bow to enlightened reason. The only question is how many more women will suffer before the Irish government comes to its senses.
__________
Sources:
See an analysis of (and objection to) the woman’s treatment at Doctors for Choice IrelandApparently, UBC has its very own George R.R. Martin on its hands. Reddit user elanonelp is writing a novel online, about which faculty would win in a “War of the Faculties.”
Personally, this novel has got me worked up. Do I take personal offense that the arts students are inadvertently called lazy? Maybe. Do I laugh every time I read about the Sauder Snakes? Absolutely. The author has been releasing different parts of the novel over a period of days.
There are many aspects to this war — medicine, allies, location on campus and more. Who knows what kind of weapons are being stored in the engineering building? Or the mysterious coding technologies of the computer science kids? What about the sneaky smiles of the sleek looking Sauder students? You cannot count out anyone on campus.
At this point, I have no idea who wins the war, but I have a solid bet on Arts. There are over 13,000 of them, compared to the next biggest faculty, which is Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at 8,934. If they don’t win, that’s just embarrassing. There should be another whole sequel to this novel about pitting different majors in Arts against one another.
The comments in this thread are probably among the most serious on Reddit. Readers are commenting their own input, on who would win and why. Here are some of my personal favourites:
“It would turn out that top Sauder students started the whole war to sell weapons and make $$$$.” - friendios
(And the reply — “so sauder is usa?” from user ajariax)
“In This Thread: Nobody actually knows what anybody does in the other faculties.” - Stickman2
“Arts students would win because Buchanan Tower puts fear into the hearts of every other faculty.” – qlosko
And the ultimate showstopper:
So when will the final battle occur? Will it happen in War Memorial? Do you get my bad pun or am I just laughing alone?
An earlier version of this article stated that jdjdbabybaby was the author of the novel. It is in fact, Reddit user elanonelp, who wrote this saga. The Ubyssey regrets this error.Immediately following the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, the internet exploded into a mass of overjoyed excitement. The long-fought struggle for marriage equality was, by all appearances, coming to a triumphant end.
We, in the royal sense, had won. And yet, looking at the smiling faces floating in a sea of waving rainbow flags I couldn’t see myself. To put this in simpler words: there were virtually no black or brown faces attached to the coverage of today’s ruling. Though I wanted to do a post on the impact of today's decision, it was difficult to find many photos or videos of people of color celebrating.
It wasn’t just that there seemed to be no photos of people of color physically at the Supreme Court this morning. There were barely any commentators of color tapped by any of the major news networks to speak about the significance of the ruling. As a gay black man (and a member of the media,) this struck me as wrong and irresponsible.
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One of the most pervasive and problematic narratives that many queer people of color face on near daily basis is the idea that Black, Latino, Asian, and other ethnic minorities aren’t interested in the rights of queer people. The black community in particular is often erroneously characterized as being disproportionately homophobic despite the fact that black peoples’ opinions on queer rights have been consistently evolving over the past decade just like everyone else’s.
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People of color have been a part of the modern queer rights movement since its very beginning. Joseph Beam or Essex Hemphill, black queer rights activists whose writings worked to shed light on the lives of black gays and lesbians whose existences were marginalized and overlooked.
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José Sarria, a Spanish-Colombian, was the first openly gay (and unabashedly queer) person to run for public office. Silvia Rivera, who was politicized by the African American Civil Rights movement, became one of the earliest and most outspoken advocates for transgender rights long before most people knew what it meant to be trans.
In the same way that we tend to forget their contributions to the fight for queer rights, we tend to render invisible the very presence of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transpeople who aren’t white.
Let's change that.
We want to see all of the people who've been touched by the Supreme Court's decision to make marriage equality a reality. We know you're out there and we want to hear from you. Share your photos with us via Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat (@FusionSnaps), Tumblr, and Twitter using the hashtag #WeAreEquality.There are some things in life that people simply have to experience first hand. Riding a roller coaster. Catching a wild brook trout. Running a mile for time. Dating someone out of your league…this is what life is all about. If you’re a baseball fan, you have to see a game at Wrigley Field. If you eat food, you have to try the spicy fried chicken at Gus’s Fried Chicken in Memphis. You just have to. You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced that chicken.
Likewise, if you’re a beer drinker, there are certain beers you have to drink. At least once. We’ve thought long and hard about what those quintessential beers are—the ones that everyone should try—and we’ve come up with a hearty list of 100 that define the American craft beer scene. Some of these beers would be considered the best beers in the country, if not the world. Others can hold their own, but earned a spot on this list because of the role they played in the craft beer movement. Is this a definitive list of beers everyone should try? Dear Lord, no. If you truly love beer, you should try them all. Even the bad ones. At least once. But this list will get you started.
Here’s the first round from the master list—we’ll be counting down all week. We hope you’re thirsty.
100. Dale’s Pale Ale
Brewery: Oskar Blues
City: Lyons, Colo.
Description: Look, this is the beer that started the can-revolution. If it weren’t for Dale’s, we wouldn’t have Bell’s in a can. Or Sweetwater, or…you name it. Someone had to go first, and Oskar Blues was that someone. The fact that this is a really good pale ale (a bit of citrus and bitterness underscored by just enough bready, malt backbone) is just icing on the cake. What we really loved (and still love) was that this was the first good beer you could take on the river.
99. Breckenridge Vanilla Porter
Brewery: Breckenridge Brewery
City: Breckenridge, Colo.
Description: A foundation of chocolate and roasted nuts is enlivened by the addition of vanilla beans in this porter that is so decadent, I’m always amazed it’s a year-round beer. It has such depth of character, you’d expect it to be an annual Christmas present. But nope, you can pick up a sixer of this treat any time you want.
98. Brooklyn Brewery Lager
Brewery: Brooklyn Brewery
City: New York City
Description: Consider this the antithesis to all of the super-hopped IPAs you’ll find on this list. Brooklyn’s Vienna-style lager is mellow, subtle, biscuity but not bland. This has more depth than most American lagers you’ll come across—more malty amber than crisp lawnmower beer.
97. Surly Brewing Darkness
Brewery: Surly Brewing |
’ seemed to sum it up for us. We wanted to leave on a high, not having things taken away from us. Who knows, things may have changed, but I think being situated in Norfolk made things harder. Many people have mentioned that if we were in London when we set up we would have found things much easier as there would be more outlets wanting to take the kind of beer we produced. I can’t tell you the number of pubs up here that won’t take anything over 3.8%. Not their fault, you understand – they are rural pubs and rely on the Sunday lunch brigade driving to the pub to make things work. No matter how tasty your IPA is, at 6% they can’t shift it.
We would have needed to get our beers out nationally more to make things work, and that required investment that we didn’t have and were reluctant to look for from banks. We would have needed lots more casks and more distribution routes. The casks are about £75+VAT and when you need several hundred.… then it’s not something that you can sensibly look at without, say, re-mortgaging your house. We always said that we would not borrow money for the business because we knew that fledgling businesses don’t have good track records, and also it was a very difficult time for the economy. When you look at the bigger picture, we know we made the right decision. We have local friends who are still in the industry and who have had their brewery for ten years and still not made a profit. We chat to our brewery friends around here and they all have similar issues or worse now. I know several who don’t know whether to carry on or not – they’re not bad breweries at all, but times are very tough. There are some who are big enough to survive, or who are innovative enough, but innovation on its own isn’t enough either.
I hope I don’t come across as bitter. We loved brewing, we would love to have another brewery, but as things stand it is just not possible.
* * *
Northcote sold its brewing kit to Bowness Bay in 2012. South London brewery Belleville uses the name Northcote for one of its beers which Jenni is quite happy about. She is on Twitter as @Palate4Hire.It’s Only the Word Only
In Mandarin the word zhǐ 只 (only) usually comes before a verb. In English it is common to say “only” directly before a number, but as a rule of thumb you need to use a verb in Chinese.
Imagine you see a cute baby and ask tā jǐ suì 他几岁？ (how old is he?). In English the mother might reply “he is only one year old”, but in Chinese they would say tā zhǐ yǒu yí suì 他只有一岁 (he only have one year old).
a cute baby boy
Another example is if someone asks nǐ de hàn yǔ bān yǒu duō shǎo xué shēng 你的汉语班有多少学生？ (how many students are there in your Chinese class?). In English you can reply “only twelve” but in Mandarin you would say zhǐ yǒu shí èr gè 只有十二个 (only have twelve)
The other word for only
There is another word for “only” (cái 才) that can appear directly before a number. In the baby example above the mother could reply tā cái yí suì 他才一岁 (he only one year old). Similarly, when someone asks how many people there are in you Chinese class you can say cái shí èr gè 才十二个 (only twelve).
Although you can use cái directly before a number, it is also perfectly correct to use it in front of a verb. If you’re talking about how long you’ve studied Chinese you can say wǒ zhǐ xué le yí gè xué qī 我只学了一个学期 or you can say wǒ cái xué le yí gè xué qī 我才学了一个学期 and they both mean “I have only studied one semester”.
There is no difference in meaning between zhǐ 只 and cái 才 in these examples. They can be used interchangeably to emphasise that a number is low. However, if you want to use “only” as a way of excluding other possibilities or options then you need to use zhǐ.
For example, if your friend asks nǐ xiǎng chī shén me 你想吃什么？ (what do you want to eat?) you can reply wǒ zhǐ xiǎng chī diǎn miàn bāo 我只想吃点面包 (I just want to eat some bread) meaning you don’t want to eat other things. Because we’re not emphasising that the number is low we can’t say wǒ cái xiǎng chī diǎn miàn bāo.
Or maybe you’re back at school after the summer holiday and someone asks fàng jià qù nǎ lǐ wán le 放假去哪里玩了？ (where did you go during the holiday?). In this situation you might say wǒ zhǐ qù le shàng hǎi yí tàng 我只去了上海一趟 (I only went to Shanghai).
a trip to Shanghai
Again, this sentence is emphasising that you didn’t go to anywhere else other than Shanghai so you can’t say wǒ cái qù le shàng hǎi yí tang. However, you can use cái if want to emphasise a low number and say you only went to one city. wǒ cái qù le yí gè chéng shì, shàng hǎi 我才去了一个城市，上海 (I only went to one city, Shanghai).
Other uses of cái
You can use cái in sentences that don’t indicate a low number, and the above sentence wǒ cái qù le shàng hǎi yí tang is not grammatically incorrect. However, the meaning is completely different to the meaning of “only” discussed here. For more information on this usage click here.
AdvertisementsHere it is @thepurplewarlock!
Mark opened the front door to the institute and walked down the stone steps. He stopped to look around and took a deep breath. The sun had just set and the stars were coming out, the cool night air felt good in his lungs. This had always been his favorite part of the day when he’d been with the hunt. It was when, for a small time, the stars shared the sky with the last bit of the sun’s fire and it was absolutely beautiful. It was even more breathtaking when one was actually up among the stars themselves, galloping on a flying steed towards the setting sun as if you were chasing it away.
Mark sighed, trying to remember what he had come out here for. Of course, he realized, he was looking for Kieran, before he had gotten lost in his own mind and memories. He did that often, his siblings seemed perturbed by it but Kieran didn’t mind. Usually he would just gaze at Mark’s face while he was daydreaming, enjoying the various emotions that played out on his face. Sometimes he would even relive the memories with the former hunter, for he was the only one that could.
Mark found Kieran sitting on the ground, gazing out at the ocean. He sat down next to the faerie that held his heart and Kieran laid his head against Mark’s shoulder in response. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you, though I should’ve known you were out here,” Mark said as he watched the waves coming in. After all this time Kieran still seemed ill at ease within the walls of the institute. “I was just thinking about what it was like soaring among the stars. Despite all the pain I endured in the hunt there are parts of it I really miss.”
Kieran lifted his head to look into Mark’s eyes. “As do I,” he replied, “I yearn for the nights we slept among the grass and under the stars. Just you and I.” Mark sighed dreamily at all the memories Kieran’s words had brought to mind. He lied down on his back and held out his arms to the faerie prince. “Let’s reminisce together,” he whispered.
Kieran nodded with a small smile on his lips and lay his head down on Mark’s chest. Mark stroked his shimmering light blue hair softly as they murmured sweet nothings to each other. “I love you Mark Blackthorn,” Kieran said softly. “I love you too, Kieran of my heart,” Mark whispered into his ear. And they laid like that all night; the faerie prince and the outcast shadowhunter, entwined in each other’s arms under the shining stars.We're mere days away from the spookiest of holidays (other than Arbor Day, don't get me started), and you can make your Android Wear device more festive with these five new Halloween watch faces. There are scary cemeteries, creepy disembodied eyes, pumpkins, and gore galore.
Watch Face: Halloween
This one is pretty full-featured as far as seasonal watch faces go. There are several different (gory) view modes, and it can display a lot of information. If you're a horror movie fan or just a little weird, you might be able to get away with having a bloody skull on your wrist year round. This one costs two bucks.
--
Be the coolest guy on the halloween party with this brand new and customizable Halloween watch face.
Perfect for those people who’s a little bit tired from pumpkins. Scary and funny at the same time.
The main element of this watch face is hanging eye which makes a movement from left to right in a minute.
Also there are 3 further view customizations:
Simple — black or white background with blood road an eye spinning around as a second hand.
Candy view — white or black background, blood road and a candy rolling out of the scull and back.
Brain view - the most impressive animated view of this watch face. Mostly similar to the previous, but with a brain moving up and down of the scull.
By the way, there is support for 12/24 hours time format.
An ambient mode is supported too.
Halloween watch face looks great on round and square devices. All android wear watches are supported: Moto 360, LG G Watch R, LG G Watch, Sony Smartwatch 3, Samsung Gear Live, Asus ZenWatch, Huawei Watch.
Pumpkin Watch Face
The Pumpkin Watch Face is straightforward. It's a clock with a jack o' lantern in the middle. It's ideal for when you want to be festive, but would still like to be able to read the time without a bunch of eyes and bloody brains staring back at you.
--
Happy Halloween Day
✔ Round & Square Watch Face
✔ Supported watches: Huawei Watch, Sony SmartWatch 3, Motorola Moto 360, LG G Watch, LG G Watch R, Asus ZenWatch
Halloween Watch Face
This watch face has a lot going on. There are the assorted creepy animals, the blinking eyes, and that sweet castle in the background. The clock part of the face is a little small, but it doesn't get in the way of all the festive Halloween stuff. The aptly named Halloween Watch Face works best on round watches.
--
Halloween Watch Face for Android Wear with animated eyes.
Tested with LG G Watch R, LG Watch and MOTO 360.
Halloween Night Watch Face
Halloween Night Watch Face has all the usual Halloween accoutrements including bats, a spooky forest, a jack o' lantern, and a full moon. The analog clock is shifted up to overlay the moon, which is smart. It fits in nicely and looks okay on both round and square watches.
--
Happy Halloween Night
✔ Round & Square Watch Face
✔ Supported watches: Huawei Watch, Sony SmartWatch 3, Motorola Moto 360, LG G Watch, LG G Watch R, Asus ZenWatch
Halloween Watch Face
For the low, low price of one dollar, you can get this neat jack o' lantern watch face that has a ton of different design and layout options. It's not technically only jack o' lanterns, though. Some of the included faces are more skull-like. There are more than a dozen faces, digital and analog readouts, and card settings.
--
Halloween Watch Face for Android Wear.
This halloween watch shows the basics of what a watch should display : hour & day.
Choose your pumpkin. Freaky, happy, scary, joker... make it match your mood.
## Settings
This watch face allows you to choose your favorite skull design (17 availables).
Choose also among more than 16 image backgrounds for ambient mode
A few options are available:
- Added an option to choose to switch between small/big cards
- Added an option to define screen on duration
- Added an option to switch between analogic/digital clock
- Added an option to have european/us date
- Added an option to choose text font among the 4 available
Settings are available in both watch and android wear companion (settings in the watch face selector).
And with that, we at Android Police wish you a spooktastic Halloween. Please send us some candy.190 Automatically Unlocking with Java 7
Posted: 2011-02-27 Category: Language Java Version: 1.7+ Dr. Heinz M. Kabutz
Abstract: In this newsletter we explore my favourite new Java 7 feature "try-with-resource" and see how we can use this mechanism to automatically unlock Java 5 locks.
Welcome to the 190th issue ofThe Java(tm) Specialists' Newsletter, sent to you from the beautiful Island of Crete. I started Greek lessons last week. With 8 hours under my belt, I headed off to a Greek dinner party last night. For the first time, I could understand the conversations going on around me and respond relatively correctly. Watch this space for some funny stories as I learn this confusing language, where a "t'axi" is a classroom (emphasis on "a") and a "tax'i" that smelly vehicle you get driven to the airport in. Where a professor is "kathiyitis" and a janitor a "katharistis". My job description is "programmatistis ypologiston kai kathiyitis pliroforikis" (computer programmer and computer science instructor). Maybe I will just use "anergos" (unemployed) in future - that is so much easier to remember... :-) [besides, that is how banks view self-employed people like me anyway ;-]
javaspecialists.teachable.com: Please visit our new self-study course catalog to see how you can upskill your Java knowledge.
Automatically Unlocking with Java 7
One of the quirks of Java is how difficult it is to correctly close resources. For example, if you open a file, it is easy to forget to close it. Your code might even work on some operating systems. But on others, you will run out of file handles.
To simplify things, Java 7 introduced the new try-with-resource statement, which automatically closes any AutoCloseable resources referenced in the try statement. For example, instead of manually closing streams ourselves, we can simply do this:
import java.io.*; public class AutoClosingFiles { public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException { try ( PrintStream out = new PrintStream ( new BufferedOutputStream( new FileOutputStream( "file.txt" ))) ) { out.print( "This would normally not be written!" ); } } }
Note that there is never a semicolon at the end of the "try ()" declaration, even when you specify several resources that must be closed individually. Update: Thanks to Marco Hunsicker for pointing out that they are working on allowing us to have tailing semicolons in try-with-resource declarations. Here is a link. Since I'm a Mac OS X user, I had to compile the OpenJDK myself.
import java.io.*; public class AutoClosingFiles2 { public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException { try ( FileOutputStream fout = new FileOutputStream( "file.txt" ); BufferedOutputStream bout = new BufferedOutputStream(fout); PrintStream out = new PrintStream (bout) ) { out.print( "This would normally not be written!" ); } } }
There are two new features in Java 7 that allow this. First we have the java.lang.AutoCloseable interface, implemented by a whopping 553 classes in the JDK! To put this in perspective, java.io.Serializable is implemented 3919 times, java.lang.Cloneable 1297 times and java.lang.Comparable 759 times. java.lang.Runnable is only implemented 186 times and java.lang.Iterable 252 times.
The second new feature is the method Throwable.addSuppressed(Throwable). This method has some strange semantics. It is only ever called by the try-with-resources code construct. Here is how it works:
If addSuppressed is called the first time with null, then it will never have suppressed throwables attached. If it is subsequently called with a non-null element, we will see a NullPointerException. If addSuppressed is called with a non-null throwable, then it will contain a collection of throwables. If it is subsequently called with a null element, we will see a NullPointerException.
These weird semantics are not meant to be understandable, but rather support the new try-with-resource mechanism. In a future newsletter, I will explore this in more detail. For now it will suffice to know that the try-with-resource guarantees that created objects will be closed again, with exceptions managed correctly.
When I woke up yesterday, my mind wandered to Java 5 locks and I was trying to figure out why they were not also AutoCloseable. After all, over 500 other classes were. In my half-sleeping state, I figured out why and also worked out a way to make it work.
The try-with-resource works well with objects that are constructed and then closed immediately again. It will not work with resources that need to be kept alive. Locks would fall into this latter category. We construct locks once and then use them for as long as we need to protect the critical section. Thus we cannot autoclose them when they go out of scope. Problem is, they won't go out of scope at the same time that we want to unlock them.
However, we can write a wrapper that automatically unlocks the lock for us. We call lock() in the constructor and unlock() in the close() method overridden from AutoCloseable:
import java.util.concurrent.locks.*; public class AutoLockSimple implements AutoCloseable { private final Lock lock; public AutoLockSimple(Lock lock) { this.lock = lock; lock.lock(); } public void close() { lock.unlock(); } }
Disclaimer: I have not used Java 7 in a production environment yet. Thus I do not know if there are any issues with my idea of AutoLockSimple. It seems good to me, but I give no guarantees. Please let me know if you think of anything. One of the issues that could be a problem is that we will make new objects every time we lock. This unnecessary object creation could end up straining the GC. However, from my initial tests, it seems that escape analysis takes care of the object construction cost.
Here is how we use it in our code. We use the handle to the ReentrantLock so that we can call the isHeldByCurrentThread() method. This way we can determine whether we are locked or not.
import java.util.concurrent.locks.*; public class AutoLockSimpleTest { private final static ReentrantLock lock = new ReentrantLock(); public static void main(String[] args) { try ( new AutoLockSimple(lock)) { printLockStatus(); } printLockStatus(); } private static void printLockStatus() { System.out.println( "We are locked: " + lock.isHeldByCurrentThread()); } }
Output is simply this:
We are locked: true We are locked: false
This is nice, but we can make it a bit less obvious that we have to construct an object by using static factory methods. In addition, we can then also implement a lockInterruptibly() mechanism. In this code, I define the various locking approaches as static inner classes. The
package eu.javaspecialists.concurrent; import java.util.concurrent.locks.*; public class AutoLock implements AutoCloseable { public static AutoLock lock(Lock lock) { return new AutoLockNormal(lock); } public static AutoLock lockInterruptibly(Lock lock) throws InterruptedException { return new AutoLockInterruptibly(lock); } private final Lock lock; public void close() { lock.unlock(); } private AutoLock(Lock lock) { this.lock = lock; } private static class AutoLockNormal extends AutoLock { public AutoLockNormal(Lock lock) { super (lock); lock.lock(); } } private static class AutoLockInterruptibly extends AutoLock { public AutoLockInterruptibly(Lock lock) throws InterruptedException { super (lock); lock.lockInterruptibly(); } } }
This in combination with static imports is far more readable than the try-finally approach commonly used for Java 5 locks. Here is how you would call the factory methods:
try (lock(lock)) { printLockStatus(); }
And if you want to be interruptible, then we do it like this:
try (lockInterruptibly(lock)) { printLockStatus(); }
It will be challenging to implement tryLock(), because we only want to unlock() if we were successful in our tryLock(). We also only want to enter the critical section if we were able to lock.
Here is a complete test class that demonstrates how the lock() method can be used in combination with static imports:
import java.util.concurrent.locks.*; import static eu.javaspecialists.concurrent.AutoLock.lock; public class AutoLockTest { private final static ReentrantLock lock = new ReentrantLock(); public static void main(String[] args) { // The old way - far more verbose lock.lock(); try { printLockStatus(); } finally { lock.unlock(); } // Heinz's new way try (lock(lock)) { printLockStatus(); } printLockStatus(); } private static void printLockStatus() { System.out.println( "We are locked: " + lock.isHeldByCurrentThread()); } }
Output from our code is this:
We are locked: true We are locked: true We are locked: false
The test code for the interruptible lock is a bit more involved, since we need to interrupt the testing thread.
import java.util.concurrent.locks.*; import static eu.javaspecialists.concurrent.AutoLock.*; public class AutoLockInterruptiblyTest { private static final ReentrantLock lock = new ReentrantLock(); public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException { testLock(); Thread.currentThread().interrupt(); try { testLock(); } catch (InterruptedException ex) { System.out.println(ex); } } public static void testLock() throws InterruptedException { try (lockInterruptibly(lock)) { printLockStatus(); } printLockStatus(); } private static void printLockStatus() { System.out.println( "We are locked: " + lock.isHeldByCurrentThread()); } }
Here is the output from the test program:
We are locked: true We are locked: false java.lang.InterruptedException
Hopefully Java 7 will give me lots of new material for newsletters. It was becoming difficult to find new things in Java 6. In another newsletter I will show how my use of try-with-resources is actually more correct than the traditional try-finally. But that will have to wait for another day.
Heinz
Update: A more complete set of tests is available in AutoLockTest.
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Browse the Newsletter ArchiveThe first 4DX movie theater in the United States opened in Los Angeles last weekend. Located in theater 6 at the Regal Cinemas LA Live in Downtown LA, the 104-seat theater books one first-run 3D movie at a time, and augments the showing with real-world physical effects. Those effects are the fourth dimension.
So, timed with the movie, you basically experience a theme park ride. Your seat rumbles and moves around, water squirts, there’s smoke, flashing lights, lumbar effects, gusting wind, even scents. The presentation admirably tries to bring the viewer into the movie.
Michael Bay‘s Transformers: Age of Extinction was the first film to play in the format here, so Peter Sciretta and myself were given a nearly three hour 4DX experience. This was great in that we were privy to the full slate of 4DX effects, but the film also became a tasking mental and physical exercise. Below, we present a video blog about the experience, along with a bunch of photos and a brief rundown of how Transformers: Age of Extinction translates into 4DX.
First up, a short intro before heading into the theater.
Next, here are some photos of the theater and signage around the area.
Finally, our review:
After paying $26.75 at night, or $24 for a matinee, the 4DX experience starts like any other multiplex movie. There’s a pre-show and lots of trailers, but then there’s a trailer for 4DX. You can watch a version of it at this link. It features a simple car chase… then it stops and asks, “Missing something?” Then you see the same car chase, but with full 4DX immersion. The seat rumbles, it moves left, right, up and down. Spouts of air come from behind your head to emulate the sensation of bullets zipping by. There’s wind blowing and a mist of water, all in time with what’s seen on screen. The crowd loved it and applauded.
Then Transformers Age of Extinction began. The film starts with spaceships flying above Earth and the 4DX seats rise and slowly follow the motion of the ships to simulate a floating sensation. Next, we’re on prehistoric Earth and the seats rumble to mimic the buzzing of the ships. Wind begins to blow, as would happen if you were standing outside a huge spaceship, and then the seats move as Bay’s camera sweeps around. A bomb is set off and the seat rumbles and shakes violently.
Next, a beautiful helicopter shot takes the film to the Arctic. The audience becomes the camera as we feel wind and a flying sensation. Wind continues to blow to make things colder, like the Arctic, and when the man bangs a hammer on a dino tooth, the seat vibrates with the sensation.
Cut to Texas and Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) is driving. The seat rumbles to simulate the open road. You feel the bass in your seat from the song playing on the soundtrack, wind blowing in your hair, you’re in the car with him.
You get the idea. I’m not gonna go through the whole movie. But basically whenever there’s any kind of impact or movement on screen, you feel it in your seat. A flag waving? You get wind. In a rainforest? Raindrops. Bombs go off? There’s smoke and quick flashes. If a 40 foot robot slowly walks down the street, you feel every footstep. And when there’s a huge action scene, it literally feels like a theme park ride as the seats and effects get much more prevalent and violent.
Actually, the 4DX effect is so effective and different, there’s an employee in the theater for at least half the movie to keep an eye on things.
Here’s a breakdown of each of the advertised effects:
Water : The water effects are sparse but have great impact. There’s a mist that sprays around for a more subtle feeling as well as a more dedicated stream that will hit you in the head for bigger scenes. If it’s not your thing, this is the one effect you can shut off.
: The water effects are sparse but have great impact. There’s a mist that sprays around for a more subtle feeling as well as a more dedicated stream that will hit you in the head for bigger scenes. If it’s not your thing, this is the one effect you can shut off. Rain : See above.
: See above. Fog : Two smoke machines at the front of the theater emit smoke when there are explosions in the film. It lingers, but doesn’t have an odor.
: Two smoke machines at the front of the theater emit smoke when there are explosions in the film. It lingers, but doesn’t have an odor. Wind : Several huge fans are mounted on the ceilings to blow “wind” for multiple effects. The effect denotes chaos and cold. There might also be smaller units below the seat. Then there are two tiny ports behind your head for the whizzing of bullets.
: Several huge fans are mounted on the ceilings to blow “wind” for multiple effects. The effect denotes chaos and cold. There might also be smaller units below the seat. Then there are two tiny ports behind your head for the whizzing of bullets. Lighting : Large strobe lights installed in the ceiling go off when there’s an explosion, or need for a little extra ocular engagement. They usually only blink once or twice, so as not to light up the whole theater. It’s a short effect.
: Large strobe lights installed in the ceiling go off when there’s an explosion, or need for a little extra ocular engagement. They usually only blink once or twice, so as not to light up the whole theater. It’s a short effect. Bubbles : As far as I could see, there were no bubbles in Transformers: Age of Extinction, but they’re probably made with the same water mechanics.
: As far as I could see, there were no bubbles in Transformers: Age of Extinction, but they’re probably made with the same water mechanics. Scents : A controversial effect among our group. Some swore to smelling burnt rubber, stale beer and other things during the movie, but it wasn’t obvious. That’s probably a good thing, meaning the effects are subtle and not like a shot of perfume in your face.
: A controversial effect among our group. Some swore to smelling burnt rubber, stale beer and other things during the movie, but it wasn’t obvious. That’s probably a good thing, meaning the effects are subtle and not like a shot of perfume in your face. Vibration: The most obvious and prevalent effect. Not only do your chairs move up, down, left and right at various speeds, the seats and backs have individual effects to simulate smaller vibrations or more jarring sensations.
As stated in the video blog above, the 4DX experience isn’t for everyone, but it is unique and fun. There’s lots of room for improvement and it wears it its welcome kind of quickly. As a movie fan, it’s a very worthwhile experience to take and file away. It’s something I’d try again, but maybe not the best way to see a movie for the first time.
For more on the 4DX theater at Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE, visit this link. For more on the company itself, here’s their official site.The judge that dealt with the men in their first court appearance only heard one side of the story and didn't bother with evidence or witnesses supporting their case, she said. "We're going to appeal."
Melendez said the pair is charged with "physical aggression" and will serve three months of "preventative prison," a provision that gives the state time to search for evidence. She wasn't sure how long it would take to appeal. "Everything depends on the luck we have, and the workload of the court."
Tessie Sanchez Kidd, a spokesperson for the Dominican Republic's attorney general's office, told The Spectator Thursday she was looking into the case.
Miele, a construction worker, is in a cell with more than three dozen men, sitting in their own feces, says his wife.
Costantini, who works at his uncle's stall at the Hamilton Farmers' Market, is in a neighbouring cell with about half a dozen inmates, says his father, Ben Sr. He said his son's bed has been torn apart to be used as toilet paper.
"He's a wreck," Ben Sr. said of his son, who was also completing Grade 12 at an adult learning centre.
Foreign Affairs said the two Canadians and their families are being provided with consular service. Local MPs David Sweet and Chris Charlton are monitoring the situation.
The family, however, is not happy with the response they've received from the government. Ben Sr. said a consular official visiting Nick in prison commented that it appeared he was having a bad day. Miele angrily told the official to leave, according to Ben Sr.
Joshua Zanin, a spokesperson for Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy, declined to comment, citing privacy reasons.
rgrover@thespec.com
905-526-3404 | @RosieSpec
dnolan@thespec.com
905-526-3351 / @dandundasSAN DIEGO -- Shutouts are rare in the NFL.
So when the San Diego Chargers held on late in the game for a 31-0 victory against the New York Jets, defensive co-captain Eric Weddle did not take the team’s shutout for granted. The bagel was the NFL’s first shutout this season.
"It means a lot," Weddle said. "You always strive to have that great game, where everything clicks and you play well for all four quarters. It does not come around often in the NFL -- especially in today’s NFL -- so you’ve got to be proud of it."
Rightfully, the play of Philip Rivers and San Diego’s talented offense has grabbed the headlines nationally. But quietly, the Chargers are building one of the elite defenses in the NFL.
Through Week 5, the Chargers are No. 1 in points allowed per contest (12.6), No. 2 in passing yards allowed per game (195) and No. 3 in yards allowed per contest (290).
The Chargers also are tied for fifth in the NFL with 12 sacks, and have not allowed a point in the fourth quarter in four straight games.
"It’s a good building point," Weddle said. "We’re really turning into a dominant defense, from the front all the way to the back end. We’ve just got to keep putting that pressure on us to be great week in and week out, and see how it goes."
Though the Chargers are playing well on defense, there is still room for improvement. San Diego is tied for No. 26 in the NFL in red zone defense, allowing touchdowns 70 percent of the time. And the Chargers are No. 13 in the league in third-down defense (41 percent).
"We have to make them earn it," said Chargers defensive coordinator John Pagano this week, when asked what his unit needs to do to become an elite defense. "We have to make teams go earn it against our defense. We cannot sit there and give up certain plays on certain downs.
"Everybody’s going to make plays, and there’s going to be certain mistakes in the game. But our mindset on third down is we've got to make them go earn it."The Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix will resume Saturday night in Dallas with a new rule in place: a sudden victory round to settle a draw.When the GP was first announced in January, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker said that a draw would be settled by an independent fourth judge who would "determine who advances or who wins based on the fighter's overall performance in the fight."However, Marc Ratner, Zuffa's vice president of regulatory affairs, informed MMA Fighting on Sunday that Zuffa, the new parent company of the Strikeforce, has decided that all tournament fights ending in a draw will now be settled by a fourth sudden victory round. There will not be a fourth judge assigned to the tournament fights anymore.Other than the finals of the tournament, all fights are scheduled for three five-minute rounds. The finals will be a five five-minute round fight. Antonio Silva and Sergei Kharitonov advanced to the semifinals of the tournament in February. Saturday's night card, which will air on Showtime, will feature Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett vs. Brett Rogers The semifinals of the GP are slated for the fall.A Russian MiG-29K, pictured above at an air show in 2007, ran out of fuel and crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 13 while it waited for a landing cable to be repaired on an aircraft carrier nearby, Russian news reports and the U.S. Naval Institute said Tuesday. File Photo by Sergei Chirikov/European Press Agency
MOSCOW, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- A $30 million Russian fighter jet crashed into the Mediterranean Sea earlier this month because it ran out of fuel while it waited for an aircraft carrier to fix its landing equipment, U.S. naval officials said.
The Soviet-era Mikoyan MiG-29K crashed Nov. 13 off the coast of Syria after its first attempt to land on the carrier Admiral Kuznetsov failed, the United States Naval Institute said Tuesday, based on the translation of a Russian report.
The MiG-29K was flying a sortie with two other aircraft in the area near Syria and was the last that attempted to land. When the aircraft ahead of the MiG broke the landing cable on the carrier, the pilot had to fly out over the Mediterranean and wait for the cable to be repaired, the Russian report said.
While the aircraft was awaiting the repairs, it ran out of fuel and dropped into the sea.
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"While in the holding area, both of the fighter's engines shut down," the translation of the Russian report said. "A preliminary explanation is that they were no longer receiving fuel. ln such situations, a fighter falls like a rock, and the pilot has only one option -- to eject."
The MiG |
School in Downey, California, every single day—and then back. With the $5 I scabbed off my mom, I bought a Happy Meal at McDonald’s after school and swapped Garbage Pail Kids with a small posse of friends. Granted, today’s world is rife with risks—rampant gun violence, terrorist threats, a plethora of high-tech means for inappropriately accessing, stalking and harassing kids—that didn’t exist in my day. But I can’t over-emphasize how much the free range my parents allowed me instilled a sense of independence and agency that informs my steely belief, even today, that I can take care of myself.
My mom, a no-bullshit, grouchy Greek who prides herself on being “un-nurturing,” epitomizes the kind of parenting that would get her ticketed today—or at least have some helicopter parents apoplectic. She smoked and cursed in large sums in front of me and my brother throughout our entire childhoods. If we took a spill off a bike and gnashed a knee, she’d immediately say, “Stop crying, you’ll live!” To our childhood whims, she said “no” far more often than “yes.” Her approach to parenting gave us a kind of grit and self-discipline. And she never would have expected an adult to forfeit a spot on the subway for our sake. In fact, she'd expect the opposite: That we'd give up our seats for adults.Command Live: Black Gold Blitz is an expansion of Command: Modern Air / Naval Operations and requires the base game to be played
EPISODE 7: BLACK GOLD BLITZ
As 2017 rolls on, the standoff intensifies yet again. Saudi Arabia’s envoy to Iraq is assassinated, and they immediately blame Iran. Several Iranian journalists in Yemen are then “accidentally” bombed by Saudi aircraft and killed. Aid to militias in Syria increases intensely. The occasional shot is fired between vessels at sea, always being papered over with the excuse of “the crews just weren’t disciplined that day.” The fear of a conflict has prompted the international coalition against ISIL to move its combat aircraft far to the west, so that they won't be caught by surprise.
The final straw comes in the middle of November when an Iranian frigate moves on a straight line into Saudi waters, not responding to warnings. Attacked and sunk with all hands, it nonetheless returns fire and kills several Saudi sailors before going down. Iran insists to this day it had mechanical problems and was butchered to appease a populace still smarting from the ambassador’s murder. The Saudis state that it and its crew deliberately sacrificed themselves to ensure a “Remember the Maine”-style incident to gain popular support for a war. The truth may never be known.
From the moment of the sinking, plans are drawn in Riyadh and Tehran for a direct retaliation against the other nation. The international community, divided and ineffective, can only watch as the largest conventional battle in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq is about to begin. The question is no longer if there will be a war or not. It is now when it will start, and who will fire the first shot.
That question will soon be answered. Both sides are coiling up to strike, and both are aiming for the other’s economic heart-the expensive oil infrastructure. And the weapons involved are more powerful and accurate than those in the 1980s Tanker War.BOSTON, May 31 (Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said on Tuesday he is ready to sign a transgender rights bill if it passes in its current form in the state House of Representatives, the Boston Globe reported.
Baker, a socially liberal Republican, had come under fire this year for refusing to say whether he would approve the bill, which passed the state Senate last month and would ban discrimination against transgender people in public restrooms and other public buildings.
“We’ve certainly listened to a variety of points of view from many sides and have said, from the beginning, that we don’t want people to be discriminated against,” the newspaper quoted Baker as saying. “If the House bill were to pass in its current form, yeah, I would sign it.”
A spokeswoman for Baker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The state House of Representatives is due to vote on the measure on Wednesday. It is expected to pass by a wide margin in the Democratic-controlled chamber.
The House version of the bill differs from the version passed by the Senate in that it directs the state attorney general to issue guidelines to law enforcement on how to handle people who claim transgender rights “for an improper purpose.”
That language is a nod to one of the main concerns of opponents of people using bathrooms or locker rooms that do not correspond with their birth gender - that sexual predators will claim transgender status to access potential victims.
The measure would make liberal-leaning Massachusetts the 18th U.S. state to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.
The issue of transgender rights has become the latest front in America’s culture wars. Some supporters of the Massachusetts measure described it as a rebuke to a law put in place in March in North Carolina prohibiting people from using bathrooms that do not correspond to the sex on their birth certificates.Time for the first six 1PM games. Going forward, I’ll likely have to break up the 1PM games somewhat, or else articles will grow to (even more) ridiculous sizes.
New York Jets @ Buffalo Bills
Jets
Injury Report: Santonio Holmes and Kellen Winslow are questionable. Jeremy Kerley is doubtful.
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 20th; RB: 8th; WR: 31st; TE: 4th.
Must Play: No one.
Good Play: No one. I’d like to recommend some guys, but I’m too cautious.
Tough Play: Chris Ivory (RB), Santonio Holmes (WR), and Geno Smith (QB). The Jets have gone back to the ground game, and Chris Ivory has taken over as the focal point of the run game, forcing Powell onto the shelf. Santonio Holmes is likely back, which could be a nice WR addition to someone’s roster, but I’d be wary and expect him to be eased back into things first. Geno Smith has been very poor in open air stadiums, and very inconsistent in general, so I would likely not play him. The only thing making me even consider it is the matchup and the return of Santonio Holmes, but in general I don’t like it.
Bills
Injury Report: Steve Johnson and Robert Woods are out.
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 22nd; RB: 3rd; WR: 22nd; TE: 29th.
Must Play: No one.
Good Play: No one.
Tough Play: Fred Jackson (RB), CJ Spiller (RB), and Scott Chandler (TE). Fred Jackson is usually a better play than “tough,” but between his matchup and his time share with Spiller, I worry a lot about his performance. Likewise, the same thing can be said about Spiller, the difference being he typically gets slightly fewer carries than Jackson. I am generally distrustful of the Bills’ air attack, what with Steve Johnson and Robert Woods out, but Scott Chandler might be worth a peek. He rises up the depth chart, and will likely get red zone looks, making him a high risk high reward prospect.
Baltimore Ravens @ Chicago Bears
Ravens
Injury Report: No major injuries.
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 13th; RB: 25th; WR: 16th; TE: 23rd.
Must Play: No one.
Good Play: Torrey Smith (WR).
Tough Play: Joe Flacco (QB), Ray Rice (RB), Bernard Pierce (RB), Marlon Brown (WR), and Dallas Clark (TE). Pretty much everyone else. Flacco has been inconsistent, but also poor more often than good. Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce both look very, very weak out there, and neither really seems worth a play. The only reason they’re here is if you’ve got faith one is finally going to break out against a nice matchup. Marlon Brown is also probably not worth playing, as he has been incredibly inconsistent, and even when he has decent weeks compared to his bad weeks, they’re often just “ok.” Outside of two weeks ago, he hasn’t been that great since the opening two weeks. Finally, Dallas Clark actually has some good upside. While his yardage numbers are very poor, he’s caught TDs in 3 of the past 4 weeks.
Bears
Injury Report: Martellus Bennett is questionable. Jay Cutler is out.
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 19th; RB: 1st; WR: 20th; TE: 21st.
Must Play: Brandon Marshall (WR). Marshall hasn’t missed a beat with McCown in. Heck, if anything, he’s got a better rapport with McCown than with Cutler (probably not, but he hasn’t slowed at all).
Good Play: Matt Forte (RB), Josh McCown (QB), Alshon Jeffrey (WR). Matt Forte has his work cut out for him against this Ravens matchup, but his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield should help him rebound from last week. McCown has been a surprisingly good fantasy option in two of his three games, and this week’s matchup makes me feel bullish on his prospects. And similar to Marshall, Alshon Jeffrey hasn’t missed a beat with McCown under center, putting up low double digits in the past three games.
Tough Play: Martellus Bennett (TE). Bennett is really slipping, and doesn’t seem to have the rapport with McCown that the other receivers do, so he barely makes it here. Frankly, it’s unlikely that he’s relevant.
Washington Redskins @ Philadelphia Eagles
Redskins
Injury Report: No major injuries.
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 23rd; RB: 15th; WR: 32rd; TE: 6th.
Must Play: Alfred Morris (RB) and Pierre Garcon (WR). Morris is getting carries, and he’s rewarding fantasy owners; he’s had over 90 yards in each of the past four games, and such consistency is hard to find. Garcon, similarly, is getting targets out the wazoo, and his past two weeks have made him look like a top 5 WR. And with RGIII under center playing like he has the past two weeks, there’s no reason for Garcon to not look that good.
Good Play: Robert Griffin III (QB). In terms of “football” play, Griffin has looked decent in three of the past four games, but in fantasy, he’s having a little tougher time. I’d say, however, that this matchup bodes well, since he’s seemingly found his footing and built a rapport with Garcon. This matchup is also beneficial to him.
Tough Play: Jordan Reed (TE). He’s exploded onto the scene and has been a good start three of the last four weeks, but the Eagles defense concerns me, as they are very stingy when it comes to TEs. If you’ve got him, you’ll likely want to play him, and that’s fine, just don’t expect the stars.
Eagles
Injury Report: Michael Vick (who won’t start anyway) and Brent Celek are questionable.
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 26th; RB: 31st; WR: 28th; TE: 25th.
Must Play: LeSean McCoy (RB), DeSean Jackson (WR), and Riley Cooper (WR). We have a top heavy team here. McCoy has been running and catching well, and the matchup is very favorable. Jackson and Cooper both benefit from apparently having a great rapport with Foles as well as a great matchup. I think Cooper might have the better week again, thanks to Jackson likely getting the majority of attention from the defense, but there’s no reason both can’t do well here.
Good Play: Nick Foles (QB). Foles has looked great these last two weeks, and Washington’s defense makes me pretty confident that he can be worth starting again. The only reason he’s not in “must play” territory is the sort of “young player” tax I impose.
Tough Play: No one.
Cleveland Browns @ Cincinnati Bengals
Browns
Injury Report: No major injuries.
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 8th; RB: 4th; WR: 11th; TE: 9th.
Must Play: No one.
Good Play: Jordan Cameron (TE) and Josh Gordon (WR). Poor week last week aside, Cameron has been a very solid TE play, and his ceiling is very high. He warrants being put in in the vast majority of leagues. Josh Gordon is the less viable option between he and Cameron, but Gordon has been worth playing most weeks. While the matchup is concerning, I think a bounce back could be in order here.
Tough Play: Jason Campbell (QB), Greg Little (WR), and Chris Ogbonnaya (RB). I still don’t trust Campbell, but he’s been a good play in his last two games, so that has to count for something. If he has another good game against this matchup, I’ll elevate him a level. Greg Little finally did something last game, but it’s tough to know if that will happen consistently, and one game is not enough to elevate him, especially against the Bengals. Finally, there are rumors that Ogbonnaya could see an expanded role in the running game, which would bode well for his value. But right now those are just rumors, so treat them appropriately.
Bengals
Injury Report: No major injuries.
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 17th; RB: 18th; WR: 9th; TE: 15th.
Must Play: A.J. Green (WR). Double digit point performances in each of the past five weeks? Sounds good to me!
Good Play: Giovani Bernard (RB). While Bernard and Green-Ellis are still in a timeshare, Bernard has been getting results and the better quality of carries. As a result, he gets the nod as the better of the two plays.
Tough Play: Andy Dalton (QB), BenJarvus Green-Ellis (RB), and Marvin Jones (WR). Dalton’s streak of great games has been over for a couple games, and the last game Dalton had against the Browns was very poor, so I’m not too optimistic. It’s for that reason that Marvin Jones is down here too. Jones’ best games came during Dalton’s streak, so Jones’ fortunes are pretty much intimately tied to Dalton’s. Finally, Green-Ellis is getting decent carry numbers, but he’s not getting TDs, which hurts him. And he hasn’t broken any big runs either.
Detroit Lions @ Pittsburgh Steelers
Lions
Injury Report: Calvin Johnson and Nate Burleson are questionable (Burleson looks like he won’t play). Ryan Broyles is on IR.
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 9th; RB: 24th; WR: 6th; TE: 14th
Must Play: Calvin Johnson (WR), Reggie Bush (RB), and Matthew Stafford (QB). Calvin Johnson is self explanatory. Reggie Bush has a nice matchup here and when he’s healthy, as he is now, he puts up double digit fantasy numbers with regularity. Stafford doesn’t have the best matchup, but his status as the 3rd best fantasy QB, averaging 20 points a game, makes it easy to start him with confidence.
Good Play: No one.
Tough Play: Joique Bell (RB), Brandon Pettigrew (TE), and Kris Durham (WR). Bell has been pretty quiet since Bush got healthy, but there’s two things that might help him. First, this defense gives up lots of touchdowns, something Bell needs to be relevant. The Lions gave him 10 rushes last week, a number, that, if he sees a similar amount going forward, could be enough to make him relevant again. Pettigrew finally saw some decent yardage last week, so if that happens again, he could be a low end TE1, but it’s pretty doubtful based on his history. Finally, Durham has been putting up low WR3 numbers very consistently, so use him for that, if you need that.
Steelers
Injury Report: No major injuries.
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 14th; RB: 14th; WR: 30th; TE: 9th.
Must Play: Antonio Brown (WR). Maybe calling him a must play is a bit much, but he’s Big Ben’s biggest target, and has a very nice matchup. For those reasons, I think you definitely play him.
Good Play: Le’Veon Bell (RB). Bell has had double digit fantasy performances the past three weeks, so even with the poor matchup, I think he’s worth plugging into your fantasy lineup, without too many questions.
Tough Play: Ben Roethlisberger (QB) and Emmanuel Sanders (WR), Jericho Cotchery (WR). Big Ben hasn’t really been a solid QB all year, and I don’t see much of a reason for him to suddenly explode. He’s a backup fantasy QB. Sanders has not been consistent, but he’s had a couple big games this year. That’s similar to Cotchery, who has done very well the last two games. The issue with Cotchery is that a huge amount of his value is purely from TDs, which are always tough to count on.
Atlanta Falcons @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Falcons
Injury Report: Tony Gonzalez, Roddy White, Harry Douglas, and Jason Snelling are questionable (Gonzalez is likely out).
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 26th; RB: 7th; WR: 18th; TE: 16th.
Must Play: No one.
Good Play: Matt Ryan (QB). It’s a tough call, but Ryan gets Roddy White back, and has a nice matchup. As such, I think there is a good argument to be made that he’s worth starting.
Tough Play: Roddy White (WR), Jacquizz Rodgers (RB), Steven Jackson (RB), Harry Douglas (WR). The problem with White and Douglas is that both aren’t exactly 100%, and even if they were, what would the target division end up looking like? Gonzalez being likely out helps the WRs, but that conjecture is still speculative at best. There is upside for both of them, that’s for sure. But how much exactly, I don’t know. Jacquizz Rodgers and Steven Jackson are in a timeshare with each other, facing a tough defense, and were generally ineffective the past couple of weeks. If I had to pick one, I’d pick Rodgers, since he doesn’t have age creeping up on him like Jackson, but that isn’t a conclusive thing as to who is the better play.
Buccaneers
Injury Report: Doug Martin, Mike Williams, and Mike James are on IR.
Opposing Defensive Rankings: QB: 28th; RB: 20th; WR: 26th; TE: 18th.
Must Play: No one.
Good Play: Vincent Jackson (WR). V-Jax has really fallen off a cliff the past three weeks, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt with this matchup. A weak defense plays right into his hands.
Tough Play: Mike Glennon (QB), Brian Leonard (RB), Bobby Rainey (RB). Glennon had a nice stretch where he was fantasy relevant, and this matchup has some potential to get him back on track. Leonard is now the top back, thanks to a number of injuries, but he’s better in the receiving game than the running game. He’ll likely split carries with Bobby Rainey, and how each of them will perform when they’re both in a timeshare is anyone’s guess. My personal guess is that Leonard will be the better of the two for fantasy purposes this week and has some upside, but it’s tough to say with certainty.JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian who stabbed an Israeli man at a petrol station in the occupied West Bank on Sunday along a main highway near Jerusalem, police said.
The Israeli 26-year-old civilian was lightly hurt and taken to hospital, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said, adding that the Palestinian attacker had come from a village near highway 443, one of two major routes that connect Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
With peace talks stalled since April 2014, grassroots violence has simmered in the West Bank and adjacent East Jerusalem, among the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and where Palestinians seek statehood.
Last month, suspected Jewish attackers torched a Palestinian home in the West Bank, killing an 18-month-old boy and his father and seriously injuring his mother and brother, an incident that has greatly heightened tensions.
Last week, two Israelis were hurt when a petrol bomb was thrown at their vehicle in East Jerusalem, on a turnoff further along the same route where Sunday’s attack took place.Dear Designer,
Welcome! I hope you have a lot of fun. Design is an awesome career and we’re glad to have you. I don’t know if it’s your first day or your first year. I wanted to share some thoughts and let you know you’re not alone. What follows are a few things I’ve picked up along my career. I hope they help you thrive and flourish in this exciting field.
1. Design is a Mindset
You’re new here, and that’s awesome. It’s an exciting time to be a designer, and there are so many different ways you can express yourself and your craft. The most important thing I can share with you is that Design is a mindset.
You may have gone to design school, you may not have. Your technical skills are table stakes, but the real work of design is facilitation. Your job is not to be the best at caring about the shades of gray in a design, it’s to help shape the outcomes of things on the teams you work in.
2. Questions, Not Answers
I hate to break it to you, but…in all likelihood design school did not prepare you for work in the real world. You were likely taught that design is to produce, and that’s true. But it’s only half-true at best. Design is also about helping others understand your rationale.
You’ll have to learn to ask questions more than you have answers. The best design is about good questions. Learn to listen, really listen to people, and embrace curiosity at every step. This will take time. You will make mistakes.
But you’ll learn over the long-curve of things that what matters most is the team and the shared understanding, not whether you came up with the solution that seems best to you.
3. Value Feedback
Speaking of listening, don’t mistake your expertise in your field for team work. As Jared Spool would say, “Design is a team sport,” and you are on a team. Your team will go a lot further if you embrace collaboration early and often.
Embrace your team, embrace the business, embrace conversations, challenges to your work, and critical feedback. Feedback, it turns out is worth way more than any degree or other experience. Welcome feedback and crave it. If you listen to others and invest in acting on feedback, you will get more. The more feedback you take in, the stronger a designer you will be.
When someone has an opinion that challenges you, welcome it like you would an old friend. If you can be gracious in accepting feedback, you will grow a lot faster than if you think you don’t need growth. Be great to work with, easy to give feedback to, and everything else will be easy to fix over time.
Boost your team on your projects and give credit where it’s due. Amplify their voices and their contributions. Recognize them pro-actively and be generous with credit. Credit is not a pie, there’s always more to give, share and you’ll be shared with. It’s the right thing to do, but it’s also a kindness that keeps on giving.
4. Find a few Mentors
You’re passionate, you’re eager to prove your worth and your skill. That’s awesome. This is a marathon, not a sprint. You will miss great opportunities to learn if you’re always trying to prove yourself.
Find someone who’s better, someone who has a skill you want to learn and follow them on Twitter, ask them questions on Medium, reach out.
Find people who can mentor you, and recognize that they’re likely very busy. Have an agenda, a skill you want to learn, or a thing you want to focus on. Design the best way for someone more skilled to help you improve. Have a list of things you want to pick up.
For example, if you want to Fight Fascism, reach out to Mike Monteiro, who is writing at the core of design and ethics. If you don’t know what to learn, ask someone what their design super-power is.
Don’t just take my word for it, there are other designers writing advice too. Elliot Dahl has written a Letter to a Junior Designer, and Cennydd Bowles has a great piece on advice to junior designers too. Ask questions, and you will find answers.
“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.”
― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly
Design is a creative act. Creativity in humans is often a remix of ideas. Embrace all the ideas. You will think bigger and better if you read more than just design books. Read ethics, philosophy, politics, novels, and magazines.
I learned in college that a book is a direct line to a mentor you can’t have in front of you. Books and essays are written to share ideas, to help you think, to inspire and educate. I like to pretend that technical books are like a lecture, and I imagine the whiteboard the author might use to explain the concepts on the page.
If you’re ever stuck trying to understand something, re-read it, and try to draw out the meaning. Literally.
5. Hone Your Craft
Ha Phan has a great article about honing design skills. You’re going to have to learn to steal. In fact, you’re going to Steal Like an Artist. The best way to develop your craft is to copy, remix, and redo. Get in someone else’s head and try to understand why they made the decisions they made.
The best thing you can do is study methods at this point, keep putting them under your tool belt, and grow in confidence. Practice them often. Knowing the workshops or other interventions you might use and why is crucial at this stage. Build exposure to them on your time, and try them out, rehearsing out loud, even with yourself will give you confidence, and help you learn the subject matter, and the agenda.
Your biggest contribution at this stage is doing your job well enough that it’s obvious you have the skills to ask them from someone else.
In addition to the technical skills of your craft, there are people skills. Do not overlook these. The best designers in the world can balance business and users, not overrule one or the other. Your job is to advocate for balance, and that’s the hardest thing to learn. The technical skills will come, and you will learn to move quickly, crank out wireframes and iterate on a design. Dive deep into those things, but don’t neglect the need to think critically and do the right thing.
When you are hired to design something, you are hired for your expertise. Your job is not just to produce that work but to evaluate the impact of that work. Your job is to relay the impact of that work to your client or employer.
It is imperative you learn to work with others, cherish their feedback, and be kind in areas where you have less exposure. Be patient with yourself and others, and you will learn through building relationships, which is the best kind of learning.
6. Embrace Imperfection
The most important thing you can do over and over is forget you’re an expert. You have some skill, and some talent. Do not let that go to your head. Forget design school, forget projects and names, focus on the here and now.
Walk in curious and eager to learn from your mistakes. You will make them. Your team will value your input a lot more if you can demonstrate the self-awareness to own mistakes, embrace imperfection, and work to do better at every step.
This doesn’t mean to give yourself no credit, but seek balance. Give yourself credit, but never rest on your laurels. Learning to listen with balance is going to be important to how you design, as well as how you grow. Julie Zhou has this counsel on balance in receiving feedback:
“Give as much attention to the positive points as you do to the problem areas. The recognition for things you’re doing well are guideposts to where you can double down to have even greater impact.”
7. Always Be Kind
There is no excuse for being self-centered in Design. If you have an ego, do your best to seek out self-control. You cannot be a good designer and a self-centered person. Our craft is a service for others, and excellence requires an outward focus. Empathy is a muscle you can build.
Whoever you are, amplify your marginal colleagues. They’re all around you. Think about the under-represented users in your user-base. Microsoft has a really powerful take on inclusive design and you can learn a lot about recognizing exclusion.
Women, people of color, LGBT colleagues, transgender and other colleagues are people, and are often left out of consideration at the white board. If your team doesn’t consider these users too, find ways to create spaces for your team to listen to new voices. Don’t be that person who creates an out of touch maxi-pad pool float. Advocate for new and marginal voices in the design process.
Create room for feedback, and you will succeed.Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced to amend prior testimony to Congress this week, acknowledging that contrary to an earlier statement, he’d encountered the Russian ambassador to the United States twice in the last year.
Sessions appears to have left out a third instance in which they crossed paths.
In April of 2016, Sessions attended a VIP reception at a hotel in Washington, D.C., with President Donald Trump and roughly two dozen guests, including four ambassadors. One of them was Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The cocktail meet-and-greet took place in a private room at the Mayflower Hotel near the White House. Shortly thereafter, Trump delivered a foreign policy speech in the hotel’s ballroom, where he called for improved U.S.-Russia relations. Kislyak was seated in the front row.
Though the event was small, it is unclear if Sessions and Kislyak spoke directly, and a spokeswoman for the attorney general did not respond immediately to questions about the event from The Huffington Post. Organizers said the event included a receiving line.
Sessions did not mention the Mayflower event when he was asked during his confirmation hearings about contacts between the presidential campaign and Russian officials. Nor did he put that event in his amended testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week.
Yuri Gripas/Reuters U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., on March 2, 2017.
The Center for the National Interest, the conservative foreign policy organization that hosted Trump’s speech at the Mayflower, invited Kislyak to the reception. An April 2016 story in Politico noted that Sessions also attended the event and was in the Senate Room of the Mayflower, along with “ambassadors.”
On Wednesday, the center issued a statement that acknowledged that Kislyak and Sessions both attended the reception but added that it was “not aware of any conversation” between the two.
“However, in a small group setting like this one, we consider it unlikely that anyone could have engaged in a meaningful private conversation without drawing attention from others present,” the statement read.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, meanwhile, said the president was there “for about five minutes” before going to the podium for his speech. There were “several ambassadors” also present, Sanders said, adding that the suggestion that Kislyak and Trump “met or that a meeting took place is disingenuous and absurd.”As the owner of a small business with international clients, I know that trust lies at the heart of my working relationships. Clients need to know that I can keep their business secrets confidential. International clients have historically had a high level of confidence doing business in Canada, but, sadly, our business climate is becoming increasingly toxic for privacy. It will be difficult for overseas clients to maintain that confidence if our government doesn’t change its tune. I was fascinated by Edward Snowden’s revelations, and they have certainly sparked a lively debate. What I would like to add to that debate is some reflection on the impact our government’s “privacy deficit” has on Canadian businesses, particularly in a growing tech sector that employs over half-a-million Canadians.
Stephen Harper's government is chipping away at Canadians' privacy and hurting their pocketbooks in the process, writes Phillip Djwa. ( Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS )
We have a lot to celebrate in our tech sector, with pioneering Canadian companies like Hootsuite and Shopify boosting employment and making a global impact. Unfortunately, the federal government’s failure to address our privacy deficit undermines trust in our tech sector, and in the wider economy. This failure risks tilting the playing field away from Canadian businesses, and hindering innovation, job creation, and economic opportunity. Let’s look at some of the ways that Canadian government policies and actions are creating a privacy deficit, a deficit that undermines trust and holds back Canadian businesses like mine. Spying on trading partners: Each new revelation about the government’s spy agency, CSEC, leaves me scratching my head and worrying about the impact on business confidence. Why, for example, is the government spending tax dollars to spy on Brazil’s mining ministry, hugely damaging relations with a key trading partner in the process? And why are we spending over $4 billion to build and operate a lavish headquarters for CSEC, while the government’s failure to invest in basic economic infrastructure like high-speed broadband has left Canada missing targets and falling behind?
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Data security: Post-Snowden, individuals and companies are considering where they store their data and who has access to it. The economic fallout of Snowden’s revelations on the U.S. tech sector has already been huge, with experts warning of $180 billion in lost revenue. Meanwhile, the E.U. and other countries are pushing ahead with plans to protect their data from government spying. Canada, with its weak privacy protections, reckless spy agency and troubling NSA connections, could be left on the wrong side of an increasingly splintered Internet. Harmful spying legislation: Peter MacKay’s online spying legislation, Bill C-13, encourages Canadian companies to engage in warrantless disclosure of their customers’ private information. This is already happening on a massive scale, with victims neither consenting, nor being notified, when their information is handed to the government. This is all the more worrying given that over 725,000 Canadians have been affected by recent government failures to keep our data secure. Bill C-13 makes this problem worse, not better, and undermines Canadians’ trust in the providers they do business with. How can we expect overseas clients to trust Canadian firms with their private information given the risk of data exposure? Putting U.S. copyright trolls ahead of Canadian businesses: As if C-13 wasn’t enough, Industry Minister James Moore is busy pushing Bill S-4, which would overwrite rules that protect Canadian businesses and their customers from the demands of U.S. copyright trolls. As a result of a recent court case, Canadians are largely protected from U.S.-style trolling. But under Bill S-4, U.S. copyright trolls could obtain Canadians’ private information from telecom providers on a massive scale. This undermines confidence in Canadian Internet businesses, and I find it baffling that the Industry Minister would push such economically harmful legislation. Risky secret trade deals: The government recently hosted secret talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a huge trade deal that could force Canadian tech companies to act as “Internet police,” spying on their customers’ activities, blocking websites, and even disconnecting families from the Internet for allegations of copyright infringement. This would destroy trust, and place a grotesquely unfair financial burden on our tech sector. That’s why I recently joined with top global innovators to urge TPP ministers not to agree to these damaging proposals. I hope our Trade Minister Ed Fast is listening. It’s past time for common sense to prevail and for the government to change its approach so that those beyond our borders can again trust Canadian businesses with their private data.
We at Agentic Digital Media have decided to speak out against our increasing privacy deficit, and have joined with other leading Canadian tech firms and organizations in the Protect our Privacy Coalition. You can learn more at OurPrivacy.ca. Phillip Djwa is Agency Principal at Vancouver-based Agentic Digital Media. He is a certified Internet marketing specialist and strategist with 20 years experience in the high-tech industry. He is an active speaker on technology, digital media, and the future of work.The former Arkansas governor called the affair'more serious than Watergate.' | REUTERS Huckabee: Benghazi will oust Obama
Mike Huckabee on Monday predicted that President Barack Obama won’t finish out his second term in light of the “cover-up” of the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and the former Arkansas governor called the affair “more serious than Watergate.”
“I believe that before it’s all over, this president will not fill out his full term. I know that puts me on a limb,” the former Arkansas governor said on “The Mike Huckabee Show.” “But this is not minor. It wasn’t minor when Richard Nixon lied to the American people and worked with those in his administration to cover-up what really happened in Watergate. But, I remind you — as bad as Watergate was, because it broke the trust between the president and the people, no one died. This is more serious because four Americans did in fact die.”
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Huckabee, however, said his predication about Obama “will not happen” if the Democrats seize control of the House and retain control of the Senate next year.
( Also on POLITICO: Joe Biden, John Kerry honor fallen diplomats)
“If they’re able to get control of the House and maintain the Senate, this will not happen because they won’t let it happen,” Huckabee said.
“And they won’t let it happen not because they’re protecting just the president, they’re trying to protect their entire political party. If they try to protect the president and their party, and do so at the expense of the truth, their president and their party will go down. Now, here’s what I’m going to suggest will happen — as the information and facts begin to come out, it will become so obvious that there was a concerted and very, very deliberate attempt to mislead this country and its people to lie to Congress, as well as to you.”
And as the truth about the deadly attack |
a city that is more amenable to different modes of transport. In 2010, the collective “Walk, Build a City”, the first group of pedestrian rights activists in the country, began to make themselves known.
That year, on 21 March, members of the collective painted a pavement on a controversial highway that was built without the normal public bidding process and which damaged green areas.It seemed no one felt it important that the pedestrians should have a designated path, despite the fact they were forced to use that space if they wanted to take the bus.
It took those citizens longer to paint the pavement than for the government to remove it. “We promise to paint a better one,” officials said. And although it took some time, in the end they did designate a narrow strip along the bridge to pedestrians. It was the first of many victories for the pro-mobility activists.
‘The road can be a ring’
Was it necessary to create a character that resembled something out of a Lucha Libre fight to raise awareness about the risks to Mexico City’s pedestrians? Jorge Peatónito isn’t sure, but he believes creativity is a powerful weapon for activists.
“Lucha Libre is deep-rooted in Mexican life, but the idea [for Peatónito] came to me the day I took a few foreign friends along to see a fight. If we’ve had Superbarrio (another Mexican self-claimed superhero who fought causes on behalf of the city’s lower classes in the 1990s), why can’t we imagine the street as a wrestling ring?” This is how his activism acquired its comedy touch.
Humour aside, Peatónito is well aware that in real life superpowers don’t exist, and was himself involved in a car crash four months ago, when a car rammed his bicycle near the Tepito neighbourhood, an area of the city that is notorious for its gangs and black market. Fortunately, he was unhurt – traffic chaos is his kryptonite, he says.
Notwithstanding the risks of the job, Cáñez finds it rewarding and has no plans to abandon his superhero persona: “I do it all for the love of art, to do something for the city. Financially speaking, Peatónito hasn’t earned me more than the fee for a few talks and a couple of trips. That’s it. The best thing is the satisfaction of communicating a message in a powerful way.”
Guardian Mexico City week – live Read more
Activists like Peatónito barely have time to celebrate a victory before setting their eyes on the next goal. For 2016, this is the “budget for comprehensive transport”.
“We’ve won the discussion. We’ve won over the law … now, we need to win in terms of a budget. That’s why we’ve launched a campaign called Fight for the Civilised City, which is inspired by Lucha Libre. We’ve been out on our bikes wearing masks demanding that resources be allocated to non-motorised transport projects.”
In the 2016 national budget, just 7% of the 50,000m pesos (£1,900m) designated to transportation will go to projects related to pedestrians or bicycles. The activists’ job as they see it is to get this changed in Congress before November, when the current proposal for the distribution of the funds will be approved.
To achieve this goal, their first step is to try to meet the secretary of finance and public credit, Luis Videgaray. If they are successful, they will have already won part of the battle. With a little rhyme, Peatónito resumes his battle cry: “More loot so they go on foot.”
Translated by Sophie HughesIn an excellent piece for Hong Kong’s “South China Morning Post” today, Bangalore, India-based entrepreneur and Fulbright Scholar Hu Jianlong addressed a topic I’ve been writing and speaking about for years: China’s utter inability to export its ideals and values due to its government’s self-sabotaging campaigns against freedom of expression.
Without even trying, Dangal achieved in China what the Chinese Communist Party has been trying to do in vain since at least 2009, despite its investment of billions of dollars: to establish soft power influence in other nations through its cultural exports. Dangal, an Aamir Khan-starring Bollywood drama, portrays its country and culture in a positive light, persuaded millions of overseas (i.e., Chinese) observers to re-consider their negative opinions of India, and increased respect for India's voice in the global political arena.
Dangal has now exceeded $190 million in box office revenue in China, and has made such a stir in the PRC that China's President, Xi Jinping, recently felt compelled to publicly compliment Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the film when the two met last month in Kazakhstan.
Read More: 'Dangal' Diplomacy: China's Xi Warms Sino-Indian Relations By Telling Modi "I Like The Film"
Written and directed by Nitesh Tiwari and produced by Aamir Khan Productions together with Walt Disney Pictures and UTV Motion Pictures, Dangal tells the true story of Mahavir Singh Phogat, a former amateur wrestler who, having been denied the chance to become an international champion, trains his daughters in wrestling to vicariously fulfill his dream. His daughter Geeta goes on to win India's first ever gold medal in wrestling in the Commonwealth Games.
The film has appealed to Chinese audiences for several reasons, including its themes of parental love and sacrifice, its focus on the primacy of family relationships, and its message of female empowerment. The story about young women from a rural village achieving preeminence on the international stage, particularly in a male-dominated sport, seems to have especially struck a chord with Chinese moviegoers. By achieving such widespread praise in China for its strong portrayal of Indian values, the film inadvertently subverted the years of hard work the Chinese Communist Party has done to denigrate India's culture and especially its political system. As Hu observed in his "South China Morning Post" article:
"China’s state media has a long tradition of playing down and disparaging India. Beijing’s propaganda machine often portrays India as a nation of failure with appalling sanitary conditions, horrible public transportation and rampant rape. Beijing tries to link India’s “backwardness” to its democracy, suggesting that democracy leads to chaos while China’s totalitarianism creates prosperity and efficiency. "Invoking the image of a poor and dirty India enables Beijing to show, in contrast, how successful China’s socialism with Chinese characteristics is and how well the Chinese people are cared for by the ruling Communist Party. "An image of India as a loser is subtly tailored into Beijing’s narrative. But Dangal has raised doubts about the Indian profile and image promoted by China’s party-controlled media. The question millions of Chinese audiences commonly ask is: why can’t the Chinese produce such an epic movie? A celebrated commenter on the Chinese social media site WeChat provided a possible answer. After travelling in India a few years ago, he concluded that India was 20 or 30 years behind China in terms of infrastructure. However, in terms of the invisible areas of fine art and literature, China was lagging India. Many young Chinese readers agreed with him."
The question the Chinese ask themselves about their inability to create globally popular and influential entertainment comes up every time China falls in love with a well-made foreign picture, like Kung Fu Panda, the Fast and the Furious films, Zootopia and increasingly, Aamir Khan’s Indian offerings such as 3 Idiots, PK, and of course Dangal. China's Government officials have for years failed to see the blatant irony in laboring to make films, television, music and other cultural products that would engage the world while simultaneously crushing, jailing, and suppressing the very artists and storytellers who could create such entertainment, if only they were allowed.
India has its share of problems and shortcomings, just as any great nation does, but for China's leadership, the point is that India has effortlessly made a meaningful and extremely valuable impression on China's citizenry through its movies, while China, despite billions of targeted investment, has completely failed in its efforts to achieve the global cultural influence it craves.
Americans would do well to pay heed to the difference. They have recently put in place and so far tolerated a government bent on destroying many of the values they have so carefully nourished for decades, not least the freedoms of speech and expression that China's government won't abide. America's soft power, so essential to the nation's rise and prosperity, may be too fragile to tolerate for long such a brutal and craven onslaught.
Read More: 5 Key Reasons For 'Dangal's' Massive Success In ChinaDear Badass Teachers Founders,
First of all, let me congratulate you on your overnight success at establishing such an organization! Wow. To have such a well-intentioned, purposeful initiative be met with such a response is nothing short of amazing, and I applaud your efforts.
In April, after reaching the point where I could not, in good conscience, continue to be a part of the problem that exists in the public schools, I resigned from my 15-year teaching career in the Boston Public Schools. I did so with the intent of establishing a similarly-minded and similarly-intentioned FB group myself; on May 28, I launched “Boston Teachers – United We Stand”. The group has not been met with anything close to the response BAT has received, but that will not deter me from continuing with my efforts. I am truly in awe of the movement you have already created, and grateful to be a part of such an organization.
Having said that, there is one aspect of BAT that I’m respectfully asking you to consider rethinking – that is, the words behind the acronym.
BAT founders/facilitators have recently been quoted as saying:
“A note on the name: There have been many discussions about the name of the group. There are some who feel it is offensive or unprofessional to use the word “badass” and are uncomfortable with its use. We disagree. As Dr. Naison says: “We’ve had enough. We are not your doormats. We are not your punching bags. We are some of the hardest working, most idealistic people in this country and we are not going to take it anymore. We are going to stand up for ourselves, and stand up for our students even if no organization really supports us. We are Badass. We are legion. And we will force the nation to hear our voice!
We hope that conversations about changing the name no longer continue. To that end, page administrators have been asked to end or delete any comments and/or threads where this becomes the topic. Our intention is to promote the goals of the group and move forward with our efforts.”
I am not one to judge,especially because, as I said, my own grassroots efforts have not seen anywhere near the level of success yours is continuing to enjoy. Clearly, you know what you’re doing, and you do it well. To reiterate my earlier sentiments, I am in awe of you.
Neither am I one to judge people who use profanity; one of my own personal worst habits is my propensity to drop f-bombs whenever the mood strikes, which is often. But there are a lot of people who take offense at what can be considered “vulgar” or “foul” language, from the “F-word” to even a word like “badass”.
I understand your unwillingness to consider changing the name; I understand the theory behind the title; I understand that you have created something with commendable intentions, & that maybe you think people should focus on that, rather than be so petty as to criticize or even condemn the words behind the acronym. And maybe people should lighten up about “badass”. Maybe people shouldn’t allow a simple word to dictate or determine whether s/he ultimately opts to join the BATs.
But they are. Open up the comments section after any article or blog posting written in praise of BAT, and you will surely discover that the number of people commending your efforts is equal to the number of people who also take offense at the name. You will find yourself reading comments like these:
“I would be violating my conscience to join. I do however, support the principles and mission of the organization”;
“In our high school Freshmen English classroom, my kids are not “allowed” to use even the word “suck” as an adjective, as in “This sucks.” They are, instead, encouraged to find ‘the exact right word” to express their meaning. That being said, I cannot endorse BAT”;
“Admittedly, I AM A bad-ass teacher and I did, initially, join in the fray. Then I thought about how I would justify my association/membership to my kids (students). I could not, so I removed my name from their membership list though I agree with their sentiments and goals”;
“But if I am trying to organize a push against the edu-deformers I wouldn’t choose “Badass Teachers” as a moniker. It’s all about context, when does a word become a “foul” word versus when is the word properly used in the proper context. A lot has to do with tone of voice, social setting, intent of speaker/writer, etc.... So, no I haven’t signed up for the facebook group”;
“I have not officially joined BAT yet (hung up on the name, but I’m sure I’ll get there)”.
Badass Teachers Association founders, I know you’ve expressed your hope that conversations about the name don’t continue, so that you can continue to focus on your efforts. I further believe that your ultimate goal is in creating the most widespread alliance of like-minded educators (& others invested in public education) possible.
What I don’t understand is your unwillingness to revisit the words behind the acronym, because until you do, you will fall short in achieving that goal. As someone who would do just about anything to experience similar success in creating a grassroots campaign to stop this insanity, I especially struggle with your unbendingness.
I think it’s time you re-priortize and re-assess your intentions, and ask yourselves which is the more important outcome here – to maintain a level of “control” with the BAT by refusing to choose a new moniker, or to enlist as many supporters nationwide as possible, in hopes of achieving this common goal we all share?
The reality is, “Badass Association of Teachers” really does negate some of it’s credibility in it’s word choice. Worse, the title has already proven to be enough of a deterrent for some people that your membership is not going to reach the numbers it would and could, if only you re-named it.
I respectfully urge you to reconsider your rigidity here, and come up with a more widely-acceptable term for “Badass”. The group has already become known for it’s controversial title as much as it’s become known for it’s amazing intentions; listening to what so many potential allies are saying would certainly not hurt your cause. It could only help. And at the end of the day, isn’t that exactly what you are trying to do?6 H 3 -2,6-(C 6 H 3 -2,6-(CHMe 2 ) 2 ) 2 ] 2 The structure of [CrC-2,6-(C-2,6-(CHMe
A quintuple bond in chemistry is an unusual type of chemical bond, first reported in 2005 for a dichromium compound. Single bonds, double bonds, and triple bonds are commonplace in chemistry. Quadruple bonds are rarer but are currently known only among the transition metals, especially for Cr, Mo, W, and Re, e.g. [Mo 2 Cl 8 ]4− and [Re 2 Cl 8 ]2−. In a quintuple bond, ten electrons participate in bonding between the two metal centers, allocated as σ2π4δ4.
In some cases of high-order bonds between metal atoms, the metal-metal bonding is facilitated by ligands that link the two metal centers and reduce the interatomic distance. By contrast, the chromium dimer with quintuple bonding is stabilized by a bulky terphenyl (2,6-[(2,6-diisopropyl)phenyl]phenyl) ligands. The species is stable up to 200 °C.[1][2] The chromium–chromium quintuple bond has been analyzed with multireference ab initio and DFT methods,[3] which were also used to elucidate the role of the terphenyl ligand, in which the flanking aryls were shown to interact very weakly with the chromium atoms, causing only a small weakening of the quintuple bond.[4] A 2007 theoretical study identified two global minima for quintuple bonded RMMR compounds: a trans-bent molecular geometry and surprisingly another trans-bent geometry with the R substituent in a bridging position.[5]
In 2005, a quintuple bond was postulated to exist in the hypothetical uranium molecule U 2 based on computational chemistry.[6][7] Diuranium compounds are rare, but do exist; for example, the U
2 Cl2−
8 anion.
In 2007 the shortest-ever metal–metal bond (180.28 pm) was reported to exist also in a compound containing a quintuple chromium-chromium bond with diazadiene bridging ligands.[8] Other metal–metal quintuple bond containing complexes that have been reported include quintuply bonded dichromium with [6-(2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl)pyridin-2-yl](2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine bridging ligands[9] and a dichromium complex with amidinate bridging ligands.[10]
Synthesis of quintuple bonds is usually achieved through reduction of a dimetal species using potassium graphite. This adds valence electrons to the metal centers, giving them the needed number of electrons to participate in quintuple bonding. Below is a figure of a typical quintuple bond synthesis.
Cr–Cr quintuple bond synthesis
Dimolybdenum quintuple bonds [ edit ]
In 2009 a dimolybdenum compound with a quintuple bond and two diamido bridging ligands was reported with a Mo–Mo bond length of 202 pm.[11] The compound was synthesised starting from potassium octachlorodimolybdate (which already contains a Mo 2 quadruple bond) and a lithium amidinate, followed by reduction with potassium graphite:
dimolybdenum quintuple bond synthesis
Bonding [ edit ]
As stated above metal-metal quintuple bonds have a σ2π4δ4 configuration. Among the five bonds present between the metal centers, one is a sigma bond, two are pi bonds, and two are delta bonds. The σ-bond is the result of mixing between the d z2 orbital on each metal center. The first π-bond comes from mixing of the d yz orbitals from each metal while the other π-bond comes from the d xz orbitals on each metal mixing. Finally the δ-bonds come from mixing of the d xy orbitals as well as mixing between the d x2−y2 orbitals from each metal.
Molecular orbital calculations have elucidated the relative energies of the orbitals created by these bonding interactions. As shown in the figure below, the lowest energy orbitals are the π bonding orbitals followed by the σ bonding orbital. The next highest are the δ bonding orbitals which represent the HOMO. Because the 10 valence electrons of the metals are used to fill these first 5 orbitals, the next highest orbital becomes the LUMO which is the δ* antibonding orbital. Though the π and δ orbitals are represented as being degenerate, they in fact are not. This is because the model shown here is a simplification and that hybridization of s, p, and d orbitals is believed to take place, causing a change in the orbital energy levels.
MO diagram of a metal–metal quintuple bond
Ligand role in metal–metal quintuple bond length [ edit ]
Quintuple bond lengths are heavily dependent on the ligands bound to the metal centers. Nearly all complexes containing a metal–metal quintuple bond have bidentate bridging ligands, and even those that do not, such as the terphenyl complex mentioned earlier, have some bridging characteristic to it through metal–ipso-carbon interactions.
The bidentate ligand can act as a sort of tweezer in that in order for chelation to occur the metal atoms must move closer together, thereby shortening the quintuple bond length. The two ways in which to obtain shorter metal–metal distances is to either reduce the distance between the chelating atoms in the ligand by changing the structure, or by using steric effects to force a conformational change in the ligand that bends the molecule in a way that forces the chelating atoms closer together. An example of the latter is shown below:
Steric effects on a bidentate ligand
The above example shows the ligand used in the dimolybdenum complex shown earlier. When the carbon between the two nitrogens in the ligand has a hydrogen bound to it, the steric repulsion is small. However, when the hydrogen is replaced with a much more bulky phenyl ring the steric repulsion increases dramatically and the ligand "bows" which causes a change in the orientation of the lone pairs of electrons on the nitrogen atoms. These lone pairs are what is responsible for forming bonds with the metal centers so forcing them to move closer together also forces the metal centers to be positioned closer together. Thus, decreasing the length of the quintuple bond. In the case where this ligand is bound to quintuply bonded dimolybdenum the quintuple bond length goes from 201.87 pm to 201.57 pm when the hydrogen in replaced with a phenyl group. Similar results have also been demonstrated in dichromium quintuple bond complexes as well.[12]
Research trends [ edit ]
Efforts continue to prepare shorter quintuple bonds.[13][14]
References [ edit ]Women in leadership positions are often instructed on how to act so they don’t appear too aggressive or bitchy. Instead of placing the blame on sexist workplace culture or misogynistic employees, these articles tell ladies exactly what they’re doing wrong and how to fix it.
In a recent article titled “9 Non-Threatening Leadership Strategies For Women,” The Cooper Review pokes fun at this media trope, offering some helpful tips (with funny illustrations) to “alter your leadership style to account for the (sometimes) fragile male ego.”
These tips include such tactics as playing dumb, using the word “just” to seem more friendly and if necessary, and donning a mustache to seem more manly (and thus receive more respect). As one section of the piece reads, “Pointing out a mistake is always risky so it’s important to always apologize for noticing the mistake and then make sure that no one thinks you’re too sure about it. People will appreciate your ‘hey what do I know?!’ sensibilities.”
Check out the spot-on article at The Cooper Review.A black hole cosmology (also called Schwarzschild cosmology or black hole cosmological model) is a cosmological model in which the observable universe is the interior of a black hole. Such models were originally proposed by theoretical physicist Raj Pathria,[1] and concurrently by mathematician I. J. Good.[2]
Any such model requires that the Hubble radius of the observable universe is equal to its Schwarzschild radius, that is, the product of its mass and the Schwarzschild proportionality constant. This is indeed known to be nearly the case; however, most cosmologists consider this close match a coincidence.[3]
In the version as originally proposed by Pathria and Good, and studied more recently by, among others, Nikodem Popławski, [4] the observable universe is the interior of a black hole existing as one of possibly many inside a larger parent universe, or multiverse.
According to general relativity, the gravitational collapse of a sufficiently compact mass forms a singular Schwarzschild black hole. In the Einstein–Cartan–Sciama–Kibble theory of gravity, however, it forms a regular Einstein–Rosen bridge, or wormhole. Schwarzschild wormholes and Schwarzschild black holes are different mathematical solutions of general relativity and the Einstein–Cartan theory. Yet for observers, the exteriors of both solutions with the same mass are indistinguishable. The Einstein–Cartan theory extends general relativity by removing a constraint of the symmetry of the affine connection and regarding its antisymmetric part, the torsion tensor, as a dynamical variable. Torsion naturally accounts for the quantum-mechanical, intrinsic angular momentum (spin) of matter. The minimal coupling between torsion and Dirac spinors generates a repulsive spin-spin interaction which is significant in fermionic matter at extremely high densities. Such an interaction prevents the formation of a gravitational singularity. Instead, the collapsing matter reaches an enormous but finite density and rebounds, forming the other side of an Einstein-Rosen bridge, which grows as a new universe.[5] Accordingly, the Big Bang was a nonsingular Big Bounce at which the universe had a finite, minimum scale factor.[6] Or, the Big Bang was a supermassive white hole that was the result of a supermassive black hole at the heart of a galaxy in our parent universe.HIGHLIGHTS- Added Naga Siren!- Added new stats dropdown feature when spectating!- Enabled Naga Siren in Captain's ModeGAMEPLAY- Added Naga Siren!- Enabled Naga Siren in Captain's Mode.- Beastmaster: Fixed the path that Wild Axes take. It should now work the way it was originally intended.- Disruptor: Fixed Glimpse affecting Warlock's Golem and Spirit Bear.- Rubick: Fixed Warlock's Shadow Word refreshing its debuff version when stolen and cast as a buff.- Rubick: Fixed Dazzle's Weave refreshing its debuff version when stolen and cast as a buff.- Rubick: Fixed restealing an ability (stealing another ability in-between) not restting its cooldown.- Silencer: Fixed Curse of the Silent affecting Warlock's Golem and Spirit Bear.- Storm Spirit: Fixed Static Remnant blocking creep camps.- Templar Assassin: Fixed Refraction being dispellable.- Undying: Fixed a case where early game zombies could sometimes get stuck with an earlier or invalid level of Deathlust into the late game.- Undying: Fixed Zombies being controllable when their target goes invisible.- Wisp: Fixed Spirits detonating on non-hero units like Spirit Bear.- Fixed Diffusal Blade stopping Force Staff movement.- Fixed Templar Assassin's Refraction and Pipe causing Blink Dagger to not get disabled.- Fixed illusion item locations not matching the source hero.SPECTATOR:- The Director will now acknowledge all Ultimate usages not just the ones that damage, so you can no longer pretend that Echo Slam in the jungle by yourself didn't happen.- Tweaks to Directed camera framing and movement.UI- Added chat spam throttling.- Players that have not purchased a Tournament Pass will no longer be able to watch that Tournament's replays.- Sellback times no longer expire when moving items to the courier.- Commendations are now only allowed from within games.- Commendation totals are not incremented until the game is finished.- Commendation totals are not incremented if the game was less than 10 minutes long.- Fixed item stocks not restoring correctly when multiple items are sold back within the sellback time.- Added a message when a player destroys the Aegis.- Added confirmation dialog before starting a Tournament game with one or more teams not specified.- Added client-side console variables allowing spectators to locally disable certain announcer lines. Especially useful for broadcasters. The cvars are:- cl_dota_speech_spec_towerattack, cl_dota_speech_spec_towerfalls, cl_dota_speech_spec_barracksattack, cl_dota_speech_spec_barracksfalls, cl_dota_speech_spec_ancientattack, cl_dota_speech_spec_enemybasefalls, cl_dota_speech_spec_idles.- Set any of them to '0' to prevent that line from playing. (Broadcasters will almost always want to set cl_dota_speech_spec_idles 0 ).- Multiple players who have the same announcer equipped in the same game should now hear the same line being spoken.BOTS- Enabled AFK and leaver penalties for co-op bot matches.- Re-enabled rewards for co-op bot matches.- Added new stats dropdown feature when spectating!Cech yourself
43 – Percent of Cech’s kicks which were accurate against Bro
49 – Percent of Cech’s goal kicks which are accurate this season
57 – Percent of Cech’s goal kicks which were accurate last season
58 – Percent of Szczesny’s goal kicks which were accurate in 2013/14
Cech is putting up some astonishingly bad numbers this season, making it look likely that Wenger will have to make yet another keeper change this summer.
First, his saves. As you know I keep keeper save percentages from positions like Big Chances and Shots in Prime. Last season, Cech was the best keeper among the elite Premier League teams in terms of stopping shots in and around his 6 yard box saving 64% of those Shots in Prime. This season, that number has dropped down to a much more human 52% which is low-normal for a top keeper.
What’s killing Cech this season, however, is his saves from Big Chances. Negredo’s goal against Arsenal was the very definition of a Big Chance (it was also a “Shot in Prime” in case you need further illustration of the definitions) and this season, Cech is only saving 30% of the Big Chances he has faced.
Now, in his defense, like last year where he allowed the 2nd most goals from outside the 18 yard box, part of the problem here is that Arsenal are allowing too many Big Chances. Arsenal have already allowed the opposition to take 48 Big Chances this season, 13 more than all of last season, and Arsenal have conceded 28 goals off those Big Chances which is 15 more than all of last season. In fact, 72% of the goals Arsenal have allowed this season have come from Big Chances (28/39) and Cech has only saved 12/40 (30%) of the Big Chances he’s faced.
Penalties are also counted in Big Chances and Cech also hasn’t saved a single penalty in his entire Arsenal career going 0/9 since making his transfer from Chelsea. Penalties aren’t saved at a high rate but as a point of comparison, Wojciech Szczesny has saved 4 of the 12 penalties he’s faced for Roma. That’s a bit above the normal save rate of 25%.
Cech’s distribution is also problematic and during the match against Middlesbrough he was kicking the ball around like a dipsomaniac sprinkler so readers asked me on Twitter to look at his numbers.
This season Cech’s goal kicks are down 8 percentage points from last season, which is also reflected in his long kicking which is down from 44% accurate last season to 36% accurate this season. I think this is partially because of the benching of Giroud.
That said, Cech was woeful against Middlesbrough despite having Giroud to kick to, completing just 8/21 long kicks and only 9/22 forward passes. Perhaps that calf injury was worse than advertised. Or perhaps his distribution is just awful: Cech has never been a highly accurate kicker but his 36% long ball completion rate this season is the lowest he’s notched since his 2009/10 Champions League rate of 34% and 5% lower than his career average of 41%. Hugo Lloris is completing 62% of his goal kicks and 75% overall while Cech looks bog average with his 49% goal kicks and 63% overall. And Ospina (using Champions League data) is 60% from goal kicks this season but his average distance kicked is just 32 yards, 12 yards shorter than Cech.
Among the many things that Arsenal have to solve this summer is the long-term inconsistency at keeper.
Bro, Turnovers
9 – Number of times Alexis Sanchez lost possession of the ball against Bro
3 – Number of those times that were in or near Arsenal’s own half
3 – Number of failed dribbles by Alexis (of 3 attempted)
15 – Number of failed passes by Alexis
3 – Number of those failed passes which were in Arsenal’s own half
1 – Number of those failed passes which eventually led to the Middlesbrough goal
1 – Number of fans century made by Alexis handing them a shirt
0 – Percent of blame I assign to Alexis for that goal
Alexis turned the ball over a lot against Middlesbrough. Too much, in fact. Arsenal had 65% of possession and yet only managed 12 shots to Boro’s 13. Another way to look at that dominance by Arsenal is to say that Arsenal had 785 touches, 584 passes, 192 passes in the final third, and just 12 shots. Alexis himself had 77 touches on the day and 24 of them were turnovers (either a bad pass, lost touch, or was dispossessed). That means over 30% of his possessions were given back to the opposition. He also had 31% of Arsenal’s total turnovers and 17% of Arsenal’s failed passes.
Still, that particular pass, no matter how bad, was not the reason Negredo scored. Alexis tried to thread a pass into Ox and…
..I remember a match at the Emirates where Song and Denilson passed the ball around the 18 yard box and I was screaming for them to attempt a pass, any pass, into the box for some offense and that match ended 0-0, so while Alexis had an easy pass to Ozil on his right I am still in favor of him trying that pass to Ox rather than keeping possession because after all what’s the point of possession if you’re not trying to score? The fact that Arsenal fans are obsessed with Alexis losing possession is actually a symptom of Arsenal’s defensive weakness: we want him to be audacious and use possession to create but we also don’t want him to lose the ball because we are terrified of how our defense will cope with the ensuing counter attack. The real problem here isn’t that he loses the ball, it’s that Arsenal can’t cope with it when he does. As I will illustrate here..
he missed. But Arsenal’s 352 meant that Negredo was covered by three CBs as he made his run. Downing had the ball and Monreal recovered to mark him but Downing beat Monreal by slowing down and going back on his left. From there he put in a pin-point accurate cross, which Koscielny couldn’t cut out and which Negredo poked home. The problem here was that Monreal didn’t kill that play, either by fouling Downing (the best choice) or by forcing him to continue his run down the line. Monreal has to recognize that Downing is entirely left footed and prevent him from getting that cross off or at the very least prevent him from having so much space and time to put in a good cross. So, again, for me the problem here isn’t that Alexis lost possession but that 4 Arsenal defenders couldn’t stop Stewart Downing and Alvaro Negredo from getting a shot mere inches away from the goal mouth.
As for Alexis: Alexis also scored a goal and helped set up the second goal with his pass to Ramsey. I will take 30 turnovers for two goals. I will also point out that, like all forwards, turnovers are part of his game. When Alexis is made the focal point of his team, like he has been at Arsenal and for Chile, he will be a turnover machine. The Arsenal defense needs to be aware of that and win the ball back or at the very least make it difficult for a player like Downing to put in a cross.
Ox on the back of a winged horse, through the sky pearly grey
2 – Tackles won by Ox (of 4 attempted)
5 – Tackles won by Monreal (of 5, led Arsenal)
4 – Tackles won by Özil (of 5)
21 – Total tackles Özil has won all season
1 – Foul by Ox
1 – Yellow card for Ox
3 – Minute of the match in which Ox received his yellow card
90 – Minutes Ox went after his yellow card without committing another foul
1 – Blocked cross by Ox
0 – Blocked crosses by Monreal
4 – Successful dribbles by Ox (of 8 attempted, led Arsenal)
9 – Ball recoveries by Ox (2nd on Arsenal behind Aaron Ramsey who led all players with 11)
2 – Successful crosses by Ox (of 9 attempted)
0 – Key passes by Ox
2 – Shots by Ox
1 – Big Chance by Ox (that shot in the 6 yard box which was saved was recorded as a Big Chance)
Against Middlesbrough, Wenger fielded a 343 (which was a 352 in defense) for the first time since the 1996/97 season when Steve Bould, Tony Adams, and Martin Keown played in the center of defense with Winterburn and Dixon as the wingbacks. In the system against Middlesbrough, Arsenal got a look at a back three of Gabriel, Koscielny, and Holding with Monreal and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the wide areas.
The idea behind the back three is to provide stability to the Arsenal defense. Wenger has played with a high line of two center backs since the break up of the invincibles. With both of his fullbacks pushed forward (sometimes even crossing the ball to one another) to say that that formation has been vulnerable to counter attacks is about as understated as an Adam Sandler character. So, with an extra center back, Arsenal should in theory, be able to continue use his wingbacks, but also have an extra man for cover on counters.
That is on paper, they should be more stable. In reality… Arsenal conceded a goal on a counter attack, despite having three center backs, largely because Monreal didn’t close down Downing.
I applaud Wenger’s change in formation. A back three compliments his attacking style and covers for some fundamental weaknesses in midfield – basically covering for the loss of Coquelin while providing some passing ability by pairing Ramsey and Özil with Xhaka.
The midfield passing was exemplary: Xhaka passed 90% (84/93), Ramsey 91% (61/67), and Özil 93% (43/46). However, those three players only created 3 chances for their teammates with Özil creating zero shots on the day, which is unusal for him.
Another problem is that Arsenal’s center back three was fairly poor in possession. Koscielny connected on just 48/56 passses (86%), Holding was 42/49 (86%) and Gabriel 61/73 (84 |
, armed with memos from the diocesan office, he decided to outlaw kneeling at Mass.
By the time the Los Angeles Times got hold of the story—with an embarrassing front-page spread in the May 28, 2006, issue—”at least two altar boys, the parish altar-servers coordinator, and three members of the parish council” had been “dismissed from their duties for kneeling at the wrong time.” The situation soon grew even more envenomed. There were parishioners who weren’t just kneeling but kneeling with intent—to embarrass their pastor and his supporters. And there were other parishioners who were refusing to kneel in the same way—to be noticed, to make a comment, to take a stand.
One pratfall followed another. Fr. Tran used the church bulletin to thunder that his flock was in “rebellion, grave disobedience, and mortal sin,” and the kneelers issued at least fifteen different flyers to parishioners and enlisted Catholic bloggers to mock their pastor on the Web. In response, he sent letters to fifty-five parishioners, ordering them to stay away. Only last-minute intervention by a worried lawyer in the parish kept Fr. Tran from handing out a church bulletin that listed the fifty-five names. Not that it helped him much, for the incensed parishioners found the discarded copies in the trash and promptly distributed them.
When Bishop Tod Brown finally got around to addressing the situation, it had deteriorated beyond easy repair. Brown had come out of St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California—not the best sign for a contemporary bishop, as more than 10 percent of the graduates since 1950 have been accused of sexual molestation, including a third of the classes of 1966 and 1972. Nonetheless, he seems by most accounts a steady leader: a little squishy on homosexuality, maybe, and more than a little unwilling to deal with doctrinal disputes and irregularities at Mass. His very public distribution of Communion to the pro-abortion congresswoman Loretta Sanchez at Servite High School in 2004—and his allowing her to campaign from local pulpits—caused real agitation in the diocese. Still, Brown had finished his first posting as bishop, in Boise, Idaho, with the reputation of someone who could reorganize financially troubled institutions, and it was always as a responsible administrator that he presented himself.
Certainly, that’s how he is known to his California friends, particularly Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles and Cardinal Levada, formerly the archbishop of San Francisco and now prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with whom he regularly vacations. The $100 million settlement for abuse cases he signed in January 2005 proves, once again, the bad business of paying attention only to business, but Orange County has at least put a ceiling on the costs of the pending lawsuits.
In the end, though, you can see the limits of a bishop who acts primarily as an administrator, detached from the feeling in his diocese, with Brown’s April 2006 visit to St. John the Baptist in Costa Mesa—where he was caught on videotape yanking repeatedly at a woman kneeling before him, tugging on her arm and blouse to get her to stand.
You can see it even more in the saga of Rod Stephens. Father Rod was prominent for years in Orange County: director of the liturgical office that issued the anti-kneeling memos, head of evangelization for the diocese, organizer of the Jubilee 2000 project, the bishop’s expert on architectural renovation, and a man appearing openly at events with his male escort. “What do you want from me?” Bishop Brown plaintively asked when local Catholics objected—and when they asked if he was responsible for Stephens’ behavior as a priest, the tired bishop insisted, “No, I’m not.”
Or, at least, that’s what the angry parishioners say happened at their September 2001 meeting with the bishop. To follow the Rod Stephens story is to suffer a kind of motion-sickness, your sympathies batted back and forth until you have no sympathy left for anyone.
You start outraged at a priest who cohabits so blatantly that he sends out Christmas cards that read, “For Chanukah, Christmas, and the New Year, All the Best: From Our Digs to Yours, Howard and Rod.” But then you learn that it all came out because his own family snitched on him to the conservative Catholic press. Your outrage returns when you find out his family had approached him privately first, and he told them, “The bishop knows about it and so does Cardinal Mahony, and they approve.” But your teeth start to ache when you discover the relatives went on to hire a private detective to dig up dirt on the priest. And then you see that the dirt included $10,000-a-ticket vacation cruises taken by Fr. Rod and his companion.
Along the way, you are exposed to moments like the reported explanation, from the bishop’s notoriously foot-in-mouth spokesman, that if the diocese tried to control its actively homosexual clergy, “there would be so few priests left we’d have to turn it over to lay people to run it.” Or the memo from diocesan officials during Fr. Stephens’ tenure that insisted teen-chastity programs are suitable only for “homeschoolers and fundamentalists.” Or the right-wing protesters, complete with banners, who paraded for photographers in front of the bishop’s residence. Or the letter from the vocations director of the diocese, which denounced Mother Angelica’s EWTN television network for “religious intolerance and arrogance” and labeled the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a conservative Catholic college in Ohio, “a pathetic organization of bitter people.”
On and on the story goes, the whole thing enough to make you want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over your head. This is Catholic life in America? This is Catholic culture? In 2004, Stephens left the priesthood. The old-boy network kicked in and found him a consulting position at San Juan Capistrano, but he was never a good fit. The mission aims at historical accuracy, while Stephens tends toward the modern stripping-of-the-altars style you can see, for instance, in the work he did at Sacred Heart, a church in nearby Ocean Beach. And once upset parishioners started reporting that the ex-priest was receiving $300 an hour from parish funds, the mission and the diocese quickly retreated, insisting Stephens had been involved only in a “preparatory committee meeting.”
The man is still around on the fringes of Catholic life in Southern California. Though he chose his lifestyle over his Church, the priesthood is not something one ever exactly gets over. Catholic fiction used to be filled with the character of a “spoilt priest,” a broken figure who had somehow ruined the vocation that continues to haunt him. It isn’t a category that people talk about much anymore, but it sometimes still seems to fit.
You could find Rod Stephens in, for instance, the news reports about Jane Via, one of the women ordained by Roman Catholic Womenpriests (the group that had a brief media swirl in August 2006 for its attempted creation of eight priestesses on a charted boat cruise in Pittsburgh). When she returned to California to hold her first service, at her side, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, was Rod Stephens, “who resigned his faculties as a Roman Catholic priest in the Orange County diocese in 2004 but still considers himself a priest.”
There’s something sad about that line, like a character in, maybe, a James T. Farrell novel, defrocked and disgraced, who after a few drinks starts to mumble about how, by God, he doesn’t care what anybody says, he’s still a priest—louder and louder, while the anxious barmaid maneuvers him toward the door. But maybe the greater sadness is how dated the entire situation in Orange County seems. The whole diocese has a fossilized, fly-in-amber feeling to it.
And yet, well—what is the solution? A few years ago, I was out in Southern California, visiting a school in Orange County. I can’t remember the name of the parish to which the students took me for Mass, but what has stayed with me ever since is the conversation as they drove me back to the hotel. Talk about the homily’s content didn’t interest them; even talk about the homily’s lack of content didn’t interest them. “I just kind of tune it out,” the driver said, and the others all agreed. “I just go to church for confession, to pray, and to take Communion,” added the young woman in the back. “At least the priests can do that.”
These were serious Catholic kids—daily communicants, pro-life marchers, soup-kitchen volunteers, members of perpetual-adoration societies. They were showing off a little for their guest, no doubt: taking stronger positions than they actually feel, arguing for the joy of arguing, the way college students do. It was revealing, however, that when one of them shyly mentioned the Tridentine Mass at the renegade chapel in Garden Grove, the others shouted her down.
Sure, they agreed, pretty Masses are better than ugly ones, and they all preferred high-churchy smells and bells to guitar services and liturgical dance: the things their parents’ generation, poor souls, fondly imagined would “engage today’s youth.” But the radical traditionalists seemed cut from the same cloth as the radical revisionists—and the students dismissed all that kind of 1970s stuff as simultaneously boring and infuriating: the self-obsession and self-glorification of the two sides that, between them, had wrecked Catholic culture in this country. We live with a million aborted babies a year, daily scandals of corruption in the Church, millions of uncatechized Catholic children, and this is what those tired old biddies are still squabbling over?
“You remember how, you know, the old hippie types used to say, ‘Never trust anyone over thirty’? Well, they were right. Only it was their own generation they were talking about,” the thin, quiet one in the back announced as we pulled up to the hotel. “You can see it clearly out here in California. That whole generation of Catholics in America, basically everybody formed before 1978, is screwed up. Left, Right, whatever.... The best of them were failures, and the worst of them were monsters.”
VII
There’s something disturbing about that line, although one hears it often enough. Last year, a young seminarian used a version to dismiss the revelations of the priest scandals—day after day of news reports about heart-wrenching vileness: “Yes, yes,” he told me, “it was sickening and evil, but what did anybody expect? Those are just the worst examples of everything that generation did wrong.”
This quick, irritated impatience seems common in the emerging Catholic culture. You find it in the parishioners of the Polish Dominicans working at Columbia University, and in the conservatives gathered around the political theorist Robert George at Princeton. For that matter, it is present among the graduate students at such places as Notre Dame and Boston College, and among the younger theology professors around the country. The public figures of the new culture—the Catholic lawyers, magazine writers, and think-tank analysts—have it in spades: an intolerance, an exasperation, with everything that preoccupied an entire generation of American Catholics.
For the development of a new Catholicism, this doesn’t look the most-promising start. Rich local cultures may produce great works, but few people in the United States have that kind of cultural wealth anymore. Certainly not many Catholics. The number of Americans who grew up in a profoundly Catholic setting is smaller than it ever has been before—which creates a problem for a new culture. If Catholicism is something elected rather than received, can Catholics achieve what earlier cultures did?
Their children, perhaps, will come from a thick-enough world that they can write the kind of strong Catholic novels, make the kind of strong Catholic art, prior ages knew. But in the meantime, a rebellion against rebellion doesn’t escape the problems of rebellion, and a chosen tradition is never quite the same as an inherited one.
Still, in at least one sense, these Catholics seem right to reject the battles of the recent past. The greatest work of John Paul II may prove his reintegration of Vatican II into the history of the Catholic Church: a swerve, a changing of the trajectory that both sides in the 1970s had assumed could not be altered. Far too many in those days believed the Second Vatican Council had definitively broken the Catholic Church from its past. Whether they wept or cheered, whether they were traditionalists or spirit-of-Vatican-II reformers, they acted as though the new Church were no longer in continuity with the old Church.
In serious Catholic intellectual circles, at least, who makes that assumption of discontinuity anymore? Patristics has returned as a prestigious field for graduate students, philosophical analysis routinely grapples with St. Thomas Aquinas again, and literary criticism has begun once more to work with something like a canon of Catholic books. What’s more, the centrality to the new culture of the moral stand against abortion has the great benefit of turning the energy back out toward the world—the call to action that Paul VI demanded, finally answered after thirty-five years.
It would be an exaggeration to say opposition to abortion was the sole signal that a Catholic culture could return to the United States. The enthusiasm and hopefulness created when John Paul II became pope in 1978 was vital. With the entire world’s media following in his charismatic wake, with even Southern Baptists cheering that the Church had a “pope who sure knows how to pope,” it was hard not to feel that perhaps, after all, being Catholic signaled something—distinctive.
Then, too, there was the intellectual base—the sense that membership in the Church actually had content—that came with the completion in 1992 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The Catechism remains indispensable, John Paul II later insisted, “in order that all the richness of the teaching of the Church following the Second Vatican Council could be preserved in a new synthesis and be given a new direction.”
At the time, these signals of something new were often seen through the worn old 1970s lenses. With the Catechism came the predictable rejections, like the galvanic twitchings of irritated nerves. Father Thomas J. Reese of the Jesuit journal America cried, “Is a catechism for the universal church necessary or possible?... Can any statement of the Christian faith stand outside of history and culture?” And from the Right, Michel Simoulin of the schismatic Society of Saint Pius X raged, “The Catechism of the Catholic Church is... not Catholic. It expresses the conciliar ecstasy before the splendor of man and can only seduce the poor Christians severed for the past thirty years from all serious doctrinal formation.”
And yet, even back then, now more than a decade ago, most of these attacks on John Paul II and the Catechism had a sadly dated feel. Left or right, the criticisms missed the curve in the road, as though they were determined to follow the old trajectory off the cliff while the rest of the Church swung off in a new direction.
This is not to say everything is suddenly rosy. The American hierarchy has recovered little of the respect it once possessed, the bricks-and-mortar institutional Church in the United States will continue to suffer from the payouts for the priest scandals, and many Catholic colleges and hospitals seem locked in the bad decisions they made during the 1970s about their self-definition and future. Any analysis that shows brightness among American Catholics can be inverted to show plenty of darkness.
But consider how things used to be. A few years ago, the journalist Robert Blair Kaiser published Clerical Error: A True Story, a book that accused Fr. Malachi Martin of seducing his wife and breaking up his marriage during the Second Vatican Council. Kaiser was a correspondent for Time magazine, while Martin was the private secretary of Cardinal Bea in Rome. Kaiser needed help with technical points of Catholicism and Roman intrigue, and Martin needed—well, according to Kaiser, Martin needed an entry into American publishing, an outlet for Vatican rumors he wanted printed, and a chance at Kaiser’s wife.
Clerical Error is an odd book, its authorial self-obsession and downright weirdness making its accusations hard to believe. But as a description of that generation, it really can’t be bettered. Before his death in 1999, Martin would move to New York and become a bestselling traditionalist of ambiguous clerical standing. Kaiser would go on to publish volume after volume: each demanding ever-more-unlikely reforms, each raging against the Church for its failure to be sufficiently like Robert Blair Kaiser. If this is what Catholicism was like in those days, we are better off without it.
Late this spring, a friend called from Orange County, chattering excitedly about how she had just seen a swallow at the Mission San Juan Capistrano. Only one, and she couldn’t find where it had made its nest. Still, there it was, flittering through the ruins of the Great Stone Church with the strange, carefree flight the birds always seem to have: a smooth coasting, interrupted with sudden swoops and sideslips, like a hang-glider with the hiccups. “Maybe they will return,” she said. “Maybe they really will.” All the mission bells will ring, / The chapel choir will sing, / When the swallows come back to Capistrano.
Joseph Bottum is editor of First Things.The Wisconsin College Democrats Vice Chair lashed out against “white men” last week, tweeting that she feels emphatic hatred toward the demographic.
According to the images obtained by Campus Reform, Sarah Semrad, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, allegedly wrote that “I f***ing hate white men” in a tweet on Thursday.
Following initial backlash, Media Trackers reports that Semrad proceeded to delete her private Twitter account as well as her Facebook profile.
Semrad’s recent tweet is not the only controversial statement made by the Wisconsin College Democrats Vice Chair in recent weeks. Another image of her Twitter profile obtained by Campus Reform appears to show Semrad admitting to “tearing down all the pro life Christian pregnancy resource center fliers” that were posted on campus.
“My new bit is tearing down all the pro life Christian pregnancy resource center fliers that they put up around campus to try & trick people,” Semrad allegedly tweeted in October.
According to her bio posted on the College Democrats of Wisconsin website, Semrad says she is a Democrat “because I believe in strong public schools for all [students] across Wisconsin.”
“I believe everyone, regardless of race, age, religion, or gender deserves the equal opportunity to [achieve] anything they put their mind to,” she adds, noting that she also believes in strong labor unions and the right of individuals to “marry the person they love.”
The College Democrats of Wisconsin did not immediately respond to Campus Reform’s request for comment.A 73-year-old grandfather was allegedly punched in the head repeatedly by an electricity salesman after he denied his sales pitch.
Bob Ikin answered the door of his south-east Melbourne home around 6.30pm on Wednesday and was approached by a door-to-door salesman asking him to change power providers, according to Channel Seven.
But when Mr Ikin rejected the man's proposal, he allegedly became aggressive and hit Mr Ikin, knocking him to the ground.
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Bob Ikin (pictured), a 73-year-old grandfather, was allegedly punched in the head repeatedly by a door-to-door electricity salesman on Wednesday night at his Melbourne home after he denied his sales pitch
'I said but I'm not interested in changing thank you very much, go away,' Mr Ikin said.
'He said 'do you want to make something of it?''
Mr Ikin said after getting to his feet after he was punched in the face, the salesman allegedly punched him again, causing him to fall and hit the back of his head.
He hit his head again after a third punch sent him flying, Mr Ikin said.
Mr Ikin has a black eye, bruises to the back of his head and cuts (pictured)
The grandfather has a large black eye, bruises on the back of his head and cuts.
Mr Ikin's wife told Seven News that she would like to'return the favour' to the salesman – who has not been identified.
The man is described as between 25 and 35 years old, caucasian and about 185cm tall.
He was wearing dark clothing and carrying a laptop bag over his shoulder.
Police are asking for anyone with information to call police.Ohio Favors Trump Again With Less Than Two Weeks Until Election Day
For the first time since October 3rd, swing-state Ohio has flipped back to slightly being in favor of presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to the latest aggregated polling data from FiveThirtyEight.com.
As of today, the difference between Trump and Hillary Clinton is negligible, with both candidates tied with a popular vote forecast of 46.8 percent in Ohio, which gives Trump a 0.2 percent higher change of winning our state’s coveted 18 electoral votes, according to FiveThirtyEight’s algorithm.
Since June, Ohio has spent more time being called for Clinton than Trump, with a couple of switches to Trump in late July and mid-September. Clinton has maintained a lead over Trump in Ohio throughout most October, as the latter has been condemned by his fellow Republicans including Ohio Governor John Kasich, and as Clinton has been endorsed by all major Ohio newspapers, including The Dispatch.
As the two candidates spend the final two weeks battling for Ohio (Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both announced campaign stops in the state next week, while Trump was here just a few days ago), both will continue to work on damage control for negative stories in the media. Clinton is grappling with new revelations in the email server issue, and Trump continues to deal with more accusations of sexual assault.
Nationally, FiveThirtyEight is projecting that Clinton currently has an 81.5 percent likelihood of winning the election with 325 electoral votes and a 49.6 percent majority of the popular vote.
Election day is November 8th. To find out where and how to vote, visit vote.franklincountyohio.gov.
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About the Author Walker is the co-founder of ColumbusUnderground.com and TheMetropreneur.com along with his wife and business partner Anne Evans. Walker has turned local media into a full time career over the past decade and serves on multiple boards and committees throughout the community.
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QUETTA: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Secretary-General and Deputy Chairman Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said that India should know that Pakistan is a nuclear power.
JUI-F leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri was injured during the Mastung incident, he addressed a press conference in Quetta after recovering from his injuries during the attack. Haideri was admitted in CMH Quetta after the explosion on May 12, in which 27 people were killed and 30 injured.
He pointed out towards India that he was aware who was behind the attack, “We all know what forces were involved in the attack. India has still not accepted Pakistan’s independence.” He further reminded India, “Indian conspiracies have led to instability in Pakistan. I want to tell India that Pakistan is an atomic power now.”
Those who lost their lives in the Mastung explosion, “Their blood will be used to bring about a revolution,” he said.
He also said, “If Pakistan’s government is handed over to us then we will make the country secure and stable as we have proven earlier.
Those who lost their lives in the Mastung explosion, “their blood will be used to bring about a revolution.”Photo via Flickr user US Army Africa
"I tell you that it makes me feel better and I don't have to take narcotics and I can sleep at night. Who are you to tell me I can't use it? It burns me up."
-Perry Parks, US Army helicopter pilot, Vietnam War
As a country that engages in a fair amount of war, you'd think that the least America can do is offer some level of comfort to veterans once they return. Unfortunately, that's not as simple as providing traditional benefits. A sizable chunk of veterans from the past four major US international interventions (Vietnam, Iraq, Iraq II, and Afghanistan) return with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and afterward endure flashbacks to horrific events, severe mood instability, and debilitating sleeplessness, among other problems.
PTSD causes a vast and complex set of symptoms that demand a solution, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)—which is charged with providing medical care for veterans— fights PTSD with a multi-pronged approach that involves psychotherapy and a tightly scheduled cocktail of benzodiazipenes, opiates, antidepressants, and mood enhancers. Each of these addresses a fraction of the total symptoms but comes with a host of side effects, including sleep disturbance, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies—some of the same effects of PTSD the cocktail aims to treat.
Could marijuana be the solution America's vets have been waiting for, and if so, why does the federal government continues to stand in the way?
"I fully admit that I participated in this for years, pummeling these veterans with all kinds of FDA-approved meds," Dr. Suzanne Sisley, a PTSD researcher, told me over the phone. Last year, the University of Arizona fired Sisley just after she received federal approval to study the effects of cannabis on PTSD, and she recently re-established the pursuit with funding from the state of Colorado, where recreational marijuana is legal. Sisley sees great promise in pot as a PTSD treatment, even if she once employed conventional pharmaceutical remedies.
"I'd have them on ten to 12 different meds, each to treat one of these active target symptoms," she said. "These veterans would be completely useless because they were so riddled with side effects and drug interactions. The notion that there could be a single plant that could manage the entire myriad of PTSD symptoms... Well, that would be an incredible breakthrough."
Sisley doesn't smoke pot, nor does she seem eager to try. Her enthusiasm for cannabis stems purely from what she sees as its potential to revolutionize PTSD treatments. Thus far, the evidence in favor is at least somewhat encouraging. Sisley was inspired by a 2014 study conducted for New Mexico's medical cannabis program that found cannabis reduced PTSD symptoms in 80 veteran subjects by an average of 75 percent. Her new study seeks to test the positive clinical response established by Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, an Israeli cannabis research pioneer credited as the first to isolate THC. Mechoulam discovered an effect of cannabis called memory extinction, which diminishes the link between triggers and the bad memories they invoke. That's the premise most modern cannabis PTSD treatment hypotheses are based upon. His home country Israel currently has a progressive stance on medical cannabis for soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces. IDF reserve troops who hold a medical marijuana prescription are allowed to use it even while on active duty, a policy in line with Israel's efforts to liberalize medical marijuana in light of new research.
Mechoulam's 2014 THC/PTSD study included ten human subjects, five of whom had experienced war-related trauma, and his team recorded significant reductions in nightmares, flashbacks, and an improvement in sleep quality. Such findings are finally being established scientifically, but anecdotal evidence has existed for decades; in fact some of the strongest proof of the medical efficacy of cannabis comes from the veterans themselves.
"When the war is over for the day you sit around in a little circle and pass a joint," Perry Parks told me. As a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War, Parks saw his share of death and tragedy, and pot provided him reprieve.
"Other than the actual effect, the whole act of smoking is what gave me relief," he said. "At the end of each day, it was kind of like the war went away."
Weed was abundant and cheap in Vietnam at the time, and many soldiers smoked it recreationally, both during the war and afterward in the US. Parks stopped using pot after Vietnam and remained in the military until 2003, a year after he was diagnosed with PTSD. When he retired, he was on a heavy regimen of prescription narcotics and antidepressants. After trying cannabis, he found that he could sleep soundly, uninterrupted by nightmares.
"The first thing I did was throw out all my sleeping pills," he said. It incensed Parks that a potentially effective remedy for combat-related PTSD was completely excluded from care provided by the VA and motivated him to become an activist for the cause. At the time, he could have lost his access to prescription drugs if he tested positive for marijuana. That didn't personally matter all that much to Parks, who shifted his regimen to exclude pills, but many veterans (including those in Mechoulam's study) find the best results using cannabis in conjunction with their prescription drugs.
The VA began easing their restrictions on medical marijuana for veterans in 2011, after pressure from veterans advocacy groups. Historically, the VA has reserved the right to deny patients pain medicine if they violate the terms of their Opioid Pain Care Agreement by testing positive for marijuana. Furthermore, VA doctors have generally been severely discouraged from recommending medical marijuana to patients even in states where it is legal. A 2008 internal memo from the VA's general counsel said that doctors could have their licenses revoked and face criminal charges. As a federal department, the VA and all its employees are required to follow federal law, which places marijuana in the most dangerous category of drugs—"schedule I"—and states that it has no potential medical applications. Veterans with PTSD are victims of a bureaucratic discrepancy between state and federal law on cannabis—or at least they were until they took the issue into their own hands.
In 2010, disabled Air Force veteran Michael Krawitz and his advocacy group, Veterans for Medical Marijuana, publicly campaigned to change the VA's marijuana policy. Reforming federal law was a virtual impossibility in the short run, but Krawitz sought to work with the VA to establish a middle ground that would allow veterans to use cannabis in conjunction with prescriptions and keep doctors on the right side of federal law. The VA responded by issuing a new directive that explicitly prevented doctors from cutting state-level medical marijuana patients off from prescription drugs, and instead requires monitoring of all cannabis consumption. Doctors are still barred from recommending or prescribing cannabis, but within the bounds of the law, this is pretty much the best the VA can do.
"The VA has done as much as they can to accommodate us" Krawitz said. "They've tried to give us as much space as possible to use marijuana under medical orders."
Though they're barred from expressing it publicly, VA doctors are by no means all ideologically aligned with the restrictions dictated by federal law. Dr. Michael Hill-Jackson, a physician at the VA of Palo Alto, California, told me, "We've actually embraced lot of holistic approaches, but unfortunately marijuana is not part of that yet, until a federal law passes... Once things change, I think it will really change the way we treat PTSD, but until then, there's nothing we can do."
Another doctor at the Palo Alto VA, Dr. Marcel Bonn-Miller, is more skeptical of the impact pot might have on PTSD sufferers. "In terms of the science behind marijuana and PTSD, there's not enough evidence at this point for anybody to make an informed decision about prescribing it anywhere," he said. Still, Bonn-Miller acknowledges the benefit of the VA's (relatively) marijuana-friendly policy and follows its guidelines.
On the spectrum of federal treatment of marijuana, the VA's cooperation is remarkable. The DEA has fiercely pursued state-legal medical marijuana as part of the War on Drugs, at least until Congress moved to defund those operations in December. The Supreme Court upheld the federal prohibition of medical marijuana the last time it crossed their desk in 2001. The DOJ has been ineffective in implementing marijuana banking guidelines. And last year, the House of Representatives rejected a measure that would have allowed VA doctors to recommend medical marijuana to patients. That bill's sponsor, California Democrat Dana Rohrabacher, presented a similar measure in November called the Veterans Equal Access Act. Its passage is a tall order considering the Republican takeover of Congress.
For now, veterans with PTSD who have a medical marijuana prescription can balance their pharmaceutical drugs with cannabis self-medication. But that still leaves those who live in medical marijuana states that don't include PTSD as an "approved condition" for cannabis treatment, along with vets in the 27 states that still prohibit cannabis completely. That's thousands of people who will continue to be prescribed a host of pills and all the side effects that come with them rather than a plant that offers the prospect of at least some relief. Marijuana policy in America is on a clear path to liberation these days, but the painfully slow movement in the bureaucracy that looks after its military veterans is stark reminder of what remains to be done.
Follow T. Kid on Twitter.A sequel film to the live-action HK/Hentai Kamen film has been green-lit. HK/Hentai Kamen Abnormal Crisis will open in Japan on May 14. The film series had been planned as a trilogy since the first film's release in 2013. The film series' official website began streaming a teaser for the film on Tuesday.
The tagline below reads, "Panties have disappeared from the world. Justice has disappeared."
Director Yūichi Fukuda will return to direct the film, and Ryohei Suzuki and Fumika Shimizu are returning to reprise their roles as Kyōsuke Shikijō/Hentai Kamen and Aiko Himeno, respectively. New cast members include Yuuya Yagira in the role of Tadashi Kotomi, as well as Ayame Misaki, Sarutoki Minagawa, Hirofumi Arai, and Kyosuke Yabe in as-yet unannounced roles.
Suzuki stated that he is undergoing bodybuilding to increase his body profile. He stated, "My body will be larger than the previous movie. I'm aiming for a world-class body that can stand comfortably next to American superheroes."
The film's plot will center around the continued disappearance of panties all over the world. While Kyōsuke is now in college, and has taken a different path from Aiko, both stand up to face evil.
The first live-action film adaptation of Keishuu Andou's The Abnormal Super Hero Hentai Kamen manga opened in 2013. The film earned 100 million in its second weekend, far above the projected gross for the movie.
Source: Comic NatalieToday is LeBron James Day on The Ringer. We figured nothing else was happening in the NBA world, so why not celebrate Bron, right? Thanks, Vlade and Vivek! Seriously, though, LeBron is having such an interesting season — on top of the most interesting career — and we wanted to look backward and forward with a collection of short posts about him. You can find all the posts here. Go ahead and make your trades. There’s only one King.
Only LeBron James knows if he’s really playing too many minutes, and he doesn’t seem concerned about the issue. “I’ll rest when I retire,” he told reporters last week. But that reassurance hasn’t stopped a clamor of voices across the basketball landscape — including that of his own coach — from suggesting that the Cavaliers star needs more rest in the season’s second half if Cleveland is to contend for another title.
At 37.5 minutes per game, James is second behind Kyle Lowry for the league lead; in his age-32 season, he’s the oldest player in the top 20 in the category. His workload isn’t unprecedented — at 32, Wilt Chamberlain averaged more than 45 minutes per game, for instance — but given the context of both leaguewide trends and James’s playing history, it is a cause for concern, “rest when I retire” sentiments or not.
Related LeBron Needs Playmaking Help Now to Help Prepare for the Postseason to Come
Due to a variety of factors, from more proactive training staffs to more physically taxing styles of play, minutes totals no longer reach the extremes they did in previous decades. James ranks second in MPG this season, but in 2007, he wouldn’t have cracked the top 20; in 1997, he wouldn’t have cracked the top 30.
In that 1996–97 season, 39 qualifying players averaged 37-plus minutes per game; that’s more than the number who have exceeded that mark over the past six seasons combined. Here’s the trend in graphical form, showing the number of players breaking the 37-MPG mark each year over the past three decades:
The pattern applies to older players in a similar fashion. From 1998 to 2007, there were 22 instances of a player exceeding 37 MPG at the age of 32 or older, but James this year marks just the fifth such occurrence in the decade since. Michael Jordan playing heavy minutes in his 30s was par for his era’s course, while James doing the same in today’s more rest-conscious league makes him an outlier. Jordan also took a near-two-year hiatus from the game, giving him an actual chance to rest when he (temporarily) retired, while James has experienced the sport’s most grueling multiyear postseason slog ever.
James’s burden is further compounded by the workload he endured early in his NBA career. While many of his peers were playing just 30 or so games a year in college, James was playing 80 minutes-heavy games as a teenager, allowing him to accrue massive minutes totals. No player in NBA history amassed more minutes in either the regular season or playoffs through his age-31 season than James, and only Kobe Bryant is within 5,000 minutes of James’s combined total.
Combining regular-season and postseason minutes, only 13 Hall of Famers even have as many career minutes as LeBron, who has already passed Jordan, Bill Russell, and Oscar Robertson this season and is due to glide by Moses Malone, Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Shaquille O’Neal by June. By the time they had reached James’s current minutes total in their respective careers, Malone was a 39-year-old Spur, Olajuwon a 39-year-old Raptor, and O’Neal a 37-year-old Cav, while a 38-year-old Pippen was going through the motions in his dispiriting return to the Bulls.
James, of course, is still just 32, and starring for a title contender instead of wheezing through the final games of his career. He has never missed extended time due to injury and might well be as indestructible as Logan’s eponymous character, but time trudges ever onward, and all those minutes add up. Which begs the question: Should James rest more before the playoffs?
Head coach Tyronn Lue said as much last month, though his actions contradict those words. Through January |
totally painless with a simple, short tutorial that the player is forced to play on his first play. The tutorial leads the player simply, clearly, and perhaps most importantly, quickly through the game’s few rules, after which the tutorial seamlessly transitions into a real game.
The seamless transition from tutorial into actual game again fortifies a feeling that this game actually is “easy to learn, difficult to master”. It does not transition into any kind of safe or easy mode – it transitions into the actual game. Unlike a long, drawn-out tutorial which can make the player feel like they’re being treated like a child, Threes makes the player feel like they are being trusted; that they are adults.
As the player continues to play, hints and strategy advice sometimes pops up. It’s a very natural way to help the player learn – somewhat like having a friend watch you play and giving you a few pointers.
Building a Discipline
We often use the term “puzzle game” for these kinds of games, which I think can be misleading, especially for a deep game like this. Puzzles are generally somewhat shallow and disposable things. When we play them, we solve them, and then that individual puzzle no longer has any use to us.
Abstracts such as Threes, I do not consider puzzles, because they are not about pursuing solution. Much more like playing chess or tennis, Threes is a game about building a discipline. Despite the fact that it is such an easy game to learn to play, the depth of this gameplay system is quite high. Players have already begun developing strategy guides for the game.
Threes takes advantage of its considerable depth and replayability by incorporating the iOS Gamecenter “challenges” feature more directly and clearly than many other games of its kind. When the player gets a high score, it’s easy to challenge a friend to getting something higher. In fact, several gameplay metrics can be used as challenges.
This social aspect, while light, is just enough to facilitate players competition with each other. This, in turn, helps to become a source for word of mouth. Players post their best scores on Facebook and Twitter, and others post themselves beating those scores. Meanwhile, many current non-players look on as they see this happening in public. The Twitter integration in particular is fantastic: because of the simple layout of the board, players can post the end-state in a Twitter picture and it’s easy for everyone to see what happened.
Conclusion
In many ways, Threes has a lot of qualities that should make some development teams very concerned. It’s abstract, it’s a high skill game, it’s deep and difficult to master, and it’s not freemium. These are all qualities that I think many developers would shy away from, in a time when we generally think of heavily themed, low skill games as being the most profitable. However, because of the sincere, lighthearted approach, clean and elegant tutorial, and most of all, trusting the audience, Threes is a game with fantastic word-of-mouth power.Bacopa monnieri (L., BM) is a traditional Ayurvedic medicinal herb recognised for its efficacy in relieving acute pain and inflammation, as related to selective inhibition of cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme and consequent reduction in COX-2-mediated prostanoid mediators. BM is also associated with cognitive enhancing (nootropic) activity including improving memory free recall, observed after prolonged intake (>3 months). It is likely that the time frame required to exert an effect in the brain reflects regulation by BM of chronic inflammation and oxidative stress associated with aging and chronic diseases, and other polypharmacological effects. We report down-regulation by BM of NO and TNF-α in stimulated RAW 246.7 macrophages and of IFN-γ in stimulated human blood cells. Furthermore, in human blood cells, IL-10 was slightly elevated indicating polarisation towards a regulatory T cell phenotype. These results provide further supportive evidence to justify the clinical evaluation of BM for managing diseases involving chronic systemic and brain inflammation driven by the innate immune system.An attack on a US consular official in the western Mexico city of Guadalajara was caught on surveillance cameras. FBI offered a $20,000 reward for information on the attacker who is still at large.
CCTV footage of a gunman who shot and wounded the unnamed US consular employee have been posted on the US Consulate’s Facebook page.
One of the videos shows the moment of attack. The gunman awaits the official near the exit of an underground parking. When his car stops at a barrier, the attacker pulls out a gun and shoots a single bullet into windshield, apparently wounding the consular employee, and then runs away.
Another video captured moments before the attack, when the perpetrator, dressed in blue was following the US employee, dressed in a white tank top and red shorts. The US official is seen withdrawing cash from a terminal, while gunman followed him.
The third video shows the gunman fleeing the scene.
A manhunt for the gunman is reportedly underway. The consulate announced on Facebook that the FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the identification of the attacker.We are delighted to announce that the new procedural generation system, discussed in the QUINTESSENCE blog, is now available for Steam and GOG users.
The new proc gen system addresses player feedback we’ve received about Sunless Skies feeling empty, as well as solving some tricky technical and design issues on our side. Its segment-based design allows us to create richer, more coherent environments, while still encouraging replayable exploration.
We very much look forward to your feedback on the new design! Feel free to let us know your thoughts via our Steam, GOG or FBG forums.
The new segment-focused proc gen system is available for players via a separate branch in Steam/GOG. This means that the original proc gen system of the game will still be the main playable build available to players when they login to Steam/GOG to play. However, if anyone wants to try out the new system, they can follow the simple steps below to try it out.
A experimental HUD (where you view your fuel, supplies, heat etc. on the screen) will also be available in the new proc gen branch.
Important Note: If you are planning to try out the new branch we would recommend creating a separate character or making a backup copy of your character’s Lineage folder, as once you have imported your character’s save file from the main branch into the new proc gen branch, you will not be able to load that save file into the main branch again. More details about this can be found in our Patch Notes.
Steam
Log into your Steam account
Go to your Library and right-click on Sunless Skies
Select ‘Properties’ and click on the ‘Betas’ tab
Enter ‘proceduralgeneration’ into access code text box and click ‘Check code’
Click ‘Close’ and your game should update with the new proc gen build
To revert to the main branch: follow the same steps above, but select ‘NONE – Opt out of all beta programs’ from the dropdown menu in Steam’s ‘Betas’ tab
GOG
If you don’t have it already, download GOG Galaxy. Only GOG Galaxy users can make use of branches!
Log into your GOG account
Right click on Sunless Skies and select ‘Settings’
Make sure ‘Beta channels’ in the top right of this page is set to ‘On’
Choose ‘add private channels’ from the channel dropdown menu and enter the password ‘proceduralgeneration’
Click ‘Install’ to download the new proc gen version of Sunless Skies
To revert to the main branch: on the ‘Settings’ page, select ‘default’ branch and click ‘install’ again
No FBG Podcast Today
Also, our FBG Podcast about trade with Chris has been postponed due to some unforeseen circumstances. We are hoping to reschedule for Wednesday 6th December at 16:00 GMT.Transport for London has demolished the iconic Eduardo Paolozzi mosaic arches at Tottenham Court Road station in one of the biggest acts of cultural vandalism in recent memory. Despite public protests and a petition from groups and the 20th Century Society, which attracted nearly 8000 signatures, TFL has now confirmed that three of the four arches at Tottenham Court Road station featuring the murals have been dismantled and most likely destroyed. 28 year old Etan Smallman, from West Hampstead the organiser of the petition, said “I am absolutely disgusted in the disregard for the general public in this whole process. The fact that the decision was made without involving members of the public is an outrage”.
Architects Hawkins Brown who are well known for their lacklustre design projects have made little or no effort to intervene in the saving of the arches. This is most likely due to keeping the project on budget. The Twentieth Century Society announced that they were informed of the news during a meeting last week with TFL. The 20th Century Society said assurances were given that the large Paolozzi mural above the former Oxford Street entrance to the station would be saved. It will be relocated to a new site. TFL stated; “We have extensively explored the possibility of removing the arch tiles individually but less than five per cent could be removed undamaged because of the particularly rich mortar in which they are set.” Artlyst spoke to experts who have stated that this account is debatable and that removal was not throughly explored. The actual arches are false structures that could be cut out as a whole with the backing tiles removed by conservationists.
Catherine Croft Director of the Twentieth Century Society said, “We are very pleased that TFL has confirmed that it is set to save the large entrance panel at the former Oxford Street entrance. They have also stated that we will be consulted on the methodology for removal and relocation.” However, we are sad that the arches over the escalators have been lost. There has also been a sizeable amount of replication of the murals on the platforms, rather than retention of the original works, which we would have preferred. We were given assurances when the station upgrade plans were first mooted that the mosaics would be safe, and because of this we held off putting them in for listing. With hindsight we feel these mosaics would have been better protected through the listing process. We would have then been more involved in the decision making process from the beginning, and the outcome may have different.”
Whether the V&A had been explored as a taker for the arches is not known. The V&A have a large collection of salvaged architecture including an original art deco bathroom from the Savoy Hotel and the former lobby from the Strand Palace Hotel. It is thought that on the open market the Eduardo Paolozzi mosaic arches would be valued at up to £100,000.
Artlyst spoke to Sandeep Dhillon at the TFL press office but he failed to ring us back to confirm details to the many questions we raised.
Photo: © Courtesy World Bin Blogspot all rights reserved
Related PostsMany roadside plants had a number of important purposes in earlier times, whether they provide food, medicine or materials for clothing or dye-stuffs, it is interesting to step back into time and see what our ancestors used in everyday life.
Sambucus nigra is the common elderberry. It is native to Europe and its close relation Sambucus canadensis is its North American counterpart. These are large shrubs that love sunny meadows, fencerows and the edges around wooded areas and have long been a resource for people living off the land. It can grow up to 20' tall (6m) in optimum conditions and is hardy throughout a wide range of climate regions in Europe and North America.
This plant has been used medicinally for centuries and is scientifically documented to help a number of conditions. One of the most frequent uses is for the treatment of chest congestion and colds. There are even commercially available elderberry products such as cough drops and syrups on the market in Canada and Europe. They can also be found in the US, but are not as mainstream. Elderberry extract has also been documented as having antiviral properties and tests are underway to determine how effective it is in treating anything from H1N1 flu to AIDS.
People planning to use elderberries medicinally, should note that the raw fruits contain cyanoglycoside sambunigrin and can cause nausea and intestinal distress if ingested before cooking. The good news is, all of the important properties in the raw fruits are not degraded when heated. A tasty cough syrup can be made by boiling a cup of the berries (separated from the stems and washed) with 3 cups of water, a couple cinnamon sticks, a few cloves and a few thin slices of ginger. Bring this to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Strain the liquid through cheesecloth and once it is cool, add a cup of honey. Store it in the refrigerator and use about a teaspoon at a time for dosage. This syrup is also high in Vitamins C, A and B6. Another added plus is that the dark fruits contain high amounts of antioxidants...even more than blueberries! Just remember that natural remedies are only useful for minor ailments and professional medical treatment is advised for anything serious. Another interesting use for elderberries is that the crushed leaves make an effective insect repellent, which might be good information for hikers, however the scent is pretty strong and could be an effective repellent for human companions as well.
Elderberries are excellent plants for wildlife gardens too. Many birds and small mammals love the berries and it is a host plant for a number of butterflies and moths, most notably the Cecropia moth, North America's largest moth. These plants spread by stolons near the ground and by seeds, so keep the underlying area clear to avoid a weedy appearance. The large, while umbrella-shaped flowers that bloom in late spring are a good source of nectar for pollinators and hummingbirds and are an excellent focal point in the landscape. The flowers can be battered and fried like a fritter for a tasty treat and a champagne-like drink (with very little alcohol content) can be made from the fermented blossoms.
Fruits ripen in late summer and the large masses of dark purple berries are attractive even if you don't use them, however, they are often used to make wines and depending on the mordant used, make a natural dye with colors ranging from olive green to black.
For an interesting addition to the healing or wildlife garden, the elderberry is an excellent choice and is also a wonderful landscape plant. There are even a number of commercial cultivars available, so there should be good options for most gardens and situations.Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy had a colorful assessment of the planned merger between Hewlett-Packard and Compaq: it's like two garbage trucks, he said, backing into each other in slow motion. (Beep, beep, beep...thunk.)
That brings me to Monday's rather stunning news that Blockbuster, the giant video chain that's seen better days, is trying to buy Circuit City, the giant consumer electronics retail chain that's also seen better days. The offer, which was made in February and is just now becoming public, is worth $6 to $8 per share--between $1 billion and $1.3 billion total. It's about a 54 percent premium above Circuit City's value before the news broke.
Volvo Trucks
Now you can argue McNealy was way off base on the HP-Compaq merger, but he'd be spot on if he applied the double-garbage-truck metaphor to Blockbuster and Circuit City. As Peter Kafka at Silicon Alley Insider wrote earlier, it seems like they'd "rather be in a low-margin business than none at all."
In fairness, there is some logic to what they're trying to do. By combining a company that sells the entertainment with a company that sells the equipment that entertainment plays on, you have the mass-market equivalent of Apple's retail stores. If Blockbuster really is developing a set-top box that could allow movie downloads from another Blockbuster acquisition, Movielink, the Blockbuster/Circuit City hookup moves from the realm of the insane to the "nice idea if it were operating in a vacuum" category. At least that's the theory.
But here's the reality: Apple has around 200 retail stores and can meticulously control what is sold in them and how they are run. Apple retail employees go to a veritable boot camp before they're allowed to sell in Apple stores. By comparison, the combined Blockbuster and Circuit City would have 9,300 retail stores, with 5,500 in the United States (though I have to think more than a few of them would be shut down). Quality control? They're going to have to bring in a logistics expert from the military for that one.
Wall Street already hates this. Blockbuster was in the middle of a modest turnaround, after several years of suffering at the hands of Netflix's lightweight mail distribution business and various forms of digital distribution such as on-demand television from Comcast. The company's net income for the first quarter, which ended March 31, is expected to be $30 million, compared to a net loss of $49 million a year ago. Not great, but it's a start.
Pundits already worry a Circuit City takeover could distract Blockbuster executives (they're right) and divert money that could be used elsewhere (they're right about that, too). In afternoon trading Monday, Blockbuster shares were down 14 percent to $2.69 per share.
Circuit City shares, of course, jumped more than 30 percent to $5.12 in afternoon trading. Talk about a company suffering from a changing market...and Best Buy. For the full fiscal year, which ended February 29, Circuit City lost $321 million on $11.7 billion on revenue. The fourth fiscal quarter, thanks to $65 million in reduced costs, did show signs of improvement, with a modest $4.5 million profit on $3.65 billion (sales were down 7.7 percent from same quarter a year ago). But this is not exactly a company with a long line of suitors.
So bring this troubled pair together and what do you get? Well, I'm not sure, to be honest. I suspect Circuit City's ownership also has no idea, since the Blockbuster offer has been on the table since February 17.
Here's what I do know: You'd get a really big company with about $18 billion in combined sales. It would be saddled with a lot of real estate, and it could achieve some cost savings by shutting down some of those stores. But this isn't some roll-up strategy (like Larry Ellison is doing at Oracle) where costs can be quickly squeezed out and a bigger outfit can just roll in the cash. With this, you have two companies struggling to keep up with both more nimble (Netflix, Amazon.com) and much larger competitors (Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Comcast). It's a lousy place to be.
This proposed deal may have one thing going for it: Billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn is reportedly backing the move and is willing to finance it. He owns about 16 percent of Blockbuster's Class A shares, so I have to think he sees real value in acquiring struggling Circuit City. But as my CNET News.com colleague Dawn Kawamoto wrote a few months back, Icahn's interest doesn't always translate to a Midas touch.
Like most other people who learned about this deal Monday morning, I'm baffled. And I smell desperation.Why I keep extra cards in the box
David Pedersen Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 16, 2016
A deck usually comes with a few cards that aren’t relevant to cardists. Those are ad cards and jokers. Since they aren’t relevant you might consider just throwing them away, but I like to keep them in the box. I have seen other people do this, particularly people from Singapore. Here are my reasons.
The box was not designed to hold 52 cards
I always keep my cards in a clip. It keeps them fresh longer and makes the box last longer. However it will also squish the box more than necessary if you only keep the standard set of 52 in there.
The reason is that the box is designed to hold the number of cards that it ships with from the factory. That includes the ad cards and jokers.
So keeping the extra cards around will make the box feel tighter and make it fit nicer in a clip.
You always have spare cards
Sometimes it happens I loose a card or two. Might be because of water or accidentally leaving some behind when I drop the whole deck. And I don’t know about you but I hate using a deck with only 50 or 51 cards. It just doesn’t feel right.
However because I keep the jokers around I can always add one or two to the deck when I notice I’m a bit short. At first it’ll be obvious there is a card in the deck that is newer than the others, but after a few days you wont notice it anymore.Formula E presented motorsports governing body FIA with a preliminary list of eight cities that have been picked to host races next year. Cities included in the preliminary calendar are: London, Rome, L.A., Miami, Beijing, Putrajaya (Malaysia), Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.
Since its launch in August, Formula E has received formal demonstrations of interest to host a race from 23 cities across five continents. London Mayor Boris Johnson said: "Zero emission world class motor racing is a scintillating concept, and I am hugely keen that London be involved in the birth of Formula E. It has the potential to highlight the impressive strides being made in the manufacture of electric vehicles and hosting a street race could also be of considerable economic benefit to our city."
Formula E intends to organize up to 10 races in '14. The final calendar will be presented to FIA for its approval at the World Motor Sport Council in September. Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag said: "We are thankful to all the cities that have expressed their willingness to host our races. At the moment we are working with the eight selected cities on the feasibility and design of the street circuits. They will all be in city centers, easily accessible by public transport, and will feature some of the most beautiful and well-known landmarks as a spectacular backdrop for the races."
The racing series has two confirmed teams for '14. In a recent interview with SBD Global, Agag said: "This is not a Championship focused only on the average motorsport fan. [It] is targeting a different and younger kind of public, that is not at the moment into motorsport, but is keen on issues like environment, social media, free streaming, and video games. We think there is a niche for this in the global motorsport scene."Ed Klein, author of Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. The Obamas and self-styled Clinton insider, said Wednesday that he has learned from reliable sources that the White House is the one responsible for sparking the Hillary Clinton email scandal—and Bill Clinton is convinced of it, too.
On Fox & Friends Wednesday, Klein said that, according to insider sources, the White House is leaking damning information about Hillary to the media in an attempt to thwart her 2016 hopes because Obama and Valerie Jarrett fear the "too centrist" Hillary will undermine Obama's legacy by cooperating with Republicans.
The same sources told Klein that the White House has been working against Hillary for some time, their efforts leading to six investigations into Clinton. Klein claimed his sources have witnessed “tons of documents being wheeled through the corridors from Clinton’s old offices," in an attempt to find "problems on her expense account, on her dealings with foreign leaders." The reason: Jarrett and Obama fear Hillary will not "carry out the legacy of Barack Obama":
KLEIN: All of this, I’m told, is prompted by Valerie Jarrett, and the president who do not want to see Hillary Clinton President of the United States…they feel the Clintons are very centrist as far as the Democratic Party is concerned, that if Hillary becomes president, she won’t carry out the legacy of Barack Obama, which is much further to the left than the Clintons, that she’ll cooperate with the Republicans the way Bill Clinton did when he was in office, and dilute whatever Obama was able to accomplish.
The theory, Klein said, is not just something he believes, "Bill Clinton thinks this as well":
KLEIN: He has said, according to my sources, that the White House is leaking to their friendly — their friends in the mainstream media stories about the Clintons, not only about Hillary, but about him and about what she did while she was in the State Department. And it’s my understanding that — and this is from sources within the White House, that the Clintons know that Hillary is under not one, but six different investigations prompted by the White House.
Klein also underscored that Obama lied when he said he wasn't aware that Hillary had exclusively used a private email account during her tenure as Secretary of State. "He got a lot of emails from Hillary Clinton, all of which obviously came from her personal account," said Klein.
Video via Fox News Insider.With the Badgers’ triumphant football season over, a number of the stars of the team will be advancing to the professional level in the spring. SST gives an early evaluation of how high some will get drafted, what NFL teams may be targeting them, and more.
Ryan Ramczyk, OT
One of the best blindside protectors in this draft class, Ramczyk was an integral cog in the Badgers’ mauling machine of an offensive line. 2016 was his first year as a starter for the Badgers, redshirting in 2015 after transferring from UW-Stevens Point. At 6’6” and 313 pounds, Ramczyk has great size for a tackle without sacrificing quickness. Regarded as a better run blocker than a pass blocker, Ramczyk is nonetheless considered the second best tackle after Alabama’s Cam Robinson. However, his draft stock is among the most volatile of any prospect due to a Jan. 5 hip surgery, with mock drafts predicting Ramczyk to get selected anywhere from the top 10 to the mid-second round. The surgery will keep him out for four months, which will prevent him from working out for NFL teams at the combine. While some teams may drop Ramczyk on their boards as a result, he is regarded as an NFL-ready prospect and should land in the top 20 of the draft. There are a number of teams drafting in the 10-20 range that could use a tackle, such as the Bills, Colts, and Broncos.
TJ Watt, OLB
The younger brother of former Badgers 3-time Defensive Player of the Year DE J.J. Watt and Chargers FB Derek Watt, redshirt junior T.J. surprisingly declared for the draft despite having a year of eligibility remaining. Recruited as a tight end before converting to defense just as J.J. had done, T.J. racked up 11.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss in 2016 as one of the most fearsome edge rushers in the Big Ten. Watt stands 6’5”, which makes him a threat to knock down passes at the NFL level, but at 243 pounds he needs to add muscle. With his current proportions and skill set, Watt would be too tall to play outside linebacker and too light to play defensive end in a 4-3 scheme, but as a 3-4 outside linebacker he could wreak havoc. A pre-draft focus of Watt’s should be to add weight, as he could slip into the back end of the first round with a good performance in the strength drills at the combine. As of now, Watt, the 46th-overall prospect according to CBS Sports, is likely to get drafted on Day 2, with the Colts, Ravens, and Browns being good fits.
Vince Biegel, OLB
The heart and soul of the Badgers defense, team captain Biegel appears to be following the footsteps of Joe Schobert closely. Biegel entered the season as the top-rated returning outside linebacker by Pro Football Focus, but a mid-season surgery slowed his production. Nonetheless, Biegel finished the season with 44 tackles, four sacks, and a forced fumble as he was named to the 2nd-team All-Big Ten. The 11th-rated outside linebacker in the draft, Biegel was a consistent producer in his three years as a starter for Wisconsin. Biegel is less of a pass-rushing threat and has less upside than his counterpart Watt, but is a safer selection and fits into more schemes. Biegel could play outside linebacker in both a 3-4 and 4-3 scheme, a flexibility that makes it hard to gauge what teams could be interested in him this early in the draft process, but he will likely end up in the middle rounds of the draft.
Corey Clement, RB
Overshadowed by a running back-heavy draft class that could see multiple rushers selected in the top 10, Clement has the ability to entice NFL teams as a good value pick in the middle rounds of the draft. The New Jersey native comes next in a long line of Wisconsin running backs who have made an impact at the professional level. Clement quietly rushed for 1,375 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2016 after an injury-riddled junior season that disappointed many who had pegged him as a dark horse Heisman candidate. Named 1st-team All-Big Ten this past fall, Clement took a backseat to players like Florida State’s Dalvin Cook and LSU’s Leonard Fournette. However, Clement is a powerful runner who can be a solid starter in the NFL. There is worry in scouting circles that there is no finesse to Clement’s game, and that he will never be more than a committee back. Expected to be picked in the 4th round, the Giants and the Lions could be in the market for Clement’s services.
Sojourn Shelton, CB
One of the leaders of the Badgers’ lockdown defense over the last two seasons, Shelton is hoping to carve out a spot on an NFL roster this summer. An experienced player, Shelton was named 2nd-Team All-Big Ten in 2016, and earned Honorable Mention in 2015 and 2013. A four-year starter for the Badgers, Shelton is a scrappy player who will likely shift to the nickel corner role in the NFL. However, scouts may worry about his slight 5’9”, 170 pound frame. When matched up with an NFL running back or tight end in the open field, Shelton will be out-weighed heavily. His 40 time is solid, and how well he runs the position drills at the combine will likely determine whether he gets drafted in the 5th round or falls out of the draft entirely.
Bart Houston, QB
Despite forming a sort of quarterback committee with redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook in 2016, Houston did enough to warrant attention from NFL teams during his time as the starter. Named after Packers legend Bart Starr, Houston filled in briefly for Joel Stave in 2015 and was expected to lead the Badgers in his senior season. However, he was inconsistent and unspectacular as the starter, and Hornibrook’s greater upside earned him playing time. Houston struggles with arm strength but makes intelligent throws. His 6’4” frame is a plus, but Houston is far from a mobile quarterback. If he works out well at the combine and at his pro day he may get drafted, but it will be a surprise if he makes a significant impact in the pros.
Statistics courtesy of espn.com, prospect ratings courtesy of CBS Sports.IT'S election season in America, which means that China is in the rhetorical crosshairs. Both President Obama and Mitt Romney have been complaining about Chinese economic misbehaviour, but Mr Romney has attacked Mr Obama especially viciously on the subject of currency manipulation and the administration's failure to label China a manipulator and slap it with tariffs. Paul Krugman says that the time for such actions has passed:
In 2010 an undervalued renminbi was a significant drag on advanced economies, including the United States. Since then, however, two big things have happened: relatively high inflation in China, and some appreciation of the renminbi against the dollar. As a result, the real exchange rate of China against the United States (based on consumer prices), has appreciated significantly... At the same time. China’s surplus has come way down...
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I'm happy to agree with most of that. This newspaper has argued that, on some measures, the yuan is close to fair value. As my colleague noted recently, net exports have been a drag on Chinese growth over the past two years. And at times this year, China has faced substantial capital outflows.
But Mr Krugman leaves something important out of this discussion, which is: how did we wind up here? In particular, how did we wind up here without America's government ever "getting tough" with China?
Let's rewind. Back in 2010, Mr Krugman argued animatedly that China's currency manipulation was having a very nasty effect on America's economy and that a very tough line with the Chinese leadership, including a battery of punitive tariffs, was justified. I felt quite differently: that the currency manipulation was less important than he thought, that aggressive action would very probably be either counterproductive or destructive, and that as everyone agreed appreciation was in China's long-run interests the problem would eventually solve itself. As recently as October of last year, when Mr Krugman still thought China bashing would be economically useful, I said:
The question I'd ask myself if I were Mr Krugman is this: is American pressure likely to lead to appreciation over and above the current pace with acceptable costs to the global economy and important international relationships? Now, maybe Mr Krugman would argue that the answer is yes. For now, he simply ignores the possibility that anything truly bad could happen as a result of a "get tough" approach in America. That's just not good enough; typically we're somewhat careful about trying to force major economies to do something they clearly are reluctant to do, particularly when the benefits are likely to be relatively small. I'm not sure that what the global economy needs right now is a round of sabre-rattling between the two largest economies. (Mr Krugman would argue that China was the initial agressor, but ongoing—slow, but meaningful—yuan appreciation means that China is effectively disarming.)
I'd put the question to Mr Krugman again. Given that he seems to accept that China's real exchange rate has adjusted to an acceptable level in just two years, how confident is he that an even faster appreciation could have been achieved at acceptable economic and diplomatic cost? Because I'm feeling a bit smuggish about my past assessments of the issue.AEROPLANE geeks love the Boeing 747 for its iconic style. Nothing brings to mind the golden age of mass jet-setting quite like the “Queen of the Skies”, with its four giant engines and familiar bumpy profile.
Airlines, though, are less keen. They now prefer twin-engined jets, which can fly farther and use much less fuel. In 2014, Boeing did not sell a single jumbo. Last year, just 18 rolled off its production line in Everett, Washington state. That was still too many. So the firm planned to reduce its output to just one every other month, ahead of what seemed an inevitable coup de grace.
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The Queen may have secured a stay of execution, however. Reports suggest that Boeing is close to securing a deal for ten jumbos, worth $4 billion, with AirBridgeCargo Airlines, Russia’s largest air-freight firm. According to Bloomberg:
The deal would provide a crucial lifeline for the “Queen of the Skies” as Boeing tries to preserve production until the air-cargo market revives or shipping companies start to replace aging wide-body fleets. The 747 freighter, prized for a hinged nose that allows large cargo to be loaded at the front, is Boeing’s second-most expensive commercial jet, with a list price of $379.1 million. Buyers typically negotiate discounts.
Boeing has built over 1,500 of the planes since their inception in 1966 (the first commercial flights were by PanAm in 1970). Some 500 are still flying today. But even the big American carriers have abandoned the plane. Only Delta and United still operate 747s; most expect them to phase them out when they get the chance. Until today’s news, there was a danger that the president of the United States, who flies around in a pair of 747s, would remain the only loyal customer.
Still, even with the Russian reprieve, the 747’s days are probably numbered. Those airlines that are still keen on jumbos tend to prefer Airbus’s even bigger A380. Although it has also found the market difficult, its future looks more assured—particularly as the plane is popular with the growing Gulf “super-connectors”. Emirates, for example, has 79 A380s in its fleet, with a further 63 on order. In comparison, it flies just two 747s, both in its cargo division.
The 747 was once described as the “commuter train of the global village”, and many geeks will be sad when the last one is finally built. After all, no modern-day commercial plane quite has its aesthetic quality. Unfortunately for them, progress rarely cares about such bagatelles.After teasing a new collaboration with NTS Radio recently, Aphex Twin has announced the site will host his first ever live-streamed performance this weekend. His headline set from London’s Field Day will broadcast via the NTS site on Saturday. Weirdcore, Aphex and NTS’s visual collaborator, will adapt the visuals to create “a bespoke online visual immersion,” according to a press release. Aphex had teased imminent activity with a pair of videos featuring unreleased music, one of which samples vocals from Rhythm Controll’s “My House.” Richard D. James’ last official release under the Aphex Twin alias, the Cheetah EP, was released last summer. A new demo called “4xAtlantis take1” was unveiled in April.
Revisit Pitchfork’s Cover Story “Strange Visitor: A Conversation With Aphex Twin.” Read our list of the 50 Best IDM Albums of All Time, and watch the video countdown below.Image copyright Spike Aerospace Image caption Passengers will be able to turn down the screens or change images
A company building a supersonic jet says it plans to replace cabin windows with thin display screens embedded in the wall.
Cameras recording outside the aircraft will display pictures on the screens.
Spike Aerospace, which is designing the plane, says drag will be reduced by removing windows, which "cause significant challenges in designing and constructing an aircraft |
fraud issue in the U.S., so attacking that aspect of fraud is a good thing.
But the most essential piece of background here is that the U.S. EMV deployment uses signatures as authentication, instead of PINs. PIN is how the rest of the world does EMV, and no one disputes that PIN is far more secure than signature. To be fair, that's not an especially difficult hurdle to clear today, since retailers have given up using signature for any authentication at all. It provides zero protection. When was the last time you saw a retail associate examining the signature on your card and comparing it to how you signed? That lack of examination is a good thing, given the absolute absence of handwriting-recognition training that store associates are given.
What the FBI said is that PIN is far more secure—which is without debate—and it encouraged shoppers to use a PIN instead of signature. Therein lay the problem. The FBI was giving legitimate security advice, but it's counsel that consumers—thanks to Visa and MasterCard and key banks—can't take. Retailers are not being allowed to accept PINs so the FBI counsel was, in reality, going to be pointless and confusing.
What the FBI should have said is that the U.S. needs to join the rest of the world and accept EMV PINs. It's not as though there would likely be huge consumer resistance. U.S. shoppers are already quite comfortable with PINs, courtesy of both ATM cards and payment debit cards. If it's a united effort, Americans—just like Canadians and Europeans—will deal with it.
Think back to ATMs. Consumers were never wild about the concept, but when the convenience became clear, they accepted it and never looked back. But the banking powers-that-be have this unwarranted fear of consumer revolt. Hence, a reasonably secure system is being deployed as a barely secure system. Yes, it's more secure than magstripe, but there are few things that wouldn't be.
Alas, not supporting PIN is only one of the self-inflicted wounds hurting EMV. EMV is trying to deploy in the U.S. just as mobile payments—especially Apple Pay—are starting to get a little traction. How is that a problem? It involves how EMV is being used. The current system forces an EMV card to be inserted—called "dip" in the payments world—into the card-reader and to stay throughout the transaction. That is a big change from magstripe and will take a lot more time.
Retailers today are sharply accelerating transaction time and this will be a big step back. Starbucks last week, for example, allowed Apple to say that all Starbucks stores will accept Apple Pay in store. This is a big change for the coffee chain, and it's mostly about EMV. Changing from a shopper using the Starbucks app to Apple Pay will sharply accelerate checkout, since the Starbucks app has to be launched to be used, and Apple Pay doesn't. Apple Pay will work even if the phone is in airplane mode and is not on Wi-Fi. As long as the phone is powered on—and Apple Pay was, of course, set up at some earlier point—it will work instantly.
Compare that with a Starbucks shopper trying to use an EMV card. It will have to be inserted and stay there—or else it will be handed to the store associate, who will have to do the same and remember to remove the card and hand it back. Apple Pay is faster than the Starbucks app, and the Starbucks app is faster than magstripe and magstripe is far faster than EMV. And remember that your margin speaks to how many customers you can rush in and out on their way to work. You do the math.
The FBI was right, though, that it should get involved in EMV. The way EMV is being handled is nothing less than a crime.One of the amazing things about the internet economy is how different the list of top internet properties today looks from the list ten years ago. It wasn’t as if those former top companies were complacent – most of them acquired and built products like crazy to avoid being displaced.
The reason big new things sneak by incumbents is that the next big thing always starts out being dismissed as a “toy.” This is one of the main insights of Clay Christensen’s “disruptive technology” theory. This theory starts with the observation that technologies tend to get better at a faster rate than users’ needs increase. From this simple insight follows all kinds of interesting conclusions about how markets and products change over time.
Disruptive technologies are dismissed as toys because when they are first launched they “undershoot” user needs. The first telephone could only carry voices a mile or two. The leading telco of the time, Western Union, passed on acquiring the phone because they didn’t see how it could possibly be useful to businesses and railroads – their primary customers. What they failed to anticipate was how rapidly telephone technology and infrastructure would improve (technology adoption is usually non-linear due to so-called complementary network effects). The same was true of how mainframe companies viewed the PC (microcomputer), and how modern telecom companies viewed Skype. (Christensen has many more examples in his books).
This does not mean every product that looks like a toy will turn out to be the next big thing. To distinguish toys that are disruptive from toys that will remain just toys, you need to look at products as processes. Obviously, products get better inasmuch as the designer adds features, but this is a relatively weak force. Much more powerful are external forces: microchips getting cheaper, bandwidth becoming ubiquitous, mobile devices getting smarter, etc. For a product to be disruptive it needs to be designed to ride these changes up the utility curve.
Social software is an interesting special case where the strongest forces of improvement are users’ actions. As Clay Shirky explains in his latest book, Wikipedia is literally a process – every day it is edited by spammers, vandals, wackos etc., yet every day the good guys make it better at a faster rate. If you had gone back to 2001 and analyzed Wikipedia as a static product it would have looked very much like a toy. The reason Wikipedia works so brilliantly are subtle design features that sculpt the torrent of user edits such that they yield a net improvement over time. Since users’ needs for encyclopedic information remains relatively steady, as long as Wikipedia got steadily better, it would eventually meet and surpass user needs.
A product doesn’t have to be disruptive to be valuable. There are plenty of products that are useful from day one and continue being useful long term. These are what Christensen calls sustaining technologies. When startups build useful sustaining technologies, they are often quickly acquired or copied by incumbents. If your timing and execution is right, you can create a very successful business on the back of a sustaining technology.
But startups with sustaining technologies are very unlikely to be the new ones we see on top lists in 2020. Those will be disruptive technologies – the ones that sneak by because people dismiss them as toys.Recent PyCharm 1.1 EAP has added one of the most voted feature — Remote Debug. I’m going to say a few words about it expecting you to try it and share your thoughts with us.
If you plan to debug something “remote” it means that you have:
a project that you develop locally in PyCharm the same project at some remote host (note that sources really should be the same, otherwise you will see some strange things happening during debug session, e.g. inability to set breakpoints or seeing current execution point different from actual one) local host accessible from the remote one by socket connection
In order to use remote debug you need to perform only 3 steps:
Step 1: Start debug server
To do this you can use Python Remote Debug configuration
There you can just specify local host name, by which your local host is accessible from the remote one (192.168.56.1 in my case), and a port number for server to start at. Then launch this configuration.
Remote debug server is started at port 51234.
Step 2: Copy pycharm-debug.egg to your remote host
pycharm-debug.egg file is located in root of your PyCharm installation directory. Copy it to the remote host and add it to Python path.
Step 3: Update script to start debugger client
Insert 2 lines of code to your script to start debugger client that will connect to server and trace your code. These lines are pretty simple and you can copy them from the Remote Debug configuration dialog:
from pydev import pydevd pydevd.settrace(‘192.168.56.1’, port=51234, stdoutToServer=True, stderrToServer=True)
And that’s all! Just run your script and it connects to the server immediately going to suspend mode.
One last thing for you to take care: PyCharm needs to know how sources from remote host are mapped to your local project sources.
Thats why in case locations are different, you should provide path mappings.
For example if you have local project something like: C:ProjectsSuperProjectmega_script.py
and remotely: /home/testing/mega_script.py
you should enable ‘Use path mappings’ option in remote debug run configuration settings and fill prefixes
Luckily PyCharm provides some useful means by setting file mappings during the process of debug if it wasn’t configured before.
If a file that should be debugged remotely is not found locally, you will see a special editor:
This editor gives you 3 options:
1) Chose ‘Edit settings’ to edit mappings once again in run configuration settings dialog
2) Press ‘Auto-detect’ to resolve mappings automatically
This will offer you to choose a file with the same name from your project and then automatically fix path mappings in your run configuration.
3) And in case you don’t have such a file in your project you are still able to view the source code if you download it from the remote host by pressing ‘Download’ link. But note that the file won’t be saved in project and will disappear along with termination of the debug session.
That’s it for now! We really want to know your thoughts on this functionality to make it work perfect for you. Leave your comments here or on PyCharm discussion forum.
Wishing you no bugs in your code!Don't let red, swollen skin from ingrown toenails stop you from rocking your latest pedicure or even your favorite footwear fashions. With corners curving deeply into the sides of your toes, this abnormal nail shape isn't just aesthetically unpleasant -- it can also be uncomfortable and lead to infection, a major health risk for those who have diabetes or other blood flow disorders. Ditch the too-tight shoes and aggressive clipping technique that got you into this predicament, and get your feet back on track by retraining your nails to grow properly.
Coax an embedded nail corner out from the surrounding skin by softening your foot in a relaxing bath.
Fill a basin with hot water and add 2 tablespoons of Epsom salt or table salt.
Stir the bath water with a plastic spoon until the salt dissolves. Soak the affected foot for 15 to 20 minutes, three to four times each day until the swelling goes down. Rinse the foot in warm, soapy water, then clear water. Dry the foot thoroughly with a towel.
Tips
Massage the affected side of the toe to help dislodge the embedded nail corner.
Tight, too-narrow shoes often force nails to curve downward, causing them to grow into the skin. Cover your ingrown toenail with a bandage to provide extra cushioning, and replace those uncomfortable shoes with open-toed shoes or those with a wide toe box to give your toenail some space.
Once the toenail grows past the edge of the toe, keep it well-clipped to prevent further curving.
Soak your feet in warm water to soften the nail.
Cut the nail straight across with a pair of nail clippers, making square corners, just at the edge of the toe. Lightly file the edge of the nail with an emery board to smooth it out. Lightly file the corners with the rough end of an ingrown nail file if they are too sharp.
Do not trim the corners of ingrown toenails or cut nails too short, because this will just make them worse. Instead, wait until the nail grows out properly. If the nail continues to grow into the side of your toe, despite home treatment, see a podiatrist.
Tips
Soak your nails before clipping them to prevent cracking or crumbling.Ever wanna see someone get arrested for clapping? Well, here you go.
As a community service, I give you your government in action, folks: the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors allowing sheriff's deputies to arbitrarily arrest people for applauding at a public meeting. Tell you the truth, after watching this stuff, it's hard to feel any sympathy for Supervisor Don "The Mullet" Stapley and his 118 counts. Here's hoping you kiss the mat, Don, like Leon Spinks used to back in the day.
And as for Chairman Andy Kunasek, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, minus the uniform (look him up, people), one can only suggest that those kneepads he's got on for Sheriff Joe look like they're wearing a bit around the edges. So he should probably have them replaced. He needs to keep fellating Joe and letting the MCSO arrest innocent civilians willy-nilly. Otherwise, Joe and his political rear-end friend Candy Thomas will find 118-counts for his sorry ass, too.The season is finished. Babson College won the championship and is the best among NCAA Division 3 Basketball teams. But there are more winners. Teams that broke records and accumulated remarkable statistics. It’s a pity that most of those achievements were not visible to the public eye. Why? Because it takes advanced statistics, and basketball metrics, to see beyond the regular rankings.
ALTERNATIVE FACTS
For example, the highest scoring team may not always be the best offensive team. Some teams play up-tempo and run at every opportunity. Others like to milk the clock and “walk it up.” Consequently, this playing style influences the number of possessions and therefore the opportunities to score, rebound, and compile other statistics.
POSSESSION BASED STATISTICS
Assessing teams on a per-possession basis provides even criteria where teams can be compared regardless of their pace factor or number of possessions they have per game. The NBA was the first to use these type of advanced stats. Until today no such data was available for NCAA Division 3 Basketball. Court Side Newspaper is the first source in the world to introduce it. Below are some of the most eye-catching advanced statistics, and key facts, for D3 Basketball teams.
LONGEST WINNING STREAK IN DIVISION 3 BASKETBALL
Whitman College had been undefeated all season and entered the NCAA Division 3 semi-finals with a 31-0 record. There, they met Babson College. In an incredible game, Babson College rallied from a 25-point deficit to defeat Whitman College, 91-85. Whitman College ended the season with a 31-1 record. The best in Division 3 Basketball. Babson College went on to win the NCAA 3 championship. At the other end of the spectrum was Summit University with a 22 game losing streak and a 1-24 season record.
NERVES OF STEEL
Either the Carthage College players have ice in their vanes, or coach Bosko Djurickovic is a brilliant tactician, or maybe both. The Carthage Red Men played five games that went to overtime and won all of them, but that’s not all. Four of the five games that Carthage College played between January 28, and February 15, went to OT! By contrast, Widener University played four overtime games and lost all of them.
RUN AND GUN
Greenville College is officially the fastest team on earth! No other team in the world can keep up with the barn-burning run and gun style of the Greenville College Panthers. They average almost 107 possessions (and 129 points) per game! The slowest team in D3 hoops was McDaniel College with only 58 possessions per game, while Framingham State University was the lowest scoring team with 58 points per game.
MORE IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER
While Greenville College played at the highest pace and averaged most points in NCAA Division 3 Basketball, they were not the best offensive team. In fact, they didn’t even rank among the top-20. The best offensive team this season was Benedictine University (IL) with an Offensive Rating of 125 (125 points per 100 possessions).
ROCK SOLID DEFENSE
The toughest team to score against in NCAA Division 3 Basketball was the Christopher Newport University that allowed only 86.9 points per possession. They also ranked best in traditional stats since heir opponents only averaged 57 points when playing against them. University of the Ozark’s had the worst defense in the league, allowing 128.7 points per 100 possessions. The opponents of Rhodes College averaged 101 points per game while playing against them.
ANDERSON UNIVERSITY OWNED THE CHARITY STRIPE
Anderson University (IN) recorded a 36.5 free throw rate. That’s the ratio of foul shots to field goal attempts. No wonder that Anderson also had the best True Shooting Percentage (67.9). True shooting percentage is a measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account field goals, 3-point field goals, and free throws.
SWARTHMORE COLLEGE DOMINATED THE BOARDS
Greenville College averaged most rebounds per game, but that is because they also played at the highest pace. The real air force of NCAA Division 3 Basketball was Swarthmore College because that team grabbed 58.4 % of all available rebounds (Rebounding rate). It is also noteworthy that no team crashed the offensive boards like Gordon College (40.8% of all available offensive rebounds) and that they also ranked second overall (58% of all available rebounds), after Swarthmore.
These are just some of the advanced statistics that we have available. For more, please visit our Game Center.The Syrian government on Sunday condemned Egypt's decision to cut ties with Damascus and back the armed uprising against President Bashar Assad, calling it an "irresponsible" move.
"The Syrian Arab Republic condemns this irresponsible position," an unnamed Syrian official told state news agency SANA.
The official said Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi had joined the "conspiracy and incitement led by the United States and Israel against Syria by announcing the cutting of ties yesterday.”
"Syria is confident that this decision does not represent the will of the Egyptian people," the official added, accusing Morsi of announcing the severing of ties to deflect attention from internal crises.
Morsi, an Islamist who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, announced Saturday the "definitive" severing of relations with war-torn Syria, and the recall of Egypt's charge d'affaires in Damascus.
He called for the international community to impose a no-fly zone and denounced the role of Hizbullah in Syria, where its members are helping the army battle rebels.
Egypt is Sunni Muslim, as are the vast majority of rebels fighting to overthrow Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.For decades, U.S. youth culture revolved around cars. Iconic American hits, from the Beach Boys’ “Little Deuce Coupe” to Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road,” sang of horsepower, speed and open highway. The seminal shift from childhood to adulthood occurred at age 16, when seemingly every red-blooded American kid (except the suspect ones who lived in Manhattan) scored a driver's license. Maturity, adventure and freedom came in the form of four wheels and a full tank of gas.
Not, perhaps, anymore. An emerging body of national statistics bears out what observers of the bike-rack gridlock in Millennial-heavy neighborhoods like Washington’s Petworth or San Francisco’s Tenderloin may have guessed at: Today’s American teenagers and twenty-somethings aren’t loving—or driving—cars nearly as much as their predecessors did. They’re getting their freedom from smartphones, which can travel distances and reach speeds that make cars seem quaint. They’re increasingly interested in commuting by bike or public transit. And growing numbers of them say they see cars more as nuisances and less as toys.
If this change proves broad and enduring—a postmodern, post-automotive generational shift — it will have profound implications: for how the federal government spends transportation dollars, for how auto and oil companies make money, for future patterns of U.S. real-estate development. But that’s a big “if.” The signs of this change are new and spotty, so the extent of the change remains wildly unclear. This may indeed be the end of an era: American car culture running out of gas. Or it may be something less revolutionary: a shift in the interests mainly of an elite, citified segment of the young—and an economically-driven, and thus ephemeral, shift at that.
That today’s youth are driving markedly less than their predecessors seems clear. Between 2001 and 2009, a period in which the recession emerged and gasoline prices shot up, Americans of all ages reduced their driving. The U.S. population grew by about 10 percent during those years, but the total distance Americans drove fell by about 1 percent—a reversal from prior decades, when total miles traveled kept climbing, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Driving fell most sharply during the first decade of this century among those aged 16 to 30. Per-person miles traveled fell 2 percent among those 56 and older; 11 percent among those 31 to 55, and a massive 25 percent—more than twice as much as for the middle-aged group—among those 16 to 30. Another indicator: The portion of Americans aged 16 to 24 who have driver’s licenses fell to 67 percent in 2011, its lowest level in roughly a half-century, according to federal statistics cited in a report last year by the U.S. PIRG Educational Fund and the Frontier Group, two environmentally oriented organizations.Written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV
Art by Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, FCO Plascencia, Jock, and Dave Baron
Lettering by Richard Starkings, Jimmy Betancourt, and Taylor Esposito
Published by DC Comics
Review by Lan Pitts
'Rama Rating: 10 out of 10
Click here for a preview
This issue is no joke.
Since the relaunch of Batman, it has been praised and and put on a pedestal as the best book DC is publishing today. From the Court of the Owls arc, to now the Death of the Family, it's kept that acclaim with this issue. Bringing out Batman's most notorious and well-known rogue to the new universe probably put pressure on Snyder and the rest of Team Batman that only a guy like Atlas would know. Batman #16 is nothing short of jaw-dropping, and the best issue yet.
What Snyder has done here is take a slice of every past decade of Bat mythos and swirled it around and created a contemporary masterpiece. Snyder's Joker isn't a man without a plan. He's calculating and sinister. He's the guy other villains tell stories about to scare each other. Reading this, each page turn becomes another skipped breath and heart beat because the suspense is layered so thickly. Each previous issue, we've seen Joker top himself, but here and now, he might have topped all past incarnations of the character. Snyder hasn't just crafted a great Batman story, but something worthy of a prized detective story. The thing that Snyder gets is that Joker is chaos and unpredictable. Gone are the days of traps set in giant typewriters, but what Joker throws at Batman page after page is imagery we'll not soon forget.
Along with singing Snyder's praises and accolades, there could not have been a better artist than Greg Capullo for this job. Doubt was cast aside long ago when he won over audiences with this cinematic style and bonafide rockstar take on Batman and Gotham. In this issue, Capullo gives us strong visuals and polite nods to other eras of Batman history. There are a few panels that didn't need words at all. His panel layouts are the most dynamic they've ever been with some of his best art to date. Every page in this issue is deserving of every expression of admiration this title has ever received. It's masterful, and at the same time, haunting. This issue could not have been easy on the art team, but inker Jonathan Glapion and colorist FCO Plascencia came through in spades. Even FCO's coloring of the Joker's face as it's beginning to rot is a nice, yet macabre touch to things.
The back-up feature by Snyder and collaborator/former protege, James Tynion IV gives us a glimpse of how the Gotham rogues interact with one another as well that last bit of intensity we've come to expect. While talented in his own right, Jock delivers some great art here, assisted by Dave Baron on colors, but after what Capullo served us earlier, it doesn't feel on the same level. It's interesting to see Penguin, Riddler (sans his question mark mohawk) and Two-Face being portrayed in both parts of the issue, with both Capullo and Jock having very distinct differences in presentation.
It's hard to not sit back in awe after reading Batman #16. There's so much being thrown at you, but how Capullo constructs things, it's easy to swallow. It deserves another read the second after you finish it the first time, just to be sure you didn't miss anything. Possibly a third. Snyder and company have given us something comic fans will be talking about for years to come and possibly then some. Batman is often called the pinnacle of human perfection, and this issue gives the character and the legend justice.
Got a comment? There's lots of conversation on Newsarama's FACEBOOK and TWITTERGothic bible translation
A page of the Codex Argenteus
The Codex Argenteus (Latin for "Silver Book/Codex") is a 6th-century manuscript, originally containing a 4th century translation of the Bible into the Gothic language. Traditionally ascribed to bishop Ulfilas, it is now established that the Gothic translation was performed by several scholars, possibly under Ulfilas's supervision.[1] Of the original 336 folios, 188—including the Speyer fragment discovered in 1970—have been preserved, containing the translation of the greater part of the four gospels. A part of it is on permanent display at the Carolina Rediviva library in Uppsala, Sweden.[2]
History [ edit ]
Origin [ edit ]
The "Silver Bible" was probably written for the Ostrogothic King Theodoric the Great, either at his royal seat in Ravenna, or in the Po valley or at Brescia. It was made as a special and impressive book written with gold and silver ink on high-quality thin vellum stained a regal purple, with an ornate treasure binding. After Theodoric's death in 526 the Silver Bible is not mentioned in inventories or book lists for a thousand years.
Discovery [ edit ]
Parts of the "Codex Argenteus" (literally, "Silver Book"), 187 of the original 336 parchment folia, were preserved at the former Benedictine abbey of Werden (near Essen, Rhineland). The abbots at Werden were imperial princes and had a seat in the Imperial Diet. While the precise date of the "Silver Bible" is unknown, it was discovered at Werden in the 16th century.
The codex, or the remaining part of it, came to rest in the library of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II at his imperial seat in Prague.[3] At the end of the Thirty Years' War, in 1648, after the Battle of Prague, it was taken as war booty to Stockholm, Sweden, to the library of Queen Christina of Sweden. After her conversion to Catholicism and her abdication, the book went to the Netherlands among the property of Isaac Vossius, her former librarian, in 1654. In the 1660s, it was bought and taken to Uppsala University by Count Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, who also provided its present lavishly decorated binding.
The codex remains at the Uppsala University Library in the Carolina Rediviva building. On 5 April 1995, parts of the codex that were on public display in Carolina Rediviva were stolen. The stolen parts were recovered one month later, in a storage box at the Stockholm Central Railway Station.[4][5]
The details of the codex's wanderings for a thousand years remain a mystery; it is unknown whether the other half of the book may have survived.
In 1998 the codex was subjected to carbon-14 analysis and was dated to the sixth century.[6] It was also determined that the manuscript had been bound at least once during the sixteenth century.[7]
The Speyer fragment [ edit ]
The final leaf of the codex, fol. 336, was discovered in October 1970 in Speyer, Germany, 321 km south-east of Werden. It was found at the restoration of the Agsburg's Saint Afra chapel, rolled around a thin wooden staff, contained in a small reliquary[citation needed] originating in Aschaffenburg. The leaf contains the final verses of the Gospel of Mark.
Publications [ edit ]
First publication mentioning Gothic manuscript appeared in 1569 by Goropius Becanus in his book Origines Antwerpianae:
So now let us come to another language, which the judgement of every man of distinguished learning at Cologne identifies as Gothic, and examine the aforesaid Lord's Prayer written in that [language] in a volume of great age belonging to the monastery of Werden in the district of Berg, about four miles from Cologne. This [volume] was kindly made available to me, with his notable generosity towards all researchers, by the most reverend and learned Maximilien Morillon, from among the papers of his late brother Antoine.[8]
In 1597, Bonaventura Vulcanius, Leiden professor of Greek, published his book De literis et lingua Getarum sive Gothorum. It was the first publication of a Gothic text altogether, calling the manuscript "Codex Argenteus":
In regard to this Gothic language, there have come to me [two] brief dissertations by an unidentifiable scholar - shattered planks, as it were, from the shipwreck of the Belgian libraries; the first of these is concerned with the script and pronunciation [of the language], and the other with the Lombardic script which, as he says, he copied from a manuscript codex of great antiquity which he calls "the Silver".[9]
But he was not only the first who enabled the learned world to make the acquaintance of the Gothic translation of the Gospels in Gothic script, but also the first who connected this version with the name of Ulfilas:
With all due respect to these writers, I should think that the use of Gothic scripts existed among the Goths long before the time of Wulfila but that it was he who first made it known to the Romans by translating the Holy Bible into the Gothic language. I have heard that a manuscript copy of this, and a very ancient one, written in Gothic capital letters, is lurking in some German library.[10]
De Literis & Lingva GETARUM Sive GOTHORUM, 1597, p.33. Part of Lord's Prayer from, 1597, p.33.
In this his book Vulcanius published two chapters about the Gothic language which contained four fragments of the Gothic New Testament: the Ave Maria (Luke I.28 and 42), the Lord's Prayer (Matt. VI.9-13), the Magnificat (Luke I.46-55) and the Song of Simeon (Luke II.29-32), and consistently gave first the Latin translation, then the Gothic in Gothic characters, and then a transliteration of the Gothic in Latin characters.
In 1737, Lars Roberg, a physician of Uppsala, made a woodcut of one page of the manuscript; it was included in Benzelius' edition of 1750, and the woodcut is preserved in the Linköping Diocesan and Regional Library. Another edition of 1854–7 by Anders Uppström contained an artist's rendition of another page. In 1927, a facsimile edition of the Codex was published.
The standard edition is that published by Wilhelm Streitberg in 1910 as Die Gotische Bibel (The Gothic Bible).
Script and illumination [ edit ]
Detail of Codex Argenteus, Mt 5:34 scan of the 1927 facsimile edition. The highlighted section is an abbreviation of the Gothic cognate of " God ".
The manuscript is written in an uncial script in the Gothic alphabet, reportedly created by Ulfilas. The script is very uniform, so much so that it has been suggested that it was made with stamps. However, two hands have been identified: one hand in the Gospels of Matthew and John and another in the Gospels of Mark and Luke. The illumination is limited to a few large, framed initials and, at the bottom of each page, a silver arcade which encloses the monograms of the four evangelists.
Contents [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]When I was the editor of Black Lizard Books between 1984 and 1989, the one novel I wanted most to publish in the series was Elliott Chaze’s Black Wings Has My Angel. The book was brought to my attention by Edward Gorman and Max Collins, both of whom had written admiringly about it. I read it and was floored. Black Wings was an astonishingly well-written literary novel that just happened to be about (or roundabout) a crime. It was a perfect fit for what the publisher and I were doing at Black Lizard, putting out books that were psychologically provocative, on the edge, and, more often than not, over the edge. Our authors—among them Jim Thompson, Charles Willeford, David Goodis—were uncompromising, cruel, crazy, sexy, and daring. Chaze’s novel, published originally in 1954 and since then widely available only in French translation, was to be a kind of crowning achievement for Black Lizard. Unfortunately, before we could publish it, the company was sold and the editors who inherited the series deemed Black Wings unworthy of publication.
As were many fiction writers of his era, Chaze was a disciple of Hemingway: brief, often blunt sentences devoid of unnecessary frills or explication. Like Hemingway, he was a newspaperman—the five Ws (who, what, where, when, why) were his commandments. James M. Cain, Paul Cain, W. R. Burnett, A. I. Bezzerides, and dozens of others rode similar rails, but what made these particular writers stand out was that they usually had a good story to tell.
I told many people about Black Wings, one of whom, the movie producer Monty Montgomery, paid Chaze a visit at his home in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in 1987. Montgomery told Chaze he would like to consider making a film of the novel, but Chaze said he’d already sold the film rights to a French director/actor named Jean-Pierre Mocky, ending that conversation. (Mocky did, in fact, make a movie out of it, but not a very good one.) Montgomery told me that Chaze had been borderline polite to him, cordial but crusty.
It so happened that a year or so later, I was in the neighborhood (New Orleans), so I drove up to see Chaze myself. He and his wife lived in a small bungalow with a narrow porch out front near the railroad tracks. I knew he had worked for many years as a reporter for the Associated Press, in Louisiana and Colorado, and then at the Hattiesburg American, where he was the city editor for more than a decade. He’d written a number of novels beside Black Wings, “literary” novels as well as a short series about a crime-detecting newsman named Kiel St. James. I’d found and read a few of these, and the only one I thought had anything to recommend it was Tiger in the Honeysuckle, a “straight” story dealing with racism. Tiger was all right, but nothing else Chaze wrote came anywhere close to what he had accomplished on all levels in Black Wings.
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Chaze welcomed me warily, saying right off that in his opinion New Orleans was a cesspool of filth and degeneracy and that it literally stank. Why would I want to spend any time there? he asked rhetorically. Once inside the little house—his wife, Mary, he explained, was sick and locked in her bedroom—he took me into his study, sat down at his desk, and pointed to a gun in a holster hanging on a nail in the wall just above it.
“After my prostate surgery,” Chaze said, “I was in so much pain, I came in here and took that pistol”—he stood up, removed the gun from its holster, and sat down again— “and put it in my mouth, like this.” He put the tip of the business end to his lips, held it there for a few moments, then held it out away from him before resting his hand on the desk. “I decided to wait until the next day before I killed myself, to see if the pain slacked off any. It did, and even more the day after and the day after that. So, for better or worse, mostly worse, I’m still around.”
Chaze was a fairly large man, 72 years old when I met him. He was cranky, bitter about having been mostly ignored as a serious writer but making attempts throughout our visit to pretend he didn’t really care. He cared, all right; and his cynical façade faded the longer we spoke. He insisted on making us roast beef sandwiches on white bread with mayonnaise and the crusts cut off. Chaze drank milk. When I told him I preferred to drink something else, he gave me a glass of tap water. We sat in the blue kitchen of his wooden bungalow and ate lunch.
Later we sat on the front porch and he praised his magnolias that he pampered and that were growing all around us. I raised the subject of Black Wings Has My Angel and he said he didn’t see why the hell not. I told him I’d talk to the publisher about it and that’s how we left the matter. Chaze stood on the porch and watched me drive away. I had to make a U |
indigscateringtrucks.com/)
This post has been adapted and updated from a previous post of mine on a different blog.
Today, the Birmingham City Council approved the much debated "Mobile Food Vendor Ordinances" (they passed burdensome regulations on food trucks). Bob Carlton of AL.com has done an excellent job covering this story. You should go and read some of his articles on the subject if you're out of the know.
What I want to talk about here, specifically, is the distortion of facts and the weaponizing of government regulatory power by some of the established brick-and-mortar restaurants in Birmingham and how it will negatively affect you, the consumer.
I'll be including facts, figures, and empirical research along the way because these are the kinds of things you need to consider before you make an important decision (it's also important that you read the item on which the decision is being made).
The Food Market:
The primary argument for the regulation is that demand is limited (i.e. there is not enough customers to sustain both the food trucks and the brick-and-mortar stores). This is not the case, however. Look at this chart:
The restaurant business ("Away-from-home food") has been exploding for decades. This study from the USDA notes the dramatic rise in prepared food expenditures as a percentage of overall food expenditures, up roughly 30% since the late 1970s and still growing.
If you're one of those federal government haters, read this study by Anthony Epter at the University of Vermont that says roughly the same thing: people are spending a lot more on food outside the home.
Take into account the expanding workforce in the Birmingham area, the many groups working to get people to hang out and spend money downtown, as well as the burgeoning fine dining scene and we can infer that demand for prepared food in downtown Birmingham is not limited, it's booming.
The Role of Food Trucks:
Food trucks are, in purely economic terms, a simple increase in competition in an existing market place. There is a particular demand for food in the Birmingham area. There are certain establishments that serve that demand. As a market (demand) expands, which we have shown above, firms will enter the market; increasing competition and keeping prices low.
But don't food trucks offer a fundamentally different product? No, I don't think so. At least not in a way that meaningfully engages with this argument:
Yes, the processing and presentation of their product is different, but it is still the same product. No one jumped up to defend the profits of Garmin (remember them?) when Google Maps gave rise. Same product, much different presentation, consumers are better off. Let the pieces (or companies) fall where they may.
Yes, they do have the ability to go to the customer. However, they have other costs not associated with standard food establishments (e.g. limited work/storage space, fuel costs, restricted menu size, etc.).
What Does This Mean For You?:
Competition has the effect of either pushing down on prices or pushing up on the offered quality. The presence and viability of food trucks, as equal competitors in an expanding market, will keep prices low and increase the quality of the food available to you on your lunch break.
Furthermore, and I believe more importantly, food trucks act as a multiplier in other Birmingham markets. An explosion in entrepreneurs means an increase in advertising, commercial food sales, commissary rentals, maintenance spending and all of the other businesses related to these fields. Not to mention hiring people to work on the trucks themselves. All of these factors create jobs in Birmingham.
Active streets are crime-free streets. The more people and positive activities we see on our streets, the better we can keep crime at bay. Food truck operators do all of their business on the streets. They have an incentive to promote the well being and improvement of Birmingham.
Lastly, the presence of a food truck community in the city lends itself to a vibrant and up-and-coming social scene that we are all working towards.
Regulatory Hell:
Birmingham is already infamous for burdensome regulations on businesses. Creating barriers for entering a market (i.e. regulations) is absolutely the opposite of what a local government should be doing. Especially when the community is doing its best to grow.
Birmingham regulations include, among other things:
1. Tiered permitting. One permit for a couple hundred dollars will allow them to sell inside the city limits. In order to sell in the "city center" (where they can actually make money) they'll have to pay more. By the way, food trucks already pay for business licenses and permits in the City of Birmingham. This is not the end of the red tape, though. In the draft of the ordinance that I have, ten pages of the seventeen page document are filled with the created bureaucracy of permitting, applications, and appeals.
2. Limit the hours food trucks are allowed to operate, with few exceptions. (i.e. no late-night, drunk tacos for you).
3. Restrictions on selling near brick-and-mortar establishments. This is most of what we have discussed above. Carlton's latest article says that distance is 150ft.
4. Creates a regulatory committee consisting of several city departments and food truck advocacy groups.
This kind of regulation
will
have a negative effect on our thriving food truck community, and threatens to destroy it altogether.
Let's look at some history and research to back up this statement:
A study conducted by the Institute For Justice made the argument that protectionist regulations on food truck vendors (for brick-and-mortar restaurants) resulted in a loss of jobs in the area and a deficiency of cultural expansion. If you're interested in this subject, are an activist, food truck owner, or Birmingham City Council member, you should really go read this report.
Los Angeles is the model for food truck regulation. The restrictions are in place only to protect the consumer from unsafe or low quality products (health inspections) or protecting the city from bearing an undue burden (refuse disposal, traffic impediment, etc). None of the regulations have to do with limiting the distance from other businesses or restricting hours of operation.
It's also important that the permitting hullabaloo be kept to a minimum.
What I'm trying to say here is that
this is not a new discussion.
Lots of other cities have had this same decision to make.
Some of them, like Los Angeles, have nurtured their budding entrepreneurs by minimizing regulation and not favoring one kind of food-seller over another.
Other cities (D.C., Boston, Atlanta) have seriously burdened up-and-coming businesses with unnecessary regulations.
Some of these cities have an exploding (and safe) food truck markets and widespread cultural revitalization, which is good for everyone, including brick-and-mortar restaurants. Others do not.
I suppose we've made our decision.
Ian Hoppe graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in May of 2013 with a degree bridging philosophy and economics. He's a Birmingham musician and works for a local electrical engineering firm.There's a huge election happening as we speak, and it has nothing to do with Donald Trump. Instead, it's America's neighbors to the north who are going to the polls today in a campaign that officially launched the week of the first Republican debate and is now over.
Topping the polls right now is Justin Trudeau and his Liberal Party, which is enjoying a stunning renaissance after a near-death experience that as recently as six weeks ago looked like it might be setting the party on a course for oblivion.
1) What is Canada?
Like so many of the world's other trouble spots, Canada is an artifact of British imperialism cobbled together without regard for geography, linguistics, or religion.
The product of a mid-19th-century merger between a couple of British colonies and some land conquered from France, Canada remains a land divided both regionally and linguistically. Slightly more than one-fifth of Canadians speak French as their mother tongue, and tend to align themselves politically with the more left-wing currents associated with France rather than the English-speaking world. Anglophone Canadians are themselves divided between the poor provinces of Atlantic Canada, the industrial and metropolitan core in Ontario, and the resource-intensive economy of the west.
Canada also contains a significant population of First Nations people, who are not quite as politically disenfranchised as their American counterparts, as well as the vast and largely empty spaces of the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
But the current election, in many ways, marks the muting of ethnic and regional tensions that dominated Canadian politics from the mid-'80s to the early 21st century. Both Quebec separatism and western-specific grievance politics have vanished as forces in Canadian politics, giving way to a more straightforward left-right ideological conflict.
2) Who is running in this election?
There are three major parties contesting the election:
1) The Conservative Party of Canada has only existed in its current form since 2003, but has governed since 2006. Stephen Harper is the only CPC prime minister — indeed, the only CPC leader — in Canadian history, and he is running for yet another term. He's been in office for a long time, but his first couple of ministries were minority governments in which the Conservatives were the biggest party but couldn't pass bills without some support from one of the opposition parties. That necessity made it easier to bridge gaps between his party's more centrist and right wings, which hasn't been the case since they won a majority in 2011.
Harper is hurt by a Canadian economy that suffers from low global commodity prices, and by the inevitable staleness that comes from serving in office this long. He is helped by a badly divided opposition.
2) The New Democrat Party is the official opposition in the current Parliament and stands as an analog to the Labour Party in the UK or a social democratic party in continental Europe.
The New Democrats stand for left-wing politics and an alliance with labor unions. Traditionally, they've been a small third party — active in provincial politics in a handful of places but never in serious contention to lead the Canadian federal government. Their strategy for influencing policy has been to try to win some seats in Parliament and then hope that nobody has enough seats to hold an absolute majority. Under those circumstances, even a relatively small bloc of NDPers could push policy one way or the other.
This all changed in the 2011 election, which saw political support for the separatist Bloc Québécois vanish, suddenly leading to the election of a huge clutch of New Democrats from French-speaking districts ("ridings," as they are called in Canadian). That helped boost the NDP into an unprecedented second-place finish, which laid the foundation for the party to define itself as the real alternative to Harper — a quest in which it was successful early in the campaign but appears to have fallen short in October.
3) The Liberal Party of Canada has traditionally been the dominant party of Canadian politics and features a wishy-washy center-left ideological positioning similar to that of the moderate wing of the US Democratic Party.
But the Liberals have also traditionally been the party of Canadian bilingualism and binationalism. It's the party that Quebecois who don't favor independence vote for, and the party that in English Canada stands for the principle that Francophone Canadians deserve recognition as a distinct and co-equal society within Canada. The high salience of regional and linguistic politics in the 1990s greatly advantaged the Liberals by fracturing non-Liberals into multiple parties — Jeffrey Simpson, an influential Canadian journalist, labeled this era a "friendly dictatorship" — but the unification of two different center-right parties into the Conservative Party of Canada and the rise of the NDP have left it squeezed in the middle.
3) What time is the Canadian election?
The Canadian federal election will be held on October 19, 2015. The 11-week span between the August 2 beginning of the campaign and the October 19 election is the longest in Canadian history.
4) Wait, 11 weeks is considered a long campaign?
Yes. In most democracies outside the United States of America, it is traditional to take long — years-long, in fact — breaks between election campaigns so that members of the legislature can focus on legislative work, government ministers can focus on governing, and opposition party leaders can work on their alternative program. Actual campaigns take place during bounded periods of time.
In Canada, the way it works is that while Parliament is sitting, there is no election. A campaign begins when the governor general (the largely ceremonial head of state who serves as the queen's representative in Canada) dissolves Parliament at the request of the prime minister. Dissolution of Parliament could be invoked as a response to some political crisis, but in the case of the 2015 Canadian federal election it was done in advance of a scheduled election. The campaign is going to be long because Prime Minister Stephen Harper dissolved Parliament well in advance of the scheduled election, a perfectly legal but somewhat norm-violating move.
5) This is a lot of Canada talk, where's my music break?
My personal favorite Canadian song is "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead" by Stars, which deals with such Canadian themes as heartbreak, longing, and the struggle to pronounce the French word for "bridge."
Canada's music industry thrives in part due to protectionist regulations demanding that Canadian broadcast media dedicate a certain share of their time to "Canadian content" (what that means exactly is spelled out in complicated regulations), thus ensuring that Canadian artists always have a local toehold and aren't drowned out by Americans. This weird video mashing up a Drake song with videos of Canadian "heritage minutes" is arguably more archetypically Canadian than the Stars tune, since it involves both Drake and Inuit.
6) Why did Harper want such a long election?
Typically, a campaign would be short for one of two reasons. Either it is called in response to a crisis, so it has to be short, or else it's been called at what the prime minister thinks will be an advantageous moment, so he wants it to be short.
But in this case, Harper was going to have to run for reelection during a tough 2015 economic climate driven by global commodity prices, so there was no ideal timing. Meanwhile, a long campaign serves the interests of the Conservative Party because of the way the Canadian campaign finance system works.
Spending during an election season is restricted, but parties can spend more in longer campaigns than in short ones. Yet beyond legal restrictions, the parties are also limited by their ability to raise funds. The Conservatives have a much more robust fundraising capacity, and thus a long campaign with a high spending cap gives them an advantage. The Liberals and the NDP hoarded their resources to run ads in the closing weeks of the campaign. The Conservatives ruled the airwaves singlehandedly early on, but failed to really turn this to their advantage.
7) I'm not Canadian — should I care about this at all?
Well, I bothered to write this, so obviously I think you should.
Here are a few reasons why:
Even though nobody talks about it, the US-Canada economic relationship is extremely important, and Canada — not China or Mexico — is our largest trading partner.
Stephen Harper's defeat would be a rebuke to Islamophobic campaign tactics.
Last but by no means least, if a Liberal minority government ends up depending on the NDP for support that could have negative consequences for both the Keystone XL pipeline and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
8) Who are the main candidates for prime minister?
The Conservatives are running the incumbent, Stephen Harper, who is also the only person to have ever been a Conservative Party of Canada candidate for prime minister. Throughout the 1990s, the Canadian right was divided between the more moderate Progressive Conservative Party and the more hard-right Reform (later Canadian Alliance) Party. Harper came up through the Reform ranks, but spearheaded a merger that involved moderating some of the party's stances.
The Liberals are running Justin Trudeau, whom you may feel like you dimly remember from the 1970s, but you are actually thinking of his father, Pierre Trudeau. Justin Trudeau is charismatic by the standards of Canadian politics, and has a strong family legacy to trade on, but he's considered a bit of a lightweight. He's young, and unlike many of his other colleagues in the Liberal Party he didn't serve in the last Liberal Cabinet that preceded Harper's first government. On the other hand, he is a very good-looking man.
The NDP's leader is Tom Mulcair, who has a beard befitting the leader of a historically marginalized left-wing party. His predecessor and the architect of the NDP's surge to become Canada's No. 2 party was Jack Layton, who had a mustache. Layton died in the summer of 2011, shortly after his electoral triumph, and it initially appeared that his departure from the scene would throw the party into chaos. Mulcair, however, has emerged as one of Canada's most popular politicians. Unlike the vast majority of his NDP parliamentary colleagues, Mulcair also has some practical experience in government, having served as environment minister of Quebec.
9) Who is going to win?
I sure do not know. Fortunately, Canada has its own version of Nate Silver, Éric Grenier, whose website is called ThreeHundredEight rather than FiveThirtyEight because there were 308 ridings at the time he founded it. According to Grenier's poll aggregation, if the election were held today, the Liberals would win the popular vote comfortably.
Due to possible vote-splitting issues, however, it's at least possible that the Conservatives would end up with more seats. Similarly, while it's possible that the Liberals will obtain a majority of seats in Parliament it's much more likely that they will fall short.
There will probably be no majority party, the median member of Parliament will almost certainly be a Liberal, and the Liberals are likely to be the majority party in Parliament. That very likely means Prime Minister Trudeau, probably as the leader of a minority government but conceivably at the head of some kind of Liberal-NDP coalition.
* Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated why a long campaign plays to the Conservatives' financial advantage.Most transphobes can't wrap their heads around the idea of trans men. It's time we use this to our advantage, writes Riki Wilchins.
It wasn’t so long ago that, amid Texas and other states planning to legally require birth certificate-based bathroom use, I called up my friend and fellow writer Dana Beyer and suggested a bunch of us stage a protest. My idea was that, after notifying the media, a half dozen or so of us should show up on the statehouse steps in Austin, clad in black Transexual Menace T-shirts for visibility, and proceed to use the restrooms.
The staff and media wouldn’t care about the nonthreatening trans women, of course, though we were the ones the transphobes had in mind when they designed the proposed law. It was the trans men in women's rooms who were the visual, as activist Michael C. Hughes — a one-man crusade to snap pictures showing how bearded trans men look in the ladies' room — had proved.
We immediately found several willing trans women but couldn’t find any trans men, and the idea died.
But now it’s coming back on its own. Laws intended to punish us trans women who so offend conservative transphobes are beginning to bite them in the ass.
In Texas (where else?) trans male wrestler Mack Beggs — despite being the center of a community circus and booed during his bouts — just won the state wrestling title. In the 110-pound division. Undefeated after 52 bouts in the girls’ division.
You see, Texas’s University Interscholastic League demanded that Mack compete according to his birth certificate sex. Now parents of girls who are as deeply dedicated to wrestling as Mack (who is a junior, and still has a year to go) are beginning to protest. The league is backpedaling.
This is the sound of the other shoe dropping.
All those laws and policies developed to assault trans women are going to start snaring trans men too, a group conservative transphobes have not bothered to think about.
They are going to have to. Mack and Gavin Grimm are just the beginning. You are going to see lots of news stories of trans men winning at girls’ sports, trans men in girls’ locker rooms, trans men using the women’s room, trans men being banned from proms because they and their girlfriends are considered “lesbians,” etc.
One suspects these laws are going to quickly become untenable. Or perhaps they’ll try to pass some sort of legislative kludge that says trans women must be treated as male, but trans men as male too. Which would be ridiculously inconsistent and certainly discriminatory on its face, and likely not survive court challenges.
Gender, as transphobic lawmakers are about to find out, is a lot bigger than the trans women who offend them so. And a lot more insubordinate.
And as has become increasingly apparently, the battle for trans rights will be fought by the kids. Many of them — like Mack and Gavin — the transphobic laws never anticipated. They are our shock troops. And eventually they will carry the day.The Move from CoffeeScript to ES6
CoffeeScript, no more
The biggest source of pushback as we onboard new developers has been that our front-end code was written in CoffeeScript. There was a distinct lack of enthusiasm to read up and learn CoffeeScript, since the perception is that it’s a dead-end technology.
The Challenge: converting 20,000 lines of CoffeeScript to ES6
When we finally decided to port our CoffeeScript code to ES6, the actual task of going through the translation seemed like a herculean effort. We tried converting a script around a thousand lines long and that took about a day. That sample exploration included getting up to speed with ES6 and deciding what our Backbone code would look like. If we are to say that pace is about right, that means it would take about one man-month to convert the entire codebase. Beyond the time and pain that effort would take, we were also concerned about the quality of code produced if someone were to convert it all by hand.
We then thought that there must be a script that would translate CoffeeScript to ES6 code. While two projects claim they can do the deed, neither actually worked for us. So, we wrote our own.
Our CoffeeScript to ES6 transpiler
Luis Artola, one of our developers, took about a week converting the CoffeeScript compiler to generate ES6 code from CoffeeScript. You can find the code here: Unbrew.
We’re planning a followup post where Luis will go into the details on the different issues he came across when editing the transpiler and the overall effort involved.
How we came to our decision
CoffeeScript: the good parts
When we first introduced CoffeeScript into the Evite codebase back in 2012, we loved it. To that end, the team that first was involved with using CoffeeScript still loves CoffeeScript. Also, we know how much CoffeeScript has impacted the front-end world and ES6 specifically. At the time, it was the best, and now, it’s still great. We just have another option that has a lot going for it.
CoffeeScript: the bad parts
Implicit returns, moving on. (discussion here)
ES6, the sales pitch
A lot of the details that make CoffeeScript compelling worked their way into the ES6 spec. Also, a couple things that we got when including Underscore also come for free in ES6. Examples of things we like:
Module support This is one item that CoffeeScript did not have. You could use whatever module system you wanted (CommonJS/AMD/…) and tack it onto CoffeeScript, but it wasn’t a built-in language feature. In ES6, it’s actually part of the language spec. This is one of the biggest selling points for us. When developing in modern languages, we’ve come accustomed to breaking up our code into smaller, more digestable chunks. Babel has a bunch of different plugins available where people have worked on support for all the diffferent mainstream module systems. This is great since you can write ES6-style modules and then convert to whichever module system fits the problem you’re trying to solve that day.
Classes Once again OOP is one of things we’re used to playing with in all the other languages we use, and part of the reason we used CoffeeScript is just so we could have objects to play with. So adding classes to JavaScript itself just makes life that much sweeter.
Arrow funtions In CoffeeScript we have ‘->’ and ‘=>’ as the syntax for functions. For normal functions you use the ‘->’ syntax. And then there’s the ‘=>’ syntax which is lovingly referred to as the “fat arrow.” The fat arrow’s great because it keeps the scope of the surrounding code when the function is called. The ‘=>’ in ES6 (called an “arrow function”) follows in the footsteps of its CoffeeScript brethren and also keeps scope around.
Promises We had been using rsvp.js to polyfill promises into our codebase. When we worked in ES6, we were able to tear out that library and just use the built-in support ES6 provides.
String interpolation Assembling strings is really important for the web. Being able to do that in a nice, clear way is helpful to write cleaner code: `Here's the value for 'blah': ${blah}`
‘let’ and ‘const’ In JavaScript, when you declare a variable using ‘var’ the scope is function level scope. Where this isn’t ideal is where you want to define a variable within a condition statement or within a loop and want the scope of the loop… function sampleFunction() { // function scope. for (let i=0; i<10; ++) { let j = 0; } } Normally the scope for both ‘i’ and ‘j’ would be at the function scope, but ‘let’ keeps the scope at the loop level. And then let’s not forget about the ‘const’ keyword. Seems powerful to have an immutable variable type.
Default function parameters Default function parameters allow parameters to be initialized with default values if no value or undefined is passed. In JavaScript, parameters of functions default to undefined. However, in many situations it’ useful to set a different default value.
Generators This is another one of those language features I’ve come to expect from modern languages. In Python, this is a feature we use where possible. In browsers, memory concerns can be a real issue for some people. Limiting the amount of data we have to keep in memory to get something done can be a really powerful thing and let more functionality work for more people.
Browser compatability Browsers are aggressively adding support for ES6. It’s possible that we won’t have to transpile down to ES5 soon. (discussion here)
ES6: the not so pretty parts
Classes are not like CoffeeScript’s This was the single biggest drawback moving to ES6 for us. The ES6 spec does not have support for class-level properties, which is something that is core to Backbone’s conciseness. (discussion here) In Backbone you would do: class BaseMessageView extends Backbone.View tagName: 'li' events: 'click a.view-all-comments' : 'view_all' 'click a.reply' :'show_reply_form' 'click.meta.remove' : 'on_remove''submit div.reply-form form' : 'on_submit_reply'... In ES6, we went with: class BaseMessageView extends Backbone.View { get tagName() { return 'li'; }; get events() { return { 'click a.view-all-comments': 'view_all_replies', 'click.meta.remove': 'on_remove','submit div.reply-form form': 'on_submit_reply' }; };... Also, in CoffeeScript you can have class-level functions with fat arrows, but in ES6 you can’t have arrow functions at the class-level. This means that wherever we called said functions, we had to manipulate the code to pass in the appropriate scope.
Verbosity Based on our numbers, code written in ES6 will be about 2.5x the size of the same written in CoffeeScript.
ES6 in production: learnings
As mentioned earlier, we started with 20,000 lines of CoffeeScript code. When translated that resulted in approximately 50,000 lines of ES6 code.
During testing our QA team caught a semi-serious gotcha with Babel, the ES5 it renders does not work in most IE browsers. We then found this list of known issues. So we had to polyfill a couple things for IE (and a couple other) browsers. This is what we had to our base template files.
<script> if(window['Symbol'] === undefined || window['Promise'] === undefined || typeof Object.assign!== 'function') { document.write('<scr'+'ipt src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/babel-polyfill/6.7.4/polyfill.min.js"></sc'+'ript>'); } </script>
How to transpile ES6 code
First install these Node packages:
$ npm install babel-cli $ npm install babel-preset-es2015
Then run babel like so:
$./node_modules/.bin/babel <name of script> --presets es2015
Module support in the browser
We recently also turned on module support. It was fairly simple. All you have to do is turn on the CommonJS Babel plugin. And then run the code that generates through Browserify.
Install the following Node packages:
$ npm install babel-plugin-transform-es2015-modules-commonjs $ npm install browserify
Our.babelrc file looks like this:
{ "presets": ["es2015"], "plugins": [ "transform-proto-to-assign", [ "transform-es2015-classes", { "loose": true }, "transform-es2015-modules-commonjs", { "allowTopLevelThis": false, "strict": false, "loose": false } ] ] }
Then run the following commands
$ babel <path to ES6 file>.es6 --out-file <path to transpiled JS file>.js $ browserify <path to transpiled babel generated JS file>.js --outfile <path to Browserify JS file>.js
Conclusion
Converting all the code over was a serious undertaking. With that out of the way, playing with ES6 has been great. There are a lot of nice tools and libraries we can now play with. CoffeeScript – for the most part – is a more elegant, more concise language, but ES6 is a bit more explicit. Having played in both lands, explicit seems to be more important when working on a project at our scale. There was nuance to what CoffeeScript was doing that became more obviuos after we converted to ES6.
Resources:
CoffeeScript at Evite (b. 9/27/2012 d. 5/4/2016)
By Michael IraniRepublican Donald Trump on Friday said the only way Hillary Clinton can win Pennsylvania is if “they cheat,” and backed away from comments calling President Barack Obama and Clinton the founders of the Islamic State militant group.
At a rally in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Trump said that he expected a victory in the state.
“The only way we could lose, in my opinion — I really mean this Pennsylvania — is if cheating goes on,” Trump said.
He said he wants authorities to monitor the voting closely. “I know what’s happening here, folks. She can’t beat what’s happening here.”
“Go down to certain areas to and watch and study and make sure other people don’t come in and vote five times,” Trump told the crowd.
Newly released polls show Clinton leading Trump in the state.
“She can’t beat what’s happening here,” Trump said of Clinton. “The only way they can beat it in my opinion, and I mean this 100 percent, if in certain sections of the state they cheat.”
A new poll showed Trump, whose unfiltered speaking style has repeatedly landed him in hot water, losing ground in three crucial states ahead of the Nov. 8 general election against Clinton.
At an earlier event in Erie, Pennsylvania, Trump seemed to acknowledge he is facing a formidable opponent in Clinton as well as a difficult electoral path.
“The Republicans have a tougher path – not my fault,” he said.
He said Clinton’s campaign is smart to keep her out of the spotlight.
“She doesn’t talk to reporters very often.... She doesn’t expose what’s going on up here, which isn’t good,” he said, referring to her brain. “She’s doesn’t expose her mind to questions. What they want to do is try to fake it through.”
In a surprise appearance, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who in private expressed fury over some of Trump’s actions earlier this month, introduced the candidate at the Erie campaign event and the two hugged onstage.
“We’re so honored to be working with Donald Trump and the campaign,” Priebus told thousands of Trump supporters.
“And don’t believe the garbage you read. Let me tell you something. Donald Trump, the Republican Party, all of you, we’re going to put him in the White House and save this country together.”
Republican sources earlier this month said Priebus was furious over Trump’s failure to endorse House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan and his feud with the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq. Trump did endorse Ryan a few days later.
Trump brought Priebus in Altoona, to thank him for the work he has done as he insisted there is great unity in the party.
“I have to say we have great unification,” Trump said.
Trump on Friday told the rallies in Altoona and Erie that his remarks earlier this week calling Obama and Clinton the founders of ISIS, as Islamic State is also known, had been sarcastic.
“I have been saying because it’s true, but somewhat sarcastically, that he’s the founder of ISIS and she’s a close second,” Trump said in Altoona.
Trump first made the unfounded claim on Wednesday and repeated it through the week.
Trump claimed sarcasm in July as well after he was heavily criticized for inviting Russia to dig up tens of thousands of “missing” emails from Clinton’s time as U.S. secretary of state.
A Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll released on Friday suggested support for Trump is eroding among voters in three battleground states.
Such states are hotly contested because their populations can swing either to Republicans or Democrats and thus play a decisive role in presidential elections, which are ultimately decided by the state-by-state tally of the Electoral College.
The poll found Clinton widening her lead in Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina, while holding her advantage in Florida.
Clinton released her tax returns on Friday, painting the move as a sign of transparency that her campaign says Trump lacks.
U.S. presidential candidates are not required to release their tax returns, but it has become a common custom.
Trump has cited an audit by the Internal Revenue Service in refusing to release his returns. Trump also has said his taxes are no one’s business and that they reveal little.
Trump scheduled a speech in Warren, Ohio, on Monday that will focus on how he would handle the threat posed by Islamic State. Trump has said he would “knock the hell out of ISIS,” without offering details.
Trump has been mired in repeated controversies in recent days. He drew heavy criticism after he suggested gun rights activists could take action against Clinton, a statement he later said was aimed at rallying votes against her.
Nearly one-fifth of registered Republicans now want Trump to drop out of the race for the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday.
Republicans frequently trace the birth of Islamic State to the Obama administration’s decision to withdraw the last U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of 2011.
But many analysts argue its roots lie in the decision of George W. Bush’s Republican administration to invade Iraq in 2003 without a plan to fill the vacuum created by Saddam Hussein’s ouster. It was Bush’s administration that negotiated the 2009 agreement that called for the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Luciana Lopez in New York and Ginger Gibson and Amanda Becker in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)NEW DELHI: Japan has offered a loan amounting to 81 per cent of the cost of the $15 billion Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail project, Rajya Sabha was informed today."Government of Japan has given an assistance package proposal for Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail project involving financial assistance to the tune of 81 per cent of the project cost as loan," Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said in a written reply to a question.With trains zipping along at up to 320kph, the Mumbai- Ahmedabad railway is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities from around eight hours to roughly two.Construction is supposed to begin in 2017, with completion slated for 2023.In response to another query, the minister said that Western Dedicated Freight Corridor project is funded substantially by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).DFCC, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), is engaged in planning, construction, operation and maintenance of the dedicated freight corridors. In the first phase, the two corridors namely, Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni (1840 km) and Western Corridor from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) (1502 km) are being constructed.The entire Western Corridor is being funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), while the Eastern Corridor from Mughalsarai to Ludhiana is being funded by the World BankRepublican nominee sabotaged Vietnam peace talks before he was elected president.
Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson on Nov. 6, 1968. (Photo11: Charles Tasnadi, AP, 1968)
The warning letter by 47 Republican senators to Iran's leaders about any deal reached with President Obama spurred the White House to claim the senators had interfered with ongoing negotiations. It was a bold departure from the previous practice, but it falls short of what some are calling treason.
It also does not rise to the same level as Richard Nixon's interference with the Paris Peace Talks in the fall of October 1968, when then-President Lyndon Johnson thought he had a deal that could end the Vietnam War, or at least speed the U.S. departure from Vietnam. That, presidential records show, put Nixon's fingerprints on a stunning interference with the peace talks.
By then, the United States had bombed North Vietnam for more than three years. The so-called Rolling Thunder raids turned much of the country into a smoldering ruin. However, they did little to stem the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong war effort in South Vietnam. Communist troops dominated wide swaths of that country, and their bold offensive during the Tet holiday period that winter, while eventually unsuccessful militarily, damaged U.S. morale.
The United States, North Vietnam and the Viet Cong started meeting in Paris in May 1968 to find a way to end the war. Progress in the talks was painstakingly slow. For months, the negotiators argued over the shape of the conference table, and the communists resisted the presence of South Vietnamese negotiators because they considered them only representatives of an illegitimate U.S. puppet regime.
But the U.S. team managed to win a concession |
and 15,892 captured in taking Zagreb. That same day, the headquarters of the 51st Vojvodina Division of the Yugoslav 3rd Army issued a dispatch ordering its units to consider all enemy officers and soldiers who continue resistance after midnight that day, and who are not part of units who had an organized surrender, as persons who do not have the status of prisoners of war, and to treat them as bandits. The German surrender obstructed the progress of the columns fleeing Croatia northward. By 9 May, Partisan forces had moved into Maribor which eliminated that escape route. They also took control of Celje on 10 May, but with a force insufficient to halt the columns that were escaping towards Dravograd.
Escape route to Klagenfurt-Viktring [ edit ]
The Slovene Home Guard and Slovene civilians primarily used the route across the Loibl Pass. Around 30,000 soldiers, including 10,000 to 12,000 Slovene Home Guards, 10,000 Germans, 4,000 Serbs, 4,000 members of the Russian Corps, and 6,000 Slovene civilians, were withdrawing to Austria. The road to Loibl (Ljubelj) was congested with loaded cars, trucks, wagons and horse carts. Battles with the Partisans also slowed down the retreat.
After passing the Loibl Pass, the columns were headed to the Drava Bridge at Hollenburg. The British were located north of the bridge. The bridge was guarded by German soldiers and was attacked by the Partisans on 7 May. Partisan reinforcements arrived on the following day and they set a barrier between Ferlach and Hollenburg, while units of the 4th Motorized Division and the 26th Division of the 4th Army were approaching Ferlach from the west. The Axis troops and civilians were surrounded and tried to fight their way through the blockades, but some German troops surrendered to the Partisans in the Rosental Valley.
On 10 May, the main breakthrough attempt took place. The assault was carried out by the Slovene Home Guard, led by Vuk Rupnik, and the 7th SS Division "Prinz Eugen" and SS police units. A radio contact was established with the British who were ready to accept them if they managed to cross the Drava. The British did not attack the Axis units fighting the Partisans. The Home Guard and SS troops launched an infantry attack on the town of Ferlach and took control of it on the evening. The remaining Partisan units in the vicinity were repelled on 11 May and the column of troops and refugees began crossing the Drava River. They were taken by the British to the Viktring camp near Klagenfurt. By 14 May, all units of the Slovene Home Guard surrendered to the British.
Escape route to Bleiburg [ edit ]
A column of refugees near the city of Celje
Croat troops and civilians mostly used escape routes towards Mežica and Bleiburg, and across the Kamnik Alps towards the Juan Valley in Austria. The main Croatian column moved through the towns of Zidani Most, Celje, Štošanj, and Slovenj Gradec. On 11 May, the vanguard of the column reached Dravograd. However, the bridges across the Drava River were barricaded by Bulgarian units that reached the area on 9 May. On 11–12 May, generals Vjekoslav Servatzy and Vladimir Metikoš entered discussions with Bulgarian generals to allow the Croatian column to pass into Austria. The discussions were inconclusive, but the Bulgarians suggested they head in the direction of Prevalje and Bleiburg, which the column did.[61] Bleiburg was located some four kilometres northwest of the border of Austria and Yugoslavia. Parts of the columns that had weak or no protection were attacked by the Partisans - on 12 May, Politika carried Yugoslav Army reports of 15,700 prisoners of war in Maribor, Zidani Most, Bled, Jesenice and elsewhere. On 13 May, they reported over 40,000 prisoners taken near Rogaška Slatina, Celje, Velenje, Šoštanj, Dravograd, and elsewhere.
The main column was encircled in the Dravograd pocket. The Croatian Armed Forces had artillery positions in a five kilometers linear distance from Dravograd to the south and used howitzers to fire on positions of the Yugoslav Army. On the night of 13 May, the elite HOS infantry units, commanded by General Rafael Boban, managed to break through the Partisan blockade and the column moved west through Ravne na Koroškem and Poljana towards Bleiburg. A large number of Croat soldiers and civilians reached the field at Bleiburg on 14 May. The 38th (Irish) Infantry Brigade headquarters were set up in Bleiburg, having occupied the town on 12 May, while the rest of the V Corps was stationed in Klagenfurt. By 14 May, the British accepted thousands of retreating troops and civilians.
Surrender at Bleiburg [ edit ]
The main group of HOS troops and Croat civilians reached the Bleiburg field on 15 May. They were the head of the 45-65 kilometres long columns, numbering around 25,000 to 30,000 people. The group included various branches of the NDH army, including the Air Force, HOS, and civilian refugees. Most of them camped near the local railroad embankment. The Montenegrin National Army was placed east of the embankment. Around 175,000 people were still on Yugoslav territory and moving towards Bleiburg. Negotiations between representatives of the HOS, the Yugoslav Army and the British were held on the same day in the Bleiburg Castle. The British negotiator was Brigadier Thomas Scott of the 38th (Irish) Infantry Brigade.[71] Ustaša infantry general Ivo Herenčić of the V Ustaša Corps, and a translator, Colonel Danijel Crljen, were involved in the surrender negotiations.[73]
In the afternoon of the same day, the Croatian forces started raising white flags in surrender.[74] The Partisan representatives included Major-General Milan Basta, the political commissar of the 51st Vojvodina Division, and Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Kovačič Efenka of the 14th Attack Division.[61] NDH military representatives attempted to negotiate a surrender to the British, but were directed to surrender to the Yugoslav military. The Independent State of Croatia had joined the Geneva Convention on 20 January 1943, and was recognised by it as a "belligerent".[75]
The Partisan forces of the 51st Vojvodina Brigade of the Yugoslav 3rd Army and the 14th Slovenian Division had established tactical control over the field of Bleiburg. Milan Basta set an ultimatum to the NDH negotiators - unconditional surrender within one hour, or else they would attack them and not uphold the norms of the international conventions of the Red Cross. Basta's ultimatum was extended for another fifteen minutes, after which point a general surrender started.
NDH POWs at Bleiburg on 15 May 1945, after the surrender
The exact events after the expiry of the ultimatum are the source of the original controversy regarding the repatriations. Teodor Pavić, described as a NDH "courier", wrote that the Partisan forces began strafing the crowd in the Bleiburg field with machine guns and shooting them individually. Petar Brajović, a Yugoslav officer, described a fifteen- to twenty-minute machine gun and mortar fire on the column.[77] Strle wrote that the 3rd Battalion of the 11th "Zidanšek" Brigade and the 3rd Battalion of the 1st "Tomšič" Brigade were involved in the fire, and their records noted at least 16 deaths, mainly from the machine gun fire.[77] A Croatian soldier who survived, Zvonimir Zorić, wrote of a massacre at Bleiburg.[77]
Schematic representation of the situation on the Bleiburger field in May 1945
The notion of a massacre at the Bleiburg field was promoted by the remnants of the Ustaša in exile. Croatian-American historian Jozo Tomasevich notes that it would have been physically impossible to assemble all the Croatian refugees in Bleiburg itself, so German and Croatian troops who are said to have surrendered "in Bleiburg" must have done so in various localities, including Bleiburg, and certainly not all in Bleiburg itself. He considers it impossible to establish the exact number of troops and civilians who tried to flee to Austria and were forced to surrender to the Partisans, and stresses that the number of victims has been inflated by pro-Ustaša sources for propaganda purposes, while communist sources have been diminishing it for similar reasons.[79] Croatian historian Martina Grahek Ravančić[80] wrote that the complete extent of the casualties sustained by the NDH column at Bleiburg on the day of the surrender was not described in any available sources. She described a short Yugoslav Army attack on the column as a certainty, likewise that there were casualties, but the number is unknown.[81]
Strle and Milan Basta claimed that as Ustaša forces tried to make a breakthrough at the north side of the valley, three British tanks were engaged to stop them, reportedly resulting in numerous casualties as well. However, only three Croatians provided testimony which supported the notion that there were British tanks in the proximity of the column, but with no mention of such a grave incident.[77] These kinds of unconfirmed reports of British military involvement, coupled with the actually legitimate acts of repatriation, were subsequently exaggerated by Ustaša supporters, particularly in the Croatian diaspora, in biased published works to accuse the British of war crimes.
Later the same day, NDH generals Slavko Štancer, Vjekoslav Servatzy and Vladimir Metikoš oversaw the surrender to the Partisans.[81] British army reports say Štancer had previously been captured by the Partisans when they strayed from the column, seeking the British. The surrender continued for several days and at various locations; it took until 21 May for Tito to order the Partisans to withdraw from Carinthia.[82]
Other Carinthian repatriations [ edit ]
Bleiburg Ferlach Rosenbach Lavamünd Graz Lienz Known repatriation locations on the map of Austria
Several other incidents and repatriations happened at and after this time elsewhere in Carinthia. Yugoslav intelligence officer Simo Dubajić negotiated with the British forces about the organization of surrender and repatriation elsewhere along the Yugoslav-Austrian border. The extradition of Croat internees of the Viktring and Krumpendorf prisoner-of-war camps, located north of the Drava River, began on 18 May. The prisoners were assured that they were being transported to Italy. The repatriation took place in the village of Rosenbach and the town of Eberndorf. The transports continued on 19 May when Rosenbach and Lavamünd, northeast of Bleiburg, were used as extradition places, while some were transported to Bleiburg. Internees of the Grafenstein camp were also transported. Thousands more were handed over in the following days, mostly in Rosenbach and the Bleiburg railway station. The last transport was on 23 May when 800 Croat prisoners from Grafenstein were taken by rail to Bleiburg. British war diary records note that the extraditions of Croats ended on 24 May.
The transports of Serbs and Montenegrins followed on 24 May, with three regiments of the Serbian Volunteer Corps. The first repatriation of larger groups of Slovene prisoners took place on 27 May, together with the remaining Serbs and Montenegrins. The repatriation of Slovenes also took place in Rosenbach or Bleiburg, except for the severely wounded that were accommodated in a hospital in Klagenfurt. The Slovenes were also told by the British that they will be transported to camps in Italy. The last Slovene group was handed over on 31 May. The following day, 2,700 Slovene civilians were scheduled to be transported to the border, but the transport was stopped by the British due to reports of massacres in Yugoslavia. All repatriations were canceled and a decision was made that only those who wanted to return to Yugoslavia would be transported. According to an estimate of the British 5th Corps, a total of 26,339 people were extradited from the camps by 30 May, including 12,196 Croats, 8,263 Slovenes, 5,480 Serbs, and 400 Montenegrins.
On the evening of 20 May, a group of NDH troops appeared near Ferlach, located approximately 40 km (25 mi) west of Bleiburg, and attempted to set terms for their passage west. "As the Ustaše did not want to surrender" reads the operational diary of the 2nd Battalion of the Partisan 11th Dalmatian Assault Brigade, "we attacked them at 21:00hrs. On this occasion we took 24 Ustaše soldiers and one officer".[88] British forces repatriated around 40,000 Cossacks to the Soviet Union's SMERSH, near Graz. The repatriation of Cossacks to the Soviet Union from camps near Lienz began on 28 May.
March back [ edit ]
POWs in Maribor on a forced march
Thousands of prisoners were thrown into caves and pits in the Kočevski Rog massacre
Representatives of the HOS of NDH accepted the surrender on 15 May at 16:00 hours. After the immediate repatriation of the soldiers at Bleiburg was complete, the Yugoslav forces began disarming them and started preparations for transporting the prisoners back. A large number of columns of prisoners were formed in rows of four that were sent on a forced march through Slovenia. Due to the presence of the British Army, the initial treatment of prisoners was correct. However, it got worse as the columns moved away from the border. The prisoners were given no food or water and were looted of valuables. Those who lagged behind were shot. Individual killings and executions of smaller groups of men soon began. The columns were in Dravograd directed to Maribor or Slovenj Gradec and Celje. On 17 May, the British started the repatriation of Croat internees of the Viktring camp, mostly members of the HOS.
The columns marching towards Maribor, where transit camps were set, were moving along the Drava River. During the march, bodies could be seen floating in the Drava and on the banks of the river. The first prisoners arrived in Maribor on 17 May and were placed in transit camps. Other larger columns arrived in the following two days. At the camps, prisoners were sorted based on their unit and year of enlistment. A part of the prisoners were sent on further marches or transported with trains to Celje and Zagreb. The rest were brought by trucks to anti-tank trenches in Tezno near Maribor, with their hands tied with wire, where they were lined up and killed. The killings lasted for several days until the trenches were filled with dead bodies. It is estimated that around 15,000 people were killed in the Tezno massacre, mostly members of the HOS.
Prisoners directed from Bleiburg to the town of Slovenj Gradec were joined by a large number of refugees that were stuck on the Dravograd-Slovenj Gradec road. Several transit camps were set in the town where prisoners were placed and sorted. Around 1,500 were killed in the nearby village of Žančani. The prisoners were only briefly held in Slovenj Gradec, mostly a day, before they continued their way to Celje. Anyone who stepped out of the column to take a rest or drink water was shot. Those that were too exhausted to continue the march were also shot. In Celje, most of the prisoners were placed in a football yard on the outskirts of the city. The command of the 11th Krajina Division of the 1st Army reported on 17 May that they received 30,000 prisoners. Anti-tank trenches near the Sava River and in the area of Bukovžlak were used for executions. Prisoners were killed in various ways; on one occasion around 100-200 were locked in an enclosed water reservoir. Water was then slowly released until all of them drowned.
A column of 40,000 people, consisting primarily of Croat soldiers, moved from Celje to Zidani Most on 18 May. A part of the captives were separated there, and led to the nearby forests and killed. The column reached Samobor on 20 May. They were not given food during the trip, but locals left them food and water by the road. Prisoners were placed in several smaller camps and prisons in the town, where selections were made again. Most of the prisoners were from Samobor sent to Zagreb and led through the city by foot. Trains with prisoners from other locations, mostly from Maribor, were also coming to Zagreb. The city's transit camps were not suitable for the accommodation of a large number of people, so many prisoners were placed in yards. The camps were surrounded with wire fences, behind which citizens gathered, bringing food or seeking relatives and friends. One of the largest camps in the area was in Prečko. Prisoners were given food there, albeit not regularly. Around 50 died of hunger and illness. Aleksandar Ranković, the chief of the intelligence service, was dissatisfied with the pace of executions in Zagreb and sent a letter to the Croatian branch of the OZNA, demanding greater resoluteness. An increased number of arrests of Zagreb's citizens followed during June and July 1945.
The repatriation of Slovene and Serb internees from Viktring began on 24 May. The transports of around 11,000 Slovene Home Guards and 600 Slovene civilians were done in two directions: from Rosenbach in Austria to Jesenice, who were then imprisoned in internment camps in Kranj, Škofja Loka or Šentvid, and from Bleiburg to Celje, where the Teharje camp was located. The prisoners were beaten and many were killed on the way. The transport and liquidations were carried out by the Corps of People’s Defence of Yugoslavia (KNOJ) and the Department for People's Protection (OZNA). Internees of the Šentvid camp were taken to the Kočevje region, where thousands were killed and disposed of in caves, pits and ravines in the Kočevski Rog massacre. Internees of the Teharje camp were killed in its vicinity and in the surrounding caves and mines, including the Barbara Pit coal mine. Out of 5,000 Slovene Home Guards brought to Teharje, almost all were dead by August 1945. 800 Slovene Home Guards and civilians were executed at Podutik near Ljubljana. The decomposing bodies at the location contaminated Ljubljana's water supply, so a group of German POWs were ordered to relocate the bodies to a new mass grave.
The OZNA reported that the main movement of columns of prisoners from Slovenia and the Austrian border was carried out by 8 June. Most of the columns reached their destination where permanent camps were located, 12 of which were in Croatia and 11 in Vojvodina. According to the report, there were a total of 175,922 prisoners. On 25 June, Deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia Edvard Kardelj sent a dispatch to Slovenian Prime Minister Boris Kidrič, requesting him to speed up the liquidations as a general amnesty will soon be passed. The decree "on general amnesty and pardon" for Chetniks, the Serbian State Guard, Croatian and Slovene Home Guard, and Albanian and Muslim militia, was adopted on 3 August. According to a report from February 1946, 41,320 prisoners were granted amnesty based on this decision. All those who had been discharged from camps had to contact their local authorities. Some faced trials and sentences to prison or forced labor. Others were under surveillance of the KNOJ and the secret police. On 2 March 1946, the Supreme Command of the Yugoslav Army ordered the release of "all Yugoslav nationalities - members of enemy military formations, except those against whom criminal proceedings have been initiated." Internment and labor camps continued to operate in the following years. The purges that started at the end of the war continued until the early 1950s.
Coverage and aftermath [ edit ]
The events in the aftermath of the war were censored in Yugoslavia. Mass graves were concealed or destroyed, in accordance with an order by the Federal Ministry of Domestic Affairs from 18 May 1945. Relatives of the victims faced persecution and were treated as second class groups. Until the 1950s, there were strict border controls in Yugoslavia, but tens of thousands of people emigrated illegally.
It was not possible to visit the graves located in Yugoslavia, so Bleiburg in Austria became the main location where political emigrants, survivors or families of the victims could gather and hold a commemoration. The first Croats to return to the fields of Bleiburg to commemorate the victims came in 1952 on All Saints' Day. Since then, the Bleiburg Honorary Guard (Počasni bleiburški vod), an association founded by Croatian emigrants, organized an annual commemorative event, together with the Catholic Church in Carinthia. The Yugoslav consulate in Klagenfurt sent diplomatic protests to the Austrian government, but the commemorations were never banned by Austria. The commemoration was seen as a provocation by Yugoslavia. Prohibited Croatian symbols were openly displayed and it drew attention to postwar killings which the Yugoslav authorities denied. The Bleiburg events were also used as a tool for historical revisionism and the focus of collective resentment by the remainder of the Ustaše and their supporters. The number of victims was artificially inflated.[126]
Places in Austria and Slovenia, one of the May and June 1945 mass killings
The Yugoslav State Security Administration (UDBA) monitored the activities of the participants of the commemorative event and conducted a series of attacks on its organizers. During the ceremony in 1966, a bomb exploded in a country inn in Loibach, but none of the attendants was injured. Nikica Martinović, the chairman of the Bleiburg Honorary Guard, was assassinated by the UDBA in Klagenfurt in 1975. The following year a bomb was found in front of the tavern of Mirko Karačić, also a member of the Bleiburg Honorary Guard. In spite of the threats and attacks, the commemoration continued to be held annually until the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Gatherings and commemorations were also held in other countries. In 1960, on the 15th anniversary commemoration held in Cleveland, the Bleiburg Tragedy Research Committee was founded by Croatian emigrants. In 1961, the commemoration in Cleveland was attended by US Congressman Michael A. Feighan. The Yugoslav consul in Pittsburgh, Ivan Mirošević, protested against it and requested the gathering to be banned. Feighan criticized the consul and Josip Broz Tito during his speech at the commemoration. Mirošević was expelled from the US for his comments. In 1965, commemorating the 20th anniversary, US Senator Frank Lausche condemned the post-war killings in Yugoslavia. Organizations of Croatian emigrants in Germany and USA requested a Red Cross investigation of mass grave sites, but Yugoslavia rejected it.
In 1976, a marble monument was erected in the Unter-Loibach cemetery and in 1987, a monument was erected on the Bleiburg field with the inscription "In Honor and Glory of the Fallen Croatian Army, May 1945" in Croatian and German language. The monument had the Croatian coat of arms and the Islamic star and crescent engraved.
Investigations of mass graves [ edit ]
Interior of the Barbara Pit near Huda Jama Slovenia, reached in March 2009
Discussions about the post-war massacres were forbidden in Yugoslavia, so the investigations of mass grave locations began only in the 1990s, after the fall of communism. In 1992, 1163 bodies were excavated from 23 mass graves in the forests of Macelj, leaving around 130 possible mass grave locations unexplored.[133] In 2002, the Slovenian government established the Governmental Committee for Settlement of Questions on Secret Mass Graves, with the assignment of "recording of data about the number and locations of mass graves" after the end of World War II.
The Tezno mass graves near Maribor were discovered in 1999 during the construction of a motorway. There were 1,179 corpses in the excavated strip. In 2007, the Commission on Concealed Mass Graves in Slovenia, founded in 2005, analyzed the Tezno trench and found human remains at a length of 740 metres, estimated to contain the remains of around 15,000 victims. In 2009, the Barbara Pit was uncovered in Slovenia, holding 726 human remains.[135] The same year, more pits were uncovered on two locations near the Croatian-Slovenian border, one near the village of Harmica and the other near Gornji Hrašćan, estimated to hold, together, around 4,500 bodies.[136]
By mid 2008, 581 concealed grave sites were registered by the Slovenian Commission on Concealed Mass Graves. The number rose to more than 600 grave sites in 2010. The commission estimates that there are around 100,000 victims in those graves in Slovenia alone. Unlike in Slovenia, there was no serious research of mass graves in Croatia by the Croatian government. In 1991, the Croatian Parliament established the Commission for Determination of War and Post-war Victims. The Commission began its work in 1994, but was abolished in 2002, with no significant contribution to the research.
Number of victims [ edit ]
The modern-day consensus is that the number of deaths of the forced marches and in death camps rose to tens of thousands, and included civilians.[140] The number of casualties, provided by the literature dealing with the Bleiburg repatriations and its aftermath, mostly ranges from about 50,000 to 200,000-250,000. Based on statistical calculations, a minimum of 70,000 to 80,000 people were killed. However, the exact number of those who met their death after the end of the war is impossible to ascertain accurately. Generally, there are three approaches to the number of victims:
The historiographic investigations of scientists include:
Estimates have also been based on archeological evidence from mass graves found in Slovenia. There were 581 grave sites being investigated by the Slovenian Commission on Concealed Mass Graves, as of October 2009.[149]
Various authors base their claims on demographic calculations, accumulated eyewitness accounts, etc.:
Croatian demographer Vladimir Žerjavić, in 1992, estimated that around 70,000 people were killed at Bleiburg and during the death marches in 1945, including between 45,000 and 55,000 Croats and Bosniaks, 8,000 to 10,000 Slovenes and around 2,000 Serbs and Montenegrins. [4]
British journalist Misha Glenny wrote in his 1999 book, The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, 1804–1999, "As German troops streamed out of Yugoslavia the Croat fascist leader Ante Pavelić and 100-200,000 Ustaša troops and civilians set off for the Austrian border on 7 May 1945, with Partisan forces in hot pursuit. They got as far as Bleiburg, a small Austrian border town, before being surrounded by British troops to the north and Partisans to the south. With RAF Spitfires buzzing overhead, about 30-40,000 soldiers, including Pavelić, managed to disappear into the surrounding woods and then deep into Austria. But the remainder were taken prisoner by Partisan forces amid scenes of carnage. Some 30,000 Ustaše were killed on the four-day march towards the Slovene town of Maribor. On 20 May, in the Tezno trench, 50,000 Croat soldiers and about 30,000 refugees, mainly women and children, were executed over a five-day period." [150]
, "As German troops streamed out of Yugoslavia the Croat fascist leader Ante Pavelić and 100-200,000 Ustaša troops and civilians set off for the Austrian border on 7 May 1945, with Partisan forces in hot pursuit. They got as far as Bleiburg, a small Austrian border town, before being surrounded by British troops to the north and Partisans to the south. With RAF Spitfires buzzing overhead, about 30-40,000 soldiers, including Pavelić, managed to disappear into the surrounding woods and then deep into Austria. But the remainder were taken prisoner by Partisan forces amid scenes of carnage. Some 30,000 Ustaše were killed on the four-day march towards the Slovene town of Maribor. On 20 May, in the Tezno trench, 50,000 Croat soldiers and about 30,000 refugees, mainly women and children, were executed over a five-day period." Former Yugoslav diplomat Cvijeto Job, wrote in his 2002 book, Yugoslavia's Ruin: The Bloody Lessons of Nationalism, a Patriot's Warning, that during the 1990s, reports in the independent press in Croatia [ clarification needed ] cited the actual figures of killed at Bleiburg at between 12,000 and 15,000. [151]
, that during the 1990s, reports in the independent press in Croatia cited the actual figures of killed at Bleiburg at between 12,000 and 15,000. In 2007, the association of Croatian Partisans published Bleiburg i Križni put 1945 (Bleiburg and the Way of the Cross 1945), edited by Juraj Hrženjak,[152] which claimed the majority of victims at Bleiburg were killed by various means at the hands of Ustaše execution squads from elite formations such as the Crna Legija (Black Legion), which treated all soldiers attempting to surrender as traitors and deserters. According to this research, a figure of between 12,000 and 14,000 people were shot after returning to Yugoslavia. Additionally, 20 individuals committed suicide[ citation needed ] and at least 1,500 concentration camp guards were shot near Maribor.[ citation needed ]
Legacy [ edit ]
Commemoration [ edit ]
With the transition to democracy in the 1980s and 1990s, the interest in revealing information about the Bleiburg repatriations grew, and it continued to be abused for revisionist purposes in the Croatian mainstream.[153][154] In May 1994, an International Symposium for Investigation of the Bleiburg Tragedy was held in both Zagreb and Bleiburg, where several authors discussed the deaths at Bleiburg and estimated them to be in the tens of thousands. This was later published by Školska knjiga as Od Bleiburga do naših dana.[2]
The Republic of Croatia, by an act of the Croatian Parliament in 1995, started to officially commemorate the victims at Bleiburg,[155] at a time when Franjo Tuđman and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) were in power.
More recently, as commemorative events became less of a political event, the radicals were largely marginalized and the focus of the commemoration turned to the actual victims of the repatriations.[154] Many top-ranking politicians and Catholic and Muslim clerics visit the Bleiburg site annually. Prime Minister Ivica Račan visited the site in 2002.[156] Prime Minister Ivo Sanader visited the site in 2004.[157]
For the 60th anniversary commemorations in 2005 a large crowd was in attendance, with speeches by Croatian parliamentary speaker Vladimir Šeks and head of the Muslim Community of Croatia, Mufti Ševko Omerbašić.[158] In 2007, a new altar was installed at the site and was inaugurated by Cardinal Josip Bozanić before some 10,000 people.[159][160]
In 2007, Slovenia's government announced plans to make the Tezno trench a memorial park and cemetery.[161] In 2008, the Croatian and Slovenian governments reached an agreement of cooperation on organizing military cemeteries, similar to earlier agreements which Slovenia reached with Italy and Germany.[162]
Croatia's Prime Minister, Zoran Milanović, visited Bleiburg in September 2008. He stated that all victims had the right to a fair trial,[clarification needed] and that his motive was not political.[163]
In 2009, Croatian President Stjepan Mesić criticized the Parliament's representatives who did not react to people in the crowd displaying Ustaše iconography, which is ostensibly illegal in Croatia, at a state-sponsored event.[164]
In 2010, Croatian president Ivo Josipović said he would not attend the year's May Bleiburg commemoration as long as Ustaše iconography was present,[165] although he did make a separate visit to the Bleiburg memorial in June in addition to his visit to the Tezno memorial.[166]
In 2012, Croatia's parliament decided to revoke funding for the annual Bleiburg commemoration.[167] The reason given by Milanović was that the government would not fund what had become a politically partisan event concentrating on the NDH, rather than mourning the victims.[168] In 2012, the Croatian leadership laid wreaths only at the monument in Tezno.[169]
As Croatian academician Vjeran Pavlaković, an assistant professor in the Department of Cultural Studies at the University of Rijeka, writes in Deifying the Defeated Commemorating Bleiburg since 1990,
"The blurring of the past and the present is an integral part of the Bleiburg commemorations; not only do the participants dress in Ustasa uniforms, display Ustasa insignia and iconography, and sell paraphernalia associated with the NDH and its leaders, but there is an active discourse about the Croatian War of Independence accompanied by images of heroes (as well as individuals guilty of war crimes) from the conflict in the 1990s."
Pavlaković concludes that
"[T]he effectiveness of Bleiburg to act as a site of memory can be attributed to the fact that it represents both a traumatic past, as well as a moment of rupture, or historical discontinuity. Both of these factors give the commemorations at Bleiburg emotional weight and political significance, especially at a point when Croatia was going through another historical transition in the 1990s. It also meant that the Bleiburg myth was easily manipulated; the victims of the Bleiburg tragedy were actively invoked not only to distort the Ustasa past, but to justify the resurgence of extreme nationalist political options. The Bleiburg myth became one of many historical moments that symbolized Croatian martyrdom, due to the prevailing narrative of victimization by Greater Serbian aggression during the 1990s. The martyrium myth is one of the most common archetypes in the taxonomy of myths... The danger of presenting the victims of Bleiburg exclusively as martyrs for the Croatian state, however, is that the reality of the NDH regime and the crimes it committed are ignored in the new, revised narrative of World War Two.[170]
Historiography [ edit ]
Unlike many other operations of the Partisans, which have been described in detail, little has been written on operations in Slovenia near the Austrian border during the week of 7–15 May 1945. Postwar Yugoslav literature ascribed all human losses in May and June 1945 as military casualties in the final operations of the war. All opposing armies and political opponents were characterized by the Yugoslav historiography as traitors and collaborators. The events at Bleiburg were known as "final encirclement battles", "final military operations", and the "grand finale in Carinthia". Bleiburg repatriations and its aftermath were first discussed in emigrant literature by anti-communists that managed to leave the country. One of the first book dealing with the subject was La Tragedia de Bleiburg, published by Croatian emigrants in Buenos Aires in 1963.
The Minister and the Massacres, a 1986 book by Nikolai Tolstoy,[50] further publicized the issue, but it made various dubious claims about the repatriations that were roundly criticized by various historians and authors,[174][175] although it brought attention, more generally, to the persistent distortion of the story, and to the issue of historians trusting contemporary records and purported eyewitness.[178][179]
Croatian-American historian Jozo Tomasevich described the events: "The annihilation of most quisling troops captured at the end of the war – which is a fact – was an act of mass terror and brutal political surgery, similar to that practiced by the Ustašas and the Chetniks earlier in the war." Regarding Partisan treatment of Ustaše prisoners, Tomasevich notes: "Considering the nature of the struggle among the various competing forces during the Second World War in Yugoslavia, atrocities against the Serbian population in the territory of the Independent State of Croatia and pro-Partisan or dissident Croats, the fact that the Ustaše adhered to the Nazis to the bitter end, and finally the fact that the Ustaša leadership wanted to put its troops at the disposal of the Western Allies for possible use against Yugoslav and other Communists, no mercy on the part of the Yugoslav Partisans toward these troops could have been expected."[181]
British political scientist David Bruce MacDonald criticized the exaggeration of the number of victims:[147] "Inflating the numbers of dead at Bleiburg had several layers of significance. Firstly, it gave the Croats their own massacre at the hands of Serbs and/or Communists, which allowed them to counter the Serbs' Jasenovac genocide with one of their own. Secondly, it allowed Croats to distance themselves from the Serbs and the Communist regime that had carried out |
very existence of public lands could be threatened. But 2016 changed everything.
The occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge gave Oregonians firsthand experience with the dangers of the “patriot” movement and its mission of seizing America’s public lands to “give them back” to states or local entities. When this radical mission showed up in the 2016 Republican Party platform, we knew we’d have to transform our old organizing tactics to meet new and unpredictable threats.
At the same time, a groundswell of Americans were newly energized to stand up for their lands. Looming threats provided an opportunity to engage new communities and audiences, and the potential to bring people together around a shared value of public lands. As ONDA planned for 2017, we began to design a program to empower new advocates for public lands who could engage and inform their own communities.
“The goal with new power is not to hoard it, but to channel it. “— Henry Timms and Jeremy Heimans
Channeling “New Power.”
Just before our annual strategic planning session, one of my coworkers sent around an article from the Harvard Business Review titled “Understanding New Power.” We kept coming back to one passage from the article as inspiration for our new campaign to protect public lands. New power, it said, “is made by many. It is open, participatory, and peer-driven.… Like water or electricity, it’s most forceful when it surges. The goal with new power is not to hoard it, but to channel it.”
How could we channel this new and powerful movement to keep public lands in public hands? How could we share our power as an organization and include more diverse communities in our work? How could we begin to bridge the partisan and rural vs. urban divides that have kept us from finding common ground in the past? The Public Land Leaders program became our initial response to these big questions.
One of Oregon Natural Desert Association’s Public Land Leaders toolkits. Photo by Gena Goodman-Campbell.
Here’s how it works: If you are ready to take your advocacy for public lands to the next level, you fill out a form on our website or get in touch with an ONDA staff member. We then send you a handbook with a discussion guide and ideas for organizing a casual get-together in your community that will inform and inspire others to take action for public lands. Once you get back in touch to share your plans, we send you the full toolkit, complete with postcards, letter writing worksheets, educational materials, and a check for $100 to cover your organizing costs. How you use the resources ONDA provides is up to you.
Giving volunteers funds upfront with virtually no strings attached may seem like a risky endeavor, especially for a non-profit organization with limited resources. A grant from the Brainerd Foundation allowed us to test our theory that putting resources directly into the hands of organizers on the ground would help us reach audiences we otherwise wouldn’t have the social or political capital to engage.
One way to share power with new activists is to simply give them resources and then let them get creative.
Turning plans into action.
Over 70 people have signed up for the program so far, and Public Land Leaders have hosted get-togethers in towns throughout Oregon, including communities as big as Portland and as small as Burns.
Beyond building power for ONDA’s work, our hope is that the Public Land Leaders program will also help us forge connections with a new cadre of public lands advocates in rural areas and communities of color. For that to happen, we recognize staff must put in a concerted effort to spread the word beyond our existing network.
At times, outreach to people in rural communities can be challenging. ONDA’s reputation as a strong voice for conservation and wildlife has made us both friends and foes in Eastern Oregon. A man I reached out to in one community said simply, “Not gonna happen,” when I invited him to participate in the Public Land Leaders program. When I asked him if he could elaborate, he said his wife works for the schools, and he didn’t want to expose her to a backlash if word got around he was associated with ONDA.
But we have also gotten a positive response from public lands advocates in smaller Eastern Oregon communities like Lakeview, John Day, Prineville, Joseph, and Union. And with the support of the Public Land Leaders program, a woman in Burns recently hosted a potluck which she called “Public Lands, Common Ground.” She invited members of the community and the Friends of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge to brainstorm ways the community can better support the refuge, and vice versa.
Writing postcards at a Public Land Leaders gathering in Bend. Photo by Gena Goodman-Campbell.
One encouraging upshot of the Public Land Leaders program is that it has attracted a younger generation of advocates to our work. In retrospect, this makes complete sense. We set out to channel the “new power” of participatory, peer-driven activism, and in doing so we gave young public lands advocates opportunities to engage their communities and networks in ways that go beyond sharing on social media.
One particularly successful get-together hosted by Jeremy Fox had over 40 people in attendance and generated 42 postcards to members of Congress. Jeremy talked with a handful of friends ahead of time and invited them to share their personal experiences with public lands during a group discussion. The resulting conversation was lively and engaging. Towards the end of the evening, one young man said we have to put our elected leaders on notice that we are willing to be one issue voters when it comes to public lands — if they vote to sell off or give away our land, it could cost them their jobs.
The threats to public lands are galvanizing young people to action, but it’s up to leaders of the conservation movement to maintain and deepen their engagement. Our experience with the Public Land Leaders program shows that one way to share power with new activists is to simply give them resources and then let them get creative.
The joint Latino Community Association-Oregon Natural Desert Association hike in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness. Photo by Krystal Collins.
Public lands for everyone.
Soon after launching the Public Land Leaders program, ONDA approached several organizations, including the Latino Community Association (LCA) in Central Oregon and the African American Outdoors Association in Portland, to explore opportunities for partnership. Rather than beginning these interactions with a set idea of how they could help our work on public lands, we started by asking about their work, to see how we might partner in a way that would be mutually beneficial.
Milagros Aparicio, the Client Services Coordinator for LCA, is an expert organizer. She spoke enthusiastically about the outings LCA has hosted to introduce Latino families and kids to outdoor recreation activities like kayaking and skiing. Because the Latino community is dealing with a host of critical issues right now, it was clear that an outing to public lands would be a better fit than an educational event. Milagros suggested a hike for families, so we found a weekday when local schools weren’t in session and set the date.
Just over a month later, we met for our inaugural hike in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness, some of the closest public lands to Bend. Milagros had proven her organizing skills and filled our trip to capacity. She opted to use the resources from the Public Land Leaders program to purchase sack lunches for everyone and make sure transportation would be covered.
The bright morning sun promised perfect fall hiking weather. We were a little worried about how some of the younger kids would do on the hike, but as soon as we hit the trail, the kids were literally off and running.
We made it quickly to our destination, Little Dry River Canyon, where a prehistoric river carved a smooth canyon into lava rock. When we reached the canyon, the kids immediately started running their hands along the smooth rock. How did it get so shiny and polished, they wondered? Our volunteer guides put the question back to them — how did they think it happened? Hands shot up, but one little girl couldn’t hold back. It was the river that polished the rock smooth, she exclaimed.
After the hike, Milagros and I were invited onto a local radio talk show to talk about the partnership between LCA and ONDA. “It was a great experience for our families that got to participate in the outing,” Milagros reflected during our interview. “Our community is definitely in need of opportunities to learn more about the public lands available for all of us to use.” Through experiences like the Badlands hike, we hope that local Latino families will come to see public lands as someplace they belong — as theirs to enjoy, and protect.
Adryon’s postcard in support of Oregon’s public lands. Photo by Gena Goodman-Campbell.
Towards a more inclusive future.
The Public Land Leaders program is a work in progress. It may not always work exactly the way we expected, but this new tool in our toolbox has clearly bolstered our ability to bridge divides and engage a wider variety of people. This is critical to our success, because public lands belong to all Americans.
In Oregon, public lands give us ample opportunities to enjoy the outdoors and are inseparable from our way of life. Millions of people depend on public lands and rivers for drinking water, clean air, and recreation activities that bolster our mental and physical health. But right now, both the people using public lands and the faces of the public lands conservation movement are not representative of the diversity of Oregon or the country at large. Unless conservation groups like ONDA can increase the geographic, racial, and cultural diversity of the communities we are engaging, we stand to lose the places we cherish.
Simply put, the fight for public lands needs everyone. What Brooke said is true — we’re not going to save our public lands unless we come together.
We’re interested in hearing your ideas for how we can include more people in the movement to protect public lands. Please join the conversation in the comments below!The Hallway of Souls
5-MeO-DMT
Citation: Eyetranceend. "The Hallway of Souls: An Experience with 5-MeO-DMT (exp89685)". Erowid.org. Sep 27, 2012. erowid.org/exp/89685
DOSE:
25 mg smoked 5-MeO-DMT (powder / crystals)
BODY WEIGHT: 220 lb
Now that 5-MeO-DMT is schedule 1 in the United States, I have been thinking a lot about it. I have decided to share an experience with this drug that changed my life in ways, changed it for the better, and in other ways, for the worse.At this time in my life, I had experimented with heavily with MDxx, LSD, Cannabis, and Dextromethorphan, and lightly with Amphetamine, Opiates, and Cocaine. I had a couple of previous experiences with 5-MeO-DMT that were universe-shattering, and a few other experiences that were lackluster.I. PRELUDE: Me and a friend decided to spend a weekend in the Ocala National Forest expanding our consciousness. We had brought nothing but 5-MeO-DMT and some herb. The first night, as we sat in our tent, we decided it was time to break out the pipe. We weighed out exactly 25mg, 10mg higher than I have ever previously used. My friend went first, but never really got too far off the ground. Then it was my turn. I put the flame to the pipe, let it settle, and began inhaling. Before the smoke could even be exhaledII. ASCENSION: It feels like I jumped on The Top Thrill Dragster rollercoaster at Cedar Point but then realized I forgot to buckle my seatbelt, but it's alright because I also feel like I was given an anesthetic dose of some kind of tranquilizer right when I was about to freak out (figurative, of course), because I wanted to scream, but was pretty much paralyzed. And then I really get scared when the rollercoaster took off at a blistering speed and flew off the tracks -- out of the tent, up the trees, through the clouds and into outer space at warp speed. I wanted to scream for help. I regretted taking so much, but that tranquilized feeling just wouldnt let me-- and on my way to the center of the universe the speed eventually became tolerable, as time/space bent around me, I knew that back on Earth I must have missed a million years and would return to nothing. This is the last I remember of my ego. It dissolved out there, somewhere in the terrestrial plane.III. BETWEEN MATTER AND NOTHINGNESS: Space-light. Crimson water over blackness, shadows from the other world enter, they twitch and dance within as the tide of light recedes. Shadows of fire. Of clouds. The starlight is filtered through a mirror, only peeking through as blinding human and animal-shaped light. Here, whatever I am is at the center of a spiraling system, perhaps insignificant itself as a passing atom in the world were familiar with, but to whatever I am, it is my sustenance. This is the weight towards which we fall, the weight that pulls planets to suns, to each other, pulling universe to universe, the Big Bang and what came before it. An ongoing explosion, in a color on the spectrums edge beyond the perceptibility of the eye. There is a window there. I look in.IV. THE WINDOW: James Lathrop. Born 1924. Served in Korean War. Was a 'Merchant Marine' Had 6 children. He was a conservative man -- the most he ever saw of the world outside of Ohio was New York City when he was stationed there. Got tricked into dancing with a 'drag queen' (before that was a common thing) and the boys never let him live it down. After that he swore off cities and lived the rest of his life in small towns, worked at a car dealership, and never made much money. Married a quiet Christian woman named Marilyn. Gave birth to six children. All of them had the initials D.J. Had a drinking problem, and loved mountain dew. He died March 4, 1985 after suffering a heart attack on his way to visit relatives in Xenia, Ohio. This is the day I was born.V. THE HALLWAY OF SOULS: After living his life, in my trip, I became his soul, and I was pulled into a field that looked like one infinite hallway, where there were billions, no gazillions of these orb shaped souls -- they all gave off a different energy, and I could feel which ones were humans and which ones were animals and which ones were blades of grass and butterflies. Every single one of these orb-soul-spirits looked unique, as if they were designed by an artist to reflect the experiences of each particular soul. Some were coarse and jagged, some were black with glowing orbs spinning around them. I remember particularly one that I could feel belonged (currently) to a horse. It was bleeding a blue syrup and was encircled by rings of honeybees (which is doubly odd, because each honeybee would have had its own orb as well). It was beautiful. Mine was covered in wilting, black rose-like flowers and had little pods, like a chrysalis, full of fire hanging from the stem of each one. Eventually, his (my?) soul was guided to this giant gaping hole which looked eerily similar to a vagina, by this strange figure with no arms or legs, but mosquito-like wings and a face that was made out of electricity. He shoved the soul into the vagina-like orifice. And I was shot through a tunnel, and then awoke, coming out of a vagina -- it was my mother's vagina. I watched myself get born, but just like James' life, I had no control over the infantile me. A voice said to me, as I stared out of baby-me's eyes, in a language that wasn't English, but that I could understand 'You will return, forever and always, so long as there is particles in the Universe -- but for now, you have trespassed the borders.' and also something about holding on to the new knowledge but not letting it dictate my future.V. EPILOGUE: I left that forest the same day. I have never gone back. I spent countless hours looking for James Lathrop's name. It dictated a good deal of my freetime for two years. I suffered through derealization, a mental health hospitalization, and depression. I am far better now. I have realized that this man does not exist. It was a creation of my imagination, and of the chemical. But to this day, I am still haunted from time to time. I have dreams at night where I remember the way he felt on the happiest day of his life, when his son David said to him 'I want to be a great man one day, like you, dad.'Rest in Peace, James. Perhaps we will meet again, someday forever and always.Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite – not the hit you might have expected
Project CARS 2 and Pokkén Tournament DX have both had strong debuts in the new top 40, as Destiny 2 celebrates three weeks at the top.
Baptiste confirmed as latest Overwatch hero – origin story video live now
Destiny 2 has claimed its third consecutive week at number one, giving publisher Activision a grand total of 11 weeks at number one this year – when you add in Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy.
Project CARS 2 seems to have given Destiny 2 a reasonable run for its money, but Chart-Track hasn’t revealed exactly how close it came. Although it does seem as if the Xbox One version hasn’t been pulling its weight, as it only accounted for 27% of sales and debuted as low as number 12 in the individual formats chart.
(Update: According to GamesIndustry.biz Project CARS 2 launch sales were down 74% on the first game, although that may be mitigated to a degree by increased digital sales – which aren’t counted in these charts.)
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There’s also no extra information on exactly how well Pokkén Tournament DX did, but it hit number five in both charts. Which is pretty good going considering how firmly ignored the original was on Wii U, where the odd mix of Pokémon and Tekken failed to win other either camp of fans.
The most notable new release of the week though is Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite, which debuted at a disastrously low number 12 in the all formats chart. The PlayStation 4 version had to settle for number 16 in the individual format chart, with the Xbox One version not even getting into the top 40. It’s a shockingly poor performance for the game, which will now have to rely on its DLC for any hope of redemption.
(Update: According to this tweet Ultra Street Fighter II on Switch had a better debut than the multiformat Infinite, and yet no Switch version of the game has been announced or even hinted at.)
To add insult to injury Marvel Vs. Capcom only came in one spot ahead of the remasters of Pokémon Gold and Silver for 3DS, which are literally just empty boxes with a download code inside. Gold came in at number 17 in the individual formats chart and Silver at number 21.
Since FIFA 18 is released on Friday it’s obvious what next week’s number one is going to be, especially as the week’s only other big release (not counting the Classic Mini SNES) is PC exclusive Warhammer II: Total War – most of whose sales will be digital.
UK individual formats chart – 23 September 1 (1) Destiny 2 (PS4)
2 (2) Destiny 2 (XO)
3 (-) Project CARS 2 (PS4)
4 (4) NBA 2K18 (PS4)
5 (-) Pokkén Tournament DX (NS)
6 (8) Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (PS4)
7 (5) Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4)
8 (3) Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 (PS4)
9 (9) Forza Horizon 3 (XO)
10(6) NBA 2K18 (XO)
UK all formats chart – 23 September 1 (1) Destiny 2 (PS4/XO)
2 (-) Project CARS 2 (PS4/XO/PC)
3 (2) NBA 2K18 (PS4/XO/360/PS3)
4 (3) PES 2018 (PS4/XO/PS3/360/PC)
5 (-) Pokkén Tournament DX (NS)
6 (7) Grand Theft Auto V (PS4/XO/360/PS3/PC)
7 (9) Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (PS4)
8 (5) Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4)
9 (10)Forza Horizon 3 (XO)
10(15)Lego Worlds (NS/XO/PS4)
Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter“The statues must come down, electoral college must come down,” said Jesse Jackson during Monday’s National Action Network’s (NAN) March in Washington, D.C.
The entire event broadly amounted to a de facto partisan Democrat political rally targeting African-Americans.
Jackson connected the “evil” Confederacy to the electoral college:
We stand against the relics of a war long since the Klan ended. The Confederate flag represents some evil, represents secession and slavery and sedition and segregation. The Confederate flag must come down. The statues must come down. Electoral college must come down. We want a one person, one vote democracy.
Al Sharpton was described as a “prophet of our time” by Jackson.
“[We] must choose public health over private wealth for the common people,” said Jackson.
Jackson framed Heather Heyer as a martyr for civil rights, linking her with James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Viola Gregg Liuzzo and Michael Henry Schwerner:
The blood of Heather Heyer, like the blood of Schwerner, Goodman, Chaney, Liuzzo and many others, shows the power of non-violence. The innocent blood of one woman shook the White House, made business leaders jump off of boards, shook the Congress across lines of party, and folks speaking around the world. There’s power in the blood.
"Jesus' kingdom" is restricted to President Donald Trump, said Jackson, adding that America should “be a nation of many languages":
Trump says you must be able to speak the language of English, qualified, and have a job skill. Jesus would not qualify to come in Trump’s country, he would not qualify to get into Jesus’ kingdom. I was hungry, you fed me; naked, you clothed me; captured, you set me free.
Jackson joined various other featured speakers at the event in calling for increased voter registration in the absence of state-mandated voter registration.
NAN enjoys a federal tax-exemption via its 501(c)(4) status. Its logo uses red, black, and green colors associated with pan-African nationalism.
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.The European Commission failed to find evidence of collusion among the major music labels and Apple to quash free music streaming services such as those offered by Spotify, according to four sources with knowledge of the matter.
Investigators examined whether the labels conspired with one another or with Apple on Apple’s new streaming music service in a way that would hurt rivals. The probe failed to turn up any illegal activity, though the EU will continue to monitor the market, sources said.
Separately, the EU has asked Spotify and other music streaming services for information pertaining to Apple’s mobile App Store, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Regulators are seeking information on the restrictions Apple places on apps offered through the store. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission similarly is exploring whether Apple’s treatment of rival streaming music apps in the App Store violate antitrust laws.
Ahead of Apple Music’s launch on June 30, European regulators investigated whether the iPhone and iPad maker had colluded with the major labels to lock out rivals. The EU sent questionnaires to the major labels — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group — seeking details about their licensing discussions with Apple.
The probe examined whether the music industry executives and Apple were working to stifle free offerings from services like Spotify, which uses its ad-supported service to entice listeners to buy a subscription. Spotify was under pressure by the major labels to move more of its listeners to its paid tier, though the pressure appears to have receded amid the inquiries.
Music industry executives have accused Spotify of urging the EU to look into the sector ahead of Apple Music’s launch, though label executives drew attention to the issue with public statements criticizing free streaming.
The trade publication Mlex, which closely tracks regulatory issues, first reported that the EU had found no evidence of misconduct in its streaming music inquiry. The European investigators’ files will remain open as licensing talks continue between Spotify and some of the major labels, sources said.
The New York and Connecticut attorneys general found that the world’s biggest label, Universal, did not do anything to block listeners’ access to free music streaming.
The FTC, however, is said to be looking into questions surrounding Apple’s treatment of rival apps in its store. Apple takes a 30 percent cut on purchases for digital goods made within the app — which include streaming subscriptions. Competing services have complained this policy forces them to charge more or sacrifice profits. Other policies prohibit using the app to inform consumers that they can buy directly from the company’s website, or offering variable pricing (say, a discounted family plan or a student plan), sources say.
The European Commission, Apple, Spotify and the labels all declined comment.Nov 15, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Luis Scola (4) tries to prevent the ball from going out of bounds as he is defended by Chicago Bulls forward Mike Dunleavy (34) during the first quarter at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
The third week of the season was a good one for suffering Indiana Pacers fans, with the Pacers bringing home a 3-1 record, including two quality wins. They handled the Utah Jazz at home, following that with wins in Miami and Chicago and an absolutely terrible loss to Denver at home.
The week saw a lineup change (Solomon Hill starting for the slumping/migraine-afflicted C.J. Miles) and a new addition playing heavy minutes (A.J. Price, who debuted November 7 in Boston).
Let’s take a look at what we learned this week
A.J. Price Is Less Than Interested in a Trip to China
A.J. Price is, to use his words, is “playing for [his] life” right now. In the four games during week 3, he averaged 11 field goal attempts per game, shooting 52.3% from the field and putting up 16 points per game.
Price’s box scores are causing a lot of fans to ask themselves if the Pacers should find some way to keep him for the whole season, which would require releasing another player from the roster. While Price’s scoring has been huge for the Pacers during his second stint with the team, his weaknesses are fairly glaring during game play; he shoots, early, often, and seemingly regardless of situation/lineup/shot clock/game clock. At 27.1, Price has the highest usage rate on the team since his signing. (Stuckey has a higher rate on the season but hasn’t played since Price was signed.)
That type of usage rate is fine for the Kobe Bryant/Kevin Durant types of the world, but A.J. Price, for his career, shoots worse than 39% from the field. If Price has morphed into this kind of shooter permanently, he will soon make a pretty penny to stay in the NBA, but the higher likelihood is that Price is simply on a hot streak right now, and Price the sub-39% shooter is a fringe NBA player with more miles and less upside than Donald Sloan.
The Indiana Pacers Are Not Tanking
Just in case there was any question. These guys just went 3-1 in a week featuring two road matchups against expected playoff teams, and Frank Vogel should be getting some of his starters back from injury soon.
When David West and George Hill return, the bench should become stronger than ever, having gained valuable experience in big minutes through the start of the year.
Solomon Hill Continues to Impress
Solomon Hill averaged 13.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last week while generally matching up with the opposing team’s biggest perimeter threat. His shooting was cover your eyes bad (31.5%), but this was heavily skewed by his 1-for-12 performance against the Heat while guarding Dwayne Wade on the other end.
And more important than the results is the approach. Hill continues to aggressively get to the basket, attack the glass, and flash legitimate NBA range from behind the arc. His decision making continues to improve, and he’s gone from “not sure he’s an NBA-level player” to “could start the rest of the year at either the 2 or the 3”. Not many people outside of the state are excited about him yet, but I think that changes by the end of the year.
Roy Hibbert Still Owns the Paint on Defense
Roy Hibbert has suffered criticism, ridicule, and all out hate from fans and sportwriters since his prolonged slump after his All-Star appearance last year. Hibbert’s offense has been much improved this year, especially considering all the injuries around him and extra attention defenses can pay him. He is putting up 13.8 points per game on 47% shooting and has made 83% of the 4.4 free-throw attempts he is averaging per night.
However, we’ve seen Hibbert have offensive stretches like this before and fade after; judgment is still out on that end.
Where he hasn’t faded or changed is protecting the rim on D; opponents are shooting only 38.4% at the rim on 9 attempts per game while he is on the court, and no number can measure the amount of aborted drives his presence causes. He’s also averaging 3.2 blocks and 8.1 rebounds per game, while staying mostly out of foul trouble. Hibbert has proven to all of his doubters that he was able to shake off last year’s slump and come back mentally tougher.
The Indiana Pacers Week Ahead
Games: vs Charlotte (Wednesday) and Phoenix (Saturday)
Prediction: Pacers go 1-1, beating Charlotte in Lance’s return but falling to Phoeni
Last Week’s Prediction Results: 0-4 (eek!)
Season-long Prediction Results: 2-6The not-Obama narrative also overlooks areas in which Trump has largely continued Obama’s policies, such as the military campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq and even (with the glaring exception of the administration’s escalating rhetoric about initiating another war on the Korean peninsula) elements of the previous administration’s approach to North Korea’s nuclear program, including military exercises, the deployment of missile-defense systems, and the use of sanctions to pressure North Korea into talks.
Even when Trump has appeared to wipe out Obama-era initiatives, the truth in many cases has been less dramatic. Rhodes pointed out that while Trump has placed some new restrictions on American travel and business ties to Cuba—restrictions, incidentally, that have yet to be implemented—he has not severed the diplomatic relations that Obama restored. As for the Paris climate agreement, Rhodes added, the United States can’t fully withdraw until 2020, which means a future administration could rejoin it, and every other country is sticking to the pact, which means “it remains the framework within which the world is going to deal with climate change.”
Danielle Pletka, a senior vice president at the American Enterprise Institute, expressed similar skepticism about Trump’s actions—but argued that in several instances they didn’t go far enough in overturning Obama’s initiatives. “I think of the Trump administration as [having] a very scattershot, not principle-driven, not ideology-driven foreign policy,” she told me. “And insofar as things have gotten rolled back, they’ve gotten rolled back in very nominal ways rather than in meaningful ways that actually reverse the failures of the previous eight years.”
In Syria, for example, “the Trump administration doesn’t say, ‘We need a systematic effort to roll back the failings of the [Obama] administration and show once again that America is the tribune of human freedom in the world,’” Pletka noted. “What they say is, ‘Oh wow, episodically, that chemical-weapons attack was a horror. Let’s hit those guys.’”
Trump has also made clear that his iconoclasm extends far beyond the last administration, according to Jeremi Suri, a historian of the American presidency at the University of Texas at Austin. Trump hasn’t just nixed the TPP; he’s signaled that the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico—which was implemented under Bill Clinton, after the groundwork was laid by Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush—could be next. And though it’s common for a new administration to try to distinguish itself from the previous one, Suri said what sets Trump apart is that he “is trying to undo these broader strategic commitments that in fact predate Obama—many of them go back to Ronald Reagan.”
It’s more common for presidents to make tactical adjustments to predecessors’ policies—see Obama trying to exit Iraq quickly without fundamentally changing the U.S. role in the Middle East. As a result, from Eisenhower and Kennedy to Bush and Obama, there has often been more continuity than change when it comes to the grand strategy of U.S. foreign policy.President Donald Trump predicted that the Obamacare repeal he and nearly every Republican in Congress promised will eventually come. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Trump: Republicans'must keep their promise to America' on health care
Ahead of his scheduled lunch with Republican senators, President Donald Trump wrote online on Wednesday that GOP lawmakers “MUST keep their promise to America” by voting to do away with the Affordable Care Act.
Trump also predicted that his lunchtime meeting would improve the proposal tabled late Monday night by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Story Continued Below
“I will be having lunch at the White House today with Republican Senators concerning healthcare. They MUST keep their promise to America!” Trump wrote on Twitter Wednesday morning. “The Republicans never discuss how good their healthcare bill is, & it will get even better at lunchtime. The Dems scream death as OCare dies!”
The president’s latest push to repeal and replace his predecessor’s signature healthcare legislation, also known by its nickname, Obamacare, collapsed this week when enough Republican senators announced their opposition to a GOP leadership-backed bill that would have undone the controversial law. Republicans struggled in their internal negotiations to find compromise at the ideological edges of their caucus, with moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) joining conservatives like Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) in opposing the measure.
It was Lee and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) whose announcements on Monday that they would oppose the repeal-and-replace proposal forced McConnell (R-Ky.) into tabling it. The two lawmakers’ announcements took Trump, who was having dinner with other GOP senators in the White House at the time, by surprise. The president said Tuesday that he had been taken aback by the announcements from Lee and Moran because he “thought they were in fairly good shape.”
On Twitter Tuesday morning, Trump wrote that “we were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans” on the healthcare bill, but in remarks to reporters later in the day, he said that the four GOP senators who opposed the bill “were not disloyal” and “had their own reasons” for their stances. Still, he predicted that the Obamacare repeal that he and nearly every Republican in Congress promised will eventually come.
“I am disappointed because for so many years I’ve been hearing repeal and replace,” Trump said. “I’m sitting in the Oval Office right next door, pen in hand, waiting to sign something, and I’ll be waiting, and eventually we’re going to get something done and it’s going to be very good.”Since I began covering the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com, I have been witness to a record-breaking spell in the club's existence.
Season after season, this proud, storied club has found new ways to improve on the statistics of the previous campaign and stake a claim for a place in the history books.
However, as any battle weary Fire fan knows only too well, the records I speak of are not ones to be proud of: most ties, 18, in an MLS season in 2014; 30 games and counting without a win on the road from 2014 to the present; and now 10 games into the Veljko Paunovic era, the club sits on seven points, the club's lowest return after 10 games since their winning MLS debut 19 years ago.
As you can imagine, it has not been the greatest of times covering the club, dealing with managers and players under pressure, and front office staff trying to maintain a positive outlook in the face of disappointing results.
To their credit, the likes of ex-head coach Frank Yallop, COO Atul Khosla, and the entire communications staff soldiered on valiantly through the defeats, the lows, the criticism, the doubts and did their best to present the club in the best possible light.
Change came, dramatic change, this past winter, and under the new regime of Paunovic and General Manager Nelson Rodriguez, things appeared to be on the rise for the club, both on and off the field.
New players came. A new sponsor. A plan. The process.
However, what has followed has been another false dawn, another series of disappointing performances and a team on the field that looks disjointed, devoid of ideas, and short on quality, especially in the attacking third.
Soccer is supposed to be entertainment. Fans part with their hard-earned cash to support their team for many reasons: their parents or siblings supported them, they're looking for an outlet at the weekend, a favorite player, etc., etc. But most fans support a team, in any sport, out of a simple desire to be entertained. To be engaged. To be excited. Dare I say it, to be inspired.
Over these last few years, the Chicago Fire has flattered to deceive on all of the above.
At the end of last season, with Yallop finally relieved of his duties, the Men in Red returned their lowest ever tally of points in MLS as they finished bottom of the 20-team league. Fans believed the team had hit rock bottom, and that the only way was up.
Ten games into the 2016 campaign, this new-look, re-imagined Fire is once agin rooted to the foot of the table, in a worse position points-wise than last year, and in terms of outlook, things have never been grimmer.
Statistics don't lie and this season's Fire numbers are damning. Eight goals, 85 shots and 20 shots on |
to learn that … automatic guidance of automobiles on highways is now possible.” Engineers at RCA predicted that American highways would be automated by 1975.
Missing the rest of the point
Yet, there was a deep irony at play: Federal officials were largely ignoring the new emerging science of crash safety. In the early 1950s, researchers in the U.S. military and at universities like Cornell and Wayne State were busy studying how much force the human body could absorb – often through grisly experiments on cadavers and living nonhuman animals – and creating technologies to decrease injuries and deaths in car crashes. Ultimately, this research led to seat belts, padded dashboards, airbags and other technologies that would save many lives over the ensuing years. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that vehicle safety technologies saved over 600,000 lives between 1960 and 2012.
In part, the National Research Council overlooked this new emerging crash science because it was stuck in an older way of thinking about safety research – seeking to avoid crashes, not make them less severe. One leader in crash safety, U.S. Air Force Colonel John Stapp, grew so frustrated with the collective inaction that he founded the Stapp Car Crash Conference in 1955.
Eventually, Stapp would be seen as an early hero of auto safety. Zworykin would continue to show off versions of his system to journalists and others at least through the late 1950s, but little came from his efforts.
Don’t miss the small stuff
At the dawn of the second great autonomous-car awakening, that forgotten history creates similar risks today. The allure of fully driverless cars crowds out the collective memory of the dramatic improvement in car safety achieved by less shiny measures.
Because of seat belt laws, vehicle safety technologies and drunk driving reductions, the rate of fatal road crashes has steadily declined. In 1975, there were about 33 fatalities for every billion miles traveled on U.S. roads. By 1988, the rate had dropped to 23. It dropped below 13 in 2008, and shrunk to 11 deaths per billion miles traveled in 2011. But the rate of roadway deaths has increased recently – in 2012, 2015 and 2016.
With an estimated 40,000 road deaths in 2016, the fatality rate spiked back to closer to 13 per billion miles traveled, erasing the progress made in the last decade. The dopamine rush of social media engagement and other new ways that our pocket computers distract us is suspected of playing a role in the increase in road deaths. If smartphones are found to be fueling the increase in crashes, then the same advances in information technology and computing that enable a future with autonomous vehicles could be literally killing people on the roadways in the present.
This fatality increase might not abate until automated vehicle technology emerges onto American roads. But that doesn’t mean consumers – or manufacturers – should have to wait.
Though research into autonomous vehicles has continued since Zworykin’s time, automated vehicles were mostly just interesting experiments and DARPA-funded competitions until late in the 2000s. Thanks to advances in high-performance computing, sensing and machine learning, the technology is now progressing rapidly. Partially automated cars can now handle more of the driving tasks themselves, as long as humans are ready to intervene if something goes wrong. As the gray zone between human and machine driving responsibility widens, there’s a risk of drivers being overconfident of what partially automated technology can accomplish without human help. (This risk can be fatal – as it was in a May 2016 crash of a Tesla car whose driver had engaged the vehicle’s “autopilot” mode.)
Figuring out the engineering, safety, ethics and regulatory challenges of this gray zone is an emerging priority. But there remains justified enthusiasm for the future automation could enable: driverless vehicles efficiently zipping passengers through uncongested streets in shared, electric, lightweight vehicles with drastically reduced crash and fatality rates. Yet this future is by no means guaranteed, and will likely take longer to materialize than people think.
Some of the automated features that assist drivers are available now and could dramatically improve safety. We just have to be comfortable enough to recognize the beauty and the potential of incremental innovations.DEARBORN, Mich., Oct. 28, 2015 – Ford Motor Company is issuing two safety recalls and one safety compliance recall in North America. Ford is not aware of any accidents, injuries or fires related to these conditions. Details are as follows:
Ford Motor Company issues safety recall for certain 2009-2010 Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX vehicles in North America for potential fuel tank issue
Ford Motor Company is issuing a safety recall for approximately 129,000 2009-2010 Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX vehicles in corrosion states and provinces in North America for possible corrosion under the reinforcement brackets where the fuel tank is mounted to the vehicle. This condition might result in a fuel odor, fuel leak or a check engine light. A fuel leak in the presence of an ignition source could result in a fire.
Ford is not aware of any accidents, injuries or fires related to this condition.
Affected vehicles include certain 2009-2010 Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX vehicles built at Oakville Assembly Plant Sept. 11, 2008 through July 1, 2010. These vehicles are currently registered or were originally sold in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Quebec.
There are a total of 128,823 vehicles that might be affected in North America, including 110,636 in the United States and federalized territories and 18,187 in Canada.
Dealers will inspect the fuel tank and either repair or replace it at no cost to the customer.
Ford issues safety recall for certain 2016 Ford E-Series cutaway and chassis cab vehicles in North America for potential trailer brake controller issue
Ford is issuing a safety recall for 72 2016 Ford E-Series cutaway and chassis cab vehicles in North America for a potential issue with the trailer brake controller. In these vehicles, the trailer brakes do not engage when the driver presses the brake pedal. While towing a trailer, drivers can manually apply the trailer brakes. This condition could result in extended braking distance.
Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to this issue.
Affected vehicles include certain 2016 Ford E-Series cutaway and chassis cab vehicles built at Ohio Assembly Plant, Nov. 3, 2014 through Sept. 1, 2015.
There are a total of 72 vehicles that might be affected in North America, including 65 in the United States and federalized territories and seven in Canada.
Dealers will update the powertrain control module software at no cost to the customer.
Ford issues safety compliance recall for certain 2016 Ford Mustang vehicles in North America after restraint parts could have been damaged during shipping
Ford is issuing a safety compliance recall for approximately 1,900 2016 Ford Mustang vehicles in North America after some restraint parts could have been damaged during shipping from the supplier prior to installation in the vehicle. If damaged during shipping, the affected restraint parts might not conform to the requirements of FMVSS 209 for seat belt assembly performance or to FMVSS 225 regarding child restraint anchor systems.
Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to this issue.
Affected vehicles include certain 2016 Ford Mustang vehicles built at Flat Rock Assembly Plant, Sept. 26, 2015 through Oct. 1, 2015.
There are a total of 1,906 vehicles that might be affected in North America, including 1,900 in the United States and federalized territories, one in Canada and five in Mexico.
Dealers will replace front and rear seat belt assemblies, rear seat buckle assemblies and child tethers at no cost to the customer.Understanding breeds compassion, and so, within the theoretical framework of the Compassion for Men Movement, we begin with an examination of one of the most demonized aspects of men, their use of the services offered by the sex industry.
A survey of men who seek gratification through commercial sex services – either porn, or prostitution, or lap dances or any other commercial sex showed that rather than men seeking sexual gratification as rutting animals – modelled on the Dworkinian view of men as subhuman; men’s motivation to seek commercial sex is based on the human need to be recognized as desirable. This runs contrary to the populist notion of male sexuality as debased, inferior and pathological.
Socially, men are expected to validate women’s value as objects of sexual desire by exhibiting attraction, affection, and deference, but at the same time, men are also expected to weather a culturally normal climate of pre-emptive rejection. Further men must pass tests of fitness, financial and physical, to ‘prove’ the worth of their desire. All of these expectations validates the feminine fantasy of hyper-desirability; desirability beyond the humanly possible.
The self validation of women and girls by rejection of positive male attention is expressed in hundreds of small, socially normal gestures and practices. De-escalation of male initiated social contacts. Two messages or more required for a single call-back. Voice message left, but only a text message returned. All these variations on ‘playing hard to get’ reflects a normal social protocol in which men, on whom the onus has always been to initiate social contact, have to make a more overt effort than that which is returned, even when the woman in question desires that contact. This establishes a climate in which men automatically assume a low level of ongoing social rejection. This is normal across our culture, and masculine complaint can be easily punished through the censure of “wimp”, “sissy” and similar minor insult.
Feminine attire which puts secondary sexual characteristics on display is standard in casual clothing as well as evening attire or less formally “party clothes”. The obvious purpose of such clothes being to amplify the wearer’s overt feminine sexuality and command attention. Conversely, although all men are expected to respond with positive attention, only those passing the feminine test of high status or conspicuous wealth are allowed to express their stimulated attention. This is the social levy exacted, but only returned to those males overtly demonstrating their utility as dispensers of upward social mobility and feminine access to resources. Men expressing the attraction or desire socially assumed of them also risk censure if such expression is mis-timed, too overt, or for any reason, not reciprocated.
This elaborate, confusing dance becomes much simpler in the lens of manufacturing hyper-desire. The more obstacles a man must overcome to express his desire the more the woman feels desired by the man.
Romance novels can be reduced down to a simple formula in which female desirability inspires grandiose acts of self-sacrifice on the part of the male. The men in romance novels are ‘eyeballs and actions’, empty ciphers that exist only to illuminate the hyper-desirability of the female protagonist.
In fact this whole system, from shaming of male sexuality as debased through the expectation that men weather rejection without end in order to manufacture hyper-desire for women to it’s vetting of which men are allowed to desire—excludes men from a fundamental human need—developed through eons of evolution as pair-bonders—the feeling of being desirable.
In discussions of female sexual objectification for the purpose of marketing to man, the usual language describing imagery of women usually refers to “tits and ass”. However, research from the Center for Behavioural Neuroscience in Atlanta[1] shows that depiction of the feminine gaze is key to male attraction to such images. It is, in fact, the sexual agency of an attractive woman, as expressed through a direct gaze towards the male subject that lights up the male’s reward response system. [2] When an attractive woman is presented as a ‘sex object’ her gaze averted and herself unengaged with him—his reward system is unresponsive.
To put it simply, men look at porn to feel sexually desirable. Men pay strippers to get positive, sexualized attention from women. Men use prostitutes to feel like whole sexual beings.
It is, in fact, the basic human need to feel not only loved, but sexually desired turns out to be what drives the use of commercial sexual services by men. Most women are aware that being a woman does not detract from their sexual desirability; most men are acutely aware that being a man most certainly does. In that context male sexual fantasies revolve around male sexuality simply being desirable. Porn can be likened to the fantasies of an impoverished developing nation—it’s people imagine a world with abundant and plentiful food. Romance novels are, on the other hand, the fantasies of a prosperous nation—sprawling McMansions, yachts, vacations to the Caribbean.
In this context the social censure against men’s self medication for the psychic wound inflicted on them by women’s thirst for hyper-desirability is just as morally bankrupt as a prosperous nation sneering at the ‘base and animalistic urges’ of an impoverished nation for food and clean water.
We starve men, then shame them for their hunger and then when they reach for what little food is within their grasp, we smack their hand away.
[1] http://www.science20.com/news_articles/gender_and_porn_where_men_and_women_look_first
[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOY3QH_jOtE&feature=player_detailpage#t=2743sBaby Chloe started her life on a high note.
The little girl entered the world at about 35,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, after she was born on a flight from Calgary to Tokyo on Saturday.
Air Canada officials say doctors and flight crew helped a woman give birth mid-flight, while the plane was over the Pacific.
“It was very exciting. Passengers were clapping,” one woman on the flight told Japan’s Fuji News Network, speaking Japanese.
A medical team met the mother and new baby at Narita International Airport after the plane landed in Japan. The child's father was also on the flight.
"This happened completely unexpectedly," he told FNN. He said the baby's name is Chloe.
The mother and baby are doing well in hospital.
The identities and nationalities of the parents have not been released. However, the father was seen wearing a Vancouver Canucks hat.
Air Canada's website says a pregnant woman with "no previous history of premature labour" may fly within the first 36 weeks of pregnancy. The Canadian government also says pregnant women are safe to travel within the first 36 weeks of pregnancy. However, it advises against pregnant women travelling after that 36-week window.The report attributes problems in the Cranston force to "political interference" and "poor leadership" by top officers and Mayor Allan Fung.
CRANSTON, R.I. -- The Rhode Island State Police Monday released the findings of its investigation into the Cranston Police Department in a report that attributed problems in the force to "political interference" and "poor leadership" by top officers and Mayor Allan Fung.
"Mayor Fung was aware of many of the problems within the Department, including the unwarranted disciplinary actions taken against specific officers, the intimidation of civilians and attempts by [former Cranston police chief Marco] Palombo and his top ranking officers to interfere with the promotional testing process," State Police investigators wrote in the 170-page report. "Yet he took no action and failed to rectify many of the significant issues brought to his attention regarding Colonel Palombo’s erratic behavior."
The state police took over control of the Cranston department and started the investigation, at Fung's request, after the wards of two councilors were heavily ticketed after they voted against a union contract.
The report found that Fung interfered with the disciplinary process against the union president found to have orchestrated the ticketing blitz.
The report issues a series of recommendations including that internal disciplinary proceedings are handled in a timely manner, commissioned officers not serve as officers of the police union and that the mayor follow the department chain of command to avoid political interference.
The report was given to Fung more than a week ago, but had been withheld from the public while Fung had it reviewed by the attorney general's office for an advisory opinion on whether it would be considered a public record.PO Box 175
Wisdom, MT 59761
(406) 689-3225
Fax (406) 689-3439
wdm3225@smtel.com Big Hole PetroleumPO Box 175Wisdom, MT 59761(406) 689-3225Fax (406) 689-3439
To those who don't know me, I was pretty indifferent about going to the gathering this year. A lot has happened in my life in the last year and I was sorely tempted to sit this one out, use the time to get caught up on sleep, yard work and dissertation writing. But I had already made plans and the path of least resistance was to go home and go I did. As always, I learned a lot about my family, my self and how to create peace and love in any situation. Every year teaches me a new lesson (or ten like this year) or reminds me about things I've learned and forgotten over the years. As always, I am honored to be part of this family and have so much love and thanks to everyone who was on the land in Montana and to all the family who couldn't make it but provided support from afar.To sum up this year's gathering, I felt like we had been pushing against a shut door for so long, that when the door opened, we all exploded through the door, landed on our faces and were a bit confused about what to do next. But once we realized that no one was going to try to kick us out, we picked ourselves up, wiped the mud off our faces and started relearning how to gather.All in all it was a loving, happy, wonderful gathering full of circles, councils, workshops and people sharing with each other. The sight of a thousand flashlights in the meadow searching for a lost child reminded us of how much we really love each other. When a special needs adult went missing, we rallied together, united our brain and muscle power, and took care of what needed to be done. For those who answered my call for help, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I know people had other plans, but until each of us is safe, we can't council effectively. Our missing brother was in the hospital, is now getting the help he needs, and has reconnected with his family.There are so many amazing people in this family, I feel like one of the luckiest people alive to count you all as my brothers and sisters. So to start a few shout outs to folks who went above and beyond.My brother P who did fire watch all night long, night after night, mostly by himself and whose goal was to leave every situation with the folks around the fire thanking him for showing up. I lagged on getting you help but you dedicated yourself to educating family on fire safety in a loving way. If I hugged you from now to eternity, I could not convey my love and respect for you. Hopefully, next year we can make fire watch announcements at dinner circle nightly and provide a meet up spot so there are more folks involved.To my young sister D who took it upon herself to bridge communication gaps around the gathering and did so in spite of some pretty intense issues of her own, I feel honored to have spent time with you this gathering. I apologize for not creating the circle that was brought up in our conversation. So next year, in Nevada or Utah, let's get our grandmothers and grandfathers together and have a heart song circle in the home turf of the dirty kids where older people listen to what the younger family have to say. We all need each other and this business of pretending otherwise has got to stop.To my Sister S (B), your vision is true and your heart is stronger than your back. Please share the vision all year long so we can reclaim what we once all knew to be true. This gathering is full of folks who want to learn (and some who think they know it all). What ever happened before I got there, doesn't matter. I will walk with you anywhere anytime.To my other brother P, thank you for the wonderful Shanti Sena workshops. I've done it by the seat of my pants for years (which is how I do most things in life), but you were able to teach me some great new ways to frame problems and to help resolve them. You were focused and calm and created a space where people of different ages and skills could come together and share what we know with each other.To my brother J who pulled the night shift at CALM. Thank you for your quiet service. In a part of the gathering where egos fly, you care for this family and help us heal with no drama. And you're fun to have along on horse wrangling missions.To my brother DJ, you are strong and gentle and bring out the best in all of us. I am honored to be your friend and hope that next time around, I'm up for those more challenging missions. Your quiet and calm, but strong, presence is a lesson to us all that raised voices and hysterics don't help us keep the peace. I promise next year to make sure I'm up to those missions that require an abundance of love and nerves of steel.To my family at TP camp, I love you and hope to learn better communication skills so we can talk more effectively.To my brother DE who brought back breakfast circle and created a calm, grounded space in the meadow each day, thank you for your clarity of vision and your ability to get things done. Breakfast circle was awesome and I met a lot of wonderful family eager to learn more and plug into this crazy experiment in peace we call the Rainbow Gathering.To ND who hooked me up with all the right people when ever I needed it, thank you. Thanks for working on bring both sides of the gathering together. You are a peace creator!To be neighbor A, thank you for sharing your singing and chanting. You increased the peace where ever you went.To every gatherer who took the time to help somone in need by carrying something, sharing food, opening your heart or sharing a hug, one by one we are creating the peace, love and compassion we wish to see on this planet.To the USFS, you rock. Thank you for telling the folks at the town hall in Wisdom that we have a first amendment right to gather. Thank you for sitting in council with us and continuing to be part of the circle. You all are family. Welcome home!Finally, a bit shout out to the Beaverhead County Sheriff's department. When we needed you, someone came and was polite and respectful and helpful. You all are truly "peace officers."Now to a couple of things we could do better next time.........Having a regular, daily (but short) circle from day one on the site until July 1, would help us all stay in better communication about issues, concerns, problems, and solutions and I believe would help us respond more quickly to problems in our gathering. Maybe a daily check in at the Cooperations Space by INFO at Sunset (when most of the day's work is done) with people from each camp and kitchen stopping by and doing a quick one time pass the feather so each person can make a BRIEF announcement about logistical issues, problems starting to develop, or general camp news might help us all stay on top of the problems more effectively.Making sure to keep all family included in what's going on no matter how many or how few gatherings they have been too will help us all to be united in solving problems and creating the peace and love we want.As many have heard, a few people at the gathering have issues with violence and theavery. This situation was especially bad in dirty kid alley and too many of our young family were victims. More would have been except for prompt Shanti Sena response. But it's not enough, we need to make sure all our family have safe places to camp and hang out. We need to give all our family a place to let their guard down from the cruel world and be as children again, playing with each other and creating positive loving energy. We need to make sure that a few people don't prey on the rest of our family.As to the violence, there was too much violence and not enough kind, loving and appropriate Shanti Sena response -- especially during seed camp. My heart bleeds for the victims of senseless violence. My heart also hurts for family who were so scared they called the cops on other family. Next time one gatherer wants to press charges against another gatherer for legitimate reasons, please let's take the person out ourselves - that's the way we've been doing it for decades. Calling the cops and sending them in just diverts energy away from resolving the problem.If you're not familiar with Shanti Sena, there are a collections of great raps in this year's All Ways Free. If you didn't get a copy at the gathering, it's available on line. Being a good Rainbow means being kind and respectful to family no matter where you find them. Unfortunately, some of our family treated the town folks poorly. Some clueless family shoplifted at the grocery store in Wisdom. When they were caught, asked to put the stuff down and leave, one person got angry and broke a window. Not cool family! Shoplifting sucks and breaking windows is just plain mean. Thankfully, some conscious family paid for the window.The all-volunteer ambulance in Wisdom went on three runs without any financial compensation and on one run people cussed out the EMTs. WTF! I'm not sure how we deal with this family, but Ed Stede who owns the gas station is on the volunteer ambulance crew. If folks wanted to make cash donations to cover the out-of-pocket expenses the ambulance incurred taking care of gathering participants, one could send a check or money order with a memo of "for Rainbow ambulance costs" toAnd another thing folks, if you go to a small town and the shops are closed, DO NOT F&XN wake up the proprietors to serve you. When you're in town, be nice, polite and treat people with respect. Just cause folks look and dress different from you don't mean anything. When we are in very small towns, we have the ability to cause a huge negative impact. I love this family so much and am so saddened when my family can't treat other people with respect just cause they wear cowboy boots. We all got belly buttons and we all are family, iffen we know it or not. Be the change you want to see in this world. And if you're in town and some of our family isn't behaving properly, please take the time to address the issue to the best of your ability. Be a peace keeper everywhere you go.I've heard a lot of bitching and moaning from more experienced gatherers that not enough people are plugging in across the gathering. Well as far as I can see, people are ready and willing to help, they just need a bit of direction. So come out to dinner circle and announce where help is needed and how to plug in. Post meet up places on the message board at INFO. We need to be better about making sure folks in camp know where their energy is needed and once they get there to help, we need people on hand to get them started. I've haven't met so many first and second time gatherers wanting to learn and plug in at a gathering since before the times of the worst of the gathering/USFS strife.Peace ain't easy people. We are all learning how to do this. The stakes are high. If we can't learn to do it, what hope do we have for creating peace across the planet."The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination."~ John SchaarEating high-fat curries may not be as bad for us as we thought - at least, not if we lace them with turmeric. Scientists at Boston's Tufts University found that mice fed a high-fat diet that contained curcumin, a component of turmeric, put on less weight.
This puts the spice in that magic group of foods with health-giving properties - along with garlic, ginger and fish oils.
Like ginger, turmeric is a rhizome, a horizontal stem of a plant that grows underground. Generally speaking, it is prized more for its colour than its flavour: turmeric is the oldest natural food dye in the world, and is now seen in ingredients lists as E100. In my opinion, however, this downgrading from flavour to colour is largely due to the spice we get in Britain being old and dull by the time it reaches us. In Zanzibar, I got the shock of my life when I cut into a nugget just dug from the earth: it had an intense smell, was dazzlingly bright and practically orange in colour, with an interesting, bitter, earthy flavour.
Indispensable all over Asia, turmeric forms the basis of most curry powders, and during the Raj, we Brits loved it in our piccalilli and kedgeree. These days it is commonly used in the batter for fish and chips, and (mistakenly) as a replacement for expensive saffron in dishes from paella to fish pie or sauces such as rouille.
It is the unsung hero of the spice rack, though, so my advice to unlocking the inner flavour would be to go to the kind of shop or market where you are more likely to encounter turmeric that was ground in this century, then fry it gently with something simple to let the flavour come out.
Turmeric seems to respond particularly well to other roots, such as carrots and spuds - especially with a few mustard seeds - as well as the bigger meats such as mutton and lamb. Tomatoes, too. It is only by giving it a chance to go pretty-much solo that we cooks can really get to grips with its hidden depths.— Manu Ginobili said Wednesday night that he is pain free and will return to the San Antonio Spurs next week after missing a month following testicle surgery.
Ginobili has missed 11 games and will wear a protective cup when he returns from the worst injury of his career. He is unsure when he will play, but the Spurs have five games in eight days beginning Sunday at home against Sacramento.
The Argentina native addressed the media just before San Antonio played the Detroit Pistons in its first home game following its annual monthlong Rodeo Road Trip.
"I'm happy to be starting to just think about playing," he said. "For a week (after the injury), I didn't care about playing. I was struggling. I was in pain and I didn't care. (Retiring was) not realistic, but I thought, `I don't care, I just want to feel good.' It was bad."
Ginobili said he has been participating in team activities, including practicing and conditioning. Ginobili on Feb. 3 took a knee directly to the groin from Ryan Anderson when the New Orleans Pelicans forward spun quickly in the lane against Ginobili and rose for a short jumper.
The 38-year-old guard was down on the court for several minutes before being assisted to the locker room by Tim Duncan and Spurs trainers. Team doctors had Ginobili undergo surgery that evening after he continued to experience great pain two hours after the injury occurred.
Ginobili said he has no plans to change the breakneck, dynamic style of play that has defined his 14-year career despite the traumatic injury.
"I don't think anything can happen," he said. "I don't know once I'm better if I'm going to step to get a charge. I don't know if the instincts are going to kick in or I'm going to be more worried. I don't know. Once I start practicing or competing, I'll figure it out."
Ginobili is averaging 10 points, 3.3 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 19.7 minutes per game.Meet Spongecell, a Profitable Ad Tech Company With $10 Million in New Funding
You hate Web ads, or you ignore Web ads. Ah, but what if those Web ads weren’t boring old Web ads, but they danced or sang or jiggled around?
This is the pitch, more or less, for Spongecell, a start-up that helps produce “rich media” Web ads. That’s not a new idea, by any stretch, and there are plenty of competitors that do similar stuff. But last year the company’s story still attracted angel investors like Google chair Eric Schmidt.
And now the company has new funding: Tech investor/holding company Safeguard Scientifics has taken all of a $10 million B round.
The money will go to help Spongecell expand smaller product lines, like video ads, and eventually move into new ones, like mobile ads, says CEO Ben Kartzman.
Spongecell is a full-fledged “pivot”: Prior to 2008, it had raised $3 million and was trying to sell some sort of “event management” widget that Kartzman readily admits got no traction. Then it moved into ad tech, and things have been humming since. Kartzman says that last year he grossed around $10 million and cleared “seven figures” of profit.
Big picture: Smart people keep telling me that the ad tech ecosystem has too many start-ups funded with too much money, and that something has to give. But then I keep hearing about another ad tech start-up raising another round. Assume we’ll see more of these for a while.LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers have signed former Rockies and Giants infielder Charlie Culberson to a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to big league camp in spring training.
Chris Cotillo of SB Nation was the first to report the signing.
Culberson, who turns 27 in April, was sidelined for almost all of the 2015 season with a bulging disc injury in his back. He didn't play in the majors all season and was limited to just five games with Triple-A Albuquerque in June. The Rockies sent him outright to Triple-A in June, removing Culberson from the 40-man roster. He became a minor league free agent after the season.
The right-hander hit.221/.265/.314 in parts of three seasons from 2012-14 with the Giants and Rockies. He played over half of his games in the minors at second base, but also saw significant time at shortstop and third base. In the majors, Culberson has started 20 games at second base, 18 at third base, 14 games at shortstop, three games at first base and even 20 games in left field.
San Francisco originally drafted Culberson in the supplemental first round in 2007, with the 51st overall pick.
Should Culberson find his way to the Dodgers' 40-man roster, he does have one option year remaining, having been optioned in both 2012 and 2013. Culberson was also optioned in 2014, but the assignment lasted just eight days, far less than the 20 total days on optional assignment in one season to count as an option year.
The Dodgers haven't yet announced reporting dates for 2016 spring training, but their Cactus League schedule begins on Thursday, March 3.A few days ago, news came out that UFC welterweight Matt Riddle was suspended for 90 days after a positive marijuana test following his UFC 149 win over Chris Clements. The fight was subsequently flipped to a no-contest along with the Francisco Rivera-Roland Delorme fight, where Rivera popped for a stimulant. Riddle rarely uses his twitter account, but he did fire it up recently to let people know that apparently he's a medical marijuana patient in his home state of Nevada. And he even included a pic of his card, which you can see above:
This is my medical marijuana license I don't take other medications, so don't hate twitter.com/riddletuf7/sta… — matthew riddle (@riddletuf7) October 20, 2012
What does this mean? Not a whole lot. He wants people to know that he uses marijuana for medicinal purposes. But it's still against the rules to have more than a trace in your system at the time you fight, and he apparently pushed it too far. Plenty of you will use the old adage "it's just weed, man". Go ahead. I don't think that's going to make Riddle feel any better about the NC on his record instead of a W.Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER -- Hunting grizzly bears has been banned in British Columbia, a move guides complain will put them out of business while environmentalists say is long overdue.
B.C. Forests Minister Doug Donaldson said public consultations have made it clear that killing grizzlies cannot be allowed, with the exception of First Nations who hunt for treaty rights or for food, social and ceremonial reasons.
"It is no longer socially acceptable to the vast majority of British Columbians to hunt grizzly bears," Donaldson said Monday. "That's the message."
The spring hunt was scheduled to open in April, but the ban for both resident and non-resident hunters took effect immediately.
There are an estimated 15,000 grizzly bears in the province, which Donaldson said is a sustainable population.
In August, the provincial government announced a ban on trophy hunting across all of B.C., which came into effect following the close of the fall hunting season on Nov. 30.
The government issued about 1,700 grizzly bear permits in 2017, mostly to B.C. hunters. Around 300 bears are killed in the hunt ever year, about 250 of which are taken by non-First Nations hunters.
Rachel Forbes, head of the Grizzly Bear Foundation, applauded the ban, which she described as a welcome surprise.
"It's been well over a decade of bad news for bears in B.C., so we're not usually prepared for good news," Forbes said.
"The easy decision is done," she added. "Now the hard work on addressing all the other cumulative threats to grizzly bears, such as habitat loss and food supply, has to begin."
Joe Foy of the Wilderness Committee called the ban tremendous news.
"We are grateful that the government has finally stepped up to do what the people have asked for which is an end to this barbaric, bloody sport hunt," Foy said in a release.
Monday's announcement came two months after B.C.'s auditor general released a report calling on the province to develop a more robust wildlife management strategy for grizzlies. The report noted a lack of population monitoring and described habitat loss as the number 1 threat facing the bears.
The Opposition Liberals condemned the New Democrat government's decision, which it said was prompted by pushback from environmentalists who are angry at a separate decision to move forward with the Site C dam, a controversial hydroelectric megaproject in the province's northeast.
"It's sad to |
ukebox, and Sheep have made their enemies petrified of stalemates. Well now, Reason has that key ingredient to a dominant performance at i55. Forsak3n, one of the best snipers in the game (and a superb scout, too), has joined the squad for LAN.
If Reason’s results and roster upgrades aren’t enough to convince B4nny that Reason is a bit more than the "latest European pug dream team," then the core of the team should. Kaptain is one of the best pockets in the game, with DM skills only paralleled by his own roaming soldier, Mike. Hafficool has beat all expectations and proven himself to be an extremely effective scout. And Kaidus has finally found himself on the best team in Europe in time for LAN.
I think Reason can win i55, and they’re putting in the work to make it happen. But what will the Americans have to say about Europe’s best hope?
2. Froyotech #
shade
shade b4nny
b4nny blaze
blaze duwatna
duwatna ash
ash clockwork
Froyotech just did it again. They took their 4th straight ESEA title, and they proved their adaptive ingenuity along the way. After Ash was brought in on pocket to replace Serv0, Froyotech struggled to match their peak form, losing to Ascent in two tight maps in the ESEA upper bracket final. But before their Grand Final rematch, b4nny decided to make a change. He switched to pocket himself, and in the process brought his smarts and calls to Froyotech’s combo. The change worked perfectly, and Froyotech ended up taking four straight maps to beat their North American rivals in dominant fashion.
I don’t think Froyotech are unbeatable. Although their combo is more fearsome than ever, Ash remains relatively unproven on scout. But if Froyotech do win (and they very well might!), they won’t just be the best team in the world. They’ll be the uncontested best team of all time. We’ll see what happens, but I expect Froyo to be unable to match the unique combination of DM and experience that Reason bring to the table. One thing’s for sure, however: we’ll see some amazing TF2 in the process.
3. Ascent #
TheFragile
TheFragile rando
rando Ma3la
Ma3la Bdonski
Bdonski enigma
enigma Shrugger
It’s been tough being an Ascent fan, lately. After winning the aforementioned ESEA upper bracket final against Froyotech, they proved unable to match a revitalized roster from their biggest rivals, and lost four straight maps. Ouch.
But Ascent have their own answer to Froyotech’s changeup: for i55, teamfortress.tv’s own Enigma has stepped up to the bat in place of Decimate (whose work schedule prevents an i55 showing). Although both are top notch scouts, Enigma still has to be seen as an upgrade for Ascent by way of his experience. With an i46 title and a close 3rd at i52 under his belt, Enigma brings a powerful consistency to the BFNS squad.
Will it be enough? It’s hard to say, but Ascent has all the right ingredients to make the finals, or even win. Rando is a beast, Bdonski undoubtedly wants to prove he’s the best demoman in the world, Shrugger has I-Series experience of his own, Ma3la has an amazing fashion sense, and TheFragile has some on-point cat faces. What more could you ask for? :3
So far, Ascent have lacked the aura of invincibility an on-form Froyotech can display. But if they put on their game faces in Coventry, they could win i55. They have all the right ingredients; it’s up to them to put them together and be the best team in the world.
4. nerdRage #
Bulle
Bulle Tek
Tek Zebbosai
Zebbosai ryb
ryb Flippy
Flippy Starkie
Throughout most S21 of ETF2L, nerdRage looked like Europe's best chance against the Americans. Their roster is an unholy union of the perennial Scandinavian and French superteams. Tek and Bulle crush everything in sight, while Ryb provides supporting damage. Their flank is even scarier: Stark may very well be the smartest scout in Europe, while Zebbosai brings his experience and "solid" DM to roamer. Finally, Flippy’s occasionally sub-par scout performance is more than made up for by his godly performance on sniper.
But in the finals weeks of ETF2L, nerdRage looked shaky against the new Reason squad, and has lost all four official maps to them. If they can’t conquer their European compatriots, how will they defeat their rivals from across the pond?! It’s a good question, one which only nerdRage can answer.
If Flippy is “on,” and the rest of their team performs at their full potential, nerdRage could make a deep run: it would be only a small surprise to see them in the grand finals. But Tek and Flippy have been on holiday lately: Tek won't be back for another week! nerdRage have a lot of prove, but I would love to see them succeed, and show us all that a European team doesn’t need Knoxxx and Mike to be the best team in the world.
5. The Last Resort #
Serotone
Serotone AMS
AMS alfa
alfa WARHURYEAH
WARHURYEAH HerrP_
HerrP_ NiCO
The Last Resort seems to be down to their literal last resorts as of late. HYS, the team’s mastermind and (until recently) leader, suffered a shoulder injury after ETF2L playoffs and was replaced by WARHURYEAH. Although WAR might be a better demo in pure DM capability, HYS micromanaged his team with a passion and guided their play beautifully. So I have to see HYS being gone as a big loss for TLR, even though WAR is an insanely good demoman.
Furthermore, ShaDowBurn’s visa has been denied, so TLR have picked up the wily Canadian Alfa to roam for them. Although Alfa is a great player, and it’s exciting to see the first top intercontinental team at an Insomnia LAN, I question TLR’s capability to win i55, when their roamer will be practicing with 100+ ping.
I would love to see TLR make a big run and muscle their way past whichever top teams are underperforming. They certainly have the capability: with WAR and AMS in their combo, TLR’s famous aggression could prove brutally effective against a potentially jetlagged and uncoordinated Ascent or Froyotech. But with so many roster changes coming so close to i55, I’m forced to rank them in the 5th spot. Prove me wrong, boys!
Let's wrap this up
i55 is looking HYPE. There are 5 teams with a shot: the American squads are established and LAN-proven, but the Euros have managed to put together three superteams to contest them. Although TLR have had roster issues and 1/3 of nerdRage has been on vacation, Reason have the best talent and results that Europe has to offer, and they are the team to beat.
Who will be crowned world champions? Tune into teamfortress.tv's official coverage from August 28th to August 30th to find out, or check out the upcoming ZOWIE & SweetStakes.tf tournament for a sneak preview into the action! Don’t be late to either: you can expect nothing less than the best TF2 of all time!
P.S. You think I'm totally incorrect? Take the strawpoll and rank the top teams yourself! http://www.polljunkie.com/poll/bppscx/i55PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Move over Philadelphia, the best cheesesteak in Pennsylvania is right here in Pittsburgh.
Groove Cheesesteak Company, the former Southside Steaks, has been voted best cheesesteak according to USA Today vote.
We can imagine the major upset isn’t going to sit well with Philly residents.
The 10 Best website says the vote actually came down to a matter of a few votes between Groove and Dalessandro’s Steaks & Hoagies.
Don’t worry Philly, 7 out of the top 10 best cheesesteaks came from the City of Brotherly love.
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A panel of experts picked the initial 20 nominees from the state, and the top 10 were determined by popular vote.
The restaurant’s cheesesteak comes on a soft Italian roll with sauteed onions, peppers and cheese sauce.
They also serve up a “Pittsburgh” version that comes with mozzarella cheese, french fries, lettuce, tomato and coleslaw on it.
And if you want to taste the cheesesteak for yourself, you can visit Groove Cheesesteak Company at 2000 East Carson St. in the South Side.DALLAS — THE case of Ethan Couch — the drunk 16-year-old who mowed down four bystanders in a Fort Worth suburb with his “super duty” F-350 pickup truck, but got off with 10 years’ probation after his defense team’s psychologist blamed “affluenza,” or a state of immense, amoral privilege, for the crime — has become something of a national outrage.
But here in North Texas, the reaction hasn’t been quite so vehement. Most of the vitriol has come from elsewhere: a somber and scandalized Anderson Cooper, excoriating the psychologist who testified for the defense; and Nancy Grace, the helmet-haired high priestess of outrage, demanding on “The View” that the juvenile judge who handed down the sentence “be thrown off the bench”; the petition to that effect on Change.org, which has garnered 20,000 signatures.
Granted, in the aftermath of the sentencing, politicians like Greg Abbott, the state attorney general, a Republican, and Wendy Davis, the Democratic state senator best known for her 11-hour filibuster against abortion restrictions, have wrung their hands. (Both are running for governor.) Local prosecutors are talking about new assault charges that might yield a three-year sentence for Mr. Couch (instead of the 20 years he faced for manslaughter), but success is unlikely.
On the ground, the sentiment is quieter, almost resigned. There’s been no rush to condemnation by civic leaders. No one is rioting on the Metroplex’s sidewalkless streets against Ethan Couch or the judge, Jean Hudson Boyd, who essentially let him go. (As part of his probation, Mr. Couch will be sent to a California treatment facility that offers equine therapy, cooking classes and martial-arts lessons, and his father, a wealthy sheet-metal executive, will foot the $450,000-a-year bill.)LOS ANGELES, Calif. – It’s been said that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone. When it comes to fans of late-model six-cylinder Ford Mustangs, that time has come. Beginning with the 2018 model year, Ford will no longer be offering a Mustang equipped with a V-6.
While a newly revamped “Coyote” 5.0-liter will be powering the Mustang GT for 2018, the only engine available in the base Mustang will be the economical, thoroughly punchy and newly improved 2.3-liter EcoBoost inline four. With the 2018 EcoBoost numbers now overpowering those of the 2017 V-6, Ford decided to remove the 3.7-liter six from the Mustang lineup.
Mustang purists needn’t be up in arms over the move. You’ll recall that back in the Fox Body days – between model years 1987 and 1993 to be exact – a Mustang could only be had with either a thrifty 2.3-liter inline-four or the venerable Windsor 5.0-liter V-8. A six-cylinder of any kind simply wasn’t on the menu. When the all-new SN-95 Fourth Generation Mustang was launched for the 1994 model year, Ford’s 3.8-liter V-6 replaced the 2.3-liter four as the base engine, a role it had played ever since the introduction of the Mustang II. A four didn’t get back into Ford’s Pony Car corral until the EcoBoost 2.3 found its way into the S550 Mustang for 2015.
It’s no secret that since that time, the latest V-6 Mustangs were sold Mustang bargain hunters or were relegated to become the darlings of the rental car world, thus branding them as ho-hum. However, most experienced enthusiasts who have been around for a while will tell you that base Mustang owners and rental car customers have never had it so good with the last 3.7-liter V-6.
The 2017 Mustang V-6 makes a rather effortless 300 horsepower at 6,500 RPM, producing its 280 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 RPM. (Not too many years ago, those were actually muscular numbers!) It carries an EPA rating of 18/27/21 MPG for its City/Highway/Combined numbers with either the automatic or manual transmissions. So what gave the EcoBoost four the nod over the V-6 for next year? Well, for one thing, the upgraded 2018 EcoBoost continues on with 310 horses coming on full gallop at 5,500 RPM, but torque has been increased to an impressive 350 foot-pounds – a gain of 30 over the 2017 version, and a whopping 70 more than that of the V-6. The additional torque coupled with the new 10-speed automatic transmission will now propel the turbo pony from 0 to 60 MPH in less than five seconds. Case closed.
But for 3.7 V-6 owners and fans, it’s not all about the numbers. So we decided to rent a 2017 Mustang V-6 convertible on a recent trip out to Los Angeles, just to get a feel for what they love about their six-banger Stang experience. As an owner of an EcoBoost Mustang, I actually welcomed the opportunity to spend a week with a Mustang V-6 convertible in sunny southern California. As my only and last chance to drive a V-6 prior to its discontinuation from production, I opted to score an Oxford White tester direct from an airport rental fleet rather than look into the media test fleet, which is usually stocked with more spirited, heavily optioned Mustang GTs.
In the days leading up to my visit, southern California was receiving record rainfall, and my hopes for a top-down day or two seemed very optimistic. So it was a pleasant surprise when each day of my visit turned out to be sunny and mild. Once out on the open road and putting the pedal to the metal, what I soon discovered was that even though the EcoBoost and V-6 have similar horsepower numbers, the similarity ends there when it comes to the driving.
The V-6 paired with the 6-speed automatic delivered more satisfying low-end torque on-demand than I get with my own EcoBoost I-4. Power rolls in smoothly right up to the redline, which made driving it ideal for the cut-and-thrust of LA traffic. The EcoBoost is equally capable, but I could feel that the driving experience is slightly different. With virtually no turbo-lag the EcoBoost is surely an eager commuter, but it still doesn’t give that “instant-on” throttle response the V-6 exhibits. It’s not a night-and-day difference here, and many people probably couldn’t even tell, but it’s there just the same.
With a steady power delivery, the V-6 delivers a premium feel that is synonymous with the S550 Mustang. Downshifts are smooth and seamless, and the V-6 never hinted a shortage of usable power. It will be very interesting to see how the new 10-speed automatic transmission performs.
I was also eager to explore the limits of the V-6 as installed in the convertible chassis, both of which were new to me. I’d read about the Angeles Crest Highway and had seen breathtaking photography of that road, so I set out on a sunny morning to experience it firsthand. Neither the highway nor the car served to disappoint. Never at any time did the 3.7 feel overtaxed during the ascent, nor did the chassis seem overwhelmed.
First, let’s talk about the engine: As the altitude rose, the thin air didn’t seem to noticeably impair the power delivery. The transmission made the most of its gearing by holding on longer during downshifts. The drivetrain sounded a bit busier – but all shifts, up and down, were smooth. During the climb, passing power always remained sufficient, even with an economy-minded 3.15 limited-slip rear gear.
Driving responsibly but rather spirited during the decent, the Mustang V-6 Convertible really came into its own. With the top down, the chassis remained composed without noticeable cowl shake. And despite having base-model 17’’ wheels and all-season tires, grip in constant- and decreasing radius turns was quite good.
There’s no amount of praise that I can heap upon this car or powertrain that would make it more capable than a Mustang GT 5.0. The V-6 Convertible is a very pleasant canyon cruiser that’s more than able to deliver a comfortable and fun experience. A Mustang GT is a canyon-carver that makes the ascent and decent of any mountain road a thrill ride; it’s as simple as that.
Another area that the V-6 and the EcoBoost differ is with regard to fuel economy. In mixed driving, I recorded an average of 23.2 miles per gallon on 87 unleaded regular fuel. In my EcoBoost – which was I had coincidently also clocked once over the same 1,200 miles of driving – my recorded city/highway average was 27.5 MPG. However, that was on 93 octane premium unleaded fuel and over far less demanding roads. It will be interesting to see how rental fleets adapt to the turbocharged four. I’ve had no durability issues with my EcoBoost despite my spirited and enthusiastic driving style, so rental customers may more readily sense the car’s inherent fun-factor.
While the 3.7-liter V-6 has served the Mustang well as an economical, fun and practical coupe, there little doubt that the new 2.3-liter EcoBoost will satisfy most non-GT Mustang shoppers. But for those who wish to continue to celebrate V-6 ownership, the enthusiast community has stepped in to fill the void with the introduction of a new club called the “Mustang 3.7 Connection,” founded by V-6 aficionado Rick Mitchell. While Rick admits Ford’s announcement that 2018 Mustangs will discontinue the Duratec 3.7L V6 engine in favor of the 2.3L EcoBoost I-four marks the end of his beloved six-cylinder Mustangs for the foreseeable future, he formed the Mustang 3.7 Connection in an effort to promote V-6 Mustangs for as long as possible. The group is dedicated to the history and preservation of the Duratec 3.7L V-6-powered Mustangs produced from 2011 to 2017. Mitchell also serves as editor of a monthly Mustang 3.7 Connection newsletter featuring Duratec 3.7L-powered Mustangs, and though he does not charge dues, he does ask that owners and fans submit digital pictures, stories, interviews and other information about these Mustangs to help contribute toward their legacy.
Mustang V-6 fans can visit the group’s website at www.mustang37.vpweb.com to sign up, and you don’t even have to own a 3.7L Mustang to be a member. And if you happen to have or be a fan of a six-cylinder Mustang other than a 3.7, there’s still an enthusiast club for you. It’s called the “Mustang 6 Association,” and has been active supporting the fan following for all six-banger Mustangs from the inlines to the V’s.So yes, even though the V-6 Mustang is now gone – it’s certainly not forgotten!
FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY ARTISAN RICH MEDIAA fajita (; Spanish: [faˈxita] ()) in Tex-Mex cuisine is any grilled meat that is served as a taco on a flour or corn tortilla.[2] The term originally referred to skirt steak, the cut of beef first used in the dish.[3] Popular meats today also include chicken and other cuts of beef, as well as vegetables instead of meat.[4][5] In restaurants, the meat is usually cooked with onions and bell peppers. Popular condiments include shredded lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, refried beans, and diced tomatoes. Arrachera is a northern Mexican variant of the dish.
History [ edit ]
Fajita is a Tex-Mex, Texan-Mexican American or Tejano, diminutive term for little strips of meat cut from the beef skirt, the most common cut used to make fajitas.[3] The word fajita is not known to have appeared in print until 1971, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. (The word faja is Spanish for "strip", or "belt", from the Latin fascia, "band"[6]) Although fajita originally referred to these strips of beef skirt, fajitas now are made with a variety of fillings, such as green/red/yellow peppers, onions, chilies, and jalapeno peppers.[7]
Popularity [ edit ]
The first culinary evidence of the fajitas with the cut of meat, the cooking style (directly on a campfire or on a grill), and the Spanish nickname goes back as far as the 1930s in the ranch lands of South and West Texas.[citation needed] During cattle roundups, cows were butchered regularly to feed the hands. Throwaway items such as the hide, the head, the entrails, and meat trimmings such as the skirt were given to the Mexican cowboys called vaqueros as part of their pay. Hearty border dishes like barbacoa de cabeza (head barbecue), menudo (tripe stew), and fajitas or arracheras (grilled skirt steak) have their roots in this practice. Considering the limited number of skirts per carcass and the fact the meat was not available commercially, the fajita tradition remained regional and relatively obscure for many years, probably only familiar to vaqueros, butchers, and their families.
The food was popularized by various businesses such as Ninfa's in Houston, the Hyatt Regency in Austin, and numerous restaurants in San Antonio.[2] In southern Arizona, the term was unknown except as a cut of meat until the 1990s, when Mexican fast food restaurants started using the word in their marketing. In recent years, fajitas have become popular at American casual dining restaurants as well as in home cooking.[8]
In many restaurants, the fajita meat and vegetables is brought to the table sizzling loudly on a metal platter or skillet, along with warmed tortillas and condiments such as guacamole, pico de gallo, queso, salsa, shredded cheese, and/or sour cream.[citation needed]
See also [ edit ]NZ First leader Winston Peters says the Government must investigate a company contracted by Immigration New Zealand in China to process visa applications after hundreds of fraudulent student visas were issued.
The fraud was picked up last month during routine checks on student visas processed through Immigration's Beijing office which revealed falsified bank statements and qualifications had been used to support applications since July last year.
A subsequent wider investigation found 279 visa applications had relied on fraudulent evidence and 231 of those students involved are still in New Zealand. All are students at private English language institutions in Auckland.
Peters has called for an urgent investigation into the Beijing branch of VFS Global Services.
"This is exactly the kind of problem created when you hand over a vital stage of border security to officials from foreign countries."
Taxpayers would have to pay for identifying and deporting "those who cheated to get into our country", he said.
"The continuing bungling by the Immigration Service is inexcusable in a first world nation."
Immigration staff were being investigated for possible links to the visa fraud and officials are trying to track down the students involved. By yesterday 10 students had been interviewed.
A review will also look at whether Chinese nationals working for Immigration were involved.
Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce said yesterday two independent Chinese immigration agents were linked to all the cases and it was possible they were working together.
It is not believed they targeted other countries.
Acting Immigration Minister Kate Wilkinson said there were about 25,000 student visa applications from China a year and she was not aware of a previous scandal on this scale.
Some of the students may be deported but others could be entitled to stay, she said. It was possible the students and schools involved were unaware of the fraud.
"Natural justice says that they're all entitled to give their side of the story."
Most of the private institutions involved had only a couple of affected students but at least one had up to 30.
Immigration head Steve Stuart said it was likely to take several weeks to contact all the students.
"It's important to note that, as opposed to anyone who departs voluntarily, anyone who is deported is unable to return to New Zealand for five years."
Anyone unsure about their visa should contact the department, he said.
* WHO IS INVOLVED?
279 applications fraudulently made through Immigration New Zealand's Beijing office
231 people fraudulently in New Zealand
60 of them have overstayed their visas
48 others have left or not yet arrived in New Zealand
20 English language private institutions in Auckland where the students are studying
2 Chinese immigration agents in Beijing believed involved2.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Reddit Tumblr Digg Linkedin Stumbleupon Mail Print
The world gasped last week after the personal information of government officials was leaked in connection with the Ashley Madison cheating website. CopBlock.org was one of the first media organizations to publish that list. Though I possessed the entire list, only the information of government employees who used taxpayer-funded emails to cheat on their significant others was published.
DISCLAIMER: Just because these names appeared on the cheating website, that in itself does not mean these people cheated. Users are able to sign up to the site without responding to an email verification, meaning anyone’s email address could have been used to create an account.
UPDATE: For more information about the Daily Mail article, denying the existence of Cpt. Gorhum’s email on the list, please click here.
One of those emails listed was mgorhum@sanantonio.gov. That email account belonged to San Antonio Police Captain Michael Gorhum. After being allegedly outed, Cpt. Gorhum committed suicide. At one point, there were so many city employees accessing the Ashley Madison website that the city banned access to the website from their computers.
I do not revel in the loss of his life, as his decision to allegedly cheat on his spouse was his decision, and for what it’s worth, I send my condolences to his surviving family members. However, I do take issue with his alleged actions while on the taxpayer’s dime. That email was bought and paid for by taxpayers.
Click here to see the full list of government emails exposed in the Ashley Madison hack.
Another high-profile victim is Jeff Ashton, State Attorney for Orange and Osceola counties in Florida, who has said he is resigning his post after being revealed as an Ashley Madison user. Though he claims he never actually cheated on his wife, he did admit to using the site. He also claims he did not use government resources to access the website, but in the same breath states that he used the publicly available WiFi at the courthouse. He also neglected to say that he used his government-issued email address, which was paid for by taxpayers.
According to the State Attorney’s office for Miami-Dade, a State Attorney is a salaried position, meaning the taxpayers most likely paid for a portion of Ashton’s salary as he conducted his ‘online activities’ at the courthouse.
I have personally submitted a FOIA request for the two emails listed above, with particular attention to Jeff Ashton. Once those are received, I will update the story with a complete list of his emails and their contents.
Click here to see the full list of government emails exposed in the Ashley Madison hack
There are many more government officials on the list. Those includes people from DHS, FBI, TSA, and many more agencies. When they are not investigating or prosecuting citizens for violating their rules or laws, they enjoy long walks on the beach, intelligent conversation, and cheating on their spouses. The Department of Homeland Security and General Services Administration also said they’re reviewing allegations that employees may have misused government property.
DHS, in a statement, said that the potential violations are “both a personnel and security matter.” The agency considers “viewing, downloading, storing, transmitting or copying materials that are sexually explicit or sexually-oriented, related to gambling, illegal weapons, terrorist activities, or any other prohibited activities” an “inappropriate personal use” of government office equipment.
Another reason this is considered prohibited by DHS is the potential for blackmail. A government worker with a high security clearance could potentially be blackmailed into turning over classified information to prevent his/her family from being notified. (Not all users of the site used their real emails, or emails that readily identified them. However, that information can be determined by examining the IP address and credit card information.)
Todd Fox, for example, works for the Department of Homeland Security. He allegedly registered on the Ashley Madison website using his official government email, todd.fox@dhs.gov. He’s also a former cop with Colebrookdale District Police Department.
Another high-level employee is Terry Rosta, who also works for DHS. He allegedly registered on the site by also using his government email, terrydrosta@dhs.gov. Rosta states on his LinkedIn account that he “deploys as an Executive Officer and Watch Officer during events rated as National Special Security Events.”
Glen Collins is another DHS employee. It seems his area of expertise is being a ‘Protective Security Advisor‘. In a document he authored, he speaks about protecting key infrastructures within the United States, including government facilities and transportation systems. It would seem that someone in his position would know better than to use potentially classified equipment to cheat on his spouse.
There is also David Rubincam, who is a Special Agent for the FBI. In 2012, he was the FBI’s legal attache in Moscow. More recently, he investigated possible terrorist activities in the US. The picture to the left is of Rubincam at a “Sikhs’ worshop” in 2013. That workshop discussed immigration laws and security, among other items.
There are thousands more government officials who were implicated in the hack. Only time will tell what kind of impact all of this will have.
Click here to see the full list of government emails exposed in the Ashley Madison hack.
Capital District CopBlock also posted some information regarding local police officers implicated in the hack. One of those officers, Scott Gavigan, works for the Albany Police Department. Besides allegedly cheating on his spouse, Detective Scott Gavigan was accused of stealing money from a bust. He was also sued in a separate incident for excessive force.
Normally, I would not post a picture of a spouse, but I will make an exception in this case. Capital District CopBlock talked with the spouse of Detective Scott Gavigan about his involvement with the Ashley Madison scandal. (she posted on the public Facebook page for Capital District Cop Block) She claimed that her husband was ‘working undercover’ for the police department. I guess lying to your wife about cheating would come easy to a Detective accused of beating people and lying about stealing their money.
Capital District Cop Block: You related to an Albany cop? Teresa Russo-Gavigan: Yes clearly with my last name I knew you would know I am married to a cop and very proud to be! I have three young kids who love him to death and everyday he goes out there to protect us and get guns out off the hands of criminals! Capital District Cop Block: I am surprised that you are not upset that your husband is on Ahley Madison. Did you see his name on the list? Funny how his is part of a lawsuit right now for violating peoples rights. But he is one of the goods ones right??? Teresa Russo-Gavigan: Come on really absolutely I knew long before the list published! So should he use r private email?? I don’t think so! If the job wants him to get prostitutes off the websites then he should be using a job email not our private! Absolutely he is good! Capital District Cop Block: lol you think he was getting prostitutes from that web site for work? omg please His work email was the only Albany PD one lol. If you think he was doing that for work purposes you have the blinders on.
I’m sure that most people reading this article wouldn’t believe Detective Gavigan’s story for a second. After all, what incompetent police department would have a detective solicit prostitutes online, using an official police department email? Regardless, I wish Teresa and Scott the best of luck in their marriage and the pending lawsuit(s). For their sake, I hope the jury never sees the video of the ‘alleged’ theft.
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$2295.0Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has raised enough money to fund a recount in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania part of an effort “to ensure the integrity of our elections.”
The Wisconsin Elections Commission confirmed on Twitter that it had received Stein’s petition in advance of the deadline.
The third-party candidate raised more than $4.7 million of a $7 million goal in just two days, according to the candidate’s site. Additional funding will pay for a recount in Michigan, the campaign says.
“Raising money to pay for the first two recounts so quickly is a miraculous feat and a tribute to the power of grassroots organizing,” the site says. “In true grassroots fashion, we’re turning to you, the people, and not big-money corporate donors to make this happen.”
Some Hillary Clinton supporters have called for a recount in the three states critical to Donald Trump’s election victory earlier this month pointing to anomalies in voting data. The Clinton campaign has thus far declined to act on the call, but Stein, who was also on the ballot in those states, can also initiate such a process. The Stein campaign has said explicitly that its recount effort is not meant to aid Clinton.
Trump leads Clinton by less than 1 percentage point in Michigan and Wisconsin and by 1.2% in Pennsylvania, according to a New York Times report.Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is set to join striker Jamie Vardy as the highest-paid player in Leicester City's history.
The Premier League winner is close to agreeing the £100,000-a-week deal that kept Vardy at the club, although Schmeichel has been offered a five-year contract compared to Vardy's four.
Claudio Ranieri, despite losing midfielder N'Golo Kante to Chelsea this summer, is looking to keep hold of the star players who secured a memorable top-flight title triumph last season.
Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is close to agreeing new £100,000-a-week deal
Schmeichel, pictured in pre-season duty with the Foxes, has been offered a five-year contract
SCHMEICHEL STATS 2015-16 Appearances: 38 Clean sheets: 15 Minutes per goal conceded: 95 Goals conceded: 36 Saves: 99 Save percentage: 73.3 Premier League stats only
And after Vardy snubbed interest from Arsenal to commit his future to the King Power outfit, the Denmark international looks set to follow suit.
Schmeichel, son of Manchester United legend Peter, kept 15 clean sheets as the Foxes stunned the football world to win the Premier League.
He also finished the season as the only goalkeeper to play every minute of every Premier League game.
The 29-year-old has two years left of his current deal and can point to how the Foxes' amazing run to the title began when he was restored to the side 10 games from the end of the 2014-15 season.
Only a Cesc Fabregas penalty at Chelsea in the last match of the 2015-16 campaign stopped him adding to his record of 20 clean sheets in 48 matches since.
Ranieri's Premier League champions will now reward the Denmark international for his performances with a bumper new deal.
Schmeichel is set to join Jamie Vardy (pictured) as the highest-paid player in the club's historyJust when you thought rock video had lost all its sizzle, along comes a new video that makes you sit up and take notice.
It's the amazing new Janet Jackson video, When I Think of You. Directed by video wizard Julien Temple, its four minutes appear to have been shot in one continuous take, without any edits whatsoever -- much like the opening scene in Absolute Beginners, Temple's recent film.
Shot on a leftover 20th Century-Fox set from Big Trouble in Little China ("I think we actually used more of it than they did in the film," Temple said), it features Jackson prancing around a colorful tenement back-alley filled with brawling sailors, jugglers tossing flaming torches and a horde of dancers outfitted in turbans, wig-hats and zoot suits.
Temple confessed that the video wasn't really shot in one take. It actually has three separate edits, which are cleverly disguised by the flash of a photographer's camera, a pan across a wooden beam and a darkened doorway at the bottom of a stairwell. Still, it's a bravura technical exercise, as the camera bounds back and forth across the set, capturing a seamless flow of movement.On November 2-4, I joined 4,000 fellow giddy educators on the three-day learning journey that is known as the Georgia Education Technology Conference (GaETC). |
the complaint, a copy of which MMAjunkie.com obtained. “A referee who was operating under an accurate interpretation of the commission’s regulations would have stopped the contest upon viewing a foul and, under these circumstances, declared the contest a ‘no decision’ … or a disqualification of Travis Browne.”
Gonzaga’s loss snapped a three-fight win streak, which came after back-to-back octagon losses that prompted his release from the UFC. Browne, meanwhile, got back in the winner’s circle following a TKO loss to Antonio Silva that snapped his own three-fight streak.
Asked whether Browne would consider a rematch with Gonzaga, Fosco said, “At this point, Travis beat Gabriel fair and square. The decision reflects that. Travis is looking at one goal, and that one goal is the UFC heavyweight belt.”
For complete coverage of The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale, check out the UFC Events section of the site.The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office announced Tuesday it has approved the arrest warrants for three people in connection with a Sept. 11 anti-gay attack in the Center City neighborhood.
The district attorney said Philip Williams, 24, Kevin Harrigan, 26, and Kathryn Knott, 24, will face charges for their alleged involvement in the attack that left a gay couple with multiple injuries. All three people are from Pennsylvania's Bucks County, according to the DA's office.
All three defendants will be charged with two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of simple assault, two counts of recklessly endangering another person (REAP), and one count of criminal conspiracy, the DA's office said in a statement.
"I would like to thank the police for their thorough investigation and the public for the outpouring of information and tips in this case," said District Attorney Seth Williams in the statement. "This vicious attack shocked the entire country. An assault on people because of their sexual orientation has no place in Philadelphia."
Philadelphia Police Department spokeswoman Rhonda Bowens told BuzzFeed News that authorities will wait for the three to turn themselves in for arrest.
The DA's office has previously said that people charged in the attack will not face hate crime charges because of Pennsylvania's hate crimes law, which currently only calls for more severe charges for crimes motivated by the victim's religion, race, or ethnicity. State lawmakers are making an urgent push to amend the law to include LGBT protections after the attack.
The two victims in the attack were approached by a group of about 10–12 men and women around 10:45 on Sept. 11. Some in the group made anti-gay remarks and then held the victims down and punched them in the head, chest, and face before fleeing the scene with a victim's bag containing a wallet and credit cards, according to the Philadelphia Police Department. One of the victims — who both have remained anonymous — suffered a fractured jaw, which needed to be wired shut.The secret subway of Crystal Palace could be opened up for everyone soon (Picture: Getty)
Built for first class passengers going to see the Crystal Palace, this secret subway in south London could be about to be opened to the public.
It was officially opened in 1865 and was in use until the palace was destroyed by fire. It then served as an air raid shelter during World War Two with enough room for 192 people to sleep or 360 to stand.
The Friends of Crystal Palace Subway now want to re-open the Grade II vaulted walkway to the public.
They’re trying to raise £50,000 so that people can enjoy the incredible architecture of the tunnel.
Click here to help raise the money needed for the project.
The subway was the entrance to Crystal Palace for first class passengers (Picture: Getty)
It was opened in 1865 and was used until 1961 (Picture: Getty)
The subway has not really been used much since 1961 when the train station it served was demolished.
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It’s been used for illegal raves and featured in the backdrop for The Chemical Brothers single Setting Sun.
For the last 20 years it was closed completely, but guided tours are offered once a year.
For the last 20 years it’s been closed permanently over safety fears (Picture: Getty)
It was used as an air raid shelter during World War Two (Picture: PA)
Treasurer for the fundraising group Jules Hussey told the Standard: ‘We have got enough money to start the work and begin reinstating safe access to the subway.
‘We really want more people to be able to enjoy it as it’s a stunning site and we want to show its value.
‘It’s the community that have really got behind this project and who are working really hard to get the site open again.’
It was the backdrop for a Chemical Brothers music video (Picture: PA)All throughout Latin America, petty theft is a huge problem. Cell phones and wallets are routinely pick-pocketed; those less fortunate can be held up at gunpoint and forced to withdraw money from an ATM. Fellow expats I’ve met in my travels have been robbed in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Argentina and a host of other places. I myself can only attest to my experience in Colombia, where I have been pick-pocketed or had something of mine disappear 3 times. It’s not surprising that crime runs rampant; wherever there is inequality, poverty and little means of upward mobility there is crime. So while having 2 smartphones and a padlock (ha!) stolen sucks big time, it’s not hard to wrap my mind around. What I have found profoundly troubling is the cultural attitude towards victims of petty crimes.
In most nations, if you inform your friends, family or colleagues that you have been robbed, you will be met with instant concern for your well-being. “Are you hurt? Did he touch you? Have you called the police?” Things of that nature. Here in Colombia the response has been markedly different: taunting and laughter. “You kept your phone in your pocket and not in the innermost compartment of your backpack? Heh, dumbass. You dozed off on the bus? LOL, what did you THINK would happen? Serves you right!”
Now, to be fair, these things are not said in an especially malicious way; instead, they’re often accompanied by chuckling and a hand gesture equivalent in meaning to a slap to the forehead. Colombians are by nature a light-hearted and jovial people, and this is surely their way of diffusing tension.
My coworker Juan– the only person I work with who speaks English and has lived somewhere besides Colombia– explained to me that many people here simply don’t know that life can be any other way; that there are places where people go for walks at night simply to enjoy the fresh air and they never have to look over their shoulder or change the side of the street they’re walking on when someone approaches. Thus, to the locals I don’t come across as a normal person adjusting to an area with higher crime, I come across as woefully naïve. So while I can’t say I’m a fan of being laughed at immediately after having $600 worth of property stolen from me, I get it. No, what bothers me is the constant inferences that I deserved to be robbed or had it coming to me.
There’s a large difference between making oneself susceptible to a crime and deserving that crime. If you walk through the middle of the Bronx at night with a stack of $100 bills hanging out your back pocket as you walk obliviously with your headphones blaring, you are increasing the likelihood that someone will attempt to rob you. But no matter what, the act of theft is never justified. If you wear revealing clothing and drink way more alcohol than you can handle at a frat party, you are increasing the likelihood that someone will attempt to sexually assault you. But no matter what, the act of rape is never justified.
Apologies if I sound like a mandatory freshman seminar, but this is NOT the obvious consensus attitude here in Colombia. Instead of assigning culpability to the perpetrator, victims are often teased and dismissed with a “Ahh well, such is life!” at best and the implication of guilt at worst. Now, I am fortunate enough to have never been a victim of sexual assault. **I do not claim to understand what it’s like to go through that experience, nor do I claim that what I have endured is anywhere near that bad.** But prior to my firsthand encounters with criminals here in Colombia, I never knew the terrible, dull sinking feeling of having to contend both with being the victim of a crime AND of being assigned responsibility for having it happen to me.
I kind of assumed that the worst part of any assault was the act itself, and that contending with an uncaring or unsympathetic social circle would be an incidental unpleasantness. Now I see that in reality it comprises a large portion of what makes the experience such bitter poison. Now I have a much better understanding of why people feel they cannot come forward to discuss what was done to them, despite platitudes from friends and family to the contrary. I may have lost 2 phones and a lock, but those are just things. In the end, the understanding I’ve gained is worth much more.
Please know that this essay was NOT:
-an attack on the people of Colombia, who are by and large friendly, giving and compassionate.
-meant to elicit pity or empathy. I’m safe and healthy.
-meant to imply that I understand what it’s like to be molested or violated.
What I DO now have is a much stronger grasp of the culture of blaming victims for the wrongs they’ve endured; a deeply flawed mentality that knows no border, gender or race.
I don’t often thank my readers but if you’ve heard me out all the way to the end of this post, thank you. Your consideration means more than you know.
-DP
AdvertisementsWASHINGTON — Gov. Jerry Brown asked the Trump administration for a federal disaster declaration for the emergency at Oroville Dam on Monday evening, citing the impending arrival of more storms and the potential need to resort again to the dam’s emergency spillway, which has been severely eroded.
The “incident is of such severity and magnitude that continued effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments,” Brown said in asking for direct federal assistance for 10,000 evacuated residents of Butte, Sutter and Yuba counties who he said require assistance.
Brown held out the prospect in his letter that the state would ask for further assistance once investigators determine the extent of the damage.
Back to Gallery California waits to hear from Trump on disaster aid request 63 1 of 63 Photo: Evan Vucci, Associated Press 2 of 63 3 of 63 Photo: JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images 4 of 63 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 5 of 63 Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images 6 of 63 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 7 of 63 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 8 of 63 Photo: JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images 9 of 63 Photo: Brian van der Brug/LA Times via Getty Images 10 of 63 Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images 11 of 63 Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images 12 of 63 Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images 13 of 63 Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images 14 of 63 Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images 15 of 63 Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle 16 of 63 Photo: Stephen Lam, For The Washington Post 17 of 63 Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press 18 of 63 Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press 19 of 63 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 20 of 63 Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images 21 of 63 Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images 22 of 63 Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images 23 of 63 Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images 24 of 63 Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle 25 of 63 Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle 26 of 63 Photo: Handout, Getty Images 27 of 63 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 28 of 63 Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle 29 of 63 Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle 30 of 63 Photo: Santiago Mejia, The Chronicle 31 of 63 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 32 of 63 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 33 of 63 Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle 34 of 63 Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle 35 of 63 Photo: Max Whittaker/Prime, Special to The Chronicle 36 of 63 Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle 37 of 63 Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle 38 of 63 Photo: Max Whittaker/Prime, Special to The Chronicle 39 of 63 Photo: Max Whittaker/Prime, Special to The Chronicle 40 of 63 Photo: Max Whittaker/Prime, Special to The Chronicle 41 of 63 Photo: Max Whittaker/Prime, Special to The Chronicle 42 of 63 Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle 43 of 63 Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle 44 of 63 Photo: Max Whittaker/Prime, Special to The Chronicle 45 of 63 Photo: Max Whittaker/Prime, Special to The Chronicle 46 of 63 Photo: KCRA 47 of 63 Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press 48 of 63 Photo: Kelly M. Grow, California Department of Water Resources 49 of 63 Photo: Kelly M. Grow, California Department of Water Resources 50 of 63 Photo: Max Whittaker/Prime, Special to The Chronicle 51 of 63 Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle 52 of 63 Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle 53 of 63 Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle 54 of 63 Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press 55 of 63 Photo: Kelly M. Grow/California Department of Water Resources 56 of 63 Photo: DWR 57 of 63 Photo: Kelly M. Grow, California Department of Water Resources 58 of 63 Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press 59 of 63 Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle 60 of 63 Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press 61 of 63 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 62 of 63 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle 63 of 63 Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle
Presidential disaster declarations trigger federal financial and other aid. President Trump, only in office for three weeks, has already approved seven disaster declarations in other states, all for severe storms, and is working on a previous disaster declaration, received from Brown late Friday evening, for storms that slammed California last month, officials said earlier Monday.
Meanwhile, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a Butte County Republican who lives just below the dam, said he’s been in touch with White House officials and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Bakersfield Republican who is close to Trump.
“We’ve got a pretty big problem here,” LaMalfa said. The White House “is aware of the situation, and they’ll assess what they need to do,” he added.
Ahsha Tribble, acting regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s region nine West Coast office, said the agency, known as FEMA, is processing the state’s request for a federal emergency declaration from storms that hit California from Jan. 3 to 12, pegging the federal aid request at $162 million. “We expect to continue to move that over the next day,” she said.
On Monday, California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both Democrats, wrote a joint letter to Trump asking for quick approval of the governor’s disaster aid request.
Formal presidential disaster declarations occur routinely in response to requests from governors. The requests are usually made after the immediate emergency has passed, FEMA officials said.
Tribble said, the agency has planning- and technical-assistance teams in the state to respond to Oroville, and local officials at Chico airport, where an emergency shelter for evacuees from the town and surrounding areas threatened by potential catastrophic flooding has been set up.
The agency expects to provide blankets, cots and water for evacuees and is currently working with the state and the Department of Defense to find additional locations for temporary shelters.
The cost of repairing the spillway “is anybody’s guess,” LaMalfa said, adding that in his view initial estimates of $100 million could easily triple.
Repairs can’t be started until the area dries out in late spring, and will have to be finished before the next rainy season begins in the fall, potentially requiring heavy overtime costs. “I expect it’s not going to be cheap,” LaMalfa said, adding he expects significant federal assistance in the repairs. The federal Army Corps of Engineers paid 20 percent of the dam’s initial cost and has responsibility for flood control, he said.
LaMalfa said he expects Congress to hold hearings on the spillway failure once the emergency has passed, and ensure that there are no permitting or funding delays.
Carolyn Lochhead is The San Francisco Chronicle’s Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carolynlochheadPurity balls aren't as widespread a phenomenon as first assumed, but that doesn't mean the problem with the idea of "purity" isn't an issue. Purity pledges and purity rings still abound in large numbers, and the smuggle ideas that are bad for people's mental and physical health.
Anna Breslaw at Jezebel put up a post last week where she detailed how the practice of “purity balls” isn’t spreading as widely as abstinence-only fanatics were claiming and feminists feared. Breslaw is right, of course, that this is good news. Purity balls weren’t just a shockingly high-pressure strategy to bully young girls into making all sorts of promises their older selves aren’t going to want to keep, but they also revived old school patriarchal notions about how women are property that is transferred from father-owner to husband-owner upon marriage. Breslaw also reported that some women who went to purity balls grew up to abandon the idea that their fathers own their virginities, which doesn’t surprise anyone.
All of this is good news, but I do worry that Breslaw’s post might result in people taking this to mean that we shouldn’t worry generally about the Christian right’s obsession with making sure women’s vaginas are always in possession of a man, be it husband or father, and never owned by women themselves. (After all, they don’t trust us with the immense responsibility that comes with owning a vagina. Women known to believe their vagina belongs to them also do things like believe they have a right to have sex on their own terms and even—gasp!—decline the chance to risk a baby every time we have sex. And, distressingly, some women even use vaginas to have sex with other women.) Purity balls are just the most extreme version of a widespread cultural obsession with “purity,” the Christian code word for making sure that vaginas always have male owners. Of course they’re not that common; the most extreme end of any trend rarely is. To really understand the purity movement, you have to look at all of it.
While getting dressed up and explicitly promising your virginity to your father isn’t that common, the central feature of the purity ball—pushing young teens and pre-teens into taking a vow of abstinence until marriage—is far more widespread. The market for purity rings, which are rings that teenagers wear to signal commitment to premarital virginity, has gotten to the point where jewelers outside of the Christian kitsch market have set up shop. A quick search for “purity rings” demonstrates that Zales has 21 options for purity rings, ranging from $50 to over $200. Gordon’s carries the same stock. Even the supposedly classy mall jeweler James Avery carries 14 rings labeled explicitly “purity rings.” Just because kids aren’t getting up in white gowns and faux-marrying their fathers doesn’t mean they aren’t being asked before they show interest in sex to make promises about their late teens and adulthood sexual choices.
These pledges are less aesthetically revolting than purity balls, but they are nonetheless a serious problem. Even if you don’t delve into the public health aspects, there’s serious moral problems with pressuring young people who haven’t matured to the point where they really want sex yet to promise not to have it. It’s exploitative to extract promises from people who don’t have full information yet, and young teens and pre-teens really don’t have any idea of what they’re going to feel about sex when they actually have a chance to start dating. For most young people, taking a purity pledge just means going through unnecessary guilt and drama when they go ahead and have sex anyway. It ends up making young people feel like failures for no other purpose than making them feel like failures.
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From a public health perspective, these pledges are a nightmare, because young people who take them approach sex from a shame-and-guilt perspective instead of from a pleasure-and-education perspective. A famous federal study in 2008 demonstrated that the pledges didn’t do anything to prevent young people from having sex, which is no surprise considering the manipulative tactics used to extract the pledges. Unfortunately, the pledgers were less likely to use protection when they did have sex, which is also unsurprising since they were given no resources to do so, and just told instead to just say no.
As I wrote about last week, some evangelical communities are rethinking their opposition to contraception education in response to these failures. But even with education about contraception, the pledges are likely to do harm. People who feel shame and guilt over sex have much more trouble opening up a dialogue about contraception with partners. They’re far more likely to get into situations where sex happens because they “slip up,” which means they haven’t prepared themselves.
Purity pledges were invented and spread like wildfire amongst a Christian community that’s notorious for rejecting facts and scientific evidence that runs counter to their beliefs, which means they’re probably not going away any time soon. (You could say that you can’t unring that bell, in fact.) In fact, coercive strategies to extract promises of celibacy might be growing beyond targeting the tween and young teen set. The Republican Party in Laurens County in South Carolina experimented with trying to force these promises on grown adults. The party drafted requirements that anyone running for office with their support has to pledge that they will not have and have never had premarital sex. The state party nipped that in the bud, on the grounds that it’s illegal. Still, few bad ideas on the right go away for long, and we can probably expect to see these purity pledges being pushed on people in more and more situations.
Ninety-five percent of Americans have sex without being married first, and there’s no reason to think that number will decline. (It’ll probably rise, in fact.) Even if the purity fetishists are a small minority–and even if most of the people who take pledges eventually renege and toss out the rings–the narrative that holds that anyone who has sex without marriage is “impure” does damage. Even if it doesn’t convince people that all non-marital sex is wrong, it helps prop up the myth that there’s such thing as “too much” sex, and that it’s legitimate to judge a person’s moral worth by how much they like or have sex. The prevalence of purity rings also creates the illusion that abstinence until marriage is more common than it is, giving anti-choicers an opportunity to pretend that contraception is a luxury item instead of a regular part of life for the vast majority of women of reproductive age. It’s a great thing that purity balls aren’t as common as we feared, but that doesn’t mean the “purity” movement doesn’t present real danger.NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India ordered state governments to halt the operations of all unregistered, web-based taxi companies on Tuesday after a female passenger reported she was raped in New Delhi by a driver contracted to U.S. cab company Uber.
The case has caused uproar in India after it emerged that the suspect had previously been charged for rape but had obtained a character reference signed by a police officer that was forged.
It has also revealed a failure to regulate the booming market for app-based taxi services in India. The Delhi transport department said it ordered Uber to cease operations on Monday by post.
“Such service providers which are not licensed... are prohibited to operate till they get themselves registered,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh told parliament, where several lawmakers grilled him over the lack of women’s safety in the capital.
“The Delhi Police is also exploring the issue of possible legal liability of the taxi service Uber in the crime committed,” he said.
Singh’s comments came after New Delhi’s transport division banned Uber and other similar web-based taxi providers that are unregistered. A public notice on Tuesday stated only six radio taxi companies will operate in New Delhi.
Piling pressure on Uber, Thai transport authorities on Tuesday ordered the company to cease operations.
Thailand’s Department of Land Transport said drivers picking up fare-paying passengers via Uber were neither registered nor insured to drive commercial vehicles, and that Uber’s credit-card payment system did not comply with regulations.
Taxi booking apps have irked drivers at traditional taxi firms across the globe. Consumers are increasingly using the smartphone software to find people willing to drive them, rather than booking a cab by phone.
Uber was blacklisted in New Delhi on Monday after police said it had failed to run background checks on the driver, who was held three years ago on suspicion of rape but later acquitted.
The arrested driver, Shiv Kumar Yadav, appeared in court on Monday and was remanded in custody for three days. Yadav had obtained a reference from the Delhi Police, but the deputy commissioner of police for north Delhi Madhur Verma told Reuters it was forged.
Verma also said the police has registered “a case against Uber for cheating its customers and violating government orders”.
The Uber case has reignited a debate about the safety of women in Asia’s third-largest economy, especially New Delhi, which is often dubbed India’s rape capital.
In 2012, a fatal gang rape of a young woman taking public transport in the city led to nationwide protests and forced the government to enact new laws imposing stricter penalties and formation of fast-track courts.
Uber was valued at $40 billion last week after its latest funding round ahead of an expected initial public offering. In India, Uber’s second-largest market after the United States by number of cities covered, the company has been operating in 11 cities.
India’s central bank had earlier rapped Uber for violating the country’s credit card payment system by using a so-called one-step authorization process while the regulator requires a two-step procedure. Uber later complied, calling the requirement “unnecessary and burdensome”.
Policemen escort driver Shiv Kumar Yadav (C in black jacket) who is accused of a rape outside a court in New Delhi December 8, 2014. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi
The U.S. company has also been dogged by controversy surrounding its aggressive approach to local governments and traditional taxi services.
On Monday, the U.S. West Coast city of Portland sued Uber to bar it from operating in the city. The company started operating in Portland on Friday without consent from authorities or any agreement over how it would be regulated.
UBER STILL ON
A representative for Uber said the company had not been officially notified of any ban in New Delhi and would issue a statement later on Tuesday. It was still possible to hail an Uber taxi in Delhi using the company’s smartphone application.
Uber driver Satish Kumar, who has been associated with the company for 11 months, told Reuters he works for another travel company that is enrolled with Uber. He was unaware of the ban.
“We will only consider a ban once our app stops working,” said Kumar, whose company pays 20 percent of the fare to Uber.
“If it is banned, we will suffer losses. It is up to the authorities to do the checks. Why blame the company and make others suffer?” he asked.
Before joining Uber, Kumar said he was trained for two days on basic etiquette and using the mobile app. He only submitted a copy of his driving license and identity card to the company. He was not interviewed.
Uber taxis were also violating norms by plying within the city despite having an all-India tourist permit that mandates only inter-state travel, a government official said.
Slideshow (10 Images)
“They have not made any efforts to get themselves registered. They have just tried to use the loopholes in the system to run a service and gain commercially,” said a Delhi transport department official on condition of anonymity.
Uber didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.Black Radical Women in the U.S. 1910-1960 – A Study & Discussion Circle
[Note: this circle took place in 2015 but I am keeping the site up for others to use]
“In far too many historic portrayals black radicals are always men, communists are white men, and feminists are white women.” – Maxine Craig
This study and discussion circle taking place on March 21, 2015 is focused on the contributions of Black radical women activists and theorists from the early 20th century through the Cold War era. Most of these women were affiliated with the U.S. Communist Party (CPUSA) and others were part of various socialist organizations.
This circle will consider the backgrounds, thinking and writing of some of these leaders. We will specifically discuss the lives and contributions of Marvel Cooke, Shirley Graham Du Bois, Vicki Garvin, Esther Cooper Jackson, Claudia Jones, Queen Mother Audley Moore and Louise Thompson Patterson.
This list does not begin to scratch the surface of radical Black women in the U.S. who have contributed to social, economic, political and cultural analysis and to organizing. We will begin with the women listed above in our 3/21 discussion circle. Pending interest, we could move on to other Black women in the future.
Thanks for your interest in this discussion circle and see you on 3/21.Tottenham’s day went from bad to worse when Vlad Chiriches was sent off early in the second half at the Britannia Stadium.
Stoke led 2-0 at the time after a dominating first-half performance. Chiriches had been guilty of some dreadul defending in the opening period, as had the rest of the Spurs defence. But the Romanian was set on one-upping himself after the break, seeing yellow for the second time after another mis-timed challenge.
If the Tottenham fans weren’t already tired of Chiriches, this proved to be the final nail in the coffin. Here’s how Twitter reacted…
Chiriches sent off. Last appearance for Tottenham? Most likely. — Addicted to Spurs (@AddictedtoSpurs) May 9, 2015
Off you fuck Vlad. Never play for Spurs again please. — Jack (@Debaser92) May 9, 2015
Advantage Tottenham as Vlad is sent off. — Addicted to Spurs (@AddictedtoSpurs) May 9, 2015
7 – There have been seven red cards in the last seven PL games between Stoke and Tottenham at the Britannia. Scrap. — OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 9, 2015
Chiriches departs. Second yellow. The way he was playing perhaps some will think he will not be missed! — Uncle Norman Giller (@NormanGiller) May 9, 2015
Anyone want Vlad Chiriches this summer? Bidding starts at -£3m — Ben McAleer (@BenMcAleer1) May 9, 2015
A normal defender would have cleared it, but Chiriches thinks he's the Romanian Zidane and fucks up. — Simply Spurs (@Simply_Spurs) May 9, 2015
Believe it or not but Tottenham Hotspur actually pay Vlad Chiriches real money to be a professional footballer for them. — Ross. (@RossTweeting) May 9, 2015
That will be the last time Chiriches ever plays a competitive match for Tottenham #GoodRiddance #THFC — Pochayiddo (@Pochayiddo) May 9, 2015A start-up political party has launched itself into contention for power in Spain as it pioneers the use of digital participatory tools.
Podemos – whose name means "We Can" – has used online tools to attract and sustain followers, fund rallies and operations, and involve Spaniards in everything from developing party policies to selecting candidates.
"Podemos is top in the world in [digital] political innovation," says Yago Bermejo Abati, a member of Podemos's Participation Team in Madrid.
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Now, the party has a chance at forming government in this super election year in Spain – a national election before Dec. 31, and autonomous community (similar to provincial) and municipal elections on May 24.
Podemos has led in national polls since November, ahead of the Social Democrats, the Partido Popular, which holds a majority in Spain's parliament, and Ciudadanos, another surging, new national party.
But the first test for Podemos will be a vote in Andalusia on Sunday.
"The PSOE [Spanish Socialist Workers' Party], where [Podemos] gets most of their votes from, has a very strong candidate in Andalusia," says Cristina Flesher Fominaya, a scholar on social movements and globalization at the University of Aberdeen.
It could be a "significant election because the PSOE has been doing well in Andalusia, unlike in some other regions," she says.
Podemos burst onto Spain's national stage last May when, barely 100 days old, it won five seats in European parliamentary elections.
The party's membership has grown to 353,000 in its 14 months of existence.
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It has vowed to end the endemic corruption and unpopular austerity measures of the established parties, and support the one in four unemployed Spaniards. Greece elected a similar anti-austerity party, Syriza, in January.
The rise of Podemos coincided with the wild popularity of its soft-spoken leader Pablo Iglesias, 36, a pony-tailed former professor and TV political analyst, who pits his leftist party against "la casta," or the ruling class of political and business elites.
Following European elections, Mr. Iglesias explained Podemos's direct and open democratic nature to the Guardian: "It's citizens doing politics. If the citizens don't get involved in politics, others will. And that opens the door to them robbing you of democracy, your rights, and your wallet."
Spanish media giant El Pais called Mr. Iglesias – who has 875,000 Twitter followers – the most influential political figure on social media in Europe.
But, it's not just Mr. Iglesias's charisma.
The use of social media has been a major success for Podemos, according to Miguel Arana Catania, co-founder of Laboratorio Democratico, the organization leading Podemos's digital strategy.
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Podemos's social currency reaches close to one million Facebook fans and 557,000 Twitter followers. To put that in perspective, the four largest federal parties in Canada have a combined total of 270,000 Facebook likes and 370,000 Twitter followers.
The party's social-media prowess was born out of its young and tech-savvy forerunners, active in the country's 2011 Indignados social movement, according to Mr. Arana Catania.
Social media gave the Indignados and Podemos spaces online to have conversations with people and to present social conditions more accurately than traditional media, he says.
"We changed … history. … What was happening for common people in the country was made more clear," he says. "People trust [social] media."
A link to an article posted on Podemos's Facebook page this week about an anti-corruption investigation into the awarding of a contract to a consultancy firm founded by Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro elicited a public outcry, with 5,000 people sharing the post with their social network.
"And why are we are resigned to wait for the general elections to drive [him out]? Make calls in all cities to demand [his] resignation and early elections, it's sure to be massive if summoned by Podemos," said a top-voted comment on the post.
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There is compatibility between the idea of using digital tools and the party's democratic political imaginary, according to Prof. Flesher Fominaya.
"Offering participatory tools for its grassroots … is very in sync with the narrative of being a participatory movement," she says.
The core of its dialogue with citizens is through a space called "Plaza Podemos" on Reddit, a popular social networking and news website.
There are question-and-answer sessions with party leaders, virtual plebiscites and open discussion boards for issues, and posting news and videos.
"[It's] a wonderful place for debate – very open, a lot of people can join … for discussion," says Mr. Arana Catania.
At last October's National Citizen Assembly, Podemos used Reddit to debate the party's founding ethical, political and organizational principles – the first time a political party has used Reddit like this.
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Podemos uses another tool called Loomio, a decision-making platform allowing groups to discuss issues collaboratively and organize themselves. Podemos's Circles, the party's local assembly groups, generate more than half of global use of the tool, which was born out of New Zealand's Occupy Movement.
It's "user-friendly and very well designed … to improve the debates and arrive to a better consensus," says Mr. Arana Catania.
Seeking to remain independent from banks, the party uses online crowd-funding campaigns to finance its events and operations.
The most recent crowd-funding ventures were for a 100,000-strong party rally in Madrid on Jan. 31 and for the campaign in Andalusia.
The party is also experimenting with other open-source digital tools, including a mass simultaneous polling app, a secure voting platform, and a new citizens' initiative platform.
While digital tools promise more democratic processes, they have limitations.
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According to Mr. Arana Catania, today's tools do not yet match the complexity of political processes.
At Podemos's Assembly, citizens proposed 500 documents on party principles and structures.
But it was impossible to sift out strong proposals from different documents and combine those into one collaborative document, says Mr. Arana Catania. Mr. Iglesias's |
they only work maybe 70% of the time. When I get an email to my primary account, my phone is set to vibrate twice, ding, and blink its little light. Sometimes it does all three. Sometimes it just dings. Sometimes it vibrates once. Every combination of these things has happened, including nothing at all. Give me a break! I know some apps futz with settings, like the useful but terminally buggy SMS Popup, but if it’s that easy to break Android, it’s time to tighten up. And while we’re on the topic,
For god’s sake, Google, you’ve got a good thing here, now make it work. I like notifications; they’re handy and versatile. But they only work maybe 70% of the time. When I get an email to my primary account, my phone is set to vibrate twice, ding, and blink its little light. Sometimes it does all three. Sometimes it just dings. Sometimes it vibrates once. Every combination of these things has happened, including nothing at all. Give me a break! I know some apps futz with settings, like the useful but terminally buggy SMS Popup, but if it’s that easy to break Android, it’s time to tighten up. Why can’t we customize notifications a little more?
If I have two text messages, display the first line from both. Why not? Emails could pull a little of that information too — “1 new email, from John Biggs: ‘solutions not excuses.'” What’s so hard about that? And lastly, we know the LED can show like a billion different colors. Let me choose one for my default. Why won’t you let us do that, Google? Why do you hate the rainbow?
Let us exit apps for real.
When I hit that home button, I have no idea whether my settings are being saved, the state of the app is being remembered in RAM, my game is being paused, or none of the above. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t. I’m not saying it’s wrong either way, but let us really quit if we want to. How about if you hold the menu button for three seconds, it force-quits an app and clears it from RAM? Sure, sounds good, let’s do it.
When I hit that home button, I have no idea whether my settings are being saved, the state of the app is being remembered in RAM, my game is being paused, or none of the above. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t. I’m not saying it’s wrong either way, but let us really quit if we want to. How about if you hold the menu button for three seconds, it force-quits an app and clears it from RAM? Sure, sounds good, let’s do it. Let me remove and organize app icons in the app drawer.
Yeah yeah, that’s why we have home screens, but just when I start to remember where seldom-used apps are in the alphabetical layout, I download something starting with “A” and everything’s shifted. I just want to move stuff around a little or delete stuff from the drawer, and then there can be a button to repopulate and re-alphabetize. I’m don’t use Amazon’s mp3 service enough that it has to sit there at the top of my drawer all day! I’m a big boy, I can always find an app in the settings menu! How about this: in the uninstall/info screen, just put a check box: “Show in App drawer [x]”
Yeah yeah, that’s why we have home screens, but just when I start to remember where seldom-used apps are in the alphabetical layout, I download something starting with “A” and everything’s shifted. I just want to move stuff around a little or delete stuff from the drawer, and then there can be a button to repopulate and re-alphabetize. I’m don’t use Amazon’s mp3 service enough that it has to sit there at the top of my drawer all day! I’m a big boy, I can always find an app in the settings menu! How about this: in the uninstall/info screen, just put a check box: “Show in App drawer [x]” When I dismiss my notifications, dismiss the voicemail for real.
I know it’s there, and it bugs me to have that little reel-to-reel icon up there like 90% of the time. When visual voicemail comes out, you can tweak it again.
I know it’s there, and it bugs me to have that little reel-to-reel icon up there like 90% of the time. When visual voicemail comes out, you can tweak it again. The search box autocomplete is over-aggressive (and laggy). When I hit enter in that box, I want it to search for whatever text is in the box, not whatever your algorithm has had time to select for me. I type in “Wilkie” and “Wal-Mart” comes up before “Wilkie Collins.” So if I hit enter too fast (and hey, maybe I’m rushing it) it ends up searching for something completely unrelated. Just have enter submit the text, and I can always select the menu entry with a touch.
The contact list needs some minor, but important changes.
Just get an alphabet in there somewhere. All my friends late in the alphabet think I don’t like them because I have to scroll all the way from the top every time (sorry, Xavier. We’ll talk soon). The onscreen keyboard in Cupcake will make this a piece of… a breeze, we’ll say. Just pop that sucker up, I hit the J, and up come all the Janas, Janes, Jennys, Jeannettes, and Jims. Also, just have the little tab on the right visible from the start. Why wouldn’t it be?
Just get an alphabet in there somewhere. All my friends late in the alphabet think I don’t like them because I have to scroll all the way from the top every time (sorry, Xavier. We’ll talk soon). The onscreen keyboard in Cupcake will make this a piece of… a breeze, we’ll say. Just pop that sucker up, I hit the J, and up come all the Janas, Janes, Jennys, Jeannettes, and Jims. Also, just have the little tab on the right visible from the start. Why wouldn’t it be? The GMail and regular mail apps are unpredictable when they open.
Half the time when I open GMail, it’s the inbox. Great, that’s where it should go. But the other half of the time, it seems to pick a random email, and certainly not one I was in recently. Just have it go to the inbox every time, G. Same for the regular mail app. Sometimes it starts up with the inbox open, sometimes not. It has to do with whether you had an email open when you last closed it, but it leads to the button being a kind of mystery. Just pick one and go with it, we’ll adapt.
Half the time when I open GMail, it’s the inbox. Great, that’s where it should go. But the other half of the time, it seems to pick a random email, and certainly not one I was in recently. Just have it go to the inbox every time, G. Same for the regular mail app. Sometimes it starts up with the inbox open, sometimes not. It has to do with whether you had an email open when you last closed it, but it leads to the button being a kind of mystery. Just pick one and go with it, we’ll adapt. More “long touch” stuff.
Context-sensitive actions are awesome, and the long touch works great. We just want to see more of it!
Context-sensitive actions are awesome, and the long touch works great. We just want to see more of it! Why not have ring profiles?
All I’m saying is, a quick switch between “Night,” “Work,” and “Out and about” or something, with different ringtones or settings for each, would be really easy and really useful. Locale kind of does this, and I use Bedside for when I’m sleeping, but this would be handy.
All I’m saying is, a quick switch between “Night,” “Work,” and “Out and about” or something, with different ringtones or settings for each, would be really easy and really useful. Locale kind of does this, and I use Bedside for when I’m sleeping, but this would be handy. Key illumination.
When it’s dark and the keyboard has dimmed because I’m reading a web page or something, as soon as I select an editable text box the keyboard should light up again. As it is I have to type something random in there or wiggle the trackball, often deselecting the box.
When it’s dark and the keyboard has dimmed because I’m reading a web page or something, as soon as I select an editable text box the keyboard should light up again. As it is I have to type something random in there or wiggle the trackball, often deselecting the box. Android Market needs a changelog section. Make it expandable or whatever, but don’t make developers haveto cram version notes into the app description. That way when I see an app has an update, you can just show me the update part.
Sometimes the menu button just won’t wake the phone up. It’s not like it’s that hard to just hit the on/off button, but why does it sometimes just not work? Pretty shady. I don’t know, if I’m the only one, I’ll shut up.
That’s all we could come up with, but it’s by no means a complete list. We love Android, but we also want it to be all it can be, and these little changes and bugfixes would make such a difference. Obviously Cupcake is making the rounds and some of these bugs may be exctinct soon, but this is how we see it right now.
What about you guys? Any pet peeves, frequent bugs, or plain old feature requests? Sound off in the comments.If you love to give your money to the government -- enjoy that. Digital Nomads have figured a better option over traditional taxation.
Digital Nomadism is a hot topic and a growing trend, especially among entrepreneurs. Being a digital nomad isn’t just about traveling the world and making everyone back home jealous on social media. Some of us on the road are doing it for the savings, and I don’t just mean the lower cost of living.
How do we get the savings?
Being abroad can save us thousands of dollars every year in taxes, especially as an entrepreneur. As Mark Dissen, my nomadic accountant and founder of Wayfare Accounting LLC explains, there are several completely legal ways for nomadic entrepreneurs to maximize their tax savings.
Related: The Top Four Tax Strategies To Save Your Business Money
Foreign earned income exclusion (FEIE).
The United States is one of the a very small group of countries that uses a citizenship-based tax system rather than a residence based tax system. This means that you are required to pay federal income taxes no matter where on the planet you’re located.
There is, however, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) -- a loophole that many digital nomads use which exempts you from income tax on up to $102,100 (in 2017) of your earned income. This applies whether you’re a full time employee or an entrepreneur.
You can qualify for the FEIE by passing either the Physical Presence Test or the Bona Fide Residence Test.
Related: Selling Overseas
The Physical Presence Test: requires you to stay out of the country for 330 days out of 365 consecutive days, with the start and end days falling at any point during the year.
The Bona Fide Residence Test: requires you to reside outside the USA for a full calendar year, which is January first to December 31.
The FEIE does not apply to passive income such as most rent, interest, capital gains, and dividends. It also doesn’t exempt any of your income from self-employment tax, only income tax, so you may diminish your tax burden as an entrepreneurial nomad, but not eliminate it entirely.
The FEIE is highly detailed and easy to do incorrectly. If you mess it up, you can lose a lot of money from nuanced details like that you should be using “accrual accounting” and that partial days in the US count against you.
S-Corp election.
As an entrepreneur, you’ve likely already heard about the importance of incorporating, and quite possibly been overwhelmed by which type of business entity you should choose.
Incorporating can save you a lot of money in taxes as well as protect you from liability. One of the most popular business entities for small businesses is a Limited Liability Company (LLC).
As an LLC, you have the choice between being taxed as a “Disregarded Entity,” which is the same as being taxed as if you weren’t incorporated, or as an S-Corp. An S-Corp is a potential means of reducing the Income and Self-Employment taxes that the FEIE doesn’t cover.
As an S-Corp, you can make distributions to yourself, which are not subject to self-employment tax. The catch is that you must still pay yourself a “reasonable salary,” which is taxed.
For example, if you work as a developer and earn $100,000 a year, you might be able to pay yourself a salary of $60,000 a year and take the remaining $40,000 as a distribution. This could enable you to avoid paying about $6,000 of self-employment tax on your $40,000 distribution.
Electing to be taxed as an S-Corp does come with some additional administrative costs and complexities, so do your homework thoroughly or budget for a good CPA.
Know your deductions.
One of the simplest but most underused ways to reduce your tax bill each year is to reduce your taxable income through deductions. Freelancers and small business owners often overlook potential deductions and pay far more to the IRS than they legally must.
A few commonly overlooked deductions for digital nomad entrepreneurs are:
Depreciating your computer and other equipment.
Your home office or coworking space.
Mileage driven for business reasons.
Travel Meals (this can be HUGE if done correctly).
Moving expenses.
Most people miss these deductions for two simple reasons: they either don’t know about them or they did a poor job keeping recordings and don’t know what they did during the year.
Using an accounting platform for your business will save you a lot of headache and money during tax-time by keeping track of everything during the year. Come tax-time, you’ll be able to avoid the headache of scouring bank recordings and hunting down receipts. Have all your business expenses and tax deductions nicely organized for yourself or your CPA.
Related: 75 Items You May Be Able to Deduct from Your Taxes
Establish a tax home.
Digital nomads, by definition, are a lot more mobile than the average taxpayer. As a result, they accrue much more in potentially deductible travel expenses.
However, in order to deduct any travel expenses at all, you must have an actual “tax home." A tax home isn’t necessarily the same as an actual domicile. Your tax home could be your primary place of business or permanent residence.
If you don’t have a primary place of business and are constantly on the road, you might not have a tax home and the IRS could consider you to be an itinerant.
As an itinerant, you are ineligible to to deduct any business travel expenses, which could be very expensive come tax-time. If you move around all the time and want to avoid being considered an itinerant, establish a place you can call your primary place of business. It doesn’t have to be in the USA, but this could save you a lot of money in taxes.
Avoid healthcare costs.
Regardless of how you feel about the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), it could be very expensive for you as a location-independent entrepreneur. The ACA requires you to have health insurance in the USA, even if you’re out of the country for several months and aren’t able to use it. Fortunately for most digital nomads, there are a few ways to avoid the ACA requirements.
Like the FEIE, you are exempt from the healthcare coverage requirement if you are out of the country for 330 days in a 365 day period or have a bona fide residence outside of the USA. Additionally, every taxpayer is granted a “Short-term Gap Exemption,” which is a two consecutive month period each year when they can be without insurance.
If you’re just starting out and not making that much money (or are good enough at accounting to take all your business expenses and show that you make no money on paper), you might also qualify for the low-income healthcare exemption or Medicaid.
Avoid penalties.
U.S. taxes are both complex and confusing, which can be expensive whether you’re an employee or an entrepreneur. If you don’t file your return properly and on time or fail to comply with regulations, you could be liable for tax penalties.
One common penalty that is frequently applied to the unaware self-employed is the interest penalty for failing to file their quarterly estimated payments to the IRS. If you’re self-employed, you should be filing and paying taxes throughout the year, not just in April.
If you maintain financial assets or bank accounts outside of the USA, you may also be required to submit a FATCA and/or FBAR. While filing these won’t technically increase your tax liability, failing to comply could result in some rather severe penalties.
On the upside, U.S. citizens who are abroad can qualify for a two-month extension on their federal tax returns. This means if you missed the deadline in April, you just might be able to get away with it, with only a small bit of interest.
For future years, it’s fairly easy to file a short form before the deadline and request a six-month extension from the IRS. This extension can help you get organized and possibly qualify for the FEIE.
While U.S. taxes are rarely easy or fun, especially as an entrepreneur, they can be minimized by understanding all the potential loopholes available to digital nomads or the use of a great CPA.
If you were looking for a good reason to take your entrepreneurial journey on the road, these financial incentives could be it. You can consider the adventures you’ll have abroad a bonus while you’re building your company.The investigators filmed animals that were kicking and writhing as workers ripped their skin from their bodies. If the animals struggled too much, workers stood on the animals' neck Or they beat the animals' heads with knife handles until the creatures stopped moving.It's also a very slow process, and they usually start from the feet(paw)-up, giving the animal plenty of time to endure the pain. After their fur was peeled, the animals' bodies were tossed into a pile like so much trash, Most still alive, breathing in ragged gasps and blinking slowly. One investigator recorded a skinned raccoon dog, tossed onto a heap of carcasses; it had enough strength to lift its bloodied head and stare into the camera.It raised its head, blinked with its remaining eyelashes and then lay its head down to continue dying for anything from 2-3 Hours.Courtesy of: www.animal-protection.net/A married Ohio woman who struggled to get pregnant sought out alternative means to conceive – her transgender husband.
Amy Rehs-Dupin underwent five rounds of intrauterine insemination that failed to get her pregnant so she and hubby Chris, who was born Christina, decided to use his womb instead.
“We were fortunate enough to have two uteruses. So, after a lot of thought and emotion and difficulties we switched to Chris,” Amy told the Daily Mail.
Chris, 33, identifies as a male but had all of his female reproductive organs when he and Amy began trying for their first child.
He suffered one miscarriage and five more failed intrauterine insemination treatments but finally he got pregnant with a girl.
“Being pregnant is such a female thing and that’s when I started to question that it was not what I was,” Chris admitted. “I don’t think I had a problem emotionally having a child, I wasn’t losing a part of my identity. I think the world had a bigger problem with it than I did.”
The expectant couple was over the moon but Amy struggled with her own emotions of not being able to initially bear children.
“When Chris was pregnant it was really difficult because I always thought I would be the one to carry our children. It was definitely a strain and it was difficult,” Amy said.
Chris gave birth on Dec. 20, 2014 to a healthy 8 pound, 11 ounce girl named Hayden.
Amy, who is legally registered as Hayden’s mother, had taken hormones to help her produce breast milk, but Chris wound up nursing after Amy’s treatment didn’t work.
The Rehs-Dupins tried again for a second child and this time, it was Amy who wound up getting pregnant.
They welcomed Milo into the world on Oct. 1, 2016.
“When I was the pregnant one, because I had a husband who had been there before, it was different,” Amy said. “He understood what I was going through, what I was feeling. It was a benefit that not a lot of women have.”
Chris has since begun his transition to become a man and is raising money on GoFundMe to undergo breast reconstruction surgery.Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., son of Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, campaigns for his father at Windham High School in Windham, N.H., Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012. AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
First-term Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Friday that he would consider it an honor to be considered as a running mate for presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
"A year, year and a half ago, I was a physician in a small town," Paul told CNN. "And it would be a great honor to be considered as a vice president for the Republican Party. I think that would be something that anybody who said otherwise would not be being truthful."
Paul endorsed Romney Thursday on Fox News, saying that while "my first choice had always been my father," he is "happy to announce I am supporting Governor Romney." Paul's father, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, has suspended active campaigning for the presidency and acknowledged he will not be the Republican presidential nominee, though he remains a candidate. Rand Paul, whose beliefs echo those of his Libertarian-leaning father, is expected to strongly consider a presidential run of his own in 2016 or 2020.
Romney and Ron Paul had a relatively friendly relationship throughout the Republican primary process despite deep differences on a number of issues, including the size of the U.S. military footprint. Rand Paul said that he "decided to endorse Romney after meeting with him and talking about a lot of areas that we actually do have common ground on."
Romney welcomed Rand Paul's endorsement Thursday, calling the Tea Party-linked Kentucky senator "a leading voice in the effort to scale back the size and reach of government and promote liberty." He seems unlikely to tap Paul as a running mate, however, in light of their differences on a number of policy issues.The ocean is a noisy place. Beyond the typical noises like crashing waves there is the increasing presence of ships to makes things even louder. Above the water, this might not seem like a big deal, but below the waves, noise from ocean liners and large container ships can travel for miles and upset organisms like whales and dolphins that depend on their own noises to communicate and survive.
New research from Oregon State University suggests that blue whales are learning to adapt by changing the frequency of their songs. Essentially, they're starting to communicate on a different audio band. The researchers believe that the whales are doing this deliberately to avoid interference from human sounds.
Whale songs have been dropping in pitch for a while now, and scientists have been noticing it for about two decades. They found that whale songs were produced by blowing air over the animal's vocal cords, and that whales can change the frequency of their calls by blowing air faster or slower. Previously, scientists thought the frequency of whale songs was controlled by the size of certain resonating chambers, making the pitch of a whale song an unchangeable part of the whale's biology. This study shows that whales can control the pitch, deliberately changing it up or down when they want.
"Our study shows that blue whales in particular—and perhaps other baleen whales in general—may be making their harmonious sounds in a much different way than previously thought," says lead author Robert Dziak.
So why are whales deliberately lowering the frequency of their calls? The scientists aren't completely sure, and one theory states it might be due to rebounding populations after the decline of commercial whaling. But another possible cause is the increase in noise from ocean ships.
"In addition to vibrant natural sounds—especially waves breaking on the beach—a few long-term studies have documented a substantial increase in ocean noise over several decades from expanding container shipping traffic," says study author Joe Haxel. "It may be possible the whales are modulating their vocalization frequency in response to an increase in human-generated noise. They are essentially trying to find a radio channel that has less static to communicate in."
There's no way to find out for sure right now, but it might be possible to find out an answer in a decade or two. At least one shipping company is building autonomous, electric ships, and if battery-powered container ships become more common it'll greatly cut down on ocean noise. With any luck, the ocean will be a little quieter in a few years and whales can go back to singing their normal tunes.
Source: Oregon State UniversitySeventy-two-year-old Sam Leonard from Indian Rocks Beach walks about 15 miles a day.
Leonard and his longtime friend, 74-year-old Al Blake from Sarasota, are taking on the walk of a lifetime, walking coast to coast.
The men are trying to raise money for the “Walk for Rehabbing Vets” charity.
With the same mission - to help raise money for injured veterans needing rehabilitation - the men started in Indian Rocks Beach on Tuesday morning and will finish in Los Angeles.
"I want to do it for the veterans," said Blake, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps and the Army.
The men have been friends since 1970. They worked at the same law firm, were both former athletes and even ran a marathon together in the '80s.
After decades of friendship, the coast-to-coast walk will be meaningful for both men.
"I was on the Presidential Honor Guard. I was selected for that when I was in the Army,” said Blake. “I walked the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and I was involved in 80 full-honor funerals."
Donations to support the men's efforts can be made through the donate tab on Walk for Rehabbing Vets.
"I am not a veteran,” said Leonard. “I did not participate in the war. In fact, I protested the war, and I've always had second thoughts about that, especially now that I'm older. So now this is my chance to do something in return to all those men and women who have made such huge sacrifices for our country and for me."
With about 3,000 miles to go, the men will cover as much ground as they can.
"We're going to go roughly 20 miles a day,” said Leonard.
It's a challenge for two men in their 70s, both cancer survivors. And Leonard has had both knees replaced.
"Even though we have the will, we've got to count on our old wheels," said Leonard.
"We've got the desire to do it and it means a lot to us, so that's the way we'll do it," said Blake.
The walk could take seven months to a year to complete. The men hope all their steps represent a stand they are taking to help veterans.
"All these injured veterans, they deserve a second chance to get their life back in order," said Blake.The streets of New York City are filled with evil villains on the set of TMNT 2!
SPOILER ALERT: Here’s your first glimpse at the clumsy, but, brilliantly powerful Bebop and Rocksteady on set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 slated for release in the Summer of 2016. The two have been spotted in a New York City bar, but they haven’t been mutated yet.
Actors Gary Anthony Williams (Bebop) and Stephan Farrelly (Rocksteady) fill the roles pre-transformation. It seems, from these photos, that the duo won’t have much in the way of a wardrobe change after their mutations.
It’s nice to see that we’ll most likely be seeing Brian Tee in the new Turtles film as the Shredder, but in some live-action shots as well. The previous Turtles film barely featured images of Shredder without his full body armor on. Everyone appreciates a good villain, and seeing Master Shredder actually fight will be a sight for our sore eyes!
There are lots of martial artists on the new Turtles film set and things are really getting heated. What do you think of the images? Tell us below?
PHOTOS BELOW
Today’s scenes were shot with:
Shredder (Brian Tee)
Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams)
Rocksteady (Stephen Farrelly aka “Sheamus on the WWE)
Karai (Brittany Ishibashi)
Foot-Clan SolidersBuilding technology to improve lives
Summers’ professional interests lie in “pervasive computing,” a concept of embedding computer technology into a vast range of devices that connect with one another. Together these devices could support our daily lives in limitless ways.
The Stanwood, Wash., resident wants to devote at least part of his career to building and improving self-driving cars. Because these cars communicate with one another, they have the potential to avert accidents, perhaps saving thousands of lives, he says.
He has always loved tinkering with “robots and other contraptions.”
At age 10, Summers constructed a Lego model of a Star Wars Blockade Runner spaceship that won second place at the Washington State Fair, one of the biggest fairs in the world and the largest in the Pacific Northwest.
He went on to build his first computer from assorted parts. As a teenager, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout by designing and building an entrance kiosk and campsite signs for a new park near his home.
He was also consumed by online computer games, despite his father’s suggestion that he redirect his time to more worthy pursuits.
“What could you do with your time if you weren’t on your computer so much?” his father would ask.
“My rebellious self didn’t want to listen,” Summers confesses.
“What could you do with your time if you weren’t on your computer so much?”
E. Kevin Summers’ question to his son when Ryan he was a teenager
In 2013 he came to the WSU Pullman campus as a Regents Scholar with plans to major in electrical engineering. (He later switched to a computer engineering major.)
Near the end of his freshman year, Summers noted how much time and mental energy he was spending playing computer games. He realized that he was missing opportunities. While he was at WSU, he needed to take advantage of everything that the University offered.
He made a decision: Game over.Posted on Written by
It took a little longer than Anne Ford and Matt Pancetti might have hoped. Last October when I announced we had arcade games on the way to Gay Street, they hoped to be up and running before Thanksgiving. That proved a little more ambitious than realistic, but after a few delays, the couple opens the doors today on Harrogate’s Lounge at Suttree’s at 409 S. Gay. From what I saw yesterday, the wait was worth it.
A few changes have been made between the announcement and the opening of the arcade/bar. The essentials are still there: A full bar serving up eight beer taps, mixed drinks and wine along with a room full of the finest arcade entertainment. Early hours will be open to all ages, so non-alcoholic beverages will also be available.
Original plans called for multiple pool tables, but that was trimmed to one pool table which allowed room for skee ball. One set is in place and another is on the way. Foosball has also been added, as well as three “driver” games that would not have found room with additional pool tables.
As planned, there are numerous other games. Six pinball games join 3 table games (including Donkey Kong) and thirteen stand-up arcade games. A portion of the space now holds an elevated platform with three beautiful inlaid strips of wood marking each of three dartboard lanes. The plywood behind them will be covered with pinboard and burlap bags from Three Bears Coffee.
The space has been beautifully built out by Brett Honeycutt acting as contractor and design consultant. Joined in the effort by McCarty Holsaple McCarty architects, the end result is a very attractive lounge. A highlight is the bar top which features a design first imagined by Stanton Webster and Brett. Comprised of play fields for video games, it will eventually be back-lighted giving the bar the appearance of live arcade games.
The sides of the bar are made from the cabinets of arcade games. Even the walnut strip around the edge of the bar has a story – it was reused from the Morelock counter top. Edison bulbs above the bar add to the cool look and a blown up 4’X6′ poster of Elton John in his role as “Tommy,” the pinball wizard. Other finishing touches will be added such as hanging arcade game faces suspended along the walls.
It’s a fine addition to downtown entertainment and it’s an addition the family can enjoy until later hours. I know Urban Girl is going to enjoy it. With movies, pinball, a children’s art studio in the old city (Basement Community Art Studio) and a soon-to-come bowling alley, the list of anytime fun downtown options is growing rapidly.
The lounge will initially maintain the same hours as Suttree’s Tavern, though that may change in the future. It’s also available for rental simply by calling the Suttree’s (865-934-3814). In the later hours each night, the lounge will transition to 21 and over. A change machine will be available so you can turn your dollars into quarters and begin your personal journey to become a pinball wizard in your own right. Give them a “like” on Facebook and stop in to check it out starting at 5:00 PM today.Report shows a 99% rise in notification rates in major cities, a 15% rise in regional areas and an 8% fall in rural areas
Heterosexual people living in major cities have driven a 63% rise in gonorrhoea in Australia over the past five years.
The data is revealed in the annual surveillance report on HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections, released by the Kirby Institute in Sydney on Monday.
The report shows there were 23,887 new diagnoses of gonorrhoea in 2016, with about three quarters of them in men. Between 2012 and 2016, gonorrhoea notification rates increased from 62 per 100,000 people to 101 per 100,000 people. Rates increased by 72% in men and 43% in women.
Men aged between 25 and 29 and women between 20 and 24 saw the largest increase in gonorrhoea infections, the report found. There was a 99% increase in gonorrhoea notification rates in major cities in the five years to 2016, while rates increased by 15% in regional areas and declined by 8% in rural areas.
New class of antibiotic raises hopes for urgently-needed gonorrhoea drug Read more
Associate professor Rebecca Guy, the head of Kirby’s surveillance evaluation and research program at the University of NSW, said gonorrhoea had been uncommon in young heterosexual urban people until recently. It was unclear why rates were increasing in this population, but it was not because of increasing awareness and diagnosis alone, she said.
There is concern about increasing rates of antimicrobial resistant strains of gonorrhoea, particularly in the US, but Guy said strains in Australia were not resistant yet, so that did not explain the increase either.
“The reasons [for the increase] are not yet understood,” Guy said.
“Changes in sexual behaviour, sociodemographic factors, and the spread of a particular strain in suburban centres may be some of the reasons, even though the specific reasons are not known.”
She said the data suggested doctors should be aware of the need to test patients for the infection, which is asymptomatic in 50% of men and 80% of women. While treatment is simple with antibiotics if caught early, untreated it can cause serious health problems including infertility and sterility.
Chlamydia and gonorrhoea rates were three and seven times higher respectively among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the gaps were greater in regional and remote areas, the report found. Since 2011, there has been a resurgence of infectious syphilis among young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in regional and remote areas of northern Australia.
The report also found the number of new HIV diagnoses in Australia had remained stable over the past five years, with 1,066 diagnoses in 2012, compared with 1,013 in 2016.
Guy said the results were due to high levels of testing and treatment. “We’re seeing increased uptake of HIV testing, particularly among gay and bisexual men, who are the population most affected by HIV in Australia,” Guy said. “It is also encouraging that 86% of people diagnosed with HIV were on treatment in 2016.”
Those who receive proper treatment can reduce their HIV loads to undetectable levels, eliminating their risk of passing it on.
The surveillance report also found an estimated 30,434 people were cured of hepatitis C between March and December 2016, due to the availability of a new antiviral therapy.
Associate professor Jason Grebely, from the viral hepatitis clinical research program at the Kirby Institute, said the new therapy had been “game-changing”.
“Our estimates indicate that the number of people with hepatitis C who have advanced liver disease has fallen for the first time in 10 years,” he said. “This is excellent news, but to achieve hepatitis C elimination in Australia we must sustain our efforts to ensure all people living with hepatitis C are tested and have access to these cures.”Netflix and Marvel promised that Daredevil, a new series based on the popular comic-book character, would be something different. But, after watching the 13 episodes that debuted over the weekend, it’s genuinely impressive how well they committed to that promise, and genuinely exciting how that “something different” might herald a whole new era of comic-book appreciation.
Plunged “deep into the gritty world of heroes and villains of Hell's Kitchen, New York,” Daredevil—the first in a planned four-part “Defenders” series—is as far away as you can get from the talking raccoons, green rage monsters, and hammer-toting Norse gods who have defined the wildly successful Marvel Cinematic Universe. The grim, violent |
that other teams may not be as willing to offer.
Given the state of the Orioles rotation, it seems pretty likely that the team is going to be in on a starting pitcher this summer. Perhaps the team is looking ahead to a deal for a guy like James Shields, and feels they’ll be better served by offering to take on more of his salary than by trying to compete with other buyers in just prospect offers. The Orioles don’t have a lot of prospects to trade, so by accumulating some financial flexibility, they might put themselves in a position to offer a seller something that they can’t get as easily elsewhere.
Of course, if Peter Angelos just pockets the $3 million, and the team doesn’t reallocate this money back into the franchise, then it’s perfectly reasonable for Orioles fans to be annoyed by this trend of the team selling draft picks. Making a habit out of reducing your prospect stock isn’t a great idea if you’re not using those prospects to acquire other things of value, and if shedding Matusz’s contract just allows Angelos to go buy some fancy art, well, that would suck for the franchise. But at this point, with the Orioles as likely buyers this summer and some obvious holes on the roster, I think it’s probably best to assume that this is a move made in preparation for taking on big league salary in July.
And if that’s the case, then all the Orioles are really doing is trading a prospect for some help at the big-league roster, which is exactly what we expect teams in first place to do. This is a new and somewhat more complicated way of doing it, but the end result may very well just be the same as swapping a prospect for a veteran upgrade at the deadline.Are you ready to make composing music a part of your daily life? Generating new ideas is a tough, but the more you do it the better you become. In the words of Hitoshi Sakimoto (FF XII & FF Tactics), writing more and more "makes the composer stronger, tough, better." Ready to get stronger? Sign-up for the VGM Academy 21-Day challenge before April 1st and join in on the action in order to:
Get a chance to have your composition(s) featured on VGMAcademy's social media & blog ;
; Compose alongside a community of talented, driven musicians (like you!);
of talented, driven musicians (like you!); Receive a free PDF workbook, visual aides and inspirations, and more to aide you in your quest;
visual aides and inspirations, and more to aide you in your quest; Get the complete set of Composition Quest Logs 1-5: a collection of video game-themed writing prompts;
a collection of video game-themed writing prompts; Opportunities to win prizes! Woohoo!
Do you have what it takes to make success a habit? Don't forget to share your work using #21DaysofVGM!As the holiday season comes to an end and the New Year sale begins to kick in, you might be confused about which phone to pick up as an end of year bargain. To eliminate this confusion, we recommend you to buy HTC One M8, a flagship Smartphone of HTC launched in the beginning of 2014 during MWC. Here are top 5 reasons to purchase this masterpiece from HTC:
Battery life and Power Saver
M8 has 2600mAh battery with power saving mode. The efficiency of Sense 6.0 and its Snapdragon 801 processor give the M8 long lasting battery life. The device is also supports faster charging with the Motorola Turbo charger.
Camera
HTC one M8 comes with “UFocus” feature that enable its users to blur out areas that is not in focus in order to give them a professional look. The device has a dual rear camera that takes high quality pictures even in low light. Its additional lens act as a depth sensor that is capable of capturing more light in an image.
Design
The device consists of brushed metal casing, which is made up of 90% metal as compared to the previous version of HTC One that contains 70% metal. Its ergonomic curved design is easy to hold and comfortable to use.
Boom-Sound
It has a powerful front facing speakers that are executed well. It is the best device for all mobile media junkies who love to play their favorite sound tracks on their Smartphones.
Micro SD Support
Mass deletion of content or managing space is an inevitable reality that people ignore while purchasing a 16GB device without micro SD support. However, in M8 apart from the internal memory, a user has an option to expand the storage up to 128 GB with micro SD support.
Moreover, the device once fully charged via USB Wall Charger, runs all day long at normal use.Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Six street dealers who peddled cannabis in Piccadilly Gardens have been locked up.
The men were caught and hauled before a judge as part of Operation Mandera, a long-running police campaign to clean up Manchester city centre.
Officers spent the last 18 months targeting Piccadilly Gardens and surrounding streets to rid the plaza of drugs and booze-related disorder.
All six men, from Salford, north Manchester and Tameside, were sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on Monday (September 8).
Saloum Jeng, 39, of Broadbent Avenue, Dukinfield, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to nine counts of supplying drugs and was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Delano Moulton, 40, of Brigantine Close, Salford, pleaded guilty to supplying drugs, possession with the intent to supply and the attempted supply of drugs, and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.
Isaiah Thompson, 22, of Peakdale Avenue in Crumpsall, admitted supply of drugs and was sentenced to 16 months.
The trio were also handed CRASBO orders banning them from Piccadilly Gardens for two years on their release.
Kristuff Tyrell, 21, of Edge Lane, Droylsden, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to supply and supplying drugs and was sentenced to 20 months.
Baboucarr Njie, 33, of Norton Street, Broughton, admitted possession with intent to supply drugs and was sentenced to 12 months.
Ousman Jammeh, 37, of Hilton Street North, Salford, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possession with intent to supply drugs and was sentenced to eight months.
As part of the operation, officers also worked with partners on longer-term ways to tackle crime in the area, including environmental improvements.
Earlier this year the Manchester Evening News launched a campaign to clean up and transform Piccadilly Gardens.
As a result the council greed to improve street lighting around the plaza following complaints that visitors and commuters feel unsafe after dark.
Inspector Phil Spurgeon, the city centre lead for neighbourhood policing in Piccadilly Gardens, said: “The city centre neighbourhood policing team have worked tirelessly over the last 18 months to tackle anti-social behaviour and drug dealing in and around Piccadilly Gardens.
"These sentences underline our commitment to tackle the long-standing issue of street drug dealing in the Piccadilly Gardens. We particularly welcome the issuing of CRASBOs, as well as custodial sentences, which should give the affected community some respite.
"I would like to thank the people of Manchester who continue to provide us with information in order to help in our fight against drug dealing.
"We remain committed to rooting this problem out and today’s result should serve as a warning to those who continue to deal drugs on our streets.”Homer Simpson inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame
Homer Simpson accepted into baseball's Hall of Fame
Steve Sax won two World Series rings, was a five-time All-Star and got about 2,000 hits in the major groups.
However to many fans, it's those about six lines he expressed to a bundle of yellow toon characters quite a while back that truly made him well known.
"I get gotten some information about being on 'The Simpsons' as I do about baseball," Sax said for the current week. "They would prefer not to know how it was to hit against Nolan Ryan. They need to think about being on that show."
All because of "Homer at the Bat."
Still immensely famous 25 years after it initially disclosed, that Simpsons scene highlighting the voices of Ken Griffey Jr., Darryl Strawberry, Jose Canseco and a lineup brimming with illuminators got a fitting tribute Saturday from the national side interest.
That is the point at which the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, displayed a plaque to Homer — well, truly a bit of paper. In addition, a Simpsons-themed show opened inside the holy place after a lace cutting service.
Genuine Hall individuals Ozzie Smith and Wade Boggs discussed taping their parts as Homer's colleagues on the ringered-up Springfield Nuclear Plant organization softball squad. Enlisted by the insidious Mr. Consumes for the title diversion, every one of them are come to pass for by an odd destiny and can't play.
Mattingly recalls
Miami Marlins supervisor Don Mattingly was playing for the New York Yankees when he loaned his voice to the energized appear about an interesting looking family that was clearing the country.
"I didn't know a mess about it, genuinely. I knew it was hot and my children watched it, yet I didn't generally realize that much," Mattingly said.
Doesn't right up 'til the present time, either. He's never observed the half-hour program through and through.
"Actually no, not the entire thing," Mattingly said.
Mattingly missed the huge softball game, as well. He gets commenced the group for not cutting sideburns Burns envisions he has, yet mumbles "regardless I like him superior to anything Steinbrenner" as he walks away. The season some time recently, all things considered, Mattingly was sidelined by the Yankees for not getting a hair style to hold fast to the strict arrangements of proprietor George Steinbrenner.
Amassing the scene
In spite of the fact that Donnie Baseball didn't tune in, a lot of individuals saw "The Simpsons" the night it disclosed on Feb. 20, 1992. In their third season, Bart and Co. outdrew "The Cosby Show" without precedent for a no holds barred matchup, and furthermore bested the broadcast of the Winter Olympics.
The show took months to amass, with players taping when their groups played at Dodger Stadium or the Angels in Anaheim amid the 1991 season. Individuals from "The Simpsons" staff divvied up which folks they would coordinate.
Official story proofreader Jeff Martin, a Red Sox fan from his days of pulling for Carl Yastrzemski, drew Boston pitcher Roger Clemens.
Incredible, just a single hitch: Martin needed to educate the forcing Clemens the script called for him to cackle like a chicken. Again and again.
D'oh!
"I had dreams of letting him know and having him step out," Martin reviewed for the current week from Fenway Park. "However, without overlooking anything, he began clacking ceaselessly."
Clemens approved of his character being put under a spell by a subliminal specialist. In the toon, Sax was captured for several unsolved murders in New York.
"I preferred mine in the show. Got the chance to flaunt my unpleasant side," Sax joked.
The main player who wasn't content with his part was Canseco — as opposed to a shocking plot, he needed to be more chivalrous. Furthermore, the Simpsons group got each star it needed aside from one, with Ryne Sandberg passing and Sax having his spot at a respectable halfway point.
In the show, Strawberry is the solitary star ready to play versus the Shelbyville Nuclear Plant. He associates for nine grand slams, however Homer substitutes for him in the base of the ninth inning with two outs, the bases stacked and the score tied.
This time, Homer ends up being a saint. He gets hit in the head with a pitch, giving Springfield a 44-43 win. A stroll off champ — really, he's thumped out.
There were a great deal of bizarre contorts in this scene, actually, even by Simpsons gauges.
"At the time, I think we thought possibly this show is excessively odd for a few people," Martin said.
As it turned out throughout the years, two or three performing artists who voiced conspicuous characters in the show strikingly didn't care for the scene composed by Simpsons extraordinary John Swartzwelder.
Scioscia reviews part
Los Angeles Angels administrator Mike Scioscia preferred it then, and now. He was getting for the Los Angeles Dodgers when he did his part, which had him miss the huge softball game in light of intense radiation harming.
"Despite everything i'm marking Simpsons things," he said.
The residuals are pleasant, as well.
"The checks come in, as a rule they're around 79 pennies," he stated, chuckling. "A major one may be six bucks."
Magistrate Rob Manfred said he knew about the show.
"Among the different things that I was given as a blessing when I was chosen was individuals at Fox sent me a Simpsons toon with me as a major aspect of it. … so I do know a bit of something about the Simpsons," he said.
Included, this was an ideal time to respect the scene, Hall President Jeff Idelson said.
"The exhibition hall is constantly insightful of baseball's commitment, to the amusement, as well as the way of life," he said.Geographic Range Boa constrictor is an exclusively New World species which has the largest distribution of all neotropical boas. Boa constrictors range from northern Mexico south through Central and South America. In South America the range splits along the Andes mountains. To the east of the Andes, B. constrictor is found as far south as northern Argentina. On the west side of the mountains, the range extends into Peru. Boa constrictors are also found on numerous islands off the Pacific coast and in the Caribbean. Islands included in the boa constrictor range are: the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad, Tobago, Dominica, and St. Lucia. Some islands off the coast of Belize and Honduras are also inhabited by this species. (Chiaraviglio, et al., 2003; Mattison, 2007; O'Shea, 2007; Stafford, 1986) Biogeographic Regions
nearctic native
neotropical native
Physical Description Boa constrictor has long been famous as one of the largest species of snake. In reality, boa constrictors are fairly modest-sized boids and are dwarfed by the other competitors for this title. The maximum length reported in B. constrictor was slightly over 4 meters. Individuals are generally between 2 and 3 meters in length, although island forms are commonly below 2 meters. Within populations, females are usually larger than males. However, the tails of males may be proportionally longer than those of females because of the space taken up by the hemipenes. Boa constrictor coloration and pattern are distinctive. Dorsally the background color is cream or brown that is marked with dark "saddle-shaped" bands. These saddles become more colorful and prominent towards the tail, often becoming reddish brown with either black or cream edging. Along the sides, there are rhomboid, dark marks. They may have smaller dark spots over the entire body. The head of a boa constrictor has 3 distinctive stripes. First is a line that runs dorsally from the snout to the back of the head. Second, there is a dark triangle between the snout and the eye. Third, this dark triangle is continued behind the eye, where it slants downward towards the jaw. However, there are many variations on appearance. At least 9 subspecies are currently recognized by some authorities, although many of these are poorly defined and future research will undoubtedly modify this taxonomy. Currently acknowledged subspecies include: B. c. constrictor, B. c. orophias, B. c. imperator, B. c. occidentalis, B. c. ortonii, B. c. sabogae, B. c. amarali, B. c. nebulosa (Dominican boa, recently elevated to full species), and B. c. longicauda. Most of these subspecies are distinguished largely by their range rather than appearance, but regional (subspecific) variation in form, size, and coloration does occur. (Chiaraviglio, et al., 2003; Mattison, 2007; O'Shea, 2007; Stafford, 1986) As in most members of the family Boidae, boa constrictors possesses pelvic spurs. These are hind leg remnants found on either side of the cloacal opening. They are used by males in courtship and are larger in males than in females. Males possess hemipenes, a double-penis, of which only one side is commonly used in mating. Although heat-sensing pits are common in Boidae, they are absent in B. constrictor. Thus, this species is presumed to have no specialized thermosensory abilities. The teeth of boa constrictors are aglyphous, meaning they do not possess any elongated fangs. Instead, they have rows of long, recurved teeth of about the same size. Teeth are continuously replaced; particular teeth being replaced at any one time alternate, so that a snake never loses the ability to bite in any part of its mouth. Boas are non-venomous. Boa constrictors have two functional lungs, a condition found in boas and pythons. Most snakes have a reduced left lung and an extended right lung, to better match their elongated body shape. (Mattison, 2007; O'Shea, 2007; Pough, et al., 2004) Other Physical Features
heterothermic
polymorphic Sexual Dimorphism
female larger Range length 1 to 4 m 3.28 to 13.12 ft
Average length 2-3 m ft
Development Fertilization is internal, with mating facilitated by the pelvic spurs of males. Boa constrictors are ovoviviparous; embryos develop within their mothers' bodies. Young are born live and are independent soon after birth. Newborn boa constrictors resemble their parents and do not undergo any metamorphosis. As in other snakes, boa constrictors shed their skins periodically as they age, allowing them to grow and preventing the scales from becoming worn. As a boa grows, and its skin is shed, its coloration may gradually change. Young snakes tend to have brighter colors and more contrast between colors, but most changes are subtle. (Mattison, 2007; O'Shea, 2007; Pough, et al., 2004; Stafford, 1986)
Lifespan/Longevity Boa constrictors are potentially long-lived, perhaps averaging around 20 years old. Captive boas tend to live longer than wild ones, sometimes by as much as 10 to 15 years. (O'Shea, 2007; Stafford, 1986) Range lifespan
Status: wild 30 (high) years
Range lifespan
Status: captivity 40 (high) years
Average lifespan
Status: wild 20 years
Typical lifespan
Status: captivity 25 to 35 years
Food Habits Boa constrictors are carnivorous generalists. The main bulk of their diet consists of small mammals, including bats, and birds. However, they will eat any animal they can capture and fit in their mouths. Boa constrictors capture prey through ambush hunting, although occasionally they actively hunt. They can rapidly strike at an animal that passes by a branch that they are suspended from, for example. They are non-venomous and prey is dispatched through constriction. Boa constrictors wrap their prey in the coils of their body and squeeze until the prey asphyxiates. This is especially effective against mammals and birds whose warm-blooded metabolism demands oxygen at a rapid rate. Once dead, the prey is swallowed whole. Interestingly, if captive boa constrictors are presented with dead prey, they still constrict the food item before consuming it. It takes boa constrictors 4 to 6 days to fully digest a meal. (Bartlett and Bartlett, 2003; Mattison, 2007; O'Shea, 2007; Stone and Holtzman, 1996) Primary Diet
carnivore eats terrestrial vertebrates
Animal Foods
birds
mammals
amphibians
reptiles
eggs
Predation When threatened, boa constrictors will bite to defend themselves. Though there are few references to predation on boa constrictors in nature, they are certainly killed and consumed by numerous reptilian, avian, and mammalian predators. Young boas are especially vulnerable. (O'Shea, 2007; Pough, et al., 2004) Anti-predator Adaptations
cryptic
Ecosystem Roles Boa constrictors are predators on birds and small mammals, including bats. They are important predators of rodents and opossums, especially, which can become pests in some areas and carry human diseases. (Mattison, 2007; O'Shea, 2007; Stone and Holtzman, 1996)
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive Boa constrictors are popular in the pet trade. It is easy to obtain boa constrictors that have been captive bred for generations, increasing their affinity for humans. They are relatively undemanding pets, as long as their large adult size and space needs are accounted for. Proper levels of heat and humidity (boas usually need a dry climate, otherwise their scales will develop rot) need to be observed. Boa constrictors can be fed dead mice and rats and only require food and defecate about once a week. Proper care should be observed in handling them, especially the larger varieties. Boa constrictors, whole or in parts, are also seen in local markets within their range, presumably as food or medicine. They are sometimes harvested for the skin trade. In some areas boas constrictors can play a large role in controlling populations of pest rodents and opossums (Didelphidae). Opossums in the tropics can be carriers for the human disease leishmaniasis, which is transferred by blood-feeding sand flies (Psychodidae) that parasitize the opossums. Boa constrictor predation pressure may help to regulate opossum populations and decrease potential trasmission of leishmaniasis to humans. (Bartlett and Bartlett, 2003; Mattison, 2007; O'Shea, 2007) Positive Impacts
pet trade
food
body parts are source of valuable material
controls pest population
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative Little negative impact on humans is known. Boa constrictors rarely, if ever, attack humans except in self-defense. Humans, even children, are far outside the range of prey size taken by boas. Boa constrictor bites are painful bure are unlikely to be dangerous as long as standard medical care is obtained. Boa constrictors are not venomous. Large captive snakes must always be handled with extreme care, especially when being fed, as a hungry snake strikes and constricts in a largely automatic sequence of behaviors. Very large snakes should handled and fed only with more than one person present. (Bartlett and Bartlett, 2003; Mattison, 2007; O'Shea, 2007) Negative Impacts
injures humans bites or stings
Conservation Status Overcollection for the pet trade and needless direct persecution has had an impact on some B. constrictor populations. Some populations have been hit harder than other, and various wild populations are now endangered, particularly those on offshore islands. On the mainland, boa constrictors have been harvested for their skins, meat and body parts. Furthermore, habitat loss and road mortality has reduced populations. Most boa constrictors are on the CITES Appendix 2 list. The subspecies B. c. occidentalis is on Appendix 1 of CITES. (O'Shea, 2007; Pough, et al., 2004) IUCN Red List Not Evaluated
US Federal List No special status
CITES Appendix I Appendix II
State of Michigan List No special status
As mentioned above, the species Boa constrictor is divided into many subspecies. These subspecies are highly variable and over the years the taxonomy has changed. Currently there are at least 9 recognized subspecies: Colombian or common boa constrictors (B. c. constrictor), St. Lucia boa constrictors (B. c. orophias), Imperial or Central American boa constrictors (B.c. imperator), Argentine boa constrictors (B.c. occidentalis), Peruvian boa constrictors (B.c. ortonii), Taboga Island boa constrictors (B.c. sabogae), Bolivian boa constrictors (B.c. amavali), Dominican or clouded boa constrictors (sometimes considered a full species, B.c. nebulosa), and long-tailed boa constrictors (B.c. longicauda). Subspecies that are occasionally cited, but are not as widely acknowledged or are often combined with a previously listed subspecies are: Mexican boa constrictors (B.c. mexicana), black-bellied boa constrictors (B.c. melanogaster), and Tres Marias Islands boa constrictors (B.c. sigma). As apparent by the names, most subspecies are recognized by their range. In many cases, a boa constrictor of unknown geographical origin may be impossible to assign to a subspecies. Additionally, pet trade breeders have created many new color morphs that are not seen in wild populations. (Andrade and Abe, 1998; Bartlett and Bartlett, 2003; Mattison, 2007; O'Shea, 2007; Stafford, 1986)
Contributors Tanya Dewey (editor), Animal Diversity Web. Laurel Lindemann (author), Michigan State University, James Harding (editor, instructor), Michigan State University.
Glossary Nearctic living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico. Neotropical living in the southern part of the New World. In other words, Central and South America. acoustic uses sound to communicate agricultural living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture. arboreal Referring to an animal that lives in trees; tree-climbing. carnivore an animal that mainly eats meat chaparral Found in coastal areas between 30 and 40 degrees latitude, in areas with a Mediterranean climate. Vegetation is dominated by stands of dense, spiny shrubs with tough (hard or waxy) evergreen leaves. May be maintained by periodic fire. In South America it includes the scrub ecotone between forest and paramo. chemical uses smells or other chemicals to communicate crepuscular active at dawn and dusk cryptic having markings, coloration, shapes, or other features that cause an animal to be camouflaged in its natural environment; being difficult to see or otherwise detect. fertilization union of egg and spermatozoan food A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing. forest forest biomes are dominated by trees, otherwise forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality. heterothermic having a body temperature that fluctuates with that of the immediate environment; having no mechanism or a poorly developed mechanism for regulating internal body temperature. iteroparous offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes). native range the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic. nocturnal active during the night pet trade the business of buying and selling animals for people to keep in their homes as pets. polygynandrous the kind of polygamy in which a female pairs with several males, each of which also pairs with several different females. polymorphic "many forms." A species is polymorphic if its individuals can be divided into two or more easily recognized groups, based on structure, color, or other similar characteristics. The term only applies when the distinct groups can be found in the same area; graded or clinal variation throughout the range of a species (e.g. a north-to-south decrease in size) is not polymorphism. Polymorphic characteristics may be inherited because the differences have a genetic basis, or they may be the result of environmental influences. We do not consider sexual differences (i.e. sexual dimorphism), seasonal changes (e.g. change in fur color), or age-related changes to be polymorphic. Polymorphism in a local population can be an adaptation to prevent density-dependent predation, where predators preferentially prey on the most common morph. rainforest rainforests, both temperate and tropical, are dominated by trees often forming a closed canopy with little light reaching the ground. Epiphytes and climbing plants are also abundant. Precipitation is typically not limiting, but may be somewhat seasonal. riparian Referring to something living or located adjacent to a waterbody (usually, but not always, a river or stream). scrub forest scrub forests develop in areas that experience dry seasons. seasonal breeding breeding is confined to a particular season sedentary remains in the same area sexual reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female solitary lives alone tactile uses touch to communicate terrestrial Living on the ground. territorial defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement tropical the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south. tropical savanna and grassland A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia. savanna A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome. temperate grassland A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands. vibrations movements of a hard surface that are produced by animals as signals to others visual uses sight to communicate viviparous reproduction in which fertilization and development take place within the female body and the developing embryo derives nourishment from the female.A foreign baseball player in Japan has been kindly offered a fork during a Pacific League match this weekend.
Luciano Fernando who plays for the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles was given the choice of a fork at the bottom of the fifth.
Fernando didn’t have to think twice before accepting the offer and used it to great effect hitting two home runs with his remaining three attempts.
“Sasuga dane,” said one fan, 49-year-old salaryman Ryoichi Yamazaki, as Fernando crunched his second homerun over right field.
“That is classic Fernando, I knew he would – give that guy a fork and he’ll take a mile,” said another Rakuten supporter, 29-year-old IT worker Yusuke Hinata.
“Those guys just know how to use a fork – however, you get any sort of long thin object into their hands and they’re all thumbs.”
Image: Wikipedia/eargusThere are a lot of blogs out there that focus on “collapse,” and many of them will from time to time post statistics about increased crime rates in order to demonstrate the slow deterioration of society, occasionally showing videos of flash mobs such as this one below.
There was a time when I would have seen something like this and thought, “Whoa, things are getting bad.” My evolution has been long, and now I find myself seeing something like this and thinking, “Good for them!” Previously, I was subject to knee jerk reactions which were preprogrammed responses that were silently imprinted in me by our culture. Now that I have slowly stripped away layer after layer of cultural programming and dogmatic response, I can examine any given scenario based on it’s specific criteria, and come to an analysis that I find satisfying. I’m open to critique of my analysis, as challenging my biases and interpretations hones my senses and my ability to comprehend my surroundings.
I think it is fair to suggest that most people residing in our culture see such a thing happen, and as a matter of reflex, condemn it. This condemnation comes from an inner policing that was built partly from Judeo-Christian values as well as capitalist social indoctrination. I would even argue that Judeo-Christian values as they currently stand are informed by mercantilist necessity. Summarizing briefly my interpretation of the knee jerk condemnation of such acts as the one in the above video, I would say most people feel like Society (capital “S”) is a good thing, and that people who would mob into a retail store and in a flash, steal as much as they could get their hands on, are going to negatively impact Society.
This is where my personal bias comes into play. I do not believe Society to be a good thing. My view is that megalithic Society — these nations of millions of people — are unnatural constructs ultimately glued together through violence, whether implicit or explicit. Humans, I do not believe to be social creatures, as much as they are tribal creatures. This is to say, I believe when not arranged into massive groups by other humans wielding power (via violence, whether armies, police, law, etc.) people will self organize into smaller groups, communities, clans, or tribes. The main difference being the over all size of the social organism created by such organization, and where the individual falls within this organism.
In a small tribe or clan, the individual is an integral component and is valued. However, the unit as a whole can maximize the benefits of group togetherness and group work without losing prowess due to curves of diminishing returns. Why is this? For one, the human animal and our psychological and emotional responses have evolved to exist within smaller communities. Emotions like empathy are a boon to tribes and clans, as individuals are all known to each other, are interrelated with one another, care for one another, and thus gift and sharing come naturally. Not only are members of small tribes capable of caring for those who are less skilled, sick, elderly, etc. but they almost always insist upon doing so. The empathy of the individual becomes collective and thus becomes a cultural norm: When you are successful in the hunt, you share the meat, and no one goes hungry. When you are not successful in the hunt, but another clan member is, you eat because they share.
These sorts of relations which are natural to humans, which have allowed humans to survive through massive environmental shifts and calamities of the past, are not only absent from mega-social structures, but under capitalism, they are considered foolish. Does anyone really believe that the people who wield power within this Society are actually empathetic to the masses at large? This is a crucial failure of democracy. Unless decisions makers and policy setters actually know — and I mean in person — all of the people they claim to represent, how could they possibly be expected to be truly empathetic towards them and their particular circumstances? Democracy and the governmental architectures of megalithic social organisms suffer a myriad of contradictions and failures to be sure, but I would just like to highlight for this argument that small clans of people can function in a fashion that is far more agreeable to the individuals involved, thereby giving these individuals a reason to care about the well being of the greater social system. Large scale Society cannot do this.
Even when humans are corralled into massive social constructs like those of today, tribal behavior is still implicit in many of our daily activities. This behavior, depending on who is engaging in it and what the ultimate outcome, will be dubbed “gang activity,” “nepotism,” “cult,” “clique,” or even “patriotism,” “networking,” etc. Tribal behavior that is seen to have a net benefit to the social organism — and primarily to those who sit atop the social hierarchy, will be granted a positive connotation. Tribal behavior that is engaged in by those low on the social hierarchy that is gauged as only having a benefit to that tribe at the expense of the social organism or its narrative is given negative association and is often the target of state repression.
When a group of teenagers mobs into a corporate retail location and in a flash, steals a large amount of wares, this is immediately cast as “bad for Society.” As noted above, I personally believe Society to be a bad thing. Massive social organisms such as the Society in which we live require massive prison complexes, squadrons of well armed police, and a penal system so obtuse and selectively applied as to make Franz Kafka blush. Above all, we have to recognize that the Society in which we live, and the greater industrial civilization of which it is a part, are both decimating the biosphere of the planet. Polluted, overfished, rapidly acidifying oceans; mountaintop removal coal mining, hydraulic fracturing, deep water drilling, and tar sands strip mining; top soil loss, rivers and waterways tainted with agricultural run off, deforestation, over grazing, desertification; massive die off currently underway of trees, amphibians, mammals, and so on; must I even argue that the way humans are organizing and sustaining themselves (with the exception of the world’s remaining indigenous tribes who are also fighting off an ongoing genocide) is killing the planet?
When a true and honest calculus of the costs is visible, it is clear that modern human paradigms must be shattered immediately if there is to be any hope for the future of life on Earth. This is if it is not already long too late.
Balancing this knowledge in one hand, and then watching as a bunch of modern teens, whose minds have no doubt been warped and bent by a lifetime of consumerist propaganda, plunder a store of some clothing no doubt made in a third world sweatshop, I am supposed to weep for the retailer? It would require a chasm of cognitive disconnect to see an injustice.
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In discussing this, people have been quick to point out to me that these young people are likely not aware of the larger social and environmental context in which their action |
time," Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said on a conference call today.
Microsoft Office 365 is the biggest revenue driver of the company's enterprise cloud offerings. And it's growing fast: Microsoft reported today that consumer version of Office 365 has added 3 million subscribers in the last quarter, bringing it to 15.2 million users total.
Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Satya Nadella speaks at his first annual shareholders' meeting in Bellevue, Washington Thomson Reuters But Microsoft won't break out the revenue numbers for the commercial version of Office 365 (the one driving that $24.5 billion number), or its other big commercial cloud product, Azure, where customers can swipe a credit card and get access to basically unlimited supercomputing power.
On a conference call with analysts today, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella repeatedly called out both Office 365 and Azure's strong growth in the enterprise.
Last quarter, he told Wall Street analysts that Office 365 has about 50 million employees using it, across all the companies that have signed up. On Tuesday, he said that Office 365 is "in four out of five Fortune 500 enterprises" and about half of them are using add-on "premium" services with it.
However, that $24.5 billion number also includes all kinds of other software that businesses buy from Microsoft as part of their long-term enterprise agreements: database software; Windows Server; development tools; its Salesforce competitor Dynamics.
As far as its cloud, Microsoft shared another happy growth statistic: The company's "annualized run rate," or ARR. That's a number that projects that if things kept going the way they are going, this is how much revenue Microsoft would make on a product over 12 months.
Commercial cloud ARR (the Microsoft division that covers cloud services sold to businesses, which includes Office 365, Azure and Dynamics) is at $8 billion, up from $6.3 billion last quarter, and $5.5 billion the quarter before.
Microsoft won't say how much of that growth is due to Azure. But the company did say that Azure revenue doubled, and CPU usage also doubled, meaning more companies are buying Azure, straight up. Microsoft salespeople have been giving customers free Azure credits so they can kick the tires and see how it works, and it seems to have been paying off.
As of the spring, numbers leaked to Business Insider showed Azure US revenue at $1 billion since 2011.
All in all, it points towards Microsoft successfully shifting towards a model where customers keep paying a little bit of money at a time, rather than a lot all at once. It's painful for anybody watching the still-shrinking numbers of its legacy Windows and Office businesses, but the idea is that Microsoft will eventually reap big rewards.
Then again, for the bears: as expected, the company posted a big loss, thanks to that enormous write-down from its Nokia acquisition. And with PC sales declining and the success of the forthcoming Windows 10 still an unknown, the company isn't out of the woods yet.If you made it here, then you’re probably wondering weather or not Google Drive is a viable option for hosting streamable videos? Well, the answer is yes!
This is a follow-up to HTML5 Video is Finally Ready, so read that first for more info on the state of HTML5 video.
In order to make files publicly playable by anyone you need to share the files as “Public on the web” via your Google Drive, otherwise standard OAuth rules apply.
Here is an example using an H.264/AVC encoded MP4 which plays on Chrome, Firefox and Safari, and apparently Internet Explorer 11 too (untested):
This page has received a lot of traffic, so if the video isn't displaying then Drive may have temporarily restricted access to the file. In that case please try using the original source from: QuirksMode. If you need, you can view the quota of your own videos via the "Quota" section of your Google APIs console in the "Service" tab.
And the source code:
<video controls = " controls " > <source src = " https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download & id=0B0JMGMGgxp9WMEdWb1hyQUhlOWs " type ='video/mp4'/> </video>
In order to be completely cross-browser we can’t forget about the geriatric fathers of the browser world who still claim a market share, and require a Flash fallback.
As you may already know, Google automatically encodes uploaded videos into lower bitrate FLV files for playback using Flash via the Google Drive Viewer. This means the Google Flash player can be reused like so:
No doubt you could access the raw FLV stream using a custom player of your own design, in fact Symple has a chromeless FLV player which would be suitable for the task.A prominent Ottawa human rights lawyer is after Canada Post to drop distribution of a newsletter that he says contains misogynist, homophobic, anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish hate propaganda.
Richard Warman wrote Public Works Minister Judy Foote and Canada Post president Deepak Chopra in early March to ask for a halt to the postal distribution of a Toronto publication called Your Ward News.
Warman told National Observer that the newsletter was something he was aware of that was floating around the Toronto area.
“It had sort of a bad smell. When I finally had the chance to look at it closely, I was shocked to see the kind of bigotry that was being disseminated through Canada Post.”
In an email response to National Observer Tuesday, Foote said, "I have reviewed some of the material in question and I too find it highly offensive and well outside the norm of Canadian values. I have reached out to my colleagues to determine the best way forward in addressing this issue.
"This includes whether the material constitutes an offense under the Criminal Code."
Your Ward News claims distribution of 300,000 and a readership of one million within Toronto. Canada Post delivers the publication unwrapped, meaning anyone is able to see the content.
The most recent issue of the quarterly publication (it was previously monthly) shows on its cover a bizarre collage of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau surrounded by women in bikinis. Beside him, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne waves a gay pride flag.
Two men are depicted on crosses, one of them clearly meant to be Christ; the other sprays blood on former advisor to Jean Chretien, Warren Kinsella, and in a word balloon says, “See you in hell, Kinsella!”
The entire spectacle is headlined “Marxist Lackeys Attack.”
Inside, the paper contains a number of racist slurs directed mostly against Jews and Muslims. The back page invites people to attend “The 1st Annual Old-Fashioned Toronto Anti-Marxist Book-Burning.”
The purported ad states that among books welcome to be burned are “FemiMarxist garbage by authors like Margaret Atwood; EnviroMarxist Agenda 21 propaganda by scientific sellouts like David Suzuki, etc.”
The publication is the work of editor-in-chief James Sears and owner-publisher, Leroy St. Germaine. Sears or Germaine could not be reached for comment.
James Sears. Photo from the New Constitution Party of Canada website
Sears was subject to a disciplinary hearing from the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons in the early 1990s for professional misconduct related to charges of sexual impropriety.
The college revoked Sears’ licence to practice medicine.
The college’s decision also noted that as a third year medical student in the Armed Forces Medical Officer Training Plan Sears’ room was searched following an “incident” and a can of Mace, several knives, two empty smoke grenade canisters and an electronic stun gun were found.
Sears was made to repeat one year of medical school because of “behavioural problems.”
A link off the Your Ward News website goes to an online site for The New Constitution Party of Canada (NCP). The NCP describes itself as “an all-inclusive federal party based on Libertarian doctrine, Christian values, and National Socialist ideology.
“Our political movement incorporates the intellect of Dr. Ron Paul, the heart of Chancellor Adolf Hitler, and the soul of Jesus Christ, into one powerful political Chimera that will crush the Marxist beast.”
Sears identifies himself as the founder of the NCP and as a retired captain and medical officer from the Canadian Armed Forces.
Your Ward News has attracted previous complaints
While Warman’s letter is the most recent attempt to have Canada Post stop delivery of Your Ward News, it’s not the first time.
In May 2015, Arthur Potts, the Ontario MPP for Toronto’s Beaches-East York riding sent a letter to Canada Post’s Chopra asking the Crown corporation to reconsider its delivery of the newsletter.
In his letter, Potts noted that Toronto’s Hate Crimes Unit was probing a complaint about the then-current issue of Your Ward News, which featured “several offensive and anti-Semitic articles and caricatures.”
The Toronto Hate Crimes Unit could not be reached for comment. It’s not known whether the paper is still under investigation at this time.
Potts wrote that he was not only deeply concerned by the paper’s content and his constituents’ complaints, but added the fact that Canada Post delivered the paper, despite repeated complaints, “suggests that the Crown corporation may endorse its content.”
Canada Post did not respond to National Observer’s queries. The Crown corporation operates at arm's-length from the government.
Megan Whitfield, the president of the Toronto Local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, told National Observer that a number of postal workers have complained about having to deliver the publication.
However, Whitfield said Canada Post has threatened to discipline any workers who refuse to carry the newsletter.
“Both on the cover and inside they’ve had some very offensive material,” Whitfield said of the publication. At the very least the Toronto Local wants to see the publication shrink-wrapped in dark plastic so that the contents can’t be seen in the mail.
Of Canada Post, Whitfield said: “They just continue to allow it to go through.”
"All they do is promote hatred...."
Kelly Fairchild, who lives in the Beaches - the Toronto area where Your Ward News originally first began distribution - started a petition titled 'Stop infiltrating our homes with hate' on change.org, signed by about 1,000 people.
For her trouble, Fairchild found herself the subject of corrosive articles and cartoons in the most recent issue of Your Ward News.
“Ideally, I would like to see Your Ward News shut down,” Fairchild said. “I think all they do is promote hatred and just extremely dangerous viewpoints on other ethnicities and genders.”
Fairchild said if the paper can’t be shuttered, then at the very least it should be subscription-based so that people who don’t wish to be subjected to its content won’t receive it.
Back in Ottawa, on his own time and using his own resources, Warman has successfully co-litigated a number of human rights complaints dealing with Internet hate.
In his letter, Warman tells Canada Post that he is concerned the Crown corporation’s distribution of the newsletter might constitute a breach of the Canadian Human Rights Act as the agency is “party to the dissemination of discriminatory material to the general public.”
Warman warns the Crown corporation that if it persists in distribution of the paper, “I will pursue the matter accordingly,” and cites, among other things, an example of defamatory libel in the newsletter against Warren and Lisa Kinsella.
The Kinsellas run the Daisy Group, a strategic communications firm in Toronto.
Warman notez a previous precedent to stop postal distribution exists in the case of Ernst Zundel. Zundel, a Holocaust denier, was subject to a mail ban from the Canadian government from 1981 to 1982 over the distribution of hate propaganda.
Warman says he can’t believe Canada Post hasn’t halted distribution of the paper. “I think it’s something that quite clearly should not be disseminated by Canada Post.”Billionaire Mike Ilitch and Wayne State University under President M. Roy Wilson tried to keep details of a new business school from going public by agreeing to a confidentiality clause in a contract that puts taxpayers and students at risk.
Motor City Muckraker is the first media outlet to file a Freedom of Information Act request seeking a copy of the gift agreement that binds the public university to a series of obligations under the much publicized business school.
On Friday, the university provided Motor City Muckraker a copy of the “confidential” contract (gift agreement), and it’s clear why neither party wanted to divulge details of the $59 million Mike Ilitch School of Business, which is being built next to Ilitch’s publicly funded Red Wings arena.
Despite the media-peddled narrative that Ilitch paid for most of the construction as a benevolent gesture, the truth is far more nuanced and perilous to taxpayers. It raises questions about the due diligence that the university applied in the preparation of this contract to protect taxpayers.
The gift agreement, for example, contains numerous conditions, including some that would put taxpayers on the line for some or all of the $35 million that the Ilitch foundation pledged to donate for construction of the business school.
Here are some key details of the agreement:
The Ilitch family must be reimbursed for every dollar of public money that becomes available for building a business school in a clause that states “the amount of cash gift shall be directly reduced by any amount appropriated to donee by the state of Michigan.”
If construction is late and the building is not “materially complete” by Sept. 1, 2018, the Ilitch family may impose significant penalties by reducing the $5 million endowment by $1 million. If construction isn’t complete by January 2019, the endowment will be reduced by $2.5 million, and if it is not complete by September of 2019, the Ilitch family may “eliminate the endowment entirely,” change the lease or “terminate this agreement and the lease” on land that is owned by the Ilitch family, not the university.
, the Ilitch family may impose significant penalties by reducing the $5 million endowment by $1 million. If construction isn’t complete by January 2019, the endowment will be reduced by $2.5 million, and if it is not complete by September of 2019, the Ilitch family may “eliminate the endowment entirely,” change the lease or “terminate this agreement and the lease” on land that is owned by the Ilitch family, not the university. Given that construction of such projects are routinely delayed because of unexpected expenditures and impediments, the penalties in the gift agreement that President Wilson touted as a positive step for the university will come at the expense of students, whose tuition increased an average of 4.1% this year.
The Ilitch foundation also will have one or more seats on the school’s advisory board, a voice in the school’s curriculum and access to interns.
The school also must build a “display case” or designate another area of the building to highlight Mike Ilitch’s “business careers and personal accomplishments.”
President Wilson has boasted the “gift” as a tremendous addition to the university, but he has refused to discuss details of the agreement. When Motor City Muckraker asked for a copy of the contract/gift agreement, we were told the university “doesn’t typically disclose gift agreements,” even though the pacts may include conditions that can be detrimental to taxpayers and students.
It’s unclear why the university and its General Counsel Lou Lessem would agree to a confidentiality clause in the agreement since the publicly funded school is subject to open records laws. It’s also unclear whether the gift agreement is now in danger since the university disclosed the contract as required by law to the media.
According to the “gift agreement,” the university “will not at any time disseminate, publish, state, announce or in any other manner disclose to the general public or any third person any information concerning this Agreement, the Cash Gift, the Endowment, the Lease of the Property, or any over information” related to the deal.
The agreement even says that Mike and his wife Marian Ilitch may “intervene to oppose or to obtain a protective order with respect to any such disclosure.”
The conditions of the gift agreement raise red flags for a university whose outlook has been downgraded to “negative” by the nation’s top two rating agencies – Moody’s Investor Services and Standard and Poor’s. The university is eroding cash reserves at an alarming rate while enrollment is declining, the agencies concluded.
Under the “gift agreement,” the university must chip in $24 million, about $14 million of which likely will be borrowed by issuing bonds.
But that’s the best possible outcome from an agreement that puts additional tax dollars and student money at risk if anything goes wrong.
Last October, the university’s Board of Governors voted for the construction of the business school amidst fanfare and praise without the public knowing the details.
One board member, Dana Alicia Thompson, a University of Michigan law professor, abstained from the vote, stating publicly during the vote that she wasn’t given enough time by the administration to review details of the project.
It is not known if the Board of Governors will convene a meeting on the details of the agreement now made public, and what it means for taxpayers at its upcoming Sept. 23 meeting. The business school was initially billed as a highlight of Wilson’s tenure as president, and he has given numerous media interviews about the school without telling Detroiters and Michiganders the details of the deal.
Motor City Mucraker will continue to analyze the gift agreement for the public to know about the nuances as well the many varied aspects contained in it.
Motor City Muckraker is an independent, ad-free watchdog that relies on donations. Your contribution will help us continue serving as a watchdog who answers to no one but the public.Twitter on Scala
A Conversation with Steve Jenson, Alex Payne, and Robey Pointer
by Bill Venners
April 3, 2009
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Summary
Three Twitter developers, Steve Jenson, Alex Payne, and Robey Pointer, talk with Bill Venners about their use of Scala in production at Twitter.
Twitter is a fast growing website that provides a micro-blogging service. It began its life as a Ruby on Rails application, and still uses Ruby on Rails to deliver most user-facing web pages. But about a year ago they started replacing some of the back-end Ruby services with applications running on the JVM and written in Scala. In this interview, three developers from Twitter—Steve Jenson, system engineer; Alex Payne, API lead; and Robey Pointer, member of the service team—sit down with Bill Venners to discuss Twitter's real-world use of Scala. They describe the production issues that led them to consider Scala in the first place, what issues they ran into using Scala in production, and how Scala affected their programming style.
A quick look at Twitter
Bill Venners: What is Twitter, and what in its technical history led you to consider Scala?
Alex Payne: Twitter is a communications service that allows people to share information in 140 characters or less. You can share information from your phone, from a web browser, or from one of many API clients that are out there, for just about every operating system, mobile platform, or web platform. Basically, if you want to share a short thought, one to many, Twitter is a transport-independent way to do that. In a broader technical sense, we see ourselves as a short messaging layer for the internet. We’ve been described as a “telegraph for web 2.0.”
One of the things that’s core to our business is providing open APIs for everything you can do on the website. So all the functionality that’s available there for users is also available for developers to access programmatically. That’s Twitter in a nutshell.
Twitter started as a hack project at a company called ODEO, which was focused on podcasting. As ODEO was having some troubles in its latter days as a company, they started experimenting, to keep engineers involved by letting them play around with ideas they had on the side. One of the engineers, Jack Dorsey, had been really interested in status. He was looking at his AIM buddy list, and seeing that all of these guys were saying, “I’m walking the dog,” “I’m working on this,” “I’m going to that.” He wondered if there was some way to make it easier for people to share that status. So he and a couple other engineers started prototyping what became Twitter on Ruby on Rails, which was the stack that ODEO was built on. And Twitter continues today to be primarily a Rails application, with a bunch of Ruby daemons doing asynchronous processing on the backend.
Over time we found that although Rails works great for doing front-end web development, for doing heavy weight back-end processing, Rails had some performance limitations at runtime. And I think that—and this is more my personal opinion—the Ruby language lacks some things that contribute to reliable, high performance code, which is something we’re very interested in as we’re growing as a business. We want the code we write to be correct and maintainable. We want to keep our costs down—all the things most businesses want out of their stack. So that’s why we started looking at Scala.
Reliable, high performance code
The other big reason we looked at Scala was that, although we’ve run into problems with Ruby, we like the flexibility of the language. We like that it’s such a full featured language, that it’s fun to code in. It’s the same reason so many Java people end up writing Ruby after they leave some big enterprise company. They want to have fun day to day. We didn’t want to leave that behind and go to a language with a very dry, businesslike community, like C++, for example. We know that people write super high performance code in C++, and engineers like Steve and Robey have had experience with that. But we wanted to be using a language that we’re really passionate about, and it seemed worth taking a gamble on Scala.
Bill Venners: I’m curious, and the Ruby folks will want it spelled out: Can you elaborate on what you felt the Ruby language lacked in the area of reliable, high performance code?
Steve Jenson:One of the things that I’ve found throughout my career is the need to have long-lived processes. And Ruby, like many scripting languages, has trouble being an environment for long lived processes. But the JVM is very good at that, because it’s been optimized for that over the last ten years. So Scala provides a basis for writing long-lived servers, and that’s primarily what we use it for at Twitter right now. Another thing we really like about Scala is static typing that’s not painful. Sometimes it would be really nice in Ruby to say things like, here’s an optional type annotation. This is the type we really expect to see here. And we find that really useful in Scala, to be able to specify the type information.
Robey Pointer: Also, Ruby doesn’t really have good thread support yet. It’s getting better, but when we were writing these servers, green threads were the only thing available. Green threads don't use the actual operating system’s kernel threads. They sort of emulate threads by periodically stopping what they are doing and checking whether another “thread” wants to run. So Ruby is emulating threads within a single core or a processor. We wanted to run on multi-core servers that don’t have an infinite amount of memory. And if you don’t have good threading support, you really need multiple processes. And because Ruby’s garbage collector is not quite as good as Java’s, each process uses up a lot of memory. We can’t really run very many Ruby daemon processes on a single machine without consuming large amounts of memory. Whereas with running things on the JVM we can run many threads in the same heap, and let that one process take all the machine’s memory for its playground.
Alex Payne: I’d definitely want to hammer home what Steve said about typing. As our system has grown, a lot of the logic in our Ruby system sort of replicates a type system, either in our unit tests or as validations on models. I think it may just be a property of large systems in dynamic languages, that eventually you end up rewriting your own type system, and you sort of do it badly. You’re checking for null values all over the place. There’s lots of calls to Ruby’s kind_of? method, which asks, “Is this a kind of User object? Because that’s what we’re expecting. If we don’t get that, this is going to explode.” It is a shame to have to write all that when there is a solution that has existed in the world of programming languages for decades now.
Complementing Ruby with Scala
Steve Jenson: We find Ruby and Scala are very complementary. We use Ruby, actually specifically Rails, for things that it is very strong at. All the front end stuff that it does very well.
Bill Venners: What do you use Scala for?
Robey Pointer: We had a Ruby-based queueing system that we used for communicating between the Rails front ends and the daemons, and we ended up replacing that with one written in Scala. The Ruby one actually worked pretty decently in a normal steady state, but the startup time and the crash behavior were undesirable. It was a little too slow and memory intensive. Sometimes our peak loads would knock it out. And when it got knocked out, it was very slow to recover, which is not what we wanted. We wanted something that could handle the edge cases and the high load, maybe not as easily as a regular load, but with relative ease.
Bill Venners: What did the daemons do?
Robey Pointer: A lot of our architecture is based on letting Rails do what it does best, which is the AJAX, the web front ends, the website—what the user sees. Anything we can offload out of the request/response cycle, we do. So we queue those tasks into a messaging system and have back-end daemons handle them.
Steve Jenson: For example, if you make a change to your social graph; i.e., you follow or unfollow someone on Twitter. All of that work and the associated cache invalidations are done asynchronously by a daemon.
Bill Venners: Did you consider JRuby?
Alex Payne: We did. At the time we looked into it, we simply couldn't boot our Rails app on JRuby. Too many of the Ruby Gems we make use of require C extensions, and haven't been ported to JVM-friendly versions. The performance of JRuby was also not even on par with MRI (the C implementation of Ruby), much less a language like Scala. We're open to trying out JRuby again in the future, but we're also hoping that some Ruby patches will help in the meantime.
Tradeoffs with Scala
Bill Venners: You’ve had real experience with Scala, using it to solve real problems. What tradeoffs did you find with it? What were the problems? What were the good things? What were the bad things?
Steve Jenson: I think it worked remarkably well for us. A lot of us have had experience programming in languages that were more research-oriented, and those tend to have a lot of problems when trying to productionize systems. But we didn’t really run into a lot of those issues with Scala. We would run into a few issues, with newer parts of the system. I know we ran into some issues with actors and high scalability, but we were able to work around those. Generally, it’s been a very performant and stable system for us.
Robey Pointer: I would agree that the problems have been very minimal so far. Some of it was just the newness of the language and compiler. We occasionally run into compiler errors that are mystifying for a minute, which took a little time to figure out what the actual error was. Some of the core collection libraries in Scala are not quite up to snuff yet. And apparently they are working on that right now.
Bill Venners: Not up to snuff in what way? They don’t work? They’re not fast?
Robey Pointer: I never had a problem with them not working, but a couple of the methods were not written in a particularly performant way, or there were some gaps in the API. In some cases we just decided to burrow down and use the Java collections from Scala, which is a nice advantage of Scala, that we have that option.
Alex Payne: One of the first things I worked on in Scala here was a test harness for our APIs. It wraps the Apache Commons HTTP library and provides a set of objects that represents the restful resources on our system. The hardest part was just switching over from the Ruby mentality to the Scala mentality. Trying to think more functionally. Trying to think more immutably. Thinking about static typing for the first time in several years. So for people who may not have as much of a Java background and have more of a background in dynamic languages, the transition period might be a little bit longer for them, but having gotten to the other side of that, it’s great. Now I think in Scala by default as opposed to thinking in Ruby by default when I’m sketching out code.
Bill Venners: How did learning Scala change how you think about programming?
Robey Pointer: I had no functional background prior to learning Scala other than Python. I was pretty familiar with Python. As I’ve learned more Scala I’ve started thinking more functionally than I did before. When I first started I would use the for expression, which is very much like Python’s. Now more often I find myself invoking map or foreach directly on iterators.
Alex Payne: I guess thinking about concurrency in terms of actors was definitely a switch. I’d programmed a little bit in the IO language. But I really like Scala’s actor implementation, which is a little bit closer to Erlang’s than IO’s. That’s been a positive change.
Steve Jenson: I came from a Java background, but I was also experienced in Common LISP and ML, and it was wonderful to use a runtime I was familiar with and be able to use functional combinators and closures and higher order functions, all these things that I’ve wanted to use more in production systems. I’ve been really pleased with how they work in Scala.
Concerns with Scala
Bill Venners: If I’m thinking about using Scala in a production system, what should I worry about? What are the things I need to make sure work? What should I be scared of?
Alex Payne: I’d be prepared for a few hours of tinkering with your IDE or your editor. It still seems like IDE and editor support is, perhaps not in its infancy, but in its awkward teenage years. Several of us are using IntelliJ, and IntelliJ 8.1 seems to be pretty good when it comes to Scala support. The Emacs mode, I know Steve uses that, but the indentation is a little quirky. Textmate support is pretty dreadful, but there was some discussion on the Scala tools mailing list on improving that. But that’s a barrier to entry.
Robey Pointer: If you’re not coming from the Java world, if you’re coming from the Ruby or Python world, the compile-deploy cycle can be a little irritating. It’s a very different world to set up a build environment and deploy jar files with large scripts than it is with Ruby or Python.
Alex Payne: The JavaRebel kind of helps with that, once you get that set up, it’s a little bit more of the, write some code, hit save, run some tests again. You can get closer to that, but there’s still some of the baggage of the Java world, where you have to do a whole bunch of up front setup on every project. But you have a set of good conventions, and it becomes very easy to bring in new libraries. You’ve got a lot of deploy stuff baked in. It’s just a tradeoff.
Steve Jenson: Making sure that you’re using mutability in the right places. Start with immutability, then use mutability where you find appropriate. That’s been a good lesson for us. The reason you should care about immutability is that if you’re using threads and your objects are immutable, you don’t have to worry about things changing underneath you. For us that’s been a big win. We really only ever go to mutability if we feel we need an extra performance gain.
Robey Pointer: And the JIT compiler can apparently give some important performance benefits to immutable objects.
Alex Payne: One other thing we’ve run into. It’s definitely a special case, and I don’t think it should throw people off, but we’ve been building a server, called Hosebird, to send the entire stream of public Tweets in near real time to a variety of partners over the internet. So it is a specialized system. We’ve built it in Scala wrapping Jetty, and initially we had a number of actors inside the system: one to pull messages off of our internal messaging queue, and a number of other actors that represented clients. And over time as we ran more and more system tests on it, we found that actors weren’t necessarily the ideal concurrency model for all parts of that system. Some parts of the concurrency model of that system are still actor based. For example, it uses a memcache library that Robey wrote, which is actor based. But for other parts we’ve just gone back to a traditional Java threading model. The engineer working on that, John Kalucki, just found it was a little bit easier to test, a bit more predictable. The nice thing was, it took minutes to switch code that was actor based over to something thread based. It was a couple of search and replaces. So it’s not so bad if actors fail you for whatever reason.
Steve Jenson: Just to clarify, you’re talking recently about moving from actors to more of the Java 5 concurrency model, like java.util.concurrent, executors, thread pools?
Alex Payne: I don’t even know if John was using thread pools on that necessarily. I think he was still doing some manual thread management. Basically it was just moving from actors to explicitly running new threads.
Robey Pointer: I ran into the same thing in Kestrel, the queueing system. I started off with an actor for every single queue. I found that the work is so fine grained there that it was actually better at that tiny level to just use Java locks. Actors work great for having client connections, where there’s a bit of work overhead to what the actor is doing, and the code for handling client requests is very simple and straightforward.
Bill Venners: Anything else that someone considering using Scala in the real world should be aware of?
Alex Payne: I think programmers who’ve never worked with a language with pattern matching before should be prepared to have that change their perceptions about programming. I was talking to a group of mostly Mac programmers, largely Objective-C developers. I was trying to convey to them that once you start working with pattern matching, you’ll never want to use a language without it again. It’s such a common thing that a programmer does every day. I have a collection of stuff. Let me pick certain needles out of this haystack, whether its based on a class or their contents, it’s such a powerful tool. It’s so great.
Robey Pointer: I wanted to talk a bit more about starting to use Scala. It definitely wasn’t a flippant choice we made over a few beers one night. We actually agonized over it for quite a while. Maybe not agonized, but certainly discussed it for a long time. One of the biggest draws for us to Scala as opposed to another language, was that once you’d started writing in a really high level language like Ruby, it can be difficult and kind of annoying to go back to a medium level language like Java, where you have to type a lot of code to get the same effect. That was a really big draw for us. With Scala we could still write this really high level code, but be on the JVM.
Bill Venners: Could you clarify what you mean by high and medium level?
Robey Pointer: I think of it as, the higher the level of the programming language, the less you have to type to do more. To me, languages like Ruby, Scala, and Python are very high level, because you can write a few lines of code to do what might take ten or twenty lines in Java, or 250 lines in C.
Getting started with Scala
Bill Venners: How would you suggest people get started with Scala?
Steve Jenson: Just try it. Make a starter project. Go for it.
Alex Payne: There’s great code on GitHub. There’s a growing Scala community there. David Pollak and the rest of the Lift committers have put Lift on GitHub. That’s been sort of a catalyst. Jonas Bonér, who has been working on a bunch of transactional memory systems, very high concurrency, enterprise back end stuff, has been releasing some of that stuff on GitHub. And I think by the end of the year there will be something like five books.
Bill Venners: Last week at the JavaPosse roundup people were talking about how they tried something new out, and a theme emerged. The advice was to try it on something you care about, but not something necessarily business critical. Something that you care enough about that you’ll keep going, but not something that if it fails, you will go out of business.
Steve Jenson: We did that at Twitter. We started by doing a small experiment, where we served our public timeline out of Scala. And it worked very well. We learned a lot of lessons, found out what we liked and what we didn’t like. It still runs. It has been running for almost a year.
Alex Payne: Yes, the only time we have issues with it is when the underlying databases have replication lag. Other than that it just keeps on humming. And it has been such a success that our plan for the long run is to move more and more of our architecture into Scala. The vast majority of our traffic is API requests, and we want most of those to be served by Scala, either at an edge cache layer or a web application layer. Hopefully by the end of 2009 the majority of users’ interactions with Twitter are going to be Scala-powered.
Share your opinionKey points
Released in a poor state, the PC port was pulled from stores on June 24, 2015, reworked and re-released on October 28, 2015.[3] Despite post-launch efforts, reports still indicate the game to have many problems with bugs and general optimization.[4][5]
General information
Availability [ edit ]
Downloadable content (DLC) and expansions
Name Notes Season Pass A Matter of Family Harley Quinn Story Pack Red Hood Story Pack Prototype Batmobile Skin Batman Classic TV Series Batmobile Pack 1st Appearance Batman Skin Batman: Noel Skin Bat-Family Skin Pack 1989 Movie Batmobile Pack Crime Fighter Challenge Pack #1 Crime Fighter Challenge Pack #2 Crime Fighter Challenge Pack #3 Crime Fighter Challenge Pack #4 Crime Fighter Challenge Pack #5 GCPD Lockdown 2008 Tumbler Batmobile Pack Catwoman's Revenge Robin and Batmobile Skins Pack WayneTech Track Pack A Flip of a Coin 1970s Batman Themed Batmobile Skin 2008 Movie Batman Skin Riddler Th |
opener Knight has faced bowlers sending it down at 75-80mph before but less often on a pitch that is covered with three separate sections of astroturf. Unsurprisingly, the local players are more confident off the back foot. It is an "interesting pitch," Knight says. "If it hits one of the cracks it either dies or flies at your head."
Kicukiro Oval in Kigali, Rwanda's only dedicated cricket facility, is not of sufficient standard to host international cricket. It is also scarred by the haunting memory of the genocide carried out 20 years ago. Some 4000 people lost their lives in a brutal massacre at the ground and many times that number died between April and July 1994. But Kicukiro Oval, and the game that is played there, also provides a symbol of hope.
"All the people that lived there fled to neighbouring countries to escape the genocide, Uganda, Kenya, places like that and they picked up cricket," Knight says. "When they came back to Rwanda, when it was safe, they brought cricket back.
"Most people in the country, if they are older than 20, will know people that got killed, people that did the killing, and also potentially have been involved in it themselves. It was very humbling. I went to the genocide memorial there; a million people got killed in about 100 days, women and children, so it was quite sad. But it's great that a sport like cricket is bringing people together and giving the Rwandans the chance to move on. Because with the genocide, everyone disbanded, the country hasn't got a real, true identity, because it was so raw. I think cricket and sport is enabling the people to do that."
To improve the game's progress in Rwanda, a UK-based charity is raising funds to build two new pitches at a location in Gahanga, just outside of Kigali. The Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation (RCSF), of which Knight is now a patron alongside Brian Lara, Jonathan Agnew and UK prime minister David Cameron, is closing in on a target of £600,000 (US$1m) to finance the project. Founded by MP Christopher Shale, who sadly died in 2011, the RSCF made the news last year when Shale's son Alby took part in a 26-hour net at The Oval in London.
"The plan is to get two pitches so other teams can come and tour, because at the moment the national teams have to go abroad to play inter-African tournaments and all the money that Rwanda Cricket has goes into travel expenses and getting them out there," Knight says. "So there's no money to grow the game in the country where there is the real need. I think they'd really blossom if they had the pitches and could get it going in schools and things like that."
The Rwanda Cricket Association was founded in 1999 and Affiliate membership of the ICC was granted in 2003. Funding from world cricket's governing body amounts to around $20,000 a year, most of which goes to transporting the national teams to play in nearby countries like Uganda. Despite having a single concrete pitch and a "very ropey" outfield on which to practise, Rwanda won the ICC Africa Division 3 Championship in 2011.
During her brief trip, Knight put the women's team through their paces with some fielding drills before taking part in a T20 game with the men. There is a perhaps surprising degree of equality, with club cricket split evenly between boys playing on one weekend and girls the other. Knight's preparations for the World T20 also meant some demanding workouts around the local hills, at an altitude of 4000ft above sea level.
"It puts things into perspective," Knight says. "Cricket means the world to me but people out there haven't got a lot in life, and it's nice to go and do something like that and have a bit of a break."
Knight: "The plan is to get two pitches so other teams can come and tour" © Martin Kharumwa
As the 20th anniversary of the genocide approaches, cricket is in some small way helping ordinary Rwandans to chart their way forward. Sport can unify as much as it can divide, and the example of Afghanistan, where the cricket team has made an impact at the highest level despite a recent history of war and struggle within the country, provides evidence of that power.
The RSCF has many impressive backers - a reception for the charity was held at Downing Street on March 31 - and a noble goal, but shouldn't this be what the ICC is for? Proposed changes to the ICC's funding structure are unlikely to see a great increase in wealth trickling down to this level, where it is needed most. The politics are tangled but Knight is positive about the benefits for cricket in expanding its reach and plans to return to the country for the stadium's anticipated opening in 2015. "Tall Eric" - not to mention "Short Eric" and "Big Eric" - will doubtless be ready for another game.
"I think it's definitely important to grow cricket in countries like that," Knight says. "I've got so much from cricket throughout my career and I think there's a real scope for growing the sport, not only in England but in countries like Rwanda, giving kids who haven't got a lot the opportunity to learn and have fun and have a way out through cricket. So I think it's key that we grow the game, because if it's truly a global game it's only going to be good for cricket in the long run."
Find out more about RCSF and how to donate at www.RCSF.org.uk
Alan Gardner is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.By now it is clear that the Trump campaign has been thoroughly beaten to the punch and destroyed by the Cruz campaign at the delegate selection game. The Trump campaign is using this as further evidence that Ted Cruz is some kind of cheater… I guess because he is better at taking advantage of the clearly stated written rules?
I view it as evidence that Ted Cruz would be a vastly superior president to Donald Trump.
The possibility of a contested convention was a real one before the first votes were even cast. Many, many people who were/are seasoned political observers looked at the dynamics of this race and predicted that 2016 would be (or at least might be) the first contested convention since 1976. Accordingly, stories began leaking that, at the very least, the Cruz, Rubio, and Kasich camps were making contingency plans for winning a contested convention.
Trump, meanwhile, just assumed that he was going to win, an assumption that he became even more married to after winning New Hampshire and South Carolina. Per Sopan Deb:
After Trump’s early wins, top advisors told him race would soon be over. (Via @maggieNYT) https://t.co/5WWBJ6oNH0 pic.twitter.com/ZeIA3kPgEj — Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) April 4, 2016
It now seems clear that Ted Cruz had a plan in place in virtually every state to help pack every available bound delegate slot with a delegate who was not personally loyal to Trump. The idea behind this was to create a cadre of delegates who would be bound to Trump on the first ballot, but loyal to Cruz (or at least someone else) on the second ballot of a potentially contested convention.
Even if Cruz isn’t able to plant enough of these people at the convention to get him to 1,237 on the second (or third) ballot, the optics of Trump hemorrhaging delegates every round will be a tremendous advantage to the not-Trump faction at the convention.
See, what Cruz is doing is what’s known as “contingency planning.” Obviously, good leaders always want to have their “Plan A” work, where possible. but good leaders know that this doesn’t always (or even almost always) happen, so they have “Plan B” ready in case “Plan A” goes sideways, and probably a Plan C or Plan D for good measure.
Bad, incompetent leaders only have a Plan A, and if and when Plan A goes wrong, they just whine about how they were treated unfairly. That’s Trump. Good leaders hope for the best but plan for the worst. That’s especially true involving any plan that depends on human beings to act/vote in a certain way. It turns out, human beings can’t always be controlled or even predicted.
If Trump the President would be anything like Trump the candidate, then he would be an even bigger disaster than we have previously imagined. Meanwhile, whatever you think of Ted Cruz, he’s shown a remarkable and borderline ruthless ability to plan ahead and execute – traits that would serve any potential President well.Experiment
Fill a bowl with water and drop in the lemons. Float or sink? They should float. Toss the limes into the water. Float or sink? You might get a few that float but just barely. The limes in our test sank to the bottom. Now it’s time to figure out why. Your first guess might be the rinds of both fruits. Peel the rind off of the lemon and you’ll find that it is thick and porous, similar to the rind of an orange (that also floats in water). The lime rind is much thinner than the lemon and does not contain the same porous material. It’s time to test the peeled lemon and lime. Drop both in the water and you might be surprised. The lemon floats and the lime sinks! So, it’s not the rind. That’s as far as we’re going to take you. Keep experimenting and exploring before reading any further.
How Does It Work?
At first, our team of lemon lime researchers were certain that it had everything to do with the rind because of their experience with floating and sinking oranges. Drop an orange into water and it floats, but remove the peel from that same orange and it will sink. The unpeeled orange floats because the rind is very porous and filled with tiny pockets of air. Even though you’re removing mass when you peel the orange, the peeled orange is more dense and sinks in the water. But the lemon lime mystery is a little different.
We have to turn to the Internet for more information. According to the USDA website, a lime is 88.26% water by weight and a lemon is 87.4%. This could mean that lemons have a higher air content, but we’re still not sure.
So, our next step was to weigh the lemon and the lime. Digging through our grocery bag of lemons and limes, we found two that were very similar in size and weight. Both the lemon and the lime weighed exactly 101 grams. If you know the weight, it only makes sense to determine the volume of each fruit. Using displacement of water, we determined that the lemon had a volume of 99 mL and the lime had a volume of 90 mL. You might remember doing this in school when you learned about volume. Fill a container to the very top with water and then submerge the item (the lemon in this case). Collect and measure whatever water spills out over the edge of the container and you’ve got the volume.
So, using the density formula (D=M/V) it was easy to determine the density of each fruit.
The Lemon: Density =101g/99 mL = 1.02 g/mL
The Lime: Density = 101g/90 mL = 1.12 g/mL
Since the density of water is approximately 1 g/mL, it makes sense that the lemon in our experiment floated and the lime sank.
But we’re still a little confused as to why limes sink and lemons float. Some people have suggested that lime flesh is much more dense than lemon flesh and, as a result, it holds its juice better. People who “juice” fruits know about this phenomenon. If you want to get more juice from a lime, warm it up in the microwave briefly and then firmly roll it along the worktop before slicing it lengthways and juicing it. It makes a huge difference.
Since the density of the lemon and lime are very close to water, even very small changes in composition could mean the difference between sinking and floating.Minimal white wooden boxes with copper and crystal detailing.
I love the geometric shape of the feet from the rectangle box which compliments the hexagon shape of the smaller box. I plan to use as storage boxes for my jewelry/jewellery but they would also work well as office storage for small items.
I enjoyed making these pretty little boxes, sitting in my bay window playing music with my cat pottering around and peeking at the process. Here I share with you the process of making them.
This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience.
The Supplies
Paint Brushes (I used two kinds, one foam and one synthetic hair)
White acrylic paint $1.99
Copper metallic paint $2.15
Philips screw driver size 0
A box (I bought one from joann and one from Target).
Painters masking tape
Sandpaper (2000 grit)
A crystal
The Process
I created a quick one minute video on how I created these boxes, scroll down to watch the video first. Watch The Video
First, I unscrewed the hinges and fastening clips from each box.
Using the foam brush I painted the box using the white craft paint, then I let them dry for an hour.
With the other brush, I painted the hinges and the underside of the crystal with copper craft paint. Spray painting the hinges may have been a better option, but then matching the color may have been tricky.
Once the white-painted boxes were dry I gently sanded the box to remove the spiky fibers, they are liable to give you a splinter.
Next, I applied the masking tape around the lid of the box. I made the thickness of exposed lid about 1 cm the whole way around. Once applied its good to run the back of your nail / or something hard against the masking tape to ensure a firm application – it helps to prevent paint from getting underneath.
Paint the line around the lid with the copper paint and the synthetic hair brush. Wait an hour, then apply the second coat.
The next part is probably my most favorite stage of the whole process, and you don’t need to wait for it to dry to do it…
Peeling off the masking tape. It’s so satisfying!
There’s my helper, ChakaKhan.
Next, put the hinges and fastening clip back in place.
Glue the crystal to the top of the box.
Voila!
Watch The Video
If you found this article useful and you would like making a donation, coffee is greatly appreciated 🙂
Credit
Thank you to Homey Oh My who inspired these! A great blog with inspiring DIY projects captured beautifully.MILWAUKEE, WI — An arrest warrant has been issued for a man who police say shot a man seven times over a matter of stolen sunglasses.
That man, Shelton King, Jr. of the 3500 block of N. 6th St. in Milwaukee, faces up to 15 years behind bars if he is convicted of the crime.
According to his criminal complaint, police were alerted to a "shot-spotter" alert which indicated a potential shooting incident on the 1500 block of W. Groeling Ave. in Milwaukee on Sept. 22.
When police arrived on scene, officers found victim Delaeo D. Booker on the porch with blood trails from the victim leaving 1550 W. Groeling Av. leading to a neighboring address. Officers determined that Booker had received multiple gunshot wounds.
He was transported to Froedtert Hospital for treatment. At Froedtert Hospital, it was determined that Booker had received 7 gunshot wounds, 4 to the abdomen, 1 to the left thigh, 1 to the right wrist and 1 to the groin above the genitals, the criminal complaint said.
According to police, while in transport to Froedtert Hospital, Booker was heard to say to officers " Shelton Martin!, black Lexus, passenger seat"!.
Later at the hospital, Booker stated to officers that he had been walking in the area when he became aware of a black Lexus following slowly behind him. He told police that the Lexus pulled along side of him at 1540 W. Groeling Av. and he, Booker, observed "Shelton" raise a black handgun and begin shooting at him, the criminal complaint stated.
Booker then stated that the Lexus then fled the scene.
According to police, the next day at the hospital, Booker told officers that the shooter, known as "Shelton" had been bothering Booker over the theft of Shelton's sunglasses for some time.
Police reported that Booker proclaimed his innocence to Shelton to no avail, and that Shelton continued to accuse Booker of theft.
>>> image via shutterstock.comFootball Rojiblancos partner with Luxembourgian investors
Atletico Madrid and the Luxembourg-based company Solferino have presented an offer to purchase 35% of French club Lens.
A judge had put the club for sale, after it has been crippled by severe financial issues for some time, and it is now the courts who will make a decision on the proposal made by Atletico and their partner.
The club has been in discussions with Lens before near the end of 2015 but the plans were shelved.
Atletico would take 35% of the share capital whilst the remaining 65% would go to the Amber Capital investment group.
The final decision is expected to be made official as early as Monday with those at the Estadio Vicente Calderon confident of a positive outcome.There are two sides to Moroccan cities, the maze-like ‘medina’ and the predictably regular ‘ville nouvelle’. While the latter are the generic mix of apartment blocks and car-dominated boulevards that you could find across the world, it is the medinas that deserve our attention. From Marrakech to Chefchaouen the centre of Moroccan cities are the medinas, the formerly walled old towns built organically over hundreds of years. Despite the donkey often remaining the only viable form of transport, the medina still remain very much a living part of the city.
The building block of the medina is the riad, the traditional Moroccan house set around a courtyard. The streets of the medina give little of this away however with the only trace being modest doors and small windows. In line with Islamic modesty, the doors to riads steer away from ostentatious displays meaning the streets themselves have a nice homogeneity broken only by elaborate archways to the ever-present mosques.
Sketch of the typically narrow streets in the Meknes Medina. A minaret pokes up in the distance. Simple and unadorned doors from the numerous riads open directly onto red streets of Marrakech leaving little to differentiate one from another
Once you get past these doors however, all bets are off. After passing through low corridors you emerge into the centre of the riad, the courtyard around which all rooms open onto. While public displays of wealth are frowned upon, private displays are not and the interiors of these courtyards are often adorned with elaborate displays of geometric mosaics – known as zellij – carved plaster and ornate timber work.
The interior of riads can be highly ornate such as these columns in the Ben Youssef Madrasa, Marrakech Narrow courtyards with overhanging roofs offer shading in Morocco’s harsh climate
While the introspective nature of the riad suits Islamic ideals, it is also acutely tuned to Morocco’s climate with the tall courtyards and walkways providing shading to the surrounding rooms and water fountains at the base of the courtyards providing a degree of natural cooling. The way that neighbouring riads are tightly clustered together in blocks, and how these blocks in-turn form narrow alleyways meaning that the streets too are kept shaded and cool in stark contrast to the wide open boulevards of the ville nouvelle.
Water features at the base of open courtyards offer a degree of natural cooling in summer
The riad is a truly vernacular model of architecture offering density and privacy, cultural conformity and climate control. Despite growing affluence in Morocco favouring developments which accommodate the car, growth in the country’s tourist industry and international investors are ensuring that the riad and the medinas that they form will remain integral parts of Moroccan cities.
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A hacker has stolen millions of user account details from popular education platform Edmodo, and the data is apparently for sale on the so-called dark web.
Teachers, students and parents use Edmodo to work on lesson plans, assign homework, and more. The organization claims to have over 78 million members.
"Thanks to those who guided and supported us in the beginning, we're now the number one K-12 social learning network in the world, dedicated to connecting all learners with the people and resources they need to reach their full potential," Edmodo's website reads.
For-profit breach notification site LeakBase provided Motherboard with a sample of over two million user records for verification purposes. The data includes usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords.
The passwords have apparently been hashed with the robust bcrypt algorithm, and a string of random characters known as a salt, meaning hackers will have a much harder time obtaining user's actual login credentials. Not all of the records include a user email address.
Motherboard verified the data by attempting to create new Edmodo accounts with a large, random selection of emails included in the data. With every tested email this was not possible, because the address was already linked to an Edmodo account.
One Edmodo user reached by Motherboard also confirmed they used the service, and said she signed up five to six years ago.
The dark web listing of the stolen Edmodo data. Image: Screenshot
A vendor going under the name of nclay is currently listing the Edmodo data on the dark web marketplace Hansa for just over $1,000. In all, nclay claims to have 77 million accounts, and according to LeakBase, around 40 million include an email address. (Motherboard has not seen the full alleged database).
The accounts were stolen last month according to nclay's dark web listing. The vendor did not respond to a request for clarification.
"Edmodo has learned about a potential security incident," the company's VP of Marketing and Communications Mollie Carter told Motherboard in an email. "Protecting the privacy of our users is of the utmost importance to Edmodo. We take this report very seriously and we are investigating."
Update: This story was updated after initial publication with additional comment from Edmodo.1. The Tuskegee airmen once shot down three German jets in a single day.
On March 24, 1944, a fleet of P-51 Mustangs led by Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, commander of the Tuskegee airmen, set out on the longest escort mission their crews would fly during World War II. The 43 fighters were there to help B-17 bombers run a gauntlet of over 1,600 miles into the heart of Hitler’s Germany and back. The bombers’ target, a massive Daimler-Benz tank factory in Berlin, was heavily defended by whatever forces the Luftwaffe could muster at that point in the war. The 25 aircraft protecting the plant included the battle-tested Fw 190 radial propeller fighters, the Me 163 “Komet” rocket-powered plane and the much more formidable Me 262, history’s first jetfighter and the forerunner of today’s modern fighters. While the American P-51s typically lagged behind the Me 163s and 262s, they could outmaneuver them at low speeds. The German planes also tended to run out of fuel more quickly than the Tuskegee airmen’s Mustangs. Making the most of their limited advantages, pilots Charles Brantley, Earl Lane and Roscoe Brown all shot down German jets over Berlin that day, earning the all-black 332nd Fighter Group a Distinguished Unit Citation.
2. Thurgood Marshall, the future Supreme Court justice, got his start defending Tuskegee bomber trainees.
The 477th Bombardment Group was formed in 1944 to extend the so-called “Tuskegee experiment” by allowing black aviators to serve on bomber crews. The aim was to send pilots—many of them veterans of the original Tuskegee fighter group—back to the States for training on B-25 bombers. While in Indiana, some of the African-American officers were arrested and charged with mutiny after entering an all-white officers’ club. Thurgood Marshall, then a young lawyer, represented the 100 black officers who had landed in jail as a result of the confrontation. The men were soon released (although one was later convicted of violent conduct and fined).
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3. The Airmen might have never gotten off the ground without Eleanor Roosevelt’s help.
In April 1941, months before the United States entered World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt visited Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama, where the Tuskegee airmen had begun training. Charles “Chief” Anderson, Tuskegee’s chief flight instructor at the time, offered to take the first lady around the field. Anderson had taught himself to fly years earlier in a used plane he bought with his own savings. Roosevelt agreed, and the photos and film that came out of the 40-minute flight helped convince people in power to support the creation of a black fighter group.
4. A former Tuskegee airman almost shot the late Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi in a showdown outside of Tripoli in 1970.
Daniel “Chappie” James Jr. started his career in the early 1940s at Tuskegee, joining the Army Air Corps in July 1943. After the war ended, James stayed in what became the Air Force and flew missions in both Korea and Vietnam. In 1969 James was put in command of Wheelus Air Force Base outside of Tripoli. A year earlier, a coup led by Colonel Qaddafi had overthrown the country’s ruling monarch, King Idris. Qaddafi then ordered the closing of the large American base in the country he now controlled. But before a formal handover to the Libyan authorities could take place, Qaddafi pushed his forces onto the base. James later recalled the standoff that followed: “One day [Qaddafi] ran a column of half tracks through my base—right through the housing area at full speed. I shut the barrier down at the gate and met [Qaddafi] a few yards outside it. He had a fancy gun and a holster and kept his hand on it. I had my.45 in my belt. I told him to move his hand away. If he had pulled that gun, he never would have cleared his holster. They never sent any more half tracks.”
5. Three Tuskegee airmen went on to become generals.
For keeping his cool in the face of Qaddafi’s troops, Daniel James was appointed a brigadier general by President Nixon. He wasn’t the only graduate of the “Tuskegee experiment” to make flag rank, however. James followed in the footsteps of Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the original commander of the 332nd Fighter Group and the first black general in the U.S. Air Force. Another Tuskegee aviator, Lucius Theus, retired a major general after dedicating most of his 36-year career in the Air Force to improving the military’s bureaucracy, helping to implement a direct deposit system for service members.Millennials, the largest U.S. demographic, are more likely to support Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.
Election Attitude:
Based on polling data conducted by Ipsos for USA Today and Rock the Vote, the largest nonpartisan voter engagement campaign for millennials, today's youths were found to not be as enthusiastic about the 2016 election. Fewer than half of millennial respondents, who identified themselves as either Republican or Democrat, plan to engage in their party's primaries. Among Republican millennials, 33 percent said they intend to vote in the GOP primaries, slightly lower compared to Democrat millennials' 42 percent.
In regards to voting in the general election in November, the expected turnout increased. Although the poll found millennials tend to not think about the general election until the respective Democratic and Republican National Conventions, 60 percent of millennials say they are likely to vote on Election Day.
Despite the lower enthusiasm, 57 percent admitted they are optimistic about the future of the country, and overwhelming numbers have a positive attitude about voting. Voting was considered as a way to have an impact on an issue among 75 percent of millennial survey respondents, while 74 percent said voting is a responsibility and 73 percent stating it's a way to create change in their community.
"I was glad to see that the overwhelming majority of millennials do see voting as a way to have an impact and we couldn't agree more," said Rock the Vote President Ashley Spillane in a statement to Latin Post. "With 2/3 of the largest, most diverse generation in our country intending to vote in 2016, we should see candidates talking more about the issues they care about -- education, gun control, the economy, criminal justice reform."
Issues:
Among millennials, the top five issues are the economy (35 percent), education (28 percent), foreign policy (25 percent), healthcare (24 percent) and gun laws and its safety (23 percent). With millennial men, immigration tied with healthcare as the fifth most important issue.
On guns, 82 percent of millennials agreed the U.S. should pass background check laws for all gun purchases. Most millennial women agreed on having background check laws and men, 85 percent to 79 percent, respectively. Whether or not stricter gun laws would help prevent mass shootings, millennials showed their differences. With 78 percent, Democratic millennials said stricter gun laws would help prevent mass shootings, but the number dwindled among Republican millennials to 44 percent.
Most millennials, with 68 percent, want criminal justice reform, agreeing that the U.S. should lower prison sentences for individuals convicted of non-violent crimes such as drug possession; this was supported more by white millennials (69 percent) than millennials of color (64 percent).
Millennials are also keeping an eye on terrorism. Slightly less than half (47 percent) said the U.S. should commit to ground troops to combat the Islamic State militant group. More Republican millennials favor boots on the ground, with 69 percent, than 40 percent of Democrats and 41 percent of Independents. Millennials were also more protective of their privacy as only 43 percent were content with the government monitoring email or social media accounts as an approach to combat terrorism.
"The health of our democracy hinges on robust citizen participation," said Spillane. "With so much at stake, we have to prioritize engaging new voters and bring them into the process. Their futures are tied up in every important policy decision being made by Congress and state legislatures. We as a country have work to do to restore this generation's faith that not only is voting a way to make a difference, it is THE way and it really does matter."
Sanders Over Clinton:
Millennials preferred Sanders over Clinton to win the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley ranked third with five percent, behind Sanders' 46 percent and Clinton's 35 percent. Among millennials of color, the margin between Clinton and Sanders narrowed to 41 percent and 42 percent, respectively.
In the Republican field, businessman Donald Trump led the competitive GOP field with 26 percent. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was the only other GOP candidate to receive double-digit figures with 11 percent, while Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida ranked third with 9 percent and Sen. Ted Cruz and Texas and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush tied at eight percent.
According to the survey, millennials' preference of Sanders and Trump are due to favoring candidates who are considered as "counter-culture" and "outside the system."
"These polling results are important because they show that millennials are optimistic about the future of our country and the power they have to make a difference through voting, even while sometimes frustrated with our current political process. This poll reinforces that young voters have the power to decide the election and the rumors of their disinterest are false. Let this be a lesson to both major parties -- politicians who ignore the youth vote do so at their own peril," added Spillane.
The survey was conducted between Jan. 4-7, with 1,141 millennials, between the ages of 18 and 35, participating.
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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.From a world power to a small-state nation. Follow the history of Denmark’s conquests, trading outposts, and territories from the Vikings to the twentieth century, in our two interactive maps.
Get a click overview of the extent of the Danish Kingdom in the past. Learn more about each of these locations in the interactive map below.
Today, Denmark is a small nation. But this was not always the case. In these two interactive maps you can follow the history of Denmark’s territories, colonies, and trading outposts, from the Vikings up to the present day.
The story takes us as far as the Caribbean, India, and China, where Denmark’s involvement in slavery and colonial power rears its head.
But most of the story revolves around Denmark’s struggles with their Nordic and European neighbours, through war, conquest, and family feuds among the European royalty.
When was Denmark at its largest?
The Kingdom of Denmark has grown and shrunk many times in the last 1,000 years. But according to historian Michaels Bregnsbo from the University of Southern Denmark, it is quite straight forward to estimate when Denmark was at its largest.
“It must have been during the Kalmar Union from 1397 to 1520 CE, although during some of this period the union existed more on paper than in reality. The union stretched from Denmark, Norway, Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Sweden and thereby also Finland,” says Bregnsbo.
“In the early Middle Ages, England was also under Danish rule, but the Kalmar Union covered a wider area,” he says.
Read More: The first Danish kings were pirates
Factories and trading posts around the world
But estimating exactly how much of the world has come under Danish rule over the years can be tricky.
For example, this list does not include the Viking’s colonisation in North America, because these raids were presumably largely carried out by Norwegian Vikings.
Trading posts and factories across Asia between the 17th and 19th centuries are included, but these were established by the Asiatic Company. Individually, they were often small areas (sometimes consisting of just a few buildings) and few Danes actually settled there.
“It wasn’t necessarily Danes that lived there and not many Danes travelled there,” says Bregnsbo.
“In China, it was predominantly the Chinese that controlled the area. They allowed the Danes to come in and the trade went ahead via the Chinese trade consortium. The conditions were freer in India, although they too sometimes rented areas out,” he says.
You can see all of Denmark’s past and present conquests, territories, colonies and trading posts in the two interactive maps above.
Read More: 3,500-year-old gemstones cast light on a forgotten civilisation
The early days: Nordic union and tensions
In the 10th century, the Danish Viking king, Harold Bluetooth, conquered a large part of what is modern day Norway, taking advantage of the Norwegian nobility who were distracted by internal power struggles and infighting. At this time, Skåne and Blekinge in southern Sweden were already a part of the Danish Kingdom.
In 1042 CE, King Magnus the Good of Norway inherited the Danish throne, uniting the two kingdoms.
It was not until 1380, when Haakon VI of Norway and Sweden died, that his son, Oluf II, united the thrones of Denmark (through his mother Margaret I), and Norway and Sweden, by which time also included Finland.
Oluf II died seven years after gaining power, and his mother, Margaret I, became regent, uniting the kingdoms and maintaining the Kalmar Union. This existed intermittently until 1523 CE, and while the countries continued to exist as independent nations, power was consolidated under King Oluf II and then Margaret I as regent.
It ended when King Gustav I took the Swedish throne. However, Skåne, Halland og Blekinge, as well as the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea remained Danish territory until 1658 CE, when Sweden was victorious over Denmark in the Dano-Swedish War.
Norway meanwhile, remained a part of the Danish Kingdom until 1814 and the Napoleonic Wars.
Read More: 1814: Denmark lost Norway but gained democracy
Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands
Meanwhile, Greenland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands had all come under Danish rule in the 1380s when Oluf II took the Danish throne and inherited the Norwegian overseas dependencies.
However, the contact between Denmark and Greenland ceased between the 15th century and 1721 CE when the Norwegian priest and missionary Hans Egede arrived in Greenland to convert the local population to Christianity at the behest of the Danish king, Frederick IV.
Iceland was recognised as an independent country in 1918 but kept the Danish king as their head of state. This union came to an official end in 1944 with the Icelandic secession from Denmark. Greenland achieved home rule in 1979 and became a self governing autonomy within the Kingdom of Denmark in 2009. The Faroe Islands were granted a form of home rule status in 1948.
Read more about the history of Danish rule in the Nordic countries in the map above.
Read More: Denmark’s Cold War struggle for scientific control of Greenland
Germany and Denmark’s shifting border
From the 1100s up until the late 1800s, parts of what is today northern Germany also fell in and out of Danish control.
From 1169, Valdemar I of Denmark, also known as Valdemar the Great, took control of Rügen Island and Pomerania off the North east coast of Germany.
These areas fell in and out of Danish control numerous times, until Denmark finally relinquished control in 1814 following a deal with Prussia after the Napoleonic wars. Denmark gave Rügen and Pomerania to Prussia the year after, in exchange for the dukedom of Lauenborg. Meanwhile, Denmark gained control of Dithmarschen in Northwest Germany in the late 1100s which they held until 1227 CE. Denmark regainined control in 1559 CE before it was lost in 1864 CE.
The area of Schleswig-Holstein located between Hamburg and Kiel was under shared Danish control between |
Android Police coverage: Futurama Head-in-a-Jar Creator Lets You Create Heads In Jars, What Else Would It Do?
Easily the single most important app in our roundup, and possibly this decade, is the Futurama Head-In-A-Jar Creator. Only the most worthy contributors to mankind (and/or the people who've spent the most time on the cover of tabloids) have the privilege and honor of being decapitated and stuffed into a pickle jar, to be preserved for future generations of TV addicts. Now you can join the likes of President of Earth Richard Nixon, Vincent Van Goh and his most ardent imitator, Leonard Nimoy, and John $&*ing Zoidberg in your own personal Head Museum.
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Good news, everyone! The Futurama Android app lets you create your very own Head-in-a-Jar, with more options than ever. Go glamorous with a giant cyclops eye, class things up with a gleaming robot antenna, or submit to the dreaded Brain Slug. With a dizzying assortment of human, alien, and robot features, the possibilities are literally finite. You can share your heads on Facebook and Twitter, save them to your phone as a background, or build your friends and make them images for your contacts. You can even create and share collections of heads in your own personal Head Museum, populated with Futurama versions of your family, friends, or fellow inmates.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
The Verge
Android Police coverage: The Verge Launches Its Very Own Android App, For The Rest Of Your Tech News Needs
Look, we're nerds too. We understand. Your obsession may not revolve entirely around one operating system. Maybe you want news on the latest Canon dSLR, or you're looking for a comparative review of the new ultrabooks. Maybe you even want to see what the speaker assembly of the next iPhone will look like, according to someone who was once overheard by DigiTimes. For your more general tech news needs, it's hard to do better than The Verge, and they've finally introduced their very own Android app. It's okay - you'll see us there too. In the source links.
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The definitive source for technology news, reviews, and up-to-the-minute scoops. Get all the breaking news coverage and in-depth reporting in the world of consumer technology from the industry's leading voices and foremost experts. The Verge brings you unrivaled breadth and depth of coverage, delivering everything you need to know about what's happening in the world of technology culture — including the latest reviews, breaking news, and in-depth feature stories. Tech news begins and ends on The Verge; and now you can get that experience on the go, right on your Android device.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
MyScript Calculator
Android Police coverage: MyScript Calculator Lets You Write Math Expressions On Your Screen Instead Of Typing Them Out, Is Amazing
Digital devices make just about everything better, but there's still no way to beat a good old pen and paper for your Calculus 402 notes. That said, MyScript Calculator comes close. It uses either finger or stylus input to convert your mathematical chicken scratch into neat, orderly functions, equations and expressions, recognizing most common mathematical symbols with ease. Best of all, it's free - because every dollar you spend on the Google Play Store is four fewer packets of Ramen noodles in your dorm room.
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Specially designed for Android devices. Easy, simple and intuitive, just write the mathematical expression on the screen then let MyScript technology perform its magic converting symbols and numbers to digital text and delivering the result in real time. The same experience as writing on paper with the advantages of a digital device (Scratch-outs, results in real time, ).
Works on your smartphone (Use your finger or a capacitive stylus with your android phone (Samsung Galaxy phones, HTC, Motorola, Sony Xperia, LG Optimus and others)
Works on your tablet (Take advantage of the S-Pen with your Galaxy Note, or use any capacitive pen with your Galaxy Tab family of tablets, HTC flyer, Lenovo Thinkpad, Asus transformer and others)
Use your handwriting to write any arithmetic formula.
Write and calculate mathematical expressions in an intuitive and natural way with no keyboard
Supported mathematical symbols: +, -, ×, /, √, Pi, parentheses, exponentiation.
Scratch-out gestures to easily delete symbols and numbers
Battery Widget? Reborn! (BETA)
Android Police coverage: [Hands On] 'Battery Widget? Reborn!' Is An Elegant, Holo-Themed Battery Widget That Packs A Ton Of Info
Battery meters are a dime a dozen, and we've even seen radial meter widgets before. There are two things that separate "Battery Widget? Reborn!" from the pack: one, its colors and fonts play nice with Android 4.0/4.1's Holo system theme, so you obsessive compulsive types won't have to do any adjusting. And two, it features a ton of contextual information that puts even Android's own internal battery monitor service to shame. The beta version of the app is free.
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This is is time limited BETA version of Battery Widget? Reborn! application. Please report any bug or feature suggestion to [email protected]
Timer
Here's another app that plays nice with the visuals in Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean: Timer. Essentially a digital egg timer, it'll count up or down for you and look absolutely stunning doing it. There's icing on the cake in the form of sycronized backups connected to your Google account, kind of like Astrid Tasks. When your iOS-using buddies bemoan the lack of good-looking apps on Android, be sure to pull this 99¢ app out.
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This is what it is. The perfect timer - nothing more, nothing less. Because time does not exist in itself, but is a product of representation, we like to represent it simply, easy as pie, beautifully, completely intuitive, and in Holo aesthetics. Cooking spaghetti or Beef Wellington? Need a countdown for launching your spaceship? Want to do 200 push-ups in less than a minute or see how far you can walk on your hands in two and a half hours? Need a 12min, 48sec nap? Must re-animate the overweight guy at the pawnshop? Preparing your speech before the World Congress of Philosophy?
Program your beautiful Holo Aesthetics timer with the easiest gestures imaginable. Use it on your phone or tablet. Save an unlimited number of timers with your own labels, use and re-use them over again. Even back up your timers with your Google account.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
NBC Olympics Live Extra
Android Police coverage: NBC Olympics And Olympics Live Extra Apps Hit The Play Store, Promise All The Olympic Content You Can Handle
In case you've been living under a rock for the last two years, the Summer Olympics are coming to foggy London town. Those of you in the US can keep up with NBC's live coverage with this dedicated and free app, offering a selection of video and lots of breaking news. You can watch at least a portion of the content for free - but be aware, the events that will be broadcasting on NBC's cable properties like USA Network will only be available to those who subscribe to a compatible cable or satellite provider. Poor form, NBC. Poor form.
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Get to ready to watch every moment of the 2012 London Olympic Summer Games LIVE for FREE with the NBC Olympics Live Extra app. In addition to watching all the live action, during the Olympics, enhance your viewing experience with alternate camera views, plus full replays on-the-go. You can follow your favorite events and sports, and receive push notifications for event start times. Download now on your Android handheld device to prepare for the start of the London Games, and take a look back at the best of the Beijing Olympics. Support for additional Android handheld and tablet devices will be coming soon. Access to some live streams and full event replays is determined by your cable, satellite or telco TV subscription.
Video on Demand: access short-form video clips to preview the London Olympics and relive the Beijing Olympics
Online coverage schedule: find out NBC’s online listings schedule and set event reminders
Live Events: watch every event of the London Olympics LIVE.
Full Event Replays: relive all the great moments of the Summer Games with full event replays
Channels: watch simulcasts of Olympic programming on NBC Universal television cable channels
Gold Zone: check out the Gold Zone Live Streaming Channel featuring every gold medal event LIVE.
Alternate Camera Views: view multiple camera angles for sports such as gymnastics and track & field
Push Notifications: receive reminder alerts for upcoming events
DVR: most live streams and all full event replays will have DVR capabilities
NBC Olympics
Android Police coverage: NBC Olympics And Olympics Live Extra Apps Hit The Play Store, Promise All The Olympic Content You Can Handle
So maybe you're not the mobile video type - or you're running up against your monthly data cap. Don't worry, you can use the standard NBC Olympics app to keep up on the news from London without chewing through bandwidth like a puppy with a Monster cable. Team profiles, medal counts, and exhaustive coverage of table tennis - it's all here.
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Experience the best of the 2012 London Olympic Summer Games with the NBC Olympics app. Get prepared for the Games now by checking out news, video, photos for every sport and all Team USA athletes. Plus, you can follow your favorite sports, teams and athletes, and engage with other fans on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ -- all from your Android handheld device. Support for additional Android handheld and tablet devices will be coming soon. During the Olympics, you can follow every event from London, including real-time results & schedules, medal counts and TV & Online listings. And during the nightly Primetime Show televised on NBC, the app will feature a second screen experience that makes a great companion to the on-air broadcast.
News: overall and by sport, plus NBC Olympic Talk blog
Photo galleries: slideshows capture the action, emotion, and splendor unique to the Olympics
Team USA: athlete profiles, news, video and photos
Hometown Coverage: select your local NBC affiliate to get news, video and photos about athletes from your hometown
Destination London: learn more about the host city with video, photos and news
Results & Schedules for all 32 sports: updated in real time
Medal Counts: overall and by sport
TV & Online Listings: look up NBC's TV and online coverage schedule and set program reminders
Primetime Companion: use your device as a second screen and enjoy and interact with contextual content to enhance your Primetime viewing experience
Push notifications: get breaking news, programming reminders, and news and results for your favorite teams and athletes
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
BBC Olympics
Android Police coverage: BBC Joins NBC, Releases An Olympic Coverage App With Live Stream (But This One's For The UK Only)
For our readers across the pond, your BBC television fee pays for a pretty solid app of your very own. You can watch in real time and share on the social network of your choice as the United Kingdom loses every single event out there. (Just kidding, Brits - you guys always have a good showing in the 100 meter nonchalant stroll.)
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Never miss a moment of the London 2012 Olympic Games with the BBC's Olympics app. Exclusive to the BBC in the UK, this is the only app on which you can watch up to 24 live streams of Olympics action and catch up with all the key highlights and medal moments. Live and on demand video is available on 3G and Wi-Fi.
Daily live text commentaries from BBC journalists
Up to 24 live video streams
Video highlights of the action, features and interviews with athletes
Detailed schedule and results for every event
Medals table
A page for every Olympic sport
A page for every competing country
A page for every Olympic athlete taking part
Read the homepage top stories offline
Share stories, videos and results by email and on social networks
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
Friday
No, Friday isn't a simulator for Robinson Crusoe's best native buddy. It's a sort of automatic digital journal, scrupulously recording every aspect of your life - or at least those parts of it that pass through your smartphone. The point is to give you a constantly updating record of your activities. It's certainly not for everyone, but for those with an active and hectic social life, it could be a real boon. Check out our coverage of a preview version; by the looks of it, developer Dexetra has made some real leaps and bound on the user interface.
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Friday brings self discovery by introducing the first passive auto journal. It captures your entire life through your phone and builds a beautiful timeline of your life. Not just that, you can filter and search your life to find the exact information you want. With Friday activities, you can share or, just log your favorite activities you've been doing all day. Friday helps you forget to remember. The app does the remembering for you.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
The 2012 Open Championship
While the rest of the world follows Olympic soccer, boxing, baseball and other, you know, sports this summer, the true gentlemen will be following The Open. Yes, thrill to the incredibly exciting action of old white guys walking across manicured British yawns lawns. There's no live streaming (wouldn't want to get too crazy) but the Official Open Championship Android App can give you live scores, news and clips.
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The Official Open Championship Android App has been redeveloped for 2012 to bring you even closer to the action at the 141st Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes. Up-to-the-minute live scoring, video highlights and a course guide will be accompanied by live golf from The Open and @TheOpen RADIO. Coverage of holes 9, 10 and 11 will be available during the Championship along with @TheOpen LIVE, offering you a unique behind the scenes view at golf’s oldest Major.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
1Tap Quick Bar
Most custom ROMs, and even some manufacturer skins like TouchWiz, feature widget-style links and toggles in the notification bar. Now you can make your own out of some common and not-so-common actions with 1Tap Quick Bar, a free app for those into serious customization. All the standard toggles are present, along with more esoteric stuff like a direct call to one of your contacts.
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1Tap Quick Bar is the best notification customization app for Android. It helps you to do most common tasks in a shorter time, such as change Wifi settings, call your wife, add an event, launch an favorite game just in 1-click. It also offers a way to create a beautiful notification bar. There are several special actions that help you to discover hidden applications on your devices, such as Application's shortcut, last call, battery info, etc,. The design tab helps you to customize any part of a quick bar. Free version supports one quick bar. Upgrade to Pro version enjoy more quick bar.
Notification History
Android Police coverage: [New App] Notification History Keeps Tracks Of Notifications, Lets You Find The Source Without Jelly Bean
There's a long history of third-party developers back-porting features from new operating systems into old. If you aren't running Jelly Bean (and unfortunately, that's most of you, and will be for the foreseeable future) then you can get the notification history function with the free app of the same name. Now you can easily find missed calls and texts, cancelled downloads, or just about anything that pops up and disappears from your notification tray.
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Notification History can record all notifications so that you can easily track who pushed unwanted message. This can be used to: Find out which app pushed annoying statusbar advertisement, and uninstall it. Collect messages sent by apps and read them later. Backup and share notifications.
Collect notifications on status bar and group by apps
Save notifications
Clear notifications
Uninstall apps sending annoying notifications directly
Ignore notification from specific apps
Jelly Bean Keyboard
Speaking of back-ported features, this one's simple: it's the keyboard from Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It's a lot like the one in Ice Cream Sandwich, with a few extra shortcuts and even better prediction. Fortunately, it's free. Unfortunately, only those running Android 4.0 and above need apply. You can try an alternate port of the Jelly Bean keyboard from XDA member, but it has the same version restrictions.
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#About "collecting data" warning message: That warning message is a part of the Android operating system, and it appears whenever a third party keyboard is enabled. You don't have to worry because the keyboard don't have permission to internet access.
Included dictionaries: English. Available dictionaries from the market(look for "Ics language packs" from the market) for: French,Italian,German,Spanish,Arabic,Dutch,Russian,Hebrew,Czech,Slovak,Bulgarian.
Live Nation
Android Police coverage: [New App] Live Nation Releases Its App To The Play Store, Lets You Score Tickets On The Go
If you haven't heard of Live Nation, ask the next guy you see wearing Buddy Holly glasses and a Ramones T-shirt. Essentially it's a directory of tens of thousands of live music events - and now it's got a native Android app. browse for nearby concerts and set up alerts for upcoming shows, all for free, and with a surprisingly solid UI.
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Get the tickets you want on the go with the Live Nation app. From the world’s leading live entertainment company, the Live Nation app is now available for Android. Browse, search, and discover concerts for your favorite artists near you; get alerts on exclusive app pre-sales, onsales, and last minute tickets; and easily and quickly purchase authentic tickets while in the app. Next, plug into the concert experience where you can check out set lists on the go, view your ticket info and seating charts all in one place.
Mixcloud
Android Police coverage: [New App] Mixcloud Now Streaming Mad Beats And Podcasts To Your Phone
Not to be confused with commercial streaming services like Pandora or Spotify, MixCloud takes existing audio streams and podcasts from around the web and presents them in an easy-to-use package. The most popular streams on the app tend to be from nightclubs, but there's enough variety for just about everybody. The interface is a little outdated and you'll have to create an account, but the app and the service are free.
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Mixcloud is a free on-demand radio platform. Mixcloud allows you to stream your favorite Podcasts, DJ Mix sets and radio shows direct to your Android device. New to Mixcloud? Don't worry you can sign up easily within the app, and in under a minute you will be listening to some of the world's best DJs and radio presenters.
Simplify | Smart Wi-Fi Manager
OK, so the Wi-Fi manager in Android leaves a little to be desired. It's a pain to hunt for and connect to a new wireless LAN on just about every Android device. Simplify Smart Wi-Fi Manager aims to change that, with a slick UI (that's apparently inspired by Samsung) and some genuinely impressive tools, like a database of local hotspots connected to a mapping system. You can even share WiFi locations and information, or just back it up for your personal use. The app is free, but has a constant notification issue, so steer clear if that's a pet peeve for you.
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Simplify revolutionizes the way we connect to Internet by automatically discover, select and connect to the best network. Built-in with Zero Touch and Eco Surf technologies, Simplify is the most advanced mobile connectivity companion designed to be eco-friendly while ultimately providing best mobile internet experience on smartphones and tablets.
Zero Touch
Eco 1Surf
Share with Android Beam
Email Sharing and Backup
Accusoft USB Scanner - Trial
Android Police coverage: [New App] Accusoft USB Scanner Lets You Connect And Interface With A Scanner Directly From Android
No pithy comments or put-downs here: Accusoft's technology is jaw-dropping, and an absolutely brilliant use of the convergent technology in modern smartphones. It allows you to plug your MicroUSB cable into standard optical scanners and import the results directly onto your Android device, for use in Gmail or just about any other share-enabled app. The list of supported scanners is pretty low - you can check it out on Accusoft's support page. The full app is a bit pricey at $9.99, but you can try out the functionality with the free trial of Accussoft USB Scanner, good for up to 10 scans.
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Fully functional Trial version that allows up to 10 scans so you can test if your scanner is supported before buying. Convert your Android device to a document scanner. Use your USB scanner to scan single or multipage documents to PDF, JPEG, TIFF or BMP. Scan *directly* from Gmail, Evernote, Google Drive, Box, and many others. Share scanned documents directly through your normal share options such as Gmail, Skype, Evernote, Drive, Box, etc. To scan while in Gmail, Evernote, Drive, etc, choose the option that would let you add from your camera, and Accusoft USB Scanner will show up in the list of choices. Select Accusoft USB Scanner, scan and save, and the document will be uploaded/attached automatically to your email, note or document.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
Elance
Job hunting sucks, and I'm all in favor of any tool that makes it suck just a little less. The official Elance app can help both employers and prospective employees with full access to Elance listings and your profile on the prolific job board. Unfortunately, there's no way to search jobs without an account - for something a little more topical, you can try Indeed's app, which also crawls Elance.
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Use our app for instant access to thousands of talented online professionals and to get work done on-the-go. If you're searching for a job, discover new jobs as they are posted, communicate with your clients from anywhere, and increase your productivity. If you're hiring, find new talent anytime, keep your projects running smoothly, and make payments on-the-go. Our app does not yet provide access to all the functionality available on the Elance website. Currently the app only supports registered users.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
AutoRap
Android Police coverage: AutoRap From Smule Will Turn Things You Say Into A Rap Song - Yes, Even Shakespeare
It's like auto-tune, except it produces rap music instead of a Cher impression. And for some reason, it has live visuals that look like a cross between a tie-die shirt and your grandmother's wallpaper. In addition to performing live "rap", AutoRap from Smule can set your voice to one of two permenant free songs, and a limited number of popular rappers. You can buy more "Premium Beats" via an in-app purchase.
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YO. This is AutoRap. It turns speech into rap, and corrects bad rapping. With Smule’s proprietary “rappification” technology, AutoRap maps the syllables of your speech to any beat, creating a unique rap every time. TALK MODE: Talk into the app, and AutoRap magically morphs your speech into a legit rap. Create your own original rap songs with Freestyle Beats, or use Premium Songs from artists like Snoop Dogg and Nicki Minaj, to AutoRap with the songs you know and love. RAP MODE: Switch to Rap Mode and flaunt your skillz by rapping along to your favorite songs, following the lyrics that scroll across the screen. AutoRap will correct your flow, snapping your syllables to the rhythmic grid of the underlying beat.
Paragon NTFS & HFS+ Beta
Anyone who's done some serious work with Windows partitions will recognize the name Paragon. Now the company has released a file explorer specifically designed to read drives from Windows (NTFS) and Mac (HFS+) with ease. You'll need an Android device that can act as a USB host and some way to physically access your hard drive or flash drive, but after that, you should be able to manage all your files. The beta version of Paragon NTFS & HFS+ is free, but it may not stay that way forever.
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Get full and unlimited access to the most widespread file systems in the World on your smartphone. Easily copy, transfer and modify data on NTFS volumes alongside with HFS+ ones. Forget about incompatibility issues between your mobile handheld and its big brothers - PC and Mac. Attach to your device any flash drives, hard disk drives and other media with NTFS and HFS file systems and work with them as if there have simple FAT32 one.
Live Wallpapers
Ambient Time Live Wallpaper
This is a pretty sweet live wallpaper from the crew at Sony, combining an ambient light display (similar to the Flurry screen saver on OSX) and a simple clock. It's free for everyone, not just Sony users, but early reviews say it's got some significant lag issues.
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A cool Live Wallpaper released by Sony Mobile Communications. Ambient Time Live Wallpaper is a Live Wallpaper which consist of easy-to-see time expression and smoothly animating objects.
WTF Apps Of The Week
Pussy Lovers
We offer up the free app Pussy Lovers without comment, except that only those who are comfortable with truly massive amounts of pussy should attempt to install it. Depending upon your expectations, you're either going to be very relieved... or very disappointed.
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If you love Pussy - Pussy Lovers - This application is for you. Have Fun. Pussy lovers is back on android for all the followers who requested for it. If you love Pussy - Pussy Lovers - This application is for you. Around 25 different kinds of pussy in here. Each and every pussy is more and more tight and super tempting - you would want to take one home with you. Have Fun.
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
Man Fart
This app has a fart pressure meter, as if the lower intestinal track was some kind of hydraulic machinery. That's pretty much all you need to know.
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On this funny game you have to avoid the man to fart in front of the pretty woman....would he be able to do that? The hamburguers and chili make him so anxious for relax his ass.....Nobodoy knows when is going to explode.
Take advantage of the noise of the vehicles which cross the road to liberate the fart.
In case SHE NOTICE SOMETHING SHE WILL...**** ON YOU
Also you can take medicines for temporary avoid the pressure...
The app was not found in the store. :-( Go to store Google websearch
Know A Worthy New App? Let Us Know!
If you have an application in mind for the next issue of the roundup, feel free to send us an email and let us know.
Important: there are 2 requirements in order for the app to be considered, listed below.
the app's launch date has to be no longer than 2 weeks ago
it has to be original, ground-breaking, well-reviewed, interesting, fun, etc - the cream of the crop
Now, if and only if the above requirements have been satisfied, fire up an email to this address: [email protected].
1 sponsored placement per week is available (your app would be featured at the top and marked as sponsored) - please contact us for details.According to the report, Celtic have made the £4.8m (€5.5m) offer ahead of rival parties.
But French newspaper L’Equipe claim Celtic have made the first bid to secure the 19-year-old.
The Lens defender has attracted interest from a number of clubs across Europe.
Celtic have been tracking youngster Duverne since the January transfer window, Express Sport understands.
Celtic have reportedly bid for Jean-Kevin Duverne (right)
Jean-Kevin Duverne (right) excelled at Lens last season
Celtic are seeking defensive recruits and centre-back Duverne is seen as one for the future.
He only made his Lens debut at the start of the season and played 37 times for the club during their Ligue 2 campaign.
L'Equipe claim his displays in the French second tier have impressed suitors.
Celtic’s initial interest in Duverne came in January after they signed Kouassi Eboue from Krasnodar.Welcome to Dataspin, a weekly data visualization of whatever the fuck.
With the release of Jurassic Park 3D, audiences are marveling anew at the CGI effects that, incredibly, have held up for two decades. Equally impressive are the movie's sound effects, which straight up invented the sounds that everyone now and will forever associate with dinosaurs.
Vulture interviewed Jurassic Park sound designer Gary Rydstrom earlier this week, and he dropped some interesting tidbits about the various animal sounds his team lazily threw together to make their effects, in lieu of recording actual dinosaurs. Some, but not all, of this was covered in the book The Making of Jurassic Park, released in 1993. The chart above compiles everything we know about these dinosaur noises from these two sources.
For reference, here are your dinosaurs:
Velociraptor
Tyrannosaurus
Dilophosaurus
Brachiosaurus
There's still so much to learn. In his interview, Rydstrom mentioned that horse sounds went into a few other dinosaurs besides the velociraptor. The Making of Jurassic Park alludes to the use of penguin sounds, but does not specify for which creature. Expect more to be revealed when Jurassic Park 4D is released in 2033.Is Once Upon a Time staging a musical battle between good and evil? Will Bones ride off into the sunset? Will a robbery uncover an NCIS agent’s secret? Read on for answers to those questions plus teases from other shows.
Since you were first to share the news about Once Upon a Time’s musical episode, do you have more info? Is our Queen going to sing? —Lisa
Aww, flattery will get you everywhere, Lisa. It will also get you this confirmation that Lana Parrilla will be among those belting a tune. After all, what would a musical Once episode be without a clash between the show’s original rivals — in the form of a grand (and royally entertaining) sing-off between the Evil Queen and the Charmings? Because I hear that is happening, folks.
Can you please ask if Once Upon a Time‘s Archie will return in the second half of the season? —Becky
Yes, he will.
What can you tease about Eve/Juliette’s journey on Grimm? —Jen C.
Bitsie Tulloch tells us that Eve — who’s becoming more and more like Juliette these days, eh? — has “an intimate connection” with Adalind and Renard’s daughter, Diana, “that is unexpected.”
Anything happening with The Fosters‘ Callie? —Marissa
You mean besides her big legal battle and potentially going to prison? An upcoming episode will find Callie getting involved with Girls United again. “Through Stef, we’re actually going to meet a new girl that gets into” the group home, executive producer Joanna Johnson previews. “We’ll go on a journey with this girl that will intertwine with Callie, as well, a bit.” The storyline also features the return of an old friend. “Daphne’s actually taken on a counselor role [at Girls United], and it’s amazing to see her progress,” star Maia Mitchell shares. “You’re going to see Callie supporting Daphne through that.”
I’ve been a fan of Bones from the beginning. Can you tease if Booth and Brennan will get a happy ending? —Elspeth
That does seem to be the million-dollar question, especially leading out of this week’s Episode 7. And it looks like you may be guessing until the final hour. “Episode 11 ends on a cliffhanger, I’ll say that much,” shares co-showrunner Michael Peterson. “The finale is a two-parter.” As for the happy ending fans seek, the EP offered this anecdote from his four-season binge upon joining the series. “After watching 67 episodes, my wife asked if [series creator] Hart [Hanson] was a hippie, because everything worked out. [For example, when] Wendell slept with Angela, Hodgins got along with Wendell by the end of the episode. Things work out. Hart’s very much a ‘people ride off into the sunset’ kind of guy, he’s an optimist, and we wanted to infuse that into the finale. We wanted to have them go through hell, but at the end, we want them to ride off.”
Any scoop on Quantico? –Sam
When we asked showrunner Joshua Safran for a clue about Hunter Parrish’s mysterious role, all he offered is this: “He is connected to this show in a way that is very obvious.” Make of that what you will.
Any scoop you can share on Season 2 of The Detour? –AOC
The family will be based in New York City this season, but at least one member is not looking forward to life in the Big Apple. “For Robin, at least, there are some maybe not-so-legal things that she has to grapple with, coming back to bite her in the ass,” Natalie Zea teases.
Any information about NCIS‘ McGee and Delilah would be appreciated. —Larry
Oh, Delilah’s fiancé will have his hands full in the March 7 episode, when he returns home to the apartment he’s subletting from DiNozzo to find a robbery in progress. Turns out that the perpetrator of the triple-homicide that made the digs so nicely priced hid something of value there — and considering that McGee never looped Delilah in on the apartment’s “checkered” past, he’ll have much ‘splaining to do when she gets back from assignment in Dubai.
Will Adrian be back in Season 2 of TNT’s Animal Kingdom? —Davina
Yes, Spencer Treat Clark will be back as Deran’s… “ex”?
Do you know the name of the song that was played at the end of the Feb. 1 episode of Criminal Minds? —Maria
As Reid used a scarf to tether himself to his sleeping mother, that was “Amanda’s Song” playing, written, produced and sung by post supervisor Jason Koiter.
Got any scoop on Switched at Birth? — Kayla
As TVLine previously reported, Episode 100 (airing Tuesday, March 21) will feature the improbable return of Gilles Marini’s Angelo… as a ghost? Vision? Flashback? This is all executive producer Lizzy Weiss would share: “It is a very emotional episode in which Angelo revisits the family in a way.”
What’s up with new guy Riley on The 100? Everyone seems to know and love him. Will we find out more about his relationship with Clarke? —Kate
Funny you should ask about Riley and Clark’s relationship, because it definitely takes a turn in Wednesday’s episode — and not for the better. Without giving too much away, let’s just say Riley isn’t a fan of Clarke making life-or-death decisions on everyone else’s behalf.
Does Thea have anything coming up on Arrow? —Justin
Finally returned from that dreaded conference (and with her sharp tongue wonderfully on display), Thea is “headed in a direction that’s very similar to where her mother was before she was killed in Season 2. We’re excited about it,” says co-showrunner Wendy Mericle. “She’s been dealing with all of these issues the same way Oliver has — with her bloodlust and with other elements of her past — and this season’s going to find her in a similar place but for very different reasons..” EP Marc Guggenheim promises “some really terrific Oliver/Thea scenes in next week’s episode and beyond,” including what Mericle deemed “one of my favorites on the show.”
Long time no Supernatural scoop! Care to remedy that? — T.J.
Hmm, that’s a fair cop. Next Thursday’s episode, which features the return of Crowley’s son Gavin, is “a big one” for the King of Hell and his mother Rowena, actress Ruth Connell says. “You finally get to see more of the familial relationship with the three of them” — as well as some “borderline shocking” moments.
Anything about Timeless‘ season finale? —Rory
I hear there’s a twist you’re gonna slap yourself for not seeing coming.
Do you have any information on when Starz’s American Gods, NBC’s Midnight, Texas and AMC’s The Terror make their debuts? —Knight of Ren
TBA, TBD and “absolutely in 2017.” Always here to help!
Real questions, real answers! If you need the Inside Line on a favorite show, email InsideLine@tvline.com! (With reporting by Vlada Gelman and Kim Roots)2013 WCS Europe
Introduction by Elanshin
Greetings friend, the elements will destroy you! To avoid Thrall Doomhammer
Please note that these cards have been ranked mainly with constructed play in mind. It should also be noted that many of the Shaman cards strength can vary depending on the state of the current meta. Greetings friend, the elements will destroy you! To avoidbringing the wrath ofon you, why not learn to be his ally and become a new Shaman apprentice! To aid your apprenticeship, we have a ranking on every Shaman card along with a range of sample decklists to get you started.Please note that these cards have been ranked mainly with constructed play in mind. It should also be noted that many of the Shaman cards strength can vary depending on the state of the current meta.
Shaman Overview Windfury
Shaman's Hero Power, Totemic Call Stoneclaw Totem Wrath of Air Totem Searing Totem Healing Totem Wrath of Air Totem Shamans are a very board control orientated class with numerous cards and a Hero Ability that can flood the board. Shamans have a unique game mechanic called Overload, allowing you to play a card at a discount and paying the remainder of the cost the turn after. As a result, mana management and planning is crucial to the success of a Shaman player. Shamans are also the only class that can bestowonto a minion allowing it to have incredible burst damage. They have a wide array of spells help compliment both burst and control play styles.Shaman's Hero Power,, summons a random totem out of four possible choices:and. While each totem has their strengths, theis usually the most |
much fun to explore and enjoy this tour with, she is also a HUGE harry potter fan. We both got butter-beer and it was nice to have someone to take photos of me for once!
I spent the next 3 hours just being like a giddy school girl running around loving all the harry potter stuff and taking way too many photos of inanimate objects, like I do on EVERY trip, just this time, I AM SHARING!
EVERYTHING was magical. Seriously my mind was blown. I should have done the audio tour (but it gives me a reason to go back again!). When I finally got back to my air bnb that night I was so satisfied and exhausted. The ONE touristy thing I really wanted to do, I HAD ACCOMPLISHED. And it was so so much fun~!`
since i have this mirror tattooed on my body…. it seemed right to take a selfie in it. <3 mirror of Erised
Of course the tour had to end with a wall of wands like Olivanders, and this amazing quote by J.K. Rowling, which always brings me to tears. Not to mention that when I stepped foot into the room with Hogwarts and Hedwigs Lament was playing…and I just started bawling. They did everything right. So right. And I was beyond happy with this trip.
If you are heading to England and love Harry potter do check out getting tickets AHEAD of time…. I was lucky, but most people are not!
Warner Bro’s Studio Tour: Making of Harry PotterWorld
Syria in Last 24 Hours: Damascus-Moscow-Beijing Triangle Shaping to Fight Terrorists in Syria
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Russian media reports said that Syria and Russia are likely to widen cooperation with China to fight the terrorist groups in the Arab country.
"The number of Chinese Special Forces in Syria is likely to hit 5,000," the Russian-language Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily reported.
The Russian newspaper pointed to the scarce presence of the Chinese army in its extraterritorial conflicts except for few during the past century, and wrote that the Chinese army by rendering military assistance to the Syrian government gained experience of real war and it would test it modern weapons in Syria as the Russian army did there.
It noted that the Chinese military units not only would cooperate with Damascus, but they would also fully coordinate with the Russian military forces.
The newspaper wrote that a joint military unit might be formed among China, Russia and Syria.
In the meantime, the field sources reported that the Syrian Army troops have been engaged in tough battle against terrorists across the country on Thursday.
Deir Ezzur
The Syrian army continued its military operations in Southeastern Deir Ezzur and put an end to ISIL's presence on the West Bank of the Euphrates River.
The Syrian army continued its advances after linking its operation lines from Albu Kamal to al-Mayadeen in Eastern Deir Ezzur, and managed to take control of al-Tash, al-Qabreh, Qaleh Mari and Tal-e Hariri.
The Syrian army killed a large number of ISIL terrorists in its military operations in Eastern Deir Ezzur and destroyed many of their armored vehicles.
The Syrian army units also seized large amounts of weapons, tanks and military equipment while destroying tens of bomb-laden vehicles.
Meantime, battlefield sources announced that the Syrian army fully put an end to ISIL's presence on the West Bank of Euphrates River by taking control over the remaining ISIL-controlled areas located between al-Ashayer in Western Albu Kamal and East of al-Jala town.
The Syrian army has also restored full security to Deir Ezzur-Al-Mayadeen-Albu Kamal highway up to the border with Iraq.
Meanwhile, informed sources disclosed that the ISIL terrorist group ushered in a new wave of arrests against its senior commanders in a bid to maintain its last military positions in Southeastern Deir Ezzur.
The ISIL arrested several of its senior commanders, including Mohammad Hossein al-Deiri, nom du guerre Abu Seif al-Shaiti, and Abdulmajid al-Khalaf al-Qadir, nom du guerre Abu Omar al-Zubeidi, by raiding their residences, the local sources said.
The sources said that Abu Seif was one of the most senior ISIL commanders who paved the way for the terrorist group to dominate over Deir Ezzur, and played an important role in the massacre of al-Shaitat by the ISIL in summer 2014.
The ISIL has charged the arrested commanders of espionage and also attempts to escape.
The Syrian army continued its military operations against the ISIL in Southeastern Deir Ezzur, and regained control of several regions and towns there.
The Syrian army troops clashed with the ISIL terrorists in Southeastern Deir Ezzur and took control of the towns of al-Jala, al-Ramadi, al-Baqan, al-Hasran, al-Moslekheh, al-Barhoum, al-Salam and Tal al-Nabi.
The Syrian army killed tens of ISIL terrorists in fierce clashes with them and also destroyed their 18 military vehicles.
Meantime, the Syrian troops are less than 10 kilometers away from their comrades in Northern Albu Kamal in al-Hamdan region.
Hama
The Syrian army continued its military operations against the Al-Nusra Front (Tahrir al-Sham Hay'at or the Levant Liberation Board) in Northeastern Hama, and made considerable advances towards a strategic military base of the terrorist group.
The Syrian army units engaged in heavy clashes with Al-Nusra Front terrorists in Northeastern Hama, and advanced towards Tal al-Rahjan and al-Rahjan Farm from two directions.
Meantime, the Syrian air force heavily pounded the terrorists' military positions in Northeastern Hama, specially al-Rahjan village, and inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists.In this week's "Scheer Intelligence," Truthdig Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer sits down with William Binney, a former National Security Agency official turned whistleblower, to discuss the fight between Apple and the U.S. government over access to Americans' cellphone data.
Binney spent over 30 years at the National Security Agency as a high-ranked official and left in 2002 after criticizing the agency's system for collecting data on Americans.
In their conversation, Binney explains why he thinks the government is overreaching with Apple in its attempt to access data from a cellphone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. Binney talks about how the NSA is now overwhelmed with data, doesn't need nearly as much as it is collecting, and how there are other ways to get the data it is looking for without invading most Americans' privacy.
Binney also discusses the ThinThread data collection system that he helped create while at the NSA, which ended prematurely, and why he believes the agency chose instead to implement the more expensive and bulky Trailblazer, later widely considered to be a failure.
Adapted from Truthdig.com
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Read the full interview below:
Robert Scheer: Hello, this is another edition of Scheer Intelligence, conversations with people who are actually the source of this intelligence. In the case of today's interview, it's with William Edward Binney, a major figure in the U.S. intelligence apparatus, where he worked for more than 30 years with the United States National Security Agency, the NSA. He developed a program for going through all sorts of data, electronic data called ThinThread; it was considered a privacy-sensitive program, one that people thought had some great effectiveness, and yet it got trampled in the pursuit to spend more money. This was all before 9/11. And instead, a program called Trailblazer was put in, and that was not efficient. And Bill Binney blew the whistle on government waste and fraud, and was visited with a stark encounter with the FBI, and the threat of imprisonment. But none of that came to anything; he's, fortunately, a free man today, and a major commentator on security issues. Bill, are you there?
William Binney: Yes, I am. It's good to talk with you again, Bob.
RS: Hi. Listen, what I'd like to begin with is, you know, [at] the moment Apple and Apple CEO Tim Cook are being scapegoated for endangering the national security because they would not do whatever the FBI wanted in breaking their encryption code and providing access to one of these San Bernardino killers. What do you make of this whole controversy? Is it real? Is it, does our national security require breaking into our personal codes on our phone, and what's your assessment?
WB: Yeah, first of all, I think the FBI got into the phone and changed the password and they messed it up in the process, [Laughs] and so they're asking Apple to fix up their mistake. So, but that's part of the problem; the real issue, though, is they want Apple to generate software that would let them go into the phone and basically figure out, do a mass attack and get the password to break in and get all the data off the phone. The problem with that is--and this is in the background--it's really NSA and GCHQ and other intelligence agencies that want this to happen. Because what they've done over the years if they've--and recently, I think it came out a few months ago about the theft of SIM cards from a manufacturer in the Netherlands; they were stealing billions of SIM cards every year. What that means is they have, now, the little cards that you insert into your computers and phones that give you, identify you and also give you access codes. So in other words, by having that information they can access your device wherever you are, and they work worldwide. So if Apple did that, and put that code together and gave it to the government or got hacked by some other government or some hacker or something, and the code got out, then those people could access any device, any iPhone in the world anywhere through the network and attack it. So really, the whole idea here is that the FBI wants to know everything about you, and you're not supposed to know anything about them. Now, as I recall, you know, back when our Founders created this nation, I mean, I thought the whole idea was the reverse relationship was supposed to be [Laughs] what we had. That is, we were supposed to know what our government was doing on our behalf, and they were supposed to not know what we were doing unless they had probably cause to do so.
RS: Well, you know, it's interesting you bring up the Founders. Because the cheap argument that's made by the national security establishment, in terms of security, is that the Founders never faced threats that we do today. And it's an argument that I personally find absurd; I mean, the Founders, the people who wrote in the protections of the Fourth Amendment and the other amendments, you know, had just fought a war against the powerful crown of England; they would be attacked again by that same crown; they had other enemies around the world. And here was this struggling little enterprise in self-rule in the colonies, and they knew that if things went wrong, they would be hanging from the nearest tree. And yet they enshrined these protections saying, why? Because power corrupts, and even though they were going to be the power in the new government, they were worried about their own corruption by it, and they wanted the citizens to be armed against their own lying and distortion. And we get, now, we're the most powerful nation in the world--you know that; you worked in the military ever since you were a young Pennsylvania State University graduate. You were drafted during the Vietnam era; you've worked in analysis and code breaking, you know, going way back to 1965. And I think you would recognize, as I do, that this government now that spends almost the same amount as the rest of all of the world's nations on national security is certainly in a far, far stronger position than the founders were. And maybe, you know, no government has ever been more secure, and yet they claim we can't afford the freedoms that the Founders enshrined.
WB: Yeah, that's true. In fact, if the capacity that they had to spy on people existed back then, our Founders wouldn't have made it to first base. [Laughs] They would have been picked up right away. So, but the real point is, and one of the reasons why we have successful terrorist attacks both here and around the world, is because they're taking in too much data. What that means is, their analysts are so buried in the data that they can't figure out any threats. This has been published by The Intercept in May of 2015, they published an article where they were listing different--and they had the backup documents for the articles written by NSA analysts, inside NSA--this was Edward Snowden's material. And some of the titles of it were, "killed by overflow," or "data is not intelligence," you know, and "buried in intercept," and you know, all kinds of things. The "praising not knowing," and things like that; all talking about, analysts can't figure things out because there's too much they're asked to do. In other words, the--
RS: Too much hay has been [collected]--you can't find the needle--
WB: --exactly, yeah, exactly. But the consequence of that, Bob, is people have to die first before they find out who committed the crime. Then they focus on them, and they can do real well. But if you've noticed, every time that's happened, they've always said, oh, yeah, we knew these people were bad people, and we had data on and information on them, and they were targets. Well, if that was true, why didn't you stop them? You should have been focusing on them, instead of looking at everybody on the planet.
RS: Well, you know, that's an important point you make that people very often ignore or don't know about. Every single one of these cases, whether it's the Charlie Hebdo massacre in France, whether it's the Boston marathon, whether it's the nineteenth hijacker in San Diego of the 9/11, who was living at an FBI informant's home and was clearly on the radar of both the FBI and the CIA. In every one of these situations, the perps were known. They were known. So it wasn't a question--it was a question, really, of not--not that you didn't have enough access; you had plenty of access, you just didn't do the old-fashioned police work of knocking on the door or checking out where they are. And I want to, the reason I wanted to talk to you about this thing--this whole magic land of encryption--is that the FBI, when it wants to break into the system, forgetting that the lessons we had under--they're speaking from the J. Edgar Hoover building in Washington, and people should be reminded, it's the same J. Edgar Hoover, when he was head of the FBI, who tried to destroy Martin Luther King, and planted false information on him, and was tracking him all the time. So we know that J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI have been symbols of major intrusion on freedom. But it's interesting, their argument that comes back is oh, you don't know how bad the enemy is, how devious they are, and we need--what did they say? Apple is acting as some kind of a terrible watchdog and not letting us at the code. You have been one of the pioneers in encryption; you're a mathematician, you know all about breaking codes, you know all about protecting people's freedom. And you've been inside the belly of the beast, if you like; you've spent most of your life in the national security establishment, and you've been praised at having functioned at a very high level, and being one of the most effective in understanding encryption and code breaking and so forth. What do you make of this current attack on Apple, that their effort to protect their consumers, which they have to do all over the world because they're in China, they're in Egypt, they're everywhere--what do you make of the argument that Apple has prevented the FBI from doing its work?
WB: Well, I just think that's a false issue. I mean, very simply, they could go into the NSA bases, which they have direct access to, and they can go in and query the data that they want out of those bases. I mean, or they could go into any of the ISPs, telecommunications companies, and get the data there. Or they can actually go into the, scrape the cloud, the Apple cloud that they use as a backup. So there's many ways they can do that; I mean, other than that, they could give the phone to NSA and let them hack it. You know? Or, for example, they can copy the phone thousands of times and just start trying things, and do a brute force over thousands of copies. You know, there's any number of ways they can do things; they just, they want to make it easy on themselves, and they want to claim a false issue to get everybody to believe what they're telling them.
RS: Well, that's the real threat here; that's the Orwellian threat. I mean, here's Apple basically saying, look, we can't function as a multinational corporation selling these phones around the world if we let you guys crack our encryption codes in this really, basically, minimal protection of the privacy of individuals. They're going to want to do it in China and then, you know, they're going to want to do it everywhere else where we sell phones, so you know, we have to be loyal--this is the great obligation and, indeed, contradiction of being a multinational corporation; you have to protect your consumers all around the world from their governments. Therefore, you can't let your government just, you know, go willy-nilly into the codes. And yet, those of us who have not spent our life as you have dealing with encryption, dealing with code breaking, dealing with secrecy, tend to be intimidated by the argument that when Apple does this, they are preventing the FBI from doing its work. And you're basically saying that's, that's nonsense.
WB: Yeah, that is, yeah. Absolutely, I mean it's, all they have to do is ask NSA. The problem here is that NSA data is not, supposedly not admissible in a court of law. And that's, I guess, what they want to do, is get a source of information that would be admissible in a court of law.
RS: You mean because it's on Americans?
WB: Right, and it's not acquired with a warrant, yeah.
RS: Yeah. So tell us about encryption. I mean Apple has been, all of the big companies like Google and Instagram and Facebook, have made efforts to protect the privacy of consumer data for no other reason than you want to use them to pay bills, you have your financial data, you have medical data. And you know, people have to feel secure, or they're not going to surrender all of this information in the first place. But Apple has been the most aggressive, and certainly Tim Cook deserves praise for doing this. But tell us about what Apple is doing with encryption; why it matters, why it should be protected, and why the government wants to break it.
WB: Well, I think, I think the issue here with Apple is that Apple put in software that only, for example, does several things; it doesn't, it only allows you ten tries maximum on guessing what the password is. And if you fail ten times in a row, it erases what data it has on the phone. And/or after that you can only put them in at a certain rate, you know; I think the rate is, you insert one and then a minute later you can insert another try, and then a minute plus a minute to the third try. And every time you try, you have to wait another minute, so there's a delay in how fast you can put them in. And then I think they have to, you have to input them like you're a human typing them in. There's some kind of code to recognize the rates of typing in numbers so that you can have a machine just start cranking them out and inserting them really quickly on a massive scale. So those kind of things are impediments to even having the brute force attack on the passwords to get into the phone. But other than that, I don't believe the data on the phone is itself encrypted; it's just the idea of getting access into it. I think that's the issue here with Apple, at least that's my understanding of it. But encryption supposedly is supposed to protect the kinds of things that you're saying or doing, so you have digitally encrypted voice, or some kind of algorithm-generating key that would be summed with text that you would pass around the Internet, like PGP does, or other kinds of encryption systems. But those kind of are, they give you things like fixed keys, and anytime there's a fixed key involved with a person and they use that over and over again, that just harkens back to the old Venona system, which was the--for me, anyway, it was the diplomatic code, the Russian diplomatic code used in the late forties and early fifties. And that was supposed to be a one-time, pad-type code system where you used something once and threw it away and never used it again. But humans being humans--and Russians are humans, of course--so they started reusing them; well, when the did that, that gave depth into that system, and that's how they broke into it. So the whole idea is, there are ways of attacking those kinds of problems. But even today, there's many more ways of going at it. I mean, they can actually attack your computer after you decode it and take your messages that way, or they can actually try to go in and get your keys out of your computer itself. So there's many ways, different ways now to be able to do that, because we're all connected on the World Wide Web. You know, it's a wonderful thing, gives you all kinds of information worldwide, but it also gives everybody access to everybody else and everything they've got. So, and that's what hackers and government agencies are doing, going in trying to get that data, then getting knowledge about everybody.
RS: So let me just set the record straight here. There's pre-Snowden and after Snowden. And before Snowden, because he released so much information through The Guardian and The Washington Post, that it was no longer possible to deny what had already been leaking out: that the government, our government, was actively involved in collecting the data, analyzing the data, that was being passed around through this World Wide Web. And as a result, companies like Apple and Google felt pressure from their consumers worldwide, from Europe and elsewhere, of feedback saying hey, can we trust you? Can we trust your devices? In the case of China, Apple is up against Chinese-owned companies operating that are highly competitive, making phones, also doing search engines and everything else. And so multinational companies like Apple and Google are under pressure to say, in the post-Snowden world, no; we are not just rolling over for the NSA and the CIA. We are actually multinational corporations loyal to our consumers. That's sort of the main issue, isn't it?
WB: I think for them, yes, because they'll lose market share if they don't try to--if they don't make it a convincing case that they're actually trying to protect their customers' privacy.
RS: Right, and they're also making an important case for individual freedom--
WB: Yes.
RS: They're doing it for profit motive, but nonetheless, they're saying that you can't really use these gadgets and the World Wide Web to do all these very personal transactions, financial transactions, medical records and everything, if the customers throughout the world don't feel a considerable degree of privacy. Private space, and certainly immunity from government surveillance, the Orwellian nightmare that the government knows everything about you. And so, in this post-Snowden world, Google and Apple and Instagram and Facebook all got together and said, we have to push back. And that's where the struggle really is now, with Apple having taken the clear lead in this. And I want to take you back, as somebody who worked inside the national security establishment most of your life, for over three decades, and address this concern that the FBI and others are able to stoke, is that this privacy comes at too high a price for our national security. That we live in a world in which privacy on the Internet is a luxury we can't afford. And that's what Apple is pushing back on. And what is your answer as a national security professional of the highest order? No one denies that you had, you know, highest level of efficiency in ranking and knowledge of this. So what's your assessment?
WB: Well, my basic sense of it is that this is all just nonsense that they're saying; what they're doing is trying to cover up for their unprofessional incompetence. They have all the data anyway already, and they knew all these people, even before 9/11 we knew who the terrorist network was worldwide. I mean, it wasn't, there was no question; we knew all these people, and even the two that came in to San Diego from Kuala Lumpur before 9/11, you know; we knew those people too, and we knew, we were tipped off by the Malaysian intelligence, also, that they were coming. And you know, the intelligence, the information is there; it's just that they don't have the ability to understand what they've got. That's the problem. And that's where their competence is really in question, and that's what they're trying to cover up by saying there are other issues that are really keeping us from protecting you. And that's false. I mean, they have all the information necessary to protect us; they're just not very good at it.
RS: Well, let's address that. Because in a sense, you're saying that Apple is a scapegoat here.
WB: Yes.
RS: That the government is going after Apple to conceal the fact of their incompetency. And so you were inside this system as deeply as one can be; take us into that world without jeopardizing your freedom. [Laughs] I understand that. And you could tell us about your own brush with the law. And why don't you take us through that case, what happened to you; because you tried to reveal that the government was not interested in efficiency, and using our money wisely to protect us; but rather, they--why don't you tell us about your own case, and what happened?
WB: Ah, okay. Well, that was back in the 1990s; I mean, you know, I was the technical director at the time of the world geopolitical and military intelligence production. And that--so my responsibility was to look around to see all the technical problems and see what could be done to solve them for the analysts to be able to produce intelligence that would give warnings of intentions and capabilities of potential enemies. And, ah, like terrorists, or other countries and militaries and things like that. So when I took that job on in '97, it was very clear to me that the digital explosion was causing the greatest problem, and that we had to have some way of being able to deal with that. Because the analysts even back then were flooded, and they were complaining about all the data; even back then, and we didn't have the capability to collect all this information like we do today. We've had orders of magnitude improvement on the ability to collect data. And yet our ability to analyze it internally in NSA, GCHQ or anywhere else has not kept pace; in fact, it's fallen so far behind that they're all pretty much feeling incapable of doing the job. And this is pretty evident from the articles that have been published, and by the intercept from the Snowden material. So that was the problem then. So we started addressing that, and the whole idea was to figure out a way to look into the massive flows of data at the time--it's not so massive as you look back on it, but back then it was pretty bulky and a lot of information to try to wade through. The whole idea was to be able to look into it to find out what was important in that data to pull out and capture to give to your analysts, and only give them that data so they had a rich environment to be able to analyze and succeed at the jobs they were trying to do. So the idea was to how you can make the content problem a manageable problem, and that's basically what we, why we designed ThinThread, that was running--by the way, it had three different sites for almost a year and a half prior to 9/11, and they killed it in August of 2001, just before 9/11. And so it didn't have a, it didn't have a chance; besides, it was mostly pointed toward Asia, it wasn't looking in the Middle East. That was the problem with it. Otherwise, we could have picked it up. But the whole idea was it was a very cheap program that cost us $3,200,000, about, to develop that from scratch and get it operational. And we had planned to, and proposed to, deploy it to 18 sites that were those that were addressing terrorism, because I went to the people in the terrorist analysis shop, and I said, what sites do you have that you get information from that's useful in analyzing the terrorist problem? And they gave me a list of 18, and I said OK, these are our targets. And we wanted to deploy those in January of 2001.
RS: This is all within the NSA, right?
WB: This is all within NSA. And they refused to--it was only going to cost nine and a half million dollars to do that, and yet they refused to do that. And they said no, we have this other program; it's the grand scale program, it's going to cost billions--which it did--[laughs] and this is the one we're going with, and we don't want any competition. So I called that--and we knew at the time, Bob, that the companies that wanted to feed on all these billions were lobbying against us in Congress. Because we had members of the congressional staffs telling us that.
RS: So this is actually still before 9/11.
WB: Yes.
RS: You develop a relatively cheap program for sifting through all this electronic data that has been vacuumed up all around the world, and to try to make sense of it. And then because of the lobbyists and their congressional allies and the people in your own agency, a much more expensive program called Trailblazer is developed. And that never worked, did it?
WB: Ah, no, actually, it failed in 2005, and they declared it dead in 2006.
RS: Yeah, so it was a complete boondoggle. How much did that end up costing, by the way?
WB: Ah, my thought was it was a little more than $4 billion. But Tom Drake said, no--he was still there when it was going on--he said no, it's more like $8 billion.
RS: Let's mention Tom Drake. Because Tom Drake--in your case, even though the FBI came to your house and put a gun at your son's head and dragged you out of the shower without clothes, and so forth--there actually were no charges against you. Is that true?
WB: Yeah, that's true. In fact, toward the end, in late 2009, they called our lawyer; we had a lawyer at the time, so [laughs]--and they told him that we were going, they were going to indict us. So that's when--see, I'd been assembling evidence of malicious prosecution on the part of the Department of Justice to including fraudulent statements and malicious, outright lies to the court. And so they told our lawyer that, and then so I got on the phone, called Tom and gave him all that evidence, and threatened, and basically threatened them; I said--so that when they'd take us into court and charge us with conspiracy, which is what they were going to do, then I'll introduce the evidence against them for malicious prosecution and go after them criminally.
RS: And what had you done in that time? Now, this is like ten years after the fact; you had developed a very lean program that was more privacy-centered and concerned than Trailblazer, a program that people later said worked. And your wife was in the NSA also, right?
WB: Yes, she was, yeah.
RS: And I've interviewed Tom Drake, and for people who don't know him, Tom Drake was working at the NSA and after 9/11--and Bill, correct me if I'm wrong on any of this--but my understanding is after 9/11, he was assigned to see if there was anything within NSA that would work to find out more about terrorists. [Laughs] And he found your program, and he thought, well, that thing works. And then when that got killed, he then went to--well, fill me in here. He went to congressional aides and so forth to--he was a whistleblower. Were you also a whistleblower?
WB: Yes. Yeah, when I found out--see, after 9/11, the president signed an order on I think it was the fourth of October. But before that they had verbally made the decision, it must have been within four days of 9/11, so. Because they had to order parts and all that to put the system together that they wanted to spy on U.S. citizens and everybody else. So that ordering started, you know, probably four days after 9/11. So around September 15th, because the equipment started coming in at the end of September, early October. And then they had it assembled down the hall from us by the second week in October, and that's when they started taking in all the data on U.S. citizens from AT&T. So that, basically, was the start of the Stellar Wind program, which eventually, very shortly thereafter, expanded to content. Which Mark Klein, I think, was the one who exposed the only one, only one AT&T site at San Francisco. But there are actually about a hundred other sites inside the U.S. distributed with the population, not along the coast; if they were going after foreigners, that's where they'd be. So they're distributed with the population, and so the target is the U.S. population. So Mark Klein exposed that one in San Francisco where they had the duplicating the fiber--
RS: He was a civilian employee of AT&T, saw a strange operation going on in the building, made inquiries and found out that it was actually a government operation.
WB: Yeah, that's right, yeah.
RS: And so, but take me back to Drake and yourself. 9/11 happens and everything; well, the lid is off, we're going to do everything to spy, spy, spy. And they develop this very bulky, expensive program that never works, to sift through the data. And you had this very lean program that didn't cost a lot of money, and therefore people weren't going to make a lot of profit from it, and that basically gets killed, right?
WB: That was their motive; they wanted to make a lot of profit, yeah.
RS: Yeah.
WB: Plus it created a lot of jobs, though; you see, what happens when government employees retire--I mean, you can see it with all the directors and deputy directors and so on of NSA and CIA, when they retire, they go to work for these beltway bandits, you know. So they're helping to create a follow-on career, if you will.
RS: But you know, you and Tom Drake--and I've met Tom Drake, and of course I've met you, and interviewed both of you--you're boy scouts. You guys are true believers in making the country safe. You--right? I mean, you guys are squeaky clean. [Laughs] And you've lived your whole life in this establishment, and then Tom Drake is assigned within NSA to see what works, what can we do to meet this threat right after 9/11, go and look at what works and see what we can do. He decides your program is the efficient one, and he gets punished even more severely than you; you're not charged with anything at the end of the day, but he is destroyed financially and, you know, faces very serious charges and ends up working, ironically, in an Apple store to try to pay his bills, right?
WB: Yeah, that's right.
RS: Tell us about that.
WB: Yeah, in fact--well, they fabricated evidence against Tom Drake, too. They went into his house and pulled out, clearly marked unclassified by NSA, unclassified data, which were memos and things like that that he had that were related to the DoD IG investigation, that he was supposed to keep that data. So he had that, but then they saw that and they crossed out the unclassified and stamped it secret or top secret, and then accused him of having classified material. So it's like fabricating the evidence--that's just a basic felony; they should have been charged with a felony, the whole thing should have been thrown out of court; I mean, they should never have allowed it to begin with.
RS: Let me ask you a pointed question here. This was done under Barack Obama, wasn't it?
WB: Ah, this one was, it started under--the actual reclassification of things, and that came under the late portion of George Bush's term. But he didn't take any action; the action was started when Obama took over as president, yeah.
RS: And it was Derek Holder, a guy who a lot of liberal people think is a pretty liberal guy, and is out there campaigning right now for Hillary Clinton. But this is a guy who really went after Drake and went after you, and has gone after more whistleblowers than any other attorney general.
WB: Yeah, about three times the rest of the presidents of the United States, yeah; he's [laughs] that's how many he goes after. They want to silence whistleblowers, but what they really don't understand is that you know, the country was founded on principles that are nowhere near those that they're executing. I mean, that's the problem; all the actions they're taking are basically unconstitutional. In fact, I call it high treason against the founding principles of this nation.
RS: OK, but, so--I just have to remind people, I'm talking to William Binney, |
at least five home games, including at least four vs. FBS foes.
UMass has two home games scheduled for 2016: Sept. 10 vs. UConn, and Louisiana Tech, a game that would likely be either Sept. 24 or one of the first weeks of October.
Bamford confirmed that Tulane is a potential opponent, but finalizing that game wasn’t imminent.
“I hope by the end of this month those things would be done. I have a good bead on getting us to four FBS home games and one FCS home game for now. I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Bamford, who wasn’t sure how UMass would divide games between Foxborough and Amherst. “We have to play at least three at Gillette. I’d like to play two at McGuirk, but that might not happen. We might have to go four and one.”
UMass has road game in 2016 scheduled at Florida (Sept. 3), Boston College (Sept. 17), Old Dominion (Oct. 1), Appalachian State (Oct. 29), Troy (Nov. 5) and Hawaii (Nov. 26).
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverageTwenty five years ago, on July 24, 1991, Finance Minister Dr Manmohan Singh rose in Parliament to present a budget speech that was to alter the destinies of India and its people in fundamental ways. He spoke in his characteristically gentle, low-key and self-effacing manner disguising a steely resolve. His words were memorable even if debatable.
Quoting Victor Hugo – "no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come" – he declared that "the emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea. Let the whole world hear it loud and clear. India is now wide awake. We shall prevail. We shall overcome."
The legacy of that moment remains highly contested. A quarter-century later, India is indeed a major economic power, altered in fundamental ways from the country that Singh helped steer in new directions. With a GDP of $2 trillion, it has edged itself among the ten largest economies of the world. But in what ways have the economic reforms launched with this historic budget speech contributed to changing the lives of India’s dispossessed millions? As we look back, it is important today to draw up a careful balance sheet of what the promises were and what was actually accomplished after India changed course so fundamentally 25 years ago.
The "structural reforms" that Singh announced, and which every successive Union government with varying urgency and priority has since advanced, made way for global private enterprise to enter and increasingly occupy the commanding heights of the Indian economy. Until then, these were dominated by the state. The reforms package opened the economy to global competition; it stressed on fiscal consolidation and discipline for macro-economic stability; it liberalised trade and capital markets; it dismantled the notorious licence-permit raj that stymied local enterprise by rent-seeking; and it facilitated and expanded competitive private provisioning of public goods like health, education, public transport and infrastructure.
Three promises
There were three main promises of economic reforms. The first was that these would unfetter the economy and spur economic growth and development. The second was that growth would crank up manifold the creation of wealth and jobs, and through this would erase poverty, hunger and want. And the third was that reforms would significantly reduce corruption and rent-seeking by ending licensing and bureaucratic regulation of private enterprise.
Let us take each of these promises, and assess with the hindsight of a quarter-century what indeed was accomplished and what were the intended and unintended consequences of these reforms.
There is no doubt that reforms did hasten economic growth to rates that were double, and even at times three times the pace of growth that the country had settled into until then in four decades since India’s freedom. Twenty five years later, India is the fastest growing economy in the world. It has also created unprecedented levels of wealth (however unequally distributed), so that today India is home to the third-largest population of dollar billionaires in the world. The ranks of middle-class Indians have grown, as they have transitioned from lives of customary austerity to substantial improvements in their material well-being, from habitual thrift to unrestrained consumption.
This massive enlargement of wealth has also meant that governments in India at all levels – Union, state and local – have far greater resources in absolute terms available to them for public investment and spending than they did in the past (although because of official reluctance to expand India’s direct tax base significantly, public spending as a share of gross domestic product remains one of the lowest in India among comparable countries).
This is however where I feel that the good news of economic reforms ends. Reforms did stimulate high economic growth and yield greater wealth creation. But this wealth was very unequally distributed, raising sharply levels of economic inequality in a country that was already historically profoundly unequal. Levels of absolute poverty have no doubt declined, as have malnourishment and hunger. But the question to ponder is whether these have declined fast enough. Even neighbouring Bangladesh with half India’s per capita income has been able to eliminate want and malnourishment far more successfully than India.
Wage growth
In India, from two resident billionaires with an income of $3.2 billion in the mid-1990s, the number grew to 46, with a combined wealth of $ 176 billion in 2012. Their share of GDP rose from 1% to 10%. A recent report by Oxfam titled Even It Up observes that income concentration at the top fell in the first three decades after Independence, but since then for the top 0.01%, real wages grew annually at 11%. By contrast, the rise in real household expenditure for the rest of the population rose by only 1.5%.
In agriculture, growth in real wages was 5% in the 1980s, but fell to 2% in the '90s, and virtually zero in the 2000s. If judged by the median developing-country poverty line of $2 a day on purchasing power parity, more than 80% rural and just below 70% of India's urban inhabitants continue to be impoverished.
As Oxfam Director Byanyima observes, "A child born to a rich family, even in the poorest countries, will go to the best school and will receive the highest quality care if they are sick. At the same time, poor families will see their children taken away from them, struck down by easily preventable diseases because they do not have the money to pay for treatment."
The unfairness of this unequal world is indeed enhanced because the majority of richest persons are born into their wealth. Children and grandchildren of the rich will largely replace their parents and grandparents in the steep economic ladder, as much as children and grandchildren of the poor will remain impoverished, regardless of their potential and hard work.
In India, the burdens of unequal birth weigh heavily on those born into disadvantaged castes, gender, religion and tribes. In the countryside, poverty rates are 14% higher for Adivasis and 9 percent for Dalits, compared to non-scheduled groups. In urban areas likewise, the poverty of Dalits and Muslims is 14% higher than the others.
Looking away
I worry not just about the rapid pace of growing inequality. Even more worrying is the indifference, the absence of outrage, among people of privilege about the monumental levels of preventable suffering that surrounds them. As I argue in my recent book Looking Away: Inequality, Prejudice and Indifference in New India, historical ideas of caste and class that justify inequality have been topped up in neo-liberal times with the belief that greed is good. This has resulted in a particularly uncaring middle-class, and the exile of the poor from their conscience and their consciousness.
The Oxfam report calculates that if even a tax of 1.5% was imposed on the wealth of all the world’s billionaires, it could get every child into school and deliver health services in all the poorest countries of the world, saving an estimated 23 million lives. It estimates that if India just stops inequality from rising, it could end extreme poverty for 90 million people by 2019. If it reduces inequality by 36%, it could eliminate extreme poverty.
One promise of reforms that has been most belied is that reforms and galloping growth would unleash millions of jobs. If they actually did so, it is claimed by reform votaries, this would do more than just lift people out of poverty: it would also make increasingly irrelevant the withdrawal of the state from supplying basic public goods like health and education, because people would be able to buy these competitively in the market.
However, the reality of what was accomplished in the years of high noon of economic growth in India was certainly the accelerated but unequal expansion of wealth – as observed – but not the expansion of decent work for India’s poor. On the contrary, we had seen the reverse: the shrinking of decent work in the sunshine years of high growth. As Coen Kompier establishes in the India Exclusion Report 2013-'14 undertaken by the Centre for Equity Studies, very few jobs have been added, mostly of low quality, whereas employment opportunities in public enterprises, the formal private sector, and agriculture actually declined (my emphasis).
In the decade 1999-00 to 2009-'10, "while GDP growth accelerated to 7.52% per annum, employment growth during this period was just 1.5%, below the long-term employment growth of 2% per annum, over the four decades since 1972-'73. Only 2.7 million jobs were added in the period from 2004-'10, compared to over 60 million during the previous five-year period."
Increasing informalisation
It is significant that employment in the organised sector actually fell after 1997, while that in the unorganised sector rose. The 2009 report of the official National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector finds that the "vast majority of jobs created in recent years have been in the informal sector, in the absence of a legal framework for labour protection and social security. Out of every 100 workers, the report revealed, around 90% work in the informal economy producing half of India’s economic output. This implies that out of a current total workforce of around 475 million, around 400 million workers, considerably larger than the total population of the USA, are employed with little job security or any formal entitlements to call upon the protection of the labour law regime."
The third big promise of economic reforms – that the dismantling of the proverbial license-permit raj would help greatly reduce corruption and rent-seeking – has also been belied spectacularly. Far from reducing corruption, official malfeasance has risen incrementally. In the '80s, the Bofors scandal alleging a kickback of around Rs 80 crores for the purchase of Swedish weapons had fatally shaken the Union government of the time led by Rajiv Gandhi. Today we routinely observe crony capitalism involving losses to the public exchequer sometimes of amounts that have so many zeroes that it is confusing to even count.
The culture of public life has changed dramatically. For the first half-century after Independence, accepted norms for probity in public life required that public officials kept a careful public distance from private business. Today they are so closely bound together by the hip that it is routine for people in high office to benefit from and share the opulent life-styles of the super-rich, and they pass this off as contributions to nation-building.
One particularly tragic outcome of this contemporary era of crony capitalism is the highly accelerated dispossession, actively facilitated by state authorities, of India’s most impoverished tribal communities, by big industry hungry for the coal and mineral reserves over which thedisinge forested habitations lie.
The price of crony capitalism
Another outcome of the new age of crony capitalism is very high public subsidies for big business, reflected for instance in the over Rs five lakh crore of revenues foregone to industry in every budget, and this at the expense of adequate public funding of health care, education, water, sanitation and social protection, and the farm sector. This has led development economist Jean Dreze to describe India as a world champion of social under-spending.
In particular, out-of-pocket expenditure on health care is twice the levels of public spending, a disgraceful record unmatched by most countries. Our public schools are shamefully under-resourced with trained and motivated teachers and basic infrastructure, and only seven per cent people are still able to complete their college graduation. Nine in ten persons are in informal employment, and they are deprived of any or adequate pensions in their old age.
Many believe that the retreat of the Indian state away from the principle of primary public responsibility for health, education and social protection of its disadvantaged populations, and from redistributive taxation since the 1990s, was part of the package of economic reforms driven by the Washington Consensus of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But even these institutions have begun to acknowledge that they may have been drastically wrong.
In 2014, the president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, admitted that the assumption that people in poor countries should pay for healthcare was wrong: "There’s now just overwhelming evidence that those user fees actually worsened health outcomes. So did the bank get it wrong before? Yeah. I think the bank was ideological."
In any honest assessment of economic reforms in India, it is imperative that we admit that the movement away from public provisioned health and education has been a mistake that has resulted in enormous avoidable human suffering and loss for millions of our people. But there is little evidence of such soul-searching.
Economy of exclusion
In a similar self-critical tone, Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF has said, "In far too many countries, the benefits of growth are being enjoyed by far too few people. This is not a recipe for stability and sustainability." She went on, "Let me be frank: in the past, economists have underestimated the importance of inequality. They have focused on economic growth, on the size of the pie rather than its distribution. Today, we are more keenly aware of the damage done by inequality. Put simply, a severely skewed income distribution harms the pace and sustainability of growth over the longer term. It leads to an economy of exclusion, and a wasteland of discarded potential."
She compares rising inequality in the US and India. "In the US, inequality is back to where it was before the Great Depression, and the richest 1% captured 95% of all income gains since 2009, while the bottom 90% got poorer. In India, the net worth of the billionaire community increased twelvefold in 15 years, enough to eliminate absolute poverty in this country twice over."
She argues that distribution of wealth matters, and contrary to prevailing economic orthodoxy until now, redistribution policies are not counterproductive for growth, "because if you increase the income share of the poorest, it has a multiplying effect on growth…but this does not happen if you do so with the richest."
A fair and sober assessment of the impact of 25 years of economic reforms in India therefore requires on the one hand an acknowledgment of its contribution to unleash the potential of the economy for growth and the creation of wealth. But at the same time, it is both callous and disingenuous to ignore the evidence that growth by itself is no guarantee of a better life for people of social and economic disadvantage, which surely should be both its primary objective and the paramount yardstick for evaluation of its success.
The unequal distribution of wealth, crony capitalism, low public investments in health, education, social protection and infrastructure, and the chronic neglect of small-farm agriculture continue to shackle millions into hunger, want, low-end uncertain employment, distress footloose migration, damaged health and survival chances, and denial of quality education that could harness young people’s full potential.
New orthodoxies
Twenty five years ago, when Dr Manmohan Singh spoke to the nation of an idea of which he was convinced the time had come, he called for freeing ourselves from one set of orthodoxies. But his prescriptions have had mixed results, many of its promises are unrealised, and millions still live wretched lives of avoidable suffering with oppression and want.
In the long dark shadows of the glitter of economic reforms are the unequal distribution of wealth, crony capitalism, low public investments in health, education, social protection and infrastructure, and the chronic neglect of small-farm agriculture. These continue to hamper many millions of young people, still trapped in Rohith Vemula’s haunting description of the "fatal accident" of their births.
The radical prescriptions of 1991 have become the powerful new orthodoxies of today, canons which have conquered not just India but most of the world. New voices in many parts of the world – such as of Bernie Sanders in the United States – are speaking out against these orthodoxies. Today in India we need to summon even much greater courage than 25 ago to liberate ourselves from these new dogmas. Only then will we muster the political and moral will to change course once again, to recognise that all people deserve decent work, health care, education and social protection; that markets cannot assure them these; and that wealth is not development unless it is shared.
But to change course, more than courage we need compassion.Shortly after Turkey's constitutional referendum on April 16, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised his supporters that he would speak with the prime minister and prominent parliamentarians about reintroducing capital punishment. Executions have not officially been used in Turkey for 33 years, and the death penalty was completely abolished through constitutional changes by 2004 - with the support of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP). Now, the president has decided to bring it back.
There have been repeated calls for the use of the death penalty in Turkey. One prominent case was after the 2015 murder of student the Ozgecan Aslan. After the 20-year-old defended herself from an attempted rape, her attacker set her alight and killed her. Public outrage followed, and many demanded that the killer be given the death penalty.
Since last July's failed coup, talk of executions has increased. Many of Erdogan's supporters see the death penalty as the appropriate punishment for soldiers found to have been involved in the coup attempt - and for the preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey's government accuses of masterminding the putsch.
One question, the jurist Ibrahim Kaboglu said, is whether it could legally be used on people found to have participated in the coup. "In order give the soldiers involved in the coup the death penalty, it would theoretically mean that a second constitutional amendment would need to be implemented," he explained. This is because under paragraph 15 of the constitution, even in a state of emergency, a sentence cannot be retroactively altered. Kaboglu also said it would be difficult to argue for the legal imperative for the reintroduction of capital punishment.
A further issue is the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory. A reintroduction of the death penalty would be a violation of protocols 6 and 12.
Turkish media celebrated the abolishment of the death penalty for peacetime offenses in 2002.
The dictator dilemma
Presently, 59 countries officially use executions as punishment. One hundred and two have banned the death penalty. In six countries, capital punishment is applied in exceptional circumstances such as war crimes or breaches of military law. In the campaign for his referendum, President Erdogan often stated that he would support steps toward reintroducing the death penalty.
But the journalist Levent Gultekin believes that the position taken by the European Union will have a big impact on politics in Turkey. "The future attitude of the West will determine Erdogan's attitude and conduct," said Gultekin, who does not believe that capital punishment will be reintroduced. "I don't believe that he will want to completely tear down the relationship to the West and do something that will give him the stamp of being a dictator, such as Saddam Hussein or Moammar Gadhafi."
Another question is whether a majority of people would vote for the reintroduction of the death penalty in a referendum. Gultekin is of the opinion that people would not vote against it. "When group psychology is the deciding factor, people do not act reasonably, because then reason does not exist anymore - only psychology and conditioning," Gultekin said. "It is impossible for the people in such a psychological state to remain reasonable enough to be able to say 'no' to the death penalty when the leader calls for it."
The polls present a similar picture. The opinion research institute ORC found that, after the attempted coup, 91 percent of the population demanded the death penalty for crimes caused by terror or high treason. Furthermore another poll by the independent research platform SteetBees showed that 92 percent of AKP voters and 58 percent of the overall population support the death penalty.
The statements on this topic by European countries are explicit. The message that Brussels repeatedly sends is that the reintroduction of the death penalty would mean a breach of the accession negotiations with the European Union. Emre Gonen, a lecturer oninternational relations at Istanbul Bilgi University, said such a step would stall - and perhaps abort - negotiations, which have de facto already been put on ice.
The death penalty was last carried out in Turkey in 1984. Three hundred and sixty-seven of the Grand National Assembly's 550 parliamentarians could reintroduce it with a successful vote. Should that fail, 300 members could vote to hold a referendum on the matter. That was how Erdogan expanded his powers on April 16.Getty Images
An elderly western Pennsylvania nun issued a statement forgiving her rapist as the judge sentenced the 19-year-old man to 18 to 37 years in prison.
The victim didn't appear in a Beaver County courtroom when Andrew Bullock, of Aliquippa was sentenced Wednesday. Rather, another sister read a statement on the victim's behalf.
The statement says, "My profound and permanent prayer for you, Andrew, is that you wholeheartedly take advantage of the educational, uplifting, socially positive opportunities that may be available during your prison time."
Then nun was 85 when Bullock approached her at a recycling bin on Dec. 13. After offering to help her load some newspapers, he exposed himself, punched the nun in the jaw and knocked her face-down while raping and screaming at her.
Copyright Associated PressVice President-elect Mike Pence Monday outlined the agenda for President-elect Donald Trump's first 100 days in office and explained how Congress could pay for a $1 trillion infrastructure plan.
"There’s a lot of ways to get to that trillion dollars," Pence told Fox News' Sean Hannity on "Hannity." "Utilizing public and private partnerships, utilizing bonding authority and enlisting private capital, there’s ways that you can do this that are gonna be fiscally responsible, but also give us the resources that we need to rebuild America."
HERE'S PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP'S PLAN FOR HIS FIRST 100 DAYS IN OFFICE
The Indiana governor said that Trump had already laid out the priorities for his first term in meetings with congressional leaders last week.
"He’s already said ‘I want to repeal ObamaCare right out of the gate and I want us to go straight to work on replacing it with free market reforms,’" Pence said. "We’re going to end illegal immigration... We’re going to reform taxes to jumpstart this economy... You’re going to see this president-elect nominate a strict constructionist to the Supreme Court... It’s going to be a very exciting time."
Pence also declined to say whether there would be a place in the Trump administration for 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, but did say that the onetime antagonists had a "very cordial and a very substantive discussion" over the weekend in New Jersey.
"What I saw... was two men who are completely focused on the country," Pence said. "[They were] completely focused on what’s in the best interest of the United States and America standing tall in the world and reviving our economy at home. And I was frankly very impressed with the discussion."This year I’ve had the great pleasure to carry a new pack!
For my thru hike of the 4,800mi Eastern Continental Trail, I took a chance on a new company, and purchased the Simple by Pa’lante Packs. They weren’t in production yet, but I had been seeing photos of it online. Similar to the pack I had been using for the last few years, but an improved design.
“Hey that thing looks awesome, take my money.” Is to my memory, the message I sent Andy Bentz. He mailed it out to me while I was on trail, and I received it the same day I picked up a very heavy resupply (6 days.) Immediately I was stoked on how comfortable it was, even while carrying 15lbs of food on top of my gear.
Andy Bentz and John Zahorian are the two founders of Pa’lante Packs. Some info on Andy’s making history can be seen in this cute video, showing packs he’s made in days past, leading up to what you see now in this final product!
Since receiving it I’ve now carried it for the last 2,800 miles, and this is what I think about it.
Basic Info
Volume: 35L or 40L
Price: $210 – $250
Weight: 13oz
Frameless and Hipbeltless
Material: X-Pac
Where can you find it? PalantePacks.com
Size
They come in both a 35 liter, and 40 liter. Very low on internal volume, but in a world where ultralight backpacking is becoming more popular this is a perfect size. The bigger the backpack you buy, the more stuff you tend to fill it with, and then consequently have to haul up that mountain!
For me, with a 6lb base weight the 35L is just right. I’ve carried 6 days food in it without issue, even thinking I had room for more. I would go for this size if you’re looking to seriously nerd out on gear, for most everyone though, I think the bigger size might be wiser. If you’re unsure, definitely go for the larger 40L. You’ll be happy you did when you want to pack out bonus foods from town!
As a frameless, hipbeltless pack it does well. The shoulder straps are large enough with enough thickness to take the heat of heavier carries. I find it’s comfortable up until around 25lbs.
All in all the small size is something I really like in a backpack. It gives me the ability to maneuver freely.
Durability
Amazingly, after 5 months of use every single day. Sleeping on it. Rubbing it against, and sitting it on rocks. Brushing it against trees and branches accidentally…. there isn’t a single hole, not a single tear, or even any real sign of wear. Even the stitching is holding up, without fraying or coming loose. It’s almost the same as when I first got it.
When it comes to durability most consider ultralight gear flimsy or that it won’t last. In the case of this pack that is clearly not true! I could easily get a second multi thousand mile thru hike out of this pack.
I had remembered seeing pictures John posted online when he first came up with this design. I was skeptical about the bottom pocket, and it’s durability. After 2,800 miles of abusing it without a single hole forming I’m convinced. The east coast is very rocky, Maine and New Hampshire are no cake walk, so to come out unscathed was really impressive, and admittedly surprising.
I give it a big thumbs up for durability! Unlike cuben fiber packs this X-Pac material is gunna last. I expect I’ll get another few thousand miles outa this one, at least.
Design
Waterproofness: The fabric used for the body of the pack is waterproof, but overall water will get in the seams. So I still use an internal liner like a trash compactor bag.
The fabric used for the body of the pack is waterproof, but overall water will get in the seams. So I still use an internal liner like a trash compactor bag. Single strap top closure: I love the single strap! It sinches down so nicely, creating an excellent seal. The last pack I had before this used a Y strap, and I greatly prefer the single.
I love the single strap! It sinches down so nicely, creating an excellent seal. The last pack I had before this used a Y strap, and I greatly prefer the single. Shoulder strap pockets: One of my favorite features of this pack. The stretchy integrated shoulder strap pockets! I like that I have everything I need right at my fingertips. These pockets are perfect for a camera or phone, snacks, guidebook pages or maps, trash. Really handy, and sleek. I highly recommend getting them added to your pack, as they are optional.
One of my favorite features of this pack. The stretchy integrated shoulder strap pockets! I like that I have everything I need right at my fingertips. These pockets are perfect for a camera or phone, snacks, guidebook pages or maps, trash. Really handy, and sleek. I highly recommend getting them added to your pack, as they are optional. Secret bottom pocket: Annnd my favorite feature is the bottom pocket. Large enough to fit almost an entire days worth of food. But why do you care? Because every time you’re hungry, you can just reach under and grab a snack! No need to stop. Just keep moving! Alternatively, keep a rain jacket, or wind jacket under there for quick access.
Annnd my favorite feature is the bottom pocket. Large enough to fit almost an entire days worth of food. But why do you care? Because every time you’re hungry, you can just reach under and grab a snack! No need to stop. Just keep moving! Alternatively, keep a rain jacket, or wind jacket under there for quick access. Aesthetics: I mean, it’s super cute. Really small. Black. Beautiful. Clean.
I mean, it’s super cute. Really small. Black. Beautiful. Clean. Side pockets: Good height to grab my water bottles while walking. Stretchy enough to hold two bottles in one pocket. Or as I often do my umbrella, and a water bottle. Or my rehydration jar, and a water bottle. Tight enough so that they don’t slip out when jostled.
Good height to grab my water bottles while walking. Stretchy enough to hold two bottles in one pocket. Or as I often do my umbrella, and a water bottle. Or my rehydration jar, and a water bottle. Tight enough so that they don’t slip out when jostled. Shoulder straps: Comfortable width, shape, and thickness.
Comfortable width, shape, and thickness. Draw cord compression: Unsure of what to call it, but it needs to be mentioned. On one side of the pack there’s a small cord that can be pulled tight, to either compress down loose space inside, or firmly secure an item there. Personally I use it most when I have wet socks, or to dry out a wet groundcloth. Sinch the item down, and let it sit outside your pack all day. Or if you’re looking for a place to stow away trekking poles or a trekking umbrella while not in use, this is it!
Extra Thoughts
John has used this pack for thousands of miles, and I’ve used this pack for almost 3,000 miles. He loves it, I love it. I hate to gush er whatever, but of all the gear I’ve been using this year, this pack is the only thing I wouldn’t swap out if given the chance. Since leaving Canada and receiving this pack, its been wonderful all the way down to Florida.
It’s made for efficiency. Most everything you need during the day is at hand, and I love that. So until these boys come up with something similar but smaller and lighter this will remain my main hiking pack.
The waterproof material, the clever pockets, a pack that won’t deteriorate after a single season…
So if you’re looking for that perfect backpack for your next thru hike, the Simple from Pa’lante has treated me right.
Like this: Like Loading...From the 'why Oracle matters to Linux' files:
Ubuntu Linux 9.04 is set for release on April 23rd for both the server and the desktop, and though it will include many new features it will be lacking at least one key item --�� Oracle certification.
I asked Mark Shuttleworth founder of Ubuntu about the lack of Oracle certification for 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope and he didn't seem too concerned, though he did admit Oracle holds a special place in the application landscape.
"Oracle is a litmus test for enterprise readiness," Shuttleworth told InternetNews.com. "So Oracle certification is far more important to us as a public testament to the reliability and ruggedness of Ubuntu than it is in terms of sheer volume."
Oracle has it's own Oracle Enterprise Linux (based on Red Hat) and certifies its applications on Red Hat and Novell's versions of Linux.
Shuttleworth argued that he has not seen any organization where Oracle applications represent a large number of Linux servers. In his view an organization only needs so many database servers.
I asked Oracle's top Linux exec, Wim Coekaerts, Director of Linux Engineering what he thought of Ubuntu and why Oracle hasn't certified it -- and got the flip side of Shuttleworth's answer.Address 687 Yonge Street, Toronto, ON M4Y [closest intersection: Yonge-bloor; closest subway: Yonge-bloor] Cuisine Korean(mildly fusion) Price Range Lunch: $10-$15 per person Dinner: $13-$25 per person Contact 647.748.9100 misskoreatoronto@hotmail.com
First impression:
Trendy, cozy, cute – reminded me a lot of the small restaurants I frequented near Hongik University (Similar to Queen St. West here in Toronto). There are 2 floors, the ground floor being the main eating area. There’s a private room & KTV machine on the 2nd floor – perfect for birthdays or corporate gatherings (more info below). Friendly, all-Korean (and super cute) staffs added shine to the chic decor.
The restaurant itself isn’t too big, but sits quite a bit of people. The tables are round, steel tables, a common furniture for Korean indoor pochas or tented pubs. The modern loft-inspired interior accented by retro-korean furniture like the steel-barrel seats (notice the ‘chair’ the guy is sitting on in the photo above) and light-bulb light fixtures makes this place suitable for a date and casual dinning.
Friday, Dec. 6th, 12:30 p.m. – the place was packed.
Unlike most Korean restaurants in Toronto, Miss Korea did not dish out a plethora of side-dishes. Kimchi and seaweed soup was all we got. Many Canadians go to Korean restaurants and expect free dishes – so I’m curious how customers think of this. Personally, I didn’t mind. Most trendy/chic “youthful” restaurants in Korea don’t give out side-dishes.
Today’s menu: Spicy Chicken Dol-sot & Bulgogi Beef Bun
Lunch Menu #4. Spicy Chicken Dolsot – 9.95
Marinated Spicy Chicken Breast with Vegetable
Spicy-chicken, rice, and stone-grill with a mix of 5 vegetables will make you sweat in and out – the perfect meal in this freezing winter weather. The hot sauce on the side lets you control the spice-level to your liking.
How to eat (with tips):
1) Mix in half of the sauce as soon as you get your grill. The later, the dryer the food.
2) Mix everything in the bowl with a chopstick, immediately. Using the spoon will disintegrate the texture of the ingredients and you may run a risk of turning the dish into a spicy blob of mash potato.
3) Try it and add more sauce accordingly
4) Eat from the middle of the pot and leave the outer sides till the end. By the end of the meal, there should be a layer of semi-burnt rice layer lining the bottom of the grill. This is called 누릉지 (Nu-reung-ji; scorched rice) – personally my favorite part.
Miss Korea’s specialty: Lunch Menu #11. Bulgogi Beef Bun – 7.95
Grilled Ribeye Slice on Onion Bun with Relish
Canadian-Korean fusion, this bun may be a great entry food for foreigners who’ve never tried Korean food. While quite Western-esque in presentation, don’t be fooled! This bun, with pa-mu-chim (파무침; Korean scallion salad) and bulgogi (불고기; beef marinated in sweet sauce) is rather authentically Korean in taste. The perfect balance of sweet and salty is sure to entice anyone’s palate – highly-recommended!
MENU
This last Soju/Beer/.. menu are set menus
How to order:
First, you choose whether you want Miss Jin, Miss Sun, or Miss Mee
Second, choose one of the entree under the chosen Miss
Third, choose one of the following alcohol: Soju, Makgurli (sweet rice wine), 4 Beer, or Two Miss Bomb (cocktail)
Interesting fact! Miss Jin, Miss Sun, Miss Mee is how 1st, 2nd, 3rd place are referred to in Korea’s beauty pageant. Hence, Miss Jin is the most expensive set menu.
Drinks
Miss Korea has a lot more variety of non-Korean alcohol compared to other Korean places.
Private Party Room
2nd floor
This party room on the second floor seats up to 15 people. Fully equipped with floor to ceiling windows, disco-ball, and a KTV machine – it’s perfect for a night out with friends, birthday or a small corporate function!
Rules for booking for dinner:
1. Minimum is 6 people
2. Must order $250 worth of food/alcohol
3. Choose from one of two time slots:
A) 7 p.m. – 10 p.m.
B) 10:15 p.m. – 2:30 a.m. (3 p.m. on weekends)
**Lunch is open to any group of 6+ people with no minimum charge!
HOLIDAY HOURS
Dec. 24 – regular hours
Dec. 25th – 5 p.m. ~ 2a.m.
Dec. 31st regular- 5 p.m. ~ 4a.m.
Jan. 1, 2014 – closed
Overall
Food ☺☺☺1/2
Service ☺☺☺☺
Experience ☺☺☺☺
Hope this was helpful!
Comment below for questions or you can also email me at: tina.sy.hsu@gmail.comCuba’s communist system gets panned by unlikely source – revolutionary leader Fidel Castro
Cuba’s communist economic model |
Trump noted that North Korea, which has made significant progress toward developing long-range nuclear weapons, responded to his original warning by threatening to launch a missile strike toward the Pacific island of Guam, an American territory and strategic base. “If he does something in Guam, it will be an event the likes of which nobody has seen before, what will happen in North Korea,” he said.Delhi has for long been called a city state. It has an elected assembly and chief minister but ever since the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act was enforced in January 1992, it enjoyed a unique status of partial statehood. The Lieutenant Governor has enjoyed a special status, having slightly greater administrative and discretionary powers than governor of a regular state of Indian union and was not to be considered as an equivalent to an administrator.
Successive chief ministers, since the time, the first elections were held under the new Act and first elected chief minister Madanlal Khurana assumed office in 1993, have resented this formulation under the Constitution and various conduct of business rules. The elected head of the city state, did have the title of chief minister but never had the same powers. His writ also didn’t extend to the three civic bodies in the Capital, MCD, NDMC and Cantonment board, as also in matters of land, law and order or to Delhi Police.
It was taken as an accepted fact, albeit grudgingly. The chief ministers Khurana, Saheb Singh Verma, Sheila Dikshit occasionally clashed with Lt Governor on issues and petitioned union government for full statehood in their own varied way.
But things changed from February 2015, when Arvind Kejriwal assumed office of chief minister with an unprecedented popular mandate, winning 67 out of 70 seats. The turf war between the LG Najeeb Jung and the Chief Minister became order of the day. Conflict rather than cooperation became the norm and before the new government could complete its first 100 days in office, it has escalated into a full blown war.
Ironically, all this happening on an issue, which was otherwise a most routine matter – designating a senior IAS officer as acting chief secretary for 10 days. The regular chief secretary, KK Sharma (who was Kejriwal’s choice), had gone on a leave to attend to some private matters in the USA (May 14-24).
Former Delhi chief secretary Shailja Chandra says this was most routine matter and should not have taken more than five minutes to be sorted out. It’s a settled norm, at least so far, is that the senior most officer in the government, officiates during such leave of absence of the top bureaucrat.
It thus appears that the issue was not whether Shakuntala Gamlin or Parimal Rai was designated as acting chief secretary, the issue was whose word was final, the LG’s or CM’s, even in matters which were otherwise decided by hierarchy. Kejriwal, in any case, had got who he wanted as Chief Secretary and the union Home Ministry had acted as per his wish, instantly brining Sharma from Goa to Delhi. There are rumours that Sharma is not very happy working in his current capacity and may extend his leave beyond the sanctioned May 24.
Kejriwal was perhaps looking for a spark... an excuse that would allow him to take on the LG and set out for his larger political demand for full statehood.
But he chose the wrong way, maligning Shakuntala Gamlin -- at the fag end of her career without any evidence, charge sheet, hearing or trial -- and that could in no way be justified.
Even worse was the manner in which Kejriwal targeted Gamlin – the chief minister going to a rally of auto rickshaw drivers in the Capital and declaring the second senior most officer in his government, principal secretary (power) and acting chief secretary to be corrupt, someone who instead of serving the government and the people was acting as a lobbyist of a particular power distribution company. Gamlin, Kejriwal told the gathered audience carried a piece of paper and kept on pestering the power minister to sign it, without informing him what was it about. Kejriwal, a two-time chief minister and former bureaucrat, should have known that in the government no one asks and no one signs on a loose piece of paper but it’s always the files which move for sign and seal.
The key question – was Kejriwal who only recently had sermonized the media, was well within his right or dignity of the office he holds to publicly berate one senior lady officer. Some might even say that his actions may have been perceived as the kind that would incite the crowd against the said officer. However, if she was so corrupt... why didn't Kejriwal begin official disciplinary or criminal proceedings against her? Why did he allow her to continue as power secretary? Why did his secretary virtually force her to withdraw from the post? As things turned out, it was Kejriwal’s choice Parimal Rai who withdrew instead.
Gamlin's glaring act of lobbying, according to Kejriwal, was that she asked the minister to sign on a comfort letter for one of the power distribution companies. It is not for the first time that the government has issued comfort letters to the Delhi Power Finance Corporation, a government to government letter for loan to a joint venture power company. Firstpost has assessed comfort letters issued earlier, which clearly says that the private promoter of the discom will pledge 51 percent of its share as security and the government will help it realise the dues in case of default on payment. The government is a 49 percent shareholder in discoms. It does not become a guarantor, in case of a default situation, as Kejriwal alleged against Gamlin in that public rally.
In a shocking move, at least in Delhi, a senior IAS officer, principal secretary (services) Anindo Majumdar was locked out his office. It looked as though some kind of a street fight for `Kabza’ (possession) was happening inside the Delhi secretariat. Majumdar's fault was that he followed the laid out procedures and acted on LG’s instruction in appointing Gamlin as acting chief secretary.
Former chief secretary Shailja Chandra says that giving principal secretary (services) charge to Chief Minister’s principal secretary Rejendra Sharma is not a good idea. She questions the decision on grounds which are ethical and practical.
Kejriwal’s deputy Sisodia held a meeting secretary ranks officers in the city government and reportedly told them what he thought was do’s and don’ts for them. The message is clear -- listen only to your CM, not to the LG. Kejriwal and Sisodia are not at fault in expecting the bureaucracy to listen but unless there is a change in statute books, they can’t enforce that by simple written or oral diktats.
Shailja Chandra says the bureaucracy is tasked with the implementation of policies as formulated by the council of ministers. Delivery of goods can’t happen till the designated officers make a required noting on that file. It couldn’t work effectively in an environment of trust deficit. The problem for Kejriwal is that, as Mail Today reported, that too many officers feeling uncomfortable and have applied either for leave or have sought central deputation.
Kejriwal tenure has so far been a constant search of villains. He began by naming some seniors in his own party and throwing them out, then he shifted attention to Delhi Police and now to LG and some senior bureaucrats. Its time he gets back to work and remembers the spirit of the February 2015 mandate.
Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lifts off on Dec. 8, 2010, with the company's first Dragon spacecraft. Three hours and 20 minutes later, the capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, marking a first for a non-governmental entity.
A private SpaceX rocket sailed through a dress rehearsal Thursday (March 1) for the launch of the robotic Dragon space capsule, which could blast off toward the International Space Station as early as next month.
The five-hour launch readiness test, held at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, went through full countdown procedures, including fueling, for the next Dragon test flight, which is slated for late April. It was designed to check out any potential issues with SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, Dragon and associated ground systems.
SpaceX officials were pleased with the results.
"We ran down the countdown clock to a planned abort at T - 5 seconds at 12:18 p.m. Eastern," SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham told SPACE.com in an email. "The test went well."
The aerospace firm planned to practice loading cargo onto Dragon today, she added.
Photo of actual Dragon spacecraft after its first successful orbital flight. (Image: © SpaceX/Mike Altenhofen)
SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly 12 unmanned supply missions to the space station. In December 2010, the company launched Dragon on its maiden test flight, becoming the first private firm to send a spaceship to orbit and retrieve it successfully. [Photos: SpaceX's Dragon Spaceship]
Dragon's upcoming flight will be the second — and, if all goes well, final — demonstration before operational cargo missions begin. During the test, SpaceX wants the capsule to dock with the orbiting lab and unload some supplies, just as it would during an actual cargo flight.
The original plan called for the station-bound Dragon to launch on Feb. 7, but in January SpaceX pushed that back to March 20, saying it needed more time to prepare the vehicle. The target date later slipped again, to late April; an exact date won't be chosen until SpaceX works through some minor issues, NASA officials have said.
SpaceX is not the only company vying to fill the cargo-carrying void left by the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet in 2011.
Orbital Sciences Corp., for example, is developing its own cargo freighter under a $1.9 billion NASA contract. The company, based in Dulles, Va., is building its Cygnus spacecraft to carry supplies to the space station, with the first test flight expected later this year.
While Dragon will transport solely cargo initially, SpaceX is also working on a crewed version of the capsule that it hopes will carry astronauts to the space station and, eventually, Mars. Other U.S. companies are also developing their own private crewed spacecraft, some (like SpaceX) with NASA funding.
The U.S. space agency currently relies on international partners like Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency to launch cargo and crew to the space station.
SPACE.com assistant managing editor Clara Moskowitz (@ClaraMoskowitz) contributed to this story. You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall and get the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.FOUNTAIN VALLEY >> An emailed threat of a bombing and mass shooting prompted officials to cancel classes at Fountain Valley High School today and orchestrate a search of the campus for explosives.
A message posted on the school’s website said, “FVHS has been closed by the FVPD due to a threat overnight. All classes are canceled until further notice.”
Fountain Valley police said the email, sent from a student’s account about 10 p.m. Tuesday, warned that there would be explosives hidden on campus.
Sgt. Tony Luce said the email also stated that the assailant would go to the campus after the explosion “with an assault rifle and kill any surviving people on campus.”
An Orange County sheriff’s bomb squad was sent to search the campus, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. A sweep of the campus, conducted with the help of bomb-sniffing dogs, did not find any evidence of explosives.
The campus was cleared by late morning, and school officials posted an updated notice on its website, saying classes would resume Thursday.
“We will resume afternoon activities as scheduled, such as sports practices and such,” according to the notice. “Staff is welcome to return today. Classes for the day are canceled and we will resume on a regular bell schedule tomorrow.”
Investigators went to the home of the 17-year-old student who appeared to have sent the threatening email, but he denied any involvement, Luce said.
“Officers have been to the student’s house and contacted the student,” he said. “The student indicated that he did not send the email. He’s allowed officers to look at his phone and his computer and they found no evidence that the email came from him directly.
“When they found no indication that the email came directly from him, it’s quite possible that in some way the student’s account was hacked,” Luce said.
The student apparently did not have any access to firearms, Luce said, adding that investigators would conduct a forensic examination of the student’s computer for clues in their search for the culprit.Bollywood movies are a treat to watch. With beautiful actors and stunning locations, the experience only gets bigger. From enchanting less explored places to exotic views, the movie makers make sure they select the best of the best destinations giving you a virtual tour around the globe in two hours. Ever thought about where these exotic locations are? Ever wondered where Hrithik shook a leg in Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai? The answer is New Zealand! We at Pickyourtrail have come up with a list of 6 fantastic Bollywood movies shot in New Zealand.
Book your trip to the magical land of the Maoris, New Zealand Meet the Maoris, stargaze a bit, walk the glaciers and more at NZ https://pickyourtrail.com
Rehna Hai Terre Dil Mein
This Bollywood flick starring Madhavan, Dia Mirza and Saif Ali Khan is a twisted tale of fate. The songs featured in this rom-com were shot in parts of New Zealand like Dunedin and Christchurch featuring the chalice sculpture, old post office building, clock tower and the octagon.
What you can do:
Go on a gondola ride with your loved one and enjoy the view of this unique sightseeing experience while you enjoy a romantic ride high in the sky.
Kaho Naa….Pyaar Hai
This blockbuster film featuring Hrithik Roshan and Ameesha Patel was shot in parts of New Zealand like Otago, Queenstown in the second half of the movie when the heroine Sonia moves there to battle depression. One of the famous songs in the film ‘Na tum jano na hum’, was shot in Canterbury, Christchurch.
What you can do:
Get a little adventurous in Queenstown and indulge in some adrenaline pumping activities like bungy jumping, skydiving, rafting or more like these.
Interesting Read: The perfect 9 day New Zealand honeymoon itinerary
Main Prem ki Diwani Hoon:
Yet another Bollywood rom-com featuring Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead is a tale of mistaken identity. This light-hearted movie was shot across various locations in New Zealand like Auckland, Queenstown and Christchurch.
The beautiful view in the song ‘Main bhi ghoom hoon’ which is portrayed as Sundernagar in the movie is actually a view of Queenstown. The college which Kareena graduates from is Hagley community college in Auckland.
What you can do:
The largest city and the capital of the country, Auckland offers you a variety of options to choose from to have a great time vacationing. From spending a laid-back evening in Mission Bay to having a great adventure in Skytower, the city has something for everyone.
Players
This star-studded Bollywood flick which is essentially a heist film features the top stars like Bipasha Basu, Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor to name a few. Shot across New Zealand, you’ll come across parts of Auckland and Wellington in this movie.
What you can do
Bring out the foodie in you and relish the exotic food the city of Wellington has to offer. If you are into sightseeing and adventure, then head to the mountains and enjoy a scenic view of the city and harbour from Mount Victoria or choose from the variety of options the city of Auckland has to offer.
Interesting Read: Ultimate New Zealand road trip itinerary: Tips and How to Plan
Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahein
Featuring debutante Richa Pallod and Fardeen Khan, this is a typical romantic movie shot in the beautiful locales of Wanaka, New Zealand. The song ‘Hua Dil ka Salaam’ where you find your favourite stars shake a leg to the beat was shot in Queenstown.
What you can do:
Satiate the inner adventurer in you and indulge in fun outdoor activities like kayaking, jet-boating and paddle-boating. Or you could also enjoy a relaxed holiday touring around the city and shopping to your heart’s content in the lakefront market.
I Hate Luv Storys
With Sonam Kapoor and Imran Khan in the lead, this movie is all about love, life and romance. Along with two stunning leads, this movie takes you across the various exotic locales of New Zealand like Otago and Lake Wakatipu. The song ‘Sadka Kiya’ was shot in various locales of Queenstown including the Queenstown Waterfront.
Want to head to these beautiful locales and get a few selfies in order? Check our customized New Zealand packages and let’s start planning your next trip!
Interesting Read: The stuff of love stories – Our New Zealand honeymoon
For more travel trivia and inspiration, follow Pickyourtrail.
Here are the top itineraries to New Zealand which you can use right away on your trip:
Nature & New Zealand | Tantalizing New Zealand | New Zealand for couples
instagramMSNBC host Rachel Maddow on Sunday argued that President Donald Trump's administration had failed at everything "they like to brag about."
"If you just look at what they've done in terms of policy," Maddow said on Al Sharpton's MSNBC program, "it's interesting they haven't been able to do anything successfully on any of the stuff they like to brag about, they like to talk about, that he campaigned on. [The] Muslim ban has been a disaster."
She pointed out that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently admitted that Mexico was never going to pay for Trump's border wall.
"The health care roll-out is an absolute disaster," Maddow continued. "Politically, it's absolutely dead. I don't think anybody believes it will ever pass the Senate. They never tried anything on taxes. Remember, they were going to do a trillion dollar infrastructure plan. Nothing that they like to talk about, nothing they like to brag about, none of their big stuff is working or, in many cases, they're not even trying to make it work."
Watch the video below.
Democrats would be wise to echo argument Maddow makes here. It's incredibly effective, and conveniently truthful. https://t.co/a3F4hdbPbQ — Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) March 12, 2017
(h/t: Deadstate)NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered former Goldman Sachs Group Inc trader Fabrice Tourre to pay more than $825,000 after a jury found him liable for defrauding investors in a subprime mortgage product that failed during the financial crisis.
Former Goldman Sachs bond trader Fabrice Tourre leaves the Manhattan Federal Court in New York August 1, 2013. REUTERS/Keith Bedford
The decision by U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan came in one of the prominent Wall Street cases linked to the crisis, and one of the few in which an individual was held personally responsible for wrongdoing.
Tourre was ordered to pay $650,000 in civil fines, and give up an additional $175,463 bonus plus interest linked to the transaction at the heart of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission case.
The total payout fell below the roughly $1.15 million, including a $910,000 fine, that the SEC had sought.
But the judge said a stiff sanction for the 35-year-old Frenchman was appropriate, saying Tourre’s fraud lasted for several months and noting what investigators said were his false emails and misleading materials sent to investors.
“He has shown no remorse or contrition,” Forrest added, referring to Tourre. The judge also forbade Goldman from paying Tourre’s fine.
Goldman in July 2010 reached a related $550 million settlement with the SEC. It did not admit wrongdoing but acknowledged and expressed regret that its marketing materials were incomplete.
SEC enforcement chief Andrew Ceresney welcomed Wednesday’s decision, including penalties he characterized as “significant.”
“The ruling reflects the SEC’s intent of pursuing meaningful sanctions to punish individuals responsible for misconduct and deter others from violating the federal securities laws,” he said in a statement.
Tourre resigned from Goldman in December 2012, and is pursuing a doctorate in economics at the University of Chicago.
In a statement, he said he was “deeply grateful for the unwavering support of my family and friends as I consider potential next steps in the legal process.”
SYMBOL OF THE MELTDOWN
Tourre became a symbol of the financial meltdown after the SEC sued him and Goldman in 2010 for misleading investors in a synthetic collateralized debt obligation, or CDO, linked to mortgages called Abacus 2007-AC1.
He became widely known as “Fabulous Fab” after using that nickname in an email cited in the SEC lawsuit.
The SEC accused Tourre of concealing from investors how Paulson & Co, the hedge fund of billionaire John Paulson, had helped put Abacus together and had bet it would fail.
It also accused Tourre of misleading ACA Capital Holdings Inc, which helped choose Abacus assets, into thinking Paulson would be an equity investor in the CDO, rather than bet the other way as part of a massive wager against subprime mortgages.
Paulson, meanwhile made about $1 billion by shorting Abacus, while investors lost the same amount, the SEC said.
“The fraud on ACA was critical to making the transaction work; without ACA as portfolio selection agent, Goldman would not have been able to convince others to invest in the equity of the transaction,” Forrest wrote.
In August, a federal jury found Tourre liable on six of seven civil charges related to Abacus.
Tourre had been slated to teach an honors economics class this spring, but a University of Chicago spokesman on March 4 said those plans had been scrapped. No reason was given.
SENDING THE RIGHT MESSAGE
Tourre’s lawyers had fought against any ban on Goldman reimbursing their client, saying it would be unprecedented, even as they said he had every intention of paying any penalty out of his own pocket.
The judge, however, said letting Goldman reimburse Tourre would send the wrong message to others mulling illegal conduct, though the defendant could seek reimbursement from others.
“To permit Tourre to obtain reimbursement from Goldman, which the jury in this case found to be a co-violator of the securities laws, would undermine the purposes of the civil penalty statutes - to punish the individual violator and to deter future violations,” she wrote.
Goldman did pay Tourre’s legal fees, and has said it had no agreement with Tourre to reimburse him for penalties.
A spokesman for the bank declined to comment on Wednesday.
Forrest also denied an SEC request for an injunction barring Tourre from future securities law violations, saying there was no evidence he planned to return to the industry after finishing his studies in June 2016. But she said the SEC could reapply if he returns in the next three years.
The judge’s decision drew mixed reactions.
“This really sends a loud and clear message that this court is not going to tolerate this conduct,” said David Marder, a partner at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi and a former SEC lawyer.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission logo adorns an office door at the SEC headquarters in Washington, June 24, 2011. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
But Dennis Kelleher, chief executive of the non-profit organization Better Markets, said a big fine cannot hide the government’s “indefensible” failure to have brought criminal charges against senior Wall Street executives over the financial crisis.
“Wall Street recklessness, fraud and criminality were at the core of the crash and crisis,” he said. “History will judge prosecutors and regulators harshly for abdicating their duty to enforce the law without fear or favor on Wall Street as they do on Main Street.”
The case is SEC v. Tourre, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 10-03229."Working for Opera Software's QA department gives you in-depth perspectives on the web's wild and varied coding practises," writes Hallvord R. M. Steen. "I still wasn't prepared for the curious solutions that power the menu on the new Israel Railways website."
"The coding is unbelievable," Hallvord continues. "Diving into the website's source code shows that its coders must have fallen asleep during the what's the point of XSLT lesson. It's more like an XML parser/serializer stress test than a production site."
For those unaware (wake up Railways developers!), the XSLT markup/programming language is widely used to transform one sort of DOM into another - for example turning the DOM of a generic XML file into valid XHTML. Much of the benefit is that you're working on DOM trees, making it hard or impossible to create syntactically invalid pages. Of course, like most tools, XSLT can be horribly abused, and the Railways website does a pretty impressive job of that:
<xsl:template name="inner-text-tag-open"> <xsl:if test="$is-mz-impl"> <xsl:comment>nwlt</xsl:comment> </xsl:if> <xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"><</xsl:text> </xsl:template> <xsl:template name="inner-text-tag-close"> <xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes">></xsl:text> <xsl:if test="$is-mz-impl"> <xsl:comment>nwgt</xsl:comment> </xsl:if> </xsl:template> <xsl:template name="inner-text-element-open"> <xsl:param name="element-name"/> <xsl:call-template name="inner-text-tag-open"/> <xsl:value-of select="$element-name"/> <xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"> </xsl:text> </xsl:template> <xsl:template name="inner-text-element-close"> <xsl:param name="element-name"/> <xsl:call-template name="inner-text-tag-open"/> / <xsl:value-of select="$element-name"/> <xsl:call-template name="inner-text-tag-close"/> </xsl:template>
The purpose of the preceding code was to concatenate bits of text ( <, /, >, etc) into something like this:
<div></div>
Of course, to get the other useful parts of the string (attributes, inner contents), the rest of the giant XSLT (and perhaps the other giant XSLT) is required.
Hallvord, who clearly spent much more time trying to understand the XSLT mess, explains further:
When they in their wisdom chose to generate markup inside text nodes with their XSLT they run into the familiar problem: when is < going to start a tag and when is it going to live in a text node? Hence, < is sometimes escaped as < to create proper text nodes with HTML source-as-text in them (as for example the instance of < in the code above). Now, of course when they set innerHTML they do not want this < to appear as a literal < so they do some pre-processing: all < and > they want to change into proper < and > before setting innerHTML have a comment node next to them... <!--nwlt--><TR class="nw-2r"><!--nwgt--> <!--nwlt--><TD class="nw-2c"><!--nwgt-->...and their pre-processing is a simple string replace... sHtml = sHtml.replace(/\<!--nwlt--\></g,"<").replace(/>\<!--nwgt--\>/g,">").replace(/\<[\/]?tbody\>/gi,""); And why they hate the poor TBODY so much they must strip it from the markup even though the browser will re-generate them in the DOM as soon as innerHTML is parsed I can't even begin to imagine.
Even More Fun
The good news for those with even more time on their hands is that this XSLT "cleverness" appears to be the tip of the iceberg. Digging through some of the Railways site's JavaScript, I noticed this function...
function escapeProperly(str)
...which calls...
function escapeProperlyCore(str, bAsUrl)
...which finally calls...
function escapeProperlyCoreCore(str, bAsUrl, bForFilterQuery, bForCallback)
And then there was this bizarre array:
var LegalUrlChars=new Array ( false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, true, true, false, false, true, false, false, true, true, true, false, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, false, true, false, true, false, false, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, false, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, true, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false, false );
And on its surface, while the data does seem strange, there is actually a good use for it:
for(var i=0; i<strLeafName.length; i++) { var ch=strLeafName.charCodeAt(i); if(strLeafName.charAt(i)=='.' && (i==0 || i==(strLeafName.length-1))) return i; if(ch < 160 && ( strLeafName.charAt(i)=='/' ||!LegalUrlChars[ch]) ) return i; } return -1;
Err, something like that.Travis Scott Bitch Stole My Yeezy... Get Him!!!
Travis Scott -- Bitch Stole My Yeezy... Attack Him!
Travis Scott went mental after a fan attempted to steal a Yeezy 350 Boost off his foot mid-set at a festival in Switzerland.
The fan failed to make off with the Kanye-designed sneaker … but that didn't stop Scott from going berzerk. There's spitting, a water bottle gets hurled, and by the end of it Scott has the Swiss people chanting “f*** that bitch, f*** that bitch!” We know, so unlike the usually calm, neutral country.
The fan guy was removed by security, but not before Scott threw literal shade... a pair of sunglasses.
The whole thing's bananas to watch considering Scott is signed to Good Music, Kanye’s label, so it wouldn’t be really difficult for him to get a new pair … at least, compared to the rest of us.CLOSE The athletic director spoke about Kirk Ferentz's job performance after an 8-4 regular season.
Iowa athletic director Gary Barta (Photo: David Scrivner / Iowa City Press-Citizen)
Iowa athletic director Gary Barta has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will take an extended medical leave to undergo surgery and treatment, the university confirmed Tuesday.
He will return to work as soon as his recovery allows.
Deputy director of athletics Barbara Burke will assume leadership of the department in Barta's absence.
Barta, 54, became Iowa's athletic director on Aug. 1, 2006, succeeding Bob Bowlsby. Barta previously held the same position at the University of Wyoming.
Barta was the director of athletics development/external relations at the University of Northern Iowa from 1990-96.
Barta's reign as Iowa's AD has been highlighted by a run of success on the football field, the basketball court and in fundraising circles. Barta revealed in July that this has been a record year for fundraising in Iowa athletics: $48 million strong at that time.
Barta was recognized by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics as a 2015-16 Under Armour Athletics Director of the Year. In 2016, Barta received a contract extension keeping him in Iowa City through 2021.
Barta's base salary for 2017-18 is $550,000.
STATE OF IOWA SALARIES DATABASE
“In the years I’ve been here since 2006,” Barta said in July, “the mood and the culture of our student-athletes, our coaches and our staff has never been better.”
There have been pain points, too. In May, the university agreed to pay Tracey Griesbaum $1.5 million to end a legal battle that began nearly three years ago with the firing of the former field hockey coach. In addition, the school paid $2.3 million to Griesbaum's partner, former senior associate athletic director Jane Meyer, and $2.7 million to the Des Moines law firm that represented them both, bringing the total payment to $6.5 million in two high-profile discrimination lawsuits. That money came out of the athletic department budget.
"I’m angry at what happened. But I’m moving forward," Barta said in July. "Literally, I still have people who see me on the street and say, ‘How are you doing? Are you OK?’ And the answer is, 'Absolutely.'"
Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday that Barta revealed the cancer diagnosis to him "a while back."
"Gary seemed very confident about the process and very optimistic," Ferentz said. "We’re all here to help during his brief absence."
NEWSLETTERS Get the High School Sports newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong Highlights and top stories on high school sports and athletes. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-877-424-0225. Delivery: Mon-Sun Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for High School Sports Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters
Ferentz, who has been head coach since 1999, said Barta has "been great since Day 1. He doesn't say yes to everything I ask and that's how it's supposed to work."
Burke previously worked with Barta at Wyoming and joined the staff at Iowa in July 2016 as senior associate athletic director. She was promoted to the deputy role — the No. 2 in the department — in April after Gene Taylor left to become athletic director at Kansas State.
Burke had been deputy athletic director at Tulane before coming to Iowa. She also served as athletic director at Eastern Illinois for six years.
Neither Barta nor Burke were available for media interviews Tuesday.
Prostate cancer is the second-most common cancer in American men, behind skin cancer, according to the American Cancer Society, which estimates that there are 161,360 new cases diagnosed in U.S. men annually. About one in seven men will be diagnosed with the disease.
Survival rates are relatively high, however, with only one in 39 U.S. men dying from the disease. The cancer society said more than 2.9 million American men who have been diagnosed with the disease are still living today.
Possible treatments include surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.culture
How a stranded chopper was brought back from under the nose of the enemy, from Nitin A Gokhale’s book, Beyond NJ9842: The Siachen Saga
‘Flying here is certainly not for the faint hearted’
3rd June 1990: Two Cheetah helicopters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) are on a regular air maintenance run to the Siachen glacier. As was the routine by that time — six years into Operation Meghdoot — the first shuttles were to Amar and Sonam posts, the two highest helipads on the Siachen Glacier, located at altitudes in excess of 20,000 feet above mean sea level.
Shelling
Flt Lt B Ramesh and Flying Officer Naresh were leading the run and were supposed to land at Sonam. Flt Lt WVR Rao and Flying Officer Suresh Nair, in the second Cheetah, were scheduled to touch down at Amar, not very far from Sonam.
Rao remembers that day to be slightly warmer than usual at about 10 degrees, high for the glacier but understandable in the summer months. “At those heights, when temperature goes beyond 5 degrees, the ‘density altitude’ at Amar and Sonam is actually close to 23,000 feet, the ultimate limit at which these helicopters can and should fly. But in those conditions we could carry barely 5 kg load on the Cheetah. The rising temperature can have such an impact on the load carrying capacity of the helicopters,” he remembers. Rao and Nair landed normally at Amar but as they revved up to take off the helicopter engine ‘surged’ and the machine just sat down on the helipad.
“Amar is hardly 3000 metres from a Pakistani post located at a lower altitude. Even as we were struggling to figure out what went wrong, shelling from Pakistani post started. Remember those were pre-ceasefire days,” Rao reminisced.
Evacuation
The two pilots quickly ducked inside the bunker and sent a message to the other helicopter not to come towards Amar since shelling from the Pakistani post had begun but Flt Lt Ramesh would have none of it. He made two quick runs to Amar and evacuated Rao and Nair one by one since it is inadvisable for any one not acclimatised properly to stay at 20,000 feet for more than 15-20 minutes. “Ramesh landed on snow since the helipad was already occupied by our machine. He held the chopper on partial |
and then Leonid Brezhnev. However try telling that to the various groups of Trotskyists and Maoists, who in this area are second to none. What the "left" we are talking about here do not understand is that:
a) The supposed socialism of the USSR never existed, except in the programme and hopes of the Bolshevik Party. These were first modified and then destroyed through isolation from other international revolutionary experiences and Russia’s domestic economic backwardness. Stalinism was in fact the final organisational and economic “form" of the counter-revolution in Russia. The dictatorship of the proletariat was replaced by that of the party and that of the party by the personal dictatorship of Stalin, after a fierce internal power struggle with personal rivals, or in political terms against those who accused him of building state capitalism in the guise of socialism. The massacre of Stalin’s victims and the substitution of the idea of socialism in one country for proletarian internationalism completely destroyed it as the only solution to the problems and expectations of the international proletariat. Stalinism encouraged the other revolutionary experiences which took place to give up everything in a few short years in order to create a cordon sanitaire around revolutionary Russia, so the USSR could build "its" domestic “socialism”. Revolutionary internationalism became reformist nationalism. Instead of encouraging the extension of the dictatorship of the proletariat elsewhere the Comintern came up with the United Front and supported workers’ and peasants’ governments that had nothing to do with a proper revolutionary programme. The urgent necessity for the economic experiment of the NEP reopened the mechanisms of the capitalist market (Lenin said it was needed to allow a minimal development of the productive forces, otherwise all Russia would die of hunger, whilst holding on to power, waiting for the international revolution to come to the rescue), gave way to the first experiments of the Five Year Plans and state capitalism. The Second World War, completed the counterrevolutionary course of Soviet Union ranks when it definitely became one of the opposing imperialist camps. It was now more than ever obvious that there was no socialism to defend. The only thing to do was to denounce how the October revolution had ended up and the trap that both the Russian and international proletariat had fallen into in both their heads and in their political consciousness. But even this had not been true, communist practice would have required not the defence of Russia, but an extra effort to open other revolutionary fronts which defended the first revolutionary class experience.
b) Today this misconception is no longer possible: apart from the farce of the People's Republic of North Korea, there is no country in the world that can even fraudulently claim to be a socialist country. This means communists everywhere should work for a revolutionary solution to revive the programme and the consciousness of the politically advanced proletariat at an international level. We have nothing to do with so-called communists whose support for one imperialist cause against another makes no sense. They never escape from the capitalist logic that produces these wars thus abandoning on principle any vision of the revolutionary revival of the class struggle.
c) The same goes for the defence-support of the various nationalisms in the region, and especially that of the Kurds. To support the Rojava movement in Syria (in this regard see Prometeo No 12, series VII, 2014)[4], the PKK in Turkey like any other national-bourgeois aspiration of the Kurdish diaspora, seeks the same model of social and economic organisation as that of Massoud Barzani in Iraqi Kurdistan. The latter is supported by the United States as a primary source for the supply of Iraqi oil which the former regime of Saddam Hussein no longer guaranteed. The Shiite regime of Nuri al-Maliki could also not guarantee supplies. The result therefore is a Kurdish capitalist state ruled by a parasitic bourgeoisie living lavishly on oil revenues, whilst the rest of the population wallow in poverty. In addition, the bond of allegiance with the US means that efforts to participate in the ongoing war are required even if it’s not in a leading role or with much fanfare. The Kurdish bourgeoisie is like all bourgeoisies, and seeks to defend its economic interests through the involvement of its proletariat in the “nation”. It is a well-tried bourgeois practice. Another aspect is that those "leftists" confuse people’s struggle with class struggle; self-determination of nations with class emancipation. They fight against dictatorships, but not against the economic system that sustains them, against the political superstructure but not against the relations of production. They will however defend these dictators if they are attacked by American imperialism, the only one they recognise as they are incapable of understanding today’s context of global imperialism.
The crisis of imperialism has shaped fronts, identified the vital areas for regional conflicts, and enacted shifting and opportunist alliances. Whilst these all demonstrate the fluctuating features of a global capitalism in search of impossible solutions, our gentlemen of this same old "left" find nothing better to do than choose between the conflicting imperialisms. They oppose aggression verbally but, if anything, they act as an integral part of the war from an ideological point of view. Capitalist barbarism is never mentioned let alone denounced in their outmoded ideological schemes. They talk of one side being more progressive than another, of the need for "radical decisions" to safeguard peoples within existing conflicts, but they never pose the real question which responds to a single imperative. Only the class struggle, independent of any bourgeois or imperialist conditioning can be effective against war. Any schema which involves taking side has to be abandoned. Otherwise you enter into the logic of war itself. The only war possible for the international proletariat is the "war on war" against imperialism, against capitalism and its crises which provoke and exacerbate it. Against the idea of choosing one side in support of an impossible “peoples’” solution we must pose the need for a social alternative. We are in the middle of the deepest crisis of world capitalism. It has produced tens of millions of unemployed people in Europe alone, and hundreds of millions throughout the world, including China and India. It has displaced millions of hungry and terrified refugees escaping the killings in a tragic exodus of biblical proportions. It is as if the various factions were already staging a "world war". The slogan cannot be to support Russia against the United States, or Assad against Turkey. With IS if it fights against Western imperialism or against it if the army of al Baghdadi teams up with the West. You do not choose an imperialism because it is better, more "progressive" or not as bad as the others. Nor do we take sides tactically with one combatant rather than another on the basis of the alleged defence of popular interests or oppressed peoples. The only possible answer is the effort to create an international class front that begins to raise the issue of anti-capitalism, of the proletarian revolution which is the only way to achieve the emancipation of the working class and the emancipation of humanity. This applies to workers in Aleppo as it does to those in Ankara, as well as for those in Europe and America. Otherwise we will have capitalist barbarism for ever.
fd
February 2016
[1] These documents can be found in English at leftcom.org and
[2] Abu Musad al-Zarqawi – Al Qaeda leader in Iraq who targeted Shia. Killed by a US bombing strike 7 June 2006.
[3] The ummah means community as in a community of believers who will achieve salvation together. IS Salafism defines this more narrowly than was common in the past so that many (if not most) Muslims are not part of their ummah.
[4] At leftcom.org. The article is originally in English and can be found here leftcom.orgRadio mogul Norm Pattiz announced on Thursday that he will resign from his post as University of California regent, weeks after state and education leaders called for the public university system to look into sexual harassment claims against him.
Pattiz wrote in his resignation letter that he would be retiring as UC regent and chair of the Regents Oversight Committee and National Laboratories, effective Feb. 16, 2018, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
In the letter, Pattiz told Board of Regents Chairman George Kieffer that it was a privilege working for the University of California, but made no mention of the workplace misconduct accusations that have haunted him for over a year.
Kieffer accepted Pattiz’s resignation in a follow-up letter the same day, thanking the media executive for his service.
“After so many years you deserve a break,” Kieffer wrote to Pattiz.
3. Pattiz was caught on tape asking comedian @HeatherMcDonald if he could "hold her breasts."
“Wait a minute ― can I hold your breasts? Would that help?” Pattiz then says, “These are memory foam” ― a reference to his hands. He laughs and adds, “My memory.” pic.twitter.com/DkqQLAWM4l — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 11, 2017
Pattiz, the founder of the PodcastOne studio, has been accused by former studio staffers of making sexually inappropriate remarks to female employees and brandishing a gun at at least one male employee.
Pattiz has only admitted to misconduct in one case ― in which he was caught asking to hold comedian Heather McDonald’s breasts. The moment was recorded and published by McDonald in November 2016, forcing Pattiz to apologize publicly that year.
McDonald quit PodcastOne shortly after the incident.
Ji Min Park, a PodcastOne employee who left after a year because of Pattiz’s behavior, told the Los Angeles Times in 2016 that Pattiz had made her uncomfortable by commenting on her looks. She said that Pattiz once told her she could have her name on a recording studio if he left his wife for her.
Speaking to the Times for the same 2016 story, Raymond Hernandez, a PodcastOne producer who was laid off after two years, said he witnessed Pattiz commenting on the bodies of other employees and, in one instance, asking employees if they wanted to see revealing photos of a female PodcastOne executive on his phone.
Hernandez filed a lawsuit against Pattiz in September 2017, accusing Pattiz of pointing his gun at him when he declined his request to use false advertising statistics.
California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson and UC Student Regent Paul Monge urged the University of California to address the accusations against Pattiz in a Nov. 29 letter.
Two weeks before the letter was sent, University of California spokeswoman Dianne Klein told the Mercury News that she did not believe Pattiz had been the subject of an investigation by UC’s general counsel.By: Clinton Wolfe 9 Jan '13
The chef system deployment and configuration tool from OpsCode is a powerful, flexible tool. While OpsCode’s documentation and marketing tries to focus on its ease of use, they provide little guidance on patterns of real-world use. Many different organizations are experimenting with ways of using Chef. While it’s still a bit early for best practices to emerge, collecting experiences across a variety of business types can help to discover what works and what doesn’t.
Intended Audience
This is not a Chef tutorial, nor a journal of one person’s experience with Chef over a month. You will not learn what a resource is or enough Ruby for Chef. Instead, we’re assuming you have used Chef enough to know what it is, what it does, and at least one way to do what you want to do. You may have authored several cookbooks for your organization’s internal use, and taken slightly different approaches as you learned what works and what doesn’t over time.
Our Multi-Tenant Bootstrapper
Opscode offers several ways of using Chef. Most of them revolve around using a central store of cookbooks and configuration information, known as the Chef server. Chef server includes powerful cross-node search features. Thus, any node can query any other node for information, such as installed software and (depending on storage mechanism) credentials to various services.
Because OmniTI is a consulting company providing a range of development, managed services and hosting offerings, we must be able to isolate client assets from each other. Every tool we use must have excellent multi-tenancy support. At the same time, we have many tools and configuration data that we must share across clients that are specific to our environment. We want to share not only cookbooks, but roles and some data bags; and have fine-grained control over which nodes may access each.
There are essentially two options for running Chef Server. One of those is Hosted Chef, an Opscode IAAS offering, includes access control mechanisms. Cookbooks and node information are bundled into Organizations and cross-organization access is not permitted. Cookbook re-use is permitted via cookbook dependency resolution, but role and data bag re-use is not possible.
The open-source version of Chef-server provides no access control mechanisms, making it an unacceptable multi-tenant solution for security reasons.
The alternatives were:
Invest in developing an ACL system for the open source release of Chef Server. Unlike the Hosted Chef ACL system, the proposed functionality would include inter-organization access to data bags, cookbooks and roles, with ACL enforcement. This would introduce a high likelihood of incompatible changes as the chef-server codebase develops. Run multiple, single-tenant chef-server instances. We still have to keep copies of shared roles, databags and cookbooks on each Chef server, not to mention maintain them all. Use chef-solo. Since we now cannot rely on chef-server to distribute cookbooks, nodes, data bags and roles, we must invent a mechanism to distribute that data securely. Because we already had this material in git repos, with appropriate ACL mechanisms, this was a fairly low-cost option. We pay a price in complexity and learning curve for new projects, because our custom bootstrapping code is peculiar to our organization and is only used at project startup time.
For the time being we are using the third option, but we may push that complexity back into the Chef server and run single-tenant Chef servers with some additional magic (without going so far as to patch chef-server itself). You can get the chef-solo-helper toolkit here.
For more on this topic, see threads here.
Support Varying Levels of Expertise
Deployment touches on a lot of stakeholders. Each group has different skill sets and experience levels. You’ll need to use an approach that supports a variety of uses, and presents a smooth, shallow learning curve.
We’ve had generally good outcomes thinking of our Chef users in four general camps:
Black-box users. Don’t care how Chef works internally at all; want to be able to work entirely in attributes. The default behavior of the recipes is good enough, and any tweaking should be done through attribute settings. May need support determining how roles should be decomposed, and how precedence works.
Bespoke Recipe Authors. Need to do peculiar things that no other project requires. Uses attributes, but also cookbook defaults, and thinks in terms of resources. Familiar with the broad spectrum of resources available. Knows how to template, and to fallback to bash resources where needed. Needs support to make sure that common functionality across projects gets properly formalized into a shared cookbook. They need to have access to repos for their Chef cookbooks that are private to the project.
Shared Cookbook Authors. Implements functionality around a specific software system (for example, Apache or Postgres). Often a topic expert on that system, or works closely with someone who is an expert. Intermediate Ruby knowledge. Defines an attribute space, then creates LWRPs and libraries to create multiple layers of reusable, generalized functionality.
Bootstrappers. In our environment, our Ops team is responsible for provisioning the computing environments (be they Solaris-style Zones, VMs or cloud instances). These people deal with the bootstrapping process, in which the chef-solo (or chef-client) software is installed, and the machine’s Chef configuration is a checkout of version control using our multi-repo chef-solo-helper tool. Their perspective is broad and shallow; they will have limited familiarity with the custom cookbooks of any one project, but deep familiarity with shared services like LDAP and network configuration. They want the VCS access control mechanisms to be straightforward.
Version Control Systems and Authorization
We need to store the Chef configuration data in a version control system, because it is important work that must be tracked and versioned. Some of this data is shared (because it is common to our hosting environment, regardless of client/project) while some of it is proprietary information (the particulars of how a certain client runs their web stack; credentials to access the source code of their custom-developed proprietary web application). Thus, we must be able to have flexible, but secure access to the various repos.
As a development services company, we pride ourselves on our flexibility. Some clients have an internally-hosted VCS system; some want us to host the VCS system, but dictate the choice of VCS; other leave it entirely up to us. When it comes to authentication and authorization, we have a similar situation. We try to keep as much in our internal LDAP system as possible, but still must accommodate other solutions, for historical and political reasons.
Flexibility is the enemy of standardization, and automation thrives in highly standardized environments. These disparate VCS and authentication systems are friction points, especially to the users who bootstrap systems. Anyone who works across projects may find themselves dealing with a missing SSH key one day, or a bad htpasswd entry the next. Realizing that “oh yeah this project uses authentication system X which I have to debug using procedure Y” is a drag on the process, and increases ramp-up time each time people switch projects. We have had some success fighting the good fight: re-examining our reasons for using an oddball approach; automating where possible; documenting everywhere. We’ve also established standard operating procedures for new projects, and only deviate from that at client demand, communicating the increased cost back to them.
Address Fears of Templating
Another major hurdle to adoption of configuration management is a fear of loss of control over configuration files. Of course, the control over config files isn’t lost, but rather shifted. Prior to Chef, most projects managed config files using version control. Two fiefdoms were established: “system” config files, like sudoers, resolv.conf; and “application” config files, like httpd.conf, postgresql.conf, my-custom-application-properties.conf. The system config files were typically less of a point of contention - the Ops team was more interested in having Chef manage these files directly.
I Can’t Tell Which Files Will Be Overwritten
It can be a nasty surprise to find that a file you just edited got overwritten by Chef on its next run. We addressed this by placing, in every template file, a large warning at the top:
# This file is maintained by chef - LOCAL CHANGES WILL BE LOST # This project’s chef repo is at: # Use the project chef repo to set attributes which affect # the rendering of this template. # This template is from the dev-support chef repo, at # # in the file cookbooks/jenkins/templates/default/bash-profile.erb
The warning includes pointers to the correct repo and file in which to make edits properly.
I have to do hotfixes through Chef, too?
The scenario here is the classic “it’s 3 in the morning and the client is losing money; I just need this to WORK.” So you make a manual edit to a config file, even though you know Chef will overwrite it in 30 minutes (we use chef-solo under cron).
First, we did accommodate this by adding a killswitch option to our chef-solo-helper - /var/chef-solo/killswitch exists, the run will be aborted. We then back that up with monitoring, so we know when Chef has been manually disabled.
But in general, this is a weak complaint that gets weaker as Chef is adopted more widely in an organization. It presumes that making changes properly in Chef is somehow difficult. That is true at first, if the individual is new to Chef, or if the processes or project is unfamiliar. As a company focused on a devops approach, we expect basic Chef competency from most staff - certainly those senior enough to be the ones responding to the late-night emergency.
Additionally, this fear is only realistic on very small projects. If there are more than a handful of machines, making a manual edit is impractical and error-prone. On most of our larger projects, with dozens or hundreds of nodes, “oh no I have to make the change in Chef” becomes “thank goodness I can just make that change via Chef.”
Chef overwrites a config file completely. I want partial edits.
This desire comes up frequently. Chef’s ‘template’ resource supports two modes: overwrite the file if missing, and overwrite the file if different. Often, we want some other process to be able to edit some part of the file, typically VCS, a web service or an OS piece.
There are a number of ways to handle this.
Make sure there isn’t an existing cookbook that solves your problem. Editing hosts, resolv.conf, interfaces, and crontabs are all handled by excellent publically available cookbooks. Depending on the file format being configured, you may be able to use an Include directive (or similar) to pull in additional files. You can then have one file be under Chef control, one under web service control, etc.; the master file can then be Cheffed or not. Use a partial editing resource. There is a file_edit resource out there; and some people have tried various things using tools like xmlstarlet. We look at this as a last resort, as it is very sensitive to changes.
But I use VCS branches to differentiate environments!
Some projects will have a branch for dev, a branch for prod, etc. A configuration file will then exist in each branch, with the environmental differences present only in each branch.
While this may have made some sense prior to the availability of tools like Chef, we feel this is a bad practice once Chef is in use. Environments are defined by Chef - not VCS branches. It’s a much better tool for the job, because environmental differences can be captured and applied throughout the stack, not just at the application configuration level.In addition, storing environments in VCS branches means that merges must always be cherrypicked - moving dev’s edits to the conf file to the prod branch must be done carefully and manually.
Instead, we found that a one-time merge is more useful - creating a template based on the merge of the various environment branches, then parameterizing each conflicting value. Then, environment roles are created to store the values. This makes it very clear what the differences are between the two environments, and makes it easy to provision new environments that are a mix (for example, a UAT environment).
Make it Safe to Learn
One particular challenge with Chef is that when you make a change, the work product is a complete system (or a group of systems). We had good results using Vagrant, a tool that integrates chef with VirtualBox. This allowed individuals to make changes to local chef repos, test them in Vagrant, and then push. Because no actual machines are involved, individuals may make mistakes without consequence - enabling learning.
Two other major points about learning Chef are worth mentioning, though they will be covered in detail in later articles.
When you make an attribute change in chef, you have no inherent context as to where that change will have an impact. Each organization must develop practices (naming conventions, role decomposition guidelines and good comments) that make clear the scope of a change. We’ll explore attribute tree best practices in detail in part two of this series. Chef tries to turn your system configuration into code. That means you now inherit all the woes of software engineering: making changes in a coordinated manner and ensuring that changes integrate well are now an even greater concern. In part three of this series, we’ll look at applying software quality assurance and release management practices to Chef cookbooks and roles.
Conclusion
Our experiences with Chef have been at times exhilarating (“I can’t believe that change was so easy to make!”) and at times terrifying (ditto). Nearly all of the technical challenges were easily overcome with a bit of ingenuity - but the changes to processes and mindsets have been more disruptive, requiring perseverance and a variety of approaches. In some cases - like the multi-tenant bootstrapper - a purely technological solution was appropriate; in others a mix of technical and process adaptations were needed. As best practices emerge in the Chef community, we’ll continue to adapt and grow.OTTAWA — German officials are denying a report that free-trade talks between Canada and the European Union could be scuttled by a contentious issue surrounding foreign-investor protection, but they are not saying whether they will support the provision in the final document.
Still, others are publicly calling for the so-called investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS) clause to be hived off the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement and dealt with nation-by-nation.
A weekend report by Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung said CETA was in jeopardy over the foreign-investor issue, which would enable companies and investors to take legal action against countries where they feel they are been unfairly treated.
The newspaper reported that Germany planned to reject CETA, which was initially agreed to nine months ago by the 28-nation union and was expected to be ratified in September.
However, a spokesman for Germany’s Ministry of Economics and Energy said Monday that “does not reflect the position of the government and the ministry.”
Still, Tobias Dunow, speaking at a news conference in Berlin, said the German government does not feel it is necessary to have investor-dispute settlements between countries that already have legal structures in place to deal with such issues.
A spokesman for Trade Minister Ed Fast said “Canada’s work with our European Union partners to complete the legal text of our agreement in principle continues.” Shannon Gutoskie said “excellent progress is being made” on ratifying CETA, signed in October after nearly five years of negotiations.
“Investment protections have long been a core element of trade policy in Canada and Europe, and will encourage job-creating investment and economic growth on both side of the Atlantic,” Ms. Gutoskie said.
The EU pact is expected to add $12-billion annually to Canada’s economy. “The benefits of this agreement are clear for Canada and the European Union — more jobs and economic opportunities,” she said.
In March of this year, Ottawa reached a free-trade trade agreement with South Korea, providing Canadian exporters access to the Asia market. The federal government is negotiating separate agreements with Japan and India, and is also in talks to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade bloc.
ISDS provisions have become an integral part on international agreements — including the North American Free Trade Agreement — to protect investors and corporations in their foreign dealings.
The benefits of this agreement are clear for Canada and the European Union — more jobs and economic opportunities
Others feel the ISDS function could encourage foreign operators to challenge, through independent tribunals, domestic investment rules in an effort to avoid those regulations. Still others believe existing court systems are adequate to deal with any investment challenges.
Werner Wnendt, Germany’s ambassador to Canada, said Monday that criticism of the ISDS provision “is not the position of the German government.”
“There are concerns among some Germans that such a clause may mean that eventually legislation may have to be changed in Germany and other European countries,” he said in an interview with CBC TV.
Asked if the ISDS issue would be a CETA deal-breaker, Mr. Wnendt responded: “No, it isn’t.”
However, a Toronto-based mediation lawyer said Germany could seek separate agreements with countries on investment protection.
German officials “said the deal itself isn’t in jeopardy. And I agree with that. But the Germans will not agree to dispute settlement,” Lawrence Herman said.
“My view is that CETA is far too important a deal to be sacrificed to the dispute-settlement provisions. There is nothing preventing Canada from negotiating bilateral investment dispute treaties separately from CETA. In fact, we have five or six of them already with European countries.”CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Hue Jackson had two great reasons for not using any of his 14 draft picks on a running back: Duke Johnson and Isaiah Crowell.
"Those 2 guys are as good as I've seen in a while,'' Jackson said on the Browns draft review show Tuesday night that aired on 92.3 The Fan. "Their talent is extreme."
Jackson acknowledged that not selecting a back -- in a draft in which some thought the Browns might land Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott -- has drawn some heat.
"I've been getting so much mail or phones calls with people saying, 'Well wait a minute, why don't you guys have a running back?''' he said. "I really think Isaiah Crowell is a really good running back. I think he's going to have a sensational season, I really do."
Crowell, signed by the Browns as an undrafted free agent in 2014 out of Alabama State, led the team with 185 carries for 706 yards (3.8 yard per carry) and four TDs in 2015. But the Browns didn't commit to the run until late in the season, and Crowell was under-used in the first 12 games. In those outings, he rushed for 397 yards -- compared to 309 in the final four games.
He carried the ball 20 times or more on only one occasion -- in the 13th week of the season against San Francisco. Not surprisingly, it also marked his lone 100-yard performance of the season, a 145-yard effort.
In studying Crowell's film, Jackson sees a bellcow who can carry the load. The 5-11, 225-pounder didn't always find the holes quickly enough last season, but Jackson is confident that will change this year.
"Obviously Isaiah is very explosive," he said. "He's got quick feet, he's fast in the hole, he runs with good pad level.''
In Johnson, Jackson sees an elusive runner and dynamic receiver in the mold of Cincinnati's Gio Bernard, who rushed for 730 yards (4.7-yard average) and two TDs, and caught 49 passes for 472 yards and no TDs.
Johnson (5-9, 210) finished second to Crowell with 104 carries for 379 yards (3.6-yard average) and caught 61 passes for 532 yards, both of which were third on the team. He was also tied for third with two touchdown catches, and will be continue to be featured in the passing game.
"I think he's going to have a great year as well," Jackson said. "Duke has suddenness and quickness and he can go catch the ball with anybody. He does so many different things that gives your offense a boost.''
Feed the crow or eat it? Tom Reed looks at Isaiah Crowell's future
In addition to Crowell and Johnson, the Browns have Glenn Winston, Raheem Mostert and Terrell Watson, the former Bengals practice squad member who set Division II records at Azusa Pacific University.
"We haven't put the pads on yet and they have to do it, but I believe that we have the potential to be very good at that position." Jackson said. "I'm very comfortable with our group. I think we have some really good players there."
On draft weekend, Jackson stressed that the current group impressed him enough to stand pat at the position.
"It says that I'm very happy with the guys that are here," Jackson said.
The Browns finished 22nd in the NFL in rushing last season, and languished near the bottom until they averaged 160 yards in the final four games. The Bengals, meanwhile, finished 13th, and the Browns can expect to be more in that neighborhood in 2016.
"That's one of the things that once I got here that I wanted to take a strong look at,'' he said. "From top to bottom, I think we have some good candidates here."As the wind picked up yesterday and the bin lids flapped off to warmer climes, I asked my stepdaughter if she’d build me a storm shelter. Nothing too elaborate, just a little underground bunker with hot and cold running water, bunk beds and a modest library, in which to see out the inclement weather. She wasn’t interested - too busy renovating her chicken farm. Before you imagine that my stepdaughter (I’m going to go a bit Mumsnet and refer to her as SD) is running a construction firm as a sideline to being in Year 6, the farm exists only on screen and that my aborted storm shelter would have been built in the game Minecraft rather than real life.
For the last year or so, SD has spent quite a bit of time on consoles, computers and her iPad in a world I had never really got my head around. I was dimly aware of Minecraft as a) a retro-looking game that let players build things with blocks b) an indy-gaming success story (sales figures currently stand at 33 million) and c) something I ought to have a go on, partly because I used to be far more into video games than my present job allows, and party because if SD loved it so much, it must be pretty cool.
Luckily SD was even keener for me to have a go than I was, and gleefully constructed a tutorial to start to chip away at my ignorance. The reason she had to build a tutorial is, she explained, because you’re pretty much left to your own devices in Minecraft. But how cool is it to be able to make a tutorial in a game for your friends and dozy stepparents? Very, I think. It’s a super creative space - her hunger for the game has been fed by watching videos of the extraordinary things people have built in it. Of course, it’s not all calm construction - players can go around destroying each other and, depending on what version they choose to play, watch their farms/storm shelters be ravaged by monsters. No wonder kids love it - making and breaking in a world without parents. In a recent article about the game’s creator, Markus Persson, statistics were quoted that said 65 per cent of Minecrafter players were under 21.
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While SD’s tutorial was ace, my Minecrafting skills were not (her peals of laughter at my ineptitude rang around the house). She’s told me that if I want that shelter, I better get practising. These virtual construction-firm bosses are hard task masters.
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Subscribe nowThe New Enclosure: Erecting Gates and Tolls in the Information Age
The widely noted transition from the “old economy,” based in the production of physical commodities, to the “new economy” of the information age—with its capital base concentrated not in heavy machinery and land, but in human beings and in knowledge—has been attended by a concomitant sea change in the legal framework surrounding business. Where ingress to the marketplace wrought by the Industrial Revolution required enormous investments to purchase the capital goods necessary for operating within its framework, the less tangible bases of the information economy have significantly lowered those barriers. Some of today’s most successful companies, firms like Facebook, Twitter and Groupon, were started on minimal (in fact, almost negligible) outlays of capital using technology that nearly every American has at her fingertips through her personal computer. With the “capital infrastructure” necessary for success to be erected in cyberspace rather than in the physical space of the natural world, many of the totemic fixtures of the corporate economy stand to have their dominance subverted.[1] Nevertheless, the obvious analogy, apparent since the incipiency of the Internet, between cyberspace and concrete space in the “real world” has given rise to questions about how far that analogy ought to go, indeed about whether it is apposite at all. “Instead of concluding that cyberspace is outside of the physical world,” wrote Mark A. Lemley back in 2003, “courts are increasingly using the cyberspace as place metaphor to justify application of traditional laws governing real property to this new medium.”[2] As Lemley rightly notes, heavy reliance on that “metaphor is leading courts to results that are nothing short of disastrous as a matter of public policy,” and, I will argue, foisting onto our young, fecund information economy a new period of enclosures to rival those that stripped the peasantry of its traditional rights hundreds of years ago in, for instance, England.[3]
Before embarking on an attempt to analogize cyberspace to real property and to show that the enclosure of the former is more egregious and unjustified than that of the latter, it will be necessary to provide an account for the radical, philosophical arguments against intellectual property law that will provide the basis for the other arguments herein. Speaking of “the thinking power called an idea,” Thomas Jefferson argued, “Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of.”[4] In observing that ideas are “incapable of confinement or exclusive appropriate,” that they are expansible over all space, without lessening their density in any point,” Jefferson was making not only a philosophical argument in the area of metaphysics, but also a distinctly economic argument.[5] The economic implications of Jefferson’s argument concern the idea of scarcity, that, within the confines of the natural world, specific objects or resources are limited, that is, not reproducible ad infinitum. As similarly articulated by University of Trier philosopher Hardy Bouillon, “ideas can be reproduced without any loss of quality and can be shared by many without creating any scarcity problems.”[6] Insofar as the potential conflicts that are the subject of legal claims in property are based in the fact that property is finite, then, intellectual property appears an anomalous, even oxymoronic, strand within the law.[7]
Private property is properly based on the idea of a negative right, an exclusionary right that precludes latecomers from use of a scarce means; though in that sense, of course, all private property rights are an embodiment of monopoly, those monopolies are philosophical tenable on the limited basis of being grounded in legitimate transfer from one party to the next or in what may be called homesteading.[8] That all of property is in the species of monopolization or exclusion is what the French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon meant, at least in part, when he famously declared, “Property is robbery,” counseling worry about the ways in which we assign or allow such a right.[9] As anarchist political economist Kevin A. Carson has noted, though, property in land is a monopoly as a matter of course insofar as “two people cannot occupy the same physical space at the same time.”[ |
sources, Microsoft will continue in this vein with Windows Threshold. The Threshold OS will look and work differently based on hardware type.
Users running Threshold on a desktop/laptop will get a SKU, or version, that puts the Windows Desktop (for running Win32/legacy apps) front and center. Two-in-one devices, like the Lenovo Yoga or Surface Pro, will support switching between the Metro-Style mode and the Windowed mode, based on whether or not keyboards are connected or disconnected.
The combined Phone/Tablet SKU of Threshold won't have a Desktop environment at all, but still will support apps running side by side, my sources are reconfirming. This "Threshold Mobile" SKU will work on ARM-based Windows Phones (not just Lumias), ARM-based Windows tablets and, I believe, Intel-Atom-based tablets.
One of Microsoft's primary missions with Threshold is to try to undo the usability mistakes made with Windows 8 for those who prefer and/or are stuck with devices that are not touch-first and for which keyboard/mouse use is of central importance.
The Desktop/laptop SKU of Threshold will include, as previously rumored, the Mini-Start menu — a new version of the traditional Microsoft Start menu, an early concept of which Microsoft showed off at the company's Build developers conference in April. It also will include the ability to run Metro-Style/Windows Store apps in windows on the Desktop. Will it turn off completely the Metro-Style Start screen with its live-tile interface, as Neowin is reporting, and make the tiled Start screen a toggleable option from the Mini Start menu? I'm not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised.
(Update: It's worth pointing out the Mini Start menu is expected to be customizable. Users will be able to include Metro-Style apps or remove all Metro Style apps/tiles from the menu so that only Desktop apps are included in the Mini Start menu — either as tiles or in list form.)
Between now and Threshold: What's next?
Before Threshold is released next spring, Microsoft is expected to deliver a public preview of the Threshold release, most likely in the fall of 2014, my sources say.
And before that, Microsoft will deliver a second and final update for Windows 8.1. Since Microsoft officials decided earlier this year to make the Mini Start Menu part of Threshold instead of Update 2, there's not a whole lot of new features of note coming in Update 2. There may be some UI adjustments and tweaks, but nothing hugely noticeable, my sources claim.
Windows 8.1 Update 2 should be code complete any time now and will be locked down about two weeks before August Patch Tuesday, my sources say. (August Patch Tuesday is on August 12.) Microsoft may opt to not make a big deal out of Update 2 and just push it out quietly as part of the set of August patches, I hear.
The Microsoft OS team is hoping to get as many Windows 7 users moved to Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Windows 8 users to Windows 8.1 Update in preparation for (hopefully) getting them to move to Threshold once it is out. It's still early in the Windows development cycle for Microsoft to have decided on packaging, pricing and distribution, but my sources say, at this point, that Windows Threshold is looking like it could be free to all Windows 8.1 Update, and maybe even Windows 7 Service Pack 1, users.
Microsoft is basically "done" with Windows 8.x. Regardless of how usable or functional it is or isn't, it has become Microsoft's Vista 2.0 — something from which Microsoft needs to distance itself, perception-wise. At this point, Microsoft is going full-steam-ahead toward Threshold and will do its best to differentiate that OS release from Windows 8.CLOSE Attorney Russ Richelsoph explains what the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on concealed weapons means for Arizonans. Mark Quinones | azcentral.com
Developing story (Photo: azcentral.com)
In a victory for gun control advocates, a federal appeals court said Thursday people do not have a right to carry concealed weapons in public under the 2nd Amendment.
An 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said law enforcement officials can require applicants for a concealed weapons permit to show they are in immediate danger or have another good reason for a permit beyond self-defense.
By a vote of 7-4, the court upheld a California law that says applicants must supply a "good cause" to obtain a concealed-carry permit. People who are being stalked or threatened, celebrities who fear for their safety, and those who routinely carry large amounts of cash or other valuables are often given permits.
The decision overturned a 2014 ruling by a smaller 9th Circuit panel and came in a lawsuit over the denial of concealed weapons permits by a sheriff in San Diego County.
California generally prohibits people from carrying handguns in public without such a permit. State law requires applicants to show good moral character, have good cause and take a training course.
Because Arizona state law allows the open carrying of concealed firearms, this ruling will not impact those within state lines.
Charles Heller, co-founder and spokesman of Arizona Citizens Defense League, said the federal appeals ruling should have zero impact on Arizonans.
"If the 9th circuit is illiterate as to article 2 section 26 of Arizona Constitution, please have them meet me at the range en banc and I will allow them to experience its meaning first-hand."
The National Rifle Association called the ruling "out of touch."
"This decision will leave good people defenseless, as it completely ignores the fact that law-abiding Californians who reside in counties with hostile sheriffs will now have no means to carry a firearm outside the home for personal protection," said NRA legislative chief Chris W. Cox.
Arizonans should continue to familiarize themselves with gun laws in other states if they want to take their guns with them when they travel, said Russ Richelsoph, a criminal defense attorney at Davis Miles McGuire Gardner.
Richelsoph said the benefit of living in Arizona and owning a permit is that some states will recognize it, such as New Mexico and Texas.
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"If the court had ruled that there was a right to carry a firearm in public then California couldn't have a law that was more restrictive," he said. "But in Arizona, gun laws are less restrictive. In Arizona, it's a state law that you can (carry a gun) and the law won't be overturned."
The New York-based gun control organization Everytown welcomed the decision as "a major victory for public safety."
The 9th Circuit decision arose from a lawsuit Edward Peruta filed challenging the San Diego County sheriff's refusal to issue him a permit because he failed to cite a "good cause." The sheriff required applicants to produce supporting documents, such as a restraining order against a possible attacker.
Peruta argued that the requirement violated the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
During oral arguments before the 11-judge 9th Circuit panel, Paul Clement, an attorney for the residents, argued that the self-defense standard should be sufficient and asking for more violates the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.
California Solicitor General Edward DuMont countered that there was a long and rich tradition of restricting concealed weapons in cities and towns. California officials sought to intervene in the case after the San Diego sheriff declined to appeal.
California officials said loosening concealed weapons permitting standards and allowing more people to carry guns threatens law enforcement officials and endangers the public.
Clement countered that there was no evidence that crime went up in counties such as Fresno and Sacramento that had more permissive "good cause" standards.
Read or Share this story: http://azc.cc/28o2CuHNew York: A college student from Fairfax, Virginia, was seriously injured on Sunday in New York City's Central Park when he unwittingly jumped on explosive material that had been left next to a rock, according to police and his family.
The bizarre accident forced the amputation of 18-year-old Connor Golden's left leg below the knee and set the nation's largest city on edge a day before the July 4 holiday was expected draw thousands to watch the city's annual fireworks display.
The injured tourist is carried to an ambulance in Central Park in New York on Sunday. Credit:AP
New York City police officials said at an evening news conference that they had no evidence to indicate the blast was related to terrorism and had documented no credible threats against the city. But many questions about the case remain unanswered.
Deputy Police Chief John O'Connell said the explosion occurred near East 60th Street and 5th Avenue shortly after 10.50am. Golden and two friends jumped off a rock and Golden landed directly on the explosive material. A New York City Fire Department spokesman said the blast nearly blew off Golden's foot, but his two friends were uninjured.Anime News Network's merchandise coverage sponsored by Tokyo Otaku Mode
The competition for Re:Zero's honorary "best girl" may be continuing because FigureX recently unveiled its life-size figure of Rem. The figure stands about 149 centimeters (about 4'11") tall with the pedestal, and she costs 1.48 million yen (about US$12,600). Due to fan demand, FigureX expanded the limited release from 10 to 30 figures.
Subaru's companion wears a maid outfit and holds a mop in this real-world recreation. FigureX is using a digital mold and high-performance 3D printer to create the figures. Details like the frills and ribbons on the maid clothes get the attention they deserve to make a faithful model of Rem. The base conceals a speaker.
The figure's preorder period opened on Saturday, and it will close on February 2. The figure will go on sale in August, and orders will ship in the order they are received.
FigureX announced the 1:1-scale figure in November and revealed an illustration that inspired the figure's design.
FigureX is creating a life-size figure of Oreimo's Ayase and also made life-size versions of Renge from Non Non Biyori and Vocaloid Yuzuki Yukari. Other life-size figures include Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress'Mumei, To Love-Ru -Trouble- Darkness'Momo, Urusei Yatsura's Lum, and Saenai Heroine no Sodate-kata's Megumi.
Source: Animate TimesMaribel Diaz, mother of 4, will be deported to her home country of Mexico
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WEBVTT OKESMAN SAYS THE REMOVALWILL GO FORWARD.AS EACH HOUR PASSES, FEELINGS OFUNCERTAINTY INTENSIFY.THE WEIGHT ALSO CARRIES HOPE FORFRIENDS AND FAMILY OF DIAZ.FROM THE HOUSE TRUJILLO-DIAZWOULD READ SCRIPTURES IN, TO THEONE SHE SHARES WITH HER HUSBANDAND FOUR CHILDREN, LOVED ONESARE ANXIOUSLY AWAITING ADECISION FROM THE FEDERALAPPEALS COURT.>> I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY HER.EVERYDAY I QUESTION MYSELF, GOTO SLEEP THINKING ABOUT IT, WAKEUP THINKING ABOUT IT.KARIN: 14-YEAR-OLD OSWALDO ISTRUJILLO-DIAZ'S OLDEST SON.SINCE FEDERAL AGENTS PICKED UPHIS MOTHER FROM HERE IN THEIRFAIRFIELD NEIGHBORHOOD A WEEKAGO, HE'S BEEN FORCED TO TAKE ONAN ADULT ROLE AND STAY STRONGFOR HIS YOUNGER SIBLINGS ANDTHEIR FATHER.>> I'VE BEEN CALMING HIM DOWN,SAYING IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.IT'S GOING TO BE ALRIGHT.KARIN: THE FAMILY SAYSTRUJILLO-DIAZ HAS NO CRIMINALRECORD. SHE'S THE BREADWINNER IN THEFAMILY AND IS ACTIVE IN HERCHURCH.>> SHE'S A PERSON THAT IS ASTRAIGHT-FROWARD, HONEST,COMPASSIONATE PERSON.KARIN: BUT SHE DID ENTER THEU.S. ILLEGALLY 15 YEARS AGO.FEDERAL AGENTS SAY HER CASE HASUNDERGONE A REVIEW AT MULTIPLELEVELS, AND SHE HAS NO LEGALBASIS TO REMAIN HERE.>> I'VE GOT ONE MESSAGE FOR THECURRENT PRESIDENT. IF YOU ARE GOING TO SAY YOU AREGOING TO MAKE AMERICA SAFER, IDON'T THINK YOU'RE GOING TO MAKEIT SAFER SENDING A MOM BACK TOMEXICO, MAYBE A CRIMINAL, MAYBEYOU SHOULD PROBABLY SEND THOSE.KARIN: THE LAST FEW DAYS WE'VE, SEEN RELIGIOUS LEADERSRALLYING BEHIND THIS FAMILY.TONIGHT ANOTHER DEMONSTRATION ISPLANNED HERE OUTSIDE THE FEDERALCOURT BUILDI.THAT SHOULD BE GETTING UNDERWAY
Advertisement Federal appeals court denies Fairfield mother's request to stay in U.S. Maribel Diaz, mother of 4, will be deported to her home country of Mexico Share Shares Copy Link Copy
A federal appeals court has denied a Fairfield mother's request to stay in the United States, clearing the way for federal officials to deport her back to Mexico.Maribel Trujillo-Diaz, a mother of four was moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana Monday, ICE officials said Tuesday.An ICE spokesman said the removal will go forward. It was said Trujillo-Diaz would remain in Louisiana until her deportation.The spokesman said "The removal will go forward."Trujillo-Diaz was detained last week by federal agents, according to her family. Diaz is married and has four U.S.-born children.Trujillo-Diaz was being held at the Morrow County Detention Center, about 50 miles north of Columbus. She came to the United States illegally from Mexico in 2002, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.More than 30 people gathered Tuesday for a prayer vigil in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Cincinnati. They called the decision a "grave injustice" and prayed for Trujillo-Diaz's safety and for comprehensive immigration reform. "The family continues to struggle with this. This has been a very, very difficult thing, not only having their mother taken from them so suddenly, but it's been this emotional roller coaster," Father Mike Pucke said. In a statement, ICE officials said:"(The) case has undergone review at multiple levels of our nation's legal system, and the courts have uniformly held that she has no legal basis to remain in the United States. In 2014, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed her legal appeals and she became subject to a final order of deportation."Trujillo-Diaz has since been moved to a facility in Oakdale, Louisiana.An important ongoing debate in the field of psychiatry is whether inflammation in the body is a consequence of or contributor to major depression. A new study in Biological Psychiatry has attempted to resolve the issue.
Inflammation in the body is common to many diseases, including high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and diabetes. Depression has also been linked to an inflammation marker in blood called C-reactive protein (CRP).
Dr. William Copeland at Duke University Medical Center and his colleagues tested the direction of association between depression and CRP in a large sample of adolescent and young adult volunteers. By following the children into young adulthood, they were able to assess the changes over time in both their CRP levels and any depressive symptoms or episodes.
They found that elevated levels of CRP did not predict later depression, but the number of cumulative depressive episodes was associated with increased levels of CRP.
“Our results support a pathway from childhood depression to increased levels of CRP, even after accounting for other health-related behaviors that are known to influence inflammation. We found no support for the pathway from CRP to increased risk for depression,” said Copeland.
These findings suggest that, by this measure, depression is more likely to contribute to inflammation in the body as opposed to arise as a consequence of inflammation in the body.
The highest levels of CRP were found in those who had endured the wear and tear of multiple depressive episodes. This suggests the possibility that long-term emotional distress, beginning in childhood, may lay the foundation for inflammatory processes that lead, in middle age, to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
“Depression is a recurring disorder for many people. Thus the finding that repeated episodes of depression contribute to inflammation in the body highlights a potentially important role for untreated depression as a contributor to a range of serious medical problems,” commented Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. “These data add to growing evidence of the medical importance of effectively treating depression.”For today’s post, I thought about penning a long, sappy spiel dedicated mothers everywhere in honor of Mother’s Day, one that would espouse my gratitude to the women of the world who are, in the words of Queen Bey, “Strong enough to bear the children / Then get back to business”.
But I decided not to.
And why should we be surprised, anyway? That’s the way our society works. We celebrate through consumption.
But I must admit...it is nice to have a day dedicated to mothers and all that they do.
So maybe I’m too cynical to write up a nice speech about what my mother has done for me and why I am so eternally grateful that she went through nine months of shit to give birth to me and didn’t leave me in the dumpster behind Shop Rite the first time I started crying at 2 am in the morning. (Because that takes gumption, you know? There’s a reason I don’t see myself being a mother.)
BUT. I did make a cake.
That counts, right?
DEDICATED TO MOM. I didn’t write a I didn’t write an epic fantasy novel and pen in bold letters on the first page. I didn’t write a simultaneously touching and catchy song about my mother and how awesome she is. I didn’t even buy a Hallmark card. But I made a cake.
It wasn’t a surprise. When you’ve got three cake layers hanging out in the kitchen cooling themselves off, it’s hard to play a fool and say “Yeah I just whipped those up for my midnight snack.” No, I consulted with Mom about what kind of cake I should make beforehand and decided that chocolate, as always, would be the best. Mom likes chocolate.
The design of the cake stemmed from a video I saw some blogger (forget who, sorry) shared on my Facebook timeline— this quick tutorial from My Cupcake Addiction. The pink-frosted cake rimmed with sprinkles and topped with chocolate ganache looked like so much fun to make that I absolutely had to try it. Yes, the tutorial is for a Hershey’s bar illusion cake, but I decided not to do that part. Instead, I topped it with some semi-artistic dollops of coconut whipped cream, my weak attempt to mimic a Katherine Sabbath-style cake (since she often sticks some meringues on top of layers of frosting and ganache and whatever the hell she stuffs those cakes with).
But it’s pretty cute, so whatever.
It ain't perfect, but it doesn't have to be.
It is not only super cute but super delicious too. I used the devil’s food cake recipe from Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey, a great dessert cookbook for people with a set of raging sweet teeth (like me). It is truly a magnificent recipe, filled with real melted chocolate and espresso flavor and, since I used some raspberry extract, with a hint of fruitiness.
Also, instead of the egg-filled mousse buttercream given along with the chocolate cake, I used a Momofuku-inspired buttercream, tinted pink with some frozen beet puree I had on hand. Because natural colors are the best, of course.
Mom approves, I think.
Here is the recipe.
__________
Pink-frosted devil’s food cake
Serves about 12
_________
Devil’s food cake
Ingredients
28 grams • cocoa powder • 1/3 cup
2 grams • espresso powder • 1 teaspoon
112 grams • semisweet chocolate, finely chopped • 4 ounces
244 grams • boiling water • 1 cup
8 grams • vanilla extract • 2 teaspoons
2 grams • raspberry extract (optional) • ½ teaspoon
244 grams • nondairy milk • 1 cup
6 grams • apple cider vinegar • 1 ½ teaspoons
24 grams • flaxseed meal • 3 tablespoons
150 grams • water • ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons
112 grams • coconut oil, softened • ½ cup
110 grams • vegetable oil • ½ cup
230 grams • dark brown sugar • 1 cup
200 grams • granulated sugar • 1 cup
308 grams • cake flour • 2 ¼ cup
4 grams • baking soda • 1 teaspoon
3 grams • salt • ½ teaspoon
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease three 6-inch round baking pans and line the bottoms with parchment.
In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, espresso powder, and chocolate. Pour boiling water in and stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is homogeneous. Stir in vanilla and raspberry extract. Once mixture is cooled, add milk and vinegar.
Whisk together flaxseed and water in a measuring cup. Let stand until thickened.
Place coconut oil and vegetable oil in the bowl of an electric stand mixer; beat until light and fluffy. Add dark brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat until creamy. Add flaxseed mixture and beat to combine.
Combine cake flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to stand mixer in three additions, alternating with the chocolate mixture. Beat only for a few seconds after each addition, mixing just until combined.
Divide between baking pans and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 35 to 38 minutes. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
________
Pink frosting
Ingredients
40 grams • cashews • ¼ cup
112 grams • coconut oil, softened • ½ cup
50 grams • non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening • ¼ cup
22 grams • corn syrup • 1 tablespoon
12 grams • vanilla extract • 1 tablespoon
2 grams • kosher salt • ½ teaspoon
20 grams • beet puree • 1 tablespoon
2 grams • raspberry extract (optional) • ½ teaspoon
200 grams • powdered sugar • 1 2/3 cups
Directions
Soak cashews in water for at least 4 hours. Drain soaked cashews and place in a food processor; blend until as smooth as possible.
Place coconut oil and shortening in the bowl of an electric stand mixer; beat until smooth. Add cashews and beat once more. Add corn syrup, vanilla, salt, beet puree, and raspberry extract; mix to combine. With mixer on low speed, spoon in powdered sugar. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy.
__________
Chocolate ganache
Ingredients
112 grams • semisweet chocolate, finely chopped • 4 ounces
120 grams • coconut milk, full-fat • ½ cup
14 grams • coconut oil • 1 tablespoon
22 grams • light corn syrup • 1 tablespoon
Directions
Start by placing chocolate in a medium, heatproof bowl. Whisk together coconut milk, nondairy margarine, and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Place over medium heat and whisk until butter is melted and the mixture just begins to boil.
Remove from heat and pour mixture into chocolate. Let stand for a minute, then whisk until smooth. Let cool completely at room temperature before using.
_______
Assembly
Ingredients
Chocolate cake
Pink frosting
Chocolate ganache
Sprinkles, to taste
Directions
Level off each cake with a serrated knife. Layer with pink frosting and frost the entire cake with remaining buttercream. Press sprinkles on the sides of the cake for decoration. Pour chocolate ganache on top. Let sit for a few minutes so the ganache settles in, then pipe whipped cream on top as decoration. Slice and serve.
_______
So majestic.
I don’t know if making and eating cake counts as contributing to the commercialization of Mother’s Day. Hopefully not. After all, producing (making cake) is the opposite of consuming (buying cards and flowers and shit like that). That’s how economics works, right?
But it’s the thought that counts, amiright?
Anyway. Check out some of these other super rad recipes my mom likes.
Peanut butter chocolate mug cake. She munched on some of this while I was testing the recipe and seemingly approved.
Coffee bundt cake. She makes this recipe (albeit with eggs) a lot during the Christmas season. Since, you know, bundt cakes are terrific gifts.
Candy cane Oreos. These were actually her Christmas gift last year.In little over a month since school started, San Diego Unified's new drug-sniffing dog has been deployed eight times - twice to San Diego High School - in an effort to detect narcotics and deter use of illegal substances.
The drug searches have raised questions among some parents about whether the procedures infringe on student rights and set them up for criminalization.
Parents and students from San Diego High's International Studies academy met with district officials Monday night to air their concerns.
Some complained that the school has been vague about policies and procedures dictating how the dog will be used. Others demanded to know what consequences students would face if their backpacks were to be tagged and searched.
"What's the message this sends to students - you're all criminals who need policing?" said Ernie Villafranca, the parent of two daughters who attend the campus. "When you teach kids that it's OK to sacrifice their personal rights, you are corrupting a future generation's appreciation of their civil liberties."
The San Diego Unified School District acquired Blitz, its first drug detection dog, through a $60,000 grant from the San Diego Police Officers Foundation in the spring. Since 2002, schools that wanted to bring on a special police canine had to pay for the service.
"We know that drugs do not belong at schools. This is one way we can help keep schools safer," said Ruben Littlejohn, chief of the district police force. "Our intention is not to criminalize every student - it will be dealt with on a case by case situation. If something is tagged by the dog, we have a conversation with the student to find out what is going on."
Some schools sent out automated phone messages to parents alerting them that the specially trained German Shepard would be sent to their children's school to sniff for drugs in randomly chosen classrooms. Some also sent letters that parents criticized because they did not provide details of the search protocols, nor did they include a point of contact for parents to direct their questions.
Since school started Sept. 2, the district police department has taken Blitz to 12 middle and high schools to demonstrate how searches are conducted. Principals at an additional eight schools requested that the dog be brought to their campuses into randomly chosen classrooms (that were vacated by students) to sniff backpacks and other items for drugs or the scent of drugs. No trace of drugs has been detected in any of the searches.
The dog does not come into contact with students, rather it sniffs backpacks and other items left in classrooms. The dog is also trained to sniff cars.
Parent activist and former attorney Sally Smith brought to the Monday night meeting copies of district policy she said has been violated because students did not appear to leave classrooms for searches voluntarily. She also brought literature citing studies that show drug detection dogs to be unreliable.
District policy states that "dog sniff searches may be performed on student lockers; unattended automobiles in school parking lots; and empty classrooms when students have voluntarily left the classroom and have voluntarily left personal belongings in the classroom."
Sarah and Sharon Sullivan, both students at San Diego High's International Studies academy, said they like the idea of keeping drugs off campus. But the sisters also said they worried about getting wrongfully singled out for drug possession in the event of a misunderstanding or mistake.
"On one hand, I don't mind because I don't have drugs," said Sharon, a freshman. "But what if I was put under the spotlight for something I didn't do?"
Parents urged the district to seek their input about how to address drug-prevention education efforts, interventions and police presence on campus. School board trustee Richard Barrera urged the school principal to establish a parent task force to do just that.
San Diego Unified was recently criticized for contributing to the militarization of schools by accepting a donated armored truck from the federal government that was to be used as a rescue vehicle. The district decided to return the mine-resistant truck following the outcry.Long after Timberwolves practice ended Saturday, after every other player had left the court, Zach LaVine was still shooting. Corner threes, top of the key, all along the arc. Midrange jumpers. Scores of free throws. Over and over.
“I’m the kind of guy who will go out, try to get my mind off of it,” LaVine said, much later. “So I just come in the gym and shoot.’’
It would be a 2½-week glitch, eight games in which LaVine’s shot has steadfastly refused to fall. LaVine, a second-year combo guard — interim coach Sam Mitchell has played him at both point guard and off guard during different stretches — has struggled with his shot, his frustration occasionally showing.
And so LaVine has simply practiced more. His current regimen on days without games is to practice with the team, spend extra time shooting afterward. He gets something to eat, then takes a nap. But he’s back at the team’s practice facility at 7 p.m. for three more hours of shooting.
“I just want to shoot until it feels good,” LaVine said. “The shot hasn’t been falling, so I’m just going to shoot until it starts going in.’’
In November LaVine shot 45.2 percent and averaged 15.3 points. During the first 12 games of December he shot 42.3 percent and scored 15.0 points per game.
Since then things have gotten rough. In his past eight games LaVine is 17-for-66 (25.8 percent) and averaging 5.7 points.
“I was on such a hot start,” he said. “I didn’t want to come back to Earth, but I feel like I’m below Earth right now. But I’m digging myself back up.’’
Though just 20, LaVine has always appeared to be blessed with an innate confidence that allowed him to roll with the NBA punches. But LaVine’s body language has shown his frustration lately.
That was something Mitchell talked with LaVine about before practice Saturday.
“The first thing I said was, ‘Get that look off your face,’ ’’ Mitchell said. “Then I said, ‘Do everything else as hard as you can, except worrying about scoring.’ In practice I had him coming off picks, running the plays, just looking find people. All of a sudden, at one point, he’s going to look up, he’s going to be open and the shot will come.’’
Mitchell said having LaVine swing between the two guard positions hasn’t helped. He will try to get LaVine minutes at shooting guard going forward. But, with Andrew Wiggins playing there, and with Shabazz Muhammad getting some minutes there — and playing well — it will be difficult. So most of his minutes will come at the point.
And, Mitchell is certain, LaVine’s shot will be back soon.
“Everyone goes through this,’’ he said. “He’s going to be OK. Because he can shoot the ball.’’
LaVine? He’ll just keep shooting until they start falling. What else can you do?
“There are a lot of games left,” he said. “I’ve been a little frustrated with my game. But I feel like if you don’t get frustrated you don’t care about it.’’Upcoming Tours
Wintersun, Orpheus Omega, Claim The Throne
SOUNDWORKS DIRECT presents
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND TOUR NOVEMBER 2017
The wait is over! The symphonic, majestic, melodic and epic sounds of WINTERSUN finally reach Australia!!
Founded back in 2004 by front man Jari Mäenpää, Finnish epic metallers WINTERSUN released their outstanding, highly-acclaimed debut self titled album in the same year. With technicality, speed, precision and high melodic virtuosity, the band instantly made their mark worldwide. Fast forward to 2017 and WINTERSUN return with their 3rd studio album entitled 'The Forest Seasons', their most varied opus to date and cements their status as leaders and luminaries of modern melodic metal.
With this announcement of their first Australian tour, as expected, a massive air of excitement shall arise.
An early ticket purchase is a must!!!
ORPHEUS OMEGA, one of Melbourne's prime stock, have evolved over the years into a truly unique entity. Displaying aggressive and melodic guitar work, intricate and powerful drumming, chaotic keyboard work and a varied array of vocal stylings, Orpheus Omega have developed themselves as one of melodic death metal's most promising newcomers.
Perth's CLAIM THE THRONE rip apart folk metal with a merciless assault, delivering an extreme take on melodies that fans of pagan and melodeath alike have been raging for. This October Claim The Throne deliver their epic fourth full-length album 'ON DESOLATE PLAINS' with passion and ferocity – an epic slab of heavy folk-influenced melodic death metal that sees the band at the peak of their 10 year raid.
WINTERSUN with Orpheus Omega and Claim The Throne performing at:
Nov 2nd - Melbourne, Max Watt's
Nov 3rd - Sydney, Max Watt's
Nov 4th - Brisbane, The Brightside
Nov 6th - Wellington, Valhalla - *Wintersun only
TICKETS ON SALE FROM Tuesday September 12th at:
MELBOURNE – http://soundworksdirect.eventbrite.com / www.oztix.com.au
SYDNEY – http://soundworksdirect.eventbrite.com / www.oztix.com.au
BRISBANE – http://soundworksdirect.eventbrite.com / www.oztix.com.au
WELLINGTON - www.undertheradar.co.nz / www.valhallatouring.com
www.facebook.com/wintersun
www.facebook.com/orpheusofficial
www.claimthethrone.com
www.nuclearblast.de/en
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www.heavymetalmerchant.comTo the utter shock and deep sadness of all who knew him, Irish Times sports journalist Carl O’Malley died suddenly on Thursday night.
He became ill during a soccer game and was taken by ambulance to St Vincent’s Hospital where he passed away at the age of 36.
The tragedy is deepened by the fact that he was on paternity leave this week and leaves behind his wife Moira and their three young children Charlie (6), Arwen (3) and Leo (seven days).
He is also survived by his family, father Dr Carl O’Malley, mother Dr Katherine O’Malley, brother John, sister Katherine, grandmother Cassie, parents-in-law George and Maura Tully and sisters-in-law.
Carl was one of the first online sports journalists in Ireland, starting off in ireland.com in 2000 while still completing his journalism degree in Griffith College.
In almost 15 years of working for the company, he was a relentless driver of sport online as well as featuring regularly in the newspaper.
“Carl was a key figure in The Irish Times sports department,” said sports editor Malachy Logan. “His instinct for a story, writing ability and technical knowledge were key components for The Irish Times as it developed its sports coverage in print and online.
“His first love was soccer, whether playing, reporting or cheering on Liverpool. That love was matched by in-depth knowledge of the game which was a huge asset in the paper’s coverage of the sport, particularly the Euro 2012 finals and last year’s World Cup.
“An outstanding colleague, his loss is such a shock. He will be so badly missed by everyone in the paper.”
Carl specialised in soccer writing, covering Euro 2012 on the ground in Poland and masterminding The Irish Times’ 2014 World Cup online coverage from the office.
He stewarded the live blogs of Ireland soccer and rugby internationals that have become among the most-read sports items on the website. He was doggedly innovative when it came to finding different ways to present information online across a huge variety of sports.
A minute’s silence was observed in his memory at the launch of the Airtricity League season at the Aviva Stadium yesterday morning.
Reposing on Sunday and Monday at Fanagans funeral home on Aungier Street, Carl’s removal will take place on Tuesday next to the Church of the Holy Spirit, Kimmage Manor, Whitehall Road (East) for funeral mass at 10am, followed by cremation in Mount Jerome.President Trump delivers the commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn., on May 27. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll, posted graphs Sunday looking at views of the Trump presidency to date. Included in the mix was this one, using Gallup’s weekly approval numbers to show splits by party and ideology.
This comports with what polling generally looks like: Strong Democrats at one end, strong Republicans at the other, independents in the middle. But this graph struck me as interesting because of how the line progresses. Steady improvement as the ideology moves right — and then a big spike once Republicans are asked.
Here’s another way of looking at that over the first 17 weeks of Gallup polling on the president. Independents view Trump more positively than conservative Democrats — but there’s a wide gulf between them and Republicans.
That’s not what the polling looked like during Barack Obama’s presidency.
Over Obama’s first 17 weeks in office, independents were about roughly halfway between liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans — but so were liberal-moderate Republicans. (There aren’t enough liberal Republicans to break them out separately.)
As partisanship wore down on Obama’s presidency, those less-conservative Republicans soured on him. Independents remained about in the middle.
This shift is more clear when we look at party identity by itself.
In the first 17 weeks of Obama’s |
’s use of key terms.
Understanding these distinctions makes Calvin’s position–often thought to be confusing and contradictory–intelligible and consistent. He does not believe that the 4th Commandment requires Sunday-observance. He rejects this claim. But he does believe that Christians should go to church on Sundays and submit to the requests of the officers of the church as to when worship is held and what sort of conduct and behavior is appropriate around them. This is a matter of human law in the earthly realm. The church has the freedom to make these laws, so long as they do not call them divine laws, and individuals Christians ought to submit, not because their conscience is bound, but because they want to promote order and harmony.Enhanced video of George Zimmerman being led into a Florida police station appears to show possible injuries to the back of his head, lending credence to his claim he was in a struggle with Trayvon Martin when he shot the teen.
ABC News initially released video of Zimmerman that did not clearly show marks on his scalp, but had the video enhanced digitally and released a new clip on Monday. That clip appears to show a gash. Zimmerman's father claims his son was being beaten by the 17-year-old teen when he shot Martin in self-defense. Martin's supporters say Zimmerman shot the unarmed teen on Feb. 26 after racially profiling him and stalking the youth through his neighborhood.
Zimmerman's attorney, Craig Sonner, said Monday that his client would surrender to authorities if charged. Sonner told Reuters that his client is not hiding from authorities.
"There’s not going to be a manhunt or anything like that," Sonner told Reuters.
Also on Monday, Martin's parents asked federal officials investigating the teenager's shooting death to look further into the prosecutor who stepped down from the case and his role in deciding whether to press charges.
In a letter to U.S. Department of Justice officials, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton allege that State Attorney Norm Wolfinger met with the Sanford police chief within hours of the teen's death and that together they overruled a detective's recommendation that Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter. The letter claims a lead investigator filed an affidavit stating that he didn't find Zimmerman's story credible.
Wolfinger called the allegations "lies" and said no meeting took place.
"I'm outraged by the outright lies contained in the letter," Wolfinger said in a statement. "I encourage the Justice Department to investigate and document that no such meeting or communication occurred."
Wolfinger recused himself from the case two weeks ago and a special prosecutor from Jacksonville is now investigating the shooting. Wolfinger said he wanted to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest and to tone down the rhetoric in the case.
Martin's parents want to know why Wolfinger's office made the decision not to charge Zimmerman after the shooting. Zimmerman told police he was attacked and fired in self-defense. The U.S. Justice Department is already looking into the Sanford Police Department's handling of the case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersSenate Dems seek to turn tables on GOP in climate change fight Bernie Sanders Town Hall finishes third in cable news race, draws 1.4 million viewers Woman to undecided Biden: 'Just say yes' to 2020 bid MORE is touting new fundraising totals for his Democratic presidential campaign and launching a one-day drive to reach $40 million in February that will “absolutely shock the political establishment.”
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Sanders said in a statement on Monday that the campaign raised an “impressive” $36 million from 1.2 million individuals in February.
He wants to end the month with $40 million, however, and is looking for a one-day, $4 million haul.
“It's a goal that I don't know if we can make, but I think it's very important that we try,” Sanders said.
“[W]e are still up against the billionaire class and their super PACs who are doing everything they can to stop our movement,” he added.
Sanders’s fundraising pitch comes ahead of the Federal Election Commission’s midnight deadline for February fundraising.
His cash call also precedes Super Tuesday, when 12 states and U.S. territories will vote in the single biggest day of the Democratic presidential primary so far.
Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails County GOP in Minnesota shares image comparing Sanders to Hitler Holder: 'Time to make the Electoral College a vestige of the past' MORE dealt Sanders a major blow last Saturday with her landslide win in South Carolina’s primary. The former secretary of State, who won by a 48-point margin in South Carolina, has been victorious in three out of four early voting contests this month.
--This report was updated at 7:33 a.m.Perspectives On Medical Research
Volume 2, 1990
Baby Fae: The Unlearned Lesson
Kenneth P. Stoller, MD.
On October 26, 1984, Dr. Leonard L Bailey placed the heart of a baboon into the chest of Baby Fae, an infant born with a severe heart defect known as left hypoplastic heart. Baby Fae seemed to do well for a few days; then her body mounted a massive immunological attack on the foreign tissue and rejected the graft. Baby Fae's death came as no surprise to scientists and physicians familiar with the human immune system and with the scientific realities that preclude successful cross-species transplants.
Before the Baby Fae incident, Bailey, a surgeon at Loma Linda University Medical Center, spent almost a decade vainly pursuing research grants. His work in xenografts, largely unknown and unrcviewed by other professionals, had not appeared in journals and was funded by Bailey himself and his colleagues.1,2 During the seven years preceding the Baby Fae baboon transplant, he performed some 160 cross-species transplants, mostly on sheep and goats, none of whom survived more than 6 months. Although warned by a colleague at a medical conference that his research was too incomplete to risk using human subjects,3 Bailey went ahead.
Baby Fae was not the first human to receive a primate xenograft. In a review of xenografts,4 the Council of Scientific Affairs of the American Medical Association noted a rapid rejection of all baboon transplants to humans. Nevertheless, Bailey claimed that the problems of rejection could be overcome by the "immature" state of an infant's immune system. After the operation, immunologists from around the world pointed out that the part of the immune system that rejects unmatched transplants is fully mature at birth, Furthermore, there is no way to match baboon hearts to human recipients, because baboons have no antigens in common with human tissue.5 Bailey has always maintained that Baby Fae's death was unrelated to the species of the organ "donor." An editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association called Bailey's claim "wishful thinking."5
Bailey's use of baboons was somewhat surprising, given their relatively distant evolutionary relationship to humans compared to other primates. The reason came to light when the Times of London published an interview between Bailey and an Australian radio crew. The reporters had been forbidden to ask direct questions about the operation, so they queried Bailey on the issue of why he had chosen a baboon in view of the baboon's evolutionary distance from humans. Bailey replied, "Er, I find that difficult to answer. You see, I don't believe in evolution."6 It is shocking that Bailey ignored basic biological concepts in formulating a life-threatening human experiment.
Often, ambitious surgeons wish to perform new, perhaps dangerous, experimental operations. In an effort to safeguard patients, institutional review boards must first give permission for any human experiment. In an unconscionable lapse of ethics, the review board of Loma Linda Medical Center failed to live up to its obligations -- they gave Bailey permission for five baboon-to-human transplant experiments, having no reports documenting that even heart allotransplantation in infancy is successful.5 Furthermore, highly experimental procedures on children, such as a xenograft, require special permission from the Secretary of Health and Human Services.7
In addition to these institutional and federal safeguards that should have protected Baby Fae, California's Protection of Human Subjects in Medical Experimentation Act (PHSMEA) requires that if informed consent is given in behalf of another person, the experimental procedure must meet certain criteria. California's Health and Safety Code ~24175, subsection (e) states, "Informed consent given by a person other than the human subject shall only be for medical experiments related to maintaining or improving the health of the human subject or related to obtaining information about a pathological condition of the human subject."
Because Bailey did not look for a human heart donor and did not refer Baby Fae elsewhere for attempted surgical repair, the highly experimental transplant was both unethical and unlawful. Dr. William Norwood at the Children's Hospital in Boston has been repairing left hypoplastic hearts since 1979. The survival rate of the Norwood procedure is now as high as 75 percent Nevertheless, Baby Fae's consent form read, "Temporizing operation to extend the lives of babies like yours by a few months have generally been unsuccessful. We believe heart transplantation may offer hope of life for your baby. Laboratory research at Loma Linda University over the past seven years, including over 150 heart transplants in newborn animals, suggest that long term survival with appropriate growth and development may be possible following heart transplantation during the first week of life."
Following considerable controversy over the Baby Fae transplant, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) appointed a special committee charged with reviewing the procedures used by the university to assure that Baby Fae's relatives gave proper informed consent. The committee did not deal with the scientific basis for transplanting a baboon heart into a human. The committee found several weaknesses in the consent procedure. Specifically, the committee concluded that possibility of "long term survival" had been overstated and the protocol did not include searching for or transplanting a human heart. The committee's report did not address why Loma Linda had not sought permission for this unprecedented experiment from the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Furthermore, it did not address the California law that should have prevented the experiment. (Perhaps the NIH committee was unaware of PHSMEA.)
Why hasn't Bailey been prosecuted? The San Bernandino District Attorney's office has officially stated that there are insufficient facts to support a felony prosecution. Unofficially, I was told that the highly technical nature of the case would likely overwhelm the court with conflicting medical opinions and therefore make a conviction unlikely. Furthermore, Bailey is considered a local hero. The office of the California State Attorney General, John K. Van de Kamp, has also maintained that Sufficient facts are available to establish that a crime occurred.
The facts, however, suggest that Baby Fae was sacrificed to Leonard Bailey's career. Given the state of current medical knowledge, there was no doubt that Baby Fae would reject the baboon heart. Rules and laws designed to protect her were violated by those entrusted to uphold them. Professional ethics were considered to be of less importance than widespread publicity. The institutional review boards and law enforcement agencies responsible for protecting human subjects have virtually no accountability to the public, much less to the experimental subjects themselves.
References 1. Anon: Next please. PCRM Update, July-August, 1985. 2. Roe BR, Glaser RH: The lessons of the Baby Fae Case (letter). The Wall Street Journal Dec 24, 1984. 3. Mathews J: Colleague warned doctor before Baby Fae implant. Washington Post, 1984. 4. American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs: Xenografts: Review of the literature and curreut status. JAMA l985;254:3353-3357, 5. Jonasson O, Hardy MA: The case of Baby Fae (letter). JAMA 1985;254:3358-3359. 6. Gould SJ: The heart of erminology What has an abstruse debate over evolutionary logic got to do with Baby Fat? Natural History 1988;97:24. 7. Department of Health and Human Services: Final regulations amending basic HIHS policy for the protection of human research subject. Federal Register 1981;465:8366-8392.
ContentsAnalysts at the three biggest credit rating agencies who gave positive, investment-grade ratings to AIG and Lehman Brothers up until their collapse have not been fired or disciplined, the heads of the agencies admitted at a Congressional hearing today.
Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch Ratings all maintained at least A ratings on AIG and Lehman Brothers up until mid-September of last year. Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy Sept. 15; the federal government provided AIG with its first of four multibillion-dollar bailouts the next day.
McDaniel defended Moody's ratings of Lehman Brothers by pointing to the government-engineered rescue of Bear Stearns in March of 2008, arguing that it played an important role in Moody's analysts maintaining an A rating on the now-bankrupt firm. Joynt said his analysts have since done "a lot of thoughtful soul-searching."
The big three rating agencies have come under fire since the 2007 collapse in the subprime home mortgage market for issuing rosy ratings on a plethora of securities that are now considered to be junk. The Obama administration and Congress are exploring various reform proposals.
At the hearing today, the exchange between Speier and the agency chiefs was particularly contentious.
"You had rated AIG and Lehman Brothers as AAA, AA minutes before they were collapsing. After they did fail, did you take any action against those analysts who had rated them?" Speier asked. "Did you fire them? Did you suspend them? Did you take any actions against those who had put that kind of a remarkable grade on products that were junk?"
McDaniel answered first. "No, we did not fire any of the analysts involved in either AIG or Lehman," he replied. "An important part of our analysis was based on a review of governmental support that had been applied to Bear Stearns earlier in the year.
"Frankly, an important part of our analysis was that a line had been drawn under the number five firm in the market [Bear], and that likely number four would be supported as well. Additionally..."
Speier then interrupted him.
"But that's not analysis," the first-term Congresswoman shot back. "That's an opinion. I can have that kind of an opinion, and I'm not an analyst. How could you possibly make that kind of a decision based on an opinion when you have millions of people relying on that?"
"Our opinion applies to whether we believe an instrument will pay or will not pay," McDaniel responded.
"That was a political determination that you made, Mr. McDaniel," Speier retorted.
S&P's Sharma said his analysts also were not fired. Joynt of Fitch said the same. He said that Fitch analysts in charge of Lehman Brothers and AIG were "disappointed" and "surprised."
In an interview with the Huffington Post after the exchange, Speier said she was "flabbergasted" by the responses.
"It just makes the case over and over again of the lack of accountability in the financial services industry," she said. "It's heads they win, tails the public loses."
The analysts "should have been disciplined, and they should have gone back and looked at their modeling, which was flawed to begin with. We don't need your political opinions [off which] to base a rating of a security," she added.
"For all the talk of all this being such a deliberative, scientific process...to have this decision was remarkable to me."Cooling Data Centers Could Prevent Massive Electrical Waste
June 27th, 2008 by Timothy B. Hurst
It is estimated that the data storage sector consumed about 61 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2006 (1.5% of total U.S. consumption, or roughly equivalent to the amount consumed by 5.8 million average U.S. households). These numbers are only expected to grow.
The energy used by the nation’s servers and data centers is growing at an unsustainable rate. Not only that, but web servers are notoriously inefficient. For example, computer servers are used at only 6 percent of their capacity on average, while data center facilities operate at roughly 65% to 75% efficiency, meaning that 25% to 35% of all the energy consumed by servers is wasted (converted to heat).
If we are to even consider reducing our energy consumption and carbon footprint, the growing demands generated by our web servers must be near the top of the list of possible improvements. And the Department of Energy agrees.
Researchers at DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Washington and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado are hard at work figuring out ways to make our data storage infrastructure more efficient by running them at lower temperatures. The technology exists to achieve efficiencies of 80% to 90% in conventional server power supplies. Moving this heat source away from the server allows the cooling efforts to be focused on the computing elements.
Alternative Cooling Approaches
Evolutionary progress is being made with conventional air cooling techniques that are known for their reliability. Current investigation focuses on novel heat sinks and fan technologies with the aim to improve contact surface, conductivity, and heat transfer parameters.
One of the most effective air cooling options is Air Jet Impingement. The design and manufacturing of nozzles and manifolds for jet impingement is relatively simple.
The same benefits that apply to Air Jet Impingement are exhibited in Liquid Impingement technologies. In addition, liquid cooling offers higher heat transfer coefficients as a tradeoff for higher design and operation complexity.
One of the most interesting liquid cooling technologies are microchannel heat sinks in conjunction with micropumps because the channels can be manufactured in the micrometer range with the same process technologies used for electronic devices.
Liquid metal cooling, used in cooling reactors, is starting to be an interesting alternative for high-power-density micro devices. Large heat transfer coefficients are achieved by circulating the liquid with hydroelectric or hydromagnetic pumps. The pumping circuit is reliable because no moving parts, except for the liquid itself, are involved in the cooling process. Heat transfer efficiency is also increased by high conductivity. The low heat capacity of metals leads to less stringent requirements for heat exchangers.
Heat extraction with liquids can be increased by several orders of magnitude by exploiting phase changes. Heat pipes and Thermosyphons exploit the high latent heat of vaporization to remove large quantities of heat from the evaporator section. The circuits are closed by either capillary action in the case of heat pipes or gravity in the case of Thermosyphons. These devices are therefore very efficient but are limited in their temperature range and heat flux capabilities.
Thermoelectric Coolers have the ability to provide localized spot cooling, an important capability in modern processor design. Research in this area focuses on improving materials and distributing control of TEC arrays such that the efficiency over the whole chip improves.
Capturing Waste Heat
Reusing the waste heat from a data center may not make the server room itself more efficient, but depending on how heat is reused, it can save a company a significant sum of money. In its report to Congress last year on data center energy consumption, the federal Environmental Protection Agency suggested the practice. And the idea has gained traction, according to Mark Fontecchio of SearchDataCenter.com.
For example, in Winnipeg, Canada a media company called, Quebecor, efforts have been made to take the heat from the 2,500-square-foot data center on the ground floor and use it to heat other parts of the building.
Because of the cool Winnipeg climate, engineers decided to make use of that cool air by installing air-side economizers that draw in outside air. The economizers include baffles that open to varying degrees depending on the outside temperature and how much cooling the data center needs.
After the air cycles through the approximately 100 eight-way servers, it warms up in the process. It then goes into an overhead plenum, where about 10% of the air is re-circulated to warm the outside air that comes into the data center.
Another duct out of the exhaust plenum to the intake duct of the editorial office upstairs. Quebecor also added a second thermostat to its editorial offices; the first controls the traditional heating furnaces. That whole process used up another 60% of the waste heat. The data center dumps the remaining 30% into the adjacent warehouse.Email Share +1 143 Shares
President Obama made an appearance in Maine late Thursday to campaign on behalf of a Democratic candidate who could become the nation’s first openly gay person elected as governor.
Speaking before an estimated 3,000 people at the Portland Expo, Obama made the case for Michaud Michaud based on his history as a millworker, a state legislator and a five-term member of Congress.
“So that’s why I like Mike,” Obama said. “He wakes up every day fighting to make sure Mainers see their hard work pay off, making sure that responsibility is rewarded. He fights to make sure every kid, every worker across this state gets the same chance that he had — in fact, an even better chance. Because he believes, like I believe, that America is a place where no matter what you look like, where you come from, what your last name is, who you love, you can make it if you try.”
At the no time during the rally did Obama mention Michaud’s sexual orientation or the first he would achieve if the candidate wins election to the office of governor.
Obama’s 30-minute speech was in many ways an attempt to remind voters of success under his own administration to motivate them to vote Democrat amid expectations of a Republican wave on Election Day.
“So the truth is America is outpacing most of the rest of the world,” Obama said. “We’ve created more jobs here in the United States over the last six years than Japan, Europe, and all of the advanced nations combined. We’ve made real progress.”
It’s the not first time a member of the Obama family campaigned on behalf of Michaud. Early this month, first lady Michelle Obama appeared at a rally at the University of Maine in Bangor to make the case for his candidacy.
Polls show a close race between Michaud and incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage. A new Magellan Strategies poll in Maine found the two candidates tied at 42 percent with Independent candidate Eliot Cutler behind at 13 percent.
According to the Portland Press Herald, Michaud took aim at LePage when taking the stage, saying voting him out of office would reverse course for the state of Maine.
“This is your state and in five more days, you can take it back,” he was quoted as saying, adding later, “Our vision is a vision where we all get to succeed.”slow_solo_focus Moderator
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Budget Focus Build-My Child
http://imgur.com/a/59Wdr
you'll see the car bone stock on the first day of junior year highschool. i dont have any other pictures but oh well. nothing has happened to the car yet but SVT springs were a month away. again no before and after pics :( on the bright side i snagged the springs for 50 bucks on craigslist.
The first mod i was actually proud of is the second picture, where i spent a day and a half building my exhaust from scratch, minus the glass pack and muffler. you can see my long 16/17yr old hair in there.
the third picture was taken some time in Jan/Feb 2014 when i was all prepped for an autox, lots of fun and am still going to them regularly.
the fourth picture is a BBK 65MM TB, it was a Christmas present from my parents and boy is it touchy! the right kind of touchy ;) jk...
Fifth piture is a deck that i had installed when i was 17? i got some door speakers and two 10" subs to go with it. i'd show a picture of that too but im embarrassed about it, it makes me feel dirty. in a ricey kind of way. the door speakers are still in but the subs are not.
oh boy oh boy oh boy number 6 was my most exciting mod! first day of new wheels! motegi 16x7 mr116(i think thats the model). when i saw the tech at discount roll up i felt like my bride was walking down the aisle, maybe not like that. however i was very happy :D
i got some pacesetter shorty headers soon after i got my STS and TB(i know the pics are not in order! im sorry!) this is the only picture i found of them, when i busted my power steering installing them. >:( hardest SOB to install thus far.
8th picture is a STS and it was a bigger PITA to install than i had expected. i was living on my own at this point (6 month endeavor) and managed to scrape every last penny i had to own it. its a fun little bugger :D
and finally my most recent mod, front and rear sways from eibach, only the rear is on right now as the front proves to be difficult to install. i havent really put a weekend in to install it yet. i feel like it will be as difficult to install as the headers.
i have two more fun goodies coming in the mail, front steel braided brake lines from CFM and a focus sport front tower stress bar.
when i get home from work tonight ill try to add some pictures of how the car looks currently!
thanks for looking! :D
Hey all, ive been building this car since i got it when i was sixteen. I'm 19 now so i figured i'd show you all what ive done since my child is almost complete.you'll see the car bone stock on the first day of junior year highschool. i dont have any other pictures but oh well. nothing has happened to the car yet but SVT springs were a month away. again no before and after pics :( on the bright side i snagged the springs for 50 bucks on craigslist.The first mod i was actually proud of is the second picture, where i spent a day and a half building my exhaust from scratch, minus the glass pack and muffler. you can see my long 16/17yr old hair in there.the third picture was taken some time in Jan/Feb 2014 when i was all prepped for an autox, lots of fun and am still going to them regularly.the fourth picture is a BBK 65MM TB, it was a Christmas present from my parents and boy is it touchy! the right kind of touchy ;) jk...Fifth piture is a deck that i had installed when i was 17? i got some door speakers and two 10" subs to go with it. i'd show a picture of that too but im embarrassed about it, it makes me feel dirty. in a ricey kind of way. the door speakers are still in but the subs are not.oh boy oh boy oh boy number 6 was my most exciting mod! first day of new wheels! motegi 16x7 mr116(i think thats the model). when i saw the tech at discount roll up i felt like my bride was walking down the aisle, maybe not like that. however i was very happy :Di got some pacesetter shorty headers soon after i got my STS and TB(i know the pics are not in order! im sorry!) this is the only picture i found of them, when i busted my power steering installing them. >:( hardest SOB to install thus far.8th picture is a STS and it was a bigger PITA to install than i had expected. i was living on my own at this point (6 month endeavor) and managed to scrape every last penny i had to own it. its a fun little bugger :Dand finally my most recent mod, front and rear sways from eibach, only the rear is on right now as the front proves to be difficult to install. i havent really put a weekend in to install it yet. i feel like it will be as difficult to install as the headers.i have two more fun goodies coming in the mail, front steel braided brake lines from CFM and a focus sport front tower stress bar.when i get home from work tonight ill try to add some pictures of how the car looks currently!thanks for looking! :D Attached Thumbnails0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
Facing a hearing before a federal judge, the DNC reversed course and gave the Bernie Sanders campaign back immediate access to their voter files.
In a statement, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said:
We are extremely pleased that the DNC has reversed its outrageous decision to take Sen. Sanders’ data. The information we provided tonight is essentially the same information we already sent them by email on Thursday,” said Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager.
Clearly, they were very concerned about their prospects in court. Now what we need to restore confidence in the DNC’s ability to secure data is an independent audit that encompasses the DNC’s record this entire campaign. Transparency at the DNC is essential. We trust they have nothing to hide.
Momentum was growing on the side of the Sanders campaign. Prominent Democrats like former Obama senior advisor David Axelrod had called for access to their voter files to be returned to the Sanders campaign.
On Friday evening, the Clinton campaigned urged a quick solution to the lawsuit, and the immediate restoration of the Sanders voter files.
For the sake of party unity, it was vital that this dispute was resolved quickly. Both the Sanders and Clinton campaigns have now called for an independent audit into the DNC’s ability to secure the voter data.
What the fired Sanders staffer did was beyond wrong, and the Clinton campaign had every right to be concerned about the security of their data, but this is clearly a problem with the DNC and their vendor.
There will be no lawsuit. The Democratic candidates can take the debate stage on Saturday night focused on the issues, not data breaches.
If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human:At an early age Rasbury became widely recognized as the informal leader of Person's with Influence (PWI), an indigenous and sought after societal group both intimidating and selective in its recruitment of members. Practicing a form of ancient sophistry, they offered general knowledge and unspoken services in exchange for money and gifts. Sophistry was intensely popular in pre-socratic times but lost momentum until Rasbury rekindled its' fundamental principles. Dubbed as PWI's ringleader, horse whispers around town say Rasbury was Marlon Brando's inspiration for the Godfather character. Rasbury's major money-maker came after he started I'll Eat You, Inc., a company focused on crafting personalized chocolate pops. After Rasbury split from PWI, he fell in love with a botanist named Kitten, only to have his best old x-friend Ray pilfer and marry her. But knowing Kitten's exact dimensions, and to infuriate Ray, Rasbury crafted delicous chocolate "Kitten Pops," distributing them nationally with this slogan: "Have your way with Kitten, my x-friends wife, she's delicous!" Shortly thereafter, I'll Eat You, Inc. took off like a jitterbug, creating and distributing chocolate molds for over 3,500 people daily. On the side, Rasbury is also a free-lance writer, motivational speaker, and inventor of the rare color dunebuggy brown. He also owns the chain Nip N' Cuts, a topless barber shop that exceeds over $1 billion in annual sales. Some argue that sales of Nip N' Cuts would be greater if Rasbury didn't air-condition each location. But Rasbury sticks to his maxim: "the colder the shop, the more magical the experience." Rasbury will soon be launching another highly anticipated product, Erotic GPS: "Sexed Up Navigation for those who cum and go." Rasbury's recent case study showed that the market for a dirty-talkin' GPS is bigger than the directional voice will make you. For more information, visit TheodoreRasbury.com.The video will start in 8 Cancel
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Manchester United do not have a great track record with Brazilians but Gabriel Barbosa could become the seventh to join the club.
The Sun claims United are 'now in pole position' to sign 19-year-old Santos forward Barbosa and could conclude a deal within 48 hours. It is the transfer window of the 48-hour oracles - Sky Italia peddled that timeframe on Paul Pogba for about two weeks.
Jose Mourinho was apparently rejected the funds to sign a young Brazilian earlier in the summer - thought to be Gabriel Jesus or Barbosa, so it should be no surprise if he finally gets his way, having made a positive start to life at United.
Simply dubbed 'the next Neymar', Barbosa is currently playing for Brazil at the Olympics - where they face Honduras in the semi-finals on Wednesday.
West Ham defender Reece Oxford has been interesting United and other clubs for months but he is set to remain at the club after impressing during pre-season.
If his development continues, he is unlikely to stay at West Ham for much longer.
And Mourinho's biggest fan, Duncan Castles, now reckons Daley Blind and Juan Mata will stay at United, having previously reported they would probably be sold.
Blind performed well in Sunday's win over Bournemouth while Mata started and scored, having briefly reacted angrily to his withdrawal during the Community Shield seven days earlier.Columbus Clippers 5, Norfolk Tides 8 (F/7)
Box Score · Clippers fall to 55-50
Adam Plutko was holding down the fort until a sixth inning blow-up where Norfolk ended up scoring five runs to pull away.
The Clippers offense was strong, with four players having multi-hit games including Tyler Naquin, Yandy Diaz, Michael Martinez and Nellie Rodriguez. Naquin had a big game, going 2-4 with a home run and four runs batted in.
The game was called early during the seventh inning stretch due to rain.
Lake County Captains 7, South Bend Cubs 3
Box Score · Captains improve to 44-56
The Lake County offense erupted for 17 hits yesterday compared to just four for their counterparts.
Luke Wakamatsu had himself a game, going 4-5 with a double and three runs batted in while batting leadoff for the Captains. Wakamatsu has raised his batting average 20 points in his last 10 games.
Miguel Eladio, Jose Medina, Conner Capel, Junior Soto and Jorma Rodriguez also had multi-hit games for Lake County, with Capel and Soto smacking two doubles of their own.
Starting Pitcher Justin Garza gave up two runs in five innings of work in his return to the rotation, but that return may not last long as he walked a whopping seven batters.
Mahoning Valley Scrappers 12, Williamsport CrossCutters 2
Box Score · Scrappers improve to 23-14
Mahoning Valley blew out Williamsport after another offensive eruption and just like with Lake County, it was all started by a red-hot leadoff hitter.
Second baseman Samad Taylor went 4-4 with a double, a walk and five runs batted in to pace the Scrappers. Jesse Berardi, Austen Wade and Ernie Clement also had multi-hit efforts, with Clement extending his hitting streak to 11 games.
Starting pitcher Francisco Perez was dominant, throwing 5.2 shutout innings on two hits while striking out four and walking three. He lowered his season ERA to 2.57 in the process.
AZL Indians 4, AZL Padres 7
Box Score · Indians fall to 7-20
Miguel Jerez had the lone multi-hit game while Felix Fernandez hit his fourth home run in another loss for the AZL Indians. Rehabbing Gabriel Mejia went 1-5 and was caught stealing yet again. Taylor Murphy was also rehabbing and went 1-2 with two walks.
Adoni Kery gave up three runs in two innings of relief to take the loss.
DSL Indians 3, DSL Pirates 8
Box Score · Indians fall to 17-27
The DSL Indians managed just three runs despite 10 hits thanks in part to a putrid 1-19 with runners in scoring position. Christopher Cespedes, Roger Marmol and Carlos Ventura had multi-hit games in the loss.
The Double-A Akron RubberDucks and High-A Lynchburg Hillcats had their games postponed due to rain.article
President Donald Trump on Monday will offer a plan for privatizing the U.S. air traffic control system, beginning a full week of infrastructure proposals from the White House.
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Trump, who has called for $1 trillion in infrastructure investments, is expected to visit the Transportation Department and the Ohio River as part of “Infrastructure Week.” During the week, Trump will accelerate efforts to promote upgrades to the nation’s roads, bridges, railways, waterways and other infrastructure, perhaps offering a preview of his broader plan for public and private investments.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
The timing of a full infrastructure bill remains unclear, although U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao has indicated that a bill would arrive later this year. Trump has said the plan would include $200 billion in federal funds over a 10-year period, with a goal of encouraging $1 trillion in total investments. Trump administration officials said Congress can immediately take up the air traffic control plan.
Trump plans to lay out his vision for overhauling the nation's air traffic control system in a White House speech.
Trump will push for the separation of air traffic control operations from the Federal Aviation Administration, embracing an approach long championed by U.S. airlines, according to White House officials. Joined by airline industry executives, Trump is expected to point to the changes as a way of producing a more modern air traffic control system.
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"We're really moving into the modern decade of technology in air traffic control. It's a system where everyone benefits from this," White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said in a conference call with reporters. Trump's budget plan released earlier this year called for the changes, placing air traffic operations under an "independent, non-governmental organization."
There are about 50,000 airline and other aircraft flights a day in the United States. Both sides of the privatization debate say the system is one of the most complex and safest in the world |
the five petals.
The term macrophylla means large- or long-leaved.[2] The opposite leaves can grow to 15 cm (6 in) in length. They are simple, membranous, orbicular to elliptic and acuminate. They are generally serrated.
The inflorescence of Hydrangea macrophylla is a corymb, with all flowers placed in a plane or a hemisphere or even a whole sphere in cultivated forms. Two distinct types of flowers can be identified: central non-ornamental fertile flowers and peripheral ornamental flowers, usually described as "sterile". A study of several cultivars showed that all the flowers were fertile but the non-ornamental flowers were pentamers while the decorative flowers were tetramers. The four sepals of decorative flowers have colors ranging from pale pink to red fuchsia purple to blue. The non-decorative flowers have five small greenish sepals and five small petals. Flowering lasts from early summer to early winter. The fruit is a subglobose capsule.
Distribution and habitat [ edit ]
Hydrangea macrophylla is native to Japan and possibly Korea.[3][4] It is reported from seaside habitats as well as mountains in Japan, from Honshu southwards.[4] This species has naturalized in China, New Zealand and the Americas.[5]
Colors and soil acidity [ edit ]
Hydrangea macrophylla blooms can be blue, red, pink, light purple, or dark purple. The color is affected by soil pH.[6][7] An acidic soil (pH below 7) will usually produce flower color closer to blue, whereas an alkaline soil (pH above 7) will produce flowers more pink. This is caused by a color change of the flower pigments in the presence of aluminium ions which can be taken up into hyperaccumulating plants.
Landscaping [ edit ]
In climates where Hydrangea macrophylla flowers, place in a mixed shrub border or at the back of a flower bed. Its rich foliage and large size make it a wonderful background for white or light colored flowers, even tall growing perennials and annuals. In warm climates H. macrophylla is good for adding a splash of early summer color to shady areas and woodland gardens. Minimal pruning is recommended for most prolific flowering. Flowers are easily air dried and are long lasting.
While Hydrangea macrophylla is not considered a particularly difficult plant to grow, it may fail to flower. This may be due to cold winter damage to the flower buds, not getting enough sunlight, too much nitrogen fertilizer, or pruning at the wrong time of year. H. macrophylla forms flower buds in late summer. As a result, pruning in late summer, fall or winter could remove potential flowers. [8]
Chemistry [ edit ]
Hydrangea macrophylla Inflorescences of
Phyllodulcin, hydrangenol, and their 8-O-glucosides, and thunberginols A and F can be found in H. macrophylla.[9] Thunberginol B,[10] the dihydroisocoumarins thunberginol C, D and E, the dihydroisocoumarin glycosides thunberginol G 3'-O-glucoside and (−)-hydrangenol 4'-O-glucoside[11] and four kaempferol and quercetin oligoglycosides[12] can be found in Hydrangeae Dulcis Folium, the processed leaves of H. macrophylla var. thunbergii. The leaves also contains the stilbenoid hydrangeic acid.[13]
The various colors, such as red, mauve, purple, violet and blue, in H. macrophylla are developed from one simple anthocyanin, delphinidin 3-glucoside (myrtillin), which forms complexes with metal ions called metalloanthocyanins.[14][15]
Lunularic acid, lunularin, 3,4′-dihydroxystilbene and a glycoside of lunularic acid have been found in the roots of H. macrophylla.[16]
Hydrangine is another name for the coumarin umbelliferone, and may be responsible for the possible toxicity of the plant.
Possible uses [ edit ]
Hydrangea macrophylla Bud and leaves of
Amacha is a Japanese beverage made from fermented leaves of Hydrangea macrophylla var. thunbergii.
Hydrangeae Dulcis Folium is a drug made from the fermented and dried leaves of H. macrophylla var. thunbergii with possible antiallergic and antimicrobial properties.[17] It also has a hepatoprotective activity by suppression of D-galactosamine-induced liver injury in vitro and in vivo.[18]
Hydrangea macrophylla is included in the Tasmanian Fire Service's list of low flammability plants, indicating that it is suitable for growing within a building protection zone.[19]
Leaf extracts of Hydrangea macrophylla are being investigated as a possible source of new chemical compounds with antimalarial activity.[20][21] Hydrangeic acid from the leaves is being investigated as a possible anti-diabetic drug as it significantly lowered blood glucose, triglyceride, and free fatty acid levels in laboratory animals.[13]
Cultivars [ edit ]
The two main types of H. macrophylla cultivars are called mophead and lacecap. Other types are in different species. [22]
Some popular hydrangea cultivars (those marked agm have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit) include:[23]
' All Summer Beauty' a cold-hardy, floriferous mophead
a cold-hardy, floriferous mophead'Alpengluhen' a deep-red colored mophead
a deep-red colored mophead'Altona' [24] agm
' Ami Pasquier' [25] a floriferous, wine pink to blue mophead
a floriferous, wine pink to blue mophead'Bailmer' (marketed as Endless Summer) a perpetual-blooming, pink to blue mophead
(marketed as Endless Summer) a perpetual-blooming, pink to blue mophead'Beaute Vendomoise' a giant whitish-pink lacecap
a giant whitish-pink lacecap'Blaumeise' [26] agm a Swiss-bred "Teller" blue lacecap
a Swiss-bred "Teller" blue lacecap'Blue Bonnet' a hardy, blue mophead
a hardy, blue mophead'Blue Wave' a robust light pink to light blue lacecap
a robust light pink to light blue lacecap'Blushing Bride' a cold-hardy, ever-blooming white mophead
a cold-hardy, ever-blooming white mophead'Europa' [27] agm
' Forever Pink' a pink mophead
a pink mophead'Générale Vicomtesse de Vibraye' [28] agm a cold-hardy, French-bred pink to blue mophead
a cold-hardy, French-bred pink to blue mophead'Hamburg' a deep-colored pink to blue mophead
a deep-colored pink to blue mophead'Harlequin' a picoteed pink to purple mophead
a picoteed pink to purple mophead'Lanarth White' [29] agm
' Lilacina' a cold-hardy, disease-resistant pink to blue lacecap
a cold-hardy, disease-resistant pink to blue lacecap ’Love You Kiss [30] agm red-margined white florets, lacecap
red-margined white florets, lacecap'Madame Emile Mouillère' [31] agm small shrub to 1.8 m (5.9 ft), white flowers
small shrub to 1.8 m (5.9 ft), white flowers'Marechal Foch' an old-fashioned pink to blue mophead
an old-fashioned pink to blue mophead'Mariesii Grandiflora' [32]
' Mariesii Lilacina' [33] agm
' Mariesii Perfecta' [34]
' Möwe' [35] agm
' Nigra' [36]
' Nikko Blue' a popular, cold-hardy pink to blue mophead
a popular, cold-hardy pink to blue mophead'Pia' a dwarf pink to purplish-blue mophead
a dwarf pink to purplish-blue mophead'Penny Mac' a cold-hardy, pink to blue mophead
a cold-hardy, pink to blue mophead ’Rotschwantz’ [37] agm deep red lacecap
deep red lacecap'Soeur Therese' a hardy, robust white mophead
a hardy, robust white mophead'Taube' a Swiss-bred "Teller", pink to blue lacecap
a Swiss-bred "Teller", pink to blue lacecap'Tokyo Delight' [38] agm
' Twist-N-Shout an ever-blooming, hardy pink to blue lacecap
an ever-blooming, hardy pink to blue lacecap'Veitchii' [39] agm an exceptionally disease-resistant, sun-tolerant white lacecap
an exceptionally disease-resistant, sun-tolerant white lacecap'Westfalen' [40] agm
’Zorro’[41] agm lacecap blue
Gallery [ edit ]The referendum being held throughout the UK will pose the question: ''At present, the UK uses the 'first past the post system' to elect MPs to the House of Commons. Should the 'alternative vote' system be used instead?''
Under first past the post (FPTP), voters put a cross by their preferred candidate. The one who secures the most votes, even if that is less than half the total, is elected.
If the UK moved to the alternative vote (AV) system, voters would be able to rank their candidates numerically in order of preference.
Should any hopeful secure more than 50% of first choices they would be elected.
If not, then the candidate in last place would be eliminated and their second choices redistributed, and that process repeated until one candidate secured an absolute majority.
This is not the same as proportional representation (PR), under which there are mechanisms to better reflect the national share of the vote won by each party in the representation they enjoy in the Commons.
The Liberal Democrats, who usually secure a far smaller proportion of MPs than of the overall vote, have long championed the introduction of PR for general elections.
Party leader Nick Clegg said before last year's general election that he would push for the ''AV-plus'' system and dismissed an offered referendum on AV as a ''miserable little compromise''.
That was the most his party was able to secure, however, as a key concession in negotiations with the Conservatives which led eventually to today's coalition administration.
He and other Lib Dems have campaigned strongly for AV, unlike their Tory coalition partners, who are heavily opposed to switching from the existing FPTP system.
Labour included the promise of an AV referendum in its manifesto last year and new party leader Ed Miliband has joined the campaign for a Yes vote.
But the issue divides his party, with many Labour MPs and former ministers calling for the retention of FPTP.
MPs have been freed from party discipline on the issue and allowed a free vote.
These are the central arguments for AV:
More than two out of every three MPs are currently elected despite more constituents voting for someone else. Just 1.6% of voters - fewer than 450,000 - effectively decided the last election;
Under AV, candidates will have to gain the support of 50% of voters;
MPs will have to work harder and reach out to a much wider range of people if they are forced to seek a much higher proportion of support in the area.
AV, or a form of it, is used by the House of Commons, most political parties and a broad range of corporations and civic groups;
Australia, despite using AV, has had fewer hung parliaments than the UK.
These are the principal arguments for a No vote in the referendum:Greysteel: Confessions of serial killer Torrens Knight BelfastTelegraph.co.uk Notorious ‘trick or treat’ killer Torrens Knight has spoken frankly about his life of crime, drug abuse and sectarian murder. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sunday-life/news/greysteel-confessions-of-serial-killer-torrens-knight-34664292.html https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article34664209.ece/696ae/AUTOCROP/h342/Knightarrest.jpg
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Notorious ‘trick or treat’ killer Torrens Knight has spoken frankly about his life of crime, drug abuse and sectarian murder.
The once defiant, gloating loyalist gunman says his life “spiralled out of control” when he joined the UFF and he knew the Greysteel massacre was wrong.
But the born-again Christian, 46, has also admitted that he relished being in the UDA/UFF, saying: “I was on a road to destruction but I liked it because it fuelled my anger.
“I looked upon the UDA as my family. It was sad in a way but that’s how I looked at the UDA.”
Co Londonderry man Knight - the most infamous of the Greysteel killers - has spoken candidly of his life as a terrorist in a 33 minute audio testimony made for a Christian group and broadcast online on the same site that published the testimony of Ballymena ‘glued lips’ killer Adrian Hayes.
>>Listen to Greysteel killer Torrens Knight tell of his life of crime, murder and drugs on the Set Free Prison Ministries site<<
Choking with emotion on occasions, Knight tells how he descended from being a poker machine addict who took cash from granny’s purse, to becoming a UDA robber and enforcer before joining a UFF murder squad.
Aged 24 he led the UFF gang that shouted “trick or treat” before raking the Rising Sun bar with machine gun fire in Halloween 1993.
A 19-year-old woman and an 81-year-old man were among the eight people mercilessly killed in the sectarian slaughter at the village pub on Saturday, October 30.
Following his arrest TV pictures of an unrepentant Knight screaming abuse and defiance outside Limavady courthouse were beamed around the world.
Bible-basher Knight now says that his snarling, hardman stance was all a front.
He planned to go on the run but says he knew in his heart the atrocity in the pub was wrong and allowed police to arrest him.
Speaking at a Gospel meeting, Knight began by telling fellow Christians of his early days, living with his God-fearing granny on a farm in Aghadowey when his parents’ marriage broke up.
Knight’s life began to go wrong when he became addicted to poker machines at a local pub. He took cash from a purse where his granny kept money for church missions and his gran and furious dad told him to pack his bags.
He moved to Portstewart with a pal from a hardline loyalist background who had been told to leave his family home when he started going out with a Catholic girl.
“I went to Portstewart to live. I started drinking and going out. I lost the influence and fear of my father.
“One thing led to another. I had anger issues. I would say I had a chip on my shoulder and I got involved in criminality.
“A few years later I got involved in an organisation. I started off just going round the doors selling magazines for the LPA (Loyalist Prisoners Association) and lifting money. I enjoyed it.
“Then I progressed. I moved up into the UDA, going round the doors wasn’t enough. I started doing robberies and beatings, things like that. But that still wasn’t enough. I wanted to go further.
“I progressed to the UFF, which was really the murder teams of the loyalist paramilitaries. My life just spiralled out of control.
“I joined the organisation to fight against the IRA who I saw as the enemy and it just progressed and progressed. It was a scary time.
“I got involved in shooting and ended up killing not only IRA men but also killing innocent people. That was a thing I never ever thought I would do. I never planned it.
“But that’s just sin. Once you go down the road of sin, it sucks you in, it can just take over.
“It was just like I was going down a road of destruction. And I liked it because it fuelled my anger,” said the man who was also jailed for the killings of four men in Castlerock in 1993.
He said he looked on the UDA as his family.
“I was part of something. I felt special. I had boys who would watch my back and I would do the same for them.”
Knight talks about “eyeing up” a Provo for assassination for a few days prior to the Greysteel murders but he now thanks God that the man did not turn up.
“Then the Shankill bomb happened and orders came down the line something big was going down, that we were to cancel what we were doing. And I was asked to take charge of the team that were going to carry this out.
“The place that was picked was the Rising Sun bar in Greysteel. I didn’t question it."
He said he would have done anything he was asked to do by UDA leaders at that point.
“At that time we were so, in a way brainwashed, that’s being truthful. We believed what we were doing was right.”
After the pub massacre Knight considered going on the run but instead effectively gave himself up.
“I had a gut feeling when the ‘job’ was carried out that something wasn’t right.
“I was actually ready to go on the run and go into hiding but there was something in here [he thumps on his heart a number of times] that didn’t sit right with me.
“I says ‘I’ll man up’ because I knew they [police] were looking for me. A pile of my mates had been lifted. I saw the police in Macosquin and I just stood and they took me and another chap away.”
Knight said he had been interrogated by CID at Castlereagh Holding Centre previously and regarded it just as a game which he enjoyed. He never thought the cops would ‘get under his skin’ but this time was different.
He added: “I tried to put on this hard exterior, I tried to justify it but deep down I knew it wasn’t right, these innocent people, it wasn't right.
“And I think that’s what helped break me too because I knew it wasn’t right.”
He talks about spending time in the Maze jail on remand after “wrecking the Crum (Crumlin Road Gaol)” and finding drugs in easy supply.
“It was a scary place. It was a mad place. It was full of mad men. I thank God he brought me through it all.”
Knight says he “dabbled” in drugs prior to going into the Maze but cannabis became a way of life in jail.
“Whenever we went into prison unfortunately drugs were readily available and that’s the way we put in our days in, smoking weed and getting stoned.”
The multiple killer, who was given 12 life sentences, said: “I suppose it [the drugs] were a way of us dealing with what we were going through because it was traumatic, our lives were just turned upside down. It was a form of escapism.”
In his testimony Knight, who is understood to work for a joinery firm on the North Coast, tells how he found God while serving time in prison.
He says his partner Carolyn also came to the Lord after seeing how he had changed. At times he chokes with emotion as he talks about his life and the role of God in his life. The killer admits that on occasions he has backslid, saying “he took the hand off the plough”.
After being given early release under the Good Friday Agreement terms he was later returned to jail for assaulting two women and disorderly behaviour in a Coleraine bar. But he says he now thanks God he was jailed for a second time.
Choking up, he says: “I had drifted away from God and that’s why I got into the mess that I did. I was one of those men who the Bible talks about, a man who had taken his hand off the plough.
“Since then I cry a lot. God touched me in a special way. God has had to break me a few times but he hasn’t broke me to destroy, he has broke me to build me up again, to teach me.”
The audio of Torrens Knight’s full testimony was recently uploaded to the website of Set Free Prisons Bangor.
Belfast Telegraph DigitalThe New Jersey Devils are in deep, deep trouble, and the shootout is to blame. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
New Jersey started Wednesday with three points and three teams separating themselves from a wild-card spot. The main reason for that: an 0-11 shootout record. Toronto and Washington, the teams directly ahead of them by two points and one, respectively, have each earned nine extra points in the shootout. Nine. Versus zero.
NHL average shootout success rate: 32.28% Devils success rate: 8% (3/39) Success rate against Devils: 55% (17/38) 0-11 on the year. Damn. — Justin Bourne (@jtbourne) April 2, 2014
Tuesday night against the Buffalo Sabres was about as bad as it gets; Ville Leino, whose goalless regular season has cemented his status as one of the worst free-agent signings of all time, beat the Devils in the ninth round. Jaromir Jagr, understandably, couldn't bear to watch. The Sabres were wearing the Turdburger jerseys, for god's sake.
A lot of that is based on randomness; shootouts are weird, and the sample size is small. Several Devils without solid track records have fallen apart at the same time, and that can't really be accounted for, either.
Statistical arguments aside — and this is a serious question — would it be that bad of an idea for the Devils to sign a shootout specialist for the rest of the regular season? Find a guy with a decent track record, and increase your odds, even if it's only by a little.
More NHL: Letang for Masterson | Hit on McDonagh
Yes, they'd be in better shape had they played Cory Schneider for 65 games, and if they could better convert puck possession into goals, but this is the hand they're playing. And it's close to an historically bad one. In 2006-07, the Carolina Hurricanes went winless in the shootout and shot 5.9 percent. The Devils are currently shooting 7.7 percent, which would make them one of four teams, all time, to shoot worse than 16.7 percent.
If they were to make a move, whoever they signed wouldn't be able to play in the postseason. That wouldn't matter; there are no shootouts in the playoffs. He also wouldn't take a roster spot from anyone for the next five games. One example of a guy signed for the last few games of the regular season: goalie Sebastien Caron, who was a Flyer for five games in the spring of 2010.
As for the Devils, signing a shootout specialist out of a European league would make sense. A suggestion: Erik Christensen, a 30-year-old former NHL center who spent the lat season with HV71 Jonkoping. Christensen js one of the best shootout performers of all time, going 26-48 on attempts with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Atlanta Thrashers, Anaheim Ducks, New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild from 2005-12.
When Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher traded for Christensen at the 2012 deadline, he was open about his rationale: The Wild were in a playoff race that could've come down to a point or two, and he was thinking about the shootout — even if Christensen wasn't.
"I think there's more made out of (my role in shootouts) than there should be," Christensen told Sports Illustrated at the time. "I don't look at myself as 'The Shootout Guy.' I don't want that label. Or to be known just as a shootout guy, anyway. Things just sorta happened."
The Devils' shootout trainwreck just sorta happened, too. Trying to change up their luck, at virtually no cost, couldn't hurt. Maybe Christensen could dust this one off:
(This is where we note that they're probably screwed already, and that, oh by the way, Ilya Kovalchuk was pretty great in the shootout. Oh well.)Reduced pay and low-hour contracts are resulting in young teaching graduates leaving from the profession in favour of better-paid and more secure work, a teachers’ union has claimed.
The Teachers Union of Ireland said many young teachers are applying for “fragments” of jobs and that half of teachers under the age of 35 are now employed on a temporary basis.
The union’s president Gerry Quinn said young teachers were looking elsewhere for work because of reduced pay rates for new recruits and a “rampant casualisation” of the profession.
“While the salary scales of all new entrants to the public service were targeted, reductions for teachers’ pay were far greater than what applied to most public servants,” he said.
He said those who entered the profession from February 2012 have been placed on a reduced pay rate of up to 22 per cent less than those appointed prior to 2011.
Many young teachers were working on a part-time basis and struggling to makes ends meet, Mr Quinn said.
He said these teachers “experience income poverty, often struggling and sometimes failing to pay the rent”.
Mr Quinn said it was little surprise that graduates who qualified to teach in certain subjects were reluctant to undertake the required additional two-year postgraduate masters in education- at a cost of around € 10,000 in fees.
“They can earn considerably more in industry, start work two years earlier and enjoy full hours, better job security and promotional prospects from the start of their career,” he said.
“For a variety of compelling educational, economic and social reasons, the quality of teachers entering the profession must be maintained.
Key to this is a return to equal pay for equal work.”
Ahead of the general election, the TUI is calling on political parties and independent candidates to commit to a full equalisation of pay.
The alternative, it maintains, will result a drain of the best young graduates away from the profession at a time when they are most needed.After months of legal wrangling and precedents being filed, the Nevada State Athletic Commission finally ruled on Nick Diaz's positive marijuana test and they dropped the hammer on the Stockton, Calif., fighter.
Following a three-hour-plus hearing in which Diaz spoke to the commission at length about everything including his history with marijuana use, his medical marijuana card in California, his previous positive test from 2007, and his questionnaire filled out prior to his fight at UFC 143, the commission handed down similar punishment to that of other athletes who have tested positive multiple times in the state.
Diaz was suspended for 12-months retroactive to the date of his bout with Carlos Condit at UFC 143 and also fined 30-percent of his fight purse from the event.
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Diaz was paid $200,000 for his fight at UFC 143, so his fine will total out at $60,000.
The suspension will run until Feb. 4, 2013.
Diaz's suspension was longer than normal for fighters who have tested positive for marijuana in the past because he had previously been suspended in the state for the same situation.
In 2007 following a fight with Takanori Gomi in Pride Fighting Championships, Diaz tested positive for marijuana and was suspended six months and his win was overturned to a no contest.
Because of the second infraction, Diaz was leveled this time with a one-year suspension and a 30-percent fine that will cost the UFC welterweight a cool $60,000.
The commission did not reverse the decision in the fight between Diaz and Condit because Diaz lost.
During the hearing, Diaz admitted that marijuana does help him perform better during his training, as he's better able to focus and deal with his ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), for which he was prescribed a medical marijuana card.
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The commission also came after Diaz several times for his pre-fight medical questionnaire in which he answered “no” when questioned about being treated for any “serious medical conditions” and also failed to disclose his marijuana usage in the sections marked for prescribed or over-the-counter medications.
Diaz's lawyer, Ross Goodman, stood up for his client in several areas including the interpretation of the testing under the commission rules regarding marijuana metabolites as opposed to actually testing positive for marijuana.
For all the argument that took place, ultimately the commission handed down the same punishment to Diaz as previous competitors who tested positive for marijuana for a second time in the state.
Following his loss to Condit in February, Diaz stated he was retiring from active competition and would not seek out another fight. There's been no word as of yet if he has changed his mind and will consider a return to action when he's allowed to fight again in February 2013.
Follow @DamonMartin on Twitter or e-mail Damon Martin.
For more UFC News and UFC Rumors, follow MMAWeekly.com on Twitter and Facebook.Recently declassified documents obtained by the National Security Archive reveal that the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations were considering military action to prevent or delay China from building nuclear weapons — even if that meant working with Moscow to stage an accidental bombing.
The pertinent document is the June 21, 1963 entry in the journal of Glenn Seaborg, who was chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission from 1961 to 1971. Seaborg describes a White House meeting on the nuclear test ban negotiations with the Soviet Union. The discussion then turned to China — which had refused to support a test ban treaty — when President Kennedy asked how the U.S. might handle the issue in the Moscow talks. William C. Foster, the director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, confidently observed, "if we could get together with the USSR, the Chinese could be handled even if it required an accidental drop on their facilities."
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As the National Security Archive notes:
The reference to an "accidental drop on their facilities" was excised when the diary entry was published in the Foreign Relations of the United States but it was declassified through a request to the Department of Energy for a new review of the document…. just how the United States or even the Soviet Union could have staged such an event in the interior of China, where Chinese nuclear facilities were located, is an interesting problem…..In any event, Foster's statement is one more bit of evidence that senior officials were interested in the possibility of taking action against the Chinese nuclear program, even to the point of arranging an "accidental" bombing with Moscow. As it turned out, when Kennedy's representative, W. Averell Harriman, brought up the Chinese nuclear program during a conversation in Moscow with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, the latter would not even allow that he was worried about it
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A few years later, the U.S. dismissed the idea of bombing China. There were too many risks: Military action could prompt Chinese retaliation against Taiwan or other U.S. allies in East Asia, entangle the Soviets (who were unwilling to join in such an attack) and reduce the prospects for arms control initiatives to constrain China. President Johnson concluded, "Action with no justification other than a general argument that the U.S. was seeking to preserve the peace of the world through depriving a potential aggressor of nuclear weapons" could not be defended.The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected claims of an Apple patent that figures prominently in a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics, according to documents filed by the South Korean company in a U.S. federal court.
The 21 claims of the patent were rejected by the USPTO in a "final office action," as they were anticipated by previous patents or unpatentable. Known as the "pinch-to-zoom" patent, it covers the ability to distinguish between the scrolling movement of one finger and two-fingers gestures like pinch-to-zoom on a touch-screen to activate certain functions.
Apple has up to two months to respond to the USPTO decision. In a filing in April after USPTO rejected multiple claims of another patent in a similar final office action, Apple said it had further options, including appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and seeking judicial review.
Claim eight of the patent was involved in Apple's lawsuit against Samsung in the court, according to a filing Sunday by Samsung in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. A jury last August awarded Apple US$1.05 billion in damages, but the court has ordered a partial retrial to review the damages to be paid to the iPhone maker.
The jury found at trial that 21 of 24 Samsung smartphones and tablets infringed claim 8 of U.S. Patent No. 7,844,915 ('915 patent), Samsung said in its filing on Sunday. The claim relates to "determining whether the event object invokes a scroll or gesture operation by distinguishing between a single input point applied to the touch-sensitive display that is interpreted as the scroll operation and two or more input points applied to the touch-sensitive display that are interpreted as the gesture operation," according to a USPTO document filed in the court by Samsung.
The USPTO ruled claim eight was anticipated in U.S. Patent No. 7,724,242 awarded to Daniel W. Hillis and Bran Ferren. "Hillis teaches distinguishing the number of contact points and determining whether the event object matches a gesture pattern," the USPTO wrote in its decision.
The USPTO rejected in April multiple claims of another patent that figured in the lawsuit, known as "overscroll bounce" patent. Apple, however, said in a filing that the reexamination is not finished, and it is entitled to file a response to the action which may result in a withdrawal of the rejection or certification of the claims under reexamination.
The company also raised the possibility that it may appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and if unsuccessful, may seek judicial review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. A similar filing is likely from Apple in connection with the rejection of the '915 patent, even as Samsung is expected to argue for lower damages. The jury awarded damages to Apple with regard to all but two products found to infringe the '915 patent, Samsung said in its filing.You might have seen this week a stunning demonstration of political condescension on the health care front. In remarks at the 2010 Legislative Conference for the National Association of Counties, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.”
This revealing comment reinforces a patriarchal (or in Pelosi’s case matriarchal) attitude Congress has taken with the American public: What lurks within the House and Senate health care bills will be revealed in the fullness of time, and it’s really good for us if we only knew better.
Ordinary Americans have had a common-sense resistance to Washington’s feverish attempt to overhaul one-sixth of the U.S. economy. But Congressional leadership has ignored the public’s concerns and instead clung to the idea that if they simply ram the bill through the legislative process — using unprecedented tactical maneuvers that may not even pass the parliamentarian’s smell test—Americans will finally understand and embrace ObamaCare.
When it’s law, then Americans can finally grasp the “goodness” of what’s in the 2,700-plus-page Senate bill, which is the most likely legislative vehicle that Congress will push to President Barack Obama’s desk. The problem for Pelosi and congressional Democrats is that Americans have been reading these bills, and they don’t like what they’re reading.
The more the public learns about the taxes, individual mandates, taxpayer-funded abortion coverage, and the potential breakdown of the private health insurance market, the less jazzed they are about ObamaCare. But politicians have blithely waved away little details like reading the actual bill and instead said “trust us”—at a time when public trust for Congress is at an all-time low during Obama’s presidency.
This whole dynamic helps explain why Obama and congressional leadership are insistent on another artificial deadline of March 18 for final passage of ObamaCare. They know that members of Congress, particularly those in the House, could see another wave of townhall protests when they go on a two-week recess starting March 26. That’s because the American people do know what’s in these bills. Popular discussion and debate—that “fog of controversy”—has helped to enlighten them.Can There Be Such A Thing As An Asian Pull?
Andrew Charniga, Jr.
Sportivnypress.com©
“According to the laws of mechanics, work performed against gravity does not depend on the type of trajectory; since it is measured by the height to which the weight has been raised”. I.P.Zhekov,1976
An early rise onto the toes with knees flexed, shoulders behind the vertical projection of the bar with excessive bowing of the trunk backward are obvious errors in technique which should preclude a successful outcome. Charniga photos.
In weightlifting the outcome of the lifting is determined by the success or failure to raise the barbell in the competition exercises within the parameters of the technical rules. That is to say, the weightlifter has achieved a successful outcome by overcoming gravity; which, Soviet sport scientist I.P. Zhekov noted, does not depend on the form of the barbell’s trajectory.
Thanks in no small part to the work of many weightlifting sport scientists and countless professional coaches weightlifting sport has a modern protocol for raising the barbell in the most efficient manner to achieve the desired outcome.
The modern protocol of weightlifting technique typically produces a curve-linear bar trajectory known as an ‘S’ pull. The modern protocol stipulates as well, the optimum disposition of the feet, shins, thighs and trunk to raise the barbell in the most effective manner.
A curve – linear bar trajectory in the pulling phases of the snatch and the clean produced with the optimum disposition of feet, shins, thighs and trunk; antithetical to laws of physics, becomes the shortest distance between two points, which as it turns out is not a straight line.
“This curve – linear trajectory is connected with the performance of this exercise with the least expenditure |
this on our walks, during Mardi Gras, at the next pug meetup, you name it. Now I just need to pose for a photo with my pug like that one guy did...
In summary, thank you SO MUCH, bloodruns4ever! Thanks for the puggy gifts and thanks so much for going out of your way to be a rematch Santa. I hope you had fun gift exchanges this year, and I hope you have a fantastic 2015!Early on in Jon Cooper’s career as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, he became known as a coach that was willing to utilize an eleven forward, seven defenseman alignment. In taking such an approach, it allows the coach to protect younger or less skilled defensemen. You could have your bottom three rotating with your top two defensemen. In addition, you have the benefit of double shifting your best forwards with your fourth line to give them more ice time.
In 2013-14, Cooper was handed a defensive core that was anchored by Victor Hedman, Matt Carle, Eric Brewer and Sami Salo. The team also had Mathias Ohlund and Brian Lee. Adding those two in would have made for an experienced and formidable defensive group at the time. Unfortunately, Ohlund and Lee were both finished with knee injuries and would never play professional hockey again.
Throughout the year, the Lightning would also use Radko Gudas, Mark Barberio, Jean-Philippe Cote, Mike Kostka, Keith Aulie, Matt Taormina, and Dimitry Korobov.
The top four of Hedman, Carle, Brewer, and Salo going into the 2013-14 season combined for 2,472 career NHL games. The rest? 239 games. Gudas had contributed 22 games to the Lightning in 2012-13. Barberio and Sustr and gotten a taste of the NHL with two games each during the 2012-13 season. Korobov made his NHL debut with the Lightning. Aulie was the most experienced with 121 NHL games to his name.
That was an extremely inexperienced group for the bottom end of the defense. That led to Cooper playing an extra defenseman in 41 of the 82 games in the season. Gudas was the most consistent of the young guys with 73 games. Barberio and Sustr had 49 and 43 games respectively. The rest of the group had less than 20 games each.
While Gudas showed very well in his rookie season, the rest were either young and inexperienced and still finding their way in the NHL or just depth defensemen that were filling in. By going with the seven defensemen alignment, Cooper could better hide the inadequacies of the bottom end of his defensive corps.
For the 2014-15 season though, Cooper had a complete 180 degree turn around on the seven defensemen line up. He didn’t use it a single time during the regular season. While the team still used 12 different defensemen, there were some new faces and some old ones were gone.
Sami Salo never played again after the 2013-14 season. Eric Brewer lost a step or two and really slowed down leading to him being traded away after playing in 17 games for the Lightning. Gudas played 31 games to start the season but hurt his knee and missed the rest of the season and was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers at the deadline for Braydon Coburn.
The two big additions to the line up were Anton Stralman and Jason Garrison. That coupled with more experience for Barberio and Sustr, as well as more confidence from Cooper in their ability to play, meant that Cooper was capable of having just six defensemen in the line up every night. Stralman had a breakout offensive year. Hedman was Hedman. And even Carle had a pretty good year along with Garrison.
The postseason in 2014-15 proved to be different though as Cooper went with seven defensemen for 14 games in the playoffs out of the 26 games played. Injuries certainly played a part in Cooper’s decisions here, but it showed he wasn’t afraid to go back to it when the season was on the line.
2015-16 saw something of a return of the seven defenseman alignment for Cooper. He utilized the line-up for 25 of the 82 game season. Coburn, Garrison, Hedman, Stralman, and Sustr all played more than 70 games in the season. Carle contributed 64 games and Nesterov had 57 games. Three other defensemen combined for 16 games.
2016-17 also saw Cooper go back to seven defensemen in 23 games. However, there was an added twist later in the year. With the Lightning’s forward health looking grim, Cooper started dressing Luke Witkowski to have him play forward instead of defense. Of the 23 games with seven defensemen, five to ten of those games had Witkowski playing forward.
Going into the 2017-18 season, the Lightning are looking at the possibility of having three young defensemen on the roster. The addition of Dan Girardi brings a lot of experience to the group to replace the experience lost with Jason Garrison’s departure to the Vegas Golden Knights.
It seems unlikely for Cooper to sit three of the five experienced defensemen to play three youngsters that, including playoffs, have a combined 90 games of NHL experience. At this point, you have to write Victor Hedman, Anton Stralman, Braydon Coburn, and Dan Girardi into the line-up every night that they are healthy. I know a lot of fans scream about Girardi and his advanced statistics certainly don’t measure up. The team hasn’t given any indication that Girardi is here to hang out in the press box.
That leaves two spots for the youngsters, Slater Koekkoek, Jake Dotchin, and Mikhail Sergachev, plus Andrej Sustr. Of course this is predicated on Sergachev making the Lightning out of training camp and sticking with the team. I fully believe that he will be capable of doing so.
The other option would be to play with seven defensemen. Doing so would bump guys like J.T. Brown and Gabriel Dumont from the line-up at forward. In exchange, you would get lower ice time for Dotchin, Koekkoek, and Sergachev and can sneak in another minute or two of time for Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Tyler Johnson.
With a seven defenseman line-up, the pairings tend to be a lot less set. You’ll mostly get combinations that are left and right handed, but it’s unlikely that a pairing will stay the same throughout most of the game.
Here is an example of how the pairings could potentially go from shift-to-shift. In parentheses will be the number of shifts taken in the sequence.
Hedman (1) - Stralman (1)
Coburn (1) - Girardi (1)
Hedman (2) - Dotchin (1)
Sergachev (1) - Stralman (2)
Coburn (2) - Girardi (2)
Hedman (3) - Stralman (3)
Koekkoek (1) - Dotchin (2)
Sergachev (2) - Girardi (3)
Hedman (4) - Stralman (4)
Coburn (3) - Dotchin (3)
Hedman (5) - Girardi (4)
Koekkoek (2) - Stralman (5)
Sergachev (3) - Coburn (4)
Hedman (6) - Girardi (5)
Koekkoek (3) - Stralman (6)
Coburn (5) - Dotchin (5)
By the end of this sequence, Hedman and Stralman have 6 shifts each, Girardi, Dotchin, and Coburn have 5 shifts each, and Koekkoek and Sergachev have 3 shifts each. The top of the line-up is still getting the most shifts as they are coming out every 2nd or 3rd shift. Meanwhile, Sergachev and Koekkoek could sometimes be rotated in faster, and sometimes can rotate slower to control the number of shifts they take. This is also assuming everything at even strength and unbroken by penalties. Playing on the power play and the penalty kill will naturally boost Hedman, Stralman, Coburn, and Girardi to higher ice time.
Commercial breaks also help to skip rotations a few times a period. Hedman and Stralman could wrap up a shift together before a time out, go to the bench, rest, and then come right back out after the timeout and play another full shift.
Cooper has shown he isn’t afraid to run with seven defenseman. It seems like 2017-18’s situation with the blue line is another good opportunity for him and associate head coach Rick Bowness to take another shot at it.In serial communication of digital data, clock recovery is the process of extracting timing information from a serial data stream to allow the receiving circuit to decode the transmitted symbols. Clock recovery from the data stream is expedited by modifying the transmitted data. Wherever a serial communication channel does not transmit the clock signal along with the data stream, the clock must be regenerated at the receiver, using the timing information from the data stream. Clock recovery is a common component of systems communicating over wires, optical fibers, or by radio.
Some digital data streams, especially high-speed serial data streams (such as the raw stream of data from the magnetic head of a disk drive and serial communication networks such as Ethernet) are sent without an accompanying clock signal. The receiver generates a clock from an approximate frequency reference, and then phase-aligns the clock to the transitions in the data stream with a phase-locked loop (PLL). This is one method of performing a process commonly known as clock and data recovery (CDR). Other methods include the use of a delay-locked loop and oversampling of the data stream.[1]
Oversampling can be done blind using multiple phases of a free-running clock to create multiple samples of the input and then selecting the best sample. Or, a counter can be used that is driven by a sampling clock running at some multiple of the data stream frequency, with the counter reset on every transition of the data stream and the data stream sampled at some predetermined count. These two types of oversampling are sometimes called spatial and time respectively.[2] The best bit error ratio (BER) is obtained when the samples are taken as far away as possible from any data stream transitions.[3] While most oversampling designs using a counter employ a sampling clock frequency that is an even multiple of the data stream, an odd multiple is better able to create a sampling point further from any data stream transitions and can do so at nearly half the frequency of a design using an even multiple. In oversampling type CDRs, the signal used to sample the data can be used as the recovered clock.
Clock recovery is very closely related to the problem of carrier recovery, which is the process of re-creating a phase-locked version of the carrier when a suppressed carrier modulation scheme is used. These problems were first addressed in a 1956 paper, which introduced a clock-recovery method now known as the Costas loop.[4] Since then many additional methods have been developed.
In order for this scheme to work, a data stream must transition frequently enough to correct for any drift in the PLL's oscillator. The limit for how long a clock-recovery unit can operate without a transition is known as its maximum consecutive identical digits (CID) specification. To ensure frequent transitions, some sort of self-clocking signal is used, often a run length limited encoding; 8b/10b encoding is very common, while Manchester encoding serves the same purpose in old revisions of 802.3 local area networks.
See also [ edit ]EVGA has posted a new teaser of their upcoming GeForce GTX 780 Ti Classified K|NGP|N edition graphic card which shows just how awesome their card is featuring absolute power and performance.
EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Classified K|NGP|N With 8+8+6 Pin Power Configuration – All The Power You Will Ever Need!
The new EVGA GeForce graphic card which is being prepared in collaboration with K|NGP|N (EVGA’s in-house overclocker) is an attempt to prepare a flagship non-reference design based on the GTX 780 Ti GPU which is NVIDIA’s top dog of the GeForce 700 series. The GK110-425-B1 core fused inside the GeForce GTX 780 Ti is currently the fastest chip on the planet with a 2880 Cuda core count and impressive clock speeds which are further going to be boosted with the arrival of non-reference variants such as the Classified.
So what we know so far about this card? The EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Classified Kingpin edition as we know it features an absolutely stunning shroud design from what we have seen in the teaser shots. The whole shroud is translucent which means it has a transparent surface so you can see the heatsink below it. The shroud is covered with patches of carbon fiber where the logo’s are engraved and we can see the ACX logo at the back of the cooler which stands for Active Cooling Xtreme.
But let’s see what’s under the hood, we are looking at a extremely powerful VRM design which we don’t have any information on at the moment but it is powered with an 8+8+6 Pin power configuration. So that’s some massive amount of power being fed to the board. Aside from that, we are also looking for the very first time on an NVIDIA GeForce 700 series card the EVBOT connector. You might remember looking at EVGA’s GTX 680 Classified which featured the same EvBot connector but was restricted on custom 700 series boards. That’s not the case anymore and EVGA has once again allowed overclockers and enthusiasts to overclock and tune their cards as they seem fit.
The heatsink itself has three aluminum fin blocks which are inter-connected via 5 or 6 heatpipes. The front of the PCB has a red colored base plate to support it while the back has a black colored plate with a huge KingPin logo but Jacob Freeman of EVGA has mentioned that its more than a logo and said to stay tuned for more info so we are going to wait and see what secret sauce is being held inside the KingPin Edition card. Plus, the card is going to feature 3 GB VRAM as opposed to the 6 GB VRAM report from early on and Jacob mentions the possibility of a 6 GB VRAM in the foreseeable future.Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has told "El Partidazo de COPE" that Sergio Aguero was "stupid" to leave the club for Manchester City the way that he did.
Aguero had scored 102 goals in 233 games for Atletico, whom he joined for €22 million from Independiente as a teenager, before making a €45m move to City in 2011.
Atletico wanted City to pay at least €60m for Aguero, and the saga dragged on for two months amid a widespread feeling that the player had tried to force through a move to crosstown rivals Real Madrid.
"[Aguero] has been the only player who left Atleti under a cloud, as he was stupid," Cerezo told the radio show. "He arrived as a hero, and he left through the back door."
Cerezo en @partidazocope: "Agüero ha sido el único jugador que se ha marchado mal del Atleti, por tonto."https://t.co/SPGepvC5A5 pic.twitter.com/HoHQVq0Wp9 - El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) February 7, 2017
Later on Tuesday, Cerezo moved to clarify his statement, as reported by AS.
"The only thing I said was that the player's exit was stupid, not that Aguero is stupid," Cerezo said. "He is one of the best players in the world and I wish him all the luck in the world at Manchester City."
Aguero has gone on to win two Premier League titles with City, but has recently lost his place in Pep Guardiola's team to Brazil international Gabriel Jesus, who was finally registered with the Premier League club last month following a £27m move from Palmeiras.
That has fuelled speculation the 28-year-old could be on the move again this summer -- with Real Madrid, Chelsea and Inter Milan reportedly among the teams looking to take advantage of the situation.
Dermot Corrigan is a Madrid-based football writer who covers La Liga and the Spain national team for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @dermotmcorriganSummary
I think extreme suffering is more serious than is commonly realized. My drive to prevent suffering is very strong, and I would feel I was failing my values if I took a more relaxed stance on the matter.
Translations: French
Two examples
There are many occasions when I've felt overwhelmed by the horror of suffering in the world. Following are just two of many examples.
On one afternoon, while walking outside, I saw many winged ants on the sidewalk, some of which had been stepped on. I wondered whether I should try to move them out of the way of pedestrians, but there were too many. The sheer number of ants was such that I felt awful thinking about the pain of each of their deaths, multiplied by how many there were. Of course, this is a drop in the bucket relative to nature as a whole, but seeing it up close made the horror sink in.
Soon thereafter, I read about patients being conscious and screaming during surgery. Apparently 0.01% of the US population wakes up during surgery every year:
Some just have fleeting memories of things they heard, but others describe "white-hot pain" and terror, triggering long-term emotional problems. Carol Weihrer of Reston, Va., said that 11 years after awakening during surgery to remove a diseased eye that caused severe pain, she still has post-traumatic stress disorder, can sleep for just short periods and suffers mood swings and panic attacks. Weihrer, who founded the group Anesthesia Awareness Campaign Inc., said she heard the doctor give instructions: "Cut deeper, pull harder." "I actually saw them cut the optic nerve when everything went black," she said. "While you're laying there on the table," she recalled, "you are thinking, praying, cursing, plotting, pleading, trying to crawl off the gurney, trying to kick, scream, move any part of your body to let them know you're awake. In effect, you are entombed in a corpse."
Even the routine preventive procedure of colonoscopy can be agonizing for some patients. Colonoscopies are recommended for all adults every 10 years starting at age 50. Alarmingly, patients may not realize how painful the procedure was because amnesic drugs like Versed prevent memories from being retained. The paper "Midazolam-pain, but one cannot remember it: a survey among Southern German endoscopists" discusses endoscopy, but similar findings may apply for colonoscopy:
Ninety-eight percent of the questioned physicians felt that patients have pain during endoscopy with midazolam+/-opioid, but do not remember later. Ninety-two percent reported that it happens that patients moan aloud because of pain and almost half of the endoscopists (48%) reported of screaming. The majority of the endoscopists (91%) reported fierce defense movements with midazolam or the need to hold the patient down on the examination couch because of fierce movements, respectively (75%). Seventy percent of the endoscopists wished to have the rooms for endoscopy preferably soundproof away from the waiting room [...].
Here's the account of one particular colonoscopy patient:
When I awoke, I was back in the curtained room and my boyfriend was there waiting for me. I felt exhausted and numb. I really didn't remember the things that happened to me, and wasn't really aware of my surroundings for quite some time. My limited speech was slurred. I was told that my examination was fine, but apparently kept asking over and over. Eventually, the drugs wore off completely, I dressed and went to lunch before returning home. It was a good result, and that's what mattered, right? Maybe. Here's what really happened. When I was wheeled into the nearby procedure room, my boyfriend was not allowed to stay in the empty curtained room; he inexplicably had to return to the reception area. When he asked the nurse why he had to move, the nurse would only say that, "Well, when the patients have the procedure, they are sometimes, well......ya know." He didn't question the "ya know," and went to the reception area. But after 35 minutes, he became anxious and walked back to the curtained room. I wasn't there, but he thought he could hear my panicked voice coming from the procedure room. The nurse immediately rushed over to him and told him the colonoscopy was still in progress. He was immediately asked to leave and he did so reluctantly. Unlike I remember it, my boyfriend was brought to the room after I was already there. He said I looked stunned, and that it appeared I had been crying—basically, my eyes and nose were red and watery. The nurse anesthetist was there (again, I don't remember anyone there but my boyfriend), and told him that I was quite groggy because I had "a little difficulty" with the procedure and required more drugs. He was assured I would come out of it soon. He told me I had trouble talking coherently, and that he couldn't understand what I was saying. The nurse told both of us that the procedure "was fine - nothing was wrong," but I don't remember it, and asked about twice later. [...] I now remember waking up and being in great pain. I remember screaming for them to stop, to take it out. I remember being told it was almost over, but screaming that it hurt too much. I am guessing at that point I got more drugs, because I don't recall the end of the procedure—just waking up in the curtained room. [...] I have given birth to two children, so I am no stranger to pain. For me to have cried or screamed means that it was excruciating.
Suffering is not just an intellectual game
In general, the prospective horror of suffering toward the end of life due to any number of medical complications, culminating in the process of dying, has haunted me ever since I watched videos about it in high school, though usually I put it at the back of my mind. Unlike more speculative fears, pain near the end of life has probability near 1, so I can't just brush it off as irrational.
When I get older, I plan to research how to minimize pain during surgery, what options for euthanasia I can pursue, and so, but there's also the unavoidable risk of some accident or illness happening in the near term, putting me in a situation of immense pain and needing to make medical choices before I've done my homework. Or, worse, being incapacitated and unable to make such choices—and given the pro-life and suffering-isn't-so-bad impulses of most people, this possibility is truly frightening.
Most people ignore worries about medical pain because it's far away. Several of my friends think I'm weird to be so parochial about reducing suffering and not take a more far-sighted view of my idealized moral values. They tend to shrug off pain, saying it's not so bad. They think it's extremely peculiar that I don't want to be open to changing my moral perspective and coming to realize that suffering isn't so important and that other things matter comparably.
Perhaps others don't understand what it's like to be me. Morality is not an abstract, intellectual game, where I pick a viewpoint that seems comely and elegant to my sensibilities. Morality for me is about crying out at the horrors of the universe and pleading for them to stop. Sure, I enjoy intellectual debates, interesting ideas, and harmonious resolutions of conflicting intuitions, and I realize that if you're serious about reducing suffering, you do need to get into a lot of deep, recondite topics. But fundamentally it has to come back to suffering or else it's just brain masturbation while others are being tortured. Of course, I'm guilty of plenty of that, and to some extent it's necessary for sustainability. (Rob Wiblin said something like, "Altruism is a marathon, not a sprint.") But basing your whole moral outlook on pleasant abstractions does not seem tenable to a brain wired the way mine is.
In a Facebook comment, I said:
I take a hard line because concern for suffering is just one of many causes a person can be entrained by. It's easy for organisms to let their value systems shift around until what was yesterday's overriding principle is today's lost cause. Consider an example that was floated around recently—live sushi in Japan. That people can take delight in a dining fad without giving a second thought to the (potential) massive suffering they're causing illustrates the wide range of potential human motivational impulses. It's easy for us, in our comfortable houses and with full stomachs, to muse about various moral abstractions that catch our interest. I say no. When you let other things displace the importance of suffering, that's not an improvement but a failure of goal preservation. That future self would be failing to live up to what I care about now, and I don't want that to happen. It's the feeling other altruists would have if they started using all their money to buy expensive cars and mansions. Now, there are plenty of fuzzy moral sub-questions when defining what "reducing as much expected suffering as possible" looks like: What computations are conscious? Do you weight by brain size? How do you handle infinities? Etc. These questions have to be answered to make the suffering-reduction program specific. But they don't involve trading suffering reduction against some other value that tempts euthymic minds, like complexity or knowledge or life or whatever else.
Matt Ball is someone else who understands my perspective:
The single most important lesson I've learned in the past 20 years is that the irreducible heart of what matters is suffering. Back then, although I was sure I knew everything, I really didn't know anything about suffering. Since then, though, I've developed a chronic disease, and experienced times when I thought I was going to die, times when I wished I would die. Back then, I worried about abstractions and words and principles; I argued about exploitation, oppression, liberation, etc. I didn't take suffering seriously. Now, knowing what suffering really is, and knowing how much there is in the world, all my previous concerns seem -well, to put it kindly, ridiculous.
One person suggests that past experience with suffering is "a reason to avoid fighting suffering. Your own experiences have biased you about how bad suffering is. It’s like someone who keeps a year of food in his basement because he had to go without food at times when he was a kid, or checking where your keys are 20 times a day because you once forgot your keys." I replied: "Some of the life experiences that make us unique we choose to keep as intrinsic moral values, while others we disregard. If we didn’t keep any of the 'biases' that our development instilled in us, we might be paperclip maximizers instead. My moral biases are what make me me."
Emotions as incomparable
In 2006, I discussed the problem of trading off suffering against other emotions with a friend. He said that in his experience, different emotions can be not just strong or weak but even "incomparable" with one another; certain emotional states can seem incompatible with memories of other emotional states. I replied that we're forced to compare them, and whatever tradeoffs we make in our decisions imply some exchange rates among emotions. While this is true, I still find a certain wisdom in the view that my friend expressed.
Organisms routinely make welfare tradeoffs—e.g., enduring the cold outside your cave to find food. Being able to make these tradeoffs is even used as an indicator of non-reflex cognition in animals, such as when shocked crabs are more reluctant to give up higher-quality shells. But I think there's some point at which the brain's ability to make these tradeoffs caps out. If an emotion exceeds that threshold, all the organism's resources are channeled toward responding to the emotion. This is particularly true with pain. At some level of agony, there's no benefit that can outweigh the suffering an organism is enduring, and every fiber of its being tries to escape.
O'Brien said it well in 1984 (Part 3, Chapter 5):
But for everyone there is something unendurable—something that cannot be contemplated. Courage and cowardice are not involved. If you are falling from a height it is not cowardly to clutch at a rope. If you have come up from deep water it is not cowardly to fill your lungs with air. It is merely an instinct which cannot be destroyed. It is the same with the rats. For you, they are unendurable. They are a form of pressure that you cannot withstand, even if you wished to. You will do what is required of you.
For an organism in the moment of such an experience, it is literally true that its suffering is worse than all the possible future pleasures in the universe. Call it irrational or scope-insensitive if you like, but there's an empathy gap between you and that organism. You and I right now do not realize how bad it feels, and we cannot internalize it without experiencing it.
For example:
Erich “Mancow” Muller, a Chicago-based conservative radio host, recently decided to silence critics of waterboarding once and for all. He would undergo the procedure himself, and then he would be able to confidently convince others that it is not, in fact, torture. Or so he thought. Instead, Muller came out convinced. “It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,” Mancow said.
Susan Sontag writes about those who have endured war:
“We”—this “we” is everyone who has never experienced anything like what [people in war] went through—don’t understand. We don’t get it. We truly can’t imagine what it was like. We can’t imagine how dreadful, how terrifying war is—and how normal it becomes. Can’t understand, can’t imagine.
It's important to remember this when we try to brush off extreme suffering as "an acceptable casualty when promoting greater happiness."
Of course, suffering reducers should remain practical and conciliatory. We need to compromise with those who feel differently rather than trying to push for radical changes that will almost certainly fail and may tarnish our cause. Rather, my aim with this essay was to explain where I'm coming from and encourage others to better appreciate why some people feel so passionately about this issue.
Epistemic modesty
From my perspective it seems obvious that reducing suffering is the highest priority. I think many people agree that this goal is really important, especially in the abstract, even if they don't have the physical or emotional resources directly to invest in it much themselves. I also think that people in comfortable conditions who do have the resources to work toward reducing suffering can become caught up in entertaining distractions, and because they don't feel the extent of suffering in the world on a daily basis, they assume it has lower priority than they would if they had more direct access to it.
Even though I disagree with others to some extent on these issues, I agree there remains a place for epistemic modesty when assessing ethical tradeoffs, that is, giving weight to the views of others rather than relying solely on my own judgment calls. We can categorize the motivations for ethical epistemic modesty into three, ascending levels of breadth, discussed in the following subsections.
Level 1: How bad are various kinds of suffering?
This level seems important even to the most parochial suffering reducer. His own experiences of suffering do not capture all kinds of suffering experienced by all kinds of people and animals. For instance, even if he thinks an hour of enduring upset stomach is less bad than vomiting and feeling better afterward, it may not be appropriate to impose the same comparison on others. Some prefer to vomit and be done than endure prolonged nausea. There are many more tradeoffs of this type among more diverse forms of suffering. Of course, we shouldn't blindly assume that whatever choice a person makes encapsulates his idealized tradeoff. The pain of avoiding sex when you don't have a condom on hand is less than the expected pain of contracting an STI, but people sometimes have risky unprotected sex anyway.
Level 2: How much does suffering matter compared with other experiences?
In this case, a pure suffering reducer might disregard others' assessments, while someone taking a slightly broader view might indeed count them to a degree. If a person experiences a painful event and concludes, even during that event, that it was worth it for some greater good, it's plausible to agree with this person that it was net good to allow that suffering. I'm more skeptical when people
make these assessments in the abstract, without actually experiencing the events in question—e.g., blithely assuming "torture wouldn't be that bad" because "torture" is just a word they throw around rather than an experience they can recollect and whose seriousness they can internalize, or
make these assessments after the fact—for instance, "Yeah, that was awful, but it was worth it in the end because it paid off." It's easy enough to hold this view now that the pain is over and the fruits are being enjoyed, but your opinion during the agony might have been very different.
Example: Fear of death
One instance where I may need adjustment to my own subjective assessment of different values that people hold is trading off suffering vs. death. Personally I don't understand the drive to avoid death. To me death sounds like a peaceful conclusion to a fulfilling life, and I don't regret it. Of course, I have an obligation to stay alive as long as possible to do as much good for others as I can, but when the inevitable comes, so be it. I agree with the following quote, probably apocryphally attributed to Mark Twain: "I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."
Yet others seem to feel differently. Fear of death is a major component of religious, cultural, and personal life for many people across the globe. There's even a psychological theory based around the premise that people act in certain ways to cope with death anxiety. It's not just a religious thing; even many atheists I know are deathly afraid of mortality.
More generally, organisms seem to have a will to live even potentially in spite of hedonic self-interest. We see this in the case of terminally ill people who cling to life even when they're in extreme pain. My subjective sense of the value of suffering vs. the value of life is not calibrated to account for this. One approach is to say these people are irrational, but another possibility is that my personal psychology is peculiar, and I'm failing to recognize a genuine feeling that many other people would continue to hold even on reflection.
Level 3: How much weight should we place on a particular moral system rather than another?
This level of abstraction considers not just an organism's assessment of value to himself, for aggregation within a given consequentialist framework, but his assessment of the moral framework itself. Placing epistemic weight on the views of others here is quite controversial. For instance, are you willing to lend some weight to Hitler's moral system? In general, for almost any moral sentiment, one could potentially construct a mind that holds the opposite sentiment.
There are intrinsic, compromise-motivated reasons to place weight on the views of others, but even from an intrinsic perspective, I feel some motivation in this regard. If your moral views imply a conclusion that many other people would regard as atrocious, not just naively but even on reflection, this should at least give you pause. Certain psychopaths may do ghastly acts without seeing what the problem is. If we likewise find a certain moral perspective plausible, even though it strikes horror into the hearts of almost everyone else, aren't we in a potentially similar position?
Of course, there are exceptions. If you lived in a world full of passionate Nazis, your views would contradict those of almost everyone else. In our multiverse, worlds full of passionate Nazis do exist. But as a general principle, it seems that when you go up against overwhelming moral opposition that doesn't budge even after hearing your arguments, it's more likely that you're doing something wrong rather than the opposite.a (Here by "wrong" I'm speaking poetically, in the sense of "something that further reflection would plausibly motivate you not to do" rather than something literally wrong in a confused moral-realist sense.)
So I think suffering reducers should remain sane. They generally shouldn't advocate policies that most smart people continue to regard as evil even after thoroughly understanding the arguments. By all means we should push the envelope of exploration, like moral equivalents of Copernicus and Galileo. But on a practical level, when people fanatically fight for fringe views, they generally make things worse, and this same intuition should moderate our own feelings of the absolute rightness of our cause. (Thanks to Nick Beckstead and others for emphasizing this point.)
Of course, it's tough to make the assessment of when to push a new moral stance and when to defer to majority judgment. Fifty years ago, majority judgment would have asserted that gay marriage is wrong, and animal suffering doesn't matter. That doesn't mean people in the past should have remained content with the status quo. But we should challenge majority judgment first in the realm of ideas. Then if it gains traction, we can move to the realm of practice. In general, there are bad consequences when fringe groups take matters into their own hands; they should start by trying to win hearts and minds.
The moral urgency of suffering is widely recognized
Sometimes it's claimed that placing special weight on reducing suffering relative to other values is abnormal. I agree that in practice, most people's actions don't align with a foremost emphasis on suffering reduction. That said, there is a long history of ethical intuitions consistent with giving special priority to preventing suffering. For example:
The Foundational Research Institute has a more complete bibliography of works that defend various flavors of suffering-focused ethics.Are you a big Transformers fan? I've never been one. My knowledge of the enduringly popular Hasbro franchise about sentient robots who can turn into vehicles and weapons is limited to the toys I played with as a child (I still have my Fortress Maximus U JELLY?), the original animated series, and the 1986 animated film -- |
of those escaping the cold and damp of a northern European winter appeared to be aware of President Yahya Jammeh’s surprise proclamation last month that the tiny African country he has ruled with an iron grip for more than 20 years would henceforth be known as the Islamic Republic of the Gambia.
“Really?” said Linda, 49, with a hoot of disbelieving laughter. Turning to her holiday companion outside Solomon’s beach cafe, she added: “It doesn’t seem at all Islamic, does it, Chrissie? Quick, we’d better get another beer in before they close all the bars.”
Such a step seems unlikely in a country that depends heavily on tourism. Since Jammeh’s announcement of the new name – in line with the Gambia’s “religious identity and values”, he said, and to symbolise a break with its “colonial legacy” – there have been few discernible changes in mainland Africa’s smallest country.
An order that all female government employees must cover their heads was rescinded 10 days later because it had made women “unhappy”, according to a government statement. Jammeh has assured the Gambia’s small Christian population, about 4% of the 1.8 million total, that there will be no restrictions on religions other than Islam. And although the president reportedly wanted to implement sharia law more than a decade ago, as yet there have been no concrete moves to do so.
The Gambia now an Islamic republic, says President Yahya Jammeh Read more
But foreign diplomats have been instructed to refer to the Islamic Republic of the Gambia in all official communications, and the country’s only television channel – run by the state – routinely uses the new name in its broadcasts. The scholarly Supreme Islamic Council has been dispatched to tour the Gambia’s towns and villages to shore up support for the Islamic state.
Analysts, diplomats and exiled dissidents believe the name change signifies a realignment of the former British colony with the Arab world, in particular the wealthy Gulf states. Some say the move could jeopardise the resumption of European funding, halted in December 2014 amid criticism of human rights abuses. It could also damage the tourist industry and possibly encourage the radicalisation of youth in a country characterised by one observer as “soft Islam”.
Jammeh seized power in a 1994 coup, almost 30 years after the country secured independence from Britain. Since then, he has won five-yearly presidential elections with increasing majorities that have been matched by sliding credibility. Any serious opposition is quickly stamped on; diplomats speak of polling irregularities and bought votes. With no limit on the number of terms he may serve, he is expected to win another resounding victory in the election scheduled for December. Some say the 50-year-old intends to stay on as president for another two decades.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest President Yayah Jammeh during the swearing-in ceremony for his fourth term, in 2012. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Jammeh is described as intelligent and charming, even charismatic, but unpredictable. Many pronouncements appear to be made on a whim. In 2007, he announced he had found a herbal cure for Aids; this month he pledged to “conquer cancer” by the end of the year. He also said he would ban FGM after the Guardian launched a global campaign. Analysts say that even those who follow him closely have real challenges in interpreting his actions.
The reckless plot to overthrow Africa's most absurd dictator - Podcast Read more
His regime is essentially a one-man operation. “The people around him are either scared or just yes men – and yes women, there are a lot of women. But no one is giving him frank advice,” said a diplomat based in the region. “He burns bridges faster than he builds them,” said another long-time observer.
Jammeh’s closest ally and role model was Muammar Gaddafi, the former despotic leader of Libya who was overthrown and died in 2011, and with whom – it is rumoured – he shared a taste for young women. Over the past two decades, Jammeh has tightened his hold on power with the help of the feared National Intelligence Agency and an unofficial paramilitary force, known as the Jungulers, which routinely detains, tortures and disappears those perceived as a threat to the regime.
A Human Rights Watch report, State of Fear, published in September, detailed “rampant human rights abuses” and a “pervasive climate of fear” in the Gambia. Jammeh, it said, had created “one of the most repressive and authoritarian administrations on the continent”. It said the Jungulers “typically wear all-black clothing, cover their faces and are armed with machetes and firearms, including Kalashnikov assault rifles. They have been implicated in numerous incidents of torture and extrajudicial executions.”
Alongside the weakening of opposition political parties, there is little freedom of expression. In a population with a high proportion of illiteracy, many depend for information on the state-run television channel. Independent journalists are regularly detained, disappeared or forced to flee, and no international media organisations are based in the country.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protesters outside the Gambian embassy in London after Yahya Jammeh called homosexuality one of the three biggest threats to human existence. Photograph: Guy Corbishley/Flickr Vision
Civil society organisations and NGOs are tolerated only in areas such as education and health; human rights organisations are barred. “If you are affiliated with any human rights group, rest assured that your security and personal safety would not be guaranteed by my government. We are ready to kill saboteurs,” Jammeh said in 2009.
LGBT people have long been particular targets of Jammeh’s regime. Last May, the president said he would “slit the throats” of any gay men in the Gambia, adding: “No one will ever set eyes on you again, and no white person can do anything about it.” Previously he had described gays and lesbians as “vermin”, an “evil and strange social cancer”, and “anti-God, anti-human and anti-civilisation”. In October 2014, the government introduced a new crime of “aggravated homosexuality” with a penalty of life imprisonment.
The Gambia bans female genital mutilation Read more
Last May, Jammeh rejected a series of recommendations from the UN Human Rights Council, including decriminalising homosexuality, removing restrictions on freedom of expression and abolishing the death penalty.
Not surprisingly, many Gambians have fled the country. According to Eurostat, the number seeking asylum in EU member states tripled between 2013 and 2014, to 11,500. Others leave to improve their economic opportunities and send money home to impoverished families.
Thirteen months ago, Jammeh cut ties with the EU after it had raised concerns over human rights abuses. In turn, the EU blocked $16m of development funding – a critical sum for the impoverished country, whose fragile economy relies on tourism, remittances and peanut exports. Income from tourism, which accounts for at least 20% of GDP, plummeted as a result of the recent Ebola crisis in west Africa, even though there was not a single case in the Gambia, and it has yet to recover.
The Gambia faces battle to deter its young people from migrating abroad | Louise Hunt Read more
The row with the EU, along with an earlier sudden decision to pull out of the Commonwealth on the grounds it was a “neocolonial institution”, is seen as a significant factor in the president’s declaration of an Islamic state.
“He’s done this now because he’s starved of funds,” said Sidi Sanneh, a former Gambian diplomat now living in exile in the US. As well as EU grants, generous funding from Libya has dried up since the revolution and Jammeh also cut ties with Taiwan in 2013 after it refused to provide additional cash bailouts. “Jammeh is looking to the Gulf states – Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait – for the funds he’s being denied by traditional donors, especially the EU,” said Sanneh.
According to Marloes Janson, of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, “Jammeh has lost western support, so he’s now turning to the Muslim world”.
But, she adds, the prevalence of sex tourism in the Gambia may also have fuelled the president’s Islamism. In a bid to counter “national decay”, government clean-up campaigns have targeted “bumsters” – the young men who sell sexual services to female tourists – rounding them up, shaving their heads and sending them for periods of forced labour. “[Jammeh] has not only used religion to shore up his legitimacy as a Muslim leader, but also to redefine the Gambian nation through his policing of morality,” said Janson.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The then Turkish president, Abdullah Gül, and President Jammeh shake hands in Ankara in 2014. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Some say the Gambian president is playing with fire. The country is peaceful in a region where Islamic extremism has taken hold in some places. There are mosques in every neighbourhood, but Gambians are observant rather than devout Muslims, and fundamentalism is rare. Although Jammeh banned gambling last year, alcohol is freely available.
But grinding poverty and lack of opportunity could combine with increasing repression and religiosity into a potent cocktail. “Jammeh is making a mistake. He’s making things worse by stirring up religious sentiment,” said Sanneh. “It’s an inopportune moment to insert the word ‘Islamic’ into the name of the country when you have Isis [Islamic State] running all over the region.”
Another Gambian dissident, Imam Baba Leigh, who fled to the US in 2013 after being imprisoned for five months, warned of radicalisation. “Isis, al-Qaida, Boko Haram – they are like wildfire. If they can penetrate the UK, the US, Nigeria, Libya, I see no reason why they can’t penetrate the Gambia too, especially when its leader calls a secular country an Islamic state.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A vendor working on a beach in Gambia. Photograph: Alamy
Jammeh, who has survived four coup attempts – the last a little more than a year ago – appears determined to entrench his power. “He’s very unpopular, but he rules by fear,” said Sanneh. A diplomat in the region said Jammeh “has his jackboot at the public’s throat”. Another observer described him as a “beast”, adding: “He wants to be king of Africa, but he’s just a normal dictator.”
On the beach, those working the sands were focused on scraping a meagre income from selling fruit juice, horse rides, hair braiding and themselves. “Hey nice lady, what’s your name, where are you from, you like to go dancing?” is the endless soundtrack to a stroll along the Atlantic shore. The tourist season, diminished though it is, has a few more months to run before the rains come and what are known as the “hungry months” begin. It doesn’t seem likely that Jammeh’s declaration of an Islamic state is going to solve many of the Gambia’s problems.Share
It would be an understatement to say that the original MacGruber was a box office failure. The film, which was based on a Saturday Night Live sketch lampooning 80s mainstay MacGyver, was filmed for only $10 million, yet it couldn’t even manage to reclaim its paltry budget. By comparison, The Avengers made twenty times that amount in its first two days of release.
Then again, films based on SNL skits have always been hit or miss. For every Wayne’s World, you have a half-dozen It’s Pats, and yet Lorne Michaels will seemingly never stop promoting the idea that his troupe of late-night sketch comedy folk are just one viral catchphrase away from being the next Eddie Murphy.
Unlike the majority of SNL films however, MacGruber is legitimately funny, and has found a strong following on Blu-ray, DVD and cable since its 2010 release. It’s still not even remotely successful, but there is a sizable niche audience that adores the film, and presumably these are the same people that might, in theory, make a follow-up movie more lucrative than its predecessor.
Thus, against all financial sense, MacGruber is getting a sequel. Will Forte and director Jorma Taccone are said to be developing the movie and while it’s still quite a ways off, the duo claim to have a number of great ideas for the direction of this flick. “It would be me, Will and John [Solomon] writing it again,” Taccone told Screen Crush. “Every time I hang out with Will, we talk about all our cool ideas for the sequel. We have the idea for it and we have a title, but I won’t tell you what it is.”
Though Taccone was very coy on specific plot details, he did mention that the sequel would be set during the holidays, not unlike Die Hard. Taccone counts that movie as one of his favorites, and a huge inspiration on MacGruber, so expect references to the 1988 Bruce Willis classic to be present throughout the sequel. Maybe a Reginald VelJohnson cameo, if we’re lucky.You might want to avert your eyes, Boston Celtics fans — especially those with bad hearts: Paul Pierce was almost a Celtic once more.
Former Celtics coach Doc Rivers was back at TD Garden Wednesday for a fundraising event for ABCD Hoops Dreams. Rivers, who now serves as head coach and president of basketball operations for the Los Angeles Clippers, was asked about landing former Celtics legend Paul Pierce.
Pierce, of course, was traded from Boston to the Brooklyn Nets in the summer of 2013 before signing with the Washington Wizards and making some noise in the 2015 Eastern Conference playoffs. Pierce opted out of his contract this summer and returned to his hometown of Los Angeles, signing a three-year, $10 million deal to play for his old coach.
But it almost wasn’t to be. Rivers told reporters at the event that Pierce almost chose to return and play for the team that drafted him.
And here’s Doc talking about Pierce’s decision likely coming down to Boston or LA this year: pic.twitter.com/fW8b3MZ8wu — Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) September 2, 2015
It’s a heartbreaker for sure, but we don’t think anyone can blame Pierce for choosing playing for his old coach on a title contender in his hometown over returning to the rebuilding Celtics.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports ImagesSpoiler!
I am one of the exploiters for this invincibility "secret" that's existed since this game first came out. I initially found out about it when some of my friends and I were going for the fastest Expert times and we held a lot of them except a few and the times that we were trying to beat were outright ridiculous. I could understand if they were from some top-end raiding guilds with a lot of gear like us, but they weren't so it was suspicious. A bit more digging and I found out about it from a random source who let me in on the secret (I don't remember his/her name since it was a Random Nightmare Tide Expert).
I utilized this exploit on my Alt who's name is Zushin to kill 3/4 bosses in the Rhen of Fate (Achievement Date is 1/27/2015 at roughly 7:45pm). I received one piece of loot named "Maniacal Belt of Offense" which is a Rogue Belt for my "alt" Warrior (not great), but it is loot I got which I shouldn't have. I also received Fragments of Horror which I shouldn't have earned. I also used the same exploit on the same character on some Expert Dungeons in which I don't believe I received any Loot, but if your logs says so, I am willing to take my punishment.
This was something I did because no one was online in guild, and I was not willing to put up with the madness that is public groups. Being that bored with nothing to do, I exploited. I sincerely apologize for what I have done. But it was not my intention to ruin the gameplay of any other players, World firsts, Shard firsts, etc were all out of the question. I merely wanted to entertain myself (which was not worth the time spent).
Don't do it unless you were prepared to lose your account and waste 5+ hours of your life. If my actions have offended someone I would like to know. So that I can apologize personally, please don't spam my inbox T_T.
Thanks for reading.Original Art - Chewbacca Journey! By The Senate on 2016-07-09 00:30:00 Available for 72 Hours!
Coming to you live from Topps: Star Wars Card Trader, we are pleased to introduce artwork from our talented designer! For those fans who are familiar with previous Original Art sets this one will function in a similar way with one exception. This Original Art set will be made available to all fans and will act as a contest!
The fan who completes the Original Art - Chewbacca Journey the most amount of times will receive the 1 of 1 Original Art - Chewbacca - Sketch Card.
Set Information:
3 cards + 1 of 1 Original Art - Chewbacca - Sketch Card which will be awarded to the fan that completes the Original Art - Chewbacca Journey the most amount of times within the allotted time! You will have until 8:30 PM EST Monday, July 11, 2016 to run this journey and earn your place as the contest winner!
Lvl 1: Original Art - Chewbacca - Pack Art at 1:10 Odds
Lvl 2: Original Art - Chewbacca - Ink at 1:30 Odds
Final Lvl: Original Art - Chewbacca - Color at 1:60 Odds
CAUTION: The RESET PACK will RESET your Pack Art Journey S2 back to Level 1! DO NOT PURCHASE UNLESS YOU WANT ACCESS TO THE LOWER LEVELS! Earn your 1 of 1!Crying Women Democrat Senators Hug Sex Assaulter Al Franken After He Heeds Their Call to Resign; ‘Big Hugs’
If you as a woman truly believe a man is a creepy serial sex assaulter of women, do you get all misty-eyed and line up to tightly hug him when he resigns from the Senate following your demand he do so in the face of numerous accusations of sexual assault? If you are a Democrat woman senator, the answer is ‘yes’, even though several of the allegations involved Franken groping and forcing kisses during hugs. Franken was also photographed assaulting a woman in her sleep.
Capitol Hill reporters posted reports on their observations of how Franken was treated by his colleagues on the Senate floor following his unrepentant resignation speech in which he denied the accusations by women over which he was resigning.
The reporters noted many of the women Democrat senators who just yesterday demanded Franken resign for being a serial sex assaulter of women were crying and giving ‘big hugs’ to Franken after his speech. Named in the reports are Amy Klobuchar (MN), Claire McCaskill (MO), Tammy Duckworth (IL) and Maggie Hassan (NH).
Many of the female senators who called on him to resign visibly emotional as they hugged him — Eliza Collins (@elizacollins1) December 7, 2017
Several female senators who called for Franken’s resignation were wiping their eyes, nose as they hugged Franken after his speech — Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) December 7, 2017
Dem senators formed a line to hug Franken when he was done. One of first, and biggest hugs, was from MO Sen. Claire McCaskill, one of first women to call on Franken to resign yesterday — Sam Brodey (@sambrodey) December 7, 2017
After resigning on the Senate floor, #Franken receives hugs from colleagues including @amyklobuchar. Some wiped tears from their eyes. #kare — Lauren Leamanczyk (@LaurenKARE11) December 7, 2017
Dem IL Sen Duckworth at end of Franken speech: I gave him a big hug and told him I loved him and thanked him for what he’s done — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 7, 2017
Dem NH Sen Hassan on Franken resignation speech. Says she gave him a hug. Asked if this was difficult to watch: “l’m just going to go back to my office” — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 7, 2017
Fortunately for these hypocritical Democratic woman senators, C-SPAN cameras are not allowed to film action on the Senate floor, nor are still photos allowed to be taken, so these corroborating reports by Hill reporters are all there likely is to document their hugs and tears for a man they believe sexually assaults women.
Featured image via ABC.Steven Pinker is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, the author of several magnificent books about the human mind, and one of the most influential scientists on earth. He is also my friend, an occasional mentor, and an advisor to my nonprofit foundation, Project Reason.
Steve’s new book is The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Reviewing it for the New York Times Book Review, the philosopher Peter Singer called it “a supremely important book.” I have no doubt that it is, and I very much look forward to reading it. In the meantime, Steve was kind enough to help produce a written interview for this blog.
***
I suspect that when most people hear the thesis of your book—that human violence has steadily declined—they are skeptical: Wasn’t the 20th century the most violent in history?
Probably not. Data from previous centuries are far less complete, but the existing estimates of death tolls, when calculated as a proportion of the world’s population at the time, show at least nine atrocities before the 20th century (that we know of) which may have been worse than World War II. They arose from collapsing empires, horse tribe invasions, the slave trade, and the annihilation of native peoples, with wars of religion close behind. World War I doesn’t even make the top ten.
Also, a century comprises a hundred years, not just fifty, and the second half of the 20th century was host to a Long Peace among great powers and developed nations (the subject of one of the book’s chapters) and more recently, to a New Peace in the rest of the world (the subject of another chapter), with unusually low rates of warfare.
Need I remind you that the “atheist regimes” of the 20th century killed tens of millions of people?
This is a popular argument among theoconservatives and critics of the new atheism, but for many reasons it is historically inaccurate.
First, the premise that Nazism and Communism were “atheist” ideologies makes sense only within a religiocentric worldview that divides political systems into those that are based on Judaeo-Christian ideology and those that are not. In fact, 20th-century totalitarian movements were no more defined by a rejection of Judaeo-Christianity than they were defined by a rejection of astrology, alchemy, Confucianism, Scientology, or any of hundreds of other belief systems. They were based on the ideas of Hitler and Marx, not David Hume and Bertrand Russell, and the horrors they inflicted are no more a vindication of Judeao-Christianity than they are of astrology or alchemy or Scientology.
Second, Nazism and Fascism were not atheistic in the first place. Hitler thought he was carrying out a divine plan. Nazism received extensive support from many German churches, and no opposition from the Vatican. Fascism happily coexisted with Catholicism in Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Croatia.
Third, according to the most recent compendium of history’s worst atrocities, Matthew White’s Great Big Book of Horrible Things (Norton, 2011), religions have been responsible for 13 of the 100 worst mass killings in history, resulting in 47 million deaths. Communism has been responsible for 6 mass killings and 67 million deaths. If defenders of religion want to crow, “We were only responsible for 47 million murders—Communism was worse!”, they are welcome to do so, but it is not an impressive argument.
Fourth, many religious massacres took place in centuries in which the world’s population was far smaller. Crusaders, for example, killed 1 million people in world of 400 million, for a genocide rate that exceeds that of the Nazi Holocaust. The death toll from the Thirty Years War was proportionally double that of World War I and in the range of World War II in Europe.
When it comes to the history of violence, the significant distinction is not one between theistic and atheistic regimes. It’s the one between regimes that were based on demonizing, utopian ideologies (including Marxism, Nazism, and militant religions) and secular liberal democracies that are based on the ideal of human rights. I present data from the political scientist Rudolph Rummel showing that democracies are vastly less murderous than alternative forms of government.
Your claim that violence has declined depends on comparing rates of violence relative to population size. Is that really a fair measure? Should we give ourselves credit for being less violent just because there has been population growth?
You can think about it in a number of ways, but they all lead to the conclusion that it is the proportion, rather than the absolute number, of deaths that is relevant. First, if the population grows, so does the potential number of murderers and despots and rapists and sadists. So if the absolute number of victims of violence stays the same or even increases, while the proportion decreases, something important must have changed to allow all those extra people to grow up free of violence.
Second, if one focuses on absolute numbers, one ends up with moral absurdities such as these: (a) it’s better to reduce the size of a population by half and keep the rates of rape and murder the same than to reduce the rates of rape and murder by a third; (b) even if a society’s practices were static, so that its rates of war and violence don’t change, its people would be worse and worse off as the population grows, because a greater absolute number of them would suffer; (c) every child brought into the world is a moral evil, because there is a nonzero probability that he or she will be a victim of violence.
As I note in the book, “Part of the bargain of being alive is that one takes a chance at dying a premature or painful death, be it from violence, accident, or disease. So the number of people in a given time and place who enjoy full lives has to be counted as a moral good, against which we calibrate the moral bad of the number who are victims of violence. Another way of expressing this frame of mind is to ask, `If I were one of the people who were alive in a particular era, what would be the chances that I would be a victim of violence?’ [Either way, we are led to] the conclusion that in comparing the harmfulness of violence across societies, we should focus on the rate, rather than the number, of violent acts.”
Where did you get your data?
It depends. For the contrast between nonstate and state societies, I used data from forensic archeology and from quantitative ethnography. For the history of homicide in Europe, data from coroners and town records go back centuries. Western governments today keep good data on homicides (the violent crime of choice, because a dead body is hard to explain away), and several of them conduct crime victimization surveys for other crimes (which avoid the distortion of how willing victims are to report crimes to the police). For wars large and small, and other kinds of armed conflict since 1946, we have the Uppsala Conflict Data Project/Human Security Report Project and the Peace Research Institute of Oslo. For larger wars since 1816, I used datasets from the Correlates of War Project. Some historians and political scientists (such as Pitirim Sorokin, Quincy Wright, Peter Brecke, and Jack Levy) have tried to quantify war deaths in earlier periods, and “atrocitologists” such as Matthew White and Rudolph Rummel have done so for genocides, deliberate famines, and other kinds of mass violence. And of course in recent decades almost no aspect of life has gone unquantified by pollsters, government bureaucrats, and social scientists.
Haven’t we just been lucky? If Churchill hadn’t stood up to Hitler, if Stalin hadn’t been willing to sacrifice tens of millions of Russians, if German scientists had succeeded in their nuclear program, then most of the world would be living under the horrors of the Third Reich.
True, but these counterfactuals go both ways. As John Mueller has put it, “had Adolf Hitler gone into art rather than politics, had he been gassed a bit more thoroughly by the British in the trenches in 1918, had he, rather than the man marching next to him, been gunned down in the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, had he failed to survive the automobile crash he experienced in 1930, had he been denied the leadership position in Germany, or had he been removed from office at almost any time before September 1939 (and possibly even before May 1940), Europe’s greatest war would most probably never have taken place.”
One could argue that in fact the world has just emerged from a run of stupendous bad luck, one in which three extraordinarily bloodthirsty men—Hitler, Stalin, and Mao—managed to take over powerful states, and were responsible for a majority of the deaths from war and genocide in the 20th century. Many historians have argued as follows: No Hitler, no Holocaust; no Stalin, no Purge; no Mao, no Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution.
I repeat: Haven’t we just been lucky? On a number of occasions, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the world seems to have come dangerously close to nuclear annihilation.
According to the most recent analyses of documents from the Cuban Missile Crisis (see, e.g., Max Frankel’s High Noon in the Cold War), both the US and USSR desperately tried to get out of the crisis, avoiding unnecessary provocations and offering greater concessions than they had to. Other allegedly just-this-close brushes with Armageddon, such as the Vietnam and Yom Kippur wars, were even less perilous. As Mueller puts it, the metaphor of an escalator, in which one misstep could have carried leaders up and away to all-out nuclear war, is misleading. A better metaphor is a ladder: each rung made leaders increasingly acrophobic, and in every case they nervously sought a way to step back down.
You attribute a part of the decline of violence to the forces of modernity and enlightenment. Yet Germany before the Nazi takeover was the most cultured, advanced, and cosmopolitan society in the world. Doesn’t this show that cultural and intellectual sophistication are no protection against barbarism?
It’s misleading to essentialize an entire society as if it were a single mind. Weimar Germany did have subcultures that were sophisticated and cosmopolitan. But it also had subcultures, both elite and grassroots, that loathed secular modernity and Enlightenment universalism and signed on to Counter-Enlightenment sentiments of romantic militarism and nationalism—the valorization of blood and soil. The problem was that members of the second subculture murdered the members of the first. In a section called “Ideology” I discuss social psychology experiments showing how the silencing of dissenting views can result in the takeover of a society by a belief system that few of its individual members hold individually—the phenomenon of “extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds.”
Have there been times in history when violence has increased? If so, couldn’t it happen again?
Of course. Examples of increases of violence I discuss include a rise in the concentration of destructiveness of European wars up until World War II, the heyday of genocidal dictators in the middle decades of the 20th century, the rise of crime in the 1960s, and the bulge of civil wars in the developing world following decolonization. Yet every one of these developments has been systematically reversed.
The decline of violence isn’t a steady inclined plane from an original state of maximal and universal bloodshed. Technology, ideology, and social and cultural changes periodically throw out new forms of violence for humanity to contend with. The point of Better Angels is that in each case humanity has succeeded in reducing them. I even present some statistical evidence for this cycle of unpleasant shocks followed by sadder-but-wiser recoveries.
As to whether violence might increase in the future: of course it might. My argument is not that an increase in violence in the future is impossible; it’s that a decrease in violence has taken place in the past. These are different claims.
Most people seem to think that wars erupt over scarce resources? Is this true?
Most wars are not fought over shortages of resources such as food and water, and most shortages of resources don’t lead to war. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s did not lead to an American Civil war; nor did the tsunamis of 2003 and 2011 lead to war in Indonesia or Japan. And several statistical studies of recent armed conflicts have failed to find a correlation between drought or other forms of environmental degradation and war. Climate change could produce a lot of misery and waste without necessarily leading to large-scale armed conflict, which depends more on ideology and bad governance than on resource scarcity.
Are you willing to make any predictions about violence in the future?
I think that the humanitarian movements that have gathered momentum since the Enlightenment will continue to make progress. The burning of heretics, gruesome executions, blood sports, slavery, debtors’ prisons, foot-binding, eunuchism, and wars between developed states won’t make a comeback any time soon. Most likely capital punishment, violence against women, human trafficking, the beating and bullying of children, and the persecution of homosexuals will continue to decline, albeit bumpily and unevenly, over a span of decades. I’m willing to go out on this limb because international moral shaming campaigns in the past (such as those against piracy, whaling, and slavery) have generally succeeded over the long term. I think there is also a non-negligible chance that within the next 25–50 years there will be fewer bloodthirsty despots, and that nuclear weapons could be abolished. But terrorist attacks, civil war, and wars involving non-democracies are too capricious to predict, since they depend so much on the actions of individuals. Also, crime rates have defied every expert prediction, and it would be foolish to say that they could not go back up.
One of my great concerns is that technology is making it easier for one person to harm vast numbers of other people. It is certainly conceivable that one event—a hugely successful act of bioterrorism, for instance—could suddenly displace us from this historical trend toward pacifism that you describe. And, as Jonathan Glover pointed out in his fine book Humanity—technology has made it so that those things that are most harmful are not necessarily most disturbing. Thus, if waging war becomes increasingly like playing a video game, the gamer-soldiers of the future might be appalled by the brutality of a bar fight but capable of annihilating whole populations by remote control with a clear conscience. There is also the worry that the most destructive technologies will find their way into the hands of people who have not had their moral intuitions tuned by modernity—think Mongols with nuclear weapons. I’m wondering to what degree you share these concerns.
Yes, I discuss all of them. It’s an interesting question—almost a philosophical question—whether a single kook with a nuke, or a small number of fanatics with other weapons of mass destruction, would count as displacing the world from its historical trend toward pacifism, if the vast majority of the world were appalled by the destruction and continued its pacific trajectory. A large number of deaths from a single renegade perpetrator would be a misleading indicator of the state of the world. But more to the point, I don’t think that it’s inevitable, or even particularly likely, that a terrorist group will get its hands on a loose nuke or build a garage nuke, nor that it would engineer an epidemic-scale pathogen.
I also admire Glover’s Humanity (I wrote a glowing review of it for the New York Times when it came out), but I don’t think that the transition from face-to-face to remote-control styles of killing have led to an increase in deaths. In past centuries, men with swords, spears, daggers, bows and arrows, pikes, bayonets, and muskets could kill people by the millions, while today’s drones are targeted to take out enemies in the single digits—and when an errant drone in Afghanistan killed ten civilians (which would have been a rounding error in previous wars), it was an international incident that brought out profuse apologies. I argue in the book that weaponry is overrated as a driver of violence—human intentions are vastly more important. And while it’s true that people have an aversion to causing direct bodily harm to a stranger, this skittishness is easily set aside, or even inverted into a ferocious savagery, under a variety of circumstances, including vengeance, panic, and sadism.
Can you recommend other books on violence?
Violence has always brought out the best in novelists and playwrights, and it has produced brilliant nonfiction writing as well. Here are some good books on bad behavior, written with insight, wit, and panache:
Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against our will: Men, women, and rape.
Courtwright, D. T. (1996). Violent land: Single men and social disorder from the frontier to the inner city.
Chagnon, N. A. (1997). Yanomamö (5th ed.)
Daly, M., & Wilson, M. (1988). Homicide.
Goldstein, J. S. (2011). Winning the war on war: The decline in armed conflict worldwide.
Gottschall, J. (2008). The rape of troy: Evolution, violence, and the world of Homer.
Keeley, L. H. (1996). War before civilization: The myth of the peaceful savage.
McCullough, M. E. (2008). Beyond revenge: the evolution of the forgiveness instinct.
Payne, J. L. (2004). A history of force: Exploring the worldwide movement against habits of coercion, bloodshed, and mayhem.
Richardson, L. F. (1960). Statistics of deadly quarrels.
Rummel, R. J. (1994). Death by government.
Mueller, J. (1989). Retreat from doomsday |
Vivekananda as national youth day, and Surya Namaskar din and rathsaptami since 2005 in Maharashtra. If it is implemented at the university level, it will spread a good message among the youth,” says the letter signed by Chintamani and Kahalekar. It further reads, “On this occasion, colleges should organise training in Surya Namaskar from January 12-26. The state government should implement this programme in Maharashtra,” the letter reads.
The letter sent to vice-chancellors of all non-agricultural universities in Maharashtra by the state’s Higher and Technical Education department reads, “Dr Chintamani and Kahalekar have requested that training and practical sessions of Surya Namaskar exercise of yoga be held at the university level between January 12, which is Swami Vivekanand’s birth anniversary and January 26, which is ‘World Surya Namaskar Day’ and ‘rathsaptami’. Please take necessary action at your level.”
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The letter is now on the website of Mumbai University, under the section, “Department of Student’s Welfare”. Speaking from Delhi, Chetan Chauhan, national president of Krida Bharati, told The Indian Express, “Yoga is a form of exercise and it will help the children stay fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
With inputs from Nihal KoshieWOO! We have reached (and gone over) our target goal! Thank you so much guys, for all those who pledged and spread word about our game! It's still shocking to see that pledge amount whenever I load up the page. Thank you so much!
A big topic of discussion is that of stretch goals, and this is what we feel so far. There are a lot of cool options; different game modes would fit the game very well. However, we also don't want to over promise and over saturate the game; the amount of content planned in this game is humongous already.
I really do want to do Boss Attack and online multiplayer; these are all absolutely awesome. We have an awesome framework to add cool content. We just don't know if we can add these in time for the deadline we set for our game. Maybe these can be added in the future?
At the moment, we are still undecided on stretch goals because we fear we couldn't complete them. We will update as soon as possible with our plans for the future.
Thanks,
Risk of Rain TeamWhat’s the difference between a Teenager and a Werewolf? Not much. They both stink, are unruly, have hair sprouting out of new places, stay out till late and have a new found craving for meat. So it’s no surprise then that Hollywood has had a lengthy fascination with the spotty, greasy skinned teens and the hellish creatures of the night. As such, here’s a blog to really get your bloody claws stuck into, as I guide you through the rebelious world of adolescent lycanthropes. Enjoy!
The word ‘teenager’ is fairly recent addition to the English Dictionary. ‘Teenager’ first became prominent in the 1950s when teenagers were given more freedom and were becoming more and more popular. With the economic boom of the 50s after World War II, people could afford to relax and have more fun (prior to this, you’d be expected to go straight to work, join the army or have kids!). With the introduction of television and AM radio, producers began to see a new gap in the market – teenagers! Soon enough, films, music and TV shows were being made with this age group in mind. A time for rebellion, fun and self-identity.
So it’s no surprise then that Hollywood quickly caught on and released a whole slurry of Teenage Horror films, including a certain film called I Was A Teenage Werewolf! Made in 1957 and staring Michael Landon, I Was A Teenage Werewolf tells the tale of a rebelious angry teenager (similar to James Dean) who has an unusual problem when the moon is full. A huge success, the film sprouted several future films including I Was A Teenage Frankenstein, I Was A Teenage Zombie, I Was A Teenage Series Killer and I Was A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle….ok, I made the last one up.
In 1985, a certain Michael J. Fox film payed homage to ol’ Landon’s howling beast with the classic Teen Wolf. Spawning a sequel, an animated television show and a new hit show on MTV, Teen Wolf focused on the adolescent and animalistic connections more than any film for a while. The trailer says it all! “His voice is changing, he’s got hair on his chest. He’s stopped being a boy. At last, he’s become…a wolf!” Underneath all the thick fur, the large fangs and Beach Boys music, the film is actually nothing more than a story of a teenage coming to terms with his manhood (after his only true male role model – his dad – reveals himself to be of the werewolf persuassion!). Scott Howard (Fox) starts of as a lonely, awkward and unpopular misfit of a seventeen year old. But as things begin to get a little hairy, Scott soon finds himself the talk of the town. He’s adored and awed by his female class mates and envied by the males. He quite literally rips of his young, social-awkward skin and reveals a new manlier beast within. A true celebration and journey of individulaism and self-identity. Now a TV show currently running on MTV, a channel that, believe it or not, actually had music on it (!) is primarily aimed at teenagers with vomit-inducing programmes such as Teen Cribs, 16 And Pregnant and My Super Sweet 16.
Of course, more recently, along with vampires, werewolves have gotten all glittery and sparkly. The huge success of the audience dividing Twilight saga epitomises the teen wolf syndrome. With it’s focus on soppy romance and pure love that many teens may crave for, to the array of topless young guys on display! It’s the perfect teenage fantasy…or nightmare if you despise the series!
But transforming into a werewolf is not just a metaphor for male teens. Oh no. With films like the Ginger Snaps series and the recent must-see anthology Trick ‘R’ Treat, these she-wolfs go through a transformation not just of unsightly body hair and odor, but sexuality, independence and power. How’s that for feminism?!
Whatever you do though, don’t just assume this is purely fiction. Anything but! Take a look at this news clip – there are teenagers who bring this mythos to reality….
Be sure to check out the latest in this line of teenage werewolf movies, with the most recent Howling sequel. The Howling Reborn (out on the 9th of April on DVD/Blu-Ray. Pre-order yours here!) has everything you’d want! Teenage angst, awesome transformations, gore, horror and plenty of eye candy (in the form of Landon Liboiron from Terra Nova and Ivana Casino Royale Millicevic. Visit the official forum for more details.(CNN) Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said today that he's not in favor of requiring a prescription to purchase birth control. In a taped interview on "The Dr. Oz Show," Trump said, "I would say it should not be a prescription; it should not be done by prescription."
Three West Coast states already allow pharmacies to sell hormonal contraception without a doctor's script. Though hormonal pills and patches have not been approved for over-the-counter sale by the Food and Drug Administration, Oregon law granted permission for pharmacists to prescribe and sell hormonal contraception to women beginning January 1 of this year. California followed suit as of April 8.
Washington state passed a law in 1979 allowing pharmacists the authority to prescribe when working through a collaborative agreement with a doctor, said Jeff Rochon, CEO of the Washington State Pharmacy Association
When this right to request that a pharmacist prescribe and dispense birth control went underutilized by women, the state put together additional legislation that became effective in March 31, explained Rochon. The new law simply increases awareness of the existing right, requiring pharmacists place a sticker in their window indicating that they can prescribe birth control to women without a doctor's visit.
Elsewhere, the movement toward allowing pharmacists to directly prescribe happened only recently.
"This is pretty new. Interest in this didn't pick up until a few years ago," said Elizabeth Nash, a policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute. As she explained, California began the process of amending its laws in 2013. Oregon introduced similar legislation just last year but then crossed the finish line first.
Currently, 12 states and the District of Columbia are considering similar bills, Nash said. In most cases, the idea is to allow pharmacists to prescribe not just birth control but also smoking-cessation drugs or other prescription products without the need for a doctor's script.
"It seems to be taking off on the West Coast," Nash said.
Support for these laws is not limited to sexual and reproductive health policy organizations like Guttmacher.
In 2012, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists first expressed its favor of over-the-counter availability of oral contraceptives in a position statement. The group noted at that time that its recommendation was based on its evaluation of the high level of safety of these medications, balanced against the public health need to help prevent unintended pregnancy.
The group's president confirmed its support this year.
"Birth control is an essential part of women's health care, and over-the-counter status would help more women benefit from the ability to control their own reproductive health," Dr. Mark S. DeFrancesco said in a January statement, adding that "they are safer than many other medications that are already available over-the-counter."
Though the new contraceptive laws are on the books in Oregon, Washington and California, the actual prescribing and dispensing of birth control may not be up and running in many pharmacies in those states just yet.
Nash noted that the new oral contraceptive laws generally require pharmacies to provide a private consultation space and pharmacists to undergo special training. Naturally, this might take time.
Join the conversation See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook and Twitter.
"It is interesting, because in some states, the sponsors are surprising," Nash said, adding how some Republicans have supported these bills. In fact, The Hill reported last year that some Republicans have taken the trend a step further by supporting rules to allow over-the-counter hormonal contraceptives, with no prescription necessary.
A half-dozen Republican senators have signed onto a bill from Republican Cory Gardner of Colorado. Apparently, Trump's comment already has support from this corner of his party.This article has been updated with additional information regarding Delta Upsilon's emergency suspension.
Two members of the Legion of Black Collegians Activities Committee were called the N-word late last night, according to a letter posted by LBC on Twitter this morning.
A statement from the Legion with regard to yesterday evening and the early hours of this morning. pic.twitter.com/TkoggBKSGP — LBC (@MizzouLBC) September 28, 2016
At approximately 11:50 p.m. Tuesday night, a group of six to seven white students passed the LBC members and shouted, “Look at those n------ looking at us,” according to LBC’s statement. The MU Police Department was notified and called to the scene outside of the Delta Upsilon fraternity house.
Fraternity members shouted obscenities and recorded the interaction between LBC members and the police, according to the LBC statement. Additionally, LBC members expressed disagreement with the police’s conduct in deescalating the situation.
To have an officer walk up to me and grip his gun as four men approached me, as if I did something wrong is problematic. — ConcernedDuck1950 (@OXOX_Nicole) September 28, 2016
According to the statement, one suspect has been identified and will be called in for questioning about last night’s events.
LBC referenced similar incidents that occurred during last fall, writing: “... history often repeats itself, but the ignorance that occurs on University of Missouri’s campus always seems to be too familiar.”
Delta Upsilon International Fraternity has placed the MU chapter on emergency suspension as they “work closely with the university to learn more about the incident,” according to a news release.
“Racism and sexism have no place in our Fraternity and we expect our members to be positive contributors to inclusive campus environments,” Delta Upsilon International Fraternity Executive Director Justin Kirk stated in the release.
According to a statement from the MU News Bureau, the university has placed the fraternity on temporary suspension due to both Tuesday’s incident and previous violations, including alcohol violations. Due to the UM Collected Rules and Regulations, the fraternity will not be able to participate in Homecoming activities while suspended.
Last fall, multiple incidents of students being called racial slurs occurred, fueling a semester of protests from student activist group Concerned Student 1950. Former Missouri Students Association President Payton Head spoke out in a Facebook post that went viral, as did LBC Homecoming Royalty Court and other students who also experienced similar acts of racism.
“To say that we are disgusted is beyond an understatement,” LBC said in the statement. “Quite frankly, WE. ARE. SICK. OF. THIS!”
A town hall will be held at the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center at 5 p.m. to answer students’ questions and provide updates on the situation. The Counseling Center will be present, and a prayer session will be held after the town hall.
An emergency town hall will be held at 5pm in the GOBCC large room to answer the questions of our students and update them on the situation. — LBC (@MizzouLBC) September 28, 2016
The Office of Student Conduct and the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX have been notified of the incident, according to a statement from MU on Wednesday. Kevin McDonald, interim vice chancellor for inclusion, diversity and equity, is meeting with students affected by the incident, according to the statement.
We are outraged and saddened to hear this happened. We have zero tolerance for actions like this. pic.twitter.com/63u5r3kRvP — Mizzou (@Mizzou) September 28, 2016
In the statement, interim Chancellor Hank Foley said he was “outraged and sad” to hear of the incident.
“We have zero tolerance for actions like this; if any student is found in violation of the Student Code and/or the university’s nondiscrimination policies, they will be subject to discipline, up to and including suspension and/or expulsion,” Foley said in the statement. “As we have stated, this is a new day on campus and we take our core values of respect, responsibility, discovery and excellence seriously.”
The incident sparked an outpouring of responses on Twitter.
Is this how you feel? @MIZZOU_DU. Directly after the events that occurred last night? Bet. pic.twitter.com/x6IhFMfFLA — E✨ (@StatesOfAmerika) September 28, 2016
"To say that we are disgusted is beyond an understatement." I literally could not have said it better. We need to wake up @Mizzou https://t.co/IRLWVJ4eZQ — Sean Earl (@MSAPresident) September 28, 2016
Let me be clear. People don't pay up to $40K a year to be treated like trash by their peers. Abhorrent behavior. https://t.co/2smt5naNxq — Mark E. McDaniel (@M_McDaniel2012) September 28, 2016
When is enough enough Mizzou? https://t.co/FIPNPK3F3n — Payton Head (@HeadthePrez) September 28, 2016
@MizzouLBC Please know that the @Mizzou faculty stand with you in outrage and disgust over this incident. We value you. — Laura King (@KinglaKing) September 28, 2016
Our sincerest gratitude to everyone who stood in solidarity. This is OUR movement. — ConcernedStudent1950 (@CS_1950) December 31, 2015
@MUBlackStudies stands with @MizzouLBC. We insist on the notion that we are all to be treated with respect & dignity on this campus & beyond — MU Black Studies (@MUBlackStudies) September 28, 2016
MU said in the statement that they encourage anyone with information to contact either the Office of Student Conduct at 573-882-5543 or the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX at 573-882-3880. _Edited by Nancy Coleman | ncoleman@themaneater.com_My in-laws arrive today and I have been rushing about today getting everything ready for their arrival. I’ve put up the Christmas tree, baked a batch of cup cakes and on a last minute whim, I whipped up some Christmas Florentine Cookies. We’re going out tonight for dinner so I think one of my cup cakes may send them over the edge, so a little Florentine and a cup of green tea will be just the thing!
I’m really feeling festive now that the tree is up, we had to go hunting for some Christmas lights as we forgot that we’d broken the lights from last year and we had to go to 4 different stores before we found any twinkle lights, but they’re up now and look fabulous. Just need some prezzies to put under the tree and we’re there!
Vegan Florentine Cookies
Makes 14 cookies
3/4 cups almonds, roughly chopped
1 and 1/3 tbsp whole wheat flour
1 tbsp chopped candied orange peel
1/4 cup natural brown sugar
1 tbsp non-dairy milk (I used coconut milk)
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 ½ tbsp vegan margarine
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
30g dark chocolate (vegan)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. In a food processor or using a hand blender, blitz the almonds until they are a fine meal consistency, then add to a bowl with the flour and candied orange.
3. In a small pan, combine the milk, margarine, maple syrup and sugar and over a medium heat let the sugar melt, once it comes to the boil, cook for another 30 seconds then turn off the heat, add the vanilla and pour over the almond mixture and stir through. Leave mixture to cool, about 20 minutes
4. Grab a teaspoon and take a slightly heaped measure of the dough and using your hands press tightly into a ball and flatten out to a shape you are happy with and place the dough onto a lined baking tray and pop in the oven for about 10 minutes until the cookies turn golden.
5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly and while you are doing that, melt the chocolate in a microwavable bowl, takes about 60 – 90 seconds to melt in the microwave, then drizzle it over your Florentines (I sprinkled a little coconut over mine to make them more festive), then using a spatula, gently lift your cookies from the baking sheet and pop in a container and you can keep them in the fridge for up to a week.
Original recipe herePeople have to pay for training classes to get a concealed carry license that can cost up to $150. (Photo: Jose Juarez / Special to The Detroit News)
Lansing — The nation’s deadliest mass shooting has temporarily delayed Michigan Republican lawmakers’ plans to scrap concealed pistol training requirements and expand gun access, but top GOP leaders say the fight isn’t over.
Concealed carry permits need to be eliminated because they amount to an unfair “coat tax” costing legal gun owners money when a gun is hidden but not when it’s carried openly, Republican proponents say. But most Democrats and some Republicans say the plan risks more gun violence by not only ending concealed weapon permits, but removing currently required safety training.
Other bills allow concealed pistols in “gun free” zones, which include schools, day care centers, sports arenas, bars, hospitals, college dorms, casinos, stadiums and places of worship.
Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, has been ambivalent about the so-called “constitutional carry” package. But Meekhof says increased gun access legislation could advance when public furor subsides over the Oct. 1 country music concert massacre that killed 59 people and injured more than 500 others.
“It’s just an awkward time,” Meekhof said. “It seems like every time we get at a place where we can move some of these things, some sort of incident happens that gives people pause, so we’re gonna pause.”
House Speaker Tom Leonard, R-Dewitt, has said the shooting has not changed his support.
Legislative supporters rail against the $100 permit application and $115 renewal cost as an excessive fee that needs to be eliminated. People also have to pay for training classes to get a license that can cost from $70 to $150.
“As a former prosecutor, I have yet to see a situation where bad guys that want to do harm are actually going to abide by more gun laws,” Leonard said. “At the end of the day, I believe we need to get to the root of this problem. And that is why I have stayed so focused on dealing with our broken mental health system.”
But opponents said training is critical.
Students in Southfield fire their pistols during a class where they were looking to obtain a concealed pistol permit license. (Photo: Jose Juarez / Special to The Detroit News)
“If you have to wait for the time to be right, it almost sounds like you’re pulling one over on me,” said William Kucyk, co-owner of Action Impact Firearms & Training Center in Southfield, who argues the legislation is a bad idea.
“Waiting for the time to be right, well, what is that? If a guy’s filing for divorce, when is the time right?”
Kucyk spent 31 years in law enforcement in Oakland County, eventually becoming detective bureau commander and a SWAT team commander. His shop trains about 75 students a week who spend $69 to take an eight-hour concealed pistol license course in gun safety, law and shooting range time.
Law tweaked this year
Gov. Rick Snyder has not made known his position on the plan, but he might not be sympathetic. The Republican governor in 2015 vetoed legislation backed by the National Rife Association he said would have allowed potential domestic abusers to get concealed pistol licenses despite receiving an NRA endorsement during his second campaign for governor.
“We simply can’t and won’t take the chance of exposing domestic abuse victims to additional violence or intimidation,” Snyder said at the time.
This year, Snyder signed into law a bill that makes technical changes to state law dealing with concealed pistols. The tweaks include allowing an individual to file multiple concealed pistol license applications a year, and clearer rules about county clerks being prohibited from issuing permits until they hear from state police or a county sheriff that the individual in question does not have a felony and is in the country legally.
Other Republican gun bills that may gain traction include a bill backed by Meekhof that would allow people with concealed pistols to carry their guns hidden in schools and another that the Senate majority leader sponsored that would also expand gun access in some places where they are banned under state law.
Because of a quirk in state law, concealed pistol license holders can legally bring guns into schools — if they openly carry them. That’s something that Meekhof and other Republicans such as Sen. Mike Shirkey of Clarklake say they consider potentially disruptive for schools.
Ian MacDonald of Grand Blanc fires a pistol during a class in order to obtain a concealed pistol permit license. (Photo: Jose Juarez / Special to Detroit News)
Shirkey said he thinks having people with guns in schools could help make kids safer.
“It’d be a big deterrent if the bad guys knew there were potentially people there able to defend themselves and their kids,” he said.
Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature have together introduced some 80 bills dealing with firearms either directly or indirectly, though most will go nowhere.
In September, House Republicans approved bills to pre-empt local governments from enacting gun rules stricter than state standards and reduce the current felony punishment for carrying a concealed pistol with an expired license to a $330 fine — instead of facing up to five years in prison. The bills await Senate action.
Law enforcement weighs in
Law enforcement in Michigan mostly opposes scrapping training requirements for concealed pistol licenses.
The Michigan State Police, the Michigan Sheriff’s Association and the Michigan Chiefs of Police Association all oppose any effort to eliminate gun training requirements for concealed pistol carriers.
“How are our communities going to be safer because of this? They’re not,” said Blaine Koops, executive director of the Michigan Sheriff’s Association.
“Rights have responsibility, and we can’t just dilute this whole concept. … For us not to be able to have the ability to do any type of background questioning or training or whatever, it just doesn’t make any sense for the safety of our public.”
Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, the Fraternal Order of Police and other law enforcement organizations and gun control advocates decry the plan as inevitably making Michigan residents less safe by letting more people tote hidden guns without basic knowledge of gun safety and gun laws.
Currently required training programs include information on state and federal gun laws, basic gun safety and safe gun storage information, and experience shooting in a firing range.
“I just think that while I certainly am a supporter of the Second Amendment, I do believe that some reasonable regulation of gun ownership is appropriate,” Napoleon said.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard has not taken a public position on the issue and did not return calls seeking comment. Macomb County Sheriff Mike Wickersham also did not return a call seeking comment.
Handgun training facilities and other gun right activists are in a tough spot about taking a public stance on concealed pistol training, said Mark Cortis, owner of the Wild West Academy in Royal Oak.
If they say the training requirement should be eliminated, gun safety trainers could get upset, Cortis said. If they say they’re against the legislation, ardent Second Amendment supporters could be up in arms, he said.
Cortis declined to say whether it was a good idea, but said that people who sign up for his classes are not usually well-versed in gun law and safety.
“I’ve never had anybody come through the door who didn’t need training, both in the correct application of the law (and gun safety), and I would say 99 out of 100 people have that all wrong,” he said.
Jerry Wrage, 75, who owns a gun training academy in Rochester Hills, was more emphatic.
“One bullet could change your life forever,” Wrage said. “No, it’s not a good idea.”
mgerstein@detroitnews.com
Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/2yWSIUNWhen Binding of Isaac developer Edmund McMillen tweeted last week that Nintendo had rejected a planned Nintendo 3DS version of the game over "questionable religious content," many weren't surprised. After all, a game about a religiously fanatic mother who hears a voice from God telling her to kill her son doesn't really fit in the same family-friendly box as the kind of Mario and Pokemon games Nintendo is best known for.
But McMillen tells Ars Technica that Nintendo's decision only came after months of discussion. During that time, the company expressed a serious desire to release a port of the PC game. In discussing his dealings with Nintendo, McMillen paints a picture of a company struggling with real internal divisions over the best way to expand the breadth of its content while maintaining its squeaky clean image.
"Honestly, a lot of people [said] 'Oh, there's no way, it's so obvious they would say no,' but... they were saying yes for a long time and they were very confident that it was going to be approved for a long time," McMillen said. "For two months I was told it was looking really good and it was something they wanted for the platform... and it just moved up the ranks but it was just one of those things that seemed to be on the fence because they weren't sure if this would cause controversy for them..."
The discussions
From the start, McMillen says he felt Nintendo was likely to approve The Binding Of Isaac for the 3DS partially because the game had already received a 16+ rating for its retail release in Germany—roughly the equivalent of an M rating by the ESRB. Nintendo previously agreed to let M-rated games like Manhunt, Mad World, and Eternal Darkness onto its "family friendly" systems. Even McMillen's blood-and-fetus drenched Super Meat Boy was approved for the Wii before technical issues scuttled the port. The Binding of Isaac shouldn't have been any different, in theory.
But that turned out not to be the case. "All I heard from the very beginning was that the only thing that would hold it back was religion," he said. "They even said, 'even if we could get [an M rating] it would still be a question of the higher-ups being OK with the religious aspects.' I never got to talk to the person who said yes or no, but I do know for a fact that the core of it was the mother trying to kill her kid because God told her to As long as we didn't get an Adults Only I was told it would be fine, but I think it went to the one person who was like 'Nope, I don't want to deal with this, we shouldn't deal with this for Nintendo's image.'"
McMillen recalls Nintendo representatives he talked to making a distinction between blasphemous content (which would have been surprisingly acceptable) and overtly "religious" content that might be more sensitive. "If there's blasphemous content it's probably fine because blasphemy is in most games everything is blasphemous for one religion and not for another. Since demons and stuff are in games all the time, and that's considered blasphemous to some Christians, that's fine. I guess the way I talked about things in the game wasn't necessarily blasphemous, but also considered religious and something they don't want to deal with."
Potential changes and "sliding by"
At one point during the approval discussions, McMillen says Nintendo actually asked him if he'd be OK with changing some of the game's content in order to "slide by" on the 3DS. But the company never presented a list of specific changes it was looking for, he said. That's likely because the company objected to the game's underlying theme, which couldn't easily be excised. Still, McMillen said he would have been willing to bend a little if Nintendo had demanded some incidental changes.
"I learned from Meat Boy, you'd be surprised what people think is bad and what would raise a rating," he said. "In Meat Boy, I thought for sure grabbing a fetus and smashing it into the ground would make a rating go higher, but no, that's not even slightly the most questionable thing... the most questionable thing was Brownie farting. And if it came down to that—'We want to give Meat Boy an M because Brownie farted'—I'd be like, 'I will take out that fart!' because that fart doesn't matter that much; it's not that core of a thing."
The elements Nintendo was worried about with The Binding Of Isaac ran much deeper than that, of course. "What I really did hear from a few people at Nintendo is, if a bunch of people really see Nintendo as this 'E for Everybody'-type system, and this kid has a 3DS and he's playing Yoshi, Mario, whatever, and he sees this game that looks like Zelda, and he downloads this, and its shooting your mom and crapping all over her, peeing on her, it probably wouldn't get a good reaction in that environment."
McMillen sees downloadable 3DS games being judged by a slightly different standard than their retail cousins on this score. "It might be different if it was retail and you could see the box and stuff but I think since the eShop is kind of a budding new thing and anyone can get on with credits and buy whatever they want, any M-rated game in general might not be something you see for a while. Sadly it might just not be the place for the game."
Internal conflict at Nintendo
Despite the rejection eventually handed down by Nintendo, McMillen said the decision didn't reflect the will of everyone he'd worked with at the company. "I know for a fact there were quite a few people there really pulling for the game," he said. "I know there are a lot of people out there saying 'Eeesh, why did Nintendo do that, aren't they trying to get away from that image?' Trust me, a lot of people that work there are exactly the same way. They're saying, 'Aw fuck, we're back where we started again,' because they're trying to pull away from the image of Nintendo being only family-friendly over there and censoring games."
"Of course they want to feed this demographic that is starving for games and leaving them to go to other consoles," he continued, "and I know for a fact there are a lot of people there that want to get away from the image of Nintendo being just a kiddy system, because of course that hurts them. But in the end I think this might have just been too risky for their system, because their core is a family-friendly atmosphere. You can do weird, but you can't do [all this]."
"It's not a big fucking deal."
While McMillen said he's upset more people wouldn't get to play his game on the 3DS, he stressed multiple times he understood where Nintendo was coming from with its decision. The rejection was "not a huge deal" for him personally. In fact, he and his publishing partner really hadn't put much effort into the port yet.
"There was no rug pulled out [from under me]," he said. "A lot of people are like 'You should be pissed because you lost money!' No, I didn't lose money... I didn't start in on development before I got the yes or no. I wasn't doing shit, no one was doing anything, we were just waiting for Nintendo to respond."
McMillen said Nintendo's decision might have even made him money, in a way, by "tripling [Binding of Isaac] sales on Steam for the past couple of days."
McMillen said there's definitely no bad blood between him and Nintendo, and that he'd be willing to work with the company again. "I definitely appreciate all the kind words [from my fans] and the whole 'Fuck Nintendo' thing," but really it's not a big fucking deal.. don't take it like your team lost, because we didn't lose, we just decided not to play that day."
Indeed, the mindset that led thousands of Internet commenters to express their rage at Nintendo over this decision might actually point to the reason the company turned down the game in the first place, McMillen said.
"Here's why Nintendo said no, "McMillen said. "Go to any website that talked about it and read the comments and look at the fucking religious wars that happen in it. That's why [they rejected the game], because people are too fucking stupid to realize their opinions are isolated to themselves and don't apply to others. The end. Fuck off."Aug 24, 2016 at 12:23 // Blockchain
Nina Lyon Author
Chronicled launches an Ethereum Blockchain-based open registry project for Internet of Things (IoT).
This open registry for IoT allows developers and brands to store the information produced by physical items and goods embedded with Bluetooth low energy (BLE) and NFC microchips in a distributed ledger. These are the two types of chips that can be scanned with smartphones, which also makes it more user-friendly. The project is open source for any developer to freely copy and use for their products authentication and verification.
Daniel Cooley, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IoT Products, at Silicon Labs states:
"One of the main problems holding back growth in the consumer IoT market is interoperability. By putting IoT chip registrations into private databases, today every brand is creating the equivalent of its own private cellular phone network or its own private email system that is not interoperable with any other network.”
Chronicled, a technology company based in San Francisco in 2014, noted that the project is very novel. However, according to the official press release, to date the company has deployed approximately 10,000 tamperproof NFC and BLE chips.
Jessica Groopman, an independent industry analyst and Internet of Things (IoT) advisor and contractor specializing in consumer-side IoT and related emerging technologies, commented to CoinIdol.com:
“Amidst a foggy and fragmented market, Chronicled is taking a concrete step toward connecting the blockchain to real-life IoT applications by bridging specific sensor technologies (BLE and NFCs) to distributed ledger architecture. Although these are just two of many different types of sensors in the IoT— a limitation to implementing this technology for “any" IoT use case— they are two of the most common sensors on consumer mobile devices, rendering this a uniquely consumer-friendly blockchain application brands could retroactively implement, integrate into value propositions for existing BLE or NFC-enabled products and their business models, and market as a differentiator in product integrity.”
Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, commented on Chronicled’s new project:
“Consumer IoT has always been one of the areas of blockchain adoption that I have been most bullish about, and I am excited to see Chronicled’s efforts in pushing IoT authentication use cases a step further.”Bicyclists ride on the limestone surface along the North Central State Trail that runs from Gaylord to Mackinaw City. (Photo: Michigan Department of Natural Resources)
A new hiking and bicycling trail stretching hundreds of miles through Michigan will officially be called Michigan's Iron Belle Trail, officials announced Monday.
The trail will run from Belle Isle Park in Detroit to Ironwood in the western Upper Peninsula along the border with Wisconsin. Michigan Department of Natural Resources Director Keith Creagh said in a statement the name "effectively captures the beauty and strength of our state's exceptional natural and cultural resources."
The DNR last year accepted name suggestions for the trail as part of a contest; more than 8,800 ideas were received.
Related: See the full map of the trail
Buy Photo Michigan's cross-state trail has a new name. (Photo: Martha Thierry, Detroit Free Press)
Portions already are open in Michigan's Lower and Upper peninsulas, with additional segments planned to debut this year. The Parks and Recreation Division of the DNR, as well as other partners, is seeking private and public funding to secure and develop trail corridors.
"The hard work and thoughtful vision that have for years gone into Michigan's existing trail system and future connectors help to lay the groundwork for completion of |
“unintended incidents.”
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Moscow has been calling on to the US-led anti-ISIS coalition to team up with the Syrian army from the very beginning of airstrikes against Islamic State one year ago.
“Better late than never,” Lavrov said.
“If battling terrorism is a priority, than all opportunistic considerations, like a regime change in Syria, should be put aside,” he added.
READ MORE: ‘Radicalizing radicals’: US military aid landing in hands of ISIS
Moscow fully supports the revival of contacts between the Russian and American military, Lavrov said.
“If Washington, like [US Secretary of State] John Kerry reiterated, is ready to unfreeze such contacts, than here’s our welcome,” Lavrov said, recalling that when the contacts, now suspended on the US initiative, were in place, they were extremely stable and trustful.
READ MORE: US State Dept. nervous about ‘press reports’ of Russian military in Syria
“We always back up professional dialogue of the militaries, they understand each other well,” Lavrov said. “It’s important to preclude undesired and non-deliberate incidents,” Lavrov said.
As for the naval drills conducted in the Mediterranean, Lavrov said he had no exact information about the schedule of the drills, but confirmed that they take place on a regular basis.
Russia has always supplied equipment to Syria to help fight terrorism - Foreign Ministry http://t.co/DH56xJd2fppic.twitter.com/YflA0ZnOGC — RT (@RT_com) September 8, 2015
He also insisted that any training of the Russian Navy in international waters is conducted in full compliance with international law.
Russian authorities have warned that national naval training is taking place east of Cyprus and will last till September 17.Who Is A College Teacher, Anyway? Audit Of Online University Raises Questions
Enlarge this image LA Johnson/NPR LA Johnson/NPR
Who, exactly, is a university teacher? What defines teaching? And how should the profession evolve in an age of rising tuition, worldwide connectivity, and fast-changing job markets?
Surprisingly, a recent federal audit of Western Governors University raises these questions.
The school was founded 20 years ago by a consortium of states; it's a nonprofit, online-only institution that has racked up accolades, becoming a national role model for its innovative and low-cost focus on working adults.
But the inspector general of the Department of Education claims that its approach cuts too many corners. Rather than innovative, they say, WGU is more like a correspondence school of yore.
The audit calls on WGU to return $713 million of federal student aid. If Education Secretary Betsy DeVos acts on the finding, it would likely put the university out of business, and cast a shadow over at least 80 other institutions that have adopted similar models.
WGU has 83,000 students, mostly adults, preparing for the workforce as teachers, nurses, in technology or business; it's forged partnerships with public university systems in several states. Students can work at their own pace, within guidelines, to demonstrate that they have mastered industry skills, known as "competencies," through tests, papers, and presentations.
The main issue raised in the audit is whether enough of the school's courses require "regular and substantive interaction between students and their instructors." If the classes don't, they function more like correspondence courses. This language is intended to guard against fraud and diploma mills.
WGU's president, Scott D. Pulsipher, acknowledges that the university has a faculty model that is "different" than most. There are three main roles, he says:
Program faculty include outside experts from academia and business, who decide what should be taught at a high level. Program faculty also design curricula, working backward from necessary skills, called competencies, to create content and design assessments.
include outside experts from academia and business, who decide what should be taught at a high level. Program faculty also design curricula, working backward from necessary skills, called competencies, to create content and design assessments. Course faculty have specific expertise in a given topic. They may give feedback on student work, run discussion groups, or work directly with students who are falling behind.
have specific expertise in a given topic. They may give feedback on student work, run discussion groups, or work directly with students who are falling behind. Finally, each student has a single assigned program mentor for his or her entire time at WGU. Mentors have advanced degrees in the student's discipline: health sciences, IT, business, or education. They help students understand the content, and connect what they are learning in different courses; they also assist with project planning and assessment scheduling. Emotional support is part of the job description. Pulsipher says program mentors reach out to their students by email, phone, and text at least once a week, much more if students are struggling.
The inspector general's audit determined that this third category, mentors, are not really faculty, but more like counselors or advisers. In looking at course faculty, the audit found that they don't tend to hold weekly meetings; most lecture-like content is delivered through videos, not in real time. So student contact is not "regular" enough with the course faculty, and not "substantive" enough with the program mentors, the audit concluded.
"Just because they have an opinion," says Pulsipher, "that doesn't mean their opinion's right." In his view, the inspector general's concept of an instructor is too narrow and outdated.
"The audit is akin to taking horse-and-buggy era laws and applying them to the automobile," argues Phil Hill, an independent expert on educational technology who has consulted for institutions including WGU. "It's really rooted in a traditional classroom model of seat time."
Under this interpretation of the law, Hill says, if a statistics instructor gives a 45-minute live lecture three times a week to 300 students, that's "regular and substantive contact."
If students view that same lecture in video form, and that same instructor, with the same credentials, is available as needed to help students one-on-one or in small groups, that wouldn't count. That's despite research showing that the second model can help students understand concepts more thoroughly and often progress more quickly.
The inspector general doesn't have enforcement authority, so the department is free to ignore the audit's recommendations. A department spokeswoman told Inside Higher Ed, "it is important to note that the innovative student-first model used by this school and others like it, has garnered bipartisan support over the last decade."
Pulsipher seems confident that their model will keep standing up to scrutiny. As he points out, indicators like graduation rates, student loan repayment rates, student and employer satisfaction are on par with, or better than, institutions serving similar populations.
"The inspector general's report is a wake-up call that the law needs to be better aligned with the innovation in this space," says Jamie Merisotis, director of the Lumina Foundation, which has been working to expand competency-based education. He says WGU is one of the first, the biggest, and the best in the business, as well as one of the most transparent.
"We are overdue for a rewrite," of the Higher Education Act, he says, acknowledging that there have been efforts to improve flexibility while adding new requirements for accountability.
In the meantime, he says, the Department of Education could issue updated guidance to institutions so they could avoid running afoul of the law.Canada's former defense minister: aliens will give us tech if we quit wars
Paul Hellyer was Canada's Minister of Defense in the mid-1960s. He is now a critic of the United States' willingness to trigger an interstellar war with aliens—aliens who might give us more advanced technology if only we were less belligerent.
"They've been visiting our planet for thousands of years," Hellyer told RT's Sophie Shevardnadze in a televised interview.
"There's been a lot more activity in the last few decades, since we invented the atomic bomb. and they're very concerned about that, and about the fact that we might use it again," added Hellyer, who said that a cold-war era commission determined that at least four alien species had come to Earth. "The whole cosmos is a unity, and it affects not just us but other people in the cosmos, they've very much afraid that we might be stupid enough to start using atomic weapons again. This would be bad for us and bad for them too."
Scientists are at fault for dismissing the evidence of "authenticated" alien contacts, added the longest-serving member of Queen Elizabeth Canada Privy Council. "This information is top secret in the way that government isn't talking about it, but if you talk to the whistleblowers... there's a lot of information and it doesn't take a lot of effort to find it"
About 8 out of 10 UFO reports are false or mistaken. But it's the remainder that are so interesting, and amount to overwhelming evidence. Hellyer has even had his own encounter with a UFO--if not the aliens themselves.
"I have seen a UFO, about 120 miles north of Toronto, over Lake Muskoka," Hellyer said. The UFO "just looked like a star... we watched it until our necks almost broke. It was definitely a UFO, because it could change position in the sky by 3 or 4 degrees in 3 or 4 seconds.... There was no other explanation for it except that it was the real thing."
The Star of Bethlehem, he added, was one of God's flying saucers.
Moreover, the number of known alien species has leapt from "between two and 12" to as many as 80, said Hellyer, the senior cabinet minister from Pierre Trudeau's 1968 cabinet. "They have different agendas. Maybe all of us on earth should have have the same agenda.... Nearly all of them are benign, but one or two are not, and that's what I'm investigating now."ADVERTISEMENT Bush detainee policy loses key legal basis after Supreme Court decision Stephen C. Webster
Published: Saturday March 7, 2009
Print This Email This However, Obama administration's argument simultaneously quashed challenge to and extended assumed powers
The US Supreme Court Friday dismissed a constitutional challenge brought by alleged Al-Qaeda sleeper agent Ali al-Marri as to whether "enemy combatants" can be held indefinitely on US soil.
After U.S. Government attorneys argued the case against Marri is "moot" because he's been finally been charged in a civilian court, the justices issued a one paragraph order knocking down both Marri's challenge and a lower court ruling supportive of Bush's controversial detainee policies.
"Andy Savage, al-Marri's attorney in Charleston, hailed the move," reported the Charleston Post and Courier. "It means that there is no case law now that can support what Bush did."
While opponents of former President Bush may find some cause to rejoice at the news, the Obama administration's "moot" argument effectively prevented the court from directly taking up the constitutional issue of Bush's detention policies. Salon writer Glenn Greenwald called the administration's course of action "a virtual repeat of what the U.S. Government did in the Jose Padilla case."
"This action means not only that Obama could imprison legal residents or even American citizens as 'enemy combatants,' but could even re-declare Al-Marri himself to be an 'enemy combatant' if he's acquitted in his trial," he noted.
Marri, a dual Qatari-Saudi national, was arrested in late 2001. He has been held in a military brig in South Carolina since 2003 when Bush declared him an "enemy combatant."
But in a change of status, he was charged last week in a federal court with providing support to Al-Qaeda, and announced his transfer to a federal prison.
"Al-Marri's case now moves to the civilian courts system, where Savage said it should have been in the first place," said the Post and Courier.
The Supreme Court agreed in December to consider a petition by Marri's lawyers challenging former president George W. Bush's authority to indefinitely hold US residents and citizens without charge or trial.
But President Barack Obama's administration sought to block the challenge, urging in papers filed before the court Wednesday that the case be dismissed, because Marri had now been charged in the federal system.
"Marri is under indictment in the state of Illinois," reported the Miami Herald. "The court's order allows the government to move him from the Navy prison in South Carolina where he has been held for 5 1/2 years, to a civilian jail cell. Marri, a native of Qatar, was a legal U.S. resident who was studying at Bradley University in Illinois when he was arrested in late 2001 as part of the investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks."
"Obama has not rejected the use of preventive detention, which was pursued by the administration of George Bush, Obama's predecessor, as part of the 'war on terror,'" noted Al Jazeera.
"We applaud the Supreme Court for vacating a decision that accepted the extraordinary claim that the president has free-wheeling authority to detain indefinitely people living in the United States," said Emily Berman with the NYU School of Law, in a published advisory. "But we are still disappointed that the court did not take this opportunity to firmly clarify the limits of detention power. It's up to President Obama now to affirmatively renounce the domestic detention power claimed by his predecessor."
"We trust that the Obama administration will not repeat the abuses of the Bush administration having now chosen to prosecute Mr. al-Marri in federal court rather than defend the Bush administration's actions in this case," Marri's attorney told the Associated Press.
With wire reports.
This story has been modified from an original version.
Get Raw exclusives as they break -- Email & mobile Email - Never spam:On the day that Sir Alex Ferguson waved farewell to Old Trafford, another Manchester United legend ended his affair with the club. He was handed what was his 498th Premier League appearance today against Swansea City after announcing his retirement for the second time yesterday evening. His performance wasn’t the best of his career, far from it, but it’ll be one he’ll remember for the rest of his life. The former England International initially announced his retirement at the end of the 2010/11 season, but in January 2012 was persuaded to come out of retirement and help United’s title bid. At the end of that season, he was persuaded to sign a one year contract and in doing so has ended his career with a 11th Premier League title.
The last 4 months haven’t been the best of times for Scholes as he has had to deal with a knee injury. But he recovered in time to play a part in Fergie’s farewell. “I know it’s the right time (to retire),” said Scholes.”The last four months have been quite difficult with my knee and trying to get back fit again. It’s been a good day. We won the game and that’s all that matters. We’ve picked the trophy up and we’ll celebrate.”
He continued: “I’ve managed to get fit for the last couple of games but I think this will be the end… again. I was convinced last time but after six months of having blank Saturday and Sunday afternoons, it does get to you. But I know now I have gone as far as I can physically”. Scholes’ talent never went unnoticed unlike his team mate Michael Carrick. The plaudits were deserved and his admirers came thick and fast. Xavi of Barcelona said of him “In the last 15 to 20 years the best central midfielder that I have seen — the most complete — is Scholes. I have spoken with Xabi Alonso about this many times. Scholes is a spectacular player who has everything. He can play the final pass, he can score, he is strong, he never gets knocked off the ball and he doesn’t give possession away. If he had been Spanish then maybe he would have been valued more.”
It’s true, except for his horrific tackling skills, Scholes could do everything that was expected of a Centre Midfielder at a level far higher than most of his peers. He could turn a game on it’s head with a brilliant assist or a wonder strike from 25 yards. He won every trophy that he could possibly get his hands on at club level with United, but he never reached the same heights with England. His frustrations with the England set up under Sven Goran-Eriksson meant a premature retirement from the international stage at 29. His fine performances when he came back in January 2012, led many to believe he would be called up for the Euro 2012, sadly Roy Hodgson didn’t take up this option.
Scholes’ Stats:
Born: 16 November 1974, Salford
16 November 1974, Salford Man Utd debut: 21 September 1994, v Port Vale, League Cup (scores two goals)
21 September 1994, v Port Vale, League Cup (scores two goals) Man Utd appearances (goals): 717 (155)
717 (155) Man Utd honours: 11 Premier League titles; three FA Cups; two League Cups; five Community Shields; two Champions League titles
11 Premier League titles; three FA Cups; two League Cups; five Community Shields; two Champions League titles England caps (goals): 66 (14)0 of 10
Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images
Little excites an NBA fanbase more than reeling in a big fish from free-agency waters.
But some of the best offseason work is the stuff that doesn't make the front page.
Finding a player who can outperform his non-rookie-scale contract is one of the most effective ways to successfully operate under the salary cap. The Atlanta Hawks bought low on DeMarre Carroll in 2013 and watched him blossom as a full-time starter on a 60-win team. The San Antonio Spurs helped their 2014 title team by snagging the likes of Boris Diaw and Danny Green on cost-effective deals.
The 2015 free-agent class should have no shortage of similarly bargain-priced buys.
For one thing, the group has more depth than top-tier talent. Also, any long-term deals signed this summer will only grow more valuable as the salary cap explodes with the new TV money in the coming years.
The 10 players on this list won't demand the same money or fill the same roles. Some will bolster their next teams' benches. Others will secure starting gigs. But no matter the job title, all have a good chance of playing above their pay grade.
They have been presented here in a descending ranking based on the overall impact they can provide. Past performance, future projections and versatility all helped set the order of these players.Ecosia is an Internet search engine based in Berlin, Germany, that plants trees by donating at least 80% of its surplus income to non-profit organizations that focus on reforestation and conservationism. Ecosia considers itself a social business, is CO 2 -neutral,[3] claims to support full financial transparency,[4] protects the privacy of its users[5] and is certified by B-Lab as a benefit corporation.[6]
The website maintains a running total of the number of trees planted.[7] As of 13 February 2019, the search engine had been responsible for the planting of more than 50.8 million trees.[7]
Search engine [ edit ]
The search engine at launch originally provided a combination of search results from Yahoo! and technologies from Bing and Wikipedia. Ads were delivered by Yahoo! as part of a revenue sharing agreement with Ecosia. The search engine also used to provide Google searches but generated no revenue for Ecosia.
Bing now provides Ecosia with its search results.[8] It is currently available as a web browser or mobile app on Android and iOS devices.
Ecosia shows advertisements next to its search results, and is paid by partners every time a user is directed to an advertiser via a sponsored link. A single search on Ecosia raises approximately half a Euro cent (0.005 EUR).
Ecosia supports country-based country filtering but does not support the displaying of worldwide information as of July 2016.
Business model [ edit ]
Ecosia uses 80% of its profits from advertising revenue to support tree planting projects. In October 2018, founder Christian Kroll announced that he has given part of his shares over to the Purpose Foundation.[9] As a result, Kroll and Ecosia co-owner Tim Schumacher gave up their right to sell Ecosia or take any profits out of the company.[10]
History [ edit ]
Ecosia first launched on 7 December 2009 to coincide with UN climate talks in Copenhagen.[11] Over time, Ecosia has supported various tree-planting programs. Until December 2010 Ecosia's funds went to a program by WWF Germany that protected the Juruena National Park in the Amazon basin. To protect this area, the organizers drew up and financed plans with timber companies and the local communities.[citation needed]
By 2011, the search engine had raised over €250,000.[12] In 2013, about 200,000 people were using Ecosia, and 116,000 seedlings had been funded by Ecosia's donations.
From July 2013 to September 2014, Ecosia donated to the Plant a Billion Trees program[13] run by The Nature Conservancy, which the program aimed to restore the Brazilian Atlantic Forest by planting one million native trees by 2015.
In 2015 Ecosia began funding reforestation in Burkina Faso as part of the Great Green Wall project, backed by the African Union and the World Bank, that aims to prevent desertification.
According to B-labs, as of January 2015, "In donating 80 percent of its ad revenue, the search engine has raised over $1.5 million for rainforest protection since its founding in December 2009." According to Ecosia, by 2015, the search engine had almost 2.5 million active users and had planted more than 2 million trees. 20 million January 2018. 50 million was reached 13th February 2019.
In May 2015, Ecosia was shortlisted for The Europas, the European Tech Startups Awards, under the category Best European Startup Aimed At Improving Society.[14]
As of April 2016, Ecosia ranks in the top 2 start-up for Germany in the StartupRanking.[15] In July 2017 it had 5.5 million active users and 10 million planted trees. As of October 2018, it has reached 7 million active monthly users, with Alexa ranking Ecosia as the 127th biggest website in Germany[16].
On February 13, 2019, Ecosia had funded the planting of over 50 million trees. [17]
Impact [ edit ]
Ecosia works with multiple organizations, such as the Eden Reforestation Projects, WeForest, and various local partners, to plant trees in 15 countries throughout the world. Ecosia says that they focus on planting trees where they are most needed: "biodiversity hotspots" which are areas with large numbers of unique species, and regions with poor communities that cannot handle large scale tree-planting on their own. There are multiple environmental benefits of trees: they absorb carbon dioxide and thus slow global warming; they prevent desertification and keep soil fertile; and they provide safe habitats for forest-dwelling animals. Additionally, Ecosia claims that they support local communities by creating steady income for the planting and care of trees, providing food and income from harvesting the trees, improving agriculture from soil replenished by trees, and finally leading to economic and political stability by lifting locals out of poverty.[18][19][20]
Ecosia currently has one or more projects in the following countries: Peru, Nicaragua, Colombia, Haiti, Brazil, Morocco, Spain, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Madagascar, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya and Indonesia.[citation needed]
In October 2018, Ecosia launched a regenerative agriculture competition in cooperation with Richard Perkins.[21]
On 9 October 2018, Ecosia offered €1 million to buy the Hambach Forest from German energy company RWE AG to save it from being cut down for lignite mining.[22] Ecosia previously urged users to switch to renewable energy providers.[23]
Early in 2019 Ecosia had planted more than 50 million trees throughout the world.[3]
Browser integration [ edit ]
As of 21 July 2017, the web browser Brave has featured Ecosia as a default search option.[24] With the release of version 26 (on 26 January 2016), the Pale Moon web browser added Ecosia as a default, as did version 8 of the Polarity web browser on 15 February 2016.[25] Ecosia is the default search engine of the Waterfox web browser since version 44.0.2.[26] Since version 1.9, Vivaldi has included Ecosia as a default search engine option.[27] In March 2018, Firefox 59.0 added Ecosia as a search engine option for the German version.[28][29] Microsoft has also added Ecosia as a search option in its Edge browser.[citation needed]
See also [ edit ]Talk about instant regret.
This white Hyundai ended up in the middle of the river in Anhui, east China.
SEE ALSO: China just registered 14 million people that never officially existed before
The driver told local county police he was merely following his GPS, and did not realise that the dirt path he was on was leading to water:
Image: SHUCHENG COUNTY POLICE/WEIBO
Image: SHUCHENG COUNTY POLICE/WEIBO
Police took about half a day to pull the car out of the water with a truck and bulldozer.
Image: SHUCHENG COUNTY POLICE/WEIBO
Image: SHUCHENG COUNTY POLICE/WEIBO
Image: SHUCHENG COUNTY POLICE/WEIBO
Users on Weibo were amused, to say the least.
Image: Ng Yi Shu/Mashable
AirHeadFaith: "Even if you blame Baidu Maps, you can't save the driver's IQ...driving towards the water is just...I have no words."
Image: NG YI SHU/MASHABLE
LuoLiTaLL: "If you can't drive, fly! Doesn't your car have that function?"
Image: NG YI SHU/MASHABLE
Kaka_Long: "With an IQ like this, just say goodbye to your car."
[h/t: Shanghaiist]When it comes to entertainment media, badass female protagonists are having a bit of a moment. We've been given Jessica Jones, we've critiqued Black Widow's role in The Avengers, we bow to the Khaleesi in Game of Thrones, and call for more female representation in video games. The same thing is happening to the world of books. We have our Hunger Games, we celebrate the cool characters in the Harry Potter series, and sat at the edge of our seat when Lisbeth Salander's newest book hit the shelves. We just can't seem to get enough of a badass female protagonist, and that's a terrific thing.
While, we all know about Hermione, Lisbeth Salander, and Katniss Everdeen, but what other badass female protagonists are out there? And what makes a female protagonist badass? Well, it's really in the eye of the beholder, but I like to think that a badass female protagonist does what she has to do and isn't afraid of being herself. She doesn't necessarily need to be good with a weapon (although in some plots that would definitely help) nor does she need to destroy her own femininity in order to be considered badass. To celebrate this, I've compiled a list of 12 books that feature badass female characters. Take a look and get ready to feel empowered!
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In this retelling of the classic fairy tale Cinderella, our heroine is a cyborg mechanic living in the future Chinese city of New Bejing. Treated as a second-class citizen due to her cybernetics and hated by her stepmother after she's blamed for the sickness of one of her stepsisters, Cinder's life isn't necessarily the best. When the charming Prince Kai arrives on the scene with a request that Cinder fix one of his androids, she's set loose on a wild adventure. Not only is Cinder a relatively badass character on her own (seriously, cyborg mechanic), but this is the first book of The Lunar Chronicles series that features a whole bunch of awesome badass, converted fairy tale characters.
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My love of Arthurian legend comes out pretty solidly in my articles, but if you're on the same page as I am and love a medieval tale of knights and their ladies fair, The Mists of Avalon will fill those needs while giving you some awesome female characters. Told from the point of view of the sorceress Morgan Le Fay (now called Morgaine), this epic tale focuses on the women behind the throne of King Arthur.
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In this post-apocalyptic world, the population is kept safe inside of a walled city, and every female is assigned a male "Protector". While most of these women are kept doing stereotypical "feminine" things such as sewing and dancing, Rachel Adams has learned how to hunt and carries a willful determination of her own. Things begin to fall apart when her father goes missing and her new Protector turns out to be Logan, the man who rejected her two years previously. Refusing to believe that her father is dead, Rachel and Logan escape the walled city and fight their way through the wasteland in order to bring her father home.
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14-year-old Sophronia has appalling manners, being far more interested in learning how to dismantle a clock and climb trees than doing a proper curtsy or learning how to dance. At her wits end, her mother enrolls her in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, a finishing school that not only teaching ladies proper etiquette and poise, but also teaches them how to be spies. The first of a series, not only are the ladies in the book complete badasses, but they are also incredibly witty and smart. That's a winning combination if I've ever heard of one!
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Set in an alternate history where a disease has forced supernatural creatures to reveal themselves since they have started to outnumber humans, our heroine Rachel Morgan is a witch who recently quit her job in order to go into business for herself with a vampire and a pixie as partners. When her former boss puts a hit out on her, Rachel needs to get rid of the price on her head in spite of her own inexperience. The world building is quirky, all of the characters are unique, and Rachel herself is a world-class magic-wielding badass.
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Set in a world where all lost children are sent to a dual school where they become various fairy tale tropes, Sophie is princess-y girl who dreams of being rescued by a prince and being beautiful forever, while her friend Agatha leans slightly more to the Gothic way of life. When the two girls get lost in the Endless Woods, they discover that their fates have been reversed: Agatha is destined for the School of Good, where she will learn to become a fairy tale princess, while Sophie is destined for the School of Evil, where she will learn to become an evil witch. Both girls struggle against their new identity as they try to learn about who they really are.
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Right before she's about to be executed for murder, 19-year-old Yelena is given an offer she can't refuse. She'll live in the palace, eat all the best meals, and in return live as a food taster for the Commander of Ixia. Facing death every day, the circumstances grow even more dire as the head of security insists on poisoning her every morning and only giving her the antidote at night to ensure full cooperation. As tensions in the kingdom of Ixia grow, Yelena quickly discovers magical powers that are beyond her control. Yelena is a fearless and awesome protagonist who also has room to grow, this is the first book in a trilogy, so you'll have plenty of time to get to know her.
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When Mara Dyer wakes up in the hospital, she swiftly realizes that not only does she have no memory of how she got there, but that three of her friends are dead. Plagued with strange ghostly visions and the fact that she keeps losing stretches of time, Mara's family decide to start over in Florida, where on the first day of school she meets the rich and attractive Noah Shaw. When Mara begins to believe that she can kill with her imagination, she goes on a quest to figure out exactly what's happening to her before she completely loses her mind.
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18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien spent the past year working hard labor in the salt mines before she was dragged before Crown Prince Dorian, who has requested that she a act as his champion in a competition to find the new royal assassin. If she wins, she'll serve for four years before winning her freedom. However, once her fellow contestants start winding up dead, Celaena must find the killer before she's next.
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Set in a kingdom that is constantly on the brink of peril thanks to the Shadow Fold, an impenetrable darkness filled with monsters that eat human flesh, Shadow and Bone centers on Alina Starkov, a soldier who reveals a mysterious dormant power after her regiment is attacked by the Fold. Upon discovery of her power, she's taken away to the Royal Court where she will train to be a Grisha, a member of the magical elite. Not only is Alina a badass in her own right, but the trilogy takes inspiration from Russian culture, which is an added bonus indeed.
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Dylan Hart is a twentysomething journalist with a big butt and a bigger mouth. In an attempt to catch her big break, she decides to take it upon herself to investigate a series of prostitute murders that all have one thing in common: each body is drained of blood. Diving head first into a seedy vampire subculture, Dylan needs to find the murderer before she's on the menu next. She's a fearless and wonderfully sarcastic heroine.
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The end of the world is nigh, or so an evangelical American church seems to think. When the rapture seems to come and thousands of people go missing, the world is plunged into a panic. Vivian Apple at the End of the World has not one, but two badass female characters. We are treated to Vivian herself, a 17-year-old girl who never really bought into the evangelical church her parents were obsessed with, and her best friend Harp, who openly shows disdain for the new world order. When their parents disappear, Vivian and Harp team up and go on a cross-country journey in order to discover the truth behind the apocalypse.
Image: Gabriele Forcina/UnsplashWhen you're hauling ass down Route 66 in a T-top Trans Am, your gear should match the landscape
Actually, it doesn't matter what highway you get your kicks on. Route 66—the storied stretch of asphalt running from Los Angeles to Chicago—may have been immortalized by Nat King Cole and the Stones, but whatever stretch of road gets you and a buddy the hell out of Dodge this summer will do. Question is, what do you pack when you're channeling Wyatt and Billy from Easy Rider?
Not thought-out outfits, that's for sure. All you really need is a duffel bag in the backseat with a motley assortment of pieces spilling out, any of which can be pulled on or off anytime. That means: layers that can be shucked as the weather (and finicky A/C) demands, denim shirts that look better wrinkled, and the kind of sun-bleached chinos that wear coffee splashes and French-fry grease like badges of pride. You want it all distressed, dusty, and worn-in—just like the highway itself.—Will Welch
On Arthur: Tank top, $70 by T by Alexander Wang. Shorts, $68 by A|X Armani Exchange. Jacket (beneath him) by Neil Barrett. Boots, $100 by Clarks Originals.
**On Stephanie: **Camisole by Michael Stars. Panties by Betsey Johnson Intimates. Bracelet by Scout.Winnipeg can be a fickle city when it comes to choosing the current season. In one week it can go from +30°C to below 0, and back again. “What’s that?”, said Mother Nature, “You already planted all your plants for the year? LOL Here’s some more snow!”…… Aw, thanks. You shouldn’t have.
(Don’t forget: If you’re looking to stream the full playlist, head to the bottom of the page for the youtube and spotify links!)
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Like Acid Rain
Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s most recent album, Multi-Love, was released last week, and it is one I keep listening to over and over. An album inspired by the polyamorous relationship between singer Ruban Neilson, his wife, and a woman he met in Tokyo while on tour. If you’re intrigued, read more about the details here.
Now go and give your significant other a nice long handshake, and stop looking at me with those eyes.
Milo Greene – Heartless
This weekend Milo Greene returned to Winnipeg on their own headlining tour (last seen here opening for Bombay Bicycle Club in October). Unfortunately, I was stuck working and couldn’t make it. However, my fiancée made it to the show and sent me a pretty great 15 second clip, so at least I’ve got that going for me! Besides the distracting couple behind her that sang the wrong songs and tried to conceive a child (who in 9 months will be named Milo), she said it was a great concert.
This track from Milo Greene is off their latest album, Control, and led by the vocals of band member Marlana Sheetz. (Oh boy, I just have to take this opportunity) I hope you’re not listening to this playlist in bed, otherwise after listening to this track you may leave some sheetz in the sheets! For those 26 loyal followers that read my last post, you’re welcome again.
Of Monsters and Men – Empire
Looks like Of Monsters and Men are ready for summer as well! They’re ready get out of Iceland and tour with their new album, Beneath the Skin, out June 9th. If you can’t wait, they have released four songs you can check out. The band is describing this upcoming album as a polar opposite to their last, being described as more personal, and from the sounds of some of |
want you to use it for the good purpose of paying your bills, pay off your car, start a business, education, or go on a vacation.”
Eric had me at gambling and drinking.
But I already knew he was up to no good, so I started taking notes.
“All you have to do is submit your confirmation money card to the account manager and, within 10 or 20 minutes, once we verify your details, you can be approved,” Eric said.
I had questions.
“What department of the government did you say was giving away this money?” I asked.
“The Department of Government,” he said, with assurance. “The Government Grant Department.”
“And how long have you been giving out these grants?” I asked.
“Five years,” Eric said, without blinking.
“And where did you get my name?” I asked.
“We did a democratic survey. We select only 1,500 people to receive this money every year,” he explained.
I asked him what a “confirmation money card” is.
Eric first wanted to explain that he would explain that in a minute, but that he wanted to get my information confirmed first, “because we are getting so many complaints from you people, that you are not receiving your grant money, and we don’t want to make a mistake. So, you are in …. Nashua?” he said, struggling with the pronunciation of the place where I don’t live.
I told Eric that no, I was not in Nashua. I paused. The “guess again” was implied.
Then it sounded like he dropped the phone. When he returned, he guessed again.
“OK, so you are in New Hampshire, right? Where in New Hampshire are you?” he asked.
I told him I wasn’t comfortable giving him information by phone. And then I said I’d prefer to receive my government grant money application in document form.
I guess he was on to me. Six minutes into our conversation and, “click,” Eric gave up, pulling the plug on my free government money dreams before I could ask what he was wearing.
He also got away before I could get his phone number or address, neither of which he would have given me. Or if he did, they would be fake 800-numbers and phony addresses.
I know this kind of phone scam is not new. And I know our local and state government agencies put out warnings all the time. Sadly, it’s not me I’m worried about.
It’s people, generally speaking older people, who may feel excited to know they’ve qualified for free government money just by living right. Or people who might want to do drugs, gamble or drink with their government windfall, despite their good record.
Or, in the case of calls from IRS scammers, I worry about those who might be intimidated if they don’t respond to Uncle Sam’s stern warning that they may be in trouble for a tax problem.
I actually know some people who’ve been scammed.
And I know that once you follow through by giving them information about your bank account, your phone number, or even go so far as to buy a MoneyGram, aka “confirmation money card,” it’s too late. No one can help you recover what is lost.
There are a few things you can do if you don’t want to get these calls, or if you want to prevent your mom or dad or grandparents from fielding them. Head over to the Federal Trade Commission website and enter your phone number and two other numbers (mom and dad would be a great place to start) which will get you on the “National Do Not Call” registry.
Then, talk to your loved ones, particularly mom, dad, or grandmom and grandpop, about these kinds of scams, and make sure you check back with them every now and again, to make sure they haven’t had any strange phone calls.
⇒ Click here to learn more about the FTC’s Pass it On program
You can also go to the NH Attorney General’s NH Consumer Alert site for tips and FAQS, including the current list of active scams that have been reported, which range from lawsuits, sweepstakes, mortgage and puppy scams, to U.S. mail and email scams. See below:
Appreciate an independent local source of news and information? Consider supporting the InkLink with a financial contribution. Just click here!Why I'm Ashamed of Idaho Legislature and You Should Be Too
I'm a Boise native and I love it. This blooming capital city is full of community, compassion, and creativity. Alongside magnificent mountain ranges, generous people and innovative minds surround the Treasure Valley. We're known as the Gem State, but the real jewels here are Boiseans themselves.
Except for our legislature.
In just over one month, the Idaho legislature has figuratively slapped its constituents in their faces not once, but three times.
LGBT People Aren't Real Humans, So Why Give Them Rights?
On February 3, 44 demonstrators were arrested when they blocked the entrance to the Idaho capitol chambers. They were wearing shirts that said "Add the Words Idaho," and were covering their mouths. This was the eighth year the Idaho legislature refused to add the words "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" to the Idaho Human Rights Act. In fact, they won't even hold a public hearing on the matter.
That means that in the state of Idaho, someone can lose their job or home simply because they are LGBT. Former state Senator Nicole LeFavour organized the silent protest and was among the 44 citizens arrested that day. The story went viral, showing up everywhere from Buzzfeed.com to USA Today and The Guardian.
Since this first incident, more protests have occurred and subsequent arrests have been made. The legislature still will not budge.
It's Okay to Abuse Animals As Long As Nobody Secretly Records It
On February 28, the Idaho House and Senate approved the "Ag-Gag" bill. Governor Butch Otter then signed it into law despite huge public opposition. Since then, over 100,000 signatures asking to veto the bill have been collected and delivered to the capitol. Even Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya has publicly asked the Governor to veto the law.
Local publication Boise Weekly reported, "The bill aims to crack down on whistleblowers who are not employed by an agricultural production facility or anyone who obtains employment with such an operation through misrepresentation. If said persons were to obtain records or enter an agricultural production facility that is not open to the public, or'make audio or video recordings of the conduct' at that facility, they would face a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison. Additionally, the guilty party would pay twice the value of damages to the agricultural facility.'"
Basically that means if you go to a farm and take video of farm employees abusing any of the facility animals, you'll be punished for "blowing the whistle." You will be punished for exposing their abuse toward animals. Let's release a collective sigh and roll our eyes now, because I'm not done yet.
Sure You Can Bring Your Glock 21 to Math Class, It's Not Like You're a Hormone-Raging Not-Totally-Adult With a Not-Fully-Developed Brain and Possible Emotional Issues
Finally we come to the Idaho Guns on Campus Measure. The legislature wants to allow all students, faculty, and visitors to any colleges or universities in Idaho to be able to carry a concealed weapon on campus. On March 5, the Coalition to Keep Guns Off Campus delivered a petition to House Speaker Scott Bedke with almost 3,000 signatures asking the bill to not be passed.
On her way out of the capitol, Coalition spokesperson Emily Walton said, "Out-of-state lobbyists say SB1254 just addresses people with enhanced concealed carry permits on campus. But they're wrong. Under Idaho law, if you can carry a concealed weapon, you can carry an open weapon. This bill will allow anyone with that permit to wear a weapon openly, or simply carry it as they stroll across campus or enter a classroom."
The bill also inspired Boise State University professor Greg Hampikian to write his letter, "When May I Shoot a Student?" that was featured on media sites like NYTimes.com and HuffingtonPost.com, and has led him to appear on MSNBC to discuss his concerns.
The House approved the bill March 6 despite testimony from the public in opposition of the law (a four-to-one in opposition) and opposition from all eight heads of colleges and universities in Idaho. It now sits on Gov. Otter's desk to be signed into law.
You Should Be Ashamed of Idaho Legislature Too
Listen, I'm not the expert on politics and laws and legislature. I'm just a 23-year-old Boise-born girl who loves her big little city. Seeing our representatives – the people who are supposed to take into consideration how we feel about the laws they sign and actions they pursue – essentially ignore its constituents and their severe concern for their own safety and that of others, makes me die a little inside. We all know politics are politics, but when it comes to local government, the people should be heard.
We live in your neighborhoods and eat at the same restaurants. We take our kids to the same zoo and enjoy the same Christmas parade each year. You are Idahoans too, legislature. Idahoans with the power and means to decide what happens in the state you claim you love so much. But when does that power become more about yourself and less about the other 1.5 million Idahoans who are looking to you to keep their best interests in mind?
Apparently it's not enough that they're pissing off some of the most involved people in the capital city's community. It's not enough that they receive thousands of signatures asking them to reconsider an issue. It's not enough that almost 150 people have been arrested because they simply want a public hearing to discuss something they find important. How secure do you feel about your local government if something like this can happen elsewhere?
Other people need to care, and other people need to be angry. These issues have blown up on the news circuit solely because of the passionate people of Idaho expressing their firm beliefs to our government. To any citizens who have ever felt frustrated with their local government, help us stand up to ours. Make this viral. Make this matter. Get mad, post about it, tweet about it – hell, do whatever you can to give these people the negative attention they deserve. Idaho's government is one of the staunchest in the country, so imagine what else could be changed with enough passion and protest if this stubborn, listless body of politicians can be forced to reevaluate their actions and take notice of the importance of the people's opinion.
In closing, I'd like to say that I hope in the future the only thing that still really bothers me about my state's legislature is our governor's name. But hey, if we had a governor who at least listened to our concerns, his name could be Man Beaver and I wouldn't give a dam.
UPDATE: On March 12, Gov. Butch Otter signed the Guns on Campus bill.TBILISI, DFWatch–Tbilisi City Hall is not planning to bring back the trams in the capital, despite a call from a member of Tbilisi City Council. City Hall will only considers it in a long-term perspective.
Aleko Elisashvili, independent member of Tbilisi City Council, recently said it is necessary to have a tram system in the city because it is the most comfortable, fast and ecologically clean form of transport, and will contribute to solving the problem with traffic jams.
But City Hall is not considering building a new tram network, DFWatch was told by a spokesperson.
“It is too expensive to organize a tram network. It will cost more than USD 300 million. One of the most active lines is Delisi-Ortachala, which would go through capital’s central districts. It would cost more than USD 140 million. The project is too expensive and we don’t have resources for this today,” Deputy Mayor Irakli Lekvinadze said.
The Tbilisi trams date back to December of 1904, but were preceded by horse-drawn tram, mostly known as konka. In the late 1990s, tram lines were reduced and finally removed in 2006.
The French company Sistra prepared a plan in 2012. The length of the first tram line would be 14 kilometers. It started from the university campus Maglivi and ended in Ortachala, passing through the Vake district. But the project was halted.
Irakli Abesadze, member of the City Council from the National Movement, who used to be the deputy of Mayor Gigi Ugulava in 2012, told Fact-meter that the reason for halting the project was financing. He said that it is not easy to carry out this project now.
“Preliminary works expenses were one million euros, which we received as a grant from the French government. This amount included works like questionnaires, technical issues and risk measures. The project was finalized for beginning construction work, but we had to stop, because it would cost about 500 million euros to carry out the project and we thought that it was too much and Tbilisi’s budget wouldn’t be enough for that,” Abesadze said.Sculptures by nearly 40 international contemporary artists will be on display around the historic Roman Forum and Palatine Hill archaeological site in Rome. The exhibition, entitled “Par tibi, Roma, nihil,” runs from June 24 until September 18.
This site-specific showcase will mostly feature works from the collection of the Nomas Foundation, which, according to a press release, provide “an anarchic re-reading of the devices for the stratification of history […] within the myth of Rome.”
These works include pieces like Marko Lulić’s “Death of The Monument,” 2009, a sculpture that features its title in large wooden letters, and whose explicit irony gains particular poignancy when placed in one of the most monument-heavy cities in the world.
Other highlights take a similar irreverent approach, such as Petrit Halilaj’s “They are Lucky to be Bourgeois Hens II,” 2009, which involves live hens living within a wooden building that is shaped like a rocket ship, offering a notably surreal contrast to its environment.
The exhibition also features artists working in video and installation, as well as the employment of materials both conventional — like marble, wood, and neon — as well as unconventional, including electric wires, flowers, and the aforementioned alive hens.
The full list of artists participating in “Par tibi, Roma, nihil” is as follows:
Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Meris Angioletti, Francesco Arena, Kader Attia, Elisabetta Benassi, Daniel Buren, Loris Cecchini, Chen Zhen, Isabelle Cornaro, Michael Dean, Tomaso De Luca, Giulio Delvé, Maria Adele Del Vecchio, Gabriele De Santis, Flavio Favelli, Piero Golia, Petrit Halilaj, David Horvitz, Kapwani Kiwanga, Jannis Kounellis, Marko Lulić, Emiliano Maggi, Masbedo, ROSALIND NASHASHIBI, Alessandro Piangiamore, Gianni Politi, Valerio Rocco Orlando, Michal Rovner, Marinella Senatore, Sissi, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Adrian Tranquilli, Guido van der Werve, Nico Vascellari, Tris Vonna Michell, and Sislej Xhafa.
“Par tibi, Roma, nihil” runs through September 18 at the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.Scientists already knew that when a virus containing or producing DNA enters a cell in the body it is detected by a protein called cGAS. This in turn produces a small signalling molecule called cGAMP which acts as what’s known as a second messenger, activating other elements of the body's immune response. Now, the Oxford team have discovered that as some viruses replicate, they incorporate cGAMP, meaning that as they infect new cells the cGAMP immediately prompts an immune response.
Professor Jan Rehwinkel from the MRC Human Immunology Unit, within Oxford University’s Radcliffe Department of Medicine, explained: 'We hypothesised that as the virus replicated, cGAMP was incorporated and carried to the next cell to be infected. This may not have been spotted before because in the lab researchers tend to use cells that are free of cGAS and therefore unable to produce cGAMP.
'By putting cGAS back into some of these cells, we were able to compare what happened as the virus moved to infect new cells. Viruses from cells that had been loaded with cGAS and could produce cGAMP stimulated a much more potent immune response when they moved into new cells than viruses that had come from cells without cGAS.
'This confirmed our hypothesis in cells with artificially high levels of cGAS but we needed to also test it using cells with naturally occurring levels of the protein. We used cells from mice and compared these to cells from genetically engineered mice that were cGAS free. The finding was the same – where cGAMP was produced, it travelled within the virus particles.
'It is not yet clear whether cells are tagging these virus particles deliberately or whether it is simply a by-product of how viruses replicate.'
The Oxford team are now investigating whether the research could be used to improve a class of vaccines. Viral vectored vaccines are genetically engineered virus particles designed to prompt an immune response against particular diseases. The researchers will look at whether by loading these particles with cGAMP it is possible to stimulate a bigger immune response, making such vaccines more effective.Contents show]
Background
is a portly villager from the countryside of pre-columbian Peru and the deuteragonist from Disney's 2000 animated feature film,
Pacha is the leader of a village in Emperor Kuzco's unnamed kingdom. His hut is located at the very top of the village's hills where the sun hits perfectly. He resides there with his wife Chicha and his children, Chaca, Tipo, and Yupi. Pacha spends most of his time herding llamas and being with his family, which implies that his political responsibilities as village leader were not too demanding and the villagers can overall look after themselves. However, his role as chieftain became greater when his village is targeted by Kuzco in order to level it for his "Kuzcotopia" summer palace, as all the people in Pacha's village would lose their homes, and as such Pacha needed somehow to convince Kuzco not to do this in order to spare the village.
Development
When the movie went by Kingdom of the Sun, Pacha was drastically changed during the production process that completely revamped the story. Originally, he was to be a younger man that was meant to be voiced by Owen Wilson, that was looked identical to Kuzco, resulting in a "Prince and the Pauper" storyline and when Yzma discovered the switch, he was forced into acting as a puppet ruler by her. In the ending, Kuzco and Pacha would work together to stop Yzma's plans to awaken the dark god Supai and restore the sun to its proper place. The original role to assist emperor-turned-llama Kuzco in getting back to the royal city was to be Mata, a female llama herder, and a potential love interest for the selfish teen (aspects of the character that would later be used in Malina in the TV series). The major overhaul of story made the film a buddy movie, with Pacha and Kuzco having to trust each other through the adventure.
Personality
Pacha is very lovable and caring. He takes his position as village leader very seriously and attempts to do what's right for his people. He can be best described as a family man, spending most of his time with them. Upon meeting Kuzco, Pacha felt he was a spoiled brat but learned to forget that in an attempt to change the emperor's attitude around.
Appearances
In the first film, Pacha is summoned to the palace by Kuzco and is told that his house on the hill will be destroyed to make room for Kuzco's summer home, as Pacha claimed that singing can be heard when the sun rises on his hill. Distraught and horrified that the emperor could be so callous, he travels home to tell his wife (Chicha) and his two children (Chaca and Tipo) that they have to leave their ancestral home. However, before he can tell them, he discovers that Kuzco has been transformed into a llama and dropped in the back of his cart. The two set out to turn Kuzco back to a human by getting to Yzma's lab. After the adventure and the defeat of Yzma, Kuzco decides to let Pacha keep his hut and village, claiming to have visited the hill and heard no singing. Pacha then claimed that he heard singing on the hill next to his, leading to Kuzco building a summer hut right next door to Pacha's. Pacha and his family welcome Kuzco into their lives and enjoy themselves in Kuzco's pool.
In the second film, Pacha is Kronk's friend. He disguises himself as Pachita, Kronk's mother-in-law (they initially planned for him to pretend to be his wife, but Pacha's wife, Chicha did that instead).
In the TV series, he is like a father to Kuzco and lets him live with him. He always gives Kuzco advice to help him out of any situation. For example, when Kuzco was transformed into a rabbit, he told Kuzco to "Make the best of what you've got," which in this case was speed. In Cart Wash, when Kuzco is transformed into an elephant and laments how he is going to wash carts, Pacha tells him that elephants wash themselves through their trunks and he could do the same with carts. After Kuzco's graduation in Graduation Groove, Kuzco reveals during the credits that he had Pacha and his family move into the palace with him as he loved living with them and would miss them.
Other appearances
Pacha made cameo appearances as a guest in several episodes of House of Mouse.
In It's a Small World: The Animated Series, Pacha makes a brief, non-speaking cameo appearance alongside Kuzco in the animated mini-series' episode Up and Down.
Trivia
In the original film Kingdom of the Sun, Pacha was originally going to be voiced by Owen Wilson who has voiced Lightning McQueen in the Cars franchise by Pixar.
, Pacha was originally going to be voiced by Owen Wilson who has voiced Lightning McQueen in the franchise by Pixar. In the documentary The Sweatbox, the animators revealed that Pacha is forty-five years old.
, the animators revealed that Pacha is forty-five years old. In the trailer spots for the film, in the scene where Pacha, after rescuing Kuzco from a pack of Jaguars only to accidentally tie themselves to a branch, Pacha after expressing confidence that they can get themselves out of the situation, promptly says "...or not." just as the branch starts breaking off. In the actual film, Pacha shows absolutely no loss of confidence in getting themselves out, and instead during the branch breaking off, Kuzco says "I hate you" in a deadpan manner.
Bill Murray, George Wendt, Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd were considered to voice Pacha.
GalleryCabinet Minister Mathias Cormann says the Turnbull government gave its best shot in convincing Senate crossbenchers to agree to race-hate law changes.
The coalition failed in its attempt to change the words "offend", "insult" and "humiliate" in Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act to "harass and intimidate" during a late-night debate on Thursday.
The attempt to re-word the section was killed off by a Labor amendment to the bill, 31 votes to 28.
The government had also sought to tweak the Human Rights Commission's complaints process, but the fate of those changes is still up in the air.
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RELATED READING 18C protects Muslim criminals, One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts says
Senator Cormann defended the effort to pursue 18C changes despite expectations some crossbenchers would disagree.
"We were very keen to give it our absolute best shot to persuade the crossbench to join us in strengthening anti-vilification laws," he told ABC radio on Friday.
He left questions to the fate of the changes to Attorney-General George Brandis.
Critics dubbed the result a win for multicultural Australia, but Senator Brandis said it was a "sad day" for free speech.
"It is political censorship, pure and simple. A law like that has no place in a free country," he said during the debate.
RELATED READING Australians tweet their experiences with racism after proposal of changes to 18c
Senator Brandis outlined all the "deeply offensive and insulting" instances other senators had called him a white man and said the spirit of the late cartoonist Bill Leak had presided over the debate.
Mr Leak died of a suspected heart attack in March, after coming under fire for a controversial editorial cartoon about indigenous parental neglect.
He was investigated for a possible breach of 18C but the racism complaint was subsequently dropped.
"You talk about freedoms and rights, well people do have a right to take offence when hurtful, hateful comments are made to them because of their race," Indigenous Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy told the Senate.
"Australia is not colour blind but in this bill we want to turn a blind eye to racism."
Greens senator Nick McKim said there was an overwhelming case not to change the Racial Discrimination Act.
"We have listened to multicultural Australia. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with them," Senator McKim said.
"They have asked us to support retaining section 18C precisely as it is currently worded."
Labor welcomed the defeat of the 18C changes, saying weakening protections against racial hate speech never made sense.
"This win will be felt by anyone who has experienced racism and knows that racism is more than just words," the party's multicultural spokesman Tony Burke said.
-With AAP.With the influx of venture capital, countless web-centric apps have flooded the agricultural market. However, this has almost masked the movement of traditional ag app companies in a new direction. The course these developers seem to be taking is one in which apps themselves are designed to do more of the heavy lifting (computation) and be less reliant on an Internet connection to process and return results.
I would suggest this shift started when players in the industry who’ve been around the longest learned the hard way that even though Internet service may appear seamless on a carrier map, the number of low/no bar holes on even a well-covered farm can be significant. To address this problem, apps are being designed to cache more data and make it available for gaps in service. The data caching enables an app to keep functioning even when an Internet connection is lost intermittently, making the experience more client-friendly.
Where We’re Headed
Ultimately this path is leading ag app developers to the conclusion that the phone in a farmer’s hand can be as or more powerful and useful than his desktop computer, regardless of Internet connection stability.
With this in mind, the phone and tablet are becoming the native targets for developers’ next generation applications. Additionally, the cloud, like the old mainframes of times past, is evolving into the primary portal for sharing and storing data.
This has already started happening right under our noses with simple apps like Mix Tank, N-Calc and ScoutPro. It has also grown into full apps like iCropTrak, developed by us at Cogent3D Inc., which processes tractor data into zones and makes recommendations without processing in the cloud. Instead of using the cloud as the processing engine, which would suffer from spotty reception, apps like these use it for backup, collaboration, and sharing. Combining data from multiple users and from constant communication with other third party systems like irrigation, weather and soil moisture web data streams.
All of this ends up having a positive effect on the end user who stands to benefit from lower cellular bills (less data going back and forth), a more consistent user experience, less unintentional sharing of data and a new focus on decision support tools unlike the ones we are getting today with our web/cloud and desktop-centric views of the world.
With mobile devices getting even faster, we can expect the migration toward this type of service to accelerate. What will this look like? You can probably count on more changes coming for our tractors as they transform into the central farm cloud — integrated with numerous other local systems pushing and pulling data around the farm to provide just-in-time alerts and suggestions that will make each farmer more productive and informed.
The future will be unpredictable and cyclical at the same time. Expect ag software to follow the path of traditional software. It’s likely to shift between server-side to client-side computing like a pendulum, becoming more powerful and efficient at each pass. Each generation of smaller, cheaper client-side device, will compensate first for limitation and later exploit unused power, adding value to user experience.NVIDIA is just about done with their Maxwell generation of processors, they launched it on the 28nm node on the desktop front and 20nm node on their Tegra X1 chips. However, there are new reports emerging from far South Korea that the generation of GPUs that comes after Maxwell will be manufactured using Samsung’s 14 nm process technology (FinFET 3D Transistors).
NVIDIA Rumored To Get Next Gen 14nm GPUs Manufactured by Samsung
The process termed as 14nm FinFET makes use of the latest 3D transistors technology and is being used in the latest Exynos 7 chip which could be found in the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. The speedy transition to a working 14nm node may have prompted NVIDIA to shift from TSMC whose 20nm node remains in a worry some state and is suffering significant delays. Just recently was it reported that TSMC will fail to hit the volume production of 16nm process till summer of this year and the process itself is most likely built on top of a 20nm node by making use of 20nm interconnects that turns out to be a 16nm and 20nm hybrid design.
This delay has resulted NVIDIA to focus towards other foundries and the only two in sight remain Glofo (Global Foundries) and Samsung. Out of the two, NVIDIA is going to choose Samsung who they are already engaged in a patent lawsuit and NVIDIA has already received a favorable hearing during the initial ruling at Markman hearing.
“We are very pleased with the outcome of the ruling, in which claim constructions favorable to Nvidia will be applied to six out of seven disputed claims when the judge considers the question of Samsung’s and Qualcomm’s infringement,” said David Shannon (Chief Administrative Officer and Secretary, Nvidia). “This further strengthens the patents we have asserted, and we look forward to a full hearing in late June.”
Now back to the main story, it is revealed by Koreatimes that Samsung has won a contract to manufacture NVIDIA’s new 14nm GPUs. This sounds quite interesting since the reports talks about GPUs but not for any specific category. For instance, NVIDIA had Maxwell built on both 28nm and 20nm node. Both are made by TSMC however the market these chips are aimed at are totally different. The 28nm Maxwell chips make up for the bulk of graphics cards shipping on the consumer and workstation side and the 20nm Maxwell chips are only found on the Tegra X1 devices.
“The latest agreement between Samsung and Nvidia is another positive factor lifting Samsung’s logic chip business unit. The timing looks good as increased foundry customers justify the Korean chip giant’s moves to find new revenue sources,” “The Samsung-Nvidia deal means that there is no enemy and friend in businesses,” said another source. via Koreatimes
The only new chips that NVIDIA can have manufactured on Samsung’s 14nm node will either be their next generation Pascal GPU or a further shrink of Maxwell that makes use of FinFET 3D transistors. As said in the report, the deal is estimated to be valued around a few million dollars which isn’t a lot compared to the recent Samsung agreements made with Apple or Qualcomm. So it could be the value of a tape out for a new Tegra GPU chip since NVIDIA initially had plans to launch their Parker SOC with a Maxwell GPU on FinFET design along with their custom Denver cores. What we got instead was Tegra X1 that fused a 20nm Maxwell core and NVIDIA later said that they were still committed to their Denver CPUs. That is the more likely scenario given the cost of the deal and NVIDIA will most likely stick to 16nm FF+ from TSMC for their desktop parts.In a letter on Monday to the White House, more than 50 gay rights and immigrant advocacy groups asked President Obama to put a hold on immigration cases involving Americans seeking legal residency visas for foreign-born spouses of the same sex, until the Supreme Court issues a significant ruling on gay marriage next year.
The gay and immigration organizations are joining forces on the marriage issue, hoping to capitalize on political momentum they gained from the elections, when gay, Latino and immigrant voters turned out overwhelmingly in support of Mr. Obama.
The groups urged the president to “hold in abeyance” cases currently under consideration by federal immigration authorities of United States citizens who are seeking permanent resident visas, known as green cards, for immigrants of the same sex they legally married. The Supreme Court ruling is expected in June.
Under the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which Congress passed in 1996, a same-sex marriage cannot be a valid basis for federal benefits, including immigration documents. For an American who marries an immigrant of the opposite sex, obtaining a green card for the spouse is generally a routine and relatively fast procedure. But under the terms of DOMA, as the law is known, Americans cannot obtain green cards, based on their marriage, for foreign spouses of the same sex.
The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to take two cases challenging laws that define marriage as being only between a man and a woman. The letter from the rights groups focused on one of them, a direct challenge to DOMA. The case, United States v. Windsor, concerns a woman in New York, Edith Windsor, who faced a steep tax bill on property she inherited after her same-sex spouse died, which Ms. Windsor would not have to pay if her spouse had been a man.
In January 2011 the Justice Department announced it would no longer defend DOMA in the courts. But the administration has continued to enforce the law and officials have routinely denied green card applications from same-sex couples.
“With no ability to apply for family-based immigration benefits because of DOMA,” the groups wrote in their letter, “many foreign nationals face the untenable choice” of remaining in the United States without legal papers and “facing the daily fear of deportation,” or “leaving the U.S. and their family behind.”
The groups pointed to a similar hold placed on green card cases by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services when Congress was debating a change in the law allowing widows of American citizens to obtain the visas.
Nine states recognize same-sex marriages. But for the time being, an administration official said, DOMA “remains in effect and the Executive Branch will continue to enforce it unless and until Congress repeals it or there a final judicial determination that it is unconstitutional.”The Leo v. Ursus Chronology.
After celebrating its 20thanniversary last year, Firestone Walker Brewing Company is set to chart fresh ground with the launch of Leo v. Ursus, a new chronology of craft beers that begins with the pre-release of Fortem at all Firestone Walker locations on Saturday, February 25.
Fortem, an unfiltered imperial IPA, will be officially released at the end of February in draft and 16-ounce can (four-pack) formats. Fortem will land in different Firestone Walker markets at variable times over the ensuing weeks (see www.leovursus.com for availability details). It will be available for a short period before yielding to the next quarterly one-off release in the Leo. v. Ursus Chronology.
While diverse in style, each beer in the Leo v. Ursus Chronology will exhibit unifying threads—they will be bold, intense and often hoppy, but always with a native sense of balance. Many will also address “wish lists” expressed by loyal fans.
Leo v. Ursus: The Chronology from Firestone Walker on Vimeo.
Brewing Team Unleashed
The Leo v. Ursus Chronology is born of a longing for high experimentation that was finally fulfilled by the recent launch of the Propagator, Firestone Walker’s pilot brewhouse in Venice, California.
“To say that our brewing team is pumped about Leo v. Ursus would be an understatement,” said Brewmaster Matt Brynildson. “Until the Propagator came along, our ability to experiment and go crazy with tiny batches was limited. The shackles are now off.”
The Propagator is a state-of-the-art miniature brewery made by Kaspar Schulz of Germany. It is designed to brew small, nimble batches, enabling the brewing team to explore new ideas and tinker with the results—which can then be fine-tuned and scaled at the main brewery in Paso Robles.
“Leo v. Ursus opens the door to increased creativity with new and exciting raw materials—namely, a host of new hop cultivars that do not fit into our established recipes,” Brynildson said. “We will also explore dark malts, experimental hops and alternative grains in this program.”
Fortem Pre-Release
Fortem (Latin for “The Strong”) is a new-age imperial IPA that draws upon a range of influences, all while exhibiting DNA from Firestone Walker’s own forays into the IPA style—including Double Jack and Luponic Distortion.
The intent of Fortem is to achieve power through balance, delivering amped-up aromas and mouthfeel while keeping bitterness on a leash. It blends newer hop varieties from the Pacific Northwest and Hallertau, Germany along with pale malt, wheat malt and flaked oats for a full body and a rounded texture.
Fresh Fortem (to be canned and kegged on February 24) will be unveiled for pre-release sampling and purchasing starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, February 25 at all Firestone Walker locations: the Brewery Emporium in Paso Robles, Taproom Restaurant in Buellton, and the Propagator Brewery Store in Venice.
Nomenclature & Artwork
The name Leo v. Ursus is a nod to the brewery’s distinctive culture of purposeful conflict, as embodied by founders Adam Firestone (The Bear) and David Walker (The Lion). Much in the way that Latin signifies a common root language, the Leo v. Ursus Chronology goes to the heart of Firestone Walker’s internal brewing identity—hence the use of Latin nomenclature.
To reimagine the Lion and Bear for Leo v. Ursus, Firestone Walker worked with |
working class taking state power, because uniquely among the socialist organisations of their time, the Bolsheviks had a programme for working-class power. At the outbreak of WWI on 4 August 1914, the German Social Democracy (as well as the Labour Party and most other parties in the Second International) passed definitively into the camp of social-chauvinism by supporting their “own” bourgeoisie in war. WWI was a watershed, provoking a profound realignment in the revolutionary workers movement internationally. Prepared by years of struggle and a decisive split with the Russian opportunists—the Mensheviks—Lenin and the Bolsheviks emerged as the leadership of an international movement to recapture the banner of revolutionary Marxism.
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Despite the grim poverty of Russia at the time of the October Revolution, the young workers state granted far-reaching measures of equality. It eliminated laws discriminating against women and gave women in Russia a level of equality and freedom that has not yet been attained by the most economically advanced “democratic” capitalist countries today. Just over a month after the revolution, two decrees established civil marriage and allowed for divorce at the request of either partner; all laws against homosexual acts and other consensual sexual activity were also abolished.
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Socialist Party Reporter, «Women’s & LGBT Liberation in Revolutionary Russia», Socialist Party/Ireland, 14 Jan. 2016
http://socialistparty.ie/2016/01/womens-lgbt-liberation-in-revolutionary-russia/
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The complete overthrow of capitalism and landlordism by the Bolshevik Party and Russian working class in 1917 spurred a radical change in society, the likes of which had never been seen before or since. The Bolsheviks were able to take power precisely because they were the voice of the oppressed masses, workers, the poor and women.
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Most progressive laws in history
On the 17 December 1917, just seven weeks after forming the world’s first workers’ state, religious marriage was abolished and very easily accessible divorce was legalised. The following month the Family Code was brought into law. The code enshrined legal equality for women and abolished the “illegitimacy” of children. Significantly, and emphasising how vital this was seen to be, the Family Code was introduced by the Bolsheviks while simultaneously trying to end the world war, prevent a civil war, free the peasantry and kick-start industry and the economy.
Throughout the 1920s, the Family Code was added to and each change was accompanied by full public discussion and debate. From its earliest days Russian Socialist propaganda argued for equality for women, but the keystone for the Bolsheviks was women’s enslavement in the traditional family. Before the revolution, a woman’s life was strictly mapped out – get married, be monogamous, have children be tied to “the eternal drudgery of the kitchen and the nursery”.[v] The quality of the lives of women was never considered and their happiness and pleasure were irrelevant. The Bolsheviks immediately set about challenging this and with it the role of the Russian Orthodox Church and patriarchy.
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The revolution made a heroic effort to destroy the so-called ‘family hearth’ and began to implement plans for a system of social care that included maternity houses, clinics, schools, crèches and kindergartens, social dining rooms and laundries, all aimed to relieve women from the constraints of the home. Paid maternity leave both before and after birth was introduced for women workers and access to nursing rooms in workplaces to allow breastfeeding, with breaks every three hours for new mother, were written into employment laws.
Abortion was legalised in 1920 and was described by Leon Trotsky as being one of a woman’s “most important civil, political and cultural rights”. … Abortion was free and available through the state, and working women were prioritised.
In November 1918, the first All-Russian Conference of Working Women met, organised by Alexandra Kollontai and Inessa Armand, with over a thousand women in attendance. The organisers reiterated that women’s emancipation went hand in hand with the building of socialism.[viii]
It wasn’t long after these changes were made that the forces of reaction launched a civil war on the country that had already been savaged by World War 1. Shortly after the war began, the Women’s Bureau, or Zhenotdel, was established. Its aim was to reach out to women, bring them to activity and education and inform them of their new rights. The bureau ran literary classes, political discussions and workshops on how to organise facilities needed in the workplace such as day cares etc. Delegates of women from factories attended education courses run by the bureau that lasted three to six months, and then returned to report to their co-workers.
The Women’s Bureau were successful in raising consciousness amongst masses of working women on a range of issues, including child-care, housing and public health and broadened the horizons of thousands of women. By 1922 the number of female members of the now Communist Party exceeded 30,000.
Despite war shortages, the Red Army provided the Women’s Bureau with a dedicated train and access to the railways, enabling them to travel around the country, building local branches of the bureau. Thousands of women joined. The branches held small as well as large meetings and discussion circles that specifically discussed issues affecting women.
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Prostitution was deliberately decriminalised in 1922, but pimping was outlawed. Clinics that treated women with STIs and provided sex education and job training were opened. Trotsky described prostitution as “the extreme degradation of women in the interests of men who can pay for it”. …
Bolshevik sex crime laws were distinctive in their gender neutrality and rejection of morality and moral language. The law enshrined sex crimes as, “Injurious to the health, freedom and dignity” of the victim. Rape was defined by law as “non-consensual sexual intercourse using either physical or psychological force.” …
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The Russian Revolution also changed the lives of LGBT people. Under the Tsar, homosexuality was outlawed, “sodomy” illegal; lesbianism, like women’s sexuality generally, was completely ignored. After the revolution homosexuality was decriminalised when all anti-gay laws were removed from the Criminal Code in 1922.
In his essay, “Sex and Sexuality in Russia” Jason Yanowitz describes the impact that the revolution had on gay, lesbian and transgender people. Surviving memoirs show many gays and lesbians took the revolution as a chance to live open lives. Same sex marriage was legal, how wide-spread it was is unknown as limited research has been conducted, but at least one court case established its legality. There were people who decided to live as the opposite gender following the revolution and by 1926 it became legal to change your sex on passports. Intersex and trans people received medical care and were not demonised. Research on these issues were state-funded and permission was granted to perform gender reassignment surgeries at the request of the patient. Openly gay people were allowed to serve in government and public positions. Georgy Chicherin, for example, was appointed Commisar for Foreign Affairs in 1918. He was an openly gay man with a flamboyant style. It is inconceiveable that such an individual would be given this role by any capitalist state.
In 1923, the Commissar of Health led a delegation to the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin and described the new laws around homosexuality as being “deliberately emancipatory, widely accepted in society and no one looking to repeal them”…..
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Steven Argue, «Why The Russian Revolution is Still Important», IndyBay.org, 3 Mar. 2012
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/03/03/18708611.php
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The Russian Revolution led by Lenin and Trotsky ended Russia’s involvement in the inter-imperialist mass slaughter of World War I, brought about a sweeping land reform for the peasants, abolished capitalism and created a socialist system that was capable of turning one of the poorest countries in the world into an industrial powerhouse capable of smashing Nazi Germany and rebuilding after two major imperialist invasions to provide everyone with a guaranteed job, housing, education, and health care, brought national rights to oppressed minorities forming republics of ethnic regions, legalizing their languages and providing education in those languages while also giving their economies special help through the planned economy, brought about big advances in women’s rights and rights for homosexuals, made education and health care priorities, and ended government backed pogroms against Jews.
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Marcus Papadopoulos, «The Centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution: a Legacy to Celebrate», Off-Guardian, 2 October 2017
https://off-guardian.org/2017/10/02/the-centenary-of-the-bolshevik-revolution-a-legacy-to-celebrate/
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The Soviet Union, in 1920, was the first country in history to introduce free healthcare for its citizens. For the first time ever, all Russians, regardless of background, would be entitled to free medical treatment, including medications and operations. That was a truly remarkable reform and one that enabled the Bolsheviks to claim, with justification, the moral high ground over the capitalist world.
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Education was another area that the Bolsheviks completely overhauled and, in doing so, set a shining example to the rest of the world. Compulsory education for all Soviet children was introduced, while higher education – in colleges and universities – was made free. The Soviets constantly emphasised to children and young people the importance of education and reading, and this would eventually result in the Soviet Union having one of the most skilled labour forces in the world, together with a highly educated population.
Illiteracy in the Soviet Union, which had plagued the old Russia and handicapped her economic and industrial endeavours, was eliminated within a relatively short period of time by the Bolsheviks. By 1900, literacy levels in Imperial Russia was less than 30 per cent; however, by the end of the 1930s, literacy in Soviet Russia was approximately 75 per cent, and by the end of the 1950s this figure had risen to nearly 100 per cent. …
The Bolsheviks averred that the right to a free and good quality education was the right of all children and young people in Russia. And by having created an education system that was one of the most revered in the world, the Soviets laid the foundation for the USSR to eventually become one of the leading countries in science, engineering, medicine, industry, space and health.
Healthcare and education were, indisputably, two of the greatest achievements of Soviet communism, and following 1945 the communist countries in Eastern Europe emulated the Soviet system, which yielded tremendously successful results for their respective populations. The rest of the world marvelled at the Soviet education system.
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The next area that the Bolsheviks excelled in was the emancipation of women. How many women in the world today, when celebrating International Women’s Day, on March 8, know that the origins of this day are to be found in Soviet Russia? Because Lenin gave women the same rights as men in political and social matters; so, for instance, women and men were afforded equal pay, women were given the vote and were free to enter politics, and a minimum wage was introduced in which both sexes were paid equally. The Bolsheviks also introduced paid maternity-leave and legalised abortion.
The Soviet Union was a beacon in the world for women’s rights and gave a whole new meaning to gender equality. And the fact that the first woman in space – Valentina Tereshkova – was a Soviet speaks volumes about the Bolsheviks’ contribution in bringing equality to women.
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The Great October Socialist Revolution, as it truly was, is another glorious episode in the history of Russia and, without a doubt, one of its greatest. The revolution gave birth to a country which would eventually become a superpower and the most powerful state in Russian history. But, even more importantly than that, the revolution gave the Russian people and, indeed, all of the others peoples who went from being citizens of the Russian Empire to citizens of the USSR, something they had never really experienced before: security and stability, in the form of education, healthcare, jobs, housing, welfare and pensions.
The Bolshevik Revolution is when the needs of the ordinary man and woman, for the first time in human history, came to the fore in a country and dictated government policy. That is something to rejoice about, especially in a world today where the focus is on money and materialism, with little attention given to providing the ordinary person with the fundamentals in life.
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«We Are the Party of the Russian Revolution», Workers Vanguard No. 924, 7 November 2008.
http://www.icl-fi.org/english/wv/924/russianrev.html
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During the course of the Russian Revolution, the multinational proletariat, drawing behind it the peasantry and the oppressed nationalities, forged its own new organs of class power, the soviets. With the smashing of the old capitalist state, these organs, under Bolshevik leadership, formed the basis of the new workers state. The vanguard of the workers understood that they were not just taking power in Russia; they were opening the first chapter of the world socialist revolution. They inspired workers uprisings throughout Europe and inspired rebellions by imperialism’s colonial slaves.
The tremors of October 1917 extended all the way around the globe to right here in the richest bastion of imperialism. In 1919, the Bolsheviks launched the Communist International (CI). Under Bolshevik leaders V.I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky, the CI and the Soviet state became the most powerful revolutionary force ever yet assembled by the world proletariat.
The October Revolution forged a Red Army that emerged victorious from four years of civil war as well as invasion by the armies of 14 capitalist powers in league with their local capitalist henchmen. The Soviet government expropriated the capitalists and repudiated outright the tsar’s massive debt to foreign bankers. It proclaimed the right of working people to jobs, health care, housing and education, as the first steps to building a socialist society.
It gave land to the peasants and self-determination to the many oppressed nations of the tsar’s prison house of peoples. It tore down the whole edifice of Russian patriarchal medievalism. The early Soviet government not only separated church and state, it put all available resources toward universal secular education and science. It eliminated all laws discriminating against national and ethnic minorities, women and homosexuals. Soviet Russia not only gave the vote to women at a time when the Western imperialists were beating them bloody for demanding such a thing; the Bolsheviks put women in the front ranks of proletarian rule as factory managers, state commissars and army commanders.
The Soviet workers state proved the superiority of nationalized property and planned economy over capitalist private property and anarchy in production. Out of the historical poverty left by tsarist Russia, the wreckage left by imperialist invasions, the continuing economic and military encirclement by imperialism, and in spite of Stalinist mismanagement and parasitism, the Soviet Union achieved unrivaled modernization and growth. At the same time as the capitalist world had fallen into the abyss of the 1930s Great Depression, the Soviet planned economy brought tens of millions of Soviet workers and peasants out of Russia’s medieval villages and turned them into educated modern proletarians, scientists, directors of industry and commanders of the mechanized Red Army.
The Soviet Union was the industrial and military powerhouse that made possible, and protected, the overturns of capitalist rule from Cuba to East Europe to China to Vietnam and North Korea. Had it not been for the USSR, the imperialists would have attacked North Korea, China and Vietnam with nuclear weapons during the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Eric Mann, «The 100th Anniversary of the October Revolution: the Great Breakthrough in Anti-Imperialist Socialism», Counterpunch, 30 Oct. 2017.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/30/the-100th-anniversary-of-the-october-revolution-the-great-breakthrough-in-anti-imperialist-socialism/
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of October 1917. As we in the United States try to imagine a revolutionary opposition to the U.S. imperialist system a great appreciation of the achievements of the Russian revolution and the Soviet Union is a critical part of our revolutionary future.
The Russian revolution created the Soviet Union-the first “workers state” and the first successful revolution that survived the world imperialist counterrevolution. The Bolshevik Party (the first communist party) was part of a united front of parties that seized power from the reactionary feudal Tsar in the February revolution of 1917. Then in October 1917 the Bolsheviks overthrew the forces of capitalism and seized state power from the social democratic Kerensky government. The Russian revolution came to power as an anti-war movement against the forces in Russia that wanted to continue World War I-one of the greatest imperialist bloodbaths of all time in which more than 18 million “workers of the world” were sent to their deaths by the capitalist governments of Europe with strong support from their “socialist” parties.
The Bolshevik Party and Soviet State built its own military and police, defended themselves against external and internal capitalist attack, and survived in a hostile world for 72 years-a true miracle against all odds. From the perspective of the world’s exploited and oppressed people this was a profound achievement in human history and offered them an optimistic vision of their own future.
The day before the successful October revolution the entire world was ruled by the U.S. and European colonial and imperialist powers. But the day after the Russian Revolution the communists created a new political momentum and material balance of forces that captured the imagination of workers and anti-colonial movements all over the world.
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The Russian revolution was the first revolution that seized state power, built its own military and police, beat back the capitalists, and was able to sustain its own revolutionary advances against the most reactionary and brutal attacks to overthrow it. It was a “workers state” that was born in the caldron of a world dominated by U.S. and European imperialism-a world capitalist system that was exercising a brutal world colonial dictatorship over the peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America and Black, Indigenous, and other colonial peoples inside its borders. The Russian revolution came out of the womb needing to defend its very existence from a world imperialist system that carried out counter-revolutionary infanticide as a central tenet of its strategy and existence.
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[When] in October 1917 the Bolsheviks successfully seized state power, created their own armed forces, suppressed the armed forces of the occupying powers and reactionary forces in a bloody civil war, the Soviet Union’s successful seizure of maintenance of state power was seen all over the world as a great historical victory-the first time in modern history that the masses of oppressed people had successfully managed to not just overthrow the power of their oppressors but create military structure to protect and maintain a new society.
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The Soviet Union successfully defended its revolution from a brutal world invasion of imperialist countries that included the British, U.S., and Canadians, Indian colonial recruits sent by England, Scots, and 70,000 Japanese troops. It also had to defeat a right-wing assault inside Russia, appropriately called “The Whites!” in a civil war instigated by the world imperialist powers. The Russian Revolution came to power in blood and war instigated against it by the most powerful imperialist forces in the world and won! The Soviet Union was built on military force against military force. Let the record show that the United States, England, Japan, and every other capitalist state ” tried to overthrow the Russian revolution and had they succeeded they would have re-established a bloody puppet government as they have all over the world. The October Revolution, led by workers, peasants, and a political party that had never governed and had been underground for a decade, took on the entire world capitalist system-and won!
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Alan Woods, «What the Russian Revolution achieved and why it degenerated», Bolshevik.info, 27 January 2017.
https://www.bolshevik.info/what-the-russian-revolution-achieved-and-why-it-degenerated.htm
The regime established by the October Revolution was neither totalitarian nor bureaucratic, but the most democratic regime yet seen on earth. The October Revolution radically abolished private ownership of the means of production. For the first time in history, the viability of a nationalised planned economy was demonstrated, not in theory but in practice. Over one-sixth of the earth’s surface, in a gigantic, unprecedented experiment, it was proved that it was possible to run society without capitalists, landowners and moneylenders.
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Despite the monstrous crimes of the bureaucracy, the unprecedented advances of the Soviet Union represent not only a historic achievement, but are, above all, a glimpse of the enormous possibilities inherent in a nationalised planned economy, especially if it were run on democratic lines. They stand out in complete contrast to the crisis of the productive forces of capitalism on a world scale today.
Unprecedented advance
The October revolution of 1917 brought about the greatest advance of the productive forces of any country in history. Before the revolution in czarist Russia was an extremely backward, semi-feudal economy with a predominantly illiterate population. Out of a total population of 150 million people there were only approximately four million industrial workers. That means it was far more backward than Pakistan at the present time.
Under frightful conditions of economic, social and cultural backwardness, the regime of workers’ democracy established by Lenin and Trotsky began the titanic task of dragging Russia out of backwardness on the basis of a nationalised planned economy. The results have no precedent in economic history. Within the space of two decades Russia had established a powerful industrial base, developed industry, science and technology and abolished illiteracy. It achieved remarkable advances in the fields of health, culture and education. This was at a time when the Western world was in the grip of mass unemployment and economic collapse in the Great Depression.
The viability of the new productive system was put to a severe test in 1941-45, when the Soviet Union was invaded by Nazi Germany with all the combined resources of Europe at its disposal. Despite the loss of 27 million lives, the USSR succeeded in defeating Hitler, and went on, after 1945, to reconstruct its shattered economy in a remarkably short space of time, transforming itself into the world’s second power.
Such astonishing advances in a country must give us pause for thought. One can sympathise with the ideals of the Bolshevik Revolution, or oppose them, but such a remarkable transformation in such a short space of time demands the attention of thinking people everywhere.
In a period of 50 years, the USSR increased its gross domestic product nine times over. Despite the terrible destruction of the Second World War, it increased its GDP five times over from 1945 to 1979. In 1950, the GDP of the USSR was only 33 per cent that of the USA. By 1979, it was already 58 per cent. By the late 1970s, the Soviet Union was a formidable industrial power, which in absolute terms had already overtaken the rest of the world in a whole series of key sectors. The USSR was the world’s second biggest industrial producer after the USA and was the biggest producer of oil, steel, cement, asbestos, tractors, and many machine tools.
Nor is the full extent of the achievement expressed in these figures. All this was achieved virtually without unemployment or inflation. Unemployment like that in the West was unknown in the Soviet Union. In fact, it was legally a crime. (Ironically, this law still remains on the statute books today, although it means nothing.) There might be examples of cases arising from bungling or individuals who came into conflict with the authorities being deprived of their jobs. But such phenomena did not flow from the nature of a nationalised planned economy, and need not have existed. They had nothing in common with either the cyclical unemployment of capitalism or the organic cancer which now affects the whole of the Western world and which currently condemns 35 million people in the OECD countries to a life of enforced idleness.
Moreover, for most of the post-war period, there was little or no inflation. The bureaucracy learned the truth of Trotsky’s warning that “inflation is the syphilis of a planned economy”. After the Second World War for most of the time they took care to ensure that inflation was kept under control. This was particularly the case with the prices of basic items of consumption. Before perestroika (reconstruction), the last time meat and dairy prices had been increased was in 1962. Bread, sugar and most food prices had last been increased in 1955. Rents were extremely low, particularly when compared to the West, where most workers have to pay a third or more of their wages on housing costs. Only in the last period, with the chaos of perestroika, did this begin to break down. With the rush towards a market economy, both unemployment and inflation soared to unprecedented levels.
The USSR had a balanced budget and even a small surplus every year. It is interesting to note that not a single Western government has succeeded in achieving this result (as the Maastricht conditions prove), just as they have not succeeded in achieving full employment and zero inflation, things which also existed in the Soviet Union. The Western critics of the Soviet Union kept very quiet about this, because it demonstrated the possibilities of even a transitional economy, never mind socialism.
From a backward, semi-feudal, mainly illiterate country in 1917, the USSR became a modern, developed economy, with a quarter of the world’s scientists, a health and educational system equal or superior to anything found in the West, able to launch the first space satellite and put the first man into space. In the 1980s, the USSR had more scientists than the USA, Japan, Britain and Germany combined. Only recently the West was compelled to admit grudgingly that the Soviet space programme was far in advance of America’s. The fact that the West still has to use Russian rockets to put men and women into space is sufficient proof of this.
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The October Revolution was a milestone in the struggle for women’s emancipation. Prior to that, under Tsarism, women were regarded as mere appendages of the household. Tsarist laws explicitly permitted a man to use violence against his wife. In some rural areas women were forced to wear veils and were prevented from learning to read and write. Between 1917 and 1927 a whole series of laws were passed giving women formal equality with men. The 1919 programme of the Communist Party boldly proclaimed: “Not confining itself to formal equality of women, the party strives to liberate them from the material burdens of obsolete household work by replacing it by communal houses, public eating places, central laundries, nurseries, etc.”
Women were no longer obliged to live with their husbands or accompany them if a change of job meant a change of house. They were given equal rights to be head of the household and received equal pay. Attention was paid to the women’s childbearing role and special maternity laws were introduced banning long hours and night work and establishing paid leave at childbirth, family allowances and child-care centres. Abortion was legalised in 1920, divorce was simplified and civil registration of marriage was introduced. The concept of illegitimate children was also abolished. In the words of Lenin: “In the literal sense, we did not leave a single brick standing of the despicable laws which placed women in a state of inferiority compared with men…”
Material advances were made to facilitate the full involvement of women in all spheres of social, economic and political life – the provision of free school meals, milk for children, special food and cloth allowances for children in need, pregnancy consultation centres, maternity homes, créches and other facilities. True, the emergence of Stalinism ushered in a series of counter-reforms in the social sphere, which drastically affected the position of women. But with the death of Stalin, the post-war economic growth allowed a steady general improvement: retirement at 55 years, no discrimination in pay and terms of employment, and the right of pregnant women to shift to lighter work with fully paid maternity leave for 56 days before and 56 days after the birth of a child. New legislation in 1970 abolished night work and underground work for women. The number of women in higher education as a percentage of the total rose from 28 per cent in 1927, to 43 per cent in 1960, to 49 per cent in 1970. The only other countries in the world where women constituted over 40 per cent of the total in higher education were Finland, France, and the United States.
There were improvements in pre-school care for children: in 1960 there were 500,000 places, but by 1971 this had risen to over five million. The tremendous advances of the planned economy, with the consequent improvements in health care, were reflected in the doubling of the life expectancy for women from 30 to 74 years and the reduction in child mortality by 90 per cent. In 1975 women working in education had risen to 73 per cent. In 1959 one-third of women were in occupations where 70 per cent of the workforce were women, but by 1970 this figure had climbed to 55 per cent. By this time, 98 per cent of nurses were women, as were 75 per cent of teachers, 95 per cent of librarians and 75 per cent of doctors. In 1950 there were 600 female doctors of science, but by 1984 it had climbed to 5,600.
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Hispano-Soviet Friendship Association BIENVENIDO!, «The Achievements of the USSR» [undated].
http://www.northstarcompass.org/nsc1212/ussr.htm
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[The] Soviet Union was the first country in world history to have completely eliminated hunger, an achievement that countries as “developed” as the United States have never reached. This shows the high efficiency that the socialist system reached at that time. In addition to eradicating hunger, the Soviet Union had been at the forefront of the global campaign for the eradication of smallpox and the establishment of networks of water, electricity, heating and transport almost free.
The Soviet Union was the first country to have an entirely literate population. The Soviet education system guaranteed public education, universal, free and compulsory collectivism.
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The USSR was the first country to establish the University of evening allowing workers to study. It is not by chance that the Soviet Union was the country where were sold as many books in the world, exceeded that of all books sold in the country then.
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The USSR was able to create from scratch, a popular army capable of facing the great imperialist armies such as the United States, England, France or Nazi Germany. The USSR had also become a great scientific and industrial power, and one of the powers of the space industry pioneers and pioneers of space, Yuri Gagarin was the first to enter space. The Soviets were the first to launch a satellite into space on October 4, 1957, a feat that surprised the world.
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«The Russian Revolution and the Emancipation of Women», Workers Vanguard No. 1108, 24 March 2017, and No. 1109, 7 April 2017.
http://www.icl-fi.org/english/wv/1108/russian_revolution.html
The Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 was the greatest victory for the world’s working people and for all of the oppressed. The spark for the revolutionary upsurge was a mass outpouring of women in Petrograd on International Women’s Day (IWD), March 8 (February 23 by the old Julian calendar). While in recent years bourgeois feminists have usurped IWD, in fact it is a workers’ celebration that originated in 1908 among female needle trades workers in Manhattan.
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The grim poverty of the world’s first workers state began with the economic and social backwardness inherited from the old tsarist empire. Foreign investment had built modern factories in the major cities, creating a compact, powerful proletariat that was able to make the revolution in a majority-peasant country. The revolutionary workers were, in most cases, only one or two generations removed from the peasantry. The workers supported their cousins in the countryside when they seized the landed estates and divided up the land among those who worked it. The alliance (smychka) between the workers and peasants was key to the success of the revolution. But the mass of peasant smallholders was also a reservoir of social and economic backwardness. The devastation wrought by World War I was compounded by the bloody Civil War (1918-1920) that the Bolshevik government had to fight against the armies of counterrevolution and imperialist intervention, throwing the country’s economy back decades. The imperialists also instituted an economic blockade, isolating the Soviet Union from the world economy and world division of labor.
Marxists have always understood that the material abundance necessary to uproot class society and its attendant oppressions can only come from the highest level of technology and science based on an internationally planned economy. The economic devastation and isolation of the Soviet workers state led to strong material pressures toward bureaucratization. In the last years of his life, Lenin, often in alliance with Trotsky, waged a series of battles in the party against the political manifestations of the bureaucratic pressures. The Bolsheviks knew that socialism could only be built on a worldwide basis, and they fought to extend the revolution internationally, especially to the advanced capitalist economies of Europe; the idea that socialism could be built in a single country was a later perversion introduced as part of the justification for the bureaucratic degeneration of the revolution.
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The October Revolution put power in the hands of a working class that was numerically small in a country that was relatively backward. The Bolsheviks thus faced problems that Marx and Engels, who had projected that the proletarian revolution would occur first in more industrialized countries, could not have anticipated. It was envisioned by the Bolsheviks that the Russian Revolution would inspire workers in the economically advanced European countries to overthrow their bourgeoisies, and these new revolutions would in turn come to the aid of the Russian proletariat. These workers states would not usher in socialist societies but would be transitional regimes that would lay the foundations for socialism based on an internationally planned economy in which there would be no more class distinctions and the state itself would wither away.
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Abortion: Free and on Demand
In 1920 the Soviet government issued a decree overturning criminal penalties for abortion—the first government in the world to do so:
“As long as the remnants of the past and the difficult economic conditions of the present compel some women to undergo an abortion, the People’s Commissariat of Health and Social Welfare and the People’s Commissariat of Justice regard the use of penal measures as inappropriate and therefore, to preserve women’s health and protect the race against ignorant or self-seeking profiteers, it is resolved:
“I. Free abortion, interrupting pregnancy by artificial means, shall be performed in state hospitals, where women are assured maximum safety in the operation.”
— “Decree of the People’s Commissariat of Health and Social Welfare and the People’s Commissariat of Justice in Soviet Russia,” translated from Die Kommunistische Fraueninternationale (Communist Women’s International, April 1921), in W&R No. 34, Spring 1988
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Jeff Mackler, «The Relevance of the Russian Revolution Today», Counterpunch, 27 Oct. 2017.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/27/the-relevance-of-the-russian-revolution-today/
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To this day, 100 years after Lenin’s Bolshevik Party led the world’s first socialist revolution, no party has matched its record of social, political, theoretical, organizational, military, cultural, and moral contributions to the advancement of the interests of the working-class masses.
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Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution held that the national democratic tasks of previous bourgeois revolutions-land reform and democratic rights and institutions as opposed to autocratic/monarchial institutions-could only be accomplished in the framework of a socialist revolution, which would abolish capitalist property relations and establish workers’ democratic rule through the agency of nationally and locally organized soviets.
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Relevance of the Bolshevik program today
The Bolshevik-program not only focused on the issue of working class political independence from capitalist politics and from the capitalist state power but also on a number of related issues that were critical to winning the massive and majority support required to establish and maintain the world’s first experiment in majority rule.
On Day One of the October 1917 Russian Revolution, the All Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers, Peasant and Soldiers Deputies approved a decree that nationalized all capitalist land in the largest nation on earth.
This land was immediately granted to the peasant soviets to distribute in accord with the historic aspirations of Russia’s vast poor peasantry. This single measure cemented Russia’s massively oppressed majority to the revolution.
Aside from revolutionary Cuba, no nation since then has implemented a land reform-distribution of that scope. Indeed, today in Latin America every so-called revolutionary or “popular” regime, from Venezuela to Bolivia, Ecuador and Uruguay to Nicaragua and Argentina, has failed to accomplish even a modest land reform. To do so would entail a break with the capitalist system of private property that none of the above dared to contemplate.
This fundamental failure to meet the needs of the historically oppressed poor peasants and farmers inevitably cuts deep into the support required to underline the inevitable imperialist efforts to destabilize and overthrow these “popular” governments, all of which are or have recently been dominated by a combination of left-sounding reformers allied with the nation’s bankers and ruling capitalists.
Self-determination of oppressed nations
On the same Day One, the Soviets decreed the right of Russia’s conquered peoples, its oppressed nationalities, to self-determination-that is, the right to decide to leave the USSR and organize their own separate state or to remain. Those who chose to remain were guaranteed their historic rights to language and culture, as opposed to the domination of the previous colonialist Russian conquerors. The oppressed nations were granted an autonomy that guaranteed their political, economic, and cultural rights as well as their right to change their minds in the future and secede.
With few exceptions the oppressed and now liberated peoples decided to remain, if for no other reason that the revolution had granted them the land as against their landlords and a political and social freedom that exceeded any other on earth.
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Bolsheviks implement revolutionary program
The Bolsheviks seized on that special moment in history—a generalized crisis of capitalist credibility, an immediate revolutionary crisis wherein their program was in perfect harmony with the immediate aspirations and mobilizations of tens of millions of Russia’s working masses.
In this context, the actual seizure of power in Petrograd on Oct. 25, 1917 was achieved with an estimated loss of some dozen lives. The same scenario was more or less repeated in the following days across Russia.
The decrees that shortly followed the Bolshevik-led seizure of power astonished the world. They published and repudiated all the secret treaties that Tsarism had imposed on conquered nations. They renounced Russian territorial acquisitions and financial concessions forced on conquered peoples.
They opened the borders of revolutionary Russia to revolutionary fighters from around the world and led in establishing the Third or Communist International, based on a repudiation of imperialist war, on solidarity with the oppressed people and nations, |
police marshalled more officers and had some success in repelling the marauders by repeated charges. But the crowd again forced their way towards the stands breaking the police cordon, and making an unimpeded march towards their final location in front of the grandstand.
Here they were calling for Ted Drake who was the leading goalscorer in the First Division that season with 42 goals in 41 appearances, and a total that is still a club record for most goals scored by an Arsenal player in one season.
As noted Drake had been injured during the game and the crowd became more and more insistent chanting “we want Drake! we want Drake!”, but the first to appear was Alex James who appeared in bath towels to placate the crowd as the club knew Drake was struggling to put in a timely appearance, as he had only managed to play for 30 minutes in the game.
In the meantime an underground passage in the grandstand which led to the dressing rooms was swarmed by many supporters and, unfortunately, an officer was injured and taken to the dressing room for treatment, but the exuberant band of fans got no further than the entrance.
Drake finally appeared on the directors box and was heartily cheered as it was his goals which had effectively ensured the title. Once the crowd had seen Drake they dispersed as quickly as they had assembled, and the mounted police who were making their way onto the ground were not required, as the assembled throng had been sated and began wending their merry way home 20 minutes after the game had finished.
However, the mounted police did come in useful as not all had made their way home, a number of irate Arsenal men stayed behind waiting for the Derby players, who had played so “vigorously” in injuring many of the team. Eight mounted police cleared the pavement outside the main entrance so the team could get into their coach, and this escort was also required to see the coach out of Highbury with nothing stronger than a chorus of booing ringing in the Derby players ears.
The Highbury public houses no doubt continued to do a roaring trade from the fans, while the players also continued their celebrations and on the Tuesday 7 May the club held their Championship dinner and dance at the Connaught Rooms in Great Queen Street, Kingsway.
The whole Sunderland team and various officials were invited to be Arsenal’s guests at this celebration dinner, and each club formally toasted each other. If the toasts were for success then they worked, as Sunderland won the League and Arsenal the FA cup next season.
The nine course menu was entirely made up of French cuisine, and coupled with 5 different wines to complement the food it is a good bet that the dancing went on past the scheduled midnight close.
This period of dominance on the pitch was in the middle of the great Highbury Ground upgrade, as first the West Stand was built in 1932.
This is a photograph of the pre-season Reds versus Whites game on 24 August 1935 with a white shirted Trim on the right and Drake to the left of the picture. What is interesting is the West Stand which was originally built with standing only on the lower tier, the seats being solely upper tier. The majority of the West Stand lower tier seats were not put in until 1969, when it was almost all but not quite seating, and it wasn’t until 1993 and the Taylor report that West Stand became fully seated.
Just after this final game of the season work began and lasted all through the summer of 1935 to cover the Gillespie Road or Laundry End (later known as the North Bank) of the ground. Part of the work included relocating the famous clock to the South terrace.
This was a prelude to the East Stand being built as the old Leitch Stand built prior to the first World War was torn down and replaced by an Art Deco masterpiece.
One of those on this exquisite project was local construction worker Albert Clutterbuck, the great grandfather of the brains behind the OpAa collective of artists who have been appearing in the Arsenal official magazine all season, namely Dan McCarthy.
The opening of this stand in October 1936 completed the 30s major upgrades to the ground. Though Arsenal’s on field dominance remained as they clinched the 1937-38 First Division title.
For those interested in the architecture of Highbury, “Angry of Islington” produced an entertaining two-part article which can be accessed here and here
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The books…Pakistanis have been fed on a diet that the core dispute with India is Kashmir. It isn’t.
The last thing Pakistan’s shrewd army generals want is a solution to the Kashmir dispute. It is their bread, butter and jam. The Pakistani army lives off the Kashmir dispute. Take that away and the Pakistani army would lose the enormous fortune that a low intensity, low-cost conflict in Kashmir brings it.
Consider the facts. Pakistan’s GDP is around 10 per cent of India’s. Yet its defence budget is nearly 25 per cent of India’s. Much of the surplus funding is siphoned off by the army’s top brass. On retirement senior army officers get large land holdings as a send-off gratuity.
The best business in Pakistan is the business of the Pakistani army. Even junior officers are well looked after. The Pakistani army is an outsized entity for a relatively small country. It has a total strength of 6,50,000 soldiers with another 5,10,000 reservists.
The Pakistani army functions like an illicit business organisation. Less polite descriptions would call it a well-oiled mafia operation.
It beheads Indian soldiers, kidnaps local business tycoons for ransom, murders journalists, commits genocide in Balochistan, trains, arms and funds suicide bombers in Afghanistan, provides safe havens for the Taliban, extorts money from the United States, and rents vast swathes of its territory to China.
'Pakistani army functions like an illicit business organisation.'
While it does all this, it keeps one beady eye on India. The longer the conflict over Kashmir continues, the more money the Pakistani army makes.
No one in the Pakistan government can question the country’s dubiously large defence budget. The civil society in Pakistan treated former chief of army staff General Raheel Sharif like a hero. The army has succeeded in making the majority of Pakistanis believe in its indispensability. Without an “enemy” (India) and without a “core dispute” (Kashmir), that indispensability would fade rapidly.
An all-out war with India’s superior conventional forces would shatter the Pakistani army’s carefully nurtured image among ordinary Pakistanis of its invincibility. Rawalpindi doesn’t want a repeat of 1971 or 1999.
A slow-burning insurgency in Kashmir suits it far better. Unemployed young men from poor families are used as terrorist cannon fodder. When killed by the Indian army or the Border Security Force (BSF), their families are generously rewarded with land and money. It is a classic mafia operation: money for blood.
Unfortunately, like all mafia operations, this one too is beginning to run into a wall.
The recent truck bomb attack in Kabul’s diplomatic enclave near the German embassy that killed 150 people is an inflection point in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations as Afghan president Ashraf Ghani declared at the opening session of the multilateral Kabul peace conference on June 6.
The Afghans could prove the Pakistan army’s nemesis.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Sindh (especially Karachi) and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (including Gilgit-Baltistan) are in ferment. Punjab, which comprises 55 per cent of Pakistan’s population but less than 25 per cent of its territory, is deeply resented by these provinces. They see key resources – water, power, infrastructure – being monopolised by Punjab.
Kashmir is a business opportunity for Pakistan’s Indian minions as well. Raids by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Srinagar, Delhi and Haryana last week unmasked how the Pakistan terror-funding network operates.
The Hurriyat is a longtime front created by the ISI. Its separatist “leaders” are paid handsomely. Hizbul Mujahideen, as the recent raids by the NIA revealed, works closely with the separatists. Like the mafia, each tentacle in the network has its uses and functions.
Separatists instigate stone-pelters. The Hizbul conducts terror attacks in the Valley. Subverted Indian journalists in Delhi and Srinagar provide amelioratory editorial cover. Indian NGOs and activists organise seminars, calling for an end to the “occupation of Kashmir”.
The Pakistani army, flush with funds, privately refers to these Indians as “useful idiots”. They serve a purpose: keeping Kashmir simmering but not boiling over.
Note that unlike Afghanistan, there has rarely been a suicide bomb terror attack in the Valley. Insurgents pelt stone, not bombs. Hizbul terrorists use guns not suicide vests.
The ISI is shrewd enough to recognise what will work in Kashmir’s essentially Sufi culture and what won’t. Despite its efforts to convert the Valley into an Islamist state, only a fraction of Kashmiri youth have bought into the radical Wahhabi ideology. Even the Hizbul is at odds with the Hurriyat on whether Kashmir is a political or religious struggle.
Money for nothing
In the Valley, everybody is on the take. Money trumps ideology. The separatists happily took money from RAW for years before being busted. Pakistan’s generals similarly, but on a larger scale, have taken billions off the Americans and are doing the same with the Chinese.
How long can the shrewd generals in Rawalpindi continue their terror-as-business scam? Till India calls its bluff.
Fortunately, the Indian army under General Bipin Rawat has begun imposing a cost on the Pakistani army along the Line of Control (LoC). When casualties among Pakistani soldiers rise beyond a threshold level, dissatisfaction among the ranks can set in.
Water is another weapon. Hydro-electric projects in the Valley have been fast-tracked. Under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), India is legally entitled to a higher quota than it has, bafflingly, been using for decades. Less water to Pakistan as a result of the new hydro projects in Kashmir will impose a cost on Pakistani agriculture.
The proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will, meanwhile, soon recommence, focusing international attention on the Pakistani army’s propensity to kidnap and torture as exemplified by the abduction of Kulbhushan Jadhav.
The generals in Rawalpindi are accountants. Only when the cost of abetting terrorism becomes unaffordable will they be compelled to change their behaviour — behavior that is driven not by concern for Kashmir, but the commerce it delivers.
Also read: Kashmir, China and Pakistan: What India must do to avert a three-way disasterAn Iranian official said on Saturday that the military aggression by Saudi Arabia against Yemeni people had prevented the constructive strategies of emir of Kuwait from taking effect.
Iranian Parliament's General Director for International Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remark after Kuwait's National Assembly speaker Marzouq Ali al-Ghanim called for developing relations with Iran in line with promoting the Persian Gulf security and stability, Mehr News Agency reported.
Amir-Abdollahian added, “In my last meeting with the Emir of Kuwait Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al Sabah, he expressed constructive views on regional issues which were hindered from making any progress due to Riyadh’s military aggression in Yemen.”
He stressed that expansion of relations with neighboring countries is the top priority of Iran’s foreign policy, adding that “the views of the Kuwaiti emir and speaker in support of a political solution to current regional crises are fully welcomed by Tehran”.
Amir-Abdollahian highlighted Tehran’s efforts for further development of relations with neighboring countries and Persian Gulf littoral states.
“In such a critical situation in the region, parliamentary diplomacy can play a significant role in improving regional cooperation,” he said.
sive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The spokesman also hailed the political and cultural commonalities between Iran and Latin American nations, as well as their common stances in international organizations, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in particular.
“Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran has such a position that it can pick its political friends and trade partners, and does not have to cooperate with certain countries or regions in the world,” Qassemi noted.
A previous trip in May took Zarif to Brazil, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba.
The visits come against the backdrop of growing interests in ties with Iran following the last year nuclear agreement between Tehran and P5+1 group of countries – Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany.Shopping for the sake of shopping
Before we get into how to find an effective replacement, let’s quickly make sure we are all on the same page about why shopping isn’t a great hobby to have in the first place:
Besides the fact that a shopping hobby will undoubtedly make you spend more money than you would like to, it also isn’t great from an ethical perspective because the more you shop (especially from fast fashion brands), the more you are contributing to the negative effects the fashion industry has on workers and the environment. You are also not doing your own closet any favours by adding to it on a weekly basis (or even more often). If shopping is your hobby, you buy stuff for the experience: to have fun, to relax, to be creative, right in that moment. Things like whether you’ll actually wear that piece, how it fits in with the rest of your wardrobe and even how much you like it, come secondary. Eventually, you end up with a jam-packed closet full of stand-alone pieces that were fun to buy, but that don’t reflect your style or work with your lifestyle.
How to quit
People love to shop for different reasons. Some find it ridiculously relaxing, for some it's their go-to creative outlet, for others a fun, low-stress way to spend time with friends. What's your reason?
Think about what situations and times you usually want to shop. What mood are you in? What mood are you in post-shop? Really try to dig deep here. Then: Find something that gives you the same experience that shopping does. Because there are plenty of other ways to be creative, have fun with fashion or just relax after a long day at work, that don’t involve spending money and adding yet another so-so item to your wardrobe. For example, if you tend to shop online to unwind at night, think about what else might give you that same feeling of relaxation. A bubble bath perhaps? Or curling up with a good book?
To help you figure out your personal most effective shopping replacement, I’ve created a little typology of the most common types of “hobby shoppers”.
Each profile contains a quick description and a few recommendations for shopping alternatives. Read through each profile and see which ones you identify with. Use the suggested alternatives as a jumping off point to write your own list of activities. Then try them out the next time you feel like hitting the shops or buying something online.
There are five types in total, but of course you can be a combination. For example, during my shopaholic phase a few years ago, I was both the true creative and the social shopper.
If currently consider shopping a hobby: what type of shopper are you?Share This Get the full story behind the making of Zootopia!
Back in 2010, when Byron Howard and Nathan Greno finished work on Tangled, they wanted to make another movie immediately. “When you go to pitch to John Lasseter, you usually come in with three or four ideas. And Nathan Greno and I came in with six,” Howard explained. “We wanted to get back into the rotation of getting a film out because it takes so long.”
Among the ideas that they proposed: Pug the Bounty Hunter, an intergalactic adventure starring an intrepid rabbit (disregarded because there was a similar project in development at the studio); The Island of Dr. Meow, a “Roger Corman cheap B-movie in animation” that concerned a group of teenagers who travel to a creepy island where a six-foot cat is turning people into animals (an idea deemed “too weird”); and a spy movie involving animals (a story that felt too close to the then-recently-released Cars 2). Still, all of the ideas shared an idea that Lasseter, a huge fan of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, sparked to. He told the team, “What I like is that you have these anthropomorphic animals, so why don’t you combine ideas and come up with something.” (One of Howard’s favorite movies was Robin Hood, and took the legacy of Disney talking animal movies very seriously.) The original idea for the spy film had two animal spies getting assigned a mission in a sprawling animal metropolis and then traveling to an island, not unlike the one seen in the Island of Dr. Meow pitch. “Everyone suggested that we take the first act of this movie and turn it into the entire movie,” Howard said. “And that was a big idea.”
As the film began to solidify, Greno moved on to develop Gigantic, a new take on “Jack and the Beanstalk” with new songs from the Frozen songwriting team of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and Jared Bush became a co-writer and co-director. After Howard and Bush had worked on the film for two years, Wreck-It Ralph director Rich Moore and Wreck-It Ralph co-writer Phil Johnston came aboard the project in the fall of 2014, as director and co-writer, respectively.
“As it happens, you discover things as you’re making it. We screen them as rough story reels internally, to our crew and colleagues, and then have a meeting right after to talk about what’s working and what’s not,” Moore explained about the creative process at Walt Disney Animation Studios. It was a screening in October of 2015 that a new idea was sparked. For a long time, the movie’s main character was con artist fox Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman), with plucky bunny cop Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) as his secondary foil. “They were trying to tell this story of Zootopia from the perspective of someone who didn’t like the city very much. He’s a predator animal and he’s feeling oppressed,” Moore said. “As colleagues in the story trust, we’re always trying to help the filmmaker tell that story that they want to tell, rather than trying to say, ‘You should do this instead.’” The Walt Disney Animation Studios Story Trust, a collection of directors, writers and story artists who advise on every film decided a change was in order.
Related Post Animating Nature: The Making of Bambi
Several attendees to screenings around this time had the same note: they hated the city. The problem was simple: the filmmakers were asking the audience to love the city of Zootopia, but the city was outwardly “cruel to our main character” (in Moore’s words).
Jared Bush described the moment as “a wake-up call that we had to investigate immediately.” And investigate they did. “In trying to make this movie work, we’ve overlooked that one key thing,” Moore said. “It happens when you’re so close to the material. And it was like, we have one year to get it done.”
2014 was also the year that Big Hero 6 was released, and with it, the Hyperion rendering system was introduced. Hyperion gave the animated movies’ improved physics systems. “There’s no way we could have depicted a city like this five years ago,” Moore said. Not only are there dozens of animal species, each with unique hair and fur and clothing, but the city is stuffed with different light sources, reflective textures, and, thanks to a new system called Keep Alive, countless plants that are always moving in the breeze. Howard added: “When we started it was too ambitious for what the studio was capable of at the time. With Hyperion, we could see lighting a lot earlier. With Tangled and Bolt it was almost like you were shooting a scene with a live action set with the lights off.”
Just as revolutionary as the technology though, was the comedy, which combines a number of pop culture references, inside jokes, and satirical asides, to create a rhythm that is wholly unique. One of the gags that the team is proudest of is one of several sly nods to Walt Disney Animation Studios’ runaway hit, Frozen. “It’s amazing that we were able to tell the joke that Alan Tudyk could play the Duke of Weselton in one movie and play Duke Weaselton, who is a weasel, in another movie,” Moore said. Howard remarked that, “That joke is an infinity mirror.” Moore went on: “I love the meta humor and it’s something that we haven’t done before. But it doesn’t feel like we broke the form. But enough to say, ‘Wow, I’m not used to that type of joke in a Disney movie but it feels right.’” It does feel right; there isn’t a single joke that feels unearned or so timely that it will date itself prematurely. The jokes, instead, are just a part of the rich and lively tapestry of Zootopia.
And while the story had solidified, tone established and the creative team formalized, there was still plenty that needed to get worked out. Last summer, at the D23 Expo, there was a version of a scene that takes place in an elephant ice cream shop that was screened as part of the larger animation panel. Several weeks later, there was a long lead press day for the movie, and an entirely different version of the scene was screened. “When Nick was the protagonist, that scene was about how smooth he was. Once it became Judy’s story and we played that scene, it made her seem really stupid. Because it made it seem like he was hustling her,” Moore explained. “We liked to experience the story through our main character.” The decision to change it, Howard said, was incredibly difficult. But the story demanded it. “The crew worked so hard and it was fully animated,” Howard said. “That’s where you have to hope the crew trusts you. Of course it’s painful, but they got it.” Writer Phil Johnston said, “When you have themes and a tone that are this challenging, and to make it extraordinarily entertaining while achieving that tone and theme, it’s a hard movie to make.”
In fact, it wasn’t until last summer, when they screened the film in Chandler, Arizona, that the team realized they were really on track. It was the audience’s response to this screening that helped everyone rally and really get the movie in shape. “The audience was responding really well to the characters, story, world, and theme. Then we could go in and polish and nuance,” producer Clark Spencer said. “It came at the right moment in time, to really push us through.” Johnston added: “The credits go on forever because everybody, including, literally, the security guards, are listed in the credits. Everyone puts a lot of stock in their part of these movies getting made.”
While Zootopia, as a finished film, bears little resemblance to the pitches that Lasseter first loved and green lit, it’s a beautifully, fully realized film, full of memorable characters, hilarious gags, jaw-dropping visuals, and thematic undercurrents that really mean something to our modern world. It went in some unusual directions, occasionally hit some dead ends, but the entirety of Walt Disney Animation Studios came together to make something that can be definitively described as an animated classic (and with a certified fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating, critics seem to agree as well). “As the films grow, they’re like kids. You can’t judge one against the other,” Howard said. “They’re going to mature at different rates and one will be a little more ready and slip ahead of the other one. It jockeys around a lot. Also, it has to do with what types of films we’re putting out. We don’t want years of one type of film. What’s great about the studio is that they support musicals and comedies and movies about video games.”
Talking to Howard and Moore months after the film’s initial release, it’s clear that they were taken aback by the public’s reaction to the film. Critics went wild for the movie (it’s got a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes), and audiences responded in kind (at the time of this writing, it’s still in the domestic top 10 and grossed over $1 billion worldwide). “I was shocked,” Howard admitted. But all of that pales in comparison with the kind of emotional outpouring the filmmakers have witnessed on platforms like social media.
“We thought doing this movie about bias was a complicated, challenging thing to do in an animated film, but it’s seems so compelling,” Moore explained. “We were really careful, I think, and we worked really hard to make sure the movie was saying exactly the right thing. But you never know whether people are going to feel like we’re trying to be preachy.” Pretty soon, though, Moore knew that the film had made an impact, thanks largely to Twitter: “We’ll get people who share stories.” He continued: “There was a young African American man that was sharing these stories of just how difficult it was going through high school as one of two African American students in the school, and him sharing with us what that experience was like. His grandfather was always telling him you have to push through it. Then for him to say seeing Zootopia and feeling so much, feeling akin to Judy, to Nick, and how everything his grandfather had taught him, and he had kind of stride for, he was seeing our characters achieving those kinds of things and doing those things on screen, and he felt like, I feel like I’m not so alone in this world,” that, you’re speaking to me through this movie, and it’s making my struggles all for the better, and worth it.”
Moore was clearly moved telling the story, and said that hearing reactions like this meant the world to him. “Reading real accounts from real people, to hear this kid, through this movie sharing these experiences, and how he found hope through the story, is like, That’s why we do this. That’s what this is about.”
“I think one thing we’re really proud of is that you can find your own experiences with bias and empowerment in the movie. That’s one of the great things I think animation can do that live action really can’t as often,” Howard added. “It’s great because it gives you the power to make something a modern theme that’s a very sophisticated message, and the fact that the message resonates from very young children to the oldest people who go to see these films, and across the world, I think we were impressed with how universal the ideas in the movie resonating with audience everywhere, and that was really rewarding for us.”
Clearly, the movie has been embraced. It’s not just the financial and critical success that has cemented the film as a new Disney animated classic. Characters from the film are now appearing in the Disney Parks, and are well on their way to becoming just as beloved as the characters you grew up adoring. Meeting the characters, Moore said, “has a special meaning, I think, that people carry for a very, very long time.” The home video release, too, exposes the film to even more fans, and those who already saw the film will be able to appreciate the film even more, thanks to a wealth of bonus features (many of them hosted and/or curated by Howard and Moore). You’ll get to see some of those ideas that were lost along the way, and get the inside scoop on how clever workarounds were conceived and actualized.
But now, at the end of the road to Zootopia, the question remained: does Howard feel as zesty as he did when Tangled was wrapping up and he was angling to start his next project? “I’m a little older,” Howard said when I asked. “I think I’ve learned to appreciate taking a breath. There’s a point where you’re producing so much and not living, and there’s a balance, and so even just having a moment to sit and go, Ah, what was that whole experience” And just appreciate where we are. Even just giving yourself a moment to absorb what happened and the success of the movie, and the fact that, Wow we’re really proud of what we did. We’re really proud of the people around us. And we can feel good about that, and then we can go, “I’m refreshed and I can move onto the next thing.” It’s funny because these things are so punishing to go through, in a lot of ways, but I think all of us are so addicted to this process and we love it so much that we’d gladly jump back into the fire to do it.”
Posted 3 years AgoOne of the most obvious changes to English culture after 1066 occurs in the names people called themselves. Most Saxon and early Celtic personal names disappeared quite quickly after the Norman Conquest. French names like William, Robert and Henry become popular among the general population – and for the first time, surnames start to appear.
Anglo-Saxons had nick-names as second names – for example, Edmund Ironside or Ethelred Unread (“without counsel”) – or names indicating their paternity, such as Cuthbert Edmund’s son, whose son would have been called Alfred Cuthbert’s son. But they did not have inherited surnames – these arrived with the Normans.
This can be seen in that most Norman of creations, the Domesday Book. In 1066 many landowners were simply referred to by their Anglo-Saxon first names, but by 1086 surnames are included.
How were surnames chosen?
Surnames were originally added to people’s first names to distinguish them from other people who had the same first name locally e.g. Robert the baker or Robert at the wood. Initially they were changed or dropped at will, but were eventually passed on from generation to generation, so that by Richard II’s Poll Tax lists of 1381 most English families had adopted the use of hereditary surnames.
However, some names from before the Norman Conquest survived long enough to be inherited directly as surnames, such as the most common Anglo-Saxon surname, Smith. The Norman counterpart to smith would have been a farrier, or ferrier, a worker in metal, which appears in surnames like Farrah or Farrar, whereas the Celtic version of the same occupation is gobha, from which come the surname Gow, Gowan and Gove.
Place names in French also appear in seemingly English surnames such as Disney, which comes from French D’ Isigny (Isigny a village in Normandy near Bayeux). There are exceptions, such as the surname Telford, which doesn’t come from the English town at all. The town was named after Thomas Telford, a Shropshire engineer who was inspired by Abraham Darby’s Iron Bridge at Coalbrookdale.
Ironically the surname Telford is derived from a Norman nickname “taille fer,” meaning ‘cuts iron’, indicating a possessor of great strength. The first man killed at the Battle of Hastings was said to be William’s minstrel, Guy of Amiens, nicknamed Taillefer.
Investigate your origins
So if you are interested in a more personal look at history, a good place to start is your own surname’s origins. But remember, if you have a French surname, it does not necessarily mean your family came from France.
Most people were and continued to be of English descent, with only a small number of Norman nobles and their retainers living in England. Instead a French derived name might have been taken for status, or because you were working for a Norman noble who listed your occupation in French, such as John the charpentier or Carpenter, which in English would have been Wright. However, if you have a surname which comes from a French place name you are much more likely to be descended from a Norman forebear.
Meet the People of 1066
It’s the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings and we’re following the events of 1066 month by month as they unfold, all year, on Twitter – just search for #Battle1066.
You can find out more about the people of 1066 on the English Heritage website, and read a round up of the story of the Norman Conquest starting here on the blog.
As we draw closer to the time of the battle, it’s time to decide – are you on Team Norman or Team Saxon? Take our quiz and discover your allegiance.
Editors note: this post has been edited to properly attribute the building of Iron Bridge to Abraham Darby, rather than Thomas Telford. The idea was originally suggested by architect Thomas Pritchard in 1773, and we mixed up our Thomases. Thank you to everyone who picked up on the error.
Share this Post 8.7kWriting in his Real Science blog, Steven Goddard explained how he found out that NASA had altered U.S. temperature readings to show a warming trend where none existed: He compared graphs published on NASA’s website in 1999 to those available today. He even set up an animation of the two temperature graphs to show the extent of the fraud.
Goddard went further by exhuming quotes from climate changers who also have changed their opinions, including the infamous James Hansen. In 2003 Hansen authored a paper for the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change entitled “Can We Defuse the Global Warming Time Bomb?” in which he concluded that “halting global warming requires urgent, unprecedented international cooperation” with the clear implication that the United Nations was just the group to accomplish it. But back in 1999, Goddard discovered that Hansen co-authored an article at NASA’s Goddard (no relation to Steven) Institute for Space Studies, “Whither U.S. Climate?” in which they claimed:
Empirical evidence does not lend much support to the notion that climate is headed precipitately toward more extreme heat and drought. The drought of 1999 covered a smaller area than the 1988 drought when the Mississippi almost dried up.... 1988 was a temporary inconvenience as compared with repeated droughts during the 1930s “Dust Bowl” that caused an exodus from the prairies as chronicled in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.
Hansen et al. added:
The U.S. has warmed during the past century, but the warming trend hardly exceeds year-to-year variability. Indeed, in the U.S. the warmest decade was the 1930s and the warmest year was 1934....
In the U.S. there has been little temperature change in the past 50 years... in fact, there was a slight cooling throughout much of the country.
This reflected a study done in 1988 by the British Meteorological Office that concluded that the record set in 1988 “appeared to have been linked, at least in part, to natural fluctuations.” On top of that, scientists from the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) studied temperatures over the past 100 years leading up to the record year (1988) and concluded that “there had been no significant change in average temperatures over that period.”
Steven Goddard noted that apparently the EPA didn’t get the memo about the necessary change in graphology to promote the global warming myth, and consequently still shows on its website that temperatures have fluctuated precious little since the Dust Bowl.
Climate-change skeptic Christopher Booker, the author of the best-seller The Real Global Warming Disaster, saw this as vindication for all the flak he caught after the book was published in 2009. In that book he questioned whether there really was a “consensus” among scientists for AGW (anthropogenic global warming) after all. He went further to predict that once the whistle was blown on the global-warming canard, measures taken by governments to meet the so-called crisis “will turn out to be one of the most expensive, destructive and foolish mistakes the human race has ever made.”
Writing in The Telegraph, Booker examined Goddard’s claims, and expanded on them:
Goddard shows how, in recent years, NOAA’s US Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) has been “adjusting” its record by replacing real temperatures with data “fabricated” by computer models. The effect of this has been to downgrade earlier temperatures and to exaggerate those from recent decades, to give the impression that the Earth has been warming up much more than is justified by the actual data.
In several posts headed “Data tampering at USHCN/GISS”, Goddard compares the currently published temperature graphs with those based only on temperatures measured at the time. These show that the US has actually been cooling since the Thirties, the hottest decade on record; whereas the latest graph, nearly half of it based on “fabricated” data, shows it to have been warming at a rate equivalent to more than 3 degrees centigrade per century.
Someone else didn’t get the memo, either, about the need to adjust the numbers to fit the narrative: former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Paulson is the fellow who made himself rich while heading up Goldman Sachs. When he left Goldman to take on his stint at Treasury, he sold all of his stock but was allowed to skip paying any capital gains on his profits, saving approximately $250 million in taxes. Now the head of his own climate-change disaster control center, the Paulson Institute, he has an opinion that still reflects the now-newly discredited data, which he expressed in a letter on Saturday to the New York Times:
We’re staring down a climate bubble that poses enormous risks to both our environment and economy. The warning signs are clear and growing more urgent as the risks go unchecked....
The carbon dioxide we’re sending into the atmosphere remains there for centuries, heating up the planet.
It’s necessary to ignore well-informed protests from the climate-change naysayers such as Booker and Goddard, says Paulson:
There is virtually no debate among scientists that the planet is warming and that the burning of fossil fuels is largely responsible....
Those who claim the science is unsettled or action is too costly are simply trying to ignore the problem... waiting for more information before acting is actually taking a very radical risk.
And what is Paulson recommending, the same man who amplified and extended the Great Recession through massive government interventions rather than letting the free market adjust itself to the previous government-induced distortions? Doctor Fixit has the answer: "We can [solve] this by putting a price on emissions of carbon dioxide — a carbon tax."
It’s tempting to make light of efforts by climate-changers to manipulate the numbers to fit their own agenda. Indeed, the revelations by Steven Goddard make it easy to do so. But the larger climate |
although due to space constraints, we do not detail the specifics of selecting a status quo Nash equilibrium when there are multiple Nash equilibria) and is the fallback position if no agreement is reached. The bargaining mechanism used to choose a virtual bargain is the Nash bargaining solution (although one can allow for alternative bargaining mechanisms to arrive at the virtual bargain): this is the pair of strategies that maximizes the product of differences between the players’ expected utility under this strategy pair and the expected utility from the status quo.
Virtual bargaining involves a psychological claim: that some, and perhaps many, social interactions involve people behaving as if they had been able to bargain about what to do. Aspects of virtual bargaining can potentially be formally modeled in various ways. Here we explore one possible approach, using game theory.
So how do players know on which equilibrium to converge? Broadly, we propose that people coordinate by virtual bargaining []; that is, by imagining which equilibrium would be chosen if the players could communicate and explicitly make offers and counter-offers until a bargain is reached. In the Hi–Lo game, it is clear that any reasonable process of bargaining would favor (Hi, Hi) over (Lo, Lo).
Coordination problems distinctively have multiple Nash equilibria; including here, (Hi, Hi) and (Lo, Lo). However, the equilibrium (Hi, Hi) is preferable to (Lo, Lo) for both players. This suggests a strategy for both agents to coordinate successfully: where it is obvious which Nash equilibrium is ‘mutually agreeable’, in some sense both players should choose their moves to achieve that equilibrium.
One way to break out of the infinite regress is to switch focus from the cognitive operations of each agent to the possible equilibria of the ‘social system’ – here, the moves of the pair of agents. Nash [] considered an equilibrium to be a pair of moves (or probability distributions over the moves of each agent) that arises when neither agent has incentive to switch moves in the light of the other's equilibrium move.
The origin of unwritten rules
In this perspective, the starting point for the unwritten rules governing social interactions is the virtual bargains themselves. Such virtual bargains (like customs, conventions and, social norms) have normative force: as with an explicit bargain (e.g., as codified in a legal agreement), participants know that they should behave as the bargain specifies. (Although, as with real bargains, people can recognize the appropriate virtual-bargaining solutions without the intention of following them.)
What is the content of a virtual bargain? A natural, albeit partially adequate, answer is that the contents correspond to an ‘explicit agreement’ to which both parties are committed. These contents may be complex (e.g., ‘I’ll take this end of the table, you’ll take that end, and then we’ll both lift it, and then I’ll shuffle backwards and you forwards’), with endless clauses (e.g., ‘on encountering stairs, I’ll lift my end of the table and back up the stairs, one by one’, ‘neither of us will intentionally drop the table without warning’, ‘we undertake to continue until the table is at its new destination’).
Such bargains can never be made fully explicit because any number of possible eventualities must be catered for. Indeed, written contracts are inevitably open ended, or ‘incomplete’ (in legal and economic terminology), due to an infinity of unforeseen contingencies (e.g., both parties are permitted to cease moving the table if it threatens to break, there is a fire alarm, or the way ahead is blocked by an unanticipated cocktail party). Clearly, not all such eventualities can be anticipated: any bargain may require further (virtual or real) bargaining at some later stage. Where virtual bargaining is not possible (i.e., what ‘we’ would agree to do is nonobvious to both of us), people will often shift to real bargaining; that is, explicit discussion of next actions. Communication is required just in so far as bargaining can allow joint behavior to proceed (e.g., a nod or glance might suffice to indicate that we twist the table clockwise rather than counterclockwise before ascending steps).
10 Grice P. Logic and conversation. 11 Levinson S. Presumptive Meanings: The Theory of Generalized Conversational Implicature. 12 Sperber D.
Wilson D. Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Box 2 Communication, language, Schelling, and virtual bargaining 34 Schelling T.C. The Strategy of Conflict. Nobel prize-winning economist Thomas Schelling was one of the first to explore how well people are able to coordinate their behavior, given a minimal clue []. He gave people the hypothetical problem of meeting with somebody in New York City on a set date, but with no time or location specified and no opportunity to communicate. Participants converged on a small number of ‘focal’ solutions, the most popular being midday at Grand Central Station. In terms of the present analysis, participants are attempting to infer a virtual bargain: what would be a sensible time and place to agree to meet. It is a small step to recognize that the same situation arises when the ‘clue’ that must be solved (to meet tomorrow in New York City) is given not by a third party but by one participant to the other: ‘Let's meet tomorrow in New York’. In the absence of further interaction, the participants will, as before, coordinate successfully when they infer the same virtual bargain. Thus the process of interpreting language, already a communicative signal, involves virtual bargaining between speaker and hearer. Felicitous communication typically requires that the communicative clue is sufficient that the virtual bargain uniquely determines what is to be conveyed. The clue of Schelling's example is unlikely to be sufficient for a reliable meeting to be coordinated, but if, for instance, the speaker and hearer are members of the same company with London and New York offices and a history of prior lunchtime meetings, it might suffice. 10 Grice P. Logic and conversation. 11 Levinson S. Presumptive Meanings: The Theory of Generalized Conversational Implicature. 12 Sperber D.
Wilson D. Relevance: Communication and Cognition. 37 Frank M.C.
Goodman N.D. Predicting pragmatic reasoning in language games. Virtual bargaining provides a novel starting point for providing foundations for Grice's program (e.g., []) explaining how minimal communicative and linguistic signals can, by sophisticated inferential processes, convey remarkably rich messages. From the present perspective, both speaker and hearer face the same inferential problem: to infer what both would virtually agree, given that signal. Virtual bargaining provides a framework for integrating and making precise the interplay of specific pragmatic principles (e.g., principles of cooperative and relevance, maxims of quality and quantity; for related approaches, see []; see also []). In this way, it is instructive to note that virtual bargaining also addresses a foundational issue in pragmatics: the rationale by which, given their common knowledge, speaker and hearer can coordinate on one of many possible messages that a given highly ambiguous signal might provide ( Box 2 ). The core idea is that speaker and hearer can ‘virtually agree’ many aspects of the use of a communicative signal in the light of their common knowledge (for example, that ‘Could you tell me the way to the station?’ is almost always indicative of a desire to go to the station and hence requires more than a yes/no answer). A natural challenge for future work, therefore, will be to explain how traditional pragmatic notions such as ‘quantity’, ‘quality’, and ‘relevance’ [] may be reconstructed within the virtual-bargaining framework.
So we have, then, a partial answer to the origin of the unwritten rules of social interactions. Such rules need not be prespecified by some external authority and learned by members of a group or culture. They can be composed as we go along, by engaging in ongoing virtual bargaining. Furthermore, these unwritten rules are complex due to the open-ended nature of our ability to virtually agree what to do in different situations.
Each new case of virtual bargaining does not stand alone, but depends on prior social interactions in at least three important ways.
13 Lewis D. Convention. 14 Aumann R. Agreeing to disagree. Box 3 Virtual bargaining, joint action mechanisms, and team reasoning Virtual bargaining depends on common knowledge. Suppose, for instance, that the servant and the despot are moving a table, but only one of them knows that the end of the table nearest the despot is sticky with fresh paint. If this were common knowledge, the servant would choose the sticky end, and the despot would choose the other end. However, given their current common knowledge (which does not include the crucial information about the sticky paint), the opposite virtual bargain is likely. 38 Bangerter A. Using pointing and describing to achieve joint focus of attention in dialogue. 39 Behne T.
et al. Twelve-month-olds’ comprehension and production of pointing. 40 Moll H.
Tomasello M. 12- and 18-month-old infants follow gaze to spaces behind barriers. The problem is most readily resolved by one party bringing the crucial information into common knowledge. For example, if the despot has the crucial information, she might pointedly glance or gesture at the sticky paint, with the expectation that the servant will follow that look or gesture and that they will jointly attend the sticky paint []. Aspects of the external world that are jointly attended enter into common knowledge. The virtual bargain will then be revised and the servant will rush dutifully to the sticky end. However, the power asymmetry allows that the despot can instead simply begin to move toward her preferred end and, whatever the servant's initial plans, the servant will follow her lead. If, by contrast, the servant, but not the despot, has noticed the sticky paint, a glance or gesture may not suffice; establishing common knowledge will probably require direct communication (say, ‘Madam, I believe the paint at this end is not completely dry’). 41 Sacks H.
et al. A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. 42 Schegloff E.A. Overlapping talk and the organization of turn-taking for conversation. 43 Kendon A. Some functions of gaze-direction in social interaction. 44 Mazur A. A biosocial model of status in face-to-face primate groups. 45 Heylen D. Head gestures, gaze and the principles of conversational structure. 46 Wagner P.
et al. Gesture and speech in interaction: an overview. The manipulation of joint attention is itself a critical element in social interaction: joint attention influences common knowledge, which in turn may influence the virtual bargain reached. Thus, joint attention is a resource that must be virtually bargained over and is subject to subtle cultural conventions; for X to draw Y's intentionally directed attention to something requires joint agreement and is governed by conventions such as turn taking, eye contact and ostensive eye gaze, and head movements, as well as being strongly determined by power/status asymmetries []. 23 Bratman M.E. Shared Agency: A Planning Theory of Acting Together. 47 Gold N.
Sugden R. Collective intentions and team agency. 47 Gold N.
Sugden R. Collective intentions and team agency. Whereas joint attention may help establish common knowledge required to facilitate virtual bargaining, joint action can result from virtual bargaining. From the present perspective, a joint action can be defined simply as the implementation of the same virtual bargain by two or more participants (this viewpoint is closely related to []). In particular, virtual bargaining can be viewed as a type of team-reasoning account of social interaction [], where the virtual bargaining process specifies the actions of the team, based on the preferences and beliefs of the individuals in that team. Note, however, that virtual bargaining can occur between friends or adversaries, whereas team reasoning, as the name suggests, is often taken to apply to team members with overlapping interests. 48 Bratman M.E. Shared intention. 49 Gilbert M. Shared intention and personal intentions. 50 Searle J.R. Collective intentions and actions. 51 Sebanz N.
et al. Joint action: bodies and minds moving together. 52 Knoblich G.
et al. Psychological research on joint action: theory and data. 17 Pickering M.J.
Garrod S. Toward a mechanistic psychology of dialogue. 17 Pickering M.J.
Garrod S. Toward a mechanistic psychology of dialogue. 53 Hatfield E.
et al. Emotional contagion. Philosophical approaches typically define joint actions with respect to intentionality (whether shared or collective; e.g., []), whereas psychology and neuroscience often favor broader terms, by which joint actions are understood more simply as the result of cognitive, perceptual, and motor mechanisms that facilitate emergent coordinative structures (e.g., []). Our definition thus follows the ‘tighter’ usage of theoretical approaches and is sharply distinct from spontaneously organized behavior and from coordination mechanisms, which operate by, for example, priming one person's motor [], language [], or emotional [] system by the observation of another. Nonetheless, joint actions and coordinative mechanisms may interact in interesting ways. First, a history of social interactions, communication, and common culture can foster common knowledge among individuals, thereby facilitating virtual bargaining ( Box 3 ). Virtual bargaining will go astray if, for instance, partners disagree about where they are aiming to put the table or which person is stronger/which end is heavier. Moreover, mere mutual knowledge (i.e., both players knowing the same thing) is insufficient; for each player to be able to justify following the terms of a virtual bargain, the players must have common knowledge of the assumptions on which this bargain is based; that is, each knows these assumptions, knows that the other knows, knows that the other knows that they know, and so on indefinitely (e.g., []). For example, if both players believe that the table is heading for the living room but one erroneously believes that the other has a different goal, virtual bargaining is likely to fail.
Second, previous virtual bargains (and, more broadly, real bargains and past outcomes) provide precedents for current and future virtual bargains, just as previous legal judgments provide precedents for today's court cases. If the stronger partner lifts the heavy end of the table, both parties are likely to take this precedent into account in future bargains, perhaps generalizing to other cases, such as who carries the large versus the small suitcase. Similarly, if the singer and support band split the money 50–50 at the last gig, both parties are likely to assume the same division applies for future gigs – and either party is likely to be outraged if the other demands, after the fact, more favorable terms. Thus, past (virtual) bargains may rapidly become entrenched and generalized.
Coordination is likely to follow precedents for two reasons. One relies on virtual bargaining: common knowledge of the precedent marks that coordination solution as ‘special’ and thus acts as a possible tiebreaker for choosing between future solutions. Here the logic is that precedence is acting the same way as any other salience marker of which we have common knowledge. So, for example, suppose that two people have to coordinate on choosing the same digit written on rectangular cards; having coordinated successfully on, say, ‘6’ previously makes this choice salient, in the same way as if that digit alone were presented in bold font or presented on a triangular card. However, precedents may be followed even if one or both participants do not continue to apply the logic of virtual bargaining; people may reflexively choose the precedent merely because it is salient, irrespective of whether this is common knowledge. These possibilities can be distinguished empirically by varying relevant common knowledge. For example, ‘mere salience’ should drive choice when Person 2 attempts to coordinate with Person 3, even if the precedent was set when Person 2 interacted with Person 1 (and is thereby not common knowledge for Persons 2 and 3). Conversely, if it is common knowledge (of a prior coordinative solution) that supports following a given precedent, virtual bargaining should be sensitive to direct changes to common knowledge, in contrast to mechanistic approaches. In such a case, as another example, if it is known that one partner suffers from relevant memory loss or impairments, the other partner is unlikely to use a precedent (on the merits of its shared historical status) as an appropriate tiebreaker for future bargains.
Virtual bargaining may therefore comprise part of the answer to where norms come from and how conventions are established, although fleshing out that account may be complex. Drawing on precedents when a new situation is identical with a previous situation is relatively straightforward. In general, however, the new situation will link with numerous, possibly conflicting precedents; virtual bargaining may be needed at a higher level and possibly require substantial reasoning and generalization, analogous to that in a precedent-based legal system, for individuals to converge on choosing the ‘right’ precedent.
Third, and last, virtual (and real) bargains can be layered on top of one another through processes of social interaction and cultural evolution, just as formal institutions such as banks, courts, or police forces are defined by layers of explicit legal agreements. For example, banking requires legal definitions of debtors’ and creditors’ responsibilities, the existence of money with legal agreements concerning the operation of a currency by a central authority, legal definitions of property rights, and the definition of the individual as a legal entity. Similarly, informal ‘institutions’ (such as friendship, membership within religious or cultural groups, or even sports and games) may require layered virtual bargains of substantial complexity. For instance, playground soccer (with no official rule book) requires children to agree what the goal is (often defined, for example, by pre-existing marks on the ground or articles of clothing; lacking a crossbar, the height of the goal can sometimes be disputed), what counts as scoring a goal, when the ball is ‘in play’, the game's objective (e.g., first to five goals), who the teams are (including designated goalkeepers), and more basic agreements concerning what it means to be in a team. These systems of unwritten rules provide the basis for momentary agreements that may be required for joint actions such as one player passing the ball to another (in contrast to one player kicking a ball and another happening to intercept it).What
Where
You need
Installation
pahan@bile:~/temp/umux2007-0.0.1$ sudo./install pahan@bile:~/temp/umux2007-0.0.1$ umux2007.py 2009-12-02 11:26:55-0800 [-] Log opened. 2009-12-02 11:26:56-0800 [-] usbmux connected (fd 7, pid 1934) 161t?~
Important protip
glibc thinks the system has real IPv6 interfaces. Try "ip addr del ::1/128 dev lo" as root
Application is trying to use IPv6. For firefox, go to about:config and enable "network.dns.disableIPv6"
Huh
How
The iPhone part of PdaNet listens on port 2007. PdaNet Windows client is a fake modem driver. The driver connects to port 2007 on the iPhone through iTunes's USB multiplexor on one end and to the standard Windows PPP driver on the other end. The protocol is simple: upon connection, PdaNet server responds with a version banner (1.61 in the example above) and then sends and receives PPP frames. umux2007 takes place of the fake modem driver. It pipes packets between pppd and usbmuxd, the open source iPhone USB multiplexor.
Due to a mental deficiency on the part of PdaNet developers, the server expects every PPP frame to begin and end with the Flag character (0x7E) and to be sent in a single packet. umux2007 adds the extra Flags if required and tries to use one write() per frame. On my system, Twisted, the UNIX socket driver, usbmuxd and iPhone TCP stack happen to preserve packet boundaries. Hooray.669 SHARES Facebook Twitter
The infiltration of the American military by those who wish to tear down the United States is nearly complete. American Military News published an open letter from a former professor at West Point Military Academy, LTC Robert M. Heffington, that sheds light on why the USMA would tolerate avowed Communists like 2LT Spenser Rapone in their midst: they’ve lost their way.
We will show you excerpts from his letter in hopes that you, as veterans and patriots, will put pressure on our leadership to change these horrific situations. It must stop immediately.
“Our beloved Military Academy has lost its way. It is a shadow of what it once was. It used to be a place where standards and discipline mattered, and where concepts like duty, honor, and country were real and they meant something. Those ideas have been replaced by extreme permissiveness, rampant dishonesty, and an inexplicable pursuit of mediocrity.” LTC Robert Heffington, US Army (Ret.)
This is what the pursuit of political correctness, and “inclusiveness” have brought us. The United States Military is now infiltrated by mediocrity and some cadets and even instructors whose sole purpose is to overthrow the government. LTC Heffington had direct contact with Rapone during hie tenure as a professor at the Academy.
“Given my recent tenure on the West Point faculty and my direct interactions with Rapone, his “mentors,” and with the Academy’s leadership, I believe I can shed light on how someone like Rapone could possibly graduate.
First and foremost, standards at West Point are nonexistent. They exist on paper, but nowhere else. The senior administration at West Point inexplicably refuses to enforce West Point’s publicly touted high standards on cadets, and, having picked up on this, cadets refuse to enforce standards on each other. The Superintendent refuses to enforce admissions standards or the cadet Honor Code, the Dean refuses to enforce academic standards, and the Commandant refuses to enforce standards of conduct and discipline. The end result is a sort of malaise that pervades the entire institution. Nothing matters anymore. Cadets know this, and it has given rise to a level of cadet arrogance and entitlement the likes of which West Point has never seen in its history.”
The issue of making certain that those who report violations are soundly berated and discouraged from reporting anything is also a serious problem:
“To make matters worse, the senior leadership at West Point actively discourages staff and faculty from reporting honor violations. l was unfortunate enough to experience this first hand during my first tour on the faculty, when the Commandant of Cadets called my office phone and proceeded to berate me in the most vulgar and obscene language for over ten minutes because I had reported a cadet who lied to me and then asked if ‘we could just drop it.'”
He stated the academic standards were “nonexistent.” Cadets who failed and recommended by professors for separation were never separated. He even stated that one of his student failed four classes including his and was allowed to stay and graduate. The instructors are blamed if a cadet fails the classes. Plus, the curriculum has become bizarre:
“Even the curriculum itself has suffered. The plebe American History course has been revamped to focus completely on race and on the narrative that America is founded solely on a history of racial oppression. Cadets derisively call it the “I Hate America Course.” Simultaneously, the plebe International History course now focuses on gender to the exclusion of many other important themes. On the other hand, an entire semester of military history was recently deleted from the curriculum (at West Point!). In all courses, the bar has been lowered to the point where it is irrelevant.”
He also remarked that discipline and conduct were nonexistent:
“Conduct and disciplinary standards are in perhaps the worst shape of all. Cadets are jaded, cynical, arrogant, and entitled. They routinely talk back to and snap at their instructors (military and civilian alike), challenge authority, and openly refuse to follow regulations.”
The letter was confirmed as real by American Military News. If even one quarter of the allegations are true, it’s time for a huge housecleaning at West Point. Our military has been infiltrated by traitors, leftists, and those who hate America.
His entire letter is here:
Former West Point professor Robert Heffington’s open letter, signed by Info on ScribdNSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has weighed in on the recently released Wikileaks #Vault7 documents, calling the release “genuinely a big deal” and stating that the documents look authentic.
Still working through the publication, but what @Wikileaks has here is genuinely a big deal. Looks authentic. — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 7, 2017
Snowden also noted that encryption apps like Signal that he has famously recommended people use to thwart the mass surveillance programs of the global surveillance state weren’t themselves what was hacked. It was the operating systems IOS and Android themselves, validating a long-time assertion of Snowden’s that encryption apps prevent mass surveillance but not targeted surveillance.
He tweeted “PSA: This Incorrectly Implies CIA hacked these apps/encryption. But the docs show iOS/Android are what got hacked – a much bigger problem,” referring to a tweet by Wikileaks that said the CIA can effectively bypass Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp.
Snowden was also employed by the CIA briefly as a contractor at Booz Allen Hamilton.
Snowden later ranted in a series of tweets that the U.S. government secretly paid to keep U.S. software unsafe and that any hacker could use the holes that the CIA intentionally left open to break into any phone in the world. Adding that the decision to keep a hole in android and iphone software was “reckless beyond words.”
Evidence mounts showing CIA & FBI knew about catastrophic weaknesses in the most-used smartphones in America, but kept them open — to spy. https://t.co/mDyVred3H8 — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 7, 2017
The CIA reports show the USG developing vulnerabilities in US products, then intentionally keeping the holes open. Reckless beyond words. — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 7, 2017
If you're writing about the CIA/@Wikileaks story, here's the big deal: first public evidence USG secretly paying to keep US software unsafe. pic.twitter.com/kYi0NC2mOp — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 7, 2017
All morning users have been debating whether these documents are authentic with many agreeing with Snowden that they seem legitimate – there is far too great a quantity of highly specific information about intelligence operations, tools and targets for the documents to be fake.
A CIA spokesman Jonathan Liu, said: “We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents.”
While Jake Williams, a security expert with Augusta, Georgia-based Rendition Infosec told AP that “I can’t fathom anyone fabricated that amount of operational security concern.”
So far we have learned the massive scope of hacking that the CIA deployed against “tens of thousands of targets” seems to have no limit to how deep the agency could penetrate consumer electronics.
Hacking everything from mobile phones – both Android and iOS – to computers on various operating systems and software to even Smart TVs.
[RELATED: Wikileaks Reveals CIA Can Spy On You Through Your TV And Bypass Your Mobile Encryption Apps]
The CIA even wanted the ability to hack vehicle control panels raising the question about potential covert assassination attempts.
[RELATED: WikiLeaks Latest Release Gives Weight to Michael Hastings Assassination Theories]The chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee has asked President Donald Trump to rethink his nomination of two men, including one in Alabama, to federal court judgeships, CNN reports.
Chairman Chuck Grassley issued a statement Tuesday urging Trump to reconsider the nominations of Brett Talley, who Trump had picked to become an U.S. District Court judge in Alabama and Jeff Mateer, who was selected to become a federal judge in Texas, CNN reports.
Talley's nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama - a lifetime appointment if he gets confirmed - has already gone through the Judiciary Committee and he is waiting on a vote from the full Senate. Mateer has not been before the judiciary committee.
Controversy around Talley since he was approved by the Judiciary Committee last month. An online comment he wrote in 2011 surfaced defending the early KKK. He also didn't disclose his wife's top White House job as a potential conflict of interest on his Senate questionnaire.
"This is the first sign that the GOP leadership is recognizing that the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate are approving nominees who are unqualified or controversial and that is a good sign, because the GOP has been processing them too quickly and that can lead to mistakes," Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law who monitors the judiciary, told AL.com in an email.
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) Policy Director Todd A. Cox was pleased with Grassley's decision.
"We've spent months raising alarms about Trump's unqualified and inexperienced choices for the federal bench, including Brett Talley," Cox stated. "Talley was not only found unanimously not qualified by the nonpartisan ABA, but he also failed to disclose his marriage to the White House Counsel's chief of staff, as well as thousands of online posts he authored, including one defending the 'first KKK.' So, we commend Senator Chuck Grassley for rebuking Talley's - and Jeff Mateer's - nomination, but we also urge him not to stop there."
Who is Brett Talley? Trump pick for U.S. court in Alabama draws fire The American Bar Association rated Brett Talley unqualified for the post of U.S. district judge, which could be a lifetime appointment.
Talley has an eclectic resume that includes Harvard, horror writing and hunting ghosts, but his lack of trial experience has drawn disapproval from an influential legal organization.
The American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary last week unanimously rated Talley unqualified to serve as a federal district court judge. The group has only rated a handful of judicial picks unqualified since the 1990s. Talley was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 2007, but has only practiced for three years, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The 36-year-old attorney grew up in Jasper and attended the University of Alabama and Harvard Law School. He was appointed as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year. For almost two years before that, he worked as deputy solicitor general in the Alabama Office of the Attorney General under former Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange.
Talley has published widely, and not just in law journals. He is an award-nominated horror writer who has also published blog posts in support of gun rights. He has also written guest posts for Al.com, including a column in support of his former boss's campaign for U.S. Senate.
Talley's questionnaire also included some information about his hobbies - including fiction writing and ghost hunting. In a question about memberships to civic and professional organizations, Talley listed the Tuscaloosa Paranormal Research Group, which he belonged to from 2009 to 2010. He has co-written books about haunted sites in Tuscaloosa and the Black Belt.CLOSE Officials are investigating reports that U.S.-led airstrikes in the ISIS stronghold Mosul left roughly 200 civilians dead. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
In this March 24, 2017 photo, civil protection rescue teams work on the debris of a destroyed house to recover the body of people killed during fighting between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants on the western side of Mosul, Iraq. (Photo11: Felipe Dana, AP)
IRBIL, Iraq — As the battle to liberate west Mosul from the Islamic State intensifies, more Iraqi civilians caught in the crossfire are dying in airstrikes that have gotten scant attention, residents who escaped report.
A March 17 strike on a building that killed at least dozens and possibly as many as 200 civilians provoked international concern. Yet eyewitnesses to the destruction in Mosul told USA TODAY that many similar strikes occur in the city without public notice.
The U.S. military acknowledged that allegations of civilian casualties as a result of a U.S.-led coalition's air campaign against the Islamic State have increased significantly this year.
The coalition received 27 reports of incidents involving civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria in January, up from 12 in December, according to the most recent statistics. Nineteen reported incidents are still being assessed.
The massive March 17 strike led to the collapse of a building in Mosul, the Islamic State's last major stronghold in Iraq. Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend said there is a "fair chance" that the coalition played a role in the strike, but he said the Islamic State might share blame for holding civilians hostage.
In an earlier strike, Khalid Jassim, 34, a former construction worker, said he was in his house on March 11 when he heard Islamic State fighters enter an empty house adjacent to his. Jassim hid his children under blankets, expecting an attack. Ten minutes later, an airstrike leveled both houses, leaving him and his pregnant wife potentially paralyzed.
"We heard the sound of a plane and tried to escape," said Jassim, as he laid on a hospital bed in west Irbil, 50 miles east of Mosul, near his wife Suheida,19. "We were trapped under the rubble for one hour."
Most houses on Jassim's block were destroyed by "daily" airstrikes, which were targeting Islamic State fighters. "Many people died as a result," Jassim said.
Jassim said a friend's house had 27 people inside when it was hit by an airstrike the week before the March 17 incident. "No one survived, including my friend," he said.
Zeyad Suleiman, 35, confirmed airstrikes happened daily in the same Jadida neighborhood where the March 17 strike occurred despite there being "very few" Islamic State fighters there. He said his aunt, Shita Abaid Idris, 45, was injured by shrapnel from an Iraqi army rocket attack.
Suleiman and several other civilians estimated there were at least 50 airstrikes since the west Mosul offensive by Iraqi forces reached their neighborhood around March 11. He added there were many rocket attacks by soldiers.
USA TODAY saw Iraqi forces launch unguided rockets in the direction of Islamic State positions since the west Mosul operation started.
Dhaha Mahmood, 10, who was treated for a sniper wound, said her family took her to a neighbor's house to take cover after several Islamic State fighters used their roof. Later that day they were heading back to their house when they saw an airstrike destroy it. If it had struck a little later, it could have killed them, said Mahmood and her aunt, Nahla Ahmed, 45.
Mubasher Dannon, 37, came to the hospital here to tend to his brother, Ali, 50, who was injured in the March 17 airstrike. Dannon said 21 of his friends and relatives were killed by a strike in a separate building on March 16. He said he found four of their corpses.
Foad Dawod, 21, said he saw his neighbor's house bombed because Islamic State fighters were on the roof. There were 28 civilians in the house at the time. Dawod said he did not know how many of them were killed or injured.
Mosul residents said civilians are vulnerable to airstrikes in densely packed neighborhoods, where they have been taking shelter. Those who felt exposed, moved into larger houses for better cover, according to Dawod and Nasheen Ahmeel, who lived in one of those neighborhoods.
"There were 105 people in our house at one point, but we moved some of them out to surrounding houses and then there were 68," Dawod said. "It stayed like this for more than a month."
As more buildings are destroyed by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, as well as by Iraq forces and the U.S.-led air campaign, people have fewer options for shelter, Jassim said. In some neighborhoods, more than half of the houses have partially collapsed, he said.
Suleiman said people are concentrating in areas close to Iraqi forces in hopes of being rescued sooner. "Many people were fleeing (the Islamic State), so they gathered in big houses in the part of the neighborhood where the military was coming," he said.
All those interviewed denied Islamic State fighters forced them to gather in certain houses. However, they said the militants sometimes fired from rooftops of houses they knew were densely packed either to avoid return fire or to bait Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led coalition to strike.
"(The Islamic State) chose strategic houses with the most civilians in them so that when they were destroyed, it would damage the reputation of Iraqi forces," Dawod said.
Several residents said the airstrikes and rocket attacks were too "random" and didn't take precautions against hitting civilians.
"Before, they were extremely accurate. When they were trying to take out a sniper, only the sniper was hit. When they attacked a motorcycle weaving between cars, they only hit the motorcycle," said Nashwan Ahmeel, who was recovering in the hospital from multiple shrapnel wounds. More recently, he said, "warplanes are random."
If warplanes see civilians in the target zone they don't attack, but if they see ISIS fighters on the roof and are not sure if there are civilians inside the same house, they attack, Jassim said.
The growing strikes on civilian targets is making people lose faith in Iraq forces and the U.S.-led coalition, Suleiman said. "People don't want liberation like that," he said. "People once trusted them but now they don't."
Read more:
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2nC58uYYesterday afternoon, I reported that Heritage Auctions will be selling the Bitcoins.com domain name on behalf of Mark Karples, founder of Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange. The auction will take place on July 24th, and it can be found on HA.com. The official reserve price will be revealed by HA on July 17th, but Aron Meystedt of Heritage Auctions informed me that “the reserve is between $500K and $1MM.”
I am curious about the price at which you think this domain name will sell. There have been some solid Bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related domain name sales in the last year, and some might say that Bitcoins.com is the best domain name for a company involved in the Bitcoin space.
I posted this poll below to get your take on the sale price for the Bitcoins.com domain name:Sold as a 3 pack online. Can purchase by individual skein in store. Individual skein price is $3.49.
Composition: No-Dye-Lot Solids and Prints & Multis: 100% acrylic, Flecks: 96% Acrylic, 4% Other Fibers
Weight: No-Dye-Lot Solids: 7 oz (198g), Prints & Multis: 5 oz (141g), Flecks: 5 oz (141g)
Yardage: |
funds, energy and kind of just a huge shift in ideological thinking,” he explained. “I’m not sure if the admin is really going to put its money where its mouth is, [but] I would be absolutely thrilled if they did.”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @FrickePeteStanding in the queue for the London Film Festival’s mysterious secret screening, all the talk was unsurprisingly concerned with what lay ahead on the mammoth screen at the Odeon in Leicester Square. Packed together like cattle, there were murmurs of The Hateful Eight or, perhaps most widely suspected, The Danish Girl. But of course you can’t second guess the BFI quite that easily and, naturally, we were all completely wrong. In a real surprise turn, Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Duke Johnson’s (Community) stop-motion animation Anomalisa was the BFI’s delicious entrée that night.
Kaufman’s latest project follows famous customer service guru Michael Stone (David Thewlis) on an overnight business trip to Cincinnati. Along with the mundanities of travel, Michael has liaisons with several women from both his past and future. It’s through these interactions that Michael’s hang-ups and growing existential anxieties begin to emerge. It’s a simple plot deftly executed with style and substance.
Anomalisa started out as a humble radio play, and that fact is quickly emphasized in the film’s dialogue-heavy delivery. The script flits between wry satire and impeccable and earnest realism. Kaufman has a wonderful appreciation of the real world and uses that to recreate unnervingly familiar scenarios onscreen.
The film’s humour and authenticity are at their best during a long-winded twenty-minute opening scene where Michael slogs through the motions of travel: arriving at the airport, getting a taxi, checking in at the hotel, dealing with the bellboy and ordering room service. It all sounds painfully trifling yet Kaufman plays the scenes like an observational stand-up routine. Michael, infused with Thewlis’ thick Northern accent, addresses each scenario with resignation and cynicism. His very British nature conflicts with the Americans’ unflappable, yet wholly insincere, courtesy. Ironically, this grin-laden level of customer service is exactly what Michael trades in.
Kaufman’s satirical shiv is razor-sharp, but so is his ability to write natural dialogue. Michael’s conversations with his latest flame, Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), meander beautifully with all the unpredictably of life. All the idiosyncrasies of humanity are exposed without even the hint of forced narrative agenda. Lisa’s is especially impressive as she natters on about nothing in particular for long periods without ever losing our attention. This approach could have been extremely dull, but Kaufman makes us feel like we’re privy to something special behind the sealed walls of Michael’s hotel room.
While it takes a while for the script’s brilliance to sink in, the unique qualities of the production are immediately clear. Under animation expert Duke Johnson’s stewardship, the stop motion world of Anomalisa comes to life. Distinct from animations like Team America or Wallace and Gromit, Anomalisa utilises lifelike puppets for its protagonists, Lisa and Michael.
While the two major characters are individually designed, everyone else in the world is based on the same model and project the same voice (Tom Noonan). Man, woman or child—it doesn’t matter. All share the same unsettling androgynous characteristics. This omnipresent figure perfectly encapsulates Michael’s mental collapse and his belief that everyone around him is the same—a condition known as Fregoli delusion, alluded to by the hotel which bears the same name.
Another one of Johnson’s clever design tricks is to use CGI and separate animation for the movement of the puppets’ mouths. This method allows the characters to fully articulate themselves and manoeuvre far beyond the constraints of their rigid faces. An animated mouth in a puppet’s body further adds to this bizarre paradox of live-action reality versus animation.
The sets are equally mismatched. In what world would you painstakingly recreate the most generic of hotel rooms as a model? Oftentimes animation offers a glimpse into wild imagination, yet here Johnson and Kaufman use it to explore mundanity. You’d think that this stylistic approach would be at odds with the subject matter, yet it works and even excels beyond all expectation. Recreating the everyday in puppets and plastic accentuates the absurdity of the life more than reality ever could. Kaufman’s tale of crisis, cast out of the neurotic mould of Woody Allen’s brain, successfully bundles the surreal, emotional and everyday into one ball of bizarre pathos.
The film unfortunately falls flat its climatic execution. Michael experiences something akin to a total breakdown and points toward a rousing finale where his world and mind come crashing down. His behaviour steadily becomes more erratic, and then—nothing. It’s not a total disappointment, but rather an underwhelming way to finish such a promising story. For all the conflict we need some resolution, yet Kaufman holds back judgement. We’re given a glimpse in to Michael’s odd life but then the world turns and he’s gone again. We’re left wanting more, which is roundabout praise for Anomalisa‘s alluring strangeness.
Sitting down to watch Anomalisa, I had no idea it existed, and I was therefore free of the influence of any preconceptions about the film. Such rare and welcome conditions alone might have swayed me into a favourable view of the film, but that’s not the case here. Anomalisa’s writing, acting (well, voice acting) and unique puppetry make it something special no matter how it crosses your path. This sort of bold filmmaking is what cinema is all about, so I implore you to go see Anomalisa. It is, indeed, an anomaly.
Movie Verdict: Win
Score: 89%
~ Jonny
This review is part of Jonny’s ongoing coverage of the 2015 London Film Festival. For more reviews, click here.Fathers across India are taking to Twitter to post selfies with their daughters to raise awareness for women's welfare in India.
Indian Prime Minister Narandra Modi implored dads to post photos accompanied by the hashtag #SelfieWithDaughters on a radio programme broadcast on Sunday night - within hours it was trending on social media in India and has since started trending worldwide.
The concept was launched to back the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign, which aims to tackle the gender ratio gap in India caused by female foeticide and to improve female education.
Men all over India have taken to twitter to post pictures with their daughters to raise awareness for improved women's welfare. MP Naveen Jindal tweeted this picture with his daughter Yashasvini
Another proud father posted this image accompanied with the message: 'My daughter Ruhaanika makes me a proud father. Daughter's are a gift to the world'
PM Modi said on the radio broadcast: 'Let us start a campaign for social security for women.'
Fathers all over the country immediately started posting photos with their daughters along with heart-warming tributes to support the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign, which translates roughly as 'Save girl child, educate girl child'.
Politician Vijay Goel posted his picture with the message: 'My daughter, my pillar of strength!'
One father by the name of Gaurav tweeted: 'Daughters are angels from heaven, a true blessing.'
The twitter trend aims to support 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' campaign, which tackles the gender ratio gap in caused by female foeticide and improve female education
This father posted a picture with his daughter to show support for the #SelfiesWithDaughters campaign
Another dad, Hamet Nahata said: 'I smile the most when I see you smiling - Tashvi, thank you for making my life full of joy.'
Tweeter Suresh Nakhua posted a picture with his two daughters and his wife with the message: 'Daughters are more than sons.'
While father Hardik Dave said simply: 'Me & my princess.'
Proud dad Sudhanshu Kesharwani posted this image of him with his little girl
A dad by the name of Gaurav wrote the touching post: 'Daughters are angels from heaven, a true blessing'
Businessman Ramesh Taurani tweeted an image of him with this three daughters and wrote: 'I'm not a big fan of selfies but here's one of my favourite pics with my 3 amazing girls.'
After the radio programme, the Prime Minister explained in a tweet that the idea for the father and daughter photos had originated in a small village in Haryana, where rates of female foeticide are known to be particularly high.
The practice of forcefully miscarrying baby girls is still a serious issue in poorer parts of the country and is said to have increased since ultrasound technology to determine the sex of babies has become more widely available.
The campaign also aims to improve education for girls around India, which Modi has campaigned hard for during his time as leader.
The heart-warming message alongside a tweet from Hemant Nahata reads: 'I smile the most when I see you smiling - Tashvi thank you for making my life full of joy'Earlier, we showed that according to Citigroup (among many) for Greece to have any hope of surviving, it needs a masive debt haircut: the bigger, the better, with Citi tossing out numbers as high as €130 billion. Still, even if Greece does get debt relief, as long as it remains in the Eurozone, its economy has nothing but hell to look forward to.
Here is how Citi previews the next few years:
From an economic and financial sector angle, the success or failure of a third programme will depend on i) the strength of a possible economic recovery in coming quarters, following an overhaul of the Greek banking system, and on ii) whether debt re-profiling discussions look likely and take place as envisaged. On the first item, the degree of fiscal austerity and outright reforms to be implemented in a short period of time is likely to result in a prolongation of economic recession in coming quarters. And we need to factor in the economic costs from the (very likely) persistence of stringent capital controls and the lack of liquidity in the economy. We recently updated our real GDP growth forecasts and now expect the Greek economy to contract by at least 2.4% YY in 2015 (compared with -0.2% YY projected in June), with the economy likely to remain in recession at least until Q1 2016. Such a poor performance in terms of economic activity would mean a higher risk that Greek economic and fiscal performance would undershoot its programme targets, which could likely challenge its membership in the Eurozone. In addition, debt re-profiling is likely to be deferred, conditional and tranched, and is unlikely to boost the government’s fiscal space for public spending increases or tax cuts. Failure by the Greek authorities to lift capital controls in a meaningful way and a further increase in unemployment (we forecast that the jobless rate will rise from 27% in 2015 to 29% in 2016) could also increase social tensions, in our view. In the near term, the government probably will face a continued cash shortage, given the likelihood that bank liquidity will remain heavily restricted, that tax payments will be delayed (or not made), and that financing assistance will be kept to a minimum. As a result, we continue to see significant near term risks (before a third programme begins) that the government will have to slash spending further, accumulate further arrears and even – as a last resort – to issue scrip.
And while the one line item everyone traditionally looks for in every Greek economic forecast is what its debt will be now that reality is finally allowed to creep in, a number that Citi now expects to hit 238% by 2018 as highlighted in the row below...
... it was another number that caught our attention: Citi's estimate for Greek HICP (inflation) in 2017.
22.5%
In other words, Citi predicts that by 2017 Greece will have hyperinflation even if it remains in the Eurozone.
But... but... the whole point of not reverting to Drachme was to have a "stable" currency and to avoid the country's collapse into a hyperinflationary abyss.
It appears that what Tsipras has done is gotten the worst of all possible worlds: not only will Greece somehow have an imploding economy (with 30% unemployment) and hyperinflation, but it will also remain forever a vassal state of Germany, which will be able to purchase trophy Greek assets at even cheaper prices once the entire economy finally locks up permanently some time in the next two years.
But at least it will have the Euro.Happy Meals and celery with peanut butter are not what most Americans would consider well-rounded meals, but these meager options are often the only ones available to the tens of millions of people who earn the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Former Ohio governor Ted Strickland experienced this firsthand when he spent a week simulating a minimum-wage lifestyle as part of the #LiveTheWage challenge last week.
Strickland tweeted a few pictures of his meals to give readers an indication of just how barebones minimum-wage eating can be. He also published an account of his week in Politico Magazine, in which he described walking to work to avoid paying for transportation. He said he counted himself lucky when he realized he already had cold medicine and didn’t need to budget for that expense.
Strickland’s budget for food and transportation was $77 for the week. When he wasn’t eating leftovers for lunch, Strickland said in his article, he usually went to McDonald’s, where the inexpensive but less-than-healthy proved to be a financial godsend. On July 23, for example, he ordered a McChicken and a side salad with ranch dressing, which cost him a total of $2.00.
“Today’s lunch came off the McDonalds dollar menu, where workers deserve a raise,” Strickland wrote, tweeting a photo of his meal.
Today’s lunch came off the McDonalds dollar menu, where workers deserve a raise: http://t.co/g47CI7neEq #LivetheWage pic.twitter.com/QWCmUMtnRh — Ted Strickland (@Ted_Strickland) July 23, 2014
“Because fresh fruits and vegetables are hard to find at a price within a minimum wage budget, I turned to bread, peanut butter, bananas and bologna more than anything else,” Strickland said in the Politico piece. “There were no big dinners or coffee stops on a whim.”
In the tweet below, Strickland shared a picture of his dinner on July 23: celery with peanut butter, bread, lettuce, a thin slice of cheese, an apple, and a glass of milk.
While Strickland didn’t have to worry about some expenses, like child care, his experience made him reflect on what it meant to pinch pennies while juggling competing responsibilities. He tweeted about child care in particular and noted that parents earning the minimum wage often faced an “impossible choice” with their kids.
When you make $7.25 an hour you’re faced with impossible choices: childcare or miss work? #LivetheWage http://t.co/gUiYhGqpnN — Ted Strickland (@Ted_Strickland) July 24, 2014
Congress last raised the minimum wage in 2009, from $6.55 to $7.25. On Twitter, Strickland called the campaign to raise the minimum wage again “a matter of common decency and fairness.”
Photo by otto-yamamoto/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)The rap duo Young Planet is based in Brooklyn, but Brent Ahrens, aka Cidida, grew up in Maryland. It was there and then that he became a hockey fan for life, and it’s that passion that animated the group’s latest track. It’s called “Ovi” and you need to hear it.
There is some PG-13 language.
Yeah. It’s got a Horn Guy sample. On their soundcloud page, Young Planet says “We’re trying to hear this blasting in the Verizon Center…” They are one step closer now.
Here’s another good one from YP:
You can follow YP on Instagram and Twitter. You can find Young Planet’s latest release, Snow Ocean, on all kinds of platforms. They’re talented. Check ’em out.
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PinterestHillary Clinton took full command of the Democratic presidential race on Tuesday as she rolled to major victories over Bernie Sanders in Texas, Virginia and across the South and proved for the first time that she could build a national coalition of racially diverse voters that would be crucial in the November election.
Based on results from Democratic primaries and caucuses in 11 states, Mrs. Clinton succeeded in containing Mr. Sanders to states he was expected to win, like Vermont and Oklahoma, and overpowering him in predominantly black and Hispanic areas that were rich in delegates needed for the Democratic nomination.
Mrs. Clinton, who also won Massachusetts and showed notable strength among Southern white voters, came away with a strong delegate lead over Mr. Sanders — notably larger than the one that Barack Obama had over her at this point in the 2008 presidential race.
“What a super Tuesday!” Mrs. Clinton declared to cheers at a victory rally in Miami. In her recent signature line mocking Donald J. Trump’s slogan, she said: “America never stopped being great. We have to make America whole — fill in what’s been hollowed out.”Founded CCAG to fight the 2011 redistricting battles and is currently a candidate for Supervisor in San Francisco's 6th District in 2014. His website is davidcarlos2014.com.
In a series on CA high speed rail published earlier this year (here, here and here), I ended with a whisper echoing the whisper to Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate. Plastics… plastics! I said that ETT (evacuated tube transport) was the plastics of a coming revolution in transportation. Apparently, Elon Musk agrees. Now the whisper is… Hyperloop. And Musk’s Hyperloop makes ETT a very big deal indeed.
A coordinated, well-resourced and well thought out political plan to bring California’s out-of-control HSR system to a screeching halt in 2014 is now possible… because Musk’s Hyperloop is sexy and because Musk has the entrepreneurial clout as a self made tech billionaire to sound the clarion. The recent anti-HSR ruling by Judge Kenny jams the pedal to the floor.
A conservative, GOP lead assault on CAHSRA (California High Speed Rail Authority) could end the program for an alternative Hyperloop. This cannot be accomplished within the framework of a “drown the government in the bathtub” ideology. Nor can it be accomplished from a pure Ayn Randian libertarian ideology. It can only be accomplished from a Lincolnesqe, Eisenhowesque and Reaganesque perspective by committed political realists willing to build coalitions.
In Part 2 of this ETT series, I will examine Elon Musk and Hyperloop in detail. In Part 3, I will sketch a CAGOP-lead broad base coalition and a 2014 ballot initiative to defund CAHSRA and put a portion of the the $10 billion funding into Hyperloop. But first, a short backgrounder on ETT and competitive systems.
Evacuated Tube Transport (ETT): Fast, cheap and green.
Musk’s Hyperloop is a catchy name for one particular flavor of the ETT concept that has had historical-technical legs because the underlying physics and mechanics are so robust and promising. The basic concept is simple: a bullet in a vacuum tube can go very fast at very low energy cost in a highly environmentally friendly way. How fast? How cheap? How green? It depends…
Speed depends on how big the bullet-pod (in cross section, the bullet can be as long as you want.) It depends on the vacuum (less vacuum equals higher air resistance, more vacuum equals less air and greater speed. In the perfect vacuum of space, infinite speed is possible.) And it depends on how straight the tube (straighter is faster because humans can deal with only so much sideways G-force on curves.)
Musk’s Hyperloop is a 700 MPH bullet in a very narrow tube. His tubes are above ground on pylons. He uses an industrial Mars-level vacuum, not a super-high space vacuum which is expensive and difficult to maintain.
How little energy and how green? Very little energy compared to trains, planes and autos. And very, very green in Musk’s solar cell powered version.
Who are the ETT precursors?
ETT has precursors going back to the late-1800s. The Crystal Palace Pneumatic Railway (1864-65, London), the Beach Pneumatic Subway, (NYC 1870s, funded, legislated, vetoed), the Prague Pneumatic Post, (1889-1990s) were early ETT systems.
Robert Goddard, the American inventor-engineer who developed the multi-stage, liquid fuel rockets, gyroscopic control and steerable thrust also patented an early ETT. A polymath, Goddard also developed the first anti-tank bazooka, the first vacuum tube amplifier, naval torpedoes, solar power and was awarded a total of 214 patents. A NY Times article savaging Goddard’s proposal to shoot a rocket to the moon is reminiscent of press critiques of Elon Musk. The US Army ignored Goddard’s rockets pre WW2, till German V2s with Goddards designs began landing on England.
ETT post 1970s
Robert M. Salter, PhD, at the Rand Corporation wrote two 1970s ETT white papers (here and here). He called for large diameter tubes in deep underground tunnels impervious to weather and terrorists with no right-of-way or eminent domain legal issues. Salter’s bullet pods would shoot passengers from LA to NYC in a space level vacuum at speeds of thousands of miles per hour in far larger trains than Musk. The cross continental trip would take 45 minutes. But Dr. Salter and Rand Corp. never trial-ballooned the cost with precision. The cost of tunneling and super-vacuums may be prohibitive, according to Musk, “You’d have to make tunneling 100 times cheaper.”
From the early 1990s to mid 2000s the Swissmetro system was a PPP (private public partnership) that went from concept and almost to construction till a contested academic study chopped it off at the knees as cost prohibitive. Political will was absent, despite widespread public support and politicians on the oversight boards. Swissmetro was a tunneling project with a large diameter bore and maglev making it very costly.
In the 1990s, Ernst Frankel and a team at MIT achieved 580 mph in an ETT proof of concept system. Frankel said, “We built a half mile long tube at the playing fields of MIT, evacuated it, and then shot things through it in order to measure what sort of velocities we could obtain. We started with ping pong balls, and then went to mechanical models.”
In China at the Southwest Jiotong University Labs (here and here), ETT is under development. The researchers say, “operational in 10 years.” In 2011 Jiaotong tested a maglev ETT prototype at Musk’s projected 700 MPH, breaking a speed record. This proof of concept is compelling.
Who else is working the ETT idea?
In the USA, Daryl Oster, the founder and CEO of ET3 has a “patent” on ETT technology. Oster has trademarked the phrase, “Space Travel on Earth,” and is peddling “licenses” for $100 to $5000. He gets press from biz mag reporters too lazy to vet past a cursory Google search but seems essentially a one-man-show who has taken basic concepts and repurposed them.
Also in the USA, Arnold R. Miller, PhD (mathematics) —another lone, entrepreneurial technologist—has published concept papers for a version of ETT. Instead of a vacuum, he suggests low mass, low friction hydrogen gas in the tube. Inert Helium would be better but is in too short supply. Miller wants to use a fuel cell or turbofan to power his pods. See here, here and here. His ideas are worth a careful engineering review but he’s also a one-man-show.
Hyperloop is the best ETT plan yet.
Despite competitors who run the gamut from serious, well funded academics and PPPs to tin-foil hat dreamers, Musk’s Hyperloop system is arguably the best conceptual plan yet in the long history of ETT. Musk’s business modus operendi is to disrupt high cost bureaucracy bound systems and create economically efficient alternatives. As the founder of PayPal who cashed out and built three world class hardware businesses—Solar City, Tesla and SpaceX— Musk has both the technical and economic chops to front a California-based ETT system.
His M.O.? SpaceX has taken a lion’s share of sat-launch business away from competitors on aggressive cost cutting. Tesla Motors first built a high cost, low production sports cars, then a mid cost, mid production SUV and will soon launch a low cost, high volume sedan. And Solar City aims to put panels of the rooftops of millions of homes on efficiency and price point.
Hyperloop is in the same mold.
Rather than a Swissmetro or Rand Corp. tunnel, Musk uses pylon-mounted tubes saving huge underground boring costs.
Rather than expensive maglev suspension, Musk rides his pods on a cheap air cushion.
Rather than airliner-sized pods with dual row seating, Musk straps his passengers into sports-car-diameter pods to lower cross section costs.
Rather than high vacuum and 3000 MPH speeds, Musk chooses medium vacuum 700 MPH service.
Hyperloop is about elegant engineering tradeoffs to keep costs low. Musk puts solar panels on top of his tubes for the coup-de-grace, free electricity to run the system.
But Musk needs help. He has publicly stated he is too busy to do Hyperloop. His clarion call is to geek techies, venture capitalists, and to the entrepreneurial political class, if political visionaries still exist in California post Ronald Reagan.
It’s going to take a frame larger than a private corporate enterprise to shut down the boondoggle CAHSRA and replace it with a visionary Hyperloop. It will require a plan, resources and a broad political coalition to execute.
The upside potential is gigantic.Opponents Wanted: forgotten gaming mags find new life on the net
Oh, those glorious gaming magazines! From Ares, to The General, to The Dragon, the original thrill and excitement of pen 'n' paper gaming is there to be experienced at the Internet Archive and other online haunts.
The Internet Archive is one of the great treasures of the internet, housing content in every media; texts, video, audio. It’s also the home of the Wayback Machine, an archive of the Internet from 1996. I thought I had explored the site pretty thoroughly—at least according to my own interests—but recently came across runs of some of the great gaming magazines of the 1970s and 80s; The Space Gamer, Ares, Polyhedron, The General, and—temporarily—Dragon Magazine. These magazines represent not only the golden age of gaming, but expose the thrill and excitement of gaming when it was still new, still on the margins. It was a time when gaming still felt a little, dare I say, punk.
Today, finding members of your particular community of interest is a Google search away, but in the 1970s the only way to be in contact with others who shared interests was through magazines. For many gamers, even finding the games could be difficult. Discovering the gaming magazines revealed an active gaming industry that still maintained a sense of being on the vanguard.
The earliest issues show off their newsletter origins. The Space Gamer and The Generalstarted off on plain paper in black and white. Even the first issues of Dragon look like a teenager’s fanzine, but the enthusiasm and energy are infectious. Who couldn’t love the introduction of new monsters for your campaign such as the Gem Var, a creature composed entirely of gemstone and that cannot take damage from bladed weapons. The artists, editors and letter writers were the best friends you had never met. Gaming in the 1970 and 80s felt a little like being into punk rock. You knew it was offbeat, knew that outsiders didn’t get it, but you also knew that this was cool. Even the advertisements and listings of conventions expanded the universe of gaming a thousandfold. Not unlike ordering 45s of unknown bands from punk zines, was sending away for microgames, miniatures and supplements from tiny game publishers.
Browsing through them now using Internet Archive’s terrific “read online” feature, it’s clear how important these magazines were to a fledgling hobby (and how wonderfully awful some of the artwork was). The amount of new gaming content these magazines offered is astonishing, and it was this very malleability of the rules that created a sense within the community of gamers that it was perpetually new, always reaching out towards the next idea. The first issue of Dragon Magazine from 1976 (then called The Dragon) admitted in its editor’s note that it was entering new territory, but managed to fill that pioneering issue with a story by Fritz Leiber, new spells, a discussion of science and magic in D&D, and introduced a regular section called “Mapping the Dungeons,” which was a list of the names and addresses of gamemasters looking for players (David Mumper of Henniker, New Hampshire, where are you now?).
Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) put out Ares Magazine, and each issue offered a complete game including a map and a rack of punch-out counters. The PDFs currently at Internet Archive include scans of these elements and it’s painful to not be able to press out those beautiful little counters. The Space Gamer focused mostly on publisher Metagaming’s own properties. By issue #27, the magazine came under the auspices of Steve Jackson Games (SJG) and offered a much greater variety of content, with material for AD&D, Call of Cthulhu and computer games.
The General, published by Avalon Hill (makers of PanzerBlitz and one of the great war games of all time, Starship Troopers, among others), was geared towards the historical with smatterings of science fiction, but later issues had quite a bit of fantasy fare as well. The Generalalso offered articles on strategy and tactics employed during actual wars and a classified section called “Opponents Wanted” where lonely gamers posted messages in the hopes of finding other players: “Adult player looking for opponents (female players welcomed) to play AH non-wargames, especially RB, KREM, DIP, CIV. RB fanatics. Write me!”
Having these magazines up at Internet Archive—or other easily-found online locations—corresponds perfectly with the old-school renaissance taking place in the world of role-playing games, as well as an overall nostalgia for ’70s gaming in general. The recent Kickstarter to republish Steve Jackson’s Ogre netted $923,680 (they were looking for $20,000). Wizards of the Coast recently made PDFs available the original rules and modules for AD&D, as well as a limited edition boxed set reprinting the impossibly rare “White Box.” And Gygax Magazine was just launched this January by Luke Gygax, Gary’s son.
Those of us who gamed in the ’70s and ’80s are hitting middle-age and have kids of our own who couldn’t draw a dungeon map if their life depended on it. We are looking back at our lives, remembering fondly the things we deeply loved.
When I was 12-years old, my older brother drove me down the mostly depressed Sterling Avenue in Hollywood, Florida to a nondescript storefront where there was a small variety store, a dry cleaner, and a shop called The Compleat Strategist. It was 1979 and I was just about done with my Legos and tragically losing interest in my Micronauts. We were there, of course, to check out Dungeons & Dragons. My brother chipped in and I walked out with the D&D Basic Set in the blue box, along with the Dungeon Geomorphs and the Monster and Treasure Assortment. I left with something else: a sense that I was about to be initiated into a secret order. Yet is was those magazines that created an idea of fraternity that would finally bring together so many aspects of my pre-adolescence: a love of fantasy and science fiction, an anxious imagination, and an almost righteous identity as an outsider.Central Banking in Latin America : The Way Forward
Author/Editor:
Yan Carriere-Swallow ; Luis I. Jacome H. ; Nicolas E Magud ; Alejandro M. Werner
Publication Date:
September 30, 2016
Electronic Access:
Free Full Text. Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file
Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate
Summary:
Latin America’s central banks have made substantial progress towards delivering an environment of price stability that is supportive of sustainable economic growth. We review these achievements, and discuss remaining challenges facing central banking in the region. Where inflation remains high and volatile, achieving durable price stability will require making central banks more independent. Where inflation targeting regimes are well-established, remaining challenges surround assessments of economic slack, the communication of monetary policy, and clarifying the role of the exchange rate. Finally, macroprudential policies must be coordinated with existing objectives, and care taken to preserve the primacy of price stability.“A Great science fiction detective story”
– Ian Watson, author of The Universal Machine
Days to Centenary: 70
Just in time for the Turing Centenary and the Alan Turing Year, Wired magazine reported just days ago that we may soon see a genuine contender for an artificial intelligence that can pass the Turing Test, or as Turing himself called it, the Imitation Game.
If you´re new to this area — and many people are learning about Turing for the first time this year — the Turing Test in a nutshell requires three participants:
a human judge a hidden human who communicates with the judge only in writing, basically by text message a hidden artificial intelligence that similarly communicates with the judge only in writing
The judge knows that either participant 2 or participant 3 is a computer, while 2 and 3 both have to try to convince the judge that they´re the human being. If the computer succeeds, it has passed the Turing Test and has earned the right to be treated as intelligent without any consideration of the means by which it managed that persuasion.
The test was set out in a paper entitled Computing Machinery and Intelligence, published in 1950, which effectively founded the discipline of artificial intelligence.
One rationale for the test is that it reproduces exactly the way in which we humans deal with one another. Experientially, the only person I know is intelligent — whatever flaws there might be in that faculty — is me, because I know my own thoughts directly. When I meet you, or anyone else, I can only judge what your internal life might be by interpreting your outward behaviour.
In other words, I have no way of knowing to a certainty that you´re a sentient being, but if you behave like one then I will tend to adopt the operational assumption that you are indeed one.
Why — Turing asked — should a machine be dealt with any differently?
For the most part the Turing Test has remained a hypothetical construct. That is until a guy named Hugh Loebner established the Loebner Prize, in which actual attempts are made by computers to pass the test (for details see my post Turing Media Feast, Part III: The Turing Test in Theory and in Real Life).
That competition has not so far produced anything that is likely to pass the Turing Test any time soon. A recent article in the esteemed-but-paywall-protected journal Science (Dusting Off the Turing Test, by Robert M. French. Science, Vol. 336 No. 6088, April 13, 2012) has postulated that that situation may soon change.
Given the paywall, I am relying on a report from Wired about the article:
“Two revolutionary advances in information technology may bring the Turing test out of retirement,” wrote Robert French, a cognitive scientist at the French National Center for Scientific Research, in an Apr. 12 Science essay. “The first is the ready availability of vast amounts of raw data — from video feeds to complete sound environments, and from casual conversations to technical documents on every conceivable subject. The second is the advent of sophisticated techniques for collecting, organizing, and processing this rich collection of data.”
Notoriously, the human mind proved to be less like a computer than had been thought in the mid-20th century, so success at the Turing Test was more problematic than expected, to the extent that many people dismissed the quest entirely, but the Science article appears to take the position that this was a mistake. Says Wired:
Suppose, for a moment, that all the words you have ever spoken, heard, written, or read, as well as all the visual scenes and all the sounds you have ever experienced, were recorded and accessible, along with similar data for hundreds of thousands, even millions, of other people. Ultimately, tactile, and olfactory sensors could also be added to complete this record of sensory experience over time,” wrote French in Science, with a nod to MIT researcher Deb Roy’s recordings of 200,000 hours of his infant son’s waking development. He continued, “Assume also that the software exists to catalog, analyze, correlate, and cross-link everything in this sea of data. These data and the capacity to analyze them appropriately could allow a machine to answer heretofore computer-unanswerable questions” and even pass a Turing test.
It´s a timely moment to revive Turing´s specualtions, given his approaching centenary. It seems unlikely that the Turing Test will actually be passed this year, but 2012 would be a welcome moment to reinvigorate the search for a successful contestant.
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There is a new free tool available for VMware ESXi users, which is interesting, as it kind of, does vMotion for free. I’d rather say the tool does “quick migration”. There is a small downtime because the VM has to be paused for a short period of time and then resumed on the other host.
There are scripts around which can do the same, but you know, the tool has an GUI, and I don’t really know any other utility |
On the Eracism Foundation website—a nonprofit organization aimed at creating entertainment that helps bring awareness and education to issues such as racism, ignorance, and societal apathy—you highlight an inspiring quote by Nelson Mandela: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate.” Mandela is talking about the development of stigma as children are taught to hate the other. Do you think this same stigma applies to the disease of alcoholism and addiction? In a sense, is the fight against the stigma of addiction an extension of the fight against discrimination and prejudice?
I do believe it comes from the same part of the mind. I remember reading about the time when the alcoholic, the guy on the street, was lost and there were no programs to help him get better. We have now grown to the point where it’s the third most prolific disease on the planet; there’s cancer, there’s AIDS and there’s alcoholism. Today, we are sensitive to the disease, the dis-ease of drug addiction and alcoholism, and how it’s one of the offshoots of us falling off the train. When we are more sensitive to one another, we can catch some of these defects of character because everybody sees everybody. You can the people who are dis-eased in a room because they stick out like a sore thumb. With the sensitivity produced by being in the program, we can recognize those people in trouble and not in the program. We have been there and done that. That’s a good thing to do for us.
We are once again, one people who have to share our experience, strength and hope at meetings, through unions and in sponsorship. We are sensitive to one another, and we are growing in popularity and in necessity in this world. We have a selfless job of healing one another. It’s prevalent in people who rise from the ashes of use to become reliable citizens of the world. In fact, I think everybody needs some kind of 12-Steps or some kind of program in order to get there as well. The good fortune—and that’s the good dilemma I’m talking about—we have no choice but to go through those Steps, improve ourselves, and get as close to that power and to that light as possible. That’s our choice, whether we like it or not, and it’s suggested that we like it more than dislike it.
You have been making a lot of faith-based movies funded by churches. You believe it’s a positive step for the churches to enter the entertainment business, saying, “They can singlehandedly maybe change the spiritual countenance of the country.” What do you see as the present-day spiritual countenance of the country, and what needs to change?
I see today that we are going in the right direction. Maybe my mind has changed. I remember JFK saying to the people, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” I believe in taking that same phrase and turning it towards spirituality: “Ask not what God can do for you, but what you can do for God.”
Faith-based movies are well done, and I just did an excellent one called The Reason (The film, based on the William Sirls book, follows a small-town pastor, his wife and their sick child as a mysterious man is sent to give them hope). There’s something about our service, our selfless service that we have to do, being of service the whole, and it makes things better. It puts a proper light on it and give us energy and strength as a result. There’s been a lot of movies out there about action and science, but this one kind of comes into the picture in a nice way. It’s a wonderful movie that may be able to show people that hope is out there if they are open to it.
In 2011, you received the Experience, Strength and Hope Award from Writers in Treatment for your artistic accomplishments, creative endeavors and carrying the message of recovery to a society struggling with addiction. Since it was connected to your recovery from alcoholism and addiction, did it hold a special meaning for you? What message would you like to give to people still struggling with the disease?
There is a message on the back of the t-shirt that I am wearing today, a message for all of the people out there struggling with the disease of addiction, and that message is, “There Is No Such Thing As Impossible.” Impossible is not in your wheelhouse. However, we do have to get ourselves teachable, humble, draw our ego away, and be willing to be retaught.
I was told when I first got into the rooms, “There’s only one thing that you’ve got to change.” And I asked, “What’s that?” And they said, “Everything.” From my experience, I have learned that’s really true. We have to relearn so much, but we play catch up rather quickly when we do that. More things get revealed when we’re in that mode. Things and opportunities come past us on a daily basis, but we have to be receptive. In order to be receptive, we have to do the 12 Steps and get ourselves available to recognize the opportunities when they come.Studies Edit
Scientific studies of Pre-Islamic Arabs starts with the Arabists of the early 19th century when they managed to decipher epigraphic Old South Arabian (10th century BCE), Ancient North Arabian (6th century BCE) and other writings of pre-Islamic Arabia. Thus, studies are no longer limited to the written traditions, which are not local due to the lack of surviving Arab historians' accounts of that era; the paucity of material is compensated for by written sources from other cultures (such as Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, etc.), so it was not known in great detail. From the 3rd century CE, Arabian history becomes more tangible with the rise of the Ḥimyarite, and with the appearance of the Qaḥṭānites in the Levant and the gradual assimilation of the Nabataeans by the Qaḥṭānites in the early centuries CE, a pattern of expansion exceeded in the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. Sources of history include archaeological evidence, foreign accounts and oral traditions later recorded by Islamic scholars—especially in the pre-Islamic poems—and the Ḥadīth, plus a number of ancient Arab documents that survived into medieval times when portions of them were cited or recorded. Archaeological exploration in the Arabian Peninsula has been sparse but fruitful; and many ancient sites have been identified by modern excavations. The most recent detailed study of pre-Islamic Arabia is Arabs and Empires Before Islam, published by Oxford University Press in 2015. This book collects a diverse range of ancient texts and inscriptions for the history especially of the northern region during this time period.
Prehistoric to Iron Age Edit
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Further information: Najd Kingdom of Kindah Edit Further information: Kindah Kindah was an Arab kingdom by the Kindah tribe, the tribe's existence dates back to the second century BCE.[87] The Kindites established a kingdom in Najd in central Arabia unlike the organized states of Yemen; its kings exercised an influence over a number of associated tribes more by personal prestige than by coercive settled authority. Their first capital was Qaryat Dhāt Kāhil, today known as Qaryat Al-Fāw.[88] The Kindites were polytheistic until the 6th century CE, with evidence of rituals dedicated to the idols Athtar and Kāhil found in their ancient capital in south-central Arabia (present day Saudi Arabia). It is not clear whether they converted to Judaism or remained pagan, but there is a strong archaeological evidence that they were among the tribes in Dhū Nuwās' forces during the Jewish king's attempt to suppress Christianity in Yemen.[89] They converted to Islam in mid 7th century CE and played a crucial role during the Arab conquest of their surroundings, although some sub-tribes declared apostasy during the ridda after the death of Muḥammad. Ancient South Arabian inscriptions mention a tribe settling in Najd called kdt, who had a king called rbˁt (Rabi’ah) from ḏw ṯwr-m (the people of Thawr), who had sworn allegiance to the king of Saba’ and Dhū Raydān.[90] Since later Arab genealogists trace Kindah back to a person called Thawr ibn ‘Uqayr, modern historians have concluded that this rbˁt ḏw ṯwrm (Rabī’ah of the People of Thawr) must have been a king of Kindah (kdt); the Musnad inscriptions mention that he was king both of kdt (Kindah) and qhtn (Qaḥṭān). They played a major role in the Himyarite-Ḥaḑramite war. Following the Himyarite victory, a branch of Kindah established themselves in the Marib region, while the majority of Kindah remained in their lands in central Arabia. The first Classical author to mention Kindah was the Byzantine ambassador Nonnosos, who was sent by the Emperor Justinian to the area. He refers to the people in Greek as Khindynoi (Greek Χινδηνοι, Arabic Kindah), and mentions that they and the tribe of Maadynoi (Greek: Μααδηνοι, Arabic: Ma'ad) were the two most important tribes in the area in terms of territory and number. He calls the king of Kindah Kaïsos (Greek: Καισος, Arabic: Qays), the nephew of Aretha (Greek: Άρεθα, Arabic: Ḥārith).
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Late Antiquity Edit
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Notes EditLUKLA, Nepal/KATHMANDU (Reuters) - As rescuers lose hope of finding more survivors in Nepal’s earthquake disaster zone, a separate drama has unfolded high above them on Mount Everest where the hopes of a few rich climbers and some of their sherpas have also vanished.
A body bag containing the body of a climber is carried from a helicopter in the Himalayan tourist town of Lukla April 29, 2015. REUTERS/Frank Jack Daniel
After six days of high emotion and harsh words at Everest Base Camp, climbing firm Himalayan Experience finally decided on Friday to abandon its ascent of the world’s highest peak, becoming the last big team to do so.
For one of its clients, millionaire Texas realtor David McGrain, it should never have taken that long to call off the climb, given thousands of people had been killed in the valleys below as well as 18 in an avalanche at base camp itself.
“The narcissism among some of my team mates made me want to vomit,” McGrain said after leaving the camp by helicopter for the town of Lukla on Wednesday.
“All they could think about was their goddamn climb, when hours before we were holding crushed skulls in our hands.”
McGrain, a former weightlifter and self-styled “adrenaline philanthropist” who has a tattooed chest and wears a gold nose-ring, was in a minority of one when he quit his party of at least 10 climbers, all clients of Himalayan Experience.
Another climber, Nick Cienski, speaking from the ruins of base camp where he helped recover bodies and gather the broken remains of victims, initially agonized over whether to give up.
“We are still sorting through a lot of emotions; 24 hours ago we were wrapping people’s body parts in bags,” said Cienski, who later vowed to help in the quake relief effort.
“So on the one hand (there is) the reality of that... and on the second hand, we are climbers and this is sort of what we do. And so, does it make sense to continue?”
It is a question that also haunted Everest veteran Russell Brice, who runs Himalayan Experience. He made the decision to quit and bring the rest of his group off the mountain.
“My (team) members are very angry with me,” Brice said in Kathmandu, the impoverished country’s crowded capital where a quarter of the quake’s 6,200 victims were killed by the 7.8 magnitude quake that hit on Saturday.
“But I’ve made the decision to cancel and they’re going to have to live with that.”
‘HATE MAIL’
Brice, 63, a stocky, weather-beaten New Zealander, changed his mind after being stung by suggestions that he was putting the interests of his business, some of his climbers and the vanity of summiteering above all else.
“Today all I had was hate mail,” Brice said on Thursday, before he called off the climb.
“‘You don’t care for the people. You have no heart for the Nepalese people.’ That hurts me a lot,” he added. “Because I’ve been working with Nepalese for years and years... I’ve injected millions of dollars into the Nepalese community.”
Nepal’s tourism department said on Thursday that climbers faced “no additional risk” after the quake and could resume their expeditions.
Brice agreed that had his decision been based on climber safety alone, an ascent would have been possible.
“Physically, our team could still continue and get there,” he said on Friday.
Dennis Broadwell, who owns the U.S. company Mountain Gurus, also canceled his firm’s Everest climb.
“If this happened in America, they would not be playing a ball game the next day,” he said. “I told my clients, this is a national disaster, these sherpas just want to go back to their families.”
“I HAVE TO WORK”
Around 350 foreign climbers, and double the number of local guides, were on the mountain when its worst ever disaster struck. The avalanche blasted snow, ice and rocks through base camp’s tents, splitting skulls, breaking limbs and hurling people up to 200 meters.
Afterwards, the Himalayan Experience and other team camps served as makeshift medical centers to treat about 60 injured people. The dead were shrouded in sleeping bags.
McGrain remembers “two Westerners complaining that they wanted more pain meds, while the sherpas sat there humbly, waiting to be treated.”
Last year Phurba Namgyal Sherpa helped dig out the bodies of 16 sherpas buried by an avalanche. That disaster caused the cancellation of the Everest season.
He said he survived this year’s one, and helped save his American client, Afghan war veteran Benjamin Breckheimer, by covering their mouths and noses to stop them filling with snow. Breckheimer, injured by a bomb blast in 2009, wanted to become the first wounded U.S. army veteran to climb Everest.
Now heading home to see his family, Phurba said the government’s decision to reopen Everest was irresponsible. It was “too dangerous” to climb, he said.
But for many other sherpas, economics will compel them back to the mountain.
In Lukla, Rinjen Sherpa, 49, lay on a stretcher in a room by the town’s helipad alongside four corpses. He arrived there on Tuesday with a serious back injury and gashes on his head and arm.
He had been standing outside a kitchen at base camp when the avalanche lifted him off his feet. His face scrunched against the pain, Rinjen said he would return to work if he can.
Millionaire Texas realtor David McGrain poses for a photograph in the Himalayan tourist town of Lukla April 30, 2015. REUTERS/Frank Jack Daniel
“What else will I do? There is no other work,” he whispered. “I have to work.” Rinjen, who was also at base camp during last year’s avalanche, earns $7.50 a day.
Jon Reiter, a Californian building contractor, has climbed six of the seven highest summits on all the world’s continents, with only Everest left to conquer. He was at base camp when the quake hit, having been there for last year’s avalanche as well.
“This is not the year to climb Everest,” he said in Kathmandu after leaving the mountain. “It’s the year to hope to God these people get through this.”CLOSE Police say the bus crashed into a bridge abutment on I-40 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
A Continental charter bus hit an overpass abutment on Interstate 40 at about 1 a.m. CT in North Little Rock, Ark. (Photo: KTHV-TV, Little Rock)
A bus ferrying migrant farm workers from Michigan to Texas ran off a highway and hit an overpass in Arkansas on Friday, ripping off the roof and ejecting passengers onto the interstate. Six people were killed and six injured; the driver survived.
Twenty-two people were on board, including the driver from Michigan, when the bus struck a concrete barrier then hit an overpass in North Little Rock around 1 a.m., police said.
Six others who were injured in the accident along Interstate-40 and were released from hospitals, said Arkansas State Police Col. Bill Bryant.
Roberto Vasquez, 28, of Monroe was driving the bus when it crashed, police said.
All drivers involved in fatal accidents are tested for drugs and alcohol in Arkansas, but there is no indication Vasquez was intoxicated, said Arkansas State Police Major Mike Foster. At the time of the accident, there was light rain.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigation is initially focusing on the possibility of driver fatigue, though investigators may focus on other issues once they’re on the scene, spokesman Eric Weiss said.
Three people on the bus, including the driver, were employees of Vasquez Citrus and Hauling, the company that owned the bus, and the other 19 were workers the company was transporting, police said during a news conference.
The owner of Continental Charters in Michigan told several news outlets he sold the bus involved in the crash last week.
A bill of sale dated Oct. 31, said “must remove lettering on bus before running bus.” But Continental was still displayed on the side of it at the time of the crash.
The 47-passenger bus left the roadway west of the I-40 and Highway 167 interchange and collided with the North Hills Boulevard overpass, police said. Accident reconstruction specialists were called to the scene and police said they will work with the National Transportation Safety Board on the investigation.
Three of the people killed were ejected from the bus, one was partially ejected and two remained in the bus, police said.
Neither the names nor hometowns of the deceased have been released. Officials are in the process of interviewing witnesses and contacting relatives.
Daniel Inquilla, an attorney with Farmworker Legal Services of Michigan, said his organization had contact a few times earlier this year with farm workers at Vasquez Citrus housing in Monroe. He said Vasquez has operated in the state since last year and provides workers to a farm.
Vasquez Citrus and Hauling of Lake Placid, Florida could not be reached for comment.
Troopers, federal authorities and the Mexican Consulate are working to make next of kin notifications.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to these families who lost their loved ones,” Bryant said.
Contact: Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com or 313-222-5144
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CLOSE Arkansas State Police say it appears that alcohol and drugs were not a factor in an early-morning charter bus crash that left at least 6 people dead, but the investigation is ongoing.
Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/1NwIu0bDonald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump sat in Thursday on the president-elect's first meeting with a head of state, raising ethical questions and eyebrows again over the future administration's conflicts of interest.
The meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took place at "Trump's gilded Manhattan penthouse."
U.S. News & World Report writes that "Ivanka Trump's presence at the meeting was only made public when the Japanese government released photos, as the Trump team has continued to bar journalists from witnessing all but the most superficial aspects of the transition."
CBS News describes her presence, along with that of her husband, Jared Kushner, as "a reminder of potential conflicts of interest between Donald Trump's businesses and the White House" as well as his adult children's future roles in the White House.
Ivanka and Kushner are on the Trump transition team's executive committee.
"Their involvement raises a host of ethical questions," Emily Jane Fox writes at Vanity Fair, as "it appears to violate the 1967 nepotism law put in place after John Kennedy installed his kid brother Bobby as attorney general." There's also the fact that Ivanka, along with her two brothers, will reportedly run the real estate mogul's business empire in a "blind trust."
"Which, as you hardly need to be sharp-eyed to point out, makes it a bit odd that she's sitting in on presidential state business," Marine Hyde writes at the Guardian.
Hyde added, "Before you could say ‘conflict of interests’, America’s most dysfunctional family have already begun blurring the lines between politics and business"
Asked by host Andrea Mitchell about the transition and about Ivanka sitting in on the Abe meeting, New York Times journalist Mark Landler, appearing on MSNBC on Friday afternoon, said: "I mean, everything about the first week in terms of foreign policy flew in the face of all diplomatic protocol."
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Abe, for his part, emerged from the meeting saying he is "convinced Mr. Trump is a leader in whom I can have great confidence."
Meanwhile, on Twitter, many were taking note of how just inappropriate and troubling the decision was:
Attention @realDonaldTrump. Nobody else in your family was "elected." Get your daughter THE FUCK OUT OF STATE MEETINGS https://t.co/rycqDeaFhU — Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) November 18, 2016
This isn’t just a photo of Ivanka Trump. It’s a middle finger to democracy.https://t.co/a83u4WNIAr pic.twitter.com/b4szbkucQ1 — ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) November 18, 2016
Unelected businesswoman Ivanka Trump joins meeting with father Donald and Japanese PM https://t.co/jyn2a7LGP9 — The Independent (@Independent) November 18, 2016
Why Ivanka Trump sitting in on that meeting with Japan's PM is a big no-no: It's mixing business with diplomacy https://t.co/AEpvFsUgKW — Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) November 18, 2016President Donald Trump again expresses his dislike of the media. (Alex Brandon/AP)
Donald Trump is renewing his attacks on the media, hoping to discredit journalists who criticize his job performance as he approaches the 100-day mark of his presidency April 29, a traditional time for assessing any new chief executive.
"The Fake Media (not Real Media) has gotten even worse since the election," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Every story is badly slanted. We have to hold them to the truth!"
Trump is attempting to inoculate himself against negative media reporting by saying the media can't be trusted to cover him fairly. As part of that effort, he blasted journalists for their coverage of a recent special election for a House seat in Kansas, where Republican Rob Estes defeated Democrat James Thompson by 7 percentage points in the traditionally GOP district. "The recent Kansas election (Congress) was a really big media event, until the Republicans won." Trump tweeted Monday. "Now they play the same game with Georgia-BAD!" He was referring to a special election scheduled Tuesday for another traditionally GOP House seat.
And Republican Trump tweeted that a new Rasmussen poll shows that his job approval has risen to 50 percent, considerably higher than the ratings found in many other polls that Trump wants Americans to ignore. In fact, a new Pew Research Center survey found that Trump's job-approval rating is mediocre at best, with only 39 percent of Americans giving him a favorable rating, the same as two months ago, and 54 disapproving.
In another sign of trouble for Trump, the public's rating of fellow Republicans is on the decline. Forty percent have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, down from 47 percent in January before Trump took office. (Americans' view of the Democratic party also declined to 45 percent favorable today from 51 percent in January.)
And the latest Gallup poll finds that only 45 percent of Americans think Trump keeps his promises, down from 62 percent in February. By condemning the media, Trump is encouraging the public to dismiss coverage of such survey research.
Hoping to give a positive spin to his tenure, Trump used the occasion of the annual White House Easter Egg Roll Monday to make a political statement to bolster his supporters. "We will be stronger and bigger and better as a nation than ever before," he declared. "We're right on track. You see what's happening, and we are right on track."
But the media critiques of Trump are nearly everywhere, reflecting the traditional adversarial role of the news media in covering the presidency. Among those who also received harshly negative coverage at the start of their time in office were George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan. Bush and Reagan were Republicans and Clinton was a Democrat.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Indianapolis Metropolitan police were called to Castleton Square Mall Monday night, where several juveniles were arrested after at least two fights broke out.
Officers were dispatched there around 7:42 p.m. to disperse a crowd of juveniles.
Officers immediately began moving the crowd away from the mall and supervisors requested the assistance of the Event Response Group (ERG) for additional crowd control and officer presence. Seven juvenile females and one juvenile male were arrested as a result. They face battery and resisting arrest charges.
IMPD requested that parents come get their children. Police asked that parents do not leave their children unattended at large events and plan to have a chaperone to help prevent such disturbances from breaking out.
"Maybe we should think about these kids being more closely supervised by their parents because the city and Simon Mall and the stores in here spend a lot of money watching over these kids and special events like that and it’s unfortunate," said Chris Bailey with IMPD.
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IMPD said off-duty officers were at the mall providing security.
"They had multiple fights and a couple different resisters and they were all tied up and there were several hundred kids inside the mall running around and there were a couple other skirmishes inside the mall, so they needed assistance so on-duty officers responded and helped and within a matter of minutes, everything was under control back at the mall," Bailey said.
Police say they received reports of shots fired in the area, but no one was reported shot.
"A witness came up to one of the officers to say that she saw an unidentified black male fire off four shots in the parking lot, not at anyone, but maybe in the air and one of the officers heard those shots, but we recovered no evidence and the witness didn't stick around for us to try to identify anybody," Bailey said.
Bailey said it wasn't clear what led to the fights but believed those involved may have had some type of feud. While several hundred kids were at the mall, only a handful--maybe 10 to 12--were causing problems. Bailey noted that unseasonably warm weather and winter break meant there were more teens at the mall than usual.
"The mall was well prepared. Simon’s spent millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements here including cameras, there’s an intelligence center, we have a substation inside the mall now so, them and our holiday helper plan was in place all the time leading up to today, there was plenty of security here but it still didn’t stop some of these kids from doing what they’re gonna do," Bailey said. "It boils down to there’s a lot of teenagers and a lot of people in general that just have no respect for anything. They don’t’ have respect for themselves, they don’t’ have respect for one another, and traditional institutions, so it doesn’t matter whether it was 200 people here or not, some folks are still going to do things that they shouldn’t do."
Simon Property Group, which operates Castleton Square Mall, released the following statement about the incident:
"Safety is our first priority. When yesterday evening's fight involving unescorted youths broke out, members of our security team and off duty IMPD hired by the mall immediately intervened and stopped the activity. Arrests were then made and business returned to normal. Castleton Square Mall has a long-standing Code of Conduct that prohibits disruptive behavior, and that policy is strictly enforced. We want to thank IMPD's continued efforts to maintain a safe environment for our shoppers and employees."
IMPD provided an update following the arrests:
More than a dozen malls across the country reported similar crowds of teens fighting, leading to multiple arrests. A mall in Aurora, Colorado was evacuated. Hundreds of teens were caught on camera fighting in Manchester, Connecticut. Other incidents played out in Memphis, Tenn., Fayetteville, N.C., Elizabeth, N.J. and Fort Worth, Texas.
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It remains unclear if these incidents are connected in some way.A new survey says Windsor is the least expensive city in Canada to buy a home.
The report, commissioned by real estate firm Century 21 Canada, looked at the average square foot price of residential dwellings. The data was collected from Century 21 brokerages, and is not scientific.
The average home in Windsor is a detached house, with a cost of $94.64 per sq. ft, according the report. The next cheapest market is Moncton, with a cost of $99.84 per sq. ft.
Topping the list is Vancouver, where homes cost an average of $1,210 per sq.ft.
Windsor leads the least expensive city list with an average price of $94.64 per sq. ft. (Century 21 Canada)
"Unfortunately, you've been affected in the Windsor market by what's taking place across the border, from a manufacturing point of view," said Brian Rushton, executive vice-president of Century 21 Canada in an interview with CBC Radio Afternoon Drive host Chris dela Torre.
"It has not received the benefit that London has... being fuelled by people from the Greater Toronto market moving out through that corridor."
The average price in London is $201.05 per sq. ft., nearly double what it was in 1997.
Rushton said that while there certainly is increased activity in the Windsor real estate market, he wouldn't use the word "booming" to describe it.
Brian Rushton is the executive vice-president of Century 21 Canada. (Century 21 Canada)
"Certainly, it's a very active market, the number of units are up according to the MLS statistics for the area. However, pricing is still at a very affordable rate when [you compare Windsor to] other areas of the country," he explained.
Tap on the player below to hear the entire interview with Afternoon Drive host Chris dela Torre.DATE: Apr 8, 2014 | BY: Brent McKnight | Category: Sci-Fi
So far this week we’ve learned that Star Wars: Episode VII has actually started filming, that the cast is mostly in place, and though we don’t know who a majority of the actors are, we learned that Peter Mayhew, better known as Chewbacca, will be along for the ride. While that’s great, knowing that we’ll get to spend some quality time with one of our old favorites, don’t expect to see everyone we know and love. Reports are circulating that Lando Calrissian, played with an unbelievable amount of space swagger by Billy Dee Williams, will not return to that far away galaxy.
The 77-year-old former spokesman for Colt Malt Liquor has been taking turns around the dance floor on ABC’s hit competition show Dancing With the Stars—he recently pulled out due to a chronic back problem—and when TMZ caught up with him, they naturally broached the subject of Episode VII. Williams’ response to these inquiries was a simple, “I think a lot of people would love to see Lando come back.” We would, Billy Dee, we would. And if you watched him dance, you noticed that, while he may not be as mobile as he once was, he’s still in pretty good shape and still has some moves, and more charm and charisma than you know what to do with.
Elsewhere in this very same interview, however, the leader of Cloud City said that no one from Disney or Lucasfilm has contacted him about reprising his role as the iconic space rogue. Until the cameraman informed him, he didn’t even know that filming was underway, and said, “I have no idea what they’re planning.” He did admit that he would gladly reprise his most famous character if only someone asks—please god, someone ask.
Some people might be pissed off about being left out of such and endeavor, but Williams was pleasant and diplomatic, adding that he has “Nothing to be bitter about.”
Though this makes it sound like there’s little to no chance that we’ll see Lando in Episode VII, I’m still going to hold out hope. First, this guy basically mugged him in a grocery store parking lot, which isn’t a place where you’re likely to get the most accurate Hollywood casting information. And with all of the secrecy surrounding the film, it’s unlikely Williams, or anyone else for that matter, would give such a scoop to some rando cameraman. But the guy does take Williams’ shopping cart for him, which is nice; much better than all the yahoos screaming at Brittney Spears. Also, Disney head Alan Horn did say that the cast is mostly put together, which implies that there are still open slots. Perhaps one of those is Billy Dee Williams-sized.
In reality, this is likely all just wishful thinking on my part. While Lando is a great character, he’s less vital to the overall story than Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo. If he were going to be involved, even for a cameo-I’d be satisfied if he popped in to borrow a cup of sugar from the Skywalkers-he’d probably have heard by now. Odds are that, even after going relatively straight, Lando would find himself in some sticky situations. My bet is that he caught a stray blaster round trying to break up a fight over a game of cards.
Set 35-years after the events of Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode VII opens everywhere on December 18, 2015.What happened At about 1654 on 15 January 2014, a Sydney Trains service made up of two four-carriage Tangara electric multiple units, entered the underground section of the Eastern Suburbs Line under Sydney city centre heading towards its destination, Bondi Junction. Some smoke and a burning smell were apparent emanating from the train at Central station and at all subsequent stations to Bondi Junction. A number of station and train crewing staff were aware of this but the condition was not reported to the appropriate network control officer as required under Sydney Trains’ Network Rules and Procedures. The train terminated at Bondi Junction where a different driver took control of the train before it departed on its return journey. It then travelled to the next station, Edgecliff. Shortly after departure from Edgecliff, at 1726, the lead bogie of the third carriage derailed due to a broken axle on the leading bogie of the third carriage. A piece of angle iron that became dislodged from the track infrastructure penetrated the floor of the third carriage and entered a space occupied by passengers. Source: Office of Transport Safety Investigations (OTSI) What the ATSB found The ATSB found that an unauthorised, non-standard repair had been carried out on the axle in December 1998 or January 1999 which introduced stress initiators, causing a crack to develop which over time propagated to the extent that the axle failed in service. It was also determined that a number of organisational factors contributed to the incident with examples of poor communication and lack of adherence to procedures and reporting lines leading to the train continuing in service and subsequently derailing. What has been done as a result Sydney Trains and their maintenance contractors undertook an archival document search and determined that seven axles, including the failed axle, had been repaired in the same way. All were immediately removed from service. Sydney Trains, after conducting its own investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident, produced a number of safety recommendations which the organisation is considering through its own Safety Action Management procedures. Safety message Rail operators should ensure that maintenance procedures are followed and that non-standard repairs comply strictly with an approved variation and do not introduce new risks to operations. Also, rail operators should review their internal training and communication pathways both within and between business units / operational areas to ensure that critical communication can occur in line with best current Rail Resource Management principle.
The occurrence
Events prior to derailment Background Passenger service 602M consisted of two 4-carriage electric multiple unit Tangara sets, T10 and T35, coupled together to form an 8-carriage train. Carriage N5222 of T10 had the bogie with the incident axle fitted as part of routine maintenance in January 2012. The drive axle concerned had previously been inspected in September 2011 when it was found necessary to replace the crown wheel as it was cracked. No other defects had been identified during visual inspection or non-destructive testing of the axle. No faults had been reported in relation to this axle or the bogie prior to the day of the incident. Service 602L In the afternoon of 15 January 2014 sets T10 and T35 formed a train, designated run 602L, operating between Cronulla in Sydney’s south-east and Bondi Junction in Sydney’s eastern suburbs (Figure 1). The train departed from Cronulla at 1604:50 EDT, [1] (approximately two minutes late, when compared to the timetable). It was driven by a trainee driver under the supervision of a driver trainer. The journey was initially overground through Sydney suburbia on the Cronulla branch line before joining the Illawarra line at Sutherland. Between Sutherland and the next station, Jannali, the wheel slip light (WSL) illuminated for four seconds during braking. For the rest of the journey, according to analysis of the data logger download, the WSL illuminated 20 more times at irregular intervals before arrival at Redfern station. Source: Sydney Tr |
) and the bottom outlet would be OFF. Conversely, the bottom outlet would be hot when the toggle was down (ON) and the top outlet would be OFF. When the toggle switch was flipped to the middle position (OFF), both outlets would be off. With this newly rewired receptacle, I was able to insert the 3.5mm plug from a set of amplified external speakers into my headphone port on the side of my television. The external speakers were provided power by plugging their AC adapter into the top outlet on my rewired receptacle. The bottom outlet on my rewired receptacle provided power to my “BOOM BOX.” Flipping my three position toggle switch up turned on my television audio while flipping the toggle switch down would “Silence” my television audio and turn on my “BOOM BOX” radio.-- My rewired receptacle is the origin of the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap. As time went on and the “benefits” of silencing burdensome television commercials became apparent to me, it was noticed that tethering to a toggle switch was inconvenient. Therefore, I took my same rewired outlet receptacle and I added some more electronics to the work box (Wireless Receiver Module). Adding the wireless receiver module with a hand held remote control allowed for silencing television commercials from anywhere in my home and turning on the radio at the same time. After noticing that at times there were just as many commercials on the radio as television, I plugged my MP3 player into the bottom outlet of my rewired receptacle instead of my radio. My MP3 player was so small that I thought that it might just fit inside my rewired receptacle work box—it did! The possibilities began to unfold and I was determined to “shove” a radio in my rewired receptacle work box as well. However, a single gang outlet receptacle work box can only hold so much “stuff.” --Went to a two gang and then a three gang outlet receptacle work box, increasing size as space was needed for the components. Added receptacles and wiring and electronics as space permitted. My one gang, two gang and three gang “Television Commercial Silencers” all work great! Some of them provide more features and functions then others (My 3 gang work box even has a WiFi module so that the unit’s remote controlled outlets can be controlled from a Smart Phone (implying, there will be: “An APP for that”) but they all do what they were designed to do: Silence television commercials while at the same time turning on NOT just a radio but an audio device of one’s own choosing, including a computer’s audio system. However, the work boxes started to become bulky and complex; hence, the birth of the user friendly Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Having described the origin, birth and nature of the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap in general terms, reference will now move to the included drawings. These drawings are not to scale and consist of ten figures, each on their own page. The figures go from general to specific and provide enough details for any person in the electrical or electronics industry to manufacturer the device. Indeed, the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements, wherein: Figure 1 illustrates the general appearance of what a mass produced unit may look like. The unit would be similar in size to a commonly used multiple outlet or surge protector residential power tap. Figure 2 illustrates a general side view of such a device. Again, not to scale. The width of a mass produced unit would be as small as possible. Figure 3 illustrates the hand held remote control for the manufactured device and except for scale would look almost like the figure (Inclusion of a WiFi module within the unit will permit remote control of the unit’s audio outlets via a smart phone). Figure 4 illustrates a breakdown of features and functions by the number. The specific details of each numbered component are provided on a separate page later in this Utility Patent Application (Provisional). Figure 5 illustrates again a general side view of such a device with emphasis that the manufactured device will be compact and convenient and able to plug into a standard 110/120 volt wall outlet receptacle. --Portable enough to take along on road trips and to motels. Figure 6 illustrates a breakdown of the functions that the hand held remote control will provide, by the numbers. (Again, with inclusion of a WiFi module within the unit, the remote controlled outlets may be managed via a smart phone). Figure 7 illustrates a detailed internal view of the outlet configurations for the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap, showing the wiring diagrams for the three remote controlled outlets and the three always hot outlets as well as how the remote controlled outlets and power supply connect to the remote control receiver module inside the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap. Figure 8 illustrates the internal view of the components and wiring necessary for the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap to produce its own stereo television sound directly from the unit with the option of utilizing one’s own external speakers or audio system of choice. Figure 9 illustrates the internal view of the components and wiring necessary for the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap to produce its own FM radio sound directly from the unit with the option of utilizing one’s own external speakers or audio system of choice, including a personal computer’s (PC) audio system. Figure 10 illustrates the internal view of the components and wiring necessary for the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap to produce its own MP3/MP4 sound directly from the unit with the option of utilizing one’s own external speakers or audio system of choice. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap (Invention). The exterior of such a plug-in unit should comprise of at least three low voltage remote controlled power outlets specifically designed for external speakers or audio systems. These low voltage outlets should not be considered standard power outlets and shall be labeled as such. On the other hand, such a plug-in unit should also comprise of at least three standard 110/120 volt power outlets and shall be labeled as such. The FM radio controls on the exterior of such a unit may vary slightly based on radio module cost, selection and availability during manufacturing but the module selection will not limit the units functionality and purpose. The same applies to the MP3/MP4 module, [WiFi module] and various electrical and electronic components, as well as the poly case selection, cut-outs and label printing. The goal is to place the invention into a compact easy to use practical package for mass production for even a novice to appreciate as well as provide the most extensible set of features and options to put the end user in complete control. I believe that this package provides said. The unit is completely self contained and can operate on its own by simply plugging the unit into a standard wall outlet and making one connection. Either plug in a 3.5mm headphone cable from one’s television to the 3.5mm audio in port on the unit or plug one’s television audio system’s power cable into: 2. Remote Controlled External Television Audio System Outlet on the unit (See Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap Function Numbering Details). One will then have the option of silencing television commercials and listening to their favorite radio station instead, without any further configuration (other then tuning the internal radio to their favorite station and perhaps extending the external FM radio antenna for adequate reception). It’s when the end user desires more that the configuration possibilities for the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap become quite extensive. As a matter of fact, It would not be possible to cover all of the different audio device configuration possibilities in this application. This compact unit should allow for the configuration of virtually any end user’s desired audio setup. The unit is designed from the simple to the complex. One can plug the unit in and listen to their television through the units’ two internal stereo speakers or plug in their own external speakers. If the end user chooses to use amplified speakers, they would simply plug the 3.5mm plug from their external speakers into the television audio OUT port on the front of the unit and the external amplified speaker’s power cord into: 2. Remote Controlled External Television Audio System Outlet on the unit. In addition, if the end user prefers to listen to their television through their television external audio system or home entertainment system, simply plug the respective power cord into: 2. Remote Controlled External Television Audio System Outlet. The foregoing also applies to: 3. Remote Controlled External Radio/CD Player (BOOM BOX) etc. Audio System Outlet and 4. Remote Controlled External MP3/MP4 Player etc. Audio System Outlet. The end user can also listen to their favorite MP3/MP4 music “Out of the Box” so to speak by simply plugging in a “FLASH” (USB) drive containing their own music into the front of the unit, if they prefer; or, as with the unit’s internal stereo television audio speakers and internal radio, the end user can slide a switch on the front of the unit to turn off respectively each of the unit’s internal audio devices entirely and plug in their own, in the respective: Remote Controlled External Audio System Outlet. CLAIMS The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap (Invention). My one gang, two gang and three gang “Television Commercial Silencers” all work great! Some of them provide more features and functions then others (My 3 gang work box even has a WiFi module so that the unit’s remote controlled outlets can be controlled from a Smart Phone (implying, there will be: “An APP for that”) but they all do what they were designed to do: Silence television commercials while at the same time turning on NOT just a radio but an audio device of one’s own choosing, including a computer’s audio system. However, the work boxes started to become bulky and complex; hence, the birth of the user friendly Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap.
ABSTRACT In an attempt to eliminate the bombardment of irrelevant commercials that one is exposed to on a daily bases, while staying within a budget, I rewired a standard one gang electrical outlet receptacle with an 110/120 volt three position toggle switch (ON, OFF, ON). The rewiring allowed for the top outlet to be hot when the toggle was up (ON) and the bottom outlet would be OFF. Conversely, the bottom outlet would be hot when the toggle was down (ON) and the top outlet would be OFF. When the toggle switch was flipped to the middle position (OFF), both outlets would be off. With this newly rewired receptacle, I was able to insert the 3.5mm plug from a set of amplified external speakers into my headphone port on the side of my television. The external speakers were provided power by plugging their AC adapter into the top outlet on my rewired receptacle. The bottom outlet on my rewired receptacle provided power to my “BOOM BOX.” Flipping my three position toggle switch up turned on my television audio while flipping the toggle switch down would “Silence” my television audio and turn on my “BOOM BOX” radio.-- My rewired receptacle is the origin of the Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap. As time went on and the “benefits” of silencing burdensome television commercials became apparent to me, it was noticed that tethering to a toggle switch was inconvenient. Therefore, I took my same rewired outlet receptacle and I added some more electronics to the work box (Wireless Receiver Module). Adding the wireless receiver module with a hand held remote control allowed for silencing television commercials from anywhere in my home and turning on the radio at the same time. After noticing that at times there were just as many commercials on the radio as television, I plugged my MP3 player into the bottom outlet of my rewired receptacle instead of my radio. My MP3 player was so small that I thought that it might just fit inside my rewired receptacle work box—it did! The possibilities began to unfold and I was determined to “shove” a radio in my rewired receptacle work box as well. However, a single gang outlet receptacle work box can only hold so much “stuff.” --Went to a two gang and then a three gang outlet receptacle work box, increasing size as space was needed for the components. Added receptacles and wiring and electronics as space permitted. My one gang, two gang and three gang “Television Commercial Silencers” all work great! Some of them provide more features and functions then others (My 3 gang work box even has a WiFi module so that the unit’s remote controlled outlets can be controlled from a Smart Phone (implying, there will be: “An APP for that”) but they all do what they were designed to do: Silence television commercials while at the same time turning on NOT just a radio but an audio device of one’s own choosing, including a computer’s audio system. However, the work boxes started to become bulky and complex; hence, the birth of the user friendly Television Commercial Silencer Electrical Wall Outlet Receptacle Tap.But we should have expected as much. In case you were not listening Rand Paul already told us we should just take less pay and keep our mouths shut about it:
And for his own part this week he has put his special interest money where his mouth is. He introduced a federal "right to work" law to try and insure that Americans everywhere get to work for less and get no benefits for doing so:
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) just introduced a federal so-called “right to work” law that would undermine labor organizing nationwide. Here’s an excerpt from his press release touting the legislation: “Every American worker deserves the right to freedom of association – and I am concerned that the 26 states that allow forced union membership and dues infringes on these workers’ rights. Right to work laws ensure that all Americans are given the choice to refrain from joining or paying dues to a union as a condition for employment. Nearly 80 percent of all Americans support the principles and so I have introduced a national Right to Work Act that will require all states to give their workers the freedom to choose.”
Yes, Rand Paul wants to do for America what has been done for workers in "right to work" states. Make us all give up our right to a fair wage for an honest days work:
[O]ur findings -- that "right-to-work" laws are associated with significantly lower wages and reduced chances of receiving employer-sponsored health insurance and pensions -- are based on the most rigorous statistical analysis currently possible. These findings should discourage right-to-work policy initiatives. The fact is, while RTW legislation misleadingly sounds like a positive change in this weak economy, in reality the opportunity it gives workers is only that to work for lower wages and fewer benefits. For legislators dedicated to making policy on the basis of economic fact rather than ideological passion, our findings indicate that, contrary to the rhetoric of RTW proponents, the data show that workers in "right-to-work" states have lower compensation -- both union and nonunion workers alike.
But you see, the simple fact is Rand Paul does not work for us. Despite all his "populist" and "libertarian" bluster the Mad Doctor with the twisty curls has sold us out for the highest bidder:
National Right to Work Cmte $7,500 $0 $7,500
Now that his days of smoking weed and praying to "Aqua Buddha" are over Rand Paul has replaced his bong hits with a nasty Koch habit:
Koch Industries $17,000 $12,000 $5,000
Indeed, Rand Paul wants to do for America what he would do for Kentucky. Namely he wants everyone across this great land to work for less. Not because he is on some kind of ideological crusade to get the government out of your lives, but because he is a simple whore for the Right to Work Committee and the Koch brothers and he wants to put them in control of your life and get the government out of the way from stopping them.
In that sense his crusade has made him everything he has railed so hard against. A typical Washington liar and crook.Zog I, King of the Albanians[1][2] (Albanian: Nalt Madhnija e Tij Zogu I, Mbreti i Shqiptareve, IPA: [ˈzɔɡu]; 8 October 1895 – 9 April 1961), born Ahmet Muhtar Zogolli, taking the surname Zogu in 1922, was the leader of Albania from 1922 to 1939. He first served as Prime Minister of Albania (1922–1924), then as President (1925–1928), and finally as the first and only King (1928–1939). Contents
Background and early political career Edit
President of Albania Edit
Zogu was officially elected as the first President of Albania by the Constituent Assembly on 21 January 1925, taking office on 1 February for a seven-year term. Zogu's government followed the European model, though large parts of Albania still maintained a social structure unchanged from the days of Ottoman rule, and most villages were serf plantations run by the Beys. On 28 June 1925, Zogu ceded Sveti Naum to Yugoslavia as a gesture of recognition to the Yugoslav aid to him and in exchange for Peshkëpi (Pëshkupat) village and other minor concessions.[7][8] Zogu enacted several major reforms. His principal ally during this period was Italy, which lent his government funds in exchange for a greater role in Albania's fiscal policy. During Zogu's presidency, serfdom was gradually eliminated. For the first time since the death of Skanderbeg, Albania began to emerge as a nation, rather than a feudal patchwork of local Beyliks. His administration was marred by disputes with Kosovar leaders, primarily Hasan Prishtina and Bajram Curri. However, Zogu's Albania was a police state. He all but eliminated civil liberties, muzzled the press and murdered political opponents. Under the constitution, Zogu was vested with sweeping executive and legislative powers, including the right to appoint one-third of the upper house. For all intents and purposes, he held all governing power in the nation.[9]
Albanian King Edit
Assassination attempts Edit
Relations with Italy Edit
The fascist government of Benito Mussolini's Italy had supported Zog since early in his presidency; that support had led to increased Italian influence in Albanian affairs. The Italians compelled Zog to refuse to renew the First Treaty of Tirana (1926), although Zog still retained British officers in the Gendarmerie as a counterbalance against the Italians, who had pressured Zog to remove them. During the worldwide depression of the early 1930s Zog's government became almost completely dependent on Mussolini, to the point that the Albanian national bank had its seat in Rome. Grain had to be imported, many Albanians emigrated, and Italians were allowed to settle in Albania. In 1932 and 1933, Albania was unable to pay the interest on its loans from the Society for the Economic Development of Albania, and the Italians used this as a pretext for further dominance. They demanded that Tirana put Italians in charge of the Gendarmerie, join Italy in a customs union, and grant the Italian Kingdom control of Albania's sugar, telegraph, and electrical monopolies. Finally, Italy called for the Albanian government to establish teaching of the Italian language in all Albanian schools, a demand that was swiftly refused by Zog. In defiance of Italian demands, he ordered the national budget to be slashed by 30 percent, dismissed all Italian military advisers, and nationalized Italian-run Roman Catholic schools in the north of Albania to decrease Italian influence on the population of Albania. In 1934, he tried without success to build ties with France, Germany, and the Balkan states, and Albania drifted back into the Italian orbit.[29] Two days after the birth of Zog's son and heir apparent, on 7 April 1939 (Good Friday), Mussolini's Italy invaded, facing no significant resistance. The Albanian army was ill-equipped to resist, as it was almost entirely dominated by Italian advisors and officers and was no match for the Italian Army. The Italians were, however, resisted by small elements in the gendarmerie and general population. The Royal Family, realising that their lives were in danger, fled into exile, taking with them a considerable amount of gold from the National Bank of Tirana and Durrës.[30][31] Since the Royal Family had expected an Italian invasion, the gathering of gold had started in advance.[32] "Oh God, it was so short" were King Zog's last words to Geraldine on Albanian soil. Count Ciano, the Italian Foreign Minister, arrived the following day; on searching the Palace in Tirana, he found the labour room in the Queen's suite; seeing a pile of linen on the floor, stained by the afterbirth, he kicked it across the room. "The cub has escaped!" he said. Mussolini declared Albania a protectorate under Italy's King Victor Emmanuel III. While some Albanians continued to resist, "a large part of the population... welcomed the Italians with cheers", according to one contemporary account.[33]
Former heir presumptive Edit
Prior to the birth of Prince Leka, the position of Heir Presumptive was held by Prince of Kosova (Kosovo) Tati Esad Murad Kryziu, born 24 December 1923 in Tirana, who was the son of the King's sister, Princess Nafije. He became honorary General of the Royal Albanian Army in 1928, at age five. He was made Heir Presumptive with the style of His Highness and title of "Prince of Kosova" (Princ i Kosovës) in 1931. After the Royal House's exile, he moved to France, where he died in August 1993, aged 69.
Life in exile and death Edit
Political legacy Edit
Statue of Zog on the eponymous boulevard in Tirana During World War II, three resistance groups were operating in Albania: the nationalists, the royalists and the communists. Some of the Albanian establishment opted for collaboration. The communist partisans refused to co-operate with the other resistance groups and took control of the country. They were able to defeat the Nazi remnants and take over the country in November 1944. Zog attempted to reclaim his throne after the war, but the new Communist-dominated government barred Zog from returning soon after it took power, and formally deposed him in 1946. Sponsored by the British and Americans, some forces loyal to Zog attempted to mount invasions and incursions, but most were ambushed due to intelligence sent to the Soviet Union by spy Kim Philby. A referendum in 1997—seven years after the end of Communist rule—proposed to restore the monarchy in the person of Zog's son Leka Zogu who, since 1961, had been styled "Leka I, King of the Albanians". The official but disputed results stated that about two-thirds of voters favoured a continued republican government. Leka, believing the result to be fraudulent, attempted an armed uprising: he was unsuccessful and was forced into exile, although he later returned and lived in Tirana until his death on 30 November 2011. A main street in Tirana was later renamed "Boulevard Zog I" by the Albanian government.
Repatriation to Albania Edit
In October 2012, the government of Albania decided to bring back the remains of the former king from France, where he died in 1961. Zog's body was exhumed from the Thiais Cemetery, Paris on 15 November 2012.[37] A guard of honour was provided by the French President, in the form of French Legionnaires in ceremonial dress. Zog's remains were returned in a state ceremony on 17 November 2012, coinciding with celebrations for Albania's independence centennial. The bodies of the king and his family members now lie in the reconstructed royal mausoleum in the capital Tirana.[38] The interment was attended by the government of Albania, including the President and Prime Minister, and senior figures from the Romanian, Montenegrin, Russian and Albanian royal families.
Honours and awards Edit
Ancestry Edit
Cultural references Edit
See also Edit
References Edit
Further reading EditIt took 1.5 years, but a DRB-Hicom managing director told Malaysia's Business Times that the company has "cleaned up" the situation at Lotus from its finances to its marketing and image. The clean-up job we're most interested in, the product portfolio, will be demonstrated by financial investment in a three-year program of "variants based on existing products - variants with improved technology, improved performance."You'll notice mention of the word "variants" three times but no mention of the phrase "new models." We knew that with the death of the five-new-model turnaround plan dreamed up by ex-Lotus CEO Dany Bahar DRB-Hicom said there'd only be three distinct lines - which is the current number - but during Lotus trouble-plagued 2012 it sold just 80 cars all year, and for a tense spell it really wasn't clear if DRB-Hicom would commit to even keeping Lotus alive, much less investing in it.It's not clear how much is being put into in the three-year program of offshoot models like the 345-horsepower Exige S Roadster (pictured), but it might be fair to say this is where Lotus' revival really begins, and does so with baby steps. Autocar reports that DRB-Hicom has already put 100 million pounds into the English carmaker, and as its issues were worked through Lotus has sold almost as many cars in the first five months of this year as it did all of last. That has not only convinced the Malaysian minders to throw more money its way, but the UK's business secretary has also approved a 10-million-pound investment into Lotus through the Regional Growth Facility program.However, with the Evora and Elise the only other models to earn the "Definites" tag this could put us another three years away from the return of the Esprit Last we heard it was ready save for a management sign-off, but it goes into reverse - again - to an underground garage called "nebulosity."Last week, our CEO Nada Aldahleh talked about how important it is for entrepreneurs to take a vacation - a real, actual vacation.
Needless to say, it's difficult for many entrepreneurs to take vacations, especially during the first year of operations. But there are always ways to take a break to refresh, recharge your batteries, and refocus your efforts. In fact, there are at least 50 ways to take a break. Whether you're looking for a fresh perspective, a boost in creativity, or simply a moment to clear your mind, the right kind of break can definitely take you out of your rut.
If you're looking for some inspiration, Karen Horneffer-Ginter's illustration '50 Ways to Take a Break' will surely give you a fresh idea on how to take some time off to center yourself at the office, at home, outdoors or wherever else you might happen to be.
At the office
1. Create your own coffee break
2. Read or watch something funny
3. Write a quick poem
4. Do some gentle stretches
5. Examine an everyday object with fresh eyes
6. Eat a meal in silence
7. Walk outside
8. Notice your body
9. Take deep belly breaths
10. Listen to a guided relaxation
At home
11. Take a bath
12. Light a candle
13. Rest your legs up a wall
14. Write a letter
15. Find a relaxing scent
16. Put on some music and dance
17. Pet a furry creature
18. Make some music
19. Paint on a surface other than paper
20. Colour with crayons
21. Turn off all electronics
22. Write in a journal
23. Meditate
Outdoors
24. Go to a body of water
25. Meander around town
26. Fly a kite
27. Watch the stars
28. Sit in nature
29. Buy some flowers
30. Go to a farmer's market
31. Climb a tree
32. Go to a park
33. Take a bike ride
34. Drive somewhere new
35. Go for a run
36. Watch the clouds
Everywhere
37. Listen to music
38. Read poetry
39. Move twice as slowly
40. Let out a sigh
41. Take a nap
42. Call a friend
43. View some art
44. Engage in small acts of kindness
45. Forgive someone
46. Give thanks
47. Let go of something
48. Read a book
49. Learn something new
50. Smile
We'd love to hear your own ways of taking a break! Share them with us in the comment section below.Cruises are full of fun and adventure, including epic excursions like ziplining through a Jamaican jungle or parasailing over the open ocean. But sometimes vacation calls for some simple rest and relaxation, too. There are plenty of places on a ship to find peace and quiet.
1. Spa
On any ship, the spa is the pinnacle of calm and quiet. While almost every ship comes equipped with a sauna and steam room free of charge, you can also unwind even further by booking a spa appointment like a massage, acupuncture session, or facial.
2. Library
Often overlooked, the ship’s library is a great room for escaping the hustle and bustle. Full of books and board games, it’s the perfect place for a quiet retreat. And if you’re lucky enough that your ship’s library has windows, you can enjoy the ocean views during your downtime.
3. Inside on a port day
If you’ve ever stayed on the ship on a port day, you know that it can look like a ghost town. With everyone off and exploring the port of call, there’s no better time to take advantage of a quiet and nearly empty ship. Plus, you’ll get incredibly fast service at the bar!
4. Your room
While many say to get out and enjoy the ship, that argument could depend on what type of room you’ve booked. Balcony rooms, especially unique ones like aft balconies or cove balconies, offer the perfect excuse to stay in, bask in the sun on your own private piece of deck, and enjoy the serenity.
5. Adults-only deck
Carefree and quiet, the adults-only deck on a ship usually comes with extra comfy lounge chairs, a private bar, and a hot tub or two. If you’re looking to skip the sounds of the live steel drum band or the crowds from the hairy chest contest, this is easily one of the best places to enjoy the sun on the ship.
6. Secret decks
Believe it or not, you can always find a “secret” deck on any cruise ship. These are decks that are tucked away or rather difficult to get to, meaning almost no one uses them. For example, on many of Carnival’s ships, cruisers rarely take advantage of the solitude and open air on deck 3, which is directly under the lifeboats. Though you may not get the sun, you can enjoy plenty of peace and quiet – accompanied of course by the calming sounds of the ocean passing beneath. Many ships also have “secret” decks toward the front of the ship which many people don’t think you can access, so study your deck plans before you go to find out how to get to these.
7. Private lounges
Some ships have private lounges for certain stateroom categories, such as the Havana Lounge on Carnival Vista or The Haven on some Norwegian ships, to elevate your private, customized cruise experience. Also, some cruise lines reserve private lounges and even private restaurants on their ships for their most loyal cruisers, but you’ll have to have rewards with them already to get those benefits.
Where is your quiet place on a cruise ship?
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Wikipedia This is a featured sound on the English language Wikipedia (Featured sounds) and is considered one of the finest sound files.
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Equation
s {\displaystyle \,s} T-periodic on R {\displaystyle \mathbb {R} }
∀ t ∈ [ 0, T ] {\displaystyle \forall t\in \left[0,T\right]}
s ( t ) = a ( t ) sin ( ω ( t ) t ) + a ( t + T ) sin ( 2 ω ( t ) t ) {\displaystyle \,s(t)=a(t)\sin \left(\omega (t)t\right)+a(t+T)\sin \left(2\omega (t)t\right)}
with { a ( t ) = A 0 1 + cos π t T 4 ω ( t ) = 2 π F 0 1 2 t T F 0 = 220 H z T = 20 s A 0 = 0.7 {\displaystyle {\begin{cases}{\begin{array}{lcl}a(t)&=&A_{0}{\cfrac {1+\cos \pi {\frac {t}{T}}}{4}}\\\omega (t)&=&2\pi F_{0}{\cfrac {1}{2^{\frac {t}{T}}}}\\F_{0}&=&220\,Hz\\T&=&20\,s\\A_{0}&=&0.7\end{array}}\end{cases}}}
The same signal is added on a minor chord, on several octaves.
-- Gl ou mo u t h 1 01:39, 10 December 2005 (UTC)
Loop
If you want to have a loop, as T = 20 s, you can crop this sound exactly from 18 s to 38 s.
Another idea
If I (or you) have time, one day, another function which could be programmed and recorded...
∀ t ∈ R s ( t ) = ∑ k = − ∞ ∞ a k ( t ) sin ( ω k ( t ) t ) {\displaystyle \forall t\in \mathbb {R} \quad s(t)=\sum _{k=-\infty }^{\infty }a_{k}(t)\sin \left(\omega _{k}(t)t\right)}
with { a k ( t ) = A 0 e − ( k − t T ) 2 σ 2 ω k ( t ) = 2 π F 0 2 k − t T A 0, F 0, T, σ c o n s t a n t s {\displaystyle {\begin{cases}a_{k}(t)=A_{0}e^{-{\cfrac {\left(k-{\frac {t}{T}}\right)^{2}}{\sigma ^{2}}}}\\\omega _{k}(t)=2\pi F_{0}2^{k-{\frac {t}{T}}}\\A_{0},F_{0},T,\sigma \,constants\end{cases}}}
-- Gl ou mo u t h 1 17:04, 5 March 2007 (UTC)
en:File:DescenteInfinie.oggIn this Feb. 23, 2012, photo shows a auction sign in front of a home, in Salem, Ore. Home prices fell in December for a fourth straight month in most major U.S. cities, as modest sales gains in the depressed housing market have yet to lift prices. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Home prices fell in December for a fourth straight month in most major U.S. cities, as modest sales gains in the depressed housing market have yet to lift prices.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index shows prices dropped in December from November in 18 of the 20 cities tracked. The steepest declines were in Atlanta, Chicago and Detroit. Miami and Phoenix were the only cities to show an increase.
The declines partly reflect the typical slowdown that comes in the fall and winter.
Still, prices fell in 19 of the 20 cities in December compared to the same month in 2010. Only Detroit posted a year-over-year increase. Prices in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Seattle and Tampa dropped to their lowest points since the housing crisis began.
Nationwide, prices have fallen 34 percent since the housing bust, and are now back to 2002 levels. A gauge of quarterly national prices, which covers 70 percent of U.S. homes, fell to its lowest point on records dating back to 1987 after being adjusted for inflation.
"The pick-up in the economy has simply not been strong enough to keep home prices stabilized," said David M. Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index committee. "If anything, it looks like we might have re-entered a period of decline as we begin 2012."
There's hope among some economists that an increase in sales could stop prices from falling further by the late winter or early spring.
Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said there are "compelling reasons to believe that the end of the housing crash is finally in sight."
Home prices tend to follow sales by about six months. When sales rise, prices rise, too, and an increase in prices would likely create a positive cycle.
"Stability in home prices will likely persuade more potential buyers that it is now worth getting into the market," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics.
The Case-Shiller monthly index covers half of all U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The December data is the latest available.
Home values remain depressed despite some hopeful signs at the end of last year.
Builders are growing more optimistic after seeing more people express interest in buying this year |
ans (18), some of which have estrogen-like activities (20). Synthetic phytoestrogens have been shown to benefit bone density (21, 22), but via a different mechanism than estrogen (21). The effect of isoflavones, phytoestrogens present in soy, on bone density remains unclear (23). Tea-derived flavonoids and lignans may be important in maintaining BMD (24), particularly in older women, who have low concentrations of endogenous estrogen. A recent review suggests that flavonoids from green tea may be associated with increases in BMD (25) via a potent stimulatory effect on osteoblast function. A major tea flavonoid, (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, has been shown to increase the expressions of osteogenic genes, elevate bone marker activity, and augment mineralization in a murine bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell line (26). These findings suggest a stimulatory effect of the compound as a possible mechanism for the associated higher BMD seen in tea drinkers. Moreover, plasma concentrations of phytoestrogens may remain elevated throughout the day contributing to a sustained effect on bone.
Another bioactive component of tea is caffeine. Caffeine intake, mainly from coffee, has been associated with a reduced BMD (27, 28) and an increased risk of fracture (17, 29). Results of some studies suggest that this relation may be modified by calcium intake (17). Other studies reported no association between caffeine intake and bone loss (30, 31). The caffeine content of tea is usually less than half that of coffee. However, it is possible that at higher tea intakes, caffeine may attenuate any benefit of other bioactive components of tea.
The magnitude of the difference in BMD between tea drinkers and non-tea drinkers was between 3% and 4.5%. Tea drinkers also lost ≈3–4.5% less bone density over a 4-y period. This order of magnitude is greater than the protein effect on lower limb bone density observed by us in this population recently (5) and similar to the effect size of habitual high physical activity and calcium intake on hip BMD (6). Other variables, such as dietary calcium and coffee intake, physical activity, and smoking did not appear to be important confounders of the relation between tea and BMD. Thus, overall, our data support the concept that tea intake has beneficial effects on bone structure by reducing bone loss.
The authors’ responsibilities were as follows—AD: study design, patient recruitment, data acquisition, preliminary data analysis, and manuscript preparation; JMH: data acquisition and analysis and manuscript preparation; IMD: study design and manuscript preparation; and RLP: study design, patient recruitment, data interpretation, and manuscript preparation. None of the authors had a conflict of interest.
REFERENCES
1 Marshall D Johnell O Wedel H Meta-analysis of how well measures of bone mineral density predict occurrence of osteoporotic fractures. BMJ 1996 ; 312 : 1254 – 9. 2 Cummings SR Black DM Nevitt MC, et al.. Appendicular bone density and age predict hip fracture in women. JAMA 1990 ; 263 : 665 – 8. 3 Johnell O Gullberg B Kanis JA, et al.. Risk factors for hip fracture in European women: the MEDOS Study. Mediterranean Osteoporosis Study. J Bone Miner Res 1995 ; 10 : 1802 – 15. 4 Specker BL Evidence for an interaction between calcium intake and physical activity on changes in bone mineral density. J Bone Miner Res 1996 ; 11 : 1539 – 44. 5 Devine A Dick IM Islam AF Dhaliwal SS Prince RL Protein consumption is an important predictor of lower limb bone mass in elderly women. Am J Clin Nutr 2005 ; 81 : 1423 – 8. 6 Devine A Dhaliwal SS Dick IM Bollerslev J Prince RL Physical activity and calcium consumption are important determinants of lower limb bone mass in older women. J Bone Miner Res 2004 ; 19 : 1634 – 9. 7 Devine A Criddle RA Dick IM Kerr DA Prince RL A longitudinal study of the effect of sodium and calcium intakes on regional bone density in postmenopausal women. Am J Clin Nutr 1995 ; 62 : 740 – 5. 8 Wu CH Yang YC Yao WJ Lu FH Wu JS Chang CJ Epidemiological evidence of increased bone mineral density in habitual tea drinkers. Arch Intern Med 2002 ; 162 : 1001 – 6. 9 Hegarty VM May HM Khaw KT Tea drinking and bone mineral density in older women. Am J Clin Nutr 2000 ; 71 : 1003 – 7. 10 Chen Z Pettinger MB Ritenbaugh C, et al.. Habitual tea consumption and risk of osteoporosis: a prospective study in the women's health initiative observational cohort. Am J Epidemiol 2003 ; 158 : 772 – 81. 11 Kanis J Johnell O Gullberg B, et al.. Risk factors for hip fracture in men from southern Europe: the MEDOS study. Mediterranean Osteoporosis Study. Osteoporos Int 1999 ; 9 : 45 – 54. 12 Prince RL Devine A Dhaliwal SS Dick IM Effects of calcium supplementation on clinical fracture and bone structure: results of a 5-year, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in elderly women. Arch Intern Med 2006 ; 166 : 869 – 75. 13 Bruce DG Devine A Prince RL Recreational physical activity levels in healthy older women: the importance of fear of falling. J Am Geriatr Soc 2002 ; 50 : 84 – 9. 14 Australian Bureau of Statistics. Socio-economic indexes for areas. Canberra, Australia : CGPS, 1991. 15 Ireland P Jolley D Giles G, et al.. Development of the Melbourne FFQ: a food frequency questionnaire for use in an Australian prospective study involving an ethnically diverse cohort. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 1994 ; 3 : 19 – 31. 16 Henzell S Dhaliwal S Pontifex R, et al.. Precision error of fan-beam dual X-ray absorptiometry scans at the spine, hip, and forearm. J Clin Densitom 2000 ; 3 : 359 – 64. 17 Hallstrom H Wolk A Glynn A Michaelsson K Coffee, tea and caffeine consumption in relation to osteoporotic fracture risk in a cohort of Swedish women. Osteoporos Int 2006 ; 17 : 1055 – 64. 18 Mazur WM Wahala K Rasku S Salakka A Hase T Adlercreutz H Lignan and isoflavonoid concentrations in tea and coffee. Br J Nutr 1998 ; 79 : 37 – 45. 19 Hodgson JM Effects of tea and tea flavonoids on endothelial function and blood pressure: a brief review. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 2006 ; 33 : 838 – 41. 20 Mazur W Phytoestrogen content in foods. Baillieres Clin Endocrinol Metab 1998 ; 12 : 729 – 42. 21 Arjmandi BH Birnbaum RS Juma S Barengolts E Kukreja SC The synthetic phytoestrogen, ipriflavone, and estrogen prevent bone loss by different mechanisms. Calcif Tissue Int 2000 ; 66 : 61 – 5. 22 de Aloysio D Gambacciani M Altieri P, et al.. Bone density changes in postmenopausal women with the administration of ipriflavone alone or in association with low-dose ERT. Gynecol Endocrinol 1997 ; 11 : 289 – 93. 23 Weaver CM Cheong JM Soy isoflavones and bone health: the relationship is still unclear. J Nutr 2005 ; 135 : 1243 – 7. 24 Whelan AM Jurgens TM Bowles SK Natural health products in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis: systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Ann Pharmacother 2006 ; 40 : 836 – 49. 25 Cabrera C Artacho R Gimenez R Beneficial effects of green tea—a review. J Am Coll Nutr 2006 ; 25 : 79 – 99. 26 Chen CH Ho ML Chang JK Hung SH Wang GJ Green tea catechin enhances osteogenesis in a bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell line. Osteoporos Int 2005 ; 16 : 2039 – 45. 27 Barrett-Connor E Chang JC Edelstein SL Coffee-associated osteoporosis offset by daily milk consumption. The Rancho Bernardo Study. JAMA 1994 ; 271 : 280 – 3. 28 Conlisk AJ Galuska DA Is caffeine associated with bone mineral density in young adult women? Prev Med 2000 ; 31 : 562 – 8. 29 Cummings SR Nevitt MC Browner WS, et al.. Risk factors for hip fracture in white women. Study of Osteoporotic Fractures Research Group. N Engl J Med 1995 ; 332 : 767 – 73. 30 Lloyd T Johnson-Rollings N Eggli DF Kieselhorst K Mauger EA Cusatis DC Bone status among postmenopausal women with different habitual caffeine intakes: a longitudinal investigation. J Am Coll Nutr 2000 ; 19 : 256 – 61. 31 Hannan MT Felson DT Dawson-Hughes B, et al.. Risk factors for longitudinal bone loss in elderly men and women: the Framingham Osteoporosis Study. J Bone Miner Res 2000 ; 15 : 710 – 20.
© 2007 American Society for Clinical NutritionYesterday the torrent world lit up with news that Demonoid had somehow been resurrected under the new domain D2.vu. However, the site was quickly taken offline by its host in the U.S. who claimed that it was serving up malware. With the site now back online with a new host, TorrentFreak caught up with its admins who tell us they have no malicious intent and simply want to bring a community back to together. While there is still uncertainty, one thing is absolutely clear - they do have the old Demonoid database.
Yesterday morning’s chaos is not something we experience often. Relentless emails all telling us the same thing – the great Demonoid seems to be back, but is it some kind of trap?
To try and discover more we spoke to a company called RamNode, the site’s host in the United States. Company owner Nick told us that D2.vu had been hosting malware, but by last evening his stance had softened a little.
“The malware may not have been intentionally hosted on this VPS,” Nick told TorrentFreak in an update. “It is possible that one of the ad banners running on the site triggered the malware alert. The server will still be removed from our network to prevent any further issues related to my company.”
Now, 24 hours later, D2.vu is back online with a new host outside the U.S. and fortunately some of our other inquiries have now paid off. So, with the owners of the site speaking with us directly, we put forward a few questions.
“As we all know these communities of free file-sharing are currently under scrutiny by government and media powers so all involved wish to remain anonymous to avoid unnecessary complications and any further risk,” the D2 domain owner told us.
Nothing particularly unusual there but what is somewhat strange is how D2.vu has somehow been able to launch with the database from Demonoid including user details, torrents and comments – how do they explain that?
“It was, as we stated in the email to the user base, an unlikely set of events that flowed from the last Ukraine install. We kept the code safe waiting for Demonoid to return. When it didn’t return we purposely rebranded, to separate from Demonoid’s past and related issues, with the main goal of maintaining the community,” we were told.
TorrentFreak tested an old Demonoid research account registered some years ago – it worked – as did one registered in more recent times. That goes someway to confirming the D2 owner’s claim that the database copy was taken from a July 2012 backup just after Demonoid’s shutdown.
So what other information culled from the old Demonoid is currently in D2’s possession?
“Everything except the domain names which led to the rebranding to d2.vu,” the admin explains.
“What you see is the tracker database of the old Demonoid. We aren’t launching the forum at this time but we do plan to start an IRC channel in the near future so the community can interact in real time,” the admin explains.
While on initial inspection there is a familiar look and feel (color changes aside), what D2 does not have is something that Demonoid was famous for – a tracker. All torrents are now tracked by outside sources/magnets which means that the site is now more like a sign-up version of The Pirate Bay than the semi-private offering users experienced before.
“This was done based on functional and legal necessity, efficiency and to take the site out of the negotiation of peer-to-peer file sharing. Also note that there is work in progress which will re-implement missing functionality and add new features,” TorrentFreak was told.
Technicalities aside, there is also another big issue – that of trust. How can former users of Demonoid be confident of the site’s intentions? For example, is the site endorsed or approved by any former senior staff?
“No former admins have been involved with this rebranding or launch. This effort is independent and undertaken entirely for the benefit of the community. We do welcome past community moderators to help with d2 if they wish,” we were told.
Thinking ahead, we posed another question to the admins of D2. Demonoid has a bit of a reputation as the comeback kid and in the past has reappeared online just when people think the show is over. If users migrate to D2 and that site gets momentum, what happens in the event that the real Demonoid comes back?
“If the previous admin group wanted the admin role back we’d have to figure out how to verify that it’s really them and then we’d work it out,” we were informed.
“The great effort we made here is for the Demonoid community. We completely understand the community’s need to be cautious and questioning. We aren’t phishing or pushing malware or attempting anything malicious. We intend to do our best to keep the site up and current. It’s in the hands of the community to participate as they did before to co-create and thrive,” the admins conclude.
More information as we get it…..Further setbacks for MtGox saw its bitcoin valuation to fall below $100 (£60) for the first time in seven months, as a knock on effect sees most cryptocurrencies lose value.
Although not as bad as the heavy losses at MtGox, bitcoin's value fell 5.9% to $572 over the last 24 hours according to data from CoinMarketCap; the currency was priced at $575 on the BitStamp exchange at the time of publication.
Litecoin also suffered a noticeable decline, down 8.18% to $14.04 per coin, while dogecoin fell 7.35% to $0.0012.
The biggest winner of the last 24 hours was gridcoin, which saw growth of 122% to $0.047, although volatility will be expected, as the currency only entered the market a day earlier.
Pandacoin suffered the largest loss, down almost 76% to $0.000081 per coin, followed by globalcoin, which fell 40% to $0.0052.
MtGox withdrawal delays continue amid office move and falling value
Confirming news first reported by protester Kolin Burges, Mt Gox has relocated to another office in Tokyo. However, following a statement explaining the company's situation, Burges tweeted to say he believes most MtGox staff have remained in place and "only a very small few people have actually moved."
This group is believed to include MtGox CEO Mark Karpeles, who has refused to answer repeated questions from Burges about the exchange's financial health.
Burges, who has stood outside MtGox's office building daily for a week, said the situation was "calm" but he doesn't yet know if his 250 bitcoins (£85,500) will be returned.
MtGox said a halt on customers being able to withdraw their bitcoins will continue for longer than first thought, although no estimation was given on when the service will be restored. The exchange's problems led Blockchain chief security officer Andreas Antonopoulos to label MtGox as "clownish" and "incompetent" during the Let's Talk Bitcoin podcast.
New York to develop cryptocurrency legal framework this year
Ben Lawsky, superintendent of financial services for the state of New York, conducted a Reddit AMA (ask me anything), where he said the state expects to propose regulations for bitcoin use later this year.
"Our expectation is that - during the course of 2014 - the information we've gathered on our fact-finding effort will allow us to put forward a proposed regulatory framework for virtual currency firms operating in New York," Lawsky said.
Despite recognising that cryptocurrency law "is complicated stuff and we don't want to go too fast, make a mistake," Lawsky said he wants "to move expeditiously because the sooner we provide some regulatory certainty, the better for the firms that want to know what the rules of the road are."
London bitcoin ATM on its way
Las Vegas-based bitcoin ATM manufacturer Robocoin said a machine "has already been purchased [by a company in London] and the wheels are in motion," in a statement to the Telegraph.
Speaking to IBTimes UK last week, London-based Global Bitcoin ATM said the machine was being updated before shipping.
"We are waiting [for] word from the manufacturer as the machine is going through compliance and some updates before shipping. Should have more information in the next few days," the company said on 13 February.C. S. Lewis on Inerrancy, Inspiration, and Historicity of Scripture A Letter from C. S. Lewis to Corbin Carnell, dated April 4, 1953 Dear Mr. Carnell: I am myself a little uneasy about the question you raise: there seems to be an almost equal objection to the position taken up in my footnote and to its alternative of attributing the same kind and degree of historicity to all books of the Bible. You see, the question about Jonah and the great fish does not turn simply on intrinsic probability. The point is that the whole Book of Jonah has to me the air of being a moral romance, a quite different kind of thing from, say, the account of King David or the New Testament narratives, not pegged, like them, into any historical situation. In what sense does the Bible "present" the Jonah story "as historical"? Of course it doesn’t say, "This is fiction," but then neither does our Lord say that the Unjust Judge, Good Samaritan, or Prodigal Son are fiction (I would put Esther in the same category as Jonah for the same reason). How does a denial, a doubt, of their historicity lead logically to a similar denial of New Testament miracles? Supposing (as I think is the case), that sound critical reading revealed different kinds of narrative in the Bible, surely it would be illogical to suppose that these different kinds should all be read in the same way? This is not a "rationalistic approach" to miracles. Where I doubt the historicity of an Old Testament narrative I never do so on the ground that the miraculous as such is incredible. Nor does it deny a unique sort of inspiration: allegory, parable, romance, and lyric might be inspired as well as chronicle. I wish I could direct you to a good book on the subject, but I don’t know one. With all good wishes, yours sincerely, C. S. Lewis From a letter to Clyde S. Kilby, May 7, 1959, from C. S. Lewis Whatever view we hold of the divine authority of Scripture must make room for the following facts: 1. The distinction which St. Paul makes in 1 Cor vii between ouk ego all’ ho kurios [not myself but the Lord] (v. 10) and ego lego oux ho kurios [I myself say, not the Lord] (v. 12). 2. The apparent inconsistencies between the genealogies in Matt. i and Luke ii; with the accounts of the death of Judas in Matt. xxvii 5 and Acts i 18-19. 3. St. Luke’s own account of how he obtained his matter (i 1-4). 4. The universally admitted unhistoricity (I do not say, of course, falsity) of at least some of the narratives in Scripture (the parables), which may well also extend to Jonah and Job. 5. If every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights, then all true and edifying writings, whether in Scripture or not, must be in some sense inspired. 6. John xi 49-52 Inspiration may operate in a wicked man without him knowing it, and he can then utter the untruth he intends (propriety of making an innocent man a political scapegoat) as well as the truth he does not intend (the divine sacrifice). It seems to me that 2 and 4 rule out the view that every statement in Scripture must be historical truth. And 1, 3, 5, and 6 rule out the view that inspiration is a single thing in the sense that, if present at all, it is always present in the same mode and the same degree. Therefore, I think, rule out the view that any one passage taken in isolation can be assumed to be inerrant in exactly the same sense as any other: e.g., that the numbers of O.T. armies (which in view of the size of the country, if true, involve continuous miracle) are statistically correct because the story of the Resurrection is historically correct. That the over-all operation of Scripture is to convey God’s Word to the reader (he also needs his inspiration) who reads it in the right spirit, I fully believe. That it also gives true answers to all the questions (often religiously irrelevant) which he might ask, I don’t. The very kind of truth we are often demanding was, in my opinion, not even envisaged by the ancients. - Quoted in Michael J. Christensen, C. S. Lewis on Scripture, Abingdon, 1979, Appendix A. -Dennis Bratcher, Copyright © 2018, Dennis Bratcher, All Rights Reserved
See Copyright and User Information Notice [Note: No copyright claim is made for the original text of this article by C. S. Lewis. However, all other information contained on this page is copyrighted, Copyright © 2018 by Dennis Bratcher and CRI/Voice, Institute.]By Captain Pyke | September 26, 2011 - 9:42 pm
We have to admit that we're big fans of CBS's hit comedy The Big Bang Theory. What makes the show that much more awesome (how else can you describe it?), is the regular occurrence of Star Trek guest stars. I mean, who doesn't love to the see the likes of Wil Wheaton, George Takei, & LeVar Burton on the small screen. Now we can add Brent Spiner to that list. Brent will be appearing along with Sheldon's nemesis "Evil" Wil Wheaton on October 13th.
"Of all the Star Trek characters Sheldon would love the most, we thought Data, the android [who has] trouble fitting in and wants emotions, is pretty close to his heart." Says Big Bang Executive Producer Bill Prady. Apparently there's a party at "Evil" Wil's house and Brent is invited. Sheldon declines the invite, but Leonard can't resist. Bill continues: "Sheldon is very upset with Leonard for going, seeing it as a betrayal to their friendship." But expect some party crashing: "It will be hard for Sheldon to stay away,"
For more info and other Big Bang stars reactions, you can check out the full exclusive preview over at TVGuide.com
(Source TVGuide.com)Polygon is kicking off its best of entertainment series, which will run through the end of December and beginning of January, coming to a close just before the 2017 Golden Globes. These personal essays will examine the best, most important and weirdest moments that occurred in television, film, streaming and YouTube/Twitch in 2017. Each will examine why the author believes that moment to be one of 2017’s most extraordinary. The series will end with Polygon’s Best of TV and Best of Movies pieces.
BoJack Horseman isn’t lovable, but I never stopped rooting for his redemption. BoJack Horseman’s fourth season gave even this narcissistic, loathsome, selfish man that moment. But it came in an episode that, ironically, had little to do with him.
[Warning: The following contains spoilers for BoJack Horseman season 4, episode 11.]
We learn in BoJack’s fourth season that his mother, Beatrice, is suffering from dementia. We see Beatrice’s slow slide into a foggy prison, trapped in the anguished past she fled decades before. We learn about her strenuous relationship with her father, the man who lobotomized her mother and tossed Beatrice’s favorite doll in the fire after a bout of Scarlet Fever, nothing she shouldn’t let her “womanly emotions” get the better of her. We get a peek into the beginning of her relationship with Butterscotch Horseman, BoJack’s father, and how quickly that disintegrated into hate.
In Beatrice’s memories, we came to understand why she was the bitter person seen in prior seasons, why she treats BoJack like dirt and why BoJack carries the enormous chip on his shoulder about the ways in which the world works.
The episode, appropriately titled “Time’s Arrow,” is Beatrice-centric and lets us empathize with one of BoJack Horseman’s most interesting and important characters. The near-tragic history of Beatrice and BoJack’s story, of the toxic father figures in their lives that pushed them to their breaking points, is crucial to one of the episode’s most important scenes at the conclusion. Beatrice pushed BoJack away because he represented all of her failures and all who had pushed her to become someone she hated. BoJack, in turn, pushed his mother away because she reminded him of why he should hate himself.
Beatrice and BoJack’s storylines are intertwined; one can’t be redeemed without acknowledging the pain they’ve inflicted on the other.
The episode ends with BoJack and his mother in a nursing home as he sets her up with a team of doctors and caretakers who can pay attention to her around the clock. Despite his ill feelings toward his mother, BoJack will always love the woman who raised him. Yet the guilt of handing her over to the care of strangers, and admitting his failure to help her, eats away at him. As BoJack stands by a window with his mother in a wheelchair, he visibly struggles with leaving her in a facility outside of Los Angeles, and walking away from her, once and for all.
Then Beatrice has a moment of lucidity. She doesn’t know where she is, but she recognizes BoJack and admits she’s scared. Beatrice wants BoJack to comfort her and, after years of neglected abuse at her hands, he doesn’t know how to do it, but he tries. He lies, telling his mother that she’s at the old Sugarman family house in Michigan. That’s where Beatrice grew up. It was introduced in the series’ second episode.
BoJack then lies to Beatrice about many things — the stars in the sky, the taste of ice cream, anything that might bring her some comfort before she slips back into dementia. And while BoJack is a chronic liar, this time he’s not lying to get something. Beatrice, who was never allowed to have ice cream, cocks her head to the side and admits she can taste it, adding that it’s delicious. That also is a lie.
Beatrice knows she’s lying, and BoJack reckons with lying to his mother just moments before, but this is the only way they know how to give each other comfort. BoJack didn’t have to lie to his mother; he didn’t even need to stay with Beatrice after dropping her off with the clinic doctors. But the fact BoJack gave his mother something she never gave him as a child — attention, comfort and care — delivers his redemption.
I’ve been waiting for BoJack to have his redeeming moment for years. Every time he’s gotten close, he wastes the opportunity on an act of selfish desire. Like, attempting to sleep with his ex-girlfriend’s daughter. Or getting loaded with his former cast member and friend from Horsin’ Around, Sara Lynn, right up until she dies from an overdose. BoJack desperately wants to be good and do the right thing, but he’s never proven capable of it. He consistently makes the wrong decision out of fear of facing his true self.
In this episode, however, BoJack does the right thing — and it hurts him. It pains BoJack to watch his mother deteriorate. It anguishes him try to reconcile the conflicts in their relationship and be a better son to her than she was was a mother to him. But ultimately, he does, and that’s what makes BoJack’s arc so emotionally fulfilling and therapeutic.
When BoJack Horseman’s fourth season debuted earlier this year, I wrote:
For all of BoJack’s worst qualities, he was never dishonest about his true self. BoJack is the first person to admit his flaws and, what makes his tale even sadder, is that he wants to change but can’t figure out how to do so. That’s what makes us want to root for him to survive, and to win — there is a little piece of BoJack in all of us. He confronts the self-realizations that we might be too scared to do ourselves.
For the first time since the show debuted in 2014, it feels like rooting for BoJack is going to pay off. I finally have real hope for BoJack’s future.Turner Sports reporter Craig Sager said his cancer is no longer in remission.
This is the third time Sager has battled leukemia since he was first diagnosed with the disease in 2014.
Craig Sager's leukemia is no longer in remission. "I still have to fight it, and I still have a lot of work to do," Sager said. AP Photo/David Banks
In an interview that will air Tuesday on HBO's "Real Sports," Sager concedes he has a tough road ahead.
"I've already had two stem-cell transplants. Very rarely does somebody have a third," Sager said in an excerpt of the interview posted online. "So I have to maintain my strength, so I can go through this."
Sager previously received bone-marrow and stem-cell transplants from his son, Craig. He plans to continue his fight.
"Still kicking, still fighting. I haven't won the battle. It's not over yet, but I haven't lost it either," Sager told HBO. "There have been some victories and some setbacks. I still have to fight it, and I still have a lot of work to do."
Sager, 64, primarily works on Turner's broadcasts of the NBA and NCAA tournament. He has become a well-known fixture, thanks to his years of experience and colorful suits.
Despite the news, Sager is still scheduled to be part of Turner's "NBA on TNT" broadcasts through April, according to Yahoo! Sports.A New Hampshire lawyer associated with an anti-gay Christian defense group was arrested on federal child pornography charges after allegedly taking a teenager to Canada where she reportedly convinced the girl to engage in sexual activity and let it be filmed.
Lisa Biron, a Manchester, N.H., lawyer associated with the Christian litigation group, Alliance Defending Freedom, was arrested by FBI agents on Friday morning on charges of transportation with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, possession of child pornography and five counts of sexual exploitation of children, according to the Concord Monitor.
Federal prosecutors said Biron transported a teen girl from Manchester to Ontario, Canada, on May 25 and coerced her into engaging in sexual acts with another person that were then recorded, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.
According to the Concord Monitor, prosecutor Helen Fitzgibbon made the case for Biron to be held without bond because other juveniles have been subjected to Biron’s sexual activity and drug use; witnesses have testified to seeing Biron in possession of ecstasy, marijuana and cocaine; and Biron texted a friend saying she may flee to Cuba.
Police had been investigating Biron since Sept. 29 after receiving a tip she had child pornography on her computer, according to the Union Leader.
She was first arrested in Manchester last month on charges of possessing child pornography, according to Boston.com. Police said the videos and photos on Biron's computer depicted a teen girl. Federal authorities were alerted when police determined the porn was manufactured out of state.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, the anti-gay group Biron is associated with, is "a group of reactionary Christian attorneys lawyers pressing litigation to curb reproductive rights and block the freedom to marry," according to Queerty.
ADF was founded in 1994 by more than 30 prominent Christian leaders, including Focus on the Family’s James Dobson and American Family Association’s Donald Wildmon, among others, Queerty reports. The group has been fighting against gay rights for over 18 years.
ADR recently made news for sending a memo to state officials in Maine, Maryland, and Washington, urging them to discriminate against gay couples by refusing to grant marriage licenses, Think Progress previously reported.It’s a sunny day in early November in southern Wyoming, but the wind is blowing so hard that opening a car door is a chore. Signs on the interstate warn of gusts topping 70 miles per hour, and semi trucks have pulled over all along I-80. It’s difficult to hear a word Bill Miller says as he steps out of his truck at the top of a rise on the Overland Trail Ranch to describe the development taking place on the expanse below him.
Of course, that fierce wind is exactly what makes this pocket of the West so desirable for that development. The Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project is slated to become the largest wind farm in the United States once it’s up and running. And it’s causing some in Wyoming – a state whose economy has been devastated by the decline of its bedrock fossil fuel industries – to rethink their attitude toward renewable energy.
The 3,000-megawatt project near Rawlins is emblematic of a growing industry that is hitting its stride, and is fueled less by ideology than by economics. Gone are the days when wind power advocacy fell exclusively to liberals and environmental advocates. As the economics of wind power have become more viable, many staunch conservatives have come to view the industry as a fiscally responsible component of a diverse energy future. The Chokecherry and Sierra Madre project is bankrolled by Philip Anschutz, a Denver billionaire who made much of his fortune in the fossil fuel industry, is a major Republican donor, and is hardly a poster child for renewable-energy idealism.
Amanda Paulson/The Christian Science Monitor Bill Miller stands at the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project, just outside Rawlins, Wyo., where he is overseeing construction of what is slated to be the largest wind farm in the United States.
“We’re in the resource business,” says Mr. Miller, a native Wyomingite with a trim grey beard who grew up on a ranch and has worked for The Anschutz Corporation for 37 years, mostly on oil and gas projects. He now runs both the Power Company of Wyoming and the TransWest Express Transmission Project, the two Anschutz subsidiaries behind the wind farm and the transmission line that will carry its electricity from the expanses of Wyoming to urban California and the desert Southwest. “I try to ignore the political, ignore the policy, and think about it from an economic point of view.”
Anschutz already owned the 500-square-mile working cattle ranch where the new wind farm is being built, and as Miller drives its bumpy roads, up to a plateau overlooking the site, with Elk Mountain rising in the distance, he points to the primary reason this project made sense: “This is, without exception, the best wind resource anywhere in the US.”
For a state with such strong winds, Wyoming has actually been slow to enter the wind market. That honor goes to the Plains states like Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Many of those states – which are generally conservative, and supported Donald Trump in 2016 – generate a significant portion of their power from wind.
When Kansas legislators voted two years ago to do away with its renewable portfolio standard mandating that 20 percent of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2020, it was largely a symbolic action; more than 20 percent of Kansas’s power already came from wind energy by 2014. Today, about 30 percent of its electricity generation comes from wind.
“A combination of the [federal] tax credit and improving technology has made wind very cost effective,” says John Nielsen, clean energy program director at Western Resource Advocates in Boulder, Colo. One of the biggest barriers to development has been a lack of transmission and an antiquated grid system, but Mr. Nielsen and others say that once there’s more regional connectivity, wind can become an even larger player.
One key driver for the spike in wind has been the growing demand from companies and states looking for cleaner energy and climate solutions. That ideologically driven investment has propelled the industry toward an economy of scale that appeals to fiscal conservatives.
“In a lot of these more conservative states the driver is the economics,” says Nielsen. “Ten years ago, the barrier to renewables was that they were more costly. Now, the barrier to really large-scale penetration is the existing system, that it’s not as flexible as it could be to integrate these resources.”
Economic sense
Wyoming, despite its fierce winds, ranks 15th in wind capacity among US states. That’s a result of several factors: a lack of adequate transmission lines, particularly given that coal plants generally have the right of first transmission; ambivalence from residents who worry about the effect on treasured views or on the state’s iconic eagles; and marked antipathy from some Wyomingites who see wind as a threat to the coal, natural gas, and oil that have |
with the Gulf state.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L), Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (C) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) in Sochi, Russia, May 3, 2017. (TRT World and Agencies)
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Monday called for dialogue and compromise in the Qatar crisis.
"The presidents called on all the interested sides for a dialogue in order to work out compromise decisions in the interest of preserving peace and stability in the Gulf region," the Kremlin said.
Presidential Spokesperson Kaln: GCC Members Ought to Resolve Their Disputes through Dialogue https://t.co/cg6X7j4eX2 — Turkish Presidency (@trpresidency) June 5, 2017
Erdogan also spoke by phone with the leaders of Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on lowering tension, Turkish presidential sources said.
"The importance of regional peace and stability was underlined in the talks, as well as the importance of focusing on the path of diplomacy and dialogue to lower the current tension," the sources said.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen's internationally recognised government severed ties with Qatar on Monday over its alleged support of terrorism, and accusations of meddling in its Gulf neighbours' affairs.
Qatar denies the accusations, saying the measures were "unjustified and based on false claims and assumptions."
Source: ReutersOprah shared a big announcement at the Starbucks shareholders' meeting on Wednesday: She has collaborated with Starbucks and the tea experts at Teavana to create her own signature chai blend.
Teavana Oprah Chai will be sold in Starbucks and Teavana stores across the U.S. and Canada beginning April 29, with a portion of the proceeds donated to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation to benefit educational opportunities for youth. The tea is described as a bold infusion of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and cloves, blended with loose-leaf black tea and rooibos. Arriving at the perfect chi blend was a process -- one captured in the above behind-the-scenes videos of Oprah's visit to Starbucks headquarters in Seattle.
"I was a little nervous coming in today," Oprah admits in the video. "I woke up at 2:16 this morning thinking about choosing the best tea that would satisfy me and also satisfy all of our customers."
Standing at a table lined with different spices, Oprah begins the process of selecting the tea's flavor profile. Along with Teavana's director of tea development, Naoko Tsunoda, Oprah first gets a handle on the available spices, which include black pepper, chicory, cardamom, cloves, ginger and red rooibos, among many others.
"I like things really spicy," Oprah says. "I like things chai'd up."
As she smells and tastes the various blends of tea, Oprah hones in on the flavors she likes. One is "not robust enough," another is "more enticing."
"As this process was going on and on, I could tell that [the] tea needed to be a little more robust and fuller-bodied, because it was a little too soft," Oprah says. "I was thinking it needed a little more ginger and a little more pepper… I like things that have a little kick to them."David P. Goldman writes that the current attacks on former Breitbart Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon are an expression of rage from the “defeated and humiliated elites” who cast their lot with losing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
From PJ Media:
All the existential rage of the defeated and humiliated elites is now focused against Steve Bannon, the architect of Trump’s victory, the media genius who won the battle with less than a fifth of the financial resources at Hillary Clinton’s disposal.
I know Steve Bannon, and have had several long discussions with him about politics. Steve is fervently pro-Israel, and it is utterly ridiculous to suggest that he is anti-Semitic. Other observant Jews who know Bannon, for example Joel Pollak, attest to his support for Israel and friendship for the Jewish people.
All we have learned from the sewage-storm directed at Bannon is that the Establishment plays dirty and that the formerly Republican #NeverTrumpers aren’t just misguided ideologues, but also yellow-bellied, gutter-crawling, backstabbing, bushwacking liars. Hell hath no fury like a self-designated elite scorned.
They hate Steve Bannon because he beat them fair and square on the battlefield of social media. He is the President-elect’s most effective general. Trump’s enemies can’t reverse the results of a national election, but they can try to cut the incoming president off from his popular base.
Read the rest of the article here.Image copyright PA
New rules on how long EU jobseekers will have to wait to claim benefits are to be brought in early, No 10 has said.
The change to a three-month wait before EU citizens can apply for UK out-of-work benefits is being rushed through Parliament to start on 1 January.
It coincides with the date people from both Romania and Bulgaria will be able to work in the UK without restrictions.
David Cameron said the move sent a "clear message", but Labour said it had been left to the "very last minute".
'Phantom measures'
But critics say EU rules already mean residents of one country are not expected to claim benefits in another for their first three months there.
Jonathan Portes, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, said the government was bringing in "phantom measures to combat a phantom problem".
Measures to restrict so-called benefit tourism - backed by the Liberal Democrats - were announced last month amid concerns about a possible influx of Romanians and Bulgarians when they gain full rights to work in the UK at the start of 2014.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith: "We are saying to people, benefit tourism is out"
It is not known how many will come. There are currently more than 100,000 working in the country.
Under regulations being tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, migrants from all EU states will have to wait for three months before applying for Jobseeker's Allowance and other out-of-work benefits.
'Direct action'
When the new restriction was announced, Downing Street said it was unlikely it would be in place in time for the 1 January deadline - when transitional controls on Bulgaria and Romanian workers in place since 2007 expire.
I want to send the clear message that whilst Britain is very much open for business, we will not welcome people who don't want to contribute David Cameron
But it is now being pushed through Parliament before it rises for the Christmas recess on Thursday to enable that to happen.
Mr Cameron said the government was acting on public concerns that some migrants from across the EU were coming to the UK to take advantage of the welfare system and public services like the NHS.
"As part of our long-term plan for the economy, we are taking direct action to fix the welfare and immigration systems so we will end the something-for-nothing culture and deliver for people who play by the rules," he said.
"Accelerating the start of these new restrictions will make the UK a less attractive place for EU migrants who want to come here and try to live off the state.
"I want to send the clear message that, whilst Britain is very much open for business, we will not welcome people who don't want to contribute."
'Chaotic'
EU rules allow benefit recipients to receive payments from their home country for three months when they move.
Those wishing to do so have to fill out a form authorising the "export" of their benefits. However those staying longer than three months in another country without finding a job or getting an extension will lose their entitlements.
Mr Portes told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the government had not released figures showing the number of immigrants claiming UK benefits during their first three months in the country.
He said: "It's possible it will undermine their case or that they're not interested - that they don't really care if the policy has an impact at all and they just want something to announce. It's one or the other."
Mr Portes also said: "It's a bit of a mystery. A number of people have described these measures as phantom measures to combat a phantom problem. That seems to me to be about right."
For Labour, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said she had called for the changes to be put in place nine months ago but they were being introduced in a "chaotic" fashion.
"David Cameron has left it until the very last minute to squeeze this change in," she said.
Other changes announced by the prime minister last month included:
Only those who can provide compelling evidence that they have a genuine chance of finding work being allowed to continue claiming benefits after six months.
Beefing up the "habitual residence" eligibility test for claimants
Preventing people who have been removed for begging or sleeping rough from returning for 12 months
Increasing fines for businesses found not to be paying the national minimum wage
UK ministers have declined to say how many people they expect to come to the UK following the lifting of controls but Bulgarian officials say they expect about 8,000 of their citizens to make the move every year.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Shadow immigration minster David Hanson says the government needs to "do more" to tackle issues with migrant workers
Pressure group MigrationWatch UK says the figure will be much higher and it expects 50,000 people to come from Bulgaria and Romania each year for the next five years.
Bulgarians and Romanians in self-employed jobs and those employed in certain sectors such as agriculture and food manufacturing have been able to live and work in the UK for the past six years.
Transitional arrangements in other EU countries will also come to an end on 1 January.
UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage urged Mr Cameron to bring up the issue at this week's Brussels summit of EU leaders, calling it the "last chance for the prime minister to act on Bulgarian and Romanian immigration into the UK".
He added: "He must tell fellow EU leaders that the UK will not unconditionally open its border to Bulgaria and Romania on 1 January."
A YouGov survey for the Sun newspaper on Wednesday suggested that 42% of people thought it was of "utmost importance" for the prime minister to limit immigration from EU countries.
Some 43% of the more than 2,600 people polled said they would vote to leave the EU if a referendum was held now - 37% said no.
But more than half said they would vote against leaving the EU if Mr Cameron secured a major renegotiation of the UK's relationship with Brussels.In the Event of the Islamic State’s Untimely Demise…
The power of the Islamic State is waning. With its loss of Ramadi and Palmyra over the past several months, and the steady advance of U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in northern Syria and Iraq, the group is shedding territory. It is also losing recruits to casualties and desertions, as its finances are being squeezed by coalition strikes on bulk cash storage sites and oil refineries. Meanwhile, the coalition campaign to eliminate high-value battlefield targets is succeeding.
Yet, defeat does not appear imminent. The Islamic State still controls key territory, including Raqqa, the capital of its caliphate; the Iraqi city of Mosul and large swaths of territory in the surrounding Nineveh province; and hardscrabble Sunni enclaves in Anbar province, such as Fallujah, Hit, and Haditha. Furthermore, though the coalition has deprived the Islamic State of hundreds of millions of dollars, it is likely to find new, creative ways to replenish its diminishing war chest.
For Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, surrender is out of the question. And given the Islamic State leadership’s horrific behavior and stated objective of establishing a caliphate governed by sharia, a negotiated settlement is a non-starter. In the past, insurgencies that have come to an end in this way featured moderate leaders, insurgents open to compromise, and governments willing to accept insurgents as legitimate negotiating partners. The Islamic State and its opponents share none of these attributes.
That’s why, if they haven’t already, the Islamic State’s leaders in Raqqa will soon formulate a contingency strategy — a “Plan B” that the West will then be forced to contend with. Here are some of the options they may be considering.
Going underground
Like successful insurgencies of the past, one option for the Islamic State could be establishing a shadow network of governance and taking the fight underground. Such a network could resemble what the Taliban has already created in Afghanistan — a system where shadow governors rule in sharia courts and often become the preferred method of justice over officials of the Afghan state. This form of governance, in turn, grants the group legitimacy among certain segments of the population.
While this option may be compelling for some in the Islamic State, the group’s foreign fighters would not easily survive underground, especially the thousands from Western countries. Even those European nationals of Moroccan or Algerian origin would stand out among native populations, which may be why many of them — including an estimated 20 to 30 percent of the European nationals who went to Syria to fight — reportedly have returned home. Non-European foreign fighters may join other jihadi groups, including Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria.
On the other hand, it will likely be a long time, if ever, before either Syria or Iraq has stood up effective intelligence and police institutions capable of identifying and capturing underground resistance fighters. And if the local Sunni populations view the armies that defeat the Islamic State as Shiite or Alawite oppressors, the jihadis may still find a sympathetic audience. But the Islamic State’s Sunni victims could just as easily turn on their former Islamic State oppressors, seeking revenge for the savagery inflicted upon them.
Relocation
Alternately, the Islamic State’s leaders could flee to another jihadi stronghold, like Libya. While in the short term, this relocation would be a blow to the militant group’s credibility since the caliphate narrative has been carefully cultivated, a strategic change of venue could prolong the group’s survival.
The Islamic State would still have to battle Libya’s disparate tribal militias in order to carve out its own space. It could see this as a worthwhile gamble, betting that President Barack Obama’s administration (and its successor) will prefer to avoid opening yet another military front in the ongoing global war on terror.
But moving the Islamic State’s central leadership to Libya would be risky. It would signal retreat to the group’s supporters. It would also give up the group’s claim on Syria, which is closely linked with apocalyptic prophesies about fighting in al-Sham, including the northern town of Dabiq, where the jihadis believe the final battle of good versus evil will occur.
Robbed of its territory in the heart of the Middle East, the Islamic State would no longer be a unified state with a caliphate based in Iraq and Syria. Instead, it would resemble an archipelago of affiliates and offshoots spread across the region, from the Levant to North Africa. But it can remain a state of mind. It would be a mistake to assume that a geographically dispersed Islamic State would not be able to maintain the loyalty of its fighters.
Escalation
The Islamic State’s Plan B might also include a desperate attack to demoralize and distract its foes. The options could include throwing everything into an all-out military offensive, like Nazi Germany’s Ardennes offensive, which led to the Battle of Bulge in 1944, or the Tet offensive in 1968, which both devastated the Viet Cong and shattered America’s political will.
An all-out attack by the Islamic State could involve the assassination of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a campaign of terrorism in Baghdad or Damascus, or a spectacular attack designed to draw the United States or Europe further into the war, thereby changing the dynamics of the conflict.
Baghdadi might also consider a major assault on Mecca or Riyadh, a capstone to the series of attacks he has recently ordered in Saudi Arabia. To demonstrate to the group’s followers that the caliphate remains a potent force and its organization is still virulent, Plan B might also include efforts to destabilize Jordan or Lebanon, an attack against Israel, or a campaign in the northern Caucasus to punish Moscow for its involvement in Syria.
The military costs of such an attack would be significant, but it could change the dynamics of the conflict. A desperate offensive could cost the Islamic State’s leaders in Raqqa a significant portion of their fighters. But it would remind the world — and potential recruits — that the Islamic State remains a force to be reckoned with.
Avoiding the fate of al Qaeda
Whatever happens to the Islamic State, few doubt that it will remain a powerful psychological force. But if its fighters scatter abroad, we may see a replay of al Qaeda’s fragmentation, where key operatives scattered to Yemen, North Africa, Syria, and Iraq after Taliban rule collapsed in Afghanistan. This atomization considerably reduced the viability of the core al Qaeda in Pakistan, while injecting new life into its affiliates abroad.
This would be undesirable for Baghdadi. It could render him a distant voice in an undisclosed location, exhorting others to fight, like al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri — a theoretical commander that Baghdadi himself has ignored.
Various splinters of al Qaeda and the Islamic State, despite their rivalry, could also conceivably fuse together, while allowing others to remain separate entities. A fractured Islamic State could end up reinforcing existing terrorist groups, like al-Shabab in Africa or Salafi groups in the Sinai, as shock troops in their own more parochial conflicts.
From the Horn of Africa to South Asia, there are already numerous examples of jihadis and factions of jihadi groups migrating away from al Qaeda and toward the Islamic State. In October 2014, six high-ranking members of the Pakistani Taliban declared their loyalty to the Islamic State. A year later, a prominent faction of al-Shabab led by Abdul Qadir Mumin did the same. Ultimately, there are more similarities than differences between the Islamic State and al Qaeda, especially where ideology is concerned.
Can the Islamic State, which subsists on plunder, survive financially without territory? Will wealthy donors from the Gulf — hardcore proponents of Wahhabism and Salafism — play a bigger role in the group? These are two of the trickier questions, especially as the Islamic State has largely eschewed external state sponsorship and wealthy donors. But without territorial control, its ability to extort funds from those under its authority decreases substantially. Criminal activity in the form of kidnapping for ransom, robbery, smuggling, and trafficking would likely be less lucrative.
Best-laid plans often go awry
As the Islamic State’s caliphate crumbles, its leadership will likely be concerned with protecting itself, improving plummeting morale, and drawing recruits while maintaining its market share of the jihadi universe. But as the chief executive officer of any corporation knows, when a company is about to be acquired or merged with another entity, the internal atmosphere can grow desperate. Individuals abandon a teamwork ethos to focus on individual survival.
So it may be with the Islamic State. Baghdadi may have his preferred plan, but all may not agree. The rank and file may be making individual calculations. After all, the Islamic State was borne of the split within al Qaeda — its leaders were never keen to take direction from those they disagreed with, especially on matters of tactics or strategy.
Whichever course of action the Islamic State pursues, its Plan B is likely a closely guarded secret. This, in and of itself, could breed further mistrust among the rank and file, given recent leaks of a list of names of Islamic State fighters. That could make its leadership more paranoid than ever.
There also may be differences of opinion at the top. Baghdadi’s lieutenants could turn on him. It’s hard to maintain loyalty and impose discipline while losing.
Whether the group goes underground, relocates to another area, or stages a series of spectacular attacks, the United States and its allies must be prepared to counter it at every turn. The West should have no illusion that the Islamic State will simply slump into defeat. Instead, it must focus on thwarting the group’s Plan B.
Photo Credit: Anadolu/ContributorWhen I was a toddler, my parents introduced me to music-making through a cheap plastic recorder. Later came a secondhand violin and the tireless efforts of my school’s choir teacher. It was all fun, even if I found it so hard to learn violin the “traditional” way. All I could produce for ages was a horrid squeaking.
I’ve nevertheless loved music ever since, and happily my two children seem to have inherited the same passion. Nowadays there’s a technological trick for getting them to play music, one that gives them the different sounds that an orchestra of instruments can make: smartphones and tablets.
Hence my 2-year-old and 4-year-old are your part-time reviewers this week.
The first and obvious candidate is Apple’s $5 GarageBand app for iPad and iPhone. It’s powerful and can deliver a rich musical output. You can also record your playing, and there are lessons for playing guitar and so on. But it is complex and probably best suited to older children. My two toddlers do love the realistic drums section for the din they can create, but it takes a lot of supervision to keep them from activating a menu function they can’t operate themselves.
A simpler app you may like to try is the free iOS app Music Sparkles, which has a cartoony interface with big buttons for children’s fingers. The xylophone and drums section are free, but you must pay (through the app) to unlock an assortment of other instruments, including saxophone and pan pipes. The cartoonish playable instruments sound good and there’s the option to have simple backing music from drums, piano and other instruments. There’s even a section that has interactive musical notation with voices singing the musical scale. If you are a musical expert you may doubt its educational value, but it’s definitely a fun way to introduce children to the idea of making music. My one complaint is that it is easy (and tempting) for children to tap on the “locked” instruments that you have to buy before playing.
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Simpler still is the $1 iPad and iPhone app Keys Kids Play, which is even more cartoony — backing tracks are activated by tapping on a picture of a sleeping animal, for example. It’s very cute and my 2-year-old loved the animal aspect of it. Both children enjoyed the range of sounds they could make, and they adored the weird alien segment, where tapping on parts of a U.F.O. activates a host of strange music sounds and percussive noises.This article is about the U.S. state of Ohio. For the river, see Ohio River. For other uses, see Ohio (disambiguation)
State of the United States of America
Ohio () is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Of the fifty states, it is the 34th largest by area, the seventh most populous, and the tenth most densely populated. The state's capital and largest city is Columbus.
The state takes its name from the Ohio River, whose name in turn originated from the Seneca word ohiːyo', meaning "good river", "great river" or "large creek".[15][16][17] Partitioned from the Northwest Territory, Ohio was the 17th state admitted to the Union on March 1, 1803, and the first under the Northwest Ordinance.[12][18] Ohio is historically known as the "Buckeye State" after its Ohio buckeye trees, and Ohioans are also known as "Buckeyes".[8]
Ohio rose from the wilderness of Ohio Country west of Appalachia in colonial times through the Northwest Indian Wars as part of the Northwest Territory in the early frontier, to become the first non-colonial free state admitted to the union, to an industrial powerhouse in the 20th century before transmogrifying to a more information and service based economy in the 21st.
The government of Ohio is composed of the executive branch, led by the Governor; the legislative branch, which comprises the bicameral Ohio General Assembly; and the judicial branch, led by the state Supreme Court. Ohio occupies 16 seats in the United States House of Representatives.[19] Ohio is known for its status as both a swing state and a bellwether in national elections.[20] Six Presidents of the United States have been elected who had Ohio as their home state.
Ohio is an industrial state, ranking 8th out of 50 states in GDP (2015), and is the second largest producer of automobiles behind Michigan.
Geography
Ohio's geographic location has proven to be an asset for economic growth and expansion. Because Ohio links the Northeast to the Midwest, much cargo and business traffic passes through its borders along its well-developed highways. Ohio has the nation's 10th largest highway network and is within a one-day drive of 50% of North America's population and 70% of North America's manufacturing capacity.[21] To the north, Lake Erie gives Ohio 312 miles (502 km) of coastline,[22] which allows for numerous cargo ports. Ohio's southern border is defined by the Ohio River (with the border being at the 1792 low-water mark on the north side of the river),[23] and much of the northern border is defined by Lake Erie. Ohio's neighbors are Pennsylvania to the east, Michigan to the northwest, Lake Erie to the north, Indiana to the west, Kentucky on the south, and West Virginia on the southeast. Ohio's borders were defined by metes and bounds in the Enabling Act of 1802 as follows:
Bounded on the east by the Pennsylvania line, on the south by the Ohio River, to the mouth of the Great Miami River, on the west by the line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami aforesaid, and on the north by an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east after intersecting the due north line aforesaid, from the mouth of the Great Miami until it shall intersect Lake Erie or the territorial line, and thence with the same through Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line aforesaid.
Ohio is bounded by the Ohio River, but nearly all of the river itself belongs to Kentucky and West Virginia. In 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court held that, based on the wording of the cessation of territory by Virginia (which at that time included what is now Kentucky and West Virginia), the boundary between Ohio and Kentucky (and, by implication, West Virginia) is the northern low-water mark of the river as it existed in 1792.[23] Ohio has only that portion of the river between the river's 1792 low-water mark and the present high-water mark.
The border with Michigan has also changed, as a result of the Toledo War, to angle slightly northeast to the north shore of the mouth of the Maumee River.
Much of Ohio features glaciated till plains, with an exceptionally flat area in the northwest being known as the Great Black Swamp. This glaciated region in the northwest and central state is bordered to the east and southeast first by a belt known as the glaciated Allegheny Plateau, and then by another belt known as the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau. Most of Ohio is of low relief, but the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau features rugged hills and forests.
Physical geography of Ohio.
The rugged southeastern quadrant of Ohio, stretching in an outward bow-like arc along the Ohio River from the West Virginia Panhandle to the outskirts of Cincinnati, forms a distinct socio-economic unit. Geologically similar to parts of West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania, this area's coal mining legacy, dependence on small pockets of old manufacturing establishments, and distinctive regional dialect set this section off from the rest of the state. In 1965 the United States Congress passed the Appalachian Regional Development Act, an attempt to "address the persistent poverty and growing economic despair of the Appalachian Region."[24] This act defines 29 Ohio counties as part of Appalachia.[25] While 1/3 of Ohio's land mass is part of the federally defined Appalachian region, only 12.8% of Ohioans live there (1.476 million people.)[26]
Map of Ohio
Significant rivers within the state include the Cuyahoga River, Great Miami River, Maumee River, Muskingum River, and Scioto River. The rivers in the northern part of the state drain into the northern Atlantic Ocean via Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence River, and the rivers in the southern part of the state drain into the Gulf of Mexico via the Ohio River and then the Mississippi.
The worst weather disaster in Ohio history occurred along the Great Miami River in 1913. Known as the Great Dayton Flood, the entire Miami River watershed flooded, including the downtown business district of Dayton. As a result, the Miami Conservancy District was created as the first major flood plain engineering project in Ohio and the United States.[27]
Grand Lake St. Marys in the west-central part of the state was constructed as a supply of water for canals in the canal-building era of 1820–1850. For many years this body of water, over 20 square miles (52 km2), was the largest artificial lake in the world. Ohio's canal-building projects were not the economic fiasco that similar efforts were in other states. Some cities, such as Dayton, owe their industrial emergence to location on canals, and as late as 1910 interior canals carried much of the bulk freight of the state.
Climate
Köppen climate types in Ohio now showing majority as humid subtropical.
The climate of Ohio is a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa/Dfb) throughout most of the state, except in the extreme southern counties of Ohio's Bluegrass region section, which are located on the northern periphery of the humid subtropical climate (Cfa) and Upland South region of the United States. Summers are typically hot and humid throughout the state, while winters generally range from cool to cold. Precipitation in Ohio is moderate year-round. Severe weather is not uncommon in the state, although there are typically fewer tornado reports in Ohio than in states located in what is known as the Tornado Alley. Severe lake effect snowstorms are also not uncommon on the southeast shore of Lake Erie, which is located in an area designated as the Snowbelt.
Although predominantly not in a subtropical climate, some warmer-climate flora and fauna do reach well into Ohio. For instance, some trees with more southern ranges, such as the blackjack oak, Quercus marilandica, are found at their northernmost in Ohio just north of the Ohio River. Also evidencing this climatic transition from a subtropical to continental climate, several plants such as the Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), Albizia julibrissin (mimosa), Crape Myrtle, and even the occasional needle palm are hardy landscape materials regularly used as street, yard, and garden plantings in the Bluegrass region of Ohio; but these same plants will simply not thrive in much of the rest of the state. This interesting change may be observed while traveling through Ohio on Interstate 75 from Cincinnati to Toledo; the observant traveler of this diverse state may even catch a glimpse of Cincinnati's common wall lizard, one of the few examples of permanent "subtropical" fauna in Ohio.
Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for selected cities in Ohio[28] Location Region July (°F) July (°C) January (°F) January (°C) Athens Appalachian 85/61 29/16 40/21 4/–6 Canton Northeast 82/62 28/16 33/19 1/–7 Cincinnati Southwest 86/66 30/19 39/23 3/–5 Cleveland Northeast 82/64 28/18 34/21 1/–5 Columbus Central 85/65 29/18 36/22 2/–5 Dayton Miami Valley 87/67 31/19 36/22 2/–5 Toledo Northwest 84/62 29/17 32/18 0/–7
Records
The highest recorded temperature was 113 °F (45 °C), near Gallipolis on July 21, 1934.[29] The lowest recorded temperature was −39 °F (−39 °C), at Milligan on February 10, 1899,[30] during the Great Blizzard of 1899.[31]
Earthquakes
Although few have registered as noticeable to the average resident, more than 30 earthquakes occurred in Ohio between 2002 and 2007, and more than 200 quakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or higher have occurred since 1776.[32]
The most substantial known earthquake in Ohio history was the Anna (Shelby County) earthquake,[33] which occurred on March 9, 1937. It was centered in western Ohio, and had a magnitude of 5.4, and was of intensity VIII.[34]
Other significant earthquakes in Ohio include:[35] one of magnitude 4.8 near Lima on September 19, 1884;[36] one of magnitude 4.2 near Portsmouth on May 17, 1901;[37] and one of 5.0 in LeRoy Township in Lake County on January 31, 1986, which continued to trigger 13 aftershocks of magnitude 0.5 to 2.4 for two months.[38][39]
The most recent earthquake in Ohio of any appreciable magnitude occurred on December 31, 2011, at 3:05pm EST. It had a magnitude of 4.0, and its epicenter was located approximately 4 kilometres northwest of Youngstown ( ), near the Trumbull/Mahoning county border.[40]
The Ohio Seismic Network (OhioSeis), a group of seismograph stations at several colleges, universities, and other institutions, and coordinated by the Division of Geological Survey of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources,[41] maintains an extensive catalog of Ohio earthquakes from 1776 to the present day, as well as earthquakes located in other states whose effects were felt in Ohio.[42]
Major cities
Columbus (home of The Ohio State University, Franklin University, Capital University, and Ohio Dominican University) is the capital of Ohio, near the geographic center of the state.
Other Ohio cities functioning as centers of United States metropolitan areas include:
The Cincinnati metropolitan area extends into Kentucky and Indiana, the Steubenville metropolitan area extends into West Virginia, The Toledo metropolitan area extends into Michigan, and the Youngstown metropolitan area extends into Pennsylvania.
Ohio cities that function as centers of United States micropolitan areas include:
History
Native Americans
Archeological evidence of spear points of both the Folsom and Clovis types indicate that the Ohio Valley was inhabited by nomadic people as early as 13,000 BC.[44] These early nomads disappeared from Ohio by 1,000 BC.[44] Between 1,000 and 800 BC, the sedentary Adena culture emerged. The Adena were able to establish "semi-permanent" villages because they domesticated plants, including, sunflowers, and "grew squash and possibly corn"; with hunting and gathering, this cultivation supported more settled, complex villages.[45] The most notable remnant of the Adena culture is the Great Serpent Mound, located in Adams County, Ohio.[45]
Around 100 BC, the Adena evolved into the Hopewell people who were also mound builders. Their complex, large and technologically sophisticated earthworks can be found in modern-day Marietta, Newark, and Circleville.[46] They were also a prolific trading society, with a trading network that spanned a third of the continent.[47] The Hopewell disappeared from the Ohio Valley about 600 AD. The Mississippian Culture rose as the Hopewell Culture declined. Many Siouan-speaking peoples from the plains & east coast claim them as ancestors & say they lived throughout the Ohio region until approx. the 13th century.[48]
There were three other cultures contemporaneous with the Mississippians: the Fort Ancient people, the Whittlesey Focus people [48] & the Monongahela Culture.[49] All three cultures disappeared in the 17th century. Their origins are unknown. It is generally believed[weasel words] that the Shawnees may have[weasel words] absorbed the Fort Ancient people.[48] It's also possible[weasel words] that the Monongahela held no land in Ohio during the Colonial Era. The Mississippian Culture were close to and traded extensively with the Fort Ancient people.
Indians in the Ohio Valley were greatly affected[how?] by the aggressive tactics of the Iroquois Confederation, based in central and western New York.[50] After the Beaver Wars in the mid-17th century, the Iroquois claimed much of the Ohio country as hunting and, more importantly, beaver-trapping ground. After the devastation of epidemics and war in the mid-17th century, which largely emptied the Ohio country of indigenous people[dubious – discuss] by the mid-to-late 17th century, the land gradually became repopulated by the mostly Algonquian. Many of these Ohio-country nations were multi-ethnic (sometimes multi-linguistic) societies born out of the earlier devastation brought about by disease,[clarification needed] war, and subsequent social instability. They subsisted on agriculture (corn, sunflowers, beans, etc.) supplemented by seasonal hunts. By the 18th century, they were part of a larger global economy brought about by European entry into the fur trade.[51]
The indigenous nations to inhabit Ohio in the historical period[vague] included the Iroquoian [52], the Algonquian [53] & the Siouan [54].[55][56] Ohio country was also the site of Indian massacres, such as the Yellow Creek Massacre, Gnadenhutten and Pontiac's Rebellion school massacre.[57] Most Native Peoples who remained in Ohio were slowly bought out[where?] and convinced to leave[how?], or ordered to do so by law[which?], in the early 19th century with the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
Colonial and Revolutionary eras
During the 18th century, the French set up a system of trading posts to control the fur trade in the region. Beginning in 1754, France and Great Britain fought the French and Indian War. As a result of the Treaty of Paris, the French ceded control of Ohio and the remainder of the Old Northwest to Great Britain.
Pontiac's Rebellion in the 1760s, however, posed a challenge to British military control.[58] This came to an end with the colonists' victory in the American Revolution. In the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Britain ceded all claims to Ohio country to the United States.
Northwest Territory: 1787– |
, when the cold war was over and before the second Iraq war, we were divided along the line of the death penalty,” Mr. Moïsi said.
“There is a sense in Europe that you can’t be fully civilized with the death penalty,” he said. “Now this feeling is reinforced — that the United States is not a fully civilized country with a police that behaves like that, that wants to humiliate,” he continued. “There is a sense that it’s a dangerous country.”
These cultural differences, highlighted by the brashness of the American news media coverage, prompted the indulgence in cultural clichés on both sides of the Atlantic, reminiscent of the period when France refused to support the Bush administration’s war in Iraq and some Americans responded with “freedom fries” and called the French “cheese-eating surrender monkeys.”
The French writer Bernard-Henri Lévy, an outspoken friend and defender of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, was ubiquitous, writing and speaking of his continuing anger at the “pornographic” nature of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s treatment and the “obscene” press conference that the accuser’s lawyer held detailing her physical injuries as he tried to rescue her status as victim. Writing for The Daily Beast, the American media Web site, Mr. Lévy criticized the black-and-white handling of the case, “the cannibalization of justice by the sideshow.”
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He accused the United States of having a simplistic moral and political compass, saying that the housekeeper, “because she was a poor immigrant, was inevitably innocent, and Mr. Strauss-Kahn, because he was powerful, was inevitably guilty.”
He demanded that Mr. Strauss-Kahn be fully exonerated on the charges against him, which include felony counts of committing a criminal sex act, attempted rape and sexual abuse.
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And Mr. Lévy scolded the United States from a particularly French intellectual height. “America the pragmatic, that rebels against ideologies, this country of habeas corpus that de Tocqueville claimed possessed the most democratic system of justice in the world, has pushed this French Robespierrism, unfortunately, to the extremes of its craziness,” he wrote, invoking the ideological bloodletting of the French Revolution. “All this calls, at the least, for serious, honest, and substantial soul-searching.”
More broadly, the French news media, which had kept track of every anti-French insult in the New York media — Le Monde, for instance, had an article called, “Trash — the D.S.K. affair as told on the front pages of The New York Post” — was full of astonishment this weekend at “The U-turn of the American Media,” as The Journal du Dimanche said, suddenly attacking the housekeeper with the same tabloid breathlessness.
Ordinary French people have been left with unease over the American handling of the case and the anti-French sentiment that came with it. Kevin Benard, 28,a real estate agent, said the initial treatment of Mr. Strauss-Kahn had given the impression that he was guilty before the investigation had even begun. “America has a very harsh justice system,” he said. “We believe in people being innocent before they are proven guilty, and not the other way round.”
Patrice Randé, 50, who was visiting Paris from Bordeaux, said that if Mr. Strauss-Kahn turned out to be innocent it would reveal “the colossal error” made by the American justice system — and, he feared, stoke more anti-Americanism. “For French-American relations it would actually be better if he was proven guilty,” Mr. Randé said.
Marc Placet, 30, said he had been in New York a week ago, and was struck by the anti-French sentiments there. “I think that the D.S.K. affair has woken up a form of French bashing in the U.S.,” he said. “In New York, people in bars or on the street would make fun of me being French.” They would invariably bring up Mr. Strauss-Kahn “and call the French ‘perverse’ and things like that,” he said.
Emilie Destot, 26, a student, was ambivalent. “I was shocked when I saw those pictures of Strauss-Kahn handcuffed, not shaven. But I guess it’s the way things work there, and even if it is too spectacular, it sometimes proves to be quick and efficient.”
Some political observers said that fears of an anti-American backlash were exaggerated and harmful. Arlette Chabot, editor in chief of Europe 1 radio, said, “I’ve always thought the talk of French anti-Americanism was overstated,” citing the French love for Presidents Obama and Bill Clinton — but not their visceral contempt for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
Mr. Moïsi thinks that Mr. Strauss-Kahn, whose next hearing is set for July 18, may end up politically ahead. The Socialist Party wants to win at all costs, he said, and they may decide that Mr. Strauss-Kahn has a new cachet. “If D.S.K. returns triumphantly as a victim of American justice that may change everything,” he said.Samsung says overheating problems in its Gear VR virtual reality headset, which game developers told Re/code about yesterday, have been largely solved before next month’s consumer release of the headset.
Samsung Dallas’ director of software development Andrew Dickerson said developers who have encountered a 20-minute “thermal limit” with games on the Gear VR were using an older version of the company’s mobile SDK that tended to push the Galaxy Note 4 to its limits.
“We turned the cores back to a more reasonable level,” Dickerson said. He acknowledged that the downgraded SDK means “developers lose some performance, but we’ve made some improvements” to ameliorate those losses.
Neither Dickerson nor a colleague could explain why Samsung staffers had been instructed to swap out the latest demo units of Gear VR at the Samsung Developer Conference every 20 minutes. And as Max Cohen, head of mobile at Oculus VR, told the MIT Technology Review yesterday, Oculus and Samsung may not be able to fully fix the heat problem on mobile.
“This isn’t a problem that’s going to go away in the near future, unfortunately,” Cohen told MIT’s Simon Parkin. “We’ll always have to manage heat; we won’t be able to fully solve it.”
Managing heat through the SDK update, which was still on the old version when Samsung showed off the Gear VR at IFA Berlin in September, was one of the reasons the headset was delayed to December from its original planned launch in October, Dickerson said. However, he claimed he had a demo unit with the new SDK running for eight hours continuously yesterday.
Amir Rubin, CEO of Sixense — which was also swapping out its demo Gear VR units multiple times an hour yesterday — said that that policy was due to an issue unrelated to heat. Instead, it was due to concerns that the company’s external head-tracking sensor would lose contact with its Bluetooth controllers during extended use because it didn’t have enough time to optimize that connectivity before the conference.“I don’t know how it got to the point where two people got murdered,” Private Burnett told Judge Robert L. Russell III of Long County Superior Court. “If I could have stopped this from happening, I would have.”
The plot shook the small, rural community in south Georgia that houses Fort Stewart, the largest Army installation east of the Mississippi River. The charges come just a week after two members of a different militia were sentenced in a separate terrorist scheme in north Georgia, a plot to release deadly chemicals and bomb federal buildings in Atlanta.
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Those are only the latest and most visible examples of the rise in violent militia groups in recent years, said Mark Potok, an authority on the groups and the editor of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Report. In 2011, the center identified 1,274 groups as part of the so-called patriot and militia movements, up from 824 the year before.
Mr. Potok said the rise was exacerbated by the economic recession and antagonism toward Mr. Obama.
On Monday, an Alaska couple who are members of a militia pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to kill a federal judge in what prosecutors said was a revenge plot over income-tax rulings against them.
In 2011, a man with ties to militia groups was charged with plotting to bomb a Martin Luther King Day parade in Spokane, Wash.
“It’s been remarkable how these kinds of events have piled up, faster and faster,” Mr. Potok said. “When you listen to the details of this plot, you’d think they’re all on hallucinogens. It would be easy not to take them seriously were it not for the fact that two people are dead.”
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On Thursday, the courtroom in rural Long County was a scene of repeated outbursts. The stepfather of Ms. York, Wesley Thomas, lunged at one of the defendants. Later, a family member of Mr. Roark yelled curse words at another defendant.
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Private Burnett testified that the couple was killed to protect the militia. On Dec. 4, he said, the soldiers lured Mr. Roark and Ms. York to a forest a short distance from the Army post by telling them that they were going target shooting. He said Sergeant Peden shot Ms. York in the head while she was trying to get out of her car. He said Private Salmon shot Mr. Roark twice in the head.
The authorities are also investigating whether one of the suspects, Private Aguigui, may have played a role in another killing. His wife was discovered dead in July 2011 in Wenatchee, Wash., and the death has not been explained.
Prosecutors say that Private Aguigui received up to $500,000 in life insurance benefits after his wife’s death and that he used the money to finance the militia.Attainment of a four-year college degree in the United States, often regarded as a key asset for economic success, varies by race and gender. But the share of people completing a college education also differs by religion, with members of some faith groups much more educated, on average, than others.
By far, Hindus and Unitarian Universalists have among the largest share of those with a college degree – 77% and 67% respectively. Roughly six-in-ten Jews (59%) have college degrees, as do similar shares in both the Anglican church (59%) and the Episcopal Church (56%).
These groups are among the top of a list of 30 U.S. religious groups ranked by educational attainment based on data from our 2014 Religious Landscape Study.
Given the strong correlation between educational attainment and economic success, it is not surprising that Jews and Hindus, on average, have high household incomes, with four-in-ten Jews (44%) and roughly a third of Hindus (36%) living in households with annual incomes of at least $100,000, according to the 2014 study.
Other religious groups also have a higher percentage of college graduates than the full sample of more than 35,000 U.S. adults surveyed in the 2014 Religious Landscape Study, among whom 27% completed university. They include Buddhists and members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – both at 47% – as well as Orthodox Christians (40%), Muslims (39%) and Mormons (33%).
Since Catholics make up one-in-five adults, it is not surprising that their share of members with a college degree (26%) roughly mirrors that of the general public.
One-in-five members of historically black Protestant denominations – the National Baptist Convention (19%) and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (21%) – have a college degree, as do members of the Southern Baptist Convention (19%).
Our study also looked at educational attainment in three categories of religiously unaffiliated people. About four-in-ten atheists (43%) and agnostics (42%) have earned college degrees, as have nearly a quarter (24%) of those who say their religion is “nothing in particular.”
Topics: College, Religious Affiliation, Education, IncomeFor every table around the world, there is probably a unique way of handling spells. I do my best to keep things as core as possible, I like to control what the players know, but we do work together so that the player is happy.
Typically, I give spells to the players through treasure that they find by using scrolls. This lets the player decide if they want to use the scroll, or try and learn the spell. If they try to learn it I stick to the rules in the PHB, but what if a wizard has access to a lab, and he just wants a specific spell? Well, he should be allowed to learn that spell. Spell research in this instance is horribly vague in 2nd Edition rules, so house rule it is!
The wizard must have access to a lab, and be able to cast spells from that spell level, and the school of magic. Depending how much gold he has to spend on equipment and components, increases the chances of learning that spell.
Below I’ve listed the cost as per 10%, the second number is how much you would need to get a 100% chance to successfully research the spell. The time that this takes is 1 week per spell level.
1st Level Spell: 1,000gp – 10,000gp 2nd Level Spell: 2,000gp – 20,000gp 3rd Level Spell: 4,000gp – 40,000gp 4th Level Spell: 8,000gp – 80,000gp 5th Level Spell: 16,000gp – 160,000gp 6th Level Spell: 32,000gp – 320,000gp 7th Level Spell: 64,000gp – 640,000gp 8th Level Spell: 128,000gp – 1,280,000gp 9th Level Spell: 256,000gp – 2,560,000gp
I know that you folks love examples, so here you go!
Say the wizard Boaldordask really wants to learn the 6th level spell Globe of Invulnerability, but I won’t give it to him because I’m mean. He is willing to spend 200,000 hard earned gold pieces, and invest in 6 weeks in the lab. 200,000 divided by 32,000 equals 6.25, so he will have a 63% chance to learn the spell because I rounded up.For 1,000 years the indigenous Nenets people have herded their reindeer along the Yamal peninsula. But their survival in this remote region of north-west Siberia is under serious threat from climate change as Russia's ancient permafrost melts
It is one of the world's last great wildernesses, a 435-mile long peninsula of lakes and squelching tundra stretching deep into the Arctic Ocean. For 1,000 years the indigenous Nenets people have migrated along the Yamal peninsula. In summer they wander northwards, taking their reindeer with them, across a landscape of boggy ponds, rhododendron-like shrubs and wind-blasted birch trees. In winter they return southwards.
But this remote region of north-west Siberia is now under heavy threat from global warming. Traditionally the Nenets travel across the frozen Ob River in November and set up camp in the southern forests around Nadym. These days, though, this annual winter pilgrimage is delayed. Last year the Nenets, together with many thousands of reindeer, had to wait until late December when the ice was finally thick enough to cross.
"Our reindeer were hungry. There wasn't enough pasture," Jakov Japtik, a Nenets reindeer herder, told the Guardian. "The snow is melting sooner, quicker and faster than before. In spring it's difficult for the reindeer to pull the sledges. They get tired," Japtik said, speaking in his camp 25kms from Yar-Sale, the capital of Russia's Arctic Yamal-Nenets district.
Herders say that the peninsula's weather is increasingly unpredictable – with unseasonal snowstorms when the reindeer give birth in May, and milder longer autumns. In winter temperatures used to go down to -50C. Now they are typically -30C, according to Japtik. "Obviously we prefer -30C. But the changes aren't good for the reindeer and ultimately what
is good for the reindeer is good for us," he said, setting off on his sled to round up his itinerant reindeer herd.
Japtik lives on the tundra in a reindeer-skin tent or chum (ital) with his wife, mother, and three-year-old nephew Albert. There is also baby Pasha. The Japtiks live with three other families; the group has around 600 reindeer. The family slaughters a reindeer every couple of weeks, eating it raw and with pasta. They also catch fish – slicing off filets of sushi-like whitefish, taken from the thousands of virgin-lakes across the peninsula.
Here in one of the most remote parts of the planet there are clear signs the environment is under strain. Last year the Nenets arrived at a regular summer camping spot and discovered that half of their lake had disappeared. It had drained away after a landslide. While landslides can occur naturally, scientists say there is unmistakable evidence that Yamal's ancient permafrost is melting. The Nenets report other curious changes - fewer mosquitoes and a puzzling increase in gadflies.
"It's an indication of the global warming process, like the opening of the Arctic waters for shipping this summer," says Vladimir Tchouprov, Greenpeace Russia's energy unit head. The melting of Russia's permafrost could have catastrophic results for the world, Tchouprov says, by releasing billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide and the potent greenhouse gas methane, that was previously trapped in frozen soil.
Russia – the world's biggest country by geographical area - is already warming at one and a half times the rate of other parts of the world. If global temperatures do go up by the 4C many scientists fear, the impact on Russia would be disastrous. Much of Russia's northern region would be turned into impenetrable swamp. Houses in several Arctic towns are already badly subsiding.
Many Russians, however, are sceptical that climate change exists. Others rationalise that it might bring benefits to one of the world's coldest countries, freeing up a melting Arctic for oil and gas exploration, and extending the country's brief growing season. Russia's scientific community seems sceptical of global warming and the Kremlin doesn't appear to regard the issue as a major domestic problem; public awareness of climate change in Russia is lower than in any other European country.
Western politicians, however, point out that it is in Russia's interests to take action on climate change and to push for ambitious targets at December's Copenhagen summit. "There is 5,000 miles of railway track built on permafrost. It could crumble as a result of melting," Ed Miliband, the secretary of state for climate change, pointed out during a recent visit to Moscow.
However, even Russians working in the Arctic are unconvinced that their country faces a serious climate-change problem. "It's rubbish. It's invented. People who spend too long sitting at home have made up climate change," Alexander Chikmaryov, who runs a remote weather station on the Yamal peninsula, said, standing in his dilapidated station strewn with rusting engine parts and a broken-down wind turbine.
Chikmaryov lives in Marresale, an outpost on the Yamal peninsula's north-west coast overlooking the Kara Sea. A small community of Nenets hunters live nearby; otherwise there's nobody for a hundred kilometres. The weather here is, not surprisingly, bitterly cold; the sea freezes nine months of the year. The word Yamal means "end of the world" in Nenets language, and in Marresale you see why.
In fact, Chikmaryov's own data suggests that global warming is a real problem here too. In 2008 the ice was 164cm thick; this year it is 117cm. Winter temperatures have gone up too – from lows of -50C in 1914, when the station was founded, to -40C today. Every year large chunks of the coast on which the station is precariously perched fall into the sea. On the beach there is a jagged layer of thawing permafrost.
And there are other unnatural signs. On 15 August a large polar bear ambled into Marresale and started rooting through the station's rubbish bin. "It was 7pm. The bear was enormous. We set off a flare. It ran off," she recalled. Polar bear sightings are becoming increasingly common – with the bears apparently venturing south from their far-northern habitat in search of food. "They are an impudent lot. They aren't afraid of humans," Ludmilla says, gleefully recalling how one polar bear ripped the scalp from a Russian scientist living on Franz Josef Land.
Back on the tundra Japitik was rounding up his reindeer. Some were already back at the camp; their munching resembled the soft clicking of a thousand knitting needles. "I've lived all of my life in the tundra," he said.
"The reindeer for us are everything – food, transport and accommodation. The only thing I hope is that we will be able to carry on with this life."The Diamond synchrotron's powerful light source could be used on a variety of scientific projects, including deciphering ancient manuscripts. Image courtesy Diamond Light Source
By the numbers, the Diamond synchrotron facility in Oxfordshire, England, was a massive undertaking. The particle accelerator cost more than $500 million to build and is housed in a circular building equal in size to five soccer fields. It also produces a highly focused beam of light "10 billion times brighter than the Sun" [source: BBC News].
This incredibly powerful light source and the technological might behind it have many potential scientific applications. But it may surprise you that the Diamond synchrotron could produce its most important discoveries in the field of theology.
Scientists hope to use light from the Diamond synchrotron to "read" ancient texts that have suffered significant damage. Although the discovery of an ancient scroll or manuscript represents a major achievement for archaeologists, anthropologists and other researchers, frequently, these texts are too fragile to open or simply too faded or damaged to read. With the Diamond synchrotron, scientists hope to get around that problem -- this particle accelerator allows scientists to read some books without even opening them.
The synchrotron emits a powerful X-ray that, when applied to a scroll, allows scientists to produce a 3-D image of the text. With the aid of computer imaging software, scientists then separate the various layers of the image to reconstruct the pages of the book or scroll. In some cases, the text is then readable. The technique has already been successfully applied to texts written with iron gall ink, which scribes began using in the 12th century. Because these parchments contain iron from the ink, applying X-rays results in the formation of an absorption image, distinguishing traces of ink from parchment.
A similar technique has been used on parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which researchers were wary about, for fear of damaging them. Once the process of reading texts is improved, it could be used to read a variety of books and manuscripts that have, because of their poor condition, made deciphering their meaning difficult.
Many ancient texts are written on parchment made of dried animal skin. Over time, collagen in the parchment turns into gelatin, causing the parchment and text to deteriorate. Scientists can use the Diamond synchrotron to learn how much of a parchment's collagen has become gelatin and the parchment's level of decay. They also hope to develop new insights into how to preserve manuscripts and to recover those believed to have been lost to the effects of the environment and time.
The Diamond synchrotron's powerful light source emits many types of light, allowing researchers to produce images of objects on the atomic level. On the next page, we'll take a closer look at the technology behind the Diamond synchrotron and other synchrotrons. We'll also find out what else scientists hope to learn from the Diamond synchrotron.Posey lifts Giants to sweep Giants 3, Diamondbacks 2
Millions of words might be spoken and written about Buster Posey if he has a great career, but none will capture him as succinctly as Tim Lincecum did.
"He's pretty (darn) talented," Lincecum said, and you can reach into your imagination to guess the adjective he really used.
When the Giants rode Posey's leadoff double in the 10th inning and Travis Ishikawa's two-out scoring single to a 3-2 victory against Arizona on Sunday, they completed a four-game sweep and a 6-1 trip while winning for the 15th time in 18 games. In a stretch of 22 games that began July 1 and included 18 on the road, the Giants went 16-6.
When the month began, the Giants were three games above.500 and in fourth place in the NL West, 5 1/2 games behind division-leading San Diego and sixth in the wild-card race. Now, they are in second place in the West, 13 games over.500, three back of San Diego and leading in the wild-card standings.
Rarely can you peg a hot streak to a single event as neatly as this. It began the day the Giants traded Bengie Molina to Texas and installed Posey as an everyday player.
On Sunday, Posey had his third four-hit game this month to extend his hit streak to 18 games. His July stats are insane: He has 38 hits with a.432 average,.511 on-base percentage and.815 slugging percentage.
San Francisco Giants' Eli Whiteside, top, is high-fived by teammate Freddy Sanchez after scoring on an RBI-single by Travis Ishikawa during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Sunday, July 25, 2010, in Phoenix. less San Francisco Giants' Eli Whiteside, top, is high-fived by teammate Freddy Sanchez after scoring on an RBI-single by Travis Ishikawa during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks,... more Photo: Matt York, AP Photo: Matt York, AP Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Posey lifts Giants to sweep 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
"This guy is on cruise control right now as far as swinging a hot stick and making good calls behind the plate," closer Brian Wilson said after earning his 29th save, which co-leads the majors. "What he's doing is getting big hits with two outs instead of ending innings. Normally you can't expect that out of a 23-year-old. He's going out and proving time and again he's the best rookie out there."
Now for a deep breath and acknowledgement that Posey and the Giants have feasted on bad teams this month. Though their schedule gets easier from a home-road standpoint, the competition gets much harder. Of their 63 remaining games, only 19 come against teams that currently have a losing record.
They must consolidate their gains in a seven-game homestand that begins tonight against Florida. Bad competition or not, manager Bruce Bochy is content.
"I like how the club has come together," he said. "They've kept their focus every day and not looked at the schedule.
"We think we're pretty good. I'm proud of the guys with this schedule, how hard they've gone. It's been a good run for us. We've done a lot of good things. We've pitched well and scored some runs. That's what it's going to take from this point on."
Sunday's win was the toughest of the weekend. Lincecum provided eight solid innings but the Giants needed circus escapes from Lincecum in the eighth and Sergio Romo in the ninth to stay alive.
Lincecum induced a line-drive double play by Miguel Montero to end a rally that began with runners on the corners and nobody out. Romo created his own mess by failing to cover first on Stephen Drew's grounder. Drew beat Ishikawa to the bag. When Romo struck out Cole Gillespie and Chris Young with Drew at third to send the game into extras, his customary point to the heavens had more of a snap to it.
Posey, who already had an RBI double, greeted Esmerling Vasquez with another double to start the 10th. With pinch-runner Eli Whiteside at third and one out, Nate Schierholtz was caught stealing second for the second out. Ishikawa then rolled the winning single through a small hole in the right side of the infield.Simon Danczuk, a Labour MP, pulled out of a parliamentary trip to China at the last minute after discovering he would have to fly economy class.
The staunch critic of Jeremy Corbyn said his health would have been "at risk" having to sit upright for the 11-hour flight. He is believed to have a back problem.
His decision led to the cancellation of the trip because it would have meant a Conservative MP would also have to surrender their place under pairing rules, meaning only two MPs could travel, a Tory MP said.
Conservative Richard Graham MP said Mr Danczuk's decision not to travel made "whipping permission much harder, reducing the viability of the group".
MPs of different parties are encouraged to travel in pairs, in order to lessen the impact on votes in parliament.
Mr Graham, the chair of the all-party group for China which organised the trip, said the group could not cover the extra cost of an upgrade.
Photo: Alamy
He added: "We always spell out from the beginning what class of travel will be funded by the APPCG. If members want to upgrade to business class at their own costs, they are welcome to do so."
Mr Danczuk was part of a group of four MPs due to travel to China and Hong Kong as part of a fact-finding mission.
But when he discovered the delegation would be traveling economy class Mr Danczuk says he was forced to pull out because of health concerns.
Photo: AP
A leaked email sent by Mr Graham's office and seen by the Telegraph, suggested that the Labour MP's late cancellation may end up in the newspapers, in an apparent bid to change his mind.
Mr Danczuk said: "I'm disappointed that Richard Graham MP felt he should threaten me with going to the press about this and then has done so.
We always spell out from the beginning what class of travel will be funded by the APPCG. If members want to upgrade to business class at their own costs, they are welcome to do so Richard Graham MP
"After he learnt of my health condition I would have hoped he would have been more sympathetic."
Mr Graham declined to comment on the leaked email.(CNN) -- FBI wiretaps have "given us the most powerful and persuasive source of all for seeing how utterly selfless Martin Luther King was," as a civil rights leader, according to a leading civil rights scholar.
The FBI's interest in the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. intensified after the March on Washington in 1963.
"You see him being intensely self-critical. King really and truly believed that he was there to be of service to others. This was not a man with any egomaniacal joy of being a famous person, or being a leader," said Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar David Garrow in a recent interview with CNN.
Hoping to prove the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was under the influence of Communists, the FBI kept the civil rights leader under constant surveillance.
The agency's hidden tape recorders turned up almost nothing about communism.
But they did reveal embarrassing details about King's sex life -- details the FBI was able to use against him.
The almost fanatical zeal with which the FBI pursued King is disclosed in tens of thousands of FBI memos from the 1960s.
The FBI paper trail spells out in detail the government agency's concerted efforts to derail King's efforts on behalf of the civil rights movement.
The FBI's interest in King intensified after the March on Washington in August 1963, when King delivered his "I have a dream speech," which many historians consider the most important speech of the 20th century. After the speech, an FBI memo called King the "most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country."
The bureau convened a meeting of department heads to "explore how best to carry on our investigation [of King] to produce the desired results without embarrassment to the Bureau," which included "a complete analysis of the avenues of approach aimed at neutralizing King as an effective Negro leader."
The FBI began secretly tracking King's flights and watching his associates. In July 1963, a month before the March on Washington, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover filed a request with Attorney General Robert Kennedy to tap King's and his associates' phones and to bug their homes and offices.
In September, Kennedy consented to the technical surveillance. Kennedy gave the FBI permission to break into King's office and home to install the bugs, as long as agents recognized the "delicacy of this particular matter" and didn't get caught installing them. Kennedy added a proviso -- he wanted to be personally informed of any pertinent information.
While King did have associates who had been members of the Communist Party, by all accounts they severed those ties when they started working in the civil rights movement. What's more, the FBI bugs never picked up evidence that King himself was a Communist, or was interested in toeing the party line.
But the long list of bugs in his hotel rooms picked up just enough about King's love life.
A decision in a 1977 court case brought by Bernard Lee, one of King's associates, sealed the transcripts from those wiretaps until 2027. But King's associates confirm there were at least two cases in which FBI surveillance caught King in compromising circumstances.
The first incident involved King at a party at the Willard Hotel in Washington. The FBI recorded the party and captured the sounds of a sexual encounter in the room afterwards. The second incident occurred during King's stay in a hotel in Los Angeles, California. There, agents heard another drunken gathering in which King told an off-color joke about the recently assassinated President John F. Kennedy. Hoover sent transcripts and excerpts of those recordings to the White House and to the attorney general.
Hoover's contempt for King's private behavior is clear in the memos he kept in his personal files. His scrawl across the bottom of positive news stories about King's success dripped with loathing.
On a story about King receiving the St. Francis peace medal from the Catholic Church, he wrote "this is disgusting." On the story "King, Pope to Talk on Race," he scribbled "astounding." On a story about King's meeting with the pope, "I am amazed that the Pope gave an audience to such a degenerate." On a story about King being the heavy favorite to win the Nobel Prize, he wrote "King could well qualify for the 'top alley cat' prize!"
When King learned he would be the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, the FBI decided to take its harassment of King one step further, sending him an insulting and threatening note anonymously. A draft was found in the FBI files years later. In it the FBI wrote, "You are a colossal fraud and an evil, vicious one at that." The letter went on to say, "The American public... will know you for what you are -- an evil, abnormal beast," and "Satan could not do more."
The letter's threat was ominous, if not specific: "King you are done." Some have theorized the intent of the letter was to drive King to commit suicide in order to avoid personal embarrassment. "King, there is only one thing left for you to do," the letter concluded. "You know what it is... You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation."
With the exception of the wiretap transcripts that remain sealed under court order, many of the other memos were made public as part of high-profile congressional investigations into the FBI's harassment of King. A summary was put together during the course of these investigations. Other memos were released through a Freedom of Information Act request from the Center for National Security Studies in 1978. Another large batch was released through a 1979 FOIA request from David Garrow.
While the memos depict a cold and calculating attempt by the government to personally embarrass King, the memos also create an ironic byproduct, according to Garrow.
"When you have a wiretap on someone you pick up all sorts of dreck. But in terms of the political history that ironically the FBI has created for us, it's a wonderful resource," Garrow said.
All About Civil Rights • Martin Luther King Jr. • Federal Bureau of InvestigationJewel Staite is the best friend that you’ve likely never had, but always wanted. As the first participant in our new Text Interview series, she’s talented, witty, the perfect level of sarcastic and funny as hell. The Canadian actress and new mother of one has played multiple on-screen roles largely within the Sci-Fi genre, namely as Kaylee Frye on FOX series Firefly, as Dr. Jennifer Keller on Sci-Fi Channel’s Stargate Atlantis, and as a recent guest star on ABC’s Castle. VIVA’s editor took to her iPhone and chatted with Jewel to see just what it’s like to combine work, play, family and travel into one thrilling role: her real life.
Gagging for more of our celeb content? Check out how you can roadtrip with Shia LaBeouf here. Or in the mood to read another cool interview? Click here for our chat with LA's hottest restaurateur.Spread the love
San Antonio, TX — Officer Jackie Neal of the San Antonio PD, has been on paid vacation for the last year and a half for accusations of crimes that his chief referred to as “unthinkable.” After evidence linked him to this vile crime, he’s still been receiving his over-deserved salary of $62,556.00.
Neal, 40, was in full uniform, in a marked squad car and on-duty when he made a traffic stop on a Friday morning in November of 2013. He then proceeded to sexually assault a 19-year-old woman, according to the San Antonio Police Department.
He forced the young woman to bend over, |
whole. This can be really useful!
The Distribute tab helps you distribute things evenly across the page, or an even distance away from each other. Again, remember to group or ungroup objects as appropriate, to help you get the alignment you want.
If all else fails, of course, you can align things precisely using the Properties toolbar (F2 or Right-Click->Properties).
Tip 4: Custom Image Frame Techniques
It can be nice to have different kinds of image frames. Frames with rough borders, wooden borders, etc. There are different techniques to achieve various effects.
Use a PNG image (with a wooden frame, a postcard look, etc.) that has a transparent center. Use a second image behind it for your photo. The photo will show through the transparency in front, and it will look like it is framed. Group the two images together so you can move them more easily.
Use custom shapes for your image frames. Here are a few examples of how to do this: Creating a tiled image How to fill a Scribus text with an image Creating custom image frames with GIMP and Inkscape
Once again, I recommend putting all the photo frames you develop into your scrapbook. That way, it's easy to drag-and-drop them right onto your pages.
There are some problems with the current scrapbook implementation with regards to your images, however. First, Each of the thumbnails in the scrapbook also gets saved in the scrapbook directory. If you named one of your scrapbook items as "MyFrame", then the thumbnail will be saved as "MyFrame.png" in the scrapbook directory. So, if you had a file named MyFrame.png already, it could be overwritten, or your image frame might read the thumbnail instead of your original image. One idea to fix this is to put something unique at the start or end of all your images. For example, "Required_", as in "Required_WoodenFrame.png", "Required_TornPaper.png", "Required_YourPhotoHere.png". Then, just don't name your scrapbook objects anything that starts with the word "Required_", and you should be OK.
Also, scrapbooks cannot be easily moved to another directory at this time, because they lose track of where the images are supposed to be. If you rename a scrapbook directory, all your image frames will come up with a missing image symbol. You can fix this manually, or using the Extras->Manage Pictures tool, but hopefully this is something that will be fixed later on.
Tip 5: Image Wizard & Image Wizard Advanced
Learn how to use the Image Wizard and Image Wizard Advanced scripts. These can help you a lot in sizing your images in their image frames and aligning them in their frames.
Image Wizard Advanced is built to help you set one image to take on the same size, location, and rotation as another image. It is also built to be able to deal with a group of two image frames. This is great when you have one PNG file that is a partially transparent photo border, and another image that is your photo, as was discussed in Tip 4. You can leave the images grouped, and still perform image operations on just one photo or the other.
Tip 6: Break Your Album into Multiple Documents
As I was working on my first photo album, after I got to about page 50, with 3 or 4 high resolution images on each page, Scribus started giving me errors. It wouldn't load in any more images. So, I just split the document in two. PhotoAlbumPart1.sla and PhotoAlbumPart2.sla. When you do this, be sure that each section ends on an even numbered page on left side in the page preview, and that each section starts with an odd number on the right side of the page preview. That way, you will be seeing the facing pages show up properly.Friday morning when the Sharks took to the ice for a short practice at HP Pavilion, Brad Staubitz got to have a little fun for the day. As the Sharks were down to just five defenders for practice, Staubitz stepped in to his original hockey role and played alongside Rob Blake for drills.
“I liked him at D,” Blake said. “Once you play D, you never forget it.”There’s no guarantee Staubitz can quickly regain his membership in the defensemen’s union though.“He wants to be part of the D really bad,” Dan Boyle said with a smile. “I just don’t know. This is a hard group to crack.”Staubitz laughed about finding his roots and that it was like stepping back in time to when he originally signed with the Sharks.“I’m a born-again,” he said with a big smile.The reason Staubitz was on the backend was Marc-Edouard Vlasic missed much of the last game and was held out of practice to be further evaluated for an injury (Coach Todd McLellan already noted that Vlasic would be fine).Staubitz enjoyed the rigors of practice and the refresher course on the blueline for the odd occasion he would play there again in a game.“Practice was upbeat and it was a nice little change of pace,” Staubitz said. “It gives you a different look of the game.”It had been a while since Staubitz played with the defensemen as he’s been a forward during McLellan’s tenure.“I played D last year for a shift or two here and in Worcester last year,” Staubitz said. “Before the last year-and- a- half, I had been a defenseman my whole life.”Should Staubitz get the call in the spot on Saturday, he would welcome it with open arms.“Just wherever they want me to fill in, I’m happy,” Staubitz said.From the player’s perspective, each position has its positives.“On point shots you get to blast it for a tip,” said Staubitz of the backend. “Forward is more fun and you get to be more offensive and creative. I think forwards have an easier time getting the big hits. It’s nice being able to hunt a D-man instead of being attacked. You know what he’s thinking when he hears those footsteps.”As for a preference?“I’d like to be able to play both regularly. That would be a goal of mine,” Staubitz said.However, there are no thoughts of playing in net.“Goalie? No,” Staubitz said emphatically. “I’m not weird enough.”JUGGLEThe Sharks coaching staff had its hands full against Chicago since Vlasic played just 7:25 against the Blackhawks on Thursday night. San Jose simply juggled the time of the other five defensemen.“The rotation is easier with six guys instead of five,” Blake said.There are times though when even if the club is healthy, five blueliners will be used at crunch time.“’Pickles’ went down and the D did a good job of handling the minutes,” Boyle said.Boyle had the birds-eye view for part of the game as he watched from the press box.“It’s been a while since I’ve been up there (in the press box),” Boyle said. “That’s a good thing. You definitely see the game from a different angle.”No decision has been made on whether Boyle or Vlasic will return for Saturday’s game with Minnesota.“Every day it gets better,” Boyle said. “I’m not ready to give the green light. If I can go, I’ll be playing.”While there are no guarantees for either Boyle or Vlasic’s return, the prognosis doesn’t look long term for either player.“’Pickles’ will be fine,” McLellan said. “He’ll be reviewed today and we’ll see how he and Boyle are for tomorrow.”SHORTERFriday’s practice time was more along the lines of what the Sharks will experience going down the stretch.“35-40 minutes is pretty much the standard for the amount of hockey we’ve played,” McLellan said.OPPONENTNo NHL coach will cheer for an opponent at their own expense, but after a slow start for new Wild Head Coach Todd Richards, McLellan is glad his former San Jose assistant has the Wild playing better.“We have some ties to the Minnesota Wild with Todd Richards,” McLellan said. “(Assistant Coach) Matt (Shaw) and I came from the Wild and know their younger players.”CHANGESSan Jose Sharks Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson announced today that the club has reassigned forward Logan Couture and defenseman Jason Demers to the Worcester Sharks, the team’s top development affiliate in the American Hockey League.Couture has two points (one goal, one assist) in 12 games with the Sharks this season.With Worcester, Couture leads the team in scoring with 44 points (18 goals, 26 assists) in 32 games and a plus-13 rating. He leads all AHL rookies in points and is T-8th among all AHL players.Demers has played in 39 games with San Jose, posting 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) and a plus-9 rating.In eight games with Worcester, Demers has six points (two goals, four assists) and a plus-seven rating.NEXT GAMESan Jose will play hosts to Minnesota Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and tickets can be found at the HP Pavilion Ticket Office and at www.ticketmaster.com. The contest will be on CSN California, 98.5 KFOX and sjsharks.com.Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Work on transforming Rhyl’s Sky Tower into a light beacon is progressing at a pace with the 240ft structure being lit up properly for the first time this evening.
It forms part of a planned major regeneration of Rhyl waterfront and comes after a new £15m water park on the promenade was last week given the go-ahead.
Enhancement of the Sky Tower has included the removal of the redundant gondola base structure, redecorating the exterior and installing a feature lighting scheme to make the tower a “visible statement of the town’s renewed confidence and regeneration.”
Graphics will be added to the new hoarding in the summer which depicts a timeline of Rhyl.
The tower will be lit up from sunset tomorrow, Thursday, until 2am every day and will use various lighting colours that can be changed and programmed.
The development is being funded through the Welsh Government.
Meanwhile, major works are also underway at the Pavilion Theatre where a new restaurant is being created.
Councillor Hugh Evans leader of Denbighshire and cabinet member for the economy, said: “This is yet another significant milestone in the regeneration of the town’s waterfront.
“The Sky Tower can be seen from far and wide and lighting up the tower will enhance its uniqueness and make it a real attraction for people travelling towards Rhyl.
“We have an ambitious programme of development planned for Rhyl and this is yet another visual reminder that the regeneration work is on-going. We are putting together pieces of the regeneration jigsaw bit by bit and we firmly believe that all the projects planned will help attract visitors to the town and increase footfall, for the benefit of the local economy.”Donald Trump has been contrite and he has publicly apologized – where’s our apology and our contrition America?
The land of high perversion and dead babies goes self-righteous on Trump?
The techno-twinkled brains of the millennial minions are turning to mush while listening daily to the blather of our pundits, pollsters and political prognosticators, all while panting after Hillary. Perhaps it’s time we listened to our prophets. At the very least we should be listening to our wise men and those who remember the path of all the nations that have passed before us, rising and falling - without a clue. The most humble of them are trying to pull us away from the clash of personalities to ponder the results of our mindless path. It is men like Tony Perkins who in an article entitled, ‘Trump or Hillary? A Choice with Life and Death Consequences’ is calling us to see that we are approaching the demise of our nation, not just the end of a colorful years long political side show.
Perkins says, “While conservatives don’t always share the same personal values as Donald Trump, we share many of the same concerns about the direction of our country. We share the same concerns about life, religious liberty, educational choice, control over health care, and a Supreme Court that will respect the Constitution. The choice could not be clearer.” In America we have only to turn on our cable televisions to see a plethora of choices and endless varieties of sleaze. Porn, filthy sit-coms, perverted shows about homicidal pastors and foolish comedy without a shred of moral fiber to be found with a microscope. We are currently under an anti-constitutional, law breaking administration and we are seriously thinking of electing another long time law breaker to occupy the oval office. Is it time to start labeling the progressives by what they do and not what they say, if so, should we not call them – regressives?
Robert De Niro spews hatred, vitriol and unbridled venom Our answer to all of this is to rake Donald Trump over the coals and demand that he be publicly reprimanded, abandoned by those pretending to be republicans and listening to Robert De Niro spew hatred, vitriol and unbridled venom at Mr. Trump, watched one and half million times on a video. Men marrying men and celebrating their perversion with pink speedos, nudity and gyrating displays mimicking sexual acts in a pride parade, on the one hand – and 56 million potentially wonderful people aborted and lying bloodied and discarded like so much waste at the meat packing plant, plopped into sterile buckets - on the other hand. And Donald’s language has made us all indignant? Can you spell hypocrisy – can you smell hypocrisy? That times have changed for the worst is impossible to miss. In Jesus’ day no one dared to pick up a stone to cast it at the women taken in adultery. But this is the liberal generation that is pure in their own eyes, (Pr 30: 12) saving the planet, losing sleep over global warming and walking proud and self-righteous, celebrating their sins rather than repenting of them. This is the generation where the entire crowd finds stones and pummels their hated ones to a death, all believing it is just what they deserve.
Have we also unlocked the limits of hypocrisy? In this place where there are no bounds to what you can accomplish - have we also unlocked the limits of hypocrisy? Will we spank Trump by electing the dowdy, little self-serving woman who can’t tell the difference between a rapist and a husband, the truth and a lie and the difference between soldiers and ambassadors who deserve our best protection and the need to hide her secret plan to deceive and save face at the cost of their brave lives? While I have a prophetic calling on my life, I don’t need it to predict that our choice in this election will decide our ultimate fate. If we succeed in putting Hillary Clinton in the White House we will also succeed in bringing about the last days of this nation. Don’t delude yourself into thinking I am talking about NWO and last day’s eschatological fare – I am talking USA. The next great calamity for this nation is an economic collapse like none we have ever seen or could imagine. It is close enough to smell and the sickening hypocrisy of the country can only hasten its arrival. It is at the doors. “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.” (Jer 18: 7-8) Donald Trump has been contrite and he has publicly apologized – where’s our apology and our contrition America?
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Rev Michael Bresciani is a Christian author and a columnist for several online conservative and Christian news and commentary sites. His website is The Website for Insight covers current events, politics, Christianity, movie and book reports and much more.
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It’s hard to talk about weaknesses of the Detroit Pistons without focusing on lack of shooting and depth at point guard. Seth Curry might fix both problems.
The Detroit Pistons have some very widely understood problems. They have no reliable reserve point guard, and they are inefficient at shooting the three-pointer, which happens to be a high-volume shot for the Pistons and one that they mould their general offensive philosophy around.
There may be a recently-familiar name that could help with both issues.
Without a doubt, 2015-16 was the year of Curry. With the accolades showered upon older brother Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors after producing perhaps the best offensive season in NBA history, it’s easy to overlook the late-season surge that Seth Curry put forth for the Sacramento Kings.
Curry averaged just 6.8 points in 16 minutes per game on the season, but he set himself apart in the final 11 games of the season, nine of which he started. Over that stretch he averaged 15.2 points and 3.8 assists while playing 30 minutes per game.
He also shot 46.8 percent from the floor and 48.4 percent from three-point range on 5.8 threes per game, and had a free throw percentage of 90.9 percent. His three-point shooting on the season totaled up at 45 percent.
Understandably, he opted out of his 2016-17 contract which would have paid him just the NBA minimum to cash in on the big jump in the NBA salary cap, meaning that he will become a restricted free agent.
That means that the Sacramento Kings have the right to match any contract offered to him and he will then have to stay with the Kings, but the front office in Sacramento is known to be a mess. The Kings have Rajon Rondo and Darren Collison at the point guard position to deal with as well, so it’s possible that Curry will not be a top priority.
As for the Pistons, as mentioned previously, they are in need of shooting help. They shot 26.2 threes per game last season, tenth-most in the NBA. They hit just 34.5 percent of those long-range shots, good for 21st league-wide. The league average for three-point percentage is around 37 percent, so it goes without saying what a 10 percent bump in efficiency from behind the line could do for the Pistons’ offense if they could increase that rate marginally.
The Pistons may have to be satisfied with making Curry their only big free agent splash if they were to make a move for him, but that probably wouldn’t be the end of the world. The Pistons could kill two birds with one stone if they can get Curry if he turns out to be the player he appeared to be in the last two months of the season for the Kings.(Image Credit: Facebook | Astoria Police)
The Oregon teen who was arrested after he posted a 'Drivin drunk' status update on his Facebook page New Year's Day says it was all a misunderstanding.
Jacob Cox-Brown, 18, of Astoria, Ore., about 100 miles west of Portland, was with friends when, police say, he posted the status update on his Facebook page: "Drivin drunk… classsic ;) but to whoever's vehicle i hit i am sorry. :P"
In an interview with ABC affiliate KATU-TV in Portland, Cox-Brown says the post was meant as a joke. But his friends who spotted the update didn't see the humor behind it. Instead, one friend sent a private message to an Astoria police officer's personal Facebook account while another friend called police Sgt. Brian Aydt.
"When you post 'Drivin drunk… classsic ;) but to whoever's vehicle i hit i am sorry. :P' on Facebook, you have to figure that it is not going to stay private long," Brad Johnston, Astoria deputy chief of police, said in a news release. "Astoria Police have an active social media presence."
Johnston told ABCNews.com that Cox-Brown's friend sent the Facebook message to officer Nicole Riley's personal Facebook account.
At about 1 a.m. New Year's Day, officer Riley received a call reporting a hit-and-run crash in Astoria. When officers Riley and Matt Clausen arrived to the scene, they found a white Scion car had been sideswiped, leaving behind car debris, police said. Clausen collected multiple pieces of plastic from the taillight and bumper cover.
Police say a second car parked in front of the Scion was also damaged. At the time, Astoria PD had no idea who hit the cars that belonged to people attending a party, officials said.
Later the same day, Riley received the private Facebook message from someone reporting that they had seen Cox-Brown's post that he had been in a car crash. Police Sgt. Aydt also received a call from another "friend" of Cox-Brown's claiming he also saw Cox-Brown post the status.
Astoria PD released a statement saying, "Aydt and Clausen went to Cox-Brown's house and found a vehicle that matched the damage done to the two vehicles at the early morning crash."
"It's one of those six degrees of separation kind of things," deputy chief of police Johnston told ABCNews.com. "The officer's brother was at the party at the time of the crash."
During the interview with KATU-TV, Cox-Brown said he had hit the car as he drove by as a result of icy conditions on the street and not because he was driving drunk.
Cox-Brown has not responded to requests for comment.
Astoria PD arrested Cox-Brown and charged him with two counts of failing to perform the duties of a driver.
He is scheduled to appear in the Astoria Municipal Court Jan. 23.
Police didn't know whether Cox-Brown has an attorney.THE DEPARTMENT OF Social Protection wrote to a woman saying that she had been overpaid nearly €20,000, but she was in fact owed money.
The woman received correspondence from her local Social Protection Office last year saying that an overpayment of €19,900 had been made to her.
The woman was unaware of how this debt arose. She wrote to the office looking for an explanation but received no response.
The woman then contacted the Office of the Ombudsman who told the Department to look into the woman’s query.
The Department did this and discovered that the woman’s application had not been processed properly. The woman’s income had been recalculated a number of times.
The Department took into account the woman’s husband’s income but failed to take account of an illness that reduced this.
In the end, the Department discovered that not only had there been no overpayment but that the woman was actually entitled to a refund of about €700.
Annual report
The incident was included as a case study in the Office of the Ombudsman’s annual report for 2016, which was launched today.
The Ombudsman deals with complaints from people who feel they have been unfairly treated by certain public bodies – for example, government departments, local authorities and publicly funded third-level education institutions.
Last year, the Ombudsman Peter Tyndall received a total of 3,067 complaints to his office (down slightly on last year).
Over three-quarters of these were closed within three months and 96% were closed within 12 months.
Close to 1,700 of the complaints were properly examined (the others were either discontinued, withdrawn, or outside the remit of the office).
Of the case, almost a quarter (23%) were fully upheld and 4% were partially upheld. Some assistance was provided for one fifth of the examined complaints. Over half (54%) were not upheld.
Speaking this morning on RTÉ’s Today With Seán O’Rourke, Peter Tyndall said the role of the Ombudsman was to give assistance to people who felt they had not been properly treated by the bodies of the state.
He said that in nearly half of all examined complaints the complaint was either upheld or assistance was given to the individual involved.
“It’s what we’d expect really,” said Tyndall.
Most public bodies do a reasonable job most of the time but when they don’t we’re there to help put it right.
Of the complaints received, over 35% had to do with government departments and offices.
A total of 679 complaints were against the Department of Social Protection, 129 against the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, 94 against the Revenue Commissioners, and 67 against the Department of Justice and Equality.
You can read the full report on the Ombudsman’s website hereA Bronx police officer fresh off being honored with the department’s second-highest commendation allegedly broke into a 30-year-old woman’s home that same night, told her something extremely creepy, dragged her out of her bed and beat her.
According to the New York Daily News, officer Eugene Donnelly pleaded not guilty Monday to misdemeanor charges of assault, criminal trespass and criminal mischief. He’s been without his gun and badge while remaining on limited duty since the June 10 incident.
Donnelly was honored on June 10 for heroism in apprehending a man who had allegedly fired a gun at him. He shook hands with the mayor at that event. But according to the Daily News:
Donnelly, who works at the 46th Precinct in the Bronx, tied one on to celebrate, drinking himself into a stupor. He went to a pal’s Woodlawn apartment to sleep it off. But before dawn on June 11, a 30-year-old neighbor of Donnelly’s pal was startled awake by the cop breaking the chain lock on her front door, prosecutors said. The woman told detectives the intruder, who she didn’t know, was standing beside her bed in his underwear. “Sometimes I’m a good guy, but sometimes I’m a bad guy,” Donnelly told the woman, according to a criminal complaint. Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson said Donnelly then threw the woman on the floor and “pummeled her about the head.” Before leaving the apartment, Donnelly guzzled a container of milk he grabbed from the fridge.
“Sometimes I’m a good guy, but sometimes I’m a bad guy.” Kinda adds a whole new layer of complexity to that good cop/bad cop trope, huh?
Surveillance video allegedly showed Donnelly at the apartment; a still image from that footage was used to create a wanted poster. He’s expected back in court on Dec. 10. If convicted, he could spend up to a year in jail.UCLA students pictured with anti-transgender bathroom signs were in the middle of a social media controversy. Kate Larsen reports for the NBC4 News at 11 on Tuesday, May 10, 2016. (Published Wednesday, May 11, 2016)
Controversy was brewing on campus at UCLA Tuesday after a photo was shared thousands of times showing students holding signs that read, "there are only two genders" and "transgenderism is a mental disorder."
The photo, depicting three female students who hold or are running for positions in the UCLA Republican party and one male student from UC Santa Barbara, was snapped after a discussion about transgendered people, a UCLA student who shared the photo said.
The transgender lecture was organized by the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Young Americans for Liberty.
Julia Nista, running for vice president of the Bruin Republicans, is one of the students pictured holding the poster. She said she was shocked at the response over what she says is just her opinion.
UCLA Republicans Decry Transgender Bathrooms
Controversy was brewing on campus at UCLA Tuesday after a photo was shared thousands of times showing students holding signs that read, "Transgenderism is a mental disorder." Kathy Vara reports for the NBC4 News at 6 on Tuesday, May 10, 2016. (Published Tuesday, May 10, 2016)
"The response we have received from people, mostly on the left, has been stigmatizing mental disorders, horrific death threats, calling us names, curse words — all for us standing with our opinions," Nista said.
Bruin Democrats weren't as excited about the viral photo.
"While every student is entitled to their opinion and a platform to express it, we as Bruin Democrats strongly disagree with the views portrayed by the signs," the student organization said in a statement.
The viral photo comes just ahead of closed student elections for Bruin Republicans at 7 p.m. Tuesday. All three of the women were elected to new positions.
"We always support the freedom of expression if there is nonthreatening speech. We support every individual's right to say and believe what they choose," Alex Rihm, student in the Bruin Republicans, said.
Earlier in the week, UCLA said it would mark a "milestone in campus diversity and inclusion" in May when it opens its 200th all-gender restroom; a facility where transgendered people could use the bathroom "regardless of gender identity or expression."
NBC4's Heather Navarro contributed to this report.A group of New Zealanders is participating in the largest ever trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the hallucinogenic drug ketamine as a treatment for major depression.
Photo: AFP
Ketamine was developed as an anaesthetic - but its ability to induce a trance like state has led to its use as an illegal party drug.
Otago University's Department of Psychological Medicine professor Paul Glue said 200 patients with severe depression will be given twice-weekly injections over a period of a month.
He told Morning Report the drug was almost 50 years old, and was regularly used as pain relief in ambulances.
"It does produce dissociative reactions, but its qualitatively quite different from the dosage... when it's being used for sort of an abuse, party drug type effect."
Prof Glue said ketamine provided a very fast acting improvement in mood, with an onset in an hour or two.
He said the trial was targeting people who had not responded to other sorts of treatment and were very unwell.
"It's creating a protein, a brain derived neurotropic factor, that allows nerve cells to connect up with one another, and this appears to happen very, very quickly.
"And that increased connectivity seems to improve the activity of brain circuits that are involved with generating mood."Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The ferry was operating at normal speed when the incident occurred, the BBC's Juliana Liu reports
About 85 people have been injured, six of them seriously, when a high-speed ferry hit an "unidentified object" in Hong Kong, officials say.
A government spokesman told the BBC that the accident happened at 01:20 local time (17:20 GMT Thursday) near the island of Hei Ling Chau.
The boat was travelling from Hong Kong to Macau. The operator said it had 105 passengers and 10 crew on board.
The vessel was later towed to a local terminal, reports said.
"There was suddenly a loud bang. The ferry was thrown upwards. Then many passengers were thrown out from their seats," one passenger was quoted as saying by Hong Kong's Apple Daily news website.
There were no reports of any people missing, and an investigation is now under way.
Image caption The Madeira did not appear to have suffered major damage
Fire officers launched a search at the scene of the collision, but could not locate the unidentified object, local media reported.
"The object involved might have been broken into pieces and sunk or drifted away," one fire officer told journalists.
In a statement, ferry operator TurboJet identified the boat as the Madeira.
"The vessel has been escorted back to Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal. Preliminary check revealed no significant damage on the vessel body," it said.
"The company will co-operate closely with the authorities to investigate the cause of the incident," the statement added.
A spokesman for the company that operates the ferry has been quoted as saying most passengers were probably not wearing their seat belts, the BBC's Juliana Liu in Hong Kong reports.
The spokesman added the vehicle was not speeding, and there was no obvious damage to the boat, our correspondent says.
Transport accidents resulting in fatalities are extremely rare in Hong Kong.
Last year, 39 people died when a pleasure boat and a high-speed ferry collided off Hong Kong's Lamma Island.
The captains of the two vessels were charged with several counts of manslaughter and a report into the crash said "systemic failings" in the marine department contributed to the accident.MELBOURNE, Australia, March 19, 2014 (ENS) – The Japanese whaling fleet has left the waters of the Antarctic Treaty Zone, ending whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary for this season, according to data from the whale defense organization Sea Shepherd Australia.
Early Tuesday morning, the Automatic Identification System signal of the Nisshin Maru was picked up shortly before the Japanese factory vessel crossed 60° South latitude.
The Nisshin Maru is on a northerly course with its destination set for Japan, and arrival scheduled in about three weeks.
In the 10 years of Sea Shepherd’s Antarctic whale defense campaigns, this is the first time that the whalers have activated their AIS while still in their self-allocated whaling grounds. In the past they have kept their locations secret to avoid interception by the Sea Shepherd conservation ships.
Captain Siddharth Chakravarty of Sea Shepherd ship The Steve Irwin says, “By giving away their location and intent to return to Japan, the whalers are signaling certain surrender. Wanting to avoid further chase by Sea Shepherd that would lead them into massive Southern Ocean swells forecasted as large as 10 metres, and further embarrassment at being located by our ships once again, they have been left no choice but to run and abandon their hunt.”
“I am immensely proud of our efforts, keeping the whalers on the run, and disrupting illegal operations for the entire whaling season,” said Chakravarty.
Since the Nisshin Maru was last seen fleeing on March 2, Sea Shepherd ships The Bob Barker and The Steve Irwin have swept across and occupied the only good weather areas that were available to the whalers this late in the season.
During this time, the Nisshin Maru has been accompanied by only one harpoon ship. This has further hampered the ability of the whalers, adding to the woes of their already disastrous season.
On Tuesday, the Yushin Maru No. 2 and the Yushin Maru No. 3 began dropping away from their positions tailing the Sea Shepherd whale defense ships, indicating that the whalers were low on fuel and unable to tail the Sea Shepherd ships any further.
The Bob Barker and The Steve Irwin then began running northwards to the boundary of the Antarctic Treaty Zone, to push the Nisshin Maru out of the whale sanctuary.
Since first locating the whale poachers on January 5, the Sea Shepherd Fleet has actively pursued the Japanese whalers, locating the Nisshin Maru on a record four separate occasions over the three-month period.
The whaling fleet’s operations were hampered by Sea Shepherd’s continual pursuit, which included twice exposing the whalers in the process of butchering protected minke whales, taken from the waters of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary was established by the International Whaling Commission in 1994 with 23 countries supporting the agreement and Japan opposing it.
The status of the Southern Ocean Sanctuary is reviewed and open to change by the IWC every 10 years. During the 2004 meeting a proposal was made by Japan to remove the sanctuary, but it failed to reach the 75 percent majority required
The International Whaling Commission imposed a global moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 to allow the world’s whales to recover after centuries of whaling had brought many species to the brink of extinction.
Nevertheless, the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research, which manages Japan’s “research whaling” in the Antarctic and elsewhere, says the whaling fleet is conducting “a perfectly legal activity carried out under the International Whaling Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.
“Sea Shepherd actions threaten safety of our research ships and lives of crews on it and is therefore unacceptable,” says the ICR.
Over the past 10 years, several votes of the International Whaling Commission’s member governments have called upon the Japanese to halt their lethal “research” program. Although self-assigned quotas for research purposes are technically permitted under the Convention, the majority of Commission members believe that it is not necessary to kill thousands of whales for “research.”
The International Whaling Commission does require that the flesh of whales killed for research not be wasted. Japanese companies sell the whale meat for food.
The outcome of Australia’s legal bid to end Japanese Antarctic whaling is to be announced at the end of this month.
Australia is suing Japan at the International Court of Justice, claiming that the whale hunt is not a scientific program, but is outlawed commercial whaling.
The case was begun by the first government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2010 and has been backed by subsequent governments.
The International Court of Justice said it would deliver its judgment in The Hague on March 31. Judgments of the court have binding force and cannot be appealed.
This is the latest that the Sea Shepherd Fleet has remained in the Southern Ocean to intervene against Japanese whalers.
Captain Peter Hammarstedt of The Bob Barker said, “The late departure of the whaling fleet is a testament to the fact that they have been delivered a disastrous season by the hand of Sea Shepherd, willing to push into the second week of March despite deteriorating weather conditions rather than face our fleet.”
“Before we started this campaign, we made a promise to our clients, the whales, and to all of our supporters around the world to drive these poachers out of the whales’ waters,” said Hammarstedt. “We have kept that promise. We are relentless.”
The three Sea Shepherd ships are also returning to port. The Sam Simon sailed into its homeport of Williamstown, Melbourne, on Saturday to a warm welcome.
The Bob Barker is now headed to Wellington, New Zealand.
The Steve Irwin will return to Hobart to honor Sea Shepherd Chairman and Co-Campaign Leader for Operation Relentless, Bob Brown, formerly a Member of the Australian Senate.
Both ships are scheduled to make their respective ports around March 22.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2014. All rights reserved.GLEN |
not sure if this was made with the intention of being a highlighter ink, but from what I can see, it may be a touch too dark for that job too. I was really hoping it would be similar to Rohrer & Klingner Alt-Goldgrun, one of my favourites, but it doesn’t even come close. Jon from Wonder Pens described as being similar to the lighter shade of J. Herbin Vert Olive, which I didn’t have any experience with so I didn’t quite take the hint on just how light this actually was.
I decided to ink up 2 of my Jinhao 250’s I had lying around with Vert Olive and Alt-Goldgrun to show you just how bright it can be next to an ink that can be considered similar. This is actually the first time I have used Vert Olive and having it next to Charged Green makes me think that I might actually use the cartridges I have. I always thought it was going to be too light for my tastes since Alt-Goldgrun is a colour that I really enjoy, but is quite a bit darker.
The only practical reason that I can see to buy this ink is if you draw, and can actually think of a use for this bright of green. If I was into ink mixing, I might play around to see if I could come up with something cool, but it is not worth it in my eyes. I challenge anyone out there who has already bought this ink to make an awesome mixture that would make me reconsider this ink!
Other Specs
If your eyes survived looking at the writing sample, you may still want to know how the ink performs. Dry time is extremely long. I broke 30 seconds to dry with my medium and broad nib on Rhodia paper and even had to wait over 20 seconds with my fine nib.
The only other thing that I feel that is worth mentioning is how waterproof it is since an artist who may like this colour may be interested. Well it’s not waterproof at all. The ink was completely wiped off the page as soon as the water touched it. Not after a minute, but instantly. Not sure how useful that would be.
Conclusion
I kept this review short because I didn’t have a lot to to say about this ink other than I don’t like it. I also don’t usually review something less than a month after getting it, but after writing my first line with it, I knew this ink will never touch another one of my pens. If you are in Regina and would like to try a cartridge out, send me an email and I might be able to arrange something.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please leave a comment below or email me through the Contact Me page. Thanks for reading!
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Like this: Like Loading...Denver police were relieved to find three children who were reported missing Wednesday safe from harm, but they were still trying to learn why a man killed his wife before turning the gun on himself.
Officers called to the Green Valley Ranch home at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday found the man’s wife dead and the children, who should have been there, missing.
The man was also gone, fleeing police in a white 2000 Chrysler Cirrus.
Denver police said that information prompted them to issue an Amber Alert for the children, ages 15, 5 and 18 months, about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.
They abandoned the alert at about 7 a.m. after the children were found safe and the man, identified as Dominic Moses Moore, 32, was discovered dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the Chrysler near Franktown.
The Denver medical examiner’s office did not release the woman’s name or cause of death, but police said she was Moore’s wife. Detectives were still trying to unravel the couple’s relationship to the children but said they all lived together.
Homicide detectives remained at the home throughout the day as curious neighborhood children looked on. Denver police Sgt. Steve Warneke, a department spokesman, declined to comment on what might have precipitated the shootings.
“These detectives have one shot to get it right, they have to go slowly and methodically to do that,” Warneke said.
Neighbors said the family had lived in the home about two years.
Moore’s sister told 7NEWS that her brother dropped the two younger children at her Aurora apartment Tuesday night and asked her to look after them. Police found them there Wednesday morning. The 15-year-old boy was out of the state visiting friends.
It was unclear who would take custody of them, Warneke said.
The Amber Alert, aired on electronic highway billboards and cellphones across the state, put the community on edge. A motorist who heard it reported seeing the Chrysler about 5:40 a.m. headed northbound on Colorado 83 just south of Franktown.
A Colorado State Patrol trooper already in the area tried to stop the Chrysler, but the driver kept going. Douglas County deputies joined the trooper in what spokesman Ron Hanavan described as a “low-speed pursuit.”
Moore twice avoided stop-sticks that had been placed on the road but eventually drove into a field and came to a stop. As officers approached the car, they heard a single gunshot, Hanavan said.
Moore’s sister said she did not know whether the couple was struggling.
Moore has a lengthy arrest record in the state, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records, beginning with an arrest and conviction as a juvenile in 1996. He also had been charged with violating a protection order, assault and aggravated robbery.
In 2002, he was arrested in Colorado Springs on suspicion of domestic violence and harassment. The case was dismissed.
In 2003, Moore was found guilty of vehicular eluding and possession of a weapon by a previous offender in Arapahoe County.
He was sentenced to four years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Sadie Gurman: 303-954-1661, sgurman@denverpost.com or twitter.com/sgurmanFormer Phoenix Suns general manager Steve Kerr is sure making the Bay Area look a lot like the desert. According to EuroBasket.com’s David Pick, the Golden State Warriors head coach is planning on hiring former Suns coach and current Clippers assistant Alvin Gentry to be his lead assistant.
Warriors expected to make a stronger $ offer to convince Alvin Gentry to leave the Clippers to become elite paid assoc. HC soon,sources said — Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) June 20, 2014
The decision comes as Kerr’s other potential lead assistant, successful European coach David Blatt, appears to have chosen the head coaching opening with the Cleveland Cavaliers over a lead assistant opportunity with the Warriors. Blatt is being hired by another former Sun in general manager David Griffin, who shared Kerr’s thinking in chasing after and pulling from the overseas coaching vein. Kerr, you might know, was Griffin’s boss during his time as Phoenix GM.
Gentry led the Suns to the 2010 Western Conference Finals in Kerr’s final year in the Valley.
Kerr also made a direct hit to the Suns’ current staff by bringing video director Nick U’Ren to Golden State as a special assistant to the head coach and manager of advanced scouting, according to Paul Coro. U’Ren joined Phoenix in the video department during the Kerr era and was one of the rare Suns basketball ops employees whose time spanned the past three general managers — Mark West and the training staff also fall into that category.by
Photo by watch smart | CC BY 2.0
The recapture of Aleppo by the Syrian Arab Army and its allies marks a turning point not only in the conflict in Syria, but also in the dynamic of international conflict. For the first time since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the rolling imperial engine of regime change via American-led military intervention has been stopped in its tracks. To be sure, it’s certainly not out of service, even in Syria, and it will seek and find new paths for devastating disobedient countries, but its assumed endgame for subjugating Syria has been rudely interrupted. And in our historical context, Syria interrupted is imperialism interrupted.
Let’s remember where things stood in Syria seventeen months ago. After a four-year campaign, directed by the United States, thousands of jihadis in various groups backed by the US/NATO, the Gulf monarchies, Turkey and Israel, were on the offensive. ISIS occupied Palmyra, Raqqa, and swaths of territory, and was systematically raping, beheading, and torturing Syrian citizens and looting and destroying the country’s cultural treasures. Al-Qeada/al-Nusra had triumphantly poured into the eastern part of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city (and one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world), were beheading and crucifying their newly-subjugated Syrian captives, and were beginning their siege of the larger and more populous part of that city. Turkey had commenced military operations on Syrian territory against Kurdish forces (who had won significant victories against ISIS), and was enabling the transit of foreign jihadis into Syria and convoys of ISIS oil through its territory. Against these dispersed offensives, the Syrian Arab Army was undermanned and overstretched.
As John Kerry himself later admitted, in a meeting with Syrian opposition, the Obama administration saw the ISIS advance as a positive development: “[W]e know that this was growing, we were watching, we saw that DAESH [ ISIS] was growing in strength, and we thought Assad was threatened. [We] thought, however, we could probably manage that. Assad might then negotiate.”(By “negotiate,” Kerry meant “capitulate”—negotiate the terms of his abdication.) For the Serious People in Washington, this—the impending takeover of Syria by ISIS and Al-Qaeda jihadis—meant things were going swimmingly. (Al-Nusra was at the time—and still is, less officially—the affiliate of Al-Qaeda in Syria.) As Daniel Lazare pointed out: “After years of hemming and hawing, the Obama administration has finally come clean about its goals in Syria. In the battle to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, it is siding with Al Qaeda…[R]ather than protesting what is in fact a joint U.S.-Al Qaeda assault, the Beltway crowd is either maintaining a discreet silence or boldy hailing Al Nusra’s impending victory as ‘the best thing that could happen in a Middle East in crisis.’”
You read that right. As one al-Nusra commander said: “We are one part of al-Qaeda…The Americans are on our side.”
ISIS? We can manage that.
But Assad was still hanging on, maintaining control of Damascus, the Syrian armed forces, and the vast majority of the Syrian population. It was time for the big dog to jump in and make sure the intended, inevitable result was achieved. Thus, on August 2, 2015, “U.S. officials” told Reuters that “the United States has decided to allow air strikes to help defend against any attack on the U.S.-trained Syrian rebels, even if the attackers come from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.”
Not many people, and certainly not the mainstream media, took much notice of that announcement at the time. No thang, after all, for the U.S. to announce attacks against a sovereign country. To this day, it’s hardly ever mentioned in narratives of the conflict.
But with that announcement—a pledge to use American planes to shoot down Syrian planes in Syrian airspace and fire on Syrian troops who might dare to attack US-approved “rebels” on Syrian territory (something way beyond a “no-fly zone”)—the United States, under President Obama, effectively declared war on Syria. Syria was now under explicit attack by the armed forces of two states—the U.S. and its NATO ally Turkey—along with a panoply of jihadi proxy armies supported by at least four other states – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Israel. The newly-promised direct American military attacks on Syrian forces would be the coup de grâce for the last secular nationalist government in the Arab world.
I did notice that announcement at the time, and wrote about it in the last of a series of articles about Syria, where I said: “Those who wanted a war with Syria in 2013 have finally gotten what they wanted. It will be a dangerous diversion, at least, for the United States, and a certain disaster for the people of the Middle East. And nobody will stop it.” Because, I assumed (along with virtually everyone else, I dare say) the inevitability of what we had seen since the demise of the Soviet Union: that nobody could or would make a military challenge to an American military intervention. The world’s only superpower, and all.
Two Can Play
I, along with virtually everyone else, was wrong. There was another actor in the world who noticed the announcement, took it as the declaration of war—the intent to finish off the government of Syria—that it was, and decided not to let it go unchallenged. Thus, in September, 2016, Russia accepted the Syrian government’s official request for military help to resist the multinational jihadi-cum-Western-air-power-and-special-forces onslaught. Without saying it this way explicitly, Vladimir Putin was sending Russian armed forces to prevent the final offensive against the Syrian state that the United States had announced it was readying. It is a flagrant and ubiquitous omission to talk about the Russian military intervention in Syria without mentioning the American threat that preceded it.
As Kerry completed his thoughts cited above, Assad didn’t wait for ISIS to threaten Damascus, or for the U.S. to start bombing his army; “instead…he got Putin to support him.”
I was surprised—amazed, really—that Russia would take such bold action. Since the disappearance of the Soviet Union, the U.S. has been geopolitically contemptuous of Russia, with successive American administrations simply ignoring Russia in their calculations about how to go about ruling the world.
Poppy Bush had promised Mikhail Gorbachev that the US would not expand NATO to take in the Eastern European and Baltic states, and he, Bill Clinton, and George W. proceeded to do just that. They took it for granted that Russia—under the leadership of their drunken stooge, Yeltsin, and devastated by the American-induced shock-therapy restoration of capitalism—could do nothing. With his war on Russia’s close ally, Serbia, Bill Clinton (demonstrating that NATO never was a defensive alliance) announced that, henceforth, NATO’s judgement trumped all other precepts of international law, and the alliance was free to attack any country on Earth; he, too, presumed Russia could do nothing about it. In Libya, the Obama administration got the Russians (and Chinese) to vote for a “humanitarian” UN resolution, which Obama then both used as an excuse and blatantly flouted to bomb the crap out of Libya for the purpose of “regime change”—assuming, again, that Russia could do nothing about it. G. W. Bush abrogated the ABM Treaty, and he and Obama moved to station “missile defenses” in Eastern Europe that Russia knows very well are weapons designed to enable a U.S. first-strike capability; they assumed, of course, that Russia could do nothing about it.
The first hint of a change in Russia’s stance came in 2013, when Putin adroitly annulled the “chemical weapons” pretext for the attack on Syria that Obama was itching to launch at the time. Although the decisive impediment to that planned aggression was adamant popular resistance, punctuated by the British parliament just saying No! (another portentous denial of assumed compliance), Putin earned the lasting enmity of America’s deep-state neocons. Still, this Syrian gambit was diplomatic jiu-jitsu by Russia, turning Kerry’s proclamations about Syria surrendering chemical weapons against him; there was no hint that Russia would or could have offered any military resistance to the attack the United States would have launched.
That kind of resistance first peeked out in the context of the Ukraine upheaval in 2014, where Russia made clear it would use its military to backstop Crimea’s break from, and Donbass’s resistance to, the American-instigated, Nazi-infested coup regime in Kiev. (And I use that N-word advisedly. See my take on that here and here.) Still, this resistance was on Russia’s home turf, as it were, and Russian armed forces remained in the background. There was no overt Russian military action outside of its borderlands, and no hint that Russia would or could project its own military power, let alone challenge American military action, in a distant venue. It was, and still is, true that the U.S. military is capable of global “power projection” in a way that Russia’s (or anybody else’s) is not. So it was possible for American planners to continue assuming that however the U.S. military intervened in a far-flung country, there was nothing Russia could do about it. Nobody really got the point that Russia was starting to say: There is some borscht we will not eat.
The rotten soup that Russia rejected in Syria is the toxic recipe of regime change via jihadi proxy forces mixed with the assumption of moral superiority, which allows the U.S. and its allies to rearrange countries without regard to the traditional niceties of national sovereignty or international law.
In that context, the Russian military intervention not only, as Kerry said, “changed the equation” in Syria, it was a game-changing move in world politics. To the great consternation of the American imperial regime, for the first time since the Cold War, a country has proclaimed to the world: When it comes to the proactive use of military force in critical conjunctures, two can play.
What’s Left
Whether Russian intervention to rescue the actually-existing Syrian Baathist government was a “good” or “bad” thing has been a contentious issue within the left. The answer to that depends on whether one sees the conflict that’s been raging in Syria since 2011 (at least) as: a) predominantly an indigenous democratic revolt against a monstrous tyrant, dominated and directed by Syrians in the nation’s interest, even if also manned by Syrian and some foreign jihadis and armed, financed, and abetted by the U.S., Turkey, the Gulf monarchies, and Israel; this is the dominant Western narrative, ubiquitously promoted in the media, or b) one of a series of imperialist jihadi proxy wars that, at best, hijacked whatever Syrian democratic elements existed at the outset—a war that is dominated and directed by foreign jihadi and state actors, and that seeks to destroy the last bastion of secular Arab nationalism, in order to create a weak, divided, sectarian non-state that suits those foreign interests; this is a version of events found only in the foreign and alternative press.
I stand firmly in the latter camp. I’m not going to rehash the case, which I and many others made a number of times over the last five years. I will say that I don’t see how any leftist could continue to cling to the dominant Western narrative now that we have the American Secretary of State admitting that: 1) the US poured an “extraordinary amount of arms” into Syria to help the opposition; 2) the US wanted to “manage” ISIS, and watched approvingly as ISIS grew stronger and become threatening to Damascus itself; 3) Russia entered the war in order to prevent an ISIS victory, and did so; and 4) the Russian intervention, which “changed the equation,” is legal, because Russia is invited in by the “legitimate regime,” and the US has no legal basis for intervention, because the US hasn’t gotten the UN to swallow the “Responsibility to Protect” doctrine as a substitute for international law.
But there are people still in the first camp, whose sincere commitment to democracy, social justice, and anti-imperialist I do not question. I just disagree with their political judgement. And I vigorously disagree with the rhetorical tactics many of them use to defend it. But that will be the topic of another post.
My position, shared by many people who also hold a sincere commitment to democracy, social justice, and anti-imperialism, requires no denial that that the Syrian Baathist state is a brutish affair. Baathism in Syria, as in Iraq, was the CIA’s preferred alternative to communism, and Hafez al-Assad, like Saddam, killed thousands, including leftist dissidents. Both regimes had cozy relationships with American machinations in the region when it was convenient. These are regimes that deserve to be dispatched to the dustbin of history. Nevertheless, there was good reason that I and tens of millions of people around the world objected to the invasion and conquest of Iraq in 2003, which, as we foresaw, led to the demise of the country into sectarian chaos. Neither then nor now would calling us “Saddam’s apologists” be sign of anything but the weakness of the speaker’s political case.
Nor does this position require any love for Putin-era Russia, which is, thanks to American-sponsored shock-and-awe capitalist restoration, a country mired in its own quicksand of conservative nationalism and scheming oligarchy. As it claws its way up the geopolitical food chain, Russia will undoubtedly engage with bad actors, and engage in bad actions. Still, Russia is not (yet) capable, economically or militarily, of being an imperialist power like the United States, and is the target of aggressive maneuvers by the world’s most powerful military alliance (NATO). In fact, its very weakness, as a rising capitalist entity, makes it want to insist on the fair rules of the international order, which the stronger capitalist countries proclaim, but have for so long ignored with impunity.
The Syria-Russia alliance is not revolutionary proletarian internationalism. It is an alliance, within the framework of the traditional Westphalian state paradigm, and within the post-WWI framework of international law, that has had a real net positive effect in the context of today’s geopolitics. Without Russian military intervention, al-Nusra and allied jihadis would have been rampaging through the streets of Damascus. Saving Syria from that fate is a result I welcome as a leftist.
Again, at the time of the Russian intervention (and still)—especially with the threat of imminent American military attacks on Syrian forces—military action was the only way to stop the jihadi regime-change train, and Russia was the only geopolitical actor capable of intervening with the necessary force. Russia was responding, decisively and legally, to an invitation to defend an independent sovereign state.
“Non-violent” kinda-sorta-pacifist progressives may not like it, but this is a situation that is being determined by armed force. Revolutionary leftists may not like it (I sure don’t), but there is no left political force on the scene capable of mounting any serious resistance to either the Syrian state or the foreign-driven jihadi invasion-cum-“rebellion”—itself a foreign intervention.
It’s also true, of course, that foreign military intervention, however legitimate its goals, can fail miserably. Having been deliberately provoked into doing so, the Soviets certainly intervened on the right side—Can anyone now doubt it?—in defending the secular Afghan government in 1979 against the proxy jihadi war of the day—which was the seed war of subsequent imperialist-jihadi adventures. Because the “foreignness” of the Soviet soldiers and women’s education was more jarring than the “foreignness” of the “Afghan Arabs” and beheading teachers, and/or because the United States, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, et. al., supported the “rebellion” with money. Intelligence, logistics, and sophisticated arms (including anti-aircraft weapons), the result was, and still is, a disaster—for everybody.
So it was that Obama—who entangled the United States in seven wars and kept sending American soldiers back into wars he “ended”—predicted that the intervention would trap Russia in a “quagmire.” Except it hasn’t. The relatively small Russian contingent has acted effectively and with remarkable restraint in the face of severe provocation. Things can always go haywire, but so far, whether anyone likes it or not, the Russian intervention has been successful. Russia has even turned Turkey into an ally, for the moment at least.
The fatal flaw of “the Russians are getting into another quagmire like Afghanistan” argument is…Afghanistan. And Iraq. And Libya, etc. The Russians and the rest of the world now know how foolish and counterproductive it would be to send tens of thousands of troops to save Syria. The Russians and the rest of the world also now know how destructive the American project of regime change via jihadi proxies is, having seen its results in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. Only deluded and arrogant American exceptionalists—conservative militarists and liberal humanitarian interventionists alike—haven’t learned that lesson.
There is no revolutionary skin in this game, and leftists should be the last to rationalize away the principles of state sovereignty and non-intervention, as well as the prohibition against aggressive and “preventive” war. As Jean Bricmont has pointed out, these principles became the bedrock of international law, and their violation the greatest war crime, not because of abstract bourgeois theorizing, but because of the experience of the Second World War (where Germany claimed to intervene in defense of beleaguered minorities in Czechoslovakia and Poland), and of colonialism—a system in which stronger states justified the plunder of weaker ones under the guise of a civilizing mission. As Bricmont remarks: “The last thing the newly decolonized countries wanted was intervention from the old colonial powers.”
As Bricmont also points out, “just about everything that the United States is doing everywhere in the world” violates these principles, and therefore the fundamental structure of international law. Now, much of that is cheered on by liberals and some leftists as “humanitarian intervention” and the “responsibility to protect.” As used by American liberals, and by “anti-Assadist” leftists who present Assad as an arch-fiend for whose elimination the world is responsible, these concern-saturated phrases are nothing but new-fangled slogans for missionary imperialism. Within the “rules-based” world order as conceived by American politicians and ideologists today, as Bricmont observes: “It is obvious that such ‘interventions’ are only possible on the part of strong States against weak States,” and that “even all strong states are not equal among each other.”
Really: Can Russia, China, Iran and their friendly states call themselves “the international community,” declare that the undemocratic, misogynist, head-chopping regime of Saudi Arabia just “has to go,” put their favored armed factions of Saudi dissidents and international jihadi brigades on their payroll, set up bases for them in Yemen where they are supplied with advanced tactical weapons, and demand that the Saudi government withdraw itself from, and turn over to these “rebels,” whatever territory they’d like to occupy? Is that the way the “rules-based” international order works now? Or is this prerogative reserved for the US and its favored allies?
It is amazing how blithely the entire American political and media elite—with liberals in the lead—have constructed this alternate-reality version of the rules of international law, and become legends of righteousness in their own minds. The American left should have no truck with this.
Lion King
A good historical analogy can clarify a present situation. In this case, it’s best to avoid the temptation of associating Syria today with a precedent loaded with progressive internationalism. I find nothing more ridiculous than attempts to make the jihadis in Syria reincarnation of the international brigades in Spain. And the Russians are not Cuba in Angola. We need a case that involves nothing more than widely-accepted and good-enough principles of national sovereignty, non-interference, and anti-colonialism—in which there is no good guy for the left.
The best I’ve come up with is a situation that conventional liberal history recognizes as one of the more outrageous and ominous crimes of the twentieth-century. It was an attack by a country that was the seat of Western civilization on one of the world’s poorest and most despotic regimes, ruled by a dictator who styled himself King of Kings and Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and had his own self-aggrandizing religious cult: That despot, Haile Selassie, was nonetheless feted for his resistance to Italian fascist imperialism.
Is Bashar al-Assad a worse tyrant than Haile Selassie? Does Syria deserve less protection from Washington-Riyadh-Tel Aviv’s twenty-first century imperialism than Ethiopia did from twentieth-century Rome’s? Who’s afraid of “Selassie apologist”?
Timeline Review
The jihadi-imperialist threat to the Syrian state has been interrupted, but it is decidedly not over. Syria has already been devastated, and the U.S. and its allies have enough resources to keep the pot boiling for a long time.
The most positive recent development has been Turkey’s seeming turn, propelled by the predictable blowback, away from the jihadi game. Without Turkey’s help, ISIS and other jihadi elements will lose important supply lines. But Erdogan is the epitome of a fickle friend, and can turn back on an American dime tomorrow.
Any lessening of regime-change aggression against Syria, as Donald Trump seemed to favor in his campaign rhetoric, would be a serious blow to the jihadis, and would probably lead to Saudi and Qatari support for them drying up. But anyone who trusts anything that Trump says right now should wait a few minutes. Even if he backs off on Syria, Trump’s cabinet choices make clear that he will likely ratchet up aggression against Iran and the Palestinians, or maybe go back and take Iraq’s oil.
Besides, imperialism is a mandatory bi-partisan project. Congress has already voted 375-34 in the House, 92-7 margin to continue the Pentagon training for Syrian insurgents, and, for the first time, to supply them with anti-aircraft missiles. Let’s see if Trump and “Mad Dog” Mattis put a stop to that. My bet: Despite what some wishful-thinking paleo-conservatives think, Donald Trump is not going to oversee a less imperialistic American policy in the world.
What has happened, and is probably irreversible, and will be exacerbated by the presence of Trump, is that the incoherence, failure, and utter ridiculousness (from the perspective of reasonable standards of global peace and security) of American policy is now on embarrassing display.
It’s important to recognize that the strength of Russia in Syria is more political than military. The U.S. itself has many more military assets in the region than Russia, and there are 16 other countries flying combat aircraft in Syria. The American-led anti-Syria alliance draws on forces and facilities in the neighboring countries of Jordan, Israel, and Turkey. Indeed, the latter two have the significant armed forces that have directly attacked Syria, and shot down a Russian plane. Not to mention the global logistics and arms-supply network (even Croatia’s in the act) backed by the enormous financial resources of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
It was not just American, but also UK, Danish, and Australian air forces, that accidentally-on-purpose bombed Syrian army positions at the Deir Ezzor airport on September 17th, killing about 100 Syrian soldiers and wounding 110 more, in an operation that was an acknowledged violation of regulations, and just happened to support an ISIS offensive on the airport. There are more planes and weapons arrayed in the America-led coalition than in the Russian contingent.
That attack on Deir Ezzor was, by the way, exactly the kind of attack Obama had promised a year before. This time it was destined to be a one-off, because the Russians were there to prevent it from happening again. It’s thought, in fact, that it was a Pentagon tantrum designed to sabotage the Kerry-negotiated cease-fire—which it did—and, as Gareth Porter says, meant as “payback” to Russia for its “poke in the U.S. eye.” That means it was a direct defiance of civilian command. Let’s see how Donald deals with Mad Dog when that comes up again.
The fundamental problem is that there’s an inverse relationship between America’s military power and its political strength. That centrifugal tension derives from the increasingly obvious discrepancy between America’s publicly-declared motivations and objectives, and the actual motivations and objectives–which cannot be publicly declared, but which the results of American actions make harder to hide.
In the Syrian case, it plays out like this: Russia supports the Syrian state against the jihadis. That’s what it says it’s doing, and that’s what it is doing. You can support that or oppose it, and it’s clear what you’re supporting or opposing.
The US, on the other hand, is supporting: reactionary religious monarchism, the destruction of secular nationalism, Zionism, Turkish neo-Ottoman ambitions, capitalism and neoliberal globalism, oil and gas drilling and pipeline rights, etc. But the American (and European) people aren’t going to want to fight, die, or give up their Social Security and Medicare for any of that. So the government of the U.S. cannot say what it’s actually doing, and wraps it up in a bullshit fairy tale about democracy and humanitarianism, which its client regimes in Europe and its global media agents promote around the world incessantly.
This story only sells as long as people accept the legitimacy of the source—which means as long as they have enough material comfort, and as long as they only get the story from approved sources. But that’s over. All of it. People no longer have, and will not be getting back, lives of increasing material comfort, and they are no longer limited to, and won’t be swallowing whole, the blather that’s intoned by multi-million-dollar news anchors (which is why there will be continuing futile attempts to shut down, or steer people away from, alternative media).
In Facebook world, Russia and Syria are in a relationship.
The United States? Well, it has Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, al-Nusra (“bad” al-Qaeda), Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (“good” al-Qaeda), ISIS, the Free Syrian Army, the Army of Conquest, the Kurds, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, the rest of “Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve,” Refugee Nation, and Croatia? It’s complicated.
Whose Timeline would you want to get involved in?
To be more “successful,” the U.S. will have to drop all the doo-dads that are dressing up the imperialism, and be more explicitly ruthless. It will have to drop the pretension of fighting for democracy and humanitarianism or respecting international law, and just be, like: “Let’s just take the oil.” Precisely what our new president promises.
We’ve exhausted the Smooth Operator; time to try the Huckster. Different salesman, same product.
But that shift will introduce further political weakness, at home and in the world, forcing more reliance on dangerous military aggression, undermining further the “world’s bestest, diversest, peace-lovingest democracy” political-ideological foundation that’s absolutely crucial for stable imperial rule. The United States will start losing Europe, and from there, even Hamilton won’t save it. That’s exactly the conundrum you hear John Kerry struggling with in that remarkable audio tape.
It’s increasingly clear that the United States can achieve nothing but destruction, in Syria or anywhere else.
But it can achieve that, and as a failing and flailing enterprise, it may double and triple down on its destructive impulse. Even if, and precisely because, it has now met some effective resistance in Syria, it may engage in dangerous provocations designed to put those international actors capable of military resistance—Russia and China—back in their assigned places.
Sorry, there is nothing very hopeful in this scenario. It’s nouveau great-power geopolitics in which there is no left or progressive force of any significance. We are going to have to do some unfriending, and make a lot more bad and unfortunate choices.
Jah rule.It was a dramatic moment on Capitol Hill yesterday when Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), recently diagnosed with brain cancer, arrived on the Senate floor. Without the veteran lawmaker, Republicans would not have been able to advance their effort to take health care benefits from millions of Americans.
Soon after casting his vote with his party, McCain delivered prepared remarks on his concerns about contemporary politics and what’s become of the legislative process, and much of the media, which has long gushed over the Arizona senator, could hardly contain its praise. Here, for example, was CNN’s report:
In a Washington moment for the ages, Sen. John McCain claimed the role of an aging lion to try to save the Senate, composing a moving political aria for the chamber and the country that he loves. With a deep-red scar etched from his eyebrow to his temple, the legacy of brain surgery less than two weeks ago, McCain beseeched his colleagues to forsake political tribalism and restore the chamber to a spirit of compromise that had helped forge national greatness.
Roll Call published a related piece, telling readers, “Years from now, when the history of the modern Congress is written, John McCain’s address to the Senate on July 25, 2017, is likely to stand among the defining summations of the era.”
I realize that the political media has its favorites, and for a variety of reasons, McCain has long been a media darling. I’m also aware of the unique circumstances: a man who’s devoted much of his life to public service, including heroic military service, is facing a serious health crisis. Those who want to celebrate McCain’s work feel an added incentive to do so quickly and vigorously.
But the adulation paints an incomplete – and to a very real extent, misleading – picture for the public. One can respect McCain’s lifetime of sacrifices while still acknowledging the glaring gap between the senator’s words and his actions.
In isolation, McCain’s speech was, to be sure, a powerful rebuke to institutional breakdowns in the Senate. He made a compelling case for a more constructive and more deliberative legislative process, and he did so while holding both parties to account, which all but guarantees reverence from much of the Beltway press.
The remarks did not, however, arrive in a vacuum. McCain had just cast a partisan vote in support of an indefensible health care process, which intends to end with a bill that does not currently exist. The senator sang the praises of “regular order” in the Senate after casting a vote that ensured there would be no regular order on this issue.
McCain simultaneously condemned and protected a process he apparently opposes and supports. He expressed severe disappointment in his colleagues trying to pass major legislation without hearings or deliberations, and then rewarded those who’ve disappointed him, ensuring their victory.
The senator proceeded to announce his opposition to his party’s latest proposal, which he then voted to support just six hours later.
If McCain’s speech “stands among the defining summations of the era” in future history books, let’s hope the chapter also acknowledges the profound contradiction between his words and deeds – which, in a crushing sense, really did make this “a Washington moment for the ages.”Poland — map
Gathering in Silence
Call to Prayer
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the Israeli government will not accept a Palestinian state with the borders favored by the Palestinians and the international community, a new hurdle to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's effort to restart peace talks in his latest visit to the region. Netanyahu's office has tried to distance itself from the comments. (AP Photo/Abir Sultan, Pool)
JERUSALEM (AP) — A senior Israeli official on Sunday said that the ruling Likud Party will not accept a Palestinian state with the borders favored by the Palestinians and the international community, a new hurdle to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's effort to restart peace talks in his latest visit to the region.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved to distance himself from the comments by his deputy defense minister, Danny Danon.
In a TV interview, Danon said "there is certainly no majority" in the Likud for establishing a Palestinian state based on Israel's borders before the 1967 Mideast war.
The Palestinians seek an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, areas captured by Israel in 1967. The Palestinians say final borders between Israel and a future Palestine must be based on the 1967 lines. Israeli hard-liners oppose a broad withdrawal from the West Bank on both security and religious grounds.
"A Palestinian state on the 1967 lines is something dangerous for Israel, and therefore I oppose that idea," Danon told Channel 2 TV. He said it was possible that the broader coalition government, which includes other hard-line parties, also opposes a return to the 1967 lines.
The international community, including the U.S., has endorsed the 1967 lines as the basis for border talks. While Netanyahu says he supports Palestinian independence, he has refused to commit to any borders, saying only that all issues of disagreement should be resolved in negotiations.
Officials in Netanyahu's office said that Danon had stated a personal opinion, and his comments did not reflect government policy.
In a veiled reference to Danon, Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday "the government must function as one unit" in order to confront the many challenges facing the country.
Netanyahu linked the recent troubles along Israel's front with Syria to the Palestinian issue, telling his Cabinet that the planned withdrawal of Austrian peacekeepers from the Golan Heights shows that Israel cannot rely on others to protect its security. Austria announced the pullout from a U.N. peacekeeping force along the Israeli-Syrian frontier after rebels briefly overran a border crossing.
The incident "underscores the fact that Israel cannot depend on international forces for its security," Netanyahu said. "they can be part of the arrangements. They cannot be the basic foundation of Israel's security."
Netanyahu said he would raise this concern with Kerry. Netanyahu has previously rejected suggestions that international forces patrol areas that Israel relinquishes as part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The Palestinians have said they would accept international forces but would never allow the Israeli military to remain in their territory.
Kerry has been shuttling between the sides in recent months in hopes of finding a formula to restart negotiations. He is expected in the region this week on what would be his fifth visit since becoming Secretary of State early this year.
Netanyahu told the Cabinet that he will discuss the impasse with Kerry.
"Together we will try to advance a way to find an opening for negotiations with the Palestinians with the goal of reaching an agreement. This agreement will be based on a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state, and on solid security arrangements based on the Israeli military," he said.
Talks have been stalled since late 2008. The Palestinians have refused to return to the negotiations until Israel ends construction in territory it wants for a future state. Israel says that settlements, along with other core issues like security, should be resolved through talks and have frequently called for negotiations to resume immediately without preconditions.
Kerry has been searching for a formula that would curtail most settlement construction, provide security guarantees to Israel and economic incentives to the Palestinians. So far, there have been no signs of progress.
Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, Tzipi Livni, said Sunday that she is working with the U.S to restart talks, despite those within the government that oppose it.
"It is true that within the Likud there are radical elements and within the government there are those that oppose an agreement," Livni told Israel Radio. "The prime minister is the one who will have to decide whether he surrenders to radical elements or will promote his policy that he declared," she said.
Livni said Danon's comments "look bad."
The top Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Danon's remarks reflect Israel's policy. "I believe that a government that continues to tender settlements and rejects the two state solution will not go for peace," he said.Paraguay manager Ramon Diaz has confirmed his starting 11 to take on the United States in the all-important final Group A match. Unlike most managers who wait until the last possible second of an hour before kickoff, Diaz has named his starting lineup a full 25 hours before kickoff.
Jurgen Klinsmann will now have a full day to assess his opponent's lineup and make the necessary changes if needed. That could be an advantage or it could be a brilliant mind game by the Paraguay boss. Or, in reality, it probably means nothing but it's fun to speculate about.
The USA have named the same starting lineup in both matches so far in the Copa America. Will Klinsmann make any changes? We've already talked about a change we'd like to see, but who knows what the USA manager will decide on once kickoff arrives.
Here's Paraguay's confirmed lineup: (4-4-2) Justo Villar; Paulo Da Silva, Gustavo Gomez, Fabian Balbuena, Miguel Samudio; Derlis Gonzalez, Victor Ayala, Celso Oritz, Miguel Almiron; Antonio Sanabria, Dario Lezcano
Do you think Paraguay naming their lineup early will affect Klinsmann's decision making?Ever seen a flash mob? A huge group of people does something in unison in public, from coordinated dances to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to freezing in place in the middle of Grand Central station. They’re offbeat and fun and kind of ridiculous.
Well, here’s your chance to be part of a flash mob that doesn’t require weeks of preparation: a super-long conga line. If you can handle walking in a line and following the person in front of you, then you’re already prepared! And the best part is that it’s for a good cause: privacy awareness and the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV). You’ll find event details below.
Where and when is it?
The line is happening on Tuesday, 5/15/2012 in both New York City and San Francisco at 11:00 AM EDT and PDT, respectively.
The starting address for the New York line is City Eventions, 1333 Broadway, New York, NY 10018.
The starting address for the San Francisco line is the Prescott Hotel, 545 Post St., San Francisco, California 94102.
What do I get for showing up?
We’re donating $1 to NNEDV for everyone who shows up (up to 1,000 people). We’re also donating $1 for every online share of our Facebook page poll and tweet of the #GoPrivate hashtag (up to $1,500). A lot of our customers have survived domestic violence, and staying private online is a really important part of their continued safety.
We also have 1,000 t-shirts to give away, 500 at each location. Here’s the design:
What’s the message behind the conga line? What’s the point we’d be making?
Our message is that Facebook’s going public, but you don’t have to; there are some simple things you can do to get the benefits of Facebook without leaving your data exposed. Here at Abine, we enjoy Facebook and use it every day, but support Facebook users having more control over their personal data. If you agree, we’d love to have you come out and join us to have some fun and help educate people about how their data is collected online and what they can do about it.
We’re directing people to our website at Abine.com/GoPrivate where we have an interactive calculator that determines your yearly value to Facebook, as well as tips and how to’s for navigating Facebook’s 7,000-word Data Use Policy and privacy settings.
And all I have to do is walk in a line?
Yep, that’s it! You’ll put on your free shirt so you look like the rest of the line, and then you’ll follow the person in front of you when the line starts moving (dancing is welcome). The people in the front know the route. A few Abine people and event coordinators will be on hand to give out shirts, keep a count of you for donation purposes, and make sure the line doesn’t walk into traffic.CBC News has learned the RCMP have seized banking records for Bruce Carson, a former senior adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, amid their investigation into allegations he illegally lobbied his former government colleagues.
Emails obtained by the Mounties suggest Carson tried to lobby the most senior members of government and the bureaucracy, including the clerk of the Privy Council and Harper's former chief of staff Nigel Wright.
The emails, Const. Marie-Josée Robert alleges in court records, "are compelling examples establishing that Mr. Carson committed the offence of frauds on the government by having or pretending to have influence with the government or with a minister … or an official."
In an affidavit that CBC News retrieved Wednesday, the RCMP allege Carson used his connections to lobby on behalf of an organization called the Energy Policy Institute of Canada, or EPIC, for a national energy strategy.
Robert alleges Carson's "continuous association" with public office holders allowed him to accept money for "consideration for his co-operation, assistance or exercise of influence in connection with business matters with the government on behalf of EPIC."
"I believe without this inferred influence, Mr. Carson would have not performed his services so effectively," she wrote in an affidavit known as an "information to obtain a production order."
The allegations aren't proven and haven't been tested in court. No charges have been laid.
Carson's lawyer said in a statement that he was "not in any way lobbying government or anyone else" and that if any charges are brought, "they will be vigorously defended.”
"The initial search for a Canadian energy strategy involved a number of think-tanks and the Energy Policy Institute of Canada all trying to determine what a Canadian energy strategy — in an embryonic way — would look like and what it would do. In pursuing this, Mr. Carson consulted with federal and provincial governments. This did not constitute lobbying," Patrick McCann said in an email to CBC News.
Also charged with influence peddling
Carson is a former designated public office holder and was banned from lobbying for five years after Feb. 4, 2009, the date he left Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office.
After he left the Prime Minister's Office, Carson headed up the Canada school of energy and environment at the University of Calgary. He was also one of two founding co-chairs of EPIC, though his title changed to vice-chair after two weeks.
The organization was created in August 2009 to gain support from private sector leaders and academics, as well as build support with the public, before going to government with ideas for an energy strategy.
It drew big names, including former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna, who is now deputy chair of TD Bank Group, and Thomas d'Aquino, former president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. Former cabinet minister David Emerson, who served as trade minister under both Liberal and Conservative governments, also became a co-chair of EPIC.
Doug Black, whom Harper appointed a senator in January 2013, became president of EPIC, at a salary of $10,000 a month, the affidavit says.
Robert notes Carson is also being investigated for lobbying on behalf of the school of energy and environment.
The commissioner of lobbying referred the case to the RCMP.
Carson also faces a separate charge of influence peddling.
Carson's work started the same year he left PMO.
'Good luck with this great adventure'
Robert notes in her affidavit that Carson set about meeting with top civil servants and political officials dealing with the energy portfolio.
In January 2011, just after Wright started his job as Harper's chief of staff, Carson emailed him the report.
"Nigel — I don't think we have ever met — but we have a few mutual friends — so firstly good luck with this great adventure you have taken on — and secondly thought I would share with you a report I just finished on energy … would love to meet with you at your convenience," Carson wrote to Wright, according to Robert's affidavit.
Wright replied that he'd "heard a lot of good things" about Carson and told him to call at any time, the affidavit says. Wright also said he would read the report.
Wright stepped down as Harper's chief of staff in May 2013, after it was revealed he'd given Senator Mike Duffy about $90,000 to repay money Duffy owed the Senate.
The next month, Carson sent an email saying he'd briefed Wright about the organization.
"He seemed generally supportive," Carson wrote, according to the affidavit, "and now at least he has been briefed."
Black responded, "Excellent. Need Nigel on side," according to the affidavit.
Robert writes in the affidavit that this email from Carson, as well as others, led her to believe the members of the EPIC executive committee "were aware of Mr. Carson's communication with [public office holders] in order to promote EPIC with respect to the development of any policy or program of the Government of Canada."
'Secret sauce'
In November 2009, Carson emailed Wayne Wouters, the clerk of the Privy Council and Canada's most senior civil servant, about meeting with him.
Carson also had email exchanges with Cassie Doyle, the top civil servant at the Department of Natural Resources, including about arranging to attend a meeting of the top natural resources bureaucrats from every province regarding his organization's plans. The emails suggest he met separately over a year or so with her and Wouters, as well as with the deputy minister of Environment Canada. He also sent an email about meeting with Christian Paradis, the MP who in 2010 took over the natural resources portfolio in cabinet.
Although the organization's executive committee decided early in 2010 that Carson wasn't to lobby, Robert notes his activity seems to have picked up.
"Interestingly enough, Mr. Carson's lobbying activities increased after the motion 'not to lobby the federal government on behalf of EPIC,' was passed," she wrote in the affidavit.
Carson started with a $60,000 honorarium, but ended up earning $160,000 between February 2010 and February 2011.
In one email, Carson refers to his gross income as $10,000 per month, or $120,000 a year, according to Robert's affidavit.
Black responded to one of Carson's requests for money with praise.
"No issue.... We are making progress and you are the secret sauce," Black wrote, according to the affidavit.Gab founder and CEO Andrew Torba has been banned from Y Combinator’s directory and community after several members of the group allegedly claimed that Torba’s defense of Donald Trump made them feel “unsafe.”
“I was a part of Y Combinator’s winter 2015 batch with my first company, Automate Ads, which is how I got into their network,” said Torba in an email to Breitbart Tech. “They have an internal network of founders with job listings, a directory, etc called ‘Bookface.'”
Y Combinator is an organization that provides initial funding for Silicon Valley startups. In October Y Combinator president Sam Altman and founder Paul Graham were heavily criticized by members of Silicon Valley for refusing to cut ties with partner Peter Thiel over his support of Donald Trump.
“After coming out as Pro-Trump back in June, I was labeled as a ‘racist, bigot, etc’ by members of the Y Combinator community. Many unfriended me, stopped doing business with me, and shut me out completely,” he continued. “Several other Y Combinator founders saw one of my recent tweets saying ‘build the wall’ which they claimed made them feel ‘unsafe.'”
https://twitter.com/torbahax/status/796402924658180096
“Another founder referenced this tweet indirectly on a YC partner’s Facebook page so I jumped in the comments and called her out for it, which is when the group-think YC loyalists started jumping in and ganging up on me,” claimed Torba. “Several of them had been stalking my Facebook posts all week, jumping in the comments and harassing me with nonsensical questions trying to force a ‘gotcha’ moment.”
“As they continued to pile in and round up other founders to jump in and attack me I basically had enough and told them all to ‘fuck off,’ which is a part of free speech and my right,” Torba explained. “I received a phone call from Jon Levy, Y Combinator’s in-house attorney. Jon informed me that I had been completely removed from the Y Combinator directory and community and was no longer welcome. He cited my tweet which said ‘build the wall’ as the reason for my ban.”
https://twitter.com/torbahax/status/797191917876506625
Torba claims that after Buzzfeed contacted Y Combinator about covering the story, they changed their explanation for why he was removed, “stating that the ban was for ‘harassment’ because I told another founder, who had been harassing me for three days on every Facebook post, to ‘fuck off’ and called them cucks”.
“We support free speech, obviously. And we’re happy to to fund people with all sorts of different political views,” claimed Y Combinator president Sam Altman. “We do not allow harassment, for which Andrew unfortunately set a new bar in our community. You can look at his Twitter or Facebook for plenty of public examples, to say nothing of what he’s said privately.”
“As per our previous comments, when a founder violates our ethics statement, we remove them from the community,” he concluded.
In June, Altman compared President-elect Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler, calling him a racist, misogynist, and conspiracy theorist. Since banning Torba from Y Combinator, Altman has also blocked him on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/torbahax/status/797215429995491328
Torba has since taken to Twitter and his own platform Gab to complain about Y Combinator’s decision, pointing out several hypocrisies.
https://twitter.com/torbahax/status/797323688496549888
https://twitter.com/torbahax/status/797329083545878528
https://twitter.com/torbahax/status/797194748461252609
“This is a quintessential example of Silicon Valley censorship in action. These are the people who own and control every form of online communication and other digital products we all use everyday,” concluded Torba. “They believe in censoring opposing views for the sake of feelings. They believe insults are criminal. They are not welcoming to conservatives and others who think differently than them. This is why we are building Gab: to give everyone a voice and empower them to speak freely.”
Breitbart Tech reached out to Sam Altman for comment but did not receive a reply.
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.Streaking Cardinal extend impressive numbers
Seattle --
Stanford extended the nation's second longest active winning streak to 12 games with its 55-17 victory over Washington State on Saturday. Ohio State leads the Football Bowl Championship division with 16 straight wins.
Interception returns for touchdowns by Jordan Richards and Trent Murphy extended another streak. It was the 27th straight game in which the Cardinal had at least one takeaway, the longest such streak in the country.
Mauro's maneuver: Defensive end Josh Mauro had his third sack of the season in the first quarter and caused quarterback Connor Halliday to fumble on the play, although the Cougars recovered.
Vote of no confidence: Washington State gambled on a 4th-and-4 from its 45-yard line in the second quarter, and made it. Coach Mike Leach probably went for it because punter Mike Bowlin had shanked his previous boot, giving Stanford the ball near midfield. The Cardinal needed just four plays to score, on Devon Cajuste's second TD catch. Bowlin shanked another one later.
Washington State gambled again on a 4th-and-3 from its 39 in the third quarter. This time Halliday threw incomplete.
Drive to nowhere: Stanford went 74 yards in the second quarter only to come up empty when Kevin Hogan's pass was picked off in the end zone. Tyler Gaffney picked up three first downs on the drive, one on a fine second-effort run around right tackle when it appeared he had been stopped on 4th-and-1.
Hometown heroics: Sophomore wide receiver Michael Rector, a native of nearby Gig Harbor, Wash., grabbed a 48-yard pass in the first quarter to set up a field goal. He later caught a 45-yard touchdown pass. He was open for a possible TD in the second quarter, but Hogan lobbed the ball over the wrong shoulder.Dallas Cowboys tight end Gavin Escobar (89) catches the ball before a National Football League game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas Sunday October 30, 2016. (Andy Jacobsohn/The Dallas Morning News)
It was a fitting end to a four-year span during which the former second-round draft pick out of San Diego State never made a mark.
The Cowboys' Gavin Escobar experiment ended uneventfully Friday when the tight end signed a reported one-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs.
It was always considered unlikely that Dallas would try to resign Escobar as a free agent after the completion of his rookie contract.
Jason Witten is the Cowboys' featured tight end, of course, but Escobar couldn't get on the field last season after James Hanna and Geoff Swaim were lost to injuries.
Escobar finished with career lows of four catches for 30 yards in 2016 and wasn't a formidable blocker. He never reached double digits in catches and will be remembered for not living up to the expectations of an early-round draft pick.
Dallas could look to add depth at the position in the draft.On August 24, Apple CEO Tim Cook made a joint announcement with the governor of Iowa and the mayor of Waukee that the small town had been chosen as the site for a new $1.3 billion data center. At a time when struggling Midwestern towns and cities are trying to present themselves as emerging innovation hubs in an attempt to attract a sliver of Silicon Valley’s wealth, the photo op gave the politicians fodder for their inevitable reelection campaigns. But what made Waukee attractive to Apple?
There are plenty of municipalities like Waukee competing against one other for the attention of Apple, Google, Microsoft and the other tech giants. Many of these towns and small cities continue to follow a growth model which assumes that by attracting skilled millennials working in tech or the arts — the “creative class” — economic prosperity will follow. Yet the major cities that have most successfully pursued this approach now find themselves plagued by growing economic divides, historic levels of inequality, and housing crises that are displacing even middle-class residents. Richard Florida, the urban theorist who promoted this pattern of development, has acknowledged its negative, unforeseen consequences.
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But for many American mayors, the problems that come with gentrification are more attractive than the alternative faced by many struggling rust belt and rural towns: population decline and stagnating economies that missed the post-recession “recovery.”
Thus, in an effort to win investment that they hope will accelerate the process of renewal, some of these struggling cities, with the backing of state officials, are putting up big money to win the tech industry’s data centers and factories — even though the vast sums on offer ensure the projects never really pay off. For agreeing to build a data center in Waukee, Apple received $213 million in tax breaks for 50 permanent jobs — that’s $4.3 million per worker — and even bigger subsidies are on offer for factories. Tesla received $1.25 billion in assistance to build its gigafactory in Nevada, and Foxconn is poised to get a $3 billion incentive for its proposed Wisconsin factory, despite a legislative analysis showing the state won’t break even for at least 25 years.
The biggest beneficiaries of this corporate welfare are the giants of Silicon Valley; tech companies that not only work prodigiously to minimize their tax burden and the number of people they employ, but whose dominant positions in their respective industries are important contributing factors to rising inequality and to the larger economic difficulties the country is facing. Tech giants promote themselves as sources of progress and prosperity, but a growing body of evidence suggests that their size is having significant negative effects on economic growth, job quality, competition and even the very innovation they claim to drive.
Tech industry oligarchies mean fewer jobs
The tech giants that demand that the public cough up subsidies aren’t exactly struggling. To the contrary, the tech industry has become a massively consolidated, almost oligarchical operation. Peter Thiel, the infamous libertarian venture capitalist and early Trump supporter, once said that “competition is for losers.” A look at the consolidation of tech companies shows that Silicon Valley agrees. Google controls most of the search engine market, Facebook (and its subsidiaries) dominate social media, Apple and Samsung own the phone market, Uber dominates ride-hailing, and Amazon is the king of e-commerce and cloud computing — and its tentacles keep reaching for new industries. The lack of competition in the tech sector has been spun as a positive outcome for consumers because of the convenience it provides, but its consequences are increasingly being felt on both individual and national levels.
The justification for less antitrust enforcement was that it would result in lower prices for consumers, but how has that really worked out? Has consolidation helped to bring down internet prices? It certainly doesn’t seem to have helped make pharmaceuticals more affordable. That’s because the promise of lower prices hasn’t materialized. According to a study by antitrust expert John Kwoka, 75 to 80 percent of the mergers approved by regulators have resulted in significant price increases, meaning the main promise of this new regime was a lie. And that isn’t the only way these mergers have left the country worse off.
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The biggest tech companies with some of the largest market caps require far fewer employees than the corporate behemoths of the past. According to the Economist, the three major Detroit carmakers employed 1.2 million people in 1990, with revenues of $250 billion and a market cap of $36 billion, while the top three companies in Silicon Valley in 2014 had just 137,000 employees, similar revenues, and a market cap of $1 trillion. But it’s not just tech companies that have slashed the number of people they employ. As they’ve consolidated, traditional companies have also slashed their workforces — Exxon employs half the people it did in the 1960s, despite having merged with Mobil — and the results have not been good for working people.
Even though the job market is approaching levels that previously constituted full employment, workers seem to be struggling more than ever because of how consolidation has changed the nature of work. Uber and the gig economy are often (rightfully) used as examples for how tech companies are degrading worker protections, but even companies that don’t pretend their employees are contractors are getting away with similar abuses.
Not all tech jobs are good jobs
Amazon has made a big deal of its hiring sprees for warehouse workers, but the Institute for Local Self-Reliance estimates that it has actually eliminated 149,000 more retail jobs than it has created in its warehouses. And those warehouse jobs are pretty terrible. The people who work there are paid terribly and work in exhausting conditions, and the company usually considers them seasonal temps even though many work year-round. They’re also heavily surveilled and micromanaged thanks to new technologies that have quickly spread throughout major companies, making work even more stressful for people who are already struggling.
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This mass consolidation has also contributed to the wage stagnation that has left average workers making about the same amount they did 40 years ago, even though the profit rates of these companies have increased to near record levels as they’ve gobbled up their competition. Where has all that money gone? Many companies are sitting on massive cash piles they don’t know what to do with, and instead of sharing those gains with workers, profits have been passed upward to wealthy shareholders, resulting in levels of inequality unseen since before the Great Depression. Simcha Barkai, an economist at the University of Chicago, calculated that workers would be earning about $14,000 more every year if concentration had remained at the same level as 30 years ago — which is a big deal when you consider that the median income in the U.S. is $28,000.
Workers haven’t been the only casualty of the concentration of economic power in the hands of a shrinking number of companies. Those at the top have undoubtedly benefitted — CEOs now make 347 times what the average worker makes — but the economy as a whole has taken a number of crucial hits, many of which became particularly evident during the recent uneven recovery.
Since 1978, the number of businesses that are new firms has halved, illustrating the staying power of these new corporate giants, but another economic shift also took place over that period which seems to have been completed in the aftermath of the recession. From 2010 to 2014, 60 percent of counties across the country saw more businesses close than open, and where the new businesses emerged was telling. During the recovery in the 1990s, counties with less than 500,000 people created 71 percent of net new businesses; counties with less than 100,000 people were responsible for 33 percent. The same can’t be said for the 2010 to 2014 recovery, during which only 19 percent of new businesses came from counties with less than 500,000 people and none came from those with less than 100,000. Consolidation has pulled economic activity to large urban centers along the coasts, decimating local economies across the country in the process.
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Those pushing the Silicon Valley model would at least say there’s an upside to these structural changes: More people are becoming entrepreneurs and the technologies they create are inspiring greater innovation. Too bad the data shows the opposite. Not only has the number of new businesses plunged since the 1970s, but millennials are the least entrepreneurial generation so far. The reduction in the number of new small businesses, which have become more expensive to start against such entrenched competitors, has meant that millions fewer jobs have been created over the past several decades. And though Silicon Valley loves to point to (and buy up) innovative startups, when there are fewer new businesses competing against one another, there’s also less innovation. Even Steve Jobs recognized that when companies get too large, the sales and marketing people dominate the more inventive product designers and engineers. Sound familiar?
When towns, small cities and struggling states give uneconomical incentives to large tech companies in the desperate hope that a data center will revive the local economy, they’re perpetuating a trend toward increasing consolidation that’s hurting workers, devastating communities and making it harder for mom-and-pop shops to survive against multinational behemoths that can use the profits from one division to allow another to operate at a loss to eliminate competition. There’s a growing recognition among academics, politicians and regular people that the convenience offered by these large companies is not worth the many downsides that come with allowing them to have so much control over the economy.
That doesn’t mean reining in the tech giants will be an easy task — the antitrust battles of the 1930s can’t be easily mapped into a modern context — but until these companies are broken up or regulated like utilities, the social discord they cause will only increase. People deserve better than stagnating wages and having their data sold off to the highest bidder; and only through a renewed focus on curbing the power of these massive companies will that be achieved.During the month of July, an ocean exploration team that was led by Swedish researchers found what some have said is a flying saucer sitting on the floor of the sea. Some photos from the discovery even show what looks to be skid marks behind the object, suggesting that it might have moved across the floor or crashed on it.
Experts speculated that the object might have been a glitch in the sonar of the expedition team. But, new reports surfacing from earlier this week have said that the team found a second object close by the first one. There was one thing missing as the rumors swirled across the internet; a picture of the second object.
What
Where
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The expedition was led by Peter Lindberg. Lindberg announced in late July that he discovered an interesting round object roughly 300 feet, or 91 meters, down on the ocean floor. The object was found in the Gulf of Bothnia, between Sweden and Finland. Lindberg added to the interest of the find by saying that he saw scars or marks that disturbed the environment close to the object, which could suggest that the object moved across the ocean floor.
To this day, the object has yet to be identified and many experts still question whether the sonar was accurate in the first place. Hanumant Singh, a researcher from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, said that the sidescan sonar used by Lindbergh to discover the object is not that reliable. Singh said that the sonar is used correctly to find sunken ships, which have a larger profile on the floor of the ocean, but it is less accurate for revealing flat, low formations.
Brooke Bowman, from CNN, said that the first unidentified object “is not on its own down there. The ocean explorer team also found another, smaller disc-shaped object nearby. Both show a rigid tail or drag marks more than 400 meters (about 437 yards) long. Their size and distinctive shape are generating some peculiar theories.”
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Some theories about the object include it being Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon from ‘Star Wars,’ Atlantis, a crashed flying saucer, Russian warships, a marine version of a Stonehenge or an opening to another world inside the Earth. Sidescan sonar is known to manufacture false images but the announcement of a second image pretty much puts to bed the theory that two identical false images can be possible. The story takes an interesting turn when we found out that the image of the second object is a duplicate of the first object.
Lindberg explained, “I confirm that we have found two anomalies. We did find the other anomaly approximately 200 meters (about 219 yards) from the circular find at the same sonar run.” Lindberg then told reporters why his team has yet to release an image of the second object: “We decided not to expose that anomaly so much because there is a lot of disturbance on the sonar image when we passed it, so it’s very blurry. We can see it’s something but to an untrained eye it might just look like ‘pea soup.'”
Once images of the second object were released, we were able to see that the two objects do not look alike in the least bit. The new object resembles different types of food such as eggplant or a blueberry muffin that is growing its own head.
Lindberg has speculated that the two objects might be linked somehow:
“There is a chance that the two anomalies had been parts of the same body from the beginning. But at the same time it might mean nothing, it might be a coincidence.”
MOST POPULAR ARTICLES sponsored by BCG ATTORNEY SEARCH Read MoreWASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two U.S. Air Force F-15s escorted two Russian Bear long-range bombers out of an air exclusion zone off the coast of Alaska, U.S. military officials said Wednesday.
Two U.S. Air Force F-15s were dispatched to meet the Russian bombers.
U.S. radar picked up the Russian turbo-prop Tupolev-95 planes about 500 miles off the Alaska coast.
The U.S. fighters from Elmendorf Air Force Base were dispatched to meet the bombers and escorted them out of the area without incident, the officials said.
The United States maintains the air exclusion zone off the coast of Alaska, barring unidentified aircraft or aircraft that don't file flight plans inside that area.
The last case of Russian aircraft approaching the U.S. coastline or ships in the Pacific was in February.
Then, four Bear bombers flew near the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, with one of them flying about 2,000 feet from the Nimitz's deck.
Russia's Defense Ministry said at the time there was no violation of flight regulations during the incident. A ministry official described the flights as standard operating procedure for air force training.
Meanwhile, U.S. military officials say the incidents are not a concern. They say it's the Russian military flexing its ability and presence. E-mail to a friend
All About RussiaWe agree that skateboarding is more performing art than sport, often elevating people to legend status for their style over their technical prowess. This is standard when the skateboarder in question is male, but this changes with regard to female, trans or genderqueer skateboarders. Part of this is explained by the overwhelmingly male audience: the most common complaint men have about female skaters is their style, as it’s relatable to what they’re accustomed to seeing. By saying that the female body cannot perform as “well” as a man is ridiculous. Along with decades of intense research about how menstruation physically alters women and impacts them mentally, adding different stressors and chemical triggers throughout their cycle, Nora Vasconcellos also brought up an interesting point recently on The Nine Club, that women are wired to be risk averse and protect themselves physically as they get older, in order to stay healthy to have children and she feels that weight as she gets older. Sure, that’s also a part of aging and being less carefree, but it raises some important points that most men would never consider, as our biggest concern in that regard is sacking ourselves on a rail. Vasconcellos’ comments on the podcast are a positive step in educating men about what it’s like to actually be a female skateboarder.
Since most would agree that technical ability is not paramount in skateboarding, why handicap Baker or other females for not being able to perform the most technically advanced or dangerous tricks, which are reserved for a select few? Skateboarding holds style as its most sacred currency, so much so that we’d “rather watch Gino push,” so why are we lashing out at women for technical ability? Clearly, women are held to a much higher standard than men.
Is it a stretch to say, that like the boards of the ‘70s and ‘ |
Trans-Pacific talks in late July that the United States and Japan had brokered a deal on vehicle imports that could hit the NAFTA partners' auto sectors hard. And, furthermore, Washington had assured Tokyo that its North American neighbours would accept this side deal.
Ottawa and Mexico City discovered in Hawaii that Japan and the United States had cut a side deal lowering the threshold for how much of an automobile would have to come from Trans-Pacific signatory countries in order for it to avoid hefty tariffs.
The remainder of the auto could come from low-cost suppliers outside Trans-Pacific countries, such as Thailand, and are a major source of parts for Japanese auto makers.
Under North American free-trade rules today, 62.5 per cent of a light-duty vehicle must be made in Canada, Mexico or the United States for it to enter these markets free of tariff.
The deal Japan and the United States cut between themselves lowered this threshold significantly. The side-deal details have not been confirmed, but Japan was reportedly seeking a Trans-Pacific country content threshold of 30 per cent and the Americans started out at 55 per cent but compromised at a much lower rate.
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The biggest problem for Canada, however, is proposed exemptions within this formula that Washington hammered out with Tokyo – one that grants Japan the right to use some parts that contained even less content from Trans-Pacific countries, a source close to the talks said.
The ensuing disagreement regarding auto imports was a major factor in stalling a deal in Hawaii last week.
There is tremendous anger in Ottawa at how U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman conducted himself at the Maui talks, particularly since Canada and the United States have been close partners in the auto industry for more than 50 years and both countries joined forces in 2009 to bail out two U.S. auto makers.
The Canadian government won't speak publicly to this, but a former senior adviser to Canadian Trade Minister Ed Fast gave voice to the frustration at how Washington has handled auto talks at the transpacific negotiations.
"To try and cut this side deal just poisons the well," said Adam Taylor, now a trade consultant at Ensight.
He described the United States as having a "tin ear" for the fact "there are other sovereign countries at the table" and the "North American production platform" that has existed for decades.
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"To not preserve that in the TPP by cutting Canada out of the deal on content thresholds, after all we've done together, is complete abdication."
The price of entry for Canada to the Pacific Rim trade talks was long expected to include a significant opening of this country's protected dairy sector to more foreign imports. It's not something that would sit well with milk producers but Ottawa, as The Globe has reported, has prepared a compensation package for dairy farmers.
Now, Canada must grapple with autos, as well. Ottawa and Mexico are joining forces to renegotiate the content threshold with Tokyo and Washington as the Obama administration pushes for a deal as soon as possible.
This is an example of how Canada is fighting at Trans-Pacific Partnership talks to maintain its privileged commercial relationship with the United States at the same time as it girds itself for a new agreement that would grant 10 other countries even better access to U.S. markets than NAFTA.
Canadian auto-parts makers say they are worried about the prospect of Japan winning the right to sell cars duty-free inside a future Trans-Pacific Partnership trade zone when a majority of the vehicle content comes from low-cost countries that are not signatories to the commercial accord.
This would not just hurt the North American auto industry but also steel and plastics makers. It could also reduce the rationale for assembling cars within NAFTA countries.
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"Reports indicating that some member countries are seeking to obtain lower country-of-origin thresholds that would advantage low-cost jurisdictions outside the TPP are of concern to Canadian suppliers," said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association.
Mr. Volpe lauded the Canadian government for refusing to accept the Washington-Tokyo deal.
"We fully support the government's defence of the sector's hard-fought gains and continue to applaud its effort to reject country-of-origin thresholds that unduly risk our future prospects in a very globally competitive market," the APMA president said.
A spokesman for Mr. Fast said Canada nevertheless has a "respectful and constructive working relationship with our NAFTA partners." Rick Roth said the government remains "confident that we can find a solution that is in the best interest of our respective countries."Github recently drafted an update to their Terms Of Service. The new TOS is potentially very bad for copylefted Free Software. It potentially neuters it entirely, so GPL licensed software hosted on Github has an implicit BSD-like license. I'll leave the full analysis to the lawyers, but see Thorsten's analysis.
I contacted Github about this weeks ago, and received only an anodyne response. The Free Software Foundation was also talking with them about it. It seems that Github doesn't care or has some reason to want to effectively neuter copyleft software licenses.
The possibility that a Github TOS change could force a change to the license of your software hosted there, and that it's complicated enough that I'd have to hire a lawyer to know for sure, makes Github not worth bothering to use.
Github's value proposition was never very high for me, and went negative now.
I am deleting my repositories from Github at this time. If you used the Github mirrors for git-annex, propellor, ikiwiki, etckeeper, myrepos, click on the links for the non-Github repos (git.joeyh.name also has mirrors). Also, github-backup has a new website and repository off of github. (There's an oncoming severe weather event here, so it may take some time before I get everything deleted and cleaned up.)
[Some commits to git-annex were pushed to Github this morning by an automated system, but I had NOT accepted their new TOS at that point, and explicitly do NOT give Github or anyone any rights to git-annex not granted by its GPL and AGPL licenses.]
See also: PDF of Github TOS that can be read without being forced to first accept Github's TOSDespite the conception that the past was a hairy wonderland of bearded outdoorsmen, bushy facial hair was long considered the mark of lunatics or worse, heretics. Today there is a Massachusetts gravestone that still remembers one man’s heroic fight against the forces of anti-hirsute vigilantes and a whole town’s persecution against his epic mane.
A veteran of the War of 1812, Joseph Palmer began wearing a beard in the 1820s. Beards had gone out of style in the 1720s, and Palmer was considered by most all in his small town to be slovenly and ungodly. He was even criticized by his local preacher for communing with the devil, famously responding to the accusation, “…if I remember correctly, Jesus wore a beard not unlike mine.”
In May of 1830, Palmer was attacked by four men outside of a hotel in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Armed with razors and scissors, the men attempted to forcibly shave Palmer’s face, but the bewhiskered man stabbed two of his attackers with a pocketknife, and was subsequently arrested for assault. He could have avoided jail by paying a fine and court fees, but Palmer refused, maintaining his innocence, and more importantly his right to a glorious beard. He was subsequently jailed for 15 months, including time in solitary confinement.
Upon leaving prison, Palmer joined the Fruitlands utopian community in nearby Harvard, Massachusetts after being influenced by his friendship with fellow Fruitlander, Louisa May Alcott. The character Moses White from Alcott’s Transcendental Wild Oats is later based on Palmer. Palmer died in 1865 and his tombstone displays a portrait of him with a long beard, and as a final act of rebellion, the inscription, “Persecuted for Wearing the Beard.”....................................................................................................................................................................................
Guitar virtuoso Steve Vai’s 1991 album “Passion and Warfare” ignited the fire that would later lead to Korn’s signature sound.
The album, which featured Vai playing a seven-string guitar, was inspirational to Korn’s co-founder and guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer, but it lacked something.
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“I was waiting to hear on the album, that crunchy low string,and he really didn’t. He touched on it a little bit, but not in the way that I wanted it to,” Shaffer said. “The bands I was listening to at the time was kind of like Sepultura and heavier bands, like Pantera. I wanted to hear this sort of Pantera riff with that seven-string that he had and I was just like, I’m going to go out and I’m going to get a seven-string guitar and use it and create songs and tune it even a little bit lower.”
Bring in bass player Reginald Quincy “Fieldy” Arvizu with his tuned-down bass, and Korn’s signature sound was born.
“This was just what I was craving,” Shaffer said. “I was just fulfilling a creative craving that I wasn’t feeling. And, then Fieldy has his five-string bass and then the seven-string and we tuned down and that was it, that was our sound.”
Since its inception, Korn’s sound has evolved, but the band deliberately took a drastic left turn with its 10th studio album, “The Path of Totality,” released in 2011. Later, the return of Korn co-founder and guitarist Brian “Head” Welch, who left the band in 2005 and returned in 2013, began to turn the band back to its original style on its 2013 release, “The Paradigm Shift,” according to Shaffer.
A follow-up album is expected to be released this fall. It is the longest period of time that Korn has taken to release a new record.
“I’m very proud of the album,” Shaffer said of the forthcoming release. “If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be letting it out later this year. … It was a long process, that’s for sure. We started writing music over a year ago, and we’re still just finishing it up. It’s probably the longest time we’ve taken to make a record.”
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Expect this one to be more guitar-heavy, thanks to the collaboration of Shaffer and Welch, but not a duplication of Korn’s earlier music.
“To go back and remake your first two albums, it’s not going to happen,” Shaffer said. “Musically, we’re so much more evolved with our songwriting. When I listen to those first two records, the great thing about it is we didn’t know what we were doing, and that’s the beauty of it. We didn’t know verse and the chorus, and maybe we should put a bridge here. We didn’t know any of that. We were like, let’s do this part and put this part here. And that’s why those records are great, because there’s innocence in that aggression, if that makes sense, in the songwriting anyway, and now we just feel like better songwriters that need to expand.”
Audiences will most likely get a sneak peek of the new music this tour.
“I’m thinking, yes, as long as we have everything prepared and rehearsed some of the new songs and we’re feeling confident,” Shaffer said. “And yeah, I think you can hear one or two this summer and in the fall for sure.”1.
Once I could imagine my soul
I could imagine my death.
When I imagined my death
my soul died. This
I remember clearly.
My body persisted.
Not thrived, but persisted.
Why I do not know.
2.
When I was still very young
my parents moved to a small valley
surrounded by mountains
in what was called the lake country.
From our kitchen garden
you could see the mountains,
snow covered, even in summer.
I remember peace of a kind
I never knew again.
Somewhat later, I took it upon myself
to become an artist,
to give voice to these impressions.
3.
The rest I have told you already.
A few years of fluency, and then
the long silence, like the silence in the valley
before the mountains send back
your own voice changed to the voice of nature.
This silence is my companion now.
I ask: of what did my soul die?
and the silence answers
if your soul died, whose life
are you living and
when did you become that person?
[From Averno]The situation of refugees in the EU is "very unsatisfactory," Merkel said in her weekly video podcast, which was released on Saturday.
Europe must "offer the refugees reasonable conditions at their place of arrival," Merkel continued. She also stressed the need to "develop a sense of fairness among the member states of the European Union" about taking in and supporting such individuals.
Simultaneously, the reasons for such a mass exodus must be dealt with in the countries of origin, Merkel added. This is necessary for sustaining political stability in such countries: "We must try to minimize the reasons for migration through development aid, through political cooperation and also through support for the African Union."
Kosovo exodus
The stream of asylum seekers from Kosovo has re-kindled an old debate within the EU, already aggravated in Germany by the rise of anti-immigration parties and movements such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA).
In January, 3,630 Kosovars applied for political asylum in Germany, according to the latest figures. This represents an 85 percent increase over December 2014. In 2015, more than 18,000 Kosovars have reached Germany, and many are waiting for an opportune moment to submit their asylum application, the government said.
Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony, the four most affected states, have already decided to speed up the vetting process for asylum applications, but experts are beginning to doubt whether it will be possible to accept or reject an asylum application within the targeted period of two weeks.
Unrealistic plans
Bernd Mesovic, deputy head of Pro Asyl, the leading pro-immigration organization in Germany, considers the plan unrealistic, he told the newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger on Saturday.
Finding the extra personnel necessary will be tough, and to train them in the job will take up to nine months, according to Boris Pistorius, interior minister of Lower Saxony. "These problems cannot be solved by way of the asylum legislation," he said.
Even after the asylum application has been rejected, there remains the question of deportation, for which the individual states are responsible. The central government in Berlin has been expressing dissatisfaction with the way the states have been handling the affair.
Volker Kauder, Christian Democrat (CDU) politician and chief of the CDU-CSU parliamentary faction, commented in an interview with the "Rheinische Post" daily on Saturday: "As long as strict deportation does not take place, uncontrolled immigration to Germany will continue to increase."
ac/es (dpa, AFP)Share this
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Email You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. University University of California, Davis
Combining a unique stem cell therapy with prenatal surgery may be a way to successfully treat the lower-limb paralysis associated with spina bifida, a congenital birth defect that occurs when the spinal cord does not close properly.
“Prenatal surgery revolutionized spina bifida treatment by improving brain development, but it didn’t benefit motor function as much as we hoped,” says Diana Farmer, chair of the surgery department at the University of California, Davis, and senior author of the new study published in Stem Cells Translational Medicine.
“We now think that when it’s augmented with stem cells, fetal surgery could actually be a cure,” says Aijun Wang, co-director of the UC Davis Surgical Bioengineering Laboratory.
Permanent shunts
Farmer and Wang are the first to combine fetal surgery with a placental stem cell treatment to reduce the effects of spina bifida, which in children can range from barely noticeable to severe.
The most common and disabling form of the disorder, called myelomeningocele, causes the spinal cord to emerge through the back, often pulling brain tissue into the spinal column and causing cerebrospinal fluid to fill the interior of the brain. Permanent shunts are required to drain the extra fluid.
Farmer was senior author of the Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS), which showed that prenatal surgery could improve cognitive outcomes for the 1,500 children born each year in the United States with the condition. A majority of treated children in the study, however, were unable to walk independently at 30 months of age.
Walking without disability
For the current research, lambs with myelomeningocele received fetal surgery to return exposed tissue to the spinal canal. Human placenta-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (PMSCs)—known for their neuroprotective qualities—were preserved in hydrogel and applied to the site of the lesion. A scaffold was placed on top to hold the hydrogel in place, followed by surgical closures to complete the repair.
Six animals that received the stem cell treatment were able to walk without noticeable disability within a few hours following birth, while six control animals that received just the hydrogel and scaffold were unable to stand.
[related]
“We have taken a very important step in expanding what MOMS started,” Wang says. “Next we need to confirm the safety of the approach and determine optimal dosing.
The researchers will continue their efforts with funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. With additional evaluation and FDA approval, the new therapy could be tested in human clinical trials.
“Fetal surgery provided hope that most children with spina bifida would be able to live without shunts,” Farmer says. “Now, we need to complete that process and find out if they can also live without wheelchairs.”
Other researchers from UC Davis and from the University of California, San Francisco, are coauthors of the study.
Source: UC DavisRUGBY league would leave regional Queensland exposed for a takeover by Australian football if an NRL premiership team is not put into Rockhampton.
That’s the warning to the ARL Commission from Central Queensland bid team chief executive Denis Keeffe as they consider the NRL expansion question.
The decision on whether to have the current 16 teams or 18 in the future intersects with upcoming talks about the next NRL broadcast rights deal from 2018.
media_camera NRL CEO Dave Smith speaks to media at Jupiters regarding the Gold Coast Titans new move to Evandale. Picture Glenn Hampson
Keeffe said league bosses must heed comments from former AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou last week that he could see “the potential … a long way away’’ for an AFL team servicing northern Queensland because the game had become stronger in Townsville and Cairns.
The comments by Demetriou came at a Local Government Association of Queensland conference in Mackay.
NRL CEO Dave Smith visited Rockhampton last month, meeting league stakeholders and having talks with CQ bid team bosses Geoff Murphy and Keeffe about any likely process set down by the ARLC in deciding the future of the NRL competition.
“Dave was a bit guarded on the process but he said he would be able to announce something about the process involved early next year,’’ Keeffe said.
“He has some serious issues in Sydney to solve and he needed time.
“I said to the NRL recently if they think they can walk away from this part of the world and come back in five or 10 years and say `now what about an NRL program’, it will be gone.
“The AFL spends more on its academy in Mackay than all of the QRL development programs put together, it’s absolutely massive.’’
The Brisbane Bombers and Western Corridor bid team both want to bring another team into southeast Queensland, with the CQ planning to play all home games in a 20,000 stadium on Rockhampton and a Brothers bid intent on taking some premiership matches to regional centres.
Keeffe said that while he understood Smith favoured retention of a 16-team competition, he personally believed television requirements for extra games as part of increased value in a broadcast rights deal from 2018 meant expansion to 18 was likely.
media_camera Denis Keeffe says Central Queensland is under threat by the AFL.
“What he’s saying in a bit of a riddle, is it 16 teams with some relocation or amalgamation or a combination there of. He said it’s not a simple matter of getting two (new) regions.
“If I was sitting in a seat in Sydney looking at the future of the League in 20 years, I’d be terrified of the (future of the) Titans.
“In the end, I really do think it will be a ninth game (every round).’’
Smith said in August that the NRL would continue to back the future of the Titans.Health Risks Of Chronic Masturbation
The Very Real Health Risks Of Too Much Solo Time, Revealed
You might not give a second thought to your masturbation, that private habit that relieves tension, makes you forget about your worries and — no judgment — is a nice way to pass the afternoon. Since most men will begin to masturbate in their early adolescence and continue to pleasure themselves far into adulthood, thinking about how this type of sexual activity affects your life probably doesn’t occupy much of your brain space.
“Like other animals, mating for humans remains a biological drive like eating and drinking water, sleeping, and protecting ourselves. These days, we no longer need to increase our population but sexuality remains on our list of adult needs because of its other benefits,” explains sex and relationship expert Dee Wagner, LPC, BC-DMT. “Around five years old, we tend to discover that touching our genitals creates a lot of pleasant sensation. The messages we receive about this self-touch influences whether our masturbation shifts into a private activity or a secret, shameful one. If masturbation is normalized and named a private activity — like cleaning our bodies — we are less likely to develop unhealthy shame around this kind of self-touch.”
The good news, as Wagner says, is that taking time to understand your own erogenous zones is a healthy practice that can improve your sex life and sexual, make you a more balanced person, and allow you to freely explore your fetishes.
The bad news? There can actually be some pretty serious risks to your physical and emotional health when it comes to masturbation, specifically if frequent masturbation may be turning into chronic or compulsive masturbation. The truth is, there are many ways your body responds to this frequent feel-good motion, and not all of the reactions are positive. While you might not be keen to delve deeply into the motivations behind masturbation, it is important to be aware of what you’re risking when you opt to self-pleasure.
Here’s what you need to know about jerking off, from the risks and the benefits to the nitty, gritty details:
1. What Is Masturbation?
As Angie Gunn, a sex therapy expert at Talkspace explains, “Masturbation is the act of stimulating your own body and brain to create pleasure, usually involving genital touching or other sexual play on your own. Some people engage in masturbation with others watching or doing so as well, this can be a fun form of foreplay while serving the dual purpose of providing a partner with information about how you like to touch yourself. Some people enjoy the use of toys, pornography, erotica or other materials to aid in masturbation,” as well as numerous different masturbation techniques.
To put it differently: anytime you find yourself stimulated by something you see, hear or touch, or you desire to feel sexual so you find something that turns you on, that’s masturbation. While the majority of self-play is considered and conducted as a solo act, you can also use your partner as part of the process. For some women, it can be attractive to watch their partner pleasure himself, before she jumps in on the action and goes for a ride. There are many masturbation toys on the market, many of which might give your hand a break or assist in getting you to the grand finale faster than you could achieve it on your own.
2. How Common Is Masturbation?
As many sex studies show, it’s important to note that unless you had a way of following every adult everywhere they went and monitored every move — or ahem, stroke — they made, statistics about masturbation are more of an estimate than proven fact. However, according to Indiana University's National Survey Of Sexual Health And Behavior, it’s estimated that more than 50% of men masturbate regularly, ranging from a few times a month up to four times a week. “This number is higher with younger men beginning in early adolescence, and does not necessarily vary based on whether the man is in a relationship or not,” Gunn says. “From my own observations, one to two times a week is the norm for men ages 25 to 45.”
Regardless of which side of the spectrum you land on, sex and relationship therapist Courtney Geter, LMFT says the amount of time you spend jerking off might vary heavily depending on how you update that taken-or-not status on Facebook. “Frequency of masturbation depends on each particular male and what he considers masturbating. Some men masturbate daily whereas others masturbate weekly or monthly. Frequency may also depend on relationship status. Although masturbation is acceptable in a relationship, some men may masturbate less when a partner is available,” Geter explains. “Some men may increase masturbation when relationships end or the frequency may not change. Age and refractory period (amount of time to obtain erection after ejaculation) could also impact frequency as well. As men age, the refractory period becomes longer. Though orgasm can occur separate from ejaculation, many times the occur simultaneously. “
3. Recognizing The Signs Of Compulsive Masturbation
It's an important question to raise: is too much of a good thing potentially dangerous? The motives behind why people, and especially men, decide to sit down in front of their computer or in the dark comfort of their home and let one loose vary greatly, depending on where they are in their life, what they need and what they’re currently thinking about or struggling with. “Individuals choose to masturbate to meet sexual needs, relieve boredom, improve mood, alleviate stress, facilitate sleep, or relaxation. These needs and desires don’t change when someone is in a relationship, solo sex time is still important and valuable for personal self care and fulfillment,” Gunn explains.
RELATED: I Was Becoming Addicted To Masturbation, So I Quit - Here's What It Did For My Life
But within this path to finding happiness all by your bad self, can it affect your life, health and relationships? Here sex experts explain:
It’s Your Choice — And You’ll Know When It’s Too Much
Chocolates, cakes, booze, tequila shots — all things that aren’t exactly good for you, but hey, are OK in moderation. But the amount of sugar intake (or booze) you can handle might not be the same as your brother or your best friend. “There is no definitive amount of masturbation that is too much; on the contrary, masturbation itself presents no inherent harm or potential damage. The individual person then must determine what is a good amount for them, the same way they decide how many cookies to eat or how much television to watch,” Gunn says. “It’s a behavioral choice, a choice which has marked health benefits including reducing cortisol (stress hormone) through the release of dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins, improving sleep and body image, reducing pain, bettering your sex life and improving cardiovascular health, and mood.”
It’s Too Much When You Aren’t Participating In Other Parts Of Your Life
You might be able to spend all day in bed, watching porn on repeat, only pausing to order takeout or catch the score of the game, but if masturbating is making you less than social and you’re missing deadlines at work, you might need a breather, stat. “Masturbation is healthy and it is part of sexual health and necessary to maintain hormone levels,” Dawn Michael, Ph.D., relationship expert and author says. “There is only a problem when masturbation becomes a replacement for daily actives that one should be doing in life, such as school, sleep, work, relationships and more.”
4. Compulsive Masturbation Can Mask Anxiety Issues
Though it's definitely rare, there might be some mental health issues tied to why you’re stroking one out on the regular, up to multiple times a day. “Some men do have OCD or other mental disorders that masturbation becomes the outlet for and is used as the catalyst for other activities,” Michael explains.
From having so much anxiety about a particular period in your life — losing your job, the passing away of a family member, the end of a relationship, or other trying events — to becoming obsessive and out of control, here are some dangerous mental side effects to watch out for:
Your Penis Is Raw Because You Stroke So Much And So Hard
At times, chronic masturbation can become too frequent, creating conflict in the relationship or even physical injury, causing a painful erection. In regards to injury, some men can masturbate too often, resulting in desensitivity and rawness on the penis, or injury to the soft tissues of the penis,” Geter says. “Typically, this compulsive behavior stems from an increase in anxiety or inability to manage anxiety with other coping skills.”
You Can No Longer ‘Finish’ During Normal Intercourse
If you once enjoyed orgasming at the same time with your partner, but now you can’t seem to get there unless you’re doing it on your own, you might have developed a mental block due to masturbation. “Although not detrimental to a man's health, chronic masturbation can also impact enjoyment or pleasure of other sexual activities with a partner. The brain learns that masturbation feels good. When other equally enjoyable stimulation is introduced after long periods of masturbation, a man can have trouble with orgasm or ejaculation since the stimulation of a vagina, mouth, or partner's hand is not the same as that of the man's own hand,” Geter says. “Many men present to my office with this concern. After behavioral modification treatment, they are able to orgasm and ejaculate to different stimuli. One tool I suggest men take advantage of is a male masturbation sleeve. This sleeve helps simulate a vagina, mouth, or rectum, though they are not replacements for those body parts.”
5. Compulsive Masturbation Can Impact Your Relationships
It’s a tricky road to go down, as Gunn explains, when you have masturbation as part of your sexual routine with your partner. Though perfectly healthy, and not exactly a health risk to your body, it could be troublesome for your heart if you and your partner begin to argue or drift apart, thanks to your masturbation habit. That being said — maintaining a masturbation habit, even once you’re happily married, is OK — as long as you talk about it together.
“One of the common messages related to masturbation shaming is the idea that once you’re partnered, they gain ownership of your sex and your genitals, requiring their involvement or permission in every expression. This is a really harmful approach to relationships and leads to many conflicts, sexual repression and secrecy. Every person, partnered or single, retains private ownership of their genitals and can choose when to share them with others, and how to enter into agreements with others around the use of their sexual self,” Gunn says. “I encourage all my clients to maintain masturbation as a part of any relationship agreements in order to ensure the protection of their sexual identity, control over their ability to have pleasure on their own terms at times, and creating erotic mystery to allow for increased desire in a relationship. If respected and continued on both sides, masturbation provides fantasy material, sexual relief, and reignited desire for partnered sex.”
However, if you’re starting to not want to have sex with your partner, Gunn says talking it out and really, truly getting to the root of the issues is key. “Clients with relationship strain, differences in libido or desire from their partner, or challenges with depression, trauma, anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder may increase masturbation as a coping tool,” she says. “In these cases the potential harm done is not related to the masturbation itself, but to the distress experienced as a result and the other factors driving the behavior.”
6. Compulsive Masturbation Can Negatively Impact Your Orgasms
If you can’t seem to find the same joy — with or without the use of your hand or someone else’s — you might be desensitizing yourself in a dangerous way. “Some men will talk about reduced intensity of orgasms after frequent masturbation. This is a result of extended periods of refractory, the time after you climax when your body is releasing additional inhibitory (feel-good) chemicals in your brain, which basically prevent your body from coming down between periods of arousal. During this extended refractory, any orgasm experienced would be weaker until you give your body the chance to process the chemicals fully,” Gunn explains.
“The refractory period is different for each person and varies by age, body chemistry, diet and genetics, so give yourself some grace. If you’re concerned about changes to your orgasms as a result of masturbation, try reducing your masturbation frequency a bit, adding more time between episodes, or not always climaxing during masturbation. The practice of edging — coming to the point of climax and then backing off — multiple times and over the course of a few days, has been shown to increase intensity of orgasms. Long term, increased orgasms have been linked to increased sexual pleasure on the whole.”A Layton, Utah police officer was hospitalized after a Subway worker served him methamphetamine and THC in his drink.
Via Vlad Tepes:
Tanis Lloyd Ukena was arrested after surveilance cameras caught him lacing the police sergeant’s drink with chemicals.
Tanis Ukena, 18, faces felony charges for lacing the officer’s drink. (Huffington Post)
FOX 13 reported:
A Layton Police sergeant is recovering after someone tried to poison him, officials confirmed Tuesday.
Authorities said the sergeant stopped by the Subway restaurant on Highway 193 for lunch Monday.
When he took a sip of his drink he tasted chemicals and said he knew something was wrong.
The lawman said he came to a red light on his way back to the station and his body wouldn’t let him hit the brake.
He made it safely back to the station and was taken to the hospital.
Authorities said the man’s drink tested positive for methamphetamine and THC, which is the primary psychoactive component of marijuana.
Sgt. Clint Bobrowski said the surveillance video from Subway shows what happened.Our Constitution, by contrast, made no such accommodations to economic inequality. There are no wealth requirements for U.S. senators, and no cap on wealth for admission to the House. In fact, there are no provisions in our constitutional structure—not one—that account for differences in economic class. This represented an extraordinary transformation in the way countries govern themselves. Instead of drafting a constitution to resolve divisions created by wealth and poverty, the Founders asserted that all men were created equal, and established a government that depended on all men remaining economic equals.
The Founders understood full well that if severe economic inequality emerged, their democratic experiment would collapse. The rich would gradually take over the government, passing laws to benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else. When America’s wealthy began to “plunder the poor,” a Virginia politician warned in 1814, it would be “slow and legal.” Sooner or later, the masses would respond—but not through a violent uprising. Instead, they would turn to a figure who would know how to manipulate their resentments. Of “those men who have overturned the liberty of republics,” Alexander Hamilton observed in The Federalist Papers, “the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.”
But in preindustrial America, the onset of mass inequality—and the social and political divisions that grow from it—was only a distant possibility. In a society with relative equality, the only “checks and balances” needed were between three separate—and equal—branches of government. “The Founding Fathers devised a scheme to deal with conflict,” the political scientist Louis Hartz once observed, “that could only survive in a land of solidarity.”
“Solidarity,” of course, is also a relative term, and a fragile foundation on which to build a national government. Throughout the nineteenth century, as the regional divide over slavery grew, some Americans came to believe that the only solution was to alter the Constitution to account for the increasingly deep fractures—to find an American equivalent of the Lords and Commons. In the buildup to the Civil War, Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina proposed splitting the presidency in two: one president from the North, one from the South. The co-presidents would have to agree before any law could take effect. “Nothing short of this,” he warned, “could restore harmony and tranquility to the union.”
The Civil War, our greatest constitutional crisis, stemmed directly from the Founders’ failure to create a framework for forging solidarity out of division. And in the decades after the war’s brutal resolution, sweeping economic changes would lead to a second crisis—rooted in another stark social divide—at the turn of the twentieth century. With industrialization, urbanization, the closing of the frontier, and the shift from artisanal and agricultural work to wage labor in factories, the Constitution once again strained at its seams.
James Madison, for one, had foreseen that the republic would confront such challenges. In 1788, he estimated that America had 25 years before the population density across the entire country would match that of the Eastern states. By 1829, thanks to westward expansion, he’d revised his estimate: Within a century, Madison thought, the mass of Americans would be “reduced by a competition for employment to wages which would afford them the bare necessities of life.” As the “proportion being without property” increased, the system would have to be overhauled for representative democracy to survive. “The institutions and laws of the country must be adapted,” Madison wrote, “and it will require for the task all the wisdom of the wisest patriots.”
When the Industrial Age plunged America into its second constitutional crisis, wise patriots answered Madison’s call. From the 1890s to the 1930s, populists, progressives, and New Dealers alleviated the strain on our system by passing a combination of new laws and constitutional amendments. Anti-trust measures broke up the concentration of economic power. Working hours were regulated, and labor unions offset the power of employers. The Constitution was amended to establish a progressive income tax, helping redistribute superconcentrated wealth. The people’s voting power was expanded by requiring the direct election of U.S. senators, permitting citizens to float ballot initiatives to change laws by popular vote, and extending the franchise to women. These reforms were all designed to realign economic and political power—to give a fair measure of it back to the people. Only then could the Constitution work again as intended.
By the 1960 |
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The MIA invited dozens of journalists and NGO representatives to attend screening of the most disgusting videos, including those depicting rape. However, some invitees, including representatives of GYLA, TI and the ISFED, stepped out from the screening considering them inappropriate and violating privacy of the victims.
(The latter NGO, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, ISFED, and its head, Nino Lomjaria, also a usual target of Ivanishvlili criticism, were almost completely omitted during Sunday’s talk show.)
“He had not read our researches,” Eka Gigauri wrote on her facebook page in response, refuting all accusations and describing Ivanishvili criticism as ‘comic’, because “he accuses the media and NGOs for conspiring with the former government, while he (Ivanishvili) himself was a top sponsor of the last two governments,” Gigauri wrote on her facebook page.
Ivanishvili didn’t accept criticism at all and would be infuriated if knew that the Constitutional Court had already accepted the lawsuit submitted by This Affects You Too against the law that gives the intelligence legal rights to directly access presonal data, she added.The Housing Authority of Baltimore City is hiring more than 80 people — including 50 additional maintenance workers — as part of a sweeping plan to address long overdue repairs at thousands of city public housing units, housing chief Paul T. Graziano announced Monday.
Graziano said 50 new "maintenance technicians" will be qualified to do basic repairs involving carpentry, painting, plumbing and electrical work. As part of an overhaul of its maintenance system, the housing authority also is hiring two new administrators, 10 property managers and 20 additional workers to handle heating and cooling problems, perform quality-control checks or supervise staff.
"We have undertaken a top-to-bottom review" of maintenance issues, Graziano said, pledging that the extra staffing and organizational changes would "enhance the quality of life for public housing residents."
The Baltimore Sun reported this month that shoddy, incomplete and overdue repairs are common among the 11,000 units maintained by the housing authority. Authority records showed more than 4,000 requests for repairs had gone unanswered for at least 30 days — and in some cases for more than a year. The investigation found that some outstanding repairs involved matters critical to health and safety, such as leaky toilets, falling-down sinks, clogged bathtubs, and windows and doors with broken locks.
Graziano was joined by union officials, tenants and a dozen maintenance workers for the announcement Monday afternoon at housing authority headquarters. He said the agency is looking for the new maintenance technicians, who must be able to perform "a whole range of repairs in a unit and not have two or three different people come in to do the work." The jobs will pay $46,000 to $53,000 a year, he said.
The authority will continue to employ workers skilled at specific trades, such as electricians, pipefitters, carpenters and masons, he said.
The new workers will join a maintenance staff of about 310. Graziano said the additional staff will be paid for through expected efficiencies and the elimination of some vacant positions. Officials could not immediately provide a total cost for the new positions.
Later Monday, Graziano deflected questions from City Council members during an investigative hearing on a federal lawsuit over allegations that maintenance workers at three complexes demanded sexual favors as a condition for making repairs.
"I cannot discuss any of the matters around this litigation," Graziano told a council committee, citing coming settlement talks and an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's inspector general. "That will be discussed in the appropriate forum."
The Housing Authority has said it will begin settlement talks with 20 women, who are seeking more than $10 million each. Some tenants at Gilmor Homes, Westport and Govans Manor have been denied needed repair work for months as a result of the sex-for-repairs scheme, the suit contends.
At Graziano's earlier news conference, Ella Broadway, president of the authority's Resident Advisory Board, said members are pleased with the promised changes in the maintenance department. She said the board would work with residents to encourage them to do more to help in the upkeep of the complexes.
Union leader Glenard S. Middleton praised Graziano for creating the technician positions, saying they will offer a "middle-class" living. He said the union remains concerned about the potential for the housing authority to reduce its maintenance staff and pledged to stay vigilant.
Graziano said maintenance workers on staff now will be able to receive training and apply for the technician positions. "We hope and expect a large number of people will go for the promotional opportunity," Graziano said.
The additional positions are part of a larger plan to overhaul the work order system, a process Graziano says has been underway for months. That includes enabling tenants to request repairs themselves using their smartphones, home computers or kiosks at the complexes. They will be able to use the same system to check on the status of their request.
Tenants will still be able to ask staff to create the work order for them.
As part of the changes, maintenance workers will receive their work assignments on hand-held devices and a quality-control team will review maintenance records and do random checks of completed works.
ywenger@baltsun.com
twitter.com/yvonnewengerCody Perkin, accused in the weekend beating death of a London, Ont. taxi driver was in hospital Tuesday for his first court date.
The 23-year-old is awaiting open heart surgery, the court was surprised to learn, after a lengthy process of placing calls to various detention centres and hospitals before finally locating him.
Perkin is facing a charge of second degree murder after driver Vijay Bhatia was found unconscious outside his taxi cab early Saturday morning. Perkin was charged the same day with assaulting a woman and uttering threats to cause bodily harm.
"He has serious heart problems and he is looking at surgery to replace a valve. He is already scheduled to see a specialist," defence lawyer James Zegers said.
He added it is too early to enter a plea.
Perkin's health concerns mean the case against him could be delayed. The next court date has already been pushed back to May 17 to allow for a medical appointment.
Funeral, vigil planned
Bhatia's killing has sparked anger among taxi drivers and the community, many of whom have called with condolences to the taxi company where the 64-year-old worked.
His close friend and fellow cabbie Fateh Bander called him a family man who came to Canada from India, and had successfully bought three cab licences in London.
"He was exceptional and this should not have happened," Bander said, calling on the public to join taxi drivers for a candlelight vigil and procession that will end at the convenience store parking lot where Bhatia was knocked unconscious.
No talking to mother
Perkin learned Tuesday that his mother gave video evidence to police at the time of his arrest and is one of 15 people he is not allowed to contact.
His lawyer has asked that her name be removed from the non-association order but a justice of the peace denied the request until the next court date.
"What if he dies during the operation and his mother can't see him because there's a court order?" Zegers said.But why?!
This is the question that we get asked immediately when we tell someone that we use Perl. Our extensive use of Perl to build many of our internal services often comes as a surprise to many and we can understand why. Perl is a dinosaur among mainstream programming languages. It lacks the glamour that other, relatively younger languages have. There is also a common misconception in the programming world that modern software engineering practices cannot be followed with a language like Perl. In this post, we hope to debunk that myth. We want to give you a glimpse of the developer experience here at Semantics3 where we write a lot of Perl code but still manage to employ the latest engineering best-practices. We would like to highlight that we are able to do so with the help of a tool-chain written entirely in Perl.
The Burden of a Monolith
We must admit that our development process wasn’t always the way that it is today. We started off with a single code-base like most other startups. We used system Perl (the version that ships with the OS) and installed dependent modules globally. We were aware of the pitfalls of this approach but found the convenience that it offered, in helping us ship fast in the early days of the company, very valuable.
However, best practices are best practices for a reason. Two years in, in 2014, we had a few problems — problems that we had brushed aside earlier but which were now staring at us in the face:
Deploying code across our fleet of machines had become very slow. This was largely because of the tight coupling between our code and the environment in which it was running on. We were starting to get very conservative about upgrading dependent modules because we didn’t want existing scripts/services to break. This was also a problem because for any given module (as it was installed globally), we didn’t know who its dependents were It was getting difficult to on-board new engineers into the team quickly. To be fair, our monolithic codebase was fairly modular and it was not that hard for people who were familiar with it (we were a 5-person engineering unit then) to build on/extend it. However, it was intimidating for new team members. It was hard to even work on a small part of the codebase as it was not possible to run a script/service in isolation. They were forced to use our shared development environment which could get some time to get used to. We were wary of software erosion i.e. while our services/scripts were working at that point, we couldn’t fully discount the possibility that a future change in environment (and not the code!) in a direct or indirect way could bring down some critical services — which we couldn’t afford. While tests let you catch breakage like this, working on a fix at a given point in time is a cost that you may not want to incur. The whole system was becoming untenable. As a result, we found ourselves often fire-fighting and being unable to add new features to our product at the rate at which we would have liked.
Moving to Micro-services
We were fully bought-in by the promises of a service-oriented architecture. Its core philosophy resonated well with us considering the challenges that we were facing then. We decided to make the switch taking on a massive refactor of our codebase in the process.
The Developer Experience (DX)
We started by first defining the developer experience that we wanted to achieve. We wanted a workflow that was tuned for micro-services and capable of scaling up with the team. This is what we came up with:
Each code artefact (a library, script or service) should be owned by one engineer. It should do one thing and one thing only (Unix philosophy). Each code artefact must be checked in to its own VCS repository and must have tagged releases with semantic versioning. The experience of authoring a code artefact must be both seamless for an individual developer and uniform across the team with tooling present to take care of scaffolding boilerplate code, identifying dependencies, packaging, testing and releasing. The tooling available should enable a single engineer to own multiple code artefacts easily. Private libraries that we write must be installable from services in exactly the same way that third-party libraries are. Each code artefact must declare its dependencies (code and environment) explicitly i.e. clean contracts. Ideally, any developer must be able to run any script/service on their development environment easily. An engineer’s development environment must be as isolated as possible so that we don’t step on each others’ toes.
We knew that before we embarked on the refactor, we had to find the right tools to support this experience that we envisioned. We followed Larry Wall’s advice and looked for solutions in Perl.
In general, if you think something isn’t in Perl, try it out, because it usually is — Larry Wall
And right he was! We were pleasantly surprised to find tools in the Perl world that helped us solve each of our use-cases above. Below we’ll cover each of these tools reiterating the problem first before proceeding to explain how the tool solves it.
Problem: Private libraries that we write must be installable from services in exactly the same way that third-party libraries are.
Public Perl modules are housed in CPAN. Pinto is a package repository server for Perl that we have deployed locally. It let us have our own private CPAN. Instead of starting off as a CPAN mirror though, is starts off empty and pulls the packages that it doesn’t have cached locally (when requested) from CPAN. It is compatible with cpanm. We fondly call our Pinto server - Darkpan. We push our private packages to the Darkpan using the pinto client.
Problem: Each code artefact must declare its dependencies (code and environment) explicitly i.e. clean contracts. Ideally, any developer must be able to run any script/service on their development environment with minimum setup overhead.
Similar to Ruby’s bundler, Python’s pip and Node’s npm, Carton is a dependency manager for Perl. It lets us include a dependency manifest called a cpanfile in each of our code artefacts that described the libraries that they depend on (both private and public). Dependencies are installed locally with carton install and the execution helper carton exec helps run services and scripts in the context of the installed libraries (it basically adds the path of the locally installed dependencies to Perl’s list of includes).
As Carton is powered by cpanm under the hood, it is straight forward to hook it up with our Darkpan. We just set the PERL_CARTON_MIRROR environment variable.
Problem: The experience of authoring a code artefact must be seamless for a developer and uniform across the team with tooling present to take care of scaffolding boilerplate, identifying dependencies from code, packaging, testing & releasing. The tooling should enable a single engineer to own multiple code artefacts easily.
Minilla initialises a git repository and generates the base directory structure and files required for a new code artefact. It also allows for running tests, preparing an release and maintaining a change-log automatically.
Problem: The development environments of each of the engineers on the team must be as isolated as possible so that we don’t step on each others’ toes.
We removed our dependence on System Perl with perlbrew. Perlbrew installs Perl in user land and also allows switching between multiple Perl versions easily.
Although we still have a shared development environment, each of us have our own separate perlbrew installations. We can now install a module globally without inadvertently upgrading it if it was already being used by someone else.
With perlbrew and carton, we have good-enough isolation for running our scripts and services in development. In a later post, we will talk about how Docker gives us the run-time isolation that we needed in production.
perlbrew also allows us to easily test our script/service against a newer version of Perl thereby giving us the option to upgrade should we find the need for it.
Problem: Each code artefact must be checked in to its own VCS repository and must have tagged releases with semantic versioning.
We were already using Github at that time and were loving it. Each code artefact having its own repository, however, meant that we would have a ton of private repositories which Github’s then pricing model didn’t support out-of-the-box i.e. it was insanely expensive that it did not make sense. So, we spoke to them and switched to their per-seat pricing structure where we pay per-user instead of per-repository (Github has since changed their pricing model). Once we had done that, we were free to create as many repositories as we wanted. As Ramanan Balakrishnan pointed out in an earlier post, this was and continues to be a power that our engineers love to wield.
git allows for tagging releases easily and we use Github Releases sometimes for notifying team-mates about major releases.
Mojolicious is an asynchronous, real-time web framework that is very pleasant to work with. It provides an idiomatic, easy-to-use API to build a light-weight web service quickly. We use it for most of our services. It also has a rich eco-system of plugins.
sem3 build
While these tools fit our needs nicely, we felt it would be better to abstract our engineers from working with them directly. We achieved this by building a command line utility called sem3 build that wraps around these tools.
This is how our development workflow looks like today with sem3 build:
Scaffold a new project:
$ sem3 build new MyModule|my-service|my-script
$ sem3 build new MyModule|my-service|my-script Install a new dependency:
$ sem3 build install YourModule
$ sem3 build install YourModule Try to identify dependencies from the code and save them to the project’s cpanfile:
$ sem3 build deps save
$ sem3 build deps save Commit and push intermediate changes repeatedly:
$ git commit -m "Something changed" && git push origin HEAD
$ git commit -m "Something changed" && git push origin HEAD Run tests:
$ sem3 build test
$ sem3 build test Bump version, tag and push a new release to both Github and Darkpan. The switches indicate how the version must be incremented. -x indicates a major version change, -y indicates a minor version change and -z indicates a patch version change:
$ sem3 build -x | -y | -z | -noversionbump
Summary
Pinto, Carton, Minilla, Perlbrew, Mojolicious together form a nifty Perl toolkit for a seamless micro-services development experience. Our engineering team has quadrupled in size over the last two years and together we manage over a hundred micro-services in production but this toolchain continues to serve us well. We hope you will find it useful in your Perl adventures too!
The world has become a larger place. The universe has been expanding, and Perl’s been expanding along with the universe — Larry WallMetal has grown to the point where our elders are aging and, in some cases, falling ill. Ronnie James Dio’s death from cancer in 2010 was a stark reminder of the fragility of life, as was his bandmate Tony Iommi’s announcement that he is fighting lymphoma.
In late 2010, metal almost lost another senior statesman when King Diamond (aka Kim Bendix Petersen) suffered several heart attacks at age fifty-four. King was a lifelong smoker; he later learned his family has a strong history of heart disease. His condition required triple bypass surgery and a lengthy rehabilitation that strained his physical, mental and spiritual limits. On several occasions, he says he wanted to die. Throughout the ordeal, King gained strength from his wife, Livia, and his fans; he said that support was crucial to his rehabilitation and eventual recovery.
King Diamond is now healthy, healed and performing. But that doesn’t mean he was unaffected by the ordeal; his experiences in surgery and after will work their way onto his next album. We let the digital recorder run for more than an hour and assembled an oral history from King’s narrative. “If you have something good, don’t save it for five years,” King told MetalSucks. We’re privileged to share his story of the road back – and his thoughts on the future. The King is alive; long live the King.
***
The first surgery took four hours. That was just a camera going up and looking at my veins and heart through my leg. I was alert and talking to the surgeons. Then I got the news from a surgeon who said that things don’t look good at all. That was it. I was fucking not ready for this. It’ s not like I suddenly believe in God because this happened to me. That’s the way I am as a person; I need proof. But I have seen that there is more to things than meets the eye. I felt like I brought something back from the other side because I was there. For a few hours, I was dead. Several times, I felt face-to-face with death.
***
The operation took seven and-a-half hours. For about three or four hours you are really not here. There’s a roller coaster of emotions. You are lying on a gurney outside of an operation room and you say goodbye to your wife, maybe for the last time. You have to say goodbye and you don’t want to.
We tried to get some power from our late cat, Magic. She led the path for us. We had necklaces made from the experiences with three rings that were custom made by my jeweler. I wasn’t allowed to have mine on during surgery so Livia kept both in her hands. She was told things would take five hours and that if it wasn’t done that didn’t mean things had gone wrong. Seven plus hours later they finally came out and said it was over and I was in intensive care. She came there and was forewarned I had a tube breathing for me. They pretty much collapsed my lungs to operate. So you have to learn to breathe again almost from scratch. You have almost zero lung capacity. It hurts so bad to blow in this machine to get your lungs working. You have to work for every breath.
***
They kick started my heart. I feel like I brought something back. That’s a feeling I just have.
When I came to the first time I couldn’t see Livia. I could only see in black and white. I saw what looked like three doctors standing over me. I could have been in a spaceship because I didn’t recognize them as human doctors but they were doctors, no doubt. Then I experienced the feeling of choking, not being able to breathe. I tried to blink my eyes. I felt like I had no control over my breathing. It was the worst feeling I have ever experienced, the worst.
I just wanted it to stop. If they had heard my thoughts they would have heard me begging them to kill me, Please, I can’t stand this shit. I got so frustrated that Livia said I was trying to pull the tube out of my open throat. Livia called [the hospital staff] and they practically grabbed me and tied me to the bed. You are tied down; you can’t do shit; you can’t communicate. You absolutely want to die. That’s Metallica’s “One.”
***
Two days later, stubborn as hell, I’m up walking. I was in the hospital ten days. I felt like I was in a King Diamond song. They kept saying you need to walk to get your strength back before we left you go.
At night, when Livia went home to take care of things, I’d go and look out so I could see her get the car in the parking lot. I had wires still in me going into my heart so they could kick-start the heart if needed. Walking the halls felt straight from The Graveyard album. I was walking from nurse station to nurse station. I kept thinking I need to walk and get strong to go home. You have to do this shit. Then you get to the point where they are ready to let you home but you have to have this examination.
Finally, they said I could get my stuff and go home. It was a good thing Livia knew how to change the bandages when we got home.
***
The surgeon made me promise I would start walking a half-mile a day when I got home. So you start walking. For months, I had to confirm with Livia that she could see me and hear me and feel me – that I was here. I felt like a ghost walking around in limbo. I had to have that confirmation that she could see and hear me, touch my shoulder. I needed that for quite a while. It felt like I shouldn’t be here. But these good people were able to give me a second chance
I was sleeping in a chair for one hour at a time and would wake up with horrible nightmares. I could still barely breathe. I told [Livia] not too long ago that I was trying to stay awake to beat death just because I was breathing so badly, I was worried about dying in my sleep. I also couldn’t lift a cup because the whole front [of my body] was just clipped open, sawed open. It’s grown back together now and I have metal down my chest. It’s been braided together around the bones in the chest. I have a long braided, thick metal rod under the skin.
***
Music was the last thing on my mind. I didn’t even think about it. I was in a totally different mode. It was survival mode. I had to get better for Livia and the cats.
I got so much positive stuff from the fans and everyone around, the label. That’s another big reason I made the effort. I felt positive that people wanted me. But they weren’t like “get better so you can play again and sing again and make albums.” It just proves we have the best fans in the world because they understood.
I was going to doctors. Constantly testing the blood, machines. Then it’s going to rehab. Some of these people [in rehab] had gigantic stitches all over. I got one of the best surgeons; I was lucky.
He had no idea until after the whole thing that I played in a band. When he checked up on us he said: “you never said what you do. “ I just said I needed to put my trust in you and let you do your best. Rehab was really hard in the beginning. Lifting your arms up to my shoulders was hard. I was forbidden from driving a car for a while.
***
I had to change my diet and become a nutritional expert, eat much better food. I stopped smoking, haven’t had a drag. Livia quit, too. We walk at least five days a week. I felt the benefits during two shows we did recently. My voice is now clearer than when I started singing. It was like always driving a used car and suddenly you have enough money to buy a new car. It felt brand new! That’s how my voice feels. I breathe different now than I used to. I played some festivals. In the past it would been like [makes a gasping noise]. Now I go off stage and start talking to close friends.
***
[Hellfest] felt really good. Some of the smoke blew the wrong way halfway through the set and it was like standing in thick fog and you are breathing this shit in and it kind of shot my voice down. At the beginning of “Black Horsemen” I had to work so hard to get the sound out. Everything else was so good with the voice.
I feel like I used to live in a house with ten windows and now I have twenty windows in the house. There’s so much I can see and I pay more attention to what I do see. My philosophy hasn’t changed but I don’t take anything for granted. The band is doing different things; it’s a good thing for everyone, including the fans. We just signed a new deal with Metal Blade. It was ready before we played the shows. These weren’t test shows but they were for me. We’ll be doing three more albums worldwide and it will be Metal Blade all over. We have new booking agents, a new lawyer. There are a lot of new things. We set up a new fan club. All those waited until we showed we could execute those shows.
***
We are getting new gear to write so we can really sync up on ideas. I expect a lot of myself in my songwriting on the (next) one. I also can’t wait to go in the studio and see what this new voice feels like. We have thirteen shows that have been confirmed; some of them we are waiting to hear from promoters. We aren’t done booking. I guarantee fans are going to go home with memories they won’t forget.
***
I never expected a thing like this. I smoked cigarettes for a long time. That contributed to the possibility [that I would get sick]. But I never ate bad food. I’ve always stayed away from fast food because I simply didn’t like it. Seafood, for instance, I like shrimp. I found out it’s the worst thing you can eat if you have problems with cholesterol. I had no idea! How would I know?
Livia is practically a nutritionist now. She’s read up on so much and we went to meetings with a nutritionist. We continued from there and I changed my eating habits. When they took my blood before my operation they saw my (cholesterol) figures were off the charts. They said there’s no way no matter how you tried this could happen; it has to be hereditary. I found out later that I had an uncle who died at 55. My cousin had a stent put in three weeks before this happened to me. So, you open your eyes.
***
I’ve been given a second chance – there’s no doubt about it. How long? I don’t know. I’ll take what I can get. I’ll try to do things better than before. If you have something good, don’t save it for five years. Then it never happens; you had a great idea and you never manage to do it. So we aren’t going to save things for a later date. Let’s do everything as good as we can.Encouraged by the government’s notification for a (SNZ), De Beers, one of the world’s largest rough diamond miners, is exploring setting up an office in India., executive vice-president, Auction Sales, talks about the group's India plans in an email interview with Dilip Kumar Jha. Edited excerpts:India is a strategically important market for us and we are very pleased with the recent announcement regarding the establishment of a (SNZ) in Mumbai. We are keen to explore how this can help us expose more of our rough products to both existing and new customers based in India.
We operate a hub-and-spoke model, wherein we are headquartered in Singapore (the ‘hub’) and have a presence in Antwerp, Tel Aviv, Dubai and Hong Kong (the ‘spokes’) through which we manage our large, diverse customer base.
What are the challenges for Beers in shifting offices from centres such as Antwerp and Dubai to India?
India has the potential to become a major spoke in our global operations. We have about 600 registered customers spanning dealers, manufacturers of polished and jewellery as well as retailers operating domestically, regionally and internationally. Our network of offices in major provides convenient and low-cost access to our spot and forward contract sales proposition. We are keen to find out more about how SNZ will work.
Will change in the auction centres make any difference to in terms of realisation or quantity of sale?
Most of our India-based customers are currently served through our Dubai and Antwerp offices. SNZ potentially paves the way for our existing customers as well as new customers to be served in their local market, reducing travel time and associated costs.
However, whilst we would strive to expose the full range of our product mix to our customer base in India, should we set up a ‘spoke’ office there, our ability to do so would depend on how the will operate. We will be engaging with the relevant bodies to determine this in the coming weeks.
How will it benefit Indian customers?
SNZ would enable us to expose our full product mix to all registered customers based in India. The principal benefit for Indian customers would be improved access to larger quantities of our full range of products either through forward contract sales, which provide short- and medium-term security of supply at market-determined prices.
The combination of spot and forward contract purchases can allow customers to build their own bespoke supply portfolios with us. The demand demonstrated with De Beers Auction Sales can, over time, enable customers to secure term supply contracts from De Beers, by contributing towards qualification for Sightholder status. However, our ability to offer these benefits would depend greatly on how the SNZ works in practice.
Rading sentiment in diamond is currently weak. What is your forecast for the rest of the year?
Overall, we anticipate a gradual improvement in spot market demand, driven by steady demand from the US. We also expect the solid demand we have seen year-to-date for higher value exceptional and special stones to continue.
Our short-term outlook for demand from some parts of the Asia-Pacific region is perhaps more cautious, but we remain optimistic about domestic demand in India as the Indian economy gathers momentum.Made with 100% acrylic yarn. His eyes are 9mm safety eyes. His hands and "hair" are made with brown fuzzy sticks. His mouth is made with felt and black buttons. He's filled with polyester fiber filling.He came out so perfect on my first try and that rarely happens especially since he is my own pattern. He a tad bit on the small size and if you know how to tweek a pattern then you can make him whatever size you'd like.He is about 7-8 inches tall.Please donate to help my yarn addiction and to keep the patterns coming.I like using 4.5mm hook for all my crochet dolls. This is made with continuous rounds so make sure you have a marker if you need it so you don't lose your spot. If you have any questions please don't be afraid to message me.I do ask that you don't sell your finished works Good luck.1: magic ring: 62: inc round: 123: 1sc, inc around: 184: 2sc, inc around: 245-8) sc around 3 thimes: 249: 1sc, inc around: 3610: 2sc, inc around: 4811: 2sc, dec around: 3612: 1sc, dec around: 2413-16: sc around 4 times: 2417: 2sc, dec around: 1818: sc around: 1819: 1sc, dec: 1220: sc around: 12FO and leave a tail to sew(when you stuff the head make sure his cheeks puff out a little. This helps create that adorable smile he makes)1: magic ring: 62: inc around: 123: 1sc, inc around: 184: 2sc, inc around: 245: 3sc, inc around: 306-9) sc around 4 times: 3010: 3sc, dec around: 2411: 2sc, dec around: 18 (you can start stuffing right here)12: 1sc, dec around: 1213: dec around: 6Close up the hole and leave tail for sewing.1: magic ring: 62: inc around: 123: 1sc, inc around: 184: 2sc, inc: 245: 3sc, inc around: 306: 4sc, inc around: 367-11: sc around 5 times: 3612: 4sc, dec around: 3013: 3sc, dec around: 2414: 2sc, dec around: 18 (start stuffing here)15: 1sc, dec around: 1216: dec around: 6close up gap and leave tail for sewing.1: magic ring: 62: inc around: 123-5: sc around 3 times: 12FO but don't close it up. Stuff and leave tail for sewing. to stuff to much. You don't want them to look like balls1: chain 92: sc 2, 4 DC in the next 4 chains, sc in last 2.FO and leave tail for sewing1: magic ring: 42: 1sc, inc: 63: 3dc in the next 3 stitches, 3sc in the last 3 stitches: 64: sc around: 65: Dec two times: 4FO. Close the gap in a way to make a pointy tip to look llike a carrot. leave a small tail. Using your tapestry needle pull the tail through the tip of the nose and pull it all the way to the back and this should create a small slant to the front of his nose. cut the excess tail. I hot glued his nose on it was just easier then sewing it on.1: magic ring: 42: inc around: 8Key:SC: single crochetDC: double crochetdec: decreaseNew data shows the number of UK children seeking transgender treatments has increased fourfold over the last five years.
Britain’s only center specializing in gender issues saw the number of under-11s seeking consultation rise from 19 in 2009/10, to 77 in 2014/15, RT reported, citing figures from the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.
Figures showed the referrals included 47 children aged under five and two under three years of age.
Experts suggest the rise could be associated with the current generation’s willingness to explore gender identity issues.
However, London-based social analyst Adam Hurst believes: “One of the reasons why people are exploring these gender identity issues is because children in Britain are raised without any filtering of nudity, sexual references whether it is films, or TV adverts, even children’s programs.”
“Children who do not even know, they cannot even spell their own name, they cannot even tell you their address, exposing children to this is appalling, and this is the reason why so many children, particularly in Western countries, which is void of moral and spiritual guidance which is growing concern, these kinds of confusions will result.”
Hurst told Press TV’s UK Desk that “people in Britain and in the Western world, of course this is an international issue, but particularly a growing concern in Western Europe, in Western world and Britain, … are sad and depressed. And, this extends even to children who display this as confusion rather than depression.”
The National Health Service (NHS) defines gender dysphoria as when a person experiences distress because their biological sex and gender identity do not match.
It is recognized as a medical condition for which treatment may be appropriate, and is not a mental illness.
A spokesperson for the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust said: “It is probably fair to say that young people are increasingly interested in exploring gender.”
HRK/GHNA Senate plan to boost next year's military pay raise and increase the end strength of each of the armed services failed Thursday over ongoing funding fights between lawmakers.
The defeat sets up a spending showdown later this summer with House lawmakers, who have already agreed to used about $18 billion in increased defense funding to pay for those priorities and a host of new equipment purchases.
The Senate's $602 billion authorization bill includes a 1.6 percent pay raise for troops next year, a massive overhaul of the military medical system and defense acquisition process, and billions for new equipment purchases and reset.
Republicans in both chambers have argued that total is still billions short of what is needed to ensure force readiness, and have pushed for ways to get around defense spending caps set by Congress last fall.
Democrats in the Senate insisted that a proposal by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to add $18 billion to the fiscal 2017 defense funding plan also be offset by an equal amount of nonmilitary spending, including money for cybersecurity efforts, U |
living in the U.S. for eight years," she said. "I am now checking up online to see what areas are safe to visit and which ones aren't."Parents are worried. At Kuchibhotla's funeral in the Indian city of Hyderabad on Tuesday, his mother cried and said she had pleaded with her other son not to return to the United States, where he lives. Madasani's father also implored parents not to send their children to the United States.A travel warning, if issued by the Indian government, would not be unprecedented. Several countries - including France, Germany and the United Arab Emirates - have issued advisories in recent months urging caution for travelers to the United States over gun violence, police shootings and anti-Muslim attitudes.Philippine police killed a town mayor linked to illegal drugs while he was helpless in a prison cell, justice department investigators alleged.
The National Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday that it filed murder complaints against two dozen police officers and personnel last week after a probe showed they shot dead Mayor Rolando Espinosa and his cellmate Raul Yap in the central province of Leyte in November.
"The pieces of evidence, both testimonial and the forensic evidence, all agree. We believe we have a very strong case," said Ferdinand Lavin, the NBI's deputy director.
READ MORE: Duterte says Trump wished him'success' in war on drugs
Prosecutors will rule whether there is enough evidence to indict the policemen.
The finding contradicted claims by the accused and President Rodrigo Duterte that the victims were killed in a gun battle.
Duterte had accused Espinosa, mayor of the town of Albuera in the eastern province of Leyte, of being a drug lord. He had initially given police "shoot-to-kill" orders if Espinosa did not surrender, prompting the mayor to turn himself in.
NBI said the policemen most likely planted pistols and illegal drugs in their jail cells to justify a police raid.
'Shoot-to-kill'
A few days before police raided the Leyte jail, authorities made a thorough search of the detention centre but found no guns or illegal drugs, so it was impossible for Espinosa and Yap to have weapons and narcotics in their cells, the NBI said.
Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a promise to kill thousands of criminals to prevent the Philippines from becoming a narco-state.
Monday's accusations deepened concerns that police were carrying out summary executions as part of Duterte's controversial "war on drugs", which has claimed more than 5,100 lives in about five months.
In a speech late on Monday, Duterte defended the police who killed Espinosa and said he believed their version of events.
"Do not force me to believe the theories and assumptions, even with the witnesses, that the mayor was killed [illegally] in the prison," he said.
READ MORE: Philippines - Playing dead to survive Duterte's drug war
Duterte had previously signalled that he was happy Espinosa had been shot dead.
"You have here a guy, a government employee, using his office and money of government, cooking [illegal drugs] and destroying the lives of so many millions of Filipinos. So what is there for me to say about it?" he said last month.
Duterte's police chief initially stood down the police officer in charge of the raid pending an investigation, but the president immediately reinstated him.Want to avoid holiday weight while still indulging in all your favorite feasts this holiday season? It's easy to do in Seattle. Just sign up for one of the city's many festive fun runs. Not only will you burn a few extra calories but you'll also join a few thousand other like-minded, active individuals letting loose with tacky costumes, winter brews, hot chocolate, and endorphin inducing distances. Here are 3 runs to help you get into the spirit and keep your health and sanity during the holidays.
1. The Ugly Sweater Run, December 6, Marymoor Park
Grab the ugliest Christmas sweater you have, throw it on and head to Marymoor Park at 11 a.m. for the Ugly Sweater Run on Saturday, December 6. You can’t miss the start line, as it will be decked with big holiday inflatables and Christmas music. Expect a humorous display of all things ugly filling the streets of Seattle during this run.
Themed stations along the course offer hot chocolate to keep you going. After the race, enjoy some winter lager, hard cider, or hot chocolate. Participants receive a knit hat, hot chocolate, and a beer. This race benefits Save the Children in an effort to “make the world better with a sweater.” Register online HERE.
2. Jingle Bell Run/Walk, December 14, Westlake Center** **
The 30th annual Jingle Bell Run/Walk kicks off at 7 a.m. Sunday, December 14 at the Westlake Center. You can run as an individual or part of a team. Dress up in your own version of holiday cheer for this festive race. You’ll see Santas, elves, Grinches, snowmen and reindeer running down the street in the form of costume wearing participants. Three runs include the Rudolph Runners (a timed 5K), Dasher Dashers (untimed 5K), and the Santa Striders (untimed 5K for walkers and those with strollers). There will also be a Run With The Elves 1K for kids 10 and under. Enjoy the Cheer Garden post-race where your registration includes a Sam Adams winter brew or Angry Orchard hard cider.
This race is all about benefitting the Arthritis Foundation to generate money for research and raise awareness for the number one cause of disability in the US. There will be prizes for those that raise the most donation money.
Registration includes a bib, event shirt, and jingle bells. You can register at both Super Jock’n Jill locations until December 10, and online HERE.
3. 12K’s of Christmas Holiday Run, December 21, Kirkland
Leah DeAngelis
The 12K’s of Christmas offers both a 5K and 12K run Sunday, December 21, benefitting foster children. Join about 2700 fellow runners and walkers for the festive 12K at Heritage Park in Kirkland. The route, which goes through the streets of Kirkland will be monitored and supported by police and volunteer staff. Registration and packet pickup begins at 8am, followed by a yoga warm up session, a 5K at 9am, and the 12K at 9:30.
It’s a family and dog friendly event and strollers are allowed. For those 10 and under, there will be a 1K Kid’s Dash along the Heritage Park path at 11:15. It’s free, but you have to register. Participants receive a bib and children’s t-shirts will be available for $10. For adults, the registration fee includes a long sleeve t-shirt and you can buy fleece beanies on the website.
The finish line festival will include refreshments and more than 30 booths with vendors and sponsors. Just a few feet from the finish line festival will be a wine garden hosted by The Grape Choice. Hot spiced wine and seasonal winter microbrews will be served and don’t be surprised if the big guy in the red suit shows up for the kids. Costumes encouraged. You can register online HERE.A hasty, stupid social media blunder that conceals a much bigger and more important reality.
///
A few things to remember about covfefe-gate:
1. This is not the first time Donald Trump has tweeted mindless gibberish. He’s been doing that on a regular basis for years now.
2. While the internet has exploded with radiant squee at the “covfefe” tweet – memeing it to infinite proportion and snarking with abandon… media reports continue to posit that Donald Trump may well withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord. A decision that, if made, will fray our already damaged relationships with our allies, and possibly irreparably damage an attempt to address the real and impending disaster that is climate change.
3. There’s no secret meaning to “covfefe.” If you look at the keyboard on your phone, and tap out the letters… you can decode it quite easily. Donald Trump tried to write the word “coverage,” but misspelled it as “covrege” because he’s fucking stupid, and he mistyped it because rather than human hands, he’s sporting the prosimian forepaws of a loris.
4. True Fact: Covfefe is Parsletongue for “bigly.”
Look.
I know memes are fun.
And I know that we’re able to do two things at once…
And that we can laugh while we wring our hands and that it’s important to remember what is best in life… and what is best in life is pointing out that Donald Trump is a copper-hued, prolapsed rectum… and that by pointing, in fact, we demonstrate not only the normal physiology of a human hand, but also the most rudimentary dexterity of pointing which, if he possessed it, would have prevented the typo in the first place…
But journalists are asking about this now. Real journalists. They’re asking the administration to clarify this mindless bit of puerile faff.
Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
Trump tweeted.
The dummies pointed at the flames.
The smart people grabbed some fucking buckets and put them out.
Grab a bucket, people.
And covfefe while we work.A lot of the DOMA area barriers for married couples are falling, but not all of them. The federal government has decided to limit Social Security benefits to couples who live in states where marriage equality is legal. Married in Massachusetts but live in Pennsylvania? You’re out of luck.
The Social Security Administration had tried to trumpet the fact that it was starting to make benefits available to same-sex married couples. But the fine print is that eligibility for federal benefits depends upon the state in which you live. This was an issue identified immediately in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in June.
The problem — besides the unfairness of it all — is that the rest of the government isn’t so fussy. The State Department doesn’t care where you live if you and your spouse apply for a visa, and the Pentagon is actually considering leave for gay and lesbian military personnel to travel to get married so that they will be entitled to military spouse benefits no matter where they live. The Labor Department just extended Family and Medical Leave rights to same-sex married couples.
The difference is that the Social Security Administration is hampered by a statute that prevents it from unilaterally offering benefits to all couples. The only way to change the policy would be a legislative solution. Given the crazies in control in the House of Representatives, the odds of that are pretty slim. So, pick where you live carefully. In the case of your Social Security benefits, geography is destiny.Occupy Wall Street protests went global today. At least 500 activists in Rome attacked police, two banks and a supermarket. Authorities responded with tear gas and water cannons.
Italian media reports that as many as 100,000 people rallied in the city Saturday, making one of the biggest OWS movements so far.
The following shots are from the violent Roman clashes between protesters, the Carabinieri and the tax police.
A man standing next to a burning Carabinieri vehicle shows a placard depicting Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and reading in Italian "Throw the shoe at Silvio" during clashes in Rome, Saturday AP
Protesters hurl objects at police as a burning car is seen in foreground AP
A masked protester hurls a stone during clashes in Rome AP
Italian police fired tear gas and water cannons as protesters in Rome turned a demonstration against corporate greed into a riot Saturday, smashing shop and bank windows, torching cars and hurling bottles AP
Protesters stand by a burning car AP
Protesters prepare to stave off a police baton AP
A tax police officer is helped by colleagues as he lies on the ground during clashes in Rome APMichael Carrick has only just been handed the armband at Manchester United, but he believes Paul Pogba has the ability to lead the side forward.
He was the natural choice to succeed Wayne Rooney as skipper as the longest serving player in Jose Mourinho’s squad, with the ability to motivate the players around him.
His appointment is only believed to be short-term as the 35-year-old enters the latter stages of his career, with only one more season guaranteed ahead of him at Old Trafford.
Speaking about the club’s next captain, Carrick sees Pogba as the ideal fit.
“He’s certainly got the presence, character and belief to pull it off,” he said. “All the time I’m sure the manager is planning a long way behind me, for someone to take on that mantle and he’s probably in that bracket where you’d say – ‘yeah, he can be a future captain’.
Carrick understands he won’t be in Mourinho’s squad on a weekly basis, which would mean the captaincy is likely to be spread around the squad.
Antonio Valencia, Ander Herrera and David de Gea will all be contenders for the role, and although it’s still early for Pogba, Carrick believes he still deserves a shot.
He’s emerged as the marquee player in a United squad and there’s no doubting the fact that he has the talent to become an incredibly influential player at the club, which is why Carrick wants him to take on that responsibility.Yannick Bolasie and Connor Wickham are both expected to miss a month of action through injury during one of the busiest parts of Crystal Palace’s season.
With a draw against Bournemouth on Boxing Day, the Eagles now sit fifth on the Premier League table.
Both Bolasie and Wickham did not feature in that draw, with Bolasie hurting his leg in training and Wickham picking up a calf injury after scoring at Stoke last weekend.
[ MORE: Boxing Day roundup ]
If the duo is out for a month, they would miss an important six-match stretch for Palace. During that time, the Eagles play Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham. They also play Southampton in the third round of the FA Cup on January 9.
Bolasie has featured in 16 of Palace’s 18 matches this season, and is one of the key players in Alan Pardew‘s side. The Congolese winger is extremely speedy and shifty, and can be one of the hardest players to mark in the Premier League when he is on top of his game.
[ VIDEO: Cuco Martina scores wicked curler for Southampton against Arsenal ]
Wickham has only scored one goal for Palace since moving to Selhurst Park from Sunderland this summer, and missed more than two months earlier this season with a rib injury. When fit, the 22-year-old has been Alan Pardew’s first-choice striker.
Without two key players for the near future, Palace will need the likes of Marouane Chamakh and Patrick Bamford to step up, who will likely get some more minutes to fill the void.
Follow @KyleLynchFCGENEVA, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Atmospheric volumes of greenhouse gases blamed for climate change hit a new record in 2011, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin on Tuesday.
The volume of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas emitted by human activities, grew at a similar rate to the previous decade and reached 390.9 parts per million (ppm), 40 percent above the pre-industrial level, the survey said.
It has increased by an average of 2 ppm for the past 10 years.
Fossil fuels are the primary source of about 375 billion tonnes of carbon that has been released into the atmosphere since the industrial era began in 1750, the WMO said.
WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said the billions of tonnes of extra carbon dioxide would stay in the atmosphere for centuries, causing the planet to warm further.
"We have already seen that the oceans are becoming more acidic as a result of the carbon dioxide uptake, with potential repercussions for the underwater food chain and coral reefs," he said in a statement.
Levels of methane, another long-lived greenhouse gas, have risen steadily for the past three years after levelling off for about seven years. The reasons for that evening out are unclear.
Growth in volumes of a third gas, nitrous oxide, quickened in 2011. It has a long-term climate impact that is 298 times greater than carbon dioxide.
The WMO, the United Nations' weather agency, said the three gases, which are closely linked to human activities such as fossil fuel use, deforestation and intensive agriculture, had increased the warming effect on the climate by 30 percent between 1990 and 2011.
The prevalence of several less abundant greenhouse gases was also growing fast, it said.
Sulphur hexafluoride, used as an electrical insulator in power distribution equipment, had doubled in volume since the mid-1990s, while hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) were growing at a rapid rate from a low base.Wide receiver Tavon Austin is sidelined due to injury, leaving the Los Angeles Rams just one playmaker with more than two years of experience on their roster.
The Rams have an unreal turnover for their playmakers (quarterback, running back and fullback, wide receiver, tight end) in recent years. Austin was drafted by the Rams in 2013 but is currently inactive. Otherwise, that leaves just fullback Cory Harkey as the only player who has been with the team since before 2015.
The Rams offensive skill position turnover is pretty nuts. Of these 22 names, 20 have joined the team since 2015 and 16 since last offseason pic.twitter.com/IaLXNExyHr — Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) June 14, 2017
WR Robert Woods has NFL experience as he is entering his fifth professional season. But this is his first offseason with the Rams. RB Lance Dunbar is in a similar situation heading into his sixth season.
On the full 90-man roster, there are plenty of other players who are new to the team as well.
Related Undrafted Rams rookies at minicamp most likely to make 2017 roster
QB Dylan Thompson, fullback Zach Laskey, WR Brandon Shippen and TE Travis Wilson have not yet played an NFL game. RB Lenard Tillery and WR Shakeir Ryan are both undrafted free agents for Los Angeles.
Rams coach Sean McVay spoke about the lack of experience after minicamp yesterday when discussing Jared Goff:
I think when you look at trying to find your identity and what you kind of want to hang your hat on within the framework of our offense, I think he’s picked some of those things up well. Again, like we always talk about, it’s going to be something where we want to do a good job as coaches figuring out our players and then we’ll adjust the system accordingly. We’ve got a lot of different things that we can do, but it’s about figuring out what these guys do best. Having an identity and making sure that you have some complements off that identity.
While McVay is new to the team, so are the players. As such, they will find out what works as a team together.
McVay was asked about Harkey, the one skill players on the team who has significant experience besides Austin. He said Harkey was a “great leader” and a versatile player.
However, the Rams picked up a new fullback during the 2017 NFL Draft. Even Harkey, who has been with the team for awhile, may no longer have a role moving forward.Advertisement
Incredible images of China show how the people endure queues, traffic and other problems on a level unique to the most populous country in the world.
With 1.3billion people, many of the cities are overrun during busy periods, with images revealing the true extent of the growing population, including gridlocked roads packed with static cars queued for miles on end.
The images - taken over the last 16 years - also show a beach with people packed so closely that not a grain of sand is visible as far as they eye can see as citizens dash to the water with rubber rings around them.
Thousands of children, who sit the same exams all over the country at the same time, are seen densely packed together on uniform desks in a vast hall.
This is despite the one-child policy China adopted in the 1970s that it claims has prevented 400million births, but demographers have called the claim into question.
Other images show how homes are tightly packed into what look like small uniform cells in sprawling tower blocks, essential to house the vast population.
As a residential compound opens for sale in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, swarms of keen people line up for the big reveal
Swimmers wrestle with colourful rubber rings at a pool in Daying county, Sichuan Province, this past August, in a situation that looks anything but relaxing
Students at a university in Wuhan, Hubei province, hang their laundry on lines and railings outside their housing complex
More than 1,700 secondary school students in Yichuan, Shaanxi province, sat this exam in 2015, which had to take place in its open-air playground due to lack of space inside
Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station, which sees an enormous number of travellers and commuters pass through its halls
Scores of people bustle for space af the annual lantern festival in Yuyuan garden, located in China's city of Shanghai
Outside Beijing's International Airport, taxi drivers - one shirtless - line up to await passengers in the sweltering summer heat
Amid a sea of wheels and handlebars in Beijing, a woman who has somehow located her own bike prepares to cycle away
At a university is Wuhan, Hubei province, students sleep on mats laid out on an air-conditioned gym floor to escape the heat
Thousands upon thousands of job-seekers collect eagerly around booths at a job fair in Chongqing, southwestern China
This summer in Dalian, Liaoning Province, countless beaches were packed full of sunbathers and crowded with parasols
In a rather beautiful image, scores of people wander under lantern-dressed trees to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Beijing
The roomy Hong Qiao Train station, lined with brightly lit adverts, which gets particularly busy around national holidays
College students queue up for a job fair in 2014, which roughly 50,000 people attended in Zhengzhou, Henan province
Visitors congregate under umbrellas at Shanghai's China Pavilion - the most expensive in the world - on a rainy day in 2010
Visitors participate in the annual water-splashing festival to mark the New Year of the Dai minority in Xishuang Banna, Yunnan province in 2013
People queue up before viewing the soaring tide near the bank of Qiantang River in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province in 2010
Vehicles are seen on a snaking avenue during the evening rush hour at sunset in Beijing in 2014, surrounded by skyscrapers
Heaving crowds line the Bund waterfront area in central Shanghai, always busy both during the day (left) and at night (right)On the evening of 12 August, following France’s 1-0 defeat by Canada, Louisa Cadamuro was the last player to leave the pitch at the Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo, seemingly wishing to soak up every second of her final appearance as a professional footballer. After a successful career with Lyon and France, during which her Algerian roots, childhood in Marseille, playing position and incredible ball skills drew constant comparisons with Zinedine Zidane, the talented midfielder, who boasts 148 caps and 38 international goals, has decided to hang up her boots.
“I made the decision when I realised that I couldn’t juggle my private life and my sporting career any more,” explained Cadamuro to French newspaper L’Equipe prior to the start of this year’s Women’s Olympic Football Tournament. “If I have to make the choice between my career, which has been wonderful, and my husband, it’s not going to take very long. Many people make long-distance relationships work perfectly well for them, but that’s not the way I view life.”
Although it was under her maiden name, Necib, that she rose to prominence, the name that adorned the back of her jersey for the first time at Rio 2016 is not altogether unknown in the world of football either. “Cadamuro” arose from her marriage to Algerian international Liassine Cadamuro in June 2016. The defender was recently called up by Fennecs coach Milovan Rajevac for the latest 2017 CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in September.
“We’re going to miss her, there’s no doubt about that,” France captain Wendie Renard, who has played alongside Cadamuro at Lyon for almost a decade, told FIFA.com after Les Bleues’ quarter-final loss. “From a personal point of view, she’s a very close friend; from a footballing point of view, I’m a big admirer of her play. What she’s constantly been able to do with the ball is exceptional. She’s one of the best players in the world.
“She’s made the decision to stop, and so we can only wish her lots of happiness in her new life. It’s her choice, and it’s her right to make that choice. And as she pointed out to us, she been able to experience World Cups, European Championships and Olympic Tournaments, and has won everything there is to win with Lyon.”
Indeed, Cadamuro has one of the most bountiful collections of winners’ medals of any female French footballer. At Lyon, for whom she has been a key player since her arrival in 2007, the creative playmaker captured three UEFA Women’s Champions League titles and no fewer than nine French Division 1 Feminine crowns. On the international scene, however, her honours have been limited to two Cyprus Cups.
“It’s a little sad to see her leave after a defeat like that,” said fellow midfielder Elise Bussaglia. “She’s a winner. It would have been so great to have helped her pick up an Olympic medal.” France centre-back and club team-mate Griedge M'Bock Bathy echoed that sentiment: “She’s a great player. We’re going to miss her at Lyon and in the French national team. It’s a shame that we weren’t able to celebrate her retirement by earning a medal.”
Dominant versus New Zealand
For the last-eight clash with Canada, France coach Philippe Bergeroo unexpectedly left Cadamuro on the bench, despite her having been one of the team’s best performers in the group stage. “I wanted to rotate the squad – I was keeping a careful eye on my players’ physical fitness, and I decided to start the match without Louisa and bring her on in the second half,” said Bergeroo, who did just that in the 62nd minute.
He continued: “I’m sorry for her – and for the other players – that we’ve been eliminated. We’d had such a good start to the Games, beating Colombia 4-0, playing well against USA despite the defeat, and then winning 3-0 against New Zealand.”
And it is likely that, rather than the Canada-France match which French supporters and players will all want to forget, the duel with the Football Ferns will stand out as the gifted No14’s veritable swansong. Having already put in a fine performance versus Colombia in France’s opening game in Group G, she lit up the encounter in Salvador with two goals and a classy all-round display.
“When she plays at that kind of level, you can see that her departure is going to leave quite a void,” said team-mate Camille Abily after the New Zealand match. “You don’t come across many players like her,” added defender Sakina Karchaoui. “And now we’re going to have to make do without her. It’ll be tricky, but we’ll have to manage.”
Before the Olympic Games, Cadamuro had reiterated where her priorities lay: “The greatest memory of my career is my marriage! At Lyon, things ended in the best possible way; I couldn’t have hoped for more. The only way it could get better would be if France won a medal at the Games.”
Unfortunately, that was not to be, but Cadamuro will take pleasure from her compatriots’ accolades as she embarks on a new chapter of her life.< StackLayout > < ScrollView #scrollview height = "90%" > <!--the chat takes place here--> </ ScrollView > < StackLayout height = "10%" > < GridLayout columns = "*,auto" style = "padding: 10" > < TextField #textfield class = "chatTextField" row = "0" col = "0" [(ngModel)]="message"></ TextField > < Button #btn class = "chatBtn" row = "0" col = "1" text = "send" (tap)=chat(message)></ Button > </ GridLayout > </ StackLayout > </ StackLayout >
In the ScrollView, which forces the textfield and button to the bottom by maintaining 90% height, we do some sneaky things to differentiate the style of chat depending on who’s chatting. As in Twitter, if your own chat shows in the window, you don’t see your own image and the chat bubble is aligned right. If you’re watching your friend chat to you, those bubbles are aligned left and you see an image of the person (or cat) who’s chatting.
Note: In the actual Twitter app, you see a list of potential chat-mates, choose one, and then initiate a chat. I didn’t built out that part but it wouldn’t be hard to implement. For this demo, I manually added a chat-mate as the recipient.
Differentiating your own chat words from a chat-mate's is done via CSS and some data-bound properties. Within a ListView's template, I added a StackLayout with a label and an image. The StackLayout has a class that switches depending on the identity of the users, and its horizontalAlignment switches from left to right as well. The image of the user similarly switches visibility based on the user’s status.
< ListView padding = "5" #list separatorColor = "#fff" [items]="chats$ | async" class = "list" > < template let-item = "item" > < GridLayout columns = "*" rows = "auto" class = "msg" > < StackLayout [class]="filter(item.from)" orientation = "horizontal" [horizontalAlignment]="align(item.from)"> < Image [visibility]="showImage(item.from)" class = "authorimg" stretch = "aspectFill" height = "30" width = "30" verticalAlignment = "top" src = "~/images/k1.png" col = "1" ></ Image > < Label [text]="item.message" class = "msg_text" textWrap = "true" verticalAlignment = "top" ></ Label > </ StackLayout > </ GridLayout > </ template > </ ListView >
publishChatUpdates() { this._allChats.sort( function (a, b){ if (a.date > b.date) return -1; if (a.date < b.date) return 1; return 0; }) this.chats.next([... this._allChats]); }
Here’s how Yowwler’s chat function works in real time:
Continuing the work I did with Yowwlr, the Twitter for Cats client that I started building to show how to use Flexbox, I thought the next thing to tackle would be a clone of Twitter’s “messages” tab, which is essentially a chat interface showing bubbles when a user wants to chat. Digging into Twitter, which is a deceptively simple-looking app, you notice several peculiarities. Some of them are a little too complicated for this article, like the little speech arrow that’s added on to the bubble, but only in the case of the last part of the chat. Many elements, however, are easily clonable in a NativeScript app. I turned my attention to building a realistic chat UI similar to Twitter’s using Firebase database’s realtime features, and duplicating this interface for both Android and iOS. Here’s an example of Twitter’s chat interface, as a reference:Note the static chat box that sits on top of the Tab navigation. A ScrollView needs to sit on top of that. The first part of this challenge, then, involves going back to our tried-and-true StackLayout, which embeds a ScrollView on the top and a StackLayout on the bottom:Logging into the Yowwlr app as two different users, we can test our interface cross-platform:Another challenge was to make the ListView display the data in reverse order. I did this by sorting the data coming from the chats in reverse order (newest on the bottom). Once received, the array is sorted by date, in reverse:Probably cats prefer to talk face to face, like this. But for those times when you’re far from your chat cat, we give you… Yowwlr.The mega-success of Twitch. The popularity of top Let's Play video creators. Sharing your video game experiences has become an increasingly important part of how folks talk about the stuff they love and hate. So, it was a bit of downer when Sony launched the PS4 with recording and sharing options that presented owners with hurdles and a walled garden. That's going to change with the console's next update. That's right: you'll be able to turn off HDCP and upload footage wherever you want.
In a blog post today on the official PlayStation blog, Sony announced that a future update will let you turn off the HDCP protection that prevent many recording devices from capturing footage:
This upcoming update will add a rich video editor with a simple tool to personalize your video clips, and you'll also be able to export to and save the videos and screenshots you create by pressing the SHARE button to a USB drive. In addition, this update will add an HDCP off option for capturing gameplay via HDMI, a feature we've previously said would come after launch. We recognize that some gamers want to record and share longer clips of their gameplay sessions, and we're excited to deliver this option with PS4. There's a lot more coming in this update as well, so stay tuned for more—there will be plenty in the update to excite everyone.
This means that players won't have to use the widely known but unendorsed workarounds that can capture footage off the PS4. And the ability to put that footage on a storage device provides even more flexibility for people who want to share their gameplay clips. No date's been provided for when this update will hit, though, so don't go re-wiring your set-up just yet.August 3, 2015
Laptops have two big usability problems:
Small displays - After using large desktop monitors, working on a laptop feels cramped and unproductive for anything beyond simple web browsing.
- After using large desktop monitors, working on a laptop feels cramped and unproductive for anything beyond simple web browsing. Terrible ergonomics - Your head is tilted down to view the screen, which can lead to back problems after long periods. A common solution is to use a separate keyboard and mouse and raise the entire laptop using a stand (I haven’t tried it but The Roost looks like a good one).
With the release of decent USB powered monitors there’s now a simple solution to both these problems. Place a second display above the built in one:
Since this isn’t a common use case, I had to improvise… The stand is a clumsy combination of laptop stand and tablet stand, with a little bit of rubber wedged in to tilt the monitor.
This setup has the following advantages:
Productive - Tons more screen space using the 1920 x 1080 ASUS 168B+ display in addition to a Retina MacBook Pro 13 set to 1440 x 900.
- Tons more screen space using the 1920 x 1080 ASUS 168B+ display in addition to a Retina MacBook Pro 13 set to 1440 x 900. Ergonomic - More time is spent looking straight ahead to the external monitor, which is closer to eye level. Less frequently viewed content is placed on the laptop screen.
- More time is spent looking straight ahead to the external monitor, which is closer to eye level. Less frequently viewed content is placed on the laptop screen. Portable - The monitor weighs only 800g (1.76 pounds) and draws power via the USB cable. No external keyboard or mouse is required.
There’s still room for improvement however…
The ideal stand should hold the monitor closer to the laptop. A lightweight stand designed for this purpose would be awesome. The colors on the monitor are horrible compared to the MacBook. It’s OK for text, but not for color sensitive work. There’s a slight lag and jerkiness when large changes happen on screen, probably due to the bandwidth limitation of USB 3. Again, this isn’t a problem for manipulating text but could be annoying for graphically intensive tasks.
I’ve been using this only a short while, but so far it’s a huge improvement over the laptop on its own, and allows me to work away from home without affecting productivity too much.
UPDATE: After forgetting to pack my laptop stand one day, I decided to scour the flat for something that could permanently live in my backpack. I found this which works surprisingly well, it’s lighter, keeps the montior closer to the laptop, and doubles as a container for cables :-)Judging from job openings, New Jersey’s technology sector has grown enough to put the state in the same league as California, Texas, Virginia and New York, according to recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
"We’re all a little surprised," said Scot Melland, CEO of Dice, "but I guess we shouldn’t be."
The Iowa-based job listings company owns Dice.com, a well-known destination that’s connected a lot of tech talent to paychecks in Silicon Valley, Texas and Mahattan, usually sounds unfamiliar to New Jersey ears, said Melland, but that might soon change.
New Jersey tech jobs that the BLS categorizes as "computer systems design and related services" have grown 5.2 percent since December. The state added 3,600 new tech jobs by through June, according to the bureau's data.
As of yesterday, Dice had more than 4,900 jobs posted by New Jersey companies or firms with offices here.
The growing availability of tech positions in the state has outpaced that of several East Coast neighbors, including Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts — all of which earned spots on a top 10 list compiled by Dice.
Melland expects to see more companies list tech jobs in New Jersey going forward because expensive downtown offices have started to lose their appeal in the startup community.
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first challenge on Thomas Broich - and replays proved that to be the correct decision. He may well have confused the issue by taking his card out of his pocket, but he’s within his rights to do that too.
The only decision that was plainly incorrect was the offside decision against Kerem Bulut.
That’s one blatantly wrong call that potentially affected a result, out of four games. One too many, but still - and I don’t remember Wanderers complaining when Jack Clisby and Brendon Santalab escaped full censure for horrendous tackles in Adelaide. Do you?
Two wrongs don’t make a right however, and it’s impossible to stop supporters criticising refs - as a football fan myself, I know the passion involved when you’re in the stands, and the one-eyed partisanship tends to take over when viewing decisions that affect your team.
Those within the game however, could do with being a little more circumspect. When club chairmen start getting in on the act and demanding referees be barred from officiating “their” games, you know we’re close to having the ‘lunatics running the asylum’.
FFA has tried to alleviate concerns over refereeing standards by introducing full-time refs. Later this season, we’ll have video replays to help the officials try to get things right more often.
But do you honestly think that’ll stop the abuse? Fat chance. This is a cultural issue within our game, and it needs to be tackled. Urgently. Before someone sustains more damage to his person than just hurt feelings.
Cue fifty responses berating referees - thus entirely missing the point.More than 500 Scripps Ranch High School students had their summer vacations disrupted Friday with news that they would have to return to school to retake Advanced Placement tests that have been declared invalid.
The College Board, the organization that oversees college admission tests, did not claim any students cheated on the exams, but is invalidating 847 AP tests because new seating arrangements established two years ago were not followed. The move means 540 students will have to take the tests again.
Students often study for months for AP tests, which can earn them college credits by meeting the requirements for certain subjects. Each tests costs $93 and can last two or three hours, and some students take up to nine exams.
San Diego Unified School District officials said Friday that the tests will be given again for free, and eight teachers have agreed to return to school to teach refresher courses for students who want to bone up on the subjects before taking the exams.
“It's a huge bummer,” said Jonathan Lu, 17, who took four AP tests in May and recently graduated with plans to study business at the University of South California.
“When I found out, I was pretty angry,” he said. “It took awhile to let it sink in that I was going to have to retake all my AP tests.”
Jonathan said he’s grateful that teachers have offered to teach refresher classes, but was disappointed that the proctor who administered the tests at his school did not follow proper procedures.
He and his friends had planned to take a trip to Peru this summer, but with everybody having to retake their tests, that vacation will have to be put off, he said.
Superintendent Cindy Marten and Trustee Kevin Besier said they were frustrated that the College Board and Educational Testing Services, which administer the tests, took such a hard line after detecting a seating mistake.
“While I'm disappointed that the proper protocols were not followed at the site, I'm extremely disappointed the ETS is invalidating the scores, which I think is an over-reaction," said Besier, who represents a district in San Diego Unified that includes Scripps Ranch. “In my opinion, I think they should have considered a lesser penalty, such as a sanction.”
Marten said the test proctor, a teacher at the school, was experienced at overseeing AP tests but did not follow the new procedures. ETS noticed the error while examining the seating charts for the tests, she said.
Among new requirements, students taking the tests must be at 8-foot-long tables so they have space between one another, and partitions are not allowed on the tables.
At Scripps Ranch this year, many students were at 6-foot tables with partitions, which previously had been allowed.
Marten said the school will have a new proctor giving AP tests in the future, and all proctors in the district will be required to be trained in the latest testing protocols.
She also said the district’s attorney contacted ETS about the issue, but has recommended not pursuing a legal challenge because the company is within its right to require the retest and past challenges have not been successful.
The district hasn’t heard of similar problems at its other high schools, but the issue isn’t unique to San Diego. In Marin County last month, 177 students at a private school were notified they would have to retake their AP tests because of seating irregularities.
A community meeting on the issue has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Marshall Middle School. The first round of new tests will be July 17- 20, and the full schedule can be found along with other information at the Scripps Ranch High School website, sandiegounified.org/schools/scrippsranch.
Students who opt to not take the tests again will be given refunds, and not all students who took the tests at the school are affected.
Matt Lawson, vice principal at Scripps Ranch High, said that while 540 will have to retake the tests, about 700 or 800 in all took them, and many were in seating arrangements that did not violate the protocol. Lawson said the average AP student takes five tests.
Among the students who will have to retake a test is Kayla Daniel-Gonzales, 17, who graduated a couple of weeks ago.
“The test was maybe two or three hours, but we prepped for it all year,” she said about the AP test in psychology she took.
Kayla took the test May 1 and isn’t confident she’ll do as well when she takes it again after being away from the subject for two months. She plans to take the refresher class at school.
“Otherwise, I’ll completely bomb it,” she said. “There’s no feasible way to restudy an entire year’s worth of work on my own.”
Kayla said her family had planned to take a vacation in July.
“This is now going to halt all that because I’m not going to be able to enjoy my summer,” she said. “I’ll have to study. I’ll have to utilize my free time to study for a test I already took. It is frustrating, especially considering I don't even go to the school anymore.”
gary.warth@sduniontribune.com
Twitter: @GaryWarthUT
760-529-4939"Bullets were coming to my face… I thought I was going to get shot." #LABurning Posted by A&E on Sunday, April 16, 2017
Former gun store manager David Joo talks about the day in 1992 when he and other local business owners stuck to their guns to defend Koreatown from looters during the LA Riots.
As part “L.A. Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later” by the A&E network, Joo spoke about the flashpoint in American history sparked in the aftermath of the Rodney King trial.
Called into work by the gun store owner, Joo said when he arrived and saw police there he though the rioting in the area was under control.
“We are safe,” he said, then quickly added, “But as soon as the gunfighting started, they ran away. Goodbye!”
Spliced with archival footage from the day showing a much younger Joo clad in soft body armor and firing a Beretta pistol, he relates the events in a brief segment.
“In retrospect, it was a dangerous moment and I was scared, but you know even though you are scared you don’t have much option,” said Joo.”You have to fight.”HRD minister Smriti Irani today rejected a demand for waiving off rustication and other punishments meted out to students in universities, terming it a "Pandora's Box" and saying that these institutions have been granted autonomy to handle administrative matters.
Irani's comments in Rajya Sabha came in the backdrop of recent action by JNU authorities imposing fine on student leader Kanhaiya Kumar and rustication of some other students in connection with the controversial February 9 campus event against Afzal Guru's hanging.
Her reaction came during a debate on the functioning of her ministry when Congress member Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu said the students were looking at Irani's "magnanimity" to waive off punishments and rustication of students in various universities.
In her response, Irani said "this minister is a mere mortal who is tied to this very Parliament and this Parliament does not allow intervention in the administrative matter of any University.
"My request is only this. This is a pandora's box, I am sure you don't want to open that....Let the University be autonomous enough."
Earlier in the day, members in Rajya Sabha had sought the government's intervention in resolving the protests by JNU students by advising the authorities to reconsider their decision to severely penalise some of them.
Deputy Chairman P J Kurien had also said the government should resolve the issue and had asked Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to convey the feeling of the House to the concerned Ministers.
Irani, in her 70-minute long reply, also lamented that there appeared to be a "Sanskrit phobia" and said the Government or NCERT have not carried out any change in the curriculum.
Referring to Rapolu who she said had called her 'Sanskrit Irani', she said a recent circular to IITs only asked them to pick up those parts of work in Sanskrit language which contained scientific knowledge.
She said a US university academic came to Tamil Nadu to do research on the oldest treatise in Geometry but not many in India know about the contributions made by the country.
"The challenge is where do you bridge the gap. Where do you introduce the subject or for that matter, give the freedom to academicians to absorb it, without being called communal or saffron," Irani said.
On members' concerns over appointments in various educational institutions, Irani sought to make it clear that her ministry only functioned as the "secretariat" of the President by forwarding the names for appointment of Vice Chancellors.
She defended the appointments saying the key nominations made or recommended by her in IITs, were all of eminent people belonging to the fields of science, commerce or industry.
Experts in nanoscience, linguistics, communications or even in missile technology had been appointed as Directors of various IITs and even those appointed by UPA government who had done well had been retained, she said.
Speaking on the curriculum, Irani elaborated on the gamut of programmes that her ministry had undertaken in the fields of school as well as higher education.
She said her ministry was working to create a system where teachers are rewarded for teaching and improving learning outcomes.
"Teachers' promotion needs to depend on the promotion of their class, when a teacher is involved completely in teaching the students and does not involve in extra curricular activity, that teacher is in no way penalised, this government has decided," she said.
Irani said when a proper notification on Academic Performance Indicator scores comes out, many teachers who have been agitating on this issue will get relief.
The Minister said that it is natural for people to question when "political announcements" are made on whether work is being carried out on the ground.
Referring to an experiment in a UP district of Auraiya, she said an IIT Lucknow faculty member had trained some teachers after which students started showing greater interest in government schools than private ones.
Assuring members that actual ground work was being done by her ministry, Irani mentioned that from next academic session there will be a pan India child tracking system, through which Aadhar numbers would be used or students will be provided with a unique identity number.
This initiative she said would help in monitoring the academic progress of students "per child, per class" and help in finding individual specific solutions if the student needs remedial assistance, will the student pass or drop out.
Fifteen states, she said, were already taking part in this initiative.
Information collected through technology regarding teachers will help in rational deployment of teaching professionals, which would also ensure that all classes have teachers, the Minister said, adding it would ensure quality of teachers as well.
Speaking on the midday meal scheme, she said a committee headed by AIIMS paediatrician Vinod Paul, set up to make recommendations regarding nutritional requirements for the scheme, has submitted its report which will be forwarded to states.
She said to assist the states, Centre was also willing to provide a transport fee for taking children to schools.
Referring to real time monitoring along with reviews of key schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan with regard to school education, she said states have been asked to fill vacancies to ensure quality of teachers.
She said a portal that would let states about the quality of training by their District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) was also in the works.
States have been asked to form separate cadre for teacher trainers, she said and added that 15-18 states have shown interest in this.
To concerns about the recent CBSE exam, Irani said "for example the maths paper of CBSE, which came into much controversy and people said was very tough", the ministry was trying to progressively take students on the path of applying what has been learnt.
Irani also said that her ministry is also trying to facilitate students who have discontinued regular education because they started working and a Bachelor's Degree in vocational education was also being given through the UGC.
She also mentioned various schemes of her ministry like GIAN under which foreign faculty would teach in India, and a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS) project which will allow students to pursue courses online and supported by a mobile app.Among those to see action for the San Antonio Spurs in the Miami Heat's' 108-100 victory Friday at the AT&T Center was former Heat center Joel Anthony, who is vying for a final roster spot.
"You could already tell what a great teammate he is," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of the 34-year-old center. "I had a long talk with [Heat scout] Bob McAdoo the other night in Orlando. And he sang his praises -- hard worker, runs the floor, knows his role, accepts his role, enjoys his role, intelligent... doesn't shoot as well as Klay Thompson."
The last reflection was Popovich's and came with a laugh. Never one to be noticed for his offense, Anthony was scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting against the Heat, but did have four rebounds in his 12 minutes and tied for a team-best plus-13 rating.
Anthony visited with several Heat members before Friday's game, with Udonis Haslem the lone remaining teammate from his Heat tenure that ended with his Jan. 15, 2014 trade to the Boston Celtics in a salary-cap dump. The 6-foot-9 center had spent the past two seasons with the Detroit Pistons under former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy.
Wade thoughts
Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue had an interesting, if not pointed take, before facing Dwyane Wade's Chicago Bulls in a Friday exhibition.
CAPTION Spoelstra: No need to show anger to appease outsiders. Spoelstra: No need to show anger to appease outsiders. CAPTION Spoelstra: No need to show anger to appease outsiders. Spoelstra: No need to show anger to appease outsiders. CAPTION Dwyane Wade: Braids a tribute to Iverson Dwyane Wade: Braids a tribute to Iverson CAPTION Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra says his team showed grit in loss to the Phoenix Suns. Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra says his team showed grit in loss to the Phoenix Suns. CAPTION Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade says his team's loss to the Phoenix Suns hurt his team and their hopes of getting to the playoffs. Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade says his team's loss to the Phoenix Suns hurt his team and their hopes of getting to the playoffs. CAPTION Miami guard Josh Richardson talks about the obstacles that lead hs team's loss to the Phoenix Suns. Miami guard Josh Richardson talks about the obstacles that lead hs team's loss to the Phoenix Suns.
"You like to see those type of players finish where they started," he told reporters of Wade's offseason move from the Heat, with LeBron James of course returning to Cleveland in 2014 after leaving for four seasons with the Heat. "But D-Wade has his choice and he wanted to come back home. So I'm happy for him."
Hassan's help
Heat center Hassan Whiteside will distribute free tickets Sunday at
AmericanAirlines Arena's newly rebranded Tissot Ticket Center.
Whiteside will be stationed inside one of the center’s windows and will distribute tickets to the first 100 fans beginning at 12:30 p.m., with fans allowed to line up at 11 a.m. for a limit of two wristbands (each wristband redeemable for two tickets) per household.
iwinderman@sunsentinel.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat or facebook.com/ira.windermanNow Mr. H. Krauss Nield has come for-
ipation of energy into boundless space.
begins to fail owing to its continual dis-
sun as the light and heat of that luminary
through space, and steer it nearer to the
control the movements of the earth
future generations would be able to
tended that it was possible that
In a recent book, "The Great
Line 1.1.0 ward with the suggestion that in the fut-
Line 1.1.1 ure we will be able to get outside the
Line 1.1.2 earth altogether and take trips to Venus
Line 1.1.3 or Mars. Speaking at the Authors' Club
Line 1.1.4 he ventured the prediction that visits to
Line 1.1.5 our "neighbours" in the solar system, or
Line 1.1.6 even further, would be possible in the fu-
Line 1.1.7 ture. Such a prediction seemed to him be
Line 1.1.8 more wonderful than would have been the
Line 1.1.9 statement 300 years ago that it would be
Line 1.1.10 possible to throw a message across the
Line 1.1.11 Atlantic without the guidance even of an
Line 1.1.12 intervening wire. It is evident, however,
Line 1.1.13 that Mr. Nield has not studied the argu-
Line 1.1.14 ments so cogently marshalled against the
Line 1.1.15 habitability of other planets, by Dr. Ru-
Line 1.1.16 sell Wallace, in "Man's Place in the Uni-*****
COMMISSION REGULATION (EEC) No 1677/88
of 15 June 1988
laying down quality standards for cucumbers
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72 of 18 May 1972 on the common organization of the market in fruit and vegetables (1), as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1117/88 (2), and in particular Article 2 (3) thereof,
Whereas Council Regulation No 183/64/EEC (3) lays down quality standards for cucumbers;
Whereas a change has occurred in the production and marketing of those products, particularly as regards the requirements of consumer and wholesale markets; whereas the common quality standards for cucumbers should therefore be changed to take those new requirements into account;
Whereas such changes entail alteration of the definition of the supplementary quality class as laid down by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1194/69 (4) as last amended by Regulation (EEC) No 79/88 (5); whereas account should be taken, in defining that class, of the economic importance to producers of the products concerned and of the need to meet consumer requirements;
Whereas the standards are applicable at all stages of marketing; whereas transportation over a long distance, storage for a certain length of time or the various handling operations may bring about deterioration due to the biological development of the products or their tendency to perish; whereas, therefore, account should be taken of such deterioration when applying the standards of marketing stages following dispatch;
Whereas in the interests of clarity and certainty as to legal requirements and for ease of use the standards thus changed should be consolidated in a single text;
Whereas the measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Management Committee for Fruit and Vegetables,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
The quality standards for cucumbers, falling within subheading 0707 00 11 and 0707 00 19 of the combined nomenclature shall be as set out in the Annex hereto.
Those standards shall apply at all marketing stages, under the conditions laid down in Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72.
However, at stages following dispatch the products may show, in relation to the standards prescribed a slight lack of freshness and turgescence and slight alteration due to their biological development and their tendency to perish.
Article 2
Regulation No 183/64/EEC is hereby amended as follows:
- the second indent of Article 1 (2) is deleted,
- Annex I/2 is deleted.
Article 3
Regulation (EEC) No 1194/69 is hereby amended as follows:
- in Article 1, the words 'and cucumbers' are deleted,
- Annex VII is deleted.
Article 4
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1989.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 15 June 1988.
For the Commission
Frans ANDRIESSEN
Vice-President
(1) OJ No L 118, 20. 5. 1972, p. 1.
(2) OJ No L 107, 28. 4. 1988, p. 1.
(3) OJ No 192, 25. 11. 1964, p. 3217/64.
(4) OJ No L 157, 28. 6. 1969, p. 1.
(5) OJ No L 10, 14. 1. 1988, p. 8.
ANNEX
QUALITY STANDARDS FOR CUCUMBERS
I. DEFINITION OF PRODUCE
This standard applies to cucumbers grown from varieties (cultivars) of Cucumis sativus L. to be supplied fresh to the consumer, cucumbers for processing and gherkins being excluded.
II. PROVISIONS CONCERNING QUALITY
The purpose of the standard is to define the quality requirements for cucumbers after preparation and packaging.
A. Minimum requirements
In all classes, subject to the special provisions for each class and the tolerances allowed, cucumbers must be:
- intact,
- sound; produce affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make it unfit for consumption is excluded,
- fresh in appearance,
- firm,
- clean, practically free of any visible foreign matter,
- practically free from pests,
- practically free from damage caused by pests,
- free of bitter taste (subject to the special provisions for classes II and III under the heading 'Tolerances'),
- free of abnormal external moisture,
- free of foreign smell and/or taste.
Cucumbers must be sufficiently developed but their seeds must be soft.
The condition of the produce must be such as to enable it:
- to withstand transport and handling, and
- to arrive in satisfactory condition at the place of destination.
B. Classification
Cucumbers are classed into the four classes defined below:
(i) 'Extra' class
Cucumbers in this class must be of superior quality. They must have all the characteristics of the variety.
They must:
- be well developed
- be well shaped and practically straight (maximum height of the arc: 10 mm per 10 cm of length of the cucumber)
- have a typical colouring for the variety
- be free of defects, including all deformations and particularly those caused by seed formation.
(ii) Class I
Cucumbers in this class must be of good quality. They must:
- be reasonably developed
- be reasonably well shaped and practically straight (maximum height of the arc: 10 mm per 10 cm of the length of cucumber).
The following defects are allowed:
- a slight deformation, but excluding that caused by seed formation
- a slight defect in colouring, especially the light coloured part of the cucumber where it touched the ground during growth
- slight skin blemishes due to rubbing and handling or low temperatures, provided that such blemishes have healed and do not affect the keeping quality. (iii) Class II:
This class includes cucumbers which do not qualify for inclusion in the higher classes but satisfy the minimum requirements specified above. However, they may have the following defects:
- deformations other than serious seed development,
- defects in colouring up to one-third of the surface; in the case of cucumbers grown under protection,
considerable defects in colouring in the affected part are not allowed,
- healed cracks,
- slight damage caused by rubbing and handling which does not seriously affect the keeping quality and appearance.
All the defects listed above are allowed for straight and slightly crooked cucumbers.
On the other hand, crooked cucumbers are allowed only if they have no more than slight defects in colouring and have no defects or deformation other than crookedness.
Slightly crooked cucumbers may have a maximum height of the arc of 20 mm per 10 cm of length of the cucumber.
Crooked cucumbers may have a greater arc and must be packed separately.
(iv) Class III (1):
This class includes cucumbers which do not qualify for inclusion in the higher classes but satisfy the requirements specified for Class II. However, crooked cucumbers may have all the defects allowed in Class II for straight and slightly crooked cucumbers and they must be packed separately.
III. PROVISIONS CONCERNING SIZING
Sizing is determined by the weight of the cucumber.
(i) Cucumbers grown in the open must weigh 180 g or more. Cucumbers grown under protection must weigh 250 g or more.
(ii) Moreover, 'Extra' Class and Class I cucumbers grown under protection weighing:
- 500 g or more must be not less than 30 cm long,
- between 250 and 500 g must be not less than 25 cm long.
(iii) Sizing is compulsory for classes 'Extra' and I.
The difference in weight between the heaviest and lightest cucumbers in the same package must not exceed:
- 100 grams where the lightest piece weighs between 180 and 400 grams,
- 150 grams where the lightest piece weighs 400 grams or more.
(iv) The provisions concerning sizing are not applicable to'short cucumbers'.
IV. PROVISIONS CONCERNING TOLERANCES
Tolerances in respect of quality and size are allowed in each package for produce not satisfying the requirements for the class indicated.
A. Quality tolerances:
(i) 'Extra' Class:
5 % by number of cucumbers not satisfying the requirements for the class but meeting the requirements for Class I, or exceptionally coming within the tolerances for that class.
(ii) Class I:
10 % by number of cucumbers not satisfying the requirements for the class but meeting the requirements for Class II, or exceptionally coming within the tolerances for that class.
(iii) Class II:
10 % by number of cucumbers satisfying neither the requirements for the class nor the minimum requirements, to the exclusion of produce affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make it unfit for consumption. Within this tolerance a maximum of 2 % by number of cucumbers may have tips with a bitter taste.
(iv) Class III:
15 % by number of cucumbers satisfying neither the requirements for the class nor the minimum requirements, to the exclusion of produce affected by rotting or deterioration such as to make it unfit for consumption. Within this tolerance a maximum of 4 % by number of cucumbers may have tips with a bitter taste.
B. Size tolerances:
For all classes: 10 % by number of cucumbers not satisfying the size requirements. However, this tolerance is applicable to produce which differs by not more than 10 % from the size and weight limits specified.
V. PROVISIONS CONCERNING PRESENTATION
A. Uniformity:
The contents of each package must be uniform and contain only cucumbers of the same origin, variety or type, quality and size (where required). For cucumbers in Class III, uniformity may be limited to origin and variety or type.
The visible part of each package must be representative of the entire contents.
B. Packaging:
The cucumbers must be packed in such a way as to protect them properly.
The cucumbers must be packed sufficiently tightly as to avoide damage during transport.
The materials used inside the package must be new, clean and of a quality such as to avoid causing any external or internal damage to the produce. The use of materials and particularly of paper or stamps bearing trade specifications is allowed provided that the printing or labelling has been done with a non-toxic ink or glue.
The packages must be free of any foreign matter.
VI. PROVISIONS CONCERNING MARKING
Each package must bear the following particulars in letters grouped on the same side, legibly and indelibly marked and visible from the outside:
A. Identification:
1.2 // Packer and/or Despatcher // Name and address or officially issued or accepted code mark.
B. Nature of produce:
- 'Cucumbers' if the contents are not visible from the outside,
- 'under protection', where appropriate, or an equivalent expression,
-'short cucumbers' or'mini-cucumbers', as appropriate.
C. Origin of produce:
Country of origin and, optionally, district where grown, or national, regional or local trade name.
D. Commercial specifications:
- Class and, as appropriate, for Classes II and III, 'crooked cucumbers',
- Size (if the produce is sized) expressed in minimum and maximum weight of the cucumbers,
- Number of units (optional).
E. Official crate marking (optional)
(1) Additional class within the meaning of Article 2 (1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1035/72. The use of this quality class or some of its specifications is subject to a decision to be taken on the basis of Article 4 (1) of the same Regulation.The Ubuntu MATE Patrons have already received this information, but here’s an update for everyone.
The number one question in the Ubuntu MATE community right now is:
When can I get MATE Desktop 1.14 for Ubuntu MATE 16.04?
The answer is, now. Right now.
We’ve published a PPA containing MATE 1.14 that is designed to work with Ubuntu MATE 16.04. You can find out what changed in MATE Desktop 1.14 from the upstream release announcement.
You might be wondering why it has taken 2 months to release this PPA? Here’s why; they’ve been well tested.
The packages in this PPA are derived from the MATE Desktop 1.14 packages that were recently uploaded to Debian unstable. The upgrade issues encountered in Debian unstable have been fixed and all the packages have transitioned to Debian testing. All the upgrade fixes are included in this PPA to ensure a smooth transition. We also waited for the first MATE Desktop bugfix release, so what you are getting today is actually MATE Desktop 1.14.1.
Upgrade to MATE Desktop 1.14.x
To upgrade Ubuntu MATE 16.04 to MATE Desktop 1.14.x do the following:
Open a terminal using CRTL + ALT + t.
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-mate-dev/xenial-mate sudo apt update sudo apt dist-upgrade
Now restart your computer and you’re running MATE Desktop 1.14.x :-)
Notes
Upgrading to MATE Desktop 1.14 will remove the mate-netspeed packages, but don’t be alarmed, the NetSpeed applet is now included in the mate-applets package. You won’t loose any functionality.
If you see the following prompt during the upgrade, then press Enter to accept [default=N] :
Configuration file '/etc/xdg/autostart/mate-volume-control-applet.desktop' ==> Deleted (by you or by a script) since installation. ==> Package distributor has shipped an updated version. What would you like to do about it? Your options are: Y or I : install the package maintainer's version N or O : keep your currently-installed version D : show the differences between the versions Z : start a shell to examine the situation The default action is to keep your current version. *** mate-volume-control-applet.desktop (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N]?
The version of MATE Desktop 1.14 in this PPA is built against GTK2+ to ensure compatibility with Ubuntu MATE 16.04 and all the 3rd party MATE applets, plugins and extensions.
We hope you enjoy using MATE Desktop 1.14 on Ubuntu MATE 16.04!Posted Tuesday, August 30, 2016 2:31 pm
When Orville Moore flew home to Powell on Aug. 20 after a two-day Civil Air Patrol exercise in Laramie, he had no idea he would be participating in a real search and rescue the next day.
But it was no exercise when Moore, a squadron commander for the Civil Air Patrol, got a call at 6 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 21, saying he and his crew were needed in a search for a 12-year-old boy who had been lost in the Big Horn Mountains since the morning before.
Three patrol crews contributed a total of 197 hours in the search for Benjamin Kellett of Powell, not counting an additional 12 hours worked by the incident command crew, Moore said.
“We were actively involved in that,” Moore said. “I got the call at 6 a.m. Sunday morning. My local crew was tied up, so I had to fly to Sheridan to pick up two people there, then we flew back to the mountain.”
That search was organized by the Sheridan County Sheriff’s Office and the Sheridan County Search and Rescue Team. Kellett was found and rescued by a National Guard team in a Blackhawk helicopter at about 7 p.m. Aug. 21.
Moore said he flew a total of 11.6 hours, including the flight time to and from the search area, and he and his crew put 6.3 hours each into the search.
Another patrol crew from Gillette also helped with the search, and a third plane from Jackson, equipped with forward-looking infrared technology (FLIR), was on its way to help search for the boy when the crew was informed that he had been found and rescued, and the plane flew back to Jackson, he said.
But that wasn’t the end of the need for Civil Air Patrol services.
The patrol was called back to the Big Horn Mountains the next day, Monday, Aug. 22, to help with another search for a second lost hiker, 20-year-old Daniel Paulsen of Chicago.
Paulsen was first reported missing at 10:45 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20 — the same day that Kellett went missing. He had been seen last in the Tee Pee Flats area near Paintrock Creek, east of Hyattville.
Paulsen got lost earlier in the day when the other hikers in his group walked ahead of him, and he took a wrong turn that led him him off the trail.
A patrol plane from Cheyenne responded to that search on Monday, Aug. 22, as did the Jackson crew in the plane with the forward infrared radar system.
Although the Cheyenne team arrived first, “they did not find him until a second plane with FLIR came,” said Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn. “They found a heat signature under a canopy of trees” and determined that was likely where Paulsen was, Blackburn said.
The Jackson crew related that information. The National Guard team — back in the air after taking required time to sleep and maintain the Blackhawk — then picked up some members of the Big Horn County Search and Rescue Team and flew to the rescue. They found Paulsen at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22.
Rescuers gave Paulsen some water and snacks and transported him back to the trailhead, where he was examined by a medical team, Blackburn said.
“We credit Civil Air Patrol with the find,” Blackburn said.
The forward-looking infrared system that detected Paulsen’s body heat accomplished that from an elevation of about 1,000 feet, Moore said, since Civil Air Patrol planes generally fly no lower than 1,000 feet during a search.
“That was a hard ceiling in this case, because the helicopters fly below them,” he said.
That equipment is so sensitive that it can detect the heat from an airplane engine two or three days after a crash, Moore said.
While waiting for rescuers, Paulsen had gathered wood and leaves into a pile for a signal fire, and when he heard the Blackhawk helicopter, he lit it to help guide rescuers to him, Blackburn said.
Once on the ground, the Blackhawk crew used their fire extinguishers and all the water they had on board, except for what they gave to Paulsen, to put the fire out, Blackburn said.
“Then they notified the interagency fire dispatch that there was probably going to be a fire there, because they were unable to get it completely out,” he said.
The Forest Service didn’t immediately respond, and about three days later, the fire rekindled and burned about a quarter of an acre before it was extinguished, Blackburn said.
Moore said he was on his way to the search on Monday, Aug. 22, picking up a crew member in Ten Sleep, when he received word that Paulsen had been found.
Combined with the search and rescue exercise in Laramie and the previous day’s search for Kellett, those were some busy days, he said.
Blackburn said a third rescue was |
says that under a law passed in Gladstone's time to promote temperance, restaurants are obliged to provide free tap water.
Some in the trade believe that they are required to serve free water. "As a retired hotelier and restaurateur, I was always led to believe that, by law, an innkeeper cannot refuse a traveller free water even if they do not spend any money at the establishment," says one poster on ccwater.org.uk.
But these assertions are pure hokum. The truth is that in Britain there is no legal requirement on restaurants to provide free tap water to customers. Some pubs and other premises permitted to sell alcohol may have a clause in their licence that does require them to offer free tap water, but it's on a localised basis only.
Sue Penniston, spokeswoman for the Drinking Water Inspectorate, part of Defra, says: "There are a lot of misconceptions, some of which arose out of the Leah Betts case. In the wake of her death, a lot of large premises had clauses put into their licensing agreements which obliged them to offer tap water free of charge.
"But apart from that restriction, restaurants do not have to give you water and do not have to supply it for free." She adds that it's nonsense for establishments to refuse tap water on health and safety grounds. "If a restaurant is on the public mains supply, the water is potable and there is no reason for it not to be supplied on health and safety grounds."
In the absence of legal compulsion, Buckland is encouraging good practice among restaurant chains. Pizza Hut has said it will always give customers free tap water. Strada, a pizza chain, already serves customers free chilled tap water in a designer bottle. "Strada is pleased to provide tap water free of charge throughout its restaurants as part of standard service," a spokeswoman says.
Restaurants and retailers are also facing intense pressure from green campaigners. Earlier this year, environment minister Phil Woolas condemned the bottled water industry as "morally unacceptable". Mineral water suppliers on average use two litres of water for every litre put into a bottle. Much is transported from overseas, from as far away as New Zealand and Fiji. Four out of five bottles are plastic, most of which end up in landfill despite recycling initiatives, where it can take four centuries to decompose.
Consumer campaigners Which? estimate that the number of plastic bottles sent to landfill each year would fill Wembley Stadium twice over. Which? describes bottled mineral water as an unnecessary drink that costs us £1.68bn a year. The good news is that sales fell by 9% last year, and in the credit crunch sales are expected to fall further. "Our reasons for buying bottled water are drying up," according to Which?
United Utilities, one of the biggest UK water companies, has begun a campaign called "tap into water" that brings free tap water to events such as football matches and street festivals. Philip Green, UU chief executive says: "At a time when we are facing such huge environmental challenges, buying bottled water at the rate of 3bn bottles a year in the UK is clearly unsustainable. I hope the hospitality industry will recognise their customers are environmentally aware and offer them free tap water without prejudice."
p.collinson@theguardian.comSome of Europe’s top polluters are funding the political campaigns of Tea Party candidates and others in the United States who deny global warming, according to a report by Climate Action Network Europe.
The twelve page report (.pdf) is based on information recently published by the Open Secrets database.
The European companies singled out as major polluters in the report are Lafarge, GDF-SUEZ, EON, BP, BASF, BAYER, Solvay and Arcelor Mittal.
Combined, these companies donated $107,200 to climate change deniers running for Senate seats. In addition, “their total support for senators blocking climate change legislation in the US amounts to $240,200, which is almost 80% of their total spendings in 2010 Senate race,” the report says.
By comparison, Koch Industries, a company that has helped fund the Tea Party movement and openly opposes President Obama’s economic policies, has donated $217,000.
Among those being supported by these European companies include Tea Party-backed Senator James Inhofe and Senator James DeMint. Inhofe has claimed that global warming is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” and DeMint once seemed to imply that a snowstorm in Washington, DC invalidated global warming.
“Skepticism and outright denial of global warming are among the articles of faith of the Tea Party movement,” writes John M. Broder of the New York Times. “All are wary of the Obama administration’s plans to regulate carbon dioxide, a ubiquitous gas, which will require the expansion of government authority into nearly every corner of the economy.”
“These European companies are simultaneously lobbying against aggressive emissions reductions in Europe – and are arguing that such reductions should not be pursued until the United States takes action,” says the report. “The European companies are funding almost exclusively Senate candidates who have been outspoken in their opposition to comprehensive climate policy in the U.S., and candidates who actively deny the scientific consensus that climate change is happening and is caused by people.”
The revelation comes after news that the United States Chamber of Commerce received money from 83 foreign companies.
A report by ThinkProgress calculates that the 83 companies, in total, contributed $885,000 to the Chamber general fund, which pays for political ads.
Republican Senator from Idaho Mike Crapo, who recently received the lowest possible score by the League of Conservation Voters, received $10,000 in contributions.
Other recipients included John Cornyn (R-TX), John Barrasso (R-WY), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), David Vitter (R-LA), Chuck Grassley (R-IO), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Lisa Murkowski (I-AK).You will use this accounting stuff someday,” Larry Lease told his Shasta College students. “And if you become wealthy,” he would quip, “you can show your appreciation by buying me a Porsche.”
Happily for Lease, one of those students took the suggestion to heart. On Feb. 16, a decade after leaving the Redding, Calif., campus, multimillionaire software developer Robert Sullivan, 36, returned to visit a teacher who, he says simply, believed in him. Under the pretext of having forgotten something in his car, Sullivan lured Lease out to the campus parking lot. When they came to a spanking-new $51,000 Porsche convertible, Sullivan tossed him the keys. “It’s yours,” he announced. “You’re kidding!” Lease, 55, recalls saying as he backed away in shock from the 217-horsepower sports car. “I felt tears welling up,” he adds. “Then I started smiling, and I haven’t stopped since.”
Sullivan’s gesture meant even more to Lease than his former student may have realized. In December 1995, Lease and his wife, Betty, 50, a newspaper editor, lost their 17-year-old son Adam to a car accident. Heart-broken, the once ebullient Lease cut back on his campus schedule to spend more time with daughter Amanda, 11, at the family’s five-acre Shasta, Calif., farmhouse. “The last several years have been very difficult,” says Betty. “When something so horrible happens out of the blue, it makes you that much happier when something so wonderful happens out of the blue.”
Sullivan, too, had waited years for his luck to change. The son of Bert Sullivan, a retired career Marine, and Danny Tweedy, a teacher’s aide at a preschool, the high school dropout left the Army before earning a general equivalency degree. He spent most of the 1980s working in fast-food joints in Redding. One bright spot was the accounting course he took with Lease at Shasta in 1986. Sullivan excelled, even becoming a tutor to other students. “Larry and I hit it off immediately,” he says. Still, friendship with an inspiring teacher wasn’t enough to keep Sullivan in school. He spent most of the next year living out of his jalopy. “I was eating cans of tuna, crackers, whatever I could afford,” he recalls.
By 1992, though, Sullivan had relocated to the Bay Area, taught himself computer software applications and become one of the first employees of what later became Commerce One, an online business-software company that went public last July, ballooning his net worth to nearly $40 million. More than enough to retire on—which is precisely what Sullivan did last October. But before moving to a six-bedroom Tudor-style home on 12 acres in Kentucky with his wife, Karen, 46, formerly a nurse, he had a delivery to make in Redding: one red Porsche. “I just figured it would be a killer gift that Larry could show his friends and have a lot of fun with,” says Sullivan. “It makes me feel good to do it.”
And it makes Lease proud to drive it. Ever generous, the teacher who used to get around in a 1996 minivan will let just about anyone who asks take the car for a spin. “It’s a little scary,” confesses Betty. “It’s small, powerful, new and expensive—but fun!”
Lease himself, who earns $65,000 a year teaching, might have had a high-flying corporate career. The son of an oil-supply company owner in Long Beach, Calif., Lease earned an M.B.A. from the California State University campus in his hometown in 1978 and then qualified as a CPA. But the former physical education and typing instructor realized that it was teaching he loved, so when he heard about an opening at Shasta, he went for it. Students return the respect. “At the Elks Club last year, a guy bought me a beer and said, ‘You were the best teacher I ever had,’ ” Lease recalls.
The recognition means the world to him. “They don’t have to buy you a Porsche—heck, they don’t even have to say you’re the best,” he says, “as long as they got something out of the class.”
Christina Cheakalos
Ken Baker in ReddingJessica Lee Jensen, 35, made her first court appearance Monday in North Central Judicial District Court.
State Forensic Medical Examiner William Massello III concluded that Jensen’s son died from chronic starvation due to untreated juvenile appetite disorder and listed the manner of death as homicide.
The Ward County Sheriff’s Office arrested Jensen late last week after the results of the investigation led prosecutors to file charges.
The son is not identified in court records, but an obituary identifies him as Aidan Edward Bossingham.
“Due to the age of the child, it’s extremely tragic,” said Capt. Bob Barnard of the Ward County Sheriff’s Office.
Jensen, who has two other children, ages 14 and 7, also is charged with abuse or neglect of a child, a Class C felony. Court records say Jensen failed to provide proper education for the children and a bedroom in their home, which is about 50 miles northwest of Minot, was littered with garbage and smelled of feces.
The other children are now staying with relatives, Barnard said.
Court records say:
Jensen called 911 at 8:17 p.m. Jan. 12 to report that her son had “passed on.”
A Kenmare police officer who responded said Jensen was sitting on a couch in the living room, holding a small child in her arms. The officer was unable to locate a pulse and attempted to open the child’s mouth to administer breaths, but could not due to the onset of rigor mortis.
The child was taken by ambulance to Kenmare Community Hospital, where a nurse practitioner said he appeared to have been dead for some time. She reported the boy appeared to be 2 or 3 years old.
Jensen told investigators her son had a hormonal growth problem and his pituitary gland did not function properly. She said her son had always been sick, and for the past year would make himself vomit and hoard food.
On the day of his death, Jensen said her son ate oatmeal for breakfast and later had a Sprite and yogurt. She said about 6:30 or 7 p.m. she made him some homemade “Pedialyte” and he consumed about 4 ounces.
According to a court affidavit, the boy had not seen a doctor since 2008. During his early years, he was seen several times at Kenmare Community Hospital for a persistent cough. He was referred to a pediatrician at Trinity Health in Minot in 2006, weighing 29 pounds at the time.
The boy was then referred to Sanford Health in Fargo, where he was diagnosed with a human growth hormone deficiency and seen at that facility periodically through November 2008. Records obtained by investigators show Jensen stopped hormone treatments against medical advice and then resumed treatments when he returned to Sanford for followup care. A January 2008 chart note indicates “very poor growth because of lack of treatment.”
Jensen told investigators she has been home-schooling the children for several years and they do not have a regular doctor because she believes she can “solve the problems,” court records say. She said she is separated from her husband, Charles Jensen.
Charles Jensen told investigators he had moved out in July or August of 2013 and has no say in the children’s care. The boy’s father is no longer living, but Charles Jensen told investigators he raised the boy as his own child.
Autopsy results showed that the child’s body weighed 21 pounds and his stomach was empty. Dr. Massello noted there was no injury to the throat that would indicate recent or regular vomiting. Massello said the conditions he identified were medically treatable, according to the court affidavit.
Investigators who searched Jensen’s home found it to be dirty and cluttered, with an upstairs bedroom littered with garbage and smelling of feces.
The two oldest children had not attended school since May 2009. The home has one shelf that contained educational materials, primarily elementary level workbooks. The youngest child could not spell her name to an interviewer and was not sure of her age.
Family members interviewed by investigators said Jensen treated her son differently than her other two children, and two relatives said they weren’t able to see the children after they confronted Jensen about her son’s medical condition.
Jensen’s application for a court-appointed attorney has been approved, but she did not have a lawyer appointed as of Monday. Bond was set at $250,000 cash. Her next court appearance is scheduled for May 1.Ah, Miami-Dade County: the land of dreamers, visionaries, builders, and fabulously peculiar towns and neighborhoods. Before the real estate land boom of the 1920s it was a swampland, but that didn’t stop the country’s rich from coming to make their mark. These early pioneers came with big ideas that would be the beginning of quirky, one-of-a-kind places. We took a look at the origin stories of nine Miami neighborhoods.
Brickell
Brickell sure has come a long way. Remember when Brickell Avenue was Millionaire’s Row? For the younger set, how about when Tobacco Road was one of the only bars around and parking was a breeze? In 1871, Ohioans William and Mary Brickell (now the name Mary Brickell Village makes sense) came to Miami and set up shop on the south side of the Miami River. They opened and operated the area’s first trading post and post office. Brickell is now the booming Financial District of the city thanks in part to Mary. You see, Bill was more of a recluse, while Mary was a social entrepreneur. She developed Millionaire’s Row on present-day Brickell Avenue, as well as Brickell Hammock, which is now The Roads. Their land was so expansive, it stretched to parts of Coconut Grove. As the neighborhood continues to change (we see you Brickell City Centre) and expand, its boundaries are spilling over into another historic neighborhood, Little Havana.
Little Havana
Standing in the neighborhood’s main artery, Calle Ocho, enjoying an Abuela Maria ice cream from Azucar, it’s hard to imagine the neighborhood has roots in homesteading. In the 1920s, the area was annexed by the City of Miami and developed, becoming two distinct neighborhoods- Shenandoah and Riverside. For decades, it was a large and thriving Jewish community with numerous delis and markets of note. Then it hit a bit of a slump in the 1950s. Enter the ’60s, when thousands of Cuban immigrants descended upon the city, escaping political persecution after the rise of Fidel Castro. Much of that group moved into what is now Little Havana, made up of pieces of those original neighborhoods — Shenandoah (South Little Havana) and Riverside (East Little Havana). Little Havana began as a Cuban enclave, but over the years, those demographics have changed as well. It remains predominantly Latin American with many Nicaraguans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, Mexicans, and others also calling the neighborhood home.
Design District
Former post office in the Design District (Phillip Pessar photo) Design District (Phillip Pessar photo)
Originally part of Buena Vista, the Design District began as a pineapple farm. You can still see nods to Buena Vista on certain buildings throughout the neighborhood. In the 1920s, with the help of interior designer Richard Plumer, T.V. Moore decided to turn his own plot of pineapple bliss into Moore’s Furniture Company on what is now NE 40th Street. The district was the center for home and design through the 1970s, when many of the companies packed up and moved to Los Angeles. The late 1990s and 2000s brought renewed interest and resurgence, with the likes of developer Craig Robins and chef Michael Schwartz. But, let’s not forget Lorena Garcia’s early endeavors, Food Café and Elements Tierra. The legacy of design continues today, with the next vision for the neighborhood as a home for ultra-high luxury retail. Will it be the Fifth Avenue of the South?
Omni
The word omni means “of all things,” and that’s what this small downtown neighborhood was in the 1920s, when it was a high-end shopping district featuring stores like Sears, Roebuck and Company and Burdines. Designed by Biscayne Boulevard Company, you can still see nods to Art Deco design hidden in the area’s buildings. However, it didn’t officially become the Omni until the Omni International Mall opened in February 1977. With two stories, an adjacent hotel, nightclub, movie theater, carousel, restaurants, and high end stores like Hermes and Givenchy, it was a pioneer of its time. The mall closed in 2000 and was later replaced by the Miami International University School of Art & Design. In more recent years, the neighborhood has experienced a revival due to its close proximity to the Central Business District and many new high-rise developments.
Overtown
Overtown (Philip Pessar photo) Lyric Theater, Overtown (Phillip Pessar photo)
Located mere streets from the heart of downtown Miami, this neighborhood was previously known as Colored Town. Shortly after incorporation, it became the designated area for the black community, under Jim Crow-era segregation. Before desegregation, this was the heart and soul of Miami’s black community, often referred to as “the Harlem of the South.” To get there, one had to go “over town”, which was worth it to experience music and entertainment from great black entertainers of the day. Overtown experienced great tragedy in the ’60s with the building of I-95 and later I-395, which physically split the community and forced many residents out of their homes.
MiMo District
MiMo’s Coppertone sign (Phillip Pessar) The Vagabond in MiMo (Phillip Pessar photo)
MiMo is an abbreviation for Miami Modern Architecture, a style of architecture originated in Miami during the 1950s and 1960s. It was prevalent in buildings all along Biscayne Boulevard. Now this district, which runs from 50th to 77th Streets, exists to preserve the quirky style. The style sprung in rebellion to modernist and post-war architecture, which designers found too minimalist. So they added touches of futuristic whimsy to the designs like boomerangs and trapezoids — think The Jetsons. The most important aspect of the style is that it takes into account Miami’s weather with the use of breezy corridors, shaded courtyards, and free flowing interior spaces, all very subtropical cool. Why motels? The advent of the automobile era increased traveling, and thus also the need for lodging.
Wynwood
From factories to a fashion district, El Barrio, and now an art district, the neighborhood has seen many changes, but its roots run even deeper. Local history buff Casey Piket notes on his blog, Miami History, that Wynwood dates back to 1917. Early Miamians Josiah Chaille and Hugh Anderson purchased the land where Wynwood is located. They were a bit indecisive, however, on what to call their newfound purchase. It started as Wyndwood. Then the d was dropped and it was renamed Wynwood Park (now Roberto Clemente Park), for the impressive park built on the land. Then they decided to drop the park too. Chaille and Anderson have interesting backgrounds in Miami history. Chaille created the street name and number plan that downtown Miami uses today, while Anderson helped develop Miami Shores and the Venetian Islands.
Lemon City & Little Haiti
Is it Lemon City or Little Haiti? The demarcations are a little blurry and, well, it depends on whom you ask. Both names have history and both are legitimate. Lemon City was one of the city’s first settlements, before the city was even a city. It was an agricultural hub consisting of lemon, lime, and guava groves. But the money was in those lemons, hence the name Lemon City. They also instituted the first school, Lemon City School and their very own Rockmoor Grocery became the first of the supermarket empire, Winn-Dixie. In the 1970s and 1980s, Haitians fleeing dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier moved into the area. The history books record it as follows: “Haitian pioneer Viter Juste wrote a letter to the Miami Herald calling the area ‘Little Port-au-Prince,’ the newspaper headlined the letter Little Haiti. The name stuck.”
A few more names …
But wait, there’s more. Allapattah is Seminole for alligator, while Flagami is a hybrid of the names Flagler and Tamiami and a nod to its geographic location. The Venetian Islands on the Venetian Causeway is a neighborhood of artificial islands (Di Lido, San Marino, and Belle Isle to name a few) inspired by Italian living. The neighborhood was even supposed to be larger, but the 1926 hurricane put an end to that Italian dream.Gethin Jenkins has played in four World Cups and won three Grand Slams with Wales
Record cap holder Gethin Jenkins wants a Wales return during a season in which he turns 37.
The 129-time capped prop missed Wales' summer tour wins against Tonga and Samoa after undergoing knee surgery.
He led Wales in the 2016 autumn Tests ahead of Sam Warburton and Alun Wyn Jones, but missed the 2017 Six Nations because of a pectoral injury.
Jenkins' birthday is in November and the Cardiff Blue said: "I definitely have those (Wales) ambitions."
He is due to return for Blues in the revamped Pro14 in late September and is targeting an autumn Test series in which Wales face Australia, Georgia, New Zealand and South Africa.
From a Wales 'high' to frustration
"My first port of call is the Blues and I want to get back playing as soon as I can and we will see where it goes from there," said Jenkins.
"If you are in one of the regions you have a chance of playing for your country and that's the ultimate honour."
Jenkins suffered a "frustrating" 2016-17, saying: "I was on a high last autumn after captaining Wales, but injury struck and I missed a few months.
"I worked hard to get back but injury struck again.
"I have been rehabbing all summer and looking to get back third or fourth game of the coming season."
One more season? No comment
However, the former Treorchy, Pontypridd and Toulon player refused to be drawn on whether this would be his last season after signing a one-year deal to take him until the end of the 2017/18 campaign.
Fellow international front-rowers Matthew Rees, 36, and 40-year-old Taufa'ao Filise have also signed Blues contract extensions.
"I still enjoy being around the environment and as long as you enjoy doing your work that keeps you going," said Jenkins, who has also won five caps for the British and Irish Lions.
"The longer he (Filise) keeps going the more hope it gives me.
"Hopefully the three of us can keep performing in the big games. Then age won't come into it.
"We will need to be managed a little more than the younger boys, but it's going well at the moment."
Europe's top tier the Blues target
Jenkins will again captain the Blues and hopes the region can improve on last season in an expanded tournament that sees the introduction of two South African sides.
"We have been knocking around seventh and we are aiming to get back in the top tier of European rugby," said Jenkins.
"It will be a big challenge and we will need to be a lot more consistent and back up performances.
"It's a tough league though and there are a couple of new teams from a new nation and we are excited to see what they bring.
"South Africa is a proud nation and a great place to play rugby."CLOSE A man allegedly fired shots at two soldiers who were conducting training near Camp Shelby on Monday. Therese Apel
Perry County Sheriff's Department officials are on the scene where a vehicle matching the description of the one used in a shooting incident outside Camp Shelby Tuesday. (Photo: Eli Baylis/Hattiesburg American)
Authorities are still searching for a man who allegedly fired shots at soldiers training at Camp Shelby on Tuesday.
Perry County Sheriff Jimmy Dale Smith said no one was injured around 11:35 a.m. when the shots were fired in the direction of two soldiers training on Peret Tower Road, which is not on the premises of Camp Shelby.
The call came in around 12:15 p.m. on the sheriff's department main line.
Smith said he doesn't know if the two soldiers were actually the target of the shots or not, but that where they were training was visible from the road.
Officers are searching the area for a maroon pick-up truck with black rims, believed to have been driven by a white man who Perry said authorities believe fired the shots.
Initially two men were questioned after authorities released an early description of a red pickup truck and it was traced to a residence in the area. They were taken from the residence to the Perry County Sheriff's Department by the Mississippi Highway Patrol before they were questioned and released without charges.
Lt. Col. Christian Patterson said the soldiers reported the shots to their commanding officers, who in turn told local authorities. On Monday, 25 distinguished visitors including Gov. Phil Bryant were present, Patterson said.
Smith said depending on how the investigation goes, the charges against the shooter could range from simple assault to aggravated assault. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has been asked to assist, and the FBI has been made aware of the incident, officials said.
After four Marines and a Sailor were killed last month in Chattanooga, Tennessee, tensions are high about attacks on U.S. military targets by foreign and domestic terrorism groups.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the Perry County Sheriff's Department at (601) 964-8461
4:05 p.m. update
Two people have been questioned and released in the investigation into the Camp Shelby shooting. Authorities are still searching for a suspect vehicle.
3:10 p.m. update
Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain said the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is on the ground and is involved in the investigation.
2:24 p.m. update
WDAM reporter Ryan Moore is reporting that Perry County sheriff deputies are questioning a pair of white male suspects who "pulled up from driving another truck" while authorities were at a residence investigating a vehicle matching the description of the truck used in the Camp Shelby shooting.
2:22 p.m. update
While Camp Shelby soldiers participated in an exercise drill, an unidentified pickup truck passed by and fired shots. Lt. Col. Christian Patterson, director of public affairs at the Mississippi Military Department, said that no one was injured and that the soldiers on site reported the incident to civilian authorities. Patterson said that the incident was not being viewed as an active shooter situation and that increased security measures have been taken recently to protect soldiers. The Perry County Sheriff's office is handling the case.
Perry County Sheriff Jimmy Dale Smith said investigators are following up on a few leads at this point. There are officials at a residence in Perry County that has a vehicle that matches the description of the one used in the shooting, Smith said.
Sheriff Smith said he needs to speak to the soldiers who were shot at to find out more about the incident, but that at this point the shooters could be charged with anything from simple to aggravated assault.
Camp Shelby in Forrest County (Photo: File/The Clarion-Ledger)
2 p.m. update
Perry County Sheriff Jimmy Dale Smith said deputies are at a residence in Perry County where they found a vehicle matching the description of the one driven by the alleged shooters.
The Sheriff said he needs to talk to the soldiers who were shot at to find out more about the incident, but that at this point they could be charged with anything from simple assault to aggravated assault.
Original story
Authorities are searching for two suspects that allegedly fired shots at a group of soldiers at the Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center.
Mississippi National Guard Director of Public Affairs Lt. Colonel Christian Patterson did not confirm that soldiers were targeted.
Perry County Sheriff Jimmy Dale Smith confirmed to The Clarion-Ledger that shots were fired at approximately 12:10 p.m. at soldiers who were training in the area. No injuries were reported. Smith said his agency has "a few good leads" in the shooting. Authorities are searching for two white male suspects in a two-door red Ford Ranger with "Broken Arrow" written across the top.
WDAM reported that Lt. Col. Christian Patterson at Camp Shelby said shots were fired as the truck drove past the base and soldiers were in the area.
Read or Share this story: http://on.thec-l.com/1N89AIbImage copyright Atari Image caption The Atari 2600 game based on the film ET was very badly received by players after its release in time for Christmas in 1982
A Canadian studio has confirmed to the BBC it will search a former landfill site in New Mexico where Atari's much-criticised ET game may be buried.
Fuel Entertainment has permission from the city of Alamogordo to excavate and is finalising funding for the project.
The video game was among the first to be licensed from a film franchise and was based on the Spielberg film ET.
Despite the success of the film the game was very badly received and Atari suffered huge financial losses.
It was released at Christmas 1982 for the Atari 2600 console but many copies were returned and the game was given terrible reviews.
Shortly afterwards the entire video games industry crashed, as PCs started to become more widespread.
Urban legend
In September 1983 the firm is said to have dumped millions of cartridges at the landfill site and buried them under concrete.
Fuel Entertainment - which has offices in Ottawa, Canada and Los Angeles and Seattle in the US - has six months to carry out its search, to coincide with the 30th anniversary.
What's so bad about the game? The object of the game is for ET to find parts of a phone to put together in order to "phone home" and be collected by a spaceship as happens at the end of the film. The character has to avoid falling into any of the many pits which proliferate across every screen, and being caught by a scientist and FBI agent who are in close pursuit throughout. In a YouTube video, a reviewer, called Aqualung, says the game fails because it is too complicated - and there are too many pits. "It seems like a decent game on paper but it's impossible to follow without the manual," he said. "The real reason so many people hate it at the level that they do is that they have no clue what to do. "
"ET was one of the first videogames based on a licensed property, and one of the earliest and most poignant examples of mass over-hyping in digital entertainment," Mike Burns, CEO of Fuel Entertainment, told the BBC.
"With the city of Alamogordo's approval to explore the dump site, we're currently looking forward to moving further into the planning and preparation process."
Atari has never confirmed whether it did dump the games there and journalists were kept away when several trucks arrived from the firm's El Paso plant in Texas.
Local resident Joe Lewandowski, who worked at the site at the time, told the Almogordo Daily News that he saw "games and other Atari related brick-a-brac" bulldozed and buried in concrete.
However Mr Burns has admitted that Fuel Entertainment's search may prove fruitless.
"We don't know exactly what we'll find, but it's bound to be interesting," he said.The big-budget film posted the lowest domestic opening of any DC superhero pic since 'Green Lantern' in 2011, and the lowest for the DC Extended Universe.
In most cases, a box-office debut approaching $100 million in North America would be cause for celebration.
But at Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment, no one was popping open the champagne to toast Justice League, the big-budget superhero mashup that opened domestically to a sobering $94 million over the weekend after once having grand ambitions of matching rival Marvel's The Avengers series.
Justice League — assembling Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash and Cyborg together for the first time on the big screen — marks the lowest North American opening of the five titles in the DC Extended Universe and is a major setback following the breakout success of this summer's critical hit, Wonder Woman. And it's the lowest domestic launch of any DC superhero movie since the ill-fated Green Lantern in 2011 ($53.2 million).
The biggest sign that Justice League was in trouble was when Zack Snyder turned over directing duties to Avengers helmer Joss Whedon in order to deal with a family tragedy, according to insiders. Whedon, who penned the Justice League script with Chris Terrio, oversaw extensive reshoots that resulted in the final production budget coming in between $250 million and $300 million.
The DCEU series kicked off in 2013 with Man of Steel's $116.6 million domestic debut, followed by $166 million for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016. The two films — largely shunned by critics — were directed by Snyder, who had been given dominion over the direction of DCEU. And the majority of critics did not embrace Suicide Squad, which debuted to $133.7 million in August 2016, five months after Dawn of Justice. Nor did Justice League earn good reviews.
Justice League picks up after the events in Dawn of Justice, as Batman and Wonder Woman mourn the death of Superman and put together a team of superheroes to defeat a new villain.
"While Marvel movies are now considered family entertainment, mostly because of their abundance of humor, DC films, outside of Wonder Woman, haven’t found the magical formula yet. In fact, the disappointing opening of Justice League only further cements how poorly Batman v. Superman was received. Nothing erodes a franchise or a brand faster than negative word of mouth," says box-office analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. "Justice League and the entire DC universe, outside of Wonder Woman, has an identity crisis."
To be sure, Justice League is finding more love overseas, where it opened to $185.5 million from 65 markets. It is faring best in Latin America, including a record-breaking $14.2 million debut in Brazil. Justice League stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Amy Adams and J.K. Simmons.
Warners isn't commenting officially on the disappointing domestic opening, except to say the film is well positioned to play through the Thanksgiving holiday and into December (the next big tentpole is Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which opens Dec. 15). "Our path to ultimate box-office success is different from what we thought it would be," says Warners domestic distribution president Jeff Goldstein.
Still, it has to sting that Marvel Studios' and Disney's threequel Thor: Ragnarok debuted to $122.7 million in North America two weeks ago, by far the best showing of the stand-alone Thor films.
"Is Thor hurting Justice League? One could argue that Thor may have inspired a heightened level of excitement for the genre, though it could be argued that audiences got the superhero fix they needed with Thor," says comScore's Paul Dergarabedian.
Justice League may not have been a hit among critics, but it did garner relatively strong audience scores in exit polls conducted by comScore's PostTrak service.
"That being said, the bar for the genre has been raised," says Dergarabedian. "There is no denying that every DC film is vitally important to the future, and most importantly, the momentum of the brand. The success of Wonder Woman and the elements that made it a runaway critical and box-office winner is to be applied where and when possible to future DC films for obvious reasons."
Aquaman, the next film in the DCEU series, is set to hit theaters Dec. 21, 2018.
Nov. 20, 8 a.m. Updated with final domestic gross for Justice League.Google, Microsoft and Apple have been competing for years in the very lucrative education technology market. For the first time, Google has taken a huge lead over its rivals.
Chromebook sales now account for more than half of all devices sold for U.S. classrooms, up from less than 1 percent in 2012, according to a new report from Futuresource Consulting. (The sales figures do not include desktop computers.) To analysts, this comes as a big surprise.
"While it was clear that Chromebooks had made progress in education, this news is, frankly, shocking," said Forrester analyst J.P. Gownder. "Chromebooks made incredibly quick inroads in just a couple of years, leaping over Microsoft and Apple with seeming ease.
Combine Chromebooks with devices running on Android, and Google's share of the edtech market is even more impressive. As of the third quarter of |
options, intuitive embeds (you can paste images directly into chat / links show up with metadata previews), and that's just the beginning.
All of this - for free.
The Community Discord
It's essentially a live, interactive forum! Here is an example what a Discord server could look like with a few thousand people within it: You have your servers on the left (circles), channels next to it, followed by the main chat, and a list of people with their "roles" on the right. On our server, we split up the core channels to general, off-topic, and pics/videos -- then some misc channels, such as other languages. We also have an announcement channel to @ping every person on the server, either currently @here (less annoying) or @everyone, buffering up the ping for the next time they are online.
The Company Discord
I mentioned a Slack replacement earlier -- and you can see how dead serious I am as a complete replacement without a single, missing feature. Roles, sub-roles, permissions, channels, private/public information, and more. Ping the @artists as an entirety or even give them an entire channel to post their work/progress. In the example above, we used native GitHub webhooks to automatically post here when I pushed some work. Below, I posted a bug with a screenshot I pasted directly inside.
BOTs -- Automated Moderation, Greetings, FAQ, and Game Integration
The most important feature we came across is the ability to use BOTs. As a developer, I have several for different uses:
1. Logs and Auto-Moderation (Join/Leave, Swear Filters, Deleted Posts, etc.)
You have more important things to do as developer and community leader than to moderate pettiness -- let a BOT do it for you! With an amazing CTRL+F search system, you will always find exactly what you want at any time, perfectly logged (either publicly or in secrecy).
2. Automated Community Involvement and Interaction
Here, we blur the line between our forum and Discord -- posts from different forum categories are automatically posted to the relevant channel. For example, a patch notes announcement on the forum would post in our Discord #announcements channel.
We also have a greetings system to raise awareness to existing community members that they should greet the new people! This allows for new community members to instantly feel appreciated and "locked in", raising conversation immediately.
Any indie dev can appreciate Wikia for having dedicated members to update things for you. Going slightly off-topic, not only does Wikia band the community together to ensure consistency, it also allows players to better learn the game! We have a WikiaBOT to announce changes with links directly to our Wikia. Technically, it's not a bot: It's a webhook! This is just Wikia -- imagine the possibilities. Well, we did!
Discord Webhooks, Custom BOT, Game Integration
Our game has certain actions that will trigger our Node.js API containing our own DiscordBOT made from open-source Discord.js -- this allows us to boundlessly explore different community options. In the example above, we announce games setting up -- you can click the link to actually launch the game on Steam. At the end, the BOT will post game results to discuss the hilarity of who killed who at the end of the game (we're a social deduction game).
Summary (TL;DR)
Discord is both a community and company app -- made not only for gamers, but for any community that desires essentially a free "slack-like" atmosphere with roles/permissions, intuitive interaction (such as pasting images directly within or link meta pic/description previews), and voice chat with unlimited servers/channels. We use it for just about everything: even in-game -- and best of all, it's FREE!Some iPhone 6 Plus Users Find An Unwanted Feature: It Bends
YouTube
The consumer technology industry generally follows a few rules when it comes to developing new products: faster, thinner and (often) bigger. But the push toward increasingly svelte devices has a clear end point: No device can become thinner forever before running into the obvious challenges posed by physics and daily use.
Earlier this month Apple wowed the world with its new line of iPhones, both of which are larger and thinner than the previous versions. And consumers can't get enough of them: 10 million phones were sold last weekend, breaking the previous record set last year by the iPhone 5S and 5C.
And SquareTrade, an electronics insurance company, found the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to be sturdier than most phones both in drop tests and water resistance.
But some users of Apple's new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are finding that their superslim glass and aluminum devices aren't holding up well in a less harsh environment: their pockets. Under the combined stress of human weight and a pair of tight pants, the phones are bending, usually around the volume buttons where the aluminum casing is thinnest.
What is to blame? The fashion trend toward skinnier and skinnier pants? The technology trend toward slimmer and wider devices?
Ryan Richardson, an AT&T cable technician from Birmingham, Ala., says his iPhone 6 Plus bent even in his baggy work pants.
"I keep my phone in my front pocket all the time, all day, every day — have for the last nine years," Richardson explains. Earlier, he had been on the MacRumors.com forums defending the iPhone 6 Plus against those who criticized its design. But when he checked his own phone after about 48 hours of pocket time, he found it had warped.
"This whole thinness thing is really driving me insane," Richardson says. "I would rather have a thicker phone with a bigger battery, and not have a camera lens sticking out of it."
Richardson says he plans to wait to see if Apple addresses the issue before bringing the phone in for a replacement.
Twitter users around the world weighed in on the new Apple controversy under the hashtag #bendgate. Like previous controversies involving the tech giant, #bendgate is highlighting the divide between those who adore Apple products and those who think the hype is overblown.
And this isn't the first time the Apple Internet fan base has erupted in anger over a design flaw of an iPhone. Back in 2010, the antennas of the iPhone 4, which were the first to be fused into the frame of the phone, lost reception when touched a certain way. Independent tests confirmed what many on Twitter and across the Web reported.
That design flaw had real consequences for Apple: Public pressure forced an appearance by late-CEO Steve Jobs, a class-action lawsuit, and a free case program.
Jobs caused a stir when he suggested it was the fault of the user. In an email sent to a customer, he said: "Just avoid holding it in that way."
As for now, new iPhone users would be well-advised to sit carefully.
Update at 4:34 p.m. ET Thursday: Apple Responds
Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller said Thursday that iPhones are "designed, engineered and manufactured to be both beautiful and sturdy." She said just nine people have contacted Apple due to unexpected bending with the iPhone 6 Plus. Bending of the phones is "extremely rare" with normal use, Muller said.
Tim Fitzsimons is a reporter based in Washington, D.C. He writes about technology, business and the Middle East.Event 1885–86 Scottish Cup Date 12 September 1885 Venue Arbroath Referee Dave Stormont
Arbroath 36–0 Bon Accord is the result of a football match between Arbroath and Bon Accord which took place on 12 September 1885. It held the largest margin of victory in professional football until the 31 October 2002 match between AS Adema and SO l'Emyrne, which was a thrown game.
Background [ edit ]
Arbroath were drawn against Bon Accord in the first round of the Scottish Cup which was played on 12 September 1885. Although Arbroath were only founded seven years earlier in 1878 they were already vastly more experienced than Bon Accord who were only a year old. Some sources state that Bon Accord were really Orion Cricket Club, who had received the entry confirmation from the Scottish FA instead of Orion FC. However, in reality Bon Accord had been formed in 1884 as a bona fide football club, while Orion FC were not formed until October 1885, well after the opening rounds of the Scottish Cup had been played.[citation needed]
The name "Bon Accord" was used to commemorate the watchword that initiated the storming of the Castle of Aberdeen during the Wars of Scottish Independence. At the time, any Scottish-based team could enter the Cup without any previous experience.[citation needed]
A record breaking game [ edit ]
Bon Accord are said to have arrived for the match without any form of standard football kit, a portent of what was to follow. With the teams being so mismatched, it was likely that Arbroath would win easily, but even in those days when high scoring games were common the result was unprecedented.
Arbroath were 15–0 up by half time, and scored another 21 goals in the second half. The Scottish Athletic Journal at the time wrote The leather was landed between the posts 41 times, but five of the times were disallowed. Here and there, enthusiasts would be seen scoring sheet and pencil in hand, taking note of the goals as one would score runs at a cricket match."[1] Referee Dave Stormont later claimed that had he taken a harder line with the Aberdeen team, Arbroath could have won 43–0. Stormont said: My only regret was that I chalked off seven goals, for while they may have looked doubtful from an offside point of view, so quickly did the Maroons carry the ball from midfield, and so close and rapid was their passing, that it was very doubtful whether they could be offside.[2] It was claimed that Arbroath goalkeeper Jim Milne Sr did not touch the ball in the entire game and spent some of the match sheltering from the rain under a spectator's umbrella.[3]
The 18-year-old John Petrie scored 13 goals, still the record for most goals scored in a senior tournament, although it was equalled by Archie Thompson when Australia beat American Samoa 31–0 on 11 April 2001 in a qualifier for the 2002 World Cup.[1]
The unfortunate Bon Accord goal keeper on the day was Andrew Lornie.[1]
Concurrent Dundee Harp match [ edit ]
On the same day, 18 miles (29 kilometres) away in Dundee, Dundee Harp were also playing in the first round of the Scottish Cup against Aberdeen Rovers. Dundee Harp beat Aberdeen Rovers 35–0. The referee noted 37 goals, but Harp’s secretary suggested a miscount must have occurred as he had recorded only 35. The match official, acknowledging it was difficult for him to keep accurate details during such a deluge of goals, accepted the lower tally and wired the official score of 35–0 to the Scottish Football Association headquarters.[4]
Aftermath [ edit ]
In the following rounds of the Scottish Cup, Arbroath beat local rivals Forfar Athletic 9–1 in the second round, Dundee East End 7–1 in the third round before losing 5–3 to Hibernian in the fourth round, scoring a total of 55 goals in that season's Scottish Cup.[5]
To celebrate the historic achievement of the scoreline, the Angus MSP Andrew Welsh tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament in 2000.[6]
In December 2000 Romanian side Carpati Mirsa beat Avintul Dirlos 41–0 but the result was not ratified as it was not in a professional competition, so Arbroath maintained their record.[7] A similar situation arose in May 2016, when Pelileo Sporting Club beat Indi Native 44–1 in an Ecuadorian third division match.[8]
The record for highest victory in a senior football competition was set on 31 October 2002 when the Malagasy club AS Adema beat SO l'Emyrne 149-0 in the national championship; however, SOE scored own goals intentionally throughout the match as a protest to a refereeing decision in a prior match.[9]
Match details [ edit ]
GK Jim Milne Sr DF Bill Collie DF Tom Salmond DF Hen Rennie DF Jim Milne Jr DF Dyken Bruce MF John Petrie MF Johnny Tackett FW Jim Marshall FW David Crawford FW Daniel Neil Manager: GK Andrew Lornie DF DF DF DF MF MF MF MF MF FW Manager:As more people turn digital, original comic book artwork is getting rarer. Prices on sketches at comic book shows or commissions are also going up in value. And where there’s such demand, in come the fakes.
Rob Liefeld was the one to break cover over one seller, highlighting artwork that was being shown and sold online (but now deleted) purporting to be by him and apparently certified as genuine by CBCS (though the photo cuts off the certificate details) as being anything but.
The seller of the piece was furious. They posted their upset on the Instagram post, then posted their own response:
“We contacted @cbcscomics and they guarantee your signature is 100% accurate. You should attack me, you should approach these grading companies. I feel harassed by you, calling me out in your posts like that! If I post something, it’s because companies like @cbcscomics made me feel comfortable posting authentic signature work.”
Harassed, folks. Rob replied:
“I warned the buyer that this was fake and my comments were deleted.”
They also replied:
(This image has been removed, it read:)
With the comments:
But other items they were posting for sale, and certified by PGX looked also suspect.
(The image has been removed. It looked like this:)
With the words: Another amazing sketch by the one and only Jim Lee! No one else could have authenticated this sketch and signature economically but @pgxcomics thank you to the other grading family there!
(The image has been removed. It looked like this:)
I have confirmed from Jim Lee that the above pieces are fake, telling me that they were a “laughable attempt of a forgery. And Todd McFarlane also confirmed that the piece below was not by him, saying “Unfortunately that artwork isn’t mine. It isn’t even a good forgery.” Which, to be fair, we kind knew, but it was good to get the horse’s mouth on this.
(The image has been removed. It looked like this:)
While it seems J. Scott Campbell already confirmed to them that this piece was fake, they questioned whether he would remember if it was fake or not, saying, “Keeping in mind, J. Scott Campbell has been around for YEARS! Jeff’s art form has definitely changed throughout time, thinking back from Gen 13 and Wildstorm, as most artist style slowly evolves as well. How can Jeff reply to this posting after the COA?”
(This image has now been removed, here’s how it looked)
With the words:
few months ago, my cousin got shamed on ebay by @jscottcampbellart and his fellow fans, admitting that this piece of art wasn’t done nor signed by J Scott Campbell! This Certificate of Authenticity says elsewise, proving and indicating what the COA states! I feel my cousin is owed an apology for the misunderstanding, as she received “threatening” emails/messages from the ebay community, and shamed by J.Scott Campbell’s Facebook account. Figured to take the initiative to share this on IG and the world. Keeping in mind, J.Scott Campbell has been around for YEARS! Jeff’s art form has definitely changed throughout time, thinking back from Gen 13 and Wildstorm, as most artist style slowly evolves as well. How can Jeff reply to this posting after the COA? I believe Justin Edwards PGX management from @pgxcomics wouldn’t ruin his reputation to actually verify the “verification process.” I’m sure PGX use’s the same technology as CBCS to verify signatures, or even a closer connection to these artist somehow. PGX has been around way before CBCS, a bit after CGC began. I can understand how people would feel about PGX, “past history” and West-Coast competition in regards to CHEAPER grading prices versus everyone else!
And Rob Liefeld tells us that the following sketches apparently certified by CBCS are all fakes.
(The image has been removed. It looked like this:)
With the words:
Earlier today my cousin received my order from #cbcs and dropped my package off. These #sketches were included in the order to get verified/authenticated. I was happy to receive positive results on some of the art, while others negative results. I guess, I’ll be trying other professional companies like #psadna #pgx to verify artwork/signature
He offered a selection of the genuine articles for comparison.
However, in a twist, Neal Adams confirmed that both pieces below were genuine.
Neal Adams remembered it, saying, “That ‘rushed’ piece of Batman art is not only mine, but it is well over 30 years old, and probably drawn in a hallway of the Penta Hotel late into the night,” and confirming the validity of the other.
UPDATEx3: Neal Adams has now retracted that, saying
The Adams family has gotten together and treated the question of the two sketches more seriously. And we have come to the following conclusion: those drawings were copied from or traced from my original drawings, which of course I did do. But the following points have been made here in our group: 1. The figure drawing of Batman was definitely based on a drawing I did, as I said over thirty years ago. Unfortunately that drawing in the photo was done on Canson Comic Art Board (from the Fanboy series) which wasn’t produced until circa 2009. 2. On the Cyclops sketch, the signature is not my signature. We have a scan of the drawing that was originally done for this and you can easily see that is not the signature. While there was an effort made to make the drawing the same. The rendering on the upper lip, the lack of dark shadow in the back of Cyclops’ head, the mildly incorrect structure of the jaw, and the neck make this very clearly a forgery. I am embarrassed to say, my family is more conscientious than me. They are right and I was wrong.
Nevertheless, with many creators claiming their artwork as forged, I pointed this out to the seller and asked if they had any comment, without response. Instead, I found my Instagram account blocked.
And, they seem to be doing well out of such sales.
(The image has been removed, it read)
With the words:
We feel totally blessed this past month! Have met a few friends here and there on IG, and even though we are new on IG, can totally say a SPECIAL thanks to @magickeyz215 for pulling my cousin and I away from ebay sales only. He forced us to create an Instagram 😋 lol “jk-insider”. We never considered this as a marketing tool, especially hearing all the scams and horror stories from others 🤚. We don’t hold an established business like most, and do this as a hobby, since we both got passion for collecting comics. Another special thanks to @donscomics @randomwanderer111 @comicsseattle for giving me us opportunity to share our comic collection with you! Your business is very much appreciated, but “friendship” overall is what carries more weight!
I have contacted John Byrne and Humberto Ramos to ask if they’ll comment on the validity of artwork posted to the account attributed to them. I also talked to PGX, who apparently certified most of these pieces of artwork. They were grateful to be made aware of the creators’ take and said they would investigate. They told me:
“Rest assured, we are investigating this matter further. If we are able to corroborate that the pieces are forgeries we will be issuing a recall on the certificates immediately.”
Sometimes it’s a good idea to rely on your own eyes, as well…
UPDATE: Humberto Ramos replied to me saying that this appeared to be fake, the facial hair being the giveaway.
(The image has been removed. It looked like this:)
With the words:
Part of a collection that was picked up between my cousin and I before the summer. We feel very blessed @pgxcomics was able to verify/authenticate
UPDATEx2: Mike Roman posted in the comments in a rather insulting fashion complaining that BC had not contacted CBCS. We pointed out that we had. The posts were then deleted and Steve Paulus of CBCS replied in e-mail saying,
The Verified Signature Program was created so comic book fans have the opportunity to verify the authenticity of an unwitnessed signature on comic books and other media that can be encapsulated. It is important to note that CBCS does not address the authenticity of the sketches submitted to us under the Verified Signature Program, only the signatures.
I asked how a signature could be genuine if the sketch was fake, but Paulus told me he was unavailable for further comment this weekend.
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
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None foundThe day you’ve been waiting half a decade for will finally arrive on October 10 when two Minecraft books are released into the wild. Yep.
Those two books are The Minecraft Beginner’s Handbook and The Minecraft Annual. The former is said by the publisher to contain “everything you need to know to make it through your first few days alive.” The latter is about how to make cool stuff.
Then, in December, we will get The Minecraft Redstone Handbook, which is, well, about redstone.
The publisher, Egmont, says they’re making the very real, physical books look like the ones in the game, which is fun. Here’s what that means:
There are two other Minecraft handbooks listed for February 2014 release on Amazon, one on combat and one on construction. Expect a ton more if these do reasonably well.Published online 20 July 2010 | Nature 466, 424 (2010) | doi:10.1038/466424a
Corrected online:
News
Targeted researchers support the legislation, despite free-speech concerns.
Free speech or terrorism? Activists chalk messages. N. Berger/AP Photo
A tough but rarely invoked US law intended to protect researchers from violent and threatening animal-rights activists has stumbled out of the starting gate: last week, a judge dismissed the first prosecution under the law. The decision comes on top of evidence that the legislation has done little to deter illegal incidents, and concerns that it risks restricting free speech.
Yet researchers who have been targeted by activists mostly support the law — and wish that it would be enforced more often and more aggressively. "You could present this as a setback," says John Ngai, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley, and the university's spokesman on animal research issues. "But this is one step in a lengthy process. The wheels of justice grind really slowly."
The 2008 Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), which replaces a less powerful statute, is designed to help end campaigns of harassment against academic scientists. It outlaws property damages at universities and threats that produce a'reasonable fear' of death or injury for researchers or their relatives.
The law's first major test came in February 2009, when four animal-rights activists — Adriana Stumpo, Nathan Pope, Joseph Buddenberg and Maryam Khajavi — were arrested and later indicted under the AETA, for incidents at the homes of several University of California system researchers in 2007 and 2008. The group, with other protesters, wore bandanas over their faces and wrote messages such as "Stop the Torture", "Bird Killer" and "Murder for Scientific Lies" on the pavement with blue and purple chalk, according to police reports. The protesters allegedly burst through a researcher's door and one of them hit her husband with an object.
But on 12 July, a federal judge dismissed the indictment for being too vague: prosecutors did not say which of the activists' alleged actions violated the law. However, prosecutors are free to re-indict if they can show how particular actions crossed the line.
By classing animal-activist crimes as 'terrorism', the statute has succeeded in bringing more law-enforcement resources to bear on the issue, especially from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, says Frankie Trull, president of the pro-animal-research National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR) in Washington DC.
Yet Trull has been disappointed with the results so far. Several dangerous crimes remain unsolved, including the firebombing of a house and car belonging to researchers in Santa Cruz, California, in 2008, and the March 2009 torching of a car belonging to David Jentsch, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). "Why aren't they arresting these guys?" asks Trull. "It is hard to believe that these extremists are so sophisticated that they don't leave any trail."
There are also few signs that the law has been a deterrent. The number of illegal incidents fluctuates wildly (see 'Wrongs in the name of animal rights'), and analyses by groups on both sides of the issue — the NABR and the activist-sympathizing Bite Back magazine — show no clear effect on the number or nature of attacks since the AETA was passed.
Most law-enforcement efforts against animal rights-related crimes in the past decade rely on other legislation. In California, which sees the bulk of US attacks, the state's Researcher Protection Act of 2008 has made it a misdemeanour to publish the names and locations of researchers to encourage crimes against them. Under other state laws, UCLA has been granted injunctions that ban several activists from approaching researchers' homes. Activists have also been successfully pursued under anti-stalking laws.
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The strong language of the AETA — which in the Berkeley case raises freedom of speech issues, the judge warned — could be making prosecutors wary of using it. Lawyers for the defendants say that much of the activists' activity — chalking, chanting and leafleting — should be considered protected'speech', and therefore be exempt from restriction. According to Michael Macleod-Ball, chief legislative counsel of the New York-based American Civil Liberties Union, "Prosecutors need to be careful about how they use this, because the language in the statute is a little squishy."
Researchers who have been the target of attacks don't want prosecutors to give up yet. Jentsch endured lengthy protests at his home after the burning of his car. He thinks that the AETA could deter protesters who are "actively seeking the boundary of protected speech" to harm researchers without getting arrested. But this won't happen until there are more AETA arrests. "I don't see that the AETA has really affected activists yet," says Jentsch. "It has got to be used to aggressively pursue people who have pushed the bounds of behaviour."WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. manufacturing output increased for a second straight month in October amid gains in the production of motor vehicles and a range of other goods, suggesting that the battered factory sector was slowly recovering.
SUVs move through the assembly line at the General Motors Assembly Plant in Arlington, Texas June 9, 2015. REUTERS/Mike Stone
Other data on Wednesday showed a moderation in producer inflation last month. Still, the disinflationary impulse is ebbing as oil prices rise and the dollar’s rally fades, which could see an increase in price pressures in the coming months.
The Federal Reserve said factory production rose 0.2 percent last month after a similar gain in September. Output was supported by a 0.9 percent rise in the production of motor vehicles and parts. There were also increases in the production of primary metals and computers and electronic products.
“With the global economic backdrop more stable and growth set to pick up in the United States, we expect to see activity in the manufacturing sector improve a bit in the coming months,” said Tim Quinlan, a senior economist at Wells Fargo in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The report added to a survey early this month showing a second straight month of expansion in factory activity in October. Manufacturing accounts for 12 percent of the U.S. economy.
The sector has suffered a prolonged slump in the aftermath of the dollar’s surge between June 2014 and January this year, which has constrained exports. Activity has also been hurt by the collapse in oil drilling after oil prices plunged.
Despite signs of improvement, gains in manufacturing output will likely remain modest against the backdrop of a still-strong dollar and sluggish global demand.
Heavy machinery maker Caterpillar last month lowered its full-year revenue outlook for the second time this year. It said an “abundance” of used construction equipment, a “substantial” number of idle locomotives and a “significant” number of idle mining trucks had undercut demand.
Longer-dated U.S. government bonds were trading higher, while the dollar was little changed against a basket of currencies. U.S. stocks fell marginally.
MINING SHINES
There was good news on the mining front. Mining production jumped 2.1 percent last month, the largest increase since March 2014, after slipping 0.4 percent in September.
Oil and gas well drilling surged 9.0 percent, building on September’s 5.1 percent increase.
Despite the gains in manufacturing and mining output, overall industrial production was unchanged last month as utilities tumbled 2.6 percent. Unseasonably warm temperatures last month reduced demand for heating.
Economists also blamed the decline in utility production on Hurricane Matthew, which lashed the southeast of the country during the month, causing flooding and knocking out power lines.
“The October numbers were likely biased downward by the Hurricane Matthew effect,” said Andrew Hollenhorst, an economist at Citigroup in New York. “We read today’s report as supportive of the idea that the industrial sector is stabilizing.”
In a separate report on Wednesday, the Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand was unchanged last month as a rise in the cost of goods was offset by declining services costs. The PPI increased 0.3 percent in September.
In the 12 months through October, the PPI increased 0.8 percent, the biggest gain since December 2014. That followed a 0.7 percent rise in September.
Shoppers stand by the vegetables aisle inside a Fresh & Easy store in Burbank, California October 19, 2012. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
A key gauge of underlying producer price pressures that excludes food, energy and trade services dipped 0.1 percent after rising 0.3 percent in September.
The so-called core PPI increased 1.6 percent in the 12 months through October, the largest rise since September 2014. That followed a 1.5 percent increase in September.
“Despite the moderation this month, we expect PPI gradually to pick up and to feed through to a firming in consumer prices,” said Michael Gapen, chief economist at Barclays in New York.In a major new international report, experts conclude that the acidity of the world's ocean may increase by around 170% by the end of the century bringing significant economic losses. People who rely on the ocean's ecosystem services - often in developing countries - are especially vulnerable.
A group of experts have agreed on 'levels of confidence' in relation to ocean acidification statements summarising the state of knowledge. The summary was led by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and results from the world's largest gathering of experts on ocean acidification ever convened. The Third Symposium on the Ocean in a High CO2 World was held in Monterey, California (September 2012), and attended by 540 experts from 37 countries. The summary will be launched at the UNFCCC climate negotiations in Warsaw, 18 November, for the benefit of policymakers.
Experts conclude that marine ecosystems and biodiversity are likely to change as a result of ocean acidification, with far-reaching consequences for society. Economic losses from declines in shellfish aquaculture and the degradation of tropical coral reefs may be substantial owing to the sensitivity of molluscs and corals to ocean acidification.
One of the lead authors of the summary, and chair of the symposium, Ulf Riebesell of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel said: "What we can now say with high levels of confidence about ocean acidification sends a clear message. Globally we have to be prepared for significant economic and ecosystem service losses. But we also know that reducing the rate of carbon dioxide emissions will slow acidification. That has to be the major message for the COP19 meeting."
One outcome emphasised by experts is that if society continues on the current high emissions trajectory, cold water coral reefs, located in the deep sea, may be unsustainable and tropical coral reef erosion is likely to outpace reef building this century. However, significant emissions reductions to meet the two-degree target by 2100 could ensure that half of surface waters presently occupied by tropical coral reefs remain favourable for their growth.
Author Wendy Broadgate, Deputy Director at the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, said: "Emissions reductions may protect some reefs and marine organisms but we know that the ocean is subject to many other stresses such as warming, deoxygenation, pollution and overfishing. Warming and deoxygenation are also caused by rising carbon dioxide emissions, underlining the importance of reducing fossil fuel emissions. Reducing other stressors such as pollution and overfishing, and the introduction of large scale marine protected areas, may help build some resilience to ocean acidification."
The summary for policymakers makes 21 statements about ocean acidification with a range of confidence levels from "very high" to "low".
These include:
Very high confidence
Ocean acidification is caused by carbon dioxide emissions from human activity to the atmosphere that end up in the ocean.
The capacity of the ocean to act as a carbon sink decreases as it acidifies
Reducing carbon dioxide emissions will slow the progress of ocean acidification.
Anthropogenic ocean acidification is currently in progress and is measurable
The legacy of historical fossil fuel emissions on ocean acidification will be felt for centuries.
High confidence
If carbon dioxide emissions continue on the current trajectory, coral reef erosion is likely to outpace reef building some time this century.
Cold-water coral communities are at risk and may be unsustainable.
Molluscs (such as mussels, oysters and pteropods) are one of the groups most sensitive to ocean acidification.
The varied responses of species to ocean acidification and other stressors are likely to lead to changes in marine ecosystems, but the extent of the impact is difficult to predict.
Multiple stressors compound the effects of ocean acidification.
Medium confidence
Negative socio-economic impacts on coral reefs are expected, but the scale of the costs is uncertain.
Declines in shellfisheries will lead to economic losses, but the extent of the losses is uncertain.
Ocean acidification may have some direct effects on fish behaviour and physiology.
The shells of marine snails known as pteropods, an important link in the marine food web, are already dissolving.
###
The summary for policymakers is published by the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme, one of the sponsors of the symposium which was organised by the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research, IGBP and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. The summary will be presented during an event at the UNFCCC COP-19 next week.When you are strolling through exhibits in the Nevada Museum of Art or making your way to the roulette table at the Circus Circus hotel and casino in Reno, you are a player in a well-orchestrated scene. Your every move is carefully watched as you unknowingly follow a plotted path filled with invisible bugs—security bugs.
“The inside of a building in it of itself can be a security tool,” says Geoff Manaugh, an architecture writer and blogger of BLDGBLOG, who spoke to the security heads at both institutions. “If you don’t think about buildings in terms of security and you don’t think of architecture in terms of burglary, you can really easily overlook these things.”
In his new book, Manaugh investigates how building architecture and the city grid could affect and cause certain kinds of crime. (Photo: Geoff Manaugh)
Hidden technologies and protective structures embedded throughout buildings are tools of war. The rivalry between criminals and security experts has influenced architectural design for centuries—from mapping where hallways meet, strategically placing escalators, and growing specific shrubbery. In his new book A Burglar’s Guide to the City, Manaugh dissects the architectural battle grounds of these two rivals.
The first thing many security heads will tell you about a building is how many doors it has, says Manaugh. They know exactly where all those exit and entry points are and what kind of protection guards each (key lock, electronic lock, automatic or timed lock, alarm, thorny plants, hidden camera, or a combination of securities). Security experts don’t just look at architecture for its historical value, beauty or craftsmanship, but rather pay attention to the strategic possibilities the building allows criminals a means to break in. Manaugh analyzes buildings from the perspective of bandits, police, FBI agents, and security managers—exploring how each use the design of buildings and cities to prevent and commit crime.
Manaugh shadowed the Los Angeles Police Department’s air-support division viewing crime from the air. (Photo: Geoff Manaugh)
Security and architecture have always been intimately connected. The origins of buildings came out of a need for protection from the elements. The very first crude homes and huts can, metaphorically, be seen as security from the weather, says Manaugh. The very first locks date back to ancient Egyptian door locks made of wood. “You can actually trace any involvement of architecture throughout human history with different security concerns; that could be as simple as walled cities or as complex as today’s geofencing against drones.”
Today, building security has evolved—a cornucopia of technologies are available to security teams. Security centers can track people throughout buildings with motion detectors, thermal cameras, pressure sensitive pads, and electromagnetic fields that lock on and follow radio-frequency identification tags. Even the simple hidden or disguised camera shouldn’t be underestimated. Manaugh once operated an outdoor PTZ camera, or pan-tilt-zoom, which was so powerful that he could see three to four blocks away and read numbers on license plates.
A PTZ camera blends into the grey building. (Photo: AxisCommunications/CC BY-ND 2.0
But perhaps the most compelling defenses against burglary are the simple designs woven into the fabric of built environments.
On a unique tour of the Nevada Museum of Art, Manaugh was able to experience how subtle some of these security features are. While visitors marveled at exhibits, Manaugh followed Jes Stewart, head of the museum’s security, as he described the “various invisible forms of security that have been installed there, hidden in the walls, floors and ceilings.” Air ducts and the angles of air conditioning machines play into security master plans. |
it's a power grab would be a huge understatement," said Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha. "It's hard to believe he's even serious about this."
Walker said the changes are necessary to avoid up to 6,000 state employee layoffs and the removal of more than 200,000 children from the Medicaid program.
The state faces a $137 million budget shortfall in the fiscal year that ends June 30. Walker said he will ask the Legislature on Friday to pass his plan next week in a special session. Walker will unveil his two-year budget plan to address the larger $3.6 billion shortfall on Feb. 22.
Under Walker's immediate plan, all collective bargaining rights would be removed for state and local public employees starting July 1, except when it comes to wages. But any salary increase they seek could be no more than the consumer price index, unless voters in the affected jurisdiction approved a higher raise.
Contracts would be limited to one year and wages would be frozen until the next contract is settled. Public employers would be prohibited from collecting union dues and members of collective bargaining units would not be required to pay dues.
The proposal would effectively remove unions' right to negotiate in any meaningful way. Local law enforcement and fire employees, as well as state troopers and inspectors would be exempt.
Walker's plan also calls for state employees to contribute 5.8 percent of their salaries to their pensions starting April 1. They would have to contribute at least 12.6 percent toward their health care. Those two items would generate $30 million by July 1 and roughly $300 million over the next two years when combined with the other concessions.
Walker insisted he was not targeting public employees and that his primary concern was balancing the budget. His bill also calls for selling off state heating plants to save money and refinancing state debt to save $165 million in the fiscal year that ends June 30.
The bill also would give the Department of Health Services the power to make any changes to Medicaid it deems necessary to reduce costs, regardless of current law. Any changes it makes would only need approval of the Legislature's budget-writing committee. Medicaid is projected to be $153 million short by June 30.
"I got elected to deal with the problems we face in the state," Walker said. "The two biggest problems are the economy and the budget."
Still, going after collective bargaining rights in such a dramatic fashion will almost certainly set off a firestorm in the state Capitol, not just among workers but even Republicans reluctant to go as far as Walker wants.
Republican leaders in the Senate and Assembly issued statements supporting Walker's plan, but he still might find trouble trying to convince enough others to get it passed.
"They're still soaking it in," Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said when asked if he thought Republicans would approve the plan as proposed.
The right of private sector employees to be members of unions is governed by federal law, but state and local unions are covered by Wisconsin law. The right to collectively bargain over a broad array of issues, including salary and benefits, is granted under that law. Walker and the Legislature can add or remove negotiable issues by changing that law, the State Employment Labor Relations Act.
There's nothing stopping Walker from proposing a law change, said Paul Secunda, a Marquette University law professor who specializes in labor law.
"But unions and public unions are very strong in Wisconsin, but if he wants to take on that he's going to lose a lot of the support that got him here in the first place," Secunda said.Persona 5 director discusses characters, themes, and development
New characters "rougher around the edges" than their predecessors. "On the run for doing what they think is right."
Following its debut gameplay trailer at Persona Super Live, Persona 5 director and producer Katsura Hashino has taken to both the official Persona website and Weekly Famitsu to discuss more about the upcoming RPG sequel.
Get the details below.
Weekly Famitsu Interview
This is an excerpt from an interview in next week’s issue of Weekly Famitsu. Stay tuned to next week for more information about the protagonist and his persona, his friends, and the game’s systems.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything new. How’s development coming along? Hashino: Things are really coming along and we’re starting to hit our quality benchmarks in terms of what goes into the game, so at this stage, we’re hard at work building the game and fleshing it out. We’re just as eager to bring this game out finally so they can enjoy what all we’ve been working on and day by day, we’re getting closer to the finish line. It’s just going to be a little while longer now before it’s here. During our last interview, I remember you talking about how you wanted this game to depict things like the cathartic feelings that come from freeing yourself of your own chains in life and being ale to yell out to the world you’re free. Now that we know more about the game, I’d like to ask you to elucidate about the themes of the game again. Hashino: I don’t think it’s a stretch to say in this day and age that there are a lot of people out there who feel like they aren’t moving forward, that they have no future, and carry a lot of weight on their shoulders every day. They’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, emotionally speaking; on the one hand, they might not be keen on living by the same rules and values that defined previous generations, while still lacking the will to go out and actually break those barriers down themselves. That dark side of society is a central pillar to the game we want to make with Persona 5. In the midst of all that, though, you got these high school punks who are trying to bite back at a world that’s trying to pin them down. If our game can give people a little courage to keep going in their day to day lives, to face things head on and do something with themselves, then we’ll have done our jobs here. But the main characters… are they thieves!? Hashino: It’s interesting you refer to them in that way specifically because one of the things that inspired us to make this question to begin with was how, say, a classic, iconic thief in the vein of Lupin III might win the hearts and minds of people in today’s day and age if they were out running around today. There have been a lot of books and films over the years that explored the sorts of lives that thieves live and how they’re able to shake up the world with what many would perceive to be sheer brazenness, but that’s not ground that’s very well covered in games and we intend to rectify that. We want our players to be able to empathize with these characters and enjoy seeing what they get themselves into and we’re giving it everything we’ve got to make sure that comes through loud and clear in the final game.
Persona Channel MessageChicharito will return to the West Ham United squad for Saturday’s Premier League derby with Chelsea at London Stadium.
The Mexico striker is back in full training after recovering from a hamstring injury suffered while on international duty a month ago.
And with England centre forward Andy Carroll also available for selection against the Blues, manager David Moyes says his attacking options have been boosted at just the right time.
“We’re looking much better,” he confirmed. “We have had a whole host of players back training for a few days, not fully training and in some cases I would say not fully fit either, but it’s good to get them back. Chicharito is one of those who is back in training.
“It’s early days so I don’t want to get carried away [and say this is a David Moyes team] just yet, but I have to say the players have been really good. They’ve tried to take on board what we’ve asked of them and they’re doing the work.
“I’ve said right from the start that they have to do the work if they want to play and hopefully they’re all doing that and things will improve. We’re also getting a few players back from injury as well.”
We have had a whole host of players back training for a few days... Chicharito is one of those who is back in training David Moyes
The manager was not willing to reveal who will start in goal against Chelsea, with much speculation over whether it will be Joe Hart or Adrian who will line up between the sticks on Saturday.
Hart started the Hammers’ opening 14 Premier League fixtures before being ruled out of last weekend’s trip to Manchester City under the terms of his season-long loan.
Adrian stepped in and produced a fine performance at the Etihad Stadium, but Moyes has yet to declare publicly whose name will be on the team sheet to face the champions.
“Well, I wouldn’t give the team out because I’m not here to help Chelsea, so I’ll keep my team until tomorrow. I’ve got my decision in my own mind but I’ll wait until tomorrow to announce it.
“I would always try to speak to the players. There are some occasions when you should speak to the players and others when you don’t need to.”
Joe Hart and Adrian are vying for the start in goal against Chelsea on Saturday
And what of captain Mark Noble, who missed the trip to Manchester City with a hip injury but is also available to face Chelsea on Saturday?
“What we’ve got is a decision to make over who plays all the time, because we want the players to perform and show what they can do.
“Mark is really influential. He’s great around the dressing room and he’s great around the Club, but he’s not guaranteed, just like there’s nobody guaranteed.
“We’ve got to find a way of winning and I want players who are going to help me win and I’m going to pick the players I believe are in form.”Stuart Freeborn, the pioneering makeup artist behind Yoda, Chewbacca, Jabba the Hutt, and the Ewoks, has died at the age of 98, reports the BBC. George Lucas said that the self-taught Freeborn was "already a makeup legend when he started on Star Wars," a fact borne out by his work on the "Dawn of Man" sequence in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and the three different faces he created for Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove. In a radio interview with the BBC, Europe’s pre-eminent makeup artist explained how he bucked his parents’ wishes in order to try and make a career in stage and film. "My father was an insurance broker at Lloyd’s, and he was determined to get me into the office… I didn’t want to spend my life in an office, I felt I was different," he said.DOLE payments are unlike to rise after a Senate committee reviewing the Newstart Allowance today found they are enough to support people while they look for work.
But the committee had concerns that 42 per cent of people on New Start each year didn't find employment and might warrant a special allowance. This would include increasing the time a recipient could work without losing benefits.
The committee found that heeding calls from welfare groups for a $50-a-week rise in the dole would cost an extra $2 billion a year. The Government has warned it doesn't have the funds for a significant rise.
"The Newstart Allowance payment is effectively discharging its primary duty: to support people through a short- term transitional period of unemployment,'' said the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee.
"However, the committee is concerned that 42 per cent of new recipients each year do not transition quickly back into the workforce and believes that the allowance payment system can better encourage workforce participation.''
It said New Start recipients should be encouraged to get part-time work as part of their transition to full-time jobs and noted the problems of "carers who are re-entering the workforce after a period of caring, and the particular challenges faced by mature age workers''.
Forcing people to live on $35 a day was a powerful means of achieving social exclusion, said St Vincent de Paul chief executive Dr John Falzon.
“We are steadfast in our resolve that the Newstart payment is too low to live on either in the short term or the long term. Life on this payment is a daily battle waged from below the poverty line. and must be increased as a matter of urgency, “ said Dr Falzon.
“People on Newstart are effectively denied adequate social security. You don’t achieve social inclusion when you take away social security. You don’t build people up by putting them down.”
The committee recommended:
* The government consider increasing the resources available to Stream 1 jobseekers, to ensure that prompt and effective support is provided in the first weeks and months of unemployment;
* That the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations work with Job Services Australia to ensure that training and support programs for workers aged 45-64 are appropriately targeted;
* That the Government develop targeted and tailored programs for former carers as they move to Newstart Allowance or another payment once their caring responsibilities end;
* That the government identify savings in the existing social security expenditure to increase the income free threshold for long term Newstart Allowance recipients to 6 hours work per fortnight at the minimum wage;
* That the working credit for Newstart Recipients be increased from $1000 to the equivalent of three months' work at the minimum wage;
* That the Government reform its processes to enable departing Newstart recipients to remain active on departmental systems for one year after they cease receiving payment;
* That the government assess the viability of creating an online calculator for Newstart and other recipients to enable jobseekers to easily calculate the costs and benefits of work, and the impact of work on allowances and other payments.
Originally published as $35 a day enough: Senate says no to dole increaseFrom RationalWiki
“ ” And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody, outside of a small circle of friends. —Phil Ochs
Dunbar's Number is a theoretical limit on the number of close social contacts an individual human can have. It is based on data from other primate groups where there is a strong correlation between group size and the size of the brain's neocortex. Thus, extrapolating from the human cranium would put Dunbar's Number somewhere between 100 and 200.
This has huge import in the modern day of "web 2.0", where we all seem to interact with thousands of relative strangers on a daily basis. The number of these people we actually know anything about, or could relate to, might be constrained to this range.
Dunbar's predictions for previous stages of hominid evolution [ edit ]
Using estimates for the brain size of early humans, and extrapolating from this relationship, Dunbar, along with Leslie Aiello predicted the cognitive group size for earlier stages of hominid evolution. While the original numbers are more specific and go into decimal points, they are rounded off by Steven Mithen as follows:[1][2]
Homo erectus - 111
- 111 Archaic Homo sapiens - 131
- 131 Homo neanderthalensis - 144
- 144 Australopithacus spp. - 67
- 67 Homo habilis - 82
By comparison, chimpanzees have a mean cognitive group size of 60
The Monkeysphere [ edit ]
The monkeysphere is a term coined by David Wong, editor of Cracked. The idea is based on Dunbar's Number with the premise that people tend to dehumanize those outside of their particular "Monkeysphere":
"Most of us do not have room in our Monkeysphere for our friendly neighborhood sanitation worker. So, we don't think of him as a person. We think of him as The Thing That Makes The Trash Go Away." David Wong[3]
The argument goes on to make three recommendations as to how this knowledge can be incorporated into a more enlightened worldview: T.R.Y.
“ ” First, TOTAL MORON. That is, accept the fact THAT YOU ARE ONE. We all are. First, TOTAL MORON. That is, accept the fact THAT YOU ARE ONE. We all are. That really annoying person you know, the one who's always spouting bullshit, the person who always thinks they're right? Well, the odds are that for somebody else, you're that person. So take the amount you think you know, reduce it by 99.999%, and then you'll have an idea of how much you actually know regarding things outside your Monkeysphere. Second, UNDERSTAND that there are no Supermonkeys. Just monkeys. Those guys on TV you see, giving the inspirational seminars, teaching you how to reach your potential and become rich and successful like them? You know how they made their money? By giving seminars. For the most part, the only thing they do well is convince others they do everything well. No, the universal moron principal established in No. 1 above applies here, too. Don't pretend politicians are somehow supposed to be immune to all the backhanded fuckery we all do in our daily lives and don't laugh and point when the preacher gets caught on video snorting cocaine off a prostitute's ass. A good exercise is to picture your hero--whoever it is--passed out on his lawn, naked from the waist down. The odds are it's happened at some point. Even Gandhi may have had hotel rooms and dead hookers in his past. And don't even think about ignoring advice from a moral teacher just because the source enjoys the ol' Colombian Nose Candy from time to time. We're all members of varying species of hypocrite (or did you tell them at the job interview that you once called in sick to spend a day leveling up on World of Warcraft?) Don't use your heroes' vices as an excuse to let yours run wild. And finally, DON'T LET ANYBODY simplify it for you. The world cannot be made simple. Anyone who tries to paint a picture of the world in basic comic book colors is most likely trying to use you as a pawn. And finally, DON'T LET ANYBODY simplify it for you. The world cannot be made simple. Anyone who tries to paint a picture of the world in basic comic book colors is most likely trying to use you as a pawn.
Criticism [ edit ]
Since the complexity of each individual personality makes each relationship more complex in itself, it can be argued that increased intelligence/ brain complexity does not increase the number of possible relationships. Furthermore, there is no clear difference in group size between apes and human hunter-gatherers[4] (although the quality of each relationship of course differs significantly). Studies of computer networks have given much higher numbers[5]. In addition, that animals have a particular group size does not necessarily mean they are cognitively unable to have a larger size, and statistical analysis requires a several further assumptions.
See the Wikipedia article on Behavioral sink. (on the adverse effects of excessive social density)
References [ edit ]The right music can evoke powerful emotions seemingly out of the blue, but under the influence of LSD the musical experience is enhanced even further. This according to the Beckley/Imperial Psychedelic Research Programme which tested this long held assumption under a modern placebo-controlled study for the very first time.
Ten healthy volunteers listened to five different tracks of instrumental music during each of two study days, a placebo day followed by an LSD day, separated by 5–7 days. After listening to each track, participants were asked to rate their experience on a visual analogue scale (VAS) and the nine-item Geneva Emotional Music Scale (GEMS-9). According to the participants’ subjective ratings, LSD enhanced the emotions they felt while listening to the instrumental tracks, particularly those described as “wonder”, “transcendence”, “power” and “tenderness”.
In the 1950 and 1960, LSD was still new and extensively studied with government-backing. Since it was made illegal, however, all the progress scientists made with the psychedelic substance was shelved, particularly the reported benefits in assisted psychotherapy. There’s evidence LSD therapy helps people quit alcohol or cigarettes, alleviate chronic anxiety and depression. It also reportedly enhances creativity. This latter claim is difficult to substantiate given that once LSD became illegal, the plug was pulled on research. We’re only recently beginning to pick up from where we left. The first LSD study in 40 years was reported just early this year.
Concerning the present findings, potential LSD assisted therapies (if they’re allowed) could make use of a selected tracklist to guide the patient. More smoothing when the experience might be too much or a favorite song that might evoke an essential memory for a breakthrough. After millions have tried the drug at least once recreationally, it’s now about time we test LSD in a control setting.
Enjoyed this article? Join 40,000+ subscribers to the ZME Science newsletter. Subscribe now!I rush in and follow the signs to the meeting room. I am relieved, I am not late. Not that I was giddy with anticipation or anything. I just hate walking into meetings that have already started. I see the company has provided doughnuts and coffee, but I don't grab anything. I was on a 3rd shift schedule, so I had been up already, and had had a chance to grab some breakfast. I look around and spot one of my coworkers. Kevin* had been working all night, all the way up to the meeting. I was fortunate, in that I had the night off and could sleep in before the meeting. I would have hated working the night before one of these meetings. They can be so long and monotonous.
While most of the associates in attendance had no idea what the meeting was about, I had a pretty good idea. A few months ago, I was checking on the company intranet to see if I had any "learning modules" to complete. I spotted a module that immediately made the hair on the back of my neck stand up-- "The Employee Free Choice Act". Uh oh, I thought. I clicked on it, and saw that it was not a regular module, but rather a page where you had to confirm you attended a meeting. I told some of my close coworker friends what was up, that we would probably have to attend one of the company's anti-union spiels. We were not looking forward to it, let me tell you. Most of us DESPISED the company, and everything it stood for.
So now, we are at last at the promised meeting. I see that Bill* and Charlie* are going to be leading the meeting/propaganda. Charlie is the local market's HR guy. He handles personnel issues concerning the local area, encompassing 9 stores (the market). Bill is also there. Bill is the actual market manager (IE, everyone's boss, including store managers). Bill is the kind of guy who loves to drop by his stores incognito, walk around for a while, and then find the managers and tell them how shitty they do their jobs. NOT everyone's favorite guy. Now, I like Charlie. He is a good guy, who actually cares about the associates. Whenever one of the associates has a problem with a manager, Charlie swoops in to let the manager know he better treat us right. I consider him to be an ally-- well, as much an ally as any Wal-Mart shill can be. Bill, is an enemy. Whenever he is in a room, you can be sure that bad things will follow.
We start off the with the excruciatingly long introductions. Everyone has to introduce themselves, the store they work at, and the department they supervise. After that, we finally get to the business at hand. Charlie gets right to the point. "How many of you have heard of the Employee Free Choice Act?" If my memory serves me right, no hands went up. I of course, knew what it was. But I didn't want to make it seem like I knew too much. No sense in being the class know-it-all when it might cost me my job down the road. He explains what the act does, changing the way union organizing drives are conducted. This is where Charlie and the truth part ways. From here on out, it's all lies.
The way Wal-Mart likes to scare associates away from organizing is to attack the union itself. In their brainwashing video, they show organizers as slick, professional bullshitters. Sort of like used car salesmen or ambulance-chasing lawyers. You can visualize the stereotype. They then show actors (I wonder if they are SAG actors?) posing as associates in hypothetical situations. In situation A, we are a happy, non-union store. In situation B, the evil union has taken the store over. The first hypothetical situation is about a spill in grocery. One associate asks another to guard a spill while he cleans it up. Ok, a normal everyday occurrence. Then we see what happens when THE EVIL EVIL UNION has taken control. The associate now says "We can't clean this spill, the maintenance workers are under a union contract. Only they are allowed to do this work. Further, for attempting to do this work in violation of the contract, you can be fined up to $20000". Uhhhh, WHAT!?!? I look around the room, to see if the room is actually buying this malarkey. Then in the next situation, the store manager and a supervisor are deciding on who would be a good associate to promote to department manager. No one has ever consulted ME on promotions, but whatever. Then we see what would happen if THE SATANIC BABY EATING UNION were in the store. Now the slimey shop steward is in the meeting, and he vetoes the store manager's suggestion for a promotion. Mr. shop steward then goes to tell the most senior member in the department (who coincidentally is also the most unpopular) that he has the job. Um, yeah sure. I bet if real unions had micromanaging power like that, GM, Ford, and Chrysler would not be up shit creek right now.
After the non-sense is over, Charlie goes into the politics of EFCA. This peaks my curiosity, as Wal-Mart has never discussed politics with the associates in an official capacity, as far as I know. He talks about the gains the Democrats made in the 2006 elections, and how they already tried to get EFCA passed (to help their union friends-- slimey!). The GOP filibustered, and Bush threatened a veto, so EFCA was dead for the moment. But there was a presidential election coming. "Now, I am not here to tell you how to vote. But if the election were to go the wrong way, we may end up having EFCA as the law of the land. Remember that when its time to vote." We all look around at each other. "Is he telling us how to vote?" Kevin asks, with a tint of anger in his voice. I see others whispering to one another. This was clearly controversial with the room. And I can't imagine what the African-Americans in the room must have been thinking, but none of them really spoke up in response. After that, the associates got more vocal. "Why don't you just give us better benefits?" "This is a rich company, why can't you pay the associates more?". Charlie had his pre-recorded talking points ready. Like how we must remain competitive, and other non-sense from the company that pulls in $400 billion in sales globally.
An eternity later (it was actually probably 2 hours), the meeting ends. We all shuffle back to our cars, so we can clock out and get the hell out of there. Some associates are still talking amongst themselves about what just transpired. But what was lingering in my brain was something Charlie said. Something that made my stomach sick. "To combat the union, we are having meetings with every level of the stores. We already had meetings with the salaried managers. We are currently conducting meetings with you supervisors. And soon, we will start having meetings with the hourly associates." I thought about all those hourly associates. People who have spent decades building this company. People who will now be subject to Wal-Mart's bünd meetings. People who have no skills, and so much to lose if they were to be fired. My friends. I felt powerless in that meeting. I wanted to stand up and scream "You are all damned liars and you know it!". But I kept silent. What good would it have done. Now, all over the country, thousands will know the cruelty of Wal-Mart intimidation and union-busting.
That is why it is so important that Congress and President Obama pass the Employee Free Choice Act. No one should have to live their lives feeling defeated and powerless. No one should have to hold their head low just to feed their families. This is not just about fair pay and health insurance. Its about dignity. Its about respect. Its about being able to go to work, without having to be afraid anymore.
Solidarity.
Names with asterisks were changed to protect people's anonymity (especially mine). I no longer work for Wal-Mart. I have since moved on (thank God) and can now feel safe telling my story. Thank you for reading.With Obama, we often got poetry. With Trump, we will be getting ad-speak. But rest assured: it will be big, bold and daring
The US was established with perhaps the most brilliant advertisement ever written, the Declaration of Independence, and president-elect Donald Trump is first and foremost a classic American salesman, in a tradition that includes Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt, Eugene O’Neill’s Hickey in The Iceman Cometh and, of course, Arthur Miller’s Willy Loman. Trump is always selling something, and he’s always pitching to get our attention with the “very special – so special” things he’s offering.
BETTER, BRIGHTER…
His speeches are peppered with meaningless references to the “tremendous potential” of the American people and the “better, brighter future” they will enjoy under his presidency.
As a salesman, Trump is always boosting himself (“I will not let you down”) and his likely performance (“we will do a great job”), rhetorical cliches underscored with “I mean that very, very sincerely”. Like any salesman, he uses passionate repetition – “very, very” or “so, so, so” – to emphasise his sincerity. To stress his bona fides in any political endeavour he will exaggerate his efforts, which invariably have been “very long, and very hard”, or more likely “very, very long, and very, very hard”. With Obama, we often got poetry. With Trump, we will be getting ad-speak.
THE AMERICAN DREAMER
Trump wants to focus his audience’s eyes on that supreme prize – the “renewal of the American dream”. Trump goes big on “dreams”, and that’s because “no dream is too big”. And because as a “very special” Trump dream it can never be “too big”; it has to be – and repeatedly so – “big and bold and daring”.
Once “the American dream” has become “big and bold and daring”, it graduates to being an almost sacred part of Trump’s salesman’s credo, and naturally becomes “a very, very beautiful thing”. If it’s not just “a beautiful thing”, it is inevitably also “a beautiful and successful thing”. And if, heaven forbid, it’s not “beautiful” or “successful”, it has to be “incredible and great” or “very, very great”, as in “our incredible and great movement” (aka Trump’s campaign).
“Great” is an adjective that punctuates a Trump sentence like a nervy rhetorical comma. His supporters are “great”. His surrogates, such as Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani, are to a person “great men”, or possibly, “incredible people”.
Surrounded by “great men”, it’s a short step to “great relationships”. Faithless Trump “really, really” loves “great relationships”.
I LOVE YOU
To secure great relationships, Trump will lavish his love and pride on his audiences. “I love you and I thank you” recurs repeatedly, interspersed with the proposition that “it’s been very, very special” or – that supreme Trump accolade – “unbelievable”, a marginally stronger accolade than his workaday “incredible”.
The things that Trump finds “unbelievable” are “truly, truly” mind-boggling. His support is “unbelievable”; his policies are “unbelievable”; the polls are “unbelievable”. Getting up in the morning for Trump must be a mind-blowing experience. Also quite unbelievably “unbelievable” are his wife, family, campaign and popular backing from “a tremendous number of many, many millions of truly wonderful – wonderful – people”.
I’M HONOURED
All of this makes him – unbelievably – humble. Trump is nothing if not “very, very honoured” about virtually anything that supports his ego, and its more extravagant fantasies. When and if he feels vindicated by independent approval from outside the Trump bubble, he will always be “so honoured” – a sentiment he will reinforce with “believe me”.
As a serial liar, Trump’s interpolated “believe me” is often varied with “let me just say – let me just say”, or “let me just tell you – let me explain – I have to say this – excuse me”.
Once Trump has embarked on “just saying” something “incredible”, he does not like to be interrupted or challenged. “Give me a break” and “excuse me” are regular conversational default positions, combined with a wheedling “I have to say this – I have to say”.
In the end, once his pitch is over and he has been confronted by the potential failure of his sale, Trump will revert to sentimental pathos: “So – so sad. So sad.”
For the US, it is.According to a position paper published by an Israeli non-partisan NGO, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), is “actively being counterproductive to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The paper, which was published by the independent political think-tank, the Institute for Zionist Strategies (IZS), argues that UNRWA facilities have been used for terrorist activity against civilians, and that UNRWA employees often are members of terrorist groups.
Additionally, the paper claims that UNRWA is financially and politically dependent on the continuation of the status-quo in the Mideast conflict, and therefore is not motivated by an actual desire to solve the problems of refugees.
The paper was composed and researched by Lt. Col. Nir Naaman, currently a Doctoral Student at Bar-Ilan University, for IZS. He cites news articles from the last decade, UN resolutions, national and governmental databases, and related academic literature as resources.
The report cites instances in which UNRWA was allegedly “caught” turning a blind eye to terrorist activities or even being fully involved in such activities, dating as far back as 1968, when an UNRWA camp was used as a training base for the PLO, then still an official terrorist organization.
More recently, the paper mentions cases during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, when Hamas terrorists opened fire on Israeli troops from UNRWA facilities, stored ammunition and missiles in UNRWA schools, and had numerous members on the UNRWA payroll.
Giving at least 10 specific examples of cases that cast doubt on UNRWA’s partiality and show links between the refugee organization and Hamas, the paper concludes that UNRWA’s activities should be halted, at least in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and that funds and duties be transferred to the legitimate Palestinian Authority and the International Refugee Organization (UNHCR).
Adi Arbel, Project Manager for the IZS, talked to Tazpit News Agency about the report.
“Our conclusion is that UNRWA causes more damage than good,” says Arbel. “In Gaza they have become a clear actor in the conflict rather than an impartial international relief organization.”
“The report presents proven factual cases,” said Arbel. “It names names of UNRWA officials, teachers, full employees who have been directly linked to Hamas, who have been caught by Israeli authorities in the act“.
One of the cases cited is a 2003 incident in which a number of Palestinian UNRWA employees were arrested and convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at an Israeli bus.
According to the paper, an FBI report was published this year claiming that dozens and maybe even hundreds of UNRWA employees are directly involved in terrorism. However, the FBI report itself was not cited or presented in the position paper.
“Much data has been collected over the years by the Israeli security forces, as well as during previous military operations such as Pillar of Defense and Cast Lead, corroborating an existing link between the Agency [UNRWA] and anti-Israeli aggressive activity, especially terrorism,” Arbel told Tazpit. “Ever since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2006, the Agency has become a kind of executive branch of Hamas, employing many of the terrorist organization’s own people.”
“[UNRWA] has existed for 65 years with the mandate to solve and relieve the refugees resulting from the war of independence [the 1948 war], however all it succeeded in doing is sustaining their refugee status indefinitely, perpetuating it. Even worse, they are de facto creating more and more refugees.”
According to international law, refugee status is granted to individuals displaced and unable to return home as a result of an ongoing armed conflict or disaster that puts them in mortal danger. The status is lifted with the return of the individual to his home or the naturalization and citizenship in a new location; it is not a hereditary status.
UNRWA has no definition for the term “refugee” in its founding charter, and has been able to define refugees in an ad hoc fashion for years, granting status to children and grandchildren of refugees and even people who have been accepted as citizens in other countries.
Arbel said, “with UNRWA, one can be a great grandchild of a Jordanian Arab who arrived in Palestine in ’46, then left in ’48 to go back to Jordan, now he has full Jordanian citizenship – and yet is still considered a Palestinian refugee with all that entitles.”
“They even receive benefits and tax exemptions from the Israeli government. Did you know that UNRWA is absolutely exempt from excise tax in Israel? One of our future plans is to promote sanctions on UNRWA, take away their benefits and discounts they get from Israel, at least until they stop being partial and cooperating with terrorists, and using their schools for one sided education which perpetuates the conflict,” added Arbel.
Christopher Gunness, director of Advocacy and Strategic Communication for UNRWA, spoke to Tazpit News Agency, responding to the IZS position paper.
“As for the missiles and munitions stored in our facilities during Protective Edge, the only reason they know about it is because it was us who discovered them, we released this information to the public to begin with. We were just as shocked and appalled by this discovery, acted with integrity, and issued a strong press release on the matter.”
On the accusation of UN |
and they’ll likely sport another color scheme, as Oakland goes green and the county adopts the Community Choice Aggregation Program.
At its Nov. 29 meeting, the City Council endorsed Councilman Dan Kalb and Mayor Libby Schaaf’s motion to sign onto the Community Choice Aggregation Program to end PG&E’s monopoly in much of Alameda County’s energy market.
The community choice program, envisioned to begin in a year’s time, promises to provide cleaner energy at a lower price than what’s available through PG&E, and provide hundreds of local jobs.
The proposal to sign onto the community choice planning process won 8-0 support from the council after 10 public speakers made their opinions known. There was not a dissenting voice to be heard.
With the council’s backing, and that of Hayward earlier in the evening, the community choice now has the county and 11 of its 14 cities, with only Pleasanton and Newark yet to get on board. The city of Alameda already has its own municipal power agency.
It is still a long way to the state’s goal to reduce greenhouse gases by a third by 2020 and by 50 percent by 2030, but the city is winning accolades for its efforts.
Ratings developed by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy ranked Oakland sixth among the 50 largest U.S. cities in the country for energy efficiency.
“The CCA is the single biggest action any city can take to address the climate change impacts of energy,” said Daniel Hamilton, the city’s sustainability manager.
Oakland has been down this road before, though. In 2005 the council agreed to look into a similar program, but four years later decided it was not feasible.
With renewable energy now less expensive, Alameda County on board, and the near-unanimous adoption of the plan by most cities in the county, the anticipated participation level of 90 percent is many times more than what is needed for the project to pencil out financially, Hamilton said in an email.
In 2014, the county took up the mantel, with Kalb representing Oakland on the 39-member steering committee.
Four scenarios will be considered once the new agency’s board of directors is seated in January. Those include: 1) only meeting the state’s minimum level of greenhouse gas reductions — 33 percent less by 2020, 50 percent less by 2030; 2) hitting a 50 percent reduction in the first year; 3) hitting 50 percent the first year and 80 percent by the fifth; or 4) reducing greenhouses gases by 50 percent in the first year and generating half of the agency’s renewable energy within the county by 2030 instead of buying it on the open market.
The options promise to create 165 to 579 full-time jobs, according to Hamilton’s presentation to the council. The majority of those jobs would be in the installation and maintenance of clean energy sources such as solar photovoltaic systems, he told the Tribune.
The communities served by the new power agency, the East Bay Clean Energy Authority, would be proportionately represented in its board of directors. At 25 percent of the customer base, Oakland is the biggest piece of the puzzle, and so also would have the loudest voice in the room, Hamilton said.
Individual customers, or the city as a whole, retain the ability to opt out of the plan before the power starts flowing, and can expect to receive three mailings describing the various processes for doing so, Hamilton said.
The agency’s localized management is expected to provide more public accountability than PG&E does, along with cleaner energy and jobs, according to Hamilton and a report by Oakland Director of Public Works Brooke Levin. It will cost individual Oakland customers an estimated $81 less a year, for a citywide savings of $20-$24 million a year, they said.
Oakland city government alone would cut $530,000 off its $7.58 million annual electricity cost, Hamilton said.
Those savings factor into estimates of hundreds of additional jobs promised beyond the 165 to 579 directly related to the project itself.
Levin’s report estimated 1,322 to 1,617 jobs would be created, as energy cost savings work their way through the economy.
Hamilton pointed out there is also language in the Joint Powers Agreement that governs community choice operations to assist potentially displaced workers with transitioning to clean energy jobs, although the plan is expected to be a job creator.
Energy from the new system would be distributed through existing PG&E infrastructure, he said.
Community choice programs are already operating in San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin and Sonoma counties.
“I think it’ll produce tremendous benefits in many respects for all of us in Oakland,” Kalb told his colleagues.
Contact Mark Hedin at 501-293-2452, 408-759-2132 or mhedin@bayareanewsgroup.com.Looking for news you can trust?
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As the White House considers opening operating bases in Iraq and deploying troops to bolster support for Iraqi forces against ISIS, including one in ISIS-held territory, the cost of airstrikes in the region continues its steady rise.
The Department of Defense has spent more than $2.7 billion—some $9 million per day—since the United States began operations against the so-called Islamic State last August. To put that in perspective, the DOD is on pace to spend a little more than $14 million per day to combat ISIS in fiscal year 2015. That’s minuscule compared to the roughly $187 million the Defense Department is still spending on the Iraq War each day.
The result? More than 6,200 targets damaged or destroyed in the course of nine months, according to the DOD. Roughly two-thirds of that spending, or a little more than $1.8 billion, came from the Air Force, with air operations costing $5 million per day.
The newly released DOD data comes as the House passed a $579 billion defense spending bill for the coming fiscal year. Here’s the breakdown:The NFL draft is April 28-30. Combine and pro days are over, leaving only individual predraft workouts and visits before the big event for prospects.
The Broncos have made moves to bolster their roster, but key contributors can always be found in the draft.
Here is the second edition of my mock draft:
Round 1, pick 31: Robert Nkemdiche, DE, Ole Miss; 6-foot-3, 294 pounds.
My last mock draft had the Broncos taking Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook with the first pick, and I still believe that’s a reasonable possibility. But I’m starting to get the feel he may not even be there when Denver selects at No. 31. There are always more quarterback-needy teams than there are quarterbacks.
With this selection the Broncos reel in Nkemdiche, one of the most talented, yet polarizing prospects in the NFL draft. He shows incredible power, explosiveness and a relentless presence in opponent’s backfields — 26 quarterback pressures in 2015.
Nkemdiche has off-the-field issues involving an arrest for marijuana possession when he fell out of a hotel window before the Rebels’ bowl game. His talent also didn’t quite match his production — seven sacks over three years. He worked primarily as the Rebels’ defensive tackle, but likely would be a defensive end with the ability to move inside on the Broncos’ defense.
“Just watch his Alabama tape against the best team in college football, he was dominant,” Mike Mayock of the NFL Network said in February. “Off that one tape, if he didn’t have any off-the-field issues and if he’d played that hard every week, we’d be talking about him as the first pick in this draft.
“That’s how talented he is, and that’s how much upside he has. However, once you factor in the inconsistency from snap to snap and game to game and the off-the-field situations, then you get into, how do you measure this kid? At what point does the risk justify the reward?”
At No. 31, the reward of getting a top-five talent might justify the risk. The Broncos have the sort of coaching staff and locker room that helped get outside linebacker Von Miller back on track; can they do the same with Nkemdiche?
Previous pick: Cook
Round 2, pick 63: Dak Prescott, QB, Mississippi State; 6-2, 226.
Prescott was an athletic playmaker in college, throwing for 3,793 yards, 29 touchdown and five interceptions. He also rushed for 588 yards and 10 touchdowns during his senior season. He showed dramatic improvement in throwing mechanics throughout his college career transitioning from a red-zone running quarterback to an accurate pocket passer, completing 66.2 percent of his passes his senior season.
He was arrested for driving under the influence in Starkville, Miss., two days after his pro day.
Prescott would be a good fit in Gary Kubiak’s system, and the Broncos had him in for a predraft visit at the beginning of the month. He’s a bit raw, so he might not be able to start from Week 1.
With a year or two of seasoning and footwork improvements, Prescott could become Denver’s franchise quarterback. Former Eagles quarterback and ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski compared Prescott to a young Donovan McNabb coming out of Syracuse.
Previous pick: Adolphus Washington, DE, Ohio State
Round 3, pick 94: Dominique Alexander, LB, Oklahoma; 6-0, 232.
The Broncos’ most underrated departure this offseason is linebacker Danny Trevathan, Denver’s leading tackler two of the past three seasons. Late on day two of they draft, they select a potential replacement.
Alexander was one of the best coverage inside linebackers in college football last season. He allowed only 13 receptions for 141 yards on the season or one reception per every 34.5 plays in pass coverage, according to Pro Football Focus.
A bit undersized for a 3-4 inside linebacker seems like a broken record with all of the Broncos’ players at the position. If he can show the strength and ability to get off blocks consistently, Alexander could compete for a starting job with Todd Davis, Corey Nelson and Zaire Anderson.
Previous pick: Christian Westerman, G, Arizona State
Round 3, pick 98: Justin Simmons, S, Boston College; 6-2, 202.
Simmons is the perfect example of a do-your-job player who would fit well in the Broncos’ no-fly zone. His size, speed and athletic ability were apparent when Simmons shined at the combine, but put on the tape and those traits hold up.
He’s a character guy, who played a lot of the deep safety role for Boston College’s No. 1-ranked defense. He has cornerback and safety experience, but fits best as a free safety in the NFL. He made five interceptions and forced two fumbles in 2015.
Simmons would give the Broncos much-needed depth behind T.J. Ward and Darian Stewart as the team’s third safety, with a good chance of immediately playing the role David Bruton played on defense and special teams last season. The Broncos expressed interest in Simmons at the combine.
Previous pick: Paul Perkins, UCLA
Round 4, pick 136: Spencer Drango, G-OT, Baylor; 6-6, 315.
Drango’s accomplishments are about as good as any offensive lineman in this draft. He was a four-year starter at left tackle for the Bears and won Big 12 offensive lineman of the year in 2014 and 2015. He also was named an All-American during his junior and senior seasons.
The problem comes when looking to project him to the NFL. He might have to switch to guard because of a lack of athleticism and lower body strength.
This is one where you hope the tape tells the truth and you get an immediate key reserve who can compete for a starting job at guard or right tackle. Drango didn’t allow a sack last season, according to PFF.
Previous pick: Miles Killebrew, S, Southern Utah
Round 5, pick 145: Rashard Robinson, CB, LSU; 6-1, 171.
Once you get into the third day of the draft, teams are more likely to draft for potential. Cornerback might be the deepest position on the Broncos’ roster. But there’s always room for guys who can play.
Every year teams go in looking for a guy in the later rounds who could be a future star. Robinson could be that kind of player. He hasn’t played organized football in two years after being kicked off LSU’s football team in 2014 for multiple violations of team rules.
Robinson has starting cornerback potential. He showed off strong man-to-man coverage skills as a freshman and sophomore with the speed, length and athleticism NFL teams salivate over. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.49 seconds at the combine, then in 4.43 at LSU’s pro day. He visited with the Broncos at the combine and on a predraft visit last month.
Previous pick: Tajae Sharpe, Massachusetts
Round 5, pick 157: Ben Braunecker, TE, Harvard; 6-3, 250.
This isn’t a great draft for tight ends. There might be fewer than 10 tight ends drafted, and none of them really has star potential.
Braunecker is intriguing. He dominated his competition with 48 catches, 850 yards and eight touchdowns as a senior, but played in the Ivy League. The biggest question is how he can adjust to NFL linebackers and safeties. He ranked in the top five of tight ends in nearly every significant testing category at the combine.
His best skill set is as a receiving tight end, but if he can play fullback, it would allow the Broncos to fill two spots with one player and give him a better shot of making the team.
Previous pick: None
Round 6, pick 219: Tyler Ervin, RB, San Jose State; 5-10, 192.
The Broncos don’t need a bell cow now that C.J. Anderson is locked up long term, but they could use some depth and explosiveness out of the backfield.
Ervin provides a triple threat as a runner, receiver and returner that teams often seek out of third-day prospects. He could excel as a quick, shifty change-of-pace back. Ervin is a smart runner and a lot more physical than his body type would indicate.
He also returned three kickoffs for touchdowns in two seasons.
Previous pick: Terrance Smith, Florida State
Round 7, pick 228: Farrington Huguenin, DE, Kentucky; 6-4, 282.
Why not grab another player at the deepest position in the draft? Huguenin likely won’t be a star, maybe not even a starter, but if he makes the team he could provide depth, especially as a run stuffer at defensive end.
He flashed his athleticism and power at times, but Broncos defensive line coach Bill Kollar could get the most out of him as a practice squad player or rotational defensive end if he were to make the 53-man roster.
Previous pick: Anthony Zettel, Penn State
Round 7, pick 253: Max McCaffrey, WR, Duke; 6-2, 200.
Another McCaffrey in Denver, this time as Mr. Irrelevant. The last name is sure to conjure up exciting memories. Max can play. The former Valor Christian star showed off good hands and reliability as a three-year starter for the Blue Devils. He led Duke in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns last season.
McCaffrey ran the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds at his pro day. He’s another player who could secure a practice-squad spot or possibly steal a spot on the final roster with an impressive training camp.
Previous pick: Tre’von Stewart, Houston
Cameron Wolfe: cwolfe@denverpost.com or @cameronwolfeHistory may be written by the victors, but who gets top billing? South Africa's ruling African National Congress, one of the most famous political movements in history, has been accused of "airbrushing people out" of the liberation past as it prepares to celebrate its centenary.
The ANC, the oldest liberation movement in Africa, turns 100 years old next Sunday, the cue for year-long commemorations costing 100m rand (£7.8m).
While no one questions the central role of Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders in winning freedom from racial apartheid in 1994, rival political organisations and various commentators say the anniversary will be manipulated to sideline the contributions of others.
"The ANC are rewriting history," said Allister Sparks, a veteran journalist and analyst and the co-author of Tutu: The Authorised Portrait. "They're airbrushing people out. I don't know of a street named after Desmond Tutu, and he was effectively the leader [of the anti-apartheid movement] for 15 years. I'm not trying to belittle the ANC, but they didn't do it all."
The ANC was founded at a meeting of black activists and intellectuals in a Bloemfontein church in 1912. It resisted white minority rule, was banned in 1960 and launched an armed struggle a year later. After the arrest of Mandela and others, its leaders continued their work in exile and lobbied for international sanctions that ultimately helped topple the apartheid regime. Mandela was released in 1990, and when the first democratic, multiracial elections were held four years later the ANC won by a landslide.
Today visitors to South Africa could be forgiven for thinking the credit belongs to the ANC alone. Johannesburg, for example, has a Mandela House museum, Nelson Mandela Bridge, the Mandela Theatre and a six-metre-high bronze statue of Mandela in Nelson Mandela Square. But this narrative overlooks the role of others in events such as the Sharpeville massacre and the Soweto student uprising as well as that of churches, trade unions and giant personalities, including black nationalist leader Robert Sobukwe, liberal opposition MP Helen Suzman and Black Consciousness founder Steve Biko.
Archbishop Emeritus Tutu recently attacked the ANC for neglecting the influence of church leaders during the struggle. "The trouble is that the ANC on the whole reckons that the freedom we enjoy is due to them," he said. "Everyone else is just a sideline." Referring to a state-of-the-nation address by President Jacob Zuma, Tutu continued: "I sat in the audience and listened to this president paying tribute to all the people who had helped to bring about democracy in the country. This president did not mention a single religious leader." Church leaders had encouraged up to 30,000 people at a time to march against apartheid, he added. "There was a time when the people leading the struggle were religious leaders. Let the ANC know, they cannot airbrush us out."
There has also been criticism from the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), a black nationalist movement that broke from the ANC in 1959. It organised the 1960 protest march in Sharpeville, where police fired on an unarmed crowd, killing 69, a defining moment in liberation history. But on the 50th anniversary of the massacre, ANC youth leader Julius Malema claimed that the memory of Sharpeville belonged to the ANC.
The PAC's forgotten role was the subject of further controversy last week when the ANC and the media were accused of ignoring the fact that the majority of political prisoners hanged by the apartheid government belonged to the party. Sam Ditshego, of the Pan Africanist Research Institute, wrote: "Many people are not aware that the first political prisoners on Robben Island were PAC members and that the longest-serving political prisoner on Robben Island was a PAC founding member, the late Jafta Masemola. PAC political prisoners were treated more harshly than ANC political prisoners on Robben Island. Please allow PAC members to tell our story. The media and the ANC are guilty of lying by omission."
PAC founder Sobukwe is given little tribute, apart from a brief description to tourists outside his prison on Robben Island. In South Africa's last general election, the ANC polled 65.9%, while the PAC received 0.27%.
The jamboree around the ANC's centenary contrasts sharply with the failure to mark modern South Africa's own centenary two years ago. Even the deputy president, Kgalema Motlanthe, admitted at the time that he was astonished by the "deafening silence" around the 100th anniversary of the Union of South Africa.
Opposition parties have raised concerns that public funds and other resources may be used for a party political event. The ANC has reportedly spent 10m rand of taxpayers' money to buy back the church where its founding fathers met in 1912 so that Zuma can light a "centenary flame" there.
Political activist Andile Mngxitama, co-editor of Biko Lives!, said the centenary would expose how the ANC marginalises rival groups. "They are going to play on the idea they were the sole liberator of our country. They're not going to acknowledge Black Consciousness, the Pan Africanist Congress, the independent voices of students. This is the last shot they have at maintaining a hegemony over society."
The ANC needs to trade on its heroic past to conceal its present failings, he added. "Our government lacks this little thing called black consciousness. If they had it, they would be building better houses, better schools and better transport. Instead they have affirmed the idea of black inferiority. History has been used as a cover-up for the failure to provide basic services to our people. I think it's a tragedy that history has been abused like this, to the point that children will laugh at it and spit at it."
The ANC denies that it is hijacking South Africa's struggle history. Jackson Mthembu, its national spokesperson, acknowledged that the party did not act alone and said Tutu and other leading figures have been invited to its celebrations. "We played a prominent part, no question about it, but that doesn't mean there were no Bikos."
But he added: "When you celebrate 100 years of the ANC, it's 100 years of the struggle in this country. You cannot include those who were not part of the ANC. It does not make sense. If we celebrated leaders who were not ANC, we would then be blamed for taking over the PAC. We expect the PAC to celebrate its leaders and we will be there. They can't blame another organisation because they don't have the capacity."WARNING: Your knowledge of spirits will increase drastically and might turn you into a full-blown "Whisky Snob". Your friends will stop calling you, because you will be prone to telling them every single detail you know about the drink they are having (or thinking of having), how they don't sip right, how they should lean their noses into the glass and how they are not ordering the right stuff. "Trust me...I know" you'll be saying as friends will flee away from you. You might start feeling all alone in the world, the only one who drinks right...the one true aficionado. But in this new life of solitude and isolation, you will find yourself again and come back a humbler person, living love and being loved. Casual by day, aficionado vigilante by night. Just remember, it's a journey.Dear 12-year-old Rio,
Keep walking.
Keep your head down.
And just keep walking.
The pitch is just on the other side of the path. Only 100 yards away. Not much farther to go. You just have to get through this gypsy camp. People are gonna call out to you. They’re gonna say shit when you walk by. You know what these camps are like. They’re hairy. They’re dangerous. And filled with dogs. I know, you hate dogs.
Just keep your head down and keep walking.
Gavin, your best mate, heard about this park — and more important he heard about the guys that play there.
“They’re meant to be wicked,” Gavin says.
And when you finally get to the hole in the chain link fence, pull back the barbed wire and climb through to get to the pitch at Burgess Park, it is going be worth it, mate.
But you’re not going to get to play right away. You’re going to have to prove yourself. Twenty-five, 30 guys are already there and they’re not interested in having some skinny kids on the field with them. These are big, grown men. So it’s all about who’s the most aggressive, who’s the loudest. And right now, that’s not gonna be you.
Rio Ferdinand
But keep going back. Every week, just go. Even if you only sit on the side. Even if you only kick the ball about with Gavin. They just need to notice you once. And one day, they finally will.
“Oi, kid,” one of the guys will call to you. “Wanna play some football?”
And you’re going to play football. And you’re going to play against real men. These are big African guys — Nigerians, Ghanaians — fast, strong guys. And they’re going kick the hell out of you. If you hold onto the ball for too long — bam! — they’ll knock you down without even thinking about it.
Don’t cry. Don’t show emotion. Don’t say anything. You want to go mad, but this isn’t like playing against one of your friends, where you can clap back, “What you doin’?” You’re dealing with big guys and all of their mates, so keep yourself in check.
You’re going to get tackled and you’re going to get pushed to the ground. You’re going to think to yourself, Man, I don’t know if I should be here…
But listen to me, Rio. When this happens, I want you to do two things.
Get up.
Then, look right back at them and say, “Gimme the ball again.”
Learn and work.
Because those are the moments that are going to make you better. Not your youth league matches, where you’re the quickest and the fastest boy on the pitch. Those are all well and good, but they’re not going to do much for you. They’re just posh, cupcake shit. So after you get home from those matches, don’t even put your kit bag away. Take it, take your shit hand-me-down boots, take Gavin, and get over to Burgess Park.
(But don’t tell Mum where you’re going, because she’ll go fucking ballistic, man. You gotta sneak off.)
Test yourself. Push yourself.
Nothing will feel better than when you walk off one day and hear them say, “Hey, he’s awright him, i’n’t he? He can play.”
Them Sundays, just kicking about, will give you so much satisfaction. I’m telling ya, there’s going to be nothing better than those three hours when you’re out there. Just a skinny boy, proving yourself to these grown men.
Every week is going to be like walking into a lion’s den, man. This is their territory. They created it. They’ve got their music playing, their cars all circled around — old Escorts and shit like that, they’re no bangers or Mercedes.
But I’ll say it again, this is when you’re going to really learn how to be a footballer. You’re gonna work out different parts of the jigsaw. Because you’re not bigger than these guys and you’re not faster than them. These guys are brutes, man, pure brutes. So what are you gonna do?
Rio Ferdinand
Well, you’re going to figure it out.
I’ve got to pass then run.
I’ve got to bring him to me, and play or do a bit of a skill.
Just do not hold onto the ball. Or you’ll have 20 African men yelling at you.
“Pass your ball! Pass your ball!”
Fucking hell, man, they’ll go on and on about passing. They’ll even kick some of your friends out for not passing enough.
“You friend is shit,” they’ll tell you. “Why are you bringing that guy for?”
And they’re right. This isn’t the time for playing about with friends. You know that.
You know that this will make you better. It’ll create a steeliness inside of you. Not just on the pitch, but off of it, as well. You’ll know that you have to sacrifice, that you can’t just stay at home with Mum after your league game.
That you have go back out so you can become a proper footballer.
Football is your only way to get out of that place. All the negativity — the gangs, the shootings, the stabbings — all of that kind of shit. It’s a mad area, Peckham. I mean it’s home. Good mates. Good memories. It’ll make you who you are. But it’ll make you want something more. You’ll want better for yourself, for Mum, for Dad, for your little brothers and sisters.
Use football to get them out of there. When you sign your first contract and arrive at West Ham’s academy, know that’s why you’re doing it. You love football, of course. But always remember what it can do for you and your family.
And whatever you do, don’t take too long after school to get to training.
You’ve only got 20 minutes.
Twenty minutes to fuck about with your friends. Twenty minutes to chat to chicks. But after that window, get yourself to the train. And then the bus. And then the tube. And then on another train. And on another bus.
There’s going to be plenty of guys at the academy for West Ham — some better than you, but they won’t have your discipline, they won’t turn up. They’re not going to make it. So for right now, stay driven, stay determined.
Because when you finally make it up to the senior side at West Ham, it’s gonna be fun.
Probably a little too much fun.
London’s a big city, and you’ve got friends there. You’re a professional footballer now, so there’s parties, there’s opening events, there’s anything you could want at your fingertips. It’s like being a kid in a sweet shop.
At 18, boy, you’re going to lose that discipline. You’re going to get into some trouble. You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to be just what you are — or just what people expect you to be — a boy from Peckham.
And it’s going to cost you. Specifically, a spot on the national team at the 2000 Euros. A spot you should’ve easily had. You’ve done all this work, and it’s about to slip away.
I bet you’re expecting me to tell you not to get sucked in, to stay away from all that shit. Well, I’m not. Because here’s the thing, it’s going to help you in the long run. You need that embarrassment. You need your pride knocked down a bit. And when it comes time a few years later and you get a call from Chelsea showing real interest, you need to do something that’s probably going to sound crazy.
You need to get out of London.
And you need to sign with Leeds.
I know. But right now, it’s not about money or trophies. It’s not about clubs and status. It’s about getting out of London. Detaching yourself from it all. Going somewhere where you can just concentrate on being a footballer. Going somewhere that isn’t London.
It’s about truly becoming a professional. And at Leeds, mate, you will.
You’ll always be a London boy, but Leeds is going to be a special place for you. It’s a one-club city. And that’s really going to mean something. It’s a unique responsibility and it’s the only time you’ll experience that. More important, you’ll get your discipline back. In two years time, you will’ve become captain and help take the side to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Alex Livesey /Allsport/Getty Images
Playing for Leeds will be the best decision you’ll ever make.
And you’ll finally get your spot on a World Cup squad. Something’s going to happen at the 2002 tournament, and honestly, it wouldn’t have happened without Leeds. You’re going to become a leader and you’re going to learn.
How will you know when you’re a leader? You’ll know when you start driving Nicky Butt mental.
“Rio! Fucking shut up, all I can hear is you shouting!”
And that’s when you’ll know.
Yes, I know what I’m doing.
For years, coaches told you that you needed to talk more, that you’re the one who drives the team. At the World Cup, it’s like something dropped and you finally understand. You’ll become confident and you’ll know what your role is out there and the roles around you. Know what a right back does to make your job easier. Know what a midfielder’s job is to make the team more efficient. Game knowledge. Maturity. And you’ll find your voice on the pitch.
“I want you left!”
“Drop five!”
“Hold the ball up!”
“Oi! Fucking take your chances!”
But you’re going to need to learn another lesson.
You’ve done a pretty good job of keeping your emotions out of your game. That’s something you learned from the guys at Burgess Park. Man, if you could only tell them the effect they had…
But, you’re gonna let that slip as well.
When you line up on the touch line with your England strip on for the quarterfinal against Brazil, you’re going to be bursting with emotion. You’ll look over and see just … pure fucking legends, man. Ronaldo. Rivaldo. Ronaldinho. You’ll look up in the stands and see your mum, your dad, your girlfriend, your friends and family.
And then the national anthem’ll start.
You know that tough, never-cried kid from Peckham?
He’s gonna start welling up and crying right there and then. And it’s gonna do you in. You’ll have no impact on the game whatsoever. Before it even started, you’ll have already took yourself out of it. Out of where you needed to be — focusing on the game.
England will lose, 2-1.
Alex Livesey/Getty Images
When you walk off the pitch, you’ll tell yourself something that will change the rest of your career.
From this day, I will never, ever enjoy or get involved in the emotions of the game.
It’s a tough one, but this realization is perfectly timed. Because a club is gonna come calling after the World Cup that will be the place for this mentality.
Manchester. United.
And you’re ready for this call. Because after that summer, it’s going to be time for something else. The need to win. That’s what’s going to drive you now. The hunt for hardware.
It’s not going to be about enjoying football. It’s not about having fun anymore. No. This time, enjoy the work. Enjoy the graft. Enjoy the competition.
And win.
With Manchester United, you’re gonna win.
Why? Because you’re going to be with players who are just like you’ve learned to be. Players who won’t get caught up in the hype, in the attention, in the drama. Players who will sit in the dressing room, even after a big win and say, “Worked hard, man. Three points. All right, who we got next week? Who’ve they got at center-forward?”
That’s the mentality through and through at Old Trafford. Giggs. Scholes. Beckham. Ronaldo. Rooney.
On to the next.
You’ll have sat across from these United lads at England camps before you joined the club. And you’ll look at them and what they’ve done.
Fuck, man, he’s got medals. And I ain’t got nothing.
You’ll feel like your hunger was made for Old Trafford. Be a sponge and take it all in. On your first day, go into the changing room and look around.
He’s got three Premier League titles.
He’s got four.
He’s got five.
He’s got two.
I need to get to work. Now.
Jamie McDonald/Getty Images
Look at the guys you’re playing with now. Because they’ll be looking right back at you, expecting you to step up.
During one of your first training sessions with United, the ball will come to you. You’ll play to the right back, who’s about 10, 15 yards to your side. And then you’ll hear Roy Keane.
“What you doin’? This is Manchester United!” he’ll scream back at you. “Take some chances! Pass the ball forward!”
For the next couple weeks, you’ll walk around thinking, What the fuck’s he chattin’ about? He’s fucking crazy….
But that’s the edge. That’s how you win — consistently. By taking chances. Not just the strikers, but the center halves, the center backs, all need to create. So take those risks, put the ball through the lines.
Gary M. Prior/Getty Images
You’ll know how to work hard. It’ll be just like going up against those guys at Burgess. Except this time, you’re not the skinny boy anymore.
At United, you’re going to learn from the best. And there’s a standard there. You ain’t just going to go there and fanny your way through. If Keane and Giggsy are staying out to train for an extra 20 minutes, then you, with zero medals better be out there for longer. And get out earlier than them. That’s the work ethic at United. And it’s going to pay off.
That first Premier League title though? It’s like Mount Everest, man. It’s going to be a draining, long, hard, fought-out season. The injuries, the travelling.
But that’s why you came to Man United. And as soon as it happens, you and the lads are already looking for the next one.
When you win the League Cup, the whole stadium will go mental. You’ll get back to the dressing room and with the mood in there, you’d think you just drew a game in the Premier League. The fucking loneliest person in the room will be the trophy. Just sitting in the corner. No one taking pictures of it or nothing. You’re all just quiet and going on like it was a normal game.
No emotion.
Some other guys will come through the club and think it’s strange. But this is what will make you lads successful. Not the fucking parades that everyone’s throwing nowadays. Parades? Parades?
You’re not playing for fucking a parade, man.
You’re not playing for newspapers to write about how great you are.
You’re playing for trophies.
So play for the big one. Champions League. I’ll admit it, there’s going to come a point when even you think this one just ain’t going to happen. Getting knocked out at the semi-finals with Leeds and then again with Man United — Maybe, this ain’t meant to be, you’ll think.
But here’s the thing |
me and be like, Oh, you're ignoring what's happening in the world ’cause you don't want negativity in your head. That seems very selfish. Maybe it is. I don't know. It's not like I was reading it and then, like, immediately taking action in a way that was helping to fix problems. I can still cut checks without reading the articles. I cut my checks, man! [laughs]
Are you a religious person? A spiritual person?
I don't know.
What do you think happens when you die?
I don't know.
Well, no one knows. But what do you think?
I think you either rot in the ground or maybe find out life is a simulation. Who knows? I don't think about things like that. To me there's no point.
There are plenty of points, though! Curiosity being the first one.
I'm curious, but it's all just massive speculation. I think it's more fun to think about whether life's a simulation than to think about what happens when you die. I love the “Life is a simulation” argument. The idea that you can foresee a future where we'd be able to create worlds that would be indistinguishable from ours. So that means that if that technology exists, they would make millions of these worlds to test all sorts of different things, right? And if that was the case, there's millions of realities. How can we possibly think we're in the one real one? In all likelihood, we're in one of the fake ones. For all we know, this could be a simulation for some executive to be like, If we gave an Indian guy a show, it would resonate with people! And they ran the simulation and we're living it and we're just sims. And they decided to green-light Master of None in the real world.
Okay. Let's say you were running the simulation. What would you change about this reality?
I wouldn't change much. I would probably adjust my personal life to be in a loving relationship, and I'd probably adjust it so I got to spend more time with my parents. And I would create teleportation, so I could see people quickly without worrying about travel. I'm very happy. That's another reason I don't really care about work stuff. Look, the conventional wisdom is you come off a win like I had with season two, now you can do another thing. But I've had that high, twice now, of making something I really care about, that I really believe in, that I'm really inspired by, and having people respond to it. I'd rather figure out other things in my life that I don't feel as good about. I don't feel as good about my personal life as I do my professional life.
Why not?
Because I haven't invested in my personal life the way that I have in my professional life. I'm way more dedicated to my professional life. And I realized that recently, you know?
Are you currently single?
[Nods]
Describe Aziz Ansari's dream girl.
Someone I would be thrilled to do nothing with who would be as equally thrilled to do nothing with me.
Have you ever said that line before?
I've said the first part, but I added the second part just now.
I have to be honest, my man. I'm surprised at how sad you sound. It's a beautiful night in Paris, France, you have the hottest thing streaming, suede loafers on your feet... You don't seem like someone who has the world by the balls, you know?
I got the world by the balls professionally. Personally, I'm alone right now. And when you have the world by the balls professionally, the balls disintegrate and then you gotta find new balls when you're inspired again. So right now, I have it by the balls, but I'm feeling it slowly going away and I'm worried about finding new balls. But another part of me is like, You don't need to find new balls. The new balls will come when they need to come. Live your life, experience things, and balls will always come your way.
Aziz Ansari looking for balls.
Looking for balls!
Do you want kids?
I think I want to meet someone I want to have that discussion with. Wait! Let's go back to the balls! What would you think I would do if I felt more sure of myself? Like, I feel pretty confident. I'm not trying to get into a relationship right away. I'm trying to get mature and evolve as a person. Even cutting out the Internet and social-media stuff, and reading more, is a good step in the right direction.
Suit jacket, $3,200, pants, $950, by Gucci / Shirt, $730 by Berluti / Ring, vintage / Watch by Rolex / Sunglasses from Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello
Do other comics ever pressure you to do more?
I got lunch with Bobby Cannavale, who plays Chef Jeff, and Louis C.K. was there. And I say hi to Louis, and he's like, Yeah, I'm shooting something. And I'm like, Fuck, man! He's, like, making something he's excited about. So then I'm like: What am I doing? I need to make something! I need to make something again! You know? Or I walk by and I see posters for Chappelle's shows at Radio City. I'm like, I need to do shows! What am I doing? I need to write a new stand-up set! But if I'm in Italy, I don't think about any of that shit. I see an old man riding a bike and I'm like, That looks nice.
That makes sense.
I hope more people get very successful and then quit. Shouldn't that be the game? That you make a bunch of money and just move to Italy and live a quiet life? No one does it! You do a bunch of shit and you just want to do more shit. Tom Cruise! Look at that guy! He will not stop. He's still making these fucking movies. No one who does what I do—or anywhere related in my world—is ever like, I'm done. That's why I travel so much. I always think about this thing someone once told me. They said, Patterns are the work of the devil. For some reason that stuck in my head. And I don't even know if it's true.
Who said that to you?
I don't want to say. Because it's…I mean, I guess I can tell you. Diane Sawyer said that to me... She said, You're falling into a pattern, and patterns are the work of the devil.
What is it about Italy?
I just love the culture. It just clicks with me. I love spritzes, I love espresso. I feel like I've talked about pasta too much, but I do like pasta. I just love their whole attitude toward life.
With dinner over, we leave the restaurant and start walking to the Ferris wheel.
Maybe we should grab some candy for our walk. What's your favorite candy?
I don't eat a ton of candy, but I like orange Starbursts.
That's definitely the worst flavor, man.
People like orange! By the way, if you put this in the article, you realize I will get a fucking massive packet of Starbursts sent to me.
You're welcome?
I don't want them! If you're reading this, Starbursts social-media person, please don't send me the Starbursts. Send them to some needy children that need Starbursts.
What's your favorite thing that you've been mailed unsolicited?
My favorite thing anyone ever gave me unsolicited was one time I did a show at the Largo in Los Angeles, and this woman gave me a painting of Soulja Boy. And I still have it. It's Soulja Boy just kind of looking out the window. It's incredible. What fragrance are you wearing?
Tom Ford Oud Wood.
Whoa. So someone gave me that recently. But I put it on—I think it smells great—and it just went away. How do you put it on? I need your spray technique.
Tom Ford once told me in an interview that you can never spray too much of a good cologne.
I mean, that can't be right. [laughs]
He takes so many baths a day, I'm sure he always smells amazing.
That's a thing I'm into!
Baths?
Baths! I'm really into soaking tubs.
How difficult was it being a young Indian kid growing up in South Carolina?
You know, people always ask me that, and it's not the answer people expect. It was so different back then. If I was growing up there now, being the only Indian or brown-looking kid, I think it'd be a nightmare, because of all the Islamophobia. But none of that existed back then. They didn't have much to make fun of me with, and they'd never really met any other minorities. Plus, I grew up with all these people since, like, kindergarten, so they all just knew me.
That's ironic, really. American Muslims are probably the only minority who, if you turn back the clock, would be treated better in America.
Much better! Wait! You didn't tell me your cologne-spray technique. I've gotta get the black-dude cologne-spray strategy. I feel like black dudes always smell good, and they somehow are doing a different spray technique than I'm doing.
Who's the best-smelling black dude—myself excluded—that you've ever smelled?
Ginuwine smells really good. He did Parks and Rec and…he smelled really good every time I ran into him.
Did you ask him what cologne he was wearing?
I didn't ask. Q-Tip smells really good! I asked him what cologne he was wearing once. And he was like, Oh, you know, and he walked away. He didn't want to tell me.
What's the best advice you've received as of late?
I was talking to Spike Jonze the other day, and he was like, Yeah, I'm not really doing anything right now. My rule is, if it's not more fun than going surfing, I'm not gonna do it. I love when I say no to everything. [laughs]
But are you afraid to let too much time go by? Are you afraid to miss your wave?
Undeniable is undeniable.… And I'm not gonna make something else until I think it's undeniable.
Mark Anthony Green is GQ's Style Guy.
This story appears in the Fall 2017 issue of GQ Style with the title “Master Class.”
Watch Now:
Aziz Ansari Shows Us What’s in His Trusty Travel BackpackThere’s a new book to speed up your knowledge of OpenStack Neutron. The second edition of "Learning OpenStack Networking (Neutron)," is coming down the pike with updates and additional chapters.
Author James Denton, principal architect at Rackspace, has had his work cut out for him since the October 2014 edition launched. This 329-page manual available now from Packt Publishing promises to help readers "wield the power" of networking in OpenStack.
Superuser talked to Denton about why networking is taking center stage now, eliminating pain points in the Neutron project and his favorite resources for learning about OpenStack.
What are the most significant updates to this edition of the book?
The second edition is based on features available as of the Kilo release and includes a few new chapters that cover:
• L3 High Availability using Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)
• Distributed Virtual Routing
• VPN as-a-service
In addition, Security Groups and firewall-as-a-service have been broken out into their own chapters, each with new and/or enhanced diagrams and figures to better explain their respective concepts and functionality. The concepts described in the book apply to the Liberty release as well, but there many be minor differences in implementation along with additional functionality compared to Kilo.
Holy crap: @jimmdenton is a golden god. I'm reading his book on Neutron networking in #OpenStack…and NEUTRON IS STARTING TO MAKE SENSE. — Saint Aardvark (@saintaardvark) May 20, 2015
What was your reaction when Neutron was called out in the Tokyo Summit keynote as the most active project in OpenStack?
Neutron has been called out numerous times over the last two years as a major pain point in architecting and operating an OpenStack cloud.
It’s no surprise that Neutron was noted as the most active project this time around, considering all of the focus and resources that have been poured into stabilizing core features and functionality.
Also, as the project has matured, you’re seeing more vendors take notice and begin developing plugins to bring their technologies into the fold. Networking is the foundation of the cloud, and the work that the team has put into the project in the last two to three release cycles has really paid off.
Any thoughts on why "The time is now for networking to have its day," as Mark Collier said?
Server virtualization technologies have really matured, and the focus now is to bring the network stack into the fold. It makes sense that the next logical step is to virtualize network appliances in the same way servers were virtualized years ago. Network vendors are making it easier to bring firewalls, load balancers, and more in as virtual appliances that can be treated like any other virtual machine. A lot of work has been done in Neutron over the last couple of releases to ensure that the network plumbing and security model can support virtualized network appliances.
Now that the barriers are being eliminated, we should start seeing more and more network administrators embrace the idea of network virtualization and its benefits, much like server administrators did a decade ago. In addition, containerization technologies have really turned traditional networking implementations on their head, so I think we’ll see a shift towards software-defined networking (SDN) and other non-traditional ways of connecting devices to allow for large scale networking.
There’s a lot of work to be done!
Neutron has been criticized for its complexity on several OpenStack user surveys — what’s the best way to tackle that for an operator/administrator?
Networking is complicated, and we as users have been fortunate in recent years that vendors have simplified the process of configuring network devices and even networking within operating systems. Think back 15-20 years though, and things weren’t so easy. The underlying network functions are as complex as ever, but when those functions and configurations are abstracted from the user, one can take for granted how ‘easy’ it is.
Neutron is complex because networking is complex. No one system or environment is the same, and Neutron has to allow for numerous combinations and configurations. I think it’s important to have a solid foundation in networking to understand how to configure and implement Neutron features; even more so if you’re responsible for maintaining and troubleshooting them. Many operators may have a strong system administration or development background, but lack foundational network knowledge that would benefit them in standing up and maintaining an OpenStack cloud. Work is underway to provide better documentation on simple network configurations, but the truth is, anything other than simple is going to require some work to get right for your environment and use-case.
It's an excellent book for beginners and advanced https://t.co/KxjtewsCIQ — Gatuus (@gatuus) November 12, 2015
There’s so much you can learn online — why buy a physical book (or even an e-book)?
There is a ton of useful information regarding OpenStack and Neutron on the internet. The problem is finding what’s relevant to you. When you’re new to a subject, it’s hard to know what to search for, and even harder to weed through information without context or experience. Most blogs and snippets cover a particular issue or feature, and while extremely useful, are just one piece of a much larger puzzle.
The goal with this book is to provide an end-to-end experience for the reader, beginning with architecting the physical network, installing OpenStack and Neutron, and laying a foundation that enable the creation of networks, subnets, routers, and advanced network devices. I think readers can appreciate having all of that information in a centralized location.
What books or materials got you started with OpenStack?
When I started with OpenStack, we were deploying Essex-based clouds using nova-network. When Grizzly was introduced, we decided to adopt Quantum (Neutron) and found there was little information to be found other than the code itself.
I spent a lot of time testing various configurations until I found one that provided some kind of connectivity. I read up on the Open vSwitch manual to figure out how flows worked and were implemented, and spent some time reverse-engineering various OpenStack code files to see what was going on under the hood. Manually creating bridges and flows, creating and attaching VMs, and breaking things really helped me figure out how everything fit together and was orchestrated. Asaaf Muller, a core Neutron developer, has an excellent blog at http://assafmuller.com/ where he breaks down various Neutron components and technologies. I highly recommended his blog for anyone looking to immerse themselves in the nuts and bolts of Neutron.
Cover Photo // CC BY NCPalestinian officials say Israeli naval forces have opened fire on seven Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of the besieged Gaza Strip.
Security authorities, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israeli forces targeted Palestinian boats near the shores of Beit Lahia on Saturday morning, the Arabic-language Palestine Al’an news agency reported.
There were no immediate reports on casualties and the extent of damage inflicted on the Palestinian boats.
Around 4,000 fishermen work in Gaza, with more than half of them living below the poverty line.
Israel had imposed limits of three nautical miles on fishing in waters off the Gaza shore until last August.
Under a ceasefire agreement following a deadly 50-day Israeli war on Gaza in August 2014, Tel Aviv agreed to immediately expand the fishing zone off Gaza’s coast, allowing fishermen to sail as far as six nautical miles off the shore.
The agreement also stipulated that Israel expand the area gradually up to 12 miles.
Palestinian fishermen, however, say the Israeli navy opens fire on them before they reach the agreed limit.
Over the past two years, Israeli forces have carried out about 150 attacks on Palestinian boats, arresting nearly two dozen fishermen and confiscating nine boats.
The Gaza Strip has been under Israel’s blockade since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in living standards as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.
Israel started its latest war on the Gaza Strip in early July last year. The offensive ended on August 26, 2014, with a truce that took effect after indirect negotiations in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
Nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, were killed in Israel’s 50-day onslaught. Over 11,100 others – including 3,374 children, 2,088 women and 410 elderly people – were also injured.@DragonGateUSA Gabe, one thing you should know about me is I don't like talking on the phone. So that ''talk'' you want to have is going to have to wait until July 26th when I get to the building.
Also, you say you spoke to some of my friends and they told you I wasn't ''in the right frame of mind.'' That in itself is comical since I only have one friend left and I highly doubt you had a chat with Franky The Mobster. As far as my frame of mind goes...people have been calling me crazy for a year and a half, yet I feel nothing but complete and absolute serenity. I am of sound mind, body and soul and pro wrestling is my therapy.
The last 6 months have been torture for me. But that all ended on June 26th when I stood in an ROH ring and told them to go fuck themselves. And Gabe, it occured to me when I read your ''invitation'' that I had so much fun the last time I was in NYC that I was due for another trip there. And what better time than exactly one month later, July 26th?
And what better place than EVOLVE?
I realize that you didn't mean what you said when you invited me to the show, my friend, I do. But you should have known better. What you did put an idea in my head and now that idea has been consuming me for days and now there is no denying it. I have to do this...
By showing up at EVOLVE I get to achieve two things:
I get to help one of ROH's rivals make some money and get more attention. I get to piss off those lovely ROH officials by helping a promotion they never thought I'd show up in. I get to make the EVOLVE show on July 26th a MUST-SEE event!
And almost as good as all that, I get to walk up to you, Gabester, and say ''Be careful what you wish for!'' Did you really think you could call me out like you did and get away with it?!
Gabe, you really should have known better bud!
Now you got Kevin Steen...the Antichrist of pro wrestling.
Oh and Gabe, one last thing.
You know, all of those nice rules EVOLVE has? All that stuff about terms and regulations and missions...that's really cute...but it's not really for me...
See you on the 26th.
Kevin
Reply · Report PostThe news: Despite being stereotyped and chided as materialistic and vain, it turns out Americans really are thankful for life's most important things.
Facebook's data-science team analyzed Thanksgiving-related posts — the kind that are the 2014 equivalent of AOL chain emails — that asked the social network's users to "write 3 things you are thankful for over the next 5 days."
After looking at the data from the past few months, they determined Americans are thankful for their friends, family and health, in that order.
When the data scientists divvied up the data by sex, they noted men were thankful for their wives far more than anything else. Meanwhile, women (who, it should be noted, accounted for 90% of the collected data) appreciated their husband, children, dogs, wine and comfortable beds all roughly equally.
Perhaps the most interesting revelation is each state's most distinctive thing it is thankful for. Texans and residents of drier states are thankful for rain, while New Yorkers are grateful to have apartments (as broom-closet-sized as they might be).
Social media and new media were also on the state-specific rise this Thanksgiving, as Californians noted their love of YouTube while those in New Hampshire were thankful for Netflix. In Vermont, Pinterest is what most people were thankful for — proving Americans are a diverse lot, but not necessarily an ungrateful one.PS4 Pro & Xbox Scorpio 4K Capture Device Hinted at by Elgato Gaming
As consoles grow more powerful, the video creators amongst us look for new ways to capture gameplay at the highest quality. With the PS4 Pro and Xbox Scorpio boasting 4K capabilities, and consumer grade recording equipment being limited to 1080p, there’s soon to be a bigger demand for a device that can handle UHD video.
Happily, it looks like Elgato Gaming is on the case. Following a query from JackFrags on Twitter, the company responded with a shifty eyes emoji, hinting at what they are likely working on.
I have to wonder if we’ll see one giant leap of 4K 60fps support, or maybe an initial step into 4K with only 30fps recording. Though most games won’t be able to achieve both 4K resolution and a frame-rate of 60, some games will.
If you don’t know what the big fuss is about 4K and/or 60fps, you could always check out this Versus episode, which should tell you all you need to know.
Obviously, we at PlayStation LifeStyle are very excited about bringing 4K gaming content to you via our YouTube channel, so be sure to get subscribed if you aren’t already!
What do you make of this news? Glad to hear that at least one of these capture card companies is on the case? Let us know, down below.
[Source: Elgato Gaming Twitter]By Marlene Cimons
Ten years ago, Japanese chemist Eijiro Miyako was trying to invent a liquid that could work as an electrical conductor. But the sticky gel he created failed, so he shoved it into a cabinet in an uncapped bottle and forgot about it. Recently, during a lab cleanup, it was rediscovered — with the viscous stuff unchanged.
Motivated by concerns about climate change and the impact it was having on natural pollinators, especially bees and other insects, Miyako wondered whether the material he had made, still good after a decade, could pick up pollen. Ultimately, he jury-rigged a tiny, insect-sized remote-controlled drone that could carry his substance and use it to pick up and deposit pollen grains.
Eijiro Miyak The artificial pollinator brushes a lily.
“I think climate change is one of the terrible problems affecting our natural pollinators,” he says. “Our technology and artificial pollinators could be hopefully promising for giving us a good solution against the pollination crisis for our beautiful planet.”
Globally, an estimated 1,000 plants grown for food, beverages, fibers, spices and medicines must be pollinated by animals, including apples, blueberries, chocolate, coffee, melons, peaches, potatoes, pumpkins, vanilla, almonds and tequila, according to Pollinator Partnership. Pollination by honey bees, native bees and other insects produces $40 billion worth of products annually in the United States, according to the group.
But pollinators have been in trouble in recent years, suffering from habitat loss, chemicals misuse, diseases and parasites, among other hazards. As a result, the nation has lost more than half of its managed honeybee colonies in the last ten years. Research has shown that the effects of global warming are shrinking the geographic home range of North American and European bumblebees, with the insects unable to adapt to the changing conditions.
Before tackling the honeybee problem, Miyako experimented with houseflies and ants.
He put the goop on the ants’ bodies and let them wander inside a box of tulips. Compared with the insects that didn’t have the gel on them, those that did were much more likely to have pollen attached.
Eijiro Miya Artificial pollinator top (left) and bottom (right)
Still, to devise an effective artificial pollinator, he needed some kind of flying machine to transport the pollen. He found an insect-sized, remote-controlled four-propeller drone, worth about $100, and attached horse hair to it in order to mimic the fuzzy exterior of a bee.
He and his research colleagues then slathered the gel onto the horse hair bristles so the pollen would stick to it. Furthermore, the horse hair also generates an electric charge that keeps the grains in place.
They flew the little drones — with hair and gel attached — over the flowers of pink-leaved Japanese lilies. The little flyers picked up pollen and the researchers guided them to other flowers, where they deposited the grains, artificially pollinating the plants.
Eijiro Miyak The artificial pollinator brushes a lily.
He and his colleagues believe that robotic pollinators ultimately could learn pollination paths via GPS systems and artificial intelligence.
Nevertheless, Miyako acknowledges that much work remains before the tiny drones will have widespread application in agriculture, including improving how the small machines drop the pollen. Once stuck, the grains require some kind of additional physical force to release them.
Thus far, “desorption of pollens possibly happened by hitting materials with piled up pollens onto female flowers,” he says. “Indeed, we have never characterized what kind of forces were actually effected on them. That is a future challenge, to improve the performance for dropping off pollens on our desired plant.”
Miyako, a senior researcher with the Nanomaterials Research Institute of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Ibaraki, Japan, described his work in a study published in the journal Chem.
Pexels
He and his colleagues are the latest in a long history of those who have tried to find ways to help nature with pollination, efforts that go back thousands of years, at least to 2000 BC, when humans pollinated date palms by hand. More recently, people have hand-pollinated tomato flowers in greenhouses and, in some parts of China, apple trees in the absence of native pollinators.
Still, despite the urgency posed by climate change and other threats to insect pollinators, some experts believe artificial methods would be less effective and economically feasible to preserve bee populations. And they worry that attention and resources directed toward artificial pollination technology could discourage efforts to address the impact of global warming on natural pollinators.
“Fortunately, in most cases around the world, the ecosystem service of pollination is provided for free by native insects, so there has been no need to rely on artificial pollination,” says David Inouye, professor emeritus of biology at the University of Maryland, who studies pollination biology and who was not involved in the study. “The new technology is interesting, but it’s likely less expensive to take measures to encourage native pollinators than it will be to use drones.”
Berry J. Brosi, associate professor in the department of environmental services at Emory University, who also was not involved in the research, agrees. “There is the possibility that such technology would reduce the incentives for pollinator conservation,” he says.
Also, mechanical replacement of pollinators, while feasible at small scales, is very unlikely to be economically possible at the levels needed for crop pollination, Brosi says. “Japanese lilies, the plant species that was used for the proof-of-concept of this technology, have very large and showy flowers, in stark contrast to most crops,” he says.
Pixabay A bee pollinates a canola flower.
For example, canola, an economically important pollinator-dependent crop, has very small blooms that are clustered together on thin stalks that grow very close together in commercial canola fields, he says. “Current technology for mechanical pollination would have to advance tremendously in a number of dimensions to allow for this much more challenging application,” Brosi says.
Moreover, he adds, replacing living pollinators with mechanical alternatives could produce societal inequities. “Research has shown that pollinator declines are likely to be associated with nutritional deficits in the developing world among smallholders, exactly the population that would almost certainly be unable to afford such technology,” he says.
Beyond their role in crops, insects also pollinate more than 90 percent of wild flowering plants and trees, which in turn provide a range of ecosystem services that people depend upon, “including production of oxygen, water and air purification, prevention of erosion, and scenic beauty among many others,” Brosi says. “Creating a pollinator habitat within or adjacent to crop fields, can provide many other benefits, including providing habitat for natural enemies of crop pests, carbon sequestration, erosion control, and support of plant and other biodiversity.”
The Japanese researchers acknowledge these shortcomings and the obstacles ahead. Nevertheless they hope their continued research will be valuable, even if only to reduce the pressure put on bee populations by commercialization and other stressors.
With help from artificial pollinators, honeybees, for example, might be better able to do one thing the robots can’t — make honey — while drones do the pollinating. Hopefully, the little robots can “help counter the problems caused by declining honeybee populations,” Miyako says.Posted by: Craig Woolheater on May 3rd, 2013
Cryptomundo received the following message earlier today via our website contact submission form:
Full Name
Minnow Films
Email
info@minnowfilms.co.uk
Phone Number
+442070788150
Web Address
http://www.minnowfilms.co.uk
Subject
Media inquiry
Message
To all at the Cryptomundo team, We are contacting you from Minnow Films Limited, the production company responsible for the “Shooting Bigfoot” documentary. The reason we are contacting you is we have seen that photographs that were illegally obtained in the movie theater have been uploaded onto your website. I also understand that you may intend to upload clips of the film that were also obtained illegally. Whilst we appreciate your interest in the film and are very aware of the importance of this footage to the Bigfoot community, uploading this material nevertheless breaches our copyright. We will not take action with regard to the uploading of the photograph, but we would have to take action if any clips are uploaded. Could I therefore request, on an amicable basis, that you do not upload or otherwise publish any of our copyright material? Thank you very much for your co-operation. Minnow Films
About Craig Woolheater
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005. I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films: OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
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PrintThe security of Google Android has once again been called into question after an academic researcher discovered 12 malicious apps hosted in the operating system's official applications market, some that had been hosted there for months and racked up hundreds of thousands of downloads.
Ten of the apps reported last week by North Carolina State University professor Xuxian Jiang contained highly stealthy code that collected users' browsing history, bookmarks, and device information and sent them to servers under the control of the attackers. The professor said they also contained a backdoor largely made possible by a weakness documented at a security conference 12 months ago that allows Android apps to be surreptitiously updated.
The malicious titles also contained functions that allowed the developers to collect login credentials for Facebook, Gmail, and other accounts, although Jiang didn't find any evidence they were actively used. Carrying titles such as "Angry Birds Rio Unlock," the apps posed as legitimate programs. At least one of them was hosted in the Google-sponsored bazaar for more than two months and was downloaded more than 200,000 times, said Jiang, who added that they were yanked within hours of him alerting the company's security team.
One of the malicious apps Jiang found
Two additional apps contained code that racked up expensive phone bills by sending text messages to premium services.
A Google spokesman said there was no evidence the apps had been used to compromise any Google user accounts, but otherwise declined to discuss Jiang's findings. Instead, he offered what's becoming a standard response when malware is discovered in its software forum:
“We're aware of and have suspended a number of suspicious applications from Android Market,” he wrote in an email. “We remove apps and developer accounts that violate our policies.”
Jiang's discovery follows a separate rash of malicious apps, dubbed “DroidDream” that hit the Android Market two weeks ago. More than two dozen titles had to be pulled after third-party researchers reported them to Google. The trojans had been downloaded as many as 120,000 times.
Is there a policeman in the Market?
In most respects, Google leads the pack when it comes to policing the security of its users. Unlike Microsoft, which has admitted to attacks on Hotmail users only after they were disclosed by third parties, Google has proactively warned of attacks affecting users on multiple occasions.
It has also assembled a brain trust of some of the most respected security researchers in the world. Their work has gone a long way to developing a web browser, a stable of web-based applications, and other services whose security is second to none. Google has also shown leadership by being among the first to fortify its services with other useful security features, including a two-step verification process and automatic warnings of suspicious logins to a user's account.
Android is clearly an exception. The backdoor contained in the rogue applications discovered by Jiang adopted a technique that closely mimics the ”rootstrap” proof-of-concept exploit released in June 2010 by researcher Jon Oberheide. The apps actively exploited a significant omission in the Android security model that Google has shown no signs of fixing.
“This is something that's unique to Android because it doesn't have any sort of code-signing guarantees like the iPhone has,” Oberheide told The Register on Friday. “On iPhones, when you publish an app to the app market, Apple signs whatever code is distributed with the application that says you can only execute this code. You can't easily pull down new code over the internet and execute it.”
The apps discovered by Jiang were under no such restrictions, making it easy for them to pull down new code at any time that greatly expanded their capabilities as long as they operated within the same permissions the user gave when they were first installed. As a result, apps that look safe at time of download can lurk on a phone for months or years and only later pull down new code that vastly changes their behavior.
“I tried to put pressure on Google a year ago by publishing this rootstrapping stuff, saying you need to be doing similar code signing as Apple," Oberheide continued. "This would at least provide some guarantee about the code the application is going to execute."
To be sure, code signing isn't a silver bullet that completely deters apps from downloading new code and executing it at run time. Apps running on Apple's iOS theoretically could do the same thing by sneaking what's known as an interpreter into a rogue app, or by adopting a tedious developer process known as ROP, or return oriented programming. Almost no security researcher would disagree, however, that code signing significantly raises the bar to such attacks.
Code signing also helps prevent or lessen the effects of entire classes of exploits, such as those that corrupt memory.
In an email, the Google spokesman responded: "Code signing, as discussed in various public forums, does not guarantee that a malicious application cannot run untrusted code. Regardless of the platform, it doesn't prevent an application from executing code from the Internet."
The adoption of Oberheide's rootstrapping technique is a sign that real-world criminals have taken notice of Android's lack of code signing and are beginning to exploit it. By combining it with Google's failure to vet the security of apps hosted in the Android Market, the company's mobile OS is perhaps the weakest link in a security chain that otherwise is among the strongest in the industry.
The rogue apps' backdoor worked by periodically querying a server for executable files that run under Android's Dalvik virtual machine. With no code signing in Android, the files could bypass standard techniques used to detect malicious code, giving the attackers an easy way to push new payloads to compromised handsets. This capability could prove especially useful in exploiting vulnerabilities that are discovered months or years after |
and Fortini both represent Wards 7 and 8. Miles, a regional councillor, accused her counterpart of dealing with matters that go beyond his mandate as a representative of the lower-tier government.
Fortini, in his first term on council, rebutted that constituents call him with their issues and requests “because some people don’t want to deal with her (Coun. Miles).”
Fortini suggested Miles can be overly territorial when it comes to constituency work, even in a situation where city and regional business overlap.
If adopted, the new office protocols would stipulate whom, between the regional and city councillor, would handle a call about garbage, potholes, social services.
“Why do we need this?” asked a visibly annoyed Palleschi.
Much of Jeffrey’s brief administration has been bogged down by divisiveness and dysfunction around the council table. Despite her assurances during a recent interview that council relations are improving, Monday’s display showed evidence to the contrary.Back on May 17, at what could very fairly be described as a kind of psychological low point for a market that has otherwise managed to power inexorably higher on the back of central bank promises, mindless ETF flows, and good old fashioned greed, this very site published what, to my mind, was its best post of 2017. Here was the punchline:
[Trump’s] election gave us the “Trump Bump” which was bizarre, entertaining and wildly profitable for many, but then it seems like we forgot to correct for the data point that Donald Trump is the fucking President of the United States.
That dose of reality accompanied a truly awful day for U.S. stocks which were in an uncontrolled dive as the James Comey fiasco spiraled rapidly out of control.
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Exactly a week earlier, Donald Trump hosted the two Sergeys (Lavrov and Kislyak) in the Oval Office just hours after firing Comey. That move all at once reinforced the Russia connection and provided the most compelling evidence yet that the President is either completely dense when it comes to bad optics or else just doesn’t care. Either way, the stage was set for sentiment to deteriorate, which is exactly what happened, culminating a week later in the selloff which provoked the article from which the excerpt above is taken.
Since then, there’s been no shortage of evidence to support the contention that Donald Trump is hell-bent on doing his best Plaxico Burress impression every chance he gets. To be sure, markets don’t react every time he shoots himself in the groin - if they did, the Dow would be hovering at around 750 right now.
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The market’s resilience is either a good thing in the sense that it suggests America’s capital markets are resilient in the face of abject buffoonery, or it’s a bad thing in the sense it suggests that not only have we still not “corrected for the data point that Donald Trump is the fucking President of the United States,” we have in fact made new highs even as the administration continues to make new lows.
And see that latter possibility becomes especially disconcerting when you realize that we’re now seeing the revival of the bizarre “Trump bump” mentioned above. Small-caps are outperforming, there’s been a rotation to value from growth, 10Y yields have risen some 35bps off the lows hit early last month, the dollar had its first winning month since February in September. And on, and on.
Well guess what? Everyone is making the same mistake again. All of this is predicated on the idea that the “plan” we got from Trump and the GOP last month represents “progress” on tax reform. That came at just the right time for markets. The Fed was getting ready to start normalizing the balance sheet and the committee indicated it’s still leaning towards one more hike in 2017. Meanwhile, on the Friday before Hurricane Irma hit, the dollar was looking like it might never catch another bid (USDJPY 107 handle) and 10Y yields had broken below 2.02%. It was just a matter of time before equities snapped.
And then: a tax plan. Or what counts as a “plan” with this administration. Cue the revival of the “Trump trade” and the triumphant return of the reflation narrative, just in time to save us from a hawkish Fed and the prospect that the previously bulletproof growth rally (particularly tech) was running of steam.
What could go wrong, right? I mean, in the worst case scenario, the GOP manages to ram a watered down version of the tax proposal down everyone’s throats thus cementing Trump’s first legislative victory, the market will cheer, taking us up another [fill in the blank] percent by year-end. Meanwhile, analysts will lift earnings estimates to incorporate (get it?) tax reform, thus providing a nice tailwind into 2018.
Enter Donald Trump on Sunday morning:
Plaxico.
Corker fired back, calling the White House an “adult day care center” and then, for good measure, gave an interview to The New York Times in which the Tennessee Senator literally said Trump could “start World War III” before implicitly asking America to just admit that Trump is out of his mind. To wit:
Look, except for a few people, the vast majority of our caucus understands what we’re dealing with here. Of course they understand the volatility that we’re dealing with and the tremendous amount of work that it takes by people around him to keep him in the middle of the road. I don’t know why the president tweets out things that are not true. You know he does it, everyone knows he does it.
If you’re Gary Cohn, your job just got a lot harder. Trump has potentially torpedoed tax reform in the interest of defending his honor (a while back, Corker became the first Senator to openly question the President’s competence and last week, Bob mused that the only thing separating America from “chaos” is the trio of John Kelly, Jim Mattis, and Rex Tillerson).
Although most analysts have been mum on this so far (presumably because they’re still trying to determine if what happened on Sunday is real), Cowen’s Chris Krueger offered this on Monday morning:
Either Trump realizes that Corker can sink the remainder of the Trump/GOP legislative effort and is upset by that reality, or he didn’t/doesn’t know and just made it a reality. Either way, we see ZERO upside for the budget process/tax reform in this Twitter tantrum with the policy downside limit-down.
Yes, as it turns out, there is “ZERO” (and the all-caps are in the original note) upside to the President instigating a Twitter battle with a Senator from his own party by calling said Senator a gutless beggar on a Sunday morning.
So coming full circle, this is another one of those times when it would behoove you to go back into Excel and try to incorporate the only data point that matters: Donald Trump.
Catch more Heisenberg over at Heisenberg Report.Shortly after I wrote my article about how the Russiagate scandal is flagging, an article appeared on the BBC’s website which confirmed my article’s key point: that no evidence has been found of collusion during the US election between Russia and the Trump campaign.
The BBC article incidentally provides a classic example of something I also spoke of in my article: the fact that in the absence of any actual evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign supporters of the Russiagate scandal are now latching on to what can be best described as ‘non-facts’ to keep the flagging ‘Russiagate’ scandal going.
The ‘non-fact’ in this case is that it seems that US intelligence identified a Russian diplomat called Kalugin at the US embassy in Washington as a Russian spy. Kalugin, we are asked to believe, is the same person as a Russian spy at the US embassy called “Mikhail Kulagin” who the Trump Dossier alleges was recalled in August 2016 because of his excessively heavy involvement in Russia’s interference in the US election.
This may be correct, but it is completely beside the point. Kalugin or “Kulagin” may indeed be a Russian spy – though he denies it – and he may indeed have been identified as such by US intelligence either before or after the Trump Dossier was written. However that fact in no way corroborates the fantastic allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia made by the Trump Dossier. As I have written previously and as others are now also saying, it is a commonplace for someone fabricating such a dossier to involve real people and real events in it in order to give their fake story an air of authenticity. For all we know, that is all that happened in Kalugin’s case.
What is much more interesting is that the BBC article admits that the FBI investigation has so far drawn a blank, and that this is causing growing frustration on the part of the Russiagate scandal’s supporters, who it seems include former officials of the Obama administration. Thus in discussing the interactions with the FBI inquiry of Christopher Steele – the Trump Dossier’s author – the BBC article has this to say
Trump’s supporters are entitled to ask why – with the FBI’s powers to subpoena witnesses and threaten charges of obstructing justice – nothing damning has emerged. Perhaps there is nothing to find. But some former senior officials say it is because of failings in the inquiry, of which more later. The roadmap for the investigation, publicly acknowledged now for the first time, comes from Christopher Steele, once of Britain’s secret intelligence service MI6…… [Steele] wrote a series of reports for political opponents of Donald Trump about Trump and Russia. He flew to Rome in August to talk to the FBI. Then in early October, he came to the US and was extensively debriefed by them, over a week. He gave the FBI the names of some of his informants, the so-called “key” to the dossier. But the CIA never interviewed him, and never sought to. This comes from several people who are in a position to know. They are alarmed at how the investigation is going, and worry it is being fumbled. One said: “The FBI doesn’t know about Russia, the CIA knows about Russia. “Any sources Steele has in Russia, the FBI doesn’t know how to evaluate. “The Agency does… Who’s running this thing from Moscow? The FBI just aren’t capable on that side, of even understanding what Chris has.” Another reflected growing frustration with the inquiry among some who served in the Obama administration: “We used to call them the Feebs. They would make the simple cases, but never see, let alone understand and go after, the bigger picture.” (My editors have asked me to explain, for readers outside North America, that feeb is slang for someone feeble-minded, used above as a contraction of the initials FBI.)
The suggestion that the FBI – which as the BBC article admits has a strong presence in the US embassy in Moscow – is incapable of conducting a counter-espionage investigation involving Russia, is an absurd one, all the more so as this is an investigation which as the BBC article itself admits also involves the CIA, and which as the House Intelligence Committee hearing on 20th March 2017 confirmed, also involves the NSA.
The simple reality, which believers in Russiagate simply will not face, is that the reason the FBI inquiry is drawing a blank is because there is nothing there for it to find.
Instead of facing that reality supporters of Russiagate however latch onto ‘non-facts’ – like the fact that US intelligence apparently believes Kalugin was a Russian agent – and like true believers everywhere demand more and more inquiries of ever greater length and scope to prove the truth of what they think they already know but the evidence for which simply is not there.
That this is the paranoid mindset which has now taken hold finds confirmation in the BBC’s article itself
There are either a series of coincidences or there is a conspiracy of such reach and sophistication that it may take years to unravel. “I hear a lot of people comparing this to Watergate,” said Congressman Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who sits on the House Intelligence Committee. “Let me just tell you, the complexity of this case is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. “Watergate doesn’t even come close. That was a burglary in the Metro section of the Washington Post. “It doesn’t have the international waypoints [of this]. Russia’s M.O. is to avoid attribution. This investigation is going to take time.”
This is nonsense. Either evidence exists of cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia, or it does not. The claims of such cooperation are very detailed, as set out in the BBC article itself
In the report, Steele spoke of an “established operational liaison between the TRUMP team and the Kremlin… an intelligence exchange had been running between them for at least 8 years.” Members of the Obama administration believe, based on analysis they saw from the intelligence community, that the information exchange claimed by Steele continued into the election. “This is a three-headed operation,” said one former official, setting out the case, based on the intelligence: Firstly, hackers steal damaging emails from senior Democrats. Secondly, the stories based on this hacked information appear on Twitter and Facebook, posted by thousands of automated “bots”, then on Russia’s English-language outlets, RT and Sputnik, then right-wing US “news” sites such as Infowars and Breitbart, then Fox and the mainstream media. Thirdly, Russia downloads the online voter rolls. The voter rolls are said to fit into this because of “microtargeting”. Using email, Facebook and Twitter, political advertising can be tailored very precisely: individual messaging for individual voters. “You are stealing the stuff and pushing it back into the US body politic,” said the former official, “you know where to target that stuff when you’re pushing it back.” This would take co-operation with the Trump campaign, it is claimed.
If this was indeed what happened then it would have required ongoing and intense cooperation between the Trump campaign and Russia. Evidence of that would be abundant, and it should not be difficult to find it, especially so when the investigators are the FBI, the CIA and the NSA. In fact it beggars belief it has not been found already, a fact which all but proves it does not exist.
There is no reason therefore to speak of a particularly complex or difficult inquiry. Those who say this are either being deliberately mendacious or have been duped by the ongoing hysteria. Nor is there any reason why this inquiry should take a long time, always supposing however that those controlling the inquiry are genuinely interested in finding the truth.We often turn to dogs and to chimpanzees to understand our species. Chimpanzees are our closest relatives (with bonobos), while centuries of selective breeding have turned dogs into a species uniquely suited to comprehend our own social cues. If anybody can help us understand contagious yawning, it's them. This week, primatologists Matthew Campbell and Frans de Waal of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University added a new chapter to the ongoing story of contagious yawning.
But to understand their findings, its worth looking back at the history of contagious yawning research and the ongoing controversy over whether it reflects empathy or not.
There was once a time when scientists believed that the function of yawning was to cool the brain, or to relieve stress. Sometimes it is. But researchers quickly realized that yawning was a rather curious behavior; it was contagious. When you watch someone yawn, you're more likely to yawn in response, than when you watch another person do just about anything else. That means yawning has a social component. Indeed, humans with developmental and personality disorders that feature social deficits also show less susceptibility to the yawn contagion. In addition, contagious yawning is elicited more strongly by familiar individuals than by strangers. That's true not just for humans, but for chimpanzees, bonobos, and gelada baboons. While contagious yawning hasn't been studied in rats, mice, elephants, and birds, there is a link in those animals between familiarity and empathy-related behaviors as well.
While it is clear that yawning has a social component, definitive proof of a connection with empathy has been a bit harder to come by.
In 2009, psychologist Ramiro Joly-Mascheroni showed that human yawns are contagious for dogs. But later that year, Aimee Harr was unable to replicate that finding. In 2010, Sean O'Hara and Amy Reeve uncovered more evidence in support of contagious yawning for dogs, but not nearly as robust a pattern as Joly-Mascheroni found. Karine Silva provided a partial answer, in 2012, as to why some researchers seem to find contagious yawning while others didn't. She discovered that dogs were more likely to yawn after hearing the yawn of a familiar human than of an unfamiliar human. That actually makes a good deal of sense: if yawning is tied to empathy, then dogs might be more willing to empathize with familiar people than with strangers.
The story for primates hasn't been any more straightforward. In 2011, Campbell and de Waal turned to chimpanzees. If empathy underlies contagious yawning, then chimps would be more likely to yawn when watching an ingroup member yawn but not when watching an unfamiliar chimp yawn. In chimp society, by definition, unfamiliar chimps are members of a social outgroup. Indeed, their data fit their hypothesis: chimps yawned more after watching videos of familiar chimps yawning.
But then last year, Elainie Alenkær Madsen made things more complicated. She looked at juvenile and infant chimpanzees at a sanctuary in Africa, and rather than using videos of chimpanzee yawns, she used human researchers as the main stimulus. She found that the juvenile chimps could catch human yawns, but infants were not susceptible to the human yawn contagion. Did the infants not respond because the yawns were human rather than chimpanzee? It's impossible to tell, so it's hard to compare it with Campbell and de Waal's findings with mature chimpanzees. Another complication is that the juveniles yawn regardless of whether the human was familiar or unfamiliar. Is that because chimpanzees treat humans differently from other chimpanzees? Or is it because they're juveniles, who are not yet firmly situated within complex chimpanzee society? We have to teach our own human juveniles to be wary of strangers; maybe it's the same for chimps.
As I wrote last year: comparing this study with the earlier one by Campbell and de Waal may be inappropriate, as Madsen herself acknowledges, writing, "adult chimpanzees have only been tested on yawn contagion when viewing the yawns of conspecifics, while young chimpanzees have only been explicitly tested with respect to [human] yawn contagion.” In other words, it might be apples and oranges.
It is apples and oranges no longer. This week, Campbell and de Waal reported a new study in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. They still used videos, as videos allow each chimpanzee to view the exact same stimuli, but this time they provided chimps with videos of familiar and unfamiliar human yawns, as well as the yawns of gelada baboons. Would the familiarity effect that they found in their 2011 study extend to humans, in contrast to Madsen's finding? Would chimps treat familiar humans as they do familiar chimps, and treat unfamiliar humans as they do outgroup chimps? And where would the baboons, which comprises an entirely unfamiliar species, fit into the picture?
The findings are remarkably straightforward. Chimpanzees were able to "catch" a yawn from familiar and unfamiliar humans alike, just as Madsen's juvenile chimps did. But they didn't yawn contagiously in response to baboon yawns. That suggests that chimpanzees might treat humans as a unique sort of other species - at least for those chimpanzees who live in a sanctuary where they are cared for by humans.
To really understand the pattern, Campbell and de Waal combined this data with the data from their 2011 paper. The chimpanzees' response to ingroup members was statistically indistinguishable from their response to familiar and unfamiliar humans, suggesting that these chimps treat all humans as if they were members of their ingroup. "For our subjects, a different species (but one they have a history of positive experiences with) was more potent at eliciting empathy-based contagion than outsiders of their own species," they write. But that may be because the chimps have lived for so long inside a sanctuary with no exposure to unfamiliar chimps, while being routinely exposed to new humans. "Students come, complete their studies and leave, and care staff gain and lose members in the normal course of people changing jobs. The chimpanzees may have been conditioned to take a positive view of humans in general, not just the ones that they know." Not that the chimps can't distinguish familiar from unfamiliar humans more generally, only that the distinction isn't reflected in contagious yawning.
Meanwhile, their response to baboon yawns was the same to their response to unfamiliar chimpanzees. But a deeper look reveals an important distinction, which is that the chimps spent more time looking at the videos of the unfamiliar chimpanzees. In fact, they watched the unfamiliar chimp videos with more attention than any of the human, familiar chimp, or baboon videos. "Outgroup chimpanzees possibly elicited a hostile response," they say, referencing the notion that all unfamiliar chimpanzees are automatically thought of as enemies by wild chimps. That could have interfered with any possible empathy-related response. By contrast, the gelada baboons were simply thought of as socially meaningless. A similar outcome, in terms of contagious yawning, but for a very different reason. If their hunch is correct, then it seems reasonable to say that "contagious yawning with strange chimpanzees was actively thwarted, whereas with geladas it was not there to begin with."
Where does that leave empathy? The data actually suggests that empathy may underlie contagious yawning, since the human stimuli remind us that familiarity alone can't account for the results. But empathy isn't given out to everyone. An individual needs social experience to lubricate the wheels of empathy, which these chimpanzees had for humans but not for baboons. Campbell and de Waal ask whether exposing their chimpanzees to gelada baboons would increase familiarity and thus lead to the passing of yawns between the species. More intriguing, they wonder: "could experience change the way chimpanzees respond to outgroup chimpanzees?"
If so, what would that mean for our own species and the way we interact with one another? A principle in psychology called the "mere exposure effect" holds that exposure itself is enough to facilitate increased liking for a previously unfamiliar individual. Could that also facilitate empathy? It's an important question to ask, because despite the fact that human culture is immeasurably more complex than chimpanzee society, the stakes are high. If nothing else, this research points out that "flexible social engagement was probably already present in the most recent common ancestor with chimpanzees," Campbell and de Waal say.
They conclude on a hopeful note. "This flexibility opens a door to examining how we can modify who chimpanzees will form an empathy-based connection with and how strongly. Understanding this flexibility in social engagement may help explain the proximate mechanisms that allow for switching between cooperation and competition within chimpanzee and human societies."
Campbell M.W. & de Waal F.B.M. (2014). Chimpanzees empathize with group mates and humans, but not with baboons or unfamiliar chimpanzees, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281 (1782) 20140013-20140013. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0013
Header image: Katie yawning. Second image: Rita watches a video stimulus. Video: First Rowena and then Liza watch videos of familiar chimpanzees yawning. All via Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, used with permission.Global warming obviously refers to temperature increases across the entire globe. We know the Earth is warming, we know it is human-caused, we have a pretty good idea about how much the warming will be in the future and what some of the consequences are. In fact, when it comes to the Earth’s average climate, scientists have a pretty good understanding.
On the other hand, no one lives in the average climate. We live spread out north, west, east, and south. On islands, large continents, inland or in coastal regions. Many of us want to know what’s going to happen to the climate where we live. How will my life be affected in the future?
This type of question is answered in a very recent study published by scientists from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The team, which includes Dr. Raymond Bradley and researcher Dr. Ambarish Karmalkar looked specifically at the Northeastern United States. They found that this area will warm much more rapidly than the globe as a whole. In fact, it will warm faster than any other United States region. The authors expect the Northeast US will warm 50% faster than the planet as a whole. They also find that the United States will reach a 2 degree Celsius warming 10–20 years before the globe as a whole.
So why does this matter? Well first, it matters because some of the effects people will experience are directly tied to the temperature increase in their region. For instance, we know that warmer air leads to more intense precipitation. In fact, we are already observing increases in very heavy rainfall across the United States (especially in the Northeast). Based on this new research, that trend will only get worse. It means that winters in this region will get warmer and wetter – more winter precipitation will likely occur as rain rather than snow. This affects the availability of water into the spring months. It also means that summers will have more intense heat waves which will lead to more severe droughts.
However, there is another impact to this study. We often hear that it is important to avoid increasing the Earth’s temperature by 2°C if we want to prevent the worst risks of climate change. This 2-degree target is somewhat based on science and somewhat based on messaging and politics. There’s nothing magic about this number. It isn’t like everything will be fine so long as we stay below 2 degrees; similarly the world won’t end if we exceed 2 degrees.
It turns out that staying below a 2°C warming means we think we have a reasonable chance of avoiding some of the worst climate impacts and some of the potentially disastrous tipping points. But this is really just an educated guess. Some people have argued convincingly that our target should be lower, perhaps 1.5°C. Others argue that even 2°C is not achievable.
Regardless of the so-called temperature target, what this study shows is that even if we do keep the globe as a whole to a 2°C temperature increase, some regions, like the Northeast United States will far exceed this threshold. So, what is “safe” for the world is unsafe for certain regions.
Not to muddy the waters, but the whole issue of “safe” versus “unsafe” also depends on what climate effects we are concerned about and where we live. As an example, if you are concerned about heavy precipitation and flooding in your area, then local climate change (in your area) is pretty important to you. Conversely, if you are concerned about sea level rise (which is a global phenomenon), then the global temperature change is of most interest.
So really, what this latest paper does is provide sound evidence that we need to keep in mind BOTH the global and the regional climate effects. We need to think about which effects we care about most and how the global and regional temperature changes will cause those effects. Furthermore, we cannot simply be lulled into a sense of safety even if we reduce emissions dramatically and keep global temperature changes small. There still could be large effects in our neighborhood.A few months ago, Sam Schmidt drove more than 150 mph in the semiautonomous Arrow SAM Car during demonstration laps at the Indy 500. Now, he's been granted the nation's first autonomous vehicle-restricted driver's license by the state of Nevada. That means he can drive the SAM Car, which was built for him by Arrow Electronics, on public roads under restricted conditions.
Arrow designed the SAM car for Schmidt in 2014, and in 2015, they began working with Schmidt's home state of Nevada to revise regulations to allow him to drive on roads in addition to race tracks. The vehicle is not entirely autonomous; Schmidt does control the car, a modified Corvette Z06, using his voice, head, and breath to steer, accelerate, and brake. But it qualifies as autonomous according to Nevada law because Schmidt does not have "full active control" of the car, according to an email.
Schmidt received his license today and celebrated with a few laps at Exotic Racing track and on public roads near the facility. And sure, you could say it's a publicity stunt, but the stunt is increasing access to all kinds of transportation through technology. As Jude Hurin of the Nevada DMV said in a statement:Afghan Elections Once Again Marked By Allegations Of Fraud
Afghanistan's parliamentary elections were marked by another round of allegations of widespread voter fraud, once again bringing to the forefront the question; what exactly are we trying to accomplish in Afghanistan?
Doug Mataconis · · 6 comments
Yesterday’s parliamentary elections in Afghanistan are being accompanied by yet another round of allegations of widespread election fraud:
A day after Afghan parliamentary elections, scores of accounts of local ballot stuffing as well as the suppression of voting like that in Nagahan are beginning to surface, especially from the troubled provinces in the south and east. It is too early to say how widespread the problems were, but in several provinces there were certainly irregularities, if not outright fraud, intended to help particular candidates. “There’s not, so far, a clear indication of massive or systematic fraud, but there will very likely be quite a few cases of retail fraud combined with widespread irregularities,” said Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special representative here. But retail, or localized, fraud is often all that is needed to sway parliamentary elections where the margins can be tiny. Each province is allocated seats in Parliament based on a rough estimate of its population. (There has not been a census in decades.) The top vote getters in each province win the seats. In Herat Province, for instance, there are 17 seats, five reserved for women and 12 for men. So from a field of about 125 male candidates, the top 12 will go to Parliament. While the candidates at the very top may amass tens of thousands of votes, at the bottom, where 2,500 votes may be enough to win the 12th slot, the margins tend to be smaller. At that level, it does not require much to tip the balance, and candidates who think they are close may try anything to manipulate the system, said Martine van Bijlert, a political analyst for the Afghan Analysts Network, who has tracked elections for the past several years here.
For example:
Helmand Province, an election commission official was arrested with what were said to be 1,500 fake voter registration cards she was suspected of trying to use for her mother, a candidate, and in Paktika Province, a man was arrested with 1,600 fake cards. At a polling center at Ghazi Khan High School in Kunduz, journalists and observers watched as election officials and supporters of some candidates locked the doors for two hours and filled out ballots themselves. The Free and Fair Elections Foundation complained that in nearly 3,000 polling centers — or more than half of the total — its monitors discovered that the ink being used to mark voters’ fingers, and prevent repeated voting, was easily washed off, even though it was supposed to have been indelible.
And if those are the examples where the fraud was actually discovered, once can imagine that similar incidents went undetected throughout the country and that, much like the 2009 Presidential elections, the results, whatever they might be, will be tainted both internationally, and in the minds of the Afghan people, as tainted and illegitimate. Hamid Karzai, after all, is currently President of Afghanistan because he “won” an election that his opponent refused to accept as legitimate after it was clear that the run-off would be tainted by the same fraud that tainted the first round of the elections. The United States accepted the result because we had to, and because getting directly involved in the selection of the leader of Afghanistan would have been akin to President Kennedy’s involvement in the course of events that led to the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963, an action which made further American involvement in Vietnam virtually inevitable.
All of this, of course, bring up yet again, the question of what exactly the United States is doing in Afghanistan, whether we can accomplish the goals we’ve set forward, and whether we should even try to accomplish those goals. If nothing else, the brief history of “democracy” in Afghanistan reveals it to be largely a fraud. It’s not even so much that the country is under the control of a tinpot dictator in Kabul and his cronies, though, because the truth of the matter is that the national government appears to have very little real support outside the capital itself. Afghanistan still is, as it has been for centuries if not millennia, a tribal society, and it’s the tribes that have the real control. Added to this is a populace with one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. Pretending we can create a democratic society in such conditions is both foolish and naive.
So, here we are again with another round of elections conducted by our putative ally that are plainly fraudulent. The Afghan people know their “democracy” is a fraud, and the Taliban and their allies stand ready to exploit that, and it seems likely that whatever confidence remains in the central government will slip away. Meanwhile, the question remains — Why are we still in Afghanistan? What is it that we’re defending there? And, most importantly, when we will know we’ve succeeded?The Internet of Things (IoT) is set to change a lot of industries, but retail might see the largest investments as businesses look to reduce labor costs, improve sales, and draw customers back to the store.
Retailers have already started investing in IoT, using Internet beacons to offer free Wi-Fi in stores in exchange for data harvesting or rerouting to the company’s online website.
That is just the beginning of the use of IoT in retail. Using big data, supermarkets will be able to figure out the perfect price for a product, the best place for it to sell, and the best time to have it in stock. Clothing retailers may use window scanners that detect interest in a product, and if the customer decides to enter the system can send the item to an assistant to expedite the sale.
At Starbucks, the coffee makers and ovens are controlled by a centralized system to lower human error. The chief technology officer expects IoT will allow the coffee chain to customize their menu, improve the taste of coffee, and let customers order without saying a word.
Retailers reporting above-average profiles think IoT will be huge
According to an eMarketer report, 54 percent of retailers reporting an “above-average” profit said IoT will dramatically change the retail industry in the next three years. The report also suggests that retailers are also the most familiar with IoT, with 56 percent of businesses possessing some knowledge of IoT and its advantages.
Analytics firm Juniper Research seems to agree that retailers will be major investors in IoT, suggesting that $2.5 billion will be spent on IoT-related hardware in 2020, a four-fold increase on the investment in 2015.
Retailers that invest early in the Internet of Things might see massive increases in sales compared to the competition, as systems increase profit margins, lower time spent waiting for a product to come in stock, and more data for analysts to work with on customer behavior.Florence: An act of love between Martin the zebra and Giada the donkey in the romantic Italian city of Florence has produced a rare "zonkey" baby that is drawing crowds to an exotic animal shelter.
Three-month-old Ippo is already a star and the owners of the farm say they have received requests for rights over his image, including one from a soft-toy company and another from Disney to make a cartoon.
An act of love: Ippo, a three month old "zonkey" (a cross between a zebra and a donkey) at a reserve in Florence. Credit:AFP
"It is very rare that a zebra and a donkey mate and reproduce," Serena Aglietti, the daughter of the shelter's owner, said at the site in central Florence, near the city's landmark monuments.
The family-run Aglietti farm takes in animals rescued from circuses or owners who treat them badly and houses a motley array of 170 animals including camels, lamas and Vietnamese pigs.“You’re stone cold.”
The test conductor (TC) seemed to delight in telling me that I just committed a fatal spacewalking error (there are many to choose from). Her clever comments weren’t needed to teach me the importance of proper tethering. The life-saving handrail retreating from my outstretched glove was obvious enough. In space, my transgression could have sent me into an irreversible trajectory away from the International Space Station (ISS), rendering me just another piece of space junk adrift in low-Earth orbit.
This, however, was an exercise at NASA’s pool used for spacewalk training, the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) in Houston. I'd hear similar admonitions at least twice more during the day, as SCUBA divers hovered close by to keep my free-floating tendencies (and my future as a meteor) in check.
My day at the pool was one of the highly coveted opportunities for non-astronaut “test subjects” to don a spacesuit (NASA calls it the EMU—Extravehicular Mobility Unit) and experience first-hand some of the peculiarities of working in space. While this insight is valuable to the engineers who deal with the EMU and space tools, that wasn't the point of this event. My function was to periodically play the role of a distressed and unconscious astronaut for the benefit of the divers who are tasked with rescuing such unfortunate souls during “real” training events.
I suppose that being given the opportunity to put on an EMU could lead one to feel a twinge of self importance. The suit, however, has a way of metering such delusions of grandeur with heaping doses of humility. In fact, the first step of the sizing process involves standing before a full-mirrored wall in government-issue skivvies while a team of caliper-toting technicians measures your every dimension. Then comes the moment when you actually have to get into the EMU, the upper part of which is completely rigid. Imagine forcing your |
Y si esta discriminación se produce de forma reiterada (durante más de 7 años en este caso), entonces,
¿porqué no sancionan a Renfe?
No soy experto en temas judiciales, pero este asunto me llama mucho la atención, porque la legislación especifica claramente que, de incumplir de forma reiterada los requisitos, la entidad debería ser sancionada. Y, desde la puesta en vigor de la normativa, allá por 2009, todavía no ha sido sancionada ninguna Entidad. Esto, inevitablemente, lleva a plantearse la siguiente cuestión:
Si la justicia española únicamente “regaña un poco” por incumplir la normativa sobre accesibilidad web, y no sanciona en ningún caso… Entonces, la normativa actual es papel mojado y no sirve para nada, ¿no?
Si no sancionan un caso donde hay tantas evidencias técnicas como es el caso de Renfe, estarán creando un preocupante precedente para el resto de Administraciones y Entidades, que comprenderán que pueden incumplir la normativa sobre accesibilidad web sin problemas.
Conseguir que una web sea accesible puede ser difícil, pero todas las falta de accesibilidad que he citado se podrían corregir en pocos meses con un buen equitpo de profesionales. Y como muestra, un botón: este apartado, el informe básico sobre las faltas de accesibilidad de la web de Renfe ha sido realizado en un único día de trabajo, y que ni siquiera me he registrado como usuario ni he evaluado el proceso de compra.
Para cualquier consulta os podéis poner en contacto conmigo a través de esta página ( www.aportando.es ).
4) Ideas para cambiar la situación actual
Actualmente, somos los mismos ciudadanos quienes debemos velar por el cumplimiento de la normativa vigente sobre accesibilidad web. Pero no hay ninguna Entidad, despacho o persona quee se encargue de ello.
Me gustaría dirigir una propuesta al órgano que se considere competente para este asunto. Verificar el correcto cumplimiento de las normativas sobre accesibilidad web no resultaría muy costoso para el Estado, pero sí que puede ser muy beneficioso para los ciudadanos. Entonces, ¿porqué ningún organismo audita la accesibilidad de las páginas web?
¿Porqué no encargan a un pequeño grupo de personas la realización de informes parecidos al de este artículo?. El coste sería relativamente bajo, y podría resultar muy beneficioso para la sociedad en un corto plazo de tiempo.
Aceptaré de buen gusto todas las correcciones que podáis aportar a este artículo. Si alguna entidad se encuentra implementando mejoras accesibles en su web y quiere que cambie su estado en esta lista, no tiene más que decirlo, porque estaré encantado de borrarla de la lista. Realmente, estaría encantado de poder borrarlas todas. Si llega ese día, prometo organizar una barbacoa en Málaga para todos los que hayan aportado su granito de arena en este proceso. Sería uno de los días más felices de mi vida.
Tú también formas parte de esto
Si te preocupa y te parece importante el tema de la accesibilidad web, ¿porqué no lo difundes?. ¡Hazlo como se te ocurra!
Hazlo por ese familiar o ese conocido con discapacidad. O simplemente, porque sí. Entre todos, podemos conseguir que la situación cambie algún día. Porque tiene que cambiar.
Una reflexión para terminar
A día de hoy, ningún arquitecto profesional se plantea la construcción de un edificio público sin tener en cuenta las barreras físicas que puedan dificultar el acceso al mismo. ¿Porqué no ocurre lo mismo con las páginas web, cuando también pueden aumentar la calidad de vida de ciertas personas?.
Quizás, la posible sanción de un millón de euros no sea motivo suficiente, así que voy a darles un motivo más grande: piensen en la sonrisa. En la sonrisa de una persona ciega que logra realizar su primera compra online en un supermercado. Para esa persona debe ser un lujo que le envíen la compra mensual a casa… En serio, maginen por un momento su sonrisa.
Piensen en la sonrisa de una persona ciega cuando encargue cómodamente, desde casa y por Internet, la compra mensual del supermercado. Aunque sea por un instante: piensen en la alegría. En la sonrisa.Measuring the electric charge on single atoms is not something that hasn't been done before, but now researchers from IBM's Zürich research laboratory have improved on their previous work, and shown that atomic force microscopes (AFM) can successfully replace scanning tunneling microscopes (STM) in doing the job.
Using an STM yields good results as well, and it was an IBM researcher who, back in 2004, first proved that measuring the electric charge on single atoms with this technology was possible. But, according to the experts, an AFM is more suited for the job, because it does not require that the analysis sample be set on a conductive layer.
A scanning tunneling microscope has a quite simple construction principle. It boasts a tip only a few atoms wide (in some cases just one atom wide), which is used to analyze microscopic samples. It is brought down on the sample, and it then passes an electrical current through it. The conductive surface underneath helps drive the current through the material that needs studying. The microscope then analyzes the variations that the electrical current experiences while running through the sample, and determines some of its properties.
With AFM, IBM researchers believe they may have found a more elegant solution. This type of microscope also has a tip just one atom wide, but it's kept in place by a cantilever, a beam just a few nanometers across. This diving board has a small voltage running through it, but the current does not pass through the sample and underneath. The cantilever vibrates because of this voltage close to its natural frequency. This ensemble is then brought down very close to the sample, which is usually made up of either a single atom, or just a few.
When brought this close to each other, the atom at the tip of the AFM and the atom in the sample interact on the basis of the “opposite charges attract” principle, which means that the interactions between the two atoms will slightly change the way the cantilever resonates and oscillates. Despite the fact that these variations are less than one atom's size in one direction or the other, researchers are able to analyze them and determine if gold or silver atoms have an extra electron, or if they lack one.
“That is what makes this technique so important; it's not only the charge state of an atom but we want to go further and investigate molecules and measure distribution of charges. We're not directly aiming at making a photovoltaic cell or a computer in our system. We're trying to understand the basics of the processes in such devices,” Dr. Leo Gross, from IBM, told the BBC News.E! News reported the other day that Taylor Kitsch, Garrett Hedlund, and Armie Hammer were on the short list to play Finnick in Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games. Multiple sources tell me that Armie Hammer is far and away the first choice of director Francis Lawrence. That if it were up to him and “if he could start tomorrow with his dream cast, Armie would be FInnick”. At press time, nothing is final. And besides, a lot of people think this might not be the best career move for Hammer anyway. I spoke with a few talent agents who said they’d hesitate before recommending it because it ties him up for two pictures and ‘the question is whether or not he still needs to “break out”. It depends on how you see Armie’s career’. When I mentioned this to Sarah from Cinesnark she agreed. “Why would he need Catching Fire when he’s headlining The Lone Ranger?” Very good point. But...umm... also... why did he say yes to Mirror Mirror?
I don’t have a Finnick in my head. I guess that means I just want them to pick someone we’ve never met before. Or Ryan Gosling. Hear me out:
Gosling isn’t Hammer. Gosling is pretty well established. Gosling can carry and he can support. And he’s arty and crafty and talks about “motivation” with his directors, even on the set of a Steve Carell comedy, and, you know, I just think it would be so great and hilarious if he just took it out of his ass for a change and made the unexpected move of joining a franchise like this that goes on mall visits to build fan support. It would be funny, right? A total random headscratcher! No?
As for Garrett Hedlund...
Out of the 3 of them, my first thought was that he’s probably my favourite. My next thought was his girlfriend Kirsten Dunst, and what she would say. And for some reason I feel like she would sh-t on it.Bucharest, Romania's capital, turned 555 years old in September and threw a massive party to celebrate. There was dancing. There was music. There was general merriment. There was also a freakin' amazing light show.
The city is home to one of the largest buildings in the world, the Palace of Parliament, and someone must have figured — hey, we should do something crazy with this thing. So Bucharest General Municipality brought together five teams of artists from France, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Romania to project lights all over that thing's 20,000-square-meter facade.
And boom.
(Daniel Robert Dinu/Facebook)
Together, the teams created a 23-minute multimedia extravaganza called "iMapp Bucharest 555" using a projection technology called "video mapping," which can turn almost any irregularly shaped object into a display screen. (This sounds pretty vague, but you'll understand it when you see the videos.)
Each team contributed a show lasting exactly five minutes and 55 seconds, and each one has its own unique aesthetic flavor, but they all use light and sound to play off the architectural contours of the building, creating illusions, scenes, and stories that'll entrance you.
Here they are, in order of appearance
Maxin10sity (Hungary)
The Macula (Czech Republic)
BUCUR555 from the macula on Vimeo.
Damien Fontaine (France)
Les Alteiers Nomad (Romania)
Siedemzero (Poland)
The Biggest VideoMapping Ever by SIEDEMZERO™ from Pawel Piotr Przybyl on Vimeo.Sponsored Link
Technical Director to the Nigeria Football Federation, and former Super Eagles coach, Amodu Shuaibu has died aged 58 years. This is coming just 3 days after the death of former Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi.NFF released a statement this morning via their twitter handle, which reads:"NFF Technical Director, Amodu Shuaibu has died at the age of 58. The four - time Coach of the Super Eagles complained of chest pains on Friday night and died in his sleep. RIP."Amodu Shuaibu's death comes three days after that of former Super Eagles Captain and Coach, Stephen Keshi. Just like Stephen Keshi, Amodu was a player-cum-coach. His plied his trade in the Nigerian league with the Niger Tornadoes and Dumez, however ending his football career after he broke his leg.He was a multi-time coach and technical adviser of the Nigerian senior soccer team, the Super Eagles in 2001-2002, 2008-2010, 2013, 2014, and 2015. In fact, he twice took over the coaching of the Super Eagles after Stephen Keshi was sacked in 2014 and 2015.During his coaching days with Nigeria, he helped qualify Nigeria for Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup.A A
SEATTLE -- Seattle police officer Garth Haynes has been cleared of misconduct stemming from a head-stomping incident during a brawl outside a Ballard bar in December 2010.
The move comes after the Seattle City Attorney's office was provided new medical evidence that Haynes had suffered a concussion during the fight and lacked ability to control or understand his actions.
Haynes' trouble began after police dash-cam video showed him putting his foot on the head of a man he had just been in a fight with.
Following the brawl, the man who was stomped on told police he saw Haynes, who was off duty and out of uniform, restraining a woman outside of the bar. He said he and his friends stepped in and a fight broke out.
Haynes was charged with assault, but during his trial Haynes told jurors he was jumped when he tried to stop a woman he thought had stolen his coat. Haynes said he felt dazed after the scuffle and could have suffered a concussion and didn't intentionally put his foot on anyone.
He was later acquitted of assault but was given a 10-day suspension.
The Seattle Police Officers Guild appealed the suspension on Haynes' behalf and in preparing for that appeal, city attorneys retained a neurophysiologist to review the medical evidence and testify at the appeal. The doctor concluded Haynes had received a low-level concussion that could cause him to become confused and lack ability to understand his actions.
"It is possible that the concussion could account for Officer Haynes' behavior in the immediate aftermath of the incident," Dr. Phyllis Sanchez wrote in her report.
Given this new evidence, the city then recommended to Interim Police Chief Harry Bailey that the department remove the use-of-force violation from Haynes' record and reverse the discipline.
"I'm glad to see that the city attorney's office had an ah-ha moment and realized, and in fact agreed with, what we've said all along, that Officer Haynes was the victim of a racially motivated beatdown," said Seattle Police Officers Guild President Ron Smith.
Tim Leary, a Seattle lawyer who formerly represented the man Haynes stopped on, says blaming the attack on a concussion is a flimsy excuse.
"I think there are significant questions where an officer is claiming a concussion caused him to be confused and lack the ability to control his actions when he's stomping on the head of a hand-cuffed suspect he's upset with," Leary said.
Mayor Ed Murray says he won't challenge this case but promises changes.
"We have a complaint process, an appeals process, and a punishment process that is broken," Murray said.
The mayor adds that he is committed to reforming the disciplinary process, but still believes the police chief should be able to clear officers based on the circumstances of the case.Ellen DeGeneres and Steve Harvey are teaming up for “Little Big Shots,” a children’s comedy variety show, which has landed an eight-episode order from NBC.
Harvey will host the series, which showcases some of the world’s most talented kiddos — young musicians, dancers, singers and more — who engage in hilarious conversations and interviews with the emcee. The pint-sized contestants will “slay with their cuteness” and “wow with their accomplishments,” proving that talent is born, and not made.
The series, exec produced by DeGeneres and Harvey, hails from Warner Horizon Television, East 112th Street Productions and A Very Good Production. Jeff Kleeman and Gerald Washington will also serve as exec producers.
The project marks a continuation for DeGeneres producing with NBC. Her short-lived sitcom “One Big Happy,” on which she was an exec producer, was canceled on Friday in a slew of comedy cancelations at the network.Played via Steam on PC (Also available on PS2, PS3, 360, Wii)
Humans have an inherent fascination with chaos.
The thrill of an explosion, the impending catastrophe of a train wreck, the infinite details hidden in the microseconds of movement. These moments are fascinating to explore, conceptually and visually, in seeing the seemingly infinite interacting parts coalescing into a single, satisfying result.
Gunstar Heroes, an action-platformer originally released for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive by Treasure, explores that portion of human interest with glee. It is a game that approaches action not as a home console game, but in the same vein as arcade-based action platformers like Ghouls ‘n Ghosts or Metal Slug. Seemingly endless enemies fill the screen, dangerous attacks come from all directions, and the player is challenged less by each individual enemy, and more by the mass of their charge.
By that rubric, Gunstar Heroes is not a terribly forgiving game. Although there are techniques and weapons that make the game a lot more forgiving and approachable, the lack of tutorials and a vague sense that there is more to the mechanics than is immediately apparent belies just how dated the arcade-style action can be. Players are given a brief, slightly opaque description of much of their weapon options and objectives, and most of what what can be learned from these little snippets comes more from assumed aspects rather than clearly defined ones. This is further hampered by the seemingly literal translations, leaving the player to guess what moves like “Unit of the Dragon” or “Rotor Hang” actually mean in context to a sudden boss.
In addition, the difference between a “regular” enemy who dies after very little contact with player fire and stronger or sub-boss enemies are not given clear visual distinction. There are relatively few instances where this can dramatically affect the player, as enemies will rarely materialize dangerously close to the player, but it will still make informed tactical decisions more difficult than really need be.
However, players are given many mechanics to combat this. The option to choose the players starting weapon, the ability to swap between one of two weapon types, or to combine both into a new weapon, lets players explore several methods of play. While some are a little too situational to be universally effective, none of them are unusable. Pair this with a mild generosity of health collectibles and local co-op, and the game becomes a lot less daunting in the face of just so much going on.
There is a merriment to the grand spectacle, though, a celebration to the joy of the mechanics. It isn’t a game that searches for deeper meaning or subtle narrative. It’s an expression of play. Gunstar Heroes lets players simply play, and gives them countless challenges to explore and foes to face.
In that regard, it also succeeds in making a game that is not as simple as first impressions might make it out to be. There is a level of depth to the mechanics, and stages in the game that explore these mechanics in creative ways. Dice rolls by using the player’s throw ability, spaceship-based combat, creating obstacles that subvert the strengths of weapon combinations, sliding and moving stages that shift player physics, and rail-based stages and boss fights. All of these aspects change how they’re played without really straining the mechanics, allowing the play to be novel and exciting throughout without complicating the system or distracting the player with unnecessary systems to have to learn.
It means that Gunstar Heroes is a game that feels natural and enthralling despite it being so dated. It’s an older game with a younger soul, whose players will always find joy and enthusiasm from its experiences. It’s playful, chaotic, challenging, rewarding, and enthralling. The sort of game that leaves its players longing for more; just one more taste of the jubilant cacophony of light and danger.
If anything, it is here that the biggest flaw resides. It’s too short, a game polished enough to make its passing too fleeting. It resides just long enough to give the player a sense of how fun games in this genre can be before fading to credits, before the player has had their fill. Repeat plays are quite possible, even encouraged, but there is something lost without more to drive the player forward to greater heights and deeper challenges. There lies the most tragic part, feeling it all fade away before its prime.
Despite that, though, Gunstar Heroes is a game any fan of classic gaming, or even modern action games, should experience. It is a trophy of excellent design, jubilant mechanics, merry chaos, and player experience. Perhaps too short, but the longing for more proves the game had everything right but the length. Being too good to give up is a trait well-worth indulging.
Classy
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The Classicist is an every-other-week column on classic games re-released, sold, or remade on modern systems or platforms. This includes virtual consoles, licensed emulators, or cloud-based platforms. If you have any suggestions or want to pitch a game to be written about, you can contact Taylor here.WASHINGTON More than 40% of President Obama's top-level fundraisers have secured posts in his administration, from key executive branch jobs to diplomatic postings in countries such as France, Spain and the Bahamas, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Twenty of the 47 fundraisers that Obama's campaign identified as collecting more than $500,000 have been named to government positions, the analysis found. Overall, about 600 individuals and couples raised money from their friends, family members and business associates to help fund Obama's presidential campaign. USA TODAY's analysis found that 54 have been named to government positions, ranging from Cabinet and White House posts to advisory roles, such as serving on the economic recovery board charged with helping guide the country out of recession. Nearly a year after he was elected on a pledge to change business-as-usual in Washington, Obama also has taken a cue from his predecessors and appointed fundraisers to coveted ambassadorships, drawing protests from groups representing career diplomats. A separate analysis by the American Foreign Service Association, the diplomats' union, found that more than half of the ambassadors named by Obama so far are political appointees, said Susan Johnson, president of the association. An appointment is considered political if it does not go to a career diplomat in the State Department. That's a rate higher than any president in more than four decades, the group's data show, although that could change as the White House fills more openings. Traditionally about 30% of top diplomatic jobs go to political appointees, and roughly 70% to veteran State Department employees. Ambassadors earn $153,200 to $162,900 annually. "It is time to end the spoils system and the de facto sale of ambassadorships," Johnson said. "The United States is best served by having experienced, knowledgeable and trained career officers fill all positions in our diplomatic service." JOB RECIPIENTS: See list of fundraisers who became staffers The administration is "well aware of the historical target of career vs. non-career ambassadors, and we will be right on that target," said White House spokesman Thomas Vietor. He said the first round of diplomatic jobs traditionally go to political appointees because those are the first available when a president takes office. Vietor said Obama also made it clear early on that he would "nominate extremely qualified individuals who didn't necessarily come up through the ranks of the State Department but want to serve their country." Among the top Obama fundraisers with jobs: former technology executive Julius Genachowski as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and Nicole Avant, a music industry executive who is the top envoy in the Bahamas. Neither granted interview requests. Those not in the administration benefited in other ways, including attending invitation-only White House bashes, such as a St. Patrick's Day gala. Fundraiser David Gail, a Dallas lawyer that the campaign identified as raising between $100,000 and $200,000, joined dignitaries in July for an East Room country music concert featuring Alison Krauss and Charley Pride. He said he greeted Obama after the event but doesn't have special access to the president, who was elected on a pledge to change business-as-usual in Washington. "I've seen people who have been included on conference calls or events who were very involved at the grass-roots level," Gail said. "Contributing doesn't guarantee a visit to the White House," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday, "nor does it preclude it." Others not on the campaign's list of official bundlers also have reaped rewards. Sacramento developer Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, a fundraiser in Hillary Rodham Clinton's unsuccessful presidential campaign, was nominated this month by Obama to serve as ambassador to Hungary. Clinton is now secretary of state. Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis did not respond to interview requests, and her office referred calls to the White House. It's too early to tell how big a role Obama's fundraisers will play. On the ambassador front alone, nearly 100 top positions remain unfilled, according to the American Foreign Service Association's tally. Ronald Neumann, president of the American Academy of Diplomacy, wants Obama to limit political appointees to about 10% of diplomatic jobs. "The direction is not good," he said of Obama's appointments to date, "but you cannot definitively say what the picture will be for the whole administration." FROM FUNDRAISER TO STAFFER President Obama has named 54 fundraisers to government positions. Here's a look at who they are and how much they raised. The campaign reported fundraising in broad ranges only. RAISED MORE THAN $500,0000 Nicole Avant Ambassador to the Bahamas Matthew Barzun Ambassador to Sweden Don Beyer Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein Jeff Bleich Ambassador to Australia** Richard Danzig Member, Defense Policy Board William Eacho Ambassador to Austria Julius Genachowski Chairman of Federal Communications Commission Donald Gips Ambassador to South Africa Howard Gutman Ambassador to Belgium Scott Harris General Counsel, Department of Energy William Kennard Ambassador to the European Union** Bruce Oreck Ambassador to Finland Spencer Overton Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perrelli Associate Attorney General Abigail Pollack Member, Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of the American Latino Charles Rivkin Ambassador to France and Monaco John Roos Ambassador of Japan Francisco Sanchez Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Alan Solomont Ambassador to Spain and Andorra** Cynthia Stroum Ambassador to Luxembourg** RAISED BETWEEN $200,000 and $500,000 A. Marisa Chun Deputy associate attorney general Gregory Craig White House counsel Norman Eisen Special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform Michael Froman Deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs Mark Gallogly Member, Economic Recovery Advisory Board Max Holtzman Senior adviser to the Agriculture secretary James Hudson Director, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Jeh Johnson General counsel, Department of Defense Samuel Kaplan Ambassador to Morocco Nicole Lamb-Hale Deputy general counsel, Commerce Department Andres Lopez Member, Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of the American Latino Cindy Moelis Director, Commission on White House Fellows William Orrick Counselor to the assistant attorney general John Phillips Chairman, Commission on White House Fellows Penny Pritzker*** Member, Economic Recovery Advisory Board Bob Rivkin General counsel, Transportation Department Desiree Rogers White House social secretary Louis Susman Ambassador to the United Kingdom Robert Sussman Senior policy counsel, Environmental Protection Agency Christina Tchen Director, White House Office of Public Engagement Barry White Ambassador to Norway RAISED BETWEEN $100,000 and $200,000 Preeta Bansal General counsel, Office of Management and Budget Laurie Fulton Ambassador to Denmark Fred Hochberg President, Export-Import Bank of the United States Valerie Jarrett Senior adviser to the president Kevin Jennings Assistant deputy secretary of Education Steven Rattner Treasury Department adviser Miriam Sapiro Deputy U.S. trade representative** Vinai Thummalapally Ambassador to Belize RAISED BETWEEN $50,000 and $100,000 Eric Holder Attorney general David Jacobson Ambassador to Canada Ronald Kirk U.S. trade representative Rocco Landesman Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts Susan Rice Ambassador to the United Nations ** Nominated, not yet confirmed by Senate *** National finance chairwoman Sources: Obama campaign, Public Citizen; White House; USA TODAY research Contributing: Andrew Seaman Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read moreAs reported on Motorsport.com last month, IMSA stalwart Michael Shank, who ran Harvey’s Andretti Autosport car in this year’s Indianapolis 500, will enter an SPM-Honda on a limited schedule for 2018. The six races tabbed are St. Petersburg, Long Beach, the Indy 500, Mid-Ohio, Portland and the season finale at Sonoma.
Harvey, the 2012 British Formula 3 champion went on to twice finish runner-up in the Indy Lights points table for Schmidt Peterson, before making his IndyCar debut at Indy this year in a sixth Andretti entry. He then raced SPM’s #7 car for the final two races of the IndyCar season.
A thrilled Harvey stated: “I had a very positive experience racing for Mike Shank in the Indianapolis 500, and it was great to build on that with SPM in the last two races of the year.
“Now to be racing for Mike and to also have the support of SPM for this program, it is the best of both worlds for me. I want to do as well as we possibly can for AutoNation and SiriusXM, and I cannot wait for St. Pete to get here.”
Shank himself commented: “I’m so happy to have everything come together and to be able to make this announcement — there was a ton of work that went into just getting to this point, and of course it is just the start,” said Shank. “This is a very big deal – for me and my wife Mary Beth, and for my race team.
“We are really excited to have Jack (Harvey) back with us, and very focused on making the most of this multi-year program. It is a big undertaking but I’ve been working on this nonstop, every day for months to have everything in place for us to be able to go out and build a competitive program.”
Team co-owner Sam Schmidt, too, said he was pleased to keep Harvey under the SPM umbrella.
“Ric [Peterson], myself and everyone at SPM are really excited for this partnership with Mike Shank, his team and, of course, Jack Harvey who we’re so pleased to welcome back into the organization,” said Sam Schmidt. “We’re really looking forward to working with AutoNation and SiriusXM again as well. We continue to look for ways to strengthen our team and improve our core operations, and we think this multi-year partnership will do just that.
“Mike’s history in motorsport speaks for itself, and we’re pleased he has decided to expand his IndyCar program and involve us in that endeavor.”Professional football and fine art seem about as well suited to each other as a tall boy of Bud Light and a tin of really expensive caviar. Which is why it may surprise you to learn that the new Mercedes-Benz stadium currently under construction in Atlanta, Georgia will feature not only 100 yards of turf, but also over 100 works of specially commissioned art work. Some will even be record breaking: The entryway will feature the largest statue of a bird — a falcon, naturally — in the entire world.
The stadium will cost $1.5 billion — $200 million of which is coming from taxpayers — and is set to open in 2017. It will be the home field of both the Atlanta Falcons and the Major League Soccer team Atlanta United, two organizations owned by Arthur M. Blank, the co-founder of Home Depot. The AMB Group is putting together the art collection with the help of the Savannah College of Art and Design; the school commissioned pieces from 53 internationally acclaimed artists, 48% of whom are Georgia-based.
Mike Egan, senior vice president and general counsel of the AMB Group, was as surprised as anyone when the idea first got floated by him. Art? At a football stadium? Isn’t that counterintuitive?
“I couldn’t agree more,” Egan said. “But we did joint polling with SCAD, and we were both very surprised at how many fans had visited art institutions within a year prior to the time we were doing the polling. There was a high level of enthusiasm in the people we spoke to about art.”
One of the methods for gauging interest included sending SCAD students out into tailgates and concourses before Falcons games with an interactive poll on iPads. It’s a beautiful image, really: art students sidestepping grills to ask tong-wielding, face-painted fans if they’d been to a museum recently and what kind of visuals they prefer. Of the 1,200 people questioned, enough were into the idea of an art collection at the stadium that plans moved forward.
The initiative starts to make more sense when you think about what Blank and the AMB Group want their shiny new building to be, which is something more than just a place where 10 football and 17 soccer games occur each year. Egan said the whole complex is designed to give people a reason to leave the comfort of their dens and living rooms. The huge investment — Egan called it significant, but declined to give exact numbers — in art is a bid to create a more holistic experience.
“We almost hesitate to call it a stadium,” Egan said. “We think of it as an entertainment venue. The art experience ties in with the architecture of the building, and it’s all about creating an atmosphere that gets people off of their sofas, out from in front of their sixty-inch TVs, and excited and energized about coming into the building. We think art plays a huge roll in that.”
This is not the first stadium to incorporate art into its plans — the Marlins did so when they completed their new venue in 2012. And Mercedes-Benz won’t be home to the most avant garde art in the world; Egan said that the collection is veering away from the abstract and toward bold, comprehensible pieces. These will be populist works, meant to hold attention and draw people in.
Mercedes-Benz and SCAD plan to do so by building big. The giant falcon that will sit in front of the stadium is the brainchild of Hungarian artist Gábor Miklós Szőke, and will rise 41.5 feet above the asphalt, with a wingspan of over 64 feet. To put that in perspective, that’s about the size of a four story building.
Szőke, who’s designed other sculptures for sporting venues in Europe, started the design process by observing the movements of actual falcons. He then came up with the plans, working with structural engineers to ensure that the bird would be fundamentally sound. Speaking by phone through a translator from Budapest, Szőke explained the process of building this giant contraption out of stainless steel, concrete, and bronze.
“It will be produced in Budapest,” Szőke said, “and then there will be 40-foot containers which will ship the structural elements to Atlanta. It will go through installation at the stadium, and will take two months. By the end of it, over 100 people will have worked on the falcon.”
While the falcon stands for the NFL team, and a 53-foot-high mirrored soccer ball by Studio Roso of London for the MLS franchise, other works will pay homage to the city itself. A huge painting by Atlanta artist Radcliffe Bailey will honor Atlanta’s rich history of historically black colleges and universities. It will be somewhat of a collage, and incorporate eight or so old photographs from HBCUs that Bailey found from 1919.
“I’m looking at drawing those connections between sports and the community,” Bailey said. “But to sports at a time when it was used in a different way. Back then, it was an important part of the community, it was a place where people gathered. Because at the time, things were segregated, and athletics were a realm in which the HBCUs flourished and they did well.”
All of the art will be displayed throughout the entire stadium. Egan said it was important to the ownership that the works occupy not just places where only wealthy people have access, like the clubs and suites, but where those with the cheapest tickets can see them, too. The pieces will therefore sit or hang on every level, from the main concourses, to the premium seats, to the nosebleeds. Much like the prices at concession stands, where it will be possible to feed a family of four for under $28, the art is meant to be a communal experience no matter your income level.
“This ties very much into the way Arthur and this organization thinks about our fans,” Egan said. “He wanted something where the art would be part of the experience of everyone in the building, not just the people buying the most expensive seats.”
The artwork will get a huge number of eyeballs once it’s actually installed, seeing as there are big things planned for the stadium. Atlanta is set to host the Super Bowl in 2019, the NCAA Final Four in 2020, and the 2018 College Football Playoff Championship game. And perhaps, with this new initiative, it’s only a matter of time before Art Basel leaves Miami and heads to Georgia, too.U.S. Customs Seizing Laptops
I've heard many anecdotal stories about U.S. Customs and Border Protection seizing, copying data from, or otherwise accessing laptops of people entering the country. But this is very mainstream:
Today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Asian Law Caucus, two civil liberties groups in San Francisco, plan to file a lawsuit to force the government to disclose its policies on border searches, including which rules govern the seizing and copying of the contents of electronic devices. They also want to know the boundaries for asking travelers about their political views, religious practices and other activities potentially protected by the First Amendment. The question of whether border agents have a right to search electronic devices at all without suspicion of a crime is already under review in the federal courts. The lawsuit was inspired by two dozen cases, 15 of which involved searches of cellphones, laptops, MP3 players and other electronics. Almost all involved travelers of Muslim, Middle Eastern or South Asian background, many of whom, including Mango and the tech engineer, said they are concerned they were singled out because of racial or religious profiling.
Some of this seems pretty severe:
"I was assured that my laptop would be given back to me in 10 or 15 days," said [Maria] Udy, who continues to fly into and out of the United States. She said the federal agent copied her log-on |
and said if he’s going to extend his career into his 40s, he’s going to turn to some other great players for inspiration.
“You look at [Nicklas] Lidstrom and [Chris] Pronger, those guys weren’t always skating 100 miles an hour every shift,” Keith said. “It was being smart and being in good position and skating hard when you had to.”
His coach Joel Quenneville wasn’t surprised to hear Keith’s comments and won’t be betting against him achieving that goal.
“I could see it, the way he takes care of himself and his conditioning level,” Quenneville said. “I don’t think he’ll be playing these kinds of minutes, but I like his ambition.”
It’s obviously impossible to know now if Keith will play for 11 more years but he’s putting himself in a good position to have a long career.
One thing we do know though is that he still loves the game.
“I have a lot of fun, and I feel good,” he said.
That’s a great attitude to have.Contributed by pitrh on 2017-05-01 from the it was a step up from telnet once dept.
In a series of commits starting here and ending with this one, Damien Miller completed the removal of all support for the now-historic SSHv1 protocol from OpenSSH
The final commit message, for the commit that removes the SSHv1 related regression tests, reads:
Eliminate explicit specification of protocol in tests and loops over protocol. We only support SSHv2 now.
Dropping support for SSHv1 and associated ciphers that were either suspected to or known to be broken has been planned for several releases, and has been eagerly anticipated by many in the OpenBSD camp.
In practical terms this means that starting with OpenBSD-current and snapshots as they will be very soon (and further down the road OpenBSD 6.2 with OpenSSH 7.6), the arcane options you used with ssh to connect to some end-of-life gear in a derelict data centre you don't want to visit anymore will no longer work and you will be forced do the reasonable thing. Upgrade.
Longtime OpenBSD developer Bob Beck's public reaction on Twitter was to the point:
Goodbye SSH version 1 - Anyone still using you has been delusional for a very long time. https://t.co/43EgGta16k — Bob Beck (@bob_beck) April 30, 2017
Others have described the long-planned move variously as "a mercy killing" and "a cause for major celebrations".
Now is a great time to prepare to decommission or upgrade any equipment that still relies on the long deprecated protocol. You will be making your users safer in the process.The Nail Challenge Collaborative theme for June is Black & White. This coincided well with the release of season 2 of Orange is the New Black, so of course I have to feature my new bright orange polish from Marc Jacobs!
If you haven’t seen the show, you should! It’s amazing. This mani is obviously inspired by title, for one. The main character’s nickname from her first prison wife is Dandelion, so I stamped on a dandelion to pay tribute to Crazy Eyes.
And another pic:
Index finger & thumb:
Zoya Carey (light grey creme) with
Formula X Firecracker (matte orange glitter topper) and
Different Dimension’s Social Suicide (an amazing matte white and black hex glitter… no bar glitter! It took me forever to find a glitter topper with B&W and no bar glitter)
Middle & Ring finger: Marc Jacobs Oh Splat! (gorgeous bright orange creme) with MoYou Pro 06 stamping using Konad white stamping polish
Pinky: MJ Oh Splat! with Zoya Purity splattered over it
Check out the other fantastic black and white manis:
AdvertisementsIllustration: Yahoo News; photos: AP
Hillary Clinton has always been at her strongest when she has seemed most vulnerable. From her soaring popularity during the impeachment hearings of her faithless husband to her brief electoral comeback in the New Hampshire presidential primary in 2008 after misting up in a diner, one of the most battle-scarred figures in American life has proven again and again that she has the capacity to rouse voters’ empathetic instincts.
Now, as Super Tuesday’s results bring us closer to a general election between Clinton and Trump, two brash New Yorkers who do not shy away from a fight, an unprecedented question looms. How does a man whose insults and old-school machismo only amp his popularity compete against a woman who has made an art form of turning the other cheek to such attacks?
In other words, how ugly will things get should Donald Trump run against Hillary Clinton? And how good — or bad — for each of them might that be?
“It will be a war,” says Rebecca Traister, who wrote a book, “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” about Clinton’s 2008 race, and has just published another, “All the Single Ladies,” about Clinton’s most important constituency this time around. “Trump is popular because he is channeling the anxiety of those who are losing power — white men — to those who are gaining it — women and minorities— and he is willing to say anything that expresses that hate.”
Certain conventions have been accepted about the political ground rules for running for office as a woman and for male candidates running against a woman, wisdom carefully accumulated over the decades by consultants working with focus groups.
Now, all of them are about to be upended.
Men are more analytical and women more emotional? Many voters see it the other way around this time. Men are traditionally seen as insiders while women are seen as outsiders? Those roles are flipped in the cases of Clinton and Trump. Women, arguably, are traditionally credited by voters with honesty and the ability to bring about change. Those are Clinton’s weakest areas, according to pollsters (though Trump doesn’t fare well on the honesty count, either).
And then there is a long list of things that men are supposed to avoid when running against a woman candidate: Never call her names, insult her looks, patronize her, act like a bully, encroach upon her physical space or appear physically threatening. (No, until this campaign, it wasn’t considered good strategy to do this to candidates of any gender, but there is an added menace perceived by voters when a man appears to demean or humiliate his female opponent.)
Trump, though, has done most of these things to many people who have gotten in his way thus far in the campaign, including more than a few women. Megyn Kelly, for instance, whom he called a “bimbo” and suggested she was hormonally unstable. Or Carly Fiorina, of whom he said, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? She’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really folks, come on! Are we serious?” He’s had choice words for Clinton already, too, calling the fact that she used the bathroom disgusting and turning a vulgar word for penis into a verb to describe her loss to Barack Obama.
Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders, left, and Martin O’Malley resume the debate at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., in December after Hillary Clinton was late returning from a break. (Photo: Brian Snyder/Reuters)
When and if Trump becomes the Republican nominee, will he stop?
Not likely, says author Michael D’Antonio, who spent four years studying Trump for the book “Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success,” which was published last fall.
“That’s who he is,” he says. “I don’t think he respects women, I think he’s made to feel vulnerable by them, and the way he expresses that comes out as hostility.” D’Antonio concedes that Trump insults and demeans both men and women, but he sees an added edge in his interactions with women. Based on conversations with Trump and comments the candidate has made in public over the years, D’Antonio says Trump divides women into “who’s a 10 and who’s not a 10, who he would like to have sex with and who he wouldn’t. The impulse is so strong in him to attack, and to do it in the lowest possible way will be irresistible to him.”This is a busy time of year for DLF. In fact, it’s THE busiest time of year. We know that most dynasty league players believe the NFL draft is the kickoff to the new season. We want you to be prepared for your upcoming rookie drafts and are making sure we have the content to help guide you through the process. What follows is our consensus top 20 rookie list taken from our updated rankings page, along with a short profile on each player.
For complete pick-by-pick analysis from the weekend, or for the newly released downloadable rookie draft cheat sheet with positional and overall rankings, visit our premium content section.
1. Andrew Luck, QB IND
No real secret about this selection. In a stunning turn of events in 2011, the Colts went from a perennial playoff team to the worst team in the league when legendary Peyton Manning sat out the season due to a neck injury. What followed was a display of just how important Manning was to the Colts. As fortune smiled upon them in 1998, so it has again in 2012 as perhaps the greatest quarterback prospect since 1983, Andrew Luck, fell into their lap.
The Colts paired Luck with a selection of his collegiate tight end, Coby Fleener, with their first pick in the second round. This selection should generate at least some degree of immediate chemistry in the passing game. The Colts also retained Reggie Wayne on the outside while adding speedsters T.Y. Hilton and LaVon Brazill. The running game didn’t get an upgrade and the Colts are obviously content at this point to allow the duo of Donald Brown and Delone Carter shoulder the load.
Luck is not likely to lead the rookies in fantasy production in his first couple of years, but he is as close as you can get to a sure thing coming out of college for the next 12-15 years at the position. His talent, maturity and skill set is too great to pass on at 1.01 unless you have a top young quarterback on your roster already.
2. Trent Richardson, RB CLE
The Browns moved up and got the player they wanted. In most any other year, Richardson would be an easy selection as the 1.01 in fantasy drafts. Only the rare inclusion of someone as good as Andrew Luck in 2012 can push him down a notch. Running backs have been de-emphasized in greater numbers of late and Richardson’s value is actually greater due to his ability to stay on the field.
He’s as pro-ready as you see coming out of college and he’ll be a three down back for the Browns. He’s strong, nimble and has enough lateral agility and speed to make secondaries pay the price if he’s not checked at the line. He’s adept enough in the passing game and is a willing blocker. The Browns also have an adequate offensive line that could propel Richardson’s numbers beyond what we often see in first-year backs.
Richardson has been favorably compared to Adrian Peterson and dubbed elite by nearly the entire NFL community. If you’re needy at both the quarterback and running back positions, you’ve got quite the decision to make but all signs point to Richardson just being too sexy to pass up on.
Now can he stay healthy?
3. Robert Griffin III, QB WAS
It’s not often that you have a draft that has a once in a decade player (Luck) at a position, and even more rare when you have two. Many believe that Robert Griffin III (RGIII) is nearly as good as Luck and he’s certainly more dynamic. He’s got a monster arm, elite mobility and arguably throws on the move as well as he does standing in the pocket. Mix in elite leadership, charisma and football intelligence and you have the second elite rookie quarterback prospect in 2012.
Mobile quarterbacks have a much higher injury quotient, so the questions will remain about RGIII’s ability to stay healthy over the long term. You won’t find many experts who believe RGIII won’t have a very noteworthy career. In fantasy, the combination of standard quarterback scoring with the addition of rushing yardage and touchdowns makes RGIII extremely tempting, even perhaps over Luck. In the end, we believe Luck is the clear first choice within the position, but we won’t fault fantasy coaches for rolling the dice on RGIII before him.
The Redskins didn’t do much to add talent around Luck via the draft, but added receivers in free agency to complement existing younger receivers such as Leonard Hankerson and Fred Davis. Given the fact the Redskins also have an emerging run game behind Roy Helu Jr., they are suddenly a team to watch in the NFC.
4. Doug Martin, RB TB
Heading into the draft, the top four selections looked rock solid as Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, Trent Richardson and Justin Blackmon.
Enter Doug Martin, selected by Tampa Bay late in the first round.
Fantasy coaches love their running backs and Martin’s stock was steadily rising leading up to the draft. A rare blend of size and downhill running ability, Martin is now in immediate line for significant carries as a rookie and could well challenge Cleveland’s Trent Richardson for best rookie running back. Given that many don’t care for Justin Blackmon’s ultimate landing spot (Jacksonville), you can expect Martin to take over as the fourth (or better) rookie selected. Feel free to downgrade LeGarrette Blount significantly.
Tampa Bay struggled mightily on defense in 2011 and Josh Freeman regressed. Receivers Mike Williams and Arrelious Benn didn’t come close to 1,000 yards receiving and the running game had no punch. The Bucs added Vincent Jackson in free agency which should now open up some running lanes. Martin isn’t the type of back who will take over a game, but he should be very productive between the tackles and restore offensive balance to Tampa. Fantasy coaches in need of running back help should be excited to have him at 1.04.
5. Justin Blackmon, WR JAX
Blackmon’s stock was all over the map leading up to the draft. Many an NFL front office had Blackmon as the clear top prospect in the draft, while others had him listed as a second round talent due to a perceived lack of size and speed. Any way you slice it, Blackmon is a gritty, hard-nosed player who will do what’s needed to get the ball and punish secondaries after he catches it. He doesn’t have blazing speed or the ability to overly stretch the field, but he knows how to use his body, be physical off the line and is extremely dangerous in both shallow and deep slants.
The Jaguars are well known for churning out offensive duds for receivers and haven’t had a consistent threat since the departure of Jimmy Smith. High draft choices in recent years haven’t panned out and fantasy coaches are anything but excited about Blackmon’s landing spot. Rookie Blaine Gabbert should take positive steps this year, but there are no guarantees that this will result in fantasy relevance for Blackmon. He’s clearly the first receiver off the board in rookie drafts, but he could fall to 1.06 depending on circumstances.
6. Michael Floyd, WR ARI
Floyd surpassed Blackmon on a few boards leading up to the draft, but ultimately fell to the Cardinals with the 13th selection. He has deceptive speed and is a natural hands catcher. He doesn’t play as fast on tape as he ran at the combine and he sometimes gets lazy at the top of his routes, but there’s no questioning his prototypical size and ability.
In Arizona, he’ll be paired with Larry Fitzgerald and his fantasy outlook is a little unclear. There is arguably no better mentor than Fitzgerald and he’s sure to pick up the finer points of the game at a faster pace. The Cardinals will also be lining up a dangerous trio of receivers in Fitzgerald, Floyd and Early Doucet or Andre Roberts. It’s also been said that Doucet may be on the trade block after emerging some in 2011. With a running game finally taking hold, returning starter Kevin Kolb will have few excuses for poor production.
As for Floyd, his drafted value takes a small dip until his role is established, but he’s likely to still be the second receiver off the board after Blackmon.
7. David Wilson, RB NYG
The draft starts getting much thinner here with Wilson heading to the Big Apple. Wilson has a speed and balance dynamic that is noteworthy, but it’s difficult to project his game to the NFL with any level of confidence. In New York, he’ll be paired with accomplished runner Ahmad Bradshaw and will be able to ease into his role. He’ll likely be moved around to take advantage of his skill set, similar to what Miami does with Reggie Bush.
The Super Bowl champions already have a noteworthy offense, led by two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning. With receivers Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz and rookie Rueben Randle to handle the receiving load, defenses won’t be able to stack the box. There will be plenty of opportunities for Wilson to see the field and Bradshaw is far from consistently healthy. Wilson’s value takes a hit here, but he has a large amount of upside as well.
8. Kendall Wright, WR TEN
A bit of a surprise that Tennessee ends up with Wright in the first round, but that’s what the draft is all about. With Kenny Britt returning, the Titans should now have a potent passing offense to take the pressure off the offensive line and Chris Johnson.
Wright is a dynamic receiver with a competitive streak that runs very deep. He’s undisciplined at times and never ran as well as expected at the NFL Combine or pro day, but the tape tells a different story. He’s consistently able to stretch defenses, take the top off and come down with the big play at the right time.
In fantasy circles, you’ll either like Wright or you won’t, as exemplified by our individual rankings. I’m the lone contributor who believes Wright’s value falls into the teens. If the Titans are able to get consistent play from their quarterbacks, and prove that there are enough balls to be distributed, Wright has the ability to put up numbers similar to Jordy Nelson in 2011. If that is how he starts, he’ll be a gem late in the first round of your rookie draft
9. Stephen Hill, WR NYJ
Rex Ryan has already established the expectation that Hill will be an opening day starter for the Jets. A selection of Hill in fantasy is a selection for the belief that a receiver’s eventual production is more about size and speed than it is collegiate production. Hill blew the doors off everyone else at the NFL Combine and, no doubt, created a mad rush for game film as scouts and team brass tried to figure out just what he is capable of at the next level. There’s just little way to tell without getting him on the field.
If the eventual production of fellow Georgia Tech receiver Demaryius Thomas is any indication, Hill will be just fine. And let’s not forget that Tech’s quirky offense also produced super-stud Calvin Johnson – the lineage is a good one. Unfortunately, the Jets offense isn’t. I have serious concerns about the leadership of Mark Sanchez and his ability to generate a consistent passing attack with Shonn Greene at running back and Santonio Holmes across from Hill.
Regardless, Hill has too much talent not to carry a level of excitement and he’ll likely be drafted consistently in the bottom third of the first round of fantasy drafts.
10. Ryan Tannehill, QB MIA
This selection was anything but a surprise.
There’s little chance that Tannehill isn’t starting by week ten as the Matt Moore experiment comes to an end. To his credit, Moore didn’t fail entirely and actually put up respectable numbers. However, the winds of change are blowing in Miami and he’ll need a new home.
Tannehill represents the typical rookie quarterback who needs time to develop. His arm is adequate, perhaps even more so. His footwork is fair, his pocket presence is average as well, but he seems to have above average IQ and the ability to lead. If not for being overshadowed by Luck and RGIII, there would have been more excitement surrounding Tannehill and his fantasy drafted status would have been higher in most other years.
He’s not flashy, but for teams needing young quarterback depth, Tannehill represents a good bet in the late first round.
11. Alshon Jeffery, WR CHI
Talk about enigmatic!
With the 45th pick overall, the Bears brought to an end the discussion about just where Jeffery would be selected. Some considered him a first round talent with the work ethic of a fourth rounder. Some considered him a slower Calvin Johnson, while others were seriously concerned with his weight. Jeffery will remain a complete unknown until he proves something on the field. He’s got the body and catch radius to be extremely productive, but big questions about physicality remain.
The Bears have yet to produce fantasy significance from their receivers, but acquired Brandon Marshall from Miami in free agency and now Jeffery via the draft. Can Jay Cutler and Marshall be as productive as they were in Denver? Will the existence Johnny Knox, Earl Bennett and Devin Hester delay Jeffery’s growth, or will the Bears seek to get Jeffery immersed quickly.
This is a classic “boom or bust” pick.
12. Mohamed Sanu, WR CIN
There’s a lot to like about Sanu and his selection by the Bengals is chief among them. Having lost Jerome Simpson to the Vikings, the Bengals had great need at receiver.
Sanu isn’t flashy, but he’ll have every opportunity to take over for the departing Simpson and start from day one along side A.J. Green. Sanu is the the type of receiver who will work the middle of the field and may remind some of T.J. Houshmandzadeh of a few years ago. With Green on the outside and Sanu working underneath, he could be very productive in PPR leagues. Note the Bengals also selected receiver Marvin Jones out of Cal, so the camp battle is on.
Don’t look now, but the Bengals have quietly assembled a very young offense with upside.
13. Brandon Weeden, QB CLE
You have to feel a little bad for Colt McCoy. Receiving the dreaded vote of confidence on the day of the draft was obviously a smokescreen to keep others at bay and away from the Browns true intentions of selecting Weeden with their 22nd pick. He’s older than half the existing starting quarterbacks in the NFL without even taking his first snap, so you can expect Weeden will be under center from day one.
He has a lot of work to do in order to learn how to play the NFL game from under center, but he has the arm and football IQ to develop quickly. He’s an accurate signal caller and throws with a nice release point and touch. He tends to get jumpy in a collapsing pocket and shows reluctance to hang in and deliver the ball. However, as a rookie quarterback, he’ll develop quickly if given snaps.
He’s not a sexy fantasy pick, but he’s a good selection in the teens for those looking for a backup quarterback or those already possessing McCoy.
14. Coby Fleener, TE IND
Fleener has moved up due to the falling prospects of other rookies. Reunited with his Stanford quarterback, Andrew Luck, he should have immediate chemistry as a receiving tight end and post solid numbers in his first year. The Colts also selected Clemson’s Dwayne Allen, most likely to provide some degree of in-line blocking as Fleener is notoriously incapable at this point in his development.
Fleener may grace the bottom of the first round in fantasy drafts, or could slip much further in shallower leagues. In all likelihood, he’ll be a coveted pick due to the poor 2012 tight end class.
15. Isaiah Pead, RB STL
Many may mistakenly (say that three times fast) believe that Pead has been drafted as Steven Jackson’s backup. I find that highly unlikely as Pead doesn’t have the size and speed combination to provide the every down ability that Jackson does. Coach Jeff Fisher does have experience with small, quicker backs such as Chris Johnson, so look for him to get Pead into space to utilize is 4.47 speed. Pead is no Chris Johnson, but does bring a dynamic that the Rams need.
Jackson may not be back with the Rams in 2013 and Pead’s role will be determined through his play in 2012. Either way, look for him to play a heavy support role to Jackson and to eventually give way to bigger back in 2013. Until then, Pead may have some value as Jackson’s handcuff, especially in PPR formats. Given Jackson’s injury history, it’s not out of the question that Pead could be called into duty and surprise us.
16. Rueben Randle, WR NYG
Randle could have fallen to a better situation, but has to be happy with the receivers around him from which he’ll learn about the game at the next level. A big, capable playmaker, Randle took hits from scouts due to his speed of play. In watching tape, I see some of the noted concerns, but I also see a receiver with better speed than given credit for and very capable hands. He won’t take the top off defenses, but is reliable in space and will give Eli Manning another big target, especially over the middle.
Randle isn’t a “boom or bust” pick, but a receiver who should be productive for many years once his role is established. The question will be if he can garner a role that leads to fantasy significance or whether he becomes one of those receivers deserving of a roster spot, but can rarely be played (i.e., Michael Jenkins).
17. A.J. Jenkins, WR SF
A shocker of a pick at number thirty overall in the first round.
San Francisco was quick to defend the selection saying he rated very highly and reminded them of a young Terrell Owens. At 6’0′ and 190 lbs., it’s obvious that Harbaugh and company saw things on tape that suggested Jenkins was a diamond in the rough, or maybe a gem now.
Jenkins is a natural hands snatcher and will high-point tough passes. He’s relatively quick and has deceptive speed – his 4.39 40 was notable. He has the ability to get in and out of breaks quickly to create separation. It seems likely that Jenkins would have been available much later in the second round, but perhaps other teams were onto him as well.
Jenkins’ situation isn’t ideal for early productivity in that he will be sharing the field with Vernon Davis, Randy Moss, Mario Manningham and Michael Crabtree. For this reason, he may slip a bit in fantasy rookie drafts and could be a bargain late in the second round.
18. Brian Quick, WR STL
Following the draft, it’s already been said by beat reporters that the expectation is that both Brian Quick and fellow rookie Chris Givens will be starting for the Rams when the season opens.
Quick is as raw as they come out of college, but possesses good size and fair speed (4.55). He’s strong in traffic and isn’t afraid of contact or routes across the middle. For a big receiver, his hands (9.6″) are smaller than we like to see and he sometimes fights them on balls received into his body.
Pencil him in as your day one starter for the Rams, but keep expectations low. He’ll be drafted in the mid-to-late second round in fantasy.
19. Ronnie Hillman, RB DEN
Hillman is a dynamic speed back who will have an immediate role for the Broncos, desperately in need for speed in the backfield. We expected Denver to seek out a bigger back to take over for Willis McGahee when he departs, but Hillman likely won’t fit this role. That said, Hillman is a quick-twitch athlete who has great lateral agility, stop-start ability and rare toughness for his size.
On a sour note, Hillman also has small hands and isn’t accomplished in the passing game. He doesn’t exhibit a lot of patience behind his line and is too quick to push the play. Once in the open field, though, Hillman is a nightmare for second level defenders. Look for Denver to use him in a similar role to Reggie Bush in Miami as they try to get him into space or as a runner in stretch plays parallel to the line of scrimmage.
It’s hard to project his eventual production outside of a PPR format.
20. Lamar Miller, RB MIA
Outside of the surprise that was Chris Polk (undrafted), Miller continued to fall and wasn’t selected until the fourth round. Concerns about his shoulder weighed on his value, but it has been said his football intelligence is seriously in question after failing chalkboard sessions at the NFL Combine. Miami is said to view him as a “kick returner” and “developmental running back.”
Miller disappeared on third down, short yardage or when tough inside runs were called for and this likely added to his significant drop. In space, Miller is able to showcase his legitimate 4.40 speed and, given his size, is difficult to bring down from behind. Unlike other backs in this class with questionable speed, Miller can go the distance if a seam develops and not be caught from behind. In the passing game, he’s capable but not adept. He shows fluidity when catching the ball on the move and a relatively fluid ability to catch while maintaining forward motion. HIs toughness is in question with the ball in his hands, so to is it in question as a blocker. He’s not overly physical or willing in pass protection and plays much smaller than his size would suggest.
Miller is as high a risk-reward as you can get in 2012. His value, due to drafted position, is clearly in the middle of the third round but as other rookies went to questionable situations, it’s likely that Miller will be taken late in the second round. Not many running backs pan out from this position.This would be a lot less safe if the texter were behind the wheel, researchers… (Jay Reeves/Associated…)
You know that texting while driving is dangerous. But just how dangerous is it?
According to researchers from the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Ft. Worth, texting behind the wheel accounted for 16,141 deaths between 2002 and 2007.
The researchers arrived at that figure by analyzing nationwide traffic data from the Fatality Accident Reporting System and texting records from the Federal Communications Commission and CTIA, the wireless telecom industry group.
Crunching the numbers, they calculated that if text messaging had never been invented, there would have been 1,925 traffic fatalities per year due to distracted driving beween 2002 and 2007. But in real life, they rose from 4,611 in 2001 to 5,988 in 2007.For more than forty years, as part of an alliance with the United States, Japan was allowed access to some of the very best fighters in the world. A string of American fighters, starting with the F-86 Sabre, then the F-104 Starfighter, F-4 Phantom and finally the F-15 provided the mainstay of the Air Self Defense Forces. Offering Japan first-rate fighters only nine years after World War II may sound odd, but America was convinced that postwar Japan was a vital strategic ally. The doors of the Arsenal of Democracy swung open wide and Japan (and America) benefitted enormously.
Of course, Japan didn’t realize that, forty years later, those doors would close a little bit and the F-15 would be the final first rank fighter it would have access to. In 1998, the so-called “Obey Amendment” to the U.S. defense budget prohibited the U.S. from exporting the F-22 Raptor abroad. Although practically nobody comes out and says it, the Obey Amendment is likely the result of transfers of U.S. technology from Israel to the People’s Republic of China, which resulted in aircraft such as the J-10. Realistically the likelihood of an arms transfer ban specifically targeting Israel is exactly zero, and as a result the F-22 was banned from export to any country, no matter how loyal to the United States.
Since the passage of the act the official line has been that the F-35 is the American fighter reserved for Japan. Various efforts, some led by members of Congress have tried to overturn the F-22 ban, but those have run into the reality that nobody could promise that F-22 technology would ever be leaked again…especially by a certain country. So the F-22 remained the sole ward of the United States Air Force, and when the production line ended, the tooling was put into storage in the unlikely event the aircraft would be resurrected.
Now, imagine you’re Japan. You’ve enjoyed cozy relationship with the American Military-Industrial Complex for decades, getting the very best fighters, and even the right to produce those fighters, under license, in Japan. You’ve held up your end of the bargain, and you expect the relationship to continue. You limit your own fighter production program to licensed builds, not bothering to develop indigenous designs. Why should you?
Along comes the Obey Amendment…and you’re screwed. You have an aging fleet of F-4EJ Phantom fighters you expected to replace with F-22s, and that’s not going to happen. America instead offers you the F-35 Lightning II, a multi-role fighter over budget, behind schedule, and worst of all, it doesn’t suit your requirements. You wanted a two engine air superiority fighter? You can’t have it. Why? Because you can’t be trusted with the technology. Why now? Because we said so.
If you were Japan, would that not make you more than a little uneasy about your access to future weapons systems? Especially with China breathing down your neck?
The answer is yes, that is making Japan very uneasy. And it is taking steps. Consider this article that came out just today.
Japan, France to start talks to jointly develop military equipment SINGAPORE–Despite Japanese objections to France’s military equipment sales to China and Russia, Japan has agreed to hold official talks on joint weapons development with France. Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera on June 2 met with his French counterpart on the sidelines of the Asia Security Summit here. French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian showed a strong interest in Japanese weapons-related technology, and proposed that the two nations jointly develop military weapons and equipment. Onodera and Le Drian agreed that Japan and France will begin talks aimed at hammering out an agreement to carry out joint arms development, beginning with the bilateral summit scheduled for June 7 in Tokyo. “I think there is no difference with France in our thinking on this,” Onodera told reporters after the meeting with Le Drian, showing his support for joint arms development efforts. (Asahi Shimbun, June 3rd, 2013. Link)
A little more than a year ago, Japan signed a similar deal with the U.K.
Japan, U.K. agree on arms development Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and British leader David Cameron agreed Tuesday in Tokyo to strengthen bilateral defense cooperation, including joint weapons development, in what will be the first such case since Japan eased its de facto ban on arms exports.
It is also the first time Japan has agreed to develop weapons with a country other than the United States. Noda and Cameron agreed to launch at least one joint weapons program, according to a joint statement released after their 30-minute-long summit and one-hour working dinner at the prime minister’s office. Japanese officials said the two leaders did not discuss specific weapons systems for development. But they did mention Rolls-Royce engine technology for helicopters during their talks, the officials said. (The Japan Times, April 11, 2012. Link) If you wanted partners in defense technology who have something to offer Japan, and who aren’t the United States, then France and the United Kingdom are your ideal choices. Japan is very clearly beginning to diversify its arms connections as a hedge against future technology bans from any one supplier. Who can say what the Americans are going to ban next? Yes, these initial reports are vague. Yes Japan is indecisive, but when it pushes in a direction, it does so decisively. The F-35 Lightning II won the F-X fighter competition in part because of the U.S. – Japan alliance and the presence of American troops in Japan. The Eurofighter Typhoon lost because Japan has few, if any, concrete defense agreements with the Europeans and the closest European troops are in French Micronesia. But if the rules of the game have changed, that Japan no longer has a tacit guarantee of the best weapons on the market, then it is in Japan’s interests to ensure that foreign industry, or even domestic industry, can provide a substitute. With the relaxing of Japanese arms export laws, Japan may even jointly develop and sell abroad weapons systems that compete with American designs. The blanket ban of the Obey Amendment may prove both a tactical and strategic mistake for the American Military-Industrial Complex and its gilded array of weapons systems.
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Related posts:The Smithsonian Museum does not want to buy or display the gun George Zimmerman used in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, which is now up for auction.
Zimmerman — the former Florida neighborhood watch volunteer who became vilified after Martin’s 2012 shooting death — said in an auction listing that the Washington, D.C.-based cultural institution was one of “many” who have “expressed interest” in purchasing the pistol, which he called a “piece of American history.”
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The Smithsonian on Thursday debunked the claim in a statement. “We have never expressed interest in collecting George Zimmerman’s firearm, and have no plans to ever collect or display it in any museums,” it said.
Zimmerman, 32, was acquitted in the case. He told Fox 35 Orlando that it was “time to move past the firearm,” which the U.S. Justice Department recently returned to him. “I’m a free American. I can do what I want with my possessions,” he said.
Contact us at editors@time.com.Quote: Originally Posted by supertiger1234 Originally Posted by Hey! is YouTube playback of 720p smooth? it was lagging on another 7.0 ROM i tried and i want to know if it works smoothly on this ROM.
Thanks
---------- Post added at 10:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:46 PM ----------
[B01] I tried some 720p movie on youtube and that ran great.Video in other apps just does not run at all.Not in Kodi, nor in the NOS app (Dutch news), nor Horizon app (Dutch TV app).So I flashed B01; for some vague reason TWRP refused to wipe /data so I got most apps that were installed (B07 of 6.01) again in Android 7. Still all ran rather fine.Only the video apps did not work |
years ago. The payoff is satisfying for him as well as us, because this is one of my two favorites on the album as well; the chorus is addictive and the subdued, haunting bridge is exceptional in the way it allows all the band’s instruments to interact without being over-the-top.
My other favorite is the subsequent track, ‘Languor’, which the band chose to release as their lead single. This piece grabs you by the throat with an almost sludgy, Phrygian rhythm on distorted bass. The sax plays at a different mode by using a sharp 4th momentarily, but once the full melody comes in on sax and choral keys it reveals itself as purely Phrygian. This was the first modal melody that really grabbed my attention, but with repeated listens, other scales pop out all over the album – Dorian on ‘Heresy’, Locrian on ‘Helix’, and certainly more I’m not keen enough to recognize. This melodic creativity prompted me to ask about how Seven Impale approaches composition. Benjamin told me that most of the counterpoint writing is spontaneous and improvised around a main riff, and there is a lot of jumping between major, minor, and other modes, with the relationship between seconds/fourths/sixths/sevenths and the root not always being fixed. “Phrygian can very quickly be very Opeth-y”, he states, and as I read that and listen to around the 5-6 minute mark of ‘Languor’, I can hear the parallel perfectly. A dash of Opeth-iness never hurt anyone, I always say!
The band’s maturation as songcrafters exudes from every pore of this album. Each track is richly layered and accented with instruments and vocal passages, unexpected yet perfectly-flowing dynamic twists, and smooth transitions between disparate musical ideas. While there are six instrumentalists vying for the listener’s attention, they are incredibly well-balanced and frequently pared down so that only two or three are driving the song at any given time. The wide variety of sounds comes from an even wider variety of influences, from critical darlings Snarky Puppy and Tigran Hamasyan, to the cerebral metal of Meshuggah and Shining, to Frank Zappa and a handful of others I can’t even categorize because they’re so far outside my wheelhouse (Hiatus Kaiyote, Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin, Sleep Party People, Elephant9, and “basically everything involving Mark Guiliana” were a few of the artists offered by Benjamin). Benjamin made a point of crediting producer Iver Sandøy specifically for his aid in helping them explore new vocal territory, incorporating vocals from almost all the members onto several of the tracks (‘Heresy’, ‘Inertia’, ‘Convulsion’, and ‘Helix’ have vocal contributions from the larger group). But even when it’s just main vocalist Stian, the terrain he covers is surprisingly diverse and all well-executed.
After the gentle interlude of ‘Ascension’, ‘Convulsion’ kicks in with one of the album’s most concentrated bursts of energy, featuring distorted guitar and bass and a sort of spaced-out yelling for the vocal style. ‘Helix’ follows with a strange melody that almost sounds like a synthesized dial tone, and progresses into a brooding, claustrophobic churner. Around halfway through, distortion and waves of synth crank things up and set the stage for perhaps the most abrasive vocals on the album. After this climax, a denouement comes rooted in interplay between bass and keys, again with subtle layers of everything else fleshing out the sound. This song was drummer Fredrik Widerøe’s pick for favorite, as he highlighted its “very unconventional structure”, saying it was “very different from everything we’ve ever made”, and that it exemplified the kind of “progress” that should be expected of modern progressive bands.
The second-to-last track, ‘Serpentstone’, opens with a heavy riff that is relatively happy-sounding compared to much of the rest of the album. Around the 1:45 mark, the melody shifts to a root – 2 – ♭3 – ♭2 pattern that is not unique but most immediately calls to my mind the song ’20 Minutes/40 Years’ by Isis. Benjamin gets a nice sax solo in the middle of this contemplative piece. This song, for whatever reason, stands out as a bit more lyric-driven. According to Benjamin, there is a loose “thread” that governs the lyrical themes on both City of the Sun and Contrapasso, having to do with a “‘utopian’ universe” – on the new album, things revolve around “false prophets” causing this perfect society to crumble by essentially attracting cult followings, and the “downfall and ‘resurrection’ of the city and its people.” This fits sensibly with the somewhat hopeful-sounding quality of ‘Serpentstone’, which is the last lyrical track on the album.
That brings us to the closer, the 11-minute ‘Phoenix’, a song which I personally have a somewhat tortured relationship with. Seeing the track length, and having heard the rest of the album before it, I had prepared myself for an epic, progressive capstone track that would weave all the threads of the album together in glorious climax. I kept waiting for that climax… and waiting… and waiting… and then the 11 minutes were gone. The band decided to veer a different direction for their finale here; instead of ‘Cassandra Gemini’, they gave us ‘Chameleon’. ‘Phoenix’ is not the grandiose outro I was looking for; instead, it is a slow-burning instrumental jazz piece reminiscent of Herbie Hancock for much of its duration. It does pick up around 5 minutes in to something that feels more in line musically with the rest of the album, then teases around 8 minutes with a burst that hints at a massive ending that never comes, before settling back into the same groove that introduced the song and fading gently into the ether. I kind of went through the five stages of grief with the song: “There’s going to be an epic outro coming, I’m sure of it.”… “How could they end such an awesome album with this weird song?!”… “Maybe this is a bonus track, and ‘Serpentstone’ is the real ending?”… “I guess this is it.”… “Actually, I do kind of like it.” Naturally, I asked Benjamin what was going on here, hoping he could help me process this emotional turmoil. “‘Phoenix’ is meant as a slow, calm ending on a long and intense album”, he assures us; “With such a long musical journey, we felt it needed a long landing strip for a comfortable end.” I respect that reasoning, but I’m still not sure I agree. It was a long album – even without ‘Phoenix’, it would clock in at 56 minutes, which is a pretty generous length these days anyway. Take that track away, and I don’t think you really damage the quality of the album, and I’m not sure you don’t improve it. But maybe I just need more time with it. Benjamin says: “We think that the choice will grow on the listener for every time they dare to listen through it all. And that is our biggest hope, that they will listen to the album as one big piece of music.”
One big piece of music it is, and regardless of whether you share my reservations about its finale, there is undeniably an enormous amount of high-quality material to ruminate on here. I loved City of the Sun, and I have a hard time weighing the two albums against each other to pick a favorite. Someday, when I revise my personal spreadsheet of the best albums of all time, I will have to make that call. Today, I don’t have to, and instead I can just offer a full-throated endorsement of both albums. If you were a fan of Seven Impale already, this album should tingle all your senses in ways you never even saw coming. And if you weren’t, then good news – you have two incredible albums to check out. Stop dilly-dallying and get to it. There was already nothing out there like Seven Impale, and with Contrapasso they’ve gone and made themselves even more unique.
A promotional copy of the album was used for this review.
Technical information
Band: Seven Impale
Album: Contrapasso
Release date: 2016/09/16
Label: Karisma Records
1. Lemma (9:00)
2. Heresy (7:16)
3. Inertia (9:10)
4. Languor (7:39)
5. Ascension (1:38)
6. Convulsion (5:06)
7. Helix (9:16)
8. Serpentstone (7:21)
9. Phoenix (11:14)
Total running time 67:40
Filetype listened to: MP3
Bitrate: 320kbps CBR
Sampling frequency: 44,100 Hz, 2 channelsSince we’re on an innovation and entrepreneurship kick lately, what with our Global Innovation Series and our slow but steady compilation of all innovation hubs and incubators across the world, here’s an easy way to gauge the current state of global innovation, circa 2013 – 2014.
1. The Top 20 Startup Destinations in the World
Given that startups are springing up literally everywhere these days, it’s no surprise that the global consulting firm, Intuit, decided to rank the top hubs in the world. Unsurprisingly, emerging economies occupy a healthy number of the top spots:
Source: “Top 20 Entrepreneurial Hot Spots Around the Globe“, Intuit Quickbooks Blog, 2013
2. Innovation in Central America and The Caribbean
Oft-overlooked because this region is sandwiched between the two behemoths of North and South America, if the 2014 Global Innovation Index is anything to go by, the wide range of innovative capabilities here make Central America and The Caribbean one of the most innovatively interesting areas in the world:
Source: “Infographic: Barbados and Chile Named LAC’s Most Innovative Countries“, NearshoreAmericas, 2014
3. Sub-Saharan Africa:
The African innovation scene is booming like nowhere else; it’s a teeming mass of enthusiastic entrepreneurs, techies and change makers, all compressed into incubators and hubs across the continent. But according to the Global Innovation Index 2014, the most active part is Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for emerging innovators, meaning this is the area to keep an eye on:
Source: “Sub-Saharan Africa: Punching Above It’s Weight“, Global Innovation Index 2014, WIPO
4. Women Innovators in Asia
Activists like Dr. Vandana Shiva have long pointed to women being the cultural and social glue in rural households across Asia (and by extension, the emerging world), and have hailed women as the “future of agriculture“. Women entrepreneurs are making leaps and bounds on the continent, but they’ve still got to face some of the very same issues that have plagued their foremothers for generations:
Source: “Women Entrepreneurs in Asia & the Pacific“, Asian Development Bank, 2013
5. Who Leads the World of Innovation?
The 2014 Global Innovation Index shows that the traditional contenders are still leading the way, but the emerging world is catching up, slowly but surely. We live in especially innovative times, indeed:
Source: “Who is Leading Innovation?“, Global Innovation Index 2014, WIPO
BONUS: The World as One Perfectly Oiled Innovation Machine
And if each country had to play one part in the great big innovation scene, who would do what best?
Source: “In a Perfect World for Innovation, Who Would Do What?“, Global Innovation Index 2014, WIPO
Notice any especially noteworthy trends of your own? Leave us note below.A new law took effect in California last year allowing pharmacists to prescribe birth control. But few of the state’s pharmacies are actually offering this service, according to new UC Berkeley research.
A study, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that just 11 percent of the state’s more than 5,000 community-based retail pharmacies offer birth control. Among those that do, the vast majority (68 percent) charge a fee for the service.
“Our findings strongly suggest that more pharmacies need to offer this service to live up to the promise of widespread, easier access to birth control,” said study lead author Anu Manchikanti Gomez, an assistant professor of social welfare and director of the campus’s Sexual Health and Reproductive Equity Program.
Enacted in 2013 and implemented in April 2016, the legislation aims to make it easier for women to obtain birth control, including contraceptive pills, patches, rings and injections, by getting it directly from a pharmacist without having to see a doctor or nurse first, thereby offering women more ways to avoid unplanned pregnancies.
The law does not require pharmacists to prescribe birth control but hopes to encourage them. Supporters argue that expanded access to contraception is needed for low-income women, especially those in rural areas who can’t afford to pay for doctor’s visits, and for teenagers who may feel uncomfortable asking their family physician for a birth control prescription.
While insurance still covers the cost of the contraception itself, pharmacies may charge patients fees for birth-control-related services since insurers are currently not required to reimburse for them.
California, Oregon, Colorado and New Mexico are the four states that currently allow pharmacists to prescribe birth control once they have been trained on patients’ potential health risks and to counsel them about appropriate birth control for their needs.
To document the reach of pharmacist-prescribed contraception, UC Berkeley researchers conducted telephone surveys of a representative sample of more than 1,000 California licensed pharmacies between February and April 2017. Most of the pharmacies were in urban areas and affiliated with retail chains, such as CVS and Safeway.
Interviewers asked pharmacy staff if they offered birth control without a prescription from a doctor. If they said they did, interviewers followed up with questions about the types of contraception available and whether they charged service fees.
The results showed that one in 11 of the pharmacies called had pharmacists who could prescribe birth control, including birth control pills (77 percent), vaginal rings (40 percent), patches (38 percent) and injectable contraception (9 percent).
Of the drugstores that offered contraception, approximately 68 percent had set service fees of between $40 and $45, the study found.
“Even when contraception is available in pharmacies, it may not be economically accessible because of fees,” the study points out.
Birth control is usually obtained through a prescription from a physician or other healthcare professional. The Affordable Care Act requires private insurance plans to cover contraception, though companies with religious or moral objections may opt out. A law passed in 2017 requires Medi-Cal to reimburse pharmacists who provide birth control for the services they provide by 2021.SOPHIE - Product
Artists as thoroughly divisive as SOPHIE don't come around often, so when they do it's worthwhile to analyze where the disconnects are. Of course, the actual music is always a factor, and SOPHIE's singles to date have ranged from effusive to unprecedented to befuddling, depending on who you ask. But the deepest rifts have been more conceptual than specific, with questions and critiques on the merits of underground dance music that's so unabashedly silly, bright and enamored with pop and EDM tropes. Are SOPHIE's tracks meant to subvert self-serious dance floors? Or dupe reactionary listeners? And what to make of an independent producer whose work seems prepackaged for commercial viability In a community that values history and transparency, SOPHIE is a disruption, an ideological deviant with dubious intentions. Where you land on the matter is seen as a statement of allegiance, marking your tastes as old-school, progressive or—gasp!—ahistorical.arrives three years into this, and effectively caps off a formative era. Compiling two previous Numbers singles with four unreleased tracks, the collection, complete with its flashy packaging and merchandise, confirms any position you'd like it to.When SOPHIE debuted on Huntleys + Palmers in 2013, the single came with a quote from the artist: "I try to make music which is fun to dance to—that should be the loudest voice talking. I think it would be extremely exciting if music could take you on the same sort of high-thrill three-minute ride as a theme park roller coaster." You couldn't find a more uncomplicated expression of what good club music can do, andaccomplishes it precisely. "Vyzee" is the producer at his catchiest, a bit of nonsensical, bubblegum rave that hits like QT's older sister. It's also the most straightforward track here, with 4/4 kicks and a verse-chorus structure, and finds SOPHIE making fantastic use of that space. Closer "Just Like We Never Said Goodbye," a beatless, stadium-sized ballad for adrenaline junkies and star children, also tweaks his sound to great effect. SOPHIE only swings off course by misjudging his eccentricities. "MSMSMSM" is aggro trap served right down the middle, and strange as "L.O.V.E." is, its jagged club deconstructions have little bearing on’s compass. Still, for a couple of stylistic outliers, those tunes deliver their own thrills.'s tracklist is arranged chronologically, but "Bipp" is no less the perfect introduction. Let the central vocal hook sink in: "I can make you feel better, if you let me!" Here's a glimpse behind the SOPHIE curtain. He tells us exactly what the next 25 minutes are meant to do, and only asks that we let our guard down. Without the cultural rhetoric and the over-the-top marketing and the conspiracy theories and the mainstream attention in the mix,is simply forward-thinking, flawlessly-produced electronic music that wants no more than to slap a grin on the dance floor. Like "Vyzee" flirtatiously suggests, "We can go crazy in the club, if that's what you want to do."Image by the author
If Travis Barker has learned anything from surviving a plane crash, it’s that he is not in control. Since he was a teenager, his wild lifestyle routinely put him face to face with danger. But it took a true brush with death to put him in check. Humbly, he admits, he has no idea what the future holds. But clear and clean, he’s ready to share his story with the world.
On October 20, Barker released his debut book, Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, And Drums, Drums, Drums, which was co-written by Rolling Stone’s Gavin Edwards. The nearly 400-page book is a tell-all story, a transparent portrayal of his childhood, career, and the plane crash that changed the trajectory of his life. It also may be the only book in history to have ties to King Diamond, Paul Wall, and Chain of Strength.
On page one of the prologue, Barker places us at the scene of the 2008 plane wreck, where his two friends, Lil Chris and Che, died alongside the two pilots. He's literally doused in fuel and burning alive as he sprints through a dark field in South Carolina, he and DJ AM barely escaping the Learjet 60 that would explode momentarily. He’s in hell. There’s no other way to put it. It’s a jolting way to start a memoir.
But perhaps the most surprising aspect of Barker’s memoir is the wave of recklessness he managed to ride until the night of the crash. Can I Say details the experiences of a man who’s survived drive-by shootings, smoked angel dust, and drunkenly drove his six-figure Mercedes through strangers’ front lawns. The type of guy who would lead cops on a car chase just for the thrill of it, the type of guy that needed to carry a pistol at his own wedding.
Continued below.
At 39 years old, Barker’s success has far exceeded the expectations he had growing up in the Inland Empire of Southern California. When drumming in one of his first bands, Feeble, he was featured in a magazine next to a spread on Blink-182’s debut Cheshire Cat. A few years later, after a brief stint and recording an album with The Aquabats, Barker joined Blink-182 and Enema of the State was released. The album introduced pop-punk’s cultural relevance to America’s general audience. Sixteen years since, Barker is a staple of the multi-platinum recording entity. With Blink-182, he’s released four studio albums, a live record, and an EP. He started his own grassroots lifestyle brand, Famous Stars and Straps, which at its peak had over $100 million in sales. He’s released a solo record where he drummed with rappers like The Game and Cypress Hill. His side band, The Transplants, has released three records. +44, his other band with Mark Hoppus, also released an album. He’s dropped an EP with Yelawolf called Psycho White. The list goes on, but you get the point. Barker’s music has influenced over a decade of pop-punkers, emo kids, and hip-hop heads, creating a generation of 20-somethings comprising the rosters of many independent labels. For the most part, they’d be lying if they said they never bought a Blink record. He made it cool to not only like rap and rock, but play them both too. You could be silly as shit, but hard as fuck, too.
The memoir isn’t a laundry-list of Barker’s success and fame. It isn't about his brand or his image. It’s a story about a man with humble beginnings who’s built the world he envisioned. He’s transformed from someone his friends once called “dumpster dick” to a responsible father. He’s made it from a full-on pill addict to a stone cold sober man.
Currently, Barker is involved in a number of projects. A new solo record, Transplants record, and Blink-182 record are all in the pipeline. In November, he’ll be touring with Antemasque, a new band with members of The Mars Volta. Between gigs and book-signings, we spoke with him about his representation in the media, his fatalistic history with drugs and airplanes, and the importance of family.
Noisey: A lot of the guest entries in your book implied that in order to connect with you, someone has to earn your trust. But you were so open in this book, why did you decide to open up for the world?
Travis Barker: The idea of writing a book was thrown around after the accident, people were hitting me up to do something like Oprah, but I was in no shape, I was still struggling. When I did decide to do it, I wanted it to be brutally honest and raw. I’ve read some memoirs where I was like, “Man, this is bullshit.” I wish they were interviewing someone else so you know it’s real. I always say that I wish books could make eye contact so I know if they’re lying or not. I don’t really dog anyone out or say anything negative about people. If anyone is humiliated, it’s me.
How has it been doing all these cheesy anchorman talk shows like Good Morning America?
I felt a little displaced. It’s easy to talk to people like you. But honestly those were the guys who ended up getting me. Chris Connelly (ABC News) asked me something about my kids after the plane crash, and man, it felt like I was right back at that moment in time. I almost broke down. Some of it has been hard. When I knew the book was about to come out, I had a dark day because I knew I was going to have to speak on everything I put in it. Good Morning America was probably the first interview that really dug in. Then afterwards it got a lot easier. I guess the more you talk about it, the less it stings.
How do you feel about how the media has reacted? Almost all the headlines read, “Travis Barker offered friends $1,000,000 to kill him!” Did that bother you?
Yeah, I was kind bummed when I saw that, like, really? That’s what you took from my book? But, it was a dark time. In the hospital I wasn’t sure who had lived and who didn’t make it through the crash, I was waking up during surgeries and overhearing doctors talking about amputating my foot, I couldn’t have visitors. It was the truth. I would call Skinhead Rob all the time and tell him, “Rob, get one of the homies I don’t know to get in here and smoke me, I can’t do this anymore…”
Then you have some websites who are only concerned with Kim Kardashian.
It says I didn’t hook up with her! [Laughs.] Come on! She actually turned out to be the homegirl, if anything I put it in there to break every stereotype people make of her. If anything, I was a dog because I was with her friend and secretly gawking at her.
The amount of run-ins you’ve had with guns early on in life is insane. Did you think this was how normal people lived?
I wasn’t sure. It was strange because I was close enough to all this crazy shit, having a gun to my head while almost getting carjacked, being in a house that got shot up two days before my friend was killed. I was always close to danger. I had to really check myself, “Are you doing the right thing? What do you want to do with your life?” Walking away from a house as all my friends are outside shooting at a moving car and thinking, “Holy shit! We just got shot at and could’ve been killed!” Those things were just a confirmation that I wanted to play music and get the fuck out of there.
Even when you were younger you always had this fear of flying, but you were also putting yourself in dangerous situations with guns and drugs. Was the risk acceptable, as long as you were in control?
Before the accident everything was so reckless and day-to-day, live without ever thinking of the consequences. There was a time in my life after my mom died and really up until the plane crash, that I thought the worst thing that could happen is ending up where my mom is. I had this like, not a Death Wish, cuz I was very happy and I started to tour with Blink, but at the same time I was still just very young and I was living for the day.
When I was reading it I couldn’t believe some of the sex stories. It’s on some Gene Simmons level status. Did 30-40 women really suck your dick at your bachelor party?
[Laughs.] Oh my god, that was submitted like a week before we turned in the book! [Gavin Edwards] was like, “Here’s the interviews Trav...” He showed me, and I was like, “Oh my god, can this not go in the book? Are you kidding me!?” [Laughs.] And he was like, “Trav, put it in there. You didn’t get hurt from this. And it was the fucking truth. So let it be told.” We didn’t manipulate or change any words from any interviews that were contributed. There’s stuff in it that’s humiliating for me and I’m not proud of. But it’s the 100 percent truth. A lot changed when I had kids. I went from being this dog who was with a different girl every day of his life to treating a woman in the same way I would want my daughter to be treated, and I’m gonna teach my son to treat girls right too.
Some say that once you’re addicted to something, you’re always addicted. Do you think you’re still a sex addict?
Oh yeah man, you’re always an addict. I went from being addicted to drugs, to being addicted to spending time with my kids now. So much has changed, but at the same time, I’m not gonna lie now, I’m girl crazy. I always have been and I always will be. It was very rare that I was in a relationship. I had my girlfriend in high school and my two ex-wives. Ever since then, I’ve been very content with the love I get from my children. I always tell girls that I would be such a horrible boyfriend; it’s just the truth, and I’m so consumed with music.
Your book said you’ve had sex with more women before you graduated high school than I have at age 24. When your ex-wife said you cheated on her with at least 100 women, was that an exaggeration?
I think she’s being dramatic. It was a lot of girls; we had a rocky relationship on and off and I was always in a position where I could be with other women, I don’t know. I’ve settled down quite a bit now. Maybe there was a point where I did just hook up with two chicks, [laughs] or maybe I did do all these crazy things, slept with however many girls, but something changed when my son and my daughter were born. “Are you Travis Barker, this crazy person rockstar you spiraled into? Or are you Landon and Alabama’s dad who just wants to stay home and never tour again?” And I really struggled with that. Over time, that very much changed who I was. That was my transition. It wasn’t like I woke up one day out of the blue and decided that I didn’t want to do drugs or fuck tons of girls anymore. But after they were born I sat there and was like, “God, what did I do to deserve such amazing human beings?” I just didn’t think I was capable of it with all the gnarly shit I had done.
Do you believe in fate?
I do somewhat. From a young age when teachers asked us what we wanted to be when we were older, other kids would say “Superman!” Or they wanted to be a fireman or a police officer, and I always wanted to be a drummer. From the moment after my mom passed away, I really followed the last words she told me. “Play the drums and don’t care about anything else in life but doing the things you love.” I did that. I did it in an unforgiving way, I didn’t care what anyone told me, and my mind was made up. I almost felt like she was orchestrating things upstairs, I don’t’ know if it’s fate.
It was almost for better and for worse. When you were younger you had these weird premonitions about airplanes. Growing up you didn’t know if you would make it to 21. Did you always have this bizarre fatalistic vision in the back of your head?
I wasn’t living the healthiest of lifestyles. My mom died of cancer pretty young. I was smoking cigarettes and doing drugs. I was abusing excessive amounts of weed, smoking PCP with Skinhead Rob [laughs]. It was crazy. I didn’t have a lot of confidence as far as staying alive. Right after my plane crash I got an email from Michael Ensch, who was my manager in Feeble, and he goes, “Man, I love you, I hope everything is OK, I see you all over the news this is freaking me the fuck out because years ago, you were drunk at my apartment in Laguna Beach and you told me you were gonna die in a plane crash.” It was one of the first times I had drank. He was like, “Where is this coming from Trav? You don’t even have enough money to fly!” I didn’t even know. But I had this weird feeling. I was balling my eyes out, buzzed on some alcohol. It was also something my mom hated doing, one time I flew with her, but she refused to get on airplanes otherwise.
Are you asking if I put it in the atmosphere, and that’s why it happened? I don’t know. Some people believe if you put your biggest fears out there then you’re probably gonna make them come true. And for me it was my biggest fear was flying. I would have to numb myself to get on a plane, numb myself to stay on a plane, and then numb myself to stay in whatever country it took me to. It was a vicious cycle.
There were also the weird instances. When Blink-182 did Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, you were assigned the plane logo. How did that shit keep happening?
Yeah man! I was scratching my head, really bummed when MCA [Records] came to me and said I had the plane for “take-off.” I was like, “The fuck I do! I hate planes!” [Laughs] Nobody would’ve thought that I would nearly die in a plane crash where I’m the only survivor. “What is this guy talking about, why does he care so much about the plane symbol?”
Barker performing with the Transplants at Terminal 5 in 2013. Photo by the author.
You kept referencing the “The Bright Horizontal Line.” Can you explain that?
Anytime I flew, I carried my mom’s rosary with me for a number of years. I would close my eyes and say a prayer. I would always look at this horizontal line when I closed my eyes. If you squint your eyes really close, really tight, I could always see the line. I didn’t see it the night that we took off in South Carolina. And I wanted to see it.
But there were so many things leading to that flight that were so wrong. I didn’t like the idea of booking the plane. When I got to the airport, I called my dad, who is a tough Vietnam vet who rode a Harley for 60 years, and I was upset, “Dad, I have the worst feeling about this flight. I just want to tell you I love you. If anything happens make sure the kids are taken care of.” He was like, “Trav, are you upset?” My pops never hears me upset. I never hear my pops upset. It was weird. Sure enough, he gets a phone call 30-minutes later saying his son was in critical condition at a burn center in Georgia, that his plane had crashed and there were four people dead.
Your dad had crashed his Harley once, another time he had a heart attack, and on both occasions he didn’t want the hospital to call and worry your family. Your mother never wanted her famous sister to think she was asking for handouts or for sympathy in the hospital once she got sick. There is a huge sense of pride in the Barker family. Did you struggle with that when you were in the hospital, needing to be nursed and taken care of?
I hated it. It was the hardest thing for me to deal with. You go through life, and there are some things you can’t predict. You’re on a private jet saying “I need to get home tonight.” Next thing you know, two of your best friends are dead, two pilots are dead, and you’re 65 percent burnt in a hospital. It just goes to show you, you are not in control. If anything that was the biggest reminder, you can plan whatever you want, you think you have the answers, but at the end of the day, you don’t know what the fuck could happen at any moment. That was tough man, being laid out like that, especially me man. Everyone knows how busy I like to stay, I’m in the studio and I’m working these crazy hours—that’s what makes me happy. I couldn’t wrap my head around it! I was definitely in the most negative state I’d ever been in emotionally and physically.
NSFW: 65 percent of Travis Barker's body received third-degree burns (photo)
You didn’t like feeling vulnerable.
Nah, I think I’m so used to taking care of other people, you know what I mean? Even when there is something wrong, I’m pretending like there isn’t, but in a situation like this there’s no acting you can do.
Once all the skin procedures done, were all your tattoos fucked up and gone?
I don’t show many pictures. I only wanted to put one picture from the accident in the book. The others were too graphic. They basically take a cheese grater and they peel and cut your skin off, so I had no skin on my back. I didn’t have a lot of tattoos on my back, I only had half of it done and then I ended up doing a whole new back piece afterwards. But I lost all my tattoos on my legs. Basically all of my legs and feet, the majority are grafts.
Was your back a cadaver? Does it hurt like a motherfucker?
Yeah. It definitely feels different. In my legs, all my nerve endings are messed up. My buddy Mike Giant, he used to tattoo me a couple of months after I got out of the hospital. It was the craziest feeling I’ve ever felt and I’m pretty good about getting tattooed.
When you say crazy, do you mean painful?
Yeah. I think it might’ve been too new. I’m gonna attempt to actually tattoo my legs soon, I feel like I have a whole second chance at it.
Barker getting new tattoos following the accident.
There was this fucked up relationship you had between flying and pills. You needed the pills to fly, then you were addicted, then you crashed, and the pills didn’t work because you built up such a tolerance to them.
I think I woke up during 11 out of 27 surgeries. I woke up swinging on doctors, not even knowing what was happening, just waking up in the most extreme excruciating pain, not knowing why there were people all around me. I’d be bloody and in the middle of a surgery. They couldn’t get my meds right but little did they know what monster they were dealing with as far as drug addiction or the abuse that I had done to myself. I went from using recreationally and abusing every time I would fly, then I’m in a hospital for four months on a morphine clicker and on 20 other drugs. Then I went home and refused to use any pain medication and it got me off of drugs.
As for DJ AM...
Ironically enough, my partner, who was 12 years sober, Adam Goldstein, DJ AM, he begins to fly and starts using Xanax and not telling anyone. That becomes his excuse for taking drugs, so he could fly. It was like what I stopped doing ended up killing him. And that was really hard for me to accept. Just hanging out with Adam you wanted to be a better person, he would rub off on you. Man, I looked up to him in so many ways. He got me sober for a small amount of time. To see him take Xanax in order to fly because he felt like he needed it, when he really wasn’t ready to fly, then ultimately overdosing or committing suicide, I can’t even explain to you the effect it had on me.
I know you and Skinhead Rob would dabble in angel dust. You had smoked weed, drank lean, |
its Sunday search plans.
It said China has provided the satellite image of the object to Australia this evening.
"Amsa has plotted the position and it falls within Saturday’s search area. The object was not sighted on Saturday," it said.
It said the search will resume tomorrow, and further attempts will be made to establish whether the objects sighted are related to MH370.
It said the Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Success has arrived in the search area, and two merchant ships are also in the search area.
On today’s search activities, it said a civil aircraft tasked by Amsa reported sighting a number of small objects with the naked eye, including a wooden pallet, within a radius of five kilometres.
However, a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3 Orion aircraft with specialist electro-optic observation equipment diverted to the location, reported sighting clumps of seaweed.
"The RNZAF Orion dropped a datum marker buoy to track the movement of the material. A merchant ship in the area has been tasked to relocate and seek to identify the material," it said.
Amsa said the search area experienced good weather conditions today with visibility of around 10km and moderate seas.
The Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, two chartered civil aircraft and two merchant ships supported Saturday’s search effort in a 36,000 sq km search area in the Australian Search and Rescue Region.Ontario's New Democrats want to set up a standalone ministry to bolster the province's mental heath and addictions services.
NDP leader Andrea Horwath says her party has proposed a private member's bill that would the create the new Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions if adopted by the legislature.
The new ministry would be charged with cutting wait lists and streamlining services across the province.
Horwath says the government has not taken action on recommendations made in 2010 by an all-party select committee that investigated the issue.
At the time, that committee's top recommendation was the establishment of set an umbrella organization to deal with mental health and addictions issue similar to Cancer Care Ontario.
NDP health critic France Gelinas says mental health and addictions services in Ontario are currently spread across 11 ministries.
In June, British Columbia's newly-elected NDP government announced it would create its own standalone ministry to tackle the addictions crisis in that province.Nur Jazlan said censorship is only required for scenes that violate certain guidelines set by the Film Censorship Board (LPF) and the religious authorities here. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — Too much censorship of movies involving sensitivities on religion, violence and sex would make Malaysians a narrow-minded lot, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said today.
Nur Jazlan said censorship is only required for scenes that violate certain guidelines set by the Film Censorship Board (LPF) and the religious authorities here.
“The presence of the LPF was meant to educate viewers so that they can make the best choice (in watching film).
“If we want to restrict all content made by film producers, it will not be good education or culture for viewers in our country. We wanted to provide more space to the viewers to open up their minds,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Nur Jazlan was responding to a question raised by PAS’s Bachok MP Ahmad Marzuk Shaary who had asked for steps taken by the Home Ministry to ensure movies shown here are Shariah-compliant.
The Pulai MP also said the Home Ministry engages with religious bodies like the Malaysian Hindu Sangam as well as churches, apart from the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) to get their feedback before censoring a film.
“They give us input on how to improve on our laws and practises,” he said.
Nur Jazlan said among others, local censors will remove cut scenes that are deemed as religiously insensitive or that threaten public peace and order.
“For Islamic movies, we give emphasis to the religious content that is being shown,” he added.
The Umno lawmaker also said Putrajaya cannot impose the same restrictions on movies streamed online.
“However, we are not responsible on downloaded contents, as well as those aired on the Internet originating from international sources,” Nur Jazlan said.VAN Vanderbilt Commodores 1-0-0 7 Final 3 UNC North Carolina Tar Heels 0-1-0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E VAN 1 0 1 0 0 3 0 2 0 7 10 1 UNC 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 11 1
OMAHA, Neb. -- Vanderbilt was no nervous newcomer to the College World Series.
Connor Harrell hit the first CWS home run in the new TD Ameritrade Park to break a sixth-inning tie and three relievers held North Carolina scoreless on three hits the last five innings in the Commodores' 7-3 victory Saturday.
After first baseman Aaron Westlake made a diving stop of Chaz Frank's hard grounder and touched the bag for the final out, there were just the normal handshakes and backslaps behind the pitcher's mound.
The Commodores (53-10) will save the dogpile for, they hope, the championship game in about 10 days.
"That was a big victory for us," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. "You never know how you're going to react the first time."
Vanderbilt played as it has for most of the season -- including its knack for scoring big runs with two outs -- and North Carolina (50-15) got a so-so start from Patrick Johnson and left 16 runners on base.
"That's pretty much the tale of the game for us, offensively," North Carolina coach Mike Fox said.
Conrad Gregor tied it with two outs in the sixth with his double off the top of the wall, and Harrell followed with his two-run homer. Two-out singles by Tony Kemp and Anthony Gomez produced two insurance runs in the eighth.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Massoud Barzani spoke to the BBC
The president of Iraqi Kurdistan has signalled it will draw the borders of a future Kurdish state if Baghdad does not accept a vote for independence in a referendum due later this month.
Massoud Barzani told the BBC he wanted to reach an agreement with the central government if Kurds opted to secede.
Iraq's prime minister has rejected the referendum as unconstitutional.
Mr Barzani also warned the Kurds would fight any group that tried to change the "reality" in Kirkuk by force.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces have taken control of the oil-rich city, which has large Arab and Turkmen populations, and other areas claimed by Baghdad over the past three years while driving out the jihadist group Islamic State.
Shia militias have said they will not allow Kirkuk to be part of an independent Kurdistan.
Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, but they have never obtained a permanent nation state.
In Iraq, where they make up an estimated 15% to 20% of the population of 37 million, Kurds faced decades of brutal repression by Arab-led governments before acquiring de facto autonomy following the 1991 Gulf War.
Three months ago, top officials and political parties in the Kurdistan Regional Government agreed to hold an advisory referendum on independence.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Kirkuk's Kurdish-led council recently rejected calls from Baghdad to lower Kurdish flags
Image copyright AFP Image caption An expected "yes" vote will not trigger an automatic declaration of independence
Voting will take place on 25 September in the three provinces that make up the region - Dahuk, Irbil and Sulaimaniya - and "areas of Kurdistan outside the region's administration", including Kirkuk, Makhmour, Khanaqin and Sinjar.
Kurdish officials have said that an expected "yes" vote will not trigger an automatic declaration of independence, but rather strengthen their hand in lengthy negotiations on separation with the central government.
"This is the first step. This is the first time in history that people in Kurdistan will freely decide their future," Mr Barzani told the BBC.
"After that we will start talks with Baghdad, to reach an agreement over borders, water and oil," he added, before issuing an apparent warning to the central government: "We will take these steps but if they don't accept, that will be another matter."
The president rejected warnings from the US and UK that pursuing independence represented too great a risk when Iraq was still fighting a war against IS.
"When have we ever had stability and security in this region that we should be concerned about losing it? When was Iraq so united that we should be worried about breaking its unity? Those who are saying these, they are just looking for excuses to stop us."
Mr Barzani likewise dismissed criticism of decision to hold the referendum in Kirkuk.
"We don't say that Kirkuk only belongs to Kurds," he said. "Kirkuk should be a symbol of coexistence for all ethnicities. If the people of Kirkuk vote 'No' in this referendum we will respect their vote... but we don't accept that anyone can prevent us from holding a referendum there."
He also warned that "if any group wants to change the reality of Kirkuk using force, they should expect that every single Kurd will be ready to fight over it".Democratic lawmakers are blasting President Donald J. Trump over his moratorium on immigration from 7 predominantly Muslim nations known as terror hotbeds. Their activists are parked at airports around the country, while the left’s civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), are demanding entry of refugees now banned from traveling to the United States.
Well, we all saw this coming. The vocal minority may be loud, but it’s important to acknowledge that they are, in fact, a minority.
A PPD Poll conducted from Nov. 26 to Dec. 1, based on 1299 interviews via the PPD Internet Polling Panel, found a shockingly large majority (57%) of Americans said they supported an “immigration moratorium for Muslim nations known as hotbeds for Islamic terrorists.”
Only 38% opposed it.
On the question of whether “the U.S. should or should not allow refugees from Syria and other predominantly Muslim war-torn countries,” nearly two-thirds (63%) said the U.S. “should not,” while 32% still supported continuing President Barack Obama’s refugee resettlement program.
Putting aside the fact President Trump ran and won on a platform promising to crackdown on illegal immigration, temporarily ban immigration from certain countries in the Middle East and end the refugee resettlement program, our polling clearly indicates the American people support his executive action.
[social-media-buttons]
Worth noting, the PPD Poll asked questions based on more draconian policies previously proposed by President Trump, which is not the action he ultimately took.
The PPD Poll, which conducted the most accurate polling in 2016–is backed up by Rasmussen Reports and other firms that actually polled the election correctly. We pegged most of President Trump’s victories on on the statewide level within tens of percentage points, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.Originally published in June 1938, Action Comics #1 is the premier issue of the Action Comics series, and, most notably, the issue in which Superman makes his first appearance. Now, the finest known copy of "the Holy Grail of Comics" is up for auction on eBay – and the top bid is already close to $2-million.
Bidding opened Thursday at US $0.99. As of this posting, with the auction window still 8 days from closing, the bidding sits at US $1,750,200.00. Here's prominent collectibles dealer Darren Adams, the man auctioning the comic, who has already turned down a flat offer of $3-million:
For sale here is the single most valuable comic book to ever be offered for sale, and is likely to be the only time ever offered for sale during many of our lifetimes. There are no second chances. This is a NO RESERVE auction.
This is THE comic book that started it all. This comic features not only the first appearance of Superman, Clark Kent and Lois Lane, but this comic began the entire superhero genre that has followed during the 76 years since. It is referred to as the Holy Grail of comics and this is the finest graded copy to exist with perfect white pages. This is.... the Mona Lisa of comics and stands alone as the most valuable comic book ever printed.
This particular copy is the nicest that has ever been graded, with an ASTONISHING grade of CGC 9.0! To date, no copies have been graded higher and only one other copy has received the same grade. It is fair to say though that this copy blows the other 9.0 out of the water. Compared to the other 9.0 that sold for $2.1million several years ago it has significant superior eye appeal, extremely vibrant colors and PERFECT WHITE PAGES. This means after 76 years the aging process has yet to begin. Truly this book is a museum piece. It is one of only two copies of this comic in ANY condition to ever be graded with the distinction of having White pages, the other being a CGC 2.5!
If you are looking to purchase or invest in comic books this is without exaggeration the single best graded comic book that exists. It is the highest graded copy of the most sought after comic book in the hobby, and has the best possible page quality that can be assigned. If anyone has ever been curious what an Action Comics 1 looked like the day it came off of the newsstand 75 years ago, this is the answer.
This comic is the best of the absolute best and whoever wins this auction will be the envy of the entire hobby for many decades to come.
I proudly present Action Comics #1 CGC 9.0 WHITE Pages.
Please enjoy,
Darren AdamsMERRIMACK, N.H. (AP) New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson ended his campaign for the presidency Wednesday after twin fourth-place finishes that showed his impressive credentials could not compete with his rivals' star power.
Richardson planned to announce the decision Thursday, according to two people close to the governor with knowledge of the decision. They spoke on a condition of anonymity in advance of the governor's announcement.
The Richardson campaign would not comment on the governor's decision, reached after a meeting with his top advisers Wednesday in New Mexico.
Richardson had one of the most wide-ranging resumes of any candidate ever to run for the presidency, bringing experience from his time in Congress, President Clinton's Cabinet, in the New Mexico statehouse as well as his unique role as a freelance diplomat. As a Hispanic, he added to the unprecedented diversity in the Democratic field that also included a black and a woman.
But Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama dominated the spotlight in the campaign, and Richardson was never able to become a top-tier contender. He accused his rivals of failing to commit to bring troops home from Iraq soon enough.
He portrayed his campaign as a job application for president, and ran clever ads that showed a bored interviewer unimpressed with his dazzling resume. The commercials helped fuel his move to double-digit support in some early state polls, and advisers argued he was poised to move past former vice presidential nominee John Edwards for the role of third-place challenger.
But he was not able to build the momentum and came in a distant fourth place in Iowa and New Hampshire. Richardson didn't get quite 5 percent in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday and came in with just 2 percent in the Iowa caucus last week.Transport Canada introduces measures to protect Canadians from reckless drone use
March 16, 2017 Toronto, Ontario Transport Canada
Canadians expect to feel safe on the ground and in the sky. The number of incidents involving recreational drones has more than tripled since 2014, prompting the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport to introduce a measure to prevent the reckless use of drones that is putting the safety of Canadians at risk.
Today at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, in the presence of airport, airline and pilot representatives, Minister Garneau announced an immediate measure which will affect the operations of model aircraft and recreational drones of more than 250 g and up to 35 kg. Minister Garneau was joined by representatives of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Toronto Police Force.
The key new rules are that recreational drone operators must mark their drone with their contact information, and may not fly:
higher than 90 metres;
at night;
within 75 metres of buildings, vehicles or people; or
within 9 kilometres of the centre of any airport, heliport, aerodrome or water aerodrome where aircraft take off and land.
Operators of drones for commercial, academic or research purposes are not affected by this measure. The rules that are already in place are effective and most commercial users operate their drones in a safe manner.
Any recreational operator who fails to comply with the new flying restrictions and conditions could be subject to fines of up to $3,000. Call 911 or your local law enforcement agency immediately if you witness illegal drone use.
Please visit www.canada.ca/drone-safety to learn more about the new rules, and updates on the department’s progress on drones.(KUTV) From the outside, the little massage parlor on the end of a strip mall along Fort Union Boulevard in Midvale would appear to be a reputable business.
Bold print letters on the door read "Open 7 days a week, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m." and an innocuous green “massage” sign hangs above the door.
A tip to the Utah Attorney General’s Office into the little parlor that cops now believe is likely a front for sexual crimes and human trafficking.
“It is modern day slavery, there’s no doubt about it,” said Nate Mutter, who leads the special investigations unit at the Attorney General’s Office.
Mutter, and his team of agents, staked out the business for months, and recently obtained a warrant to raid the parlor. Investigators say they have gathered evidence to prove the business offers sexual favors in exchange for money. They also suspect the women who are performing the sex acts are being held there against their will.
Mutter said human trafficking cases involving massage parlors often involve victims who do not speak English and may be scared to escape their trafficker. He said many victims simply have no other option than to stay under complete trafficker control.
“Whether a police officer or a person, you go in and you see some of the things you see in here, your heart breaks for the victims who are involved in this, who are stuck doing this and really have no choice but to do this,” Mutter said. “The goal obviously is to get the trafficker, but even more than that is to get the victims out of the circumstances that they’re in.”
If the girls who perform the sex acts are the victims, Mutter said, the business owners are the suspects who often net big profits from the illegal sexual favors.
“[The Traffickers] are the ones pulling the strings, they’re the ones running the operation,” Mutter said.
The owners of the Midvale massage parlor are still under investigation, but could face charges soon, once investigators conclude their case.
The massage raid is the second in as many months for the AG’s office. The human trafficking investigators said the busts often require an extensive amount of surveillance and investigation, but they maintain each bust makes a difference.
“We want to make it very difficult for anyone to traffic people here in Utah. This how we do it, one step at a time, one place at a time,” Mutter said.
The cases pile up quickly at the AG’s office, which recently received a $1.3 million grant to bolster human trafficking investigations and hire a prosecutor to work specifically on human trafficking cases.
“The crazier the story, the more likely it is to be true sometimes,” said prosecutor Gregory Ferbrache.
He said the new funds will help alleviate the case load under for the AG’s office, that works with, but handles cases separately from its federal counterparts.
In November, 2News with the FBI office in Salt Lake City about its battle to fight sex trafficking, which generally involve trafficking cases that involve force, fraud, coercion, or interstate crimes.
In a in October, FBI and local officials recovered 82 sexually-exploited victims and arrested 240 pimps. One victim was recovered in Utah and three women were arrested on human trafficking related charges.
The AG’s office says many of their cases are generated by tips. They ask anyone who may see something suspicious or thinks a business may be involved in sexual crimes or human trafficking to contact them at 1-800-244-4636 or.
“Once you become educated and once you kind of open your eyes to it, it’s actually a lot easier to find,” Mutter said.What if our patrons could get to the ebooks of their choice in just three clicks? Click once to discover, click twice to download, and the third click to read. Does this sound like science fiction? Well, we may know soon.
The New York Public Library is leading a project called Library Simplified to reach that three-click goal.
NYPL and 10 partner libraries are hard at work to streamline the patron experience of getting to ebook content. NYPL received a $500,000 Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant a year ago. According to a project update, “The goal of the project is to make access to digital content more simple for library patrons by creating a commercial-grade, open ebook reader platform that brings together and makes available content from all of the major ebook distributors (OverDrive, 3M [Cloud Library], Axis 360 from Baker & Taylor).”
At the top of the list of challenges our users face in accessing ebooks is the series of contortions they need to execute in order to set up their ereader devices for library borrowing, and next is finding their way through the array of siloed resources the library offers. Speaking at the Books in Browsers conference in October 2014, NYPL’s Library Simplified project manager James English described the experience of his team when they first attempted to access NYPL’s ebook collection: “It’s about 19 steps at worst case at New York Public Library. Generally that 19 steps is pretty consistent. We took the Labs Team at NYPL and the Web Development Team and then we tried to eat our own dog food with our own apps and download it. After two hours we finally figured out how to do it in 19 steps. That probably explains why libraries fail at ebooks by many metrics.” That testifies to the necessity of library staff actually using the systems we deploy and thinking critically about them.
Though the Library Simplified website states that the initial goal of the project is to integrate and simplify access to OverDrive, 3M, and Baker & Taylor, the developers actually expect to integrate all of the library’s e-content resources and physical resources along the principles of Readers First. The coalition believes that users should be able to search and browse a single comprehensive catalog with all of a library’s offerings at once, including all ebooks, physical collections, programs, blogs, and donor opportunities.
The Library Simplified development team works with vendor APIs (Application Program Interface) and is using OPDS (Open Publication Distribution System, an open source catalog system) to create a simple user interface to library content. Library Simplified will push DRM (Digital Rights Management software) to the background so that the user can enjoy the three-click experience that is the desired outcome of the project.
The initial rollout of the three-click solution at New York Public and its partner libraries is expected by September when the IMLS grant concludes. And the intention is to make the Library Simplified app available to the library community as a whole shortly thereafter.
This isn’t science fiction. It is the work of a talented team of nonlibrarian technologists working with librarians to solve a basic user interface problem. As they say, “Stay tuned for further developments.”
Library Simplified partner libraries:Published: Tue 22 January 2013 In 2013.
A recent paper in the journal GM Crops and Food has generated an outsized splash in the press, particularly in biotechnology-averse Europe. I won’t reward a muckraking tabloid with a link, but here’s a screenshot that shows the basic theme:
Apparently the genetically modified food crops that hundreds of millions of people around the world have been eating without incident for more than a decade are in fact horribly toxic. But it turns out that the research that triggered this alarm proves no such thing. How did an arcane scientific finding get turned into a completely incorrect, apocalyptic headline? Let’s dig into it like scientifically educated journalists.
If we start by going to the source, we immediately hit an obstacle: there’s the abstract, but if we want to read the paper itself we’re expected to pony up $29. It would probably help a lot if journals made papers about important public policy issues freely accessible by default, but we don’t live in that world yet. Fortunately, journalists have an easy way to get around this: contact the authors directly. The Daily Mail appears to have failed at this, as all of the quotes in their article are from other sources. Other articles on the new work similarly lack any representation by the folks who actually did it.
It’s rare for scientists to blow off reporters completely, but sometimes they can be hard to reach, out of the office until after the deadline, or just uninterested in helping. Perhaps that was the case here. Let’s see. The first author is Nancy Podevin of the European Food Safety Authority in Parma, Italy. When I sent a note to her identifying myself as a journalist and asking for a reprint, she replied minutes later: “Please find the article attached. Please be aware that the content of the article has been incorrectly reflected in recent press articles.”
Not exactly hard to reach. Or reticent.
Alright, let’s dig into the work. Here’s the basic plan from the introduction:
Bioinformatic tools are increasingly being used in the evaluation of transgenic crops. Guidelines, proposed by WHO/FAO19 and EFSA, include the use of bioinformatics screening to assess the risk of potential allergenicity and toxicity. With this aim, the EFSA GMO Panel has updated its guidance for the risk assessment of GM plants and proposed to identify all new ORFs due to the transformation event. New ORFs are defined as strings of codons uninterrupted by the presence of a stop codon at the insert genomic DNA junction and within the insert. The putative translation products of these ORFs are then screened for similarities with known toxins and allergens.
This is a study done entirely on computer databases, in which the scientists looked for novel open reading frames (ORFs) in the transgenes of modified crops, then checked to see if any of those ORFs match any known allergens or toxins. The existence of an ORF doesn’t prove that it gets transcribed and translated into a stable protein, so we’re still several steps short of reality here, but it’s a useful exercise to define what might be possible. In this case, the investigators are looking specifically at a sequence called P35S, a gene promoter borrowed from cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV). P35S promotes constitutive (constant) expression of the gene in front of it, so it’s been a popular choice for driving introduced transgenes in genetically modified crops. 54 of the transgenic crop strains currently approved in the US use this promoter.
In its original context, the P35S sequence overlaps with a CaMV sequence called gene VI. That means that the P35S sequence could potentially encode a piece of gene VI. Podevin and her colleague Patrick du Jardin searched the various P35S sequences used in transgenic crops, and identified a couple of ORFs. Remember, this is all on a computer. The paper contains no wet lab experiments showing that these ORFs are actually producing stable proteins in any cell. But let’s assume they do for now.
Translating those ORFs on the computer and searching against databases of known allergens and toxins, the researchers found … wait for it …
Nothing.
That’s right, these hypothetical proteins that might not even exist don’t match any known allergens or toxins anyway. They did an additional test that sets the bar lower, and found that by this standard, one of the putative proteins might be allergenic. But it’s a stretch:
The vector support machines (SVM) in AlgPred indicated on the basis of the dipeptide composition that the ORF that encoded part of P6 might have some allergenic properties. The sensitivity and specificity of this method is 88.87% and 81.86% respectively and should therefore always be used in combination with other tools.
All the other tools, though, found no allergenicity. Having established that there’s essentially no human risk, the authors speculated that there could still be effects on the plants themselves, such as plant stunting and late flowering. Considering that the entire point of most crop biotechnology is to increase yields, it seems unlikely that this applies to any of the current commercial strains, but product developers should probably keep an eye out for it in future strains. Either that, or they could simply follow the authors’ final advice:
The -343 variant [of P35S], identified by Odell and colleagues, contains all of the necessary elements for full promoter activity and does not appear to result in the presence of an ORF with functional domains, rendering it and its related variants the most appropriate promoter variants for avoiding unintended effects.
To put this all in context, plant viruses commonly infect all sorts of crops. One survey (PDF here) found CaMV and its colleagues widespread in numerous types of produce. We’re already eating huge quantities of plant viral proteins – not hypothetical ones, real ones – all the time. If there is an ORF from CaMV gene VI being expressed as a protein in transgenic crops, it’s likely one you’ve digested before, even if you eat exclusively organic food.
So there you have it. This was a research paper that used bioinformatic methods to ask yet again if GM crops are any more dangerous than non-GM crops. It ended up adding to the large pile of established data showing that they are not. Through what can only be described as laziness and ideologically blinded reporting, it served as a handy news hook for stories claiming exactly the opposite.
Update 2013.1.22 12:49: After writing this post, I saw this discussion thread, in which several smart folks make essentially the same points.
Update 2013.1.23 7:07: After Dr. Podevin graciously sent the paper, I pinged her with a few additional questions about the work because, well, that’s what I do. I received her reply this morning:
I have been overloaded with requests for the paper and as I am no longer working at EFSA it is difficult for me to react.
To answer you[r] questions I am not planning to work on this topic further. It is difficult how headlines on toxic genes in GMOs can be seen to be linked to our paper as we concluded that there are no indications for toxicity of the encoded protein. This virus has been infecting Cauliflower and related plants with no recorded health effect.
It should also be noted that this promoter [has] an ORF overlaps with Gene VI but that no functional gene is present. So in most cases this gene fragment will not lead to the production of a protein.
Update 2013.1.24 15:06: I’ve now received a note from the journal publisher as well:ERIN, Wis. (AP) — Davis Love III is making his 24th appearance in the U.S. Open, only this time he will be cleaning clubs instead of hitting shots.
He is caddying for his son.
Davis Love IV, who just finished at Alabama and turned pro, qualified for his first U.S. Open as an alternate from the Georgia sectional qualifier. The son, who goes by “Dru,” has plenty of experience on the bag.
Love is a former PGA champion and two-time Ryder Cup captain who will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame this fall. He wasn’t about to miss his son’s first U.S. Open, which will be three generations in America’s national golf championship. Davis Love Jr., a noted teaching pro, played the U.S. Open six times.Liz Daley, a professional climber, AMGA-certified mountain guide, and snowboarder from Tacoma, Washington, has died in an avalanche near the Argentine town of Chalten. Details of the accident, which occurred Monday, were reported by the Argentine news organization OPI Santa Cruz. Daley, 29, was part of a group descending Cerro Vespignani, a 7,000-foot peak near the iconic Mount Fitzroy. Others on the trip included skier Drew Tabke, snowboarder Chris Coulter, skier and guide Kent McBride, photographer Chris Figenshau and filmer Nick Kalisz. Her body was recovered overnight. This accident occurred on the same day that Canadian JP Auclair and Swede Andreas Fransson, both professional freeskiers, died in an unrelated avalanche in Chilean Patagonia.
Daley’s sponsor Eddie Bauer released the following statement late Tuesday.
We are deeply saddened to report that yesterday, an avalanche in the Fitz Roy Massif region outside of El Chaltén, Argentina, took the life of Liz Daley, a member of our Guide team.
Liz was on a ski mountaineering expedition with three other members of our snow sports team and two production crew members. The rest of the team is safe.
Liz was an accomplished splitboarder, alpine climber and mountain guide who was born and raised in Washington. She was a beloved member of our snow sports team and will be sorely missed by all those who knew her.Joel and Ethan Coen have co-written, co-directed, and in some cases, co-produced and co-edited 15 mostly incredible feature-length films. Some are straight comedies, some are based on novels and religious texts, and others are remakes of earlier films or stage plays. Most are darkly humorous, and certainly some are better than others. To commemorate the Dec. 20 release of the brothers’ latest, “Inside Llewyn Davis,” I camped out in my living room in my “The Dude” sweater and watched the Coens’ full filmography.
1. “Raising Arizona” (1987) Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter, two of my favorite actors, play a white-trash couple who kidnap a baby from a furniture tycoon. The anxious, humorous tone works well here, and the colors and costuming are both on point. The action sequences and shady intrigue aren’t distracting because the main plot, based around family and finding one’s peace, is strong enough to bind the whole thing together. Cage and Hunter share memorable dialogue and the low-class characters are given emotional depth instead of becoming flat satirical archetypes. The final dream sequence feels in tune with the rest of the Coen canon and the whole movie is just pure fun to watch.
2. “Miller’s Crossing” (1990) Gabriel Byrne stars as a conflicted gangster-by-association during Prohibition. He navigates the conflicts between an Irish and Italian-American gang. Although 1930s gangsters have been exhausted by films and TV, I think a lot of works like “Boardwalk Empire” owe their core values to “Miller’s Crossing.” Marcia Gay Harden is well-cast as fiery Verna, although I still associate her with “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” In fact, many of the talented actors from this film went on to find careers in formulaic, dramatic television, and I’m not sure if that’s a disservice to them or not. John Polito steals a few scenes as Italian Johnny Caspar. I’d recommend this film if you’re one of those people who wishes they could wear a fedora, but is “cool” enough to realize that they shouldn’t.
3. “Barton Fink” (1991) John Turturro plays a neurotic playwright commissioned to pen a screenplay in L.A. Here, the Coens experiment with layered sound and repetitive images, which is a little dizzying. “Barton Fink” feels the closest to a Coen brothers’ psychological thriller, because their main character’s suspicions make everything around him look shadowed and ominous. The Hotel Earle is a character in itself and John Goodman performs well as a big ol’ creep. This one made me anxious.
4. “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994) Tim Robbins plays a former business student whose hair inexplicably looks like a wig. Corporate hijinks occur around him and there are a lot of scenes that take place in a mailroom that has steam billowing through it for unexplained reasons. This feels like “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” but with no music and more muted colors. Sam Raimi (“The Evil Dead”) co-wrote the script but I wish he had come up with some of the visual gags. To be honest, I dozed off halfway through. Turns out, it bombed at the box office and didn’t do well with critics upon its release. This was one of Paul Newman’s worst movies ever. That’s a true shame.
5. “Fargo” (1996) Frances McDormand plays a midwestern detective tracking down hired kidnapping goons. Joel and Ethan Coen love to write plots involving five or six characters who are associated through similar trauma. Sometimes it feels heavy-handed, but in films like “Fargo,” it’s downright Shakespearean. Fargo features Steve Buscemi as Carl, in one of my favorite roles, and the film uses his comedic brand of anger well. Any time you get Buscemi yelling, “Oh, for Chrissake,” you’re probably doing something well. McDormand is charming and talented, the North Dakota accents are fun to imitate, and (spoiler alert) Buscemi gets thrown into a woodchipper. All good fun. This is also a great movie for Boston winters, to remind you why it’s better to stay inside. The film brought the Coens their first shared Oscar, for writing.
6. “The Big Lebowski” (1998) Jeff Bridges plays Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski, a chilled out guy in L.A. who runs into some serious shit, man. Every male college student in the country has this poster on his dorm room wall, next to Bob Marley and that neon “Invincible Summer” poster. Even with the cliches, “The Big Lebowski” is still one of the most exciting Coen films to date. There’s just nothing like those swirling, trippy musical sequences, and the scenes that unfold in the bowling alley feel like masterful filmmaking, both emotionally engaging and satisfyingly silly. High points include Steve Buscemi’s idiotic Donny, Julianne Moore’s “strongly vaginal” artwork, and John Turturro licking a bowling ball. This film is unbelievable.
7. “ |
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+-------------+----------+ | CNTRY_CODE | VARCHAR2 | | REGION_CODE | VARCHAR2 | +-------------+----------+ Database: IEW Table: EVENTS_TO_CUSTOM_PAGE [4 columns] +----------------+--------+ | Column | Type | +----------------+--------+ | CREATED_DATE | DATE | | CUSTOM_PAGE_ID | NUMBER | | EVENT_ID | NUMBER | | USER_ID | NUMBER | +----------------+--------+ Database: IEW Table: EVENT_REPORT_REF [7 columns] +--------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------+----------+ | EVENT_ID | NUMBER | | IS_APPROVED | NUMBER | | REPORT_DATE | DATE | | REPORT_HTML | VARCHAR2 | | REPORT_ID | NUMBER | | REPORT_NOTES | VARCHAR2 | | REPORT_SRC | VARCHAR2 | +--------------+----------+ Database: IEW Table: EVENT_PHOTO_REF [8 columns] +--------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------+----------+ | EVENT_ID | NUMBER | | IS_APPROVED | NUMBER | | PHOTO_CREDIT | VARCHAR2 | | PHOTO_DATE | DATE | | PHOTO_DESC | VARCHAR2 | | PHOTO_ID | NUMBER | | PHOTO_SRC | VARCHAR2 | | SUBMIT_DATE | DATE | +--------------+----------+ Database: IEW Table: USER_ROLE_REF [6 columns] +----------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------------+----------+ | ACCESS_LEVEL | NUMBER | | CREATED_DATE | DATE | | CUSTOM_PAGE_ID | NUMBER | | IS_READONLY | NUMBER | | USER_ROLE_ID | NUMBER | | USER_ROLE_NAME | VARCHAR2 | +----------------+----------+ Database: EXFSYS Table: RLM$PARSEDCOND [3 columns] +----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------+----------+ | PESEQPOS | NUMBER | | TAGNAME | VARCHAR2 | | TAGVALUE | VARCHAR2 | +----------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_COORD_SYS [6 columns] +--------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------------+----------+ | COORD_SYS_ID | NUMBER | | COORD_SYS_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | COORD_SYS_TYPE | VARCHAR2 | | DATA_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | DIMENSION | NUMBER | | INFORMATION_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | +--------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_COORD_OP_PARAMS [4 columns] +--------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------------+----------+ | DATA_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | INFORMATION_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | PARAMETER_ID | NUMBER | | PARAMETER_NAME | VARCHAR2 | +--------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: OGIS_SPATIAL_REFERENCE_SYSTEMS [5 columns] +-----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-----------+----------+ | AUTH_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | AUTH_SRID | NUMBER | | SRID | NUMBER | | SRNUM | NUMBER | | SRTEXT | VARCHAR2 | +-----------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_GR_MOSAIC_0 [27 columns] +--------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------+----------+ | B0 | NUMBER | | B1 | NUMBER | | BANDS | NUMBER | | BBLKSZ | NUMBER | | BCV | NUMBER | | C0 | NUMBER | | C1 | NUMBER | | CBLKSZ | NUMBER | | CDL | NUMBER | | CDP | VARCHAR2 | | COLS | NUMBER | | CPTYPE | VARCHAR2 | | ILV | VARCHAR2 | | META | XMLTYPE | | R0 | NUMBER | | R1 | NUMBER | | RBLKSZ | NUMBER | | RCTIF | VARCHAR2 | | RDT | VARCHAR2 | | RID | ROWID | | RROWS | NUMBER | | RSTID | NUMBER | | RSTYPE | NUMBER | | SRID | NUMBER | | ULTB | NUMBER | | ULTC | NUMBER | | ULTR | NUMBER | +--------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_GR_MOSAIC_3 [1 column] +--------+--------+ | Column | Type | +--------+--------+ | P | NUMBER | +--------+--------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_GR_MOSAIC_2 [11 columns] +--------+--------+ | Column | Type | +--------+--------+ | B0 | NUMBER | | B1 | NUMBER | | C0 | NUMBER | | C1 | NUMBER | | CSIZE | NUMBER | | R0 | NUMBER | | R1 | NUMBER | | RID | ROWID | | RSIZE | NUMBER | | ULTC | NUMBER | | ULTR | NUMBER | +--------+--------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_TXN_IDX_EXP_UPD_RGN [10 columns] +----------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------------+----------+ | END_1 | NUMBER | | END_2 | NUMBER | | END_3 | NUMBER | | END_4 | NUMBER | | RID | VARCHAR2 | | SDO_TXN_IDX_ID | VARCHAR2 | | START_1 | NUMBER | | START_2 | NUMBER | | START_3 | NUMBER | | START_4 | NUMBER | +----------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_XML_SCHEMAS [3 columns] +-------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-------------+----------+ | DESCRIPTION | VARCHAR2 | | ID | NUMBER | | XMLSCHEMA | CLOB | +-------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_GEOR_XMLSCHEMA_TABLE [3 columns] +-----------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-----------------+----------+ | GEORASTERFORMAT | VARCHAR2 | | ID | NUMBER | | XMLSCHEMA | CLOB | +-----------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_TXN_IDX_INSERTS [10 columns] +----------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------------+----------+ | END_1 | NUMBER | | END_2 | NUMBER | | END_3 | NUMBER | | END_4 | NUMBER | | RID | VARCHAR2 | | SDO_TXN_IDX_ID | VARCHAR2 | | START_1 | NUMBER | | START_2 | NUMBER | | START_3 | NUMBER | | START_4 | NUMBER | +----------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: OGIS_GEOMETRY_COLUMNS [10 columns] +-------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-------------------+----------+ | COORD_DIMENSION | NUMBER | | F_GEOMETRY_COLUMN | VARCHAR2 | | F_TABLE_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | F_TABLE_SCHEMA | VARCHAR2 | | G_TABLE_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | G_TABLE_SCHEMA | VARCHAR2 | | GEOMETRY_TYPE | NUMBER | | MAX_PPR | NUMBER | | SRID | NUMBER | | STORAGE_TYPE | NUMBER | +-------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_ELLIPSOIDS_OLD_SNAPSHOT [3 columns] +--------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------------+----------+ | INVERSE_FLATTENING | NUMBER | | NAME | VARCHAR2 | | SEMI_MAJOR_AXIS | NUMBER | +--------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_COORD_AXES [6 columns] +-------------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-------------------------+----------+ | COORD_AXIS_ABBREVIATION | VARCHAR2 | | COORD_AXIS_NAME_ID | NUMBER | | COORD_AXIS_ORIENTATION | VARCHAR2 | | COORD_SYS_ID | NUMBER | | ORDER | NUMBER | | UOM_ID | NUMBER | +-------------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_CS_SRS [6 columns] +-----------+--------------+ | Column | Type | +-----------+--------------+ | AUTH_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | AUTH_SRID | NUMBER | | CS_BOUNDS | SDO_GEOMETRY | | CS_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | SRID | NUMBER | | WKTEXT | VARCHAR2 | +-----------+--------------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_UNITS_OF_MEASURE [12 columns] +--------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------------+----------+ | DATA_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | FACTOR_B | NUMBER | | FACTOR_C | NUMBER | | INFORMATION_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | IS_LEGACY | VARCHAR2 | | LEGACY_CODE | NUMBER | | LEGACY_UNIT_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | SHORT_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | TARGET_UOM_ID | NUMBER | | UNIT_OF_MEAS_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | UNIT_OF_MEAS_TYPE | VARCHAR2 | | UOM_ID | NUMBER | +--------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_COORD_AXIS_NAMES [2 columns] +--------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------------+----------+ | COORD_AXIS_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | COORD_AXIS_NAME_ID | NUMBER | +--------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_GR_MOSAIC_1 [11 columns] +--------+--------+ | Column | Type | +--------+--------+ | B0 | NUMBER | | B1 | NUMBER | | C0 | NUMBER | | C1 | NUMBER | | CSIZE | NUMBER | | R0 | NUMBER | | R1 | NUMBER | | RID | ROWID | | RSIZE | NUMBER | | ULTC | NUMBER | | ULTR | NUMBER | +--------+--------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_ELLIPSOIDS [10 columns] +--------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------------+----------+ | DATA_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | ELLIPSOID_ID | NUMBER | | ELLIPSOID_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | INFORMATION_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | INV_FLATTENING | NUMBER | | IS_LEGACY | VARCHAR2 | | LEGACY_CODE | NUMBER | | SEMI_MAJOR_AXIS | NUMBER | | SEMI_MINOR_AXIS | NUMBER | | UOM_ID | NUMBER | +--------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_PREFERRED_OPS_USER [4 columns] +-------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-------------+----------+ | COORD_OP_ID | NUMBER | | SOURCE_SRID | NUMBER | | TARGET_SRID | NUMBER | | USE_CASE | VARCHAR2 | +-------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_TOPO_DATA$ [5 columns] +-------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-------------+----------+ | TG_ID | NUMBER | | TG_LAYER_ID | NUMBER | | TOPO_ID | NUMBER | | TOPO_TYPE | NUMBER | | TOPOLOGY | VARCHAR2 | +-------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_PROJECTIONS_OLD_SNAPSHOT [1 column] +--------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------+----------+ | NAME | VARCHAR2 | +--------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_TOPO_TRANSACT_DATA [6 columns] +---------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +---------------+----------+ | PARENT_ID | NUMBER | | TOPO_ID | NUMBER | | TOPO_OP | VARCHAR2 | | TOPO_SEQUENCE | NUMBER | | TOPO_TYPE | NUMBER | | TOPOLOGY_ID | VARCHAR2 | +---------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_COORD_OP_PARAM_USE [5 columns] +---------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +---------------------+----------+ | COORD_OP_METHOD_ID | NUMBER | | LEGACY_PARAM_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | PARAM_SIGN_REVERSAL | VARCHAR2 | | PARAMETER_ID | NUMBER | | SORT_ORDER | NUMBER | +---------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_COORD_OP_METHODS [8 columns] +------------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +------------------------+----------+ | COORD_OP_METHOD_ID | NUMBER | | COORD_OP_METHOD_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | DATA_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | INFORMATION_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | IS_IMPLEMENTED_FORWARD | NUMBER | | IS_IMPLEMENTED_REVERSE | NUMBER | | LEGACY_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | REVERSE_OP | NUMBER | +------------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_ST_TOLERANCE [1 column] +-----------+--------+ | Column | Type | +-----------+--------+ | TOLERANCE | NUMBER | +-----------+--------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_DATUMS [16 columns] +--------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------------+----------+ | DATA_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | DATUM_ID | NUMBER | | DATUM_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | DATUM_TYPE | VARCHAR2 | | ELLIPSOID_ID | NUMBER | | INFORMATION_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | IS_LEGACY | VARCHAR2 | | LEGACY_CODE | NUMBER | | PRIME_MERIDIAN_ID | NUMBER | | ROTATE_X | NUMBER | | ROTATE_Y | NUMBER | | ROTATE_Z | NUMBER | | SCALE_ADJUST | NUMBER | | SHIFT_X | NUMBER | | SHIFT_Y | NUMBER | | SHIFT_Z | NUMBER | +--------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_COORD_OPS [18 columns] +------------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +------------------------+----------+ | COORD_OP_ID | NUMBER | | COORD_OP_METHOD_ID | NUMBER | | COORD_OP_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | COORD_OP_TYPE | VARCHAR2 | | COORD_OP_VARIANT | NUMBER | | COORD_TFM_VERSION | VARCHAR2 | | DATA_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | INFORMATION_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | IS_IMPLEMENTED_FORWARD | NUMBER | | IS_IMPLEMENTED_REVERSE | NUMBER | | IS_LEGACY | VARCHAR2 | | LEGACY_CODE | NUMBER | | REVERSE_OP | NUMBER | | SHOW_OPERATION | NUMBER | | SOURCE_SRID | NUMBER | | TARGET_SRID | NUMBER | | UOM_ID_SOURCE_OFFSETS | NUMBER | | UOM_ID_TARGET_OFFSETS | NUMBER | +------------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_COORD_OP_PATHS [5 columns] +---------------------+--------+ | Column | Type | +---------------------+--------+ | CONCAT_OPERATION_ID | NUMBER | | OP_PATH_STEP | NUMBER | | SINGLE_OP_SOURCE_ID | NUMBER | | SINGLE_OP_TARGET_ID | NUMBER | | SINGLE_OPERATION_ID | NUMBER | +---------------------+--------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_GR_RDT_1 [8 columns] +-------------------+--------------+ | Column | Type | +-------------------+--------------+ | BANDBLOCKNUMBER | NUMBER | | BLOCKMBR | SDO_GEOMETRY | | COLUMNBLOCKNUMBER | NUMBER | | PYRAMIDLEVEL | NUMBER | | RASTERBLOCK | BLOB | | RASTERDATATABLE | VARCHAR2 | | RASTERID | NUMBER | | ROWBLOCKNUMBER | NUMBER | +-------------------+--------------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_GEOR_PLUGIN_REGISTRY [5 columns] +--------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------+----------+ | COMPANY_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | DESCRIPTION | VARCHAR2 | | PLUGIN | VARCHAR2 | | PLUGIN_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | PLUGIN_TYPE | VARCHAR2 | +--------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_COORD_OP_PARAM_VALS [8 columns] +----------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------------------+----------+ | COORD_OP_ID | NUMBER | | COORD_OP_METHOD_ID | NUMBER | | PARAM_VALUE_FILE | CLOB | | PARAM_VALUE_FILE_REF | VARCHAR2 | | PARAM_VALUE_XML | XMLTYPE | | PARAMETER_ID | NUMBER | | PARAMETER_VALUE | FLOAT | | UOM_ID | NUMBER | +----------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_DATUMS_OLD_SNAPSHOT [8 columns] +--------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------+----------+ | NAME | VARCHAR2 | | ROTATE_X | NUMBER | | ROTATE_Y | NUMBER | | ROTATE_Z | NUMBER | | SCALE_ADJUST | NUMBER | | SHIFT_X | NUMBER | | SHIFT_Y | NUMBER | | SHIFT_Z | NUMBER | +--------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_PRIME_MERIDIANS [6 columns] +---------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +---------------------+----------+ | DATA_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | GREENWICH_LONGITUDE | FLOAT | | INFORMATION_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | PRIME_MERIDIAN_ID | NUMBER | | PRIME_MERIDIAN_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | UOM_ID | NUMBER | +---------------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_TOPO_RELATION_DATA [5 columns] +----------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------------+----------+ | TG_ID | NUMBER | | TG_LAYER_ID | NUMBER | | TOPO_ATTRIBUTE | VARCHAR2 | | TOPO_ID | NUMBER | | TOPO_TYPE | NUMBER | +----------------+----------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_PREFERRED_OPS_SYSTEM [3 columns] +-------------+--------+ | Column | Type | +-------------+--------+ | COORD_OP_ID | NUMBER | | SOURCE_SRID | NUMBER | | TARGET_SRID | NUMBER | +-------------+--------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_COORD_REF_SYS [18 columns] +-----------------------+--------------+ | Column | Type | +-----------------------+--------------+ | CMPD_HORIZ_SRID | NUMBER | | CMPD_VERT_SRID | NUMBER | | COORD_REF_SYS_KIND | VARCHAR2 | | COORD_REF_SYS_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | COORD_SYS_ID | NUMBER | | DATA_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | DATUM_ID | NUMBER | | GEOG_CRS_DATUM_ID | NUMBER | | INFORMATION_SOURCE | VARCHAR2 | | IS_LEGACY | VARCHAR2 | | IS_VALID | VARCHAR2 | | LEGACY_CODE | NUMBER | | LEGACY_CS_BOUNDS | SDO_GEOMETRY | | LEGACY_WKTEXT | VARCHAR2 | | PROJECTION_CONV_ID | NUMBER | | SOURCE_GEOG_SRID | NUMBER | | SRID | NUMBER | | SUPPORTS_SDO_GEOMETRY | VARCHAR2 | +-----------------------+--------------+ Database: MDSYS Table: SDO_TXN_IDX_DELETES [10 columns] +----------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------------+----------+ | END_1 | NUMBER | | END_2 | NUMBER | | END_3 | NUMBER | | END_4 | NUMBER | | RID | VARCHAR2 | | SDO_TXN_IDX_ID | VARCHAR2 | | START_1 | NUMBER | | START_2 | NUMBER | | START_3 | NUMBER | | START_4 | NUMBER | +----------------+----------+ Database: CTXSYS Table: DR$OBJECT_ATTRIBUTE [14 columns] +--------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------+----------+ | OAT_ATT_ID | NUMBER | | OAT_CLA_ID | NUMBER | | OAT_DATATYPE | CHAR | | OAT_DEFAULT | VARCHAR2 | | OAT_DESC | VARCHAR2 | | OAT_ID | NUMBER | | OAT_LOV | CHAR | | OAT_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | OAT_OBJ_ID | NUMBER | | OAT_REQUIRED | CHAR | | OAT_STATIC | CHAR | | OAT_SYSTEM | CHAR | | OAT_VAL_MAX | NUMBER | | OAT_VAL_MIN | NUMBER | +--------------+----------+ Database: CTXSYS Table: DR$NUMBER_SEQUENCE [1 column] +--------+--------+ | Column | Type | +--------+--------+ | NUM | NUMBER | +--------+--------+ Database: CTXSYS Table: DR$POLICY_TAB [2 columns] +-------------+------+ | Column | Type | +-------------+------+ | PLT_LANGCOL | CHAR | | PLT_POLICY | CHAR | +-------------+------+ Database: SYS Table: IMPDP_STATS [25 columns] +---------+----------+ | Column | Type | +---------+----------+ | C1 | VARCHAR2 | | C2 | VARCHAR2 | | C3 | VARCHAR2 | | C4 | VARCHAR2 | | C5 | VARCHAR2 | | CH1 | VARCHAR2 | | D1 | DATE | | FLAGS | NUMBER | | N1 | NUMBER | | N10 | NUMBER | | N11 | NUMBER | | N12 | NUMBER | | N2 | NUMBER | | N3 | NUMBER | | N4 | NUMBER | | N5 | NUMBER | | N6 | NUMBER | | N7 | NUMBER | | N8 | NUMBER | | N9 | NUMBER | | R1 | RAW | | R2 | RAW | | STATID | VARCHAR2 | | TYPE | CHAR | | VERSION | NUMBER | +---------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: OLAPTABLEVELS [6 columns] +-----------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-----------------+----------+ | CUBE_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | DIMENSION_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | DIMENSION_OWNER | VARCHAR2 | | LEVEL_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | SCHEMA_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | SELECTED | NUMBER | +-----------------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: AW$AWREPORT [6 columns] +----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------+----------+ | "GEN#" | NUMBER | | "PS#" | NUMBER | | AWLOB | BLOB | | EXTNUM | NUMBER | | OBJNAME | VARCHAR2 | | PARTNAME | VARCHAR2 | +----------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: ODCI_WARNINGS$ [2 columns] +--------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------+----------+ | C1 | NUMBER | | C2 | VARCHAR2 | +--------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: DUAL [1 column] +--------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------+----------+ | DUMMY | VARCHAR2 | +--------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: OLAP_OLEDB_MDPROPVALS [2 columns] +--------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------+----------+ | NAME | VARCHAR2 | | VALUE | NUMBER | +--------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: OLAP_OLEDB_FUNCTIONS_PVT [8 columns] +----------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------------+----------+ | CAPTION | VARCHAR2 | | DESCRIPTION | VARCHAR2 | | FUNCTION_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | INTERFACE_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | OBJECT | VARCHAR2 | | ORIGIN | NUMBER | | PARAMETER_LIST | VARCHAR2 | | RETURN_TYPE | NUMBER | +----------------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: AW$EXPRESS [6 columns] +----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------+----------+ | "GEN#" | NUMBER | | "PS#" | NUMBER | | AWLOB | BLOB | | EXTNUM | NUMBER | | OBJNAME | VARCHAR2 | | PARTNAME | VARCHAR2 | +----------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: AW$AWCREATE10G [6 columns] +----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------+----------+ | "GEN#" | NUMBER | | "PS#" | NUMBER | | AWLOB | BLOB | | EXTNUM | NUMBER | | OBJNAME | VARCHAR2 | | PARTNAME | VARCHAR2 | +----------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: KU$NOEXP_TAB [3 columns] +----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------+----------+ | NAME | VARCHAR2 | | OBJ_TYPE | VARCHAR2 | | SCHEMA | VARCHAR2 | +----------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: OLAP_OLEDB_KEYWORDS [1 column] +---------+----------+ | Column | Type | +---------+----------+ | KEYWORD | VARCHAR2 | +---------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: TABLE_PRIVILEGE_MAP [2 columns] +-----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-----------+----------+ | NAME | VARCHAR2 | | PRIVILEGE | NUMBER | +-----------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: PSTUBTBL [6 columns] +----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------+----------+ | DBNAME | VARCHAR2 | | LINE | VARCHAR2 | | LINENO | NUMBER | | LUN | VARCHAR2 | | LUTYPE | VARCHAR2 | | USERNAME | VARCHAR2 | +----------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: AW$AWCREATE [6 columns] +----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------+----------+ | "GEN#" | NUMBER | | "PS#" | NUMBER | | AWLOB | BLOB | | EXTNUM | NUMBER | | OBJNAME | VARCHAR2 | | PARTNAME | VARCHAR2 | +----------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: PLAN_TABLE$ [36 columns] +-------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-------------------+----------+ | ACCESS_PREDICATES | VARCHAR2 | | BYTES | NUMBER | | CARDINALITY | NUMBER | | COST | NUMBER | | CPU_COST | NUMBER | | DEPTH | NUMBER | | DISTRIBUTION | VARCHAR2 | | FILTER_PREDICATES | VARCHAR2 | | ID | NUMBER | | IO_COST | NUMBER | | OBJECT_ALIAS | VARCHAR2 | | OBJECT_INSTANCE | NUMBER | | OBJECT_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | OBJECT_NODE | VARCHAR2 | | OBJECT_OWNER | VARCHAR2 | | OBJECT_TYPE | VARCHAR2 | | OPERATION | VARCHAR2 | | OPTIMIZER | VARCHAR2 | | OPTIONS | VARCHAR2 | | OTHER | LONG | | OTHER_TAG | VARCHAR2 | | OTHER_XML | CLOB | | PARENT_ID | NUMBER | | PARTITION_ID | NUMBER | | PARTITION_START | VARCHAR2 | | PARTITION_STOP | VARCHAR2 | | PLAN_ID | NUMBER | | POSITION | NUMBER | | PROJECTION | VARCHAR2 | | QBLOCK_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | REMARKS | VARCHAR2 | | SEARCH_COLUMNS | NUMBER | | STATEMENT_ID | VARCHAR2 | | TEMP_SPACE | NUMBER | | TIME | NUMBER | | TIMESTAMP | DATE | +-------------------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: AUDIT_ACTIONS [2 columns] +--------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------+----------+ | ACTION | NUMBER | | NAME | VARCHAR2 | +--------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: ODCI_SECOBJ$ [4 columns] +--------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------+----------+ | IDXNAME | VARCHAR2 | | IDXSCHEMA | VARCHAR2 | | SECOBJNAME | VARCHAR2 | | SECOBJSCHEMA | VARCHAR2 | +--------------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: OLAPTABLEVELTUPLES [9 columns] +-----------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-----------------+----------+ | CUBE_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | DIMENSION_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | DIMENSION_OWNER | VARCHAR2 | | ID | NUMBER | | LEVEL_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | PCT_OF_TOTAL | NUMBER | | ROW_COUNT | NUMBER | | SCHEMA_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | SELECTED | NUMBER | +-----------------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: OLAP_OLEDB_MDPROPS [2 columns] +--------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------+----------+ | TYPE | VARCHAR2 | | VALUE | VARCHAR2 | +--------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: WRI$_ADV_ASA_RECO_DATA [16 columns] +--------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------+----------+ | ALSP | NUMBER | | BENEFIT_TYPE | NUMBER | | C1 | VARCHAR2 | | C2 | VARCHAR2 | | C3 | VARCHAR2 | | CHCT | NUMBER | | CMD_ID | NUMBER | | CTIME | | PARTNAME | VARCHAR2 | | REC | NUMBER | | SEGNAME | VARCHAR2 | | SEGOWNER | VARCHAR2 | | SEGTYPE | VARCHAR2 | | TASK_ID | NUMBER | | TSNAME | VARCHAR2 | | USP | NUMBER | +--------------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: KU$_LIST_FILTER_TEMP [4 columns] +--------------------+----------+ | Column | Type | +--------------------+----------+ | BASE_PROCESS_ORDER | NUMBER | | DUPLICATE | NUMBER | | OBJECT_NAME | VARCHAR2 | | PROCESS_ORDER | NUMBER | +--------------------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: AW$AWXML [6 columns] +----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------+----------+ | "GEN#" | NUMBER | | "PS#" | NUMBER | | AWLOB | BLOB | | EXTNUM | NUMBER | | OBJNAME | VARCHAR2 | | PARTNAME | VARCHAR2 | +----------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: STMT_AUDIT_OPTION_MAP [3 columns] +-----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-----------+----------+ | "OPTION#" | NUMBER | | NAME | VARCHAR2 | | PROPERTY | NUMBER | +-----------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: SYSTEM_PRIVILEGE_MAP [3 columns] +-----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +-----------+----------+ | NAME | VARCHAR2 | | PRIVILEGE | NUMBER | | PROPERTY | NUMBER | +-----------+----------+ Database: SYS Table: AW$AWMD [6 columns] +----------+----------+ | Column | Type | +----------+----------+ | "GEN#" | NUMBER | | "PS#" | NUMBER | | AWLOB | BLOB | | EXTNUM | NUMBER | | OBJNAME | |
regime would have carried out a chemical warfare attack at a moment when it's pretty much winning the war", he said. If Chomsky finds this not so obvious, then it must be obvious to Chomsky why the Assad regime would bomb hospitals, napalm schools, torture children and starve entire cities.
(The contention that the regime is "pretty much winning the war" is also doubtful. The regime is actually unlikely to win the war. It has been winning battles with the help of the Russian Air Force, but it can't hold territory without Hizballah, Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and Iraqi, Afghan and Pakistani militias.)
Chomsky has been able to argue without any sense of irony that that US involvement in Syria amounts to 'imperialism' while the Russian military intervention doesn't
Deductive logic more rigorously applied should of course have led Chomsky to also consider that if Postol's theory is correct, then the OPCW, Human Rights Watch, World Health Organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres, the US government, the British government, the French Government, The Guardian, The Times and the AFP's judgment is incorrect.
And since they all appear to have reached the same conclusion, there must be coordination among them. But according to Chomsky's logic, this scenario is more plausible than the notion that Assad - with his pattern of chemical attacks - might have carried out another.
He finds more plausible that rebels would go through the trouble of producing sarin only to use it on their own people, twice! To quote journalist Anand Gopal's response: "that's on the level of Big Foot or UFOs."
To his credit, Chomsky has not been shy to denounce Assad and Putin
In the years since August 2013, Chomsky has said little about Syria. And to the extent he has, his silences have been more appreciated. Speaking at Harvard in September 2015, Chomsky scolded a Syrian doctor for asking if the US should intervene to protect Syrian civilians. "If you attack Assad, you are undermining resistance to the Islamic State and al-Nusra, who'll then take over," he said: "Is that what you want for Syria?"
Elsewhere he criticized the "meaningless" US strategy because it wasn't supporting the forces that "are really combatting ISIS": "Iran, PKK, and the Assad regime". In an appearance on UK's Channel 4 News, he claimed IS was now "almost a representative of a large part of Sunni Islam". And where was Chomsky getting all these insights? "One of the main commentators on the region… one who's been most informed and accurate: Patrick Cockburn."
I wrote to Chomsky to explain that over 90 percent of the Assad regime's military engagements until then had been against Assad's anti-IS opposition, and when citizens in Maarat al Nu'man rose up against al-Nusra, the regime actually bombed the citizens; the Obama administration had been cooperating with Iran politically and militarily since summer 2014 and it had launched over 700 US airstrikes to help the PKK-affiliated YPG break the siege of Kobane; and far from IS representing "a large part of Sunni Islam", surveys showed that it had little support even in major Sunni states like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
I suggested that perhaps he shouldn't outsource his Syria analysis to regime-friendly journalists like Patrick Cockburn, who has advised the British government to provide military support to the Assad regime - a regime the UN has accused of the "crime of extermination".
But far from abandoning Cockburn, Chomsky has drawn on him as an authority to impugn journalists reporting from under the regime's bombs in rebel-held territories. "If reporters go into the rebel-held areas and don't do what they're told," he told his Cambridge audience, "you get your head cut off".
Accountability to Chomsky is an alien concept
This would come as news to Clarissa Ward of CNN, Nagieb Khaja of Al Jazeera, and Kareem Shaheen of The Guardian, whose heads are decidedly intact after reporting from rebel-held areas without compromising their independence. (Chomsky of course doesn't even acknowledge the existence of Syrian civil society, intellectuals, activists or heroic journalists like those associated with Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently or Enab Baladi).
Reporting from rebel-held areas is indeed not easy or without risk: After all the war has caused a complete collapse of law and order. But the main difficultly (as during the siege of Aleppo) is that the regime denies journalists access and - to the extent that they are able to bypass its strictures - they face the threat of its indiscriminate bombs.
Such details become academic, however, when ideological commitment makes factual accuracy superfluous. Chomsky has been able to argue without any sense of irony that that US involvement in Syria amounts to "imperialism" while the Russian military intervention doesn't.
In these ideological battles the world is a mere proxy and truth a dispensable artefact
Russia, he says, was invited by the Syrian government. I asked him if this means the US intervention in Vietnam was also not imperialism since the US was invited by the South Vietnamese government. That was different, he replied, because the South Vietnamese government was installed by the US. So it wasn't a legitimate government: Does he believe the Assad government is more legitimate? I said nothing about legitimacy, he replied. And so it went.
To his credit, Chomsky has not been shy to denounce Assad and Putin. This would be meaningful if the inevitable "but" didn't follow, and blame wasn't shifted onto Assad's opponents and their backers. In the past two years Chomsky has ignored years of Russian obstructionism at the UN and elevated a dubious report about an alleged Russian peace offer in 2012 to cast the US, Britain and France as the intransigent parties.
But the plan that the former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari claims was conveyed to him by Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin on 22 February 2012 was actually the Arab League initiative of 22 January 2012, which was part of the UN resolution that Churkin vetoed on 4 February 2012, even after all his amendments to the first draft were accepted.
Accountability to Chomsky is an alien concept. He doesn't seek it for genocidaires; nor does he approve of it for propagandists for genocidaires. The man who has remained mostly silent in the face of Assad and Putin's colossal crimes was quick to join a campaign, led by several pro-Assad ideologues, to pressure students who had disinvited a pro-Assad blogger from an event devoted to Palestinian rights.
This is not the first time this kind of campism has led large sections of the western Left down a moral cul-de-sac
He signed an open letter that referred to the blogger's apologia for Assad's "crime of extermination" (UN) (and her record of fabrication) as a "political difference".
In Chomsky's hierarchy of concerns, it seems a westerner's right to deny genocide is more sacrosanct than a Syrian's right to life and liberty. Chomsky lives in a country where dissent is protected by law, and, in his case, rewarded with stardom and publishing contracts.
This is why he can't relate to dissidents abroad - unless they are fortunate enough to be persecuted by a US client - who at great personal cost fight for basic rights. In these ideological battles the world is a mere proxy and truth a dispensable artefact. Its dehumanising binaries erase struggling peoples if the regime oppressing them is seen as an objective ally by virtue of being in the bad books of Washington.
This is not the first time this kind of campism has led large sections of the western Left down a moral cul-de-sac. But few could have predicted that the figure leading this sordid procession one day would be the sage many of us once worshipped.
This is Part II of a two-part article examining Chomsky and the Left's relationship with Syria. Read part I here.
Muhammad Idrees Ahmad is a lecturer in digital journalism at the University of Stirling. He is the author of The Road to Iraq: The Making of a Neoconservative War, and is currently writing a book on the war of narratives over Syria.
Follow him on Twitter: @im_PULSE
Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staffHardware
Even if you're a diehard gamer, the Oculus Touch controllers probably don't look like anything you've seen before. They're more like how a sci-fi film would imagine a futuristic gaming-input device: beautiful, but unwieldy at first glance. The Touch controllers are made from smooth black plastic (they look a lot like the Xbox One's controller), and they feel pretty sturdy. It's hard to tell this is Oculus' first attempt at a gamepad.
Once you get past the unique design and get your hands on them, though, you'll notice something surprising: They're actually incredibly intuitive. The Touch controllers are contoured for your left and right hands, and once you grab their rounded handles, your fingers will naturally fall into place. Both feature analog sticks; two face buttons; triggers, which your index fingers rest on; and grip buttons, located underneath your middle fingers. Additionally, the left controller features a menu button right below the analog stick, while the Oculus home button sits on the right controller. Their prominent circular rings help with motion tracking, but you won't ever need to hold them.
You also get another Oculus sensor in the controller's box, which allows the Rift to handle VR experiences in which you're standing and moving around. It's not quite room-scale VR like the HTC Vive, though you can buy a third sensor for $79 to make that happen (or a fourth for very large spaces). Because the original Rift sensor sits on the far right side of my office desk, I set up the second on the far left.
Since they're both smaller and lighter than the Vive and PS VR's gamepads, the Oculus Touch controllers are also better suited for extended virtual-reality sessions. Admittedly, size and weight isn't a huge issue with the competition, either, but the Oculus controllers feel significantly more comfortable. I'd also attribute that partly to better ergonomics. HTC's Vive controllers fit into your hands well, but they're very large. And the PlayStation Motion controller wasn't built specifically with VR in mind, so it's a bit tougher to use when your eyes are covered with a headset.
Each Touch controller is powered by a single AA battery, which fits inside the base via a magnetic latch. As usual, I would have preferred it if Oculus had included removable, rechargeable batteries instead (perhaps with micro-USB support to make life easier). I can understand not building in rechargeable batteries, like on the HTC Vive and PS VR, because they make for much more expensive replacements if anything goes wrong. But it would be nice to re-energize these controllers as easily as the other gadgets in my life. According to Oculus engineers, the controllers should last around 30 hours on a single battery without haptic feedback, and 20 hours with haptic feedback.
In use
Setting up the Touch controllers was simple: I plugged the additional sensor into a USB 3.0 port and followed the on-screen instructions in the Oculus app. I was surprised to learn that both sensors have to be facing straight forward to work with the Touch devices -- mostly because I was used to having them point toward me from a corner of my desk. Similar to the Vive's setup, you'll also have to trace out the boundary of playable free space in your area. That information is used for the Oculus Guardian feature, which creates virtual walls when you're in VR to keep you from bumping into obstacles.
Once everything is configured, you're thrown into "First Contact," a retro VR experience that steps you through the Touch controller's capabilities. It teaches you how to recognize all of the individual buttons, grab objects and make gestures like pointing your fingers all while playing with things like virtual fireworks. It's a good way to whet your appetite, because plenty of games will use similar input schemes.
When it comes to motion tracking, the Touch controllers kept up with hectic things -- like shooting several enemies virtual gun -- or more-precise movements, like setting down an object gently on a table. On my desktop, which is powered by an Intel Core i7 4790k CPU running at 4GHz, 16GB of 2400MHz DDR3 RAM, and an NVIDIA GTX 1080 GPU, I didn't have any issues with spotty motion tracking, even in instances where I had to aim at something behind me. It felt significantly more stable than the PlayStation VR's motion tracking, which relies on a single depth-sensing camera and less-powerful hardware.
What really surprised me about the Oculus Touch controllers, though, is that they're also very good game controllers. The analog sticks rotate smoothly and have a ridged outer ring, which keeps your thumbs from slipping off. The four face buttons and triggers all deliver a solid amount of feedback (once again, they remind me of the Xbox One's gamepad).
Of course, those are just my thoughts after playing with them for a few weeks; the real test of a controller is seeing how it feels after a month or so of strenuous play. I've only had a few weeks with these (and for the record, my battery life for each is around 20 percent).
One aspect that I didn't appreciate as much in earlier Touch demos: Each button on the controllers is capacitive, so it can tell when you have your finger on a button while not pressing it down. It can also detect if you lift your fingers off a button -- which is useful for things like the pointing gesture I mentioned above. Thanks to this refined finger detection, the controllers do a better job of keeping you "present" in VR experiences. And it's also something I expect we'll see in other gamepads in the future.
I've had game controllers in my hand since I got an NES at age 5, but the Oculus Touch are the first to feel as if they're practically extensions of my body.
The games
At this point, we're well into the second major wave of VR releases (the first coincided with the launch of the Rift and Vive; this one was kicked off by the PS VR). Oculus says 53 titles will offer Touch support at launch, including existing games like The Climb and Job Simulator. As for next year, you've got games like Arkitka.1 and Giant Cop: Justice Above to look forward to. Plenty of Vive Steam VR titles will also work with the Oculus Touch, even if they're not available in the Oculus store.
One thing is for sure: Your Touch controllers won't be gathering any dust soon. Here are my impressions of a few titles available at launch:
I Expect You to Die
VR was practically made for locked-room puzzles, and I Expect You to Die doesn't disappoint. Developed by Schell Games, it puts you in the role of a spy who always finds himself in sticky situations. At first, it's a booby-trapped car that you need to drive out of a plane, but it's not long before you're stopping superviruses from wiping out millions. It's a fine showing for the Oculus Touch controllers because it demonstrates how well they can manage fine, methodical movement.
At one point, you have to maneuver something through an array of laser sensors, all while spraying window-washer fluid to make the lasers visible. Shortly after that, you're handling beakers of potentially exploding material. You'll die a lot, but as with the best games, it'll usually be your fault -- not the controller's.
Serious Sam
"I just spent 30 minutes in VR and boy are my arms tired." That's me after every Serious Sam VR session.
The original game was an insane mashup of action-movie machismo, big guns and boatloads of carnage... so you'd imagine that would translate to VR pretty well. The VR version is just as bombastic, but because you're actually physically aiming guns and dodging an assortment of projectiles, it's also quite the workout. I could only play it for around a half hour at a time without getting exhausted. But for those glorious minutes, I was in shooter heaven. It's exactly what my 13-year-old self dreamed of.
Serious Sam is the fastest-paced VR game I've played, and it's a testament to the Oculus Touch's tracking capabilities. Even as I was whipping guns all around my office and spraying bullets everywhere, the controllers never skipped a motion-tracking beat.
The Unspoken
A Doctor Strange fan's dream come true, The Unspoken is a multiplayer magic battle game that puts you right in the shoes of a destructive spellcaster. Most of your time will be spent throwing fireballs at your enemies and shielding incoming fire while teleporting around a stage. But you'll also have to do things like make motion gestures for powerful spells and hammer out mystical items mid-battle. It's a prime example of the versatility of Oculus Touch -- they're able to keep up with the fast-paced action while also being accurate enough for complex gestures.
Robo Recall (demo)
While the full game will be available free next year, the Robo Recall demo I played was sublime. Developed by the Unreal Engine masterminds Epic -- people who really know their shooters -- the game puts you in the role of an enforcer who has to take down rogue robots. And, yes, you can bet that'll involve plenty of guns and explosions.
Like many VR games, you move around by teleporting (a mechanic that'll hopefully get refined before launch, because reorienting yourself is a pain). The real focus, though, is on shooting -- and it's spectacular. The Oculus Touch controllers are incredibly accurate, both when it comes to fast-paced blasting and slowing down to nail an accurate shot. And like Epic's Bullet Train demo (which was used to show off Touch prototypes), you can also slow down time, yank bullets out of the air and throw them right back at those nasty bots.
Quill
Much like Google's Tilt Brush, Quill is Oculus' attempt at a VR painting app. It was originally created to help develop the VR short Dear Angelica, but it has since evolved into a worthy virtual drawing tool in its own right. I'm not the best person to judge the merit of artistic tools, but I can say that the motion tracking of your virtual brushes seems on-par with Google's app. And even for those who can't draw, there's still something magical about doodling in three-dimensional space.
The competition
It's pretty clear what Oculus is up against: the HTC Vive and the PlayStation VR. Sony's option is still the cheapest pathway to consumer VR -- and if anything, the Touch controllers make the Rift an even more inaccessible platform. Because they're another $200 on top of the Rift's $600 cost, it puts the platform on the same level as the $800 Vive.
The choice really comes down to which headset and platform you prefer. If you want to walk around in VR environments today, the Vive's hardware can do that. The Rift, together with the Touch, will let you only stand and take a few steps around a small space. You can also play games on both platforms, no matter which headset you own. Personally, I'll probably end up spending more time with the Rift, because the headset is so much more comfortable to wear.
Wrap-up
Oculus had one job: Bring motion controls to the Rift. With the Touch controllers, it managed to do that well. And, surprisingly enough, the company also proved it could make a damn fine game controller. If you've already invested in a Rift, the Oculus Touch is a no-brainer purchase. And if you've been holding out for VR platforms to iron out some wrinkles, it's a sign that the virtual-reality ecosystem's growth isn't slowing down anytime soon.India will celebrate its 70th Independence Day on August 15, 2017. The day is not only remembered for the exit of the British and India gaining sovereignty but also for the numerous people who laid down their lives fighting for the freedom of their beloved motherland.
While the masses remember the names of Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and Shaheed Bhagat Singh, people tend to forget the contribution of women to the freedom struggle.
On the occasion of India's Independence Day, let us remember five such lesser known bravehearts.
1) Lakshmi Sahgal
Captain Lakshmi joined Subash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army in Singapore. Sahgal aided wounded prisoners of war, many of whom were interested in forming an Indian independence army. Lakshmi also formed a women's regiment in the INA called the Rani of Jhansi regiment. The British army arrested captain Lakshmi in May 1945.
2) Begum Hazrat Mahal
Mahal's maiden name was Muhammadi Khanum. She was then sold to Royal agents of the Nawab of Oudh. She was the first wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Oudh. She was one of the most pivotal rebellion characters during the 1857 Indian rebellion. Ultimately, she had to retreat to Nepal. She died there in 1879 and was buried in a nameless grave in the grounds of Kathmandu's Jama Masjid.
3) Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay
Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay was the daughter of the District Collector of Mangaluru. In the 1930s, she was arrested for entering the Bombay Stock Exchange to sell packets of contraband salt, and spent almost a year in prison. She was also a feminist who opposed her own colleagues when they ignored or infringed women's rights. She became the first woman from India to be arrested by the British government for her active role as a patriotic leader. Also, she was the first woman candidate for the legislative assembly.
4) Matangini Hazra
Matangini Hazra was known as the champion of the Quit India Movement. She was a staunch Gandhian and supporter of Non-cooperation movement. She, at the age of 73, was also an active participant of the Quit India Movement leading a procession of 6000 supporters. This unsung heroine was shot by the British while trying to capture Tamluk police station. But Hazra didn't back down and marched forward with the national flag, repeating the slogan Vande Mataram.
5) Bhogeshwari Phuknan
Bhogeshwari Phuknani hailed from Nagaon, Assam. Bhogeshwari Phukanani is renowned as the 60-yrs-old martyr. When the revolutionaries had just taken back control of their offices in Berhampur, the police raided the place. Bhogeshwari gathered a crowd including her six sons and two daughters and even hit the Captain who led the police. The captain shot her dead.After sparking an uproar by relocating a polling site from a local mosque over anonymous complaints from residents, a south Florida elections official met with mosque leaders to try to make amends—but she made no offer to reinstate it as a polling place.
Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher went to the Islamic Center of Boca Raton on July 15 to extend an olive branch to Muslim community members upset about her decision.
Wilfredo Amr Ruiz, director of communications for the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Florida chapter, told TPM that attendees at the meeting conveyed their desire to keep the center as a polling site. According to Ruiz, Bucher made no offer to revoke her announcement that the site had been relocated to a local library.
Bucher did not immediately respond Thursday to TPM’s request for comment, but said in a statement last week that some 50 residents had contacted her office to say they felt “uncomfortable” voting at the mosque.
The center’s president, Bassem Alhalabi, previously urged Bucher not to “surrender” to bigotry in an interview with TPM. CAIR and the Anti-Defamation League have echoed the call for Bucher treat all houses of worship equally, and a local rabbi told TPM that a coalition of community faith leaders will submit a written request Friday for her to reinstate the Islamic Center as a polling location.
Some 90 churches and five synagogues were chosen to serve as polling places in Palm Beach County, Florida’s largest, for the 2016 elections. Ruiz said he was unaware of any other mosques being designated as such in the entire state.
He said that CAIR planned to pursue legal action if Bucher did not reverse her decision and that other civil rights groups have asked to join their effort.
Although Ruiz declined to name the other groups ahead of the official announcement, he said they had “manifested an interest in exploring legal avenues with us.”Dubai Police Force The Dubai Police Force emblem Common name Dubai Police Jurisdictional structure Operations jurisdiction Dubai Size 4,114 km2 (1,588 sq mi) General nature Local civilian police
Local civilian agency Headquarters Al Twar, Dubai
Sworn members 17,500 (approx) Agency executive Major General Abdulla Khalifa Al Marri, Chief of Police
The Dubai Police Force (Arabic: القيادة العامة لشرطة دبي) is the 15,000 strong[1] police force for the city of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. They come under the jurisdiction of the ruler of Dubai, and they cover an area of 4,114 square kilometres and a population of 2.8 million people.
History [ edit ]
The Dubai Police force was founded on 1 June 1956 in Naif (a locality in the Deira side of Dubai, with the first police station being known as 'Naif Fort'[2]) with only 29 members. The size of the force increased gradually, to 105 in 1960 and to 430 by 1967.[3] In 1973, the force moved its headquarters to their current location of Al-Towar, on Al-Etihad Street in Dubai. At present, a further move is being planned to a newly constructed headquarters, again in Deira.
The Dubai Police force strives to be'most progressive' of all Arabic police forces[3] and aims for high education standards amongst its personnel. The force was the first to use many new law enforcement techniques, including electronic finger printing and DNA testing. The force was also the first to use GPS systems to locate stolen vehicles. The force has announced that it plans to deploy its first robot police officer by May 2017, and that their ambition is to have 25 percent of the force consist of robotic officers by 2030, as well as to operate a "smart" police station that "won't require human employees".[4][5] In addition, the force was the first to create a Human Rights Department, as well as the first to employ a Community Policing programme.[3]
The new headquarters for the Dubai police is planned to be constructed in Deira, the premises were designed with several considerations in mind. As well as making easy access for both officers and members of the public a priority, the new design aims to separate the departments into different areas. The building is also to feature a central, multi-level internal space, and is designed to fit in with the developing architecture of surrounding Dubai, the Dubai police force describe it as a 'distinguished constructional conception'.
The police force closely cooperates with Civil Defence and Ambulance personnel.[citation needed]
After many years, the logo/emblem of the police force was modified in January 2018. [6]
Departments [ edit ]
The Dubai police force operates under a General Commander and his deputy, who in turn work under the Police Chief and his own deputy. The General Commander forms part of an organisational office which, with a Decision Making Support Centre, organises fifteen separate departments:
The General Department of Operations [ edit ]
This is the heart of the Dubai Police force. Round the clock telephone lines help to electronically control all patrols from this department, with 2,000 land lines and 178 fax machines,[7] and utilising wireless equipment to locate both car and foot patrols. The department also coordinates all emergency responses as well as search and rescue operations on land and sea.
The General Department of Artificial Intelligence [ edit ]
This department is another integral part of the police force, as well as being the most recent department to be created. It was established in 2001 as part of the aims of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, to form a totally electronic government. In 2008 30% of UAE national are assigned to the work in the E-services Department to fulfill their duty. In 2014, Director-General Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi introduced Google Glass to the police force to issue fines and identify wanted cars.[8]. In 2018, the department was renamed to correspond to the new government direction towards artificial intelligence.
The General Department of Criminal Investigation [ edit ]
This the primary crime fighting department of the Dubai Police, its objectives are laid out by as follows:
1. Dealing with daily, small-time crimes (quarrels, swearing, defamation.. etc.).
2. Dealing with crimes of a dangerous nature, such as murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping, etc.
3. Dealing with organised crime (drug trafficking, money laundering, internationally wanted criminals etc.).
4. Social services, such as lost property, things found, certificates of good conduct, licences of all kinds etc.).
5. Employing scientific evidence (such as Forensic Medicine, fingerprints, documents, arsons, chemical analysis, firearms etc.).
6. Employing identity recognition means (such as fingerprints, the DNA, criminal records etc.).
7. Crime prevention methods (such guidance, directives, follow-up, statistical projections, periodicals etc.).
Police stations [ edit ]
There are currently eleven Dubai police stations in the city.
Al-Rifaa This station was established in the 1970s to secure the Bur Dubai region. It has been reopened in different premises on two occasions, 1979 and 1992.
Al-Muraqqabat this station was established in 1974.
Al-Rashidiyah Al-Rashidiyah was created in 1976 as part of Al-Muraqqabat, however it became an independent station in 1984, and was moved to newer premises in 2000.
Naif The original headquarters of the Dubai Police force, Naif Fort was constructed in 1929, and was used as a prison until the founding of the force in 1956.
Al-Qusais Al-Qusais was founded in 1977 and moved to new premises in 1999.
Hatta This station was established in 1974, and also moved to new premises, this time in 1976.
Nad Al-Sheba This station opened in 1994 in Zabeel, though subsequently moved.
Jebel Ali This station was built in 1971, and renovated in 2000.
Ports Ports police station was also built in 1971, and watches over the Rashid Port.
Bur Dubai This station was founded in 1979.
Al-Barsha This new station opened in 2014 and covers the new developments in Al-Barsha and the surrounding locales.
Uniform, equipment and vehicles [ edit ]
Typical Dubai Police vehicle
The standard uniform of the Dubai police officer is an olive green shirt with a red band running under the left arm and looped through the left epaulette, a dark green beret with a golden badge depicting the logo of the police force, olive green trousers and black boots. Women officers generally wear a headscarf due to the fact that Islam is the official religion of the state.
Alternatively, officers wear a light brown shirt and trousers, though the rest of the uniform remains the same. High-ranking officers wear a combination cap and rank badges on the collar, together with their light brown uniform.
In Dubai, both male and female police officers carry semi-automatic handguns such as the Caracal and SIG Sauer pistols, while Special Emergency Units (SWAT) gain a varied arsenal of weapons such as the Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun, Glock 17 pistols, Ithaca 37 shotguns, M4 and Colt M16 variants, X26 tasers, flash grenades and other weapons depending on the situation encountered.
The Dubai police vehicles are painted with a white and dark green colour scheme, with all blue emergency lights. Every Dubai police vehicle has the force's website and email addresses printed on it. General duties and patrols are carried out by Chevrolet, Toyota, Mazda and Nissan vehicles. In 2013, the force saw the arrival of new eco-friendly vehicles, which are one seaters but can carry an additional passenger.[9] In addition to cars, the force also employs motorcycles, helicopters and boats.
Exotic and unusual patrol cars [ edit ]
The Dubai Police Force has recently acquired several luxury and high-performance vehicles ( to be used in tourist areas ), which include
Exotic Dubai Police cars on patrol.
All of these vehicles are used for patrolling tourist areas.[12][13][14][15][16][17]
Academy [ edit ]
The Dubai Police Academy was founded in 1987, and was granted autonomy from the police force as long as it retains some affiliation with Dubai Police General Headquarters. It was fully inaugurated in 1989 in the presence of Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. In 1992, degrees offered by the academy were made equal to degrees from universities.
The first class was from 1987 to 1988, and consisted of 51 cadets and 30 full-time students, some of whom were existing police officers. They graduated in 1991. During the academic year of 1996-1997, students from Arabic countries such as Yemen, Oman, Lebanon and Palestinian Territories were admitted.
It offers several degrees, such as License in Law and Police sciences, Masters in law (with several concentrations), and Doctoral degree in law.
It maintains international standards of teaching and employs modern teaching methodology including e-learning and has revamped its website in September 2012 to introduce e-learning features.[18]
Museum [ edit ]
The Dubai Police Museum, located at Al-Mulla Plaza, opened on 19 November 1987. It comprises three exhibit halls, as well as documenting anti-drug efforts of the police force, and the force's prison systems. On 19 November 1987, the International Council of Museums placed the museum on the record of Arab Museums.[19]
Controversies [ edit ]
The police in Dubai has long been accused of brutality including the practice of torture leading to serious injury as well as death.[20] In 2011 British tourist Lee Bradley Brown was arrested by the Dubai police and died in prison after 6 days of custody in a controversial manner.[21][22] Police have arrested many people in recent years for posting humorous or satirical videos on the internet. Anyone posting material deemed offensive to Islam/religion, the government or to the royal families, are subject to arrest.[23][24] Police have also been accused of using excessive force when dealing with protestors or prisoners.[25][26]
See also [ edit ]Sochi: Vladimir Putin insisted on Sunday that he is "on friendly terms" with gay acquaintances and that millions of Russians love pop icon Elton John "despite his orientation", as he sought to defuse calls from gay rights activists to boycott the Winter Olympics.
In an interview with foreign journalists less than three weeks before the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the Russian president also claimed he had seen no evidence that the event's eye-watering price has been inflated by corruption.
He shrugged off an effective boycott of the Games by Western leaders, including Barack Obama, in what is widely seen as a protest at controversial laws banning "propaganda of homosexuality" to people under 18. And he insisted that neither he nor his government is homophobic, reiterating his position that the law - which critics say effectively banishes discussion of homosexuality or gay rights from the public space - is simply a child-protection measure.
"If you want my personal attitude, I would tell you that I don't care about a person's orientation and I myself know some people who are gay. We are on friendly terms. I'm not prejudiced in any way," he said.HYDERABAD: Pakistan’s discarded wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal, dejected at being constantly ignored by the national selectors, has urged the patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to allow him a chance to present his case as he deserves selection on the basis of his consistent performance in the domestic season.
“I strongly feel that I am being ignored even after so many good performances in domestic cricket,” said Kamran while talking to Dawn a day after his team Wapda reached the final of the Qauid-i-Azam Trophy here on Wednesday. “I want the selectors to be consider me purely as a batsman as I realise fully well that Sarfraz Ahmed is performing outstandingly as wicketkeeper.”
“I therefore appeal to the PM to hear me out and ask the selectors to consider my case on merit.”
“For a batsman, the only way to make a comeback is his performance and I have been doing that by scoring a lot of runs to merit selection”, he said. “I had met PCB COO Subhan Ahmed before coming to Hyderabad and now awaiting a call from PCB. Lets see what they say.
“Those who don’t perform must be dropped from the national team. I don’t want to name those players, the selectors know who they are but they are being persisted with,” he argued.
Kamran said there are quite a few batsmen besides him who are also performing well but are still being ignored for national selection. “Not just me but talented players like Usman Salahuddin and Asif Zakir have been playing outstandingly for a few seasons now and must be given a chance to represent the country.”
He recalled how PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan had told him to perform on the domestic circuit and get selected. “I don’t know what else performance is.This is the third consecutive season that I have piled up the runs but perhaps I lack the right kind of contacts or political connections to get into the national team,” he said in a candid comment.
He said it is a wrong premise to rule him out on grounds that he has been playing for 14 successive years now. “Look at Mark Boucher who played 150 matches without a break, and so did Alec Stewart, A.B de Villiers, Stewart and our own Moin Khan who all played for a long time. And their splendid performances benefited their team,” said Kamran. “If anyone is performing then there is no reason to discard that player.”
“Look at Misbahul Haq, he is performing so well at 42 and is the backbone of the team, so age or experience should never matter,” he added. “I repeat I perhaps lack support of some politician, who will get him inducted [in team]”, he said. “Three of us brothers |
idiaries [ edit ]
Canadian Airlines' domestic network was broken down into five divisions:
In addition to flight providers, Canadian Airlines operated the largest tour operator in Canada called Canadian Holidays and the Canadian Getaways program. The operator flew to destinations which included destinations throughout North and South America. Their freight operation, Canadian Air Cargo, provided general air cargo services in Canada and the United States.
Onex bid and Air Canada takeover [ edit ]
On August 20, 1999, Air Canada proposed a financial offer to Canadian Airlines which would see Canadian's International routes and airport slots sold to Air Canada for an undisclosed amount. Canadian Airlines would be relegated to be a regional carrier providing a feeder network to Air Canada. This offer was rejected.
Four days later, on August 24, 1999, Onex Corporation announced a takeover bid for Canadian Airlines, backed by American Airlines parent company AMR Corporation, consisting of $1.8B in cash and the assumption of $3.9B in debt. Canadian Airlines announced that it would support this and recommend acceptance from its shareholders. Air Canada rejected the offer. On August 31, 1999, Air Canada adopted a poison pill aimed at thwarting any takeover bid.
It was later (Sep 24, 1999) revealed by Kevin Benson that merger talks had occurred between Canadian Airlines and Air Canada in early 1999 with Air Canada abandoning the talks.
On October 19, 1999, Air Canada, backed by Star Alliance partners Lufthansa Airlines, United Airlines and CIBC announced a $930M counter bid to the Onex offer. Air Canada offered $92M for Canadian Airlines and committed to running it as a separate company. On November 2, Air Canada increased its offer to $16 per share to buy back 36.4 percent of the airline.
On November 5, 1999, a Quebec judge ruled that the Onex takeover was illegal, breaking the law that stipulates that no more than 10 percent of the company can be controlled by a single shareholder. Onex subsequently withdrew its offer and Air Canada stated it would proceed with the takeover of Canadian Airlines. On December 4, the board of directors at Canadian Airlines recommended the $92M offer from Air Canada to the shareholders. The offer from Air Canada originally expired at 5pm on December 7, 1999, but Air Canada extended their offer until December 23, 1999. Air Canada officially took control of Canadian Airlines, pending government approval, on December 8, 1999. The Federal Competition Bureau cleared the way for the takeover on December 21, 1999 and Canadian Airlines officially became a subsidiary of Air Canada on December 23, 1999.
Canadian Airlines operated as a subsidiary company through most of 2000. In October 2000, all of Canadian Airlines' systems and employees became fully integrated. WIth both companies fully integrated, Air Canada began massive cuts to employees starting with the announcement that there would be 3500 cuts in the workforce on December 22, 2000. September 26, 2001 saw an additional 5000 cuts primarily driven from the worldwide impact to the travel sector caused by the 9/11 attacks.
Media appearances [ edit ]
In 1994, the Canadian Children's show Mighty Machines filmed one of their episodes (Mighty Machines at the Airport) at Toronto Pearson International Airport, starring a couple of Canadian Airlines jets (a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, a Boeing 737-200 and an Airbus A320) and several other of the carrier's vehicles.[citation needed]
In the 1996 film, Homeward Bound 2: Lost in San Francisco the family is flying to Canada on Canadian Airlines when the pets escape. The pets then chase after the Canadian Airlines jet and sit on the runway as the Canadian 737 takes off over their heads. During this scene many other Canadian Airlines planes are visible.[8] The scene, while supposed to be at San Francisco International Airport, was actually filmed at the Abbotsford International Airport in Abbotsford, British Columbia.[9]
Accidents and incidents [ edit ]
No fatalities occurred on Canadian Airlines flights.[10] There were only two major incidents:
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Fattedad, S. (2015). An Insider's Story of the Rise and Fall of Canadian Airlines. Vancouver, BC: Warfleet Press. ISBN 0986879312.Richard Silverwood officiated the 2010, 2012 and 2013 Grand Finals as well as the 2012 World Club Challenge.
Salford Red Devils have appointed retired referee Richard Silverwood to improve team discipline and plan to recruit their own salary-cap manager.
Salford were docked six points in April for salary-cap rule breaches, costing them a top-eight place in Super League.
Silverwood, 40, officiated in the Super League for 15 years and took charge of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup final.
"Richard will be working with the players to try and improve their discipline," said owner Marwan Koukash.
"We have been conceding far too many penalties recently. The penalty count at Leeds last week was 14-6 and you can't win games from that position.
"He will be reviewing every game and helping the players understand where they went wrong. He started this week and will be with us for the long term."
Meanwhile, Salford have released Feleti Mateo from the remainder of his contract so that he can return to Australia for family reasons.
Subscribe to the BBC Sport newsletter to get our pick of news, features and video sent to your inbox.Raw content
UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000973 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR INR/R/MR, IGWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD NSC FOR JOSE CARDENAS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO, OPRC, PREL, KMDR, AR SUBJECT: MEDIA MAGNATE GRIPES TO THE AMBASSADOR ABOUT KIRCHNER CLASSIFIED BY: AMBASSADOR E. ANTHONY WAYNE; 1.4 (b), (d) SUMMARY ------- 1. (C) In a lunch punctuated by misgivings about the Kirchner Administration, ailing Clarin giant Hector Magnetto conveyed to the Ambassador that his vigor has not waned, despite a throat cancer that has diminished his ability to communicate. As the Ambassador was feted by Clarin,s top brass, May 7, Magnetto appeared in good form and fully in charge of Argentina,s most powerful media conglomerate as it challenges a government facing its first major political scandal since it took power four years ago. The main complaints against K focused on the lack of political dialogue and his economic policies. The Clarin elite also suggested their opposition to Chavez. Clarin,s executives reiterated appreciation for the Ambassador,s helpful actions to promote the U.S. standard for digital television and gave an update on the status of the decision. END SUMMARY. THE POWER OF CLARIN ------------------- 2. (SBU) Hector Magnetto, CEO and President of Argentina,s largest multimedia conglomerate, the Clarin Group, hosted Ambassador Wayne for lunch May 7, an invitation extended months before, but delayed due to Magnetto,s ongoing fight with throat cancer. Magnetto brought with him the two men most often named to succeed him: Vice President Jose Aranda and Director of External Relations Jorge Rendo. Also present were Ricardo Kirschbaum, Editor-in-Chief of the powerful group,s flagship, the daily newspaper Clarin, and leading political columnist, Eduardo Van der Kooy. Ambassador Wayne was accompanied by the DCM, PAO, IO and the Senior FSN Press Specialist. 3. (SBU) The over-60-year-old newspaper, Clarin, is the best-selling paper in the country, with a weekly circulation of 400,000, which swells to 700,000 on Sundays. Two decades ago, the Clarin Group began diversifying its business both within and outside the journalism industry, to become a powerhouse. It owns shares in the two largest provincial papers, La Voz del Interior (Cordoba) and Los Andes (Mendoza), in addition to La Razon, the DyN news agency and Pagina 12. It has printing companies and a controlling share (in conjunction with rival La Nacion and in partnership with the government) in the country,s main newsprint firm, Papel Prensa. It owns three radio stations, including award-winning Radio Mitre. Clarin also wields important influence in television, with ownership of open-air Channel 13 and the creation in 1994 of Argentina,s first 24-hour cable news channel, Todo Noticias. Moreover, it owns the country,s two largest cable distribution companies: Multicanal and Cablevision, although the latter awaits final approval from the government committee responsible for defending competition. It has internet holdings and maintains a charitable arm, the Noble Foundation. 4. (SBU) The Clarin Group employs 7800 people. Figures on its estimated worth are not available publicly, though one executive ventures that it is worth three to four billion dollars. Ernestina de Noble, widow of founder Roberto Noble, and three other shareholders own 82% of the conglomerate and Goldman Sachs owns 18%. South African media giant Naspers is reported to be considering whether to acquire the Goldman Sachs stake. 5. (SBU) Clarin has political agenda-setting powers and is often described as having the ability to bring down governments. This is true to the degree that Clarin closely follows the tide of public opinion, which it continuously measures through polling firms. It is said that the thing Kirchner fears most and checks first each morning is Clarin,s front page. For example, it was only after Clarin started running front page stories on the Skanska corruption scandal - four months after it had been appearing in other papers - that Kirchner spoke in public about the case. CLARIN NO LONGER DANCES TO KIRCHNER,S TUNE ------------------------------------------ 6. (C) Magnetto,s ability to communicate is severely hampered by the surgeries on his throat, which cause him to speak with the use of a special voice box. Otherise, he appeared tan and in good form, fully at the helm of the Clarin Group. He and his team expressed to Ambassador Wayne their frustration with the government,s refusal to engage in political dialogue, as demonstrated by the unrest in Kirchner,s home province, Santa Cruz, where teachers have been striking. They also complained about the inability to get an interview with Kirchner, who is famous for harassing journalists and not giving press conferences. On the economy, several complaints were made about price and export control policies, the manipulation of inflation data and inattention to long-term economic planning. The executives were baffled by a complete absence of measures that could increase and/or attract foreign and domestic investment. The views expressed indicated that despite its often left-leaning, populist content, Clarin represents Argentina,s industrial elite and its bottom line is business. 7. (C) Growing business gripes may explain in part Clarin,s recent decision to aggressively cover the Skanska corruption scandal, which it had downplayed for months. For several years prior, the company had refrained from such anti-government coverage because it was beholden to Kirchner for saving it from a post-crisis bankruptcy threat from foreign creditors, and also because the public was desperate for political stability. However, a series of political setbacks in several provinces, along with Clarin,s recovery to financial health, have now ended Kirchner,s grace period with the Clarin Group. CRITICAL OF CHAVEZ ------------------ 8. (C) Magnetto raised the question of Venezuelan President Chavez and asked if the ongoing U.S. business relationship limited the extent of U.S. concerns, reflecting Clarin,s official line that Chavez was not a real threat. In a separate conversation, a deputy to Kirschbaum told us that the paper is firmly opposed to Chavez, despite the wide range of opinions it prints. Further to this notion, a television journalist told us that there were explicit and firm instructions to downplay coverage of Chavez,s stadium appearance while President Bush was in Uruguay. The Ambassador explained that the U.S. was concerned about Chavez,s anti-democratic policies, his concentration of power and his destruction of institutions and press freedoms, but that he posed more of a threat to democracy in other countries of the region than the U.S. AMBASSADOR,S LOBBYING DELAYED DECISION ON DIGITAL TV --------------------------------------------- ------- 9. (SBU) Rendo confirmed that Ambassador Wayne,s actions to lobby for the U.S. standard for digital television had stopped the government from going through with a decision it had already made to opt for the European standard. Kirchner,s ties with Spain were cited as the driver of this preference. Internal disagreement, however, coupled with Ambassador Wayne,s strong public show in support of the U.S standard, prompted the government to postpone its decision, which will not likely be made before presidential elections in October 2007. Rendo observed that the Japanese have taken advantage of the opportunity to aggressively position themselves for more serious consideration. Rendo confirmed positive results from the trip organized by the Embassy Commercial Office with the ATSC Forum for key decision makers to attend the National Association of Broadcasters Expo and Convention in Las Vegas. The Argentines who attended returned impressed with the U.S. standard and admitted they had underestimated its benefits and capabilities. All agreed that it would be useful for U.S. ATSC partner, South Korea, to now engage the Argentines more energetically. THE EMBASSY-CLARIN RELATIONSHIP 10. (C) Like President Kirchner, Clarin,s front page is one of the first things the U.S. Embassy looks at each morning. Depending on how an issue is portrayed, a Clarin headline can trigger negative reactions. For example, when a routine GSP review was portrayed by Clarin as economic sanction against Argentina, President Kirchner lashed out against the U.S in public. On a separate occasion, Clarin published the Embassy,s letter to the editor in response to an article that reported false information about Ambassador Wayne. 11. (C) While the Embassy and Clarin can have a prickly relationship because the paper is not always managed in as responsible a fashion as we would like, we do have a strong working relationship. We communicate up and down the line of management, engaging in daily conversation with Clarin editors and reporters on the bilateral relationship and routinely including them in training programs in the U.S. Aside from placing our op-eds, Clarin appreciates that we actively support their journalists, professional development. 12. (SBU) The Ambassador asked about anti-American sentiment in Argentina, to which Magnetto responded that prevailing political views derived from two factors: 1) that the U.S is closely associated with the policies of discredited former President Menem; and 2) the conflict in Iraq. Magnetto appreciated that on the contrary, Embassy staff are received hospitably and warmly by Argentines on a personal basis. Accordingly, the Ambassador explained Embassy efforts to enhance its outreach to youth and marginalized populations. As a result, we are exploring possible areas of cooperation in education with the Noble Foundation. COMMENT ------- 13. (C) Hector Magnetto and his team left the clear impression that Clarin is no longer satisfied with the current administration,s management of the country. The Clarin powerhouse is on the same side as the Embassy in promoting a government decision in favor of the U.S. HDTV standard, ATSC, and good business is likely to be the basis of our dialogue in the future. END COMMENT. WAYNETony Fernandes, speaking on behalf of the QPR Shareholders, has today issued the following statement in relation to the club’s latest statutory accounts.
‘When we took ownership of QPR in August 2011, our initial objective was to secure Premier League stability and to establish the club in the top flight.
While we worked hard to achieve this, we were always mindful that relegation was a possibility, just as it is for the majority of clubs competing in the top division of English football.
While relegation was not part of our strategy, it was something we were prepared for.
Every great endeavour needs support in the short term. Every business requires capital to get off the ground. When we bought this club there were no assets. We had to build from the ground up.
Now we have great assets and we are in a position where we can use this asset base to develop our squad, without the need to invest new capital.
Relegation wasn't part of the plan and it has cost us financially and emotionally, but I and my fellow Shareholders are fighters. We are committed and here for the long term.
With regards to the debt it is important to understand that this is through shareholder loans.
The debt in the club is owed TO the Shareholders BY the Shareholders.
We are all fully committed to QPR in the short, medium and long term and are 100 per-cent focused on delivering our vision for the club.
Promotion back to the Premier League is a major challenge, but one we are committed to.
Achieving promotion this season is not critical to our long-term strategy, but it remains our short term goal.
If we fail in our bid for promotion, the support is there and there is no need for any more advances to build a squad.
We are now in a position where we can work with what we have, and raise capital to invest in the squad by selling players who are not part of the manager’s plans.
We would like to reassure the QPR supporters that our commitment is unwavering and we remain passionate about our club.’Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
After the protests and riots that led to the cancellation of the Milo Yiannopoulos talk Feb. 1, tensions between the two ends of the political spectrum have reached an all-time high on campus. Angry liberals and conservatives alike have posted furious rants on Facebook, Tomi Lahren accused UC Berkeley students of being a “militant herd of triggered crybabies,” several passionate op-eds supporting violence have appeared in The Daily Californian and President Donald Trump threatened to pull federal funding from UC Berkeley on his infamous Twitter account, among other things.
In response to this partisan fury, a student group called BridgeCal took on the courageous task of easing tensions by creating a space where all voices are welcomed. Earlier this month, the club hosted an open discussion between liberals and conservatives centered around the Milo Yiannopoulos protests, and more generally, the role of hate speech and the line between protected and unprotected speech. To better understand the organization’s goals, future plans and role on campus, I sat down with BridgeCal President Pranav Jandhyala.
The Daily Californian: What is BridgeCal’s mission in a few sentences?
BridgeCal President Pranav Jandhyala: Basically, our mission is to fix the political divide around our campus, and hopefully we can expand to focusing on our country as a whole. We want to do that by engaging different sides of an issue in respectful discourse and debate. The political divide quickens and increases when you don’t have people talking to each other.
When we distance ourselves, only read news that we agree with and only talk to people we agree with, our views get cemented and there’s never really any challenge. So, in the long term, having people that you disagree with talking to you about different issues and challenging your own beliefs in dialogue like that — that’s what fixes the political divide.
DC: How are you hoping to achieve this goal on the UC Berkeley campus specifically?
PJ: So Berkeley has a very, very large liberal majority, but there are a lot of people I’ve talked to, like the Berkeley College Republicans, who have some influence on campus as well — an influence that’s actually pretty underestimated. A lot of people on our campus actually are very conservative and hold conservative beliefs, like BCR and the Cal (Libertarians), as well as (a) Republican senator in the ASUC.
There are (also) many people who are very moderate who don’t really speak out — people, for example, who hold the belief that Milo (Yiannopoulos) should’ve been able to speak and free speech should be protected, but they wouldn’t really consider themselves conservative or Republican. They’re not in BCR but they’re still very moderate, and their voices aren’t really being heard because they don’t have a platform for that yet. Because you’re either (Cal Berkeley Democrats) and CALPIRG or BCR, you know, the far left and far right clubs. But there’re a lot of people (in the middle).
So I think that at Berkeley specifically, by engaging the people in the middle in dialogue as well, we can essentially have those voices represented, have our campus represented as a (well-rounded) political entity, and I think fostering discourse between all sides and not just the far right and far left is important.
DC: What inspired you, personally, to take on this leadership role in BridgeCal?
PJ: After the Milo (Yiannopoulos) event and the election, I saw that our campus was so divided. There’s a lot of tension in many different places. People were like “I can’t even imagine how anyone could vote for Trump, like it’s just crazy to me.” And that just symbolizes the need for talking to the other side, understanding their beliefs and why they believe them if we ever want to change people’s minds in the future. Conservatives were also saying things like, “I can’t even imagine how people can begin to like someone like Hillary Clinton.” So, you know, it’s on both sides, people just not really understanding the other side.
Social media has played into that (too), creating echo chambers where people just talk and talk and their own beliefs come back to them but then they really don’t have the space for their own views to be challenged. And I think that’s actually the cause of what we saw in the election, ‘cause a lot of people voted for Trump simply because of this PC culture backlash. So, I just think that the impetus for starting the club was, I really think that for a nation to exist despite its political differences, for us to exists as Democratic or Republican, the only way forward is through this type of discourse.
So that’s what made me realize the importance of what this thing was. I’m very passionate about the mission so I really wanted to take on the leadership role and after the Milo (Yiannopoulos) event, we saw the same need for this kind of club.
DC: Just to clarify, did you found the club?
PJ: It was essentially me and Alexandra Tran at first who founded the organization. She couldn’t take on the role of president. We voted, once we had a large enough team, that I should become president. That’s how I essentially took on that role. I think I took on the role as well through my actions of creating the team and my actions of forming this specific vision on our campus. And after the Milo (Yiannopoulos) event, it was actually interesting, we made our Facebook page, we made our event, all of that stuff. So, really, a lot of things happened in the week after the Milo event when we got everything together. It’s been like several months in terms of planning so far, and after the Milo (Yiannopoulos) event, we just kicked into high gear.
DC: Walk me through your process for planning the discussion that occurred last week in terms of recruitment, advertising and deciding who specifically to invite to frame the discussion.
PJ: So we knew that we had to get people from both sides. First, we reached out to BCR, then we reached out to CalDems. What we did was invite our friends specifically to the event, after we created it, and after we made the Facebook page and tried to advertise it. So it was social media promotion. Basically we just kept getting people to share the event, like our Facebook page and share updates.
And then we also tabled on Sproul, so we basically gave out flyers for the event. Definitely after the Milo (Yiannopoulos) event, a lot of people were really interested in a discussion about free speech and we held the only event that was open to everyone. We had the biggest turnout, I think, out of all the people who tried to organize similar things, so I’m really happy with that. So I guess it was just mostly promotion through social media and tabling on Sproul to get the word out there.
When coming up with the presentation, I guess that was the trickiest part — just how exactly we were going to frame the questions, how we were going to keep the discussion going and how we were going to moderate it. We didn’t know how many people were going to show up, it could’ve been anywhere from 30 to 300. And we didn’t have a big enough room of course, so we were kind of freaking out about that.
At one point we were thinking about getting a UCPD officer there just in case some shit might’ve gone down. But we were really happy about the way it went — the discussion was respectful and it wasn’t confrontational at all and we’re really happy with that.
DC: What were some points that stood out to you during the discussion?
PJ: I think some points that stood out to me were … well, I think it was very balanced in terms of getting liberal and conservative voices out. I remember at one point there was a dialogue between an African-American woman and a student at Cal. She was talking about where she’s coming from based on her individual life and different experiences she’s gone through, and it kind of framed the discussion. … It got a lot of the conservatives in the audience to realize, “This is where they’re coming from, this is more understandable.” BridgeCal is about those kinds of experiences, that kind of dialogue — when someone shares where they’re coming from and people understand where they’re coming from, I think that’s what’s key and we need to have more of those moments going forward.
DC: After going through the planning process, what do you think worked and what do you think didn’t work?
PJ: I think that what really worked was our questions. And the way we moderated it really worked in terms of keeping the discussion going. A lot of the time, the discussion wasn’t centered around the questions and I guess that aspect was really something we should improve on — having the discussion directly relate to the questions.
But I really thought we did a good job of keeping the discussion respectful and keeping the discussion in a place where people listened and then talked. We really tried to set up those norms and I think we did a good job. In the future, though, I think (we want to get) more people from both sides — I hope we will get more far left people, people who supported the violence. I think it’d be really interesting to engage those people in conversation with the far right BCR members who were there.
DC: What’s next for the club?
PJ: What’s really next for the club is organizing bigger discussions and debates. I guess the next big step we would take is inviting bigger-name speakers, so getting people who are experts in their fields in different topics. We’re gonna reach out to more faculty in upcoming weeks, and we’ve already started, but we’re gonna have a larger faculty base. And we’re going to promote in classrooms as well. But (having) faculty come out to our discussions and debates to contribute and provide to the discussions — I think that’s important.
We’re gonna start planning our bigger events really soon with bigger-name speakers and they’re gonna engage in debate and we’re gonna have a forum section afterwards (with) a discussion, too.
We have our discussions like we did last week and we’re going to keep having those. We’re going to also have larger events where there are going to be speakers debating in the beginning and then it turning into a discussion.
So I guess that’s what’s next. We’re going to expand our team very soon in the next week. We’re just in an expansion mode right now.
DC: What are some key takeaways you think members will gain from BridgeCal in the long run, like, after a few years?
PJ: After a few years I see it turning into the primary political organization on campus because it will have people from different organizations — like it will have members from the ASUC, CalDems, BCR and Cal Libertarians. It’ll have kind of a leadership board that’s made up of people from different clubs, working collaboratively rather than (in separate environments) where their views are spoken in isolation and really never challenged.
It’s going to become something that’s symbolically more collaborative on campus. We will work together to put on events like debates and people (will) work together to create a space where all views are welcomed but also rigorously challenged. That’s how I see it in the future and in the long run. I think I see this organization as more of a movement than an organization because different people are joining and helping in different ways. We have someone from the CalDems meeting with us tomorrow, talking about how we can combine our efforts to create this kind of thing.
And it’s not organization-specific. BridgeCal is, I’m hoping, going to lead this movement. But I think this is going to transform into a movement of free discourse (in which) you have this kind of space on campus and in our nation essentially. And I hope that we can just be the starting point, and that the same thing we’re doing is going to spread across the nation in different atmospheres like high school campuses, college campuses, different things like that.
Contact Erika Siao at [email protected].President Trump and Hillary Clinton. (Photo11: Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — More than a year after his upset election win, President Trump is still attacking Hillary Clinton.
"Crooked Hillary Clinton is the worst (and biggest) loser of all time," Trump tweeted early Saturday. "She just can’t stop, which is so good for the Republican Party."
Crooked Hillary Clinton is the worst (and biggest) loser of all time. She just can’t stop, which is so good for the Republican Party. Hillary, get on with your life and give it another try in three years! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2017
All but daring Clinton to again seek the presidency in 2020, Trump added: "Hillary, get on with your life and give it another try in three years!"
Trump did not indicate what set him off, but Clinton recently challenged the legitimacy of his election in 2016 because of evidence of Russian interference in the campaign via hacked emails and "fake news."
Russian meddling "was one of the major contributors to the outcome," Clinton told Mother Jones magazine in an interview, saying the Russians used “weaponized false information" in a "very successful disinformation campaign” that “wasn’t just influencing voters — it was determining the outcome.”
Clinton won the popular vote in last year's election, but Trump prevailed in the Electoral College thanks to narrow victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2AS4FuKCTVNews.ca Staff
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, Blue Rodeo bandmates Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, and retired International Space Station commander Chris Hadfield are among the 45 people named to the Order of Canada in Ottawa on Wednesday.
Gov. Gen. David Johnston presided over the ceremony at Rideau Hall. In total, 12 people were invested as officers of the Order of Canada, while 33 were invested as members.
The Meritorious Service Cross was presented posthumously to businessman and philanthropist Joseph Rotman. The decoration was given to his wife, Sandra Rotman.
At the ceremony, Johnston said told the appointees that each of them has helped to “create stronger communities, a better country and a better world.”
“This honour recognizes a lifetime of achievement, but your work is by no means over,” Johnston said in a speech that was posted to his website. “You have many more stories to tell and new frontiers to explore.”
The Order of Canada was created in 1967, during Canada’s centennial year.
The full list of Order of Canada appointees:
Meritorious Service Cross (Civil Division)
Joseph Rotman
Officers:
Mark Carney
Harvey Max Chochinov
James Gordon Cuddy
Judson Graham Day
Gerald Hunter Finley
Catherine Frazee
Col. Chris Austin Hadfield
James Gregory Keelor
Mark Lautens
Wendy Levinson
The Honourable Allen Linden
James Rodger Miller
Members:The Florida House voted 82-37 to approve a bill that allows members of the clergy to refuse to perform gay marriages.
The passage came after more than an hour of passionate debate. Opponents questioned why the bill (HB 43) was needed, with some calling it an insult to the state’s gay community.
“This bill is about discriminating in the name of religion, sadly,” said Rep. David Richardson, a Miami Beach Democrat and the only openly gay member of the Florida House. “It is an insult to the gay community.”
Rep. Scott Plakon, the Longwood Republican sponsoring the measure, said the measure offers protections to “pastors … that have concerns” about gay marriage. The proposal protects clergy, churches and religious organizations and their employees from civil action for refusing to perform gay marriages.
“This is an important issue,” said Rep. John Wood, a Winter Haven Republican. “We just want to make sure with this bill that no one’s religious beliefs are going to be violated by refusing to officiate at a civil ceremony. We respect the Supreme Court, but we also respect our citizens’ rights to exercise (their First Amendment rights). This is in the tradition of our Legislature.”
Plakon had said he began drafting the bill before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage. He has said much of the bill comes from a similar Texas law.
Many ministers from older, mainline religious organizations opposed the bill; while smaller evangelical groups came out in support of it.
On Wednesday, many House Republicans opposed the measure. Rep. Janet Cruz, a Tampa Democrat, said she was outraged her colleagues were pushing the measure.
“I want to talk to you about my conviction, my conviction as a mother, my conviction as a mother of a gay woman,” said Cruz. “I have to speak up to defend my daughter and defend other gay men and women who worry about discrimination around every corner. Consider what you’re doing when you press that button, consider the love of a mother.”
Plakon said he worked with officials from Equality Florida to clarify who is covered by the bill. While Equality Florida said it does not support the overall measure, it has withdrawn its opposition and is taking a neutral position.
A similar bill is awaiting a hearing in the full Senate.Australia is home to one of the world's rarest meteorological phenomena, which most people have never heard of.
Known as morning glory clouds, these long bands of cigar-shaped formations can stretch up to 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) in length.
And they can only be seen reliably in one place in the world - Australia's Gulf Country township around the Gulf of Carpentaria in northwestern Queensland, each Southern Hemisphere spring (from September to November).
They look like some kind of alien wormhole, but they're definitely a natural phenomenon - although exactly how they form is still unclear.
"What causes these long, strange clouds?" NASA wrote on its APOD site in 2009. "No one is sure."
What we do know so far is the weather conditions that precede them. The iconic roll shape of the cloud is caused by a drop in temperature, a spike in pressure and strong sea breezes.
Because of these conditions, air at the front edge of the cloud is moving up rapidly, while the air at the back is dropping, rolling the cloud into a neat little cylinder.
It's been reported that up to 10 of these clouds can appear across the sky at one time, up to 2 kilometres off the ground.
(Zeppelie/iStock)
"Long, horizontal, circulating tubes of air might form when flowing, moist, cooling air encounters an inversion layer, an atmospheric layer where air temperature atypically increases with height," wrote NASA.
"These tubes and surrounding air could cause dangerous turbulence for airplanes when clear."
The morning glory clouds can travel at an incredible speed of 10 to 20 metres per second - that's around 60 kilometres per hour or 37 miles per hour - with new cloud continuously being formed at the leading edge while being eroded from behind.
While scientists still don't fully understand the weather conditions that lead to the clouds, they're associated with humidity in the area and strong sea breezes across the Gulf of Carpenteria, which are the conditions that occur here each spring between late September and early November.
Around the same time, hundreds of hang gliders from around the world flock to the area in the hopes of "surfing" for hundreds of kilometres along the thermals in front of the clouds.
A version of this story was first published in October 2014.There is an interesting headline moving through Muslim community listservs: “Did an Islamic cleric really ban women from touching bananas and cucumbers?”
This past week, an email pinged around the world, claiming that a Muslim cleric “residing in Europe” issued a, well, interesting fatwa, or religious ruling, banning Muslim women from touching bananas or cucumbers: “He said that these fruits and vegetables ‘resemble the male penis’ and hence could arouse women or ‘make them think of sex,’” according to a report in a supposed Egyptian website, BikyaMasr. The Times of India ran the story: “Islamic cleric bans women from touching bananas.”
“If women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve,” the cleric supposedly dictated.
It’s hard to confirm that the fatwa is true, but the fact that we, in the Muslim community, would even think it’s possible is a reflection of just how inane the phenomenon of fatwas has become in the Muslim community. The idea of the fatwa became notorious when an Iranian cleric called for the killing of author Salman Rushdie when he published the novel The Satanic Verses, about an erased portion in the Koran supposedly inspired by the Devil.
The fatwas used to carry the authority of divine ordination. But the years since have revealed that, indeed, there is nothing to fear—or revere—about the fatwa. In fact, nowadays, you can get a fatwa to validate any point you want to make. I call it “fatwa shopping.”
One American-Muslim blogger, Sheila Musaji, concluded the fatwa was “only shoddy reporting,” but admitted there have been enough “stupid fatwas” to “make anything easy to believe.” Another blogger tried to chase down the truth, writing: “That’s some pretty |
Company, property later taken over by the federal government when the company shut down.
"The strips of land were never transferred out of the federal inventory," Shaw said, which means homeowners don't have clear title to the strips.
In subsequent decades, many people built swimming pools, garages and other buildings that encroached on the honey lane. They thought it didn't matter because the outhouses, along with the honey man, were long gone and no one needed that access to their property.
They were wrong.
As a result, the federal government has initiated a program to dispose of surplus lands to residential property owners. To do that, a series of open houses will be held next week in the Table Head, Caledonia and No. 11 areas of Glace Bay. There was also one this week in Donkin.
Migrate the property
Shaw said each homeowner will have the opportunity to see a map that shows what part of the property is affected and eventually a resolution will be found to transfer that piece of land to them.
"We'll do the surveying, we'll migrate that property. We will look to transfer the property at no cost to the homeowner," he said.
After that, because the land will then be registered, the owner is legally able to sell it.
Shaw estimated it will take between three to five years to complete the entire process.
But that doesn't mean it will be over, he said. The process will start anew with a fresh round of meetings with people who live along former honey lanes in Sydney Mines and New Waterford, where the situation is exactly the same.The short, squat man in the Dallas Cowboys windbreaker staggers out from the arcade, propping himself against the wall. Between that and the sweat beading his body, I know he’s left me a surprise in one of the booths: My first dirty needle. A minor panic fills my body. I hope he hasn’t buried it underneath a pile of semen-encrusted paper towels. No job is worth hepatitis. Especially not a job monitoring glory holes at a cruising spot across the street from a middle school in Portland, Ore.
No matter how much you think you know about the varied and nuanced spectrum of human sexuality, you realize you don’t know squat until you work in a porn store with a vibrant and active arcade. People don’t come here to buy porn. Our customers -- over 90 percent same-sex-attracted men -- come here to meet up for casual, semi-public sex. The arcade is a dark, damp area with about 15 small, squarish booths with video screens, chairs, trash cans and, of course, paper towels. The defining feature, however, is the holes between the booths, called glory holes. They aren’t jury-rigged glory holes common in arcades. They are professional, finished pieces of custom carpentry. The booth has three hard-and-fast rules: No drugs (except the amyl nitrate and nitrous oxide we sell at the counter), no turning tricks, and always feed the meter if you want to stay in the booth.
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I don rubber gloves, bravely grab my pickup stick and swallow the remainder of my coffee. It’s not even midnight yet. I remember the advice of my former roommate who -- once and again -- occupied the same stool I stood up from.
“Do you know how to get rid of dirty needles?”
“No.”
“Put them in a coffee cup or something. That way no one will stick themselves.”
At the time I laughed knowingly, hoping he was joking. I’ve never seen a dirty needle before, though I have worked in places where the bathroom was the local shooting gallery. Now, after six months on the job, I'm wondering how much longer I can stand it.
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My last job was in an air-conditioned office in a business park in Woburn, Mass., as a draftsman designing laboratories. It was like being a kitchen designer but even more boring. Every day I went into work I contemplated suicide. Was this to be the rest of my life? I finally got fired, the combination of poor job performance, a ruined economy and good old-fashioned New England insularity. Why not move to one of the most economically depressed cities in America during the nadir of a recession? And so, I landed at Portland’s charming cruise central after six months on funemployment.
I took the job at a particularly low point in my life. Me and my girl had a nasty breakup after months of me not just falling, but running headlong into the depths of depression and self-destruction. When she left, I broke through the wall. The creeping emptiness I had felt most of my life became a full-blown Nietzschean void. Years of stuffing my feelings into a deep, dark hole finally crushed most of my ability to have feelings at all. The first time I walked in on one guy blowing another through a hole in the wall I felt... nothing. Big-screen, high-definition televisions displayed impossibly large breasts and bareback bear porn on four walls around me, 10 hours every day. None of it made me feel any way or another.
I wasn’t just numb at work. I would drive around, high as a kite in Portland’s suburbs, driving inappropriately fast and blasting Black Flag’s "Loose Nut." After work, I’d sleep for three or four hours and begin my daily regimen of top-shelf weed, gas station coffee and Miller High Life again. I felt nothing, but I still wanted to feel less.
I became so benumbed that it would have scared me, had I still been capable of such self-concern.
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Our customers fall, almost universally, into one of four categories: First, the “gay dads.” These guys present more as construction workers than interior designers, and I don’t mean the one from the Village People. I mean my actual father, a retired ironworker from Boston who makes a ponytail look positively butch. Next come the “100-yard boys.” If you can’t tell these guys are gay from a football field away you’re blind, clueless or lying to yourself. Third, we have tomboyish lesbians who come in to raid our “twink” section, porn featuring hairless, younger looking men, often depicted as victims of sexual violence or, alternately, “discovering their sexuality.” Finally, there’s a mixture of young gay hipsters, primarily genetic males, but also a healthy crop of transgender men (that’s female to male for the uninitiated). The hipsters, no matter what their gender history, long for the days of pre-HIV/AIDS homo culture, dressing like extras from Al Pacino’s laughably bad "Cruising."
Most of my customers are friendly, though not to the point of awkwardness. I can count on one hand the number of men who’ve made a pass at me. The gay dads keep mostly to themselves, but sometimes talk to me about the job or their kids from a previous life. The 100-yard boys hotfoot it back to the booths after giving me the once-over twice. The lesbians and gay hipsters are more in my demographic and usually take a second to chat with me about Morrissey, Tom of Finland comics and Bay Rum aftershave. I joke that most trips here start with the words “Honey, I’m heading to Home Depot,” but in all my time here I’ve never heard a wife mentioned, seen a wedding ring or noticed any evidence that these men are anything but what we in the biz call “strictly dickly.” The gay dads might have “looked straight,” but I have never so much as seen the imprint of a wedding band.
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When I get back to the arcade, I walk through a line of men coming out the door of a heavily occupied booth. Two of our regulars are playing host in a booth on the arcade’s main drag, a hetero couple in their 30s. She boasts cartoonishly large fake tits and he likes watching her blow strange guys. Someone wrote her name and phone number on the wall of a large booth in the corner. Tonight they invite me to the party. I politely decline, feeling neither excitement nor flattery nor repulsion.
I hunt around the arcade, eyes peeled for a dirty needle. Sure enough, in the furthest corner booth, the one most likely to contain a trash can full of urine at the end of the night, a syringe lies in several micro-puddles of mixed bodily fluid of indeterminate origin. Leaving it in the middle of the floor is actually a kindness -- I won’t have to hunt around in the can for it and possibly stick myself. I use my pickup stick to get it off the floor, hold it an inch or so from my face, examining it closely, all my previous anxiety disappearing. I throw the needle into a coffee cup and bound past the line of men, incapable of distinguishing which moaning and slurping is coming from the ubiquitous televisions and what’s coming from the “activity” in the booth.
Despite my willingness to get up close and personal with the needle in the booth, I walk to the Dumpster with the trash bag between two fingers, at arm's length. Dropping the bag to the ground, I pulled out the key to the Dumpster’s padlock. I’m not sure if we locked the Dumpsters because the boss doesn’t want to pay to have the neighbors’ trash thrown away or because it’s anyone’s guess what people will throw away there. I pull the heavy plastic door of the Dumpster back, trying to balance it on the wall. Because of the placement, this is hard to do, requiring no small amount of effort. After I finally get the door to lean against the grimy brick exterior and lean over to pick up the bag, the door slams shut, making me jump about 6 feet in the air. Across the street, three cruisers have lights going with the junkie up against a steel fence, hands on his head.
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After successfully getting the bag into the Dumpster, I feel shivery, like I saw a cockroach in the kitchen and now everything looks like roaches. My brain flashes a million possible doomsday scenarios whereby I pricked myself with an HIV-infected needle and didn’t notice. Every little cut and nick on my body becomes a reason for anxiety. I try not to think about the guy at the bathhouse across town who got an antibiotic-resistant staph infection or the possible risks of emptying bags filled with semen, blood, urine and the “frothy mix” known as Santorum. (Thanks, Dan Savage, for giving me a word for what I mopped up every day.)
My “moment of clarity” doesn’t hit me like a ton of bricks or any other such cliché. My first feeling isn’t something about love or optimism. I felt rage at the economy that forced me here and the demeaning nature of the job, but most of all at myself. It isn’t just the porn store, it was what I let my life become. Walking back into the store, I hear the familiar chime of someone entering. It’s one of our regulars, one of my favorites, a clean-cut man with a high-paying professional job downtown. We have the same barber, but not much else in common. He smiles and we chat before I hand him two fives, 10 singles, a bottle of poppers and some loose change. He lurks around for a bit, checking out the porn in the lobby before nodding a farewell and heading off to the booths to continue lurking. I sit down and start looking for ways to make money that don’t involve picking up people’s masturbatory trash.
The next day I trip over the writer’s wet dream and worst nightmare, the content farm. After some quick math, I figure that five pages of “How to Ride a Bicycle in Ankara” and “Grinding Coffee Beans for Small Business Owners” would pay as much as a day at the booths. It doesn’t take much to convince me to quit. Stepping high, I walk into my boss’s office, dropping my resignation letter on his desk. I spend my last two weeks nearly dancing around the booths, picking up the same sperm-crusted rags with aplomb, rather than dismay. I greet customers with a wide smile, telling them about my plans to leave the porn store and my new life writing, even if it was for slave wages. Much to my surprise, I still had a soul to save.Canada's economy had its best month for job creation in more than a decade last month, adding 95,000 new jobs, according to Statistics Canada.
A consensus of economists had been expecting Canada to create only about 15,000 jobs during the month.
The gain reported Friday was more than three times as much as the most optimistic expectation among closely watched economists.
"All of the employment gains in May were among private-sector employees, offsetting losses over the previous two months for this group," the data agency said.
The large gain pushed unemployment down a tenth of a percentage point to 7.1 per cent. The strong showing was one of the best headline numbers on record. The last time more jobs were created in any given month was August 2002, when the economy cranked out 95,100 new positions.
Although he cautioned that the monthly data can often vary wildly from month to month, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said "May job’s numbers are a good sign that our economic policies are helping steer the economy in the right direction.
"Even better, the jobs created in May were mainly full time and in the private sector – the types of jobs that will help support a sustained recovery," Flaherty said.
Others reacted even more positively to the strong showing.
"Canada's job gain … is simply stunning on the headline and most of the details," Scotiabank economists Derek Holt and Dov Ziegler said in a note. "It is equivalent to the U.S. adding over one million jobs in a single month."
The two were especially heartened by an uptick in the number of jobs for young people. There were 54,000 more people between ages of 15 and 24 with jobs last month.
Ziegler and Holt added in their note: "We don’t yet have colour on why the May hiring market was so much stronger than normal for youths, but we’ll take it. 'Europe, send your youth to Canada' may be the underlying message!"
Others were more cautious. As BMO economist Doug Porter noted, "Before racing to conclusions that the economy is suddenly on a tear, note that the spectacular monthly gain simply offsets a prolonged period of softness in Canadian jobs to start the year."
Indeed, a deeper look into the numbers shows the gain was not entirely broad-based.
Construction industry leads gains
By sector, the construction industry added 42,700 new jobs during the month — almost half of the total.
Regionally, Ontario, Quebec and Alberta accounted for almost all of the gains, as four of the other seven provinces reported job losses last month. Every province from Manitoba eastward saw its jobless rate drop, while the three western provinces reported somewhat higher jobless rates.
"No question this is a staggering report, which puts a much healthier glow on the outlook for Canadian growth," Porter said. "[But] even with the big move, the three-month trend is actually a bit below average for job growth."
"Shiny, sparkly headline, dull, dreary trend," Porter noted.Radio host Anthony Cumia, a mainstay of “Opie and Anthony” before his 2014 firing and subsequent return as host of the subscription Web series “The Anthony Cumia Show,” announced he is leaving the program for a month to undergo some form of rehab.
The Long Island native told guest Ron Bennington on Wednesday’s show, “I’m going to be away for about a month,” according to a transcript at the comedy-industry website TheInterrobang.com. “I will not see the month of April here,” Cumia added, later specifying that, “Saturday, I am taking a plane out of here, let’s just say. Out of New York, and going somewhere where I will spend a month... relaxing... learning... umm... rehabilitating perhaps is a word that could be used.”
He went on to say, “I don’t even know what I’m going into. I don’t know what the rules are, I don’t know what it’s going to be. It’s like a big mystery-adventure-type thing. But I guess after this whole thing is said and done with, I might have a better understanding as to how I should proceed in the future and perhaps not get myself embroiled in legalities and what not that have plagued me for the wonderful year that is 2016... and a few years prior that led up to it.”
In December, Cumia pleaded not guilty to assaulting his girlfriend Danielle Brand, 26, at his Roslyn Heights home, and was released without bail. She suffered a fractured rib, swollen arm and chest pain, prosecutors said. In July 2014, SiriusXM radio fired him after he tweeted vulgar comments about a black woman he claimed had punched him in Times Square. The satellite-radio company called the statements “abhorrent” and “wholly inconsistent with what SiriusXM represents.”
Guest hosts in the interim begin with comedian Jim Norton on April 4, followed by more than a dozen individuals and teams including Bennington on April 6, Colin Quinn on April 11, Jim Florentine on April 14, Rich Vos and Luis Gomez on April 19 and Joe List and Mark Normand on May 4. April 25-28 is a vacation week.click to enlarge Lynette Gibson McElhaney.
Superior Court Judge Kimberly Colwell issued a tentative ruling last Thursday requiring Oakland City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney to comply with a subpoena for records issued by Oakland's Public Ethics Commission.McElhaney can still object to Colwell's ruling, but Colwell wrote that under the Oakland City Charter the PEC has the authority to compel her to hand over records.McElhaney is accused of using her council office to interfere with a townhouse project that was going to be built next to her personal home. An investigation by the Express last year uncovered emails showing that McElhaney had her chief of staff draft an appeal against the project, and that she enlisted the help of the city's planning and building director to force the developer and his architect to redesign the project. The developer ultimately gave up and blamed McElhaney for interfering.The Alameda County Grand Jury carried out its own investigation over the past summer and confirmed that McElhaney violated ethics rules and had a conflict of interest In October, members of the public attempted to schedule a censure hearing against McElhaney — several times. But McElhaney cancelled two of the Rules Committee meetings at which the censure items were to be discussed. The council president also skipped council meetings. According to McElhaney, she was sick with bronchitis, but during the October 19 council meeting McElhaney was spotted attending a party held in honor of Barbara Lee. Members of the rules and legislation committee ultimately decided to hold off on censure and wait for the PEC to complete its review of the matter.But on October 5, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission filed a lawsuit against McElhaney, alleging that she has ignored subpoenas for records and stonewalled their investigation.Judge Colwell's tentative ruling sides with the PEC. A hearing in the case will be held on today. The ruling gives McElhaney until November 23 to comply with the PEC's subpoena.McElhaney, a first-term councilmember, is running for reelection this year. She recently formed a “legal defense fund” according to records on file with the Oakland clerk.Let’s dispose of this myth once and for all. Every presidential election cycle we hear it: “Well, they said Ronald Reagan could never be elected.”
We’re hearing this chestnut again in the wake of Sen. Ted Cruz’s announcement this week that he’s running for president. Kevin Williamson over at the National Review — while correctly pointing out that you should never say never in politics — argues that the people who say Cruz can’t win should look at the Reagan example before getting too confident in their predictions.
Well, I’m looking, and I’m just not seeing it. Reagan was the favorite heading into the 1980 Republican primary. And no, this isn’t only evident in hindsight, it’s a belief born out of the data that was available in the first half of 1979.
Reagan was cruising in the “endorsement primary.” Endorsements from party bigwigs, as I wrote about Monday, are key in presidential primaries. They act as a seal of approval for voters, and in some cases, endorsers provide the machinery needed to get out the vote. According to data from “The Party Decides,” Reagan had 51 endorsements from party actors through March 1979. This included five senators, 23 House members, two state party chairs and one governor. Weighting for the position of the endorser (i.e., senators count for more than representatives), Reagan had an astounding 90 percent of endorsements by party officials at that point.
Cruz has nowhere near that level of support. He couldn’t even earn the endorsement of his fellow Texas senator, John Cornyn, or fellow tea partyer Sen. Mike Lee. Reagan, who had honed his “common touch” as an actor and TV pitchman, was also a respected two-term governor of California, which at that time was a swing state. He gracefully bowed out of the 1976 Republican convention. In other words, Reagan gave Republican officials a number of reasons to like him. Cruz … hasn’t.
It’s the same story with GOP rank and file. Cruz has about 5 percent of the vote, both nationally and in Iowa and New Hampshire, according to recent polls. That’s good for seventh or eighth place. Polls in early 1979, by contrast, clearly placed Reagan in the top tier of candidates. When surveys included Gerald Ford as an option, Reagan and Ford each garnered around 30 percent support. Without Ford, Reagan was polling in first place with 40 percent.
Pollsters thought so highly of Reagan’s chances in early 1979 that, according to the polling database kept by the Roper Center (paywall), they didn’t even bother testing President Jimmy Carter against any other Republican candidates. Reagan was neck and neck with Carter in general election polls conducted during the first half of 1979. Cruz trails Hillary Clinton by a mile (an average of about 16 percentage points).
Looking at the evidence, Reagan was a very serious contender in early 1979 in a way that Cruz simply isn’t right now. Can Cruz win? Sure, anything is possible. But the best evidence we have suggests it’s very unlikely, and Reagan’s run in 1980 doesn’t say otherwise.The last week or two i have updated and expanded my rules for Witchcraft. As defined, this style of magic comes form the practitioner making deals with supernatural entities, called Tutors, exchanging Personal POWer and possibly other service(s) for spell instruction. As written, the tutors could be any potent supernatural entity: an elemental lord, a dragon, a Beast Lord, or what have you Even a demon. The witch or warlock is not bound in perpetual service to the Tutor, unless they were really badly outclassed in the bargaining.
Burt what if they were bound long term, and/or to a powerful and malevolent force, like a demon, lich or dragon. They would gain magic from their service, but the available magic will probably unpleasant. Which could give rise to stories of evil witches that do terrible things. Especially if the service exacted for tutelage includes such acts.
So here are five spells that are more intrusive, and far less benign, than many of the others in the school.
BEAST MASTERY (Type) – Variable
Range – POW x Yards POW Check – Yes Duration – 1 Round
You can, with a successful POW Contest, hold a particular type of creature (chosen when the spell is learned, or dependent on the source of the tutelage) motionless and powerless, and with further effort of will direct its actions.
At Magnitude 1, you can force the creature to stop where it is for the duration. It may act normally other than to move from its current space.
At Magnitude 2, you can bind its ability to defend itself for the duration. It cannot attack, and cannot take actions to defend itself (Evade, Block, Parry, etc). It must still be struck by an attack normally however.
At Magnitude 3 you can issue the subject a single simple command of up to three words. You need not share a language, your command is magical rather than verbal, and may be silent if you wish. The three words should include a verb and a noun, but you could substitute an action (like Pointing at a target) for the third “word”. The task must be something that can be accomplishable, at which time the command ends (if the duration lasts that long). Open-ended commands (like “Obey Me”) fail automatically.
At Magnitude 4 you can significantly Imprint a single complex task of up to thirteen words into the mind of the beast. As Magnitude 3, it cannot be open-ended in nature, but could be more complex than a normal beast of its type could accomplish uncontrolled. So you could command a panther to track the one who made the tracks you point out and kill the maker of them, for example; or to attack anyone who attack you for the duration of the spell, etc.
You may also substitute the ability to perceive using the beast’s senses and from its locale for one of the Magnitude levels above. Your Range for doing so is the same as the range of the spell itself. You may devote ranks to extend the range and duration of the spell.
WRACK – Variable
Range – POW x Yards POW Check – Yes Duration – 1 Round
You cause terrible psychic pain in the target on a POW vs CON success. Each round that the target is affected, it must make a CON check. If it fails, it cannot act that round. If it succeeds on CON x5%, it can take a single action at -20%. If it Makes CON x 3%, it can take its full turn, at -20%. If it make Con x 1% it can act normally and has thrown off the effects of the spell.
You may devote ranks to extend the range and duration.
PARALYZE LIMB – Variable
Range – POW x Yards POW Check – Yes Duration – 1 Round
With a POW vs CON success you cause a limb to stop functioning for the duration of the spell. Roll hit location (1d4) on the following chart to determine location:
1 - Right Arm
2 - Left Arm
3 - Right Leg
4 - Left Leg
If you touch the limb with your own hand, that limb is affected. In combat or suspicious circumstances, this requires an unarmed attack roll, and the target may evade or block if aware.
You may devote ranks to extend the duration.
TRIPPY – Variable
Range – POW x Yards POW Check – Yes Duration – 1 Round
With a POW vs CON success you implant a strong sense of vertigo in the target. On the round in which you cast the spell, the target falls to the ground. Thereafter, each round of the duration, it must Make CON x 5% or stay on the ground, unable to rise. If it does rise, each round it must still make this roll to remain upright. The fallen target can move along the ground, as though crawling or at ¼ movement, and may attack, defend, cast spells, or whatever else, with a -20% to any attempt. In certain circumstances (Example: standing on a narrow ledge), there might be greater consequence for falling. Similarly, if the target falls out of sight, or into cover, it is affected by, and may even benefit from, such circumstances.
You may devote ranks to extend the duration.
POSSESSION – Variable
Range – Touch POW Check – Yes Duration – 1 Round
With a POW vs POW contest success your project your consciousness into the target.
At Magnitude 1 or 2, your own body falls unconscious and prone, while you are completely consumed in the act of controlling the target. You can use any of the target’s abilities, but skills are limited by the lower of their skill percentage or your Witchcraft skill percentage.
At Magnitude 3, you can take the normal number of actions per turn, split as you wish, between your own body and that of your current host.
At Magnitude 4 and above, you can command your body and that of your host fully, allowing you to do anything either of you could do individually, but as you decide.
You may devote ranks to extend the range and duration.
More to follow! I am enjoying the Witchcraft system quite a bit. Attached is the up to date complete PDF of it, including today's "offerings".Share this
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Email You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. University University of Washington
Smart-home technologies make it possible to track how much energy any given appliance—like the fridge, TV, or hair dryer—is gobbling up. What they don’t typically show is which person in the house actually flicked the switch.
A new wearable technology called MagnifiSense can sense what devices and vehicles the user interacts with throughout the day, which can help track that individual’s carbon footprint, enable smart home applications, or even assist with elder care.
In a paper presented this week at the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing, the MagnifiSense prototype correctly classified 94 percent of users’ interactions with 12 common devices after a quick one-time calibration, including microwaves, blenders, remote controls, electric toothbrushes, laptops, light dimmers, and even cars and buses.
Even without the calibration, MagnifiSense was still correct 83 percent of the time.
The sensor, worn on the wrist, uses unique electromagnetic radiation signatures generated by electrical components or motors in those devices to pinpoint when its wearer flicks a light switch, turns on a stove, or even boards a train.
“It’s another way to log what you’re interacting with so at the end of the day or month you can see how much energy you used,” says Shwetak Patel, professor of computer science and engineering and electrical engineering, who directs the University of Washington Ubicomp Lab.
“Right now, we can know that lights are 20 percent of your energy use. With this, we divvy it up and say who consumed that energy,” says Patel.
A 24-hour test
In a 24-hour test in which a single user did everything from read on a laptop to cook dinner and take a bus ride, the system correctly identified 25 out of 29 interactions with various devices and vehicles.
MagnifiSense also has potential for other smart home applications, such as recognizing a user’s preference for interacting with an appliance or device. By sensing whether an adult or child is turning on a television or tablet, for instance, a system could automatically display their favorite programs or tailor the device with appropriate selections.
In assisted living settings or nursing homes, the wearable sensor could help keep track of how efficiently elderly people are going about everyday tasks such as cooking or grooming. It could also detect when a stove has been left on for a long period of time and help alert someone to that danger.
“The nice thing with MagnifiSense is that you don’t have to instrument every single appliance in your house, which gets expensive and cumbersome,” says lead author Edward Wang, an electrical engineering doctoral student. “It can also sense some of the blank spots that other technologies can’t, like battery-powered devices.”
The ‘song’ of the blender
The team combined three simple, off-the-shelf sensors that use inductors, or coils of wire wound around magnets. Those proved to be the most accurate without being so power-hungry that wearing them would be impractical.
The sensors also capture a broad frequency range that allows the system to differentiate between electromagnetic radiation emanating from the unique combinations of electronic components such as motors, rectifiers, and modulators embedded in everyday devices.
“When a blender turns on, for instance, modulators change the current profile of the device and create something similar to a vocal cord pattern,” Wang says. “A blender ‘sings’ quite differently than a hair dryer even though to our ears they sound similar.”
The team also developed innovative signal processing and machine learning algorithms to help the system correctly match those patterns with a particular type of device.
One advantage to a wearable option is that anyone concerned about privacy issues can control when they use it, researchers say, or simply take it off.
Making it smaller
Next steps include testing MagnifiSense on a wider variety of devices and distinguishing between multiple devices operating in close proximity. In preliminary tests, for instance, MagnifiSense had the most trouble correctly classifying a handful of particular toothbrushes, shavers, and cars.
The researchers also plan to work on miniaturizing their proof-of-concept device into something that could be embedded into a watch or band. Based on its investigation, the team believes that with slight improvement to the update rate of magnetic sensors in current smartphones and smartwatches, MagnifiSense could soon be enabled on new devices with a simple software upgrade.
“We think it could be integrated into any wrist-sized product,” says Patel. “The next steps are really to look at what other devices we can detect and work on a prototype that’s wearable.”
Source: University of WashingtonIntroduction to the Project
There is a Colombia left out, ignored. To meet her, most of the times you need to take some muddy tracks deformed by the hooves of the mules or embarked on a tiny little rowboat and then, travel several hours. This Colombia doesn’t know what are the effects of the growth. It’s still waiting for the next visit of a health brigade or the coming of a schoolteacher. But this Colombia isn’t only poverty and misery. It is also the liveliness, the ingenuity and the passion from those who learned to survive and to construct a world far from anywhere. You can meet it in the course of a vallenato refrain, on the rythms of a cumbia, or when you let yourself drive by the incredible stories of a local ranchera song. This is the other Colombia, out of the cities far away from the decision-making centres, living in the countryside at the pace of the harvest, the rainy period and the moon cycle. It built herself on some strengthening community ties, with reciprocity and solidarity’s strength, looking at the consumer society and its middle class with desire or disgust.
This Colombia experienced mistrust, harshness and violence too. Some people say it was born on April nine, 1948, when Jorge Eliécer Gaitán the popular liberal presidential candidate was murdered in Bogotá. The fights between conservatives and liberals give the first moments of the internal war and lead part of the liberal opposition to find a shelter in the countryside. Then the guerrilla emerged, like the FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – Peoples Army). A first block took shape gradually: the South Bloc in the Caquetá region. Based on a Marxist-Leninist approach, the guerilla set up in the countryside all along its history. Today, the other Colombia is the main stage of the armed conflict, while in the big city the effects of the war on daily life are rarely felt.
The project presented here is constructed around three distinct parts. The first one will present the other Colombia I meet in the Caquetá department. The second one introduces the FARC-EP combatants during unilateral ceasefires declared by the guerrillas. And the third one would document the concrete construction of peace in the territory, from the beginning, with the first public meeting with the guerrilla, to the return to civil life.
It’s an ongoing project and the main purpose is, beyond the unique military feature, using a social and political focus on this six decade internal war and its possible aftermaths. The project intends to photograph the attempt to find peace in these areas, where war was born and imposed itself day after day on the territories, the bodies, and the spirits of the people living there.
The project received a Emergency Fund 2016
from the Magnum Foundation and the Prince Claus Fund
The reportages contain more pictures, please contact me if you need to see more or, well, if you want to support!Once Upon a Time Season 4 Preview: Storybrooke has Frozen Over
By Marianne Paluso (@Marianne_P81)
When we last saw our residents of Storybrooke, peace seemed to be restored to the sleepy little town in Maine. And indeed there was much to be celebrated. The Wicked Witch had been defeated and Snow and Charming were happy to have their new baby boy safe in their arms. After years of separation and struggles, Rumplestiltskin and Belle were married in a private ceremony. Regina seemed to have finally left The Evil Queen behind her and found a new-found sense of love and happiness with Robin Hood. And Emma learned that Hook sacrificed his ship to save her, bring her back to her family, and indeed also did so with the romantic hope of simply seeing her face again. She was so touched that she stopped denying her feelings, allowed her walls to come crumbling down, and opened her heart to him with a loving, passionate kiss. But things are never peaceful for long in Storybrooke and Season 4 promises a lot of excitement and drama.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Rumple is keeping a dark secret from Belle, switching the “Dark One” dagger she believes is in her possession with a fake one, marrying her with that one lie hanging over them. How will Belle react when she learns of this betrayal of trust? Snow and Charming are joyful to be able to raise their son, but how will they handle being parents to a baby for the first time? Emma and Hook are in a happy, love-filled place and will be going on their first official date. But they will need to learn to navigate their new relationship, especially when internal struggles, insecurities, and wounds are so difficult to heal. And Regina’s happiness seemed squashed now that Emma and Hook unknowingly brought Robin’s wife Marian back with them from the past. Will her broken heart lead her back toward a path of darkness? Robin will surely be torn between his wife and the new love in his life. The theme of the first half of Season 4 is to never give up on the ones you love. All of these couples will surely have struggles but I look forward seeing their stories continue to unfold and these characters fight for true love.
One of the things to be most excited for is the introduction of the Frozen universe to the Once Upon a Time family. After their trip to the past, Emma and Hook brought another woman back with them: Elsa, who had been trapped in an urn in Rumplestiltskin’s vault. |
relevant ways is not arbitrary but an entirely fair response. And if the union of a man and a woman is different from other unions, not the same as other unions, then justice demands that we treat that union accordingly.
Advocates for same-sex marriage were quick to brand the church as "out of touch".
Church argues it is 'gravely unjust' to: Legitimise the false assertion that there is nothing distinctive about a man and a woman, a father or a mother
Ignore the particular values that real marriage serves
Ignore the importance for children of having, as far as possible, a mum and a dad, committed to them and to each other for the long haul
Destabilize marriage further at a time when it is already under considerable pressure
Change retrospectively the basis upon which all existing married couples got married Source: Pastoral letter on the same sex-marriage debate
Source: Pastoral letter on the same sex-marriage debate
Australian Marriage Equality national director Rodney Croome said the church had every right to hold its own religious definition of marriage.
"But the Marriage Act is a civil law which does not and should not enshrine the values of any particular religion," he said.
Mr Croome said his group did not wish to force the Church or any other group to do anything it did not want to do.
"The Catholic Church will not be forced to marry same-sex couples and in return I ask it not to force its views on the rest of the community through the Marriage Act," he said.
Mr Croome said most Australians were in support of allowing same-sex marriage in the country and the church hierarchy was "out of touch with it's own flock".
"Polling by national research company Crosby/Textor in August 2014 found that 67 per cent of Australian Catholics support same-sex marriage," he said.
Topics: lgbt, community-and-society, marriage, family-and-children, catholic, religion-and-beliefs, tas
First postedLate last week, the University of Hawaii West O‘ahu (UHWO) notified approximately 40,000 individuals that their personal information may have been compromised, after being tipped off by the Liberty Coalition, a non-profit group based in Washington D.C. The Liberty Coalition is a good group (not hackers or cybercriminals) and has been actively assisting the University and the FBI in their investigation.
According to the University, a faculty member inadvertently uploaded files containing data including names, social security numbers, addresses, birth dates and educational information to an unencrypted faculty web server. This Web server was apparently public and had reportedly been indexed by Google.
The University said that those potentially affected are students who attended the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa from 1990 – 1998 and during 2001. In addition, students who attended UHWO during Fall of 1994 or graduated from 1988 - 1993 may also be affected.
The now retired faculty member was conducting a longitudinal study of UH students and placed the files containing the information onto the faculty web server in December 2009 and left them on the server for almost a year.
Once notified of the exposure, the University promptly removed the unintentionally exposed files and disconnected the affected server from the network on October 18. Different files had different information on some of the individuals, but it is believed that the aggregation of the exposed files could allow matching to create the potential for identity theft.
UHWO is also working with UH System to adopt more proactive security measures to ensure better privacy protection.
Let’s hope this wasn’t a professor from the University’s Computer Science Department.
Other recent data breaches have occurred at other Universities including the University of North Florida, where foreign hacker managed to break into a database containing the personal information of high school and college students at the University, as well as a breach at Buena Vista University where 93,000 individuals were potentially exposed.DAR ES SALAAM, June 30 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More than 12,000 children have been rescued in the past three years from gold mines in northern Tanzania, according to children’s rights groups who fear thousands more youngsters are being forced to work in hazardous conditions for a pittance.
Plan International said the children from Geita region in northern Tanzania are being identified and reintegrated back into school as part of a donor-funded initiative to clamp down on child labour involving children as young as eight.
Police, government social welfare officers and NGO workers were all involved in the mission to rescue the children.
The children’s charity Plan said thousands of boys and girls are lured to work in gold mines in northern and western Tanzania every year in the hope of a better life - but many find themselves stuck in a cycle of poverty and despair.
Their health is also put at risk by direct exposure to mercury used to process gold ore and girls often end up selling sex which exposes them to the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.
Tanzania has laws prohibiting child labour in gold mines but critics say the government has not done enough to stop small, illegal mines from exploiting children.
Jorgen Haldorsen, Plan’s country director, said the rescues were part of an 800,000 euro ($892,000) project launched in 2012 by the European Union to curb child exploitation in Tanzania, where government statistics show almost 70 percent of almost 50 million people live under the poverty line.
Since 2012 a total of 12,187 children aged between eight and 16 have been withdrawn from working in gold mines in Geita and Nyang’hwale districts in the north of the east African country, figures released this month have revealed.
WORK TO SURVIVE
One child recently rescued from a mine, 13-year-old Antonia Benedict, said she had to quit school after her mother died in 2013 to work crushing gold ore in Geita.
“When my mother died our father abandoned us and he never supported us,” she told a recent round table discussion on child labour in Dar es Salaam.
“I had to work to get a little money to buy food for my siblings. With the little I earned I had to buy maize flour and some vegetables to feed my younger brother and sister.”
But campaigners say children will still be in danger unless more is done to stop child labour in Geita where there is an abundance of small scale gold mines and weak policies and laws governing child labour.
The project - involving government agencies, international donors and charities - aims to raise awareness among parents of the importance of education and take children out of the mines.
The programme has also helped more than 4,600 families set up savings and credit associations that help them pay for their children’s studies and create alternative income-generating activities such as food vending, poultry farms and beekeeping.
Azaveli Lwaitama, a political analyst and retired professor at the University of Dar es Salaam, said children would continue working in risky environments as long as poverty persisted.
“Unless the government creates a better environment and economic opportunities for poor families surrounding mining areas they will still let their children work in mines. Child labour is here to stay,” Lwaitama said.
A 2013 Human Rights Watch report titled “Toxic Toil: Child Labour and Mercury Exposure in Tanzania’s Small-Scale Gold Mines”, revealed shocking details of children working in gold mines in Tanzania, Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer.
The report said children worked in deep, unstable pits for shifts of up to 24 hours and also transported and crushed heavy bags of gold ore. This put them at risk of injury from pit collapses and health damage from exposure to mercury, breathing dust and carrying heavy loads.
Emmanuel Jengo, executive secretary of Tanzania Chamber of Minerals and Energy, of which all registered mining companies are members, said the problem of child labour is prevalent in small scale mines where there is no regulation.
“Our members do not employ children in mining operations. We support every effort that is directed towards correcting this misfortune and tribulation which is threatening the future of these children,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. ($1 = 0.8966 euros) (Editing by Belinda Goldsmith and Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)This video is no longer available
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Prey - 03 | All the Wrong Buttons
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Guns are finally in sight and we find out that there are some really dark things happening on Talos I that involve me and my brain. This is definitely not gonna be a fun time... Please remember to upvote and comment! You can also find me at: https://vid.me/KinTailFox https://twitter.com/kintailfox Get the Game Here! http://store.steampowered.com/app/480490/Prey/ Official Description! Story In Prey, you awaken aboard Talos I, a space station orbiting the moon in the year 2032. You are the key subject of an experiment meant to alter humanity forever – but things have gone terribly wrong. The space station has been overrun by hostile aliens and you are now being hunted. As you dig into the dark secrets of Talos I and your own past, you must survive using the tools found on the station -- your wits, weapons, and mind-bending abilities. The fate of the Talos I and everyone aboard is in your hands. Features Sci-fi Thriller Nothing is as it seems aboard Talos I. As Morgan Yu, set out to unravel the clues you've left behind for yourself, and discover the truth about your past. What role will you play in TranStar’s plans, and the mysterious threat ravaging the station? Singular Setting Orbiting the Moon, the Talos I space station symbolizes the height of private space enterprise. Explore a lavish craft designed to reflect corporate luxury of the 1960s, and navigate interconnected, non-linear pathways built to hide countless secrets. Unimaginable Threat The shadowy extraterrestrial presence infesting Talos I is a living ecology bent on annihilating its prey. It’s up to you, one of the last remaining survivors aboard the station, to end the deadly attack of these haunting predators. Play Your Way Gain alien abilities to develop a distinct combination of powers and upgrade your unique skills. Craft increasingly useful items with the blueprints, gadgets and tools on board the station to overcome dangerous obstacles in your way. Survive unprecedented threats with your wits and ability to improvise. Outro Song By Teknoaxe! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkfZS73nT24 #bethesda #prey2017 #preygame2017 #kintailfox #firstpersonshooter #firstpersonhorror #storybased
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134NEW YORK — Eight New York-based federal air marshals — including a supervisor — were fired Friday by the Transportation Security Administration for allegedly drinking at a restaurant while on duty.
Six others were also suspended for not reporting the incident, which occurred in February, TSA officials said.
All 14 — one of whom admitted he asked the unnamed restaurant for a discount — were assigned to the TSA’s New York field office.
The move came a day after eight TSA screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport were terminated following accusations of sleeping on duty, in an ongoing investigation of security operations at the airport. In that case, the security officers were videotaped by surveillance cameras sleeping or violating other screening standards in a bag room inside Terminal B in December.
The Federal Air Marshals Service, which is part of the TSA, was greatly expanded after the 9/11 terror attacks, using armed undercover officers who regularly fly as passengers to serve as an added defense against potential hijackings. Expected to blend in with passengers, their presence is never announced and the number of marshals — who are law enforcement officers — has never been revealed.
TSA officials said none of the marshals fired Friday was on mission status when the drinking occurred, had not been scheduled to fly, and were involved in training that day. But federal air marshals are armed and consumption of alcohol is forbidden anytime they are on the job. An official said all have been relieved of their weapons.
"TSA holds all of its employees to the highest professional and ethical standards and has zero tolerance for misconduct in the workplace," said Nico Melendez, an agency spokesman. "TSA’s decision to remove the individuals involved in the misconduct affirms our strong commitment to the highest standards of conduct and accountability."
The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents air service marshals, had no comment.
Related coverage:
• 8 Newark airport screeners fired by TSA for sleeping on duty, other violationsIf life on Earth has taught us anything, it is that where you find liquid water, you generally find life. Looking at our solar system, we now have good reason to conclude that at least a handful of moons — Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Enceladus, Titan, and possibly Triton — may harbor vast bodies of liquid water beneath their icy shells.
These are worlds where life could be living today, right now! We just need to get out there and explore.
To truly revolutionize our understanding of the science of biology and to understand how this bizarre little phenomenon called life works, we need to find life that we can poke and prod. We need to be able to investigate its fundamental biochemistry and see what makes it tick. Fossils don’t get us far when it comes to addressing these questions.
Europa is, in my opinion, the best place to search for existing life. I think it has the water, elements, and chemical energy needed to give rise to, and support, life as we know it. The 10-meter Keck II Telescope has shown that salty ocean water from below Europa’s ice may be reaching the surface, and thus its icy shell could be a window into the ocean below.
We also measured the presence of hydrogen peroxide across Europa’s surface, and we argue that if the peroxide gets mixed into the ocean, then it could help provide some of the chemistry needed to power life. Finding life on Europa almost certainly would be the discovery of a second, independent origin of life in our solar system.
Such a discovery would signal that the origin of life is relatively easy and that life arises wherever the conditions are right. We could then, with some confidence, look up at our night sky with the knowledge that we are looking out into a vast, biological universe.
Fast News: Astronomers detail new supernova category
Twenty-five stellar blasts form a separate class of supernova, say Ryan Foley of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and colleagues. These supernovae have emitted light similar to, but far less energetic than that from type la supernovae — the more common blasts that helped scientists determine that the universe’s expansion is speeding up.
A study describing this new class appeared in the April 10 (2013) issue of The Astrophysical Journal. Each of these explosions, identified as type lax, ejects material equal to about half the mass of our Sun and likely arises from a portion of a stellar remnant called a white dwarf.
The blast’s light out-put shows no sign of hydrogen and has the same shape over time as type la. Type lax ejecta also travel slower than type la. Scientists expect that the future Large Synoptic Survey Telescope — scheduled to be up and running by 2020— will find roughly 10,000 more members of this class and thus enable additional observations.This is one of the best soundtracks of the last two decades, not only because it is perfectly suited to the film it accompanies – which, by the way, is the definitive American version of Godzilla and the best in the overall series – but also because it stands on its own as music and harkens back to the 1970s/1980s golden age of film scores.
First of all, the music is appropriately monster-sized in keeping with the epic scale of the movie. The best track is easily the opener, “Godzilla!” with its gradually increasing sense of urgent anticipation over the opening credits. This is also Godzilla the character’s theme, and the best compositions on the album incorporate it, especially the climactic tunes “Last Shot,” “Godzilla’s Victory,” and “Back to the Ocean.” Themes for other characters and situations in the film also have a sense of drama, mystery, and suspense to them.
But beyond just having great music that masterfully accentuates and underscores key moments in the movie, the soundtrack strikes me as something that would be just as effective for other science fiction and fantasy movies, such as Star Trek or superheroes. In fact, elements of Desplat’s score remind me of the best Star Trek movie scores (1979 to 1994) and the best superhero movie scores (Batman, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Man of Steel, Thor, Captain America: The Winter Soldier).
Not that Roberto Orci would read this, but in a perfect world, Desplat would score the next Star Trek film. Desplat should also be the go-to guy for superhero movies. That’s how excellent his Godzilla music is.
The 2014 Godzilla is the King of the Monster Movies, and Alexandre Desplat is the King of Monster Movie Music.As Thomas Lifson wrote, “The law, to Koskinen, evidently is a suggestion, not an ironclad requirement.” Actually, the situation is even worse than that.
Lernergate unveiled for the public a deeper, even more sinister problem at the IRS. The evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the Tax Exempt unit of the IRS, with its cover-up involving widespread destruction of evidence, is like one highlight reel of a bigger reality within the Service and government agencies generally.
The IRS, like other government agencies, is in fact is a perennial, institutional lawbreaker. Professor Paul Caron’s TaxProf Blog, for example, annually covers the report of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) about IRS lawbreaking in asset seizures.
In the review period through June 2012, the IRS violated the law 30 percent of the time in asset seizure matters, up from 22 percent the prior year. It was 38 percent the year before that.
These are stunning statistics made more disturbing by the lack of being cured. Property, right up there with life and liberty, is a fundamental right expressly identified in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. This raises the obvious questions: What is the level of lawbreaking at the IRS when the stakes are not so high, and what lawbreaking at the IRS does TIGTA not look for?
Both Congress and the courts, however, have contributed to the underlying lawlessness at the IRS in ways that most Americans find offensive -- or would if they were to understand the abdication of power to the IRS.
The tax code is a behemoth loaded with goodies for special interests. It has become a social policy Christmas tree, and its complexities are not understood by IRS employees, never mind ordinary taxpayers. It is plagued and zealously guarded by powerful interests and lobbyists in Washington. The tax code is ripe for abuse.
Again covered by TaxProf Blog, in 2010 TIGTA reported that the IRS wasted billions in stimulus and procurement spending. This past year, and without due process, the IRS seized tax refunds of the adult children of taxpayers who had been overpaid federal benefits decades ago. The IRS was recently caught opening emails without warrants.
The buck never really stops with our elected officials, who later seem surprised that these abuses are the result of power and discretion given to the IRS by Congress.
One area of IRS abuse caused by Congress and the courts falls under the Fourth Amendment. Cato Institute’s 1981 paper The IRS and Civil Liberties: Powers of Search and Seizures shows just how long this has been a problem.
The IRS has to large extent been exempted from the Fourth Amendment. This is a problem because it fosters politically motivated or other improperly targeted audits.
In United States v. Powell from 1964, the Supreme Court solidified that the IRS was somehow exempted from the probable cause standard. The Constitution, it seems, would “hamper” the IRS:
Although a more stringent interpretation is possible, one which would require some showing of cause for suspecting fraud, we reject such an interpretation because it might seriously hamper the Commissioner in carrying out investigations he thinks warranted, forcing him to litigate and prosecute appeals on the very subject which he desires to investigate, and because the legislative history of 7605 (b) indicates that no severe restriction was intended.
The court even relied on one of those contrived floor colloquies among two senators to allow the IRS to violate the Fourth Amendment under the guise of actually protecting taxpayers:
"Mr. WALSH.... So that up to the present time an inspector could visit the office of an individual or corporation and inspect the books as many times as he chose? "Mr. PENROSE. And he often did so. "Mr. WALSH.... And this provision of the Senate committee seeks to limit the inspection to one visit unless the commissioner indicates that there is necessity for further examination? "Mr. PENROSE. That is the purpose of the amendment. "Mr. WALSH.... I heartily agree with the beneficial results that the amendment will produce to the taxpayer. "Mr. PENROSE. I knew the Senator would agree to the amendment, and it will go a long way toward relieving petty annoyances on the part of honest taxpayers." 61 Cong. Rec. 5855 (Sept. 28, 1921).
Remarkably, the Supreme Court held that Congress could simply legislate away constitutional protections:
“For us to import a probable cause standard to be enforced by the courts would substantially overshoot the goal which the legislators sought to attain. There is no intimation in the legislative history that Congress intended the courts to oversee the Commissioner's determinations to investigate.”
In June this year, the Supreme Court in United States v. Clarke was handcuffed by precedent and ruled that the burden is on the taxpayer to prove bad faith audits. Given what we have seen with how the IRS operates when under congressional subpoenas and court scrutiny to produce emails, taxpayers are at the mercy of the IRS.
Justice Kagan’s opinion at least leaves an opening:
The taxpayer is entitled to examine an IRS agent when he can point to specific facts and circumstances plausibly raising an inference of bad faith. Naked allegations of improper purpose are not enough: The taxpayer must offer some credible evidence supporting his charge. But circumstantial evidence can suffice to meet that burden; after all, direct evidence of another person’s bad faith, at this threshold stage, will rarely if ever be available. And although bare assertion or conjecture is not enough, neither is a fleshed out case demanded: The taxpayer need only make a showing of facts that give rise to a plausible inference of improper motive. That standard will ensure inquiry where the facts and circumstances make inquiry appropriate, without turning every summons dispute into a fishing expedition for official wrongdoing.
The irony lost on the Supreme Court, Congress and most certainly the IRS is that the Fourth Amendment’s protections, including probable cause, evolved from abuses of searches and seizures for collecting taxes and suppressing what are now First Amendment rights.
The bottom line is that intentional lawbreaking within the IRS and other government agencies exists mostly because it can. Think of many bureaucrat ‘Barack Obamas’ taunting “so sue me” for violating the law. They are mostly insulated from consequences of lawbreaking because of a lack of congressional oversight of our monster-sized federal government, legal immunity, and the practical immunity of fear by their challengers -- even internal whistleblowers -- that they will face retribution.
Then there are the enablers. Democrats in Congress and progressives in the nonprofit community see the Lois Lerner situation as “missing the point.” The partisan Nonprofit Quarterly actually blames the lack of “adequate funding of the tax-exempt unit which has been starved for financial and staff resources,” and Lernergate shows the need for “stronger rules and regulations concerning the definitions and operations of 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations.”
The big-government response to lawbreaking government, even when it infringes on constitutionally protected rights, always seems to be more regulation, more power, and more money. That misses the point that too often the IRS does not follow the law even when it can.In late August, the pleasure of summer relaxation begins to overlap with the excitement of a new school year. It's a wonderful time to be a teacher. While trying to catch my last wave or last fish of the summer, I begin a mental routine that energizes me and prepares me for the next ten months of teaching and learning. Part of this routine involves a series of affirmations I use to update and re-familiarize myself with my teaching philosophies and techniques. This year, I've combined my affirmations with a few practical tips that I believe will help those new to teaching -- or veteran teachers for that matter -- prepare philosophically and practically for a successful school year. Here they are, in no particular order:
Actively seek out advice and guidance from veteran teachers. Listen to them and trust them. You'll find that the knowledge you acquired in your pre-teaching coursework is rapidly trumped by front-line classroom experience. Keep in mind that the best mentor for you doesn't necessarily need to teach in your department. Make sure that your are asking questions more frequently than you are offering opinions. But at the same time...
Be confident and share your ideas with colleagues. Just because you're new doesn't mean you don't have anything to bring to the table--quite the opposite, actually; a fresh mind can invigorate a curriculum. Your colleagues ought to be just as eager to learn from you as you are to learn from them.
"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care" -- Often attributed to Teddy Roosevelt.
When it comes to engaging your students, showing them how much you care about your subject is not nearly as important as showing them how much you care about them.
Create a Twitter account to be used exclusively for professional development. Get involved in the weekly new teachers' Twitter chat (Wednesdays at 8PM EST), and find the hashtags that are pertinent to your subject or interests (like EdTech, STEM, Mobile or Project-Based Learning, and much more). Follow like-minded educators who will be eager to share their expertise, resources, and advice. You'll be surprised how rich a personal learning network founded upon 140-character snippets can be. (A schedule of education-themed weekly Twitter chats can be found here.)
Seize teachable moments, even if doing so requires that you deviate from your lesson plan. Doing so will be engaging and rewarding for your students, and unwaveringly following a standardized test-driven curriculum isn't why you became a teacher in the first place. (Note 1: Learn to recognize the difference between a truly teachable moment and a simple diversion. You'll get better at differentiating between the two quickly. Note 2: If your supervisors aren't supportive of this practice, it's probably not the kind of place you'd want to work at anyway.)
Don't panic about all of the accommodations listed in that stack of IEP's (individual education plans) you just got. You'll find that about 90% of the accommodations--"present concepts in multiple ways," "provide time to respond," "clarify directions," "cue the student as needed"--are common best-teaching practices that you'll naturally strive to provide for all of your students.
"The only time you need to worry about what's in your neighbor's bowl is if you're checking to make sure they have enough." -- Louis C.K.
Your non-teacher friends are going to make significantly more money than you. Refuse to measure your happiness or success in dollars. Take comfort in knowing what Dan Meyer states best: many of your friends will worry that their jobs don't really matter to anybody except the family they feed. As a teacher, you will never share this worry. You'll never have to worry that you're insignificant to other people.
Grading student work is a lot more pleasant when you're blasting death metal at a dangerously high volume.
Check out Socrative and/or PearDeck. These tools replace expensive student response systems (aka "clickers") with free web-based services that students can access from their phones or any other web-enabled device. Lots of research supports the pedagogical benefits of utilizing peer instruction techniques that are facilitated by student response systems--and now you can take advantage for free.
At some point, one or more students will claim that you are being unfair. Clarify to them that fair and equal are not synonyms. Treating students equally means every student gets the same thing. Treating students fairly means every student gets what they need. Fair is better.
When a student seems to be intentionally making your life miserable, don't hold it against him or her. Students are teenagers; such behavior is normal. Instead, assume that karma has cycled back around, restoring cosmic balance for all of the teachers you tortured as a youngster. (Sorry Mrs. Wehle!)
Abstain from giving out candy or food as either an incentive or a reward. Motivating students this way will be unhealthy for both the mind and the body, will steadily lose its efficacy, and will ultimately break the bank.
Before becoming smitten with a flashy educational technology and quickly implementing it in your classroom, ask yourself the following two questions: "How does this technology improve teaching and learning over the methods I would use without it?" and "How do the drawbacks of this technology compare to the benefits it provides?" If you're not satisfied with either of the answers, discard the technology.
Energy is contagious. Athletes get fired up for games, stage actors get fired up for performances, and you should get fired up for class. Again, I recommend death metal.
Even if you teach in a well-to-do district, many of your students will live lives much tougher than you lived as a teenager. Don't be offended if they didn't do your homework -- if you had just been evicted, homework would be a low priority for you too. These students need your support the most.
Veteran teacher Peter Greene says the hardest part of teaching is contending with the fact that there will never be enough time, resources, or you. Balancing the needs of your students, the demands of your administrators, and your obligations to your loved ones will always be challenging, often be heartbreaking, and sometimes be impossible. Strive for balance. Refuse to let imbalance discourage you. Take care of yourself.
Check out Remind (formerly Remind101.) This free teacher-to-student text messaging service allows you to give your students timely reminders or updates. I can't imagine running my classes without it. And applied creatively, Remind has the potential to extend learning beyond the confines of the classroom walls and school day.Healthy Dental Habits For Kids
By photostock, www.freedigitalphotos.net
decay seen on front teeth
Rinsing after every meal is non-negotiable. For smaller babies, make it a practice to rub their gums with water after each feed or allow sips of water to clean off the remnants of baby food or milk.
Bottles or pacifiers used to put a child to sleep should be avoided, as far as possible. If they are used, use the above technique to clean off the leftovers from sitting on the teeth or gums while the baby is sleeping.
Parents should brush the childs teeth until almost 5 years of age and thereafter they should supervise. Brushing at night is very important.
Encourage spoon-fed consumption of liquids or food instead of sucking out of bottles. Apart from being a natural way of eating, it also allows the jaw muscles to get some exercise.
By the age of one, introduce a mug for drinking liquids.
Paediatric dentistry has become a recognised field because more and more kids are suffering from dental disease. Food habits play an important role in shaping the child's dental and hence overall well-being.Healthy eating habits play an undeniable role towards acquiring those pearly whites.It is a general opinion that chocolate is the biggest culprit causing tooth decay. However biscuits and chips that stick to teeth are equally harmful. Especially snacking on junk food in between meals causes more damage as do aerated drinks and sugar-loaded beverages.While it is impossible to keep tabs on everything the child consumes, it is worth the effort to restrict the intake of junk food, biscuits, chocolates and above all soft drinks. They hardly provide any noteworthy nutrition and also lead to tooth decay. Instead, try to get the child used to eating healthier stuff like fruits or nuts, not just for their health quotient, but also for the cleansing effect as an outcome of the biting & chewing therein.Most often, the initial offences towards our teeth start at early childhood or even at the infancy stage. Ideally a child should be weaned off breast milk when teeth start erupting. Breast feeding or bottle feeding or using pacifiers to put a child to sleep causes pooling of sugars in the mouth. Decay-causing bacteria are at peak during sleep. Hence this increases the chances of a condition called Rampant caries or Nursing bottle caries. This involves rapid decay of teeth especially the upper front teeth, and is evident at the pre-schooling stage (3-5 years) when milk teeth are fully formed.This condition not only causes pain and discomfort in eating but also affects the looks and speech. Missing front teeth can cause abnormal positioning of tongue and lips and also hampers jaw growth. Likewise, ill-formed, ugly-looking teeth can subject the child to mockery among peers and hamper social development. All these factors can have profound effect on the psychology of the child.Good dental habits started in early childhood go long way into adulthood.In spite of taking care, tooth decay may occur. As the baby teeth are small, decay tends to spread fast and attack the entire tooth in a short span of time. A badly decayed tooth may even give rise to swelling & fever. Hence parents should regularly inspect the childs teeth for any white/black spots and take them to the dentist without delay so that they can be attended at the onset. This also helps keep dentist phobia at bay in kids.Thus, a few easy measures go a long way in acquiring a beautiful set of teeth that last a lifetime.Read an Introduction to dental care for kids here.CategoriesCHINO, Calif. — A school board in California has voted to place limits on when and how Christianity may be discussed during public meetings.
The move by the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education comes in the midst of a legal battle with the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which took issue two years ago with the board’s practice of opening meetings with prayer, as well as numerous incidents of members citing the Bible.
“As the elected legislative body of the Chino Valley Unified School District, the board of education recognizes that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees each person’s individual right to free exercise of religion or non-religion, and prevents the government and other public officials from establishing a religion or non-religion,” its new policy, approved unanimously on Thursday, reads.
“During the public portion of the board meeting, board members may discuss religion or religious perspectives to the extent that they are germane to agenda items or public comments,” it states. “When acting in their official capacities and when speaking on behalf of the district, board members shall not proselytize, and shall be neutral toward religion and/or non-religion.”
Attorneys for the board had reportedly recommended adopting the language.
As previously reported, in November 2014, FFRF filed a 49-page lawsuit against the board, asserting that it was in violation of the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.
“The Chino Valley School Board begins each meeting with a prayer,” FFRF wrote in its legal challenge. “Indeed the meetings resemble a church service more than a school board meeting, complete with Bible readings by the board members, Bible quotations by board members, and other statements by board members promoting the Christian religion.”
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The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a non-profit organization committed to defending religious freedom, stood with the Chino school board and defended the prayers in court. PJI President Brad Dacus said “some of the board members are very committed to their faith” and argued that their religious freedoms were protected by law.
But in February, U.S. District Court Judge Jesus Bernal, appointed to the bench by Barack Obama, sided with FFRF, saying the prayers at the school board meetings “constitute unconstitutional government endorsements of religion.”
“[M]embers of the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education … are hereby enjoined from conducting, permitting or otherwise endorsing school-sponsored prayer in board meetings,” Bernal ordered.
The board appealed and obtained new legal counsel—Tyler and Bursh of Murietta.
“I trust this is a good first step toward balancing and understanding the complexities of the First Amendment for this board,” Vice President Sylvia Orozco told reporters last week following Thursday’s vote to approve the new policy.
As previously reported, throughout America’s early history, a number of the Founding Fathers issued proclamations calling inhabitants to prayer, including in 1798, when President John Adams proclaimed a national day of humiliation, prayer and fasting.
“As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and blessing of Almighty God, and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him,” he wrote, “…this duty, at all times incumbent, is so especially in seasons of difficulty and of danger, when existing or threatening calamities—the just judgments of God against prevalent iniquity—are a loud call to repentance and reformation.”
President Abraham Lincoln also proclaimed a National Fast Day in 1863.
“[I]t is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord,” his proclamation read.
“[I]nsomuch we know that by His Divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people,” Lincoln said.Worries have widened in recent days over the number of people in Liberia who may have been exposed to the country’s first Ebola case in more than two weeks, a street vendor who lived in a one-bathroom house shared with 52 others in a Monrovia suburb and who had sold food at a school where more than 1,900 students are enrolled.
The patient, identified as Ruth Tugbah, 44, had been in contact with a range of people, including her children and a pastor who had sought to comfort her, after she developed a fever and was contagious, aid workers said Tuesday.
Ms. Tugbah received a |
87), with an average of 10 home runs per 162 games and 121 plate appearances per season. He posted a healthy 9.4% walk rate, but Pearce was hardly on the fantasy baseball radar.
Then last season happened.
Pearce posted a.293/.373/.556 line (and a 161 wRC+, which was sixth in the majors among players with 350 plate appearances) to go along with 21 home runs in 383 plate appearances (all career highs).
Let’s start with the obvious: Don’t expect this again in 2015. We are talking about a player with more than 800 mediocre plate appearances, so we should not overreact to 383 great ones.
But you knew that already. The better way to approach this is to question to examine just how much stock we should put into last season.
While we’re getting the obvious out of the way, yes, Pearce had a higher than average batting average on balls (BABIP) in play last season (.322 compared to the league average of.299 and his.283 career average from 2007 to 2013).
There was no obvious uptick in hard-hit balls, either. His 19.4% line drive rate marked an increase from his previous career rate of 17.5%, but was still below the league average of 20.8%, according to FanGraphs. Also, his infield fly rate of 9.2% was almost identical to the 9.3% rate he had heading into the season, so we can infer there was some good fortune in his high BABIP.
Still, good luck certainly does not explain everything involved in a season that marked a.097 increase in his previous career wOBA, and there certainly appear to be elements of his breakout year that are sustainable.
Power and Walks
For example, there is his ability to hit for power. Pearce has always profiled as a fly ball hitter, with a 43.5% career fly ball rate (his fly ball rate was 45.6% in 2014), but last year he tied for sixth in the majors in isolated power among players with at least 350 plate appearances (.263).
His career ISO is.178, so we should expect some regression, but this is still an above average mark (the big league average ISO was.135 last season and has been between.135 and.155 since Pearce entered the league).
Pearce also posted a 17.5% home run to fly ball (HR/FB) rate, up from his career average of 10.3%.
ISO and HR/FB tend to be fairly reliable statistics. Russell Carleton found that ISO takes about 160 at bats to stabilize, while HR/FB stabilizes after 50 fly balls. (Pearce hit 120 fly balls last year according to FanGraphs; note that HR/FB is different for hitters than for pitchers, as for pitchers, it is an extremely flukey stat and is usually associated with luck.)
As mentioned, a high percentage of Pearce’s career balls in play have been fly balls. In 2014, he put more balls in play thanks to a more aggressive approach at the plate, and thus, hit more fly balls.
Pearce made contact on 76.3% of his swings last year, right in line with his 76.2% career contact rate. The difference, though, was that he swung more often, posting a 47.5% swing rate (up from his 44.0% career percentage and the first time since 2007 he was above 45%), according to FanGraphs.
With his contact and fly ball rates remaining roughly the same as his career averages, more swings meant more balls in play, and more balls in play meant more fly balls. All things being equal, fly balls lead to a higher wOBA and are thus very valuable.
While isolated power and ball in play stats tend to be stable, they have nothing on strike out or walk rates in this department (Carleton says they stabilize after 60 and 120 plate appearances, respectively). While much of 2014 was new for Pearce, his strikeout and walk rates stayed the same.
Before the 2014 season, his career walk rate was 9.5% and his career strikeout rate was 20.1%. Last season, he walked 10.4% of the time and struck out 19.8% of the time, and because of this profile, Pearce has more fantasy value to those in on-base percentage leagues than standard ones.
A New Stance?
As for his overall approach, it is possible Pearce may have figured out how to hit right-handed pitching, but we need more data to say this with any kind of certainty.
The right-handed hitter has a career 138/93 lefty/right wRC+ split, and had never had a wRC+ higher than 80 against same-sided pitching until 2013. That season, he posted a wRC+ of 109 against righties, before posting a.279/.360/.496 slash line in 272 plate appearances against northpaws last season (good for a 142 wRC+, which stilled paled in comparison to his 209 wRC+ in 98 plate appearances against lefties).
Being the stat-savvy reader you are, I don’t need to tell you this is a small sample and that we need to use caution when looking at these numbers. Still, for what its worth, Pearce did make some mechanical changes that could, at least partially, explain what is going on here.
As Mike Petriello of FanGraphs notes, Pearce closed his batting stance in 2014, and said it helped him “see the ball longer.†It makes sense, then, that this new stance would help him against same-sided pitching. Then again, its hard to say this with certainty, given the sample size issues.
What the Projections Say
Projections models don’t know anything about batting stances, and in the case of Pearce, they don’t care. They like him a lot anyway.
While they don’t foresee a repeat of his 2014 season, the formulas judged enough of what happened in that 4.9 fWAR campaign as sustainable to forecast another strong season.
Our numbers forecast an.831 OPS season, which would be 11th-best among outfielders. Here is a closer look at what our model and some others project for Pearce in 2015 (we’ll include runs and RBI for fantasy purposes).
Model PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP Slugging numberFire 505 66 21 64 6 0.265 0.355 0.476 Steamer 528 67 22 67 5 0.271 0.349 0.471 ZiPS 297 35 13 40 3 0.262 0.345 0.473 PECOTA 538 66 18 65 5 0.258 0.342 0.431
All four systems project similar production in terms of rate stats, and ZiPS only stands out in terms of counting stats because it projects less playing time. One other thing of note is the low RBI totals, which have less to do with Pearce and more to do with a lack of opportunities (as I wrote in our third base preview, no team had fewer plate appearances with runners in scoring position than Baltimore last year).
All things considered, there appears to be enough evidence that Pearce’s 2014 was not a fluke, so you can be comfortable owning him in fantasy this year.If you've ever wanted to work with Aubrey de Grey on advancing the Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence, here is your chance. The SENS Foundation is looking for someone to fill the position of Academic Coordinator:
SENS Foundation seeks a consultant to act as Academic Coordinator. The Academic Coordinator will be the head of the entire Academic Initiative and be responsible for designing and implementing short, medium, and long term operational strategies which align with the broader aims of SENS Foundation.... Major projects already in development include the creation of online undergraduate courses in longevity science, development of a comprehensive training program for SENSFAI, continuance and expansion of the scholarship program, formation of a collaboration as a granting entity within a major university system, and implementation of a comprehensive marketing strategy to expand and promote the AI.... We are hoping to fill this role immediately. SENS Foundation will provide a support stipend for an approved candidate. To apply, please complete the Academic and Operational Support application form.
The prior coordinator is heading off to work on a cancer immunotherapy startup in the Bay Area. A great many people who volunteered with the Methuselah Foundation and SENS Foundation in past years have gone on to similar work with other organizations. Livly, for example, is another part of that ecosystem, and you'll find a former volunteer highly placed in Genescient. Networking is everything.A Continuous Certificate of Discharge or Continuous Discharge Certificate (C.D.C.) is a seafarer's identity document issued in India.[1] This document certifies that the person holding this is a seaman as per The International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978, as amended 1995. Every seafarer must carry this document while on board, which is also an official and legal record of his sea experience. The master of the vessel signs the document each time a seaman is signed off from the vessel certifying his experience on board.
A C.D.C. granted under STCW rules is valid for ten years and may be renewed on expiration or within six months prior to date of expiration, on a request from the holder, for a further period up to ten years at a time if the holder is a serving seaman and his C.D.C. has not been cancelled, withdrawn or suspended under these rules. If the period of validity of CDC of a seamen expires during the voyage, it is valid until the end of the voyage.
See also [ edit ]Rosie the Riveter, where are you? The construction industry wants you. Boomer men are retiring fast, and unions are wooing women workers.
Will women fill jobs where men once dominated? (Photo Courtesy Ellen Voie, Women In Trucking Association)
Boomers are retiring in droves off many blue collar work sites. Hanging up their gloves, their boots, their hardhats. A lot of millennials, we’re told, don’t want those jobs – muddy, heavy, hard. But there are still jobs to be filled – from ironworking to auto repair to truck driving. And those industries are turning to women. Rosie the Riveter was the factory icon of World War II. Now, some big American industries want her back. Up next On Point: hardhats, women, and the American workforce. -- Tom Ashbrook
Guests
Danielle Paquette, economic policy reporter for the Washington Post. (@DPAQreport)
Eric Dean, general president of the Ironworkers’ Union, formally known as the “International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers Union.”
Ellen Voie, president of Women In Trucking Association.
Harry Holzer, professor of public policy at Georgetown University. Former chief economist at the Labor Department in the Clinton administration.
From Tom's Reading List
Washington Post: America’s manliest industries are all competing for women — "By 2029, all of the baby boomers will be older than 65, meaning one-fifth of the U.S. population will have reached retirement age. Millennials, the workers who would replace them, aren’t as interested in pursuing careers in the trades. Enrollment in vocational education has dropped from 4.2 credits in 1990 to 3.6, according to the most recent data analysis from the National Education Association. The opioid epidemic, meanwhile, has zapped some of the male workforce because men are more likely than women to both use and overdose on illicit drugs."
Medill News Service: Opportunities open up for women truckers, but their numbers remain small — "Attracted by the financial independence and personal freedom of being a trucker, women are smashing stereotypes and establishing fulfilling careers on the open road. But their numbers remain relatively small, despite the need for more drivers amid a national shortage and more acceptance from potential employers."
CNBC: That terrible jobs report was actually great for women — "Something strange happened on the way to the unemployment line in March. In addition to the big disappointment in overall hiring, the month was brutal for married men but excellent for married women, according to numbers released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In all, there were 90,000 fewer married males at work, while the total of married women with jobs soared by 352,000 in March."Dr. Eggman's Subterranean Base - Oasis Canyon - 06:53:02 PM
"Alright. Rouge, you get Omega a way into Eggman's Weapon Shelter. I'll scout ahead and make sure you have a clear path.", Shadow told his teammates, before speeding down the hall. It had only been three hours since Team Sonic were launched into space to search for the Ancient Wisps. As expected, Doctor Eggman had already started scheming. Of course, due to Sonic and Co. being absent, that left it up to Team Dark to keep Doctor Eggman at bay. "Well, alright, Mister Impatience.", Rouge said aloud to herself, before she snuck into the vent shaft to her left. "Stay alert, Omega.", she said to the hulking war machine. "MY OPTICS AND AUDIO PROCESSORS PROVIDE ME WITH MAXIMUM ABILITY TO DETECT ANY ENEMY WITHIN A HALF-MILE RADIUS.", he replied. "Yes, dear, you've made that clear. Now, then..."
Rouge headed down the vent shaft, off to locate the security system.
Meanwhile, Shadow sped through the various halls and rooms throughout Eggman's base, destroying Badniks with ease. It wasn't long before Shadow found his way right into the Doctor's Control Room. "Well, well, Shadow. Looks like you've once again stepped foot in places you don't belong.", Eggman told Shadow, before firing a missile. Shadow let out a small "Hm.", before teleporting out of the way of the Missile, and behind the Doctor's mech. Shadow performed a homing attack into the machine, but was quickly knocked to the ground by an invisible Energy field. "Oh, please. That's always yours and Sonic's first moves." The Doctor turned his mech to face the Black Hedgehog, firing a few small laser blasts. Shadow quickly dodged, and the arm of Eggman's robot swiped at him. Shadow jumped onto the arm, and ran up it, preparing to fire a Chaos Spear at the cockpit.
However, Shadow was almost immediately sent flying into the wall, collapsing on the ground. He slowly stood up, but was knocked through the wall by a fierce kick from the Doctor. Shadow grunted. He teleported under the mech, but a laser fired from the bottom, knocking Shadow unconscious.
...
Shadow awoke, minutes later, inside a capsule built by the Doctor. Eggman stood in front of him, an evil grin on his face. "Heh. That was simple enough." Shadow groaned. His head was throbbing. It wasn't long before he realized a strange device on his head, with thin, long wires running from his temples to a console in the room. The screen read 'Memory Transfer: 100% complete.' Shadow's eyes widened. "Memory transfer!?" A loud bellow emerged from the Doctor's mouth. "Hohoho! Yes, that's right. Might as well explain my plan to you now. There won't be any point hiding it from you. Take a look to your right, Shadow." Shadow looked, and there, he saw himself. A completely Biological copy. More wires emerged from the other side of the console, connecting to a second device on his copy's head. "What?!", he yelled. "You see, Shadow...I know very well how dangerous you are. You're strong, quick, powerful, immortal. And that is why I had the brilliant idea to replace you with an exact copy!" Shadow clenched his teeth. "And how will that help you?", he asked. Eggman's expression turned to an evil, almost insane one. "Because I will know every single thing your copy sees. Hears. Thinks. Every thing it knows...I know."
It was then that the Black Hedgehog broke free from his capsule. "Not if I stop you first. CHAOS...SPEAR!"
...
Instead of a Chaos Spear forming in the palm of Shadow's hand, he instead felt a large burst of pain in his wrists. He looked, and his inhibitor rings glowed with a yellowish-orange aura. "What?!" Shadow was taken aback. "What did you do?!"
Eggman laughed once more. "I simply replaced your inhibitor rings with new ones! Ones that can't be taken off, and will contain your Chaos Energy...To an extent." "An extent?", Shadow replied. "Yes," The Doctor began to pace the room. "If you let out too much Chaos Energy into your rings...They will explode.", he told Shadow. "And if they explode, the effects could be equal to that of a nuclear bomb. And I know that's a bluff you don't want to call. So I recommend you don't play with any Chaos Emeralds anytime soon."
Shadow stepped forward, fists clenched. "I'll defeat you with or without my Chaos Energy!" Shadow ran at the Doctor, who pulled out a strange weapon from his jacket. "Maybe eventually, but no time soon.", Eggman said, before firing it at Shadow, who vanished in an instant.
"So much for the Ultimate Lifeform!", The Doctor bellowed. "Now, then." He placed Shadow's communications device in the clone's ear, just before Rouge and Omega burst in. "SHADOW!", Rouge yelled, before kicking the Doctor out of the way. Rouge and Omega broke 'Shadow' free, and he woke up. "H..Huh? Rouge? Omega?", 'Shadow' muttered. "THE DOCTOR MUST HAVE CAPTURED YOU. I DETECT NO SERIOUS INJURIES ON YOUR BODY."
"Oh, Team Dark!", Eggman called out. There, he stood in another mech, equipped with twin turrets on each side. 'Shadow' turned to face the Doctor. "You made a mistake, Doctor.", he said, and ran at the Mech, his allies at his side, beginning another battle.
...
Unknown Location - Unknown Time
Shadow woke up. It felt like he'd been out for hours. "Where...?" He looked around, and found himself surrounded by strange, electric-blue...Phantoms..? Shadow jumped back, and the creatures launched themselves at him. There was a loud noise, and they were gone. He turned, and saw an armored soldier, holding a weapon. The soldier's mask split open, and was revealed to be a Snake. "You alright?", the Snake asked. "Yea...I...Where am I?", he asked. The Snake gave him an awkward look. "Um...Equinox Ruins? Did you lose your memory or something?"
Shadow groaned. "Thankfully not. I...Wait, Equinox Ruins?" Shadow had never heard of such a place.
"Yea..Under attack by those blue creatures? This is an evacuation, Hedgehog!" Shadow stared at him, blank-faced. "Look, just, come on. I'll get you to a safe zone." Shadow opened his mouth to say something, but decided to just go. This soldier seemed alright. Besides, if this was an active war zone, maybe Shadow could be some assistance. But after that, he would have to get back to G.U.N. before Eggman did too much damage.
The Soldier escorted Shadow out of the building, to where Shadow was greeted with a strange-looking city, swarming with those creatures. In the sky, massive, winged arachnoids fired down at the city, while ally ships attempted to shoot them down. As they sped down the roads, Shadow noticed multiple soldiers being deployed from armored vehicles, with large, manned turrets on their roofs. "A lot more productive than G.U.N has been recently.", he thought to himself.
Before they could make it out of City limits, one of the arachnoid creatures landed in their path. It charged up an energy shot, and Shadow almost performed a Chaos Control. He leaped out of the way, and ran up the building to his left, leaping off of it, and slamming his fists down on the creatures' head. It collapsed, and tried to get back up, but not before the Soldier shot at it, killing it.
"Well, I'll be damned, that was some crazy stuff..uh..What's your name?" Shadow turned to face him. "My name is Shadow the Hedgehog. The Ultimate Lifeform." The Snake wore a confused expression on his face. "Huh?...Are you sure you're alright in the head, Shadow?" Shadow tilted his head. "Have you...really not heard of me? I was the one who defeated the Black Arms and killed them before they could destroy Earth." "...I have no idea what the hell a 'Black Arm' is, or what dirt has to do with anything. I'm gonna get you taken to one of our doctors back at the safe zone."
"This doesn't make any sense. How does he not know what Earth..or the Black Arms are?", Shadow thought, before realizing. "Wait...Eggman fired a weapon at me, but I woke up here...And if you don't know what Earth is...Then I must be in another dimension!", Shadow said. The Soldier shook his head. "Dimensional Travel? You believe in that garbage?", he said. Shadow turned to the Snake once more. "Believe me, it's real. And I don't have time to sit here arguing with you about its existence. Now then...What is your name, anyways?" "Donovan Oakes. Commander of Timber Battalion. Now let's move."
Shadow nodded, and they headed out of the City.
Before they made it out, however, several bright lights appeared in the clouds above them, and blue lasers pierced through, causing large explosions. Slowly, the ground around them began to crumble.
"SHIT!", Donavan yelled, before the ground began to fall apart. Shadow was able to stay above, but Donavan fell onto a part of the ground which collapsed several hundred feet down. All around, the city appeared in ruins. The only sounds were screams from the commanding soldiers and the terrified civilians. Shadow kneeled down before the crevice. "Are you alright?!", he asked. Donovan looked up. "Y-Yea..May have broken my arm...", he replied.
"Can you find a way up?" "No, It's too dark down here and my night vision goggles broke from the fall!" Shadow clenched his teeth. "I'll try to find you a way out! Don't move."
He turned, and leapt over the various cracks in the ground.
Wherever Shadow was, he certainly wasn't in a place from his world. But that didn't matter.
First things first. Rescue soldiers and civilians, then get back home.
End of Chapter 1...A Palestinian man was shot dead by IDF forces during an operation on Wednesday in the al-Fari'a refugee camp north of the West Bank city of Nablus.
The dead man was identified as 22-year-old Ibrahim Sirhan, an engineering student at An-Najah University in Nablus.
IDF soldiers in the northern West Bank Reuters
Sirhan had been on his way to dawn prayers when he was shot, his uncle, Ismail Sarhan, told Reuters.
IDF forces entered the camp to conduct an arrest operation. During the operation, confrontations broke out between IDF soldiers and camp residents.
An explosive charge was thrown at IDF forces. No IDF soldiers were wounded.
The IDF said that soldiers opened fire at the lower portion of the body of a Palestinian who tried to escape after being arrested.
The shot man was evacuated independently by Palestinian medical officials, according to the IDF.
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Seven Palestinians were arrested by the IDF during the operation.They were brought to the US as guests - but treated like slaves. That is the accusation being made by more than a dozen guest workers based in Pennsylvania, who on Thursday took their campaign to New York's Times Square.
"This is really a story about McDonald's, really a story about how this is one more company that has hijacked this guest worker programme to its own ends, to bring in cheap labour and have a practically captive workforce working in the stores. The students are demanding that McDonald's take responsibility for what happened within its franchise, that McDonald's pay attention to labour standards and labour conditions..." - Saket Soni, the executive director of the National Guestworker Alliance
They are part of an estimated 100,000 students entering the United States each year on J class visas - a system that is intended to be part work and part cultural exchange but labour rights campaigners say that system is being exploited by companies looking for cheap labour.
In this latest case, students say they were underpaid and forced to live in overpriced, crowded housing and that the only culture they have been exposed to is the inside of a McDonald's.
And the fast food chain released this statement on Thursday:
"We take the well-being of the employees working in McDonald’s restaurants seriously. We began investigating the situation in Pennsylvania immediately upon learning of the issues involved. The franchisee has agreed to leave the McDonald’s system. We are also working on connecting with the guest workers on an individual basis to most effectively address this situation.
"Finally, we are providing information to franchisees who may participate in the guest worker program to ensure they understand both the letter and spirit of all the requirements of the State Department’s J-1 Visa program, as well as the expectations for full compliance by McDonald's.”
But these students are not the first to complain, neither is it the first time that the State Department's J1 visa program has faced criticism.
"I think the more important question now is: why are McDonald's using the J visa to hire low-skilled workers to work in restaurants? This country does not have a low-skilled guest worker visa programme to bring in people from abroad, with the knowledge that they're going to be working in these types of industries, they are going to be working hard... they're not bein fooled into it by thinking it's a cultural exchange programme." - Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst from the CATO Institute
In August 2011, around 400 guest workers walked out of a warehouse run by a Hershey's subcontractor, also in Pennsylvania. A few months later, a criminal gang was found to have used J-1 visas to hire eastern European women to work in a strip club.
In December 2010, an Associated Press investigation uncovered a series of abuses faced by students on the visas. Among their findings: students who made $1 an hour, after deductions for housing and other expenses and others who had to "hotbunk" and sleep in shifts.
Both the state department and the labor department have launched separate investigations into the guest worker programme - even as a bipartisan Senate group recently appeared to recommend expanding similar temporary work programmes as part of US immigration reform.
Joining presenter Shihab Rattansi on Inside Story Americas, to discuss the United States' guest worker programmes are guests: Josh Eidelson, a former union organiser who writes on labour issues for The Nation magazine; Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst from the CATO Institute; and Saket Soni, the executive director of the National Guestworker Alliance – the organisation that helped the students organise the protest.
"We had total of 91,600 participants … a vast majority had very good experience with program. There have been problems; we have been working on them. We have been working over past year to strengthen our relations, health and safety includes among other things, more closely vetting the types of jobs they are eligible for, every single job, every single employer, overnight hours, prohibiting jobs in isolated areas, proper housing and transportation. "We have done lot to improve access they have to us, direct contact with us including through 24-hour help line, through regular monitoring of all placement. Ongoing effort on our part to ensure that those who come here for this program are not only safe and secure, but that students have a terrific experience" - US state department's response to complaints
Source: Al JazeeraTim Means is ready to get back inside the UFC Octagon.
The welterweight fighter was recently suspended from competition after being flagged for a banned substance prior to his UFC Fight Night 83 main event showdown against Donald Cerrone in February.
In the wake of the USADA violation, Means maintained his innocence, asserting that either the testing machinery or one of his supplements was tainted. Recently, Means and his legal team reached a settlement with USADA. Means would accept a six-month suspension, retroactive to February, after extensive testing proved one of his supplements to indeed be tainted.
While the news sits well with Means now, the situation was brutal when it was first announced. He couldn't think about fighting, and he was facing a potential two-to-four-year suspension, so he did what he saw as his only option.
"I went and got another job," Means told MMA Fighting. "I couldn’t be in fight mode then. I was aggravated and didn’t need to have my mindset in a fist fight, so I went and started learning how to do metal fabricating. I went from something where I was team captain in my trade to the lower end of the totem pole, to the bottom. It was a very humbling experience. I went from something I was good at, that I loved to do, to something I didn’t know anything about and really didn’t have interest in...
"The suspension that they offered, I put the worst-case scenario in my head. I have two daughters that are permanently living with me now, so there was no time to sit and wait and let stress build up. I had to keep my mind busy."
While it was always in the back of his mind that his suspension could potentially be reduced or maybe even eliminated completely, Means said he was close to giving up the MMA dream altogether.
"I wasn’t really interested in MMA [after I was flagged with the potential violation]," Means said. "I was mad. I was mad at it. I threw my whole life into mixed martial arts, and I had to step back and let USADA do its tests. [UFC Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance] Jeff Novitsky helped me, and we brought [attorney] Howard Jacobs in, so I let them do what they do, and I just tried to step back and stay sane and realize how much I do love mixed martial arts."
As the case shaped up, Means, Novitsky, and Jacobs realized they had built a strong argument. Means was almost certain the scales of justice would tip in his favor, and, slowly, he was able to talk himself back into life inside the steel cage.
"We knew about the tainted supplement months and months ago, so it’s just frustrating USADA had this stuff and we’re waiting on tests... I had to jump through one hoop after another," Means said. "I’m hoping to return in August. I have my fingers crossed. None of that is set, but there’s a card Aug. 20, and maybe that can happen."
Before the violation, Means was scheduled to face Cerrone in the main event of UFC Fight Night 83 in Pittsburgh, but he realizes such a stage is improbable for his comeback fight. The violation not only robbed him of six months of training and fighting, it directly cost him a high-profile main event showdown. Because of this, Means and his team is willing to pursue further action to get what they believe to be his.
"People have been sued for a lot less – main event, lost wages, there’s a lot left on the table," Means said. "That’s something I’m going to let Howard Jacobs handle, my attorney. He’s very interested and very good at what he does. So I’m going to let him handle that aspect. I just have to get back to doing my job...
"I understand things do happen, accidents do happen, but it wasn’t like they [the supplement company] popped up and said, ‘Oh, hey, we’re sorry. Let us fix this.’ They threw me under the bus and left me there, so, man, if it does come to a lawsuit-type thing, I want to own everything including their underwear when this is done."
As that situation takes shape, Means turns his attention to his fighting future. He wants the August date, and he doesn't much care who's standing in his way. "The Dirty Bird" is frustrated, and he's ready to throw down.
"I’m ready just to get in there whenever," Means said. "Everyone knows I want the Cerrone fight. Cerrone knows I want that fight. I’m not calling him out right now. He has a big step in front of him with [Patrick] Cote. He’s a fighter who shows up to fight, so eventually that can happen down the road. We’ll go from there. I’m just ready to get back in there."When two colleagues and I created the Israeli Reform haggadah in 2009, we were well aware of the tension between the significant role of women in the Passover story and the relatively little written about them in the haggadah. Because invisible lines of connection bind seder participants to the history of the Jewish people and to the traditions of individual families, ethnic groups, and their own personal heritage, we felt compelled to make the haggadah gender inclusive and to incorporate the stories of women from throughout Jewish history and today.
We added three new symbols, representing new traditions:
Miriam’s Cup: This glass of clear water parallels Elijah’s Cup and is the symbol of Miriam’s influence on the Passover story, especially the miraculous well that, according to tradition, accompanied the Israelites on their sojourn in the wilderness to slake their thirst.
Orange on the Seder Plate: Almost as a Hasidic tale, there are multiple explanations for this custom, but all of them protest the lack of egalitarianism and inclusiveness for women or others whose voices have been historically diminished. Although the custom originated in the United States, many families in Israel have adopted it as well. (In fact, it is so well known that the orange “stars” on the seder plate have been featured in the popular Israeli television comedy Avodah Aravit (Arab Work)).
Alternative Texts: To the haggadah passage of the “Four Sons,” we have added a midrash of “Four Daughters.” However, in ours there is no “wicked” daughter, but rather an “angry” one: a woman who is angry that women are excluded from the tradition. The answer given to this woman is: “You, too, are part of this night’s Exodus from Egypt; as it is written, Due to the righteous women…Israel was redeemed from Egypt” (Talmud, Sotah 11b).
We also revitalized several old symbols that had been forgotten.
Fish on the Seder Table: The tradition of a fish on the seder table significantly predates the orange as a feminist symbol. Rabbi Elazar of Worms (13th century, Germany) explained that the egg and the shank bone on the seder plate represent the two leaders Moses and Aaron, adding: “And there is another dish [fish] as a remembrance of Miriam” (Ma’aseh Rokeach 59, 17). In addition to recalling the well that accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness, fish is a symbol of Leviathan, the mythic animal that the righteous will eat in Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden) in the messianic future, and also can be a symbol of fertility that evokes water, the method through which Miriam saves the infant Moses. Together, the three foods symbolize the unique gifts of the three siblings: Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
The Four Cups of Wine as the Four Matriarchs: Rabbi Isaiah Horowitz, known as the SheLaH, explained in Shnei Luchot HaBrit, Pesachim 44 that the three central mitzvot of the seder – pesach (the Passover sacrifice), matzah, and maror (bitter herbs) – symbolize the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the four cups of wine represent the matriarchs.
Sarah is recalled in the first cup with a midrash that teaches that as Abraham converted men (to monotheism), so, too, did Sarah convert women.
is recalled in the first cup with a midrash that teaches that as Abraham converted men (to monotheism), so, too, did Sarah convert women. Rebekah is evoked with the “storytelling” second cup, since we “’begin with degradation and culminate with exaltation’” just as Rebekah’s story began with Esau and culminated with Jacob.” Although we're delighted to see the inclusion of the matriarchs in our seder, we are disappointed that the commentator (the the SheLaH) chose to associate Esau with disparagement. Today, we prefer to see the exultation of Isaac without the necessity to disparage his brother.
is evoked with the “storytelling” second cup, since we “’begin with degradation and culminate with exaltation’” just as Rebekah’s story began with Esau and culminated with Jacob.” Although we're delighted to see the inclusion of the matriarchs in our seder, we are disappointed that the commentator (the the SheLaH) chose to associate Esau with disparagement. Today, we prefer to see the exultation of Isaac without the necessity to disparage his brother. Rachel is recalled with the third cup in the blessings after the meal, since Joseph, her son, provided food for the entire House of Israel. Furthermore, she was the primary homemaker in the household, and it is taught (in Bava Metzia 59a), “The only true blessing in a man’s home stems from his wife.”
is recalled with the third cup in the blessings after the meal, since Joseph, her son, provided food for the entire House of Israel. Furthermore, she was the primary homemaker in the household, and it is taught (in Bava Metzia 59a), “The only true blessing in a man |
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Lucky the cat lived up to its name when firefighters plucked the feline from a house that was ablaze in Middletown, Va. — See the photos at TodayEvidence of life on Saturn's moon Titan just keeps piling up, and now we can add experimental proof to the list. Recreating the satellite's nitrogen-rich atmosphere and bombarding it with UV rays produces the organic molecules that lead to life.
We know that Titan's atmosphere is primarily composed of nitrogen and methane gas, and data from the Cassini probe has shown the moon is covered in constant, extreme UV radiation. A pair of researchers at the University of Arizona replicated these atmospheric conditions by placing nitrogen and methane in a stainless steel container, then subjecting it to constant UV rays.
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The nitrogen gas behaved just as hoped, generally moving directly to solid, nitrogen-containing organic molecules. These molecules are the precursors of life, and there's good reason to think the scientists replicated not just the atmosphere of Titan, but also the conditions of the primordial Earth. (And we all know how that turned out on the whole life front.) This obviously doesn't prove there's life on Titan, but it's a good indicator that organic molecules are being created in the moon's atmosphere that would greatly increase the chance of life developing. For more information on this research, including the comically insane lengths the researchers had to go to in setting up what sounds like a very simple experiment, check out the University of Arizona's report.
Image by David JacksonWhile working on an implementation of merge sort promised in the previous article, I realized that I’d like to use one neat little thing, which is worth its own post. It is a simple strategy for sorting or doing comparison-based tasks, which works wonderfully when input data is small enough.
Suppose that we have a very small array and we want to sort it as fast as possible. Indeed, applying some fancy O(N log N) algorithm is not a good idea: although it has optimal asymptotic performance, its logic is too complicated to outperform simple bubble-sort-like algorithms which take O(N^2) time instead. That’s why every well-optimized sorting algorithm based on quicksort (e.g. std::sort) or mergesort includes some simple quadratic algorithm which is run for sufficiently small subarrays like N <= 32.
What exactly should we strive for to get an algorithm efficient for small N? Here is the list of things to look for:
Avoid branches whenever possible: unpredictable ones are very slow. Reduce data dependency: this allows to fully utilize processing units in CPU pipeline. Prefer simple data access and manipulation patterns: this allows to vectorize the algorithm. Avoid complicated algorithms: they almost always fail on one of the previous points, and they sometimes do too much work for small inputs.
I decided to start investigating a simpler problem first, which is solved by std::lower_bound: given a sorted array of elements and a key, find index of the first array element greater or equal than the key. And this investigation soon developed into a full-length standalone article.
Binary search
The problem is typically solved with binary search in O(log N) time, but it might easily happen so that for small N simple linear algorithm would be faster. Of course, not all implementations of binary search are created equal: for small arrays branchless implementation is preferred. You can read about it for instance in this demofox’s blog post. Here is a branchless implementation that we will use in the comparison later:
int binary_search_branchless (const int *arr, int n, int key) { intptr_t pos = -1; intptr_t logstep = bsr(n); intptr_t step = intptr_t(1) << logstep; while (step > 0) { pos = (arr[pos + step] < key? pos + step : pos); step >>= 1; } return pos + 1; }
This code only works properly when N+1 is power of two.
In order to support arbitrary size of input array, some sort of modification is required. The best approach for it is described in this blog post from Paul Khuong, which is: make the very first iteration special by using step = n+1 - 2^logstep instead of just 2^logstep, so that regardless of comparison result the next search interval would have length 2^logstep, including either the beginning of array or the end of array (note that two such possible intervals overlap, and this is not a problem).
The comparison itself is included in the ternary operator, which is supposed to compile into cmovXX instruction. And it really happens (unless your compiler thinks that you compile for 486), according to assembly listing of the innermost loop:
$LL491@main: lea rax, QWORD PTR [rcx+rdx] cmp DWORD PTR [rdi+rax*4], r8d cmovl rdx, rax sar rcx, 1 test rcx, rcx jg SHORT $LL491@main
How good is this binary search implementation? It has no branches (point 1 from the above list), which is great. But it is inherently sequental (point 2): you cannot know which element to load on the next step until the element on the current step has been loaded and compared completely. Data access is scalar (point 3): you cannot vectorize it even if several keys are searched simultaneously.
We can take closer look by using Intel Architecture Code Analyzer: IACA is a small static analysis tool, which analyzes a snippet of code at instruction level. It assumes that the code piece is run in the infinite loop, that all branches are well-predicted and not taken, and that all memory accesses hit L1 cache (plus maybe some other assumptions). It is somewhat tricky to use with Visual C++ 64-bit compiler: you have to copy-paste the piece of code from assembly listing, surround it with markers (which are a bit wrong in iacaMarks.h by the way), then compile it with ml64.exe, and pass the resulting object file into iaca.exe.
Here is what IACA says about the innermost loop:
Throughput Analysis Report -------------------------- Block Throughput: 2.15 Cycles Throughput Bottleneck: Dependency chains (possibly between iterations) Port Binding In Cycles Per Iteration: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Port | 0 - DV | 1 | 2 - D | 3 - D | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Cycles | 1.5 0.0 | 0.9 | 0.5 0.5 | 0.5 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 0.0 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Num Of | Ports pressure in cycles | | | Uops | 0 - DV | 1 | 2 - D | 3 - D | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 1 | | 0.3 | | | | 0.6 | | | | lea rax, ptr [rdx+rcx*1] | 2 | | 0.6 | 0.5 0.5 | 0.5 0.5 | | 0.4 | | | | cmp dword ptr [rdi+rax*4], r8d | 1 | 0.4 | | | | | | 0.6 | | | cmovl rdx, rax | 1 | 0.5 | | | | | | 0.5 | | CP | sar rcx, 0x1 | 1 | 0.6 | | | | | | 0.4 | | CP | test rcx, rcx | 0F | | | | | | | | | | jnle 0xffffffffffffffee Total Num Of Uops: 6
So it says that bottleneck is “dependency chains” and it estimates single iteration of the loop in 2.15 cycles. The estimate is clearly wrong: it is easy to see that the first three instructions must be executed sequentally, and the first of them cannot start before that last of them from the previous iterations has finished. A load from L1 costs 4 cycles latency-wise, address generation and other three instructions take at least 1 cycle each. So the innermost loop should take 8 cycles per iteration. If we look how performance measurements increase from doubling N, we can estimate one iteration in 4-5 cycles throughput and 10 cycles latency: both are much greater that the estimate given by IACA.
Since the loop in the binary search is very small (4-6 microops) and it goes for tiny number of iterations (e.g. 6 iterations for N = 64), one might suspect that the loop itself can take considerable time. That’s why I have also implemented fully unrolled version of branchess binary search:
template<intptr_t MAXN> int binary_search_branchless_UR( const int *arr, int n, int key ) { assert(n+1 == MAXN); intptr_t pos = -1; #define STEP(logstep) \ if ((1<<logstep) < MAXN) pos = ( \ arr[pos + (1<<logstep)] < key \? pos + (1<<logstep) \ : pos); STEP(9) STEP(8) STEP(7) STEP(6) STEP(5) STEP(4) STEP(3) STEP(2) STEP(1) STEP(0) #undef STEP return pos + 1; }
This is of course quite far from the code usable in real programming, but it allows us to ignore all the overhead from the binary search and look directly at its core. IACA provides the following information about the code of the function (N = 64):
Throughput Analysis Report -------------------------- Block Throughput: 29.00 Cycles Throughput Bottleneck: Dependency chains (possibly between iterations) Port Binding In Cycles Per Iteration: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Port | 0 - DV | 1 | 2 - D | 3 - D | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Cycles | 5.0 0.0 | 5.0 | 3.0 3.0 | 3.0 3.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Num Of | Ports pressure in cycles | | | Uops | 0 - DV | 1 | 2 - D | 3 - D | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 1* | | | | | | | | | | mov r9, rcx | 1 | | 1.0 | | | | | | | | mov eax, 0x1f | 1 | | | | | | 1.0 | | | | or rcx, 0xffffffffffffffff | 2^ | | | 1.0 1.0 | | | | 1.0 | | CP | cmp dword ptr [r9+0x7c], r8d | 1 | 1.0 | | | | | | | | CP | cmovnl rax, rcx | 2 | | 1.0 | | 1.0 1.0 | | | | | CP | cmp dword ptr [r9+rax*4+0x40], r8d | 1 | | | | | | 1.0 | | | | lea rdx, ptr [rax+0x10] | 1 | 1.0 | | | | | | | | CP | cmovnl rdx, rax | 2 | | | 1.0 1.0 | | | | 1.0 | | CP | cmp dword ptr [r9+rdx*4+0x20], r8d | 1 | | 1.0 | | | | | | | | lea rax, ptr [rdx+0x8] | 1 | 1.0 | | | | | | | | CP | cmovnl rax, rdx | 2 | | | | 1.0 1.0 | | 1.0 | | | CP | cmp dword ptr [r9+rax*4+0x10], r8d | 1 | | 1.0 | | | | | | | | lea rcx, ptr [rax+0x4] | 1 | | | | | | | 1.0 | | CP | cmovnl rcx, rax | 2 | | | 1.0 1.0 | | | 1.0 | | | CP | cmp dword ptr [r9+rcx*4+0x8], r8d | 1 | | 1.0 | | | | | | | | lea rdx, ptr [rcx+0x2] | 1 | 1.0 | | | | | | | | CP | cmovnl rdx, rcx | 2 | | | | 1.0 1.0 | | | 1.0 | | CP | cmp dword ptr [r9+rdx*4+0x4], r8d | 1 | | | | | | 1.0 | | | | lea rax, ptr [rdx+0x1] | 1 | 1.0 | | | | | | | | CP | cmovnl rax, rdx | 1 | | | | | | | 1.0 | | CP | inc rax Total Num Of Uops: 27
It is hard to say how IACA got 29 cycles per search. The critical path is marked properly: groups of cmov and cmp must go sequentally after each other, each group taking 7 cycles latency-wise, so latency of the whole code should be about 42 cycles. In the benchmark, the whole search takes 21 cycles throughput and 59 cycles latency, while doubling N adds 4-5 cycles more throughput and 8-9 cycles more latency. It seems that CPU manages to execute several consecutive searches in parallel thanks to pipelining, that’s why throughput time is lower than latency time for branchless binary searches.
I believe this is the best you can get from a binary search.
Linear search
Things start to get more interesting when we try to invent a simple search algorithm working in O(N) time. Because there are actually several ways to do so.
If you look the question “How fast can you make linear search?” on stackoverflow, you will see a basic code like this:
int linearX_search_scalar (const int *arr, int n, int key) { intptr_t i = 0; while (i < n) { if (arr[i] >= key) break; ++i; } return i; }
Most of the answers for the question are just optimized versions of this algorithm: even if they compare more than one element at a time (with SSE), they still break out when the desired element is found. For instance, the author of the question (Schani) suggests the following code in his blog post:
int linearX_search_sse (const int *arr, int n, int key) { __m128i *in_data = (__m128i*)arr; __m128i key4 = _mm_set1_epi32(key); intptr_t i = 0; int res; for (;;) { __m128i cmp0 = _mm_cmpgt_epi32(key4, in_data [i + 0]); __m128i cmp1 = _mm_cmpgt_epi32(key4, in_data [i + 1]); __m128i cmp2 = _mm_cmpgt_epi32(key4, in_data [i + 2]); __m128i cmp3 = _mm_cmpgt_epi32(key4, in_data [i + 3]); __m128i pack01 = _mm_packs_epi32(cmp0, cmp1); __m128i pack23 = _mm_packs_epi32(cmp2, cmp3); __m128i pack0123 = _mm_packs_epi16 (pack01, pack23); res = _mm_movemask_epi8 (pack0123); if (res!= 0xFFFF) break; i += 4; } return i * 4 + bsf(~res); }
This code has no issues from the list of things that may slow down the algorithm, except for one mispredicted branch. The branch which checks if the answer is found is never taken except for the very last iteration when the loop terminates (which may happen at random moment). Of course, single misprediction is not a problem in a long loop, but it may cause problems when we want to optimize a tiny loop. In fact, Paul Khuong’s blog post claims that linear search is always slower than branchless binary search because of this single mispredicted branch. Luckily, there is a way to avoid branches completely.
The idea is very simple: the sought-for index is precisely the number of elements in the array which are less than the key you search for. In fact, this criterion would work the same way even if you shuffle the input array randomly =) Here is the scalar implementation based on this criterion:
int linear_search_scalar (const int *arr, int n, int key) { int cnt = 0; for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) cnt += (arr[i] < key); return cnt; }
For a vectorized implementation, we can compare a pack of four elements with the key, and then subtract the resulting masks (recall that they are -1 when comparison result is true) from the common accumulator. At the end we have to compute horizontal sum of the accumulator to get the total count. Finally, it is better to process several packs during single iteration (similar to unrolling) to reduce loop overhead. Here is the code:
int linear_search_sse (const int *arr, int n, int key) { __m128i vkey = _mm_set1_epi32(key); __m128i cnt = _mm_setzero_si128(); for (int i = 0; i < n; i += 16) { __m128i mask0 = _mm_cmplt_epi32(_mm_load_si128((__m128i *)&arr[i+0]), vkey); __m128i mask1 = _mm_cmplt_epi32(_mm_load_si128((__m128i *)&arr[i+4]), vkey); __m128i mask2 = _mm_cmplt_epi32(_mm_load_si128((__m128i *)&arr[i+8]), vkey); __m128i mask3 = _mm_cmplt_epi32(_mm_load_si128((__m128i *)&arr[i+12]), vkey); __m128i sum = _mm_add_epi32(_mm_add_epi32(mask0, mask1), _mm_add_epi32(mask2, mask3)); cnt = _mm_sub_epi32(cnt, sum); } cnt = _mm_add_epi32(cnt, _mm_shuffle_epi32(cnt, SHUF(2, 3, 0, 1))); cnt = _mm_add_epi32(cnt, _mm_shuffle_epi32(cnt, SHUF(1, 0, 3, 2))); return _mm_cvtsi128_si32(cnt); }
It requires the input array to be padded with sentinel elements INT_MAX until its size becomes divisible by 16. This requirement may be lifted by processing at most 15 last elements with additional loop(s), but I suppose such a version would work somewhat slower than the version with sentinels.
IACA provides the following info for the innermost loop of the code:
Throughput Analysis Report -------------------------- Block Throughput: 5.05 Cycles Throughput Bottleneck: Dependency chains (possibly between iterations) Port Binding In Cycles Per Iteration: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Port | 0 - DV | 1 | 2 - D | 3 - D | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Cycles | 0.5 0.0 | 4.5 | 2.0 2.0 | 2.0 2.0 | 0.0 | 4.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Num Of | Ports pressure in cycles | | | Uops | 0 - DV | 1 | 2 - D | 3 - D | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 2^ | | 0.5 | 1.0 1.0 | | | 0.5 | | | | vpcmpgtd xmm1, xmm3, xmmword ptr [rcx-0x20] | 2^ | | 0.5 | | 1.0 1.0 | | 0.5 | | | | vpcmpgtd xmm0, xmm3, xmmword ptr [rcx-0x10] | 1 | | 0.5 | | | | 0.5 | | | CP | lea rcx, ptr [rcx+0x40] | 1 | | 0.5 | | | | 0.5 | | | | vpaddd xmm2, xmm1, xmm0 | 2^ | | 0.5 | 1.0 1.0 | | | 0.5 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm1, xmm3, xmmword ptr [rcx-0x30] | 2^ | | 0.5 | | 1.0 1.0 | | 0.5 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm0, xmm3, xmmword ptr [rcx-0x40] | 1 | | 0.5 | | | | 0.5 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm1, xmm1, xmm0 | 1 | | 0.5 | | | | 0.5 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm2, xmm2, xmm1 | 1 | | 0.5 | | | | 0.5 | | | CP | vpsubd xmm4, xmm4, xmm2 | 1 | 0.5 | | | | | | 0.5 | | | sub rdx, 0x1 | 0F | | | | | | | | | | jnz 0xffffffffffffffd4 Total Num Of Uops: 14
And again: I’m not sure how IACA got 5.05 cycles per iteration. Most of the work done each iteration is clearly independent between iterations, so in a theoretical infinite loop several consecutive iterations can be executed in parallel, thus hiding latency of memory loads and dependencies. As for performance measurements, going from 64 elements to 128 elements increases time by 12.4 ns, which is 6.2 cycles per iteration. The cost per iteration decreases to 5.5 cycles for larger N. Note that both latency and throughput measurements increase equally with increase of N, which confirms the fact that iterations are processed independently. Given that execution ports pressure is 4.5 cycles per iteration, spending 5.5 cycles is pretty efficient usage of hardware (compared to binary search).
To make sure loop overhead is not critical, I have also implemented fully unrolled version of this vectorized implementation. For N = 64 it has four iterations unrolled, and here is its assembly code analyzed by IACA:
Throughput Analysis Report -------------------------- Block Throughput: 19.25 Cycles Throughput Bottleneck: FrontEnd, Port1, Port5 Port Binding In Cycles Per Iteration: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Port | 0 - DV | 1 | 2 - D | 3 - D | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Cycles | 1.0 0.0 | 18.8 | 8.0 8.0 | 8.0 8.0 | 0.0 | 19.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Num Of | Ports pressure in cycles | | | Uops | 0 - DV | 1 | 2 - D | 3 - D | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | 1* | | | | | | | | | | vpxor xmm3, xmm3, xmm3 | 1 | | | | | | 1.0 | | | CP | vmovd xmm5, r8d | 1 | | | | | | 1.0 | | | CP | vpbroadcastd xmm5, xmm5 | 2^ | | 0.9 | 1.0 1.0 | | | 0.1 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm1, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0x30] | 2^ | | 0.8 | | 1.0 1.0 | | 0.3 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm0, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0x20] | 1 | | 0.5 | | | | 0.5 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm2, xmm1, xmm0 | 2^ | | 0.6 | 1.0 1.0 | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm0, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx] | 2^ | | 0.4 | | 1.0 1.0 | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm1, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0x10] | 1 | | 0.6 | | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm1, xmm1, xmm0 | 2^ | | 0.4 | 1.0 1.0 | | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm0, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0x60] | 1 | | 0.6 | | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm2, xmm2, xmm1 | 2^ | | 0.4 | | 1.0 1.0 | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm1, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0x70] | 1 | | 0.6 | | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpsubd xmm4, xmm3, xmm2 | 1 | | 0.4 | | | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm2, xmm1, xmm0 | 2^ | | 0.6 | 1.0 1.0 | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm0, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0x40] | 2^ | | 0.4 | | 1.0 1.0 | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm1, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0x50] | 1 | | 0.6 | | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm1, xmm1, xmm0 | 2^ | | 0.4 | 1.0 1.0 | | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm0, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0xa0] | 1 | | 0.6 | | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm2, xmm2, xmm1 | 2^ | | 0.4 | | 1.0 1.0 | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm1, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0xb0] | 1 | | 0.6 | | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpsubd xmm3, xmm4, xmm2 | 1 | | 0.4 | | | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm2, xmm1, xmm0 | 2^ | | 0.6 | 1.0 1.0 | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm0, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0x80] | 2^ | | 0.4 | | 1.0 1.0 | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm1, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0x90] | 1 | | 0.6 | | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm1, xmm1, xmm0 | 2^ | | 0.4 | 1.0 1.0 | | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm0, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0xe0] | 1 | | 0.6 | | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm2, xmm2, xmm1 | 2^ | | 0.4 | | 1.0 1.0 | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm1, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0xf0] | 1 | | 0.6 | | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpsubd xmm4, xmm3, xmm2 | 1 | | 0.4 | | | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm2, xmm1, xmm0 | 2^ | | 0.6 | 1.0 1.0 | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm0, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0xc0] | 2^ | | 0.4 | | 1.0 1.0 | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpcmpgtd xmm1, xmm5, xmmword ptr [rcx+0xd0] | 1 | | 0.6 | | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm1, xmm1, xmm0 | 1 | | 0.4 | | | | 0.6 | | | CP | vpaddd xmm2, xmm2, xmm1 | 1 | | 0.6 | | | | 0.4 | | | CP | vpsubd xmm3, xmm4, xmm2 | 1 | | | | | | 1.0 | | | CP | vpshufd xmm0, xmm3, 0x4e | 1 | | 1.0 | | | | | | | CP | vpaddd xmm2, xmm0, xmm3 | 1 | | | | | | 1.0 | | | CP | vpshufd xmm1, xmm2, 0xb1 | 1 | | 1.0 | | | | | | | CP | vpaddd xmm0, xmm1, xmm2 | 1 | 1.0 | | | | | | | | | vmovd eax, xmm0 Total Num Of Uops: 56
The broadwell execution ports 1 and 5 are fully saturated here, the beginning and the ending of the function take about 3 cycles throughput, so there is about 16 cycles spent on the middle part, which gives about 4 cycles per loop iteration (i.e. per 16 elements). Performance measurements fully confirm this estimate: going from 64 to 128 elements increases time by 8.3 ns, which is 4.15 cycles per iteration. For larger N, cost per loop iteration perfectly converges to 4 cycles. These statements are true both for throughput and latency performance.
Finally, I have implemented AVX versions of the same algorithm (both in a loop and fully unrolled). They would also be present in comparison.
Comparison
The testing code works as follows. Both keys and input elements are generated randomly and uniformly between 0 and N+1. The input array always has size N in form 2^k-1, not including one sentinel element INT_MAX. Several input arrays and several keys for search are generated before performance measurement. The search function is called in a loop (without inlining), different input array and key from the pre-generated sets are chosen on each iteration. The cumulative sum of all the answers is printed to console to make sure nothing is thrown away by optimizer. Here is the main loop:
int start = clock(); int check = 0; static const int TRIES = (1<<30) / SIZE; for (int t = 0; t < TRIES; t++) { int i = (t * DARR + (MEASURE_LATENCY? check&1 : 0)); int j = (t * DKEY + (MEASURE_LATENCY? check&1 : 0)); i &= (ARR_SAMPLES - 1); j &= (KEY_SAMPLES - 1); const int *arr = input[i]; int key = keys[j]; int res = search_function(arr, n, key); check += res; } double elapsed = double(clock() - start) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC; printf("%8.1lf ns : %40s (%d)
", 1e+9 * elapsed / TRIES, search_name, check );
Originally I wanted to measure only throughput performance, but after having compared the results of MSVC and GCC compilers I realized that I need a mode to measure latency performance too, which is achieved by making input array and key indices dependent on the result of the previous search.
The constants ARR_SAMPLES and KEY_SAMPLES are chosen in such a way that the total size of all pre-generated input arrays is equal to the total size of all pre-generated search keys.
There are several reasons for using such a testing environment. First of all, I don’t want to include random number generation into performance measurement, that’s why input data is generated beforehand. Secondly, I want to avoid branch predictor memorizing the course of execution completely, that’s why there are many input arrays and many keys, which are rotated in the loop. It is important that the number of pre-generated keys is large enough. Lastly, I want to be able to emulate reading from prescribed cache level (L1D, L2), and this is approximated by setting the total size of all pre-generated input data appropriately. Unless said otherwise, all the results and plots are given for the fastest L1D cache: input data takes 64 KB of memory, of which input arrays take 32 KB and fit into cache precisely.
All the measurements were done on Intel Core i3-5005U CPU (Broadwell, 2 GHz, no turbo boost). The code was compiled using VC++2017 x64 compiler with /O2 and /arch:AVX2 (unless noted otherwise).
For all the plots below, the points on plot lines for binary search implementations have cross-like style, while the points for linear search implementations are marked with bold filled shapes. The plot lines are also grouped by color into: black = branching binary search, blue = branchless binary search, yellow = linear search with break, red/magenta = counting linear search (SSE/AVX).
Here are the names of search implementations:
binary_search_std : direct call to std::lower_bound
: direct call to std::lower_bound binary_search_simple : basic binary search with branches
: basic binary search with branches binary_search_branchless : branchless binary search
: branchless binary search binary_search_branchless_UR : branchless binary search – fully unrolled
: branchless binary search – fully unrolled linearX_search_sse : linear search with break (SSE)
: linear search with break (SSE) linear_search_sse : counting linear search (SSE)
: counting linear search (SSE) linear_search_sse_UR : counting linear search (SSE) – fully unrolled
: counting linear search (SSE) – fully unrolled linear_search_avx : counting linear search (AVX)
: counting linear search (AVX) linear_search_avx_UR : counting linear search (AVX) – fully unrolled
Initial attempt
Here is the plot I got initially with results of throughput performance measurement:
I spent considerable effort analyzing this plot and making conclusions out of it. I wrote a page of text about it =)
Of course, I did notice how much performance differs for unrolled and looped versions of branchless binary search. But after looking into assembly output, I did not try to further investigate it. And then I tried to compile the code with GCC (just in case), which changed everything…
With TDM GCC 5.1 x64, I got significantly different throughput performance for several search implementations. Linear searches work more or less in the same time (GCC being slightly slower), but the binary searches are tremendously different:
binary_search_std improved from 60 ns to 47 ns binary_search_simple improved from 49 ns to 16 ns binary_search_branchless improved 25 ns to 11 ns binary_search_branchless_UR worsened from 8 to 26 ns
The point 1 is explained by different implementations of STL. The points 2 and 4 are caused by differences in cmovXX instructions generation: binary_search_simple uses cmov on GCC instead of branches (quite unexpectedly: branches were intended), and the assembly code of binary_search_branchless_UR is some terrible mess on GCC, including both cmov-s and branches mixed (that’s really bad of GCC). The point 3 cannot be explained so easily: assembly outputs are very similar, and cmov-s are used in both of them.
After having spent some time on blending one assembly code into the other one, I found the critical instruction which spoils everything for MSVC-generated assembly code:
?binary_search_branchless@@YAHPEB |
must increase the sales tax from 7 percent to 10 percent. A 10% sales tax in New Jersey is unconscionable. It will kill New Jersey retailers and store owners. It will disproportionately hurt New Jersey's middle class and the poor.
You say you would never do that? Well, then, only one option left -- raise the income tax 23 percent on all 3.7 million New Jerseyans who pay that tax. How about that New Jersey? 23 percent more of your money to Trenton? To pay for pensions? Show of hands in this room from those of you who voted for this amendment. 10 percent sales tax? 23 percent increase in the income tax? New Jersey is watching -- let them see now, well in advance, how you are going to take their money from them to repay your union bosses.
This is the truth of your choice and you know it. To pay for gold plated pensions and platinum health benefits for a chosen, constitutionally protected few. To give the teacher who works for 30 years and pays only a total of $126,000 for his pension and health insurance over his entire career for a total of $2.4 million in return? Is that fair? Is that right? Are you going to tell New Jersey the truth about your vote yesterday?
The NJEA alone has given the Democratic party $30 million in donations to their campaigns and PACs over the last two years. Are we supposed to believe those donations and your vote to make them the only constitutionally protected recipients of taxpayer money in New Jersey are not connected? $30 million from the NJEA for you in return for $3 billion in tax increases for all New Jerseyans: what a deal.
We must tell New Jersey the truth. This is the road to ruin. Our non-partisan commission put forward an alternative that would avoid this calamity for our state and this injustice for our taxpayers. Stop this before it's too late. We cannot deny funding for health care, education, criminal justice, the poor, our environment, our children and our infrastructure to pander to pensioners. We cannot soak every taxpayer for the benefit of the privileged few. I will lead Republicans and Independents to say no to this outrage -- will legislative Democrats join us? And if you won't, how will you explain this to our fellow citizens? You can count on the fact that I will -- because I just did.
New Jersey is counting on all of us to make good things happen and to stop the bad ones in their tracks. So let's talk now about the other priorities we need to focus on for the year ahead. Let's roll up our sleeves again and put the public interest ahead of special interests and the status quo.
There are three other big challenges that I want us to work together on this year, and that will allow us to continue delivering dramatic results for New Jersey.
First, we need to continue our work to help the most vulnerable members of our society.
I believe we have what it takes to deliver a legacy of greatness for our state. And the true measure of greatness is found in the strength of our compassion.
Today, I'm asking you to join me in doubling down on our state's fight against drug addiction.
There are few things that I've worked on harder as Governor or that I believe in as strongly as this. Drug addiction, just like cancer, is an illness. It can strike anyone, from any station in life. We're talking about people who could be my son or daughter -- people who could be your kids, your husbands and wives. There but for the grace of God go each and every one of us.
Addiction is an illness and is something we can beat.
If we give people the tools and support they need to overcome this disease -- and if we choose to free people from the stigma of addiction, and recognize this as the public health challenge it truly is -- we can help people to reclaim their lives. We can find the true measure of our compassion.
Over the last few years we've made a lot of progress. We've led the nation in developing programs that help people to get clean and get back to work, and since 2012 we've enacted more than a dozen laws to address the drug epidemic. In 2013 we brought in the drug court program to provide mandatory treatment to first-time, non-violent, non-dealing drug offenders. We integrated employment services with treatment, to help offenders get training and find jobs.
In 2014, we launched a statewide program to help reduce the number of heroin-related deaths by training and equipping first responders to administer the antidote Narcan to overdose victims. Narcan has now been administered more than 7,500 times through this program -- and we've achieved the first decline in overdose deaths in our state in four years.
And last July, we instituted a single point of entry for people to gain access to treatment, and more than 30,000 calls have already been made by people looking to connect with drug treatment programs. Not dozens of calls to try to find help; just one call, to one place. Now that's the way government should work for those in need.
Now we have a chance to go further, and allow more of our citizens to get the help they need.
Today I'm announcing an expansion of one of our most promising anti-addiction efforts, the Recovery Coach Program.
This month, the Department of Human Services is launching a treatment intervention pilot program in hard-hit counties for people recovering from drug overdoses. The specialists leading these interventions are often in recovery themselves, and they're deployed to emergency rooms so they can provide guidance, support and referrals for treatment. With the benefit of their own experiences on the path to recovery, these recovery coaches can step in at the moment when victims of drug use are often at their most vulnerable and when support is most needed
We know intervention can change lives. And today, in this room we have an extraordinary example -- John Brogan.
John is 38 and a father of three. For many years, John was sadly a victim of drugs. He overdosed on heroin over and over and was reversed four times with Narcan. He came close to death. And it wasn't until he found support through a 12-step program that he was able to break the curse of addiction.
John has been clean for five years now, and he's dedicated his life to helping other victims escape from drugs. Today, John is a recovery coach, and he's going to work with the State's Recovery Coach Program as it moves forward. When an overdose victim wakes up and reaches out for support, John is there for them.
We're going to help John and all our other coaches to continue delivering life-changing interventions, by providing $1.7 million to expand the Recovery Coach Program to an additional six counties in New Jersey.
John, please stand up -- thank you for your courage. Thank you for helping us to reclaim lives.
To reclaim more lives, four years ago I also stood in this chamber and called for us to fundamentally change the way we treat nonviolent criminals who are in the thralls of the disease of addiction.
Through the reforms we delivered, like mandatory drug court, we have a smaller prison population today.
Today, this smaller population gives me the ability and opportunity to announce something extraordinarily exciting and unique across our country. We are closing a traditional state prison. Yes, our population is down enough that we have closed Mid-State Prison. Today, it stands empty as testimony to this Administration's work in reducing crime and recidivism. So what do we do with Mid-State? I propose today that we re-open Mid-State as a fully dedicated, certified drug abuse treatment facility for New Jersey prison inmates.
The victims of addiction deserve treatment, whether they're in the community or incarcerated. If we can break the cycle of addiction anywhere, we should break it.
So I've directed Commissioner Lanigan of the Department of Corrections and Commissioner Connelly of the Department of Human Services to implement the first licensed substance abuse treatment program at the Mid-State Correctional Facility. Next year it will re-open for its new mission. We are doing this because every life is a precious gift from God. Again, we must give all our citizens the chance to reclaim their lives.
Completion of a licensed treatment program will also allow inmates to be eligible for help upon release, providing an important safety net for offenders transitioning back into the community. The program is yet another way to reduce recidivism and helps all of our people to become productive members of society again.
Enhanced access to care is time and time again one of the most critical issues raised as I've traveled around the state speaking with providers, victims and their families. This is true in fighting drug addiction, and it's true in helping all those affected by mental illness.
Today, I'm very proud to announce a historic financial commitment of more than $100 million to increase access to care for mental health and substance use.
We're going to provide more competitive reimbursement rates for services and providers.
As demand for services continues to grow, we also need to widen access. Increased reimbursement rates will help improve critical services and provide more treatment capacity. The investment we're making will change lives and get more people into treatment earlier, instead of the emergency room or prison later. It's the fiscally responsible thing to do -- and it's the morally right thing to do.
For someone going through a mental health crisis, they're going to get better care in a treatment facility, not in a prison. We've already trained 2,500 first responders in nine counties on how to recognize and deal with difficult situations, so they can then decide whether it makes more sense to direct someone for treatment. Now we'll pay to train more. By expanding our training program we can help more people to get help faster. Another way to prove we believe every life is precious.
And to really make progress, we also need to provide access to better coordinated care.
Nearly two years ago I commissioned Rutgers University to analyze the characteristics of our most expensive Medicaid patients. What they found was totally clear. Within the top 1 percent of the most-expensive Medicaid patients, more than 86 percent have a mental illness, substance abuse issue, or both. If we can help people get access to coordinated care for their physical conditions, mental health and addiction issues, we can deliver more effective treatment and lower the long-term cost to the state.
To do this we're going to increase funding for three regional Accountable Care Organizations which are working to identify high-cost patients and coordinate their treatment for physical and behavioral health. Through a modest increase in funding, we can reduce unnecessary stays in hospital and avoid crowding up the ER.
So these are some of the important steps that we need to continue caring for some of New Jersey's most vulnerable people. This is a top priority for me this year, as well as for the remainder of my administration. Let's work together to save lives.
I also want us to continue getting our economic house in order. Together, we can continue to deliver the hard reforms New Jersey needs to drive new growth, jobs and investment.
Yes, we've made huge progress on the road to recovery over the last six years. But we've still got a long way to go. Decades of fiscal mismanagement and opposition from some folks in this legislature have slowed the pace of reform.
We need to make New Jersey a better place to do business. We need to get the burden of taxes and red tape off people's backs. We need to help more of our citizens to achieve the prosperity and security they deserve.
Over the last six years, we've seen the incredible benefits that flow to communities when we simplify our tax structure. When we're disciplined about the way our state functions, we can create the right economic framework in which the middle class, businesses and communities can reach their full potential. When we reined in property taxes by putting a 2 percent hard cap and passing interest arbitration reform, we put power back in the hands of communities.
When I signed into law in 2011 more than $2.3 billion in targeted, job-creating business tax cuts, we gave business the shot in the arm it needed to sustain the recovery and we have seen 224,000 new private sector jobs and the lowest unemployment rate in over seven years.
Now we need to take the next step, to turn recovery into sustainable long-term growth and opportunities for New Jersey.
Today, I'm calling on you to join me in abolishing the Estate Tax that penalizes the next generation and harms the long term economic future of our state.
Right now, New Jersey imposes an estate and inheritance tax.
Fourteen states currently have estate taxes, and six have inheritance taxes. But only New Jersey and Maryland have both. We're outliers. And we also have the lowest exemption threshold in the country. It makes New Jersey unfair and uncompetitve.
The estate tax isn't just something that affects the wealthy, it's penalizing middle class families who want to pass down the family home to the next generation. Our tax structure incentivizes people to move to other states as they age -- and when they do, to take their businesses and capital with them. In a recent survey by the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, more than 67 percent of people said that estate and inheritance taxes influenced decisions about the future of their business and where they will live in their later years.
We need to fix this now. We need to stop punishing the next generation and hurting middle class families.
In the last six years, we've changed the face of education of New Jersey. And we've given our young people a fighting chance for the future.
We've made the largest investment in education in New Jersey's history. More than a quarter of our 2016 fiscal year budget is being spent on direct aid to our schools, and we have some of the highest per-pupil spending in the nation.
We made historic, bipartisan changes to the oldest tenure law in the nation.
We worked with teachers to bring performance-based pay to schools in Newark.
We focused aggressively on improving the lowest performing schools across our state, including intervention to turn around failing schools in Camden and passing the Urban Hope Act.
In partnership with our community colleges, we launched the College Readiness Now Program to help at-risk students graduate from high school and to get prepared to attend college. 19 community colleges partnered with more than 60 high schools across the state, serving 900 high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds. 97 percent of the students completing the program in Atlantic and Cape May Counties enrolled in Atlantic Cape Community College as freshmen.
And we've attracted the best charter school operators, expanding the number of charter schools in New Jersey to 89 -- 39 new schools since we took office.
And it's charter schools that I want to focus on now.
Charter schools have been a resounding success for our state.
The number of students attending charter schools has nearly doubled during the course of my administration, and in districts like Newark and Camden nearly 30 percent of public school students are attending public charter schools.
What we've seen, over and over again, is young people with incredible potential being able to get the boost they need to go and achieve their full potential. Over and over again we've had examples of inspirational teachers, who thanks to the resources provided through well-run charter schools, have been able to make a huge difference for their communities and for a new generation.
Today, in this room we have an inspiring teacher who embodies everything we could wish for from our education system.
Allison Cuttler teaches math at the Uncommon Schools' North Star Academy in Newark. She's done incredible work to get more students at North Star interested in STEM subjects and careers, and she started her school's AP Computer Science class as well as their 'Girls Who Code' club. More than one quarter of African American students in New Jersey who passed the AP Computer Science exam last year came from her class, and the pass rate for her classes matches the national average. In December she received a Milken Educator Award. And today, for all her transformational work, she receives the thanks of a grateful state. Thank you Allison.
Now if we want to continue supporting people like Allison, then we need to continue improving our charter school system here in New Jersey. If we choose to keep investing in and supporting innovation in our education system, there's no reason we can't achieve many more success stories. There's no reason we can't have great schools in every community.
In November, I convened a roundtable in Newark with state and national charter school leadership. I wanted to listen and learn about what we need to do to enhance charter school growth and success in our state.
This is what I heard. Charter schools in New Jersey have been successful in spite of our regulatory environment -- not because of it. We've achieved some early successes with our charter schools, but we're not making it easy for them. Instead of giving charter schools the autonomy they need to deliver great education outcomes, we're regulating them using almost all of the same regulations that apply to traditional public schools. It's not good for innovation and it's not good for attracting more innovative charter school operators to our state.
Today, I'm announcing that my administration will aggressively prioritize regulatory relief for charter schools. We're going to explore ways to create greater flexibility in the teacher certification process for charter schools and we're also going to explore ways to make it easier for charter schools to find facilities. And we will pursue the regulatory reforms we need to encourage development of more charter schools to serve our most at-risk youth, including students with autism or development delays.
Education is key to our long-term success as a state and as a country.
It's undeniable that we've made a lot of progress in New Jersey over the last six years. There are things we've achieved that can be an inspiration and model for reformers in other states and at the national level. So let's keep going forward together. There will always be naysayers, the talking heads in the media and the unabashed partisans who think only liberal Democrats achieve anything worthy of praise. I've ignored those folks my whole career and I will continue to do so. They are the same folks who I said I shouldn't be U.S. Attorney. The same ones who opposed me for Governor in 2009. The same ones who called me a one-termer. Their record speaks for itself.
This is our path forward from here. The state of New Jersey is strong. If we work together, we can make it even stronger. But we can also make it smarter, more efficient, more resourceful -- and more compassionate. And if we are not careful, we can make it weaker if we give in to the selfish special interests. I will say no and I pray you will join me.
I have spent the last thirteen years of my life as US Attorney and governor of this state fighting for fairness and justice and opportunity for the people of this state. Every day I wake up and think about how to make New Jersey better, and how to make our country better. I feel so privileged to have served these last 13 years. I thank the people of New Jersey for the chances they have given me.
I believe our best days lie ahead. But if we want to win the future, then we need to face it boldly. We can't shirk from the difficult decisions and hard conversations we need to have. We can't choose to only pass the easy reforms or the ones that the media or the special interests like.
Government service is an enormous privilege and a special opportunity. Look around us. This great hall should inspire acts of sacrifice and greatness, not pettiness and self-service. We can do better by remembering who gave us these jobs - not the campaign contributors, not the folks who occupy the palaces on State Street - - the everyday heroes of New Jersey life. They work and struggle to make their lives better over the hurdles that life places before them. Let's not have those that serve in this chamber and what you do be another hurdle in their lives. Let us be the powerful who clear the hurdles for them that they cannot clear alone. We can do that by putting ourselves in their shoes; not by putting ourselves deeper in their pockets and their lives.
We must try and make things better for all, not just the monied few who roam these halls as if they own them. They think they've bought them. They're wrong -- but only if we make it so. Because all of us have been blessed with the strength and resources and wisdom to do the right thing.
Let's try. Let's work hard. Let's do better than you did yesterday. Let's say what needs to be said. Let's make New Jersey a better place to live, for all our people.
I've never had a greater honor then being Governor. I will never stop fighting for those who elected me. I will never stay silent to injustices. I will never settle for less -- from any of us. That is who I am because that is who New Jersey taught me to be.
Thank you and God bless you and God bless the great State of New Jersey.
***
S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NJ Advance Media staff writers Samantha Marcus and Stephen Stirling contributed to this report.I've switched to WP recently and found that push notifications on Windows Phone are not reliable at all. (Windows Phone 8.1, Denim).
I was using Lumia 930 for the last 3 months, and noticed a few occasions where I've missed messages on Viber / FB messenger / IM+Pro: I was not seeing any notifications about new message until I opened Viber / other IM.
This happens more often when I'm travelling through the areas with poor network coverage (so phone switches to 3G or even 2G for a short periods of time).
This problem makes WP platform unreliable for apps like Viber, because user can easily miss a message from someone while another person might be waiting for reply unaware of the fact that person didn't receive the message. I was using different android phones before my switch to Lumia and never seen issues like that on Android.
I did some investigation and found at least two experiments allowing to reproduce this issue with 99% success rate:
1st experiment:
Initially phone should be on the 4G network. Go to settings -> mobile + SIM and enforce phone to use 3G or 2G network only. Phone would loose network for a few seconds and then re-register on 3G or 2G. Exactly at the same moment, when phone lost the network - send IM message to the phone from another device.
Outcome: push notification for that message would be never delivered. Tested with Viber, FB Chat, IM+Pro, BBM, as well as Pushalot app. If you send another IM after phone gets back to network - only notification about the second IM would get delivered. Obviously all the messages would appear when IM app is opened.
2nd Experiment:
Switch airplane mode on. Send IM message from another device to the phone. Switch airplane mode off.
Outcome: push notification for that message would get never delivered - same as for the 1st experiment.
I think this bug is very important to get fixed, otherwise people can't trust WP infrastructure.Abby Lee Miller, the outspoken owner of the Abby Lee Dance Company and star of Lifetime’s “Dance Moms,” opened up about her shocking slim down to “Extra’s” Renée Bargh at Westfield Century City.After making headlines for her controversial dance training tactics, Miller did the same after dropping several dress sizes. She told Renée it was not something she set out to do, saying, “I mean I should have, but I didn’t.”Miller revealed she lost so much weight because she was taking care of her mother, who was living in hospice care.“I think the last six months, we were just trying to get her to eat, and the last two months people just kept bringing stuff, she was in hospice care, and you bring all of her favorites from restaurants, different fast food places, and it would make her sick,” Lee said. “She couldn’t even look at it. She didn’t want to smell, so I didn’t take food in with me to eat 'cause it was making her nauseous.”She continued, “Her illness and just her not wanting to eat, I wasn’t eating either.”Miller’s own medical condition contributed to her weight loss as well being diagnosed with the onset of diabetes, and then she had horrible side effect when she filled a prescription in Australia while she was there shooting.“Something with the medicine... it's the same thing, but it's not coated, and it really upset my stomach,” Lee revealed. “Anytime I ate, an hour later I was sick and running to the garbage can, so then the rest of the day I couldn't even look at food.”Miller admitted she isn’t working on being fit and healthier because of the diabetes. “I need to go and take a class on it. I need to understand what it really is, and hopefully it’s going to go away with some weight loss.”She said she’s focused on expanding her business and bringing her Abby Lee Dance Company to a Los Angeles studio. “It’s huge, it’s 10,000 square feet... we have three dance rooms, we have a Hollywood theme.”Miller teased that she may have some new shows in the works, but not confirming if she will be back for season six of “Dance Moms.”“I don’t know, we just wrapped season five, I don’t think anybody wants to even see each other again for a while,” she confessed.Miller did say she would be interested in returning, but quipped, “I think they need to get the bills paid for this season first.”“Dance Moms” returns to television tonight, and according to Abby, so does the drama, and she’s insisting it is all real. “The mothers are worse off camera… once the cameras turn off, they’re nuts, they’re absolute nuts.”She also revealed that you won’t see her in every episode this season. “Lots of drama, and you’re gonna see me missing. I’m a little MIA once in a while.”Miller added, “One of the producers kicked me off the set so I just kept on walking… I didn’t come back for ten days I think, I was at the pool.”Watch the summer premiere of “Dance Moms,” tonight, Tuesday June 9, on Lifetime.NEWPORT BEACH – An electric bike caught fire Sunday, shooting battery parts as it burned, authorities said.
The incident was reported around 4:30 p.m. at the end of an access ramp on 18th Street.
A man and woman had parked their newly purchased electric bikes on the beach and were sitting next to them when the battery on one of the bikes malfunctioned, said Mike Halphide, lifeguard battalion chief for the Newport Beach Fire Department.
“Lifeguards on scene reported that the battery was popping and sending projectiles dozens of yards from the fire,” Halphide said. “It’s something I’ve never seen before.”
The couple were not injured and firefighters used a dry chemical to extinguish the blaze. One bike was destroyed and the other was damaged, he said.
The couple bought the bikes, that each cost about $2,500, last week, Halphide said.
“I hope they get their money back,” he added.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@scng.com Twitter: @thechalkoutlineWhen the update rolls out later this year, Google will simultaneously tackle two of the biggest problems facing Chrome OS. "A lot of users wanted more apps and better offline capabilities," says Google's Kan Liu, a senior product director for Chrome. "We've been thinking about what is the right way to bring that to end users -- and it turns out we have a great app ecosystem in the Play Store." These apps will enable much more robust offline capabilities, something that could significantly transform how people work with Chromebooks.
"We've spent a lot of time and made good progress at enabling offline for Chromebooks based on the web," Liu explains, "but the web wasn't fundamentally designed for offline." Even though our smartphones are online most of the time, the vast majority of apps are designed to work offline as well, in a way that web apps just can't replicate. "When you design for Android, you have to think about offline," Liu adds. Things like music, video, photos, games and documents all benefit from more-robust offline modes. Some worked offline before but not to the extent they will when the Play Store arrives. "We've been trying to get developers to prioritize it [for Chrome] because users are asking for it, but developers weren't thinking about it," Liu says.
Google is doing as much as it can to make these feel like native desktop applications. It's not quite there yet, but eventually you'll be able to grab an Android app from the corner and stretch and resize it any way you like, with the content adjusting to fit that space. At the moment, though, you can only run them in their portrait phone or larger landscape tablet modes. Still, most of what I saw felt perfectly native: Notifications are filtered into the standard Chrome notification area, and the common design language across Google means most Android apps fit right in.
The obvious question is, why bother running Android apps on Chrome when you can just run them on native Android devices? Well, traditional notebooks still have a lot of productivity advantages over tablets. "The big difference between a tablet and a Chromebook is the trackpad, doing things with precision, it's a lot easier to use a mouse editing a document," Liu says. "And because it's a Chromebook, we have a full desktop-class browser." Split-screen multitasking in Android N will certainly help, but the multitasking experience still falls short of what a laptop can offer. Combined with the stability of Chrome itself, that will continue to give Chromebooks an advantage over tablets when it comes to sheer productivity.
As with most things Google, it'll be a while yet before users get to enjoy the benefits of the Play Store on their Chromebooks. Google is announcing the initiative today so it can start getting developers to take its desktop OS into account when updating their apps. It'll be available in the next developer-channel release and will only work on a limited set of devices: last year's Chromebook Pixel, the ASUS Chromebook Flip and a few others. A touchscreen will be a requirement at first, but that restriction will be lifted by the time the Play Store rolls out. That should happen before the end of the year.
If you're a Chrome OS fan, it's hard not to be excited about what Google is doing here, but it's also worth remembering that the success of Google Play on Chrome will depend on developers. The big knock against Android tablets has been less about hardware and more about the quality of apps. Developers haven't focused on building apps for larger screens with the same gusto that iOS developers have: Android tablets have always felt like an afterthought.
For that not to happen with Chrome OS, devs will need to think about building for the form factor. History says that won't happen at the level you'd hope for. Still, my fingers are crossed that things will go differently this time. The growing number of Chromebook users means there's a big, new market for Play apps. Hopefully developers will embrace the form factor. More users are always a good thing, and more apps are definitely good for Chromebook fans.
For all the latest news and updates from Google I/O 2016, follow along here.Todd Frazier's price just went up
Reds third baseman Todd Frazier is congratulated by first base coach Billy Hatcher after a single against the Indians in August. (Photo: The Enquirer/Gary Landers)
I've been saying all along that it makes sense for the Reds to try to extend the contracts of Todd Frazier and Devin Mesoraco.
We got an idea of how expensive that will be in the case of Frazier. Kyle Seager and the Seattle Mariners agreed to a seven-year, $100 million extension Monday, according to multiple reports. Yahoo! Sports had the news first.
Salaries in MLB are largely based on "comparables." Frazier and Seager are about as comparable as they get.
Both are third basemen. Seager is 27; Frazier's 28. Both are arbitration-eligible for the first time. Seager hit.268/.334/.454 this season with 25 home runs and 96 RBI. Frazier hit.273/.336/.459 with 29 home runs and 80 RBI this year. Seager's WAR (wins above replacement) was 5.8. Frazier's WAR was 5.3.
Contracts for players like Seager and Frazier tend to be back-loaded. When Jay Bruce signed a six-year, $51 million deal in 2011, it was for $2.75 million, $5 million, $7.5 million, $10 million, $12 million and $12.5 million per year, with $13 million and a $1 million buyout for a seventh year.
So the Reds could probably swing it with Frazier for the first four years of a six- or seven-year deal, but those last years will be expensive.
Read or Share this story: http://cin.ci/1tfbPhUWhen "Bill Nye the Science Guy" conducts an experiment, it always seems to have a positive outcome. But apparently things don't always run that smoothly in his personal life.
It began on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson." Nye announced his engagement to musician, author, and motivational speaker, Blair Tindall.
Nye surprised Tindall with a spontaneous wedding in 2006, which was officiated by super-star Pastor Rick Warren.
But for some reason, the marriage wasn't legal and neither Nye nor Tindall will say why.
"We were never married," Nye told Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman. "We got a letter from the State of California, with the great seal affixed, that we were never married. So shortly afterwards we both agreed it was not a good idea."
Well, maybe not both of them. Nye says his distraught ex-wife-that-never-was poured a toxic liquid into the garden behind the house they both owned, a substance Tindall later said was weed killer. Nye took out a restraining order against her. He says she was "dressed in black and wearing a black hat" and "she fled on foot when I called her name."
There was an allegation that Tindall intended to throw poison onto Nye's face or sprinkle it in his eyes. Tindall filed to have the restraining order lifted claiming that "stress and fatigue" clouded her judgment.
"I became very angry, and could only think of destroying the rose garden, so he couldn't give another woman the roses which I had cared for," she said.
The battle is reminiscent of another "War of the Roses," a movie about a bitter divorce that escalates into violence. But in this case, Tindall says "I meant to hurt his flowers only, not him."
"We need not export just these fascinating stories about celebrities," Nye said. "In my case, I emphasize we were never divorced because we were never married."
This ex-couple goes to court on Dec. 20 and family law attorney Tina Schuchman says Tindall may have a difficult time.
"She apologized but she also says she had emotional problems," Schuchman said. "She said she went into some kind of counseling, and rehab, but she does admit to having emotional problems, that may cut against her and not help her case."You are here: Home Media > Press Releases 2017
Press Release
SIPTU welcomes European Court of Justice ruling in favour of Ryanair workers
Date Released: 14 September 2017
SIPTU has welcomed a ruling by the European Court of Justice, today (Thursday, 14th September), which is a significant victory for Ryanair workers and a defeat for that company’s attempt to undermine its employees’ rights.
SIPTU TEAC Division Organiser, Greg Ennis, said: “This ECJ ruling is a significant milestone in the journey to achieving better terms and conditions for all Ryanair employees right across Europe. The ruling establishes the rights of mobile aviation workers to have their grievances heard under the laws of the country from which they work. It determines that an employee can address their work related issues at a Court which they regard as closest to them.
“This is a vital step for those who need, in particular, to seek redress in matters relating to individual contracts of employment. It does away with what has been the attempt by the management of Ryanair to use a flag of convenience approach to undermine workers’ rights.”
SIPTU Aviation Sector Organiser, Neil McGowan, said: “This ruling is the result of the great effort of the workers involved and their trade unions, who stood up and fought for workers’ rights in this matter. It is an important victory in the fight against social dumping in aviation.”
He added: “Our members wish to express their support and solidarity to the CNE trade union from Belgium for delivering this ground-breaking court case. This victory will prove to be of immense benefit in the years ahead as SIPTU fights alongside other International Transport Workers’ Federation and European Transport Workers’ Federation affiliated unions for fair and reasonable treatment for all aviation workers across Europe.”Inspiring Stories
6 Inspiring Stories: You’re Never Too Old to Dream
These people prove that we can all definitely get better with age.
Faujah Sing: Marathon Man In February 2013, Faujah Sing became the oldest person to run a marathon at age 101, completing a 6.25 kilometer race in Hong Kong in one hour, 32 minutes, and 28 seconds. Astonishingly, Sing only came to racing at age 89 after losing his wife and son, but has since completed eight competitive races.
Desiline Victor: Voting Legend At age 102 and wheelchair bound, Desiline Victor sat in line for several hours waiting to vote at her Florida polling station on Election Day 2012. Her persistence and dedication to exercise her right to vote caught the attention of President Obama, who acknowledged her in his State of the Union address. Victor now has a bill named after her (“Desiline’s Free and Fair Democracy Act”) which will ease the voting process for everyone.Swedish teachers and students often talk about religion as something outdated and strange
News: Dec 07, 2015
Karin Kittelmann Flensner. Photo: Anders Johansson/University West.
In Swedish classrooms, religion is often associated with an obsolete time when people just didn’t know better – as if religion used to serve a purpose but there is no need for it in the modern world. This is the conclusion of a doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg that explores how teachers and students talk about religion and worldviews within the framework of non-confessional integrative Religious Education in upper-secondary classrooms.
‘I found that religious faith is portrayed as incompatible with being a modern, rational and independently thinking human being. In contrast, a non-religious, atheistic position is articulated as a neutral and unbiased approach to religion. I had not expected this discourse to be so strong in all the studied classrooms,’ says Karin Kittelmann Flensner, who wrote the thesis.
Kittelmann Flensner’s study is based on observations of Religious Education |
Other underclassmen, mostly the offensive line players, may still need another season to prepare for the big stage. This unfortunately coincides with the hole in Penn State's on-field roster for the past couple of years. While the offensive line's available players on game-day will remain at the low end this season, the talent level in practice, and the total number of players available at practice, is increasing to pre-sanction levels. That may pay off this season on the field even if the younger, more talented players sit and watch on game days.
The football team has really hung in there for the past few years, facing a tremendous amount of adversity in addition to competing and practicing with fewer players than their opponents. It will be a welcomed change for the team to have the ability to match other Big Ten squads in both talent and number of players in the coming years.
Penn State Basketball
While the basketball team has not faced a reduction of scholarships over the past few seasons, the team has frequently played with fewer than the 13 scholarship players allowed by the NCAA. In Pat Chambers' first season with the team, 2011, the roster had zero seniors. It also had three walk-ons that would later gain a scholarship in Kevin Montminy, Nick Colella, and Alan Wisniewski. Eight of the thirteen players listed on the roster in 2011 left Penn State with eligibility remaining. These factors created a deficit in available scholarship players in the following seasons.
Early in the 2012-13 season the team was dealt a blow when Tim Frazier, the team's projected leader on the floor, went down with a season-ending injury in the fourth game of the season. The injury to Frazier left the team with four guards on scholarship, and John Johnson had to sit out due to transfer. In addition, Akosa Maduegbunam was not ready to compete at the Big Ten level. The team regularly featured two scholarship guards, Newbill and Marshall, along with newly rewarded former walk-on Nick Colella and walk-on Kevin Montminy. That team only had two big men that produced at respectable levels, with Sasa Borovnjak adding offense midway through the season and Ross Travis rebounding and later scoring consistently. For Chambers, it was impossible to employ multiple-guard sets when there are only four guards getting meaningful minutes. The lack of numbers also took away the option of sporadic pressing, which has benefited the team in recent seasons.
In 2013-14, the team on paper had filled out the roster, but the big men on the court were rushed into service, and could have used a year or two to develop. As a result, the team finished 16-18 with heavy contributions for Tim Frazier and D.J. Newbill on the perimeter. The team lacked the strength in the paint to compete on a level playing field with many of its opponents. The lack of available productive big men once again limited the strategy that coach Chambers could use throughout the year.
2014-15 saw the team once again with an acceptable number of players on roster, but still not quite ready to compete in the paint. Jordan Dickerson showed a few flashes of what he could be at his best, but consistency was an issue. Redshirt freshman Julian Moore played sparingly, and as a result the team was once again out-numbered on the low post for most of the season. The team rode a spectacular senior season by D.J. Newbill to an 18-16 record, but was unable to compete in the Big Ten due to a lack of balance on the floor.
The team last season began to take on the look of what is to come this year and the near future for the program. While only ten players contributed significantly, there was a balance of guards and post players available to coach Chambers. The surprise academic redshirt of Mike Watkins just prior to the season left the team down one post player. However, for the first time in the Chambers era, the team had four productive players it could deploy to the low-post. While Donovon Jack did not produce to the level that some fans would have liked to see, his play along with Jordan Dickerson's emergence gave the team bodies on the post that could hold off opponents better than the team had in the recent past. Julian Moore showed flashes of the offensive weapon and solid power forward that he may become in the future. Brandon Taylor's low-post scoring added a dimension that the team hadn't had since Sasa Borovnjak's late-season emergence in 2012. Davis Zemgulis and Josh Reaves played solidly considering their youth and showed glimpses at the overall talent level and athleticism that is now filling out the roster. For the first time in Chambers' tenure, he had 'one of each' in terms of players to deploy strategically. Low post, guards, small forwards, all on the floor at the same time.
This season marks the first time that Pat Chambers will have not just one of each, but several players at each position that should be ready to produce. Satchel Pierce, the 7'0" transfer center from Virginia Tech, will have to sit out the year. That may prove to be a significant loss when Penn State matches up with the beefier teams on the schedule. Julian Moore, Mike Watkins, and Joe Hampton are not prototypical centers, much better suited to play power forward, but the talent level that the trio of PSU big men will have on the court is better than we have seen in years.
The 2016-17 team will feature three red-shirt juniors along with junior leader Shep Garner. While the team is absent of seniors, the leadership equation should be fine. For the first time in the Chambers era, he will have twelve scholarship players to deploy, all with the talent needed to compete at the Big Ten level. The readiness and maturity of the young players will be a factor that will likely determine the success of the team. As the talent level of the incoming recruits continues to rise, the likelihood of that talent being ready to contribute immediately increases as well. With Shep Garner's performance through two seasons, and Josh Reaves' emergence as a defensive menace and scoring contributor in his rookie season, there is reason to believe that the six new players available to Chambers this year could make an immediate impact.
Terrence Samuel, a transfer point guard from UConn, should be ready to play significant minutes, taking some of the ball-handling pressures off Shep Garner. Isaiah Washington proved last season that he can be counted on off the bench for productive depth. Incoming freshman point guard Tony Carr could be a game-changer if he is ready to go from day one.
Last season we saw glimpses of what a small forward can accomplish when Davis Zemgulis had moments of brilliance. Zemgulis averaged 9.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per 40 minutes played as a true freshman. Not since David Jackson has Penn State seen what a true small forward can accomplish on the court. In 2016-17 the team will add Lamar Stevens, Nazeer Bostick and Joe Hampton to the roster, all players with small-forward capabilities. Add that to Shep Garner, Josh Reaves, and Payton Bank's ability to slash through the lane for high-percentage drives, and Penn State opponents may find themselves the victims of a death by a thousand cuts. No longer will the team rely on one player, or one type of offensive approach, to carry the load offensively. With the additional athleticism that the team has gained, it is likely that opponents will have to deal with a healthy dose of pressing as well, with Josh Reaves cherry picking lazy passes.
With all of the focus being given to the quality of the recruits that Chambers has been able to bring into the program over the past couple of seasons, the quantity is equally as impressive and important.
Penn State Hockey
The hockey team is in a similar place as the football and basketball teams. This will be the fifth season for the team at the division one level of competition. As a result, the program didn't have its first full class of division one caliber recruits until last season. Last season's stellar recruiting class produced to the tune of 50 goals, 35% of the team's overall total. There is reason to believe that the current group of incoming players will exceed that production in 2016-17.
The biggest difference between the hockey program and other sports is that the players that the team is adding to the roster this year are a couple of years older than traditional freshmen entering college. Of the seven players entering the program this season as freshmen, three will be nineteen years old and four will be twenty years old. The players have been playing in extremely competitive hockey leagues for the past few years prior to joining the Lions. To compare to football and basketball, it would be similar to adding junior college transfers, only the players still have four years of college eligibility remaining.
That being said, it is expected that the players will develop and improve in their four seasons with Penn State. So like the other programs, this incoming class of players is the foundation for the future. While the players may be game-ready this season, in the years to come their overall talent should increase. The names on the back of the sweaters won't change much over the next few years, but the product on the ice should continue to improve.
The hockey program will have just six upperclassmen in 2016-17, five seniors and one junior. James Robinson is currently listed as a junior, but he missed all but one game last season due to injury and will likely gain a red-shirt season. It is likely that the team will add at least one more goalie to the team prior to the start of the season. It could add an additional skater as well.
Guy Gadowsky's team has put together two consecutive winning seasons. The only other Big Ten teams that have accomplished that in the same span are Michigan and Minnesota. That's amazing when you consider the fact that Penn State played with fewer players than any other team in the league last year (24). The other Big Ten teams skated with an average of 27 players per team. This became a factor several times last season due to injuries. The Lions played three games last year with two fewer players than is allowed, and several more games skating with one player under the maximum. This created problems with substitutions in addition to taking a toll on the stamina of the team overall.
And still with this disadvantage in numbers and skill, the team was able to win 21 games and remain in the hunt for an at-large NCAA tournament birth until the final week of the season. It will be fun to see what the program will do this season, and in the coming years, with an equal number of players and talent as their opponents.* Photo: Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Altitude * The environmental movement has never been short on noble goals. Preserving wild spaces, cleaning up the oceans, protecting watersheds, neutralizing acid rain, saving endangered species — all laudable. But today, one ecological problem outweighs all others: global warming. Restoring the Everglades, protecting the Headwaters redwoods, or saving the Illinois mud turtle won't matter if climate change plunges the planet into chaos. It's high time for greens to unite around the urgent need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
Just one problem. Winning the war on global warming requires slaughtering some of environmentalism's sacred cows. We can afford to ignore neither the carbon-free electricity supplied by nuclear energy nor the transformational potential of genetic engineering. We need to take advantage of the energy efficiencies offered by urban density. We must accept that the world's fastest-growing economies won't forgo a higher standard of living in the name of climate science — and that, on the way up, countries like India and China might actually help devise the solutions the planet so desperately needs.
Some will reject this approach as dangerously single-minded: The environment is threatened on many fronts, and all of them need attention. So argues Alex Steffen. That may be true, but global warming threatens to overwhelm any progress made on other issues. The planet is already heating up, and the point of no return may be only decades away. So combating greenhouse gases must be our top priority, even if that means embracing the unthinkable. Here, then, are 10 tenets of the new environmental apostasy.
ONLINE EXTRAS
How-To Wiki:
Use the Web to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
How-To Wiki:
Build a Square Foot Garden
How-To Wiki:
How To Compost
How-To Wiki:
Tips for Green Lawn Care
Autopia:
Go Green — Buy A Used Car. It's Better Than A Hybrid
10 GREEN HERESIES
Live in Cities:
Urban Living Is Kinder to the Planet Than the Suburban Lifestyle
2 A/C Is OK:
Air-Conditioning Actually Emits Less C0 2 Than Heating
Organics Are Not the Answer:
Surprise! Conventional Agriculture Can Be Easier on the Planet
Farm the Forests:
Old-Growth Forests Can Actually Contribute to Global Warming
China Is the Solution:
The People's Republic Leads the Way in Alternative-Energy Hardware
__Accept Genetic Engineering: __
Superefficient Frankencrops Could Put a Real Dent in Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Carbon Trading Doesn't Work:
Carbon Credits Were a Great Idea, But the Benefits Are Illusory
Embrace Nuclear Power:
Face It. Nukes Are the Most Climate-Friendly Industrial-Scale Form of Energy
Used Cars — Not Hybrids:
Don't Buy That New Prius! Test-Drive a Used Car Instead
Prepare for the Worst:
Climate Change Is Inevitable. Get Used to It
COUNTERPOINT
It's Not Just Carbon Stupid:
The Danger of Focusing Solely on Climate Change115+ Really Useful Websites That You’ll Probably Bookmark
22 SHARES Share Tweet
1.Playlist Buddy
Convert Spotify playlists to YouTube. Happy converting. www.playlistbuddy.com/
2. Typatone
Make your own music online with your keyboard www.typatone.com/
3. Word Map
Visual Search Engine wordmap.co
4. Autre Planete
Social media image maker for all formats. www.autreplanete.com
5. Dirpy
Convert youtube videos into 320 kbps mp3 files. www.dirpy.com
6.Account Killer
Shows you exactly how to close any social media account forever, not just disable them. www.accountkiller.com
7. Date to Date Calculator
Find out exactly how many days/months/years passed between two dates. Here!
8. Word Frequency Counter
Great for finding all the words and phrases you overuse in your writing. All you need to do is pasting the text here.
9. A Good Movie to Watch
Do you spend all your Netflix time trying to figure out which movie to watch? Problem solved!
10. Flip Text
Flip text and then use it on Twitter or Facebook. ˙ǝɹǝɥ ʇı ʎɹʇ
11. Printer Friendly
Make any webpage printer friendly. Check it out here.
12. Two Foods
For when you can’t decide what to have for breakfast. Weigh your options here.
13. Gifprint
Turn an animated gif into a printable flip book. Probably the most useful website of all time. Go here now.
14. tiii.me
Calculate just how much time you’ve spent watching your favorite show. Here.
15. Copy Paste Character
Grab hard-to-remember symbols and characters in a snap. Here!
16. Supercook
Find recipes when you only have a few ingredients at home. Here!
17. Steep.it
A simple Internet tea timer. Here!
18. 10 Minute Mail
A disposable e-mail service to beat spam. Here!
19. Gifs.com
As the name implies, this site makes it incredibly simple to create an animated GIF from any YouTube video of your choosing. Here!
20. WornOnTv
WornOnTv.net is an interesting website that lets you know where to purchase articles of clothing that you may have seen characters on popular TV shows wearing.
21. Howlongtoreadthis
Wbsite called howlongtoreadthis.com which allows users to see how long it would take them to read any book of their choosing.
22. Forgotify
The premise of Forgotify is simple. It shuffles through songs that have never been played, not even once, on Spotify. It’s a great way to listen to either undiscovered gems, or horrific tunes that have never been played for a reason. Either way, it’s a fun way to kill some time. Here!
23. Mathway
This site solves every kind of math problem in the blink of an eye. Don’t use it for cheating at school! Here!
24. Strip Creator
Create your personal comic stripe. Click here.
25. Adobe Kuler
Directly from Adobe, the smartest way to find the best color combinations. Click here.
26. The Rasterbator
Make a wall art out of any image. Try it here.
27. Talk.gg
Chatting websites are often over complicated or are too expensive. Talk.gg is a simple and free way for gamers to team chat! Here!
28. Alternativeto.net
Alternativeto.net is the perfect website you need to find the best alternatives to the software you’re looking to replace. Just type in the software and a list will appear! Many pieces of software are free! Here!
29. Long Url
Avoid phishing and malware by checking out where short URLS really take you before you visit them with Longurl.org.
30. Everytimezone.com
Never be confused about what time it is in a foreign country ever again. Everytimezone.com displays every time zone and takes math out of the equation, so to speak. Here!
31. FollowUpThen.
Have you ever lost a potential client because you forgot to follow up? Don’t make the same mistake twice by sending an email to FollowUpThen, which reminds you when you need to.
32. PolishMyWriting.
Spellcheck is great, but we still make typos in key documents we’re sending our bosses. Next time, paste your text intoPolishMyWriting, which gives you free grammar, spelling, and style advice.
33. WhichDateWorks.
Trying to get all of your friends together for dinner? Skip the 90-message-long text chain and use WhichDateWorks, which compiles your schedules and tells you when everybody’s available.
34. SafeWeb
Avoid clicking on potentially dangerous links with SafeWeb. Type in the URL and Safeweb lets you know if that link in your email is OK to click.
35. DeadURL.
Have you ever tried to go to a website you saved months ago, only to learn it’s no longer available? Get access to the information you need with DeadURL, even if the website is gone forever.
36. Nolo.
We hope you never find yourself in legal trouble. Use Nolo to stay out of it, – a website which simplifies the law and answers your everyday legal and business questions.
37. U-Cheat.
Are you a big gamer and stuck on a level? Check out U-Cheat, which is full of cheat codes and hints for all your favorite games.
38. PicMonkey.
Like pretty photos but don’t want to shell out for Photoshop? PicMonkey is a powerful, free web-based photo editor. For enthusiastic amateurs, it’s the fun of Photoshop without all the fuss.
38. SmallDemons.
Turn reading into an interactive experience. Want to learn all the books set in Paris? Want to know if that café in your James Patterson novel is a real place? If you’re a book lover, SmallDemons is your mecca. Well, after the library, of course.
40. Sleepyti.me.
What time should you go to sleep? Sleepyti.me has the answer. Input the time you want to wake up, and it tells you when you should hit the sack. If you’re sleepy and want to know when you should get up, it tells you that too.
41. Runpee.
Heading out to the movies is always a fun time – unless you miss important plot points because you had to use the restroom. Runpee tells you when you should go, and what happens while you’re in the bathroom.
42. NowIKnow.
Want to keep your brain sharp? NowIKnow emails you an interesting story each day, like the fact that carrots used to be purple.
43. UnplugtheTV.
Instead of watching the same Friends re-run every night, why not try something educational? UnplugtheTV curates videos that entertain as much as they teach, so you can learn something new as you scarf down your pizza.
44. DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.
This self-explanatory tool tells you if your favorite website is down for everyone or…well, you get the drill.
45. OldVersion.
Have you ever downloaded a new version of a software only to discover you preferred the old one? Get the OldVersion back here.
46. CamelCamelCamel.
We all love saving money. If you’re shopping on Amazon, CamelCamelCamel will help you out by tracking prices of the items you want.
47. Khan Academy.
Want to learn how to code? Need to brush up on long division? Khan Academy has free courses on any subject you can imagine – great for you or a teenage friend who needs some tutoring.
48. Readability.
Do you hate certain websites because of all the visual clutter? Readability is a mobile and web app that gets rid of all that for you, providing you with a pleasant reading experience.
18. BugMeNot.
How many times have you skipped accessing a website because you didn’t want to provide your personal information?BugMeNot shares logins, so you can get what you need without exposing yourself to endless spam.
49. Mailinator.
Can’t find a shared login on BugMeNot? Mailinator, which gives you a temporary email address, is another decent alternative.
50. WhatShouldIReadNext.
We know you’re reading a lot more this year, but what happens when you’ve read through all of your friend’s book recommendations? Input a beloved book or author on WhatShouldIReadNext, and it tells you exactly that.
51. FillerItem.
Don’t you hate when you buy an item on Amazon, and you need $3.04 to get free shipping? Instead of buying another big-ticket item, check out FillerItem for something that costs you just enough so you can get free shipping – it’ll probably be something you need, too.
52. TipOfMyTongue.
We’ve all been there. You’re having a conversation with a friend, and you suddenly forget the word that you need. Avoid awkward lulls in conversation with TipOfMyTongue, which helps you find out exactly what word it is you were thinking of.
53. DoIHaveADeadPixel.
Do you? Find out at this self-explanatory website.
54. WhoSampled.
Think the latest Billboard hit sounds familiar, but can’t remember why? Find out what song it samples atWhoSampled – the ultimate database of samples, cover songs and remixes.
55. Environmental Working Group Skin Deep.
We read all the ingredients in the things we put in our body, but what about on it? Find out if your cosmetics contain any potentially harmful ingredients.
56. Project Gutenberg.
Books are great, but they can add up. Get access to a host of titles in the public domain (i.e. free) at Project Gutenberg.
57. RulesOfThumb.
If ants travel in a straight line, expect rain. If you want a cat to jump onto your lap, don’t make eye contact with it. Learn these and other handy tidbits at Rules of Thumb.
58. AcademicEarth.
Like Khan Academy, AcademicEarth is a great tool to learn practically anything you want, for free. Unlike Khan Academy, you don’t have to log into AcademicEarth or track your progress – learn what you want, when you want it.
59. Myxer.
Don’t want to pay for a ringtone? Hate all the options you have available? Customize your own at Myxer.
60. LovelyCharts.
Do you use a lot of charts for work? LovelyCharts allows you to easily create flowcharts, network diagrams, sitemaps, etc in a simple format.
61. FaxZero.
Have you ever encountered a company that only accepts faxes in 2014? If you do but don’t own a fax machine,FaxZero allows you to send faxes for free in the United States. The basic free service limits you to 3 pages and 2 transmissions a day plus adds an ad-ridden cover page, while $1.99 gets you no cover page and a maximum of 15 pages. However, you can’t receive faxes – so if you need to do both frequently, try MyFax, which lets you send and receive faxes for $10/month.
62. Bubbl.
If mind mapping helps you brainstorm, try out Bubbl, which allows you to create simple mind maps absolutely free. Not a mindmapper? Learn why you should be here.
63. HundredZeros.
Love free Kindle books but have trouble finding them? Use HundredZeros.com, which directs you to popular free Kindle books. As long as you have a Kindle or can download the free app onto one of your devices, you can use this website.
64. Jotti.
Think you might have a virus? Jotti scans any sketchy email attachments to keep your computer and your data safe.
65. CoralCDN.
Do you have a favorite website that’s often down due to heavy traffic? Can’t get on to see a much-hyped news event? Access the site using CoralCDN.
42. Random.
Use this website to pick a random number, flip a coin, pick a card and more.
66. PDFEscape.
Don’t bother downloading a PDF you need to edit – do it online with PDFEscape.
67. Midomi.
Can’t remember the name of a song? Hum or sing it, and Midomi will tell you. The website also features an online music store and some lovely covers of famous songs.
68. Kleki.
Bored at work? Take a fun break by ‘painting’ something online at Kleki. You could always paint something nearby to improve your observation skills.
69. PrivNote.
Want to send a private note to someone? PrivNotes self-destruct after being read.
70. HomeStyler.
Is your “Dream Home” board the most active on Pinterest? Do you enjoy flipping through home design magazines, even if you have no plans to remodel your home yet? Use HomeStyler to remodel your home or design it from scratch – all in 3D.
71. Boxoh.
Want to know exactly where your package is? Use Boxoh, which tracks your shipment using Google Maps.
72. DisposableWebpage.
Need a temporary webpage for an exhibition or family reunion? Create a webpage that self-destructs when you want it to with DisposableWebpage.
73. ScribbleMaps.
Whether you need to send someone directions or want to display your business locations, ScribbleMaps has got your back. Just draw your own map with Google Maps integration.
74. SXC.
Use SXC to browse and download over 400,000 stock photos – absolutely free.
54. Marker.to.
Use this bookmarklet to highlight text on any website and share it easily.
75. Minutes.io.
Are you the designated minute-taker for all your meetings? Minutes.io simplifies all aspects of this task, from the important decisions made to sending the minutes to attendees afterwards.
76. Snopes.
Ever heard a story and wondered if it’s really true? Look it up on Snopes, the Mythbusters for the Internet generation.
77. TallTweets.
Do you want to send Tweets that are longer than 140 characters? TallTweets breaks up long text, or sends it all at once as an image.
78. TimeRime.
Find a timeline on a subject or create your own using audio, video and images.
79. Ifttt.
Ifttt stands for “If this then that,” and is a simple way to create automatic connections between your online accounts. For example, “If someone tags me in an Instagram post, email me that photo.”
80. Google History.
Can’t find the link you Googled before? As long as you have a Google account, you can look through your own search history. Don’t worry – it’s password-protected, so only you can log on.
81. NoPhoneTrees.
Never spend hours on hold again. Enter the company name in NoPhoneTrees to learn what buttons to press to talk to a real person.
82. SimplyNoise.
Can’t concentrate at the office? Use white noise to block out distractions at SimplyNoise.
84. MsOutLookIt.
Playing at the office when the box walks in? Switch to MSOutLookIt so you look like you’re checking your work email.
85. IRuler.
Use this Internet ruler for your measuring needs.
66. Chandoo.
Chandoo is a blog that teaches you Microsoft Excel, a useful professional skill that surprisingly few people know.
86. Investopedia.
Does the Finance section of the Wall Street Journal confuse you to no end? Try Investopedia, a blog that teaches you about stocks, taxes and more in normal language.
87. Prezi.
When you have a few hours to make a presentation, PowerPoints can be complicated. Try Prezi instead, which creates memorable presentations with a fraction of the effort.
88. PreyProject.
Download Prey onto your phone, tablet or PC and save it for a rainy day. When one of your devices is stolen, Prey helps you protect your data and find the thief.
89. PDF Geni.
Can’t find the instruction manual for your broken VCR? Look it up on PDF search engine PDF Geni.
90. Cloze.
Love social media but sick of all the clutter? Use Cloze to streamline your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and email accounts, so you can connect with the people who matter.
91. Donothingfor2minutes.
When you want to recharge at work, DoNothingFor2Minutes at this relaxing website.
92. IkeaHackers.
Whether you want to up your IKEA game or need to revamp some old furniture you no longer, IkeaHackers is packed with cool projects for your home.
93. Crackle.
Want to watch movies and TV shows legally, but bored of Netflix and Hulu? Crackle has lots of video content – mostly made by SONY. While the selection can be limited, Crackle is completely free, which gives the service a big advantage.
94. City-Data.
Use this popular website to find a detailed review of almost any zip code in the US, such as percentage of renters or the number of sex offenders who live there.
95. ReRunCheck.
Hate turning on your TV to watch your favorite show, only to learn that it’s a re-run this week? Find out in advance if it is at ReRunCheck.
96. Wowbrary.
Want to save money on entertainment, but don’t love your library’s collection? Register at Wowbrary to be notified when your library receives new books, movies and music.
97. Zumbox.
Ever wished you could replace your post office box with a digital version? Zumbox lets you do just that.
98. EchoSign.
Use EchoSign to get legally binding signatures on contracts without ever printing a single page.
99. WikiBooks.
WikiBooks is a collection of online textbooks that anyone can edit. Whether you’re in grad school or eager to become an expert in a new topic, scour WikiBooks for free educational resources.
100. LogMeIn.
Download LogMeIn on your computer, and you’ll be able to access it from any Internet-connected computer in the world.
101. DailyLit.
Have trouble reading 52 books a year, let alone one? Select a book of your choosing at DailyLit, and a time you want to read it. The website will give you snippets of the book via email or RSS until you finish it.
102. Surfly.
Have you ever tried to teach your mom how to use Facebook or plan a trip with your friends? Next time, use Surfly to share a website. It generates a unique link, so your friend can see exactly what you’re seeing.
103. Giphy.
Nowadays, people love using GIFs to react to the Internet. So find the exact GIF you’re looking for at Giphy, a powerful search engine exclusively for GIFs.
104. RxList.
RxList is the Internet Drug Index. Learn all about what the pills you’re taking actually do. It even has a feature that helps you identify your pills, in case you mix two up by mistake.
105. VirtualTourist.
Want to learn all about your next vacation destination? Get advice from real people – tourists and locals alike – to learn all about where to go, what to do, and what to skip at this online community.
106. TagMyDoc.
Add a QR code to your document, and any updates you make will automatically be made to previous versions you’ve shared. Learn more about the service here.
107. OhDon’tForget.
Do you often send yourself text message reminders? Schedule them in advance at OhDon’tForget.
108. BuyMyTronics.
Trade in your old electronics for cash.
109. LetterMeLater.
Like OhDon’tForget, but for emails. Pre-schedule emails to send from your own address.
110. WakerUpper.
Love the wake-up calls you get in hotels? WakerUpper has them for free, and you can even schedule a message too. Try using it to get out of a bad date.
111. TotalProSports.
Bored of ESPN? Total Pro Sports is the go-to news site for the wackier side of sports, from catfished athletes to skateboarding priests.
112. Rotoworld.
Love fantasy football? Get up-to-the-minute news on your players at Rotoworld.
113. CellSwapper.
Stuck in a cell phone plan you hate? Use CellSwapper to sell your plan or swap out with someone else.
114. The Nicest Place on the Internet.
Having a rough day? Go to the nicest place on the Internet for an quick pick-me-up.
115. How Secure Is My Password?
How long would it take for a PC to hack into your accounts? Find out at this secure website.In a memorable dissection on Twitter of representative Ted Lieu (D-CA), the Congressman who ostentatiously walked out of a Congressional moment of silence for victims of the Texas church shooting, and then posted a rant about gun control on Facebook, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro blasted Lieu and cudgeled him into silence.
Lieu began:
Why I walked out of yet another moment of silence on the House floor for a gun massacre. We cannot remain silent. https://t.co/F4j4sCsOFw — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) November 7, 2017
That set off the ensuing one-sided battle:
You do understand that the moment of silence is out of respect for the memories of the slain, correct? https://t.co/YvUlVMz6tV — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 7, 2017
Yes and I have concluded the best way to show that respect is to jar people to take action to prevent future mass shootings. — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) November 7, 2017
Do you walk out of funerals regularly to go perform acts you believe are worthwhile, or do you maybe stay first? https://t.co/KaSFaxOQNY — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 7, 2017
I would not walk out of a funeral. But I will walk out of a moment of silence, and I will do it again until we get action on gun safety. — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) November 7, 2017
Will you also walk out for terror victims targeted by foreign-born terrorists until immigration reform is pursued? https://t.co/U3OdGAv8lz — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 7, 2017
If it's done with assault rifle or gun modified by a bump stock, then yes. Also, nearly all mass shootings in US are done by US citizens. — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) November 7, 2017
You have picky standards for which moments of silence to boycott. Why are some victims worth less than others? https://t.co/zhL84OsLRj — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) November 7, 2017
I am basing it on inaction on gun safety. — Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) November 7, 2017Image copyright Amazon Prime Video Image caption Jeremy Clarkson said the move was like climbing 'out of a biplane and into a spaceship'
Former Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May have signed up to present a new show on Amazon's streaming video service.
The trio will front three series of a new motoring programme for Amazon Prime, with the first season to be made available worldwide in 2016.
The move follows their departure from the hit BBC Two show earlier this year.
Clarkson's contract was not renewed following an "unprovoked physical attack" on a Top Gear producer.
His co-hosts then followed him in leaving the show.
They will now make the unnamed new programme with former Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman, who also quit the BBC following the "fracas".
In a statement from Amazon, Clarkson said: "I feel like I've climbed out of a biplane and into a spaceship."
Hammond said: "Amazon? Oh yes. I have already been there. I got bitten by a bullet ant." And May added: "We have become part of the new age of smart TV. Ironic, isn't it?"
Wilman told the Radio Times the team would begin working on the new series as soon as they return from their summer holidays.
He said they agreed a deal with Amazon because "they'll give us the freedom to make the programme we want...there's a budget to produce programmes of the quality we want and this is the future".
Wilman added the format of the new show would contain "themes people will be familiar with".
"I can't tell you how good it feels to get the chance to produce something from scratch," he said. "We're all really excited. No one telling us what we can and can't do, just us hopefully producing great programmes. It feels really liberating."
Analysis - Mark Savage, BBC entertainment reporter
Rumours that Clarkson, May and Hammond would take their blokey bonhomie to a streaming service have been circulating for months.
It's a shrewd move. For a start, Amazon doesn't have to bow to pressure from advertisers, particularly those car manufacturers the team regularly skewers.
Secondly, it neatly sidesteps the much-reported clause in the presenters' BBC contracts that prevented them making a show for a UK broadcaster for two years.
More importantly, the team already have a proven track record in streaming video. Top Gear accounted for eight of the top 20 most-streamed programmes on the BBC's |
touchpoints remarkable in context. Loosely coupled teams can be both coordinated and agile. It’s not either/or.
Spenner: In the book you spend some time talking about pruning (or sunsetting) specific assets and projects. How can marketers know when to prune these assets and what assets are worth pruning? Have you seen approaches for regular/disciplined pruning and sunsetting?
Brinker: I think this is one of the most underappreciated challenges in modern marketing. There is a massive mountain of stuff that we deal with as marketers today – touchpoints and technologies appearing every month, an exploding array of micro-channels and micro-campaigns, etc. And, most of it is additive. Because it doesn’t obviously replace things we were doing before, the mountain keeps growing bigger.
Over time, this results in a large landfill of legacy cruft – leftovers or holdovers from old marketing programs and activities – that is expensive to maintain. It saps time from the team, and where these outdated elements touch customers, it can harm their experience and damage the brand.
The solution is to invest effort actively in sunsetting legacy marketing content and programs. It’s like a chef constantly cleaning the kitchen as they go along, to always have a clear workspace for the next dish. A good example of this is with old landing pages and website content. The SEO community is actually very good about advocating for cleaning up old links, and they’ve adopted a number of software tools to help with this. We can certainly apply the same idea to marketing automation, social media, internal analytics, and so on.
But, it takes real effort. You don’t see very many line items in marketing budgets for removing or pruning legacy stuff, but we should.
Spenner: What does your caution against over-engineering, combined with your Martec’s Law observation*, mean for the 3,500 plus vendors pushing against ever more advanced functionality?
*Martec’s Law states: Technology changes exponentially; organizations change logarithmically.
Brinker: Taken as a whole the 3,500 marketing technology vendors making up the landscape seems like a ridiculous number. But, in the context of what any one company wants to accomplish with marketing technology, you can quickly narrow that landscape down to a smaller handful of candidates that are right for your business.
One of the more striking moments at MarTech 2016 this year, was when Steve Krause from Oracle addressed the user experience and how marketers stand a prayer of “keeping up with all the new technology.” He was very frank in saying, “You shouldn’t have to keep up. We should be doing that for you. As vendors, we should be doing a better job in user experience to make these capabilities more accessible.” It really brought to light the opportunity that is ripe for the picking for marketing technologies to create a better user experience. I think we’ll see a lot of progress in this direction over the next couple of years.
At the same time, machine learning and artificial intelligence will advance in the coming years to a point where the software will be able to take on more tasks for marketers, without marketers having to spend as much time configuring and orchestrating them manually.
Those two areas offer hope that over the next few years – marketing software will get more sophisticated while also becoming more accessible to marketers who use it.
Spenner: Switching gears a bit for the last question. Tell our readers here what turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? (Aside, of course, from creating impossibly comprehensive maps of the marketing technology landscape.)
Brinker: Honestly, I live, breathe, eat and sleep marketing and technology. But more broadly, seeing individuals leverage these innovations to make outsized impact on their marketing organizations truly fascinates me. Seeing clever ideas executed on a small budget, reaching a large audience, building real affinity with customers. It’s a very empowering time for marketers who are willing to embrace these possibilities, and I’m totally inspired by that phenomenon.
We’ve heard that the best software engineers are 10 times more productive than the average ones. Given the talent, opportunity and software-based leverage that marketing now has, we’re in an era where the best marketers are 10 times more effective too. And, that’s pretty cool.
Spenner: Well, your perspective on all things marketing technology related is a huge asset to many. So, thanks again for taking the time to sit down with me today. It was, as usual, very enlightening!Thanks to some recent rain, the Waterberg is lush, green, the rivers full and the dams overflowing. Last week the Marataba section of the Marakele National Park received over 160mm of rain in three days.
The day after the big rains I made my way along the Matlabas River in the late morning. It was nine o’clock and already over 30ºC.
On the road ahead I saw a large elephant cow cross the road towards the river. I approached slowly and parked where the road was close to the river’s edge.
The elephant cow had disappeared into the thick bush but we could hear the rustling of trees nearby, so we knew there was a herd feeding in there. Downstream we could hear splashing in the water but unfortunately the bush was too thick for us to see the elephant that was frolicking in the water.
We sat patiently watching some hippos doing what they do best – bobbing up and down in the water but never taking their eyes off of us.
The rustling in the bush got closer and closer, and before long we could see the large grey backs of some large elephants. Slowly the herd made their way out of the thick bush.
The elephant calves ran to the water’s edge with excitement and dove straight in! Their mothers stood close, protecting them from any potential dangers.
Soon we were surrounded by elephants making their way to play and drink in the water. Some of the elephants crossed to the other side where they met other herds, and we watched with interest as two herds met in the middle of the river whilst the hippos held their spot in the river.
It was almost as though there was a previous arrangement made between nearly 100 elephants to meet at this specific point of the river. We were privileged to witness this event. Many splashed in the water, others trumpeted and the younger calves all but disappeared as they crossed the river with just their trunks above the water acting as snorkels.As much as the post-Internet era has harmed the music and film industries, it has benefitted stand-up comedy in unpredictable ways. The debut of the iPod fomented the creation of podcasts, which have been indispensible distributors of comedy and comedians; and the rise of streaming services like Netflix (and until recently, Chill) gave comedians a way to release specials without a TV network—or they could just skip the middle man altogether and self-release their material. Comedians have never had more possibilities available to them, which is perhaps why 2013 was such a good, prolific year for comedy. It seemed to come from everywhere: the old guard (HBO, Comedy Central), upstarts (Netflix), indie labels (ASpecialThing), and the comedians themselves. There was so much of it that The A.V. Club could scarcely keep up—and so much of it looked good.
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This year, we changed things a bit to allow specials, not just albums, to be eligible for voting. We also changed our voting process. Instead of giving our writers a certain number of points to work with, we asked for a simple list of five of their favorites. The top entry received five points, the second one four points, and so on. We added them together and disqualified anything that only received a single vote. That left us with eight top albums out of the roughly 20 that our reviewers selected. See everyone’s individual ballots below for more thoughts on releases that didn’t make our best-of list.
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To vote for your favorite comedy of 2013, visit our readers’ poll.
8. Anthony Jeselnik, Caligula (seven points, two votes)
Twitter has helped resuscitate the one-liner, and no one wields brevity more skillfully than Anthony Jeselnik. His second album, Caligula, recorded in Chicago, is another stellar set of quick jokes constructed from ordinary setups that veer in dark directions. Jeselnik is chiefly an audacious comedian, never afraid to take on any topic—the album begins with a track called “Rape” and escalates to a series of deliberately button-pushing bits. That offends a lot of people, but Jeselnik likes to test the limits of comedy and find something to laugh at even the darkest places. Plus, his jokes aren’t at the expense victim; they’re about the idiocy of a way of thinking. Comedy Central may have canceled The Jeselnik Offensive too soon, but Jeselnik still has one of the best albums of the year.
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7. Eugene Mirman, An Evening Of Comedy In A Fake Underground Laboratory (seven points, three votes)
An oddball title like An Evening Of Comedy In A Fake Underground Laboratory has a lot to live up to, but Eugene Mirman has always set the mood quickly. (Two of his previous albums are entitled En Garde, Society and God Is A Twelve-Year-Old Boy With Asperger’s.) On Laboratory, Mirman shows off more of the offbeat humor that makes him a uniquely adventurous performer, from uploading his own slogans to a Tea Party website (“Taxation without tea? Hell no King George Obama Stalin!”) to giving ridiculous advice to audience questions. (“‘My consciousness keeps projecting into my direwolf; what should I do?’ Get a job.”) Like his previous bit about the putrid service on Delta Airlines, the best part of the album finds a way to hilariously skewer an easy target: Time Warner Cable. Mirman has been outstanding as Gene on Bob’s Burgers, and Laboratory shows he’s not far removed from an adult stand-up version of the character.
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6. Pete Holmes, Nice Try, The Devil (seven points, four votes)
Pete Holmes had a big year, thanks to a high-profile gig hosting a late-night talk show after Conan on TBS, his popular podcast, You Made It Weird, and his first hour-long special, Nice Try, The Devil, which Comedy Central Records also released as an CD/DVD. Nice Try, The Devil builds on what Holmes established with his great 2011 album, Impregnated With Wonder, with Holmes as a likeably goofy, highly enthusiastic comedian who’s as at home with light-hearted wordplay (see “Pierce!!!/Juan!!!”) as he is deconstructing his own racial issues (“Atlanta”). A bit of conceptual silliness about a video-game character going to the doctor is followed by another where Holmes breaks down how screwed up people should be from breast-feeding. Many comedians, particularly in the alt-comedy scene, seem uneasy with outright silliness—where’s the commentary, where’s the edge, man?—but a lot of those folks would kill for the kind of guffaws Nice Try, The Devil produces.
5. (tie) Kurt Braunohler, How Do I Land? (eight points, three votes)
Kurt Braunohler has been a familiar face (and voice) to sketch and podcast fans for years, but the goofy, affable How Do I Land? is his first album. Recorded in Portland (“Is your main economy bucket-drumming?”), it’s mostly observational, but always sharp and inviting—he’s prone to laughing at his own jokes, but in a charming way. A long bit about buying a huge dildo—for comedic purposes—and then falling on his face while jogging home with it is hilarious, as is a presumably true story about bringing a date home to his apartment filled with huge notes about sketch ideas that double as super-creepy phrases like “Do bad decisions exist?”
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5. (tie) Aziz Ansari, Buried Alive (eight points, three votes)
As his long, surprisingly personal interview with us from last February showed, Aziz Ansari has a lot on his mind these days, and that heavily informed his special for Netflix, Buried Alive. As Ansari neared 30, other signifiers of adulthood started to hit him harder—friends marrying, having kids, and generally settling down. These are some of his same goofball friends who, as Ansari says at one point, still wear chain wallets. Ansari honed the material over the course of a 75-city tour and filmed the special in Philadelphia. It’s always a bold move to incorporate crowd work into a televised special, but Ansari’s questions for an engaged couple near the stage pay dividends that he clearly didn’t expect, to his delight. Buried Alive feels like Ansari’s first special as a grown-up, and it bodes well for what comes next.
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4. Amy Schumer, Mostly Sex Stuff (13 points, three votes)
Amy Schumer’s second collection, Mostly Sex Stuff (recorded in 2012 but released as an album this year), has the most appropriate title for a comedy record this year, which is extra nice since it’s filled with fantastically inappropriate material: A funny story about spilling secrets ends with her admitting, “One time, I let a cab driver finger me.” Elsewhere, she examines her own relationship with porn, her fascination with the morning-after pill, and Teen Mom. (“Or, if you’re from the South, Mom.”) It’s all a little over-the-top, naturally, but in such a way that it’s charming when, in lesser hands, it might just be gross.
3. Maria Bamford, Ask Me About My New God! (13 points, four votes)
With track titles like “Suicide, Anyone?,” “Homeopathic Depression Remedy,” “Stay Alive Out Of Spite,” and “Joy Whack-A-Mole,” Ask Me About My New God! sounds like Maria Bamford’s darkest album—and it is. Bamford recorded it after a brief hospitalization following a breakdown, and many of the jokes reflect her well-publicized struggles with mental illness. But Ask Me About My New God! is, most importantly, very funny, as Bamford uses her elastic voice to imagine Paula Deen’s recipes as a suicide note, present herself as a mentally challenged café customer, voice the skeptical kids she’s trying to mentor, and others. Bamford’s comedy is unfailingly empathetic and self-effacing, but hardly toothless. In “Stigma,” she adopts her pitch-perfect bitch voice to portray people talking about diseases like cancer as dismissively as they do depression and mental illness. It’s painful and true—but also very funny.
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2. Kumail Nanjiani, Beta Male (21 points, six votes)
Although he’s been a fixture in the alt-comedy world for years at this point, Kumail Nanjiani had yet to release an album prior to Beta Male, his first hour-long special for Comedy Central. The extra wait was worth it, as Beta Male is an assured, funny debut and the only album anyone will hear this year that goes from a horrifying and funny story about a birthday party in Karachi, Pakistan, to a track called “Meowminos.” Born in Pakistan and raised Muslim, Nanjiani has a well of material unshared by anyone else in the overwhelmingly white comedy scene, and he uses it without shtick. While not many people can relate to growing up in a Muslim country with overzealous strictures against pornography, plenty can empathize with his story about getting a pornographic tape stuck in a VCR and nearly getting caught by his parents. Beta Male delivers on the promise Nanjiani has been showing for years.
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1. Louis C.K., Oh My God (28 points, eight votes)
Louis C.K.’s hot streak continues, to the point that it feels anticlimactic to have him in the No. 1 spot again. It’s expected that a new hour from C.K. would be excellent—it’d only be news if his latest album weren’t great. No news is good news for Oh My God, which debuted as an HBO special in April before he released it for $5 via louisck.net. C.K. is as sharp as ever as he returns to some of his favorite topics: divorce, his failing body, aging, and parenting. The track “Of Course, But Maybe” explores the dark corollaries lurking beneath our most accepted opinions—“Of course children who have nut allergies have to be protected… but maybe if touching a nut kills you, you’re supposed to die,” goes one—and finds C.K. in his element, making the squeamish hilarious.
BALLOTS
David Brusie
1. Louis C.K., Oh My God
2. Kumail Nanjiani, Beta Male
3. Maria Bamford, Ask Me About My New God!
4. Pete Holmes, Nice Try, The Devil
5. Todd Glass, Todd Glass Talks About Stuff
Jimmy Pardo, Sprezzatura
It’s not entirely fair to compare Jimmy Pardo’s Sprezzatura with other comedy records, because its improvised effortlessness is like nothing else you’ve heard this year. “Sprezzatura” is an Italian term meaning “studied carelessness,” and the word perfectly fits Pardo’s affect, which combines Rat Pack chumminess with unexpected vulnerability. His asides, whether about the kindergarten teacher who created a cold remedy (“She invented Airborne one day, the next day she taught the kids how to make turkeys out of a handprint”) or his stage attire (“If push came to shove, I would probably describe this sweater as ‘too tight’”) are better than most comics’ polished bits. And did we mention that Sprezzatura’s tracks are all named after songs from Chicago 13? Studied carelessness indeed.
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Dave Foley, Relatively Well
Not everything on Dave Foley’s first record lands; it’s clear that the kid in the hall is still working on transitioning from sketch to stand-up. But there’s enough pathos on Relatively Well to translate into amusement, especially a long story about how Foley turned down the opportunity to sleep with a 19-year-old Uma Thurman (“the most beautiful thing or event you’ve ever seen”), because he was trying to remain loyal in his troubled relationship. At times, Foley seems to be trying too hard to see what tone or wording works best, but there’s no sign of flop sweat—only the sweat that comes from remembering past, and hilarious, embarrassment.
Marah Eakin
1. John Hodgman, Ragnarok
2. Kurt Braunohler, How Do I Land?
3. Amy Schumer, Mostly Sex Stuff
4. Aziz Ansari, Buried Alive
5. Kumail Nanjiani, Beta Male
Will Harris
1. Kumail Nanjiani, Beta Male
2. Ron White, A Little Unprofessional
3. Louis C.K., Oh My God
4. Eugene Mirman, An Evening of Comedy In A Fake Underground Laboratory
5. Dana Gould, I Know It’s Wrong
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Steve Heisler
1. Bill Cosby, Far From Finished
2. Maria Bamford, Ask Me About My New God!
3. Chris Hardwick, Mandroid
4. Anthony Jeselnik, Caligula
5. Louis C.K., Oh My God
Kevin McFarland
1. Anthony Jeselnik, Caligula
2. Kumail Nanjiani, Beta Male
3. Louis C.K., Oh My God
4. Pete Holmes, Nice Try, The Devil
5. Eugene Mirman, An Evening Of Comedy In A Fake Underground Laboratory
Josh Modell
1. Aziz Ansari, Buried Alive
2. Kumail Nanjiani, Beta Male
3. Amy Schumer, Mostly Sex Stuff
4. Louis C.K., Oh My God
5. Kurt Braunohler, How Do I Land?
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Steve Moore
1. Louis C.K., Oh My God
2. Eugene Mirman, An Evening Of Comedy In A Fake Underground Laboratory
3. Moshe Kasher, Live In Oakland
4. Kurt Braunohler, How Do I Land?
5. Jamie Kilstein, What Alive People Do
Kyle Ryan
1. Louis CK, Oh My God
2. Maria Bamford, Ask Me About My New God!
3. Kumail Nanjiani, Beta Male
4. Pete Holmes, Nice Try, The Devil
5. Aziz Ansari, Buried Alive
Others that I really liked that didn’t make my top five, in no particular order:
Marc Maron, Thinky Pain
Jimmy Pardo, Sprezzatura
Eugene Mirman, An Evening Of Comedy In A Fake Underground Laboratory
Dave Anthony, Shame Chamber—Dave Anthony should be much bigger than he is, and this album is hilarious.
Mike Schmidt, The Big Angry—Schmidt is more storyteller than traditional stand-up; his comedy hews into the Mike Birbiglia/Paul F. Tompkins vein. It’s definitely worth checking out.
Mike Birbiglia, My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend
Mike Lawrence, Sadamantium—Another up-and-comer who will likely be a big name soon.
Greg Fitzsimmons, Life On Stage
Todd Glass, Todd Glass Talks About Stuff
Brian Posehn, The Fartist
Anthony Jeselnik, Caligula
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Didn’t get around to seeing/hearing these, but I’m sure they’re good:
John Hodgman, Ragnarok
Amy Schumer, Mostly Sex Stuff
Chris Hardwick, Mandroid
Christian Williams
1. Louis C.K., Oh My God
2. Amy Schumer, Mostly Sex Stuff
3. Myq Kaplan, Meat Robot
4. Maria Bamford, Ask Me About My New God!
5. Pete Holmes, Nice Try, The Devil
Illustration by Dan HenrickSolace
Solace is an interactive, animated film by Evan Boehm based on celebrated science fiction writer Jeff Noon’s short story about a near future in which marketing and addiction are disturbingly intertwined.
The fabric of the film is a generative, interactive liquid written in code. Using the library paper.js as its base, the team built an engine that produced a cartoon-like physics system that could respond to user interactions and generate character animation in real-time. A visitor to the film uses their cursor to poke, pop and pull this liquid to play with the story.
To weave it all together, a real-time audio sound system was also produced to provide the atmospheric soundtrack. The audio responds to the user, and the story, in real-time.
Click here for a behind the scenes breakdown.
Click here for a press pack.
← backThe club is incredibly disappointed to be advised that those currently representing the North Terrace are proposing to cease coordinated support at the North End in future matches.
Having had a number of meetings and discussions with the nominated leadership in the off-season, the operating model was agreed and we spoke about ensuring communications were maintained throughout. The club was not contacted prior to this decision.
The timing is also alarming on the eve of a Derby. To be clear, we will not change our stance of zero tolerance on anti-social behaviour. There is no place for it at our club or in our game.
As a club, we are fully committed to ensuring our active areas will always be vibrant, safe and enjoyable, creating a unique and inclusive atmosphere.
The club, as a whole, will focus on tonight's Westfield FFA Cup Semi Final and we assure all North End members that a detailed email will be sent to each of you during the week.Should a sperm donor have to pay child support?
A man in Topeka, Kansas, just might.
In 2009, William Marotta thought he was doing a good deed by donating his sperm to a same-sex couple looking to conceive. The couple's doctor had refused to sign a document stating they were fit to raise a child, which ruled out the possibility of getting sperm through a sperm bank. So, they turned to Craigslist.
Marotta responded to their ad and agreed to help them out. He signed a contract waiving any parental rights as well as any compensation, and vanished into the horizon. The couple did conceive, separated a year later, and one of the child's mothers filed for health insurance soon after (her former partner was unable to work due to illness).
Whether a sperm donor should have to pay for child support, for the record, varies by state. But Kansas, which doesn't recognize gay marriages, also did not recognize the financial role of the child's non-biological mother. The state wouldn't grant the applicant health insurance without the name of her child's biological father, so she was forced to reveal it. In doing that, she brought their case to the attention of Kansas Department of Children and Families, which, not wanting taxpayers to foot the bill for the child, is now suing the donor for nearly $6,000 of medical expenses.
RELATED: IVF, Foster Care and More: What Does It Cost to Have a Child?
The loophole the state is using to get around the contract the donor signed upon donating is that the insemination wasn't done under the supervision of a physician. Thus, they can't be completely sure of the paternity, and the contract he signed is invalid. The lack of surety around the identity of the father also means, according to a spokeswoman for the state, that they're "required by statute to establish paternity and then pursue child support from the noncustodial parent."
RELATED: Are Older Parents Hurting the Economy?
The costs of fighting this case has already set the donor, a married foster father, back 10% of his annual salary, and there is a legal defense fund set up for him through his attorney's office.
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How My Disease Is Bankrupting My FamilyWe are sorry, you need to be a subscriber to watch this video
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Tens of thousands of Ukrainians braved teargas, snow and heavy rain yesterday to threaten a new Orange Revolution unless the Government rejects Russian pressure and reopens talks towards EU membership.
A fifth day of protests around the country culminated last night with special forces units using pepper spray and batons on a small group of demonstrators in Kiev where more than 20,000 protesters gathered after European leaders issued a strong condemnation of Russia and urged the Government to rethink its abrupt decision to slam the door on Brussels.
Opposition leaders, including the world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, are straining to revive the spirit of the mass uprising that brought a pro-Western government to power in 2004.
Yuliya Tymoshenko, the jailed opposition leader, announced last…Summer has come early to the Caucasus mountains. It was 50 degrees Farenheit today (+10 Celcius). The running path around the lake was getting soft yesterday afternoon; it’s not too fun to run on.
I did laundry for the first time yesterday. There are laundry kiosks all around the village.
All I had to do was drop it off and the volunteers manning the station did everything for me. I am blown away that they offer this service. It is wonderful.
I had to go off the mountain again yesterday evening for another interview. I had to leave before my laundry was done, so my teammate Holly Brooks picked it up. It must not have been completely dry because it was all hanging up when I went to the women’s chalet to pick it up this morning. Thanks Holly!
Both yesterday and today were gorgeous. These mountains are stunning.
I was checking out the security cameras that line every section of fence around the village.
For some reason they are doing an incredible amount of snow removal from the village.
It doesn’t seem necessary since it hasn’t snowed since we got here. These two guys were shoveling by hand in front of our place today. I gave them U.S. Ski Team pins.
I’m getting good at the trek down and up the mountain. Yesterday was my third evening in a row.
Yesterday’s interview was with Russia Today TV. They wanted to talk to me about my experience in Sochi and, like the other Russian interviews I’ve done, they found me through this blog. Yesterday’s interview was really easy because the interviewer lived in the U.S. for a couple years and spoke perfect English. She also had clearly read some of this blog and asked informed questions. We were able to schedule the interview in my coach Zach Caldwell’s hotel, and I didn’t mind going down because it was such a nice evening.
The commute was easy and empty because there wasn’t a cross country or a biathlon race yesterday.
Here’s a view of the full moon and one of the towers of the spectator cable-way. (It wasn’t running since there were not events.)
On the walk from the gondola to Zach’s hotel I go by the very American Baskin-Robbins.
They love neon lights around here. Many of the buildings are incredible at night.
I also like the vending machines around here. Maybe I’m oblivious, but I don’t feel like sandwiches out of a vending machine are the norm in the States.
Erik Bjornsen and I made use of the foosball table in the game room here in the village, continuing our rivalry from our pre-Olympic camp in Seiser Alm. We played best-two-out-of-three and I managed to force a third game but really got crushed. Here’s Erik:
I spent most of the day watching events. I watched the American men sweep the slopestyle podium. That was really cool to see. If I had any coordination at all I’d be a slopestyle skier instead of a cross country skier. I’m so impressed when I watch those guys throw down.
I then got to watch my teammates in the 10 kilometer individual start classic race. It was a brutal race in really soft and slow conditions. Sadie Bjornsen skied really well, finishing in 18th place. Full results are available here.
After the women’s race I went up for my pre-race ski. The warm weather seemed to have everyone in a lounging type of mood. So many people were hanging outside.
On the snow many people were in short sleeve shirts. Here is head Norwegian wax technician Knut Nystad on camera:
The trails were busy.
Here are two Norwegian technicians doing a glide test to see which skis are faster. (Most likely the skis are matched and they’re testing wax or structure in the base.)
Here is the best British skier Andrew Musgrave preparing for tomorrow’s race:
The conditions were so soft that they were a little hard to stand up in. We are expecting the same for our race tomorrow.
The grooming so far this week has been great (with the exception of the ladies’ pursuit day when they set the far right track in the downhill (wide) setting and it was very hard to ski in.) They are using big alpine-style machines to groom.
I did a little bit of pre-race intensity and worked on technique with Zach. Here I am doing some hard skiing.
Believe it or not, but Zach actually introduced some new technique cues today, the day before an Olympic race. It seems like odd timing, but why not if it helps me ski better? I have been struggling with classic this year so something isn’t working. My goal tomorrow is to ski as well as possible and take a step forward in my career. It’s very unlikely that I’m going to medal.
Zach took both of the above pictures. He said I had to give him full credit and royalties in perpetuity. In told him no problem, he can have 100% of my profit from this post.
There were a lot of Nordic combined skiers on our trails today. Their course is down in the valley, and it’s so hot up here that I can’t imagine how warm it must be on their trails. Maybe their trails weren’t even open for skiing today to preserve the snow. Here is a French Nordic combined skier. You can tell because he’s wearing a red bib. (See the Nordic combined icon in the upper right.)
Here is Swedish cross country skier Calle Halfvarsson:
And Finnish skier Sami Jauhojärvi:
Here is Swiss sprinter Laurien van der Graaff:
The forerunners have been doing a lot of training outside of their duties around the races. They must all be athletes who have more races later in the season. They all got custom Sochi 2014 race suits that I think are pretty cool.
On my way down from skiing people were flooding into the biathlon venue for tonight’s race.
I really like the banner outside the Slovenian housing.
Tomorrow is my second Olympic race, the individual start (time trial) 15 kilometer classic race. I am very focused on pacing the race well and skiing as well as I know how. I’ll be focusing on my technique cues. I am not concerned with results. A top-20 finish would be my best classic race of the season.
Unfortunately in the U.S. NBC is not airing the race. If you’re really dedicated you can watch it live on the NBC Sports Network at 5 a.m. Eastern Time. Full results will be available here.Bitcoins are all the buzz. The virtual currency is riding a rollercoaster of speculation, rising exponentially in value and reaching a high of $260 this Wednesday before plummeting to $130. What’s more, the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world just survived a coordinated hack attack, and bitcoin-generating malware is spreading across Europe like wildfire via Skype.
Yet despite all the sound and fury surrounding this made-up money, most people have a hard time understanding exactly what Bitcoins are—and how they work. This is troubling, especially if you’re thinking of investing your own time and money in the Bitcoin phenomenon.
Starting your own bitcoin wallet isn’t necessarily a bad idea. Bitcoins aren’t tied to the fortunes of any single nation’s economy. They’re easy to exchange, and they aren’t subject to transaction fees. But you need to know a few important things before throwing your money into the volatile Bitcoin market. You need to understand how the Bitcoin system works, where it succeeds, and where it’s weak.
Bitcoins are created, traded, and controlled by the people
Simply put, a bitcoin is an algorithm-based mathematical construct—a unit of measurement invented to quantify value. It’s sort of like the dollar in that way—but unlike the dollar (or any other form of fiat money, really), Bitcoins are decentralized. The original Bitcoin algorithm was created by a developer with the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, but the currency itself is created, traded, and controlled by Bitcoin users, rather than by a central authority like a bank or a government. Bitcoins are completely digital, too: You’ll never lay hands on a physical Bitcoin unless you purchase a physical facsimile like this.
Each of these physical Bitcoins has a private key embedded beneath the hologram that links to a Bitcoin address worth the amount shown on the face of the coin.
The currency also has a finite supply that’s limited by design. The algorithm that fuels the Bitcoin network is designed to generate 21 million Bitcoins, and the system automatically regulates itself to ensure that the supply of Bitcoins grows at a smooth, steady pace. At the current rate, all 21 million Bitcoins should be generated by 2140. And because the Bitcoin network tracks and records every Bitcoin transaction, you can actually see exactly how many Bitcoins have been created at any given moment at Blockchain.info, a website that monitors the Bitcoin network and hosts Bitcoin wallets, the containers owners use to store their digital riches.
We’re definitely in a Bitcoin bubble
Bitcoin is big right now, probably too big for its own good. Since a Bitcoin has no value beyond what someone is willing to pay for it, the price of Bitcoins tends to change quickly. Indeed, in mid-January a single Bitcoin was valued at $15, which makes people who bought Bitcoins back then and sold them at $260 apiece yesterday very successful investors.
The currency’s popularity (and therefore price) increases in international markets that have become unstable—say, when a government threatens its citizens with capital controls and currency restrictions, as Cyprus did last week.
“Bitcoin is a very volatile asset, and the recent developments in the price of Bitcoins do have some of the characteristics of an economic bubble,” says Professor Magnus Thor Torfason, Assistant Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
The value of bitcoins can only keep going up, right? Right?!
Torfason is currently working on publishing a paper that focuses on the value of Bitcoin. Though he’s cautiously optimistic about the future of Bitcoin, he says that it’s hard to recommend the currency to the average PC user. “Even if we assume that Bitcoins will eventually be worth ten times their current value, they may drop to a tenth of their value between now and then,” says Torfason. “We don’t really have good methods for assigning value to a currency like this, so you should treat any investment into Bitcoins as an extremely high-risk investment.”
You can mine Bitcoins, but the gold rush is over
You don’t have to put your own money on the line if you want to jump into the Bitcoin market. Instead, you can “mine” Bitcoins by putting your PC to work crunching code on the Bitcoin network. If you’re lucky, you could earn a whopping bounty of 25 Bitcoins.
Here’s how it works: Batches of Bitcoins are awarded to Bitcoin miners—people who volunteer to install and run a Bitcoin client on their PCs. The client uses CPU and GPU processing power to solve very complex math problems, and then shares those solutions with the entire network. The problems are extremely difficult to solve, but easy to verify as correct, and they incorporate logs of transactions on the Bitcoin network. As a result, miners track and verify Bitcoin payments as they work.
The first client to solve a given block of transactions is awarded a set number of Bitcoins—25 as of publication, down from 50 when Bitcoin began—once the work is verified by other clients on the network. That fixed number is halved every four years, until at some point no more new Bitcoins will be created.
This fantastic infographic from Bitdata illustrates how Bitcoin mining is a crucial part of how the Bitcoin network operates. (Click to enlarge.)
The algorithms involved in Bitcoin production are far too complex for most non-crypto-nerds to grasp, which is why most people use the term Bitcoin mining. It’s analogous to toiling in tough conditions in search of gold. And as with gold, only a limited supply of Bitcoins exists.
But unlike gold, Bitcoins enter the world at a rate that shows very little variation. The Bitcoin algorithms dynamically change in difficulty based on how often Bitcoins are being awarded; and this ensures a smooth, steady drip of virtual currency into the network. If mining drops off, Bitcoins will become easier to mine. If mining becomes exceedingly competitive—as it is now, with Bitcoin miners investing in high-end PCs and server farms as part of a processing-power arms race—Bitcoin mining becomes more difficult.
“At this point, mining for Bitcoins is a very bad idea,” says Vitalik Buterin, head writer at Bitcoin Magazine. “You’ll basically get nothing. The best way to get Bitcoins is to buy them on an exchange.”
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